Why Are We Born?

Today marks my birthday, so it's a good time to reflect on the nature of birth. More than celebration, I take it as an opportunity for reflection and contemplation. What is there to celebrate anyway?

Ven. Ajahn Chah, the great Buddhist master of Thailand, once said:

"Why are we born? We are born so that we will not have to be born again."

Those who are not familiar with Buddha's wisdom will struggle to understand the meaning of that statement. Buddha in his first sermon "Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta" has said that "Birth is suffering". Ven. Ajahn Thannisaro has explained it very nicely.

Birth is Suffering - Phra Ajahn Thannisaro

"All of us born into the world, even common animals, want happiness. Why do we want happiness? What purpose does it serve? What can we do with it? This is something we should pick up to contemplate. The fact that everyone wants happiness, as soon as they’re born, the fact that we search for happiness, the fact that we desire to gain happiness, shows that everyone is born with pain and suffering. If there weren’t suffering, we wouldn’t have to struggle to find anything. We could sit at our ease, lie down at our ease, and walk at our ease. But the fact is that we suffer as soon as we’re born. There’s nobody who survives birth and then lies there happy and peaceful as soon as they come out. They struggle. They cry. This is clear to see. Part of the Dhamma that the Buddha awakened to is the truth that birth is suffering. In Pāli, it’s jātipi dukkhā. But we don’t see it clearly, which is why we don’t accept the truth. That’s because we lack concentration and discernment. We lack the kind of contemplation and examination that can solve this problem correctly."

The Buddha's teachings start with this fundamental truth, the truth of suffering (Pali: Dukkha). Buddha's teachings cannot be effective unless one comprehends the root problem of human condition, suffering. The Four Noble Truths are the backbone and foundation of Buddha's doctrine. The Four Noble Truths are in my view, the most important Dhamma taught by the Buddha. So it's very important to truly comprehend in the heart the Four Noble Truths, because it is impossible to completely make an end of suffering without having made the breakthrough to the Four Noble Truths.

The Four Noble Truths

Saccavibhanga Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 141)

"What, your reverence, is the Noble Truth of suffering?"

Birth is suffering; aging is suffering; death is suffering; grief, lamentation, bodily pain, mental pain and despair are suffering; not getting what one desires, that too is suffering: In brief the five aggregates subject to grasping are suffering.

“And what, friends, is the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering?"

It is this craving which produces re-existence, accompanied by passionate lust, and finding delight now here, and now there; namely, craving for sense-pleasures, craving for existence and craving for non-existence. Friends, this is called the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering.

“And what, friends, is the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering?"

It is the complete cessation of that very craving; giving it up, relinquishing it, liberating oneself from it, and detaching oneself from it. Friends, this is called the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering.

"And what is the Noble Truth of the Path leading to the cessation of suffering?"

It is this Noble Eightfold Path itself, namely: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.

Once we understand it fully through practice, we will be able to understand the Dhamma. The Right View begins with seeing and realizing the Four Noble Truths, it has to penetrate in our hearts.

Our human birth is a very precious phenomenon. It's not a coincidence or some random event, but the result of our past karmic merits. All of the people who have come in touch with the Dhamma in this life, they have accumulated incalculable merits over eons, it cannot be calculated. Being born as a human being and coming across the teachings of Buddha is even rarer. Six difficulties are mentioned in the sutras (Buddhist scriptures). The most important thing is to be born as a human being. The conditions in the human realm are the only ones that are suitable for cultivation.

"It is difficult to be born as human. Difficult is the life of beings. It is difficult to gain the opportunity to hear the true Dhamma. Rare is the appearance of the Buddhas."

- Buddha, Dhammapada

Our birth and coming into being are due to our kamma/karma, the law of cause and effect, of action and consequence. Karma is the fuel behind existence, once karma is exhausted then there will be no more existence in the Saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death). We have been being born for an inconceivable amount of time in the Saṃsāra, there is no beginning point, this point is reflected in many discourses of the Buddha, one of which is Assu Sutta (SN 15.3).

“From an inconceivable beginning comes the wandering-on. A beginning point is not discernible, though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving are transmigrating & wandering on.

-Buddha, Tears, Assu Sutta (SN 15:3)

This is very important point to realize, this is where Buddhist teachings differs from the other faith systems which believe in YOLO (You Only Live Once). This is actually a wrong view. In order to really see truth, one has to study and practice the Buddha's teachings. Buddha has explained the entire chain of existence in his teaching known as "Dependent Origination." (Pali: paṭiccasamuppāda).

The teaching of dependent origination is one of the most important and profound teachings in Buddhism, and it is very deep. Without going into too much detail, theory of dependent origination explains the nature of existence, how everything comes into being, and how everything arises and ceases. Everything is interconnected, so there is no one thing that exists independently. Phenomena are created by causes and cannot exist by chance or at random.

In this way, we can understand that our birth is also due to some causes and is not a random event. The causes are our own karma done in the past, due to which we take birth. Dependent Origination has 12 links in total. Out of the 12 links, the first link is 'Ignorance', which is understood as the root of everything.

What is ignorance? Ignorance is the lack of understanding of the nature of existence or the idea that oneself and the world exist inherently. The Buddha has explained it in SN 56.17 Avijjā Sutta.

“Bhante, they speak of this thing called ‘ignorance’. What is ignorance? And how is an ignorant person defined?”

“Monk, not understanding about suffering, not understanding about the origin of suffering, not understanding about the end of suffering, and not understanding about the path that leads to the end of suffering. This is called ignorance. And this is how an ignorant person is defined.

“Therefore, monks, you should make an effort to understand …”

So to comprehend it simply, once we gain birth due to our ignorance we make choices and decisions, get attached to things and crave for more which eventually results in suffering. Our desires are never-ending, and Buddha stated that even a mountain of gold cannot bring satisfaction to a person. We can take it as an example of the life of the Buddha himself. Being a Prince, he lived in upmost refinement, he didn't lack anything, he had all the sensual pleasures, yet he felt these things cannot provide him peace of mind, cannot put an end to his suffering. Since he was a Bodhisattva (Buddha to be) he already had some wisdom to realize and contemplate on this matter. So he went to seek a path to understand the nature of reality. After meditating under the Bodhi Tree, he understood everything. Ignorance was dispelled, and wisdom arose. Thus, Siddhartha became the Buddha.

"And, monks, as long as this — my three-round, twelve-permutation knowledge & vision concerning these four noble truths as they have come to be — was not pure, I did not claim to have directly awakened to the right self-awakening unexcelled in the cosmos with its deities, Maras, & Brahmas, with its contemplatives & brahmans, its royalty & commonfolk.

But as soon as this — my three-round, twelve-permutation knowledge & vision concerning these four noble truths as they have come to be — was truly pure, then I did claim to have directly awakened to the right self-awakening unexcelled in the cosmos with its deities, Maras & Brahmas, with its contemplatives & brahmans, its royalty & commonfolk. Knowledge & vision arose in me: 'Unprovoked is my release. This is the last birth. There is now no further becoming." -Buddha, Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

So returning to Ven. Ajahn Chah's statement:

"Why are we born? We are born so that we will not have to be born again."

In the Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta the Buddha said "Unprovoked is my release. This is the last birth. There is now no further becoming."

As I had mentioned above, we have been born in Saṃsāra for an incalculable amount of time due our own karma, rooted in ignorance and craving, due to which we suffer repeatedly in the cycle of birth and death.

Let us not take our encounter with Dhamma in this life as a coincidence, we have no idea after how many kalpas in hells, animal realm, ghost realm, heavens, we happen to be born in the human realm, with good physical conditions and able to come across the Dhamma. The snares of Māra are always around to distract us, keep us away from the practice, but we need to cultivate strong conviction in the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, and understand that there is no other way out of suffering than the teachings of Lord Buddha.

There is, monks, an unborn–unbecome–unmade–unfabricated. If there were not that unborn–unbecome–unmade–unfabricated, there would not be the case that escape from the born–become–made–fabricated would be discerned. But precisely because there is an unborn–unbecome–unmade–unfabricated, escape from the born–become–made–fabricated is discerned.

-Buddha, Ud 8:3 Unbinding (3) (Nibbāna Sutta)

We have to accept that we live in an imperfect world, where people are defiled and ignorant. We have to detach ourselves and our ego from this world in order to transcend it. The external world will never be ideal, perfect, or all-just. There can never be an all peaceful and perfect world, if it was possible then there would be no need for Nibbāna. The affairs of the world will keep going on forever. Imperfection, suffering is the nature of this world. We must know this and accept it as a fact. Once we accept it as a fact then we won't let the external matters affect us.

Ven. ajahn Chah said "Whenever is irritating you, that is your teacher. Everything is teaching us. Everything is a Dhamma, there is nothing that is not a Dhamma."

Hence, the goal and path of Buddhist practice is to realize the Dhamma, to see the truth which means to realize and comprehend the Four Noble Truths, and cultivate the Noble Eightfold Path. When we fully understand the Four Noble Truth, we will become serious about our practice, realize how precious this time, and life is, we will then not waste it in vain, rather strive to overcome our defilements by cultivating spiritual perfections, the qualities of generosity, virtue, mindfulness to seek freedom from suffering, which is the state of Nibbāna/Nirvana. 

Nibbāna - The State of Ultimate Calm, The Cession of all Suffering

Then, on realizing the significance of that, the Blessed One on that occasion exclaimed:

There is that dimension, monks, where there is neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor wind; neither dimension of the infinitude of space, nor dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, nor dimension of nothingness, nor dimension of neither perception nor non-perception; neither this world, nor the next world, nor sun, nor moon. And there, I say, there is neither coming, nor going, nor staying; neither passing away nor arising: unestablished, unevolving, without support [mental object].This, just this, is the end of stress.

-Buddha, Ud 8:1 Unbinding (1) (Nibbāna Sutta)

May we all realize the Dhamma, and practice with diligence.

May all sentient beings be free from suffering.