Buddhist Attitude To Aesthetics -- Buddhist And Pali College Of Singapore,by Nacy Yeow

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with what is beauty. It studies the qualities of nature of the beautiful and makes judgments concerning beauty. Beauty is visual pleasantness of a person, animal, object or scene, and also pleasantness of sound, especially music that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit. For instances, the flowing rivers and streams, thick wood, mountain peaks, starry midnight sky and the imaginative and creative pieces of work produced by artists, poets, authors and musicians, etc. However, in the Buddhist concept of the beautiful there is an attitudinal as well as an objective aspect in what is beautiful.

As the main tenet of Buddhism is "suffering", "impermanence" and "no soul", many have the misconception that it has a pessimistic outlook and is devoid of any kind of aesthetic appreciation. Although this may at first appear to be very convincing, they are in fact far from the truth and are no more than mistaken generalizations. Through careful examination of Buddhist teaching and arts, it is shown to be otherwise.

In the earliest Buddha's nine limbs of teaching, there are three literary types which are connected with rhythm, rhyme and meter. They are the geyya (what should be sung), gatha (a metrical composition) and udana (a paean of joy or versification of emotional utterance). This repertoire found in the Thera and Their Gatha is dramatic, emotional and objective in content.

In the Jataka tales, lots of events cover an aesthetic nature of musical activities. Often the music was mentioned to be enjoyable and many songs were sung according to the various musical instruments, for examples, veena (harp), kumbhathunaya (water musical), conch, venu (flute), according to the modes of singing. The singing was harmonious and the quality of the music in group singing was full of sweetness and training.

The primary aesthetic concept at the heart of Buddhist culture is the aspiration of leading a holy life. In Buddhism, beauty is not for beauty's sake. It has been viewed as an incentive for those who aspire to the holy life. On several occasions, Buddha has directed the attention of his disciples to beauty in order to communicate religious truths and as a medium to ennoble the crude emotional feelings in them. For instance, in the Udana-pali, Buddha has compared the beauty of the nymphs with that of Nanda's former fiancee and Nanda then compares her to a bumt she-monkey with mutilated ears and nose. Thereafter he promised to lead a holy life and eventually attained enlightenment. In another episode, Khema who was infatuated by her own beauty having seen a far more beautiful nymph conjured by the Buddha passing from youth to old age, falling down and dying before her eyes, realized the vanity of her pride. These two incidents reveal the Buddha has given an ethical and spiritual dimension to what is beautiful.

The mode of teaching in the suttas which has adopted an applied method of illustration by way of the similes, metaphors, anecdotes and figurative expressions, contains literary advices such as propriety and suggestion, to illustrate and elucidate the theme of discussion with the ultimate objective of realization.

In the canonical texts, many references have been made in appreciation of the nature. Similes, metaphors and analogies are used to portray a superb sense of admiration and beauty, exemplify the issues of moral significance and illustrate the magnanimous character of a clansman and serenity and peace to forest-dwelling mendicant, etc.

To the monk who is not in pursuit of sensual pleasures, forests with its flora and fauna are a delightful lodging. This is seen in the Theragatha and Therigatha where utterances are made by monks and nuns in praise of the natural surroundings in the forest where they spent most of their lives.

Similarly, in the aesthetic appreciation of music and melody, they were encouraged to perform recitation and singing so as to bring out the meaning clearly. Many of the songs in the Sakkapanh-sutta of Digha Nikaya were translated into English by Prof. Rhys Davids and reproduced by Miss I.B. Homer in an anthology of poems entitled 'Early Buddhist Poetry'.? There is also an incident whereby the 60 monks by the roadside after hearing the songs with full of religious sentiments, sang by the paddy-reaping girls, have attained "Realisation".

Buddhist concept of aesthetic is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. According to Buddhism, the cultivation of the right attitude to aesthetic is very important. A beautiful object itself is not goodness or rightness per se. Similarly, perception as it is neither good nor evil but the judgement based upon it turned to be good or evil. Buddhism advocates aesthetic experience congenial to a higher mode of living; it should be instrumental for moral development. Subjective evaluation of beautiful things and nature which are viewed with desire and attachment as perceived by the five senses and the unthoughtful reflection usually result in lust. Thus it is the distortion of perception which has to be got rid of by perceiving objects as impermanent, unsatisfactory, repulsive and non-substantial.

In the Anguttara Nikaya, the poets are classified into 4 kinds:

1. Imaginative : maintains his originality by giving expression to his imagination

2. Traditional : putting into verses of what he has heard

3. Didactic nature : composes verses what is meaningful in consideration of its usefulness to moral life

4. Creative : composes and recites on spur of the moment by just looking at things.

The poetical merits of the very first stanza uttered by the Buddha immediately after His Enlightenment can be appreciated as a fine piece of poetry with application of both suggestion and propriety. It leaves an inedible impression in the mind of the readers.

"Though many a birth I wandered in samsara,seeking but not finding, the builder of the house. Sorrowful is it to be born again."

"O house-builder! Thou are seen. Thou shalt build no house again. All thy rafters are broken. Thy ridge-pole is shattered. My mind has attained the unconditioned. Achieved is the end of craving."

The simile of the house-builder is to bring out the subtle doctrine themes.

Like a fish that is drawn from its watery abode and thrown upon on land, even so does this mind flutter. Hence should the domain of Mara be shunned.

The flickering nature of mind is aptly depicted by drawing the simile of a fish out of water. The stanza convinces the reader to attempt to go beyond Mara's domain.

Authors' application of literary devices like the hyperbolical expressions, similes and metaphors drawn from many and varied fields together with the usage of parables, anecdote, fables, humour and pithy sayings in both canonical prose and verses and employed with restraint, does bring out the desired effect of making the melody and the rhythm of individual poems more attractive and admirable. This variety of techniques which does appeal to our aesthetic values and power of imagination, thus efficiently creates an impact in the thoughtful reader.

The world is full of beauty in a very spiritual and an abstract sense, but it is the man himself who defiles and destroys that beauty by trying to possess it. Thus Buddha's advice is to get detached from the apparent beauty of the external world that pleases the physical eyes, and to cultivate non-attachment to them which would result in man himself realizing the beauty supreme within his own mind. This is the moral or spiritual and inward beauty. Hence, Buddhism denounces sensualism and appreciates beauty natural or made-made.