Investigation
for Insight
by
Susan Elbaum Jootla
The Wheel Publication No. 301/302
SL ISSN 0049-7541
Copyright (C) 1983
Buddhist Publication Society
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Contents
Preface
We have come into this world at a remarkable
time, one of those brief periods when the teachings of a Buddha are readily
available. There is his Noble Eightfold Path of wisdom, morality and concentration
and specifically the technique of vipassana meditation by means of which
we can train our minds to see the ultimate nature of all phenomena of the
world, their transience, unsatisfactoriness and essencelessness. With the
development of this detached wisdom, our minds gradually lose their tensions,
anguish and lust, and so real peace and happiness can develop.
This article is written in all humility
by one who has just begun to walk on the Path, in the spirit of "ehipassiko,"
the characteristic of the Dhamma that invites all to come and see and try
it. There is yet a long way to travel, but there is no doubt whatsoever
that the Path leads to the Goal and so this article is an expression of
the mind's wish to encourage and urge others to undertake for themselves
this profoundly beneficial task of eliminating ignorance and craving and
so end all suffering. Susan
Elbaum Jootla
Dalhousie
Introduction
All the teachings of the Buddha had
one goal -- the elimination of all suffering, all grief, misery, pain and
anguish. All the kinds of meditation he explained were designed to train
the mind of the student to become detached from all the phenomena of the
world, within and outside of himself. This is the aim of Buddhist meditation
because detachment is the opposite of tanha or craving and it is
this tanha that is the source of all the sorts of suffering experienced
by sentient beings. This desire is very deeply ingrained in our minds because
of our ignorance about the real nature of the phenomena of the world. So,
vipassana, insight-meditation techniques of the Buddha, are designed to
enable us to penetrate our illusions about the nature of reality which
are perpetuated by our inaccurate perception of the world and ourselves.
Insight has to be gained into the impermanent, unsatisfactory and essenceless
nature of all conditioned phenomena, of everything mental and physical,
all of which is the effect of certain causes. Insight is often conceived
of as a magical experience suddenly just happening and instantly making
all things clear. But, by and large, insight develops slowly and gradually
through the careful process of observation, investigation and analysis
of phenomena until the ultimate nature that lies behind their apparent,
conventional truth is distinctly and indubitably perceived. It is this
process known in Pali as dhammavicaya (Investigation of Dhamma)
and also the closely related one of yoniso-manasikara (systematic
attention) which will be examined here. Ledi Sayadaw in this Bodhipakkhiya
Dipani[1]
defines
dhammavicaya as identical with pa??a (wisdom) and
Samma Ditthi (Right Understanding of View) and then describes the
investigative process with the simile: "Just as cotton seeds are milled,
carded, etc., so as to produce cotton wool, the process of repeatedly viewing
the five khandhas (our personal aggregates of body, perception, feeling,
volitions and consciousness) with the functions of insight knowledge
(vipassana ?ana) is called dhammavicaya." First the subjects
to be investigated, or the contents of the investigation for insight leading
to liberation, will be examined. Then the role of dhammavicaya specifically
as a part of vipassana meditation will be discussed. Then will come the
role of systematic attention in preventing the arising of the mental hindrances
which can block progress in meditation and as one of the basic factors
conducive to the growth of wisdom. Finally the way to use investigation
of Dhamma with the other Factors of Enlightenment and then with the elements
of the Noble Eightfold Path are shown. A well-trained, well-controlled
mind is a powerful tool capable of rationally thinking through and continually
comprehending the ultimate truths of existence. By developing the mind's
ability to penetratingly and objectively investigate, we are working to
free ourselves of all ignorance, and thus of all craving and its resultant
suffering.
Contents of Investigation
Investigation of Dhamma is one of the
key factors, the development of which can lead us to liberation from all
suffering. The Buddha defines this dhammavicaya as "searching, investigation,
scrutinizing, for insight into one's own personal conditions ... and ...
externals." dhammavicaya is one of the Seven Bojjhangas or Factors
of Enlightenment and usually translated[2]
as "Investigation of Dhamma." The word "Dhamma" has two quite distinct
uses and so investigation of it implies both analysis of the Dhamma
-- the essential truths of existence as taught by the Buddha, and analysis
of dhammas -- all things whatsoever. Investigation of the Dhamma
must include careful thought leading to a thorough understanding of at
least these teachings: the Four Noble Truths, the Three Salient Characteristics
of Existence, and the Doctrine of Dependent Origination, and some idea
of the workings of kamma. When we study the dhammas, we are primarily concerned
with determining for ourselves the ultimate nature of our own Five Aggregates,
the mind-and-matter phenomenon, with its six sense organs and of the six
respective classes of sense objects which are the basis of all consciousness,
contact, feeling, perception and mental activities.
When we investigate the Dhamma, we
are trying to thoroughly understand and grasp the significance of the Teachings
of the Buddha. These truths are things which he discovered for himself
and therefore knew with total certainty. For us to just accept them on
faith alone will not be of too much benefit. In the well-known discourse
the Buddha gave to the Kalamas, he said, "Be ye not misled by report or
tradition or hearsay ... Nor out of respect of the recluse (who holds it).
But Kalamas, when you know for yourselves: 'These things are unprofitable,
these things are blameworthy,' ... then indeed do ye reject them ... But
if at any time ye know for yourselves: 'These things ... when performed
and undertaken conduce to profit and happiness,' -- then Kalamas, do ye,
having undertaken them, abide therein."[3]
And he intended that the Kalamas treat his words just like those of any
other teacher. We must explore the teachings of the Buddha thoroughly,
carefully and rationally for ourselves by taking the Four Noble Truths,
the Three Salient Characteristics, and the Doctrine of Dependent Origination
(including Kamma) as working hypotheses which are to be understood and
demonstrated to the satisfaction of our own minds. Even if on first contact
with these ideas we cannot understand them, we must not for that reason
alone reject them out of hand -- this kind of attitude will block and prevent
all our progress on the Path. After all, it is quite reasonable to assume
that there have been people in the world wiser than ourselves and that
the Buddha was one of them. Once we have worked even a little on the Path
and gained some benefit from it, we know that the Buddha was far wiser
than we are as it was he who first taught this means of liberation. So
we willingly keep our minds open to explore what he says even if it does
not initially make much sense to our limited way of thinking. On the basis
of full comprehension of these Truths gained by this balance between an
open mind and confidence, liberating wisdom automatically must grow.
1. The Four Noble Truths
The first aspect of the Dhamma to deal
with is the Four Noble Truths: Suffering, its Origin, its Cessation and
the way leading to the Cessation of Suffering, the central teaching of
the Buddha, because "It is through not understanding, not penetrating the
Four Ariyan truths that we have run on, wandered on, this long, long road"
of Samsara, (K.S., V, p. 365).
We must carefully consider the nature
of life to determine for ourselves whether it is essentially happy or unhappy,
satisfactory or unsatisfactory, full of joy or woe. No matter what we look
at -- our body, our mind, the external world -- if we penetrate the apparent
superficial truth of it, we are bound to find that dukkha (suffering)
predominates vastly over sukha (happiness) because all the seemingly
pleasant experiences and aspects of life are doomed to fade away and leave
behind them the same state of unsatisfiedness that was there before the
momentary respite given by the sensual pleasure. If we think about the
nature of the body, obviously it has to grow old, get sick and ultimately
die and at almost no moment from the time of birth do we find ourselves
in perfect health; and from then on it is all a downhill battle since death
is the only possible outcome of life. If we keep this in mind, how can
we say there is lasting satisfaction or happiness in life? Ledi Sayadaw
puts it this way in the magganga Dipanii[4]
"From the time of conception there is not a single moment ... when there
is no liability to destruction. When actual destruction comes, manifold
is the suffering that is experienced." If we examine our minds, there,
too, we see that the vast majority of the time they are in some unhappy
state -- ranging from mild dissatisfaction through anxiety to downright
despair. Only rarely are there moments of joy and to these we react by
attempting to cling to them, and that state of desiring, too, is dukkha.
If we look to the external world that we learn about through our senses
and realize how many people are in agony with dread disease, how many sentient
beings are preying on one another for food, for sport, for power, how many
are dying lonely and helpless -- at this very moment -- we cannot doubt
that dukkha predominates. The Buddha summarizes the First Noble
Truth saying, "Birth is suffering, death is suffering, sorrow is suffering;
not to get what one desires is suffering; in short all the Five groups
of existence are suffering." (Digha Nikaya 22). We have to investigate
and see just how it is that all existence is dukkha, and one way
to do this is to ponder over the "sights" of suffering seen by the Buddha
before his Enlightenment, which caused him to leave home and seek the ultimate
liberation for Suffering. We would do well to consider an old being, a
seriously ill person, and a corpse. Such attention to these will teach
us a great deal about both internal and external dukkha.
In order to find our way out of all
this suffering, we have to be very clear about its cause, and as the Buddha
saw it, tanha (clinging, craving, desire, lust, etc.) is the basic
cause of dukkha. "From craving springs grief, from craving springs fear,"
from all kinds of craving unhappiness comes; from endearment, affection,
attachment, lust (as well as from the negative side of it: hatred, aversion,
ill-will) (Dhp. v. 216). Craving is in itself dukkha, and it inevitably
leads to more ill in this and in future existences. To realize how this
is true, so that we are convinced of the necessity of giving up absolutely
all craving, we have to examine the workings of our own mind thoroughly.
We must observe how our mind is virtually always engaged in some form of
craving or desire -- either positively reaching out for some object or
obversely trying to push something away -- whether the object is gross
or subtle. While we are actually craving for some object -- be it something
as mundane as food or as lofty as rebirth among the Brahma gods -- we are
in a state of mind that is unsatisfied, that is incomplete and longing
for completion -- this lack of satisfaction, of completionness, is dukkha.
Then, if we should attain the object, our tanha does not disappear;
it is actually reinforced and more dukkha results. Getting what
we want may lead to a new object for desire, or to modify the original
one to avoid boredom. But satisfying one craving does nothing to
eliminate the basic mental process of tanha; in fact more fuel is
simply added to its fires when we obtain what is wanted. If the desired
state, experience or thing is unobtainable, then a more acute form of dukkha
results -- frustration. And if we consider the feelings associated with
the negative form of tanha, aversion, they are always clearly unhappy,
dukkha.
Thus we can determine for ourselves how tanha causes all our suffering
in this lifetime.
Craving (tanha) is also the
cause of rebirth, and once there is a new life the whole chain of dukkha
inevitably culminating in death automatically comes into play. Most of
us, cannot know the phenomenon of rebirth directly for ourselves as the
Buddha did, but we certainly see the logic in it. All kinds of craving,
if looked at carefully, turn out to be just different forms or manifestations
of the underlying desire to perpetuate our existence. The great power of
this force pushing for life does not just vanish at the time of death,
but these urgings for renewed existence (bhava sankharas) become
the cause of rebirth in the appropriate place. Most of these forces in
sentient beings are not wholesome, so when most beings die and the life
continua take a new form, it is in the Realms of Woe. Thus we can see how
tanha
produces a new life with all the dukkha that comes along with it.
Seeing how much suffering is experienced, all because of craving, surely
is strong motivation for us to figure out how to eliminate this tanha.
The Third Noble Truth says that there
is
a cessation of suffering; and suffering will and must cease when the cause
(tanha) is eliminated. "For who is wholly free from craving there
is no grief, whence fear?" (Dhp. v. 216). Any phenomena which arise due
to causes and conditions have to pass away when those causes cease to operate.
So, if we ponder on it, we must conclude that the vital task for us is
to root out all our tendencies to crave; all our desires and aversions
irrespective of their objects must be given up if we are to be liberated
of dukkha. To become utterly detached from every thing, state of
mind or experience on any plane of existence, to see that absolutely nothing
is worth clinging to: this is the wisdom that must be cultivated by investigating
all such phenomena. The insight thus gained will necessarily eliminate
all desires and so all dukkha.
The Noble Eightfold Path was the
means given by the Buddha to gain this liberating wisdom. It is by clearly
understanding and following the steps of the Path that we gain the insight
that there is nothing worth craving for. As this insight deepens through
more and more thought on the subject, tanha decreases and eventually
must disappear, and so we free ourselves of all suffering. The Path is
divided into three sections: morality (sila), concentration (samadhi),
and wisdom (pa??a). It is through the practice of sila that
samadhi
can develop and through samadhi, pa??a. The eight steps of
the Path are all actually to be developed, not consecutively, but at any
opportune time as they feed into one another at every stage. (For a detailed
discussion of the Path, please see the final section of this paper.) There
is a well-known analogy which describes the respective roles of morality,
concentration and wisdom, and if we examine the simile carefully, we will
come to understand how we must proceed in order to eliminate our tanha.
A thirsty man comes to a pond overgrown with weeds and he wishes to drink
the water in the pool. If he pushes the weeds aside with his hands and
quickly gets a sip or two from in between them, it is like practicing virtue
(sila), restraining the gross verbal and bodily actions by very
temporary means. If the man somehow fences off a small area of the pond
keeping all the weeds outsides the fence, this is like meditative concentration
samadhi where even unwholesome thoughts disappear for a time, but
they are only suppressed and can reappear if the fence breaks down. But
if the man uproots every single weed in the pond leaving the water really
pure and potable, this is like wisdom (pa??a). It actually only
through wisdom, through constantly seeing things as they really are --
changing, unsatisfactory, essenceless -- that the subconscious, latent
tendencies to craving are totally rooted out, never again to return. By
means of careful investigation we can thus understand how the Fourth Noble
Truth, the Noble Eight-Fold Path operates, how "Right View, Right Aim,
Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness,
Right Concentration if cultivated and made much of, end in the restraint
of lust, ends in the restraint of hatred, ends in the restraint of illusion"
(K.S., V, p. 5). Having thoroughly investigated, understood and penetrated
these Four Noble Truths, we are bound to eventually put an end to our wanderings
in Samsara and to all our suffering.
2. The Three Signata (Ti-lakkhana)
Investigation of Dhamma for full liberation
also must include, in addition to the Four Noble Truths, a study of the
Three Universal Characteristics or Signata of existence, (ti-lakkhana):anicca
-- impermanence, dukkha -- suffering, and anatta -- essencelessness.
Everything in the universe, mental or physical, inside or outside of us,
real or imaginary, that comes into being due to causes and conditions,
has these three traits as its nature. And since there is nothing that exists
without depending on other things, there is absolutely nothing which we
can determine to be permanent, full of happiness only, or having any real
substance. We must examine these three truths very carefully to know how
thoroughly and totally they apply in all cases. Once there is this deep
insight into the nature of reality, detachment and thereby liberation follow.
The first of these to be investigated
and in some ways the characteristic that underlies the other two is anicca
-- the utterly transitory, ephemeral, unstable nature off all mental and
physical phenomena. On the level of the apparent truth, we know quite well
that things change but we have to train ourselves to see how the process
of change is going on continually at every instant in everything. How else
could the gross conventional alterations like maturing and aging actually
come about? We have to carefully examine all the evidence we can find to
comprehend the profundity of the anicca-nature of existence. There
is nothing which we can think of that would be as we know it conventionally
if things were permanently stable. Change is synonymous with life -- our
bodies could not exist, let alone function, if the elements of which they
are made remained constant or unchanged for even a brief time. Our minds
could neither feel nor think nor perceive nor be conscious, if the mind
were unalterable in nature. Likewise in inanimate objects, change is essential
although sometimes less apparent. We must thoroughly investigate this universal
trait so that we can get beyond the limited scope of our usual perception
which mistakenly takes apparent form for ultimate reality. Because of the
incredible rapidity with which both mind and matter alter, we can only
occasionally notice that a particular change has come about; we are never
able to perceive the continual ongoing process of change which actually
makes up existence. Everything is just in a state of flux, always becoming
something else, never, really stopping to be something; all nama
(mind) and all rupa (matter) are just a continual series of risings
and vanishings following very rapidly one after the other. The ultimate
reality of everything is just these vibrations. The importance of really
knowing anicca is described by the Buddha with the simile of a farmer
ploughing his field. "In the autumn season a ploughman ploughing with a
great ploughshare, cuts through the spreading roots as he ploughs, even
so, brethren, the perceiving of impermanence, if practiced and enlarged,
wears out all sensual lust, wears out all ignorance, wears out, tears out
all conceit of 'I am'... Just as, brethren, in the autumn season (after
the monsoon rains) when the sky is opened up and cleared of clouds, the
sun, leaping forth up into the firmament, drives away all darkness from
the heavens, and shines and burns and flashes forth; even so, brethren,
the perceiving of impermanence, if practices and enlarged, wears out all
sensual lust, wears out all lust for the body, all desire for rebirth all
ignorance, wears out, tears out all conceit of 'I am'" (K.S., III, p. 132-33).
The characteristic of dukkha
has been dealt with on the grosser level as the First Noble Truth, in which
the suffering of illness, age, of separation from the desired and association
with the undesired, in our own minds and bodies and in the external world
and in the external world were considered. but there are many subtle ways
in which we can see how life is -- and must be -- unsatisfying. It has
been seen how life is inseparable from change, how without the perpetual
process of development and disintegration there would and could be no existence
at all. And yet there is the very profound contradiction between this anicca-nature
of life and our constant desire and wish for stability, for security, for
lasting happiness. If a situation is pleasant, we always hope that it will
last and try our utmost to make it do so; but all experiences of life are
doomed to pass away as everything on which they are based is completely
impermanent, changing at every moment. So all our desires (and we are almost
never without some form of tanha in our minds) are bound to be frustrated
in the long run; we can never find the durable satisfaction we seek in
this world of mind and matter. There is nothing in this universe of anicca
that has even the potential capability of giving any real happiness because
each and every things is so completely unstable. We have to give careful
attention to all the apparently pleasant and happy experiences that come
in through the six sense doors (five physical ones and the mind as the
sixth), to see whether they really can bring us satisfaction. The Buddha
warns: "In him, brethren, who contemplates the enjoyment that there is
in all that makes for grasping, (in all the sense pleasures) craving grows
... Such is the uprising of this entire mass of ill." If we analyze how
we ourselves develop strong tanha -- and in inevitable consequence
dukkha
-- when we think about and dwell on our pleasurable experiences, we can
come to see how this fearful irony of pain caused by considering pleasure
unwisely is all too true. With this understanding, then, we will instead
contemplate dukkha in these same phenomena because, "In him, brethren,
who contemplates the misery that there is in all that makes for grasping,
craving ceases ... Such is the ceasing of this entire mass of ill." (K.S.,
II, p. 59). As we are able to comprehend this dukkha-nature of everything
more and more, naturally the mind will cease to long for that which it
knows cannot bring happiness. And so the mind grows detached and moves
toward liberation.
The third universal characteristic,
anatta
-- essencelessness, soullessness, egolessness -- is the teaching unique
to the Buddhas; it does not appear in any other religious or philosophical
tradition. A complete understanding of anatta for and in oneself
must be developed before liberation is possible. The Buddha explained this
doctrine, so alien to our conventional way of thinking, in many discourses
beginning with the second discourse after his Enlightenment.
"Body ... feeling ... perception,
the activities and consciousness (the five aggregates that make up everything
there is in a 'being') are not self. If consciousness etc., brethren, were
self the consciousness would not be involved in sickness and one could
say of consciousness, etc.: 'thus let my consciousness be, thus let my
consciousness not be'; but inasmuch as consciousness is not the self, that
is why consciousness is involved in sickness. That is why one cannot (so)
say of consciousness.
"Now what think ye brethren. Is body
permanent or impermanent?"
"Impermanent, Lord."
"And what is impermanent, is that
weal or woe?"
"Woe, Lord."
"Then what is impermanent, woeful,
unstable by nature, is it fitting to regard it thus: 'This is mine; I am
this; this is the self of me'?"
"Surely not, Lord."
"... Therefore, brethren, ... every
consciousness, etc., what-ever it be, past, future or present, be it inward
or outward, gross or subtle, low or high, far or near, -- every consciousness,
I say, must be regarded as it really is by right insight: 'this is not
mine; this I am not; this is not the self of me.'
"So seeing, brethren, the well-taught
Ariyan disciple feels disgust for body, etc. So feeling disgust he is repelled,
being repelled he is freed ... so that he knows 'destroyed is rebirth ...
done is my task.'" --
K.S., III, p. 56-60
To develop insight in order to fully
comprehend the implications of anatta takes a great deal of careful,
systematic thought in combination with direct meditative experience. We
must try and see that this thing we have habitually for an immeasurably
long time called "I" actually has no real existence. This word can only
be accurately used as a term of reference for the Five Aggregates -- each
of which is constantly changing -- that go to make up this so-called "being."
Only by investigating all the Five Khandhas in depth and finding them to
be void of any essence or substance at all which might correctly be called
one's "self" can we come to fully understand anatta.
There are two main ways to come to
grips with this doctrine: via anicca and via dukkha. These
two signata are to some extent manifest as apparent truths as well as being
ultimate realities, while anatta is the complete opposite of the
apparent truth. When we think of ourselves and use "I" or "me" or "man"
etc., there is the inherent implication that these words refer to some
constant, ongoing being. But we have previously seen that if we carefully
investigate -- intellectually and by direct observation in vipassana meditation
-- all the Five Groups that comprise what we customarily consider "I" and
all the physical and mental sense organs that are taken as "mine," that
there is no trace of anything even slightly durable in any of them. Ledi
Sayadaw explains the relationship between anicca and anatta
by showing how people with untrained minds assume that there is some on-going
core or stable essence somewhere in the Five Khandhas (and take this substance
to be their atta, their self or soul. "Those beings who are not
able to discern the momentary arisings and dissolutions of the physical
and mental phenomena of the five constituent groups of existence and thus
are not able to realize the characteristic of anicca maintain: 'the
corporeality-group (or sensation, perception, activities or consciousness-group)
is the essence and therefore the atta of beings.'"[5]
If we wish to take any of these groups as our substance, then we must admit
that "I" "decay, die and am reborn every moment"; but such an ephemeral
"I" is very far from our usual conception of ourselves. If we have carefully
considered anicca as it exists in everything internal that could
be considered "I," then we must come to the conclusion that this "I" is
nothing but a mistaken idea that has grown from inaccurate perception which
has been habitually reinforced for a long, long time. As the truth of anatta
becomes clearer, we gradually let go of this "I" and so are closer and
closer to Enlightenment, where not the slightest shadow of a trace of this
misconception can remain.
If we discern all the mental and
physical dukkha we have to undergo in life, we learn about anatta
from a different angle. This nama-rupa phenomenon is constantly
subject to this pain and that anguish, and yet we foolishly insist on calling
the body and mind "mine" and assuming that they belong to "me." But the
very idea of possession means that the owner has control of the property;
so "I" should be able to keep my body and mind as I want them to be, naturally
healthy and happy. As the Buddha stated in the quotation at the start of
this section, "Let my body be thus; let it not be thus." But obviously
and undeniably, suffering is felt and cannot be prevented by mere exertion
of will or wishing. So, in reality, we have to come to the conclusion that
there is no "I" who controls this nama-rupa; mind and body are in
no way fit to be called "mine." "The arising of the five constituent groups
do not yield to the wishes of anyone." (SDD, p. 93). Phenomena which are
dependent upon specific causes which operate strictly according to their
nature from moment to moment cannot be subject to control by any "being"
and as we explore it thoroughly, we come to understand how this Five Aggregate
phenomenon which we wrongly tend to consider "I" is just such a conditioned
and dependent process. And suffering (or pleasure, for that matter) likewise
comes about because of certain conditions, chief amongst them being tanha.
There is no "being" who controls what ultimately happens to these five
aggregates.
Being caught in personality belief,
(sakkaya
ditthi) -- the inability to comprehend anatta -- causes tremendous
dukkha to creatures on all the planes of existence from the lowest
hell to the highest brahma worlds. This great source of suffering must
be carefully examined and its workings understood if we are to escape from
its powerful, deep-rooted grasp. "Ego-delusion is the foremost of the unwholesome
Kamma of old and accompanies beings incessantly. As long as personality
belief exists these old unwholesome actions are fiery and full of strength
... those beings who harbor within themselves this personality-belief are
continually under pressure to descend or directly fall towards the worlds
of woe."[6]
(A of A, p. 50). By thoroughly rooting out, seeing through and letting
go of this mistaken conception that there is a real substantial "I," "all
wrong views, evil mental factors and evil Kammas which would lead ... to
the Lower Worlds will disappear." (SDD, p. 87). Thus if we can really know
our anatta-nature totally, there is no longer any possibility of
the extreme dukkha of rebirth in the lower realms of existence and
the life continuum will "always remain within the fold of the Buddha's
Dispensation wherever ... reborn." (A of A, p. 52). But if one does not
understand the impersonal nature of this five aggregate phenomenon, he
will "undoubtedly have to preserve his soul (or self) by entertaining evil
thoughts and evil actions as the occasion arises." (SDD, p. 50) We can
see that if we act on the assumption that there is an "I" we are always
in the position of attempting to protect and preserve this 'self' and thus
very much prone to commit unwholesome thoughts, words and deeds in relation
to other "beings." "People are generally concerned with what they consider
to be themselves or their own ... and their bodily, verbal and mental acts
are based on and are conditioned by that concern. So the root of all vice
for the foolish concern is 'self' and one's 'own.'" Ledi Sayadaw explains
how the belief that there is an "I" causes this continual rebirth with
a strong downward tendency with the analogy of a string of beads:
In a string of beads where
a great number of beads are strung together by a strong silk thread, if
one bead is pulled all the others will follow the one that is pulled. But
if the silk thread is cut of removed, pulling one of the beads will not
disturb the other beads because there is no longer any attachment between
them.
Similarly, a being that possesses
personality-belief harbors a strong attachment to the series of Aggregates
arisen during past existences ... and transforms them into an ego ... It
is thus that the innumerable unwholesome karmic actions of the past existences
which have not yet produced resultants, will accompany that being wherever
he may be reborn. These unwholesome actions of the past resemble beads
that are strung and bound together by a strong thread.
Beings, however, who clearly perceive
the characteristic of Not-self and have rid themselves of personality-belief,
will perceive that the bodily and mental Aggregates that arise and disappear
even within the short period of one sitting, do so as separate phenomena
and not as a closely interlinked continuum. The concept of 'my self' which
is like the thread, is not longer present. Those bodily and mental processes
appear to them like the beads from which the thread has been removed." --
A of A, pp. 53-54
Thus the dispelling of personality belief
removes all the mental factors which might cause one to behave in such
a way that would lead to rebirth in the realms of woe as well as cutting
off the link of attachment to an "ego" that has kept us connected to all
our evil deeds of the past. Even in this present life it is clear if we
think about it that Sakkaya Ditthi (personality-belief) causes us
great suffering and its elimination would be of great benefit. For example,
"When external or internal dangers are encountered or disease and ailments
occur, beings attach themselves to them through such thoughts as, 'I feel
pain, I feel hurt,' thus take a possessive attitude towards them. This
becomes an act of bondage that later may obstruct beings from ridding themselves
of those diseases ... though they are so greatly oppressive" (A of A, p.
56).
However, understanding that it is
this erroneous personality-belief that keeps us thinking that there is
some ongoing essence or substance in this five aggregate phenomena that
can rightly be called "I" will not immediately or automatically prevent
the thought of "I" from coming up in the mind as it is a very deeply rooted
Sankhara
that has been built up over a long period of time. Whenever a thought related
to "I" does appear, we must mindfully apply the wisdom of anatta
we have already gained and realize that "I" is nothing but an idea originating
form an incorrect perception of reality. Whenever we notice ourselves thinking
of an "I" as one of the aggregates or as related to one of them, we have
to consider carefully the thought and reinforce our understanding that
"Whatsoever material object ... whatsoever feeling, whatsoever perception,
whatsoever activities, whatsoever consciousness ... (must be rightly regarded
as) 'This is not mine, this I am not; this is not the self of me.'" This
process of seeing the ignorance arise and repeatedly applying the Right
View to it, gradually wears away even the thoughts of "I," "myself" and
"mine." This total elimination of "I"-consciousness which is nothing but
a subtle form of conceit, and of this concept of "mine" which is subtle
form of tanha, does not happen until Arhantship is reached. But
our task is to deepen the comprehension and investigation of anatta
to greater and greater depths of insight by means of Vipassana meditation.
A group of monks once questioned
the Venerable Khemaka about anatta and inquired whether he had attained
Arhantship. He replied that he was not yet fully liberated because he still
had subtle remnants of "I am" in his mind. He said to them:
I see that in these five
grasping groups I have got the idea of "I am" yet I do not think that I
am this "I am." Though (one is a Non-returner) ... yet there remains in
him a subtle remnant of the I-conceit, of the I am-desire, of the lurking
tendency to think "I am" still not removed from him. Later on he lives
contemplating the rise and fall of the five grasping groups seeing thus:
"Such is the body, such is the arising of body, such is the ceasing of
it. Such is feeling ... perception ... the activities ... consciousness."
In this way ... the subtle remnant
of the I am-conceit, of the I am-desire, that lurking tendency to think
"I am" which was still not removed from him -- that is now removed. --
K.S., III, p. 110
This explanation of Khemaka's was so
clear and profound that as a direct result of his discourse, all the monks
who listened to it and Khemaka himself as well, were fully liberated --
with no remnants of "I am" remaining. So we would do well to carefully
study what this wise monk said about the development of anatta so
that we can come to understand how by means of this process of carefully
observing, clearly experiencing, and thoroughly investigating the rise
and fall of the five khandhas we gradually eliminate the gross layers of
Sakkaya
Ditthi and by the same means, more and more refined, ultimately root
out even the latent, subconscious tendency to think "I am."
Investigation into the Three Universal
Characteristics -- anicca, dukkha, and anatta -- is
a fundamental requirement for the growth of liberating insight. Once we
have thoroughly analyzed our own nama-rupa and also the phenomena
of the external world, and completely understood how everything we can
conceive of -- real or imaginary, mental or physical, internal or external
-- is totally unstable, incapable of bringing real durable happiness and
without any actual substance, detachment must follow and with it freedom
from the dukkha of existence. The process of gradually overcoming
ignorance with wisdom comes through the direct bodily experience of the
unsatisfactoriness and essencelessness of this nama-rupa in vipassana
meditation, combined with careful thought, so that these "experiences"
have their full impact on the mind. Once again, it is by investigation
in meditation that detachment from the "all" is won -- and so too the ultimate
peace free from all desire.
3. Dependent Origination (Paticcasamuppada)
The doctrine of Dependent Origination
(Paticcasamuppada) is one of the most profound and far-reaching teachings
of the Buddha and as such this law of causality requires very thorough
investigation and comprehension by anyone seeking liberation. Without clearly
knowing the causal law, the Three Signata and the Four Noble Truths cannot
be fully understood with the full insight that leads to dispassion, to
Nibbana. All of these are included within Paticcasamuppada which
demonstrates their relation with each other. The Buddha himself pointed
out the great significance of this teaching to Ananda when Ananda said
that he found the causal law quite plain. The Buddha admonished him saying,
"Say not so, Ananda, say not so! Deep indeed is this causal law, and deep
indeed it appears. It is through not knowing, not understanding, not penetrating,
that doctrine, that this generation has become entangled like a ball of
string ... unable to overpass the doom of the Waste, the Woeful Way, the
Downfall, the Constant Faring on." (K.S., II, p.64) And elsewhere Sariputta
quotes the Exalted One as saying, " Whoever sees conditional genesis sees
the Dhamma, whoever see the Dhamma sees conditioned genesis." (M., I, p.
237)
The general all-encompassing form
of the law of Dependent Origination is a very simple statement of cause
and effect but is something to which the meditator must give "his mind
thoroughly and systematically"; succinctly it states "this being that comes
to be; from the arising of this, that arises; from the ceasing of this
that ceases." (K.S., II, p.45) This is really just another more abstract
formulation of the Second and Third Noble Truths -- the cause of and the
cessation of suffering. The full twelve-link formula of the Paticcasamuppada
is an expansion of these two middle Truths, a full explanation of the process
by which suffering is generated and how by the removal of the causes, suffering
also comes to cease. Thus in order to understand completely the Four Noble
Truths, one must have contemplated on and gained insight into dependent
origination as well. Another very important aspect of this doctrine to
be understood is how its description of the process of life, the process
of becoming, clearly demonstrates how it is totally impersonal manifestation
of certain causes, with no "I" or 'being' in any way involved in or related
to it, anatta. Finally, this doctrine enables us to discern just
how kamma operates in generating the causes of rebirth.
The list of twelve links in direct
order explaining the arising of suffering, is usually described as beginning
with the past life, going on to the present life and then to future life
(or potential lives.) Avijja-paccaya sankhara -- ignorance conditions
mental volitions. It is due to the root cause of ignorance (about the ultimate
nature of reality) that the mind generates desires, sankharas, kamma.
Sankhara-paccaya
vi??anam -- these mental volitions, this kamma of the past, gives rise
to the rebirth-linking consciousness which is the first mind moment of
the new (present) birth. Note there is no "thing" transmigrating from one
life to another, only a process of cause and effect goes on: Vi??ana-paccaya
nama-rupam -- the mind and matter phenomenon (five aggregates) of the
present life come to be due to the existence of this rebirth-linking consciousness.
Conception has taken place and this
nama-rupa phenomenon continues
its processes until death intervenes.
Nama-rupa-paccaya salayatanam
-- through mind and matter, the six sense bases are conditioned; with this
very start of the new life the five physical sense organs and mind as the
sixth come into being. Salayatana-paccaya phasso -- throughout the
life these six senses are the condition for the arising of contact (with
their appropriate objects) which occur from moment to moment. Phassa-paccaya
vedana -- feeling (pleasant, unpleasant or neutral) is conditioned
by sense impression and this feeling rises in relation to contacts at first
through one then another sense door, ad infinitum.
Vedana-paccaya tanha
-- craving arises based on feeling. In terms of practice, this is the most
important step of the Paticcasamuppada as it is at this point that
we can learn to turn around the whole process and make it lead to the cessation
of suffering.
The other (unnamed) factor which
conditions craving along with feeling is ignorance (the same as the first
factor) -- the inability to see that in reality there is nothing worth
craving for, nothing that can actually be held, and no ongoing being truly
capable of having its desires satisfied. At this link volition can alter
the old habitual sequences and the feeling part of the mind by means of
training in the Noble Eightfold Path can be made to condition the arising
of wisdom, and pa??a will forestall the arising of tanha
(and the whole mass of suffering that is conditioned by this craving).
Tanha-paccaya
upadanam -- craving gives rise to clinging, tenacious desire. Actually,
for most of us, the application of wisdom and mindfulness is very rarely
such that it can totally prevent the deep habits of tanha from surfacing
after feeling, but what we can do is prevent either of the next two links
-- upadana and bhava -- from developing out of the initial
spurt of desire. Upadana-paccaya bhavo -- conditioned by clinging,
becoming arises. Due to the power of the accumulation of sankharas,
of kamma (tanha, upadana and bhava being simply mental
volitions of increasing strength), the very strong kamma which is responsible
for the process of becoming arises and it is these bhava-sankharas
that generate the momentum for a new birth at the appropriate moment. Bhava-paccaya
jati -- becoming conditions birth in a future life at the dissolution
of this present five aggregate phenomenon. If we seriously consider the
matter, we can perceive that all desires are just particular manifestations
of the will to exist or to continue; and all such craving and clinging
are future directed energies whose function is the seeking of fulfillment.
This force of kammic energy does not cease with death. Becoming is just
the very strong form of desire and it contains sufficient momentum behind
it that at the time of death it is the force that makes for a new birth.
This energy manifests and a new nama-rupa begins. Thus once again
the start of life is shown to be a completely impersonal, conditioned process
working totally irrespective of anyone's wishes, hopes or desires, leading
to a phenomena with no essence of "I." This link repeats the second one
in the series just in different words. Jati-paccaya jaramaranam
-- once there is birth there automatically comes to be old age and death
and all the other manifold forms of suffering encountered in life -- the
First Noble Truth. And thus the cycle beginning with our inherited ignorance
leads inexorably towards more and more suffering in the future.
The inverse form of the cycle is
stated alongside the form above. It is the inverse that demonstrates the
Third Noble Truth, how with the cessation of the cause, the effect must
cease; so avijja nirodha, sankhara nirodho etc., -- when ignorance
ceases, no more sankharas are generated and carried through all the intervening
links, the way of ending all suffering is thus shown.
This is but a very rough sketch of
the workings of the Paticcasamuppada that must be wisely considered
and thoroughly elaborated on and then incorporated into the meditator's
own thought processes for it to serve him as a means to liberation. Each
link has to be investigated in terms of the Four Noble Truths -- to understand
the factor itself, its arising, its ceasing and the way leading to its
cessation (always the Fourth Noble Truth -- the Path). The Buddha has Sariputta
explain to him the way the meditator in training who is still a learner,
considers things. Sariputta states: "'This has come to be,' Lord -- thus
by right insight he sees as it really is; and seeing it in this way he
practices revulsion from it, and that it may fade away and cease. From
the ceasing of a certain sustenance that which has come to be is liable
to cease -- so he sees by right insight as it really is. And seeing that
in this way he practices revulsion from that which is liable to cease that
it may fade away and cease." The revulsion to be practiced in relation
to all conditioned phenomena, to all things that have arisen dependent
on causes, is closely akin to detachment and dispassion. Unlike aversion,
revulsion is based on wisdom and developed in relation to all pleasant,
unpleasant or neutral experiences. The Arahant makes the same observations
about the unstable nature of conditioned phenomena, but for him the stage
of practicing has passed, and when by right insight, the fully liberated
one sees "This has come to be," then "because of revulsion at that which
has come to be, because of its fading away and ceasing he becomes free,
grasping at nothing ...." (K.S., II, p. 36-37) So the lesson to be learned
from the Doctrine of Dependent Origination -- as from all the Dhamma --
is that nothing that arises due to causes and conditions can possibly provide
secure happiness due to its inherent changeability and instability; so
there is absolutely nothing on any plane of existence worth developing
the slightest interest in or attachment to as all such involvement can
only lead to suffering. So detachment and revulsion are the result of a
complete understanding of the workings of the causal law -- and this is
liberation.
In one place, the Buddha actually
describes the series of causes leading to liberation itself, beginning
with suffering, thus: "What is that which is the cause of liberation? Passionlessness
is the answer ... and repulsion is causally related to passionlessness
... knowledge-and-vision of things as they really are is causally associated
with repulsion ... concentration is causally associated with knowledge-and-vision
... happiness is causally associated with concentration ... serenity is
causally associated with happiness ... rapture is causally associated with
serenity ... joy is causally associated with rapture ... faith is causally
associated with joy ... And what is the cause of faith? Suffering is the
answer. Suffering is causally related with faith." (K.S., II, p. 25-26)
The Buddha then continues with the origins of suffering back to ignorance
following the usual Paticcasamuppada formulation backwards, thus
showing the whole length of the route -- the Path, the Fourth Noble Truth
-- out of the causal cycle. It is because of the experience of suffering
that beings seek a way out and put their faith in the Buddha as a guide
and in his teachings as the true method to attain freedom from all ill.
Thus the causal cycle proceeds from dukkha, the end of the usual
twelve-link Dependent Origination formula, through saddha (faith)
and all the steps here named to final and total emancipation.
Kamma is one of the basic causes
in the cycle of Dependent Origination (in the past life it goes under name
sankhara
and in the present life it encompasses tanha, upadana, and
bhava) and a deep investigation of its significance and operation
must be made, as, after all, it is through our own wholesome and unwholesome
kamma that we are tied down to the infinite cycle of rebirths and it is
by means of good kamma that we are able to transcend this universe of kamma,
rebirth and dukkha.
It is important to remind ourselves
and to discover how in our own minds, at every moment we are creating new
kammas. When we investigate the thinking process carefully in our meditation,
we come to observe that all our thoughts are related to some tanha,
some desire or aversion, some volition. And each moment the kamma we are
creating is either beneficial or harmful to us both in the immediate and
far distant future; there is not an instant when we are molding our future
fate. And no matter how good an act of body or speech may seem, it is only
a gross manifestation of a mental volition, and if the thought behind it
is impure, the kammic effects are in the long run bound to be painful.
Hence it is vital to analyze our own minds and then cultivate the beneficial
volitions that aid us on the Path to Liberation, otherwise the old habitual
tendencies rooted in ignorance are bound to take us to the unhappy realms
for rebirth, and once reborn there it is almost impossible to be reborn
on the human plane for an extremely long period of time.
But we must also consider that in
the ultimate analysis, even good volitions must be given up, as "That which
we will, brethren, and that which we intend to do, that wherewithal we
are occupied -- this becomes an object for the persistence of consciousness,"
and so anything we think about will become nourishment for a new birth
either in the lower or higher realms, depending on the purity of the willing,
the intention or the occupation (K.S., II, p. 45). And ultimately in order
to totally eradicate all suffering (even the very subtle dukkha
that is inherent in the fact that the life span of even the most long-lived
Brahma is limited, finite), rebirth must be eliminated -- and this means
rooting out its causes as explained in the cycle of Dependent Origination.
Particularly for the Western mind
this infinite Samsaric cycle of rebirth has to be thought about quite thoroughly
before our understanding of it can influence our behavior, making us act
on the basis of a very long-term view. "Incalculable is the beginning,
brethren, of this faring on. The earliest point is not revealed of the
running on, the faring on of beings cloaked in ignorance, tied to craving
... For many a long day, brethren, have ye experienced death of mother,
of son, of daughter, have ye experienced the ruin of kinfolk, the calamity
of disease. Greater is the flood of tears shed by you crying and weeping
of one and all these as ye fare on, run on this many a long day, united
with the undesirable, sundered from the desirable, than are the waters
in the four seas. (Because) incalculable is the beginning, brethren, of
this faring on." (K.S., II, p. 120)
Ledi Sayadaw reminds us that, "Lack
of wholesome kamma will lead to the lower worlds where one has to suffer
grievously. Fearing such suffering, one has to perform wholesome kamma
which can lead one to be reborn as man or deva in the existences to come."
(Manuals
of Buddhism, p. 227, Magganga Dipani). One important aspect of Right
View which as to be investigated relates to kamma. We have to know for
ourselves that "Only the wholesome and unwholesome actions of beings are
the origin of their wanderings in many a becoming or world cycle"; and
that only these actions "are their real refuge wherever they may wander"
(Magganga Dipani, p. 221). There is nothing very strange in this idea of
kamma being the one thing that endures (while always being influenced and
altered by present mental volitions), carrying over from one life to the
next. If we ponder over the matter, we see that just as a moral cause and
effect works within this life to only some extent, the effects of many
kammas can only show up in future lives; so over an infinite span of lives
kusala
(wholesome) kammas ultimately must bring good results and
akusala
(unwholesome) kammas bring unhappy states. As we study the cycle of Dependent
Origination it clearly shows that there is no entity or ongoing being involved
anywhere in all these births, deaths and rebirths, but only past kamma
manifesting in a five aggregate phenomenon which changes every moment and
which in turn continues to generate new kamma leading to new births, in
a process that evolves endlessly from moment to moment.
As seen above, it is of vital importance
to investigate thoroughly the causal law and kamma in order for full insight
into the nature of existence to develop, for some causes lie behind the
arising of absolutely everything. "Whether any ... mental or physical phenomena
arises, the arising of any thing whatsoever is dependent on conditions,
and without condition, nothing can ever arise or enter into existence."[7]
It is only through giving systematic thought to the twelve factors and
the connections between them in the Paticcasamuppada cycle that
we can introduce the appropriate causes to make this law cease operating.
And only thus can we bring to an end the process of rebirth and its attendant
suffering, by substituting wisdom for ignorance when feeling arises --
and so prevent the development of tanha which would inexorably lead
to rebirth. Most important of all to train the mind in wisdom is to understand
clearly how completely impersonally and automatically moment to moment
every link in the cycle operates; the sequence goes on strictly as a matter
of cause and effect with no room for, no need for, any "I" to explain the
continual rise and fall of nama-rupa.
In this religion, brethren,
a pondering brother ponders: 'This diverse and manifold ill that arises
in the world as old age and death -- what is this ill based on, how comes
it to pass? ... What being there does old age-and-death come to be? What
not being there does old age-and-death not come to be?' He pondering comes
to know that this ... is based on birth ... He comes to know old age-and-death,
he comes to know its arising, he comes to know its ceasing and he comes
to know the way going to its ceasing. --
K.S., II, p. 56-57
He ponders similarly on all the other
factors in the Dependent Origination and thus he is called a "brother who
has wholly practiced for the complete destroying of ill." Full comprehension
through very careful analysis of the Paticcasamuppada must make
us detached, must make us see that there is nothing which really corresponds
to the word "I," and must make us learn to cease creating sankharas by
willing actions. Once we cease to create any more kamma of any kind, the
other links in the cycle must automatically fall away. And the Buddha ends
this discourse emphatically referring to this process of breaking the causal
chain saying, "Believe me, brethren, be convinced of this, be ye without
doubt herein, without hesitation just this is the end of Dukkha!"
4. The Five Aggregates (Khandha)
Dhammavicaya in addition to the
definition used in the previous three sections of investigation of the
Dhamma, may also be interpreted as meaning investigation of dhammas, of
all things, all phenomena, mental or physical, real or imaginary, conditioned
or unconditioned. In this connection the most important things to be examined
are perhaps, first the five khandhas or aggregates that make one life continuum,
one nama-rupa, a "person": and second the six sense doors -- five
physical ones and the mind, and their corresponding six categories of sense
objects.
We have to examine the aggregate
of body and four of the mind -- perception, feeling, mental volitions and
consciousness -- that in combination make up this thing we have been calling
"I," very thoroughly and deeply in order to see how ultimately there is
nothing lasting, satisfying or which deserves to be considered "myself"
in any of them; to know how all that we associate with "me" is just anicca,dukkha
and anatta, and to understand how these aggregates arise to pass
away. The khandhas are the basic components which make up what we perceive
of as an individual. But each of these aggregates in itself has no essence;
each is merely a process of continual minute momentary risings and fallings.
Vi??ana is consciousness,
just the process or faculty of knowing, or awareness, that arises immediately
upon the coming together of any sense organ and its respective object.
Sa??a
is perception or recognition of the object, defining it by associating
it with past memories. Vedana is the feeling that arises as an immediate
result of contact when the internal and external sense bases get together
and the appropriate consciousness comes into being.
Vedana can be
pleasant, unpleasant or neutral feeling of body or of mind. Sankhara
is mental volitions or activities; the thinking process of the mind is
the facet of nama governed by this khandha. The past mind-moment
with its consciousness, feeling, perception and volition is the condition
for the arising of the next, but there is nothing of any of those four
mental components (nor anything outside of them) that continues over from
one instant to the next. The body aggregate, too, is utterly impermanent
and insubstantial, just like any form of matter, living or inorganic. All
matter is made up of the infinitely small kalapas (sub-atomic particles
or vibrations) which come to be and vanish at only a slightly slower rate
than the mind, but still so extremely quickly that we get the illusion
of continuity, unity and substance where these do not actually exist.
The Buddha tells the monks the importance
of such examination of the aggregates thus: "So soon, brethren, as beings
thoroughly understand, as they really are the satisfaction as such, the
misery as such, the way of escape as such in these five factors of grasping
(the aggregates) then, brethren, beings do remain aloof, detached ... with
barriers of the mind done away with." (K.S., III, p. 30) Once we intellectually
realize that none of the khandhas can rightly be called "mine," then we
are faced with the urgent task of rooting out, eliminating this aspect
of personality belief from our minds, of becoming truly aloof and detached.
The Buddha described this work thus: "What is not of you, brethren, put
it away. Putting it away will be for your profit and welfare. And what,
brethren, is not of you? Body ... feeling ... perception ... the activities,
consciousness is not of you. Put it away." (K.S., III, p. 231-2). Putting
away or giving up or letting go of what we incorrectly think of as "mine"
is a gradual and long term process. In fact, not only is this process of
investigating and giving systematic attention to the anicca, dukkha,anatta
nature of the aggregates the work of the beginner, the same thing is done
by beings at any stage along the way, even by the fully-liberated ones.
"The grasping groups, friend Kotthita," says the great disciple of the
Buddha, Sariputta, "are the conditions which should be pondered with method
by a virtuous brother, as being impermanent, sick, as a boil, as a dart,
as pain, as ill-health, as alien, as transitory, empty and soulless ...
It is possible for a virtuous brother so pondering with method ... to realize
the fruits of stream winning ... of once returning ... of never returning
... of arahantship ... For the Arahant, friend, there is nothing further
to be done ... Nevertheless, these things, if practiced and enlarged conduce
to a happy existence and self-possession even in this present life" for
him. (K.S., III, p. 143)
Very frequently the Buddha refers
to the five aggregates or groups of existence as the upadanakkhandha
or grasped-at groups, aggregates (as objects) of clinging, etc. It is worthwhile
to contemplate why he considered these components of life so inseparable
from tanha and upadana that he actually called them clinging-aggregates.
First of all, these aggregates only come into being because of tanha;
through craving and clinging the past sankharas gave rise to the present
birth, the current namarupa which is precisely the same as these
five grasped-at groups. What has its cause in clinging must have clinging
as its very core. Secondly, these aggregates are the means by which we
are conscious of and perceive through the six sense doors;
an impression is then felt and as a result of this process the input
leads to mental volitions as well as to actions of body directed
by some tanha to gain, grasp at, cling to something. Thirdly, and
most important, it is just these five constituent groups that we tend to
cling to most tenaciously, convinced that they are "I" and "mine." We have
already looked into this misperception of reality and by means of a strong
simile the Buddha illustrated the danger in such clinging to any of the
aggregates or seeing in them any security:
Suppose ... a mountain torrent
... rising from afar, swift-flowing, and on both its banks are growing
grasses overhanging the stream; ... and a man is swept away by that stream
and clutches at the grasses, but they might break away and owing to that
he might come by his destruction.
Even so, brethren, the untaught manyfolk
... regard the body as the self, or the self as having body, or the body
as being in the self, or the self as being in the body. Then the body breaks
away, and owing to that they come by their destruction.
And so with feeling, perception,
the activities ... consciousness. --
K.S., III, p. 116
We also subject ourselves to tremendous
suffering because we "are possessed by this idea" that the body belongs
to "me" for, when the body or any of the aggregates "alters and changes,
owing to the unstable nature of the body, then sorrow and grief, woe, lamentation
and despair arise" if these changes are not what we wanted (K.S., III,
p. 3).
Only by completely investigating
the ultimate reality of these five aggregates will we see that they are
incapable of giving satisfaction and so not worth grasping at, that actually
they are so unstable that holding onto them is impossible, and there is
no one who can cling anyhow (as the 'self' arises and vanishes every moment
and so cannot possibly continue to possess anything for any period of time).
So, in order to attain liberation, one must attain insight into these five
aggregates so that the necessary dispassion arises, for "by not thoroughly
knowing, by not understanding, by not being detached from, by not renouncing
body (and the other khandhas) one is unfit for the destruction of suffering
... But, brethren, by thoroughly knowing (them) ... one is fit for the
destruction of suffering" (K.S., III, p. 26).
5. The Sense Bases (Ayatana)
The investigative process also must
be applied to the internal and external sense bases (ayatana), so
that the pleasure and misery in them, their cause and cessation, and their
anicca,
dukkha and anatta nature is fully comprehended. Only with
this insight are we able to let go of our attachments to, desire for, and
clinging to, the eye and visible objects, the ear and sounds, the nose
and smells, the tongue and tastes, the body and things tangible, the mind
and mental objects. One must especially learn how the mind operates as
just another sense organ, whose field is all the perceptions and thoughts
that have occurred in the past, in order to dissociate the workings of
the mind from the "I" notion. In his third sermon, the Buddha stated, "The
all is on fire" and the nature of this conflagration must be seen and understood
before it can be extinguished and freedom gained from it. "The eye, brethren,
is on fire, objects are on fire, eye-consciousness ... eye contact ...
that weal or woe or neutral state experienced, which arises owing to eye-contact
(vedana,
feeling); ... that also is on fire ... On fire with the blaze of lust,
the blaze of ill-will, the blaze of infatuation, the blaze of birth, decay
and death, sorrow ... ," (K.S., IV, p. 10) and so are tongue and mind-related
phenomena -- and by extrapolation those coming from the other senses as
well.
The six internal sense organs (salayatana)
and their corresponding objects have a crucial role in the present lifetime
phase of the Paticcasamuppada. Consciousness, vi??ana, is
not permanent or abiding; instead it arises and ceases every moment, and
it is the coming together of one of the sense organs and its respective
object that causes the arising of a moment of consciousness. Thus every
consciousness is eye-consciousness, or ear-consciousness, or nose- or tongue-
or body- or mind-consciousness, depending on which sense organ at that
instant has met its object. The cycle of causality continues on from there:
"Owing to eye and objects arises eye-consciousness. The coming together
of the three is contact. Dependent on contact is feeling. Dependent on
feeling is craving ... grasping ... becoming. Dependent on becoming is
rebirth, decay and death, sorrow and grief ... This is the arising of the
world." (K.S., IV, p. 53) From thus analyzing the genesis of existence
(the "world") and of dukkha (as it is more often formulated) we
can understand the absolutely impersonal nature of the arising of consciousness,
as well as the germinal role in creating sankharas played by the internal
and external sense bases.
Consciousness, or mind, is analogous
to the proverbial monkey constantly on the move high up in the trees in
the jungle, always grasping at something or the other. Similarly with the
mind, at each and every mind-moment when awake, consciousness must be connected
with one or another of the sense doors; there is no underlying substratum
of consciousness that endures through time, but only momentary clutching
after sights, grabbing for sounds, clinging to smells, holding on to tastes,
attachment to tangibles or (and often most predominantly) hanging onto
mind objects. It is because the sense organs and their objects inherently
contain the danger of tempting us to create craving (tanha) and
an urge to renewed existence (bhava-sankhara) that the Buddha frequently
warned the monks about keeping the sense doors well guarded, since the
external objects cannot be eliminated. By means of ongoing mindfulness,
rooted in insight into the true nature of all the phenomena that appear
at the sense doors, it is necessary to observe how craving starts to rear
its head (as it inevitably will, due to the old completely automatic mental
conditioning) once contact and feeling have taken place, and not allow
the desire to take over the mind and becomes a strong rebirth producing
force. If we do not keep watch over our senses and reactions attentively,
we are like the fish attracted by the well-baited hook on the line held
by the fisherman. "Just as a fisherman, brethren, casts a baited hook in
some deep pool of water, and some fish greedy for the bait, gulps it down
and thus ... comes to destruction, -- even so, brethren, there are these
six hooks in the world, to the sorrow of beings ... objects cognizable
by the eye inciting to lust ... If a brother delights therein, persists
in clinging to them, such a one is called 'hook-swallower' ... is come
to destruction." (K.S., IV, p. 99) And of course the other hooks to be
wary of in the world are alluring sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles and
mental objects. If we give careful, systematic attention to these external
sense objects as we meet them, we cannot help but realize that the pain
of swallowing the hooks by clinging to the sense objects far outweighs
the possible momentary pleasure of tasting the bait.
The basic aim of investigating the
sense organs is the same as for the aggregates -- to see how thoroughly
they are anicca and Dukkha and so to cease to cling to them
as "I" and "mine." "A brother beholds no trace of the self nor what pertains
to the self in the six-fold sense sphere. so beholding, he is attached
to nothing in the world. Unattached he is not troubled. Untroubled he is
of himself utterly set free" (K.S., IV, p. 104).
The specific subjects in the Dhamma
that must be investigated for insight have in this section been given initial
exploration. The task is to turn these thoughts and ideas into real wisdom,
so that the whole course of the life becomes oriented to and aimed at liberation.
We must learn to keep before us at all the time the ultimate nature of
all dhammas -- all phenomena of any conceivable kind that can enter consciousness
-- so that the gross perceptual illusion or hallucination of the apparent
truth loses its strength and the ignorance it fosters vanishes and with
it all craving. We have to analyze completely this body-and-mind and all
the external phenomena that appear from time to time at the six sense doors
until the pleasure and misery in them are understood, until the causes
of their arising and ceasing are comprehended, until their ultimately impermanent,
unsatisfactory, conditioned and essenceless nature is clearly known. This
is done by means of careful investigation in meditation of the Three Signata
of Existence, and the Doctrine of Dependent Origination. With this insight
fully developed there can be no clinging or craving, no ill-will or aversion,
and ultimately one becomes "independent, unattached to anything in the
world," and so with all its causes uprooted, liberation from all suffering
is achieved.
Investigation in Meditation
There are a number of other aspects
of Dhamma Investigation that have to be examined now that the contents
of such exploration have been discussed. The very basic and essential relationship
between investigative thinking and insight meditation, how the two are
required to support each other and send the meditator's mind to its goal
of ending all possibility of dukkha, is the appropriate one to deal with
first.
For investigation of Dhamma to lead
to liberating insight it must be combined with and done in the course of
insight meditation. It is just through investigation and wise consideration
of phenomena that insight into their ultimate nature develops. At the time
of the Buddha there were people who became fully Enlightened in just a
few moments of time, but even for them some sort of thought process had
to go on. But these individuals had accumulated such a vast store of paramis
-- accumulated good acts and mental dispositions of the past -- that the
liberating wisdom came with nearly instantaneous impact. While just a Bodhisatta,
the Buddha went back to the first jhana, a deep absorption (after having
mastered seven still deeper, more profound concentrative states) -- which
includes thinking -- when he sat under the Bodhi Tree with the final and
total determination to become fully liberated. "Before my enlightenment,
while I was still only an unenlightened Bodhisatta, I thought: This world
has fallen into a slough for it is born, ages and dies, it passes away
and reappears, and yet knows no escape from this suffering. When will an
escape from this suffering be described? I thought: what is there when
aging and death come to be? What is their necessary condition? Then with
ordered attention I came to understand ... birth is a necessary condition
for them." And so as he exerted the utmost effort to become a Buddha, a
fully self-liberated being, he proceeded carefully thinking through all
the links of the cycle of Dependent Origination in both directions. "I
thought: This is the path to enlightenment that I have now reached ...
that is how there is a cessation to this whole aggregate mass of suffering.
'The cessation, the cessation' such was the insight, the knowledge, the
understanding, the vision, the light, that arose in me about ideas no heard
of before."[8]
Also to gain the full understanding
of the khandhas at this crucial juncture of this life, the Bodhisatta used
careful intellectual consideration. "I thought: in the case of material
form, of feeling, of perception, of formations, of consciousness what is
the gratification, what is the danger, what the escape? Then I thought:
In the case of each the bodily pleasure and mental joy that arise in dependence
on these things (the five categories) are the gratification; the fact that
these things are all impermanent, painful and subject to change is the
danger; the disciplining and abandoning of desire and lust for them is
the escape."[9]
These quotations show how vital wise
investigative thinking was to the Buddha himself in his meditations while
moving towards his Enlightenment and so must we, too, carefully combine
the thought process and meditation to liberate ourselves from suffering.
The long quotation given in the section
on investigating the khandhas shows how it is the process of pondering
deeply on things that brings us dispassion towards them all, and so to
the stages of Enlightenment. So insight, clarity of vision into the ultimate
nature of reality, bhavana-maya-pa??a, (wisdom born of meditation)
the personal direct knowledge that bears concrete fruit in our behavior
in life, is really based on careful thinking so that the apparent truths
are seen through and no longer allowed to delude us by coloring and covering
up the real nature of our minds and bodies and of the external world.
This liberating insight can, however,
only develop if the investigating is done by a person who meditates regularly.
Meditation provides us with the relatively concrete evidence of personal
experience to guarantee the validity of our more abstract thinking. There
are times when meditation consists of just observing, in a very one-pointed
manner, the rise and fall of the sensations (vedana) caused by the
subtle biochemical changes going on in the body. But there are other occasions
either when thinking is going on quite strongly or when there is a tendency
to sloth and torpor, and at these times it is very beneficial to do Dhamma
investigation. When the mind is busy thinking, it is always involved in
ignorance, always full of clinging or aversion, always dwelling in the
past or future because this is the nature of the conditioning that it has
gotten from the past. By this kind of thinking we are creating "heaps and
heaps" of unwholesome mental volitions, sankharas, akusala kamma,
which are bound to bear fruit in some sort of dukkha in the future.
If instead we apply the mind in a systematic way to thinking about Dhamma,
trying to eliminate craving, trying to see through to the ultimate realities
of phenomena, we are creating very powerful good kamma for ourselves which
has to lead us toward liberation. At the same time, this kind of consideration
clarifies in our minds the fundamental truths of Buddha Dhamma that we
have read or heard previously so that they become fully comprehensible
and meaningful. Thus carefully directed thought, while sitting in vipassana
meditation, is a vital tool for the rooting out of all our ignorance and
for contrasting the path to emancipation.
Also investigation is important to
practice strenuously when there is a tendency to a daydreaming, lazy kind
of meditation, when the hindrances of sloth and torpor are attacking. The
Buddha told the monks, "... at such time, monks, as the mind is sluggish,
then is the season for cultivating the limb of wisdom that is Norm-investigation,
the season for cultivating the limb of wisdom that is energy, the season
for cultivating the limb of wisdom that is zest. Why so? Because, monks,
the sluggish mind is easily raised up by such conditions." (K.S., V, p.
96) By energetically applying the mind to trying to understand more thoroughly
than before the Four Noble Truths or another important aspect of Dhamma,
the mind will be directed and stimulated. When this happens, the tendency
of the mind to drift must disappear and zest for meditation and the clarity
of mind which is crucial to real understanding return.
Thus to use investigation in meditation
is to apply Right Thought, one of the factors of the Noble Eightfold Path.
Obviously, analytical thinking takes places in relation to Dhamma outside
of meditation as well -- when listening to discourses or when doing Dhamma
reading, for example. But for the information gained from outside to become
truly meaningful to us, for it to become our own "wisdom-born-of-meditation"
(bhavana-maya-pa??a),
for this information to influence how we live our lives, it must be thoroughly
thought through while we are actually sitting in meditation. At such times
the mind is much more concentrated and subtle than usual and as the hindrances
to concentration and insight (i.e.: doubt, excitement and restlessness,
sloth and torpor, greed, and ill-will) are at a fairly low level, the mind
is much more pliable and fit to assimilate pure Dhamma thoughts. As we
increase our understanding and wisdom through meditative investigation,
we decrease our ignorance, and as ignorance diminishes we are loosening
the bondage of our suffering and becoming more and more free of craving
(tanha).
Systematic Attention and Control of
the Hindrances
Another important role played by investigation
is in preventing the arising of all the hindrances that tend to block our
progress now and again. It is by means of analytical thought, systematic
attention, yoniso-manasikara, that we can keep the hindrances under
control. In this process the two Enlightenment Factors of investigation
and mindfulness are employed, as it takes careful thought in combination
with continuous awareness to keep control of the mind. "And what, monks,
is no food for the arising of sensual lust not yet arisen?" The Buddha
answers his own question saying that sensual lust is kept from growing
by "systematic attention" to "the repulsive feature of things." To counter
the hindrance of ill will, systematic attention must be given to metta,
the quality of unbounded loving kindness. To deal with sloth and torpor,
systematic attention must be applied to "the element of putting forth effort,
the element of exertion, the element of striving." Against excitement,
one must apply systematic attention to tranquility of mind. To still doubt,
one must give systematic attention to Dhamma, or in the Buddha's words,
to "things good and things bad, things blameworthy and things not blameworthy,
things mean and things exalted, things that are constituent parts of darkness
and light" (K.S. V, p. 88).
These five great hindrances to concentration,
to meditation, to living the Dhamma life are all quite familiar habits
to us. But we can develop the tools to prevent their arising and to control
them when they do come up. And chief amongst these is the application of
systematic attention to the external situations that stimulate the sensual
lust, the ill will, the sloth and torpor, the excitement and the doubt
that lie latent in our minds, and to the internal negative tendencies themselves.
Thus when it is seen that with wisdom these inappropriate deep-rooted,
habitual mental reactions to impermanent, unsatisfactory and essenceless
phenomena, the hindrances must lose strength and gradually disappear, leaving
behind a pure mind.
Investigation Conduces to Insight
Investigation of Dhamma is one of the
four factors which the Buddha frequently describes as conducing "to growth
in wisdom, to acquiring insight, to growth of insight, the increase of
insight." The four elements involved are: "Association with good men (following
after the good), hearing Saddhamma (the Good Norm), thorough work
of mind (systematic attention to Dhamma), and behavior in accordance with
Dhamma (living in accordance with the precepts of the Norm)." When the
Buddha spoke, of course, the good man to associate oneself with was specifically
the Tathagata himself and his Arahant disciples, all fully liberated beings.
Today we do not have this opportunity, but we certainly can choose our
associates from amongst those who are on the Path and who are striving
to gain wisdom. If we associate with the foolish, we are wasting our time
and tempting ourselves unnecessarily, making our task of self-purification
all the more difficult. But if we spend time with other strivers, we will
reinforce our own motivation and also perhaps get some direct help or encouragement
in times of need. As for the second factor, only rarely do we get the opportunity
to actually "hear" the Dhamma and then of course not directly from the
Fully Enlightened One. But when we take a meditation course, this purpose
is served by the teacher's discourses which are designed to inform us of
and elucidate to us the fundamentals of the Dhamma. Naturally this opportunity,
too, is limited, and to supplement live Dhamma teachings regularly, we
have to do some reading both of the direct words of the Buddha as preserved
in the translated Pali texts, and also of what later meditators have written
about him and his teachings. Without this beneficial material for our minds
to thoroughly think about, to consider wisely, to give systematic attention
to, we are apt to find our meditation getting into ruts which become so
habitual as to lose their impact on our minds -- and on how we live our
lives as well. On the other hand, reading Dhamma as an intellectual pastime
without combining it with meditation and trying to make what we read our
own wisdom which can influence our life patterns, is a complete waste of
time. But if we are associating with a Sangha (the community of those walking
on the Noble Eightfold Path), if we are learning the basics of Dhamma and
carefully and persistently applying our minds to it, then our behavior
cannot help but reflect the wisdom we are so gaining. Thus these four factors
must "if cultivated and made much of, conduce to realising the fruits of
stream-winning ... of once-returning, of non-returning and of Arahantship"
(K.S. V, p. 351).
The Seven Factors of Enlightenment
Investigation of Dhamma, dhammavicaya,
usually the second in the list of the seven Factors of Enlightenment, has
a unique place amongst these limbs of wisdom whose function is to purify
and train the mind and to "conduce to downright revulsion, to dispassion,
to cessation, to calm, to full comprehension, to wisdom, to Nibbana." (K.S.,
V, p. 69) Thinking over the Buddha's teachings is the very basis for the
development of these seven factors, as described in the following quotation:
When a monk ... remembers
and turns over in his mind that teaching of the Norm, it is then that the
limb of wisdom which is mindfulness is established in that monk; ... Thus,
he, dwelling mindful, with full recognition investigates and applies insight
to that teaching of the Norm and comes to close scrutiny of it.
Now, monks, at such a time as a monk,
dwelling thus mindful, with full recognition investigates and applies insight
to that teaching of the Norm, then it is that limb of wisdom which is Norm-investigation
that, as he comes to close scrutiny of it, by his culture of it, it comes
to perfection. --
K.S., V, p. 55
Clearly, from the Buddha's description
of the cultivation of the two limbs of wisdom of mindfulness and investigation,
they are closely tied up with each other; certainly neither can be perfected
without the help of the other. But thinking about the Norm is the most
basic feature involved in the development of these seven Bojjhangas because
it is the original motivator behind their development. That is why the
Buddha placed it at the very beginning of his description of the seven
as well as in its regular spot as the second factor, dhammavicaya.
Mindfulness is a vital skill to develop,
for without mindfully observing one's mind and body to see the defilements
as they tend to creep in, it is impossible to purify oneself. But without
some degree of understanding of the ultimate facts of existence (anicca,dukkha
and anatta and the relationship between tanha and dukkha
particularly), the practice of "bare attention" (sati) would probably
be futile. Just watching what is going on at the gross level of bodily
action is unlikely in and of itself to take us to that deep insight that
automatically begins to rid our minds of greed, hatred and delusion, the
roots of tanha and hence of dukkha. Only if our minds are
also carefully at work to try and delve into the ultimate realities is
mindfulness, constant watchfulness, guaranteed to bear fruit. The Buddha
describes this when he defines "the cultivation of a station of mindfulness.
Herein a monk dwells contemplating the rise of things in body. He so dwells
contemplating the fall of things in body, ... and also in feeling, mind
and mind-states." (K.S. V, p. 160) In other words, it is by the consideration
of the anicca (and by extrapolation, the dukkha and anatta
nature as well) of the body, the feelings, the mind and the mind-states
that mindfulness is actually developed.
On the other hand, investigation
alone also tends to be sterile, a merely intellectual knowledge. Only by
continuing meditative mindfulness and observation of whatever comes into
the mind via any of the six sense doors, can we put into practice our understanding
of Dhamma. The Pali phrase "yoniso manasikara" combines the two
factors of mindfulness and investigation in itself, although the stress
seems to be on the latter. Yoniso manasikara is translated as systematic
attention or wise consideration. Systematically, mindfully, with full awareness,
one considers the Dhamma; one thinks about the matter at hand until its
apparent nature has been penetrated and the ultimate truth is clear. Once
the wisdom is gained and the mindfulness of the ultimate reality of the
body, feelings, mind and mental states (the Four Stations of Mindfulness)
is constant, then it is only a matter of effort, of energy (the third Enlightenment
Factor) of just patiently and persistently doing the work -- the results
of these conditions (detachment leading to liberation) must come about
automatically.
This energy is the Enlightenment
Factor which follows dhammavicaya. "As with full recognition he
investigates and applies insight to that Norm-teaching, then unshaken energy
is established in him" (K.S., V, p. 56). On the basis of understanding
the utter suffering of existence we become so convinced of the need to
escape from the perpetual rounds of Samsara, that we are completely willing
to put out all the effort needed to do so. Knowing that we are doing what
has to be done brings us piti, the next limb of wisdom. Piti
is pure joy or pleasurable interest or zest -- it is the positive feeling
that arises from knowing we have the technique for eliminating our suffering
which sustains us further, encouraging us to continue to apply that method
wholeheartedly. Tranquillity of mind and body, the next limb, develops,
with piti; with the elimination of doubt a deep sense of peace of
mind based on wisdom comes about. When one has thought about life very
carefully and knows that there is nothing in the world worth getting the
least bit involved with or attached to, then the mind runs after objects
less and less and tends to settle down and get well concentrated (the sixth
factor), as no possible phenomena at any of the six sense doors appear
worthwhile for it to try and grasp onto. This pure concentration as it
is rooted in insight and allows insight to grow more and more, makes the
mind balanced and calm, and so equanimity (the final limb of wisdom) grows.
This is not bored, mundane callousness, but an equanimity that is rooted
in clear thought and deep understanding which has made it apparent that
there can be absolutely nothing, mental or physical, anywhere on any plane
of existence, past, present or future, worth reacting to or getting involved
with.
Thus it is that the Buddha declared,
"As a matter concerning one's own self, monks, I see no other single factor
so potent for the arising of the seven limbs of wisdom as systematic attention.
Of a monk who is possessed of systematic attention we may expect that he
will cultivate, that he will make much of the seven limbs of wisdom," and
developing these seven Enlightenment Factors is precisely developing liberation
from suffering (K.S., V, pp. 84-5). Hence, careful investigation, persistently
pursued is the root cause of, as well as the route to, wisdom in all its
facets.
The Noble Eightfold Path
The Buddha states that it is this same
factor of systematic attention (yoniso manasikara) that brings one
onto the Noble Eightfold Path, the Fourth Noble Truth, which leads to the
cessation of all suffering.
Just as the dawn, monks,
is the forerunner, the harbinger of the sun, even so possession of systematic
thought, monks, is, the forerunner, the harbinger, of the arising of the
Ariyan Eightfold Way.
Of a monk who is possessed of systematic
thought, it may be expected that he will cultivate, that he will make much
of the Ariyan Eightfold Way. And how monks, does a monk so possessed make
much of the Ariyan Eightfold Way?
Herein a monk cultivates right view,
that is based on seclusion, that is based on dispassion, on cessation,
that ends in self-surrender, and he makes much of it ... He cultivates
right aim (thought), right speech, right action, right living (livelihood),
right effort, right mindfulness, he cultivates and makes much of right
concentration that is based on seclusion, on dispassion, on cessation,
that ends in self-surrender. --
K.S., V, p. 27
The Noble Eightfold Path is divided
into three sections: the first is Pa??a (wisdom) and includes the
first two factors of samma-ditthi (Right View or Understanding)
and samma-sankappa (Right Thought); second is sila (morality)
which includes samma-vaca (Right Speech), samma-kammanta
(Right Action) and samma-ajiva (Right Livelihood); the third division
is samadhi (concentration) including the final three elements of
the Path -- samma-vayama (Right Effort), samma-sati (Right
Mindfulness) and samma-samadhi (Right Concentration). Investigation
is important to each group. Although it is virtually identical with the
pa??a
section of the Path, the faculty of reasoned contemplation has significant
role to play in the development of both sila and
samadhi,
and samadhi and sila in turn both support investigation.
Careful investigation of the apparent
truth must enable to break through the barriers of our conditioned, colored
and unclear perception of things until we thoroughly penetrate and clearly
comprehend their ultimate truth. This is vipassana -- insight; this is
pa??a
-- Right Understanding and Right Thought, wisdom. As the Buddha shows us
in a simile, all perception is as unsubstantial and essenceless as a mirage.
"Just as if, brethren, in the last month of the dry season at high noontide
there should be a mirage and a keen-sighted man should observe it and look
close into the nature of it, so observing it he would find it to be without
essence." (K.S., III, p. 119) If we accept the information we get about
the world both internal and external from our sense organs automatically
without carefully examining it, we are bound to act on the basis of the
mirage of ignorance as all the past thinking that influences the perception
-- and so the feeling and reaction which come along with it -- was based
on the inaccurate assumptions of permanence, beauty, happiness and self.
But once we begin to develop Right View, we come to see gradually how in
actual fact nothing lasts, nothing can really be called beautiful (since
everything is always changing, undergoing corruption and decay), nothing
can really bring us satisfaction and there is no essence in any of the
apparently solid objects, beings or mental phenomena of the universe. And
we come to understand that there can only be the conditioned processes
of becoming that arise and cease strictly and solely in accordance with
the appropriate conditions. Right Thought is a vital means to the attainment
of this Right Understanding or View; and investigation of truth is one
and the same with Right Thought.
"Whatsoever there is of thinking,
considering, reasoning, thought, ratiocination, application ... the mind
being holy, being turned away from the world, and conjoined with the path,
the holy path being pursued" is called Right Thought (Majjhima Nikaya,
117). Right Thought is also specifically, and on the more mundane level,
thinking that is free from ill-will or cruelty and thinking relating to
renunciation of greed and lust. Right Understanding grows deeper and deeper
the more thoroughly we investigate the essentials of Buddha Dhamma. As
we apply our minds to them, the Three Salient Characteristics of Existence,
the nature of wholesome and unwholesome Kamma, the Doctrine of Dependent
Origination and the Four Noble Truths all become more meaningful to us
and we comprehend more clearly how they explain the phenomena of existence
and the way out of all suffering. "He understands what is worthy of consideration
... He considers the worthy ... What suffering is he wisely considers;
what the extinction of suffering is he wisely considers, what the path
that leads to the extinction of suffering is, he wisely considers." (Majjhima
Nikaya, 2) And thus wisely considering, we come to act on the basis of
such thought; with such purified deeds of body, speech and mind we are
bringing ourselves nearer and nearer to the cessation of all suffering.
Sila is morality; in the context
of the Noble Eightfold Path it refers specifically to Right Speech, Action
and Mode of Livelihood. However, there are many broader kinds of sila
-- from the Five Precepts every lay disciple tries to live by to the 227
rules for monks. The culmination of sila is the culmination of the
Path -- perfect purity of bodily and verbal action rooted in similarly
cleansed mental volition; when the mind can no longer develop tanha
for any object whatsoever, then it is completely pure and totally free
from all suffering. We may keep the sila precepts rather mechanically,
by tradition, or automatically reciting the Five Precepts at the start
of a meditation course and this may for a time seem to serve our purpose.
But if such morality is not based on Right Understanding, it will be very
weak when put under duress by adverse conditions. Unless we have thought
through and understood the drastic kammic results, in future lives as well
as in this one, that we must expect from breaking sila, we may well
be tempted to lie for our own gain, to earn our livelihood by some means
involving subterfuge or dishonesty, or to take something that actually
belongs to someone else. An understanding of the fact that "Only the wholesome
and unwholesome volitional actions (kamma) done by beings are their
own properties that always accompany them, wherever they may wander in
many a becoming," (Subha-sutta quoted in Ledi Sayadaw, Manuals
of Buddhism p. 75, Samma-ditthi Dipani) will greatly strengthen
one's resolve to abstain from doing unwholesome deeds, of body, speech
and most importantly mind. Clearly understanding the Path and how sila
relates to the other sections is also a great support for keeping the moral
code. Sila makes up the preliminary steps in self-purification.
If we indulge in intoxicants or sexual misconduct (e.g., adultery) or break
the other three precepts, we cannot hope to gain concentration or wisdom.
This is because it is the nature of such behavior that it keeps the mind
distracted, either over-excited or very dull. But if we keep our morality
pure on this gross level of bodily and verbal actions, then we are able
to undertake the task of mental concentration and purification which is
the work of samadhi and pa??a. Right View and Understanding,
roots out the causes of all our unwholesome mental volitions. With ignorance
thus eliminated, free from tanha-related thoughts, we automatically
keep perfect sila of body and speech. Working on these principles
of Dhamma in our minds so that we really comprehend both the results of
our immoral actions and the importance of keeping sila as the basis
for progress on the Path will make our sila much stronger and less
likely to break no matter what provocative situation may crop up.
The three final elements of the Path
make up the concentration group. They are effort, mindfulness and concentration.
Strenuous, tireless effort is required if we are to be able to apply our
minds sufficiently to penetrate through the apparent truths of life and
really understand the ultimate realities. Without some understanding and
careful thinking we will not be able to clearly distinguish those unwholesome
states of mind that effort must be put forth in order to eliminate from
the wholesome ones which must be cultivated with similarly great energy.
Unless these distinctions are known, the effort cannot be Right Effort
which is the Path factor. "A monk puts forth desire, makes an effort, begins
to strive, applies his mind, lays hold of his mind to prevent the arising
of ill unprofitable states not yet arisen. As to all unprofitable states
that have arisen, he puts forth desire to destroy them. [As to profitable
states that have not yet arisen, he puts forth desire for their arising.]
As to the profitable states that have already arisen, he puts forth desire,
makes an effort, begins to strive, applies his mind, lays hold of his mind
for their continuance, for the non-confusion, for their more-becoming,
increase, culture and fulfillment. That, monks, is called 'right effort'"
(K.S., V, p. 8). Hence effort strengthens and supports thorough, deep investigation,
and conversely, investigation leads to the understanding of how effort
is to be correctly applied.
As has already been discussed at
some length, there is a very close link between mindfulness and investigation;
they are totally interdependent and it is often impossible in practice
to distinguish them from each other at any given moment. The four stations
of mindfulness -- of body, of feelings, of mind, and of mental objects
-- are to be cultivated by means of contemplating on, thinking through
their anicca (and also dukkha and anatta) nature.
"A monk dwells contemplating the rise of things in body. He dwells contemplating
the fall of things in body; he dwells contemplating both the rise and fall
of things in body; and in feelings, in mind, in mind-objects, ardent, composed
and mindful by having restrained coveting and dejection with regard to
the world ... This, monks, is called 'the cultivation of a station of mindfulness'"
(K.S., V, p. 160). Mindfulness of the body must include a well thought
out understanding of its transient nature, of the inevitability of its
decay and death -- anicca; of its unsatisfactoriness as, ultimately,
we cannot control its fate as it brings with it the myriad forms of physical
suffering -- dukkha; and of the fact that it cannot rightly be considered
"I" or "mine" since we cannot control its changes or make it remain as
we wish to -- anatta. The specific exercises in mindfulness of the
body (such as on the breath or the thirty-two parts of the body) if practiced
for insight not just for concentration, must include such contemplation
on the essential nature of the body.
The same kind of thought is required
for the proper cultivation of (vedananupassana) contemplation of
feelings, contemplation of mind (cittanupassana) and contemplation
of mind-objects (dhammanupassana). The Buddha told a group of elder
monks to instruct the novices in this fashion: "In feelings do ye abide
contemplating feelings (as transient) ardent, composed, one-pointed, of
tranquil mind, calmed down, of concentrated mind, for insight into feelings
as they really are. In mind ... for insight into mind as it really is.
In mind-states ... for insight into mind-states as they really are" (K.S.,
V, p. 123). This means that feelings, mind and mind objects are to be observed
and considered most carefully, concentratedly and objectively in order
to gain true insight into their ultimately unstable nature. In vedananupassana
(the particular technique taught by S. N. Goenka et al), it is the
combination of the meditative experience of feeling, the subtle
changing sensations, produced in the body by its bio-chemical processes
which reflect the changing mind-states, with Right Thought about
the ultimate nature of all the five aggregates that can free us of all
our ignorance and so of our tanha and dukkha. The experience
of free flow -- feeling the sensations throughout the body in one sweep
or all at one time (the sensations which are continually being produced
by the changing kalapas, the subatomic particles of which the whole mass
of the body is composed) -- alone, without understanding the far-reaching
significance of these sensations, can be just like any other experience,
a thing of passing interest that has no substantive effect on our lives.
Similarly infertile will be mere intellectualizing about ultimate realities
without any direct way of knowing them within our own five aggregate phenomena
through mindful meditation. Careful analysis and rational thinking must
also be applied mindfully, in an ongoing way, to the activity of the mind
and to the objects of thought. Thus in order to carry the four stations
of mindfulness to their goal, the transiency, unsatisfactoriness and essencelessness
of these phenomena must be comprehended.
On the other hand, without one-pointed
concentration investigation will be shallow and unable to penetrate through
the conventions of the apparent truths we perceive because the mind will
not be able to remain on one subject long enough. Concentration cannot
be powerful if the mind is constantly intrigued by and grasps at the thoughts
that come and go; and only when we understand how useless and dukkha-ridden
is everything in the mind, will it become detached and disinterested and
so naturally tend to stay put on the chosen salutary object.
Thus we see how investigative Dhamma
thinking is an integral part of the development of Right Thought and Right
Understanding, how careful contemplation strengthens morality, how sila
allows dhammavicaya to deepen, how careful consideration shows where
effort is to be applied, the ultimate significance of the objects of mindfulness,
which enables concentration to grow, and conversely how the development
of these three elements of the samadhi section of the Path contributes
to the deepening and widening scope of Dhamma investigation. So, once we
begin to develop systematic attention, we are starting to walk on the Path,
the Fourth Noble Truth set out by the Buddha, the Way which enables us
to develop minds which are totally detached and at peace, free from ignorance,
from craving, and so from suffering. dhammavicaya -- Right Thought
-- supports us at all stages and all aspects of the Path and developments
of the other Path factors similarly contributes to the growth of investigation
of Dhamma.
Conclusion
Dhammavicaya -- investigation
of reality -- is one of the most important tools to be used by the meditator
seeking liberating insight and freedom from dukkha, suffering, as
has here been shown. By means of careful investigation in meditation we
are able to penetrate the apparent truths and come to full realization
of the ultimate nature of the phenomena of existence. So by keen thinking
in the course of Vipassana meditation we come to understand thoroughly
how our own five aggregates and all the external mental and material universe
(nama-rupa) perceived by the senses, are utterly transient, arising and
passing away at every moment as the causes that produced them do likewise.
Because every dhamma is so unstable, the five aggregates can never bring
true happiness but only dukkha, as such changing and unsatisfactory
phenomena are utterly essenceless and not worth clinging to, not to be
taken as "I" or "mine." As we seriously consider all this and also investigate
the cause-and-effect nature of all life processes and contemplate the Noble
Truths of Dukkha, its Cause, its Cessation and the Way leading to its Cessation,
while persevering in our meditation, craving (tanha) must weaken
and detachment, liberation must develop. And as the other Enlightenment
and Path Factors are also brought to perfection with the support of dhammavicaya
-- complete freedom from all future birth and so of future suffering is
attained.
Our good tendencies from the past
have put us in the exceedingly fortunate position of being born as human
beings during the time of a Buddha's dispensation, and they have brought
us into contact with this incomparable jewel, the Dhamma. So now is the
time to exert and strengthen our present mental volition towards liberation.
To free ourselves from dukkha, we must strive to experience and
investigate, to realize and understand, the ultimate truths of existence.
With this insight, this wisdom, the mind becomes utterly detached, and
since it is completely independent of all the world's changing, unsatisfactory
and essenceless phenomena, there is absolute Peace and Freedom.
May all beings be Happy!
May all beings be Peaceful!
May all beings be Liberated!
Notes
1. Translated
as Requisites of Enlightenment in The Wheel No. 171/174. [Go
back]
2.Kindred
Sayings. (Translation of Samyutta Nikaya). 5 vols. Pali Text
Society, London. (Quoted as:) K.S., V, p.93. [Go back]
3.Gradual
Sayings. (Translation of Anguttara Nikaya). 5 Vols. Pali Text
Society, London. I, p. 173. [Go back]
4. Translated
as The Noble Eightfold Path and its Factors Explained in The Wheel
No. 245/247. [Go back]
5.Manuals
of Buddhism. Ledi Sayadaw. Union of Burma Buddha Sasana Council, Rangoon.
'Samma-Ditthi Dipani', p. 91. [Go back]
6. "The Advantages
of Realising the Doctrine of Anatta" by Ledi Sayadaw in
The Three Facts
of Existence: III Egolessness, The Wheel No. 202/204, p. 50. Henceforth:
A of A. [Go back]
7.Buddhist
Dictionary, Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines Nyanatiloka. Buddhist
Publication Society, Kandy. p. 135. [Go back]
8. "The Life
of the Buddha," ?anamoli, Buddhist Publication Society, pp. 25, 27 quoting
from Samyutta Nikaya, XII, 65. [Go back]
9.Ibid.
p. 28. [Go back]
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