Only The World Ends (part 1) | Ajahn Tate

[00:00:00] Welcome to The Forest Path Podcast, a podcast sharing the teachings of awakened meditation

[00:00:06] masters of the modern era. In this episode of The Forest Path Podcast I'll be narrating

[00:00:13] an extended Dharma teaching by the great forest meditation master, a venerable Arjan

[00:00:18] Tate Deserangsee. He is titled Only the World Ends. It's a very well-rounded teaching and goes

[00:00:27] into some depth about Samadhi. Because it is so long I'll be breaking it into two episodes

[00:00:34] with this being the first episode of The Teaching Only the World Ends. Stay tuned to listen

[00:00:41] to the concluding part of this teaching by a true meditation master of the Thai Forest tradition.

[00:00:48] This teaching was published for free distribution by Patanus Uxar Publishing in Bangkok.

[00:00:55] May you all benefit from hearing this gift of Dharma.

[00:01:08] Only the World Ends by venerable Arjan Tate Deserangsee.

[00:01:16] The Buddha appeared in the world as the supreme teacher by attaining complete enlightenment

[00:01:22] through his own unadded efforts. Once awakened he taught the truths that he had realized to all

[00:01:29] humanity. The things he taught were marvelous but rational and free of superstition. They could

[00:01:38] be understood by all those who dwelt on and contemplated their meaning. The Buddha never forced

[00:01:45] anyone to believe in him or adopt his teachings. Those who listened to and pondered over his reasoning,

[00:01:53] feeling satisfied and in agreement with it freely became his disciples through inspiration and

[00:02:01] conviction. This is not always the case in other religions and sects, some of which actually

[00:02:09] forbid analytical assessment of their doctrines. Buddhism challenges all to scrutinize its teachings

[00:02:17] to the utmost and examine its arguments until one sees their truth clearly for oneself

[00:02:24] and thus may profess to being a Buddhist in freedom. Consequently, the views and practices

[00:02:31] of all those who have accepted and taken up the teachings will be in Concord,

[00:02:37] not through coercion or prior agreement but in accordance with the following.

[00:02:44] Stage 1 Conviction in comma and its results

[00:03:06] steadfast conviction in these six points for all one's life is needed. As soon in our lives as we develop

[00:03:15] any self-consciousness, we devote ourselves to the performance of comers. If not by means of the body,

[00:03:22] then with speech or mind it is impossible to remain inactive. This is called Khamasaka.

[00:03:31] Every action produces results. If not good, then evil. If not productive of merit, then of harm.

[00:03:40] It is unavoidable. Thus body, speech and mind having performed

[00:03:47] comers must experience their results. This is called Khamadayada. The result of our good

[00:03:56] comers will lead our body, speech and mind to be born in a happy condition here and in future

[00:04:04] lives. The result of our evil comma will lead our body, speech and mind to be born in a miserable

[00:04:13] condition here and in future lives. This is called Khamayoni. The comma performed by body, speech

[00:04:23] and mind in previous existences dictate the varying circumstances in the present existence.

[00:04:31] This is called Khamabandu. We are born because of Khamma, and once born we cannot remain motionless

[00:04:41] and inactive. There must always be action in order to keep ourselves alive if not good action

[00:04:49] than evil. As we must depend on those actions to sustain our existence, Khamma is called

[00:04:57] Khamapati Sarana. Thus a person should decide for himself what Khamma to perform for good and

[00:05:05] evil Khamma belonged to no one but ourselves. It is Khamma alone that causes the diversity among

[00:05:13] beings. No other person, no other thing possesses their power. Thus it was said Kalyanangva

[00:05:22] Papakangva Tasa Dayada Bhavisanti. These six teachings about Khamma must be trusted in

[00:05:30] resolutely by Buddhists for all their lives. Human beings are born because Khamma have not yet

[00:05:38] been terminated. The old Khamma that brought us to birth lead us to perform new Khamma,

[00:05:44] and these new Khamma in turn are the cause for rebirth and continued arising of Khamma in future lives.

[00:05:53] Also all Khamma arises from this single stream of bodily action, speech and mind, so it is said

[00:06:00] that Khamma are of all the same stock or tribe, they are all related to one another.

[00:06:07] One who has conviction in Khamma and its results in the ways explained is called a Buddhist,

[00:06:14] or one who has reached the first stage of the threefold refuge.

[00:06:20] Stage 2. Constant upholding of the five presets.

[00:06:25] If one has conviction in Khamma and its results, then it is extremely easy to keep the five presets.

[00:06:33] The Buddha forbade the performance of evil, and in refraining from evil actions,

[00:06:38] one at the same time upholds the presets. The Buddha gathered all the unwholesome Khamma,

[00:06:45] all the different forms of evil under just five headings. Whatever and whenever an action is

[00:06:52] performed, it must lie within the sphere of these five categories. The mind is the initiator

[00:06:59] of all things and so the Buddha taught mental restraint. The mind decides to refrain from causing

[00:07:07] the death of living beings. The mind decides to refrain from appropriating the belongings of others.

[00:07:14] The mind decides to refrain from sexual misconduct. The mind decides to refrain from lying,

[00:07:22] core speech and divisive speech. The mind decides to refrain from the taking of intoxicants.

[00:07:31] A person who is able to uphold these five principles is called one who is able to keep the

[00:07:37] five presets. They embody conduct that contributes to the happiness of all humanity.

[00:07:45] One who is unable to refrain from those actions is called virtuous, and is conduct contributes

[00:07:52] to the unhappiness and distress of humanity. Thus all the sages exemplified by the Buddha have

[00:08:00] refrained from every kind of evil and harmful action, and then taught and encouraged mankind to follow

[00:08:08] their example. One who believes in Khamma and its results as explained and protects body, speech

[00:08:16] and mind with the five precepts has penetrated Buddhism to the second level. Now that person must

[00:08:23] determine subsequently to cleanse his mind through the practice of Samadhi, firm one point of

[00:08:30] ness of mind. But if one has not yet realized the truth of the basic principles of Buddhism,

[00:08:37] if one's views are not in agreement with teachings, believing for example that Khamma

[00:08:44] that one has performed can be passed on to others or their effects mitigated by others,

[00:08:49] then how could one possibly expect to cleanse one's mind through meditation?

[00:08:56] Some people say that the precepts are concerned with bodily action and speech alone,

[00:09:01] and that the mind lies within the province of Samadhi. Whatever actions are performed or words

[00:09:08] spoken, one Samadhi is unaffected. In other words they say that body and mind are quite separate.

[00:09:16] I really can't grasp this point. No matter how much I contemplate it, I just can't understand

[00:09:23] how it could be so. May I show my ignorance a little here? Suppose a person is going to commit a

[00:09:31] murder or robbery. Firstly there must be an unwholesome Khamma arising in the mind. Then he

[00:09:38] conceals himself and then when a suitable occasion presents itself he kills or steals in a

[00:09:44] accordance with his original intention. Now at the time when that person forms the intention to kill

[00:09:51] or steal, and when he conceals himself even though he is not breaking any precepts,

[00:09:58] isn't his mind in an unwholesome state and primed in every way to do evil?

[00:10:05] If the person's mind is protected by mindfulness and he restrains himself from any evil action

[00:10:12] and emerges from his hiding place then no precepts are broken.

[00:10:17] So we can see that the mind is of central importance. It is the mind that is the fundamental cause

[00:10:24] for the breaking or upholding of the precepts. That being so, how could one possibly assert

[00:10:32] that in the maintenance of virtuous conduct one may discount the role of the mind?

[00:10:38] The Buddha taught that all things have mind as their chief are preceded by mind, are mind made.

[00:10:47] All speech, all conversation arises from the mind. There can be no discussion of dhamma that does

[00:10:54] not deal with the mind. The phrase, all dhammas are preceded by mind is particularly clear.

[00:11:02] The words, all dhammas, cover every kind of action. Good actions are called kusala dhamma,

[00:11:09] and bad actions are called a kusala dhamma. Nutriall actions, neither good nor bad,

[00:11:16] are called a viyakarta dhamma. These are abbreviated as merit, harm, and neither merit nor harm.

[00:11:26] As for this last point, there is not a person in the world who doesn't create harm of one's

[00:11:31] thought or another. In my investigation of the causal nature of things, nowhere have I ever come across

[00:11:39] the teaching that precepts are the sole concern of body and speech, and samadhi the sole concern

[00:11:46] of the mind. If my recall of the books is inaccurate, or if I've misread them through my own

[00:11:52] stupidity, then I have fallen foul of my own limitations. There is even a case of a monk who wanted to

[00:12:00] disrobe because he felt that the disciplinary rules were too numerous to be kept purely. The Buddha

[00:12:07] said, do not disrobe. If you think there are too many rules, then just look after your mind.

[00:12:16] There you see? Not only did the Buddha teach that in maintaining virtuous conduct,

[00:12:22] the mind must not be neglected, but even said that protection of the mind alone was sufficient.

[00:12:29] So I'm quite baffled as to how anyone could keep precepts while ignoring the mind.

[00:12:36] A layperson may keep five precepts eight or ten, but the latter may only be kept on occasions.

[00:12:43] Similarly, with the 227 precepts of a monk, a layperson may keep any of the rules he wishes.

[00:12:51] The Buddha never forbade it, but one shouldn't make any formal vows.

[00:12:57] In one of his former existences, the Buddha was a potter called Jotika.

[00:13:03] Jotika's parents were both blind and he supported them by bartering the pots he made for food.

[00:13:10] One day, Konagamana Buddha forgives me if I've remembered it wrongly,

[00:13:15] since some monks to ask Jotika for roofing material to repair the sunga's lodgings.

[00:13:22] Jotika stripped the roof off his own home and offered it to them.

[00:13:27] That year, Jotika's house had the sky as its roof for the entire rainy season,

[00:13:32] but not a drop of rain fell into it. One day, the king of the land invited Konagamana

[00:13:39] Buddha to take his daily meal in the palace, and when the meal was over, he formally invited the

[00:13:45] Buddha to spend the coming rains retreating at Grove in the Royal Park. But the Buddha said,

[00:13:52] your majesty, I have already accepted an invitation from Jotika the potter.

[00:13:58] The king then said, am I not the mightiest personage in the realm?

[00:14:03] For what reason do you refuse my invitation? What has this man Jotika to commend him?

[00:14:11] So the Buddha related to the king, the whole story of Jotika's good conduct,

[00:14:16] and when the king had heard it, he was greatly impressed and inspired.

[00:14:21] He ordered his attendants to load up ox carts with various goods such as rice, pulses, sesame seeds,

[00:14:28] ghee, butter and oil, and take them to Jotika. When Jotika saw all the cart loads of goods arriving,

[00:14:36] he asked who had sent them, and the royal attendants answered that they were a gift from the king.

[00:14:43] Jotika said, the king has many burdens and many responsibilities. As for me, I only have to make

[00:14:50] enough to feed three people. It's no great trouble. Please respectfully inform his majesty that

[00:14:57] I request permission to return all these things to him. Jotika was a person of strong conviction.

[00:15:05] He would not even dig the earth to obtain clay for his pots. He would take the trouble

[00:15:11] to look for rat mounds and collapse stretches of riverbank where the earth had already been disturbed.

[00:15:17] If a virtuous layperson could keep such a refined benestic training rule, then the

[00:15:23] corsa rules should not be so difficult. It's as if the Buddha laid down the five precepts

[00:15:29] as a standard for the world. Any good conduct entails abstention from the five prohibited modes of

[00:15:36] conduct and any evil conduct must be based on them. There is no escape from these five points.

[00:15:44] One who is to attain to the threefold refuge must hold firmly to five basic principles.

[00:15:53] Being mindful of the Buddha, being mindful of the dharma, being mindful of the Sangha.

[00:16:03] Not putting faith in rights and superstitions, having conviction in karma and its results,

[00:16:09] believing that good actions have good results and evil actions evil results,

[00:16:14] not believing any external supernatural agency can protect one from dangers or disaster.

[00:16:22] Restricting material support to Buddhism

[00:16:27] The laity can formally resolve to keep five of eight precepts. As for the 10 precepts or 227,

[00:16:35] they may keep particular rules but should not make any formal declaration.

[00:16:40] The precepts of virtuous conduct consist of a set number of prohibitions against unwholesome actions,

[00:16:48] but they don't limit the number of such actions that lay people may refrain from.

[00:16:53] This applies to monks and novices also. The Buddha laid down that laypeople should keep five or

[00:16:58] eight precepts, novices 10 and monks 227, merely as a basic standard,

[00:17:07] as a way of marking the differences in station between laity, novices and monks.

[00:17:14] Human beings meet so much evil and unwholesomeness, it seems that we can hardly move an inch without

[00:17:19] making some bad karma. The Buddha gave us the following concise instructions. Go to the mind.

[00:17:28] Before anything else, take hold of the thinker.

[00:17:33] The mind forms the desire to perform harm with the body and so directs it to kill,

[00:17:38] steal or commit sexual misconduct. The mind forms the desire to perform harm with tongue

[00:17:45] and so directs it to lie, to speak causally, to scold or to gossip.

[00:17:51] The mind forms the desire to perform evil with the body by making it go crazy,

[00:17:56] so it has the body get alcohol, pour it down the throat and swallow it, allowing it to act in

[00:18:03] various crazy ways. On the other hand, if the mind shrinks from harmful actions with intelligent

[00:18:10] shame and fear, if it sees the suffering inherent in the intention to act in such harmful ways and

[00:18:17] forms no desire to do so, then body and speech become virtuous. If a person sees the mind present

[00:18:25] in bodily action and speech and is able to maintain awareness of it, he or she will see all that

[00:18:32] all humve actions, all virtuous conduct, all phenomena in the world arise from this same one mind.

[00:18:42] If there were no mind there could be no evil, no virtue, nothing at all. To keep all the precepts

[00:18:49] purely, we must hold to and look after the mind. I once heard a monk say, monks have 227 precepts,

[00:18:58] you lay people have only five, you should look after them well in case they get broken.

[00:19:05] If you break one precept, four will remain, if you break two there will be three left,

[00:19:12] if three are broken only two will remain and if four are broken only one will be left,

[00:19:18] if you break or five that's it. Monks on the other hand have 227, even if a monk breaks as many

[00:19:26] as ten he still has loads left. That monk's words show that he was merely keeping the precepts

[00:19:34] on the level of body and speech and not on the mind level. He didn't realize that the mind has

[00:19:40] already become unwholesome through its intention to transgress training rules. Still, it's quite

[00:19:48] amusing to hear somebody boasting of the number of precepts they keep as evidence of their superior virtue.

[00:19:55] In fact, the monastic discipline that the Buddha laid down pertains to body, speech and mind.

[00:20:02] The bodily and verbal expressions indicate the mind that which thinks and conceives

[00:20:08] and then compels body and speech to act accordingly. The Buddha established the monastic discipline

[00:20:16] as a path of practice for the monks and novices to follow, and it is a great blessing to us.

[00:20:22] He forbade the performance of actions bad, unsightly or inappropriate for contemplatives,

[00:20:28] for the benefit of the monks themselves not for anyone else's, not even his own.

[00:20:34] The Buddha, having become a refuge for those of us who had been unable to find a refuge,

[00:20:40] points out the way. It is an immeasurable blessing.

[00:20:46] It is difficult for anyone who has not penetrated to an awareness of the mind to keep the precepts.

[00:20:53] If they are kept, it will be as a burden in the way that a cow herd looks after his cows,

[00:21:00] merely looking forward to nightfall when he can herd them into the shed and go to relax and have a

[00:21:06] good rest. Such a person doesn't realize that we keep precepts for the purity of body, speech and

[00:21:13] mind. The more precepts we keep and the longer we keep them, the greater the purity. If we can keep

[00:21:21] them for as long as we live, then that's excellent. We will be able to abandon all the evilactions in

[00:21:27] this life alone. Not being acquainted with the virtue that is our nature and not understanding the

[00:21:35] virtue that consists of the acts of abstention, which prohibit the performance of evil, we blame

[00:21:41] the Buddha for laying down more rules than we can keep. Some people say, the longer you remain

[00:21:47] in robes and the more you study the discipline, the more prohibitions you run up against. This is an

[00:21:53] offense, that is an offense, and so the more you accumulate bad karma. It would be better to

[00:21:59] ordain for just three or seven days, then you wouldn't have the chance to break too many rules.

[00:22:07] It is truly saddening to hear that sort of opinion expressed. Buddhism has been promulgated in

[00:22:13] Thailand for more than two thousand years now, and yet the lighter of the dharma has still not

[00:22:19] shone into such people's hearts at all. It's really pathetic. They are like tortoises guarding a

[00:22:26] lotus impervious to its beauty. When it penetrates to the heart, we no longer have to look after our

[00:22:33] virtue. It looks after us. Whatever posture we are in where the standing, walking, sitting or lying

[00:22:40] down, virtue is alert, restraining, preventing transgression. Even if the thought to do something

[00:22:48] evil arises in the mind, there is the knowing of that thought and a feeling of shame shrinking

[00:22:55] from the proposed action before anyone else is aware of what is happening. How could feelings of anger,

[00:23:02] ill will and vindictiveness arise in the heart when it has become brimmed full of kindness and

[00:23:09] compassion? Virtue is normality of body, speech and mind. Once the mind loses its normality,

[00:23:18] then bodily action and speech must also, because they are under the sway of the mind.

[00:23:24] Therefore, those who truly wish to attain virtue and penetrate the Buddhist teachings

[00:23:30] must train their minds in meditation. Stage 3, the practice of meditation

[00:23:39] The practice of meditation does not go beyond this same training of bodily action, speech and mind.

[00:23:45] Whatever method is employed to develop samadhi, it must encompass the training of all these three

[00:23:52] things for it to be authentic Buddhist meditation. The sole concern of Buddhism is body, speech and mind.

[00:23:59] They are the foundation and teachings on virtue, samadhi and wisdom do not transcend it.

[00:24:07] Whether we're speaking of Buddhism in general, the threefold training or the stages of enlightenment

[00:24:13] and nebana, we do not go beyond body, speech and mind. As long as we are dealing with the

[00:24:21] conventional level of reality, everything short of the unmediated nebana or the arahanta after death,

[00:24:28] it is inevitable. In the practice of meditation, take up marinasati, the recollection of death

[00:24:36] as the preliminary object. Consider death thus. One day or another, I will certainly die because

[00:24:44] all life is ended by death. When I die, I will have to leave everything behind, including all that

[00:24:51] I love and cherish. Using the recollection of death as the preliminary meditation object

[00:24:58] is the ultimate skillful means because contemplation of the breath eventually merges into death

[00:25:06] meditation, as does the contemplation on unattractiveness. After contemplating death, we feel no

[00:25:14] attachment to things. All that remains is the mind itself in the state that we call cleansed.

[00:25:21] There comes a moment when the mind merges into the state of samadhi, that is to say it stops

[00:25:28] motionless, devoid of all thoughts and ideation but aware. The duration of the state has no fixed

[00:25:35] the limit. It will depend on the strength of the mind. Sometimes in the course of cleansing

[00:25:41] the mind, when it has become divorced from all mental activity as I have explained,

[00:25:47] it will suddenly drop into a state in which all kinds of vision arise. If so, don't grasp onto

[00:25:54] them, they are a serious obstacle. If you grasp at them, samadhi will degenerate. But most people

[00:26:02] grasp at them anyway because they take those visions to be strange and marvellous. Some teachers

[00:26:08] even advise adopting them as one's meditation object. I don't know whether this is because

[00:26:14] they have never seen or experienced these things themselves or whether they just don't realise

[00:26:20] their destructiveness. Some people practice meditation using anapanasati as their preliminary

[00:26:27] object contemplating the in and out breaths. If at the end of an inhalation we didn't exhale,

[00:26:34] we would die. If at the end of an exhalation we didn't inhale, we would die. Our death is such a

[00:26:42] small thing, just an in-breath or an out-breath. Then taking hold of the mind, the breath disappears

[00:26:49] by itself without the meditator realising it, leaving the mind in solitude, radiantly clear.

[00:26:57] If mindfulness is strong, that clear bright mind will last for a long time. But if mindfulness is

[00:27:04] weak, it will last for a short time and may merge into bhavanga, the life continuum, the functional

[00:27:11] state of subconsciousness. There are many variations in the way the mind enters bhavanga.

[00:27:18] In one case, as the mind begins to unify, it indulges in the bliss and tranquility that arise,

[00:27:25] and so enters bhavanga where it loses all self-awareness and experiences a state like deep sleep.

[00:27:33] Awareness just completely disappears and the condition may endure for many hours.

[00:27:39] Some people, at the moment of entering bhavanga see all kinds of visions, some of them true,

[00:27:45] some of them false. On emerging from that state, some they can remember and some they cannot.

[00:27:52] Other people experience an abrupt shift into that passive state. There are many variations

[00:27:58] depending on the character of the meditator. Although it is true that bhavanga is not the path

[00:28:04] leading to freedom from suffering, it may lie on the path to purity. Those who are training the

[00:28:10] mind are bound to enter it in the initial stages of samadhi development. There is nothing anyone can do

[00:28:17] to prevent it happening if mindfulness becomes weak. If it happens frequently until you become

[00:28:24] familiar with it and see that it's not the right path, things rectify themselves.

[00:28:29] Sitting unconsciously isn't so bad anyway, at least it stops mental agitation for a while.

[00:28:36] It's better than sitting thinking about this in that day and night. If we don't see a thing

[00:28:42] for ourselves, we don't know what it is. Having acquired a thorough knowledge of something,

[00:28:48] we don't get fooled by it again. Some meditators focus on usuba, unattractiveness as their preliminary

[00:28:55] object. They may contemplate the whole body from head to foot as being unattractive or else

[00:29:02] particular external features such as head hair, body hair or nails or else one of the internal

[00:29:09] organs such as the liver intestines or mesentery. In every case, the contemplation is continued

[00:29:16] until one clearly perceives the object as unattractive, putrescent and offensive.

[00:29:23] To begin with, one should contemplate by means of comparison. Taking an external object

[00:29:30] such as the swollen corpse of an animal or a dead human being one reflects that one's own body

[00:29:36] will reach that same state. Following from this reflection, there ensures a progressively

[00:29:43] clearer perception of the nature of the body that culminates in a calm and sobering sadness

[00:29:49] at which the mind converges in Samari, motionless and one-pointed. If mindfulness is weak,

[00:29:57] the mind, taking delight in the tranquility and bliss of the state, will enter Bhavanga where it

[00:30:03] will exhibit the states that I've mentioned in the sections on Maharanasati and Anaparnasati.

[00:30:11] When the preliminary object is discarded and the mind becomes still and impassive,

[00:30:17] some people experience various kinds of nimita, mind-made phenomena, devoid of any external

[00:30:25] referent. The vision, a bright light like that of the Sun or the Moon or else celestial beings,

[00:30:32] ghosts and spirits, out of delusion, some meditators grasp onto these visions,

[00:30:38] causing the state of Samari to degenerate and disappear. When nimita visions arise,

[00:30:46] certain Ajahn's teach their disciples to consider them as stages of attainment,

[00:30:51] as the four levels of the noble path commencing with stream entry. They say that to see the

[00:30:57] nimita vision of a small light, the size of a firefly, is to attain the sotapana stage.

[00:31:04] A slightly larger light, the size of a star, is to achieve the Sakharagami stage.

[00:31:10] To see a larger light than that, one the size of the Moon is to become an Anagami.

[00:31:16] And to see a large light the size of the Sun is Arahadship.

[00:31:21] Taking an external light as one's standard rather than the degree of purity in the heart,

[00:31:26] is to be far from the truth. When the disciple who has the desire to achieve different levels

[00:31:33] of attainment speaks with the Ajahn, he is asked about the lights and so takes himself to have

[00:31:40] actually realised those attainments. However, the Ajahn doesn't ask about the filaments

[00:31:46] and the disciple has no idea how much the filament is present in him or how much has been brought to an end.

[00:31:54] Then in a moment of anger his face goes beetroot, red and his enlightenment vanishes completely.

[00:32:03] For some people who have been taught to concentrate on nimita visions,

[00:32:07] they arise in the beginning of practice but subsequently not at all.

[00:32:12] That being so, how could they be anything real? Most nimitas arise from bhavanga and how could

[00:32:19] bhavanga be the path when it is specifically obstructive to it? It is true that non-buddhas,

[00:32:28] rishis and yogis for instance practice samadhi and they have been doing so since before the Buddha

[00:32:34] appeared in the world but they are able to attain merely mundane absorption.

[00:32:39] Only the Buddha is able to teach super mundane samadhi, those who have attained jhana assume it

[00:32:46] to be samadhi and so become pleased and satisfied with it, they become attached.

[00:32:52] Jhana and samadhi have similar characteristics. If a meditator's contemplation of them

[00:32:58] is not truly thorough, they will perceive them as being the same thing because one can change

[00:33:04] into the other and because they share the same object. They differ only in that with jhana the mind

[00:33:11] absorbs into feelings of tranquility and bliss that arise and so enters bhavanga whereas with samadhi

[00:33:19] mindfulness is constant. The mind is strong and resilient and refuses to indulge in pleasant feeling.

[00:33:26] The meditator is unconcerned whether or not the mind unifies, devoted only to maintaining the

[00:33:33] contemplation of the meditation object. Although it is true that nematars are not the path to purity,

[00:33:41] every meditator must eventually pass through the experience of them because when the mind converges

[00:33:47] or enters bhavanga they are bound to occur. Formally, when gifted meditators experienced these

[00:33:55] nematars whether they freed themselves or not, depended on their own mindfulness and wisdom

[00:34:01] or else the correctness of their teachers counsel for when encountering these phenomena one needs

[00:34:08] the advice of a teacher. Without a teacher one may get bogged down in the quagmaya of a nemata for

[00:34:15] a very long time as did Alara Kalama and Udhika Ramaputta, two meditation masters who taught the

[00:34:23] wayfarer gotima before reason enlightenment. Niosus knowledge which presents itself spontaneously

[00:34:32] to the mind and is of a spiritual nature and the various kinds of nematars are generated from

[00:34:38] the preliminary meditation object after the mind has merged into bhavanga. There are a great

[00:34:45] number of these meditation objects, the forty mentioned in the scriptures include the ten recollections,

[00:34:53] the ten cemetery contemplations and the ten casina contemplations. There are many more that are not

[00:35:01] listed in the books but by means of which the disciples of the Buddha became fully enlightened.

[00:35:08] For example, one monk attained arahadship while sitting on the shore of a lake by contemplating

[00:35:15] the sight of a heron swooping down to catch a fish. The effectiveness of a meditation object

[00:35:22] depends on the individual's disposition. Any object is permissible if it agrees with one's

[00:35:30] personality. The forty meditation objects found in the texts are not comprehensive but they do

[00:35:37] form a basic framework. Similarly, I have given a summary exposition of only three of the most

[00:35:44] important objects. If a meditator should find that none of them suits him then it's quite all right

[00:35:51] to use something else. But do take advantage of just one object. If many are taken the mind will

[00:35:58] become restless and full of doubts concentration will be unsteady. When the contemplation has been

[00:36:05] sustained for some time the mind will merge into a solitary stillness. Here the meditation object

[00:36:13] should be discarded and attention focused on that still and impassive mind. If the meditation

[00:36:20] object is not put down, discursive thought will soon reappear and the meditator will be prevented

[00:36:27] from focusing on the mind. This principle applies to both Jhana and Samhati. If rather than watch

[00:36:35] the knower, the meditator grasps at a nemator or at Niosus when it arises then when the phenomenon

[00:36:43] ceases he is unable to focus on the mind. Closely observe these three things, the mind, the nemator

[00:36:52] and the act of perceiving the nemator. When nemators on Niosus arise, these three things will be

[00:36:59] present simultaneously. If one is unable to focus on the mind, the one who knows, then when the nemator

[00:37:08] or Niosus disappear, the one who knows will disappear with it and will never be apprehended.

[00:37:15] The role of the meditation object is to enable the mind to converge into the unified state.

[00:37:22] When that one pointedness has been achieved, then the meditation object should be discarded

[00:37:29] and attention focused solely on the sense of knowing. Any meditation object that produces

[00:37:36] convergence is valid, but whichever is used let meditators investigate thoroughly how the same

[00:37:43] objects may on producing unification of mind result in Bhavanga or Samhati. For example with

[00:37:51] Maura Nassati as the object, one contemplates death until one sees clearly that sooner or later

[00:37:58] death is inevitable. That it must be faced alone, that all one's possessions must be abandoned,

[00:38:06] even one's loved ones are left behind. When one sees this clearly, the mind focuses exclusively

[00:38:14] on the subject of death, let's go of all else and merges into Bhavanga and may disappear

[00:38:21] completely for a time. Otherwise consciousness may switch off and disappear for a moment,

[00:38:28] rather as when falling asleep and then awaken in another world, the world of the mind.

[00:38:35] In this other world one experiences and perceives in the same way as in this world,

[00:38:41] but everything is more intense and cannot really be compared with this world.

[00:38:46] It can only be appreciated by the mind experiencing it. In other cases, the mind enters a state of

[00:38:54] impassive stillness. In both cases, the process is called merging into Bhavanga. When contemplating death,

[00:39:04] the mind will evolve into Samhati if, as the mind unifies, vigorous and resolute mindfulness

[00:39:11] is established to prevent it from entering Bhavanga. The meditator contemplates how birth comes about,

[00:39:18] how death comes about and what follows death until a clear and lucid knowing arises in the mind,

[00:39:25] accompanied by a buoyant sense of well-being. There is no rapture, as rapture is a factor of Jhana.

[00:39:34] This state is called Samhati. The states of Samhati and Jhana arise through contemplation

[00:39:41] of the same preliminary object, but the mind that enters Jhana and the mind that enters Samhati

[00:39:47] differ. With Jhana, the mind dwells on the object of death motivated by the desire to experience

[00:39:55] the bliss of tranquility and so enters Bhavanga. With Samhati, mindfulness is strongly and firmly

[00:40:02] established and one contemplates death in order to clearly understand every aspect of it.

[00:40:10] One gives no thought as to whether or not the mind will converge, the aim is to see clearly.

[00:40:16] However, the unswerving nature of the contemplation of a single object ensures that it naturally

[00:40:22] evolves into the state of Samhati, a state of clear knowing and joy in the contemplation of the object.

[00:40:29] Although initial reflections on the object are not one-pointed, clarity and illumination of

[00:40:36] understanding are experienced in one point at which all doubts vanish. Whatever meditation

[00:40:44] object or technique is employed, the passage into Jhana and Samhati is always differentiated

[00:40:51] at the moment of convergence. In fact, the best thing would be to not bother with the terms Jhana,

[00:41:00] Samhati and Bhavanga at all but simply to observe the mind as it converges. Then one will very

[00:41:07] clearly see the differences for oneself. The adept, one who is fluent enough in Jhana to enter

[00:41:14] or leave it at will may, if he has developed it in formal lives, choose to exercise various

[00:41:21] supernormal powers. For instance, he may see visions of himself and others who have in previous

[00:41:28] lives been fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, or those who have harmed him and were enemies.

[00:41:36] In some cases, there is the ability to remember the names of the people and places in question.

[00:41:42] This is called ati tam sanjana. Some meditators might see a vision and the knowledge arises

[00:41:52] that oneself or another, perhaps a family member, will die on such and such a day

[00:41:57] or in such and such a year or will endure some kind of suffering or will receive some good

[00:42:03] fortune or wealth and when the day arrives, the event occurs as was foreseen. This is called an

[00:42:12] agata sanjana. The third news is asava kaya nana is usually rendered as the knowledge and

[00:42:21] understanding that destroys the arsevers, the taints. I would like to analyse this point a little

[00:42:29] because it has been the source of doubts for a very long time. If this phrase is translated as

[00:42:35] the knowledge and understanding of the one who has destroyed the arsevers, it would be clearer.

[00:42:42] All neosis, all supernormal powers are born of jhana but if asava kaya nana is considered to destroy

[00:42:52] then it is tout amount to saying that mere attainment of jhana can fulfill the function of maghasa

[00:42:59] manghi. Such a contention would directly contradict the teaching that it is maghasa manghi alone, i.e.

[00:43:09] the simultaneous manifestation of all eight factors of the eightfold path that destroys the

[00:43:15] faraments at each moment of insight. The three kinds of neosis are born of jhana and jhana can

[00:43:24] only provide knowledge of things outside the mind, it is incapable of knowing that a faraments within

[00:43:30] the heart. There would have never spoke of any one of the various forms of neosis as destroyers

[00:43:36] of defilement. That was an epithet reserved exclusively for the path which makes the translation of

[00:43:44] the phrase asava kaya nana as the neosis that causes the destruction of the asava, all the more perplexing.

[00:43:55] May all the wise people who read this book contemplate the matter and if your conclusions do not

[00:44:00] agree with the one that i am offering please write and let me know, I will be most grateful.

[00:44:07] Asava kaya nana is not a form of neosis that is born of jhana, it is exceptional. All jhana's up to

[00:44:16] and including the cessation of feeling and perception are mundane. I have never seen a passage in which

[00:44:23] the Buddha describes the factors of a transcendent or supermundered day in jhana. However, if those

[00:44:31] meditators who have attained the supermundered stage of understanding enters a jhana, then that

[00:44:38] jhana is considered supermundered. It's like the king's sword which has given the special name

[00:44:44] prakan. In fact, a prakan is just an ordinary sword albeit a very fine one but because it belongs to

[00:44:52] the king we give it a special name. Similarly, one may understand this term asava kaya nana more

[00:45:01] easily if one interprets it as the knowledge of one who has already put an end to defarmance.

[00:45:08] Jhana is also described in terms of three forms of bhavanga, bhavangupada, bhavangucharana and

[00:45:17] bhavangupaceda, while samadhi is divided in dhikarna ka upacara and upana. In jhana, defalments are

[00:45:27] merely suppressed. There is no abandonment of defalment in jhana. With samadhi, the progressive

[00:45:34] abandonment of defalment is described as follows. The sotapana, stream antra, is able to abandon

[00:45:42] three defalments. In bodhimandviyu, sceptical doubt and attachment to external observances.

[00:45:50] The sakharagami, once retuna, abandons the above three defalments and in addition attenuates

[00:45:58] central desire and aversion. The anagami non-retuna is able to abandon all of the above five defalments.

[00:46:08] This clearly demonstrates that jhana is mundane and samadhi through abandoning defalments is super

[00:46:15] mundane. Although it's true that jhana is mundane, the meditator training in samadhi must as a

[00:46:22] matter of course first pass through it as the two states of jhana and samadhi are interchangeable

[00:46:29] using skillful means. Given that they both arise from a single source, it is inevitable that sooner or

[00:46:37] later no one training the mind can avoid experiencing both of them. Jhana and the initial stages of samadhi

[00:46:46] are the meditators training ground, then having disciplined himself in both jhana and samadhi until

[00:46:54] him is proficient able to discriminate finally between what is correct and what is not,

[00:47:00] the meditator may effectively develop vipassana insight. Vipassana is not at all the easy thing that most

[00:47:08] people imagine, some meditators experience on occasion the passage of the mind into jhana and samadhi

[00:47:16] and then assume that they have reached this or that stage of attainment. In fact they don't really

[00:47:22] know what stage they've reached whether it's jhana or samadhi or whatever but just go ahead and brag

[00:47:29] about it. Subsequently that state of concentration declines and becomes inaccessible to them.

[00:47:37] Samadhi has great poise and gracefulness but in a different way to jhana, it's the difference between

[00:47:44] one who plays a sport for health and one who plays for the sheer delight of it. When the mind

[00:47:50] merges into samadhi one is aware that it is doing so there is a constant knowing. Mindfulness

[00:47:58] notes the closeness or subtlety of the mind at every moment of consciousness. When the mind is still

[00:48:04] course, the knowing is restricted to the outer but as it becomes more refined there is knowing of both

[00:48:12] inner and outer. One is undercived by the different states of mind. One knows both the mind that

[00:48:20] is dhamma and the mind that is still caught up in the world. One is not restricted to a single perspective.

[00:48:28] The mind of one who sees in this way will be a quantumist able to let go of all mental states.

[00:48:35] He may or may not act in any given circumstance but if he does choose to act his actions will

[00:48:41] invariably be measured, appropriate and beneficial. Samadhi is characteristic of one mature in conduct,

[00:48:50] genre of one still immature. In samadhi apart from the same nimitors and forms of

[00:48:57] neosis that I have already described as a rising in jhana, one may also attain knowledge of some

[00:49:04] matter through the manifestation of a verse or a voice sometimes embodied sometimes not.

[00:49:12] In every case such phenomena consist of warnings either of some looming danger or else

[00:49:19] the correctness or incorrectness of some action one has committed. Thus the nimitors and neosis

[00:49:26] that arise during the development of samadhi are most important and have been tools for teachers

[00:49:32] and those in spiritual authority since the time of the Buddha himself. Such nimitors and knowledge

[00:49:38] arise on the level of upacara samadhi, although the perceiver of them may not realise he is in that stage.

[00:49:48] They may appear at any time when standing up sitting in formal meditation, lying in a meditation

[00:49:54] posture or even while walking around. There have been many people who before they ever visited my

[00:50:02] monastery had foreknowledge that the place was of such and such a terrain and appearance.

[00:50:08] When they actually came here and saw the place it did not differ in a single respect from their vision.

[00:50:14] Whether this is due to the attainment of jhana and samadhi to their accumulated merit

[00:50:20] or to having been here in a former time cannot be ascertained. However if any of these people are

[00:50:28] asked if they have ever meditated to the level of samadhi and jhana, they always say no.

[00:50:35] All these nimitors and knowledges arise intermittently. The knowledge they convey is not always true

[00:50:42] in the case of one who is not yet adept at entering samadhi. For he encounters them as soon as he enters

[00:50:50] the state of upacara. However, one who is adept will first enter samadhi to the level of upana,

[00:50:58] absorption and then withdraw to upacara. When he wishes to know about some event he will consciously turn

[00:51:06] his mind towards it and then dwell in equanimity. If there is something to be known the knowledge

[00:51:13] will spontaneously arise, if not it will not. If it should happen that some knowledge arises in

[00:51:21] the mind at this point it will be completely trustworthy and true in every respect.

[00:51:28] That is not the way people go about it these days. Before we have even experienced jhana or samadhi

[00:51:34] once, craving arises wanting to see this and know that. When our desires are not fulfilled we give up

[00:51:42] all our efforts and seek to excuse ourselves in various ways. We have too little merit to progress

[00:51:48] all we don't have what it takes and so on. Actually we were on the right track. The results we

[00:51:55] obtained were in fact fine. If you can be at peace with whatever results you have achieved

[00:52:02] you will be alright. You cannot pit your accumulated merit and purity of character

[00:52:09] against that of a person who has been practicing for a long time. You may be able to compete with him

[00:52:16] rowing a boat down the river but where merit is concerned it is utterly impossible. No matter how

[00:52:23] much effort they put forth some people never experience any nematers or noses but providing

[00:52:30] they do not relent in their efforts they are able to realize the fruit of practice just the same.

[00:52:36] A person who has the four putty sambhidha and litigal knowledges and the six abinya supernormal

[00:52:44] knowledges and the person who has none of them become one in their realization of nibbana.

[00:52:51] The meditator who is not yet proficient must take the preliminary meditation object as he stay.

[00:52:59] Whenever he meditates he begins by concentrating on it. It is indispensable to him.

[00:53:05] The best preliminary object is the recollection of death. After contemplating death nothing remains

[00:53:12] in the mind. Any object will suffice for the adept or he may disregard the preliminary object

[00:53:19] altogether and directly contemplate the distinctive mood of that object from the start.

[00:53:26] The mind converges naturally. When one has been concentrating on the meditation object for some time

[00:53:33] one will begin to feel lazy and reluctant to contemplate. One becomes enamored of the peace that

[00:53:40] has arisen is content with what has already been achieved. In fact this is heedlessness

[00:53:47] not even vipassana transcends this contemplation of death but whereas in vipassana the contemplation

[00:53:55] provides a clear perception of the arising and passing away of all phenomena together with their

[00:54:02] relevant causes and conditions. In Samadhi and Jhana although there is also contemplation

[00:54:08] one sees only certain aspects of the process it's not a clear vivid perception that encompasses

[00:54:15] the causes and conditions. However meditators tend to take this partial knowledge to be complete

[00:54:23] and take themselves to have seen the whole thing. To give an example there was a certain lady in

[00:54:29] the monastery who said she had seen the whole thing, she had seen the impermanence of all things

[00:54:35] how our bodies are doomed to break up and disintegrate. Her meditation reached the point that she would

[00:54:41] enter Bhavanga at the meal time and just sitting there in a trance forget to eat. On one occasion she

[00:54:49] was in charge of making a hot drink to offer to the monks and sat in front of the pot absorbed

[00:54:55] until all the water had boiled away. Then one day while sitting in meditation her body rose up

[00:55:01] and laid down by the side of the road. Just then a car happened to be rapidly approaching.

[00:55:08] The thought came to the old lady that she was going to die but a voice in her heart said,

[00:55:14] what of it? Death is just death. Here is as good a place as any.

[00:55:21] The car continued towards her getting closer and closer and just as it was about to reach her

[00:55:27] she suddenly jumped up. You see the clinging to self was lurking away deep inside

[00:55:34] even though her meditation had reached the stage where she could dwell totally unaware of her body

[00:55:40] and senses, the grasping within still remained. You must contemplate death frequently until you are

[00:55:48] skilled, until you see arising and passing away and the outcome of it. You must contemplate death

[00:55:55] until you see it in its true light as a perfectly natural phenomenon, until you are firmly confident

[00:56:02] that when faced with death you will not waver. Name and form i.e the mind and the body

[00:56:10] arise and pass away separately. Thus when experiencing a physical pain,

[00:56:16] sages such as the Buddha separate the mind from the body and so remain at ease.

[00:56:23] At conception firstly the Sambhava dahatu or what nowadays is referred to as the sperm in the egg

[00:56:32] of the parents' compine and then rebirth consciousness enters that compound and adheres to it.

[00:56:39] If the parents dahatu compine abnormally as for instance in the case of deficiency on one side

[00:56:47] such as a red or abnormal coloring, then the combination will not gel and the rebirth consciousness

[00:56:53] will find nowhere to establish itself. Thus it is said that material form arises first and mind

[00:57:02] enters it and takes rebirth afterwards. At the time of death the mind ceases first, followed by

[00:57:10] the body. One may see in a dead person that although the mind has ceased all its activity

[00:57:17] the body is still warm, the cells and organs the nervous system still remain.

[00:57:22] Those people who revive after doctors have pronounced them dead resume using the same cells.

[00:57:40] That concludes the Dharma teaching only the world ends by the venerable Ajantate.

[00:57:46] If you'd like to hear more talks by Ajantate and other meditation masters of the forest tradition

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