In this episode of the Forest Path Podcast I’ll be completing the narration of the teaching “Only the world ends” by forest meditation master Venerable Ajahn Tate. This is part two of two episodes. Stay tuned to listen to the concluding part of this teaching by a true meditition master of the Thai Forest Tradition.
This teaching was published for free distribution by Pattanasuksa Publishing in Bangkok.
May you all benefit from hearing this gift of dhamma.
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Forest Path Podcast, podcast sharing the teachings of awakened meditation
[00:00:06] masters of the modern era.
[00:00:09] In this episode of the Forest Path Podcast I'll be completing the narration of the teaching
[00:00:14] Only The World Ends by the Forest Meditation Master, Venerable Ajahn Chhitaid.
[00:00:22] This is part two of two episodes.
[00:00:26] Stay tuned to listen to the concluding part of this teaching by a true meditation master
[00:00:31] of the Thai Forest tradition.
[00:00:35] This teaching was published for free distribution by Patanaseksha Publishing in Bangkok.
[00:00:42] May you all benefit from hearing this gift of Dharma.
[00:00:52] At the time of death, the mind ceases first followed by the body.
[00:00:57] One may see in a dead person that although the mind has ceased all its activity, the
[00:01:03] body is still warm.
[00:01:05] The cells and organs, the nervous system still remain.
[00:01:10] Those people who revive after doctors have pronounced them dead resume using the same
[00:01:15] cells.
[00:01:17] When the mind enters and inhabits this body, it grasps at every single part of it as being
[00:01:23] mine and goes on doing so until the last moment of life when the body is about to
[00:01:30] perish.
[00:01:31] After death beings experience the results of the actions they performed while still
[00:01:36] in the human realm and may be reborn as disembodied beings perhaps as a kind of
[00:01:42] spirit or hungry ghost or as a deity.
[00:01:46] Within they show themselves to people.
[00:01:49] It can be seen that they exhibit the characteristics they formerly possessed.
[00:01:55] Those who formerly committed evil had defiled minds and soiled bodies appear in that way
[00:02:01] whereas those that did good were pure-minded and had attractive appearances look that
[00:02:07] way.
[00:02:09] Even beings who fall into hell realms after death can show those realms clearly
[00:02:14] and vividly to human beings.
[00:02:17] However, the average person lacks the faculties to see them for after death all that
[00:02:22] remains of those beings is the mind and energy of the volitional actions they have
[00:02:28] performed.
[00:02:30] Having taken birth in the human realm we grasp onto this human body as being
[00:02:35] mine with great tenacity.
[00:02:38] The intelligent person cleanses his mind of its impurities with the practice of
[00:02:43] Samadhi until he realizes the heart and attains the state of equanimity which is
[00:02:49] devoid of past and future.
[00:02:53] It is in this way that the liberation from all defilement may be known.
[00:02:58] Samadhi pertains to the mind but I hold it to be matter of body and speech
[00:03:04] also because body and speech are always implied by the presence of mind.
[00:03:11] When there is mind there is thought which is internal speech.
[00:03:16] With the very arising of thought there is speech.
[00:03:19] When speech is present the mind goes out roaming amongst the material forms of
[00:03:24] beings and people and the world of objects.
[00:03:29] Without these things the mind would have nothing to latch onto.
[00:03:33] However coarse or subtle the mind is whether it is dwelling in the realm
[00:03:37] of sensuality, form or formlessness it must always have a tangible base.
[00:03:43] There must be the internal and external sense fields, contact between them and a
[00:03:48] constant sense of knowing.
[00:03:51] Even formless realm consciousness has the formless mind itself as its
[00:03:56] dwelling place.
[00:03:58] The person who enters the formless levels of meditative absorption perceives
[00:04:03] the formless mind with the internal sense fields.
[00:04:07] The term internal sense fields does not in this case have the customary meaning
[00:04:12] of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind but refers to the internal
[00:04:18] sense fields of the heart.
[00:04:21] When one has detached oneself from the coarse sense fields of eyes,
[00:04:25] ears etc. a further set remains intact.
[00:04:30] The eyes, ears etc. that are called dipper, heavenly or divine.
[00:04:36] For instance in the case of seeing it is not the normal material eye that
[00:04:41] sees but the eye of the heart and the form perceived is not the kind seen
[00:04:46] by the ordinary eye but one specific to the heart's eye.
[00:04:51] The same principle applies to the same way to other senses and objects.
[00:04:57] The contact between these internal sense fields and their respective
[00:05:01] objects is a great deal more intense and experience than that between
[00:05:06] their coarser counterparts and it is a private contact, one unperceivable
[00:05:11] by other people.
[00:05:13] These internal sense fields of the heart are difficult things to talk
[00:05:17] about.
[00:05:19] Those who have never meditated on the point of reaching the heart
[00:05:22] cannot understand them.
[00:05:24] Our everyday language does not lend itself to such matters.
[00:05:28] The best that one can do is to employ similes.
[00:05:32] There is no complete agreement in the ways of practised amongst those
[00:05:36] who are still not adept, even those who use the same meditation object.
[00:05:42] In the case of senior monks with many disciples this disparity
[00:05:46] can have serious consequences.
[00:05:49] So we should take the basic principles of the Buddha's teachings
[00:05:53] as our foundation.
[00:05:55] Are we or are we not practising correctly in accordance with the teachings
[00:05:59] of Buddhism?
[00:06:01] The scriptures are to be used as a measuring stick of our practice.
[00:06:05] We shouldn't just do as we see fit.
[00:06:08] There is only one teaching, only one Buddha but nowadays his disciples
[00:06:13] are following different paths.
[00:06:15] It is a great shame and disgrace.
[00:06:18] The internal sense fields that I have been talking about are also
[00:06:22] deceptive.
[00:06:23] One can't take them too seriously.
[00:06:26] All things that exist in the world are a mixture of the true and the false.
[00:06:31] Every single worldly condition, whether an object, a creature or a human
[00:06:36] being is deceptive.
[00:06:38] The mind enmeshed in the world deceives itself into taking things
[00:06:42] to be substantial.
[00:06:44] However, all things are illusory,
[00:06:47] having arisen their nature is to degenerate and disappear.
[00:06:51] Human beings, for example, are born from a combination of the four elements.
[00:06:56] The mind grasps onto that lump of elements
[00:06:59] and labels it as a human being, man or woman.
[00:07:03] Then there is marriage and children are born.
[00:07:06] There is love and hate, envy, harm and killing.
[00:07:10] It's the same with making a living.
[00:07:12] Having been born into this world, we have to work to stay alive.
[00:07:17] We work in a shop or on a farm or as a civil servant,
[00:07:21] but even if we work until the day we die,
[00:07:24] we don't finish anything.
[00:07:26] When we die, someone else takes our place
[00:07:29] and before they can get anything done, they die as well.
[00:07:33] As long as this world still exists,
[00:07:36] we human beings are all born into it
[00:07:39] to keep doing the same things over and over again.
[00:07:43] When we die, not one of us can take the fruits of our labours with us.
[00:07:48] Even our bodies are left behind.
[00:07:50] Only the good and evil actions we have performed
[00:07:53] survive the body's death.
[00:07:56] It is nothing strange that the perceived animate world
[00:07:59] is able to deceive the mind
[00:08:01] when even the inanimate world can do so.
[00:08:05] We can see this with woods and forests.
[00:08:08] The many species of trees growing lushly green,
[00:08:12] branches garlanded with blossoms and clusters of fruit,
[00:08:16] pleasingly arrayed with a beauty and order beyond human artifice.
[00:08:20] Anyone who sees such a scene admires it
[00:08:23] and praises its beauty.
[00:08:26] Then there are the cliff faces, the overhangs,
[00:08:29] caves and grottoes, strangely ordered
[00:08:32] as if carefully sculpted by an unknown hand.
[00:08:36] There are rivers and streams flowing down from the highlands to the plains,
[00:08:41] with their oxbows and bends, gorges and cliff, eddies and whirlpools
[00:08:46] and with circling shoals of darting fish.
[00:08:50] These are impressive sights,
[00:08:52] and as one keeps dwelling on their beauty,
[00:08:55] one loses oneself in the enjoyment of them
[00:08:58] and they come to seem substantial and real.
[00:09:02] But after a while they disappear from our memory
[00:09:05] or if not, we become separated from them.
[00:09:09] Nothing survives, all is impermanent.
[00:09:13] This power to deceive that is possessed by the things of the world
[00:09:17] is shared by the dharma that is still of the world.
[00:09:21] One can observe this in the practice of sitting meditation.
[00:09:25] As the mind converges into samadhi,
[00:09:28] there can be a feeling as if one has been given a shove
[00:09:32] and one is suddenly stricken with fear
[00:09:34] or sometimes there may be a loud cracking sound
[00:09:37] like a peel of thunder
[00:09:39] or perhaps the body seems to break into pieces
[00:09:42] or else a clear bright light appears
[00:09:45] illuminating all sorts of objects.
[00:09:48] We believe these things to be real,
[00:09:50] but as soon as we open our eyes they disappear.
[00:09:54] Anything can happen.
[00:09:56] Sometimes, as the mind unifies,
[00:09:59] one sees spirits and ghosts,
[00:10:02] the faces of ogres and devils
[00:10:04] and frightened one flees.
[00:10:07] Some people go crazy.
[00:10:09] The dharma that is still mundane can deceive us
[00:10:12] in exactly the same way as other worldly things.
[00:10:16] Perhaps we contemplate this body as being unattractive.
[00:10:20] When we develop a firm conviction
[00:10:22] that is the true nature of the body,
[00:10:25] the perception of a suba manifests.
[00:10:28] The whole body is seen as bloated and rotting.
[00:10:31] But in fact, the body in its normal everyday state,
[00:10:35] unbloated and unrotting, is already unattractive.
[00:10:39] We are misled into believing the mind's deceptions
[00:10:43] and taking loathesomeness to be ultimately true.
[00:10:47] We cling to the perception
[00:10:49] until everything seems distinct.
[00:10:51] Wherever we go, we smell the odor of decay.
[00:10:55] The mind that we are training to realize dharma
[00:10:58] can still be deceived by the dharma
[00:11:00] that is still mundane.
[00:11:02] And so the Buddha said,
[00:11:04] the mind deceives the mind.
[00:11:07] How can we observe if that is true?
[00:11:11] It is difficult if we do not know
[00:11:13] the difference between the mind and the heart.
[00:11:16] The mind and the heart are two different things.
[00:11:20] The heart here means, as it does in everyday usage,
[00:11:24] that which lies at the center.
[00:11:27] The mind is thought, ideation, conceptualization,
[00:11:31] imagination, memory and perception.
[00:11:34] All the myriad mental phenomena.
[00:11:37] Although people generally take the heart
[00:11:39] and the mind to be identical
[00:11:41] and in the Thai language,
[00:11:42] the words are often used interchangeably,
[00:11:45] the mind and heart can be separated.
[00:11:49] Sometimes the Buddha said that the mind,
[00:11:51] the chitta, is naturally radiant
[00:11:54] but is sullied by adventitious defilement
[00:11:57] and in other places that the mind is defiled.
[00:12:01] He spoke in many different ways
[00:12:04] and the students of heart and mind
[00:12:06] have become quite confused.
[00:12:09] Looked at on a basic level,
[00:12:11] mind is thought, imagination, conceptualization,
[00:12:15] all the different kinds of mental process.
[00:12:18] It is difficult to bring under our control.
[00:12:21] Even when we are asleep,
[00:12:22] the mind still roams about creating the worlds for itself
[00:12:26] that we call dreams.
[00:12:28] It imagines us doing our daily tasks
[00:12:31] of farming, buying and selling and so on,
[00:12:34] perhaps quarreling, fighting and killing.
[00:12:37] If we train this restless mind of ours
[00:12:40] to experience the tranquility of one-pointedness,
[00:12:43] we will see that the one-pointed mind
[00:12:45] exists separately from the defilements
[00:12:48] such as anger and so on.
[00:12:50] The mind and the defilements are not identical.
[00:12:54] If they were, purification of mind would be impossible.
[00:12:59] Through its fabrications,
[00:13:00] the mind brings defilement into itself
[00:13:04] and then becomes unsure
[00:13:06] as to exactly what is the mind and what defilement.
[00:13:10] The Buddha taught,
[00:13:12] chittan pabhasa rang agantu kehi kele sehi.
[00:13:17] The mind is unceasingly radiant.
[00:13:19] Defilements are alien entities that enter into it.
[00:13:25] This saying shows that his teaching on the matter
[00:13:28] is in fact clear.
[00:13:30] For the world to be the world,
[00:13:32] every one of its constituent parts must be present.
[00:13:36] The only thing that stands by itself is dhamma,
[00:13:40] the teaching of the Buddha.
[00:13:42] Anyone who considers dhamma to be manifold
[00:13:45] or composite has not yet penetrated it thoroughly.
[00:13:50] Water is, in its natural state, a pure, transparent fluid.
[00:13:54] But if dye stuff is added to it,
[00:13:57] it will change color accordingly.
[00:14:00] If red dye is added, it will turn red.
[00:14:03] If black dye, black.
[00:14:06] But even though water may change its color
[00:14:08] in accordance with the substances introduced into it,
[00:14:12] it does not forsake its innate purity and colorlessness.
[00:14:17] If an intelligent person is able to distill
[00:14:20] all the colored water,
[00:14:21] it will resume its natural state.
[00:14:24] The dye stuff can only cause variation in outer appearance.
[00:14:30] Water is a very useful substance.
[00:14:32] It is capable of cleansing all sorts of soiled things.
[00:14:36] And similarly, one's own purity can permeate
[00:14:40] all the spoiling agents and wash them away.
[00:14:44] The whys are able to distill or filter the mind
[00:14:47] so as to remove the defilements
[00:14:49] with which it is adulterated.
[00:14:52] Now let me explain the differences
[00:14:54] between the heart and the mind
[00:14:56] before talking about the defilements
[00:14:58] that arise from the mind.
[00:15:00] The term mind refers to mental activity.
[00:15:04] All volitions and perceptions arise from the mind.
[00:15:08] The mind is unable to remain motionless.
[00:15:12] Even during sleep, it is creating and imagining
[00:15:15] a host of different things in dream.
[00:15:18] It can't stay and it cannot sleep.
[00:15:22] It makes no discrimination in its workings of night and day.
[00:15:26] It is the body not the mind which being weary rests.
[00:15:32] The mind is formless.
[00:15:34] It can penetrate any place.
[00:15:36] It can even pass through all the way through a large mountain.
[00:15:40] The mind has more powers than can be fully described.
[00:15:45] The heart is that which lies at the center of things
[00:15:48] and is also formless.
[00:15:50] It is simple awareness, devoid of movement to and fro
[00:15:55] of past and future within and without merit and harm.
[00:16:00] Wherever the center of a thing lies,
[00:16:03] there lies its heart, for the word heart means centrality.
[00:16:09] In conversation, if a person is asked about his heart,
[00:16:13] he will point to the center of his chest.
[00:16:16] In fact, that is not the heart itself.
[00:16:18] It is merely the heart base,
[00:16:20] the organ that recycles blood and pumps it
[00:16:23] back into circulation so as to nourish
[00:16:26] and maintain the various parts of the body.
[00:16:29] The heart I am referring to is not a material object.
[00:16:33] It is formless.
[00:16:35] Usually in the scriptures,
[00:16:37] the terms the mind and the heart signify the same thing.
[00:16:41] The Buddha said, however the mind is, so is the heart.
[00:16:45] However the heart, so the mind.
[00:16:48] That the two terms are synonymous can be seen
[00:16:51] in the sayings such as,
[00:16:53] chittang dantang sukavahang.
[00:16:56] The well-trained mind brings forth happiness
[00:17:00] and manopubangamadama.
[00:17:04] All things are preceded by the heart.
[00:17:07] In most cases, the Buddha used the word mind
[00:17:10] and in the abhidama, mind and mental objects
[00:17:15] are the only terms used.
[00:17:18] This is probably because the mind plays
[00:17:20] a more prominent role than the heart,
[00:17:23] both the defilements and the cleansing of the defilements
[00:17:26] being functions of the mind.
[00:17:29] The defilements are not the mind.
[00:17:31] The mind is not defilement.
[00:17:34] The mind grasps onto defilements
[00:17:36] and causes them to proliferate.
[00:17:39] If the mind and defilements were one and the same thing,
[00:17:43] who in the world could possibly cleanse the mind completely?
[00:17:48] The mind and defilements are without tangible form.
[00:17:52] When there is seeing or hearing for example,
[00:17:55] the defilements that appear
[00:17:56] are not inherent properties of the eyes and ears.
[00:18:00] They arise in dependence on the contact
[00:18:03] between the mind and the sense field.
[00:18:06] When for instance, a form comes into contact with the eye,
[00:18:09] that contact gives birth to a feeling
[00:18:12] which after a while disappears.
[00:18:15] The mind seeking to retain that feeling in consciousness
[00:18:19] causes the defilements of good and evil,
[00:18:21] love and hate to appear.
[00:18:24] One who doesn't understand this process
[00:18:27] is misled into thinking that the mind and defilements
[00:18:30] are identical and so applies remedies to the mind
[00:18:34] rather than defilements themselves.
[00:18:38] Consequently, however, many remedies one applies.
[00:18:42] One meets with no success
[00:18:43] because one's effort are wrongly directed.
[00:18:48] It is true deludedly grasping onto all kinds of objects
[00:18:51] and supports as being mine
[00:18:54] through becoming firmly attached to things
[00:18:56] that the mind becomes defiled.
[00:18:59] Gardens and fields, wealth and possessions,
[00:19:02] husband and wife, sons and daughters,
[00:19:05] all the members of our family are taken to be mine
[00:19:09] and so the mind becomes defiled.
[00:19:12] But all those things exist in accordance
[00:19:14] with their own nature.
[00:19:15] They are not affected by our deluded clinging.
[00:19:19] For example, from delusion we cling to our spouse
[00:19:22] assuming him or her to be really ours.
[00:19:26] We feel as if we have taken their heart
[00:19:28] and placed it within our own.
[00:19:30] But if they decide to commit adultery,
[00:19:33] they don't say a word to us
[00:19:35] and when we find out we are heartbroken
[00:19:37] and almost die from the anguish.
[00:19:40] This suffering arises from delusion,
[00:19:43] not perceiving the way that things actually exist.
[00:19:48] It is even more the case with inanimate objects.
[00:19:52] We put precious stones, diamonds and sapphires away
[00:19:55] in a sturdy safe afraid that thieves will steal them.
[00:20:00] The stones themselves are completely indifferent.
[00:20:03] They would feel nothing at all if they were stolen.
[00:20:06] The one who would be frantic and upset
[00:20:09] would be their owner, the one who clings.
[00:20:12] The defilement of clinging is really malevolent.
[00:20:16] There is nothing that may not be clung to.
[00:20:19] Having grasped hold of something,
[00:20:21] the clinging embeds itself immovably within it.
[00:20:24] The mind, the heart and defilements
[00:20:26] have the meanings I've explained above.
[00:20:29] The mind that has not been well trained
[00:20:31] will be continually overwhelmed by defilements.
[00:20:35] While conversely, the mind that has been well trained
[00:20:38] will become an immense treasure trove.
[00:20:41] The mind is both that which searches for defilement
[00:20:44] and that which seeks out wisdom.
[00:20:48] The birthplace of the mind's defilements
[00:20:50] is no other than the sixth sense fields
[00:20:53] which the mind make regular use of.
[00:20:56] The sixth sense fields are the priceless wealth
[00:20:58] of the mind, as much as one could say,
[00:21:01] as if they were its wishful-filling gem.
[00:21:05] The eyes can be used to enjoy
[00:21:07] even the most beautiful and attractive forms
[00:21:10] without hesitation.
[00:21:11] And even if they become damaged or deficient in some way,
[00:21:14] you can still wear glasses.
[00:21:17] The ears are even better servants.
[00:21:19] When the eyes are closed,
[00:21:21] the ears can carry on listening and hearing quite comfortably.
[00:21:25] The nose is the same.
[00:21:27] It doesn't need to borrow the services of the eyes
[00:21:30] and ears to smell odours for it.
[00:21:32] It can manage by itself.
[00:21:35] The tongue doesn't need to bargain with the eyes, ears,
[00:21:38] nose to come and taste flavours for it.
[00:21:40] As soon as something is put into the mouth,
[00:21:43] whatever it is, the tongue immediately performs
[00:21:46] the function of discriminating,
[00:21:48] whether the taste is spicy or salty,
[00:21:50] sweet or sour, delicious or not.
[00:21:54] The body acknowledges
[00:21:55] whether contact is soft, hard or whatever.
[00:21:58] The heart is especially independent.
[00:22:01] It knows what thoughts are going on
[00:22:03] without having to concern itself
[00:22:05] with any of the other sense fields or consciousness.
[00:22:08] Its functions are specific to the heart.
[00:22:12] These things are old now.
[00:22:14] They have been serving the mind for so long
[00:22:16] that they are completely fluent.
[00:22:19] But be a little careful,
[00:22:20] because old things that we have been using
[00:22:23] for a long time,
[00:22:24] things that have provided us with pleasure
[00:22:27] and comfort over a long period,
[00:22:29] may still turn against us at any time.
[00:22:32] As the old saying warns,
[00:22:35] never trust an old slave,
[00:22:38] a cobra or a loving wife.
[00:22:41] They may turn on you at any time.
[00:22:45] Having understood the explanations of heart,
[00:22:48] mind and defilements,
[00:22:50] a person who wishes to extirpate the defilements
[00:22:53] from the mind
[00:22:54] must first practice Samadhi
[00:22:56] until he is adept.
[00:22:58] Only then will he be able to separate the two,
[00:23:02] for without Samadhi,
[00:23:03] the attempt to cleave the mind
[00:23:05] from the defilements
[00:23:06] will be ineffectual
[00:23:08] and the two will remain fused.
[00:23:11] Samadhi means the state in which the mind
[00:23:13] is firmly established on a single object,
[00:23:16] at rest from external wandering,
[00:23:19] and it is the ground for the battle with the defilements.
[00:23:22] The mind that is darting out
[00:23:24] in search of sense experience
[00:23:26] is darting out in search of defilements.
[00:23:30] If we are simply aware,
[00:23:32] not allowing the mind to attach undue importance
[00:23:35] to sense experience,
[00:23:37] not interpreting and discoursing mentally upon it,
[00:23:41] if there is merely the bare knowing of it,
[00:23:43] defilement will not occur.
[00:23:46] For the mind to become defiled,
[00:23:48] it must take note of the sense data,
[00:23:51] dwell on it and proliferate.
[00:23:53] If there is simply the knowing,
[00:23:55] there is no defilement.
[00:23:57] However, if the eye sees a form
[00:23:59] and there is a perception of it as
[00:24:01] man, woman,
[00:24:03] black, white,
[00:24:05] attractive, unattractive,
[00:24:07] and so on,
[00:24:08] and then the mind thinks and proliferates
[00:24:10] in various ways on these perceptions,
[00:24:13] then defilements will follow in their train,
[00:24:15] blanketing the mind's natural luminosity.
[00:24:19] Consequently, the state of Samadhi degenerates
[00:24:22] and the defilements envelope the heart.
[00:24:26] When the ear hears a sound,
[00:24:28] it is exactly the same.
[00:24:31] If there is merely hearing,
[00:24:33] no labelling,
[00:24:34] thinking about it or proliferating on that sound,
[00:24:37] just letting the sound arise and pass away
[00:24:40] without adding to it,
[00:24:42] then as when a forest-dweller hears
[00:24:44] the sound of birds or a waterfall,
[00:24:46] no defilement takes place.
[00:24:49] This same principle applies to the other sense fields.
[00:24:54] The mind of the one who has become adept
[00:24:56] can enter Samadhi at the moment of sense contact
[00:24:59] and is able to relate to phenomena
[00:25:02] in the above manner.
[00:25:04] Free of proliferation and subsequent defilement.
[00:25:08] But such a cleansing of the mind
[00:25:09] is of only temporary duration.
[00:25:12] It is dependent on the strength and fluency of Samadhi.
[00:25:16] If Samadhi is weak,
[00:25:17] it will be completely ineffectual
[00:25:20] for true purification of mind inside is required.
[00:25:25] Jhana, Samadhi, and science all use the immaterial
[00:25:28] to investigate materiality,
[00:25:31] but they differ in significance and purpose.
[00:25:34] I would like to recap the explanations
[00:25:36] of the first two terms a little,
[00:25:39] to refresh your memories.
[00:25:41] In Jhana, the immaterial, for instance,
[00:25:45] the mind concentrates on the material.
[00:25:48] For instance, it looks intently at the body
[00:25:51] in terms of the four elements.
[00:25:54] The mind develops a firm conviction
[00:25:56] that our body truly is a compound of those things
[00:25:59] until a nimiter of one of them appears.
[00:26:02] Sometimes in the course of the contemplation,
[00:26:05] the meditator may perceive some compelling vision
[00:26:08] and be deceived into taking it for real,
[00:26:12] thus taking fright or in a small number of cases,
[00:26:15] even becoming mentally deranged.
[00:26:18] There are a great deal more possible experiences.
[00:26:22] They all lie within the province of Jhana.
[00:26:25] In Samadhi, the contemplation proceeds
[00:26:28] in the same way, but encompasses both the internal
[00:26:31] and external aspects of the object,
[00:26:34] unlike Jhana in which one perceives only the internal.
[00:26:38] In Samadhi, one sees the body as being a super,
[00:26:42] rotting, putrescent, and offensive,
[00:26:44] but at the same time retains the feeling
[00:26:47] that ultimately there is nothing truly repulsive
[00:26:50] about it at all.
[00:26:51] The unattractive aspects of the body
[00:26:53] are merely natural phenomena.
[00:26:55] It is just the nature of the body to be that way.
[00:26:58] In science, to understand something,
[00:27:01] you have to contemplate it until there develops
[00:27:03] a steady concentration on the way it exists.
[00:27:07] For instance, from the contemplation
[00:27:09] of anatomical structure,
[00:27:11] seeing the nature of the different parts of the body,
[00:27:13] how they combine and cooperate
[00:27:15] to perform the necessary movements and functions,
[00:27:19] textbooks are written and studies perpetuated.
[00:27:22] This is science and it has its place.
[00:27:25] Without it, the world would be poorer.
[00:27:27] For technology born of science is the tool
[00:27:30] by which the modern world has been created.
[00:27:35] Those people who hold the tools of technology
[00:27:38] are those who are still attached to the world
[00:27:40] and fascinated by it.
[00:27:42] Some people reach 100 years of age
[00:27:44] and still desire for 50 or 60 more.
[00:27:48] Scientists don't complete their building
[00:27:50] of an ideal world.
[00:27:52] They die first.
[00:27:54] They are replaced by others
[00:27:56] who also in their turn meet death.
[00:27:59] Deaths and births, births and deaths,
[00:28:02] there is no end to it.
[00:28:04] The majority of scientists tend to be of the opinion
[00:28:07] that physical death is the end
[00:28:09] or if not, that whatever realm we are born in this life
[00:28:13] will be our destination in the next.
[00:28:16] There can be no change of station.
[00:28:19] They don't believe in kamma or its results
[00:28:22] even though they are performing kamma continuously.
[00:28:26] Scientists tend to believe that man is a product
[00:28:29] of society, science and material conditions.
[00:28:33] They do not accept the teaching of kamma,
[00:28:35] of merit and harm.
[00:28:37] They do not believe that such immaterial forces
[00:28:40] can be the cause of material realities.
[00:28:44] However, the Buddha and all the sages
[00:28:46] have conviction in kamma and its results.
[00:28:49] We have all been revolving on the wheel of birth and death
[00:28:53] for a countless number of existences through kamma.
[00:28:57] In our lives, before we have finished
[00:28:59] our working out the old kamma, we make more.
[00:29:03] It's like this every lifetime.
[00:29:06] The Buddha described it in terms of three vattas.
[00:29:09] Birth is vipakavattah.
[00:29:13] We are born due to the results of old kamma
[00:29:16] and once born, we are compelled to perform kamic actions.
[00:29:21] If not good, then evil, which is called kamma vattah.
[00:29:26] The performance of kamma demands volition
[00:29:29] and when that volition is defiled,
[00:29:31] it is called kelesa vattah.
[00:29:34] The result of defiled volition is vipakavattah
[00:29:38] and vipakavattah means rebirth.
[00:29:42] The sages see the painful implications of birth
[00:29:45] and become disillusioned with it.
[00:29:48] They look for a means to arrest further birth
[00:29:51] and so to that end, they practice jhana and samadhi
[00:29:55] and develop wisdom and vipassana,
[00:29:58] the clear and penetrative seeing of things
[00:30:01] as they actually exist until they let go of all clinging.
[00:30:05] Then the mind, now purified, becomes the heart
[00:30:09] and all the filaments are left behind.
[00:30:12] Science concentrates its investigations on a subject
[00:30:17] until the subject's true nature is clearly perceived
[00:30:20] by the intellect and then the findings are recorded
[00:30:23] in textbooks for posterity.
[00:30:26] Science deals with materiality with the external.
[00:30:31] In the practice of dhamma, one develops jhana and samadhi
[00:30:35] and vipassana wisdom until one perceives
[00:30:38] the true nature of the subject under investigation.
[00:30:43] It differs from science in that the subject, ourselves,
[00:30:47] is both material and immaterial
[00:30:49] and the instrument of perception is not intellect
[00:30:52] but pure mind.
[00:30:54] You are unable to record your findings
[00:30:56] in a tangible way but may communicate them
[00:30:59] to fellow wayfarers.
[00:31:02] Those who give dhamma discourses should be careful
[00:31:05] that they do not unintentionally allow talk of jhana
[00:31:08] to become talk of samadhi or science
[00:31:11] or talk of samadhi to become talk of jhana or science.
[00:31:15] These three things are very similar.
[00:31:18] People who practice dhamma are often impatient.
[00:31:22] They want to run before they can walk.
[00:31:25] They die before they are born.
[00:31:27] While still at the stage of concentration
[00:31:29] on a preliminary object, even before the state
[00:31:32] of samadhi has been reached, they want to experience
[00:31:36] all sorts of things and so start imagining
[00:31:39] and cooking up ideas on the basis
[00:31:42] of their own limited understanding
[00:31:44] and then they begin to perceive the things they expect to.
[00:31:48] Even in the case of a person who has reached
[00:31:50] the level of samadhi, if he is still not an adept,
[00:31:54] he can interpret and proliferate about his experience
[00:31:58] and then take himself to have derived
[00:32:01] some true knowledge from his meditation.
[00:32:04] A true meditator will be free of that desire for knowledge
[00:32:08] and will single-mindedly dedicate himself
[00:32:10] to the task of pacifying the mind.
[00:32:13] He will not worry whether or not
[00:32:15] any kind of neosis arises during his practice,
[00:32:20] but will only be interested in the tranquility of samadhi.
[00:32:24] When that tranquil state of samadhi is firm and steady,
[00:32:28] wisdom will naturally arise,
[00:32:30] just as light and heat are inevitably produced by fire.
[00:32:35] A person who has developed firm and steady samadhi,
[00:32:39] one who interests himself only
[00:32:41] intelligently practicing night and day,
[00:32:44] giving no thought to tiredness and difficulties,
[00:32:47] one who considers the attainment of samadhi
[00:32:50] worth all the hardships,
[00:32:52] such a person is entitled to be called a wayfarer.
[00:32:56] At this point, I would like to go into the differences
[00:32:59] between jana and samadhi more,
[00:33:02] to give something of a basic definition.
[00:33:05] Jana and samadhi are not identical.
[00:33:08] The sages declare them to be different
[00:33:10] because the exposition of the factors of jana
[00:33:14] is given separately from the exposition
[00:33:17] of the abandonment of defilements.
[00:33:19] Although jana and samadhi share
[00:33:21] the same preliminary meditation objects,
[00:33:24] the mode of contemplation varies
[00:33:27] as do the resultant knowledges that may arise.
[00:33:31] To take the contemplation of death
[00:33:32] as an example once more,
[00:33:35] in the case of jana,
[00:33:36] there is a single-minded contemplation
[00:33:39] on the theme of death
[00:33:40] until the mind becomes motionless and firm
[00:33:43] and merges in bovanga.
[00:33:46] Sometimes it may be a blank sort of stillness,
[00:33:49] devoid of self-awareness like the state of deep sleep
[00:33:53] and may last for a long time, perhaps many hours.
[00:33:57] Other times there may survive a sense of pleasure
[00:34:00] in the tranquility and bliss of that state.
[00:34:03] To put it simply, the mind that concerns itself solely
[00:34:06] with a meditation object
[00:34:08] and then absorbs into bovanga,
[00:34:10] whether accompanied by a complete loss
[00:34:13] of self-awareness or not is called jana.
[00:34:16] To enable the mind to merge into bovanga
[00:34:19] and enjoy its undiluted tranquility and bliss
[00:34:22] is the sole aim of meditation.
[00:34:25] The word jana means to gaze fixedly,
[00:34:29] to stare at or concentrate on.
[00:34:32] One may concentrate on something external
[00:34:34] such as the four elements as one's object
[00:34:37] or something inside the body or the mind itself.
[00:34:41] In every case, when the concentration is single-minded
[00:34:44] and free of all other concerns,
[00:34:46] there is the jhanic suppression of defilements.
[00:34:50] When the mind withdraws from jana,
[00:34:52] the defilements spring up as before.
[00:34:56] The Buddha explained unequivocally
[00:34:58] that jana has five possible factors,
[00:35:01] vittaka, initial application,
[00:35:04] vichara, sustained application,
[00:35:07] piti, raptya, suka, bliss
[00:35:11] and ekagata, singleness.
[00:35:16] Jana is described in terms of the arising,
[00:35:18] existence and passing away of the bovanga consciousness.
[00:35:23] Having entered jana, five defilements are suppressed.
[00:35:28] Central desire, ill-will, sloth and torpa,
[00:35:31] restlessness and worry and doubt.
[00:35:34] However, the Buddha never spoke of defilements
[00:35:37] being abandoned at different levels of jana.
[00:35:41] I invite other wayfarers to investigate this point
[00:35:44] and if you come across any such passages
[00:35:46] in the scriptures, kindly let me know.
[00:35:50] The Buddha who has practiced informal lives
[00:35:53] may realize many types of neosis
[00:35:55] but they will tend to be concerned with external matters
[00:35:59] and are unable to focus attention
[00:36:01] on the knower of those things.
[00:36:03] Just as the eye can see forms but cannot see itself.
[00:36:08] For instance, the meditator sees future events
[00:36:11] and past lives of himself and others,
[00:36:13] knows details of names, places and relationships
[00:36:17] but is ignorant of the chronology of rebirth
[00:36:21] or of the rebirth process.
[00:36:23] His neosis is not subtle enough to discern
[00:36:26] which comic actions have been performed
[00:36:29] to condition those births.
[00:36:31] This kind of neosis arises in flashes.
[00:36:35] It's arising necessitates entry into bovanga
[00:36:38] which is characterized by a fuzziness
[00:36:41] similar to that preceding sleep
[00:36:43] or else by the complete vanishing of self-consciousness
[00:36:46] and the sudden arising of a new awareness.
[00:36:50] In samadhi practice, you may take up
[00:36:52] the same preliminary subject as with jana
[00:36:55] or perhaps some theme of dharma
[00:36:57] that arises naturally in the mind.
[00:37:01] For example, walking along the road,
[00:37:03] you see someone cruelly ill treating an animal
[00:37:06] or another human being
[00:37:08] and feels great compassion arising.
[00:37:11] When you reflect on the matter until you see clearly
[00:37:14] that the lives of sentient beings
[00:37:16] are inevitably fraught with violence and cruelty,
[00:37:20] the small and weak fall prey to the aggression
[00:37:23] of the large and powerful.
[00:37:25] There will be no end to it as long as the world exists.
[00:37:29] Seeing this, one feels a profound and sobering sadness
[00:37:33] for all beings including oneself.
[00:37:36] The mind shrinks as does a chicken feather
[00:37:39] when sinned by fire
[00:37:40] and merges into the state of samadhi.
[00:37:44] In summary, jana entails the steadfast
[00:37:47] contemplation of a meditation object
[00:37:49] in order to achieve absorption.
[00:37:52] Once that has occurred, the meditator takes delight
[00:37:55] in the resultant tranquility and bliss
[00:37:58] and is reluctant to further contemplate.
[00:38:03] Samadhi entails a similar contemplation
[00:38:05] but is guided by the wish to see
[00:38:07] the true nature of the object
[00:38:09] without giving thought as to whether or not absorption will occur.
[00:38:13] There is merely the undiviating contemplation of the object
[00:38:16] for the purpose of seeing it clearly
[00:38:19] and the integrity of that contemplation
[00:38:21] generates a spontaneous transition into the state of samadhi.
[00:38:26] It is rather like the freshness and brightness,
[00:38:29] the abatement of distraction
[00:38:31] that a meditator suffering from mental agitation
[00:38:34] may feel when shifting his seat to an airy spacious place.
[00:38:40] Any gnosis that might arise in the state of samadhi
[00:38:43] does so in the same manner as in jana
[00:38:47] but awareness is not deceived.
[00:38:49] The meditator perceives the phenomenon
[00:38:52] as a man might observe a fish swimming in a glass tank,
[00:38:57] one who is adept at entering samadhi at any time
[00:39:01] irrespective of posture
[00:39:03] whether standing, sitting, walking or lying down
[00:39:06] is constantly primed for such knowledge to arise.
[00:39:10] There is the story of Venerable Mogulana
[00:39:13] seeing an enormous hungry ghost
[00:39:15] with a mouth the size of a needle's eye
[00:39:18] as he descended from Kijakuta mountain.
[00:39:22] At the sight of such a being
[00:39:23] a smile appeared on his lips.
[00:39:26] The other monks who were with him
[00:39:27] could not see the hungry ghost
[00:39:29] and noticing Venerable Mogulana's smile
[00:39:32] asked him the reason for it.
[00:39:35] Venerable Mogulana refused to answer
[00:39:37] but said that the matter would be made clear to them
[00:39:40] when they reached the dwelling place of the Buddha.
[00:39:44] Having arrived and paid their respects
[00:39:46] Venerable Mogulana related his encounter
[00:39:48] with the hungry ghost to the Buddha.
[00:39:51] The Buddha said,
[00:39:52] I saw that hungry ghost myself
[00:39:54] when I was newly enlightened.
[00:39:57] Good.
[00:39:58] Today Venerable Mogulana has become my witness.
[00:40:02] In talking about Samadhi
[00:40:04] we use its duration as the measure.
[00:40:07] When the meditator is still unproficient
[00:40:10] the mind will enter Samadhi weekly and intermittently.
[00:40:14] This is called Kanaka Samadhi.
[00:40:17] With practice as one becomes more skilled
[00:40:20] the mind will merge into Samadhi for a longer time
[00:40:24] which is called Upachara.
[00:40:27] When one has trained the mind to an optimum level
[00:40:31] the mind enters Samadhi to its limit.
[00:40:34] It is called Apana or full Samadhi.
[00:40:38] Only Upachara will give rise to neosis
[00:40:41] which would tend to take the form of teachings or cautions.
[00:40:45] For example, if there should appear a vision
[00:40:48] of a large convocation hall
[00:40:50] with many monks gathered together inside
[00:40:53] it would indicate that practice is proceeding correctly.
[00:40:57] If there appeared an uneven, overgrown path
[00:41:01] and the monk walking along it
[00:41:03] slovenly dressed or else naked
[00:41:05] it would indicate that practice has taken a wrong turn
[00:41:08] or it is lacking in some way.
[00:41:11] In relation to the abandonment of defilements
[00:41:14] the Buddha taught that the stream-enterer
[00:41:17] abandons the three fetters of self-view,
[00:41:20] and that this would cause a single doubt
[00:41:23] and attachment to external observances.
[00:41:26] The once-returner abandons the three initial fetters
[00:41:29] and in addition attenuates the central desire and aversion.
[00:41:33] The non-returner cuts off all five lower fetters.
[00:41:37] The arahant, as well as abandoning the five lower fetters
[00:41:41] also ridts himself of the craving for fine material existence
[00:41:45] the craving for fine immaterial existence
[00:41:48] and the conceit, unrest and ignorance.
[00:41:51] To repeat, although both Jhana and Samadhi
[00:41:55] arise from the same meditation objects
[00:41:58] the contemplation of them, the experience of entry
[00:42:01] into Jhana and Samadhi
[00:42:03] and the kinds of neosis that arise from them
[00:42:06] are all different.
[00:42:08] Meditators cannot prevent the arising
[00:42:11] of either Jhana or Samadhi
[00:42:14] they form a pair and one may change into the other
[00:42:17] Sometimes the mind, having converged and entered Jhana
[00:42:21] perceives the inherent unsatisfactoriness of it
[00:42:25] and thus enters Samadhi.
[00:42:27] At other times, while dwelling in Samadhi
[00:42:30] over a period of time
[00:42:32] mindfulness weakens
[00:42:34] and the mind moves into Jhana.
[00:42:37] Jhana and Samadhi cause and condition each other in this way.
[00:42:41] The Buddha said,
[00:42:43] whether is no Jhana there is no Samadhi
[00:42:46] and whether is no Samadhi there is no Jhana.
[00:42:50] This is because they follow the same route
[00:42:53] the differences lie only in the meditator.
[00:42:57] Some people harbor a deep fear
[00:43:00] that if their minds attain Jhana
[00:43:03] after death they will be reborn amongst the Brahma gods
[00:43:07] who lack perception
[00:43:09] but those people usually have no idea what Jhana actually is
[00:43:13] or what sort of mind takes such a rebirth.
[00:43:17] One who wishes to purify his heart and mind of all defilements
[00:43:21] must cleanse the mind.
[00:43:23] It is not necessary to cleanse the heart.
[00:43:26] When the mind has been cleansed
[00:43:28] the heart becomes pure as a matter of course.
[00:43:31] The mind goes out in search of defilements to pollute itself
[00:43:35] but when it has been cleansed it becomes the heart.
[00:43:39] When wayfarers have realized their hearts and minds
[00:43:43] even though they may not have learned the names of all the various defilements
[00:43:48] they know for themselves the extent to which different actions and thoughts
[00:43:52] sully the mind.
[00:43:54] When they see the inherent unsatisfactoriness of the polluted mind
[00:43:59] they are impelled to find skillful means to cleanse it.
[00:44:03] You don't need to know about every possible defilement before starting.
[00:44:08] In the first period after the Buddha's enlightenment
[00:44:12] he and his disciples set out to disseminate the teaching.
[00:44:16] It is unlikely that very many of those who became enlightened
[00:44:20] as a result of their instructions
[00:44:22] had studied the teaching to any great extent.
[00:44:26] Venerable Sariputa for instance
[00:44:28] merely heard a summary of the doctrine from Venerable Asaji.
[00:44:32] All things arise from causes.
[00:44:35] The Buddha teaches the extinguishing of the root cause
[00:44:39] and it was enough for him to realize the eye of Dhamma.
[00:44:44] As the number of teachings the Buddha gave increased
[00:44:48] disciples memorized more and more of them
[00:44:51] and the tradition of study came into being.
[00:44:54] Consequently Buddhism was able to gradually spread over a huge area.
[00:45:00] Venerable Ananda the Buddha's younger cousin
[00:45:03] and personal attendant was unrivaled in his ability
[00:45:07] to memorize the teachings
[00:45:09] and was given the title of Bahu Sutta,
[00:45:13] greatly learned.
[00:45:16] Although he was able to teach many people
[00:45:19] to that level of full enlightenment
[00:45:21] he himself at the time of the Buddha's final nibbana
[00:45:24] was still only a stream-entra.
[00:45:28] A great Sangha council was convened
[00:45:30] for all the Arahant disciples to decide on what was
[00:45:33] and what was not the authentic teaching of the Buddha
[00:45:36] and the presence of Ananda with his superb memory
[00:45:39] was deemed imperative.
[00:45:42] However, Venerable Ananda was not yet an Arahant
[00:45:45] and so was precluded from attendance.
[00:45:48] On the day before the meeting
[00:45:50] the leaders of the Sangha urged Venerable Ananda
[00:45:53] to intensify his efforts
[00:45:55] and so he practiced ardently the whole night
[00:45:58] but although he contemplated and examined
[00:46:01] every point of Dharma he had learned
[00:46:03] in the Buddha's presence
[00:46:05] his efforts bore no fruit.
[00:46:08] As dawn approached, exhausted
[00:46:11] Venerable Ananda thought,
[00:46:13] Never mind, if I don't realize Arahant Chip
[00:46:16] it's alright
[00:46:18] and laid down to take a rest.
[00:46:21] However, before his head reached the pillow
[00:46:24] Venerable Ananda's mind converged into
[00:46:27] Maga Samangi and he knew without a shadow of a doubt
[00:46:30] that he was enlightened.
[00:46:33] The person who wisely contemplates phenomena
[00:46:36] and searches out the cause and effect relationship
[00:46:39] conditioning them, who can let go
[00:46:42] and who can maintain equanimity in the midst of all things
[00:46:45] is bound to penetrate the Dharma to some extent
[00:46:48] as did Venerable Ananda.
[00:46:51] In Buddhism there are two tasks
[00:46:54] that those who have ordained and forsaken the responsibilities
[00:46:57] of the householder must perform
[00:47:00] Samatha and Vipassana
[00:47:03] The meditator who has gained proficiency
[00:47:06] in Jhana and Samadhi to the extent
[00:47:09] that the mind lies in his control
[00:47:12] can enter these states at will
[00:47:14] and dwell in them for as long as is desired.
[00:47:17] He can change the mode of contemplation
[00:47:20] from Jhana to Samadhi and vice versa
[00:47:23] and they become like playthings.
[00:47:26] This skill in the contemplation carries the training
[00:47:29] in Vipassana within it because Jhana and Samadhi
[00:47:32] entails contemplation of this same
[00:47:35] Nama Rupa, that is the object of Vipassana.
[00:47:38] There is a similar observation
[00:47:41] of dissolution, of impermanence
[00:47:44] unsatisfactoriness and impersonality
[00:47:47] but in the case of Jhana and Samadhi
[00:47:50] the contemplation lacks comprehensiveness
[00:47:53] and only a weak understanding ensues.
[00:47:56] After a glimpse of the nature of things
[00:47:59] the mind merges into tranquility
[00:48:02] that precludes the complete and thorough knowledge
[00:48:05] of Vipassana.
[00:48:08] Vipassana may be compared to a sweet ripe mango.
[00:48:11] When it first appears
[00:48:14] the mango fruit has a bit of flavour
[00:48:17] and gets a little bigger, the taste becomes
[00:48:20] astringent and with further growth becomes sour.
[00:48:23] Bigger still it has a rich flavour
[00:48:26] which has finally become sweet.
[00:48:29] The final sweetness of the mango is the
[00:48:32] consummation of all the tastes that have preceded it
[00:48:35] and so is considered delicious.
[00:48:38] Similarly it is fitting that Vipassana has
[00:48:41] always been spoken of separately from Jhana
[00:48:44] and Vipassana is a subject to degeneration.
[00:48:47] Whether contemplating one of the preliminary objects
[00:48:50] or the four elements, the five aggregates
[00:48:53] or the six sense fields, Vipassana entails
[00:48:56] a clear knowing of the true nature of its objects
[00:48:59] a letting go of attachment to it
[00:49:02] and entrance into a state of equanimity.
[00:49:05] Vipassana means the clear perception
[00:49:08] of the true characteristics of things.
[00:49:11] When Vipassana contemplation has become
[00:49:14] skilled and proficient, the meditator perceives
[00:49:17] forms, sounds, odours, flavours,
[00:49:20] tangibles and mental objects both internal
[00:49:23] and external as impermanent
[00:49:26] arising, changing and finally disappearing
[00:49:29] according to their nature.
[00:49:32] Sentient beings take on the weight of transitory phenomena
[00:49:35] and so are subject to continuous suffering
[00:49:38] and discomfort.
[00:49:41] All things, whether material or immaterial
[00:49:44] exist according to natural laws.
[00:49:47] However we may seek to coerce them into following our will
[00:49:50] it is beyond our power to do so.
[00:49:53] Anathara does not mean that nothing really
[00:49:56] exists but that they exist in a way
[00:49:59] that is not subject to coercion.
[00:50:02] When the internal and external sense fields
[00:50:05] come into contact and give rise to feeling
[00:50:08] those developing Vipassana should at every moment
[00:50:11] and in every posture contemplate the process
[00:50:14] in terms of the three signs of experience
[00:50:17] as outlined above.
[00:50:20] For one who is adept at this form of contemplation
[00:50:23] it will become spontaneous, leaving no gap
[00:50:26] for defilements such as sensual desire to arise
[00:50:29] in the mind. The power generated
[00:50:32] by the development of Jhana and Samadhi
[00:50:35] and Vipassana to a sufficient level of proficiency
[00:50:38] produces Maga Samangi.
[00:50:41] Maga Samangi is not the same state
[00:50:44] as that of Jhana or Samadhi but shares
[00:50:47] with them the process of the mind merging into
[00:50:50] a unified state.
[00:50:53] When Vipassana contemplation has investigated
[00:50:56] inner and outer cause-vect relationships
[00:50:59] and has clearly seen their nature so as to be free
[00:51:02] of all doubts and uncertainties in regard to them
[00:51:05] the mind will gather all eight factors of the path.
[00:51:08] In short, Sela, Samadhi and Panya
[00:51:11] together in one place of right view
[00:51:14] in a single thought moment.
[00:51:17] Subsequently there will be a withdrawal
[00:51:20] into the realm of the sense but experience
[00:51:23] in that realm will now be constantly accompanied
[00:51:26] by a clear knowing of the true nature of sense objects
[00:51:29] and the mind will not be deluded by them
[00:51:32] in the same way as before.
[00:51:35] The Buddha taught that each path consciousness
[00:51:38] arises once and only once.
[00:51:41] After attaining the first Maga
[00:51:44] one continues to develop Vipassana
[00:51:47] in the same manner as before
[00:51:50] but however clearly things are seen
[00:51:53] and cannot exceed the penetration of that first Maga
[00:51:56] it is not called Maga Samangi.
[00:51:59] It is just as if on waking up from sleep
[00:52:02] you are able to accurately relate a dream
[00:52:05] you have just had.
[00:52:08] You do not take the relating of it to be the dream itself.
[00:52:11] The progressively higher Maga Samangi
[00:52:14] occur naturally as the wisdom faculty
[00:52:17] strongly developed becomes fluent and skilled.
[00:52:20] The consciousness of each level of the noble path
[00:52:23] will be an indisputable indication of that attainment
[00:52:26] but the knowledge that one derives is a private one.
[00:52:29] No one else can share it
[00:52:32] until they too reach that stage.
[00:52:35] Knowledge of the attainments of another
[00:52:38] through psychic powers by one on a higher level
[00:52:41] of attainment or else by close observation
[00:52:44] is possible but in the last analysis
[00:52:47] remains unreliable.
[00:52:50] Whether the Wayfarer studies as lot or as little
[00:52:53] or if he studies only the particular
[00:52:56] meditation object that he has chosen
[00:52:59] if he wishes to attain one pointedness
[00:53:02] then he must discard everything extraneous
[00:53:05] and concentrate single-mindedly on the contemplation
[00:53:08] of his object.
[00:53:11] In the case of one developing Vipassana
[00:53:14] or contemplation of the mental activity
[00:53:17] that is natural to a living human being
[00:53:20] the Wayfarer knows it for what it is
[00:53:23] sees it in the light of the three characteristics
[00:53:26] impermanence, suffering and not self
[00:53:29] and is not deluded by it.
[00:53:32] The sense data that are experienced
[00:53:35] whether by eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body or mind
[00:53:38] are invariably an obstacle to Jhana
[00:53:41] and imperil the attainment of them.
[00:53:44] One who sees the unsatisfactoriness inherent
[00:53:47] in sensory experience will of a sudden
[00:53:50] lose interest in it, will see the virtue
[00:53:53] of the mind at peace, devoid of sensory
[00:53:56] impingement and so will converge into a hermetic
[00:53:59] and tranquil motionlessness.
[00:54:02] On withdrawal from that state
[00:54:05] the mind resumes its old activities until
[00:54:08] perceiving again the unsatisfactory nature
[00:54:11] of those experiences, it renounces them
[00:54:14] and returns to unity.
[00:54:17] This process repeats itself
[00:54:20] until there is a fluency and skill
[00:54:23] until one sees that all sensory experience
[00:54:26] is merely that phenomena appearing
[00:54:29] and disappearing in accordance with their nature
[00:54:32] One sees that the mind is separate from it
[00:54:35] sufficient unto itself.
[00:54:38] The mind is not experience.
[00:54:41] Experience is not the mind, but experience
[00:54:44] depends for its existence on the mind's grasping
[00:54:47] at sense objects.
[00:54:50] When this distinction is made the mind becomes
[00:54:53] solitary and secluded and turns into the heart.
[00:54:56] Buddhist knowledge appears profound
[00:54:59] and extensive only to one who has not realised
[00:55:02] the heart itself, but knows only of its expressions
[00:55:05] the mind.
[00:55:08] Such a person speaks of the thoughts and concepts
[00:55:11] of the mind, but fails to insure at the heart
[00:55:14] the hub of equanimity.
[00:55:17] It is like someone following the tracks of a cow
[00:55:20] until he sees the cow and catches hold
[00:55:23] of it he has to just keep on following the tracks.
[00:55:26] Once the cow has been caught however
[00:55:29] the tracks lose their significance for him.
[00:55:32] It is the same with the Buddha's teachings
[00:55:35] they seem to be complex and difficult to understand
[00:55:38] as long as we haven't taken the mind into the heart
[00:55:42] merely following the mind
[00:55:45] the expressions of the heart we reach no end
[00:55:48] The Abhidharma has its exposition
[00:55:51] of Chittas, the various kinds of consciousness
[00:55:54] in the form realms, the formless realm
[00:55:57] and the transcendent consciousness.
[00:56:00] The states of mind are divided, classified
[00:56:03] and numbered in great detail
[00:56:05] in order that they may be recognised and understood
[00:56:08] and elude us.
[00:56:10] But those who memorise all those categories
[00:56:13] tend to get attached to that level of understanding
[00:56:16] and never reach the heart.
[00:56:18] Consequently for them Buddhism
[00:56:21] becomes an extensive and profound subject
[00:56:24] the ability of which never reaches an end.
[00:56:27] It as is if the Buddha were to say to us
[00:56:30] I followed the cow's tracks for countless lifetimes
[00:56:33] even in this lifetime as says Aratha
[00:56:36] I followed them for another six years
[00:56:39] until I came across the cow.
[00:56:42] So it may be said that on realisation of the heart
[00:56:45] Buddhism becomes narrow
[00:56:48] not narrow in the sense of constriction
[00:56:51] of any sort, but in that we come to dwell
[00:56:54] on only the most cogent or essential points
[00:56:57] of a vast subject.
[00:56:59] For instance our minds are churned up
[00:57:02] by our own and other people's mental states
[00:57:05] and the range of experience so produced
[00:57:08] may be called wide.
[00:57:10] However one who sees the inherent unsatisfactoriness
[00:57:13] in mental disquiet sees the suffering of it
[00:57:16] contemplates that the mental state
[00:57:19] and the mind that is agitated by it are different
[00:57:22] and so separates them.
[00:57:24] When the mind has been separated from the mental state
[00:57:27] dwelling alone it becomes the heart
[00:57:30] the mental state vanishes by itself.
[00:57:33] At this point we may see particularly clearly
[00:57:37] that mankind's experience of defilement
[00:57:40] and mental suffering is invariably due
[00:57:43] to the mind's own actions in venturing out
[00:57:46] and appropriating them.
[00:57:48] If the mind does not do so
[00:57:50] then it becomes the heart
[00:57:52] and free of concerns
[00:57:55] it enjoys unalloyed happiness.
[00:57:58] A banana tree has no heartwood
[00:58:01] however much you chop away at one
[00:58:03] all you will find is layer after layer of stem.
[00:58:06] Meditators on the other hand
[00:58:09] are chopping away the layers that surround
[00:58:11] the true heartwood of the Dhamma.
[00:58:13] Those who seek the essence of Dhamma
[00:58:16] but have not yet seen it
[00:58:18] are those that have not yet cut through
[00:58:20] the layers that surround it.
[00:58:22] Meditators who have not yet penetrated to the heart
[00:58:26] often have a deep fear
[00:58:28] that should the mind reach the heart
[00:58:30] no insight will arise
[00:58:32] and without insight
[00:58:34] there can be no end of suffering
[00:58:36] only continued ignorance.
[00:58:39] Even senior monks have spoken to me in this vein
[00:58:42] I explained to them that the mind
[00:58:45] seeks out experiences to occupy itself
[00:58:48] when the mind sees the unsatisfactoriness inherent
[00:58:51] in such activity it converges
[00:58:54] into a unitary state and becomes the heart.
[00:58:57] It is not that this transformation occurs
[00:59:00] without a thoroughly circumspect reflection preceding it
[00:59:03] there is a contemplation of every aspect
[00:59:06] of the matter until one perceives
[00:59:09] the three signs.
[00:59:11] The mind enters the heart
[00:59:13] because it has nowhere else to go
[00:59:15] that being so
[00:59:17] how could there be an absence of wisdom?
[00:59:20] There is the wisdom that corresponds
[00:59:22] to one's level of attainment
[00:59:24] the mind is the cause of defilement
[00:59:27] defilement could not take place
[00:59:29] if the mind did not exist
[00:59:31] the mind is also the cause of wisdom
[00:59:34] without it one would be unable
[00:59:36] to use the thinking process
[00:59:38] to generate wisdom
[00:59:40] the mind is the cause of defilement
[00:59:42] while its relentless wandering
[00:59:44] prevents it from realising the neutrality of the heart
[00:59:48] the mind becomes the cause of wisdom
[00:59:50] when roving around the sensory world
[00:59:53] it gathers all its experience
[00:59:55] within the three characteristics
[00:59:57] and stops motionless
[00:59:59] equanimous and self-aware
[01:00:02] it reaches the heart
[01:00:04] silkworms are fed on mulberry
[01:00:07] and gradually change into caterpillars
[01:00:10] when mature as caterpillars
[01:00:12] they spin out cocoons for themselves
[01:00:14] and become cryo-lizes
[01:00:16] and when their time in that state is over
[01:00:19] they emerge and are called insects
[01:00:22] whereupon they lay eggs in vast quantities
[01:00:25] tens or hundreds of thousands
[01:00:28] the mind is the same
[01:00:30] when it is absorbed in the heart
[01:00:32] it is devoid of activity
[01:00:34] but once it has emerged
[01:00:36] its expressions are uncountable
[01:00:39] the sages do not allow the mind to wander out
[01:00:42] and be reborn again
[01:00:44] they eliminated at a single stroke
[01:00:46] in summary
[01:00:48] all the defilements of mankind
[01:00:50] arise solely from the mind
[01:00:52] when it embroils itself
[01:00:54] in the contact between the six external sense-fields
[01:00:57] such as form, sounds
[01:01:00] and the six internal sense-fields
[01:01:02] such as the eyes, ears and so on
[01:01:05] the children and grandchildren
[01:01:07] born of these liaisons
[01:01:09] spread throughout the world
[01:01:11] causing like and dislike
[01:01:13] love and hate
[01:01:15] anger and abhorrence
[01:01:17] violence and killing
[01:01:19] bringing utter turmoil to the world
[01:01:22] recognising this danger
[01:01:24] those who practice dharma
[01:01:26] should beware of letting their minds
[01:01:28] embroiled in the process of sense-contact
[01:01:31] make the heart neutral and impassive
[01:01:34] even if the mind uses the sense-fields
[01:01:37] as a vehicle for its travels
[01:01:39] one should watch over the heart
[01:01:41] and not let it be misled
[01:01:43] when the heart remains un-deceived by the mind
[01:01:47] through knowing the mind's nature
[01:01:49] how it proliferates sense-data
[01:01:51] into states of turmoil
[01:01:53] the heart will dwell alone in its natural way
[01:01:56] when the heart thus accords with its true nature
[01:01:59] the imaginings of the mind will abate
[01:02:02] for the heart is without coming or going
[01:02:04] inner or outer, pleasure or displeasure
[01:02:08] grasping at nothing, it is impassive in the midst of all things
[01:02:12] and in its presence
[01:02:14] the mind will fall down unabashed
[01:02:17] when the Wayfarer clearly sees
[01:02:19] the true nature of things in this way
[01:02:22] he will see that there is nothing
[01:02:24] either material or immaterial
[01:02:26] that is anything more than a mere phenomenon
[01:02:29] arising independence on causes and conditions
[01:02:33] and disappearing when those causes and conditions
[01:02:36] no longer obtain
[01:02:39] he sees that there is absolutely nothing substantial
[01:02:43] he sees this little country which is our body
[01:02:46] a fathom long, a cubit wide
[01:02:49] and a few inches thick
[01:02:51] as a container filled full of dummies
[01:02:54] the eye sees a form
[01:02:56] and it is perceived as merely a dumber of form
[01:02:59] nothing else
[01:03:01] the ear hears a sound
[01:03:03] and it is perceived as simply a dumber
[01:03:05] the nose smells an odour
[01:03:07] the tongue tastes a flavour
[01:03:09] the body contacts a tangible object
[01:03:12] and the heart contacts a mental object
[01:03:15] and in every case they are seen to be merely dummies
[01:03:19] not a being, not a self
[01:03:21] a personality
[01:03:23] or anything at all
[01:03:33] that concludes the Dummer Teaching
[01:03:35] Only the World Ends by the Venerable Ajantet
[01:03:39] If you'd like to hear more talks by Ajantet
[01:03:42] and other meditation masters of the Forrest Tradition of Tera Vada Buddhism
[01:03:46] subscribe to the Forrest Path Podcast
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