|
On the occasion of
giving a special talk, I feel I should deal with those
important subjects that most adequately sum up the
principles of Dhamma (Ultimate Truth; the truth of
nature; the duty of all that lives; the teachings of the
Buddha.) So I have resolved to speak on "The Essential
Points of the Buddhist Teachings" in a hope that a grasp
of them will greatly facilitate a wide-ranging advance
on your studies. If these points are not grasped, it
will be confusing. You will feel that there are a great
number of things to be known and that they keep
increasing until there are too many to understand and
practice. This is the root cause of failure, for it
results in discouragement and an interest that becomes
more and more unfocused and imprecise. In the end, it's
as if one is carrying around a great load of knowledge
without being capable of studying or practicing so as to
make use of it.
So please set your mind
on some revision, on order to grasp the essential points
of the Buddhist Teachings, so as to realize the
knowledge that is the foundation for a correct
understanding of Dhamma. I emphasize that it is the
foundation, because there is knowledge that is not a
foundation, just as there is incorrect understanding,
understanding of the sort that deviates little by little
until it is no longer Buddhist teaching. Or if it is
still Buddhist teaching, it is an offshoot of it that is
continually branching away from the trunk.
To call something the
foundation of the Buddhist Teachings is only correct if
firstly, it is a principle which aims at the extinction
of Dukkha (the suffering, unsatisfactoriness or
imperfection of every experience or state clung to as
being "I" or "mine") and, secondly, it has a logic that
one can see for oneself without having to believe
others. These are the most important constituents of a
foundation.
The Buddha refused to
have any dealings with those things which don't lead to
the extinction of Dukkha. Take the question of whether
or not there is rebirth. What is reborn? How is it
reborn? What is its kammic inheritance? (kamma-is
volitional action by means of body, speech or mind.)
These questions are not aimed at the extinction of
Dukkha. That being so, they are not Buddhist teaching
and they are not connected with it. They do not lie in
the sphere of Buddhism. Also, one who asks about such
matters has no choice but to indiscriminately believe
the answer he is given, because the one who answers is
not going to be able to produce any proofs, he's just
going to speak according to his memory and feeling. The
listener can't see for himself and so has to blindly
believe the other's words. Little by little the matter
strays from Dhamma until its something else altogether,
unconnected with the extinction of Dukkha.
Now, if one doesn't
raise those sort of problems, one can ask instead, "Is
there Dukkha?" and "How can Dukkha be extinguished?" To
these questions the Buddha agreed to answer, and the
listener can see the truth of every word of his answer
without having to blindly believe them, see more and
more clearly until he understands. And if one
understands to the extent of being able to extinguish
Dukkha, then that is the ultimate understanding. One
knows that, even at this moment, there is no person
living; one sees without a doubt that there is no self
or anything belonging to a self. There is just a feeling
of "I" and "mine" arising due to the foolishness whereby
one is deluded by the beguiling nature of
sense-experience. Therefore, there being no one born
here, there is no one who dies and is reborn. So, the
whole question of rebirth is utterly foolish and nothing
to do with Buddhism at all.
The Buddhist teachings
aim to inform us that there is no self and nothing
belonging to a self, there is only the false
understanding of the ignorant mind. There is merely body
and mind, which are nothing but natural processes. They
function like a mechanism that can process and transform
data. If they do so by the wrong method, it gives rise
to foolishness and delusion, so that one feels that
there is a self and things which belong to a self. If
they do so by the correct method, those feelings do not
arise; there is the primal truth-discerning awareness
(satipanna), the fundamental true knowing and clear
seeing that there is no self and nothing belonging to a
self.
The matter of "I" and
"mine" is the single essential point of the Buddhist
teachings. It is the one thing which must be completely
purged. It follows that here lies the knowing,
understanding, and practice of all the Buddhist
teachings without exception. So please pay full
attention.
In regards to the
foundations or root principles of Dhamma, there aren't a
great deal. The Buddha said that there was a single
handful. A sutta in the Samyutta Nikaya makes this
clear. While walking through the forest, the Buddha
picked up a handful of fallen leaves and asked the monks
who were present, which was the greater amount - the
leaves in his hand or all the leave in the forest. They
all said that the leaves in the forest were much more,
so much that it was beyond comparison. Even now, try to
imagine the scene and see the truth of this, how much
more they are, The Buddha then said that, similarly,
those things which he had realized and which he knew
were a great amount, equal to all the leaves in the
forest - but that which was necessary to know, those
things which should be taught and practiced, were equal
to the number of leaves in his hand.
So from this it can be
taken that, compared to all the myriad things that are
to be found in the world, the root principles to be
practiced to completely extinguish Dukkha amount to a
single handful. We should appreciate that this "single
handful" is not a huge amount, it's not something beyond
our capabilities to reach and understand. This is the
first important point that we must grasp if we want to
lay the foundations for a correct understanding of the
Buddhist teachings.
Here we reach the
phrase, "the Buddhist Teachings". Please understand the
phrase correctly. These days, that which is labeled as
the "Buddhist Teachings" is a very nebulous thing - that
is to say it is extensive without much definition. In
the Buddha's time, a different word was used, the word "dhamma";
it referred specifically to the dhamma which
extinguishes Dukkha. The dhamma of the Buddha was called
Samana Gotama's dhamma. If it was the dhamma of another
sect - say that of Nigantha Nataputta (contemporary of
the Buddha and founder of the Jain religion) - it would
be called Nigantha Nataputta's dhamma. One who liked a
particular dhamma would try to study it until he
understood it and then practiced accordingly. It was
called dhamma and that is what it was, real pure dhamma
without any of the numerous things which have come to be
associated with it in later times. Now we call those
appendages "Buddhist Teachings". Due to our carelessness
the "Buddhist Teachings" have become so nebulous that
they include within them many things foreign to them.
The real Buddhist
Teachings alone are already abundant - as many as all
the leaves in the forest - but that which has to be
studied and practiced is merely a handful, and that's
already plenty. But nowadays we go and include those
things which are associated with the teachings, such as
the history of the religion and an expanded psychology.
Take Abhidhamma (the third of the three "baskets"
of the Buddhist scriptures. Compiled after the Buddha's
death, they are a complete analysis of mind and matter
into their constituent parts), some parts of it have
become psychology, some parts philosophy, it's
continually expanding to fulfill the requirement of
those disciplines. And there are many more offshoots, so
that things which are associated with the Teachings have
become exceedingly numerous. They have all been swept in
together under one term, so that there have become to be
a large number of "Buddhist Teachings".
If we don't know how to
take hold of the essential points, then it will seem
that there's a great amount and we won't be able to
choose between them. It will be like going into a shop
selling a great variety of goods, and being completely
at a loss what to take. So we will just follow our
common sense -a bit of this, a bit of that, as we see
fit. And mostly we will take those things which agree
with defilements (kilesa) rather than let ourselves be
guided by truth-discerning awareness. Spiritual life
becomes a matter of rites and rituals, of making merit
by rote or to ensure against some fear or other. There
is no contact with the real Buddhist Teachings.
Let us know how to
separate the Buddhist Teachings from those things which
have merely come to be associated with them and included
under the same name. Even in the Teachings themselves,
we must still know how to distinguish the root
principles, the essential points, and it is of these
things that I have resolved to talk.
The spiritual disease of
our time is the disease whose germ lies in the feeling
of "we" and "ours", "I" and "mine" that is regularly
present in the mind. The germ that is already in the
mind develops first into the feeling of "I" and "mine"
and them, acting through the influence of
self-centeredness, becomes greed, hate and delusion,
causing upset for both oneself and others. These are the
symptoms of the spiritual disease that lies within us.
To remember it easily, it may be called the disease of
"I" and "mine."
Every one of us has the
disease of "I' and "mine", and we absorb more germs
every time we see a form, smell an odor, touch a
tangible object, tastes a flavor, or think in the manner
of an ignorant person. In other words, there is a
reception of the germ, those things surrounding us that
are infected and cause the disease, every time there is
sense contact.
We must recognize that
the germ is clinging (upadana) and that it is of
two kinds: clinging to an "I" and clinging to "mine".
Clinging to "I" and feeling that "I" is an entity, that
I am like this or like that, that I am the equal of any
man. Anything of this sort is called "I". "Mine" is
taking that as belonging to me, that which I love, that
which I like. Even that which we hate, we consider to be
"my" enemy. This is called "mine."
In Pali, "I" is atta and
mine is attaniya: or, if one uses the terms in the
general use of Indian philosophy, ahamkara meaning to
have the feeling of "I" (stemming from the word aham,
"I"), and mamamakara, meaning to have the feeling of
"mine" (stemming from the word mam, which means "mine.")
The feelings of ahamkara
and mamamkara are so very dangerous that they are called
the spiritual disease, and every branch of philosophy or
dhamma in the Buddha's time wanted to wipe them out.
Even though they were followers of other teachings, they
all had the same aim of wiping out ahamkara and
mamamkara. The difference lay in that when they
eradicated those feelings, they called what remained the
True Self, the Pure Atman, the Desired. As for our
Buddhist Teaching, it refused to use those names because
it did not want to give rise to any new clinging to a
self or things belonging to a self. It was just left a
perfect emptiness, which was called Nibbana, as in the
phrase, "Nibbanam paramam sunnam" - "Nibbana
is supreme emptiness" - that is to say, absolutely
empty of "I" and empty of "mine" in every respect,
without remainder. That is Nibbana, the end of spiritual
disease.
This matter of "I" and
"mine" is very hard to see. If you don't really
concentrate, you won't be able to understand that it is
the force behind Dukkha, the force behind spiritual
disease.
"That which is called
"atta" or "self" corresponds to the latin word "ego". If
the feeling of self-consciousness arises, we call it
egoism because once the feeling of "I" arises it
naturally and inevitably gives rise to the feeling
"mine". Therefore, the feeling of self and the feeling
of things belonging to self, taken together is egoism.
Ego can be said to be natural to living beings and,
moreover, to be their center. If the word "ego" is
translated into English, it must be rendered as soul, a
word corresponding to the Greek "kentricon" which in
English means center. Ego and kentricon being the same
thing, the soul (atta) can be regarded as the center of
living beings, as their necessary nucleus, and therefore
is something that the ordinary person cannot rid
themselves of or refrain from.
So it follows that all
unenlightened people must experience this feeling of
egoism arising continually. Although it's true that it
doesn't express itself all the time, it manifests
whenever one sees a form, hears a sound, smells an odor,
touches a tactile object or has a thought arise in the
mind. On every occasion that the feeling of "I" and
"mine" arises, we can take it to be the disease fully
developed, regardless of whether it's dependent upon
seeing a form, hearing a sound, smelling an odor, or
whatever. When at the moment of contact, the feeling "I"
and "mine" arises, it is the disease fully developed.
The feeling of selfishness has strongly arisen.
At this point we no
longer call it egoism but selfishness, because it is an
agitated egoism that leads one into low, false ways,
into a state of thinking only of oneself without
consideration for others, so that everything one does is
selfish. One is completely ruled by greed, hatred and
delusion. The disease expresses itself as selfishness
and then harms both oneself and others. It is the
greatest danger to the world. That the world is
currently so troubled and in such turmoil is due to
nothing other than the selfishness of each person, of
each of the factions forming into competing groups. That
they are fighting each other without desire to fight,
but through compulsion, is because they can't control
this thing; they can't withstand it's force, and so the
disease takes root. That the world has taken in this
"germ" which has then caused the disease, is because no
one is aware of that which can resist the disease,
namely, the heart of the Buddhist Teachings.
I would like you to
understand this phrase, "the heart of the Buddhist
Teachings". Whenever we ask what the heart of the
Buddhist teachings is, there are so many contending
replies that it's like a sea of mouths - everyone's got
an answer! But whether they are correct or not is
another matter, for people just answer according to what
they have remembered or what they have worked out for
themselves. Please, look and see for yourselves how it
is these days. Who truly knows the heart of the Buddhist
teachings? Who has truly reached it?
Whenever we ask what the
heart of the Buddhist Teachings is, someone will
probably say the Four Noble Truths (Dukkha, its cause,
its extinction, and the path leading to its extinction)
others will say aniccam-dukkham-anatta
(impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and selflessness),
other may recite the verse:
"Sabba papassa akaranam
Kusalassupasampada
Sacitta pariyodapanam
Etam Buddhasasanam".
or,
"Refraining from doing evil,
doing only good,
and purifying the mind,
that is the heart of the Buddhist Teachings."
That's correct, but only
very slightly so because it is still something repeated
by rote; it's not something that has truly been seen for
oneself.
As to what is the heart
of Buddhist Teachings, I would like to suggest the short
saying, "Nothing whatsoever should be clung to". There
is a section in the Majjhima Nikaya where someone
approached the Buddha and asked him whether he could
summarize his teachings in one phrase and, if he could,
what it would be. The Buddha replied that he could:
"Sabba dhamma nalam abhinivesaya". "Sabbe dhamm"
means "all things", "nalam" means "should not be",
"abhinivesaya" means "to be clung to". Nothing
whatsoever should be clung to. Then the Buddha
emphasized this point by saying that whoever had heard
this core-phrase had heard all the Teachings, who ever
put it into practice had practiced all the Teachings,
and whoever had received the fruits of practicing this
point had received all of the fruits of the Buddhist
Teachings.
Now, if anyone realizes
the truth of this point that there is not a single thing
to be clung to, it means that there is no "germ" to
cause the disease of greed, hatred and delusion, or of
wrong actions of any kind, whether of body, speech or
mind. So, whatever forms, sounds, odors, flavors,
tangible objects and mental phenomena crowd in, the
antibody "Nothing whatsoever should be clung to" will
resist the disease. The "germ" will not enter, or, if it
is allowed to do so, it will be only in order to be
completely destroyed. The "germ" will not spread and
cause the disease because of the antibody continually
destroying it. There will be absolute and perpetual
immunity. This then is the heart of the Buddhist
Teachings, of all Dhamma. Nothing whatsoever should
be clung to - 'Sabbe dhamma nalam abhinivesaya.'
A person who realizes
this truth is like someone who has an antibody that can
resist and destroy disease. It is impossible for him or
her to suffer from the spiritual disease. But, for the
ordinary person who doesn't know the heart of the
Buddhist teachings, it's just the opposite, like someone
who hasn't the slightest immunity.
You probably understand
by now the meaning of the "spiritual disease" and who
the doctor is that heals it. But it's only when we see
that we ourselves have the disease that we become really
serious about healing ourselves, and in the right way,
too. Before we know, we just enjoy ourselves as we
please. It's like someone unaware that they have some
serious illness, such as cancer or TB, just indulging in
pleasure-seeking without bothering to seek treatment
until it's too late, and then dying of their disease.
We won't be that
foolish. We will follow the Buddha's instruction,
"Don't be heedless. Be well-filled with heedfulness."
Being heedful people, we should take a look at the way
in which we are suffering from the spiritual disease and
examine the "germ" that is its cause. If you do this
correctly and unremittingly, you will certainly receive
in this life the best thing a human being can receive."
We must look more
closely into the point that clinging is the "germ", as
well as the way that it spreads and develops into the
disease. If you've observed even to a small degree, you
will have seen that it's this clinging to "I" or "mine"
that is the chief of all the defilements.
We can divide the
defilements up into lobha, dosa and moha (or raga, kodha
and moha) or group them into sixteen or as many
catagories as we want -in the end they are all greed,
hatred and delusion. But these three, too, can be
collected into one-the feeling of "I" and "mine". The
feeling of "I" and "mine" is the inner nucleus which
gives birth to greed, hatred and delusion. When it
emerges as greed, as desire and craving, it attracts the
sense-object that has come into contact. If at another
moment it repels the object, then it's hate or dosa. On
those occasions when it's stupefied and doesn't know
what it wants, hovering around the object, unsure
whether to attract or repel, that is moha.
Defilement behaves in
one of these ways towards sense-objects, i.e. forms,
sounds, odors, flavors, tangible objects, mental
phenomena, depending on what form the objects takes -
whether it is clearly apprehendable or hidden, and
whether it encourages attraction, repulsion, or
confusion. But, though they differ, all three are
defilements because they have their roots in the inner
feeling of "I" and "mine". Therefore, it can be said
that the feeling of "I" and "mine" is the chief of all
defilements and the root cause of all Dukkha, of all
disease.
Having not fully
appreciated the Buddha's teaching regarding Dukkha, we
have misunderstood it. We have taken it to mean that
birth, old age, and so on are themselves Dukkha, but in
fact those are just its characteristic vehicles. The
Buddha summarized his teachings as, "Sankhittena
panucupadanakkhandadukkha" which translates as, "In
short, Dukkha is the five clung to "khandas" (the five
'groups' or 'aggregates' of existence: form, feeling,
perception, mental formations, and consciousness). This
means that anything which clings or is clung to as "I"
or "mine" is Dukkha. Anything which has no clinging to
"I" and "mine" has no Dukkha. Therefore, birth, old age,
sickness, death or whatever, if they are not clung to as
"I" or "mine" has no Dukkha. Therefore, birth, old age,
sickness, death and whatever, if they are not clung to
as "I" or "mine" cannot be Dukkha. Only when they are
clung to as "I" or "mine" are they Dukkha. The body and
mind are the same. Its not that Dukkha is inherent in
body and mind. It is only when there is clinging to "I"
and "mine" that they are Dukkha. With the pure and
undefiled mind, that of the arahant (one freed from all
greed, aversion and delusion), there is no Dukkha at
all.
We must see that this
"I" and "mine" is the root cause of all forms of Dukkha.
Whenever there is clinging, then there is the darkness
of ignorance. There is no clarity because the mind is
not empty; it is shaken up, frothing and foaming with
the feeling of "I" and "mine". In direct contrast, the
mind that is free of clinging to "I" and "mine" is
serene, filled full of truth-discerning awareness.
So, we must firmly grasp
the fact that there are two kinds of feeling: that of
"I" and "mine", and that of truth discerning-awareness,
and that they are totally antagonistic. If one enters
the mind, the other springs out. Only one can be present
at a time. If the mind is brimful of "I" and "mine",
truth-discerning awareness cannot enter: if there is
truth-discerning awareness, the "I" and "mine"
disappears, freedom from "I" and "mine" is truth
discerning awareness.
Thus if one speaks
intelligently -which is to say, concisely, although it
is somewhat frightening, one says along with Huang Po,
along with the Zen sect, that Emptiness is the Dhamma,
Emptiness is the Buddha and Emptiness is the Primal
Mind. Confusion, the absence of Emptiness, is not the
Buddha, is not the Dhamma, and not the Primal Mind.
There are these two opposing feelings that arise. Once
we have understood them, we will understand all Dhamma
easily.
Right now, you who are
sitting here listening are empty, you are not confecting
the feeling "I" and "mine". You are listening, and you
have truth-discerning awareness; the feeling "I" and
"mine" cannot enter. But if on another occasion
something impinges and gives rise to the feeling of "I"
and "mine", the emptiness or truth-discerning awareness
you feel here will disappear.
If we are empty of
egoism, there is no consciousness of "I" and "mine". We
have truth-discerning awareness that can extinguish
Dukkha and is the cure for the spiritual disease. At
that moment the disease cannot be born, and the disease
that has already arisen will disappear as if picked up
and thrown away. At that moment, the mind will be
completely filled with Dhamma. This accords with the
remark that emptiness is the Buddha, because in that
moment of being empty of "I" and "mine", there will be
present every desirable virtue of the whole Tripitaka
(Buddhist scriptures)
To put it simply, there
will be perfect satisampajanna (mindfulness and
self-awareness); perfect hiri (sense of shame); perfect
ottappa (fear of evil); perfect khanti (patience and
endurance); and perfect soracca (gentleness). There will
be perfect katannukatavedi (gratitude) and perfect
honesty right up to yathabhutananadassa (the knowledge
and vision according to reality) that is the cause for
the attainment of Nibbana.
I've come down to the
basics, saying that there must be satisampajanna, hiri,
ottappa, khanti, soracca, and katannukata vedi, because
these things are also Dhamma, they too can be a refuge
for the world. Even hiri and otappa alone, the aversion
and shame towards doing evil and the fear of doing evil,
with just these the world would be tranquil with lasting
peace.
Every one of the many
methods for wiping out the disease of "I" and "mine"
works. It depends on how you wish to practice. One of
the many ways is to constantly contemplate "I" and
"mine" as maya, an illusion or hallucination. This will
enable you to see the feeling of self, a seemingly solid
entity that we are familiar with as "I" and "mine", is
in fact a mere illusion. This is achieved by
contemplating self in terms of Paticcasamuppada
(the process of dependent origination)
To explain the
Paticcasamuppada theoretically or technically takes a
long time. It could take one or two months for just this
single matter, because in the field of theory it's been
expounded more and more as a subject of psychology and
philosophy, until it's reached a state of excessive
complexity. But in the field of practice, the
Paticcasamuppada is, as the Buddha said, just a handful.
When there is contact with forms, sounds, odors,
flavors, or whatever at one of the sense doors, that
contact is called in Pali phassa. This phassa develops
into vedana (feeling). Vedana develops into tanha
(craving). Tanha develops into upadana (clinging).
Upadana develops into bhava (becoming). Bhava develops
into jati, which is "birth", and following on from birth
there is the suffering of old age, sickness and death,
which are Dukkha.
Please see that as soon
as there is contact with a sense object there is phassa,
and that the subsequent development of phassa into
vedana, tanha and so on is called Paticcasamuppada i.e.
the process by which various things, existing in
dependence on one thing, condition the arising of
another thing, which in turn conditions the development
of a further thing, and so on. This process or state is
called Paticcasamuppada. It is dependent arising with no
self or "me" found, merely dependence followed by
arising.
(phassa, contact,
sense experience: the meeting and working together of
inner sense media + outer sense media +
sense-consciousness. e.g. eye + form + eye
consciousness. There are six kinds of phassa
corresponding to the six senses.)
(vedana, feeling,
sensation: the mental reaction to or coloring of sense
experiences (phassa). There are three kinds of vedana:
pleasant, nice, agreeable feeling; unpleasant,
disagreeable, painful feeling; and neither painful or
pleasant, indeterminate feeling. Vedana is not 'emotion"
If vedana arises through ignorance or lack or
truth-discerning awareness in the moment it will
condition craving as it then next arises.
The way of making use of
it is not to allow the dependent arising to take place;
cutting it off right at the moment of sense-contact, not
allowing the development of vedana, not allowing
feelings of satisfaction or dissatisfaction to arise.
When there is no production of vedana, then there is no
birth of the craving and clinging that is the "I" and
"mine". The "I" and "mine" lie right there at the birth
of the craving and clinging; illusion lies right there.
If at the moment of sense-contact when there is nothing
but phassa, it is stopped just there, there is no way
for "I" and "mine" to arise in truth-discerning
awareness.
Another method: For the
average person, it is extremely difficult to prevent
phassa from developing into vedana. As soon as there is
sense-contact, the feelings of satisfaction or
dissatisfaction always follow immediately. It doesn't
stop at phassa because there as never been any training
in Dhamma. But, when vedana has already developed, when
there are already feelings of satisfaction and
dissatisfaction, stop it right there. Let feeling remain
as merely feeling and let it pass away. Don't allow the
reaction to go on and become tanha, wanting this and
that in response to the satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
Because, if there is satisfaction, then there will be
desire, craving, indulgence, possessiveness, envy etc.
in consequence. Once there is dissatisfaction, then
there is the desire to beat to death, to devastate, and
kill. If there are these sorts of desires on the mind,
it means that vedana has already developed into tanha.
If so, then you must suffer the spiritual disease of
Dukkha and nobody can help. All the gods together cannot
help. The Buddha said that even he could not help. He
has no power over the laws of nature, he is merely one
who reveals them so that others can practice in
accordance with them. If one practices wrongly one must
have Dukkha. If one practices correctly, one has no
Dukkha. Thus it is said that if vedana has developed
into tanha then nobody can help. As soon as any form of
craving has arisen then nobody can help and there will
inevitably be Dukkha.
In that turbulent
wanting that arises in the mind, see how to distinguish
the feeling of the desirer "I", of the self that wants
this or wants that, wants to do it like this or like
that, or who has acted in this way or that way, or has
received the results of those actions. That one who
desires is "I"; wanting things, it grasps them as "mine"
in one way or another -as "my" status, my property, "my"
victory, "my" ideas and opinions - and in all of those
feelings the "I" is present.
The feeling of "I" and
"mine" is called upadana, and arises from tanha. tanha
develops into upadana. If the Paticcasamuppada has
progressed as far as tanha and upadana, the germ that
enters through the ear, eye, nose, tongue or body has
matured to the extent that it can express itself as the
symptoms of the disease, because upadana is followed by
bhava. Bhava means "having and being". The having and
being of what? The having and being of "I" and "mine".
Kammabhava is the action that conditions the arising of
"I" and "mine". If it is simply "bhava", it means the
condition of "I" and "mine" full-blown, the disease
full-blown.
In our practice we must
stop it right at the point of preventing phassa from
developing into vedana, or if we fail there, by
preventing vedana from developing into tanha. After
that, it's hopeless. We try to have Dhamma right there
at the meeting of eye and forms, ear and sounds, of
tongue and flavors, etc. by continually training in the
point that nothing whatsoever should be clung to. With
ordinary people, once phassa takes place, then vedana
arise followed by tanha, upadana, bhava and jati. This
is a path that is so well worn that it is extremely easy
to follow. But we don't take that path. As soon as there
is sense-contact, we turn around and take the form of
truth-discerning awareness. We don't take the path of
"I" and "mine" or, even if we do follow it as far as
vedana, we will turn back there to the path of
truth-discerning awareness. We don't just float along
with the stream of "I" and "mine". In this way, there is
never any dukkha. If we can do it well, and follow the
correct method, perfectly, we can realize Arahantship.
If we wish to go by the
Buddha's words, there is an easy principle that the
Buddha taught to a disciple called Bahiya.
"O Bahiya, whenever you
see a form, let there be just the seeing; whenever you
hear a sound, let there be just the hearing; when you
smell an odor, let there be just the smelling, when you
taste a flavor, let there be just the tasting; when you
experience a physical sensation, let it merely be
sensation; and when a thought arises, let it be just a
natural phenomenon (feeling) arising in the mind. When
it's like this there will be no self, no "I". When there
is no self, there will be no moving about here and
there, and no stopping anywhere. And that is the end of
Dukkha. That is Nibbana." Whenever it's like that, then
it is Nibbana. If it is lasting, then it is lasting
Nibbana; if it is temporary, then it's temporary Nibbana.
In other words, it is just one principle.
|