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Ignorance
And Conditioning DHAMMA: Sabbe
sankhara anicca'ti; -
Dhammapada - 277. Impermanent
are all compounded things. (conditionings) Sabbe
Sankhara anicca'ti, yada pannaya passati, -Theragatha Impermanent
and suffering are all compounded things (conditionings) and all formations
have the characteristic of impersonality (egolessness). When one perceives
this with insight one ends suffering - this is the path of purification. Anicca
vata sankhara, uppadavaya-dhammino; -Mahaparinibbana-sutta, Impermanent
truly are compounded things (conditionings), by nature arising and
passing away. Having arisen when they are extinguished (with insight),
their eradication brings happiness. Visankhara
gatam chittam, tanhanam khayamajjhaga. -
Dhammapada 154 (Jaravagga) -conditionings
of the mind have been eradicated, craving has ended. - (This is the
state of an arahat-an enlightened / liberated one) 1)
Chayime avuso vinnanakaya : cakkhuvinnanam sotavinnanam ghanavinnanam 2)
Vijanati vijanatiti kho avuso, tasma vinnanan ti vuccatiti (M.
i, 292). 3)
Sutava ariyasavako...na rupam attato samanupassati...na vedanam...na
sannam... 4)
Tam kim mannatha bhikkhave. Vinnanam niccam va aniccam va ti? Aniccam
bhante 5)
Yo bhikkhave evam vadeyya : aham annatra rupa annatra vedanaya
annatra sannaya Majjhimanikaya
(M) and Samyutta nikaya (S) state: Vinnana is ''consciousness''.
Six kinds of vinnana exist - with each designation dependent
upon the sense organ through which the faculty performs its function.
(There are 6 sense organs and hence 6 kinds of vinnana, the
six sense organs are the 5 physical sense organs and the 6th is the
mind). Therefore we find vinnana associated with each of the
6 sense doors. The
function of the vinnana is to ''vinnanize'' (cognize, mere
cognition, pure congnition, cognition without perception, pure consciousness,
mere attention). Vinnana displays the characteristics of all conditioned phenomena: namely the truths of impermanence and selflessness. For example, the Cullavedalla-sutta condemns the attempt to regard not only vinnana but any of the five aggregates as the seat of individuality (atta), while the Alagaddupama-sutta stresses that vinnana itself is impermanent. And it is mentioned elsewhere that those who believe that Vinnana has a destiny of its own, distinct from the other four khandha, are misled as to its true nature. Therefore,
it is clear that within the realm of Pali Dhamma neither vinnana nor
any of the other aggregates can be considered as permanent or as occupying
the place of an everlasting self. (All the 5 aggregates of mind-matter
: that is to say rupa (matter/body) and the 4 parts of mind-consciousness
(vinnana), perception (sanna), sensation (vedana) and reaction or
conditioning
(sankhara) are all impermanent, suffering and egoless.) Yato
ca kho avuso ajjhattikan c'eva cakkhum aparibhinnam hoti bahira ca
rupa Majjhimanikaya states:
Whenever there is a functioning sense-organ (eye, ear, tongue, nose,
body and mind), a sense-object (visual form, sound, taste, smell,
touch and thought) entering into the field of the sense- organ then,
with these brought together, there is the manifestation of the part
of consciousness referring to the specific sense organ. dvarasangahe
dvarani nama cakkhudvaram -Abhidhammattha
Sangaha of Acariya Anuruddha Chap.III-12 (Narada-Bodhi, BPS) In
the compedium of doors, there are 6 doors, namely : eye door, ear
door, nose door, tongue door, body door and mind door. -Pg
157 Abhidhammattha Sangaha, A comprehensive Buddha's
teaching is to move from the gross, apparent truth to the subtlest,
ultimate truth, from olarika to sukhuma. The apparent
truth always creates illusion and confusion in the mind. By dividing
and dissecting apparent reality, you will come to the ultimate reality.
As you experience the reality of matter to be vibration, you also
start experiencing the reality of the mind: vinnana (consciousness),
sanna (perception), vedana (sensation) and sankhara (reaction).
If you experience them properly with Vipassana, it will become
clear how they work. Suppose
you have reached the stage where you are experiencing that the entire
physical structure is just vibration. If a sound has come in contact
with the ears you will notice that this sound is nothing but vibration.
The first part of the mind, consciousness, has done its job: ear consciousness
has recognized that something has happened at the ear sense door.
Like a gong which, having been struck at one point, begins vibrating
throughout its structure, so a contact with any of the senses begins
a vibration which spreads throughout the body. At first this is merely
a neutral vibration, neither pleasant nor unpleasant. The
perception recognizes and evaluates the sound, "It is a word-what
word? Praise! Oh, wonderful, very good!". The resulting sensation,
the vibration, will become very pleasant. In the same way, if the
words are words of abuse the vibration will become very unpleasant.
The vibration changes according to the valuation given by the perception
part of the mind. Next the third part of the mind starts feeling the
sensation: pleasant or unpleasant. Then
the fourth part of the mind will start working. This is reaction;
its job is to react. If a pleasant sensation arises, it will react
with craving. If an unpleasant sensation arises, it will react with
aversion. Pleasant sensation: "I like it. Very good! I want more,
I want more!" Similarly, unpleasant sensation: "I dislike
it. I don't want it." Generating craving and aversion is the
part played by the fourth factor of the mind-reaction. Understand
that this process is going on constantly at one sense door or another.
Every moment something or the other is happening at one of the sense
doors. Every moment the respective consciousness cognizes; the perception
recognizes; the feeling part of the mind feels; and the reacting part
of the mind reacts, with either craving or aversion. This happens
continuously in one's life. At
the apparent, surface level, it seems that I am reacting with either
craving or aversion to the external stimulus. Actually this is not
so. Buddha found that we are reacting to our sensations. This discovery
was the enlightenment of Buddha. He said : Salayatana-paccaya
phasso With
the base of the six senses, contact arises with the base of contact,
sensation arises with the base of sensation, craving arises. It
became so clear to him: the six sense organs come in contact with
objects outside. Because of the contact, a sensation starts in the
body that, most of the time, is either pleasant or unpleasant. Then
after a pleasant or unpleasant sensation arises, craving or aversion
start-not before that. This realization was possible because Buddha
went deep inside and experienced it himself. He went to the root of
the problem and discovered how to eradicate the cause of suffering
at the root level. Working
at the intellectual level of the mind, we try to suppress craving
and aversion, but deep inside, craving and aversion continue. We are
constantly rolling in craving or aversion. We are not coming out of
misery through suppression. Samudaya
Dhammanupassi va kayasmim viharati He
dwells observing the phenomenon of arising in the body. Every sensation arises and passes away. Nothing is eternal. When you practise Vipassana you start experiencing this. However unpleasant a sensation may be-look, it arises only to pass away. However pleasant a sensation may be, it is just a vibration-arising and passing. Pleasant, unpleasant or neutral, the characteristic of impermanence remains the same. You are now experiencing the reality of anicca. You are not believing it because Buddha said so, or some scripture or tradition says so, or even because your intellect says so. You accept the truth of anicca because you directly experience it. This is how your received wisdom and intellectual understanding turn into personally experienced wisdom. Only
this experience of anicca will change the habit pattern of
the mind. Feeling sensation in the body and understanding that everything
is impermanent, you don't react with craving or aversion; you are
equanimous. Practising this continually changes the habit of reacting
at the deepest level. When you don't generate any new conditioning
of craving and aversion, old conditioning comes on the surface and
passes away. By observing reality as it is, you become free from all
your conditioning of craving and aversion. Western
psychologists refer to the "conscious mind" Buddha called
this part of the mind the paritta citta (a very small part
of the mind). There is a big barrier between the paritta citta and
the rest of the mind at deeper levels. The conscious mind does not
know what is happening in the unconscious or half-conscious. Vipassana
breaks this barrier, taking you from the surface level of the mind
to the deepest level of the mind. The practice exposes the anusaya
kilesa (latent mental defilements) that are lying at the deepest level
of the mind. The
so-called "unconscious" mind is not unconscious. It is always
conscious of body sensations, and it keeps reacting to them. If they
are unpleasant, it reacts with aversion. If they are pleasant, it
reacts with craving. This is the habit pattern, the behaviour pattern,
of the so-called unconscious at the depth of the mind.... -from
a discourse given by S N Goenka in Bangkok Thailand in September 1989.
(for details see "looking within-living and dying from moment
to moment" in the introduction of this study) (please
refer to the Dhamma teachings as quoted under ''Sensations-the root
of misery and sorrow and the key to insight and freedom'' in this
study) Panc'
upadanakkhanda : rupupadanakkhando, -Abhidhammattha
Sangaha of Acariya Anuruddha The
5 aggregates of clinging are :-(1) the materiality (body) aggregate
of clinging (2) the sensation aggregate of clinging (3) The perception
aggregate of clinging (4) the conditioning aggregate of clinging (5)
the consciousness aggregate of clinging. (Much
of the discussion above is of abhidhamma -the analytical study of
mind-matter. This study is experiential with insight ('what is') and
not intellectual. For details please refer to 'A comprehensive mannual
of abhidhamma' by Bhikkhu Bodhi-BPS Sri Lanka) Yam
hi, bhikkhave, mannati, -Samyutta
Nikaya (dutiya eja sutta) Monks,
what one believes to be 'I', 'me', 'atma' (soul), In which
one believes resides 'I', 'me', 'atma' (soul), Like which one
believes is the 'I', 'me', 'atma' (soul), what one believes
''(This is) mine'', when one sees (by Vipassana)-and sees that
it is impermanent-then it becomes clear to him that-one who is attached
to this impermanent existence-considers this existence to be worthwhile
(and keeps giving it importance). Kammassaka, bhikkhvave, satta kammadayada, kammayoni, kammabandhu, kammapatisarana, yam kammam karonti-kalyanam va papakam va-tassa dayada bhavanti Oh meditators, beings are the owners of their deeds, the heirs of their deeds, born of their deeds, kin to their deeds; their deeds are their refuge. Whatever actions they perform, whether good or evil, such will be their inheritance. Aneka
jati samsaram, -Udana uttered by the Buddha after His enlightenment. So
many births I have taken in this world, seeking in vain the bui1der
of this house; in my search over and over, I took new birth, new suffering. Oh!
house builder, now I have seen you, you cannot make a new house for
me; all your beams are broken, the ridge pole is shattered; my mind
is freed from all the conditionings of the past, and has no more craving
for the future. [
The 'house builder' referred to above is avijja (ignorance).
'house' or 'new house' referred to above is nama-rupa (the mind-matter
continuum) which is infact the 5 aggregates (pancakkhanda)-matter
or body (rupa) and the 4 parts that constitute the mind, consciousness
(vinnana) perception (sanna), sensation (vedana),
reaction or conditioning (sankhara).] This
has been discussed in more depth later on under "cause-effect
(paticca-Samuppada)". Sabba
kamma jahassa bhikkhuno The
monk who does not make new kamma (Karma), and combs out old
defilements as they arise; has reached that meditative state where
there remains no 'I' or 'mine'. For him mere babbling makes no sense.
He remains engrossed in silent observation (Vipassana). ...Annanmula-bhedaya,
kammayanta-vighatano.... -Sayings
of arahat Ven. Migjalatissa Thera on the Dhamma as taught by Lord
Buddha Ven
Migjalatissa Thera who was an Arahant (Liberated one) had this to
say about Dhamma Teachings (Vipassana) as Taught by Lord Buddha: ...breaks the roots of ignorance, dismantles the Karma-machinery... |
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