Upanisā Sutta: The Discourse on States of Conditioning
The Buddha has preached
that the path to liberation is a process of knowing and seeing. He has further
described that the one who progresses in the path discards cankers (mental
influxes) and what one should know and see as he or she progresses is the
arising and ceasing of the five clinging aggregates.
‘Monks I teach how to discard cankers to those
who dwell knowing and seeing! , knowing and seeing what,’
This is the form, this is its origin, this is
its cessation…….
This is the sensation, this is its origin,
this is its cessation……
This is the perception, this is its origin,
this is its cessation……
This is the formation, this is its origin,
this is its cessation……
This is the consciousness, this is its origin, this is its cessation……
Mental Concentration
Samadhi Bhavana Sutra
(Anguttara Nikaya) describes four types of mental concentration and their
benefits,
(1) Happiness here and
now;
In Salleka Suthra
(Majjima Nikaya) it is said,
The practitioner
experiencing stillness in the first, second, third and fourth dyanas enjoys
pleasantness in the present, here & now and dwells therein, however, he or
she cannot move beyond and hence cannot discard cankers and be free.
(2) The divine eye
(clairvoyance and knowledge of the working of karma);
The one who practices the
second method of mental concentration is able to develop knowledge through
perception of light (Aloka Sanna) by gaining the ‘divine eye’.
(3) Mindfulness and clear
comprehension;
The third type of mental concentration
discussed in the Sutra is about doing things (through thought, speech and
action) cultivating mindfulness with clear comprehension.
(4) Spiritual liberation.
The fourth form of mental
concentration is the noble practice which enables relinquishment of cankers,
when the practitioner observes arising and passing away of the five clinging
aggregates.
The one who dwells
watching the origination and the cessation of the five clinging aggregates
discards cankers and liberates himself. Once liberated the person gains the
knowledge that he is liberated.
States of
Conditioning
The Blessed one preached,
“Bikkhus, the knowledge
of this destruction, in regards to the destruction (of the influxes- cankers)
has a necessary condition, I say. It is not without a necessary condition. “
And what, bhikshus, is the necessary condition
for the knowledge of the destruction (khaya) (of the influxes)? It should be said: freedom (or liberation)
(vimukthi). Freedom, bhikshus, has a
necessary condition, too, I say. It is not without a necessary condition.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for freedom?
It should be said:
dispassion (virāga). Dispassion, bhikshus, has a necessary condition, too, I
say. It is not without a necessary condition.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for dispassion?
It should be said:
revulsion [disenchantment] (nibbidā). Revulsion, bhikshus, has a necessary
condition, too, I say. It is not without a necessary condition.
Revulsion (or disenchantment) referred here is
not mere dislike but what one experiences by seeing the truth, where the practitioner
comprehends that there is nothing to grasp or hold onto. It’s not mere
displeasure experienced as a person but by seeing the reality as it is.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for revulsion?
It should be said: the
knowledge and vision of reality (yatha,bhūta,ñana,dassana). The knowledge and
vision of reality, bhikshus, has a necessary condition, too, I say. It is not
without a necessary condition.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for the knowledge and vision of reality?
It should be said: mental
stillness (samādhi). Concentration, bhikshus, has a necessary condition, too, I
say. It is not without a necessary condition.
The state of mental stillness mentioned here
is the fourth state of mental concentration described in Samadhi Bhavena Sutra
discussed earlier.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for concentration?
It should be said:
happiness (sukha). Happiness, bhikshus, has a necessary condition, too, I say.
It is not without a necessary condition.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for happiness?
It should be said: tranquillity (passaddhi).
Tranquillity, bhikshus, has a necessary condition, too, I say. It is not
without a necessary condition.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for tranquillity?
It should be said: zest
(pīti). Zest, bhikshus, has a necessary condition, too, I say. It is not
without a necessary condition.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for zest?
It should be said:
gladness [joy] (pāmojja). Joy, bhikshus, has a necessary condition, too, I say.
It is not without a necessary condition.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for gladness?
It should be said: faith
(saddhā). Faith, bhikshus, has a necessary condition, too, I say. It is not
without a necessary condition.
Any practice that guides one to experience joy
and tranquillity first will not help in destruction of cankers (mental
influxes), rather the joy and tranquillity experienced as one treads on the
path will make way for destruction cankers.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for faith?
It should be said:
suffering (dukkha).
Pāmojja or pamoda is the feeling of
pleasantness one experiences by seeing the arising passing nature of five
clinging aggregates, conditioned by the faith, the person develops when he
comprehends what suffering is. The faith referred here is not the faith one
develops on Buddha as a person but what one gains when the five clinging
aggregates are clearly comprehended (as suffering).
Suffering and
Conditions for Suffering
The suffering what we know and what we experience is
tied to our self-view. We all like to escape from the suffering that we are subjected to in our endless cycle of birth and death and seek
liberation.
Tathagata preached three forms of suffering or
Dukkha. They are Suffering or pain (dukkha-dukkha); suffering that arise
due to Impermanence or change (viparinama-dukkha); suffering that arise
due to Conditioned states (sankhara-dukkha). Understanding the latter is
beyond our easy reach.
We can begin by searching the immediate cause
for suffering[1]
known as dukkha dukha and viparinama dukha, as birth (jati) and noting existence as the cause for birth. Existence (bhava)
is due to clinging (upadana) which is conditioned by craving (tanha)
that arises due to sensations. Likewise, we can trace back other causes in
sequence: for sensations - contact, for contact - six sense faculties, for six
sense faculties-name matter, for name matter -consciousness and finally for
consciousness - ignorance.
In other words, by examining the two types of
suffering (dukkha) that are evident and more familiar to us, we could trace
their causes or conditionality which reveals Sanskara Dukkha and its root
cause, the ignorance.
It is Sanskara Dukkha that one has to
comprehend, the suffering that arise due to conditions. It is defined as the
five clinging aggregates[2]
which are seen as impermanent since they arise from causes - or are
conditioned.
Dependent Origination
The search for the origination of five
clinging aggregates discussed in this sutra leads to dependent origination,
ignorance being its origin. Ignorance is defined as not knowing what
suffering is, its origin, the cessation of suffering and the path leading to
its cessation.
Comprehending the origin of five aggregates of
clinging, its formation, results in knowing what suffering is, its origin,
cessation and the path leading to its cessation, the four noble truths. Once the truths are known
ignorance is abandoned and therefor the formation of five clinging aggregates
(suffering) ceases ending in freedom.
This is different to the third
type of mental concentration discussed in Samadhi Bhavana Sutra that describes
knowing the rise of sensation, perception and formation etc. that ‘I’
experience. Further, it’s ‘me’ who sees cessation of the sensation that ‘I’ experience.
The drawback is it doesn’t remove ‘me’ as a aggregate of clinging. The
teachings want us to know and see the state of the conditioned.
One should not attempt to discard defilements
but search for the origination, it’s not mere cessation of things that exist.
The notion of existence is one extreme, the eternalist view, and the notion
that nothing exists is the other extreme, the nihilist view, Observing
cessation of a thing that exists is just a shift from one extreme to the other,
from eternalist view to nihilist view, which is the belief of the worldlings.
The Buddha further explained,
Suffering, bhikshus, has
a necessary condition, too, I say.
It is not without a
necessary condition.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for suffering?
It should be said: birth
(jati). Birth, bhikshus, has a necessary condition, too, I say. It is not
without a necessary condition.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for birth?
It should be said:
existence (bhava). Existence, bhikshus, has a necessary condition, too, I say.
It is not without a necessary condition.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for existence?
It should be said:
clinging (upādāna). Clinging, bhikshus, has a necessary condition, too, I say.
It is not without a necessary condition.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for clinging?
It should be said:
craving (tanhā). Craving, bhikshus, has a necessary condition, too, I say. It
is not without a necessary condition.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for craving?
It should be said:
feeling (vedanā). Feeling, bhikshus, has a necessary condition, too, I say. It
is not without a necessary condition.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for feeling?
It should be said:
contact (phassa). Contact, bhikshus, has a necessary condition, too, I say. It
is not without a necessary condition.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for contact?
It should be said: the
six sense-bases (salyatana). The six sense-bases, bhikshus, has a necessary
condition, too, I say. It is not without a necessary condition.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for the six sense-bases?
It should be said:
name-and-form (nama,rūpa). Name-and-form, bhikshus, has a necessary condition,
too, I say. It is not without a necessary condition.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for name-and-form?
It should be said:
consciousness (viññana). Consciousness, bhikshus, has a necessary condition,
too, I say. It is not without a necessary condition.
And what, bhikshus, is the necessary condition
for consciousness?
It should be said: formations (sankhara).
Formations, bhikshus, have a necessary condition, too, I say. They are not
without a necessary condition.
And what, bhikshus, is
the necessary condition for formations?
It should be said:
ignorance.
The Three
Marks of Buddhism
To know impermanence (anicca), unsatisfactoriness or suffering
(dukkha), and non-self (anattā) nature of the five aggregates of clinging, one needs to
comprehend its origination. When the truth, that everything arises due to
conditions and cease when the conditions cease to exist, is comprehended the five
aggregates of clinging (suffering) will not originate and that is cessation.
The teachings
elaborates that due to its conditional nature the five clinging aggregates is impermanent and as it is
impermanent it is suffering (Yada niccan tan dukkan) - there is nothing to hold on to. If it is impermanent
and suffering, the Buddha asked, ‘should one take it as me mine and myself?’
When
Ignorance is abandoned, formations cease and thus no further suffering. Therefore the noble practice is not mere
disintegration of a body that exists or seeing impermanence of body parts i.e.
hair, skin, nails, teeth etc. that are perceptible. Knowing impermanence is
knowing the cause and effect phenomena, it is knowing that there is no
substance in the compounded, formed due to causes, as it ceases when the causes
cease to exist.
As
described in the Four Foundations of Mindfulness
meditation, observing origination of the body (Kayanupassana)[3] focuses
the notion of a body that exists which is primarily to develop knowledge[4] ,
rather than a body that is taken as a one that truly exists. This is emphasised
under the other three states of mindfulness as well.
When origination is
grasped the void in existence is exposed and thus one need not make an effort
to discard cankers. The person who dwells observing the truth or the arising
ceasing nature of five clinging aggregates can be free from suffering being
able to comprehend the path leading to its cessation.
In the parable of the
Lute (Veenopama Sutra), it is described how the melody or the sound is not
something that exists but which originates only when one plays the Lute. This
explains the nature of impermanence or the state of the conditioned. The
causality of the five clinging aggregates is grasped only when Buddha’s
teaching of the dependent origination is comprehended. This is when one
develops faith on Buddha and his teachings.
When a teacher explains a
child how to do maths correctly by teaching him the fundamentals as well as the
right techniques, the child develops faith on the teacher, similarly when one
grasps origination of five clinging aggregates as taught by the Buddha he or
she develops faith on the Buddha. This faith is known as Avicca Prasada
in teachings. What one requires to develop is not mere assumptions about the
external world but seeing things as they really are.
In Seela Sutra it is
explained that all what a person who embarks on the path has to do is observing
arising and ceasing of five clinging aggregates. He or she needs to do the same
to reach all four states[5] of
enlightenment described in the teachings. It is further said that it’s the
stream winner who can clearly see arising and ceasing nature of five clinging
aggregates and thereby discard cankers, till one reaches this state his or her
aim must be to comprehend the truth.
When dependent
origination is comprehended and the way it occurs due to ignorance and brings
about suffering, the person sees origination of the five clinging aggregates
(suffering) with wisdom.
Water –Cycle
Parable
Using
the water –cycle parable below the Tathagatha explained the dependent
origination,
Just as when the rains
fall in huge drops on the mountain-tops, the waters, flowing down along the
slopes, fill the mountain clefts, gullies and streams.
When the mountain clefts,
gullies and streams are full, they fill the ponds.
When the ponds are full,
they fill the lakes.
When the lakes are full,
they fill the rivulets.
When the rivulets are
full, they fill the rivers.
When the rivers are full,
they fill the great ocean.
Similarly the moment one grasps ignorance in
its true nature, the person’s life leads towards freedom.
‘in the
same way, bhikshus,
ignorance is the
necessary condition for formations,
formations are the
necessary condition for consciousness,
consciousness is the
necessary condition for name-and-form,
name-and-form is the
necessary condition for the six sense-base,
the six sense-bases are
the necessary condition for contact,
contact is the necessary
condition for feeling,
feeling is the necessary
condition for craving,
craving is the necessary
condition for clinging,
clinging is the necessary
condition for existence,
existence is the
necessary condition for birth,
birth is the necessary
condition for suffering,
suffering is the
necessary condition for faith,
He further explained dependent ending:
faith is the necessary
condition for joy,
joy is the necessary
condition for zest,
zest is the necessary
condition for tranquillity,
tranquillity is the
necessary condition for happiness,
happiness is the
necessary condition for concentration,
concentration is the
necessary condition for reality [ knowledge and vision of
things as they really
are,
knowledge and vision of
reality
is the necessary
condition for revulsion,
revulsion is the
necessary condition for dispassion,
dispassion is the
necessary condition for freedom,
freedom is the necessary
condition for the knowledge of the destruction
(of the influxes).
When ignorance is clearly
grasped one comprehends formation of suffering resulting in freedom. It’s not
observing what is originated by breaking them into parts either as name-matter
or elements but seeing how things originate due to ignorance. This is the path
to liberation of gaining the knowledge of cessation.
It’s important that one
first understands the five aggregates of clinging. Today our understanding of the
five aggregates of clinging and its impermanent, suffering and nonself nature,
focuses on things that exist. Buddha compared the knowledge of the five
aggregates of clinging and their impermanent, suffering and non-self-nature to
a raft that helps one to cross the ocean of samsara. As it’s the person who
makes the raft, first he or she needs to gain the knowledge of the Truth, by
listening to Dhamma preached by the Buddha. The first state or the foundation
of the path is the right view and it is gained only by listening to Buddha’s
teachings and developing wise attention.
Having listened to Buddha’s teachings
one needs to understand the five aggregates of clinging and dependent
origination phenomena perusing with wise attention. The correct understanding
of the five aggregates of clinging occurs with understanding of its origin.
Maha Punnama Sutra
(Majjima Nikaya) discusses causes for five aggregates of clinging - form,
sensation, perception, formation and consciousness. We know that form
originates from four great elements and that sensations, perceptions and
formations from contact. We also know that sensation is not contact but it
originates from contact, sensation
is the fruit of contact - the cause, same with regard to perception and
formation. Similarly, consciousness is not name-matter but what originates from
name matter.
Now that we discussed
four of the five aggregates of clinging we need to understand the other, the
form, and that it is not four great elements but what originates from that. We
need to understand four great elements to clearly grasp the origin of form.
This is an area we haven’t explored before.
There are a number of
Sutras which discuss the four great elements in detail such as maha haththi
padopama sutra, rahulowada sutra and dhatu vibhanga sutra. The four elements
are described as earth or solidity (patavi), water or cohesion (apo),
Fire or heat (tejo) which are seen as both internal and external. The
great elements that are internal for instance, the earth element is described
as; belonging to oneself, solid, rigid and clung to. We refer to them as hair,
skin, flesh, teeth, bones, and so on. It is further said, whatever else that
belongs to oneself, solid, rigid and clung to, is also called the internal
earth element.
In terms of the above
definition of the four great elements, we need to understand what is meant by ‘clung
to’. It is crucial and if not we will continue to hold onto the notion that the
there are four elements which exist externally.
We attempt to understand elements
that exist externally by breaking them into particles and so on, as we have not
understood their true nature of being originated by clinging. However, when we
see that the cause for the four elements is clinging we see its connection to
dependent origination theory, similar to what we already know about other four
clinging aggregates.
We ignore the cause for
our notion of the existence of the four elements which is primarily due to
clinging; hence we consider that they exist either as external or internal.
This delusion conforms to the theory of dependent origination and how we
gradually develop self-view and end in misery. We ignore what was explained by
the Blessed One and make our own assumptions - as we understand.
Our understanding today
is that the four elements exit independent of ‘my’ existence. However it’s a
notion that ‘I’ create due to the notion of ‘me’ that exists. Therefore any
attempt to see what they are made of by breaking into parts would only be
conceptual. We can neither say that things exist nor that things do not exist,
we need to examine the Dhamma as taught by the Tathagatha and understand how
things are conditioned.
When we grasp ignorance,
i.e. not knowing suffering, cause for suffering, cessation and the path leading
to cessation, we grasp the false footing for our fabrications (as the world).
Suffering persists until we see that truth.
Buddhism has to be
pursued and examined as a phenomenon of cause and effect with the final goal of
grasping ignorance. Seeing the origin of the world that develops due to
formations as a Dhamma of cause and effect that is built upon a false
foundation (not as mere assumptions) is essential. When one begins to know and
see as explained in this sutra he or she could comprehend suffering and be free
from it.
(Sutra quotes are from
http://dharmafarer.org: Translations by Piya Tan, 2009)
[1]
Sorrow , Lamentation, Pain, Grief, Despair (soka·parideva·dukkha·domanass·upāyāsā)
[2]
panca updana skanda
[3]
Four foundations of mindfulness (Sathara Sathipatthana Bhavana)
[4] ….
Or mindfulness is established
that ‘There is a body’, to the extent necessary for knowledge and mindfulness.
They meditate independent, not grasping at anything in the world. This too is
how a monastic meditates by observing an aspect of the body. (‘Atthi kāyo’ti vā panassa sati paccupaṭṭhitā
hoti. Yāvadeva ñāṇamattāya paṭissatimattāya anissito ca viharati, ………..)
[5]
Stream Winner, Once returner, Non-returner and the Arahath
Comments
Post a Comment