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จิต ปกติธรรมดาทางตา ก็ทำหน้าที่ “เห็น” จิตปกติธรรมดาทางหู ก็ทำหน้าที่ “ได้ยิน” จิตปกติธรรมดาทางจมูก ก็ทำหน้าที่ “ได้กลิ่น” จิตปกติธรรมดาทางลิ้น ก็ทำหน้าที่ “รับรู้รส” จิตปกติธรรมดาทางกาย ก็ทำหน้าที่ “รับรู้ถูกต้องสัมผัสเย็น-ร้อน-อ่อน-แข็ง-ตึง-ไหว จิตปกติธรรมดาทางมโนทวาร ก็ทำหน้าที่ “รับรู้สิ่งที่ปรากฏทางใจ” ก็มีแต่ความเป็นปกติธรรมดา เพียงแค่เห็น – ได้ยิน – เป็นต้น ไม่ใช่เห็นโน่น-เห็นนี่,สิ่งนั้น-สิ่งนี้ หรือได้ยินเสียงนั้น-เสียงนี้ แต่คือสภาพเห็น-การเห็น สภาพได้ยิน-การได้ยิน เป็นต้น และก็เป็นไปตามปกติธรรมดาจริงๆ ไม่ต้องไป”ทำ”อะไรๆเลย ก็จะมีความปกติธรรมดาในการเห็น-ได้ยิน เป็นต้น แล้วก็ไม่มีอะไรๆ กับการเห็น-การได้ยิน เป็นต้นด้วย สภาพเห็นก็ดับไป-สภาพได้ยินก็ดับไป เสร็จกิจ-เสร็จหน้าที่แล้วก็ดับไปสลายไป 

แนวทางการปฏิบัติการดูจิตพระอาจารย์นวลจันทร์

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จิต ปกติธรรมดาทางตา ก็ทำหน้าที่ “เห็น” จิตปกติธรรมดาทางหู ก็ทำหน้าที่ “ได้ยิน” จิตปกติธรรมดาทางจมูก ก็ทำหน้าที่ “ได้กลิ่น” จิตปกติธรรมดาทางลิ้น ก็ทำหน้าที่ “รับรู้รส” จิตปกติธรรมดาทางกาย ก็ทำหน้าที่ “รับรู้ถูกต้องสัมผัสเย็น-ร้อน-อ่อน-แข็ง-ตึง-ไหว จิตปกติธรรมดาทางมโนทวาร ก็ทำหน้าที่ “รับรู้สิ่งที่ปรากฏทางใจ” ก็มีแต่ความเป็นปกติธรรมดา เพียงแค่เห็น – ได้ยิน – เป็นต้น ไม่ใช่เห็นโน่น-เห็นนี่,สิ่งนั้น-สิ่งนี้ หรือได้ยินเสียงนั้น-เสียงนี้ แต่คือสภาพเห็น-การเห็น สภาพได้ยิน-การได้ยิน เป็นต้น และก็เป็นไปตามปกติธรรมดาจริงๆ ไม่ต้องไป”ทำ”อะไรๆเลย ก็จะมีความปกติธรรมดาในการเห็น-ได้ยิน เป็นต้น แล้วก็ไม่มีอะไรๆ กับการเห็น-การได้ยิน เป็นต้นด้วย สภาพเห็นก็ดับไป-สภาพได้ยินก็ดับไป เสร็จกิจ-เสร็จหน้าที่แล้วก็ดับไปสลายไป 

Dhamma Notes No.10

THE DIFFERENT VIEWS OF EMPTINESS

“We  perceive  something  and  we  say  “My  perception,  my  one  personal perception,  is  the  only  way  it  exists  and  it’s  the  right  way  that  it  exists.”  Proof  of  it  is everywhere in the scientific world and of course in Buddhist  scriptures.  This  view is the  source of every problem in the world.”

In the Maha-suññata Sutta: The Greater Discourse on Emptiness, you find emptiness approached from three perspectives, treating it (1) as a meditative dwelling, (2) as an attribute of objects (both internally and externally: mentally &, materially), and (3) as a type of awareness-release.

There are four schools of Buddhist philosophy — Vaibashika (che-tra-mra-wa), Sautrantika (do-de-pa), Cittamatra (sem-tsam) and Madhyamika (u-ma-pa). The fourth of these is the Middle Way school and is divided into two: Svatantrika (rang-gyu-pa) and Prasangika (thal-gyur-wa)

Prasangika

According to the Prasangika school, the object of refutation (or negation, gag-cha) is an extremely subtle object that is ever so slightly more than — a little over and above — what is merely labelled by the mind. The object of refutation is what appears to us; it is that in which we believe. In order to attain liberation from the entire round of suffering and its cause, we need to cut its very root, the fundamental ignorance that keeps us in it. Of the many kinds of ignorance, which is the specific one that we have to eradicate? It is not the concept that believes the bell to exist the way it appears, which is what the texts usually describe as the root of samsara — except that in the case of the root of samsara, we should be talking about the I, not the bell that I've been using as an example here. When the I appears to us, we believe that there is something slightly over and above what is merely labelled by the mind and that this is how the I exists. Then we believe that this is one hundred percent true and let our mind hold on to that. It is this specific, particular ignorance that is the root of all delusion, karma and suffering. This very one. It's not just any type of ignorance — it's this one.

Svatantrika

As well as this kind of ignorance, there's the one described by the second Madhyamika school, the Svatantrika — the hallucination on the I, the object to be refuted according to their view. I'm just mentioning this so that you'll have an idea of how trapped our minds are, how many different levels of ignorance we experience, how many kinds of hallucination there are. The hallucination on the I that the Svatantrikas describe is grosser than the one the Prasangikas explain.

Cittamatrins

Then there's the Cittamatrins' version, where they say that the I exists from its own side without depending on mental imprints, without the mind as creator. They describe a seventh level of consciousness — normally we talk about just six — that is called the basis of samsara and nirvana. So they say that the I exists totally from its own side without depending on imprints left on this seventh level of consciousness and describe it as a self-entity. According to Hindu philosophy, the I, which they call atman, is permanent. While the self is actually impermanent, they believe it to be permanent. Therefore, there's a lot of discussion in Buddhist texts refuting this view, explaining that while the self may appear to us to be permanent, in fact it changes moment by moment due to causes and conditions and is therefore impermanent. If you look at your I right now, you'll see that it appears to be permanent, whereas you know that in reality it is impermanent in nature. 

Vaibashika

Other views hold, for example, that while the I is dependent upon parts, there is the appearance and the belief that it exists alone, not dependent upon parts, or that while the I is dependent upon causes and conditions, there is the appearance and the belief that it exists with its own freedom, without depending on causes and conditions. These gross hallucinations are described and posited as the object of refutation by the first Buddhist school, the Vaibashika. This school has eighteen divisions, each with its own variant view. Then there's the hallucination that even though the I exists dependent upon the group and continuity of the aggregates, it appears to us as a self-entity existing without depending on the group and continuity of the aggregates. So these are some of the positions held by the Vaibashika and the Sautrantika, the lower Buddhist schools.

Prasangika-Madhyamika

How has it come about that there are these four schools of Buddhist philosophy? It's due to the different ways of explaining what the I is. In reality, emptiness is just one, not many. There is only one emptiness that directly cuts the root of samsara. This is the emptiness taught by the Prasangika-Madhyamika school, whose view of emptiness is the unmistaken, pure one and the only one that can cut the specific ignorance that I mentioned before. However, not everybody has the karma to accept this, to understand this, to realize this. Sentient beings have different levels of mind. Therefore, the all-knowing, kind, compassionate Buddha taught varying levels of philosophy to guide sentient beings' minds gradually up to the level where they could realize the Prasangika view of emptiness. One could start with the gross explanations of emptiness taught by the lower schools and gradually progress up to the most subtle, the Prasangika. That's how the four schools came into being. The lower schools were steps to the higher ones, leading ultimately to the Prasangika. So even though the views of these various schools seem to contradict each other, actually they're a method for gradually developing through study and meditation the Prasangika view.

View of emptiness by way of time

All causative phenomena — our life, our body, our mind, our self, our possessions, our relatives and friends, all other people — are changing, not only day by day, minute by minute and second by second, but every tiny moment. 

View of emptiness by way of the 4 elements: materiality

Hardness, softness, smoothness, roughness, heaviness, lightness, flowing, stickiness, pushing, pulling, hotness, coolness, + spaciousness, reverberation, odor, taste etc.

View of Emptiness by way of decay

All material and mental formations do not last for even a fraction of a second. Because they are under the control of causes and conditions, they are in a state of constant decay and can cease at any time. This is the nature of our life.

View of emptiness by way of ideas

Think how your I, actions, objects, and in fact all phenomena — everything that is called "such and such" and "this and that" — are just names. Names have to come from the mind; they don't exist from their own side. Names are labels applied by the mind. However, it is not just that phenomena are labelled by the mind — they are merely labelled by the mind. In other words, all phenomena — I, action, object, everything — are merely labelled by the mind, in relation to their base. Think about this.

What is the mind? What's true for the physical senses, as above, is also true for the mind, the perceiver, itself. The mind is a phenomenon too. What is the mind? It is a phenomenon that is not body, not substantial, has no form, no shape, no color, but, like a mirror, can clearly reflect objects. Objects appear to the mind and the mind can perceive these objects. As long as a mirror is not dirty, it will reflect whatever object comes before it clearly. Similarly, since the mind is unobstructed by substance, form, objects can appear to it. The phenomenon that is mind perceives objects. So, that is the base. In relation to that phenomenon, our thought creates, merely imputes, the label "mind," and that's how the mind exists. The mind also exists merely in name; what we call mind has been merely labelled by thought. It's like when a person is given a name. Mine is Zopa. Actually, it's Thubten Zopa, and it was given to me by my abbot. According to tradition, when an abbot ordains new monks, he gives them his first name. My abbot's first name was Thubten, and then he added the Zopa. With his mind, he labelled me "Zopa." You received your name in a similar way. Whether you named yourself or it was given to you by your parents, your name is a mind-created label. In the same way, then, what's called mind is also a name.

View of emptiness by way of prejudicial view

But our minds are so replete with negative imprints left by past ignorance, the simultaneously born concept of inherent existence, that even though things exist as merely labelled by the mind, we hold on to them as if they exist from their own side.

The thing is that we're unaware, or we forget, that what we're seeing is merely imputed by our mind. Basically, there are three things in the evolution of all this. First of all, as a start, our mind merely labels the object. Second, the negative imprints left by previous concepts of inherent existence project the appearance of inherent existence that the object we're looking at now exists from its own side, that there's a real bell there — not a bell from our mind, but a bell from the side of the bell. This is a totally, totally wrong idea — a complete hallucination projected onto the bell. Third, we allow our mind to believe that this is one hundred percent true. We allow our mind to hold on to this, to grasp this, as completely, one hundred percent true — that there's a real bell over there, that that's the reality. This is ignorance.

View of emptiness by way of dream like appearance

mindfulness on the hallucination that it is a hallucination — we constantly make our mind more and more ignorant. For example, when we dreaming, we can practice mindfulness that this is but a dream. Similarly, during the day, we can practice mindfulness that what we're seeing is but a hallucination. If we do this, we're not meditating on something that exists as a hallucination — we're meditating that a hallucination is a hallucination. As a result, what comes into our heart is an understanding of emptiness, the ultimate nature of the circle of three — I, action and object. By doing this, we stop making our mind increasingly ignorant. We stop constantly creating the basis for emotional thoughts, delusions, attachment — those unnecessary minds that bring no benefit, only harm, and motivate karma that becomes the cause of samsara and all its realms of suffering.

View of emptiness by way of deconstruction and construction

When we look at the A and do not analyze, do not meditate, it looks as if the A is there, on that pattern. That too is a complete hallucination. That is the object to be refuted — the A that is there not merely imputed by the mind. An A that if you look for it can be found. That's the object of refutation; that's what we have to realize is empty. And that emptiness is the ultimate nature of the A. The reason that seeing an A on the base is a false view is that if you try to find precisely where on each of the three lines it is (/\-), you can't find it.

And when you look for it on the three lines assembled (A), you can't find it there either. Each piece is not A. Nor is the assembled pattern, because that is the base to be labelled A. By analyzing in this way, you can recognize your everyday hallucinations, your false view, and understand what you have to realize as empty. What emptiness means. Analysis makes it clear. Practicing mindfulness of this, meditating on this, helps you to control your emotional mind. It becomes almost impossible for emotional thoughts, such as attachment and anger, to arise. That means you stop motivating karma, the cause of samsara, the cause of the lower realms. Thus it becomes incredible protection, a great source of happiness and peace, and the cause of liberation and enlightenment for yourself and all other sentient beings.

View of emptiness by not mistaking substance for mentality

No formations are perceivable as materiality. They are sensed as sensations by the sense bases. In other words what is seen is an image, not an object. What we are perceiving is a rendering by the sense base, that approximates a conventional object. The mind does not know an external world. It only knows mental objects.

EXTRAORDINARY KNOWLEDGE

The knowledge here isn’t ordinary knowledge. It washes away your old knowledge. You don’t want the knowledge that comes from ordinary thinking and reasoning: Let go of it. You don’t want the knowledge that comes from directed thought and evaluation: Stop. Make the mind quiet. Still. When the mind is still and unhindered, this is the essence of all that’s meritorious and skillful. When your mind is on this level, it isn’t attached to any concepts at all. All the concepts you’ve known—dealing with the world or the Dhamma, however many or few—are washed away. Only when they’re washed away can new knowledge arise.

THE FOUR FOUNDATIONS OF MINDFULNESS from the Satipatthana Sutta: D.22

The Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw compared aVipassana meditator to a weak invalid, who by necessity moves about very slowly. Doing things very slowly helps to make the mind concentrated. If you want the meditation to develop, you must get accustomed to slowing down. When a fan is turning fast, you cannot see it as it really is, but when it is turning slowly then you can see. Therefore you need to slow down significantly to clearly see the mental and physical processes as they really are. Talking is a great danger to the progress of insight. A ‘five minute’ talk can wreck a meditator’s concentration for the whole day.

Pain and Patience

Pain is the friend of the meditator. Do not evade it, it can lead you to nibbana. Pain does not have to inform you of its coming. It may not disappear, but if it does, you may cry over it, for your friend has gone away. Pain is observed not to make it go away, but to realize its true nature. When concentration is good, pain is not a problem — it is a natural process. If you observe it attentively, the mind will be absorbed in it, and discover its true nature. When pain comes, note it directly. Ignore it only if it becomes overpoweringly persistent. It can be overcome by deep concentration brought about by continuous mindfulness. If intense pain arises during walking meditation, stop occasionally and take note of it. Be patient with anything and everything that stimulates your mind. Patience lead to Nibbana - impatience leads to hell.

Noting Mental States

When noting mental or emotional states, do it quickly, energetically and precisely so that the noting mind is continuous and powerful. Then thinking stops by itself. Unless you can note the wandering thoughts, you are already defeated when attempting to concentrate the mind. If your mind is inclined to wander, it indicates that you are not really noting thoughts energetically enough. The acquired ability to do this is indispensable. If you are aware of the content of thoughts, they will tend to go on. If you are aware of the thought itself, then thinking will cease.

Do not be attached to thinking and theory. Meditation is beyond time and space. So do not be caught up with thinking and theory. Insight will arise with deep concentration, but logical and philosophical thinking comes with shallow concentration.

Drowsiness can be overcome by putting in more effort. Labeling activities vigorously is helpful. Note sleepiness energetically, if you accept laziness, you will go on half asleep. Actually, the energy to note is always there. The trouble is that you are reluctant to do it. The mental attitude is very important. So, do not be pessimistic. If you are optimistic, you offer yourself an opportunity. Then there is satisfaction in every situation and there will be less distraction.

A human being has a great variety of abilities and the strength to do many things. If you want to develop this meditation to its ultimate goal of complete awareness you will need to put a determined effort into the practice. If you put in this all-out effort you will achieve the final liberation from habitual clinging, fear and confusion.

I. Mindfulness of the Body

1. Mindfulness of Breathing: There are many variations of this exercise. A very basic one is to focus on the sensation of the breath at the nose-tip and to be keenly aware of the entire breath; both in-breath and out-breath are to be watched from beginning through the middle to the very end. A simple two-syllable mantra like "bud-dho" may be used as an aid.
2. Postures of the Body: The four basic postures are walking, standing, sitting and lying. The exercise here is simply to be aware at all times of the disposition of the body.
3. Clear Comprehension (sampajañña): Clear Comprehension of Purpose- Why are you undertaking this action? Clear Comprehension of Suitability- Is this action suitable under the circumstances (skill-in-means)? Clear Comprehension of the Domain (of Meditation) - Can this action be incorporated into the practice? Take the meditation into the life. Clear Comprehension of Reality- See the three characteristics in all activities. (i.e. impermanence, suffering and not-self)
4. Reflection on the Reality of this Body: To see the body as a collection of parts; solid and liquid. The traditional list of thirty-two parts; hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, membranes, spleen, lungs, bowels, intestines, gorge, dung, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease, snot, spittle, oil-of-the-joints, urine (and brain is added from the commentary)
5. Reflection on the Material Elements: to see the body as a physical process. The traditional physics is based on the four elements; earth (extension), water (cohesion), air (motility) and fire (energy). Alternatively, modern concepts may be used.
6. The Cemetery Contemplations: These are used to become keenly aware of the impermanence of the body and to break the illusion of immortality. The list given by the Buddha can be taken as a visualization exercise which goes through repulsiveness to tranquillity. The festering body (a few days old), the corpse being devoured by birds, beasts and worms, a skeleton held together by tendons, with some flesh and blood remaining, a skeleton held together by tendons, fleshless, smeared with blood, a skeleton held together by tendons, fleshless and bloodless, loose bones scattered about, bones bleached white by the sun, bones a year old lying piled in a heap, rotted bones crumbling to dust.

1. Contemplation of Feelings: 

The Feelings (Vedana) are not to be confused with the more complex mental functions called "emotions" . Feelings in the technical sense used here are much more basic. They can be classified in several ways; pleasant, neutral, unpleasant, bodily, mental, worldly, unwordly. As examples of the last; a worldly pleasant feeling is sense pleasure of any kind (food, sex etc.) an unworldly pleasant feeling is rapture arising from jhana. A worldly unpleasant feeling is grief at loss of possessions, an unworldly unpleasant feeling is distress at slow progress in meditation. An important note: unseen pleasant feelings lead to craving, unseen unpleasant feelings lead to ill-will (negative craving) and unseen neutral feelings lead to ignorance. The feelings -> cravings link is the key point in the cycle of dependent origination where the process can be transcended and liberation achieved.

1. Contemplation of the Mind (State of Consciousness)

What is the state of mind? Is it with lust or without? With hatred or without? With delusion or without? Is it shrunken? Is it distracted? Is it developed or undeveloped? Is it surpassable or unsurpassable? Is it Is it concentrated or scattered? Is it freed or bound? This refers to the "background" of mind, the basic level or tone of conscious awareness that is present.

1. Contemplation of Mind Objects (Dhammas)

1. The Five Hindrances; mental states that lead one astray: sense-desire, anger, sloth-and-torpor, worry and flurry, skeptical doubt. These to be countered as follows; sense-desire -> body meditation (e.g.. 32 parts and/or corpse med.) anger -> loving-kindness, sloth-and-torpor -> change of posture, perception of light, worry -> mindfulness of breathing, doubt -> study, asking questions, puja
2. The Five Aggregates of Clinging: An analysis of all phenomena into five constituents to dispel the idea of a self-entity. The five: form (materiality), feeling, perception, mental-formations, consciousness
3. The Six External and Six Internal Sense- Bases: All consciousness arises through one or the other of these doors; eye and form, ear and sound, nose and odour, tongue and flavour, body and touch, mind and idea.
4. The Seven factors of Enlightenment: Investigation of Dhammas, Energy, Rapture (Joy), Mindfulness, Tranquillity, Concentration, Equanimity. The first three are to be developed when the mind is dull; the last three when the mind is agitated. Mindfulness is to be developed in all circumstances.
5. The Four Noble Truths: The Noble Truth of Suffering; birth, sickness, old age, death, not getting what you want, in brief, the Five Aggregates of Clinging, The Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering; craving, The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering; extinction of craving, Nibbana. The Noble Truth of the Path Leading to the Cessation of Suffering; the eightfold path; right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.

THE 7 FACTORS OF ENLIGHTENMENT

Mindfulness (sati) i.e. to be aware and mindful in all activities and movements both physical and mental

Investigation (dhamma vicaya) into the nature of dhamma mental and material phenomena

Energy (viriya)

Joy or rapture (pīti)

Relaxation or tranquility (passaddhi) of both body and mind

Concentration (samādhi) a calm, one-pointed state of concentration of mind[1]

Equanimity (upekkha), to be able to face life in all its vicissitudes with calm of mind and tranquility, without disturbance.

THE TEN PERFECTIONS

Generosity (dana) can be characterized by unattached and unconditional generosity, giving and letting go.

Morality (sila)-virtue, integrity It is an action that is an intentional effort. It refers to moral purity of thought, word, and deed. The four conditions of sila are chastity, calmness, quiet, and extinguishment, i.e. no longer being susceptible to perturbation by the passions 

Renunciation (nekkhamma) "giving up the world and leading a holy life" or "freedom from lust, craving and desires."

Wisdom (pañña) impermanence, interdependent origination, non-self, emptiness, etc. Prajña is the wisdom that is able to extinguish afflictions

Energy/Strength (viriya)- effort It stands for strenuous and sustained effort to overcome unskillful ways, such as indulging in sensuality, ill will and harmfulness. It stands for the right endeavour to attain jhana. In the absence of sustained efforts in practicing meditation, craving creeps in and the meditator comes under its influence. Right effort known as viryabala is, thus, required to overcome unskillful mental factors and deviation from jhana.

Patience (khanti) Khanti (Pali) has been translated as patience, forbearance and forgiveness. It is the practice of exercising patience toward behavior or situations that might not necessarily deserve it. It is seen as a conscious choice to actively give patience as if a gift.

Truthfulness (sacca)

Resolution determination (adhitthana) (Pali; from adhi meaning "higher" or "best" plus stha meaning "standing") "resolute determination."

Lovingkindness (metta)

Equanimity (upekkha) equanimity, not indifference in the sense of unconcern for others. As a spiritual virtue, upekkha means equanimity in the face of the fluctuations of worldly fortune. It is evenness of mind, unshakeable freedom of mind, a state of inner equipoise that cannot be upset by gain and loss, honor and dishonor, praise and blame, pleasure and pain. Upekkha is freedom from all points of self-reference; it is indifference only to the demands of the ego-self with its craving for pleasure and position, not to the well-being of one's fellow human beings. True equanimity is the pinnacle of the four social attitudes that the Buddhist texts call the 'divine abodes': boundless loving-kindness, compassion, altruistic joy, and equanimity. The last does not override and negate the preceding three, but perfects and consummates them."

The Four Immeasurables: 

Love, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity

The Four Foundations of Mindfulness: 

Body Contemplation Mindfulness, Feeling Contemplation Mindfulness, Consciousness Contemplation Mindfulness, Dhammas Contemplation Mindfulness

The Four Right Efforts: The effort to prevent unwholesome states from arising, The effort to eradicate unwholesome states that have arisen, The effort to produce wholesome states that have not yet arisen (Concentration wholesome dhammas, Vipassana wholesome dhammas, Path wholesome dhammas)

WITHSTANDING SUFFERING

When the heart has rapture as its companion, it will be free from unrest. It will be cool. It will be able to use the fresh water it has distilled from salt water as a means of washing its clothing, as a means of bathing its body. Then it will be able to wash the earth property—which is like a rag—the water property, the wind property, and the fire property, all of which are like rags. They’re always ripping and tearing, always getting dirty. This is why we have to care for them at all times. When the mind has given rise to the factors of concentration, the power of rapture will come to wash our properties of earth, water, wind, and fire. Then, if we want to be warm, we won’t have to sit in the sunlight; if we want to be cool, we won’t have to sit in the breeze. If, when we’re stuck in the sunlight, we want to be cool, we’ll be cool. If, when we’re stuck in water, we want to be warm, we’ll be warm. That way we can be at our ease, like a person who has clothing to cover his body and so has no need to feel bashful when entering human society. This is why meditators have no fear of difficult conditions. Why is that? Because they have their own source of fresh water: water to bathe in, water to drink. They’ve got all the water they need to use for bathing their body; for bathing their eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind; for bathing the properties of earth, water, wind, and fire. That’s water for using. As for water for drinking, they can develop concentration to an even higher level, to give rise to a sense of inner pleasure: pleasure that arises from within the mind itself. When the mind feels pleasure, both the body and mind will be at their ease. —Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo

 When right concentration arises in the mind, it has a shadow. When you can catch sight of the shadow appearing, that’s vipassan›: insight meditation. Vipassan›-ñana is the first branch of knowledge and skill in the Buddha’s teaching. The second branch is iddhividhı, the power of mind over matter. The third is manomayiddhi, the power of mind-made images. The fourth is dibbacakkhu, clairvoyance. The fifth is dibbasota, clairaudience. The sixth is cetopariya-ñana, the ability to read minds. The seventh is pubbeniv›s›nussati-ñana,knowledge of previous lifetimes. And the eighth: ›savakkhaya-ñana, knowledge of the ending of mental fermentations. All eight of these branches are forms of knowledge and skill that arise from concentration. People without concentration can’t gain them: That’s an absolute guarantee. No matter how smart or clever they may be, they can’t gain these forms of knowledge. They have to fall under the power of ignorance. These eight branches of knowledge come from right concentration. When they arise they’re not called thoughts or ideas. They’re called right views. What looks wrong to you is really wrong. What looks right is really right. If what looks right is really wrong, that’s wrong view. If what looks wrong is really right, again—wrong view. With right view, though, right looks right and wrong looks wrong.

 To put it in terms of cause and effect, you see the four noble truths. You see stress, and it really is stressful. You see the cause of stress arising, and that it’s really causing stress. These are noble truths: absolutely, undeniably, indisputably true. You see that stress has a cause. Once the cause arises, there has to be stress. As for the way to the disbanding of stress, you see that the path you’re following will, without a doubt, lead to nibbana. Whether or not you go all the way, what you see is correct. This is right view. And as for the disbanding of stress, you see that there really is such a thing. You see that as long as you’re on the path, stress does in fact fall away. When you come to realize the truth of these things in your heart, that’s vipassan›-ñana.

 To put it even more simply: You see that all things, inside as well as out, are undependable. The body is undependable, aging is undependable, death is undependable. They’re slippery characters, constantly changing on you. To see this is to see inconstancy. Don’t let yourself be pleased by inconstancy. Don’t let yourself be upset. Keep the mind neutral, on an even keel. That’s what’s meant by vipassana. —Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo

You can let go. This is where it gets good. How so? You don’t have to wear yourself out, lugging saºkh›ras around.

 To be attached means to carry a load, and there are five heaps (khandhas) we carry: rÒpÒp›d›nakkhandho: physical phenomena are the first load; vedanÒp›d›nakkhandho: feelings that we’re attached to are another; saññÒp›d›nakkhandho: the concepts and labels that we claim are ours are a pole for carrying a load on our shoulder;

saºkh›rÒp›d›nakkhandho: the mental fabrications that we hang onto and think are ours; viññ›˚Òp›d›nakkhandho: our attachment to sensory consciousness. Go ahead: Carry them around. Hang one load from your left leg and one from your right. Put one on your left shoulder and one on your right. Put the last load on your head. And now: Carry them wherever you go—clumsy, encumbered, and comical. —Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo

bh›r› have pañcakkhandh›

Go ahead and carry them. The five khandhas are a heavy load,

bh›rah›ro ca puggalo

and as individuals we burden ourselves with them.

bh›r›d›naª dukkhaª loke

Carry them everywhere you go,

and you waste your time suffering in the world.

 The Buddha taught that whoever lacks discernment, whoever is unskilled, 

whoever doesn’t practice concentration leading to vipassan›-ñ›˚a, will have to be 

burdened with stress, will always be loaded down. It’s pathetic. It’s a shame. 

They’ll never get away. When they’re loaded down like this, it’s really pathetic. 

Their legs are burdened, their shoulders burdened—and where are they going? 

Three steps forward and two steps back. Soon they’ll get discouraged, and then 

after a while they’ll pick themselves up and get going again.

 Now, when we see inconstancy—that all fabrications, whether within us or 

without, are undependable; when we see that they’re stressful; when we see that 

they’re not our self, that they simply whirl around in and of themselves: When 

we gain these insights, we can put down our burdens, i.e., let go of our 

attachments. We can put down the past—i.e., stop dwelling in it. We can let go of 

the future—i.e., stop yearning for it. We can let go of the present—i.e., stop 

claiming it as the self. Once these three big baskets have fallen from our 

shoulders, we can walk with a light step. We can even dance. We’re beautiful.

SUPERNORMAL KNOWLEDGE AND POWERS

So. Now that we’ve cleared away these splinters and thorns so that everything is level and smooth, we can relax. And now we’re ready for the knowledge we can use as a weapon. What’s the knowledge we use as a weapon? Iddhividhı. We can display powers in one way or another, and give rise to miraculous things by way of the body, by way of speech, or by way of the mind. We have powers we can use in doing the work of the religion. That’s called iddhividhı. But in the Canon they describe it as different kinds of walking: walking through the water without getting wet, walking through fire without getting hot, staying out in the rain without getting chilled, staying out in the wind without getting cold, resilient enough to withstand wind, rain, and sun. If you’re young, you can make yourself old; if old, you can make yourself young. If you’re tall, you can make yourself short; if short, you can make yourself tall. You can change your body in all kinds of ways. This is why the Buddha was able to teach all kinds of people. If he was teaching old people, he’d make his body look old. Old people talking with old people can have a good time because there’s no distrust or suspicion. If he met up with pretty young women, he could make himself look young. He’d enjoy talking with them; they’d enjoy talking with him and not get bored. This is why the Dhamma he taught appealed to all classes of people. He could adapt his body to fit with whatever type of society he found himself in. For instance, if he met 

up with children, he’d talk about the affairs of children, act in a childlike way. If he met up with old people, he’d talk about the affairs of old people. If he met up with young men and women, he’d talk about the affairs of young men and women. They’d all enjoy listening to what he had to say, develop a sense of faith, become Buddhists, and even ordain. This is called iddhividhı. 

Next is manomayiddhi, power in the area of the mind. The mind acquires power. What kind of power? You can go wherever you want. If you want to go sightseeing in hell, you can. If you want to get away from human beings, you can go sightseeing in hell. It’s nice and relaxing. You can play with the denizens of hell, fool around with the denizens of hell. Any of them who have only a little bad kamma can come up and chat with you, to send word back to their relatives. Once you get back from touring around hell you can tell the relatives to make merit in the dead person’s name. Or, if you want, you can travel in the world of common animals and chat with mynah birds, owls—any kind of bird—or with four-footed animals, two footed animals. You can go into the forests, into the wilds, and converse with the animals there. It’s a lot of fun, not like talking with people. Talking with people is hard; talking with animals is easy. You don’t have to say a lot, simply think in the mind: Tell them stories, ask them questions, like, “Now that you’re an animal, what do you eat? Do you get enough to stay full and content?” You find that you 5 have a lot. Or, if you want, you can travel in the world of the hungry ghosts. 

The world of the hungry ghosts is even more fun. Hungry ghosts come in all different shapes and sizes—really entertaining, the hungry ghosts. Some of them have heads as big as large water jars, but their mouths are just like the eye of a needle: That’s all, no bigger than the eye of a needle! Some of them have legs six yards long, but hands only half a foot. They’re amazing to watch, just like a cartoon. Some of them have lower lips with no upper lips, some of them are missing their lips altogether, with their teeth exposed all the time. There are all kinds of hungry ghosts. Some of them have big, bulging eyes, the size of coconuts; others have fingernails as long as palm leaves. You really ought to see them. Some of them are so fat they can’t move; others so thin that they’re nothing but bones. And sometimes the different groups get into battles, biting each other, hitting each other. That’s the hungry ghosts for you. Really entertaining. This is called manomayiddhi. When the mind is firmly established, you can go see these things. 

Or you can go to the land of the n›gas, the different lands on the human level—sometimes, when you get tired of human beings, you can go visit the heavens: the heaven of the Four Great Kings, the heaven of the Guardians of the Hours, the Thirty-three gods, all the way up there to the Brahm› worlds. The mind can go without any problem. This is called manomayiddhi. It’s a lot of fun. Your defilements are gone, your work is done, you’ve got enough food to eat and money to spend, so you can go traveling to see the sights and soak up the breezes. That’s manomayiddhi. Dibba-cakkhu: clairvoyance. You gain eyes on two levels. The outer level is called the maºsa-cakkhu, the eye of the flesh, which enables you to look at human beings in the world, devas in the world. The eye of discernment allows you to examine the defilements of human beings: those with coarse defilements, those with thick defilements, those with faith in the Buddha’s teachings, those with none, those who have the potential to be taught, those with no potential at all. You can consider them with your internal discernment. This is called pañña-cakkhu, the eye of discernment. In this way you have eyes on two levels. Most of us have eyes on only one level, the eye of the flesh, while the inner eye doesn’t arise. And how could it arise? You don’t wash the sleep out of your eyes. What are the bits of sleep in your eyes? Sensual desire, an enormous hunk. 

Ill will, another big hunk. Sloth and drowsiness, a hunk the size of a hammer head. Your mind calms down and begins to grow still, but this hunk of sleep in your eyes is so heavy it makes you nod. This is called sloth and drowsiness. All you can think about is lying down to sleep. Then there’s restlessness and anxiety, another hunk of sleep; and uncertainty, still another. When these things get stuck in the heart, how can it possibly be bright? It’s dark on all sides. Now, when you develop your meditation and bring the mind to stillness, that’s called getting the sleep out of your eyes. Directed thought loosens it up, and evaluation rinses it out. Once your eyes gets rinsed and washed clean this way, they can see clearly. The eye of your mind becomes the eye of discernment. This is called dibba-cakkhu.

Dibba-sota: clairaudience. There are two levels of ears as well. The outer ears 6 are the ones made of skin. The inner ear is the ear of the heart. The ear of the heart doesn’t appear for the same sort of reason: It’s full of earwax. You never clean it out. You don’t build up any goodness in the area of the mind. The mind isn’t centered in concentration. When it’s not in concentration, and hears an attractive sound, it can’t stay still. Your ears are full of wax. You hear people gossiping or cursing each other out, and you love to hear it. This is a humongous hunk of wax stuck in your ear. As for the Dhamma, you’re not really interested in listening, which is why there’s nothing but earwax: earwax stuck in your mind, earwax all over everything outside. This is why your powers of clairaudience don’t arise. Clairaudience is really refreshing. You don’t have to waste your time listening. If you feel like listening, you can hear anything. What the hungry ghosts are talking about, what common animals are talking about, what the devas are talking about—how fantastic it is to be in heaven—you can hear it all, unless you don’t want to listen. Like a radio: If it’s turned on, you can hear it loud and clear. If it becomes a nuisance, you don’t have to keep it on. If you have this skill, you can turn it on to listen for the fun of it; if you don’t want to listen, you can turn it off in an instant. This is called clairaudience, one of the skills of concentration practice.

Another skill is cetopariya-ñana, the ability to read minds, to see if people are thinking good thoughts or bad, high, low, crude, evil: You can use this insight to know. This is called cetopariya-ñana, an important skill.

Then there’s pubbeniv›s›nussati-ñana, the ability to remember previous lives, and ›savakkhaya-ñana, the ability to clean out the mind, washing away all the ignorance, craving, and clinging inside it. You can keep ignorance from arising in the heart. You can keep craving from taking charge of the heart. You can make sure that there’s no clinging or attachment. When you can let go of your defilements—kama-jaho, when you’re not stuck on sensual objects or sensual desires; di˛˛hi-jaho, when you’re not stuck on views and opinions; avijja-jaho, when you don’t mistake ignorance for knowledge and can let it go without any attachment—when you don’t latch onto evil, when you don’t latch onto your own goodness, when you can spit out evil and goodness, without holding onto them as your own, letting them go in line with their nature: That’s called ›savakkhaya-ñana, the knowledge of the ending of the fermentations in the mind. 

This is the third noble truth: the truth of cessation, achieved through the practices that give rise to knowledge and skill. These are the skills that arise from meditation practice. They’re uparima-vijj›, higher learning in the area of the religion. When you’ve got them, you can be at your ease—at ease if you die, at ease if you don’t. You don’t have to build a rocket to go to Mars. You can live right here in the world, and nothing will be able to harm you. In other words, you know what things are dangerous, what things are harmful, and so you leave them alone and don’t touch them. This way you can live in safety and peace. The heart can stay blooming and bright like this at all times.

This is why we should be earnest and strict with ourselves in the practice, so that we can achieve the aims we all want. Here I’ve explained the eight 7 knowledges in brief. If I were to go into detail, there would be lots more to say. 

To boil it down: All these forms of knowledge come from stillness. If the mind isn’t still, they don’t arise. At best, if the mind isn’t still, you can gain knowledge only from listening, reading, or thinking things over. But the person who can stop thinking, stop pondering, and yet still be intelligent: That’s something really amazing, something that goes against the currents of the world. Normally, people in the world have to study and read, think and ponder, if they want to be intelligent. But with the Dhamma, you have to stop thinking, stop writing, stop memorizing, stop doing in order to gain the highest level of knowledge. This is something that goes against the currents of the world and that human beings find hard to do.

But when you become intent in the practice that gives rise to knowledge, you’ll succeed in line with your aspirations. Having talked on the theme of vijj›-cara˚a-sampanno, I’ll end right here.

Dhamma Note No.9

DEPENDENT ORIGINATION

Dependent on ignorance are habitual kamma formations; dependent on habitual kamma formations is consciousness; dependent on consciousness are mental objects (words, images, concepts/beliefs); dependent on mental objects (words, images, concepts/beliefs) are the six sense-bases; dependent on the six sense bases is contact; dependent on contact is feeling; dependent on feeling is desire; dependent on desire is grasping; dependent on grasping is becoming a self; dependent on becoming a self is birth; dependent on birth is old age, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, lamentation, pain and despair.

There is ignorance behind habit/kamma. There is habit/kamma behind views, beliefs, mental objects (sensory input), There is awareness behind each six sense base. There is contact behind feeling. There is feeling behind desire. There is desire behind grasping. There is grasping behind action. There is action behind birth. There is birth behind suffering and death.

Veil of Ignorance

Habit

Name and form

Consciousness

The 6 mind doors

Contact

Feeling

Desire

Grasping

Action

Birth

Destruction

Through the entire ceasing of this ignorance, habitual formations cease; through the ceasing of habitual formations consciousness ceases; through the ceasing of consciousness name-and form-cease; through the ceasing of name- and-form the six sense bases cease; through the ceasing of the six sense bases contact ceases; through the ceasing of contact feeling ceases; through the ceasing of feeling desire ceases; through the ceasing of desire grasping ceases; through the ceasing of grasping becoming ceases; through the ceasing of becoming birth ceases; through the ceasing of birth old age, sickness and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair come to cease. Thus is the ceasing of this whole mass of suffering.

MAGGA, THE PATH KNOWLEDGES

1. Analytical Knowledge of Body and Mind

Endowed with purification of mind and continuing the practice of noticing, the meditator now comes to know body-and-mind analytically as follows: "The rising (upward movement) of the abdomen is one process; the falling (downward movement) is another; sitting is another; touching is another," etc. In this way he comes to know how to distinguish each bodily process that he notices. Further he realizes: "The knowing of the rising movement is one process; the knowing of the falling movement is another." In that way he comes to know each mental act of noticing. Further he realizes: "The rising movement is one process; the knowing of it is another. The falling movement is one process; the knowing of it is another," and so on. In that way he comes to know how to distinguish each bodily and mental process. All that knowledge comes from simply noticing, not from reasoning; that is to say, it is knowledge by direct experience arrived at by the mere act of noticing, and not knowledge derived from ratiocination.

Thus, when seeing a visual object with the eye, the meditator knows how to distinguish each single factor involved: "The eye is one; the visual object is another; seeing is another, and knowing it is another." The same manner applies in the case of the other sense functions.

For at the time, in each act of noticing, the meditator comes to know analytically the mental processes of noticing, and those of thinking and reflecting, knowing them for himself through direct knowledge by his experience thus: "They have the nature of going towards an object, inclining towards an object, cognizing an object." On the other hand, he knows analytically the material processes going on in the whole body — which are here described as "the rising and falling movements of the abdomen," "sitting," etc., knowing them thus: "These have not the nature of going or inclining towards an object, or of cognizing an object." Such knowing is called "knowing matter (or the body) by its manifestation of non-determining." For it is said in the Mula-Tika, the "Principal Sub-commentary" to the Abhidhamma Vibhanga: "In other words, 'non-determining' (as in the passage quoted) should be understood as having no faculty of cognizing an object."

Such knowledge as this, which analyses in each act of noticing both the bodily process noticed and the mental process engaged in noticing, according to their true essential nature, is called "analytical knowledge of body and mind."

When that knowledge has come to maturity, the meditator understands thus: "At the moment of breathing in, there is just the rising movement of the abdomen and the knowing of the movement, but there is no self besides; at the moment of breathing out, there is just the falling movement of the abdomen and the knowing of the movement, but there is no self besides." Understanding it thus in these and other instances, he knows and sees for himself by noticing thus: "There is here only that pair: a material process as object, and a mental process of knowing it; and it is to that pair alone that the terms of conventional usage 'being,' 'person' or 'soul,' 'I' or 'another,' 'man' or 'woman' refer. But apart from that dual process there is no separate person or being, I or another, man or woman.” This is called purification of view.

Purification by Overcoming Doubt

1. Knowledge by Discerning Conditionality

When purification of view has come to maturity, the conditions necessary for the bodily and mental processes observed will also become evident. Firstly, the consciousness that is the condition of the (respective) bodily process will be evident. How? For instance, when bending the arms or legs, the consciousness intending to bend these limbs is evident. So the meditator first notices that consciousness, and next he notices the act of bending, and so on. Then he understands by direct experience: "When there is consciousness intending to bend a limb, the bodily process of bending arises; when there is consciousness intending to stretch a limb, the bodily process of stretching arises." And in the same way he understands other instances too by direct experience.

Again, he also understands by direct experience the condition for the mental process, in the following manner: "In the case of consciousness desirous of running off the track, there arises first a corresponding consciousness giving initial attention (to the distracting object). If that consciousness is not noticed (with mindfulness), then there arises a consciousness that runs off the track. But if the consciousness of initial attention to the distracting object is noticed and known, no stray thought will arise. It is similar in the case of other (types of consciousness, for instance when taking delight or being angry, greedy, etc.). When both the sense door of the eye and a visual object are present, there arises visual consciousness; otherwise visual consciousness will not arise; and so it is in the case of the other sense doors. If there is a noticeable or recognizable object, then there arises consciousness engaged in noticing or thinking or reasoning or understanding, as the case may be; otherwise no sense consciousness arises. Similarly he understands what occurs in every other instance (of mind-door cognition).

At that time, the meditator will generally experience many different painful feelings arising in his body. Now, while one of these feelings is being noticed (but without concern), another feeling will arise elsewhere; and while that is being noticed, again another will appear elsewhere. Thus the meditator follows each feeling as it arises and notices it. But though he is engaged in noticing these feelings as they arise, he will only perceive their initial phase of "arising" and not their final phase of "dissolution."

Also many mental images of various shapes will then appear. The shape of a dagoba, a monk, a man, a house, a tree, a park, a heavenly mansion, a cloud, and many other such images will appear. Here, too, while the meditator is still engaged in noticing one of these mental images, another will show itself; while still noticing that, yet another will appear. Following thus the mental images as they arise, he goes on noticing them. But though he is engaged in noticing them, he will perceive only their initial phase, not the final phase.

He now understands: "Consciousness arises in accordance with each object that becomes evident. If there is an object, there arises consciousness; if there is no object, no consciousness arises."

Between sequences of noticing he also, by considering inferentially, comes to know thus: "It is due to the presence of such causes and conditions as ignorance, craving, kamma, etc., that body-and-mind continue."

Such discernment through direct experience and through inference as described, when noticing body-and-mind with their conditions, is called "knowledge of discerning conditionality."

When that knowledge has come to maturity, the meditator perceives only body-and-mind processes occurring in strict accordance with their particular and appropriate conditions and he comes to the conclusion: "Here is only a conditioning body-and-mind process and a conditioned body-and-mind process. Apart from these, there is no person who performs the bending of the limbs, etc., or who experiences feelings of pain, etc."

This is called purification (of insight) by overcoming doubt.

3. Knowledge of Comprehension

When this "purification (of insight) by overcoming doubt" has reached maturity, the meditator will discern distinctly the initial, middle, and final phases of any object noticed by him. Then, in the case of various objects noticed, he will discern distinctly that only after each earlier process has ceased, does there arise a subsequent process. For instance, only when the rising movement of the abdomen has come to an end, does there arise the falling movement; only when that has ended, is there again a rising movement. So also in the case of walking: only when the lifting of the foot has come to an end, does there arise the carrying forward of the foot; only when that has been completed, does there follow the placing of the foot on the ground.

In the case of painful feelings, only after each single feeling occurring at its particular place has ceased, will another new feeling arise at another place. On noticing the respective painful feeling repeatedly, twice, thrice or more, the meditator will see that it gradually grows less, and at last ceases entirely.

In the case of the variously shaped images that enter the mind's field, it is only after each single image noticed has vanished, that another new object will come into the mind's focus. On noticing them attentively twice, thrice or more, he will see well that these mental objects which are being noticed move from one place to another, or they become gradually smaller and less distinct, until at last they disappear entirely. The meditator, however, does not perceive anything that is permanent and lasting, or free from destruction and disappearance.

Seeing how each object, even while being noticed, comes to destruction and disappearance, the meditator comprehends it as impermanent in the sense of undergoing destruction. He further comprehends it as suffering (painful) in the sense of breaking up after each arising. Having seen how various painful feelings arise in continuous succession — how if one painful feeling ceases, another arises, and when that has ceased, again another arises — having seen that, he comprehends the respective objects as just a conglomeration of suffering. Further, he comprehends the object as consisting of mere impersonal phenomena without a master, in the sense of not arising of (or by) themselves, but arising subject to conditions and then breaking up.

This comprehension of an object noticed, as being impermanent, painful, and without a self (impersonal), through knowing its nature of impermanence, etc., by means of simply noticing, without reflecting and reasoning, is called "knowledge by comprehension through direct experience."

Having thus seen the three characteristics once or several times by direct experience, the meditator, by inference from the direct experience of those objects noticed, comprehends all bodily and mental processes of the past, present, and future, and the whole world, by coming to the conclusion: "They, too, are in the same way impermanent, painful, and without a self." This is called "knowledge of comprehension by inference."

Alluding to this very knowledge, it is said in the Patisambhidamagga: "Whatever there is of materiality, past, present or future, internal or external, coarse or fine, inferior or superior, far or near, all materiality he defines as impermanent. That is one kind of comprehension," and so on.

Also in the Commentary to the Kathavatthu it is said: "Even if the impermanence of only a single formation (conditioned phenomenon) is known, there may be consideration of the rest by induction thus: 'All formations are impermanent.' "

The words "All formations are impermanent" refer to an understanding by induction, and not to an understanding by perceiving a (co-present) object at the same moment. (This passage is the authority for the usage of the term "inductive insight.")

Also in the Commentary to the Majjhima Nikaya {25} it is said: "Because in the case of the realm of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, the insight into the sequence of mental factors belongs to the Buddhas alone and not to the disciples, he (the Buddha) said thus thereby indicating the insight by groups." (This passage is the authority for the usage of the term "comprehension by groups.") {26}

1. Knowledge of Arising and Passing Away: 

The Ten Corruptions of Insight {27}

When the meditator, in the exercise of noticing, is able to keep exclusively to the present body-and-mind process, without looking back to past processes or ahead to future ones, then, as a result of insight, (the mental vision of) a brilliant light will appear to him. To one it will appear like the light of a lamp, to others like a flash of lightning, or like the radiance of the moon or the sun, and so on. With one it may last for just one moment, with others it may last longer.

There will also arise in him strong mindfulness pertaining to insight. As a result, all the successive arisings of bodily and mental processes will present themselves to the consciousness engaged in noticing, as if coming to it of themselves; and mindfulness too seems as if alighting on the processes of itself. Therefore the meditator then believes: "There is no body-and-mind process in which mindfulness fails to engage."

His knowledge consisting in insight, here called "noticing," will be likewise keen, strong, and lucid. Consequently, he will discern clearly and in separate forms all the bodily and mental processes noticed, as if cutting to pieces a bamboo sprout with a well-sharpened knife. Therefore the meditator then believes: "There is no body-and-mind process that cannot be noticed." When examining the characteristics of impermanence, etc., or other aspects of reality, he understands everything quite clearly and at once, and he believes it to be the knowledge derived from direct experience.

Further, strong faith pertaining to insight arises in him. Under its influence, the meditator's mind, when engaged in noticing or thinking, is serene and without any disturbance; and when he is engaged in recollecting the virtues of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, his mind quite easily gives itself over to them. There arise in him the wish to proclaim the Buddha's Teaching, joyous confidence in the virtues of those engaged in meditation, the desire to advise dear friends and relatives to practise meditation, grateful remembrance of the help received from his meditation master, his spiritual mentor, etc. These and many other similar mental processes will occur.

There arises also rapture in its five grades, beginning with minor rapture. {28} When purification of mind is gained, that rapture begins to appear by causing "goose-flesh," tremor in the limbs, etc.; and now it produces a sublime feeling of happiness and exhilaration, filling the whole body with an exceedingly sweet and subtle thrill. Under its influence, he feels as if the whole body had risen up and remained in the air without touching the ground, or as if it were seated on an air cushion, or as if it were floating up and down.

There arises tranquillity of mind with the characteristic of quietening the disturbances of consciousness and its mental concomitants; and along with it appear mental agility, etc. {29} When walking, standing, sitting, or reclining there is, under the influence of these mental qualities, no disturbance of consciousness and its mental concomitants, nor heaviness, rigidity, unwieldiness, sickness, or crookedness. {30} Rather, his consciousness and its mental concomitants are tranquil through having reached the supreme relief in non-action. {31} They are agile in always functioning swiftly; they are pliant in being able to attend to any object desired; they are wieldy, in being able to attend to an object for any length of time desired; they are quite lucid through their proficiency, that is, through the ease with which insight penetrates the object; they are also straight through being directed, inclined, and turned only towards wholesome activities.

There also arises a very sublime feeling of happiness suffusing all his body. Under its influence he becomes exceedingly joyous and he believes: "Now I am happy all the time," or "Now, indeed, I have found happiness never felt before," and he wants to tell others of his extraordinary experience. With reference to that rapture and happiness, which are aided by the factors of tranquillity, etc., it was said:

Superhuman is the bliss of a monk, who, with mind at peace,
Having entered a secluded place, wins insight into Dhamma.
When he fully comprehends the five groups' rise and fall,
He wins to rapture and to joy — the Deathless this, for those who understand.

Dhammapada vv. 373-374

There arises in him energy that is neither too lax nor too tense but is vigorous and acts evenly. For formerly his energy was sometimes lax, and so he was overpowered by sloth and torpor; hence he could not notice keenly and continuously the objects as they became evident, and his understanding, too, was not clear. And at other times his energy was too tense, and so he was overpowered by agitation, with the same result of being unable to notice keenly, etc. But now his energy is neither too lax nor too tense, but is vigorous and acts evenly; and so, overcoming these shortcomings of sloth, torpor, and agitation, he is able to notice the objects present keenly and continuously, and his understanding is quite clear, too.

There also arises in him strong equanimity associated with insight, which is neutral towards all formations. Under its influence he regards with neutrality even his examination of the nature of these formations with respect to their being impermanent, etc.; and he is able to notice keenly and continuously the bodily and mental processes arising at the time. Then his activity of noticing is carried on without effort, and proceeds, as it were, of itself. Also in adverting to the objects, there arises in him strong equanimity, by virtue of which his mind enters, as it were, quickly into the objects of advertence. {32}

There arises further a subtle attachment of a calm nature that enjoys the insight graced with the "brilliant light" and the other qualities here described. The meditator, however, is not able to discern it as a corruption but believes it to be just the very bliss of meditation. So meditators speak in praise of it thus: "Only now do I find full delight in meditation!"

Having felt such rapture and happiness accompanied by the "brilliant light" and enjoying the very act of perfect noticing, which is ably functioning with ease and rapidity, the meditator now believes: "Surely I must have attained to the supramundane path and fruition! {33} Now I have finished the task of meditation." This is mistaking what is not the path for the path, and it is a corruption of insight which usually takes place in the manner just described. But even if the meditator does not take the "brilliant light" and the other corruptions as an indication of the path and fruition, still he feels delight in them. This is likewise a corruption of insight. Therefore, the knowledge consisting in noticing, even if quick in its functioning, is called "the early stage of (or 'weak') knowledge of arising and passing away," if it is beset and corrupted by those corruptions. For the same reason the meditator is at that time not in a position to discern quite distinctly the arising and passing away of bodily and mental processes.

5. Purification by Knowledge and Vision, of What is Path and Not-path

While engaged in noticing, the meditator either by himself or through instructions from someone else, comes to this decision: "The brilliant light, and the other things experienced by me, are not the path. Delight in them is merely a corruption of insight. The practice of continuously noticing the object as it becomes evident — that alone is the way of insight. I must go on with just the work of noticing." This decision is called purification by knowledge and vision of what is path and not-path.

6. Purification by Knowledge and Vision of the Course of Practice

After noticing these manifestations of brilliant light and the others, or after leaving them unheeded, he goes on continuously as before with the act of noticing the bodily and mental processes as they become evident at the six sense doors. While thus engaged in noticing, he gets over the corruptions relating to brilliant light, rapture, tranquillity, happiness, attachment, etc., and his knowledge remains concerned exclusively with the arising and passing away of the processes noticed. For then, at each act of noticing, he sees: "The noticed object, having arisen, disappears instantly." It also becomes clear to him that each object disappears just where it arises; it does not move on to another place.

In that way he understands by direct experience how bodily and mental processes arise and break up from moment to moment. It is such knowledge and understanding resulting from the continuous noticing of bodily and mental processes as they arise and dissolve moment after moment, and the discernment, in separate sections, of the arising and passing away of each of them, while being free from the corruptions, that is called "final knowledge of contemplation of arising and passing away." This is the beginning of "purification by knowledge and vision of the course of practice," which starts from this insight and extends to adaptation knowledge (No.13).

7. Knowledge of Dissolution

Noticing the bodily and mental processes as they arise, he sees them part by part, link by link, piece by piece, fraction by fraction: "Just now it arises, just now it dissolves." When that knowledge of arising and passing away becomes mature, keen and strong, it will arise easily and proceed uninterruptedly as if borne onward of itself; also the bodily and mental processes will be easily discernible. When keen knowledge thus carries on and formations are easily discernible, then neither the arising of each bodily and mental process, nor its middle phase called "presence," nor the continuity of bodily and mental processes called "occurrence as unbroken flux" is apparent to him; nor are the shape of the hand, the foot, the face, the body, and so on, apparent to him. But what is apparent to him is only the ceasing of bodily and mental processes, called "vanishing," or "passing away," or "dissolution."

For instance, while noticing the rising movement of the abdomen, neither its initial nor middle phase is apparent, but only the ceasing or vanishing, which is called the final phase, is apparent; and so it is also with the falling movement of the abdomen. Again, in the case of bending an arm or leg, while noticing the act of bending, neither the initial nor the middle phase of bending is apparent, nor is the form of the limb apparent, but only the final phase of ceasing and vanishing is apparent. It is similar in the other cases of stretching a limb, and so on.

For at that time each object that is being noticed seems to him to be entirely absent or to have become non-existent. Consequently, at this stage of knowledge, it seems to him as if he were engaged in noticing something which has already become absent or non-existent by having vanished; and the consciousness engaged in noticing appears to have lost contact with the object that is being noticed. It is for that reason that a meditator may here think: "I have lost the insight"; but he should not think so.

For formerly his consciousness normally took delight in conceptual objects of shapes, etc.; {34} and even up to the knowledge of arising and passing away, the idea of formations with their specific features {35} was always apparent to him. Hence his mind took delight in a plainly distinguishable object consisting of formations, with its particular structure {36} and its particular feature-idea. But now that his knowledge has developed in the way described, no such idea of the formations' features or structure appears to him, still less any other, cruder concept. At such a stage, the arising of formations, that is, the first phase of the process, is not apparent (as it is in the case of knowledge of arising and passing away), but there is apparent only the dissolution, that is, the final phase, having the nature of vanishing. Therefore the meditator's mind does not take delight in it at first, but he may be sure that soon, after becoming familiar (with that stage of the practice), his mind will delight in the cessation (of the phenomena) too, which is called their dissolution. With this assurance he should again turn to the practice of continuous noticing.

When thus engaged, he perceives that in each act of noticing there are always present two factors, an objective factor and a subjective one — the object noticed and the mental state of knowing it — which dissolve and vanish by pairs, one pair after the other. For in each single instance of a rising movement of the abdomen, there are, in fact, numerous physical processes constituting the rising movement, which are seen to dissolve serially. It is like seeing the continuous successive vanishing of a summer mirage moment by moment; or it is like the quick and continuous bursting of bubbles produced in a heavy shower by thick rain drops falling on a water surface; or it is like the quick, successive extinction of oil-lamps or candles, blown out by the wind, as these lights are being offered at a shrine by devotees. Similar to that appears the dissolving and vanishing, moment by moment, of the bodily processes noticed. And the dissolution of consciousness noticing those bodily processes is apparent to him along with the dissolution of the bodily processes. Also while he is noticing other bodily and mental processes, their dissolution, too, will be apparent to him in the same manner. Consequently, the knowledge will come to him that whatever part of the whole body is noticed, that object ceases first, and after it the consciousness engaged in noticing that object follows in its wake. From that the meditator will understand very clearly in the case of each successive pair the dissolution of any object whatsoever and the dissolution of the consciousness noticing that very object. (It should be borne in mind that this refers only to understanding arrived at through direct experience by one engaged in noticing only; it is not an opinion derived from mere reasoning.)

It is the perfectly clear understanding of the dissolution of the two things, pair by pair — that is, (1) of the visual or other object appearing at any of the six sense doors, and (2) of the consciousness noticing that very object — that is called "knowledge of dissolution."

8. Awareness of Fearfulness

When that knowledge of dissolution is mature, there will gradually arise, just by seeing the dissolution of all object-and-subject-formations, awareness of fearfulness {37} and other (higher) knowledges, together with their respective aspects of fear, and so on. {38}

Having seen how the dissolution of two things — that is, any object noticed and the insight-thought engaged in noticing it — takes place moment by moment, the meditator also understands by inference that in the past, too, every conditioned thing (formation) has broken up in the same way, that just so it will break up also in the future, and that at the present it breaks up, too. And just at the time of noticing any formations that are evident, these formations will appear to him in their aspect of fearfulness. Therefore, during the very act of noticing, the meditator will also come to understand: "These formations are indeed fearful."

Such understanding of their fearfulness is called "knowledge of the awareness of fearfulness"; it has also the name "knowledge of fear." At that time, his mind itself is gripped by fear and seems helpless.

9. Knowledge of Misery

When he has realised the fearfulness (of the formations) through the knowledge of fear, and keeps on noticing continuously, then the "knowledge of misery" will arise in him before long. When it has arisen, all formations everywhere — whether among the objects noticed, or among the states of consciousness engaged in noticing, or in any kind of life or existence that is brought to mind — will appear insipid, without a vitalizing factor, {39} and unsatisfying. So he sees, at that time, only suffering, only unsatisfactoriness, only misery. Therefore this state is called "knowledge of misery."

10. Knowledge of Disgust

Seeing thus the misery in conditioned things (formations), his mind finds no delight in those miserable things but is entirely disgusted with them. At times, his mind becomes, as it were, discontented and listless. Even so he does not give up the practice of insight, but spends his time continuously engaging in it. He therefore should know that this state of mind is not dissatisfaction with meditation, but is precisely the "knowledge of disgust" that has the aspect of being disgusted with the formations. Even if he directs his thought to the happiest sort of life and existence, or to the most pleasant and desirable objects, his mind will not take delight in them, will find no satisfaction in them. On the contrary, his mind will incline and lean and tend only towards Nibbāna. Therefore the following thought will arise in him between moments of noticing: "The ceasing of all formations that are dissolving from moment to moment — that alone is happiness."

11. Knowledge of Desire for Deliverance

When through this knowledge (now acquired) he feels disgust with regard to every formation noticed, there will arise in him a desire to forsake these formations or to become delivered from them. The knowledge relating to that desire is called "knowledge of desire for deliverance." At that time, usually various painful feelings arise in his body, and also an unwillingness to remain long in one particular bodily posture. Even if these states do not arise, the comfortless nature of the formations will become more evident than ever. And due to that, between moments of noticing, he feels a longing thus: "Oh, may I soon get free from that! Oh, may I reach the state where these formations cease! Oh, may I be able to give up these formations completely!" At this juncture, his consciousness engaged in noticing seems to shrink from the object noticed at each moment of noticing, and wishes to escape from it.

12. Knowledge of Re-observation

Being thus desirous of escaping from the formations, the meditator makes stronger effort and continues the practice of noticing these very formations with the single purpose of forsaking them and escaping from them. For that reason, the knowledge arising at that time is called "knowledge of re-observation." The term "re-observation" has the same meaning as "re-noticing" or "re-contemplation." Then the nature (or characteristics) of the formations — their being impermanent, suffering, and without a self — will be clearly evident to him; and among these three, the aspect of suffering will be particularly distinct.

At this stage, too, there will usually arise in his body various kinds of pains which are severe, sharp, and of growing intensity. Hence his whole bodily and mental system will seem to him like an unbearable mass of sickness or a conglomeration of suffering. And a state of restlessness will usually manifest itself, making him incapable of keeping to one particular posture for any length of time. For then he will not be able to hold any one position long, but will soon want to change it. This state, however, simply manifests the unbearable nature of the formations. Though he wants to change his bodily posture, still he should not give in easily to that wish, but should endeavour to remain motionless for a longer period in the same posture and continue to carry on the practice of noticing. By doing so he will be able to overcome his restlessness.

Now his insight knowledge is quite strong and lucid, and by virtue of it even his painful feelings will at once cease as soon as they are firmly noticed. Even if a painful feeling does not cease completely, he will perceive that it is dissolving, part by part, from moment to moment. That is to say, the ceasing, vanishing, and disappearing of each single moment of feeling will become apparent separately in each corresponding act of noticing. In other words, now it will not be as it was at the time of the knowledge of comprehension, when the constant flow or continuity of feelings of the same kind was apparent as a single unit. But if, without abandoning the practice, that feeling of pain is firmly and continuously noticed, it will entirely cease before long. When it ceases in that way, it does so for good and will not arise again. Though in that way the insight knowledge may have become strong and perfectly lucid, still he is not satisfied with that much. He will even think: "My insight knowledge is not clear." He should, however, dismiss such thoughts by applying the act of noticing to them, and he should go on with his task of continuously noticing the bodily and mental formations as they occur.

If he perseveres thus, his noticing will become more and more clear as the time passes in minutes, hours, and days. Then he will overcome the painful feelings and the restlessness in being unable to remain long in one particular posture, and also the idea that his insight knowledge is not yet clear enough. His noticing will then function rapidly, and at every moment of noticing he will understand quite clearly any of the three characteristics of impermanence, etc.

This understanding of any of the three characteristics of impermanence, etc., through the act of noticing which functions with promptness in quick succession, is called "strong knowledge of re-observation."

13. Knowledge of Equanimity about Formations

When this knowledge of re-observation is mature, there will arise knowledge perceiving evident bodily and mental processes in continuous succession quite naturally, as if borne onward of itself. This is called "knowledge of equanimity about formations."

Now, in the act of noticing, effort is no longer required to keep formations before the mind or to understand them. After the completion of each single act of noticing, the object to be noticed will then appear of itself, and insight knowledge, too, will of itself notice and understand it. It is as if no further effort need be made by the meditator. Formerly, owing to seeing the dissolution of formations, there arose, in successive order, the aspect of fearfulness, the perception of misery, the aspect of disgust, the desire for deliverance, and dissatisfaction with the knowledge so far acquired. But now these mental states no longer arise even though, in the present state too, the breaking up of formations which are dissolving more rapidly is closely perceived. Even if a painful feeling arises in the body, no mental disturbance (grief) arises, and there is no lack of fortitude in bearing it. Generally, however, at this stage, pains will be entirely absent, that is, they do not arise at all. Even if the meditator thinks about something fearful or sad, no mental disturbance will arise, be it in the form of fear or of sorrow. This, firstly, is "the abandoning of fear" at the stage of "equanimity about formations."

At the earlier stage, on attaining knowledge of arising and passing away, great joy had arisen on account of the clarity of insight. But now this kind of joy does not arise, even though there is present the exceedingly peaceful and sublime clarity of mind belonging to "equanimity about formations." Though he actually sees desirable objects conducive to joy, or though he thinks about various enjoyable things, no strong feeling of joy will arise. This is "the abandoning of delight" at the stage of "equanimity about formations."

He cherishes no desire nor hate with regard to any object, desirable or undesirable, that comes into the range of his sense doors, but taking them as just the same in his act of noticing, he understands them (that is to say, it is a pure act of understanding). This is "equable vision" at the stage of "equanimity about formations."

Of these three qualities just mentioned, it is said in the Path of Purification: "Having discarded fear and delight, he is impartial and neutral towards all formations" (Visuddhimagga, xxi,62).

If he resumes the practice of noticing with the thought: "Now I will do it vigorously again!" then, before long, the noticing will function efficiently as if borne onward of itself. From now onwards there is no need for the meditator to make further (deliberate) effort. Though he does not make a (deliberate) effort, his noticing will proceed in a continuous and steady flow for a long time; it will go on even for two or three hours without interruption. This is "the state of long-lasting (practice)" of equanimity about formations. Referring to this it is said in the Patisambhidamagga: " 'The wisdom lasting long' is the knowledge present in the mental states of equanimity about formations." The Great Commentary to the Path of Purification explains as follows: "This is said with reference to knowledge functioning in a continuous flow."

Now when noticing functions spontaneously as if borne onward of itself, the mind, even if sent out towards a variety of objects, generally refuses to go; and even if it does go, it will not stay long but will soon return to the usual object to be noticed, and will resume continuous noticing. In this connection it was said: "He shrinks, recoils, and retreats; he does not go forth to it."

14. Insight Leading to Emergence

So, through knowledge of equanimity about formations, which is endowed with many virtues, blessings, and powers, he notices the formations as they occur. When this knowledge is mature, having become keen, strong, and lucid, on reaching its culmination point, it will understand any of the formations as being impermanent or painful or without self, just by seeing their dissolution. Now that act of noticing any one characteristic out of the three, which is still more lucid in its perfect understanding, manifests itself two or three times or more in rapid succession. This is called "insight leading to emergence." {40}

Thereupon, immediately after the last consciousness in the series of acts of noticing belonging to this insight leading to emergence, the meditator's consciousness leaps forth into Nibbāna, which is the cessation of all formations, taking it as its object. Then there appears to him the stilling (subsidence) of all formations called cessation.

This mode of realisation of Nibbāna has been mentioned in many discourses of the Master, for example: "The vision of truth arose: whatsoever has the nature of arising is bound to cease." Herein the words "bound to cease" indicate the aspect of realising the stilling and ceasing of all formations which have the nature of arising.

Also in the Questions of King Milinda it is said: "His consciousness, while carrying on the practice of bringing to mind (i.e. noticing), passes beyond the continuous occurrence of phenomena and alights upon non-occurrence. One who, having practised in the correct manner, has alighted upon non-occurrence, O king, is said to have realised Nibbāna."

The meaning is this: the meditator who wishes to realise Nibbāna should repeatedly bring to mind, through the practice of noticing, every bodily and mental process that appears at any of the six sense doors. When he brings them to mind thus, his consciousness engaged in noticing — here called "bringing to mind" — will, until adaptation knowledge is reached, fall at every moment upon the (conditioned) bodily and mental formations called here "continuous occurrence," because they go on occurring over and over again in an unbroken flow, like a river's current. But in the last phase, instead of falling upon that continuous occurrence, consciousness passes beyond it and alights upon "non-occurrence," which is the very opposite of the bodily and mental formations called here "occurrence." In other words, it arrives at non-occurrence, that is to say, it reaches, as if it "alights upon," cessation, which is the stilling of the formations (or conditioned phenomena). When the meditator, having already before practiced correctly and without deviation by way of the knowledge of arising and passing away and the other knowledges (or by way of the purification of conduct, of mind, of view, etc.), has in this manner arrived at non-occurrence (by the consciousness alighting upon it), he is said to have "realised Nibbāna." He is called one who has made Nibbāna a direct experience and has actually seen it.

15. Knowledge of Adaptation

Here the knowledge by way of noticing that occurs last in the series constituting insight leading to emergence, is called "knowledge of adaptation." {41}

This is the end of the purification by knowledge and vision of the course of practice.

16. Maturity Knowledge

Immediately afterwards, a type of knowledge manifests itself that, as it were, falls for the first time into Nibbāna, which is void of formations (conditioned phenomena) since it is the cessation of them. This knowledge is called "maturity knowledge." {42}

1. Purification by Knowledge and Vision

1. Path Knowledge

It is followed immediately by knowledge that abides in that same Nibbāna, which is void of formations since it is the cessation of them. This is called "path knowledge." {43} It is also called "purification by knowledge and vision."

1. Fruition Knowledge

That again is immediately followed by knowledge that belongs to the final stage and continues in the course of its predecessor. It abides in that same Nibbāna, which is void of formations since it is the cessation of them. This is called "fruition knowledge."

1. Knowledge of Reviewing

The duration of that threefold knowledge of maturity, path, and fruition is, however, not long. It is very short, and lasts for just an instant, like the duration of a single thought of noticing. Subsequently there arises "knowledge of reviewing." Through that knowledge of reviewing the meditator discerns that the insight leading to emergence came along with the very rapid function of noticing, and that immediately after the last phase of noticing, the path consciousness entered into the cessation (of formations). This is "knowledge reviewing the path."

He also discerns that the consciousness abided in that same state of cessation during the intervening period between the path and reviewing. This is "knowledge reviewing fruition."

He further discerns that the object just experienced is void of all formations. This is "knowledge reviewing Nibbāna."

In this connection it is said in the Path of Purification: " ‘By that path, indeed, I have come’; thus he reviews the path. ‘That blessing was obtained’; thus he reviews the fruition. 'That state has been penetrated as an object by me'; {44} thus he reviews the Deathless, Nibbāna" (Visuddhimagga, xxii, 20).

Some meditators, but not all, have "reviewing of defilements." {45}

After having reviewed in this way, the meditator still continues the practice of noticing bodily and mental processes as they become evident. But while he is thus engaged in noticing, the bodily and mental processes appear to him quite coarse, not subtle as before at the time of the knowledge of equanimity about formations. Why is this so? This is so because the knowledge present now has the nature of the knowledge of arising and passing away. For when the noble disciples (namely, stream-winners, etc.) resume the practice of insight (by noticing), the knowledge of arising and passing away usually arises at the beginning. This is the usual course of order in this respect.

However, when some meditators emerge from the attainment of path and fruition, great faith, happiness, rapture, and tranquillity, produced by virtue of the attainment, arise flooding the whole body. Owing to that, they are unable to carry out the practice of noticing anything apparent at that time. Even if they make double effort and attempt to proceed with the practice of insight, they fail to discern the phenomena clearly and separately, at the moment of their occurrence. They continue to experience only rapture, tranquillity, and happiness, which occur with great force. This state of mind, which is extraordinarily serene through the strong faith prevailing, lasts for one hour, two hours, or more, without break. Because of this, meditators feel as if they were in some such place as a wide open space suffused with radiance and most delightful. The rapture and happiness, of a serene character, that then arise are praised by meditators thus: "Surely, I have never before felt and experienced such happiness!" after two or three hours have passed, that faith, happiness, rapture, and tranquillity will fade. The meditators can once again proceed with noticing the bodily and mental processes as they occur, distinguishing them separately, and they will be able to discern them clearly. But at that time, too, first the knowledge of arising and passing away will appear.

1. Attainment of Fruition

While he is thus engaged in noticing, his insight knowledge will gradually grow, and soon will again reach the stage of equanimity about formations. If his power of concentration is still short of perfection, only the equanimity about formations will go on repeating itself. But if his concentration has reached perfection, then, in the case of one who does the insight practice of noticing with a view of attaining only to the first path and fruition, the fruition consciousness of the first path alone reaches cessation of formations by way of the attainment of fruition. {46} This occurs in precisely the same way as the path and fruition consciousness that occurred earlier in the consciousness-sequence belonging to the initial attainment of the first path. The only difference here is the capacity of the fruition attainment to last long.

One should also set one's mind resolutely upon the further tasks: to be able to repeat the achievement of fruition attainment, to achieve it rapidly, and, at the time of achievement, to abide in it a long time, say for six, ten, fifteen or thirty minutes, or for an hour or more.

In one who applies himself to achieving the attainment of fruition, knowledge of arising and passing away will arise at the beginning. Advancing from there in the due sequence, soon the knowledge of equanimity about formations is reached. But when skill in the practice has been acquired, the knowledge of equanimity about formations will arise quickly even after four or five acts of noticing. If the power of concentration has reached perfection, the fruition consciousness will repeatedly become absorbed in cessation by way of fruition attainment. The mind can thus reach absorption even while one is walking up and down, or while taking a meal, and the fruition attainment can remain for any length of time resolved upon. During the fruition attainment, the mind will abide only in the cessation of formations and will not be aware of anything else.

1. The Higher Paths and Fruitions

When the meditator has thus become skilled in achieving the fruition attainment, he should resolutely set his mind upon the task of attaining to the higher paths and fruitions. What should now be done by one who has set himself that task? Just as before, he should carry out the practice of noticing (anything occurring) at the six sense doors.

Hence, the meditator should notice any bodily and mental process that becomes evident to him at the six sense doors. While he is thus engaged, he will see, at the stage of knowledge of arising and passing away, that the first objects consisting of formations appear to him rather coarse, and that his mind is not well concentrated. The development of insight belonging to the higher paths is, in fact, not as easy as that of insight belonging to the fruition attainment already achieved by the meditator. It is in fact somewhat difficult, due to the fact that insight has to be developed anew. It is, however, not so very difficult as it was at the first time when beginning the practice. In a single day, or even in a single hour, he can gain the knowledge of equanimity about formations. This statement is made here, basing it on the experience usually gained by persons of the present day who had to be given guidance from the start and who did not possess particularly strong intelligence. Here it is applied, by inference, to similar types of persons in general.

But although equanimity about formations has been attained, if the spiritual faculties {47} have not yet reached full maturity, it just goes on repeating itself. Though he who has won (one of the lower) fruitions may be able to enter into it several times within one hour, yet if his spiritual faculties are immature, he cannot attain the next higher path within as much as one day, two, three, or more days. He abides merely in equanimity about formations. If, however, he then directs his mind to reach the fruition already attained, he will reach it perhaps in two or three minutes.

When, however, the spiritual faculties are mature, one who carries out the practice of insight for attaining to a higher path will find that immediately after equanimity about formations has reached its culmination, the higher path and fruition arise in the same way as before (i.e. as at the time of the first path and fruition), that is to say, it is preceded by the stages of adaptation and maturity. After the fruition, the stages of reviewing, etc., that follow are also the same as before.

Anything else concerning the method of practice for insight and the progress of knowledge right up to Arahantship can be understood in precisely the same way as described. Hence there is no need to elaborate it any further.