(EA04)-01-The-importance-of-5-Aggregates-of-Attachment

Tonight's talk and the next three nights will be on the five aggregates and I will read certain suttas from the Samyutta Nikaya concerning the five aggregates of attachment and then try to explain it. These five aggregates of attachment is one of the very important topics in the Dharma Because probably the most important topic in the Dharma is the four Aryan truths, the four noble truths. And inside the four noble truths, the first truth about suffering, the definition of suffering or dukkha is given as follows. Being born is dukkha. Aging is dukkha. Dying is Dukkha. Sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair are Dukkha. Association with the disliked is Dukkha. Separation from the liked is Dukkha. Not getting what one wants is Dukkha. In brief, the five aggregates of attachment are Dukkha. So in this definition of Dukkha, suffering or unsatisfactoriness of life. It is mentioned that briefly, the five aggregates of attachment are dukkha. So if you want to understand dukkha, you should understand the five aggregates of attachment. And so understanding that we can reduce or eliminate our dukkha.

(EA04)-02-What-is-Panca-Upadana-Khandha

What is this five aggregates of attachment? Pali word for it is panca, upadana, kanda. Consists of three words. Panca, as some of you would know, is five. Upadana is attachment. Kanda can be translated as aggregates. So Panca Upadana Kanda can be translated as the five aggregates of attachment. And the key word here is attachment. Attachment, because of attachment to the five aggregates, suffering arises. And why does attachment come about? Because we have a perception of a self, an I, and a mind in the five aggregates. And these five aggregates are, first one is body, second one is feeling, third one is perception, fourth is volition, the fifth is consciousness. The last four can be grouped together as mind, M-I-N-D. and the first one is body so this basically the five aggregates are body and mind it is not nama rupa that is body and mind it is the five aggregates that are body and mind later as we read the sutras we will understand that nama rupa is slightly different so because of a perception of a eye and mind in the five aggregates attachment comes about and with attachment suffering comes about for example if you hear either in the papers or from your neighbor that somebody's son was killed in an accident you'd probably not grieve because that person you don't consider to be yours or anything to do with your possession but if someone came and told you just now when your son came back from a school he was knocked down by a car and he died What would happen? You would be immediately struck by this news and you probably burst into tears and cry very loudly, perhaps grieve unbearably and perhaps for a fairly long time. On the other hand, as I mentioned just now, If you read in the papers, for example, during the Kongsi Raya festival, a whole family got killed in a car accident. To you, that is just news. You are not much affected by it. But if your own son is killed, then you suffer quite unbearably. And this is because of attachment, the perception of an eye and a mind. Similarly, You know, this period is a period where there's an economic recession. So, in the next few months, you are likely to read news about people going bankrupt. But if you read news about people going bankrupt, it would not affect you very much, because it is somebody else getting bankrupt. But if your own business went bankrupt, then you might grieve, and as happened to some people, they might even commit suicide. So, the problem here is attachment, and which comes from a perception of an I and a mind. And this mind can extend from my family, my property, to those of my same race, to those of my same religion, to those of my same country, my countrymen. And this leads to quarrels, fights, and even wars. So because of that, we have to understand why is it that the five khandhas, the five aggregates, body and mind basically, gives you a perception of an I and a mind. And the suttas, the discourses of the Buddha are basically to help us to see that there is no I and mine in these five aggregates. And if we can see that there is no I and mine in the five aggregates, then slowly we let go of our attachment to the five aggregates. Now, how is it that we have a perception of I and the mind and the self in the five aggregates. The first one is the body. We all know you have a body. Every one of us has a body. And if our body is short, you say, I am short. If the body is beautiful, you say, I am beautiful. If the body is sick, you say, I am sick. So you can see how easily we associate the body with the self. The second one is feeling. When happy feeling arises, you say, I am happy. When angry feeling arises, you say, I am angry. And when sorrowful feelings arise, you say, I suffer. I grieve. So, again, we easily associate feelings with the self. And the third one is perception. Perception means you have a certain perception or conception of something. In the sutras, the Buddha mentioned, like the colors, you have a perception that this is yellow. And you have a perception of some other colors. But somebody else might not perceive This to be yellow, they might have a different opinion from you. Especially, for example, if somebody wears dark glasses, and you ask him what color it is, he might swear this is a certain color. But when he removes the dark glasses, then he realizes it's a different color. So perceptions are not very reliable. For example, you perceive that a certain man is very handsome. somebody else might not perceive that that man is handsome. Similarly, you perceive that some lady is beautiful, but she might not be beautiful to someone else. Or you perceive that somebody is a very nice person, but he might not appear nice to his enemy. So, perceptions are also As we said, not reliable. And the fourth is volition. Volition because of the nature of our thought process. When a consciousness arises, for example, you see a person in front of you, and that seeing consciousness gives rise to a feeling, a feeling that this is a nice, feeling you get now for example because that sight that you see is a beautiful sight it's a beautiful girl or handsome man and then after that perception arises and then after that you perceive that this person is very appealing the looks are very appealing then the volition arises you might decide there is a decision in the mind that you like to speak to this person. So that decision in the mind that arises, that volition, you perceive also to be yourself making that decision. I want to talk to her. So you can see also how easily we associate. volition with the self. And lastly, consciousness. Consciousness meaning seeing consciousness, hearing consciousness, smelling consciousness, tasting, touch and thinking consciousness. And if the sound comes to your ear, and you have a good ear, the hearing consciousness arises. And when you pay attention to it, you note the sound. So Straight away, you have this perception, or this, once you have that consciousness of that hearing, you feel that I here, that I arises with the normal consciousness. So these are the ways in which we associate the five aggregates with the I and a mind, or a self. Now I'll go into some of the suttas and read some of the suttas because it explains more clearly the Buddha's teachings. I feel it is very important always that we refer to the suttas because the words of the Buddha are always better than any one of us. However well we try to explain the Buddha's teachings, we can never explain them as well as the Buddha. So first we have to rely on the Buddha's words. And only when certain points are not so clear, then we try to clarify the points. That's why I feel it is always best to teach from the suttas. The first sutta I'd like to explained is from the Sankhyuta Nikaya, Sutta number 22.79. Now all these, most of the suttas and the five khandhas are found in the third volume of the Sankhyuta Nikaya. And in the third volume of the Sankhyuta Nikaya, the first chapter is a chapter number 22. the 22nd Samyutta and it deals with the five aggregates. In fact, the two most important Nikayas out of the four original Nikayas are the Samyutta Nikaya and the Anguttara Nikaya because there you have most of the discourses of the Buddha. The Samyutta Nikaya amounts to about 2,000, slightly over 2,000 discourses and the Anguttara Nikaya also amounts to over 2,000 discourses.

(EA04)-03-Samyutta-Nikaya_Sutta-22

Now in Sankirtanikaya 22.79, the Buddha said, whatsoever recluses of Brahmins, monks, remember their diverse former lives, in so doing, all of them remember the five aggregates of attachment, or one or other of these five aggregates. He says, Of such and such a body was I in time past, says one. And so remembering, it is body amongst that he thus remembers. I felt thus and thus, says he. And in so remembering, it is feeling that he thus remembers. Thus and thus I perceived, says he. And in so remembering, it is perception that he thus remembers. Thus and thus in conditioning was I. says he, and in thus remembering, it is the conditioners that he thus remembers. Thus and thus conscious was I, says he, and in so remembering, it is consciousness that he remembers. I'll stop here for a moment. So here the Buddha is saying that whenever we refer to ourselves in a past life, we always refer to the five aggregates because we always associate these five aggregates with yourself, with ourself. The fourth one here is conditioning. It is the conditioners that he remembers because the Pali word is sankara and sankara in the sutras can be translated as conditioners. Sometimes some people use the word conditioned things. But there is another word for conditioned things and that is sankata. Sankata. And sankara is slightly different. Sankara is that which conditions something else. All things in the world depend on conditions. They arise and pass away according to conditions. So for example, A might arise due to certain conditioners it arises, and after it has arisen, it causes B, for example, to arise later, or simultaneously. So A is the conditioner of B, and B is the condition. But then, B, even though it is the condition, later it conditions something else, say C. So, B becomes the conditioner of C, and later C becomes a conditioner of something else. So, in a way, things in the world are conditioners as well as conditioned. But, from the suttas, we see that the word conditioner is more is better translated as, the Sankara is better translated as conditioner. And later we can see, as far as the five aggregates are concerned, the Sankara is a definite form of conditioner and that is volition. And that we can see in the sutra later. And the Buddha continues, and why monks do you say body? One is affected monks, that is why body is used. Affected by what? Affected by touch of cold and heat, of hunger and thirst, of gnats, mosquitoes, wind and sun, and snakes. One is affected monks, that is why you say body. I'll just stop here for a moment. This one, affected, is related to the word body which is rupa and affected meaning rupati so because the word affected is rupati so the word rupa comes from the fact that body is affected by conditions and the Buddha continues and why monks do you say feeling one feels monks that is why feeling is used feels what feels pleasure and pain, feels neutral feelings. One feels monks, that is why the word feeling is used. And why monks do you say perception? One perceives monks, that is why the word perception is used. Perceives what? Perceives blue, green, perceives yellow or red or white. One perceives monks, that is why the word perception is used. And why monks do you say conditioner, sankara? They condition the conditioned. That monks is why they are called the conditioners. And what is the condition that they condition? Body as body is the condition that they condition. Feeling as feeling is the condition that they condition. Perception as perception is the condition that they condition. Conditioner as conditioner. is the condition that they condition. That is why the word conditioner, sankara, is used. And why monks do you say consciousness? One is conscious or one cognizes monks, therefore the word consciousness is used. Conscious of what? of flavors, sour or bitter, acrid or sweet, alkaline or non-alkaline, saline or non-saline. One is conscious monks, that is why the word consciousness is used. I think this is fairly self-evident, so I don't think I'll explain.

(EA04)-04-Samyutta-Nikaya_Sutta-22

The next sutra is Sankirtanikaya 22.122. Once the Venerable Sariputta and the Venerable Mahakotita were staying at Benares in Isipatana, in the Deer Park. Then the Venerable Mahakotita, rising in the evening from his solitude, came to the Venerable Sariputta and thus addressed him. I'll just stop here for a moment. We find in the sutras that the daily life of the monks during the Buddha's time was that they go for alms round in the morning. They go and gather their food. And then coming back from alms round, they eat the food either in the monastery or they go into the forest to eat their food. And after eating their food, they'll take some rest. and then the rest of the day they sit in meditation. Later when the sun set, they would come together, they would come to the most senior monk and discuss Dhamma. Discussion of Dhamma was very important during the Buddha's time. Now whether the monks were already arahants or they were not yet arahants, still they come together to discuss the Dhamma. So here the Venerable Mahapatita came to see the Venerable Sariputta. and addressed him. Avuso Sariputta. Avuso is sometimes translated as reverend or friend. What are the conditions, dhamma, that should be thoroughly pondered by a virtuous monk? And the Venerable Sariputta answered, the five aggregates of attachment, friend, kotita are the conditions which should be thoroughly pondered by a virtuous monk as being impermanent, as suffering, as a disease, as a tumor, as a dart, as a calamity, as an affliction, as alien, as disintegrating, as empty, as not-self. What five aggregates the aggregate of body, feeling, perception, volition, consciousness. By a virtuous monk, Friend Kothita, these five aggregates of attachment should be thoroughly pondered. Indeed, friend, it is possible for a virtuous monk so thoroughly pondering these five aggregates of attachment to realize the fruits of stream winning. I just stop here for a moment. So, here, Venerable Sariputta is saying that ordinary monk, a Putujana monk, if he contemplates the five aggregates of attachment, it is possible for him to realize Sotapanna, stream winning. Now, the Venerable Sariputta said, that a monk should contemplate the five aggregates with these following characteristics, this is quite important here, as being impermanent, as suffering, as a disease, as a tumour, as a dart, as a calamity, an affliction, as alien, as disintegrating, as empty, as not-self. The first one, impermanent. I think you all can know the impermanent nature of the body, of feelings, perception, volition, consciousness. As suffering. As suffering because if we attach to them, they give us suffering. For example, the body. The body, because of its impermanent nature, will grow old. And when the body grows old, some people don't like to grow old. And then they lament over the fact that they are growing old. And if they are attached to their body, then they would suffer. They are unhappy, they are growing older and older, looking uglier and uglier. And also, worse still, if the body one day were to die, either their own body or, for example, their child's body were to die, then if they attach to it, then it gives them suffering. So it's a source of suffering as a disease, because it is liable to sickness, this kind of disease. And also, if you have too much attachment, for example, to feelings, if you want to have pleasant feelings, and you're too attached to pleasant feelings, then it is a kind of sickness. For example, like sensual desire. Sensual desire arises because of the pleasure that arises from body. So, if you are too much attached to sensual desire, then it is a kind of disease where you try to satisfy this desire and you go to quite out of your way to try to satisfy this desire then it becomes a sickness a disease as a tumor tumor or cancer We don't need a doctor to tell us that we have cancer. All of us have cancer. Because anytime we can die, we have a very limited lifespan. On the average, we live up to 70. So, since the body is going to die, and we don't even know when it is going to die, it is as though we have cancer as a dart. It's a dart, it's like an arrow that pokes you. The five aggregates, our body and our mind, gives us suffering. The body gives you bodily suffering. The mind gives you mental suffering. And some people, if they use their mind too much, they have a lot of mental suffering. That's why, like two years ago when I was in Australia, I found a lot of white Australians, they like to meditate. Not that they are interested in Buddhism. At first, they come in because they have a lot of mental suffering, because they use their mind too much. So they want to ease their mental suffering, they want to come and learn meditation. Later, if they make some progress in the meditation, then they become interested in Buddhism. and they come to listen to the Dhamma. And slowly, after listening to the Dhamma, they might say that they have become a Buddhist. So as a calamity, as a calamity, because anytime we can pass away, it is a source of suffering, as an affliction. This is like a sickness, as alien. This alien is quite interesting. The Buddha is telling us that the five aggregates, the body and the mind, is something like alien, external to us. This we might be able to understand if we meditate and our mind becomes calmer and calmer and calmer. As our mind becomes calmer and calmer and more tranquil, we go deeper and deeper into our mind. As we go deeper and deeper into our mind, slowly the body begins to fade away. The body begins to fade away from us. And the mind also begins to fade away from us as we go deeper and deeper into ourselves. And slowly the whole world begins to fade away from us. And then we realize that this body and this mind and all this world is as though alien to us, like external to us as we go deeper and deeper into our mind. As disintegrating, as something that is breaking up. We know that the body is breaking up. It's empty. Empty. Why? There is no essence in the body and the mind. Later you will find some similes for the five khandhas that the Buddha gave. And you can see how apt it is. For example, the body is made up of cells. Millions and millions of cells. And these cells are arising and passing away. Arising and passing away. No two moments is the body the same. And every seven years, according to scientists, the cells in our body are completely changed every seven years. So this body that you're carrying about with you now is completely different from the body you were having seven years ago. Just imagine, this body that you have is completely different from the body you had seven years ago. And as the cells in our body die and we shed them, in a way we are like a snake. You know, a snake, every now and then it's got to change its skin. Why? Because it has to grow in size. As it grows in size, then the skin is no more suitable for it, so it starts to shed the skin. And then it throws away the skin and then it grows a new skin which is slightly bigger so that it can accommodate itself. So in the same way, we are slowly shedding ourselves, part by part, and slowly over seven years we completely change all our, the whole body. So you can see that the body, because it consists of all these cells, it is of the nature of emptiness. In fact, later if I go into this more in detail, then you will understand it even better. In fact, I can go into it now. Why is this empty? Because besides these cells, when you look into these cells, what do you find? In every cell you have atoms, right? Cells are made up of atoms. Perhaps a whole lot of atoms, I don't know how many in each cell, but there'll be a lot of atoms. So basically our whole body is made up of billions and billions of atoms, right? And you know every atom is a huge void in which particles of energy are moving to and fro, right? particles of energy are moving through and through, just like you look into the sky at night. When you look into the sky at night, you find that most of the space, outer space, is empty, except for some stars and planets here and there, right? You could say that 99.9999999% of it is empty. So in the same way, every cell in our body, 99.9999... sorry, every atom in our body, 99.9999999% of the atom is empty. In other words, our body, which is made up of all these atoms, is no different from the air around us. no different from the air around us. And because it is no different from the air around us, the Buddha and his Arhat disciples, they understanding this knowledge, they can walk through walls and all that. Anyway, this is a different matter. So This body, which is 99.99999% is actually empty. And formerly, scientists did not understand this, but now it appears that scientists are beginning to understand that this 99.99999% emptiness is not really empty, but it is consciousness. Consciousness. And because of that, our mind affects our whole body. In other words, we are consciousness. And whatever you think affects your whole body. That is why mind is so powerful. Mind is that which we try to understand in the Buddha's teachings. So how is it that we see ourselves as a human body? The Buddha says because we are dreaming. Consciousness, because of karma, the consciousness makes you see yourself as a solid human being, with a head, two hands, two feet. Another day, if you work some evil karma and you pass away from this life, then your consciousness will make you see yourself perhaps as an animal, walking on all fours, with a tail, so That is why later we find in the suttas, the Buddha said, consciousness is like a conjurer. It conjures up a magic show. One lifetime after another lifetime is like a magic show. You see yourself as one person, and then that dream ends, and then another dream begins, and you see another lifetime. before you. So from this you can see how the five aggregates are empty. And then the last one is not-self. This not-self, anatta, means there is no abiding There is no thing that is unchanging in the body and the mind. This body and the mind is always changing in a state of flux. That is why there is no something that is permanent, unchanging. That is why the Buddha says it is not self. Sometimes this word anatta is translated as non-self. But I think probably not-self is more accurate. Now the sutra continues, Maha-Kotita asking the Venerable Sariputta again. But, friend Sariputta, what are the things that should be thoroughly pondered by a monk who is a stream-winner? And Venerable Sariputta said, by a monk who is a stream-winner, friend Kotita, It is these same five aggregates of attachment that should be so pondered. Indeed, friend, it is possible for a monk who is a stream-winner, by so pondering these five aggregates of attachment, to realize the fruits of once-returning Sakadagamin, which means the second fruition. But friend Sariputta, what are the things that should be thoroughly pondered by a monk who is a once-returner, Sakadagamin? By one who is a once-returner, friend Kotita, it is these same five aggregates of attachment that should be thoroughly pondered. Indeed, it is possible, friend, for one who is a once-returner, by so pondering, to realize the fruits of non-returning anagamin, third fruition. But, friend Sariputta, what are the things that should be thoroughly pondered by one who is a non-returner anagamin? And Venerable Sariputta answered, by such a one, friend Kothita, it is these same five aggregates of attachment that should be so pondered. It is possible, friend, for a non-returner, anagamin, by so pondering to realize the fruits of arahantship, that is the fourth fruition. But what, friend, But what, friend Sariputta, are the things that should be thoroughly pondered by one who is arahant? By an arahant, friend Kutita, these five aggregates of attachment should be thoroughly pondered as being impermanent, as suffering, as a disease, as a tumor, as a dart, as a calamity, as an affliction, as disintegrating, as empty, as not-self. But for the arahant friend, there is nothing further to be done, nor is there return to up-heaping of what is done. Nevertheless, these things if practiced and developed, conduce to a happy existence and to self-possession even in this present life." That is the end of the sutra. So, in the last part of the sutra that I've read, Remember the Arahant Sariputra is saying that in the whole sutra, the Arahant Sariputra is saying that if a monk is a Putrajana, an ordinary monk, if he contemplates on the five aggregates, it is possible he attains the first fruition. And a first fruition monk should also ponder, contemplate on the five aggregates. And in so doing, he can attain the second fruition, Sakadagamin. And the second fruition monk should also ponder on the five aggregates, so that he can attain the third fruition. And the third fruition monk should also ponder on the five aggregates to attain the fourth fruition, Arahanthood. And so you can see how important the five aggregates are, so that at every stage of the Aryan path, person should ponder on these five aggregates.

(EA04)-05-Samyutta-Nikaya_Sutta-22

The next sutra is 22.1. Thus have I heard. The Exalted One was once staying among the Baghi at Crocodile Haunt at Besakala Grove in the Deer Park. Then the House Father Nakula Pitha came to the Exalted One, saluted Him and sat down at one side. As He sat there, the House Father Nakula Pitha addressed the Exalted One saying, Master, I am a broken down old man, aged, far gone in years. I have reached life's end. I am sick and always ailing. Moreover, Master, I am one to whom rarely comes the sight of the Exalted One and the worshipful monks. Let the Exalted One cheer and comfort me so that it be a profit and a blessing unto me for many a long day. And the Buddha said, true it is, true it is, house father, that your body is weak and a burden. For one carrying this body about, house father, to claim but a moment's health would be sheer foolishness. Therefore, house father, thus should you train yourself. Though my body is sick, my mind shall not be sick. Thus, house father, must you train yourself. This thing here, that the Buddha said, that for a person carrying this body about, to claim even a moment's health, is sheer foolishness. The Buddha is saying, this body that we think is healthy, it's not. It's not really healthy. Anytime, we might fall sick. How do we know? This body, cancer might be developing inside, we don't even know. Or hepatitis, or some sickness that might blow up later, we don't even know. So the Buddha is saying, to think that you are healthy, even for a moment, is utter foolishness. Then the Suta continues. Then Nakula Pitta, the house father, welcomed and gladly heard the words of the Exalted One. And rising from his seat, he saluted the Exalted One by the right and departed. And he came to the Venerable Sariputta, saluted him and sat down at one side. As he sat there, the Venerable Sariputta said to the house father Nakula Pitta, Calm thy your senses, House Father. Clear and pure is your complexion. Surely today you have had pious converse face to face with the Exalted One." And he said, How could it be otherwise, Master? I have just now been sprinkled with the nectar of pious converse by the Exalted One. And Venerable Sariputra said, And in what way, House Father, were you sprinkled with the nectar of pious converse by the Exalted One? And he sat down at one side. As I sat thus, Master, I said to the Exalted One, Master, I am a broken down old man, aged, far gone in years. I have reached my life's end. I am sick and always ailing. Moreover, Master, I am one to whom rarely comes the sight of the Exalted One and the worshipful monks. Let the Exalted One cheer and comfort me so that it be a profit and a blessing unto me for many a long day. True it is, true it is, House Father, that your body is weak and a burden or encumbered. For one carrying this body about, housefather, to claim but a moment's health was sheer foolishness. Therefore, housefather, thus should you train yourself. Though my body is sick, my mind shall not be sick. Thus, housefather, must you train yourself." And the Venerable Sariputta said, But it did not occur to you, housefather, to question the exalted one further. Thus, Pray, how far, Master, is body sick and mind sick, and how far is body sick and mind not sick?" And he said, I would travel far indeed, Master, to learn from the lips of the Venerable Sariputta the meaning of this saying. Well, for me, if the Venerable Sariputta should think fit to expound to me the meaning of this saying, And the Arahant Sariputta said, Then listen, House Father, apply your mind and give heed to what I shall tell you. Even so, Master, said House Father Nakula Pitta, and listen to the Venerable Sariputta. And the Venerable Sariputta thus spoke. And how is body sick and mind sick too, House Father? Hearing House Father, the untaught, ordinary folk who discern, who sees not those who are Aryans, who are unskilled in the Aryan doctrine, who are untrained in the Aryan doctrine, who sees not those who are true men, who are unskilled in the doctrine of true men, untrained in the doctrine of true men. These regard body as the self. They regard the body as belonging to self, body as being in the self, the self as being in the body. I am the body, they say. Body is mind, and are possessed by this idea, and so possessed or attached by this idea, when body alters and changes, owing to the unstable and changeful nature of body, then sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair arise in them. They regard feeling as the self, they regard feeling as belonging to self, feeling as being in the self, the self as being in feeling. I am feeling, they say, feeling is mine, and are possessed by this idea, and so possessed by this idea, when feeling alters and changes owing to the unstable and changeful nature of feeling, then sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair arise in them. They regard perception as the self, they regard perception as belonging to self, perception as being in the self, or the self as being in perception. Similarly, with volition and consciousness, they regard these five aggregates as being the self, or belonging to the self, or the aggregates as being in the self, or the self as being in the aggregates, and they are attached to the idea that they are the Five Aggregates. And so when the Five Aggregates changes, then owing to the unstable and changeful nature of the Five Aggregates, then sorrow and lamentation, pain, grief and despair arise in them. That, Housefather, is how body is sick and mind sick too. I'll just stop here for a moment. You see just now, the definition of the untaught ordinary folk, the Putujana, the definition given here is, Putujana, so ordinary folks are those who sees not those who are Aryans, who are unskilled in the Aryan doctrine, who are untrained in the Aryan doctrine or Aryan Dharma, who sees not those who are true men, who are unskilled in the doctrine of true men, untrained in the doctrine of true men. This is the definition of an ordinary person, a puttujana. That means a puttujana is one who does not go and see the Aryans during the Buddha's time. That meant mostly the monks. That means they don't go and see the monks. And because they don't go and see the monks, they are unskilled in the Aryan dharma. They are untrained in the Aryan dharma. And they also don't go and see those who are true men. True men Sapurisa. Sapurisa, true men are those who know the true Dhamma. And so because of that, because they don't go and see true men, they are unskilled in the Dhamma of true men. They are untrained in the Dhamma of the true men. And so because of that, they regard the five kandas, the five aggregates as the Self, or as belonging to the Self. or as being in the self, or the self as being in the five aggregates. And so they say, I am body, or feeling, or perception, or volition, or consciousness, or these five aggregates are mind. And so they are attached to this idea. And because they are attached to this idea, when the five aggregates change, because the five aggregates are unstable of a nature to change, then because of that sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair arise. So this is the meaning that a person is sick in body and sick in mind. Sick in body we can't help because the body is subject to birth, aging, sickness and death and all beings All beings have a body and because all beings have a body, they have to suffer bodily pain. But if they are attached to the five aggregates in addition to bodily pain, they suffer mental pain. That is why the body is sick and mind is sick also. And then the Venerable Sariputta continued. And how is body sick, but mind not sick? Hearing how, father, the well taught Aryan disciple who sees those who are Aryans, who is skilled in the Aryan dharma, well trained in the Aryan dharma, who sees those who are true men, who are skilled in the doctrine of true men, well trained in the doctrine of true men or dharma of true men. Such an Aryan disciple does not regard the body as the self, does not regard the body as belonging to self, nor body as being in the self, nor self as being in the body. He says not, I am body. He says not, body is mine. nor is he possessed by this idea. As he is not so possessed, when body alters and changes owing to the unstable and changeful nature of body, then sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair do not arise in him. Similarly, for feeling, perception, volition and consciousness, he does not regard the five aggregates as the Self, or as belonging to the Self, or as being in the self or the self as being in the five aggregates. And he does not say that the five aggregates are me or mine. And he's not possessed by this idea so that when the five aggregates change, he does not have all these types of suffering, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. do not arise in him. That house father is how body is sick but mind not sick. I'll stop here for this sutra. So here, Venerable Sariputta is saying that the well-taught Aryan disciple, you see the definition of the well-taught Aryan disciple? He is one who sees those who are Aryans, that means he associates with Aryans. And because of that, he is killed in the Aryan Dharma, well trained in the Aryan Dharma. He sees those who are true men. And because of that, he is killed in the Dharma of true men, he is trained in the Dharma of true men. And so because of that, he does not regard the five aggregates as being the Self, or belonging to the Self, or the five aggregates as being in the self or the self as being in the five aggregates and he's not attached to the five aggregates so that when the five aggregates change, he does not have the sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. And such a person, even though he is sick in the body, he is not sick in the mind. In the Suttas, the Buddha said that is the difference between an ordinary person, a Putujana and an Arya. Ordinary person, a Putujana, is stabbed by two knives. One is the knife of physical pain, bodily pain. He's also stabbed by the knife of mental pain, mental torture, mental grief. But the Arya is only stabbed by one knife, the knife of bodily pain, so that even the Buddha, even though the Buddha is enlightened, he still has bodily pain. But the Buddha and his Aryan disciples do not have mental pain. So it is only when we shed the body completely, like the Buddha, he enters Nibbana, he has no more body, then he has no more pain, no more bodily pain. But in this very life, if we understand the Dharma, then we can do away with mental pain. And that is a great thing to have no mental pain. So the understanding of the Dharma is very important.

(EA04)-06-Samyutta-Nikaya_Sutta-22

Now, the next sutra is 22.47. The Buddha said, those recluses and brahmins, monks, who regard the self in diverse ways, regarded as the five aggregates of attachment, or as some one of these. What five? Herein, monks, the untaught, ordinary folk, ordinary person, regards body as the self, body as belonging to the self, body as being in the self, self as being in the body, likewise with feeling, perception, volition and consciousness. Thus this is the view. It has come to him to think, I am. Now when it has come to anyone to think I am or I exist, there comes to pass a descent of the five faculties of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. Mind is the result. Mind states are the result. The ignorance element is the result. Touched by the feeling, born of contact with ignorance. There comes to the untaught, ordinary folk, the view, I am. There comes the view, this same I will be. There comes the view, things will be. There comes the view, things will not be. There comes the view, things will have body. The view, things will be bodiless. There comes the view, things will be conscious. unconscious, the view things will be neither conscious nor unconscious. It is just therein amongst that the five faculties persist. But herein for the well thought Aryan disciple, ignorance is put away, and knowledge arises. Along with the fading away of ignorance and the arising of knowledge, there comes to him no view that I am, that this same I am, that things will be, things will not be, etc. So, that's the end of the sutra. So in this sutra, the Buddha is saying that because we regard the five aggregates as the self, or as belonging to the self, or as being in the self, or the self as being in the five aggregates, then, straight away, there comes the feeling or the view that I am or I exist. And when you have the view that I exist, that comes along with it, a lot of views, you know, what the Buddha calls the proliferation of views, papanca, proliferation of views. Just like it is very, we know, it is very common for people to think, and when we start thinking, you start asking yourself, where did I come from? Perhaps a creator made me. A Creator God made me, and a Creator God made the world. And then you start to think, what happens to me after I die? Where will I go? And you start to have a lot of speculation, you start to have a lot of views. And these views give rise, this proliferation of views, gives rise to the Asavas. The Asavas are mental, uncontrolled mental outflows and uncontrolled mental outflows when they start flowing this thinking and all that consciousness it gives rise to defilements and gives rise to suffering. So it's only when a person understands the Dhamma then he does not think I am or I exist. But this state is not easy to achieve. Of course, we have to put in a lot of effort, understanding the Dharma as well as meditating and cultivating all the factors of the Arjuna Eightfold Path. And then slowly one day we may come to understand that there is no such thing as I exist or I am. Perhaps we may come to understand that the whole world is I, and there is no personal I. Then, when that person comes to that stage, then there is no more proliferation of views. You don't have all these kinds of thinking. So, that's that sutta.

(EA04)-07-Samyutta-Nikaya_Sutta-22

The next sutra is 22.99. The Buddha said, incalculable monks is the beginning of this round of rebirth. No beginning is made known of beings wrapped in ignorance, fettered by craving, who run on, who fare on the round of rebirth. There comes a time, monks, when the mighty ocean dries up, is utterly drained, comes no more to be. But of beings hindered by ignorance, fettered by craving, who run on, who fare on the round of rebirths, I declare no end making. There comes a time Monks, when Simharu, king of mountains, is consumed, is destroyed, comes no more to be, but of beings hindered by ignorance, fettered by craving, who run on the round of rebirths, I declare no end-making. There comes a time, monks, when the mighty earth is consumed, is destroyed, comes no more to be, but of beings hindered by ignorance, etc., I declare no end-making. I just stop here for a moment to comment. Firstly, the Buddha says that there is no beginning is made known of beings wrapped in ignorance, fettered by craving, who run on, who fare on the round of rebirths. And then, after that he says, beings who are hindered by ignorance, fettered by craving, who fare on the round of rebirths, I declare no end, no end making. So, what the Buddha is saying is that, you cannot find a beginning of time. There is no beginning of time, and there is also no end to time. And this samsara, the round of rebirths, will continue forever, it will never end. So if samsara will never end, We have to make an effort to end it. If we don't make an effort to end, you will continue to turn on the round of rebirths forever and ever, and you'll continue to suffer. But the nature of life is such that we turn in samsara, and as we turn, we learn the lessons of life. As we suffer, we learn the lessons of life, just like a child. You ask a child not to play with fire, he doesn't want to listen to you, he wants to play with fire. One day, he gets his hand burned. then after that you don't have to tell him not to play with fire, he won't play with fire anymore. So in the same way, when we are in the samsara, there are many things that are dangerous that the Buddha tells us not to play with, but we don't believe, we would rather play with it first. And when we play with things in life, then we get our fingers burned, we suffer. And when we suffer, then we are cautious not to go into it so easily. Just for example, we know when we are young, many young men, many young women very easily fall in love. You fall in love, then you suffer. After you've suffered, later, if you think about falling in love again, you'll think twice, isn't it? So in the same way, as we go round the cycle of rebirths, we suffer. And as we suffer, we learn many lessons in life. And as we learn lessons in life, lifetime after lifetime, we go on this round of rebirths, we become spiritually more and more mature. we become more and more ripe spiritually. And one day when our time is due, we are mature enough, then we try to look for a way out of suffering. We try to look for a way out of samsara. And when we are sincere, and we make the effort, one day we will come across the true Dharma. And when we come across the true Dharma, and we learn things like the Four Noble Truths, then we realize there is a way out of suffering. There is a path taught by enlightened ones out of samsara. And once we know that, there is a ray of hope that is lit inside us. And once the ray of hope is lit inside us, we tend to pursue it. And when we tend to pursue it, then we are on our way out of samsara. That is why the Dhamma is so important. Once we listen to the right Dhamma, the true Dhamma, then straight away, We know where to turn our direction in life. We have a direction in life, and that direction is to end suffering. And so, if we are sincere enough, we would be able to. And the Buddha continued. Just as monks, a dog tied up by a leash to a strong stake or pillar keeps running round and revolving round and round that stake or pillar. Even so, monks, the untaught, many folk who sees not those who are Aryans, etc., they regard body as the self or body as being in the self. body as belonging to the self, or body as being in the self, or self as being in the body. Similarly, the regard, feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness as the self, or belonging to self, or as being in the self, or the self as being in feeling, perception, volition and consciousness. So they run and revolve, round and round, from body to body, from feeling to feeling, from perception to perception, from volition to volition, from consciousness to consciousness. They are not released therefrom. They are not released from being born, from aging, from dying, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. They are not released from suffering, I declare. But the well-taught Aryan disciples and monks who sees those who are Aryans, etc., etc., these regard not body, feeling, perception, volition, consciousness as the Self. They regard not the five aggregates as belonging to the Self or as being in the Self or the Self as being in the five aggregates. And so, They run not, they revolve not, round and round, from body to body, from feeling to feeling, from perception to perception, from volition to volition, from consciousness to consciousness, but are released therefrom. They are released from being born, from aging, from dying, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. They are released from suffering, I declare. That's the end of the sutta. So, from this sutra, you can see the body, the Buddha is saying that the untaught, ornery person, the puthujana, they go round and round samsara, going from body to body, body to body, body to body, feeling to feeling, feeling to feeling, perception to perception, volition to volition, consciousness to consciousness, never-ending round of rebirths, and as they go along, they suffer. Only one day, when they have had enough and they become spiritually mature, then they look for a way out. And when they hear that there are Aryans who know the Dharma, that there is such a thing as the true Dharma, then they come to learn the Dharma and train in the Dharma. And slowly as they train in the Dharma, they let go of their attachment for the body and mind. And it is such suttas, these suttas that you are hearing about the five aggregates, that help us to let go of our attachment, that help us to see the impermanent nature, the painful nature of the body and the mind. And slowly as we let go of our attachment, then we would slowly release ourselves from samsara. stop here today. And if you have any questions, we can discuss them.

(EA04)-08-QandA-1_Preception

It's perception that operates in your mind? No. All the six senses. Perception comes from all the six senses. For example, just now I gave a perception of seeing the colour, that's from seeing. But even, say like from hearing a sound, you hear a sound from a person, and if that sound is a nasty sound, somebody scolding you, then you have a perception that this fellow is a nasty fellow. ah see so that similarly if you smell you smell a smell and it's to you it's an unpleasant smell and then you think that is a foul smell huh but it might not be a foul smell to somebody who's got a blocked nose

(EA04)-09-QandA-2_Contemplate-the-5-Khandhas

Yes, because just now when I started, I mentioned that in the definition of suffering, definition of suffering, that the Buddha said in short, in brief, the five aggregates of attachment are suffering. So, when we practice the Aryan Eightfold Path, It is just the five khandhas that we have to contemplate. When we contemplate the five aggregates, for example, when you practice mindfulness sati, sati must be directed at the five aggregates, not outside. If you practice mindfulness of seeing, of hearing, smelling, tasting, that is not going to help you. to get out of samsara. We have to direct it inwards into the five aggregates to see how they are not I, not mine, not myself. Then slowly we let go of our attachment to the five aggregates and then we become free from suffering.

(EA04)-10-Samyutta-Nikaya_Sutta-22

Yesterday, we went through a few suttas, and tonight, we come to sutta number 22.95 in the Kanda Samyutta. On a certain occasion, the Exalted One was staying at Ayodhya on the bank of the river Ganges. Then the Exalted One thus addressed the monks, Just as if monks, this river Ganges should carry down a huge lump of foam, and a keen-sighted man should see it, observe it, and look close into its nature. So seeing it, observing it, and looking close into its nature, he would find it empty. He would find it unsubstantial. He would find it without essence. What essence, monks, could there be in a lump of foam? Even so, monks, whatsoever body, be it past, future, or present, far or near, etc., which a monk sees, observes, and looks close into its nature, he so seeing, observing, and looking close into the nature of it, would find it empty, He would find it unsubstantial. He would find it without essence. What essence monks could there be in a body? I'll just stop here for a moment to comment. Here the Buddha is using the simile of a lump of foam to a body. I think I might have mentioned it yesterday you know a huge lump of foam floating down the river it's just like when you wash your clothes using fat and you stir the fat water what happens a lot of foam is formed and so the huge lump of foam on the river is just like this and it consists of bubbles and bubbles form and bubbles burst And the Buddha says that the body is just like this. It is made up of cells. Millions and millions of cells. And cells form and cells die. And new cells form and new cells die. And every seven years, all the cells in your body totally change every seven years. So, the body is very similar to a lump of foam, a huge lump of foam. These cells are changing all the time. So, there is no core in our body, just these cells changing, changing all the time. And the Buddha continues, suppose monks in autumn time, when the sky got rains down, big drops, A bubble rises on the water, and straightaway bursts. And a keen-sighted man should see it, observe it, look close into its nature. So seeing it, observing it, and looking close into its nature, he would find it empty, he would find it unsubstantial, he would find it without essence. What essence, monks, could there be? in a bubble on the water. Even so, monks, whatsoever feeling, be it past, future or present, be it far or near, a monk sees, he finds it without essence. What essence, monks, could there be in feeling? So I stop here for a moment. Here the Buddha is using the simile of rain falling on water. example falling on a pond or a lake and when the raindrops fall on the pond or on the lake bubbles are formed each drop that falls on the surface of the pond creates a bubble and the bubble forms only for a short while and then it bursts so in the same way the Buddha says our feelings form arise and they pass away. So our feelings are like the bubble that are formed by the raindrops on the water. It lasts only for a short while and it ceases. So the sutra continues. Just as if monks in the last month of the dry season at high noon time there should be a mirage And a keen-sighted man should see it, observe it, and look close into the nature of it. So observing it, he would find it to be without essence. What essence, monks, could there be in a mirage? So it is likewise with any perception." I'll stop here for a moment. So, perception is likened to a mirage. It has no substance. Just for example, a man dying of thirst and hunger in the desert, hasn't eaten for many days, hasn't drank for several days, and he's walking about, he's getting delirious from the heat, and he imagines he sees a mirage, or he sees a mirage and he imagines he sees an oasis. And he walks nearer and nearer, and when he arrives, he finds there is no oasis, it was just a mirage, something created by the mind. So in the same way, when we have a perception, it is similar to that, for example, a perception that someone is a very nice person, or a perception that someone is a repulsive person, it is all subjective. You may find a certain person repulsive, but he may be very nice to another person. Or you may find a certain person very attractive, but he may be repulsive to another person. So it is all very subjective. There is not much basis. There is no real essence in your perception. And the Buddha continues, again monks, suppose a man should roam about in need of hardwood, searching for hardwood, looking for hardwood, and taking a sharp axe, should enter a forest. There he sees a mighty plantain trunk, or banana plant, straight up, new grown, of towering height. He cuts it down at the root. Having cut it down at the root, he chops it off at the top, Having done so, he peels off the outer skin. When he peels off the outer skin, he finds no pit inside, much less does he find hardwood. Then suppose a keen-sighted man sees it, observes it, looks into the nature of it. So seeing and observing it, he would find it to be without essence. What essence, monks, could there be in a plantain trunk? Even so, monks, whatsoever volition there be, past, future or present, far or near, a monk sees, he finds them without essence. What essence, monks, could there be in volition? I'll just stop here for a while. So here, volition or willpower is compared to a banana tree, when you cut a banana tree and you peel the layers, you find inside no pit, no nothing substantial, nothing hard. So in the same way, the Buddha says when volition is exercised, when a decision is made, we imagine there is a person inside that makes that decision, but the Buddha says there is no such person. Again, monks, suppose a conjurer or a conjurer's apprentice should spread a magic show on the high road, and a keen-sighted man should see it, observe it, look close into the nature of it. So seeing, he would find it empty, he would find it unsubstantial, he would find it without essence. What essence, monks, could there be in a magic show? Even so, monks, whatsoever consciousness, be it past, future or present, far or near, a monk sees, observes, look close into the nature of it. So seeing, he would find it empty, he would find it unsubstantial, he would find it without essence. What essence, monks, could there be in consciousness? So here the Buddha is saying that consciousness is like a magic show. We see ourselves now as a human being. Another lifetime, we see ourselves perhaps as a deva or a devi. And then another lifetime, we may see ourselves as a ghost. Another lifetime, we may see ourselves as an animal. So it is just consciousness conjuring up this show, this kind of dream. When we are in a dream, it's very hard to know that we are in a dream, we are caught up in the dream. For example, I'm sure all of you, sometimes we awake, we wake up, and we remember a nightmare we just had, and you remember when you were dreaming during that nightmare, you were frightened, and you didn't know it was a dream. Only after you woke up, then you realized that it was a dream, and there was nothing really to be excited about. So similarly, when we are living in this world. To us, it's so real. And according to the Buddha's teaching, one day when we wake up and become enlightened, then we will realize it was just a dream, just like a magic show. And the Buddha continues, so seeing monks, the well-taught Aryan disciple feels wearied at body, at feeling, at perception, at volition, at consciousness. Feeling wearied, he becomes dispassionate. Being dispassionate, he is set free. By that release, the knowledge comes to him. For life in these conditions, there is no hereafter. So that's the end of the sutra. So this last part, the Buddha says, if you understand the real nature of the five aggregates, then you become wearied or disenchanted. No more enchanted. Attracted by the five aggregates, you become dispassionate. and you release, you let go of your attachments and then from that you attain liberation.

(EA04)-11-Samyutta-Nikaya_Sutta-22

And the next sutra is 22.59. At Benares, in the Deer Park, at one time the Exalted One addressed the group of five monks, body monks is not the self. If body monks were the Self, then body would not be involved in sickness, and one could say of body, let my body be thus, let my body not be thus. But monks, inasmuch as body is not the Self, that is why body is involved in sickness, and one cannot say of body, let my body be thus, let my body not be thus. Feeling is not the Self. If feeling monks were the Self, then feeling would not be involved in sickness. And one could say of feeling, let my feeling be thus, let my feeling not be thus. Likewise with perception, volition, consciousness, they are not the Self. And you cannot say, let my perception, volition or consciousness be thus, let them not be thus. I'll just stop here for a moment. Here the Buddha is saying that the five aggregates are not really you, are not really yours. If the five aggregates are you or yours, then you should be able to have control of the five aggregates. For example, when we are young, we want to grow old. We want to grow up very fast. And even though you want to grow up very fast, you can't grow up faster than the natural pace. And one day, you've grown up and you're very happy. But after that, you start growing old. And when you start growing old, you think you want to stop the aging process. You would like the aging process to stop. But even then, you have no control over it. And especially after 40, when you start to age quite fast, There is no way you can apply the brakes. This is why the Buddha says, you have no control over, for example, not let my body not be sick, but you have no control at all. Similarly, in the Bible of the Christians, Jesus Christ told them that you cannot even add one cubit to your body's height. You cannot make your body grow taller by, I think a cubit is something like a forearm's length. And so, the body is not yours, it is not you. Similarly with feeling, feelings, we discriminate between pleasurable feelings and unpleasant feelings. When you have unpleasant feelings, you want them to end immediately. Otherwise, you feel You feel a lot of grief, you feel a lot of sorrow, and you don't like it, you want it to end immediately. But when you have pleasurable feeling, you want to prolong it. And you want to prolong it, for example, by taking drugs, going to all sorts of ways to prolong your pleasurable feelings. But the body can't take it. And if you try to prolong it too much, you might blow your mind, as they say. Even though we try to control these things, these five aggregates, there is no way we can control them. They react according to conditions, causes and conditions. Now the Buddha continues. What do you think, monks? Is body permanent or impermanent? Impermanent, Lord. And what is impermanent? Is that pleasurable or painful? Painful, Lord. Then what is impermanent, painful, unstable by nature? Is it fitting to regard it thus? This is mine, this am I, this is myself. Surely not, Lord. So also is it with feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness. Therefore, monks, every body, whatever, be it past, future, or present, be it internal or external, gross or subtle, low or high, far or near, every body should be thus regarded as it really is by right insight. This is not mine. This am not I, this is not myself. Every feeling, every perception, every volition, every consciousness must be so regarded. So seeing monks, the well-taught Aryan disciple feels wearied with body, feels wearied with feeling, with perception, with volition. with consciousness. So feeling wearied, he becomes dispassionate. Being dispassionate, he becomes freed. Knowledge arises that in the freed is the free, so that he knows destroyed is rebirth, lived is the holy life, done is my task, for life in these conditions there is no hereafter. Thus spoke the Exalted One. And the group of five monks were pleased thereat, and welcomed what was said by the Exalted One. Moreover, by this teaching thus uttered, the hearts of those five monks were freed from the Asavas without grasping. That's the end of the Sutta. This Sutta is called the Anatta-Lakkhana Sutta. And it was spoken by the Buddha to his first disciples, the group of five monks. And after speaking this discourse, all of them attained Arahanthood. And so, the Buddha is saying, the five aggregates, body, feeling, perception, volition and consciousness, which is basically also body and mind, is impermanent. And because it is impermanent, it is painful. And what is painful and impermanent, unstable by nature, it is not fitting to regard it as this is I, this is mine, this is myself. And when a person realizes this, then he becomes disenchanted or wearied with the five aggregates. Following that, he becomes dispassionate, he lets go of the attachment for the five aggregates and he becomes liberated. Now, if we take what is impermanent, painful, unstable by nature, to be I, to be mine, to be myself, then we are taking up a burden a burden of the five aggregates, a burden of the five khandas. And this is a burden of suffering. It is only when we let go of these five aggregates, we don't take it up as a burden, as I, mine and myself, that we let go of this burden of suffering, then we can be released. There is another sutra that discusses these five aggregates as a burden. How to see that the body and the mind is not I, not mine and myself, is to practice contemplation of the body and the mind, to see that the body and the mind depends on conditions, that the body arises because of food, because of the union of mother and father, and later of food, and it subsists on food, and is very dependent on food, And the mind, feeling, perception, volition and consciousness depends on contact. And when there is contact with the six sense doors, six sense objects, then the mind starts to work. And when we understand the nature of the body and the mind, then we become wearied, disenchanted, and following that we let go. of the five aggregates and become three.

(EA04)-12-Samyutta-Nikaya_Sutta-22

Next sutra, 22.33. The Buddha said, what is not of you or what is not yours, monks, put it away. Putting it away will be for your profit and welfare. And what, monks, is not of you, body, monks, is not of you, put it away. Putting it away will be for your profit and welfare. Feeling is not of you. Perception, volition, consciousness is not of you. Put it away. Putting it away will be for your profit and welfare. Just as if monks, a man should gather, burn or do what he please with all the grass, all the sticks, branches and stalks in this Jeta Grove. Pray, would you say, This man is gathering us, burning us, doing what he please with us. Surely not, Lord. Why so? Because, Lord, this is not ourself, nor of the nature of self. Even so, monks, body is not of you. Put it away. Putting it away will be for your profit and welfare. Feeling is not of you. Perception, volition are not of you, nor consciousness. Put it away. Putting it away will be for your profit and welfare. That's the end of the sutra. This is quite an interesting sutra. Here the Buddha is saying that the five aggregates, body and mind, is not yours. It is not of you. Just like if a man were to gather together all the grass, sticks, branches, and burn it, he wouldn't say that this man is gathering us, burning us, doing what he pleases with us. So similarly with the body and mind, it has nothing to do with us, the Buddha is saying. This is quite a deep meaning here. saying that the body and the mind which we take to be the self, here the Buddha is saying is not you. It's not even of you. Not anything to do with you. That is why earlier we read that the five aggregates are alien. Alien meaning like external to you. And what is you? In one of the suttas in the Digha Nikaya, the Buddha says that the Tathagata This designates the Tathagata, Dhamma body, Dhammakaya, Brahmakaya, Brahma body. Dhamma Buddha, Dhamma become, Brahma Buddha, Brahma become. So, the Buddha is also saying that also is our, our nature inside us. The Dhamma body or the Brahma body. and this is quite interesting because it sounds a little bit similar to the Hindu teachings and there is a sutra in the Anguttara Nikaya but when I say Hindu teachings I mean the recent Hindu teachings because the Hindu teachings were very much affected by the Buddha's teachings before the Buddha came, was enlightened in India the Hindu teachings were not quite similar to the Buddhist teachings. But after the Buddha was enlightened, then you find that the Buddha's teachings affected the Hindu teachings to the extent that the new Hindu teachings after the advent of the Buddha were very close, very similar to the Buddhist teachings. Things like the Advaita Vedanta,

(EA04)-13-Anguttara-Nikaya_Sutta-6

During the Angutthanikaya 6.38, there is an interesting sutra. A man came to see the Buddha, and he said he has this view. He says, there is no, he told the Buddha, he said, I have this view that there is no attakara, there is no parakara. Atta itself, kara is the doer. He says there is no self-doer or self-agent. There is no other-doer, no other-agent. It sounds as though he's saying that there is no self, there is no other. And the Buddha told him, I've never heard this before. And the Buddha asked him, can you step forward? And he said, yes, I can step forward. And the Buddha asked him, can you step backward? And he said, yes, I can step backward. And the Buddha said, if you can step forward and you can step backward, how come you say there's no self-doer, no other doer? And the Buddha said, do you have initiative to do this and to do that? And he said, yes. And the Buddha said, if you have initiative to do this and to do that, how can you say there is no self-doer, no other doer? So this is quite an interesting sutra. So from this, perhaps the word anatta might be more accurately translated as not-self. Because the Buddha is saying things like the body and the mind is external, alien, is not of you. So these, some of these suttas, the meaning is quite deep. And sometimes when we try to see the meaning of it, sometimes we, sometimes it's quite risky. And sometimes we can get into arguments. So it is best that we don't say too much. And we think about what the Buddha has taught and we contemplate on it and we come to our own conclusion. Because the Buddha in one of the suttas, we read yesterday, I think, we didn't read yesterday, but there's another sutta where the verbal Sariputta said that concerning the ultimate state, He said, don't say that something exists and don't say that nothing exists. If you say that something exists or nothing exists, then you create difficulty where there should be none. Sometimes some of these more deep things we have to practice and we come to our own conclusion. If we start giving our opinion, sometimes we come into arguments with others. But anyway, concerning this, the best guidance we have for all this is the Buddha's words, the Buddha's words in the suttas.

(EA04)-14-Anguttara-Nikaya_Sutta-4

Whatever any monk says, we should always compare them with the Buddha's words, because in the Anguttara Nikaya 4.180, the Buddha said, if any monk says that such and such is the teaching of the Buddha, then the Buddha says, don't reject it, also don't accept it. without rejecting it, without accepting it, you compare what he says to be the Buddha's words with the suttas and the Vinaya. And if you find that it agrees with the suttas and the Vinaya, then you can accept his words as the Buddha's teachings. But if it contradicts the suttas and the Vinaya, then We should not accept it, we should reject it. So that is the basis for which we judge whether such and such is the Buddha's teachings. We compare it with the suttas and the Vinaya.

(EA04)-15-Samyutta-Nikaya_Sutta-22

Now, the next sutra is 22.93. The Buddha said, suppose a stream mounts, a mountain torrent, down drawing, rising from afar, swift flowing, and on both its banks are growing grasses which overhang the stream, kusa grass there might be that overhangs, reeds and creepers and overhanging shrubs, and a man is swept away by that stream, and clutches at the grasses, but they might break away, and owing to that, he might come by his destruction. He might clutch at the kusa grass, at the reeds, at the creepers, he might clutch at the shrubs, but they might break away, and owing to that, he might come by his destruction. Even so, monks, the untaught, ordinary folk, regard the body as the self, or the body as belonging to self, or the body as being in the self, or the self as being in the body, then body breaks away. And owing to that, they come by their destruction. So too with feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness. And these break away. Owing to that, they come by their destruction. Now as to that, what do you think, monks? Is body permanent or impermanent? Impermanent Lord. So also feeling, perception, volition and consciousness. Are they permanent or impermanent? Impermanent Lord. Wherefore monks, he who sees thus knows, for life in these conditions there is no hereafter. That's the end of the sutta. This is another very beautiful simile. Just as a man is swept away by a stream or a river, a strong flowing river, and he clutches at the grass and the creepers, but these break away, and he is swept to his death. Even so, we are swept away by the current of life. The current of life sweeps us from one life to another to another. And as long as we clutch to the body, We clutch to the body and we clutch to the mind as I, as mine, as myself. But the body and the mind is impermanent, unstable by nature. And because they are unstable by nature, they change, they break, they are not stable. So even if we cling to that, it's no use. It will come to be destroyed. So we are swept away by the current of life. and we turn and turn in the round of rebirths because we are holding on to our body and to our mind. It's only when we let go of our body and our mind and we hold to something which is not impermanent, something which is not unstable by nature. Now what is that? That is what the Buddha calls the uncreated, the unconditioned, They are unborn. So it is only if we realize this nature inside us that there is salvation from being swept away by the current of life.

(EA04)-16-Samyutta-Nikaya_Sutta-22

The next sutra is 22.57. The Buddha said, a monk who is skilled in the seven points, monks, who is an investigator of the three ways, he is called accomplished in this Dhamma Vinaya. One who has reached Master, Master Ship Superman. I'll just stop here for a moment. You notice here, the Buddha says, accomplished in the Dhamma Vinaya. The Dhamma Vinaya is the totality of the Buddha's teachings in the Suttas. The Buddha always refers to his teachings as the Dhamma Vinaya. The word Tipitaka was coined much later. The Buddha never used the word Tipitaka or Tripitaka. And in the Anguttara Nikaya, the Buddha explains Dhamma Vinaya as meaning Sutta and Vinaya. And so, the Buddha's teachings, according to the suttas, are the suttas and the vinaya. And the Buddha continues, and how monks, is a monk skilled in the seven points? Here in monks, a monk fully knows body, the arising of body, the seizing of body, and the way going to the seizing of body. He fully knows the satisfaction there is in body, the misery that is in body, the escape from body. He fully knows feeling in like manner, and perception, and volition. He fully knows consciousness. He fully knows the arising of consciousness, the ceasing of consciousness, and the way going thereto. He fully knows the satisfaction that is in consciousness, the misery that is in consciousness, and the escape from consciousness. And what mounts his body? It is the four great elements and that materiality which is derived from the four great elements, that monks is called body. From the arising of nutriment comes the arising of body. From the seizing of nutriment is the seizing of body. And the way going to the seizing of body is this Aryan Eightfold Path. namely right view, right thoughts, etc. I'll just stop here for a moment. So here the Buddha is saying body is the four great elements and the materiality that is derived from the four great elements. What are these four great elements? Normally we call it earth, water, fire and wind. But earth, water, fire and wind is not actually earth, water, fire and wind. It is the characteristic of these four things. The earth element refers to the hardness characteristic. For example, if I touch this metal, it is hard. So to me, this is the earth element. So earth is not actually earth, but the characteristic of hardness. Water refers to the quality of cohesion. Water tends to cohere, come together. For example, it is because we have water in our body that we have a certain shape. Suppose you were to dehydrate yourself, take away all the water in your body, what happens is that you cannot have this form. you will collapse, the rest of your body will collapse, if you don't have water in your body. So, water refers to the element of cohesion. Fire, fire refers to the element of heat, hotness, heat, or coldness, coldness is the lack of the fire element. And the last one, wind, Wind refers to motion, movement. Because we have the wind element in our body, that's why the blood flows in our body, the food we take in moves through our body, winds pass through our body, sometimes out of our body, and sometimes from the top, as we burp, air comes out. So, that is the four great elements. And the materiality that is derived from the four great elements refers to, for example, odor, taste, elasticity, growth, decay, impermanence, etc. So, from the arising of nutriment comes the arising of body. There must be nutriment for the body to arise. From the seizing of nutriment is the seizing of body. If there's no nutriment for the body, the body wastes away, and after a certain number of days, the body will die. And the way to the seizing of body is the Aryan Eightfold Path, the path to the ending of suffering. And the Buddha continues, that ease, that pleasure which arises because of body, that is the satisfaction that is in body. In so far as body is impermanent, is fraught with suffering and unstable, that is the misery that is in body. that restraint of desire and lust, that putting away of desire and lust, that are in body, that is the escape from body. Whatsoever recluses of brahmins, monks, by thus fully understanding body, its arising, its ceasing, and the way going to its ceasing, by thus fully understanding the satisfaction, the misery of body, and the way of escape from body, are on the path to weariness. to dispassion, to the seizing of body, they are well on the path. They that are well on the path are firmly grounded in this Dhammavinaya. Moreover, monks, whatsoever recluses of brahmins, by thus fully understanding body, its arising, its seizing, and the way going to its seizing, by thus fully understanding the satisfaction, the misery, and the escape from body, they who are on the path to weariness for body, Dispassion, the seizing of body, are liberated without grasping. They are truly liberated. For them it may be said, there is no more the whirling round. I'll just stop here for a moment to comment. So here, the second part, the Buddha is saying, that pleasure which arises because of body, that is the satisfaction that is in body. For example, sensual desire. because of the pleasure that arises from sensual contact, then we have the satisfaction or the pleasure that arises. That is the satisfaction that is in body. But in so far as body is impermanent, is fraught with suffering and unstable, that is the misery that is in body. So from the body we can get a certain satisfaction, we can get a certain pleasure out of body. Because body is unstable by nature, it can become sick. And when it becomes sick, or it grows old, then you get misery out of the body. Now that restraint of desire and lust, that putting away of desire and lust that are in body, that is the escape from body. So in order that you don't have a body again to suffer, you must put away the desire and lust for the body. As long as we have a desire and lust for the body, then we will continue to have a body after another body. And when you have a body and a mind, then you have to suffer for it. And... So when we understand that, then we... put away the desire and lust for body, then we are on the path to weariness or disenchantment, to dispassion, to the seizing of the body. And if we are on the path, then we understand we are firmly grounded in the Dhamma Vinaya, in the teachings of the Buddha. And then later there will be no more the whirling round, samsara. And what monks is feeling These six seeds of feeling, namely feeling that is born of contact with eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, from contact with mind, this month is called feeling. From the arising of contact comes the arising of feeling. From the seizing of contact is the seizing of feeling. And the way going to the seizing of feeling is this Aryan Eightfold Path, namely right view, right thoughts, etc. That ease, that pleasure which arises because of feeling, that is the satisfaction that is in feeling. Insofar as feeling is impermanent, fraught with suffering and unstable, this is the misery that is in feeling. That restraint of desire and lust, that putting away of desire and lust which are in feeling, that is the escape from feeling. Now whatsoever recluses of Brahmins, monks, by thus fully understanding feeling, its arising, its ceasing, and the way going thereto, by thus fully understanding the satisfaction, the misery that is in feeling, and the escape from feeling, are on the path to weariness at feeling, on the path to dispassion, for the utter ceasing of feeling, they are well on the path. They that are well on the path are firmly grounded in this dharma-vinaya. Moreover, monks, whatsoever recluses and brahmins, by fully understanding these things, are truly liberated. For them, it may be said, there is no more the whirling round." I'll just stop here for a moment to comment that the satisfaction, firstly, feeling arises from contact. with the six sense organs, with eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind. When there is contact, meaning when form appears before the eye, the seeing consciousness arises. And when you pay attention, then a feeling arises. So feeling arises because of eye contact, ear contact, nose, tongue, body and mind contact. So that is feeling. From the ceasing of contact is the ceasing of feeling. When there's no more contact, then there's no more that feeling arising. The way going to the ceasing of feeling is practicing the Aryan Eightfold Path. That is the permanent seizing of feeling, not a temporary seizing. Of course, the temporary seizing is just no contact, then there is no healing. But the permanent seizing of healing is the Aryan Eightfold Path. The pleasure which arises because of healing, that is the satisfaction of healing. It's impermanent. Because feeling is fraught with suffering and unstable, that is the misery in feeling. and the restraint of desire and lust in feeling, that is the escape from feeling. Now, we know that The whole economy of the country is based on getting good, pleasant feelings. If you can create something that can give people good feelings, you'll be able to sell the product, right? So our whole economy, for example, video shows, video cassettes now are very popular. If you can create a good show, and people enjoy seeing that show, they are willing to pay. Similarly, if you are able to produce a good sound, for example, a good sound, people like the music, people are willing to pay for the music. So these all have to do with good feelings. And the Buddha continues, and what monks is perception, these six seeds of perceiving, perception of sights, perception of sounds, of smells, tastes, tangibles and ideas, that monks is called perception. And for those who fully understand it, there is no more the whirling round. So similarly, with contact, After feeling arises perception. And what monks are volition? There are these six seeds of volition. The will with respect to sight, sound, smell, taste, tangibles and thoughts or ideas. These monks are called volition. From the arising of contact comes the arising of volition. From the ceasing of contact is the ceasing of volition. And the way going to the ceasing of volition is this Aryan Eightfold Path. that ease that pleasure which arises because of volition. That is the satisfaction that is in volition. Insofar as volition is impermanent, fraught with suffering and unstable, that is the misery of volition. That restraint of the desire and lust that are in volition, that putting away of the desire and lust that are in volition, that is the escape from volition. But whoever recluses of Brahmin monks fully understand these things, As before, for them it may be said, there is no more the whirling round. And what monks is consciousness. These six seeds of consciousness, seeing consciousness, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and mind consciousness. This monks is called consciousness. From the arising of Nama Rupa, mentality, materiality, comes the arising of consciousness. From their seizing, it's seizing. The way going to it's seizing is just that Aryan Eightfold Path. In this way, monks, a monk is skilled in the seven points. I'll just stop here for a moment. So, with perception and volition, it's just like for feeling, because of contact. Then you have feeling, followed by perception, followed by volition. But with consciousness, the six types of consciousness, seeing, hearing, smelling, taste, touch and mind consciousness, Consciousness here is said to arise because of Nama Rupa. Nama Rupa is actually mentality, materiality, that means phenomena. Phenomena that consciousness cognizes. That's why Nama Rupa is phenomena. It arises together with consciousness. When consciousness arises, it has an object, and that object is Nama Rupa. So Nama Rupa is not body and mind, although generally people translate Nama Rupa as body and mind. Nama is actually feeling, perception, volition, contact and thinking or attention. You notice Nama does not have, does not contain consciousness. So Nama is not the mind. Just now, earlier we said the four things comprise the mind. In the five khandas, the five aggregates, feeling, perception, volition and consciousness can be said to be mind. But nama does not contain consciousness, so it is not mind. So from the arising of nama-rupa comes the arising of consciousness. From the ceasing of nama-rupa it's ceasing because phenomena is that which consciousness cognizes. So when consciousness arises, it arises together with phenomena. And when consciousness ceases, it ceases together with phenomena, Nama Rupa. And how monks is a brother, is a monk, and how monks is a monk and investigator of the three ways. As to that monks, A monk investigates things by way of the elements, dhatu, by way of the sense spheres, ayatana, by way of causal happenings, paticca-samupada. That is how he is an investigator of the three ways. A monk who is killed in the seven points, monks, who is an investigator of the three ways, he is called accomplished in this dharmavinaya, one who has reached mastership, superman. That's the end of the sutra. So here the last part the Buddha is saying, that we should investigate by these three ways. One is the dhātu, elements. Elements may mean the 18 elements, the six sense organs, eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind. The six sense objects, the forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles and ideas or thoughts. and the six sense consciousness, seeing consciousness, hearing consciousness, smelling consciousness, tasting consciousness, touching consciousness and thinking consciousness. So that may be the elements. Or it can also mean the four great elements, earth, water, fire, wind. It can also mean the six elements. earth, water, fire, wind, space and consciousness. And the second way is to investigate by way of the sense spheres, ayatana. This one should be more of the six sense doors. Just now I mentioned the six sense objects and the six sense consciousness and the six sense organs. By way of causal happenings, paticca, samupada is dependent origination. how dukkha arises through the twelve links of dependent origination and how they cease. So if a monk or if a person understands, investigates, he investigates by these three ways and then he is accomplishing the Dharma Vinaya. Perhaps I'll stop here and if there are any questions we can discuss it.

(EA04)-17-QandA-3_Prevention-is-better-than-trying-to-cure

You see, the Buddha's teachings are to help us to reduce our suffering, and if possible, to end our suffering. And the Buddha's teachings are more of what we can call preventive medicine. You know, if somebody is already sick, normally it is difficult to cure the sickness, right? But if somebody is not yet sick, it is better to teach that person to have a healthy life, a healthy living. For example, by eating the proper food, by having proper exercise, by not having too much stress, by having enough rest, etc. Then that person would not become sick, right? So in the same way, the Buddha's teachings are a preventive medicine in the sense that before we suffer, we should learn and understand the Dharma. Of course, we suffer a bit before we are ready to want to investigate the Buddha's words, right? Now, having suffered a bit, if we have the wisdom, we come and we investigate the Buddha's words and learn more about the Buddha's teachings. Having learned more about the Buddha's teachings, then slowly we let go of our attachments, right? So, when we are able to do that, and something like this happens to you, your child falls off the motorbike and gets killed by a car, then You accept it lah. You know, you accept it as a fact of life. You understand that however much you cry, you cry until all the tears come out of your body, still, the child will not come back. Right? So, you accept it, perhaps this is the karma of the child. Then you don't grieve so much. But if a person does not come and make an effort to understand the Buddha's teachings, just like a lot of people. So, The chances are that when something like this happens to them, then they are overcome with grief. And when they are overcome with grief, then it's very difficult to help them. Right? Because their mind is already turned in that direction. Right? Just like a person is mad already. Because when we are overcome with grief, and the grief is so strong and uncontrollable, a person temporarily becomes insane, just like anger. When the anger in us arises to such a great extent, we might kill somebody out of anger, in a rage. Because at that moment, we are temporarily insane. Just like, for example, if we don't understand the Dharma and don't practice and don't cultivate our mind, we have five hindrances that can be very very strong. The first one is sensual desire, second one is ill will or anger, third one is sloth and torpor, fourth one is restlessness and worry, fifth one is doubt. So if we don't understand the Dharma and we don't take the trouble to cultivate our mind, When one of these hindrances arise, for example, in a man, the sensual desire can arise to such a great degree that he might rape his own daughter, right? He rapes his own daughter because he cannot control himself. Because the sensual desire has come to such a great extent, he does this thing. And later, of course, he regrets it. So, when that thing strikes us, temporarily, it's very hard to help that person, right? So similarly with this woman, if she sees her child being killed on the road and she blames herself because of her carelessness, she go and knock somebody or something and the child falls and is killed before her eyes. And temporarily she's overcome with grief and becomes temporarily insane. To help such a person is very difficult. That is why we must make the effort first, before suffering comes, to help ourselves so that we are prepared

(EA04)-18-QandA-4_Where-is-the-MIND

At that time, scientists used to think that the mind is inside here. Now, scientists have come to the conclusion that they cannot put their finger and say where the mind is because of certain happenings. For example, I heard of a case. There was a family, I think in Vietnam, which were separated because of the Vietnamese War. So the mother was in Vietnam, And the son somehow managed to go to France, I think. So the mother used to think about the son, the son used to think about the mother. And one day, the mother was dying in Vietnam. And the son didn't know. But when the mother was dying in Vietnam, he had a dream. And he dreamt very clearly, that he saw the mother dying in the house, in the room, and he saw exactly the type of clothes the mother was wearing, the things that were in the room, all arranged, everything he saw very clearly. And then he got up from his sleep and he was disturbed because it was such a clear dream. To him it was so real, he thought it is more than a dream. So he noted the time, the day, the time, you know. Later, he got news from his family that his mother died. And later, I think after several years, he came back to Vietnam when the war ended or something. And then he asked his brothers and sisters whether the mother died wearing a certain color of clothes. whether she was in a certain position in the room, whether there was such and such things in the room, everything, and they confirmed everything that he saw in his dream, you know. So in this case, you see, when the mind is very strong, it can reach out from Vietnam to France. So that's why things like this, scientists, now they say they don't know where the mind is. But actually in the Buddha's teachings, everything is in the mind. Everything is in consciousness. The whole world arises from consciousness. There is a sutra where it is stated that The whole world arises in consciousness. With the arising of consciousness, there is the world. If there is no consciousness, there is no world. Just like a dream, when we are dreaming, and the dream consciousness projects another world. Our mind, in a way, is like a computer. When you play a computer, what comes out on the screen depends on the program you put in. Yes or not? So similarly, what comes out in the screen of our mind depends on the program we put in. And what is that program? Kamma. Because of karma, for example, if you have done a lot of good deeds, the moment you pass away, the mind will create a world which is a beautiful world for you. So that everything you see is beautiful, all the sounds you hear are beautiful, smell, taste and touch. But if you have done a lot of evil deeds, the moment you pass away, the mind conjures up a world where it is like hell. where you see people suffering, crying in pain, and then the sounds you hear are crying, mourning sounds, and the contact you have, you are cut, you are burned, you are suffering bodily pain, even mental pain also. So it is all the karma that is programming the mind.

(EA04)-19-QandA-5_Citta-Mano-and-Vinnana

There are three words that denote the mind in Pali. One is citta. Citta is more than a thought. A thought can be called citta. The mind can also be called citta. And then another word that is used is mano. Mano is the thinking faculty, the scheming faculty, the calculating faculty. So in man, mano is very well developed. That is why we are called man from the word mano. You see? That's why in the whole world, in this earth, man is number one, right? Even when an elephant sees you, the elephant are so scared. Because you can take a gun and shoot him down. So the third word that denotes mind is Vijnana. Vijnana is consciousness. Consciousness. So the... These three words are used slightly differently in the suttas, but the Buddha didn't take the trouble to explain exactly the difference between them. But you find consciousness concerns normally the six types of consciousness, the seeing consciousness, the hearing, smelling, taste, touch and thinking consciousness. But there are certain suttas in the Nikayas, which talks about a different type of consciousness, for example, apatitaṁ viññāna, unsupported consciousness. That is why there's a lot of things in the suttas, we don't take the trouble to investigate. If we take the trouble to investigate, we find certain things which are normally not even mentioned by any monk. For example, this apatitanga-vijñāna. This apatitanga-vijñāna is a kind of consciousness which is... apatitanga means unsupported, unsupported. The normal six types of consciousness are consciousness with a support, meaning an object, And the consciousness arises together with the object. For example, hearing consciousness arises because sound must come first. Sound must come to the ear, and then the hearing consciousness arises. Similarly with seeing consciousness, a form must come before the eye, and then the seeing consciousness arises. So these six consciousnesses, they have an object. But a patiṁtaṁ viññāna, unsupported consciousness, has no object. That is why some people, some monks, they say or they claim that the state of Nibbāna, in the state of Nibbāna, there is still a type of consciousness without an object. But of course, sometimes People will argue about that, so there's no point to argue. We just have to practice and eventually we will know ourselves. There are other types of consciousness mentioned, which is not the normal consciousness. Animitta, Vijnana, signless consciousness or signless concentration. boundless concentration also. So that is consciousness. And then mind is only referring to the thinking faculty. And citta, citta is more encompassing. It can mean the thought, it can mean the whole mind. So these are the three words that describe the mind.

(EA04)-20-QandA-6_The-Buddha-has-5-Khandhas

The first question you asked concerning the Buddha having the five aggregates. The Buddha has the five aggregates, just like the Arahants have five aggregates. And some people say that because the Buddha has no self, that he has no suffering. This is not according to the Buddha's words. In the Buddha's words, in one of the Kudaka Nikaya books, the Buddha does say that he has the five aggregates, and because of the five aggregates, he also has suffering, physical suffering. It's only when he gives up, relinquishes the body, then only he has no more suffering. When the Buddha was 80 years old, he used to complain to his attendant, Ananda, that the body gave him a lot of pain because the body was breaking up. Even the Buddha's body has to break up. So when he was about 80 years old, the body gave him so much pain, sometimes he found it very hard to bear. He has to go into Samadhi, goes into deep Samadhi, and then feeling and perception stops. And when he has no feeling, he has no bodily feeling, even though, so he abides in that state, abides in that state. And later when he comes out of it, because of that deep samadhi, the pain does not affect him for some time. But later, the pain will come back again. So he has to enter samadhi again. As long as we have a body, we will have to suffer. That's why the Buddha says, nibbanam paramam sukham. Nibbana is the greatest bliss. When you don't have a body, that is the greatest bliss.

(EA04)-21-QandA-7_Phobia

Of course, phobia is related to mind, because it is mind made. In fact, nowadays, I think most doctors agree that most of our sickness is mind made. Most of our sickness. And phobia has a lot to do with our past life. For example, some people, they have claustrophobia, right? If they are in an enclosed space, they panic. It has something to do with the past. If a person is scared of taking a plane, it may be that perhaps the person died in a plane crash before. For example, many people, including myself, when I go up to a high height and high building and I look down, I get very scared. But some people are not scared. You see them walking. I've seen these workers walk on the scaffolding or crane, you know, those high cranes that they use to build multi-storey buildings. Some of these workers, they just walk on the beam of the crane to do some repair without any tying, anything, you know. They're not scared. But most people are scared, maybe because in our past life, we fell to our death. So when you look down, all your legs get weak already. There's one lady once who told me, an old lady, she said that when she meditated, when she started to meditate, after a while she would feel suffocating, you know, as though she's dying. And this will persist for some time. And this happened for, I think, many months. Then she asked me why. And I said, possibly because in a previous life, you might have drowned or something. So, because our mind, I like to use this simile. You know, if you have a glass of water, and that water contains mud, muddy water, if you allow the glass to stand still, without disturbing it, all the mud will sink to the bottom, right? But if you go and shake the water, the mud will start to come up, right? So I think similarly, our mind, we have a lot of memory from the past, which has settled down in our mind, and we've forgotten about it. But when we start meditating, and then we are disturbing our mind, we're going into our mind ground, and some of these things start to come up, start to come up. So like for this lady, something from the past, this choking feeling from the past came up again. So there are some people, they may have a traumatic experience, either when they were young or in a past life. For example, a girl being raped at a very young age. So when she starts to meditate, a lot of this fear starts to come up. And a person, sometimes, some people, they meditate and they may have a breakdown. So it can be dangerous. You have to be very careful. In fact, some of these things in our background, in the depths of our mind, I think they have to come up if you want to cure yourself. For example, several years ago, there was a Thai monk, sorry, a Thai man who came to learn meditation in a Thai Wat in Kelantan. And after, old man, and after practicing meditation for a few days, he started to act as if possessed, you know. he started to act like a monkey jump up and down and he couldn't be controlled and they tried to catch him he ran into the forest and stayed in the forest for a few days and the sons had to go and look for him and bring him back and after that the sons didn't allow him to meditate anymore so the monk who taught him meditation was a bit disturbed the fact that this man came and learned meditation under him and this man had a mental breakdown so he wanted to know why so he started to ask and later he came to know that this man he formerly he had a monkey he reared a monkey maybe to pluck coconuts and monkeys from the forest came out to disturb his monkey so he took his gun and shot the leader of the pack of monkeys so when he started to meditate this thing came up and he acted like a monkey so from here you can see it's quite dangerous If the memory in his mind is not brought up and slowly erased, then maybe when he passes away, he might become a monkey. Right? So there are certain of these problems in our minds. If people have these problems, they have to be very careful and slowly try to bring it up. Bring it up, try to understand and come to terms with it.

(EA04)-22-QandA-8_Clinging-to-5-Khandhas

What is the reason that although we know the five aggregates of attachment are impermanent and not-self, yet we still cling so tightly onto them? Well, in the Buddha's teachings, in the suttas, the Buddha says, the reason why we don't see things as they really are, yatha bhutang, jnana-darsana, seeing and knowing things as they really are, is because we are covered by the five hindrances. Just now I mentioned the five hindrances as sensual desire, ill-will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt. So the most important thing in meditation is actually to get rid of the five hindrances. Because if you don't get rid of the five hindrances, then whatever type of meditation you do is of not much use. That is why in the Majjhima Nikaya, Venerable Ananda said, he was asked, what type of meditation is praised by the Buddha? What type of meditation is not praised by the Buddha? And the Venerable Ananda said, that type of meditation where the five hindrances are abandoned is praised by the Buddha. That type of meditation where the five hindrances are not abandoned is not praised by the Buddha. And what type of meditation is it that will help you to get rid of the five hindrances? It is actually deep concentration. When the mind becomes deeply concentrated, then the mind is focused. And when the mind is focused, it comes under control. And when the mind comes under control, these five hindrances are naturally reduced without any effort. It is stated in the suttas. There is an unconscious restraint. You don't make a conscious restraint. The restraint is an unconscious restraint without any effort. If you are able to bring your mind to a state of one-pointedness, then the five hindrances, you don't have to make an effort to reduce them, they become naturally reduced. And when you come out of concentration, come out of samadhi, they remain reduced for some time. Just as I just now mentioned about the Buddha, because he has the pain in the body, the body is breaking up, he goes into deep samadhi. And after he comes out of deep samadhi, the pain is not there for some time. But later, the thing wears away. And then the pain may come back. So if we meditate continuously, or every day we can abide in samadhi, then our hindrances are reduced naturally to a very low level. And when the hindrances are reduced to a low level, then you see things as they really are. And when you see things as they really are, then you know what to do. On top of that, Knowing things, knowing what to do is one thing. Being able to do it is another thing. That also you are able to do only with strong samadhi. Because if you have strong samadhi, then the mind is very strong, very firm. If you know that something should be done, you do it. If you know that something should not be done, you don't do it. For example, Knowing is not enough. Why? For example, a person who commits adultery, a person who has a family, has a spouse, husband or wife, and children, because of weakness, because of the five hindrances, the sensual desire is very strong. For example, the man, He is working very closely with the secretary, works every night, late hours with the secretary, goes to dinner with the secretary, very close to the secretary, spends almost the whole day with the secretary, even more hours than with his wife. So it is not difficult for him, perhaps, to fall in love with the secretary because the secretary is very young and attractive. So he knows he should not do this thing, but the five hindrances very strong, sensual desire very strong. So even though he knows it's not enough, because the mind is not strong enough to resist, but if he practices meditation and he has strong samadhi, then firstly he sees things very clearly. He sees that if he walks this path, he's going to cause a lot of problems not only to himself to his family members and a lot of people are going to hate him firstly he sees things very clearly secondly he has the strength of mind to resist a lot of us we don't have the strength of mind to resist we do things because we don't have a strength of mind therefore the samadhi is very important that's why if you look into the suttas the Buddha is always talking about Samadhi, always praising the Jhanas. In fact, in one sutra, the Buddha said, Samadhi Mago. Ah Samadhi Kum Mago. Samadhi is concentration. Mago is the path. Ah Samadhi is no concentration. Kum Mago is the wrong path. So the Buddha has said very clearly, concentration is the path. No concentration is the wrong path.

(EA04)-23-QandA-9_Ways-to-reduce-clinging-to-5-Khandhas

The second question, please suggest ways which the Buddha advises to reduce this clinging to the five aggregates. I suppose the best way is to study the suttas. We study the suttas and we see the Buddha is trying to help us exactly this, you know, to reduce our clinging to the five aggregates. And because the Buddha is trying to help us, he's explaining so many suttas to us. These sutras are extremely important because they explain the Dhamma from various angles, from various angles of looking. If the suttas were not important, the Buddha would not have taken so much effort and spoken about 5,000 to 6,000 suttas in the Nikayas. Throughout the 45 years of his ministry, he was giving discourses and explaining so many things to us because he wanted us to reduce this clinging. to our five aggregates, etc. So when we study the suttas, we know exactly how to practice because the Buddha has given very clear instructions. So having got the instructions from the Buddha, then we try to put it into practice. These two things are very important if we want to practice the spiritual path. One is listening to the Buddha's words, the suttas. The second one is carrying them out Putting them into practice, that means meditation. These two must go together, the theory and the practice. You just have the practice without the theory, you won't make very much progress. And you have theory without the practice, or you have practice without theory, you won't go very very far.

(EA04)-24-QandA-10_Foundations-of-the-Spiritual-Path

What are the foundations that we should fulfill in the spiritual path? It depends whether you are a renunciant, a monk, or a lay person. For a monk, the Buddha has given very clear instructions. There is certain sutras where the Buddha has explained, you know, very clear instructions. And there are certain things that he has instructed, for example, sila, keeping the precepts, contentment for a monk, and then seclusion, guarding the sense doors, moderation in eating, devoted to wakefulness, that means not sleeping too much, sati sampajanya, mindfulness and awareness. So that is for a monk. But for lay persons, the Buddha gave an advice in the Sangyuta Nikaya, that lay persons should study the discourses of the Buddha. Because if you study the discourses of the Buddha, then you are able to get right view. Because the Buddha said in the Majjhima Nikaya, that if you want to practice the Aryan Eightfold Path, the eight factors of the Aryan Eightfold Path, the most important one, and the one that you have to start with, is the first factor, which is Right View. If you don't have Right View, then however long you practice, it's no use, you haven't entered the path, you haven't entered the door. So Right View is the most important. I don't know, I'm sure many of you know, about two years ago, one of our very strong Buddhists, who had been meditating for, I hear, 20 or 20 over years, she changed her religion. Why? After practicing so 20 over years, she can change her Buddhist religion. That shows the foundation is not there. She didn't get the right view. If she had got the right view, she would never be able to be swayed. So right view is very important. And the Buddha said in the Majjhima Nikaya, to get right view, only two conditions are necessary. The first condition is studying the suttas. The second one is to have yoniso manasikara. Droniso manasikara can be translated as thorough consideration or simply translated as proper attention. When you listen to the suttas or when you read the suttas, put all your attention there. So, with just these two conditions, if you study enough suttas, you can have right view. That is, the Buddha is quite clear about this. So when you have right view, you have entered the path. And actually, you have entered the stream. A person with right view, the Buddha says, is a person who has a basic understanding of the Four Noble Truths. And if you have a basic understanding of the Four Noble Truths, you have entered the first path. You are already an Arya. And if you are already an Arya, then you have unshakable faith. Nothing can shake your faith. And the next life, you will meet the Dharma again. Or you will practice the Dharma again. And at the most, you will have only seven more lifetimes in samsara, before you attain the highest bliss of nirvana. So studying the sutras is very important. Another foundation is sila. Sila. keeping the five precepts. And if possible, once a week, the Buddha advised lay persons should keep the eight precepts. The 8 precepts are quite important because during the Buddha's time, lay people used to practice the 8 precepts. You know the 8 precepts are practiced on the 8th day of the, formally practiced on the 8th day of the lunar month, the 15th day, the 23rd day, and the last day, 29th or 30th of the lunar month. But that was during the Buddha's time. Nowadays, if you just practice once a week, you choose a day that is convenient for you, say Sunday or any day of the week, and you try to keep the eight precepts, that is very good, because the Buddha says, if you do that, then your chances of getting a good rebirth are very high. Either you come back as a human being or even go to heaven. So that is the precept. The other thing for lay persons to practice is charity, dana. Don't think that you want to practice only the higher wisdom and you don't need to practice sila, don't need to practice dana. This is wrong. Because the Buddha said in the sutras that Dana and Sila is very basic. If a person does not do these two things, keeping the precepts and doing some charity, that person is very likely to be reborn into the woeful planes. You may be very smart, but you may be a very smart ghost. So, you need these two things, dana and sila. So, in the sutras, the Buddha said, if you do keep these two things, dana and sila, to a small degree, tampo, then you can be reborn as a human being, but a poor human being, because you have little blessings. Poor human being. If you keep these two things, sila and dana, to a middle middle degree, medium degree, you will be reborn as a human being, but a rich human being with a lot of blessings. And if you practice these two things, sila and dana, to a high degree, you will be reborn as a deva or devi. So the teaching is very clear. It depends on us which way we want to walk, which path we choose. So dana and sila are also important. Of course, the other thing that is important, if you can spend a little bit of time to meditate in the morning or at night, it's very good for you because you learn to keep your mind still, try to keep your mind on one object, learn to control the mind. The Buddha said in the Anguttara Sutta that an uncontrolled mind gives us a lot of suffering. A controlled mind gives us a lot of happiness. So we learn to control our mind. When we learn to control our mind, the five hindrances reduce. When the five hindrances reduce, they don't give us so much suffering. So these are the foundations.

(EA04)-25-QandA-11_Ingredients-for-the-spiritual-cultivation

What ingredients should one have to be successful in walking the spiritual path? The most important ingredient is earnestness, earnestness or sincerity. If you are sincere, then you will bend your time, you will use your time whenever you can for this purpose. The trouble with most of us, we have a lot of desires. When you have too many desires, then our energy is split, is divided. And when your energy is divided, you cannot put your mind wholeheartedly on one thing. Don't have too many desires. You have to examine yourself and be frank with yourself. What do you want in life? Try to ask. What are your priorities? Then see your priorities. This is the most important thing, this is the second most important thing, this is the third, this is the fourth, this is the fifth. Then you know you don't have time to do all these things. So you try those that are not so important to cut it down. And that which is important to you, you put more time, more effort on it. And if you are sincere, then you will be successful. If we do one day's Work, we get one day's gaji, one day's wage. If you do one month's work, you get one month's gaji. So in the same way, on the spiritual path, if you exert a certain effort, you get a certain result. The more effort you put, more result. Less effort, less result. So we have to choose. So the most important thing is earnestness. Most of us, we try to compromise. If you try to compromise, then we are not being very sincere. And if you are not very sincere, then you won't be very successful.

(EA04)-26-QandA-12_Are-the-Sutta-important

Are the suttas so important? Why? Oh yes, the suttas are extremely important. When the Buddha was about to pass into Nibbāna, somebody asked the Buddha, Bhagavata, Lord, after you have passed into Nibbāna, whom should we take as our teacher? They probably thought that the Buddha was going to appoint a successor. Instead, the Buddha said, take the Dhamma Vinaya as your teacher. That means our teacher is the Sutas and the Vinaya. Because the Vinaya does not concern lay people. So you must take the Sutas as your teacher. Because in the Anguttara Nikaya 4.180, the Buddha said, if any monk says that such and such is the Buddha's teachings, you don't reject his words, you don't welcome his words, but you compare what he says to be the Buddha's teachings with the and if it does not agree, you don't accept him. That is why in the Second Sangha Council, it was decided that we don't always follow our senior monk. Whatever our senior monk says, if it agrees with the suttas and the Vinaya, we follow him. If he teaches something to us which is not in agreement with the suttas and the Vinaya, we don't follow him. There is a very interesting sutta in the Anguttara Nikaya, where the Buddha said, he must be referring to the future, sometime like now, the Buddha said, you may have a very senior monk, long gone forth, and very well known, world renowned, for example, And he may be very, he may have a large following of disciples, monks and nuns or lay person disciples, a huge following of disciples. And he may be very learned in the books. Even such a monk, the Buddha says, can have wrong view, can have wrong view. So don't think that because such and such a monk is very famous, that everything that he says is correct. Not necessary. You must compare whatever monk says to be the Buddha's teachings with the suttas. If he does not agree with the suttas, then don't follow him. Our only teacher, our one and only teacher is the Buddha. That is why the Buddha told us to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. And during the Buddha's time, the Sangha actually referred to the Bhikkhu Sangha. Sometimes, of course, it's mentioned the Aryan Sangha. But more often, in the sutras, when a person takes refuge, he says he takes refuge with the Bhikkhu Sangha. Because it's hard to tell who is the Aryan Sangha. Aryan Sangha is like a... You can't tell who is the Aryan Sangha. If you can't tell who is the Aryan Sangha, how can you take refuge with the Aryan Sangha? So during the Buddha's time, they took refuge with the Bhikkhu Sangha. And also because you can't tell who is an Arya, so you have to rely on the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Bhikkhu Sangha. So, there are two sutras. After the Buddha passed away, an Arahant was talking to some lay person. And the lay person was so impressed with the Arahant's teaching that he wanted to take refuge with the Arahant. And the Arahant said, no, you can't take refuge with me. You must take refuge only with the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. So this man thought the Buddha is alive somewhere. He asked the Arahant, he said, where's the Buddha? I don't mind walking a long distance to take refuge with him. Then the Arahant said, oh, he's entered Nibbāna. Even though he's entered Nibbāna, you still take refuge with the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. So remember, the Buddha said, when he was about to pass into Nibbāna, he said, after I'm gone, take the Dhamma Vinaya as your teacher. In other words, the sūtas, for lay persons, the sūtas. So when you take refuge with the Buddha, now it means you take refuge with the sūtas. And when you take refuge with the Dhamma, it also means you take refuge with the sūtas. When you take refuge with the Sangha, you don't know who is the Sangha, who is the Aryan Sangha. Right? So, and the Buddha says, even a famous monk can have wrong view. So, the only thing that is reliable is the Suttas, the original Suttas. And the original Suttas are found in the earliest four Nikayas. The last Nikaya has 15 books. According to the Burmese, they have 18 books. They added another 3 in 1956. And out of these 15 books, 5 are quite reliable because they are consistent with the earliest 4 Nikayas. But the other 10 books, they have contradictions with the earliest 4 Nikayas. So only 5 books out of the 15 books in the Kudaka Nikaya, the last Nikaya, is reliable. Other than that, the earliest 4 Nikayas are very reliable because they are very consistent. and you don't hardly find any contradictions. So we should put our effort to study the Four Nikayas. You know, actually we are very very lucky, you know. You could say that you are more lucky than a person who is born during the Buddha's time. Why? Because if you were born during the Buddha's time and you were in India, the chances firstly of meeting the Buddha are very slim, right? Secondly, if you meet the Buddha, the Buddha might come to your kampong and stay for a few days. And after a few days, he may walk away again because the Buddha was always walking all around India. So if you met the Buddha, you might hear the sutras, the discourses from the Buddha for a few days. And after that, you don't see the Buddha again for a long time. The longest time the Buddha would stay in one place is four months during the Vassa, rain season. And during four months, how much discourses can you hear? I don't think very, very many, right? Four months times 30 days is 120 days, right? 120 days, how many discourses can you hear? Even if the Buddha were to give a discourse every day, it's about 120 suttas. But now in our Nikayas, we have 5,000 suttas. 45 years of sweat, of the Buddha's sweat, in our four Nikayas. And you are able to study all the 5,000 suttas now. So you are more lucky now than somebody born during the Buddha's time, right? And in the suttas, the Buddha said, he looked into the past, and he looked into the past 91 kapas, 91 world cycles, and he saw only six Buddhas. Only six Buddhas appeared in 91 world cycles. One world cycle is extremely long, you know, the Buddha said hard to calculate the length of a world cycle. That means on an average, it takes more than 10 world cycles before one Buddha appears. So now, if you don't take the opportunity to study the Buddha's words, on the average, you have to wait for more than 10 world cycles. How many more rebirths before you meet with the Dharma, right?

(EA04)-27-QandA-13_Dhammapada-is-easier-to-understand

It's easier to understand the Dharmapada than the Suttas, correct? But you know, cheap things are not good, good things are not cheap, right? So you want a high reward, you must put a lot of effort. But I have taken a little bit of trouble to explain the sutas. The Sanyuta Nikaya and the Anguttara Nikaya are the two most important Nikayas out of the four, you know, because they contain the most sutas. Sanyuta Nikaya contains about 2,000 sutas, Anguttara Nikaya about 2,000 sutas. and I've spoken the Sangyuta and Anguttanikayas in Hokkien in the Penang Buddhist Association between 1991 and 93, I think. So there are about 31 tapes. You can approach our brother Kok Leong here. He has the tapes. And also our brother Fong. Yes, brother Fong of Mahindrama. He has our Hokkien tapes, the suttas. And also I have tried to give Sutta talks in English in KL. So far I have given about 47 talks, 47, 48 talks on the Anguttara Nikaya. They are coming to an end in a few more, by 50, 50 something, I will finish the series of Anguttara Nikaya. and later perhaps I might start on the Sanyuta Nikaya. So if you find it difficult to read the books, actually the books are difficult to read because the only translations available are from the Pali Text Society and those books were translated by very learned professors, you know, Professors Ruiz Davids and that company of scholars and because they were very learned, they used high-class English very high class English, poetical English, old-fashioned English, and you might find it hard to understand those. You might have to use a dictionary a lot. So you might find it easier to listen to the suttas, because I have taken the trouble to read the suttas and then try to explain the difficult points. So if you are interested, I would very much encourage you to get a set of the tapes for yourself. Because these suttas are not like stories. You don't listen to them once only. You have to listen to them again and again and again. Each time you listen to them, you catch more and more the meaning of the suttas you know in the suttas the Buddha mentioned there are five instances when you can become an Arya or become enlightened five occasions what are the five occasions the first one when you listen to Dhamma that means either you listen to the tapes or you read the suttas that is the first instance because the Buddha says when you listen to Dhamma And when you understand the Dharma, the joy of Dharma arises. And when you have the joy of Dharma in you, the mind becomes tranquil. And the mind, after the mind becomes tranquil, it becomes concentrated. And a concentrated mind is a basis for wisdom to arise. So a person can become an Arya, firstly by listening to the Sutta. The second instance, the Buddha says, is when a person teaches the Dharma. When a person teaches and explains the Dhamma, the understanding of the Dhamma gives, joy arises as a result. So when joy arises, then the mind becomes tranquil, becomes concentrated, and wisdom arises. So the second instance, when a person becomes an Arya, is during teaching of the Dhamma. The third one, is when we repeat the Dhamma. You know, during the Buddha's time, they had no books. So they had to learn the suttas by heart and repeat the suttas. So each time you repeat the suttas, you understand it more. So in the same way, the joy of dharma arises, the mind becomes tranquil, concentrated and wisdom arises. So the third time a person becomes an Arya is when he repeats the suttas. The fourth one, is when a person reflects on the teachings. Having heard the suttas, you think about it, try to examine whether it's true or not, whether you can see it in this lifetime or not, and try to examine the various aspects of the Buddha's words. Then when you reflect on the teaching, understanding, Joy arises, similarly, and you become an Arya. That's the fourth occasion. Only the last one is during meditation. When you contemplate on the Samadhi Nimitta, it's mentioned, when you contemplate on the sign of concentration, then you get wisdom. So you see, the first four have to do with understanding the suttas. That is why I always advise people to study the suttas. You'll never, never regret it. Even if you invest $1,000 to buy the Pali Text Society books, the two Nikayas, you won't regret it because they are worth their weight in gold.

(EA04)-28-QandA-14_How-should-we-study-the-Sutta

The suttas are difficult to read and understand. From your experience, how should we approach the study of the suttas? It's true, the suttas are difficult to read and understand. But when I started to read the Buddha's teachings, I also found them difficult to understand. But I had the patience to continue reading. I came from a Catholic school, you know, Catholic school for 12 years from Standard 1 until Form 6. When I was in Form 5, I was convinced I was going to become a Catholic. But when I was in Form 6, I started to think, and I had a lot of questions, and I gave a lot of questions to the brothers, Christian brothers. They could not answer my questions. So because of doubt, later I gave up the Christian religion. But when I came to the Buddhist religion, I found it very difficult to understand. Not like Christianity and other religions, so easy to understand, right? Because there are not very many concepts, not very many principles. So, I continued to read. Even though I didn't understand, I continued to read. And as I read further, I found that the things that I didn't understand earlier began to click. and began to understand. It's like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. When you start putting the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together, you don't see the whole picture, right? But as you put more and more pieces together, slowly, slowly, you begin to see the overall picture. So in the same way, the more suttas we read, Then slowly the pieces fall into place. That is why the Buddha explains 5000 suttas, because he tried to explain the Dhamma from various angles, so that when you look at the Dhamma from more angles, the more you understand. But if you find it difficult to read the sutras as I suggested, you try to listen to the tapes. They would be much easier for you to understand. And if you do that, I hope you make a copy for yourself so that you can listen to them again and again.

(EA04)-29-QandA-15_How-to-help-a-person-with-fear-of-death

How are we able to help a person to overcome fear of death, especially when a person has no Dhamma? The Buddha in the Suttas mentioned a few reasons why people have fear when they are about to pass away. One is because they have no understanding of the Dhamma, so they don't know what life is all about. They don't know where they are going for rebirth. Another reason why people fear is because they've done a lot of bad karma. So if that person still has time, then we should encourage the person to keep the five precepts, not to do evil. By keeping the basic precepts, then the person does not do evil, and that person acquires certain blessings. The blessings of keeping the precepts can support a person when a person is about to die. Another one is charity. Encourage that person to do charity, himself or herself. Either bring that person to come to the temple to give dana to the monks or bring that person to the old folks' home. to do charity and help the old folks take a bath or cut their fingernails or wash their hair or whatever and bring them to orphanages Or do other kinds of social work, there's various kinds of social work, for example, become one of those befrienders, where people are thinking of committing suicide, then they have no other way, they phone up the befrienders and get somebody to talk to them. And there are other social work, like AIDS organizations, etc., etc. And so these are the various ways. But if that person is too old, and that person cannot go himself or herself to do charity, then you do it on behalf of that person, and you tell that person, tell that person that, I'm going to the temple to do some charity, you'd like to, maybe mona, they say mona, isn't it? One dollar or two dollars. And then I go and buy something on your behalf, and do the charity for you. It is when that person is still alive, we should try to do as much as we can for that person. Because after that person has passed away, it's difficult to help that person. There is one sutra where a Brahmin came to ask the Buddha. The Brahmins have a tradition, a little bit like Chinese, you know, Chinese during Cheng Beng, all souls day, we go to the cemetery, we clean the cemetery, and then we offer food. But after praying and offering food, half an hour later, we take the food back and makan ourselves. Yes or not? But the Indians are a bit different. After they offer the food, they burn it, you know, they burn it. Burn it, they don't eat at all. Burn everything. So this Brahmin came and asked the Buddha, he said, we do this Shraddha offerings for the dead. Do the dead people actually get it? Then the Buddha said, it depends where they are reborn. If they are reborn in heaven, they won't get it. And probably they don't need it also. If they are reborn as a human being, they won't get it, the Buddha said. If they are reborn as an animal, they won't get it. If they are reborn in hell, you can't help them. They won't get it also. Only if they're reborn as a ghost, they can get it. The Buddha didn't explain why, but I guess because when a person becomes a ghost, and that person is hungry, and shivering from the cold, person goes here, goes there, doesn't get any help, then that person will think, who is going to help me? Nobody wants to help me. Perhaps my son or my daughter may think of me. So ghosts like to come back. come back to their homes. That's why Chinese believe after seven days, they come back. But after seven days, if you hear sounds of them coming back, it's not a very good sign, they're born as a ghost. So because they come back, and you do merit, and you transfer to them, and they get to know it, that they can get. So only if the relative is reborn as a ghost, that there's a chance that that person would get it. not if that person is born somewhere else. Then this Brahmin asked the Buddha, he said, if my relative is not born as a ghost and I make this offering, then who gets it? Then the Buddha said, if your particular relative is not born as a ghost, there might be other ghosts who were related to you. You know, there might be some ghosts related to us in the past. That's why some people dream of ghosts, some people see ghosts, because these ghosts may be related to us in the past and they come for help. So these other ghosts will get it. Then the Buddha said, even if you don't have any relatives as ghosts, you still get the merit because you did that offering. So, that is the sutra. So, in thinking about this sutra, if our relative has passed away, the chances of helping that person is not very great. So while that person is still alive, you try to help that person as much as you can, especially if that person is very old and the time is very short. Because the best thing actually is to teach that person dhamma. Let that person listen to tapes and all that. Start with very simple tapes about karma and all that. By the way, when we transfer merit, it's not only ghosts that will get it. Whatever beings around us, who want the merit, for example, three devas, datukong, our house spirit, if they want the share of the merit, they come near. And when they come near, they know that we are transferring merit to them, they may get it. But if our relative has passed away and we want to do merit for them, the best thing is one day or two days or three days before that dana, at night, you light an incense and you inform them, tomorrow I'm going to do the dana on your behalf. and I will transfer the merit to you. So you inform them beforehand. Then only you do the dana and later you transfer the merit to them again.

(EA04)-30-Samyutta-Nikaya_Sutta-22

Good evening. Tonight, this is the third talk on the Five Aggregates of Attachment. And the last few days, we've had a few sweet talks. So there's a few more sweet talks I will do tonight. And after that, I hope we'll have questions to ask, like last night. Last night was quite interesting, we had a lot of questions. So tonight I come to the Kāṇḍā-saṁhitā, Sūtāna-vigraha 2.82. Once the exalted one was staying near Sāvātī in East Park at the storied house of Nīgāla's mother. nidāsa-madhava-bhagavad-gītā-sakha, with a great gathering of the Sangha of the monks. On that occasion, it was the Uposatha, the 15th day of the month, on a full moon night. The exalted one was seated in the open air, surrounded by the Sangha of the monks. Then a certain mountain rising from the sea and drawing its outer rope over one Jordan, bowed before the Exalted One with folded hands, and thus addressed the Exalted One, Lord, I would pray and question the Exalted One on a certain point, if the Exalted One grants permission and would give an answer to my question and would answer it. Then sit down and pray to our Mama and ask for her will. Even so, the Lord replied to Mama to the Exalted One and sat down where he was and thus addressed the Exalted One. Are these five techniques of attachment of the individual body every day, the feeling every day, perception every day, position every day, and consciousness every day. And the Buddha said, that is so, ma'am. Those are the five aggregates of attachment, as you say. It is well lost, said the ma'am, welcoming and glad to be here in the world of the Exotic One. And put another question, are these five aggregates of attachment, ma'am, in what are they rooted? And the Buddha said, these five aggregates of attachment, ma'am, have their root in desire. Then that monk asked again, now, this same attachment, Lord, does it go to five aggregates of attachment, or is attachment something apart from those five aggregates? And the Buddha said, no, indeed, monk, this same Attachment is not those five aggregates of attachment, nor yet is it something apart from those five aggregates. But where there is desire and lust, there also is attachment. We stop here for a moment. We comment. Here the Buddha is saying that the five aggregates of attachment have their root in desire. However, the five aggregates, it's not the five attachments, it's not attachment yet. Attachment is not something separate from the five aggregates, but where there is desire and lust, there, in other words, desire and lust for the aggregates, there is the attachment. And the monk said, It is well, Lord, replied that monk, and put another question, It is easy, Lord, that in the five aggregates of attachment there is a variety of desire and lust. It may be so, but only like the Exalted One. Herein, Ma, one thinks, may I be of such a body in future time. May I have such feelings, such perceptions, such volition, such consciousness in future time. In this way, Ma, in the prior degrees of attachment, there may be a variety of desire and lust. which is well-developed climate now, and put another question, how far is there a good definition of the climate change? And the Buddha said, every body, be it past, future or present, inward or outward, subtle or gross, low or high, far or near, is called a body aggregate. Every being, every perception, every body shape, every consciousness is so called. Thus far, is there a root definition of the aggregates? It is well, Lord, replied that monk, and put another person, what, Lord, is the condition, what is the cause in the designation of the body group, what is the condition, what is the cause in the designation of the being group, the perception group, or the perception that we make, the body shape that we make, the consciousness that we make. And the Buddha said, the four great essentials of the four great elements are the conditioning, the four great elements are the cause and the designation of the body and the being. Contact as a condition, contact as a cause in the designation of the feeling of the feeling aggregate. Contact as a condition, contact as a cause in the designation of the perception of the volition aggregate. Mentality and materiality are the condition. Mentality and materiality are the cause in the designation of the consciousness aggregate. Let me stop here for a moment. So here the Buddha is saying that the four great elements are the condition, the cause, and the designation of the body and the being. Contact is a condition in the designation of the being and the being. Contact is also a condition for the designation of the perception and volition and the gaze. But mentality and materiality, nāma-rūpa, are the cause or the foundation, the designation of the conscious group. As I said yesterday, mentality and materiality, nāma-rūpa, are phenomena which arises together with consciousness. That is why they are the foundation and the designation of the consciousness every day. This well-known life-life love can ask again, pray, Lord, what is the view of a being in the body, Sakaya Vipi? Talk here for a moment. This Sakaya Vipi, sometimes it is translated as a personality view. But I think it is more accurate to say it is a view of a being in the body, because if you say it is a personality view or a view of the self, then all ādhyāsa, from the Japana up to the ātma, they have destroyed the satiety. So even though we have destroyed Sakkaya Deity, we still have a personality, we still have, I'm sorry, up to the Anagama, there is Veda Panna, up to the Anagama, we still have a personality, we still have a view of a being. somewhere, but satiety is linked to the body, because, in other words, they see that the body is not the self, yet they still have the self, the sotapanna up to the anagama. It is only the arahant who has no view of the self. So, in one of the sutras, the Buddha said it is easier to see that this body is not the self, but it is very hard to see that the mind is not the self. So, for the first three devotions, the Upanisad, the Dhamma, and Anadhamma, we still associate the mind with the self, and this is destroyed by anapahana. So I would prefer to translate Sankhya-dhīti as the view of the meaning in the body, associating the body with the self. That is destroyed by all ādhyāya and the Buddha said. Herein marked the untaught ordinary folk regards body as the self, regards body as belonging to self, regards body as being in the self, or the self as being in the body. And so to be in perception of ultimate consciousness, that is how the view of being in the body exists. This well-loved replied that monk, and asked again, and how, Lord, is there no view of a being in the body? Herein, monk, the well-called I am disciple does not so regard what would be perception of body-shame consciousness. Thus, there is no view of a being in the body. So here the Buddha said if the person associates the five khandhas with the Self, then he has the view of a being in the body, but if he does not associate the five khandhas, the five aggregations, with the Self, then he has no view of a being in the body. It is well, Lord, we find that now and ask again. Dear Lord, what is this satisfaction and what is the misery of body? Where is the escape from world? What is the satisfaction in the misery of the way of escape from being, perception, voice, and all physics? And we learn about that ease, that pleasure, which arises for all to widen, that is the satisfaction in widening, that impermanence, that suffering, that instability that is in widening, that is the misery of widening, that is the stream of desire and lust, that particular way of desire and lust is art of widening, that is the way of escape from widening, Likewise, also, for being, for perception, for volition, for consciousness. It is well thought that by the power of living in the land, living in the world, so they shall be one. And put a further question, Lord, how should one know, how should one see, so that in this body, in this consciousness, and likewise in all outward objects, there be no idea of eye or mind, no means to conceive their being. And the Buddha said, whatsoever ought to be, art, future or present, of everything ought to be known. This is not mine, this am not I, this is not myself. Thus with right and with sight we behold things as they really are. Whatsoever being, whatsoever perception, whatsoever consciousness there be, of that being goes, this is not mine, this is not I, this is not myself. Thus not should one know, thus should one see, so that when this body together with this being consciousness, and likewise with all other objects, there be no idea of mine, of I or mine, no means to conceive that being. I'll stop here with the sutra. So, here, the last part is quite interesting, the vipassana. In order that we see that there's no idea of life or mind, then the vipassana Once we see that the five aggregations, that is past, present, or future, that all bodies, all beings, all perception, watching, and consciousness, once we see that there is no idea of I or mine in them, So in the practice of mindfulness and sati, in the Ayurvedic Buddha path, one way that is taught in the practice of mindfulness and sati is through our attention to contemplate our body, feelings, mind, and dharma. And here you can see that there is another way to practice sati. This is mainly to see, every time we contemplate body and mind, to remind ourselves that there is no I, no mind, is, body or mind. So it is, that's why it's good to read, the more we touch, the more we touch, we read, the more we learn how to practice.

(EA04)-31-Samyutta-Nikaya_Sutta-22

The next shloka is 22.100. Here 41 says, In that level of mass is this ground of rebirth. No beings may know no beings directly. They are expected by craving to run on, to bear on the ground of rebirth. just like a dog once tied up by a leash to a strong stake or pillar. If he goes, he goes up to that stake or pillar. If he stands still, he stands close to that stake or pillar. If he squats down, he squats close to that stake or pillar. If he lies down, he lies close to that stake or pillar. Even so, once the uncaught or mental, regard the body thus, this is mine, this can't be mine, this is my self. If that being perception the body's innate consciousness thus, this is mine, this can't be mine, this is my self. If it will, it is yours despite your grasping. heavily than they move. If they stand still, it is close to this part of the grasping of the gate. If they stand still, if they sit, it is close to that they sit. If they lie down, it is close to that they lie down. Therefore, once again and again must one regard once more the mind as For a long, long time, this mind has been created by lust, by hatred, by delusion. By the taste of mind and mouth, beings are created. By purification of mind, mouths, beings are made pure. Mouths, have you ever seen in a picture, which we call a soul image? Yes, Lord. Well and balanced, this so-called short peace is sought out by man. Wherefore, balance? Man is even more diverse than that short peace. Wherefore, balance? Again and again must one be back once more, like thus. For a long time this mind has been jaded by lust, by hatred, by illusion. By the jaded mind and mouth, meanings are dated. By purity of mind, meanings are made pure. Mouth. I see not any single groove so diverse as the features of the animal world. Those creatures of the animal world amongst are thought out by man. Wherefore, amongst, man is even more diverse than those creatures of the animal world. Wherefore, amongst, among us again and again, thus departeth all man. For a long, long time this mind has been tainted by lust, by hatred, by delusion. By attachment, mind mounts. Being shall taint it. By purity of mind and heart, being shall make pure. Just as if mounts had died in a pot of hatred, if we have died or lack of humility in equal commandment, and a well-placed pot, a wall, a strip of cloth, He can fashion the likeness of a woman and the form of a man completely in all its parts. Even so amongst, the unthought, ornamental creation recreates its body, its feelings, its perception, its function, its consciousness. I suggest whether in Mars is life permanent or impermanent, impermanent or not. In short, it is the feelings, perceptions, bodies and consciousnesses. Therefore, Mars is all-seeing, all-knowing, among all the life and peace conditions there is for hereafter. Let's see another sutra. This sutra is also quite interesting. The Buddha's teaching talks about a picture, like an art piece, and the Buddha's teaching, the art piece of that picture is drawn up by somebody using his mind. So, however complex, however intricate that drawing is, the mind is even more intricate, more complex than that, because the mind has thought out this picture. So in the same way, because our mind is tainted, is dirty because of greed, hatred and delusion, so we have thought out our own body. Our body is made out according to our mind. So, for example, if you have a pure mind, your consciousness will project yourself as a deva or devi heavenly being. But if you have an impure mind, then you may see yourself as an animal. And the Buddha here is saying, I see not any single group so diverse as the creatures of the animal world. Those creatures of the animal world now are thought out by mind. Therefore, our mind is even more diverse than those pictures of animal world. I think you know if you look at some encyclopedia of pictures of animals, there are so many types of animals, so many different, different diverse types of animals. And it is because of our mind that we have created these bodies. For example, the Buddha said again, in one of his Vitas, if a person is not very straight, he does things secretly, he does things, as they say, snakily, very calculatively, and that it is possible that person may be born as a cat, or a snake, or a rat, where beings like like hiding, always hiding, and very secretive, always very secretive, and also regards to this sort of creation, that is very low, always eye close to the ground. So in the same way all other beings, we, our, the world around us is projected by our mind.

(EA04)-32-Samyutta-Nikaya_Sutta-22

In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 22.53, the Buddha said that, attachment amounts to the bodily age. Detachment is pre-living. By attachment to bodily amounts, consciousness, if it can get a standing, may persist with bodily for its object, with bodily for its support. seeking means of enjoyment, it may come by growth, increase, abundance. With feeling, with perception, with volition for its object, with volition for its support, seeking the means of enjoyment, it may come by growth, increase, abundance. So the man amounts to declare thus, apart from body, apart from being, apart from perception, apart from volition, I will show the coming, or the going, or the disease, or the rebirth of consciousness, or the growth, or the increase, or the abundance of consciousness. To do that work is possible." He stopped here for a moment. This Buddha has certain quite profound implications, important implications. At first the Buddha was saying that because of attachment, consciousness, if it gets a standing, it means if it is something to stand upon, then it will persist. The body for its object, the body for its support, seeking means of enjoyment, may come by growth, increase, abundance. The body for its endearment, perception, for its object, for its support, consciousness, may come by growth, increase, abundance. And then the second part, the Buddha says that if The Buddha would say in the second part that consciousness cannot come or go or decision or take rebirth without body, without feeling, without perception, without quality. In other words, sir, the five aggregation, the device and possibility together, you cannot separate any one of the five aggregation. These five aggregation and the body and the mind must come together. If we are not aware of this uttara, then sometimes we may think that it is possible for a being to have only consciousness without a body, but in this uttara it's quite clear we cannot have a being only with consciousness and without a body. However, that is concerned only with his normal consciousness, the six types of normal consciousness. After this, you will find that you will come across another type of consciousness and the Buddha continuation. If attachment for worthy monks is abandoned by a monk, by that abandonment of attachment, its object is cut off. Thereby, there is no support for consciousness. Likewise, as regards the perception of audition, so also notes, if attachment for the consciousness element be abandoned by love, by that abandonment of attachment this object is cut off, thereby there is no support for consciousness. That unsupported consciousness has no growth. It is without conditions and is released. By its release, it is steady. By its steadiness, it is content. Going to its contentment, it is not troubled, meaning untroubled. Of itself, it attains enlightenment. So let us all destroy this evil, live this holy life, done as well as it was to be done, for life in these conditions there is no nearer happiness. So let us see the end of the sutra. Now, this last part is quite important, because the protection of the perception or the feeling consciousness is abandoned by the mahamudra. Then the outtaker of consciousness is cut off, and there is no support for consciousness. That unsupported consciousness, apatitaṁ jñāna, has no growth. It is without conditioners. It is released. By its release, it is steady. By its steadiness, it is content. Owing to its contentment, it is not troubled. Being untroubled of itself, it attains nirvana. So here the Buddha is talking about a different type of consciousness, not the normal six types of consciousness, because the normal six types of consciousness, the seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touch, and thinking consciousness, must have an object, must have a support, but this one Aparthitāna-jñāna is a different type of consciousness. That is why he should not, he must examine them very slowly, very carefully, as though with a bowl, to see things like this, which is not normally talked about. And these things are important things, important dharmas. So here the Buddha is talking about an unsupported consciousness which has no goal, which is without condition. Without condition it is quite interesting. That means it's like an un-permissioned consciousness, and it is released. By its release, it is steady. By its steadiness, it is content. Going to its contentment, it is not troubled, even untroubled with the things in violence. So, this is very, very interesting. So, you can have a type of consciousness and you start to let go, let go, and you are feeling a state of very still mind which has no support, which has no object, and that is the meaning that I am a person of the ancient dharma. There are other suttas that have to do something with this. You can find one of the first suttas, I think, in the book one. The Buddha now said some interesting things about how he stopped the Buddha, and he sang or something, and if he reflects or something, he the, I don't know if I get the actual words, but I'm just trying to say that without striving, without striving in an environment, I don't know what I want to say, the idea that the environment, you know, would seem to be formless, and just like this unsupported condition that we have no attachment to any object of consciousness,

(EA04)-33-Samyutta-Nikaya_Sutta-22

PRABHUPĀDA, next chapter, verses 22, 185. Once the Venerable Sariputra was staying in a sabbāti at the etiquette of Vṛndāvana, Kuntīprastha. At that time, there had arisen in the mind of a certain Mahātmā, Yamātā, such an ego he has reached, or ego he has reached. Thus do I understand the doctrine of the Dhamma of the Five Realities of the One. Insofar as a man is destroyed with asaras, he is broken up and perishes when the body breaks up. He becomes naught after death. He's got to know about all that. Here this monk is having a meeting with a friend, and our friend passes away and takes him by and by. He is destroyed. He is a non-Buddhist, and the war is no more. Then he took that one to me. Now, a number of monks heard of this evil heresy. They had to visit him in a monument among the Yamaka. Thus do I understand the doctrine taught by Vyasa Upanisad, and so practice of mantras described by Vyasa Upanisad. He is spoken of, and I am very pleased to know that he is spoken of. He becomes known after that. And all those monks there to the venerable Yamarata, rejected him and exclaimed that he did not go to see Vyasa Upanisad, and sat down on that one side. So seated those monks thus addressed the venerable Yamaka. Is it true, as they say, Ben, Yamaka, that such an evil never seemed as this as it was living in your mind? Thus and thus do I understand it, Godfrey, thought I the exalted one. And he said, Even so, Prince, do I understand it. And he said, See not so, friend Yamartha. Oversteep not thus the exotic one's will. It will be done to oversteep the exotic one's will, so that he will not see. Yamartha was destroyed by Asavas, his weapon now, and perishes when the body breaks up. He becomes naught after them. But the Mount of Martha warned us anew, but those mounts still remained steadfast in his stubborn perversity. Indeed, as I understand in the Doctrine, Paul privately assaulted one, and so far as a mount is destroyed when he asks for help, he is broken up and perishes when the body breaks up. He becomes mount after the head. So as those monks could not move the Venerable Yamata from this evil hell-sea, they rose up and went to the Venerable Sariputra and said to him, Venerable Sariputra, there has arisen in the mind of the Venerable Yamata this evil hell-sea. People welcome the Venerable Sariputra, went to the Venerable Yamata out of compassion for him. So the Venerable Sariputra consented by his silence. Then in the evening, the Miracle Psychiatrist rose up from his solitude and went to the Mount Yamaha and, weeping, he purportedly sat down on one side. So seated, the Miracle Psychiatrist said to the Miracle Yamaha, Is it true, Grand Yamaha, as they say, that you hold this evil heresy? And he said, it is too great that thus will I understand the doctrine of the Exalted One, that in so far as a man has destroyed the asavas, he is broken up and perishes in the world he brings up. He becomes naught but the dead. And then the Buddha said, he just said, now as to this friend Yamata, what do you think? Is he permanent or impermanent? And he said, impermanent friend. And he, perception, volition, consciousness, are they permanent or impermanent? Impermanent friend. Therefore, one who does cease in all the life of this condition shall be killed hereafter. Now, here in the Prema-yamaka, do you become a Tathāgata, means a buddha, as a body?" And he replied, "'Surely not, friend.'" And there was a Tathāgata sitting. "'Do you become a Tathāgata, a silent being, all as perception, all as volition, all as consciousness?' And he said, "'Surely not, friend.'" Again, we are excited to ask. Now, what do you think, friend? Is the Tathāgata in the body? And he said, surely not, friend. Do you regard the Tathāgata as distinct from body? And he said, surely not, friend. You regard Him as being, or as distinct from being, in perception, or as distinct from perception, in volition, or as distinct from volition. You regard the Kālaka as in consciousness, or as distinct from consciousness." And he said, as Nāmādhī explained, Now, as to this friend, do you regard the Tathāgata as bodhi, bodhi as belonging to the Tathāgata, and similarly to eating, perception, knowledge and consciousness?" And he said, "'Surely not, brother.' Now, as to this friend, Yamātā, do you regard the Tathāgata as this one who has not a body, not eating, not perception, not knowledge and not consciousness?" And he said, "'Surely not, brother. ' And Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say, therefore, dear Mahāprabhu, since in this very life the Tathāgata is not to be regarded as existing in truth, in reality, is it proper for you to assert, as I understand the doctrine, how can I adopt it one? And so Mahāprabhu as a mount has destroyed the rāsa-vāsa. He is broken up and perishes when the body is broken up. He becomes naught after death. And he said, it was with my father, the great Sariputta, that I came to hold this evil policy. And now that I have heard the explanation of the great Sariputta, this evil policy is put away, and I am established in the Dharma. And that looks like a dust bag. Now open your mouth now. If they were to ask you, as to that monk, Frank, who has destroyed the last of us, when the body is broken up, does he exist after death? Thus questioned Frank, what would you answer? And he said, if Frank, they were thus to question me, thus should I answer, what would you say is impermanent? What is impermanent that is gainful? What is gainful that is ceased, that is destroyed? So, even in perception, cognition, consciousness, what is built in government, that is painful. What is painful has ceased, has been destroyed. That is why I took a certain plan to find out the best thing. I'll just stop here for a moment. So here, there was a little time to show that the devil, Yamata, was around. Because he said that Bahá'í was destroyed at His death, then He is completely destroyed. But the reverend Buddha asked him, do you regard the Buddha as the body? And he said, no. Do you regard the Buddha as feeling, as perception, as origin of consciousness? And he said, no, because this thing is impermanent. I am not a Buddha. Then he asked him, is the Buddha in the body? Then after thinking for a while, he said, no. Then the Buddha is having no body. He is in the body. You can't say the Buddha has no body also. But you can say the Buddha is in the body also. Similarly, the other application. So finally the Buddha made him see that even when the Buddha is alive, there is no such thing as something that is permanent or a Buddha. A Buddha is just like any one of us. The Buddha said that a being is just a five aggregates form. If the five aggregates are formed, we call it a being. But when the five aggregates are broken up, Then he said that there is no need, but actually the being is just a word to me. Even when the being is alive, there is no such thing. So in other words, while this monk, Yamartha, had a wrong view, he was saying, as though there is an Arhat, but when the Arhat passes through the Vajra, he is destroyed. And that was the sutra which makes me see that even when the Arhat is alive, there is no such thing actually permanent, more than Arhat, which is just a colony. A simile that is used in the sutras that explain this is a simile of horse carriage, a horse carriage or a horse cart. And all the parts of the horse cart are assembled, we call it a horse cart or a horse carriage. But if you take the parts of the horse a part of the carriage, a part, then you put the leash, you take off the leash and put it on the ground, and you take the walls of the carriage and you put it on the ground, you take the window and you put it on the ground. Every part of the horse carriage you Open it up and put it on the ground, and then you can see there is no such thing as a carriage. Only when you assemble it together, you call it a carriage. Is this a convenient word? But in fact, there is no such thing as a carriage. But if you attach to it, then when it starts to fall apart, then that gives you suffering. Another simile I can think of is a flower. Suppose in your garden you have a plant. Every day you pass that plant when you go to work in the morning, there is no flower. One day the flower appears and you see the flower so beautiful. But when you come back in the evening or maybe one or two days later, that flower will get withered by you. So when it withers, then after that it disappears. And then he realized there is no flower to begin with. It's only because of certain conditions that a flower starts for, and you call it a flower. And because a flower is beautiful, you can be attached to it, just like a young man sees a young woman. Because the young woman is beautiful, he is attracted by it, and can be attached to it, and he thinks he is in love. Similarly, when the young woman sees a young man, young man is handsome, is attracted by it, and he falls, she falls in love. So with the flower, you see, originally there was no flower. So where did that flower come from? It came from the nutriments in the ground. The plant absorbed the fertilizer and nutrients from the ground, and it absorbed the water from the ground, and it needed the oxygen around it, it needed the sunlight, it needed the rain, it needed the dew, and it needed the passing of the days, and one day the flowers sprouted. But actually, all these things made up the flower, but you wouldn't call it a flower, because at that moment, It looks like a flower, you call it a flower, but when you read this, then you realize there's no such thing as a flower. So all things in the world are just like that. When conditions bring it together, it comes in a certain form, and we attach to it, then slowly it will fall apart. You may shuffle it, you may touch with it. In the case of the flower, you can see that impermanence more clearly, because perhaps it only lasts one day or two days. But with the body, it's harder to see, because it lasts a bit longer, 70 years. Because it lasts 70 years, we like to hold on to it. that even seventy years is a short time in terms of eternity, and seventy years is such a short time. In this regard, sometimes we hear the Buddha talk about his previous lifetime, and one of these he talked of universal king, the universal monarch, a real German king, a king who is so just, so good, so fair, that the whole world wants him to be their king, so that he becomes the king of the whole world. And the Buddha said during that time his lifespan was about 80,000 years. And even eighty thousand years, he had such a beautiful life. He had a thousand sons, a thousand very brave sons, and he had a very perfect woman as a wife, and he had a lot of other good things in life to enjoy. And actually, because the Buddha was at such a beautiful life at that time, that when the Buddha was about to die, to pass into Nirvana, the thought of that lifetime made the Buddha go to a certain place to die. And the reason the Buddha chose that place was because he had a lot of beautiful memories from the past, and even then he died. And when he was about to pass away, Venerable Ananda asked him, why did you choose such a Such a way out place, such a Uru place, as you would say, to pass away. When you go to some big city and pass away there, a lot of people would come and venerate you and say, don't say this is a Uru place. Something to be like that, this way out, down and out place. This used to be the capital. of the real Churning King. A long time ago, I was that real Churning King. So you can see, if we remember our past, all the memories come back. I can imagine for most people, a lot of emotions will come up. I've seen a TV program in Australia about how some people were hypnotised and made to recall their past life. And, of course, in the state of hypnotism, they spoke all these things about their past life, but after they awoke, they were woken up, they don't remember what they said. So there was this lady in Australia, she was just an ordinary housewife, but she recalled her being in an aristocratic family in France. It was lazy and she had a beautiful life, living in a palace and all that. And so she could identify exactly where the place was. and they made some research and they found in the church reports and all that, that there was such a person maybe 200 years ago or something like that. And they brought her back to the old town where she was formerly And then she, they brought her back when she began to recognise that town where she was born about 200 years ago. She became very emotionally moved, and she started to just break down and cry, and she just couldn't understand why, but all the memories from the past now came back, especially when she went and sat in that big mansion where she lived before and used to dance with all the young men and all of them at that time. She had such a beautiful life. All these memories she made would break down in her mind, I can't go on believing. That is why they have also done a lot of research on small kids who remember their past life. Sometimes, a small kid, five or six years old, they keep on insisting that they are actually born to this family, they come from another village and all that. And when they bring the small kid back to that village, then that kid can remember all the things in their past life. But after that, that kitten becomes very depressed because of all the memories from the past, and all the attachments, all the emotions connected with the past are all lost and gone, and you can't bring it back, so that person ultimately becomes very depressed. So in a way, it's better not to remember our past. You start remembering your past, and you become very emotionally disturbed. There was an instruction, and I'll come back to this in a second, and there was someone who just said, well said, well said, Venerable Maharaj. Now I will show you a parable to show my meaning. Suppose Venerable Maharaj, a house-father of his son, a rich man, rich and prosperous in the strong world of God. Then suppose a fellow, desirous of his lost heart, desirous of troubling his serenity, longing to slay him, to kill him, should say to himself, here is this house-father, or house-father's son, a rich man, exceedingly rich and prosperous, but as he has a strong body, it would not be easy to slay him by force. What if I were to work my way in and show slaying him?" Thereupon he approaches the house of our son and says, I will enter your service, master. So that housefather or housefather's son admits him to his service to work for him, and the other, by rising up early and slowly going to bed, becomes a willing servant to him, eager to please and well spoken. Then that housefather or housefather's son comes to trust him as a friend and confidant, and thus meets a companion of him. Now when this fellow is assured, this house-father or house-father's son, as it may be, is my new companion, then, catching him in a lonely place, he slays him with a sharp sword. Now as to this friend, Yamaka, what do you think? When that fellow went to such and such a house-father or a house-father's son and said to him, I will enter your service, master, to work for you, was he not even then a murderer? But though he was a murderer, was not this master unaware of this fact, I have a murderer. So also when they entered his service, he rose up early and laid went to rest, was a willing servant to him, eager to preach, and speaking affectionately. Was he not even then a murderer, though his master knew him not? And the Meryamaha said, he was there. Even so, friend, the untaught, ugly person who sees not those who are valiant, who is unskilled in the valiant dharma, and trained in the valiant dharma, who sees not true men, who is unskilled in the dharma of true men, and trained in the dharma of true men, such a one regards God almost as himself. a body as belonging to the self, a body as being in the self, or the self as being in the body. Likewise, with regard to deepening perception, knowledge, and consciousness, he understands not the impermanent body as it really is, that it is impermanent. Of the impermanent feeling, he understands not as it really is, that it is impermanent. Of the impermanent perception, of the impermanent volition, of the impermanent consciousness, he understands not as it really is that it is impermanent. Of the painful body, he understands not that it is painful, and so also of healing perception, volition, and consciousness. Of the not-self body, he understands not as it really is that it is not self, and so too with healing perception, volition, and consciousness. Of the compounded body he understands not, as it really is that it is a compound, and so do of the other factors. Of the murderous body he understands not, as it really is that it is murderous, and so do of the other factors. He approaches the body, he is pulled away, and he is assured, it is mine and myself. He approaches healing, approaches perception, body and consciousness. He is orderly and is assured with his mind-self. Thus the Five Aggregates of Attachment are approached and they hold on by Him, and they turn to His love and suffering for many a long day. But the well-thought Aryan disciple who sees those who are Aryans, who is filled with the Aryan Dharma, who is trained in the Aryan Dharma, who sees those who are true men, who is filled in the doctrine of the true men, who is trained in the doctrine of the true men, Such an arya disciple regards not the body as his self, nor the body as belonging to the self, nor the body as being in the self, nor the self as being in the body. He regards not being, perception, volition and consciousness in this way. He regards the impermanent body as it really is, as impermanent, and so does he regard the other factors as impermanent. He regards the meaningful body, the meaningful feeling, perception, knowledge and consciousness as being good as they really are. He regards The non-self body, as it really is, is not self, so also the feeling, perception, noticing and consciousness. With regards to the compounded body, as it really is, is a compound, and so also are the other factors. With regards to the mindless body, as it really is, as mindless, so also does he regard the other factors as mindless. The approach is not the body. It is not the whole of the body. It is not, as it were, I have a self. Yet, he approaches not even perception and the other factors. He is not bold of them. He is not preferred than I have myself. Thus the five groups reach on grasping by not approach, not being bold or funny, and so they turn to his wish and pleasure for many a long day. and the Venerable Yama classic. Even so, that dear friend Sariputra, are those Venerable Ones who have such organs as you in the holy light, so compassionate, so anxious for the welfare, such teachers, such expounders. And now that I have heard this Dhamma teaching from the Venerable Sariputra, my mind is released from the alphabets without any grasping. So I spoke to the Venerable Sariputra, and the Venerable Dhammadhara rejoiced at that and welcomed the words of the Venerable Sariputra. That's the end of his reply. So in this last part, the Venerable Sariputra is talking about a man who wanted to kill the rich man. But he knew that it was difficult to heal the rich man, so he pretended to be, to work for that man, to be a servant of that man. Later, when the man passed away, and the two of them were in a lonely place, his murderer murdered his employ. So in the same way, when the Sariputra is trying to tell us that the body and the mind, the five aggregates, are like murderers to us, but if you attach to the body and the mind as I and mine, Then a cell arises, and once you have a cell, it is impermanent, it must die. So it is as though the cell is murdered. So it is only when attached to the body and it's mine, it's I and mine, then there is no cell. So if there's no cell, it cannot be murdered by the right aggregation of attachment. So that's the end of the sutra.

(EA04)-34-Samyutta-Nikaya_Sutta-22

the time of the beginning, the second number, in 2.101, Buddha said, by knowing not, by seeing, is a declared destruction of the aphoros, not by not knowing, by not seeing. And by knowing what comes, by seeing what, is there destruction of the atherost? Thus, such as bodies, such as the arising of bodies, such as the ceasing of bodies, such as feelings, such as emotions, such as consciousness, such as the arising of consciousness, such as the ceasing of consciousness, by thus knowing what comes, by thus seeing, is there destruction of the atherost? Let's talk here for a moment. So here today, seeing that you destroy the asavasa, the asavasa uncontrollably and of course, and if you destroy the asavasa, that means you destroy the consciousness from flowing, the non-sense consciousness, and you become, I'm sorry, the uncontrollable households, meaning the departments of the mind, then we come to Bhagavad-gita. And to do that, we have to see, we have to understand the Bhagavad-gita, we have to understand how the Bhagavad-gita arises, and we have to understand how the Bhagavad-gita ceases. And the Buddha continued, suppose monks, in a monk who is neglected or self-pitying, they should realize this wish, all that my mind will be without grasping from the Asavas. Yet for all that, this mind must not be from the Asavas. What is the cause of that? It must be said that it is his neglect of self-cleaning, self-cleaning in what? In the four satipatthana, the four intensities of mindfulness, in the four right efforts, in the four roads to success, iddhipada, in the five faculties, in the five powers, in the seven factors of enlightenment, in the higher eightfold path. Just as it marks some eight or ten or dozen pen sticks are not fully set upon, not fully worn, not fully rooted over by my pen. Then suppose that in that pen there should arise such a wish as this, O that my cheeks be put with claw of mouth and knee, my brain through the eight shells, and so the same we have. Yet for all that, those chicks are not made thick to break up the eggshells where the foot or claw or mouth can be, and so be safely hatched. What is the cause of that? It is because those 8 or 10 or a dozen men's chicks' mouths have not been fully set upon, fully walled, fully brooded over by other men, even so mouth. in a non-foolish, neglectful of self-training, and should provide us this vision, all that my heart could read from the eyes of others without grasping. Yet is this heart of mine not free thereby from them." What is the cause of that? It must be said it is this lack of self-training. Training in what? In the four intense states of mindfulness, the four practices, the four roads to success, the five faculties, five powers, seven factors of enlightenment, and the other three go without. I'll stop here for a moment to comment. So the Buddha was saying that if a man needs a wish to be enlightened, but he does not cultivate the thirty-seven bodhi up here down there, the thirty-seven requisites for enlightenment, namely the four ordinances of mindfulness, the four right practice, four rules to success, five properties, five powers, seven practice of enlightenment, and how to be a good partner. Then it is just like the hand. If the hand of a chicken does not sit on the edge, but it makes a wish that the edge be hatched, but if she does not do the work of sitting on the edge, the edge will never be hatched. So in the same way, if the amount of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is fifty-seven bodhi-bhakti-yāmas, then the amount of Nāradī-bhāgavatam, each fifty-seven bodhi-bhakti-yāmas are protected them, then we protect the Aryadeva Upadhyaya. In one of the sutras, I think in the Majjhima Upadhyaya, the Buddha did say, when you protect the Aryadeva Upadhyaya, all the 37 Boddhi, Bhakti and Dharmas are protected. You can't, for example, think that you only want to practice the 4 Satipatthana without practicing the 4 Ittipada, without practicing the 4 right methods. It's not possible. I mean, it is possible, but you won't become enlightened. You have to cultivate all 37 Vrindavan Vedanas, because when you cultivate the Ittipada, all 37 are perfected. And the Buddha continued, just as if monks, with some eight or ten or a dozen hand sticks, are fully set upon, fully warmed, fully brooded over by the hand, such a wish as this would not arise in her. Oh, that my cheeks would put and claw with mouth and teeth, might break through the eggshells, and so be sealed in flesh. And those six would yet be fit with foot and claw of Mount Andee too, to do so. What is the cause of that? It is because Mount, those eight or ten of the seven and six, have been fully set upon, fully worn, fully bloated over by the ten. Even so, Mount, even the Mount who dwells attentive to self-training, there would not arise such a wish as this, or that my mind would flee from the paths of us without harassment. And yet, his mind was deep on that. What is the cause of that? It must be said it is his attention to self-cleaning, cleaning in one hour. In the four to ten speech of mindfulness, in the four eight chapters, the four rules of self-satisfaction, the five equities, five powers, seven factors of enlightenment, in the argument in one hour. Stop here, again to comment. Here the Buddha is saying that if a monk practices the 37 Boddhipapaya Dharmas, he does not need to make a wish to become enlightened, he will automatically become enlightened. And the Buddha continues, just as if monks, when a carpenter or a carpenter's apprentice looks upon his axe handle and sees thereon his thumb mark and his finger marks, He does not know thereby, thus and thus much of my head's handle has been worn away today, thus much yesterday, thus much at other times. But he knows, just when the wearing away has reached the end of wearing away, even so amounts A monk who dwells attentively to self-training has not this knowledge. Thus and thus much of the Asaras has been worn away indeed. Thus much yesterday, and thus much at other times. But he knows this wearing away has reached the end of wearing away. Just as moths, in a sea-bearing vessel, rigged with moths on stage, and stranded on the bank for six months, owing to the failure of water in the dry season, its rigging is foiled by rain and sun, then overstrung by the shower in the rainy season, it is easily weakened and lost away. Even so, moths, in the mouth of the world's attention, you shall pray, the factors are easily weakened and dropped away. That's the end of the sutra. This last parable is a very, very interesting parable. This last parable is about the carpenter using the axe. The axe is an instrument for planing wood. I think most of you know nowadays you have to plane wood. I mean, a few years ago, we now have newer electric planes, but when we were young, we used to play like that, oh, there's two handles, you hold with two hands and you play in the wood, right? But in the Buddha's time, they probably used the X handle, with one hand, and you play in the wood. Because the Buddha said that he started after using the axe for many years, he finds his fingerprints embedded on the wood, so he knows that his fingers have worn away the wood. But the Buddha says he cannot tell how much of the wood he wore away yesterday, how much of the wood he wore away today, or any other time, but he knows finally when he sees that the wood has been worn away. So in the same way, the Buddha said, if we practice the spiritual path, we are wearing away our depowerments. But the Buddha said, you cannot tell exactly how much of the depowerments you wore away today, yesterday, or any other time. Now, this is a very interesting parable. It's only the Buddha says that when you finish the work that you have become an arhant, then you know definitely that you have finished the work that we are to be bound. So in other words, from this Buddha, it will appear that when a person is a sotapanna, or sakadagami or anagami, he may not be very sure that he has worn away so much and so much of the devalas, and so it's a sukadana or sakadagami or anagami. Only when he's sharp-eyed, he's sure. So, in this case, we should not worry so much as we practice this ritual path. The important thing is to do the work, as long as we do the work well, and if we reach a point where we have a capable being in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, then that should give us a lot of confidence, because an Arya has a capable being in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. And of course, he said stuff like, you know. So, it's not as though you would go and struggle very hard, as we see here, Nyan, Nyan, Nyan saying that for one week, or two weeks, and you've all become Arya, Sotapanna. It's not like that. The Buddha said that in the Nagasutra, that the ocean flows very gently, if you will. towards the sea, the ocean slopes very gently. It does not suddenly become deep, it slopes very, very gently. So in the same way, our progress as a spiritual partner also is a very slow progress. And it's not easy to see your progress. It's just like seeing your son growing up. Every day you see your son. It's hard to see how much the son has grown up. After several years, the son has grown up. Then you realize, oh, this fellow is a big fellow now. So in the same way, when we practice the spiritual path day by day, it's difficult to see our progress. But if somebody has not seen us for a few years, and then at present, He says that we have made progress in spiritual path. That person may notice it. But if you are observant, you can also know of your progress over the years. For example, you may become more humble, self-arrogant, your attachments become less. and your anger becomes less, because anger is to do with attachment. Anger arises because you don't get things to work out the way you want it to work out, so you become frustrated and get angry. But if you let go of attachments, our temper, anger will reduce, our ego reduces, And that is a good sign. Now, if a person practices in Vancouver, it's still the same, or even in Cretion, in New York, it's still the same once in Cretion. Technically, that person is on the wrong path. It's on the wrong path. If you are practicing on the right path, your ego must come down, and your temper must come down. So my friend, I'll stop here for tonight, and I hope you have questions or comments.

(EA04)-35-QandA-16_What-are-Asavas

What is the meaning of asava? Asava is a Pali word which literally means outflow, and I would translate the word asavasa as uncontrolled mental outflows. That means those outflows of the mind which we are unable to control, for example anger, emotions. Anomaly, asavāsa, are defined as attunements in the sūtas, ignorance, abuse, sensual desire, greed, I think. So, basically, this uncontrolled outflows, the flowing of the mind, we are able to control through innovation, the power, and when we are able to control the outflows, when a person becomes an arahant, he has destroyed the outflows. The mind does not flow. He does not have this uncontrolled, of course, of the external control over the mind, and eventually when he passes into nirvana, even the sixth consciousness will cease and will stop. That's right. Even though we have a lot of teachings and Arhat has finished the world, whereas in the Mahayana teachings we see that an Arhat has not finished the world and will be reborn again and become a Bodhisattva. a bodhisattva and finally become a Buddha. But in our Theravada suttas, there were two or three suttas where an arahant has passed away. And the Buddha came to see the body of the arahant. And then when he was looking at the body of the arahant, The corpse of the Ardhana, he saw in the distance a black cloud flying through the floor. So the Buddha told his disciples, he looked at in the distance, do you see a black cloud flying through the floor? And they said, yes. Then the Buddha said, that is Maharaja, Satan, looking for the consciousness of the Ardhana. and trying to find out where the Arhat could be, but like the Buddha said, he can never find the consciousness of the Arhat because the consciousness of the Arhat has ceased, has stopped. The Arhat is not reborn. There is another interesting episode in the Vinaya. That's the discipline. About external factors, I think he had a certain kung fu, he had a certain skill. He could take the skull of a dead man, knock a few times, and he can tell where the man could be burned. He can tell exactly where that person could be burned. So one day he came to visit the Buddha. And the Buddha knows about his reputation, so the Buddha presented him with a scalp and asked him to try the skill. So he took the scalp and knocked, knocked, knocked. He was surprised. He cannot tell where this person took the evil. Then he couldn't believe himself and knocked again. It's still the Buddha and the Buddha told him, because he can't tell, because he's a scholar, that Arahant has not taken rebirth. So you can see in our Theravada Sutra, it's very clear that an Arahant has finished his work.

(EA04)-36-QandA-17_The-warnings-for-the-future

What are the warnings that Buddha has given for the future? There are some more things. One is, I think I've mentioned before, that even though a monk can be very famous and very learned and very senior and world-renowned with a large following of monks and lay disciples, yet that monk can have wrong views. So the Buddha is saying we should not rely on any particular monk, but on the suttas. For guidance, we should take refuge only in the Buddha Dharma and Sangha. That basically means to take refuge in the discourses of the Buddha. There are a few other warnings. For example, the Buddha said that in the future monks may neglect the secluded life. They might neglect the secluded life and not practice the aim of the holy life, which is to get out of samsara. And the Buddha advised that monks should be careful of this and make it a point to live in secluded places and practices to avoid any suffering. Another one, the Buddha also warned that it is dangerous for monks to live together with nuns or women. The Buddha said that it is special for monks to live either alone or in communities of other monks. Sometimes that can be quite difficult. For example, at least the Buddha did not want nuns to ordain. He did not want women to renounce. But even then, he had no choice. When the mother wanted to ordain, the mother pleaded with him three times. It is your being a mother. You remember the mantras for a mother, the Buddha's mother, the Buddha's foster mother, right? So we say on behalf of Mahaprajapati, Buddha's foster mother, the one who actually looked after you. And still the Buddha refused, even after three times, but later never abandoned her, and said that he owed a lot to the mother, and this was not an ordinary woman. This was the woman who brought him up, who nursed him, who gave him milk, etc. So the Buddha had no choice, and he allowed women to go for So in the same way, even though ideally monks should not live in the community with other women, sometimes, like in Malaysia, women also want to practice, and it's very difficult in the Saha monastery not to allow women to practice, especially with a lot of support comes from the women. So the best thing to do is perhaps to have a monastery where men and women can practice, but if we are able to, maybe we can start some other communication where monks can live alone, other communications, small communications where monks can live alone. Of course it is best if a monk is very sincere in his practice to live alone, because living alone, It's the best condition when you don't have somebody to talk to. Of course, it's not easy to live alone. Not all monks are ready to live alone. And concerning warnings, a few other warnings. There's a few warnings in the Anguttara Nataraya, in the Book of the Fives.

(EA04)-37-QandA-18_Mindfulness-and-Jhana

Now, the next question. The Buddha mentioned that one experiences utter purity of mindfulness and equanimity in the fourth jhāna. Does this imply that the perfection of mindfulness can only be attained in the fourth jhāna? Yes, because perfection of utter purity of mindfulness is obtained in the fourth jhāna. Although in the suttas it is mentioned that there are some people due to certain conditions, what we could call paramīṣa, Even with the first jhāna, it is possible for them to become an arahant, but generally this is not true, generally this is not true, because in the suttas the Buddha says when a person attains the fourth jhāna, then he can understand very clearly all the elements, he can see very, very clearly Now, in one of the Madhyama-Nikaya-sutras, the Buddha said that Satipatthana is the characteristic mark of samādhi. And samādhi in the sūtras, there's always only two definitions of perfect samādhi in the sūtras of samādhi. One is four jhanas. The other one is one-pointedness of mind. If a person can attain one-pointedness of mind, meaning any jhana, Then, that person automatically has satipatthana, because satipatthana is a characteristic mark of samadhi. Satipatthana, that's what I like to translate, satipatthana, as an internal state of mindfulness. When a person enters jhana, the mind is focused, is focused very sharp, very mindful. It's very intense mindfulness. If a person's mindfulness is not intense enough, that person may fall into a sleep state because, for example, we are watching the breath, watching the breath going in and out, in and out. As the breath becomes finer and finer and finer, this hardly perceptible, this hardly perceptible heart will observe the And when that happens, he says, go for a while, you have no object. You have no object, it's like you are about to go to sleep. When you are about to go to sleep, you must clear your mind of all thinking. If you have any thinking in your mind, you have insomnia. I believe to go because something is bothering you, something is disturbing you, something is on your mind. So you have to clear your mind before you can fall asleep. So when your mindfulness of the breath becomes so fine that it's hardly able to perceive the breathing, then it's a state very similar to the state just before sleep. So if your mindfulness is not intense enough, you slip into a sleep state. Some people think that it's jhana, and some people when they come out of it, they think they have attained Suttapana or one of the earlier stages. But jhana is not like that. Jhana, you have to be very intensely mindful before you can drive and slip into the jhana state. So he says, if yes, then Manipurnas and Jhanas must be interrogated closely and cannot be separated. That is, as I clearly told, because I did mention this now, that Satipaṭṭhāna, the 10th state of Manipurnas, is a characteristic mark of Jhāna Samādhi. Then one can say that there will be no right-wingedness without the Jainas, and no Jainas without right-wingedness. Is this statement correct? Excuse me in a while, I'll stop and have a tea or two. Then one can say that there would be no right mindfulness without other jhanas, and no jhanas without right mindfulness. Is this statement true? Not exactly true, because when Satipatthana Even if you have not attained jhāna, you can still practice an intense state of mindfulness. You can practice satipaṭṭhāna, but you have to make an effort. You have to make an effort to be intensely mindful. But if you keep up that effort, then it leads you into jhāna. Because the Buddha said in the suttas, the ayurvedic path must be practiced one by one. You must first get right view. Right view, if you practice it slowly, it will lead you into right thoughts. Right thoughts will lead you to the third one, right speech. Right speech will lead you to the fourth one, right action, etc. So when you practice Right Mindfulness and you keep it up, it must lead you into Right Concentration. So somebody, even though he has not attained Right Concentration, yet he did some effort, he can maintain the Right Mindfulness. But after he attains the Jhāna, then Right Mindfulness comes more easily. It is more, it can be more automatic. that he keeps up his concentration.

(EA04)-38-QandA-19_Right-Mindfulness-leads-to-Jhana

Another question. Must the correct practice of Right Mindfulness always lead to the attainment of jhāna? Yes, because, as I said just now, the seventh factor of Right Mindfulness, if you practice it correctly, it must lead you to the eighth factor of the Irelevant World Path, which is Right Concentration.

(EA04)-39-QandA-20_Transferring-of-merits

In a grossly existence, how is it that one does dharma and radiate or transfer knowledge to them, they can receive it, but not in other stages of existence? For example, I think I mentioned before that Although the Buddha did not explain it, but I personally believe the reason is because they know. If they don't know, how can they receive? But you must know something to receive because this reception of the merits is also something that is mental. This is like happiness. You do something good and you know you have done something good. The knowledge that you have done something good gives you happiness, but the knowledge that you have done something evil gives you remorse, suffering. So there must be knowing. So when a person is reborn as a ghost, that person goes here and goes there, and he's unable to get food, he's unable to get clothes to wear. Then that person will think of the relatives, that the relatives are the only people who would be willing to help. So they come around their relatives. That's why ghosts like to live near human beings. So we see ghosts and sometimes we dream of ghosts. And if you dream of a ghost in a difficult situation, then it is probable that the ghost is trying to ask you to help, so it is best to go and do some dharma and transfer the merit to all the beings so that they receive. But besides ghosts, any being that is nearby, it wants to receive, it comes near, it can receive. For example, the Buddha said, when you do charity, you think of the house spirit that you call, the house deity, the house spirit, and the family that lives in your house, the Dharmapala, the powerful Deva, that lives near your house, all the spirits nearby, so that if they want to achieve, to receive the share of the merits, when you transfer the merits, they come. So they rejoice with you. That's why we say Anamo Dāna, rejoice with them. So they are happy when they think, you think of them. That's why Buddha said, whenever you do a little deed, you think of all beings so that they are happy with us and they try to protect us also. But in being in hell, he won't know that you are trying to offer him this chance to marry with him, so he probably for that reason cannot receive you.

(EA04)-40-QandA-21_Predictions-of-the-Buddha

Did the Buddha predict the future lifespan of human beings? Yes, please elaborate. Yes, in one of the sutras, the Buddha said that human lifespan can vary from 80,000 years on the average down to 10 years. When the average human lifespan is very long, like 80,000 years, life on earth is But later, because of the powers, because of mediation and delusion, they don't keep the precepts. And when that happens, the conditions change. Conditions change, and conditions on earth also change, but the world and then the lifespan gets shorter and shorter and shorter. It can go down to ten years, and when the lifespan of people is ten years, there will be a lot of killing. When a woman is five years old, she can give birth already. But people don't live long on the average. By the time they are ten years old, they die. So there is so much killing that some people would get scared and this group of people would run into the forest to run away from other people, to escape the slaughter. Then when they run away, they start to think. We hear last time our ancestors had long lifespan. Why is it now we only live 10 days? So they think it must be because we don't keep the precepts. So they start to keep the precepts. They don't kill, they don't etc., and slowly the last time increases for ten days. can go up to 80,000 years again. So when the lifetime goes up to 80,000 years again, then Maitreya Buddha, or Maitreya Buddha, he, the Buddha, will come. So all this was predicted by the Buddha. Did the Buddha say anything about the end of the world? Oh yes, the Buddha said about the end of the world. The Buddha said, now In fact, the Buddha has said several things that only now science is beginning to grow. The Buddha said that now we have one sun. in our solar system. By the way, one whole system consists of one sun, one sun and one Mount Simeru and four oceans around it. This Mount Simeru, even though it's spoken by the Buddha, we don't see it. Maybe it is because it is like a testament for a very fine, for just like spiritual see, so maybe Mount Sumeru is also like that. Anyway, the Buddha says when the world is about to be destroyed, then a second sun appears, a second sun comes into our system, and when a second sun comes, then our earth gets heated up, the plant will die, a lot of living beings will die. And then after that, the streams also will start to dry up. And then after a long, long time, a third sun will appear. And this third sun, like a second sun, will come nearer and nearer and nearer. As it comes nearer and nearer, the earth will get more heated up, and the rivers will dry, and the ponds will dry up, the lakes will shrink. And after a long, long time, a fourth sun will come near. come nearer and nearer and nearer. And if that happens, the rivers dry up, the lakes dry up, and even the big rivers dry up, and the ocean starts to become shallow. And after a long time, a big sun will appear and come nearer and nearer. And then the When the sixth sun appears, the world becomes heated up. It starts with smoke already, and all the oceans will dry up. And when the seventh sun appears, then the world will burst into flames, and it will be consumed totally. The whole world will be consumed totally. This is very interesting. How do you get a second sun, and a third sun, and a fourth sun, etc.? You might think it is not consistent with science. Actually, it is not so. It is very consistent with science, because in the suttas the Buddha also taught about the world system itself expanding and contracting. Last time we didn't know about this. Now only we realize science actually is just beginning to discover this. Scientists, when they look into the stars at night, now they begin to realize that the stars around us are moving away from each other. In other words, the galaxy is expanding. The stars are moving away and moving away. But now, The scientists, they still don't know what is going to happen. So they have various theories. Some of them think that the expansion of the stars, the movement of the stars will stop. And some think that it will go on indefinitely. But the Buddha says it will come to a certain limit. This expansion of the world will come to a certain limit. After that it will contract. So what does it mean by contracting? It means the stars come nearer, the stars, the suns, and stars, suns, stars are basically suns now. So these suns come nearer and nearer and nearer and nearer. So that is how, after a long time, a second sun comes into our system, and after a while a third sun. So they come nearer and nearer and nearer. So finally it will burn, burn and come together, perhaps form a huge mass, what they call Black hole, now in science, they talk about black hole, the solid mass of substance are so dense and so huge that the magnetic pull is so strong. Actually, it is bright, it is not dark. It emits light, but this light that it emits, as soon as the light particles come out, they are pulled back, because it is so dense that the magnetic pull is very strong. So the light particles go out and come back again. So because of light particles, photons cannot go out, so you can't see this solid mass. of substance, so they call it black hole. So we see what the Buddha said of the end of the world is very possible. There are other things the Buddha said that only in recent years science has confirmed. For example, the Buddha said in the Sutrayana, that's not the one I read, that the world has no beginning and no end. Time actually has no beginning and time has no end. Many years ago, but this was not conceivable, because an ordinary mind, mind of an ordinary person, a kutujana, would think that time has a beginning. And because time has a beginning, they think that time has an end. So they think that because time has a beginning, the world has a beginning, so therefore there must be a creator God. This concept of the Creator God comes about because of the concept that the world had a beginning, had a Creator. But when the world has no beginning, time has no beginning, then the concept of the Creator God does not apply more than that. So, this is some of the things. Another thing the Buddha said, which has recently been confirmed by Professor Stephen Hawking, is that space is boundless. Space is boundless. That is another thing which is mind-boggling and hard to conceive. How space can have no end? You keep on flying and flying and flying and flying. You can never find the boundary of space. Now, concerning this, the Buddha has said one other thing that scientists don't even have a clue. What is that thing? Namely, the Buddha said consciousness, knowing, can be developed so that consciousness becomes marvelous, consciousness becomes infinite, so that somebody like the Buddha who has develop his consciousness and what is happening in another world system. If he wants to know, he can know. There is another thing that Buddha said about the galaxy. He called it the Chakravala. Chakra is a disc, right? Chakra is a disc. It's a Malay word for disc. It comes from the Sanskrit word chakra. Now we realize that the galaxy is flat like a disc, right? But as 2,500 years ago, the Buddha already said about this chakra. There are things that the Buddha has said that scientists are slowly beginning to realize. For example, the Buddha talked about the force. The force exists. It's produced by nature. It's produced by living in the trees, living in the plants, living in the rivers, in the clouds, in the earth, in the rocks, etc. Now, there are certain societies, certain societies for psychic research. In England, they do research on these psychic things, and they are beginning to realize that there are certain things like ghosts, and they need to be able to record that conversation with the ghosts, and then they take the trouble to inquire. Then you can find out.

(EA04)-41-QandA-22_5-Khandhas-arise-together

Do this fight and critics arise together and cease together, or one by one? PRABHUPĀDA I think they arise together, because Kṛṣṇa also started there. The Buddha said that you cannot find consciousness without body, will, perception, volition. Actually, some of these things, we have to go by the sutta because sometimes you may find, if you read other books like the Abhidharma, sometimes there may be some contradiction with the sutta, so it's best to stick to the sutta. So as a sutra, we all acknowledge that it's the words of the Buddha. That's the Abhidhamma. Some monks say that it is the words of the Buddha, some monks think that it is not the words of the Buddha, so it is a bit controversial. But as sutras are very useful in the past, everybody agrees that it's the Buddha's words.

(EA04)-42-Conclusion

I hope you have understood a bit more of the five aggregation of attachment, that we are impermanent, that we attach to this body and this mind, that there is a whole body of your meditation goals that you love. We must always remember that even though we love those around us, one day either they separate from us or we have to separate from them. So we keep this always in mind, the thought, the permanence, the thought that one day we must die, then we become very realistic, become very realistic, and we accept things as they are, and we prepare already, and that will reduce our suffering very, very much.