(EA01)-01-The-importance-of-4-Ariyan-Truth

Tonight the topic of the talk is on the Four Noble Truths. The Four Noble Truths or the Four Aryan Truths are the essence of the Buddha's teachings, the core of the Buddha's teachings. Because the Buddha said when he understood the Four Aryan Truths, then he became enlightened. So a full understanding of the Four Aryan Truths leads to Arhanhood or Buddhahood. And even a shallow understanding of the Four Aryan Truths leads to the attainment of the first stage of Aryahood, Suttapanna. That's why the Four Aryan Truths are very important. So before I go into the Four Aryan Truths, itself. I'd like to just talk on a few other topics which are connected with it. Because when the Buddha taught the Dhamma to newcomers, he would give a graduated discourse consisting of nine things. The first one is dana, giving. Second is sila, keeping the moral conduct. Then the third is heaven, because dana and sila leads to heaven, rebirth in the heavens, where you enjoy sensual pleasures. Then the fourth is the danger, folly and depravity of sensual pleasures. And the fifth is renunciation. And then after that, the four Aryan truths. So five plus four, that's nine things. So this was called the Graduated Discourse of the Buddha. The actual words of the Buddha's teaching in this Graduated Discourse is not found in the suttas, but parts of it are found in different suttas. So from different places in the discourses, I am going to talk on these topics. Now, any person who understands a little bit of the law of Kama Vipaka, which is intentional action and its result, also what is known in other religions as you sow, so shall you reap. We reap what we sow. Then we would want to carry out the right actions.

(EA01)-02-Doing-good-(DANA)

And the first one is doing good. And doing good in Buddhism generally refers to giving, giving of material things principally. And giving means letting go or renouncing our extra material possessions. So because they are extra, they are the easiest thing to do. easier to do than keeping the precepts because if you have extra things it's not too difficult to give it up to somebody else who needs it but if we don't make a habit of it then it is not so easy also like we don't train ourselves in giving because you can see in a child that most people are born selfish. When a child has something and you want to ask him to give it to another child or to share it with somebody else, normally the child will refuse to do so. So as we grow up, unless we learn to give, then otherwise we cannot overcome our selfish nature, because this selfish nature comes from the feeling of the ego, the self in every one of us, and it is nature's way of protection of every species, so that we tend to be selfish. So the first thing is in doing Dan, we do some good, which gives us some blessings and merit.

(EA01)-03-Aviod-evil-(SILA)

And the second thing we want to practice is Sīla, keeping the precepts, learning to have moral conduct. And we learn that we have to keep the precepts in order that we do not harm other living beings. Precepts like the five precepts, not to kill, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to lie, not to take intoxicants and these five precepts are to be kept every day and if we practice the five precepts then we learn to renounce also the pleasures from harming other beings because there are certain sports that we could indulge in, like hunting, fishing, where we enjoy at the expense of other living beings. And other things like drinking, seducing somebody else's husband or wife, etc. All these things that we think give us a lot of fun, give us a lot of enjoyment, but it is at the expense of somebody else. or our expense. So we learn to give that up. And so we keep the precepts. We walk the straight and narrow path, which is, of course, more difficult to walk. And the Buddha also encouraged us to keep the eight precepts, because if we keep the eight precepts, then the chances of getting a good rebirth are very great. in addition to the five precepts. Then we keep the sixth precept of avoiding normal food. Between noon and the next dawn is the sixth precept. The seventh precept is not to adorn the body, use perfume, etc. And not to see shows and watch, listen to music, etc. And then the eighth precept is not to sleep on high and comfortable, luxurious beds. So the Buddha said as lay people, you don't have the time to cultivate every day like a monk. But at least once a week, you should take the trouble to cultivate. Eight precepts is training that reminds you that there are monks and nuns who spend their whole life cultivating the holy path. At least, if you're not able to do that, then at least once a week, you think of cultivating the holy path because life is very uncertain. We never know when we're going to pass away. If we look around, we find that most people, they forget that life is short. and they always think that they have time. That's one of the greatest mistakes of life. We fail to realize that we don't have time. Just now, somebody was telling me, a monk was telling me that he heard that the nun, Ayyakema, passed away two months ago. It was a bit of a surprise to me because Ayyakema just started a forest monastery. And just a few months ago, July, I think, they had their opening and she was supposed to ordain Samanera to become a full-fledged monk. And just as the monastery is just starting and she passes away. So you see, we fail to realize that we don't have time. So sometimes we plan this and we plan that. Don't have the time to carry it out. Life is too short. So, because of that, we must remember at least SLA people once a week to keep the eight precepts.

(EA01)-04-Heaven

Now the Buddha said, from doing these two things, doing good, practicing dāna, giving, and avoiding evil by keeping the precepts, then it is natural for a person to be reborn in heaven. And when you are reborn in heaven, you enjoy a lot of sensual pleasures, enjoy life as it Life in the heavens is a very long time, in terms of millions of years. So, life in the heavens is one long holiday. You enjoy all the time, you don't have to work, you don't have to think of getting a job, feeding yourself, all that, you just enjoy.

(EA01)-05-Danger-folly-and-depravity-of-sensual-pleasure

But the Buddha said sensual pleasures, there is this danger, folly and depravity of sensual pleasures. What is the danger? The danger is that indulging in sensual pleasures leads to a greater craving for them. It's just like fanning the flames of desire. Another danger is that it is not permanently available. and it will end when one's blessings as a deva is used up. That is the danger of sensual pleasures. Now the folly or vanity of sensual pleasures is that the desires cannot be satisfied and sorrowful planes of rebirth await one whose blessings are used up. So as we As a person, as a Deva enjoys or a Devi enjoys life in the heavens, he or she is using up the blessings accumulated from past life. As we enjoy life, we are using up our blessings, bank. So one day when all the blessings are used up and we don't have that karma of enjoying life as a Deva, we will fall down and lower planes of rebirth await us. Now the depravity of sensual desires is that it is a sickness, it is a disease, which few people understand. And the Buddha, to make us understand how sensual desires is a sickness or a disease, gave the parable of a leper in the Magandhya Sutta, in the Majjhima Nikaya. The Buddha said, There is a leper, a certain man is a leper. And because he's a leper, the skin, the flesh is rotting. And this rotting flesh is very itchy, so that he has to scratch himself. And as he scratches his flesh, blood comes out because the flesh is rotting. And the more he scratches, the more the blood comes out. Then it turns to pus. And the more he scratches, more pus forms and more foul smelling it becomes as the flesh is rotting. And he doesn't see it as painful. Why? Because the itch is so terrible. So deep-rooted, it's itching him right to the bones. So then he has to scratch and scratch and scratch until it's all bloody. And even then, that itch cannot be satisfied. So what does he do? He goes to find some burning ember, some charcoal. The flame has, there's no more flame. And he uses that charcoal to burn his flesh. cauterize his flesh. So as he burns his flesh, that itchy flesh, he gets some relief from that terrible itch and then he's satisfied for a while. But after some time, that itch comes back again, and he can't stand it, he has to scratch again. And if that scratching is not sufficient, he has to find some burning ember again, some ember to burn that flesh again, because that itch goes deep into his bones. So as he does this every day, scratching and burning, the more bloody the flesh becomes more pus forms, more foul smelling it becomes, and the condition deteriorates. Now the Buddha said, suppose a normal person were to do the same thing, scratch himself until the blood comes out, or take amber and burn his flesh, would not that be painful? Definitely that would be painful, right? But why doesn't the leper recognize it as pain. Because his disease, he's sick, that's why he doesn't recognize it as pain, he recognizes it as a kind of satisfaction. So in the same way, the Buddha said, all living beings are burned by the flames of desire. And because we want to satisfy these sensual desires, We do things, all kinds of things to satisfy our sensual desires and we undergo a lot of pain and suffering. But we don't recognize it as pain and suffering because we are just like that leper. We are a slave of our passions. Right? We find sometimes a man already with a family, responsible person with children, wife, etc. Well, he'd go out of his way to carry on an affair. Why? Because he's burned by these flames of desire. He's sick, just like the leper is sick. And he has to satisfy the itch, just like the leper has to satisfy the itch. So he does all these kinds of things, going out in the middle of the night, hiding himself, and all these ways. to satisfy the flames of desire and so you can see how this parable of the leper is so accurate so spot on and so that is the simile to show how living beings are diseased so existence For all of us, it's a long struggle to satisfy our desires from the moment we are born until we die. You see, like a child, the simple desires for a child would be to satisfy the hunger, right? Hunger is one of those sense sickness of, you can call it a kind of sickness that we have to satisfied and then when a person is an adult he has to satisfy the sex urge then he has to find a dwelling place to live comfortably and then the normal things we clothes and all that for our material comfort and then from basic things like this Then later, after we have satisfied these basic things, then we indulge in, instead of just trying to satisfy our hunger, we look for good food, rich food. And then instead of just having a marriage partner, instead of just having one spouse, we look for extra marital relationships, affairs. And then instead of just living in a simple house, people, when they can afford it, they look for a luxurious apartment, luxurious bungalow, hi-fi equipment, Mercedes Benz, go on holiday overseas, etc. All these to satisfy our desires. And so life is like this. long struggle to satisfy our desires. And in the process of wanting to satisfy our desires, we labor and toil. In the olden days, people would toil in the paddy fields, in the orchards, in the forest, etc. And nowadays, people toil in the office buildings, in the concrete jungles. Nowadays, people use their mind to plan and scheme, compete with each other. In the process, man undergoes a lot of hardship. Sometimes he has to take risks, sometimes even risks to his life. Sometimes in certain professions, for example, a soldier, or even an electrician, working to get a living every day, touching these wires sometimes, he might touch a live wire and then his life will just end. And all this for the self, because of the ego, we have the self. And this self is not only this body, all those that we associate with the self, for example, my husband, my wife, my children, my parents, all this mine, I and mine, that is the extension of the self. And then in our endeavors, sometimes we fail, and we grieve and sorrow. For example, if a person is a farmer, sometimes floods occur, or drought, and then his crops are wiped out, and then he'll cry, and weep, and beat his chest. Or sometimes, like nowadays, people do business, and the business fails, and it becomes bankrupt. and also he wails and cries and beat his chest. Just like you all know at the moment there is a recession. I was just mentioning in the car that nowadays a lot of people go to the temple and cry, much more than before. Sometimes people break down and the family comes to a monk and see how a monk can help this person who's had a breakdown. And because of wanting to satisfy our desires, quarrels occur, and fights, and sometimes even wars between nations due to greed. For example, during the Second World War, because of the greed of one man, Adolf Hitler, we had the Second World War. In the Second World War, 36 million people were killed. 36 million people were killed in this one world war. Nowadays, if you have a world war, it will be much more because of nuclear weapons. And also because of the impermanent nature of life, we suffer in various ways. When we are separated from our beloved ones, or when our beloved ones pass away, or when we ourselves become sick, or we become old, aged, or we die ourselves. Many, many ways we suffer. But I won't go into details because afterwards when I go into the First Noble Truth, Dukkha, I'll explain that in more detail. So life is a struggle of existence from lifetime to lifetime to satisfy our desires which can never be satisfied. Just like the leper. It's itch. As long as it's sick, it can never go away. It can only go away for a short while. Later, very soon, it will come back again. So, in the same way, because of our nature, our nature is such that we can never be content. We can never be contented. We can never be satisfied. Why? Because the mind is always active. you can only be satisfied for a short while. Later, you have other desires again. So we continue to suffer. And most beings die unsatisfied with their ambitions not completely fulfilled. And because of that, because of being unsatisfied, we take rebirth again to fulfill the unfulfilled desires. According to the Buddha, there are some heavenly beings whose lifespan is millions and millions of years. And when they are about to pass away, they still have so many things they want to do. And they still want to carry out and still want to achieve these things. And because of these unsatisfied desires, they take rebirth again. So every lifetime we come, we have our share of suffering and lessons to be learned from life. And if we learn, we progress spiritually. If we fail, we take rebirth in the lower plane to suffer, for example, as a ghost, as an animal in hell to learn our lesson. So, life after life, we suffer.

(EA01)-06-Renunciation

And then in the round of rebirths, as we continue to go round the cycle of rebirth, lifetime after lifetime, we become spiritually more mature, we evolve spiritually. This is not a physical evolution like Darwin's theory of evolution. This is a spiritual evolution. with every rebirth. And after many lifetimes, when we are spiritually mature enough, then we have had enough of samsara. We realize that the happiness we get out of life is not sufficient to compensate for the suffering that we receive out of life. However much suffering, however much happiness we get out of life, it can never counteract the suffering that we get. Because suffering, this word dukkha, suffering or sorrow, literally means difficult to endure. And when we get sorrow, then It kind of, when sorrow hits us, when sorrow hits us, it kind of blots out all the happiness you had before. As you grow older in life, then when you experience some sorrow, then you realize it's true. And suffering comes. All the happiness you had before, all forgotten, and this only sorrow occupies your mind. So when a person is spiritually mature enough, he tries to find a way out of suffering, and then he starts to seek. And as the Bible says, those who seek shall find. So as we go on this spiritual search, one day we come across the true Dharma. the Dharma that teaches us the reality or the truth about existence. And then when we understand the basics of the Dharma, then we want to practice the holy life. Most of us, we will start to practice it as a lay person because it takes a lot of courage to renounce the home life, to be a homeless monk or nun. And later on, as we understand more of the Dhamma, and as we attain some progress on the spiritual path, then we would have enough courage to renounce the home life, to practice the holy path fully. And that is when we begin to understand the Four Aryan Truths.

(EA01)-07-1st-Ariyan-Truth-~-Dukkha

And so now I come to the four Aryan Truths. The first one is, the first Aryan Truth is about Dukkha. That all existence is Dukkha. This word Dukkha literally means difficult to endure. And it's often translated as unsatisfactory, or suffering, or sorrow. and it encompasses all these meanings and probably more. Now, life or existence means the presence of life force or energy in us. And energy, you know, implies motion, change, restlessness. Energy never stays still, right? And because of motion and change, There is impermanence. Because of impermanence, all beings are subject to the continued process of birth, aging, babies come out of the womb crying. If they don't cry, somebody gives them a smack on the backside to make them cry. Aging is dukkha. Sickening is dukkha. And dying is the biggest dukkha for most people. And there's no being with eternal life. Because in the Buddha's teaching, all that arises is subject to dissolution. Anything that arises due to conditions must dissolve due to conditions. So the other aspects of dukkha is like being parted from loved ones is dukkha, as you all know very well. Meeting with enemies, people you don't like is also dukkha. To lament over the past, what is already past and what wrong action that you did, you lament over it, that is dukkha. And to worry about the future, that also is dukkha. Not to have what one wants is dukkha. It's very common. And to get what one does not want is also dukkha. And not to have enough of what one wants is also dukkha. To have what one wants but not long time enough is also dukkha. Like many years ago, I saw on the papers, an old man, about 80 years old, I think in America, he struck the lottery or lotto. Millions of dollars. 80 years old, how to enjoy? That's also dukkha. To crave for sensual pleasures that cannot be satisfied, that is dukkha. To be restless and generally discontented is dukkha. To be subject to our constantly changing moods is dukkha. Now, there are two kinds of feelings. physical and mental feelings. Physical feelings are defined in the suttas as those feelings that arise from a physical contact, from a physical contact, from seeing, from hearing, smelling, taste, touch, from the body. That is physical feeling. Mental feelings are those feelings that arise from a mental contact, from thinking, So there are also two kinds of Dukkha. These are the two kinds of healing. Physical Dukkha and Mental Dukkha. Now Mental Dukkha, according to the Buddha, is not found in an Arya. In an ordinary person, the Pali word is Putujana, an ordinary person has two kinds of Dukkha. physical Dukkha as well as mental Dukkha. He is stabbed by two spears or two knives. Whereas the Aryan, the Arya, is only stabbed by one, the physical Dukkha. So, when we understand the Dharma, then we accept things as they come. We understand that all things must change. That dukkha is part of life. So when we understand that, we don't have the mental dukkha. Now, the physical dukkha, again, can be spoken of as two types. One that is avoidable, and one that is not avoidable. The one that is not avoidable is like aging. Nobody can avoid aging, sickening, dying. That's the type of physical dukkha that even an arahant or a buddha has to suffer. But the avoidable physical dukkha is that due to unskillful karma. unskillful karma which harms others or harms oneself. So when we understand the law of karma, then we avoid unskillful karma. We don't cause harm to other beings and we don't cause harm to ourselves. So that is the aim of the Buddha's teaching, to minimize our suffering. to minimize our suffering. The Buddha's teaching is for us to understand what is skillful, what is not skillful. And from understanding what is skillful or wholesome and what is unskillful or unwholesome, in other words, good and bad, then we steer our path in life so that we walk the skillful way, the good way. And in the process of walking the good way, the good path, the skillful path, we avoid those unskillful actions that lead to unnecessary suffering so that we have a minimum amount of suffering. And As we become more knowledgeable of the Dharma, then we will come to realize, if we want to end all dukkha, then we have to end this round of rebirths. Because existence is suffering. So as long as you are in this physical world, then there must be suffering. So the only way out of dukkha, in other words, even that minimum dukkha, if you want to eliminate entirely, totally, then you have to eliminate existence, which means you have to eliminate rebirth.

(EA01)-08-2nd-Ariyan-Truth-~-Cause-of-Dukkha

Now we come to the second Aryan truth. The second Aryan truth is the cause of suffering. And the cause of suffering basically is because there is existence. As long as you have existence, there is suffering. Now the cause of existence is birth or rebirth. Now what is the cause of rebirth? The cause of rebirth is craving. That's the normal translation for the Pali word tanha. So in the Buddha's teachings, the cause of suffering is normally given as craving, tanha. Now this word tanha literally means a thirst, kind of thirst. A kind of like unquenchable thirst. So that is the meaning of craving. Now, there are three types of craving. Craving for sensual desire, craving for existence, and craving for non-existence. Now craving for sensual desire, just now I've already spoken, at a certain length on this. The restless nature of living beings makes them discontented and they crave to satisfy their desires through the senses because that's all they know. For a normal person, this discontentment you want to satisfy just like the leper that itch he wants to satisfy. And the only way to satisfy this discontentment is to distract ourselves through the senses. And we try to satisfy our desires through the senses. Things like sex, food, shows, music, luxurious living, etc. Now of all these sensual desires, the desire for sex is probably the highest, strongest. And because this desire, sensual desire, living beings, that means normal, ordinary living beings, die unsatisfied, discontented, with the flames of desire unquenched. So because of that, rebirth occurs again. That is the craving that causes, the sensual desire craving that causes rebirth. The second one is existence, the craving for existence. Now of all these three types of craving, probably the craving for existence is the strongest. And this craving for existence is actually the will to live, the will to live. This will to live is nature's way for every species to preserve itself. That is why in every living being there is a sense of an I, a self. And because of this I, this self, we naturally tend to protect the self, and we become selfish, and we wish to perpetuate this self. So because of that, when a person is dying, the will to live is so strong that it generates, it's like a flame. The flame is about to die off. But because of the will to live, it bursts into flames again. It's just like the fire, you are burning some wood and leaves and all that. Sometimes it's almost like the fire is almost dead and you see only smoke. And after a while, suddenly the thing bursts into flames again because there's still something unburned there. This will to live is the hardest to overcome, because it is the strongest of all cravings. And that is why the attainment of arahanthood, the ending of the round of rebirth, arahant is one who has broken the wheel of existence, the wheel of the round of rebirth, because arahant comes from two words. Arahant actually comes from the word arahatta, Ara and Hatta. These two words, Ara and Hatta. Ara means the spokes of a wheel. Hatta means it's destroyed, broken up. So Arahatta or Arahant is one who has broken the wheel of the cycle of rebirth. So the attainment of Arahanthood is the greatest Attainment, the greatest act anyone can carry out. It is also the noblest. Why is it the noblest? Because that is the most difficult thing to do, to give up the self. And also the arahant is the most compassionate being. Nowadays people don't understand, they say the arahant is a selfish being. That's the most ridiculous statement because the arahant is one who has given up the self. When a person has given up the self, he has no self. It also means he sees that all living beings are himself. He's one with every living being. So if every living being is he himself, how can he harm another living being? Right? That is why the arahant is the most compassionate person. In the world, you cannot find another person more compassionate than an arahant. In the Buddha's teaching, a bodhisattva is still selfish because he still has the self. He still hasn't attained to that higher stage of arahanthood. Bodhisattva still has not completed the full evolution, spiritual evolution. He's still somewhere halfway. So because he has the self, he's still selfish. whereas the Arahant has no self and he is the most compassionate being. Now the third type of craving is the craving for non-existence. This craving for non-existence that causes rebirth is a bit interesting. Now, why does craving for non-existence bring about rebirth? This person who craves for non-existence, he doesn't want to exist. And yet, that is the cause for existence. The first type is like a person who is so sick with life, who cannot stand the dukkha in life, that he commits suicide. Just as nowadays you read in the papers. Large, stockbroking. Company in Japan closed down and one of the directors clutching all his share certificates, used to be worth millions of dollars, now worthless. Putting all his share certificates, he jumped from a tall building to his death. So this kind of person, he can't take life anymore. So he wants to end existence. But because he's not ready to end existence, his mind is so agitated. that that is the very cause for existence. People don't understand that Nibbāna, Nibbāna literally means, the Pali word Nibbāna, cool, it means cool. You see, the English term, they always tell you to be cool, play it cool, right? Don't get agitated. That's what it means. Don't get agitated. Because when you're agitated, you can't be cool. So you cannot enter Nibbana if you're not cool, if you're agitated. And this person who's craving for non-existence, he's agitated when he commits suicide. He's so agitated that he cannot enter Nibbana. Impossible to enter Nibbana because Nibbana is a cool state. So that is why you can see why when a person commits suicide that itself is a cause for rebirth. Now the other aspect of the craving for non-existence is excessive desire in practicing the spiritual path. Practicing the spiritual path. There are some people They meditate, they want to end their dukkha, they want to end rebirth. But they are very agitated, you know. They practice too hard. And their desire to end suffering and to attain Nibbana is too great. Such a person with too much desire also can never succeed. Because he's not playing it cool. There is one sutra, Anguttara Nikaya 5.89, where it is said that one cause for a monk failing in the holy life is that he does not reflect on the mind as free. It's strange, you know. The mind is basically already free. We don't understand it. And we keep on trying to get out of samsara. Actually, if we understand the teachings of the Buddha, then we come to realize that this world is our creation. Because the Buddha said, the world arises dependent on consciousness. So because we are agitated, we see the world arise in our mind. And in this world, you see your body inside the world. And if you don't understand this, you try to strive very hard to liberate yourself. But basically, if we don't use this mind, then the mind straight away becomes cruel. As long as we keep on using this mind and trying to strive, that is a mistake. That's why the Buddha said he does not reflect on the mind as free. So it is suttas like this which are very important for us to understand. That is why it is very, very important to listen to the suttas. If you don't listen to the suttas, you keep on practicing very hard. The more you practice, the more you keep yourself in samsara. Why? Because you have excessive desire. and that is not playing it cool. So these are the three types of craving that causes to stay in samsara, that causes to take rebirth. Craving for sensual desires that cannot be satisfied. The second one is craving for existence, the strongest craving which immediately as you die brings about rebirth. The third one is craving for non-existence, this agitated state of mind, which also brings about rebirth.

(EA01)-09-3rd-Ariyan-Truth-~-Cessation-of-Dukkha

Now we come to the Third Aryan Truth. The Buddha said that there is a state of cessation of dukkha. So the Third Aryan Truth is the cessation of dukkha. And this state of cessation of dukkha is called Nibbana. And Nibbana is a state of no craving. is a state of the destruction of the asavas. Asavas can be translated as uncontrolled mental outflows or defilements. And Nibbana has the three characteristics of being birthless, decayless and deathless, which is the opposite of ordinary things in existence. All things in existence have the three characteristics of being born, changing of state, that means decaying, and finally death or dissolution. Whereas Nibbana is the opposite, birthless, decayless, deathless. Now, in one of the suttas, the Buddha said that we continue in samsara because of three things, greed, hatred, and delusion. And the Buddha gave a parable of a fire burning. And this fire is burning because of three things inside there, dried grass, dried leaves, and twigs. And as long as you keep on adding dried grass, dried leaves, and twigs, this fire will continue to burn, right? But suppose you don't put any more of these grass and leaves and twigs, what happens? Slowly the fire will burn up the grass, leaves and twigs that are already there until they are all consumed and then the fire will go out by itself. So in the same way, the Buddha said, when we stop adding this greed, hatred and delusion then there is no more fuel for the fire to burn that drives us in the round of rebirths. So that is why the Nibbana is also a state where there is no more greed, hatred and delusion. Now in the Udana, 8.3 and also in the Iti Buthaka 2.43, there's one sutra where the Buddha said, there exists monks, that which is unborn, that which is unbecome, that which is uncreated, that which is unconditioned. If there did not exist monks, that which is unborn, that which is unbecome, that which is uncreated, that which is unconditioned, there could not be shown the escape from that which is born, from that which is become, from that which is created, from that which is conditioned. But because there exists amongst that which is unborn, that which is unbecome, that which is uncreated, that which is unconditioned, therefore the escape, can be shown from that which is born, that which is become, that which is created, that which is conditioned. So the Buddha is saying here that the state of Nibbana exists. Now, the state of Nibbana cannot be known by the mind because it is a state where the mind ceases, where consciousness ceases. That is why Nibbāna can be described only in negative terms like the unborn, the unconditioned, the unbecome, the uncreated, etc. In the Majjhima Nikaya No. 72, Āgī-vacca-gota-sutta, the Buddha said, the Tathāgata is liberated from reckoning in terms of body, feelings, perception, volition, consciousness, vacca. He is profound, immeasurable, unfathomable like the ocean. The term reappears does not apply. The term does not reappear does not apply. The term reappears and does not reappear, does not apply. The term neither reappears nor does not reappear, does not apply. So in this sutra, the Buddha is saying that the state of the Buddha, the final state, he is liberated from the five khandas, body, feelings, perception, volition, consciousness. These five khandhas are also basically body and mind because feelings, perception, volition and consciousness is mind. So the Buddha is saying he is liberated. That means the final state of the Buddha. He is liberated. There is no body, there is no mind. But the Buddha didn't say that there is nothing. The Buddha said he is profound, immeasurable, unfathomable like the ocean. Now there are two views about Nibbāna. In Nibbāna, the state of Nibbāna, something exists is one view. And the other view is that nothing exists because there is no consciousness, there is no body, there is nothing. Now this the Buddha calls the two extreme views. That something exists is called the eternalist view. That means the Buddha after going to Nibbāna, he still exists in some way, that is called the eternalist view. The other one, that nothing exists, because he has no body, he has no mind, is called the annihilationist view. That means he is annihilated, no more, destroyed. Now, in one sutra, Gangotra Nikaya 4.174, the Venerable Sariputta said, Concerning this state of Nibbana, Sariputta, the venerable Sariputta said, say not that something exists. Because by saying that something exists, you bring in a difficulty where there is none. And he also said, say not that nothing exists. Because if you say that nothing exists, you also bring in a difficulty. So, Because this state is beyond the mind, we cannot speculate on it and say that something exists or that nothing exists. It can only be experienced by an arahant. But in the Agnaya Sutta, in the Digha Nikaya, number 27, the Buddha said, this designates the Tathagata, Dhammakaya, Brahmakaya, Dhammabhuta, Brahmabhuta. Dhammakaya means the Dhamma body. Brahmakaya means the Brahma body. Dhammabhuta means Dhammabhikam. Brahmabhuta means Brahmabhikam. So the Buddha is saying that after he passes into Nibbana, this is the Buddha, the Dhammabody, the Brahmabody, Dhammabhikam, Brahmabhikam. Yet the Buddha is saying that the state is too profound for an ordinary mind to understand. Now, sometimes some people think that the Buddha's teaching is very different from the Hindus. To me, it's not too different, even though some people say the... You want to get out of samsara. And you strive and you strive and you strive. You never get out of samsara. until you can cool yourself because the state of Nibbana the state away from Dukkha is called Nibbana and it literally means a cool state cool state you cannot be agitated if you are agitated you can never attain Nibbana there is Sutta in the Anguttara Nikaya where a few causes for a monk falling away or failing is given. And one of it is quite interesting. One of the causes is that the monk does not reflect on the mind as free. The mind is basically free. There's no need to look for liberation. The more we look for liberation, the more we tie ourselves up if we don't know how to go about it. That is why it is important to listen to the Dhamma. When we listen to the Dhamma, then we understand the teachings of the Buddha are extremely important. The Buddha's disciples are called Savakas, hearers. And before they do anything, struggling to meditate and all that, they hear the Dhamma first, listen to the teachings of the Buddha, understand before you start to walk the path. So, in the Buddha's discourses, the path out of samsara is a very gradual path. You cannot think you want to go for two weeks retreat and try to attain in a short time. It's only possible if you have already undergone a long struggle before you. For example, the simile of a durian dropping. It's true that durian drops suddenly, but it took a long time to grow from a small little, small fruit grow in size. takes a definite time for it to grow in size until it's fully grown. And after that, they need some more time to ripen. And then only when it's fully ripened, then it falls. So in the same way, the holy path, all the basic groundwork must be done. It's a very gradual path. And finally, the fruit falls. There is an interesting Sutta in the Samyutta Nikaya where the Buddha talked about the parable of the carpenter's axe handle. You know the axe is an instrument for planing the wood. And when I was young they had these axes where you use two hands to hold the axe and you do the planing. But probably during the Buddha's time they don't use two hands, they just use one hand on the axe wooden frame and then they do the planing. And then the Buddha said this carpenter he uses his axe And after a long time, he finds, he looks at the edge, the wood has got the mark of the thumb, has got the mark of the fingers. How do you say? Etched into it, sort of worn into it, into that wood. So he knows by seeing the adze, the wood, by seeing the marks of his fingers there, he knows that he has worn away the wood by using the adze. But the Buddha says he does not know how much of the wood he wore away yesterday. He does not know how much of the wood he wore away today. He does not know how much of the wood he wore away at other times. But he knows that the wood has been worn away just by plainly seeing that he has been worn away. So in the same way, when we cultivate the spiritual path, we do not know how much of the asavas or defilements has been worn away. For sure, but if we continue practicing year after year after some time, we find our whole person change, our personality changes, the temper goes down, the ego goes down, we become more humble. let go of some of our attachments, we become a cooler person, then we know for sure we are on the right path, that some of the asavas has been worn away. So it's not that you go for a short retreat and immediately expect results. It takes years and years of practice on the holy light.

(EA01)-10-4th-Ariyan-Truth-~-The-Way

Now I come to the fourth Aryan truth is that there is a path shown by the Buddha to this state of freedom from suffering, the state of nirvana, and the Buddha called it the Aryan Eightfold Path. It's called the Aryan Eightfold Path because it consists of eight practices, eight things in the path that have to be cultivated. If we cultivate this Aryan Eightfold Path to a limited extent, then we become an Arya. If we perfect all the eight factors of the Aryan Eightfold Path, we become an Arahant, completely liberated, completely enlightened. The first factor is right view followed by right thoughts and then right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. Now in one sutra in the Madhyamanikaya it is stated that the Aryan Eightfold Path The RNA old path must start with right view. You must have right view otherwise you have not entered the path. First you have right view and after cultivating right view that leads you to right thoughts. And right thoughts will lead you to right speech, and right speech will lead you to right action, which will lead you to right livelihood, and then to right effort, and then to right mindfulness, and finally right concentration. So that is how the path has to be cultivated one by one.

(EA01)-11-1st-Factor-~-Right-View

What's the meaning of Right View? Right View means an understanding of the Four Aryan Truths. But there are different levels of course. If you understand it on a shallower level, you attain the first stage of the Aryan Path, Sotapanna. If you understand it fully they become an Arahant, one fully enlightened. And ... it also implies an understanding of karma. But an understanding of kamma by itself is not enough for you to become an Arya. You have to understand the Four Noble Truths, Four Aryan Truths to a certain extent to become an Arya. Now how do we get right view? Before I come to that, there is a sutra in the Anguttara Nikaya 4.20.196 where it says that a person with right view understands the Four Noble Truths. So, as I said, if you understand on a shallower level the Four Noble Truths, you have attained the prestige. So, a person with right view is already an Arya. That's why right view is very important. Now, in the Majjhima Nikaya, number 43, only two conditions are given by the Buddha for one to attain right view. What are these two conditions? One is listening to the Dhamma. And the other one is having yoniso manasikara, which is sometimes translated as proper attention or thorough attention or thorough consideration. So, when you listen to dhamma, the dhamma In the Anguttara Nikaya 4.180, dhamma means the suttas. That's quite clear because in the Anguttara Nikaya 4.180, the Buddha said, if any monk says that such and such is the teachings of the Buddha, then without welcoming it, without scorning him, or he's calling his words, then you have to examine what he says to be the teachings of the Buddha with the Suttas and the Vinaya. So from that Sutta we know that Dhamma only refers to the Suttas. Things like the Abhidhamma came later, much later, because if you listen to the early discourses of the Buddha, We find that the Buddha called his teachings Dhamma Vinaya, and the Buddha defined Dhamma as the suttas in Angotra Nikaya, whereas later they talk about Tipitaka and Tripitaka. that's found in the later books, including the Mahayana. But Tipitaka was never even mentioned once by the Buddha. Or Tipitaka, not even mentioned once by the Buddha in the suttas. He always called teachings the Dhamma Vinaya. And he said, Dhamma Vinaya and the monks' monastic code. So, you see, to attain Right View, you must listen to the suttas, or study the suttas, and then you have proper attention, then you attain Right View. There is another important sutta in the Sangyuta Nikaya 46.4.8. where the Buddha says that when one listens to Dhamma attentively, I mean listen to the discourses of the Buddha attentively, the five hindrances exist not in him and the seven bojangas become complete. The seven bojangas are the seven factors of enlightenment. become complete. And when you are listening to the sutras attentively, the five influences do not exist in you at that time. These are the conditions for Arya attainment. That means just listening to the suttas, you can become an Arya. And that is quite obvious in the suttas and the Vinaya. Many people listen to the suttas as we have them today in the Nikayas. For the first time, even without meditation, they became Suttapanna, the Buddha said. Then it became Sotapanna. In another sutra, Sankirtanikaya 55.1.5. The factors for stream entry, Sotapatti, Yangani. These things that will bring you stream entry, Sotapanna. First one is association with true men. That means two men are those who know the true Dhamma. The second one is hearing the true Dhamma. And hearing the true Dhamma refers to the early four Nikayas of the Buddha, because the earliest discourses of the Buddha, which are consistent without any contradictions, are found in the earliest four Nikayas, the Digha Nikaya, Manjima Nikaya, Samyutta and Anguttara Nikaya. So the first one is association with true men. The second one is hearing the true Dhamma. The third one is having yoniso manasikara, proper attention or thorough consideration. And the fourth one is practice of Dhamma in accordance with Dhamma. That means living by Dhamma. You put the Dhamma that you learn into practice. Just these four things will bring you stream entry. Association with true men, hearing the true Dhamma, having proper attention and living according to Dhamma. Now this word Sotapanna is usually translated as stream-enterer. But that is not the only translation. This word Sotapanna consists of two words, Sota and Apana. Sota can mean stream, but the common meaning of Sota is the ear, and Apana means entered. So this word swatapan is probably also translated as ear enterer. That means the dhamma has entered the ear, has penetrated, that person has understood. And we find that it's probably... As I was saying that The other translation for Sotapanna is one whose ear has been penetrated. And the reason for this is that Buddha calls his disciples Savakas. Savakas. Listeners, all the Buddha's disciples are called sabakas, hearers, listeners. And they all listen to the Dhamma. And in the Anguttara Nikaya 3.85 and 9.12, the Buddha compared the four stages of Ariyahood with the three factors of the, of training. The Aranyakulapaka can also be said to consists of three things, sila, samadhi, and paññā, moral conduct, concentration, and wisdom. And in this sutta, Anguttara Nikaya 3.85, the Buddha said that the Sotapanna and Sakadagami have perfect sila. The Anagami has perfect sila plus samadhi, whereas the Arahant has perfect sila, samadhi, and paññā. So you find that the Anagamin and the Arahant, both of them must have perfect samadhi, perfect concentration. And perfect concentration in the suttas always is defined as the four jhanas or one-pointedness of mind. So in this sutta you find the Sotapanna and Sakadagami, they don't need the one-pointedness of mind. They don't need perfect concentration. And the difference between the Sotapanna and Sakadagamin is that the Sakadagamin has attenuated or has decreased greed, hatred and delusion. Now to decrease greed and hatred, greed and hatred are actually part of the five hindrances. The first two factors of the five hindrances is sensual desire and ill-will. And sensual desire and ill-will is synonymous with greed and hatred. So for a person to decrease the five hindrances slightly, he needs concentration to a certain extent. Not perfect, because if it's perfect, for the Anagamin is completely eliminated, this sensual desire and ill will completely eliminated, whereas in the Sakadagami is reduced. So because of that, you find that Sakadagami, he needs to meditate, he needs a certain amount of concentration, whereas the Sotapanna, the greed, hatred and delusion has not been decreased. In the suttas, the characteristics of the Suttapanna is only given as unshakable faith in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, three things, and he has perfect virtue. So, the Sotapanna only has unshakable faith into triple gems and he has perfect virtue. But perfect virtue does not mean that it is so perfect that he does not have any faults. In the Anguttara Nikaya 3.9.85, it is said that even an Arya can have minor transgressions. Now, some people think that the Sotapanna is so high a stage, that that person is so perfect, but it does not appear so in the sutras. In the Samyutta Nikaya 55.3.4, there was a man by the name, a Sakyan by the name of Sarakani. And when he passed away, people came and informed the Buddha and asked the Buddha, where has Sarakani taken rebirth? And then the Buddha said, don't worry about Sarakani. Something like that, said that. Sarakani had already become a Sotapanna. And when some people heard about this, they got very angry. Why? Because they said that Sarakani failed in the training and took to drink. And according to the commentary, fail in the training means he could not succeed in the training of a monk. That means he disrobed. And then he took to drink. The fact that he got angry seems that he didn't take to drink in small quantities. He probably drank quite a lot. And yet the Buddha says that he was a Sotapanna. And then in another sutra, Majjhima Nikaya 14, a relation of the Buddha, a cousin of the Buddha called Mahanama. He came to see the Buddha and he told the Buddha, that for a long time, even though for a long time he has learned the Dhamma and understood the Dhamma and yet sometimes greed, hatred and delusion obsess him and control his mind so that he has to act according to greed, hatred and delusion. So he asked the Buddha, is there something I have not cultivated that's why I am still controlled by greed, hatred and delusion? Then the Buddha said, Mahanama, as long as Aryan disciple even though he has attained something like, even though he has attained, he has Aryan wisdom or something like that. Yet if he has not cultivated piti and sukha, then he will still be led by sensual desires. Now piti and sukha, It's something that you get when you attain the jhanas. If you haven't attained the jhanas, one-pointedness of mind, you cannot get piti and sukha. So, when a person has attained piti and sukha, then greed, hatred and delusion cannot control him anymore. But before that, it can control him. Now, according to the commentary, Mahanama was already a Sakadagami, second stage, Arya. And yet, he is led by greed, hatred and delusion, sensual desires. So from these two suttas you find that the lower stage Arya is ... still has certain weaknesses. That's why in the suttas we find that it is probable that the first stage, sotapanna, is just attained by hearing the dhamma, paying proper attention and understanding the suttas. That's why it is so important for us to study the suttas. That is the foundation If you don't have the foundation, you find even you meditate for many long years, that you will give up. As has happened in Penang, there was somebody who was supposed to have meditated for 20 over years and he gave up Buddhism in the end.

(EA01)-12-2nd-Factor-~-Right-Thoughts

Now, the second factor of the alienable path is right thoughts, and right thoughts means the opposite of the wrong thoughts of greed, ill-will and harming, and it means the thoughts of renunciation or non-attachment, the first one, being able to let go. The second one is thoughts of goodwill, which is the opposite of ill-will. And the third one is thoughts of harmlessness or meekness. Being meek is quite a blessing. It's mentioned in the Mangala Sutta and also in the Bible. So that is the right thoughts that we should have. If we have such right thoughts of non-attachment and goodwill and harmlessness, then we start to counteract the three poisons of greed, hatred and delusion. And right thoughts will lead to right speech. Why? Because before we speak, we must think, as stated in the Dhammapada, the first verse, mind is the forerunner of all states.

(EA01)-13-3rd-Factor-~-Right-Speech

So if we have right thoughts, it leads us to right speech. And right speech refers to four types of speech. The first one, abstention from lying. The second one, abstention from malicious tail-bearing. Sometimes the second one is translated as slander, abstaining from slander. But slander The actual meaning is that you hear somebody say something, and then you go and repeat it to somebody else. You hear A talking bad about B, then you go and carry tales to B, and then cause A and B to quarrel and fight. That's the meaning. And the third one is harsh words or coarse words. We avoid that because when you speak harsh words, nobody can accept it. Even sometimes your intention may be good, you speak a bit louder and people get angry. Because all of us, we have that anger in us. It's like a jack-in-the-box. You touch the jack-in-the-box and it pops up. So somebody gives you a result. So we should avoid harsh words. And then the last one, we avoid unbeneficial talk or frivolous talk. And frivolous talk, according to the Dhamma, is talk about politics, talk about sports, talk about this and that. And beneficial talk is talk about wanting little, contentment, seclusion, Sila, Samadhi, Panna, moral conduct, concentration and wisdom, etc. So right speech is these factors, abstaining from lying, from malicious tail-bearing, from harsh words and from frivolous talk. Also you can say, right speech is that which is truthful, that which is timely, that which is beneficial, that which is gentle and spoken with the mind of love, loving kindness.

(EA01)-14-4th-Factor-~-Right-Action

And then right speech will lead us to right bodily action, right action. And right action means abstention from killing, using the body to kill, from stealing, from committing adultery. Committing adultery in the Nikaya, in the Manjima Nikaya, refers to having sexual relationship with four classes of person. First one is to engage in sexual relationship with somebody's husband or somebody's wife. Second one is having a relationship with somebody who is already engaged, betrothed to somebody else, somebody's fiancée you have a relationship with. Third one is the certain people who are too young under the guardianship of parents or brothers and sisters. The fourth one is somebody who is by convention is not allowed for you to engage in a sexual relationship. For example, the king's concubines or a monk or a nun. These are the four classes of people you can engage in sexual intercourse with them that amounts to adultery.

(EA01)-15-5th-Factor-~-Right-Livelihood

And then right action leads to right livelihood. And right livelihood means abstaining from the kind of livelihood that would do harm to others, especially, or do harm to yourself. And five types of traits are specifically mentioned by the Buddha. The first one is trading in human beings, that means in slavery. That's the first type that is wrong. The second one is rearing animals to sell for their meat. For example, rearing chickens and pigs to sell to the market for slaughtering. That's the second type of wrong trade. The third type is trading in weapons, weapons that kill. Fourth one is trading in poisons or drugs or insecticides and all that that kill living beings. And the fifth one is trading in intoxicants, liquor or drugs, etc. These are the types of trading that should not be carried out by laypeople.

(EA01)-16-6th-Factor-~-Right-Effort

And then right livelihood leads to right effort. And right effort is defined as two, the first four types of things involved. The first one is to discard unwholesome mind states that have arisen. Unwholesome or unskillful mind states that have arisen. The first one. The second one is to prevent unwholesome mind states that have not arisen from arising to prevent un-arisen, unwholesome mind states from arising. Third one is to develop unwholesome, sorry, to develop un-arisen, wholesome mind states. And the fourth one is to promote wholesome mind states that have already arisen to make it increase. Now what are unwholesome mind states? Unwholesome mind states are involved in greed or attachment, anger or ill will, delusion, conceit, aversion, jealousy, stinginess, shamelessness, restlessness, etc. These are unwholesome mind states. So if they have not arisen, we try to prevent them from arising. If they have already arisen, we try to discard them or decrease them. And then wholesome mind states are states connected with renunciation or unattachment, goodwill, mindfulness, humility, generosity, conscience, a sense of remorse, tranquility, etc. So these wholesome mind states, if they have not arisen, then we try to develop them, bring them up. Or if they have already arisen, then we try to promote them, make them increase these wholesome mind states. That is right effort. So right effort is concerned with watching your mind, to watch the mind and see these states. Why we have to watch the mind? Because where does our dukkha come from? Our suffering comes from the ego, from the sense of an I, a self. And where is the sense of an I or self? In the mind. The I of self arises every moment in the mind. Every time a consciousness arises, this I arises. When the consciousness ceases, there is no I. Consciousness arises, I arise again. So because the I is created there in the mind, that's why we have to watch the mind to see that we have Wholesome or skillful mind states, not unwholesome or unskillful mind states.

(EA01)-17-7th-Factor-~-Right-SATI

The right effort will bring us to right sati. This word sati is defined in the suttas. There's about eight suttas that have the same definition. And sati is defined as to remember and call to mind what was said and done a long time ago. This word sati comes from a root word which is spelled S-M-R-T-I. And that word means to remember. So sati is concerned with remembering. Why is it concerned with remembering? Because we have to remember to be mindful of the body and mind. Why the body and mind? Because the self is always associated with five things. That's the body, feeling, perception, volition and consciousness. These five things, whenever we talk about I, the Self, we always associate with these five things, whether in this life or the previous life or in the future life. When we refer to I, we always refer to these five things. And these five things, body, feeling, perception, volition and consciousness, they are basically body and mind. body and mind. So we, when we practice sati, we have to be, we have to remember to be mindful of body and mind. And the mind is even more important because if we look into the mind, after some time we realize that the body is also in the mind. And it's not in the five sense objects, you know. Our attention should not go out into seeing, to hearing, smelling, taste and touch. This is very obvious in two suttas, two suttas. So this word sati can mean recollection, right recollection or if you use the word mindfulness then you have to remember it is not general mindfulness because mindfulness has two meanings. The more More people associate mindfulness with being generally aware, generally aware of what's going on. But if you are just aware of what's going on, that means you are aware of what's happening around you in the world of the five sense objects. And that is not concerned with the Buddha's mindfulness. The other meaning of mindfulness is to remember. to remember, a sense of remembering. And that is the more correct word, because as I said just now, sati means to remember and call to mind what was said and done a long time ago. So, as I said just now, mindfulness is concerned only with the body and the mind, not the five sense objects, the external world, This is seen in two suttas very clearly. One is on Uttanikaya 35.199. There's a parable given of a tortoise and a jackal. One day the Buddha said a tortoise was walking by the bank of a river trying to look for some food, walking along and trying to look for some food. Suddenly he saw in the distance a jackal. Jackal is a kind of a fox-like animal coming in the distance and that is an enemy of the tortoise because it will eat the tortoise if it has a chance. So when the tortoise saw the jackal in the distance, it got so scared that it said, now I have to withdraw all my forelimbs and my head. So he withdrew all the forelimbs and the head into its shell and lay down very still. Then the jackal came up to this tortoise and then he looked at this tortoise and he thought to himself, if this tortoise, one of his limbs comes out or the head comes out, I'm going to seize it and devour it and pull it out. And then he waited, waited for the tortoise, but the tortoise was so scared, he dare not put out any limb, dare not put out his head. One hour passed, two hours passed, three hours passed, and the jackal got tired of waiting and the jackal left. So in the same way the Buddha said these five things, the head and the forelimbs stand for the five sense organs, the seeing, hearing, smelling, taste and touch organs. If we put our attention out into these five organs and we observe the seeing, the hearing, etc. Mara is waiting to seize us. Mara is waiting just like the jackal is waiting for the tortoise. Whenever your attention goes up to the five sense doors, Mara will catch you. So the Buddha said that is not your area, that is not your your sphere. Another sutra which is, has a parallel meaning, is given in Samyutta Nikaya 47.1.6, the parable of the quail and the falcon. The falcon is a bird, something like an eagle, while it was flying high in the sky. Then he saw this quail on the ground. Quail is a small bird. Then he swooped down and caught the quail. I caught the quail very, you know, I gripped the quail and then the quail lamented to itself because it cursed my luck. Today I'm caught by this falcon. If I had not strayed away from my base and from my own area, this falcon would have been no match for me. No match for me at all. Then when the Vulcan heard that, he was surprised. Then he asked the quail, where is your base? Where is your area? Then the Vulcan pointed, the quail pointed out to a piece, a nearby piece of land with some plots. of earth and rocks and all that and he said that's my area and then the falcon said okay let you go this time see whether you're a match for me so the falcon flew up into the air again so this quail went went back to his ground you know so he stood on a piece of rock and then he he called the falcon And he said, come, come, come, I challenge you, something like that. So the falcon flew down, swooped down to catch the quail. When it came near the quail, it jumped behind the rock where there was a hole, you know, went to hide inside the hole. Then the falcon came and smashed itself on the rock. So it died there. So, in the same way, the Buddha said, if we stray out of our own area into the five sense doors, then the Mara, just like the falcon, will catch us. But if we keep Within our perimeter, within our grounds, then Mara would not be able to catch us. And what is our grounds? The four objects of Satipatthana. These four objects of Satipatthana are also basically body and mind. So from these two suttas you find that if you want to practice mindfulness it must only be concerned with your body and your mind and more specifically your mind and not up into the five sense doors. Now in the Majjhima Nikaya 125 it is stated that when we practice Satipatthana, Satipatthana I would translate that as intense states of mindfulness or intense states of recollection. The Buddha said we should not think thoughts connected with the body, feelings, mind and the dharma. We should not think thoughts connected with the body, mind, feelings and dharma. That means we just observe. We take an independent witness attitude, just like a witness, without putting our concepts. We just watch what's going on. And when you watch these four objects, we see how they arise and pass away due to conditions. And in one sutra, Sanyuta Nikaya 52.1.4, it is stated that the practice of Satipatthana should be abandoned after you have attained. It should be abandoned, you know. Why it should be abandoned? Because if you have attained Satipatthana, then it becomes part of you. In the Madhyama Nikaya No. 44, it is stated that Satipatthana is the mark of Samadhi. It's the characteristic mark of Samadhi. Samadhi, as you know, refers to the Jhanas. So when you attain the Jhanas, Satipatthana becomes automatic. That is why Satipatthana is the characteristic mark of Jhana. That is why Jhana and Samadhi is so important. Yes, from here you can see Satipatthana and Samadhi, Jhana, they are related. Because in one Sutta, the Buddha said, a careless monk, when he practices Satipatthana, his mind cannot become concentrated. But if he practices Satipatthana correctly, that should lead him to one-pointedness of mind. That is why after he attains one-pointedness of mind, then Satipatthana can be abandoned because it becomes a characteristic mark of Samadhi. Some people think that the jhanas are not useful states to practice. They think that when you attain jhana there is no mindfulness. This is completely different from the suttas. In the sutras, in the description of the fourth jhāna, it is stated that the fourth jhāna is a state of complete purity of sati. In the state of the fourth jhāna, sati is completely pure. In fact, the states of jhāna are intense states of mindfulness. If you are not intensely mindful, you cannot enter these jhāna states. And the fact that Satipadana is very much to do with the Jhanas can be seen from the Sutta Sankirtanikaya 47.3.8. The Venerable Aniruddha, the Arahant Aniruddha is well known for his great psychic power of clairvoyance. It is stated in the Suttas that Aniruddha could see the whole world system so clearly like the palm of his hand. And somebody asked him, how did you get such great psychic power? And Aniruddha replied, it is due to Satipatthana. Normally psychic power has to do with jhanas, but here he is saying because of Satipatthana that he has such great psychic power. So from here you can see Satipatthana is not divorced from the jhanas, one consciousness of mind. They have everything to do with jhanas.

(EA01)-18-8th-Factor-~-Right-Concentration

Now that leads us to right concentration because the practice of right mindfulness will end up with right concentration and that is defined as one-pointedness of mind or the four jhānas. What is this word jhāna? Jhāna is a word which literally means burning or incandescence, bright. And so a good translation for a state of jhāna is a state of mental incandescence because when a person attains jhāna, the mind lights up. That is why those beings in the jhāna planes, they are like a ball of light, like a ball of light. There's a description how when Mahābrāhma comes to visit Śākadeva Rāja in the heavens of the 33, Sakadeva Raja he sees from a long distance away a ball of light flying towards him and they know that Mahabrahma is coming so they stand in attention and then when this ball of light in a short while comes in front of them And then, because this being, Mahabrahma, is with his psychic power, he changes into a shape of a young deva, and then he'll talk to Sakadevaraja. And when he has finished talking to him, he'll go back to his state of a ball of light and fly away. So, these beings in the jhana plane, their state is a state of brightness. That is why a good translation of jhāna is a state of mental incandescence. And why is it jhāna is stressed in the Buddha's teachings? Because there is one sutta in the Anguttara Nikaya 4.41 where it is stated that the best condition for jnana dasana, jnana dasana sometimes is translated as knowing and seeing or insight knowledge. It is stated there that the best condition for insight knowledge or knowing and seeing is a mind that is bright, that is luminous, incandescent. So from there you can see why jhāna is important in the Buddha's teachings. When you attain jhāna, the mind lights up. And when the mind lights up, the hindrances are abandoned. That is why it is important and certain suttas seem to imply that even when you come out of jhāna, the The hindrances are also not there because, for example, there's one sutra that says that when one attains the jhanas, then the hindrances are unconsciously restrained. You don't need to make an effort by itself to restrain. Now jhāna, when a person attains jhāna, he attains the five factors of jhāna, vitakha, vicara, piti, sukha, ekagatha. And this jhāna is concerned with this one-pointedness of mind, ekagatha. And there is a sutta which makes us understand What is this one-pointedness of mine? It's the Sangyutanikaya, number 35.206. There's a parable of a hunter with six animals. The Buddha said one day a hunter caught six animals. What are these six animals? An eagle, a monkey, a snake, a crocodile or alligator, a dog, and a hyena. Now after catching these six animals, the hunter tied them with a rope and these six ropes, he tied the six ropes into a knot and he let go these six animals. When he let these six animals go, what happens? They want to go to their natural ground, their natural home. The eagle will try to fly into the air. The monkey will try to climb up a tree. The snake will try to find a hole to hide itself. The alligator will try to go into the water. The dog will want to go into town to look for food. And the hyena wants to go up the hill. That's where he lives. So these six animals are pulling in six different directions. And at any one time, whichever animal is stronger, he will pull and the rest will have to follow him. After a while, he becomes tired. Another one is stronger and he will pull and the others have to follow him. And similarly, one after the other, they are pulling in six different directions. And that is a simile for a normal mind. The normal mind jumps from object to object because the six sense doors, the objects are pulling us in the six different directions. As you sit here listening to this dharma talk, perhaps you are trying to put your attention here. Suppose a car goes by and sounds the horn and suddenly your attention is pulled there. Or suddenly if a mosquito bites you, you get a sting and suddenly your attention goes there again. Or because you are sitting too long, you get an ache in your legs and suddenly your attention goes there. So that is the normal state of mind where our attention is being pulled from object to object, changing. And the Buddha said that is not the way to control the mind. That is definitely not the way. So the Buddha said just like if the hunter wants to control these six animals, what he has to do is to take all these six ropes tied to these six animals and tie them all around a stout pole or a stout post. And wherever these six animals try to go, they can only go round and round the pole, round and round the pole until they get tired. And then they will very quietly slide down or sit down very docile beside the poles, the pole. So in the same way, the Buddha said, to tame our mind, we must tie our attention, put our attention to one object, just like that stout pole. If it goes away, we pull it back again to that one object. If it goes away, we pull it back again. Continually try to pull it back until the mind becomes tame. Because it is the nature of the mind to flip about to the six objects. And to tame the mind, you have to do the opposite. That is what the mind does not like to do. That is why cultivating jhana is difficult. It's not easy. And because it is not easy, a lot of people try to find some excuse for not cultivating jhāna. They say you can do without jhāna, but that is not the Buddha's teachings. In the Majjhima Nikaya 108, Venerable Ananda was asked, what type of meditation is praised by the Buddha? What type of meditation is not praised by the Buddha? And he said, the type of meditation where the five evidences are abandoned is praised by the Buddha. The type of meditation where the five evidences are not abandoned is not praised by the Buddha. And from there we can understand why we need to cultivate jhāna because the hindrances are abandoned. Now you notice in the other eightfold path that the last factor is jhāna. Perfect Samadhi. And then there is a term called Carana. You know one of the names of the Buddha is Vijacarana Sampanno. One perfect or replete with conduct and knowledge. So this word Carana sometimes translated as conduct, sometimes as practice. These certain things that a monk has to cultivate along the holy path, things like contentment, sila, guarding the six sense doors, moderation in eating, sati sampajanya, etc., and the last thing that he attains is also attainment of the four jhanas. So, Now, sometimes people wonder what is the benefit of jhanas when these external ascetics, they also attain jhanas and yet they don't have wisdom. Now, in the Majjhima Nikaya 117, it is stated that the Aryan Right Concentration is one-pointedness of mind supported by the seven other factors of the Aryan Gita Purva. You see, the Arahant Eightfold Path consists of eight factors. You cannot just use one factor to succeed. You must use all eight factors. You cannot say, oh, jhana is useless because external ascetics get jhana and they can't have wisdom because they don't have the other factors. But when you have all eight factors pulling together, then that brings us to Arahant Buddha. You cannot say, for example, what's the use of sila? You just cultivate sila. And a person cannot become enlightened by sila. But that does not mean sila is not necessary by itself. Sila cannot bring you enlightenment, but it is one of the factors in the RNA-4 path. Without sila, you cannot go anywhere in the RNA-4 path. You cannot succeed. In one sutra, Madhyamanikaya 149, it is stated that when the Arunachala path is fully developed, all the 37 Bodhipakya dharmas are fully developed, and Samatha and Vipassana are led to work together. You see, when the Aryan Eightfold Path is developed, all thirty-seven Bodhipakya Dharmas are fully developed. What are the thirty-seven Bodhipakya Dharmas? The Aryan Eightfold Path, the seven Bhojanga, the five Bala, the five Indriya, and then the four Satipatthana, the four Right Efforts, etc. All of them are fully developed. And Samatha and Vipassana work together.

(EA01)-19-How-to-walk-the-path

Now, we started off with Right View. Remember, the first part, the first factor of the Aryan people's path is Right View. There is one sutra in the Majjhima Nikaya 43, where it is stated that if you have Right View, and it is assisted by five other things, you can attain liberation or Arahanthood. as the result. What are these five other things? That means these five things support right view. The first one is sila, moral conduct. Second one is dhamma-savana, listening to the dhamma. That means listening to the suttas or studying the suttas. Third one is dhamma-sakacca, discussion of the dhamma. Fourth one is samatha. Fifth one is vipassana. Samatha and vipassana is concerned with meditation, okay? So just meditation by itself with right view is not sufficient. You must have sila, you must have hearing the dhamma, dhammasavana, you must have dhammasakaja, discussion of dhamma. These two things, dhammasavana and dhammasakaja, listening to the suttas and discussion of the suttas, brings you Bahusacca, what is bahusacca? Much learning, that means much knowledge of the suttas or the dhamma. Only with much knowledge of the dhamma, then together with samatha and vipassana you can attain and sila, you can attain arahanthood. Now, there is one sutra, the Anguttara Nikaya, which gives five ways to attain Ariyahood. Not just one way, you know, five ways. What are these five ways when a person attains Ariyahood? The first one is listening to Dharma. To listen to Dharma, joy arises. It is stated there, joy arises. When joy arises, the mind becomes tranquil. When mind becomes tranquil, it becomes concentrated. When it becomes concentrated, insight develops and then you attain Arya-hood. That's the first one, listening to Dharma. The second one is teaching Dharma. When you teach Dharma, The understanding, you have to understand it before it comes out. So in the process of teaching Dharma, also happiness arises. And when happiness arises, the mind becomes tranquil and concentrated and insight arises. So the second way of attaining Ariya-Buddha is teaching Dharma. The third one is repeating Dharma. Nowadays, because we have books, people are very lazy to repeat Dhamma. In the days of the Buddha when they did not have books, they had to repeat Dhamma again and again and again and again. And so Dhamma was transmitted from generation to generation. So in the process of repeating Dhamma, the more times we repeat it in our mind, the more we understand. Just like reading a sutra. You read the sutra once, you only catch a certain number of points. The more times you read the sutra, the more points you catch. And then when you understand more, then the insight arises. So the third one is repeating Dhamma. The fourth one is reflecting on Dhamma, pondering on Dhamma that you have already heard, that you have already studied. You reflect on it. And when you reflect on it, you come to understand more. Insight arises and you attain Ariyabodhi. The last one is meditation. during meditation you attain it. So be very clear, it is not only during meditation that you attain Ariyaputra. Four other ways are not concerned with meditation at that time. Only one is during meditation. Now in one sutra in the Angotra Nikaya 4.170 the Arahant Ananda was very old at that time and the Buddha had passed into Nibbana and the monks and nuns who attained Arahanthood they would come and declare to the Venerable Ananda that they had become an Arahant. During the Buddha's time they would go and inform the Buddha that they become Arahant but now the Buddha was no more around. They came to inform Venerable Ananda and in this sutra Venerable Ananda said All the monks and nuns who came to me to declare that they attained Arahanthood, all said that they attained by one of four ways. That means there is only four ways to attain Arahanthood. The first one, they practice Samatha first, followed by Vipassana. The second one, they practice Vipassana first, followed by Samatha. Is it? Usually people only know that you practice Samatha, after that you have to practice Vipassana. They don't know the reverse, the converse is equally true. Even you practice Vipassana, you cannot attain Arahambhuta until you practice Samatha. So that's the second one, Vipassana followed by Samatha. Third one is Samatha and Vipassana at the same time. The fourth one is a method that is seldom practiced in Theravada circles nowadays. It's gone into Zen, gone into Jnana Yoga. That is meditating on the self, that feeling of the self, staying with the self until the mind becomes one-pointed. and then the way is obvious to that person and then he goes on to attain arahanthood. So these are the four ways to attain arahanthood. And in all these four ways, both samatha and vipassana is necessary.