(EA15)-01-Did-Buddha-ever-mention-about-Bodhisatta-path

Tonight my talk is on Samatha and Vipassana. This is a sort of a continuation from my talk in Depot about a month ago, which was called Original and Traditional Buddhism, which lasted for about three hours. It was more of a question and answer session and I took the opportunity to talk a bit about original and traditional Buddhism and I would like to summarize a bit now what I said there basically what I said was that there are a lot of wrong views in Mahayana Buddhism as well as Theravada Buddhism And in Mahayana Buddhism, I think we don't have to mention that, in Theravada Buddhism, many of the wrong views come from the books that were written later. Because I mentioned that the original books were the Four Nikayas, because at the time when the 500 Arahants met, about three months after the Buddha's parinibbana, they only discussed the Vinaya and the four Nikayas, that is the Diga Nikaya, Majjhima Nikaya, Sangyuta, and Anguttara Nikaya. And it was later that there was a certain mushrooming of books written later. and these wrong views were acknowledged even at the time of Emperor Ahsoka and so these four Nikayas are the really reliable books, really books that we can say is the Buddha's words. Anything other than that, we have to be very careful. So, in Theravada Buddhism, now we have what they call the Tipitaka or Tripitaka, the three treasuries. And they have added the Abhidhamma, which is one of those set of books, seven books, whose authenticity is controversial. And then we have the Kuddakanikaya, and then we have the commentaries, kata-kata, and then the sub-commentaries, and the sub-sub-commentaries. And beside all these books, there are still others like the Visuddhimagga, Milindapantha, Nettipakarana, Pitakopadesa and other books which don't even fall into this category, but which some Theravada monks like to read and acknowledge them as the Buddha's teaching or in conformity with the Buddha's teaching. Now if all these books are actually in conformity with the Buddha's teaching, there should be no inconsistency, no discrepancy with the Four Nikayas. But unfortunately, there is. And now in Theravada Buddhism, we have two serious, what I would call, wrong views. One is that we acknowledge that there is such a thing as a bodhisattva path that you can actually become a Buddha by making vows by cultivating the paramis or paramitas and then after a long period of time you can become a Buddha but this has no basis in the four nikayas and In the Four Nikayas, there's no mention of the Buddha or the Bodhisatta making a vow before the Dipankara Buddha and meeting 24 Buddhas successively who predicted that he would become a Buddha. Actually, in our Four Nikayas, he only met one Buddha. That was Kassapa Buddha. And he said he looked back in time as far as 91 Kapas only. And during that period, he said he saw in the past 91 Kappas, six Buddhas. So he only mentioned six Buddhas' names. And the fact that we say that in the Four Nikayas, there is no basis for the Bodhisattva belief, the path, is that first, when the Buddha was enlightened, He contemplated the nature of living beings and he decided not to teach. In other words, he was quite determined to be a Pacika Buddha. And only after the Brahma, Sahampati, the Deva came to appeal to him three times to teach the Dharma to the world that he decided to teach the Dharma. So from here you can see that basically the wisdom of a Pacekabuddha and a Samasambuddha is basically the same. It's only whether one wants to teach or one does not want to teach. And in the Nikayas we find that there are times when you can find many Pachekabuddhas in the world, something like 500 Pachekabuddhas were stated by the Buddha who had lived at Isigili Mountain near Rajagaha. So at any one time you can find a lot of Pachekabuddhas compared to a Sammasambuddha which is extremely rare. And I mentioned that the reason is that it's very difficult to teach Something new, something different from what people are used to believe. To change people's views is very difficult. You get persecuted, get abused, and as in the case of Jesus Christ, you even get killed. So the other basis for saying that there is no real Bodhisattva path, there is such a thing as a Bodhisattva groping, because the Bodhisattva is actually groping in the dark. There is no proper path like the Arya. The Arya has got an Aryan eightfold path to follow, a very definite path. Whereas the Bodhisattva, he has no Dharma base. He does not understand Dharma, so he is groping and cultivating all these paramis, just brings him up and down in samsara, sometimes goes up to the heaven, sometimes comes down. So in the Gatikara Sutta, the Buddha did mention that in one of his previous lives, he met the Buddha Kasapa. And when he met the Buddha Kasapa, he had no respect for Buddha Kasapa, refused to go and see Buddha Kasapa until he was pulled by the hair by his friend Gatikara, and finally he went to see the Buddha. And when he saw Buddha Kasapa, also he had no respect. He didn't want to pay any respect to the Buddha Kasapa. And then later after Buddha Kasapa taught him the Dhamma, he changed completely, made a 180 degrees turn, and had so much faith in the Buddha that he was willing to renounce his Brahmin religion and become a monk. And that means, at that time, the Buddha entered the stream, the Bodhisattva. So after that birth, as Jyotipala, the Brahmin, he was reborn in the Tusita Heaven. From the Tusita Heaven, he came down to Earth and became a Buddha. And that is logical. That means after he met the Buddha's teaching, He took another, one more time, coming back to Earth, one more time to become a Buddha. And that's reasonable because the Buddha said Sotapanna has at most seven more lives. And these seven more lives probably means seven more existences on Earth as a human being. So, basically, that was the first wrong view I mentioned.

(EA15)-02-What-are-the-major-discrepancies-about-Samatha-and-Vipassana

The second one was that a very serious discrepancy now exists concerning Samatha and Vipassana. There is now found a general belief that there are two vehicles, what they call Samatha-yanika and Vipassana-yanika. And this has its origin in the commentaries. Commentaries say that in the Nikayas, there are two types of Arahant. One that cultivates Samatha meditation, another one that cultivates Vipassana meditation. And out of this hypothesis, out of this assumption, they have said that this person who cultivates the Vipassana Jnanika, he might be enlightened with the four janas, or three janas, or two, one, or even zero jana. Even if he has no jana, he can still be enlightened. And this has absolutely no basis in the four nikayas. And they call this person the Suka Vipassaka Arahant. Sukha means dry, it's spelled with a double K, S-U-K-K-H-A, Vipassaka, dry vision arahant. And this, I like to point out later, how this type of wrong view came about. One was through what I believe is a wrong interpretation of the liberation by mind or two ways liberated Arahant and liberation by wisdom. So now, this view that there is a Samatha Janaka and Vipassana Janaka, once you have this kind of view, then they start differentiating. They say that Samatha Janaka has no wisdom, whereas the Vipassana Janaka is cultivating wisdom. In other words, what they are saying is no different from what the Mahayanis say about Theravada and Mahayana. Basically that they are Mahayana, the higher vehicle, and Theravada is the Hinayana, lower vehicle. So in the same way, once you separate Samatha and Vipassana, you find people who are attached to Vipassana calling themselves in the same way, that they are the Mahala. And you who practice the Samatha, you are the Hinayana or Hinayanika. Basically, it's the same thing. Now, one of the suttas, that leads to this kind of idea is found in the Anguttara Nikaya. There's one sutta that says two things contribute to knowledge. One is Samatha, the other one is Vipassana. Then it is stated there, Samatha, the result of practicing Samatha is development of mind. And the result of development of mind is that lust is abandoned. and the result of abandoning lust is that you get liberation by mind. Then they say that vipassana leads to the development of wisdom and which in turn results in ignorance being abandoned and which in turn results in liberation by wisdom. Now this word samatha and vipassana as I pointed out in my earlier talk in Nepal is that samatha literally means suppression or pacification or tranquilization. So I think the better word to use is tranquilization. It is a process of making your mind tranquil. And this leads to development of mind, which basically means concentration or tranquility. And the result of tranquility, according to this sutta, is that lust is abandoned. Now, vipassana should be translated as contemplation. But some people, they translate it as insight. This should not be correct, because the word vipassana consists of two words, vi and passana. Vi is a prefix, meaning separation. And passana is to see, to observe. So when you see and you separate, that is contemplation. And the result of practicing Vipassana is development of wisdom, which is basically insight. So since you practice Vipassana, you can get insight. Vipassana should not mean insight. Vipassana should mean contemplation. And that will lead you to insight. And the result of insight is that ignorance is abandoned. and then you get liberation by wisdom now this kind of sutta if you are not careful you only study one sutta like this you will come to the conclusion according to this sutta it says that samatha will give you concentration and which results in abandoning lust and then vipassana gives you development of wisdom which means insight and then From this sutta alone, you might think that Samatha does not give you wisdom. Only Vipassana will give you wisdom. But if you study more, there's another sutta in the Anguttara Nikaya that talks about a few types of concentration. And then it says that if you cultivate your mind to be concentrated, and so concentrated until it becomes bright, And not only so, not a little bit of brightness, it's very bright, so that your mind becomes very, very bright. That is the best condition for insight, for jnana darsana. In other words, here, this second sutta is saying samatha or concentration will give you insight. which is opposite to what the other one says. And then, in this same Sutta, it says that if you contemplate the body, the 32 parts of the body, lust is abandoned. So, in this second Sutta, what is the meaning of it is that Samatha will give you insight. Contemplation of body or Vipassana will make your lust be abandoned, which is quite the opposite of the first sutta, which says that samatha will abandon last, right? You get development of mind, concentration, then you abandon last. And then, whereas vipassana gives you insight. So, you see, if you study only one or two suttas and you don't study enough the suttas, you can come to the wrong conclusion. Now, If you take these two suttas and compare, you will find that Samatha gives you wisdom in one sutta, the other sutta, Vipassana, gives you wisdom. So how is this to be reconciled? For this, you have to see another sutta in the Samyutta Nikaya, which says that To get yatha, bhuta, jnana, dasana, seeing things as they really are, there is a condition. It's not simply anybody can get yatha, bhuta, jnana, dasana, seeing things as they really are. The condition for seeing things as they really are is samadhi. And samadhi is always defined in the suttas, in the four nikayas, as the four jhanas. Sometimes it is defined as one-pointedness, which means jhana, Any guy nada.

(EA15)-03-Is-Momentary-Concentration-stated-in-the-Sutta

Now the commentary sometimes they say right concentration can mean momentary concentration. This has absolutely no basis in our Nikayas. Momentary concentration is not even mentioned at all in the Nikayas because the Buddha didn't consider it worthwhile mentioning. Why? Because momentary concentration is something that almost everyone has. It's not only when you read a book or you sit down to meditate that you have momentary concentration, you know. All the time you should have momentary concentration because if you don't have momentary concentration, firstly, you can't even make a proper sentence. Yes or no? To say a sentence that is coherent, that people can understand, you have to be able to place the words in your mind properly and utter them. coherently, so that people can understand, right? That needs momentary concentration. To eat your food, you need momentary concentration, otherwise you cannot put the spoon into your mouth, or put it into your nose, or put it into your eye, right? To walk straight, you need momentary concentration. Because you can see, a drunkard cannot walk straight, isn't it? Ask a drunkard to walk straight, he cannot walk straight. Why? Because he's got no control of himself. So momentary concentration is something that we use all the time. That's why in the Buddha's teaching, it doesn't amount to anything.

(EA15)-04-What-is-Ariyan-Right-Concentration

And then in the other talk, I also mentioned that the Aryan Rite concentration is the jhanas supported by the seven factors, the other seven factors of the Aryan Eightfold Path. It's only when the jhanas are supported by the other seven factors of the Aryan Eightfold Path that it is very useful. Then we use the jhanas in the right way, together with sati, together with right effort and all these things. And we get results in the Buddha's teaching. Now, there are several suttas that affirm that concentration samadhi in the suttas always refer to the four jhanas. For example, in the Agmuttara Nikaya, there's one sutta that talks about the threefold training. The training in the Adi Sila, the higher morality. The Adi Citta, higher mind. And the Adi Panna, higher wisdom. There it is defined, the Adi Citta Sikha, the training in the higher mind, is the Four Jhanas. That is definitely stated. Then, there is another sutra in the Anguttara Nikaya that talks about utter purification of mind. And there it is defined also as the Four Jhanas. Now, in the Majjhima Nikaya, there is one sutta that talks about the seven purifications, the Ratha-Vinita Sutta. And there, they did not define what they mean by the purification of mind. So, because it is not defined there, there are some commentaries that say the Jhanas are not necessary. But in the Anguttara Nikaya, it's very clearly stated Purification of mind is the four jhanas. There are other several suttas that confirm that samadhi always refers to the jhanas. For example, in the Majjhima Nikaya, there's a few suttas. There's one sutta where Ananda, I think, was asked, what is that one thing the Buddha taught that is needed to win liberation? And the Venerable Ananda said, first jhana, Then that person asked him, is there another thing? Then Ananda said, second jhāna. Then he said, is there another thing? Third jhāna. So you see, always talking about jhānas. Then there's another sutta where the Buddha was asked, what is the way to get rid of the five lower factors? When you get rid of the five lower factors, that means you become an anagami. So the Buddha said the first jhāna. And then he was asked whether there's another way, he said the second jhāna. Another way? Third jhāna. All these jhānas, you see. And then there's another sutta where Ananda was asked, what kind of meditation was praised by the Buddha? What kind of meditation was not praised by the Buddha? Remember Ananda said, the kind of meditation where the five hindrances are abandoned, that type of meditation is praised by the Buddha, meaning the jhānas. And the type of meditation that is not praised by the Buddha is the type of meditation where the five hindrances are not abandoned. That means anything short of the first jhāna or one-pointedness of mind is not approved by the Buddha. Then there are, for example, others. Anguttara Nikāyā, the Buddha said, Asavā, truly I say, Asavā destruction depends on the first jhāna. Asavā destruction depends on the second jhāna, etc. Then another Anguttara Nikaya Sutta, the Buddha said, a monk without the peace of concentration in high degree, without winning one-pointedness, that a monk without the peace of concentration in high degree, without winning one-pointedness, shall enter and abide in liberation by mind, liberation by wisdom. That cannot be, the Buddha said. And then there are two suttas in the Anguttara Nikaya where the Buddha talked about the threefold training, sila, samadhi, panna. And then the Buddha defined quite clearly, the Buddha said the Sotapanna and the Sakadagamin, the first and second fruition person, has got perfect sila. That means the five precepts, or at least the first four precepts are perfect. And then the Buddha said the Anagamin, the third fruition person, has got perfect sila and samadhi. When you say perfect samadhi, that means he has got the jhanas, the four jhanas. That's why generally all anagamins are reborn in the fourth jhana plane. And then the Buddha also said the arahant has got perfect sila, samadhi and panniya. That means only the arahant has got that type of panniya that can bring you out of samsara. And then in the Majjhima Nikaya, there is a sutra where the Buddha said, when a person develops the Aryan Eightfold Path fully, at the same time, he develops the Four Satipatthana fully. And at the same time, the Four Iddhipada also go to full development. And the Four Right Efforts, Samapadana, and then the Four Balas. the four powers and the four and i sorry the five bala and the five indriya the five powers and the five faculties go to completion and the seven bojanga also fully developed the ariyan eightfold path fully developed so in other words if a person cultivates the ariyan eightfold path all these things are like the satipatthana idipada samapadana all at the same time are developed, you know. You cannot say, for example, somebody might think, I only want to cultivate the four Satipatthana, I don't want to cultivate the four Idipada. He thinks he doesn't want psychic power, maybe. He says, Idipada will give you psychic power, I don't want that, I want Satipatthana. Cannot want. In fact, later I'll tell you, there's actually one sutta where it is stated, if you want psychic power, you must cultivate Satipatthana. Because Satipatthana is not separate from jhāna, and that we'll talk about later.

(EA15)-05-What-does-it-means-by-Arahant-liberated-by-wisdom

Now we talk about another place where this wrong view comes about that there can be arahant liberated by wisdom who does not have any jhana. This concerns the liberation by mind and liberation by wisdom. Now this, in the Majjhima Nikaya, there's a sutta, Kittagiri Sutta, which talks about the, I think the seven types of individuals. Then it mentions the two types of arahants. The two types of arahant mentioned there is called the Ubatthobhaga Vimuthi, the two ways liberated arahant, and the arahant who is liberated by mind. So you see in that sutta, it talks about these two types of arahants, without mentioning the word liberation by wisdom. But on the other hand, there are other suttas in the Majjhima Nikaya that talks about the two types of arahants, liberated by wisdom and liberated by mind. So, There are some writers who say that when the Buddha mentions liberation by wisdom and liberation by mind, he is referring to one arahant. Maybe in some suttas the Buddha might mean that. But there is actually one sutta, Majjhima Nikaya 64, where it is very clear that liberation by mind and liberation by wisdom refers to two types of arahants. In that sutta, The Buddha talked about how a person gets rid of the five lower factors by the jhānas, the first jhāna, second jhāna, etc. So Ananda was thinking, here the Buddha is talking about this getting rid of the factors by the jhānas, but he was thinking there is an arahant liberated by wisdom, there is an arahant liberated by mind, So he asked the Buddha, why is it there are some monks liberated by wisdom and some monks liberated by mind? Then the Buddha said, it's because there is a difference in the faculties of beings. In other words, because people are different, some people are naturally liberated by mind, some people, some arahants are naturally liberated by wisdom. Now in that sutra, the Pali word is ekacet bhikkhu ceto vimuttino, ekacet bhikkhu panya vimuttino, meaning there are some bhikkhus who are liberated by mind and there are some bhikkhus liberated by wisdom. So from here you can see Liberation by mind and liberation by wisdom refers to two types of arahant. So, how are we going to reconcile that there is two types of arahant here mentioned, liberated by wisdom and liberated by mind, whereas in the Majjhima Nikaya 70, it says liberated by wisdom and two ways liberated. If you read further, there is actually one sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya that says that liberation by mind actually refers to the two ways liberated one. This is in the Digha Nikaya. In the Digha Nikaya, the Buddha said that there is a person who is liberated by mind and liberated by wisdom therefore he is called the both ways liberated one so you can see when the Buddha says two ways liberated he means a person who is liberated by mind as well as liberated by wisdom because when a person is liberated by mind he can't do without wisdom because wisdom only can bring you out of samsara So, on the other hand, when you say a person liberated by mind, you don't mean that he's liberated by wisdom. You may only mean that he's liberated, I'm sorry, if a person is liberated by wisdom, that means he's not liberated by mind, he's only liberated by wisdom. Now, here is where some mistake is made because in the Majjhima Nikaya, It is stated that the two ways liberated arahant is a person who attains the eight deliverances. And the eight deliverances refers to eight things. One is a person can see the inside of his body. During meditation, he can see the internal parts of his body. Then the second deliverance is, he can see outside, even with his eyes closed, he can see outside. The third one is called the contemplation of the beautiful, probably something to do with metta. Then the fourth one onwards, refers to the arupajanas. So, the two ways liberated arahant, or the arahant liberated by mind, is supposed to attain up to all the arupa janas you know all the arupa janas and the rupa janas whereas the it is also stated the arahan who is liberated by wisdom he does not attain the eight liberations does not experience the eight liberations so these people Because it is stated that the Arahant liberated by wisdom does not attain the Eight Deliverances, they assume that he does not have the Arupajanas. Because the Eight Deliverances refer to the Arupajanas. So they assume that Arahant liberated by wisdom does not have the Eight Arupajanas. This is a mistake, you know. I'll show you later why it's a mistake. And so they say this arahant liberated by wisdom can only have the maximum of the four rupa jhanas. And so that's why the commentary say there is five types of this type of arahant. One is he has attained all the four jhanas, one is he has attained three, two, one and zero jhana. And this is a big mistake. Why? Because Even in the commentaries, it is stated under this Majjhima Nikaya commentaries. It is stated that if wisdom is to the forefront, such a monk is called liberated by wisdom. If his one-pointedness of mind is to the forefront, he is called liberated by mind. And then they continue, Sariputta was liberated by wisdom and Moggallana was liberated by mind. So here, this commentary is saying, to me, when I read this, it refers to the moment of liberation. At the moment when that arahant is liberated, if wisdom is more, he is called liberated by wisdom. If he's using strength of mind more, then he is called liberated by mind. And this opinion has got substance in the Nikayas. Why? Because if we examine all the four Nikayas, you will find that an Arahant is liberated in the Nikayas, three ways. One is an Arahant who attains all the Arupajanas. And after attaining all the Arupajanas, up to cessation of perception and feeling, when his consciousness stops, And then after that, when he comes out of cessation, he contemplates. And by his wisdom, he becomes liberated. That is one type of arahant. Now the second type of arahant, which is mentioned in the Four Nikayas, is like the Buddha. He uses the Four Jhanas. He attains Four Jhanas, and then after that, he contemplated the past lives. First, he contemplated the past lives, many of his past lives. After that, he contemplated the arising and passing away of beings. All beings arise and pass away according to karma. Then after that, he contemplated the four Aryan truths, the four noble truths. From there, he attained destruction of the asavas. That is the second type of arahant who uses the four jhanas. Now these two types of arahant are mentioned in the Nikayas as liberated by mind and liberated by wisdom. That means these two types of arahants is the two ways liberated. Arahant or the arahant liberated by mind. On the other hand, there is a third type of arahant And this is in the case of Sariputta. In one of the Majjhima Nikaya suttas, Sariputta was said to be fanning the Buddha. One day the Buddha was talking to an ascetic called Digha Naka. And at that time, Sariputta had just started to follow the Buddha. Let me see. It was only about 14 days. 14 days after he first came to the Buddha. So being new, he had a lot of respect for the Buddha. He was acting like somebody attending to the Buddha. He was fanning the Buddha, you know. He was not meditating. He was just fanning the Buddha. And he was listening to the Buddha talking to Digha Naka, the ascetic. And then from listening to the Buddha speaking to Digha Naka, he got enlightened, became an arahant. Now, according to the commentary, this type of arahant is called liberated by wisdom, meaning he did not use his jhāna at all. He only used his wisdom. At that point, at that time when he became liberated, he was not using any jhāna. In other words, he was not meditating. This happens in the case of some arahants who are not meditating. For example, in the Dhammapada commentary, there was a case of an arahant who was walking a long distance. Then he came to a waterfall. He wanted to clean himself. He was cleaning himself at the waterfall. He saw the water rushing down. rushing down continuously. Then when he contemplated, this looked like samsara, samsara beings rushing about in samsara, never ending. Suddenly, with that thought, he became liberated. This type of person is actually liberated by wisdom. He did not use jhāna at the time he was liberated. But that does not necessarily mean that he does not have jhāna. or he does not have Arupajana. In the case of Sariputta, it is mentioned in Majjhima Nikaya, one of the suttas, when the Buddha praised Sariputta, he said Sariputta has got all the four jhanas and all the eight jhanas plus the cessation of perception of feeling. In other words, all the nine jhanas Sariputta has got. But in spite of the fact that Sariputta has got all the nine jhanas, he does not have any psychic power. This psychic power depends on people. There are some people who can attain psychic power, some people who cannot attain. So in the case of Sariputta, he has all the jhanas, yet is called liberated by wisdom. Ah, this is where the discrepancy comes in. The commentaries is trying to say that a person liberated by wisdom does not have any Arupajana. Because they use the Kitagiri Sutta which says that the arahant liberated by wisdom has not attained the eight deliverances. But actually what is actually meant is at the moment of liberation. At the moment of liberation, he did not attain the eight deliverances. It does not mean that he does not have the eight deliverances. So this is the very serious mistake that is made. So this concerns liberation by mind and liberation by wisdom.

(EA15)-06-Is-there-mindfulness-in-the-attainment-of-Jhana

Now, because of the view that vipassana gives you wisdom, whereas samatha does not give you wisdom, there is developed certain other wrong views. For example, that the jhanas is no use because there is no sati, no mindfulness when you attain the jhanas. This one has got no basis. In the Majjhima Nikaya Sutta, it is stated that the Aryan Eightfold Path is to be cultivated one after another, the factors. First you must have right view, and right view will lead you to have right thoughts, and right thoughts will lead you to have right speech, and right speech will lead you to have right actions, etc. And finally, right sati, right mindfulness will lead you to have right samadhi. That means, if you practice sati, mindfulness correctly, you must attain the jhanas, you know. Now this is supported by a sutra in the Samyutta Nikaya, where the Buddha says, the unskillful monk, he contemplates body, feelings, mind etc, but his mind is not concentrated. The hindrances are not abandoned. In other words, if a skillful monk contemplates body, practices sati, body, feelings etc, his mind must become concentrated and the hindrances must be abandoned. That means he must attain the jhanas. Now there is another sutra in the Majjhima Nikaya the other day I mentioned was Majjhima Nikaya number 44 where the Buddha said the characteristic mark of Samadhi is Satipatthana. This is a very important statement. The characteristic mark of Samadhi of Janas is Satipatthana. That means once you have the Janas Satipatthana becomes automatic. But if you try to practice satipatthana, it's just like a person trying to practice concentration. It does not mean a person trying to practice concentration has got the four jhanas. You are only trying to concentrate your mind. You have still not been able to attain concentration. But when you attain, the jhanas, then you have attained concentration. So in the same way, if a person is trying to practice satipatthana, it does not necessarily mean that he has got satipatthana. He's trying to be mindful. Satipatthana, by the way, means intense state of mindfulness. Because patthana comes from two words, pa and thana. Pa means setting forth, and it also implies going further. That is why normally pa also means extreme, intense. Tana literally means standing, standing still. So it is also used to mean situation, condition, state. So satipatthana means intense state or extreme state of sati, not normal sati, not ordinary sati. Intense state of sati. And this satipatthana is obtained when a person attains the jhanas. Now, coming back to the point that this jhanas, when you attain the jhanas, there is no mindfulness. There is this description of the four janas and in the case of the fourth jana it is stated how a person attains the fourth jana you know normally it's stated in this way and with the abandoning of bodily pleasure and the previous which is sukha and the previous abandoning of bodily pain which is Dukkha. By the fading away of grief and joy, Domenasa and Somanasa, he enters upon and abides in the... So at the fourth jhana, the state of the fourth jhana is stated that a person has got complete purity of mindfulness and equanimity. Parisuddhi. Parisuddhi means complete purity. In other words, you cannot be more mindful than when you are in the fourth jhāna. So how can you say that when you attain the jhānas you have no mindfulness? It's completely different from what the Buddha says. And then there is a sutta in the Saṃyutta Nikaya where the Buddha says that satipatthana should be abandoned after you have attained it. And yet there are other suttas that say The Buddha's disciples, the learners and the arahant, they always abide in satipatthana. So in other words, when you cultivate to attain satipatthana, you cultivate until you attain it. But after you attain it, the Buddha said abandon the practice. Why abandon? Because as I stated just now, the characteristic mark of jhāna is satipatthana. That's why you can abandon the practice of Satipatthana, yet you still abide in Satipatthana, because it is automatic. That is the only conclusion, logical conclusion, that you can draw. And then there's another sutta in the Samyutta Nikaya, in fact three suttas, where our arahant Anuruddha was asked, why is it, can you please explain, what is the cause of your great psychic power. What did you cultivate to have such great psychic power? Because Anuruddha said he could see the whole world system so clearly, like in his hand. He can see the galaxy like in his hand, you know, his mind is opened up so wide. So when he was asked the cause of his great psychic power, he said Satipatthana. Normally when you say psychic power, you always mean jhana, yes or not? Only jhāna can give you psychic power. But here it says satipatthana. That means satipatthana is no different from jhāna. Only when you have jhāna, you have satipatthana. And then there's other suttas, for example, in the Sanyūtā Nikāyā, there's another one where the Buddha says, by making much of the four jhānas, by cultivating the four jhānas, one tends to nibbāna, one slopes to nibbāna. There's always You have the jhanas means you naturally go towards Nibbana. And in the Anguttara Nikaya, the Buddha said the perfection of wisdom is the abandonment of the hindrances, which also means the jhanas.

(EA15)-07-Can-a-person-attach-to-Jhana

Another one of the wrong views which is prevalent nowadays is they tend to frighten you not to cultivate the jhanas. They say you can be attached to the jhanas. By cultivating the jhanas, you can be easily attached to it. This one is quite the opposite of what the Buddha says. In the Majjhima Nikaya, The Buddha said there are three types of feelings. Pleasant feelings, unpleasant feelings, and neutral feelings. Okay? Now, pleasant feelings, generally, if you experience pleasant feelings, there is an underlying tendency to lust for it, you know. In other words, you want to crave for that pleasant feeling, right? any type of pleasant feeling, especially sensual pleasant feelings, there is a tendency to lust for it, to crave for it. But the Buddha said, it's not in the case, or maybe here it's not the Buddha, it's an Arahant saying, it's not in the case of all pleasant feelings that you have this underlying tendency to lust for it, to crave for it. He said, in the case of jhāna, when a person enters the first jhāna, the underlying tendency to lust, to crave for that pleasant feeling is abandoned. So you see, in the case of jhāna, it's different, completely different. You can attain jhāna, but the craving for it is not there. So to say that You can be attached to jhana, don't cultivate jhana. You can be attached to it as not only no basis, but to say that, first of all, I think we must think of abandoning eating, abandoning marital relations, abandoning sleeping. abandoning driving a nice car all these things you must abandon first because all these things will give you the tendency to last for it whereas in the case of jana is completely different and in the case of the fourth jana is even Even worse or even better in the sense that just now I read to you the state of the fourth jhāna. Before a person can enter the fourth jhāna, first he has got to abandon sukha. He's got to abandon dukkha, he's got to abandon somanasa, got to abandon domanasa. That means all the pleasant mental body feelings, all the unpleasant body feelings, first he has to abandon. Then all the pleasant mental feelings, all the unpleasant mental feelings, he has got to abandon before he can abide in the fourth jhāna, which is a state of complete purity of equanimity. So, in the case of the fourth jhāna, there is totally no basis to say, I mean, compared to other feelings, that you can be attached to it. Because you have to abandon these states, sukha, dukha, domanassa, and somanassa. But you can have a small attachment to this jhāna. But that attachment, cannot be like sensual pleasures. Sensual pleasures, you naturally get attached to it, you know. Whereas in the case of jhanic bliss, your mind is so strong, your mind is so clear, that it's not likely, when you compare it with sensual pleasures, to be attached to it. Now in the case of saying not to cultivate jhana and all that, you find in the Anguttara Nikaya, that the Buddha said the completely opposite thing, you know. The Buddha said, if a monk can abide in jhāna for just one moment, as short as a finger snap, just for a finger snap for such a short time, the Buddha said, that is really a monk. The Buddha said, that monk, he eats the country's food not unproductively, you know. He's really a monk and he listens to advice, the teacher's advice. Then the Buddha said, what more would I say of a monk who can abide in jhāna longer? So you see, the Buddha is praising the jhāna so much that anybody can even abide for an instant, the Buddha already praised him. Now, in the Digha Nikaya and the Majjhima Nikaya, the Buddha said sensual pleasures should not be indulged in, should not be pursued. But jhanic bliss, or the bliss that comes from jhana should be pursued, developed, and made much of. And then the Buddha said, why? Because it gives you the attainment of Sotapanna. Sotapanna gives you attainment of Sakadagami, Anagami, Arahant. So you see this again is opposite. Then the other thing is that if you look into the suttas, you find that the arahants always abide in jhāna. Whenever they don't have anything to do, they abide in jhāna. This one you have to understand why. Because some worldly people, they will think, why is this monk always abiding in jhāna? He doesn't want to face reality. He doesn't want to face the world's reality. He wants to run away and abide in jhāna. Actually, if you really understand Dhamma, you observe carefully, you think carefully, you find it's the opposite, you know. Because the Buddha said, our original mind is bright, you know, is bright. And because of the extraneous defilements to the six sense organs, they pull our attention to the six sense objects. And because of that, our mind is defiled by the six extraneous objects. So because of our attention being diverted to the six external objects, our bright nature of the mind is tarnished. We lose that brightness. So when we abide in jhāna, our mind is one-pointed. Our attention is not diverted out through the six sense doors. What happens? The mind becomes bright. Actually, the definition of jhāna nowadays, they use all kinds of definitions. The last time was very bad. They used to define jhāna as trance. So people had the wrong idea that jhāna is like a state of trance. It's very different. And then later on, they use like a state of meditative absorption. Not too bad or mental absorption. It gives the idea what it means. But it's not the literal meaning, you know. Jhana actually means a fire. It also means incandescence. That means very bright. So I would define jhana as a state of mental incandescence, you know. Because when a person attains jhana, his mind becomes one-pointed. his mind begins to light up, you know. His mind begins to become bright. So actually jhāna is a state of mental incandescence. So when a person abides in jhāna, he's actually going back to his original mind, you know. So when we go back to our original mind, if you understand the state, you will come to realize that the world is actually like a dream, you know. What we see, what we hear, what we smell, etc. These are all the creations of the mind. Because of past karma, it has been programmed into our mind, you know. And because of the past karma, the mind creates an object for you to see, creates a sound for you to hear. That's why life is not much different now as when we are dreaming, right? When we are in a dream, it's real, just like now, right? It's only after you wake up, then you realize, why was I so excited just now? Why was I so frightened? Why was I so upset? It is only a dream, right? So in the same way, now the world is so important to us, everything seems real. But actually, through the arahants, the world is not real, you know. The world is just a dream only. That's why they don't want to abide in the world, they'd rather abide in the jhāna. We don't understand. We think this fellow is running away from the world. He is not actually running away. He is facing reality. We are in the unreal world.

(EA15)-08-Are-the-hindrances-abandoned-when-out-of-Jhana

Now, the other thing I would like to say is that in my previous talk, I did mention that the hindrances are abandoned even when one comes out of jhana. And this, I mentioned a few suttas. One was in the Samyutta Nikaya, where the Buddha said that the seka, the learners, they have abandoned the hindrances. Whereas the arahant has not only abandoned the hindrances, he has rooted out the hindrances. And then in the Majjhima Nikaya, the Buddha told a group of new disciples, he said, As long as you have not attained to Piti and Sukkha, you will still be continually, persistently troubled by the sensual desire and all that. It's only the hindrances. It's only when you have attained to Piti and Sukkha that the hindrances go away so that you are not always troubled by them. And a few other suttas indicate that to mean that the hindrances are abandoned even out of jhāna. And some people may think it's very strange. Actually, it's not very strange because in the Sutta, the Buddha said, when you listen to dharma, for example, the Buddha or his disciples speak dharma, if you listen, you pay your attention to dharma, at that time, the hindrances are abandoned and the Seven Bhojangas go to completion, you know. From there you can understand why some people when they listen to Dharma for the first time or second time, they enter the stream. Usually when they listen to the Buddha speaking, after that the Buddha said few hundred of these people all entered the stream already. You see? No meditation. Just listen. So you see, it's not very difficult to abandon the hindrances. And in the Digha Nikaya, the Buddha talked about his disciples who cultivate the spiritual path. And the Buddha said, even before that monk attains jhāna, if he meditates and his mind starts to become concentrated, and when he becomes about one-pointed, before he actually attains jhāna, the Buddha said the hindrances already abandoned. And then the Buddha gave five similes, to say, this person is now very happy. He is like a person who was formerly indebted. He had a loan, he was always, the loaners were always chasing him. Now, he has paid off his debt, so he is very happy. Or a person who is sick, after he has abandoned the hindrances, he is no more sick. Or a person who is in jail, He's now released from jail. All these show that even a person before he attains the jhanas, actually the hindrances already abandoned. You see? And to me, it doesn't mean that he's only abandoned short while. If he's only abandoned short while, why the Buddha said now his loan already paid off? Why he's no more sick? He's been released from jail. All those similes tend to show that it means for good. I mean, as long as that person continues to practice, as long as he can attain that state of concentration whenever he likes, because our mind is made of habit. If we want to concentrate our mind, initially it's very difficult, but if you keep on at it, then once you can attain it, and then if you keep on practicing, it becomes a habit, and then the mind will incline that way.

(EA15)-09-What-is-the-right-interpretation-of-Nama-Rupa

Now, the other thing I'd like to mention is this interpretation of Nama Rupa. Nama Rupa has very often been translated as mind and matter, or mind and body. Now, to me, that seems to be a wrong translation because there are several suttas that indicate so. Now in the Samyutta Nikaya, Majjhima and Digha Nikaya, they define what is Nama Rupa. Nama is defined as contact, feeling, perception, thinking and volition. Contact, feeling, perception, thinking, volition. So if you talk about the five khandhas, the five aggregates, the five aggregates are body, feeling, perception, volition and consciousness. okay so normally these those last four things are feeling, perception, volition and consciousness is said to be mind the mental part okay now when you look at Nama it does not have consciousness you know okay it does not have consciousness so if Nama does not have consciousness how can it be mind okay Now, rūpa is defined as the four great elements, earth, water, fire, wind, and the materiality derived from them. Actually, these four great elements, when it's stated earth, water, fire, wind, the Buddha does not mean actually earth, water, fire, wind, you know. What the Buddha means is Earth stands for hardness, you know. Hardness is a kind of perception, you know. You feel something hard, you consider that as the earth element. For example, this plastic, because it's hard, it's considered the earth element. This is not the earth, this is plastic, right? So, patavi means the earth element. Earth, water. Water means the cohesion, the property of cohesion, you know. Because water tends to bring things together. For example, our body, because it contains water, we have a certain form. But if we take away all that water, this body will crumble. It cannot stand up. It cannot come together. Water has got the property of cohesion. Earth, water, fire. Fire is heat. Heat or cold. Cold is absence of heat. Earth, water, fire, wind. Wind is motion. So these are behaviors, you know, behaviors, these four things. Now, Nama, Nama Rupa, it is stated in the Samyutta Nikaya. Consciousness or Vinayana and Nama Rupa arise and cease together. And then the Buddha gave a simile, you know, Nama-rupa and consciousness, these two things arise and cease together. They are like two bundles of reeds, you know. Two bundles of reeds which are tied together. I mean each bundle is tied. And these two bundles of reeds are standing, how do you say, supporting each other, you know. They are leaning on each other. Okay? They are leaning on each other. So they stand together and they fall together. If you pull one away, the other one, if you make one fall, the other one also will fall. Right? And they stand only supporting each other. When you see this, actually, Nama Rupa means what? Nama Rupa means phenomena. Phenomena that is presented to consciousness. Because the moment consciousness arises, you must be conscious of something, yes or no? If you cannot be conscious of something, you cannot have consciousness. Consciousness only means conscious of something, right? So, that something that is presented to consciousness, in other words, phenomena, the totality of phenomena, that is presented to consciousness, that actually is Nama Rupa. And that has two aspects. The two aspects is a mental aspect and there is a material aspect. That's why actually Nama Rupa should be defined as mentality and materiality. These are the two aspects that impinge on consciousness, you know, that impinge on Vinayana. Now, I'll give you some other suttas why I say this. In Sanyuta Nikaya, there's another sutra that says, there is just this body and Nama Rupa outside, without. In the sutra, in the translation, they put Nama Rupa without, and within is the body, and without is Nama Rupa, giving rise to contact and the six sense bases. Ah, you see? In other words, Nama Rupa does not include body, you know, Because here this Sutta is mentioning there is this body inside and Nama Rupa outside. So how can Nama Rupa mean body and mind? Right? Now there's another Sutta that says, by the arising of Nama Rupa comes the arising of mind. And by the ceasing of Nama Rupa comes the ceasing of mind. That means Nama Rupa is connected to mind, you know. If you say Nama Rupa is mind and body, then you must say with the arising of Nama is the arising of mind. With the ceasing of Nama is the ceasing of mind. But this is not stated. It is stated with the arising of Nama Rupa is the arising of mind. Not the arising of Nama, you know. Arising of Nama Rupa is the arising of mind. Ceasing of Nama Rupa is the ceasing of mind. And then, Another sutra, Anguttara Nikaya, it's stated, the basis of sankappa-vitakka, which is translated as purposive thoughts, is nama-rupa. So the basis of thinking, the basis of thoughts, is nama-rupa. It's not nama, you know. If nama is mind, then you must say the basis of purposive thoughts is nama. But here it says the basis of purposive thoughts is Nama Rupa. So from here, if you come to the conclusion that Nama Rupa means mentality and materiality, that means the totality of phenomena that is presented to consciousness, then you have a completely different outlook from what is now being taught. What is now being taught is that The world consists of mind and matter. Everything is mind and matter. Because when you say everything is mind and matter, that means mind and matter are separate. But when you say Nama Rupa is mentality and materiality, what is it presented to consciousness? Then you slowly realize, as confirmed in two other suttas, that the world actually exists in our mind. When you say that Nama Rupa is mentality and materiality, that means even our body is inside our mind. How do you perceive our body? You see, to a normal person, the mind is inside here, the mind is inside here, the body is outside, the world is outside. But when you have an understanding of the Dhamma, then you realize even the perception of the body is through these six sense organs. Through seeing our body, through hearing, smelling, taste, touch. And so, when you realize that the whole world is inside our mind, then you realize that the world is not real. It's like a dream. Whereas the other one, if you say that everything is Nama Rupa, then to you, the real world is very real, you know. and you are trying to escape from the world, trying to gain liberation to enter Nibbana, it's like escape from the world. Whereas that's not the real picture. In the Anguttara Nikaya and the Samyutta Nikaya, there's a sutta called Rohitasa Sutta. And there, the Buddha said, In this fathom-long body is the world, the arising of the world, the ceasing of the world, and the way to the ceasing of the world. Everything is inside this body, meaning everything is inside the mind. The whole world is inside the mind. Then there's another sutta in the Digha Nikaya where the Buddha said, One disciple came to ask the Buddha, he said, where do the four elements, earth, water, fire, wind, where do they not arise? Where is there no suffering, no birth, aging, dying? So the Buddha said, you asked the question wrongly already. You should not ask this way. The Buddha said, you should have asked, where do the four great elements have no footing to arise? Then the Buddha said, the four great elements, in other words, the world, has no footing to arise, no support to arise, when consciousness ceases, when consciousness stops, you know. There, there is no long or tall, long or short, there is no big or small, there is no Nama Rupa, the consciousness ceases altogether. But although consciousness ceases, then the Buddha said, consciousness is like non-active, non-manifestative, but consciousness is still bright and boundless. So Nibbana is a state where the consciousness is bright and boundless, but it has stopped working. It does not, it's no more active. It's stopped manifesting anything for you to see, to hear, etc. That is the state of Nibbana. So, when we go back to Nibbana, actually, we are not running away from reality. We are going back to reality. Only this world is not real.

(EA15)-10-Wrong-views-in-Abhidhamma

Then the other last thing I want to mention is that there are many wrong views in the Abhidhamma, which in my previous talk, you should listen to my previous talk, the one in Ipoh, I mentioned three serious things wrong with the Abhidhamma. One is that it is stated that path moment and fruit moment, they follow each other immediately. In the moment you get path, the next moment you get fruition and I mentioned three suttas which shows that the path attainer does exist. It's not that he does not exist, he does exist. Three suttas were mentioned and then the other wrong view I mentioned was that they said when the Abhidhamma was taught about eight What? 800 million devas became arahants. Something like that. 800 million devas became arahants. Whereas there is a sutra that says all arahants attain their end here. That means as a human being. In other words, only human beings can become arahants. You cannot find any deva that can become an arahant. The most, the Deva is like the Suddhavasa of both Devas, the Anagamis. They will enter Parinibbana in the heavens, in the Suddhavasa of both. But they don't become Arahant. They just enter Parinibbana. So somebody, they don't understand, they ask me, why? When the person enters Parinibbana, that means he's been Arahant. I say, no, no, no. It's like this. When there is a being, when there is a person, then you can talk of that person as being a man or a woman, male or female, or putu jana, or sotapan, Sakadagami, Anagami, only when that person is alive you can describe him in various ways, yes or not? When that person enters Parinibbana, there is no more person and no being. So how can you talk about an arahant? There is no being in the Parinibbana. How can you say there is an arahant? Yes or not? So the third thing I mentioned was wrong with Abhidhamma was concerning the Bhavanga state. Bhavanga citta Sometimes it's called Bhavanga Sota, the stream of Bhavanga. This is not mentioned at all in the Nikayas about Bhavanga. And not too surprisingly, if you study Mahayana books, you find that there is a similar teaching about the seventh and eighth consciousness. And the concept in the Mahayana teachings about the 7th and 8th consciousness is very similar to the Bhavanga Citta. They are trying to explain a subconscious. Subconsciousness below our normal 6th consciousness. And also an unending stream. So, this thing was something that developed later. And I explained why this Bhavanga teaching has no basis, because they are trying to say that the Bhavanga Citta takes for its object, in other words, it's the cause of its existence, is the last thought of the last, the last thought of the previous life. And I said, according to Paticcasamuppada, something ceasing cannot give rise to something arising. Something in Paticcasamuppada, the law of dependent arising, when something ceases, something else must cease, or several other things cease. When something arises, something else arises. So now they are saying that the last thought of the previous life ceases. Then you say the bhavanga consciousness arises. This is contrary to the paticcasamuppada. The other thing is they used to think that when a person sleeps, when a person sleeps, he does not dream. What happens when a person sleeps is that this bhavanga consciousness continues to run. It's just a passive state. And this now is totally sort of, how do you say, contradicted by science. Science now, they monitor a person who goes to sleep. They find most of the time, we are not really sleeping. Whenever we go to sleep, we are dreaming. And this, I have also confirmed by using the alarm clock. If you use the alarm clock, you set your alarm clock, for example, half an hour. You see, normally if we sleep, if we are dreaming, we don't know. I mean, when we wake up, we don't know. If you have a very good sleep, by the time you wake up, you don't know all your dreams, you know, you've already forgotten them. But if you were to wake up suddenly, say because of the lightning or because of the alarm clock or somebody wake you up, when you are suddenly waken up, you know that you are dreaming. So if you put the alarm clock, as I tested, you put half an hour, You get up, you know you're dreaming. You put one hour, you get up, also you know you're dreaming. Two hours or so, you're dreaming. Three hours, you're dreaming. All the time, you're dreaming. You can test yourself and see. This is very natural because that is called asava. Asava means uncontrolled mental outflows. And that is the tendency of the mind to run, to create thoughts. So the tendency is so fierce that even in our waking state, sometimes you are not doing anything, you start daydreaming, right? Or even you are doing something, suddenly your mind will get distracted and think of something else. Because this tendency to run is so fierce, you know. So even when you are awake, you are trying to guard your mind, still the mind runs. What more when you are asleep, you have no guard at all, you know. When you are asleep, totally the mind, Hokkien, they say pang tua jia liao. Start running all over the place. So, those were the three main things I said that was wrong with the Abhidhamma. But there are still others, you know. For example, in the Katha Batu, they say that there are no animals in heaven. But if you read the sutras, for example, in the Sangyuta Nikaya, there is one sutra about Sakadeva Raja. One day he went out roaming and usually he rides in a horse carriage which is pulled by one thousand white horses, you know. So he has a driver called Matali. So they were going out, having a good ride. Then suddenly the Asuras saw them. When the Asuras saw them, they thought, ah, Thakka Devaraja is alone. It's a good chance to capture him, you know. So the big group of these Asuras started chasing Thakka Devaraja. So he had to run for his life, because they always had war. So his horses were running very fast, you know, these 1,000 horses. And then suddenly, Sakka Devaraja saw in front of him a lot of trees, you know. A lot of trees, and on those trees were a lot of bird nests. These Garuda birds. So Sakka Devaraja suddenly shouted to his driver, Matali. He said, turn, turn, turn. Otherwise, if you continue full speed, you will hit the trees and kill the birds. So he said to turn. So this Matali, the driver, quickly turned the horses. So the 1,000 horses, very obedient. made a turn, hit a turn, and then, when turn, went sort of 180 degrees, go stun. So, when the Sakka Deva made a turn like that, the Asuras got alarmed, suddenly he's making a turn, there must be a lot of Deva behind him. So they panicked, they also turned and ran away. So, from this sutta, you find there are horses, there are birds, And then there are other suttas that talk about Naga. Nagas are snakes, you know. And in the Vinaya, there's a story, there's a true story about a Naga. Naga is a heavenly being, but basically he's an animal of nature. So this Naga, he wanted to cultivate because he was ashamed of his snake body. And he wanted back a human body or to go to a higher birth. So he used his psychic power and he turned into a human being. And then he came to ask for ordination. And then he became a bhikkhu, a monk, and he stayed with the Buddha's disciples. Now, there are two times when Naga cannot conceal his body. One is that when he's engaging in sexual intercourse. The other one is when he's fast asleep. So, he was staying in this kuti with another monk. And he was very tired, he wanted to sleep, but he dare not sleep because he was afraid he would turn into a snake body and they would know. So he waited for the monk to get out of the kuti. So the monk was sleeping, he dare not sleep. Waited until quite late, then the monk got up, went outside to do walking meditation. So when he saw the monk go out to do walking meditation, he was very tired, he fell asleep. When he fell asleep, his body became a snake, huge snake. So maybe after one hour or so, the monk came back into the kuti. He opened the door, he saw such a huge snake inside. He shouted out in terror. So when he shouted out in terror, all the other monks came running. And then this Naga turned back into a human being. So later, the Buddha was informed. Then the Buddha called the two of them. Then the Buddha asked this Naga to tell all the other monks who he was. So this Naga had to explain. He said, I'm a Naga. I use a human body because I wanted to ordain and cultivate the spiritual path. Then the Buddha said, no use. Buddha said, no use. Your nature is such that you cannot get any attainment. So the Buddha asked him to go back, go back to the heaven and asked him to keep the eight precepts. So he cried. He cried. The Buddha considered him an animal, even though he was a heavenly being, but his nature is animal, because his temper is very fierce. So the Buddha drove him off. So from there, it is stated in the Vinaya, an animal cannot be ordained. So whenever a person goes for ordination, he has to swear or declare, I'm not an animal. So, you see, from this sutta, you find that there are heavenly beings who are animals by nature. The Katha Bhattu says there is no animal in heaven. And there are a few other things. For example, they say that in a dream, if you commit murder in a dream, you create karma. But that one is not very logical because in the Vinaya, A monk, say like he break the precept against sexual misconduct. If you dream, you do some sexual misconduct. The Buddha said that is not counted. Because when we dream, we are not in control of ourself. So it's not very logical. How can you in your dream, even you commit murder, it's only a dream. Not really in possession of yourself. Then there are other things, for example, they say in the Abhidhamma, they say the moment you die here, the next moment you are reborn in another birth, you know. But it doesn't seem to be so simple because in the Digha Nikaya, the Buddha said for a being to take birth in the womb, there are a few conditions. One of the conditions is that there must be a gandabha. a gandaba, a sort of being who's ready to enter the womb. And then in the Digha Nikaya, the Buddha also talked about a few types of birth. There's a type of birth where a being enters the womb unknowing and then stays there unknowing. Then there's another type of being that enters the womb unknowing and stays inside the womb knowing. Then there's another type of being that enters the womb knowing, you know. He knows, you know, that he's entering the womb like our Bodhisatta, our Buddha. His mind is so strong that when he's entering the womb, he knows. What do you mean by know? Know means the thought must be going, isn't it? The citta must be working, isn't it? So the Buddha said there is a type of being when he enters the womb, he knows. And he stays in the womb unknowing. and there's a fourth type that enters the womb knowingly and stays in the womb knowingly. So, these are the few contradictions that you find in the Abhidhamma and the Nikayas. I think I've talked enough, so maybe you all have questions you can ask.

(EA15)-11-QandA-01-If-there-isn't-Bodhisatta-path-how-can-there-be-a-Buddha

The question is, if the Bodhisattva path is not mentioned in the Four Nikayas, how does one cultivate oneself to become a Samasambuddha? As I mentioned in my earlier talk, I said the Arya path and the Buddha path is not separate. In our Majjhima Nikaya, There is a case of Sammasambuddha, namely our Sammasambuddha, our Gautama Buddha. In his previous life, he met the Dhamma and he met the Buddha Kassapa also. And from understanding the Dhamma, it appeared that he either became a Sotapanna or a Sakadagamin. Then he went to Tushita Heaven. And after going to Tushita Heaven, he came down and became a Buddha. So from there, I drew the conclusion that practically, most if not all the Buddhas are previous life Sotapanna or Sakadagami. This is logical because a person who becomes a Sotapanna or a Sakadagamin, his existences are limited to not more than seven on earth as a human being. So when, for example, like our Buddha Gautama, when he was reborn in the Tusita Heaven, he was there for a very long time, millions of years. And after he came down to earth, the Buddha that he learned from had already passed on, right? And the Dhamma also had already disappeared. So when this Sotapanna or Sakadagami is ready to be enlightened, is ready to get out of samsara, when he comes back to earth as a human being, there is no more Dhamma, generally. It's very rare that he comes back to earth and then he meet a Buddha or the teachings again. It may happen, but more rare. So, more generally, what would happen is he comes back, there's no Dharma, no Buddha. But he's like a ripe fruit, you know, that must fall. So, there's something inside him that tells him he must work to get out of samsara. So, like our Buddha. Because he had already planted the seed of enlightenment in him already in the previous life, he just had to get out of samsara, so he was willing to struggle so hard to become enlightened. So you find, you see, a Sammasambuddha was a previous life Arya. So people who don't understand, they think, oh, no point in becoming an Arya, you'll never become a Sammasambuddha. or you never become a Buddha. Actually, it's the Arya that becomes the Buddha.

(EA15)-12-QandA-02-Can-Sotapanna-be-attained-by-just-listening-to-the-Dhamma

In the Sutta, it would appear that generally they just listen to the Dhamma and they have entered the stream. And the Buddha explains why. Namely that, as I mentioned earlier, when you listen to the Dhamma and you put all your effort and attention there, the five hindrances are suppressed. and the 7 Bojanga go to completion. So there is this condition for you to attain Suttapanna. But, Sakadagamin onwards, it appears that you need Samadhi. Because the difference between the first and second fruition person is that the second fruition person has, the first fruition person has abandoned or he has destroyed the three fetters, the first three fetters, whereas the second fruition person has not only destroyed the three fetters, he has weakened sensual desire, sensual lust and ill will. To weaken sensual lust and ill will, you actually need samadhi. You see, like this anger. Many people, many of us, we have anger and sensual desire. And some people say you have to be mindful. You be mindful, then your temper won't arise. But this being mindful, you cannot control one. When somebody says something nasty to you, the first thing that will happen is that your feeling will arise first. Feeling in the Nikaya, feeling arises first. Then after that, perception. Then after that, thinking. Then after that, volition. It comes in this sequence, you know. So, where do you have time to control your anger? The moment you hear something, the anger already arose. So mindfulness in this case is not very useful. So it depends on your hindrances. If your hindrances are very strong, when your anger arises, you touch the ceiling. As another person, if your hindrances are not very strong, when your anger arises, it doesn't go very high. Because it doesn't go very high, you can still control. You know, in the sense that you get angry and then you decide what to do. Better walk away. Whereas another person, when his anger goes up the ceiling, then the first thing he might use his hands and feet and all these things. Like many years ago, I read in the papers about one man, a young man. His father scolded him. So angry, he took the parang and killed the father on the spot. So you see, At that moment, when the person is so angry, his mind was completely overcome by the anger. So he's temporarily insane. If you cultivate concentration, one of the things you will know, one of the indications of progress you will know for yourself is that your temper goes down. You will notice, normally my anger, my temper is so big. Now my temper has reduced. It's one of the natural results of concentration.

(EA15)-13-QandA-03-Should-we-read-other-books-besides-the-Four-Nikayas

we should study the Four Nikayas because they are the original. So, if you have an understanding of the Four Nikayas, after that, if you want to read other books, you can, because then you will understand what is the original teachings of the Buddha, then you can differentiate between the right and the wrong teachings. Now, concerning the Kudaka Nikaya, the Fifth Nikaya, there are 15 books according to the Thais and the Sri Lankans. But according to the Burmese, there are 18 books because in 1956, during their Sangha Council, they added another three books, which everybody knows is not the Buddha's words. The three books they added was the Melinda Panha, Questions of King Melinda. Second one was the Nettipakarana. Third one was the Pitakopadesa. So, You see, these books, although they know that they are not the Buddha's teaching, they still added them in. This is very unfortunate because it will create confusion a few hundred years from now. Somebody also asked me, out of these 15 books, are they all not reliable? And I mentioned about 5 are reliable. The Dhammapada, the Suttanipata, the Itthivuttaka, the Udana, and the Thera Therigata. Those books are reliable. But however, if you study the Four Nikayas, you find that when you study the other five books, there is nothing much new for you to learn. All you need to understand and learn is already found in the Four Nikayas. So even the other books in the Kudaka Nikaya is more or less a repetition of what is already in the Four Nikayas.

(EA15)-14-QandA-04-Is-Upacara-Samadhi-good-ehough-for-contemplation

It appears in the Nikayas that only the Sotapanna did not need strong concentration, whereas the others, Sakadagami, Anagami and Arahant, they do need strong concentration. But that state was very near jhana already, what they call Upacara Samadhi. You see, this thing, people talk as if you are entering a door and coming out of a door. You see, our thoughts are going so fast that one moment you are in jhana, one moment you are not in jhana, you can... it can be very fast. Sometimes, even when a person has a one-pointedness of mind, sometimes still, some thoughts will come, you know. Because you have not allowed yourself to sort of completely absorbed in that state. So the purpose actually of this jhana, one-pointedness of mind, is to make your mind so strong that you can abide in this what they call upacara samadhi, threshold concentration. Threshold concentration is a state very near the jhanas, but it is useful because you can contemplate and you can attain in using upacara samadhi. threshold concentration. But if you don't cultivate the one-pointedness of mind, the jhanas, you don't have enough strength, you know. In the Visuddhimagga, they give a simile of a person who attains Upacara Samadhi, like a small baby trying to stand. You know the small baby, the legs are very weak. The first time he stands up, he cannot stand up long. He will topple, sit down. It stands up a short while only, then it has to sit down. Yes or no? So that is what happens when a person's mind has not been trained to be strong enough. So if you don't attain the jhanas, when you try to use this Upacara Samadhi, because at the state of Upacara Samadhi, you can contemplate and still the hindrances are not there. That's why the Upacara Samadhi is the most useful state, right? But it's very near jhana. If you don't have a higher concentration than Upacara Samadhi, you have not developed your concentration to be higher than Upacara Samadhi, you are always in Kanika Samadhi and sometimes in Upacara Samadhi. So when you attain Upacara Samadhi, you are like the small baby trying to stand on its legs, no strength, you fall down again. So when you try to use Upacara Samadhi, you cannot use it because you are not able to abide in it, you know, right? You are in there and then you fall down again. How to use it? How to make it useful? Whereas if you are used to a higher concentration, when you come down to Pachara Samadhi, you are very strong. No problem. You just stay in there as long as you like. You can use it as long as you like. That's why you need to cultivate a higher concentration.

(EA15)-15-QandA-05-Jhana-of-external-sect-does-not-lead-to-enlightenment

My question is, if the Jhanas is such a superior state, will give you wisdom, mindfulness and equanimity and all that. Now, why is it when the Buddha was following the two external sect teachers, he did not get enlightenment? I explained in my previous talk that the Aryan Eightfold Path consists of eight factors. And there's a difference between Right Concentration in Buddhism and Right Concentration in the external teaching. In the external sect, concentration might be the jhanas. But in the Buddha's teaching, the Aryan Right Concentration or the Noble Right Concentration or the Buddhist Right Concentration is the four jhanas supported by the seven factors of the Noble Eightfold Path. Only when these eight work together that you will end suffering and you will get liberation. It doesn't mean you just use one thing, only the right concentration. No. One of the eight factors doesn't get you anywhere. You must have all eight working together. That's why I mentioned that some people say even Devadatta has got all the Jhanas. And still he didn't have the wisdom. Then I said Devadatta to begin with he had wrong view. He didn't have right view and because of wrong view he had wrong thoughts. And because of wrong thoughts he wanted to kill the Buddha. How can such a person become an Arahant?

(EA15)-16-QandA-06-The-standard-set-by-the-Buddha-for-Dhamma-teaching

Buddha's suttas, Buddha set a very high standard for a monk to teach the Dhamma. One of the standards he set was that a monk really needs to be an arahant. before he can teach the Dhamma. That's one standard mentioned in Lohiccha Sutta in the Digha Nikaya. The other standard which was mentioned by the Buddha was a person should attain Jhāna before he can teach. In other words, the Buddha mentioned like if a person can teach Jhāna to somebody else, then only he is qualified to teach. So, you see, because these standards are so high, nowadays, maybe it's very difficult to get a monk who can comply with this type of standard. But because it's very difficult to get a monk to attain up to this type of standard to teach, I mean monks who are not up to that standard can teach, because there's no other people to teach. But the point is, because the Buddha has set the standard, it shows that you need to be very, very clear about the Dhamma Vinaya before you can teach. Otherwise, if you teach something wrong, you are creating very, very bad karma for yourself. It's stated very clearly in the, I think, Anguttara Nikaya. The Buddha said, if a person says, teaches this wrong Dharma, he's creating extremely bad karma for himself. So, because of that, we need to be very, very careful. We need to investigate a lot and be quite sure what we teach. So I think anybody who thinks of teaching, he must study the Four Nikayas and be very clear about the Four Nikayas before he can teach. Otherwise, you start teaching from the commentary and from the Abhidhamma and all these things, then you lead people the wrong way. And not only that, you cause the disappearance of the true Dhamma. Because the Buddha said that is what happens when you start teaching wrong Dharma, then people start attaching to wrong Dharma, then it will cause the disappearance of the true Dharma. The Buddha said there are five things that will cause the disappearance of the true Dharma. And the Buddha said the true Dharma does not disappear suddenly, you know, like the sinking of a ship. You know a ship, when it sinks, it sinks very suddenly. But the Buddha said the disappearance of the true Dharma will come about gradually, gradually. And five things cause the disappearance of the true Dharma. One, people have no respect for the Buddha. In other words, like some people, they don't, although they call themselves Buddhists, they don't acknowledge our Buddha to be their real teacher. They acknowledge somebody else to be their teacher and pay respect to somebody else. Number two, you don't respect the Dhamma, meaning the true Dhamma. You go and refer probably maybe to the commentaries or some other books, rather than the Buddha's words. And this, the Buddha already stated in the Samsutta. The Buddha said in the future, people would not want to listen to the discourses of the Buddha. Instead of investigating the discourses of the Buddha himself, the Buddha said people in the future would rather go and read the works of his disciples, works of other monks. And the Buddha called them this a mere poetry compared to the Buddha's deep discourses. So the third one, the Buddha said, people start to have less or no respect for the Sangha. The fourth one that will cause the disappearance of the true Dhamma is when people have no respect for the training. Like some people, the training means the cultivation, cultivation of the sila, samadhi, paññā. Just like some people, if you try to cultivate, they say you are selfish fellow. You're only trying to look after yourself. You should help other people instead of cultivating yourself. But the Buddha said, you can't help other people before you help yourself. So, cultivation is one thing they will have no respect. The last one, not surprisingly, is Samadhi. The Buddha said, in the future, people will have no respect for Samadhi, meaning the four jhanas. They rather teach some other thing, saying that jhanas are not necessary. This itself will cause the disappearance of the true dharma. That is why I always like to talk against people who try to teach that there is such a thing as a dry vision arahant. Dry vision arahant is a no vision arahant. Can't see anything.

(EA15)-17-QandA-07-External-sect-ascetics-attain-by-listening-to-Dhamma

Now the question is whether these external ascetics, when they come to listen to the Buddha's Dhamma, and then they become arahants, does it mean that they have come out of the four jhanas? It must be, because when you are listening to the Buddha, you cannot be in jhana. When you are in jhana, you cannot listen to the Buddha. Your mind is not there, right? The other thing is I did mention earlier that when a person attains the jhāna, strong concentration, the hindrances are abandoned. Even when you're out of jhāna, the mind is quite clear. I mentioned just now the sutta where the Buddha said the anagami has got perfect sila and perfect samādhi. The arahant has got perfect sila, samādhi and paññā. So how to find an arahant who does not have perfect samadhi? And also in the Aryavasa Sutta, the Buddha said, all ariyas of the past, present and future, they abide in ten dhammas. One of them is the breathless stage, the bodhjana. In this case, probably the Buddha is speaking more of the arahant.

(EA15)-18-QandA-08-Should-we-read-books-by-Buddhist-monks

The question was, there are some monks who write based on their own experiences. So, should we not read their books? Now, I mentioned earlier that first you have to study the Four Nikayas of the Buddha because the Buddha said to take refuge in the Buddha. The Buddha did not say, the Buddha said, Buddham Saranam Gacchami. The Buddha didn't say, Achan Saranam Gacchami or Saido Saranam Gacchami. or Tero Sanang Gacchami, right? So our teacher is the Buddha. So we study the Four Nikayas. And after we have understood the Four Nikayas, if we study any other book, we can see clearly whether that person is teaching according to the Dhamma or he is not teaching. For example, there are some books and I also heard some tapes, of certain monks who talk about their experience. And they say they entered jhāna, and they say the jhāna is like a sleeping state. They even say when they are in jhāna, they don't know. But when they come out of jhāna, then they know they are in jhāna. What kind of jhāna is that? If you don't know when you are in jhāna, then how do you differentiate between first jhāna and second jhāna and third jhāna and fourth jhāna? And then you find that it contradicts the Sutta. The Buddha said you are complete purity of mindfulness. So if you don't know the Sutta, you can be led astray. People can say out of their own experience, they experience this and they experience that. If that person is an Arahant, then we believe him. But if he's not an Arahant, how can your experience count compared to the Buddha?

(EA15)-19-QandA-09-How-did-the-Buddha-regard-Jhana

I have such high regard for the jhanas that there is one sutra where the Buddha said when a person attains the first jhana he has gone to the other shore. He is cool. You know, gone to the other shore is paragata, I think. Paragata, gone to the other shore. And that is normally reserved for nibbana, you know, a person who has attained arahanthood Then only he has gone to the other shore. And Kula Nibutta is a synonym for Nibbana. And the Buddha used that for the first jhāna itself. Buddha said the person who has attained the first jhāna, he has already crossed to the other shore. And he is cool. And that is found, I think, in the Anguttara Nittaya. You see, such high regard the Buddha had for jhāna. And now people are saying the opposite. Don't go and practice jhāna. Stupid. You become stupid.

(EA15)-20-QandA-10-The-difference-between-Samatha-and-Vipassana-Jhana

This is about Samatha Vipassana Samatha Jhana and Vipassana Jhana. In the Buddha's teaching there is no such thing. These are all new creations. I have heard actually a tape by a person who seems to have attained all the Jhanas and this person happens to be a nun. And her description of the jhanas and the insights that arise from the jhanas are very clear. And she says that the arupa jhanas are actually the vipassana jhanas. And she explained very clearly why. She said when you attain to boundless space, the mind opens up so wide, then you realize that There is no differentiation into this being and that being. Everything is all mine. And all the other beings, everything in the universe is just like sparks of energy, moving to and fro, to and fro, all energy. In fact, everything is energy in the universe. So when a person attains to that kind of jhāna, when he comes out of that jhāna, the insight is very deep, very profound. that there is actually no differentiation between you and me and I and him and all that. And then like the boundless consciousness also, then he realizes that everything is mine. And then that nothingness. And nothingness means that there is no, actually no such thing as a being. There's no thing that is permanent in the universe. Everything is just energy. That's why you cannot find anything. I mean, there's nothing. And those type of jhana, arupa jhana, if you call them vipassana jhana, that is justified because it gives you very profound insight. But to talk about vipassana jhāna without abandoning the hindrances, the Buddha in the Majjhima Nikaya, the Buddha said he does not praise any meditation where the hindrances are not suppressed, are not abandoned.

(EA15)-21-QandA-11-How-to-get-consistency-in-meditation

So basically, your question is how to get consistency in your meditation. You see, every time we meditate, we sit very straight and we try to concentrate our mind. Something is happening on the mental side, as well as something is happening on the physical side. Your body, as you meditate, the energy, flows, you know. And according to yoga, there's an electric current that goes along the spine, right up to the top. And this is logical. So every time we meditate, if you can sit longer, it's even better. And we are made out of habit patterns. So when we meditate, we are sort of programming into our mind certain signal and if we do it again, again a certain impression is made in our body and in our mind. And we have to do it constantly so that we it becomes a habit. And when it becomes a habit, it's very easy to get it going. You can liken the meditation practice to boiling water. If you want to boil water, say the old-fashioned way, last time when we were young, you put wood and all these things, then you have to use the fan, fan the fire and watch the fire, charcoal and all these things. So when the fire gets going, the water starts to warm up. And when the water starts to warm up, sometimes you can hear some sound, you know, right? Some sound. Sometimes if you open the lid, you find the bubble coming up, okay? So if you are very curious, you start watching the bubble, and you start listening to the sound, you forget to fan, you know. So you forget to fan, the water will cool down. And if it cools down completely, then the bubble also would have disappeared, the sound also would have disappeared. And then you'll have to start the fire and all over again, start from the beginning. So it's the same with meditation. If we meditate and our meditation progresses and we get concentration, some people may start to see visions, you know. see some light, some brightness, and some color, and some imaginary things and all that. If you start getting interested in those things, you start observing those things, you forgot about your meditation subject. And when you forget about your meditation subject, it's like forgetting to fan the fire, you know. Slowly your concentration will cool down. And your concentration cools down, all that vision disappears, and then you have to start all over again. But if you are, if you want to see the vision and you want it to persist, you can, you know, you just pay a bit of attention to it, but don't let your attention run away from your breath, from your object of meditation. You keep on your mindfulness on your object of meditation. And once in a while you have a peep, have a look and get some pleasure if you like out there. Don't let your mindfulness run away. The water will get hotter like that, then you might see more things. But the important thing is in our meditation practice to do it as often as you can. Basically, every morning and every night, at least have one sit. If you can keep up the morning and your night meditation non-stop, you can slowly progress. Because as a lay person, you don't have very much time. But you try to make it a point, every morning and every night, at least half an hour, at least half an hour. Then you get some energy going in your system, which the more you do, it becomes stronger.

(EA15)-22-QandA-12-How-does-the-Vipassana-practice-tie-up-with-Jhana

question is how does the vipassana or satipatthana practice tie up with the jhāna, right? In my previous talk I also did mention this. What I said earlier also was that sati or satipatthana is not separate from jhāna because in the sutta it is stated that the Aryan Eightfold Path, the first factor will lead you to the second, the second will lead you to the third. In other words, right view will give you right thoughts very naturally. And right thoughts will give you right speech, which will give you right action. And right action will give you right livelihood, will give you right effort, will give you right mindfulness. And right mindfulness, if you practice correctly, must give you right concentration. Because right mindfulness, if you maintain it, you maintain it as much as you can, it will turn into concentration. Concentration is just, concentration and mindfulness, they are very much related. If you develop your, pursue your mindfulness, your practice of mindfulness, it will turn into concentration. And concentration in turn will make you more mindful. it supports mindfulness. That's why in the Sutta it's stated that the practice of mindfulness will give you concentration and when you have concentration you will automatically have Satipatthana because it is stated in the Majjhima Nikaya that the characteristic mark of Samadhi or Jhana is Satipatthana. Because Satipatthana means intense state of mindfulness. Not ordinary mindfulness, you know. Intense state of mindfulness. And there is one sutra in the Majjhima Nikaya where the Buddha said a person practices Sati and then he abandons the hindrances. And then he pursues this practice into the practice of satipatthana. In other words, he tries to be intensely mindful and then he will get the jhanas. And when he gets the jhanas, the satipatthana becomes automatic. That's why as I mentioned in the Samhita, Nikaya, Sutta, the Buddha said, you practice Satipatthana to attain it. You try to attain Satipatthana. But when you have attained Satipatthana, the Buddha said, abandon the practice. In spite of the fact of abandoning the practice, the Buddha still says that his disciples, Sekha and Asekha, Arahant and the learners, constantly abide in Satipatthana. When they have not attained, they practice satipatthana to attain. When they have attained, then they don't practice anymore because it is automatic. When I was following the Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism, I read a story about a Zen master, Chan Tzu. He had his disciples and new disciples. So he told his disciples, you all must be very mindful. When you eat, eat slowly. Walk slowly. Speak slowly. Do everything slowly. So his disciples tried to follow. But his disciples looked at him and then they were not very happy. They said, Master, why you ask us to do everything very mindfully and very slowly, but you seem to do things very fast. You don't seem to be very mindful. So the Master said, How can you compare with me? And that master has got automatic satipatthana. He don't have to make the effort to be mindful. Whatever he does, fast or slow, he knows what he's doing. That's enough.

(EA15)-23-QandA-13-Can-Sotapanna-be-attained-by-understanding-the-Sutta

The Buddha said that the Sotapanna and the Sakka Dagamin, the first and second fruition person, has got perfect sila. In other words, the basic precepts are very pure. The Anagami has got perfect sila and samadhi. That means the Anagami must have the four jhanas. That's why he's reborn in the four jhana plane. The Arahant has got perfect sila, samadhi and panna. So the arahant also must have the four jhanas. And in the sutta, we find generally that the Sotapanna, he attained Sotapanna just by listening to the sutta, just by listening to the Buddha's words. he becomes a Sotapanna. And the Buddha explained why in one of the suttas. He said when you pay, when you listen to Dhamma, and you pay attention, you pay close attention, the Buddha said the five hindrances are abandoned. And the seven Bojhanga go to completion at that time. So, all the seven, the hindrances are suppressed, I'm not sure of the word. So at that time, you can understand why a person listening to Dhamma can attain Sotapanna. So that's why I advise people, if you think of just attaining Sotapanna, don't think of meditating. Go and study the Four Nikayas. If you study the Four Nikayas, you save up some money, buy the Four Nikayas, and study it again and again, you have a very good chance of attaining Sotapanna. It's only the Sakadagamin onwards you find that he needs concentration. The Sakadagamin, the difference with the Sotapanna is that he has suppressed sensual lust and ill-will. So that's why Sakadagamin onwards you need concentration. Whereas the Sotapanna is always in the Sutta just by listening to the discourses that they become Sotapanna. So you can see how important the discourses are. Because we have seen instances of people who meditate for many years, 20 over years, and still they give up Buddhism and change their religion because their Dharma base is not strong enough. You know, surprisingly, if you read the Sutta, A person, you see, when a person enters cessation of perception and feeling, all the consciousness has stopped, you know. And that is actually the experience of Nibbana. And when a person comes out of it, most of the time, after contemplation, he will become an Arahant. But surprisingly, in the Sutta, it's also mentioned, there are some people, Even after they attain cessation of perception and feeling, the very experience of Nibbana itself, and they come out of it, they don't become Arahant. Why? If you think about it, probably their Dhamma base is not good enough. Their understanding of Dhamma is not good enough.

(EA15)-24-QandA-14-Is-it-sufficient-to-read-the-Four-Nikayas-only

This question is, if the Buddha said that the Dhamma is very great and very profound, he compared it to the leaves in the forest, then he said, in that case, how can the Dhamma be confined to the four Nikayas? To understand this, like to understand many things in the Dhamma, first you have to study the Four Nikayas. When you understand the Four Nikayas, then you will know for yourself. Basically, it's like this. Buddha is just a human being, you know. Just that he's enlightened. But even though our Buddha is enlightened, he's still very human, you know. Sometimes he liked to joke. Sometimes he can even appear like say the wrong words, you know, say the wrong things. For example, there was one sutta. He came to a certain town. He had no place to stay. So his relative brought him to stay with one ascetic who was formerly his friend when he was practicing with the external ascetic. So, when he went to stay with this ascetic, at night, his relative came to visit him. This relative was a big man in that town of Kapilavatthu, a Sakyan, a very well-known Sakyan, a rich man and all that. So, when he came to see the Buddha, then the Buddha taught him some Dhamma. Then the Buddha asked him a question. So the answer is either A or B. So the Buddha asked him a question. So when he was about to reply, this external ascetic, he thought he wanted to teach this Sakyan, the rich Sakyan, so as to be in his favor. So he told this Sakyan to reply, for example, A and B. He told this Sakyan to reply A. So when he said, told the Sākhen to reply A, the Buddha, I don't know whether jokingly or not, told the Sākhen to reply B. So after he thought for a while, he thought maybe his answer is wrong. So the Buddha said, reply B. So he told the Sākhen, reply B. When the Buddha heard that, the Buddha said, reply A. So he thought for a while, maybe A is right. Then he told the Sākhen, reply A. Third time the Buddha said, reply B. Contradict him three times, you know. So he malu la, no face, you know. Every time he's wrong. So he felt so bad. That night, he took up all his things, packed and ran away. So you see, the Buddha is so human, he can... I don't know whether you can call this an error or not, but he didn't give that ascetic any face. So sometimes people say the Buddha is so kind, he never scolds. No, he never scolds. Sometimes he calls his monks fools, bala, bodoh. As one sutta, he scolded the Brahmins very badly, compared them to dogs. They're worse than dogs. So, coming back to your question. You see, the Buddha said that Once he was asked, are all Buddhas the same? He said no. In the sense that no, he was asked whether the sasana's life is always very long. He said no. He said the reason is different Buddhas, they teach different. There are some Buddhas, they speak many suttas. Like our Buddha is supposed to be one of the best. Sariputta said you cannot find a higher Buddha than our Buddha. So, the Buddha said, there are some Buddhas who teach a lot of Sutta. There are some Buddhas that teach very little, very few Suttas, you know. And because they teach very few Suttas, and also very little Vinaya, Dhamma Vinaya, the two things. There are some Buddhas teach a lot of Dhamma Vinaya. The sasana lasts longer, you know, and more people attain. But there are some Buddhas, they teach very little, Dhamma Vinaya. So the sasana does not last very long and less people attain. Why? They are all humans, just like us. No two persons are the same. You cannot find two Buddhas exactly the same. So even though the Dhamma is very profound, the Buddha is a human being, so his life is limited. How can he speak forever? and also up to him how much he wants to speak. There is a sutra where Ananda asked the Buddha, he said, why is it, Lord? He said, sometimes people come, you speak to them. Some people come, you don't want to speak to them. Why? Then the Buddha said, I look at him. If he comes, he's interested in the Dharma, he's respectful, I say some words to him. Then if he listens, I'll say some more. If he doesn't listen, I'll keep quiet. If he asks me questions, I'll answer him some more. If he doesn't ask me questions, I'll keep quiet. And then if he is a person, he comes and hears Dharma from me, he goes back, he doesn't practice. Next time he comes, I won't speak to him, won't teach him anything. So it all depends. Buddha, he looked at people. Dharma is very precious, you know. You don't simply give very easily. People don't respect. Sometimes you give too much dharma, people don't respect. You see, for example, when Buddhism first came to China, the first patriarch was supposed to be Bodhidharma. He was a very serious practicing monk. So his disciple, the first disciple who wanted to come and learn from him, supposedly the second patriarch in China, asked him to teach Dharma. He refused to teach. Asked Bodhidharma to teach. He thought this fellow not fit for me to teach. I don't want to teach him. Then this fellow continued to press him so often. He said, I won't teach you until the white snow becomes red. And this fellow went to take a knife, cut his hand, the blood spilled all over the place, the snow became red, and came to see Bodhidharma. Then he looked at him. This fellow is really sincere. Then only he taught him Dharma. Nowadays, you give too much Dharma talk, people don't appreciate. Won't come also.

(EA15)-25-QandA-15-What-is-the-attainment-of-Sotapanna

When a person attains Sotapanna, it does not mean he has no I. When a person attains Sotapanna, three factors are destroyed. One is the view of a being in the body, Sakkayaditti. The view of a being in the body. Because normally we think the body is I. When a person attains to Sotapanna, then he realizes this body is not I. But there is still an I somewhere. It's just like the anagami in the sutta. There's one sutta where some Theras, they thought a certain monk was an anagami. Actually, he's an anagami. So these Theras, they have not attained any higher stage. So they wanted him to teach, so they asked him, what's the state of an anagami like? So he said, the state of an anagami is that he knows that there is no, theoretically, he knows that there is no I, no soul, but somehow he still has that inside somewhere he still has clings to that eye and then he gave a simile of like I think something like a cloth has a certain smell then you go and wash it clean after you wash it clean it's clean of all the dirt but still that little smell persists you know that little smell persists so I'm talking about this, whether he knows he's got this, he's a Sotapanna all the time. It's only when he contemplates, only he knows. I don't think that he knows all the time that he's Sotapanna. In the Sutta, there's a simile given of a person whose hand is cut. He's got no hand. When he's not thinking that he's got no hand, he does not realize he's got no hand. You use your left hand to shake hands with him, he'll come out with his arm. Actually, he's got no arm. You see? It's only when he thinks, actually I have no left hand. I have to use my right hand. The important thing is to study the suttas, As I said, try to buy the four Nikāyas and study it again and again. And after some time, you have a certain understanding of the Sutta. Then the Buddha said there are four things that if you have, you can be quite sure that you have entered the stream and won't fall into the woeful plains. One, you have unshakable faith. You have sadhāla, you have strong confidence of faith in the Buddha. you have a strong confidence or trust in the Dhamma, in the Sangha, and then your five precepts are quite pure. If you have these things, you can be quite... provided you have that understanding of the Sutta, of the discourses. It mentions that you need to study all the four Nikayas, and relate them because the suttas, you cannot take one sutta and say this is the absolute truth. As I mentioned in my previous talk in Ipoh, I said one sutta will explain the truth from one angle. Another sutta will explain the truth from another angle. The more suttas you read, then you will see from various angles and you will understand better. For example, I did mention in the Ipoh talk that some people think just by studying the Satipatthana Sutta, you know all about Satipatthana. You don't. In the Samyutta Nikaya, there are very many important suttas that deal with Satipatthana. And even that is not all. In the Digha Nikaya, again, you have, and the Majjhima Nikaya, again, you have suttas that deal with Satipatthana. So, unless you study all these suttas, you might come to some wrong conclusions. For example, I mentioned earlier, there is one sutta that says Samatha, tranquilization, will give you concentration, which in turn will make you abandon lust. And then, it also says that Vipassana, contemplation, will give you wisdom. And so from this sutta alone, you might think that samatha only gives you concentration and vipassana is the one that gives you wisdom. But you can find another sutta which says almost the opposite, namely that A bright mind, if you cultivate your samadhi, your concentration so strong until your mind becomes very bright, that is the best condition for insight. In other words, samadhi here will give you wisdom. And then it says contemplation on the 32 parts of the body will make you abandon lust. So just now there it says concentration makes you abandon lust. Here it says Contemplation makes you abandon lust. Quite the opposite. So, you can only reconcile this by understanding that Samatha and Vipassana must work together. You cannot separate them. To separate them is to misunderstand because, as I mentioned in my previous talk, there's one sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya, I think 149, that says that when you cultivate the Aryan Eightfold Path, and you develop it fully, automatically all the 37 Bodhipakya Dhammas are developed fully, namely the 4 Satipatthana, the 4 Samapadana, the 4 Right Efforts, the 4 Idipada, the 5 Bala, the 5 Indriya, the 7 Bhojanga, the 8 Factors of the Aryan Four Path. All these automatically are developed when you develop the Aryan Eightfold Path. And it also adds that when all these are fully developed, then Samatha and Vipassana work together. They are led to work together, Samatha and Vipassana. So how can you separate them?

(EA15)-26-QandA-16-Arahanthood-attainment-by-listening-to-the-Dhamma

cultivated the mind until the hindrances are cleared then you see this attainment depends on your level of jhāna you attain. See the sotapanna does not need jhāna according to the sutta right they just hear the dhamma and they attain whereas the sakadagami They need a lower level. They may not have all the four jhānas. Maybe they have one jhāna. And then they suppress the sensual lust and the ill will. But the anagami must have the four jhāna. The arahant must have the four jhāna. That is extremely rare. And either that person has already developed the four jhānas this lifetime or previous lifetime. You see, for example, in the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha said that if you practice Satipatthana, you will either attain Anagami or Arahanthood in seven years, six years, five years, down to seven days, you know. The minimum was mentioned was seven days, right? Yet, if you study the Vinaya, you find that the six Arahant, the Buddha helped to enlighten, the number six after the five bhikkhus, was a monk called Yasa. And this Yasa was a person who had very great paramis. He must have already done a lot of cultivation in his past life. Because in the Vinaya, what happened was, the Buddha, sort of, somehow I think the Buddha used his psychic power to make this Yasa come to him. This Yasa was like the Buddha, he was from a very well-to-do family, so he was surrounded by slaves and women who attended to him all the time. So one night, when all these attendants, slaves and musicians and all that fell asleep, in the middle of the night he woke up, maybe by the help of the Buddha. In the middle of the night he woke up, Then he looked around him, all these slaves and all these women lying around like corpses. Because these people in India, when people are dead, they throw into the jungle and the animals will eat them. So it's not uncommon to see corpses. So when he saw all these slaves, all these women sleeping around him, some with their mouth open, some with the saliva coming down, some snoring and all that, he looked, and the hair all So he looked at them, they really looked like corpses. Because of past cultivation, this thing impressed him as Dukkha. So he said to himself, Dukkha, Dukkha. So he was disgusted, he didn't want to stay there. He walked out of his big mansion. He walked out and then I think probably the Buddha or Devas helped him to go into the jungle to see the Buddha. So when he went to see the Buddha, He was saying Dukkha, Dukkha. The Buddha said, come here. Yasoda, come here. There's no Dukkha here. So when he heard there's no Dukkha, Kukli was very happy to come near the Buddha. So when he sat near the Buddha, the Buddha talked to him Dhamma. When the Buddha talked to him Dhamma, very soon he became a Sotapanna. Stated in the Vinaya. So after he attained stream entry, after that, he stayed with the Buddha. Then the next day, His father was worried for him. So his father went out looking for him, thought what happened to him because probably he comes from such a rich family. He thought he was kidnapped or something. So his father went out of the city gates, went looking for him and then found his slippers along the way. Found his slippers and then his father started walking and then came to the Buddha also. And the Buddha used his psychic power and asked the father to sit down. The father said he was looking for his son. Buddha made him ask him to sit down, but used his psychic power to block the son from his view. Although the son was sitting beside the Buddha, the father couldn't see him. So the Buddha said, sit down here, maybe you'll find your son. So when he heard the Buddha say, maybe I'll find my son, he thought this is a holy man, can't be lying. So he sat down there. Then the Buddha spoke Dhamma to him. When the Buddha spoke Dhamma to him, he became a Sotapanna. At the same time as his son was hearing the Dhamma, his son became an Arahant. So this is one of the rare cases, somebody come to hear the dhamma, two days only became an arahant. This kind of rare case is not the general case. It's an exception, you see. So, there are always exceptions, but the thing is you cannot use exceptions to make the rule. The rule is that, the general rule is that, for example, a person must cultivate the Aryan Eightfold Path. And all the eight factors must be there, including the four jhanas. But if somebody has already cultivated maybe very high jhanas up to arupa jhanas in their previous life, when he comes into this life, his mind is very clear.

(EA15)-27-QandA-17-What-is-the-definition-of-Yonisomanasikara-and-Sati

This is a kind of translation which attempts to get at the meaning of the word. But it's not a literal translation. So it's not a very good translation, you know. The word yoni means the womb. It also means the source. It also means the starting point. So when you say yoni so, it means down to the womb or down to the starting point. Or maybe up to the starting point. up to the source, okay? So when you say Manasikara means consideration, so when you say Yoniso Manasikara, it means you are able to consider the problem right up to the very source, the starting point of the problem. Now to be able to consider the problem up to the starting point, it consists of many, many steps, right? So unless your mind is very strong, you start thinking of this problem, you consider, say for example, there are 10 steps. You think three steps, after that your mind is sidetracked. You start thinking of your home, your wife said something to you this morning. Then you start to come back, your mind is not strong, it cannot lead you right up to the source of the problem. There's a person with strong Samadhi, because his concentration is very good. When he thinks of a problem, He can follow the line of argument or the steps up to the very source, then he can understand the problem. That's why in Yoniso Manasikara, you cannot have it unless you have a composed mind, a certain amount of Samadhi. In fact, it's the same with Sati. Sati is defined in about eight suttas. There are eight suttas that define Sati in long words. and it actually means being able to remember what you said and you did a long time ago. That is the real definition of sati. So people translate it as mindfulness. As I said in my earlier talk, if by mindfulness you mean being able to remember, that is perfectly correct. But if you think that mindfulness means When the form comes, I must know what it is. When the sound comes, I have to observe the sound, I know the sound. When the smell comes, taste, touch and all these things, that is not mindfulness. Mindfulness, in this case of sati, a better translation is actually recollectedness or composure, a composed mind, a recollected mind. Recollected means, recollectedness means you are able to recollect. That is precisely the meaning of sati, you are able to recollect. So, in one of the suttas, somebody asked the Buddha, why is it that I cannot remember some of the chants? I practiced many times, I learned so long, I still cannot remember it. And the Buddha said, the reason is because of the five hindrances. When you have five hindrances, you cannot remember things. So it's only when you get rid of the five hindrances, you can remember. Ah, then you will understand. Actually to have sati, to be able to remember, you have to get rid of the hindrances. If you don't get rid of the hindrances, you don't have sati. So sometimes this translation, we take the translation to be correct. It might not be correct. That's why actually to really understand the Buddha's words, you have to learn some Pali. And then check the translation, is it correct or not correct? This sati is a quality, you know. Sati is a quality. The quality of being able to remember. And as I mentioned just now, you can only remember well if your five hindrances are abandoned. In other words, sati is an indication of some level of concentration. So as I said just now, when your mind is concentrated, then you are automatically mindful. If you don't have that concentration, you try to be mindful, you cannot be mindful all the time, can you? You are only trying to be mindful. You cannot do it away with mindfulness also. Before you have that concentration, you need that mindfulness, that practice of mindfulness, that persistent practice of mindfulness that will eventually develop into concentration. If you continue being mindful, it must develop into concentration. And that concentration in turn will support your mindfulness. So you cannot separate these two. Mindfulness and concentration, they support each other. I just explained just now, the purpose of being able to recollect is to have that strength of mind. This, as I said just now, sati is a quality, you know. If you want to recollect, you can. Ah! The Buddha never asked us to recollect all the bad experience. The Buddha said, in the practice of sati, only four things you must be mindful of. Only four things, you know. The body, the feelings, the mind, and the Buddha's teaching, the Dharma. Only four things. Don't be mindful of any other thing. If you run away from these four things, the Buddha said, you are going into Mara's ground. Mara can catch you. So it's only these four things. That's why even these four things, the Buddha never said to practice all these four things at once. The Buddha said practice one at a time. And when you practice one, if you practice it correctly, it must give you one-pointedness of mind. Because one-pointedness of mind will make you see things as they really are. So Samatha and Vipassana, they are related. Just like mindfulness and concentration, they support each other. The Buddha said, when you contemplate on these four things, it is not thinking about these four things. But when you don't have concentration, If you don't have concentration, this is what you tend to do. You tend to think about these four things. So initially, it might be okay. But that is not high wisdom. Because the Buddha said if we use our thinking mind, that is a lower kind of wisdom. What the Buddha was trying to tell us was to cultivate the higher mind. And the higher mind is to develop the jhāna. so that your mind is lifted to a higher level. And when you contemplate on something, you understand something sort of intuitively. Straight away you know. Just like the Buddha, they want to know something, they don't go and think about it. And the Arahants want to know something, they just incline their mind to something, straight away they know. That is not thinking, that is intuitive wisdom. So that is the purpose of meditation, to bring our mind to a higher level, so that when we contemplate something, we can really perceive it in depth. If we start thinking, it's just a shallow part. In fact, if you meditate, if you practice meditation, and your concentration grows, you will get the feeling that you are going inside your mind, going deeper and deeper inside your mind. Our mind is like something hard, and something hard, say like ice. If you try to get inside the ice, you cannot, right? You have to cultivate your mind until it becomes softer. When it becomes softer, then slowly you can penetrate deeper and deeper. And if you can penetrate deeper, it means you are opening up your mind. And depending on how much you open up your mind, that is the depth of level of wisdom you get. If say, The mind can be opened up so much, say 10 feet. Just for example, the mind can be opened up 10 feet. If you just open up your mind half a foot, then when you contemplate something, your understanding is so shallow. But if you can open your mind, say 5 feet, then when you contemplate something, your understanding goes deeper, it's more profound.