(EA14)-01Danger-of-Literal-Translation

Tonight the talk is on Sati Sampajanya. Sati Sampajanya is the main thing that we practice in meditation. And so it is a very important topic, how to practice to help us get out of the round of rebirth. As you know, the Buddha taught that we have to practice the Noble Eightfold Path to get out of samsara. So besides sati sampadana, there are other things to practice, like keeping the precepts, moral conduct, being contented, guarding the sense doors, be moderate in eating, practice wakefulness, not to sleep too much, etc. But the main practice in meditation is concerned with this Sati Sampajani. So we have to understand the meaning of these two words very well. Now, first I'd like to say that there is a great danger in using a translation of a Pali word literally. I'll give you an example, Sanya. Sanya is one of the five khandhas, one of the five aggregates of attachment. And in Chinese, Sanya, in this wu yin, five aggregates, Sanya is translated as xiang, which is thinking. And then many years ago when I started learning the Dharma and there were translations, English translations of Buddhist books, Theravada Buddhist books were just coming out. They used to translate it as labeling. And then nowadays they translate it as perception. So if you take a word, a translation literally, then you'll be confused. Which word should I take? Is it thinking? Or is it labeling? Or is it perception? So to understand the meaning of Sannyā, you have to go into the Sutta to see how the Buddha defined Sannyā, or how he used it to understand the meaning. And then from there, we find that the word Sannyā actually He did not give a real definition for the word sanya, but he gave instances of how it's used. For example, you see this, your perception of this cloth is that it is yellow. Your perception of this thing is black, etc. or red or yellow or green, etc. Now somebody else might be colorblind. And his perception of a particular color may be different from yours. So that's one thing. The other thing the Buddha said perception is formed by habit. For example, a man sees a woman's body as attractive, or a woman sees a man's body as attractive. But this perception can be changed. Buddha said we practice the 32 parts of the body contemplation, then we'll be able to see when we look at a body not only surface deep, skin deep, but we see the inside of the body. If we contemplate the 32 parts of the body, then when we look at the body, we will see head hair, body hair, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, bone, marrow, kidney, heart, liver, midriff, spleen, lung, etc. So, you see the body in its more In Hokkien, we say khasit. See it more clearly, not just superficially. And then perhaps your attraction towards a human body may diminish, lust may diminish. That is the purpose of the practice of the 32 parts of the body meditation. So from here you can see, that this perception can be changed. So you understand better the meaning of perception. It's like a conception, an idea you have or something. For example, you think somebody is a very nice person. Somebody else may not have the same perception. Somebody else may think that person is a very repulsive person. So that's the meaning of sannyas.

(EA14)-02-Definition-of-Sati

So the same with sati. Nowadays, people translate it as mindfulness. And people think that because sati means mindfulness, they have to practice general awareness of everything that's happening around them. And so much so that I've even heard a monk telling a lay person that he doesn't have to sit down to meditate. If he's just mindful of everything around him, He is practicing meditation. But that is not what the Buddha said. Because, for example, animals are very mindful. If you observe, for example, a monkey, a monkey is extremely mindful, because the monkey has to walk on the branches. And if he steps on a dead branch, he will fall to his death. So, every step he takes on the trees, he is extremely mindful of the type of wood that he steps on, and he's also very mindful of the sounds around him. Any sound comes, he's aware to see whether it's a sign of danger or not. So, the same with other animals, like the birds. You see the birds come down on the ground to look for food, packing away at food. Every now and then, he's looking around. to see, to hear, whether there's any danger. So, animals are very mindful, but they don't have wisdom. So, that is not the practice of sakti. Fortunately, in the suttas, there are about nine suttas that give the definition of sakti. And the definition of sakti that is given is that Sati means remembering what was said and done a long time ago, remembers what was said and done a long time ago. So the meaning here is recollection, the quality of remembering, quality of remembering that is the definition of Sati given by the Buddha. And this word sati, if you check the Pali English dictionary, it comes from a word that is spelled S-M-R-T-I, smrti or something, which means to remember. So, sati has everything to do with remembering, not mindfulness or awareness. And if you look at, for example, the Satipatthana Sutra, then you find what is it we are trying to remember, we have to remember to contemplate body, feelings, mind and dhamma. Body, feelings, mind and dhamma. This is the object of sati and not to contemplate other things. If we contemplate other things, then we are concerned with worldly things. And then we might be very good in the world, very successful in the world. For example, if you have, if you contemplate, for example, the stock market, or you contemplate somebody's reaction, somebody's body language, etc, you might be a very successful person in the world, but you're not practicing Dhamma. So, the first thing about sati is to remember to contemplate body, feelings, mind and dharma. Why is it we have to practice, to remember, to contemplate these four things? Because it helps us to end suffering. What is the cause of suffering? Basically, the cause of we suffer because we have a self, a notion of an ego, a self. And this ego or self is tied up with the five khandhas. The Buddha said five things we take to be the self, body, feelings, perception, volition and consciousness. Whenever we refer to ourselves, whether in the past, or present or future, it is always with respect to body, feelings, perception, volition and consciousness. But The Buddha said, this idea of a self is something that is permanent, something that is lasting. And we have to see that these five things, body, feeling, perception, volition and consciousness is impermanent, that it is nothing stable about it, that it is, it comes about through conditions, causes and conditions it arises, and it passes away. So if we can contemplate These five khandas that will help us end our suffering. And these five khandas is basically body and mind. So here, the four objects of satipatthana is body, feelings, mind and dhamma. body is one thing, feelings, mind can be grouped together, together with volition, etc, perception, etc, as mind, working of mind. Dhamma is the teaching of the Buddha, teaching of the Buddha. So, the Buddha is trying to tell us to put our attention on the body, mind and the Dhamma basically, not upon worldly things. If you put your attention on worldly things, you caught up with the stream of life. And you forget about the Dhamma, you're not practicing Dhamma. So to order to make us understand the body, the Buddha gave a parable of a tortoise and a jackal. Buddha said one day a tortoise was walking along the banks of a river. And he saw, he was looking for food and in the distance he saw a jackal. Jackal is something like a kind of dog, a kind of wolf or something. And that jackal was also looking for food. So the tortoise of course was afraid that this jackal might eat this tortoise. to protect itself, it withdrew its four limbs into its shell and the head also into its shell. So it lay very still. So the jackal came up to this tortoise and he thought to himself, if this tortoise, if one of the limbs comes out, or the head comes out, I'm going to seize it and pull it out of the shell and eat it alive. So he waited one hour, two hours, three hours. And he knew that this tortoise was not going to come out, he got tired of waiting and he walked away. So the Buddha said in the same way, Mara, Satan, is waiting for us at the five sense doors. These four limbs plus the head represent five things, the five sense doors, the eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue, and the body touch. And these what the Buddha is saying that is that if we go and pay attention to sights that the eye wants to see, to sounds that the ear wants to hear, to smell, to taste, to touch, and Mara will seize us and catch us like the jackal waiting for the tortoise. So the Buddha said don't pay attention to the five sense doors, put your attention on the body, mind and Dhamma. So from there you can see. The other thing the Buddha said, another practice related to Sati Sampajanya is Indriya Sanghvara. Indriya Sanghvara is sense restraint. The Buddha said not to grasp or pay attention to the characteristics or details of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touch and thoughts. So don't be concerned with the details of sight, sound, smell, taste, these six sense doors, including thoughts, even thoughts, we don't actually pay attention to the contents of the thought. So, this is the first thing we have to remember, the meaning of sati, firstly is concerned with with remembering and to remember to put your attention or to contemplate on body, feelings, mind or Dhamma, or basically body, mind and Dhamma. So this is the first thing in the practice of Sati. There are other things that we have to remember in the practice of Sati Sampajanaya. But that is the first thing.

(EA14)-03-Definition-of-Sampajanna

Now what is the sampajñānya, the meaning of sampajñānya? The actual meaning of sampajñānya is not defined in the suttas, but the Buddha explained the use of sampajñānya. In the Majjhima Nikāya Sutta number 10, Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha said practice of sampajñānya is, for example, when you're walking, you know you're walking. When you're sitting, you know you're sitting. When you're standing, you know you're standing. When you're sleeping, you know you're sleeping. When you're eating, you know you're eating. When you are drinking, when you're going to the bathroom, when you're doing any action, any bodily action, you are aware, changing your clothes, etc. You, in other words, you are aware or mindful of your bodily actions. That is how you use Sampajanaya. Another way you practice Sampajanaya given in Anguttara Nikaya 8.9 is the Buddha said, recognize feelings arise, recognize they endure, recognize they set, recognize perceptions arise, recognize they endure, recognize they set. recognize thoughts arise, recognize they endure, recognize they set. So in other words, you have to be aware of your feelings, perceptions and thoughts as they arise, they endure, and they pass away. So in other words, this practice of Sampajanaya is being aware of your bodily actions, being aware of your mental actions, That's how you practice Sampajanaya. So the meaning of Sampajanaya is awareness or mindfulness. And that is concerned with your body and your bodily actions and your mental actions. So you can see, Sati Sampajanaya works together. Sati is to remember, to put your attention on body, mind and the Dhamma. And sampajñānya is putting it into a, putting it into focus, being aware of the body, mind and dharma. You can include that.

(EA14)-04-Case-Study-1-Ordinary-Person

Now, let us consider a normal person in a normal waking state. When you are in the normal waking state, you go about life daily. You are generally aware of what you are doing, especially if what you are doing is a routine chore, for example, washing clothes, sweeping the floor, which you do every day. When you do this type of routine chore, there is minimal awareness or mindfulness. Why? Because it is so routine, you're so used to it. You don't have to put effort to do it. It becomes like automatic. And your awareness or mindfulness is just enough to deal with unexpected circumstances, should they occur. For example, you're sweeping, sweeping, and then suddenly you notice a glass, broken glass on the floor, then your mindfulness is enough to catch that as a danger, so you don't step on it. Otherwise, if there's no such danger, you just sweep as though it's automatic. But when you have to do a more difficult work, then you have to have more mindfulness. For example, you are working on the computer, and different things come out on the computer screen, you have to be, have more mindfulness or awareness. In other words, more concentration applied on what you are doing. So, that is the normal daily life of an ordinary person. You see here that that person is aware that a person is mindful of what is happening around him. But he does not have sati. He does not have sati. Because he does not remember to put his mindfulness or attention on body, feelings and the Dhamma. His mindfulness is all over the place, but not directed on where it should be, body, mind and the Dhamma. In other words, he's not practicing the Dhamma to end suffering. So to make us understand the working of an ordinary mind, the Buddha gave a parable of a hunter and six animals. The Buddha said, suppose a hunter caught six animals, and he tied these six animals with six ropes. What are these six animals? The first one is an eagle. The second one is a monkey. Third one is a snake. Fourth is a crocodile. Fifth is a dog. Sixth is a hyena. So having tied these six animals, he took these six ropes and he tied these six ropes into a knot and he let the animals go. So what happens? The eagle wants to fly into the air. The monkey wants to climb up the tree. The snake wants to find a hole to hide. The crocodile wants to go into the river. The dog wants to go into town to look for food. The hyena wants to go up the hill, its natural home. So these six animals are pulling in six different directions. And the Buddha said, whichever one is strongest, he will pull, the others have to follow him. But he's pulling five animals, so after some time, he gets tired. So when he gets tired, some other animal is stronger, he will pull and the other five have to follow him. So the six animals are moving in six different directions. So the Buddha said it is the same with our six sense doors, our six sense doors, we have six sense objects, the Sights or forms are pulling your attention, want you to see. Sounds are pulling your attention, want you to hear. Smells want you to smell. Taste, touch and thought. So the mind is running out through the six sense doors all the time. Whichever one is strongest will pull your attention. For example, now you're trying to listen to the Dhamma. So you're listening. But suddenly if a car goes by and somebody sounds the horn, so loud, suddenly your attention will be pulled there. And then later as you are listening to the Dhamma, maybe a mosquito bites you and you feel the pain, suddenly your attention will go there again. So your mind is running out through the six sense doors in six different directions. And this parable of the hunter and the six animals makes us understand the working of a normal mind. So it's not that the mind is not mindful, the mind is not aware, it is aware and mindful, but the mindfulness is running all over the place. This is an uncontrolled mind, an undeveloped mind. That is of an ordinary person now who does not understand the Dhamma.

(EA14)-05-Case-Study-2-Dhamma-Practitioner

Now, suppose you who have understood the Dhamma, who have learned the Dhamma, then you start to think you want to practice Sati Sampajanaya. You want to put Sati Sampajanaya into practice. And you go about your daily life, you try to practice Sati Sampajanaya, you try to put your mind on your attention on the body, the mind and the Dhamma. But every now and then you find your mind runs away. You find it so difficult to practice this in your daily life because first you have to go about with your work. Secondly, your mind is always running here and there. You are thinking all the time. When you think of the past, you are running backwards to the past. When you plan for the future, you're running forward, you're not standing still, you're not in the present, you're not in the moment, you're going backwards and forwards into the past and into the future. People go into the past because of certain things, they regret, they regret over the past, they keep on thinking about the past. And people who are ambitious, they're always planning in the future, how to make more money, etc, etc. So they keep running into the future. But if you want to practice sati sampajanya, to contemplate body, the mind and the dharma, you have to be in the now, in the present, all the time. In other words, you have to stop thinking. You have to stop thinking. You have to stop worrying. You have to stop planning, scheming. And this is not easy to do. Why? Because your mind has been your best friend. Lifetime after lifetime after lifetime. Why is it your best friend? Because if there's any danger, you use the thinking mind. How to avoid that danger? How to overcome that danger? If you want to look for a living, you use your thinking mind, how to make a living, how to succeed in your work, etc. So, because we use our mind so much, our mind is much developed compared to animals and other beings. So that is why we are called man, M-A-N, from the word mano. Mano is the thinking faculty, M-A-N-O. So we are so used to thinking that it is quite difficult to stop thinking. And in fact, we are quite reluctant to stop thinking. And this is the real renunciation. If you want to practice the holy life, either as a monk, or as a lay person, you have to renounce your thinking, have to stop your thinking because your thinking is the ego support system, your ego protection system. And this to renounce is not easy. You have to practically give up yourself. But this is what is required. If you want to be successful in meditation in the practice of Sati Sampajanaya. So you see, the second requirement in the practice of sati is you have to be, you have to remember to be in the present, to stop thinking, to stop planning, just be in the now. That is the second requirement. Now to recapitulate, sati means to remember or recollection. And it means to first to remember to contemplate body feelings, sorry, body mind, the working of the body and the mind, and dhamma, dhamma that the Buddha taught is for us to realize, understand, to end our suffering. And sampajñānya is awareness or mindfulness, putting that mindfulness into action, contemplation into action, being mindful of your bodily actions, being mindful of your mental actions. And these two have to work together.

(EA14)-06-Case-Study-3-Sleep-state

Now we come to consider the sleep state. Just now we considered the normal waking state. Normal waking state, you know, you want to practice Sati Sampajanaya, you have to remember to contemplate body, mind and Dhamma and you have to be in the present two things. Now we consider the sleep state. When you are sleeping and you are dreaming, are you aware? Are you mindful? Actually you are. In fact, you are. quite mindful, you are very mindful, very aware. Why? Because there's no other distractions, no other thing to distract you. You're only dreaming, it's only doing one thing. So you are very aware of your dreaming state. You're even in the now, the present, in your dream, you are in the now and present. But it is a deluded present. You are deluded because you are deluded by the dream. So because you are deluded by the dream, you take everything to be real. You become very excited if there is some danger. and you become very moved, you are totally involved in the dream. Just like some people, when they see a show, it's a sad show, they start to cry, all the tears falling all over the place. Or if it's something very funny, you start to laugh uncontrollably. You are caught up by that picture or the dream. You take it to be real. So, if you want to To practice Sati Sampajana, this is the third thing you need to do is to be detached, to be detached from that dream, to be detached from what you see. Even in the waking state, you need to be detached. Because if you are not detached, even in the waking state, you become very involved, what everything that happens, you get heated up, you get emotionally disturbed, etc. But if you are detached, then you see things objectively, and you don't suffer so much. So this is the third ingredient of sati, you have to remember to be detached. So these are the three things in the practice of sati. You have to contemplate body, mind and the dharma is the first thing. Secondly, you have to remember to be in the present, no daydreaming. Always be in the present to see things. Clearly, the third one you have to be detached from everything to be objective. Now to be detached is not so easy. So in the Sutta, the Buddha gave a very good formula. It's because a lot of people, they don't study the suttas, they don't know that the Buddha gave all this practice in the suttas. It's all found there. In fact, that people don't study the suttas, they don't know. What is the formula the Buddha gave? The Buddha said, always remember to see when you practice Sati Sampad Janani, this body, this mind, and all bodies and all minds as this is not mine. This is not I, this is not myself. This is not mine, this is not I, this is not myself. So, if you are able to do that as often as you can, and if you perfect it even in a dream, if you are dreaming, then you're aware, this is not I, or this is not mine, this is not I, this is not myself, then you become detached. In fact, some people, sometimes, if their mind is a bit developed, due to good karma in the past maybe, meditated in the past life. Some people when they are dreaming, they are able to realize that actually they are dreaming. Even though they know that something, something is happening in their dream, they somehow they realize that this is a dream. So that is the way to be detached, to remember this is not mine, this is not I, this is not myself.

(EA14)-07-Case-Study-4-Insane-Person

Now we consider the third case of a madman, crazy fellow. Who is a madman? Last time there was somebody who worked in Tanjong Ramutan. So he said, if you look at a madman, the mind is running all over the place. And for example, when that person is eating, you give him some food to eat because it's time for his meal. He will eat, eat, eat. After maybe 5 minutes or 10 minutes, suddenly a thought occurs to him to do something. And then he forgets that he's eating. Suddenly he gets up, spills the food all over the place and goes to do something. Maybe go and do some carpentry work. And then after doing for a short while, suddenly the mind tells him to do something else. He drops that and do something else. So, this person has a deluded mind. You know, a mad fellow has an unfocused mind. He does not see things as they really are. He, because he does not have a developed mind, he has a mind that is, how do you say, one screw loose, muddled up mind. So, so you can see the practice of Sati Sampajanya is not so simple. It's not just mindfulness or awareness. In the practice of mindfulness, you have to remember all the time to direct it on body, mind and dharma, not outside on the external world. And you have to be in the present. And then the third one, you have to see all things as mind and body as this is not mind, this is not I, this is not myself. But still, this is not sufficient. If you have a deluded mind, like the crazy fellow, the insane person, Because that deluded person is unable to see things as they really are. In fact, in the suttas, the Buddha said, only the arahant is sane. Only the arahant is sane, not mad. This implies we are all insane to a certain extent. We may not be tiga sukhu, but maybe one sukhu.

(EA14)-08-To-see-things-as-they-really-are

Now, the condition to make us undeluded, to be able to see things as they really are, is given in several suttas as samadhi, concentration of mind. If you have samadhi, then you are able to see things clearly. Why? Because when you have samadhi, the hindrances, the five hindrances are abandoned. So you can see that to practice Sati Sampajanya, you must have Samadhi, you must Samadhi must go hand in hand with Sati Sampajanya. That is why you see, before I come to that, the practice of Sati Sampajanya is basically called Vipassana. And Vipassana means contemplation. It does not mean insight. Because In the sutra, in the Anguttara Nikaya 2.3.10, it is stated that insight is the result of practicing vipassana. So, insight is the result of vipassana. So, vipassana cannot be insight. Vipassana is contemplation. If you contemplate properly, then you have insight. So Sati Sampajanya is basically Vipassana. Now the practice of Samadhi is called Samatha. Samatha means tranquilization of the mind. You tranquilize, you make the mind peaceful. So peaceful until you get Samadhi. So the result of practicing Samatha is Samadhi. And this Vipassana and Samatha go hand in hand. You cannot do without one. Now in a Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya 4.170. This Sutta was spoken by Mirabal Ananda. And when Mirabal Ananda was very old and the Buddha had passed into Nibbana, So all the monks and nuns who attained Arahanthood, they would come and declare to the Venerable Ananda that they had become Arahants. So in this Uttara, Venerable Ananda said, all the monks and nuns who attained Arahanthood and came to declare to him that they attained Arahanthood, all of them said that they attained Arahanthood by one of four ways. In other words, the way to liberation is is only within these four ways of meditation. There's no other way, because all arahants attain by these four ways. What are these four ways? First one is practice Samatha first, followed by Vipassana. This one I think most people know, practice Samatha first, followed by Vipassana. The second one is practice Vipassana first, followed by Samatha. This one many people don't know, don't realize. Even if you practice vipassana, you still cannot become an arahant if you don't practice samatha. So vipassana followed by samatha. The third one is samatha and vipassana together. And the fourth one is meditation on the self, trying to inquire who is this self? Who am I? Is it the body? Then slowly you realize it's not the body. Then is it the mind? Then you start investigating the mind until the mind becomes one pointed. After the mind becomes one pointed, then the way is clear to you, how to practice. So all these four methods needs both Samatha and Vipassana. Both Samatha and Vipassana are needed. There is no way to attain Arahanthood without Samatha practice. So you see from the second method, that when you practice Vipassana, you still have to practice Samatha. This shows also that Vipassana is not insight. If Vipassana is insight, then you don't need to practice Samatha anymore. Vipassana is just contemplation. Contemplation, it gives you some insight. But if your Samadhi is not enough, it's not able to give you the deep insight necessary for Arahanthood. That's why that person has to practice Samatha and then only he has attained that condition where a deeper insight can be attained. So from here you can see that Vipassana cannot be insight. Now this Samatha and Vipassana can be said to be the positive and the negative aspect of meditation. Because when you practice Samatha, you cool the mind, you tranquilize the mind, you make the mind calmer and calmer and calmer, cooler and cooler and cooler. The opposite of that is an agitated mind, agitated mind, hot mind is the opposite. That is not the way to Nibbana. Because the state of Nibbana means a cool state, a totally cool state. So, you can see that from here, that Samatha, because it's bringing you, your mind cooler and cooler and cooler, is bringing you nearer and nearer and nearer to Nibbana. And Jhana, Jhana is an intense state of concentration, perfect concentration. can be said to be halfway stations to Nibbāna. It is halfway stations to Nibbāna because it is a cool state. That's why in one sutta, the Buddha said, even if you attain the first jhāna, when a monk attains the first jhāna, he is cool, he has crossed over. This term cool and cross over normally is used for the arahant. But the Buddha used it for the first jhāna and the second jhāna and the third jhāna and all jhānas. The other thing is, when a person attains arahanthood, it is said that the asavas are destroyed, the asavas cease. So we have to understand what is asava. Asava means uncontrolled mental outflows. That means the mind. Actually, the word asava literally means outflows, leakage, leakage, low in Chinese. So It means uncontrolled mental outflows. The mind flows without control. It's because the mind flows without control that we think, that we daydream, that we fantasize. We like to think because the asavas tend to leak, to flow. So we have to stop. We have to make the asavas cease. That is our aim to become an arahant. We have to make the asavas cease. Now, The beautiful thing about jhāna is that when a person attains jhāna, the mind stops leaking, stops flowing. So the asavā sees temporarily in a state of jhāna because the mind is concentrated on one object, it becomes kind of absorbed in that one object and it becomes still. So when you attain jhāna, you are making your asavā cease for that moment. So you can see from here why jhana is necessary. Because if your aim is to totally make the asava cease, and you can't make them cease even for a short while, then you have no hope of making it cease permanently. So since you want to make the asavas stop flowing permanently, you must be able to make them stop temporarily. And that is the state of jhāna. That is why jhāna is necessary for a person to become an arahant. So from here, you can see that samatha is the positive aspect of meditation, because it brings you towards nibbāna. Now vipassana is the negative aspect of meditation. negative aspect. Why? Because when you practice Vipassana or Sati Sampajania, you have to remember the three things to put your contemplation on body, mind and dharma. You have to be in the present. And the third thing you have to remember that body and mind is not mine, not I, not myself. That's why it's called the negative aspect. Because You are trying to see that this body and this mind is not I, not mine, not myself. And so it is a bit similar to dana and sila. Dana is the positive aspect of doing good, helping somebody. Sila is the negative aspect of doing good, not harming somebody. When you keep your precepts, you don't harm other beings. So that is the negative aspect. And Dhana is the positive aspect. So similarly, Samatha and Vipassana is the positive aspect and the negative aspect of meditation. To recapitulate, the practice of Sati Sampajanya is basically called Vipassana. And the practice of Samadhi is called Samatha. And we saw just now that both are needed. And you can understand why both are needed. Because Sati is the seventh factor of the Noble Eightfold Path. Samadhi is the eighth factor of the Noble Eightfold Path. That is why both are necessary. The Noble Eightfold Path, all eight factors of the Noble Eightfold Path are necessary to make us get out of samsara, to become an arahant. You cannot leave out any one of the eight factors. That is why we cannot leave out samadhi.

(EA14)-09-What-is-Satipatthana

Now, what is satipatthana? Satipatthana is different from sati because of the additional word patthana. And what is patthana? Pa in the Pali dictionary, pa literally means going forward. It also implies going beyond, or extreme, or intense. And thana means a position. a state. So, patana means extreme or intense state. So, satipatana is an intense state of sati. Satipatana means an intense state of sati, not ordinary sati, but an intense state of sati. And in Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta number 44, satipatana is said to be a characteristic mark of samadhi. characteristic mark of Samadhi. In other words, when you have Samadhi, you automatically have Satipatthana. Satipatthana is a characteristic of Samadhi. And Samadhi in the sutras is always defined as one pointedness of mind, or the four jhanas. One pointedness of mind means any jhana. So when you have jhana, you automatically have satipatthana. And in the description of the fourth jhāna, the Buddha said that there is complete purity of sati in the fourth jhāna. There is complete purity of sati in the fourth jhāna. The other jhānas you also have very pure sati, but perhaps not completely pure, clear with the suttas. That is why they can say that there is no sati in the jhānas. Now, in the Samyutta Nikaya, Venerable Anuruddha was known to have great psychic power. His psychic power was so great that he could see world systems like in the palm of his hand so clearly. His mind was developed, expanded so much that he could see world systems, stars, everything in the palm of his hand. So people asked him, what is the condition? What did you practice to attain such great psychic power? And Venerable Aniruddha said, satipatthana, satipatthana, to obtain psychic power. Now we all know that the condition to obtain psychic power is generally stated to be jhana. So when he said that he practiced satipatthana to attain psychic power, it shows that satipatthana is synonymous with jhana. When you when you attain satipatthana, it means you have attained jhana. And so in the practice of sati, If you practice sati intensely, it becomes satipatthana. And satipatthana is equivalent to jhana, which is samadhi. And this agrees with Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta number 117, where it is stated that the Aryan Eightfold Path is to be practiced one by one. If you first you must attain right view. And to attain right view, you must listen to the suttas. When you attain Right View, you are actually a Sotapanna. So after attaining Right View, that will lead you to attain Right Thoughts, the second factor of the Aryan Eightfold Path. And that Right Thoughts will lead you to attain Right Speech. Right Speech will lead you to Right Action. Right Action will lead you to Right Livelihood, and that will lead you to Right Effort, which will lead you to Right Sati, or Perfect Sati. recollection. And if you practice perfect recollection, sati, that will lead you to samadhi, perfect samadhi. So, that is stated in Majjhima Nikaya 117. So you can see that when you practice sati intensely, it becomes satipatthana, which is basically jhana. So actually jhana is a part of the practice of sati sampajanya. because Jhana is actually Satipatthana. So when you perfect this Sati, the practice of Sati, it turns into Jhana or Satipatthana. That is why Anapanasati, which is actually Anapanasati is a Samatha practice. It is included in the Satipatthana Sutta under recollection of the body. And the Buddha said that the breath is a type of body. Contemplating the breath is contemplating a type of body. That is why people don't understand why Anapanasati is included in the Satipatthana Sutta. Because Anapanasati is basically a Samatha practice. But as I mentioned just now, if you practice Sati intensely, then you attain Satipatthana. which is jhana. So from here, you can see that sati, the practice of sati and the practice of samadhi, they are related.

(EA14)-10-The-practice-of-Satisampajanna

Now I discuss a bit of the practice of Sati Sampajanya. But this I think many of you who have been practicing meditation or studying the Satipatthana Sutta, you might already know. So in the practice of Sati Sampajanya, when we contemplate body, feelings, mind and Dhamma, We have to see how they are conditioned, that they are impermanent, they arise through certain conditions, they persist due to certain conditions, and they pass away due to certain conditions. That is why in the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha said, you have to contemplate the arising factors, the vanishing factors. And then you can see anicca, dukkha and anatta, impermanence, suffering and not self.

(EA14)-11-Kayanupassana_4-Elements-of-the-body

So in the contemplation of the body, one of the practices is to contemplate the four elements of the body. We have to see how the body consists of these four things, earth, water, fire, wind. Earth, water, fire, wind is not literally earth, water, fire, wind. It represents, earth represents the hardness element. And water represents the fluids. Fire represents the heat element. and wind is the wind element. So when we examine our body, we find that we have the hardness element in us, which is basically like, for example, our teeth is hard, our nails are hard, our hair is hard, our bones are hard, even our organs, heart and liver, etc., they have a certain degree of hardness. So these are the earth components in our body. And then the fluids, like our blood, our urine, our phlegm, etc. These represent the water element in us. And the heat in our body represents the heat element. And the winds in our body, which come out through our mouth, through the bottom, etc. These represent the wind element in us. So when we examine our body in this way, we see that our body basically consists of the four elements, just like other things in the world. Other things in the world also has these four elements. For example, a tree. A tree has the hardness element, it has the fluid element, and it has some heat element, and it has the wind element also within. That's why when you pour water on a plant, the water is sucked up, because of the wind element, it's the motion. The wind goes, all the nutrients goes up to the leaves, etc. So when we contemplate our body again, we find that our body is conditioned by food, If you have good food, then we have a strong and a growing body. For example, a young person, because of taking food, it starts to grow. So that is the arising factor. And without good food, one is weak and may sicken and die. And if a person is starving, you can see the body deteriorating. So that is the vanishing factors of the body. And again, you can contemplate how the body is easily affected by weather. If the weather is too hot or too cold, we get sick. It is affected by contact. Suppose somebody were to take a shower, object and poke you, you get hurt. So your body is easily hurt by contact. It is easily affected by air. If there's too much pollution in the air, it poisons our system, you can get sick, you can get cancer. of the nose, we can get cancer of the lung, etc. And then our body depends on water. If you don't have enough water, the body cannot survive. The body depends on nutriment, etc. So the body is something that depends on so many factors, you know. If any one of these factors is lacking, then the body cannot survive. In fact, we are a bit like a tree. If a tree, if the tree you don't give it fertilizer, it doesn't grow well. If you don't give it enough water, it may just dry up and die. If the sun is too hot, also the tree may die. So the tree is a bit like the human body. Like if we cut the human body, blood flows out. If you cut a tree, the sap flows out. So, if we do not have any consciousness in our body, if we do not have this consciousness, then this body is no different from a tree. So, from here, when you start contemplating, you can see that this body is not the self. This body is not the self because it's just like any other thing in the world, if you don't have the consciousness. And then later, if you want to contemplate the mind, consciousness is another part.

(EA14)-12-Kayanupassana_32-Parts-of-the-Body

The other thing in the practice of contemplation of the body is the 32 parts of the body. And that is to help us to cut off lust. sensual lust for the body. I mentioned a bit just now about you have to recite the 32 parts of the body, head, hair, body hair, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, bone, marrow, kidney, heart, liver, midriff, spleen, lung, etc. until you finish 32 parts. Now when you first learn it, you have to learn the recitation first. forwards and backwards, forwards and backwards. Then later, after you have it in your mind, then you recite more slowly. Head hair, then you contemplate how a head hair looks like, how a head hair feels like, etc. Body hair, similarly, head hair, body hair, nails, teeth, skin, etc. So you recite one by one, and you contemplate the nature of each of these 32 parts of the body. And if you don't, you know, certain organs are inside us now, we may have never seen, for example, the lungs, you have never seen your lungs, and I've never seen a human lung. So you don't know exactly how a lung looks like, or a heart You don't know how it feels like. So if you want to practice this, you probably have to go to the market, go and buy a big lung, or a big heart, and you take it and you poke it, and you touch it, how it feels, whether it's hard or soft, etc. Then you can have a better idea. So when you contemplate, then you contemplate, oh, my heart is also like this, my lung is also like this. So when you practice this after some time, then you are able to understand how the body actually is in reality. Then you, like in Chinese, they say, kuan shen pu chin, pu chin, isn't it? Contemplate the body as impure, as impurity. So when you see the 32 parts of the body more clearly, then you can see that the body is not so attractive after all. you

(EA14)-13-Kayanupassana_-Various-types-of-corpses

Then another type of contemplation in the Satipatthana Sutta is to contemplate on the various types of corpses. A corpse is three days old. Some of you, I'm quite sure many of you have seen a corpse which is three days old because our Chinese, if somebody passes away, they put the body in a coffin and they keep it for three days or five days or seven days. So with the glass there for you to see the face. Then when you look at the face, you see for the first time, you get a bit horrified. A bit swollen, blue-black. But that is the way our body is going to turn. After some time, we are going to die. And then the body, our body also will become like that. So there's nothing to be ashamed about, to be horrified about, because our own body is going to turn like that one day. So before it turns like that, we contemplate. And then if it's five days old, how you look like. you will start to swell, start to smell, and then the maggots and all will start to appear, eating, eating, and then the fluids will start coming out of the nose, the mouth, the ears, etc., and the private parts, etc., and after it's swelled up to a certain degree, then you will burst, and then you will collapse. I think some of you have seen a dog dead on the road or a cow dead on the road, having been knocked by some car. Then you observe it, you pass it every day and then you observe how the dog or the cow, it becomes bloated up and then the skin becomes very tight. And then after some time it bursts and all the maggots you can see. So our body also will become like that. And then After some time, the flesh will start becoming less and less as the maggots eat it. You can still see some blood. After some time, maybe very little flesh is left. And then the blood also will dry up. And after a while, you see it as a skeleton. Only bones. And after a long time, even the bones will start deteriorating. After some time, you see the head here, the leg there, the hand, different place, all over the place. And after some time, they will turn into dust. So when we contemplate that way, then it helps us to cut off the conceit, I am, I exist. Last time when I was in Thailand, I was staying in a monastery where they had a place for cremation. And it was purposely built so that the monks could witness the cremation. They had these bricks and all that laid with a place for putting a lot of wood. And then they put the corpse on top of that pile of wood, you know. Then the monks would go and see before they like. Then you observe the cops and then they pour some petrol etc and then they light a fire and then there's a big flame and it'll burn for a few hours. After several hours you go back and look, that old lady that you saw suddenly disappeared into nothing. into bones, into fragments, into powder. Then you realize that person that you saw so solid, so real before you, suddenly disappeared into nothing. Then you realize how impermanent the body is, that actually it is just a temporary thing. So the Buddha said, just like a car, originally there is no car, then they assemble all the parts, put the window, the glass, the tires, everything, then you call it a car. Or in the Buddha's time it was a carriage, chariot. And later, after the car gets broken down, after 20, 30 years, it's thrown into some rubbish heap, then the whole thing starts to deteriorate. The tyre will go one place, the windscreen will be broken, all the parts all over the place, then where's the car? There's no car. It's just a temporary condition. So from there, if we contemplate in this way, it helps us to see that there is no permanent abiding entity in anything in the world.

(EA14)-14-Anapanasati

Then we come to the practice of Anapanasati, recollection of the breath. How do you practice recollection of the breath? You are mindful of the breath all the time. In fact, the Buddha said that he used this practice himself. And it is quite a useful practice because the breath is with you all the time. Whatever you are doing, the breath never stops. Yes or no? Very faithful, going in and out, doing its work, giving you life. So, if you pay, put your attention there, you're able to do it all the time. Not like some objects of contemplation. For example, some people, they practice the kasina, meditate on the flame. But the flame doesn't last 24 hours a day, yes or no? After some time, you have to renew it, it ceases. But the breath, as long as you're alive, the breath is there. So it is a very, how do you say, very convenient object of meditation. And if you practice meditation of the breath, it helps you to stop thinking. Actually, that is why it is very useful even for practicing Sati Sampajanya every day. If you are aware of the breath, the mind doesn't run all over the place. You are always in the present. You are always in the now. and that helps you in your contemplation of the body, of the mind, of the dharma, etc. And how to practice this breath meditation? We just, when we sit down to practice the breath meditation, we have to keep the body very straight, the back very straight, and then we just relax. If you come back from work in the evening or something, don't immediately start practicing meditation, when you sit down, you just relax for five minutes or 10 minutes, because when you come back from work, your mind is is not fit for meditation. He has been thinking the whole day, you know. So, it has been quite strained. So, you allow it 10 minutes to just relax. In fact, when you allow it to relax within the 10 minutes and you close your eyes, you will start to slowly become concentrated. Why? Because you have cut off your seeing, you have cut off your hearing, so the mind starts to concentrate. And this is quite important, because for working people, because a lot of people, they go into meditation straight away, and they get a headache. Sometimes people say a Samadhi headache. So, that is not advisable, to meditate straight away, you relax. for five or ten minutes, then after that you start to be aware of your breath. And being aware of this breath, you don't have to focus it on a point. It's only in later books like the Visuddhi Maga, they tell you you have to focus it at the tip of your nose or the upper lips. And some people say focus on the stomach rising and falling. But actually you don't have to focus it anywhere. According to the Buddha's instructions, you just know whether it's a short breath or a long breath. So initially, you just be aware. Just try to differentiate whether the breath is going in or going out. Whether it's going in or going out. The important thing is just to determine, to make an adhitana, a determination not to miss a breath. Not to miss a breath. So just keep on following the breath for as long as you can. That is the most important thing. The longer you can follow it, the more you are getting control over your mind, because the mind always tends to run away. So you just note the basic movement of the breath, whether it's going in or out, in or out. You don't have to look too clearly into your breath, because your mind is not sharp enough to focus on the breath. So just know that it goes in and goes out, goes in and goes out. And if you can follow it longer and longer and longer, slowly, the hindrances start to suppress. When we start to meditate initially, two hindrances obstruct us very much. The first one is restlessness. Restlessness, when you start to put your attention on the breath, your restless mind pulls you to think. You think about your home, you think about whether you have closed the window, you think about your office problems, and it runs all over the place. So the restlessness is a very strong obstruction for beginning meditators. And then the second one is sloth and topper. Because of sloth and torpor, your mind is a bit muddled up, you cannot see your breath clearly, especially this torpor, you cannot see clearly, your mind is not focused, so you just don't have to, you don't need to see your breath too clearly, just be aware whether it's going going in, going out, going in, going out, and slowly the mind will become more and more focused. And then it comes to a state where some bliss and happiness arises. This bliss arises because the mind is not scattered. When the mind is scattered, the mind is weak. When the mind is not weak, it is concentrated, then it is, it is focus, focus and our mind is supposed to be originally bright, supposed to be basically bright and happy. So we're going back to that condition. So that is the way to practice the Anapanasati. And then This breath meditation is a Samatha practice. Just now I talked to you about the hunter who caught six animals, how the normal mind is pulled in six different directions. So the Buddha said that is not the way to control the six animals. If you want to control the six animals, these six ropes that are tied to the six animals have to be tied to one strong pole. a stout pole. If you tie these six ropes to a stout pole, then these six animals which are going off in six different directions, they cannot go anywhere except round and round the pole, round and round until they are tired. And then they will lie down beside the pole and sleep beside the pole. And that's the only way to tame them. This stout pole represents one object of meditation, not changing your object, one object only. For example, like the breath meditation. You just do the breath meditation. If any sound comes, you just ignore it. If any pain comes also, you ignore it. Anything comes also, you ignore it. Thinking comes also, you ignore it. Just put your attention on the breath again and again. That putting your attention on the breath only is tying the six animals to the stout pole. That is the only way to tame our mind. So now, this, when we do this kind of meditation, then our thinking stops, you know, and this thinking stopping is very important, because whenever we think that I am arises, this I am, or I exist, arises with consciousness, whenever we have the normal consciousness, the ego arises, the ego arises in our mind, because of the consciousness. The consciousness is basically seeing. For example, when seeing arises due to conditions, because of an object, because of the eye, the seeing consciousness arises. And when there is seeing, there is the object of seeing, and there is the feeling that I see. This I see is something that is kind of naturally arises in our mind. But the aim of meditation is to see that actually there is no I, there is just a condition only arising. So to see things clearly, we have to stop this thinking. That is why this Samatha practice is important.

(EA14)-15-Cittanupassana

So just now I was going on the contemplation of the body, now we come to the contemplation of the mind, is to be aware, just now I said we practice sampajani, is to be aware of the changing state of the mind, when feelings arise, you are aware. When they persist, you are aware. When they pass away, you are aware. When perceptions arise, you are aware. When they persist, you are aware. When they pass away, you are aware. When thoughts arise, you are aware. When they persist, you are aware. When they pass away, you are aware. Now this observing, the changing mind, does not mean observing the objects of your thought, you know, because you observe the objects of your thought, you are pulled by the thought and you start thinking and thinking and thinking. And then after some time, then you realize, instead of meditating, I've been thinking for the last five minutes. So it is observing the changing state of the mind, and to see why the mind is changing, because it is changing because of conditions. For example, a sound, somebody says something to you, because of that contact, you start to have a perception. This person said something very nasty to me. And then you start to proliferate, start to think, you know, why did this person say such thing? And then you get angry. And when this anger arises, if you are caught up with thinking, you don't notice the anger arising. You are just angry and you keep on thinking and thinking and thinking. And you can't do anything because you have all this anger boiling inside you. Right? So you're not seeing clearly. So, that is why you have to practice the other things like to be detached, always to see that this body and this mind is not mine, is not I, is not myself. But just now I talked about the being aware of your mind changing, feelings arise and pass away, etc. Actually, to be able to do that, you need a very sharp mind. If your mind is not sharp, it's very difficult to be detached. It's very difficult to be in the present. It's very difficult to see things clearly. That is why the Samatha practice is important to sharpen your mind so that you can practice the Sati perfectly. Without Samadhi, you cannot practice Sati well. Now, If you put that practice just now, that to see all things as this is not mine, not I and not myself, you have no notion of I and mine. In other words, no tendency to conceit. Conceit is that I and the mine. So in the Samyutta Nikaya, it is stated, he who has no conceits monks is Mara's, sorry, he who has conceits monks is Mara's bondsman. In other words, Mara's slave. He who has no conceits is freed from the evil one. So when we watch our mind, we have to be careful. We are trying to get rid of that ego, you know. We are trying to practice as though we have no ego, trying to be detached. Whenever the mind is changing, when feelings arise and all that, we are trying to be detached, trying to practice as though you are a liberated person. To be in this practice, actually, To be an Arya, to be a holy man, you have to start acting like a holy man. To have no self, you have to start acting as though you actually have no self. So when the ego arises, the ego surfaces, you have to be aware of that ego, and you don't listen to your ego. If your mind is sharp enough, for example, if somebody says something to you and you get angry, you get upset, but if your mind is sharp enough, then you ask yourself, who is angry? Who is upset? It is the ego that cannot stand, yes or no? It's only because of your ego that you got angry. If there's no ego, whatever people say, it doesn't matter, alright? So the ego cannot stand. So you don't listen to your ego. You don't allow yourself to follow your ego. So whatever happens, you try to be detached. So always watching your ego is very important. If you watch your ego, then you don't react. You just respond. If people say something, just something wrong to you, you don't react. You just try to practice metta.

(EA14)-16-Dhammanupassana

Then the last one is to contemplate Dhamma. Contemplating Dhamma is very, very important. If we don't have Dhamma, then we can never get out of samsara. For example, there were a lot of external ascetics, they practice Samatha meditation until they have even have psychic power. But because they didn't hear the Dhamma, they cannot become enlightened. However, if they have jhāna, then the mind is very clear. And then when they listen to the sutta, then they can become enlightened. I give you an instance of what actually happened during the Buddha's time, which is found in the Vinaya books. Most of you because you are lay people, you don't see the Vinaya books. So I relate to you an incident here. After the Buddha had converted, not actually converted, these people came to listen to the Dhamma from the Buddha, and 60 of them became arahants. So after there were 60 arahants, the Buddha asked these 60 arahants to go and walk and preach the Dharma for the benefit of mankind, for the happiness, the well being of the many folk. And he told them, don't two of you go by the same road, take different roads. He's telling them to walk all over India to preach the Dharma. So after that, he contemplated whom should he teach the Dharma to. So the Buddha found a group of ascetics called the Jatilas. These Jatilas are method hair ascetics. They keep their hair very long, but they bundle them up. And then they are fire worshippers. They pray to this fire every day. Why did the Buddha want to go and convert them? Because they must have practiced jhāna. Because they had practiced jhāna, their minds were very clear. And if they attain four jhānas, they are able to see devas and they can talk to devas, some of them. So because they were ripe for conversion, the Buddha went to convert them. Now these 1,000 jatilas, they had three leaders. These three leaders were brothers, kasapa brothers. The eldest brother lived upstream. They were all living by the side of a river. The eldest brother lived at the highest upstream. The second brother lived in the middle. The third in the lowest part of the river. And the eldest brother, together with the other jatilas, numbered 500. The middle one, there were 300 of them. The last one, 200. So all together, there were 1000. So the Buddha went to the eldest brother to convert him first. And this eldest brother, he was very conceited. He thought he was an Arahant. So the Buddha asked for permission to stay. He allowed the Buddha permission to stay. Then the Buddha, over a period of time, showed him miracles, psychic power. Even the gods, the Sakka Deva Raja and other gods came to pay respect to the Buddha and the Buddha let him know that even all these gods came to pay respect to the Buddha. But all the time, he thought This, our Buddha had great psychic power, but the Buddha was not an Arahant. Only he was an Arahant. So one day after showing him so many miracles, the Buddha decided to tell him straight in his face that he was not an Arahant, and he was not practicing the way to become an Arahant. Then he got a shock. Then he realized that it was true. Then he shaved off his hair and followed the Buddha. to be a monk. And his other disciples, 500 of them also cut off their hair, threw it into the river. All their fire worshipping utensils, they threw into the river and became monks under the Buddha. So the hair and all their utensils floated down the river. When the second brother saw, he got a shock. Somebody must have killed his brother, he thought. They all ran up, upstream, and they saw that the brothers, all these, had converted to be the Buddha's disciples. So they asked these who had converted, is it better? And then they said it's better. So they also shaved off their hair and converted. And the third brother and his group saw, they also got a shock, all this hair flowing down. So they also went up and they also converted. So the Buddha had 1000 of these jatilas. And then the Buddha decided to teach them the sutra, one discourse, taught them only one discourse called the fire discourse, because they like to worship fire. So the Buddha told them, the whole world is on fire. How come the whole world is on fire? The Buddha said, the eye is on fire, the ear is on fire, the nose is on fire, the tongue, the body, the mind is on fire. Why? Because the six sense doors make up the whole world. The whole world is in our six sense doors. So the Buddha explained. And then, after giving this discourse, all 1000 of them became arahants. Arahants, you know, not sotapanna. Arahants. That shows their minds were so clear from this samadhi that they had. So after that, the Buddha brought them to Rajagaha. Rajagaha is the place where King Bimbisara resided. And a few years ago, when the Buddha was not yet enlightened, the Buddha passed through Rajagaha. And King Bimbisara was very impressed with the Buddha at that time, the Bodhisatta. So he asked our Buddha, our Bodhisatta to stay in Rajagaha. But the Buddha said no. The Buddha wanted to continue on his way to practice, to seek for enlightenment. So he told the Buddha, he said, one day if you are enlightened, please come back here. So after the Buddha was enlightened, the Buddha came to visit this King Bimbisara. in Rajagaha together with 1000 arahants. So this King Bimbisara had a great feast, great dana prepared for these monks. Then he called all his people to come and listen to the Dhamma. And according to the Vinaya books, 12 Nahutas of people came. Nahuta is supposed to be a very large number. So suppose we assume it's about 1000. So 12,000 people came to listen to the Dhamma, and the Buddha gave them a graduated discourse. At the end of it, all of them became Sotapanna. So you can see that by listening to the Sutta, just by listening, they can become Sotapanna. I'm quite sure not 12,000 of them all meditated, right? They're ordinary people. So I'm sure some of them never meditated. And yet they all became Sotapanna. But you can see how different people, when they listen to the Sutta, they attain Ariya-hood at different levels. This is because of the Samadhi they have.

(EA14)-17-Three-Types-of-Samadhi

There are basically three types of Samadhi, shallow concentration, medium concentration and perfect concentration. Shallow concentration or momentary concentration is like a person who does not do any meditation, but when he concentrates on for example, listening to the Dhamma, In the Suttas, the Buddha said, when one listens to the Dhamma attentively, the five hindrances exist not, and the seven Bhojanga go to completion, that means are complete. For that, that means to a certain degree, when he says that the five hindrances exist not, that means to a certain degree, they exist not, they are, they are not obstructions. It's just like, for example, lalang. Lalang, if they are very tall, you walk through, they obstruct you. But if you cut down the lalang until there's two inches or three inches left, there's still lalang, but it's no more an obstruction. So in the same way, when one pays attention to the Dhamma teaching attentively, then the hindrances are not there. And it's sufficient for a person to attain Sotapanna if the person does not meditate. That is momentary concentration. Medium level concentration is when a person practices to a certain degree of concentration, short of jhana, short of perfect concentration. And how do you know you attain that degree? When a person attains that degree of concentration, the anger and the lust is suddenly reduced. If a person has an angry temperament, after attaining that concentration, that tranquility of mind, the mind suddenly, the anger is very much reduced, and the sensual lust also very much reduced. That kind of person now when he listens to the sutta, he can become a sakadagamin, a second stage, a second stage ariya, sakadagamin, once returner. That means coming back to the human birth once more, one more time. But if a person has a perfect concentration, any jhana, if he listens to the sutta, the right sutta, the sutta by the Buddha, then that person can become an anagamin or an arahan. And it's very clear from Majjhima Nikaya number 64, that to become an anagamin, you must have jhana, or even to become an arahan also, you must have jhana. Because in Majjhima Nikaya Sutta number 64, it is said that there is a path to the abandonment of the five lower factors. Abandonment of the five lower factors means attaining anagamin, third fruition. And then it says there's a path leading to the, there's a path to the abandonment of the five lower factors, that anyone without coming to that path shall know or see or abandon the five lower factors. This is not possible. So you must follow the path to attain the five, to become an anagami. If you don't follow that path, it is not possible to become an anagami. Then later the Buddha explained what is that path, first jhāna. or second jhāna, or third jhāna, or fourth jhāna. So from there, this sutta, you can see very clearly that jhāna is necessary for attaining anagamin or arahanthood. And just now we saw that sati sampajjhāna and this samādhi go hand in hand. Vipassana and samatha go hand in hand.

(EA14)-18-Five-Occasions-for-Ariyahood

So lastly, I just like to mention that in the Suttas, it is said that there are five occasions when a person when he become an Arya. When a person listens to the Sutta, he can become an Arya. When a person teaches the Dhamma, when a person repeats the Dhamma, or when a person reflects on the Dhamma, and the last one is during meditation. And you find that the Buddha's disciples, most of them, they attain arahanthood, not when they are meditating, when they are out of meditation, when they contemplate on the Dhamma, usually, then they attain arahanthood. or they attain Aryahood. So, it depends on your condition of your mind. If your mind is very clear, like for example, a person has attained Jhana, when he contemplates on the Dhamma, he becomes an Anagamin or an Arahant. And then for a person whose mind is not so clear, for example, a person who does not meditate, but with some good karma, that means no karmic obstructions, Then when that person listens to Dhamma attentively, that person also can become a Sotapanna, first stage Ariya. So I'll stop here.