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+ | ====== The Five Aggregates: A Study Guide ====== | ||
+ | <span hide>The Five Aggregates</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Summary: | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | <div #h_meta> | ||
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+ | <div # | ||
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+ | <div # | ||
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+ | <div # | ||
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+ | <div # | ||
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+ | </ | ||
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+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div navigation></ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Contents ===== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <ul> | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Introduction ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | One of the new concepts most central to his teaching was that of the khandhas, usually translated into English as " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The most common response to these questions is best exemplified by two recent scholarly books devoted to the subject. Both treat the khandhas as the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | From the introduction of the other: | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | This understanding of the khandhas isn't confined to scholars. Almost any modern Buddhist meditation teacher would explain the khandhas in a similar way. And it isn't a modern innovation. It was first proposed at the beginning of the common era in the commentaries to the early Buddhist canons — both the Theravādin and the Sarvāstivādin, | ||
+ | |||
+ | However, once the commentaries used the khandhas to define what a person is, they spawned many of the controversies that have plagued Buddhist thinking ever since: "If a person is just khandhas, then what gets reborn?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | A large part of the history of Buddhist thought has been the story of ingenious but unsuccessful attempts to settle these questions. It's instructive to note, though, that the Pali canon never quotes the Buddha as trying to answer them. In fact, it never quotes him as trying to define what a person is at all. Instead, it quotes him as saying that to define yourself in any way is to limit yourself, and that the question, "What am I?" is best ignored. This suggests that he formulated the concept of the khandhas to answer other, different questions. If, as meditators, we want to make the best use of this concept, we should look at what those original questions were, and determine how they apply to our practice. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The canon depicts the Buddha as saying that he taught only two topics: suffering and the end of suffering ([[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha introduced the concept of the khandhas in his first sermon in response to the first of these questions. His short definition of suffering was "the five clinging-khandhas." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The five khandhas are bundles or piles of form, feeling, perception, fabrications, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thus intention is an integral part of our experience of all the khandhas — an important point, for this means that there is an element of intention in all suffering. This opens the possibility that suffering can be ended by changing our intentions — or abandoning them entirely — which is precisely the point of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | To understand how this happens, we have to look more closely at how suffering arises — or, in other words, how khandhas become clinging-khandhas. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When khandhas are experienced, | ||
+ | |||
+ | This sense of me and mine is rarely static. It roams like an amoeba, changing its contours as it changes location. Sometimes expansive, sometimes contracted, it can view itself as identical with a khandha, as possessing a khandha, as existing within a khandha, or as having a khandha existing within itself ([[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddhist approach to ending this clinging, however, is not simply to drop it. As with any addiction, the mind has to be gradually weaned away. Before we can reach the point of no intention, where we're totally freed from the fabrication of khandhas, we have to change our intentions toward the khandhas so as to change their functions. Instead of using them for the purpose of constructing a self, we use them for the purpose of creating a path to the end of suffering. Instead of carrying piles of bricks on our shoulders, we take them off and lay them along the ground as pavement. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first step in this process is to use the khandhas to construct the factors of the noble eightfold path. For example, Right Concentration: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Once we've gained the sense of strength and wellbeing that comes from mastering these skills, we can proceed to the second step: attending to the drawbacks of even the refined khandhas we experience in concentration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The various ways of fostering dispassion are also khandhas, khandhas of perception. A standard list includes the following: the perception of inconstancy, | ||
+ | |||
+ | These questions show the complex role the khandhas play in this second step of the path. The questions themselves are khandhas — of fabrication — and they use the concept of the khandhas to deconstruct any passion and delight that might center on the khandhas and create suffering. Thus, in this step, we use khandhas that point out the drawbacks of the khandhas. | ||
+ | |||
+ | If used unskillfully, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The texts say that this three-step process can lead to one of two results. If, after undercutting passion and delight for the khandhas, the mind contains any residual passion for the perception of the deathless, it will attain the third level of Awakening, called non-return. If passion and delight are entirely eradicated, though, all clinging is entirely abandoned, the intentions that fabricate khandhas are dropped, and the mind totally released. The bricks of the pavement have turned into a runway, and the mind has taken off. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Into what? The authors of the discourses seem unwilling to say, even to the extent of describing it as a state of existence, non-existence, | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the fermentation-free, | ||
+ | the subtle, the very-hard-to-see, | ||
+ | the ageless, permanence, the undecaying, | ||
+ | the featureless, | ||
+ | peace, the deathless, | ||
+ | the exquisite, bliss, rest, | ||
+ | the ending of craving, | ||
+ | the wonderful, the marvelous, | ||
+ | the secure, security, | ||
+ | unbinding, | ||
+ | the unafflicted, | ||
+ | release, attachment-free, | ||
+ | the island, shelter, harbor, refuge, | ||
+ | the ultimate. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | Other passages mention a consciousness in this freedom — " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | This shows again the importance of bringing the right questions to the teachings on the khandhas. If you use them to define what you are as a person, you tie yourself down to no purpose. The questions keep piling on. But if you use them to put an end to suffering, your questions fall away and you're free. You never again cling to the khandhas and no longer need to use them to end your self-created suffering. As long as you're still alive, you can employ the khandhas as needed for whatever skillful uses you see fit. After that, you're liberated from all uses and needs, including the need to find words to describe that freedom to yourself or to anyone else. | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== The Questions ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Thus asked, you should answer, 'Our teacher teaches the subduing of passion & desire.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Thus asked, you should answer, 'Our teacher teaches the subduing of passion & desire for form& | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Thus asked, you should answer, 'When one is not free from passion, desire, love, thirst, fever, & craving for form, then from any change & alteration in that form, there arises sorrow, lamentation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Thus asked, you should answer, 'When one is free from passion, desire, love, thirst, fever, & craving for form, then with any change & alteration in that form, there does not arise any sorrow, lamentation, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Constructing the Aggregates ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "In the same way, an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person regards form as: 'This is mine, this is my self, this is what I am.' He regards feeling& | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "That moving-picture show was created by the mind. And this mind is even more variegated than a moving-picture show. Thus one should reflect on one's mind with every moment: 'For a long time has this mind been defiled by passion, aversion, & delusion.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "As you say, lord," the monks responded. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Blessed One said, "Now what, monks, are the five aggregates? | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "These are called the five aggregates. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And what are the five clinging-aggregates? | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "These are called the five clinging-aggregates." | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And why do you call it ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And why do you call it ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And why do you call them ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And why do you call it ' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And what is the earth property? The earth property can be either internal or external. What is the internal earth property? Whatever internal, within oneself, is hard, solid, & sustained [by craving]: head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, tendons, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, pleura, spleen, lungs, large intestines, small intestines, contents of the stomach, feces, or whatever else internal, within oneself, is hard, solid, & sustained: This is called the internal earth property& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And what is the liquid property? The liquid property may be either internal or external. What is the internal liquid property? Whatever internal, belonging to oneself, is liquid, watery, & sustained: bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, skin-oil, saliva, mucus, fluid in the joints, urine, or whatever else internal, within oneself, is liquid, watery, & sustained: This is called the internal liquid property& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And what is the fire property? The fire property may be either internal or external. What is the internal fire property? Whatever internal, belonging to oneself, is fire, fiery, & sustained: that by which (the body) is warmed, aged, & consumed with fever; and that by which what is eaten, drunk, chewed, & savored gets properly digested, or whatever else internal, within oneself, is fire, fiery, & sustained: This is called the internal fire property& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And what is the wind property? The wind property may be either internal or external. What is the internal wind property? Whatever internal, belonging to oneself, is wind, windy, & sustained: up-going winds, down-going winds, winds in the stomach, winds in the intestines, winds that course through the body, in-& | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | [Sister Dhammadinnā: | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | [The Buddha:] "Monk, the four great existents [earth, water, fire, & wind] are the cause, the four great existents the condition, for the delineation of the aggregate of form. Contact is the cause, contact the condition, for the delineation of the aggregate of feeling. Contact is the cause, contact the condition, for the delineation of the aggregate of perception. Contact is the cause, contact the condition, for the delineation of the aggregate of fabrications. Name-& | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | From fabrications as a requisite condition comes consciousness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | From name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | From the six sense media as a requisite condition comes contact. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging/ sustenance. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From clinging/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From birth as a requisite condition, then aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And what is feeling? These six are classes of feeling: feeling born from eye-contact, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And what is contact? These six are classes of contact: eye-contact, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And what are the six sense media? These six are sense media: the eye-medium, the ear-medium, the nose-medium, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And what is name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And what is consciousness? | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And what are fabrications? | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And what is ignorance? Not knowing stress, not knowing the origination of stress, not knowing the cessation of stress, not knowing the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress: This is called ignorance." | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If, after descending into the womb, consciousness were to depart, would name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If the consciousness of the young boy or girl were to be cut off, would name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "From name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "This is the extent to which there is birth, aging, death, passing away, and re-arising. This is the extent to which there are means of designation, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Where there is passion, delight, & craving for the nutriment of physical food, consciousness lands there and grows. Where consciousness lands and grows, name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Just as — when there is dye, lac, yellow orpiment, indigo, or crimson — a dyer or painter would paint the picture of a woman or a man, complete in all its parts, on a well-polished panel or wall, or on a piece of cloth; in the same way, where there is passion, delight, & craving for the nutriment of physical food, consciousness lands there & grows& | ||
+ | |||
+ | [Similarly with the other three kinds of nutriment.] | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Where there is no passion for the nutriment of physical food, where there is no delight, no craving, then consciousness does not land there or grow& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Just as if there were a roofed house or a roofed hall having windows on the north, the south, or the east. When the sun rises, and a ray has entered by way of the window, where does it land?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "On the western wall, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And if there is no western wall& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "On the ground, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And if there is no ground& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "On the water, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And if there is no water& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "It does not land, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "In the same way, where there is no passion for the nutriment of physical food& | ||
+ | |||
+ | [Similarly with the other three kinds of nutriment.] | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And if these five means of propagation are broken, rotten, damaged by wind & sun, immature, and poorly-buried, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And if these five means of propagation are not broken, not rotten, not damaged by wind & sun, mature, and well-buried, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Like the earth property, monks, is how the four standing-spots for consciousness should be seen. Like the liquid property is how delight & passion should be seen. Like the five means of propagation is how consciousness together with its nutriment should be seen. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Were someone to say, 'I will describe a coming, a going, a passing away, an arising, a growth, an increase, or a proliferation of consciousness apart from form, from feeling, from perception, from fabrications,' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Constructing a Self ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "As you say, lord," the monks responded. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Blessed One said, "And which is the burden? 'The five clinging-aggregates,' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And which is the carrier of the burden? 'The person,' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And which is the taking up of the burden? The craving that makes for further becoming — accompanied by passion & delight, relishing now here & now there — i.e., craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming: | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And which is the casting off of the burden? The remainderless dispassion-cessation, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He assumes feeling to be the self& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He assumes perception to be the self& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He assumes fabrications to be the self& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He assumes consciousness to be the self, or the self as possessing consciousness, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Now, the one who, when delineating a self, delineates it as possessed of form & finite, either delineates it as possessed of form & finite in the present, or of such a nature that it will [naturally] become possessed of form & finite [in the future/ after death], or he believes that ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | [Similarly with the other three delineations.] | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If one stays obsessed with feeling& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If one stays obsessed with consciousness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But if one doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If one doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If one doesn' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | [The Buddha:] "Any desire, passion, delight, or craving for form, Rādha: when one is caught up //[satta]// there, tied up // | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Any desire, passion, delight, or craving for feeling& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Any desire, passion, delight, or craving for consciousness, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ]!<span spkr> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "By whom was this being created? | ||
+ | Where is the living being' | ||
+ | Where has the living being originated? | ||
+ | Where does the living being | ||
+ | cease?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span spkr> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What? Do you assume a ' | ||
+ | Do you take a position? | ||
+ | This is purely a pile of fabrications. | ||
+ | Here no living being | ||
+ | can be pinned down. | ||
+ | Just as when, with an assemblage of parts, | ||
+ | there' | ||
+ | chariot, | ||
+ | even so when aggregates are present, | ||
+ | there' | ||
+ | a being. | ||
+ | For only stress is what comes to be; | ||
+ | stress, what remains & falls away. | ||
+ | Nothing but stress | ||
+ | Nothing ceases but stress." | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Māra the Evil One — sad & dejected at realizing, " | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Constructing the Path ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Then, with the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Then, with the fading of rapture, he remains equanimous, mindful, & alert, and senses pleasure with the body. He enters & remains in the third jhāna, of which the noble ones declare, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Then, with the abandoning of pleasure & pain — as with the earlier disappearance of joys & distresses — he enters & remains in the fourth jhāna: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Then, with the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And then, with the fading of rapture, the monk remains equanimous, mindful, & alert, and senses pleasure with the body. He enters & remains in the third jhāna, of which the noble ones declare, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And then, with the abandoning of pleasure and pain — as with the earlier disappearance of joys & distresses — the monk enters & remains in the fourth jhāna: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And then, with the complete transcending of perceptions of (physical) form, with the disappearance of perceptions of resistance, and not heeding perceptions of diversity, (perceiving, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And then, with the complete transcending of the dimension of the infinitude of space, (perceiving, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And then, with the complete transcending of the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "' | ||
+ | |||
+ | [Similarly with the second, third, and fourth jhāna.] | ||
+ | |||
+ | "' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "' | ||
+ | |||
+ | | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Thus, as far as the perception-attainments go, that is as far as gnosis-penetration goes. As for these two dimensions — the attainment of the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception & the attainment of the cessation of feeling & perception — I tell you that they are to be rightly explained by those monks who are meditators, skilled in attaining, skilled in attaining & emerging, who have attained & emerged in dependence on them." | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | [1] "And what is the perception of inconstancy? | ||
+ | |||
+ | [2] "And what is the perception of not-self? There is the case where a monk — having gone to the wilderness, to the shade of a tree, or to an empty building — reflects thus: 'The eye is not-self, forms are not-self; the ear is not-self, sounds are not-self; the nose is not-self, aromas are not-self; the tongue is not-self, flavors are not-self; the body is not-self, flavors are not-self; the intellect is not-self, ideas are not-self.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | [3] "And what is the perception of unattractiveness? | ||
+ | |||
+ | [4] "And what is the perception of drawbacks? There is the case where a monk — having gone to the wilderness, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty dwelling — reflects thus: 'This body has many pains, many drawbacks. In this body many kinds of disease arise, such as: seeing-diseases, | ||
+ | |||
+ | [5] "And what is the perception of abandoning? There is the case where a monk does not tolerate an arisen thought of sensuality. He abandons it, destroys it, dispels it, & wipes it out of existence. He does not tolerate an arisen thought of ill-will. He abandons it, destroys it, dispels it, & wipes it out of existence. He does not tolerate an arisen thought of harmfulness. He abandons it, destroys it, dispels it, & wipes it out of existence. He does not tolerate arisen evil, unskillful mental qualities. He abandons them, destroys them, dispels them, & wipes them out of existence. This is called the perception of abandoning. | ||
+ | |||
+ | [6] "And what is the perception of dispassion? There is the case where a monk — having gone to the wilderness, to the shade of a tree, or to an empty building — reflects thus: 'This is peace, this is exquisite — the stilling of all fabrications, | ||
+ | |||
+ | [7] "And what is the perception of cessation? There is the case where a monk — having gone to the wilderness, to the shade of a tree, or to an empty building — reflects thus: 'This is peace, this is exquisite — the stilling of all fabrications, | ||
+ | |||
+ | [8] "And what is the perception of distaste for every world? There is the case where a monk abandoning any attachments, | ||
+ | |||
+ | [9] "And what is the perception of the undesirability of all fabrications? | ||
+ | |||
+ | [10] "And what is mindfulness of in-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "[i] Breathing in long, he discerns, 'I am breathing in long'; or breathing out long, he discerns, 'I am breathing out long.' [ii] Or breathing in short, he discerns, 'I am breathing in short'; | ||
+ | |||
+ | "[v] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to rapture.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "[ix] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the mind.' [x] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in gladdening the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out gladdening the mind.' [xi] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in steadying the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out steadying the mind. [xii] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in releasing the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out releasing the mind.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "This, Ānanda, is called mindfulness of in-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Now, Ānanda, if you go to the monk Girimānanda and tell him these ten perceptions, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Ven. Ānanda, having learned these ten perceptions in the Blessed One's presence, went to Ven. Girimānanda and told them to him. As Ven. Girimānanda heard these ten perceptions, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Deconstruction ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord. Why is that? Because those things are not our self, nor do they belong to our self." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Even so, monks, whatever isn't yours: Let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term welfare & happiness. And what isn't yours? Form isn't yours& | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | [Similarly with the other four aggregates.] | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "So he would go to the householder or householder' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Now what do you think, my friend Yamaka? When that man went to the householder or householder' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes, my friend." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "In the same way, an uninstructed, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He assumes feeling to be the self& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He assumes perception to be the self& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He assumes fabrications to be the self& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He assumes consciousness to be the self, or the self as possessing consciousness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He gets attached to form, clings to form, & determines it to be 'my self.' He gets attached to feeling& | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | [The Buddha:] " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If feeling were exclusively stressful& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If perception were exclusively stressful& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If fabrications were exclusively stressful& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If consciousness were exclusively stressful — followed by stress, infused with stress and not infused with pleasure — beings would not be infatuated with consciousness. But because consciousness is also pleasurable — followed by pleasure, infused with pleasure and not infused with stress — beings are infatuated with consciousness. Through infatuation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And what, lord, is the cause, what the requisite condition, for the purification of beings? How are beings purified with cause, with requisite condition?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If feeling were exclusively pleasurable& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If perception were exclusively pleasurable& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If fabrications were exclusively pleasurable& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If consciousness were exclusively pleasurable — followed by pleasure, infused with pleasure and not infused with stress — beings would not be disenchanted with consciousness. But because consciousness is also stressful — followed by stress, infused with stress and not infused with pleasure — beings are disenchanted with consciousness. Through disenchantment, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "In the same way, there is the case where an uninstructed, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He assumes feeling& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He assumes consciousness to be the self, or the self as possessing consciousness, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He assumes feeling& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "This, householder, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And how is one afflicted in body but unafflicted in mind? There is the case where a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones — who has regard for noble ones, is well-versed & disciplined in their Dhamma; who has regard for people of integrity, is well-versed & disciplined in their Dhamma — doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "This, householder, | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "(He reflects:) '' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "As you say, lord," the monks responded. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Blessed One said, "And which are the phenomena to be comprehended? | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And which is comprehension? | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "In the same way, Rādha, you too should smash, scatter, & demolish form, and make it unfit for play. Practice for the ending of craving for form. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You should smash, scatter, & demolish feeling, and make it unfit for play. Practice for the ending of craving for feeling. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You should smash, scatter, & demolish perception, and make it unfit for play. Practice for the ending of craving for perception. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You should smash, scatter, & demolish fabrications, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You should smash, scatter, & demolish consciousness and make it unfit for play. Practice for the ending of craving for consciousness — because the ending of craving, Rādha, is Unbinding." | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Now suppose that in the autumn — when it's raining in fat, heavy drops — a water bubble were to appear & disappear on the water, and a man with good eyesight were to see it, observe it, & appropriately examine it. To him — seeing it, observing it, & appropriately examining it — it would appear empty, void, without substance: for what substance would there be in a water bubble? In the same way, a monk sees, observes, & appropriately examines any feeling that is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle; common or sublime; far or near. To him — seeing it, observing it, & appropriately examining it — it would appear empty, void, without substance: for what substance would there be in feeling? | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Now suppose that in the last month of the hot season a mirage were shimmering, and a man with good eyesight were to see it, observe it, & appropriately examine it. To him — seeing it, observing it, & appropriately examining it — it would appear empty, void, without substance: for what substance would there be in a mirage? In the same way, a monk sees, observes, & appropriately examines any perception that is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle; common or sublime; far or near. To him — seeing it, observing it, & appropriately examining it — it would appear empty, void, without substance: for what substance would there be in perception? | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Now suppose that a man desiring heartwood, in quest of heartwood, seeking heartwood, were to go into a forest carrying a sharp ax. There he would see a large banana tree: straight, young, of enormous height. He would cut it at the root and, having cut it at the root, would chop off the top. Having chopped off the top, he would peel away the outer skin. Peeling away the outer skin, he wouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Now suppose that a magician or magician' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "In this way he remains focused internally on mental qualities in & of themselves, or externally on mental qualities in & of themselves, or both internally & externally on mental qualities in & of themselves. Or he remains focused on the phenomenon of origination with regard to mental qualities, on the phenomenon of passing away with regard to mental qualities, or on the phenomenon of origination & passing away with regard to mental qualities. Or his mindfulness that 'There are mental qualities' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, friend." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Then how would he describe it if he were describing it correctly?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "As the scent of the flower: That's how he would describe it if he were describing it correctly." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "In the same way, friends, it's not that I say 'I am form,' nor do I say 'I am other than form.' It's not that I say, 'I am feeling& | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Just like a cloth, dirty & stained: Its owners give it over to a washerman, who scrubs it with salt earth or lye or cow-dung and then rinses it in clear water. Now even though the cloth is clean & spotless, it still has a lingering residual scent of salt earth or lye or cow-dung. The washerman gives it to the owners, the owners put it away in a scent-infused wicker hamper, and its lingering residual scent of salt earth, lye, or cow-dung is fully obliterated. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "In the same way, friends, even though a noble disciple has abandoned the five lower fetters, he still has with regard to the five clinging-aggregates a lingering residual 'I am' conceit, an 'I am' desire, an 'I am' obsession. [See §§[[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | When this was said, the elder monks said to Ven. Khemaka, "We didn't cross-examine Ven. Khemaka with the purpose of troubling him, just that (we thought) Ven. Khemaka is capable of declaring the Blessed One's message, teaching it, describing it, setting it forth, revealing it, explaining it, making it plain — just as he has in fact declared it, taught it, described it, set it forth, revealed it, explained it, made it plain." | ||
+ | |||
+ | That is what Ven. Khemaka said. Gratified, the elder monks delighted in his words. And while this explanation was being given, the minds of sixty-some monks, through no clinging, were fully released from fermentations — as was Ven. Khemaka' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Then the king would split the lute into ten pieces, a hundred pieces. Having split the lute into ten pieces, a hundred pieces, he would shave it to splinters. Having shaved it to splinters, he would burn it in a fire. Having burned it in a fire, he would reduce it to ashes. Having reduced it to ashes, he would winnow it before a high wind or let it be washed away by a swift-flowing stream. He would then say, 'A sorry thing, this lute — whatever a lute may be — by which people have been so thoroughly tricked & deceived.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "In the same way, a monk investigates form, however far form may go. He investigates feeling& | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Now, one who says, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Now, a feeling of pleasure is inconstant, fabricated, dependent on conditions, subject to passing away, dissolution, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Thus he assumes, assuming in the immediate present a self inconstant, entangled in pleasure and pain, subject to arising and passing away, he who says, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "As for the person who says, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Thus in this manner, Ānanda, one does not see fit to assume that ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "As for the person who says, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Thus in this manner, Ānanda, one does not see fit to assume that ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Now, Ānanda, in as far as a monk does not assume feeling to be the self, nor the self as oblivious, nor that 'My self feels, in that my self is subject to feeling,' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If anyone were to say with regard to a monk whose mind is thus released that 'The Tathāgata exists after death,' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "When this was said, I said to them, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "When this was said, the wandering sectarians said to me, 'This monk is either a newcomer, not long gone forth, or else an elder who is foolish & inexperienced.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What do you think, Anurādha: Is form constant or inconstant?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And is that which is inconstant easeful or stressful?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And is it fitting to regard what is inconstant, stressful, subject to change as: 'This is mine. This is my self. This is what I am'?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "& | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "& | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "& | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What do you think, Anurādha: Is consciousness constant or inconstant?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And is that which is inconstant easeful or stressful?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And is it fitting to regard what is inconstant, stressful, subject to change as: 'This is mine. This is my self. This is what I am'?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What do you think, Anurādha: Do you regard form as the Tathāgata?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Do you regard feeling as the Tathāgata?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Do you regard perception as the Tathāgata?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Do you regard fabrications as the Tathāgata?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Do you regard consciousness as the Tathāgata?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What do you think, Anurādha: Do you regard the Tathāgata as being in form?& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What do you think: Do you regard the Tathāgata as form-feeling-perception-fabrications-consciousness?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Do you regard the Tathāgata as that which is without form, without feeling, without perception, without fabrications, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And so, Anurādha — when you can't pin down the Tathāgata as a truth or reality even in the present life — is it proper for you to declare, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Very good, Anurādha. Very good. Both formerly & now, it's only stress that I describe, and the cessation of stress." | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And so, my friend Yamaka — when you can't pin down the Tathāgata as a truth or reality even in the present life — is it proper for you to declare, 'As I understand the Teaching explained by the Blessed One, a monk with no more fermentations, | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Then, friend Yamaka, how would you answer if you are thus asked: A monk, a worthy one, with no more fermentations: | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Thus asked, I would answer, 'Form is inconstant& | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then the Blessed One, realizing with his awareness the line of thinking in that monk's awareness, addressed the monks: " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And is that which is inconstant easeful or stressful?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And is it fitting to regard what is inconstant, stressful, subject to change as: 'This is mine. This is my self. This is what I am'?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "& | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "& | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "& | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What do you think, monks: Is consciousness constant or inconstant?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And is that which is inconstant easeful or stressful?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And is it fitting to regard what is inconstant, stressful, subject to change as: 'This is mine. This is my self. This is what I am'?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, lord." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Thus, monks, any form whatsoever that is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle; common or sublime; far or near: every form is to be seen as it actually is with right discernment as: 'This is not mine. This is not my self. This is not what I am.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Any feeling whatsoever& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Any perception whatsoever& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Any fabrications whatsoever& | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Any consciousness whatsoever that is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle; common or sublime; far or near: every consciousness is to be seen as it actually is with right discernment as: 'This is not mine. This is not my self. This is not what I am.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the monks delighted in the Blessed One's words. And while this explanation was being given, the minds of sixty monks, through no clinging, were fully released from fermentations. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Consciousness without feature, | ||
+ | without end, | ||
+ | luminous all around: | ||
+ | Here water, earth, fire, & wind have no footing. | ||
+ | Here long & short | ||
+ | coarse & fine | ||
+ | fair & foul | ||
+ | name & form | ||
+ | are, without remnant, | ||
+ | brought to an end. | ||
+ | From the cessation of (sensory) consciousness, | ||
+ | each is here brought to an end. | ||
+ | ]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Where water, earth, fire, & wind | ||
+ | have no footing: | ||
+ | There the stars do not shine, | ||
+ | the sun is not visible, | ||
+ | the moon does not appear, | ||
+ | darkness is not found. | ||
+ | And when a sage, an honorable one, | ||
+ | through sagacity | ||
+ | has known (this) for himself, | ||
+ | then from form & formless, | ||
+ | from pleasure & pain, | ||
+ | he is freed. | ||
+ | ]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Just as a red, blue, or white lotus born in the water and growing in the water, rises up above the water and stands with no water adhering to it, in the same way the Tathāgata — freed, dissociated, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Glossary ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <dl class=' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Āsava: | ||
+ | :: Fermentation; | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Deva (devatā): | ||
+ | :: Literally, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Dhamma: | ||
+ | :: (1) Event; action; (2) a phenomenon in and of itself; (3) mental quality; (4) doctrine, teaching; (5) nibbāna (although there are passages describing nibbāna as the abandoning of all dhammas). Sanskrit form: //Dharma.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Jhāna: | ||
+ | :: Mental absorption. A state of strong concentration focused on a single sensation or mental notion. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Kamma: | ||
+ | :: (1) Intentional action; (2) the results of intentional actions. Sanskrit form: //Karma.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Khandha: | ||
+ | :: Aggregate; physical and mental phenomena as they are directly experienced: | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Māra: | ||
+ | :: A deva who is the personification of temptation and all forces, within and without, that create obstacles to release from the round of death and rebirth. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Nibbāna: | ||
+ | :: Literally, the " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Tathāgata: | ||
+ | :: Literally, one who has " | ||
+ | |||
+ | </dl> | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Abbreviations ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | |AN|Aṅguttara Nikāya| | ||
+ | |DN|Dīgha Nikāya| | ||
+ | |MN|Majjhima Nikāya| | ||
+ | |SN|Saṃyutta Nikāya| | ||
+ | |Ud|Udāna| | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div showmore> | ||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | [[http:// | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # |