Brahmavihāra Dhamma

Practise to escape from rebirth

metté—jhana, karund-jhana, mudita-jhana, and upekhha-jhana. In particular, by virtue of being faultless and of its noble qualities, it is said to be abiding or remaining in a perfect and holy state. That is the reason why in this Verse, it has been expounded by the Buddha using the expression—“Brahmavihara’’ “for the word ‘‘metta’’,

Appamaiaa and Brahmacora

In Abhidhamma Vibhanga Pali (284), these four kinds of Brahmavihara are stated to be AppamahiaIn Sutta Mahava Maha Govinda Sutta, it has been preached as ‘Brahmacariya’. It means the practice of the life of holiness led by the sanctified, or in other words, the practice of Appamafifia—the perfect exercise of the qualities of loving-kindness or friendliness, compassion, goodwiil, and equanimity (mettd, karuna, mudita and upekkha). The term ‘“‘Brahmacora Dhamma”’ commonly known and spoken in Burmese language is derived from the Pali word—‘‘Brahmacariya’’.

When this ‘‘metta’’ is caused to be developed, it must be developed dwelling one’s mind on the pafihatta— the manifestation of what is known by the nomenclature ‘‘puggala’’ (individual) and “sattava’’ (being). Hence. there is every likelihood of having a false belief in atia or Self (atta-difthi) with clinging attachment or a notion that ‘am individual’, or ‘a being’ really exists. Such being the case, the Exalted One has preached the last Verse in conclusion as quoted below, in order to cause to dispel this ‘‘attadiffhi” which is likely to occur, and to enable mankind to attain ari ya-magga-phala. Practise to escape from rebirth or entering into a mother’s womb (gabbhaseyya) by rejecting Ditthi Ditthiica-towards attadifthi which sticks or clings to the view that there is really atta-individual or Self

Brahmavihara Dhamma

Or a being, which is the false doctrine, or rather, ‘“the heresy of individuality, amupugamma-having no desire to cling to or grasp with attachment. What is now driving at by the usage of this expression is that though one may be developing meitd as: ‘‘May be happy”, or, ‘‘May all beings be -aappy’’, the terms »{\puggala”’? and ‘‘sattavd’’, i.e. individuals and beings, are mere terminology currently in use. As a matter of fact, there is no such thing as ‘‘an individual”, or, “a being’’, or, what is called ‘‘atfa’’, Self. The primary intention is to toake one realize with his own personal knowledge that so-called ‘Self’, being nothing but an aggregate of the four main elements incessantly arising becoming and dissolving, called rapa and ndma-matter and mind, aftadirthi, the false view, should be dispelled or rejected,

The manner of rejection may be explained thus. This false conception should also be rejected with his background knowledge of what has been heard “and noticed (sutamaya-fidna). long before meditation is practised. If he ie a person who has achieved mettajhana, he should first of all absorbed himself in that jhana, and on being awakened from the trance of jhana, rejection should be done through his realization of the said jhdna and rapa, the material body, on which reliance is made, by practising contemplation. As regards a person who has not yet achieved jhdna, he should reject through his intuitive knowledge by contemplating with mindfulness on rapa which is relied upon, and through recitation which is the object of sense, at every moment of developing mettd as ‘‘May be happy’’, or, ‘‘May ail beings be happy’. 1t should also be rejected by relying fuadamentally on mertajhéna, and by realizing the truth through contempla. tion of the respective phenomenon of ripas and namas.

No special mention need be made with regard to the manner of rejection by sutamaya knowledge. The

Practise to escape from rebirth

phenomenal nature of rapa and nama be rejected by practical exercise, noting and reflecting after listening to the sermon as far as possible,

The manner of rejection by contemplation and awareness Of the jAdaa after plunging in jhdna, is to contemplate on the Jhinic-mind when consciousness in jhana has.ceased after his absorption in me/std-jhana, It is just like those persons with no achievement of jhdna who realize by contemplating and noting the mind that imagines and knows at every moment of arising comsciousness. It is required to contemplate and become aware several times repeatedly by absorbing in jiinz and by contemplating the Jhanic-mind. lt will then become obvious in the course of contemplation that consciousness of the Jhanic-mind wishing others happy, and r#pa.on which reliance is made as well as the Vippassana mind. which contemplate and knows, are quite different from one.another. At that moment, the material object of r#pa that is depended upon and which does not know and feel the sensation, will be found quite distinct from the consciousness of the Jhanic-mind that has just occurred wishing others happy, and also the mind that. contemplates and knows, will be visualized and distinguishingly realized. [t will then be distinguishingly known with one’s own insight knowledge that there is no ‘living entity’, no ‘being’ and no ‘atra-being’, and. that thie material body is comprised of two different things viz: the one which knows the sensation and the other which does not know the sensation, When realized a3 such attadizthi, which holds the view of aita as ‘a being’, will be got rid of. This is the manner by which ‘ditthi’-the false view, is completely dispelled or exterminated with the knowledge of mdmaripa pariccheda, i,e., knowledge of discernment distinguishing between mind and matter, after practising metta-jhana and Vippassana by turns.

Brahmavihira Dhamma

From this stage, if effort is continuously made in his meditational exercise by absorbing in jhdna and then again by contemplating on that jhdna, realization will come through personal insight knowledge that there is only Cause and Effect. This knowledge ” will lead to rejection of that disthi. Thereafter, jhana as well as the contemplative mind with awareness, and the rap2 on which reliance is made, will be found continually arising and dissolving. Rejection will then be made knowing the characteristics of anicca, dukkha and anatta. Eventually, this ‘‘difthi’’ will be totally eradicated with the knowledge of sofdpattimagga. This is how ‘ditthi’ is rejected and rooted out by developing jhana and Vipassana, alternately.

The manner of rejection that has now been stated is similar in nature to the method of rejection of ‘ditthi’ after developing mettd, saying ‘‘May happiness be gained’’and after contemplating ‘the rapa with awareness of the mind which is pervaded with ‘metta’. The only difference is between ‘‘metta-jhana’’? and ordinary “metta’. The method of contemplation is, however, the same. Let us now contemplate Vipassana after developing metta according to this method. Please contemplate and note while reciting,

‘‘May all monks(Bhikkhus), Samanetas, persons

and Yogis in this Meditation Centre, be happy.”

(Repeat three times)

«May all monds(Bhikkhus), Samaneras, persons

and Devas in this Township, be happy.”

(Repeat thrice)

“May all citizens of the Union of Burma, be

happy’” (Repeat thrice)

‘“May all beiags be happy.’’ (Repeat thrice)

Manner of practising to get Attadifthi rejected

Manner of practising to get Attaditthi rejected

The manner of rejecting ditthi by one contemplating on his consciousness of mind, as and when it arises either from thoughts or imagination, ‘touch’, ‘hearing’, and ‘seeing’, after immersing im metta—bhdvana from which he has risen, is similar in nature to what the present Yogis are contemplating. The only difference is that it may be with or without the basic jhana. The method of contemplation is, however, the same,

If the strength of contemplation and awareness becomes slackened while contemplating based on jhana on the phenomena, as and when they arise on their own, respectively, metta-jhana should again be developed and revived. When calmness or peace of body and mind has been resuscitated, contemplating and noting of the phenomenal occurrences wherever they become manifested, should again be carried out.

The present Yogis here are initially contemplating on the rising and falling movements of the abdomen which is regarded as fundamental. In the course of contemplating and noting as described, the imagination and thoughs that may occur should again be contemplated and noted. Thereafter, contemplating and noting be reverted to the rising and falling of the abdominal movements. If bodily sensations of pain, stiffness and hotness are felt, then these sensations should be contemplated and noted, as and when they occur. Afterwards, it should be reverted back to contemplation and noting of the rising and falling movements of the abdomen, Bending and stretching of hands and feet, if taken place, should likewise be noted. While contemplation is done in the like manner, noted. the sense-object of contemplation and noting, and the the sens knowing-mind will be distinguishingly known. Cause knowing-mind will be di and Effect are also distinctly realized. The nature of and Effect are also distinctly realized.

Brahmavihara Dhamma

their impermanence(anicca), suffering(dukkha), and nonSelf(anatta) will be apprehended with the personal knowledge in the process of contemplating and noting the _psycho-physical phenomena. When bharviga-fidna (Insight into the dissolution of things) gets strengthened with constant awareness as stated, contemplating. and noting should be spread widely: beginning from every sefisation of touch and contact covering the whole body. If tiresomeness occurs while so meditating and if contemplating and noting loses its momentum, the mind that contemplates and notes be reverted: to the. usual rising and. falling of the abdominal wall. Only when the body and mind becoms ,tranquil, further contemplation of all bodily phenomena should be carried on and noted.

When contemplation gains strength in the manner as stated, achievement of progressive insight will be advanced towards baya-fidna, ddhinava-fidna, nibbida-ndna, mufcitukamyatd-fana and parisadnkha-fidna, and thereafter, the stage of saikhdrupekkhad-fidna will be reached, At that stage all objects of contemplation will be perceived automatically without making exertion. Vipassana with its penetrating insight will also occur spentaneously. Then, one will be unable to pursue and note with his knowledge the arising of a number of sensations occurimg over the whole body, and only automatic awareness of a few wsual sensations is taking place. It is also very delicate and gentle. And awareness is also very very clear. There are timee when continuous contemplation is to be carried on one after the other on roughly about three phenomena, such as, the nature of the rising of the abdomen, falling of the abdomen, and stiffness felt in the sitting posture, the entire body being thought of as having vanished altogether. Sometimes, the meditator may become aware of only the two occurrence, viz: ‘rising’ and ‘falling’ of the abdomen oblivious of

Manner of practising to get Attaditthi rejected

the fact that he is sitting. Occasionally moments may arise when consciousness fails to grasp the ‘‘rising and falling’’ of the abdomen, and if it so happens, he may be fixing his atténtion only on the clear knowing mind merely contemplating and noting it as “knowing’’, “‘knowing’’» While being conscious of ‘what is happening, awareness becomes greatly accelerated, and sudden cessation of the contemplating object and mind ‘will be percéived and realized. The knowledge and perception of the cessation of all rapas and namas 18 ‘““magga-fdna’’.

Asa matter of fact, rejection of attaditthi called Grammaninussaya ha® been made completely even before attaining magga-fidnd with the faculty of Vippassana insight-knowledge which has become aware of the existence of only riijpa and nama, in the course of his contemplation and noting. | Ariyamagga which realizes the nature of, cessation of; alk) radpa-udma-saikhdras totally diepels that attaditthi called, santandnusaya. . From. them,.onwards, the false view of the existence of ‘an individual’, ‘a being’, ‘an atta-being’, , and ;‘a living entity’ has been completely wiped out. This, explains. in brief that. manner of practising , meditation to be able to reject attadijthi, though one may be developing metia toward. the pafifatti beings, aad it is in conformity, with the instructions given bythe Buddha as: ‘‘difjhifi.ca’’—towards attadifthi which clings,.to the view,that there is really atta, individuality or Self, or a being, ‘‘anupagamma’’-having no desire to gtasp,with attachment. seitaniq o} wohl

If attaditthi is rejected by methodical contempla» tion and noting through earnest meditation, micchadi}fhi}’ the ‘false view or misconception will be® totally eradicated. Then, after ‘rejecting | ditthi « “silava?’—one® should also bé a¢complished with si/a (morality). This” sila can’ be fully accomplished, Purified sila will} of*

Brahmayihéra Dhamma

course, remain in tact in the case of laymen if they Strictly and respectfully observe either the Five precepts, or Eight, or Ten Precepts—the basic requitement of bhdvand, As regards Pdtimokkha Sila, ie. a Collection of precepts prescribed for Bhikkhus, this can be fully accomplished if the moral practices are respectfully observed according to the Rules of Vinaya. Such precepts both for laymen and Bhikkhus should be fully perfected before practising meditation. [t has been already instructed to fulfil this perfection in moral practices with the words—‘‘kayaniyamatta kusalena, etc:’’ appearing in this Metta Sutta.

In this regard, it means to refer to the accomplishment or ariyamagga sila. This too, being embraced in the attributes of ariyamagga which has uprooted the “‘ditthi’’ it is already included in the expression: ‘‘Not having a desire to grasp or cling to attaditthi, which means, “having rejected the ‘attadisihi’. Nevertheless, to make it more convincing that ariya-magga-sila has also been accomplished, it was repeated with the word-—‘‘silava’’—i.e. one should be accomplished with Sila(morality). Furthermore, ‘‘dasanena’’ - with the insight knowledge of sotdpattimagga which realizes and perceives Nibbana, the state of cessation of al) sarkhéra dukkha, ‘‘Sampanno’’—having been accomplished, it would not also cling to ditfhi, nay, would reject ditthi. It conveys the same sense as the expression ‘accomplishment of ariya-magga-phala” This again is a repetition to make the meaning all the more obvious.

How to practise to be liberated from Gabbhaseyya or entering into a womb

Then, kdmésu—desirable sensation of kdmaguna(sensual desires), gtdham—clinging pleasurable attachment called kamatanha, vinaya-having been rejected by the knowledge of andgamimagga, of tather, when rejected,