The Great Discourse on the Wheel of Dhamma

forward to the existence one wishes to be in, because of this tanhd, a conditioning influence or potential power is being built up for the arising of a new life. That is why the Buddha taught: 'ponobhavika... lable to give rise to new birth. We have summarised thus:

2. Carving for existence with the notion that it is etemal

is bhava tanhd.

VIBHAVA TANHA

In the term ‘vibhava tanhd', vibhava means non-becoming, non-being, annihilation of existence. Craving for the view "that there is existence only while alive, that there is nothing after death", is termed vibhava tanh. This is the tanh@ which is accompanied by the wrong view of non-existence, uccheda ditthi, which holds that "nothing remains after death; there is complete annihilation.” It is the doctrine preached by Ajita, the leader of a sect during the Buddha's time. His teaching runs thus:— An individual is made up of the four Great Primary elements. When he dies, the earth element of his body goes into the mass of the earth element that exist in the inanimate external bodies. (What it means is: The element of earth which had manifested itself as hardness or coarseness while in the living body, merges itself with the manimate extemal earth element, the earth element of the dead body. In time, it tums into material earth, pathavi rupa, which is again converted into earth element of trees and plants etc.)

The water element of the living body flows into the manimate mass of water. (That is to say, the wetness or fluidity of the dead becomes the moisture or fluidity of the mass of water.)

The fire element of the living body merges with the mass of inanimate exrernal heat and the living air element flows into the mass of inanimate extemal air. All knowing faculties (organs of senses, eyes, ears, nose, tongue etc.) move over imto space. (Nihilists holding the uccheda view do not recognise separate existence of eye—consciousness, ear—consciousness etc. They hold that the material forms of the eye, ear etc, themselves see, hear,

taste, touch etc. Mana otherwise called the indriya itself thinks. They explained the cessation of consciousness in terms of the six faculties of sense, which, according to them, merge with space or disappear into space ..... )

Be he a fool or a wise man, when he dies, he completely disappears. Nothing is left after death. The fool does not suffer in a new existence for his past misdeeds. The wise man does not get a new existence in which he enjoys the fruits of his good kammas. After death every thing disappears. .

This is then some of the teachings of Ajita who holds the view of nihilism. This ideology may find ready acceptance by those who are reluctant to avoid evil or to do good. As it is postulated by this ideology that there is no life, nothing exists, after death, it amounts to the admission that there is life before death. The question may arise then "what is that, that exists before death ?" The answer, (according to their line of reasoning), could only be that it is the living self, atta, or being, satta. Thus although Ajitta maintamed that an individual is made up of the four great primaries, it must be said that, for him, atta or satta exists. Because of this attachment to self, holders of this view argue that instead of wasting time, doing good deeds for the forthcoming existences, full opportunity should be taken of the present moment for the enjoyment of pleasures. The craving accompanied by this nihilistic view that nothing remains after death, everything is destroyed, is termed vibhava tanhé. To summarise,

3. Craving which arises accompanied by nihilistic view is

vibhava tanhd.

This vibhava tanhd likes the idea that after death, existence is annihilated without any special effort. The reason is that one who holds this view shrinks from the practice of meritorious deeds and does not abstam from doing evil deeds. The evil deeds committed are also innumerable. If new life occurs after death, these evil deeds will bear unwholesome fruits which, of course, they cannot relish. Only if nothing happens after death, and there is no new existence.

their misdeeds will be expunged; they will have to bear no responsibility for them and escape scot free from all consequences of their evil actions. Hence this great appeal for this nihilistic ideology.

At the same time, holding that the time for enjoying is now, the present life before death, they are too eager to go after any desirable objects of pleasure, Consequentyly they go all out in the pursuit of what they consider to be pleasurable. This ardent pursuit of pleasure leads to commission of kammas and sankhdras, every act of which contributing to formation of new life.

And every time there is delight in, and enjoyment of, pleasures of the present life, impulse of this tanhd is imparted to the stream of consciousness, life-continuum. Consequently, javana consciousness, proximate to death, otherwise called the abhisankhdra vinndna holds on to the death signs, namely, kamma, kamma nimitta and gati nimitta. While holding on to these objects, when the death comes with death consciousness, rebirth consciousness arises for a new existence, conditioned by any of the three signs. Thus the man afflicted with uccheda ditthi is rebom whether he likes it or not, in new existence, because of his tanhd, craving for pleasurable objects. And his new existence is very likely to be in inferior and miserable states because he had developed nothing but evil deeds previously.

The Buddha had taught, therefore, that this type of tanhd, namely, vibhava tanhd, also gives rise to new existence, ponobhavikd. Thus all the three types of craving, kKadma tanha, bhava tanhad and vibhava tanhG \ead to new life and suffering. Therefore, we have summarised,

4. True cause of suffering lies in the three tanhas.

The above mentioned three fanhds are the origin of sufferings starting from jati, birth, to upddanakkhandhd, the groups of grasping, and are therefore termed samudaya_ saccd, the truth of the origin of suffering.

As to where these fanhds arise and take root, the Maha Satipatthana sutta states: "Wherever in the world, there are delightful

and pleasurable things, there this tanhd, craving, arises and takes root."

Here, by ‘craving arises’ is meant actual arising of the craving because of delightful and pleasurable things. This is known as pariyutthdna kilesa. By ‘taking root' is meant that, failmg to contemplate on the impermanent nature of the pleasurable things, craving for them lies dormant, taking root to arise when favourable circumstances permit. This latent craving, lymg dormant in sense— objects which escape being contemplated on, is known as arammananusaya. Vipassand meditation eradicates this defilement.

The delightful and pleasurable things from which craving arises are described elaborately in the Maha Satipatthana sutta and may be sumarised as:

1. Eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind -- The six doors

of senses.

2. Visual object, sound, smell, taste, bodily impressions and

mind objects - - the six objects of senses.

3. Eye-consciousness, ear—consciousness etc - - six types of

consciousness.

4. Six types of sense impressions, contacts - - six phassas.

5. Six types of feeling bom of sense impressions, etc.

These delightful and pleasurable things should be contemplated on in the practice of meditation. Failing to recognize them as impermanent, unsatisfactory etc through heedful noting will result in their becoming the breeding grounds for craving. These two types of craving, namely, anusaya tanhd, the dormant craving, for the pleasurable objects which have escaped being noted as they really are, at the time of seeing, hearing etc., and the pariyutthdna tanhd, which has actually arisen from the pleasurable things, constitute the noble truth of origin of suffering such as birth etc. This fact should be thoroughly understood and remembered.

We have explained the truth of the ongm of suffering sufficiently. We must end our discourse on it here.

May you all good people present in this audience, by virtue

of having given respectful attention to this great discourse on the tuming of the wheel of dhamma, be able to dispel temporarily or eradicate completely, the craving otherwise called the truth of the origin of suffering by incessant contemplation and through whatever path and fruition you have chosen, achieve speedy realisation of Nibbana, the end of all sufferings.

Sadhu ! Sadhu ! Sadhu !

End of part V of the discourse on Dhammacakka.