The Great Discourse on the Wheel of Dhamma

Part VI

DHAMMACAKKA

PART VI

(Full Moon of Tazaungmon ... 1324 B.E.)

Today is the full moon of Tazaungmon. It used to be a great holy day, marked with festivities, in central India at the time of the Buddha, being the end of the month, end of the rainy season and end of the year according to the tradition of that time. In Myanmar we celebrate the day with the festival of lights and paying homage to the Blessed One.

We shall discuss today Nirodha Sacca& the Truth of the cessation of suffering and magga saccd, the Truth of the Path leading to the cessation of suffering as taught in the Dhammacakka sutta. We shall recite now the titles of the four Noble Truths:

1. Dukkha SaccG _...The Truth of suffering.

2. samudaya Sacca ...The Truths of the origin of suffering.

3. Nirodha Saccd _ ...The Truth of the cessation of suffer-

ing.

4. Magga Sacca ...The Truth of the Path leading to the

cessation of suffering.

NIRODHA SACCA

Idam kho pana, Bhikkhave, dukkha nirodho ariya saccam.

Yo tassd yeva tanhdya asesavirdganirodho cago patinissaggo

mutti andlayo.

"Bhikkhus, what I am going to teach now is the Noble Truth of extinction of suffering, the real truth which Noble Ones should know. It is the complete fading away and cessation of that hunger, that craving without remainder, its forsaking and giving up, relinquishing, letting go, release and abandoning of the same craving."

The truth of extinction of suffering is then cessation of craving, samudaya saccd, otherwise called the truth of the ongin of

suffering. By virtue of vipassand ndna and Ariya magga nana, that craving gets no opportunity to arise and vanish. It is like darkness being dispelled by sunlight. When arahatta magga ndna appears, the craving has no chance to arise and gets extinguished entirely. With the cessation of tanhd, the aggregates of ndma, rupa for new life cannot make their appearance and completely cease to exist. This non-arising 6r cessation of tanhd is termed the Truth of the cessation of suffering. Cessation of tanhd by virtue of arahatta magga ndna is complete, remainder-less extinction of tanhd and the noblest and highest form of extinction.

There are inferior forms of cessation as for instance cessation by virtue of the andgdmi magga which completely extinguishes only kdma tanhd, the craving for sensuous pleasures; cessation by the sagadagdmi magga which eliminates only the grosser forms of kama tanhd; cessation by virtue of sotdpatti magga which removes the kdma tanhd that will give rise to rebirth-in the nether worlds. These cessations are concemed with only partial extinctions of tanhd and may be regarded as inferior types of nirodha saccd. Then there is another form of cessation which comes about through meditating on the nature of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and insubstantiality. During the period of contemplation on them, tanha gets no opportunity to arise and hence there occurs temporary cessation of tanhd. It may be regarded as cessation by halfmeasures of tanhd by means of partial development of vipassana nana. Every time one is engaged in vipassand meditation, it may be said that one is realizing the temporary cessation of tanhda. ,

The Pali texts provide the following expositions of the truth of cessation of craving by answering the question where may this craving be discarded, where may it be extinguished ? "Where ever in the world there are delightful and pleasurable things, there this craving may be discarded, there it may be extinguished."

Here, delightful and pleasurable things mean, as already explained before, the six doors of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind: six sense objects of visual sight, sound, smell, taste, bodily

impression and mind; six vinndnas of eye-consciousness, ear consciousness etc. For further details, reference may be made to the text and translation of the Maha Satipatthana sutta.

Discarding and extinguishing are alike in meaning. Similarly, cago, abandoning, giving up; patinissaggo, giving up, forsaking, rejection; mutti, release, freedom, emancipation; analayo, aversion, domg away with .... all connote the same meaning as nirodha, cessation, annihilation.

HOW CESSATION OF CRAVING IS BROUGHT ABOUT

Wher the yogi by noting 'seing’ at the moment of sight becomes convinced of the true nature of impermanence, suffering and anatta, he will not be blinded by the delusion of permanence, happiness and self in the sense doors and sense objects such as eye, visual object, eye-consciousness etc. He is momentarily free from avijja, ignorance or delusion. Having seen reality as it is and being free from delusion, no pleasurable feeling arises towards these objects. This is then the temporary cessation or fading away of craving. Through the fading away of craving, updddna, clinging, kamma and. sankhdGra which come trailing after it cannot arise. Consequently vinnadnd, ndma rupa, salayatana, phassa and vedand, the unwholesome resultants of kamma and sankhdra, cannot appear. This is how craving together with sufferng are momentary extinguished; that is called momentary cessation or momentarily Nibbana.

In a similar manner, the yogi, by noting ‘hearing’, 'smelling’ 'ear—consciousness', 'nose—consciousness' etc, at the moment of hearing, smelling etc, becomes convinced of the true nature of impermanence, suffering and non-self with respect to ear, sound, nose, taste etc. He will be free from delusion of permanence, happiness or self in connection with these objects. Thus there will be momentary cessation of craving, and suffering otherwise called momentary Nibbana.

Through vipassand which promotes temporary cessation as higher knowledge is developed, Nibbana is realized by means of

sotapanna nana. Sotdpanna ndna extinguishes kdéma tanhd which can give rise to rebirth in the states of woe. Therefore the yogi becomes fully liberated from miseries of apdya, the nether world and sufferings of more than seven existences in good states of ‘sensuous sphere, kdmasugati. This is then extinction of suffermgs as a result of extinction of craving. But it must not be regarded that sotapana magga phdla takes the cessation of craving as its object of contemplation. It dwells merely on cessation as a rsult of complete extinction of suffesing inherent in the aggregates of ndma, rupa.

When Nibbana is realized by means of sagaddgdmi nana, grosser forms of sensuous craving together with sufferings of more than two existences in the sensuous planes are extinguished. When, through Andgdmindna, Nibbana is realized, subtle forms of sensuous cravings and suffermgs of more than one existence m rupa loka, fme material sphere or in arupa loka, non-material sphere, are extinguished. These are also extinction of suffering as a result of extinction of craving. In these paths also, the mind dwells merely on cessation consequent upon the complete extinction of sufferings inherent in the aggregates of ndma, rupa.

When Nibbana is realized through Arahatta magga ndna, all forms of craving and all kinds of suffering are completely eradicated. This is also extinction of suffering as a result of extinction of craving. We can summarise:

1. When craving is eradicated suffering is extmguished.

Only when craving is completely eradicated, true liberation from suffering is achieved. Escape from suffering. obtained through other means, is not true liberaton but just temporary relief; in due course there is recurrence of suffering. For example, take stretching the limbs to relieve the stiffness due to bending. The ache is temporarily removed only to retum' as tiredness due to stretching. Likewise stiffness due to prolonged sitting may be relieved by standing up or walking about only to be replaced soon by fatigue. When one is assailed by hunger, the suffermg may be relieved by partaking of some food; but the trouble will start again after a lapse

of a few hours. Iliness or disease may be cured of with suitable medical treatment but other ailments are bound to arise sooner or later to start giving trouble again.

Difficult circumstances of living may be solved by engaging in suitable employment or business which may prove so successful and prosperous that one may come to occupy a very high position in one's profession or become a very rich man. Yet with the vissicitudes of life, one may fall down from the high position or become proverty-stricken. Even if the whole life has been smooth and just plain sailing, one imevitably faces suffemg at the time of death. As a result of meritorious deeds such as giving alms, observing moral precepts, one may be rebom a human being in happy prosperous circumstances or one may be bom as a powerful celestial king. Yet when the wholesome effects of previous good deeds become exhausted, a retum to miserable existences is inevitable. If one strives for a happy and long existence by means of the rupa jhana end arupa jhdna of the concentration meditations, one may indeed attain the rupa brahma world and arupa brahma world where one may live happily for many world cycles. But the time comes when the wholesome merits of the jhdnas become exhausted. Then one faces the possibility of descending once again into miserable lower existences, as for instance, the experience of the young female pig mentioned in the chapter on samudaya saccda.

Thus unless craving is completely eradicated, no form of liberation is a guaranteed, true liberation. Complete and permanent liberation from all kinds of suffering is achieved only when craving has been entirely extinguished. Thus the Buddha taught, "tassayeva tanhaya asesa virdga nirodhd,” that eradication, extinction of tanhd is the truth of cessation of suffering.

This is m accordance with the doctrine of dependent origination which states that when the causative conditions such as ignorance etc, ceases, their resultant effects, sankhdras etc, also cease. Thus in the Anguttara Pali text, it is taught; "What, Bhikkhus, is the noble truth of cessation of suffermg? Through the total fading

away and extinction of ignorance (which has been dealt with in connection with samudaya saccé,) sankhdras, kamma formations are extinguished: through the extinction of sankhdras, kamma the resultant vinndna for new existence is extinguished: through the extinction of vinndna, the mental and physical existences is extinguished; through the extinction of mental and physical existence, salayatana, the six organs of senses are extinguished; through the extinction of six organs, phassa, sensorial impressions (due to contact between sense organs and sense objects) are extinguished: through extinction of sensorial impressions, vedand, feeling of snesations is extinguished; through extinction of feeling, craving is extinguished; through extinction or craving, clinging (attachment) is extinguished; through the extinction of clinging, process of becoming is extinguished; through extinction of process of becoming rebirth is extinguished: through extinction of rebirth, death and decay, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair are extinguished. Thus takes place the extinction of this whole mass of mere suffermg (which is neither soul-entity nor has any connection with sukha, happiness). This, bhikkhus, is called the-noble truth of extinction of this mass of mere suffering."

In the above text, the sequence of cessation, for example, through extinction of ignorance, kamma formations are extinguished, is given in a serial order to demonstrate the correlation of each cause with its effect. But the important point to note is that once the ignorance fades away, vanishes, all its resultant effects such as sankhdra etc., become extinguished.

The Pali words nirodha or mrodho in the texts connote cessation only, not the place of cessation nor the condition of cessation. Although commentaries mention nirodha figuratively as a place of cessation or condition of cessation, it must be carefully observed that its true meaning is non-arising of inter-related conditions of cause and effects such as avijjd, sankhdra, vinndna etc, their total cessation, annihilation, cutting off, in other words the Noble Truth of cessation of suffering or Nibbana.

We have sufficiently dealt with the truth of cessation of suffering. For further details, reference may be made to the book "Conceming Nibbana’. We shall now go on to exposition of the Noble Truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering.

MAGGA SACCA ... THE TRUTH OF THE PATH

Idam kho pana, Bhikkhave, dukkhanirodhagamini patipada

ariya saccam. Ayameva ariyo atthingikomaggo. Seyathidam

samma ditthi, samma sankoppo, samma vaca, sammda

kammanto, sammd Gjivo, samma vdyamo, sammd sati,

sammda samadi.

"Bhikkhus, what I am going to teach now is the Noble Truth of the Path leading to the cessa‘ion of suffering. And what is this Path ? It is the Noble Eightfold Path namely 1. Right view (understanding) 2. Right Thought 3. Right Speech. 4. Right Action. 5. Right Livelihood 6. Right Effort 7. Right Mindfulness 8. Right Concentration.

We have dealt with magga saccd, the truth of the Path, fairly full before. We propose now to go over some of them which need emphasising. Of the eight-categories of the Path, sammd ditthi and sammd sankappa constitute the pannd, wisdom, group; sammda vacd, sammd kammanta and ‘sammd djiva, the sila, ethical conduct group; sammd vayamo sammd sati and samma sam@dhi, the samadhi, mental discipline group. -

We need not elaborate again on the path of sila, ethical conduct or morality nor on the path of samadhi, the concentration. Of the wisdom group, the path of sammd ditthi, the right view, needs further exposition. Accordingly we quote the following exposition on the right view given by the Blessed One.

EXPOSITION ON THE RIGHT VIEW, SAMMA DITTHI

What, Bhikkhus, is the right view? Bhikkhus, to understand suffering or the truth of suffering: to understand the origin of suffering or the truth of the origin of suffering; to understand the

cessation of suffering or the truth of the cessation of suffering to understand the path leading to the cessation of suffering or the truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering; this is called nght view.

This is then the definition of the right view given by the Blessed .One. Briefly, it is knowing according to reality the four truths and understanding them rightly as they should be understood. The commentary version of its exposition is as follows:

MEDITATION ON THE FOUR TRUTHS

"Meditation on the four truths was taught prefaced by the words ‘understanding of the four truths’. Of these four truths, the first two, namely, the truth of suffering and the truth of ongin of suffering are concemed with vatta, evolution or the round of existence. The last two, namely, the truth of cessation of suffering, and the truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering are concemed with vivatta, devolution or going out of the round of existence. The yogi Bhikkhu employs only the first two truths, the vatta saccG as objects of meditation and not the last two truths of vivatta saccda.

(It means that the yogi Bhikkhu contemplates on the first two mundane truths in his vipassand meditation; he does not dwell on the last two supra-mundane truths which are not suitable subjects for meditation. Indeed it is not possible to meditate on them. Why so? The sub-commentary states that these supra-mundane truths. are beyond the ken of the ordinary common worldlings.)

Indeed it is true that ordinary common worldlings cannot have for their objects of meditation, magga and phala, the path and fruition: nor is Nibbana within their range of vision and knowledge before they attain the stage of gotrabhu in meditation. Gotrabhu consciousness arises only after anuloma ndna when vipassana ndna becomes fully developed; immediately after gotrabhu comes the realisation of the Path and Fruition. Therefore, it is obvious that a common worldling is not in a position to take for his object of