The Great Discourse on the Wheel of Dhamma

Part VII

THE WHEEL OF DHAMMA

PART VII

(Full moon day of Tabaung 1324 B.E.)

The series of our discourse on the Dhammacakka Sutta was disrupted after the last lecture given on the full moon day of Tazaungmon as we had been visiting other centres. On this full moon day of Tabaung, we shall resume our discourses on the Dhammacakka Sutta. In Part Six, we had dealt with magga saccd. Today we shall go on considering saccdé ndna, the knowledge that it is the truth; kicca ndna, the knowledge that a certain function with regard to this truth has to be performed; and kata ndna, the knowledge that, that function with regard to the truth has been performed.

SACCA NANA WITH REGARD TO DUKKHA SACCA

Idam dukkham ariyasaccanti me, Bhikkhave, pubbe

ananussutesu dhammesu, cakkhum udapddi, nénam udapdédi,

panna udapddi, vijjd udapdGdi, aloko udapddi.

"This is the ariya truth of suffering; or this is the truth of suffering which Ariyas should perceive. Thus Oh Bhikkhus, conceming things unheard of before (by me), there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, there arose in me penetrative insight and light."

This is how knowledge that it is the truth arises with regard to the truth of suffering. We have enunciated in the earlier discourses the truth of suffering as birth is suffering etc. We shall reiterate a little to make it clearer. The word 'This' in 'This is the truth of suffering’ refers to various categories of suffering starting with jati, birth, and ending with upa@danakkhandhas, the groups of grasping. Here, the essential item is updddnakkhandhas which is mostly understood as leamt from books. Few are those who understand it as a personal experience, which of course is the main thing.

We shall go over this again to point out how updddanakkhandha could be understood as a personal experience.

Whatever becomes prominent at every instant of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, thinking constitutes upddanakkhandha. The Ariyas see in these objects only fearsome pain and suffering; ordinary common people view them otherwise. They do not consider them as embodiment of trouble and suffering, but as pleasant and wholesgme. They think it pleasant to see beautiful sights, to hear what they want to hear and to listen to sweet, sonorous voice. Likewise it is pleasant for them to smell sweet fragrance, to sample delicious food and to enjoy a delightful sensation of touch. Beings of the sensuous plane consider the sensation of touch as the most delightful. It is a delight, too, to mdulge in fantasies and daydreams. It would be ternble for them, a great loss, if everything including their daydreams were to vanish all at once. As a matter of fact, all that is seen, heard etc, are updddnakkhandhas, the truth of suffering. Vipassand meditation is practised in order to bring home this truth of suffering, by realizing their true, fearsome nature of impermanence etc, due to mcessant arising and perishing.

As for the Blessed One, having fully accomplished the vipassana magga, he had seen the best, the noblest bliss of all, the Nibbana, by virtue of attaining the arahatta magga ndna, And having seen the foremost and the noblest bliss of the Nibbana, he saw in the upd@dGnakkhandhas only fearsome pain and suffering. This perception came to him, not after hearmg about it from others, not from the practices he had leamt from the ascetics Alara and Udaka. This came about by direct personal knowledge after he had developed the noble Eightfold Path. That is the reason why he declared: "Conceming things unheard of. before, there arose in me vision, etc,".

With these words he professed also that he had imndeed become a sammd sambuddha, the most enlightened one who had sought and found the truth by virtue of personal realization and direct knowledge, unaided by mstructions or guidance from any

source. Such an open profession was indeed necessary. In those days, self-mortification such as abstaining from taking food etc., practised by Nigandas, was greatly esteemed as a holy, noble practice. The group of five Bhikkhus themselves were earlier under the impression that it was so. Thus only when the Blessed One openly declared that"he had come upon the practice and knowledge, not through hearing from others, nor through speculation, ratiocination, but by his own realization, by personal experience and direct knowledge," that his audience became convinced of his having gained supreme enlightenment, having become a true Buddha.

To gain direct intuitive knowledge without outside assistance is the exclusive domain of Enlightened Buddhas and Pacceka Buddhas only. The disciples of the Blessed One had reached such stage of realization and knowledge only by listening to the teachings of the Buddha and cultivating them through practice. Nowadays, too, such knowledge, if desired, may be acquired by developing them through practice in accordance with the teachings enshrined in suttas such as Mahaha Satipatthana sutta, etc. Thus by practising as taught m these suttas, the upddanakkhandhds will be seen as they truly are, namely, mere suffering and pain. The Buddha's proclamation was intended also to provoke the group of five Bhikkhus to make the effort to see the true nature of the upa@ddnakkhandhdas.

In the Buddha's profession mentioned above, the development of extraordinary knowledge was described as ‘vision arose. knowledge arose, wisdom arose, penetrative insight arose, light arose’, five descriptions given for a single form of knowledge. The Samyutta commentary states: vision, knowledge etc, are synonyms meaning the same thing, knowledge. Because of the faculty of seeing, knowledge is termed vision, because of the faculty of knowing, it is termed knowledge; because of the faculty of knowing analytically in several ways, it is termed wisdom; because of knowing penetratively, it is termed penetrative insight, because of faculty of shedding light it is termed light."

The Patisambhida magga Pali canon explains these terms

similarly. The Pali word cakkhu conveys the idea of seeing, hence vision. Varigus Pali words are employed for the purpose of conveying the desired meaning or concept to different audiences, the commentary explains. Thus to describe the knowledge which sees clearly as with physical eye, it is termed vision. To give an illustration, a man who has been blind. for several years regains his eye -Sight through ‘application of right medicine or operation by an eye . specialist. He did not see, any thing before treatment; now he sees everything very clearly. Likewise, before the yogi has developed vipassand ndna ot ariya magga ndna, he has been under the delusion that the five groups of grasping, which represent suffering are wholesome and pleasant; But when by constant noting, at the moment of seeing, hearing, vipassana ndna becoming strengthened the yogi realizes clearly that the phenomena of seeing, hearing otherwise called upadddnakkhandhds are really awesome suffering because of their nature of incessant arising and perishing. It is like gaining eye-sight after being blind With developmentg of ariya magga nana, his realization of the true nature of suffering will be even sharper. Thus because it sees clearly as if by the eye, this knowledge is termed vision.

With regard to'ndnam udapddi, knowledge arose’, ndna is a Pali term connoting knowing; hence knowledge. As to ‘panna udapdadi, wisdom arose’, Patisambhida Magga states that pannd is a Pali term connoting knowing analytically in various ways. In connection with vipassand practice, while taking note of rising. falling etc., rupa and ndma are known separately as stiff movement and knowing mind. Uninitiated persons cannot experience this distinction in their person.

The yogi also can differentiate the cause from effect. He knows every fresh arising distinct from it's vanishing. He knows that because of incessant arising and perishing, the aggregates are impermanent, awesome suffering; and they mse and perish of their own accord, not subjected to anyone's control. He knows clearly thus that they are not self but mere insubstantiality. His is not a vague,

indistinct, blurry knowledge, just a glimmering but a distinct, clear, definite comprehension as if observed in the palm of the hand. Such knowledge is described as knowing analytically in various ways, hence, wisdom.

In 'vijjd udapddi', vijjd is a Pali word meaning penetration. It should not be confused with the word '‘vijjadhdra’, a person accomplished in mantras, who is described in books as having the power of flying through space. Here vijj@ denotes not a person but penetrative faculty; hence, penetrative insight.

Penetrative insight is a subtle state, hard of understanding. We must relate, here, an incident which happened about the year 1300 B.E. During a discussion we had with apresiding Sayadaw of our village, we happened to inform him that pannd arose while taking note of the phenomenon of arising and perishing at the moment of its occurrence. The Sayadaw could not accept this kind of cognition as pannd. He maintained that pannd is that which is penetrative, only knowing penetratingly is pannd. When asked how should one bring about ‘knowing penetratingly’, he hesitated for some moments and then pronounced, "Well, knowing penetratingly is knowing penetratingly."

‘Knowing penetratingly is derived from the Pali word pativeda, penetrating through. It is akin to 'sambodhdya, in order to know penetratingly’ as explained in Part Two of our discourse. Hidden by a screen or a wall, objects cannot be seen. But when a hole is made in the screen or a window in the wall is opened, objects become visible through these openings. Likewise, this knowledge penetrates through the veil of moha, delusion. At first under cover of delusion, what Is seen, heard etc., is not seen nor known as impermanent, suffering, ego-less; they are believed to be nicca, sukha and atta being veiled by avijja, moha, ignorance and delusion. When vipassand nana becomes Strengthened, clear knowledge arises as if the veil of delusion has been pierced through. Such cognition is- termed knowing penetratingly. The Blessed One had delcared that such penetrative insight had arisen in him.

According to Patisambhida magga Pali text, in 'aloko udapddi, light aroses' aloko, light is just a term used to denote lighting up, to make bright, to illumine. Here, light does not mean just ordinary light or luminosity seen by the human eye. It refers to the knowledge which discems all phenomena clearly, distinctly. Previously, the true nature of anicca, kukkha, anatta are not seen nor known as if they are shrouded in darkness. When vipassand nana and Ariya magga ndna have been developed, their true nature becomes apparent. Such cognition is therefore metaphorically described as ‘light arose’.

This single form of extraordinary knowledge was described in five ways: vision, knowledge, wisdom, penetrative insight, light in order to facilitate clear understanding on the part of various types of audience. This is teaching designed to meet the requirements of the listeners. It is just like our employing two or three synonyms in place of a single word so that our audience may catch the meaning of what we say through one altemative word or the other.

The Pali words and their meanings we have explained above are all concemed with saccd ndna. We have sufficiently dealt with sacca nana now. We shall go on to kicca ndna, the function or action which should be accomplished with regard to the truth of suffering.

KICCA NANA WITH REGARD TO DUKKHA SACCA

Tam kho panidan dukkham ariya saccam parineyanti

me, Bhikkhave, pubbe ananussutesu dhammesu, cakkhum

udapdadi, ndnam udapadi, pannd udapddi, vijja udapddi,

aloko udapadi.

"This Anyan truth of suffering is to be nightly and -well understood." Thus, Bhikkhus, conceming things unheard of before. by me, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom; there arose in me penetrative insight and light.

This is how knowledge had arisen as to what should be done with regard to the Anyan truth of suffering. It should be

carefully noted that the function to be performed with regard to this truth is to comprehend it rightly and well, to understand it completely. For the yogi who aspires to attainment of Anya path and fruition, Nibbana, it is incumbent upon him to strive to grasp the truth of suffering rightly and well, that is, he should understand each of the separate constituents of this truth fully startmg from jati to updddnakkhandhda.

In the constituent parts of this truth of suffering such as jati ete., the essential factor is the five groups of grasping. By knowing these five groups of grasping as they really are, the task of comprehending the truth of suffering rightly, fully and well 1s accomplished. Therefore Mahavagga Saccad Samyutta Pali text states: "What, Bhikkhu, is the truth of suffering? It should be answered that the five groups of grasping constitute the truth of suffering.”

We have given a detailed exposition on the five groups of grasping in the fourth section of our discourse. What ever appears at the six doors of senses, at the time of seeing, hearing, etc., constitutes the five groups of grasping. These should become the personal experience by taking note of every phenomenon at the six doors as it occurs. Through such efforts the nature of coarseness, roughness, smoothness, softness and pathavi dhatu should be personally experienced; so also the cohesiveness, the fluidity and moistness of the Gpodhdtu; the hotness, coldness and warmth of the tejodhatu and stiffmess, pressure and motion of the vdyodhdtu should be personally experienced. All these should be separately and exactly understood through personal experience. How is this to be effected has been fully explained before. Briefly it consists of giving concentrated attention to the sensation of touch that becomes apparent at any spot on one's body. One of the four primary elements will annouce its existence then through its intrinsic natural characteristics.

After knowing the four great primary elements, when taking note of seeing, hearing etc., the physical base on which seeing, hearing etc depends, the material objects of sight and sound, and

mental aggregates of consciousness together with their concomitants become apparent. At each noting of the phenomenon of "rising, falling, sitting, tcuching, knowing, feeling stiff, feeling hot, feeling painful; hearing, seeing," the yogi personally perceives the fresh arising followed by instant perishing of both the objects of awareness as well as the noting mind. Thus the yogi knows definitely that (hutva abhdvato aniccd) it is impermanent because it perishes after each arising; he knows that (udayabbya patipilanatthena dukkhd) it is awesome suffering” because it oppresses by incessant arising and passing away; he knows that (avasa vattanatthena anattd) it is not atta, self, amenable to control because it happens on its own accord, not subjected to one's will. Personal knowledge gained in this way by keeping watch of the phenomena of arising and vanishing and noting the characteristics of anicca, dukkha and anatta is knowing the truth of suffering comprehensively, rightly and well (parinneyya).

The Blessed One came to the realization, without having heard from any body that the truth of suffering otherwise called th= upadanakkhandha_ which is actually arising and vanishing, should be comprehensively, rightly and well understood. Hence the statement ‘pubbe ananusutesu dhammesu cakkhum udapddi etc .... Conceming things unheard of before by me, vision arose etc ! realization came only after hearing the dhamma from the Blessed One or from the other disciples of the Buddha. In spite of definite statement in the Dhammacakka sutta that the truth of suffering should be comprehensively, rightly and well apprehended (parinneyya) some people consider it unnecessary to realize the truth of suffering or upadanakkhandha by taking note of the phenomenon of rising and vanishing which is actually happening. They take it that just leaming from hearsay about rupa and ndma and about anicca, dukkha and anatta will serve the purpose. We can express, only our sorrow and sympathy for such people.

Kicca ndnd is then the realization that the truth of suffering otherwise the upddGnakkhandha should be fully, rightly and well