Preface



What is Buddhism? It is different from what most people believe: an Oriental religion full of rituals and ceremonies, which teaches meditation leading to mystical experiences. Buddhism is most practical and matter of fact. The Buddha taught all that is real, all mental phenomena and physical phenomena of our life. By the study of his teachings one learns to investigate one's different mental states which change very rapidly. One comes to know one's faults and vices, even the more subtle ones which are not easily noticeable. One learns what is good and wholesome and how to develop wholesome deeds, speech and thoughts. The Buddha taught on life and death, on the conditions for all phenomena which arise and which are impermanent. He pointed out the suffering and dissatisfaction inherent in the phenomena of life. He explained the true nature of man: a composition of elements which arise and then fall away immediately and which are devoid of an abiding substance, of a ``self''. The Buddha taught the eightfold Path which, if it is developed in the right way, leads to direct understanding of the true nature of all the phenomena of life. It is by direct understanding that defilements can eventually be eradicated.
In this book I try to explain the message, the basic contents and some details of the Buddha's teachings. What is the use of learning details? The Buddha's teachings are subtle and deep and therefore it is necessary to go into details. If one does not know that there are many different aspects to each reality the Buddha taught one will read the scriptures with wrong understanding. There will be an over-simplification in the interpretation of the texts. Patience is needed to grasp the complexity of the teachings in order to avoid a superficial understanding of them. Wrong interpretation of the texts leads to wrong practice of the Buddha's Path, and as a consequence there will not be right understanding of the phenomena within ourselves and around ourselves. The development of the eightfold Path is the development of direct understanding of the true nature of realities. When the way of its development is correctly understood, the truth of what the Buddha taught can be verified through one's own experience. Although theoretical understanding is the foundation for the development of the Path, it is not sufficient to grasp the deep meaning of the teachings. One should know that it takes time and patience to understand what this Path is and how one can begin to develop it.
What is the origin of the Buddhist texts of the Theravåda tradition as they have come to us today? These texts date from the Buddha's time, about 2500 years ago. Shortly after the Buddha's passing away a Council was held in Råjagaha, were the teachings were examined and scrutinized as to their orthodoxy. Under the leadership of the Buddha's eminent disciple Mahå Kassapa five hundred monks who had reached the state of perfection recited all the texts of the Vinaya, the Book of Discipline for the monks, the Suttanta, Discourses, and the Abhidhamma, the higher teaching on ultimate realities. A second Council was held one century later at Vesåli. This was necessary because of wrong interpretations of the monks's rules by heretical monks. A third Council was held in 268 B.C. in Påtalíputta. On this occasion the canon of the Theravåda tradition in the Påli language as it exists today was finally redacted. During all this time the teachings were handed down by oral tradition. About 89 B.C. they were committed to writing in Sri Lanka.
In this book I have used a few Påli terms which can be of use to those who intend to deepen their knowledge of Buddhism. The English equivalents of the Påli terms are frequently unsatisfactory since they stem from Western philosophy and therefore give an association of meaning which is different from the meaning intended by the Buddhist teachings.
I want to acknowledge my deep gratitude to Ms. Sujin Boriharnwanaket in Thailand, who gave me great assistance in the understanding of the Buddhist teachings and in particular in their application. I also wish to express my gratitude to the ``Dhamma Study and Propagation Foundation'', to the publisher Alan Weller and to my husband. Without their help the writing and the printing of this book would not have been possible.
Finally I want to give information on the sources of my quotations from the texts in the English language. I quoted mainly from the Dialogues of the Buddha, the Middle Length Sayings, the Kindred Sayings and the Gradual Sayings. I also quoted from the Path of Purification which is an Encyclopedia on Buddhism written by the commentator Buddhaghosa in the fifth century A.D. This is only a selection of the texts I used. They are available at the Påli Text Society, 73 Lime Walk, Headington, Oxford OX3 7AD, England.
With this book I intend to give an introduction to the Buddhist teachings. I hope that I can encourage readers to explore the scriptures themselves in order to deepen their own understanding.

Nina van Gorkom.

Chapter I

Introduction



Why are we in this life? Why do we have to suffer? Men of all times conceived philosophical systems which could explain the reason for their existence and give a solution to the problem of suffering. Religions also try to give an answer to the problem of suffering in teaching that people should have faith in God and live according to His commandments; consequently one can, after death, enjoy eternal bliss in heaven. The Buddha gave his own, unique answer to the problem of suffering. He taught that the cause of suffering is within man, namely his own faults and defilements, and not in the external situation. He explained that only profound knowledge of his own mind and of all phenomena of his life can lead to the end of suffering. We read in the Buddhist scriptures (Kindred Sayings I, Chapter III, Kosala, Part 3, §3, The World) that King Pasenadi had a conversation with the Buddha at Såvatthí about the cause of suffering. We read:

``...How many kinds of things, lord, that happen in the world, make for trouble, for suffering, for distress?''
``Three things, sire, happen of that nature. What are the three? Greed, hate, and delusion--these three make for trouble, for suffering, for distress...''

The outward circumstances cannot be changed, but the inward attitude towards the vicissitudes of life can be changed. Wisdom can be developed and this can eventually eradicate completely greed, hate and delusion. This wisdom is not developed by speculation about the truth of life, it is developed through the direct experience of the phenomena of life as they really are, including one's own mental states. That is the Path the Buddha taught, but it takes time to understand how it is to be developed.
The Buddha was not a God, not a saviour, who wanted people to follow him without questioning the truth of his teaching. He showed the Path to the understanding of the truth, but people had to investigate the truth and develop the Path themselves. We read in the scriptures (Dialogues of the Buddha, II, 16, the Book of the Great Decease) that the Buddha said to his disciple Ånanda:

Therefore, Ånanda, be an island to yourselves, a refuge to yourselves, seeking no external refuge; with the Teaching as your island, the Teaching as your refuge, seeking no other refuge...

The Buddha explained that in developing the Path one is one's own refuge.
The Buddha had found the Path to understanding of the truth all by himself, without help from a teacher. However, he was not the only Buddha. Aeons and aeons ago there were other Buddhas who also found the Path all by themselves and who taught the development of the Path to others. The Buddha whose teaching we know in this time was called the Buddha Gotama. His personal name was Siddhattha and his family name Gotama. He lived in the sixth century B.C. in Northern India. He was born in Lumbini (now in Nepal) as the son of Suddhodana, King of the Såkyas. His mother was Queen Måyå. He married Princess Yasodharå and he lived in great luxury. However, when he drove out to the park with his charioteer he was confronted with suffering. We read in the Dialogues of the Buddha (II, 14, The Sublime Story) that the Buddha related the story of a former Buddha, the Buddha Vipassi, and explained that all Bodhisattas, beings destined to become Enlightened Ones, Buddhas, have such experiences. We read that the Bodhisatta, after he saw in the park someone who was aged, asked the charioteer the meaning of what he saw. The charioteer explained to him that the person he saw was aged and that all beings are subject to old age. On a following occasion there was an encounter with a sick person and the charioteer explained that all beings are subject to illness. At another occasion the Bodhisatta saw a corpse. The charioteer explained that that was the corpse of someone who had ended his days. We read:

...And Vipassi saw the corpse of him who had ended his days and asked--``What, good charioteer, is ending one's days?''
``It means, my lord, that neither mother, nor father, nor other kinsfolk will see him any more, nor will he ever again see them.''
``But am I too then subject to death, have I not got beyond the reach of death? Will neither the King, nor the Queen, nor any other of my relatives see me any more, or I ever again see them?''
``You, my lord, and we too, we all are subject to death, we have not passed beyond the reach of death. Neither the King, nor the Queen, nor any other of your relatives would see you any more, nor would you ever again see them.''
``Why then, good charioteer, enough of the park for today! Drive me back from here to my rooms.''
``Yes, my lord,'' replied the charioteer, and drove him back.
And he, monks, going to his rooms, sat brooding sorrowful and depressed, thinking--``Shame then verily be upon this thing called birth, since to one born the decay of life, since disease, since death shows itself like that!''

After the Bodhisatta had been confronted with an old man, a sick man and a corpse, his fourth encounter was with a monk. The Bodhisatta asked the meaning of being a monk and the charioteer answered that it was being thorough in the religious life, in the peaceful life, in good actions, in meritorious conduct, in harmlessness, and in kindness to all creatures. The Bodhisatta decided to leave his worldly life and to become a monk.
The Buddha Gotama, when he was still a Bodhisatta, had the same encounters as the Bodhisatta Vipassi. He also became a monk after his fourth encounter in order to seek the solution to the problem of suffering. He first practised severe austerity, but he saw that that was not the way to find the truth. He decided to discontinue such severe practices and to stop fasting. On the day he was to attain enlightenment he took rice gruel which was offered to him by the girl Sujåtå. Seated under the Bodhi-tree he attained enlightenment. He realized the four noble Truths: the truth of suffering, of the cause of suffering, of the ceasing of suffering and of the Path leading to the ceasing of suffering. He had attained enlightenment at the age of thirty-five years and he taught the Path to others for forty-five years. At the age of eighty he passed away at Kusinårå.
His teachings have been preserved in the Buddhist scriptures of the Vinaya (Book of Discipline for the monks), the Suttas (the Discourses), and the Abhidhamma (the ``Higher Teachings''). These scriptures which have been written in the Påli language are of the Theravåda tradition. The term ``Theravåda'' (Hínayåna or ``Small vehicle'' is no longer used) could be translated as ``the School of the Elders''. There is also the Mahåyåna tradition which developed later on. The two traditions are in agreement with several points of the Buddha's teachings, but they are different as regards the practice, the development of the Buddha's Path leading to the realization of the truth. The Theravåda tradition is followed in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Laos, Cambodia and Bangladesh. The Mahåyåna tradition is followed in China, Japan, Tibet and Mongolia.
The Buddha, at his enlightenment, understood that the cause of suffering is craving. He saw that when there is the cessation of craving there will be an end to suffering. What the Buddha teaches is contrary to what people generally are seeking in life. Every being has craving for the experience of pleasant things and therefore wishes to continue to obtain such objects. The Buddha was, after his enlightenment, for a moment not inclined to teach the truth he had realized under the Bodhi-tree. He knew that the ``Dhamma'', his teaching of the truth, would be difficult to understand by those who delighted in sense pleasures. We read in the Middle Length Sayings (I, number 26, The Ariyan Quest), that the Buddha related to the monks his quest for the truth when he was still a Bodhisatta, his enlightenment and his disinclination to teaching. We read that the Buddha said:

This that through many toils I've won--
Enough! Why should I make it known?
By folk with lust and hate consumed
This Dhamma is not understood.
Leading on against the stream
Deep, subtle, difficult to see, delicate,
Unseen it will be by passion's slaves
Cloaked in the murk of ignorance.

We then read that the Brahmå Sahampati, a heavenly being, implored the Buddha to teach the truth. The Buddha surveyed the world with the eye of an Awakened One, and he saw beings with different dispositions, some of whom were not capable to accept his teaching, and some who were capable to be taught. We read that the Buddha used a simile of different kinds of lotuses in a pond:

...Even as in a pond of blue lotuses or in a pond of red lotuses or in a pond of white lotuses, a few red and blue and white lotuses are born in the water, grow in the water, do not rise above the water but thrive while altogether immersed; a few blue or red or white lotuses are born in the water, grow in the water and reach the surface of the water; a few blue or red or white lotuses are born in the water, grow in the water, and stand rising out of the water, undefiled by the water; even so did I, monks, surveying the world with the eye of an Awakened One, see beings with little dust in their eyes, with much dust in their eyes, with acute faculties, with dull faculties, of good dispositions, of bad dispositions, docile, indocile, few seeing fear in sins and the world beyond.

Out of compassion the Buddha decided to teach Dhamma. His teaching goes ``against the stream'', it is deep and it can only be understood by studying it thoroughly and by carefully considering it. Generally, people expect something else from the Buddhist teachings. They believe that the Buddha taught a method of meditation to reach tranquillity, or even extraordinary experiences such as a mystical trance. It is understandable that one looks for a way of escape from a life full of tension and troubles. Extraordinary experiences, however, cannot give the real solution to one's problems. It is a wrong conception of Buddhism to think that the goal of the Buddha's Path are mystical experiences to be reached by concentration. The Buddha's Path has nothing to do with unworldly mysticism, it is very concrete and matter of fact. Understanding should be developed of all that is real, also of our faults and vices as they naturally appear during our daily activities. We have to know ourselves when we laugh, when we cry, when we are greedy or angry, we have to know all our different moods. All troubles in life are caused by our defilements. It is through the development of understanding that defilements can be completely eradicated. Comprehending, knowing and seeing are stressed time and again in the Buddhist teachings.
It is felt by some people that, in order to develop understanding of one's mind, one should retire from daily life and sit still in quiet surroundings. It may seem that, when one is in isolation, there is no anger or aversion and that it is easier to analyse one's mental states. However, at such moments there is bound to be clinging to quietness and when there is clinging there is no development of understanding. We read in the scriptures about people who could develop calm in concentrating on a meditation subject. They were very skilled, they knew the right method to attain calm, which is a wholesome mental state. However, through the development of calm defilements are not eradicated, they are merely temporarily suppressed. The Buddha taught the way to develop the understanding leading to the complete and final eradication of all that is impure, of all defilements. In order to reach the goal there is no other way but developing understanding naturally in one's daily life.
It cannot be expected that there will be the eradication of defilements soon since they are so deeply rooted. The Buddha had, during countless lives when he was still a Bodhisatta, developed understanding of all phenomena of life. Only in his last life, at the moment he attained enlightenment, all defilements were eradicated. How could we expect to reach the final goal within a short time?
The Buddha taught the way to the eradication of all defilements. Defilements are not eradicated by rituals or by sacraments. The way to eradicate them is an inner way, namely the understanding of all mental and physical phenomena of one's life. The Buddha taught very precisely what defilements are. They are not exactly the same as what is generally meant by ``sin''. By sin is usually meant an evil deed, evil speech or evil thought which has a high degree of impurity. According to the Buddhist teachings defilements include all degrees, even slight degrees, of what is impure. Even slight degrees of defilements are unhelpful, not beneficial. The term ``unwholesomeness'', that which is unhelpful, not beneficial, includes all degrees of defilements. If one thinks in terms of sin one will not understand that ignorance of the phenomena of life is unwholesome, that ignorance is harmful since it blinds one to see the truth. Or one will not understand that even a slight degree of attachment is unwholesome, even harmful, because it is accumulated and it will arise again and again.
The Buddha, when he was sitting under the Bodhi-tree, realized the four noble Truths: the Truth of suffering, the Truth of the origin of suffering, the Truth of the ceasing of suffering, and the Truth of the Path leading to the ceasing of suffering. As to the Truth of suffering, this is not merely suffering caused by bodily and mental pain. The Truth of suffering pertains to all phenomena of life which are impermanent. They arise and then fall away immediately, and thus they cannot be our refuge. Suffering in this sense is the unsatisfactoriness inherent in all phenomena of life. Only when the arising and falling away of physical phenomena and mental phenomena can be directly experienced, can one begin to grasp the Truth of suffering.
The Truth of the origin of suffering is craving. Craving in this sense is not only strong attachment or greed, it includes many shades and degrees of attachment. There is craving for pleasant colours, sounds, odours, flavours and tangible objects, for all that can be experienced through the senses. There is craving for the continuation of life. It is craving which conditions rebirth in new existences, again and again. Craving pushes beings on in the cycle of life, the continuation of rebirth and death. There is not only this present life, there were also past lives and there will be future lives. I will deal with this subject later on. So long as there are ignorance and clinging there are conditions for being in the cycle of birth and death. Through wisdom, understanding, there can be liberation from it. When there are no more conditions for rebirth, there is the end of old age, sickness and death, the end of all suffering.
The third noble Truth, the cessation of suffering, is nibbåna. The Buddha experienced at his enlightenment nibbåna. It is difficult to understand what nibbåna, is. Nibbåna (more popularly known in its Sanskrit form of nirvåùa) is not a place such as heaven or a paradise where one enjoys eternal bliss. There are heavenly planes, according to the Buddhist teachings, where one can be reborn as a result of a good deed, but existence in such planes is not forever. After one's lifespan in such a plane is ended there will be rebirth in other planes, and thus there is no end to suffering. Nibbåna is only an object of speculation so long as it has not been realized. It can be realized when there is full understanding of all phenomena of life which arise because of their own conditions and then fall away. The conditioned phenomena of life are, because of their impermanence, unsatisfactory or suffering. Nibbåna is the unconditioned reality, it does not arise and fall away and therefore it is not suffering, it is the end of suffering. Nibbåna is real, it is a reality which can be experienced, but we cannot grasp what an unconditioned reality is when we have not realized the truth of conditioned realities. Nibbåna is not a God, it is not a person or a self. Since negative terms are used to express what nibbåna is, such as the end of rebirth, it may be felt that Buddhism propagates a negative attitude towards life. However, this is not the case. It has to be understood that rebirth is suffering and that nibbåna is the end of suffering. Nibbåna is freedom from all defilements, and since defilements are the cause of all unhappiness nibbåna should be called the highest goal. We read in the Kindred Sayings (IV, Kindred Sayings on Sense, Part IV, Chapter 38, §1, Nibbåna) that the wanderer Rose-apple-eater came to see the Buddha's disciple Såriputta and asked him what nibbåna was. Såriputta answered:

The destruction of lust, the destruction of hatred, the destruction of illusion, friend, is called nibbåna.

``Extinction'' and ``freedom from desire'' are meanings of the word nibbåna. Nibbåna means the end of clinging to existence and thus it is deliverance from all future birth, old age, sickness and death, from all suffering which is inherent in the conditioned realities of life. The Buddha experienced at his enlightenment the unconditioned reality which is nibbåna. His passing away was the absolute extinguishment of conditions for the continuation of the life process. When the Buddha was still alive people asked him what would happen to him after his passing away. He explained that this belongs to the questions which cannot be answered, questions which are merely speculative and do not lead to the goal. The Buddha's passing away cannot be called the annihilation of life, and there cannot be rebirth for him in another plane, either. If there would be rebirth he would not have reached the end of all suffering.
The fourth noble Truth, the way leading to the ceasing of suffering, is the development of the eightfold Path as taught by the Buddha. I will deal with the eightfold Path more extensively later on in this book. The eightfold Path is the development of understanding of all physical phenomena and mental phenomena which occur in daily life. Very gradually these phenomena can be realized as impermanent, suffering and ``not self''. The Buddha taught that there is in the absolute sense no abiding person or self. What is generally understood as a person is merely a temporary combination of mental phenomena and physical phenomena which arise and fall away. The Buddha's teaching of the truth of ``non self'' is deep and difficult to grasp. This teaching is unique and cannot be found in other philosophical systems or religions. I will deal with the truth of ``non self'' later on in this book. So long as there is still clinging to the concept of a self defilements cannot be eradicated. There has to be first the eradication of the wrong view of self and then other defilements can be eradicated stage by stage.
There were many monks, nuns and laypeople who developed the Path and realized the goal, each in their own situation. The development of the eightfold Path does not mean that one should try to be detached immediately from all pleasant objects and from existence. All realities, including attachment, should be known and understood. So long as there are conditions for attachment it arises. The development of understanding cannot be forced, it must be done in a natural way. Only thus can understanding, knowing and seeing, very gradually lead to detachment. When one is a layfollower one enjoys all the pleasant things of life, but understanding of realities can be developed. The monk who observes the rules of monkhood leads a different kind of life, but this does not mean that he already is without attachment to pleasant objects. He too should develop understanding naturally, in his own situation, and come to know his own defilements.
The development of the Buddha's Path is very gradual, it is a difficult and long way. It may take many lives before there can be the attainment of enlightenment. Since the development of the Path is so difficult there may be doubt whether it makes sense to start on this Path. It is complicated to understand all phenomena of life, including our own mental states, and it seems impossible to eradicate defilements. It is useless to expect results soon, but it is beneficial to start to investigate what our life really is: phenomena which are impermanent and thus unsatisfactory. When we start on the Buddha's Path we begin to see our many faults and vices, not only the coarse ones but also the more subtle ones which may not have been so obvious. Before studying the Buddhist teachings, selfish motives when performing deeds of generosity were unnoticed. When the deep, underlying, impure motives for one's deeds are realized is that not a gain? A sudden change of character cannot be expected soon as a result of the Buddhist teachings, but what is unwholesome can be realized as unwholesome, and what is wholesome can be realized as wholesome. In that way there will be more truthfulness, more sincerity in our actions, speech and thoughts. The disadvantage and danger of unwholesomeness and the benefit of wholesomeness will be seen more and more clearly.
The Buddha taught about everything which is real and which can be experienced in daily life. He taught about seeing and hearing, about all that can be experienced through the senses. He taught that on account of what is experienced through the senses there is attachment, aversion and ignorance. We are ignorant most of the time of the phenomena occurring in daily life. However, even when we only begin to develop understanding we can verify the truth of what the Buddha taught. Seeing, hearing, attachment, anger, generosity and kindness are real for everybody. There is no need to label what is true for everybody as ``Buddhism''. When we begin to investigate what the Buddha taught there will gradually be the elimination of ignorance about ourselves and the world around us.
We read in the Kindred Sayings (IV, Kindred Sayings on Sense, The Third Fifty, Chapter I, §111, Understanding):

By not comprehending, by not understanding, without detaching himself from, without abandoning the eye, one is incapable of the destruction of suffering. By not comprehending...the ear...nose...tongue...body...mind...one is incapable of the destruction of suffering.
But by comprehending, by understanding, by detaching himself from, by abandoning the eye...nose...tongue...body...mind...one is capable of the destruction of suffering.

In the following sutta we read that, for the destruction of suffering colours, sounds, scents, savours, tangible objects and mind-states have to be understood. This is the way leading to the end of suffering. The Buddha taught about realities for the sake of our welfare and happiness.
Chapter 2

The Truth of suffering



Old age, sickness and death are unavoidable. Separation from dear people through death is bound to happen. We read in the Group of Discourses (Sutta-Nipåta, III, 8, The Arrow, verses 574-582 ):

Unindicated and unknown is the length of life of those subject to death. Life is difficult and brief and bound up with suffering. There is no means by which those who are born will not die. Having reached old age, there is death. This is the natural course for a living being. With ripe fruits there is the constant danger that they will fall. In the same way, for those born and subject to death, there is always the fear of dying. Just as the pots made by a potter all end by being broken, so death is the breaking up of life.
The young and old, the foolish and the wise, all are stopped short by the power of death, all finally end in death. Of those overcome by death and passing to another world, a father cannot hold back his son, nor relatives a relation. See! While the relatives are looking on and weeping, one by one each mortal is led away like an ox to the slaughter.
In this manner the world is afflicted by death and decay. But the wise do not grieve, having realized the nature of the world...

The Buddha consoled those who had suffered the loss of dear people by explaining to them the impermanence of all phenomena of life. We read in the commentary to the Psalms of the Sisters (Therígåthå, Canto X, LXIII) that a woman, named Kiså-gotamí, was completely overwhelmed by grief because of the loss of her son. She went from door to door with his corpse asking for medicine which could revive him. The Buddha said to her: ``Go, enter the town, and bring from any house where yet no man has died a little mustard seed.'' She did not find any family without bereavement caused by death and she realized that everything is impermanent. She went to the Buddha and he said:

To him whose heart on children and on goods
Is centred, clinging to them in his thoughts,
Death comes like a great flood in the night,
Bearing away the village in its sleep.

Did the Buddha teach anything new? We all know that there has to be separation and death, that everything in life is impermanent. Thinking about impermanence is not of much help when one has suffered a loss. The Buddha taught that there is change of mental states from moment to moment and that also the physical units which constitute the body are breaking up from moment to moment. He taught the development of the wisdom which is the direct experience of the arising and falling away of mental phenomena and physical phenomena. Kiså-gotamí did not merely think about the impermanence of life, she realized through direct experience the momentary breaking up of the mental phenomena and the physical phenomena. This changed her outlook on life and she could recover from her deep sorrow.
Each mental state which arises falls away within split-seconds. At one moment we may speak kindly to someone else but the next moment the kind disposition has disappeared and we may be irritated and angry, we may even shout. It is as if we are a completely different personality at that moment. Actually this is true. Kindness has disappeared and the angry disposition is a different mental state which has arisen. Seeing, hearing or thinking are all different moments of consciousness which arise and then fall away immediately. They each arise because of their own conditioning factors. Seeing, for example is dependant on eye-sense and on its object, which is colour, and since these conditioning factors do not last, also the seeing which is conditioned by them cannot last either. Every reality which is dependant on conditions has to fall away. Since the moment of consciousness which has fallen away is followed by a new one it seems that there is a mind which lasts. In reality our life is an unbroken series of moments of consciousness which arise and fall away. Also bodily phenomena which arise, fall away. We know that the body is subject to decay, that there is old age and death, but this is not the wisdom which can directly realize the momentary breaking up of the units which constitute the body. We do not notice their vanishing after they have arisen because there are new bodily phenomena replacing the ones that have fallen away. We can notice that there is sometimes heat in the body, sometimes cold, sometimes suppleness, sometimes stiffness. This shows that there is change of bodily phenomena. Also what we call dead matter are physical phenomena which are arising and vanishing all the time. Physical phenomena arise because of conditioning factors. When we smile or cry, when we move our hand with anger or stretch out our hand in order to give, there are different bodily phenomena caused by different mental states. Bodily phenomena and also the physical phenomena outside arise because of their own conditioning factors and they have to fall away. Science also teaches the momentary change of physical phenomena, but the aim of the Buddha's teachings is completely different, the aim is detachment from all phenomena. The ``eye of wisdom'' which sees impermanence is different from a microscope through which one watches the change of the smallest physical units. The wisdom which directly realizes the momentary impermanence of phenomena eventually leads to detachment.
Our life can be compared with the flux of a river. A river seems to keep its identity but in reality not one drop of water stays the same while the river is flowing on and on. In the same way what we call a ``person'' seems to keep its identity, but in reality there are mere passing mental phenomena and physical phenomena. These phenomena arise because of their appropriate conditions and then fall away. It can be noticed that people have different characters, but what is called ``character'' are phenomena which have been conditioned by phenomena in the past. Since our life is an unbroken series of moments of consciousness arising in succession, the past moments can condition the present moment and the present moment can condition the future moments. There were wholesome and unwholesome moments in the past and these condition the arising of wholesome and unwholesome moments today. What is learnt today is never lost, moments of understanding today can be accumulated and in that way understanding can develop.
We conceive life as a long duration of time, lasting from the moment of birth until death. If the momentary arising and vanishing of each reality is taken into consideration, it can be said that there is birth and death at each moment. Seeing arises but it does not last, it falls away immediately. At another moment there is hearing, but it does not last either. Thinking changes each moment, there is thinking of different things all the time. It can be noticed that there can only be thinking of one thing, not more than one thing, at a time. It may seem that thinking can last, but in reality there are different moments of consciousness succeeding one another extremely rapidly. Feelings change, there is pleasant feeling at one moment, at another moment there is unpleasant feeling and at another moment again indifferent feeling. The Buddha taught that what is impermanent is suffering, in Påli dukkha. Bodily pain and mental suffering due to the changeability of things are forms of dukkha which are more obvious. The truth of dukkha, however, comprises more than that. The truth of dukkha pertains to all physical phenomena and mental states which are impermanent. They are unsatisfactory because, after they have arisen, they are there merely for an extremely short moment and then they disappear completely. The truth of dukkha is deep and difficult to understand.
We read in the Kindred Sayings (V, Mahå-vagga, Book XII, Kindred Sayings about the Truths, Chapter 2, §1) that the Buddha, after his enlightenment, when he was staying in the Deerpark at Isipatana, near Vårånasi, preached to a group of five monks. He explained to them the four noble Truths: the Truth of dukkha, the Truth of the origin of dukkha, the Truth of the ceasing of dukkha, which is nibbåna, and the Truth of the Path leading to the ceasing of dukkha. We read with regard to dukkha:

Birth is dukkha, decay is dukkha, sickness is dukkha, death is dukkha; likewise sorrow and grief, woe, lamentation and despair. To be conjoined with what we dislike; to be separated from what we like,--that also is dukkha. Not to get what one wants,--that also is dukkha. In short, these five groups of grasping are dukkha.

The five groups (in Påli khandhas) of grasping are all physical phenomena and mental phenomena of our life which have been classified as five groups. They are: the group of physical phenomena, and four groups of mental phenomena comprising: the group of feelings, of perceptions, of mental activities (including all wholesome and unwholesome qualities) and of consciousness. These five groups comprise all phenomena of life which arise because of their own conditions and then fall away. Seeing is dukkha, because it arises and falls away. Colour is dukkha, pleasant feeling is dukkha, even wholesome mental states are dukkha, they all are impermanent.
There may be theoretical understanding of the fact that all that can be experienced is impermanent and therefore unsatisfactory or dukkha. The Truth of dukkha, however, cannot be realized through theoretical understanding alone. There can be thinking of the impermanence of everything in life, but it is extremely difficult to realize through one's own experience the arising and falling away, thus, the breaking up from moment to moment of phenomena. Through the development of the eightfold Path there can eventually be direct understanding of the impermanence of the phenomena of life and of their nature of dukkha.
All phenomena are impermanent. There should be precise understanding of what that ``all'' is. Otherwise there cannot be the realization of impermanence and dukkha. We read in the Kindred Sayings (IV, Kindred Sayings on Sense, First Fifty, Chapter 3, §23, The all) that the Buddha said to the monks while he was at Såvatthí:

Monks, I will teach you the all. Do you listen to it.
And what, monks, is the all? It is eye and visible object, ear and sound, nose and scent, tongue and savour, body and tangible object, mind and mind-states. That, monks, is called the ``all''.
Whoso, monks, should say: ``Rejecting this all, I will proclaim another all,--it would be mere talk on his part, and when questioned he could not make good his boast, and further would come to an ill pass. Why so? Because, monks, it would be beyond his scope to do so.

From this sutta we see that the Buddha's teaching is very concrete, that it pertains to all realities of daily life:

the seeing of visible object through the eyes;
the hearing of sound through the ears;
the smelling of odours through the nose;
the tasting of flavours through the tongue;
the experience of tangible object through the bodysense;
the experience of mental objects through the mind.
When one first comes into contact with the Buddhist teachings one may be surprised that the Buddha speaks time and again about realities such as seeing and hearing. However, the ``all'' has to be known and investigated. There is such a great deal of ignorance of mental phenomena and physical phenomena. Generally one is inclined to be absorbed in thinking about people one saw or words one heard; one never paid attention to seeing itself or hearing itself. One may even doubt whether it is useful to do so. Seeing and hearing themselves are neither wholesome nor unwholesome, but immediately after seeing and hearing all kinds of defilements are bound to arise. All the different moments of life should be investigated thoroughly, so that there can be elimination of delusion about them.
There are different degrees of understanding realities. Thinking about realities and about their impermanence is theoretical understanding and this is not the realization of the true nature of realities. Theoretical understanding, however, can be the foundation for direct understanding of the realities which appear in daily life.
As we study the Buddhist scriptures we will learn about the realities which are to be understood. There are three parts or ``baskets'' of the Buddha's teachings: the Vinaya, the Suttanta or Discourses and the Abhidhamma or ``higher teachings''. The Vinaya is the ``Book of Discipline'' for the monks. The Suttanta are discourses of the Buddha held at different places to different people. The Abhidhamma is a detailed exposition of all mental phenomena and physical phenomena and also of their conditioning factors and their different ways of conditional relations. Although these three parts of the teachings are different in form, they point to the same goal: the eradication of defilements through the direct realization of the truth. When one studies the different realities which are explained in detail in the Abhidhamma, the goal should not be forgotten: the development of direct understanding of realities when they appear. There is also Abhidhamma in the suttas. The sutta about the ``All'' I quoted above is an example of this. The deep meaning of the suttas cannot be understood without a basic study of the Abhidhamma. The field of the Abhidhamma is immense and we cannot grasp the whole contents. However, when one begins to study it, at least in part, one will see that it can be of great assistance for the understanding of our life. Some people have doubt as to the authenticity of the Abhidhamma, they doubt whether it is the teaching of the Buddha himself. As one studies the Abhidhamma one will see for oneself that the Abhidhamma teaches about phenomena which can be experienced at this moment. The Abhidhamma deals with seeing, visible object, with all experiences through the senses and the mind, with all wholesome qualities, with all defilements. The different parts of the scriptures are one, they are the Buddha's teachings.
We read in the Kindred Sayings (IV, Kindred Sayings on Sense, Second Fifty, Chapter I, §53, Ignorance) about the elimination of ignorance. We read about a conversation of a monk with the Buddha about this subject:


``By how knowing, lord, by how seeing does ignorance vanish and knowledge arise?''
``In him that knows and sees the eye as impermanent, monk, ignorance vanishes and knowledge arises. In him that knows and sees visible objects...seeing-consciousness...eye-contact...the pleasant, unpleasant or neutral feeling arising dependant on eye-contact as impermanent, monk, ignorance vanishes and knowledge arises...''


The same is said about the realities pertaining to the ear, the nose, the tongue, the bodysense and the mind. All these phenomena have to be investigated in order to know them as they are.
There is seeing, and shortly after that there is attachment to what is seen but most of the time there is ignorance of these phenomena. Even when there is no pleasant feeling on account of what is seen there can still be clinging. There is clinging time and again to seeing, to visible object, to hearing, to sound, to all that can be experienced. We would not like to be without eye-sense or ear-sense and this shows that there is clinging. We want to continue seeing, hearing and experiencing all the objects which present themselves through the senses. What is seen and what is experienced through the other senses falls away immediately, but we erroneously believe that things last, at least for a while. Because of our delusion we keep on clinging. When we do not get what we want, when we lose people who are dear to us, or things we possess, we are sad or even in despair. It is attachment which conditions aversion or sadness. When we do not get what we like there is dislike. All such mental states are realities of daily life and, instead of suppressing them, they can be investigated when they appear. Then their different characteristics can be distinguished.
Each phenomenon has a different characteristic and it arises because of different conditions. For example, when we are in the company of relatives or friends, we can notice that there are different moments of consciousness. There are moments of attachment, moments that there is clinging to our own pleasant feeling on account of the company of dear people. It may seem that we think of other people's happiness, but we are merely attached to our own happiness. There are other moments, however, that we sincerely think of the other people's wellbeing and happiness, that we do not think of ourselves. Attachment and unselfish kindness have different characteristics and gradually their difference can be learnt when they appear. It may seem complicated to analyse one's mental states. One can, however, lead one's life naturally, one can enjoy all the pleasant things of life, and at the same time develop more understanding of different moments of consciousness which arise, be it clinging, unselfish kindness or generosity. In that way there can be a more precise understanding of the different characteristics of phenomena.
When one begins to investigate the different phenomena of one's life, one realizes that there is such an amount of ignorance. It is beneficial to realize this, because that is the beginning of understanding. There is ignorance of realities such as seeing, hearing or thinking. It is not known precisely when there is seeing and when there is attachment to what is seen. Realities arise and fall away very rapidly. There is clinging to the objects which are experienced and their arising and falling away is not realized. There is ignorance of the suffering and the unsatisfactoriness inherent in all conditioned realities. Ignorance and clinging are the conditions for rebirth into a new existence, for continuation in the cycle of birth and death. When there is rebirth, there is suffering again, there will again be old age, sickness and death.
It is difficult to grasp the truth of dukkha, but one can begin to develop more understanding of the phenomena which appear in one's life. The Buddha taught Dhamma in order that people could investigate all realities. The word ``dhamma'' has different meanings, but in its widest sense dhamma is everything which is real and which has its own characteristic. Seeing is dhamma, attachment is dhamma, anger is dhamma. They are realities which can be experienced by everybody. We can read about seeing, attachment or anger, but when these realities occur we can learn to distinguish their different characteristics. Knowledge of realities can be acquired through the study of the Abhidhamma, but this knowledge should be applied so that there can eventually be direct understanding of realities. We are full of attachment, anger, avarice, conceit, jealousy, full of defilements, but understanding of all these realities can be developed. If dislike, for example, would be suppressed, instead of knowing its characteristic when it appears, there would be ignorance of the way it is conditioned. It would not be known that it is attachment which conditions dislike. If there is ignorance of what is wholesome and what is unwholesome, wholesome qualities could not be developed. Understanding can be developed of the countless moments of attachment which arise after seeing, hearing and the other experiences through the senses. All realities arise because of their own conditions.
The development of direct understanding of realities is the Path leading to the end of dukkha. The development of this Path is very gradual and takes a long time. The characteristics of the different realities which appear have to be thoroughly investigated and understood. In that way it can be gradually seen that they arise each because of their own conditions. What arises because of conditions has to fall away, it is impermanent. The impermanence of realities, their momentary breaking up, can only be realized at a later stage of the development of understanding. Eventually there can be the realization of the fact that all conditioned realities which arise and fall away are dukkha. There are different degrees of understanding the Truth of dukkha. When one attains enlightenment one has understood the Truth of dukkha, of the origin of dukkha, of the ceasing of dukkha and of the way leading to the ceasing of dukkha.Chapter 3

The Truth of non-self



All phenomena of life are impermanent and dukkha. Seeing, colour, hearing, sound, feeling, anger, greed or generosity, they all arise because of their own conditions and then they fall away immediately. There is no abiding ego or ``self'' who could cause the arising of these phenomena or exert control over them. Realities which are impermanent and dukkha are non-self.
We read in the Kindred Sayings (IV, Kindred Sayings on Sense, First Fifty, Chapter 1, §1, impermanent, the personal) that the Buddha, while staying at the Jeta Grove near Såvatthí, said to the monks:

The eye, monks, is impermanent. What is impermanent, that is dukkha. What is dukkha, that is void of the self. What is void of the self, that is not mine; I am not it; it is not my self. That is how it is to be regarded with perfect insight of what it really is.
The ear is impermanent...The nose is impermanent...The tongue is impermanent...The body is impermanent...The mind is impermanent. What is impermanent, that is dukkha. What is dukkha, that is void of the self. What is void of the self, that is not mine; I am not it; it is not my self. That is how it is to be regarded with perfect insight of what it really is....

We then read that through insight all clinging to the senses and the mind is eradicated and that there are consequently no more conditions for rebirth. In the following suttas the same is said with regard to colour, sound, scent, savour, tangible object and mind-object. They are impermanent, dukkha and void of the self.
The truth of non-self, in Påli anattå, is an essential element of the Buddha's teachings. This truth has been taught by the Buddha alone, it cannot be found outside the Buddhist teachings. Those who come into contact with Buddhism for the first time may be bewildered, even repelled by the truth of non-self. They wonder what the world would be without a self, without other people. Do we not live with and for other people? It is difficult to grasp the truth of non-self and its implications in daily life.
What is called in conventional language a ``person'' or ``self'' is merely a temporary combination of physical phenomena and mental phenomena, which are depending on each other. They have been classified as five groups, in Påli khandhas: one group of all physical phenomena and four groups of mental phenomena--feelings, perceptions, mental activities and consciousness. The five khandhas are in a flux, in a constant process of formation and dissolution. There is nothing lasting, nothing eternal, nothing unchanging in life.
The khandhas which arise, fall away and do not return. Present khandhas are different from past khandhas but they are conditioned by past khandhas, and present khandhas condition in their turn future khandhas. We read in the Dialogues of the Buddha (I, number IX, Potthapåda Sutta) that the Buddha explained to Citta about the three modes of personality: the past, the present and the future personality. They are different, but the past conditions the present and the present conditions the future. We read that the Buddha explained this by way of a simile:

Just, Citta, as from a cow comes milk, and from the milk curds, and from the curds butter, and from the butter ghee, and from the ghee junket; but when it is milk it is not called curds, or butter, or ghee, or junket; and when it is curds it is not called by any of the other names...
Just so, Citta, when any one of the three modes of personality is going on, it is not called by the name of the other. For these, Citta, are merely names, expressions, turns of speech, designations in common use in the world. And of these a Tathågata (one who has won the truth) makes use indeed, but is not led astray by them.

We call by such or such a name what are actually the five khandhas. People have different characters, different personalities. In reality there is nothing static in what is called a person. The present personality is different from the past personality, but it has originated from the past personality. We read in the commentary to the Debates (to the Kathåvatthu, Chapter I, the Person, 33, 34):

...Given bodily and mental khandhas, it is customary to say such and such a name, a family. Thus, by this popular turn of speech, convention, expression, is meant: ``there is the person''...The Buddhas have two kinds of discourse, the popular and the philosophical. Those relating to a being, a person, a deva (divine being), a ``brahmå'',...are popular discourses, while those relating to impermanence, dukkha, non-self, the khandhas, the elements, the senses...are discourses on ultimate meaning...A discourse on ultimate meaning is, as a rule, too severe to begin with; therefore the Buddhas teach at first by popular discourse, and then by way of discourse on ultimate meaning...
The Enlightened One, best of speakers, spoke two kinds of truth, namely, the conventional truth and the ultimate truth, a third is not known.
Therein, a popular discourse is true in conventional sense. A discourse on ultimate realities is also true, and as such, characteristic of things as they are...

Before studying the Buddhist teachings we only knew conventional truth: the truth of the world populated by people and animals, the world of persons, of self. Through the Buddhist teachings we learn about the ultimate truth: the mental phenomena and physical phenomena which are impermanent.
The truth of non-self is ultimate truth. It is deep and hard to penetrate. It has been taught by way of similes in the Buddhist scriptures and in the commentaries. The great commentator Buddhaghosa, in his book the Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga), illustrates the truth of non-self with similes from Buddhist scriptures. The Path of Purification is a comprehensive exposition of the Buddha's teaching based on old commentaries and the tradition of the monks in Sri Lanka, written in the fifth century A.D. Buddhaghosa explains that when one thinks of a whole of mind and body, one clings to the concept of person, whereas when this ``whole'' is seen as different elements which are impermanent, one will lose the perception of ``self'':
We read in the Path of Purification (XVIII, 25, 26):

As with the assembly of parts
The word ``chariot'' is countenanced,
So, when the khandhas are present,
``A being'' is said in common usage.

Again, this has been said: ``Just as when a space is enclosed with timber and creepers and grass and clay, there comes to be the term `house', so too, when a space is enclosed with bones and sinews and flesh and skin, there comes to be the term `material form'.''

Further on (XVIII, 28) we read:

So in many hundred suttas it is only mentality-materiality that is illustrated, not a being, not a person. Therefore, just as when the component parts such as axles, wheels, frame, poles, etc. are arranged in a certain way, there comes to be the mere term of common usage ``chariot'', yet in the ultimate sense when each part is examined, there is no chariot--and just as when the component parts of a house such as wattles, etc. are placed so that they enclose a space in a certain way, there comes to be the mere term of common usage ``house'', yet in the ultimate sense there is no house,...so too, when there are the five khandhas of clinging, there comes to be the mere term of common usage ``a being'', ``a person'', yet in the ultimate sense, when each component is examined, there is no being as a basis for the assumption ``I am'' or ``I''; in the ultimate sense there is only mentality-materiality. The vision of one who sees in this way is called right vision.

If life can be considered as existing in just one moment, it will be less difficult to understand the truth of non-self. In the Mahå-Niddesa (number 6, Decay) the Buddha explains that life is extremely short. In the ultimate sense it lasts only as long as one moment of consciousness. Each moment of consciousness which arises falls away completely, to be succeeded by the next moment which is different.
We read in the Path of Purification (XX, 72) a quotation from the Mahå-Niddesa text about the khandhas which are impermanent:

No store of broken states, no future stock;
Those born balance like seeds on needle points.
Break-up of states is fore-doomed at their birth;
Those present decay, unmingled with those past.
They come from nowhere, break up, nowhere go;
Flash in and out, as lightning in the sky.

One is used to thinking of a self who coordinates all the different experiences through the senses and the mind, a self who can see, hear and think all at the same time, but in reality there can be only one moment of consciousness at a time which experiences one object. At one moment life is seeing, at another moment life is hearing and at another moment again life is thinking. Each moment of our life arises because of its own conditions, exists for an extremely short time and then falls away. Seeing arises dependant on eye-sense, on colour and on other factors. It exists just for a moment and then it is gone. Seeing arises and falls away very rapidly, but then there are other moments of seeing again and this causes us to erroneously believe that seeing lasts. The seeing of this moment, however, is different from seeing which is just past. Colour which appears at this moment is different from colour which is just past. How could there be a self who exerts control over seeing or any other reality? Realities such as kindness and anger arise because of their own conditions, there is no self who could exert control over them. We would like to speak kindly, but when there are conditions for anger, it arises. We may tell ourselves to keep silent, but, before we realize it, angry words have been spoken already. There was anger in the past and this has been accumulated. That is why it can arise at any time. Anger does not belong to a person, but it is a reality. We are used to identifying ourselves with realities such as anger, generosity, seeing or thinking, but it can be learnt that they are mental phenomena, arising because of their own conditions. We are used to identifying ourselves with our body, but the body consists of changing physical phenomena, arising because of their own conditions. Bodily phenomena are beyond control; ageing, sickness and death cannot be prevented. Realities come and go very rapidly, they can be compared with a flash of lightning. One cannot exercise any power over a flash of lightning, it is gone as soon as it has been noticed. Evenso, one cannot exert control over the mental and physical phenomena of one's life.
The outer appearance of things deludes us as to what is really there: fleeting phenomena which are beyond control. We read in the commentary to the Dhammapada (Buddhist Legends II, Book IV, Story 2) about a monk who meditated on a mirage, but was unable to reach the state of perfection. He decided to visit the Buddha and on his way he saw a mirage. We read that he said to himself: ``Even as this mirage seen in the season of the heat appears substantial to those who are far off, but vanishes on nearer approach, so also is this existence unsubstantial by reason of birth and decay.''
We read that he meditated on this mirage. Wearied from his journey he bathed in the river Aciravatí and then sat near a waterfall:

...As he sat there watching great bubbles of foam rising and bursting, from the force of the water striking against the rocks, he said to himself, ``Just so is this existence also produced and just so does it burst.'' And this he took for his subject of meditation.
The Teacher, seated in his perfumed chamber, saw the Elder and said, ``Monk, it is even so. Like a bubble of foam or a mirage is this existence. Precisely thus is it produced and precisely thus does it pass away.'' And when he had thus spoken, he pronounced the following stanza:

``He who knows that this body is like foam, he who clearly comprehends that it is of the nature of a mirage,
Such a man will break the flower-tipped arrows of Måra and will go where the King of Death will not see him.''

We read that the monk at the conclusion of this stanza reached the state of perfection. Måra represents all that is evil, he is the King of Death. The person who has eradicated all defilements will not be reborn, there will not be for him anymore old age, sickness and death, thus, the ``King of Death'' will not see him anymore.
Life is like a mirage, we are time and again deceived and tricked by the outer appearance of things. We believe that what we experience can last, at least for a while, and that there is a self who experiences things, a lasting personality. We take our wrong perceptions to be true, we have a distorted view of realities. Through the development of precise understanding of different realities which appear one at a time, our distorted view can be corrected.
It is difficult to understand and accept that whatever arises does so because of its own conditions and that it is beyond control. People generally want to control their lives, to take their destinies in their own hands. It can, however, even on the theoretical level, be understood that it is impossible to control one's life. One cannot control one's body, one cannot control the different moments of consciousness which arise. When there is, for example, the tasting of a delicious sweet, there is bound to be clinging to the flavour immediately after having tasted it. Tasting arises dependent on tasting-sense, on flavour which impinges on tasting-sense and on other conditions; clinging to the flavour arises because of its own conditions, because of the accumulation of the tendency to clinging. Different moments of consciousness succeed one another so rapidly that it seems that several of them can occur at the same time. So long as there is no precise understanding they cannot be distinguished from each other. In reality only one moment of consciousness can arise at a time. I will give an example of different moments of consciousness, arising each because of their own conditions. Someone had given me a huge teddybear which I put in a chair. Time and again it happened that when I walked past it at dusk there were moments of fear before I realized that it was a teddybear. There was seeing which experienced colour or visible object impinging on the eye-sense, and then, before knowing that there was a teddybear, there were many other moments of consciousness. There can be fear on account of what is seen, before it is known that it is a harmless object. There were moments of recognizing and defining and when there was the registration that there was only a toy, the fear was gone. This example illustrates that there are different conditions for the different moments of consciousness which arise. They arise each because of their own conditions and in a particular order. They arise and fall away so rapidly that there would not even be time to control or direct them. There is no mind, no soul which lasts, merely rapidly changing moments of consciousness.
It is inevitable that questions arise with regard to the implication of the truth of non-self in one's life. People generally have questions as to the existence of a free will. If there is no self, only empty phenomena which appear and disappear, can there be a free will, can one have a free choice in the taking of decisions in life? Are a free will and self-control not essential elements of human life? The truth of non-self seems to imply that one's whole life is determined, even predestined, by conditions. The answer is that a free will presupposes a lasting personality who can exert power over his will. Since there is no ``self'', merely impermanent phenomena arising because of conditions, there is no free will independent of conditions. The will or desire to act can be wholesome at one moment and unwholesome at another moment. When there is anger, there is volition which is unwholesome, and it can instigate words of anger. When there is generosity, there is volition which is wholesome, it can motivate deeds of generosity. There can be the decision to do particular things, such as the development of generosity or of understanding, but there is no person who decides to do this. There are different moments of decision arising because of different conditions. What one decides to do depends on past accumulations of wholesomeness and unwholesomeness, on one's education, on the friends one associates with. It may be felt that, since accumulations of wholesomeness and unwholesomeness in the past condition one's actions, speech and thoughts today, one would be a helpless victim of these accumulated conditions. What is the sense of life if everything is determined. So long as there is clinging to a concept of self there is enslavement, no freedom. When understanding is developed which can eliminate the clinging to a self one becomes really free. Also the development of understanding is conditioned, it is conditioned by previous moments of understanding, by association with someone who can explain the Dhamma, by the study of the Buddhist teachings. Whatever we think or do is dependent on conditions which operate in our life in an intricate way. The seventh book of the Abhidhamma deals entirely with the different conditions for all mental and physical phenomena of life, with the aim to help people to have more understanding of these conditions. Even freedom is dependent on conditions. The more understanding of realities develops, the more will there be the letting go of clinging to the importance of self, the clinging to wrong perceptions of reality. Eventually all defilements can be eradicated by right understanding and is this not what can be called the highest freedom?
In order to be able to understand the truth of non-self, the difference has to be known between what is real in the ultimate sense and what is real in conventional sense. It is difficult to clearly know the difference and I will deal with this subject again later on. Seeing, hearing, colour, sound or thinking are real in the ultimate sense. This does not mean that they are abstract categories. They have each their own characteristic and they can be directly experienced. Seeing, for example has a characteristic which is different from the characteristic of hearing. These characteristics do not change, they are the same for everybody. Seeing is always seeing, hearing is always hearing, no matter how one names them. Concepts or ideas such as person, world, animal, are conventional realities one can think of, but they are not real in the ultimate sense. Thinking of concepts such as person or animal is not necessarily unwholesome; we can think of them in a wholesome way or in an unwholesome way. However, we delude ourselves if we take concepts for realities. It is essential to learn the difference between realities and concepts, otherwise there cannot be the development of the Buddha's Path.
So long as understanding has not been developed to the stage that the momentary breaking up of physical phenomena and mental phenomena has been realized, it is impossible to see things as they really are. We believe that seeing lasts for a while and that what is seen also lasts. Our world seems to be full of people, we believe that we really see them. In reality seeing doesn't last and colour which is seen doesn't last either. When we ``see'' people the situation is the same as watching the projected images on a screen which are rapidly changing. We ``see'' the image of a person or a thing, but the outer appearance is misleading. In reality there are many different moments arising and falling away, succeeding one another. There are processes of seeing, recognizing, classifying, defining and thinking. When it seems that we see a ``whole'', the image of a person, it is actually thinking which is conditioned by seeing, by the experience of what is visible.
The Buddha spoke about all that can be experienced through the senses and through the mind in order to help people to develop understanding of realities and to know the truth about them, to realize them as impermanent, dukkha and not self. Seeing is a reality, but it is not self, hearing is a reality, but it is not self, thinking is a reality, but it is not self.
A question which may arise is the following: if people do not exist, what is the sense of developing kindness, which has to be directed towards people, what is the sense of committing oneself to the improvement of the world? The answer is that knowing the truth about realities is no impediment to deal with people, to perform deeds of kindness and to commit oneself to the improvement of the world. Buddhism does not propagate a passive attitude towards the world, on the contrary, it promotes the performing of one's tasks with more unselfishness, with more wholesomeness. We usually think of people in an unwholesome way, with clinging, aversion and delusion. We cling to an image of ourselves and also to images of other people. We have an image of how they should behave towards us. When someone else does not conform to the image we have of him we are disappointed or even angry. Clinging to images we form up conditions many kinds of defilements, such as conceit, jealousy, avarice or possessiveness. Through the Buddhist teachings we can learn to think of people in the right way, that is, without clinging to false images. While we are in the company of people and talk to them there can be the development of understanding of realities which appear through the senses and the mind. The realisation of the truth that there is no lasting person or self, merely fleeting phenomena, does not mean that one has to shun one's task in society. The Buddha himself was caring for other people, he was thinking of his disciples, he was intent on the welfare of all beings, but he had no wrong view of an abiding person, of a self. He was an example of kindness, patience and compassion. He visited sick monks and looked after them, he preached Dhamma for forty-five years. He exhorted people to develop kindness and compassion towards other beings. Even when one has realized the truth of non-self one can still think of beings, but instead of thinking with clinging, with selfishness, there are conditions to think more often in the wholesome way, and this is to the benefit of oneself and others.
There is no lasting substance or self in the combination of fleeting physical phenomena and mental phenomena we call ``person''. Neither is there a ``higher self'' outside. Some people believe that what we could call a self will after death be dissolved into a ``higher self'' into the ``All'', or the cosmos. This is not the Buddha's teaching. Even nibbåna, the unconditioned reality, is not self. All conditioned phenomena of life are impermanent, dukkha and not self. The unconditioned reality, nibbåna, does not have the characteristics of impermanence and dukkha, but it does have the characteristic of non-self.
 We read in the Dhammapada (verse 277-279):

All conditioned realities are impermanent.
Who perceives this fact with wisdom,
Straightaway becomes dispassionate towards suffering.
This is the Path to Purity.

All conditioned realities are dukkha.
Who perceives this fact with wisdom,
Straightaway becomes dispassionate towards suffering.
This is the Path to Purity.

All dhammas are non-self.
Who perceives this fact with wisdom,
Straightaway becomes dispassionate towards suffering.
This is the Path to Purity.

The text states that all dhammas are non-self. Nibbåna is not a conditioned reality, but it is real, it is dhamma. Therefore, when, the text states that all dhammas are non-self, nibbåna is included.
The development of the eightfold Path is in fact the development of understanding of ultimate realities: of seeing, colour, hearing, sound, of all that can be experienced through the senses and the mind. The reader may find it monotonous to read in the texts of the scriptures time and again about these realities. The aim of the teaching on ultimate realities, however, is the eradication of the concept of self. The clinging to the concept of self has to be eradicated first before there can be the elimination of other defilements. When a person can be seen as five khandhas, mere elements, which are arising and vanishing, there are conditions for being less inclined to attachment and aversion towards the vicissitudes of life, such as praise and blame, gain and loss, which play such an important role in our life. We read in ``The Simile of the Elephant's Footprint'' (Middle Length Sayings I, number 28) that the Buddha's disciple Såriputta explained to the monks realities by way of elements. He explained that the body should not be seen as ``I'', ``mine'', or ``I am''. We read:

...Your reverences, if others abuse, revile, annoy, vex this monk, he comprehends: ``This painful feeling that has arisen in me is born of sensory impingement on the ear, it has a cause, it is not without a cause. What is the cause? Sensory impingement is the cause.'' He sees that sensory impingement is impermanent, he sees that feeling... perception...mental activities are impermanent, he sees that consciousness is impermanent. His mind rejoices, is pleased, composed and is set on the objects of the element...

We are inclined to blame other people when they speak in a disagreeable way, instead of realizing that there is merely sound impinging on the ear-sense, elements impinging on elements. So long as there is clinging to a self realities cannot be seen as mere elements. This sutta makes clear that it is beneficial to understand the truth of non-self. It can only be realized very gradually, in developing understanding of the realities included in the five khandhas.


Chapter 4

The mind



The Buddha taught the truth of non-self. What is called the mind or the soul is not a self, but ever-changing mental elements which are arising and falling away. The implication of this truth is difficult to grasp. Before coming into contact with Buddhism we considered the mind to be the core and essence of the human personality. We considered the mind as that which thinks, takes decisions and charts the course of our life. In order to understand the Buddha's teaching on the mind as non-self, it is necessary to have a more detailed knowledge of the mind. The word mind is misleading since it is associated with particular concepts of Western philosophy, it is usually associated merely with thinking. The mind according to the Buddhist teaching experiences or cognizes an object, and this has to be taken in its widest sense. I prefer therefore to use the Påli term citta (pronounced ``chitta''). Citta is derived from the Påli term ``cinteti'', being aware or thinking. Citta is conscious or aware of an object.
``Mind'', ``soul'' or ``spirit'' are ``conventional realities''. Through the Buddhist teachings we learn about ultimate realities as I explained in the preceding chapter. All mental activities we used to ascribe to ``our mind'' are carried out by citta, not by one citta, but by many different cittas. Cittas are moments of consciousness which are impermanent, they are arising and falling away, succeeding one another. Our life is an unbroken series of cittas. If there were no citta, we would not be alive, we could not think, read, study, act or speak. When we walk or when we stretch out our hand to take hold of something, it is citta which conditions our movements. It is citta which perceives the world outside; if there were no citta nothing could appear. The world outside appears through eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodysense and mind. We think of what is seen, heard or experienced through the other senses. There are not merely cittas which think, the cittas which think are alternated with cittas which see, hear or experience objects through the other senses. When we touch something which is hard or soft, there are cittas which experience tangible object through the bodysense, and then there are cittas which think of what was touched, a table or a chair.
Before we studied the Buddhist teachings we did not consider the mind as a reality which can see or hear. The Buddha taught that also seeing and hearing are cittas. There is a great variety of cittas which each experience an object. The citta which sees, seeing-consciousness, experiences an object: visible object or colour. It experiences visible object through the eye-sense. Eye-sense is the ``doorway'' through which seeing-consciousness experiences visible object. Hearing-consciousness experiences sound through the doorway of the ear-sense. Seeing and hearing are entirely different cittas which are depending on different conditions. Cittas experience objects through the doorways of eye, ear, nose, tongue, bodysense and mind. Before studying the Buddhist teachings we did not pay attention to seeing as being a citta experiencing visible object through the eye-door, or to hearing as being a citta experiencing sound through the ear-door. Cittas, objects and doorways are ultimate realities taught by the Buddha.
One may doubt the usefulness of knowing details on cittas, objects and doorways. It is important to know more thoroughly the phenomena of our life which are occurring all the time. We are deluded as to the truth when we believe that they are lasting and that they are ``self'', or belonging to a ``self'', that we can exert control over them. The Buddha taught that they are impermanent, dukkha and non-self. These characteristics are not abstract categories, they pertain to seeing, eye-sense, visible object, to all phenomena which are arising and falling away from moment to moment. Since understanding of the truth of these phenomena can only gradually develop, we should begin to investigate them more closely. In the ultimate sense there are merely mental phenomena and physical phenomena. So long as they cannot be distinguished from each other, there cannot be a precise knowledge of them.
The citta which sees, seeing-consciousness, is a mental phenomenon, it experiences an object. It is dependent on eye-sense, which is a physical phenomenon. Eye-sense does not see but it has the quality of receiving colour, so that seeing-consciousness can experience that colour. Colour or visible object is also a physical phenomenon, it cannot experience anything. Seeing, hearing and the experiences through the other senses are dependent on conditions. If there were no doorways the different sense objects could not be experienced, and consequently what we call ``the world outside'' could not appear. When we are fast asleep, without dreaming, the world does not appear. We do not know who our parents or friends are, we do not know the place where we are living. When we wake up the world around us appears again. We can verify that there is impingement of the sense objects on the appropriate senses and this is the condition for the experience of the world around us. There are cittas which see, hear and experience the other sense objects, and these experiences condition thinking about the world of people and things. We are usually absorbed in our thoughts concerning the people and things around us and we do not realize that it is citta which thinks. We could not think of ``self'', person or possessions, which are conventional realities, if there were not the ultimate realities of colour, sound and the other sense objects and the cittas which experience them through the appropriate doorways.
There can be merely one citta at a time, experiencing one object. It seems that several cittas can occur at the same time, but in reality this is not so. Different cittas, such as seeing and hearing, experience different objects and are dependent on different doorways. Seeing, hearing and thinking are different cittas arising at different moments. We can notice that seeing is not hearing, that they are different experiences. If they would occur at the same time we would not be able to know that they are different. Cittas arise and fall away very rapidly; the citta which has fallen away is immediately succeeded by the next citta. It seems that seeing, hearing or thinking can last for a while, but in reality they exist merely for an extremely short moment.
There is a great variety of cittas which arise because of their appropriate conditions. There are cittas which see, hear, experience objects through the other senses and think about these objects. The cittas which see, hear, smell, taste or experience an object through the bodysense neither like nor dislike the object, they do not react to the object in an unwholesome or a wholesome way. These types of citta are neither kusala, wholesome, nor akusala, unwholesome. However, shortly after they have fallen away there are cittas which react to the objects experienced through the senses either in an unwholesome way or in a wholesome way. Thus, there are kusala cittas, there are akusala cittas, and there are cittas which are neither kusala nor akusala. Time and again there is seeing or hearing and on account of the object which is experienced there are cittas which are either kusala or akusala. When there is thinking, there is either kusala citta or akusala citta. There are also cittas which motivate good or bad actions and speech. When we give a present there are wholesome cittas, kusala cittas with generosity which motivate our giving. When we speak harsh words, there are unwholesome cittas, akusala cittas with anger which motivate our speech.
Different inclinations to kusala and akusala have been accumulated. Accumulated tendencies are like microbes, they are lying dormant, but they can appear at any time when there is an opportunity for them to appear. In this connection the term ``subconsciousness'' is used in Western psychology, designating that part of the mind which is not ordinarily known, but which shows itself for example in dreams. The term subconsciousness is misleading, it implies something static. In reality there are accumulated tendencies, but they are not static, they are accumulating from moment to moment; they are conditions for the arising of kusala citta or akusala citta later on. Each moment of kusala citta or akusala citta arising today is a condition for the arising of kusala citta or akusala citta in the future. Each citta which arises falls away, but since it is succeeded by the next citta without any interval, the process of accumulation can go on from moment to moment.
There are different types of kusala citta and of akusala citta. It is important to learn more about them in order to understand ourselves, the way we behave towards others in action and speech, and the way we react towards pleasant and unpleasant events. It is citta which motivates good deeds and evil deeds. We read in the Middle Length Sayings (II, number 78, Discourse to Samaùamaùèikå) that the Buddha explained to the carpenter Pañcakaòga about akusala cittas and kusala cittas:

And which, carpenter, are the unskilled moral habits? Unskilled deed of body, unskilled deed of speech, evil mode of livelihood--these, carpenter, are called unskilled moral habits. And how, carpenter, do these unskilled moral habits originate? Their origination is spoken of too. It should be answered that the origination is in the citta. Which citta? For the citta is manifold, various, diverse. That citta which has attachment, aversion, ignorance--originating from this are unskilled moral habits...

The Buddha also said of skilled moral habits that they originate from the citta, the citta which is without attachment, aversion and ignorance. Thus, all evil deeds originate from akusala citta and all wholesome deeds originate from kusala citta.
Akusala can be described as an unhealthy state of mind, as unskilled, blameworthy, faulty, unprofitable, as having unhappy results. Kusala can be described as a healthy state of mind, as skilful, faultless, profitable, as having happy results.
We read in the above quoted sutta that the citta is manifold, various, diverse. The akusala citta with attachment is quite different from kusala citta with generosity. What types of reality are attachment and generosity? Are they cittas or are they other types of reality? They are mental qualities, mental factors which can accompany citta. Attachment is an unwholesome mental quality, a defilement, whereas generosity is a wholesome mental quality. Citta can think, motivate actions or speech for example, with attachment, with anger, with generosity, with compassion. There is only one citta at a time, but it is accompanied by several mental factors or mental co-adjuncts, and these condition the citta to be so various. Greed, avarice, anger, jealousy or conceit are unwholesome mental factors which can accompany akusala citta. Generosity, loving-kindness, compassion or wisdom are wholesome mental factors which can accompany kusala citta. The mental factors which accompany citta in various combinations arise and fall away together with the citta.
The commentary to the first book of the Abhidhamma, the Expositor (I, Part II, Chapter I, 67), uses a simile of the king and his retinue. Just as the king does not come without his attendants, the citta does not arise alone but is accompanied by several mental factors. As to the cittas which arise all the time in daily life, it can be said that citta is the chief, the principal, in knowing the object, and that the mental factors assist the citta. The citta which thinks, for example with generosity, is the chief in knowing the object, and generosity assists the citta to think in the wholesome way. The citta which thinks with jealousy is the chief in knowing the object, and jealousy assists the citta to think in the unwholesome way.
Among the unwholesome mental factors which accompany akusala citta there are three which are called ``roots'', namely: attachment, aversion and ignorance. Among the wholesome mental factors which accompany kusala citta there are three roots, namely: non-attachment, non-aversion and wisdom. The word ``root'' is used in the Buddhist teachings, since it is the firm support for the citta, being an important condition, just as the root of a tree is the firm support for the tree, the means of providing saps, necessary for its growth. The unwholesome roots of attachment, aversion and ignorance which can be associated with akusala citta have many shades and degrees; they can be coarse or more subtle. Attachment can be so strong that it motivates bad deeds such as stealing or lying, but it can also be of a more subtle degree, a degree of attachment which does not motivate any deed. Attachment can be expecting something pleasant for oneself, wishing, liking, longing, affection, self-indulgence, lust, possessiveness or covetousness. Even when we hope that other people like us, when we wish to have a good name, there are akusala cittas rooted in attachment. When we, for example, give a present to someone else there is generosity, but there can also be moments of hoping or expecting to gain something in return for our gift. Such expectations are motivated by clinging. Akusala is not the same as what is generally meant by sin or immorality. Also the more subtle degrees of attachment which do not motivate bad deeds are akusala, they are unhelpful, harmful. They are accumulated from moment to moment and thus attachment increases evermore. Clinging is deeply rooted and it is important to know our deep rooted tendencies. Affection is a form of attachment which is in society not regarded as harmful. One feels affection for parents, relatives, children or friends. It should be understood, however, that when there is affection, there is actually clinging to one's own pleasant feeling, derived from being in the company of a loved one. When there is mourning for someone who has died, there is sadness conditioned by clinging to oneself. Affection conditions fear of loss, aversion and sadness. We read in the Kindred Sayings (IV, Part VIII, Kindred Sayings about Headmen, §11) that the Buddha, while staying at Uruvelakappa, explained to the headman Bhadragaka that clinging is the cause of dukkha. We read that Bhadragaka said:

``Wonderful, lord! Strange it is, lord, how well said is this saying of the Exalted One: `Whatsoever dukkha arising comes upon me,--all that is rooted in desire. Desire is indeed the root of dukkha.'
Now, lord, there is my boy,--Ciravåsi is his name. He lodges away from here. At the time of rising up, lord, I send off a man, saying: `Go, my man, inquire of Ciravåsi.' Then, lord, till that man comes back again, I am in an anxious state, fearing lest some sickness may have befallen Ciravåsi.''
``Now, what do you think, headman? Would sorrow and grief, woe, lamentation and despair come upon you if your boy Ciravåsi were slain or imprisoned or had loss or blame?''
``Lord, if such were to befall my boy Ciravåsi, how should I not have sorrow and grief, woe, lamentation and despair?''
``But, headman, you must regard it in this manner: `Whatsoever dukkha arising comes upon me,--all that is rooted in desire, is joined to desire. Desire is indeed the root of dukkha.' ''

It is impossible to be without clinging so long as the state of perfection has not been reached. We cannot force ourselves not to have clinging, but it is beneficial to realize when there is clinging, even when it is of a subtle degree, and when there is detachment. There is attachment when we like landscapes, when we enjoy shopping or talking to friends, or even when we get up in order to fetch a glass of water. Attachment can be accompanied by pleasant feeling or by indifferent feeling. When there is indifferent feeling there can still be attachment, but we may not notice it.
Aversion is another unwholesome root. Aversion dislikes the object which is experienced, whereas attachment likes it. Aversion cannot arise at the same time as attachment, but it is conditioned by it. Aversion has many shades and degrees, it can be dissatisfaction, frustration, disappointment, dejection, sadness, fear, grief, despair, revulsion, resentment, moodiness or irritability. Unpleasant feeling invariably goes together with this unwholesome root. When there is even a slight feeling of uneasiness there is citta rooted in aversion. When we have envy or stinginess there is citta rooted in aversion. In the case of envy, one dislikes it that someone else enjoys pleasant things, one wants to obtain them for oneself. In the case of avarice one does not want to share one's possessions with someone else. Aversion can also motivate killing, harsh speech rudeness or cruelty.
Another unwholesome root is ignorance. This is not the same as what is meant by ignorance in conventional language. In Buddhism ignorance has a specific meaning: it is ignorance of the characteristic of kusala and of akusala, of the truth of non-self, of the four noble Truths, in short, of ultimate realities. There are many degrees of ignorance. Ignorance is the root of all evil. Whenever there is citta rooted in attachment and citta rooted in aversion, there is also the root of ignorance. When one hears a pleasant sound, attachment is likely to arise and then there is ignorance as well. When one hears a harsh sound, aversion is likely to arise and then there is ignorance as well. Ignorance does not know the realities which arise, it does not know that attachment and aversion are akusala. Ignorance is like darkness or blindness. When there is ignorance the real nature of realities is covered up.
The three wholesome roots of non-attachment, non-aversion and wisdom have many shades and degrees. Non-attachment can be unselfishness, generosity, renunciation or dispassion. Each kusala citta is rooted in non-attachment. Whenever there is kusala citta, there is no clinging at that moment but detachment. Each kusala citta is rooted not only in non-attachment, it is also rooted in non-aversion. Non-aversion has many degrees: it can be loving-kindness, forbearance or endurance. Loving-kindness is directed towards beings, and forbearance or endurance can also pertain to situations and things. When the temperature is too hot or too cold there is bound to be dislike. When the benefit of forbearance is seen, one is not disturbed by the temperature and one does not complain. Wisdom is the third wholesome root. Wisdom does not accompany each kusala citta. Wisdom is a condition for the arising of kusala citta more often. Wisdom or understanding in Buddhism is understanding of realities. It has many degrees, it can be theoretical understanding of realities or direct understanding of the reality which appears. It can be understanding of kusala as kusala, of akusala as akusala, of good and evil deeds and their results, of the truth of non-self, of the four noble Truths. Understanding can be gradually developed. The direct understanding of realities leads to the eradication of defilements.
When there is kusala citta there are no attachment, aversion or ignorance with the citta. Kusala citta motivates wholesome deeds and speech. It depends on accumulations of kusala and akusala in the past what type of citta arises. Good friends or bad friends one associates with are also an important condition for the arising of kusala cittas or akusala cittas. When one associates with a wise friend there are conditions for the arising of kusala citta more often. There are many more akusala cittas arising than kusala cittas because of the accumulated defilements which condition them, but this is unnoticed. Just as we do not notice the amount of dirt on our hands until we wash them, evenso do we not know the amount of defilements until understanding of realities is developed.
Citta experiences pleasant and unpleasant objects through the senses and through the mind-door. When a pleasant object is experienced, attachment is likely to arise and when an unpleasant object is experienced, aversion is likely to arise. It is natural that pleasant objects are liked and unpleasant objects are disliked. It seems that we are ruled by the objects which are experienced. The pleasant object or unpleasant object is a condition for the citta which arises, but there is nothing compulsive in the nature of the object that could determine the reaction towards it. It depends on one's accumulated inclinations whether one reacts in a wholesome way or in an unwholesome way to the pleasant and unpleasant objects which are experienced through the senses and through the mind-door. After seeing, hearing or the experience of objects through the other senses there can be ``unwise attention'' or ``wise attention'' to the object. When there is unwise attention to the object, there are akusala cittas, and when there is wise attention to the object, there are kusala cittas. When there is a pleasant object, there can be attachment and in that case there is unwise attention. We may, for example, only be intent on our own enjoyment of the pleasant object and not inclined to share it with others. Whereas, when there is wise attention, we are inclined to share a pleasant object with others, and then there are kusala cittas with generosity. When there is an unpleasant object, there can be aversion and thus there is unwise attention. Someone else may for example speak harsh words to us and most of the time we dislike such speech, we even blame that person for his harsh speech. Aversion, however, does not necessarily have to arise. When it is remembered that the person who speaks harshly makes himself unhappy there may be compassion instead of anger or aversion. When there is wise attention there can be forbearance and patience even when the object is unpleasant.
It is beneficial to learn more details about the many different types of citta: kusala citta, akusala citta and citta which is neither kusala nor akusala. When there is ignorance of akusala and kusala, the disadvantage of akusala and the benefit of kusala cannot be seen. We long for pleasant objects and we dislike unpleasant objects. Through the Buddhist teachings one learns that whatever arises is dependent on conditions. Sometimes there are conditions for the experience of pleasant objects and sometimes for the experience of unpleasant objects, nobody can exert control over the cittas which arise. Pleasant objects cannot last and therefore clinging to them will only lead to frustration and sadness. Time and again there is the arising of attachment, aversion and ignorance on account of objects experienced through eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodysense and mind. There is enslavement to objects which arise and then fall away immediately. When the foolishness of such infatuation is realized, there are conditions to develop understanding of the realities of life. One will understand that there are countless akusala cittas arising on account of the objects experienced through the senses, akusala cittas which were not noticed before. When the characteristics of kusala and akusala are seen more clearly, there are conditions for the development of the roots of non-attachment, non-aversion and wisdom. These are the roots of kusala cittas which motivate the abstaining from unwholesome actions and the performing of wholesome deeds and speech.
As we have seen, there is a great variety of cittas. All cittas have in common that they cognize an object, but cittas are different as they are accompanied by different mental factors and experience different objects. Seeing always experiences visible object and hearing always experiences sound, but the reactions towards the objects and the thoughts about them vary for different people. When someone else, for example, speaks harsh words, there is the hearing of sound, and afterwards there is thinking of the meaning of the words, thinking of the person who speaks, thinking of conventional realities. Each person lives in his own world of thinking. We react to what is experienced not only with our thoughts, but also with action and speech. At the moments we do not perform good deeds or we do not develop understanding, we think, act and speak with akusala cittas. Citta determines our behaviour, citta is called in the scriptures ``the leader of the world''. We read in the Kindred Sayings (I, Sagåthå-vagga, Chapter I, The Devas, Part 7, §2, Citta), the following verse:

Now what is that whereby the world is led?
And what is that whereby it is drawn along?
And what is that above all other things
That brings everything beneath its sway?

It is citta whereby the world is led,
And by citta it is drawn along,
And citta it is above all other things
That brings everything beneath its sway.

In order to grasp the nature of our own life and the lives of others, it is essential to understand what citta is. In order to have more understanding of what citta is, the difference between conventional truth and ultimate truth has to be known. Conventional truth is the truth we were always familiar with before we studied the Buddhist teachings; it is the conventional world of person, of ``self'', of things which exist. Ultimate truth are mental phenomena and physical phenomena. Cittas are mental phenomena, they experience something. Bodily phenomena, such as the sense organs, and physical phenomena outside do not experience anything. Citta can experience both mental phenomena and physical phenomena. The physical phenomena and mental phenomena of our life arise, exist just for an extremely short moment and then vanish. Ultimate realities have each their own characteristic which can be directly experienced when it appears, without the need to think about it. By theoretical understanding we will not know what citta is. Only if there can be the development of direct understanding of the citta appearing at this moment, no matter it is seeing, hearing or thinking, will we truly know what citta is. When the diversity of cittas and their manifold conditions are seen more clearly the truth of non-self will gradually be better understood. One will be motivated to seek the elimination of delusion about the realities of one's life, of the wrong view of self, of all forms of clinging, aversion and ignorance.


Chapter 5

Deeds and their Results



There are many types of cittas, moments of consciousness. Cittas can be kusala, wholesome, akusala, unwholesome, or neither kusala nor akusala. The sense-impressions such as seeing or hearing are neither kusala nor akusala, but shortly after they have arisen and fallen away there are cittas which react to the object experienced by the sense-impressions, and they react either in a wholesome way or in an unwholesome way. There are more often akusala cittas which can be rooted in attachment, aversion or ignorance, than kusala cittas which are rooted in non-attachment and non-aversion, and which may be rooted in wisdom as well. Akusala cittas can motivate evil deeds and kusala cittas can motivate good deeds. We read in the  Gradual Sayings (V, Book of the Tens, Ch. 17, §8, Due to greed, hatred and delusion) that the Buddha said to the monks:

Monks, the taking of life is threefold, I declare. It is motivated by greed, hatred and delusion. Taking what is not given...sexual misconduct...falsehood...spiteful speech...harsh language...idle babble...covetousness...ill-will and wrong view is threefold, I declare. It is motivated by greed, hatred and delusion.
Thus, monks, greed is the originator of a chain of causal action, hatred is the originator of a chain of causal action, delusion is the originator of a chain of causal action. By destroying greed, hatred and delusion comes the breaking up of the chain of causal action.

We read about a ``chain of causal action''. The Påli term kamma, also known in its Sanskrit form karma, literally means action or deed. A good deed brings a pleasant result and a bad deed brings an unpleasant result. The results of our own deeds come to us sooner or later, this is the law of kamma and result, and nobody can alter the operation of this law. The Buddha's teaching on kamma and result is difficult to grasp. It is not a dogma one has to accept. There can be theoretical understanding of kamma and result, but by theoretical understanding this law cannot be fully comprehended. Only by direct understanding of the physical phenomena and mental phenomena of our life the condition of kamma which produces result can be seen more clearly. Therefore it should not be expected that the law of kamma and result can be fully understood when we begin to investigate the Buddha's teaching on this subject.
A deed done in the past can produce result later on. Kamma can be compared to a seed developing into a tree which bears fruit later on. Evenso, a bad deed, for example killing, can produce an unpleasant result such as illness or pain. A good deed, for example a deed of generosity, can produce a pleasant result, such as the receiving of beautiful things. When we think of a deed and its result we usually think of a deed which has an effect on someone else. In order to understand the law of kamma and its result we should not think in terms of the conventional realities of persons and situations, but we should have understanding of the ultimate realities of cittas and their accompanying mental factors and of physical phenomena, realities which arise and then fall away immediately. We cannot be sure whether someone else performs kusala kamma or not from the outward appearance of things. We may see someone else giving things away but there may not be the performing of a deed of generosity. The giving may be motivated by selfish motives, and then giving is not kusala kamma. It is the wholesome or unwholesome intention or volition which constitutes kusala kamma or akusala kamma. The terms kusala kamma and akusala kamma can be used in the sense of good deeds and evil deeds, but when we are more precise kamma is the intention or volition motivating deeds performed through bodily action, through speech and through the mind. When we speak of the different types of kusala kamma and akusala kamma we should remember that kamma is intention or volition, a mental reality. Kamma is a mental factor accompanying citta, and it arises and falls away together with the citta.
How can a deed performed in the past produce its result later on? Kamma, or the volition which accompanies the citta when a good deed or a bad deed is performed, falls away immediately together with the citta. However, since each citta which falls away is succeeded by the next citta, kamma can be accumulated from moment to moment. Its dynamic force is carried on and when the time is ripe it can produce its result. That is the chain of causal action we read about in the above quoted sutta. The same sutta mentions the kinds of akusala kamma performed through body, speech and mind. Not every akusala citta is of the intensity of akusala kamma which can produce a result. When there is clinging to a pleasant sight or sound there is akusala citta but not akusala kamma which could produce a result. Clinging, however, has many degrees. It can be more subtle or it can be strong, such as covetousness, the desire for someone else's property. This has the intensity of akusala kamma when one plans to take away what belongs to someone else. Kusala kamma comprises abstaining from evil deeds as well as the performing of good deeds, deeds of generosity and mental development, such as the study of the Buddha's teachings and the development of understanding of the realities of our life.
Moments of happiness and misery alternate in our life. The experiences of pleasant objects and unpleasant objects through the senses do not occur by chance, they must have a cause: kamma is the cause. We read in the Gradual Sayings (IV, Book of the Eights, Chapter I, §5, Worldly Failings) that the Buddha said to the monks:

Monks, these eight worldly conditions obsess the world; the world revolves round these eight worldly conditions. What eight?
Gain and loss, fame and obscurity, blame and praise, bodily ease and pain.
Monks, these eight worldly conditions obsess the world, the world revolves round these eight worldly conditions.

Gain, loss, obscurity and fame,
And censure, praise, bodily ease, pain-
These are man's states--impermanent,
Of time and subject unto change.
And recognizing these the sage,
Alert, discerns these things of change;
Fair things his mind never agitate,
Nor foul his spirit vex. Gone are
Compliance and hostility,
Gone up in smoke and are no more.
The goal he knows. In measure full
He knows the stainless, griefless state.
Beyond becoming has he gone.

The person who has reached the state of perfection has equanimity towards the vicissitudes of life. He is freed from the chain of causal action, there is no more rebirth for him. So long as one is full of attachment, aversion and ignorance, one wants pleasant objects and dislikes unpleasant objects. However, the experience of pleasant objects and unpleasant objects is not in any one's power, it depends on kamma which produces result. One day there is gain, the next day loss; one day there is praise, the next day blame. Sometimes we are healthy, sometimes we suffer from sickness and pain. The experience of pleasant or unpleasant objects through the senses is not a reward or a punishment. The idea of reward or punishment stems from the conception of a supreme being, a God, who is the judge of man's deeds. The cause of the experience of pleasant and unpleasant objects through the senses is within ourselves: it is kamma. There is seeing and hearing of pleasant and unpleasant objects time and again. Seeing and hearing are the results of kusala kamma or akusala kamma. These results arise just for a moment and then they fall away. When we define what was seen or heard or think of the nature of the object, the moments of result have fallen away already. It is hard to tell whether seeing or hearing is the result of kusala kamma or of akusala kamma. Thinking of what was seen or heard is not result; when there is thinking there is kusala citta or akusala citta, but mostly akusala citta. In order to understand the ultimate realities of kamma and its result we have to be very precise. Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and the experience of tangible object through the bodysense are cittas which are results of kamma. Our reactions in a wholesome or in an unwholesome way to the objects which are experienced are not results of kamma, they are kusala citta or akusala citta. Kusala citta and akusala citta can be called the active side of life, since they can perform good deeds and bad deeds which will cause the appropriate results later on. The cittas which are results of one's deeds can be called the passive side of life. We have to receive results, whether we like it or not.
Cittas arise because of their own conditions, they are beyond control. Sometimes it seems that we ourselves can cause the enjoyment of pleasant objects. However, there have to be the right conditions for the enjoyment of pleasant objects and enjoyment cannot last as long as we wish. We can enjoy pleasant music by turning on the radio, but kamma is the cause of hearing, not a self. It also depends on conditions whether we can afford a radio or not. One may live in poverty and not be able to afford a radio. It is due to kamma if one is born into a poor family and has to live in uncomfortable circumstances. It is due to kamma if one is born into a family which is well-to-do and if one can live in comfort.
In order to understand that birth into pleasant surroundings and in unpleasant surroundings is the result of kamma we have to go back to the first moment of a lifespan. There was a citta at the first moment of our life, and this is the rebirth-consciousness. This citta must have a cause and the cause is in the past, it is kamma. Birth is result, we could not select our parents, nor time and place of our birth. The first moment of life is called rebirth-consciousness because there is not only this present life, there were also past lives. It is difficult to understand that kamma of the past produces the birth of a being. We can notice, however, that people are born into different circumstances, with different bodily features and different mental capacities. This does not happen by chance, there must be conditions for such differences. There are different kammas which cause different kinds of birth. In the ``Discourse on the Lesser Analysis of Deeds'' (Middle Length Sayings III, number 135) we read that Subha asks the Buddha what the cause is of the different results human beings experience from the time of their birth:

``Now, good Gotama, what is the cause, what is the reason that lowness and excellence are to be seen among human beings while they are in human form? For, good Gotama, human beings of short lifespan are to be seen and those of long lifespan; those of many and those of few illnesses; those who are ugly, those who are beautiful; those who are of little account, those of great account; those who are poor, those who are wealthy; those who are of lowly families, those of high families; those who are weak in wisdom, those who are full of wisdom.''

The Buddha answered Subha:
''Deeds are one's own, brahman youth, beings are heirs to deeds, deeds are matrix, deeds are kin, deeds are arbiters. Deed divides beings, that is to say by lowness and excellence.''

Some people are born in countries where there is war and famine, others in countries where there is peace and prosperity. This does not happen by chance; kamma, a deed performed in the past, is the cause. If kamma is the cause of birth, what is then the role of the parents? Parents are also a condition for the birth of a child, but they are not the only condition. Kamma produces at the first moment of life the citta which is the rebirth-consciousness. The new human being which comes to life consists of mental phenomena and bodily phenomena. The physical phenomena which arise at the first moment of life must also have a cause: kamma is the cause. Thus, at the first moment of life there is mental result as well as physical result of kamma. Kamma is not the only factor from which bodily phenomena originate. There are four factors in all: kamma, citta, temperature and nutrition. After kamma has produced bodily phenomena at the first moment of life, the other factors also produce bodily phenomena. As to the factor of temperature, there has to be the right temperature for the new being in the womb in order to develop. When the mother takes food, nutrition is suffused in the body and then nutrition is also producing bodily phenomena for the being in the womb. Citta is a condition as well for bodily phenomena arising throughout our life. If there were no citta we could not stay alive, we could not move, we could not perform any activities. If we remember the four factors which produce bodily phenomena, namely kamma, citta, temperature and nutrition, it will help us to understand that the body does not belong to a self. What we call ``my body'' consists of bodily phenomena which arise because of different conditions and then fall away.
Kamma produces bodily phenomena at the first moment of a lifespan and also throughout life. It is kamma which produces the sense organs of eyesense, earsense, smellingsense, tastingsense and bodysense. The sense organs which are the physical results of kamma are the means for the experiences which are the mental results of kamma: seeing, hearing and the other sense impressions. Thus, kamma produces result at the first moment of life, it produces the births of beings, and in the course of life it also produces pleasant and unpleasant results in the form of experiences through the senses.
Kamma can cause rebirth in unhappy and in happy planes of existence. Besides the human plane of existence there are other planes of existence. Birth in an unhappy plane is the result of akusala kamma and birth in a happy plane is the result of kusala kamma. Hell planes and the animal world, for example, are unhappy planes. The human plane and heavenly planes are happy planes. It may be felt by some that the existence of hell planes and heavenly planes is mythology. It should be remembered that conventional terms are used to designate different degrees of unpleasant results and pleasant results of kamma. Birth in a hell plane is an unhappy rebirth because in such a plane there are conditions for the experience of intense suffering. Birth in a heavenly plane is a happy rebirth because in such a plane there are conditions for the experience of pleasant objects. Life in a hell plane or in a heavenly plane does not last forever. There will be rebirth again and it depends on kamma in which plane rebirth-consciousness will arise. Birth in the human plane is the result of kusala kamma, but in the course of life there are conditions for the experience of both pleasant and unpleasant objects through the senses, depending on the different kammas which produce them.
It may happen that someone who has obtained wealth with dishonest means lives in luxury. How can bad deeds have pleasant results? It is not possible for us to find out which deed of the past produces its corresponding result at present. A criminal can receive pleasant results but these are caused by good deeds. His bad deeds will produce unpleasant results but it is not known when. In the course of many lives good deeds and bad deeds were performed and we do not know when it is the right time for a particular kamma to produce result. A good deed or a bad deed may not produce result during the life it was performed, but it may produce result in the following life or even after countless lives have passed. In the scriptures it is said that when kamma has ripened its fruit is experienced. We read in the Dhammapada, (verses 119 and 120):

Even an evil-doer sees good so long as evil ripens not; but when it bears fruit, then he sees the evil results.
Even a good person sees evil so long as good ripens not; but when it bears fruit, then the good one sees the good results.

Several other conditions are needed for akusala kamma or kusala kamma to produce their appropriate results. The time when one is born or the place where one is born can be a favourable or an unfavourable condition for kusala kamma or for akusala kamma to produce result. For example, when one lives in a time of war there are more conditions for akusala kamma and less conditions for kusala kamma to produce result. A particular kamma may be prevented from producing result when there is a very powerful counteractive kamma which has preponderance. For example, when someone is wealthy and lives in comfort, there are pleasant results for him, caused by kusala kamma. However, he may suddenly lose his wealth and be forced to live in miserable circumstances. His loss is caused by akusala kamma which has ripened so that it can produce unpleasant result. This is an example which shows that the way different kinds of kamma operate in our life is most intricate.
Time and again there is result in the form of the experience of pleasant and unpleasant objects through the senses and after such experiences there are kusala cittas or akusala cittas, but more often akusala cittas. There is likely to be attachment to pleasant objects and aversion towards unpleasant objects. Like and dislike alternate in our life. Attachment and aversion are of many degrees, they do not always have the intensity to motivate evil deeds. In that case there is no accumulation of kamma, but there is accumulation of defilements. Attachment and aversion arise and then fall away, but the conditions for these defilements are accumulated so that they can arise again. There are different types of condition which operate in our life. Kamma is one type of condition, it can produce result in the form of rebirth, or, in the course of life, in the form of the experience of pleasant or unpleasant objects through the senses. Defilement is another type of condition, it is the condition for the arising again of defilements. On account of pleasant and unpleasant results of kamma defilements may arise which are so strong that they motivate the committing of evil deeds. Thus, the result of kamma can condition defilements and defilements can condition the committing of akusala kamma which will in its turn produce result. This process is like an ever-turning wheel.
The Buddha's teaching on past lives, the present life and future lives, on the cycle of birth and death, is difficult to grasp. We can have more understanding of this teaching if we can see that, in the ultimate sense, life lasts merely as long as one moment of citta which arises and falls away. We are used to thinking in conventional terms of person, situation, life and death. In the conventional sense life starts at the moment of conception and it ends at the moment of death. In the ultimate sense there is birth and death at each moment a citta arises and falls away. The citta which has fallen away conditions the arising of the next citta. There has to be a citta arising at each moment, there is no moment without citta. Cittas arise in succession in the current of life. When the end of a lifespan approaches, the last citta, the dying-consciousness, falls away, but it is succeeded by the next citta. That citta is the first citta of a new life, namely the rebirth-consciousness. There can be theoretical understanding of death and rebirth, but all doubts can only be eliminated by the development of direct understanding of the mental phenomena and physical phenomena which arise and fall away. If there is direct understanding of the conditions for the citta which arises at this moment, doubt about rebirth can be eliminated. Just as the citta of this moment is succeeded by the next citta, evenso the last citta of this life will be succeeded by a following citta, the rebirth-consciousness.
It is dukkha to be in the cycle of birth and death. Why do we have to receive an unpleasant result of a deed committed in a past life? In a past life one was another being, different from what one is now. But why should we receive the result of a deed committed in the past by another being? A deed in the past which produces result now was committed by a being from which we have originated. It is indeed sorrowful that unpleasant results have to be received for evil deeds which may have been committed many lives ago. This is the law of kamma and its result, and it operates, whether we like it or not. A person in this life is different from what he was in a past life, but all that was accumulated in the past, kusala kamma and akusala kamma, defilements and good qualities, all accumulations have been carried on from moment to moment and they condition what is called the present personality. The Path of Purification (XVII, 167) explains:
And with the stream of continuity there is neither identity nor otherness. For if there were absolute identity in a stream of continuity, there would be no forming of curd from milk. And yet if there were absolute otherness, the curd would not be derived from the milk... So neither absolute identity nor absolute otherness should be assumed here.
The rebirth-consciousness has not been transferred from the past life to this life, it is completely new. However, the conditions for its arising stem from the past. The Path of Purification (166) illustrates this with similes. An echo is not the same as the sound but it originates from the sound. The impression of a seal stamped on wax is not the same as the seal itself, but it originates from the seal. These similes clarify that the present life is different from the past life, but that it is conditioned by the past. There is no transmigration or reincarnation of a self. The person who is reborn consists of five ``groups of existence'', the ``khandhas'', namely physical phenomena and mental phenomena which are arising and falling away. There is no permanent, unchanging substance which passes from one moment to the next one, from the last moment of life to the first moment of a new life. We read in the scriptures about the former lives of the Buddha and his disciples. The ``Birth Stories'' relate the former lives of the Buddha when he was still a Bodhisatta and accumulated wisdom and all the other excellent qualities, the ``Perfections'', which were the right conditions to become a Buddha in his last life. There were accumulations of wisdom and of the Perfections, but not a person, not a self who accumulated these. There were only the khandhas arising and falling away. Since each citta is succeeded by the next one within the current of countless lives, accumulations are carried on from one life to the next life.
Can one speak of evolution in the succession of different lives, a development from animal life to the human life and then to life in heavenly planes? There is no specific order in the kinds of rebirths, there is not necessarily development from life in lower planes to higher planes. In reality rebirth depends on the kamma which produces it. Kusala kamma may produce rebirth in a heavenly plane and after that it may be the right time for akusala kamma to produce rebirth in a hell plane. Only the person who has attained enlightenment has no more conditions for an unhappy rebirth. When one has reached the state of perfection all defilements have been eradicated and thus there are no more conditions for any kind of rebirth. This means the end of dukkha.
The Buddha, in the night he attained enlightenment, had penetrated the conditions for being in the cycle of birth and death and also the conditions for being freed from this cycle. Kamma which produces rebirth is part of a whole chain of conditions for the phenomena which constitute the cycle of birth and death. It is like a vicious circle of interdependently arising phenomena, forming a chain of twelve links, the first of which is ignorance and the last one death. This is called ``Dependent Origination''. The ``Dependent Origination'' is an essential part of the Buddha's teachings. Ignorance is mentioned as the first cause of the interdependently arising phenomena of the cycle. So long as ignorance has not been eradicated there are still conditions for the performing of kamma which produces rebirth. At rebirth there is the arising of mental phenomena and physical phenomena. There is the experience of objects through the senses and the mind-door. On account of the objects which are experienced different feelings arise and feeling in its turn conditions craving. Due to craving there is clinging which conditions the performing of kamma and this produces again rebirth. So long as there is birth there is old age and death, and thus there is no end to dukkha. This is the teaching on the ``Dependent Origination'' which shows the conditions stemming from the past life for phenomena in the present life, and conditions of the present life for phenomena in the future.
Ignorance is mentioned as the first factor of the Dependent Origination, but no first beginning of the cycle has been revealed. The Path of Purification (XIX, 20) explains:


There is no doer of a deed
Or one who reaps the deed's result;
Phenomena alone flow on--
No other view than this is right.
And so, while kamma and result
Thus causally maintain their round,
As seed and tree succeed in turn,
No first beginning can be shown.

It is of no use to speculate about the beginning of the cycle. The Buddha taught that when ignorance has been eradicated by wisdom, there aren't any more conditions for the performing of kamma, and thus no conditions for rebirth. Through wisdom there can be the reversal of the vicious circle made up by the links of the Dependent Origination. This means the end of the cycle, the end of dukkha. The commentary to the first book of the Abhidhamma, the Expositor (I, Part I, Chapter I, 44) explains by way of a simile the conditions leading to the continuation of the cycle and those leading to the end of it :

...``leading to accumulation'' are those states which go about severally arranging (births and deaths in) a round of destiny like a bricklayer who arranges bricks, layer by layer, in a wall. ``Leading to dispersion'' are those states which go about destroying that very round, like a man who continually removes the bricks as they are laid by the mason.

When understanding has been developed to the degree that enlightenment is attained there will be ``dispersion'', the removal of the conditions for being in the cycle.
The teaching on the Dependent Origination explains why we are in this life, why we have to suffer old age, sickness and death. It explains the conditions for our life, for what we call our body and our mind. We may know in general that mind and body are dependent on conditions, but through the study of the Buddha's teachings we will know more in detail what these conditions are and how they operate from birth to death. It is kamma which produces bodily phenomena from the first moment of life and also throughout life. Besides kamma, citta, temperature and nutrition also produce bodily phenomena. Kamma produces throughout life the sense-organs, the physical conditions for the pleasant and unpleasant experiences which are the mental results of kamma. We are heirs to kamma, it is unavoidable that there are loss, pain and other adversities of life. There are many kinds of kamma which were performed in the past, and what is done cannot be undone. When it is the right time kamma produces its appropriate result. Ignorance of cause and result in life conditions aversion and frustration on account of unpleasant experiences and this means more suffering. Understanding of the cause of suffering does not mean the immediate elimination of grief and depression. However, understanding can help one to be less overcome by despair about what is unavoidable, what is beyond control. More understanding means less suffering. The Buddha did not only teach that life is dukkha, he also taught the release from dukkha, namely the development of the wisdom which can eradicate ignorance and all defilements.




Chapter 6

Good deeds and a wholesome life




Not to do evil, to cultivate good, to purify one's mind,--
this is the teaching of the Buddhas.

		(Dhammapada, verse 183).

All religions encourage people to abstain from evil, to perform good deeds and to lead a wholesome life. In which way is Buddhism different from other teachings? What is kusala, wholesome, is kusala, and what is akusala, unwholesome, is akusala, no matter who performs it, no matter which religion he professes. Buddhism, however, is different from other teachings in so far as it explains the source of wholesomeness: the different cittas which perform good deeds. The Buddha explained in detail all the different cittas and their accompanying mental factors and also the conditions for their arising. He helped people to know the characteristic of kusala and of akusala. In that way the cittas which arise in daily life can be investigated and the different degrees of kusala and of akusala can be known by one's own experience. When we think of good deeds such as giving or helping, we usually have in mind the outward situation, we think of persons who perform deeds. The outward appearance of things, however, can be misleading. It depends on the nature of the citta whether there is the performing of wholesomeness or not. We can only know ourselves the nature of our own citta. It is essential to know when the citta is kusala citta and when it is akusala citta.
The performing of what is wholesome comprises not only deeds of generosity but also good moral conduct as well as mental development. It is important to learn more details of the different ways of kusala which can be performed. In the Buddhist teachings the ways of wholesomeness can be classified as threefold, namely as generosity, good moral conduct and mental development. Learning about these ways is in itself