“But when the Light is Bright, you can see them clearly, and then be able to take them down”.

“When your Mind is Bright, you’ll be able to see your Defilements clearly too, and clear them away”.

(The Venerable Ajarn Chah – “No Ajarn Chah”)

Right View Comes First

When we have attained a minimum level of clarity through Samatha meditation, along with a natural inclination to let go of the things we learn to observe as being impermanent, leading to suffering (if we cling to them) and Not Self, which arises from correctly applied Vipassana insight practice, then we shall be able to see much more deeply and intuitively within. Looking then at our emotions, reactions,hopes expectations, desires and aversions, we can then see more clearly if an aspect of the Psyche is a Kilesa (Defilement), or not.

This may seem meaningless to those who have not yet gained this insight, but those who practice diligently will see for themselves that the intensity of Clarity which arises with sustained effort in the practice reveals ever more subtle degrees of Insight into the Nature of our needs, drives and inclinations. It then becomes ever easier to recognize the Defilements as they arise and dissolve them with that which i like to refer to as the “Spontaneous Self Liberating Thought”

The Spontaneous Self Liberating Thought;

By this, I mean that when we have developed a stronger inclination to avoid suffering, we will begin to instantly recognize and shy away from events (both inner and outer), which our accumulated Wisdom tells us are Unsatisfactory (Dukkha). When we get entangled in thoughts, and cling to things which lead to suffering ,are impermanent and Not Self, Suffering ensues without fail. With Vipassana, we observe all aspects of our Experience and Existence using Tilakkhana (the Three Conditions) as a criteria for concluding the nature of all things (the Dhamma).

Tilakkhana means that all things are subject to Change (Impermanent – Anicca),Unsatisfactory (Dukkha), and Not Self (Anatta).

When we learn to observe and conclude that all things are Impermanent, Unsatisfactory and Not Self (not our property, not us), we develop a Natural distaste for anything which leads to Suffering.

The Human Condition of Existence and Consciousness within the framework of the five Khandas might seem like a pile of fun until you observe the World through the teachings of the Dhamma, but indeed for the practitioner who has concluded in his heart that the mind which is still under the power of Rupa and Nama, and subject to the five Khandas, Birth and Death, which has to endure the inescapable cycle of Dependent Origination, even the slightest train of thought or entanglement in emotions without the presence of Mindfulness seems most Undesirable.

To be lost in ones thoughts or emotions:- Entangled in the net of the Khandas, being washed around on the surface of the Ocean of Becoming.
Frightening indeed.

If  we consider all the myriad of Dhammas explained by Lord Buddha, we should be able to conclude that all the various techniques of realization, all the Dharmic truths and everything else which can be called Dhamma, point to one simple purpose and goal;

To remove the Defilements.

The wish to remove them must be cultivated first, before the ability to perceive, recognize and be unmoved by the Kilesas is attained.

To cultivate the wish to remove the Defilements, we must first develop Insight, for it is only with insight that we will be able to look inside with the Dhamma eye and light up the Dark Corners of our Psyche (Khandas). Insight is like a shining torch which Illuminates in every direction and pierces through all the hiding places of the Kilesas

Insight gives rise to Wisdom.

It is with Wisdom that we make the decision in our Hearts to renounce ouor entanglement with the Kilesas, and refrain from identifying with them.

Anatta

It is by observing the fact that all our moods, needs, desires, inclinations etc are beyond our control,and come and go as they wish, that we can conclude that they are not belonging to us.

If they are not our property, then how can they be Us?

Non Self concluded

Anicca

If we see that all our feelings and thoughts just arise and disappear, one after the other giving way to the nect thought or feeling, we can then conclude that they are impermanent and subject to constant change. All things which we can imagine have a Beginning and an End

Impermanence concluded

Dukkha

If we cling to a wish, thought, mood, feeling, time, material possession etc, which is already concluded as being Impermanent and Not Self, then we are sure to suffer, at the latest when a good thing is over and bad times arrive, our pleasure becomes suffering.

So we Endlessly shift between Auspicious and Inauspicious, Pleasure and Pain, Laughter and Tears.

Pleasure is Impermanent and should therefore not be clung to

Hate and Anger are not self. They are Defilements and come and go of their own accord.

If we can recognize the Non Self aspect of our Negative Traits (such as Anger and Jealousy), then we will also see the Impermanent aspect, and recognize the suffering in clinging to such ephemeral chimeras as emotions, moods, opinions and assumptions.

If we recognize Anicca, Dukkha and Anatta as being present in all phenomena, then we will have discovered a way to escape this loop which holds us tight in its grip.

The importance of observing the Three Conditions as present in all things is a prime cause of attainment of effort  in ones practice, and of  Enlightenment

Abstention

Abstention, or Renunciation is something that has two steps, or levels of practice in Buddhism;

Precepts – Before the practitioner has attained a clear insight into the Truth of the Three Conditions, and understood how to examine the various Perceptual and experiential phenomena which arise within the Consciousness through the five Khandas, it will be necessary for He or She to practice self restraint by taking Moral Precepts or Vows. These Precepts will then keep the Practitioner safe in their practice until a natural Aversion to Inauspicious or Useless involvement with the phenomena of the Khandas is developed.

Natural Renunciation

“Natural Aversion” , as mentioned above, is perhaps incorrect to describe the quality which arises in the Practitioner who has gained insight and seen the truth of the Three Conditions within all things (including within the Khandas of the Practitioner). Aversion is also a Defilement, and although seems to be the opposite of clinging, is in fact also a form of clinging.

Wanting something to be this way or that, is Clinging.

Wanting something to not be this way or that, is also Clinging

Wanting is Greed. Greed is an Inauspicious State, an unpleasant house to Dwell within.

The effect of pulling out from involving oneself in any reactions to Inauspicious thoughts, or emotions, is what occurs in the mind of the Practitioner when He or She has gained Insight, and begins to recognize the suffering, Impermanence and Non Self Nature of his own Experiences, Thoughts and Feelings.

This is not Aversion, it is Renunciation;

Renunciation of the Kilesas, the Defilements. Renunciation of Attachment to things which cannot be held onto.

Renunciation of the Causes of Endless Rebirth in Samsara.

Renunciation of Sangkhara – all Conditioned Thoughts and Things, which lead inevitably to Dissatisfaction.

The Buddha is said to have stated that the viewpoint of Atta and conditioned thought (sangkhara), although being wrong view, is still useful as a tool for realisation whilst still on the path which leads to Enlightenment, having not yet been released from Samsara. What he meant by this was that although they are wrong thoughts, they can be used as catalysts to attain realisation of truths which release us from some of the cruder forms of wrong view. There are refined and crude thoughts, both being wrong view, but we can step up from a negative and inauspicious or less beneficial way of seeing things to attain a more refined or auspicious way of seeing things which brings us closer to the attainment of right view, if perhaps till not reaching that point.

The process of Enlightenment happens in stages not in a lightning flash. Full Enlightenment of course is a split second change – but the steps which led to the hair breadth that lies between 99 percent attained and 100 percent attained is a long and gradual process of steps and stages/phases. But when the final cord is cut, it happens in a flash

I shall use the topics of Asubha Bhavana practise and that of the concepts of Atta and Anatta to demonstrate this point;

The tudong masters as well as Vipassana practitioners would sit in cemeteries in the woods and contemplate corpses in 9 different states of decomposition, in order to see that ones own body is in principle no different.
A swollen corpse, a discolored, a bluish, corpse, a festering corpse, a fissured corpse, a partially eaten corpse, a dismembered corpse, or a corpse that has been hacked and into pieces, a corpse that is still bleeding, a worm-eaten corpse, and a skeleton.

This practise, was performed  in order to stop clinging to one’s body, to stop being under the influence of attraction when we see the beauty in the outer skin – to see that even a beautiful or handsome person (according to our personal conditioning of what beauty is) , is no more than a bag of body parts and fluids. To see that in the end we are all going to be corpses.

In addition, the contemplation of these 9 states of corpse will trigger certain advances in realisations, and sometimes even psychic powers. We shall overcome fear by confronting all the panic and paranoias which will occur whilst sitting alone in the dark forest with those corpses. To see that a corpse is only dead matter. To see impermanence and let go of all clinging to impermanent matters. All of these things are tools of the practise of Asubha bhavana. One should not forget however, that to learn to see the beautiful as unattractive is also a conditioned opinion just as much as to see something unattractive as beautiful. In the end both perspectives must be let go of

Links .40 kammathana Practises
Asubha Bhavana is also conditoned thought – a way of using wrong view to destroy wrong view.

To see a handsome or beautiful person as a bag of blood, faeces and guts will reduce our attraction and subsequent desire towards that person or object of interest. This is called Asubha Bhavana.
Many practitioners ,especially monks maintain that all things are not beautiful, rather disgusting.
This is wrong view, because in just the same sense that such an object is not attractive, or desirable, neither is it dirty and undesriable/disgusting.

The goal of asubha bhavana is to reduce and eliminate desire and clinging.
Desire and clinging is one of the vedhanas (feelings) we swim around in , drowned in them and under their influence. This is seen as dhukka (suffering) in Buddhism.
In the same sense, the disgust which arises from the practise of Asubha Bhavana is also a vedhana (feeling) in which we become drowned in and under the influence of.
In order to attain Arahantship and liberation from Dhukka, we must also release ourself from the view that things are undesirable, as well as the notion that something is desirable.

Both viewpoints are  forms of clinging

Both may be considered wrong views

This is what we call Avicca (Awichaa in Thai).

It is the same as the Buddhist notion that all things are Anatta (Non Self/ Not mine)

Atta is the notion of a permanent inherent self/soul which transmigrates (john in this life is always john in every life – preposterous!)

Asubha Bhavana – using wrong view as a tool to destroy wrong views – letting go of sangkhara

Anatta is the notion that John in this life is perhaps Sally in the next, and that the two are different people, but that the pure mind which carries no individual trademarks manages to transmigrate (Anatta does not mean that we cease to exist – reincarnation would not be part of the Buddhist philosophy if this was thought to be true, and the Buddha could not have remembered previous lives if so).

It is quite simple to realise the gist and true goal of the practise if you realise these points/truths.

The thing we have to do is not to see things as anatta and asubha (non self and undesirable)
Rather to use the viewpoints of Anatta to destroy out deeply rooted clinging to the notion of a self
and to use the viewpoint of Asubha, to eliminate our clinging to the notion of things beinig desirable and thus eliminate clinging to those objects of desire.

Once we have attained this, then we have to apply the real part of the practise, which is the real goal;

We have to let go (stop clinging) to any notions – be they that of self or non self, beauty or ugliness, desirable or undesirable.

And just let go. Ajarn Cha maintained this as the core of his teaching – letting go!

Avicca is the cause of Sangkhara (wrong view is the cause of conditioned thoughts and assumed concepts) – these are the first two in the chain of interdependent origination, which leads us to be trapped in the endless cycle of rebirth into Samsara. Arahantship and Enlightenment (Wichaa/Vicca) is simply having let go of all clinging to any notions or presuppositions. This will result in the letting go of desire and the causes and effects which follow. This means that we must not even cling to beliefs, even if  they  are true.

The Buddha is reputed to have been asked once;

“So Lord, does the Arahant maintain the notion of Atta (permanent self) as that which is true?

No said the Buddha – the Arahant does not cling to such a notion.

“So then my Lord, then the Arahant must maintain the belief in the notion that all things are Anatta, is this so?”

No, said the Buddha – the Arahant does not cling to that, or any notion”

The point is that it is clinging which is the obstacle which prevents us from Arahantship.
Whether the concepts of Anatta or Atta are true or not, will not change regardless of which of those beliefe we cling to. The use of the viewpoint of Anatta is useful to destroy the clingiing to the self. But to then cling to the notion that all thigs are non self is once again the process of clinging to assumptions, which prevents us froom awakening the light which arises when all forms of clinging inclinations have disappeared from our mind.

Its as simple as that. (well in theory anyway)

More Links for expanded study on this matter.
Kilesas – What is attachment and desire

Letting go (a short musing)

The Four Sathipatanas (audio teaching by Ajarn Maha Bua in English)

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There is nothing wrong with being happy or having peace, and Meditation is most certainly a method which can bring both of these things to us.
But the pursuit of peace or happiness through  Meditation (Samadhi) should not be the goal.. such would be an obstacle. Of course when one achieves a meditative state one has peace and happy feeling automatically but one should not seek it. If you seek it then you are not meditating. Meditation, as my chosen Master Ajahn Chah explained, is not about “getting” or acquiring things; (ie “happiness/peace”), rather, it is about “getting rid of things”.. (burdens, such as ‘desire” [to have peace/happiness] ). This is why the word “Non-Attachment” is so often used in teaching the Dhamma.

It’s just about “letting go”, that’s all.. If we can do this, the rest will happen anyway without having to seek or want it.
get it?
Of course, the meditative states do not enlighten us without the light of Panya being present too.. Sila is a base foundation for clear meditation with no worries or regrets obscuring our minds and hearts.. if we have Sila then we wont have any guilty feelings and a clear conscience will enable us to meditate with ease.
But Sila are not the prerequisite for enlightenment.. The Buddha named Panya as the most important and highest factor of the three (Sila Samadhi and Panya)* – we need all three to enlighten they go hand in hand. But the non grasping non clinging (Upadhana) factor of “letting go” is the key to opening the meditative state so that the light of Panya may arise. Panya however only arises because we have cultivated a conscious effort (great inner effort in maintaining our focus, stillness and awareness). It is this effort which catalyzes the miracle of transformation.

Panya is the most elusive and subtle aspect of the three qualities , and the arisal of the intuitive Insight and Wisdom that is Panya is unexplainable. It is only understood through deep insight meditation and tapped into with the inner light of understanding attained in deep non-analytical thought, which is attained through the various stages of Jhana in conjunction with concerted effort to maintain one’s awareness and focus without any attachment  to (inner or outer)  objects or other mental, emotional or sensory phenomena (which causes wandering from the object of focus).

* Sila Samadhi and Panya = Sila (Moral Precepts) Samadhi (Concentration) Panya (Wisdom/Insight)

All the aspects of manifest practise of the Eightfold Path can be classified into one of these three aspects;

Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood belongs to Sila

Right Effort, Right Concentration, and Right Mindfulness belong to Samadhi

Right Views and Right Thought belongs to Panya

In many western websites and schools of meditation i see published and advertised, i see that the image of luxurious wellness and happiness with exotic imagery is promoted with flourishing abundance. Although this may have a positive effect as far as drawing people to the Dhamma, or the practise of meditation is concerned, i find that it is a deceptive manner of portraying Meditation and the path to Enlightenment. This seems to be a mark of the present age that either truth is used to promote untruth or even untruth is applied to sell the truth. The latter of these tow may be perhaps the “lesser evil”. Neither of these methods are of course evil; i am only using the catchphrase to make my point, but i am certain of one thing – that in the traditional school of thought applied by Thai Forest Kammathana tradition in the lineage of Ajahn Mun and Chah, that such a method of promoting the Dhamma would not be supported, although it would also not be frowned upn (because frowning upon the behaviour of others is also not conducive to the practise of letting go of preconcieved assumptions). I therefore neither frown upon nor approve of such methods, but do feel it necessary to explain and make understood the existence of this matter, in order that the serious practitioner may make use of these observations in his personal application of Dhamma practise.

Links;

Ordination as a Buddhist Monk
MCurry

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One thing i would like to mention about the nimittas, sounds and other tingling and inspiring experiences found in Jhana meditation, is the fact that they are hypnotic and induce “sukha” (pleasurable vedhana/sensation
although most western practitioners dont find anything negative about pleasurable experiences (experiences actually are not pleasurable or unpleasurable..

As i was saying, although we dont find the experiences that induce pleasure negative.. they can have negative effects in the sense that whilst sukha (pleasure) is present, then we cannot go further than the 2nd or 3rd jhana. We stay stuck there.. however this stage is one step before arupajhana and necessary to acheive first before going onwards (inwards). Once the mind has got used to the sukha which is attained from the piti (rapture) then it will eventually develop the insight that this state is not as subtle as the next state of arupajhana, develop boredom in it and thus eventually throw out the attachment to the sukha in piti (pleasurable rapture) and let it go.If we do not let it go and cling to the sukha, our minds (citta) will still be subject to Vitaka, which is not present in the state of arupajhana, and therefore undesirable if we wish to access such a state of absorbtion.

This is an essential key to Jhana access. The great Ajarn Chah always taught that in meditation, it is like sitting at a pool of water in the forest – once you enter stillness of mind, then you will see many things come to drink at the lakeside (phenomena).The object of the meditation is not to get fascinated in those phenomena, rather to just be aware of them and n ot get entangled in interest towards them (such as rapture or pleasure, or the various “Nimitta” – these phenomena are like mirages which block your advancement. It is not discussable whether they are real or self created, once in jhana the mind throws up nimitta. Some might have an objective reality or might not. What is certain is that these nimitta are just signs that the mind is still, and that one should concentrate on the stillness and letting go, instead of what is happening with the nimitta. Pleasure is one of the three vedhana which are observed in the four sathipatanas. the breath of anapanasathi is used as the anchor in all of the sathipatana mindfulness meditations, which will still the mind so you can observe various aspects of the objects of focus in these four sathipatanas. the four are mindfulness of; body, vedhanas (feelings/sensations/emotions/moods/reactions), citta (mind and thoughts) and dhammas (all phenomena physical or non physical.. including everything even the first 3 sathipatanas are all dhammas.. a table is a dhamma, mathematics is a dhamma, truth is a dhamma, pleasure is a dhamma, meditation is a dhamma…
whilst being mindful and observing all these phenomena we should measure them by checking if they are under the power/law of the three conditions (impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and non self). In addition, we should conclude if they are, or are not such. You can see all breath cycles start come into existence and disappear (impermanent) also that the full lungs are painful and begin to ache so have to release (unsatisfactory/dhukka) that the release is a relief (sukha) and that there is an end to the release when the lungs are empty then you begin to ache (dukkha) for air again (craving). So you begin to intake breath (relief/sukha) which is unsatisfactory/dukkha (because the relief is impermanent and holds no endless sense of satisfaction) and then have full lungs again, which turns quickly from pleasure to pain and is therefore impermanent and unsatisfactory (anicca and dukkha) – these 2 parts of the three conditions can be easily observed in all dhammas, be they breath, thought, physical sensations, emotions/moods, or physical posessions. One should also observe that it is the attachment and craving for these things and relief from the unsatisfactoriness (which is always temporary and thus induces repeated craving), which causes the dukkha/suffering.
The only other aspect to realise as present in the meditation is non self (anatta) – if you see the breath come and go and notice that your citta(mind/consciousness) is still there after each unit of breath has faded, then in deep meditation it will become clear how the breath is not you, not yours, just a part of the framework within which your consciousness abides. In the same way we sit in a car, but we are not the car, then so is our breath, thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, perception of such (sanya) etc, not us, and not ours (because we cant maintain these things in the same state always, due to their impermanence). As the wind blows through your hair, you can easily observe how the wind is not self. So should we also observe the rising and fading thoughts, and feelings in our being (contained within our khandas). a mood, inclination, thought, or sensation of pleasure, sweet taste in the mouth etc, are simply coming and going phenomena which come into contact with our consciousnesses through the perceptive medium (sanya). They are but ephemeral memories and are no more us than the wind which blows through our hair.
deep insight into these facts whilst in meditation will increse ones understanding of these facts. The only reason we don’t find it so easy to see the non self aspect of our inner experiences as easily as it is to see it in such outer phenomena as the wind, is the fact that those inner experiences are contained within the framework of our 5 (or more, if you have opened some other sense portals) khandas!
we associate ourself with these 5 khandas and mistakenly think they are part of our self. This is forgivable but erroneous.
keep at it. (that goes for me too)

Kilesas are cravings, attachments and desires. Aversions also come under the classification of craving/desire – this is due to the fact that when we think “oh no i dont ever want to see that person again – i dont like him/her”, then we are still  craving for something – Craving for the opposite of what we are having to experience; craving to “not see’ “not encounter” things we are averse to.

In Thai, the great Master Monk of Tudong Forest tradition Luang Phu Chah, used to say “Yaa yerd man!” – Yerd Man means, to cling to a theory or maintain something for being of prime importance or necessary. To staunchly believe in somehting in a fixed inflexible way is to “Yerd man” – the act of staunchly clinging to something is a form of attachment. Attachment means all forms of clinging, be it clinging to a belief, a material object, a person, the love of a person, a particular mood or physical/mental sensation, or state of being. Attachment, or “Kilesa” is the root of all suffering (desire is the root of attachment – desire for a certain thing,matter etc) Exectation is included as an aspect of attachment, and disappointment is the form of suffering that comes from expectation, due to the fact that the world and both inner and outer phenomena do not obey our expectations, wishes or desires for things we are attached to or cling to to “please let it be like this” or “be like that” or; “please dont let it be this way, or that way” Both wanting and not wanting something to be a certain way is called attachment and clinging, which is rooted in desire..
All things are impermanent (Anicca) and therefor clinging to such impermanent things, which cannot remain in the state we wish then to leads to dissatisfaction. Impermanent things are unsatisfactory (Dukkha)

when all forms of grasping and clinging sping is anihillated in the heart-mind, does the supremely pure and natural state of “prapasana” mind emerge – prapasana means “luminous” the Buddha stated that the true nature of the mind is luminosity. Nirvana is “peace, stillness” which is entered into upon attaining Enlightenment. Enlightenment is Arahantship, free from all further suffering. The cycle of rebirth (becoming) is also escaped from through the removal of all craving.
This is one factor in a chain of events known as Paticasamuphata (the wheel of becoming) which causes us to forever circle round in a repetition of events leading to continuous  rebirths, aging, sickness, loss of things and people, health etc.. and eventually death - all joyous things we crave are eventually leading to suffering and unsatisfactory in nature. Take the pleasure of smoking a cigarette and the relief that comes from smoking one for example. First the craving appears and thw feeling to smoke one.. this is Dukkha (suffering) – once you light one up and smoke it then sensation is aroused (in the case of pleasurable matters such as the cigarette, then the sensation is pleasure). The pleasure leads to satisfaction, the satisfaction abates the craving. Once you finish and some time passes, you think of the satisfaction you had and begin to crave it again, and the whole process starts it’s cycle renewed. For this reason the pleasure attained (even though possibly seen as a positive and enjoyable experience), is unsatisfactory due to the fact that the pleasure is impermanent and impossible to maintain as a constant. All things are in perpetual change and cannot be held, posessed or enjoyed in the same condition forever. These forms of refuge are temporary and unsatisfactory. Enlightenment and liberation from the cycle of running round from satisfaction to craving to suffering then satisfaction-craving and so forth, is the perfect and final solution to end all unsatisfactory conditions of being.
Also, there are many different levels of subtlety to the phenomena called attachment and desire (Kilesa). The wanting to hurt others who one see as an enemy is a base, coarse negative form of desire (attachment to the need for revenge, for example) – whereas the wish to be a Bodhisattwa, help others ot be happy, or even to become enlightened, is a very fine subtle and positive form of desire and attachment, however it is still a form of clinging. Such positive subtle attachments are not to be disposed of whilst one still is suffering from the more crude and negative forms of attachment and desire, one can even use these positive clingings to eliminate the negative ones. The Buddha explained that it is “Attaanudhiti” (the perception of oneself as an individual entity, which is an illusion in Buddhism, where all things are anatta [non-self] not Atta [immutable transmigrating self/soul], which is the cause of our false views and subsequent desires to mold things into our way of how we are wanting them to be. Atta and the clinging to seeing oneself as an immutable self is to be eliminated in Buddhism to attain the realisation of Anatta (non self). However, the Buddha did admit and even recommend the use of the ego (atta) perspective as a tool, until one no longer needs it and can become anatta and enlightened. What he meant was this;
If you use the “personal desire” to become a good person and become enlightened, as a tool to eliminate the desire to harm others and to be an egomaniac, then this form of thinking in the egoistic mindset of Atta is useful. After all, whilst one is still unenlightened it is obvious that one still operates within this framework of a supposed self. Once one has eliminated the coarse unsubtle forms of Atta and the subsequent unwholesom and “self-ish” desires that arise from such (attachments etc), only then need one really work on dissolving the wholesome desires which are indeed beneficial and wholesom (Kusala) not harmful and unwholesome (Akusala). In the end, to become enlightened one must do as Luang Phu Cha taught and “Yaa Yerd Man” (do not hold on to fixed views beliefs and desires/wishes/expectations) and “Ploy Wang” (let go of/put down) all these things – including the desire to be enlightened, including the belief that there is a permanent self (Atta), or even the belief that all things are non self (Anatta). Maintaing beliefs is clinging, and whilst we cling we do not see the world for what it is. Thes are all veils masking the world with illusions created by our own desires. One of Luang Phu Chah’s famous replies/sayongs which he was known to reply to almost every assumption or question with was “Mai Nae” (meaning “Not Certain/definite” – nothing is for sure); This saying is really a great tool in applied thought in order to stop the “Yerd Man” process of  clinging to beliefs and assumptions.

The best solution is to relieve oneself of clinging to impermanent phenomena and thus not be prone to suffering due to attachment to such matters.
It is easy to see that the sound of the birds in the trees is not self, also that the wind in one’s hair is not oneself.. it is more difficult for many to see that the angry emotion or the feeling of joy which rises up in our minds (like a gust of wind) for a short moment and then fades, giving way to the next thought or feeling is also not one’s self, rather just like a wind which blows through us temporarily.
Our tendency to identify with the various phenomena that arise within our five khandas (sphere of existential perception) makes us think “this is my pain, my leg hurts, my bad mood, my good mood” etc – whereas if we learned to see them for what they really are, ephemeral phenomena just arising and disappearing giving way to the next wave, then we might not suffer at the thought of their disappearance (or appearance in the case of negative phenomena) so much as we do.
If an Arahant was asked if his leg hurts him, he would answer “there is pain in the leg” which would not mean that he suffers, as that pain is just a much not self for the arahant as is the saw that is cutting through the wooden plank in the sawmill next door. It is just another phenomena. the only difference being that the sensation in the leg is contained within the 5 khandas and the sensation of the plank being sawed next door is outside of the khandas.
Meditation on the khandas and realisation of anatta is the way to release ones association with the illusory assumptions made under the influence of the 5 khandas

As a meditation on feelings, reactions, desires and clinging/aversion, try looking at each image in this gallery for a while and focus on your inner sensations and reactions to the pictures. Notice how they are nothing to do with your self, rather just insubstantial phenomena which rise and fall and change constantly as you flick through the pictures – see how the feelings and sensations change when your eyse and awareness come into contact with each image. see your awareness remains after each feeling and sensation has faded and given way to the next. Notice through this that these sensations are impermanent and non self.

The first ten kammathana are “wholes” (kasina objects, things which one can behold directly):

Absorbtion in the qualities of; earth,  water,  fire,  air, wind,  blue, green,  yellow,  red, white,  enclosed space,  bright light.

The next ten Objects of Focus are objects of repulsion (asubha):

Meditation observing a corpse in the following states of decomposure;

Asubha Bhavana

A swollen corpse, a discolored,  a bluish, corpse, a festering corpse, a fissured corpse, a partially eaten corpse, a dismembered corpse, or a corpse that has been hacked  and into pieces,  a corpse that is still bleeding, a worm-eaten corpse, and a  skeleton.

The second group of ten Kammathana are conscious recollections (called Anussati in Pali);

The first three recollections  of this group of ten, are of the virtues of the Triple Gem:

That is;  The Buddha, Dharma and Sangha

Next three of the second group of ten objects of focus are recollections of the virtues of:
Morality (Siila),  liberality (Caaga) and the wholesome attributes of Devas

The last four in the second group of ten kammathana objects of focus and contemplation are :
The Body (Kaaya), Death (see Upajjhatthana Sutta) The breath (Praana) or breathing (Aanaapaana) and peace (see Nibbana).

The Brahma-Vihara (four abodes of Brahma) are the next four to be contemlplated and attained:

Unconditional kindness (Mettaa), Compassion (Karuna) Sympathetic joy over another’s success (Mudita) and Equanimity (Upekkha)

Then come the Four formless states (four araapajhaanas):

Infinite space, Infinite consciousness Infinite nothingness, and lastly the state of “Neither Perception nor Non-Perception”.

Penultimately is the contemplation and development of the Perception of disgust towards food (Aharepatikulasanna). (Ahara means food, Patikula means dirty or disgusting,, and Sanna or Sanya means Perception, or Remembrance of.)

The last Kammathana object of practise is the analysis of the Four Elements (Catudhatuvavatthana): Earth (Pathavi), Water (Apo), Fire (Tejo), Air (Vayo).
Read more about what kammathana means on beginners Buddhism section
Download and listen to “Letting Go”, a free Mp3 teaching by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

This is the first of a series of MP3 Dhamma teachings on the Dhamma blog by Pra Ajarn Maha Bua. Called The Four Sathipatanas, and originally intended for Ordained Bhikkhus, it is still completey useful and valid to the lay practitioner (as Ajarn Maha Bua also states often). For those considering Ordination, this teaching will give you a deep insight into what a Bhikkhu should apply himself to ias far as Inner practise goes. Apart from teching how to apply oneself to practising the four Sathipatanas (in the latter part of the Dhamma talk), Ajarn Maha Bua also explains what is the real duty of the Bhikkhu and the real practise of the Buddhasasana. He talks about how much focus is placed in the present day on building of temples and other establishments and monuments, and of how the Buddha and his sawaka were not interested in such matters, rather into developing their minds (the meaning of the word “Vipassana” is “mind development”).

He gives precious tips and techniques of how to realise a manifest practise of Kammathana and the four Sathipatanas.
I hope this Dhamma talk will prove of great use to you all – download on the below link
Listen to the teaching “The Four Sathipathanas” (Ajarn Maha Bua – spoken in Clear English)

The Four Sathipatanas – an MP3 Dhamma teaching by Pra Ajarn Maha Bua

Other Dhamma Talks (playlist album)

More Dhamma talks to download – click here.
The link below is from the integral options blog, and i have included it and recommend you all to read the post in this link because it puts the whole practise of the 4 sathipatanas into one easy to understand and practise nutshell.. I commend the author of the below blog highly and seriously recommend it to all my readers here on the Dhamma blog.

four sathipatanas in a nutshell

Dealing with Depression is a difficult task, due to the fact that when you are already immersed in a depressive state.. I made a post to try to help someone on the E-Sangha forums who was depressed, and felt that i wish to include a re- edit of that post here on the blog for those who may find it useful, It not only deals with depression, but also with the dismantling of Sangkhara (conditioned thought), which is pure Vipassana Kammathana practise, and the body of Enlightenment.

Using Dhamma to deal with Depression;

Many people who recieve anti depressants from their Doctor, and also Drug abusers, have great difficulty with depression; Some of these people often Contemplate committing Suicide. Often, such people do not know where or how to appeak for help in dealing with their depression, and feel very desperate.

If you wish to be the “Master of your Soul and Captain of your “Fate”.. then please read this and practise it. May any mistakes or accidental offences to the triple gem made be forgiven.

You should practise Anapanasathi (contemplation of breath) along with vedhananupassana (contemplation of mood and sensation) and Cittanupassana (contemplation of mental state).
This means that you should meditate daily by focusing on your breath going in and out, rising and falling – try to focus on the little wisp of wind on the tip of your nose as it goes in and out and notice whether the breathing is slow, fast, or whatever (but don’t feel you have to force it slower; just notice it. Whilst doing this, you should begin to watch your feelings and emotional state. Am I happy? am i Sad? am i stressed? am i just neutral?…
As the mental state of awareness changes, and wanders between Kusala and Akusala (auspicious/inauspicious), tranquil to agitated, etc, notice how the various moods and feelings just come and go and change constantly. See how they are impermanent and always in fluctuation. When you get depressed, then remember your meditations and having noticed how emotions and moods are always changing and moving (and therefore impermanent), and refuge in that fact.. that even bad times and unpleasant experiences are going to come to an end, it is just a question of time. We cannot change the outer world to the way we want it to be,, and even when we can, it is only a matter of time before it changes again. But how we feel about it inside, that is always changing. So although our good times and moods will have to reach their end (cessation), so will all our negative and unpleasant ones too.
The realization of Impermanence (Anicca), and Your re-iteration of the fact to oneself, is a great dissolver of suffering (clinging) and assists us in the Great Art of “Letting Go” – all you need is to master the art of letting go.. when you are suffering or depressed you must just let go. Once you have managed to let go of a feeling or thought you are clinging to one time, you will see how much of a relief and blissful feeling it is. There was once an experienced drug user I knew who used to take extremely large amounts of amphetamines and ecstasy. Due to that experience, when himself and his companion used to get extreme sadness and depression on the “comedown” – his friend used to become totally drowned in the emotion and was unable to help herself. The experienced drug user however, through the knowledge that the depression was simply a chemical reaction amplifying his reaction to his thoughts, he would just tell himself “this is a heavy comedown and due to the drug. when this has tided over, I will feel more settled and in no time i shall feel better, as all things pass away, so will this feeling”
His knowledge of the transience of mood helped him in withstanding the onslaught.
If your meditations can’t help you, then at least stick with that piece of logic to tide you over till the depression has lifted.. as it most certainly will fade, just as all things do.

Summary;

Practise developing awareness of Impermanence (Anicca), and this will enable you to reduce the clinging which is most certainly the cause of suffering.
Practicing the 4 Sathipatanas is however the real way to attain release from such experiences, as it will enable you to see the real inner causes; for there are no outer causes of suffering. Only in the heart-mind is where our suffering, and it’s root resides.
Even with watching the breath rising and falling, you will notice how each breath comes into being (arisal) and fades into the past, giving way to the next breath (falling). there are four stages.. intake (notice the comfort) full for a second pause (notice how the comfort begins to become agitation), exhalation/falling/disappearing (notice how the relief comes) and empty – extinguished/cessation (notice how the agitation and craving for a new breath intake begins).
By focusing on the breath and contemplating these four stages of breath, you can see how craving for satisfaction causes addiction to that satisfaction, how the satisfaction and pleasure is impermanent and how the fact that if it was constantly maintained then it would become discomfort and unsatisfactory – how relief from clinging to such and letting go brings relief, and how our clinging heart starts the process all over again, to go round in a circle of seeking satisfaction, attaining relief which is not permanent, and witnessing it’s cessation, simply to begin another round.
If you practise this often you will realize the truth of Impermanence and even that of Suffering.. two of the three conditions all living beings are subject to (except the Arahants); Anicca/impermanence and Dhukka/unsatisfactoriness or Suffering).. the last one of the three, anatta, i should perhaps leave for another day.. but perhaps i might give a small hint to realizing it in the same breathing meditation.. you will have to think of things such as the wind on your skin and the sounds outside.. see how they are not yourself, and separate (this is quite easy to see).. then think of the waves of thought and emotions and physical sensations within you. see how the mood rises affects you and then washes away?
Just as the wind blows against your skin (affects you with cold and displeasure or warmth and pleasure) and blows away. If you contemplate these facts often enough in your meditations, then you will see that even the things you held for parts of yourself are nothing to do with you, rather simply phenomena which rise and fall and affect you when coming into contact with your awareness.
This is Anatta (non self). The reason that it is easier to see outer phenomena as non self than it is to see inner phenomena as such is because the inner phenomena reside withiin our 5 khandas and the outer ones appear not to. We are accustomed to identifiy ourselves with the Khandas. This is the veil masking non self from our perceptory senses, and the reson we think our feelings are us/ours.

if you can add this third aspect to your realizations then you shall surely become adept in mastering your depressions.
Anatta is difficult to perceive for many, as we are so deeply rooted into seeing things as “me/mine”..
“My Memory, My depression, my happiness, My Leg, My pain”
well a person is like a car really..
a car needs a carburettor, wheels, petrol, oil.
but is the oil part of the car? no. as are our thoughts, emotions and bodily parts not part of us, rather just ingredients which make up the composition which our consciousness resides in as a vehicle of perception. (see 32 parts of the body in a post i made about Kayanupassana practise)
If you take the Car and dismantle it you will see that it is no longer a car, rather a pile of other “individual” objects (carburettor, wheel etc)
If you take the carburettor and dismantle it you will find another subsequent group of “individual” objects (screws, valves etc) you can also dismantle these things further until all that remains after the final process of dismantling analysis is four elements (ancient people call earth air fire and water.. which is an analogy that causes disbelief in modern minds and is erroneous causing misunderstanding)
Earth is not soil and water element is not H20.. earth has wetness(water), hardness (earth) temperature(fire), and space between the molecules (air). So you can find all four “elements” in the classical archaic element representations.. this is something that causes many people to misunderstand the four elements greatly. If you take H20 and lower the temperature it becomes hard (ice/earth element), if you heat it then it becomes vaporous (air element).. in its “normal state” (on earth at room temperature) it is water. Its temperature in whatever state is of course representative of more or less fire element.
It is impossible for any matter be it soil, water, flames or air to exist without combining these four “real elements”.
summary;
All conditioned things are Sangkhara (conceptual theoretical objects which have no real existence outside of our perception/minds)
All Sangkharas can be broken down into their component parts, and the component parts can also be broken down consecutively until reaching the point of the four elements. Physical form is known as “Rupa” – all forms are rupa be it a car a cinema a human a table etc. But if you see a landscape and break it down into forest (trees, branches, leaves etc), river (rocks water fish etc), mountains (caves, grass, forest, snow etc) and see that the landscape and indeed all its component parts are a series of ever smaller parts, then at the point of reduction which reaches the basic four elements and no more conditioned conceptual names ( a “box” of “KFC” finally passes through paper to tree to wood to four elements and “fried chicken and vegetable oil” through dead animal to four elements too), you still have “RUPA” do not think that RUPA ends with our perception’s end. Rupa is there but has no more constructed shapes interpreted by the observer. This primordial rupa is called “Maha Phuta Rupa”.
Think of the space between the molecules in the table and the leg and feet of the table.. think of the spaces between the molecules of the floor. Our mind sees floor and table as separate entities. But there is not really anything separating the spaces between the molecules of the table and the spaces between the molecules of the floor!
If there was no observer, then all things we perceive as separate objects are really a massive ocean of atoms and space between them. All percieved separate units are really just one single cloud of matter molecules with variations on density (as one part of a cloud might be dense with rain and the other part still more empty) – but although there are variations in density in certain places, it is still one cloud.
This massive ocean/cloud of molecules and atoms permeated by space is the Maha Phuta Rupa.

We cannot see this because our minds are conditioned by Sangkhara. Our minds ar the thing which filters this ocean of maha Puta Rupa and defines separate objects such as “the table” and “the floor”

This is anatta. perceive that emotion and depression is just a wave on the ocean and will fade.. as all things do. Contemplate this and you shall no longer cling to these waves .. which is suffering.

We have no real Outer Refuges – our only Refuge is Inner Refuge.
Download and listen to Thanissaro Bhikkhus Dhamma Talk on Inner Refuge (June 2009)

here are some downloads of dhamma teachings on the 5 hindrances for you to listen to.. they will help you with dealing with many obstacles in life.
The 5 Hindrances talks – Intro
The 5 Hindrances talks – Ill Will
The 5 Hindrances talks – Doubt
The 5 Hindrances talks – Restlessness and Worry
5 Hindrances talks – Sloth and Torpor

5 Hindrances talks – Sensual Desire

I am not sure where i found this text so i am unable to credit it, but i would like to publish it due to the wonderfully concise synopsis and explanation of how to practise the four Satipathanas in your contemplations. May it be of use to all of yo for your development in elevating your consciousnesses!

SATIPATTHANA SUTTA

Kayanupassana-is observing the body, its movements, its impermanence, its non-self nature. In daily living when you know fully well what the condition of this body is, you don’t get enamoured by the beauty neither do you get put off by things. You live in equanimity. Good things are not that good, and bad things are not that bad. They are there inside you, so you tolerate more, you become equanimous and then life becomes easy. All the angers and hatreds arise because of the things which you don’t like and then when you know that your body is the same as that of others, you are not disturbed.
Once I was coming by bus from my home to the University may be three miles by bus, often I had to stand next to a miserable looking mad man and he was dirty and smelling. Now I got in and I cannot get out I had to stand next to him. Everybody was looking at me, then quickly I was meditating, throughout I was meditating “my body is not different from this” then again I thought if it was my son how I would wash him and clean him and look after him and I was feeling so compassionate for this fellow, thinking like that I came to the halt and there was no anger, no hatred, no bad feeling. Everyone was looking at me but there was no expression in my mind of anything hurtful, so I was meditating until I came to the place where I had to get down. I could get the smell from his body, but then I thought my body is no better. Then metta came, loving kindness came seeing the reality of this situation. If I die it would be worse than this, at least this fellow is tolerated in the bus, but if I am dead and a rotting mass nobody will even tolerate even in the bus. So you see when you see the reality you can put up with anything. There is wisdom and application in life. Otherwise I would have made a fuss. But I remember this situation it is very useful.
With wisdom if you understand the reality of the body, the 32 impurities, patience arises You don’t feel sorry, you understand at once, then it doesn’t hurt you anymore. If you do this meditation, you are never hurt. You are never disappointed, you will never condemn anybody, you will never see the bad, you know that the worst is here. The more you know about yourself the more you know the world, there is nothing more than the fathom long body for us to learn from Everything outside is the same as this same body, this same sight, this same smell, so when you are old and smelling and when you are sick, you are not disappointed. You have understood, not surprised not hurt, ‘why me’ no, everybody is the same, so when my child dies I know all mothers have to lose their children. We cannot come to terms with life, because of that conceit, that ego, that pride, ‘me’ and “I” this is just a wrong view. This is not something very difficult to understand.
Now we come to the second aspect vedanupassana. Vedana is contemplation on feeling. Now this is an aspect of the mind. We must always try to see the body and the mind apart. Body is not mind and mind is not body. What we can see, what we can perceive with our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, touch, all these are perceptions, these are all body, the mind we can never see it, we never can taste it, we never can touch it, we never can smell it that is the mind. We have to understand the mind separate from the body. But we know there is a mind. We know it is the mind that is the culprit for all our angers, loves, hates and troubles. We are sick and tired of everything is due to the mind. Even if a pain arises in the body, it is the mind that is sensitive. So feelings are not bodily aspects, not materiality. Feelings are mentality. So if you observe the feelings, again you are within the framework of Satipatthana. So when you are not observing the body you could observe the feelings.
What are feelings, how do they arise? What is the beginning, middle, and end of feelings? How do they come? passapaccaya vedana due to contact feelings arise. Contact with what? Contact with the ouside world, and also contact with your mind. Outside world contacts with the mind. Eye contact, sights, ear and sound contact, nose and smell all these are ouside bodily things. Now eye is body, sight also is a materiality thing. Ear is materiality – body, sound is also materiality, not menatality. Nose is materiality, smell is materiality, tongue is materiality, taste is materiality, body is materiality, tongue is materiality. All of it is materiality. Menatality is not any of those.
How does mentality arise? Vedana is mental. When the eye meets the sight, a third factor arises – consciousness. That is the beginning of menatality. It is like this, there is the drum and there is the stick, when you hit the drum with the stick the third factor – the sound arises. Just like that when the eye meets the object the third factor consciousness arises. In this way the entire materiality of outside becomes mentality and we are able to cognise only through mentality. Materiality you cannot cognise, you cannot recognise, no feelings. Feeling is all in the mind. Recognition, cognition are all in the mind. Now we are talking about feelings, now consciousness has arisen, then this consciousness communicates with the mind, then only you recognise and then you form ideas, constructions – Sankhara (volition) What you want to think you think. You see an enemy and at once anger arises in your mind – that is volition, because you recognised it you got a bad feeling and anger has arisen. When you see your friend, at once happiness arises or greed or desire arises. Your child you recognise. So happy feeling comes with contact. You hear some pleasant, happy sound and then happy feeling arises. You hear some miserable sound that you don’t like, unhappy feeling arises. So sight, sound, smell etc:produces feeling with good smell happy feeling arises with intolerable smell unhappy feeling arises. If the taste is good and pleasant, then happy feeling arises. If the taste is bad then unhappy feeling arises. If the touch is comfortable something you like, then happy feeling arises, if the touch is not comfortable, something you don’t like then unhappy feeling arises. Even through the mind, if you think of something nice happy feeling arises, if you think of something not nice, unhappy feeling arises, so it is for us to contemplate on this feeling.. Good feeling, bad feeling, neutral feeling. I want to make it very simple, there are many other feelings also, painful worldly feeling, transcendental feelings, neutral feeling, even when we are meditating we get feelings which we don’t like, body pain – bad feeling. They are not worldly feelings because they are not full of greed, hate and ignorance. But there is awareness and mindfulness. Even the Buddha gets feelings, happy feelings, unhappy feelings, and neutral feelings , even the Arahants get feelings
To be aware of feelings, how they arise, how they pass away, how many feelings had we have in the past? Where are those? Cannot even remember, they have come and gone. Every moment we are having feelings, they arise and pass away, we cant have it. If we can we will try to keep those happy feelings. But they arise and pass away. I think the scientist would do every possible thing to keep those happy feelings going, if only they could. They also come whether we like it or not. We have no control over these things. Even if the whole world is so beautiful, so lovely, a little thing can give you an unhappy feeling, even a speck of dust on the ground can give you an unhappy feeling. See the vulnerability, we are prone to that. You have everything and a little headache can give you an unhappy feeling. We forget all the luxuries when we have the headache feeling, amidst all the luxuries. Somebody hits you or insults, the feeling is so bad, you forget you have so many good things to think about, but you dwell on that insult, but these feelings come and go. We cannot avoid them.
When you watch them coming and going, then you come to terms with them, then you become intelligent, then you know how to tackle them, how to give them the right amount of attention, not too much, not too little. Just watch it arising and passing away, all good feelings come and go, all bad feelings also come and go. When the conditions are there good feelings arise, when the conditions are there bad feelings arise, they all come and go. Then we see that we are subject to it, we are at the mercy of the world, because due to contact feelings arise. We should see the bad feelings objectively and allow it to pass. You can’t stop the world, the world will go on anyway, everyday it will go on. Even America cannot stop the world, they will go on fighting. What we can do is to look at the feelings that arise and come to terms with the feelings, not come to terms with the world, you never can come to terms with the world. The world will be erring again and again. From the beginning of the world there were wars, there will be in the future, there are now, but you can stop the feelings, if you understand that they come and go and they arise due to causes and conditions. Then you become educated. Feelings are really vipaka, which are results of past actions. Now two of us are walking, may be I hear someone scolding, the other one won’t hear. I am the one who got this bad feeling from hearing, other one won’t hear. So you are placed in a situation to get that feeling. There is an element of vipaka, results of past actions, happy feeling and unhappy feeling. That you have so much happy feelings compared to unhappy feelings. It is an element of vipaka. Good things done in the past, that you have so many good things to see, good things to hear, good things to smell, good things to taste. Not everybody who gets good feelings. When feelings arise good or bad you have to look at them objectively. We cannot stop them due to vipaka or whatever reason, they arise and they go, like the wind. There is a cool wind, it comes and goes, there is a hot wind it comes and goes. It is the nature of the world. We are just subject to it, so as long as the eyes are there, we will feel good and bad feelings through sight. So as long as the ears are there we will feel good and bad feelings through sound, so log as the nose is there, we will feel good and bad smells, good and bad feelings through the tongue and good and bad feelings through the body, so long as the body is there. We cannot say ‘we must get only good feelings through the body’. At least that does not happen.
All these come due to causes and conditions, beyond our control, so we cannot say that the body is not going to get sick or old, having pain here and there. I have no control over them. It comes, sometimes good feelings, sometimes bad feelings, but they all come and go. If you know that much then we can come to terms with feelings and then the person who contemplates on feelings, can also see feelings in other people. If you are a doctor you can see how others suffer. If you are conversant with feelings, then you recognise feelings in others. But if you are not observing your feelilngs how they come and go, then you cannot understand the feelings of others. So you become very intelligent with your feelings and other people’s feelings, then you become more sensitive to your feelings and others’ feelings. Then you don’t hurt other people, because you know what hurt is. When you understand feelings, you are still again in wholesomeness.
If you contemplate feeling as a meditative subject, then you know how bad feelings raise anger in you, then you catch your anger. Then you know how good feelings may raise lust in you, desire in you, again you catch your enemies, because feelings don’t stop at that. They raise anger or they raise desire. They raise all the akusala. Feelings are therefore good to observe. Then at the stage of feeling you can knock them out. Good feeling, not carry it to lust, bad feeling not carry it forward to produce anger. You stop at that level, without carryng forward and allow it to be consumed by it, so you become intelligent as to how you should live, otherwise you are at the mercy of feeling, as soon as you get good feeling you are in lust, as soon as you are in bad feeling you are in anger. Don’t act on the feelings, let it pass. After some time you don’t become foolish about feelings, you don’t get carried away by feelings. You know the limit of feelings. You know how they arise, you know how they pass away, you know how to deal with them. Feelings are nothing after that. Good feelings are nothing, they come and go, bad feelings are nothing, they come and go, you don’t carry it, you are not under the influence of feeling, it is not going to dictate terms to you. Feeling is different from thought which is one step further. At the feeling stage you get rid of it, watch it, watch it and allow it to pass.
Question: The question is as to how you can reconcile the Westerners who are living comfortable lives, not having heard the Dhamma not having experienced or not knowing anything about the Dhamma, working with such compasson in those camps perhaps in Rwanda, no facilities for food etc: Would they not be in a very high plane of compassion while we who have lived with the Dhamma have compassion only at a superficial level, then compared to those people.
Compassion, yes, but still do they understand feeling as feeling. Now you can think that they are God created, therefore we have a reason to look after them. Christians may believe like that. If they do not believe in a God then it will be pure compassion. They understand the pain of other people, and they have perfect compassion. Still they may not have the wisdom of this feeling. They can become victims to the pain of other people. They are not seeing it objectively. They may be seeing it subjectively. There it is mostly compassion that is working, compassion is only suppression, you don’t understand the reality of feeling, how they arise, how they pass away in your own self and how you cannot stop the feeling, in yourself and others. So you wouldn’t take it so far to spend a whole lifetime to remove the bad feelings of others. There are also better things to do, understanding feelings as feelings, understanding it with wisdom, understanding the universality of it. not only to Rwanda, you get these feelings even in the richest person, in the happiest person. The moment of death, moment of frustration. You don’t have to go there, you see it here, you see it in yourself, so why restrict to Rwanda or any place or any category. Feelings are universal, the more you see the universality of it you understand this wisdom, their arising, their passing away, their causality, that is wisdom. You cannot suffer it, you have to see it objectively. If you have to suffer it and if you become intelligent, then I think the hell beings will be the first to get enlightened, but they suffer more than anyone else, more than Rwanda. You never get any enlightenment through that, but if you want to get enlightenment, you have to see it objectively, see the universality of it, don’t be subject to it, don’t be heart broken, don’t sacrifice like that, but good to sacrfice if you can it is good, but that is not the end. There is something more than that, to see the nature, to see the universality. Not different in the past, present or the future. It is good to have both the compassion and seeing the reality of it, understanding the limitations. How much can you do. It is universal, then you become a bit more equanimous.
Question: A surgeon who operates on patients, can see these bodies everyday, yet can he get upset if it is his own family?
Yes very good question. See doctor you see dead bodies everyday, but you don’t care tuppence, but if if it is your own, you will be crying the whole day. But when you see the universality of it, you understand the nature of it. ‘My child’ or your child is not much different. That self reference is not there, you see only the feelings, the thoughts in it, not the person. Seeing the thought is more accurate than seeing the person suffering. So you see it in its ultimate very fine distinct stark truth, universal, not only to me, but your child everythig is the same. Suffering people, sick people, poor people, rich people, good people, bad people everybody gets this. Then you see feeling as feeling. It is something there everywhere not only for Rwanda, for baby in arms, how a sick child is suffering, dying man, feeling is feelilng. Good feelig, bad feeling.
Question: When the mind is very tranquil, you don’t even feel the anapanasati you hear a loud sound, then what shall I do?
Then stop the anapanasati because that aramuna that object is more powerful than this. Then stop this and watch that. Then when you get pain, then you stop the anapanasati and watch the pain if that is more powerful. Whatever is more powerful watch that, till it goes off. By ignoring them you could throw them away, and stick with the primary object anapanasati when the pain is there you can’t do meditation. Two things cannot be observed at the same time. When the mind is concentrated the pain is there, but you don’t feel it because you are engrossed with the object of meditation.

Cittanupassana
How to identify cittas-thoughts, the volition-sankharas. In cittanupassana you understand thoughts, identify them separately. May be it is a thought of anger, you know it, and when it is a thought of non-anger you know it. When it is a thought of lust, you know it, when it is a thought of anger, you know it, when it is a thought without lust then you know it. Now you are happy like this moment, we are all having a calm and restful moment, but this is without lust. So think of the thoughts and identify them. Then moha – ignorance is thinking of ‘me’ and “I”. If you recognise thoughts of prides, conceits, anger, mana – all of it is highly charged with ‘me’ and “I”. This moha is really restlesness, because ‘me’ is at the bottom, restlessness is ignorance, so try to identify the thoughts as they come. Anger, non-anger, greed, non-greed, restlessness and concentration, so you identify these thoughts as they appear and then everytime you observe and recognise, you are in sati cittanupassana. You are contemplating thoughts, not vedana not kaya, still within satipatthana, not the body or a happy and unhappy vedana. That contemplation is called cittanupassana. Vedana is only vedana not thought. So you can identify it at the stage of vedana or at the stage of thought, still you are within satipatthana. If you skip vedana, anger has already arisen, you see it as anger. Again you are still in satipatthna, then you can throw it still at that stage. If you cannot do that, then you succumb to it. It is very difficult, you have to train the mind to see vedana and not difficult, by observing always eg: toothache. Can observe it and not take panadol. When you concentrate only on the vedana, the mind is not running everywhere, not having anger, desire or ignorance. This is kusala, you are only observing vedana and like that you switch off and you go to sleep. They come and go. Cittanupassana is when you identify the thought, that have been now constructed because of the pain. It is the pain that gives rise to the thought. The pain and the identification. Feeling and perception they both get together and make a thought. From memory you can get it from all the six senses you can get it. Feeling comes from all the six senses and then you make a big story out of it and get angry and resentment, that is the volitional stage, that is the final stage. You are with anger and lust and whatever. Prides, conceits give good feelings.
If you were eating then anger or greed also can arise. Another thing, if greed is there, then no anger, if there is anger then there is no greed. They don’t come together, they are opposites, both are of no use, both are unwholesome.

Dhammanupassana
The six internal and external sense bases, you can see them apart. Bojjanga you see separately. They all come when the time is right. The four noble truths you see, off and on. Then the eightfold path you can see, all of it is Dhammanupassana. Sometimes you see dukkha, which is due to my own longing and clinging, then you are in the four noble truths.
If you see it as aggregates, you see rupa, vedana, sa~~a sankhara vi~~ana – materiality, feeling, perception, volition, consciousness also satara satipatthana. Bojjanga is a little different, because there is mindfulness, and then Dhammavicaya that is investigation of reality. Often when you contemplate it is Dhammavicaya for the meditator. That is contemplation of the Dhamma.
Feelings are there due to conditions. Conditioned by the eye, conditioned by the external object, conditioned by the consciousness, conditioned by sight. This feeling is conditioned, then I contemplate and because of this feeling, I have got this happy feeling. If I go on contemplating like that, the whole train of events leading up to it, then you can get into investigation of reality – bojjanga. We are investigating, how did I get this anger, how did I get this lust? Then you continue to observe the whole thing in your meditation. Then that is investigation. Then you can see with bojjanga. When the meditation is going on and on, ‘my energy is good’. Without a stop my meditation is going on like that, you see energy, you observe it. Then you get joy. Sometimes when you are meditating you feel so happy, you fear that you will be disturbed, because you are so absorbed, you like this meditation. Sometimes you feel the joy of it. You have to observe the moments of joy and enjoy it and heighten it knowingly and then give up without clinging. It becomes so serene and comfortable, you don’t want to go and do all the other things. Your happiness is depending on your own concentration. Your happiness is not coming from somebody else or from the outside. You are self-contained and self-reliant, you are not dependant on anyone. So you feel so comfortable, otherwise your joy is dependant on food and other people what they say and do!
Now you are not at all worried about the world. Your world is you and your own contemplation. Quite satisfied with it. You are not waiting for the world, no use. This is what becomes. So you come down to the world because you want to help the others and not because you want. You prefer to be with your mind and stay all day, but you want to help others. Then you come out of it. There are people who sit five hours at a stretch. A Russian lady said “I can stay in this calm, peaceful way for a whole day”. Dhammivicaya, joy, tranquility and concentration. When you know the concentration is there it increases the concentration, when you know that joy is there, it increases the joy, when you know that energy is there it increases the energy. So any good aspect when you notice, it becomes more, any bad thing, when you notice it cuts down. When you notice the akusala it cuts down, when you notice the kusala it heightens. So you can observe the four noble truths, you can observe the noble eightfold path, now we see the reality how they arise and pass away. Seeing the Four Noble Truths is right view. Seeing karma vipaka is right view, the cause and effect. Seeing anicca, dukkha, anatta is right view. Seeing impermanence of feelings, impermanence of thoughts how they come and go, seeing impermanence, non-self and unsatisfactoriness, that is right view. Seeing dukkha is right view, seeing the cause of dukkha, as your own clinging and longing and seeing your akusal is right view. Seeing your kusala is right view. Right view, right speech, action all of it is kusala. Sammavaca, sammakammanta, ajiva, right livelihood all here. So there is no micchavaca, no wrong speech, no wrong livelihood, no wrong action. We are meditating here, all of the Eightfold Path can arise here. Then there is energy, right effort, to sit here and wait all day listening, effort is necessary to listen and comprehend. So you are in right effort, right mindfulness because you are not thinking of other things, so many million things which you normally think about. None of it is here. So right mindfulness and right concentration. So all Eoghtfold Path can arise so that is also within the satipatthana. Four Noble Truths, Eightfold path, watching the contact of eye, ear, nose, tongue, touch mind. When you see them and their ojbects of sound, smell. taste, touch and mind object, also you are within satipatthana.
There is no sloth and torpor, you are highly energised. Sense desire or anger, viyapada, uddukakukucha – restlessness, doubt, there is no doubt also, because listening to the Dhamma comprehending the Dhamma. All five nivaranas are suppressed. None of them are here. So the wholesome contemplations are high.
Question: When you meditate do all these things come together?
Yes, they come together, in clusters, wholesome/unwholesome. They are all there, but you observe only one at a time, if you see dukkha contemplate on that. If the anapapanasati has reached a tranquility stage, you can stop anapanasati and get into contemplation. You can get into vedanupassana when the pain arises, when the mind gets into lust, then you can get into cittanupassana. When sloth and torpor arises you can see it as Dhammanupassana. When any of these contemplations you do, you are in one of these four categories of satipatthana.
Question: What about dhyana – absorption.? You have to come out of it and see it retrospectively. You cannot see while you are in it, if you contemplate, the dhyana disappears.
Question: In anapanasati, you are all the time in Dhammanupassana, cittanupassana. Is that the ultimate.?
Insights will come in anapana, really anapana is kayanupassana. Sammia sankappa – starting with anapana you can develop all four satipatthana.
Question: What relationship is there between jhana and satipatthana.
Jhana is only suppressing – only samatha. This is eradication, this is vipassana. Satipatthana is vipassana. This is not suppression. This is eradication. Seeing the reality, directly observing, directly confronting. You are not just trying to stop it, temporary suppression.
When you watch the thoughts kusala citta arises, so you are having kusala birth, you are having a higher birth. Higher birth, is it not suffering? Yes, that too can be suffering because that is not permanent, it is only a temporary phase. In devalokha suffering is less but it is only temporary. You finish that energy and again you are in suffering. You dont stop the suffering by creating kusala, you only get a better rebirth, less suffering but again you come back when you finish that energy. Kusala compared to akusala is better. That’s why the Arahants give up both kusala and akusala, no more rebirth. For him there is nothing called suffering. Kusala is good compared to akusala, but they are both abandoned finally, but until that you have to hang on to kusala. That is
the raft that is going to carry you across. You cannot cross without kusala, so hang on to kusala as far as possible till you get to the other end.

The Four Sathipatana are;

Kayanupassana (Contemplation on the Body)

Vedananupassana (Contemplation on Feelings)

Cittanupassana (Contemplation on Thoughts)

Dhammanupassana (Contemplation on Dhammas)

Here is the first of the four to begin with;

Kayanupassana (meditation on mindfulness of the body)

Kayanupassana Sathipatana has 6 sectors of practise

Anapanasathi – breath mindfulness

Iriyabhada – bodily movements and actions

Sampacanya – conscious awareness (mindfulness)

Padhikulanasikara – Examination of the impure parts of the body (using the meditation on the 32 different parts of the body

Dhatunamasikara Examining and breaking down of the body into the four elements and seeing it as such

Navasivatika – To examine and study a corpse in nine various states of decay in a cemetery, and learn to see that one’s own body is no different.

32 Parts Of The Body

1. Head Hair

2. Body Hair

3. Nails

4. Teeth

5. Skin

6. Flesh

7. Tendons

8. Bones

9. Bone Marrow

10. Kidney

11. Heart

12. Liver

13. Pleura

14. Spleen

15. Lungs

16. Intestines

17. Mesentery

18. Chyme

19. Faeces

20. Brain

21. Bile

22. Mucus

23. Pus

24. Blood

25. Sweat

26. Fat

27. Tears

28. Grease/Lymph

29. Saliva

30. Snot

31. Synovial fluid

32. Urine