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VISTAS:
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The Method: A Summing Up
It may he questioned, however, how one sphere can emerge from another, and one form from another form. The answer is an ancient one:
"Hard to perceive and understand, Vacchagotta, is this Dharma, rare, excellent, beyond the sphere of logic, subtle, to be understood only by the wise..." 1
It is in fact profound, even in its appearance profound. Even to the depth of the consciousness which penetrates it and pervades, even to that extent does the essence of existence reveal itself in the hues of Ineffability. Thus the full import of Buddha's statement: 'He who sees the Dhamma sees the Tathagata', will be appreciated only when it is realized that if one aspires to perceive the Buddha one can do so indeed. Namely, by perceiving, not his doctrine as such, but his Dhammakaya. Which can be perceived after one has attained to the Arahatta form.
However, it cannot be too often emphasized in this context that the attainment of any of these supramundane forms does not automatically make one a Sotapanna, Sakadagamin, Anagamin, or Arahatta. By no means. Whatever emancipation of mind is experienced is merely temporary and is valid only for the duration that one inhabits the form. As the Venerable Abbot of Wat Paknam has reminded us:
"As long as you haven't reached to the end of all the Dhammakaya Arahatta forms (which are beyond counting), you are still a slave, neither a master nor free."
Arahattaship (which is sometimes ridiculously confused with saintship) is often understood to be easy of attainment, due to the fact that during Buddha's time he had only to utter a few words and this one or that one became a completely Emancipated One, endowed with an the supernatural faculties. The example of Bahiya Daruciriya is a case in point:
"Therefore, Bahiya, thus must you learn: In the seen there can be only what is seen, in the heard there can be only what is heard, in the thought there can be only what is thought, in the known there can be Only What is known. Since, Bahiya, for you in the seen there can be only what is seen, in the heard what is heard, in the thought what is thought, in the known what is known therefore you, Bahiya, are not here. Since you, Bahiya, are not here, therefore you, Bahiya, are neither in this world nor in the next world, nor betwixt the two. This alone is the end of pain." 2
At which Bahiya immediately became an Emancipated One. To the rest of the Bhikkhus, Bahiya's conversion and attainment seemed an extremely surprising and swift one, not knowing his remote past history in the dispensation of the previous Buddha, Kassapa, at which time even after severe struggles he failed to attain enlightenment, and died. Now, however, his lime had come. Thus, in his explanation to the Bhikkhus, we witness Buddha assuring:
"Bhikkhus, do not measure the Law as being 'little' or 'much'. There is no virtue even in many thousands of stanzas. Though a stanza consist of a thousand words, if the sentences lack meaning, better were a single sentence which if a man hear he be at peace." 3
Let it be reaffirmed here, therefore, that there is no short-cut to release. One becomes an Arahatta at all only because one's time is ripe, it being the fruit of an earnest resolve (adbitthina) in the remote past, together with the fulfillment of the requisite paramis. Only after these factors have been fulfilled does emancipation cease to be a mere dream and becomes a reality in which to exist.
It would be unwise, therefore, to indulge in inflated ideas of having attained to permanent emancipation of mind.
Nevertheless, it is only through the process of this method that the defilements (asavas) of sangsaric existence are eventually extinguished, and the full significance of the anatta doctrine dawns upon the comprehension. Whereupon all ideas of selfhood and permanency finally become aligned in true perspective, culminating in the realization that nothing in the world of sense concepts, least of all the individual stream-of-consciousness (upadanakkhandha), is constant or consistent for two consecutive moments of time, not to mention eternal!
In consequence of its attainment, Vipassana ushers direct penetration into the following truths, sixfold in scope:
- The Four Noble Truths (Ariya Sacca)
- The Twelve Links in the Chain of Dependent Origination (Paticca Samuppada)
- The Five Aggregates of Human Personality (,Pancupadanakkhandha)
- The Twenty-Two Potential Faculties (Indriya)
- The Twelve Bases of Cognition (Ayatana)
- The Eighteen Elements (Dhatus)
The aim of the analysis is to annihilate the ideas of permanency and solidity with which the average man regards existence, and as a consequence to winnow and extricate the mind from its bondage thereto. Because to regard existence as a thing substantial is to award it an honour which it in reality does not deserve. There are thus two aspects of regarding the world: from the standpoint of conventional truth and from the ultimate (paramattha sacca). From the conventional standpoint it is generally agreed that a man is an easily identifiable creature with certain self-evident attributes which establish his solid existence and entitle him to the name. From the ultimate standpoint, man - or any living form whatsoever - is merely an interaction of certain forces which interlock and adhere into a certain shape and size for an extremely brief duration, breaking up and dissolving into intangibility incessantly, with no basis of permanent identity, shape, or size whatsoever.
Although this is something which can he rationalized, it requires actual experience to validate it, something more direct and impartial than mere deduction. Vipassana supplies that directness of approach, penetrating to things in their immediacy - unlike logic, which by its very nature is indirect, always working two steps at a remove from actuality.
However, it may so happen that after weeks, months, and even years of Vipassana no visible result is achieved. If so, there nevertheless will be invisible ones. Namely, each hour of concentrated practice bears inner fruit, in that it is an augmentation of merit (punna) and Perfection (parami), which exist independent of their perceptibility. With time, patience, and perseverance all things come into their own, the will being there. Excess of zeal, however, is not always a signpost to success. As said of old:
"Even so, Sona, excess of zeal makes one liable to self-exaltation, while lack of zeal makes one liable to sluggishness. Wherefore do you, Sona, persist evenness of zeal, master your faculties, and therein make your mark." 4
Whereupon in no long time Sona was numbered among one of the Arahattas, realizing that: 'destroyed is rebirth, lived is the holy life, done is what was to be done, there is no more life for me on terms like these'.
The causes why an individual fails to attain any, or all, of the forms as mentioned in this text, may be classed under eleven categories: (1) Doubt (2) Lack of attention (3) Sloth, torpor, and despair (4) Fear (5). Excitement (6) Restlessness of body (7) Excess of zeal (8) lack of zeal (9) Desire (10) Restlessness of mind (11) Over fixation on an object or objects of mind.
Once the luminous sphere of Pathama Magga is perceived it is a sign that supernormal vision is on the way, and with sustained concentration the rest will, sooner or later, follow. It may even happen that one of the supramundane forms may suddenly emerge luminously into view without previous notice. The aspirant has to be prepared for such potentialities and riot to he thrown out of focus, for the form may vanish on the instant, to one's protracted regret.
What is to be regretted is that in this field of Samma Samadhi little progress can be made alone, without a preceptor, although cases are known in which vision is attained without much preamble or aid. It has to be admitted here, unfortunately, that such experienced preceptors are few to be found. As in most things, a person's first initiator is of the utmost importance. And this is so because he may be an impostor and a quack. Whereby not only will the novice imbibe and absorb ideas which are neither wholesome nor correct, but his sanity may ultimately be at stake. Such ideas once sown like seeds in a fertile and receptive mind may take a whole lifetime, if at all, to eject.
It may be objected, however, that all this introversion stuff is unsuited to contemporary man, who has his living to earn and worldly responsibilities to bear, and has no time to sit still and do nothing but lull himself into a dream state. This attitude is only to be expected, and is in keeping with that state of mind which prevails and has been prevalent at large in all ages and all times. As one ancient Buddhist text observes:
"There are gods and men who delight in becoming, and when they hear of putting a stop to becoming, their minds do not respond." 5
The fact being that it is not really a question of no time, but of too much. So much so that the mind and body have to be drowned in some distraction to hold inanity at bay. Even if there were nothing in the world to do, even if there weren't an external world to reckon with, man's habitual soul-searching unease and incoherence of mind, unable to come to grips with the whole amorphous blotch of a problem, would be enough to throw him out of joint, as he crouches amorphous and out of focus in his room alone. As a poet mourned more than a century ago:
Nor peace within nor calm around, Nor that Content surpassing wealth, The sage in meditation found, And walked with inward glory crowned.
So long as truth remains veiled to mortal eyes, so long will mortality mourn, without a stay. As said of old.
"It is by not knowing, by not understanding, by not penetrating to it, that this world of men has become entangled like a ball of twine ... unable to pass beyond the ceaseless round of birth and death, without end...Long is the night to him who cannot sleep. Long is the way to him who is weary. Long is the revolution of becoming to him who knows not the True Law." 6
And if the 'True Law' remains imperceptible to the average man, it is not because he is, technically speaking, incapable. But because he is, unfortunately, inefficient. Inefficient in that his extra-sensory faculties remain clogged, and therefore are unable to intercept, digest, and relate to their origins any psychic data which impinges.
In this context, it cannot be too often emphasized how essential it is to uphold and upkeep the five basic precepts of morality, together with a gradual purging of the mind from anger, delusion, and greed. For the purpose of Vipassana is not merely to validate the existence of other external states and planes, of which the universe boasts multifold, but to attain ultimate liberation therefrom:
"Even as the ocean has only one great taste, the taste of salt. Even so, this doctrine and discipline which the Tathagata teaches has only one great taste. The taste of Release". 7
After the eighteen basic forms, with their respective spheres, as referred to in this text, have been experienced and perceived, they have to be purified and repurified for at least an hour a day if sustained translucence and clarity of vision are to be expected. Any slackness will witness a deterioration and decline, with perhaps even a total disappearance of supernormal vision. For of all things most difficult to sustain at the highest level of perfection, consciousness is certainly the hardest. With constant practice and application each day, back and forth through all the basic forms, the highest degree of facility will be attained.
Notes:
1. Aggivacchagotta Sutta MN I.483
2. Bahiya Sutta Khp Ud I.10.
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4. Sona Sutta AN VI.55
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7. Uposatha Sutta Khp Ud V.5
