The Journey Towards Awakening
By Asuramuni Karunasena
Published by Asuramuni
Karunasena at Smashwords
Copyright 2012 Asuramuni Karunasena
Smashwords
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To my loving grandchildren
Emaya and Kaynen
2.5 Contacts lead to stimulations
3. Impediments: craving in different forms
3.2 Identification of impediments
4.3 Discourses of the enlightened
6.1 Availability of Information
6.3 Four foundations of mindfulness
Mr Karunasena’s new book is a scholarly exposition of the Buddhist ideas of “awakening” and a masterly guide to its personal realisation. Awakening, arguably the most fundamental concept in Buddhism, the Buddha himself being referred to as “the awakened one.” Bodhi in Sanskrit translates into awakening or enlightenment. Not only does the author present the basic tenets of Buddhism more succinctly than I have seen elsewhere, but he exhorts and guides his reader to personally experience awakening.
Awakening to a level of one’s choice is accessible to everyone. The author helps the reader to understand and overcome impediments that lie in the way of achieving such a goal without blindly following the advice of sages and pundits. One is exhorted to recognise the value as well as the limitations of traditionally accepted paths towards enlightenment, in particular meditation. We are reminded that Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment (nibbana) after rejecting accepted practices including meditation. Nibbana is ostensibly beyond the mind process, while all forms of meditation lie firmly within it. The practical route to enlightenment must of necessity depend on following an empirically tested and highly personalised approach.
The author calls attention to two areas that are often ignored: deep sleep to understand the qualities of kamma vatta; and nature of the infant’s mind where identification and self are absent—both of which have a profound relevance and an overlap with some qualities of nibbana.
By emulating the properties of deep sleep or of an infant’s mind we can free ourselves from the shackles of self and selfishness and thus reach a more profound understanding of the nature of things. Once we come to realise that a permanent self/ego is an illusion we would begin to gain true knowledge of the world—we become enlightened. By sublimating a personal ego we are told that the timelessness of an infinite eternal universe will be realised. I am not surprised that many ancient Buddhist texts written thousands of years ago have described a Universe of stars, planets and galaxies that is amazingly post-modern. And such knowledge was not acquired using telescopes but through the still unexplored powers of selfless introspection. The truth about the world lies deep within us, waiting to be unravelled.
Professor Chandra
Wickramasinghe
Cardiff University, UK, and
Director,
Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology, University of Buckingham, UK
Acknowledgements
My first footstep in the direction of the teaching was taken in the autumn of 1999, when I first met Dr. Kumar Senanayeka. He was in England doing his post-graduate studies at the time. After I had shared several discussions with him, my perceptions of the Buddha’s teachings began to change. I was impelled to understand the teaching and to move forward in search of the Truth. Dr. Senanayeka’s message was simple, but forceful enough that it led me to critically examine my own understanding of the dhamma. It was the most beautiful feeling that I have ever experienced.
With the awakening of this new interest in the subject, I was keen to lay a proper foundation. I invited Mrs. Swarna Silva, to England in the spring of 2000. This was on the recommendation of Dr. Senanayeka. Mrs Silva has retired from her teaching profession and was a regular participant of Mr Siriwardena’s dhamma discussion at the time. Mrs. Silva’s visit was of the greatest benefit to me, and many others in England. Her discussions helped me to clear some of my misunderstandings of the teaching. It was a great, unforgettable beginning and I am thankful to both, Dr. Senanayeka and Mrs. Silva for initiating such a wonderful change in me.
Dr Senanayeka and Mrs Silva were also responsible for directing me to study the teachings of Mr. Lokuge Siriwardena, a popular Sri Lankan teacher of dhamma. I was told that both of them had greatly benefited from Mr. Lokuge Siriwardena’s dhamma discussions. I first began listening to these talks in the winter of 2000, in Galle, Sri Lanka. This resulted in a major change, a radical transformation of my thinking. After listening to Mr. Siriwardena, I developed an avid appetite for serious investigations into the teachings. Since then I have attended or listened to Mr. Siriwardena’s talks at every available opportunity. For the first time in my life, the proper meaning of the Buddha’s words “pubbe ananussutesu dhammesu” (dhamma unheard of before) seemed to be revealed.
After returning to England, I arranged for Mr. Siriwardena to visit England and meet with many Buddhists there. I have had many precious opportunities to meet with him during these visits. The most recent meeting with Mr. Siriwardena was in the summer of 2011 in England. I have no words to explain the benefits I gained from these discussions. I am ever so grateful to Mr. Siriwardena for showing me the right path.
I have also been fortunate to enjoy discussions with Mr. Kularathne Nakkawatte, Dr. (Mrs.) Sheila Subasingha, Mrs. Sumana Wijayatunga, and Mr. Jayasiri Wijayasinghe during the past few years. With their help and guidance, I was able to focus intensely on the deep meanings of the teachings and thereby able to escape from my blindness to problems in the traditional teachings of Buddhism. I am very grateful to them for having pointed out many irregularities, inaccuracies, and inconsistencies of our accepted traditional interpretations of the dhamma. They too have helped me to set myself on the right path.
This book would not have been possible if not for the above-named persons and their invaluable discussions, and therefore, I would like to gratefully acknowledge my spiritual lineage. However, the contents of this book are only a reflection of my personal understanding of the profound teaching of the Buddha. If you find mistakes or misunderstandings in my book, please attribute them to my own faulty understanding of the dhamma, and not to my patient and wise teachers.
I would like to acknowledge with gratitude Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe for writing the foreword to the book. I would like to thank Ms Karen Lofstrom for editing the book amidst her busy schedule.
Most of all, I would like to acknowledge, my wife Indra, son Asanka, daughter Shelani and daughter-in-law Kavudini for their tolerance, unimpeded support and positive encouragement to proceed with this difficult task.
Preface
The teachings of the Awakened help us understand that our experience of the phenomenal world, the world that the senses manifest to us, is an illusion. The illusion is only an impermanent result of a process that begins with involuntary sensory stimulations. The teachings help us to see through the clever manipulations of craving (tanha), manipulations which create our ignorance-driven mind process.
Involuntary sensory stimulations cause thought; there is no need to assume a creator of thought. However, the operation of cause and effect leads us to believe that a thought must have a thinker. A ‘self’ is born. Our ignorance leads us to believe that this mind creation is a permanent self. It is the illusion of “I”, “Me,” and “Mine” that is established through this process.
Many of us are intelligent enough to understand that “I” and “Me” are illusions. But this intellectual capability—the capability to reject the notion of a permanent entity called a self—is not sufficient for us to awake from the illusion of self. The emotional feeling of identity—the feeling of “I” as a person or “self”—continues. This illusion will continue until we become fully conscious of the arising of the experience of a self.
The notion of identity leads to emotional responses, which are responses to thoughts. These emotional responses manifest in many different ways: happiness, unhappiness, anger, sorrow, pain, grief, etc. These are the experiences arising from the illusion of a self, as we ignorantly personalise all responses resulting from involuntary sensory stimulations. This personalisation, the clinging to mental constructions, is the cause of our suffering and our continuance in the cycle of birth and death.
The energy that perpetuates this cycle of birth and death, the samsaric cycle, comes from our emotions. Thus our emotional responses to involuntary sensory stimulations can only keep us trapped in this samsaric cycle forever.
The teachings guide and assist us in calming our emotions. They help us start our journey on the Middle Path to move towards the Noble Eightfold Path and attain the ultimate experience of Enlightenment. But only a wise seeker of TRUTH, a rational thinker with an open mind, can gain a clear comprehension of the teachings and use them for this purpose.
As human beings, we are endowed with the capacity of reason, which helps us understand the teachings, identify hidden impediments, discard what is not relevant, and free the investigative mind within for direct experience of the un-manifest.
The priceless inner richness, the ‘wisdom’ that rests within us is ‘here’ to be explored and experienced now, not in a better or a future life.
1. Introduction
In its most common use, the word “awakening” refers to the transition from sleep to wakefulness, from unconsciousness to consciousness, from thoughtlessness to an incessant stream of thoughts, from the unknown to the known. Wakefulness is the state in which consciousness, awareness, attentiveness, and all behaviours necessary for survival are conducted. Awakening also refers to a revival or renewal of interest in a particular topic or subject. In both situations, the underlying essential criteria are the functioning of the time-dependent mind and the sense faculties. Thus it is the experiencing of the phenomenal world, the world that the senses manifest to us.
In Buddhism, awakening, the subject matter of this book, refers to something more profound, independent of the activation or the functioning of the sense faculties, independent of time and space, beyond the confines of ordinary consciousness. It is the experiencing of the world's true nature, reality in its absolute timelessness and spacelessness. It is the awakening from unconsciousness or ignorance [1]. It is the experiencing of the un-manifest.
Awakening in the context of Buddhism refers to the experiencing of the un-manifest, an experience which has been called Bodhi [2] [3] [4] (the same word is used in Pali and Sanskrit). The ‘one who has achieved bodhi’ is called the Buddha. The word Bodhi was traditionally translated into English as Enlightenment or awakening. This is referred to as Nibbana [5] or Nirvana in Buddhism. The ultimate goal of many Buddhists is this awakening. They believe that awakening brings an end to the cycle of births and deaths, and the suffering associated with this cycle.
The experiencing of the un-manifest, of Enlightenment is beyond our object-related [6] consciousness or awareness. It cannot be experienced by the time-dependent, mind-controlled thought process. It is the experiencing of our hidden inner richness, the wisdom with which we are originally endowed. It is the awakening of the real ‘I’ as opposed to the mind-made, conventional, illusory ‘I’. At one time, when we were infants, we experienced it [7], but at the time we were unaware of the experience. As adults, we realise that we have not gained any benefit from our early experience. However, Buddhism teaches us that this inherent quality of priceless inner richness is with us every moment, waiting to be explored and experienced. Some are aware of this aspect, but many are ignorant. Some mistakenly believe that the development or improvement of this object-related consciousness or awareness is the path to unfold our hidden true richness, the luminous gem, the true wisdom. However, object-related consciousness may point us towards awakening, but it can never unfold the true inner richness. Consciousness is a thought, but the Truth, the inner richness, is not.
We are aware that our object-related consciousness, our everyday consciousness, is the ruler of our mundane life. It is our success, happiness, and pride-and also our failure, frustration, and unhappiness. It is the creation of the illusion of permanence from involuntary sensory stimulations. It is the basis for the creation of our conventional world. It is the essential ingredient for our day-to-day life. It is a process that functions within finite boundaries, confined only to the reach of our senses. It is basically the thought process of the conditioned, ego-bound mind.
Referring to the mind as conditioned or personalised conveys a misleading message to some individuals; it implies that the mind belongs to a self. Does the mind belong to a self? Can anyone claim ownership of the mind? On the conventional level, there is existence, and hence, the mind belongs to a self, but in reality, in the absence of a self there is no ownership for the mind. This is the conflict between convention and reality. A wise seeker of reality knows that ownership exists only in thought. Hence, while respecting the convention for the sake of social harmony, he or she repudiates the ownership and moves on the right path to experience the un-experienced, the un-manifested.
Of course, proper explanations of the un-manifest are best left to those who have actually experienced it. For that reason, I do not speak about this experience at any great length; I do not want to mislead my readers. However, I believe that I have gained invaluable benefits from the discussions I had with my teachers. I have moved away from darkness into the light. I am now beginning to understand the Buddha’s teaching more clearly. This is the understanding I wish to share with my readers. I am confident that it will benefit many readers who are in search of Truth.
What my teachers tell me is that the experiencing of the un-manifest is basically the awakening into the timeless present [8]. It is the shining forth of the un-personalised mind [9], without limits or boundaries. It is the experience of the inner richness, the dawn of the wisdom [10]. It is to become free of identification with form. It is the realisation of ‘who I really am,’ beyond ego. Some refer to this awakening as awakened awareness, awakened consciousness, or awareness without objects—consciousness or awareness free of identification with forms. The words used to explain or identify the concept do not matter, provided we are not limited by the conventional meanings of such words.
Words are just signposts to communicate a message. They are only symbols, representations that cannot fully describe anything. For example, the word ‘apple’ is not an apple. It is just a label. The Enlightened have no use for words except to explain things to those who still think words are important. Words serve a purpose only until it is realised that they do not serve a purpose. They are useful for the sake of explaining to others that they are useless. When they occur spontaneously by themselves, in the moment, for the sake of others, in the form of writing or speaking, they serve a purpose, a conventional need. The Truth is beyond all words; it must be experienced, not merely talked about. But we do not really ‘experience’ it because there is no self experiencing ‘that.’
To many the path or the journey towards awakening is not clear. The path is cluttered with contradictory traditional interpretations and obscured by punditry. Otherwise simple explanations are often complicated by obscure Pali [11] [12] words. Implicit in these explanations is the belief that Enlightenment is something beyond the reach and capabilities of normal human beings. This myth is accepted by many as the norm and accordingly Enlightenment is postponed to a distant future, subject to fulfilment of certain requisites. Some have even postponed it to another life, in the future, which contradicts the basic teachings of the Buddha.
The Buddha taught that Enlightenment is here and now. Unfortunately, due to our ignorance, we do not experience this unique phenomenon, one that is available to us every moment. Instead, we allow the illusory ego to dominate and the thought process to continue. But awakening is possible! To awaken is to experience the reality that underlies illusion. It is the experience of inner peace beyond thought.
Moreover, awakening is a possibility for every human being, irrespective of religion. We should not make the egotistical mistake of claiming that awakening is limited to those of our own religion or faith.
The teachings of the Buddha, popularly known as Buddhism, can be classified many ways: as a religion, a philosophy, a way of life, etc. These classifications are opinions, based on the need to categorise or identify. They are nothing more than purely subjective concepts. They are the results of thought processes. There is no need to view the teachings as confined by the rigid boundaries of any of these categories. If we accept the boundaries, we lose sight of the Truth. Our categorisation would simply exemplify the functioning of the ego—that we are right and others are wrong. That does not mean the answer is to reject all categorisation. That is also the functioning of the ego, and no better than the other. Perhaps it is possible to adopt a more flexible, open-minded approach. When one looks at the basic concepts of the teachings with an open mind, the boundaries and the secondary nature of these categorisations and concepts would become very clear. Once one realises their limitations, one is better prepared for the journey ahead.
People are attracted to Buddhism for many different reasons, as these different descriptions of Buddhism would indicate. For many, the attraction may be the beneficial social effects of Buddhism as a religion: non-violence, compassion, tolerance, and social harmony. The increased level of violence in today’s world may encourage some to seek solace in Buddhism.
Others seek the benefits of meditation. Certain meditation techniques can bring peace of mind to individuals. Meditation helps to control anger and selfishness, and fosters good qualities such as kindness, helpfulness, etc. These characteristics not only increase social harmony, but are the prerequisites for such happiness as we can enjoy as individual selves. Many consider this fleeting happiness to be the most important aspect of life. Meditation improves health, and many people desire to live in good health until death.
For yet others, Buddhism is a way of life. They are Buddhists because they were raised as Buddhists. They take comfort in familiar rites and rituals. This is how Buddhism is practised in many places. These rituals have crept into the teachings with the passage of time and still play a dominant part in the practices of many traditionalists. Sadly, many religious institutions that are supposed to be the guardians of the teachings encourage these practices, which are believed to grant protection and prosperity to the illusory self. Rather than helping practitioners reach Nibbana, they strengthen the ego.
It is interesting that there is increased interest in Buddhism in many countries that are not traditionally Buddhist. The newcomers are not attracted to the traditionalist version of Buddhism; often they are genuinely interested in the principles of the teachings.
Buddhism is now considered a major world religion. It has won international awards. In 2009, the Geneva-based International Coalition for the Advancement of Religious and Spirituality (ICARUS [13]) gave their Best Religion of the World award to the Buddhist community. It is estimated that there are around 375 million followers worldwide; according to a recent article [14], Buddhism is the fourth-largest religion in the world, behind Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. It is disappointing to note that, despite the ever-increasing interest in the great teaching of the Buddha, many are left without clear guidance and direction and cannot attain the purpose for which the teaching was intended, i.e., to be awakened from ignorance.
My first book, The Teachings of the Awakened [15], was written with the hope that it could help provide guidance and direction to genuine seekers of the Truth. It presented two simple, but very important, messages. First, it asked readers to consider the concepts set forth there with an open mind—that is, to consider the concepts without pre-judgement or prejudice, even if the approach described differed from traditional interpretations of the teaching. Second, it asked readers to adopt a rational approach in order to understand the teaching in its proper perspective.
The aim of the first few chapters of this first book was to provide a basic framework that would guide readers away from the rigidity of traditional thinking. These chapters aimed to clear away restricted and narrow views of the teachings. They also presented the teachings in simple language, without the specialised, esoteric terminology used by many monks and scholars. They encouraged readers to take an open-minded approach to understanding the teachings.
Other chapters in my first book contained analytical examinations of various basic concepts, conducted in simple language. ‘Self,’ ‘five aggregates,’ ‘dependent origination,’ and ’timelessness’ were thoroughly examined in these chapters. These discussions were illustrated with simple examples, which were designed to help readers move towards the experience of reality. They stressed the importance of the present moment, where dhamma [16] is revealed. This moment, this instant where the self is born, is explained in detail. This moment is the only moment in which we can experience the Truth, but we look away from it, towards the past and the future.
The Teachings of the Awakened was my first effort to make a contribution towards meeting the needs of seekers of Truth. Following the publication of this book, I was humbly grateful to receive positive and encouraging responses from some of my readers, and to read positive reviews in newspapers and journals. It is wonderful that my simple message has reached so many corners of the world. Contemplating these responses, I ventured to believe that a second book might be of some use to seekers.
The aim of this second book is twofold: first, to help readers understand the beliefs that create barriers to a proper understanding of the Buddha’s teaching, and second, to discuss some aspects of the teachings which have been distorted by such beliefs. These aspects will be critically examined, unconfined by traditional interpretations. The reader will be encouraged to keep an open mind in order to approach these teachings in a scientific, logical, and rational manner.
Before I take you any further, perhaps I should say something about myself. I was born to a Buddhist family in Sri Lanka and brought up in a Buddhist environment. I am a Chartered Surveyor and not a Buddhist scholar. I have no formal qualification in Buddhism nor have I any monastic training. However, I have been fortunate to encounter teachers whom I sincerely believe to be awakened. Their discussions helped me to clear many of my doubts and improve my understanding of the teaching. The journey may be long, but I will persist: listening to my teachers, exploring the Buddha’s teachings, hoping to progress on the path. My ignorance may have prevented me from fully understanding the teaching. However, I hope that such understanding as I can share with you will be of some help. If there are faults in this book, they are not the faults of my teachers—the faults are due to my failure to understand the teachers’ discourses.
When you read this book, you may begin to compare it with what you know, or think you know, about Buddhism. It may differ from the versions of the teachings with which you are familiar. When this occurs, you may be inclined to agree or disagree. Be open-minded and analyse rationally. Do not let yourself be carried away by the words; they are just signposts to be left behind. Read as if everything here were something new. Test the contents with rational thinking and assess the validity of the interpretations. I do not ask you to accept because I am an authority; I ask you to convince yourself of the truth or falsity of my words.
Many of us are so engrossed in daily life that we cannot find time to consider the teachings. We remember them only when we need to seek solace in difficult situations. Engrossed in the illusion of the permanent self, anxious to protect this self, we put the teachings last on our list of priorities. Until and unless we realise that it should become the number one item on the list, we cannot proceed in the right direction. I hope that this book will help remind you to put the teaching first.
Remember that Enlightenment is not confined to one religion nor it is necessarily to be experienced via religious practices. There are no religious or any other boundaries. It is within everyone’s capabilities to attain the experience of the un-manifest, irrespective of religion, caste, nationality, etc. Moreover, it is an experience that can be attained now, in this life, not in the next.
Many Buddhists observe five or ten precepts [17] [18] of ethical behaviour. They do so in the belief that they will gain merit. They engage in charity to accrue merit; they carry out rituals to gain merit; they believe that they can transfer merit to the deceased, so that the deceased will gain some benefit in the next life. They do all this and much more, in the hope of attaining prosperity and happiness in this life and the next. If they think of Nibbana, of Enlightenment, at all, they think of it as something to be attained in a distant future life. This is clearly a misunderstanding of the teaching.
Is this what the awakened teachers of the past have taught? Is this what the few awakened ones now in the world are saying? Are the popular beliefs mentioned in the previous paragraph what the Buddha intended? No. Such popular beliefs are all self-centred, whereas the Buddha’s teaching is clearly about non-self.
The Buddha taught us to understand the illusion of self as the result of the mind process: sensory stimulation, the arising of thought and the acceptance of time, ignorance of the mind process facilitated by craving (tanha [19]), the creation of mental constructs [20] and the self, clinging to self leading to misery. If we can understand and observe this process, we can liberate ourselves from it and so conquer the recurrent cycle of birth and death. Therefore, understanding the thinking mind, the mind process, is the starting point of our journey towards the intended goal of Enlightenment. This mind process is discussed in Chapter Two, which also introduces the concepts of the five aggregates [21] and dependent origination [22]—concepts that are essential to the Buddha’s critical analysis of this complex process.
As mentioned above, the first task of this book is to help readers understand the impediments to a proper grasp of the teachings. They can best be described as cravings. They, impediments are discussed in detail in Chapter Three, which concerns craving in different forms.
Everyone knows that the teachings point to Nibbana as the final destination. But many are wandering without clear guidance as to the best way forward. True, there are traditional practices that claim to help the seeker, but, unfortunately, many contradict the very basics of the teachings. Hence, it is questionable whether they help practitioners to gain any benefit. Chapter Four is intended to help readers to improve their abilities to listen, read, and reason, to move beyond the boundaries of tradition, and to grasp the teachings in a manner that helps them to move forward.
Much of the information easily available to seeker is tainted with impurities resulting from time, language, custom, tradition, etc. These are hurdles that must be cleared if we are to gain a clear understanding of the teachings. The methods for dealing with these challenges are discussed in Chapter Five.
In the final chapter, many important concepts are summarised and repeated; readers are invited to check their own understanding as to the best way forward.
May you all experience the reality and be enlightened in this life.
2. The mind process
The ordinary human mind is not a thing, but a process. This process creates our thoughts and thus, consciousness; from this consciousness arise concepts of self, objects, world, and the divine. It is this consciousness-related mind that we generally refer to as ‘mind’. Our very existence depends on the functioning of this ordinary mind, which allows us to consider the past and prepare for the future. The mind process is so complex that it cannot be duplicated even by the most advanced computers. It is the source of man’s superiority over the animal kingdom. It helps men to ponder problems and create solutions. It is of immense service to mankind, but has also created many problems in the world.
There are many theories of the mind and its function. The earliest recorded works on the mind are by ancient Indian and Greek philosophers. Some theories concentrated on the relationship between the mind and a supernatural, individual soul. Modern theories, based on scientific understanding of the brain, propose that the mind is a phenomenon of the brain and is synonymous with consciousness.
Modern science and Buddhism both teach that the mind processes information about our environment that we receive through specialised receptors such as the five sense organs: the eye for sight, ear for hearing, tongue for taste, nose for smell, and body for feeling. Information resulting from external stimuli travels in the form of nerve impulses to and from the brain. Nerve impulses are electrical signals, which the mind processes into internal representations, or thoughts. Thought is an effect of the basic mechanics of the human ‘mind,’ the consequence of a process of pattern matching or recognition. At every waking moment, signals are analysed and judged against recalled ones through this process of pattern-matching or recognition; judgments are made in the form of thoughts.
2.1 Investigation of the mind
By virtue of the mind’s importance for our own existence and also of its exceptional complexity, the nature of the mind has long been an interesting and challenging topic for scientists and intellectuals. They have been trying to understand this complex mind process for centuries. The Buddha was the first to present a detailed analysis of this very complex mind process, more than 2,550 years [23] ago. He presented a thorough analysis of the whole mind process: its origination, mechanism, continuity, and the effects of its continuity. But his reasoning was more than a mere scientific analysis; it pointed to a realm that is beyond the comprehension of the ordinary human mind.
His analysis provides a clear understanding of our existence, of our self, and the world. But it also helps us to understand the mind process that gives rise to the notion of identity, of “I” and “me”. This notion of identity is an illusion, a veil that blinds us to reality. Many of Buddha’s discourses provide detailed explanations of this point. This is a process veiled by ignorance, hard to understand. But it is this analysis of the mind process that helps us find answers to fundamental questions.
* The concept
of “soul”—is the concept true or have we mistaken the mind
process for the soul?
* Rebirth—is there a rebirth or is it the
continuation of a process that results another birth?
* Birth of a
self—is there a birth of a real being or is it only a birth of the
notion of identity, of an “I” or “me”
by means of the thought process known as punarbhava
[24]?
*
The concept of permanency—is it really true or is it only an
illusion of the mind process?
* Emotion and suffering—how
do they occur? Are they the result of the personalisation of mind
constructs?
The Buddha’s teachings on these matters help us gain a clear understanding of ourselves, an insight to our own existence. They help us understand the usefulness as well as the limitations of this mind process. What are the limitations? This process is dependent on our senses and as such the boundaries of the sensory faculties become the inbuilt boundaries for the process as well. In whatever direction we look, we seldom go beyond the world of senses, and our senses are confined to the world of objects (forms, sounds, odours, tastes, tangible objects, and mental phenomena). All the manifold objects collectively called the world are just those things we could feel or know by our senses, within the boundaries of the framework created by an involuntary process, the thought process.
We cannot know by our senses what is beyond the perception of our senses. Our senses can make contact only within certain limits. For example, our ability to hear sound is limited to the vibration ranges that the ear is equipped to receive. Sound waves with higher or lower frequencies than these limits will pass into the ear, but we hear nothing at all. We are also unable to see certain colours, due to the limitations of our eyes. We act as though such sounds and colours did not exist, even though they are perceived by other creatures, or through the instruments of science. All of the six senses can thus arouse delusion as to the nature of world. Reality is not at all what we feel or know through our senses. It is our own unconsciousness (ignorance, or avijja) that blinds us to reality beyond the senses and this compels us to judge all truth by the norms and standards set by the senses.
The senses urge us to believe in the existence of a permanent world in front of us, even though science, and Buddhism, tell us that everything is in a constant state of flux. The five vital functions—seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching—seem to confirm beyond doubt that this conventional world exists and therefore, it is difficult for us to believe anything to the contrary.
A simple example will perhaps give some insight into the limitations of the mind process. Let us consider the deep ocean, the wind, and the waves near the shore. Wind acts upon the ocean to make waves. However, these waves are localised, confined to a finite space and time, and are relatively insignificant in comparison to the vastness of the ocean. The waves are changing all the time, while the ocean as a whole appears to be calm in comparison. Our mind process is like the waves: it is finite, confined by the limitations of the senses, constantly changing in response to input from the senses. Our whole world, everything we experience as a self, is created by this limited mind process. However, there is an infinite base that we do not ordinarily experience, like the vast ocean that supports the waves.
Is there such a base for our consciousness, a base without boundaries or limitations, independent of the confines of the senses? Could there be anything beyond the boundaries of the sensory spheres? A base in which there would no self, no time, and no language? The teachings say that there is such a base, which is essential for the mind process (thought process) to function. Most of us are ignorant of this vast and infinite base, beyond our senses, beyond self, time, and language. However, a few humans have experienced this infinite base and can help and guide the rest of us. These are the Enlightened.
However, as there are no words to explain what they have experienced, they must use conventional words to hint at these qualities. We use terms such as ‘universal mind’ or ‘un-personalised mind’ to refer to the infinite base, but the base is not defined or bounded by these words. A simple example may help us understand this concept. When we look at the moon as reflected in containers filled with water, we see an image of the moon. Our minds are like those containers, reflecting images of the moon. But in reality there is only one moon in the sky.
This is what is happening with the mind. We are conscious only of the mind that has been created by the mind process, which moves from sensation to thought to self. We ignore the basis of the mind, the un-personalised aspect—mind without ownership, where unlimited potential exists. (The use of the word ‘mind’ may be confusing, but it is used only to hint at the existence of vast intelligence beyond the ordinary mind process.)
If we are to experience reality, we need to be aware of this unknown side of the mind, where unlimited potential exists. It is the luminous, un-manifested, unconditioned mind, the powerful timeless present. This is the wisdom referred to in the teachings. This is the Buddha nature or the infinite intelligence beyond the time-constrained mind. It has been buried by ignorance (avijja) and craving (tanha). But this limitless and boundless Buddha nature is within us, waiting to be awakened. When it is awakened, we will no longer be deceived by the illusions created by the mind process. When the mind is awakened from unconsciousness (ignorance, or avijja) and defilements (kilesa), we will understand that the self is an illusion. This is the dawn of wisdom, a state of perfect peace free from emotional urges [25] (craving, or tanha). It is the revelation of the Buddha or Buddha nature [26]. It is the cessation of the mind constructed illusionary world (loka nirodha).
Our mind process automatically creates many barriers that prevent us from experiencing anything beyond the sensory spheres. These will be discussed in detail in Chapter Three. It is sufficient here to mention self, ego, mental creations (identification with form) and personalisation of mental creations as barriers. We have been conditioned since infancy to function within these barriers. This aspect will be discussed later in this chapter. It must also be noted that the way to escape from this compulsory conditioning is by means of understanding, or seeing through, the conditioning process.
The teachings of the Buddha are primarily about this intangible mind and its functions—a complex process beyond ordinary comprehension. The teachings provide clear guidance for those of us seeking to see for ourselves who we are and why we suffer so. They assist us to liberate ourselves from conditioned mind, to function beyond sensory spheres and time.
The Dhammapada [27], an ancient text which is very popular with Buddhist monks and laypersons, is one of the most succinct expressions of the Buddha’s teachings. The first and the second verses [28] start thus: “Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought.” This is one of the foundations of the teachings: mind is the base or root from which self is born. These two occur together, creating and conditioning each other. Self is born with the arising of the mind. We wake from our sleep and the mind takes ownership of all activities. All the natural phenomena that we would consider as mere natural activities [29] [30] during sleep, become deeds (kamma[31]) of the waking self. Breathing, circulation of blood, sound waves touching ear drums, and all other natural phenomena, which are just activities in our deep sleep, become deeds (kamma) of the waking self.
The Buddha’s discourses also point to a much wider aspect of the mind, an area which is not accessible to our conditioned or time-constrained mind. This aspect is far beyond our ordinary perceptions, outside any scientific explanations. It cannot be tested by any scientific process designed by the conditioned mind. It is the realm of mind uncontaminated by ignorance (avijja), craving (tanha), defilements (kilesa), and emotional urges. The discourses provide the guidance we need if we are to truly experience that mind, to grasp the present moment in this life, to experience reality and become enlightened.
2.2 Beginning of a process
How does the mind process start? It may be easier to understand, if we go back to the beginning of our life, the physical birth. What happened at birth? We became independent of the mother for our survival with the removal of a connection, the severing of the umbilical cord [32]. Our eyes received light reflected from objects; our eardrums heard external sound and so on. We begin to synthesise images from external contacts, just as we do now from the contacts that we make with our external environment. But in the beginning, as infants, our minds were pure [33] and uncontaminated. We had no concepts with which to identify and organise these sensory contacts. We had no manifest consciousness. The thought process was absent. In the absence of consciousness, our mind functioned independent of time. That is to say we were experiencing the present moment—a rare luxury that yielded no benefit to us at that stage. But even though we have forgotten this stage, our journey should be to go upstream to experience the present as we once experienced it as an infant: without identification and discrimination of forms.
The unusual qualities of our infant minds are worthy of contemplation. The self was absent. The thought process was not active, hence there was no consciousness. Identification with form, separation or division from the world did not occur. Personalisation did not take place. Mind did not function outside the present moment; the past and future were absent. Many of these qualities resemble the qualities of Nibbana, but it has not been realised at that stage.
As adults, we continue to make contacts with the external environment, but these contacts are now different. What is the difference? We feel that our contacts occur to a self; as infants, we simply experienced, without a self. This is the main difference: the absence of a self. Infant or adult, we experience the incessant inflow from contacts of the sense organs; however, as adults we take ownership of the contacts. For us, self is at the centre of everything. This is reflected in the knowledge we accumulate: ‘I see’, ‘I hear’, ‘my mother’, etc.
We are unhappy if something bad happens and happy when we have good news. We are vulnerable to our emotions, which are driven here and there by events. But the infants do not feel emotions as we do. Infants cry at birth, but it is not for unhappiness. The cry is a reflex that pulls oxygen into the body. Infants cry when their stomachs are empty, but this is just an instinctive response, not an emotional response. An emotion is the body’s response to a thought. The thought process has not yet begun for the infant and hence the infant does not have a self that can be happy or unhappy. This is nature; this is how it functions. Even as adults, we function in ways that we do not ‘own’ as selves. The digestion of food and the circulation of the blood are not thought processes; they continue even in deep sleep. Breathing is not normally thought related, though practitioners of meditation can control this process when awake. The self does not take ownership or control of these functions. They reflect the intelligence of nature.
According to the teachings, the infant’s mind is not activated by unconsciousness (ignorance) at this stage and therefore, such functions do not lead to the creation of a self. Natural, reflex actions without any consciousness of self are the norm for infants up to about three months. During this period of infancy, without the activation of the thought process, infants are unable to acquire the knowledge necessary for interpretation. The contacts simply occur and cease. It is only a short story. It is just the operation of law of cause and effect, i.e., the operation of pure dhamma.
The infant’s eyes receive light reflected from objects, its eardrums vibrate when touched by sound, and so on. However, the infant’s mind is not contaminated by these external contacts and has yet to produce an output, a thought. These persistent contacts, however, will result in acquisition of knowledge with the passage of time. The infant begins to form concepts of objects, and to reason, even before learning a language. Later, infants learn a language with the help of their parents, and learn to associate names with concepts. The infant learns to associate, for example, an image falling on the eye with the words that the parents say when they feed him or her. This same process occurs with sound, smell, taste and touch. This is the beginning of the learning process; it is referred to as the conditioning of the mind. It is the unconscious mind beginning to become a part of the collective consciousness.
The above phenomenon is common to any human being. (Note that some children are deeply retarded, and never learn a language; they do, however, acquire some pre-verbal knowledge of objects.) This is the very first stage in the acquisition of knowledge; it begins with an impersonal process and ends in the creation of self. Stimulation leads to interpretations—consciousness is activated—emotional responses arise in consequence of input from the five sense organs. This process, once set in motion within a self, will continue until the physical death of that self, or until the self is lost to dementia, as sometimes happens to the aged.
Note that emotional response occurs only when we are awake, not when we are in deep sleep. For example, eardrums make contact with external sounds in deep sleep, but no emotional responses occur. (One could argue that a mother hears her baby cry and wakes from a deep sleep. Isn’t that an emotional response? Similarly we wake up when we hear alarm bells. These are instinctive responses, like an infant’s responses, and they result in the awakening of the senses from sleep. Actual recognition of the stimulus and the emotional response to it come only after one is awake, and not before.) This implies that contact with the physical sense organs does not necessarily result in an instantaneous emotional response; that requires an input from the mind. The moment we are awake, mind and senses arise together and respond emotionally to sensory stimulation. Even if the stimulus ceases, the self arising from this process will continue with the process of interpretation and reflection. This is basically how we live within the time-frame of past, present, and future.
We make contacts with the external environment via our sense organs. These contacts (sound, light, smell and so on) are known as form (rupa [34]), which is the first of the five aggregates discussed in the teachings. For ease of understanding, we may consider that this process instantaneously leads to sensation/feeling (vedana [35]), or the activation of the second of the five aggregates. In reality, sensation/feeling does not occur after the occurrence of form; both arise simultaneously. They lead instantaneously to the activation of the time-bound thought process. The end product is a thought within the time-frame of past, present, and future. Who creates this thought? No one creates it. This is an impersonal process over which we have no control. But we take ownership of the thought and personalise it—“I see,” ”I hear,” ”I feel,” etc. According to the teachings, this process is the activation of dependent origination. The bhava cycle [36] is in motion to link a thought to a self. A self is born and the rest of the world becomes not-self. A separation of subject and object arises. An impersonal process thus produces a thinker and a thought, a self and a world.
2.3 Conditioning
After birth, the sense organs of the infant are subjected to constant contacts with the external world. These inevitable, unstoppable contacts lead to the surfacing of dormant craving (tanha) and defilements (kilesa)—inbuilt desire to make some sense of the disturbances or continuous contacts when the infant is awake. The dormant craving (tanha) and defilements (kilesa) then begin to activate in order to understand the processes occurring within. This is a natural involuntary process and is similar to the surfacing of sediments that lie at the bottom of a glass of water when it is disturbed. With the activation of dormant craving (tanha) and defilements (kilesa), a self is beginning to emerge. A thought process gradually activates. The involuntary mind process thus produces a self. This natural phenomenon is common to every infant. It is the beginning of conditioning.
As this conditioning progresses, the infant begins to understand or interpret stimulations or disturbances and begins to populate the world of non-self with objects. In this initial stage, the infant usually gets help from his or her parents, as previously discussed. That is the starting point or base line from which infants develop their knowledge. However, the parent’s minds are conditioned or time-constrained and are subject to the collective consciousness. Infants naturally tend to follow in the footsteps of their parents, imitation being the only avenue available to them. As a result, the infant’s mind is conditioned just as the parents’ minds are conditioned. The thought process is activated and the infant begins to be conscious of the existence of a self and of the external world. It starts to separate self and the rest, starts to distinguish between objects, and so on. The output of infant’s mind process—the thoughts—thus begins to reflect the collective consciousness. The self is born. The notion of identity, of “I” and “me”, is established by this process. The infant begins to accept the constraints of past-present-future time.
This conditioning is completely unconscious. Hence, all the information that the infant gathers is tainted by this conditioning. He or she stores this information in memory to be retrieved when needed. We refer to this as knowledge.
During this natural process, the infant begins to create a bigger picture of the world in his or her mind. He or she accepts the existence of a permanent world that is not-self. The infant does not realise that the world and all the objects in it are just creations of the mind. The separation of thinker and thought, self and others, observer and observed, actor and action, etc., all this is accepted as normal and real.
Even though the information gathered in this process is tainted, it is still useful for the purposes of living. Moreover, it allows us to begin to reason critically, so that we can understand the teachings of the Buddha. How sad that most people only utilise their knowledge to attempt a fleeting happiness in this brief life!
2.4 A drift begins
We are aware that natural phenomenon such as light and sound make contact with the sense organs. But we may not be aware of the impermanent nature of these involuntary contacts. These contacts cease the moment they occur. The teaching describes these contacts as ‘simultaneous arising and ceasing’ or ‘ceasing within the arising.’ These contacts do not trigger any form of emotional response in an infant up to the age of about two or three months. The infant’s responses are instinctive rather than emotional. In the absence of any emotional response, the infant does not experience happiness or unhappiness from such involuntary contacts. This is identified in the teachings as the experiencing of the unconditioned mind or the pure mind, pure from contaminants. However, although it is the experiencing of the present moment, it is not the experiencing of reality. For this reason, the infant is unable to derive any benefits from this experiencing of the present.
Inherited craving (tanha) is dormant at this stage of infancy. It has yet to be activated. Without the activated craving, these contacts are just appearances and disappearances for an infant younger than two or three months. They do not lead to any kind of interpretation. The mind process and the accumulation of information have not begun. However, this changes as the child grows. The process that leads to conditioning is activated with craving. The conditioning brings a permanent change to the process. It is the start of a drift away from the infant’s initial experiencing of the present moment.
This drift is a natural process, and happens to all but a few profoundly retarded human beings during their infancy. It is the beginning of acceptance of time: past, present and future. As we begin to learn how to identify and discriminate between objects, we lose the ability to experience the present. The mind begins to function with time. The infant has no control over this process. This is the contamination of the pure mind of the infant by external contaminants. The infant’s pure mind, unconditioned mind, is exposed to the influence of the conditioned minds of the parents, who accept self, time, and object-permanency as the norm. The infant’s responses to the input from the senses are no longer instinctive. They are emotional responses that result from the illusion of self.
Images of objects disappear as soon as they appear on the retina of the eye; sound waves vanish as soon as they make contact with the eardrums; so it is with the other sensory organs. These processes are continuous and occur in rapid succession. That is the nature of reality. The momentary image that resulted from reflected light rays that fell on the eye a moment ago has vanished without a trace. The eye is already receiving new light rays and the mind is creating new images. The infant mind learns, with the aid of its parents’ conditioned minds, to collate these flickering, vanishing images and label them as an enduring object: a ball, a hand. But these objects do not endure. Permanence is a delusion. It is only when we accept past-present-future time, and imagine objects as located in this time, that we can believe in the reality of these collated sense impressions.
This is the beginning of ignorance, as we become unconscious of reality. Our minds capture only one part of the process of simultaneous arising and ceasing (the arising) and collate these impressions. We become blind to the ceasing, and blind to conditioned mind processes. We become blind to reality. This is the result of craving (tanha).
Once the mind has been conditioned in the above manner, it will be extremely difficult to experience reality. Mind on its own will never fall back to the original pure state to experience reality. Our ignorance and blindness are strengthened every moment because of emotional urges (craving, or tanha). Only by following the Buddha’s path and understanding the conditioned mind can we experience the true reality.
2.5 Contacts lead to stimulations
When the outside world affects the physical sense organs, it makes momentary contacts. Light reaches the eye and disappears; sound makes contact with the eardrums and ceases; smell formed by chemicals in the air makes contact with nerve fibres and ceases; and so on. No one is responsible for these contacts. They are continuous, impersonal occurrences of appearances and disappearances. These contacts are our only means of connection to the external world.
These connections are not of permanent nature, because light, sound, smell, and so on are impermanent entities. They are subject to constant change, and change much quickly than we can imagine or the conditioned mind could experience. The light that reflected off the object a moment ago is not the light that reaches the eye. It has changed on its way to the eye. Similarly, the sound originating from a certain object has changed by the time it reaches the eardrum. It is like this with all the sensory inputs.
The objects from which the light is reflected or the sound is generated are not permanent entities either. They too are subject to constant change [37]. By the time reflected light reaches the eye, the object has changed from its original composition. This change is not noticeable to our conditioned mind, but that is the nature of any object made of sub-atomic particles. Even our sense organs are subject to this constant change.
The sense organs, the objects, and the mediums that connect the two are all impermanent entities. They are changing constantly; they exist in a state of flux. By the time reflected light reaches the eye; the object, the light, and the eye have all changed. Furthermore, the moment light reaches the eye, it disappears. New light particles or waves reach the eye in the next moment and they also disappear instantly. This is true of all sensory inputs.
We cannot perceive this flux. We collate these momentary impressions so that our conditioned mind can grasp them as permanent objects. We assume unchanged mediums of communication and permanent physical sense organs.
2.6 Delusion
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