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Taking Refuge

in Buddhism

Sujin Boriharnwanaket

2000  

published by zolag • London

Translated from the original Thai by Nina van Gorkom

April 2000

zolag 46 Fircroft Road Tooting Bec

London SW17 7PS

ISBN 1 897633 20 3

© 2000 Sujin Boriharnwanaket.

All rights reserved.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

Printed in Great Britain by: Biddles Ltd., Guildford, and King’s Lynn.

Contents

Preface....................................................................................... 7

Introduction ........................................................................... 11

Chapter 1 ................................................................................ 17

Mental Phenomena and Physical Phenomena

Chapter 2 ................................................................................ 27

Confidence in the Buddha’s Teachings

Chapter 3 ................................................................................ 37

The Meaning of Dhamma

Chapter 4 ................................................................................ 43

Listening to the Dhamma

Chapter 5 ................................................................................ 55

Different Degrees of Understanding

Chapter 6 ................................................................................ 67

The Eightfold Path

Chapter 7 ................................................................................ 77

The Right Way and the Wrong Way

Chapter 8 ................................................................................ 89

The Natural Way to develop Understanding

Glossary .................................................................................. 99.From the sponsor:

Dedicated to the memory of

John Kirkpatrick (1921-1999).

Preface

This book is a compilation of Discussions on Buddhism Ms Sujin had with Cambodians in 1992 and 1993, in Cambodia and in Nakorn Nåyok, near the border between Thailand and Cambodia. The teacher of the group of Cambodians, Mr Buth Sawong, had learnt Thai in seven years in order to follow Ms Sujin’s radio program on Buddhism which can be heard also in Cambodia. Several years ago a blind friend had encouraged him to listen to Ms Sujin. During the day Mr Buth Sawong studied Buddhism and in the evening he explained to others what he had learnt about the development of right understanding of mental phenomena and physical phenomena in daily life. People generally thought that they had to sit and be tranquil in order to develop wisdom as taught by the Buddha; what they learnt from Ms Sujin about the development of understanding in their daily lives was quite new to them. When I met Mr Buth Sawong in Thailand he said that he had never heard before such teaching of the development of right understanding. He was very happy to learn that this development was to be done in daily life. The Thais helped Mr Buth Sawong with a new radio station and now he has his own program on two different stations. He also translated my “Abhidhamma in Daily Life” into Cambodian.

One of the members of his group is a magician famous all over Cambodia. He also entertained us with magic tricks when he was in Thailand. More extraordinary is that he, after each magic show, gives a lecture on Buddhism, explaining that his tricks are an illusion and that illusion is different from reality. He said that people should not only have enjoyment in what is only an illusion, but that they should also learn more about realities in their daily lives..This is the Middle Way the Buddha taught. People do not have to force themselves to follow difficult ascetic practices, they can develop understanding of the phenomena which naturally appear in their daily lives, including defilements.  The Buddha taught the development of right understanding of all that is real, of all the phenomena of our life as they appear through the five senses and the mind. This under-standing can eventually lead to the eradication of all faults and vices. The development of insight or right understanding was the subject of the discussions on Buddhism held in Cambodia. Ms Sujin stressed time and again that the condi-tions for the growth of understanding are above all listening to the Dhamma and considering what one has heard. By listening and considering, the right conditions are accumulated for the arising of direct awareness of realities and at such moments direct understanding of them can be developed. The Buddha taught that there is no person, no being, no self. What we take for our mind and our body are only different mental phenomena and physical phenomena which arise because of conditions and then fall away. All realities and thus also mindfulness and understanding are non-self.  There is nobody who can control the arising of awareness and understanding; there is no particular method which has to be followed for the development of right understanding. Theoretical understanding of realities acquired by listening and considering is the foundation for direct understanding of them.

This book consists of questions and answers. At each meeting there was an interpreter who translated Ms Sujin’s words into Cambodian and also summarized the questions of the listeners. In chapter 6 we read about Ms Sujin’s personal life and about the way she started to be interested in the Buddhist teachings. She mentions the lack of Thai translations of the scriptures and commentaries before 1957. When there were more translations available she used more quotations.9 from the scriptures during her lectures and thereby greatly encouraged people to read the scriptures themselves. In this way they would be guided by the teachings themselves and not follow blindly other people. Moreover, Ms Sujin has done a great deal to promote the translations of the old commentaries to the Suttas into Thai. In the Thai editions of the Suttas today each sutta is followed by its commentary.  I hope the reader will be inspired when reading about the development of right understanding in daily life, just as our Cambodian friends were inspired. Mr Buth Sawong showed his great confidence and deep respect to Ms Sujin’s guidance, because he considered her as a mother, as someone who gave him a new life. If one learns to apply the Buddha’s teachings it is true that a new life begins. With my deepest appreciation of Ms Sujin’s guidance and with great pleasure I offer the translation of this book on the development of right understanding to the English readers. I also wish to acknowledge my appreciation to the “Dhamma Study and Support Foundation”; to the sponsor of the printing of this edition, Robert Kirkpatrick: and to the publisher Alan Weller who have made possible the publication of this book.  The quotations in English from the Suttas are mostly taken from the texts of the Pali Text Society (73 Lime Walk, Headington, Oxford, OX 37 AD, England).

I have added footnotes to the text in order to make the reading of this book easier. I shall now in my Introduction give an explanation and summary of some notions and terms of the Buddhist teachings in order to help those who may not be familiar with them.

Introduction

For the development of understanding of the phenomena of our life in ourselves and around ourselves, it is essential to know the difference between what is real in the conventional sense and what is real in the absolute or ultimate sense.  Before we learnt about the Buddhist teachings we only knew conventional realities such as person, world, animal or tree.  The Buddha taught about absolute or ultimate realities, in Påli paramattha dhammas. Ultimate realities or as they often are referred to in this book, dhammas, have each their own characteristic, their own function, and they are true for everybody. We are used to thinking of mind and body, but what we take for mind are in reality different moments of consciousness, cittas, which change all the time. Citta is a mental phenomenon or nåma, it experiences an object. What we take for body are different physical phenomena, rúpas, which arise and fall away. Rúpa does not experience anything.  Nåma and rúpa are absolute realities, each with their own unalterable characteristic. Seeing, for example, is nåma, it experiences visible object. It has its own characteristic which cannot be changed: seeing is always seeing, for everybody, no matter how we name it. The names of realities can be changed but their characteristics are unalterable. After having seen visible object we think of the shape and form of a person or a thing, but that is not seeing, it is thinking of a concept which is real in conventional sense, not in the absolute sense. In our life there are cittas which are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or experiencing tangible object and there are also cittas which on account of such experiences think of concepts. This is our daily life and through the Buddha’s teachings we will be less deluded about our life.  We will learn what is real in the absolute sense and what is only a conventional reality or concept..There is only one citta at a time which arises and falls away, to be succeeded by the next citta. Each citta experiences an object. Seeing is a citta experiencing visible object through the eyesense, hearing is another type of citta experiencing sound through the earsense. Different cittas experience objects through the six doorways, namely, through the five senses and the mind. Cittas are variegated: some cittas are wholesome, kusala, some are unwholesome, akusala, and some are neither kusala nor akusala. There is one citta arising at a time, but each citta is accompanied by several mental factors, cetasikas, which each perform their own function while they assist the citta in knowing the object.  Some cetasikas such as feeling or remembrance, saññå, accompany each citta, whereas other types of cetasikas accompany only particular types of citta. Attachment, lobha, aversion, dosa, and ignorance, moha, are akusala cetasikas which accompany only akusala cittas. Non-attachment, alobha, non-aversion, adosa, and wisdom, amoha or paññå, are sobhana cetasikas, beautiful cetasikas, which can accompany only sobhana cittas.

Citta and cetasika, which are both mental phenomena, nåma, arise because of their appropriate conditions. Wholesome qualities and unwholesome qualities which arose in the past can condition the arising of such qualities at present. Since our life is an unbroken series of cittas, succeeding one an-other, wholesome qualities and unwholesome qualities can be accumulated from one moment to the next moment, and thus there are conditions for their arising at the present time.

Some cittas are results of akusala kamma and kusala kamma, they are vipåkacittas. Kamma is intention or volition. When there is unwholesome volition it can motivate an unwhole-some deed which can bring an unpleasant result later on, and when there is wholesome volition it can motivate a wholesome deed which can bring a pleasant result later on. Akusala kamma and kusala kamma are accumulated from one moment of citta to the next moment, and thus they can produce results later on. Kamma produces result in the form of rebirth-consciousness, or, in the course of life, in the form of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and the experience of tangible object through the bodysense. These vipåkacittas experience pleasant objects or unpleasant objects, depending on the kamma which produces them.

Cittas which experience objects through the six doors arise in a process of cittas. When, for example, hearing arises, it occurs within a series or process of cittas, all of which experience sound. Only hearing-consciousness hears, but the other cittas within that process, which is called the ear-door process, perform each their own function. Hearing-consciousness is vipåkacitta, it merely hears the sound, it neither likes it nor dislikes it. After hearing-consciousness has fallen away there are, within that process, akusala cittas or kusala cittas which experience the sound with unwholesomeness or with wholesomeness. There can be akusala cittas with attachment or with aversion towards the sound, or there can be kusala cittas. There are processes of cittas experiencing an object through the eye-door, the ear-door, the nose-door, the tongue-door, the body-door and the mind-door. After the cittas of a sense-door process have fallen away, the object is experienced by cittas arising in a mind-door process, and after that process has been completed there can be other mind-door processes of cittas which think of concepts. Cittas arise and fall away in succession so rapidly that it seems that cittas such as seeing and thinking of what is seen occur at the same time, but in reality there are different types of citta arising in different processes. We believe, for example, that we see a table, but in reality there is a process of cittas experiencing visible object through the eyesense, and then there is a process of cittas experiencing visible object through the mind-door, and later on there are other mind-door processes of cittas which think of the concept of table. For the development of right understanding it is important to know that there are different cittas which experience different objects through the six doorways.  Citta and cetasika are mental phenomena, in Påli: nåma.  Nåma experiences an object whereas physical phenomena, in Påli: rúpa, do not know or experience anything. What we call the body consists of different kinds of rúpa which arise and then fall away. Rúpas arise and fall away in groups or units of rúpas. Each group consists of several kinds of rúpas which always include four kinds of rúpas which are called the four Great Elements, as explained in Chapter 1. Rúpas of the body are conditioned by four factors, namely, by kamma, citta, temperature and nutrition. Rúpas outside, such as rúpas of a table or a tree, are conditioned only by temperature.

The Buddha explained in detail about the different nåmas and rúpas of our life and the conditions through which they arise. Theoretical understanding of nåma and rúpa is a foundation for direct understanding of them, and this can be developed by sati, awareness or mindfulness of the nåma and rúpa appearing at the present moment. There are many levels of sati; sati is heedful, non-forgetful, of what is wholesome. There is sati with generosity, dåna, with the observance of moral conduct, síla, with the development of tranquil meditation, samatha, and with the development of insight or right understanding, vipassanå. In the development of insight, sati is mindful of whatever reality presents itself through one of the six doors. Absolute realities, nåma and rúpa, not concepts, are the objects of mindfulness and right understanding.

Paññå develops progressively in different stages of insight knowledge. When the first stage of insight knowledge arises there is no doubt about the difference between the characteristic of nåma and the characteristic of rúpa. At a.Introduction• 15 higher stage of insight the arising and falling away of nåma and rúpa, their impermanence, can be penetrated. In the course of the development of insight a clearer understanding is gained of the three characteristics of conditioned realities, namely the characteristics of impermanence, dukkha and non-self.

Dukkha is translated as suffering or unsatisfactoriness. It is the unsatisfactoriness due to the impermanence of conditioned realities, as Ms Sujin explains in Chapter 5.  When paññå has been developed to the degree that enlightenment can be attained, the four noble Truths are penetrated, which are: dukkha, the origination of dukkha, the cessation of dukkha and the Path leading to the cessation of dukkha. The origination of dukkha is craving. The Buddha explained that so long as there is craving there will be dukkha. There will be the arising and falling away of nåma and rúpa again and again and this is dukkha. When the last citta of this life, the dying-consciousness, has fallen away, it will be succeeded by the first citta of the next life, the rebirth-consciousness. At rebirth there is again arising and falling away of nåma and rúpa, and this is dukkha. Ignorance and craving are the conditions for the continuation in the cycle of birth and death, and so long as we are in this cycle there is dukkha. When wisdom has been fully developed all defilements are eradicated and this means the end of rebirth, the end of dukkha.

Defilements are progressively eradicated at the four stages of enlightenment: the stage of the streamwinner, sotåpanna, the stage of the once-returner, sakadågåmí, the stage of the non-returner, anågåmí, and the stage of the arahat, the perfected one. The arahat who has eradicated all defilements, will not be reborn when he has passed away.

The third noble Truth, the cessation of dukkha, is nibbåna.  At the attainment of enlightenment nibbåna, the uncondi-tioned reality, is experienced. Citta, cetasika and rúpa are.16•Taking Refuge in Buddhism conditioned realities which arise and fall away, they are dukkha. Nibbåna is the ultimate reality which is uncondi-tioned, it does not arise and fall away, it is not dukkha.  Nibbåna is the end of the unsatisfactoriness inherent in all conditioned realities which arise and fall away.

The fourth noble Truth is the Way leading to the cessation of dukkha, and this is the eightfold Path. We come across the terms the development of the eightfold Path, the devel-opment of insight, vipassanå, and the development of sati-paììhåna or the four Applications of Mindfulness. All these terms pertain to the development of right understanding of mental phenomena, nåma, and physical phenomena, rúpa.

By the teaching of the four Applications of Mindfulness the Buddha showed that all nåmas and rúpas which appear naturally in our daily life can be the objects of mindfulness and right understanding..•17

Chapter 1

Mental Phenomena and Physical Phenomena

Discussion in Battambang (Part One)

Sujin: You had questions about “Mindfulness of the Body” which is one of the four “Applications of Mindfulness”. There is no doubt about it that we all have a body, but we used to take it for “mine” or “self” before we listened to the Dhamma.  After having studied the Dhamma we learnt that all realities, all “dhammas”1 (The word “dhamma” has several meanings. It can mean the Buddha’s teaching, but in a wider sense dhamma is everything that is real. Citta, cetasika and rúpa are dhammas, realities, which each have their own characteristic.), are non-self, anattå. We should have right understanding of the term “dhamma”, a reality which is non-self.

The Buddha did not only teach the “Four Applications of Mindfulness”, mahå-satipatthåna, he taught all that is contained in the “Tipiìaka”. His teachings have come to us today in the “Tipiìaka”: the three “Collections” of the Vinaya or the Book of Discipline for the monks, the Suttanta or Discourses, and the Abhidhamma or “Higher Teachings”.  All the different parts of the Tipiìaka are in conformity with each other because they contain the truth which the Buddha himself penetrated at the attainment of Buddhahood when he was seated under the Bodhi-tree.

When we have listened to the Dhamma, even though we have not heard all of it, and when we have acquired profound understanding of the meaning and of the characteristics of the realities the Buddha taught, we will be convinced that the three “Collections” have to be in conformity with each other.

The Tipitaka explains all conditioned realities as citta, consciousness, cetasika, mental factors accompanying citta, and rúpa, physical phenomena. Thus, if there would not be citta, cetasika and rúpa, there would be no Tipitaka. The Tipitaka teaches us that the realities the Buddha penetrated at his attainment of Buddhahood are non-self. When we speak about the body we have to understand what the body, which is devoid of self, really is. Besides, the body does not arise alone, without citta and cetasikas. When there is understanding, paññå, it knows the truth of realities.  It does not only understand the characteristics of the realities we call the “body”, but it also knows the different characteristics of the mental realities, of citta and cetasikas, which appear. Paññå can realize that what we used to take for “mine” or “I”, or for the world, are only different types of “ dhammas”, realities, namely: citta, cetasika and rúpa.  It is most beneficial to study the Dhamma. When we study the teachings we should also verify ourselves the truth of what we learnt, we should investigate ourselves the realities which appear in our daily life. In that way we will acquire a deeper understanding of them. For this reason, I would like the listeners to consider the Dhamma and to try to answer their questions themselves. You have questions about “Mindfulness of the Body”, but when you investigate the truth yourselves, you will see more clearly that there are, besides the body, also citta and cetasika.

Buth Sawong: Some people would like to know the meaning of “seeing the body in the body”, as is stated in the “Satipaììhåna Sutta” in the section on “Mindfulness of the Body”.

Sujin: We could discuss about many realities, but since the time is limited for this Dhamma discussion I would like first of all to go into an important point, namely, the meaning of “dhamma”. Everything which is real is dhamma. The body is dhamma. When we touch the body, softness or hardness appears. Softness and hardness are characteristics of realities, they are elements which each have their own unchangeable characteristic. Softness is always softness and hardness is always hardness, no matter whether we touch the body or things outside. When paññå understands that the characteristic of softness or of hardness, no matter whether it appears in the body or outside the body, is in each case the same reality, the same element, paññå can develop.  When paññå has become keener it can realize that these elements arise because of conditions and then fall away completely. In this way there can be detachment from the conception that these elements are “self”. Then one sees “the body in the body”, which means that one understands that the body is not me, mine or self.

Buth Sawong: What we call “the body”, kåya, is made up of different elements which are joined together. Of what does the body consist?

Sujin: What we call “the body” is made up of different realities. Because of the joining together of different elements we can say that we have eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body, or we can distinguish different parts of the body, such as hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth, skin, etc. 

Buth Sawong: When I hear the sentence, “seeing the body in the body”, I do not understand to what refers the second word “body” of this sentence.

Sujin: People are inclined to attach too much importance to terms, such as, “seeing the body in the body”. They wonder which body they have to see, or how they have to see the body in the body. People know that they have eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body, but when and in what way do these appear? They should know that there is the characteristic of hardness in the whole body, from head to toes. Wherever we touch the body, hardness or softness appears right at that spot. There is at that moment impingement of an objecton the rúpa which is bodysense ( The rúpa which is bodysense is all over the the body. It is capable of receiving tangible object which impinges on it, such as the rúpas which are hardness, softness, heat, cold, motion or pressure.). The bodysense is a necessary condition for the experience of tangible object. If there were no bodysense the characteristics of hardness and softness could not be experienced.

The realities which appear through the six doors, the doors of the senses and the mind, can be seen as six distinct worlds, each different from the other: the world appearing through the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the body and the mind. This is called in the scriptures, “the world in the discipline of the ariyan”3 . This helps us to understand that rúpas of the body can only be experienced right at the spot where there is touching, just for a moment, and that only one characteristic of rúpa at a time can appear. The whole body cannot be directly experienced. A rúpa which has arisen impinges, it appears and then it falls away immediately.

This is the meaning of “seeing the body in the body”. We should not think of the terms “body in the body” and wonder what the meaning is of the first word “body” and what of the second one. It is important to understand that there are different moments of experience: the moment of seeing is different from the moment of hearing. Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and the experience of hardness which impinges on the bodysense are all different moments of citta. At this moment there is the impingement of hardness on the bodysense. So long as there is still “attå-saññå”, and wrong remembrance of self 4 , one takes everything for “mine” or “self”; one believes, for example, that “my finger” touches a certain “thing” which is hard. However, if we have understood that there is no self, only dhammas, realities, and if there can be awareness of hardness which appears because of impingement on the bodysense, we will see that the rúpa which is hardness is a reality which has arisen because of conditions. If the rúpa which is hardness has not arisen it cannot appear. The hardness which has arisen and appears must fall away again. Hardness is not “self” or “mine”, there is no self who can exert control over it.

Buth Sawong: I understand that we have eyes, that there are things which appear through eyesense and that there is a reality which experiences what appears through eyesense.  Is this what is called, “seeing the body in the body”?

Sujin: At such a moment there is not the “Application of Mindfulness of the Body”, seeing the body in the body. We should remember that there are four “Applications of Mindfulness” or satipaììhåna: mindfulness of the body, of feeling, of citta and of dhammas. All that is included in the four “Applications of Mindfulness”, the objects of mindfulness, are realities, dhammas. The Buddha taught “Mindfulness of the Body” because, from birth to death, from life to life, we cling to the whole body, from head to toes, taking it for “my body”, for self. When there is “mindfulness of the body”, sati is aware of the realities we are used to taking for “my body”. When the characteristics of the “four Great Elements” (mahå-bhúta rúpas) 5 are known as they are, there will be detachment from the concept of “my whole body” When we have also studied and thoroughly understood the “Applications of Mindfulness” of feeling, of citta and of dhammas, we will see that the four “Applications of Mindfulness” are in conformity with each other. Realities are classified in many different ways, such as by way of dhåtus, elements, khandhas, “aggregates“, and åyatanas, bases 6 , and these are included in the “Application of Mindfulness of Dhammas”. The different classifications of realities show different aspects, but we should remember that everything which is real can be object of mindfulness.  The “Application of Mindfulness of the Body” is a separate “application” because everyone clings to the body, taking it for “mine”.

Questioner: Citta is the reality which experiences an object.  It is said that it “thinks”7 of an object, because the object is cognized by citta. I would like to know what arises first, the citta or the object. What conditions what?

Sujin: Citta is a difficult subject, it is very detailed. We all have citta; we are seeing, and this is a citta. However, it is necessary to discuss and consider the reality of citta until one has clear understanding of it. Although people at this moment hear about citta, they do not understand what it really is, so long as they have not directly understood the characteristic of citta. Therefore, one needs to listen to the Dhamma again and again.

Citta is the reality which experiences an object. This shows us that citta and the object cannot exist without each other.

It is of no use to speculate about it what arises first and what arises afterwards. The Buddha, at the attainment of Buddhahood, penetrated the truth of all realities. He taught that at the moment of seeing visible object, of hearing sound, of smelling odour, of tasting flavour and of touching tangible object, that in all those cases the rúpa which is sense object arises before the citta which experiences it. The rúpa which arises previously to the citta which experiences it is “prenascence condition” (purejåta paccaya) for that citta 8 .  A rúpa which is a sense object impinges on the relevant sense-base, but it is not immediately experienced by citta which is sense-cognition, such as seeing or hearing. When a sense object impinges on a sense-base, there are bhavanga-cittas 9 before a sense-door process of cittas begins and a sense-cognition such as seeing or hearing can arise and experience the object which is impinging 10 .

When we consider the relation between seeing-consciousness and visible object which appears through eyes, and the relation between hearing-consciousness and sound which appears through ears, we should remember that the rúpa which is the object of citta must arise previously to the citta which experiences it. Thus, that rúpa conditions the citta by way of “prenascence condition”.

There are other kinds of objects besides rúpa, but when we refer to objects which are “prenascence-condition”, these are the rúpas which are sense-objects appearing through the five sense-doors. For example, in the case of seeing, the rúpa which is visible object has arisen before the seeing and impinged on the eyesense, and then seeing-consciousness can arise afterwards. When we consider the true nature of nåma and rúpa, they should be distinguished from each other. They each arise because of their own conditions.  Rúpa arises and falls away according to its own conditions.  There are four factors which can cause the origination of rúpa: kamma, citta, temperature or nutrition 11 . No matter whether citta experiences rúpa or not, rúpa arises and falls away according to its own conditions.

When we discuss the Dhamma we should speak about it in detail. For example, the rúpa which is originated by kamma (kammajå-rúpa) arises all the time from the moment of rebirth-consciousness on. At the moment of birth the rúpa which is produced by kamma arises together with the rebirth-consciousness which is also produced by kamma, and thus, the arising of that rúpa is conditioned by the rebirth-consciousness. After that moment there is time and again, throughout life, the arising of rúpa produced by kamma, but it is not anymore dependant on a citta which arises simultaneously 12 , as was the case at rebirth.

There are also rúpas which are originated by citta. These kinds of rúpa are produced by citta at its arising moment. Each moment of citta can be subdivided into three extremely short moments: the arising moment, the moment of its persisting and the moment of its falling away. Each kind of rúpa has a different origin: kamma, citta, temperature or  nutrition 13 . A sense object, which is rúpa, experienced by citta through eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodysense or mind-door, is originated by one of the four conditioning factors of kamma, citta, temperature or nutrition.

Not only rúpa, but nåma also arises according to its own conditions. For example, each citta which arises and then falls away conditions the arising of the succeeding citta, it is the “contiguity condition” (anantara paccaya) for the following citta. Throughout life there is an uninterrupted series of cittas which succeed one another. The contiguity condition pertains to citta and cetasikas which have fallen away and are the condition for the arising of the succeeding citta and cetasikas. Only nåma can be contiguity condition, rúpa cannot 14 . Nåma and rúpa arise each because of different conditioning factors. Thus, we have to distinguish nåma from rúpa.

 

 

26•Taking Refuge in Buddhism.•27

Footnotes:

3 Ariyans are those who have realized the truth of realities and attained enlightenment. We read about the world in the ariyan discipline in the Kindred Sayings IV, Kindred Sayings on Sense, Second Fifty, Ch 4, § 84, Transitory.

4 Attå means self and saññå is the cetasika, mental factor arising with the citta, which is remembrance. Saññå arises with each citta  and remembers or recognizes the object which is experienced. Saññå can be kusala, akusala or neither kusala nor akusala. When saññå is wrong remembrance of self it is akusala, it remembers in a distorted way.

5 The body is constituted of rúpas which arise in groups or units. Each group consists of several kinds of rúpas and among these are the four “great elements” of solidity, cohesion, heat, and motion.

6 Conditioned realities can be classified as five khandhas: rúpa-kkhandha, the aggregate of physical phenomena, vedanå-kkhandha, the aggregate of feelings, saññå-kkhandha, the aggregate of remembrance, saòkhåra-kkhandha, the aggregate of all cetasikas other than feeling and remembrance, and viññåùa-kkhandha, the aggregate of cittas. There are twelve åyatanas or bases, which are: the sense-organs and the mind-base (cittas), the five objects experienced through the senses and mind-object.

7 In Påli there is a word-association between cinteti, thinking, and citta.

8 There are many ways realities can be a condition for other realities. Some realities arise at the same time as the realities they condition, others do not.

9 Bhavanga-cittas or life-continuum arise in between the processes of cittas. These cittas do not experience objects impinging on the sense-doors or the mind-door.

10 Rúpa lasts longer than citta, thus, it can arise before a sense-door process of cittas begins and be experienced by the cittas arising in that process.

11 Rúpas of the body originate from either one of these four factors, but rúpas outside only originate from temperature.

12 Kamma produces throughout life for example the rúpas which are the sense organs.

13 As regards rúpa produced by citta, when we are angry we can notice a change in our facial expression. In that case the dosa-múla-citta produces rúpas. When there is kusala citta with loving kindness our facial expression is different again; it is kusala citta which produces rúpas. As regards nutrition which produces rúpas, we can sometimes notice that good food or bad food affects the body.

14 Each citta arises and falls away and is succeeded immediately, without any interval, by the next citta. Rúpas which fall away are not contiguity condition for following rúpas. Rúpas of the body are replaced so long as there are conditions for the production of new rúpas by either one of the four factors of kamma, citta, nutrition or temperature..