The Characteristic of Dukkha

Questioner: What should a layman do who wants to be free from dukkha? He may see that there is such a great deal of dukkha, that it is so terrible and that it occurs all the time, because people are born and they have to be born again and again. Is there a short way to become free from dukkha?

Sujin: When someone says that there is such a great deal of dukkha, that it is so terrible, there is bound to be wrong view that clings to the concept of self. Only if there is no wrong view of self can dukkha become less. The Buddha explained that all the different kinds of dukkha can be eliminated according as defilements are eradicated stage by stage. So long as defilements have not been eradicated, there have to be countless rebirths. So long as there is birth, there is dukkha. The sotāpanna who has attained the first stage of enlightenment and has eradicated defilements in accordance with that stage, will not be reborn more than seven times. We read in the “Kindred Sayings” (II, Nidāna vagga, Ch XIII, § 1, The Tip of the Nail):

“Thus have I heard. On a certain occasion the Exalted One was staying near Sāvatthī at the Jeta Grove, in Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park.

Then the Exalted One took up a little pinch of dust on the tip of his finger-nail and said to the monks: ‘What do you think, monks? Whether is this pinch of dust that I have taken up on my finger-nail the greater, or the mighty earth?’

‘The latter, lord, the mighty earth is the greater. Infinitely small is this pinch of dust taken up by the Exalted One on his finger-nail, not by a hundredth part, nor by a thousandth part, not by a hundred thousandth part does it equal the mighty earth when set beside it – this pinch of dust taken up by the Exalted One on his finger-nail.’

‘Even so, monks, for the ariyan disciple who has won vision, for the person who has understanding this is the greater dukkha, to wit, that which for him is wholly perished, wholly finished; little is the dukkha that remains, not worth the hundredth part, not worth the thousandth part, not worth the hundred thousandth part when measured with the former dukkha which for him is wholly perished, wholly finished, to wit, a term of seven times.

So great in good, monks, is it to be wise in the Dhamma; so great a good is it to have gained the eye of the Dhamma.’ ”

Since the number of rebirths of ordinary people, who have not attained enlightenment, is countless, the dukkha that arises because of birth must be immeasurable.

Questioner: We all want to know what to do so that we can begin now with the practice of vipassanā.

Sujin: One should be aware of the characteristic of the reality that appears. When sati is aware of whatever reality appears, vitakka cetasika which is “right thinking”, sammā-sankappa of the eightfold Path, touches or “hits” the characteristic of the object which is appearing. At that moment, paññā can begin to study and gradually to realize the true nature of that object. In that way paññā can develop.

Understanding can arise and develop when sati is aware of the characteristics of realities that appear and these are considered and investigated at that moment. The realities that arise and appear fall away very rapidly. Paññā may not be keen enough yet to consider and study those realities. For example, when there is hearing, sati may arise and be aware of hearing, just for a moment, but there may not be paññā yet that is sufficiently keen to investigate that characteristic in order to know it as only a nāma which experiences sound. The nāma that hears has completely fallen away. In the beginning there is not yet clear understanding of realities such as hearing, but this is quite normal. Nobody can investigate the true nature of sound and of the nāma that hears by trying to catch them or to get hold of them. However, the nāma that hears will surely arise again and if one develops sati and paññā, there can be awareness again of the nāma that hears.

Now, at this moment, sati can arise and be aware of one characteristic of nāma or rūpa at a time, as it appears through one of the six doorways. In this way paññā can gradually develop to the degree of clearly knowing the difference between the characteristic of nāma and the characteristic of rūpa. Paññā will, for example, be able to distinguish between the characteristics of the nāma that hears and of the rūpa that is sound. These are different characteristics and they should be known one at a time. Eventually one will become more familiar with the true nature of nāma and of rūpa and then the understanding of their characteristics will become more accomplished. No matter which type of nāma or rūpa appears, and no matter where, awareness and understanding of them can naturally arise, and that is the development of satipaṭṭhāna in daily life. When understanding develops and becomes more accomplished, ignorance can gradually be eliminated.

Questioner: After one has paid respect to the Buddha by chanting texts, one may wish to sit and concentrate on a meditation subject. How can one do that with wise attention, so that there is no attachment or aversion with regard to the meditation subject?

Sujin: When there is right mindfulness, sammā-sati, of the eightfold Path, there truly is wise attention. It is not necessary to sit and concentrate on a meditation subject. When someone believes that he should sit and concentrate with the purpose of having sati, he has the wrong understanding that there is a self who could make sati arise at a fixed time. However, sammā-sati does not have to wait until one has paid respect by chanting texts. Who is paying respect to the Buddha? If someone does not know that it is nāma and rūpa, he takes the realities at that moment for self. He has an idea of, “I am paying respect”, he clings to an idea of self who chants texts. Sammā-sati can arise and be aware of any reality that appears when we are paying respect or chanting texts, or at other moments, no matter which posture we assume.

Bhikkhu: I have a question on satipaṭṭhāna. I have read that among the twenty-eight rūpas, there are rūpas that cannot be seen, rūpas that cannot impinge, subtle rūpas, rūpas that are far, and so on. Could you explain about this?

Sujin: There is only one rūpa among the twenty-eight rūpas that can be seen, and that is visible object that appears through the eyesense. Visible object can be seen and it is among the rūpas that impinge or contact (sappaṭigha rūpas). There are other rūpas that can impinge: the sense objects, apart from visible object, which are sound, odour, flavour and tangible object, consisting of solidity (appearing as hardness or softness), temperature (appearing as heat or cold) and motion (appearing as motion or pressure). Furthermore, there are the senses that can be contacted or impinged on, namely, eyesense, earsense, smelling-sense, tasting-sense and bodysense. These eleven rūpas can impinge or can be impinged on, but they cannot be seen, whereas visible object can impinge and can be seen. The twelve rūpas that can impinge are coarse rūpas. They are also called rūpas that are “near”, because they can be investigated and known.

The sixteen other rūpas among the twenty-eight rūpas are the subtle rūpas. They cannot be seen nor are they impinging. Subtle rūpas are “far”, they cannot easily be discerned.

The dhammas the Buddha explained are true and people who develop satipaṭṭhāna can verify them; they can know the characteristics of the dhammas that naturally appear, just as they are. However, the Dhamma is subtle and deep. For example, when a person learns that visible object is the reality appearing through the eyes, he may think that it is not difficult to understand this. But theoretical understanding is not the same as understanding of the characteristic of seeing when he sees. If he does not develop satipaṭṭhāna so that paññā becomes keener, he cannot realize the characteristics of nāma and rūpa as they are. When one sees, visible object is experienced through the eyes, but what one sees one takes for people, beings and different things. Then doubt arises and people wonder what visible object is like, what characteristic it has.

Visible object is the reality that appears when our eyes are open and there is seeing, not yet thinking about anything. Then the characteristic of visible object can appear naturally, as it is. As paññā develops, one can become familiar with the fact that visible object which appears is not a being, person, self or anything else. Visible object is only the reality that appears through the eyes, that is its true nature. If people are not inclined to study and investigate the characteristic of visible object, it will be impossible for them to relinquish clinging to the idea they used to have of seeing people, beings or different things.

Questioner: What is the meaning of studying realities?

Sujin: There is this kind of study when sati is aware and considers the characteristic of whatever reality appears. That reality can be known as nāma, which experiences something, or as rūpa which does not experience anything. This is the study of the characteristic of non-self of the reality that appears and it is different from merely thinking of words or naming realities. When paññā has become more accomplished, it can penetrate the three general characteristics of nāma and rūpa: impermanence, dukkha and anattā.

Questioner: When my eyes are open I am seeing, but I do not pay attention to anything else. Is this correct?

Sujin: We cannot prevent the arising and falling away of cittas which succeed one another, that is their nature. When sati arises, it can be aware of whatever reality appears naturally, just as it is.

Questioner: For most people the aim of the development of satipaṭṭhāna is to become free from dukkha. When paññā has arisen, one is free from dukkha.

Sujin: Freedom from dukkha cannot be realized easily. Paññā should first be developed stage by stage, so that ignorance, doubt and wrong view that takes realities for self can be eliminated. If people develop sati and paññā naturally, they will know that paññā grows very gradually, because ignorance arises many more times a day than kusala. This was so in past lives and it is also like this in the present life.

Questioner: The problem is that when an object impinges on one of the doorways I am bound to be forgetful, I lack sati.

Sujin: That is quite normal. When sati is still weak, it cannot arise immediately.

Questioner: I have studied the texts the monks chant in the morning, about the khandhas of clinging, upadāna khandhas. There is clinging to the five khandhas and this is dukkha. What does this mean?

Sujin: The five khandhas of clinging are certainly dukkha. So long as there is ignorance of the true nature of the dhammas that appear, there is bound to be happiness and sorrow. The arising of happiness and sorrow is a kind of dukkha, because at such moments there is no calm, no freedom from defilements. When paññā does not arise, the difference between kusala citta and akusala citta is not known. We all enjoy having lobha. There is no end to the enjoyment of lobha, until paññā discerns the difference between the moment of kusala, when there is non-attachment, and the moment of lobha, when there is pleasure, amusement, desire, enjoyment or clinging.

When paññā does not arise, we enjoy defilements, we like to have lobha; it never is enough, no matter whether we experience an object through the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the bodysense or the mind-door. Generally, people do not know that such moments are dukkha, that they are harmful and dangerous. Thus, the five khandhas of clinging are dukkha.

Questioner: When we are heedful when objects are impinging, for example, when visible object contacts the eye or sound contacts the ear, there will be neither happiness nor sorrow.

Sujin: There is not “somebody” or a “self” who could be heedful or force the arising of sati. When sati arises, we can know the difference between the moment with sati and the moment without sati.

Questioner: The five khandhas of the ordinary person must be the same as those of the arahat, but the khandhas of the ordinary person are still objects of clinging and this causes the arising of dukkha. When we gradually learn to be heedful when sense objects such as visible object or sound are impinging on the relevant doorways, do we develop satipaṭṭhāna in the right way?

Sujin: One should remember that all dhammas are anattā, non-self, so that sati can be developed in the right way. One should know when there is sati and when there is no sati. When one has a concept of self who is heedful, satipaṭṭhāna is not developed.

Questioner: The word anattā is difficult to understand. We can translate the Pāli term attā as self and the term anattā as non-self, but we do not really understand the meaning of these terms. We may say that there is no self, but we still cling to the concept of self.

Sujin: What is the self?

Questioner: We may assume that we are the “self,” but the Buddha states that there are only the five khandhas that arise together.

Sujin: The khandhas are not a person, not a self, but if we do not know that there are only the khandhas, we assume that there is a self.

Questioner: Although we know this, we still think, when we are seeing, that a self is seeing.

Sujin: That is so because we do not yet have clear comprehension of the true characteristics of the khandhas as realities which arise and fall away very rapidly. They can be classified in different ways, namely, as past, present and future; as coarse and subtle; as internal and external; as far and near, and so on. If one can discern the characteristics of the khandhas, one will know that each characteristic of reality that arises and falls away is only rūpakkhandha (physical phenomena), vedanākkhandha (feeling), saññākkhandha (remembrance or perception), saṅkhārakkhandha (formations or activities, all cetasikas other than vedanā and saññā) or viññāṇakkhandha (consciousness).

Questioner: I have heard that the postures conceal dukkha. Please, could you explain this?

Sujin: All conditioned realities have the characteristic of dukkha. They arise and fall away, they are impermanent and therefore, they cannot be a real refuge, they are dukkha. Thus, dukkha is not merely painful feeling. When it is said that the postures conceal dukkha, one should understand that this refers not just to painful feeling but to the characteristic of dukkha inherent in all conditioned realities. One may believe that there is no dukkha when, at this very moment, one is sitting, lying down, standing or walking without being stiff. The belief that the change of one posture into another one conceals dukkha is not paññā that clearly realizes the arising and falling away of nāma dhammas and rūpa dhammas. Nāma and rūpa arise together when one assumes different postures and dukkha is concealed so long as one does not know the characteristic of dukkha of one rūpa and of one nāma at a time, as they arise and fall away.

When one asks people who have just assumed a new posture whether there is dukkha, they will answer that there is not. If they confuse painful feeling with the truth of dukkha, how can they understand that the postures conceal dukkha? There must be dukkha, otherwise it cannot be said that the postures conceal dukkha. Any idea of a posture or of the whole body, no matter there is painful feeling or not, conceals the characteristic of dukkha. So long as one has not realized the arising and falling away of nāma and rūpa one does not understand the truth of dukkha.

If a person does not develop paññā in order to understand nāma and rūpa as they are, he has wrong understanding of dukkha. He may believe that he knows the truth of dukkha when he ponders over his painful feeling, dukkha vedanā, caused by stiffness, before he changes into a new posture in order to relieve his pain. He cannot know the truth of dukkha so long as he does not discern the characteristic of non-self of nāma and rūpa. This is the case if he does not know the nāma which sees and colour appearing through the eyes, the nāma which hears and sound appearing through the ears, the nāma which smells and odour, the nāma which tastes and flavour, the nāma which experiences tangible object and tangible object, the nāma which thinks, happiness, sorrow and other realities.

Also, the reality which thinks that it will change posture is not self, it should be realized as a type of nāma which arises and then falls away. If one does not know this, one will not be able to understand the characteristic of dukkha. Only if one is naturally aware of nāma and rūpa as they appear one at a time, paññā can develop stage by stage, so that the noble Truth of dukkha can be realized.

Questioner: When there is sati, it seems that only dukkha appears, but I cannot separate nāma and rūpa when I experience objects through the senses and through the mind-door. I just have theoretical knowledge of different realities that appear one at a time through the different doorways. I went to a meditation centre to gain more knowledge about the practice, but I did not study a great deal, I just practised.

Sujin: Are you satisfied with your understanding or not yet?

Questioner: I am still studying, thus, I cannot say that I am satisfied.

Sujin: You said that you went to a meditation centre in order to study and practise. However, when you went there you did not gain much understanding of realities. Is it then of any use to go there?

Questioner: It is useful. When we are at home, usually many akusala cittas arise. If we go to a meditation centre, we meet the right friend in Dhamma and we are in a quiet, peaceful place. Thus, there are conditions for the arising of many kusala cittas. I think that a meditation centre is useful.

Sujin: There are four factors necessary to attain the stage of the sotāpanna: meeting the right friend in Dhamma, hearing the Dhamma from that person, considering the Dhamma one heard with wise attention and the practice in conformity with the Dhamma. These factors are not related to a particular place where one should stay. We can compare the place where the Buddha stayed with the meditation centre at the present time. As to the place where the Buddha and the monks stayed in the past, they led their daily life, making their rounds to collect almsfood, discussing the Dhamma, and performing their different duties in accordance with the Vinaya. The Buddha exhorted people there to perform all kinds of wholesome deeds. Do people in the present time who go to a meditation centre practise in the same way as the Buddha’s followers in the past or do they practise differently? If the cause, that is, the practice, is different, how could the result be the same? For example, Anāthapiṇḍika, a lay follower at the Buddha’s time who had the Great Monastery (Mahā-vihāra) of the Jeta Grove constructed, did not have the wrong understanding that one could become enlightened only at that particular place. Layfollowers at that time attained enlightenment each in different places, depending on their daily life.

We read in the “Gradual Sayings”(III, Book of the Fives, Ch XIX, §1, Forest-gone) that the Buddha said to the monks:

“Monks, these five are forest-gone. What five? One is forest-gone out of folly and blindness; one out of evil desires and longings; one foolish and mind-tossed; one at the thought: ‘It is praised by Buddhas and their disciples’; and one is forest-gone just because his wants are little, just for contentment, just to mark (his own faults), just for seclusion, just because it is the very thing.

Verily, monks, of these five who have gone to the forest, he who has gone just because his wants are little, for contentment, to mark (his own faults), for seclusion, just because it is the very thing–he of the five is topmost, best, foremost, highest, elect.

Monks, just as from the cow comes milk, from milk cream, from cream butter, from butter ghee, from ghee the skim of ghee which is reckoned topmost; even so, monks, of these five forest-gone, he who has gone just because his wants are little, for contentment, to mark (his own faults), for seclusion, and just because it is the very thing–he of the five is topmost, best, foremost, highest, elect.”

Why were some monks dwelling in the forest out of folly and blindness? Some people think that once they are in the forest they will be able to realize the four noble Truths. Are those who think thus not forest dwellers out of folly and blindness? If a person has right understanding of cause and effect, he will see that no way of life was more excellent than the life of the monk who had left the householder’s life in order to go to the place where the Buddha dwelt. This is altogether different from someone’s life in a meditation centre where he goes just for a short period, out of desire to attain enlightenment. Some people believe that staying in a centre for the practice of vipassanā, although it is not in conformity with their nature, will be the condition to realize the noble Truths. If that were true, then laypeople who practise vipassanā in a meditation centre should deserve more praise than the monks in the Buddha’s time who were leading their ordinary daily life in accordance with the rules of the Vinaya, such as going on their alms rounds, listening to the Dhamma and discussing it, and performing the different duties of the Sangha.

Questioner: I understand that a certain way of life does not conform to a person’s nature. If he would force himself to act against his nature that would not be right, is that not so?

Sujin: People should consider cause and effect in the right way. A great number of monks did not live in a forest. The Buddha did not force people to develop satipaṭṭhāna in a forest, in a specific room, or in any other place where they were free from the performing of their tasks. It is true that the Buddha praised the forest life, that he praised a secluded life or whatever else was a condition for the non-arising of lobha, dosa and moha. However, he did not force anybody, he did not establish rules for the development of paññā. The Buddha clearly knew the different accumulations of people and, thus, he preached the Dhamma in such a way that his followers would listen and develop right understanding naturally. Thus, they would be able to eliminate defilements. He taught people the development of satipaṭṭhāna in their daily life, in conformity with their status, no matter whether they were monk or layfollower.

When awareness arises and one begins to consider and study the characteristics of nāma and rūpa so that paññā becomes more accomplished, one’s inclinations can gradually be changed. People will be less overcome by lobha, dosa and moha on account of the objects experienced through the sense-doors and through the mind-door. However, accumulated inclinations cannot be changed on the spur of the moment. Some people think that a meditation centre should not be repainted, because that would be a condition for lobha. However, when they return to their homes after they have stayed in the centre, they have their houses repainted, they plant trees and look after their flowers, thus, they follow their accumulated inclinations.

The Buddha taught true Dhamma (sacca Dhamma), so that people could have right understanding of cause and effect with regard to all realities. He taught the development of satipaṭṭhāna so that paññā could become accomplished to the degree of eradicating latent tendencies. Latent tendencies have been accumulated from past lives on to the present life in the cittas that arise and fall away in an uninterrupted succession. Ignorance (avijjā), not knowing the characteristics of nāma and rūpa, and wrong view, diṭṭhi, which takes nāma and rūpa for self, are latent tendencies.

One takes all kinds of realities for self, no matter whether one sees, hears, tastes, smells, experiences tangible object, thinks, feels happy or unhappy. The only way leading to the eradication of latent tendencies is the development of satipaṭṭhāna. This is awareness and investigation of the realities that appear so that they can be understood more clearly. Understanding is developed stage by stage. When paññā is developed to the degree of the first stage of insight, “the defining of nāma and rūpa” (nāma-rūpa-pariccheda-ñāṇa), paññā can clearly comprehend the difference between the characteristic of nāma and of rūpa appearing at that moment.

Paññā cannot be developed if one tries to make dukkha arise by sitting, lying down, standing or walking for a long time, so that one has painful feeling. Paññā can only be developed by considering and studying with awareness nāma and rūpa as they naturally appear through the senses and through the mind-door. They arise because of their own conditions, no matter where one is.