Mental Development

The Buddha said that one should realize the impermanence of all things. Everybody is subject to old age, sickness and death. All things are susceptible to change. What one is enjoying today may be changed tomorrow. Many people do not want to face this truth; they are too attached to the pleasant things they can enjoy through eyes, ears, nose, tongue and bodysense. They do not realize that these things are not true happiness.

The Buddha cured people’s ignorance by helping them to have right understanding about their life; he taught them Dhamma. The Buddha taught different ways of developing wholesomeness: dāna or generosity, sīla or morality and bhāvanā or mental development. Bhāvanā is a way of kusala kamma which is on a higher level, because wisdom is developed through bhāvanā.

One may wonder why wisdom, paññā , is essential. The answer is that only understanding things as they are can eliminate ignorance. Out of ignorance people take what is unwholesome for wholesome. Ignorance causes sorrow. The Buddha always helped people to have right understanding of their different cittas. He explained what akusala cittas and kusala cittas are, in order that people could develop more wholesomeness.

We can verify in our life that the Buddha taught the truth. His teachings are true not only for Buddhists, but for everybody, no matter what race or nationality he is or what religion he professes. Attachment or greed (in Pāli: lobha), aversion or anger (in Pāli: dosa) and ignorance (in Pāli: moha) are common to everybody, not only to Buddhists. Should not everyone eradicate lobha, dosa and moha?

People do not always realize that lobha, dosa and moha lead to sorrow. They may recognize unwholesomeness when it is coarse, but not when it is more subtle. For example, they may know that the citta is unwholesome when there is lobha which is as coarse as greed or lust, but they do not recognize lobha when it is more subtle, such as attachment to beautiful things or to dear people. Why is it unwholesome to have attachment to our relatives and friends? It is true that we are bound to have lobha, but we should realize that attachment is not the same as pure loving-kindness (in Pāli: mettā). When we think that we have pure loving-kindness, there can be moments of attachment too. Attachment is not wholesome; it will sooner or later bring unhappiness. Although people may not like to see this truth, one day they will experience that lobha brings unhappiness. Through death we are bound to lose people who are dear to us. And when sickness or old age affect our sense faculties we may no longer be able to enjoy beautiful things through eyes and ears.

If we do not have the right understanding of the realities of life we will not know how to bear the loss of dear people. We read in the Udāna (Verses of Uplift, Ch VIII, Pāṭaligāma, par 8, Khuddaka Nikāya) that, while the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in East Park, at the storeyed house of Migāra’s mother, Visākhā came to see him. Visākhā who had lost her grand-daughter came to see the Buddha with wet clothes and wet hair. The Buddha said:

“Why, Visākhā! How is it that you come here with clothes and hair still wet at an unseasonable hour?”

“O, sir, my dear and lovely grand-daughter is dead! That is why I come here with hair and clothes still wet at an unseasonable hour.”

“Visākhā, would you like to have as many sons and grandsons as there are men in Sāvatthī?”

“Yes, sir, I would indeed!”

“But how many men do you suppose die daily in Sāvatthī?”

“Ten, sir, or maybe nine, or eight. Maybe seven, six, five or four, three, two; may be one a day dies in Sāvatthī, sir. Sāvatthī is never free from men dying, sir.”

“What think you, Visākhā? In such case would you ever be without wet hair and clothes?”

“Surely not, sir! Enough for me, sir, of so many sons and grandsons!”

“Visākhā, whoso have a hundred things beloved, they have a hundred sorrows. Whoso have ninety, eighty…thirty, twenty things beloved... whoso have ten…whoso have but one thing beloved, have but one sorrow. Whoso have no thing beloved, they have no sorrow. Sorrowless are they and passionless. Serene are they, I declare.”

People who see that it is unwholesome to be enslaved by attachment to people and to the things around themselves, want to develop more understanding of realities by applying themselves to bhāvanā, mental development. Studying the Buddha’s teachings and explaining them to others is kusala kamma included in bhāvanā. In studying the teachings paññā will be developed. If we want to understand what the Buddha taught it is essential to read the scriptures as they have come down to us at the present time in the “Three Collections”: the “Vinaya”, the “Suttanta” and the “Abhidhamma”. Study alone, however, is not enough. We should experience the truth of Dhamma in daily life. Only then will we know things as they really are. Teaching Dhamma to other people is kusala kamma of a high degree. In this way one not only helps others to have more understanding about their life, one develops one’s own understanding as well. Teaching Dhamma is the most effective way of helping other people to develop kusala and to eradicate akusala.

Another way of kusala kamma included in bhāvanā is the development of calm or “samatha bhāvanā”. In samatha there are specific meditation subjects which can condition the calm which is temporary freedom from lobha, dosa and moha. One must have right understanding of the meditation subject and of the way to become calm. When samatha has been highly developed different stages of jhāna or absorption can be attained. However, the attainment of jhāna is extremely difficult and one must have accumulated the right conditions in order to attain it. When the citta is jhānacitta there are no lobha, dosa and moha. Jhāna is kusala kamma of a high degree. Jhāna is not the same as a trance which might be experienced after taking certain drugs. Those who take drugs want to obtain the desired end in an easy way and their action is prompted by lobha. Those who apply themselves to samatha have the sincere wish to purify themselves of lobha, dosa and moha; they do not look for sensational or thrilling experiences.

Samatha can purify the mind, but it cannot eradicate unwholesome latent tendencies. When the citta is not jhānacitta, lobha, dosa and moha are bound to arise again. The person who applies himself to samatha cannot eradicate the belief in a self, and so long as there is the concept of self, defilements cannot be eradicated.

The clinging to the concept of self can only be eradicated through vipassanā. Vipassanā or “insight meditation” is another way of kusala kamma included in bhāvanā. Through the development of vipassanā ignorance of realities is eliminated. One learns to see things as they are in being aware, for example, when one sees, hears, smells, tastes, when one receives impressions through the bodysense or when one thinks. When we experience that all things in ourselves and around ourselves are only mental phenomena or nāma and physical phenomena or rūpa which arise and fall away, we will be less inclined to take them for self.

What is the reason that we all are inclined to cling to a self? The reason is that because of our ignorance we do not know things as they really are. When we hear a sound, we are ignorant of the different phenomena which occur during the moment we are hearing that sound. We think that it is a self who is hearing. However, it is not a self who is hearing; it is a citta which hears the sound. Citta is a mental phenomenon, it is nāma, that is, the reality which experiences something. The citta which hears experiences sound. Sound itself does not experience anything, it is rūpa. Rūpa is the reality which does not experience anything. Sound and earsense are conditions for hearing. Earsense is rūpa as well. One may wonder whether it is true that earsense does not experience anything. Earsense is a kind of rūpa in the ear which has the capacity to receive sound, but it does not experience the sound. It is only a condition for the nāma which experiences the sound. Each citta has its own conditions through which it arises. Seeing is conditioned by eyesense which is rūpa and by visible object which is also rūpa. There is no self who performs different functions such as seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, receiving impressions through the bodysense and thinking. These are different nāmas, each of which arises because of its own conditions.

We read in the Greater Discourse on the Destruction of Craving (Middle Length Sayings I, no. 38) that the Buddha, while he was staying near Sāvatthī, in the Jeta Grove, spoke to the monk, Sāti who had a misconception about the Buddha’s teachings. Sāti understood from the Buddha’s teachings that consciousness lasts, and that it is one and the same consciousness which speaks, feels, and experiences the results of good and bad deeds. Several monks heard about Sāti’s wrong view. After they had tried in vain to dissuade him from his wrong view, they spoke to the Buddha about him. The Buddha summoned Sāti and said to him:

“Is it true, as is said, that a pernicious view like this has accrued to you, Sāti: ’In so far as I understand Dhamma taught by the Lord, it is that this consciousness itself runs on, fares on, not another’?”

“Even so do I, Lord, understand Dhamma taught by the Lord: it is this consciousness itself that runs on, fares on, not another.”

“What is this consciousness, Sāti?”

“It is this, Lord, that speaks, that feels, that experiences now here, now there, the fruition of deeds that are lovely and that are depraved.”

“But to whom, foolish man, do you understand that Dhamma was taught by me thus? Foolish man, has not consciousness generated by conditions been spoken of in many a figure by me, saying: ’Apart from condition there is no origination of consciousness’? But now you, foolish man, not only misrepresent me because of your own wrong grasp, but you also injure yourself and give rise to much demerit which, foolish man, will be for your woe and sorrow for a long time.”

…Then the Lord addressed the monks, saying:

“Do you, monks, understand that Dhamma was taught by me thus so that this monk Sāti, a fisherman’s son, because of his own wrong grasp not only misrepresents me but is also injuring himself and giving rise to much demerit?”

“No, Lord. For in many a figure has consciousness generated by conditions been spoken of to us by the Lord, saying: ’Apart from condition there is no origination of consciousness.’ “

“It is good, monks, it is good that you understand thus Dhamma taught by me to you, monks. For in many a figure has consciousness generated by conditions been spoken of by me to you, monks, saying: ’Apart from condition there is no origination of consciousness.’

…It is because, monks, an appropriate condition arises that consciousness is known by this or that name: if consciousness arises because of eye and material shapes, it is known as seeing-consciousness; if consciousness arises because of ear and sounds it is known as hearing-consciousness; if consciousness arises because of nose and smells, it is known as smelling-consciousness; if consciousness arises because of tongue and tastes it is known as tasting-consciousness; if consciousness arises because of body and touches, it is known as tactile-consciousness; if consciousness arises because of mind and mental objects, it is known as mental consciousness. Monks, as a fire burns because of this or that appropriate condition, by that it is known; if a fire burns because of sticks, it is known as a stick-fire; and if a fire burns because of chips, it is known as a chip-fire; and if a fire burns because of grass, it is known as a grass-fire; and if a fire burns because of cowdung, it is known as a cowdung-fire; and if a fire burns because of chaff, it is known as a chaff-fire; and if a fire burns because of rubbish, it is known as a rubbish-fire. Even so, monks, when because of a condition appropriate to it consciousness arises, it is known by this or that name…“

Thinking about different kinds of nāma and rūpa and the conditions for their arising will help us to have right understanding of them. However, this is not the same as the direct experience of the truth. We will understand what nāma and rūpa really are when we know through direct experience their different characteristics as they appear one at a time through eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodysense and mind.

Nāma and rūpa arise and fall away so rapidly that we do not realize that there are different nāma-units and different rūpa-units. For example, only perceiving sound is a moment which is different from liking or disliking the sound. We are often inclined to find our like or our dislike with regard to the object we experience so important that we do not notice the characteristic of the nāma or rūpa which appears at that moment. Thus we cannot see things as they are; we take like or dislike for self. Like and dislike are only nāmas arising because of conditions; like and dislike are due to one’s accumulations. There are conditions for each citta; there is no self who can let any citta arise at this or at that moment.

We do not only take mental phenomena for self, we take the body for self as well. However, the body consists of nothing else but different rūpa-elements which arise and fall away. There are many different kinds of rūpa. The rūpas which can be directly experienced through the bodysense are: hardness or softness, heat, cold, motion and pressure. These rūpas can be directly experienced through the bodysense, there is no need to think about them or to name them. The direct understanding of rūpas whenever they appear is the only way to know that they are different rūpas and that we should not take them for self.

Different characteristics of nāma and rūpa can be known one at a time as they appear through the five sense-doors and through the mind-door. So long as we do not know them as they are we are bound to take them for self. We are not used to being aware of the phenomena of our life; for example, we are not used to being aware of seeing. Seeing is a nāma which experiences only what appears through the eyesense, that is, visible object. This type of nāma is real and thus it can be experienced. Before one thinks about what one has seen, there must be the experience of what appears through the eyes, of visible object. We are used to paying attention only to the thing or the person we think about after there has been seeing and thus we are ignorant of the nāma which only experiences visible object, the nāma which sees. The nāma which sees is different from the types of nāma which like or dislike the object or which think about it. If one does not know seeing as it is, one is bound to take it for self. It is the same with hearing, which is just the perceiving of sound. When hearing arises we can learn to be aware of its characteristic; it can be known that it is nāma, a reality which just perceives sound through the ears. We can gradually become familiar with the characteristic of hearing and then we will know that it is different from thinking and from other types of nāma. We will learn that it is different from rūpa. Thus we will be less inclined to take it for self.

We can be aware of only one characteristic of nāma or rūpa at a time. For example, when we hear, there are both hearing and sound, but we cannot be aware of hearing and sound at the same time, since each citta experiences only one object at a time. There can be awareness of sound at one moment and of hearing at another moment, and thus we will gradually learn that their characteristics are different.

Only if we learn to be aware of the nāma or rūpa which appears at the present moment will we see things as they are. Thinking about nāma and rūpa, reminding ourselves of them or naming realities “nāma” and “rūpa” is still not the direct experience of reality. If we only think of nāma and rūpa and do not learn to experience their characteristics, we will continue to cling to them and we will not become detached from the idea of self. It is beyond control which characteristic presents itself at a particular moment. We cannot change the reality which has appeared already. We should not think that there should be awareness of hearing first and after that of thinking about what we heard. Different realities will appear at different moments and there is no particular sequence we should follow when we are mindful of realities.

In the beginning we are not able to know the arising and falling away of nāma and rūpa through direct experience. We should just learn to be aware of whatever characteristic of nāma or rūpa presents itself. When, for example, smelling appears, we cannot help smelling. At that moment we can learn to be aware of the characteristic of smelling, without making any special effort. There is no need to think about it or to remind ourselves that it is smelling, or that it is nāma.

It is essential to realize that awareness(14) is a type of nāma as well, which can only arise when there are the right conditions. There is no self who is aware or who can let awareness arise at will. Right understanding of the development of vipassanā is a condition for the arising of awareness. After a moment of awareness there will be a long time without awareness, or there will be moments when we are only thinking about nāma and rūpa. In the beginning there cannot be a great deal of awareness, but even a short moment of right awareness is beneficial, because paññā developed through the direct experience of realities is of a higher degree than the paññā developed through thinking about realities or the paññā developed in samatha. Vipassanā is kusala kamma of a very high degree, because vipassanā leads to detachment from the concept of self and eventually to the eradication of all defilements. If there is less lobha, dosa and moha, it is for the happiness of the whole world as well.

In the Gradual Sayings (Book of the Nines, Ch II, par 10, Velāma) we read that the Buddha, while he was dwelling near Sāvatthī, at Jeta Grove, in Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park, spoke to Anāthapiṇḍika about different degrees of wholesome deeds which bring their fruits accordingly. Giving gifts to the Buddha and the Order of monks, and taking one’s refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha are deeds which are of a high degree of kusala, but there are other ways of kusala which are of still higher degrees.

We read that the Buddha said:

…though with pious heart he took refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, greater would have been the fruit thereof, had he with pious heart undertaken to keep the precepts: abstention from taking life, from taking what is not given, from carnal lusts, from lying and from intoxicating liquor, the cause of sloth.

…though with pious heart he undertook to keep these precepts, greater would have been the fruit thereof, had he made become a mere passing fragrance of loving-kindness.

…though he made become just the fragrance of loving-kindness, greater would have been the fruit thereof, had he made become, just for a finger-snap, the perception of impermanence.

The perception of impermanence is developed when there is a moment of right awareness of nāma or rūpa. One may be surprised that the perception of impermanence is more fruitful than other kinds of wholesome deeds. It is right understanding which realizes the impermanence of nāma and rūpa and this kind of understanding can change our life. It can eventually eradicate our clinging, aversion and ignorance. The time will come when we have to leave this world because of old age, sickness or accident. Is it not better to take leave of the world with understanding of what things are than to part from the world with aversion and fear?