A Talk To Out Buddhists (1) -- by Ven. Gotami

Consciousness arises because of cause and effect of the body and we always think that this body belongs to me, I own the body or the body is mine.

Thoughts arise whenever any of our six sense bases i.e. eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and consciousness come into contact with their outside forms (object, sound, smell, taste, touch, and happenings). We trust that the world is going on this way by nature. We see through our eyes, we hear through our ears, we smell through our nose, we taste through our tongue, we contact through our body. Five aggregates rise up whenever any of our six sense bases contact with the outside world but all the while we have been thinking that there is "I" or "mine" behind this. Whatever we see with our eyes, whatever we hear with our ears, whatever we smell with our nose, whatever we taste with our tongue, whatever we feel with our body and whatever thoughts that arise in our mind, that is, when these six sense bases come to contact with each of their respective outside forms, we perceive and think as I see, I hear, I smell, I taste, I feel, I think, as if there is a being there to experience it and doing it. According to the teachings of the Buddha, it is a wrong view in thinking that there is a being. However much we see, hear, smell, taste, feel, or think, it's only the forms outside. But we believe that there is a person doing it. In reality there isn't. No matter how much we have been reading on it or being told by the others and know theoretically that there is no "I", the mind still tricks us when our six sense-bases come to contact with the outside forms, and our mind at this surface level just cannot realise this fact. Having taken perceptions from outside world, we regard the wrong view as right, and think and act that way all the while. From the time we wake up until we fall asleep the untrained mind thinks without any interval. Can you just imagine how bad the state and condition of our minds are ? Through six sense bases our untrained mind lead us to act wrongly. The volitions accumulate kamma. As a result, the good things that we do, will result in good kamma , and the bad things we do, will result in bad kamma which creates a world of duality of pleasant and unpleasant, happy and sad, like and dislike etc. This mind creates fire of desire that continuously burns our mind. Through attachments and aversions the fire of burning desire is sustained.

The solidity nature of form makes us believe the unreal as real and make us suffer and we will never believe that it is only form. Lord Buddha saw the truth on how the mind created the burning desires and it just keeps continuing this way, wondering what is the cause of this burning fire (desire)? He came to understand that it's the attachment that causes desire to rise and then clinging would take place. Why clinging arise ? It was due to ignorant. What causes ignorant? It's due to contact that gave rise to consciousness. What causes the contact ? It starts with the forms that came in contact with the six sense bases. Five aggregates arise almost simultaneously when the six sense-bases came to contact with outside forms. How is this related to the namarupa world ? The cause is the rise of consciousness. Then, LORD BUDDHA penetrated to see how consciousness can be destroyed. Namarupa and conciousness conditions each other, i.e. namarupa brings about consciousness and consciousness brings about namarupa. Understanding the nature of namarupa, we can get rid of the wrong view of this body, hence leading to the cessation of attachment to it.

In his teaching Lord Buddha said that samadhi is needed for the cessation of namarupa. Have a body of existence is suffering. We feel that the body is mine, as a result of thinking that there is "I" and "mine". It gives rise to attachment and aversion, as a result, it creates stream of thoughts that is continuously flowing. Under such a circumstance, it is difficult to keep our mind in one point, such a mind is weak and we find it hard to keep virtues. It is important to see that we keep the virtue well as a prerequisite to develop our mind. Make a promise to yourself by saying "I will not do wrong". Once you can abstain from doing wrong, the mind becomes obedient to you. The obedient way of life will turn you to good attitudes.

Bring your mind to concentration at one point will also bring us energy to bring this mind up so that we can separate it from the body. Hence keeping virtues and concentrating at one point are absolutely needed in order to separate the mind and body. As long as the mind and the body are mixed together, the mind cannot understand or accept that the body is not mine. Hence we need to develop samadhi in order to separate the mind and the body.

This mind will always try to catch objects, now instead of this we bring it to focus so that it sees and grasps at concentration level to do the exercise of separating the mind from the body. As we begin this concentration exercise, the inner concentration develops, feeling of no body, joy arises. Blissfulness is felt. Feeling this way, the mind rises to 1st, 2nd ,3rd and 4th jhanna position/level, not feeling the body any more as it rises. Mind then understands that the nature of the body is piggish and is willing to let go of the body from the mind, and then whatever outside objects that come to contact with the six sense-bases also can be let go from the thought. Mind will then accept that the body is not mine. But once we come down from samadhi, the mind again does not accept this truth that the body is not mine. When the mind has been developed to the 4th jhanna, it is very clear and sees that sometimes it rises. When the meditators experienced this sort of rising and passing, they came to ask me about it. It is still this mind rising from the body, and as it does it illuminates the bliss (mind). Also, due to the nature of impermanence (rising and passing) that's why you see the rising and passing. The changes you observed can be trained in many ways and in understanding the namarupa as two different things, the mind is then willing to let go of the body.

From the mind we can see how to let go. When the mind is separated from the body it can see that the body does not belong to me as a result of that. Earlier on, I think the body is mine, thus it brings in thoughts of duality like jealousy or envy, right or wrong, like or hate, good or bad, all these are due to the thinking that there is an "I", and the body is mine. You begin to understand this nature of mind very clearly, you begin to realise that bad relationships between husband and wife, sister and brother, father and mother, mother and son, etc is not due to the problem of the others, but it is due to our own kamma coming the way as suffering. The endless suffering caused us to think and reason it as outside factors that has brought about this suffering, but actually it is just our own kamma that had caused the suffering. The father and mother I got now is my own kamma, the husband or wife I got now is my own kamma, the son or daughter I got now is my own kamma, the brother or sister I got now is my own kamma, the children I got now is my own kamma, the relatives I got now is my own kamma, I should not blame it on to the others. Even the house I got now, the food I got now, if these are comfortable and good its due to my good kamma, if these are bad, it is also due to my bad kamma.

(To be continued ...... )