"Mindfulness" defined (Ven. Analayo)

Mindfulness in Early Buddhism

Ven. Bhikkhu Analayo (Wiki)

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of one out of various types of mindfulness descriptions in the Buddhist traditions, namely the notion of mindfulness as reflected in the early Buddhist discourses.

• MNDFULNESS (sati, smirti) means a special kind of nonjudgmental attention, unbiased bare awareness, acceptance (not resistance) of what is but simply watching it with vigilance and wakefulness (Wisdom Quarterly).

INTRODUCTION: A recent survey of research on meditation, prepared for the US Department of Health and Human Services, comes to the rather disconcerting conclusion that “scientific research on meditation practices does not appear to have a common theoretical perspective and is characterized by poor methodological quality.

“Firm conclusions on the effects of meditation practices in healthcare cannot be drawn based on the available evidence. Future research on meditation practices must be more rigorous in the design and execution of studies,” in particular “specific attention must be paid to developing definitions for these [meditation] techniques that are both conceptually and operationally useful. Such definitions are a prerequisite for scientific research.”

The best Buddhists practice Buddhism.

In the case of mindfulness practices, “general descriptions of mindfulness vary from investigator to investigator and there is no consensus on the defining components or processes” [1]. This finding clearly points to a need to invest more time into the conceptual models that stand behind research into the effects of mindfulness practice [2].

While we do have excellent operational definitions of mindfulness that capture the modern-day clinical perspective on this particular mental quality [3], our understanding of mindfulness could be broadened by turning to its definition and mode of function in the Buddhist traditions.

Examining the historical roots of mindfulness in its traditional context would enable ascertaining similarities and differences vis-à-vis the notion of mindfulness in the modern-day setting and perhaps open up new avenues for research into the significance and effects of its cultivation.

The theoretical construct of mindfulness and the practices informed by this notion have gone through considerable development during nearly [2,600] years in the history of Buddhist thought, making it practically impossible to speak of “Buddhist mindfulness” (sati) as if this were a monolithic concept.

Moreover, a proper assessment of any specific form of mindfulness needs to be based on a comparative study that takes into account all extant traditions pertaining to a particular historical period, instead of uncritically relying on a certain school or line of textual transmission because that happens to be the one with which one is personally familiar.

• 

  Analayo shares teacher with WQ: Bhikkhu Bodhi

  Ven. Anālayo is a bhikkhu (Theravada Buddhist monk), scholar, and meditation teacher who was born in Germany in 1962 and went forth in 1995 in Sri Lanka's Theravada monastic tradition. He is best known for his comparative studies of Early Buddhist Texts as preserved by the various Early Buddhist schools. More

Hence, as a starting point for further research into the theoretical foundations of the multiple mindfulnesses found in the various Buddhist traditions, in this paper I take up the notion of mindfulness as reflected in the historically earliest stages of Buddhist thought that is accessible to us through textual records.

"Meditation" means much more than sitting.

These are the early discourses (suttas, sutras, texts) that according to tradition were spoken by the Buddha and his [enlightened] disciples, which have come down to us as part of the canonical scriptures of various Buddhist schools in the Nikāyas (Pali canon) or Āgamas (Sanskrit canon).

In terms of school affiliation, while this material has been transmitted [orally] within reciter lineages that eventually came to be part of the Dharmaguptaka, Sarvāstivāda, or Theravāda schools, and so on, its origins are earlier than the formation of schools.

Hence, comparative study of parallel versions preserved in a variety of Buddhist languages -- such as Chinese, Pāli, Sanskrit, and Tibetan -- offers us a window on the earliest stages in the development of Buddhist conceptions of mindfulness, in as much as these have left their traces in literature [4].

These in turn would have been the starting point for later conceptions of this mental quality and how to cultivate it.

1. The Four Ways of Establishing Mindfulness

Central for my present purpose are descriptions of mindfulness in action, which instruct how establishing mindfulness (Pali satipaṭṭhāna, Sanskrit smṛtyupasthāna) functions as a form of meditation practice.

Independent of whether such instructions are descriptive or prescriptive, they do allow us an assessment of the notion(s) of mindfulness held by those responsible for the formulation of these descriptions.

The early discourses describe four main areas of practice for the establishing of mindfulness, which are: 

1. the body,
2. feelings,
3. mental states,
4. dharmas ["things" detailed in the two Satipatthana Suttas].

A detailed exposition of these four is found in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (as well as in the longer Mahā Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta) of the Pāli canon of the Theravāda tradition, with parallel versions found in the Madhyama-āgama and in the Ekottarika-āgama, two discourse collections preserved in Chinese translation [5].

Regarding the first of these two Chinese Āgamas, scholarly opinion generally tends to consider this discourse collection to have been transmitted within the Sarvāstivāda tradition(s) [6].

The school affiliation of the Ekottarika-āgama, however, is still a subject of continued discussion and thus is best considered uncertain [7].

Comparison of the three versions brings to light several differences [8]. In relation to the first area of body contemplation, the three parallel versions agree on taking up the following three topics:

• the body’s anatomical constitution,
• the body as made up of material elements, and
• the stages of decay of a corpse that has been left out in the open to rot away [9].

Early Buddhism is closer to historical Buddha

In the case of the first of these three, according to the fairly similar instructions given in the parallel versions, contemplation of the anatomical constitution of the body requires reviewing its various parts, such as its hair, nails, teeth, and so on [10].

Such reviewing could presumably take place by way of an internal meditative scanning of the body or else as a reflective recollection. This exercise can act as an antidote to conceit and to sensual desire.

The parallel versions agree that an examination of the body’s anatomy should be undertaken from the perspective of the “impure” or “unclean” nature of some of its parts [11].

The term “impure” or “unclean” reflects conceptions prevalent in ancient India [12]. At times the discourses (sutras) employ the alternative term “not beautiful” [13], which in a less provocative manner still conveys the basic objective of deconstructing the attraction of bodily beauty.

Whether “impure” or “not beautiful [compared to its un-deconstructed appearance],” there can be little doubt that carrying out this instruction involves a purposive element of evaluation [14]. At the background of this stands the early Buddhist notion that the attraction of sensuality is based on an erroneous perception [15].

This erroneous [deceptive] or even distorted perception is seen as requiring a form of de-conditioning by inculcating a perception of the body as lacking beauty or even as being impure.

The point of this mode of evaluation is not to nurture in the practitioner an attitude of negativity towards the body [16].

The evaluation introduced into mindfulness practice in this way is meant as a detergent that purifies the mind from sensual attachment to the body, a cleansing process whose final aim is a balanced attitude. More

• Bhikkhu Analayo, Mindfulness in Early Buddhism (PDF), Journal of Buddhist Studies, Vol. XI, (JCBSSL, VOL. XI), 2013; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

In the Beginning...

This article goes from the very mundane to the origins of life on this planet to the ultimate, tackling the staggering question of how everything began (begins), that is, came (comes) into existence.

What do "Buddhists" do on New Year's Day? If you're living in Pasadena, you're stuck in traffic along with everyone else, suffering government reaction to their own American terrorism in New Orleans and Las Vegas.

Is it a false flag, an excuse for suicide, GIs just following their preprogramming? Either way, both events were carried out by government issue government employees, and we can debate whether they were on or off duty. Most soldiers know. Duty never ends.

Pasadena, a prosperous city (which is putting it mildly because it was once the city famous for the biggest spread between its richest and poorest populations, where it is the best of times and worst of times and really a tale of two cities) in the LA Foothills, was made untraversable by 1,000 cops.

• City, tournament issue statement on New Orleans incident that left at least 10 dead (Pasadena Now): “The Parade is a top-level Federal event and we have to ability to call in additional resources if the need exists.”

Either they were on duty or more likely on overtime, doing a whole lotta nothing other than blocking streets and freeway entrances with the cruisers they were leaning on while chatting with each other as some gave hand signals to turn around and go the other way. What other way? That parking lot of a jammed street we're diverting all traffic onto.

This was because some of its trained soldiers were tasked or took it upon themselves to created some public mayhem which the government could use.

1. What do Buddhists do in the beginning [of each New Year]?

Buddhists, most of them, traditionally visit a Buddhist temple or monastery to see monastics, receive blessings, protective chants, see one another, hear the Dhamma, and meditate.

It's custom and tradition, not a rule. It's a joy to do. The crowds are comforting, particularly in this country, where January 1st can seem like being back in the Old Country.

When did the Buddha ever say "line" as in the timeline? Not one that we can remember. But he often spoke of cycles, circles, and cycling. Things are spinning, or as Alan Watts explains, the world is full of squiggles rather than the lines we conceptualize and speak of. Imagine the beautiful Celtic Knot. It's a nice way of visualizing the cycles-within-cycles.

Things are going in one major cycle (through the Yugas), but they are also going through may minor cycles as they do it. The Ages go from Golden (Satya Yuga) through to Dark (Kali Yuga). But within that long loop there are many little loops. A thread, a cotton suture, may seem like one straight line, but up close, that is not how it is. It is wound, curvilinear, intersected, netted, networked, bunch, pulled, and spiraling. This gives its strength. Perfectly aligned linear fiber would not hold together.

Gibberish or a tautology, which would you prefer?

Look at that clock just hanging there.

In the same way, if the world rolled on a straight (time) line, which it does not, it makes no sense to say, "before the beginning." The timeline starts here; there is no before here. If time is everywhere all the time, then there is no time before time.

(It's an illusion arising from the hallucination/logical imposition that time is a linear line. Imagine a linear timeline. Time starts here; this is the beginning. What was before the beginning? System error. Question does not compute. This spot is the beginning, and the end is over on the other side, so there can't be a pre-begin to conceptualize -- not because it doesn't exist but because the assumptions underlying this system are in error).

If time (the world) is cyclical, the question, "What was before the beginning?" makes sense, and there's an answer. Before the beginning was the previous end. (Imagine a timecircle rather than the customary timeline. This point is the beginning. What does the point before it represent? It represents the previous end. Time is neither a circle nor a line, which are just representations to try to visualize time.

Look at an analog clockface. What do two sticks pointing straight up represent? That is 12:00 o'clock, the beginning (of a day), the first point. If that is the beginning, what was before the beginning? The end (of the previous day). That is time in Buddhist cosmology. Time seems to be more than that, something mutable, going in either direction, able to be sped up and slowed down, and subject to perceptual anomalies.

• If all things are everywhere all at once, as seems to be the case, we can travel through time, but whether that actually changes time permanently is hard to say: Everything becomes impermanent because it can always be changed by such travel, whether is changed or not. That it can changed is what makes it impermanent and mutable. 

So when hearing or saying the phrase "in the beginning," be not confused to think that "beginning" ever references a first point, first cause, prime mover, even if one wishes or is sure that would be God. There is a beforetime that was before time. It came into existence the moment someone set up the rule that this is the way we are going to talk about it, conceive of it, believe it to have been.

Science

Science already agrees because it says, "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed." This is an outrageous statement. First, is energy even defined? "The ability to do work"? So Jebediah, who will do no work today, is full of 'energy' because he could if only he'd get up and get to it? Let's hope the axiom is true because if it is, there you have it, agreement.

Energy always is (and therefore always was and will be), and though time may have started, energy did not. So "What was there before the beginning?" makes sense. There was energy, which is everything and not a thing. So it is both true that everything, or every potential thing, has always been, and none of it is real. Didn't that slit light experiment prove anything? It seems not to have.

Let's get metaphysical. What about that double-slit? And what is quantum physics, Brian Cox?

(Neil DeGrasse Tyson recently said on his podcast with that other Black guy that the experiment is given inordinate weight and is misunderstood because the "act of observing" caused the result to change. He did not mean a human observing, like it sounds. He meant the physical scientific act of taking the measurements, as if light waves from the observation camera were impacting the photons being photographed).

2. Genesis on Earth

This being the case, on the subject of beginnings, the Buddha could be asked, "How did life on Earth begin?" (We assume this means, "How did life begin?," which it does not, instead only discussing life on Earth).

The Aggañña Sutta (DN 27) is a discourse by the Buddha to two Brahmins, Bharadvaja and Vasettha, who left their family and varna (caste) to become Buddhists. The two are insulted and maligned by other Brahims for their intention to become members of the Monastic Sangha.

The Buddha explains that caste and lineage cannot be compared to the achievement of morality practice and the Dhamma, as anyone from the four castes can become a monastic and reach the state of full enlightenment (arahant).

He then explains about the beginning and the destruction of the Earth, a process determined by karma and devoid of a supreme controlling being.

The Buddha explains the origin of the social order and its structure, including the castes. He emphasizes the message of universality in the Dhamma because "the Dhamma is the best of all things."

• Read the sutra: Agganna Sutta (DN 27)

3. How do things begin (originate)?

Ven. Paticcasamuppāda, Buddhist Dictionary and Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Buddhist Dictionary

The Buddha describes a process [not of intellectualizing but of practice] by which he discovered the origin of suffering.

The purpose of this process was to make an end of all suffering. It worked. He then realized the significance of it and famously said:

"Who sees me sees [this process], who sees [this process], sees me."*

The Five Aggregates clung to as self are dependently originated. The craving, adhering, being attracted to, and attached to the Five Aggregates is the origin of suffering. Letting go and being rid of craving and clinging for the Five Aggregates is the end of suffering.

Furthermore, the Buddha extolls, "It is because of not seeing Dependent Origination that both you and I have gone on wandering through this interminable Round of Rebirth in search of pleasure only to be reborn here, reborn there..."

What discovery could be so spectacular and significant? It is the final answer to all problems, but it is not easy to grasp or penetrate: paticcasamuppāda.

• "One who sees Dependent Origination sees the Dharma. One who sees the Dharma sees Dependent Origination."
• "Dependent Origination" is the Doctrine of the Conditionality of all physical and mental phenomena.
• This, together with the Doctrine of the Impersonal nature of all physical and mental phenomena (anattā), forms the indispensable condition for a real understanding and realization of the teaching of the Buddha, the Dhamma.
• This doctrine shows the conditionality and dependent nature of the uninterrupted flux of manifold physical and psychic phenomena of existence conventionally called the ego, self, soul, personality, person, animal, etc.
• The Doctrine of the Impersonal proceeds analytically by splitting (separating into elements, cutting, dissecting, analyzing) existence into its ultimate constituent parts -- which are mere empty, insubstantial phenomena or elements.
• The Doctrine of Conditionality, on the other hand, proceeds synthetically by showing that all these phenomena are, in some way or other, conditionally related with each other.
• In fact, the entire Abhidhamma Pitaka ("Basket Collection of the Doctrine in Ultimate Terms"), as a whole, deals only with these two doctrines -- phenomenality, implying the impersonal nature and conditionality of all existence.
• The analytical method is applied in Dhammasangani, the first book of the Abhidhamma Pitaka, whereas synthetical method is applied in the last book of the Abhidhamma Pitaka called the Patthāna.

• 

  Guide through the Abhidamma (Nyanatiloka)

  For a synopsis of these two works, see Guide I and VII. (This is a reference to the German Buddhist author's book Guide Through the Abhidhamma Pitaka, 3rd ed., 1971, available free from the Buddhist Publication Society).
• Although this subject of Dependent Origination has frequently been treated by Western authors, by far most of them have completely misunderstood the true meaning and purpose of the doctrine.
• Even the 12 terms, known as the causal links (nidanas), have often been translated wrongly, [and the first has been made to sound like some prime mover or first cause, when the whole of the doctrine bends over backward to show how all things come into being by cogenesis, that is, by multiple causes. Everything that's a thing arises by Dependent Origination, and there isn't anything that is caused or conditioned by only one thing. Nirvana, unlike everything else, is not a thing and therefore is not subject to the characteristics or pitfalls of things, known as the Three Marks of Existence].

APPLICATION: Conditionality as the Middle Way: Not-self and Emptiness

Wikipedia edit by Wisdom Quarterly

What use is wisdom? - It depends.

Early Buddhist texts associate Dependent Origination with emptiness (shunyata) and not-self (anatta), outlining different ways in which it is a Middle Way between different sets of "extreme" views.

In the Kaccānagotta Sutta (SN 12.15, parallelled at SA 301), the Buddha states that "this world mostly relies on the dual notions of existence and non-existence" then explains the right view as follows [58]:

"But when one truly sees the origin of the world with right understanding, one will not have the notion of non-existence regarding the world. And when one truly sees the cessation of the world with right understanding, one will not have the notion of existence regarding the world [59].

The Kaccānagotta Sutta then places the teaching of Dependent Origination (listing the 12 links in forward and reverse order) as a Middle Way that rejects these two "extreme" metaphysical views, which can be seen as two mistaken conceptions of the self [60, 5, Note 8]. More

• Text by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Buddhist Denominations Explained

WARNING: Narrator mispronounces nearly every Buddhist term he uses as if they were phonetic.

The Buddha vs. Budai vs. Cosmic Amitabha

Strange as it may sound, most of the time when most people say "Buddha," they are NOT talking about the historical Buddha Siddhartha Gautama (a.k.a. Shakyamuni), the founder of Buddhism, but rather a cosmic/celestial god called Amitabha or Budai (Putai, Hotei, aka "Fat Happy Buddha," who is not even a buddha but a bodhisattva) or Avalokiteshvara or Guanyin (Kwan Yin, Kwannon, Kannon, Chenrezig) or Prajnaparamita or Bodhidharma or Ksitigarbha or quite often Maitreya (the future buddha) or the Dalai Lama or the Panchen Lama or Padmasambhava or some other Rinpoche.

In the older, more focused Theravada tradition, only the historical person Siddhartha Gautama is THE Buddha, though there have been and will be other buddhas in the past (at least 28 of them) and in the distant future (one of them named Maitreya or Metteyya). All the other figures arise out of the watered-down reform movement that is the "Great Vehicle" (Mahayana) that is a collective term for everything else. And lest anyone should be confused, there are no extant Hinayana ("Lesser Vehicle") schools or sects (like the Sarvastivadins) left, all having been pushed into extinction by the Mahayana movement. Theravada, a back-to-basics movement concerned with what the historical Buddha taught rather than later developments or additions, is not a Hinayana school, but as there are no Hinayana schools left, it gets called one anyway by know-it-alls who are not too concerned with facts or details.

Is Buddhism spoken in every Asian language?

The Buddhist language

It is also crucial to point out that there are at least two Buddhist languages, Pali (Magadhi) and Sanskrit, and the two schools use different ones. This can be confusing because they are so similar. The reason there are two is because Pali was what ordinary people spoke, the lingua franca of the Buddha's day. Sanskrit was exclusively the language of elitist temple priests known as Brahmins, who regarded themselves as the upper crust and a members-only old boys club. Their sacred books, the Vedas, are in this ancient secret language, once spoken only by them, just as Catholic priests (popes, cardinals, bishops, etc.) managed all their official affairs in Latin, leaving Spanish and Italian and other related languages for the commoners. Because ex-Old Vedic Religion Brahmins were dealing with Buddhism, there came to be a Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit. There are many languages used by Buddhists, according to their country, but one can easily tell if one is dealing with Theravada Buddhism: Its root texts are all in Pali. Now that many Sanskrit terms (like karma, mantra, avatar, ayurveda, mandala, dharma, sutra) have crossed into English, the lines are blurry. Pali must have had many dialects and regional differences. One of the most important is the Gandhari script, Kharosthi, in which the oldest existing Buddhist texts are written. The Buddha was NOT from India but from Gandhara. How can we be sure? There was no India yet, only different kingdoms, republics, and territories that were later united by Buddhist Emperor Ashoka into a single country (Bharat or Great Bharat). This union may have existed before in antiquity, but it did not exist at the time of the Buddha. He was also not from Nepal, as he is now placed. He was a Saka (Scythian, Shakya, Sakka, Sakai) from Gandhara (Afghanistan/Pakistan area). He did travel to, become enlightened in, and teach in proto-India, and out of laziness or not to be pedantic, we call Magadha and Bihar and places he stayed "India." But it is interesting to always bear in mind that it is because he was a foreigner and an outsider that nativists like Sri Shankara who systematized the diverse spiritual traditions of "Greater India" (the whole Indus Valley Civilization and Mahabharata and neighboring areas) that came to be called by the occupying British interlopers "Hinduism" (Indus-ism, all the different and unrelated things people were and are practicing around the Indus river valley) as a whole. Prior to Sri Shankara, there was on consensus or unifying label for disparate views and daily observances. Prior to British influence, there wasn't even the idea of "religion," as most people here and around the world (like the Egyptians and shamans) did not make a distinction between daily life and customs and "religion" or beliefs; they were the same thing, just life.

Buddhist Denominations Explained | Theravada vs. Mahayana 

(UsefulCharts) There's more than one Buddhism? Yes. There are at least two kinds with big differences. They are called Theravada (Teaching of the Elders, the "elders" being the enlightened monks and nuns who were the immediate disciples of the historical Buddha) and Mahayana (almost a kind of Hinduism, with Brahmins doing a number on the Buddha's teachings to bring them back in line with their Vedas or "Knowledge Books," turning the Buddha from a man who awakened thereby showing we ALL can to him being "Lord Buddha," an avatar or incarnation of Lord Vishnu, one of their major gods). Although everyone gets along, except for newbies who might think they need to take sides when they do not, their aim and practices differ. There is a third kind of Buddhism (Vajrayana, particularly the Tibetan variety, but also Nepalese and Bhutanese, sometimes also called Tantrayana or Mantrayana) and even more (like Japanese Zen/Chinese Chan, Pure Land, Esoteric Buddhism, etc.) except that all of them are lumped under the heading "Mahayana." So the split is 90% Mahayanists vs. 10% Theravadins.

SOURCES

• Skilton, A. (1994). A Concise History of Buddhism. Cambridge: Windhorst.
• Strong, J. S. (2015). Buddhisms: An Introduction. London: Oneworld

CREDITS

• Charts and narration by Matt Baker
• Animation by Syawish Rehman
• Audio editing by Ali Shahwaiz

Theme music: "Lord of the Land" by Kevin MacLeod and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution license 4.0. Available from incompetech.com

PRODUCT

UsefulCharts tagged product is a World Religions Family Tree Poster ($25.00) usefulcharts.com/products/world-religions-family-tree... Click: blinkist.com/usefulcharts to get 40% off Blinkist’s Annual premium and enjoy the collection. Start a 7-day free trial now. Buy the poster version of the chart: usefulcharts.com.

• Matt Baker, UsefulCharts, 1/12/24; text by Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Enlightenment from seeing impermanence

Sometimes the Buddha signaled he was teaching.

What is "enlightenment"? It is awakening (bodhi) to the Truth and thus being set free. Indeed, the ultimate truth sets one free, making it possible to let go and not cling to all of our attachments. That's good. I want that. How do I get that? If one saw the "true nature of reality" (ti-lakkhana), one would let go of all things and be set free. One need not "try" to let go. That doesn't work. The heart/the mind turns away from all things on seeing the Truth. It lets go, like a feather of plastic bag recoils when dropped into a fire. It does it all on its own. We need only find the Truth the Buddha pointed out.

What is impermanence (anicca), that quality which seeing it for even an instant one might gain a tremendous store of merit (punya, kusala-karma) superior to the greatest generosity and giving? What is impermanence, that quality by which perceiving one might be able to finally let go? What is impermanence?

It's saddening that so many people misunderstand the meaning of this Buddhist term and therefore roll their eyes thinking that the Buddha was not saying anything remarkable to talk about impermanence.

What is NOT impermanence (anicca)? There was a newly built house that, after a time, started to deteriorate (fall apart) and decay (turn to dust), until years later there was no trace of it. That's what the Buddha was talking about just so he could say, "we shouldn't be attached or cling to it"? No, no, no.

We are the Three Fates, the Strange Sisters, and it's time to get enlightened with the Buddha.

.

If this were all the Buddha meant, there would little reason to say it. Yawn. He would be uttering a commonplace, a dull observation, a nearly pointless thing to mention. Yet, in one place he says that seeing "impermanence" for an instant, for the duration of a finger snap, generates more merit and skillful karma than heaping gifts and offerings on everyone as a ruler with everything to give.

This one realization (knowing and seeing) is that heavy, that good, that beneficial. We should all strive to see it for it is of great fruit beyond what we can imagine. He is not talking about the realization that eventually a house will collapse, or this body will give out, or a relationship will go sour.

One would generate that tremendous quantity of merit by insight (vipassana) if one penetrated the real meaning of anicca, which is "radical impermanence," knowing it and seeing it. For this, one has to gain a glimpse of reality. What is "reality"? Aren't houses, bodies, and relationships reality? No, all of these are illusory.

Pa Auk Sayadaw taught Susila and Seven edited.

"Reality" is behind all things and means "ultimate materiality" and "ultimate mentality" -- the mundane stuff (what we call reality) at the level of particles (kalapa) and mind-moments (cittas) -- the elements of physics and consciousness -- which are constantly hurtling toward destruction.

• So important is this to see and realize that the Buddha made it his final utterance, "All things are hurtling towards destruction; work out your liberation with diligence."

Details (Sayalay Susila+Seven)

Sometimes a very strong jolt or shift can so emotionally jar and mentally shake us down to our foundation that, for a precious moment of clarity, there is an opportunity to understand the Three Marks of All Existence -- that every conditioned thing (which is everything other than nirvana, which is known as the amata or "deathless" and asankhata or the "unconditioned") is impermanent (anicca), disappointing (dukkha), and impersonal (anatta).

Seeing how things are constantly liable to change and go even though we wish for them to stay and remain unchanged, we are disappointed, pained, aggrieved, dissatisfied, and it leaves open the possibility that we see they are not ours, not me or mine, not  under our control, not personal.

But no one's interested in philosophical details (Abhidhamma); we want general stories (suttas)!

Dhammapada verses and parables

1. Impermanence (anicca)

無常品第—Samuel Beal (trans. into archaic British English), Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

How Sakka became a stream-enterer

Reborn in Tavatimsa (Realm of the Thirty-Three)

The first parable in this section of the Dhammapada relates that [the person who is now] Sakka, King of the Devas (aka Śakra, Sakka Devanam Indo, Indra, Magdha of Macala, Saint Michael the Archangel), was once reborn in the womb of a mule that lived in the household of a potter. The mule's task as a beast of burden was to turn the potter's mill.

The mother mule, overjoyed at the prospect of becoming pregnant and finally expecting a baby, kicked up her heels in joy and accidentally broke all the potter's pots.

The potter, angry, took a stick and beat the mule to such a degree that the newly-formed fetus was destroyed. The prospect of offspring was cut off. On this occasion, the Buddha repeated these lines:

“Whatever exists (samskāra, formations) is without endurance.

Hence, we have the term 'flourishing' and 'decaying.'

A human is born then dies.

Oh, what happiness is escape from this cycle

(this miserable condition of ever arising and perishing)!

For the life of humans is but as clay vessels made in a potter's mill;

formed with such care, they are all destined to break apart.”

Sakka [in an emotional and receptive state remembering that former rebirth], hearing these wise words, was able to enter the first path (magga) of Buddhist enlightenment (called "stream entry") and obtain peace.

The king loses his beloved queen-mother

On a certain occasion the Buddha was residing in Savatthi (Śrāvastī). King Pasenadi (the Rāja Prasenajit) had been celebrating the funerary and cremation rites of the queen-mother, aged more than 90 years.

Returning to his royal city, he visited the forest grove where Buddha was staying and respectfully saluted him.

About this the great teacher said (after inquiring as to the reason for the king's visit): “There are four things, O king, which from the first until now have been the causes of constant anxiety and fear to humans:

1. the fear of old age,
2. of disease,
3. of death, and
4. of loss (the grief that comes as a consequence of death).

Alas, the life of a human is but as the perishing of things we see all around us: Today they flourish, tomorrow they are gone. Just as the waters of the five rivers are ever flowing on incessantly day and night, such is the case with a human. Life is ever ebbing away.” Then the World-Honored one spoke these words:

“As the waters of a river ever hasten on and flow away and, once gone, never return, so is the life of a human. That which is gone knows not any return.”

The Buddha further expounding on this subject resulted in the king and his attendants dismissing their grief and, filled with great joy, they entered the “Paths.”

• [These are the supramundane Paths and Fruits, the various stages of enlightenment, usually counted as four, but admitting a few more intermediate degrees in the first two stages. They are contrasted in the earlier Path to Freedom (Vimutti-magga) and the later Path of Purification (Visuddhi-magga), with the former making more sense but the two not really differing except in additional details left out of the latter.]

The cowherd fattens his cattle

On a certain occasion, when the Buddha was abiding in the Bamboo Grove near Rajagaha (Rājagriha, modern Rajgir, India, the Royal City Ringed by Seven Hills), he had been teaching in the city and was returning homewards with his followers when he met a man driving a herd of fatted cattle towards the gates of the city.

On this the World-Honored One took up the subject and said the following:

“As a person with staff in hand goes along tending and pasturing cattle, so are old age and death. They also watch over the life that perishes.

"And of all whom they watch over, there is not one of whatever caste or class, male or female, rich or poor, who shall not in the end decay and disappear.

"Every day and night takes from the little space given to each one born. There is the gradual decay of a few years, and all is gone, as the waters of a pool are cut off (or become exhausted).”

The Buddha, having arrived at the grove, washed his feet, and arranged his robes, sat down. On this occasion, Ānanda respectfully asked the Buddha to explain the inspired verses he had just uttered.

The World-Honored One explained that the oxherd they had just seen sent the cattle forth day by day to feed in the pasture order that, when fattened and conditioned, they might be killed one by one.

“Such,” he explained, “is the fate of all that lives; it flourishes for a moment then dies.” On this utterance, more than 200 of his hearers (in the audience) obtained spiritual powers, let go, and became arhats (fully awakened ones).”

I've lost my precious daughter!

On another occasion, the Buddha was residing in Savatthi, in the garden donated by the multi-millionaire (Anāthapindika) when a certain celibate renunciate (brahmachārin or sannyasin), having lost his only daughter, who was 14 or 15 years of age and very beautiful and much beloved, being nearly deprived of reason because of his grief, came to see him

The celibate man had heard news of how wise this Holy One, the Buddha, was. So he came to see him and state the cause of his great unhappiness. On hearing this the teacher took up a sutra (discourse) by saying: "Brahmachārin, there are four things in the world that cannot permanently endure. What are these four?

1. Thinking we have obtained something and that it will last, we must find that it will actually not continue.
2. Being rich for a time, we must find that we will be deprived of it and impoverished again.
3. Being united and in agreement, there will be division and separation.
4. Being strong and healthy, there will come death."

Then the World-Honored One added these lines:

“What appears permanent will perish;

what is high will be brought low;

where there is agreement, there will come division;

wherever there is birth, there will be death."

On [penetrating the truth of] this, that celibate man awakened [to the first stage of enlightenment], and asking for and receiving the saffron robes of a wandering ascetic (bhikshu), he in no long time became an arhat.

The sexy courtesan wishes to be a nun

Once when the Buddha was residing on Vulture's Peak (Gridhrakūta Hill), near the City of Rājagaha, there was a certain famous courtesan in the city called “Lotus" (Pundarī, Padma, Lien-hwa).

She was most beautiful in form and incomparable in grace. This woman, wearing of her way of life, resolved to join the Buddha and become a female wandering ascetic (bhikshunī). Accordingly, she proceeded towards the place where he was on the peak, having half ascended the hill, she halted awhile at a fountain of water to drink.

While lifting the drink to her hips, she saw her beautiful face reflected in the fountain. She could not help but notice her incomparable beauty, the brightness of her complexion, her glossy hair, her graceful figure. Seeing herself, she changed her mind and said:

"Shall one born so beautiful as I was leave the world to become a recluse? — No! I'd rather have my fill of pleasure and be satisfied."

Making her new resolution — she was ready to turn around and go home.

Meanwhile, the Buddha, perceiving what was happening and knowing that Lotus was ready (possessed the necessary and sufficient causes and conditions) to realize the truth that would set her free, magically transformed himself into a beautiful female, infinitely more attractive and charming than Lotus.

Passing her on the road as they walked in the same direction, Lotus the courtesan was astounded by the beauty of the stranger. So she asked her, “Where do come from, fair lady? Where is your family from? Why are you traveling alone without attendants?”

How did you get so beautiful?

Hearing this, the stranger replied, “I am returning to that great city over there, and although we are unacquainted, let us join company and walk together.”

Accepting the offer, they went on their way until they came to a spot along the road, where they sat down to rest. At length, after a long and charming conversation, the beautiful stranger rested herself on Lotus' knees and fell asleep.

Girl, you've changed, no longer hot like before.

After a time Lotus the courtesan, while gazing at her companion in admiration, was amazed to behold her form entirely changed. She had become as loathsome and repugnant as a corpse. Her face was pallid, her teeth had fallen out, hair had dropped from her head, and insects had begun feeding on her squalid flesh.

Aghast at the sight and frightened, Lotus ran away, heading toward the Buddha exclaiming, “How transient is human beauty!” She hurried back in the direction of the hill, where the Buddha was dwelling, and having arrived, she cast herself at his feet. She related to him all that she had just seen. The Buddha addressed her:

"Lotus, there are four things that will always cause disappointment and sadness.

1. That someone, however beautiful, must age;
2. that one, however firmly established in life, must die;
3. that one bound by the closest ties of a relationship and affection, must nevertheless be separated from those one loves; and
4. that wealth, heaped up in profusion, must nevertheless scatter and be lost.”

Then the World-Honored One added:

“Old age brings with it loss of bodily attraction;

through decay and disease a person perishes;

with body bent and flesh withered,

this is the end of life.

What use is this body when it lies rotting

beside the flowing river Ganges?

It is but the prison-house of disease

and of the pains of old age and death.

To delight in sensual pleasures,

greedy and self-indulgent,

is but to increase the load of unskillful karma,

forgetting the great change that must come:

The inconstancy of human life.

With no son to depend upon,

without father or brother,

Death presses at the door — 

without a friend (or relation)

to look toward for aid.”

The courtesan hearing these words was able to see that life dwindles like a flower, that there is nothing permanent but nirvāna [the deathless, unconditioned element beyond all things]. So she requested permission to become a female wandering ascetic. It was readily granted, and she donned the saffron robes and soon became an arhat.

And all the rest [devas and humans] who heard the words of the Buddha were filled with inexpressible joy.

Four yogis vow to seek and destroy the Demon of Impermanence

In days of old when the Buddha was dwelling in the Bamboo Grove near Rājagaha, teaching the Dharma, there was a certain celibate renunciate (brahmachārin) and his three brothers who had obtained some spiritual perception. They thereby knew that after seven days they would die.

Realizing this they said, "By our spiritual power we can overturn heaven and earth, touch the sun and moon, move mountains, and stop the flowing torrent; yet, for all that, we cannot stop death.”

Then one said, “I will seek out in the depths of the ocean this Demon of Impermanence and destroy him!”

Another said, “I will tear Mt. Sumeru in half and enter it to seek out this Demon of Impermanence to destroy him.”

Another said, “I will mount [a flying transport] into remotest space to seek the Demon of Impermanence and destroy him!”

Another said, “I will enter the bowels of this earth [enter the hollow realm of Agartha] to seek and destroy him!”

The king of the land, having heard of these men, went to the Buddha to inquire with respect to this.

The World-Honored One explained that there are four things which, while we are in the world, cannot be escaped:

1. It is impossible to avoid rebirth in some form or other;
2. Having been reborn, it is impossible to escape aging;
3. When old, it is impossible to escape infirmity and disease;
4. Under these circumstances, it is impossible to escape death.

Then he added these verses:

“Neither in space, nor in the depths of ocean,

nor in the hidden caverns of the mountain,

nor in any other place can death be escaped.

It is by knowing this and reflecting upon it

that a wandering ascetic (Buddhist monastic)

is able to overthrow all of Māra's Army

and obtain liberation from rebirth and death.”

• T 211.1: 無常品第一Samuel Beal (trans. into old British English from Sanskrit and Chinese sources of the Agamas), suttacentral.net; updated into modern American English and Pali by Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly, Fall 2024