Dhamma Discourses Sayadaw U Jatila Mahasi Meditation Centre, Yangon, Myanmar, 1998

21. " " The four paths of preference " " (Part IV)

The subject of today's Dhamma Talk is about the fourth path of preference, which is regarded as the Best Path, It is the realisation of Nibbana by contemplating Satipathana vipassana bhavana or insight meditation. Nibbana is the most cherished and the ultimate goal of all Buddhists. All Buddhists aspire for Nibbana and so in any kind of religious activities, the final wish is to attain Nibbana in the shortest possible time. When Buddhist pay respect to the Triple Gems (Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha) it is Nibbana that they wish for. When they pay respects to parents or to the elders or when they observe the Precepts, their final wish is to attain Nibbana by doing so. Why do all Buddhists aspire for Nibbana? Because it was, it is and it will always be the best, the noblest and the perfect passionless happiness.

But some may have doubts when stated that there is nothing, no sensual pleasures nor sensations in Nibbana, Those who are addicted to betel chewing do not like the place where there is no betel leaves. Those who are addicted to smoking do not like places where smoking is prohibited. Those who are accustomed to watching entertainment do not like places where there is no entertainment. The same with any person who enjoys in sensual pleasures - the pleasures that attribute to contact with five internal bases - eye and the visible object, ear and the audible object, nose and the odour, tongue and the taste, body and the tactile object, the consciousness and the mind-object. These are called vedayika-sukha, the pleasure that is attributed to contact with sense organs.

Another kind of pleasure is santi-sukha, it is not connected with sense organs. It is a supreme consciousness of peace and tranquillity - a perfect passionless happiness. In the case of any sensual pleasure, effort has to be made to acquire the material. To enjoy good sights, a person has to search for films or video tapes. Expenses have to be incurred to look at the films or tapes. To enable to pay for expenses, a person has to work. Even if he can afford the expenses, there is the physical trouble to watch with the eye and eyes can get tired or affected to the detriment of the eye-sight.

The same with good taste. A person has to accumulate edibles, prepare and cook a good meal for having a good feed. Good edibles are hard to get since other persons may also try to collect the same for themselves and there can be a rush, a competition for the same material and the rivalry may involve great risks. After acquiring the good food there is the process of eating, chewing, swallowing, etc. etc. If the food happens to be disagreeable with a person there can be food-poisoning. There are the risks and physical, financial and mental efforts to have a good feed. Even after a successful tasty meal there is the trouble of excretion and urination. Therefore the sensual pleasures of good visual objects, good audible object, good odour, good tastes, good tactile objects, etc. are no just plain happiness, it is a mixed event of dukkha and sukha or suffering and pleasure.

In contrast, "santi-sukha" is a kind of happiness untainted by sensual pleasure. It may be defined as deliverance from the trammels of the body, a fine feeling of peace and rest, a perfect happiness, as extinction of all suffering. It is very hard to give a good similar example of it but to have an idea of it, the following can be quoted. Let us say someone is in jail for his crimes. Naturally he is very sad, physically maltreated and the condition of his living there is also very miserable. The quarter allotted for him is very cramped, filled with pests and mosquitoes, full of foul smell and he suffered mental and physical agonies during his stay as a convict. At this very moment, if he is suddenly released from his imprisonment and free from all miseries that is associated with his jail life. He may not be endowed with material luxuries of a wealthy person in normal sense but the very fact that he has been set free is of immense happiness, the great achievement of his freedom from sufferings.

The second example:- A person is suffering from leprosy disease. He is disfigured, his sores are wet all over and nobody wants to be associated with him socially. He is an outcast. He suffered from pains and aches as a result of the disease and he is helpless since he is not able physically, and financially. He is almost starving. Such kind of a person is at the lowest moral and very unhappy. Then, he met a kind and able physician who gave him the latest medicine and cured him of his miserable disease. Imagine how happy he will be. It can be said it is the happiest moment of his life. But he did not have any material abundance or any riches. But his total cure of the disease is so overwhelming that his happiness is no less than the happiness derived from sensual pleasures. So also the bliss of Nibbana is not associated with material acquirement nor connected with sensual pleasures. As stated in the beginning of this talk it is a supreme consciousness of peace and tranquillity, a perfect passionless happiness, the final release from all kinds of sufferings.

Some try to describe Nibbana as a magnificent palace and try to paint a very beautiful capital city of Utopia. Some visualize Nibbana as a shining glass palace, and some imagine Nibbana as a place where there is cool and peaceful atmosphere surpassing all kinds of artificial creations of luxurious human abodes. Such kinds of imaginations are all illusions. Let us try and determine the definition of Nibbana by questions and answers. What is Nibbana? is Nibbana a grand or is it a grand and pompous capital city? Is it a shining glass house? Is it a cool and peaceful atmosphere?

The answer is "No" to all these questions. Some definitions are relevant by the following Pali sentences.

(1) Nibbati Vattam Dukkham Etthati Nibbanam. i.e. Nibbana is peace established with the annihilation of suffering. The state of peaceful coolness or "santi" in Pali is a characteristic of Nibbana. When meditators while contemplating physical and mental phenomena, suddenly achieve the cessation of all phenomena and when such cessation occurs the amber of suffering are extinguished.

(2) Nibbati Vatta Dukkham Etasamin Adhigatetiva Nibbanam, that is, when the peaceful coolness is achieved, the round of suffering in the realm of defilement (kilesa vatta), of action (kamma vatta), and result of action (vipaka vatta) is extingushed or annihilated. There is now 3 complete severance of the world of existence which signified annihilation in sight of Nibbana.

(3) Nibbayate Nibbanam, that is, in Nibbana, the round of suffering comes to a peaceful end. Hence cessation of suffering is Nibbana.

What are extinguished?

(a) Kilesa vatta - that is avijja (not knowing the 4 Noble truth), tanha (craving), and upadana (clinging) are all extinguished. These three defilements contribute to the endless round of suffering.

(b) Kamma vatta is the realm of action that includes both meritorious and de-meritorious deeds that contribute to the emergence of the endless round of rebirths and-

(c) Vipaka vatta is the realm of the result of action usually called kamma-result, relates to the consequences of actions good or bad. Every action produces a resultant of mind, matter, feeling, etc. and causes rebirth in superior or inferior existences as a result of good or bad actions, On realising Nibbana these three "vattas" are extinguished.

Meditators may not understand clearly as the words are couched in scriptural language. In plain language what is this realisation of Nibbana, the meditators may ask. Such question was asked before. At one time the king Milinda asked Ven. Nagasena. The learned Ven. Nagasena answered -Of Noble King, a meditator contemplating his mental and physical phenomena all the time without any skipping, suddenly reached into a state where all mental and physical phenomena disappeared. Of Noble king by the rightful practice when a meditator reached a stage of cessation of all mental and physical phenomena, such stage is called realisation of Nibbana.

In other words, a meditator since the time of awakening from sleep is contemplating his mental and physical phenomena of rising, falling, sitting, touching, walking, seeing, hearing, smelling, eating, thinking and knowing etc. without missing a moment suddenly finds nothing to note - not only missing the noting objects but also there is no noting mind itself-nothingness. Such kind of experience (cessation of phenomena) is called realisation of Nibbana.

What do meditators know at the moment of realization of Nibbana? It is to be known by characteristic, function and manifestation.

(a) Characteristic : Meditator know the realisation of Nibbana by the characteristic of peacefulness by the characteristic of cessation of mental and physical phenomena. (It is not sleep, it is not death, not unconsciousness). Some meditators must take some of the symptoms like violent vibration of body and legs, losing consciousness and falling down etc. are realizations of Nibbana. It is not so.

(b) Function; Javana. Impulsion has a very solemn and calm characteristic. There should be no ungracious composure of body posture. If cessation of phonomena occurred while sitting the body position will be very erect and composed and if it occurred while standing, it must stay without bending, without swaying of falling down but stay in proper, graceful, and still composure.

(c) Manifestation : At time of realisation of Nibbana, the meditators will not be conscious of the form, vision or the shadow of the body etc. Becoming and disappearing of mind and matter ceased altogether and become peaceful; All motions, forms and visions and shadow vanished. These are the symptoms of the realisation of Nibbana.

Here, for meditators, how do they strive to achieve for the attainment of Nibbana? Buddha said, O! Bhikkhus! To achieve Nibbana Bhikkhus have to contemplate Satipatthana vipassana bhavana, because it is the only way to the realisation of Nibbana. Therefore our meditators here must note left step, right step, rising, falling, seeing, hearing etc. all the time until cessation of all mental and physical phenomena is achieved. Because this is the only way to achieve magga nana, phala nana and Nibbana.

During the time of Buddha, "Soreya", a rich man's son, on his way to the river for bathing, saw a very handsome monk namely "Ven Kaccayana". At the very moment of seeing that very handsome monk, he failed to note the phenomena in his mind and he wished that the monk to become his wife. But the monk was an Arahat ( a purified and noble monk), and "Soreya" was transformed into woman due to his insulting wish towards an Arahat. On realising his sin, he apologized for forgiveness by paying respects to the arahat and finally he regained his manhood. Then he became repentant on this event and decided to ordain as a monk and practised vipassana bhavana, meditation. He contemplated his foot movements in walking meditation, noting rising and falling of the abdomen in the sitting meditations and all the mental and physical phenomena of seeing, hearing, thinking, eating, touching until he achieved magga and phala nana. In other words he reached the state of realisation of Nibbana. So, contemplating the satipatthana Vipassana bhavana on insight meditation is tantamount to selecting the Best Path - Nibbana.

May all our meditators achieve the final release from all kinds of sufferings extinction of all defilements and enjoy a perfect passionless happiness - the realisation of Nibbana.

Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

22: "Sila Visuddhi (Purification of Conduct)"

Today's Dhamma Talk is about Sila Visuddhi. Purification of Conduct is the foundation or the first of the seven Visuddhis. Without observing Sila - Morality, the higher magga - phala nana is hardly attainable.

Sila - morality here means, for the laity, the observation of either the five or the eight precepts and for the bhikkhus, that of the patimokkhas -the code of monk's rules. Sila - morality with regard to it's solemnity, is of three kinds. Namely,

(1) the ordinary Sila,

(2) the noble upa Sila and

(3) the ultimate paramattha Sila.

By observing the said sila, one can be reborn in the human world at a higher position of influence, or in the world of noble devas, or if with vipassana meditation can realise nibbana - the extinction of all sufferings.

There are also five benefits available if one observes the precepts steadfastly and permanently. They are-

(1) to gain great wealth in the present life

(2) to gain great fame, and reputation

(3) to be able to appear with courage and confindence in any public gathering

(4) to be able to face death with calmness and serenity

(5) to be reborn at a noble deva world or at least in the human world at a higher position.

Moreover, sila - morality is an ageless virtue and fragrant at all times. Ornaments and dresses that one wears, seem pretty and elegant only at the appropriate time and place whereas, sila - morality shines at all ages, young or old. The Pali sentence "Silam yogissa lankaro" means, Sila -morality is the ornament of the meditator-the very one practising vipassana meditation.

In the time of Lord Buddha, a certain youth, by the name of Subha once asked Him as to why some people are weak and sick some are strong and healthy. "Oh young Subha," Lord Buddha replied, "Some people who fail to observe sila and get into the habit of doing unwholesome acts and deeds become sick and weak, and those who observe sila steadfastly and continuously appear strong and healthy. "Thus it is evident that sila -morality becomes a support in whatever existance you are, and happens to be an ornament of the meditator. Fragrance, sweetness of smell travels in the direction of the wind only, whereas, sila - morality radiates in all directions at all times.

Once, Lord Buddha spoke on the value of a virtuous life with reference to samanera Samkicca. In the time of Lord Buddha, thirty bhikkhus, after taking a subject on meditation object from Him, managed to leave for a large village. Lord Buddha, foreseeing a danger in their practising meditation and that danger would be overcome by samanera Samkicca who was staying with Thera Sariputta, advised them to go and pay homage to their brother Sariputta before going to the village. Thera Sariputta foreseeing the Buddha's wish, sent samanera Samkicca to accompany as a kappiya, an attendant when they paid homage to him before their departure.

Here you should know something about samanera Samkicca. He was only seven years of age and had already attained arahatship. His mother met a certain death when she had been conceived with the child Samkicca-to-be, about to be bom. During the cremation of the corpse, the whole body except the womb, was burnt to ashes. At night, a watchman who had burnt the corpse, pierced the unburnt womb with a bamboo staff and hit a little at the corner of an eye. The next morning the child was seen curiously lying on the fire that had burnt the corpse. He was then taken to his relatives who gradually brought him up. A fortune teller, when asked about the child's future, predicted that if he would be adopted, his seven generations would become poor and that if ordained in the Order as a novice, he would become very famous with a great retinue in the Order. As the child grew up, he was told about his recovery-from-death and became greatly moved. So he thought he would not let his life in vain, and wou ld go into the Order so that he could do meritorious deeds to make him free from the cycles of rebirth. His relatives agreed when asked permission and he was sent to Thera Sariputta for ordination as a novice. While holding a shaving of hair from his head, he meditated vipassana and at the end of shaving, he attained the arahatship at he age of only seven years.

Now let me continue my dhamma talk. With this young novice Samkicca, the thirty bhikkhus started meditating vipassana insight in the forest near the village. While thus meditating, five hundred robbers hiding in the thick forest wanted, to make an offering of the blood of a man's throat to the guardian spirits of the forest with the delusion that their stealing and robbing could be done successfully. So the robbers came up to the village monastery and demanded that one of the bhikkhus be given as a sacrifice. It was the very danger that Lord Buddha had foreseen.

When the meditating bhikkhus came to know of that demand, the eldest of them stood up and proudly said, "Oh young brothers, this is my responsibility to go after the robbers. You all the rest should continue practising vipassana insight meditation peacefully and I'll follow along with the robbers. "Again the second elder stood up and requested. "No elder brother, you should not do like this. The youngers will be left without a nayaka-chieftain, so please do not go after the robbers. "Again the third elder brother stood up and requested in the same manner. From the eldest to the youngest bhikkhu, each voluntarily requested to go with the robbers. At last the samanera Samkicca interfered, "Oh Reverend Bhikkhus, this is my responsibility, my teacher Thera Sariputta foreseeing the danger in advance, had purposedly sent me to accompany you all". So saying he went along with the robbers. The Bhikkhu chief requested the robbers not to show the novice the sword a s he was so young and to treat him properly not to be frightened. The robbers took the samanera to the forest and placed him under a shady tree and sharpened their swords. While they were making preparations for the sacrifice, the young samanera had attained the supreme ecstasy under the shady tree. When everything was ready for the occasion, the leader robber came to the samanera Samkicca who was then seated with his mind fixed on a kind of samapatti concentration. The leader lifted his sword and swung and struck hard at the neck of the young samanera. "Dunn" came out the sound of striking as if the blade of sword had struck a stone. The blade curled up, and again he tried, the same was the result. The young samanera was invulnerable, could not be attacked. Then the leader robber shook the novice and said," Oh young novice, I cut you with this sword. Are you not afraid of going to die? You seem not to be afraid of going to be killed. Your face looks very serene, peacef ul and tranquil and your behaviour is very calm. Are you not frightened?" The samanera Samkicca replied, "Oh leader robber, an arahat like us is not afraid of going to die; this khandha or this body is a heavy burden to us. To feed the body everyday is nothing but suffering." The day to put down the burden of this khandha or this body is the happiest day for us. Arahats like us have no fear nor unhappiness."

Listening to what the young novice said and holding his sword up, the leader robber uttered, "Oh, he is an arahat. This lifeless sword knows the good qualities of an arahat and yet I, having the mind, know nothing. I have been wrong. "Thus realising his misdeed, he dropped his sword and knelt at the feet of the samanera Samkicca and asked for his pardon. "Oh, samanera, let me enter the Order and let me take the suitable precepts beginning right from here. I "ll never steal nor rob."

All the five hundred robbers were terror-stricken, repented for their wrong deeds and asked permission to become as samaneras. The young samanera Samkicca complied with their request and gave them ten precepts.

Samanera Samkicca accompanied by his new five hundred disciples in yellow robes, returned to the thirty bhikkhus who were anxiously waiting what would happen to him. They felt very much relieved on hearing the happy news events and said, "Oh Samkicca, you should go and see your teacher. Thera Sariputta who will be very glad, if he sees you and your disciples."

Then the samanera Samkicca and his disciples continued on their way to pay respect to his teacher. Thera Sariputta who after receiving them, advised them to pay homage to Lord Buddha. On seeing them, "Oh, samanera Samkicca, how wonderful it is, you have so many disciples. " the Exalted One exclaimed. Then Samkicca explained that it was true that all robbers had taken precepts from him and had become samaneras novices in the order. "Ah samaneras, it is fine, you old robbers, you lived so long for many years without virtue and concentration. It was all in vain. Now you yourselves are full of virtue and so also is your teacher. A short but virtuous life is better than a long immoral life." Lord Buddha remarked.

Then Lord Buddha spoke in verse as follows:

"Better than a hundred years in the life of an immoral person who has no control over his senses, is a day in the life of a virtuous person who cultivates Tranquillity and Insight Development Practice.

So meditators, let me conclude here for the day by expressing the most sincerest blessing, that may you all make effort to be full of purity of virtue which is the very basis of the seven purities and that may you attain magga phala nana in the serial order of stages of seven purities, and that may you all realise Nibbana, the extinction of all suffering very soon.

Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!