286 Samatha is the dhamma that pairs with Vipassanā. Sammā-vāyāmo (Right effort) Sammā-sati (Right mindfulness) Sammā-samādhi (Right concentration) Samādhi (Concentration)
287 “Right Path of Living” The Noble Eightfold Path can also be crunched down to only one element: which is... All bhikkhus! Like a tree with fecund branches and leaves, even its bark crusts are complete; even its bark is perfect; even its sapwood is complete; even its core is enriched, by the same token. Ref: https://suttacentral.net/an5.24
(The Buddha’s Words) The Sequences of Liberation Bhikkhus! When there is Sati and Sampajañña, one who has Sati and Sampajañña has fulfilled a vital condition for conscience (Hiri) and prudence (Ottappa). When there is conscience and prudence, a person who has fulfilled conscience and prudence has fulfilled a vital condition for sense restraint (Indriya-Saṁvara); when there is sense restraint, one who has sense restraint has fulfilled a vital condition for ethical conduct (Sīla); when there is ethical conduct, one who has fulfilled ethical conduct has fulfilled a vital condition for right concentration (Sammā-Samādhi); when there is right concentration, one who has fulfilled right concentration has fulfilled a vital condition for direct insight (Yathābhūtañāṇadassana); when there is direct insight, one who has fulfilled direct insight has fulfilled a vital condition for disillusionment (Nibbidā) and dispassion (Virāga); when there is disillusionment and dispassion, one who has fulfilled disillusionment and dispassion has fulfilled a vital condition for wisdom and vision of deliverance (Vimuttiñāṇadassana). Ref: https://suttacentral.net/an6.50 Bhikkhus! When a bhikkhu attends carefully to Cakkhu and recognizes the impermanence of Cakkhu as it really is, his view (Diṭṭhi) is the right view. When having right view, he experiences dispassion towards Cakkhu. With the destruction of delight (Nanthi) comes the destruction of lust (Rāga); with the destruction of lust comes the destruction of delight; with the destruction of delight and lust, the mind is said to be well liberated. {In the case of Sota (the ear) / Ghāna (the nose) / Jivhā (the tongue) / Kāya (the body) / Mano (the mind), the same speech is repeated as for Cakkhu (the eye).} Ref: https://suttacentral.net/sn22.5 1
Viññāṇa Awareness without being concocted... Thinking without clinging to the Saṅkhāra... Aware of the nature that all things rise and cease... Liberated from clinging... Liberated from self... Five aggregates exist because they are clung upon... When the attachment ceases, the conditions of the volitional formations of the five aggregates cease to become a natural state... Citta is ultimately liberated... Let go and be free...
290 Let go and be free... The Primordial Mind Avijjā then becomes Vijjā... Saṅkhāra then become Vi-Saṅkhāra... Viññāna turns back to the Primordial Mind... That is the end of the wandering... ...
When the rays of concoction are off, one sees the appearance of stars.
292 The stars have never gone away at all.
When one lives a dhamma life by having a right path of living, according to the Noble Eightfold Path. Causes of suffering will be constantly discarded and not recur. When one wanders with a harmonize and peaceful mind (with full bloomed Sīla), the mind will be steadfast (with full-bloomed Samādhi), one will see the truth according to reality (with full-bloomed Paññā). Dukkha will affect one’s mind less and less as worldly attachments, that cause dukkha, have been gradually removed. Those who see the truth and gain Paññā till they are free from Dukkha are supposed to be called the noble ones. They are ranked according to the gradation of their Sīla adherence, Samādhi, and Paññā. The first rank of the noble ones are called the Stream-enterers (Sotāpannas); the second ones, Once- returners (Sakadāgāmīs); the third ones, Non-returners (Anāgāmīs); and the highest ones, Worthy Ones (Arahantas) 293 Sīla (Indriya-Saṁvara) Samādhi (Concentration) Paññā (Wisdom) Arahanta Anāgāmī Sakadāgāmī Sotāpanna
The remaining Dukkha is trivial. Having abandoned Samudaya, they will have minuscule remaining Tanhā. The Arahantas are the ones who attain Nibbāna; or those who are at the far other end of the suffering scale. That means they are totally deprived of suffering. They are the ones who are full of Sīla, Samādhi, and Paññā. They have thus completely fulfilled the tasks and duties (of awakening). The Sotāpannas are those who have just entered the stream of Nibbāna. However, the Buddha said that Sotāpannas has very minute suffering left. By analogy, said He, if ordinary people had so much suffering as the size of a globe, the Sotāpannas would have it only the size of dust under the tip of a fingernail. Importantly, when they pass away, they will not be born in an unhappy existence. At least, they will be born as human beings, celestial beings, or divine beings: in a form or a formless sphere, only so that they can complete their path to the end of wanderings.
(The Buddha’s Words) A Little Bit of Dirt under a Fingernail (When having direct insight of the Four Noble Truths, the suffering remains as less as a little bit of dirt under the fingernail.) Bhikkhus! What do you think, which is more: the little bit of dirt which I picked up under my fingernail, or this great earth? “Venerable Sir, the great earth is certainly more. The little bit of dirt under your finger nail is tiny. Compared with the great earth, it doesn’t count, there’s no comparison, it’s not worth a fraction.” Bhikkhus! In the same way, for a noble disciple accomplished in (right) view, the suffering of his that’s over and done with is more, what’s left is tiny. Compared with the mass of suffering in the past that’s over and done with, it doesn’t count, there’s no comparison, it’s not worth a fraction.
296 That is the suffering of a Sotāpanna who has at most seven more lives (*). Such a person truly understands the suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path to cease it. Bhikkhus! That’s why you should persist diligently in the practice of Dhamma so that you truly understand dukkha, its origin, its cessation, and the path to cease It. Ref: https://suttacentral.net/sn56.5 1 *Sotāpannas will have to transmigrate to another seven more realms. Although they are of the lowest rank of the enlightened ones, Buddha stated that most of their dissatisfaction has gone away; only very little of it remains.
All what have been said is the “Treading Path” Which Buddha gave us to let us follow till...
...the end of Suffering. Nathalakhanō Bhikku
That is so...then what do we hold on to? The world and lives are a delusion. All things are...just the way they are. Viññāna (mind) San khāra So to see that…We are imprisoned inside a small trap of the sense-sphere. All our contacts have to go through the brain which is a coarse tool. The world at large that all of us understand in our entire lives exists only in the mind. We have never seen out of our mind. We could know as far as we are allowed to know. Outside of that small trap, there are things that we cannot imagine of infinitely. Vedanā Saññā
That is so...then what do we hold on to? The world and lives are a delusion. All things are...just the way they are. body tongue nose ear eye Rūpa Viññāna (mind) San khāra So to see that…We are imprisoned inside a small trap of the sense-sphere. All our contacts have to go through the brain which is a coarse tool. The world at large that all of us understand in our entire lives exists only in the mind. We have never seen out of our mind. We could know as far as we are allowed to know. Outside of that small trap, there are things that we cannot imagine of infinitely. Saññā
A dhamma riddle image (epilogue).
By now, the reader might have the answers to these questions: Who are we? Why are we born? “We” do not exist in reality. “We” are just the wrong “view”; we are just “feelings”. In fact, there is no one who “was born” or “passes away.” When “causes” exist, “continuation” will be incurred by “ignorance” thereafter. Is there a next life for real? A small repetition of “Bhava-Jāti” happens every time there is “contact”, each day thousand counts of “Bhava-Jāti” occur. However, there will be one day that accumulated small “Bhava-Jāti” will cause the emergance of the next big “Bhava-Jāti”. What is this world? Six sense-bases and five aggregates. Is life dissatisfied or pleasurable? This life is neither suffering nor happy by itself. When “clinging” arises, there arises only “suffering” as what we call “happiness” does not last forever. It still brings about “suffering/ dissatisfaction” anyway. What are the Buddha’s Teachings? It is the wisdom of knowing “the truth” of nature. Everything in this universe and every life, no exemption of religions, falls under this rule of reality.
What was the Buddha awakened on? The Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. What did Buddha teach? The “arising” of suffering (from clinging to the five aggregates) and the “cessation” of suffering (letting attachments to the five aggregates go). Only the Buddha’s Teachings teach “how to cease suffering”. What is Dhamma practice? It is the “right path of living” along the Noble Eightfold Path to polish off Kilesas and uplift the mind level until it is free from the self concoction and self attachment. Can laypersons be awakened? Being awakened is a “consequence” of “diminishing, abstaining from, and quitting” (Kilesas) to finally gain “Paññā”. In the end, one would neither want happiness nor awakening because in reality there is no “one” who is awakened. I would like to ask you whether you are ready to “let go” happiness to get away from suffering, or not?
Glossary 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Covetousness, avarice, unrighteous greed Disadvantage, peril, defect, danger Taking what is not given, stealing Taking what is not given Neither pain nor happiness, indifferent feeling Neither painful nor pleasurable Neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling, indifferent feeling Livelihood Internal sense-bases The space-element Space-element Unwholesome The unwholesome courses of action, way of bad action, unwholesome course of action Tenfold unwholesome course of action Non-Returners The name of the monk who was the secretary and personal assistant of the Buddha Mindfulness of breathing Non-self Impermanent, transient Impermanent Latent tendencies, underlying tendencies to form defilements States or planes of loss and woe, low states of existence, unhappy existence, unhappy planes The completely awakened ones Sense-objects, an object of consciousness The (four) Noble Paths, Sublime Paths of the Holy Life, the Noble (Eightfold) Path The (four) Noble Fruits, Fruits of the Holy Life Noble individuals, holy persons Noble individuals, holy persons The Four Noble Truths Mental intoxication or defilements, innermost Defilements Demons The Noble Eightfold Path The Eight Precepts, training rules, precepts to be observed on the Observance Day Abhijjhā Ādīnava Adinnādāna Adinnādāna Adukkhamasukha Adukkhamasukha-vedanā Ājīva Ajjhattikāyatana Ākāsa-dhātu Ākāsa-dhātu Akusala Akusala-kammapatha Akusala-kammapatha Anāgāmī Ānanda Ānāpānasati Anattā Anicca Aniccā Anusaya Apāya-bhūmi, Apāyabhūmi Arahanta Ārammaṇa Ariyamagga Ariyaphala Ariya-puggala Ariyapuggala, Ariya-puggala Ariyasacca Āsava Asurakāya Aṭṭhaṅgika-magga Aṭṭha-sīla
33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 Ignorance Latent tendencies, underlying tendencies to form ignorance Sense-bases External sense-bases Strength, force, power Continued existence, Becoming existence Continued existence, Planes of existence Mind cultivation Mind cultivation Buddhist monks Ground, stage, plane of existence Enlightenment factors A divine being of the Form Sphere or of the Formless Sphere A Brahmin, man of the Brahmin caste, a priest The Awakened One The teachings of the Buddha Illwill The vision process Eye-contact Eye-consciousness The Fourth Absorption in tranquil meditation Mental factors Mind, the essence of mind that knows Giving Celestial beings Nature, Teachings of the Buddha The discourse of setting in motion the Wheel of the Doctrine Mind objects, mental Sensation The Doctrine and the Discipline Elements Grief Hatred Woeful states of existence Pain, suffering, dissastisfaction The extinction of suffering The nose Name of the clan to which the Buddha belonged The path of accomplishment The sense-faculties; the sense-forces, spiritual faculties; faculties The development of the sense faculties Avijjā Avijjānusaya Āyatana Bāhirāyatana Bala Bhava Bhava-bhūmi Bhāvanā Bhāvanā Bhikkhu Bhūmi Bojjhaṅga Brahma Brāhmaṇa Buddha Buddhasāsana Byāpāda Cakkhu Cakkhu-samphassa Cakkhu-viññāṇa Catuttha-jhāna Cetasika Citta Dāna Devatā Dhamma Dhammacakkappavattanasutta Dhammārāma Dhammavinaya Dhātu Domanassa Dosa Duggati Dukkha Dukkha-nirodha Ghāna Gotama Iddhipāda Indriya Indriyabhāvanā
73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 Control of the senses Ageing Birth A set of meditative attainments True-hearted friends The Eightfold Path in practice, Right path of living Sexual misconduct Actions, deeds The result of actions Body Mindfulness of the body Bodily action Body-consciousness Defilements The first ascetic who became the first Buddhist monk Wholesome Wholesome course of action Greed The path to awakening, the Noble Eight Fold Path The mind Mind-contact Mind-consciousness Human realm An Evil One, a tempter, a destroyer Death The Middle Way, the Noble Eight Fold Path Wrong view Delusion False speech Mentality Abstract Mind and Matter, mentality and materiality Mind and Body Knowledge, understanding, realization Insight and vision Pleasure, joy, delight Hell denizens The extinction of all defilements and suffering, peace Dispassion, disinterest, disenchantment Dispassion The cessation of suffering Withdrawal Destruction of life, killing Indriya-saṁvara Jarā Jāti Jhāna Kalyāṇa-mitta Kalyanavatta Kāmesumicchācāra Kamma Kamma vipaāka Kāya Kāyagatā-sati Kāya-kamma Kāya-viññāṇa Kilesa Koṇḍañña Kusala Kusala-kammapatha Lobha Magga Mano Mano-Samphassa Mano-viññāṇa Manussā Māra Maraṇa Matchimāpatippathā Micchādiṭṭhi Moha Musāvāda: Nāma Nāma-Dhamma Nāma-rūpa Nāma-rūpa Ñanā Ñanādassana Nanthi Nerayika Nibbāna (Pali) or Nirvāṇa (Sanskrit) Nibbidā Nipita Nirodha Nissarana Pāṇātipāta
117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 Five Aggregates The Five Precepts, rules of morality Clinging to the five aggregates Wisdom (in Buddhism it means realizing the true nature of reality), insight, penetrative knowledge or discernment of the true nature of reality Demeritorious action, sins Lamentation The First Absorption of tranquil meditation Rapture Dependent origination cycle The Dependent Origination Repulsion Latent tendencies to form repulsion, irritation Modes of progress to deliverance Right duties, the 227 disciplinary rules binding on Bhikkhus Harsh speech, harsh language Contact Tangible objects Malicious speech, slandering, tale-bearing Realm of hungry ghosts Meritorious action Lust, passion Latent tendencies to form sensual passion Corporeality, materiality, matter, form Material existence Once-Returners Six sense-bases Concentration Right path of living Holy men Concentration calm, tranquillity, quietude of heart Right Livelihood Right View, Right Understanding Right Action The four right kinds of striving Right Concentration Right Intention Right Mindfulness Right Speech Right Effort Mindful awareness Contact Pañca-khandha Pañca-sīla Pancupādānakkhandha Paññā Pāpa Parideva Pathama-jhāna Pāti Paticca-samuppāda Paṭicca-samuppādā Patigha Paṭighānusaya Patipadā Pāṭmokkha Pharusavācā Phassa Phoṭṭhabba Pisuṇavācā Pittivisaya Puñña Rāga Rāgānusaya Rūpa Rūpa-dhamma Sakadāgāmī Salāyatana Samādhi Samajīvitā Samanฺa-brāhmanฺa Samatha Sammā-ājīva Sammādiṭṭhi Sammākammanta Sammappadhāna Sammāsamādhi Sammāsaṅkappa Sammāsati Sammāvācā Sammāvāyāma Sampajañña Samphassa
158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 The Round of Rebirth, the Wheel of Rebirth The causes of Suffering Self-controlled, restrained To be seen by only the one who practices Concoction Perception, memory Mindfulness Foundations of mindfulness Mindfulness and mindful awareness The sream-enterers or sotāpannas who has atmost seven more lives before they reach Nibbāna Morality, morals, moral commitment, precepts, virtue The Ten Precepts Sorrow The ear Stream-Enterers, the person who attains the first stage of being awakened Ear-consciousness Blissful states of existence Happy course, happy world Happiness Void, naught, a state of liberated mind, free from defilements Despair Intoxicants tending to cloud the mind, intoxicants causing carelessness, intoxicants causing heedlessness Craving One of the titles of the Buddha The Third Absorption in tranquil meditation Craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, and craving for non-existence The Three Universal Characteristics: impermanence, suffering, and non-self Realm of animals Attachment, clinging Supports, supporting states A layperson in Buddhism Taking up the Bhikkhuship, enter the monkhood Equanimity Verbal action Feeling Observing on a mental object The extinction of avijjā Samsāra Samudaya Saṁvara Sandiṭṭhiko Sankhāra Saññā Sati Satipaṭṭhāna Sati-sampajañña Sattakhattuparama Sīla Sīla, Sikkhāpada 10, dasa-sila Soka Sota Sotāpanna Sota-viññāṇa Sugati Sugati bhūmi Sukha Suññata Supāyāsa Surāmeraya Tanhā Tathāgata Tatiya-jhāna Three types of Tanhā Tilakkhaṇa Tiracchāna Upādāna Upanissaya Upāsaka Upasampadā Upekkhā Vacīkamma Vedanā Vicāra Vijjā
195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 Deliverance, liberation, freedom Knowledge and vision of deliverance Discipline, the monastic regulations, the code of monastic discipline, the rules of discipline of the Order, training, guidance, organization, system Consciousness, sense-awareness Consciousness-element A consequence, effect, result, fruit Insight meditation Detachment, dispassionateness Range, reach, scope, sphere, realm, power, capacity, Sense-object Focusing on a mental object Relinquish, let go Knowledge and vision according to reality, knowing and seeing things as they are, direct insight Vimutti Vimuttiñāṇadassana Vinaya Viññāṇa Viññāṇa-dhātu Vipāka Vipassanā Virāga Visaya Vitakka Vossagga Yathābhūtañāṅadassana
References: • The Four Noble Truths from the Buddha’s words, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu • Paticca-samuppāda from the Buddha’s words, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu • Dictionary of Buddhism, P.A. Payutto The author’s concerns: This book is designed to communicate with only color images and texts. Copying by adjusting its mode to black and white will distort the meaning of images and words. The texts or images may be hidden or not clear if the book cannot be straightly opened as its content has the continuity of the left and right pages.
(The Buddha’s Words) The Burden “The Pañca-khandha are heavy. People carry these heavy loads. Carrying loads is Dukkha in this world. Shrugging off the loads is Sukkha. The awakened ones shrugged off heavy loads and do not pick up other heavy loads again. Thus, they are the ones who uproot sensuality and whose kilesas are naught.” Ref: https://suttacentral.net/sn22.22