Sometimes you will be meditating on materiality, sometimes on feeling, sometimes on perception, sometimes on formations, sometimes on consciousness, sometimes on impermanence, sometimes on suffering, sometimes on selflessness, sometimes on present phenomena, sometimes on past or future phenomena, sometimes on causal relationships. You can do this many times in many combinations to thoroughly contemplate all phenomena.
MEDITATION INSTRUCTION 17.5
Contemplating Jhāna Factors as Impermanent, Unsatisfactory, and Not-Self
After emerging from jhāna, discern the mental formations in the jhāna cognitive sequence as described in chapter 13. Review the jhāna factors associated with the jhāna cognitive process: the mind-door adverting consciousness will have twelve mental formations (consciousness plus eleven associated factors), and generally the first jhāna impulsion consciousness will have thirty-four mental formations (consciousness plus thirty-three associated factors), the second jhāna will have thirty-two mental formations (consciousness plus thirty-one associated factors), and the third and fourth jhānas will have thirty-one mental formations (consciousness plus thirty associated factors) See Tables 13.5 and 13.6. You may organize them as mentality and materiality, consider each phenomena individually, or you may structure the discernment according to the model of five aggregates.
As you discern the arising and passing of the moments of consciousness and their associated mental factors, contemplate each factor or aggregate as impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not-self. Do this internally, that is, with regard to your own jhāna consciousness, and externally, that is, with regard to any jhāna consciousness occurring for other beings. It is not necessary to specifically discern a particular person’s mental state. It is enough to look externally—somewhere someone is practicing jhāna.
MEDITATION INSTRUCTION 17.6
Contemplating the Bases and Elements as Impermanent, Unsatisfactory, and Not-Self
As an alternative to the traditional aggregate model, you may do the same exercises suggested in this chapter with regard to the traditional five aggregates, but organize phenomena according to the following five categories:282
1. materiality, including all the rūpas in the sense doors—for example the sixty-three rūpas of the eye door;
2. objects—for example, color;
3. consciousness—for example, eye-consciousness;
4. contact—for example, eye-contact;
5. feeling and formations—for example, feeling, perception, and all formations that arise with eye-contact as condition.
In order to include all the types of present mental and material factors you will discern a cognitive series stimulated by contact, for example the impact of color at the eye door. In every mind-moment of the cognitive series that knows color (such as five-door adverting consciousness, eye-consciousness, receiving consciousness, investigating consciousness, and so on), there will be materiality and the mental formations of consciousness, contact, feeling, perception, and associated mental formations. See Tables 13.7 and 13.8.
1. Establish concentration and then discern phenomena according to the five categories listed above.
2. If you have established jhāna, you may contemplate the material and mental factors occurring in the jhāna cognitive process as instructed in meditation instruction 13.3, but this time organize phenomena as basis, object, consciousness, contact, feeling, and the associated mental factors. If you have not established jhāna, simply continue with step three.
3. To contemplate the sense-sphere processes according to the elements, begin by discerning a cognitive process occurring at the eye door as practiced in chapter 13, and contemplate each element as impermanent: contemplate the eye-door materiality as impermanent, the color as impermanent, eye-consciousness as impermanent, eye-contact as impermanent, feeling born of eye-contact plus all the mental factors in the cognitive process as impermanent. This last contemplation would include, for example, contemplating the impermanence of each of the eleven mental formations associated with the five-door adverting consciousness, each of the eight mental formations associated with eye-door consciousness, each of the eleven mental formations associated with receiving consciousness, and so on (see Tables 13.7 and 13.8). You must actually discern the phenomena as you contemplate so that you perceive the arising and perishing of ultimate mental or material phenomena and not merely conceive ideas about impermanent phenomena. Discern, analyze, and contemplate the constituents of both wholesome and unwholesome eye-door processes as impermanent by way of the five categories listed above.
4. Then contemplate each sense door in the same manner. Repeat the discernment, analysis, and contemplation of the impermanence of the psychophysical process as broken down into these five categories while observing cognitive processes that occur at each remaining sense door (ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind).
5. Repeat the sequence of discerning, analyzing, and contemplating both wholesome and unwholesome processes as divided into these five categories, but replace the contemplation of impermanence with a contemplation of suffering and then not-self through all the sense doors.
6. Sometimes meditate on their impermanence, sometimes on their unsatisfactoriness, and sometimes on their emptiness. Repeatedly contemplate phenomena that are internal and external; near and far; past, present, and future, while actually discerning the arising and perishing of that phenomenon.
Sometimes you will be meditating on materiality at the sensebase, sometimes on the materiality of the object, sometimes on consciousness, sometimes on contact, sometimes on feeling and formations, sometimes on impermanence, sometimes on suffering, sometimes on selflessness, sometimes on present phenomena, sometimes on past or future phenomena. You can do this many times in many combinations to thoroughly contemplate all phenomena.
This was the method that the Buddha taught to his son, Rāhula, which effectively conveyed his mind through a series of insights and culminated in complete liberation.
DEEPENING INSIGHT
Sometimes, after applying effort through repetitive exercises, some meditators feel as though they have stalled. The mind might back off from a direct perception of the incessantly changing phenomena by building a conceptual understanding of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and not-self. In other words, one might find the mind contemplating the concept of impermanence rather than directly perceiving the impermanence of phenomena—the concept might trump the direct perception. Concepts, however, do not have the power to dislodge subtle clinging. Vipassanā relies on clear seeing—the direct perception of things as they are actually occurring.
A more precise focus on the characteristics may be needed to exhaust the fuel for defilement and free the mind from the underlying tendencies of greed, hatred, and delusion. If the mind does not naturally unravel its attachment to things through the previous exercises, then contemplate each characteristic from multiple angles. You might need to force the mind to face the fact that no happiness can be found in conditioned phenomena. The Buddhist tradition has complied forty ways to view the three basic characteristics of phenomena.283 Using the forty-part system illuminates greater subtleties and can dramatically enhance dispassion toward phenomena.
MEDITATION INSTRUCTION 17.7
Forty Ways of Viewing Phenomena with the Three Characteristics
To refine the contemplation of all mental and material phenomena as bound and oppressed by the characteristics of impermanence, suffering, and selflessness, the meditator can review any of the previous vipassanā exercises by highlighting an individual facet of the characteristic. Contemplate phenomena according to the forty ways as listed in Table 17.1, “Forty Ways of Viewing Phenomena with the Three Characteristics.”284 Consider the meaning of each of the forty ways. Use the specificity of this detailed contemplation to understand these characteristics in finer resolution and enhance dispassion toward conditioned phenomena.
REPELLED TOWARD INSIGHT
Another avenue that can instill dispassion and draw the
mind toward liberating insight is the perception of repulsiveness (asubha). In chapter 5 on contemplating thirty-two parts of the body, and chapter 9 on contemplating the corpse, we used the perception of repulsiveness in a mode of concentration to elevate the mind to the first jhāna. Now, the perception of repulsiveness can augment the vipassanā practice. In the mode of insight, the perception of repulsiveness appears as a facet of dukkha. By focusing on the repulsiveness of subtle realities you can intensify your awareness of the incessantly unsatisfactory nature of mental and material phenomena. All the previous vipassanā exercises can be converted to incorporate the repulsive element. Rather than contemplating the primary three characteristics of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and not-self, perform the same exercise, but add a fourth characteristic—that of repulsiveness. Consider the repulsive quality of each and every material element, mental factor, and causal relation. Or experiment with the following exercises that highlight the material phenomena of the body.
TABLE 17.1
Forty Ways of Viewing Phenomena with the Three Characteristics
I. As Impermanent (anicca)
1. Impermanent—aniccato
They did not exist before they arose; they do not wait to appear. They do not exist after perishing; there is no storehouse, pile, or eternal resting place of material and mental properties.
2. Disintegrating—palokato
Their nature is perishing; they crumble with sickness, age, death.
3. Fickle—calato
They are unstable; quiver due to sickness, aging, and death; are agitated by gain and loss, love and hate; fluctuating worldly states.
4. Perishable—paghaṇguto
They are affected by effort, and they will perish or disperse in disarray.
5. Unenduring—addhuvato
They have no firmness or stability; like fruit that may drop from the tree at any time, material and mental phenomena do not endure.
6. Of changing nature—viparināma dhammato
They are subject to change; their arising has an inherent inclination toward perishing; birth leads to death.
7. Coreless—asārakato
They are without a stable core; feeble; they will easily perish like sapwood; they have no firm essence.
8. Extinguishable—vibhavato
They are subject to annihilation; they perish immediately, without expansion, growth, or increment.
9. Of a mortal nature—maraṇadhammato
They are subject to death.
10. Formed—saṅkhatato
They are produced by causes, formed and restored by repeated supporting conditions.
II. As Suffering, unsatisfactory (dukkha)
1. Suffering—dukkhato
They are of an unsatisfactory nature.
2. A disease—rogato
They are the base for all bodily and mental diseases.
3. A misery—aghato
They are the base for loss to occur.
4. A tumor—gaṇḍato
It oozes with defilement; they are swollen in the arising phase and erupt in the perishing phase; therefore, they are likened to a boil or tumor.
5. A dart—sallato
The ceaseless arising and perishing is oppressive; they are difficult to extract like a piercing spike, thorn, or dart.
6. Affliction—ābādhato
They are likened to a severely sick person who is dependent upon the help of a nurse and cannot move without assistance from others, so, material and mental phenomena depend upon causes.
7. Disaster—upaddavato
They are the basis for all kinds of adversities such as old age, sickness, punishment, and death.
8. A fearsome thing—bhayato
They are seen as a frightful danger here and now, and lead to dangers in future existence.
9. A plague—itito
They are seen as a terrifying danger that brings ruin.
10. A menace—upasaggato
They always result in loss, such as loss of relatives, friends, health; they are bound up with faults.
11. No protection—atanato
They have no protection from inevitable perishing after arising.
12. No shelter—aleṇato
They are not a worthy shelter from suffering; they are not a place one can hide from suffering.
13. No refuge—asaranato
They are not a refuge from suffering, birth, old age, sickness, and death; they fail to disperse fear.
14. Murderous—vadhakato
They are likened to the enemy that poses as a friend and then kills the one whom he has become intimate with; deceived by not seeing clearly, attachment and suffering follow.
15. Root of calamity—aghamūlato
They are the cause of unwholesome states, rooted in loss and suffering.
16. A danger—ādīnavato
They are a dangerous condition, subject to change, with nothing to rely upon that could avoid perishing.
17. Tainted—sāsavato
They are the basis for the arising of the taints of sensual desire, becoming, wrong view, and ignorance.
18. Mara’s bait—mārāmisato
They are the fuel that sustains Mara (defilement and death).
19. Of a born nature—jātidhammato
They are subject to the suffering of birth (arising phase), which is the cause for the inevitable suffering of aging (standing phase) and death (perishing phase).
20. Of an aging nature—jarādhammato
They are subject to the suffering of aging and causally related to birth and death.
21. Of an ailing nature—byādhidhammato
They are subject to the suffering of sickness and causally related to birth and death.
22. Of a sorrowful nature—sokadhammato
They are the basis for sorrow.
23. Of a lamentable nature—paridevadhammato
They are the basis for lamentation.
24. Of a despairing nature—upāyāsadhammato
They are the basis for despair.
25. Of a defiled nature—saṁkilesikadhammato
They are the basis for the defilements, craving, wrong views, and all unwholesome states.
III. As Not-self (anatta)
1. Not-self—anattato
There is no self to be found, only the functioning of five impermanent aggregates. They are not (1) a self that could own mental and material experience; (2) a self that exists intact throughout successive lifetimes; (3) a self that performs actions; (4) a self that feels objects; (5) a self that decides.
2. Void—suññato
They are void of a self that could own mental and material experience; void of a self that exists intact throughout successive lifetimes; void of a self that performs actions; void of a self that feels objects; and void of a self that decides.
3. Alien—parato
The five aggregates do not abide by our wishes; they are not under our control; we cannot demand that they not age, sicken, or perish.
4. Empty—rittato
They are empty of permanence, happiness, self-existence, and beauty.
5. In vain, worthless—tucchato
They exist for only a brief time in the transition from arising to perishing states. They are a worthless support that provides nothing to take a stand upon; trivial.
MEDITATION INSTRUCTION 17.8
Contemplating the Repulsiveness of Inanimate Material Phenomena
1. Establish concentration, and then review the meditations on the corpse as described in chapter 9. Focus on a corpse, image of a corpse, or recollection of a corpse that you have previously seen, and perceive the faults of the body by recognizing vulnerability to decay, vulgar oozing matter, disgusting smells, and so on. See the body as food for worms, rats, and vultures; it is the breeding ground for flies and bacteria. Emphasize the perception of repulsiveness as you view the corpse.
2. Contemplate your own body as equally repulsive; it bears the same faults as the external corpse. It t
oo will die and decompose like that corpse.
3. Contemplate the faults of an external and internal corpse by moving your attention quickly between the vision of a corpse that you have actually seen and the vision of your own body when it will be dead. For example, you might contemplate the shriveled discolored skin of a corpse that you have seen and then imagine your own skin shriveling and discoloring—seeing both internal and external corpses as repulsive. You might contemplate the stench of decay that surrounds a corpse, and reflect that your own body will smell just as horrible—seeing both internal and external corpses as repulsive. You might contemplate the body festering with worms and larvae, and gnawed on by animals, and know that your own body might fare the same—seeing both internal and external corpses as repulsive. Contemplate quickly back and forth between the internal and external repulsive corpses. Know that those same faults will inevitably befall your own body when it becomes a corpse.
4. You may gradually add additional corpses to the contemplation, giving emphasis to the people who are most dear and beloved to you. Perceive their bodies also as repulsive corpses, recognizing this pervasive repulsive characteristic of matter. As you continue to contemplate corpses and expand the arena of your attention, the perception of repulsiveness will grow strong and you may gradually perceive the entire world as populated only by repulsive corpses.
5. Next, discern the material elements of the corpse. You will find only temperature-produced kalāpas. The only sensitive matter or life faculty might be of an occasional worm or larva. Focus specifically on the ultimate materiality of the corpse. Discern the eight types of rūpas (earth, water, fire, wind, color, odor, flavor, and nutritive essence) that compose those temperature-produced kalāpas in both the external and internal corpse. Contemplate each of the eight types of rūpas as impermanent, unsatisfactory, not-self, and repulsive. You may sense the repulsive quality of even material elements—they are small; their color, smell, and taste are associated with the repulsive corpse; they are subject to birth (arising stage), decay (standing stage), and death (perishing stage) just like the repulsive corpse. Perceive the impermanent, unsatisfactory, not-self, and repulsive characteristics of all the types of rūpas by rapidly alternating between contemplating dead bodies that you have seen and your own body when it becomes a corpse. Notice that in this meditation you are contemplating the repulsive quality at the level of conventional reality (characteristics of corpses), and also at the level of ultimate reality (characteristics of rūpas).
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