unraveling hindrances, 235
work of, in this context, 1–2, 4, 5
pain (dukkha)
associated with body consciousness, and the characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate causes of, 369
and progress, encouraging the mind, 57–58
wholesome and unwholesome response to, 260
paññā. See wisdom (paññā)
paramattha dhammas theory. See irreducible realities (paramattha dhammas)
passing away. See arising and passing away; death
past
concept of, 207
five past causes, 338
past and present causes, 337
past lives
discernment of causes from previous lifetimes, 324–26
last object of consciousness, in previous lifetimes, 333–34
meditation instruction, further back in time, 346–47
path knowledge
four paths, 457–59
reviewing, 460
in the sixteen knowledges, 455–59
paṭicca-samuppāda. See dependent arising (paṭiccasamuppāda)
patience
for discerning precise mental moments, 265
equanimity and, 158
of the tiger, 35–36
as wholesome state, 14
perception (saññā)
base of neither-perception-nor nonperception, 140–43
bhavaṅga state and, 73–74
characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate cause of, 371
contemplating the faults of, 141
faults of, and the nimitta, 71–72
mindfulness and, 42
as one of the five aggregates, 298–99
perishing. See arising and passing away; death
persistence, skill in (sātacca kusala), 198–99
personality wrong view, 458
phenomena
the concrete materialities, table of, 221
meditation instruction
contemplating phenomena one by one, 401–2
defining phenomena by characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate cause, 356–58
forty ways of viewing phenomena with the three characteristics, 408–11
reflection on the ephemeral nature of, 423–24
See also specific phenomena
phrases
for karuṇā practice, 170
for mettā practice, 150–51, 160, 163–65, 167–69
for muditā practice, 172
for upekkhā practice, 174–75
pīti (rapture)
characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate cause of, 373
fading of, in the third jhāna, 86
as one of the ten imperfections, 442
third jhāna factor, joyous interest in the breath, 64–65, 67
pity, 155, 177
See also aversion (vyāpāda)
planning, the habit of, 22–23, 207
pleasure (sukha)
associated with body consciousness or mental objects, and the characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate causes of, 369
of the first jhāna, 77
as one of the ten imperfections, 443
two categories of, 17
pliancy, skill in (kallitā kusala), 194–95
Poonja, H. W. L., 23
possessiveness (macchariya), 256, 257, 276, 302, 303, 304, 382, 461
posture
avoiding sloth and torpor, 38, 41
in the bhavaṅga state, 74
decisions to move during meditation, 300
and the disappearance of materiality, 418–19
mindfulness of body, 43, 101
and the supporting characteristic of matter, 228
and the twelve characteristics of material elements, 230
“What moved?” exercise, 300
potency. See kamma potency (kammasatti)
powers, spiritual. See controlling faculties (indriya)
powers, supernormal, 130
present causes, 337, 338
See also causality
process, cognitive. See cognitive processes
processes, five-door. See sense-door cognitive processes (five-door processes)
processes, mind-door. See mind-door cognitive processes
production of real materiality (rūpassa upacaya), 363
proficiency (pāguññatā)
arising with tranquility, 442–43
of associated mental factors and consciousness, the characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate causes of, 378
proximate cause (padaṭṭhāna)
meditation instruction, defining phenomena by characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate cause, 356–58
understanding, 355
purification
of mind, 445
of mindfulness by equanimity, 49, 87
of unwholesome tendencies, 151
pushing
as characteristic of matter, 226, 227, 229–30, 232
as characteristic of the wind element, 219, 224, 225
R
range, skill in (gocara kusala), 195–96
rapture. See pīti (rapture)
reactions, habitual
to feelings, 297
feeling tone and the cycle of dependent arising, 318
five steps for changing, 311–12
repetition, 310
transforming with mettā, 153
reality (dhamma)
irreducible realities (paramattha dhammas), in Abhidhamma theory, 216–18
nibbāna as insight into reality, 399
“tides of conceiving” and, 205
See also ultimate reality
real materiality. See concrete materialities (nipphannarūpa)
rebirth
instigators of, 315, 316, 317, 321, 322
meditation instruction
discerning future existences, 347–49
discerning the causes for this human birth, 330–36
rebirth-linking consciousness (paṭisandhicitta), 365
rebirth-linking process, 315, 316, 317, 347
round of, 438
See also birth (jāti)
receiving consciousness (sampaṭicchanacitta), 341–42, 366–67
recollections
enhancing faith with, 33–34
meditation instruction, recollection of the Buddha, 33–34
rectitude, 378
See also uprightness (ujukatā)
red kasiṇa, 122–23, 132
reflections
Recollection of the Buddha, 33–34
Reflection on Virtue and Generosity, 34
the six traditional, 33
registration consciousness (tadārammaṇacitta)
characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate causes of, 367
registration consciousnesses, 274, 277, 278, 288–89, 367, 427
release
knowledge of desire for deliverance, 450
nibbāna as, 399–400
See also enlightenment; nibbāna
relinquishment
of attachments, the immaterial abidings and, 137
of desire, vs. satisfaction of desire, 19
remembrances, five, 183
repetition
physical and mental states, as conditioned by, 310
systematic, as necessary part of training, 96–97
repulsiveness element (asubha)
insight meditation and, 408
lustful fantasies, abandoning, 199
meditation instruction
contemplating the repulsiveness of animate material phenomena, 413–15
contemplating the repulsiveness of inanimate material phenomena, 412–13
meditating on repulsiveness, 111–12
meditation on the repulsive quality of a corpse, 188–90, 196, 197
skeleton meditation, 112–14
as meditation object, 109–12, 115
resolution
/> as one of the ten imperfections, 443
skill in (abhinīhāra kusala), 196, 198
resolve
concentration, development of, 59
jhāna meditation as requiring, 36, 198
to not waste today, 469
to turn to the breath, 63, 70
restlessness and worry (uddhaccakukkucca)
characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate cause of, 381
as the fourth hindrance, 12, 21–25, 27, 90
overcoming, 67, 376, 461
as unwholesome factors, 256, 260, 276, 381
restraint. See abstinence or restraint
results, cycle of (vipākavaṭṭa), 433–34
See also knowledges, sixteen
retreat
and courses led by Shaila Catherine, 476n6, 515
practice in the context of, 3, 6, 89–90, 97, 178, 400, 466–67, 471–72
reviewing, the knowledge of, 431, 460, 462
reviewing the three characteristics, the knowledge of, 450–51
right action, 47, 256, 258, 287, 379, 462
right view, 456
root of calamity, 410
roughness
as characteristic of earth element, 219, 222, 358
as characteristic of matter, 226, 227, 232
round of becoming, the three phases of, 433–34
rūpa kalāpas
description of, 219
meditation instruction, analyzing real materialities, 238–41
schema of, 242
spaces, exploring, 234
types of, 237–38
rūpas
concrete or real, 485n274
duration of, 264
fifty-three rūpas of the body door (kāya dvāra), 244
and the schema of the material groups, 242
sixty-three rūpas of the eye, ear, nose, and tongue doors, 243, 332
sixty-three rūpas of the mind door (mano dvāra), 245
See also matter or materiality (rūpa)
S
saddhā. See faith (saddhā)
samādhi. See concentration (samādhi)
samatha. See calmness (samatha)
Saṃyutta Nikāya, quotations from, 9, 55, 295, 429
Sariputta
conversation with Ananda, 211
on Dhamma practice, 429–30
on his power over mind, 24–25
and predicting appropriate meditation subjects, 98
on rebirth, 450
seclusion, 192, 194, 200, 467, 471
See also jhāna, first (happiness born of seclusion)
seeing
the nimitta and, 69
as referring to the “eye of wisdom,” 230–31
self
as array of processes, 213
and the compactness of mass, 211
construction of, via the five aggregates, 301–4
and equanimity, in jhāna practice, 175
and the impermanence of mental and material processes, 213–14
and the knowledge of death, 181–84
as object, in jhāna practice, 160, 163, 166
observing the constructions of, 322
See also “I am” thought
sense bases, six (saḷāyatana)
characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate causes of, 385
as link in dependent arising, 317, 351
sense-door cognitive processes (five-door processes)
mind-moment sequence, 268
reflecting objects occurring via the five sense bases, 266
sense-sphere cognitive processes
contemplation of, according to the elements, 406
meditation instruction
causal relationships in sense-sphere cognitive processes, 336–43
discerning the sense-sphere cognitive process, 288–89
mental factors and the bias of experience, 279
mental formations
in unwholesome five-door cognitive processes, 282–84
in wholesome five-door cognitive processes, 279–81
in wholesome mind-door cognitive processes, 285–87
seventeen consciousnesses in, 267
sensitive matter, 221
sensitive phenomena, 221
sensory consciousnesses, 340–41
sensory experience
the Buddha on, 17
changing nature of, 208, 421
craving and, 353
identification with, 302
relying on mental and material elements, 317
self concept and, 305
See also feeling or feeling tone (vedanā)
sensory stimuli
addiction to, 143
daily barrage of, 63
fading of, in the threshold between lifetimes, 333
mindfulness of, 101–2
sensual desire (kāmacchanda)
antidote to, 66, 108
as the first hindrance, 15–17, 27
overcoming, 67
thoughts of, the Buddha on, 50
sensual pleasure, 254, 260, 466, 468
seven exercises, emphasizing the impermanence of the meditating phenomena, 424–28
sex-determining decad kalāpas, 237, 240
shamelessness of wrongdoing (ahirika), 256, 257, 276, 380, 461
shame of wrongdoing (hiri), 256, 262, 272, 280, 283, 286, 374, 379
signless liberation of mind, 454
similes
for balanced effort, 36–37
on the desire for deliverance, 450
for the first jhāna, 77–78
for perishing in insight meditation, 446
for the second jhāna, 81
for vitakka and vicāra, 64
See also metaphors; teaching stories
six reflections, 33, 197
sixteen knowledges. See knowledges, sixteen
skeleton
meditation instructions, 113–14
as meditation object, 112–14
and the white kasiṇa, 118
See also repulsiveness element (asubha)
skepticism (vicikicchā), 12, 27, 235–36, 458
See also doubt (vicikicchā)
skillful effort, 34, 36
See also effort (viriya)
skills for jhāna meditation, eleven, 191–200
sloth and torpor (thīnamiddha)
arousing energy when you feel lax, 41
characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate cause of, 383
dispelling sluggishness, 56–57
overcoming, 67
as the third hindrance, 20–21, 27
sluggishness, dispelling, 56–57
smoothness
as characteristic of earth, 219, 222, 358
as characteristic of matter, 226, 228, 232
softness
as characteristic of earth, 219, 222, 358
as characteristic of matter, 226, 228, 232
sound (sadda)
characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate causes of, 360
as objective phenomena, 221
as object of ear-consciousness, 366
space and spaciousness
base of infinite space (fifth jhāna), 137–38
understanding, 136–37
space element (ākāsadhṭu)
body parts and, 250
characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate causes of, 362
spaces, exploring in four elements meditation, 234
specified categories of beings
in equanimity practice, 176
in mettā practice, 167
speech
in the company of friends, 59
as construction of self, 322
as intentional action, 309, 315
as mental factor, 256, 287, 379
right speech, and the characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate cause of, 379
right speech, as one of the three aspects of abstinence, 258
See also ve
rbal intimation (vacāviññatti)
sphere of infinite consciousness (sixth jhāna). See jhāna, sixth
sphere of infinite space (fifth jhāna). See jhāna, fifth
sphere of neither-perception-nor nonperception (eighth jhāna). See jhāna, eighth
sphere of no-thingness (seventh jhāna). See jhāna, seventh
spiritual faculties or powers. See controlling faculties (indriya)
spiritual urgency, 41, 57, 181–90
See also urgency, sense of
stability of jhāna
differences in, 74–76
the first jhāna, 80
skill in (ṭhiti kusala), 193–94
See also jhāna; specific jhānas
stages of enlightenment, 456
stories, teaching. See teaching stories
stream-enterer, 456, 458
subjects for meditation. See meditation subjects
subtle sign. See nimitta (counterpart sign)
suffering (dukkha)
characteristic of, 394
cultivating compassion, mettā practice, 170–71
and dependent arising, 326
as dependent on materiality, 135
friends who share suffering, 182
knowledge of the desire for deliverance, 450
loving-kindness and, 149–50
meditation instruction
contemplating material and mental phenomena as impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not-self, 402–3
contemplating the bases and elements as impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not-self, 405–7
contemplating the characteristics of materiality, 401
contemplating the five aggregates as impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not-self, 403–4
models for exploring, 306–7
reduction of, meditation and, 45
responding to, in compassion, 153–55
scope of, 323
suitability, skill in (sappāya kusala), 199
sukha (contentment), 65–66, 67
supernormal powers, 130
supporting
as characteristic of matter, 226, 228, 232
as characteristic of the wind element, 219, 224
supramundane jhānas, 459
sustained application (vicāra)
characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate cause of, 373
the jhānas and, 63–64, 67, 77, 80–81, 83
as mental factor, 256
as mental formation, 262, 272, 282, 285, 373
Sutta Nipāta, quotations from, 29, 133, 147, 355, 463
sympathetic joy. See appreciative joy (muditā)
synthesis, the compactness of, 210–11
T
taints, 384, 410
taste
analyzing in meditation, 239–40
and greed, the Buddha on, 17
materiality and, 296
nibbāna, as of one taste, 457
perception and, 298
repulsive quality and, 413, 414
rūpa kalāpas, discerning the taste of, 239–40
teaching story illustrating mettā, 151
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