In This Very Life

by Sayadaw U Pandita

  Clearing the Way for Ultimate Insight: Developing Vipassanā Right View

  We devote the most time and effort developing the third type of right view within ourselves. It is vipassanā sammā·dihi, right view that occurs as a result of vipassanā insights. When effort, mindfulness, and moral conscience are present, these insights naturally develop. It is important to remember that right view is something more than an opinion. It is a deep intuitive knowledge that comes from our seeing directly into the true nature of existence.

  These days when heads of state leave their palaces, there is a great deal of preparation. Before the motorcade sets forth, teams of security agents make sure its route is clear and safe. Agents check for bombs, place barriers on the sidewalks for crowd control, assign police officers to their posts, and remove any vehicles that might block the road. Only then will the president leave the official residence and climb into the chauffeured car.

  In the same way, on this Noble Eightfold Path, vipassanā right view is like the secret service. Insight into impermanence, suffering, and absence of self is what clears from the path all sorts of clinging—clinging to wrong views and pet theories, misconceptions, and so forth. The clearing process takes place at sequential levels. Once the preliminary preparations are complete, then the noble path right view will make its appearance and uproot the kilesas.

  A Process of Elimination

  On the way to noble path consciousness, each stage of insight eliminates a particular kind of wrong view or misconception about the nature of reality. The first vipassanā insight into the nature of mental and physical phenomena shows us that mind and matter are distinct from each other, and that life is nothing more than a ceaseless stream of these two kinds of phenomena. At this time, we do away with the extras, cleanse ourselves of the view that puts into reality something that is not really there, such as the notion of a permanent and substantial self.

  The second insight, understanding cause and effect, eliminates any doubt as to whether things happen by chance—we know that they do not. Furthermore, we see clearly and directly that events are not caused by any external force.

  Deepening meditation, we see the impermanence of objects, and understand intuitively that everything experienced in the past, and to be experienced in the future, is similarly impermanent. Building on this knowledge of ephemerality and transience, we realize next that we have no refuge and can rely on nothing. Thus, we are rid of the false idea that peace and stability can be found in the objects of this world. To be oppressed by phenomena is indeed great suffering, and at this stage of insight, we feel this from the bottom of our hearts.

  Related to, and following upon, this deep sense of fearsomeness and oppression is a realization that no one can prevent or control the way things come and go. It will dawn on our intuition that there is no self in things. These latter three insights are the beginnings of vipassanā right view, which relates specifically to impermanence, suffering, and absence of self.

  The Arising of Vipassanā Right View

  With the arising of vipassanā right view, the chariot is ready to go. It is shaking a bit and moving as it faces the right road that leads to nibbāna. Now you can really turn the wheels and get that vehicle rolling. The armor is in place, the backrest firm, and the driver well seated. You just need to give a bit of a push to those two wheels, and the chariot will really take off.

  Once you have gained insight into impermanence, suffering, and absence of self, you see things arising and passing away much quicker, much more clearly. Moment to moment arising and passing: it comes in microseconds, nanoseconds—the deeper you go the quicker you see it—and eventually you are not able to see the arising at all. Wherever you look, there is just a flash of quick dissolution. You will have a feeling as if someone is pulling the carpet out from under you. This disappearance is not an abstraction. It comprises your entire life at that time.

  Deeper and deeper you go, driving closer and closer to your destination. After all these stages of vipassanā insight have been completed, the right view of the path consciousness will take over and drive you home, to the safe haven of nibbāna.

  Although in the presence of vipassanā insights the kilesas have no chance of arising, they are not yet uprooted. They may be kept at bay, but they are waiting for their chance to get back into power.

  The Final Stamp: Weakening and Eliminating the Kilesas

  Only at the moment when the noble path right view occurs are the kilesas uprooted.

  You may wonder what is meant by the notion of uprooting a kilesa. Kilesas that have already arisen can no longer be removed—they are past. Similarly, kilesas not yet arisen cannot be removed, since they are not here yet. And even in the present, kilesas arise and pass away, so how can they be uprooted? Latent or potential kilesas are what is removed. There are two types of kilesas, one connected with objects and the other with the continuity of existence. The first type occurs when the conditions are conducive, that is, in connection with a mental or physical object and in the absence of mindfulness. If an object becomes predominant, and there is no mindfulness to keep the contact between mind and object clear and pure, the kilesa that has been latent will come to life. It will become manifest. If one is mindful, however, the conditions are no longer appropriate and the kilesas are kept away.

  The second type of kilesas are dormant and will remain buried in the stream of our consciousness all the way through samsāra. This kind can only be uprooted by path consciousness.

  In the old days when patients suffered from malaria, they were treated with two kinds of medicine. Malaria patients undergo a repetitive cycle of temperature changes. Every two days or so, a very high fever comes, followed by sudden chills. The first course of treatment levels the extremes of temperature. It strengthens the patient and weakens the malaria germs. Finally when the cycles of fever and chills abate somewhat, a dose of knockout medicine is prescribed. Now that the patient is stronger, and the bacteria are much weaker, the malaria can be totally eradicated.

  The preliminary course of treatment is analogous to vipassanā insight, which weakens the kilesas. The knockout medicine is path consciousness, uprooting kilesas once and for all.

  Another example is the process of getting a document legally certified through the process of bureaucratic red tape. It could take all day. First you go to the ground floor and talk to the receptionist. He or she sends you up to the second floor to get a document and have it signed. The Department of This sends you to the Department of That. You produce the document and are given a set of forms to fill out. Then you wait for the person in charge to sign it. All day you go through various channels, from one level to another, filling out forms and getting signatures. It takes a very long time to get all the parts complete. Finally you arrive at the top, and it takes the official half a second to make the final signature. Your document is now certified, but you have had to go through all that other red tape first.

  It is the same in vipassanā. There is a lot of red tape. Path consciousness comes even faster than the time it takes for the top official to sign, but you have to work for it. When all is in order, the path of right view appears and certifies that all the kilesas have been uprooted.

  The first part of vipassanā insight might be called “The Worker Path.” You have to work to complete it properly, without shirking. Noble path consciousness is like the boss, ordering work to be done. He or she cannot sign a blank piece of paper on which the preliminary processes have not been completed.

  Noble Path and Fruition Right View: Putting Out the Fire of Defilement, Pouring Water on the Ashes

  When vipassanā insights are completed, noble path consciousness will arise automatically, followed by fruition consciousness. In Pāli, these consciousnesses are called magga and phala. Noble path right view and noble fruition right view, elements of these two respective consciousnesses, are the fourth and fifth kinds of right view on the list of six.

  When noble path consciousness arises, noble p
ath right view uproots the group of kilesas that causes rebirth in lower realms, states of woe and misery. This refers to hell realms, animal realms, and peta or hungry ghost realms. Immediately after comes noble fruition consciousness, part of which is noble fruition right view. One might ask the function of this, since the dormant kilesas already have been uprooted. Fruition right view just cools the defilements. A fire may burn out but still leave embers and warm ashes. Noble fruition right view splashes water over the embers.

  Reviewing Knowledge Right View

  The sixth and last kind of right view is reviewing knowledge right view. Reviewing knowledge comes on the heels of fruition consciousness and the experience of nibbāna. It reviews five things: the occurrence of path consciousness and of fruition consciousness; nibbāna itself as an object of consciousness; the kilesas that have been uprooted and those that have yet to be uprooted. It serves no other important function.

  The first kind of right view, kammassakatā sammā·dihi, is said to be perpetual. That is, it will never disappear from existence. This world system may shatter and be devastated, but there will always be beings, perhaps in other world systems, who have the right view of kamma as one’s own property.

  People who do not even try to appreciate the difference between wholesome and unwholesome kamma are far from any light at all. They can be likened to a baby that is blind from birth: blind in the womb and blind when it comes out. If this baby grows up, still it will not be able to see well enough to guide itself. A person who is blind and guideless will get into a lot of accidents.

  Jhāna right view will always be present as long as people practice and attain the jhānas. The Buddha’s teaching may not be flourishing, but there will always be people practicing concentration and absorption.

  However, the remaining types of right view can only be present while the Buddha’s teaching remains alive. From the time of Gotama Buddha until this present age, his teachings have flourished. They are known throughout the world at this moment. Even in countries that are not Buddhist, there are groups or institutions based on his teaching. A person satisfied with right view related to kamma or the jhānas has no access to the light of the Dhamma. He or she can be brightened by the light of the world, but not by that of the Buddha. The remaining four types of right view, from vipassanā right view through reviewing right view, contain the light of the Buddha’s teaching.

  When yogis can distinguish mind and matter, they are free of the delusion of self, and the first veil of darkness is removed. We say that the light of Dhamma has dawned on the consciousness. But there are more layers to be removed. The second layer of ignorance is the opinion that things happen chaotically and at random. This veil is removed by the insight into cause and effect. When a yogi sees cause and effect, the light in his or her mind shines a bit brighter. He or she ought not to be satisfied at this point, for the mind still is darkened by ignorance of the characteristics of impermanence, suffering, and absence of self. To remove this darkness the yogi must work harder, persistently watching things as they arise, sharpening mindfulness, deepening concentration. Then wisdom will arise naturally.

  Now the yogi sees that there is no refuge to be sought in these impermanent phenomena. This brings on deep disappointment, but the light within is brighter still. He or she clearly realizes the suffering and nonselfness of phenomena. At this time only one last veil remains, covering the realization of nibbāna, and it can only be removed by the noble path consciousness. Now the light of the Buddha’s teachings really begins to shine!

  If you develop all six types of right view, you will be radiant. You will never be separated from the light of wisdom, no matter where you go in future wanderings. On the contrary, wisdom will shine ever more brightly in you throughout the remainder of your wanderings in samsāra. At the last there will be a big firework when arahanta magga phala, the path and fruition consciousnesses of the final stage of enlightenment, come to you.

  Taking Possession of the Chariot

  Anyone, woman or man, possessing such a chariot and driving it well, shall have no doubt of reaching nibbāna.

  It is said that when the bhikkhu deva heard this discourse of the chariot, he perceived the point the Buddha was making and immediately became a sotāpanna, or stream entrant. He took ownership of this magnificent chariot called the Noble Eightfold Path. Although the Buddha’s discourse was directed toward the ultimate goal of arahantship, this deva did not yet have the potential to gain final enlightenment. His predisposition carried him only as far as stream entry.

  Benefits of Stream Entry: Drying Up the Ocean of Samsaric Existence

  At this first stage of enlightenment, one is freed from the danger of falling into states of misery. The suttas say that three kilesas are uprooted: wrong view, doubt, and attachment to wrong practices. In the commentary, the kilesas of jealousy and miserliness are added to the list.

  Safely assume that this deva had gained insight into the nature of mind and matter in his previous life as a bhikkhu. At the moment of gaining this insight, he was free from a false view that there is an internal abiding entity, or self. However, his abandoning of this wrong view was only temporary. Not until he glimpsed nibbāna for the first time was there a permanent change in his view. One who has experienced stream entry no longer believes in the illusion of an abiding entity.

  The second type of defilement uprooted is closely connected to wrong view. When one has not correctly understood the nature of things, it is difficult to come to a firm conclusion about what is right and what is not. Like a person standing at a fork in the road, or someone who suddenly discovers that he or she has lost the way, there is doubt about which way to go. This dilemma can be quite debilitating and undermining.

  When yogis see the mechanism of cause and effect, they temporarily abandon doubt. They see that the Dhamma is true, that mind and matter are conditioned, and that there is nothing in this world that is not conditioned. This lack of doubt only lasts as long as mindfulness and insight are sustained, however. Final, unshakable faith in the Dhamma’s efficacy and authenticity only comes when a person has walked as far as the Eightfold Path’s destination, nibbāna. A yogi who walks in the Buddha’s footsteps to the end of the path will also have faith in the Buddha and the other noble ones who have attained the same goal by the same route.

  The third defilement uprooted by the sotāpanna, stream enterer, is belief in wrong practice. This understanding is fairly obvious in a general way, and can be understood more completely if examined from the point of view of the Four Noble Truths. When potential stream entrants first develop the Noble Eightfold Path within themselves, they learn to understand the first noble truth, that all things are unsatisfactory. Mind and matter are suffering. A yogi’s preliminary development consists of watching these suffering things. When the first noble truth is completely seen, then the remaining three are automatically achieved or realized. This means abandoning craving, the second noble truth; cessation of suffering, the third noble truth; and developing the Noble Eightfold Path, the fourth noble truth.

  The preliminary or mundane part of the Noble Eightfold Path is being developed in every moment of mindfulness. At some point it ripens into supramundane knowledge. So, upon attaining nibbāna, this deva now knew that his practice was the only way to achieve this nibbāna. He knew that he had experienced a real cessation of suffering, the unconditioned, and that there is no nibbāna other than that. All yogis feel the same way at this moment.

  The Noble Eightfold Path is the only one that leads to nibbāna. This understanding is very deep and can only be attained through practice. With this understanding, the stream entrant is free from attachment or belief in the efficacy of other methods of practice that are devoid of the elements of the Noble Eightfold Path.

  In the commentaries two additional kilesas are said to be uprooted. These are issā, or jealousy, the wish not to see others happy and successful, and macchariya, or miserliness, which is the dislike of seeing others as happy a
s one is oneself. Personally I do not agree with these commentaries. These two mental states belong to the category of dose, anger, or aversion. According to the canon of suttas spoken by the Buddha, the stream entrant uproots only defilements that have no connection with dose. However, since the potential for rebirth in lower states has been uprooted, the stream entrant’s attacks of issā and macchariya will not be sufficiently strong to cause this lower rebirth.

  An interesting comment is found in the Visuddhi Magga, which is a noncanonical work but still held in high esteem. Based on canonical references, the Visuddhi Magga admits that a stream entrant can still be attacked by greed, hatred, and delusion, and still is subject to conceit and pride. However, since the noble path consciousness has uprooted kilesas that lead to states of misery, one can safely conclude that the stream entrant is free from kilesas strong enough to lead to such rebirths.

  The Visuddhi Magga also points out that a stream entrant has succeeded in drying up the vast ocean of samsaric existence. As long as a person has not attained the first stage of enlightenment, he or she must continually perpetuate existence in the beginningless rounds of samsāra. The scope of samsāra is vast—you just keep going on and on. But a stream entrant has only a maximum of seven more existences to live before he or she gains complete enlightenment as an arahant. What are seven existences compared to an eternity of innumerable lives? For all practical purposes we can say the ocean has dried up.