Last night I talked about two links in the Doctrine of Dependent Origination, the fourth and the fifth link. The fifth link is between the six bases and contact. 'Contact' here is not the mere coming together of things but some kind f mental factor, mental prperty that arises due to the coming together of certain conditions. For the arising of seeing consciousness we need the eye; we need something to be seen or the visible object; when these two things come together, thee arises what we call 'seeing consciousness'. This seeing consciousness is just the awareness of the visible data or the awareness of the thing which is seen. When these three things - the eye, the thing to be seen and the eye awareness or eye consciousness - come together, there arises what we call 'contact'. Seeing consciousness is the awareness of the object. Contact is something like consciousness meeting the object, consciousness hitting the object. This contact is a different mental property from seeing consciousness. There can be contact through eye, contact through ear and so on. There are six kinds of contact.

The next link in the Dependent Origination is between contact and feeling, between Phassa and Vedanà. When there is contact, there also arises feeling or sensation. The arising of sensation or feeling cannot be avoided when there is contact. The arising of contact cannot be avoided when there are the three conditions, when the three conditions come together.

When you see a visible object, the visible object comes into the avenue of your eye. At that time just as the image appears on the mirror, the seeing consciousness arises. With the arising of these three things contact arises. When there is contact, there is feeling or sensation.

Feeling or sensation is the experience of the object or the enjoyment of the object. Feeling is compared to a king who enjoys food prepared by the chief cook. Whenever there is the awareness or the consciousness and contact, there is feeling.

This feeling may be pleasurable or displeasurable or neither pleasurable nor displeasurable. When you see something beautiful, something you like, then you have this pleasurable feeling. When you see something, you have first seeing consciousness, and then contact, nd then this feeling. Actually they arise at the same time, not one after the other.

When you see something good, something you want to see, then you have a pleasurable feeling. When you see good scenery, when you see a good picture, when you see a good thing, then there is this feeling of pleasure. When you see things you don't want to see or ugly things, disgusting things, then you have the displeasurable feeling. When you see things that are neither good nor bad, then you have this neutral feeling, neither pleasurable nor displeasurable. Any one of these feelings arises at the same time or together with contact and seeing consciousness.

Since feeling arises when there is contact, feeling is said to be conditioned by contact. it is not that contact produces feeling. Contact helps feeling to arise. Only when there is contact is there the arising of feeling. So contact is said to condition feeling.

When we hear something, some sound, some noise which is pleasurable to us, then we have pleasurable feeling. When you hear the voice of someone who is dear to you, then you have a pleasurable feeling. When you hear some ound like music or something which you like, then you have the pleasurable feeling. When you ehar some sound or some voice, there is hearing consciousness. Then there is contact, a mental factor meeting the sound or meeting the object. When there is contact, feeling also arises. When the sound is good, there is pleasurable feeling. When the sound is not good, that which you don't like, then there is displeasurable feeling. When you hear the sound or the voice of someone you dislike, then you will have displeasurable feeling. When you hear a sound that is neither pleasurable nor displeasurable, then you will have neutral feeling. These three kinds of feelings arise when there is contact and when there is hearing consciousness. And so these feelings are said to be conditioned by contact.

The same is true for smell. When you smell something good, then you have pleasurable feeling. When there is a bad smell, you have displeasurable feeling. When you smell n odor that is neither good nor bad, then you have neutral feeling. This feeling arises when there is contact or awareness, or consciousness of the object, or consciousness meeting or hitting the object.

Then there is contact through the tongue, through the sense of taste. When you have a good taste, when you eat food that you like, then you have pleasurable feeling. When you have food that you do not like, then you will have displeasurable feeling. There are some kinds of foods that people don't like. When they meet with such food, then they have a bad feeling. They have displeasurable feeling. They may even get angry with the food itself or with the person who prepares the food. When you have food that is neither pleasurable nor displesurable, that you neither like nor dislike, then there is neutral feeling. These feelings are conditioned by contact, contact of consciousness with the object, here with food.

So these three kinds of feelings are said to be conditioned by contact because when there is no contact, these feelings do not arise and cannot arise.

When you have the feeling of touch, for example, when you have the touch of a soft cloth of velvet or fur, you have a good feeling. You have pleasurable feeling. When you touch a rough cloth or when you hit against something, then you have a displeasurable feeling. You have pain. When you have neither pleasant nor unpleasant touch, then you have neutral feeling.

The sense of touch can be very varied and occurs in different places all over the body. The sensitivity of touch can be found all over the body. Whether you are standing, or sitting, or lying down, there is this sense of touch always with you. That sense of touch may be either good or bad, pleasurble or displeasurable, or it may be neither pleasurable nor displesurable.

When you pay attention to what you see, what you hear and so on, you will notice or you will come to see that only when there are matrial bases and when there are objects can awareness arise. And only when there is awareness can there be contact. And only when there is contact can there be feelings.

The understanding of those who meditate is different from those who do not meditate. People who do not meditte understnd these feelings or contact s 'I' or as 'mine'. 'I see.' It is 'my seeing.' So they develop the idea of 'I', or 'ego', or 'soul' when they see something. But those who prctice Vipassanà meditation have a different view of these things. They observe things as they come. They pay attention to what they see. So they come to understand that seeing comes about only when there is the material bse which is the eye, and the visible data or the visible object. When these two things come into the avenue of each other, there is the awareness of seeing or this consciousness of seeing. So there is no person, or man, or woman who sees apart from just seeing.

This seeing comes into being and disappears. Actually the eye as well as the visible object is coming into being and disappearing at every moment. Although we think that the eye is always there and the visible object is always there, actully they are changing every moment. Ordinarily we cannot see this change. But when we meditate and go deep in meditation, in concentration, then we will be able to see the imermanence of these things, the ever-changing nature of these things.

When a yogi sees the ever-changing nature of things, then he comes to see the insubstantiality of things. He comes to see the soulessness of things. There is nothing which we can call a 'person', or a 'soul', or an 'ego' that sees. There is just the seeing consciousness. There is no one who directs seeing or who gives orders to see. There is just seeing. In this way a person who meditates sees things correctly, sees things as they really are and not as they appear to him or as they appear to be. This is the difference between the understanding of those who meditate and those who do not meditate.

Feeling arises when there is contact. When there is Phassa, there is Vedanà. We cannot disturb or we cannot interrupt this process of Dependent Origination until this factor, until this link. When there is the third link, which is resultant consciousness, then the following links cannot be avoided - mind and matter, six bases, contact and feeling. Actually when the third link, resultant consciousness, arises, all these factors arise too. In the Doctrine it is said this is one link, this is the second link, this is the third link and so on, but in actual happening they arise at the same time. When the resultant consciousness arises, the mentl factors and the material properties arise with it at the same time. When there are material properties, mental factors and resultant consciousness, then there are the six bases. When there are the six bases, there is contact. And when there is contact, there is feeling. So these arise at the same time, not one after the other. The rising of these cannot be disturbed at any point until this factor which is feeling.

The next link is between feeling and craving, between Vedanà and Tanhà. When there is feeling, there is this craving or Tanhà in Pàli. The meaning of the word 'Tanhà' is thirst or it can be hunger. So craving is thirst for objects - thirst for visible objects, thirst for audible objects and so on. This thirst or hunger is very difficult to appease. Actually it is impossible to appease this thirst or hunger. Once there is Tanhà, this thirst or hunger, there can be no end of it.

In the world today you can see easily that there is no end of this Tanhà, this craving, craving for this thing, craving for that thing. If you pick up a catalogue, there are thousands of things for craving. They want you to crave for these things. They want you to buy them. So I tell people 'You go into a store and you see thousands and thousands of Lobha there.' You see something and you like it. That is feeling. Then there is this craving. They make you like these things. This craving or thirst is very difficult to appease or to get rid of. Actually it grows more and more.

There is a saying in Burmese that sometimes a person becomes more greedy as he grows older. We say he is like a lemon. The bigger it becomes, the more mature it becomes, the more sour it becomes. The riper it is the moe sour it is. Tanhà or craving grows with age maybe.

This craving is for visible objects, for audible objects, for smells or odorous objects, for tastes, for touches and also for mentl objects. 'Mental objects' here means objects in the mind, that is ideas or images in your mind. So there can be six kinds of craving.

There is another division of craving. There can be three kinds of craving. If you have read the first sermon given by the Buddha, you will find these three kinds of craving. It is important to understnd correctly these three kinds of craving because they are often translated incorrectly and misinterpretted.

The first one is called Kàmatanhà in Pàli. 'Kàmatanhà' means craving for sensual objects, not necessarily sensual pleasures, but sensual (possibly sensory?) objects. Craving for sensual objects is the first kind of craving. Craving for visible things, craving to see good things, craving for audible things, sounds or noises and so on - these are called cravings for sensual objects.

The second kind of craving is called Bhavatanhà. It is usually translated as craving for becoming. That is not accurate. Here Bhavatanhà means craving accompanied by the eternalist view. 'Bhava' here means eternalism. 'Bhava' here means the view that verything is eternal. There is a soul which is eternal. This soul comes into contact with the universal soul that is eternal and so on. When you crave for things, as when you crave for visible objects and so on, together with this kind of view, then you are aid to have that kind of craving, Bhavatanhà, craving accompanied by eternalist view.

The third one is called Vibhavatanhà. It is usually translated as craving for non-becoming. Actually it is also craving for sensual things, sensual objects with the annihilationist view. That means there is no future rebirth. This life is the only life we have. Everything comes to an end at death. Nothing is reborn again. So one should enjoy whatever one can while there is time. One should not think of the world as being oppressed by suffering and so on. This kind f view is called the annihilationist view. The desire or craving which is accompanied by such a view is called Vibhavatanhà. This is craving accompanied by the annihilationist view.

These are the three kinds of craving, the three kinds of Tanhà. We had six kinds of Tanhà and now these three kinds of Tanhà. If we multiply three by six we get 18 kinds of Tanhà. This craving can be for things inside or internal or for things outside or external. So how many do we get? Six multiplied by three is 18 and 18 multiplied by two is 36. Then we can crave for past things, present things or future things. So altogether we get 108 kinds of craving.

People of the West say people of the East are fond of numbes. So we have 89 types of consciousness, 108 kinds of craving, 1500 kinds of Kilesas or corruptions and so on. These are the kinds of craving.

These cravings arise when there is feeling. When we have pleasurable feeling, or displeasurable feeling, or neutral feeling, we tend to get this craving. What about when you have pain, do you have craving? Yes, you have craving. It is explained in the Commentary. When you have pain, you want good feeling. You long for pleasure. When you have pain, you want to get rid of pain and you want to have a good feeling. The crving for good feeling, the craving for the absence of pain is conditioned by pain or displeasurable feeling. Even though we have displeasurable feeling, there can arise craving.

When we have good feeling, pleasurable feeling, then we want more and more of this pleasure. There can be no end of craving for pleasurable things in the world. When you have one car, you think you need another car. When you have one television set, then you think it is good to have one in the kitchen, one in the bedroom, one in the living room and so on. So there can be no end of these things. That is why there are many companies producing these goods and they are doing good business. When we have good feeling, when we have good sensations, then we want more good sensations. And so there is this craving. This craving is conditioned by or actually caused by good feelings.

What about neutral feeling? Neutrl feeling is subtle. Neutral feeling is tranquil. So it is counted as good feeling. When we have neutral feeling, we want to have good feeling. Suppose you have a car and you have owned it for a long time. So it is old. When it was new, you were pleased with this car. Now that the car is old and you have to repair it again and again, you become indifferent to this car. So you have neutral feeling. When you have neutral feeling, you want to have a pleasurable feeling by getting a new car. This neutral feeling also conditions craving. So all these three kinds of feeling condition craving. Whether you have a displeasurable sensation, or a pleasurable sensation, or a neutral sensation, all these three kinds of sensations or feelings produce craving or thirst in those who are not Arahants. If you are not an Arahant, you will have these cravings so long as you have feelings of plleasure, displeasure and neutrality.

When I came here this time and when I entered my room on Friday, I got bad smell. It seemed somebody that occupied that room before me had smoked and he smoked cigars. So that smell of tobacco greeted me. That was a displeasurable sensation for me. I was not aware of this Dependent Origination at that time. So I wanted to remove this smell and have a good smell. Fortunately I brought with me a room deodorizer. I used that. It was a good smell. For some time it was good, but next time I entered my room there was the same smell of tobacco. It is amazing how it can stay in the room for a long time. The next time I thought about Paticca Samuppàda. I said I must be mindful. I must not crave for a good smell or a neutral smell. I must be mindful of it. The next time I went into the room I said to myself, 'smelling, smelling, smelling'. After some time it wore off because when you are in a room for five minutes or so then the smell seems to disappear, maybe because my nose got used to that smell. But then I came out and sat here and when I went back, the same smell came to my nose again. This is the displesurable feeling caused by the bad smell which caused me to have craving for a good smell. If I have this craving for good smell, then craving will condition the next factor in Dependent Origination which is grasping. And grasping will cause the Kamma formations. Then there will be future existences. This Dukkha, this suffering will go on and on.

From the third factor which is consciousness to this factor which is feeling, there can be no stop. Nobody can interfere with the process of these links. But the link between Vedanà (feeling) and Tanhà (craving) we can do something about. There lies our hope. If this process of becoming would go on and on without end, then there would be no hope for us to get free from this round of rebirths. But now there is hope. Our hope lies in this factor, in this link, the link between feeling and craving. Although there is feeling, we cn act in such a way that we do not get craving. If we do not get craving, there can be no grasping, no becoming, no rebirth and no Dukkha. This is the place where we can cut this wheel of existence. We can break this process of becoming. This is the only place in this wheel of Dependent Origination where we can make a break. Once there is craving, we cannot stop getting grasping and so on. And once there is ignorance there will be Kamma formations and so on. In other places we cannot do anything. There will be no break. Nobody can break it. Even the Buddha cannot break it. This is the only place where we can disturb this flow of suffering, where we can have a break of this wheel of existence.

How do we break this wheel? How do we cut this process? Do you know how to do that? You not only know how to do that; you are doing that. When we meditate, especially when we practice Vipassanà meditation, we are doing just that. We are breaking this link. We are trying not to have craving although there is feeling (pleasurable feeling, displeasurable feeling or neutral feeling). So Vipassanà can help us break this wheel, break this process of becoming, but not once and for all. It just breaks it for a moment and just breaks it for a specific object. Only when we become Arahants can we break this wheel altogether, once and for all. The removal of or the avoidance of craving by Vipassanà is said to be momentary. It is not permanent. With the help of this momentary removal we can go step by step further and further until we reach the stage of permanent removal. So when we practice Vipassanà meditation, we are actually breaking this wheel of existence. We are actually cutting off the process of becoming as much as we can.

When you practice meditation, you just keep yourself mindful. When you see something, you say, 'seeing, seeing, seeing'. You keep yourself mindful by thinking or saying, 'seeing, seeing, seeing' or 'hearing, hearing, hearing' and so on. You try to stop at just hearing, at just seeing and so on. You try not to go over to liking it or disliking it. At this point you are cutting this wheel of existence.

When you make notes, when you observe what is at the present moment, you come to see the true nature of these things. You come to see their arising. You come to see their disppearing. When you see things arising and disappearing, when you see things which are not permanent, which do not last for a long time, you have no desire for them. You do not crave for them. So this is where the wheel of existence can be disturbed. When there is no craving, there will be no grasping. And when there is no grasping, there will be no becoming and so on.

Those who practice Vipassanà meditation are just trying to break this wheel of existence. Althugh there is feeling, we can check ourselves so that we do not get craving for these feelings or craving for this thing or that thing. By Vipassanà we can remove craving just for the particular object which we observe, but not for the objects we do not observe. If we observe one thing or one object, we can remove or we can avoid having crving for that object. But for the objects not observed there may be craving. That is why we have to keep mindfulness with us. We have to make ourselves alert so that we do not grasp at things, so that we do not get craving for things. The removal by Vipassanà of craving is temporary and also is for a particular object only.

This temporary removal and removl from a particular object will develop into the total and permanent removal of craving when we reach the stage of Noble Persons or Ariyas. It will reach the highest stage when we become Arahants. When we become Arahants, there will be no ignorance and no craving in our minds. And so there will be no grasping and so on.

Now we have how many links? One between ignorance and Kamma formations, a second link between Kamma formations and resultant consciousness, a third link between consciousness and mind and matter, a fourth link between mind and matter and six bases, a fifth link between six bases and contact, seventh link between contact and feeling (Vedanà), an eighth link between Vedanà and Tanhà (craving). Until the factor of feeling there can be no stopping. There can be no interfering, but between Vedanà and Tanhà there can be a break. There is hope that we can break this wheel of existence at this point.

This breaking of this wheel of existence can be achieved only through Vipassanà meditation. It cannot be achieved by Samatha meditation or by any other meditation. Vipassanà meditation tries to see things as they are. That means when we see things, we see them as impermanent, as insubstantial, as subject to suffering. When we see things in this way, we come to be dispassionate towards things. We are not attached to these things. When we re not attached to things, we do not get Tanhà or craving for things. So there will be no grasping and so on when there is no Tanhà. That is why we have to practice Vipassanà. Vipassanà is a very effective and powerful tool in getting rid of craving nd in getting free from the round of rebirths.

We are fortunate to be practicing Vipassanà meditation. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to practice Vipassanà meditation and to be really practicing Vipassanà meditation. Although the final goal may not be achieved in one retreat like this, still we will be getting nearer and nearer to our goal if we carry on this practice of Vipassanà meditation.

So for us and other people Vipassanà meditation is not a thing to practice once in awhile, once a month or once year. It is to be practiced every day. Just as we eat every day, we sleep every day, we take care of our bodies every day, if we keep up this practice every day and if we take retreats as much as we can, then we will be able to achieve our goal. We will be able to break this wheel of existence even in this life.

I am very glad that I am able to impart this knowledge to my students and to whomever comes to me. I am very glad to be of help and service to them. Also I am very glad that many people get this opportunity to practice Vipassanà meditation so that they will be able to get rid of this Tanhà or craving altogether at some time.

There are some more links. I hope to pick them up at the next retreat maybe. Paticca Samuppàda is not easy to understand. So if you do not understand fully, please do not get discouraged. There are a lot of technical terms in the explanation of this doctrine. You need a knowledge of Abhidhamma to understand the Doctrine of Paticca Samuppàda fully. And the knowledge of Abhidhamma cannot be obtained in a day or two. Some people have been grappling with this study for two or three years. Please do not get discourag

Let me read something from the Dhammapada on the mind. Mind is very difficult to tame. It is a common knowledge of meditators that mind goes out every now and then. Everybody finds it a problem to keep mind under control. Please do not think you are the only person who cnnot control your mind. Everybody has this problem.

'The flickering, fickle mind, difficult to guard, difficult to control, the wise person straightens as a fletcher an arrow.'

'Like a fish tht is drawn from its watery abode nd thrown upon land, even so does this mind flutter. Hence should the realm of the passions be shunned.'

'The mind is hard to check, swift, flits wherever it listed, the control of which is good. A controlled mind is conducive to happiness.'

'The mind is very hard to perceive extremely subtle, flits wherever it listed. Let the wise person guard it. A guarded mind is conducive to happiness. '

'Faring far, wandering alone, bodiless, lying in the cave is the mind. Those who subdue it are freed from the bonds of Màra.' (Màra is the evil one.)

'He whose mind is not steadfast, he who knows not the true doctrine, he whose confidence wvrs, the wisdom of such a one will never be perfect.'

'He whose mind is not fettered by lust, he who is not effected by hatred, he who has discarded both good and evil, for such a vigilant one there is no fear.'

'Realizing that this body is as fragile as a jar, establishing his mind as firm as a fortified city, he should attck Màra with the weapon of wisdom. He should guard his conquest and be without attachment.'

'Before long, alas, this body will lie upon the ground, cast aside, devoid of consciousness even as a useless log.'

'Whatever harm a foe may do to a foe, or a hater to a hater, an ill-directed mind can do one far greater harm.'

'What neither father nor mother nor any other relative can do, a well-directed mind does and thereby elevates one.'

Thank you.

Sàdhu! Sàdhu! Sàdhu!