Yesterday I gave you some informatin on the doctrine of Paticca Samuppàda (

dependent origination, dependent genesis, or conditioned genesis.) This doctrine teaches that there is nothing absolute. Everything is relative. One thing is the result of another thing and it itself is the cause of another thing. So according to this doctrine we cannot come to an end of our searching for a beginning. We cannot come to the end of this cause-effect continuity. So there can be no first cause. Everything must have a cause and that cause must have its cause and so on.

This doctrine was first contemplated on by the Bodhisatta just before he became the Buddha. Also after becoming the Buddha, he contemplated on it. Throughout his ministry of 45 years he taught this doctrine again and again.

The formula that he taught is a short formula. 'And what is the dependent origination, monks? With ignorance as condition there are volitional formations. With volitional formations as condition there is consciousness. With consciousness as condition there is mentality-materiality. With mentality-materiality as condition there is contact. With contact as condition there is feeling. With feeling as condition there is craving. With craving as condition there is clinging. With clinging as condition there is becoming. With becoming as condition there is birth. With birth as condition there is aging and death, and sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair.Thus there is the arising of this whole mass of suffering. This is called Paticca Saçuppàda, monks.'

This is the regular formula of Dependent Origination in its positive mode. Its negative mode runs like this: with the cessation of ignorance volitional formations cease and so on. In this doctrine there are twelve factors and each factor is related to another.

The first of these factors is ignorance or Avijjâ in Pâli. With Avijjà as condition or conditioned by Avijjà volitional formations arise. Volitional formations or Sankhàra is the second factor. With Sankhàra as condittion Viññàna (consciousness) arises. Viññàna or consciousness is the third factor. With consciousness as condition rise mentality-materiality (Nàma-Rùpa). With Nàma-Rùpa as condition sixfold base arises. 'Sixfold base' means eye base, ear base and so on (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind).With sixfold base (Salàyatana) as condition there arises Phassa or contact. Here the 'sixfold base' can mean eye, er, nose, tongue, body and mind or sight, sound, odor, taste, touch and Dhamma objects. With contact as condition there is feeling (Vedanà). With Vedanà as condition there is craving or Tanhà. With Tanhà (craving) as condition there is clinging or grasping (Upàdàna). With Upàdàna as condition there is becoming or Bhava. With becoming (Bhava) as condition there is rebirth (Jati). With Jati as condition there is aging and death or old age and death. Also there are sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. In this way this whole mass of suffering arises.

The first factor in this doctrine is Avijjà (ignorance). Although it is stated first in this doctrine, it does not mean that ignorance is the cause or the first cause of all things. it just happens to be the beginning of this doctrine. Avijjà also has its causes or its conditions.

What is this Avijjà or ignorance? Avijjà is explained in the Commentaries as that which does not know correctly and which knows incorrectly. Both aspects are ascribed to Avijjà (ignorance). We say ignorance always hides something from us. Ignorance hides things so we do not see them as they are. It presents these objects to us so that we see them as they appear to us and not as they really are. Ignorance here means not knowing correctly. When we do not know something correctly, then we know that thing wrongly. Not knowing correctly and knowing incorrectly is ignorance.

It is ignorance of what? Buddha himself explained that 'ignorance' here means ignorance of Dukkha, ignorance of the origin of Dukkha, ignorance of the cessation of Dukkha and ignorance of the Path leading to the cessation of Dukkha.So it is ignorance of the Four Noble Truths. Here 'ignorance of the Four Noble Truths means not knowing correctly and knowing incorrectly.

Let us take the First Noble Truth. Whatever happens to us or whenever we experience something (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, thinking) there is Dukkha. Everything we keep our minds on comes into being and disappears. The mind that makes notes of these things also comes nd goes. So everything is in a state of flux. Since it is in a state of flux, since there is always rising and falling, appearing and disappearing, we are oppressed by this rising and falling. This being oppressed by rising and falling is what we should understand to be Dukkha.

So as I told you when I talked about the Four Noble Truths, evrything in this world or everything in the world of being except Lobha (craving) is Dukkha. Whatever we see, whatever we hear, all is Dukkha.

But we do not see them as Dukkha. We do not see them as oppression. We do not see them as oppressive, as Dukkha because of this Avijjà (ignorance). It prevents us from seeing it correctly. Because we have Avijjà we do not see things as they are. Also we see things incorrectly. So long as we have this Avijjà, this ignorance, we will see things incorrectly.

Avijjà and Vijjà (ignorance and understnding) are opposites. When one is there, the other cannot come. When there is Avijjà (ignorance), there can be no Vijjà (understanding). When there is Vijjà (understanding), there can be no Avijjà (ignorance).They are like darkness and light.

Ignorance hides real things from us and shows them to us in a different way so that we get the wrong understanding. Ignorance is something like disorientation with regard to directions. When we are disoriented with respect to directions, we do not know which direction is which. We do not know which is east, west, south or north. Not only do we not know which is north or south, but we also may know incorrectly, thinking south is north and north is south. That may happen to us very frequently especially when we go to a place where we have not been before and arrive there at night or when we go by airplane. Do you know which direction you are facing? I don't really know.

Sometimes we know that we have the wrong view about the direction, but we cannot shake this wrong view away from us. Let us say we have disorientation. In the morning we look at the sun rising from a direction that we know must be the east. Still we may not be able to shake away the notion that it is west. In our hearts we know that it must not be west because the sun is rising from that direction, but we cannot get rid of the notion that it is west.Once you get disoriented you cannot get rid of it easily. That happens to many people.

I have a friend. We lived together in Mandalay. Once he went to Rangoon. When he went to the city, he got disoriented. When he would cross over a certain road, this disorientation would disapper. He was very happy at that time. In order to lose this disorientation he would cross over this street. As soon as he was on the other side of the road, he woud lose his disorientation. So he said to himself, 'south, south, south', but the moment he went back to the other side of the road, he was lost again. It is very difficult to get rid of disorientation.

It is the same with Avijjà. We are taught tht evrything is impermanent, everything is Dukkha. That we know because we have faith in the Buddha and his teachings. Still we see things as Sukha. Still we see them as good, as something to be attached to. That is why we are attached to things, attached to people. That's why we do things to make us happy. So this Avijjà is very difficult to get rid of. Actually only when you reach the fourth stage of enlightenment can you get rid of it altogether. Avijjà is very pernicious. Even the Sotàpannas (stream-winners), the once-returners and the non-returners have some residue of it, although it is not gross.

When we have Avijjà, we cannot see Dukkha as Dukkha. We see Dukkha as Sukha (happiness), as good. If we see everything as Dukkha, perhaps we could not remain in the city. We will want to go into the forest and just practice meditation.

Why do we have Avijjà¨? Why do we have this wrong view, this incorrect understanding of things? Because we do not observe. Because we do not pay attention to whatever we experience or whatever we come across. If we pay attention to things we come across, (things presented to us through the six sense-doors), we will really come to see the true nature of them. At that time Avijjà cannot deceive us. At that time there is Vijjà or right understanding. When there is right understanding, there can be no Avijjà.

Avijjà is like disorientation. Also it is like putting green eyeglasses on horses. I do not know whether this is true or not. It is said that when people wanted to feed the horses and there was no green grass that they just fed them dry grass. But they put eyeglasses on the horses. They saw everything was green because of the eyeglasses, so they ate the dry grass.

In the same way we have Avijjà. So we see things not as they are, but in a different way. That's why we see things as desirable, as beautiful. So we try to get beautiful things. We try to get Sukha (happiness) as much as possible, trying this way and that way. This is ignorance of the Noble Truth of Suffering.

When we pay attention to it, when we practice Vipassanà meditation, then we will come to see it is really not Sukha. It is always changing, coming into being and disappearing. So everything is not desirable. Everything is not satisfactory. 'Everything' means everything but craving. Everything is Dukkha. We will rightly see that if we practice Vipassanà meditation.Vipassanà meditation alone can help us see this nature of Dukkha.

Then what about not knowing or knowing incorrectly the Second Noble Truth. Craving or desire is the Second Noble Truth. Craving or desire is the cause of suffering. Because of this craving, because of this desire we do things to make us happy. We do actions to make us happy. We want to be happy because we have the desire to be happy. Since we want to be happy, we try to get things which we think will make us happy. So all beings try to be happy. All beings try to get things which they think will make them happy. That is not seeing craving and desire as the cause of suffering.

We act in different ways just to satisfy this desire. When we act encouraged or prompted by this desire, what do we have? We have bodily actions, verbal actions or sometimes just thinking (mental actions). What is the nature of these actions? They come and go. They are Dukkha. Actually desire is the cause of Dukkha. Because of desire we do this thing and we do that thing. Everything that we do is just suffering (Dukkha). So desire is the cause of suffering. With Avijjà in our minds, being deluded by Avijjà, we cannot see that desire is the cause of suffering. That is why we like to have this desire. We are afraid that we will lose this desire. And so we try to keep this desire alive by creating things that will satisfy our desire. Everything in this world is oriented towards this, towards the continuance of the development of desire.

Commercials on television or advertisements in newspapers and magazines, what are they trying to do? They are trying to make you unsatisfied. They are trying to make you want more and more. They want to make you desire more and more, so that they may be able to sell things. So you are made to think that only when you have these things will you be happy. Everything is directed towards having this desire even such things as books on health, how to have mental power, how to be assertive. All things point to this desirê: the desire to possess wealth, the desire to possess power, the desire to have a good job and so on. Everything is oriented towards this desire because people think that without this desire we cannot survive as human beings. People believe that if we do not have desire the human world would come to an end.

So there are many desires in the world. Because of these desires people do actions. All these actions are nothing but Dukkha (suffering). Actually desire is the cause of suffering, but we cannot see it. We read about it in the books. We listen to the talks. We know that desire is the cause of suffering. In actual practice however we may not be aware of that because still we want this thing. We have desire. Not knowing that desire is the cause of suffering is not knowing the Second Noble Truth correctly.

Taking desire to be the cause of Sukha is another part of Avijjà. Let us say I desire something. When I get that thing, I feel happy. So one may see desire as the cause of happiness. Seeing desire as the cause of happiness is knowing the Second Noble Truth incorrectly. Because of this Avijjà we do not know the Second Noble Truth correctly, and instead we know this Second Noble Truth incorrectly. Both aspects are ascribed to Avijjà.

The Noble Persons (the Ariyas) do not see the world as Sukha. They see it as Dukkha. They see it as it is. The worldlings always see it as Sukha. They have the wrong view of everything in the world.

This Second Noble Truth is like smoking. A person addicted to smoking likes it. Smoking gives that person pleasure. He will have desire for cigarettes or cigars. He may have preference for this brand or that brand. When he is smoking, he feels good. I met a man who told me that whenever he had to write report or something serious, he would smoke a cigarette. Only after that would he write his report. He felt it relaxed him and that he could then write a good report. I think the relaxation is caused not by the smoking but by his mind because he thought he would be relaxed when he smoked. So smoking is pleasure for them. That is why they inhale and exhale the fumes with pleasure.

But what about a person that does not smoke? He sees smoking as undesirable. He sees smoking as Dukkha while other person sees smoking as Sukha. If you don´t smoke, if you are not addicted to smoking, you don't even want to have a single puff of it. You are irritated or disturbed when someone is smoking near you. So a person who does not smoke sees smoking as a cause of Dukkha, but a person who smokes sees it s a cause of Sukha. In the same way those who have right view see this world s Dukkha. Those who do not hve right view take this world as Sukha.

I was once on a smoking section of a plane. We had to board the plane through the back door. They told us, 'You may take any seat you like.' So I took the seat nearest to me at the back of the plane. It was in the smoking section. After the plane took off, I knew it was a mistake, but I could not change to another seat. It was terrible. Everyone around me was smoking. They smoked and smoked. They did not stop once. Formerly I thought I could tolerate some smoking, but that time I could not. So I decided not to sit in the smoking section in the future. For me smoking is the cause of suffering.However for those who are smoking on the plane, they are enjoying their cigarette and talking to each other.

In the same way the Noble Persons who have really seen the Four Noble Truths see the world as Dukkha, while those who have not seen the Four Noble Truths see the world as Sukha. This is caused by Avijjà, not knowing or knowing incorrectly. Avijjà makes people not see the world as Dukkha. It makes them see the world as Sukha. This is the way Avijjà operates with regard to the Second Noble Truth.

The Third Noble Truth is the cessation of suffering. So long as there are aggregates going on, so long as Nàma and Rùpa are going on, there is suffring. Only when they cease can there be real libertion, real Sukha. That real Sukha or liberation is Nibbàna.

If we would see rightly, we would see Nibbàna as really good, as very desirable because it is peaceful and there is no suffering whatsoever when we realize Nibbàna. If we do not see it rightly, we may not even want to get to Nibbàna. When it is said that Nibbàna is the cessation of all mind and matter, the cessation of all aggregates, the cessation of all existence, very few people like it. What about you? We always say that we want to go to Nibbàna or we want to attain Nibbàna. But if someone were to come to us now and tell us, 'I am going to take you to Nibbàna. Who will come with me?' We would probably say, 'Please wait a moment. I have something to do. I have some obligations. I cannot leave things as they are.' So although we talk about Nibbàna as a desirable thing, when it is really offered to us, we may hesitate to take it. That is because we have Avijjà. so long as there is Avijjà we will not see Nibbàna as really desirable, s really peaceful.

People really don´t like Nibbàna at all. When we talk about Nibbàna, they say that they don´t like it. That is because people are always attached to their lives, to their existences. They see everything through this existence. When we say that there is no existence, that Nibbàna is the end of existence, they cannot think of it. They will not be reborn anywhere else. It sounds very frightening to them. That is because Avijjà is playing its tricks. Avijjà makes people not see Nibbàna as desirable. It makes them think Nibbàna is no good. Nibbàna is not to be desired. With regard to the Third Noble Truth Avijjà (ignorance) makes people not see Nibbàna as really peaceful, as really desirable. Instead it makes Nibbàna seem undesirable.

The cessation of existence, the cessation of Dukkha, the cessation of the aggregates, the cessation of Nàma-Rùpa is very difficult to understand. Nàma-Rùpa or the aggregates arise and disappear because there are causes for them to arise and disappear. The causes are this Avijjà and craving. So the phenomena of mind and matter will go on and on. When Avijjà nd Tanhà are destroyed, the five aggregates just cease to be. That is what we call the cessation of Dukkha or the destruction of Dukkha.

It is to be understood by the analogy of an oil lamp. So long as we put oil in the lamp, it will go on burning. But the moment we stop putting in oil and when the oil is used up, there will be no more flame. The flame just disappears when the fuel is used up. Because there is no fuel there is no flame.

In the same way so long as we have this Avijjà and craving, there will be the flame of the aggregtes, the flame of mind and matter. When Avijjà and craving are destroyed, then those thawt depend on Avijjà and craving for their arising also disappear. And so there is no reappearing of the aggregates or Nàma-Rùpa, and that is Nibbàna. That Nibbàna is very difficult to see. And it is difficult to like Nibbàna. Many people say that Nibbàna is not for me. It is difficult to see Nibbàna as it is. Avijjà or ignorance makes us not see Nibbàna as it is, and see it as otherwise.

The Fourth Noble Truth is the Path Leading to the Cessation of Suffering. The Noble Eightfold Path or actually good deeds or meritorious deeds lead us to the final cessation of suffering. This is what we are taught.

But ignorance makes us to not see the meritorious deeds, the Noble Eightfold Path, as leading to the final cessation of suffering. Instead Avijjà makes us see others as the way to the cessation of suffering or it makes us believe that the Noble Eightfold Path is not the way to the final cessation of suffering.

There are many ways to get happiness. To get happiness, to gain happiness people do different things. Sometimes we do Kusala or wholesome actions or sometimes we do Akusala or unwholesome actions. But Akusala or unwholesome actions lead people to states of misery. Kusala or wholesome actions lead them to good states and finally to the realization of Nibbàna.

For example many people think that sacrificing human being or an animal is a way to liberation. Some may think that for their happiness they should do as they like, for example they should steal or they should kill for their happiness. So for our own happiness we do many things, good and bad.

These are the ways to happiness and misery. Avijjà makes people see that Kusala actions or the Noble Eightfold Path is not the way to the cessation of suffering, not the way to happiness. Avijjà makes people think other ways, like sacrificing beings and so on are the way to the cessation of suffering or the way to happiness. Ignorance hides the real way to the cessation of suffering by making peple think this is not the way and that the others are the way.

It is very important to see that the Noble Eightfold Path is the way to the cessation of suffering. When you practice Vipassanà meditation, you are practicing the Noble Eightfold Path. So Vipassanà is the way to the cessation of suffering.

Avijjà makes us think it is not the way to the cessation of suffering. So there are many people who do not practice Vipassanà meditation, who do not have a glimpse of what Nàma and Rùpa are and how they arise and disappear, and how they are impermanent and so on. They don´t even have a glimpse of it because they do not practice Vipassanà meditation at all.

But those who practice Vipassanà meditation know all these Four Noble Truths correctly. Although this is not the direct realization of the Four Noble Truths, still the knowledge that they gain of the Four Noble Truths comes from within, comes from their own experience. And so this knowledge accompanied by wisdom is the antidote for Avijjà. When you practice Vipassanà meditation, you are treating Avijjà with Vijjà. You are dispelling Avijjà with Vijjà at every moment of mindfulness. When you are mindful of anything, Avijjà cannot have any chance to hide things from you. You pay attention to what you are experiencing. Let us say you pay attention to what you are hearing - 'hearing, hearing, hearing'. That noise or sound disappears after some time. So you see that the noise or sound just comes and goes, and that your mindfulness comes and goes. You directly see that they are impermanent, they are Dukkha. But those who do not practice meditation cannot see that.

With Vipassanà meditation you are expelling Avijjà at every moment of mindfulness. At every moment of mindfulness there is understanding or Vijjà. This Vijjà dispels Avijjà. That is why when you practice Vipassanà meditation and pay attention to things, you cannot take them as permanent, as everlasting, as desirable and so on.

Avijjà has been with beings for a long, long time. How long we do not know. So whenever people see things they see them as permanent, as desirable. When they see beings, they are seen as beings, as men, as women, or sometimes as soul. So whenever one sees something, this habit of seeing incorrectly comes first before one sees correctly.

That is why in the beginning of Vipassanà practice you do not see clearly. Although you keep your mind on the rising and falling, in nd out, hearing and so on, your seeing or your understanding is not so clear. That is because Avijjà gets ahead of your Vijjà. The moment you are going to watch something, Avijjà comes in and takes the iniative. It makes you see things as permanent, as desirable and so on. So we don´t have the chance to watch it with Vijjà.

But you go on meditating, making notes and your concentration and wisdom mature. Then you begin to see things clearly. You begin to see things coming and going, rising and falling. At that time Avijjà does not have chance to go first and look at things as it likes. It has no chance. Now Vijjà gains the upper hand. Whatever you see you see first with Vijjà, so Avijjà cannot come and make you see otherwise. By practicing meditation you are developing the power of Vijjà, the power of wisdom. So whenever you observe things especially while you are practicing meditation, you are not pre'empted by Avijjà. In this way you keep Avijjà from hiding things from you. That is done by applying mindfulness to whatever you experience, whatever you see, whatever you come across. Just by paying attention, just by being mindful, you can gain this Vijjà. So this is Avijjà (ignorance). Avijjà means not knowing correctly and knowing incorrectly.

This Avijjà is condition for Sankhàra (mental formations or volitional formations). Because we have Avijjà we have volitional activities, volitional formations. 'Volitional formations' just means actions through body, speech and mind.

How do we connect Avijjà (ignorance) and Sankhàra (mental formations)? There is some gap between Avijjà and Sankhàra. We have to fill this gap or we have to fill th link, the link that connects Avijjà and Sankhàra together.

Suppose you have Avijjà and see things wrongly. Just by seeing wrongly, you do not do anything. There must be something that makes you do something. In order to understand that Sankhàras are conditioned by Avijjà we have to put in two things between Avijjà and Sankhàra. These two things are craving and grasping. Avijjà makes us not see the real nature of things. So there is desire for things. We have craving for things. When that craving becomes strong, it becomes grasping. It becomes clinging. When it reaches the stage of clinging, it causes actions.

Suppose I want this thing. I just want it. It is not so strong. Later on I want it very much. When I have clinging towards this thing, I will do anything to get this thing. The doing is what we call volitional formations.

When we say volitional formations are conditioned by Avijjà (ignorance), we mean that ignorance with the help of craving and clinging conditions the arising of Sankhàras (volitional actions). We want to be reborn in a better world. Therefore we act according to our desire. When we act, somtimes we may act rightly and sometimes we may act wrongly. Let us say we want to be reborn in the realm of the Devas. What are we going to do? We will do meritorious deeds. But sometimes there are some primitive people who say if you sacrifice a human being, then you will go to heaven. If we receive such instructions and believe them, then we will be doing Akusala instead of Kusala in order to reach the word of Devas or celestial beings. So prompted by craving and clinging we do things (bodily actions, verbal actions and sometimes just thinking or mental actions).

When we do actions, there is this volition always. It is just like when you make notes stretching. I told you that there are different stages in stretching. Maybe there are ten stretchings or more in one stretching. These stretching actions come into being because there is desire to stretch or attempt to stretch. That attempt is what we call volition. Volition is something like putting forth effort. It makes movement, or in this case one stretching movement after another. Every action is caused or prompted by this volition.

Volition is what we call Kamma. Kamma and Sankhàra are the same here. Sankhàra has many menings. It means different things in different contexts. Here Sankhara means good and bad volition which always accompanies good and bad actions. Because we have Avijjà, because we do not have correct understanding of things, and because we have craving and clinging we do things, good and bad. Kusala and Akusala Kamma (meritorious and demeritorious deeds) are caused by or are conditioned by Avijjà (ignorance).

Avijjà and Sankhara are related by way of support. Avijjà supports Sankhàra. Avijjà does not produce Sankhàra, but it supports the arising of Sankhàras. This relationship between Avijjà and Sankhàra, let us say wholesome Sankhàra, is by way of support. When Avijjà is support for unwholesome actions (Akusala), there are other relationships like conascence. 'Conascence' means arising together. These relationships come into play when Avijjà conditions Akusla or unwholesome actions. So when Avijjà conditions wholesome actions (Kusala), there is the relationship of decisive support. When Avijjà conditions unwholesome actions (Akusala), there is the reltion of decisive support as well as conascence, reciprocity and others. We should see it this way. Avijjà is not the producer of Sankhàras. It is just the help or support for the Sankhàras to rise.

This is the first link of the twelve links of Paticca Samuppàda. This way it will take about ten days to finish this. It is good to undrstand fully. This is the first link, Avijjà to Sankhàra, Avijjà to wholesome Sankhàra and Avijjà to unwholesome Sankhàra. Both wholesome nd unwholesome Sankhàras arise conditioned by ignorance. Because there is ignorance we do things.

Sàdhu! Sàdhu! Sàdhu!

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