What is the Way to Liberation?Hemavata said, “O Lord, a being, which is the world, is subject to misery. What is the attachment (upādāna) that makes one believe ‘This is my self, this is my own’? May I ask what is the way to liberation? Would you, O Lord, please say how one can free oneself from misery?”
Hemavata’s first question to the Buddha related to the truth of suffering (dukkha sacca) and his second question is about the way to free oneself from misery. “Hemavata” said the Buddha, “the mind, which is the sixth of the six sense-bases, produces desire and causes attachment for the five other senses and sense-bases.”
The five strands of desire (kāmaguna) are the desire to enjoy the sight, the sound, the odour, the taste, and the touch. These senses carry their respective sense-bases with them — the eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue, and the body. The mind also carries thoughts and feelings with it. To those who do not practise insight meditation, any object they see gives them the idea “my eye
sees it.” The young, who can see well, will say that their eyes are clear, but the old, whose eyesight is defective, will lament their plight. The young and the old both feel that the organ of sight is their own property. This idea of self extends to all parts of the body, to the body as a whole, and then to one’s own property. This notion extends further to cognition of male and female “This body is mine. I am this
body.” Looking at a beautiful person and liking him or her, and wanting to possess, and having got, thinking “This is mine, my own” ... all these are the products of the mind. For instance, if you go to the market, look at clothes on display, choose what you like and buy it, then you think that they are your own. In the same way, one looks at another, is enamoured by his or her
beauty, desires that person and wants to possess them. The three sense-bases — the eye, the object of sight, and the sense of sight — cause the attachment, “This is mine, this is my own, I possess it.” The same attachment or obsession applies to the case of hearing, smelling, tasting, or touching.
Everything is a source of attachment. For instance, if you touch somebody and know the sense of touch, then you say, “I touch him or her.” If you feel hot or stiff in the limbs, you say “I feel hot,” or “I feel stiff in my limbs.” So the Buddha said: “Hemavata, in the world the five strands of desire (kāmaguna) and the mind
(manāyatana), or the six sense-bases cause craving, and if that craving is discarded, deliverance from suffering is achieved.” The reason for attachment and desire is ignorance of the fact that the visible object, the seeing, and the eye are all sense-bases. This ignorance is like insanity. Lunatics have unstable minds and cannot
tell the good from the bad, the valuable from the valueless; they do not know what is useful, and they keep useless things in their bags. You all must have seen such lunatics. So-called sane people act in the same way when they are under mistaken notions. At the end of the Second World War, those who foresaw the imminent end of the Japanese occupation
in Burma, exchanged the Japanese currency notes that would soon be worthless, with many things. Those who did not have such foresight, cheerfully received the notes in the hope that they would continue to be valid. Then in a day or two, the change came. The Japanese currency notes became worthless, and the hoarders suffered the consequences. When I was young, I came across people who filled pots of sand and waited for them to turn into gold
according to the prediction of a con-man who posed as a master magician whom these people believed. Such people are really fools, who cannot tell the truth from falsehood, the good from the bad. Once they are cured of their madness, they will find that the things they have cherished are worthless. During the time of the Buddha, Patācārā became raving mad. She went about naked, but as she was
insane she thought that what she was doing was right and proper. When she came near to the Buddha, he restored her sanity by admonition. She realised her situation at once and eventually became an Arahant, being endowed with good perfections. Patācārā knew at once from the Buddha’s word of caution that she was naked. Her sense of propriety returned, and she accepted a shawl from a person nearby and, wrapping herself, sat down to listen to the Buddha’s discourse. While listening to
the discourse she attained the stage of Stream-winning. This is an instance of gaining right view and discarding mistaken notions. The people I spoke of just now, found out in due course that the things they had cherished were, after all, worthless, and yet they could not discard them. Those who are always mindful of the constant flux
of arising and passing away will have no attachment for the things upon which others set so much value. Instructions to Venerable MālukyaputtaThe Buddha asked Venerable Mālukyaputta: “Mālukyaputta, do you have any desire for the forms that you have never seen, for those that you do not see now, or those that you never expect to see?”
“No sir, that is impossible,” Venerable Mālukyaputta replied. Now, if I asked you the same question as the Buddha put to Venerable Mālukyaputta , you would all
give the same answer as he did. You would not have any feeling of love or hatred for a person you never expect to see, would you? There are many such persons in villages, towns, cities and countries, and you would never have any feeling of love or hatred for them. You would not have any attachment, desire, or lust. Defilements do not arise from the unseen. This point should be noted. In that case, one need not get rid of defilements by means of insight; since there is no seeing, no
defilements arise. So one does not gain merit or demerit. As for the things seen, however, defilements arise both in the act of seeing and after having seen, because a mental picture is retained in the memory. On reflection or recollection, defilements will recur. These cherished memories are stored up in the archives of latent tendencies (anusaya). It is necessary to root these out by means of insight. The Buddha taught Venerable Mālukyaputta the doctrine of ditthe dittha mattam bhavissati — in the seeing, only what is being seen — or minding the present. Discarding the Craving That Occurs on SeeingAccording to the Buddha’s instructions to Venerable Mālukyaputta, one must note what is seen as seen
and no more. That is the general idea of the instruction. During meditation practice, however, one must note the beginning of any process as it is occurring. One must accordingly make a note, for example in walking, that there is the lifting, moving forward, and dropping of the foot, and realise that each process appears and disappears in rapid succession. Only those who have penetrative mindfulness can notice clearly this rapid chain of action. If one could concentrate on each phenomenon
distinctly and separately, one would not feel any attachment or desire and thus craving would cease. To some insight meditators, hearing was taken note of as mere hearing, and thus there was no like or dislike attached to it. Some reported having felt the sound enter the ear, and could tell whether it
entered the right or left ear. Odours also appear and disappear in rapid succession and no attachment of any kind occurs. The same happens with tastes, when eating food. Touching is quite distinct. The rising and falling of the abdomen is obvious, and aches and pains are too. Physical actions are also easy to note, and noting each process in an action precludes any kind of
attachment or desire. As for the wandering mind, noting it is not difficult. An experienced meditator’s mind seldom idles, and when it does, it is usually caught and brought back immediately to the point of concentration. Thus, craving is expelled from the mind. Sometimes, mental pictures of people, bhikkhus, gardens, and many other things appear. They are
mere figments of the imagination, and will soon disappear if one notes them, so no attachment occurs. Sometimes, one may hear, or seem to hear, a celestial being or a teacher saying something. However, if one notes it, the hearing will disappear and no attachment can occur. The meditator who experiences such hearing should not be falsely flattered. If he is pleased or flattered, that fact should
be noted immediately and it will disappear. This is how craving should be expelled from a thought or feeling. This is also the way that insight is gained, leading eventually to the Noble Path and nibbāna. As insight matures, wisdom matures too, and the occurrence of attachment is gradually eradicated. So the
Buddha said that if craving is discarded, deliverance from suffering is surely achieved. Upon hearing the two answers of the Buddha, Hemavata and Sātāgiri, and their followers attained the stage of Stream-winning. The young lady, Kālī, who had heard only the conversation between Sātāgiri and Hemavata, became a
Stream-winner before they did. They might have reached the ultimate stage of arahantship, but they were destined to attain to only the first stage. |
