Chapter 19

(Tape 40 / Ps: 1-8)

The next chapter is on overcoming doubt. Overcoming doubt comes after the meditator sees cause and effect, the cause-effect relationship between things. “Knowledge established by overcoming doubt about the three divisions of time (That is past, present and future.) by means of discerning the conditions of that same mentality-materiality is called ‘Purification by Overcoming Doubt’.” In order to get to this stage we must first see mentalitÿ-materiality clearly. Then we will see or we must find out the conditions for mind and for matter. When we can see the conditions or the causes for mind and matter, then we will be able to overcome doubts about whether we have been in the past, or what we have been in the past, things like that. We will come to that later.

This chapter deals with the Purification by Overcoming Doubt. That means trying to find the causes or the conditions for mind and matter. I think you will need a little knowledge of Abhidhamma to understand this. “To begin wit, he considers thus: ‘Firstly, this mentality-materiality is not causeless, because if that were so, it would follow that, [having no causes to differentiate it], it would be identical everywhere always and for all.” If mentality and materiality have no cause, it would be identical everywhere. They would always be the same. For all beings would be the same.

“It has no Overlord, etc., because of the non-existence of any Overlord, etc., over and above mentality-materiality. And because, if people then argue that mentality-materiality itself is its Overlord, etc., then it follows that their mentality-materiality, which they call the Overlord, etc., would itself be causeless.” If they say that mentality-materiality itself is Overlord, then mentality-materiality should be without cause, but mentality-materiality are found to be with causes. So it is not correct to take it that mentality-materiality itself is Overlord. “Consequently, there must be a cause and a condition for it. What are they?”

“Having thus directed his attention to mentality-materiality’s cause and condition, he first discerns the cause and condition for the material body in this way: ‘When this body is born, it is not born inside a blue, red or white lotus or water-lily, etc., or inside a store of jewels or pearls, etc.; on the contrary, like a worm in a rotting fish, in a rotting corpse, in rotting dough, in a drain, in a cesspool, etc., it is born in between the receptacle for undigested food and the receptacle for the digested food (This is for human beings.), behind the belly lining, in front of the backbone.” Do you know what that means? The real meaning is that the fetus lies in the womb with its back to the belly lining of the mother and facing the backbone. That is what is described here. I don’t know if that is really true. Does the fetus in the mother face the back of the mother? We need a doctor. I think instead of saying ‘behind the belly lining’, we should say ‘with its back to the belly lining’. Instead of saying ‘in front’, we should say ‘keeping the backbone in front of itself’.

“(The fetus is ) surrounded by the bowel and the entrails, in a place that is stinking, disgusting, repulsive, and extremely cramped, being itself stinking, disgusting and repulsive. When it is born thus, its causes (root-causes) are the four things, namely, ignorance, craving, clinging and kamma.” Please do not confuse ‘root-causes’ with the causes in PaÔÔhÈna. You may remember the causal relations described in the chapter on Dependent Origination. Among the 24 conditions the first one of them is root-cause. There root-cause is the six roots (lobha, dosa, moha, alobha, adosa, and amoha). Here the PÈÄi word ‘hetu’ is used, but it is not the hetu of PaÔÔhÈna. We can dispense with root-causes’ here. “Its causes are the four things, namely, ignorance, craving, clinging, and kamma.” Ignorance is one of the roots. Craving is one of the roots. Clinging because it is craving is one of the roots. But kamma is different. These four things are the causes of the arising of the material body. “Since it is they that bring about its birth; and nutriment is its condition, since it is that that consolidates it.” So all together we get how many causes? Four causes (ignorance, craving, clinging, kamma) and one condition (nutriment). There are four causes and one condition. “So five things constitute its cause and condition. And of these, the three beginning with ignorance are the decisive support for this body, as the mother is for her infant, and kamma begets it, as the father does the child; and nutriment sustains it as the wet-nurse does the infant.” So kamma produces the physical body. It produces it with the help of, with the support of ignorance and clinging. After producing it, nutriment sustains it.

“After discerning the material body’s conditions in this way, he again discerns the mental body in the way beginning: ‘Due to eye and to visible object eye consciousness arises’.” When seeing consciousness arises, it is not without cause or condition. Due to the eye and to visible object eye consciousness arises. When we see something, there is seeing consciousness in us. But if we do not have the eye, we will not see. And if there is nothing to be seen, there will be no seeing consciousness. Seeing consciousness depends upon the eye and the visible object for its arising. Actually there are not only these two but some more. What are they? Light. If it is dark, we do not see anything. And then there must be attention. Even though sometimes something passes in front of us, still we don’t see. We don’t pay attention. Attention is also a condition for the arising of seeing consciousness, hearing consciousness and so on.

“When he has thus seen that the occurrence of mentality-materiality is due to conditions, then he sees that, as now, so in the past too its occurrence was due to conditions, and in the future too its occurrence will be due to conditions.” The conditions of the present, he sees directly, but the conditions of the past and for the future, he uses inference. He does not see directly, but by inference he concludes that the past and the future must have conditions also.

“When he sees in this way, all his uncertainty is abandoned.” There are 16 kinds of doubt or uncertainty described in the Discourses in many places. They are given here - five with regard to the past, five with regard to the future and six with regard to the present. They are the following: “1. Was I in the past? 2. Was I not in the past? 3. What was I in the past? 4. How was I in the past?” ‘How was I in the past’ means was I a king, or a brahmin, or an ordinary person or something like that. ‘What was I in the past’ means was I tall, was I short, was I black, was I fair or something like that. “ 5. Having been what, what was I in the past?” These are the five doubts with regard to past lives or past aggregates. He is just doubting. He does not come to any conclusion. If he says ‘I was I was in the past’, there is no doubt. But here he is not sure - was he in the past or was he not in the past and so on. It is similar for the future. “ 1. Shall I be in the future? 2. Shall I not be in the future? 3. What shall I be in the future? 4. How shall I be in the future? 5. Having been what shall I be in the future?” And also the six kinds of uncertainty about the present are stated thus: “ 1. Am I? 2. Am I not? 3. What am I? 4. How am I?” How am I is strange. Am I black/ Am I white? Am I tall? Am I short? Do you have any thoughts about your height or your color? No. The Sub-Commentary explains that it is with reference to attÈ that he doubts. Do I identify attÈ with myself? How is that attÈ? Is that attÈ tall or short, or black or white? It is not about one’s own height, or color, or whatever, but about one’s attÈ. “ 5. Whence will this being have come? 6. Whither will it be bound?” From where did I come? Where will I be born and where am I going? These are doubts about the present. There are 16 kinds of doubt. These are mentioned again and again in the Suttas.

When the meditator sees there is mind and matter only and that mind and matter have their own conditions for their arising, then doubts are abandoned or given up. “Another sees the condition for mentality as twofold, according to what is common to all and to what is not common to all, and that for materiality as fourfold, according to kamma and so on.”

“The condition for mentality is twofold, as that which is common to all and that which is not common to all. Herein, the six doors beginning with the eye and the six objects beginning with visible data are a condition common to all.” That mean they are common to all wholesome and unwholesome consciousness. Whether you have a wholesome or an unwholesome consciousness, they are always there. So they are common to all.

“But attention, etc., are not common to all; for wise attention, hearing the Good Dhamma, etc., are a condition only for the profitable (That is wholesome.), while the opposite kinds are a condition for the unprofitable.” Now you find wise attention and unwise attention as a condition for wholesome and unwholesome cittas. “Kamma, etc., are a condition for the resultant mentality; and the life-continuum, etc., are a condition for the functional.” In order to understand this you must understand-TAPE ENDS

SÈdhu! SÈdhu! SÈdhu!

We offer this transcription of a Dhamma class with Venerable U SÊlÈnanda with the hope that it will be beneficial for your understanding of the Buddha’s teachings. This transcription has not been edited. It is the record of spontaneous exchanges between the teacher and students. Therefore it is possible that there are some errors. We are certain that such errors are infrequent and minimal. SayÈdaw is a meticulous and careful teacher and offers these teachings in this manner out of compassion for those people interested in the serious study and practice of meditation and Buddhism.