WB1

                                  Word of the Buddha

 

Welcome to ‘The Word of the Buddha’ class. I chose this book for this class because personally I liked it very much. Ever since I laid my hands on it  (That was about 5 years ago.), I liked the arrangement of the book. In this book the Four Noble Truths are explained in the words of the Buddha. Or in other words this book contains the Four Noble Truths as expounded by the Buddha himself. So we are going to learn the Four Noble Truths in the Buddha’s own words. Or maybe we will learn one step removed because we are reading in English and not in PÈÄi. However the translation is reliable and the arrangement is very good. Through this book you can have a firm knowledge of the Four Noble Truths as expounded by the Buddha.

 

If you understand the Four Noble Truths, actually you understand all the teachings of the Buddha. There is a saying: “There is no dhamma which is outside the Four Noble Truths.” So you may pick up anything in the world, in your mind, or whatever, and it belongs to one of the Four Noble Truths. Whatever Buddha taught during the 45 years of his ministry could be included in one of the Four Noble Truths. Buddha’s teachings are all aimed at people for the realization of the Four Noble Truths.

 

In the introduction the author gives a description of the three gems or the three refuges and the five precepts. If you have read at least a book about Buddhism, you are familiar with the Four Noble Truths or at least the term, ‘the Four Noble Truths’.

 

These Four Noble Truths were discovered by a teacher called ‘the Buddha’. So we need to know something about the Buddha. In the introduction the author gives a brief description of the person whom we call ‘the Buddha’.

 

The compiler of this book was the German monk, Venerable Nyanatiloka. He was I think the foremost of the Westerners who became TheravÈda monks and who lived in the East and who died in the East. He went first to Sri Lanka. Then he went to Myanmar and got ordination in Myanmar. But for most of his life he lived in Sri Lanka. He was a German. You can see the accomplishment of the German mind in his books. He wrote many books - The Word of the Buddha, Fundamentals of Buddhism, The Path to Deliverance (These are small books.), and he wrote many books in German. He translated into German the Abhidhammatthasa~gaha, the Visuddhi Magga, the A~guttara NikÈya (These are big books.). I had the honor of living with him for three months when I was in Sri Lanka. Soon after that he died. That was in Colombo.

 

In the introduction the Buddha is described. I don’t think there is anything difficult there. Then there is the Dhamma. With regard to the Dhamma we must understand that by the word ‘Dhamma’ is meant the teachings of the Buddha and also what he realized at the moment of enlightenment, and also what he knew. All of them are called ‘Dhamma’. We are apt to take Dhamma as just his teachings or those things in the books. Actually ‘Dhamma’ means the Four Paths and the Four Fruits he realized at the time of his enlightenment, also NibbÈna, and his teachings. All of them are called ‘Dhamma’. When we say ‘I take refuge in the Dhamma’, we means all of them.

 

“The Dhamma is the Teaching of Deliverance in its entirety, as discovered, realized and proclaimed by the Buddha.” We say that there are ten kinds of Dhamma - Four Paths, Four Fruits, NibbÈna and the books or teachings. So they are called the ten kinds of Dhamma.

 

Then there is the Sa~gha. “The Sa~gha - literally the assembly or community - is the Order of Bhikkhus or Mendicant Monks, founded by the Buddha and still existing in its original form in Burma (Myanmar), Siam (Thailand), Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Cambodia, Laos and Cittagong (Bengal).” At that time maybe Laos was not known. There are five countries in Southeast Asia where TheravÈda Buddhism is the major religion - Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. The Sa~gha mentioned here is still existing in these countries in its original form.

 

Wit regard to the word ‘Sa~gha’ you must understand when we say ‘I take refuge in the Sa~gha’ or ‘I go to the Sa~gha for refuge’, that we mean the community of Noble Disciples, the Disciples of the Buddha who have gained enlightenment by following his teachings and practicing meditation. So when we say ‘I go for refuge to the Sa~gha’, we mean what we call ‘the Noble Persons’, those who have gained enlightenment following the Buddha’s advice.

 

Sometimes the word ‘Sa~gha’ just means all monks, whether Noble or not noble, whether ordinary or Noble. All are called ‘Sa~gha’. In that sense the word ‘Sa~gha’ is used in the first PiÔaka, the Vinaya PiÔaka. Among the Sa~gha the famous disciples are mentioned in the introduction - Venerable SÈriputta, Venerable MoggallÈna, Venerable Œnanda, Venerable Kassapa, Venerable Anuruddha, and Venerable RÈhula. They are members of the Sa~gha.

 

Then the threefold refuge is described. ‘Taking refuge’ means recognizing them as guides. ‘Taking refuge’ is not relying on them, depending on them totally. We depend upon the Buddha, Dhamma and Sa~gha for advice, for instructions, but we must work ourselves. We must practice ourselves. So ‘taking refuge’ really means accepting them as infallible spiritual guides. So it says here: “These ‘Three Jewels’ form also the ‘Threefold Refuge’ (ti-saraÓa) of the Buddhist, in the words by which he professes, or re-affirms, his acceptance of them as the guides of his life and thought.” So they are the guides for the realization of truth.

 

“The PÈÄi formula of Refuges is still the same as in the Buddha’s time:

     BuddhaÑ saraÓaÑ gacchÈmi.

     DhammaÑ saraÓaÑ gacchÈmi.

     Sa~ghaÑ saraÓaÑ gacchÈmi.”

We say this every day.

    “I go for refuge to the Buddha.

     I go for refuge to the Dhamma.

     I go for refuge to the Sa~gha.”

Some of you understand the meaning of the PÈÄi word ‘gacchÈmi’. What does it mean? I go. In PÈÄi the words that have the meaning ‘to go’ also have the meaning of ‘to know’ and ‘to reach’. Here ‘I go’ really means ‘I know’. That means I recognize the Buddha to be my refuge. ‘I go to the Buddha for refuge’ means I take the Buddha as my refuge.

 

After the refuges comes the Five Precepts. When a person takes refuge, he is proclaiming himself to be a Buddhist. Every Buddhist takes refuge in the Buddha. “It is through the simple act of reciting this formula three times that one declares oneself a Buddhist.” After becoming a Buddhist, a person is expected to keep the five moral precepts. “Their observance is the minimum standard needed to form the basis of a decent life and of further progress towards Deliverance.” If we or if anybody claims himself to be a Buddhist, a follower of the Buddha, he is expected to keep the five precepts. They are called ‘upÈsaka sÊla’, the moral standard of those who follow the Buddha. The first precept is not to take life, not killing. The second precept is not to take things that are not given by the owner, not to steal. The third is to abstain from sexual misconduct. The fourth is to abstain from telling lies. The fifth is to abstain from taking intoxicants. These are the five precepts expected to be kept intact by Buddhists. In Myanmar there is a saying: “Keep five precepts as you keep your longyi (the lower garment).” In the same way a person should never be without the five precepts at any time.

 

There are eight precepts and ten precepts too, but they are observed occasionally. Lay people cannot keep eight precepts or ten precepts every day, but five precepts, if they want to, they can keep. Precepts are called ‘nicca sÊla (permanent sÊla), permanent moral standard’.

 

Let us go to The Word of the Buddha itself, the Four Noble Truths. This book is an exposition of the Four Noble Truths in the words of the Buddha. When we read this book, we have the feeling that the Buddha himself is expounding the Four Noble Truths in a systematic way. In order to compile this book do you know how much labor is involved? The author had to go through all the NikÈyas, all the five collections of Suttas. Maybe there were two or three thousand pages. Then he had to select from them and arrange them in a systematic way. So although it is a small book (It doesn’t even occupy 100 pages.), the author had to read through all the NikÈyas (collections), some books on Abhidhamma and the Commentaries. It is small in size, but not small in content.

“Thus has it been said by the Buddha, the Enlightened One: It is through not understanding , not realizing four things, that I, Disciples, as well as you, had to wander so long through this round of rebirths. And what are these four things? They are: The Noble Truth of Suffering (dukkha); The Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering (dukkha-samudaya); The Noble Truth of the Extinction of Suffering (dukkha-nirodha); The Noble Truth of the Path that Leads to the Extinction of Suffering (dukkha-nirodha-gÈmini-paÔipadÈ).”

Different passages were taken from the Suttas and then arranged in connected sequences. By this passage we know how much value the Buddha put on the Four Noble Truths or on the realization of the Four Noble Truths. “It is through not understanding, not realizing four things, that I, Disciples, as well as you, had to wander so long through this round of rebirths.” So you, as well as I, have gone through this round of rebirths for billions and billions of lives, simply because we did not understand, we did not realize these Four Noble Truths. That is what the Buddha said.

“They are: The Noble Truth of Suffering, The Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering, The Noble Truth of the Extinction of Suffering, The Noble Truth of the Path that leads to the Extinction of Suffering.” We can learn these Four Noble Truths by an analogy. The First Noble Truth is like a disease. When you go to a physician or a doctor, he makes a diagnosis for you. He says that you have this disease or that disease. So the First Noble Truth is like a disease. The Second Noble Truth is like the cause of that disease. This disease is caused by disturbance of blood, disturbance of bile and so on according to the indigenous medicine of Myanmar. This is the cause of the disease. The third is the cure for the disease. A doctor may say that you have this disease and it is caused by something. Then you may ask “Can you cure this disease?” And the doctor says “Yes. There is a cure. There is disappearance of this disease.” The Third Noble Truth is the cure of the disease. The Fourth Noble Truth is medicine. There is disease, cause of disease, cure of disease, and medicine for the cure of the disease.

“As long as the absolutely true knowledge and insight as regards these Four Noble Truths was not quite clear in me, so long was I not sure that I had won that supreme Enlightenment which is unsurpassed in all the world with its heavenly beings, evil spirits and gods, amongst all the hosts of ascetics and priests, heavenly beings and men.” In the original PÈÄi it is said not ‘so long was I not sure’ but ‘so long I did not proclaim’. That is what is said in the original PÈÄi. It is a little soft here - ‘so long was I not sure’. Actually Buddha said: “So long I did not proclaim that I had won that supreme Enlightenment.” That means so long as I did not know or have insight into the Four Noble Truths, I did not claim to be an enlightened person. I did not claim to be a Buddha. Only when he understood or when he penetrated and realized the Four Noble Truths did he clam to be the Buddha.

“But as soon as the absolute true knowledge and insight as regards these Four Noble Truths had become perfectly clear in me, there arose in me the assurance (That means ‘I claimed to be’.) that I had won the supreme Enlightenment unsurpassed.” The criterion of a person as to whether he is enlightened or is unenlightened is whether he has truly known or penetrated the Four Noble Truths. Here the ‘true knowledge and insight as regards the Four Noble Truths become quite clear’ means realization of these Four Noble Truths at the moment of enlightenment. ‘Knowledge of Four Noble Truths’ means real knowledge that comes from within.

I can explain to you the Four Noble Truths maybe in 15 minutes or twenty minutes. And you think that you know the Four Noble Truths. That understanding of the Four Noble Truths is quite different from the real insight into the Four Noble Truths through the practice of meditation and at the moment of enlightenment. Here ‘true knowledge and insight’ means penetration at the moment of enlightenment. There are many people who mistakenly think that they have seen the Four Noble Truths simply because they have heard about the Four Noble Truths or they have read about the Four Noble Truths, but that is not true.

I can explain to you the Four Noble Truths even through practice. You practice meditation and you keep your mind on the breath or the movements of the abdomen. The breath or the movements of the abdomen as well as your practice belong to the First Noble Truth, the Noble Truth of Suffering. Everything in the world is suffering. This suffering is here because you have attachment. You had craving in the past. Because of that craving in the past you are born here as a human being. As a human being you suffer. And when you practice meditation, also it is suffering. The disappearance of greed, hatred and delusion is NibbÈna. And the disappearance or cessation of all this suffering, including mind and body, is NibbÈna, the Third Noble Truth. The practice of meditation is included in the Fourth Noble Truth, the Path that leads to the cessation of suffering. Strictly speaking, the Fourth Noble Truth is that which arises at the moment of enlightenment. Before reaching the stage of enlightenment, people have to practice. This practice belonging to the mundane sphere, the mundane world, is also said to belong to the Fourth Noble Truth because it leads to the Fourth Noble Truth.

So you know the Fourth Noble Truths in just five minutes, but this sort of understanding of the Four Noble Truths is not what is meant in this passage. In this passage the knowledge or the true understanding of the Four Noble Truths means really seeing them by yourself through the practice of vipassanÈ meditation. Only through vipassanÈ meditation can one see these Four Noble Truths clearly.

From the moment the Buddha won this true knowledge and insight with regard to the Four Noble Truths he proclaimed himself to be the Buddha. After he became the Buddha, he went to Benares to give the First Sermon. On the way he met an ascetic. That ascetic asked him “What are you?” And he said “I am the Buddha.” Actually he said “I am a jina (conqueror) of mental defilements.” Later on when a Brahmin asked him whether he, the Buddha, was going to be reborn as a deva or some other celestial being, the Buddha said “No.” Then the Brahmin asked “How are we to understand you?” The Buddha said “Know me as a Buddha.” So the Buddha proclaimed himself to be the Buddha after he became enlightened. Before enlightenment he did not claim to be the Buddha.

So the understanding and penetration of the Four Noble Truths is very important. It is the criterion by which we can judge people or persons as to whether they are enlightened or not.

“And I discovered that profound truth, so difficult to perceive, difficult to understand, tranquilizing and sublime which is not to be gained by mere reasoning, and is visible only  to the wise.” This is the reflection that the Buddha made after his enlightenment. After he became the Buddha, he reflected “I have discovered this profound truth so difficult to perceive.” It is not easy to perceive that all things in the world are suffering, that suffering is caused by craving and so on.

‘Tranquilizing’ - when one has become enlightened, he is very peaceful. So it is tranquilizing and sublime. ‘Sublime’ in PÈÄi means - I don’t know what to say. You like some food and you eat that food. And you cannot eat enough because you like it. What do you say about that food? It is something like insatiable, but we do not say that the food is insatiable. How do you say that? ‘Sublime’ means that. When you realize the Dhamma, you want to go on and on and on. You are not satiated.

“Which is not to be gained by mere reasoning” - so logical reasoning cannot serve here. That is why we have to apply mindfulness when we practice meditation and not think of this thing and that thing. If we speculate on things when we meditate, we will not get concentration. We will be going in the wrong direction, away from meditation. So it is not to be gained by just thinking or mere reasoning.

“And is visible only to the wise.” Those who are wise can see this profound truth, that is the Four Noble Truths.

“The world, however, is given to pleasure, delighted with pleasure, enchanted with pleasure. Truly, such beings will hardly understand the law of conditionality, the Dependent Origination of everything; incomprehensible to them will also be the end of all formations, the forsaking of every substratum of rebirth, the fading away of craving, detachment, extinction, NibbÈna.” This passage is very true. People are given to pleasure, delighted with pleasure, contented with pleasure. People are always going after pleasures to enjoy - to enjoy life, to enjoy wealth, to enjoy family life, to enjoy everything, to enjoy duty.

“Truly such beings will hardly understand the law of conditionality, the Dependent Origination of everything.” The Buddha was going to teach Dependent Origination to persons. *** This is what is happening now. When you talk about Buddha’s teachings, people don’t like it. When you say that one is to give up sensual pleasures or whatever, people don’t like it. Sometimes whether people like it or not, you have to say something about the giving up of enjoyment. People often ask me whether I enjoy nature or whether I enjoy beauty. At one time a man was offering food to me and he said to me as he offered the food “Enjoy the breakfast.” Or “Enjoy the lunch.” You know monks are taught not to enjoy food. We are taught to eat food as though we were eating the flesh of our own son or something like that. So it is very difficult to understand the Buddha’s teachings.

“Incomprehensible to them will also be the end of all formations.” People often ask “What is NibbÈna?” If I were to tell the truth about NibbÈna, nobody will want NibbÈna. That is because all of us are attached to ourselves, to our lives. And whatever we look at we look at with this background of existence, in terms of existence. NibbÈna  is described as the extinction of all suffering. ‘Extinction of all suffering’ means extinction of mind and body, extinction of you, extinction of me, nothing. So it is very difficult to understand the end of all formations. The physical body that we have and let us say the mental body are called ‘formations’ here. The end of all formations means the cessation of all formations, the cessation of life, the cessation of you, or I, or whatever. It is very difficult to understand the end of all formations which is NibbÈna.

“The forsaking of every substratum of rebirth” - that means any cause of rebirth. That means defilements. We are attached to many things although we are practicing meditation. If somebody says “Don’t be attached to your family; don’t be attached to your house, to your car, to your wealth”, we don’t like it. We don’t want to give up this attachment. We take delight in this attachment. With attachment we feel safe. We feel good about this. If we do not have any attachment to things, it looks like dry, boring or something like that. So it is difficult for people to understand “the forsaking of every substratum of rebirth, the fading away of craving, detachment, extinction, NibbÈna.”

When Buddha thought about this, he hesitated to teach at all. Actually in his mind he thought: “If I were to teach people and they do not understand, this means fatigue for me. It might be good if I do not teach at all.” He thought something like that. This kind of thought occurred to the Buddha at that time. In our books it is mentioned that a higher brahmÈ came to the Buddha because he knew the Buddha’s thoughts. He asked that the Buddha teach what he had discovered. Then the Buddha surveyed the whole range of beings. He saw that there were beings whose eyes were only a little covered by dust. Buddha saw beings that were not so intelligent and those that were intelligent, those that were given to sensual pleasures and those that were not, and so on. He thought: “Those whose eyes are only a little covered with dust, I will teach.” So the Buddha decided to teach. “Yet there are beings whose eyes are only a little covered with dust; they will understand the truth.” So there is hope that people will understand his teachings. So he decided to teach. And he went to Benares to teach his First Sermon to his five former disciples.

The Four Noble Truths are not easy to understand. That means they are not easy to see and not easy to discover, and not easy to like.

Student: Bhante, how could it be that the Buddha could go from life to life perfecting his pÈramÊs with the intention of proclaiming the Dhamma, and then after enlightenment have what seems such a selfish thought?

Teacher: This question has been asked again and again throughout the history of Buddhism. One time the Prime Minister of Myanmar, U Nu, put this question to the SayÈdaws. They had to write books for him. It is only for a brief moment that Buddha thought about this. Actually the Buddha did not decide not to teach. He was just a little hesitant that people might not understand. Actually he knew that there were beings with different capabilities. He knew that there were beings that had the capabilities to understand his teachings. He knew that. It was just for a brief moment seeing people being emersed in sensual pleasures that his mind became a little hesitant. Actually he did not decide to refrain from teaching at that moment.

Let us go to the First Noble Truth, the Noble Truth of Suffering. “What, now, is the Noble Truth of Suffering?” This is the definition or exposition of the Buddha himself. “Birth is suffering; Decay is suffering; Death is suffering; Sorrow, Lamentation, Pain, Grief, and Despair are suffering; not to get what one desires is suffering; in short the Five Groups of Existence are suffering.” This is the exposition of the Buddha.

Now in some Texts there are some sentences which say that to be with those whom you hate is suffering and to be without those whom are dear to you is suffering. They are missing in this translation and also in the original of this passage. It is because in the exposition given below they are not commented upon. So they are not included here. But in other places these two sentences are given in the exposition of the Four Noble Truths, that is to be with those whom you hate and to be without those whom are dear to you is also suffering. 

So birth is suffering. That is not so difficult to understand. Right? Decay or old age is suffering. To become old is suffering. You don’t want to get old. So it is suffering. “Death is suffering; Sorrow, Lamentation, Pain, Grief, and Despair are suffering; in short the Five Groups of Existence are Suffering.” The exposition that birth, decay, death and so on are suffering is not difficult to understand. However, the last sentence, ‘the Five Groups of Existence are suffering’, is not easy to understand. ‘The five groups of existence’ means everything that there is in the world is suffering. So we are all suffering. Whatever happens to us is suffering. Whether we are happy or not, it is suffering. It is a little difficult to understand.

Suffering is to be understood on two levels, the ordinary level and the deeper level. The saying that the five groups of existence are suffering is to be understood on a deeper level. In order to understand this we must understand the criterion that the Buddha gave for something to be dukkha or not. The Buddha said: “Whatever is impermanent is suffering.” That we must understand. Whatever has a beginning and an end is suffering.

You are happy. That happiness has a beginning and an end. So that happiness is tormented by rising and falling. That is why it is called ‘dukkha (suffering)’. Dukkha is to be understood at this deeper level. Otherwise you may not want to accept this. “Oh, we enjoy food, we enjoy life and we are happy. What is there to be called ‘suffering’?” In this way people may think. Buddha said that such happiness itself is suffering because it has a beginning and it will end. Whatever has a beginning and an end, arising and falling, is said to be suffering. That is because it is not satisfactory. Suffering here is not just the painful, but that which is tormented by rising and falling.

So when you practice meditation and you see things coming and going, rising and falling, rising and falling, you have this sense of dukkha. You are helpless. Everything is coming and going and you cannot do anything about that. It is something like boring. It is suffering. So the first explanations are not so difficult to understand, but the last one is difficult to understand.

Student: Bhante, could you say something about the word ‘dukkha’. How was it used before the time of the Buddha?

Teacher: Normally dukkha is painful. For example you are sorry. That is dukkha. You have a pain in your body. That is dukkha. So ‘dukkha’ just means painful, sorrowful. But when the Buddha used the word ‘dukkha’, he used with added meaning, the added meaning of unsatisfactoriness. The literal meaning of dukkha is difficult to endure. There are two parts to the word, ‘du’ and ‘kha’. ‘Du’ means difficult and ‘kha’ means endure. So we get that which is difficult to endure is dukkha. We don’t like rising and falling. Especially we don’t like disappearing. This we don’t want to happen, but it happens. So this is difficult to endure. Now modern authors say unsatisfactory is a better translation than suffering.

Birth is suffering; decay is suffering and so on. “What, now, is Birth?” This is the exposition of the Buddha on birth and so on. “The birth of beings belonging to this or that order of beings, their being born, their conception and springing into existence, the manifestation of the Groups of Existence, the arising of sense activity - this is called birth.” Birth is always explained in these words in the Suttas as well as in the Abhidhamma.

“Their being born, their conception and springing into existence, the manifestation of the Groups of Existence, the arising of sense activity” - actually it is the arising of the bases. There are twelve bases. The ‘arising of sense activity’ means the arising of these bases.

Birth is not when a child is born. Birth begins with conception. There are different forms of life. In human beings there is conception. Then the fetus lives and grows in the womb. After ten (nine?) months it is born. ‘Birth’ means conception, not being born in the case of human beings. There are other forms of life, for example devas. They do not have to be born in the womb of their mothers. When a being is born there, it is born as a grown-up person. They are called ‘beings of spontaneous birth’. For them the manifestation of the groups of existence, the manifestation as a male or as a female, is at birth. But for human beings and for animals conception is what is called ‘birth’. So ‘birth’ means the first moment in a given life.

At the first moment in the life of a human being there is a certain type of consciousness and there are thirty material properties. They arise together. Technically speaking ‘birth’ means for human beings that consciousness, its mental concomitants and the thirty material properties which arise at that moment. So ‘the arising of sense activity’ means the first moment in a given life, the first moment of consciousness and also the material properties.

“And what is decay?” That means getting old. “The decay of beings belonging to this or that order of beings; their becoming aged, frail, gray, and wrinkled (They are not difficult to see.); the failing of their vital force, the wearing out of the senses - this is called decay.” Actually they are all signs of old age. Aging itself cannot be seen by the eyes, but the signs of aging we can see. These are signs of old age.

“The failing of the vital force” - there is what we call ‘jÊvita (the vital force)’ in our physical body as well as in our mind. When it becomes weak, we say it is decay or old age. “The wearing out of the senses” - so your eyes can no longer see clearly or your hearing is impaired. Your teeth are broken and you have gray hair - this is decay.

“And what is death? The departing and vanishing of beings out of this or that order of beings, their destruction, disappearing, death, the completion of their life-period, dissolution of the Groups of Existence, the discarding of the body - this is called death.” ‘Discarding of the body’ has to do with human beings and animals, but not with celestial beings. For celestial beings when they die, they just disappear. There is no burying of the body, cremation, or whatever for the celestial beings. Discarding of the body is for human beings and beings belonging to lower forms of life.

Student: What about beings in hell?

Teacher: In hell also when they die, they just die. There is no cremation or whatever.

“And what is Sorrow? The sorrow arising through this or that loss or misfortune which one encounters, the worrying oneself, the state of being alarmed, inward sorrow, inward woe - this is called sorrow.” Sorrow is domanassa (aversion).

“And what is Lamentation? Whatsoever, through this or that loss or misfortune which befalls one, is wail and lament, wailing and lamenting, the state of woe and lamentation - this is called lamentation.” Lamentation is technically speaking voice. When you cry, you say something (or make a noise?). That voice, that sound is what is called ‘lamentation’ here. That voice is caused by mind. Born of mind some kind of voice arises.

“And what is Pain? The bodily pain and unpleasantness, the painful and unpleasant feeling produced by bodily impression - this is called pain.” ‘Pain’ here means not in the body, but pain in the mind. Pain is feeling in the mind. This feeling has to do with some pain in the body. There are two kinds of pain, mental pain and physical pain. Here physical pain is meant, but ‘physical pain’ means the feeling of pain depending upon the physical pain. When you are sorry for some reason, you have mental pain. Whenever we say ‘pain’ here, it means the feeling in the mind, not what we call pain in the body. Do you understand? In PÈÄi it is called ‘dukkha’.

It is also very important when we practice meditation. There is pain here (in the body). Then you feel pain in your mind. Then you keep on being mindful of pain - “pain, pain, pain”. Actually that is mindfulness of painfulness in the mind in reality. That feeling depends upon the pain in the body which is called ‘bodily pain.

“And what is Grief?” This is domanassa. “The mental pain and unpleasantness, the painful and unpleasant feeling produced by mental impression - this is called grief.”

“And what is despair? Distress and despair arising through this or that loss or misfortune which one encounters: distressfulness and desperation - this is called despair.”

In PÈÄi there are many synonyms. So when something is defined many synonyms are used, one synonym after another. At times it is very difficult to translate these synonyms into another language. Sometimes there is only the difference of a suffix. There are different kinds of suffixes meaning the same thing. Different suffixes will be used with one root and so we get different synonyms. Although they are synonyms in PÈÄi language, they cannot be translated into Burmese or into English. It is very difficult. That is why it sounds a little strange here.

“The mental pain and unpleasantness, the painful and unpleasant feeling produced by mental impression - this is called grief.”

“And what is Despair? Distress and despair arising through this or that loss or misfortune which one encounters: distressfulness and desperation - this is called despair.” Despair is actually dosa. Dosa and domanassa are different. If you have studied Abhidhamma, you know this. Domanassa is ill will or aversion, that is mental feeling. Dosa is anger. Domanassa is feeling (vedanÈ). Dosa is not feeling, but it is anger, mostly aggressive. Both aggressive and passive dosa are called ‘dosa’ in Abhidhamma. Aggressive dosa is anger. Passive or non-aggressive dosa is fear or sometimes sorrow.  Fear is said to be included in dosa, but it is not anger in the modern sense.

“And what is ‘the Suffering of not getting what one desires’?” You want to own a Rolls Royce and you do not own it. So there is suffering. Right? The Buddha went deeper. “To beings subject to birth there come the desire: ‘Oh, that we were not subject to birth! Oh, that no new birth was before us! Subject to decay, disease, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair, the desire comes to them: ‘Oh, that we were not subject to these things! Oh, that these things were not before us!’ But this cannot be got by mere desiring; and not to get what one desires, is suffering.” ‘Not to get what one desires is suffering’ is this. We don’t want to get old. So we wish “Oh, it would be good if old age does not come to us.” But it cannot be avoided. Even while we are saying this, we are getting older and older. That is suffering. That is not satisfactory. That we don’t like. That is not good. This is suffering.

“ ‘Oh, that we were not subject to these things! Oh, that these things were not before us!’  But this cannot be got by mere desiring.” You may desire, but you may not get them. “And not to get what one desires is suffering.” 

Student: Bhante, in the morning chanting they have these extra sentences: “Association with the disliked is dukkha; separation from the liked is dukkha.” Does that just come from a different section of the Suttas?

Teacher: Yes. I think it is from a different Sutta. Do you see the reference to DÊgha NikÈya, Sutta 22? In that Sutta those sentences do not appear, but in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (The First Sermon) these two sentences appear.

                            SÈdhu!               SÈdhu!             SÈdhu!