156: Retreat Dhamma Talk 51: Observing the Most Obvious Object

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Sabhagato Arhato Sama Sambudasa Namo Tasabhagwato Rahato Sama Sambudasa Namo Tasabhato Arahato Sama Sambudasa Retreat Series Dhamma Top Number fifty one and the last Dhamma Top we discuss about five mental obstruction and five mental imprisonment in the sansara ten of them so as long as these ten dharmas are very active in our life we will not have much happiness and if you truly want to be happy you need to eliminate or reduce the frequency of these ten dharma in us. Of course, there are many ways, but the best way to overcome these ten dharma is satipattana vipassana. Mindfulness inside meditation. So we use full foundation of mindfulness to practice vipassana. These full foundations of mindfulness are mindfulness of the body, of the feeling, of the mental formation, mindfulness of the body, mindfulness of feeling, mindfulness of the mind, and mindfulness of Dharma, full groups. And whenever you are practicing one, when you pick up one of the foundations, it's not separately operating on its own, it automatically flows and marches according to the condition to the remaining three. So in other words, these four foundations are flowing one into the other according to the condition. Let's suppose you are the beginners at this meditation. You are the beginners. And let's suppose you have no other experience in any type of meditation. In other words, you haven't practiced samatha meditation and have attained quite a bit high degree of concentration. That would be the supposition. But even if you have great concentration with other different methods, samatha method, if you want to practice this Satipatana Fipasana method, one needs to follow the instruction as it is given. And in here, the beginner should start with the mindfulness of the body. That's a starting point. First of all, you start with the mindfulness of the body and you make yourself grounded and skillful in mindfulness of the body. That's a starting point. So we'll be dealing with this full foundation of mindfulness. There's a a phrase called Gai Kaya Nupassi Weharati. What it means is based on the form, based on this body, a certain manners, behaviors, and actions arises. As long as you have this physical body from head to toe, there will always be arising a certain action, certain manners and certain behaviors all the time. And one must note or one must observe in these actions, behaviors, and manners repeatedly. You must observe repeatedly. And also label it, know it. This is the body. In other words, this is rupat. You must note all the actions and behaviors and manners repeatedly, whatever is arising at the moment, and note it, label it, this is rupat, rupa, rupa, body, body, body. In all four postures, which means you must note them while you're sitting or while you're standing, while you're walking, or while you are lying down, and all four posture. Must know and must note this is the body or this is rupa. Or physicality. Don't go and say this is feeling. Body must be known as body. Rupa must be rupa. Okay? That is one key point in this practice, especially if you are doing the body, emphasizing on the body or mindfulness of the body. And why do we start? What's the reason? Why do we start with the mindfulness of the body? Just to give a general wider view. Humans, we human realms. In this human realms, this physicality form is very obvious because we give great emphasis on this form, this human realm. Because of that, the body is the most obvious thing. And in the Dewa Ram, in the Dewa Ram, feeling is the most obvious thing. The body is not, the form is not, the feeling is the most obvious object. In the Brahman Ram, neither the feeling or the form is obvious, but the mind is very obvious. See? Based on the different form of existence, different kind of existence, a certain, okay, a certain state, mental states or the a certain physicality or mentality become more obvious. For human form, this body is the most obvious thing. That's the reason we start with the form, because for us, form is the most important and obvious thing. Form is what we are used to at all times, since we are born till we die. So in here, when you practice vipassana, there's an instruction. What is that instruction? That instruction is one must observe what is most obvious. The obvious object, you must start with it. You don't just go and jump whatever you think you would like to do. So in here, we human, what is the most obvious object? Form or the body. That's why we are starting our practice with the mindfulness of the body. So as we start with the body, it is in Pali we call rupa or rupa kanda. Or body or form or materiality or material process. They are all one and the same, whatever what one is using. So in this form or rupa, okay, what is the most obvious thing? How can you identify this form? Are you going to identify with the head or the hands or the eyes or this hole from top to bottom? You can't really pinpoint. But what this rupa is made up of is actually made up of four great elements. This body is made up of four great elements, which is earth, wind, and fire. We know under those words. And also the forty-four dependence material. These not twenty-four dependent materials. This material depends on these four great elements. So in here, anything with the eyes and ears and tongue, they are not as obvious. They are a lot more subtle. And what is obvious? What is obvious is the wind element. Because what is wind? It's action, movement. And every time, everything, every day, as long as we are conscious, we are moving and moving and moving. We are in one posture or the other. That's why wind element is the most obvious among these four great elements. That's why we chose the wind elements to observe here. We use the abdomen, of course, abdomen or tummy or belly. We observe the rising movement and falling movement, or expansion and contraction. That's what we are and also along with it stiffness and tensions and fullness and bloatedness and pressure, all these things we observe. And they are all wind elements. Okay, let's say in full posture, whether we are sitting or standing or lying or walking. What it is, you can always feel the stiffness. You can always feel the uprightness when you're sitting upright, standing upright, walking upright. And we can always feel the movement bending or stretching or lifting or pushing or dropping. And these stiffness and uprightness and pressure and movements, what is it? Those are the manifestation of the wind element. So we just say wind element, but what we are actually seeing, experiencing is the manifestation of the wind element. And these manifestations are easily recognizable without any using any concept. That's why we use movements, all movements, actions, and behavior as the main object to observe. Why? Because it is the most obvious object for us. Why the Buddha said one must observe whichever is the most obvious object. That's the reason we choose rupa, body, and then we pick up the win element. So trying to show why we are doing on what we are doing according to the scripture and explanation thoroughly. Why it is. Or hardness or softness. Or rough or smooth. That's the earth element, the manifestation of earth element, rough or smooth. There's some sort of a substance or solidity. There's always something, a substance or solidity that you can touch and feel. That's a earth element, toughness, heaviness. Those are the manifestation of earth element. Let's say in our body, like bones and nails and teeth, they are hard. And then skins, your cheeks, they are soft, hard and soft. It's very obvious. And also this earth element, you can call it that receiving element. Receiving element. What it is is for the other three elements, okay, fire, water, or wind. To arise, they need earth element. Without the earth element, they cannot arise. So basically that's why it's also known as receiving element. If you don't have a substance, that means you don't have fire, water, or wind. So that's it receives the other three elements. This earth element is. So that's how one it is. When you're observing the body, you are observing all these characteristic manifestations of the earth element. Okay, let's see water element. What is water element? A feeling of being wet, you can feel touch wetness, dampness, trickling, leaking, fluidity, stickiness, or consolidation or dispersion. These are the manifestation of the water element. Heaviness. Once they arrive, and when you're wet, you just know. So these are the manifestations of water element. Okay, in our body we can we know that water element in terms of tears, in terms of sweats, in terms of saliva. These are the ones in our body and in meditation. Tears you might experience sweat, saliva, sometimes sticky feeling. That is the water element. Observing water element all means the manifestation, those one must experience directly. Fire element. Fire element is temperature, hot, warm, cold. That is the manifestation of fire element. And also, fire element can create lightness, being light, not heavy, opposite to heavy, light. That is the characteristics of fire element. And also it has the property of decaying power of maturity. What is decay power? Let's look at it something that we know. We have all these, let's say, vegetables and fruits and grasses and leaves we put in the composite box. Why? Because if you put it there, it generates great heat. By generating great heat, they decay faster and they become a fertilizer a lot faster. But if they are kept out in the open, it wouldn't go through that process that fast. What's the difference? The temperature, the heat. So the heat decays materials a lot faster. Look in our body too. If we have a normal temperature, we'll be okay, but when we have very hot temperature, when you have a fever, your body breaks down. In other words, it's decaying a lot faster. That is the manifestation of fire element. These are the characteristics and manifestations. Some are characteristics, some are manifestation. One should know that I won't go too details into splitting them apart. And this fire element is a composite of very, very fine materials and subtle materials. Heat. People think there's no material, but there is material. The material is so fine and so subtle you can't see it. You can only feel it through the temperature change. But there is very fine, subtle material. These are in the scripture. And then the wind element we have talked at the beginning. Same thing, what are the characteristics and manifestation? Okay, it's the movement, definitely, movement, vibration, stiffness, tension, okay, pressing feeling or pressure, or support, supporting nature. Supporting nature, that is a manifestation. That's a win element. And when you're observing so-called wind elements, those are the ones you are encountering, experiencing at the moment when they are arising and knowing them as it is. So all these four elements are always operating in your body. Don't have to worry about it, not to be able to find it. They are always operating in a body as an aggregate. Okay? And all form, every part of it, and all your cells, all the cells and in an atomic level or subatomic level, these four elements are always in operation. So when it is in operation, one would always under a certain set of conditions stood out. But in general, we focus on the movement wind element. So if you are really observing these materiality of these elements, what happens? You will really know the pops up. There's a heat arises and it disappears. There's a movement arises and it disappears. Another vibration arises, it disappears. Stiffness arises and it disappears. That's what you will find. This rupa or materiality is they are always instantly arising and instantly disappearing. That you will experience if you are observing very closely. But if you don't observe, you won't know that. And when you don't know that, you begin to believe. But if you don't observe, if you keep on going as it is, everything as it is. Me, I going here, going there, sleeping here, sleeping there, a month here, a month there, a year here, year there, nothing changes. That is the kind of mindset it's built. If you don't observe. As if a young little tree is growing into a big tree, gradually growing. There's still a sense of permanency in that kind of outlook. So also these kind of things you cannot, okay, you cannot truly understand through reflection. If you go through with reflection, what happened is you would not know exactly what it is as it is. You can't see these with reflection. You can't see these in permanence through reflection to a full understanding. And as you don't see that what happened suddenly, you do not see dukkha as dukkha. What it is. What is dukkha? You all know through the okay, through theory, constant oppression by the arising and passing away is dukkha. And as you don't know the constant arising of constant arising and passing away of the objects, as you don't observe it, you don't think that is dukkha. Instead, you believe this dukkha, suffering as sukkha, something wonderful, beautiful. If we don't observe, we begin to look suffering as a wonderful thing. Dukkha, as sukka. That's how we believe. Because as we don't know what dukkha is, what is dukkha? Constantly oppressed by the nature of arising and passing away. As we don't know that what happened, the concept of atta self becomes stronger. But if you observed it, automatically you cannot see what whatever we think or imagine atta is, okay, is arising and passing away. It is not there, you don't know. So one must observe to know what atta is. So in here, if you are observing the let's say obscure object, you would not have the ability to know with precision and sharpness. If you pick up an obscure object and observe, you won't know exactly what it really is with clarity and sharpness. So that's why you need to observe the most obvious object so that you know what it is, how it is, you know its characteristics. You know its function, you know its manifestation, which means if you observe the most obvious objects, it will bring wisdom into it. Wisdom is knowing exactly like that on the object what it is, on this particular case, particular moment. That's with wisdom. So in here, if you look at it, there are people very sharp-minded, very intelligent people. You can get quite a bit of a handle on the nicha and dukkha, the law of impermanency and the law of suffering. Or everything is in a state of flux and oppressed by that system. By reflection, you can have a very good handle on it. But one thing is this anatta. We know anicja, impermanence, reflection, we can get it somewhat. We know dukkha, suffering, reflection, we can get it. And the third one is anatta, non-self no soul. That non-self no soul, use your intelligence as much as you want. You can reflect and dissect, analyze as much as you want, you will not be able to understand this anatta. And you will be still stuck with the concept or belief of atta, a self and a soul. That's why it is very important to observe or to note, and also one need to know we are right here, right now, we are observing this, trying to understand Nicha Dukkha Nata. But we have infinite number of lives we had lived before, and in all those lives we live with the view of permanency. We live with the view of bliss and happiness, sukkha, and we live with the view of atta, a self and a soul. So we already have three, those three views we have lived with for an infinite number of past lives, and it will be very, very difficult to erase in this life. Okay, that's why you cannot erase this, those three points of view to the opposite nature, which is the Buddhist point of view, and Nicha, dukkha, andatta, impermanence. Suffering and non-self know so through reflection. Through reflection, you cannot truly overcome that. You truly need to observe very closely and deeply. So observation, or you can call it noting, or you can call it mindfulness, whatever you want to call it. That is absolutely necessary if you want to understand life three common characteristics or general characteristic. You have heard that many times. What it means is you have to put a great urdent effort to be mindful. You put a lot of effort to be mindful so that you can clearly comprehend things. That one must do. And if you can do that, if you can have a constant mindfulness, automatically what happens is samadhi mental concentration developed. When the samadhi develop, you begin to see that three common characteristics, nicha, dukkha, and nata. Whenever you look at an object, it is passing passing away, and it is unsatisfactory and it has no essence, no core in it. You see all the time, and whenever you are seeing these three general characteristics, at that moment, mental defilement cannot arise. At that moment, there is no loba, no dosah, no boha, no greed, no anger, and no delusion or allusion. That's what's happening. But one thing was you must observe in such a way there is no break, no gap in your mindfulness. No break, no gap. So just to sum it up between this reflective awareness or reflection and the understanding through observation is reflection awareness up to a certain point, it's pretty good. And especially if you are coupling with the samatha, deep concentration, it's very strong. In fact, it's up to the point of you don't have anything, you don't have these kilesa, you big and thick. But one thing with it is even though you think that way, when it comes to a let's call it a soft spot or soft button, certain things come in, a soft spot at that moment, this breakdown. At that moment you don't see a nicha dukkar natha in it, and all the loba, dosa and moha arises again. That is the problem with reflective awareness or reflection associated with concentration, very good, very strong. Some can make things wrong, but at one point the soft spot of that person comes in, it breaks down. But with binya, which is wisdom, wisdom is you have seen all these loba, dosa and moha. You have seen all these anicha dukkana nata through observation, through direct experience, wisdom. And those kind of things, loba, dosa and moha, cannot arise anymore. Even though you are still in contact with all these objects, good objects, bad objects, okay, tough objects, soft objects, whatever kind of object, objects produce khilesa. But as you have the wisdom, as you see them in light of anicha dukkana nata, kilesa can never arise anymore. That's why pinya, we follow the pinya of wisdom or insight, and that can be achieved only through observation or mindfulness or noting. So in here, in our body, there's a billions and zillions of all these gupas are arising and passing away, they are in operation, and there are so many four elements here and there, everywhere. Okay, so what do we do? Do we have to observe the whole body? Do we have to observe everything from head to toe? No, you don't need to. What it is is not even you have to observe the four elements at the same time. Just simply observe one element in this body, which is let's say movement. You observe the movement. And if you truly understand the movement as it is, because that movement is associated with the four elements. They are not separate, they are all together. And those four elements are the ones that makes up your whole body. So when you can observe and understand the one element at one moment, precisely that means you have understood all four elements as well as the body. That's why we focus, zoom in to that present moment, and be mindful. In this particular case, we are instructing to be mindful on the win element or the movement or vibration. So by knowing one element at one moment, clearly and precisely, at that moment, you had killed or eliminated the mental defilement, kidesa. That's how it works. And this is how we are just simply reviewing how we practice Satipathana Vipassana meditation, okay, from a different light, presenting with a different light. And if we can observe that, what happened is the ten dharmas that we start with, five mental obstruction and five dharmas of mental imprisonment. The sansara that binds to the sansara. Okay, that can be totally eliminated by observation of the wind element at the present moment as it is arising. Why wind element? Because that is the most obvious object. In other words, these ten dhammas can be overcome by practicing Satipattana Vipassana. More specifically by using mindfulness of the body. So it seems like we are talking or we are practicing mindfulness of the body. Is it right? We can clearly think that way based on what we have talked so far because everything is emphasizing on mindfulness of the body, specifically on the wind element movements and vibrations and actions. But let's go farther and look into this. We are observing this wind element. In other words, we are observing the rupa or materiality. We are practicing mindfulness of the body. Okay? And you're observing this rising movement or falling movement or bending or stretching. Whatever it is, whatever the rupa is, whatever the rupa is, whenever the rupa or the form or the manners or behavior come in contact with the five cents door. And if there's the attention, what happened? At that moment, automatically feeling arises. Whether you want or you don't want, doesn't matter. It arises. So while you're observing the rupa, okay, mindfulness of the body, at some points under a set of conditions, this feeling, pleasant feeling, unpleasant feeling or neutral feeling, they are always arising, but sometimes they become very, very distinct and obvious. And at that moment you observe that feeling, till that feeling disappears or dissolve. And then of course you go back to the body. There's no choice. That is what happens because that is the natural law. That is the working between the rupa and nama, mind and matter. It is the law. You don't have to look for vidana, vidana will be there whenever it has become distinct. It will take over the whole scene, the whole stage, and at that moment you observe widana. Which means you are practicing vidana nupassana at that moment. And then again, let's see, you're observing what? Mindfulness of the body, rupa. You are observing the rupa. You come in contact with the rupa. And first of all, feeling arises. After the feeling, what arises? If you list the craving arises. You have a craving to be with that object, or you would have an aversion towards that object. Craving, aversion, like, dislike. The simple nature. In other words, emotion arises. Anger, hatred, jealousy, envy, likes, dislike, want, don't want, dissatisfied, frustration, all these things arise. Why? Because of that object, of that physical object that is arising in your body and you are become aware of it, and at that moment all these emotional mental state arises. And when they arise, you observe them till they disappear. Anger, observe the anger till they disappear. Happiness, observe the happiness till they disappear. Frustration, irritation, observe till they disappear. And also related to these incidents. What are the incidents? Incidents are your mind come in contact with the object. In general, that's it. Okay, we can of course say incident at the office, incident at the superstore, incident at the restaurant. But actually, it is can be described the contact between the rupa and the mind, Nama and Rupa, they come in contact. So there's a story, and there's a recall of those stories in the mind, it comes up. And when the recalls come in, one must know and one must observe. All the emotional state you observe, recall thoughts you observed, planning for future you observe, remembering from the past you observe. Why are these arises? Because of the contact between rupa and nāba. Because of the objects, physical object, starting point. And at that moment, what are you observing? Are you observing rupa or are you observing nama? You are observing nama, emotional states, thoughts, recalls. In other words, at that moment you are practicing Chaita Nupasana. Okay. And then of course, there are moments when you see something, hear something, taste something, touch something. The five sense door. When the five stencil are walking. What is it? Seeing, hearing, tasting, touching. That is the Dhamma Nupasana. So even though we say we must focus on the mindfulness of the body, you must focus on what is the most obvious win element rising and falling. Everything is interrelated. You are not simply practicing mindfulness of the body. The natural law of the materiality and the natural law of the mentality. They are always in operation according to the law. Based on the condition, one will be aware of something. So don't think you are simply observing mindfulness of the body. Don't think you are only observing rising and falling of your tummy. Everything is interwoven according to the condition, they will arise and you observe. That's why it's called full foundation of mindfulness. One or the other will be arising. Why? It always started with an object. Whether it's an external physical object or internal physical object, materiality, rupa. Without that rupa, the mind cannot arise. And then after a lot of these memories, then memory recalls, then it becomes jita again. As such, one must understand if you are practicing this. It causes something. It is causing something. There must be an effect. What is the effect? If you are observing repeatedly, the effect is great powerful effort is produced. Effort is produced. And effort in doing what? Effort in aiming or directing the mind towards the object that is arising at the present moment. Effort to aim the mind or direct the mind towards the object that is arising at the present moment. And if you can successfully do that, you have established mindfulness. And if you have established correct form of mindfulness, there's a correct form of mental concentration, samadhi comes in right away. So this repeated observation is a work package. It comes with a package, all these things. Effort, aiming, satip, mindfulness, and samadhi. It's a package. Every observation, those things are in operation as a package. And once you have that package, what? What happened? We have to have a benefit. We call it benefit because that's another result or another effect which is beneficial to us. So if we know correctly every moment what is happening, if we observe and know correctly every present moment what is happening, at that moment you are free from kilisa. You have a freedom from kilisa. Kilesa is always attacking you, Loba, Dosa and Moaha. But if you can observe correctly and know correctly at that moment, you are free from that kilisa. That's a benefit. And what's the objective of this repeated observation of objects, that obvious object arising at the present moment? We observe in this particular way, in this specific way, in this Satipathana Vipassana We abandon Kilesa. That is the objective. So that is why we observe what is most obviously arising in our body. What is that? Form, manners, behaviors and actions and behavior and their nature all the time. And if we can observe all the time, we are free from kilisa all the time. So that's why we focus on observing the mindfulness of the body first, especially for beginners, till they get grounded. When you focus on the body, eventually your mind becomes harnessed. And at the same time, the more your mind becomes harnessed, the more you become concentrated. All these little feelings, all these little thoughts and emotions. Everything that is happening with those physical objects that you're observing become even more distinct and clear. Instantly you can see like a series. At first, you will only see the root part. When you are very concentrated, you will see the others popping up immediately right away, and how they operate, how they come up, why they come up, what's the reason, what's the connection. These come to your understanding. Not intellectually, just by direct experience. It is so clear and sharp. Some of you have experienced this clear, sharp, precise experience through your mindfulness and concentration. That's what it arises. So that's why one needs to observe and observe and observe repeatedly, correctly, with great effort to establish mindfulness and concentration so that you could clearly comprehend all objects that are arising. At that moment, you are free from Kilisa. That means you have peace. May all of you be able to practice the Satipathana Vipassana meditation precisely and correctly, and may you be able to overcome five mental obstruction and five mental bondage or imprisonment towards Sansara as soon as possible. Thank you very much.