  
  
  
  
                                 JHANA
  
  
       The highest level of concentration -- fixed penetration -- 
  follows on threshold concentration. If mindfulness and self-awareness 
  arise while you are in threshold concentration, they turn it into 
  //jhana//.
  
       //Jhana// means focusing the mind, making it absorbed in a single 
  object, such as the internal sense of the form of the body. If you 
  want //jhana// to arise and not deteriorate, you have to practice 
  until you are skilled. Here's how it's done: Think of a single object, 
  such as the breath. Don't think of anything else. Practice focusing on 
  your single object. Now add the other factors: //Vitakka// -- think 
  about the object; and //vicara// -- evaluate it until you arrive at an 
  understanding of it, e.g. seeing the body as unclean or as composed of 
  impersonal properties. The mind then becomes light; the body becomes 
  light; both body and mind feel satisfied and refreshed: This is 
  //piti//, rapture. The body has no feelings of pain, and the mind 
  experiences no pain: This is //sukha//, pleasure and ease. This is the 
  first level of //rupa jhana//, which has five factors appearing in 
  this order; singleness of object (//ekaggata//), thought, evaluation, 
  rapture, and pleasure.
  
       When you practice, start out by focusing on a single object, such 
  as the breath. Then think about it, adjusting and expanding it until 
  it becomes dominant and clear. As for rapture and pleasure, you don't 
  have to fashion them. They arise on their own. Singleness of object, 
  thought, and evaluation are the causes; rapture and pleasure, the 
  results. Together they form the first level of //jhana//.
  
       As you become more skilled, your powers of focusing become 
  stronger. The activities of thought and evaluation fade away, because 
  you've already gained a certain level of understanding. As you focus 
  in on the object, there appears only rapture -- refreshment of body 
  and mind; and pleasure -- ease of body and mind. Continue focusing in 
  on the object so that you're skilled at it. Don't withdraw. Keep 
  focusing until the mind is firm and well-established. Once the mind is 
  firm, this is the second level of //rupa jhana//, in which only 
  rapture, pleasure, and singleness of object remain.
  
       Now focus on the sense of rapture associated with the grosser 
  physical body. As the mind becomes more and more firm, it will gain 
  release from the symptoms of rapture, leaving just pleasure and 
  singleness of object. This is the third level of //rupa jhana//.
  
       Then continue focusing in on your original object. Don't retreat 
  from it. Keep focused on it until the mind attains //appana jhana//, 
  absolutely fixed absorption, resolute and unwavering. At this point, 
  your sense of awareness becomes brighter and clearer, causing you to 
  disregard the grosser sense of the form of the body and to focus 
  instead on the subtler sense of the body that remains. This leaves 
  only singleness of object, the mind being unconcerned and unaffected 
  by any external objects or preoccupations. This is the fourth level of 
  //rupa jhana//, composed of singleness of object and equanimity.
  
       When you become skilled and resolute at this stage, your 
  concentration gains the strength that can give rise to the skill of 
  liberating insight, which in turn is capable of attaining the noble 
  paths and fruitions. So keep your mind in this stage as long as 
  possible. Otherwise it will go on into the levels of //arupa jhana//, 
  absorption in formless objects.
  
       If you want to enter //arupa jhana//, though, here is how it's 
  done: Disregard the sense of the form of the body, paying no more 
  attention to it, so that you are left with just a comfortable sense of 
  space or emptiness, free from any sensation of constriction or 
  interference. Focus on that sense of space. To be focused in this way 
  is the first level of //arupa jhana//, called //akasanancayatana 
  jhana//, absorption in the sense of unbounded space. Your senses -- 
  sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and ideation -- feel spacious and 
  clear, with no physical image acting as the focal point of your 
  concentration. If your powers of discernment are weak, you may mistake 
  this for //nibbana//, but actually it's only a level of //arupa 
  jhana//.
  
       Once you know and see this, go on to the next level. Let go of 
  the sense of space and emptiness, and pay attention to whatever 
  preoccupation is left -- but attention on this level is neither good 
  and discerning, nor bad and unwise. It's simply focused on awareness 
  free from activities. This level is called //vinnananancayatana 
  jhana//, absorption in the sense of unbounded cognizance. If you 
  aren't discerning, you may mistake this for //nibbana//, but it's 
  actually only a level of //arupa jhana//.
  
       Once you know this, make your focus more refined until you come 
  to the sense that there is nothing at all to the mind: It's simply 
  empty and blank, with nothing occurring in it at all. Fix your 
  attention on this preoccupation with "Nothing is happening," until you 
  are skilled at it. This is the third level of //arupa jhana//, which 
  has a very subtle sense of pleasure. Still, it's not yet //nibbana//. 
  Instead, it's called //akincannayatana jhana//, absorption in the 
  sense of nothingness.
  
       Now focus on the subtle notion that says that there's nothing at 
  all, until it changes. If you don't withdraw, but keep focused right 
  there, only awareness will be left -- but as for awareness on this 
  level, you can't really say that it's awareness and you can't say that 
  it isn't. You can't say that it's labeling anything and you can't say 
  that it's not. You can't yet decide one way or another about your 
  preoccupation. The mind's powers of focused investigation at this 
  point are weakened, because an extremely refined sense of pleasure has 
  arisen. You haven't searched for its causes and, when you're in this 
  state, you can't. So you fall into the fourth level of //arupa 
  jhana//: //neva-sanna-nasannayatana jhana//, absorption in the sense 
  of neither perception nor non-perception, a state in which you can't 
  say that there's any act of labeling left, and you can't say that 
  there's not.
  
       So when the mind changes from one of these stages of awareness or 
  points of view to another, keep close track of it. Be fully aware of 
  what it's doing and where it's focused, without letting yourself get 
  caught up with the refined sense of pleasure that appears. If you can 
  do this, you'll be able to let go of all //sankhara dhamma//: all 
  things fashioned and conditioned.
  
  
       The four levels of //arupa jhana// are nothing other than the 
  mind dwelling on the four types of mental phenomena (//nama//). In 
  other words, the mind starts out by getting caught up with a sense of 
  pleasure and well-being that isn't focused on any object or image, but 
  is simply an empty, spacious feeling (//vedana//). This is the first 
  level of //arupa jhana//. On the second level, the mind is caught up 
  with the act of cognizance (//vinnana//). It's focused on an empty 
  sense of awareness as its object -- simply the act of cognizance 
  happening over and over continuously, without end. This is called 
  absorption in the sense of unbounded cognizance, i.e., being stuck on 
  the act of cognizance. On the third level of //arupa jhana//, the mind 
  is caught up with the act of mental fashioning (//sankhara//), which 
  merely arises and passes away. Nothing, nothing at all appears as an 
  image, and the mind simply thinks about this over and over again. This 
  is called absorption in the sense of nothingness, i.e., being stuck on 
  mental fashioning. On the fourth level of //arupa jhana//, the mind is 
  caught up with the act of labeling (//sanna//), seeing that it can't 
  say that there is a label for what it has just experienced or is now 
  experiencing, and it can't say that there isn't. Thus it falls into 
  absorption in the sense of neither perception nor non-perception.
  
       All four levels of //arupa jhana// have a sense of pleasure and 
  well-being as their common basis. Beginning with the first level, 
  there is an extremely fine and subtle sense of pleasure, but your 
  understanding of it isn't true. What this means is that you can't yet 
  let go of your understanding of it. You simply remain focused and 
  absorbed in it, without trying to find out its causes. The mind at 
  this point doesn't feel inclined to reason or investigate, because the 
  sense of pleasure is relaxed and exquisite beyond measure.
  
       So if you want to escape beyond all suffering and stress, you 
  should practice focusing from one level of //arupa jhana// to another, 
  in and out, back and forth, over and over, until you are skilled at 
  it. Then investigate, searching for the causes and underlying factors 
  until you can know that, "Here the mind is stuck on the act of 
  labeling -- here it is stuck on the act of mental fashioning -- here 
  it is stuck on the act of cognizance."
  
        Cognizance is the underlying factor for name and form, or 
  physical and mental phenomena. Physical and mental phenomena, by their 
  nature, contain each other within themselves. Once you understand 
  this, focus on the internal sense of the form of the body. Consider it 
  through and through so that it becomes more and more refined until the 
  mind is absolutely firm, absorbed in a single preoccupation, either on 
  the sensual level (a sensory image of the body) or on the formless 
  level. Keep the mind fixed, and then examine that particular 
  preoccupation until you see how it arises and passes away -- but don't 
  go assuming yourself to be what arises and passes away. Keep the mind 
  neutral and unaffected, and in this way you will be able to know the 
  truth.
  
       The way in which the four levels of //rupa jhana// and the four 
  levels of //arupa jhana// are fashioned can be put briefly as follows: 
  Focus on any one of the four properties making up the sense of the 
  form of the body (earth, water, fire, and wind). This is //rupa 
  jhana//. The one object you focus on can take you all the way to the 
  fourth level, with the various levels differing only in the nature of 
  the act of focusing. As for //arupa jhana//, it comes from //rupa 
  jhana//. In other words, you take the sense of physical pleasure 
  coming from //rupa jhana// as your starting point and then focus 
  exclusively on that pleasure as your object. This can also take you 
  all the way to the fourth level -- absorption in the sense of neither 
  perception nor non-perception -- with the various levels differing 
  only in their point of view. Or, to put it in plain English, you focus 
  (1) on the body and (2) on the mind.
  
       //Rupa jhana// is like a mango; //arupa jhana//, like the mango's 
  taste. A mango has a shape, but no one can see the shape of its taste, 
  because it's something subtle and refined. This is why people who 
  don't practice in line with the levels of concentration go astray in 
  the way they understand things. Some people even believe that death is 
  annihilation. This sort of view comes from the fact that they are so 
  blind that they can't find themselves. And since they can't find 
  themselves, they decide that death is annihilation. This is like the 
  fool who believes that when a fire goes out, fire has been 
  annihilated. Those who have looked into the matter, though, say that 
  fire hasn't been annihilated, and they can even start it up again 
  without having to use glowing embers the way ordinary people do.
  
       In the same way, a person's mind and body  are not annihilated at 
  death. Take a blatant example:  When a man dies and is cremated, 
  people say that his body no longer exists. But actually its elements 
  are still there. The earth is still earth just as it always was; the 
  water is still water; the fire is still fire; and the wind, still 
  wind. Only their particular manifestations -- hair, nails, teeth, 
  skin, flesh, etc. -- have disappeared. What we supposed them to be has 
  vanished, but the nature of the primal elements hasn't. It's there as 
  it always was. People who have fallen for their supposings are sure to 
  be shocked at death; those who have seen the truth, see death as 
  nothing strange. It's simply a change in the manifestations of the 
  elements.
  
       Our fear of death is based on our assumption that the body is 
  ours. When it dies, and we feel that it's been annihilated, this only 
  increases our fears, all because we don't know the truth of the body. 
  And if we don't know the truth even of this crude body, we're ripe for 
  all sorts of wrong views, such as the view that death is annihilation. 
  If death is annihilation, then there are no heavens, no hells, no 
  Brahma worlds and no //nibbana//. And if this true, then the Buddha 
  was even stupider than we are, because pleasure in the present life is 
  something everyone knows enough to search for -- even common animals 
  know enough to look for food. So why would the Buddha have to exert 
  himself to the point of sacrificing his life and mind for the sake of 
  teaching other people?
  
       People who believe that death is annihilation, who from birth 
  have been led by necessity to search for a living from their 
  environment, are like a person blind from birth who -- when he gets 
  older and his parents or friends take him by the hand and lead him 
  into a cave -- won't know whether he's in the cave or outside of the 
  cave, because he can't see. And since he can't see, he'll think that 
  everywhere is probably dark without exception. Even if they tell him 
  that in-the-cave is dark and outside-of-the-cave is bright, he won't 
  believe them, all because of his own darkness. In the same way, people 
  believe that the body and mind are annihilated at death and that there 
  are no heavens, hells, Brahma worlds, or //nibbana//, all because of 
  their own darkness. Their knowledge hasn't penetrated into the real 
  nature of birth and death. They see others speaking of the practice of 
  virtue, concentration, //jhana//, and discernment for the sake of 
  ending death and rebirth, and they smile to themselves. "What a bunch 
  of fools." they say. But actually they're the fools.
  
       Those who have seen that death has to be followed by rebirth have 
  seen that if defilement, craving, and unawareness still entwine the 
  heart, rebirth will be endless. People who can't see this are bound to 
  believe that everything is annihilated at death.
  
       Our Lord Buddha was a sage, a man of wisdom endowed with virtue, 
  concentration, and discernment. He was able to see that there is no 
  annihilation -- just like the expert surveyor who can look at a 
  mountain spring and know that there's gold in the mountain.
  
       "Look," he tells some farmers.  "There's gold in the spring."
  
       They go and look, but they don't see any signs of gold. All they 
  see is water gushing out of the mountain. "That guy is lying," they 
  think. "He must be out of his mind. He looks at spring water and sees 
  gold."
  
       But what's really wrong is that they don't know his craft. Those 
  who see that death has to be followed by rebirth as long as there is 
  unawareness (//avijja//) in the heart are like the expert surveyor. 
  Those who believe that death is annihilation are like the farmers who 
  know nothing of the craft of searching for gold.
  
       Those who want to see clearly into the nature of birth and death 
  will first have to learn the craft of the heart. Thought, evaluation, 
  rapture, pleasure, and singleness of object: These form the first 
  skill in the Buddha's craft. To focus in until only rapture, pleasure, 
  and singleness of object are left is the second skill. To focus in 
  until only pleasure and singleness of object are left is the third 
  skill. To focus in until only equanimity and singleness of object are 
  left is the fourth. When you've reached this point, you've mastered 
  all the skills offered in that particular school, i.e., you've 
  mastered the body; you've seen that it's just a matter of physical 
  properties, unclean and repulsive, inconstant, stressful, and 
  not-self. Some people, on reaching this point, don't continue their 
  studies, but set themselves up in dubious professions, claiming to 
  have special powers, to be fortune tellers or to know magical 
  incantations, using their skills to make a living under the sway of 
  delusion.
  
       Those, however, who have the necessary funds -- namely, 
  conviction in the paths and fruitions leading to //nibbana// -- will 
  go on to study in another school, //arupa jhana//, focusing directly 
  in on the mind. For example: Right now, what are you thinking? Good 
  thoughts or bad? When you have the presence of mind to know what a 
  thought is bad, stare it down until it disappears, leaving only good 
  thoughts. When a good thought arises, there's a sense of ease and 
  well-being. Focus in on that sense of well-being. Don't withdraw. If 
  you're going to think, think only of that sense of well-being. Keep 
  focusing until you are skilled at staying with that sense of 
  well-being, to the point where, when you withdraw, you can focus right 
  back in on it. This very sense of well-being is the basis for all four 
  levels of //arupa jhana//. They differ only in their viewpoints on it. 
  Once you've focused on this same sense of well-being firmly enough and 
  long enough to go through the first, second, third, and fourth levels 
  of //arupa jhana//, you should then go back and review all the skills 
  you've mastered from the very beginning, back and forth, until they 
  become //appana jhana//, fixed absorption, firm and fully mastered.
  
       //Rupa jhana//, once mastered is like being a government official 
  who works and earns a salary. //Arupa jhana//, once mastered, is like 
  being a retired official receiving a pension from the government. Some 
  people, when they've finished government service, simply curl up and 
  live off their pensions without using their skills to provide 
  themselves with any further benefits. This is like people who master 
  //rupa jhana// and //arupa jhana// and then don't use their skills to 
  gain the further benefits of the transcendent.
  
       If you do want to gain those benefits, though, here's how it's 
  done: Focus your powers of investigation back on your primal sense of 
  the body and mind until liberating insight arises. The insight that 
  acts as a stairway to the transcendent level is based on //jhana// at 
  the level of fixed penetration, focusing the mind resolutely to reach 
  the first level of //rupa jhana//. Those people who have a good deal 
  of discernment will -- once the mind has attained concentration for 
  only a short while -- focus directly in on mental phenomena. I.e., 
  they'll focus on the mind and investigate its preoccupation until they 
  clearly see the true nature of physical and mental phenomena. The 
  state of mind that clings to physical and mental phenomena will 
  vanish, and while it is vanishing the "state of mind changing lineage 
  (//gotarabhu citta//)" is said to arise. When the mind can know what 
  mundane mental states are like and what transcendent mental states are 
  like, that's called //gotarabhu nana//, change-of-lineage knowledge, 
  i.e., comprehension of //nibbana//.
  
       Here we're talking about people who are inclined to focus 
  primarily on the mind, who tend to develop insight meditation more 
  than tranquillity meditation. Their Awakening is termed release 
  through discernment (//panna-vimutti//). Although  they don't develop 
  all of the mundane skills that come along with concentration -- i.e., 
  they don't master all of the three skills, the eight skills, or the 
  four forms of acumen -- they still master the one crucial skill, the 
  knowledge that does away with the effluents of defilement 
  (//asavakkhaya-nana//).
  
       Those who tend more towards tranquillity meditation, though, are 
  in no great hurry. They develop all the levels of //jhana//, going 
  back and forth, again and again, until they're expert in both //rupa 
  jhana// and //arupa jhana//. Then they return to the fourth level of 
  //rupa jhana// and focus strongly on it, taking the inner sense of the 
  form of the body as their object -- their //uggaha nimitta// -- and 
  then manipulating it back and forth (//patibhaga nimitta//) to the 
  point where their powers of mindfulness and self-awareness are firm. 
  They focus until their minds are neutral and still, steady with a 
  single object, uninvolved with any outside preoccupations. They then 
  will be able to identify exactly how //rupa jhana// and //arupa 
  jhana// differ -- and will realize that the fourth level of //rupa 
  jhana// is the crucial one, giving the mind strength in a variety of 
  ways.
  
       When you reach this point, focus on the fourth level of //rupa 
  jhana//. Keep the mind neutral and still, constantly focused on a 
  single object. Focus on one spot as your frame of reference 
  (//satipatthana//), i.e., on the subtle sense of the body at this 
  level, in and of itself. When you are strongly focused, a sense of 
  brightness will develop, and a variety of amazing skills -- either 
  mundane or transcendent, depending in part on the power of your 
  //jhana// -- will arise in the mind.
  
       The knowledge and skills arising from //jhana// can free you from 
  all suffering and stress. But most of us, by and large, don't think of 
  looking for these skills. We're interested only in those skills and 
  forms of knowledge that will keep us bound to suffering and stress on 
  and on through time. So those who aim for well-being that is clear and 
  clean should train their minds to give rise to //jhana//, which is one 
  of the treasures of the Noble Ones.
  
       The four levels of //rupa jhana// and the four levels of //arupa 
  jhana//, taken together, are called the eight attainments 
  (//samapatti//), all of which come down to two sorts: mundane and 
  transcendent. In mundane //jhana//, the person who has attained 
  //jhana// assumes that, `This is my self,' or `I am that,' and holds 
  fast to these assumptions, not giving rise to the knowledge that can 
  let go of those things in line with their true nature. This is classed 
  as //sakkaya-ditthi//, the viewpoint that leads us to 
  self-identification, the feeling that, `This is me,' or `This is 
  mine.' This in turn leads to //silabbata-paramasa//, attachment to our 
  accustomed practices, i.e., seeing //jhana// as something of magical 
  potency, that whatever we set our minds on attaining will have to come 
  true. As for our doubts (//vicikiccha//) about the Buddha, Dhamma and 
  Sangha, these haven't been cleared up, because we've been deflected at 
  this level and haven't gotten any further.
  
       Thus whoever attains //jhana// without abandoning the three 
  fetters (//sanyojana//) is practicing mundane //jhana//. Mundane 
  //jhana//, unless you're really expert at it, is the easiest thing in 
  the world to lose. It's always ready to deteriorate at the slightest 
  disturbance from sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, 
  and ideas. Sometimes you may be sitting in //jhana// and then, when 
  you get up and walk away, it's gone.
  
       As for transcendent //jhana//: When you've attained //rupa 
  jhana//, you go back to examine the various levels until you are 
  expert at them and then develop insight meditation so as to see 
  mundane //jhana// for what it really is. In other words, you see that 
  the preoccupations of both //rupa jhana// and //arupa jhana// are 
  inconstant, stressful, and not-self. Once this knowledge arises, you 
  are able to let go of the various preoccupations of //jhana//; and 
  once the mind is set loose from //rupa jhana// and //arupa jhana//, it 
  enters the transcendent level; the stream to //nibbana//. It cuts the 
  three fetters -- self-identification, grasping at practices and 
  habits, and uncertainty -- and is headed straight for //nibbana//. 
  When you have cut the three fetters, your //jhana// is transcendent 
  //jhana//; your virtue, concentration, and discernment are all 
  transcendent.
  
       Once you have mastered these two modes of //jhana//, they will 
  give rise to the various abilities, mundane or transcendent, taught by 
  Buddhism that differ from worldly skills in that they can arise only 
  after the attainment of //jhana//. Among these skills are the three 
  skills (//vijja//), the eight skills, and the four forms of acumen 
  (//patisambhida-nana//).
  
  
                                 * * * 
                                          
                                          
                                          
                                          
                            THE THREE SKILLS
  
  
       1. //Pubbenivasanussati-nana//: the ability to remember past 
  lives.
  
       2. //Cutupapata-nana//: the ability to know where living beings 
  are reborn after death.
  
       3. //Asavakkhaya-nana//: the ability to do away entirely with the 
  effluents of defilement.
  
            1. The ability to remember past lives: First you have to be 
  proficient in all four frames of reference (//satipatthana//). Once 
  your powers of reference are strong, you will know the truth of the 
  body in the present. That is, you keep focusing on the body as it 
  appears in the present until there appears the subtle image of the 
  body that is constantly arising and falling away. You will then be 
  able to know not only the present, but also the past and future of the 
  body. With regard to the past, you will know back to the day it was 
  conceived in your mother's womb. What it was like after the first day, 
  the seventh day, one month, three months, seven months, nine ... what 
  it looked like, how it lived, what sort of food it consumed; and then 
  as it grew one year, two, three, four, five all the way to the 
  present: You'll be able to know the truth of the body. As for the 
  future, you'll know how the body will change if you live to the age of 
  thirty, forty, eighty, all the way to the day you die. If your 
  knowledge on this level and your powers of reference are truly strong, 
  you will be able to remember back one lifetime, ten lifetimes, one 
  hundred, one thousand... depending on the power of your mind. As for 
  the mental phenomena you experienced in past lives, you will be able 
  to know them as well, just as you can know the body.
  
       2. The ability to know where living beings are reborn after 
  death: First you have to be proficient in knowing the movements of 
  your own mind in the present. Sometimes it takes on the 
  characteristics of a mind in the realms of deprivation, sometimes the 
  characteristics of a human mind, a heavenly mind or a Brahma mind. 
  Once you know your own crude and subtle mental states in the present 
  -- and if your knowledge is truly strong -- you will be able to know, 
  via the inner eye, exactly how well or badly different living beings 
  fare when they die.
  
       3. The knowledge that does away with the effluents of defilement: 
  This means clear knowledge of the four Noble Truths -- the ability to 
  diagnose stress (//dukkha//) as arising from craving (//tanha//); the 
  ability to pinpoint what will put an end to craving, i.e., identifying 
  the path //(magga//), and then following the path until the disbanding 
  of stress (//nirodha//) occurs. You will have clear vision of all four 
  truths, doing away with  defilement, craving, views, and conceits 
  through the power of your discernment. The knowledge that does away 
  with mental effluents forms the essence of liberating insight 
  (//vipassana-nana//).
  
  
                                 * * *
                                          
                                          
                                          
                                          
                            THE EIGHT SKILLS
  
  
       1. //Vipassana-nana//: clear insight into the elements 
  (//dhatu//), the aggregates (//khandha//), and the sense media 
  (//ayatana//).
  
       2. //Manomayiddhi//: the ability to project mind-made images.
  
       3. //Iddhividhi//: supernormal powers.
  
       4. //Dibba-sota//: clairaudience.
  
       5. //Cetopariya-nana//: knowledge of the thoughts and minds of 
  others.
  
       6. //Dibba-cakkhu//: clairvoyance.
  
       7. //Pubbenivasanussati-nana//: knowledge of past lives.
  
       8. //Asavakkhaya-nana//: knowledge which does away with mental 
  effluents.
  
  
       1. //Vipassana-nana//: This refers to clear insight into the six 
  elements -- the properties of earth, water, fire, wind, space, and 
  cognizance -- perceiving their true nature, e.g., seeing them as equal 
  in terms of their three inherent characteristics -- inconstancy, 
  stress and lack of self; seeing them merely as conditioned formations; 
  knowing them with regard to all three time periods -- past, present 
  and future: what they have been, what they will be, and what they are 
  at the moment. Only when your insight into these matters is absolutely 
  clear does it qualify as //vipassana-nana//.
  
       The aggregates refer to the same range of phenomena as the 
  elements, but simply classify them in a different way: body, feelings, 
  mental labels, mental fashionings, and cognizance. These aggregates 
  can be reduced to two -- physical and mental phenomena -- and these in 
  turn can be redivided into six: the senses (sight, hearing, smell, 
  taste, touch, ideation) and their corresponding objects. These are 
  termed sense media (//ayatana//).
  
       2. //Manomayiddhi//: This refers to the ability to make images of 
  yourself or of others appear to other people. These images can appear 
  in whatever manner you want them to, without your having to make a 
  move. This skill depends on being able to manipulate the four physical 
  properties, focusing on them with the power of //jhana// to create 
  whatever image you have in mind.
  
       3. //Iddhividhi//: Examples of supernormal powers are the ability 
  to make a crowd of people to be only a few people, or a few people to 
  be a crowd; the ability to walk through fire, on water, or through the 
  dark if walking in bright light; the ability to make the body appear 
  small, tall, short, dark, fair, old, young, etc.; the ability to 
  affect the weather, causing rain, wind, fire, earthquakes, etc. All of 
  this can be accomplished through the power of //jhana//.
  
       4. //Dibba-sota//: the ability to hear sounds no matter how near 
  or far -- the voices of human beings, the voices of heavenly beings, 
  or whatever other sound you may focus on hearing.
  
       5. //Cetopariya-nana//: the ability to know the thoughts of 
  others -- good or bad, crude or refined, hateful or well-meaning. 
  Whatever another person may be thinking will appear clearly to you.
  
       6. //Dibba-cakkhu//: the ability to see anything, no matter what, 
  near or far, without having to open your eyes.
  
       7. //Pubbenivasanussati-nana//: the ability to remember previous 
  lives.
  
       8. //Asavakkhaya-nana//: the knowledge that drives such 
  defilements as passion, aversion ,and delusion out of the heart. 
  (These last two skills are explained under the three skills above.)
  
                                 * * *
                                          
                                          
                                          
                                          
                        THE FOUR FORMS OF ACUMEN
  
       1. //Attha-patisambhida//: acumen with regard to meaning.
  
       2. //Dhamma-patisambhida//: acumen with regard to mental 
  qualities.
  
       3. //Nirutti-patisambhida//: acumen with regard to linguistic 
  conventions.
  
       4. //Patibhana-patisambhida//: acumen with regard to expression.
  
            1. Acumen with regard to meaning means knowing how to 
  explain the Buddha's shorter teachings in detail and how to draw out 
  the gist of a detailed teaching so that listeners will have a correct 
  understanding in line with the Buddha's aims. Even if you have a lot 
  to say, you get to the point; even if you have only a little to say, 
  you don't leave out anything important. Wrong words you can turn into 
  right ones, and explanations that are correct but crude you can make 
  more subtle without leaving anything out.
  
       2. Acumen with regard to mental qualities means knowing how to 
  distinguish the wise qualities from unwise ones, establishing the 
  first as good, which ought to be followed, and the second as evil, 
  which ought to be avoided. You know how to explain their various 
  levels, classifying the unwise as common, intermediate, and subtle, 
  and then know which wise qualities are suitable for countering each 
  sort:  Virtue does away with common defilements; concentration does 
  away with intermediate defilements; and discernment, subtle 
  defilements. This is knowledge //about// mental qualities. The next 
  step is to develop virtue to do away with the more common forms of 
  greed, hatred, and delusion; to develop concentration to do away with 
  the hindrances; and discernment to do away with the fetters 
  (//sanyojana//).
  
       Acumen with regard to mental qualities thus means to 
  distinguished the various types of qualities and then to put the wise 
  qualities into practice until the supreme quality -- //nibbana// -- is 
  realized. Simply knowing about the wise qualities, but not developing 
  them, runs counter to the Buddha's reasons for teaching about them in 
  the first place.
  
       3. Acumen with regard to linguistic conventions refers to the 
  ability to know the individual with whom you are speaking 
  (//puggalannuta//), and how to speak with different types of people so 
  as to be in keeping with their knowledge and background 
  (//parisannuta//). You know that you have to speak this way with that 
  lay person, and that way with this; that this group of monks and 
  novices has to be addressed in such and such a way, in line with their 
  various backgrounds. You know how to make people understand in their 
  own language -- how to speak with farmers, merchants, and kings, 
  varying your language so as to fit the person you are speaking to. 
  This form of acumen, contrary to what people normally believe, doesn't 
  refer to the ability to speak the external language of birds or mice 
  or what-have-you. Even if we could speak their language, what good 
  would it do? If anyone can actually speak these languages, good for 
  them. The Buddha's main interest, though, was probably in having us 
  know how to speak with people in such a way that our words will meet 
  their needs. Only those who have this ability qualify as having 
  acquired this form of acumen.
  
       4. Acumen with regard to expression refers to being quick-witted 
  in discussing the Dhamma and its meaning, knowing how to put things in 
  apt way so as to keep ahead of your listeners. This doesn't mean being 
  devious, though. It simply means using strategy so as to be of 
  benefit: putting common matters in subtle terms, and subtle matters in 
  common terms; speaking of matters close at hand as if they were far 
  away, of far away matters as if they were close at hand, explaining a 
  base statement in high terms or a high statement in base terms, making 
  difficult matters easy, and obscure matters plain. You know the right 
  word to cut off a long winded opponent, and how to put things -- 
  without saying anything false or dubious -- so that no one can catch 
  you. To be gifted in expression in this way means not to be talkative, 
  but to be expert at talking. Talkative people soon run themselves out: 
  people expert at talking never run out no matter how much they have to 
  say. They can clear up any doubts in the minds of their listeners, and 
  can find the one well-chosen word that is worth more than a hundred 
  words.
  
       The skills classed as the four forms of acumen refer only to the 
  skills of this sort that come from the practice of tranquillity and 
  insight meditation.
  
       The three skills, the eight skills, and the four forms of acumen 
  arise only in the wake of //jhana//. When classed according to level, 
  they are two: //sekha-bhumi//, i.e., any of these skills as mastered 
  by a Stream-enterer, a Once-returner, a Non-returner, or by a person 
  who has yet to attain any of the transcendent levels; and 
  //asekha-bhumi//, any of these skills as mastered by an Arahant.
  
       The only one of these skills that's really important is 
  //asavakkhaya-nana//, the knowledge that does away with the mental 
  effluents. As for the others, whether or not they are attained isn't 
  really important. And it's not the case that all Noble Ones will 
  attain all of these skills. Not to mention ordinary people, even some 
  Arahants don't attain any of them with the single exception of the 
  knowledge that does away with mental effluents.
  
       To master these skills, you have to have studied meditation under 
  a Buddha in a previous lifetime.
  
       This ends the discussion of //jhana//.
  
  
                                 * * *
  
  
       At this point I would like to return to the themes of insight 
  meditation, because some people are bound not to be expert in the 
  practice of //jhana//. Even though they may attain //jhana// to some 
  extent, it's only for short periods of time. Some people, for example, 
  tend to be more at home investigating and figuring out the workings -- 
  the logic of cause and effect -- of physical and mental phenomena, 
  developing insight into the three inherent characteristics of 
  inconstancy, stress, and "not-selfness," practicing only a moderate 
  amount of //jhana// before heading on to the development of liberating 
  insight.
  
       Liberating insight can be developed in either of two ways: For 
  those experts in //jhana//, insight will arise dependent on the fourth 
  level of //rupa jhana//; for those not expert in //jhana//, insight 
  will arise dependent on the first level of //jhana//, following the 
  practice of threshold concentration. Some people, when they reach this 
  point, start immediately investigating it as a theme of insight 
  meditation, leading to complete and clear understanding of physical 
  and mental phenomena or, in terms of the aggregates, seeing clearly 
  that the body, feelings, mental labels, mental fashionings, and 
  cognizance are inherently inconstant, stressful, and not-self, and 
  then making this insight strong.
  
       If this sort of discernment becomes powerful at the same time 
  that your powers of mindfulness and presence of mind are weak and 
  slow-acting, though, any one of ten kinds of misapprehension can 
  occur. These are called //vipassanupak-kilesa//, the corruptions of 
  insight. Actually, they are nothing more than by-products of the 
  practice of insight, but if you fall for them and latch onto them, 
  they become defilements. They can make you assume wrongly that you 
  have reached the paths, fruitions, and //nibbana//, because they are 
  defilements of a very subtle sort. They are also termed the enemies of 
  insight. If your powers of reference aren't equal to your powers of 
  discernment, you can get attached and be led astray without your 
  realizing it, believing that you have no more defilements, that there 
  is nothing more for you to do. These ten defilements are extremely 
  subtle and fine. If you fall for them, you're not likely to believe 
  anyone who tells you that you've gone wrong. Thus you should know 
  about them beforehand so that you can keep yourself detached when they 
  arise. But before discussing them, we should first discuss the 
  exercises for insight meditation, because the corruptions of insight 
  appear following on the practice of the exercises.
  
                                 * * *
                                          
                                          
                                          
                                          
                    EXERCISES FOR INSIGHT MEDITATION
  
  
       These are techniques for giving rise to knowledge and insight, 
  via the mind, into the natural workings of physical and mental 
  phenomena, as expressed in terms of the five aggregates, seeing them 
  as naturally occurring conditions -- inherently inconstant, stressful, 
  and not-self -- these three characteristics being the focal point of 
  insight meditation.
  
       If we've come to the topic of insight, why are we referring again 
  to the five aggregates, inconstancy, stress, not-selfness, etc.? 
  Weren't these already covered under tranquillity meditation?
  
       The answer is that although insight meditation deals with the 
  same raw material as tranquillity meditation -- i.e., form and 
  formless objects, or in other words, physical and mental phenomena -- 
  it gives rise to a more refined level of knowledge and understanding. 
  The treatment of the five aggregates and the three characteristics on 
  the level of tranquillity meditation is very crude, simply enough to 
  make the mind settle down to the point where it is ready for the 
  practice of insight meditation. Once we reach the level of insight, 
  though, our understanding and perception into the five aggregates and 
  the characteristics of inconstancy, stress, and not-selfness become 
  clearer and more distinct. We can make the following comparison: The 
  understanding gained on the level of tranquillity meditation is like 
  cutting down the trees in a forest but not yet setting them on fire. 
  The understanding gained on the level of insight meditation is like 
  taking the trees and burning them up. The forest in the second case is 
  much more open and clear -- even though it's the same forest. This is 
  how the levels of knowledge gained in tranquillity and insight 
  meditation differ.
  
       To develop insight, you first have to distinguish the five 
  aggregates: physical phenomena, feelings, mental labels, mental 
  fashionings, and cognizance. Once you have them distinguished, start 
  out by focusing on and considering all physical phenomena, whether 
  past -- those that have occurred beginning with your conception as an 
  embryo in your mother's womb; present; or future -- those that will 
  continue to occur until the day you die; internal -- the phenomena of 
  the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body, together with the visions that 
  appear through the power of the mind; or external -- sights, sounds, 
  smells, tastes, and tactile sensations: //All// of these are 
  inherently inconstant, stressful and not-self. They arise momentarily 
  and then pass away, never satisfying the desires of those who want 
  them, never offering anything of any substance or worth. This holds 
  true equally for any and all things composed of the physical 
  properties.
  
       This is the exercise dealing with physical phenomena.
  
       As for feelings, start out by distinguishing two sorts: external 
  and internal. External feelings arise when the eye comes into contact 
  with a visible object, the ear comes into contact with a sound, the 
  nose comes into contact with an aroma, the tongue comes into contact 
  with a flavor, or when tactile sensations -- heat, cold, etc. -- come 
  into contact with the body. All five of these categories are classed 
  as external feelings. if the mind is displeased, a bad mood is 
  experienced; if the mind is neither pleased nor displeased, a mood of 
  indifference is experiences: For the mind to experience any of these 
  moods is classed as internal feeling. Both internal and external 
  feelings -- past, present, or future -- should be focused on at a 
  single point: the fact that they are all inconstant, stressful, and 
  not-self. By nature they arise only to pass away.
  
       This is the second exercise.
  
       As for mental labels, there are two sorts, external and internal. 
  External labeling refers to the act of identifying visual objects, 
  sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and ideas when they come 
  into the range of the senses. Internal labeling refers to the act of 
  identifying moods of pleasure, pain, and indifference as they are felt 
  by the heart. Once you can make this distinction, focus on all acts of 
  labeling -- past, present, or future, internal or external -- at a 
  single point: the fact that they are all inconstant, stressful and 
  not-self. By nature they arise only to pass away.
  
       This is the third exercise.
  
       As for fashionings, these should first be divided into two sorts: 
  //upadinnaka-sankhara//, those that are dependent on the power of the 
  mind for their sustenance; and //anupadinnaka-sankhara//, those that 
  are not. Mountains, trees, and other inanimate objects fashioned by 
  nature are examples of the second category; people and common animals 
  are examples of the first.
  
       Fashionings dependent on the power of the mind for their 
  sustenance are two sorts: external and internal. `External' refers to 
  the compound of the four physical properties fashioned into a body 
  through the power of //kamma//. `Internal' refers to the fashioning of 
  thoughts -- -either good (//punnabhisankhara//), bad 
  (//apunnabhisankhara//), or neither good nor bad 
  (//anenjabhisankhara//) -- in the mind.
  
       All fashionings -- past, present, or future, internal or external 
  -- should be focused on and considered at a single point, the fact of 
  their three inherent characteristics, as follows:
  
        //anicca vata sankhara uppada-vaya-dhammino
                 uppajjitva nirujjhanti//...
  
  `How inconstant (and stressful) are fashioned things. Their nature is 
  to arise and decay. Arising, they disband ...' They are all bound to 
  be inconstant, stressful, and not-self.
  
       This is the fourth exercise.
  
       As for cognizance, this should first be divided into two sorts: 
  internal and external. Internal cognizance refers to the act of being 
  clearly aware that, `This is a feeling of pleasure -- this is a 
  feeling of pain -- this is a feeling indifference,' as such feelings 
  are experienced in the heart. External cognizance refers to being 
  clearly aware by means of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body 
  whenever visual objects, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile 
  sensations come into range and the mind reacts with notions of liking, 
  disliking, or being indifferent. All acts of cognizance should be 
  focused on and considered in terms of their three inherent 
  characteristics: Whether past (beginning with the `connecting 
  cognizance (//patisandhi vinnana//)' that gives rise to birth), 
  present, or future, internal or external, all are inconstant, 
  stressful, and not-self. There is nothing permanent or lasting to them 
  at all.
  
       When you consider these themes until you see them clearly in any 
  of these ways, you are developing the insight that forms the way to 
  the paths and fruitions leading to //nibbana//.
  
       Thus the exercises of tranquillity and insight meditation give 
  rise to different levels of knowledge and understanding, even though 
  they deal with the very same raw material. If you truly desire to gain 
  release from suffering and stress, you should begin studying you own 
  aggregates so as to give rise to tranquillity and insight. You may 
  assume that you already know them, yet if you can't let them go, then 
  you don't really know them at all. What you know, you say you don't 
  know; what you don't know, you say you do. The mind switches back and 
  forth on itself, and so always has itself deceived.
  
      Knowledge on the level of information -- labels and concepts -- is 
  inconstant. It can always change into something else. Even people 
  outside of the religion can know the aggregates on that level -- all 
  they have to do is read a few books and they'll know. So those who 
  really want to know should start right in, probing down into the 
  aggregates until they perceive clearly and truly enough to let go. 
  Only then will they be genuine experts in the religion.
  
  
                               *  *  *
  
  
       Now we will discuss the stages of liberating insight, dealing 
  first with the seven stages of purification, since these form their 
  basis.
  
  
                                 * * *
                                          
                                          
                                          
                                          
                    THE SEVEN STATES OF PURIFICATION
  
       1. Purification of virtue (//sila-visuddhi//): Cleanse your 
  virtues -- in thought, word, and deed -- in line with your station in 
  life, so that they are pure and spotless, free from all five ways of 
  creating enmity, such as taking life, stealing, etc.
  
       2. Purification of consciousness (//citta-visuddhi//): Make the 
  mind still and resolute, either in momentary concentration or 
  threshold concentration, enough to form a basis for the arising of 
  insight.
  
       3. Purification of view (//ditthi-visuddhi//): Examine physical 
  and mental phenomena, analyzing them into their various parts, seeing 
  them in terms of their three inherent characteristics -- as 
  inconstant, stressful, and not-self.
  
       4. Purification by overcoming doubt 
  (//kankha-vitarana-visuddhi//): Focus on the causes and conditions for 
  physical and mental phenomena, seeing what it is that causes them to 
  arise when it arises, and what causes them to disappear when it 
  disappears. Examine both these sides of the question until all your 
  doubts concerning physical and mental phenomena -- past, present and 
  future -- vanish together in an instant. The mind that can see through 
  the preoccupation with which it is involved in the present is much 
  more subtle, resolute, and firm than it has ever been before, and at 
  this point any one of the ten corruptions of insight -- which we 
  referred to above as enemies of insight -- will arise. If your powers 
  of reference, concentration, and discernment aren't equal to one 
  another, they can lead you to jump to false conclusions, causing you 
  to latch onto these defilements as something meaningful and thus going 
  astray, falling away from the highest levels of truth. The enemies of 
  insight are:
  
       a. Splendor (//obhasa//): an amazingly bright light, blotting out 
  your surroundings -- e.g., if you're sitting in a forest or patch of 
  thorns, they won't exist for you -- bright to the point where you get 
  carried away, losing all sense of your body and mind, wrapped up in 
  the brightness.
  
       b. Knowledge (//nana//): intuition of an uncanny sort, which you 
  then latch onto -- either to the knowledge itself or to the object 
  known -- as beyond refutation. Perhaps you may decide that you've 
  already reached the goal, that there's nothing more for you to do. 
  Your knowledge on this level is true, but you aren't able to let it go 
  in line with its true nature.
  
       c. Rapture (//piti//): an exceedingly strong sense of rapture and 
  contentment, arising from a sense of solitude and lack of disturbance 
  for which you have been aiming all along. Once it arises, you are 
  overcome with rapture to the point where you latch onto it and lose 
  sense of your body and mind.
  
       d. Serenity (//passaddhi//): an extreme sense of mental 
  stillness, in which the mind stays motionless, overwhelmed and 
  addicted to the stillness.
  
       e. Bliss (//sukha//): a subtle, exquisite sense of pleasure, 
  arising from a sense of mental solitude that you have just met for the 
  first time and that the mind relishes -- the pleasure at this point 
  being exceedingly subtle and relaxed -- to the point where it becomes 
  addicted.
  
       f. Enthusiasm (//adhimokkha//): a strong sense of conviction in 
  your knowledge, believing that, `This must be //nibbana//'.
  
       g. Exertion (//paggaha//): strong and unwavering persistence that 
  comes from enjoying the object with which the mind is preoccupied.
  
       h. Obsession (//upatthana//): Your train of thought becomes fixed 
  strongly on a single object and runs wild, your powers of mindfulness 
  being strong, but your powers of discernment too weak to pry the mind 
  away from its object.
  
       i. Equanimity (//upekkha//): The mind is still and unmoving, 
  focused in a very subtle mental notion of equanimity. Not knowing the 
  true nature of its state, it relishes and clings to its sense of 
  indifference and imperturbability.
  
       j. Satisfaction (//nikanti//): contentment with the object of 
  your knowledge, leading to assumptions of one sort or another.
  
       These ten phenomena, if you know them for what they are, can form 
  a way along which the mind can stride to the paths and fruitions 
  leading to //nibbana//. If you fasten onto them, though, they turn 
  into a form of attachment and thus become the enemies of liberating 
  insight. All ten of these corruptions of insight are forms of truth on 
  one level, but if you can't let go of the truth so that it can follow 
  its own nature, you will never meet the ultimate truth of disbanding 
  (//nirodha//). For the mind to let go, it must use discerning insight 
  to contemplate these phenomena until it sees that they are clearly 
  inconstant, stressful and not-self. When it sees clearly and is no 
  longer attached to any of these phenomena, knowledge will arise within 
  the mind as to what is and what isn't the path leading to the 
  transcendent. Once this awareness arises, the mind enters the next 
  level of purification:
  
       5. Purification through knowledge and vision of what is and is 
  not the path (//maggamagga-nanadassana-visuddhi//): Now that this 
  realization has arisen, look after that knowing mind to keep it 
  securely in the mental series leading to insight. Insight will arise 
  in the very next mental moment, forming a stairway to the great 
  benefits of the transcendent, the reward coming from having abandoned 
  the ten corruptions of insight. Liberating insight will arise in the 
  following stages:

                              *  *  *
                                          
                                          
                 THE NINE STAGES OF LIBERATING INSIGHT
  
  
       a. Contemplation of arising and passing away 
  (//udayabbayanu-passana-nana//): seeing the arising of physical and 
  mental phenomena together with their falling away.
  
       b. Contemplation of dissolution (//bhanganupassana-nana//): 
  seeing the falling away of physical and mental phenomena.
  
       c. The appearance of dread (//bhayatupatthana-nana//): seeing all 
  fashionings (i.e., all physical and mental phenomena) as something to 
  be dreaded, just as when a man sees a deadly cobra lying in his path 
  or an executioner about to behead a criminal who has broken the law.
  
       d. Contemplation of misery (//adinavanupassana-nana//): seeing 
  all fashionings as a mass of pain and stress, arising only to age, 
  sicken, disband, and die.
  
       e. Contemplation of disgust (//nibbidanupassana-nana//): viewing 
  all fashionings with a sense of weariness and disenchantment with 
  regard to the cycle of birth, aging, illness, and death through the 
  various way-stations in the round of existence; seeing the pain and 
  harm, feeling disdain and estrangement, with no longing to be involved 
  with any fashionings at all. Just as a golden King Swan -- who 
  ordinarily delights only in the foothills of Citta Peak and the great 
  Himalayan lakes -- would feel nothing but disgust at the idea of 
  bathing in a cesspool at the gate of an outcaste village, in the same 
  way the arising of insight causes a sense of disgust for all 
  fashionings to appear.
  
       f. The desire for freedom (//muncitukamyata-nana//): sensing a 
  desire to escape from all fashionings that appear, just as when a man 
  goes down to bathe in a pool and -- meeting a poisonous snake or a 
  crocodile -- will aim at nothing but escape.
  
       g. Reflective contemplation (//patisankhanupassana-nana//): 
  trying to figure out a way to escape from all fashionings that appear, 
  in the same way that a caged quail keeps looking for a way to escape 
  from its cage.
  
       h. Equanimity with regard to fashionings 
  (//sankharupekkha-nana//): viewing all fashionings with a sense of 
  indifference, just as a husband and wife might feel indifferent to 
  each other's activities after they have gained a divorce.
  
       i. Knowledge in accordance with the truth 
  (//saccanulomika-nana//): seeing all fashionings -- all five 
  aggregates -- in terms of the
  four Noble truths.
  
  
                              *   *   *
  
  
       All of these stages of insight are nothing other than the sixth 
  level of purification:
  
            6. Purification through knowledge and vision of the way 
  (//patipada-nandassana-visuddhi//): At this point, our way is cleared. 
  Just as a man who has cut all the tree stumps in his path level to the 
  ground can then walk with ease, so it is with knowledge on this level: 
  We have gotten past the corruptions of insight, but he roots -- 
  //avijja//, or unawareness -- are still in the ground.
  
       The next step is to develop the mind higher and higher along the 
  lines of liberating insight until you reach the highest plane of the 
  mundane level leading to the noble paths, beginning with the path 
  opening onto the stream to //nibbana//. This level is termed:
  
       7. Purification of knowledge and vision 
  (//nanadassana-visuddhi//): At this point, devote yourself to 
  reviewing the stages of liberating insight through which you have 
  passed, back and forth, so that each stage leads on to the next, from 
  the very beginning all the way to knowledge in accordance with the 
  truth and back, so that your perception in terms of the four Noble 
  Truths is absolutely clear. If your powers of discernment are 
  relatively weak, you will have to review the series three times in 
  immediate succession before change-of-lineage knowledge 
  (//gotarabhu-nana//, knowledge of //nibbana//) will arise as the 
  result. If your powers of discernment are moderate, change-of- lineage 
  knowledge will arise after you have reviewed the series twice in 
  succession.  If your powers of discernment are tempered and strong, it 
  will arise after you have reviewed the series once. Thus the sages of 
  the past divided those who reach the first noble path and fruition 
  into three sorts: Those with relatively weak powers of discernment 
  will have to be reborn another seven times; those with moderate powers 
  of discernment will have to be reborn another three or four times; 
  those with quick powers of discernment will have to be reborn only 
  once.
  
       The different speeds at which individuals realize the first path 
  and its fruition are determined by their temperaments and 
  propensities. The slowest class are those who have developed two parts 
  tranquillity to one part insight. The intermediate class are those who 
  have developed one part tranquillity to one part insight. Those with 
  the quickest and strongest insight are those who have developed one 
  part tranquillity to two parts insight.  Having developed the 
  beginning parts of the path in different ways -- here we are referring 
  only to those parts of the path consisting of tranquillity and insight 
  -- they see clearly into the four Noble Truths at different mental 
  moments.
  
       In the end, it all comes down to seeing the five aggregates 
  clearly and unmistakably in terms of the four Noble Truths. What does 
  it mean to see clearly and unmistakably? And what are the terms of the 
  four Noble Truths? This can be explained as follows: Start out by 
  fixing your attention on a result and then trace back to its causes. 
  Focus, for instance, on physical and mental phenomena as they arise 
  and pass away in the present. This is the truth of stress 
  (//dukkha-sacca//), as in the Pali phrase,
  
                  //nama-rupam aniccam, nama-rupam dukkham,
                            nama-rupam anatta//:
  
  `All physical and mental phenomena are equally inconstant, stressful, 
  and not-self.' Fix your attention on their arising and changing, 
  seeing that birth is stressful, ageing is stressful, illness and death 
  are stressful; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair are 
  stressful; in short, the five aggregates are stressful. What is the 
  cause? When you trace back to the cause for stress, you'll find that 
  craving for sensual objects -- sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile 
  sensations and ideas -- is one cause, termed sensual craving 
  (//kama-tanha//). Then focus in on the mind so as to see the 
  intermediate-level cause and you'll see that `At this moment the mind 
  is straying, wishing that physical and mental phenomena -- form, 
  feelings, labels, fashionings, and cognizance -- would be in line with 
  its wants.' This wish is termed craving for becoming 
  (//bhava-tanha//). Focus in again on the mind so as to see the subtle 
  cause and you'll see that, `At this moment the mind is flinching, 
  wishing that physical and mental phenomena wouldn't change, that they 
  would stay under its control.' This wish is termed craving for no 
  becoming (//vibhava-tanha//), i.e., craving for things to stay 
  constant in line with one's wishes.
  
       These three forms of craving arise when the mind is deluded. 
  Focus in and investigate that deluded mental state until you can see 
  that it's inconstant, stressful, and not-self. Tap Craving on his 
  shoulder and call him by name until, embarrassed and ashamed, he wanes 
  from the heart, in line with the teaching: `The lack of involvement 
  with that very craving, the release from it, the relinquishing of it, 
  the abandonment of it, the disbanding of it through the lack of any 
  remaining affection: This is the disbanding of stress.'
  
       The mind that switches back and forth between knowing and being 
  deluded is all one and the same mind. Craving lands on it, not 
  allowing it to develop the path and gain true knowledge, just as 
  flocks of birds landing on a tall, unsteady, tapering tree can cause 
  it to shudder and sway and come crashing down. Thus the Noble 
  Disciples have focused on craving and discarded it, leaving only 
  nirodha, disbanding. The act of disbanding can be divided into two -- 
  the disbanding of physical and mental phenomena; or into three -- the 
  disbanding of sensual craving, craving for becoming, and craving for 
  no becoming; or into four -- the disbanding of feelings, labels, 
  fashionings, and cognizance of various things. Add the disbanding of 
  physical phenomena to the last list and you have five. We could keep 
  going on and on: If you can let go, everything disbands. What this 
  means simply is that the heart no longer clings to these things, no 
  longer gives them sustenance.
  
       Letting go, however, has two levels: mundane and transcendent. 
  Mundane letting go is only momentary, not once-and-for-all, and so the 
  disbanding that results is only mundane. It's not yet constant. As for 
  the path of practice, it's not yet constant either. It's the noble 
  eightfold path, all right, but on the mundane level. For example:
  
       1. Mundane right view: You see into stress, its causes, its 
  disbanding, and the path to its disbanding, but your insight isn't yet 
  constant -- for although your views are correct, you can't yet let 
  them go. This is thus classed as mundane right view.
  
       2. Mundane right attitude: Your attitude is to renounce sensual 
  pleasures, not to feel ill will, and not to cause harm. These three 
  attitudes are correct, but you haven't yet freed yourself in line with 
  them. This is thus classed as mundane right attitude.
  
       3. Mundane right speech: right speech is of four types -- 
  refraining from lies, from divisive tale-bearing, from coarse and 
  abusive speech, and from idle, aimless chatter. You know that these 
  forms of speech are to be avoided, but you still engage in them out of 
  absent-mindedness. This is thus classed as mundane right speech.
  
       4. Mundane right action: Your undertakings aren't yet constantly 
  right. Sometimes you act uprightly, sometimes not. This is classed as 
  mundane right action.
  
       5. Mundane right livelihood: Your maintenance of your livelihood 
  by way of thought, word, and deed isn't yet constant. In other words, 
  it's not yet absolutely pure -- in some ways it is, and in some it 
  isn't. Thus it is termed mundane right livelihood.
  
       6. Mundane right effort: Right effort is of four types -- the 
  effort to abandon evil that has already arisen, to avoid evil that 
  hasn't, to give rise to the good that  hasn't yet arisen, and to 
  maintain the good that has. Your efforts in these four directions 
  aren't yet really consistent. Sometimes you make the effort and 
  sometimes you don't. This is thus termed mundane right effort.
  
       7. Mundane right reference: Right reference is of four types -- 
  reference of the body, to feelings, to the mind, and to mental 
  qualities. When you aren't consistent in staying with these frames of 
  reference -- sometimes keeping them in mind, sometimes not -- your 
  practice is classed as inconstant. This is thus termed mundane right 
  reference.
  
       8. Mundane right concentration: Right concentration is of three 
  sorts -- momentary concentration, threshold concentration, and fixed 
  penetration. If these can suppress unwise mental qualities for only 
  certain periods of time, they're classed as inconstant: sometimes you 
  have them and sometimes you don't. This is thus termed mundane right 
  concentration.
  
       These eight factors can be reduced to three: virtue, 
  concentration, and discernment -- i.e., inconstant virtue, inconstant 
  concentration, inconstant discernment -- sometimes pure, sometimes 
  blemished. These in turn reduce ultimately to our own thoughts, words, 
  and deeds. We're inconstant in thought, word, and deed, sometimes 
  doing good, sometimes doing evil, sometimes speaking what is good, 
  sometimes speaking what is evil, sometimes thinking what is good, 
  sometimes thinking what is evil.
  
       When we want to make the path transcendent, we have to bring the 
  principles of virtue, concentration, and discernment to bear on our 
  thoughts, words, and deed, and then focus on cleansing those thoughts, 
  words, and deeds so that they're in line with the principles of 
  virtue, concentration, and discernment to the point where we attain a 
  purity that is radiant and lasting. Only then can the path become 
  transcendent.
  
       The results of each path, whether mundane or transcendent, follow 
  immediately on the practice of the path, just as your shadow follows 
  immediately upon you.
  
       To return to the discussion of the mundane path: Although the 
  mundane path is said to have eight factors, this eightfold path -- as 
  it's put into practice by people in general -- forks into two: eight 
  right factors and eight wrong, making a sixteen-fold path. This is why 
  regress is possible. What this comes down to is the fact that virtue, 
  concentration, and discernment aren't in harmony. For example, our 
  virtue may be right and our concentration wrong, or our discernment 
  right and our virtue and concentration wrong. In other words, our 
  words and deeds may be virtuous, but our thoughts -- overpowered by 
  the hindrances -- may not reach singleness; or the mind may reach 
  stillness, but without being able to let go of its preoccupations with 
  the elements, aggregates, or sense media. Sometimes our discernment 
  and insight may be right, but we haven't abandoned unvirtuous actions. 
  We know they're harmful and we're able to abstain for a while, but we 
  still can't help reverting to them even though we know better. This is 
  why we say the mundane path has sixteen factors, eight right and eight 
  wrong, sometimes turning this way and sometimes that.
  
       If, however, you really decide to train yourself and then watch 
  over mundane right view so as to keep it right without letting the 
  wrong path interfere -- so that your virtue, concentration, and 
  discernment are right and in harmony -- then this very same mundane 
  path, once it is made constant and consistent, will become 
  transcendent, leading to the stream to //nibbana//. Once you reach the 
  transcendent level, the path has only eight factors: Your virtue, 
  concentration, and discernment are all entirely right. In this way 
  they transcend the mundane level. The mundane level is inconstant: 
  inconsistent, undependable, dishonest with itself. One moment you do 
  good; the next evil. Then after you've regressed, you progress again. 
  If you were to classify people of the mundane level, there are four 
  sorts:
  
       1. Some people have done evil in the past, are doing evil in the 
  present, and will continue doing evil in the future.
  
       2. Some people have done evil in the past, but are doing good in 
  the present, and aren't willing to abandon their goodness in the 
  future.
  
       3. Some people have done good in the past, are doing good in the 
  present, but will give it up in the future.
  
       4. Some people have done only good in the past, are keeping it up 
  in the present in all their actions -- i.e. virtue, concentration, and 
  discernment are constantly with them -- and they plan to keep on doing 
  good into the future.
  
       So there's nothing constant about people on the mundane level. 
  They're greedy, they're rich. They do both good and evil. Two hands 
  aren't enough for them; they have to carry their goods on a pole over 
  the shoulder, with one load on the front end and another on the back. 
  Sometimes the back load -- the past -- is good, but the front load -- 
  the future -- is evil. Sometimes the front and back loads are both 
  evil, but the person in the middle is good. Sometimes all three are 
  good. When we're loaded up like this, we're not balanced. One load is 
  heavy and the other one light. Sometimes we tip over backwards, and 
  sometimes fall flat on our face -- back and forth like this, from one 
  level of being to the next. This is how it is with virtue, 
  concentration, and discernment on the mundane level. There's no 
  telling where they'll lead you next. so once you've come to your 
  senses, you should start right in keeping watch over the mundane path 
  so that you can bring mundane virtue, concentration, and discernment 
  into line with the transcendent.
  
  
  
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