Knowing and Seeing

[Pages:310]Knowing and Seeing

by Ven. Pa-Auk Sayadaw

eUDDHANET'

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Knowing and Seeing

Talks and Questions-and-Answers at a Meditation Retreat in Taiwan

by Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw ? W.K. Ng 2000

The material in this book may be reprinted without the author's permission. It is recommended that, for reasons of kamma, no changes be made.

Printed For Free Distribution 3

Contents

Knowing and Seeing

8 Foreword .......................................................................................................................................... 11 Editorial Note ............................................................................................................................... Preface to the Second Edition ......................................................................................... 13

Talk 1

How You Develop Mindfulness-of-Breathing to Absorption ............................ 14 14 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 14 Why Meditate? ............................................................................................................................ 15 What Is Meditation? ............................................................................................................... The Noble Eightfold Path .................................................................................................... 16 How You Develop Concentration ................................................................................ 19 How You Develop Mindfulness-of-Breathing .................................................. 19 How You Balance the Five Controlling Faculties ............................................ 27 How You Balance the Seven Factors of Enlightenment .............................. 31 32 How You Attain Jh?na .........................................................................................................

Questions & Answers 1 37 ...................................................................................

Talk 2

How You Develop Absorption on Other Subjects .................................................... 44 The Thirty-Two Parts of the Body ............................................................................... 44 The Three Entrances to Nibb?na .................................................................................. 47 47 The Skeleton .................................................................................................................................. The Five Jh?na Factors ......................................................................................................... 48 51 The Ten Kasi?as .........................................................................................................................

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51 The Colour Kasi?a .................................................................................................................... 51 The White Kasi?a ..................................................................................................................... 56 The Earth Kasi?a ...................................................................................................................... 56 The Water Kasi?a ..................................................................................................................... 57 The Fire Kasi?a ........................................................................................................................... 57 The Wind Kasi?a ....................................................................................................................... 57 The Light Kasi?a ....................................................................................................................... 58 The Space Kasi?a ...................................................................................................................... The Four Immaterial Jh?nas ............................................................................................ 58 The Base of Boundless-Space .......................................................................................... 59 The Base of Boundless-Consciousness .................................................................... 60 The Base of Nothingness .................................................................................................... 61 The Base of Neither-Perception-Nor-Non-Perception ................................. 62

Questions & Answers 2 64 ..................................................................................

Talk 3

How You Develop the Sublime Abidings and Protective Meditations ........ 75 75 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. How You Develop the Four Sublime Abidings ................................................ 75 Lovingkindness (Mett?) ...................................................................................................... 75 Lovingkindness Towards A Person You Like & Respect ......................... 78 Breaking Down the Barriers (S?m?sambheda) ....................................................... 81 The Twenty-Two Categories ............................................................................................. 82 The Unspecified and Specified Categories .......................................................... 84 The Ten Directional Categories ..................................................................................... 85 86 Compassion (Karu??) ............................................................................................................

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Appreciative-Joy (Mudit?) .................................................................................................... 87 Equanimity (Upekkh?) ........................................................................................................... 88 How You Develop the Four Protective meditations ..................................... 89 Recollection-of-the-Buddha (Buddh?nussati) ........................................................ 90 Repulsiveness Meditation (Asubha) ............................................................................ 92 Recollection-of-Death (Mara??nussati) ..................................................................... 93 94 Summary ........................................................................................................................................

Questions & Answers 3 97 ..................................................................................

Talk 4

How You Discern Materiality ............................................................................................. 114 114 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... How You Develop Four-Elements Meditation ................................................ 114 How You Analyse R?pa Kal?pas .............................................................................. 125 How You Analyse Transparent-Elements Materiality ............................. 130 The Fifty-Four Types of Materiality in the Eye .............................................. 132 How You See Materiality Produced by Consciousness .......................... 133 How You See Materiality Produced by Temperature ............................... 134 How You See Materiality Produced by Nutriment .................................... 134 137 Summary .....................................................................................................................................

Questions & Answers 4 139 ...............................................................................

Talk 5

How You Discern Mentality ............................................................................................... 163 163 Introduction ..............................................................................................................................

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How You Discern Jh?na Thought-Processes ................................................... 165 How You Discern Sensual Plane Thought-Processes ............................... 168 Wise and Unwise Attention .......................................................................................... 168 How You Discern Mind-Door Thought-Processes ..................................... 168 How You Discern Five-Door Thought-Processes ......................................... 169 How You Discern External Mentality ................................................................... 172

Questions & Answers 5 175 ...............................................................................

Talk 6

How You See the Links of Dependent-Origination ............................................. 188 188 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. The Three Rounds of Dependent-Origination ............................................... 189 How You Discern the Past ............................................................................................. 190 193 Examples ...................................................................................................................................... How You Discern the Future ....................................................................................... 195

Questions & Answers 6 197 ................................................................................

Talk 7

How You Develop the Insight-Knowledges to See Nibb?na ............................ 217 217 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... The Knowledge of Comprehension (Sammasana-???a) ........................... 218 The Forty Perceptions (Catt?r?s?k?raanupassan?) ........................................... 220 The Seven Ways for Materiality (R?pa-Sattaka) .............................................. 222 The Seven Ways for Mentality (Ar?pa-Sattaka) ............................................ 224

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The Knowledge of Arising & Passing-Away (Udayabbaya-???a) 226 227 Brief Method ............................................................................................................................. 227 Detailed Method ....................................................................................................................

The Observation of the Nature of Arising

(Samudayadhamm?nupass?) 228 ..............................................................................................

The Observation of the Nature of Passing-Away

(Vayadhamm?nupass?) ........................................................................................................... 229

The Observation of the Nature of Arising & Passing-Away

(Samudayavayadhamm?nupass?) .................................................................................... 230 The Ten Imperfections of Insight (Dasa-Upakkilesa) .................................... 233 The Knowledge of Dissolution (Bha?ga-???a) ................................................ 233 The Remaining Knowledges ........................................................................................ 234

Questions & Answers 7 236 ...............................................................................

Talk 8

The Buddha's Wishes for His Disciples and His Teachings (Talk given on Ves?kha Day) ............................................................................................. 257

Talk 9

The Most Superior Type of Offering (Traditional End-of-Retreat Talk to Donors, Organizers and Helpers) 276

Offerings to the Sa?gha (Sa?ghika-D?na) ............................................................ 288

Appendix 1

Glossary of Untranslated P??i Terms ..................................................................... 305

Appendix 2

For Information Regarding Centres Teaching the Pa-Auk System 310

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Foreword

As most of us know, the three trainings of virtuous conduct, concentration, and wisdom, are the three stages of Buddhist practice. Through the practice of the three trainings, an ordinary person can attain the supreme Nibb?na and become a noble one.

The Visuddhimagga compiled by the Venerable Buddhaghosa is an exposition of the three trainings. It is based on the P??i texts and commentaries, and explains the seven stages of purification, and sixteen insight-knowledges. But how to attain them has been a difficult question for all Buddhists for many generations. For this, we are fortunate to have the Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw. His teaching is the same as, indeed it is in much more detail than, what is described in the Visuddhimagga. Based on the very same sources, the P??i texts, commentaries and the Visuddhimagga, the Sayadaw teaches meditators, step by step, how to attain those stages of purification and insight-knowledges.

The goal of the teaching at Pa-Auk Forest Monastery is, in accordance with the orthodox teaching, to realize Nibban? in this very life. To achieve that end, meditators must comprehend all mentality-and-materiality, also known as the five aggregates, as impermanent, suffering, and non-self. As for the objects of Vipassan? meditation, they are not only the internal and external five aggregates, but also the five aggregates of past, future, present, gross, subtle, superior, inferior, far, and near. Only after comprehending all of them penetratively as impermanent, suffering, and non-self, can meditators attain the

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