Expert: Anandapanyo Bhikkhu - 7/29/2010

Question
Ven Thero,

I understood what you have explained so far.
Doesn't suffering(dukka)arise because of anicca(impermanence)?. I can understand about anatta is there because everything is impermanent. Every time I say me///// the mind and body changes so fast that me is dead so there is nothing to call "me".it's changing.As soon as you aware that awareness is also dead .
Because nothing stays the same it's dukka. Jati jara marana ,shoka,prideva......etc
'the concept of me is always changing too isn't it?
You say "my body" then it could be that I hold the view: mind is me
Then if I say say "there are lots of things on my mind" then " I" am different to mind  (I know this is in a very gross way)
I read there are 20 subtle ways this wrong view of 'I" occur.
With the five aggregates
eg .I'm the rupa
I'm different to rupa
rupa is inside me
I'm inside the rupa  ...( Vedana, Sanna, Sankara,vinnana)
Please point out if I'm wrong.

Answer
Dear Harshani,

The next time to understand after the last correspondence is this:

We have to section off our practice and do one at a time. My teacher always said, "Pick the Low-Hanging Fruit first! If you only wait for the fruit at the top of the tree, you might go hungry!"

Now, as I can tell in your practice, you are doing many things simultaneously. What I would like to do now, is draw you a mind map of how to proceed.

There are four levels of Enlightenment:

Arahant
Anagami
Sakitagami
Sotapanna

Now, of course, Arahant is the hardest to obtain, followed by Anagami, Sakitagami and then Sotapanna.

Even if we try real hard, some people will not be able to achieve Arahant in this life, maybe not Anagami, maybe not Sakitagami...but if we try hard enough, it is possible to achieve Sotapanna in this life.

Why should we go for these things? Well, first off, enlightenment in any of the levels guarantees no more rebirths in hell, no more breaking Sila's (automatically), no more animal rebirths, only heaven and human rebirths and also, every life that we are born, we will be born in a family of our choosing and that is Buddhist and has proper views (Sammaditthi). Sounds like a good deal huh?

How do we become an Arahant? Well, we need to understand and know all Avicca (Ignorance) and extinguish the five aggregates (rupa, vedana, sankhara, sanna, and vinnanam)

How do we become an Anagami? Well, we would need to fully understand and know and extinguish the sensual pleasures that come from the five senses (touch, smell, taste, sight, sound)

How do we become a Sakitagami? Well, we would need to further understand our sense of self in a non-physical way. For example, when people compliment you, we must not allow our sense of self to expand...when people critique us, we must not allow our sense of self to detract...When we make money, we must not allow our ego to increase...when we lose money, we should not allow our ego to decrease...When we gain status, we should not let our egos increase...when we lose status, we should not let our egos decrease...when we are happy, we should not allow our egos to increase...when we are sad (suffer) we should not let our egos decrease.

How do we become a Sotapanna? Well, we have to understand that the physical form in not self, that is...it is not us. But the way to understanding the physical self is through understanding its belongings (physical). Ie...if these physical things cannot belong to us and are impermanent, then how can we, who are also of the four elements be any different? If we can't own physical objects then how can we own a physical body? Thus the sense of self decreases (destroyed) in a physical sense.

Now, we see that if you try to focus on mental formations, you are working with Sakitagami, Anagama and Arahant coursework. This is equivalent to being a freshman in college, but trying to do Sophomore and Junior and Senior tests (without studying). You MIGHT be smart enough...but the system has four levels for a reason...so that people can go through the steps and get what they need to know first..then go up the ladder...

When we walk up a ladder, we usually do it one step at a time...the same thing should be applied in Buddhism and practice....

The second major point I feel I need to stress is that you must have NANATASSA - that is, you must KNOW and FEEL (Experience) the truth in order for your to understand it. Right now, most people in the world are KNOWING the truth, but not FEELING it.

For example, we know that ACADEMICALLY, our bodies are not self....but what does this actually mean? How does this apply to our real life? How do we build self, how do we break down self...we don't know...we just know ACADEMICALLY that our bodies are not self....this is not good enough and will NEVER be good enough...

For example, if I asked you how to brush your teeth, you could tell me in detail from EXPERIENCE and from THEORY. Your parents and society tell you to use a brush and to use toothpaste...but YOU know how many strokes, how moist it should be, how long to brush, how to be careful of stabbing your mouth..YOU know...from EXPERIENCE AND THEORY!

Another thing is, when we put on clothes, we put them on one item at a time...so when we take them off, we take them off one item at a time. We cannot take off our underwear BEFORE our outerwear. When we build our sense of self, we build it one Thought and one PERCEPTION at a time...so when we break down our sense of self...we MUST BREAK IT DOWN ONE THOUGHT ONE PERCEPTION AT A TIME!!!!! We must take off the OUTER self (physical) before we take the INNER self (mental).

Before I go further, I must know if you understand what I am saying and if you agree....this is the fundamental teaching of the Buddha...and the basis of my practice..so, if you agree, I can teach you the way to fully understanding yourself- one step at a time...but if you do not...then I will not be able to teach you...

*Sidenote*
In old martial arts movies, the young practitioner always wants to learn the high level martial arts FIRST (Strike of death, 1-in-Punch, Mantis Style...). But the teacher ALWAYS makes them go through the training FIRST. There has never been a new student who came in and IMMEDIATELY learned the high level training...(otherwise there would be no movie!)

I hope this information reaches you well,

Sincerely,

Phra Anandapanyo