Seeing Dhamma
In the same way, friends,
as of all the creatures
that roam the world
using feet,
the footprint of the elephant
is considered preeminent,
that is,
in terms of size;
in the same way,
of all the doctrines
describing the skillful mind,
the Four Aristocrats of Truths
are considered preeminent,
that is,
in terms of scope.
What four?
The truth that
'This is Pain.'
The truth that
'The origin of Pain is Thirst.'
The truth that
'The ending of Thirst is the Ending of Pain.'
The truth that
'The walk to walk
to the ending of Pain
is the Aristocratic Multidimensional High Way,
that is:
High Point of View;
High Principles;
High Talk;
High Works;
High Lifestyle;
High Self-control;
High Mind;
High Serenity;
High Seeing;
High Detachment.
■
And what, friends, is this 'pain'?
Birth is pain,
sickness is pain,
aging is pain,
death is pain,
grief and lamentation,
pain and misery, and
despair
are pain.
Not getting
what is wished for
is Pain.
Getting
what is not wanted
is Pain.
In a word:
'These five support-compounds[1]
are Pain.'
■
And what, friends,
is to be understood by
"In a word:
These five support-compounds are pain"?
What are the five
support compounds?
The form support-compound;
the sense-experience[2] support-compound;
the perception support-compound;
the own-making[3] support-compound;
the consciousness support-compound.
Of these the form-support compound is made up of the four great properties:
solidity, liquidity, heat, and motion and
the forms that are compounded from these.
These four can be either
relating to an individual or
be external and
in either case
they are unstable,
change, and
come to an end.
And that which is
unstable and
changeable, and
that which is
compounded from
that which is
unstable and
changeable and
comes to an end
cannot sanely and
rationally
be understood as:
"This I am;
This is mine;
This is my 'self.'"
How come?
Because
that which is not
under one's control
cannot
sanely and
rationally
be called
one's own or
to be said to
belong to one.
And to hold
that a thing
that comes into being
by being derived from
that which is
unstable and
changeable and
which comes to an end
is the self
amounts to saying:
"That which is myself
comes and goes,"
which is absurd.
So the sane,
rational
individual
thinks:
That pain which has arisen
in that which I
erroneously
believed was myself
has arisen
as a result, or
repercussion
of something.
A result of what?
Contact of
sense-organ with
sense-object and
consciousness.
For example:
If someone says
something disagreeable
about him,
he thinks:
This unpleasant experience
has come to me
through my sense of hearing.
It is the result
of something,
it is not
not a result
of something.
Of what is it
the result?
Contact of
that form
called sound and
that form
called ear
together with consciousness.
The sense-experience;
the perception;
the own-made aspect;
the consciousness of that form,
made up from solidity, liquidity, heat and motion
that is sense-organ and
sense-object consciousness —
all that is
unstable and
changeable and
comes to an end.
If being abused
he should become
angry and upset,
he should recollect
the parable
wherein the Buddha says
that even if downright bad guys
should cut him to pieces
with a saw,
were he to get angry
he would not be
following the Teacher's instructions.
He should think:
'This body
is so constituted
that it is subject to abuse' and
he sets up recollection,
investigation,
energy,
enthusiasm,
impassivity,
serenity and
detachment
for the attaining of
freedom from body.
By that focus
of his mind
on the component parts
on the made-up nature
of the experience,
on the task
of attaining freedom,
he is detached.
Detached he is free.
Seeing this freedom
as freedom,
he sees the end of pain.
In that freedom
he can know:
"Left behind is rebirth,
lived is the best of lives,
done is duty's doing,
no more is there being any sort of 'it'
at any place of 'at-ness' left for me."
Suppose a collection of
sticks and straw and mud
enclosing a space
were to be called
a house.
Just so the collecting,
assembling,
combining together of
form,
sense-experience,
perception,
own-making and
consciousness
in skin and bones,
flesh and blood,
piss and vinegar,
hot air and gas
enclosing a space
is called a living being.
If, friends,
a sense organ is functioning, and
an appropriate sense-object
comes within its range, and
there is contact
of the two
there arises
sense-consciousness.
That which is form
in such that has thus come to be,
that is known as a
'form-supported-compound';
that which is sense-experience
in such that has thus come to be,
that is known as a
'sensation-supported-compound';
that which is perception
in such that has thus come to be,
that is known as a
'perception-supported-compound';
that which is own-made
in such that has thus come to be,
that is known as an
'own-made-supported-compound';
that which is consciousness
in such that has thus come to be,
that is known as a
'consciousness-supported-compound'.
In this way
it is to be understood that
within any given conscious experience
resulting from contact of
sense-organ with sense object
there is the collecting,
assembling,
combining together of
the support-compounds.
The Buddha said:
"Whoever sees repercussive-self-arising[4]
He sees Dhamma.
Whoever sees Dhamma
He sees repercussive-self-arising."
We have seen:
The five support compounds
are repercussively-self-arisen.
Whatever is
wishing for,
roosting upon,
inclination for,
being tied to
in these five support compounds,
that is
the arising of pain.
Whatever is
the disciplining of
wishing and lust
among these five support compounds,
that is
the ending of pain.
Whatever is
the walking of
the Aristocratic Multi-dimensional High Way,
is the walking of
the walk for
the disciplining of
wishing and lust
among these five support compounds.
This is how
"In a word:
'These five support-compounds
are pain'"
is to be seen.
[1] Khandha. 'heap, pile'. These are categories of temptation to rebirth. The thoughts, plans, wishes, intentions, speech and action taken upon these things results in existence.
[2] Experience of pleasure, of pain, of neither pain nor pleasure.
[3] Saṅkhāra san = own; khāra = make; that which is constructed by identification with acts of thought, word or deed intended to create experience of sense-experience for the self.
[4]
'Yo paṭicca-samuppādaṁ passati||
so dhammaṁ passati|| ||
Yo dhammaṁ passati||
so paṭicca-samuppādaṁ passatī.|| ||
Adapted from MN 28
