The Fifth Lesson
Pañca Nāma Kim? What is Five?
What five concepts, when used to see things to their root with penetrating knowledge, and to understand them in their broadest limits, such that their disgusting nature is seen as it really is and one has released them in their entirety, can bring one to the uttermost freedom of detachment?
Pañc'upādāna-Kkhandha — The Five Stockpiled Bindups
Pañca+Upādāna+Kkhandha Pañc'upādānakkhandha
Elsewhere translated:
The Grasping Groups, or
The Groups of Existence, or
The Factors of existence.
1. Rūpa: Forms, Matter, an existing thing.
A thing having taken form, the having-become-a-thingness of a thing, including sounds and ideas.
2. Vedanā: Sensation.
The pleasant or painful sensation, or not-painful-but-not-pleasant experience consequent upon the contact of the eye and sights, the ear and sounds, the nose and scents, the tongue and tastes, the body and touch, and the mind and ideas together with consciousness.
The ordinary person experiences sensation; the arahant experiences but does not experience either sensation or sense-experience.
3. Saññā: Once-knowing, perception.
4. Sankhārā: Own-making.
The making into one's own of, or the identification with existing things, sensations, perceptions, and consciousness.
The creation of one's own world.
Identification with the world.
Sankhārā like kamma is both the act of creating
(by identification with the intent)
and the identified-with rebounding consequence.
5. Viññāṇā: re-knowing-knowledge, re-knowing-knowing-knowledge, self awareness, consciousness, cognition, knowing awareness. When individualized, awareness as an individual, individualized consciousness, for the arahant, it is re-knowing-knowledge, knowing the known.
"That which is feeling, your reverence, and that which is perception and that which is discriminative consciousness — these states are associated, not dissociated, and it is not possible to lay down a difference between these states, having analysed them again and again. Your reverence, whatever one feels, that one perceives; whatever one perceives that one discriminates; therefore these states are associated, not dissociated, and it is not possible to lay down a difference between these states, having analysed them again and again." — Horner, (Middle Length Sayings, I #43, PTS ed. pp 352).
It is only when an individual injects "ownership" into the process, or "identifies" with the process that an individual or any thing is said to come into being or exist and it is only then that there is subjection to kamma and the destiny of suffering dukkha.
The Five Stockpiles are one of several ways of describing every conceivable thing that exists. When it is said that 'This' is Pain, as in the first truth, it is in reference to this group or one of it's equivalents.
It is one or another or a combination of these factors that is what is erroneously identified with as the self or as belonging to one's self.
It is with regard to this group that desire to be or to have experience arises.
And it is with regard to this group that desire, when ended, ends pain.
It is this group that is the nāma/rupa together with consciousness that arises as a result of the identification with the intent to produce experience through acts of mind, speech and body, and it is by not injecting identification with intent to experience this group by not taking action with mind speech and body that is the breaking apart of re-knowing-knowledge and nāma/rupa that by that breaking apart gives no opportunity for the arising of pain.
It is said that this group encompasses that which exists and it is said that there is no existence outside of this group and it is said that Nibbāna or the Arahant is not defined by this group. How is this reconciled?
To understand this it is necessary to understand the idea stated above that what is meant by 'existing' or 'being' or 'living' is 'identified-with consciousness of named form'. Where there has been no creation caused by identified-with action, there is no thing there that is said to exist. No thing. No being. No 'I.' No arahant. No Nibbāna. No Bodhi Mind. Not having come into existence, it is not subject to death or pain.
The re-knowing-knowledge of that is not the consciousness of an identified-with named form, but a re-knowing-knowledge of freedom from identified-with named form. That is the re-knowing-knowledge of the Arahant or what is called Nibbāna, being unbound, free, not subject to rebirth, aging, or death, grief and lamentation, pain and misery and despair.
This is not just semantics. This is not saying that what comes after is the same as what came before.
Self-Illuminated
Sanyutta Nikaya
Khandha Vagga
22. Khandha Sanyutta
"Do ye abide, brethren,
islands unto yourselves, refuges unto yourselves:
taking refuge in none other;
islanded by the Norm, taking refuge in the Norm,
seeking refuge in none other."
— PTS: Kindred Sayings on Elements, V:43:
On Being an Island to Self, F.L. Woodward translation.
Evam Me Sutam:
I HEAR TELL:
Ekaṃ Samayaṃ
Once upon a time, the Lucky Man, Savatthi Town, Anāthapiṇḍika Park, came-a ReVisiting.
There he said:
Self-illuminated[2], beggars,
live self-protected,
by not else protected;
Dhamma-illuminated,
Dhamma-protected,
by not else protected.
Self-illuminated, beggars,
living self-protected,
by not else protected;
Dhamma-illuminated,
Dhamma-protected,
by not else protected
studiously examine things
to their point of origin [womb][3]
this way:
"What is the birth,
what is the beginning
of grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair?"
What is the birth,
what is the beginning
of grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair?
Here, beggars, the common man,
not seeing Aristocrats,
unwise to the Aristocratic Dhamma,
untrained in the Aristocratic Dhamma,
not seeing real men,
unwise to the Dhamma of real men,
untrained in the Dhamma of real men[4],
holds the view:
form[5] is self,
or self has form,
or form is in self,
or self is in form.
For such a one
that form changes
and becomes something else.
For such a one,
that form changing
and becoming something else
is the appearance of the birth
of grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair.
Or he holds the view:
sensation is self,
or self has sensation,
or sensation is in self,
or self is in sensation.
For such a one
that sensation changes
and becomes something else.
For such a one,
that sensation changing
and becoming something else
is the appearance of the birth
of grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair.
Or he holds the view:
perception is self,
or self has perception,
or perception is in self,
or self is in perception.
For such a one
that perception changes
and becomes something else.
For such a one,
that perception changing
and becoming something else
is the appearance of the birth
of grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair.
Or he holds the view:
personalization (own-making) is self,
or self has personalization,
or personalization is in self,
or self is in personalization.
For such a one
that personalized thing changes
and becomes something else.
For such a one,
that personalized thing changing
and becoming something else
is the appearance of the birth
of grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair."
Or he holds the view:
consciousness is self,
or self has consciousness,
or consciousness is in self,
or self is in consciousness.
For such a one
consciousness changes
and becomes something else.
For such a one,
consciousness changing
and becoming something else
is the appearance of the birth
of grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair."
But viewing form, beggars,
as changing,
corrupt,
dying out,
ending,
thinking:
"Before, as well as in the here and now,
form was a changeable,
painful phenomena
subject to dying out,"
and thus with penetrating knowledge
seeing it as it really is,
he lets go of grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair,
and letting go
is not dissatisfied,
and not dissatisfied,
lives pleasantly,
and living pleasantly,
they say "This beggar is cool."
Or viewing sensation, beggars,
as changing,
corrupt,
dying out,
ending,
thinking:
"Before, as well as in the here and now,
sensation was a changeable,
painful phenomena
subject to dying out,"
and thus with penetrating knowledge
seeing it as it really is,
he lets go of grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair,
and letting go is not dissatisfied,
and not dissatisfied,
lives pleasantly,
and living pleasantly,
they say "This beggar is cool."
Or viewing perception, beggars,
as changing,
corrupt,
dying out,
ending,
thinking:
"Before, as well as in the here and now,
perception was a changeable,
painful phenomena
subject to dying out,"
and thus with penetrating knowledge
seeing it as it really is,
he lets go of grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair,
and letting go is not dissatisfied,
and not dissatisfied,
lives pleasantly,
and living pleasantly,
they say "This beggar is cool."
Or viewing personalization (own-making), beggars,
as changing,
corrupt,
dying out,
ending,
thinking:
"Before, as well as in the here and now,
personalized things were a changeable,
painful phenomena
subject to dying out,"
and thus with penetrating knowledge
seeing it as it really is,
he lets go of grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair,
and letting go is not dissatisfied,
and not dissatisfied,
lives pleasantly,
and living pleasantly,
they say "This beggar is cool."
Or viewing consciousness, beggars,
as changing,
corrupt,
dying out,
ending,
thinking:
"Before, as well as in the here and now,
consciousness was a changeable,
painful phenomena
subject to dying out,"
and thus with penetrating knowledge
seeing it as it really is,
he lets go of grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair,
and letting go is not dissatisfied,
and not dissatisfied,
lives pleasantly,
and living pleasantly,
they say "This beggar is cool."
[1] This Sutta [instruction, teaching, story, spell, literally 'yarn', 'string' or 'thread'; always more than a story, it must be educational as well] discusses one of the handful of central ideas which are absolutely unique to the teachings of Gotama: the idea of anatta: not-self.
Please carefully register the idea that this is not the idea of 'No Self'.
This is one of the most difficult of Buddhist concepts to grasp, but it is essential for making any sense of the system, so give it your best shot:
The idea is that there is no thing there that can accurately be called the self of one. (And 'thing' includes everything conceivable.) And yet there is no denial of Self.
The notion of "self" is dependent on point of view: One man holds that the self is there based on conventional common sense — he calls what he sees the self;
another looks at the atomic structure and dig as he might can find no atom that is the self and concludes that there is no self. The Buddha avoids this debate as fruitless.
The Buddha's instruction is that whether or not the self exists, Pain exists, and it does so dependent upon the holding of any view of self — because we "personalize" the world, we identify with one thing or another as the self, and suffer with it; completely unnecessary — so let go of the view.
[2] Is it a light or is it an island? The word "dipa" means both and more.
atta-dipa can mean Self-Island, or Self-lit so: "Live as a light unto yourself" is, at the least, heard.
atta-sarana Self surrounded, in the sense of "protected" and, also, self-recollected
anañña-sarana [añña > an = not; ya = whatsoever; Latin alius, Gothic aljis, Old Anglo Saxon elles > English else] Not other-surrounded or protected, but also "by nothing else protected. So it can be either way.
[3] Yoni yeva upaparikkhitabbo. [also: Yoniso-mana-sikāro] A phrase which seems to have undergone some 'reconstruction.' It means "thoroughly examine to the womb." However it's use broadened out into 'studious examination' period, and even out into just 'giving thorough attention'. The reader should note the difference which is made to the mental picture when translating "yoni" [womb] as "origin" versus leaving it as "womb."
Woodward:
By them who are islands unto themselves, brethren, who are a refuge unto themselves, who take refuge in none other who are islanded by the Norm, take refuge in the Norm, seek refuge in none other — by them the very [source] of things is to be searched for: thus — "What is the source of sorrow and grief, of woe, lamentation and despair? What is their origin?"
[4] Please note the way this is translated compared to the way it is usually presented here:
Here, beggars, the common man, not seeing Aristocrats, unwise to the Aristocratic Dhamma, untrained in the Aristocratic Dhamma, not seeing real men, unwise to the Dhamma of real men, untrained in the Dhamma of real men
Vs:
In the case of this case, beggars, we have the case of the untamed, untrained, uneducated common man. Untamed to the discipline of the aristocrats, untrained in the manners of the aristocrats, uneducated in the teachings of the aristocrats; untamed to the ways of the sappurisa, untrained in the craft of the sappurisa, uneducated to the lore of the sappurisa,
The first adheres closely to the Pāḷi, the second shows the variety of meanings of Dhamma. We could use a good translation for the term "Sappurisa." Some others are "puremen" "superman" "worthy ones."
"Purisa" is a term meaning "male", and "sapp-" means "clarified" as in butter, or gold. Interesting that our culture does not have a good word for a good man.
[5]Rūpa is translated by Woodward as "Body", which is a fairly standard interpretation. Here "form" is used because the meaning is broader and because there is another closer Pāḷi word for body in "kaya". The broader meaning was likely intended because the discussion is of that which individuals consider their own or themselves. Some individual's conception of what form constitutes the self of them extends beyond the body proper (some beings out there think the whole world is their own!), or is less than the body [while it is in you, does excrement constitute a part of your idea of yourself or not? Is it a part of the body or not?].
