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ON
( An a t ta )
Adaption by Jinavamsa
2
SELFLESSNESS
( a n a t ta - n o n se lf )
C O N T E M P LA T IO N
As expounded in the
Anattalakkhan a Sutta
(The Great Discourse on Non-
Non-Self)
Adapted from
Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw
From a Translation
by
U Ko Lay
Adaption by Jinavamsa
3
Email: jinavamsa1938@yahoo.com
Copyright by Leong Yok Kee
CONTENTS
PREFACE 6
THE ANATTA-LAKKHANA SUTTA 9
INTRODUCTION 12
MIND AND CONSCIOUSNESS 13
PART TWO:
Notes on Contemplation 106
PART THREE:
Maturing of Insight 134
The Six Characteristics 144
Development of A Special Vipassana 149
Reflection of an Arahant 150
5
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Thanks are very much due to you who have made donations to
the printing of this Dhamma literature; without which it will
definitely not see the light of day.
PREFACE
This was on a day when the full moon was just appearing in the
evening and the sun had not yet set; so there was the sun and
the moon side by side in the evening sky as the First Discourse
was set forth and the Dhamma Wheel began its roll.
The Blessed One re-instated the Dhamma Wheel with the First
Discourse, and it was at this juncture that the present Sasana
began to unfold.
8
Now,
Now, is what is impermanent, what is painful since subject to
change, fit to be regarded thus: 'This is mine,
mine, this is I, this is
my self'?
self'?
No, Venerable sir.
Is feeling;
feeling; perception;
perception; mental formation; consciousness
consciousness
permanent or impermanent?
impermanent?
Impermanent,
Impermanent, Venerable Sir.
Now,
Now, is what is impermanent
impermanent,
permanent, pleasant or painful?
Painful, Venerable Sir.
Now,
Now, is what is impermanent, what
what is painful and subject to
change, fit to be regarded thus: 'This is mine,
mine, this is I, this is
my self'?
self'?
No, Venerable sir.
11
That is what the Blessed One said; the bhikkhus were glad, and
they approved his words.
INTRODUCTION
A Self, a Soul or a Living
Entity, is Not a Reality.
It is a misconstrued
misconstrued usage.
What really exists, in the
Ultimate Sense,
is a continuous arising and
passing away of
Corporeal and Mental
processes; Impersonal
Phenomena.
A
ll teachings or beliefs outside of the Blessed One's
Dispensation fall under the category of beliefs in a
SELF, a SOUL. They hold to the view that there is such
a thing as a SELF, a SOUL, or a LIVING ENTITY that
empowers; which they believe resides within the material body
of all living creatures.
PART ONE:
P
eople in general believe that each and everyone of them
have within their bodily frames the pristine, everlasting
“soul” or a powerful “self” or an enduring “ego”, that
empowers their daily conduct, thought, speech and deeds.
Very few are free from this erroneous view. In fact, throughout
their existence they will be reminded that this is so, and they
will gladly be a pawn in the race to develop and follow a culture
where this cult of the self is encouraged and even necessary if
they were to seek material superiority and gains.
Even those, who are relatively free from illness and enjoy good
health, cannot remain long in any one of the body postures,
such as sitting, standing or walking. They have to change
postures very often. We have all experienced how difficult it is
to remain in any one body posture even for a few minutes. We
find it painful to remain seated for half an hour or one hour
without changing posture, or to lie down for two or three hours
without moving. We are being subjected to constantly changing
bodily postures because of the feelings of heat or pain that arise
in the limbs after a certain period in one position.
In addition, the body suffers from hunger, thirst, old age and
diseases. These conditions are obvious truths, but to a casual
observer, there is a likelihood of the notion arising that such
conditions are the doings of an empowering self within.
Similarly, the body is not one solid mass but made up of small
particles of matter massed together in one big heap; and similar
to the mass of foam, it is devoid of inner substance.
The extended earth element forms that part of the body which
makes up the mass and physicality of the body.
The elements of heat or cold and motion form the other parts
of the body. Remove these three elements and the human body
which can be seen and felt will no longer exist.
The elements of water and air forms part of the material body
and without these parts, there is no human body.
The human body sees because it has the sensory organ of eye; it
hears because of the sensory organ of ear; it cognises smells
because of the sensory organ of nose; it tastes because of the
sensory organ of tongue; and it receives the sensation of touch
because of the sensory organ of the skin.
The Blessed One said: One who knows that this body is
impermanent like froth, and comprehends that it is
insubstantial like a mirage, will cut the rounds of rebirth and
pass out of sight of the King of Death.
36
The last Material Form at the time of last seeing and hearing
did not reach the Present moment of seeing and hearing; it is
therefore impermanent, distressful, not an empowering ‘self’.
Material Form rising in the Present moment does not reach the
stage of Passing away; the Presently Passing away Material Form
does not reach the stage of rising.
37
They disappear even while rising and passing away and are
therefore impermanent, distressful, not an independent
empowering ‘self’.
The gross, hot or cold Material Forms do not become fine, cold
or hot Material Forms; fine, cold or hot Material Forms do not
become gross, hot or cold Material Forms. Gross, stiff,
extending, moving Material Forms do not become fine, stable,
still Material Forms.
They all pass away at the moment of arising; they are thus
impermanent and being such they are void of any empowering
‘self’.
Thus, all Material Forms have the nature of being the source of
stress and do not constitute ‘empowering selves’.
Thus, the Material Form from a distance has not come near;
the Material Form which is near has not gone to a distance.
The old Material Form keeps on disappearing and the new
Material Form keeps on arising, giving the appearance of
someone coming from afar and someone going away.
Even with those phenomena that occur during one's life time, it
is not easy to see what really happened some years ago, some
months past or even some days previously. It is hard even to
know the absolute truth of what happened a few hours ago
because, for ordinary people, once an object is seen, heard or
touched, it is immediately attached to in terms of conventional
concepts as ‘I’, ‘he’, ‘a woman’ or ‘a man’.
But when phenomena are perceived to last less than the blink
of an eye, when everything is seen as impermanent, conceit
cannot arise.
They believe also that it is the same "I" who sees as that which
hears and touches. They believe too that the material properties
of the past have arrived at the present, and the present ones will
continue on to the future, which is clinging to the belief in
their permanence. But the meditator who is heedfully noting
these phenomena knows:
[2] FEELING
F
eelings are of three kinds:
1. Unpleasant feeling.
2. Neutral feeling (neither pleasant nor painful).
3. Pleasant feeling.
Pleasant feelings, which are very comforting while they last, may
eventually prove to be a source of distress. When they disappear
after their brief arising, one is left with lingering memories and
yearnings.
51
Feeling is like an air bubble. When rain drops fall on the water
surface, little pockets of air become trapped in the surrounding
wall of water, forming minute bubbles. Like rain drops, feelings
too, fall and drain away instantly. Children at play produce
similar bubbles by blowing on soapy suds. The collection of
these minute bubbles forms a mass of foam. Just as foam is
empty of inner core, so is feeling empty of inner core.
They believe that all phenomena arising from the six sense
doors are enduring, that they remain for long periods and are
dependable and permanent.
CONTEMPLATION OF FEELINGS
A meditator noting rising, falling, sitting and so on, will come
to notice in time, uncomfortable sensations such as pain,
stiffness and heat. He must acknowledge these different feelings
as they arise by noting, ‘pain, pain’, ‘stiffness, stiffness’, ‘heat,
heat’, whatever the case may be. He must not skip over or
neglect noting such psycho-physical phenomena.
All these are realised by the heedful meditator, who also sees
that the pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral feelings, which are
being experienced at the present moment are constantly arising
and disappearing. Hence it can be surmised that feelings which
will arise in the future will also disappear at the moment of
arising.
The feelings which will come into being in the future will also
pass away at the moment of arising and are thus impermanent,
distressful and not empowering ‘selves’."
The old feelings disappear and are replaced by new ones arising
in their place. This is the characteristic of impermanence. The
meditator realises all this through his personal knowledge.
Gross pains do not become subtle pains and vice versa; they
disappear immediately at their respective moments of arising.
Thus, feeling is impermanent, distressful and does not
constitute an enduring, all powerful, controlling ‘self’.
64
[3] PERCEPTION
P
erception is six-fold:
Remorse over past mistakes and faults may lead to worry and
restlessness in the course of meditation, and these may become
a great hindrance to progress in the development of
concentration and Vipassana insight. They should be discarded
after taking note of them.
Perceptions of the past and the future and of the whole world
can be inferred from the knowledge of the perceptions which
manifest at the time of noting. Just as the perceptions are
ceasing as they are being noted in the present, so also the
perceptions of the past disappearing as they occurred and are
therefore impermanent, suffering and not empowering ‘selves’
or souls.
73
M
ental Formations are of two kinds: conditioned
things and conditioning things. Conditioned things
are those aggregates that have arisen through such
causes as kamma (volitional activity), mind, climate (seasonal
conditions) and nutriments. Immediately after the rebirth
consciousness, mental and corporeal phenomena spring up as
kamma resultants. Kamma resultant
types of consciousness and their
*concomitants together with
kamma-produced physical properties
such as eye, ear, nose, tongue and
body, spring up in this way. They
are all conditioned things, resultant
effects of kammic activities, and they
are called resultant mental
formations as conditioned by
kamma.
Then the meditator perceives that events take place only when
various factors come together to fulfil the necessary conditions
for their happening. Take, for instance, the arising of eye-
consciousness. There must be the eye, an object of sight and
sufficient light. Then there must be the intention to look.
When there is eye and a clearly visible object of sight, the act of
seeing is bound to ensue.
There are also those who cling firmly to the belief: "It is “I” who
is doing all the actions; all actions are being done by me," they
are attached to the idea of a single all empowering ‘self’. "It is
“I” who has done all the actions in the previous existence; the
doer in the present existence is also “I”. For them, “I”, the doer
is everlasting. On the other hand, meditators through their
practice, realised that, mental formations of past existences; the
wish to go, stand or speak, do not continue to the present
existence. They arise and pass away, then and there.
86
[5] CONSCIOUSNESS
I
n reality, consciousness is of seeing (as in eye), hearing (as in
ear), odour (as in nose), taste (as in tongue), tactile (as in
skin, touch) and mind consciousness.
Reality of Consciousness
Eye consciousness arises due to conditions:
internal object, the eye; eternal object, apple; air; light; seeing
consciousness arises.
Most people are acquainted with the mind; they talk about
mind, but they rarely speak of the things (the concomitants)
that condition the mind such as sense contact that always
appear in conjunction with mind. Furthermore, they are
attached to that mind as "I", a ‘Self’. It is “I” who see, I see. It is
“I” who hear, I hear.
Humans are not alone in having this false view, even gods,
devas and other living beings cling to the belief that
consciousness (a component of mind), is a ‘Self’. Because of
this false view, the mind (with consciousness as a component)
has the tendency to delude and distress. Consciousness and by
extension, the mind is assuredly not a ‘self’.
Distress originating from eye, ear and nose are not very
apparent in the human world, whereas in the animal world, the
world of petas (hungry ghosts) and the hell realms, the painful
and suffering nature from these six doors to consciousness is
very vivid. All forms of life in the animal world are constantly
subjected to objects or sounds that will either be destructive to
their lives or those that they will destroy. They are those living
beings that exist in filthy, putrid conditions, thus seeing filth
and subject to foul odours all the time.
Everyone crave good tastes, but not all have the good fortune to
satisfy this craving, thus taste consciousness can be the cause
suffering. In this respect, too, the oppression is more apparent
in the four suffering worlds.
94
CONTEMPLATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Of the four mental aggregates (corporeal or material part being
the fifth of the five aggregates expounded by the Blessed One),
consciousness, is the most prominent. Mental concomitants
(which arise and disappear with consciousness leading), such as
desire and hatred, are described as "mind" in everyday language:
"desiring mind", "liking mind", "hating mind".
ELEVEN-FOLD CONTEMPLATION ON
CONSCIOUSNESS
As the meditator knows in this way that starting from rebirth
consciousness a continuous series of consciousness (moments)
arises and falls away, it is clear to him that the consciousness of
previous existences ceased there and then and does not reach
this existence.
PART TWO
GENERAL NOTES ON CONTEMPLATION
SEEING ‘SELFLESSNESS’
All the physical and mental components of the five aggregates
are neither enduring nor empowering ‘selves’. This is evident
through their characteristics of; not being subjected to anyone's
will, uncontrollable, stressful and changeable. When these
characteristics are observed as they occur, the knowledge
develops that the corporeal and mental aggregates are not
empowering ‘selves’ but mere phenomena.
CHARACTERISTICS OF IMPERMANENCE
A condition is impermanent because of its nature of coming to
an end. In accordance with this definition, the disappearing
movement of the abdomen, manifested by the contracting
motion, comes to an end, it ceases. Hence it is impermanent.
An extension of the definition is that the fading Material Form
was previously non-existent; it then comes into being and then
dissolves, thus it is impermanent.
One who does not note may not be aware of the bending or
stretching of the limbs. Even if one is aware of these motions,
one will not perceive the beginning of the motions separately
from their ends. One will be under the impression that the
hand which was there before bending or stretching still remains
there after the motion.
The gradual slow motion of the limbs clearly brings out the
nature of impermanence. This cannot, however, be realised
without heedful noting of each action.
While eating, the meditator notes the taste and knows when
the taste disappears. The taste which appears afresh and
disappears is, therefore, impermanent. The impermanent
nature of taste is very plain. However pleasant the taste is, it
remains on the tongue only for a short while before it
disappears. As with taste, the material quality of the tongue on
which the taste manifests disappears simultaneously. Thus,
when the taste is seen to be impermanent, the material quality
of the tongue is seen also to be impermanent.
Once it is realised that the body does not endure even for a
moment, that it is always changing, and therefore a source of
suffering, one will not take delight in it. Similarly, the
meditator who sees the unceasing process of origination and
dissolution of the aggregates sees only fearsomeness and
suffering in them.
For some, the pain will fade away completely and suddenly as if
removed by hand. When there is no pain or pleasant feeling to
take note of, the meditator reverts back to noting the usual,
neutral phenomena of the rising and falling of the abdomen.
This is contemplating neutral feeling.
In the case of form, the term involves not only the material
qualities inside one's body, but also all external objects, animate
and inanimate.
CONTEMPLATION OF MIND
While the meditator is contemplating the rise and fall of the
abdomen, should a mind arises caused by a lustful mental
object, he should note it as a mind with lust. This is knowing
the mind as it truly is.
130
When ill-will arises in the course of noting the rise and fall of
the abdomen, it has to be noted. The ill-will falls away at once
and in its place there arises the wholesome consciousness of the
act of noting the neutral and wholesome impulse of the acts of
seeing and so on. The meditator also notes mind without ill-
will by noting it, too.
PART THREE
MATURING OF INSIGHT
T
hrough the practice of Vipassana meditation, a person
acquires insights and gains experiential knowledge of
the realities of existence. This knowledge is not from
books or hearsay, he realises from personal experiences that all
living beings are impermanent; that is, all are born into
suffering and subject to ageing, decay and death; and most of
all, within all living beings, there is neither a “self”, a soul, a
living entity that can empower, nor an essence that is all
enduring.
The meditator who can perceive in this way soon reaches the
stage in which the rapid arising and dissolution of Corporeality
and Mentality are discerned. When this stage is reached, the
meditator witnesses strange lights, auras, experiences
unprecedented happiness, intense joy and quietude.
137
When they are noted and rejected thus, this stage of knowledge
is passed and the next stage is forthcoming, where the object of
meditation and the meditating mind are perceived to be
disintegrating and disappearing pair by pair.
ANTICIPATING NIBBANA
The meditator developing higher Vipassana insights sees the
reality of suffering latent in mentality and corporeality. Seeing
thus, he diligently accelerates his practice and develops the
insight knowledge for liberation.
(1)EQUANIMOUS STATE OF
MIND
Having seen a visible form with the eye, the meditator remains
unaffected by it, neither glad nor unhappy. However beautiful
or attractive the sight is, the meditator does not feel excited and
jubilant over it; however ugly or repulsive the sight is, he
remains unperturbed.
The same thing holds true for all acts of hearing, smelling,
knowing, touching, and thinking, where observation is made
with equanimity just to know the respective phenomena.
Thus, from observing the whole body, the mind retracts and
converges only on four objects -- just knowing in sequence,
rising, falling, sitting and touching. Of these four objects, the
sitting body may disappear, leaving only three objects to be
noted. Then the rising mind falling may fade away, leaving only
the touching.
DEVELOPMENT OF A SPECIAL
VIPASSANA INSIGHT
W
hen knowledge of equanimity
with these six characteristics has
become fully perfected, there
appears a special kind of knowledge which
seems to occur very rapidly.
REFLECTION OF AN ARAHANT
The process of reflection in an Arahant is described in the
concluding words of the Anattalakkhana Sutta: "When
emancipated, the knowledge arises on reflection that freedom
from defilement has been achieved, and he knows, ‘Birth is
exhausted; lived is the Holy Life (of contemplation and
meditation), what has to be done has been done, there is
nothing more to be done.' He knows thus by reflection."
END OF DISCOURSE
151