Footpaths Through the Wild Mists of Mount Illusion 2 Contents
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FOOTPATHS THROUGH THE WILD MISTS OF MOUNT ILLUSION 2 CONTENTS Preface Chapter 1 Concepts and Realities The Question of Existence What is Life? Who am I? What is Real? Concepts The Person Concept Meditation Concepts Abhidhamma Concepts “THAT” Concept Chapter 2 Consciousness The Range of Consciousness (I) Sensual Sphere Plane (Kamavacara bhumi). 1. 12 Unwholesome Consciousness 2. 18 Rootless Consciousness 3. 24 Beautiful Consciousness (II) Form Sphere of Consciousness 1. 15 Form Sphere Consciousness (III) Formless Sphere of Consciousness 1. 12 Formless Sphere Consciousness (IV) Supramundane Consciousness 1. 8 Supramundane Consciousness Chapter 3 Mental States (A) The Unwholesome Mental States 1. Delusion (moha) 2. Ignorance (avijja) 3. Hallucination (vipallasa) FOOTPATHS THROUGH THE WILD MISTS OF MOUNT ILLUSION 3 The Unwholesome Factors 1. Delusion (moha) - The Lord of Darkness - Contemplation on Delusion 2. Attachment (lobha) 3. Aversion From the Cula Vedalla Sutta (B) The Beautiful, Universal and Occasionals The 25 Beautiful Mental States Group A Group B The Seven Universals The Six Particulars/Occasionals Feeling and its Associations Chapter 4 Mindful Contemplation of Consciousness (A) Taking a Dog for a Walk (B) The Spider (C) The Candle and the Moth (D) The Ajharn’s Enchanted Forest Pool 1. Sensitive Matter (pasadarupa) 2. Subtle Matter (sukhumarupa) 3. Consciousness (citta) 4. Mental states (cetasika) 5. Nibbana 6. Concepts (pannatti) (E) The River of No Return (F) The Flight of the Sacred Crane 1. Tranquilized/Concentrated Consciousness (samahitam cittam) 2. Expanded /Developed Consciousness (mahaggata cittam) 3. Unsurpassed (anuttaram) 4 4. Liberated (vimuttam) (G) The Serpent Chapter 5 (A) Materiality (I) The Great Essentials (II) Sensitive Phenomena (III) Objective Phenomena (IV) Sexual Phenomena (V) Heart Base (VI) Life Faculty (VII) Nutriment (VIII) Non-Concretely Produced Matter (IX) Communicating Phenomena (X) Mutable Phenomena (XI) Characteristics of Matter The Conditioning of Materiality – A Lump of Foam (B) Walking Meditation 1. As an Exercise 2. As a Preliminary to the Sitting Mediation (a) How is concentration in walking meditation? (b) How does one build up concentration in walking meditation (c) A third question involves how it is done with tranquility meditation? 3. Used in the Balancing of Faculties (a) The physical process in which we have to consider the speed and how the walking is done (b) The number of phases noted with each step (c) The way one observes the steps of the walk FOOTPATHS THROUGH THE WILD MISTS OF MOUNT ILLUSION 5 4. As an Insight Practice (a) Its objects as natural material realities (b) The nature of momentary concentration (c) It can lead to the highest insight 5. As a bridge that links and integrates meditative practice with all actions in daily life Alley Walk 6. It is Well Located and Covered from Sun and Rain The Advantages of an Alley Walk HOW IS WALKING MEDITATION DONE AND WHAT HAPPENS 1. Standing Posture (a) Brisk Walking – The Walking Marathon Man (b) Moderately Slow Walking – Lady “Specialifine” Walking (c) The Snail The Build-up of Concentration in Walking Meditation 1. The Troop of Ants 2. Walking through the Clouds Solitary and Group Walking Fare Alone as a Rhinoceros 1. As in Postures 2. As in Sense Bases 3. As in Mindfulness 4. As in Concentration 5. As in Knowledge 6. As in the Paths 7. As in Attainments 8. As for the Benefit of the World The Divine Snail of the Enchanted Forest The Story of the Divine Snail 6 Chapter 6 Thought Processes (A) The Amazing Electric Eels Anatomy of a Thought Process 1. Five Sense Door Thought Processes 2. Mind Door Thought Processes The Mind Door Process Conceptualization Processes 1. Six Sense Bases (vatthu) 2. Six Doors (dvara) 3. Six Objects (alambana) 4. Six Types of Consciousness (vinnana) 5. Six Processes (vithi) 6. Six Fold Presentation of Objects (visayappavatti) (B) The Dragons 1. Animal Dragons (tiracchana naga) 2. Celestial Dragons (Deva Naga) VIPASSANA DRAGONS THE DRAGON’S SEED THE RISE OF THE DRAGON OF CLEAR LIGHT Chapter 7 Birth and Death Birth and Death Processes (A) DEATH - Cultures have many descriptions as to what may happen to one after death. - There is a difference between the period near Death and the ‘near Death thought processes - The Process after the Death Consciousness – Birth and the New Life FOOTPATHS THROUGH THE WILD MISTS OF MOUNT ILLUSION 7 PLANES OF EXISTENCE (A) The Immaterial /Formless Plane (B) The Fine Material/Form Plane (C) Sensual Planes CONTEMPLATIONS ON DEATH Ways of contemplation 1. Mindfulness of Death I 2. Mindfulness of Death II 3. Mindfulness of Death III - Five Things to be Contemplated 4. Mindfulness of Death IV 5. Mindfulness of Death V 6. Mindfulness of Death VI 7. Others that are Not Textural (B) THOUGHTS ABOUT DEATH Chapter 8 Conditional Relationships 1. Root Conditioning: (Hetu Paccaya) 2. Object Conditioning (Arammana Paccaya) 3. Predominance Conditioning (Adhipati Paccaya) 4. Proximity Conditioning (Anantara Paccaya) 5. Contiguity Conditioning (Samanantara Paccaya) 6. Conascence Conditioning (Sahajata Paccaya) 7. Mutuality Conditioning (Annamanna Paccaya) 8. Support Conditioning (Nissaya Paccaya) 9. Decisive/Strong Support Conditioning (Upanissaya Paccaya) 10. Prenascence Conditioning (Purejata Paccaya) 11. Postnascence Conditioning (Pacchajata Paccaya) 12. Repetition Conditioning (Asevana Paccaya) 13. Kamma Conditioning (Kamma Paccaya) 8 14. Resultant Conditioning (Vipaka Paccaya) 15. Nutriment Conditioning (Ahara Paccaya) 16. Faculty Conditioning (Indriya Paccaya) 17. Jhana Conditioning (Jhana Paccaya) 18. Path Conditioning (Magga Paccaya) 19. Association Conditioning (Samayutta Paccaya) 20. Dissociation Conditioning (Vippayutta Paccaya) 21. Presence Conditioning (Atthi Paccaya) 22. Absence Conditioning (Natthi Paccaya) 23. Disappearance Conditioning (Vigata Paccaya) 24. Non-Disappearance Conditioning (Avigata Paccaya) Chapter 9 Bon Voyage 1. Tracing the Footpaths of the Divine Snail A. The Four Foundations of Mindfulness – The Way of the Spider THE CAVE OF LIMITLESS WEBS B. The Four Supreme Efforts – The Flight of the Sacred Crane MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU! C. The Four Bases of Accomplishment – All for the Love of ‘You’ THE ACCOMPLISHED TRAIL BLAZER D. The Way of the Republic THE PERFECT COMPANION THE MEETING OF A SNAIL AND A RHINOCEROS E. The Way of the Warrior THE POWER OF POWERS F. The Angel of Light – The Seven Factors of Enlightenment FOOTPATHS THROUGH THE WILD MISTS OF MOUNT ILLUSION 9 THE NOBLE DIMENSIONS OF THE WHITE CONDOR G. The Noble Eightfold Path – Up the Mount Illusion and Beyond BITING ONE’S WAY INTO THE HEART OF THE THOUSAND PETALLED LOTUS 2. Hop on Board the Ship of Mindfulness INTEGRATIVE INSIGHT PRACTICE Postscript Beyond the Beyond (Nibbana) Appendices 10 TRACING THE FOOT PATHS OF THE DIVINE SNAIL THROUGH THE WILD, WILD MISTS OF MOUNT ILLUSION The Practice of Insight Meditation in the light of elementary Buddhist metaphysics PREFACE Higher Teachings If we are to compare spiritual practice to climbing up Mt. Sumeru, then please look below your feet. The ground is made up of bones of your past lives, piled up to the sky. Its peak, however, remains hidden by clouds of unknowing. What lies beyond these are called “The Higher Teachings”. In Sri Lanka, at Adam’s peak is found what is believed to be a footprint of the Buddha In the Buddhist tradition, however, the word ‘Abhidhamma’ refers to a section of the teachings compiled under the third basket of texts in the canon (after the Vinaya/ Discipline and the Sutta/Discourses) and is often translated as ‘The Higher Teachings’. Sometimes they are also called Teachings of Metaphysics or even FOOTPATHS THROUGH THE WILD MISTS OF MOUNT ILLUSION 11 Buddhist Phenomenology. Bhikkhu Bodhi in his introduction to a translation of the ‘Abhidhammattha Sangaha’ describes it as: “A disclosure of the true nature of existence as apprehended by a mind that has penetrated the totality of things both in depth and finest detail”. The entire basket (pitaka) is voluminous. It comprises of seven books, starting from ‘The Analysis of States – ‘Dhammasangani’, to ‘The Great Conditional Relations – ‘Mahapatthana’. Traditionally, if one studies them together with its commentaries daily, it may take you ten years to complete, whilst undergoing examinations regularly. If you have not any knowledge of its scriptural language, Pali, then add a few more. As a result, Venerable Anuruddha Thera of a past Sri Lanka (the date is debatable somewhere between the 5th-12th century AD), had come up with a concise introduction. This has been translated into several languages, including English, and as far as I know, is widely used as a stepping stone to the study of the Abhidhamma Pitaka. Although traditionally, the Abhidhamma has been ascribed to the Buddha and as the Buddha’s words itself, many scholars believe it to be ‘a monkish work of later periods”. Does that mean that we should consider it as spiritual nonsense which is best to be ignored for want of something better? My reply to this is, we do not know exactly which parts of the texts the Buddha actually spoke simply because we were not there, or at least we do not remember. What matters is that the teachings are the Truth and are verifiable, and that the practice leads to the true peace. When asked what book will I write next, after some discussions, more than once, a friend suggested ‘Abhidhamma’. My first reaction was a big ‘NO’. 1. Firstly, to be able to do that, one should, I think, have a good command of the Pali language and my knowledge of it is hardly enough to feed cats. 2. Secondly, knowing Pali itself does not necessarily mean that one knows anything about Abhidhamma. One should have gone through the seven 12 books of the Pitaka together with its commentaries and sub-commentaries and have also passed the required examinations. I did not have the patience for all that although I did (miraculously) complete the basic introductory text of the Abhidhammattha Sangaha of Anuruddha Thera through a Thai teacher from the Burmese training.