172: Retreat Dhamma Talk 67: Sukha (Pleasure, Happiness, Bliss, Peace)

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Retreat series Dhamma Top number sixty seven. There's a word in Pali calls sukha. In English it can means many different things. It could be pleasure, joy, happiness, calm, tranquility, bliss, peace. That whole range of the meaning harvest under the word sukkha. So let's try and see what is sukha about. We all live our lives, our existence. In our life, what are we doing? In a nutshell. We are always doing something so that we can be comfortable and we can be happy. That's what we are doing. The final product is happiness. So pursuit of happiness. That's what our life is all about. So this happiness, how do we get it? If we really probe into it, we're happy when we get something that we want, we like. We are happy when something goes along the way we want it, we wish it. When something comes into an agreement with our view and attitudes. That's why we are happy. So in other words, you have to have something to be happy. Without that something, we won't be happy. Or we cannot be happy. And how do we get this something? Something that we like, which means an object. A physical object. We see that with our eyes. And also beautiful sound we hear with our ears. Same dingo. Beautiful smell with the nose and gorgeous flavor with the tongue and the touch. Nice good feeling touch with our skin. And also thoughts and ideas of our desire with our mind. There are six sense bases. These six sense bases have to have a sixth sense object correspondingly. And whenever we come in touch with the sixth sense object of our desire and our likes and our beliefs and attitude, we are happy. So basically, sixth sense pleasure give us happiness. Sixth sense pleasure. And that's all that is. We have to sift different kinds of six different kinds of sense object through our six bases, our ears, nose, and so on. We come in contact with what we like and we get happiness. Comfort, pleasure. That's what we get. And this comfort, pleasure, happiness, we crave for it and also we chase for it. We work for it and we slave for it. So on the pursuit of these pleasures, we spend our whole life. If you really think about it, that's what we are doing. For the pursuit of these pleasures, we spend our whole life. Why? Because we believe, we think, we believe that give us happiness, that make us happy, comfortable. And we are happy or joyful. Once we have what we want and what we like. And then once we possess that, suddenly we are worried that we might lose it. You have the things that you like, but along with it, we worry that we might lose it. And also the thought of losing it gives you anxiety. So trying to maintain it gives you, you maintain it, not to lose it with anxiety. So this is not a perfect happiness that comes in. It comes with a side effect of worry and anxiety, along with that happiness of the sense of pleasure. Of course, we get angry, we get sad when we lose it. And we call this pleasure or happiness. This pleasure and happiness we get out of these six senses. In Pali it's called kama sukkha, sense pleasure or happiness derived out of sense objects. That's one kind of sukha, one kind of happiness we get from sense pleasure, six sense pleasure. That's called sukka. But to be more specific, we call it karma sukkha, sense pleasure. So we invest a lot of our time to chase for the things and objects for this sense pleasurable objects our whole life. Our whole life, that's what we are doing. But at the same time, you can invest that time. You just invest that time that you spent for sense pleasure or even a part of it into the meditation. Let's call it concentration meditation, samatha meditation, where you pick up an object of your desire. You choose an object of your desire and you focus on it, you concentrate on it, you fix your mind on it so that you go into a deep concentration. Or you attain jhannic concentration. We can also invest our time for that. But to carry out this, okay, to carry out this work requires five strong and wholesome mental factors. You simply cannot just do it because you want to invest time for pleasure, not for this. So to do this you need a five strong and wholesome mental factors, which are five of them. The first one is called sadha, confidence. Confidence in what you're going to do. And the second is chanda, great desire to do. And the third is vuriyat, effort and energy. And the fifth is sati, mindfulness. And the fifth one is samadhip, concentration. Satta chanda suria satip samadhi. You need these five mental states. You have to arm yourself with those things. And if you have these five strong, wholesome mental states, you can get this kind of a deep concentration or jhanic concentration. And this jhanic states will bring you calm. It will bring you a state of calm. And also it will destroy kilesa, mental defilements. This deep concentration will bring you a state of calmness and destroy mental defilements. And once you have to that stage, you can say that you got an upper hand over the five hindrances. Once you have the deep concentration, you have an upper hand onto the pijnat nivarana. Five hindrances. And then this calm will bring out happiness. It'll bring out happiness and then tranquility, tranquil feeling. Or you can call it bliss. Happiness, tranquility, bliss. It'll arrive, arise out of it. And that is you meditate, deep concentration, you've got calm, destri killesa, happy, tranquil, and feel blissful. And that happiness is called Samaditsukha. The first one is karma sukkha. Based on the sense object, pleasurable object, you get happiness. This one is based on the mental concentration, you get a certain kind of happiness. So this one is called Samaditsukha. And this samaditsukha, happiness, brought about by the mental concentration, concentrated mind. That happiness many, many times, many folds greater than the karma sukkha. The pleasure or the happiness you get out of the sense object or sense pleasure is far inferior, and this is a lot more superior. So this is another kind of sukka or happiness. So in here, if you look at it, sense pleasures are the cause and the happiness. Sense pleasure, sense object are the cause, and the happiness is the effect. Pleasurable or sense. Pleasure, happiness, karma suka is the effect. And in here, absence, absence of the sense pleasure is the cause. Samadhi Sukha is the effect. You cannot get this samadhi sukha, concentrated happiness due to concentrated mind without abandoning the sense pleasure. They cannot coexist. One must abandon the sense pleasure to get or attain this samadhi sukkha. So abandonment of the sense pleasure is the cause, samadhi sukha is the effect. One needs to know with that kind of clarity. Okay, we talk about invest of time in the sense pleasure, invest our time in a concentrated meditation, samatha meditation. And also we can also invest our time on the full foundation of mindfulness. Satipattana. Full foundation of mindfulness. So satipattana, in short, that's satipattana vipassana. It's practicing vipassana using full foundation of mindfulness as a tool. In this meditation, what do we need? We need a urgent mindfulness. Not simply mindful. You have to have a great effort and great attention on that mindfulness. Mindful on what? On every object that is arising at the moment. Every object that is arising at the present moment. You must be mindful, mindful, mindful. And if you can do that automatically, the mind will become well concentrated. But in here we need to know. Not like samadhi or samatha. This is called kanika samadhi, momentary concentration. Concentration arises along with the object that is arising at the moment and simply disappear along with the object. They call it momentary concentration or kanika samadhi. And once you have that, once you have that concentration, it will give rise to the correct understanding or correct knowing of the object that you are observing. That is basically Satipatthana Vipassana. Just in a brief statement. But if one doesn't practice this full foundation of mindfulness, one will never, never understand. The truth of suffering of life. We call it the truth of suffering of life. Or the truth of existence. And what is existence or life? It's the sixth sense pleasure. You won't know the truth of the sense pleasure. You don't know that life or existence or sense pleasures are suffering or unsatisfactory. That's the truth. And you will never know that truth if you do not engage in the full foundation of mindfulness. So what is this? The truth of suffering of life. Basically, it's the first noble truth. Dukkha Shisa. The noble truth of suffering. You won't know the noble truth of suffering. Instead, you will perceive this life or this existence wrongly. Not correctly. This life, this existence, this sense pleasure wrongly. Not correctly. In what way? You will believe that this life existence or sense pleasures are pleasant, enjoyable, permanent, and it is can be put under your control. That is the view or attitude you will be bearing if you don't know the truth. And that is the wrong understanding. If you don't observe the full foundation of mindfulness. But even if you observe, even if you practice without much effort that is needed or required, you will still perceive wrongly. Only if one practice with precision and correctness, along with a great effort. That's what you can do if you have a very strong momentum on mindfulness. And if you can do that at that moment, you are said to have gain a well-concentrated mind. Well concentrated mind. But in here, again I'll stress, it is different from the first concentrated meditative mind from samatha meditation. And the samatha meditation is you go deep into the object, you fuse with object, and you achieve a jhanic mind. But in here is this well-concentrated mind. It's not the jhanic samadhi, it is kanika samadhi. Momentary concentration. But it is continuously arising so they become very strong. Kanika samadhi allah. Very strong and powerful momentary concentration. And if you have this momentary concentration, you would never slip into the Jhanic state. So that is what the full foundation of mindfulness if you are doing that. And if you keep noting, if you keep the practice on continuously, what happens is you are observing the objects. You will become acutely aware of the nature of the mind and matter. What it is is mind is one thing, matter is another. See I. I is one. But actually, I is the there are two processes of two phenomena operating, physical phenomenon and mental phenomena. And in your meditation, in your observation, you begin to experience, see and understand. Like mind and matter as day and night, like the way you know orange and apple. That's how you will become aware if you keep practicing this mindfulness at the present moment. And also, even though these two phenomena are totally separate, they are always working like hand and glove through the law of cause and effect. That one too you simply understand, not through logic or rational thinking and analytical thinking, simply you directly experience these inner workings of mind and matter. And after that, suddenly you get a glimpse into the nature of the mind and matter. First one is simply the discerning mind and matter, second one is the causal relationship, this one is the individual, but across the board. This mind and matter is simply always in a state of flux. It's always changing, changing, changing, changing, state of flux. And also, as it is changing all the time, it is not permanent, it is not satisfactory. Or some people say it's suffering, it's changing all the time, it becomes dizzying and unsatisfactory, and it makes you suffer, it tortures you. And then also you know that you can do nothing about it. You got a glimpse into that common characteristics of mind and matter. I said the word glimpse because the way you understand these three, okay, that in Pali what is anitchat, impermanence, dukkha, suffering, anatta, non-self. The way you understand these three characteristics varies and changes and changes, you are clearer, sharper, more distinct, more penetrative as your practice progress. That's it. Throughout your practice, those three things, the way you understand, changes, changes, changes to a sharper, clearer, deeper way of understanding. So that's what happens if you keep on practicing. And as you keep on practicing, after that, you have insight into another level of mind and matter. Before, you see, this your thoughts and all these physical phenomena are changing, changing. But you have a sense that they are changing, you have a feeling that they are changing, you have a sense that they are not able to control, just a little feeling, just a little sense. That is the level that you are understanding. And suddenly you begin to see that change on an individual or specific basis. You see that arising and pass away with clarity. A thought arises and suddenly passed away. You see and experience that thought arises and passes away with clarity and distinct, sharp away. That is a change. Basically, it is a nicha dukkha and a natta. A three characteristic, but at this level you see this individual rupa and nama arises and pass away with clarity. When they become and when they are gone, one after the other. And that is called the fourth level of insight. The first three are the first, second, and third level of insight. Now you are in the fourth level of insight, passing away. And in Pali it's called Utiya Vayanyana, English, insight into the arising and passing away of mind and matter. And when a yogi sees that way, can see the mind and matter in that fashion, that yogi has attained the vipassana jhana. You can call it vipassana jhana. Different from the samatajana. Samata jhana has five factors. Vipassana has only two factors. What it is is there are two factors needed to get a vipassana jhana. One is called applied thought. Applied thought is basically you have the ability to direct your mind all the time, continuously, to every object that is arising at the moment. You direct, you direct, you direct. In other words, you aim, you aim, you aim. You aim and trigger, aim and trigger, aim and trigger. You have the ability to aim without missing any object. That's one factor, applied thought or aiming. In samatha meditation, we call vitakka. Applied thought. And another one is called sustained thought. Sustained thought means you have the ability to be with that object that just arises with it, without taking any detour to be with that object till it passed away. You stay with it, you stick with it. And some people translate as you rubbed with that object till it disappeared. So those two factors you are be able to constantly apply or aim at the object of arising and stay with it till it disappears without taking direction to any other object. It's called vipassana jhana. So when you have that inside knowledge. Of arising and passing away of the objects, you have this vipassana jhana. At that moment, the practitioner, the yogi has no hindrances, mental hindrances. And suddenly the yogi becomes calm. Because mental hindrances are the ones that is moving your mind. When the mental hindrances are gone, the minds become calm, there's no movement. And that calm becomes more pronounced. Before in inside stage one, two, three, your minds becomes calm as well. But it's not noticeable. You cannot really put a finger on it. You sort of know it, but you can't put a finger on it. But in here it's continuous. That calm comes with the continuous, continuous noting, continuous mindfulness, continuous concentration, and then become continuous calm. Moment to moment to moment. So the calm becomes more pronounced, noticeable, and you can feel it, you can taste it that calm. And with that calm, of course, suddenly happiness arises. Happiness, or you can call it bliss. There are many ways one will experience. We won't go into details, but let's say that along with that calm, happiness and bliss arises. But the tool or the path you are using is full foundation of mindfulness. And you understand the nature of the mind and matter, the knowledge, the wisdom. And in that on that journey, you begin to feel calm, happiness, and bliss. And that happiness and bliss is called vipassana sukkha. Happiness of vipassana. Happiness of inside. The first one is happiness from the sense pleasure. The second one is happiness from the tranquility and stillness of mind from samatha. This one is happiness arising from the understanding. The beginning part, understanding of the nature of mind and matter. From that inside you feel peace and calm. Vipassana sukkha. Happiness arising from inside. So now we know three kinds of sukkha, three kinds of comfort and happiness. So in here, if you look at it, insight into the nature of arising and passing away of mind and matter is the cause. And this vipassana sukkha or the happiness of insight is the effect. And vipassana suka is the effect. Cause and effect, they are not arising out of nothing. Now once the yogi have tasted, taste is the flavor of this vipassana suka. The yogi is very motivated and inspired to go forward. At that moment the yogi will not turn around and go backward or stop. It will go forward because of the taste, the flavor of that happiness arises from the inside. And at that moment, automatically the yogi behavior and attitude change. How does it change? They begin to avoid social functions and social affairs. It is not that they are not interested in the society, but they are not interested in the politics of these society functions and affairs. Because it's all about pursuit of pleasure, the social functions of pursuit of pleasure. And these people don't see essence in the pursuit of social functions and affairs. That's why they began to avoid. But wherever there is, something can make a difference, can create a beneficiality. They will engage, but in general, just not for the sake of pleasure. And also the minds in crying to be moved in a solitude basis. To put it bluntly, they like to go to the retreat center and meditate rather than staying at home and busy with a social life. That's a change, dramatic change, because they do not see a sense in the social pleasures. That's a change. And now we have these three sukha, three happiness. Sense pleasure. But the second two, Samadhi sukkha and vipassana suka, these two also have another name. It's worth knowing it. Both of them are also called Nikama Sukha. Nikama Sukha. What it means is the bliss or happiness of renunciation. The bliss or happiness of renunciation. Both Samadhi Sukha and Vipassana Sukha falls under the heading of bliss or happiness of renunciation. So in here, let's call it long distancing, long period of distancing for sense pleasure. Or we can call it kilisa distancing, will give rise to the clear and distinct bliss or happiness of renunciation. In other words, these happiness become clearer, sharper, more effective, more penetrative. That's what I mean. The longer you can keep yourself away from Kilisa, the more significant and progress these bliss and happiness of pronunciation are. Objective, subjective pleasure. This objective, subjective pleasure is based on conditions. If the condition change, those pleasures change, the pleasure turns into pain. The pleasure turns into suffering. If the condition changes, if you can maintain that condition, of course the pleasure will be there, but you can't control. If the condition changes, the pleasure turns into pain. Happiness turns into suffering. So this sense pleasure that we chase so much, that we believe so much in, is always intertwined with pain. It's not pure. In other words, this happiness or pleasure is has side effects, it comes along with a side effect. Just like some antibiotics, it cures something, but at the same time you have to pay for it with a side effect. It's not pure. Regardless, we slave our whole life for that sense of pleasure because we believed in the wrong view. We believe in the wrong view. This pleasure gives me happiness. This is great. This is permanent. This can be controlled. That is the belief we have. But in reality, everything changes when the condition changes. And in those periods, the mind, the mind moves with lust and the pleasure. The pleasure is just simply a pleasure, but when you have greed on it, when you have craving on it, when you have lust on it, the minds move with lust and do this, sense pleasure or kama suka. Kama Sukha, the minds go with the raga and loba. And also moved. The minds moved with dosa, anger and aversion and pain. Whenever we have pain, we have this aversion and anger. So this karmasukha, or in other words, pleasure and pains, they are always interchanging. Always interchanging all the time. That's a fact. But we ignore to see the pain part and we chase after the pleasure. Because the society, in a society, the norm or the standard, acceptable nature of the society is if we don't have things, possess things that makes us pleasurable, or events that makes us perish pleasurable and excitable. If we don't have these things, we are a loser. You don't own, possess things that can make you pleasurable and excitable. That means you are a loser in life. That is a society standard. That's an environment we are operating and living in. But one thing is this Nikama Sukha, the happiness of renunciation. It has no contact with sense pleasure at all. It's not based on sense pleasure. Not only is it not based, it is no contact with sense pleasure, but what it has contact is it has contact with calmness, stillness, and tranquility. Those mental states are the one this nikama sukkha is in contact with. This is happiness from inside. That's the first time he ever tastes with without any doubt. And at that moment and onward, what is changing in that yogi is the resistance or ability to withstand the eight Loka Dharma, or you can call it the eight highs and lows stresses of life. It becomes stronger. Your withstanding ability to withstand, your resistance becomes stronger. And also wise attention, your niswaman sit kara, wise attention, becomes sharper and quicker. You know every situation, size up and you know what to do rightly, correctly, and effectively, very quick, very sharp. Even to the point of almost like being intuitive. Intuitive. That's also increasing. That's what is changing in the yogi when you have starting with the insight of arising and passing away, resistant to a loka dharma, and a stronger wise attention. So from then onward, the yogi keep on practicing this full foundation of mindfulness. He doesn't stop with arising and passing away. He doesn't stop with all this great feeling and pleasure, but he keeps practicing. Because whatever, even the happiness arises, you observe the happiness till it just dissolved. You have bliss. You observe the bliss till it dissolves. Everything is you must see that they are impermanence. You keep practicing, you keep practicing, and you progress in your insight level. That's arising and passing away is insight level 4, then 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. You progress and you progress. You progress means you understand the nature of the mind and matter, the true nature of the mind and matter in a clearer and sharper way, and anything that is related with it. It will continue. And then you practice so much you reach the mature point. You reach maturity. Maturity, and here I will express as you have experienced the cessation of mind and matter. You are practicing, you're alive, you're not dead, but you reach a stage where the mind ceased to exist. When the mind ceased to exist, rupa matter also ceased to exist. Cessation of mind and matter. You reach that stage. That is called maturity of insight. Cessation of Nama and Rupa mind and matter are popularly known with a word called nibbana or nirvana. Cessation of mind and matter is nirvana or nibvana. You realize that. You realize that state. When you realize that state, you also realize the supreme bliss or supreme peace. Bliss or what is that? Sukha again. Supreme bliss or supreme peace. That is what you will be experiencing or realizing. And that supreme bliss of peace is called in Pali Agyanda, Santi Sukha, Ajanda, Santi Sukha, Supreme Bliss, Supreme Peace. Where all mental defilements, Loba, Tosa and Moha, mental defilements, before they are destroyed, they are destroyed, they are destroyed, but they can always pop some again. But in here at this level, when you have supreme peace, these mental defilements are totally uprooted. They can never arise again. Only when the mental defilements can never arise again, you experience this Ajanta, Santi Sukha, Supreme Bliss. So there's another kind of sukha or happiness. Kama Sukha, happiness from the sense pleasure. Samadhi Sukha, happiness from the well-concentrated, deeply concentrated mind. Vipassana sukkha, happiness arising out of the insight into the nature of mind and matter. And finally santi sukha. It arises from the cessation of mind and matter. So those are sukha or happiness. So in here this santi sukha, supreme bliss, attainment of arhatta path mega. Arhatta is the fourth and the final, the highest noble person. Arhatta Pat is Mekha. Wisdom is jnana. Arhatta Mekha Nyana. That wisdom eradicated all the mental defilements, uprooted all the mental definements. And that is the cause. And the supreme bliss. Nippana is the effect. So there are many sukha, there are many kinds of happiness. Which one do you want? That's a question you need to ask. Nobody can tell you what to do or what to chase after. But at least you have a better perspective now. What does happiness mean? From the Buddhist point of view, may all of you be able to practice Satipatana Vipassana meditation and may you be able to attain Santi Sukha as soon as possible. Thank you very much.