Mindfulness Insight Meditation - Buddhist Teachings
Mindfulness Insight meditation (Satipatthana Vipassana) and Buddhist teachings/Dhamma Talks as taught through the Theravada Buddhism tradition. Sayar Myat gives Dhamma talks on teachings of the Buddha as well as instructions on Pure Vipassana meditation as prescribed by the Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw.
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Mindfulness Insight Meditation - Buddhist Teachings
180: Realities
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Over six years ago SMSC had a Dhamma talk under the series heading of Tirabara Buddhism. There were two talks. Today we are going to carry on the Dhamma talks under Tirabara Buddhism. Today talk is Dhamma talk number three. The title will be Realities. From now on, we are going to talk about a certain topic or subject that the yogi asked during these years. And all of you who are listening now, if you want to listen to a certain topics or heading, please write a email and request for it. Apparent reality and ultimate reality. Apparent reality is also known as apparent truth. Conventional truth in Pali Sabuti Sasa and also known as concept bignati. It is convention of words, signs, and sounds to designate or identify things and are accepted by common consensus that is samuti sasa, conventional truth or reality. Just to give you an example, one of the largest animals on land with four legs, like three trunks, with two ivory tusks and two big ears, is called elephant in English language. The word elephant is a word concept or name concept. It's a concept. So there are two kinds of concept. What concept and thing concept. Human communicates in different languages using words, names, sound and sign concept. Different languages using word concept, using name concept, using sound concept, using sign concept. That's how we communicate. Concept of pinyati exists only in our mind. It has no beginning or end. But one might argue that the word, let's say bicycle, the word bicycle came into existence at the time when the bicycle was invented. Nevertheless, it exists only in our mind. It is a mental construct. That's why it doesn't have beginning or end. It doesn't exist in ultimate reality. Also think concept. The physical aspect of the bicycle does not exist in reality. Let's take that bicycle part by part, piece by piece. Then where's the bicycle? So word concept and thing concept are conventional truth or apparent reality. They are real. They are apparently real. This conventional truth or apparent reality must be understood first to understand ultimate reality. Ultimate reality in Pali is called Parmatat. It's a combination of two words, parmat and atha. Parmat means immutable, irreducible or abstract. That's the meaning of parmat. And atha mean things. So ultimate reality cannot be further reduced. Corrupted and has straight and correct nature. That's ultimate reality. It cannot be reduced farther. It cannot be corrupted. And always correct and straight to the point. Those fours are ultimate realities according to the Buddha. Matter, consciousness, mental factors, and nippana. Four ultimate realities. The first three belongs to the mundane world, Lokia. And the last one, nippana, is ultra mundane world. So let's look at and explain with an example to clarify what we just said a little clearer. Let's take the word man. It's a word. The word itself, M-A-N-M, is a name concept. The physical body that represents the word. The physical body of a man that represents the word is a thing concept. But it can be reduced to mind and matter. Nama and Rupa. If you want more detail, it can be reduced to the five aggregates. And that five aggregates is ultimate reality. Mind and matter. Mine is consciousness, matter is rupa. And one of these five aggregates is rupa matter. If you remember, there are five aggregates body, feeling, perception, mental formation, and consciousness. Five. One is rupa matter, materiality. The word matter is a name concept. But the composite of the four great elements are wind, fire, and water that represents matter is ultimate reality. Matter is already ultimate reality. But matter is composed of four great elements, which are inseparable. They are all together, arise together, pass away together. So they act as one, but actually they are full qualities. That's matter, that's rupa. And that is ultimate reality. Four are called Mahabuddha. Four great elements, art, wind, fire, and water. And the remaining twenty-four are called dependent matter. So one of the dependent matter is called visible matter. Rupa Ayatada is called visible matter. So it is one of the quality in the matter that is visible to see. Only one quality that's called visible matter. We see a rose through our eye sensitivity. However, a bee or a bird sees the same rose differently in colours and shape than we. So they see it differently. Because of that, there are three different versions of the form, shades, color of the same rose? Human has one version, the birds have one version, the bees have one version, three different versions. So which one of these three reality is a true reality? Which one is true? Which one is real real? What human being and the bird see is actually a mental construct based upon their own eye sensitivity. As they have different sensitivities and different capabilities, they see differently, and even what they see is their mental construct. They are not actually seeing as there is, it is the mind that produces shape, size, form, color. It's a mental construct what we see is. Apparently real and true. And each of our own rights. So we are all real, we are all true, but apparently real, apparently true. However, visible matter, we talk about the visible matter a little bit earlier. The visible matter, the matter, the part of the matter, the quality of the matter that can be seen. Physical matter, or in a modern day, let's use a different word, visible data. Visible matter or visible data of the roast that human, birds, and bees sees is the ultimate reality. The way we see, the way we think we see, is a mental construct. But what is real is the visible matter or visible data. That's a data that we see, whatever data that can be seen, whatever matter that can be seen, because it is visible to our eye sensitivity. The mind constructed in such a way, we began to say shape, size, form, color, and so on. That's what is ultimate reality, visible matter. To be able to see, there must be a mental contact. Mental contact of the object, sensitivity, and the corresponding consciousness. Those three has to be in contact. Only then we see. And among these three, okay, the object. The object visible data is always the same. It has its own. It doesn't change. And also consciousness. Consciousness is ability to know. The human has the ability to know, the bee has the ability to know, the birds have the ability to know. But there is one variable: sensitivities. We all have a different sensitivity based on the material construct of the eyes of each. Just to explain a little bit deeper using the modern science regarding sensitivity. Sensitivity makes you see differently. Let's see. Let's use the same thing. We see a rose during the day. Beautiful stems, thorns, colours, the way it is. With our own eye sensitivity. Night time comes. There's no light. We can't see the rose. But science has invented night vision goggles. Let's put on a night vision goggle and look at it. You can see the rose. But different color. You see it entirely differently. It is different from the rose that you see during the day. Totally different shades and color. Why? Because we have the artificial, scientifically created sensitivity. So from that you can extrapolate and see how naturally built and sensitivities are different, and why they give different colors and shades. Now let's go back to the rose. The word rose is a name concept. The rose itself. In this case, the rose is a concept. The word is a concept, the thing itself are concept, and the mental construct, the way we see it's also a concept. They are all concept, concept, concept. Different kinds of concept. So all these are conventional truth or apparent truth. Name concept or word concept or thing concept or mental construct. Concept of mental construction. They are all conventional truth. Or apparent reality. But visible data or visible matter of the rose is ultimate reality. There's a little quality that makes that product to be seen. That's the visible matter, visible data. That is ultimate reality or ultimate truth. Rose is actually a composite of the four great elements. Which are ultimate reality. They are ultimate reality. They are the composites of a matter. They exist together. However, we cannot see the full great elements. We can't see the matter in the unit form. We can't see the heat. Softness or hardness. We can't see cohesion. We can't see the full great elements. But it is the visible data or visible matter. That's what we are seeing. Visible data or visible matter. Rupa Ayatana is what we are seeing. So that's matter, one of the ultimate reality. We explain in detail using rose as an example. And also using man with the five aggregates. The body of a person and the material of a rose. That's matter. Rupa one of the ultimate reality. The other one is called consciousness. Consciousness is the phenomenon of knowing. That consciousness is also ultimate reality. When you practice meditation, you will come to be aware of what consciousness or knowing is. And all fifty-two mental factors, chitasikha, are also ultimate realities. Let's use one of them. Feeling, Vidana. That's a chidasika mental factor. This feeling or vidana is a name concept. It's a word. Feeling is a word. Vidana in Pali is a word. So it's a concept. But the experience of the feeling. Experience of the feeling is ultimate reality. Not the word feeling, but when you feel pleasant feeling, unpleasant feeling, neutral feeling. Those things you can only experience. You can't really pin it on the board. That is ultimate reality. But we cannot avoid using. Word concept or thing concept. Word concept or name concept to explain ultimate reality. Because we live in this conventional world. We still have to use again and again words and names to explain. Ultimate reality. In short, mind and matter, seekha can be experienced with vipassana inside. That's what we are doing. We are meditating when we meditate. What? Hot, cold, stiff, hot, gentle. Anger, happiness, sad, concentration, mindfulness. Those are the ones you are experiencing. How? Because you are practicing mindfulness insight meditation. So ultimate reality can be experienced with vipassana insight. When your concentration becomes stronger with along with the mindfulness, you clearly and sharply can see or sense. Vibration, stiffness, softness, feeling, emotions. And the acute awareness of those things just describe. Those things describes are Jita Sika, mental factor, acute awareness of those things is consciousness, chitta. And all of these, Rupa, Jeta, Chaita Sika, all of these. They have the beginning and the end. They arised and they passed away. And they are all ultimate realities. We read, we listen, and we know about the five aggregates. We listen and we know about the five aggregates. But that kind of knowing is conventional truth. We know it through with conventional truth. Still five aggregates. We just say five aggregates is ultimate reality. But if you know this five aggregates by reading, listening, and discussing, you are still simply knowing the ultimate reality or ultimate truth. Only when you know by experience through the vipassana meditation, it becomes ultimate reality for you or for the one who is experiencing, not for others, others are still at the conventional truth level. But one who experienced these as it is with vipassana, for those people, this five aggregate is ultimate reality. Of the ultramundane world, it has no beginning and end. But at this moment for us, it is still a what concept. Conventional truth. But when one directly realized nibbana with the path consciousness and fruition consciousness, then it becomes ultimate reality. Only when you directly experience it, then nibbana becomes the ultimate reality. Before it is still a conventional reality. So when we are practicing Satipatana Vipassana, we focus to achieve the bare attention. Simply knowing without any addition or adjectives, bare attention. In other words, we stop our awareness at the point of ultimate reality and do not step into the conventional reality or apparent reality. As soon as you extend it and add on a lot of adjectives, it becomes conventional reality. And once we stepped into the apparent reality, craving and grasping arise and is followed by the whole mass of suffering which we cannot avoid. So may all of you be able to experience, achieve, and attain ultimate reality through insight. And may you be able to free yourself from all form of suffering as soon as possible. Thank you very much.