213: Causes of Arising Beautiful Consciousness

 “Causes of Beautiful Consciousness” explores how our inner world is shaped by three powerful factors—feeling, prompting, and knowledge. 

This episode explains how pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant feelings influence our habits and reactions; how our health, discipline, and environment affect whether our actions arise spontaneously or need deliberate prompting; and how past actions, learning, and meditation nurture wisdom. Through relatable examples—like the taste of blue cheese, the cheerfulness of a child, or the narrow vision created by anger—the talk reveals how our present mindfulness can guide the arising of wholesome, beautiful states of mind. This episode offers a practical roadmap for cultivating clarity, wisdom, and wholesome roots in daily life, and ultimately, for shaping our future path toward liberation. 

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Sayar Myat: 0:01

Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa,Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa, Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa. Theravada Buddhism series, Dhamma talk number thirty-six. Causes of beautiful consciousness,. Feeling (Vedana), nature of prompting and association with knowledge play significant roles in arising of the beautiful consciousness . Once consciousness with feeling arises, one would react to it by taking wholesome or unwholesome action, which forms kamma. These kammic actions are initiated simultaneously, which means unprompted, or deliberately or pushed, means prompted. Beautiful or evil roots will occur based on the association or non-association with knowledge ñāṇa. That's a general statement how the good roots or the bad roots could arise. So let's see the causal relations of beautiful consciousness and these factors, which are feeling, prompting, and knowledge. The first one, feeling (Vedana). Feelings play a significant role in shaping types of consciousness. Because whenever a consciousness or whatever kind of consciousness arises, it arises together with feeling. That's why it is the first one, first important factor in the classification of consciousness. This joy could be a natural or perceived joy. Natural or perceived. Just to give you an example, blue cheese. For people who likes blue cheese, it is a pleasant object, a pleasant food, but it becomes an unpleasant food or object for people who dislikes it. The same object could be pleasurable or not pleasurable based on the likes and dislikes or based on the perception of the person who is engaging with it. That's what it means by perceived joy. The other one is the natural joy. Natural joy is 'as it is'. The true nature of an object. Manure stinks. Rose smells beautiful. That is a natural 'as it is'. The other one is perceived based on likes and dislike. The repeated exposure of the good and pleasant things will give rise to a habit of cheerfulness. If a person is meeting, engaging with many pleasant things, you'll feel pleasant, joyful. So eventually that will become a habit, a cheerful state of mind. But it needs a lot of repeated exposure. That is one cause of arising of joy. Another one is rebirth consciousness associated with pleasant feeling, will also place a person in a state of cheerfulness. That means that child rebirth consciousness is associated with pleasant feeling. Those kind of people are more cheerful. These are the causes or the reasons why a person is cheerful, joyful, and happy. So this related with the pleasant objects. Another one is the unremarkable or ordinary objects of needs that will also give rise to a neutral feeling. Let's say every morning you have a toast and a coffee. Let's say one day you make a French toast, then there's a very distinctive looks as well as flavor that's become remarkable, distinctive. And if that's the case compared to toast and coffee, you will have a pleasant feeling. So when an object has a distinctive nature, it gives pleasant feeling, and if it is an ordinary, unremarkable nature, it gives rise to neutral feeling. So that is one cause of how a neutral feeling arises. Of course another one is rebirth consciousness. Rebirth consciousness with equanimity. Not with joy, but with equanimity will give rise to a neutral feeling. Just to take an example of a child who was born. But in a very serene mode. Deep thinkers, philosophical, and one who does not smile much. Those people experience neutral feeling. So these are the causes how a neutral feeling arises in a person. The first one was joy. This is neutral feeling. And of course, there are three types of feeling. Third one is unpleasant feeling, of course. Undesirable object brings up unpleasant feeling. Whenever you encounter an undesirable object, situation, condition, one feels unpleasant. Unpleasant feeling in Pali- domanassa. Domanassa. And if one has a repeated and frequented exposure to those unpleasant objects, one will become a grumpy person. One will form a grumpy habit. Even though you might have changed a diaper, feed lots of milk, try to keep as comfortable as possible, still, screaming, yelling, kicking. That child's rebirth consciousness is associated with dissatisfaction. And these kind of peoples are short-tempered, supersensitive, and also they have lesser knowledge relative to others. Their views are narrow. Because anger narrow down the vision of the mind. An angry person has or will only see a very narrow point of view, all the possibilities and potentials, and person with anger cannot see them. That's what anger did. It inhibits the point of view. Just zoom in into one angle and nothing else. So we talk about three types of feeling: pleasant, joyful. Equanimous, neutral, serene, and unpleasant feeling. And in here, the most important thing or the most crucial thing is undesirable object. The most crucial thing is undesirable object. Not to arise quite often. Whether you see or engage a lot of desirable objects or undesirable objects in this life is conditioned by the actions one has done in the past life. So that one you can't do much about it. However, one can influence the present moment. You can't infulence the past, you can't do anything about the past. But you still have the power to influence, to streamline the present moment. Mindfulness and wise attention. Having mindfulness and wise attention at present moment will give rise to a beautiful consciousness, will give rise to beautiful roots. You have to have roots to have a beautiful consciousness. So this is how feeling plays a role in the arising of a beautiful consciousness. So let's look at another factor. Also good health , durable to heat and cold. Having significant goal-oriented mind, disciplined, and having nutritious food promotes spontaneous activities. That will promote spontaneous activities. In other words, unprompted actions. Automatic actions. That is 'asankharika'. The next one is prompting- 'sasankharika'. With the prompt and without a prompt. Asankharika. Sasankharika. Those sense of Rebirth Consciousness. Or you can call it bhavaṅga. With a weak mind requires prompting. Or you can say it needs a little nudge and a push or deliberation to decide and do something. Always a little hesitant. Then it comes out automatically. People who are not healthy. And also who are very sensitive. High sensitivity to heat and cold. And also don't have much desire for goals that need great efforts. Do not want to train to form a good habit. Malnutritious and susceptibility to climate will promote hesitancy and actions. Those are the people who are sasankharika. You need to be prompted to do anything. So this is another factor. First one feeling. Second one is nature of prompting. Now the third and the final one is this causes to associate with knowledge. In Pali, ñāṇa-sampayuttaṃ. Some people consciousness with knowledge and some people consciousness with knowledge arises more than the other. In the past life you do a lot of things that is conducive to possessing wisdom. Those people have a lot more consciousness with knowledge arises. Higher frequency. Who wished to have wisdom in future lives. Whenever they have done a meritorious deed. To put it simply, whenever you do a good deed, wholesome deed, meritorious deed, always dedicated. May this be the cause for having wisdom. May this be the cause to attain wisdom. You purposely dedicated your meritorious deeds for wisdom. Also teaching others, especially teaching Dharma to others, to expand their minds, or giving donations to such causes creates intelligence. That's another cause. The more you spread knowledge and information for others, your intelligence grow. And also, the more you support organizations who promote educations also make you gain better intelligence and next life. Kamma. Such actions of past lives, these are all in the past life, produce frequent arising of consciousness accompanied by knowledge or wisdom in this life. If you have done that in the past life, you will be a very sharp, intelligent, three-rooted person. Also, developed mind with five controlling mental faculties. Those are the ones we are developing from day one of our meditation. What are they? Confidence, right effort, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. If your mind is developed with those things, a higher frequency of arising of consciousness accompanied by knowledge. Develop your mind. Five controlling mental faculties. You have more wisdom associated consciousness arising with a great higher frequency. In general, of course, if you look at a lifespan of a person, normal lifespan, zero to a hundred. Let's pick up a number, 40 to 55 is where one reaches the maturity of understanding about life. Based on your surrounding. Around 40 to 55, you have the maturity of understanding about life. Because you have accumulated a whole wealth of data to process through. One becomes a good problem solver with penetrating knowledge during these periods. So your life experience in this life also plays a role. Another one, another cause, distancing from mental defilements through concentration meditation or vipassana meditation, either one is also a worthy cause to become knowledgeable. Practice samatha meditation, practice vipassana meditation. You will become more and more intelligent. Because clarity of mind arises when mental defilements are at bay. When you practice meditation, you keep your mental defilements at bay. Because of that, your mind is clear. Because of the clarity, you see things clearly and precisely, as they really are. So that's another cause. So quite a few cause for knowledge or wisdom. To sum up, we have known the causes of developing beautiful consciousness from various angles. And plan on a roadmap for our future lives. What kind of road you want to have in your future life depends on how you are traveling the journey of this life. And there are causes to do and there are things to avoid. So we can plan our roadmap for our future lives before reaching the final goal. Nibbana. So let's put our best effort and strive on without delay. Thank you very much.