While many struggle to understand the practical meaning of topics like the mind, dependent origination, consciousness, etc., Ajahn Char as the knack of encapsulating the essence of such subjects in simple words.
In Unshakeable Peace he simplifies a number of the concepts that have taken up many pages of discussion on these threads. Enjoy.
So the Buddha taught us to contemplate these wavering conditions of the mind. Whenever the mind moves, it becomes unstable and impermanent (anicca), unsatisfactory (dukkha) and can not be taken as a self(anattÄ). These are the three universal characteristics of all conditioned phenomena. The Buddha taught us to observe and contemplate these movements of the mind.
Itâs likewise with the teaching of dependent origination (paáčicca-sam uppÄda): deluded understanding (avijjÄ) is the cause and condition for the arising of volitional kammic formations (saáč khÄra); which is the cause and condition for the arising of consciousness (viññÄáča); which is the cause and condition for the arising of mentality and materiality (nÄma and rĆ«pa), and so on, just as weâve studied in the scriptures. The Buddha separated each link of the chain to make it easier to study. This is an accur ate description of reality, but when this process actually occurs in real life, the scholars arenât able to keep up with whatâs happening. Itâs like falling from the top of a tree and crashing down to the ground below. We have no idea how many branches weâve passed on the way down. Similarly, when the mind is suddenly hit by a mental impression, if it delights in it, then it flies off into a good mood. It considers it good without being aware of the chain of conditions that led there. The process takes place in accordance with what is outlined in the theory, but simultaneously it goes beyond the limits of that theory.
Thereâs nothing that announces, âThis is delusion. These are volitional kammic formations, and that is consciousness.â The process doesnât give the scholars a chance to read out the list as itâs happening. Although the Buddha analysed and explained the sequence of mind moments in minute detail, to me itâs more like falling out of a tree. As we come crashing down thereâs no opportunity to estimate how many feet and inches weâve fallen. What we do know is that weâve hit the ground with a thud and it hurts!
The mind is the same. When it falls for something, what weâre aware of is the pain. Where has all this suffering, pain, grief, and despair come from? It didnât come from theory in a book. There isnât anywhere where the details of our suffering are written down. Our pain wonât correspond exactly with the theory, but the two travel along the same road. So scholarship alone canât keep pace with the reality. Thatâs why the Buddha taught us to cultivate clear knowing for ourselves. Whatever arises, arises in this knowing. When that which knows, knows in accordance with the truth, then the mind and its psychological factors are recognized as not ours. Ultimately all these phenomena are to be discarded and thrown away as if they were rubbish. We shouldnât cling to or give them any meaning.
And later on.
The mind isnât born belonging to anyone. It doesnât die as anyoneâs. This mind is free, brilliantly radiant, and unentangled with any problems or issues. The reason problems arise is because the mind is deluded by conditioned things, deluded by this misperception of self. So the Buddha taught to observe this mind. In the beginning what is there? There is truly nothing there. It doesnât arise with conditioned things, and it doesnât die with them. When the mind encounters something good, it doesnât change to become good. When the mind encounters something bad, it doesnât become bad as well. Thatâs how it is when there is clear insight into oneâs nature. There is understanding that this is essentially a substance-less state of affairs.
The Buddhaâs insight saw it all as impermanent, unsatisfactory and not-self. He wants us to fully comprehend in the same way. The knowing then knows in accordance with truth. When it knows happiness or sorrow, it remains unmoved. The emotion of happiness is a form of birth. The tendency to become sad is a form of death. When thereâs death there is birth, and what is born has to die. That which arises and passes away is caught in this unremitting cycle of becoming. Once the meditatorâs mind comes to this state of understanding, no doubt remains about whether there is further becoming and rebirth. Thereâs no need to ask anyone else.
The Buddha comprehensively investigated conditioned phenomena and so was able to let it all go. The five khandhas were let go of, and the knowing carried on merely as an impartial observer of the process. If he experienced something positive, he didnât become positive along with it. He simply observed and remained aware. If he experienced something negative, he didnât become negative. And why was that? Because his mind had been cut free from such causes and conditions. Heâd penetrated the Truth. The conditions leading to rebirth no longer existed. This is the knowing that is certain and reliable. This is a mind that is truly at peace. This is what is not born, doesnât age, doesnât get sick, and doesnât die. This is neither cause nor effect, nor dependent on cause and effect. It is independent of the process of causal conditioning. The causes then cease with no conditioning remaining. This mind is above and beyond birth and death, above and beyond happiness and sorrow, above and beyond both good and evil. What can you say? Itâs beyond the limitations of language to describe it. All supporting conditions have ceased and any attempt to describe it will merely lead to attachment. The words used then become the theory of the mind.
Theoretical descriptions of the mind and its workings are accurate, but the Buddha realized that this type of knowledge was relatively useless. We understand something intellectually and then believe it, but itâs of no real benefit. It doesnât lead to peace of mind. The knowing of the Buddha leads to letting go. It results in abandoning and renunciation, because itâs precisely this mind that leads us to get involved with both whatâs right and whatâs wrong. If weâre smart we get involved with those things that are right. If weâre stupid we get involved with those things that are wrong. Such a mind is the world, and the Blessed One took the things of this world to examine this very world. Having come to know the world as it actually was, he was then known as the âOne who clearly comprehends the worldâ.
like me