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The lost knowledge of how to exit from the Samsara

 

 



To whom it was originally intended  

This I wrote for my son  

But later thought to give this as my  Birthday Gift to all of you

Originally written in April 2016  and last edited in Sept. 2021


The Simple English Vocabulary and explanation of Sinhalese Buddhist Dhamma words  used in the document is here
 

Summary

This world is a simulation ..A Game... this game has 31 levels.. ...Human world is is the 5th level, there are 4 lower and less advanced realms such as Ghost, Asura (A + Sura = Powerful but Non + Godly = Fallen angels) Animal and hellish worlds etc each having sub levels. Example the animal world has different animal groups, the Ghost level  also has many sub levels such as "Gandabbha" or as Tibetans call  "Bardo"( or westerns call  Near Death Experience level NDE where you see tunnel and light ) sub level, Hungary  Ghost sub level etc, the rest  of 26 upper levels are ET levels then godly levels and finally, Brahman levels, of those, some  such as ET and Godly levels are more technically advanced while others, meaning the  Brahman or the higher and highest levels are occupied by those beings who were once came from lower levels but now are  much more spiritually advanced, immensely powerful  ones with ability to create or destruct whole galaxies with one thought but since they are more sage like beings with no such intents and having gradually loosing interest in the play of this game and will never again come down even to godly levels and are getting more closer to being fully merged with the Universal Consciousness they possess with  highly developed intellect and power, than the beings in human world. But all are still with in the Game.

Though, before the total destruction and reset of the game there are number of in between partial destructions, such a deluges and cataclysms. The total reset happens after an eternity or a huge span of time, such as when our sun burns up and  becomes supernova, at that time the game is totally reset due to natural causes and most of the lower  and thus spiritually less advanced levels get destroyed up to the upper middle level, called AaBhassara Brahmaloka.  Though this is a some what spiritually advanced level, with a non physical light body, it is not as highly advanced as the highest levels above it. When the lower levels get destroyed, most of the  beings from lower levels temporarily return to  this upper middle level of existence which escapes the destruction. They stay there for some period while the destroyed physical terrains and solar systems are reformed and worlds are ready to be repopulated and the game of experiencing physical sensations is ready to start. Thus this never ending game called "Samsara"  with never ending desire for experiencing sensations of having separation from ONENESS and experiencing individual existence of  feeling ME, I AM, MINE, MYSELF and being different from others,  goes round and round one game after another, spanning huge amounts of time Trillions and trillions of years.

(Those creative beings are called Brahmas in Hinduism and according to Buddhism they originally seeded the human world coming from a place called AaBhassara Brahmaloka ආභස්සර බ්‍රහ්ම ලෝක and according to western new age theory they are the rays of galactic central sun )

(**Relatively eternal – to be more precise as it is a dynamic flow subject to the cause and effect called "Patticha Samuppada Dharma" hence constantly changing meaning, evolving or de-evolving therefore a soul as such does  not stay the same, just like even though it is the same river, the water is not the same as it constantly  flows and the quality of it changes like muddy or clear but outwards it is same river),

WHEN WE ARE BORN, in to this world, we completely forget the fact that we are eternal**,non-physical, creative beings who are an integral part of the ‘One Universal Consciousness.  We completely forget  the fact, that we chose and planned this physical life experience and our reasons for doing so, before we were born. We cast a ‘Veil of Unknowing’ over ourselves at birth, for we needed to believe in the illusion that we are separate individuals at the mercy of circumstances, trying to survive in a cold, cruel world. It was necessary to produce this perception of separation that is in direct contrast to our Oneness and true nature. But the veil does even more than make us not remember who we truly are, it also filters the information that might become available to us, information that could enable us to rediscover our true nature and what this essentially does is to guarantee that we cannot prove that in reality we are All One.

( All One is the condition which is what you call OM. Tat Sath .. or all that it is ..  in Hinduisam.. And the realization of truth  in Buddhism.. The Nirwana Swabhawa.. which is beyond Samsara or the opposite  condition of Samsara. The condition in which: You exist..and at the same time you do not exist.. You are no where and at the same time you are everywhere.. you are no one and at the same time you are every one.... you are nothing and at the same time you are everything, that ever existed and will exist..)

The “law of cause and effect” itself is the mechanism of rebirth, and the driving force of the wheel of “Samsara”. This mechanism is designed to keep you within the system of this never ending game as long as you have not awake to the reality and being blinded by the illusions causes you to wish more and more of game play in different levels of existences. 

(Samsara means San ං means, collection, Saara සාර means, desirable, that is, Going on the endless birth and death circle, due to the misunderstanding of that gathering an ever expanding collection of  a wishful list of sensually desirable choice of things are beneficial  to you while in reality getting those wishes fulfilled leads to endless births and thus endless sufferings associated with it having never ending desire for experiencing sensations of being separation from ONENESS and experiencing individual existence of  feeling ME, I AM, MINE, MYSELF and being different from others). ).

The only precondition you need to have in order to understand this law of Cause and Effect or the Patichcha Samuppada is your belief that, you have lived before  and there is occurrences of rebirth and this is not the one and only one life time you have left to live.

Our world is meant to be a “choice machine”. The role of this world is that, when you are born into it, it  presents you with a vast array of choices.

(This constantly presented array of choices to your mind  for decision making and selection due to it's ego is called in one word as "Mooha" මෝහ and you select from it due to your ego tainted misunderstanding of consequences which is called  "Avidya" අවිද්‍යා )

With this vast array of choices. You are invited to believe that this or that thing is important to you, that this cause is worth fighting for, that thing will make you safe, this person knows the truth, that person is trustworthy, this story is the gospel truth, that story is an abject lie, this group is my group and that group is the enemy... and so on and so on. This world presents you with a non-stop selection of choices for you to believe in. And the instant you do – the very second you take even one of the choices the world is presenting to you, and believe in it as if it were true – you attach yourself to the illusion.

(Note: In Buddhism the Sensations of the feelings associated with these Choices presented are called “Assada” which is the root cause of attachment or in more technical words, this is “Samudaya Aarya Sathya” of four Nobel Truths. )

That is when you begin to give your energy to the world. You begin to do this job, vote for that political party, follow this sports team, associate with that group of people, fight for this cause, invest your money in that scheme. And so on and so on. Not that there is anything wrong with any of that. But what has happened is that you have taken something true – your eternal, immortal creator nature – and attached it to something transient and fictitious – the illusions of this world. Again, this is not wrong, but it does lead to great pain. And that pain causes you to fight and struggle. Which in turn causes you to attach even more. And so you spiral down, deeper and deeper into the illusory world of separation. And that spiralling dive into separation continues life-time after life-time, just as it is meant to. It can continue for an eternity if you let it because every single choice that the world presents to you leads you back down, deeper into the illusion.

You play massive, long-running games that span many lifetimes so that you can experience yourself as an individual. As separate from each other. As "not-ONE". And that is what life on Earth is like.

There is only one choice that leads you out of the illusion or exit from this game trap  is to cease to chose at all from amongst the choices the world offers you and to choose instead for what your deepest, innermost truth offers you. Only then do you begin to let go of the world and begin to move out into the higher levels of consciousness.

So how to  do that ?. The Method in Nutshell is like this:

Before learning how to exit,  you need to  be armed with a little bit of know how. Specifically how a being or a person is lured  to get trapped due to  it's curiosity. As the beings are very curious and  wants to see, know, taste, hear, sense and experience all. Just like  a fish trap this curiosity was used against the beings to  initially trap  them and also to keep  them inside the trap.

It is just like some Casinos use various attractions like food, drinks and other entertainments of ADDICTION to keep you inside. 

Similarly, what keeps you bound to this cruel game of life and death called Samsara are also attractions offered to please your five senses. That means visions to please your eyes, sounds to please your ears, smells, tastes, sensory pleasures through your skin. All these are dangled in front of your nose and  come nicely wrapped  in the form of love, romance, parties, properties, cars, wealth, family and friends , beautiful bodies, health and wealth. Etc… Etc… and once you indulge in it you keep wishing more and more of those. 

Why you wish it again and again . ? Because you got attached (Bonded = Thanha = තණ්හා Attached in to the spot) to it in your mind.

These attachments does lead to great pain. As you start to play one of these 3 roles. You are either a victim or else a villain (a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot) or else a rescuer.  

Only  3 kinds of  thoughts in your mind creates these Bonds

1 Excessive Hatred (Dwasha), creates attachments.

2. Excessive Lust (Raaga), creates attachments.

3. Mooha or the ego tainted wrongful decision making and selection of the choices creates attachments.

Only those thoughts with excessive lust, hatred or ignorance (Mooha) has enough energy to create these bonds,so it is only about 2% of the thoughts in the mind of an average person that can create bonds. 

And more you think about some thing or some one with  Raaga or Dwasha or Mooha .. more you get attached more you create energy of bond called.. Karmic bond  or “Upadana(Wishes/desires උපාදාන) Because of your lustful or hateful  wishes and desires and your thoughts around those, (This ruminating thought process, thinking round and round on something is called Roodha රෝධ and stop thinking like that is called Niroodha නිරෝධ) through lust, hatred or ignorance (Raaga, Dwasha, Moha), you create Karmic seeds called "Anushaya" අනුෂය (Defilements).  You need to know that every thought that runs in your mind does not create those bonds.

This is the trap. Upadanas are like an electronic tag attached to a commodity in a shop. How much you try to hide it in the pocket you cannot leave the  shop floor as long as you carry that thing with you. As long as you have attachments and wishes of sensual objects you hope to posses  (Thanha and Upaadana Bonds) you cannot leave this prison. If you want to leave, then you need to clean your mind of the baggage  and leave empty handed through the gate with out trying to take anything with you even in your mind. That is why it is important to clean up your mind from attachments and defilements. Since it is your mind, you have to do it by yourself as  no other external force can  clean your mind for you, however advanced that  external force or the civilization is. In nutshell the way out from prison is not to have any desire for anything within the walls of the prison ( the World). 

What you wish, is what you get.  (Remember .. that, your wish is the command in this holographic simulation world). With that wish comes the physical body. The second prison or the cage. 

Since the condition of the imprisonment is such, that the prisoners are wiped out of former life's memory with each cycle of birth, and the wishes are being granted according to good or bad merits they earned in the past life (Just like in an ordinary prison the prisoners are rewarded for their good conduct within the prison and bad ones by tough conditions), thus they forget the knowledge, and having to start a new every time, they get trapped in this never ending wish that keeps person bound , imprisoned and slaved to this vicious circle of birth and death called Samsara..  This leads to never ending sufferings of a being without him realizing the reason for it.. The most effective prison is one where the inmates does not know that they are prisoners.  This world is trap similar to something like that.

What you need to know:

To get released  from this prison world, apart from  having an excellent understanding of the principle of the workings of the trap called  Law of cause and effect ( Also called as "Pattichcha Samuppada" principle of the generation of attachments) which I had already explained .One also needs to know 4 truths about the nature of imprisonment or the trap (called 4 Nobel Truths)   and 3 Qualities of the life inside the trap (Called 3 Lakshana – 1. Anichcha, 2. Dukkha,  3.Anartha) which will be explained below.

Once you really understand that you are in the process of liberation by dismantling this trap. Since it is the knowledge that liberates you. There is no need to pray to any god for the salvation. While Buddhism does not dispute the existence of the higher godly realms and even talks about godly beings, what Buddhism teach us is that your salvation should be made by yourself through your intellect without waiting for the help from any other force.

The Path: What is the path to follow?

It is so easy that you do not have to leave your family, work and everything in life behind and go to the forest to look for trees to sit under in order to meditate on your breathing. 

You can practice anytime, anywhere, in any posture, while working, relaxing, travelling, shopping,  watching TV or going to sleep in bed. The only requirement is that you should be watchful about the thoughts that are coming to your mind. 

The Method: What is the method to practice?

The only requirement is that you should be watchful about what thoughts are coming to your mind. 

1.            To remove Dwasha or anger from the mind the method is :  

At anytime, anywhere, when a thought of hatred or fire of anger (Dwasha) comes to your mind, you should be observant and recognise that a train of angry and fiery thoughts are forming in your mind. Once you detect that, like a skilful firefighter, you should stop forming those thoughts by utilising thoughts of Loving Kindness (Mettha_nussathi). Practicing loving kindness involves thoughts such as:

May peace be upon this world ! May all beings be happy and well! May all beings that are infinite and boundless beings of pure light, be filled with love, compassion and kindness for all other beings, with even the slightest thought of harming another being never occurring!          May all beings attain Nibbana and be free from the sufferings of Samsara. 

Once this anger is subdued, once again, like the skilful firefighter who removes hazards which may cause potential future fires such as brushwood and flammable material from the area, you also need to find the cause of the anger in your mind and remove it with the thoughts of  Anichcha Dukka and Anattha (Marana_anussathi). That means thinking: 

Anichcha or the universal truth in this world is, that things or people do not stay or behave as you like them to be. The expectation in my mind that material things or other people will always stay or behave as I like them to be  is the  root cause for all sorts of suffering in the world (Dukka). Therefore, having those high expectations about others or things in my mind is nothing of substance and useless, a futile pursuit. ( Annattha  or Asara  අසාර)  

Finally, you should sweep your mind clean of any remaining residue of anger or the ashes of the fire with (Buddhaa _nussathi) by thinking:

 Why should I get angry with those people who are subjected to all sorts of sufferings in the Samsara due to their dilution and ignorance? They get angry because they think that everything should be according to their wish and will, which never happens. I am not that kind of an ignorant fool to get angry at them. 

2.            To remove Raaga or Lust from the mind the method is :

At anytime, anywhere, when a thought of craving or fire of lust comes to your mind you should be watchful to identify that a train of attachment and fiery thoughts of lust are forming in your mind. For an example, driving down the road and seeing someone with a very attractive appearance which causes you to have feelings of desire in your mind. Once you detect that, like a skilful fire fighter, you should subdue and stop forming those thoughts with the thoughts of undesirability (Asuba_nussathi), which means thinking:

This body is made out of an erected skeleton bound by blood soaked veins and filled with pieces of meat and covered by skin. This body itself is no different from a cadaver (dead carcass). This carcass is made alive by the consciousness which came to possess it due to the desire for the attractions offered to lure it in to the trap of never ending circle of life and death known as Samsara. 

Because of the current ignorance (Avidya), I will again be attracted to those lures aimed to please my five senses and the resulting Karmas, Trushna (Desire), Bhawa (what you think your own or world around)  and Upadana (attachment) I will again be subjected to the emotions of intermittent joys as well as a great deal of unavoidable sufferings such as  illness , old age and death. Attachments will also lead to generating another body to go through the same suffering again and again.

This body of others, as well as mine, has nothing to be desired. Once the consciousness leaves the body, it is nothing but a cadaver, food for worms. In 2-3 days time after death, it will start to smell bad, attracting flies and insects, the body will dissolve and will decay to the earth.

Once the lust is subdued, again like the skilful firefighter who removes the cause of future fires such as brushwood and flammable material from the area, you also need to find the cause of the lust in your mind and remove it with the thoughts of  Anichcha Dukka and Anattha (Marana_anussathi). That means thinking that:

This body is (As well as everything else I believe as mine or should be mine) are subject to  Anichcha nature (Does not stay or behave as I wish). Hence, it is the reason for Dukkha (Sufferings) and it is the cause for all sorts of disastrous outcomes (Anartha). Because of that, it is not a thing to get attached to. 

Finally, you should sweep your mind clean of any  remaining residue of lust or the ashes of the fire with (Buddhaa _nussathi). This can be achieved by thinking, why should I crave for those  bodies of people who are subjected to all sorts of sufferings in Samsara including aging, sickness and death? I see their bodies as attractive due to the dilution and ignorance still left in my mind. If I do not remove it, then I will also be lost in the illusions of this fearful Samsara. Hence, I should do my best to see the reality of this world and completely remove those delusional thoughts. 

3.            To remove  Mooha or  ego  from the mind the method is :

At anytime, anywhere, when a thought of wrongful assessment of the ego (Mooha) comes to your mind, you should be watchful to identify that a train of wrongful assessment and fiery thoughts of ego are forming in your mind. For an example, you saw that your neighbour has bought a beautiful, expensive car. A thought occurs in your mind that you should not to be outdone by the neighbour, you should also purchase a better and more expensive car. Once you detect that, like a skilful firefighter, who remove the cause of the future fires, you also need to find the cause of the ego in your mind and remove it with the thoughts of  Anichcha Dukka and Anattha (Marana_anussathi).That means thinking:

every thing I believe as mine or should be mine including properties such as car are subject to  Anichcha nature (Does not stay or behave as I wish). Hence it is the reason for Dukkha. (Sufferings) and it is the cause for all sorts of disastrous outcomes (Anartha). Because of that it is not a thing to be get attached.

Finally, you should  sweep clean your mind of any  left over residue of lust or the ashes of the fire with (Buddhaa _nussathi). That is thinking,

Why should I get  craving for those   things or get in to the rat race of getting material things with other deluded people who are subjected to all sorts of sufferings in the samsara including aging, all sorts of sickness and death.  I see their processions as attractive due to the dilution and ignorance still left in my mind, if I do not remove it then I will also be lost in the illusions of this fearful samsara. Hence I should do my best to see the reality of this world and completely remove those unnecessarily competitive delusional thoughts.

That is all you need to know. You do not even have to read the rest of this document. This is so simple even a 7 year old can understand. It does not take even one minute of time to explain. This is the method of purification Lord Buddha told people like Sarakani the Alcholic, Thambadasa the executioner, Angulimala the Murderer, The wife of the hunter Kukuta Mittha, Suneetha the street sweeper, Sopaka the toilet cleaner, Patachara mother who lost her husband, parents and children in a natural disaster as well as his only son young prince Rahula. All of them understood it instantly.

Daily Contemplating on the meaning of the following  2 Karma Displacement thought lines called "Karmasthanas" (Which I had translated in to English) as well as other Karmasthanas there are many more to choose from. ( Karmasrhanas are THE SHORT SUMMARIES of  the understanding of dharma you need to think more  thoroughly like why it is so,  is it correct or wrong, can it be applicable to my life and my experiences etc, as just reciting  Karmasthanas like a parrot will not do) given in the following web site will be helpful in  speedy release from the bonds of lust, enmity and ignorance in the mind which keeps you bound in to the world. 

End of the English  Summary


The Simple English Vocabulary and explanation of Sinhalese Buddhist Dhamma words  used in the document is here


P.S. Almost same thing in different way in different view by Mr. Rich West but  very much worth listening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lqy-wYpX98  which I  too mostly agree

 

 

A short Summery in Sinhalese language

අර මස් වැදැල්ලට කව්ද පන දෙන්නේ... ? විඥානය පන දෙන්නේ


මේ ශරීරෙ... පෙර භවයේ අවිද්යා කර්ම තණ්හා උපාදාන හා භව යන හේතුන් ගේ පලයක් ලෙස හටගත්තාවූ ..ඇට කෝ ටු හිටවල .. ලේ නහර වලින් බැදලා .. මස් ඔබ්බල .. සමෙන් තුනීකරලා ඔප දාල .. කන බොන ආහාරයෙන් සෑදුන .. ...මලකදක් වැනිය ..

රූප ශබ්ධ ගන්ධ රස ස්පර්ශ ආදීබාහිර අරමුණු කෙරෙහිහටගත්තාවූ තෘෂ්ණාව නිසා ඒවා විදීමට ආධාරකයක් වූ මෙම කයෙහි බැසගත් විඥානය නිසා මේ කය පන ලබා සවින්ඥානකව හැසිරෙනවා ... නැවතත් රූප ශබ්ධ ගන්ධ රස ස්පර්ශ ආදී අරමුණු ගන්නවා ඒවායින් මනසේ හැගීම් හා මානසික චිත්ර මවා ගෙන දුක සැප දෙක තමා තුලම විදිනවා ...

එම අරමුණු වල ඇත්ත ඇති හැටියේ නොදන්නා කම හෙවත් අවිද්‍යාව නිසා මෝහය හෙවත් මෝඩකමත් රාගය හෙවත් ඇලීමත් ද්වේශය හෙවත් ගැටීමත් උපදවා ගන්නවා .. ඒ හේතුවෙන් මෝහයෙන් බැදී රාගයන් බැදී ද්වේශයෙන් බැදී සසර බැමි සදාගන්නවා ... ඒ හේතුවෙන් සංස්කාර හෙවත් සිතීම් කීම් හා කිරීම් සිදු කිරීම නිසා කර්ම රැස්වෙනවා වගේම සමහර අදහස් උදහස් තදින් අල්ලා ගැනීම හෙවත් උපාදානය සිදුවෙනවා ඒ හේතුවෙන් මේ මම .. මේක මගේ.. මේ ඉන්නේ මගේ ආදරවන්තිය හා දරුවා .. දේපල වස්තුව .. අරය මගේ හතුරා .. විරුද්ධ කාරය වශයෙන් අප වටා ලෝකයක් මවා ගන්නවා එනම් අයිති කරුවෙක් බවට පත්වෙනවා සැමියෙක් බවට පත්වෙනවා පියෙක් බවට පත්වෙනවා වස්තු හිමියෙක් බවට පත් වෙනවා හතුරෙක් බවට පත්වෙනවා ආදී වශයෙන් මේ "බවට පත්වීම" තමා අප වටා ලෝකයක් මවා අපම සදා ගන්නා වර්තමාන භවය ...

මේ අප වටා මවා ගත් භවය නම් වූ ලෝකයක් තුල අප ජීවත්වෙමින් අප්‍රිය හා ප්‍රිය ජාති නිසා ඇතිවෙන දුක සැප විදිනවා ... මෙය නිත්යයි මා කැමති පරිදි පැවතිය යුතුයි ඒවා සැපයි ආත්මයි කියා වැරදි අදහසක්ද අපිම ඇතිකරගන්නවා .දුක්ඛ  සමුදය ආර්ය සත්‍ය  තේරුම්  නොගත් නිසා එනම් මමය මගේය කියා තදින් අල්ල ගැනීමට තරම් වටිනා හා ප්‍රිය ජාති අප සාදාගත් මේ භවය තුල නැති බව ප්‍රඥා චෛතසිකයෙන් තේරුම් නොගත් නිසා එනම් ලෝකයේ අසාරත්වය (අනත්ථ බව) නොවැටහීම නිසා ... ජරාවට පත්වෙන ... ලෙඩදුක් සෑදෙන... කැමති පරිදි නොපවතින සිය වසගයේ තබාගත නොහැකි හා වෙනස්වෙන නිසා දුක් ඇතිවෙන ( අනිච්ච බව) ... පුද්ගලයන් හා වස්තු තුල (දුක්ඛ සත්ය )...අපි නිත්ය සැප හා නොවෙනස් බව ඇතැයි වරදවා සිතා ඒවා සොයනවා මේ ඇත්ත ඇති හැටියේ නොදන්නා කම හෙවත් අවිද්යාව හෙවත් චතුරර්ර්ය සත්ය  නොවැටහීම (හෙවත් මාර්ග සත්‍යය නොදත්කම හෙවත් ආර්ය අෂ්ටාංගික මාර්ගය නොදැන සිටීම ).. නිසා අත් හැරීම නොඇල්ම හා මිදීමේ ශාන්තිය හෙවත් නිවන (නිරෝධ සත්‍ය ‍) නොදත් අපි ප්රර්ථනා කටයුතු දේවල් එක් රැස් කරමින් (උපාදාන) ජීවත් වෙනවා ... ඇති කරගන්නලද තද ඇල්ම හෙවත් තණ්හාව නිසා මරණ මංචකයේදී වත් ... ඒවා අත් හැර යාමට අකමැති වෙනවා ඒ නිසා නැවත ඉපදීමට හේතු එනම් නැවතත් අවිද්යාව කර්ම තණ්හා උපාදාන හා මතු හෙවත් අනාගත භව යන හේතුන් ඇති කරගන්නවා...

මෙසේවූ කල ... ඉහත කී ..පෙර අවිද්යා කර්ම තණ්හා උපාදාන හා භව හේතුන් ගේ පලයක් ලෙස හටගෙන ..ඇට කෝ ටු හිටවල .. ලේ නහර වලින් බැදලා .. මස් ඔබ්බල .. සමෙන් තුනීකරලා ඔප දාල .. කන බොන ආහාරයෙන් සෑදුන .. මේ ශරීරෙ නැවත හදාගන්නවා .. ඔහොම ඉපදෙම්න් .. මැරෙමින් නැවත ඉපදෙම්න් අනවරාග්රවූ සංසාරේ ගමන් කරනවා ..

නිවන් මග කෙටියෙන්
 

බෞව්ද්ධයෙක් වෙලා ඉපදිලා .. ඉහලම බෞවුද්ධ පාසලක ඉගෙන ගෙනත් රටේ තොටේ  ප්‍රසිද්ධ  අපවත් වූ ගරු සෝම හිමි  වැනි හිමි වරුන් ඉතා ලගින් වසර ගණනක් ඇසුරු කරලත් .. හරි බුද්ධ ධර්මය මොකක්දැයි හොයා ගන්න මේ ලියන මටත් වසර 60 වන තුරු  බැරි වුනේ  අහම්බෙන්ද ? නැහැ .. හේතුව බුද්ධාගම තිබුනත් නියම බුද්ධදේශනාව හෙවත් බුද්ධ ධර්මය මෙතෙක් යටපත්ව තිබුන නිසයි .. ඒ නිසයි  කොපමණ උත්සහ කලත් භාවනා කරමින්  කොපමණ හුලං ඇද්දත් කිසිම කෙනෙකුට නිවන කෙසේ වෙතත්  මගපල වත් ලබා ගනිඉමට එතෙක් බැරි උනේ .. නමුත් දැන් නිවන්දොර ඇරි  ඇත  යටපත්ව තිබුන  නියම බුද්ධදේශනාව හෙවත් බුද්ධ ධර්මය නැවත මතුවීම   තුලින් ඥානවන්තයන්ට  නිවන් දොර විවුර්තව ඇත 

ඒ ප්‍රධාන වශයෙන්  අපවත්වී වදාළ වහරක හිමියන්ටත් ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiNzmtea6KbsaPrgEKIHqyg  ) මීවනපලානේ හිමියන්ටත් ( https://www.youtube.com/c/ParamaNibbanaDharmayathanaya/videos ) වලස්මුල්ලේ අබය හිමියන්ටත්  ( https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=nirapekshathwaye+maga+season+8+episode+1+ ) බෝපිටියේ සුමංගල හිමි ටත් ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCECxFbMfVCRX-Pt2ReOaxrg/featured ) ස්තුති වන්නටය  ලින්ක් දුන්නේ ඒවා අසන්නටය  

මෙතෙක් අපට  උගන්නා තිබුනේ නියම බුද්ධ දර්මය නොවන බව ඉහත දේශනා අසන විට මනාව පැහැදිලිවේ .. එවිට ඒවා මෙතෙක් අපෙන් සගවා තිබීම හේතුවෙන් දහම නොදැනම මියගිය  අපේ දෙමවුපියන් හා නෑදෑ යින්ට සිදුවූ අපරාදය ගැන මහා දුකක්  කණගාටුවක් ඇතිවේ .. දැනුත්  .. බුද්ධ සූර්යආලෝකය මෙතරම්  පැහැදිලිව උදාවෙලා තියෙද්දිත් ..  බලන්න මේ හාමුදුරුවරු  දැනුත්  අදුරේ අතපත ගාන හැටි .. ගිහි අපිට තේරෙන දෙයක් වත් පැවිදි මේ යට තේරුම් ගන්න බැරි හැටි .. ඇයි  හේතුව  පොතේ තියෙන පරණ හනමිටියම ගිරවු වගේ කියනවා මිසක් .. ධර්මය හොයන්නේ නැහැ .. හරි ධර්මය  ලැබුනත් පිළිගන්නේ නැහැ .. මොකද ඒ යට සිව්පසය පාඩු වෙන නිසා .. මොකද බුදු හාමුදුරුවෝ කියල තියෙනවනේ  නිවන් දකින්න නම් .. පුණ්‍ය පාප පහීනස්ස...  කියල .. මිනිස්සු පුණ්‍ය  පහීනස්ස  කලොත් කියල ඒ අය  බයයි  පාඩු වෙයි කියල . මොකද ඒ අය  බොහොමයක්... ලාබ පර්යේෂණය  මිස අරිය පර්යේෂණය.... කරන අය  නොවෙන නිසා    .. මට බනී  නමුත්  ඇත්ත ඕකයි  

මම මගේ වටිනා කාලය ගතකර මේක ලියන්නේ ඉතාම දයාවෙන් කරුණාවෙන් ...  මක් නිසාද යම් කෙනෙක්  පැවිදි වීමට අදහස්  කිරීමට ප්‍රථම  හරි නිවන් මග සොයාගැනීම  වැදගත් නිසායි 

හරි මග සොයා ගත් විට හා ටිකකලක් ඒ මග අනුගමනය කර ආපසු හැරී බලනවිට තමන්ටම යමක් පැහැදිලිව පෙනේ.. එනම් .. මගේ ලග පෙර තිබු තරහ යන ගතිය (ද්වේශය ) දැන් අඩුවෙලා නේ .. මගේ ලග පෙර තිබු මම මට ඕනෑ දෙය අනුන්ට මොනවා උනත් කමක් නැහැ හොදින් නරකින් හෝ කපටි කමින් හෝ කොහොම හරි දිනා ගෙන ඉහලට යන්න ඕනෑ කියන බලවත් උවමනාව (රාගය)දැන් එහෙම ලොකුවට නැහැ .. නේ .. රාගයත් ද්වේෂයත් එනම් ඇලීමුත් ගැටීමුත් අතර මැන බලමින් පෙර කල සමහර දේවලට දුන් වටිනාකම් නොවටිනාකම් සුන්දර අසුන්දර කම් (මෝහය)දැන් ටිකින් ටික වැඩක් නැති බොරු දේවල් හා භයානක මර උගුල් වගේ පෙනෙනවා නේ..  

අන්න එහෙම පෙනන කොට.. වෙන කාගෙන්වත් නොඇහැවුවට තමන්ටම තේරෙනවා .. ආ ඒ කියන්නේ මේ ක්රමය අනුගමනය කරන විට මගේ රාග ද්වේශ මෝහ අඩුවෙනවා .. එහෙනම් රාග ක්ෂයෝ ...නිබබානං ...ද්වේශ ක්ෂයෝ ...නිබබානං මෝහ ක්ෂයෝ ...නිබබානං.. ලෙස අප බුදුන් වහන්සේ කල නිවනේ අර්ථ දක්වීම හෙවත් සමීකරණයට අනුව යන පාර හරි .. එහෙනං මට නියම ශ්රී සද් ධර්මය හමුවී ඇත .. නිවන් මග අදත් දේශනා කරන සත්පුරුෂ මහසග උතුමෝ අදත් අප අතර වැඩසිටී .. කියන අදහස තමන්ටම ඇතිවෙනවා.. වෙනත් වචන වලින් කිව්වොත් " මග්ගා අමග්ග ඥාන දර්ශනය" කියන්නේ ඔන්න ඕකට

නිවන් දකින්නට පෙර අපට කියා ඇති ලෙස මෛත්රී බුදුන් එනතුරු කල්පයක් ඉන්න ඕනෑ නැත

කරන්න තියෙන්නේ ඉතාම සරල දෙයකි .. එය කරන්න  කැලේ  යන්න වත් ගස් යට ඉන්න වත් හුලං භාවනා කරන්න වන්ට් අවශ්‍ය නැත.... එනම් කොයි මොහොතේ කොතැනකදී හෝ රාගයක් එනවිට එය සිහියෙන් දැනගෙන අසුබය සිහිකිරීම .. රාගය පහවන විට ඇයි මට මෙහෙම රාගයක් ඇතිවුනේ කියා සොයා බලා එහි ඇති අනිච්ච දුක්ඛ හා අසාර ස්වභාවය ( මරණානුස්මෘතිය ) වැඩීම ..

ද්වේශයක් එනවිට එය සිහියෙන් දැනගෙන මයිත්රී වැඩීම.. ද්වේශය පහවන විට ඇයි මට මෙහෙම ද්වේශය ක් ඇතිවුනේ කියා සොයා බලා එහි ඇති අනිච්ච දුක්ඛ හා අසාර ස්වභාවය ( මරණානුස්මෘතිය ) වැඩීම .. මේ අසාර ලෝකේ දුක්විදන සත්වයෙන්ට මම මොනවට තරහ ගන්නද කියා පළිගැනීමේ හෝ එකට එක කිරීමේ අදහස් දුරලීම (බුධ්ධා නුස්සතිය ) හෙවත් උපාදානයන් ඇති නොවීමට ප්රවේසම් වීම තුලින් අනාගත භවය පහල විඉමේ හේතුව උදුරා ඉවත් කිරීම ..  

මෝහයක් එනවිට එය සිහියෙන් දැනගෙනඇයි මට මෙහෙම මෝහයක් යක් ඇතිවුනේ කියා සොයා බලා එහි ඇති අනිච්ච දුක්ඛ හා අසාර ස්වභාවය ( මරණානුස්මෘතිය ) වැඩීම මේ අසාර ලෝකේ මම මොනව අල්ලන්නද කියා තරග කාරී අදහස් දුරලීම (බුධ්ධා නුස්සතිය ) හෙවත් උපාදානයන් ඇති නොවීමට ප්රවේසම් වීම තුලින් අනාගත භවය පහල විඉමේ හේතුව උදුරා ඉවත් කිරීම හා හිත පිරිසිදු කිරීම .  

කොටින්ම කීවොත් කල යුත්තේ රාග ද්වේශ මෝහ ගිනි ඇතිවන ඇතිවන ඒ ඒ මොහොතෙම දක්ෂ ගිනි නිවන භටයෙකු සේ ඒ ගිනි නිවීමයි ගිනි ඇතිවීමට හේතුවද ඒ මොහෙතේම සොයා බලා හේතුව ගලවා උදුරා දැමීමයි  

එතුලින් විරාගයේ නිරෝධයේ මිදීමේ නිවීමේ ශාන්තිය පෙනීමට පටන්ගනී .. එවිට(විරාගෝ .. නිරෝධෝ .. පටි නිස්සග්ග්ගෝ .. මුක්ති අනාලයෝ ) කිවේ ඒ කට බව වැටහේ  

නිවන් මග ඔච්චරයි .. මේ නිර්මල බුද්ධ දේශනාවයි ..බුද්ධ සූර්ය ආලෝකයයි ... හරිම සරලයි ..සරකානි ශාක්යයා, තම්බදාස අලුගෝසුවා, අංගුලිමාල, කුක්කුට මිත්ත වැද්දාගේ බිරිඳ  පටාචාරාව හා සෝපාක ට කියා දුන්නේ  කියන්නට විනාඩියක් වත් ගත නොවන  මේ ටිකයි.. මේ තුල සතර සති පට්ටනය පවතී . මේ තුල චතුරාර්ය සත්ය පවතී ... , ත්රි  ලක්ෂණය පවතී ..  දස සංඥා පවතී .. එකක් වඩන විට සියල්ල වැඩීම පවතී .. ධර්මයො විසින් දර්මයෝ  පිරවීම පවතී .. පටිසොථගාමි මාර්ගය පවතී   .තර්ක වාද කරමින් සොයන්නට වෙනත් දෙයක් නැත...

කිසිම දවසක සිල් නොගත් භාවනා නොකළ  බේබද් දෙකු වූ සරකානි ශාක්යයාට , තම්බදාස අලුගෝසුවාට , අංගුලිමාලට , කුක්කුට මිත්ත වැද්දාගේ බිරිඳට   පටාචාරාව හා සෝපාක ට නිවන් අවබෝධ කර ගැනීමට පුළුවන් උනානම් ඔබටද  එය බැරිවන්නට හේතුවක් නොපෙනේ .. උවමනා නිවැරදි දහම දැනගැනීමයි   ... එකම අවශ්‍ය තාවය මේ භයානක සසරෙන් ගැලවෙන හරිම මග කෝක දැයි සොයාගෙන ජීවිතයේ ඉතිරි කාලයේවත් ඒ මග අනුගමනය කිරීමයි..

අද මේ ටික මිනිසුන්ට කියා දෙන්නේ බික්ෂුන් වහසේලගෙන් කිඉයෙන් කී දෙනාද ? එවිට අද බික්ෂුන් වහන්සේලා වැටී සිටින මුලාව හා  තත්වය තේරුම් යයි 

සබ්බ පාපස්ස අකරණං .. කුසලස්ස උපසම්පදා .. සචිත්ත පරියෝ දපනං .. එතං බුධා අනු සාසනං ... සියලු පාපයන්ගෙන් වැලකීම .. කුසල් සිත් ඇතිකර ගැනීම .. සිත දමනය කර ගැනීම සියලු බුදුන්ගේ අනුශාසනයයි  

සියලු ලෝක සියලු සත්වයෝ සංසර දුකින් මිදෙත් වා ...! නිවනම නාතයි නිවනම වෙත්වා .. !!

…………………..

End of the Sinhala  Summary

 

 

The lost knowledge of how to exit from the Samsara …“The law of cause and effect”




 

Introduction

I thought of writing this for the benefit of children who were not born or never lived in Sri Lanka like my son.

My son find it difficult to understand advanced Sinhalese language and the words used in Dhamma Sermons thus miss out the real Buddhist View of the world. there may be many other families like that and this is my gift for them for the month of "Vesak". (2019)

I wrote this in very simple everyday English as it is absurd to use highly technical language used by some translators when you talk to children.

Though the words are simple you need to read in carefully as the theories given are profound and every word written is there, because it is absolute necessary for that word to be there in order to convey the meanings. And people live and die never  ever knowing or understanding  what is written here.

The Simple English Vocabulary and explanation of Sinhalese Buddhist Dhamma words  used in the document is here



What is the “Law of Cause and Effect..” ?

 

 

Buddhism is a view of life based on the “law of cause and effect” and it is not a religion. Any one who has this view or the vision of cause and effect called “Patichcha Samuppada” in ancient Pali Language is a Buddhist. No matter what religion he or she was born in to. 

The meaning of the word “Patichcha Samuppada” is defined  in English by some monks as “law of cause and effect” by others as "Dependent Origination" but non of these definitions convey the true meaning of the word. "Pati (Bond/Attachment) + Ichcha (Desire/Liking) Sama (With/together/because of) Uppada (Origination/Birth) = Patichcha Samuppada "  Meaning attachment based on desire and resulting origination" or being bonded due to liking and because of that the occurring of regeneration or birth.

Since the “law of cause and effect” is the very core or the heart of the Buddhism. Lord Buddha Said that, who understood this “law of cause and effect” understood the Dharma and hence understood me .

The “law of cause and effect” itself is the mechanism of rebirth, and the driving force of the wheel of “Samsara” ( Samsara means endless cycle of taking births and hence inevitable deaths thus causing the sufferings in the course of life). The only precondition you need to have in order to understand this law of Cause and Effect or the Patichcha Samuppada is your belief that, there is occurrences of rebirth and this is not the one and only life time you have left to live.

 

What is the benefit of knowing this Law of cause and effect … ?

 

 

The immediate benefit is that, you will never ever have emotional break downs or mental depressions in the current life.

The over all  benefit is that once you understand “Law of the cause and effect” and how it works or the mechanism of it, you will know that,  how to disable the wheel of “Samsara” or the endless process of Birth and Death which keeps you bound to it and causes the inherent suffering attached with birth such as getting sick, getting old and pain of death etc. As once you were born you were bound to die.

Imagine for a moment that you are playing a computer game.The game is so absorbing you get addicted in to the character or the “Avathar” you choose to play. You got mesmerized so much, you think you are nothing else but the “Avathar”. You began to think that the game world is real and it is not an illusion.

Our world is meant to be a “choice machine”. The role of this world is that, when you are born into it, it constantly presents you with a vast array of choices. You are invited to believe that this or that thing is important to you, that this cause is worth fighting for, that thing will make you safe, this person knows the truth, that person is trustworthy, this story is the gospel truth, that story is an abject lie, this group is my group and that group is the enemy... and so on and so on.

This world presents you with a non-stop selection of choices for you to believe in. And the instant you do – the very second you take even one of the choices the world is presenting to you, and believe in it as if it were true – you attach yourself to the illusion.

That is when you begin to give your energy to the world. You begin to do this job, vote for that political party, follow this sports team, associate with that group of people, fight for this cause, invest your money in that scheme. And so on and so on. 

What has happened is that you have taken something true – your original pure blissful consciousness of Nirvaanic nature of the mind or the "Prabhaswara Chithaa"– and attached it to something transient and fictitious – the illusions of this world and pollute it with Lust, Anger and Dilution (Raaga, Dwasha, Mooha). These attachments does lead to great pain. As you start to play one of these 3 roles. You are either a victim or else a villain (a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot) or else a rescuer.  

And that pain generated by attachments causes you to fight and struggle. Which in turn causes you to attach even more as it causes you to generate more and more of Lust, Anger and Dilution.  And so you spiral down, deeper and deeper into the illusory world of separation. The thing to understand is that each of you on planet Earth are playing out the roles you have chosen for yourselves. You play massive, long-running games that span many lifetimes so that you can experience yourself as an individual. As separate from each other. As "not-ONE". And that is what life on Earth is like.

(See also  "The Ascension Papers" by Zingdad A very enlightening book giving western view of same point   you can download it here for free  http://zingdad.com/images/downloads/the_ascension_papers_book_1_-_zingdad.pdf )

You lost the knowledge of how to exit from the game and to move back in to the reality of your original pure blissful consciousness of Nirvaanic nature of the mind or the "Prabhaswara Chithaa" which is the state of Nichcha (Permanant) Sukha (Blissful) Atthha (Worthy). In short you are lost in Samsara, bonded by attachments, suffering and forgetting how to regain the real happiness of the unpolluted enlightened mind.

So you keep playing the game. When you finish living one life inside it. You wish an another, what you wish, what you get.  (Remember .. that, your wish is the command in this holographic simulation world) Thus you get another life..... and after that another one, and so on....., life after life after life...., never ending ...as your wishes too ...are never ending ... Like a Wheel .. no end to it.. Thus you get trapped in this Wheel of Samsara..

 

(See also Holographic Universe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nwz-WwRe3Y )

 

Photo: Assada. අස්සාද (ආශ්වාද ) is what keeps you bound to this cruel game of life and death called Samsara are also attractions offered to please your five senses as well as the mind. That means visions to please your eyes, sounds to please your ears, smells, tastes, sensory pleasers through your skin. Because of the desire for those attractions ( Those attractions are called in one word  as Kaama's කාම ), like those ants attached to sweet spot, people get attached to the game of samsara.

For that never ending wish we call the “Trushna” or the “Desire” and we say that, person is lost in Samsara due to the Trushna (Desire) . ( the person is “Bhawa Gaami” or the worldly bound). This never ending wish keeps you bound  and imprisoned to this vicious circle of birth and death.
 

The lost knowledge of how to exit from the Samsara by not generating “Desire” is the Knowledge of the mechanism of “Patichcha samuppada “ or the knowledge of the mechanism of the law of Cause and effect. Understanding it gives you the key to the exit door which leads to the eternal bliss or the liberation called "Nirvana".  

(See also :Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor Nuro Scientist PhD.  The Law of Attraction and Nirvana1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTrJqmKoveU  See also . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etXYeRQZkOk )

 

 

Where is Nirvana ..? What is nirvana ?

 

 

Lord Buddha’s definition of Nirvana is : Raaga kshyo Nibbanam ...Cessation of Lust is Nirvana.    

                                                               Dwesha kshyo Nibbanam ..Cessation of Anger and extreme dislike or disgust is Nirvana 

                                                               Mooha   kshyo Nibbanam ..Cessation of wrongful assessment of the ego  is Nirvana

Nirvana is not a place as many think. Nirvana is  loosing your ego tainted choice driven identity of self  by purifying the mind of all defilements and thus having no desires to wish for a rebirth ever again and merging with all  knowing all penetrating existence that is deathless, birth less, formless, shapeless, omnipresent, attribute less, and quality less, ever present, pure loving blissful beyond all perceptions manifestation of universe. When a  tiny drop of water merges with the ocean what happens ? It becomes the whole ocean or the other way  round the  tiny drop becomes as big as the mighty ocean.

Since it is the knowledge that liberates you. There is no need to pray to any god for the salvation. While Buddhism does not dispute the existence of the higher godly realms and even talks about godly beings, what Buddhism teach us is that your salvation should be made by yourself through your intellect without waiting for the help from any other force.

What is the 4 Truths you need to know…? 

You can not talk about the “Law of Cause and effect” (Patichcha samuppada)  without talking about  the Four Noble Truths called (Chathurarya Sathya). Because these  two are inseparable. If you know “Chathurarya Sathysa" or the Four Noble Truths you know Patichcha samuppada and If you know Patichcha Samuppada you know Chathurarya Sathya.

Hence before learning how to exit,  you need to  be armed with a little bit of know how. Specially how a being or a person is lured  to get trapped in this never ending wish that keeps a person bound , imprisoned  and slaved to this vicious circle of birth and death called Samsara. It is just like some Casinos use various attractions like food, drinks and other entertainments to keep you inside.

Similarly, what keeps you bound to this cruel game of life and death called Samsara are also attractions offered to please your five senses. That means visions to please your eyes, sounds to please your ears, smells, tastes, sensory pleasers through your skin. All these are dangled in front of your nose and  come nicely wrapped  in the form of love, romance, parties, properties, cars, wealth, family and friends , beautiful bodies, health and wealth. Etc… Etc…

 

 

You get sucked in to this trap of lures and you start feasting in these pleasures  with never ending “Desire” and spending your time and energy  to gain more and more of these pleasures by any means possible or being selfish and by hook or crook thus, creating bad Karmas or the minus Game points in the process of it.  

All these are so irresistible, you get lured like a fly in to a honey trap. Once you indulge in it, there comes the Delusion, called “Avidya” or not having the ability see things as they really are. Not being able to understand that these nice things are the cause of your suffering.

Blinded by delusion. You begin to think all these things belongs to you. Your love, your romantic partner, your properties ,your wealth, your status, your body and health, your friends and family. In that way your world is formed  or created around you and you get attached to those perks.

( Note...Definition of Avidya "Avidya or අවිද්‍යා " written also as avijjā" means  thinking that "Kaamas" (Choices of Attractions offered) are of value, pleasurable, good, enjoyable, and stays as you like..  and not realizing that Kaamas lead  you to sufferings and makes you bound to Samsara ... Hence an another name for Kaama is Dukkha (Suffering)

(අවිද්‍යාව යනු වස්තු හා ක්ලේශ කාමයෝ සුබයි සාරයි සැපයි හා තම වසගයේ සදාකල් පවතියි වරදවා වටහා ගැනීමයි  දුක යනු කාමයට තවත් නමකි )

Definition of Kaama (Kaama = Kaa + Ama =  කා + ඇම = Eating the Lure) is the one word which  used to describe  cool things such as visions to please your eyes, sounds to please your ears, smells, tastes, sensory pleasers through your skin, valuable processions ect. All these are dangled in front of your nose and  come nicely wrapped  in the form of love, romance, parties, sexy things properties, cars, wealth, family and friends , beautiful bodies, health and wealth. Etc

Avidya leads to Sankars  { Actually the correct term is  Abhi_Sankara or powerful Sankara but usually  for the ease called as Sankara ) Sankara is a single word for  excessive and attach forming mental, physical and verbal actions: Which means the following 3 kinds of actions over a subject matter: 

1.Mental thoughts or actions called Mano Abhi _Sankaras or Mano Sankaras {මනෝ සංකාර also called as Chathanas චේතනා },
2.Physical actions Called Kaaya Abhi Sankara  or Kaaya Sankara  කාය සංකාර ,
3.Verbal action
s  Called Vachi Sankara
වචී සංකාර  ..

Sankaras  are mainly divided in to two categories Akusala (Sin අකුසල) and Kusala (Meritorius, කුසල

Akusala Sankaras අකුසල සංකාර or Sinuous actions happen when these actions are powered either by  Raagas (රාග Greed), Dweshas (ද්වේශ Hatred) or Moohas (මෝහ Ignorance) or all three together and leads to Bad Karmas and  hence bad returns.

කුසල සංකාර Kusala Sankara  or Meritorious actions happen when those actions are powered by Alobha අලෝභ , Adwesha අද්වේශ and Amoha අමෝහ Meaning, Generous, loving and  Sympathetic actions which leads to Good Karmas and good returns.

However  it is necessary to keep in mind that Both good as well as bad Karmas are result in returns and thus  prolonging the  duration of Samsara )

 Now you should be able to understand the  true meaning of  the below words of Lord Buddha.

සබ්බේ සංඛාරා දුක්‌ඛාති .Sabbe Sankara Dukkathi... All types of Abhi Sankars ultimately leads to sufferings.. 
යදා පඤ්ඤාය පස්‌සති...
Yada panyaya passathi .When some on realize this truth..
අථ නිබ්බින්දති දුක්‌ඛෙ.
Atha nibindathi Dukke .He refrains from overly indulging in Kaamas
ඒස මග්ගෝ විසුද්ධියා
  Esa maggo Vishuddhiya. ..That is the path for purification of the mind )

As I said above Avidya leads to Sankara  Sankara is a single word for mental, physical and verbal actions. For an example, Mental thoughts or actions{මනෝ සංකාර also called as Chathanas චේතනා } are the ruminating thought process,  which is thinking round and round on something (Roodha රෝධ or having endless mind chatter over something through lust, hatred or ignorance (Raaga, Dwasha, Moha), you create Karmic seeds called "Anushaya" අනුෂය (Defilements).

(And stop thinking like that is called Niroodha නිරෝධ once you stop this mind chatter, the stillness and concentration comes over the mind, which is similar to the  silence and stillness which comes after a heavy rain is over. Thus stopping the endless rain of mind chatter is the way to the purification of the mind )

Therefore refraining from overly indulging in Kaamas is the way to the purification of mind, that means stopping the ruminating thought process or stopping the thinking of round and round on something leads to attaining the stillness of mind and that is the path for the purification of the mind and  also gaining the Dhyanas ධ්‍යාන  (We will be discussing about ධ්‍යාන  Dhyanas below). Hence it is the path to liberation or the Nirvana.

End of the Note

1. The First Noble Truth - The Truth about the Suffering

 

(Kaamas  = Choices of Attractions offered)

Because of the delusion “Avidya” , you fail to see the reality. That all these lures or the "Kaamas" are temporary manifestations and they are the cause of your “Suffering”. (Remember that another name for Kaama is Dukkha (Suffering)) For an example, your love to some one is your joy as well as the cause of inevitable suffering. Your beautiful body is the cause of your joy as well as inevitable suffering when you get old. Your properties could be your joy as well as sorrow when they break down or get lost. 

Knowing that these attachments to things and people you think are yours is the cause of your Suffering is very important as it is the first important lesson in your jail break. Identifying this normally hidden and sweet wrapped causes of suffering are so important it is labeled as the First Noble truth of 4 Noble truths. 
 

How to become the coolest head around the block when your sweet heart leaves you… 

You may think it is crazy to say that all these goodies such as your love, your romantic partner, your properties, your wealth, your status, your body and health, your friends and family are identified as causes of suffering. Don’t you..? That is the secret, that is why it is hard to find.

Actually there is nothing wrong in enjoying all these things. After all you are a human being and humans are social animals. You need to live a normal comfortable life and enjoy the presence of family and friends and the material comforts. It is perfectly Ok.

 

 

 

What is not OK is getting the wrong ideas. That those are yours and you have the control over those. That is the point you have to be enlightened. So enjoy it but not get overly attached. Not physically throw things away you still have it and enjoy those but mentally, give up everything and be free. So if you loose those physically, you have nothing to be sad,  because you had long ago, given those up in your mind.

Say  for an example, your girlfriend, you treat her nicely as best as you can and enjoy the time with her and have a happy life, suddenly for some reason she leaves you.

Then will you have reason to be depressed.. ? No. Because  you already knew that all these things are impermanent and changing. Knowing that, you had already given it up long ago in your mind. So you become the coolest head around the block. You live like nothing happened. Why ? because you learned a profound secret method of how be the coolest man when the world breaks apart around you. 

What you need to know is that  all these lures are temporary manifestations and the cause of all the suffering you find in this word. If you can gasp the  above explained reason why  the things you hold dear is the root cause of suffering , then you gain a unique wisdom among people who have no clue about it. That Wisdom is called “Dukke Gananam”. Or the realization of the root cause of all sufferings.  Unless you realize it, you will never be interested in finding a solution.

What is Suffering … ?

 

 

Lord Buddha defined suffering as following : Jaathi Pi Dukkha, Jara pi dukka, Maranam pi dukkm, soka paridewa dukka domanassa upayasa dukkam, priye hi vippa yogo dhkko, appriyana sampayogo dukko, Yampi Ichcham nolabathi thampi dukkam, sanshiptana pancha upadanaskanda dukka” ,    

Birth (Jaathi) is a cause for suffering ( Jaathi + Pi = Priya Jaathi = things you like -- Therefore  not only the things you do not like but, the things you like are also the causes of sufferings) , sickness and old age and death  (or else things you like does not stay or behave as you like (Anichcha)), too are sufferings.  Sadness, sorrow, weeping, and struggle to make a living is suffering. Loss of loved ones and compelled to put up with tormentors or enemies is suffering, not gaining things you desired is suffering and in short the burden of pleasing the five senses of the body is the cause of suffering. 

 


Picture above: The things you like does not stay or behave as you like them to be
(Un + Ichcha = Anichcha) is the cause for all sorts of sufferings in the world

For more information about Anichcha  and 9 ways of explaining it in Sinhala please read following leaflet of Susila Thero or listen to the following Sermon in Sinhala ..Leaflet :Anuloma Shanthiya.pdf
Sermon in Sinhala "ලොව්තුරු අරණ " ධර්ම සාකච්ඡාව 8 (02-01-21)

Though you believe due to the misconception or ignorance called “Avidya”, that all these are yours, yet you control nothing. Yours love affair may break at an unexpected moment causing you heart break, your properties may be taken away from you in one minute due to a natural disaster causing you become homeless, your health and beauty will fade with aging .whether you like or not, your friends and family may die one after another with the  passing of time.   

Oblivious to all this you live in  your  own world surrounded by what ever you think belongs to you. Though you do not have any control over those, you want these nice things to be yours  and wish those things to be yours for ever to enjoy. Thus you get attached to this imaginary world you think is yours. Defining from it your identity as a person.  This imaginary  but perfectly real world to you is called “Bhava”. (English meaning given to this word   Bhava  according to "Bhante Vimalaramsi "is: habitual tendency - check 37th Minute of this discourse for more)  And the “Avidya”  (or the ignorance of not realizing the real nature of the things  you think  which belongs to you , which is "Anichcha nature of the things around you ), is the reason for the world or the “Bhava”  you created for yourself.   

2. The Second Noble Truth - The truth about the Reason for Suffering  the generation of attachments”

Naturally, you get attached to this imaginary world of yours  which defines your identity and  your wish or the “Desire” to be those things to be yours for ever is called “Trushna” (Clinging).  This desire or the “Trushna” is the trap which keeps you locked or “attached” in to  this vicious circle of birth and death called Samsara.
 


This desire or the “Trushna” is generated  no where but in your mind. When this desire is not fulfilled due to changes beyond your control such as old age or sickness or love break ups or  fluctuations of wealth etc. you suffer. So the reason for your suffering is your desire or the attachment to these ever changing world around you or the “Bhava” . 

Realization of this simple truth is so important it is regarded as the 2nd Noble Truth  or the “Samudaya Sathya” in Buddhism. That is : Reason for  suffering is Desire or the Attachment in your own mind.  Or the suffering are generated through Desire and attachment. Word “Samudaya” means Generate and “Sathya” means truth. So it is “The truth about the generation of attachments” 

Now you gained another unique wisdom which others do not easily find. That is “Dukka Samudaye Gnanam” The wisdom of knowing where the sufferings occur. That is, it happens not some where out side or by the fault of some one else like the girl friend or the boy friend who broke up with you. But  within in your own self. Inside your mind due to the desires and the attachments you created by yourself you suffer. 

3. The Third Noble Truth -  “The truth about the stopping of  the Suffering” 

Then you get an answer.  If you can find a way to change your mind and  not generate “Trushna” or the “Desire” in your mind” you can  stop all sorts of sufferings as well as disconnect the attachments and exit from this vicious game of life and gain unshakable tranquility and peace even within what is left to live in this life. Understanding that is the 3rd Noble Truth called “Nirodha Sathya” Nirodha means disconnect or Disable.. So it is the truth about disconnection of bonds.

4. The Second Noble Truth -“The truth about the Path you must follow to stop the Suffering”

Until you learn how to change your mind and disconnect the attachment you will be subject to birth and death and in between all these sufferings associated with the birth such as loss of loved ones, loss of freedom, sickness, old age and so on again and again and again with no end as you keep jumping from one life to another enduring endless amount of births and deaths possessing various bodies some desirable some undesirable due to plus or minus Karmic points you acquired during the course of it. 

Stop Playing the Game…

As same as in a computer game, this Plus or the good merits points  means in the next jump in to a new body, you will be able to get bonus extras like comfortable easy life beautiful body rich family and good parents. Minus or bad Karmas mean in next life you may born in to a poor family, bad parents, cruel spouse or physical disability or even in some cases a life as an animal.     

PS ( This is an another view point on the same principal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS6GdaSvgHk  see also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNlyupEBdeE&t=572s I think these two are important alternative unconnected views of the same principle which does not conflict)

P.S. Almost same thing in different way in different view by Mr. Rich West but  very much worth listening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lqy-wYpX98  which I  too mostly agree

 

 

Whether the world is real or unreal ?

Lord Buddha preached the middle path and said not to take world as real nor unreal. If said real it is one wrong end of assumption and If unreal then another wrong end of assumption as the world is real nor unreal.  This easily explained in the above example of  computer game. Is the world in a computer game is real and it exists somewhere ? No it does not exists. If it does not exists then how do you play ? No it exsists.. So if you say it exists it is wrong.. If you say it does not exist that is wrong too..

(See also : Elon Musk believes we are probably characters in some advanced civilization's video game http://www.vox.com/2016/6/2/11837608/elon-musk-simulation-argument )
 

Here's Musk's argument :

The strongest argument for us being in a simulation probably is the following. Forty years ago we had pong. Like, two rectangles and a dot. That was what games were.

Now, 40 years later, we have photorealistic, 3D simulations with millions of people playing simultaneously, and it's getting better every year. Soon we'll have virtual reality, augmented reality.

If you assume any rate of improvement at all, then the games will become indistinguishable from reality, even if that rate of advancement drops by a thousand from what it is now. Then you just say, okay, let's imagine it's 10,000 years in the future, which is nothing on the evolutionary scale.

So given that we're clearly on a trajectory to have games that are indistinguishable from reality, and those games could be played on any set-top box or on a PC or whatever, and there would probably be billions of such computers or set-top boxes, it would seem to follow that the odds that we're in base reality is one in billions.

Tell me what's wrong with that argument. Is there a flaw in that argument?

This came in response to a question from journalist Josh Topolsky, who pressed Musk further. "The argument makes sense," Topolsky said. "But what do you think?"

"There's a one in billions chance we're in base reality," Musk replied. He continued:

Arguably we should hope that that's true, because if civilization stops advancing, that may be due to some calamitous event that erases civilization. So maybe we should be hopeful this is a simulation, because otherwise we are going to create simulations indistinguishable from reality or civilization ceases to exist. We're unlikely to go into some multimillion-year stasis.

In this answer, Musk is repeating one of my favorite thought experiments. It comes from philosopher Nick Bostrom's aptly titled paper "Are You in a Computer Simulation?" You can read the whole thing here, but the core is more or less as Musk describes it:

One thing that later generations might do with their super-powerful computers is run detailed simulations of their forebears or of people like their forebears. Because their computers would be so powerful, they could run a great many such simulations.

 

See also: Scariest Roller Coaster Virtual Reality VR Ride


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptFSyNftlTo

 

See also :Our Universe Is A Simulation - Here's How It's Rendered

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5x0SrtTRfE&t=15s

 

What path you must follow to stop the suffering ?

Now it comes to the question What is the method or the path you need to follow in order to change and disconnect the attachment from your mind.. ? . The shortest answer is. “Think in the opposite direction. Not the way you are  sheepishly directed to think by the matrix or the worldly way of thinking but the way opposite to the other people think. Thus you stop participating in the game of  the generation of extreme emotions and desires. Neutralize the flow of the wave of high and low extremes of emotions and settle in a flat line. This is called taking the Middle path or the “Madyama Prathipadawa” .

The Path: What is the path to follow?

It is so easy that you do not have to leave your family, work and everything in life behind and go to the forest to look for trees to sit under in order to meditate on your breathing. 

You can practice anytime, anywhere, in any posture, while working, relaxing, travelling, shopping,  watching TV or going to sleep in bed. The only requirement is that you should be watchful about the thoughts that are coming to your mind. 

The Method: What is the method to practice?

The only requirement is that you should be watchful about what thoughts are coming to your mind. 

1.            To remove Dwasha or anger from the mind the method is :  

At anytime, anywhere, when a thought of hatred or fire of anger (Dwasha) comes to your mind, you should be observant and recognise that a train of angry and fiery thoughts are forming in your mind. Once you detect that, like a skilful firefighter, you should stop forming those thoughts by utilising thoughts of Loving Kindness (Mettha_nussathi). Practicing loving kindness involves thoughts such as:

A: Samatha Bhavana part: This part is called Samatha Meditation part, (Samatha Means Calming) as it is meant to calm the mind

May peace be upon this world ! May all beings be happy and well! May all beings that are infinite and boundless beings of pure light, be filled with love, compassion and kindness for all other beings, with even the slightest thought of harming another being never occurring!          May all beings attain Nibbana and be free from the sufferings of Samsara. 

Once this anger is subdued, once again, like the skilful firefighter who removes hazards which may cause potential future fires such as brushwood and flammable material from the area, you also need to find the cause of the anger in your mind and remove it with the thoughts of  Anichcha Dukka and Anattha (Marana_anussathi). That means thinking: 

B: Vidarshana Bhavana part: This part is called Vpassana Meditation part, (Vipassana Means Analysing , called also as Vidarshana)

Anichcha or the universal truth in this world is, that things or people do not stay or behave as you like them to be. The expectation in my mind that material things or other people will always stay or behave as I like them to be  is the  root cause for all sorts of suffering in the world (Dukka). Therefore, having those high expectations about others or things in my mind is nothing of substance and useless, a futile pursuit. ( Annattha  or Asara  අසාර)  

Finally, you should sweep your mind clean of any remaining residue of anger or the ashes of the fire with (Buddhaa _nussathi) by thinking:

 Why should I get angry with those people who are subjected to all sorts of sufferings in the Samsara due to their dilution and ignorance? They get angry because they think that everything should be according to their wish and will, which never happens. I am not that kind of an ignorant fool to get angry at them. 

2.            To remove Raaga or Lust from the mind the method is :

At anytime, anywhere, when a thought of craving or fire of lust comes to your mind you should be watchful to identify that a train of attachment and fiery thoughts of lust are forming in your mind. For an example, driving down the road and seeing someone with a very attractive appearance which causes you to have feelings of desire in your mind. Once you detect that, like a skilful fire fighter, you should subdue and stop forming those thoughts with the thoughts of undesirability (Asuba_nussathi), which means thinking:

A: Samatha Bhavana part: This part is called Samatha Meditation part,

This body is made out of an erected skeleton bound by blood soaked veins and filled with pieces of meat and covered by skin. This body itself is no different from a cadaver (dead carcass). This carcass is made alive by the consciousness which came to possess it due to the desire for the attractions offered to lure it in to the trap of never ending circle of life and death known as Samsara. 

Because of the current ignorance (Avidya), I will again be attracted to those lures aimed to please my five senses and the resulting Karmas, Trushna (Desire), Bhawa (what you think your own or world around)  and Upadana (attachment) I will again be subjected to the emotions of intermittent joys as well as a great deal of unavoidable sufferings such as  illness , old age and death. Attachments will also lead to generating another body to go through the same suffering again and again.

This body of others, as well as mine, has nothing to be desired. Once the consciousness leaves the body, it is nothing but a cadaver, food for worms. In 2-3 days time after death, it will start to smell bad, attracting flies and insects, the body will dissolve and will decay to the earth.

Once the lust is subdued, again like the skilful firefighter who removes the cause of future fires such as brushwood and flammable material from the area, you also need to find the cause of the lust in your mind and remove it with the thoughts of  Anichcha Dukka and Anattha (Marana_anussathi). That means thinking that:

B: Vidarshana Bhavana part: This part is called Vipassana Meditation part,

This body is (As well as everything else I believe as mine or should be mine) are subject to  Anichcha nature (Does not stay or behave as I wish). Hence, it is the reason for Dukkha (Sufferings) and it is the cause for all sorts of disastrous outcomes (Anartha). Because of that, it is not a thing to get attached to. 

Finally, you should sweep your mind clean of any  remaining residue of lust or the ashes of the fire with (Buddhaa _nussathi). This can be achieved by thinking, why should I crave for those  bodies of people who are subjected to all sorts of sufferings in Samsara including aging, sickness and death? I see their bodies as attractive due to the dilution and ignorance still left in my mind. If I do not remove it, then I will also be lost in the illusions of this fearful Samsara. Hence, I should do my best to see the reality of this world and completely remove those delusional thoughts. 

3.            To remove  Mooha or  ego  from the mind the method is :

At anytime, anywhere, when a thought of wrongful assessment of the ego (Mooha) comes to your mind, you should be watchful to identify that a train of wrongful assessment and fiery thoughts of ego are forming in your mind. For an example, you saw that your neighbour has bought a beautiful, expensive car. A thought occurs in your mind that you should not to be outdone by the neighbour, you should also purchase a better and more expensive car. Once you detect that, like a skilful firefighter, who remove the cause of the future fires, you also need to find the cause of the ego in your mind and remove it with the thoughts of  Anichcha Dukka and Anattha (Marana_anussathi).That means thinking:

every thing I believe as mine or should be mine including properties such as car are subject to  Anichcha nature (Does not stay or behave as I wish). Hence it is the reason for Dukkha. (Sufferings) and it is the cause for all sorts of disastrous outcomes (Anartha). Because of that it is not a thing to be get attached.

Finally, you should  sweep clean your mind of any  left over residue of lust or the ashes of the fire with (Buddhaa _nussathi). That is thinking,

Why should I get  craving for those   things or get in to the rat race of getting material things with other deluded people who are subjected to all sorts of sufferings in the samsara including aging, all sorts of sickness and death.  I see their processions as attractive due to the dilution and ignorance still left in my mind, if I do not remove it then I will also be lost in the illusions of this fearful samsara. Hence I should do my best to see the reality of this world and completely remove those unnecessarily competitive delusional thoughts.

Using the simple but profound techniques mentioned above, you will be able to live a vary satisfying,  contempt and fulfilling happy life without sufferings and at the same time not generating desires, attachments and associated good and bad karmas.  

That means you stopped playing the game by stopping the creation of the bonds. You had broken free  from the mundane world just by changing the way you think. But the beauty is that  to the outside world and the family,  you look perfectly normal. In fact,  you become a person much better than before as you will notice your gradual changes,  like you become more tolerant, more patient, more kinder, more gentler, more happier, less greedy and a well balanced  stable person who is  not emotionally impacted by any good or bad things life throws at your way. Therefore if you really understood  what is told here you will never ever have emotional break downs or  mental depressions as no true Buddhist will ever get those as he/she knows from deep within the real nature of things in the world their changing nature or the impermanence which goes hand in hand with the associated sufferings. 

When some one asked what is Nirvana .. ? Lord Buddha mentioned  following “Raga hshayo, dwashah shayo, mohah shyo Nibbanam” that means Not generating overly attachments or craving (Raga = passion/lust), not generating dislikes, Intense animosity or hatred (Dwesha = dissension) and Removal of  the ignorance/dilution/ misconception of not  seeing and knowing the real nature of the world around you (Mooha) and gaining the wisdom of seeing and understanding the nature of things as they  truly are  is  the Nirvana.

Hence Nirvana is a condition of mind you gain when you are neutral to outside world and  have the ability to see things in true perspective. You have stopped the game  to look at  a world where others are running like mad chasing insatiable desires. 

This path or the method you need to follow  to gain this ever lasting mental peace and tranquility is called the 4th noble truth or the “Maarga Sathya”  “ Maarga” means path. “Maarga Sathya” means true path to follow.

 

The Lost Connection ……

 

 

When you talk about “Maarga Sathya” or the True path to follow we also need to talk about the “Aaarya Asthangika Marga” or the “Eight fold path which Aaryans follow” which include correct Vision (Which you already got by knowing 4 noble truths) Correct thought (You already have it that is why you read this in order to find out how to get rid of Desires)..

The rest are the right action, right livelihood, right effort, right awareness and right concentration.

The Aaaryashtangika Margaya is also two fold one is Lokoothara Aaaryashtangika Margaya  ලෝකෝත්තර ආර්යාශ්ටාන්ගික මාර්ගය  (Path followed by those who seek Nirvana) and the other is Lovkiaka Aaaryashtangika Maargaya ලෞකික ආර්යාශ්ටාන්ගික මාර්ගය (Path followed by those who want to go to heavenly Levels) I am not going to talk about  it any more as it makes this writing too long.  

If interested, you can do a web search and read. You can find so many articles on the matter as an individual topic .(Unfortunatly many articles will about  the topic of  Lovkiaka Aaaryashtangika Maargaya ලෞකික ආර්යාශ්ටාන්ගික මාර්ගය (Path followed by those who want to go to heavenly Levels)

 What you do not easily find is: How The “Chathurarya Sathya”, Patichcha samuppada and Lokoothara Aaaryashtangika Margaya  ලෝකෝත්තර ආර්යාශ්ටාන්ගික මාර්ගය  (Path followed by those who seek Nirvana) are interconnected.

When  you have lost the connection, you lost the Path to Nirvana. That is the reason why that, it is very rare to find people who really understood the path to follow  (Which I had already Given) or what needs to be done even among Buddhist Priests who spent whole life studying scriptures. My aim is not discussing the theory which every book written about Buddhism does. But to tell you in simplest possible way what you practically need to do to change your own mind. 

In simplest, what you need to do is two types of simple Meditation. Elaborated in the scripture called “Sathi Pattana Suthra “ (Mind settling scripture) The two types of Meditation are Samatha and Vipassana which also I had touched briefly earlier .  

In that scripture lord Buddha Said the following: “I promise you this, if some one practices this method given here that person depending on his intellectual ability , either minimum within 7 hours , or medium within 7 days or 7 months or else maximum within 7 years will be able to change his mind and attain the realization of Nirvana “ So is the power of these techniques.

That is all you need to do.. and need to know…  

Keep thinking in the above way at any time you can find a moment to spare. Not only  while you sit and  meditate which usually happen very rare in a practical busy world. But do it when you sit in a train or bus, when you drive to work, when go to sleep or when you eat.

After some time you will begin to get disappointed about,  first your body and subsequently the way the world is set up. Once you get disappointed, you will not get attached. Once the attachment is removed from the mind “ Nacha Kinchi Loke Upadiyathi” Or never creating attachments on any thing in the world , you are liberated.

Now you will understand that, Why..Buddhism teach us that your salvation should be made by yourself through your intellect without waiting for the help from any other force.. Because no one can change your mind except yourself !!!.

You will be free of all worldly bonds. Not even attached to your body. Of course you care about your body better than before in order to maintain, but not to be attached to it, by wrongly thinking this is me and mine. As you clearly begin to  see the difference between the me-consciousness (Vingnana or Naama) and the body  (Ruupa).

Once you removed at least the attachment to the body, (Ruupa) at a letter stage of spiritual enlightenment by using the other 3 remaining methods described in the “Sathipattana Suthra” called “Chittanupassana” “Vedananupassana” and “Dhammanupassana” which are the extensions of the “Kayanupassana” Method given above,  you will learn to remove the attachment to the me-consciousness too (Naama, or the soul conciousness) to become pure-consciousness (Arhath).

Just like the drop of water becoming the whole ocean you merge in to it to that all it is, was and to be. Become one with it . By loosing your identity of self and merging with all  knowing all penetrating existence that is deathless, birth less, suffering less, formless, shapeless, omnipresent, attribute less, and quality less, ever present, pure loving blissful beyond all perceptions manifestation of universe where all Buddhas and Arhaths told that ultimate happiness, peace and bliss is.  

Finally I suggest,  you to do a web search and read more about Sathi Pattana Suthra, Paticchcha Samuppada and Aarya ashtangika Maraga. As I talked and introduced all those Buddhist concepts  very simply in a manner a child could understand it within the context of this writing which, 99% of Buddhist never grasped due to the heavy weight way it is presented to them.  Buddhism is not heavy weight words. It is a practical way of living in this world.

And again I will remind you that Buddha Said the following: “I promise you this, if some one practices this method given here that person depending on his intellectual ability , either minimum within 7 hours , or medium within 7 days or 7 months or else maximum within 7 years will be able to change his mind and attain the realization of Nirvana “ So is the power of these techniques. 

May peace be upon this world !
May all beings are Happy and Well !!
May all beings are infinite boundless, beings of pure light, filled with love compassion and kindness for all other beings, with never occurring a slightest of thought of harming an other being !!!



What next.. ?

Getting a bit more deeper  in to theory ...

What is Samatha Meditation and what is Vidarshana Meditation .. ? Why  two types.. ?.

 

The reason is when you want to change your mind what you have to do.. ? First thing is you need to learn to focus your mind  in order to concentrate on some subject . For that you need to learn how to calm the mind. To achieve the calming and concentration ability you start with Samatha Meditation or in other words “Breathing meditation”. Once your mind is calm and settled you slowly move in to the other type of meditation called “Vidarshana” Meaning of the word “Vidarshana” is Analysis. You contemplate on the subject and start thinking in order to realize and convince your self the real Nature of the things.

Before learning breathing meditation to calm your mind you need to know a little bit about the nature the mind specially because this is the reason why people find it is hard to keep attention on one thing  more than a minute before unknowingly  the thoughts wander in to thinking various things than what you wanted to think. The reason is, the two parts of the process. The focus part and the attention part. 

When you begin the berating meditation you first  have to sit in a comfortable position in a chair or on the floor or under a tree etc. and focus on your breathing . The focus point should be the tip of your nose or the upper lip where the air of your breath is touching. You do not follow the breath up or down . You only focus your attention on the movement of air which passes your focus point which is either the tip of the nose or upper lip, where ever you find easy to focus. In that focus point, your  awareness is such you know when you breath long breaths , short breath or heavy ones or light ones. Easy, piecy  isn’t it.. ? Yes in the beginning it is easy but,  after a minute or so you will find that instead of concentrating and watching on the sensation of the movement of upward and downward air touching your tip of lip or nose, your attention has drifted away. Why ?. 

The reason is, when you begin the meditation the focus part of mind direct your attention to the breathing so you are able to focus the attention on it, and the attention is there now. The nature of focus part of the mind is such that, once the attention is there, the focus goes away and  fish out some thing else and brings it back to the attention, thus focus jumps from one to another and like a puppy dog bringing sticks,   it picks up and brings various thoughts in to attention one after another, that is why you loose concentration. 
 

What is the remedy.. ?

The remedy is simple. Every time you breath , think it is the first time you begin. Then the focus part of the mind will bring the breath in to your attention. Next breath also think it as the very first. Thus. Focus – Attention, focus attention to the touch of the air. Thus the mind will not drift away and your attention span will drastically improve. You only need to think every breath is you first breath and you began meditation just now.

Added on 3 January 2021

Another extremely effective method is : When you Inhale, be aware of your inhaling and at the same time think "Sankara Parama Dhkka  සංකාරා පරමා දුක්ඛා "and when you exhale , also be aware of your exhale and think "Nibbanam Parmam Sukam  නිබ්බාණං පරමං සුඛං" that will keep the mind busy.

*Sankara = activities of mental, physical or verbal nature = චේතනා උදාහරණ රාග චේතනා , ද්වේශ චේතනා , මෝහ චේතන

{ Actually the correct term is  Abhi_Sankara or powerful Sankara but usually  for the ease called as Sankara )

"Sankara Parama Dhkka  සංකාරා පරමා දුක්ඛා "- Means that Sankaras will ultimately lead to suffering.
"Nibbanam Parmam Sukam  නිබ්බාණං පරමං සුඛං" - Means Ultimate relief from suffering is Nibaana

This is called developing "Anuloma KShantiya and Attaining "Samyaktha Niyamaya" through "Anna Pana Sathi"
ආනා පාන සතිය මගින් ඇතිකරගන්නා අනුලෝමක් ශාන්තිය තුලින් සම්‍යාක්ත නියාමයට බැස ගැනීම


Below part written on January 2019

Buddhist Dhayana Meditation  and Breathing Meditation

(These are very complex knowledge hidden in  Buddhist Thripitaka scriptures, in the past no one even the most scholarly priests had no idea of because they never bothered to read those large volumes.  Up to now  it was hidden from us therefore I even came to know  these recently, I am greatly blessed and so lucky even to hear it, I am very grateful to Priests Ven. Waraka Abhayarathanalankara Thero and his disciple Ven. Walasmulle Abhaya Thero who brought up these knowledge to light. That is why I thought of adding this and I will try my best to explain these as simply as possible.

Breathing meditation is not everything as we thought in the past

The  reason is that the main aim of Buddhist meditation is not the improvement of your focus and attention by concentration on your breath. But cleaning your mind from Defilements of  Raaga, Dwasha and Mooha (lust, enmity, dilution) through the improvement of focus of your attention. If you do not know this simple truth you may waste months  or years of your life time going for meditational retreats to practice breathing technique, but at the end your concentration may improve yet your mind will be still dirty as you will still be an angry, greedy and diluted person once you come out of meditative posture. 

Therefore the following is an extremely very important point:

The real aim  of meditation should be to gain the ability to retain the pure consciousness in the mind called "Prabhaswara Chiththaya" (Pure light thoughts) by not tainting it with defilements. The reason is when you first encounter with something through your senses (Eyes, ears etc) the first thoughts occur in your mind are the recognition up to this recognition part the thoughts are pure. Then you attach defilements to it. Learning not to attach defilements and keeping thoughts pure is the way to not create Karmas or not to play the game and keep your mind clean. It is the way to enlightenment.

For an example. You see a car. What first come to mind ? it is a car ! is it tainted with any thing ? No it is not  tainted. It is just the result of having an eye to see (You got an eye to see due to previous causes such as previous  Karmas or the wishes) up to that point it is pure recognition  or awareness happened due to previous causes. Thus it is not tainted it is recognition or awareness and it is a pure thought, not tainted by any thing. Even at the highest level of attainment such as Arhath or the Buddha still has this.

Every one else who is not attained that level, what happens is, you automatically  create and apply attachments to those awareness's.  Polluting the pure awareness (Prabhaswara Chitth) Attachments such as:

"It is  My beautiful red expensive car " Now what happened  ? Now you attached Lust to it (Raaga).

"It is my enemy's car. He hit and dented my car last week" Now what happened  ? Now you attached Anger to it (Dwasha).

"My beautiful car should always be like this and should be mine for ever  " Now what happened  ? Now you attached Dilution to it (Mooha or the wrong understanding to it as nothing lasts for ever in this world).

How to keep the  Pure Mind (Prabahswara Chitthaya or the pure light thoughts) unpolluted.

Before learning the technique you need to understand few things.  The reality is that, for millions of years, going through  countless births, you had acquired a hard to remove habit of tainting your pure thoughts with lust, enmity, or dilution as soon as those thoughts appears in your mind. Therefore it is not easy to suddenly remove those defilements or impure thoughts.  Because of that, it should happen in three stages. Called 1. Thadhanga  prahana 2. Vishkambana prahana 3 Samuchcheda prahana.

How to explain it simply ? Ok , For an example you want to eradicate a well grown bush in your Garden. First you try to Flatten the bush by pushing it downwards with force (Thadhanga) then you take a knife and cut the bush (Vishkambana) from top.  Even if you cut it, still it can grow back so you need to remove the roots of the tree as well so it will never come back again (Samuchcheda). 

Same is the removal of defilements in the mind:

When you do breathing meditation and concentrating the mind on your breathing, you push back karma creating thoughts (Thadhanga prahana) or the creation of those above said attachments to pure awareness thoughts, but once you stop meditation the thoughts with attachments can come back again like the tree springs back to same position once you remove the force kept it down. So you are not changed. But this meditation is good for improving your concentration, before you start the real cleaning process of the mind . Therefore this is still a  good meditation for Normal Lay people who just want a kind of a meditation for temporary relief.

For those look for ever lasting relief. There is another type of Buddhist Meditation called "Dhayanas" Meaning of word Dhayana is Burning of defilements and those meditations were hidden from us up to last 10 years.  While the breathing meditation can be done by any one even a none Buddhist person and achieve high level of concentration. The requirement for starting Buddhist Dhyanas is that you should have very good understanding of concept of Anichcha , Dukka and Anattha (Things in this world does not stay or behave as you like, it is the root cause of your suffering, hence it is useless to expect that and removing all expectations and leaving behind is the way to liberation) and Asswada*** , Addenawa and Nissarana  Indulgence/gratification( Ashwaada), Consequences of that indulgence/gratification( Aadeenawa) and by seeing  the adverse consequences of that indulgence , the relinquishment (Nissarana) or the  give up or abandonment (Read below for more explanation of this)   . Once you understand these concepts  thoroughly you are in the first stage of  the process of changing your mind and this first step is called "SOTHAPANNA" (Stream entrent - person who has entered the upstream movement of the process of liberation, also called as a person who became an Aaryan, also said as a person who has 7 more life times left to achieve liberation)

(*** Aaswada (Assada අස්සාද (ආශ්වාද )), there is no direct single English word for this Aaa..swada (Pronounsed as :Aaa..h..Swada feeling of AaaH or Wow an extreme feeling of pain or pleasure) it is sometimes pronounced as Assada, the meaning of that is a mixture of   words:: fulfillment of need, choice, indulgence, happiness, pleasure  and satisfaction, gratification there is no single word in English. Here is an Example. The day is a hot day and you are sweating profusely (suffering from heat). Then you switch on a fan and you enjoy the cool breeze. What you felt or enjoyed is: Ashwada. You wrongfully think that fans give you that feeling of  Ashwada  or the satisfaction that is your Avidya (Misconception). Because in a cold day you will not get that by being near a fan . In a cold day when suffering from cold, being near a heater gives you an Ashwada. So the truth or the reality is that, neither fan nor the heater gives you an Ashwada. The truth is in order to feel Ashwada  the first requirement is that you need first to be suffering. Ashwada arises when you get relief from what ever it is the need that you are suffering from. If you have not created that need which brings suffering to you in the first place then you will not be creating and experiencing that  Assada.

That principle is used very cleverly in TV commercials to create a need for some object in the mind of the viewers . Example,... Oh what a feeling.. Toyota !! or ‘I bought a Jeep’ Ad campaigns.

අස්සාද (ආශ්වාද ) Is what keeps you bound to this cruel game of life and death called Samsara are also attractions offered to please your five senses. That means visions to please your eyes, sounds to please your ears, smells, tastes, sensory pleasers through your skin.)

There are four levels in the process of changing the mind from a normal lay person to a fully liberated person or Arhath

Lay person ->Learning Anichcha ,dukka , Annathha from a friend (other words by Listening to Dhamma), realizing that is true and correct and this is the  correct  path to liberation and escape from the trap of Samsara,  and with the understanding of that much, some rough defilements are already completely get removed including the roots of those defilements  (Samuchcheda prahana) The defilements completly gone at that point are the defilements such as the wrong views of that, this world  is desirable and it is a good place to come back again and again is gone, suspicion that this path can be wrong is gone,  and the wrong view such as taking penance and vows may be the correct path will be gone ect, (Those 3 defilements are called Sathkaya drushti, Vichikicha, Seelabbatha pararmrasa) those 3 defilements will be completely gone  - >  Thus having complete confidence of the truth of what he learned about the way world is and the path he has to take to leave it, he becomes Sothapanna Aryan (First step,  up to that no meditation necessary, only need to understand the concept well and  having firm conviction to follow it up, at this stage you have7 life times left to complete the path ) Once you come to that stage, in order to quicken the process and have less births you need to practice Dhayanas (Burning of defilements) by practicing Dhayanas you achieve next levels of the mind changing process.

That is, reducing some more of  hard to remove defilements such as lust anger to certain level (Vishkambana Prahana) you become SAKURDAAGAAMI meaning twice returning person that he has two birth left until full liberation. By this level you have achieved considerable peace of mind and usually wish to continue further and keep practicing Dhayanas or in simple words  keep thinking about Anichcha , Dukka and Anattha (Things in this world does not stay or behave as you like, it is the root cause of your suffering, hence it is useless to expect that and removing all expectations and leaving behind is the way to liberation) and  in a deep meditative thought,  remember that this kind of deep meditative thoughts can be carried out while in any position or way, either sitting in one place or walking, standing, while doing some routine work, like travelling in a train or bus as you already achieved high concentration ability by this time and lot of mundane worries has vanished  and you are beginning to feel  peace of mind and tranquility. This feeling of peace and happiness makes you to go more and more deeper in to the practice which leads to next level of mind changing process.

This level is called ANAGAAMI meaning not returner as he has only one birth left and that birth is not in this world it is in  Shuddhavaasa Brahma loka or in the Pure Lands with vast life spans (Creator Gods according to western  and also the Hindu terminology) by this level very few root defilements are left to remove but he still can live as a normal house holder person. If he still keeps practicing vigorously then he can gain the next and final level of complete removal of impure thoughts which is ARHATH. or full liberation. No causes for a rebirth left as there are no impure thoughts, all causes  for wishing more births removed  thus a fully liberated  living breathing person who does not play this vicious game of samsara. By this level you can not live in a normal household way of life as you are beyond that so you relinquish that life to become a monk or else you will die in 7 days as you have no desire left for having this kind of existence.

Arya Dhayanas (Meditation for the people in the level of SOTHAPANNA and above).

There are 4 levels of dhayanas about which I came to know about recently and first level I can easily achieve, second level I got once. Because of that I can testify up to second level, third and fourth I do not know,  but the two levels what I experienced is what exactly thought by Ven.Monk Walasmulle Abhaya Thero and since the parts what I experienced is correct as described, I believe that the rest should be correct too. Which I have yet to experience, as we know, not every body is equal. According to Ven Monks explanation, there are 3  categories of people due to their previous karmas . Those are, Heena, Madhyama, and Praneetha, for some people Dhayans are slow to come and little evident (Heena) others Medium felt, and for the third group it is throughly and quickly experienced.

Before explaining dhayanas  you need to learn the meanings of few technical words in regard to mind and thought process. Called 5 components of Dhyana or the  5 Dhayana Angas

Vithakka Vichara - Meaning, thoughts or questions (Vithakka) which suddenly appear in mind and the scanning for answers (Vichara) or else Passive thoughts

Savithakaa Savichara -  Meaning, thoughts or questions which you  create with some purpose (Savithakka) in mind and the  looking for answers (Savchara ) or Active thoughts

Preethi - Feeling happy

Sukha - Feeling of comfort , well being and at ease.

Aekagratha - Intense concentration of mind on the subject of focus.

Now I am asking you to do a two minute long experiment. Sit some ware comfortably and close your eyes for two minutes. Think that you put a watcher  or an observer over your mind to watch what thoughts come to mind. Once you close your eyes you will see the for the first minute or so your mind  is relatively still and it does not drift away, you hear dogs barking in the distance, wind blowing, or birds singing, also you feel leg pain or back pain, or hunger ect Note that those are not considered as thoughts those are awareness, a result of having a body and having five senses due to previous wishes or karmas. They are not thoughts and perfectly normal to have so ignore those.  Then  after some times thoughts start to appear such as did I switch off the Kettle or whether husband or son has eaten or what is going to cook for dinner tonight ect . Then you start to resolve those thoughts by  inputting some mental EFFORT, such as I remember there are some potatoes in the kitchen cupboard I will cook it tonight, then question comes should I fry it or boil it ? for that you make another mental EFFORT to answer it, thus the process goes round and round. These are called  Vithakka Vichara  (Passive Thought) the way to stop Vithakka Vichara is to refrain from putting the mental EFFORT. What you have to do is that , when you observe a passive thought came to mind acknowledge the awareness of a thought appearing but do not react to it by putting EFFORT to feed and run with the thought further along. Without fuel to run further the thoughts will subdues. By practicing it for some time, you can stay longer and longer without having passive thoughts appearing. To stop active thoughts  Savithakaa Savichara technique is the same. This is the  easiest technique of quickly gaining mental tranquility than the breathing technique.

Also you need to know the difference between Dhyana and Dhyana Samadi  Dhayana and Dhyana Samadi are two different things Dhyana means climbing to a certain level of Defilement burn like climbing to a certain height or floor of  a building, when practiced well you can be in a dhyana even while you are doing some other thing such as walking or doing some day to day work. Samadhi is relaxing in the achieved level of tranquility like you climbed to a certain floor of a building and decided to stay and enjoy the view for a while. During Samadhi you loose your awareness you are so much in to it gradually you get disconnected from sensory perceptions. Therefore you can not do any other activity except sitting in meditative posture.        

Prathama Dhayana  -First level - You can achieve the first level using the above said process very quickly  you will experience all the above said  5 components of Dhyana Vithakka Vichara, Savithakaa Savichara, Preethi, Sukha, Aekagratha . The Aim is to reduce Vithakka Vichara and  have more Savithakaa Savichara or active thoughts  in mind about the Anichcha, Dukka, Anartha, as well as and Asswada , Addenawa and Nissarana concepts. Use your active thoughts to analyze your life experiences and test these concepts against it, checking whether these concepts are true or not according to your life experiences or others known to you like parents or friends experiences . More you analyze more you will start to see the truth of those, the more you see the truth of it, more you understand the reality and more you will begin to see the happiness of relinquishment  of  attachments such as Lust , Anger and Delution (Raaga, Dwasha, Mooha)  by doing that, more you cultivate unpoluted pure thoughts or the Prabhasvara Chiththa . Which will  bring out  abundance of  Preethi, Sukha,  and Aekagratha  (Happiness , comfort and concentration) and start to feel glowing, a kind of goose bumpy feeling, with tears filling the eyes, you will begin to get tiny glimpses of the  great peace and happiness in Nirvana and feel need for seepeedy liberation. As an aid for gaining active thoughts or Savithakaa Savichara you can use Karmasthana (Karma Displacements) I have translated two of those to English and use it in way that you understand  and think of the meaning of it. This is also called as practicing Vidarshana.

Daily Contemplating on the meaning of the following  2 Karma Displacement thought lines called "Karmasthanas" (Which I had translated in to English) as well as other Karmasthanas (there are many more to choose from. Karmasrhanas are THE SHORT SUMMARIES of  the understanding of dharma you need to think more  thoroughly like why it is so,  is it correct or wrong, can it be applicable to my life and my experiences etc, as just reciting  Karmasthanas like a parrot will not do) given in the following web site will be helpful in  speedy release from the bonds of lust, enmity and ignorance in the mind which keeps you bound in to the world.  Now, once the attention is improved, start the Vidarshana part of the Meditation. That is analysis.

Dwithiya Dhyana  - Second Level

You will achieve this level once all your Passive thoughts are gone they stopped appearing as a result of no feed is given by you to run those.  That itself is a big relief. What is now left is Savithakaa Savichara, Preethi, Sukha,  and Aekagratha You are feeling so much at ease, at one point you will think having active thoughts are also a burden and give up that too. That is the beginning of third level. (From now on this is not my own experience, this is what I learned and could be true.)

Threethiya Dhayana - Third Level

During third level, you give up active thoughts as a burden in order to experience Preethi, Sukha,  and Aekagratha(Happiness , comfort and concentration) by this time  feeling of your inner glowing is so intense  you will begin to see your light body. Some people who had experienced the light complained in a discussion recently that light came once and and was not able to gain it in later attempts. The answer priest gave was the  persons focus had changed from Mukha Nimittha to the light he saw. The purpose of Dhyana is to  further improve the experience of the tranquility and peace of Nirvana you glimpsed in the previous two steps ( hence Mukya Nimithha is Nirvana ) Once you change your focus from that or the Main Aim (Mukha Nimittha) to watching lights  the main focus is lost, with that, light also lost. So you need to ignore  these lights and keep your mind in the experiencing peace of Nirvana.

Chathurtha Dhayana - Fourth and final Level

You enter in to this level by giving up Preethi, Sukha, (Happiness and Comfort) you experienced  as  also a hindrance to the concentration. Thus what is  now left is concentration. During this level of concentration you can feel intense peace. While in  this level  if you want you can develop super human abilities such as seeing past lives, reading other peoples minds, seeing future, seeing other peoples lives, astral travel and seeing other planes of existences' ect. The technique of that the monk was very reluctant to reveal in public. Telling only that if you want to see your past life, while in Chathurtha Dhayana first focus on the furthest point in your childhood you can remember and from that point will and determine in your mind that you want to see beyond that and work further and further to the past. 

End of Up Date (Jan 2019) 

 

What you have to think and convince to your self is this:

The below is what the scripture called "Manasikara Sutra or the "Contemplation Stanza" says  as " Etham Samtham Etham paneetham.. Yadidam Sabba Samkara Samato.. Sabbupadee pati Nissago.. Thannakkayo.. Virogo.. Niroodo. Nibbananmthi "

From Manasikara Suthra – What a person should contemplate in his mind in the process called “Vidarshana” or Analysis  in order to change his mind and  achieve Nirvana. The freedom from all Defilements

}  Etham Samtham Etham paneetham....lf There is only one sweet feeling in this universe that is the sweetness in the feeling of experiencing the pure consciousness or the assimilation with the source.

}  Yadidam Sabba Samkara Samato..Gained by Relinquishing the conjured up illusory impressions of extreme  desires, expectations and hopes in the mind.   

}  Sabbupadee pati Nissago.Feeling of  freedom in Breaking up of all sorts of bonds which holds a being down in the cruel never ending circle of Samsara due to attachments caused by those never ending illusory expectations of extreme   desires  and hopes.Thus Not polluting the untainted primary pure initial thoughts or the pure  consciousness in the mind with attachments generated by all sorts of desires such as lust  hatred and dilutions .

}  Thannakkayo...Keeping the mind clean by not generating and not attaching the secondary occurred  impure thoughts and extreme emotions  to the initially  generated pure thoughts…  Which arise as soon  as the attention to any thing or any one begins.

}  Virogo.Not pursuing worldly attractions with such polluted and altered extreme  mind set tainted by attached impurities .

}  Niroodo.By being  analytical and watchful about every moment, when the pollution of mind occurs by having mindfulness about the working of the own mind . Attaining the status of mind  which can be described as seeing and only seeing, hearing and only hearing, sensing and only sensing, thus recognising  and responding to  those with no attachments caused by either of anger resentment or hatred or liking or need for possessing  generated in the mind to what is  being engaged with. But only having neutrality, compassion and kindness.  

}  Nibbananmthi..Thus Ending  all attachments  and Keeping clean the initial pure mind or the pure consciousness without pollutants  of impure thoughts is the way to the ultimate freedom from bonds of “Samsara” or the way to enlightenment and gaining the ever lasting happiness of the feeling of Nirvana.. 

}  Even while you are still living your life in the world.

This is my first Video .. There is some break in the sound file when slides are transitting sorry for that .Actually I made this for the benifit of forigners and those who does not understand Sinhalese language and the "මාතෘකා පාලිය" ..වැඩිපුර විස්තර ඕන අය ඇතොත් පහල ලින්ක් එකෙන් "නිරපෙක්ෂත්වයේ මාවත " සයිට් එක බලන්න

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC7nBGu_Tww

(What you get  below is the law of cause and effect (Patichcha Samuppada) as well as Chathurarya sathiya( Four Noble Truths)  and Trilakshana (3 Qualities ) all in a one simple understandable format  )
 

Analysis of what.. ? 

What is the most irresistible force this word… ? What makes the continuation of animal and plant life possible in the world..  which makes flowers bloom, Bees ..Humm.. birds sing and people fall in love  ?

It is the sex and the attraction to the physical body. Out of that, the attraction or love for own body  and self preservation instinct is the most intense. Therefore if you know the reality about your own body then the reality about every thing else in the world will be evident to you.

That is why Lord Buddha said .. In this six feet body I will show you the whole world as well as cessation of the world or the Nirvana. 

Thus the Vidarshana is all about the contemplation and analysis of, mainly the own body as well as the body of others.    

This is what you have to think and keep thinking with the now improved attention of the mind. This is called “Kaayanupassana” There are several ways to think. There are a number of different "Kaayas" or the bodies a person can contemplate on.  Any one way or all the ways are ok depending on what is easy for you. Own physical body is only a one type of Kaaya and the easiest one to grasp.

But remember this the only way and there is no other way to change your mind and disconnect from repetitive birth and death circle called “Samsara” and gain the liberation.

 

What you have to think and convince to your self is this:

 

This body of mine is the present result of previous life’s ignorance (Avidya) of not being able to seeing things as they really are (Avidya - not being able to  see and analyse in the line of  Indulgence(Ashwaada), Consequences of that indulgence( Aadeenawa) and by seeing  the adverse consequences of that indulgence , the relinquishment (Nissarana) or the  give up or abandonment  ) and  because of that Avidya ( or not seeing the consequences of indulgences and not being able to relinquish) I created  desires (Trushna), which resulted in intense sense of ownership and  attachments (Upadana) and karmas (Good and bad points or merits) while living in the imaginary world of reality I built around me (Bhawa) as a result of these previous causes, I could not see the reality of   the things in the light of Anichcha (Anichcha = Un + Ichcha = Does not stay or behave as desired = constantly changing or dynamic) or the  impermanence ***  of the things I thought which are mine and even at my moment of death I could not leave those behind.

My present body  is the result of that, which is made out of an erected skeleton bound by blood soaked veins and filled by pieces of meat and covered by skin. This body it self is no different from a cadaver (dead carcass). This carcass is made alive by the consciousness which came to possess it due to the desire for the attractions offered to lure it in to the trap of never ending circle of life and death or the Samsara.

Because of the current ignorance (Avidya)  I will  again be attracted to those lures aimed to please my five senses and the resulting Karmas, Trushna (Desire), Bhawa ( What you think your own or world around)  and Upadana (attachment) I will again be subjected to the emotions of intermittent joys as well as great deal of unavoidable sufferings such as  sick ness ,old age and death ect and also will be generating an another body to go through the same sufferings again and again.

This body has nothing to be desired. Once the consciousness leaves the body it is nothing but a cadaver. Food for worms. In a two three days time after death it will start to smell bad,  attracting flies and insects the meat will dissolve and will decay to the earth.

Therefore this body is (As well as every thing else I believe as mine ) Anichcha (Does not stay or behave as I wish). Hence it is a reason for Dukkha. (Sufferings) and it is a cause for all sorts of disastrous outcomes (Anartha). Because of that it is not a thing to be get attached.

Why you are advised to think as mentioned above ?. That is to make you realise the Thrilakshana or the 3 qualities mentioned below.

(If you did not  understand any thing else I wrote above still it does not matter.. but at least try to grasp what is said in the 4  short paragraphs given below under the Thrilakshana..

 If you understood it and keep contemplating or thinking on it.. that is enough to get you released from Samsara eventually..)

 

Thri Lakshana

Over all, this body (as well as every thing else in this world) is impermanent or dynamic (1.Anichcha) and does not behave as I desire or  stay as I want it to be (1.Anichcha = Un + Ichcha = Does not stay or behave as desired = constantly changing or dynamic).

Hence It is a cause for all sorts of sufferings and fearfulness (2.Dukka)in regard to that changeability
(Dukkha = Du +Ksha = Polluted + Ruined - Meaning that the happy clear peaceful and tranquil mind get tainted resulting a suffering and polluted mind)

Also, this body is not me, this body is  a thing to be disillusioned. I do not own it, (If I own it I should be able to stop it getting sick or old or die) and since it fools me  and cheats me thus leading me to imagine and think that it possess the qualities it  actually does not posses,  such as making me believe that the body is me/mine/his/her body or soul (Aathma pudgala Sagnya = Misinterpretation as a soul or a person) and brings associated desires (or Else  Undesire or hatreds ex. like I love this person , I hate this person, I want  to posses this etc.) and hence creates attachment  (Desire for love or  Else revenge or Else acute desire to possess) causing  me to  be bound and enslaved  to this cruel endless cycle of life and death by compelling me to  wish for and take more and more future births to play roles of different and different  characters in order to fulfill those unfinished desires. Because of that, this  body is  a thing to be disillusioned.

Since,  those desires  brings disastrous effects (3.Anartha) ( Anartha = Anaththa =  Un + Artha = Does not + Do good = Disastrous effects , futile pursuit, useless *) and associated  endless sufferings such are more and more future births, sicknesses, old ages and deaths, because of this Anartha or the adverse disastrous byproducts the attachment creates, the attachment to the body (or any worldly possession  to the matter) is a thing that is to be: disappointed with, by realising the  futileness of those attachments.

Once disappointed you do not get attached . Once not get attached the person gets released from the bond to Samsara.

( * Some Buddhist monks define this as Anaathma (Soul Less) But that does not fit properly in the context and I believe this  mix up of single word Anartha to Anaathma  which led to  misunderstanding and  mis interpretation from original Pali Language is one of the main reasons that for a long time and for some generations it was not possible for people to  properly understand the Thrilakshana and hence realize how to exit from Samsara. As even the most erudite monks could not grasp the total meaning with the wrong word Anaathma placed there instead of the correct word Anartha. For an Example,  it is something like giving a recipe for a cup of tea as Hot water + a Teabag + Salt rather than Hot Water + a Teabag + Sugar )

Or else you can also think this body is made out of 4 elements (Sathara maha butha =  Aapo, thejo Waayo, Patawi) Solids, Liquids, Gases and  Heat.

Once you  achieved enough attention span through breathing meditation practice, then you can keep thinking on the above said  Thrilakshana line even while you are working or driving or  going for a walk, every time you have a moment to contemplate. When ever an another person come in to your eye site or mind as soon as it comes think same about that body too.

 


Added on 28/12/2020.

These are very important sermons currently available with English subtitles explaining: What is the ideal way to achieve Nibbāna without delay, while attending to the day-to-day activities of lay life?

Question: Since we have no idea as to when this human life will be over, we need to make progress on the Noble path in this life as quickly as possible. But we are lay people with other responsibilities too. Venerable Bhante, will you be kind enough to tell us the way?

Episode 01

නිවන් දකින හරිමග කුමක්ද ? What is the correct way to attain nibbana ? | With English Subtitles https://youtu.be/cIbUtTVZg3U

Episode 02

දුක්ඛ - දුක්ඛ , සංකාර දුක්ඛ, විපරිණාම දුක්ඛ  Explanation of the three kinds of suffering | With English Subtitles https://youtu.be/J5gOSX4WMhE

In case links are not working here is the transcript in pdf format

How to attain Nibbāna as a Buddhist layman - Part 1 Late Ven. Waharaka Abhayarathanalankara Thero

Waharaka-Thero-Discourse-The-Way-to-Nibbana.pdf



 

Some interesting  articles and books  and videos for follow up:

 

 

"What is Pancha_Skanda". ?

Here is a very good explanation about "Panchaskanda" Meaning who are we ? We are made up of five things  1. Physical body (Ruupa) 2. Feelings (Veedana) 3. Perception (Saghnya) which the part of the mind which names feelings  4. Thoughts (Sanskara ) 5. consciousness  (Vignana)  see the 16th Minuit of this discourse of Bhanthe Vimalaramsi for more clear explanation ,

This  5 aggregates of 1. Body (Ruupa) 2. Feelings (Veedana) 3. Perception (Saghnya) which the part of the mind which names the feelings  4. Thoughts (Sanskara )5. consciousness  (Vignana)  is called "Pancha_Skanda".

PS .. 20/8/2019

Here is a very good very easy to understand  explanation about Panchaskanda  which starts from Minute 40

I had translated it to English below

 

The Youtube link is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TbyeRZgT14&t=2409s

Here is the translation :

If I say to remember what did you do yesterday, then your memory of what happened yesterday like what you saw , or hared or smelled, tasted  or touched can be recalled as the only proof of that.

That means when you say living, actually what you do is seeing visions with eye, hearing with ears, tasting with tongs , touching with skin or in short using your 5 senses collecting  information about the outside world.

From eyes you can see different types of scenes   , say different flowers,  from ears you can hear various sounds, with tong you can taste various tastes. From  body you can experience various sensations and from nose you can smell various smells . Thus living means experiencing these five senses. If you do not have those five organs how do you know that you are living ?

Apart from the 5 senses we have the mind (Called Mana). Task of the mind is to request information from those 5 senses. Why is that ? that is because you want to know what is happening  around you. For that we have the brain.   What ever the eye sees or ears are hearing is being converted to electrical signals and sent to the brain thru nerves. And inside the brain those signals are decoded so the mind can read it. Apart from that no picture or sound goes or taken in from the outside. The information is decoded according to five categories  as those 5 categories are the only way that mind understand information or the language of the mind.. The five categories for which the information is decoded are  1 Rupa  2. Vedana, 3 Sagnya, 4 Sankara, 5 Vignyana.  

Rupa = images of mental, physical or sensory nature  (11 kinds, such as , mental images of past , present, or future happenings ect.)

Vedana = Sensations or awareness =විදීම් ,  උදාහරණ ..දුක් වේදනා , සැප වේදනා , දුක සැප මිශ්‍ර වේදනා 

Sagnhya = Recognition  =  හැගීම් .. උදාහරණ සැප හැගීම් , දුක් හැගීම්

Sankara = activities of mental, physical or verbal nature as a response to the above 3 process = චේතනා උදාහරණ රාග චේතනා , ද්වේශ චේතනා , මෝහ චේතන

Vignyana = Perceptions, ideas or decisions,  created in the mind by the information gained from the previous 4 process = අදහස් සිත් .. උදාහරණ ලෝභ සිත් , අලෝභ සිත් , ද්වේශ සිත් , අද්වේශ සිත් , මෝහ සිත් , අමෝහ සිත්

When the eye see a picture … the signal is sent to the  brain and brain decodes it for mind as  a Rupa of Rupa (Picture of a outside picture or  Rupa rupa  -Rr). 

When ear hears the sound.. the signal is sent to the  brain and brain decodes it for mind as a Rupa of a sound (picture of a outside sound or Shabda rupa  - Sr).

When tong   taste some thing.. the signal is sent to the  brain and brain decodes it for mind as a Rupa of a taste (picture of a outside  taste or Rasa Rupa  - Rr)

From  touch  … Sparsha rupa (Picture of the outside touch - Sr),

From smell … Ganda rupa  (Picture of the outside Smell - Gr),

Thus total from 5 senses we get 5 decoded rupas.  In addition to that  there is another 6th Rupa type which is called Dhamma rupa (Or the mental pictures) when you remember something what is being played in your mind is dhamma rupa (Dr).

Now  here is the most important point in understanding the Panchaskanda ..  Say that you go to a friends house and your friend shows you an album of his vacation photos (Photos = Rupa = images or visions) . If he did not give any explanations or comments can you make much sense about the photos you see ? Not much.  Thus you need some details about the visions or the Rupas you see. Likewise the mind also needs the detailing of the  Rupa Rupas (Picture of a outside picture or  Rupa rupa  -Rr).   For the detailing you need the other 4 categories of decoding  (2. Vedana, 3 Sagnya, 4 Sankara, 5 Vignyana)

What  Vadana does is it recognise that a  Rupa (Rr, or Sr, or Rr or Sr or Gr ) had come in to the attention of the mind. It could be a sound or a smell or a taste signal. For an example you hear a sound (Sr.) that knocking at the door. Now you understood that some body or something is at the door. That is the function of Vedana the second category of  decoding that you sensed that sound had come from the direction of the door. Then you come to the door. Why ? you need to know who came to the door to identify the maker of the sound . Like who came ? What is the sound ? Why that person or animal came here ect.. That is the function of the category of Sagnya. The 4th category  Sankara  functions by analyzing what the person or animal who are at the door  can do or is capable of say a thief is at door, or a friend is at the door or a ferocious wild animal is at the door or a priest is at the door ect. The actions it can do or actions you expect from it is called Sankara and Accordingly you response to it. The 5th category Vingnana is the idea or the decision taken by the mind   as the result  the total sum of the previous 4 categories (1 Rupa  2. Vedana, 3 Sagnya, 4 Sankara)  .

For the above example.  There was a sound (Rupa) It came to attention (Vedana)  Inquired to identify it (Sagnya) Analysed it and found to be a known friendly person (Sankara) . Total sum of it is that  Mother came home from the work (Vignana)

"What is Pancha_ Upadana _Skanda". ?

There is another word called "Pancha_Upadana_ Skanda"  In nutshell "Pancha_Upadana_ Skanda" , is  what you get when  you add attachment to the each category of  panchaskandha  it is the bond  or the driving force which compels you to create a rebirth

Rupa + desire = images of mental, physical or sensory nature + attachment to that = Rupa upadana skanda , which compels a one to experience those images of mental, physical or sensory nature again and again, making it necessary to recreate a body in order to experience those again and again due to insatiable desire.

Vedana +Desire  = Sensations or awareness + attachment =  Vedana upadana skanda , which compels a one to experience those  sensations again and again, making it necessary to recreate a body in order to experience those again and again due to insatiable desire.

Sagnya + Desire = Recognition + attachment to that = sagnya upadana skanda , which compels a one to experience those  Recognitions again and again (Ex. Recognition of the perfume or the sweet voice of your sweet heart) , making it necessary to recreate a body in order to experience those again and again due to insatiable desire.

Sankara + Desire = activities of mental, physical or verbal nature as a response to the above 3 process + attachment to that = Sankara upadana skanda , which compels a one to experience those again and again, making it necessary to recreate a body in order to experience those again and again due to insatiable desire.

Vignyana + Desire  = Perceptions, ideas or decisions,  created in the mind by the information gained from the previous 4 process + attachment to that = Vignyana upadana skanda , which compels a one to experience those  again and again, making it necessary to recreate a body in order to experience those again and again due to insatiable desire.

In total there are 30 upadana skandas or  places where bonds to samara are created. That is by six senses multiplied by 5 upadana skandas

Six senses are, 1. Eye for seeing 2. Ear for hearing 3. Tong for taste 4. Nose for smelling 5 Body for touching 6. Mind for thinking.

6 senses X  5 upadana skandas = 30 Upadana bonds

Updanas are Karmic bonds of  five aggregates (which creates a collection of future possibilities of generation of new  five aggregates through dependent origination Or the Patichchsamuppada) .. just think like this, if 5 aggregates is a tree these are the seeds generated from five branches of that tree, a whole bagful of seeds collected, some are  good seeds and some bad .. which seeds comes out from the collection bag, depends on how the Dependent origination is happening at that very particular moment of the time - think about a Lotto game , which ball or the number comes out from the domain of numbers changes from moment to moment - similarly according to what upadana is the dominant outcome at that particular moment, depending on that the "Bhava" changes accordingly - Bhava is the quality of the world around you which you created for yourself  .. For an example looking at a persons behavior you may say " Oh that person is behaving greedy like a pig ..  That means that is his "Bhava" or the quality at the moment of that time .. If he dies at that  particuler moment ..  then there is a  very big chance that he can be born as a pig. Because your behavior creates the world around you which  changes from moment to moment due to dependent origination Or the Patichchsamuppada and accordingly the "Bhava" changes and with that  the future possibilities or "Jaathi" changes.

And if that same person in the next moment become generous and kind by changing his behavior he becomes a selfless person accordingly the "Bhava" changes and with that  the future possibilities or "Jaathi" changes then he becomes a god living in earth.  If he dies at that  particular moment ..  then there is a  very big chance that he can be born as a demigod.  

"Pancha_Upadana_ Skanda"   meaning Karmic bonds of  five aggregates are the following 1. Ruupa Upadana Skanda (Domain  or the collection of Karmic bonds which can create future bodies) 2.Vedana Upadana Skanda (Domain  or the collection of Karmic bonds which can create future feelings in these bodies) 3.Sanhnya Upadana Skanda (Domain  or the collection of Karmic bonds which can create future Perceptions) 4. Sankara Upadana Skanda (Mental Fabrications or Domain  or the collection of Karmic bonds which can create future Thoughts) 5. Vignana Upadana Skanda (Domain  or the collection of Karmic bonds which can create future Consciousness)

A more detailed Sinhala explanation  according to Suthra  (scripture) is here:

 

පංච උපාදානස්කන්ධය

රෑපස්කන්ධය යනු පඨවි ආපෝ තේජෝ වායෝ යන ධාතු සතරත් ඉන් හටගත් රෑපත් ය. පඨවි යනු තද ගතියයි. ආපෝ යනු ඇලෙන වැගිරෙන ගතියයි. තේජෝ යනු රස්නය හෝ සීතලයි. වායෝ යනු සෙලවෙන ස්වභාවයයි.

වේදනාව තුන් ආකාරය. මනාප අරමුණු නිසා සුඛ වේදනාව ඇති වේ. අමනාප අරමුණු නිසා දුක්ඛ වේදනාව ඇති වේ. මැදහත් අරමුණූ නිසා උපේක්ෂා වේදනාව ඇති වේ.

සංඥාව යනු හදුනාගැනීමයි. රෑප හැදිනීම රෑප සංඥාව යි. ශබ්ද හැඳිනීම ශබ්ද සංඥාව යි. ගඳ සුවඳ හැඳිනීම ගන්ධ සංඥාවයි. රස හැඳිනීම රස සංඥාව යි. ස්පර්ශ හැඳිනීම පොට්ඨබ්බ සංඥාව යි. මනසට එන අරමුණු හැඳිනීම ධම්ම සංඥාවයි. විශේෂයෙන්ම සංඥාවෙන් වේදනාව සැප දුක් හෝ මැදහත් වශයෙන් හදුනාගනියි.

සංස්කාර යනු කුසලාකුසල චේතනා යි. කුසල චේතනා පුඤ්ඤාභිසංකාර නම් වේ. අකුසල චේතනා අපුඤ්ඤාභිසංඛාර වේ. අරෑපාවචර කුසල චේතනා ආනෙඤ්ජාභිසංඛාර වේ. විභංග සූත්රනයේ සංස්කාර (Mental Fabrications or Volitional Formations)කාය වචී සහ චිත්ත යනුවෙන් තුන් කොටසකට බෙදා දක්වා ඇත. කාය සංඛාර යනු ආශ්වාස ප්‍රාස්වාසය. වචී සංඛාර යනු විතක්ක විචාරයන් ය. චිත්ත සංඛාර යනු සංඥා වේදනා ප්‍රධාන අනෙත් චෛතසික යි.

විඤ්ඤාණය යනු දැනගැනිමයි. ඇසයි රෑපයයි නිසා රෑප දකින චක්ඛූ විඤ්ඤාණය ඇති වේ. කනයි ශබ්දයයි නිසා ශබ්දය දැනගන්නා සෝත විඤ්ඤාණය ඇති වේ. නාසයයි ගන්ධය යි නිසා ගන්ධය දැනෙන ඝාණ විඤ්ඤාණය ඇති වේ. දිවයි රසයයි නිසා රස දැනෙන ජිව්හා විඤ්ඤාණය ඇති වේ. කයයි පහසයි නිසා පහස දැනෙන කාය විඤ්ඤාණය ඇති වේ.

රෑප වේදනා සංඥා සංස්කාර විඤ්ඤාණ යනු ක්‍රියාවලියකි. ඇසෙහි රෑපයක් ගැටුණා කියා සිතන්න. එවිට ඇසත් රෑපයත් රෑප දකින සිතත් යන තුනේ එකතුව හෙවත් ඇසේ ස්ඵර්ශය වේ. ඒ සමගම ඒ අරමුණ මනසට ද ස්ඵඵඒශ වේ. ස්ඵර්ශය නිසා වේදනාව හටගනියි. රෑපය ප්‍රිය එකක් නම් සුඛ වේදනාවක් හටගනියි. අප්‍රිය එකක් නම් දුක්ඛ වේදනාවක් හටගනියි. සංඥාවෙන් එම රෑපය අසවල් දේ යයි හ‍ඳුනා ගනියි. චේතනාවෙන් ඒ රෑපය මනවඩනා දෙයක් නම් එය පියකරැය එය ලබාගන්නට ඕනෑය ආදී ලෝභ සිතුවිලි වලින් යුත් චේතනාවෝ වෙති. ඒ රෑපය අප්‍රිය එකක් නම් එය නැසිය යුතුය ආදී ද්වේෂ සිතුවිලි වලින් යුත් චේතනාවෝ ද හටගනිති. කුසල සංස්කාරයෙන් කුසල විඤ්ඤාණයක් හටගනියි. අකුසල සංස්කාරයෙන් අකුසල විඤ්ඤාණයක් හටගනියි.

මෙම පංච උපාදානස්කන්ධය යනු දුක්ඛ සත්‍යය යි. තණ්හාව දුක්ඛ සමුදය සත්‍යය යි. තණ්හාව නැති වීමෙන් ලබන උතුම් වූ නිවන නිරෝධ සත්‍යයි. ඒ නිවනට යන උතුම් මාර්ගය ආර්ය අෂ්ටාංගික මාර්ගය යි.

(ඛන්ධ සංයුක්තය ඇසුරෙණි)

 

1. Elon Musk believes we are probably characters in some advanced civilization's video game

http://www.vox.com/2016/6/2/11837608/elon-musk-simulation-argument

 2. Is our universe FAKE?

Check  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3185261/Is-universe-FAKE-Physicists-claim-playthings-advanced-civilisation.html

3 Holographic Universe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nwz-WwRe3Y


See also

4. Robert Lanza on theory of Biocentrism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI_F4nOKDSM

5. Robert Lanza on theory of Biocentrism 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw55BsToVZM
 

6. Is Our Reality A Simulation?

7 . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYOSwhyBR34

8 . Physicists Leak Evidence That Approve Elon Musk’s Theory – The Universe Is A “Computer” Simulation

http://simplecapacity.com/2016/11/physicists-leak-evidence-universe-is-computer-simulation

 

9 "Ascension papers" ...A very enlightening book giving western view of same point   you can download it here for free

http://zingdad.com/images/downloads/the_ascension_papers_book_1_-_zingdad.pdf

 

 

Acknoledgement And Thanks

 

 

This write up is a result of 6 months of my listening to Various sermons from Dec, 2015 to May 2016 Since all those sermons are in Sinhala Language. I felt sorry and compassion for people like my son who being born and bread in Australia are not fortunate enough to know the Sinhala Language as proficiently as I do in order to grasp the subtle points and meanings in profound theories and concepts given above. 

During 2017 I came across the discourses of Ven. Walasmullee Abhaya Thero and listened to his  all 90 hours of season 8 discourse. Then I found his teacher Most Ven. Wharaka Abayarathanalankara Thero and  listened to the most of the 106 CD's of  his discourses in the following site. Currently in 2021 I am listening to the discourses of Ven. Arahath Meewanapalane Siri Dhammalankara Thero whom I find  as the most correct  teacher of Buddha Dhamma.

Thus with an open mind and more knowledge I kept updating  the relevant  parts of this page to reflect the gained  and up to date knowledge. Therefore now this is not a one Buddhist teachers discourse in English this is mostly what I came to understand during the last 6 years period of time passed  in my search of real teachings of Lord Buddha  (Not the Buddhist Religion But the Buddha Dhamma) and believe this is the correct path a normal person can easily understand and follow.

There could be some short comings in this write up written within two days solely out of compassion and necessity as there are no English Translations of  these Sermons and some how this void has to be filled even as little as this. Hence if any short comings it is entirely my fault of not knowing how to explain better as I am just a ordinary person and a  parent of a child.
 

Also I wish to thank  Ven. Meegahakubure Dhammagavsi Thero. The chief incumbent of Sydney Lankaramaya Temple for encouragement and Support.  As well as agreeing to proof read and write an preface. Without Ven. Meegahakubure Dhammagavsi Theros support  this Dharma Dana may not be possible.

The Gift of Dharma is the Highest Gift an any one can give “ Sabba Daanam Dhrma Daanam Jinathi).

Lakshman Abeykoon M. Sc. (Moscow University) Grad. Certificate. (Melbourne University) Graduate Diploma in Library & Information Services Management (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology - Australia)
 
Email : jyothirvidya@yahoo.com


  
 

 

 

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