In the last week of November we flew to Kathmandu to meet with Sujin and many Thai and Nepalese Buddhists. I have been to the city several times and it was much as I remembered - although the traffic had increased.
We stayed at the same hotel as the groups travelling with Sujin and met her in in her room where the children asked questions about kamma.
The next morning we all went to the university (Koteshwor Multiple Campus) where Sujin spoke in a hall and her talk was translated by a Nepalese bhikkhu. As usual she encouraged questions from the audience. At this talk it was a bit difficult to find someone to translate yo English as the hall was packed and even seating was hard to find. So I later listened to to a recording and had a translation.
Sujin: No one in the world, not just this world, but any world, the world of heaven, the world of angels, the world of gods, no one is able to know themselves if they do not know the teaching of Lord Buddha.
The understanding of the Buddha that he attained over 2,500 years ago, is more than mere thinking and contemplating.
Does it still exist in this moment, in the present? We are sitting here. Does that knowledge still exist at this moment?
Sujin (question for audience):This is a very simple question. Does the Lord Buddha’s understanding still exist in this moment?
Robert: The audience had different answers but it seems Sujin was looking to point to the present moment. It remined me of the sutta with Vakkali:
vakkali
For a long time, venerable sir, I have wanted to come to see the Blessed One, but I haven’t been fit enough to do so.”
“Enough, Vakkali! Why do you want to see this foul body? One who sees the Dhamma sees me; one who sees me sees the Dhamma. For in seeing the Dhamma, Vakkali, one sees me; and in seeing me, one sees the Dhamma.
Sujin: Actually right now, in this moment, we can develop the knowledge that the Buddha understood. We can understand it.
Whatever is heard, that is dhamma. Hearing is another dhamma, seeing is dhamma, whatever is seen is dhamma.
Some people in the audience asked about religion - what is good and what is bad religion. Apparently they had experiences with gurus who had been abusive.
Sujin brought the topic back to the moment now. To see that that whether now or at any time there are only different elements that arise and pass away.
It seemed that some people had not heard Abhidhamma before and they were not expecting to hear about objects like seeing or colour, sound or hearing. It wasn’t what they thought Buddhism was.
We too may be bored at times with such mundane objects: why not work on attaining jhana instead maybe. That seems more productive?
But seeing, hearing, thinking are taken as “my” seeing and hearing and thinking. They should gradually he understood as mere phenomena that arise due to conditions.
Without understanding
Saṁyutta Nikāya
Connected Discourses on the Six Sense Bases
35.27. Full Understanding (2)
“Bhikkhus, without directly knowing and fully understanding the all, without developing dispassion towards it and abandoning it, one is incapable of destroying suffering.
“And what, bhikkhus, is the all…?
“The eye and forms and eye-consciousness and things to be cognized by eye-consciousness. The ear and sounds and ear-consciousness and things to be cognized by ear-consciousness…. The mind and mental phenomena and mind-consciousness and things to be cognized by mind-consciousness.
“This, bhikkhus, is the all without directly knowing and fully understanding which, without developing dispassion towards which and abandoning which, one is incapable of destroying suffering.
“But, bhikkhus, by directly knowing and fully understanding the all, by developing dispassion towards it and abandoning it, one is capable of destroying suffering.
“And what, bhikkhus, is the all…? as above
“This, bhikkhus, is the all by directly knowing and fully understanding which, by developing dispassion towards which and abandoning which, one is capable of destroying suffering.”
Why the present moment?
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak … .nana.html
MN131 Let one not trace back the past
Or yearn for the future-yet-to-come.
That which is past is left behind
Unattained is the “yet-to-come.”
But that which is present he discerns —
With insight as and when it comes
The present is what needs to be discerned to get to the basics of what the links of Paticcasamuppada really are.
Without the Buddha’s teaching we live in a world of concepts, unaware of the actual phenomena that are behind the veil. It is by learning the teaching and seeing that the concepts we have of self and things that last is quite wrong, and that each moment arises by conditions and then falls away is what the world actually is. It is all crumbling.
The Abhidhamma and Commentaries are no different from the suttas in showing this - and they put a hard stamp on conditionality and the momentariness.
It is of course easy to go wrong - we might think we can manufacture this knowledge of the present moment.
The sutta continues:
And how is one drawn into present things? Herein, monks, an uninstructed ordinary man who takes no account of the Noble Ones, is unskilled in the Dhamma of the Noble Ones, untrained in the Dhamma of the Noble Ones, taking no account of the good men, unskilled in the Dhamma of the good men, untrained in the Dhamma of the good men, looks upon form as self, or self as possessed of form, or form as in self, or self as in form. He looks upon feeling as self, or self as possessed of feeling, or feeling as in self, or self as in feeling. He looks upon perception as self, or self as possessed of perception, or perception as in self, or self as in perception. He looks upon formations as self, or self as possessed of formations, or formations as in self, or self as in formations. He looks upon consciousness as self, or self as possessed of consciousness, or consciousness as in self, or self as in consciousness. That is how, monks, one is drawn into present things.
We might think “ok I will discern the present moment” and try to observe it. But that is likely to be a subtle belief that formations (such as sati) are under control and can be directed by a manager (self).