Nina van Gorkom — Once upon a Time (2014)
Excerpt from Chapter 5: “Thinking of the Past”
Source: van Gorkom, Nina. (2014). Once upon a Time, Chapter 5, “Thinking of the Past.”
Full link: Once-upon-a-time
Life goes on without understanding the truth. Seeing sees visible object and because of our delusion we think that we see people who seem to be already there. It also seems that seeing can stay, that we are seeing all the time. Ignorance covers up the truth. Seeing falls away immediately, but since dhammas arise and fall away so rapidly it seems that the different moments of seeing that arise again and again are one period of time that lasts for a while. Understanding can be developed of the characteristic of seeing and there is no need to pinpoint in what process it has arisen.
Seeing falls away but the sign (in Pali: nimitta) of seeing remains. Even so visible object falls away but the sign or nimitta of visible object remains. The nimitta covers up the truth of realities which arise and fall away very rapidly in succession. No one can really directly experience one particular reality, because there are so many realities arising and falling away. The rapid succession of dhammas, such as visible object, leads to the experience or impression of shape and form and to the idea of people and things. A simile can be used to explain this: when we take a torch that we swing around we notice a circle of light. In fact what we take for a circle of light consists of many moments, but it seems to be a continuous whole. There is a reality that can be seen and paññā begins to understand that what is seen cannot be any one at all. Only memory and thinking condition the idea of someone or something.
The term saṅkhāra nimitta, the sign of conditioned dhammas [25] pertains to the fact that each of the five khandhas [26] which arise and fall away has a nimitta: rūpa-nimitta, vedanā-nimitta (feeling), saññā-nimitta (remembrance), saṅkhāra-nimitta (the other fifty cetasikas apart from feeling and saññā) [27] and viññāṇa-nimitta (citta). Since nibbāna does not arise and fall away it is without nimitta, it is animitta.
Conditioned dhamma falls away but the nimitta remains. It is a sign or nimitta of the reality that arises and falls away, but we do not realize the arising and falling away. We mislead ourselves, taking for permanent what is impermanent. We take for self what is beyond control. There is no need to think all the time: “it is a nimitta” or, “the reality has fallen away”. Characteristics are appearing and they can be investigated.
Saṅkhāra nimitta denotes a nimitta of a reality appearing right now. The reality and its nimitta can be compared to a sound and its echo. We should remember what Acharn said:
“The reality and the nimitta of it appear like sound and its echo, who knows which is which? Instead of finding out whether nimitta is a paramattha dhamma, know that it is now. No one can pinpoint a moment of experiencing an object or the object itself.”
We learn to be aware of characteristics of dhammas that appear but knowing about nimitta makes it clearer that dhammas fall away so fast. It helps to understand their nature of anattā, they are beyond control. What has arisen is gone already before we realize it. “Once upon a time” can be seen as an extremely short moment ago. We can remember what Acharn said long ago:
“We have dear people, people who are close to us, but dhamma arises and then falls away. Seeing has fallen away and there is nothing left. Thinking and all dhammas fall away completely. This is not different from the moment a dear person dies. We are thinking about a dear person but thinking falls away completely.”
The colour that appears through the eyes is the nimitta, the sign referring to the visible object that is accompanied by the four Great Elements of Earth (solidity), Water (cohesion), Fire (temperature) and Wind (motion). There is a great variety of the four Great Elements, and since they have different degrees of hardness, softness, heat or cold, it is a condition for the nimittas to be varied. Whenever visible object appears or seeing appears, there is the sign of the rapidly arising and falling away of realities. A single moment of seeing cannot be experienced.
The succession of the arising and falling away of visible object leads to an idea of continuity, the perceiving of shape and form. Acharn explained:
“ Memory just marks and forms up the idea of a particular shape and form of this or that person. It is all that can be seen. Close your eyes and there is no more that which can be seen.
…Without reality there is no nimitta but the arising and falling away is so rapid that it cannot be directly experienced.”
Because of wrong remembrance of self, attā-saññā, the nimitta is taken for something. Concepts are thought of because of different nimittas. Sarah also gave some more explanations:
“Thinking has an idea of shape and form and that leads to the idea of eyebrows, people and things. Without experiencing visible object many times there could not be the sign of visible object and without that sign there could not be thinking about the outward appearance and details of things. One thinks of concepts of people and things on account of what is seen.”
When we have no understanding there are just concepts about realities as permanent phenomena which don’t arise and fall away instantly. When we have more understanding of nimitta, we see that whatever we experience arises for a moment and is then completely gone. We cannot hold on to it. Acharn said:
“That is life. No matter how happy or unhappy we are, all these moments are gone. What we take for so very important in life is gone. Such moments are just objects of ignorance and attachment. What is the use of experiencing all these realities at this moment? Understanding this is the beginning of seeing dukkha, which is the arising and falling away of realities. Each conditioned reality is dukkha. It just arises and falls away and it cannot be controlled. It is time to eat, to sleep, to move, to think, but we have an idea that ‘I will do this’. We can come to understand the paññā of the Buddha and his compassion to teach, to let others understand whatever appears.”
At the end of my stay in Thailand a short visit to Chiengmai was planned and I wanted to join this. We took the plane and stayed one night, but there were two full days of Dhamma discussions. I had been to Chiengmai before and, thus, it was a happy meeting again with old friends. We had lunch in the cultural center where we were offered traditional Northern dishes, like bamboo filled with pork and a great variety of vegetables. The sessions were in an auditorium in the hotel where we stayed overnight. I had to climb a podium with very steep steps, but people assisted me from all sides.
Acharn explained about nimitta that when seeing, there is clinging to the nimitta as something or somebody. The impingement of visible object on the eyesense is a condition for seeing that arises and falls away very rapidly. Because of the arising and falling away again and again a nimitta or sign of continuity appears. She said:
“There is a nimitta of different shapes and forms. Saññā remembers them wrongly as something that stays. There is wrong remembrance of self, attā-saññā. Concepts are known because of different nimittas. Because of a concept we know what something is. Because of thinking of nimitta we know when and where there is food. If there is no reality, there is no nimitta and no shape and form.”
We have to know the extent of our understanding and if we try to find out more than we can understand, we are clinging again. When understanding develops we can let go of clinging very gradually. We have possessions in our house but do we have them now? We are only thinking of them. When we return home, they may not be there anymore. We should develop understanding with courage and cheerfulness. People mostly follow their own ideas and do not study the teachings with respect. Therefore, the teachings will dwindle and disappear.
The last afternoon, before our departure, one of our friends sang a song in honour of Acharn. She praised her wisdom in explaining the Dhamma to all of us. The song was very charming with a melody in the Northern style of music. When we were at the airport on our way back we waited in the VIP room where we had a Dhamma discussion for another hour. People showed a great interest and had many questions.
Acharn reminded us again of the Buddha’s last words, saying that we should not be neglectful, also with regard to listening to the Dhamma. There are dhammas all the time but we do not know that they are dhammas. Their different characteristics should be investigated.
The Buddha taught the four noble Truths: the Truth of dukkha, the Truth of the origin of dukkha, the Truth of the cessation of dukkha and the Truth of the Path leading to the cessation of dukkha.
Dukkha is the arising and falling away of dhammas. What arises and falls away is not worth clinging to, it is unsatisfactory. The origin or cause of dukkha is craving, because of craving we have to reborn and that means the arising and falling away of nāma and rūpa again and again. The cessation of dukkha is nibbāna and the Path leading thereto is the eightfold Path.
Paññā has to be developed on and on for aeons before the four noble Truths can be penetrated. The Buddha showed in his first sermon [28] that there are three phases in the development of understanding and these pertain to each of the four noble Truths. There are three “rounds” or inter-twining phases of the understanding of the four noble Truths. They are: understanding of the truth, sacca ñāṇa, knowledge of the task to be performed, kicca ñāṇa, which is the development of understanding of realities, and knowledge of the task that has been done, kata ñāṇa, which is the direct realization of the truth.
Acharn referred very often to these three “rounds” or phases and explained that without the first phase, sacca ñāṇa, the firm understanding of what the four noble Truths are, there cannot be the second phase, kicca ñāṇa, the performing of the task, that is, satipaṭṭhāna, nor the third phase, kata ñāṇa, the fruit of the practice, that is, the penetration of the true nature of realities.
With regard to the first phase, she said that there should be the firm intellectual understanding of the first noble Truth, and that means understanding that there is dhamma at this moment, that everything that appears is dhamma. Acharn said that it must be the firm understanding that seeing arises and falls away, and that we should not be ignorant of seeing. All dhammas should be known, otherwise the idea of self cannot be eradicated. She said:
“Who sees? When anattā is understood it is the beginning of the right Path.”
When we listen to the Dhamma and consider what we hear the intellectual understanding of realities, that is, the first phase, sacca ñāṇa, gradually develops and then it can condition the arising of satipaṭṭhāna. This means that the second phase, knowledge of the task, kicca ñāṇa, begins to develop. The practice, paṭipatti, is actually knowledge of the task that has to be performed.
The second noble Truth is craving or attachment. Craving or clinging in daily life should be understood. The clinging to self has been deeply accumulated and we should consider this more. We cling to satipaṭṭhāna and this can induce wrong practice. We should learn at what moment this occurs, the test is always at this moment. Understanding of what appears at the present moment through one of the six doorways leads eventually to the abandonment of craving. Seeing, for example appears now and it can be known as only a conditioned dhamma, no self who sees. However, attachment takes us away from the present object, time and again, so that we are forgetful of seeing that appears now. Also attachment can be known as a dhamma.
The ceasing of dukkha, namely nibbāna, is the third noble Truth. Also with regard to the third noble Truth there are three phases: understanding what the ceasing of dukkha is, sacca ñāṇa. Paññā can come to see the danger and disadvantage of the arising and falling away of conditioned dhammas and it will see the unconditioned dhamma that does not arise and fall away as freedom from dukkha. We should have the firm understanding that detachment and the eradication of defilements is the goal. We should be convinced that it is possible to attain this goal only if we follow the right Path. Understanding of the task in order to reach this goal is kicca ñāṇa. At the moment of enlightenment nibbāna is experienced and defilements are eradicated. Understanding of the task which has been performed, the realization of nibbāna, is kata ñāṇa.
The way leading to the ceasing of dukkha, namely the eightfold Path, is the fourth noble Truth. Also with regard to the fourth noble Truth there are three phases or rounds. The first round is understanding what the development of this Path is, sacca ñāṇa. This is not theoretical understanding, but it pertains to the development of understanding of the dhamma appearing at this moment. Nāma and rūpa, paramattha dhammas, are the objects of which understanding should be developed. These are different from concepts, from the image of a ‘whole’ of a person, of the body, of a thing. When there is firm understanding of what the Path is, we shall not deviate from it.
The teaching of the three phases shows us that the development of paññā is bound to be an age-long process. We need to develop it with courage and patience.
Acharn was invited to speak at the “World Fellowship of Buddhists”. I went to their center with Jonothan. It was a long taxi drive because at that time several streets were blocked during anti-government demonstrations. We had to walk through a park to reach the place.
Acharn said:
“Reality is very daily. It should be studied, otherwise we never know the truth. Does anything belong to you? Even seeing does not belong to you. Right understanding, when it arises, begins to see realities as no being. Seeing is seeing. At the moment of hearing there is no seeing. Is sound real? It has its own characteristic. Nobody can change the characteristics of realities. When one has not heard the Dhamma one thinks: ’I see a person’. Visible object is a reality that is seen and after that one thinks of shape and form because of saññā. Each moment is conditioned. Understanding is conditioned.”
Several people showed a real interest and asked questions. We discussed the fact that it is not by chance that someone comes to a particular place at a particular time to listen to the Dhamma. It must be because there was an interest in the past and this has been accumulated so that there are conditions to listen again, to consider again. In this way understanding can grow.
The Buddha taught anattā all the time. Anattā of what? Of realities or dhammas. We should not think so much about names and terms, but understand the reality represented by a name. We may stare at the texts but it may happen that the meaning escapes us. Then we may go all the wrong way, and this is very dangerous.
When reading suttas it may seem that the Buddha spoke about impermanence of concepts, such as persons or possessions, but this was the method of teaching to certain people who needed first conventional truth until they were ready to accept ultimate truth (paramattha sacca). So, he often spoke about people in different situations.
When reading about conventional truth we can consider the deeper meaning, the truth of realities.
When people had deep sorrow about the loss of dear ones, they needed at first a gentle approach by way of situations and persons. Not everybody is ready to accept the truth that each reality falls away very rapidly, never to come back, and that there is nothing left. When we read in the suttas about death we can be reminded of momentary death. At each moment dhammas arise and then fall away never to return. If we believe that people stay or that possessions are there all the time, we live in a dream.
We read in the “Sutta Nipāta”, the Group of Discourses, the Chapter of Eights, IV, Old Age, vs. 804-813 [29]:
“ Truly this life is short; one dies less than one hundred years old. Even if anyone lives beyond (one hundred years), then he dies because of old age.
People grieve for their cherished things, for no possessions are permanent. Seeing that this separation truly exists, one should not live the household life.
Whatever a man thinks of as ‘mine’, that too disappears with his death. Knowing thus indeed, a wise man, one of my followers, would not incline to possessiveness.
Just as a man, awakened, does not see whatever he met with in a dream, even so one does not see beloved people when they are dead and gone.
Those people are seen and heard of, whose name is ‘so and so’. When he has departed, only a person’s name will remain to be pronounced. Those who are greedy for cherished things do not abandon grief, lamentation and avarice.
Therefore the sages, seeing security, have wandered forth, abandoning possessions. Of a bhikkhu who lives in a withdrawn manner, resorting to a secluded residence, of him they say it is agreeable that he should not show himself in any dwelling.
Not being dependent upon anything, a sage holds nothing as being pleasant or unpleasant. Lamentation and avarice do not cling to him, as water does not cling to a (lotus)-leaf.
Just as a drop of water does not cling to a lotus(-leaf), as water does not cling to a lotus, so a sage does not cling to what is seen or heard or thought.
Therefore a purified one does not think that purity is by means of what is seen, heard or thought, nor does he wish for purity by anything else. He is neither empassioned nor dispassioned.”
The commentary explains as to the words “a bhikkhu who lives in a withdrawn manner”, that he practises so that the citta becomes detached. The word bhikkhu refers to the “excellent worldling” (kalyāṇa putthujana) or the “trainer” (sekha puggala, the ariyan who is not arahat). As to not showing himself in any dwelling, this means that the wise person is free from dying, he does not have to be reborn.
The development of understanding of whatever reality appears now leads to detachment. As we read: “A sage does not cling to what is seen or heard or thought”. He understands realities as they are.
Original footnotes
Original numbering retained. Footnote 24 accompanies the paragraph immediately preceding this excerpt.
24. “Dispeller of Delusion,” Commentary to the Book of Analysis, Classification of the Truths, 101.
25. The “Path of Discrimination” (“Patisambhidhamagga”), I, 438 speaks about seeing as terror the signs of each of the five khandhas, whereas nibbāna is animitta, without sign. Saṅkhāra nimitta also occurs in the Visuddhimagga XXI, 38.
26. All conditioned dhammas, saṅkhāra dhammas, can be classified as five different khandhas or aggregates. One khandha is rūpa, and four are nāma.
27. In this context saṅkhāra refers to saṅkhārakkhandha. The term saṅkhāra dhammas refers to all conditioned dhammas, to all khandhas. Saṅkhārakkhandha refers to one khandha, the khandha of “formations”.
28. Kindred Sayings, V, 420. The Foundation of the Kingdom of the Norm.
29. Translated by K.R. Norman, PTS 1992.