                                          
                            A HEART RELEASED
  
                    The Teachings of Phra Ajaan Mun
                            Bhuridatta Thera
                                          
                      Translated from the Thai by
                           Thanissaro Bhikkhu
                           (Geoffrey DeGraff)
                                          
                                          
                                          
                 Copyright 1995 Metta Forest Monastery
                  PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082
                                          
       This book may be copied or reprinted FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION
             without permission from the copyright holder.
                    Otherwise, all rights reserved.
                                          
                                          
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                       Transcription: Greg Smith
                    Proofreading: Thanissaro Bhikkhu
                        Formatting: John Bullitt
  
  
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                              Introduction
  
  
  Phra Ajaan Mun Bhuridatta Thera was born in 1870 in Baan Kham Bong, a 
  farming village in Ubon Ratchathani province, northeastern Thailand. 
  Ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1893, he spent the remainder of his 
  life wandering through Thailand, Burma, and Laos, dwelling for the 
  most part in the forest, engaged in the practice of meditation. He 
  attracted an enormous following of students and, together with his 
  teacher, Phra Ajaan Sao Kantasilo, was responsible for the 
  establishment of the forest ascetic tradition that has now spread 
  throughout Thailand and to several countries abroad. He passed away in 
  1949 at Wat Suddhavasa, Sakon Nakhorn province.
  
    Much has been written about his life, but very little was recorded 
  of his teachings during his lifetime. Most of his teachings he left in 
  the form of people: the students whose lives were profoundly shaped by 
  the experience of living and practicing meditation under his guidance. 
  One of the pieces that //was// recorded is translated here. //A Heart 
  Released// (//Muttodaya//) is a record of passages from his sermons, 
  made during the years 1944-45 by two monks who were staying under his 
  guidance, and edited by a third monk, an ecclesiastical official who 
  frequently visited him for instruction in meditation. The first 
  edition of the book was printed with his permission for free 
  distribution to the public. The title of the book was taken from a 
  comment made by the Ven. Chao Khun Upali Gunupamacariya (Jan 
  Siricando) who, after listening to a sermon delivered by Phra Ajaan 
  Mun on the root themes of meditation, praised the sermon as having 
  been delivered with '//muttodaya//' -- a heart released -- and as 
  conveying the heart of release.
    
    The unusual style of Phra Ajaan Mun's sermons may be explained in 
  part by the fact that in the days before his ordination he was skilled 
  in a popular form of informal village entertainment called //maw 
  lam//. //Maw lam// is a contest in extemporaneous rhyming, usually 
  reproducing the war between the sexes, in which the battle of wits can 
  become quite fierce. Much use is made of word play: riddles, puns, 
  innuendoes, metaphors, and simple playing with the sounds of words. 
  The sense of language that Ajaan Mun developed in //maw lam// he 
  carried over into his teachings after becoming a monk. Often he would 
  teach his students in extemporaneous puns and rhymes. This sort of 
  word play he even applied to the Pali language, and a number of 
  instances can be cited in //Muttodaya//: in Section 3, the pun on the 
  word //dhatu//, which can mean both physical element and speech 
  element (phoneme); the use of the phonemes //na mo ba dha// (the basic 
  elements in the phrase //namo buddhaya//, homage to the Buddha) to 
  stand for the four physical elements; the play on //namo// and 
  //mano// in Section 4; the use of the //Patthana// as an image for the 
  mind in Section 5; the extraction of the word //santo// (peaceful) 
  from //pavessanto// in Section 13 and Section 16; the grammatical pun 
  on //loke// in Section 14 and //santo// in Section 13; the threes in 
  Section 12; the eights in Section 16; and so on.
    
    This sort of rhetorical style has gone out of fashion in the West 
  and is going out of style today even in Thailand, but in the Thailand 
  of Ajaan Mun's time it was held in high regard as a sign of quick 
  intelligence and a subtle mind. Ajaan Mun was able to use it with 
  finesse as an effective teaching method, forcing his students to 
  become more quick-witted and alert to implications, correspondences, 
  multiple levels of meaning, and the elusiveness of language; to be 
  less dogmatic in their attachments to the meanings of words, and less 
  inclined to look for the truth in terms of language. As Ajaan Mun once 
  told a pair of visiting monks who were proud of their command of the 
  medieval text, The Path of Purification, the //niddesa// (analytical 
  expositions) on virtue, concentration, and discernment contained in 
  that work were simply //nidana// (fables or stories). If they wanted 
  to know the truth of virtue, concentration, and discernment, they 
  would have to bring these qualities into being in their own hearts and 
  minds.
  
  
  
  
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                            A Heart Released
  
  
  
  
  
                               Section 1.
                                          
              Practice is what keeps the true Dhamma pure.
  
  
  The Lord Buddha taught that his Dhamma, when placed in the heart of an 
  ordinary run-of-the-mill person, is bound to be thoroughly corrupted 
  (//saddhamma-patirupa//); but if placed in the heart of a Noble One, 
  it is bound to be genuinely pure and authentic, something that at the 
  same time can be neither effaced nor obscured.
    
    So as long as we are devoting ourselves merely to the theoretical 
  study of the Dhamma, it can't serve us well. Only when we have trained 
  our hearts to eliminate their 'chameleons' (see Section 10) -- their 
  corruptions (//upakkilesa//) -- will it benefit us in full measure. 
  And only then will the true Dhamma be kept pure, free from distortions 
  and deviations from its original principles.
  
                                          
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                               Section 2.
                                          
   To follow the Buddha, we must train ourselves well before training 
                                others.
  
  
    //purisadamma-sarathi sattha deva-manussanam buddho bhagavati//
  
    Our Lord Buddha first trained and tamed himself to the point where 
  he attained unexcelled right self-awakening 
  (//anuttara-sammasambodhinana//), becoming //buddho//, one who knows, 
  before becoming //bhagava//, one who spreads the teaching to those who 
  are to be taught. Only then did he become //sattha//, the teacher and 
  trainer of human and divine beings whose stage of development 
  qualifies them to be trained. And thus, //kalyano kittisaddo 
  abbhuggato//: His good name has spread to the four quarters of the 
  compass even up to the present day.
  
    The same is true of all the Noble Disciples of the past. They 
  trained and tamed themselves well before helping the Teacher spread 
  his teachings to people at large, and so their good name has spread 
  just like the Buddha's.
    
    If, however, a person spreads the teaching without first having 
  trained himself well, //papako saddo hoti//: His bad name will spread 
  to the four quarters of the compass, due to his error in not having 
  followed the example of the Lord Buddha and all the Noble Disciples of 
  the past.
                                          
                                          
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                               Section 3.
                                          
     The root inheritance, the starting capital for self-training. 
                                          
  
  Why is it that wise people -- before chanting, receiving the precepts, 
  or performing any other act of merit -- always take up //namo// as 
  their starting point? Why is it that //namo// is never omitted or 
  discarded? This suggests that //namo// must be significant. If we take 
  it up for consideration, we find that //na// stands for the water 
  element, and //mo// for the earth element -- and with this, a line 
  from the scriptures comes to mind:
  
            //mata-petika-sambhavo odana-kummasa-paccayo//:
  
    'When the generative elements of the mother and father are 
  combined, the body comes into being. When it is born from the mother's 
  womb, it is nourished with rice and bread, and so is able to develop 
  and grow.' //Na// is the mother's element; //mo//, the father's 
  element. When these two elements are combined, the mother's fire 
  element then heats the combination until it becomes what is called a 
  //kalala//, a droplet of oil. This is the point where the connecting 
  cognizance (//patisandhi-vinnana//) can make its connection, so that 
  the mind becomes joined to the //namo// element. Once the mind has 
  taken up residence, the droplet of oil develops until it is an 
  //ambuja//, a glob of blood. From a glob of blood it becomes a 
  //ghana//, a rod, and then a //pesi//, a piece of flesh. Then it 
  expands itself into a lizard-like shape, with five extensions: two 
  arms, two legs, and a head.
    
    (As for the elements //ba//, breath, and //dha//, fire, these take 
  up residence later, because they are not what the mind holds onto. If 
  the mind lets the droplet of oil drop, the droplet of oil vanishes or 
  is discarded as useless. It has no breath or fire, just as when a 
  person dies and the breath and fire vanish from the body. This is why 
  we say they are secondary elements. The important factors are the two 
  original elements, //namo//.)
    
    After the child is born, it has to depend on //na//, its mother, 
  and //mo//, its father, to care for it, nurturing it and nourishing it 
  with such foods as rice and bread, at the same time teaching and 
  training it in every form of goodness. The mother and father are thus 
  called the child's first and foremost teachers. The love and 
  benevolence the mother and father feel for their children cannot be 
  measured or calculated. The legacy they give us -- this body -- is our 
  primal inheritance. External wealth, silver or gold, come from this 
  body. If we didn't have this body, we wouldn't be able to do anything, 
  which means that we wouldn't have anything at all. For this reason, 
  our body is the root of our entire inheritance from our mother and 
  father, which is why we say that the good they have done us cannot be 
  measured or calculated. Wise people thus never neglect or forget them.
    
    We first have to take up this body, this //namo//, and only then do 
  we perform the act of bowing it down in homage. To translate //namo// 
  as homage is to translate only the act, not the source of the act.
    
    This same root inheritance is the starting capital we use in 
  training ourselves, so we needn't feel lacking or poor when it comes 
  to the resources needed for the practice.
    
  
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                               Section 4.
                                          
                 The root foundation for the practice.
  
  
  The two elements, //namo//, when mentioned by themselves, aren't 
  adequate or complete. We have to rearrange the vowels and consonants 
  as follows: Take the //a// from the //n//, and give it to the //m/; 
  take the //o// from the //m// and give it to the //n//, and then put 
  the //ma// in front of the //no//. This gives us //mano//, the heart. 
  Now we have the body together with the heart, and this is enough to be 
  used as the root foundation for the practice. //Mano//, the heart, is 
  primal, the great foundation. Everything we do or say comes from the 
  heart, as stated in the Buddha's words:
  
                        //mano-pubbangama dhamma 
                        mano-settha mano-maya//:
  
    'All dhammas are preceded by the heart, dominated by the heart, 
  made from the heart.' The Buddha formulated the entire Dhamma and 
  Vinaya from out of this great foundation, the heart. So when his 
  disciples contemplate in accordance with the Dhamma and Vinaya until 
  //namo// is perfectly clear, then //mano// lies at the end point of 
  formulation. In other words, it lies beyond all formulations.
    
    All supposings come from the heart. Each of us has his or her own 
  load, which we carry as supposings and formulations in line with the 
  currents of the flood (//ogha//), to the point where they give rise to 
  unawareness (//avijja//), the factor that creates states of becoming 
  and birth, all from our not being wise to these things, from our 
  deludedly holding them all to be 'me' or 'mine'.
                                          
                                          
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                               Section 5.
                                          
             The root cause of everything in the universe.
  
  
  The seven books of the Abhidhamma, except for the Patthana (The Book 
  on Origination), are finite in scope. As for the Patthana, it is 
  //anantanaya//, infinite in scope. Only a Buddha is capable of 
  comprehending it in its entirety. When we consider the Pali text, 
  which begins //hetu-paccayo//, we find that the cause (//hetu//) that 
  acts as the primal sustaining factor (//paccaya//) for all things in 
  the cosmos is nothing other than the heart. The heart is the great 
  cause -- what is primal, what is important. All things apart from it 
  are effects or conditions. The remaining factors mentioned in the 
  Patthana, from //arammana// (objective support) to //aviggata// (not 
  without) can act as sustaining factors only because the great cause, 
  the heart, comes first. Thus //mano//, discussed in Section 4; 
  //thitibhutam//, which will be discussed in Section 6; and the great 
  cause discussed here all refer to the same thing. The Buddha was able 
  to formulate the Dhamma and Vinaya, to know things with his 
  ten-powered intuition, and to comprehend all knowable phenomena, all 
  because the great cause acted as the primal factor. His comprehension 
  was thus infinite in scope. In the same way, all of the disciples had 
  this great cause acting as their primal factor and so were able to 
  know in accordance with the Buddha's teachings. This is why the 
  Venerable Assaji, the fifth of the five brethren, taught Upatissa (the 
  Venerable Sariputta),
  
             //ye dhamma hetu-pabhava tesam hetum tathagato
             tesanca yo nirodho ca evam vadi mahasamano//:
  
    'Whatever dhammas arise from a cause...' This great cause being the 
  important factor, the primal factor, then when the Venerable Assaji 
  reached this point -- the great cause -- how could the Venerable 
  Sariputta's mind help but penetrate down to the current of the Dhamma? 
  -- for everything in the world comes about due to the great cause. 
  Even the transcendent dhammas are reached by the great cause. This is 
  why the Patthana is said to be infinite in its scope. Whoever trains 
  the heart, the great cause, until it is clear and dazzling, is capable 
  of knowing everything of every sort infinitely, both within and 
  without.
                                          
                                          
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                               Section 6.
                                          
         The root instigator of the cycle of death and rebirth.
  
  
                      //thitibhutam avijja-paccaya
                sankhara...upadanam...bhavo...jati...//
  
    Each and every one of us born as a human being has a birthplace: we 
  have our parents as our birthplace. So why did the Buddha formulate 
  the teaching on sustained conditions only from the factor of 
  unawareness onwards? What unawareness comes from, he didn't say. 
  Unawareness has to have a mother and father just as we do, and we 
  learn from the above line that //thitibhutam// is its mother and 
  father. //Thitibhutam// refers to the primal mind. When the primal 
  mind is imbued with delusion, there is a sustaining factor: the 
  condition of unawareness. Once there is unawareness, it acts as the 
  sustenance for the fashioning of //sankhara//, mental fashionings, 
  together with the act of clinging to them, which gives rise to states 
  of becoming and birth. In other words, these things will have to keep 
  on arising and giving rise to each other continually. They are thus 
  called sustained or sustaining conditions because they support and 
  sustain one another.
    
    Awareness and unawareness both come from //thitibhutam//. When 
  //thitibhutam// is imbued with unawareness, it isn't wise to its 
  conditions; but when it is imbued with awareness, it realizes its 
  conditions for what they really are. This is how the matter appears 
  when considered with the clear insight leading to emergence 
  (//vutthana-gamini vipassana//).
    
    To summarize: //Thitibhutam// is the primal instigator of the cycle 
  of death and rebirth. Thus it is called the root source of the three 
  (see Section 12). When we are to cut the cycle of death and rebirth so 
  that it disconnects and vanishes into nothingness, we have to train 
  the primal instigator to develop awareness, alert to all conditions 
  for what they really are. It will then recover from its delusion and 
  never give rise to any conditions again. //Thitibhutam//, the root 
  instigator, will stop spinning, and this will end our circling through 
  the cycle of death and rebirth.
                                          
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                               Section 7.
                                          
   The supreme position: the foundation for the paths, fruitions, and 
                              //nibbana//.
  
  
  //aggam thanam manussesu maggam satta-visuddhiya//:
  
    'The supreme position is to be found among human beings: the path 
  to the purification of living beings.' This can be explained as 
  follows: We have received our legacy from //namo//, our parents -- 
  i.e. this body, which has taken a human birth, the highest birth there 
  is. We are supreme beings, well-placed in a supreme position, complete 
  with the treasures of thought, word, and deed. If we want to amass 
  external treasures, such as material wealth, money, and gold, we can. 
  If we want to amass internal treasures, such as the extraordinary 
  qualities of the paths, their fruitions, and //nibbana//, we also can. 
  The Buddha formulated the Dhamma and Vinaya for us human beings, and 
  not at all for cows, horses, elephants, and so on. We human beings are 
  a race that can practice to reach purity. So we shouldn't be 
  discouraged or self-deprecating, thinking that we are lacking in worth 
  or potential, because as human beings we are capable. What we don't 
  have, we can give rise to. What we already have, we can make greater. 
  This is in keeping with the teaching found in the Vessantara Jataka:
  
            //danam deti, silam rakkhati, bhavanam bhavetva, 
            ekacco saggam gacchati, ekacco mokkham gacchati,
                             nissanayam//:
  
    'Having worked at amassing wisdom through being charitable, 
  observing the precepts, and developing the mind in line with the 
  teachings of the Lord Buddha, those who work only a little will have 
  to go to heaven, while those who are determined and really do the work 
  -- and at the same time having the help of the potential and 
  perfections they have developed in the past -- will reach //nibbana// 
  without a doubt. '
  
    Common animals are said not to be supreme because they can't act as 
  human beings can. So it is rightly said that human beings are 
  well-placed in a supreme position, able to lead themselves to the 
  paths, their fruitions, and to pure //nibbana//
                                          
                                          
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                               Section 8. 
                                          
   The stronghold that forms the practice area for training oneself.
  
  
  In which set of principles did the Lord Buddha establish our 
  stronghold? When we consider this question, we find that he 
  established our stronghold in the great frames of reference 
  (//satipatthana//).
  
    To make a comparison with worldly affairs: In armed battles where 
  victory is at stake, it is necessary to find a stronghold. If one 
  obtains a good stronghold, one can successfully ward off the weapons 
  of the enemy; and there one can accumulate great strength to launch an 
  attack, driving the enemy to defeat. Such a place is thus called a 
  stronghold, i.e. a place complete with strong stockades, gates, moats 
  and embattlements.
    
    So it is with the affairs of the Dhamma when we take the great 
  frames of reference as our stronghold, in that those who go into 
  battle with the enemy -- defilement -- must start out by keeping track 
  of the body as their frame of reference, because when such things as 
  sensual passion arise, they arise at the body and mind. Because the 
  sight of a body causes the mind to be aroused, we can conclude that 
  the body is the provocation, and so we must examine the body as a 
  means of stilling the Hindrances (//nivarana//) and calming the mind. 
  This is a point that you should work at and develop as much as 
  possible. In other words, keep investigating that point without giving 
  way at all. When an image (//uggaha nimitta//) of any part of the body 
  arises, take that part of the body as the basic theme for your 
  investigation. You don't have to go shifting to other parts. To think 
  that, 'I've already seen this part. Other parts I haven't seen, so 
  I'll have to go and investigate other parts,' isn't advisable at all. 
  Even if you investigate the body until you have it analyzed minutely 
  into all of its parts that are composed of the properties (//dhatu//) 
  of earth, water, fire, and wind -- this is called //patibhaga// -- you 
  should still keep examining the body as it first appeared in the 
  original image until you have it mastered. To master it, you have to 
  examine that same point over and over again, just as when you chant. 
  If you memorize a particular discourse and then leave it, without 
  chanting or repeating it again, you will forget it, and it won't serve 
  any purpose, due to your complacency in not mastering it. The same 
  holds true in your investigation of the body. Once an image of any 
  part arises, if you don't investigate it repeatedly, and instead 
  heedlessly let it pass, it won't serve any purpose at all.
    
    This investigation of the body has many citations, one being in our 
  present-day ordination ceremony. Before all else, the preceptor must 
  tell the ordinand the five meditation themes -- hair of the head, hair 
  of the body, nails, teeth, and skin, i.e., this very body -- because 
  of their importance. In the Commentary to the Dhammapada, it is said 
  that an unwise preceptor who doesn't teach the investigation of the 
  body may destroy his pupil's potential for arahantship. So at present 
  the preceptor must first teach the five meditation themes.
    
    In another spot the Buddha taught that there is no such thing as a 
  Buddha or an arahant who has not fixed on at least one part of the 
  body as a meditation theme. Thus he told a group of 500 monks who were 
  discussing the earth -- saying that such and such a village had red 
  soil or black soil, etc. -- that they were discussing external earth 
  when they should be investigating internal earth. In other words, they 
  should have been investigating this body intelligently, penetrating it 
  throughout and making it absolutely clear. When the Buddha finished 
  his discussion of this topic, all 500 monks reached the fruition of 
  arahantship.
    
    From this we can conclude that the investigation of the body must 
  be important. Each and every person who is to gain release from all 
  suffering and stress has to investigate the body. If we are to 
  accumulate great strength, we must accumulate it by investigating the 
  body. Even the Lord Buddha, when he was about to attain Awakening, 
  started out by investigating the breath -- and what is the breath, if 
  not the body?
    
    So the great frames of reference, starting with the contemplation 
  of the body, are said to be our stronghold. Once we have obtained a 
  good stronghold -- i.e., once we have put the principles of the great 
  frames of reference into practice until we have them mastered -- we 
  should then investigate things as they are in terms of the inherent 
  nature of their elements, using the strategies of clear insight, which 
  will be discussed next.
                                          
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                               Section 9. 
                                          
 The strategies of clear insight, techniques for uprooting defilement.
                                          
                                          
  The nature of all good things is that they come from things that 
  aren't good, just as lotuses that are fair and lovely are born from 
  mud that is filthy and repulsive; yet once they rise clear of the mud, 
  they are clean and pure, becoming a fitting headdress for a king, a 
  viceroy, or a courtier, never again returning to the mud. In this they 
  are like the earnest meditator, one engaged in a persistent effort. 
  Such a person must investigate a thing that is filthy and repulsive if 
  the mind is to gain release from all filthy and repulsive things. The 
  'thing that is filthy and repulsive' here is the body. The body is an 
  assemblage of filth, urine, and excrement. The things that are exuded 
  from the hair of the head, the hair of the body, nails, teeth, skin, 
  and so on are all forms of excrement. When they fall into food, people 
  take offense at it. The food has to be thrown out, for no one can 
  stomach it. Moreover, the body has to be constantly washed and 
  scrubbed if it is to look presentable. If we don't clean it, it will 
  smell rank and no one will let us come near. Clothing and other 
  accessories, when they are apart from the body, are clean and 
  attractive, but as soon as they come into contact with the body they 
  become dirty. If we let them go without washing for a long time, no 
  one will let us come near, because of the smell.
    
    From this we can see that the body is a house of urine and 
  excrement, //asubha// -- unattractive; //patigula// -- repulsive. When 
  still alive, it's bad enough; when there is no more life to it, it's 
  even more disgusting, to the point where nothing else can compare. So 
  from the very beginning, all earnest meditators investigate the body 
  methodically until they have it mastered. Before the body becomes 
  clear, they investigate whichever part or aspect of the body is 
  agreeable to their temperament until a particular aspect of the body 
  appears as an //uggaha nimitta//. Then they focus on that aspect, 
  working at it and developing it repeatedly.
    
    'Working at it and developing it repeatedly' should be understood 
  as follows: When rice farmers grow rice, they work in the soil, 
  plowing the soil and planting rice in the soil. The following year 
  they grow rice in the soil again. They don't grow their rice in the 
  air or in the middle of the sky. They grow it only in the soil, and 
  the rice then fills their granaries of its own accord. When they work 
  repeatedly in the soil, they don't have to plead, 'Rice, O rice, 
  please come and fill our granaries.' The rice pours in of its own 
  accord. And even if they forbid it, saying, 'Rice, O rice, don't come 
  and fill our granaries,' if they have completed their work in the 
  soil, there's no doubt but that the rice will still come and keep 
  their granaries full.
    
    In the same way, we as earnest meditators should keep investigating 
  the body at the point that is agreeable to our temperaments or first 
  appears for us to see. No matter what, we should not neglect or 
  abandon that point. Working at it repeatedly doesn't refer only to the 
  practice of walking meditation. We should be mindful, continuing our 
  investigation in all places and at all times. Sitting, standing, 
  walking, and lying down; eating, drinking, working, speaking, and 
  thinking, we should always have all-round mindfulness of the present: 
  This is what is meant by 'working at it repeatedly'.
    
    Once you have investigated the body until it is clear, you should 
  then consider dividing it up into its various parts, using your own 
  way of being methodical. Separate the body into the elements of earth, 
  water, fire, and wind, examining it until you really see it in those 
  terms. At this stage, you may use any strategies of your own devising 
  that are agreeable to your temperament, but you must not in any event 
  abandon the original reference point that first appeared to you. When 
  you are investigating at this stage, you should work at it and develop 
  it repeatedly. Don't investigate once and then let it go for half a 
  month or a month. Investigate in and out, back and forth, again and 
  again. In other words, withdraw inward to quiet the mind and then come 
  out again to investigate the body. Don't exclusively investigate the 
  body or exclusively quiet the mind.
    
    When you have investigated in this way until you have it thoroughly 
  mastered, what happens next is what comes of its own accord. The mind 
  is bound to converge in a big way; and the instant it converges, 
  everything will appear to converge, being one and the same. The entire 
  world will be nothing but elements. At the same time, an image will 
  appear of the world as being level as a drum head, because the entire 
  world is of one and the same inherent nature. Forests, mountains, 
  people, animals -- even you yourself -- will all ultimately have to be 
  leveled down in one and the same way. Together with this vision, 
  knowledge arises, cutting off all doubts in the heart. This is called 
  //yatha-bhuta-nana-dassana vipassana//: the clear insight that both 
  knows and sees things for what they actually are.
    
    This step is not the end point. It is the beginning of the next 
  stage we have to practice, which we as earnest meditators are to work 
  at and develop repeatedly in order for heightened awareness to be 
  mastered and complete. Then we will see that the mental fashionings 
  that suppose, 'This is mine... That is me,' are inconstancy; and that 
  because of attachment they are suffering -- for all elements have been 
  the way they are all along: arising, aging, growing ill, and dying, 
  arising and deteriorating since before we were born. From time 
  immemorial, this is the way they have been. But because the conditions 
  of the mind and the five //khandhas// -- //rupa//, //vedana//, 
  //sanna//, //sankhara//, and //vinnana// -- have fashioned and labeled 
  throughout every existence up to the present, through lives too 
  numerous to number, the mind has been deluded into following its 
  supposings. It's not the case that our supposings have attached 
  themselves to us. When you come right down to it, there's no doubt but 
  that all phenomena in the world, whether endowed with consciousness or 
  not, have been the way they are -- arising and deteriorating on their 
  own -- in just this way.
    
    So we realize, //pubbe ananussu tesu dhammesu// -- these 
  regularities of behavior (lit. 'dhamma-nesses') have been this way 
  from the past. Even though no one has told us, we know that this is 
  just the way they have been. This is why the Buddha maintained with 
  regard to this point that he didn't hear this from anyone, wasn't 
  taught this by anyone -- for this is just the way these things had 
  been since before his time. Thus we can see that the regularities in 
  the behavior of all elements are bound to be this way. But because the 
  conditions of the mind have fastened into all of these things for so 
  many lives, they have behaved in line with those supposings. The mind 
  has been overwhelmed by latent tendencies (//anusaya//) to the point 
  where it is deluded into believing them, and so states of becoming and 
  birth have been created through the clinging of the conditions of the 
  mind.
    
    Thus the earnest meditator comes to analyze things down in line 
  with their inherent nature, seeing that,
  
           //sabbe sankhara anicca, sabbe sankhara dukkha//:
  
    Acts of mental fashioning -- the conditions of the mind -- are what 
  is inconstant. The world of living beings is constant: It is simply 
  the way it is. Analyze these things in terms of the four Noble Truths 
  as a way of rectifying the conditions of the mind, so that you can see 
  for certain, in your own right, that these conditions of the mind are 
  inconstant and stressful. And the fact that you haven't seen in your 
  own right that they are inconstant and stressful is why you have 
  fallen for mental fashionings. When you truly see this, it will 
  rectify the conditions of the mind. The realization will come to you,
  
                      //sankhara sassata natthi//:
  
    'There are no mental fashionings that are constant and lasting.' 
  Mental fashionings are simply conditions of the mind, like mirages. As 
  for living beings, they have been a constant feature of the world all 
  along. When you know both sides -- i.e., that living beings are simply 
  the way they are, and that mental fashionings are simply a condition 
  of the mind that supposes them -- then //thitibhutam//, the primal 
  mind that has no conditions, can gain release.
  
    As for the teaching that all phenomena or regularities of behavior 
  are not-self: How could they be the self? Their business is simply to 
  arise the way they do. Thus the Buddha taught,
  
                        //sabbe dhamma anatta//:
  
    'All phenomena are not-self.' We as earnest meditators should 
  investigate things to see them clearly in this way, until the mind is 
  made to converge, enabling us to see truly and vividly along these 
  lines in our own right, at the same time giving rise to the knowledge 
  that accompanies this vision. This is what is meant by 
  //vutthana-gamini vipassana// (clear insight leading to emergence). We 
  should work at this stage until it is mastered, until we see truly and 
  clearly, along with the full convergence of the mind and its 
  concurrent knowledge, converging against the current, curing the 
  latent tendencies, turning supposing into release; or until we 
  converge on the primal mind that is simply the way it is, to the point 
  where it is absolutely clear, with the concurrent knowledge,
  
                       //Khina jati nanam hoti//:
                                          
               'There is the knowledge of no more birth.'
  
    This stage is not an assumption or a supposing. It isn't anything 
  fashioned or conjectured into being, nor is it anything that can be 
  obtained by wanting. It is something that arises, is, and knows 
  entirely of its own accord. Intense, relentless practice in which we 
  analyze things shrewdly on our own is what will cause it to arise of 
  its own accord.
    
    This has been compared to rice plants. Once we have properly 
  nourished and cared for the rice plant, the results -- the grains of 
  rice -- are not something that can be obtained by wanting. They will 
  appear of their own accord. If a person who wants to get rice is lazy 
  and doesn't care for the rice plant, he can keep wanting until the day 
  he dies, but no rice grains will appear for him. The same holds true 
  with the reality of release: It isn't something that can be obtained 
  by wanting. A person who wants release but who practices wrongly or 
  doesn't practice -- and wastes his time being lazy until the day he 
  dies -- won't meet with release at all.
    
                                          
                                 * * *
                                          
                              Section 10.
                                          
    The primal mind is radiant and clear by nature, but is darkened 
                        because of corruptions.
  
  
                   //pabhassaramidam bhikkhave cittam
           tanca kho agantukehi upakkilesehi upakkilittham//:
  
    'Monks, this mind is originally radiant and clear, but because 
  passing corruptions and defilements come and obscure it, it doesn't 
  show its radiance.' This has been compared to a tree in the poem that 
  runs,
  
       A tall tree with 6,000 branches:
       Big chameleons swarm it each day by the hundreds,
       Small chameleons, each day by the thousands.
       If the owner doesn't watch out,
       They'll bring along more and more of their friends every day.
  
    This can be explained as follows: The tall tree with 6,000 branches 
  -- if we cut off the three zeroes, this leaves us with six, which 
  stands for the six sense doors, the entry way for the chameleons, 
  i.e., things that are counterfeit, not things that are genuine. 
  Defilements aren't genuine. They are simply things that come drifting 
  in through the sense doors by the hundreds and thousands. Not only 
  that, defilements that haven't yet arisen will arise more and more 
  every day as long as we don't find a means for rectifying the nature 
  of the mind.
  
    The mind is something more radiant than anything else can be, but 
  because counterfeits -- passing defilements -- come and obscure it, it 
  loses its radiance, like the sun when obscured by clouds. Don't go 
  thinking that the sun goes after the clouds. Instead, the clouds come 
  drifting along and obscure the sun.
  
    So meditators, when they know in this manner, should do away with 
  these counterfeits by analyzing them shrewdly, as explained in the 
  strategies of clear insight, Section 9. When they develop the mind to 
  the stage of the primal mind, this will mean that all counterfeits are 
  destroyed, or rather, counterfeit things won't be able to reach into 
  the primal mind, because the bridge making the connection will have 
  been destroyed. Even though the mind may then still have to come into 
  contact with the preoccupations of the world, its contact will be like 
  that of a bead of water rolling over a lotus leaf.
                                          
                                          
                                 * * *
                                          
                                          
                              Section 11.
                                          
   One's self-training as a meditator has to be in keeping with one's 
                              temperament.
  
  A famous horse-trainer once approached the Lord Buddha and asked him 
  how he trained his disciples. The Buddha responded by asking the 
  trainer how he trained horses. The trainer replied that there were 
  four kinds of horses: (1) those easy to tame, (2) those of an 
  intermediate sort, (3) those genuinely hard to tame, and (4) those 
  that couldn't be tamed at all, and had to be killed. The Buddha 
  replied, 'So it is with me.' (1) Those easy to tame, i.e., those whose 
  minds gather easily, should eat enough food to nourish the body. (2) 
  Those of an intermediate sort, i.e., those whose minds have some 
  trouble settling down, should not be allowed to eat much -- only a 
  little food. (3) Those genuinely hard to tame, i.e., those who really 
  have trouble getting their minds to settle down, shouldn't eat at all, 
  but they have to be //attannu// They have to know their own strength 
  and exactly how much they will be able to endure. (4) As for those who 
  couldn't be tamed and had to be killed -- i.e., those termed 
  //padaparama// who couldn't subdue their minds at all -- the Buddha 
  would withdraw the bridge. In other words, he wouldn't teach them, 
  which was tantamount to killing them.
                                          
                                          
                                 * * *
                                          
                                          
                              Section 12.
                                          
                        The Mulatika Discourse.
  
  
  //Tika// means three. //Mula// means root. Together they mean 'things 
  that are roots in sets of three.' Passion, aversion, and delusion are 
  three, termed the roots of what is unwise. Craving comes in threes: 
  sensual craving, craving for becoming, and craving for no becoming. 
  The floods and effluents (//asava//) of the mind each come in threes: 
  sensuality, states of becoming, and unawareness. If a person falls in 
  with these sorts of threes, then,
  
                           //tiparivattam//:
    
    He or she will have to keep spinning around in threes, and so the 
  three realms -- the realms of sensuality, form, and formlessness -- 
  will have to continue as they are, for these threes are the roots of 
  the three realms.
    
    The remedy also comes in threes: virtue, concentration, and 
  discernment. When people practice in line with the virtue, 
  concentration, and discernment forming the cure, then,
    
                          //na tiparivattam//:
    
    They won't have to keep spinning in threes. The three realms won't 
  exist. In other words, they will gain utter release from the three 
  realms.
                                          
                                          
                                 * * *
                                          
  
                              Section 13.
                                          
         Only a visuddhi deva is an individual truly at peace.
  
  
  //akuppam sabba-dhammesu neyyadhamma pavessanto//:
  
    'One must have a mind unaroused with regard to any defilements and 
  must know all phenomena both within and without,
    
                              - //santo//
    
    in order to be calm and at peace.' A person at peace in this way 
  will have a fully developed sense of conscience and shame, mental 
  qualities that are pure and clean, a firm, steady mind, and a personal 
  integrity endowed with the qualities of a //deva// (celestial being), 
  as stated in the stanza that runs,
    
              //hiri-ottappa-sampanna sukkadhamma-samahita
             santo sappurisa loke deva-dhammati vuccare//.
    
    //Devas// by birth -- the inhabitants of the celestial realms -- 
  are replete with sensual pleasures and restless with defilement. How 
  then can they be at peace? This stanza thus must surely refer to 
  //visuddhi devas// (//devas// through purity), i.e., to arahants. Such 
  people are genuinely at peace and qualify as having a fully developed 
  sense of conscience and shame, together with 'white qualities,' i.e. 
  true purity.
                                          
                                          
                                 * * *
                                          
                                          
                              Section 14.
                                          
 Activityless-ness is the end point of the world, beyond supposing and 
                              formulation.
  
  
                         //saccanam caturo pada
               kkinasava jutimanto te loke parinibbuta//
  
    The four Noble Truths -- suffering, its cause, its cessation, and 
  the path to its cessation -- are activities in that each truth has an 
  aspect that has to be done: Suffering has to be understood, its cause 
  abandoned, its cessation made clear, and the path to its cessation 
  developed. All of these are aspects that have to be done -- and if 
  they have to be done, they must be activities. So we can conclude that 
  all four truths are activities. This is in keeping with the first 
  verse quoted above, which speaks of the four truths as feet, stair 
  treads, or steps that must be taken for the task to be finished. What 
  follows is thus termed activityless-ness -- like writing the numerals 
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0, then erasing 1-9, leaving just 0, and not writing 
  anything more. What is left is read as 'zero,' but it doesn't have any 
  value at all. You can't use it to add, subtract, multiply, or divide 
  with any other numerals, yet at the same time you can't say that it 
  doesn't exist, for there it is: 0 (zero).
    
    This is like the discernment that knows all around, because it 
  destroys the activity of supposing. In other words, it erases 
  supposing completely and doesn't become involved with or hold on to 
  any supposings at all. With the words 'erasing' or 'destroying' the 
  activity of supposing, the question arises, 'When supposing is 
  entirely destroyed, where will we stay?' The answer is that we will 
  stay in a place that isn't supposed: right there with 
  activityless-ness.
    
    This explanation is in line with the aspects of reality that appear 
  clearly only to those who practice, and that people who don't practice 
  can't know. Only when we listen and then practice accordingly until we 
  see and know of our own accord will we be able to understand.
    
    The meaning of the next verse is this: 'Those who have no more 
  effluents extinguish the three realms and are dazzling.' In other 
  words, they have practiced persistence and made an investigation 
  '//bhavito bahulikato//.' In other words, they have worked at it and 
  developed it repeatedly to the point where the mind has the strength 
  capable of analyzing and destroying all supposings so as to reach 
  activityless-ness. They can thus gain release from the three realms. 
    
    In extinguishing the three realms, arahants don't fly up into the 
  realms of sensuality, form, and formlessness. They stay right where 
  they are. The same was true of the Buddha: When he extinguished the 
  three realms, he was sitting in one spot, under the Bodhi tree. He 
  didn't fly up into the three realms. He extinguished them at the mind 
  -- for right there in the mind is where the three realms exist.
    
    Those who aim at extinguishing the three realms should thus 
  extinguish them in their own hearts. Only then will they obliterate 
  activity -- the act of supposing -- from the heart, leaving just 
  activityless-ness. This is the primal heart, the primal Dhamma, which 
  knows no death.
    
                                          
                                 * * *
                                          
                                          
                              Section 15.
                                          
                   The nine abodes of living beings.
    
    
  The realms of the heavenly beings, the human realm, and the realms of 
  destitution (//apaya//) are classed as the sensual realm, the abode of 
  living beings who indulge in sensuality. Taken together, they count as 
  one. The realms of form, the abodes of living beings who have attained 
  //rupa jhana//, are four. The realms of formlessness, the abodes of 
  living beings who have attained //arupa jhana//, are also four. So 
  altogether there are nine abodes for living beings. Those -- the 
  arahants -- who are wise to the nine abodes leave them and don't have 
  to live in any of them. This appears in the last of the Novice's 
  Questions (//samanera-panha//), '//dasa nama kim//' -- What is ten? -- 
  which is answered. '//dasahangehi samannagato arahati vuccati ti//' -- 
  The arahant, one who is endowed with ten qualities, gains release from 
  the nine abodes of living beings. This can be compared to writing the 
  numerals 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. 1 to 9 are numbers that can be counted, 
  named, added, subtracted, multiplied, and divided. As for ten -- 1 and 
  0 (zero) -- when we erase the 1, because it's a repetition, we are 
  left with 0 (zero). If we use 0 to add, subtract, multiply, or divide 
  with any other number, it won't increase the value of that number; and 
  0 by itself has no value at all -- but you can't say that it doesn't 
  exist, because there it is. The same is true with the heart: It's a 
  nature whose attributes are like 0. When 0 is connected to any other 
  number, it greatly increases the value of that number. For instance, 1 
  connected with 0 becomes 10. So it is with the heart. When connected 
  with anything, it instantly proliferates into things elaborate and 
  fantastic. But when trained until it is wise and discerning with 
  regard to all knowable phenomena, it returns to its state as 0 (zero) 
  -- empty, open, and clear, beyond all counting and naming. It doesn't 
  stay in the nine places that are abodes for living beings. Instead, it 
  stays in a place devoid of supposing and formulation: its inherent 
  nature as 0 (zero), or activityless-ness, as mentioned in Section 14.
  
  
                                 * * *
                                          
                                          
                              Section 16.
                                          
 The  significance of the first sermon, the middle sermon, and the final 
                                sermon.
  
  
  The sermons delivered by the Lord Buddha at three points in his career 
  have a great significance to which Buddhists should give special 
  thought and consideration.
  
    A. //At the beginning of the Buddha's career// he delivered a 
  sermon to the five brethren at the forest in the Deer Park at 
  Isipatana near Benares. This was his first sermon, called the Wheel of 
  Dhamma. He started with the two extremes that those who have gone 
  forth from the household life should not indulge in, saying,
  
           //dveme bhikkhave anta pabbajitena na sevitabba//:
  
    'Monks, there are these two extremes that those who have gone forth 
  from the household life should not pursue: indulgence in sensual 
  pleasure and indulgence in self--affliction.' To explain: Indulgence 
  in sensual pleasure lies on the side of love; indulgence in 
  self-affliction, on the side of hate. Both sides are causes of 
  suffering and stress. When we practice self-purification and yet fall 
  into either of these two sides, we can't be said to have entered the 
  middle way, for when we are making a persistent effort to practice and 
  the mind becomes fully calm and relaxed, we are pleased; when the mind 
  thinks and becomes restless and distracted, we are displeased. Being 
  pleased is indulgence in pleasure; being displeased, indulgence in 
  self-affliction. Being pleased is passion, being displeased is 
  aversion, and not being wise to passion and aversion is delusion.
    
    Whoever makes an effort to develop persistence in concentration has 
  to start out by running into these two extremes. If we run into these 
  extremes, we are classed as wrong, but it is only normal that we be 
  wrong before we can be right. Even the Buddha, before his Awakening, 
  was completely wrong in just the same way. Even his two foremost 
  disciples were wrong -- and held pernicious doctrines to boot. All the 
  other disciples started out wrong from the beginning as well. But when 
  the Buddha came to follow the middle way while meditating under the 
  shade of the Bodhi tree, after having gained the first two knowledges 
  -- remembrance of previous lifetimes and knowledge of the death and 
  rebirth of living beings -- in the first two watches of the night, he 
  gained the third knowledge -- knowledge of the ending of mental 
  effluents -- in the watch toward dawn. This was when he found the 
  genuine middle way, releasing his mind from the error of the two 
  extremes. Released from the clan, class, abodes, lineage, and legacy 
  of convention and supposing, he attained the clan, class, abode, 
  lineage, and legacy of the Noble Ones. The Noble Disciples came to 
  know following the Buddha, acting correctly in line with the knowledge 
  of the ending of mental effluents, and gained release from error just 
  as he had. 
  
    As for us as meditators, in the very beginning it is only normal 
  that we will have to be wrong. As long as we let ourselves be pleased 
  and displeased in the development of merit and wisdom, we fall under 
  the sway of the ways of the world (//lokadhamma//), and when we are 
  under the sway of the ways of the world, we are shaken by pleasure and 
  displeasure. This is called being shaken back and forth.
  
                          //uppanno kho me//:
    
    Where do the ways of the world arise? In ourselves. The ways of the 
  world have eight factors, and the path that cures them has eight as 
  well. The eightfold path is the cure for the eight ways of the world. 
  Thus the Buddha taught the middle way as the cure for the two 
  extremes.
    
    Once we have cured ourselves of the two extremes, we enter the 
  noble path, cutting across the currents of the world, making the mind 
  //cago patinissaggo mutti analayo// -- relinquish, release, and rest 
  easy.
    
    To summarize: As long as the two extremes still exist in your 
  heart, you are not on the right track. But when your heart gains 
  release from the two extremes, you become unshakable: free from 
  impurities and safe from the flood. This is why the meaning of the 
  Wheel of Dhamma is very significant. When the Buddha explained the 
  Wheel of Dhamma, it caused the elements of the world to tremble. And 
  when the message is so significant, how could they help but tremble? 
  The elements of the world are nothing else but this very body of ours. 
  Our body is composed of the world's elements and it trembles because 
  the mind sees into something it has never seen before. The fact that 
  the mind is released from the two extremes is what causes the elements 
  of the world to tremble. They tremble because the mind is not coming 
  back to give rise to them ever again.
    
    
    B. //At the mid-point of the Buddha's career// he delivered the 
  Patimokkha Exhortation to an assembly of 1,250 arahants at the 
  Squirrels' Feeding Grounds in the Royal Bamboo Grove near Rajagaha. 
  One of the important points was,
    
             //adhicitte ca ayogo etam buddhana-sasanam//:
    
    'Heighten the mind: That is the teaching of the Buddhas.' To 
  heighten the mind, we have to be calm and at peace.
    
            //iccha lobha-samapanno samano kim bhavissati//:
    
    'When we are endowed with desire -- greedy, struggling, and deluded 
  -- how can we be calm and at peace?' We need to practice by following 
  the discipline as our starting point and by developing our meditation 
  theme, beginning with walking and sitting meditation. We must work at 
  our contemplation of the great frames of reference and develop it 
  repeatedly, starting by keeping track of the body as our frame of 
  reference. At first we should contemplate the parts of the body by 
  means of //parikamma savana//, i.e., by means of conjecture -- that 
  this part is like that, and that is like this -- because if we do this 
  mindfully, with self-awareness, the mind won't wander far from the 
  body and will settle down easily. When we practice //parikamma 
  savana// repeatedly, an //uggaha nimitta// will arise. We should then 
  master that stage until we reach //patibhaga//, analyzing the vision 
  into its parts. When we master //patibhaga// fully, it will turn into 
  insight meditation. We then develop insight meditation to its highest 
  degree so that the mind will reach //thitibhutam//, as discussed in 
  the strategies of clear insight. This is what is meant by 'practice.' 
  When we have practiced,
    
                              //mokkham//:
    
    We will cross over and beyond. It is because of the practices that 
  we have done to completion that we will cross over and beyond -- i.e., 
  beyond the world. This is what is meant by the transcendent dhammas.
    
                              //khemam//:
    
    We will gain relief from bondage.
    
    Thus the message of the middle sermon is significant because it 
  aims at release.
    
    
    C. //At the end of his career//, when he was about to enter total 
  //nibbana//, the Buddha delivered his final sermon in the midst of a 
  gathering of Noble Disciples in the Royal Sala Grove of the Mallian 
  gentry of Kusinara, saying, //handadani amantayami vo bhikkhave, 
  pativediyami vo bhikkhave, khaya-vaya-dhamma sankhara, appamadena 
  sampadetha//: 'I say to you, monks, do not be complacent. Contemplate 
  fashionings that arise and then decay. When you contemplate in this 
  manner, you will penetrate completely. ' That was all he said and he 
  never said anything further. This is thus said to be his final sermon.
    
    To explain the meaning: Where do fashionings arise? What are 
  fashionings? Fashionings arise in our own minds. They are an effect or 
  condition of the mind that gives rise to all supposings. These 
  fashionings are the culprits that suppose and formulate everything in 
  the world. Actually, the things of the world -- in their elementary 
  properties as phenomena -- are simply the way they are. Earth, trees, 
  mountains, sky, and sunshine don't say that they are anything at all. 
  Even the human body, which is also composed of the world's elements, 
  doesn't say that it is this or that. Mental fashioning is the culprit 
  that styles these things as being this or that -- and we fall for what 
  it says as being true, holding that all these things are ours or 
  ourselves. Passion, aversion, and delusion thus arise, causing the 
  primal mind to stray deludedly after birth, aging, illness, and death, 
  circling around endlessly through innumerable states of becoming and 
  birth -- all through the instigation of mental fashioning.
    
    This is why the Buddha taught us to contemplate mental fashionings 
  as inconstant and stressful:
    
    //sabbe sankhara anicca, sabbe sankhara dukkha//.
    
    We keep at this until we see them with full and clear comprehension 
  -- which arises as the fruit of having earlier developed //patibhaga// 
  -- to the point where the mind enters the //bhavanga//, its underlying 
  state. When the current of the //bhavanga// disappears, a genuinely 
  intuitive understanding will arise right at the heart: 'That's just 
  how they are -- inconstant and stressful.' When we master this and see 
  it clearly and distinctly, we will then be wise to mental fashionings. 
  Mental fashionings will no longer be able to fashion the mind into 
  becoming aroused ever again, as stated in the verse,
    
           //akuppam sabba-dhammesu neyyadhamma pavessanto//:
    
    When mental fashioning can no longer fashion the mind, the mind 
  doesn't become aroused. It is wise to all knowable dhammas, 
    
                              - //santo//:
    
    and thus calm and at peace, reaching release.
    
    The words of this final sermon are truly significant. They can make 
  the person who contemplates them awaken to the ultimate degree -- 
  which is why the Buddha stopped speaking and said no more.
    
    The sermons given at these three points in the Buddha's career have 
  a significance over and beyond that of any other he ever gave. The 
  first sermon aims at release, the middle sermon aims at release, the 
  final sermon aims at release. In this way all three of them without 
  exception aim at nothing but release.
  
                                          
                                 * * *
                                          
                                          
                              Section 17.
                                          
  Arahants of every sort attain both release through concentration and 
  release through discernment, having developed the threefold training 
                             to completion.
  
  
                //anasavam ceto-vimuttim panna-vimuttim
               dittheva dhamme sayam abhinna sacchikatva
                        upasampajja viharanti//:
  
    'They dwell without effluent, having entered the release through 
  concentration and release through discernment realized and verified by 
  themselves in the very present.'
    
    This passage from the Canon shows that arahants of no matter what 
  sort reach both release through concentration and release through 
  discernment, free from effluents in the present. No distinctions are 
  made, saying that this or that group reaches release only through 
  concentration or only through discernment. The explanation given by 
  the Commentators -- that release through concentration pertains to 
  those arahants who develop concentration first, while release through 
  discernment pertains to the 'dry insight' arahants, who develop 
  insight exclusively without having first developed concentration -- 
  runs counter to the path. The eightfold path includes both Right View 
  and Right Concentration. A person who is to gain release has to 
  develop all eight factors of the path. Otherwise he or she won't be 
  able to gain release. The threefold training includes both 
  concentration and discernment. A person who is to attain knowledge of 
  the ending of mental effluents has to develop all three parts of the 
  threefold training completely.
    
    This is why we say that arahants of every sort have to reach both 
  release through concentration and release through discernment .
  
  
  
                            * * * * * * * *
  
  
  
                                Glossary
  
  //anusaya//: Latent tendency -- sensual passion, irritation, views, 
       doubt, pride, passion for states of becoming, and unawareness .
  
  //apaya//: State of deprivation; the four lowest levels of existence 
       -- rebirth in hell, as a hungry shade, as an angry demon, or as a 
       common animal.
  
  //arahant//: A person whose heart is freed from mental effluents (see 
       //asava//) and is thus not destined for further rebirth .
  
  //arupa jhana//: Meditative absorption in a non-physical object .
  
  //asava//: Mental effluent -- sensuality, states of becoming, and 
       unawareness.
  
  //avijja//: Unawareness, ignorance, counterfeit knowledge.
  
  //dhamma//: Event; phenomenon; the way things are in and of 
       themselves; their inherent qualities; the basic principles 
       underlying their behavior. Also, principles of behavior that 
       human beings ought to follow so as to fit in with the right 
       natural order of things; qualities of mind they should develop so 
       as to realize the inherent quality of the mind in and of itself. 
       By extension, 'Dhamma' is used also to refer to any doctrine that 
       teaches such things.
  
  //dhatu//: Element; property; potential. The four physical properties 
       are those of earth (solidity), water (liquidity), fire (heat), 
       and wind (energy or motion).
  
  //khandha//: Component parts of sensory perception: //rupa// (physical 
       phenomena); //vedana// (feelings of pleasure, pain, or 
       indifference); //Sanna// (concepts, labels, allusions); 
       //sankhara// (mental fashionings, formations, processes); and 
       //vinnana// (cognizance, consciousness).
  
  //lokadhamma//: Ways of the world -- fortune, loss, praise, blame, 
       status, disgrace, pleasure, and pain.
  
  //nibbana//: Liberation; the unbinding of the mind from passion, 
       aversion, and delusion, and thus from the round of death and 
       rebirth.
  
  //nivarana//: Hindrances to concentration -- sensual desire, ill will, 
       torpor & lethargy, restlessness & anxiety, and uncertainty.
  
  //ogha//: Flood; factors that sweep the mind along the round of death 
       and rebirth -- sensuality, states of becoming, and unawareness.
  
  //patibhaga//: The manipulation of visions that appear in meditation.
  
  //rupa jhana//: Meditative absorption in a physical object or 
       sensation.
  
  //satipatthana//: Frame of reference; foundation of mindfulness -- 
       body, feelings, mind, and mental qualities.
  
  //uggaha nimitta//: An image appearing spontaneously during 
       meditation.
  
  //upakkilesa//: Mental corruption or defilement -- passion, aversion, 
       and delusion in their various forms. 
  
  
                            * * * * * * * * 
  
[end]
