By Ven. Mahsi Sayadaw
Courtesy Satipatthana Vipassana, insight through
Mindfulness
(Buddhist Publication Society Kandy)
If one leads a virtuous life all the time, one may lead
a happy life in a higher existence, but as one is not
free from the defilements of attachment, aversion, and
delusion, one may commit demeritorious deeds on many
occasions. One will then be a victim of his bad kamma
and be reborn in hell or in other lower states of
miserable existence.
on coming across the Teaching of the Buddha, it
is most important for everyone to cultivate the virtues
of moral conduct (sila), concentration (samadhi) and
wisdom (panna). One should undoubtedly possess these
three virtues.
For lay people the minimal measure of moral conduct is
the observance of the Five Precepts. For bhikkhus it is
the observance of the Patimokkha, The code of monastic
discipline. Anyone who is well-disciplined in moral
conduct will be reborn in a happy realm of existence as
a human being or a deva (god).
However, this ordinary form of mundane morality (lokiya=sila)
will not be a safeguard against relapse into the lower
states of miserable existence, such as hell, the animal
realm, or the realm of petas (ghost). It is therefore
desirable to cultivate the higher form of supramundane
morality (lokuttara-sila). When one has fully acquired
the virtue of this morality, one will be secure from
relapse into the lower states and will always live a
happy life by being reborn as a human being or a deva.
Everyone should therefore make it his duty to work for
supramundane morality.
There is every hope of success for anyone who strives
sincerely and in real earnestness. It would indeed be a
pity if anyone were to fail to take advantage of this
fine opportunity of being endowed with higher qualities,
for such a person will undoubtedly be a victim sooner or
later of his own bad karma, which will pull him down to
the lower states of miserable existence in hell, the
animal realm, or the sphere of petas, where the span of
life lasts for many hundreds, thousands or millions of
years. It is therefore, emphasised here that coming
across the Teaching of the Buddha is the unique
opportunity to work for path morality (magga-sila) and
fruition morality (phala-sila).
It is not however, advisable to work for moral conduct
alone. It is also necessary to practise samadhi or
concentration. Samadhi is the fixed or tranquil state of
mind. The ordinary or undisciplined mind is in the habit
of wandering to other places. It cannot be kept under
control, but follows any idea, thought or imagination
etc. In order to prevent this wandering, the mind should
be made to attend repeatedly to a selected object of
concentration. On gaining practice, the mind gradually
abandons its distractions and remains fixed on the
object to which it is directed. This is samadhi.
There are two kinds of concentrations, mundane
concentration (lokiya-samadhi) and supramundane
concentration (lokuttara-samadhi). Of these two the
former consists in the mundane absorptions, such as the
four rupa jhanas - the absorptions pertaining to the
world of form - and the four arupa jhanas the absorption
pertaining to the formless world. These can be attained
by the practice of tranquility meditation (samathabhavana)
with such methods as mindfulness of breathing loving
kindness (metta), kasina meditation, etc. By virtue of
these attainments one will be reborn in the plane of the
brahmas. The life-span of a brahma is very long and
lasts for one world cycle, two, four, or eight world
cycles, up to a limit of 84,000 world cycles, as the
case may be. But at the end of his lifespan, a brahma
will die and be reborn as a human being or a deva.
If one leads a virtuous life all the time, one may lead
a happy life in a higher existence, but as one is not
free from the defilements of attachment, aversion, and
delusion, one may commit demeritorious deeds on many
occasions. One will then be a victim of his bad kamma
and be reborn in hell or in other lower states of
miserable existence. Thus mundane concentration also is
not a definite security. It is desirable to work for
supramundane concentration, the concentration of the
path (magga) and the fruit (phala). To acquire this
concentration it is essential to cultivate wisdom (panna).
There are two forms of wisdom, mundane and supramundane.
Nowadays, knowledge of literature, art, science, or
other worldly affairs is usually regarded as a kind of
wisdom but this form of wisdom has nothing to do with
any kind of mental development (bhavana). Nor can it be
regarded as of real merit, because many weapons of
destruction are invented through these kinds of
knowledge, which are always under the influence of
attachment, aversion, and other evil motives. The real
spirit of mundane wisdom, on the other hand, has only
merits and no demerits of any kind.
True mundane wisdom includes the knowledge used in
welfare and relief work, which cause no harm, learning
to acquire the knowledge of the true meaning or sense of
the scriptures, and the three classes of knowledge of
development for insight (vipassana-bhavana), such as
knowledge born of learning (suttamaya-panna), knowledge
born of reflection (cintamaya-panna), and wisdom born of
meditative development (bhavanamaya-panna). The virtue
of possessing mundane wisdom will lead to a happy life
in higher states of existence, but it still cannot
prevent the risk of being reborn in hell or in other
states of miserable existence. Only the development of
supramundane wisdom (lokuttara-panna), can decidedly
remove this risk.
Supramundane wisdom is the wisdom of the path and fruit.
To develop this wisdom it is necessary to carry on the
practice of insight meditation (vipassana-bhavana) out
of the three disciplines of morality, concentration and
wisdom. When the virtue of wisdom is duly developed, the
necessary qualities of morality and concentration will
also be acquired.
පුර අටවක
පසෙලාස්වක
අව
අටවක
අමාවක