by Bhikkhu Anīgha
The Nature of Understanding
There are several misconceptions surrounding the subject of stream-entry and attainments in general. One of the most problematic is the tendency to conceive of it as a sudden, unprovoked revelation, epiphany, or glimpse of a mystical kind. In this view, unusual perceptions and experiences that have no intrinsic meaning and can be interpreted in a myriad ways are conflated with knowledge or understanding (paññā). Understanding cannot arise by itself in the manner that perceptions and experiences do.
Just as in ordinary life, understanding can arise only if you’ve been trying to understand from the get-go. Some individuals can understand things more quickly than others, but no one wakes up one day knowing how to assemble a car from scratch without any prior effort on their part. And yet this is how awakening is often thought to be like, to the point that some people even believe psychoactive drugs can give rise to Buddhist insights. This reveals that what they think of as understanding is just perceptions, as sophisticated and esoteric as they may be1. Someone who has no idea how to change the oil of a car’s engine can suddenly have intricate visions of moving pistons and turning gears, but a seasoned mechanic’s understanding of cars is something different, not only in magnitude but in nature, and does not magically follow from the former.
Furthermore, unlike perceptions, understanding is not subjective or individualized, as the Dhamma is sometimes thought to be. Your understanding is either in line with the Dhamma and thus leads to the complete destruction of ignorance and craving in regard to it, or it isn’t, and thus there is a mis-understanding, which in means ignorance and craving still remain one way or another.
Purification of Mind -> Purification of View
Whether it’s the first stage of awakening or any later one, progress always boils down to the weakening of the fetters, and this progress is always necessarily gradual. If and when those fetters have weakened, the understanding that finally destroys them can arise, not before that, and not all of a sudden. This doesn’t mean one can anticipate how long that weakening will take, however. All one can do is live in such a way that the fetters are wearing away, indefinitely:
“The ocean gradually slants, slopes, and inclines, with no abrupt precipice. In the same way, in this teaching and training, the penetration to higher knowledge comes from gradual training, progress, and practice, not abruptly. Having seen this first marvellous and extraordinary quality of this teaching and training, the bhikkhus delight in it.”2
—AN 8.19
“Suppose a carpenter or his apprentice sees the marks of his fingers and thumb on the handle of his adze. He doesn’t know how much of the handle was worn away today, how much yesterday, and how much previously. He just knows ‘it’s worn away’ once it’s already worn away.
In the same way, when a bhikkhu lives committed to development, he doesn’t know how much of the defilements were worn away today, how much yesterday, and how much previously. He only knows ‘they’ve worn away’ once they’ve already worn away. Suppose there was a sea-faring ship bound together with ropes. For six months they deteriorated in the water. Then in the cold season it was hauled up on dry land, where the ropes were weathered by wind and sun. When the clouds soaked it with rain, the ropes would readily weaken and decay. In the same way, when a bhikkhu lives committed to development, his fetters readily weaken and decay.”
—SN 22.101
This is how it was possible for many individuals who met the Buddha to attain the Right View in what seemed like a sudden event during a conversation with him: their starting point was one of weaker fetters and/or stronger faculties to begin with. As he realized when considering whether he should teach the Dhamma to the world, some beings are like lotuses sitting just under the water’s surface, ready to rise, while others are still far at the bottom of the pond, with much growth ahead of them.3
While one does not have an immediate say over one’s faculties, one does have more tangible control over either feeding or starving one’s defilements, and sufficiently doing the latter is what unlocks the possibility for understanding to arise no matter how weak one’s faculties were at the start.
“But friend, might there be another explanation for how a noble disciple is one of right and straight view …?”
“There might, friends. A noble disciple understands ignorance, its origin, its cessation, and the practice that leads to its cessation … But what is ignorance? What is its origin, its cessation, and the practice that leads to its cessation? Not knowing suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering. This is called ignorance. Ignorance comes with defilements. Ignorance ceases when defilements cease. The practice that leads to the cessation of ignorance is simply this Noble Eightfold Path …”
—MN 9
In fact, though it’s commonplace to assume that passion, aversion, and distraction are a primary concern only for a sotāpanna who’s attempting to break the next two fetters and achieve non-return, the Buddha says otherwise:
…But take a learned noble disciple who has seen the noble ones, and is skilled and trained in the teaching of the noble ones. He’s seen true persons, and is skilled and trained in the teaching of the true persons. He understands what things are fit for attention and what things are unfit for attention. So he attends to things fit for attention and not to things unfit for attention.
And what are the things unfit for attention that he doesn’t attend to? They are things such that when he attends to them, the unarisen influx of sensuality arises in him, or the arisen influx of sensuality increases, the unarisen influx of being arises in him, or the arisen influx of being increases, the unarisen influx of ignorance arises in him, or the arisen influx of ignorance increases. These are the things unfit for attention that he doesn’t attend to.
And what are the things fit for attention that he attends to? They are things such that when he attends to them, the unarisen influx of sensuality does not arise in him, and the arisen influx of sensuality is given up, the unarisen influx of being does not arise in him, and the arisen influx of being is given up, the unarisen influx of ignorance does not arise in him, and the arisen influx of ignorance is given up. These are the things fit for attention that he attends to.
Because of not attending to things unfit for attention and attending to things fit for attention, unarisen influxes don’t arise and arisen influxes are given up.
They attend through-the-origin: ‘This is suffering’ … ‘This is the origin of suffering’ … ‘This is the cessation of suffering’ … ‘This is the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering’. And as they do so, three fetters are given up: personality-view, doubt, and the grasping at virtue-and-duty. These are called the influxes that should be given up by seeing.
—MN 2
And what are the defilements of the mind? Longing and immoral greed, ill will, anger, resentment, denigration, contentiousness, jealousy, stinginess, deceit, deviousness, obstinacy, insolence, conceit, arrogance, indulgence, and carelessness are defilements of the mind.
A bhikkhu who understands that longing and immoral greed are defilements of the mind gives them up. A bhikkhu who understands that ill will … carelessness is a defilement of the mind gives it up.
Once he has understood these defilements of the mind for what they are, and has given them up, he has absolute confidence in the Buddha: ‘That Blessed One is an Arahant, a fully awakened Buddha, accomplished in knowledge and conduct, holy, knower of the world, supreme guide for those who wish to train, teacher of gods and humans, awakened, blessed.’4
He has absolute confidence in the Dhamma: ‘The Dhamma is well explained by the Buddha—presently evident, not involving time, verifiable, and goading-on, to be experienced by sensible people for themselves.’
He has absolute confidence in the Saṅgha: ‘The Saṅgha of the Buddha’s disciples is practicing rightly and straightly, practicing the way, the proper course. It consists of the four pairs of people, the eight individuals. This is the Saṅgha of the Buddha’s disciples that is worthy of offerings, worthy of hospitality, worthy of donation, worthy of greeting with joined palms, and is the supreme field of merit for the world.’
When a bhikkhu has discarded, eliminated, released, given up, and relinquished to this extent, thinking, ‘I have absolute confidence in the Buddha … the Dhamma … the Saṅgha,’ he realizes the Dhamma and its meaning, and gains gladness connected with the Dhamma. Thinking: ‘I have discarded, eliminated, released, given up, and relinquished to this extent,’ he realizes the Dhamma and its meaning, and gains gladness connected with the Dhamma. When he’s glad, joy is born. When the mind is joyous, the body becomes calm. When the body is calm, he feels comfort. When he’s comfortable, the mind becomes composed.
—MN 7
These descriptions correspond to the Sequential Training so often described in the Suttas, which is the course of practice that tames the mind such that it can see clearly. 5This taming is not achieved through the repetitive performance of any specific practice or observance: you need to know, on a per-case basis, that your present effort and way of attending to things leads to the non-arising and decrease of sensuality, being, and ignorance.6 The “method” is self-questioning of any and all of your intentions, including the intention to make the practice methodical and structured.
It’s of paramount importance not to leave any gaps in your attempts to purify the mind from unwholesome actions and mental states. It’s easy to fall into the attitude of trying to give up only the things that you suppose to be categorical obstacles to stream-entry—usually a gross underestimation—and assuming that anything more is a plus but not essential, and this is a grave mistake.
Firstly, you don’t know in advance how far you need to take the training for your mind to be sufficiently ripe for the Right View to take root.7 You don’t know to what extent something is obstructing you until you’ve already successfully abandoned it. Secondly, an individual who becomes a sotāpanna is still subject to the rest of the fetters not because they deliberately allowed them to stay, but because they resolved to give up all defilements they were aware of, and yet succeeded only partially. You’re not getting any closer to seeing that craving is the root of suffering if you still knowingly tolerate it. That attitude in itself would be an impediment, even if externally the actions you perform through it are still in line with the precepts and are not that significant.
Focusing on wearing away the defilements, which will always obstruct an accurate perspective of your experience no matter how earnestly you try to investigate it, ensures that you will create as much space as possible for the full Right View to fit, instead of minimizing the Right View so that it fits in within the space you currently have. You will simply do the work, and whenever enough work has been done8, if you have enough learning and familiarity with what needs to be understood, understanding will have to arise:
“Bhikkhus, a farmer has three urgent duties. What three? A farmer swiftly makes sure the field is well ploughed and tilled. Next they swiftly plant seeds in season. When the time is right, they swiftly irrigate or drain the field. These are the three urgent duties of a farmer. That farmer has no special power or ability to say: ‘Let the crops germinate today! Let them flower tomorrow! Let them ripen the day after!’ But there comes a time when that farmer’s crops germinate, flower, and ripen as the seasons change.
In the same way, a bhikkhu has three urgent duties. What three? Undertaking the training in the higher virtue, the higher mind, and the higher wisdom. These are the three urgent duties of a bhikkhu. That bhikkhu has no special power or ability to say: ‘Let my mind be liberated from the influxes through non-assumption today! Or tomorrow! Or the day after!’ But there comes a time—as that bhikkhu trains in the higher virtue, the higher mind, and the higher wisdom—that their mind is liberated from the influxes through non-assumption.
So you should train like this: ‘We will have keen interest in undertaking the training in the higher virtue, the higher mind, and the higher wisdom.’ That’s how you should train.”
—AN 3.92Suppose there was a hen with eight or ten or twelve eggs. And she properly sat on them to keep them warm and incubated. Even if that hen doesn’t wish: ‘If only my chicks could break out of the eggshell with their claws and beak and hatch safely!’ Still they can break out and hatch safely. Why is that? Because that chicken with eight or ten or twelve eggs properly sat on them to keep them warm and incubated.
In the same way, even though a bhikkhu who is committed to development might not wish: ‘If only my mind was liberated from the influxes through non-assumption!’ Even so, his mind is liberated from the influxes through non-assumption. Why is that? You should say: ‘Because of development’. Development in what? Development in the four establishments of recollection, the four right efforts, the four bases of spiritual ability, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven awakening factors, and the noble eightfold path.
—SN 22.101
In fact, it’s useful to consider that the modern way of thinking about different stages of awakening was very likely not in place in the Buddha’s time, and the strict categorizations and lists found in the texts are likely to be a result of compilation of things originally said in various discourses, rather than of the Buddha actually telling people that they don’t need to worry about certain defilements and forms of craving until later on, which is clearly counterproductive. This means that for most individuals who became sotāpannas, the aim was to tame their minds and free themselves from suffering in the broadest sense.
Right Practice Begins with Right View
People generally don’t take into account the fact that their present understanding of the Dhamma and practice is what stands in the way of their attainment of the Right View. There is a tendency to assume that if one just practices in line with one’s current understanding, eventually there will arise some sort of experience, vision, or insight that will lend experiential confirmation—read: novel perceptions—to what one knew “only intellectually”, thus entering the stream. Meanwhile, one’s standpoints, assumptions, and understanding of the path have changed very little, if at all.
In reality, the knowledge the right way of practice is what is acquired at stream-entry, and thus, to the extent you assume that you already understand the practice, you obstruct the possibility of ceasing to be a puthujjana. The term “stream” refers to none other than the noble eightfold path, and it is only from stream-entry onwards that one has access to it, which is only natural given that all its factors hinge fully on Right View9:
Sāriputta, they speak of ‘the stream’. What is the stream?”
“Bhante, the stream is simply this noble eightfold path, that is: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right recollection, and right composure.”
“Good, good, Sāriputta! For the stream is simply this noble eightfold path, that is: right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right recollection, and right composure.
Sāriputta, they speak of ‘a stream-enterer’. What is a stream-enterer?”
“Bhante, anyone who possesses this noble eightfold path is called a stream-enterer, the venerable of such and such name and clan.”
“Good, good, Sāriputta! For the one who possesses this noble eightfold path is called a stream-enterer, the venerable of such and such name and clan.”
—SN 55.5“Bhikkhus, someone with five qualities is unable to enter the sure path in regard to beneficial qualities even when listening to the true teaching. What five? They discredit the talk, the speaker, or themselves. They’re witless, dull, and stupid. They think they understand what they don’t understand.
—AN 5.15
There is an additional, often overlooked dimension to the Right View beyond simply agreeing with the Dhamma intellectually or even experientially, and that is the fact that your interpretation and viewing of the Dhamma inevitably starts out not being in line with what the Buddha was trying to convey. The terms “suffering” and “craving”, for example, are interpreted either overly vaguely or flat-out wrongly by a puthujjana, and so even though they may wholeheartedly agree with the statement “craving is the origin of suffering”, for them, it doesn’t mean what it should.
Rectifying your understanding so that for you the Four Noble Truths (or any other teaching in the Suttas) mean what the Buddha intended is how you come to “understand them as they really are”, and so it could be said that a sotāpanna is one who not only agrees with the teaching outwardly, but also interprets it internally as it was meant to be understood.10
But this is not the direction where understanding is usually sought. Overlooking that the very interpretations and assumptions they approach the practice with are where their ignorance and wrong view lies, people often set out to gain novel experiences, releases, and insights that take those root misunderstandings and wrong emphases for granted, and which only serve to cement them further.11
Many practitioners, if asked directly, will readily admit that they still don’t have the Right View. But even if that’s what they say, internally they may be practicing as if they already understand the path, and it’s just a matter of time until they become enlightened. However “advanced” and knowledgeable such a person becomes, they will still be within wrong view because they never acknowledged that as their starting point and strove to go beyond it. It’s like someone who keeps building higher and higher, but in the wrong spot:
“Bhikkhus, ignorance is foremost in leading to detrimental things, with lack of prudence and dread [of wrongdoing] following right behind. For an ignorant person, sunk in ignorance, wrong view arises. For one of wrong view, wrong intention arises. For one of wrong intention, wrong speech arises. For one of wrong speech, wrong action arises. For one of wrong action, wrong speech arises. For one of wrong speech, wrong livelihood arises. For one of wrong livelihood, wrong effort arises. For one of wrong effort, wrong recollection arises. For one of wrong recollection, wrong composure arises. For one of wrong composure, wrong knowledge arises. For one of wrong knowledge, wrong liberation arises.
Knowledge is foremost in leading to beneficial things, with prudence and dread [of wrongdoing] following right behind. For a wise person, one attained to knowledge, right view arises. For one of right view, right intention arises. For one of right intention, right speech arises. For one of right speech, right action arises. For one of right action, right speech arises. For one of right speech, right livelihood arises. For one of right livelihood, right effort arises. For one of right effort, right recollection arises.For one of right recollection, right composure arises. For one of right composure, right knowledge arises. For one of right knowledge, right liberation arises.”
—AN 10.105“Bhikkhus, I will teach you the inferior person and the one who is worse than the inferior person. I will teach you the superior person and the one who is better than the superior person. Listen to that….
“And what, bhikkhus, is the inferior person? Here someone is of wrong view … wrong composure. This is called the inferior person.
“And what, bhikkhus, is the one who is worse than the inferior person? Here someone is of wrong view … wrong composure, wrong knowledge, wrong liberation. This is called the one who is worse than the inferior person.12
“And what, bhikkhus, is the superior person? Here someone is of right view … right composure. This is called the superior person.
“And what, bhikkhus, is the one who is better than the superior person? Here someone is of right view … right composure, right knowledge, right liberation. This is called the one who is better than the superior person.”
—SN 45.26.
Prior to the Right View, instead of your practice consisting of cultivating what you currently think or were told mindfulness is, for example, it should revolve around questioning and revising your interpretation of what mindfulness is. Unless you’re already a sotāpanna, you need to be ready to scrap all of your assumptions about the Dhamma, down to the most basic and elemental, and start from square one as many times as it takes. And this is not just a theoretical affair: it’s a training too,13 just not the one most people necessarily want to do even though it’s the one they really need.
It’s exactly like someone who’s totally new to a specific sport. Their training regimen cannot be the same as an elite athlete of that discipline, whose goal is to jump as high as possible, run as fast as possible or as long as possible, or defeat the best players in the world. They would have to dedicate most of their time to building a foundation by doing comparatively unexciting mobility drills, taking technique lessons, and building their overall fitness before they can shift their focus onto winning championships or breaking world records. Prioritizing performance would at that point actively prevent them from perfecting the fundamentals, reinforce incorrect habits or movement patterns that may be harder to undo later, and easily result in injury.
The sotāpanna or higher is one who has acquired the fundamentals—the four noble truths, the five faculties/powers, the seven awakening factors, the noble eightfold path, etc.—through understanding, and from them onwards is it appropriate to focus on the further development of those fundamentals. That’s why they’re called a trainee (sekha):
“There are, bhikkhus, these two powers. What two? The power of reflection and the power of development. And what, bhikkhus, is the power of reflection? It’s when someone reflects: ‘Misconduct of body, speech, or thought has a bad result both right in the present experience and in the future.’ Reflecting like this, they give up misconduct by way of body, speech, and thought, and develop good conduct by way of body, speech, and thought, keeping themselves pure. This is called the power of reflection.
“There are, bhikkhus, these two powers. What two? The power of reflection and the power of development. And what, bhikkhus, is the power of reflection? It’s when someone reflects: ‘Misconduct of body, speech, or thought has a bad result both right in the present experience and in the future.’ Reflecting like this, they give up misconduct by way of body, speech, and thought, and develop good conduct by way of body, speech, and thought, keeping themselves pure. This is called the power of reflection.
And what, bhikkhus, is the power of development? In this context, the power of development is the power of the trainees. For relying on the power of a trainee, one gives up passion, aversion, and muddledness.14 Having given up passion, aversion, and muddledness, one does not do anything detrimental; one does not engage in anything harmful. This is called the power of development. These are the two powers.”
“There are, bhikkhus, these two powers. What two? The power of reflection and the power of development. And what, bhikkhus, is the power of reflection? It’s when someone reflects: ‘Misconduct of body, speech, or mind has a bad result both right in the present experience and in the future.’ Reflecting like this, they give up misconduct by way of body, speech, and thought, and develop good conduct by way of body, speech, and thought, keeping themselves pure. This is called the power of reflection.
And what, bhikkhus, is the power of development? It’s when a bhikkhu develops the awakening factors of recollection, discernment of phenomena, effort, joy, calm, composure, and equanimity, which rely on withdrawal, dispassion, and cessation, and ripen in relinquishment. This is called the power of development. These are the two powers.”15
—AN 2.11-12
Don’t Neglect Faith
Another important aspect that is often overlooked is the group of traits most often attributed to sotāpannas in the Suttas. It’s not a transcendental “fruition experience“ or a mystical “taste of Nibbāna” that they got one fateful evening. It’s four factors that, though they sound less glamorous, are immeasurably more important to achieving the goal of freedom from suffering:
“So, Ānanda, I will teach you the explanation of the Dhamma called ‘the mirror of the teaching’. A noble disciple who has this may declare of themselves: ‘I’ve finished with rebirth in hell, the animal realm, and the ghost realm. I’ve finished with all places of loss, bad places, the underworld. I am a stream-enterer! I’m not liable to be reborn in the underworld, and am bound for awakening.’
And what is that mirror of the teaching?
Here, the noble disciple possesses absolute confidence in the Buddha thus: ‘That Blessed One is an Arahant, a fully awakened Buddha, accomplished in knowledge and conduct, holy, knower of the world, supreme guide for those who wish to train, teacher of gods and humans, awakened, blessed.’
He possesses absolute confidence in the Dhamma thus: ‘The Dhamma is well explained by the Blessed One—presently evident, not involving time, verifiable, and goading-on, to be experienced by sensible people for themselves.’
He possesses absolute confidence in the Saṅgha thus: ‘The Saṅgha of the Buddha’s disciples is practicing rightly and straightly, practicing the way, the proper course. It consists of the four pairs of people, the eight individuals. This is the Saṅgha of the Buddha’s disciples that is worthy of offerings, worthy of hospitality, worthy of donation, worthy of greeting with joined palms, and is the supreme field of merit for the world.’
He possesses the virtues dear to the noble ones—unbroken, untorn, unblemished, unmottled, liberating, praised by the wise, not clung to, and conducive to composure.
This is that mirror of the teaching.”
—DN 16
The purpose of faith, trust, or confidence is purely pragmatic, and it shouldn’t be confused with blind piety, loyalty, or religious zeal, which are all on the side of clinging to virtue-and-duty (sīlabbatapārāmāsa).
Its function is to put you in a position of readiness to question and revise your actions, views, and assumptions to align them with the Buddha’s teaching further, never assuming that they’re already aligned enough. A defining quality of the right kind of faith is that it’s not just a matter of principle: it pushes you to be diligent and make effort to achieve a goal, and not just to take on this or that theoretical view.
This is how progress comes about even for a sotāpanna16, and it’s why saddhā is the first of the five faculties: it’s what allows one to go “against the grain” as much as is actually required, instead of only to the degree that’s convenient, not too unpleasant, or simply assumed to be necessary by underestimation. Wisdom, understanding, or intuition cannot be relied on at the expense of faith, especially until one is fully free from ignorance, since it can and very often will be biased by craving—a parasite that always finds the most inconspicuous of ways to linger.
Therefore, given how there is often a tendency to put all the emphasis on wisdom, it’s important to recognize that it doesn’t matter what deep insights your practice seems to be giving rise to if it’s not also resulting in this type of grounded, unshakable confidence in the Triple Gem. If so, it’s not actually leading you to stream-entry, because the right faith and the right understanding are totally inseparable.
A puthujjana does not have this level of faith, and fabricating it should not be the goal, as that would just result in blind and hollow conviction. Rather, it’s a natural and necessary byproduct of comprehending the Four Noble Truths that there is no room for doubt regarding the one who discovered them, his teaching, and others who one can see have also rightly understood it for themselves. This is why the Right View is the ultimate guarantee of harmony in a community. Less-than-unshakable faith should thus be taken as an indirect sign that the Four Noble Truths have not really been understood.
A form of faith that a puthujjana can and should implement is to operate perpetually with the context that what they think is in line with the Dhamma may well ultimately not be, no matter how much sense it makes, and that there are those who know better and whose advice is worth taking to heart even when it goes against the grain of their preferences. This is what would allow them to take the often-unpleasant process of abandoning their cherished wrong views to the extent necessary to arrive at the Dhamma:
“Bhikkhus, when a bhikkhu has not given up five obstinacies and cut off five shackles of mind, it’s not possible for him to achieve growth, improvement, or maturity in this teaching-and-discipline.
What are the five obstinacies he hasn’t given up? Firstly, a bhikkhu has doubts about the Teacher. He’s uncertain, undecided, and lacking confidence. This being so, his mind doesn’t incline to diligence, dedication, persistence, and striving. This is the first obstinacy he hasn’t given up.
Furthermore, a bhikkhu has doubts about the Dhamma … This is the second obstinacy.
He has doubts about the Saṅgha … This is the third obstinacy.
He has doubts about the training … This is the fourth obstinacy.
Furthermore, a bhikkhu is angry and upset with his fellow renunciates, resentful, and obstinate. This being so, his mind doesn’t incline to diligence, dedication, persistence, and striving. This is the fifth obstinacy he hasn’t given up. These are the five obstinacies he hasn’t given up.
—MN 16“For a disciple who has faith in the Teacher’s message and lives to penetrate it, what accords with the Dhamma is this: ‘The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I.’
—MN 70“It was, and is, my attitude towards the Suttas that, if I find anything in them that is against my own view, they are right, and I am wrong.”
—Ven. Ñāṇavīra Thera“Bhikkhus, I say that attention from the origin (yoniso manasikāra) has a nutriment; it’s not without a nutriment. And what is the nutriment for attention through the origin? ‘Faith’, it should be said.”17
—AN 10.61“There are two conditions for the arising of right view: the words of another and attending from the origin (yoniso manasikāra). These are the two conditions for the arising of right view.”
—MN 43
Just as with a physical illness, the necessary condition for faith in the context of the Dhamma is the honest recognition of the peril that you find yourself in—not knowing the way out of suffering. If you’re not too bothered by the idea of remaining where you are now, there is no basis for faith:
“I say, bhikkhus, that faith too has a proximate cause; it does not lack a proximate cause. And what is the proximate cause for faith? It should be said: suffering.
—SN 12.23“And what is the result of suffering? There are some cases in which a person overpowered by suffering, overcome with suffering, grieves, sorrows, laments, beats his breast, and becomes bewildered. Or one overpowerd by suffering, overcome with suffering, comes to search outside, ‘Who knows a way or two to the cessation of this pain?’ I tell you, bhikkhus, that suffering results either in bewilderment or in search. This is called the result of suffering.
—AN 6.63
Thus, the sense of urgency to “cure” oneself is the requisite condition for faith, which is the requisite condition for applying the treatment to the extent necessary.
Contrary to many mainstream views, there is no room for contentment or satisfaction with one’s situation for as long as one isn’t at least a sotāpanna18. In fact, the Buddha frequently urged even noble disciples who do understand the escape from suffering not to become satisfied. What then can be said of a puthujjana, who isn’t just vulnerable to suffering to a much greater degree, but also doesn’t understand the way out of that predicament?
“Bhikkhus, if one’s clothes or head were ablaze, what should be done about it?”
“Bhante, if one’s clothes or head were ablaze, one should arouse the utmost desire, effort, perseverance, unremitting exertion, and recollection-and-awareness to extinguish them.
“Bhikkhus, when the Four Noble Truths have not been comprehended—looking on equanimously even at one’s blazing clothes or head, not paying attention to them—one should arouse the utmost desire, effort, perseverance, unremitting exertion, and recollection-and-awareness to comprehend them as they are. What four? The noble truth of suffering … the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering.
“Therefore, bhikkhus, an exertion should be made to understand: ‘This is suffering.’… An exertion should be made to understand: ‘This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.’”
—SN 56.34“Bhikkhus, suppose there was a man with a lifespan of a hundred years. And someone might say to him: ‘Come now, my good man, they’ll strike you with a hundred spears in the morning, at midday, and in the late afternoon. And you’ll live for a hundred years being struck with three hundred spears every day. But when a hundred years have passed, you will comprehend the four noble truths you don’t yet comprehend.’
For a clansman intent on [his own] benefit, this is sufficient reason to submit.
Why is that? Wandering-on (saṃsāra) has no known beginning. No first point is found of blows by spears, swords, arrows, and axes. But even though this may be so, the comprehension of the four noble truths doesn’t come with pain or sadness, I say. Rather, the comprehension of the four noble truths comes only with comfort and happiness, I say. What four? The noble truths of suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path.
“Therefore, bhikkhus, an exertion should be made to understand: ‘This is suffering.’… An exertion should be made to understand: ‘This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.’”
—SN 56.35“Bhikkhus, suppose the Himalayas, the king of mountains, was worn away and eroded except for seven pebbles the size of mustard seeds.
What do you think, bhikkhus? Which is more: the portion of the Himalayas, the king of mountains, that has been worn away and eroded, or the seven pebbles the size of mustard seeds that are left?”
“Bhante, the portion of the Himalayas, the king of mountains, that has been worn away and eroded is certainly more. The seven pebbles the size of mustard seeds are tiny. Compared to the Himalayas, it’s not nearly a hundredth, a thousandth, or a hundred thousandth part.”
“In the same way, for a noble disciple accomplished in view, an individual with comprehension, the suffering that’s over and done with is more, what’s left is tiny. Compared to the mass of suffering in the past that’s over and done with, it’s not nearly a hundredth, a thousandth, or a hundred thousandth part, since there are at most seven more lives. That’s how very beneficial it is to comprehend the Dhamma and to gain the Dhamma-eye.”
—SN 13.10“Bhikkhus, suppose a man was to place down on Sineru, the king of mountains, seven pebbles the size of mung beans.
What do you think, bhikkhus? Which is more: the seven pebbles the size of mung beans, or Sineru, the king of mountains?”
“Bhante, Sineru, the king of mountains, is certainly more. The seven pebbles the size of mung beans are tiny. Compared to Sineru, it’s not nearly a hundredth, a thousandth, or a hundred thousandth part.”
“In the same way, compared with the achievements of a noble disciple accomplished in view, the achievements of the ascetics, brahmins, and wanderers of other religions is not nearly a hundredth, a thousandth, or a hundred thousandth part. So great is the achievement of the person accomplished in view, so great is their comprehension.”
—SN 13.11“Bhikkhus, I have gotten to know two qualities: discontent with regard to beneficial qualities, and unrelenting exertion. Relentlessly I exerted myself, (thinking,) ‘Gladly would I let the flesh and blood in my body dry up, leaving just the skin, tendons, and bones, but if I have not attained what can be attained through manly fortitude, manly effort, manly striving, there will be no relaxing my effort.’ From this heedfulness of mine was awakening attained. From this heedfulness of mine was the unsurpassed safety from bondage.
“You, too, monks, should relentlessly exert yourselves, (thinking,) ‘Gladly would I let the flesh and blood in my body dry up, leaving just the skin, tendons, and bones, but if I have not attained what can be attained through manly fortitude, manly effort, manly striving, there will be no relaxing my effort.’ You, too, will soon abide having comprehended, realized, and entered upon for yourself, right in the present experience, the supreme goal of the renunciate life for which clansmen rightly go forth from the lay life into homelessness.’
—SN 2.5Not based on laxity,
not based on little fortitude,
is this Nibbāna attainable—
the liberation from all suffering.
—SN 21.4
- Note that perception (saññā) does not refer only to primitive sense objects like visual shapes, colors, and sounds. Even the most elaborate philosophical or scientific concepts and explanations are perceptions. And often, explanations of the way experience supposedly works—such as it’s being a sequence of infinitesimal “mind-moments”, or a stream of interlinked cause-and-effect processes—are confused with understanding. No matter how vivid they become with the help of a concentration technique, these are also just perceptions, and are thus of no more intrinsic value than the sight of a leaf or the sound of a bird. That which is truly supramundane—the knowledge of any and all perceptions as impermanent, suffering, and not-self—is a peripheral, contextual recognition that manifests simultaneously with the mundane, ordinary content of perceptions, on a structurally different level. If that’s understood, chasing after specific perceptions—the entire goal of most modern meditative practices—is seen as futile and misguided. The goal becomes to fortify the right knowledge in regard to the perceptions you encounter in everyday life, since that’s where defilements and suffering arise to begin with. ↩︎
- The fact that you get exactly what you put in—no more, no less—is a cause for delight. The fact that nothing can fortuitously enlighten you also means that nothing can fortuitously hold you back. ↩︎
- Almost all of us today belong to the latter, since even after receiving manifold times more information on the Dhamma than probably many Arahants had back then, we’re still hardly any closer to understanding it. ↩︎
- As pointed out further below, this absolute confidence (aveccappasāda) in the Triple Gem is one of the core attributes of a stream-enterer. ↩︎
- One’s own actions and habits are what clouds the mind and obstructs discernment; the mind doesn’t get clouded accidentally due to lack of skill in meditation. Meditation cannot be practiced properly until one understands this, and contemporary approaches to meditation by and large revolve around repetitively performing practices that one is told will lead to the decrease of defilements. But the connection is not immediately apparent beyond the fact that the attention that’s put into the concentration practice is attention that won’t drift into coarse unwholesome directions. But not paying attention to something for the time being is not the same as giving it up. What’s more, even if sensuality can be temporarily held in check in this way, in the case of being (bhava) and ignorance, it’s not that simple. ↩︎
- The only part that you can “just do” is the precepts. Pretty much everything beyond that won’t go in the right direction unless its accompanied by knowledge of what needs to be abandoned, and how to go about that the right way. ↩︎
- As an example, the fact that there are stories of attained lay disciples in the Suttas who only kept the five precepts does not mean that just that will be enough for you. Due to the fact that not everyone has the same faculties, you cannot assume yourself to be in the same internal position as somebody else due to an overlap between your external lifestyles (and compared to those laypeople, in many ways there would still be more differences than similarities). This is explained in detail in AN 10.75. ↩︎
- How much time will be required cannot be known in advance, since you cannot know the extent of your own ignorance—you don’t know how much you don’t know. ↩︎
- The “textbook”, mundane definition of things like right speech and right action are particular modes of behavior that can be emulated by any complete beginner (abstinence from false or harsh speech, not killing, etc.) But someone who speaks in the most gentle and amicable way and would not kill a fly even if their life depended on it, yet has an inaccurate view of craving, and thus assumes that it’s not found in them when they speak and act kindly when in fact it is, has wrong speech and wrong action in the ultimate sense. “Wrong” not because it’s reprehensible or immoral, but simply because it doesn’t lead to liberation. On the other hand, the right abstinence from harsh speech and killing, which may look the same externally, naturally follows from the right understanding of craving of a noble disciple, and thus it does lead to the final destruction of craving. The factors of the noble eightfold path are defined by what they are founded upon and lead to, not solely by how they are described. If that weren’t the case, following it would be a trivial matter. ↩︎
- And the measure for that alignment is no longer being liable to suffering. Not because you are now skilled at circumventing or ameliorating it with the Dhamma, but because you’re simply not touched by displeasure in the first place even when it arises. ↩︎
- One of the most common and unspoken misinterpretations we all start with is that craving is given up when the objects that induce it are no longer present in the mind. This happens to be the tacit view behind all meditation techniques regardless of their particular differences—which makes their approachability unsurprising—and it puts both the problem and its solution on the level of what is being experienced, instead of taking responsibility for one’s own craving regardless of what’s being experienced. The problem is, in this view, not that your dog is untrained and misbehaves in certain situations, but that those situations occur. As a matter of course, Nibbāna is then misconceived as some sort of altered state where the contents of experience are entirely different (or have vanished altogether), rather than as the cessation of passion, craving, being, ownership, and anxiety in the face of whatever is experienced. ↩︎
- This highlights how the fact that something makes one feel more calm, peaceful, or even wise as a puthujjana does not automatically mean it’s right, and thus it should be taken with a grain of salt even then. ↩︎
- Such rectification of views can only take place on the basis of purification of mind, which is in turn enabled by virtue and restraint, i.e. not engaging in greedy, averse, or distracting actions by body, speech, or mind throughout your daily life. There is next to no intrinsic overlap between this and becoming skilled in concentration techniques, conventionally regarded as the means for mental purification. ↩︎
- A trainee is defined as one who understands these roots of the unwholesome, and that’s precisely why they’re in the position to abandon them. A puthujjana has a very limited ability to recognize greed as greed, aversion as aversion, and delusion as delusion, and so if they never strive to upgrade their criteria for what constitutes a defilement, they will continue being driven by them unwittingly. ↩︎
- See SN 47.30, which states that the awakening factors are acquired by the sotāpanna, whereas its often assumed that a puthujjana would become a sotāpanna by developing those factors. The same applies for all other wings to awakening: the five faculties are only present in noble ones (SN 48.12), the noble eightfold path begins with stream-entry as quoted above, and the four foundations of mindfulness hinge on not just purified virtue but also right view (SN 47.3). ↩︎
- See AN 6.65, where a lack of faith is one of the things obstructing the attainment of non-return. ↩︎
- You can’t see, let alone address the problem at its origin, womb, or core (yoni) if you don’t have faith/trust in the instruction to dig and question further than your own intuition inclines you to. ↩︎
- Contentment regarding material things is beneficial and should be fostered; satisfaction with one’s internal development is what should not be tolerated. ↩︎