by Sister Medhini
“Here, Bhante, as we are dwelling diligent, ardent, and resolute, we are aware of light together with vision of images. And yet, before long, our light disappears with the vision of images, and we have not comprehended the cause.”
“Indeed, Anuruddha and friends, you should comprehend the cause. I too, Anuruddha and friends, before awakening, as an unawakened bodhisatta, was aware of light together with vision of images. And yet, before long, my light disappeared with the vision of images. It occurred to me: ‘For what reason, on what basis, do my light and vision of images disappear?’ It occurred to me: ‘Doubt arose in me, and through doubt my composure fell away; with the falling of composure my light disappeared with the vision of images. So I will work in such a way that doubt does not arise in me again … inattention arose in me … sloth and laziness arose in me … fright arose in me … excitement arose in me … sluggishness arose in me … too-tight energy arose in me … too-slack energy arose in me … longing arose in me…varied perception arose in me … As I was dwelling diligent, ardent, and resolute, I was aware of light together with vision of images. And yet, before long, my light disappeared with the vision of images. It occurred to me: ‘For what reason, on what basis, do my light and vision of images disappear?’ It occurred to me: ‘Over-contemplating of images arose in me, and through over-contemplating of images my composure fell away; with the falling of composure my light disappeared with the vision of images. So I will work in such a way that over-contemplating of images does not arise in me again.’”
– MN 128There is, Vāseṭṭha, the occasion sooner or later when, after the passing of a long time, this world dissolves. While the world is dissolving, the majority of beings are tending in the direction of radiant gods. There, they are mind-made, nourished by joy; with light of their own, living in the sky, remaining lovely, and there they stay for a very long duration.
There is, Vāseṭṭha, the occasion sooner or later when, after the passing of a long time, this world evolves. With the evolution of the world, the majority of beings, falling away from the radiant-body, come to this world. There they are mind-made, nourished by joy, with light of their own, living in the sky, remaining lovely, and there they stay for a very long duration.
But at that time, Vāseṭṭha, it was watery in nature, intensely dark and gloomy. There was no discerning the sun and the moon, nor stars and constellations, nor day and night, nor female and male; beings simply were reckoned as beings.
Then, for those beings at some time or other, after the passing of a very long time, a flavourful solid came to be laid over the water. It was just like a skin from the cooling of milk; that was how it appeared. It had a delightful colour, a delicious smell, a delicious flavour. Its colour was just like ghee or butter and just as delightful; its flavour was just like pure wild bee honey, and just as delicious.
Then, Vāseṭṭha, a certain being, reckless in character, thinking, “See now, just what might this be?”, tasted the flavourful solid with their finger. As they tasted it, craving entered into them. Other beings too, getting the idea of that being and following along with it, tasted the flavourful solid with their fingers. As they tasted it, craving entered into them. Then, Vāseṭṭha, those beings went to partake of that flavourful solid, breaking off pieces of it with their hands.
When they went to partake of it and broke off pieces with their hands, then, for those beings, their own light disappeared. With the disappearance of their own light, the sun and the moon appeared. With the appearance of the sun and the moon, the stars and constellations appeared; with the appearance of the stars and constellations, day and night were discerned. When day and night were discerned, months and days were discerned. When months and days were discerned, seasons and years were discerned. To that extent, Vāseṭṭha, the world was evolved.
– DN 27So happily we live, we who have nothing of ours. We will be nourished by joy, like the radiant gods.
– Dhp 200
To start from the ground up: all life is equally subject to the pressures and demands of elements. The potential to choose how to respond to those demands is the difference between vegetative organisms and conscious beings. Trees, for instance, modify their growth patterns in response to sunlight. But in the case of a tree, the nature of that response is, as far as we can tell from our point of view, absolute; unmediated by any possibility of choosing to do otherwise. Touch of sunlight directly and without exception translates to movement in the direction of the sunlight. For that very reason, that movement cannot properly be called “action,” insofar as it is not a conscious or deliberate choice, but a pure reaction. And where conscious choice is absent or in abeyance, there can be no self-awareness, or even the ability to distinguish between one thing and another.
In the animal realm, there is at least some capacity for restraint and hence choice, although it is both limited and rarely exerted. Animals, for the overwhelming majority of the time, behave rather like trees in that they simply respond to what nature asks of them as quickly and directly as they can.
The scope of the human realm is wider. It is characterised by a certain baseline level of self-awareness, of which the most obvious symptom is speech. As humans, we can speak about doing something, or wanting to do something, without doing it. This already outlines a capacity for intentional restraint which is largely lacking in the animal realm.
At the same time, human life is rooted in the same organic matter as plant life that exists to grow and reproduce; and revolves, for the most part, around sensory experiences. The potential for self-awareness and restraint is generally used as little as possible and held in rather poor regard.
In the reverse direction from the “animalistic” mode of being with which many people will be familiar as a default state, there is brahmacariya: celibacy, the renunciate life or, literally, “living as gods.”
In light of the above, we need not understand this term as wholly metaphorical. If the direction towards immersion in sense-desires is there, its extreme side emulating existence as an animal, so is, by the same token, the direction towards separation from sensuality that results in living and seeing as if through the eyes of the gods.
Jhāna can be thought of as the practice of brahmacariya on this level that is closest to the literal meaning of the word: the elevation of the mind entirely above the sensual domain, while still living with a human body based in the sensory world. Celibacy, virtue and sense restraint all lead in the same direction and emulate the principle of non-sensuality. But it is only where there is complete separation from sense-dependent existence, with joy born of that separation, that one can be said to be seeing through non-sensual (super-human) eyes. Separation from sensuality is precisely what defines that type of “vision” and this is why it is the tool for overcoming animal eyes and sensual existence.
What kind of vision is this?
If one were to live entirely like an unrestrained animal, the mere arising of a fearful sight would immediately imply action to get away from it. The arising of a desired object would effectively equate to the pursuit of it. When there is no restraint, there is no space between an object and an action towards it. Or more precisely, the space that is there, or could be there, becomes completely invisible. It does not appear for you. All you see is the object that you want or the object that you hate; your own actions, aims, intentions, breadth of possibilities in regard to it are kept unseen. At the extreme end of this that emulates the animal realm, objects imply only reaction, and everything in between is passed over and obscured.
So, even to consider and be able to articulate different possibilities as opposed to merely giving in to a desire, already demonstrates a relative degree of vision in regard to those very possibilities and actions; in regard to the situation as a whole in which those possibilities exist. If one were not to see these things at all, one would not be able to think about them or consequently speak about them.
Yet this degree of vision is still almost blind by the standards of brahmacariya. And this can equally be known right here and now: you can know that there are things that could arise within the body, or through the senses, that would make you feel as though you cannot freely consider any range of possibilities in regard to them. You would just react, or feel constrained and pressured to act in one particular direction – or simply become stricken with confusion and doubt.
So when something that could arise through the senses implies, or pressures one toward, reaction by body, speech or mind; and when this implication is overlooked and taken for granted, the mind’s eye is blind to the “image” of that arisen thing, and cannot understand it.
One remains then living in and amidst the world and the senses – by continually acting out of the pressures of the elements, and accepting the relationship between those pressures and the thoughts and actions for them. This is a state in which one lives perpetually, regardless of whether there is an immediate and acute pressure currently affecting one. The point is that at any given time, one is liable to be swayed, burdened and moved by things that one does not fully understand.
This ever-present liability is what it means to live under the weight of hindrances, which are obscurity in themselves. That is why the Buddha says in MN 128 that the mental movements of doubt, excitement, agitation, over-attention, and so on, are what bring darkness and shut down both light and vision. In the stock descriptions of jhāna in the suttas, what one is being separated from is the state of living and thinking that is under the influence of these same tendencies. It is this separation that gives rise to joy and happiness.
And, in DN 27, when the beings with light of their own and nourished by joy began to go after tastes, their own light disappeared. For as long as one is making oneself existentially and emotionally dependent on external things that require external, fleshy eyes and sunlight, there is no clarity of internal vision possible. The mind’s eye remains darkened.
Imagine, then, if you were to train in the reverse direction, of brahmacariya, to the point that any such relationship with and constraint of the body would become entirely undone and powerless. Regardless of what might arise through any of the six senses, that could not imply or induce desire, or doubt, or panic, or movement. Any such arisen thing would be clearly seen in its entirety – not through any mystical revelation, but simply because there is nothing obstructing it. It would feel like relief from debt, or being released from a prison. This is what would, if sufficiently steadied and developed, become the unencumbered mind’s eye that sees in all directions – the vision of the gods.