Post # 45 -The Seven Factors for Awakening (satta bojjhanga). Part 3

Are you visiting this Blog for the first time? It would be good if you could visit the 1^st Post to know about this Blog and read Post # 44 before reading on.

I will in this Post continue quoting the descriptions given by Ven Piyadassi on the Seven Factors for Awakening that were given in Post # 44.

 Passaddhi, calm or tranquility, is the fifth factor of enlightenment. Passaddhi is twofold. Kāya passaddhi is calm of body and Cittapassaddhi is the calm of the mind.  Kāya here means all the mental properties rather than the physical body; in other words, calm of the aggregates of feeling (vedanākkhandha), perception (saññākkhandha) and volitional activities or conformations (saṅkhārakkhandha). Cittapassaddhi  or the calm of the mind- is calm of the aggregate of consciousness (viññāṇakkhandha). 
Passaddhi is compared to the happy experience of a weary walker who sits down under a tree in the shade, or the cooling of a hot place by rain. Hard it is to tranquillize the mind; it trembles and it is unsteady, difficult to guard and hold back; it quivers like a fish taken from its watery home. It wanders at will. Such is the nature of this ultra-subtle mind. It is systematic reflection (yoniso manasikāra) that helps the aspirant for enlightenment to quieten the fickle mind. Unless a man cultivates tranquility of mind, concentration cannot be successfully developed. A tranquilized mind keeps away all superficialities and futilities. In the teaching of the Buddha, the self must be subdued and tamed on right lines if it is to become truly well. The Buddha, teaches the Dhamma for the purpose of taming the human heart (danto so Bhagavā damatāya dhammaṃ deseti). It is only when the mind is tranquillized and is kept to the right road of orderly progress, that it becomes useful for the individual possessor of it and for society. A disorderly mind is a liability both to the owner of it and to others. All the havoc wrought in the world is wrought by men who have not learned the way of mental calm, balance and poise. Calmness is not weakness. The calm attitude at all times shows a man of culture. It is not too hard a task for a man to be calm when all things around him are favourable. But to be composed in mind in the midst of unfavourable circumstances is hard indeed, and it is this difficult quality that is worth achieving; for by such control one builds up strength of character. The man who cultivates calm of the mind does not get upset, confused or excited when confronted with the eight vicissitudes of the world (aṭṭha-lokadhamma). He endeavours to see the rise and fall of all things conditioned; how things come into being and pass away. Free from anxiety and restlessness he will see the fragility of the fragile

The sixth enlightenment factor is samādhi or concentration. It is only a tranquilized mind that can easily concentrate on a subject of meditation. The calm and concentrated mind sees things as they really are (samāhito yathābhutaṃ pajānāti). The unified mind brings the five hindrances (pañca nīvaraṇāni) under subjugation. Concentration is the intensified steadiness of the mind comparable to an unflickering flame of a lamp in a windless place. It is concentration that fixes the mind aright and causes it to be unmoved and undisturbed. Correct practice of samādhi maintains the mind and the mental properties in a state of balance like a steady hand holding a pair of scales. Right concentration dispels passions that disturb the mind, and brings purity and placidity of mind. The concentrated mind is not distracted by sense-objects; concentration of the highest type cannot be disturbed under the most adverse conditions. One who is intent on samādhi should develop a love of virtue (sīla), for it is virtue that nourishes mental life, and makes it coherent and calm, equable and full of rich content. The unrestrained mind dissipates itself in frivolous activity. Many are the impediments that confront an aspirant for enlightenment, but there are five particular hindrances that hinder concentrative thought or samādhi, and obstruct the way to deliverance. In the teaching of the Buddha they are known as pañca nīvaraṇa, the five hindrances. The Pali term nīvaraṇa denotes - that which hinders or obstructs mental development (bhāvanā). They are called hindrances because they completely close in, cut off and obstruct. The five hindrances are: kāmacchanda—sensual desires, vyāpāda—ill will, thīnamiddha—obduracy of mind and mental factors, uddhaccakukkucca—restlessness and worry, vicikicchā—doubt. Kāmacchanda or sensual desires or intense thirst for either possessions or the satisfaction of base desires is the thirst that binds man to saṃsāra, repeated wandering, and closes the door to final deliverance. What is this sensuality? Where does this craving (taṇhā) arise and take root? According to the discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness (Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta) “where there is the delightful and the pleasurable, there this craving arises and takes root.” When forms, sounds, smells, tastes, bodily contacts and ideas are delightful and pleasurable; there this craving arises and takes root. Craving when obstructed by some cause is transformed to frustration and wrath. From craving arises grief, from craving arises fear. To one who is free from craving, there is no grief, no fear.

The next hindrance is vyāpāda—ill will, hatred or aversion. Man naturally revolts against the unpleasant and the disagreeable, and also is depressed by them. To be separated from the loved is painful, and equally painful is the union with the loathed. Even a disagreeable dish, an unpleasant drink, an unlovely demeanour, or a hundred other trifles, may cause indignation. It is wrong thinking, unsystematic reflection, that brings about hatred. Hatred on the other hand breeds hatred and clouds the vision; it distorts the entire mind and its properties, and thus hinders awakening to truth, blocks the way to freedom. This lust and hatred based on ignorance, the crowning corruption of all our madness (avijjāparamaṃ malaṃ), are indeed the root causes of strife and dissension between man and man, nation and nation.

The third hindrance consists of a pair of evils; thīna and middha. Thīna is lassitude or morbid state of the mind, and middha is a morbid state of the mental properties. Thīnamiddha, as some are inclined to think, is certainly not sluggishness of the body; for even the arahats, the perfect ones, who are free from this pair of evils, also experience bodily fatigue. Thīna-middha retards mental development; under its influence the mind is inert.  Laxity is a dangerous enemy of mental development. Laxity leads to greater laxity until finally there arises a state of callous indifference. This flabbiness of character is a fatal block to righteousness and freedom. It is through viriya or mental effort that one overcomes this pair of evils.

The fourth hindrance also comprises twin drawbacks: uddhacca and kukkucca, restlessness and brooding, or flurry and worry. As a rule anyone who commits evil is mentally excited and restless; the guilty and the impatient suffer from this hindrance. The minds of men who are restless and unstable are like flustered bees in a shaken hive. This mental agitation impedes meditation and blocks the upward path. Equally baneful is mental worry. Often people repent over the evil actions they have committed. This is not praised by the Buddha; for it is useless to cry over spilt milk. Instead of brooding over such shortcomings one should endeavour not to repeat such unwholesome deeds. There are others who worry over the good deeds omitted and duties left undone. This, too, serves no purpose. It is as futile as to ask the farther bank of a river to come over that we may get to the other side. Instead of uselessly worrying over what good one has failed to do, one should endeavour to perform wholesome deeds. This mental unsteadiness (kukkucca) also hinders mental progress.

The fifth and last hindrance is vicikicchā, doubt. One who suffers from perplexity is really suffering from a dire disease, and until and unless one sheds one’s doubts, one will continue to suffer from it. So long as man is subject to this mental itching, so long will he continue to take a cynical view of things which is most detrimental to mental development. The commentators explain this hindrance as the inability to decide anything definitely; it also comprises doubt with regard to the possibility of attaining the jhānas, concentrative thought.

The meditator who attains the jhānas inhibits all five hindrances by five jhānaṅgas, characteristics or factors of jhāna. The attainment of jhānas, however, is not the end that is aimed at. Jhānas should be made to lead to vipassanā, intuitional insight. It is through insight that the meditator eradicates the latent corruptions (anusaya kilesa), and attains perfect purity. So long as impurities or taints (kilesas) exist latent in man’s mind, so long will the arising of pāpa (evil) in him continue. They who are in the practice of jhāna, whose purpose is to attain vipassanā, commits no ill acts because the hindrances are inhibited. But they have the latent impurities in their make-up and therefore, are not yet in a state of absolute security. But the Arahat, the perfect one, wipes out all the latent impurities with their rootlets and brings this repetitive wandering, saṃsāra, to a standstill. He is one whose saṃsāra is indubitably ended; for by him the noble life has been perfected and the task done. For him there is no more rebirth.

Then by the power of samādhi, concentrative thought, thus won, he turns his mind to the understanding of reality in the highest sense. It is at this stage that the meditator cultivates vipassanā, intuitional insight. It is through vipassanā that one understands the real nature of all component and conditioned things. Vipassanā aids one to see things as they truly are. One sees truth face to face and comprehends that all tones are just variations struck on the one chord that runs through all life—the chord which is made up of anicca, dukkha and anattā—impermanence, sorrow and soul-lessness. The meditator gains insight into the true nature of the world he has clung to for so long. He breaks through the eggshell of ignorance to the hyper- cosmic. With that final catharsis he reaches the state where dawns for him the light of Nibbāna, the calm beyond words, the unshakable deliverance of the mind (akuppā cetovimutti); and the world holds nothing more for him.

The seventh and last factor of enlightenment is upekkhā, equanimity. In the Abhidhamma, upekkhā is indicated by the term tatramajjhattatā, neutrality. It is mental equipoise and not indifference. Equanimity is the result of a calm concentrative mind. It is hard, indeed, to be undisturbed when touched by the vicissitudes of life, but the man who cultivates this difficult quality of equanimity is not upset. Amidst the welter of experience (aṭṭha-lokadhammā), gain and loss, good repute and ill repute, praise and censure, pain and happiness, he never wavers. He is firm as a solid rock. Of course, this is the attitude of the arahat, the perfect one. Of them it is said: “Truly the good give up longing for everything. The good prattle not with thoughts of craving. Touched by happiness or by pain, the wise show neither elation nor depression.

I found that these elaborate descriptions by this very learned monk gives us an in depth understanding of Buddha’s teaching and the relevance of what is given in this Blog as a practice for attaining of full realization and perfect wisdom. I suggest therefore that you should read the Posts on the Seven Factors for  Awakening posted in the Blog several times to realize the best benefit.

Please await a Post on the Seven Stages of Purification to complete this understanding.