Post # 69 – Developing World Transcending Wisdom in the Path to Nibbana- Part 1

If you are visiting this Blog for the first time, it would be good if you could start by visiting the 1^st Post to know about this Blog and then read the others in sequence. 

As a regular follower of this Blog you are now at a stage to engage in an insight meditation practice for translating the Intellectual Understanding of the True Nature of all Phenomena gained from learning the Dhamma, to an Inferential Knowledge. Thereafter you will be able to consolidate that knowledge as an Experiential Wisdom through a deeper meditative practice to develop this world transcending wisdom. We who were at the shallow end of the Dhamma Ocean are now trying to explore the deep end .

For this purpose we need to build up a supporting backdrop to engage effectively in this meditation practice. I will therefore highlight below some relevant extracts from earlier blog posts for this purpose. You may find repetitions of some aspects in these posts which are deliberately done in order to make each Post self-contained.

We have been discussing effective Dhamma practice by busy householders. See Post # 16 and the other two that followed.  Apart from the reference to Punya Kamma (meritorious acts) and Kusala Kamma (ethically skillful acts) which were virtues that we develop to ensure a well endowed birth in a happier realm after death, we focused on the path to liberation, as that was the essence of what Buddha taught. That is attaining the world transcending wisdom to realize Nibbana.

When Seela (moral restraint), Samadhi (concentrated mind) and Panna (wisdom) develop, while cultivating the 37 factors conducive for enlightenment (discussed in Post # 41 and Post # 42 ) and the seven purifications (discussed in Post # 46 and Post # 47 ), one develops this world transcending wisdom.

In this Post and in the ones to follow we will discuss some deep Dhamma practices for attaining this world transcending wisdom. My attempt in these Posts is, to present to you this profound dhamma practices as best as I can, from the way I have understood them from the talks give by learned monks.

Ven. Dammajeewa the meditation teacher monk from the Nissarana Grove, in a Dhamma talk quoting the suttas said that wisdom as explained in Buddha-Dhamma is developed in three stages. First stage is the learning of this Dhamma through listening etc. The traditional methods are listening to dhamma talks, reading of authentic texts on Dhamma, and participating in dhamma discussions etc. This understanding is referred to as Suthamaya Panna or intellectual understanding. This understanding is then subjected to an analysis, a review and an evaluation based on past experiences, through a guided insight meditation practice. That is to consolidate this understanding as an inferential knowledge. This knowledge is called Chinthamaya Panna. Thereafter this intellectual understanding and inferential knowledge is tested through present moment real life experiences by an appropriate insight meditation practice. This is called Bhavanamaya Panna or steadfast experiential knowledge.

I will attempt in the following quotes to build up the applicable Dhamma points related to our objective from the vast Dhamma treasure we have inherited. Reading them will establish the relevant Suthamaya Panna or intellectual understanding for our purpose. This part may end up being rather long due to the need to cover the content. So please bear with it and read to its end to establish the intellectual understanding related to developing this world transcending wisdom in the Path to Nibbana. Then I will discuss a method to consolidate this understanding as an inferential knowledge or Chinthamaya Panna.

In a discussion under Vibajjawada Dhamma (analytical review of Dhamma), by Ven. Kothmale’ Kumara Kassapa thero and Ven. Maankadawala Nandarathana thero, the learned monks quoting the Buddha,  explained that in attaining enlightenment and seeking liberation from Samsara (repeated re-becoming), one has to eliminate ten shackles or fetters or bonds (sanyojanas) that tie a ‘being’ down  to the samsaric process.  This is done by developing the world transcending wisdom or Bodhi.

Ven. Thumbowila Dhamma Rathana Thero in a Dhamma talk, quoting the Duthiya Sanyojana Sutta also gave an explanation on the ten fetters as contained in that Sutta. There are also many similar references to the ten fetters in other Dhamma talks by learned monks quoting other suttas. 

Nibbana is realized while developing this world transcending wisdom, by acquiring progressively the ‘Path Wisdoms’ of Sotha Patthi (Stream Enterer), Sakrudhagami (Once Returnee), Anagami (Non Returnee) and Arahant (Enlightened One). In this process the above mentioned ten shackles are eliminated progressively.

The learned Monks continuing on explained that this progression takes place in two complementary domains of traverse. The first domain of traverse - domain of right vision - is related to acquiring a right vision through experiencing phenomena as they really are and not in the way they appear to be.  In this process, while traversing through unknown realms, a new vision dawns in one’s mind, pointing to a way forward. This new vision translates the ‘intellectual understanding’ of the Path wisdom- which hitherto may have contained some element of doubt about its validity- to an inferential and experiential knowledge. This involves engaging in an appropriate insight meditation practice. This is the Sotha Patthi Magga Nanna (Stream Enterer Path knowledge). This new vision manifests as the initial realization of Nibbana. This is an understanding without any trace of doubt, that this is the right path and the true vision.  

Thus this new vision results in the elimination of three of the ten shackles that were active due to the presence of wrong view in the mind. The shackles are:

    1.0  Sakkaya Ditti - the view about a self, such as I, Me or Myself- , which view all along was actually conceptual and not real. It was only a notion about a self that in reality was actually non-existing;

    2.0 Vichikichchawa - skeptical doubt about the Buddha, his Dhamma, the Sanga (the monastic community), the teaching on dependent co-arising (Post # 39 and Post #40), a doubt about a previous existence and a future existence,  the process of re-becoming, and doubt about the benefits of benevolence, tending to your parents, cultivating moral virtues etc.; and 

    3.0 Sila-vrutha paramasa - the  misconstrued wrong rituals and practices, hitherto believed to be leading to liberation.

These three fetters or shackles that were active due to wrong view in the mind are now eliminated due to this right vision

The learned Monks gave an analogy to illustrate this. The analogy goes as – “there is a thirsty man in the middle of a desert searching for water, and is told by a traveler about the existence of an oasis yonder. Trusting the source, the thirsty man heads in the said direction accepting the advice. He thus travels along, although with some uncertainty whether there is in fact an oasis there, whereupon, he sees in the distance a green patch suggestive of vegetation. This confirms to him about the existence of the said oasis although he is still to get there. Then his belief that there is an oasis yonder turns out to be a reality by an experiential knowledge. Also the belief that, it was the real way to get there becoming unwavering and steadfast”.

This experience of the thirsty man, the monks explain is similar to the experience one gets traversing the ‘domain of right vision’.

The next step is traversing the ‘domain of experience’. Here the above discussed knowledge and vision, (referred to as Anubodha Nanna in Dhamma), is translated to an actual felt experience ( Prathiveda Nanna ), through an appropriate insight meditative practice,. During this meditative practice one would test out the features constituting this new vision, by actually experiencing them. Through this insight meditative practice, one would see the living being, in reality to be , only an aggregation of a ‘name’ and ‘form’ (no reference to their literary meanings). He/she also sees that this name-form composite, manifests as an aggregation of five components couched in craving (pancha upadana skanda), and their nature of impermanence, nature of un-satisfactoriness, and the nature of non-self. This realization results in the elimination of the hitherto inherent defilements of desire, craving and grasping for a ‘self’, which all along was a notion and was un-real. Also for the elimination of desire, craving and grasping for an existence, which is normally laden with suffering.

Thus traversing this ‘domain of experience’, one would eliminate the other seven shackles progressively. These seven shackles are Kamma-raga (desire and lust); Patiga (aversion and revulsion); Rupa-raga (attachment to a re-becoming in a realm with a tangible form,); Arupa-raga (attachment to a re-becoming in a formless realm); Mana (ego or self-esteem); Uddachacha (restlessness of mind) ; and Avidyawa (Ignorance or not knowing)

 A person who ascends to this summit of vision is an Arahant, a perfect one, whose clarity of vision, whose depth of insight knowledge penetrates into the deepest recesses of life and cognizes the true nature that underlies all phenomena.

As I have to limit the contents of each Post to facilitate easy reading, I will stop the descriptions here. Please await the next Post # 70 for a continuation of the descriptions.