Post # 67: Asavas – The Mental Defilements that perpetuate Samsara - Part 2

These long standing underlying fermentations or taints (Asavas), fabricate things, emotions, sensations, responses which condition grasping and perpetuate Samsara.  How we engage in activities that lead to eradication of Asavas and the complete cessation of suffering with the realization of Nibbana will be discussed in this Post.

It would be good if you could first visit the Post # 1 to know about this Blog and read Post # 66 before reading this.

In the Sabasava Sutta the Buddha is quoted as saying to the monks- “Bhikkhus, I say that the destruction of the taints is for one who knows and sees, not for one who does not know and see. Who knows and sees what? When one attends unwisely, un-arisen taints arise and arisen taints increase. When one attends wisely, un-arisen taints do not arise and arisen taints are abandoned.

Thanissara Thero in his English translation of the Sutta quotes the Buddha as follows: - Then, monks, being subject myself to birth, seeing the drawbacks of birth, seeking the unborn, unexcelled rest from the yoke,  I reached the unborn, unexcelled rest from the yoke: Being subject myself to aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement, seeing the drawbacks of aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement, seeking the aging-less, illness-less, deathless, sorrow-less, unexcelled rest from the yoke, I reached the aging-less, illness-less, deathless, sorrow-less, unexcelled rest from the yoke: Knowledge & vision arose in me: 'Unprovoked is my release. This is the last birth. There is now no further becoming.'

"Then the thought occurred to me, 'This Dhamma that I have attained is deep, hard to see, hard to realize, peaceful, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise.

 But this generation delights in attachment, is excited by attachment, and enjoys attachment. For a generation delighting in attachment, excited by attachment, enjoying attachment, this/that conditionality & dependent co-arising are hard to see. This state, too, is hard to see: the resolution of all formations, the relinquishment of all acquisitions, the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation.

Just then these verses, unspoken in the past, unheard before, occurred to me”- “What is abstruse, subtle, deep, hard to see, going against the flow — those delighting in passion, cloaked in the mass of darkness, won't see.'

I, too, monks, before my Awakening, when I was an un-awakened bodhisatta, being subject myself to birth, sought what was likewise subject to birth. Being subject myself to aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement, I sought [happiness in] what was likewise subject to illness... death... sorrow... defilement".

"And what is the noble search? There is the case where a person, himself being subject to birth, seeing the drawbacks of birth, seeks the unborn, unexcelled rest from the yoke: This is the noble search”.

In the Sabasava Sutta the Buddha is quoted as saying “Bhikkhus, there are taints that should be abandoned by seeing. There are taints that should be abandoned by restraining. There are taints that should be abandoned by using. There are taints that should be abandoned by enduring. There are taints that should be abandoned by avoiding. There are taints that should be abandoned by removing. There are taints that should be abandoned by developing (meditation).

Taints to be abandoned by Seeing: - “What taints, bhikkhus, should be abandoned by seeing? Here, bhikkhus, an untaught ordinary person, who has no regard for noble ones and is unskilled and undisciplined in their Dhamma, does not understand what things are fit for attention and what things are unfit for attention. Since that is so, he attends to those things unfit for attention and he does not attend to those things fit for attention.

“What are the things unfit for attention that he attends to? They are things such that when he attends to them, the un-arisen taints of sensual desire arises in him and the arisen taints of sensual desire increases, the un-arisen taint of ‘being’ arises in him and the arisen taint of ‘being’ increases, the un-arisen taint of ignorance arises in him and the arisen taint of ignorance increases. These are the things unfit for attention that he attends to. And what are the things fit for attention that he does not attend to? They are things such that when he attends to them, the un-arisen taint of sensual desire does not arise in him and the arisen taint of sensual desire is abandoned ….., the un-arisen taint of ‘being’ does not arise in him and the arisen taint of ‘being’ is abandoned, the un-arisen taint of ignorance does not arise in him and the arisen taint of ignorance is abandoned. These are the things fit for attention that he does not attend to. 

“This is how he attends unwisely: ‘Was I in the past? Was I not in the past? What was I in the past? How was I in the past? Having been what, what did I become in the past? Shall I be in the future? Shall I not be in the future? What shall I be in the future? How shall I be in the future? Having been what, what shall I become in the future?’ Or else he is inwardly perplexed about the present thus: ‘Am I? Am I not? What am I? Who am I? Where has this ‘being’ come from? Where will it go?’

“When he attends unwisely in this way, one of six views arises in him. The view ‘self’ exists for me, arises in me as true and established; or the view ‘no self’ exists for me, arises in me as true and established; ....or else he has some such view as this: ‘It is this self of mine that speaks and feels and experiences here and there the result of good and bad actions; but this self of mine is permanent, everlasting, eternal, not subject to change, and it will endure as long as eternity.’

This speculative view, bhikkhus, is called the thicket of views, the wilderness of views, the contortion of views, the vacillation of views, the fetter of views. With this fetter of views, the untaught ordinary person is not freed from birth, ageing, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair; he is not freed from suffering.

“Bhikkhus, a well-taught noble disciple, who has regard for noble ones and is skilled and disciplined in their Dhamma,  understands what things are fit for attention and what things are unfit for attention. Since that is so, he does not attend to those things unfit for attention and he attends to those things fit for attention.

“What are the things unfit for attention that he does not attend to? They are things such that when he attends to them, the un-arisen taint of sensual desire arises in him…etc …and the arisen taint of ignorance increases. These are the things unfit for attention that he does not 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 un-arisen taint of sensual desire does not arise in him…etc …and the arisen taint of ignorance is abandoned. By not attending to things unfit for attention and by attending to things fit for attention, un-arisen taints do not arise in him and arisen taints are abandoned.

“He attends wisely: ‘This is suffering’; he attends wisely: ‘This is the origin of suffering’; he attends wisely: ‘This is the cessation of suffering’; he attends wisely: ‘This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.’ When he attends wisely in this way, three fetters are abandoned in him: personality view, doubt, and adherence to rules and rituals. These are called the taints that should be abandoned by seeing.

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 # 68 for a continuation of the descriptions.