Tokyo
April 20 1971

Dear Mr. G.,

I will repeat your question:
There is awareness, but not often of characteristics of nama and rupa. How can I get to know directly characteristics of realities?

Is there seeing now? It has a characteristic which can be directly experienced. It is a reality which can experience visible object through the eye-door. It is a type of nama, not self.

Is there hearing now? That is another reality. It is a type of nama which experiences sound through the ear-door. Hardness, softness, heat or cold appear time and again. They are different realities which each have their own characteristic. A characteristic of nama or rupa is not something besides that which can be experienced now, at this moment. All realities which appear have different characteristics and they can be experienced one at a time. Seeing is nama, visible object is rupa; they have different characteristics.

You wrote that you cannot distinguish the difference between seeing and thinking about what was seen, that they seem to occur at the same time. When we pay attention to the shape and form of something such as a chair there is thinking. However, are there not also moments of merely experiencing what appears through the eyesense, without there being thinking? There is not all the time thinking or defining of what something is. There are moments of seeing and seeing conditions thinking about what was seen, but they occur at different moments. One citta can have only one object at a time. We cannot expect to have precise understanding of realities, but we can begin to be aware of different realities. There are different degrees of knowing characteristics of nama and rupa and when panna has been developed more, they will be known more clearly. They have to be known as nama and as rupa, not self.

The Buddha explained realities in different ways so that people would be able to know them as nama elements and rupa elements, as not self. We read in "An Exhortation from Nandaka" Middle Length Sayings (III, no.146) that the monk Nandaka had to preach to the nuns. Then the Buddha asked him to repeat to them exactly the same sermon. Why? Their "faculties", indriyas [1] , were developed and hearing the same sermon again would be the right condition for them to attain the degree of enlightenment for which they were ripe. How could that happen? Could it be just because they were listening and thinking about what they heard, or rather because there would be mindfulness while listening? While listening mindfulness can arise and it can be aware of seeing, hearing, thinking or feeling, of any reality appearing through one of the six doors. When I quote what Nandaka said, one may think, "Is that all?" However, when one listens, considers what one has heard and there can be mindfulness of realities one can come to know them as they are.

The conversation between Nandaka and the nuns reads:

"What do you think about this, sisters? Is the eye permanent or impermanent?"

"Impermanent, revered sir."

"But is what is impermanent anguish or happiness?"

"Anguish, revered sir."

"Is it right to regard that which is impermanent,anguish and liable to alteration as, 'This is mine, this am I, this is myself '?"

"No, revered sir."

"What do you think about this, sisters? Is the ear..the nose..the tongue..the bodysense..the mind permanent or impermanent?...Is it right to regard that which is impermanent, anguish and liable to alteration as, 'This is mine, this am I, this is myself '?"

"No, revered sir. What is the reason for this? Already, revered sir, by means of perfect intuitive wisdom it has been well seen by us as it really is that,'These six internal sense-fields are impermanent' ".

The six "internal sense-fields" (ayatanas) are the five senses and the mind. The same is said about the six "external sensefields": colours, sounds, smells, flavours, tangibles and mental objects. The same is said about the "six classes of consciousness" which experience these objects. Then Nandaka said:

"It is good, sisters, it is good. For it is thus, sisters, that by means of perfect intuitive wisdom this is seen by an ariyan disciple as it really is. It is, sisters, like the oil for lighting an oil-lamp which is impermanent and liable to alteration, and like the wick which is impermanent and liable to alteration, and like the flame which is impermanent and liable to alteration, and like the light which is impermanent and liable to alteration. If anyone, sisters, were to speak thus: 'The oil for lighting this oil-lamp is impermanent and liable to alteration, and the wick...and the flame is impermanent and liable to alteration, but that which is the light-that is permanent, lasting, eternal, not liable to alteration', speaking thus, sisters, would he be speaking rightly?"

"No, revered sir. What is the reason for this? It is, revered sir, that if the oil for lighting this oil-lamp be impermanent and liable to alteration, and if the wick...and if the flame be impermanent and liable to alteration, all the more is the light impermanent and liable to alteration."

"Even so, sisters, if anyone should speak thus: 'These six internal sense-fields are impermanent and liable to alteration, but whatever pleasure or pain or indifferent feeling I experience as a result of these six internal sense-fields, that is permanent, lasting, eternal, not liable to alteration.' speaking thus, sisters, would he be speaking rightly?"

"No, revered sir. What is the reason for this? As a result of this or that condition, revered sir, these or those feelings arise. From the stopping of this or that condition these or those feelings are stopped."

You wrote that awareness helps you to be less involved when unpleasant things happen. Sometimes there are conditions for sati and panna, but when feelings are intense we tend to take them for self, we find it very difficult to see them as only conditioned realities, only nama.

Usually we are absorbed in what appears through eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodysense and mind, and we are forgetful of realities.

At times we have to experience unpleasant objects through the senses. The other day someone hit me, meaning it as a joke. Feeling the impact of it was akusala vipaka through the body-sense. Why did this have to happen to me? At such moments one may be upset and there is no awareness. Of course, I know why it happened: it was the result of akusala kamma, a deed committed in the past. Thus we see that everything we have to experience are only conditioned realities, and also our like or dislike of what happens and our feelings about it are only conditioned realities. Our attachment or our dislike are not vipaka, they arise with akusala citta which is conditioned by our accumulated defilements. We had attachment and aversion in the past and therefore there are conditions for their arising today. There are different types of conditions which play their part in our life.

Now I shall continue with the sutta. Further on we read that Nandaka said:

"It is good, sisters, it is good. For it is thus, sisters, that by means of perfect intuitive wisdom this is seen by an ariyan disciple as it really is. It is, sisters, as if a clever cattle-butcher or a cattle-butcher's apprentice, having killed a cow, should dissect the cow with a butcher's sharp knife without spoiling the flesh within, without spoiling the outer hide, and with the butcher's sharp knife should cut, should cut around, should cut all around whatever tendons, sinews and ligaments there are within; and having cut, cut around, cut all around and removed the outer hide and, having clothed that cow in that self-same hide again, should then speak thus: `This cow is conjoined with this hide as before.' Speaking thus, sisters, would he be speaking rightly?"

"No, revered sir. What is the reason for this? Although, revered sir, that clever cattle-butcher or cattle-butcher's apprentice, having killed a cow...having clothed that cow in that self-same hide again, might then speak thus: 'This cow is conjoined with this hide as before,' yet that cow is not conjoined with that hide."

"I have made this simile for you, sisters, so as to illustrate the meaning. This is the meaning here: 'the flesh within' sisters, is a synonym for the six internal sense-fields. 'The outer hide', sisters, is a synonym for the six external sense-fields. 'The tendons, sinews and ligaments within', sisters, is a synonym for delight and attachment. 'The butcher's sharp knife', sisters, is a synonym for the ariyan intuitive wisdom, the ariyan intuitive wisdom by which one cuts, cuts around, cuts all around the inner defilements, the inner fetters and the inner bonds."

After Nandaka had finished his sermon and the nuns had departed, the Buddha said to the monks: "...although these nuns were delighted with Nandaka's teaching on Dhamma, their aspirations were not fulfilled."

We then read:

Then the Lord addressed the venerable Nandaka, saying: "Well then, Nandaka, you may exhort these nuns with this same exhortation again tomorrow."

We read that after Nandaka had given the same sermon to the nuns for the second time the Buddha said:

"These nuns were delighted with Nandaka's teaching on Dhamma and their aspirations were fulfilled. She who is the last nun [2] of these five hundred nuns is a stream-winner (sotapanna), not liable to the Downfall; she is assured, bound for self-awakening."

You might think that the nuns had understood the impermanence of conditioned realities already the first time, but there are many degrees of realizing the truth. The hearing of Nandaka's sermon for the second time was a condition for those who had not attained enlightenment to become sotapanna, and for others who were already ariyans to attain higher stages of enlightenment.

Thus we can see that listening to the teachings or reading the scriptures are conditions for mindfulness and the development of panna, and even for attaining enlightenment.

This sutta illustrates that the Buddha taught about all realities which can be experienced through the six doors. They appear all the time in daily life. Right understanding should be developed of these realities, there is no other way. Some people think that one should select particular objects of awareness, they believe that one should not be aware of all objects which appear. This is not the development of the Eightfold Path. If one is, for example, never aware of visible object which appears through the eyes one will continue to believe that people can be experienced through the eyesense. In reality only the rupa which is visible object can be seen, but one is unable to eliminate the idea of "being"from the visible object. One should check whether panna can eliminate doubt and ignorance about the characteristics of nama and rupa or not yet. It is not sufficient to be aware of what appears through one door only.

When the nuns listened to Nandaka's sermon they were considering and studying with awareness the characteristics of nama and rupa which appeared in order to understand them thoroughly. One should not merely repeat for oneself what one has heard about nama and rupa or merely follow what one's teacher said. One should develop understanding oneself of whatever appears through one of the six doors. One may believe that seeing and hearing are very clear, but this may be only thinking, not direct understanding of these realities. There should be the development of right understanding which knows nama as nama and rupa as rupa. Usually one is so absorbed in the object which appears that one forgets to be aware of the nama which experiences the object. When visible object appears it is evident that there is also a reality which experiences it, a type of nama. If there were no nama which experiences visible object how could visible object appear? It is seeing which sees, no self who sees. There can be awareness of one reality at a time, a nama or a rupa and then one can learn their different characteristics.

In the above quoted sutta we read about the dissecting of a cow. When it has been dissected there is no longer the idea of a whole cow. When we join realities together into a "whole" there is the idea of a thing, a person, a self. When panna directly realizes visible object as rupa, not self, hardness as rupa, not self, hearing as nama, not self, and the other realities appearing one at a time as not self, the concept of a whole will disappear.

After I had typed the text about dissecting the cow, my husband and I were having dinner. While we were eating I was still busy "dissecting the cow". I liked the food and I remembered the words of the sutta that we are bound by delight and attachment. We are bound by these "tendons", but wisdom can cut them away. The scriptures can be a condition to consider different namas and rupas which appear in daily life.

We are bound by attachment and delight with regard to what is experienced through the six doors. We like savours and tasting, we want to go on tasting. We like visible object and seeing, we want to go on seeing. We like sound and hearing, we want to go on hearing. We like thoughts and thinking, we want to go on thinking. Thus there are conditions to go on in the cycle of birth and death. It is because of clinging that we must be reborn. There will be the arising of nama and rupa in other existences, again and again.

Why did the nuns have to hear the same sermon again? Hearing it only once was not enough. We also would need to hear it again and again, many more times. We still cling to the internal sense-fields and the external sense-fields. That is why it is necessary to be aware of seeing, visible object, hearing, sound, of all realities which appear through the six doors, over and over again, without preference for a particular reality, without excluding any reality. Thus we have to be busy, "dissecting the cow " .

You asked me how we can realize the conditions for nama and rupa through being aware of them, and whether that is different from thinking about conditions.

There are different degrees of understanding conditions. We can have theoretical understanding of the fact that eyesense is a condition for seeing. Without eyesense there cannot be seeing. Seeing sees visible object or colour. Visible object is a condition for seeing by being its object. Seeing is vipaka-citta, it is produced by kamma. Kamma-condition is another type of condition. There are different types of conditions for the realities which arise.

Theoretical understanding of conditions is not the same as panna which directly knows conditions for the nama and rupa which appear. This is a stage of insight which cannot arise before the beginning stage of insight which is the stage that panna clearly distinguishes the difference between the characteristic of nama and the characteristic of rupa. Seeing is a reality which experiences visible object, it is not self but nama. There is no need to think about this. Can the characteristic of seeing not be known when it appears? Seeing is different from visible object. Visible object is rupa, it does not know anything. Hearing is a reality which experiences sound. It is different from sound which is rupa, a reality which does not know anything. Through awareness of nama and rupa which appear one at a time panna can come to realize that nama is different from rupa. When the first stage of insight arises there is no idea of a "whole", there are only different elements appearing one at a time. There is no idea of self who realizes nama as nama and rupa as rupa, but it is panna which realizes this. How could panna directly know conditions for nama and rupa when the difference between these realities has not been discerned yet? This would be impossible. Do seeing and visible object not seem to appear at the same time? Do hearing and sound not seem to appear at the same time? Do seeing and hearing not seem to appear at the same time? Is there an idea of the whole body? Don't we join all realities together into a "whole"? Is there not the whole of the world, the whole of a being, the whole of our personality? Is there an idea of self who is aware? We still have to study, to be aware of different realities, to discern their different characteristics. We have to learn such a great deal before the first stage of insight can arise. We don't even know whether it can arise during this life, that depends on understanding which has been accumulated, also in past lives.

It is after the first stage of insight that panna can come to know directly nama and rupa as conditioned realities. This does not mean that there has to be thinking about all the different conditions for each reality. This stage of insight is different from our intellectual understanding at this moment of the different conditions for nama and rupa.

Some people think that knowing the conditions for aversion, dosa, would help to eliminate it. They think that knowing the conditions means thinking about the circumstances, the "story". However, that is not panna which realizes conditions, it is thinking of concepts. Is there not an idea of "my dosa" about which one thinks? The way to eliminate dosa is the development of right understanding of all realities which appear. Only when one has attained the third stage of enlightenment dosa can be eradicated. It cannot be eradicated so long as the wrong view of self has not been eradicated. When dosa appears its characteristic can be studied so that it can be realized as only a conditioned reality, not "my dosa". The real cause of dosa is not the circumstances, not the other people. Our accumulations of dosa condition its arising. There were countless moments of dosa in the past and thus it can arise today. There is ignorance accompanying each moment of dosa, thus ignorance is a condition for it. There is no attachment, lobha, at the same time as dosa, but lobha is also a condition for dosa. We like pleasant objects and when the object is unpleasant there is aversion, we dislike it when we don't get what we want. Thus we see that there are several conditioning factors for realities, some of which arise at the same time and some of which do not arise at the same time. When we think about the "story", about the circumstances of dosa we do not come to know more about the reality of dosa. We have accumulations to think a great deal. When there is thinking it can be realized as just nama, not self.

Ignorance about realities can never be eradicated by thinking. The Buddha explained about the realities appearing through the six doors in order to remind us to be aware of them over and over again. Only in that way ignorance and wrong view of realities can be eradicated. We read in the Kindred Sayings (IV, Salayatana-vagga, Second Fifty, Chapter I, § 53, Ignorance):

Then a certain monk came to the Exalted One, and on coming to him saluted him and sat down at one side. So seated that monk said this:

"By how knowing, lord, by how seeing does ignorance vanish and knowledge arise?"

"In him who knows and sees the eye as impermanent, monk, ignorance vanishes and knowledge arises. In him who knows and sees visible objects...seeing-consciousness..the ear...sounds...hearing-consciousness..the tongue...flavours..tasting-consciousness..the nose...smells...smelling-consciousness..the body..touches...body-consciousness..the mind..mind-states..mind-consciousness...as impermanent, ignorance vanishes and knowledge arises."

With metta,

Nina van Gorkom




[1] The indrayas or faculties which have to be developed are: faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom.
[2] With the least attainment.

 Glossary

December 2004