From: "S.W. FISHERIES" <siamthai@ji-net.com>
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2000 08:33:51

Question:  Do all those who attain arahantship necessarily achieve the abhinna?

Answer:  Abhinna are the six supreme knowledge comprising:

 Iddhividha (the knowledge to perform miracles)
 Dibbasota (the knowledge to perform extra-sensory hearing)
 Cetopariyanana (the knowledge to know other people's thoughts)
 Pubbenisasanusasati (the knowledge to recall past lives)
 Dibbachaksu (the knowledge to perform extra-sensory seeing)
 Asavakayanana (the knowledge that eradicates asava)

 The first five are lokiya-abhinna or the knowledge arising from nanasamapati that still evolve with worldly matters.

 The last is lokuttara abhinna or the supramundane, the knowledge that enables the transcending of the world.  Those who attain arahantship would have achieved the supreme wisdom of Buddhism namely the panna that eradicates the asava completely or the absolute extinction of kilesa.

 Not all arahanta developed Samatha bhavana to achieve jhana.  The arahanta are classified as two, four or five categories, but from the perspective of the jhana there are two conclusively:

 1. Those who were arahanta without jhana, called sukkhavipassaka (those who practiced vipassana uniquely) or panna-vimuta (those who are freed through panna).

 2. Those who achieve both arahantship and the jhana, called the samatha-yanika (those with samatha as yana of who had developed samatha to the jhana level(s), then continued to develop vipassana unto attainment as arahanta) or the upatobhaga-vimuta (Those who are freed by both parts)

 The categorization is much more detailed than this; some classifications differentiate the upatobhaga-vimuta from those who attain the six abhinna because there are also the upatobhaga-vimuta who did not attain any abhinna.

 There is also a passage where the Buddha taught that there are many more sukkhavipassaka arahanta than those who attain jhana, therefore not all the arahanta need to attain the five abhinna or lokiya-abhinna.
 

Question: What to do if one wants to practice the dhamma towards release, when one has to live in this world of chaos, confusion and contention?  Having seen birth, aging, sickness and death, I don't want to be reborn.

Answer: You 'wish to practice the dhamma towards release' but feel that the life full of chaos, confusion and contention presents an obstacle.  On this subject, we would like you to consider the lives of two savaka during the times of the Buddha, namely the venerable Yasa and the slave woman Rajjumala when they first heard and became steadfast in Buddhism.

 Yasa had an extremely comfortable life, as the only son of a wealthy family.  That he walked along musing, 'what a chaotic, problematic place this is' was not the result of any physical or mental disaster, but because his accumulations made him see the truth that to be born and alive was dukkha, the cause of problems and chaos.  Thus when he heard the dhamma he was able to immediately realize the ariya-sacca-dhamma with his fully accumulated panna.

 The life of Rajjumala was the direct opposite; she was a slave woman whose master cruelly abused in all manners.  She was repeatedly seized by the hair and injured, forcing her to shave her head in the hope of avoiding the punishment.  Instead the master wound a cord around her head in order to seize and beat and abuse her as before, so that she was known as Rajjumala.  She was so tired of living that she wanted to commit suicide.  Then she met the Buddha and heard his teachings which made her reconsider and ended her unhappiness, rendering her mind light and clear, steadfast in the dhamma, until she realized the ariya-sacca-dhamma to become the sotapanna.

 These two examples show that the comfort or the chaotic problems of life are not paccaya for anyone to attain release.  Only when there is enough accumulated wisdom to reach 'the maturity of nana' would they be able to achieve nibbana when they hear the dhamma.  The venerable Yasa's life, free of suffering, did not make him overlook the problems and chaos of being born.  Rajjumala attained the dhamma even though the harsh cruelty of her situation as a slave woman remained.  These days there probably still are some of us who lead comfortable lives like the venerable Yasa's, while many suffer like Rajjumala.  There must be some who have read or heard the teachings of the Buddha in books or dhamma presentations, but has anyone attained sotapanna?

 Life in this world, no matter the circumstances, is entirely the vipaka of kamma.  When it is the kusala vipaka, one receives good aramana as ittharammana. When it is the akusala vipaka, it would be anittharammana.  Having seen this one should not be disturbed by the results of kamma: not given to dosa when receiving things one dislikes, nor to lobha when receiving things one likes and desires, not to moha which arises with every citta that does not evolve with dana, sila or bhavana.

 You are 'tired of chaos, confusion and contention, and having seen birth, aging, sickness and death, don't want to be reborn,'  ' want to practice the dhamma towards release' from 'this troubled, chaotic world'.  If the chaotic trouble were to disappear, for example your situation improves, you receive all you ever wanted, those who give you trouble stop or leave you alone; or you reach a heavenly plane where there is only great happiness exempt from old age or death, or patisandhi in the brahma world to maintain that status for so long that death seems an impossibility: would you still wish to 'practice the dhamma towards release'?  Or would you then consider that your goals have been reached?  It would not be like the venerable Yasa who saw trouble and chaos in a life without hardship.

 Any unpleasant or undesirable feeling is dosa, the enemy everyone sees and does not want.  But a closer enemy, even harder to conquer, is lobha.  Generally overlooked because it is the desired aramana, it is the enemy that pleases with ever-present pleasure, and much harder to overcome.

 When you see the trouble, chaos, and contention of life, the dukkha of being born, growing old and dying, and see that to avoid all this is not to be reborn; how can the latter happen?  By being able to relinquish the desire to have and to be, or bhavatanha, by severing all paccaya to be born again or to attenuate the attachments to everything.  The Buddha said that to have a hundred loves is to have a hundred dukkha; one love, one dukkha; none, no dukkha.

 To be able to relinquish desires one must study the true essence of Buddhism.  Read or listen to the dhamma until you understand, follow the reasoning conscientiously, and develop satipatthana, be aware of one's citta to realize the arising and falling away of all dhamma that evolve according to conditions, beyond anyone's power of control, or the self.  Continue to accumulate and develop until 'the maturity of nana' is reached for panna to arise and truly fully realize the dhamma.

Amara-Varee
July 4, 2000

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