Видео о Ниббане от дост. Пемасири (Шри Ланка)

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http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=/watch?v=pchO5pWcRKY

[Ассаджи]

TRANSCRIPT OF VEN. PEMASIRI THERA'S "SATI AND NIBBANA", DVD produced in 2004 by the film maker JOHN PRESTON


John Preston: What is nibbana? What is enlightenment?

Pemasiri Thera: In order to answer this question, is it okay to refer to the time before the Buddha?

John: Yes.

Pemasiri Thera: Nibbana means the subsiding or the going out, like a flame – nibbana means the going out – the blowing out – of our defilements. "Bbanna" means dam. So with tanha, we are dammed up. Nibbana means the dam has been opened up, busted out, and water is allowed to flow. So, it is not sealed; it is open.

Nibbana of the Buddha's teaching is different from the teaching, the goal of other religions. Even 6000 years before the Buddha's enlightenment, the word nibbana was known in the world. Various people accepted it and understood the concept of nibbana in various ways – some kind of another plane of existence, or another world. Some thought of it as place where the gods and other beings were in an eternal state. For example the Brahma Loka. Something eternally there. Various people defined nibbana in various ways. This is nibbana or that is nibbana.The Buddha taught a totally different thing from these other various ideas about nibbana.

Now, we will examine the nibbana taught by the Buddha. In the Upanishads, there is a lot said about nibbana. It is quite close to the teachings given by the Buddha, because much of what you find in the Upanishads was taught by the Pacceka-Buddhas. There is no complete description of nibbana by these teachers because they were not able to describe things as well as a fully enlightened Buddha.
What the Buddha is talking about is not a kind of world. It is something that can be reached through this present life. Nibbana.

It is not necessary to talk about nibbana as something we hope to attain in a future life. In us, there are wholesome, kusala, as well as unwholesome, akusala, phenomena. We need to know and recognize that which is wholesome as well as recognize that which is unwholesome in us. First, it's important to recognize the unwholesomeness. And then, once the unwholesomeness is recognized, only after the these qualities in us are recognized, the removing of the unwholesomeness occurs subsequently. Even the wholesomeness has to be first recognized, then only after one has recognized it properly, then that is also removed.
There is a fruit, akusala-vipaka, an effect of the unwholesomeness, of which the main thing is the becoming, the re-becoming to the woeful states. The kusala-vipaka, the effects of the wholesomeness, being born in the happy, sugati, states. Therefore, both the unwholesome and the wholesome result in in rebecoming, the punnabhava. Rebecoming or rebirth is not something that is happening in the future life; it's something that is being created now. Whether it is wholesome or unwholesome, we create it now. If at some point, the unwholesomeness is not in the mental stream anymore, then rebecoming in the woeful states has been brought to an end. However, the other part, the wholesome part, will continue, re-becoming based on the wholesome still remains. So we have to also overcome the re-becoming that is based on the wholesome. So if at any time in our minds, the ability to overcome both these rebirths – re-becoming based on wholesome as well as re-becoming based on the unwholesome – if that state arises in our minds, at that moment, we will have a glimpse of nibbana. So therefore, you can see that it is different from the teachings of other religions.

Religions arise in this world because of fear, then philosophies arise in this world because of doubt. Free from fear and free from doubt, the level of the mind that does not go to, the level of the mind that is not allowed to fall to a lower level or fall to a lower mental state, if we can maintain that mental state, and not based in any doubt or fear, that is the state of mind that can see or search for nibbana. So one recognizes the wholesome and the unwholesome, the hindrances, nivarana, and recognizes the spiritual faculties, the indriya-dhammas. If at any point, the energy that is connected to the five hindrances has been destroyed and if the energy of the five spiritual faculties has also been made use of, has already been used up, at that point, our minds incline towards nibbana. So therefore, nibbana does not belong to either the category of religion or to philosophy – it is called dhamma.

John: Nature?

Pemasiri Thera: Yes. The point where one enters "nature." So as a way to go to, to enter it, we have the Noble Eightfold Path. The eightfold path condensed is the five spiritual faculties: confidence, energy, sati, samadhi, panna.Or in an even more condensed way, a shorter way, the three trainings - sila, samadhi, panna.

With sila, our distractedness is reduced and our one-pointedness, our concentration increases/arises. The concentrated or tranquil mind can see the true nature of the world. So, in this life, it is possible to see nibbana and also get to nibbana. Nibbana is not something, that we have made up or created in our minds. Through our practical training, through kusala and akusala both being removed gradually from the mind, opens our minds to nibbana.

At the beginning, we have to make use of the wholesome –it is like using one poison to overcome another poison. So like that, in the beginning, we have to make use of the spiritual faculties such as faith and confidence. In the Ratana Sutta, the Buddha says there is a lamp which is lit and then the flame goes out – there is nowhere that the flame goes/has gone to. Did it enter the atmosphere, or did it go with the wind? Because the oil in the lamp is exhausted, or the wick burnt out – therefore, the flame went out. So, if the oil is the akusala, the wick is the kusala, and the flame is the punnabhava -  the re-becoming. At some point, sometimes the flame can go out because of the wind – this was the case for the ascetic Bahiya who was told by the Buddha, "In the seeing, there is only the seeing..." He had a very keen and subtle wisdom – that was Bahiya. If such a level of wisdom arises, it will happen very fast.  So, that is a description of nibbana, in a short and easy way.

To look for nibbana, we have to develop our sati very well. Lots of teachers including myself at the beginning, teach or have taught sati as just paying attention to what one is doing. For example, if you pick something up with your hand and you move hand over here or there - that's what is taught as sati. Washing the body, brushing the teeth, putting on your clothes, combing the hair, those activities, awareness of all those types of activities.... Manasikara – there is attention there. So actually, what we were taught as sati is actually just the attention, the manasikara.   At the time I was meditating, I was told by others that I was lacking in sati. I went for a bath and I forgot my soap. Someone would scold me: "You have no sati!" So next day, I would say to myself: "I will note everything, even the blinking of my eyes. I will not even blink without being aware of the blinking of my eyes." So I tried so hard that I would be aware of one of the hairs on my arm when it moved in the wind. Every sensation of the body - I tried to be aware of it. The blinking of the eyes etc. Still, the teacher told me that sometimes I have no sati.

So now, when I'm talking about this, talking about how I trained in the past, it arises in me again – now, for a short time, every slight movement of the body – I can be aware of it. At some point, the meditator has to train to this level, but that is not sati. So, it took me a long time to understand what is sati, to learn sati.

John: So, is sati the awareness of everything?

Pemasiri Thera: No. It is not. Though this is taught as sati, that is something else. Just attention -manasikara. I trained in the Mahasi Sayadaw method for 12 years. And even the method taught by Webu Sayadaw and now taught by Goenka, I trained in that method for about 6 years. Still, what is this thing called sati, it was not clear to me. So, even though many teachers taught me that this attention, this method was sati, doing everything with attention, I could not accept that simply paying attention was sati. So now because of my training, I am aware of all movements of my body – but that is not sati.

Manasikara is taught because the asaya-dhammas, the habits which have been learned in this life. So, this attention, this paying attention to all your actions and all your thoughts is taught to get rid of the asaya-dhammas, those habits learned in this life. This is not sati. This is manasikara.

John: If yoniso-manasikara is not sati, then what is the sati?

Pemasiri Thera: I will now talk about sati. Manasikara is when I pick something up, this eraser from the floor and move it over here, place it on the floor – doing that whole process knowingly is the manasikara. During this process, not having craving or aversion, in this case. The action I am doing, and having no expectation whatsoever, from this act. Abhijja/Domanassa. The four foundations of mindfulness, the satipatthana. That factor that recognizes abhijja and domanassa during this act with awareness. There is another factor that is aware if there is any coveting/craving or aversion or expectations, that which is aware of that aspect of it. In all four satipatthanas, it says – that the yogi is free from abhijja/domanass - that which knows it is the sati.

Talking, giving a dhamma talk, is not with sati, but rather with attention, manasikara. Here there is also that something good should arise from the talk. A kind of abhijja  -  also that things often don't goes as it should in a talk like this. So, annoyance can arise – that's domanassa being present. If I can teach without those things coming into it, then that would be sati. No abhijja or domanassa. It is with sati that the tendency to re-becoming, the punnabhava, is like shattered by sati. So that would be the cause, the condition for seeing nibbana.

It is manasikara that helps sati to arise and it is attention that helps sati to continue... sati and sati and sati.... One moment of sati after another moment of sati. And it is manasikara that helps the sati to continue. Attention is that which turns the focus of the mind from one object to the next object. The manasikara. Say the object of the mind's focus is a sound, and the next object of the mind is a visible object. It is manasikara that which changes the focus of the mind from the sound to the visible object, changes the mind from this to that.

If we are picking up the object with attention, turning the focus of the mind towards this eraser that I am picking up, but picking up the eraser without abhijja or domanassa – that is sati. Then again, the step of moving the eraser, moving there, that is attention, moving it from the first aspect of picking it up and then moving it over here. But keeping the mind free of abhijja/domanassa during that period, the subsequent part of the action is done by sati.

So when you train in this for a few days, then all comes together. Then attention and sati come together and it's called yoniso-manasikara. Then sati and manasikara are working in harmony. So, then it is together with sati and manasikara that all these things are done – like that – over a period of time, while one is doing it, one begins to see certain phenomena connected to the object. Then this aspect called manasikara is removed from the mind and instead the factor of wisdom, panna, arises. Then we call it sati-sampajanna. It becomes sampajanna – then sati and panna become something automatic in us. So sati and wisdom are there, the only two factors. Out of the fifty two mental factors, sati and wisdom are the only two factors which are never contaminated by ignorance, avijja. All the other factors, even the kusala factors, can be influenced by avijja. These two cetasika – the sati and panna – are leading to nibbana. When there is sati and panna/wisdom, upadana does not arise. So the mind is protected. These are the two mental factors, the satti and the wisdom that really understands the kusala and the akusala – the mind inclines to nibbana.

transcribed - by David Young