emptyuniverse

Discernment (Panna)

Thus you should train yourselves: 'We will listen when discourses that are words of the Tathagata — deep, deep in their meaning, transcendent, connected with emptiness — are being recited. We will lend ear, will set our hearts on knowing them, will regard these teachings as worth grasping & mastering.' That's how you should train yourselves. (SN 20.7: Ani Sutta)

An essential injunction directly related to discernment is to 'look at the world and see its emptiness ... uproot the view of self and thereby go beyond death.' This statement is from the Sutta Nipata (v. 1119). In this chapter we can explore how this injunction relates to the development of panna — the discernment that all conditioned phenomena of mind, body, and environment are entirely empty (sunna) of self (atta) or anything which could belong to a self. This discernment results in Nibbana, the cessation of suffering (dukkha-nirodha), which is the fruition of the path. Nibbana is also 'connected with emptiness' in that it is permanently empty of greed (lobha), hatred (dosa), and delusion (moha). For this reason it is said to be the supreme emptiness.

Understanding Conditioned Phenomena (Truth of Suffering, Origin, & Path)

Conditioned phenomena (sankhata dhamma) are all phenomena of the conditioned mind (nama), body (rupa), and environment (rupa). These three together are what the Buddha refers to as the 'world' (loka). All phenomena of nama and rupa can be divided and analyzed in various ways, such as: the five aggregates (form, feeling, perception, fabrications, and sensory consciousness); the twelve sensory spheres (eye and visual forms, ear and sounds, nose and odors, tongue and flavors, body and tactile sensations, mind and mental objects); and the eighteen elements (see table below).(2) All these phenomena are conditioned in that they are impermanent (anicca), unsatisfactory (dukkha), and not-self (anatta).

Among these, the eighteen elements (dhatu) are very useful for understanding conditioned phenomena in that they include the five aggregates (khandha) and twelve sensory spheres (ayatana) (3) and they also help to illustrate how our experience is dependently originated, as well as how suffering arises. The experiential identification of these eighteen elements is essential if we want to begin to deconstruct our experience into these basic phenomenological components. So lets take a closer look at these eighteen elements.

A Basic Map Of The World

The Buddha gave us this very clear map of our world, which is what we might call a periodic table of conscious experience. This map shows us where we are right now, in the present moment, and it also shows us how we might begin to dissolve the notion that any conditioned phenomenon or aggregation of phenomena could constitute a 'self' (atta).(4)

These eighteen elements contain every possible conditioned sensory experience that can occur to a conscious being, and for this reason the Buddha called this map 'the all.' This is a way of looking at our experience and categorizing it, and clearly seeing how these various elements combine according to causal relationship so as to better understand how our experience is dependently originated. The eighteen elements are:

Dependent Origination (Paticca-samuppada) and the Eighteen Elements

When this is, that is.
From the arising of this comes the arising of that.

When this isn't, that isn't.
From the cessation of this comes the cessation of that. (Udana I.3: Bodhi Sutta)

Using the above map we can begin to understand how our experience is constructed from these interdependent elements. When a sense base, a sense object, and a corresponding sense consciousness come together there is 'contact' (phassa). From contact arises 'feeling' (vedana), experienced as either pleasant, unpleasant (painful), or neither (neutral). From feeling arises 'craving' (tanha). If the feeling is pleasant it gives rise to positive craving as "this is good, I want more of this;" if it is painful it gives rise to aversion (negative craving) as "this is no good, I want no more of this;" and if it is neutral it gives rise to indifference. Then from the experience of craving arises the whole unrelenting mess of continued grasping (upadana), further becoming (bhava), birth (jati), and ongoing dissatisfaction and suffering (dukkha). The Buddha describes this dependently originated process in the Chachakka Sutta (MN 148):

Dependent on the eye & forms there arises consciousness at the eye. The meeting of the three is contact. With contact as a requisite condition there is feeling. With feeling as a requisite condition there is craving.

Dependent on the ear & sounds there arises consciousness at the ear. The meeting of the three is contact. With contact as a requisite condition there is feeling. With feeling as a requisite condition there is craving.

Dependent on the nose & aromas there arises consciousness at the nose. The meeting of the three is contact. With contact as a requisite condition there is feeling. With feeling as a requisite condition there is craving.

Dependent on the tongue & flavors there arises consciousness at the tongue. The meeting of the three is contact. With contact as a requisite condition there is feeling. With feeling as a requisite condition there is craving.

Dependent on the body & tactile sensations there arises consciousness at the body. The meeting of the three is contact. With contact as a requisite condition there is feeling. With feeling as a requisite condition there is craving.

Dependent on the intellect & ideas there arises consciousness at the intellect. The meeting of the three is contact. With contact as a requisite condition there is feeling. With feeling as a requisite condition there is craving.

Clearly Seeing Phenomena The Way They Are

The Buddha's insight into this situation involves seeing that these eighteen elements which make up all of our dualistic sensory experiences are impermanent (anicca) in that they are continually changing. This impermanence or inconstancy means that they are not dependable. And because they are impermanent and not dependable, they are unsatisfactory (dukkha) in that they will never bring any lasting happiness. And because they are impermanent and unsatisfactory (and dependently arisen) they are not-self (anatta) in that there can't be found any permanent agent or controller within any of the eighteen elements. Furthermore, because they are dependently originated and continually changing, they are emptiness (sunnata), which means that all conditioned phenomena are entirely empty of any enduring essence or independent existence. As the Buddha states in the Silavant Sutta (SN 22.122):

A virtuous monk should attend in an appropriate way to these five clinging-aggregates [i.e. any conditioned phenomena when ignorantly grasped and clung to] as inconstant (aniccato), stressful (dukkhato), a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a dissolution, an emptiness (sunnato), not-self (anattato). For it is possible that a virtuous monk, attending in an appropriate way to these five clinging-aggregates as inconstant [...] not-self, would realize the fruit of stream-entry.

In this statement the three terms that have been highlighted contain the other seven terms describing conditioned phenomena. The term 'inconstant' includes 'dissolution,' the term 'stressful' includes 'disease, cancer, arrow, painful, and affliction.' The term 'not-self' includes the terms 'alien,' and 'emptiness,' where emptiness also refers to the lack of any enduring essence or independent existence regarding any phenomenon or aggregation of phenomena. These three terms are commonly referred to as the 'three characteristics' (tilakkhana) of all conditioned phenomena.

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