Mindfulness by Joseph Goldstein

Author:Joseph Goldstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781622030651
Publisher: Sounds True

26

Investigation of Dhammas

THE PALI TERM FOR THE second factor of awakening is dhammavicaya, which is the wisdom factor of mind. Dhammavicaya has been translated in various ways: “discrimination of states,” “investigation of truth,” or “discerning the Dhamma.” We might think of this awakening factor of mind as that which discerns and illuminates the truth by means of discriminating wisdom. As one teacher expressed it, it is “knowing what’s what.”

When a bhikkhu, dwelling mindful in this way, discriminates, inspects, applies investigation by means of wisdom . . . , then the awakening factor of dhamma-discrimination is instigated for that bhikkhu.1

And it is precisely this investigating factor or activity of mind that awakens us from ignorance.

There is a wonderful commentary on the Buddha’s teachings called The Questions of King Milinda. Milinda was a Greek king of ancient Bactria, a land in what is now Afghanistan and that was a legacy of Alexander the Great’s Asian empire. Like other educated Greeks of his time, Milinda was well versed in philosophical debate, and it was said that as a disputant, the king was hard to overcome. The Buddhist monks in his realm complained that the king constantly harassed them with questions and counterquestions, with arguments and counterarguments. So they finally went to the arahant monk Nagasena and requested that he go to the king and subdue him. Nagasena replied:

Never mind just this one king. If all the kings of India would come to see me with their questions, I could well dispose of them and they would give no more trouble after that. You may return to the capital without any fear whatever.2

The Questions of King Milinda is an account of the dialogues between Nagasena and the king, and many of the questions raised in the book are the same ones that we might ask today. Nagasena’s replies are always illuminating. In one of the dialogues, the king asks by how many of the factors of enlightenment does one actually awaken. Nagasena replies that awakening is by means of just one, this factor of investigation of dhammas. So why then, the king asks, does the Buddha speak of seven factors of awakening? Answers Nagasena:

“Does a sword placed in its sheath and not grasped in the hand succeed in cutting what needs to be cut? In exactly the same way, Your Majesty, one cannot awaken by means of the awakening-factor of dhamma-discrimination without the [other] six awakening factors.”3

Although the other six factors of awakening are needed to unsheathe and wield the sword of wisdom, it is this factor of discrimination of states that cuts through ignorance and delusion and liberates the mind. As Krishnamurti said, “It is the truth that liberates, not your efforts to be free.” As with all the factors of enlightenment, the instructions in the sutta are to know whether this quality of discernment is present or not, and how it can be developed and cultivated. In fact, the entire Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta is a map guiding us in this investigation. But in all cases, our investigation is in the service of wisdom, comprehending things as they really are.

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