The Four Foundations of Mindfulness by U Silananda

Author:U Silananda
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780861718566
Publisher: Wisdom Publications
Published: 2012-06-25T04:00:00+00:00

When you know the sense-bases thoroughly, you do not only know the sense-bases, you know also the fetters that arise dependent on both. That means, when there is a desirable visible object, a beautiful object, and you see it, there arises in you seeing-consciousness. Because it is a desirable object, you may have attachments, thoughts of attachment. When the object is ugly and undesirable, you may feel anger or you may feel resentment and aversion. So, depending on these two, the eyes and the visible object, sense-desire can arise, anger can arise, and so on. Meditators know that the anger arises dependent on the eyes and the visible forms, and so on.

These sense-desires, ill will and so on, are called “fetters.” They are like ropes. They bind you to the round of rebirths, to saṁsāra. There are altogether ten kinds of fetters described in the Abhidhamma.13

The first is sense-desire. When you see (hear, taste, etc.) something, you may experience sense-desire.

The second is ill will or anger. Ill will arises when you see something you don’t want to see or when you hear something you don’t want to hear.

The third fetter is pride or conceit. When meditators think, “Only a person like me can see these things,” they are experiencing pride and conceit.

The fourth fetter is false view. Meditators can have false views about what they see or hear. They might think that certain things are permanent or that these things are good to have, that they are desirable, and so on. When you are holding these false views, they will become fetters. They become ropes that tie you to the round of rebirths.

The fifth fetter is doubt. Doubt can arise when meditators see or hear something. If such doubt arises, ask yourself, “Is this a living being?” Or, “Is this the property of a living being?” When you experience such doubts, they can become fetters and ropes.

The sixth fetter is belief in rites and ceremonies. The Pāli word for it is sīlabbata-parāmāsa. What is actually meant is that some rites and ceremonies, some kind of practices, are based on the wrong belief that such practices will lead to the eradication of defilements and the attainment and realization of truth. In the time of the Buddha, there were people who adopted very strange practices believing those practices would lead to their liberation. They accepted as true that there was joy or suffering in their life on account of the kamma they had accumulated. In order to escape from the effects of kamma, they believed they had to do something to their body so that the effects of kamma would be used up. They acted like dogs, lived like dogs, ate like dogs, in order to get rid of mental defilements. Other people lived like cows, ate like cows, slept like cows, in order to eradicate defilements, craving, and desire. Believing that such practices lead to getting rid of mental defilements is what is meant here by belief in rites and ceremonies. Of course, you can find rather strange beliefs and practices in our time.

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