Introduction (Seeing Is Believing-- Dhamma Talks by Sayadaw U Nyanabhasa)

The following translations are instructional Dhamma talks on practice by three Burmese teachers. I do not know much about their personal lives. These Dhamma talks were offered to me by Upāsikā Daw Lay Thwe of New Zealand, including Dhamma talks by Mogok Sayadawgyi. Therefore, I am able to share the Dhamma with others.

Recently, on the BBC News, I heard some good news: the billionaire Bill Gates donated his 200 billion dollars to charity, especially for medical research and other causes. Only intelligent and wise people use their lives to benefit the human race.

I give the title to Sayadaw U Ñāṇabhāsa as “Seeing Is Believing,” because the talk is about the yogi’s experiences in practice. This is not meant in the worldly sense of viewpoint and experience. Seeing the Dhamma is seeing with a purified mind; such seeing will never deceive the yogi. With the ordinary five senses and an impure mind, however, seeing can deceive us. For example, when we see a hill from a distance, it may appear to be a mountain, but when we come closer, it turns out to be quite different.

In the same way, all worldlings have distortions (vipallāsa) because of defiled minds. Therefore, they perceive, see, and view the world (loka) with distortions, and their actions and behaviours become unskillful. With material development (so-called progress), human beings become more greedy and deluded. They seek the essence of life in the external world, pursuing gratifications of all kinds, but they will never find it. Instead, they become more and more discontented and confused.

They do not see the many dangers that gratification can bring to human societies because they do not understand sensual pleasures, material forms, and feelings, as explained in the Mahādukkhakkhandha Sutta (sutta no. 13) of the Majjhima Nikāya (MN. 13).

It was like a fish that only sees the bait and not the hook.

There was a conversation between a primitive cannibal and a modern man, as follows:

Modern man: You eat human flesh! It’s quite disgusting!

Cannibal: Oh! Wait a minute. We kill human beings for food, but why do you modern men kill humans without eating them? So you modern men are more disgusting!

(Some world leaders and politicians should reflect on this point.)

The general outline of Buddhist practice is to cultivate sīla (virtues), to overcome the five hindrances, and to develop the seven factors of enlightenment by establishing mindfulness (satipaṭṭhāna). Therefore, it is very important to know the nature of the five hindrances and the seven factors of enlightenment.

In the Bojjhaṅga Saṃyutta, the Buddha mentioned them. I will only mention their gist here.

The five hindrances are unskillful or unwholesome dhammas, so they defile the mind. They are makers of blindness, causing lack of vision and lack of knowledge, detrimental to wisdom, tending to vexation, and leading away from Nibbāna. (The seven factors of enlightenment are the opposite of this.)

The five hindrances are the corruptions of the mind. (The seven factors of enlightenment are non-corruptions.)

The nutriments for the hindrances are as follows:

For sensual desire, the sign of the beautiful, frequently giving unwise attention (ayoniso manasikāra) to it, is the nutriment for the arising of unarisen sensual desire and for the increase and expansion of arisen sensual desire.

For ill will, the sign of the repulsive (paṭigha) is the nutriment.

For sloth and torpor, these are discontent, lethargy, laziness, stretching, drowsiness after meals, and sluggishness of mind.

For restlessness and remorse, this is unsettledness of mind, and frequently giving unwise attention to it.

For doubt, there are things that are the basis for doubt, and frequently giving unwise attention to them.

With unwise attention (ayoniso manasikāra), the five hindrances arise; and with wise attention (yoniso manasikāra), the seven factors of enlightenment arise. According to the Buddha, someone who has not developed and cultivated the seven factors of enlightenment is called an unwise dull person. But one who has developed and cultivated them is called wise and alert.

Therefore, according to the Buddha’s standard, all worldlings are unwise and dull, while practising yogis and arahants are wise and alert people. This is also one of the reasons there are many problems and much suffering in societies and around the world.

In Singapore, Sayadaw U Uttama (Sagaing) gave a Dhamma talk on “The Exhortation of Buddhas and the Power of Mindfulness.” The exhortation of the Buddhas is found in the Dhammapada, verses 183–185.

Verse 183:

Verse 183 has three factors: not doing any evil (unskillfulness, unwholesomeness), the doing of what is skillful (wholesomeness), and the cleansing of one’s own mind. We can combine all the Buddha’s teachings into these three factors. Therefore, it can be said to be the heart of the teaching.

Like paṭiccasamuppāda, one of the fundamental right views of the Buddha is the law of kamma; without it, we cannot understand and appreciate the whole Dhamma.

Why does the Buddha ask humans not to do any evil (unskillful, unwholesome), to perform what is skillful (wholesome), and to cleanse one’s own mind?

The Buddha wants humans to be free from suffering, to have happiness, and to make the mind powerful and capable of developing wisdom. All worldlings have latent defilements in their minds, which can give rise to problems and suffering when the causes are present.

There are three kinds of actions (kamma): mental, verbal, and bodily actions. Therefore, unwholesome thinking leads to unwholesome verbal and bodily actions, which give rise to the results of suffering. In the same way, wholesomeness gives rise to the results of happiness.

Another important teaching of the Buddha is the power of mindfulness, which can prevent unwholesomeness from arising. Mindfulness also develops wholesome dhammas and purifies the mind. Therefore, sati can perform the duties of not doing evil, doing good, and cleansing the mind.

The Buddha taught that the five hindrances are a heap of the unwholesome, and the four satipaṭṭhānas are a heap of the wholesome. In some places, he also said that the establishment of the four satipaṭṭhānas develops the thirty-seven wings of enlightenment.

So here we see the importance of mindfulness, which is equivalent to appamāda—ever mindful in doing meritorious deeds.

Therefore, we cannot find true happiness, peace, or essence in the external world, which only leads to suffering and never ends.

Tipiṭakadhara Yaw Sayadaw explains the essence of the last words of the Buddha in two verses:

Vayadhammā saṅkhārā shows the nature of impermanence that causes beings great fear.

Appamāda dhamma expresses the essence of life.

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