The Ways of Cessation (Seeing Is Believing)

Among practicing yogis, experiences of cessation are not the same. Although all yogis make effort in the practice with the aim that cessation will occur, the manner in which cessation is experienced may differ from person to person. These differences arise from the knowledge of appearance, which varies among individuals (in Burmese: athim ñāṇa).

Based on practice, let us discuss the different ways of cessation. Practice is grounded in satipaṭṭhāna samādhi. Whether one bases practice on form (rūpānupassanā), feeling (vedanānupassanā), or other foundations, these contemplations concern phenomena such as contact, feeling, and knowing. They are all rooted in the nature of the four satipaṭṭhānas. If the practice is correct at the beginning, the middle and the end will also become correct.

When one contemplates a single aggregate (khandha), the other aggregates are implicitly included. To establish a clear target, a yogi must contemplate the object that is most distinct to him. If form (rūpa) is clear, he contemplates form; if feeling is clear, he contemplates feeling, and so forth. Whatever object is taken, in a human being all five aggregates arise together and vanish together.

After seeing that an object arises and vanishes—knowing that this is a single moment of mind—the yogi continues contemplation and observes that the object is no longer present. Previously, the object was seen; now it is no longer seen. If the target object is form (rūpa), contemplation reveals impermanence (anicca); if the target is feeling, contemplation likewise reveals impermanence, and so on.

According to Mogok Sayadaw’s instruction, if a yogi contemplates form and no longer sees it, but instead discerns impermanence, the practice is correct. If the yogi still discerns form, feeling, and so forth as substantial entities, this remains merely knowledge of mind and matter (the five aggregates). Only through the discernment of impermanence (anicca) does the practice succeed.

After discernment of impermanence, appearances still arise. Therefore, the Buddha taught contemplation as perceiving as impermanent, knowing as impermanent, and viewing as impermanent. Discernment itself is impermanence, yet the object of appearance remains unstable for the yogi—this instability is the appearance of impermanence.

If the yogi sees this instability as unsatisfactory, it becomes the characteristic of suffering (dukkha-lakkhaṇa). In this process, there is nothing that belongs to “me,” nothing related to “me,” and nothing that follows my desire. What occurs unfolds purely as a process of cause and effect.

Characteristics Leading to Cessation

The characteristic of non-self (anattā-lakkhaṇa) appears to the yogi, but the seeing itself remains impermanent (anicca). Mind-and-form phenomena are now seen as newly born and newly dead—arising and vanishing moment by moment. As a result, they appear unattractive to the yogi (i.e., asubha). Although this is still impermanence, it now appears differently to the yogi.

According to Mogok Sayadaw, if a yogi discerns the nature of rise and fall in this very life, the practice can be completed in this life, culminating in stream-entry. Impermanence (anicca) is compared to the footprint of an elephant, the largest of animals: whatever footprints other animals leave will fall within the elephant’s footprint. In the same way, all insight characteristics are encompassed within impermanence. Therefore, for a practicing yogi, cessation will eventually be reached. For this reason, it is important to understand the different characteristics that lead toward cessation.

All phenomena arising from the body are moving toward dissolution; nothing among them fails to perish. If a yogi sees phenomena as stable, that vision is incorrect. Taking them as permanent constitutes eternalism (sassata-diṭṭhi). From this wrong view, feeling conditions craving (vedanā-paccayā taṇhā), and one then acts according to the demands of craving.

Here, two possibilities must be understood. Ordinarily, phenomena are misconceived either as existing or as non-existing afterward. Mistaking non-existence as absolute non-being is known as annihilation view (natthibhāva-paññatti). Correct discernment, however, sees the transition from existence to non-existence as included within the characteristic of impermanence (anicca-lakkhaṇa). If the yogi discerns this correctly and continues contemplation based on the sense bases, insight deepens.

Initially, phenomena appear unstable in the mind. Subsequently, remaining with them becomes unbearable. By discerning one characteristic clearly, the others naturally follow. At the moment of cessation, the process ceases together with one characteristic. In the yogi’s experience, this appears as arising suffering and vanishing suffering. This direct seeing is the characteristic of suffering (dukkha-lakkhaṇa).

From Repeated Suffering to Cessation

After that stage, one no longer wants these instances of suffering (dukkha) to arise. Yet they still arise. One does not want them to persist, yet they persist. One does not want the body to experience pain and aching, yet pain and aching occur. This does not happen according to desire; it happens according to causes and effects. In this way, the characteristic of non-self (anattā-lakkhaṇa) appears in the yogi’s mind.

Then the process repeats: phenomena arise again and again and cease again and again. The characteristic of unattractiveness (asubha-lakkhaṇa) appears to the yogi, together with the perception of momentary death (khaṇika-maraṇa). Seeing this, Mogok Sayadaw advised: do not deliberately contemplate impermanence, suffering, non-self, or unattractiveness as concepts. If one truly discerns rise and fall, the practice will naturally reach completion.

Now let us speak about cessation and the four characteristics.

With sustained contemplation of arising and vanishing, knowledge matures. The yogi clearly discovers instability. At times the process becomes faster and faster; at other times it slows down more and more. In this way, the process unfolds, until suddenly it happens very quickly and then stops instantly.

Only when impermanence (anicca-lakkhaṇa) ceases clearly within knowledge is cessation properly realized. The phase known as votthana-gāminī javana occurs as the process repeatedly approaches cessation, or crosses over toward it. This is like the simile of jumping across a wide trench. The trench is slightly too wide to cross immediately. One must step back to gather strength; then, with sufficient momentum, one leaps across to the other side. In the same way, cessation occurs through acceleration. This is cessation through impermanence.

The yogi experiences it as an instantaneous stopping. I have asked some yogis about their direct experience. The preceding knowledge seems to pose a question to the following knowledge: “Do you want to see this again?” The impermanence process comes to an end through not wanting to see it again. In Mogok Sayadaw’s talks, he explained: If you no longer want to see it, it will come to an end.

According to some yogis, the impermanent aggregates (anicca-khandhas) converge and cease together. It is beneficial to understand this. In the world, there is nothing that is not good to know—only things that are not good to do.

At the moment of cessation, the seeing is peaceful, and the heart becomes cool. Both occur together in the heart. Path knowledge (magga-ñāṇa) cuts off what must be cut off, and fruition knowledge (phala-ñāṇa) extinguishes the heat of the defilements (kilesa), bringing about complete coolness.

Cessation in Relation to the Characteristics and the Elements

The cessations related to the characteristic of suffering (dukkha-lakkhaṇa) may appear to yogis in relation to the cessation of the earth, water, fire, and wind elements, respectively, as these elements are experienced as oppressive.

The cessation related to the earth element may feel as though the entire body is being pressed by a massive rock, then breaking apart into fragments in rapid moments.

With the water element, it may feel as if the body becomes liquid and flows outward, such as mucus or other bodily fluids being released.

With the fire (heat) element, it may feel as though the whole body is burned down into ashes, followed by cessation.

With the air (wind) element, the whole body may tremble and shake violently, as if possessed by an unseen force, and then suddenly cease.

These experiences correspond to the cessation of oppression (dukkha), as conditioned through the elements.

Cessation and the Characteristic of Non-Self

The cessation related to the characteristic of non-self (anattā-lakkhaṇa) occurs when the processes of arising and vanishing come to cessation and no impermanence is discerned. To the yogi, it may appear that the knowing mind itself has not ceased.

However, in reality, each moment of knowing consciousness ceases one by one, vanishing successively. They are not a single knowing entity. Each knowing moment knows its object separately. Some moments may know many instances of impermanence; others may know only a few.

Therefore, the yogi must know:

• the impermanence of the object, and
• the impermanence of the knowing consciousness itself continuously.

If the yogi understands cessation in this way, it is called cessation in terms of non-self (anattā-lakkhaṇa-nirodha).

(Here, the cessation of non-self may not yet be completely clear to some practitioners. ??)

Illustrative Case: Anattā-Cessation in Practice

Note: In what follows, I present an example of a yogi’s experience related to the cessation of non-self, extracted from a Dhamma talk by Venerable Ādiccaramsī Sayadaw (U Sun Lwin).

He mentioned an Italian practitioner named Eduardo, who practiced ānāpāna (mindfulness of breathing) for two hours of sitting meditation every day over a period of about two years. Later, he travelled to Burma in search of a teacher. Under the teacher’s guidance, he practiced diligently and discerned impermanence, which he described as seeing emptiness (suññatā).

The teacher recognized his spiritual development and instructed him to continue contemplating in greater detail, for example during walking meditation, so that insight could mature further.

Experience of Anattā-Cessation and Fruition

One night, during an interview, he presented his experience to the teacher. He said that whenever the seeing of emptiness (suññatā) arose, he felt an urge to “jump into it,” yet he could not do so. This tendency was due to clinging and wrong view.

Then he asked himself: “Who wants to jump into it?” “There is no ‘I’ and no ‘me’ who can jump.”

At that moment, he abandoned wrong view and turned directly to experience. As soon as he contemplated non-self (anattā), the entire aggregate (khandha) disappeared in an instant, as if in a sudden explosion. Immediately, path consciousness (magga-citta) arose, followed by fruition consciousness (phala-citta), occurring twice. (In some cases, for those with keen faculties, three moments of fruition consciousness may follow.)

Then the teacher asked him, “Are they the same?” He replied,

“No. They are similar, but not the same.”

The teacher then said to him, “I think you have come to the end. But do not believe what I have said. You must verify it for yourself.”

After that, the Venerable teacher instructed him further on how to enter the fruition state (phala-samāpatti). He succeeded in the test and continued to develop his practice after returning to Italy.

(The experience of Sayadaw U Candimā may also be understood as a case of cessation in terms of non-self (anattā-lakkhaṇa-nirodha). See my translation of his autobiographical talk, The Noble Search, Thae-in Gu Dhamma.)

Cessation Related to Asubha

The cessation related to the characteristic of unattractiveness (asubha-lakkhaṇa) occurs close to cessation itself. At that time, the appearance of an asubha form—such as a corpse—may arise to the yogi. He sees it as gradually perishing and finally coming to cessation.

Here, cessation occurs together with the appearance of asubha in the knowing mind. The yogi directly experiences the complete fading away of that object.

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• Content of Seeing Is Believing-- Dhamma Talks by Sayadaw U Nyanabhasa
• Content of Publications of Bhikkhu Uttamo

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