Why Can’t Discern Dukkha?

revised on 2019-12-02

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Dhamma Talks by Mogok Sayadaw; no date noted

To know the present dukkha is important. First, to know the present dukkha, and the second become afraid of it are important. You will not afraid of the future dukkha if you don’t afraid of the present dukkha. This khandha is present dukkha.

If you only know ageing and sickness, knowledge can’t arise. To know the dukkha of at the time of healthiness is important. Only that you know the real dukkha. If you know the dukkha of ageing, sickness and death, is called saṁvega dukkha. With this kind of dukkha, the path (magga) not arises.

It can lead to Path and Fruition Knowledges to know the dukkha when you’re healthy. It can’t lead to magga when dukkha comes from groaning and crying. Knowing dukkha with the healthy body in activities can lead to the Path Knowledge. People were still healthy when they went to listen to the Buddha’s teachings.

Dukkha with pain and aches are pattaka dukkha. Pattaka dukkha are distinctive dukkha. Even animals can know it. Dukkha arises at the time of healthiness can lead to the Path Knowledge. You can see this only with ñāṇa eye; whereas you can’t see it with the ordinary eye. This is called apattaka dukkha.

You’ll get only saṁvega if you still don’t practice after getting old (It means with old age difficult to do the practice). You can’t attain Path and Fruition Knowledges. Apattaka dukkha exists but not in a distinctive way. And observe with ñāṇa, you will know it as real dukkha.

Pattaka dukkha is what everyone can see; whereas apattaka is not that everyone can see it. People are practicing without samādhi that can’t see apattaka dukkha.

(This point was the Buddha said to the monks). For ten minutes or 15 minutes let the mind concentrates on the meditation object (here the breath). It is samādhi if the mind not running away, but no penetration yet. It’s just only samādhi.

Therefore if you all are arriving here, I am asking you to sit for samādhi 20 minutes or 30 minutes. (Sayadaw gave short instruction for ānāpāna samādhi. If someone went to his place and practiced for some time, he asked to develop strong enough samādhi before vipassanā)

After developing calmness of samādhi and turning towards the khandha will see the apattaka dukkha. You’ll attain Path and Fruition Knowledges only with good health. And at near death you can’t and will only see pattaka dukkha (without the practice only see pains).

The Buddha was asking us to practice when we were still young. At the time of the Buddha most people attained Path and Fruition Knowledges when they were healthy. Only few had realized it when they were sick. These people were also had previous experiences. After with calmness of samādhi you have to observe the five khandhas. Don’t observe all of them.

The Buddha taught four satipaṭṭhāna. You have to look for the most attached object. Mostly attach to the mind with wrong view. (Sayadaw gave instruction for cittānupassanā) The saying of paramattha sabhāva means the ultimate phenomena have only intrinsic nature; not as a body,

For example, you see the itching and then it’s not existing. It’s arising and vanishing of intrinsic nature. It’s ni-satta, ni-jīva – free from a person or a soul and you only see its intrinsic nature. We give the names just for knowing them, as examples, seeing mind, hearing mind, itchy mind, etc. (i.e., to know the arising object for contemplation).

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revised on 2019-12-02; cited from https://oba.org.tw/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=4362&p=36293#p36293 (posted on 2019-04-12)

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• Content of Part 11 on "Dhamma Talks by Mogok Sayadaw"

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• Content of "Dhamma Talks by Mogok Sayadaw"

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• Content of Publications of Ven. Uttamo

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