The Blind With Distortions

revised on 2020-12-30

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Dhamma Talks by Mogok Sayadaw; 20th December 1960

The five sense objects are like five spears and the five khandhas are like the speared things. The khandhas are speared by sense objects in turn like a dart—salla. It has the trembled nature of sorrow, lamentation, etc. After speared by darts and get disease—roga of dukkha, domanassa, etc. (pain and grief). Therefore, the Buddha taught about it as salla, roga, etc. The feeling (vedanā) of happiness and sadness are arising in turn in the khandha. So, wanting to get the khandha is wanting to be speared by darts, and wanting to be suffered with many kinds of feeling. People who had prayed for the khandhas were fools (i.e., the majority of later Buddhists). For an example when speared by the dart of mosquito bite the body was trembled and itching dukkha vedanā arose. (We can give other examples for the other sense bases and objects (āyatanas). Is there anything to be desired or affectionate thing in the khandha? There is no happiness for whatever kind of khandhas (i.e., human khandha, devata khandha and brahma god khandha). It’s a trembled khandha, disease khandha and we always have to be worried about it.

We’re looking at it with the taṇhā eyes, but with the nyan eyes (knowledge) it’s never free from diseases. (i.e., saṅkhāra dukkha, if we contemplate these dukkhas very often become wearisome and dispassion to the body.)

Therefore, the Buddha told Nakulapitā that except the fools all the wise never said of the body was free from diseases (SN. 22.1 Nakulapitusuttaṃ). Is there any pleasant about it? People thought the body was free form disease and prayed for the khandha as happiness (sukha). With the wrong perception comes wrong wishes and three distortions arise, these are distortions of perception, knowing and viewing (saññā, citta and diṭṭhi). Not knowing of having the khandha will spear by darts that all these things arise. Now we find out the culprit of the khandha (i.e., inversions or distortions—vipallāsa dhamma). Therefore, it will not get the khandha if we can abandon these three distortions. With the three corrections come and the three distortions must disappear. You must take it as only mind and body exist, not a man, not a woman, not a person and not a being. These are just perishing dhammas. Take off the distortion of man and woman, only mind and body exist. Contemplate them as after arising and vanishing. Do you still take it as stable and permanent?

Abandon distortion of perception with "there is no such thing as man, woman, etc." Discard the distortion of knowing with "there is the existence of body and mind only".

Desert the distortion of viewing as stable and permanent with the right view "not stable and not permanent (anicca)".

Asking you to contemplate the impermanence of mind and body is to abandon the three distortions. This will become noble eyes, before you had the blind eyes of a worldling or diṭṭhi-taṇhā eyes. Painful khandhas (apāya-khandhas) will never arise by abandoning of diṭṭhi-kammas (actions with wrong views).

All kinds of khandha will arise (all kinds of living being) if you can’t abandon the three distortions (saññā, citta and diṭṭhi), and then you must spear with all kinds of dart and must get all kinds of disease.

[Note: The above talk was about the three distortions of perceiving, knowing and viewing things wrongly as permanent, happiness, self and beautiful. So, it becomes 12 inversions—vipallāsa. Human beings develop these distortions or inversions for their whole life. Therefore, the Buddha referred them as andha-puthujjana—blind worldlings. Contemplation on blind worldling is very important for today humans. By observing on today world situations from society level to international level we can see the dangers and misfortunes which are the outcomes of ignorance or delusion with greed and anger (hatred). On the international level, there are more bad leaders and governments than before. These people are like the blind man leading the blinds. Therefore, there are a lot of human problems going on around the world. As an analogy it was like the ants which were blind and relied on the smell to find their ways. So, they followed each other behind and if the leader was not good, they would encounter dangers and difficulties.]

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revised on 2020-12-30

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• Content of Part 13 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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