With Corpses Piling Up

revised on 2024-06-10

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Dhamma Talks by Mogok Sayadaw; 26th May 1962

[In this talk, Sayadawgyi made an interesting point referring to anicca and the stopping method and how they are related]

In the Dhamma–saṅgaṇi–mātikā, there are two dhammas: ācaya-gāmino dhamma – the dhamma leading to birth and death. Dhamma of increasing faith (saddha) leads to death and birth. Dhamma of increasing wisdom (paññā) does not lead to death and birth (apacaya-gamino dhamma). The dhamma of liking or loving of dukkha and the extinguishing of dukkha. The piling of corpses and ending of corpses. The Buddha has great compassion. He is worried for humans about the piling of corpses and happy for people who end their corpses. People like things which the Buddha doesn’t like and vice versa. If you are content with the corpses piling up, this is just craziness. Ācaya-gāmino dhammas are merits and demerits, desire for becoming and existence. I’ll talk by using Dhamma-saṅgaṇi and Saḷāyatana Saṁyutta together (this is the sutta related to Mālunkyaputta, SN 35.95).

Do you have any desire, lust, or affection for those forms cognizable by the eyes that you have not seen before and that you do not see now? (i.e., at present moment) With the D.A process, taṇhā, upādāna, and kamma are dhamma leading to death and birth. Now, you have found out the culprits. I have taught you the eleven types of mind, and you have to follow them from their arisings to their endings. You’ll only find out their non-existence. Do you have any desire, affection for the non-existent dhamma or disappointment with them? When you’re seeing the non-existent dhamma which you have not seen before and are not seeing it at the present. Therefore, taṇhā, upādāna, and kamma do not arise. There is also no arising of the unknowing moha/avijjā. If you can end your own corpse or funeral, do you have to send other people’s corpses or funerals to cemeteries? (Sayadaw continued the Mālunkyaputta sutta.)

You have to experience (or feel, i.e., vedanā) whatever arising of dhamma with the path factors of discerning anicca. This is what the Buddha taught Mālunkyaputta. (In this talk, we see Sayadawgyi’s deep understanding of Dhamma. In the Buddha’s question to Mālunkyaputta, he asked him – you have not seen before or are not seeing just now; both of them align with the concept of Anicca which Mogok Sayadaw emphasizes in most of his teachings. With the stopping method, if the yogi can stop at just seeing, hearing, etc., no kilesa arises, or if the yogi discerns anicca, no kilesa arises.)

In the path factors (five maggaṅga), feeling (vedanā) is also included, which is upekkhā vedanā (the same in stopping).

Note: Some Western scholars think Abhidhamma teachings are inauthentic. But Pha-auk Sayadaw’s teaching and his yogis' experiences justify the authentic teaching of the Abhidhamma. In his time, Mogok Sayadaw was a very well-known Abhidhamma teacher and quite young. Some of the great monks (scholars or yogis) had learned Abhidhamma from him. Shwe-hin-tha Sayadaw was much senior to Mogok Sayadaw, and he also had studied with him (see my Introduction to Mogok Talks). Mye-zin tawya Sayadaw U Sobhita also studied Abhidhamma under him. U Sobhita had a writing note on Paṭṭhāna Text – Conditional Relations, which is now available in Burmese. Before Mogok Sayadaw gave many talks on Abhidhamma to the lay community in Amarapura and Mogok. These were before 1940 that no recorded tapes and note left behind by anyone. After his realization of Dhamma, he never taught Abhidhamma again.

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revised on 2024-06-10

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• Content of Part 15 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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