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died on that day. She went mad because of those tragic events.
She went from here to there with no clothes on. One day she
came to the Buddha who was preaching Dhamma in the medita-
tion hall of Jetavana monastery in Savatthi. Her paramis which
had been fulfilled in previous lives were ready to produce their
results. Due to those matured paramis as well as the lovingkind-
ness and compassion of the Buddha, she was able to listen to the
Dhamma taught by the Buddha with respect.
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Knowing and Seeing
Slowly her mind became quiet and she understood the meaning
of the Dhamma. Very soon she became a stream-enterer
(sotapanna). She ordained as a bhikkhuni. She continued her
meditation practice. She could maintain her concentration and
insight-knowledge. One day her meditation practice matured.
She became an arahant with five mundane psychic powers, and
Four Analytical Knowledges (patisambhida-bana). Among the
bhikkhunis who were expert in the monastic discipline she was
the top. She put great emphasis on the Vinaya Pitaka and learnt
it by heart, together with commentaries, and also fully under-
stood the meaning of the monastic discipline.
She had been fulfilling her paramis from Padumuttara Bud-
dha s dispensation till Kassapa Buddha s dispensation, and par-
ticularly during Kassapa Buddha s dispensation. During
Kassapa Buddha s dispensation she was the daughter of a King
Kiki. She practised komari-brahmacariya for twenty-thousand
years. Komari-brahmacariya means observing the five precepts
and especially abstaining from any sexual activity. That is, in
place of the ordinary precept of abstaining from sexual miscon-
duct, the precept of abstaining from any sexual activity whatso-
ever is observed. She cultivated the three trainings, virtuous
conduct (sila), concentration (samadhi), and wisdom (pabba), as
a lay devotee for twenty-thousand years. Those paramis matured
in this Gotama Buddha s dispensation. So although she had
gone mad, she was able to practise the three trainings well and
became an arahant.
For such people, when they practise meditation, kalyana-mitta,
which mean good teachers, good friends, or spiritual friends, are
necessary. Proper medicine and proper food can also be a sup-
port. From my experience I know that most of them cannot
maintain their concentration for a long time. Usually they are
not successful. Some people go mad towards the end of their
lives. This may be because their paramis are not yet sufficient,
or not yet matured.
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Questions and Answers (6)
Question 6.12: For a person who does not have good human re-
lations, if he succeeds in attaining the fourth jhana, will this im-
prove his skill in communicating with other people? Can at-
taining jhanas correct such problems?
Answer 6.12: Usually these problems occur because of hatred
(dosa). This is one of the hindrances. As long as a person is
unable to remove this attitude while meditating he cannot attain
jhana. But if he can remove this attitude, he not only can attain
jhana, but also can attain path and fruition up to arahantship. A
famous example is the Venerable Channa Thera. He was born
on the same day as our bodhisatta in the palace of King Suddho-
dana in Kapilavatthu. He was the son of one of King Suddho-
dana s female slaves. He became a playmate of the bodhisatta
prince Siddhattha when they were young. This gave rise to
much conceit in him. He thought things like:  This is my King;
the Buddha is my playmate; the Dhamma is our Dhamma; when
he renounced the world I followed him up to riverside of the
Anoma River. No one else followed him. Sariputta and Ma-
hamoggallana etc. were flowers that blossomed later, etc. Be-
cause of this conceit he always used harsh language. He did not
show respect to Mahatheras like the Venerable Sariputta, the
Venerable Mahamoggallana and others. Due to these physical
and verbal actions no one had friendly relations with him. He
could not attain jhana or path and fruition in the Buddha s life-
time, because he was unable to remove his conceit and anger.
After the Buddha s Parinibbana, the Mahatheras gave him the
noble punishment (brahmadanda) as instructed by the Buddha.
On the night of the Parinibbana the Buddha had told the Vener-
able Ananda to carry out this punishment on the Venerable
Channa. Here noble punishment (brahmadanda) means that no
one was to talk to the Venerable Channa although he may have
wanted to talk. So because of this noble punishment no
bhikkhus talked with the Venerable Channa. When nobody
talked with him, his conceit and anger disappeared. This act of
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Knowing and Seeing
the Savgha (savgha-kamma) took place in Ghositarama monas-
tery in Kosambi five months after the Buddha s Parinibbana.
After that act of the Savgha, the Venerable Channa left
Ghositarama and went to Isipatana monastery in the deer park
near Benares. He worked hard on meditation practice but was
not successful. So one day he went to the Venerable Ananda and
asked him to help him solve his problem of not succeeding in
spite of great effort. Why was he not successful? He discerned
the impermanent, suffering, and non-self nature of the five ag-
gregates, but he did not practise dependent-origination
(paticcasamuppada). So the Venerable Ananda taught him how
to practise dependent-origination and taught him the Kaccana-
gotta Sutta. After listening to the Venerable Ananda s dhamma
talk he attained stream-entry path. He continued his practice and
very soon he became an arahant. So if a person can change his
bad character and practise Samatha-Vipassana in the right way
he can attain jhana, path and fruition.
Talk 7
182
How to Develop the Insight-Knowledges to See Nibbana
How to Develop
the Insight-Knowledges
to See Nibba
ana
Introduction
In my last talk, I explained briefly how to discern dependent-
origination according to the fifth method and first method. To-
day, I would like to explain briefly how to continue to develop
insight up to the attainment of Nibbana.
There are sixteen knowledges (bana) which need to be devel-
oped progressively in order to attain Nibbana.
The first insight-knowledge is the Knowledge of Analysing
Mentality-and-Materiality (namarupa-pariccheda-bana). I ex-
plained this knowledge when I explained how to discern mental- [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]