Chapter 7 - Sassata And Uccheda

To the ordinary people who are wedded to the ego belief, death means the extinction of individual entity or its displacement to another abode or existence. This is a misconception called ucchedaditthi if it is the belief in annihilation, or sassataditthi if it is belief in the transfer of the soul to another body or abode. Some believe that consciousness develops spontaneously with the growth and maturation of the body (ahetukaditthi).

Some have misconceptions about samsara or nama rupa process. They regard the body as the temporary abode of the life principle that passes on from one abode to another. The disintegration of the physical body is undeniable, but some people pin their faith to the resurrection of the body in due course of time and so they treat the dead body with respect. These views confirm the Ledi Sayadaws statement that the causal links between sankhara and vinnana lends itself to misinterpretation.

Ordinary Buddhists are not wholly free from these misconceptions but, because of their belief in the Buddhist doctrine of anatta, they do not harbour the illusions so blindly as to harm their vipassana practice. So even without a thorough knowledge about the nature of death, rebirth and nama rupa, they can enlighten themselves through contemplation.

For example, shortly after the parinibbana of the Buddha, the thera Channa practised vipassana but made little progress because of his ego belief. Then as he followed Anandas discourse on Paticcasamuppada, he contemplated, overcame his illusion and attained Arahatship. Again, in the time of the Buddha, bhikkhu Yamaka believed that the Arahat was annihilated after his parinibbana. Sariputta summoned and preached to him. While following the sermon, Yamaka contemplated, and achieved liberation. So those who have faith in the Buddha need not be disheartened. If they practised vipassana zealously and whole heartedly, they will become enlightened.

Because of their ignorance and doubts about the nature of death and conception or leaning to uccheda belief, some people ask whether there is a future life after death. The question by itself presupposes atta or soul or life force in a living being. Materialism rejects the idea of soul but the ego illusion is implicit in its differentiation of the living from the dead. The question of those who accept the ego explicitly or by implication are hard to answer from the Buddhist point of view. If we say that there is future life, they will conclude that we support the ego belief. But Buddhism does not categorically deny the future life. Hence, the Buddhas refusal to answer this question. Moreover, it is hard to produce evidence for ordinary people. Psychic persons may be able to point out the hell or the deva worlds but sceptics will dismiss such exhibition as black magic or chicanery. So the Buddha did not answer the question directly, but said that there is continuum of nama rupa process in the wake of death without the extinction of defilements.

The problem of future life does not admit any intellectual approach. It is to be settled only through certain Buddhist practices. These practices enable the yogi to acquire psychic powers by virtue of which he can see the dead, the good men who have attained the deva worlds, as well as the evil persons who are suffering in the nether worlds. What he sees is as clear as what an observer who occupies a position directly opposite two houses sees - persons passing from one house to the other. Among the many devas, animals, etc., of the higher and lower realms, he (the yogi) can easily find the person whom he wants to see.

It is possible for the yogis to attain jhana and psychic powers. There is no teaching which rules out this possibility. Some practising yogis have in fact had paranormal contact with the other world (paraloka). But paranormal gifts are hard to come by. Their emergence depends on intense concentration and so the easier way is to practise vipassana. The problem of life becomes fairly clear when the development of paccaya pariggaha insight makes the yogi well aware of the nature of death and conception. It becomes clearer when he attains sammasana, udayabbaya and bhanga insights for then he sees clearly how the consciousness units arise and pass away ceaselessly one after another and how death means the passing away of the last unit to be followed by conception or the arising of the first consciousness unit in a new existence. But this insight is still vulnerable and it is only when the yogi attains at least the sotapatti stage that he becomes wholly free of all doubts about future life. The trouble is that people wish to inquire about it instead of practising vipassana. Some seek the verdict of Western scientists and philosophers while others accept the teaching of those who are reputed to be Arahats with psychic powers. But, the best thing is to seek the answer through vipassana practice instead of relying on other people.

At the stage of udayabbaya insight the yogi can clearly see how in the wake of the consciousness unit that has passed away, there follows a new unit attached to a sense object. On the basis of this experience he realizes how the new existence begins with consciousness unit that arises, conditioned by attachment to an object at the moment of dying in a previous life.

Before death the stream of consciousness depends on the physical body and is continuous with one unit following the other uninterruptedly. After death, the body disintegrates and the stream of consciousness shifts to the physical process in another abode. This may be likened to the continuous appearance of light in an electric bulb through the ceaseless generation of electricity. When the bulb is burnt up, the light goes out but the potential electric energy keeps on coming. Light reappears when the old bulb is replaced with a new one. Here, the bulb, energy and light are all changing physical processes and we should be mindful of their impermanent character.

The commentary cites the analogies of echo, flame, impression of a seal and reflection in the mirror. Echo is reflection or repetition of a sound produced by the impact of sound waves on walls, woods, etc. But it does not mean the transfer of the original sound to a distant place although we cannot deny the causal relation between the sound and the echo either. When you look at a mirror your face is reflected on it, but you must not confuse the reflection with your face although it is causally related to the latter. A lamp, which is burning, may be used to light up another lamp. The flame of the new lamp is obviously not the flame of. the old lamp since the latter is still burning but, neither is it causally unrelated to the flame of the old lamp. Lastly, the seal leaves an impression that is like its face, but it is not the face and it cannot occur in the absence of the seal either.

These analogies help to throw some light on the nature of rebirth process. When a person is dying, his kamma, the signs and visions related to it and visions of the future life appear. After his death, there arises the rebirth consciousness conditioned by one of these visions at the last moment of the previous existence. So rebirth does not mean the passage of the last unit of consciousness to another life but, since it is conditioned by the visions on death bed, it is rooted in avijja, sankhara, etc., that form the links in the chain of causation leading to the visions of the dying person.

Thus, rebirth consciousness is not the consciousness of the dying person but it is causally related to the previous life. Two consecutive units of consciousness are separate but, given the stream of consciousness, we speak of the same individual for the whole day, the whole year or the whole lifetime. Likewise, we speak of the last consciousness on death bed together with rebirth consciousness as representing a single person. A mans attainment of deva or any other world is to be understood in the same sense. It does not mean the transfer of nama rupa as a whole. We speak of a man or a person only because the rebirth concerns the stream of causally related mental units.

So it is ucchedaditthi to believe that a person has nothing to do with a previous life since every person is annihilated on death. Most Buddhists are free from this belief. As the two consecutive lives are causally related, we speak of one person in conventional terms.

But we must guard ourselves against the sassata view that rebirth means the transfer of the ego to a new abode.

The yogi who has mature vipassana insight does not harbour the two beliefs because he is fully aware of the rising and passing away of mental units in the present life and their causal relations. This awareness leaves no room for the illusions of personal immortality or annihilation. The nature of consciousness is evident even to those who think objectively. Joy may be followed by dejection and vice versa or, a serene mind may give way to irritation and vice versa. These changing states of consciousness clearly shows its heterogeneous nature. Moreover, mental states may be associated through similarity, as for example, the intention to do a certain thing at night may occur again in the morning. The mental states do not differ, but are causally related to one another. Those who understand this relation between two consecutive states of consciousness can see that the same relation holds between the two mental elements that are separated only by death.