Chapter 11 - Kilesa And Unmindfulness

Greed and anger that arise in connection with what one has seen or heard are the manifestations of the second kind of latent tendency. The impressions that we retain are those of permanent, lovely or repulsive beings or things. So recall of those images gives rise to attachment (lobha), anger (dosa) or illusion of permanency (moha).

Lobha is another synonym for tanha. It is due to pleasant feeling but it may also arise when unpleasant feeling makes us crave for pleasant sensations. Ignorance, too, leads to complacency, attachment and craving. Thus lobha, dosa and moha give rise to feeling which in turn causes craving with its attendant sufferings of samsaric existence. It is only the practice in bare awareness of seeing, hearing, etc., that rules out the possibility of craving and nostalgia for the pleasant sensations from the senses. Without this practice, craving dominates us and leads to suffering in afterlife as well as here and now.

In the Mora jataka, the bodhisatta who was then a peacock used to utter a gatha when he arose in the morning and when he went to sleep in the evening. So for 700 years he escaped the trap set by a hunter. Then the hunter employed a peahen as a decoy and enticed by her, the peacock forgot to recite the gatha and fell into the trap. In Benares, there was a harpist called Guttila. He made love to a girl but he was ridiculed and rejected. So at night he sang a very sweet song and played his harp in front of the girls house. Fascinated by the music, the girl rushed out blindly, stumbled and fell to her death. In the Mora jataka it was the female voice, and here it was the male voice that brought about suffering and death.

No one can deny that what we hear is impermanent. Everything that we hear vanishes instantly, yet we enjoy songs and music because of their apparent continuity. If we note every sound, “hearing, hearing” mentally, our realization of their impermanence makes it impossible for our pleasant feelings to become cravings. This means non arising of upadana and all its resultant suffering.

Smell is seldom experienced by the yogi. He must, of course, note it and see that it does not give rise to craving.

Mindfulness is especially important in eating. The unmindful person delights in eating good food. He is fond of such pleasure; he craves for it in future and hereafter. This craving for good food and drinks is powerful. It may lead to an existence that makes a person subsist on bad food. Thus, according to the Balapandita sutta, those who do misdeeds for the pleasure of good food are reborn as animals that eat grass, leaves or human excreta.

Eating bad food also tends to create the desire for good food. Therefore, it is necessary for the yogi to note everything, every movement of his hand and mouth and every sensation when he is eating. Through this practice of mindfulness he becomes aware of the vanishing of his actions, sensations and feeling. In this way he gains an insight into impermanence of everything, an insight that leads to the extinction of craving and its attendant suffering.