Mahasi Sayadaw's Articles on Lions Roar

For the meditator who sees things as they really are, explains the late Mahasi Sayadaw, there is no “I” or “being”—only mental and physical phenomena coming together in the present moment. Seeing the mind (mental phenomena, which incline toward sense-objects) and body (physical phenomena, which change) as they really are is the purification of view. —Visuddhimagga 2, 222 A meditator will rarely have wandering thoughts once concentration becomes strong. Instead, there will be an uninterrupted flow of pure noting mind most of the time. If a wandering thought does enter the mind, the meditator will be able to note it immediately and the thought will pass away. The meditator sees physical phenomena as they really are: that they are subject to alteration and that they are not able to know or experience anything. They are insensible (abyakata), inanimate, just like a log or stone. As the meditator is noting, it becomes obvious that the noting mind resembles running to and sticking with the noted object. Likewise, it becomes obvious that the six types of consciousness—seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking—seem to go to their respective sense objects. The meditator is seeing and understanding mental phenomena as they really are, seeing their characteristic of inclining, or being drawn toward, sense objects. For the meditator who sees things as they really are, it is obvious that the mental and physical phenomena are different. They are not taken as one and the same anymore, as they were before the practice of meditation. When the meditator observes the rising movement (of the abdomen when breathing in), he or she can at least discern between the rising movement and the noting mind. Similarly, the meditator can differentiate between the falling movement (of the abdomen when breathing out) and the noting of it; the sitting posture and the noting of it; the intention to bend, the bending movement, and the noting of it; the intention to stretch, the stretching movement, and the noting of it; the visible form, the eye, the seeing, and the noting of it. Before a drum is beaten, its sound does not exist in the drum itself, the drumstick, or anywhere in between. Even though a sound occurs when the drum is beat, the sound does not originate from the drum or the drumstick. The physical phenomena of drum and drumstick are not transformed into a sound nor does the sound originate from anywhere in between drum and drumstick. In dependence on the drum, the drumstick, and the hitting of the drum, the sound is a completely new phenomenon each time the drum is hit. The drum and the stick are different from the sound. In the same way, before you see something or someone, seeing does not exist in the eye, in the visible form, or anywhere in between. The seeing that takes place neither originates in the eye nor in the visible form. The seeing consciousness neither originates in the eye nor in the visible forms, which are physical phenomena. It also does not originate from anywhere in between. Seeing is actually a new phenomenon that arises due to the combination of the eye, the visible form, light, and your attention. Thus, the eye and the visible form are different from the seeing. The same is true for the other senses. When you understand the difference between mental and physical phenomena, you are likely to reflect that neither the mind nor the body alone can perform actions such as sitting, standing, walking, bending, stretching, seeing, hearing, and so on. Only the mind and body together can perform these activities. Because of this, the mind and body together are mistaken for “I.” One thinks, “I am sitting; I am standing up; I am going; I am bending; I am stretching; I am seeing; I am hearing,” and so on. In reality, there is no “I” or “being” that sits, stands up, and walks, but only mental and physical phenomena. That is why the Visuddhimagga (2, 231) says: In reality, mind conditions matter, and matter conditions mind. When the mind wants to eat, drink, speak, or change posture, it is the body that actually eats, drinks, speaks, or changes posture. When we expand on this, we can say: The volition to eat is mental, but what actually eats is the body. The volition to drink is mental, but what actually drinks is the body. The volition to speak is mental, but what actually speaks is the body. The volition to sit down is mental, but what actually sits down is the body. The volition to stand up is mental, but what actually stands up is the body. Some meditators may use similes to describe their experience of mental and physical phenomena. The Visuddhimagga (2, 228) gives these similes: A coach is so called because of the way that its components are assembled: the axles, wheels, body, and shafts. However, if you examine each component separately, there is no coach to be found. A house is so called when its materials, posts, beams, etc., are fit together. Other than these materials, however, there is no house that can be found. A tree is so called because it includes a trunk, branches, and leaves, and so on. But apart from these parts, no tree can be found. In the same way, a being is so called because he or she is composed of the five aggregates of clinging, i.e. mental and physical phenomena. However, if you pay attention to each of these phenomena separately, you will no longer have the conceit that, “I am so and so,” or the wrong belief that, “I am a person.” You realize that, in terms of ultimate reality, there is no being that exists. All that exists is the mind, which is able to incline to the object and know the object, and matter, which is not able to know the object and is subject to alteration. This realization is called “seeing things as they really are.” Being able to come up with a good simile, however, doesn’t matter. Without thinking deliberately, while you are simply noting, you are able to discern between mental and physical phenomena, and you understand that in this body there are only mental phenomena that are able to know objects and physical phenomena that are not able to know objects. Besides these two phenomena, there is no being, I, soul, or self. This understanding comes naturally and is the peak of the insight knowledge of mental and physical phenomena. This insight knowledge in turn is called “the purification of view,” as it helps to remove the deluded view that a being really exists (atta-ditthi). That is why the Mahātīkā [the commentary to the Visuddhimagga] says: The phrase “seeing mind and matter as they really are” means seeing them as just phenomena and not a being by observing their individual characteristics, thus: “This is mind; this much is mind; there is nothing more than this (i.e., no being). This is matter; this much is matter; there is nothing more than this (i.e., no being).” This is purification of view, as it eliminates the deluded view that a being really exists. Thus should it be understood. The individual characteristics of physical phenomena (such as alteration or roughness and hardness) and individual characteristics of mental phenomena (such as inclining toward the object, mental contact with the object, feeling, perceiving, or knowing of an object) only really exist in the moment they occur—not before or after. That is why you can only be truly aware of the specific characteristics of mental and physical phenomena when you observe them from moment to moment. In this way, you understand that there is no “I” or being, but only mental and physical phenomena. This understanding is called the purification of view. It means that this understanding can eliminate the wrong view of a person or being. When the characteristics of mind and matter have been understood as they truly are by noting the presently arising objects, the meditator comes to see the causes of those phenomena. With this, the insight knowledge of conditionality will arise: the realization that certain causes give rise to certain phenomena, whether in the past, present, or future. This insight knowledge can take various forms, depending on a person’s aspiration, spiritual maturity, and intellectual ability. The Visuddhimagga identifies five forms, which are explained in the sections below. The First Way of Seeing Conditionality. Seeing the Causes of Matter. Some meditators see the causes of matter. They see that physical phenomena have been continuously occurring, from birth up to the present moment, due to the four causes of ignorance, desire, clinging, and volitional actions in the past. They also see that the nutrition they receive in the present preserves the body, and that the desire to sit, bend, and so forth results in the physical actions of sitting, bending, etc. As well, they see that hot and cold environments give rise to hot and cold physical sensations. A meditator can empirically observe the present causes for physical phenomena, such as nutrition, consciousness, and weather. But one cannot directly observe the causes from the past, such as ignorance, desire, clinging, and volitional actions. However, even before beginning meditation practice, a vipassana meditator has already accepted intellectually that wholesome actions lead to a good life and beneficial results, whereas unwholesome actions lead to a bad life and unbeneficial results. Therefore, when one practices and empirically observes ignorance, craving, clinging, and volitional actions in the present, one will inferentially realize that they were also operating in the past. The mental and physical phenomena that make up our lives are all unsatisfying. Attachment to them is the cause of suffering. Not knowing this truth is called “ignorance of suffering and its cause.” Believing that the phenomena of life are actually satisfying and the cause of happiness is called the “delusion of pleasure and its cause.” These two kinds of delusion are deeply rooted in the hearts of ordinary people. They devote themselves day and night to...

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