When we say we're listening to Dhamma, practicing Dhamma, studying Dhamma - it means we need to align our understanding with the Dhamma that exists in our own aggregates. The existing Dhamma refers to the five aggregates that arise when sense objects meet sense doors.
The sense object here means visible form (rūpārammaṇa) for the eye, and the sense door means the eye-sensitivity (cakkhupasāda). When these two meet, doesn't the relevant consciousness arise? Isn't it taught as seeing-consciousness? Can seeing occur with consciousness alone?
If not, aren't feeling (vedanā), perception (saññā), and volition (cetanā) arising together with it? Is it a self that experiences good and bad, or is it feeling? Is it a self that recognizes good and bad, or is it perception? Is it a self that motivates experiencing and recognizing, or is it volition?
When feeling, perception, and volition combine, don't we have all four mental aggregates? Only when these four are complete does seeing-consciousness occur. Are these four mental aggregates beings, devas, or brahmas? Is the eye-sensitivity a being, deva, or brahma? Is the visible form a being, deva, or brahma? When we analyze the aggregates this way, don't we find the form aggregate (rūpakkhandha)?
When four mental aggregates combine with the form aggregate (That's the five aggregates, venerable sir). These aggregates appear when sense objects meet sense doors at the eye. In the moment of seeing, are there beings, devas, or brahmas, or just five aggregates? In the moment of hearing, are there villages and countries, or just five aggregates?
When we truly understand these as just five aggregates, don't the wrong perceptions, wrong understanding, and wrong views about beings, devas, and brahmas disappear? When true understanding arises, doesn't wrong understanding cease? When wrong understanding ceases, doesn't personality view (sakkāya-diṭṭhi) fall away?
Don't these five aggregates cease after seeing? After hearing? When we understand this cessation, can we still hold the view of permanence? When we understand cessation, doesn't the eternalist view (sassata-diṭṭhi) fall away?
When we understand that aggregates are continuously replacing each other, can we hold the view of annihilation? When we understand this replacement, doesn't the annihilationist view (uccheda-diṭṭhi) disappear? When we truly understand these as just five aggregates, personality view falls away.
Isn't it taught that when personality view, eternalist view, and annihilationist view fall away, one becomes a Stream-enterer (sotāpanna)? When one becomes a Stream-enterer, true happiness is attained. Isn't it worth investigating how profound this happiness is? Can all the gold, silver, gems, rice, and water in all of Burma be exchanged for the wisdom gained in one path and fruition moment?
Can all the wealth in the country prevent aging? Prevent sickness? Prevent death? We cannot escape aging, sickness, and death, can we? Can we be certain of avoiding the lower realms without this realization?
Doesn't the wisdom gained from one path and fruition moment continuously protect us from the lower realms? That's why the highly venerable Mogok Sayadaw, Aggamahāpaṇḍita, taught that "Understanding Dhamma is priority number one, earning livelihood is priority number two," didn't he?
How crucial it is to understand the Dhamma! That's why this wisdom cannot be exchanged for all the wealth in the country. Can all the wealth in the country protect us from aging, sickness, and death? Can we be certain about avoiding the lower realms with just wealth?
See how the wisdom of Dhamma continuously protects us from the lower realms? Therefore, how precious is this understanding of Dhamma? It cannot be exchanged even for all the wealth in the country. Isn't this worth contemplating? These are the essential points to understand.
This teaching demonstrates how:
- 1. The process of seeing involves multiple components
- 2. Each component is an impersonal process
- 3. No self or being exists in these processes
- 4. They are just aggregates functioning according to natural law
- 5. Direct understanding comes from observing these processes in our own experience
- 6. The importance of seeing things as they truly are
- 7. The falling away of wrong views through direct understanding
- 8. The supreme value of attaining Stream-entry
- 9. The limitations of worldly wealth compared to Dhamma wisdom
- 10. The supreme value of Dhamma wisdom over worldly wealth
- 11. The protection that Stream-entry provides from lower realms
- 12. The correct prioritization of Dhamma practice over material pursuits
As the Dhammapada (Dhp 178) states:
"Better than sole sovereignty over the earth,
Better than going to heaven,
Better than lordship over all worlds,
Is the fruit of Stream-entry."