In the formation of truth, all five aggregates are wrongly conceived. Don't we mistake them for beings and persons? Don't we mistake them for men and women? This is wrong understanding. What is really there to be seen and observed - beings, devas, and brahmas, or just the five aggregates? Men and women, or just the five aggregates? This is what needs to be understood.
These five aggregates arise when sense objects meet sense doors. Before this contact, before sense objects meet sense doors, can you point to where they exist? When the two meet, the five aggregates appear. This is one set of five aggregates. Isn't this worth investigating?
Now examine these aggregates - can you weigh them in pounds? Can you measure them in gold weight? Though they can't be weighed, isn't their nature clearly evident? Isn't this worth investigating? How satisfying this understanding is!
All five are aggregates without essence. Isn't this worth studying? That's why they arise and cease. If they had essence, would they cease? They cease because they lack essence. Isn't this worth investigating? What truth is this? (It's the Truth of Suffering, venerable sir).
Day by day, those listening to the Dhamma now - are you living with happy phenomena or suffering phenomena? When the Dhamma seems lost, aren't we told to look in ourselves? "Ourselves" means the five aggregates. When the Dhamma is lost and we look in ourselves, aren't we told we'll find the Dhamma?
What we find - is it the happiness of humans? It's the Truth of Suffering. The happiness of devas? The Truth of Suffering. The happiness of brahmas? The Truth of Suffering. When we truly understand the Truth of Suffering, doesn't the ignorance (avijjā) that wrongly conceives human happiness, deva happiness, and brahma happiness cease? Know that ignorance has ceased.
Through the method of Dependent Origination (Paṭiccasamuppāda), isn't it taught from ignorance (avijjā) to aging-and-death (jarā-maraṇa)? In this way, doesn't ignorance cease at the beginning? Don't the aggregates we find arise and cease? What truth is this? (It's the Truth of Suffering, venerable sir). If so, can the second link proceed to the third? Can craving (taṇhā) and clinging (upādāna) still arise? Doesn't the middle section cease?
Continue observing - isn't it taught that "with kamma-becoming as condition, birth arises"? Don't these bodily and verbal actions also cease after being formed? When we understand this cessation, can the third link still proceed to the fourth? Isn't this worth investigating?
This is why we need to understand these aggregates. This is taught so we can understand the Noble Truths. These are the essential points, do you hear?
This teaching explains how understanding the cessation nature of phenomena breaks the links of Dependent Origination:
1. When ignorance ceases at the beginning
2. When the middle links of craving and clinging cease
3. When kamma formations cease
4. The cycle of birth and death is broken
This shows how direct understanding of impermanence (anicca) and suffering (dukkha) leads to the cessation of the cycle of existence.
