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"What should we study? Study what the khandhas show us - itching, aching, pain, heat, dizziness.
People don't recognize these as Dhamma practice. Are they expecting something mystical to appear? Glowing lights? Or perhaps arhats descending from the sky? [laughs] Listen!
The body shows us pain, aches, stiffness, heat, cold - this is all there is. The Sayadaw teaches this daily, but people don't pay attention. Doesn't the Buddha say in the Pali texts 'Ehi - come' and 'Passa - look'?
Whatever arises is practice. Look at greed (lobha) when it appears. When greed arises, doesn't it cease? Examine this for yourself.
The wanting mind is lobha, focusing on concepts (paññatti). The arising mind is nama (mental phenomena). This is suitable for vipassana practice. Concepts aren't suitable for vipassana, but nama-rupa (mind-matter) is.
Where does this lead? To seeing impermanence (anicca). Isn't knowing this called the Path (magga)? Is there anything we shouldn't observe?
Examine anger (dosa) when it appears as aversion. Is anger 'self'? Anger also arises and passes when seen or heard. Do you see its impermanence? Isn't this knowing called the Path? Anger takes concepts as its object.
As taught, we must examine the root. When the root is understood, the branches will wither. Have you heard this? Anger is a branch, greed is a branch. The root is wrong attention (ayoniso manasikāra). Isn't this worth investigating?"
The key point is that true practice involves observing ordinary experiences - physical sensations and mental states - with proper attention to see their true nature.
"Look at the rūpakkhandha (form aggregate) - doesn't it change and dissolve, showing its essencelessness?
Vedanākkhandha (feeling aggregate) - doesn't it cease after experiencing?
Saññākkhandha (perception aggregate) - doesn't it cease after marking?
Saṅkhārakkhandha (mental formations) - don't they cease after forming?
Viññāṇakkhandha (consciousness) - doesn't it cease after knowing?
Shouldn't we understand these as the five aggregates? When we see them as aggregates, do we still see a 'person'? Will we find a 'person' in any of the 31 planes of existence?
This shows anatta (non-self). Is there really a 'self'? When we see this, doesn't wrong view (diṭṭhi) fall away?
When we continue observing the aggregates, don't they show anicca (impermanence)? When we see impermanence, do we find aggregates or their absence? The absence is anicca, the knowing is magga (path).
Does craving (taṇhā) or clinging (upādāna) remain? Don't the āsavas (taints) of sensuality and becoming cease? When knowing the aggregates, don't the āsavas of wrong view and ignorance cease? Don't all four āsavas end? When they end, doesn't the origin of suffering (samudaya-sacca) die and the cycle of aggregates end?
The existing aggregates can't be escaped - even the Buddha experienced physical suffering at Mallā kings' sal grove during his parinibbāna. That's the resultant dhamma - there's no escape from existing results.
What's free from causes is entering the Path. When entering, is there origin? It's the Path. Doesn't the Path lead to nirodha (cessation)? Nirodha means cessation of defilements and aggregates.
We can't do anything about existing results - there will be aging, sickness, and death. This is dhamma to be known, not to be abandoned. Aren't there two aspects to understand?
When understood, do craving, clinging and kamma still come? Isn't this samudaya? Will there be future aggregates? This is what we can affect - we can't change existing results.
A person who understands this changes completely - their speech and behavior transform. What hasn't changed comes from mere conceptual knowledge (saññā), but penetrative understanding brings true transformation."
Vedanākkhandha (feeling aggregate) - doesn't it cease after experiencing?
Saññākkhandha (perception aggregate) - doesn't it cease after marking?
Saṅkhārakkhandha (mental formations) - don't they cease after forming?
Viññāṇakkhandha (consciousness) - doesn't it cease after knowing?
Shouldn't we understand these as the five aggregates? When we see them as aggregates, do we still see a 'person'? Will we find a 'person' in any of the 31 planes of existence?
This shows anatta (non-self). Is there really a 'self'? When we see this, doesn't wrong view (diṭṭhi) fall away?
When we continue observing the aggregates, don't they show anicca (impermanence)? When we see impermanence, do we find aggregates or their absence? The absence is anicca, the knowing is magga (path).
Does craving (taṇhā) or clinging (upādāna) remain? Don't the āsavas (taints) of sensuality and becoming cease? When knowing the aggregates, don't the āsavas of wrong view and ignorance cease? Don't all four āsavas end? When they end, doesn't the origin of suffering (samudaya-sacca) die and the cycle of aggregates end?
The existing aggregates can't be escaped - even the Buddha experienced physical suffering at Mallā kings' sal grove during his parinibbāna. That's the resultant dhamma - there's no escape from existing results.
What's free from causes is entering the Path. When entering, is there origin? It's the Path. Doesn't the Path lead to nirodha (cessation)? Nirodha means cessation of defilements and aggregates.
We can't do anything about existing results - there will be aging, sickness, and death. This is dhamma to be known, not to be abandoned. Aren't there two aspects to understand?
When understood, do craving, clinging and kamma still come? Isn't this samudaya? Will there be future aggregates? This is what we can affect - we can't change existing results.
A person who understands this changes completely - their speech and behavior transform. What hasn't changed comes from mere conceptual knowledge (saññā), but penetrative understanding brings true transformation."
