ON SUTTAS - "Meditation is Clarity of Understanding" --- by Nyanamoli Thero, Hillsidehermitage.org

so this is a shoelace junior the Sutra Monica 121 thus have I heard on one occasion the blessed one is living at savatthi at the place of nigga's mother then in the evening having emerged from seclusion the venerable ananda approached the Blessed One having approached the Blessed One having paid respects he sat down to one side sitting down in what side the venerable Ananda said to this blessed one there was this one occasion when blessing one was living among the sake and the sake and town called Nagas raka their bunting the presence of the blessing

on this was heard by me now on and I often dwell dwell with the place of emptiness so I'm not sure Bunty this was well heard well grasp while attending boy I remember me settling under this was well heard well grasped well attended while remembered by you both before and now I often well with the place of emptiness ananda justice this place of my girl's mother is empty of elephants cattle and mayors and give gold and silver empty of crowds women men there is this non emptiness namely the one is dependent on the bhikkhus Sangha

so the point here is the presence of the negative and by that mean that that's that's basically what emptiness means presence of emptiness is presence of certain absences so in this particular case the default at the mirrors mother Palace is empty it's absent of elephants cattle mayor's gold silver crowds women men what is not empty of is a group of the Baku stronger so attending to to that which is absent as as a uniform basis can be can be can be seen as as a uniform phenomena as a single phenomenon that's that's what it's meant

by oneness basically one pointedness the mind is is established upon a single more general phenomena in this case the negative phenomena of absence so the one is dependent on the bhikkhus Sangha in just this way Ananda bhiku not attending to the perception of village not turning to the perception of people attends to the one is dependent on the perception of the forest so a big who can surmount the perception of the village perception of people by having his mind established on the perception of the forest which means even when he is not in the forest

he could maintain that perception so although that perception will be absent when he is among people or in the village his mind still remain established upon that oneness and that's what it says he his mind jumps on to it is clear about the remains with inclines towards the perception of the forest so it's not some sort of like a mystical limit or whatever you want to call it upon which his perception is established it's actually the clarity of the of the of the peripheral awareness of his experience while he was in the forest still remains

present because his mind is established upon it even when he comes out of the forest so he uses the perceptions of the forest he uses the perceptions of the forest to to maintain his mind established upon the oneness even when he leaves the forest so he understands thus whatever anxiety there might be dependent on the perception in the village those are not present here because his mind refuses to dissent from the more general perception of the the mood of the forest that he dwells in refused to descends onto the the perceptions of the village so

so so he never gets pulled by them which means any anxiety they can arise on account of the perceptions in the in the village does not bother him whatever anxiety there might be dependent on the perception of people those anxieties are not present here there is only this much anxiety this much disturbance namely based upon the one is dependent on the perception of the forest so if something were to happen to that forest he's still liable to a certain amout of disturbance some certain amount of discomfort arising on account of it because that's where his

mind is established he understands having arrived at this perception it is empty of the perception of the village having arrived at this perception it is empty of the perception of people there is only this non emptiness the one is dependent on the perception of the forest that is not empty but he dwells empty of perceptions of of people in the village so so you can be seen here it's not it's not some sort of mystical emptiness mystical reality behind the appearances it's it's a it's a it's a presence of absence in this case absence of

unwholesome environment or environment it's less conducive for practice absence of people absence of the village so even when when the monk goes is 4-pin the bud goes back into the village he he his mind can still remain established upon the absence of the village as in he's still rooted in his presence in the forest and that's what he says here he says he has understood the the emptiness of the perception of the village in the emptiness of the perception of people and the non emptiness that is present is the the the oneness that's dependent upon

the perceptions of the forest thus on account of whatever it's not there the absence I've been talking about he sees it as it empty and whatever remains he understands it as this is present so even when he is in the village the perceptions of the forest are present for him because that's where his mind is established so the particular perception in the village that he has they do not reach they do not change the background of his mood of that peripheral mindfulness and awareness which is still rooted in the perceptions of the forest and that's

how he's not disturbed by anything that he sees in the village or hears in the village and then it says and in this way and under there is this authentic undistorted clear entry into the emptiness furthermore ananda a bhikkhu not attending to the perception of the village not attending to the perception of people not attending to the perception of the forest attends to the one is dependent on the perception of the earth so he goes even higher after after his mind has been established upon the perception of the forest he realizes that he can still

be disturbed and we have come to that he realized that he can still be disturbed on account of it so then he goes further but in this case he this case he doesn't actually go anywhere he discerns what is even more general in the perception of the village in the perception of the people in the perception of the forest it's the perception of the solidity of the phenomenon the the aspect the element of Earth which means it's the most general presence of phenomena which doesn't really require you to be in any particular place but but

simply to discern the the aspect of of solidity the aspect the resistance of things that appear through your senses and the reason why this is what the mind can get established upon this is because anything solid in the world anything any any any environment that you did that you live in already partakes in the environment of Earth as a whole the forest the mountain the the island the continent earth as a whole the element of Earth is there present all the way down into into the most particular aspects of some particular village of such-and-such name

with such-and-such people so his mind then clarifies and discerns that phenomenon of Earth that is that is contained in all the more particular perceptions of the forest of the village of the people so his mind jumps onto is clear about remains with inclines toward the perception of Earth Ananda just as a bullhead well stretched by hundreds takes his free from folds in just this one under a bhikkhu not attending to all these up and down slopes in the earth rivers and creeks stump stones and sticks uneven mountain rock tends to the one is dependent of

the perception of Earth so through the element of Earth he discerns the actual earth and that earth is equally present in anything else that appears on that earth so there he doesn't he's not bothered by any mountains forests different environments jumps in clear everything is stretched and even in terms of its presence in terms of his his mind being established upon the oneness of dependent upon the perception of earth he understands thus whatever anxiety there might be dependent on the perception of people those are not present here whatever anxiety they might be depending on the

perception of forest those are not present here there is only this much anxiety namely the one is dependent on the perception of Earth he understands having arrived at this perception it is empty the perception of people having arrived at this perception it is empty of the perception the forest there is only this non emptiness namely the one is dependent on the perception of Earth so by establishing his mind upon the most general perception of earth as a whole he's thus empty of all the other perceptions thus on account of whatever it's not there he sees

it as empty and whatever remains he understands it is this is present and in this way Ananda there is this authentic undistorted clear entry into emptiness so then it goes further following the same principle going for the next even higher establishment of mine which is still based upon the perception on the level of the peripheral mindfulness and that is the perception of the domain of the infinite space again even the element of Earth even even the solidity aspect of things that appear already requires a negative phenomenon of space space is discerned through our appearance which

means space is always there whenever there is appearance Shh quiet boy space is always there whenever there is appearance which means that space can also be discerned as that which is in common to absolutely everything that has a nature to appear and that's why it's called the infinite space so his mind develops clarity about in clients there was that perception of the main of the infinite space it actually properly discerns it within things that are present he understands thus whatever anxiety there might be dependent on the perception of the forest depending on the perception of

earth those are not present here there is only this much anxiety the one is dependent on the perception of the domain of infinite space and then he understands that having rather this perception it is empty the perception of forest rather this perception and the perception of Earth there is the non emptiness the perception of the domain of the infinite space then he goes further not attending to the perception of Earth not at any the perception domain of infinite space he then attends to even greater general phenomenon even even even more peripheral even more subtle even

more fundamental and that is simply consciousness as we mentioned in other talks consciousness means presence of phenomena presence of things the aspect of presence is what consciousness is usually people think consciousness is in them and because of that they think things appear for them but that's not the case consciousness is out there with the phenomenon peripherally you can't attend the consciousness but you can learn how to non directly attend the peripheral nature of whatever its present and by doing so that's how you develop emptiness of what's what's in front of you as we just read

through this Sutra so by not attending to the perception of forest that the monk isn't by not attending to the perception of the earth that the forest is in that the monk is in by not attending to the perception of the infinite space that the earth is in that the forest is in the monk is in he attends to the perception of the just plain simple presence it doesn't matter what is present how big it is big or small far or near presence is there that's all the he discerns peripherally that's all that he that

he becomes clear about and his mind gets established upon and that's what means the infinity of consciousness the infinite consciousness as in the presence discern in its nature not bound to the any particular manifestation of it again it's not a mystification is just a simple structural discernment in regard to things that are present so by emptying himself all the perceptions of himself of the perceptions of of the bigger Sangha of the perceptions of the forest of the perception of the earth of the perceptions of the infinite space infinite spaces he then arrives at the perceptions

of the infinite consciousness he understands whatever disturbance there might be depending on perception of Earth perception of infinite space it's not present here only the disturbance depending on the perception of consciousness then he goes even further surmounting infinite space surmounting the infinite consciousness attends the perception of the nothingness and nothingness is the- in regard to the that very very general and subtle consciousness so once the the perceptions of forests the perceptions of myself the perceptions of the forest the perceptions over the perceptions of infinite space the perceptions of infinite consciousness the negative to that is

nothing as I said consciousness is there with the appearance which means whenever there is appearance there is presence of that which has appeared which is what appearance is which means there is consciousness the infinity of the consciousness is the nature of that appearance the nature of the presence of the appearance which means whenever there is something that something can also be nothing as in the possibility of it to cease to not be and that's what what the mind is CERN's then the nothingness the absence of this current presence as we said when we open up

in a reading the suit above the village the empty of certain things so it's negative so in this case the the most the most subtle infinity of consciousness that seen as a as a as a general peripheral phenomena even that can be surmounted because even that is something old it's very subtle it's still something and when there is something it's it's it's possibility is to be nothing as in to cease to disappear so although there is the present consciousness the more greater perception in terms of the peripheral development is the perception of nothing nothingness so

then he understands that there is only anxiety left upon dependent upon the perception of the domain of nothingness then he goes even further not attending to perception of the infinite consciousness perception of than not the domain of nothingness he attends to the perception of the domain of the neither perception or perception so even that domain of nothingness is a negative in regard to something which is in the in that case the domain of the infinite consciousness and so even the domain of nothingness as peripheral as it is as negative as it is as subtle it

is it's still perceived to an extent and now that's what the monk realizes he realizes that even such a subtle thing it's still perceived so in order to go even higher even more generally even more peripherally he now needs to surmount the perception it's not anymore about what's being perceived now he's going beyond the fact that there is a perception of any kind of presences or absences doesn't matter perception is there and that's what he is surmounting in his in his next effort so he develops clarity he develops understanding he develops one is dependent upon

the perception of the domain of the neither perception on no perception so he starts mounting his own perception and that's one that's why that's why even this Sutra says that he loves clarity about it which means it's not some sort of miss go step by step entering to some transcendental States it's understanding of the fundamental nature structural nature of presence of things or phenomena so this is the one by one order of that understanding because the structure is ordered there is a particular thing then there is more general more general medela up to the point

of Samant in the consciousness surmounting the nothingness surmounting the neither perception nor perception so whenever the Buddha spoke about this in the past about the various summoners engrams develop this it's not that they had some some some some mystical experience that they would amount to this no they actually develop the understanding of the phenomena that's why when the Buddha became another hunt when became enlightened when when when he was encouraged by the by the Brahma to to go and teach when he begged him to do so because people might benefit from it the first person

he want to go back and teach was his previous teacher who was teaching the basis of neither perception or perception and the Buddha wasn't doing that out of some sort of gratitude he was doing because that person would have need absolutely minimal amount of instruction why because you could see how far has his mind been developed beforehand he has developed the understanding of the phenomena surpassing the consciousness the infinite space surpassing the nature of perception which means he had very very little dust in his eyes as the Buddha said and that's why I wanted to

go and teach him but as it turns out he died beforehand with and and you could understand and why it was such a way the Buddha said oh it's his great loss because he would have understood Dhamma in a finger snap because he already done all the work so so once the mind gets established upon the domain of neither perception and no perception then the monk will understand that there is only that level of disturbance left which means it's virtually almost nothing but there is still more to go following that structural development of the of

the peripheral domain bhiku not attending to the perception domain of nothingness not going the perception domain of neither perception of perception attends to the one is dependent on the signless composure of the mind so that's what we're even perceiving the neither perception and no perception has ceased so it really well there is no room for movement therefore the movement of the mind for the movement of the perception his mind jumps onto it is clear about the remains with inclines the words the signers composure of the mind and he understands there is only disturbance left to

that extent once he once he fully owned furthermore an under Baku not attending to the perception of the rain of nothingness not attending to the perception of the domain of neither perception nor perception attends to the one is dependent on the signless composure of the mind his mind jumps onto it's clear about remains within clients there was the sanest composure of the mind and then he understands thus this sign is composure the mind is determined it is intended he understands whatever is determined there is it is impermanent and subject to cessation which means that this

monk was already at least to sotapanna because understanding that sin Cara's are impermanent it's pretty much the insight of of an area saw Baca so in order to to of course that doesn't mean that the mind cannot be developed as someone who's not an area serviço but surmounting neither perception nor perception that is reserved only for an area Sarika only for somebody with a right view because as he became obvious there is no perception there in a sense of the mind has been unified surmounting the nature of perception but the understanding of that of that

place can take can take sorry the understanding of that establishment can take place reflexively whereby when the when the mind has developed that clarity the material as well as clear as this is as softly this is it is still determined it's determined by the perception by the domain of perception which in itself is determined by the domain of infinite consciousness which in itself is determined by the domain of the infinite space which in itself is determined by the domain of the earth which in self is determined by the domain of any more any further particular

perception such as perception the forest perception the village and so on so he understands whatever is determined as such it is impermanent so he penetrates that state with wisdom and that's that's how there is absolutely no room in that structure of the horizon arisen phenomena arisen experience as a whole there is absolutely no room that hasn't been there hasn't been pervaded with that understanding because he surmounted everything and then what left surmounted even that through his own understanding says absolutely there's absolutely nothing left and it says knowing they're saying this for him the man is

liberated from the taint of sensuality from the taint of being from the taint of ignorance there's absolutely no word for those things to remain hidden under under things that haven't been upturned when it is liberated there is knowledge it is liberated birth is destroyed Halle life has been lived what should be done has been done so again I don't think it helps repeat this it's this these are not some transcendental meditative experiences they're meditative in a sense of the reflexive the mind develops clarity in regards to the nature of the present perception and you could

see that even even the very beginning he was about the negative if the Buddha Buddha was a as mother's palace he wasn't saying look at his balances look at the floor look at the post no he was talking about things that are not there so from there you go higher then you realize okay they're things that are there that's where the mind is established upon but then you go further so what else is there well that place is in the forest so the mind can then be established upon the forest even without you having to

go and stare at the trees and mossy rocks and so on then what else is there based on things that are not there so the understanding of the peripheral and that's the definition of proper mindfulness wherever you are attending you discern the peripheral in regard to it and the ultimate peripheral is the presence of the phenomenon the infinite consciousness then even the great peripheral then that it would be even that place of neither perception or no perception but that's that's that's now you bring it back onto yourself so - so to develop the full understanding

and then when even that perception ceases in the signless establishment of the mind no more signs means no more peripheral means you have reached the ultimate peripheral sign less because all the signs are peripherally that's that's just how the nature of the sign works so once the man has reached a complete cessation as in there is no further to go in that structure and that's by the way the suit imagine 111 wood sorry put the one by one when he was he is there higher there is that from one goes to the other one to

the other one and he fully penetrates and understands the entire structure of the experience from the inside of course you can't step outside of it and he understands okay this is it this is the ultimate there is no higher than this the the signless understanding the sign is establishment of the mind so so in this case the man kiss has fully understood all the all the all the more general phenomena in regard to that which is present in front of him and because of that he is he realizes they would ever taint whatever anxiety will

disturbance on the based on taint of sensuality taint of being taint of ignorance cannot arise for him because he is free from those taints and he does that only disturbance based upon the six domain dependent upon this very body with life as condition that any disturbance he he he still has left and as the disturbance for an arahant for as long as his body still alive he came that body can be disturbed but none of that can cause suffering will bother him anymore so all the symptoms of a leader have ceased having he understands having

arrived at this perception it is empty of the taint of being emptied at essentially taint of being at the end of ignorance he understands there is only this non emptiness namely the six domains dependent on this very body with life as condition thus on account of whatever is not there he sees it as it is empty and whatever remains he understand it this is present and in this world under there is this authentic undistorted clear entry into the emptiness which is the best with nothing higher under whatever assert it is the Brahmas in the past

entered upon and dwelled in the clear Antonis which is the best with nothing higher all of them entered upon indwelling this very clear emptiness which is the best wind nothing higher as that's what I mean it's structural means the human experience the experience of the five aggregates for the matter a certain order and this is the order that want the one with an standing develops and understands so that's what a Buddha says whoever has done this in the past eons ago and whoever will do it in the future will do it in this manner it's

the structure it's not it's not a matter of choice with nothing higher all of them entered upon indwelling this very clear emptiness which is the best a man endure whatever I set in zebra means in the future will enter upon indwelling the clear emptiness which is the best all of them will enter upon in this very clear Antonis and singles for the ones that do it right now therefore Ananda you should train yourselves us I will enter upon indwelling the clear emptiness which is the best wind nothing higher this is what the Blessed One said

please the venerable on the lighting in the words of the Blessed One so in terms of practical practical development of what has been discussed in the suta physical seclusion is necessary obviously absence of other people absence of the perceptions of the village so ideally places like like forests mountains were what you would be actually physically removed from other people and then you don't as I said as I said during the during the reading you don't have to go around looking at things and telling yourself you're in the forest because you are in the forest so

peripherally you will be discerning things that are absent until then the mind settles in the perceptions of the forest the mood of the experience of the forest and the only way to develop a mood of the experience of the forest is to go and be in the forest or be alone but they get there has to be some distance between between you and other people at least temporarily for the duration of that of that practice so the perceptions of the forest are in the background the tree in front of you the big rock in front

of the cave next to you those things are not the forest they are in the forest and you are there with them so you are in the forest so as I said you don't need to keep keep reminding yourself and in looking at various objects in front of you and touching touching moving looking touching whatever they're there and you are in that forest together with them so you discern that the presence of the forest peripherally being properly mindful of it you discern it as something that did you partake in you are now in that forest

you are partaking in that more general perception and that's how the mind gets established upon that and you would see the difference just spend two or three days secluded from people going back among people going back into the village or a town you will see the difference you will see how different it is how different the situation becomes but the point here is to maintain your establishment of your mind through the clarity of discernment maintain it upon the forest in other words say you have to go to the town of the village and but you

even when you do even when you I'm in the middle of the town square you still see yourself as belonging to the forest as belonging to the greater perception then all these things that are around you that are obviously more inferior to it villages are inferior to the forests inhabited areas are inferior to the non inhabited areas so you see yourself as appertaining but taking it being part of the greater forest and for as long as you maintain that mood peripherally you're mindful of it you allow it to endure you can spend long time among

people and in the towns and villages and still protect to the forest but of course if you see yourself as protecting to the forest you would wanna be lingering around the inhabited areas unless you have to so you would go when you have to do things that you have to but then go back to that which is greater the perception the forest there is empty of those things so even when you would be among those things you're dwelling in the emptiness of those things because the mind is established upon a more general mood and then

same when you get used to dwelling in the forest when you see yourself partaking in the forest being part of the forest go even higher start discerning the presence of the phenomenon of Earth peripherally within which the forest is within which you are so now wherever you are whether it's a forest town mountain island doesn't matter you are within the perception of the earth so you could see say the perception of the forest upon which your mood depends upon which your situation has been developed say there's a massive flood earthquake fire everything gets destroyed that's

what means disturbance upon the perception of the the forest can still arise but unless something destroys the entire planet earth the mind it's established upon the general perception of the earth cannot be disturbed and by anything and that's that's the similar to the practice of Earth casino' mm-hmm where the mind gets established upon it and then the Buddha said everything inferior to it will not bother you but the only way to establish this is to start discerning it on the level of that of the level that which is present and that's what is but but

the suit that we just read said said he understands this is what's present this is present in front of me so the peripheral the peripheral the peripheral mindfulness of the mood in the forest is what's present it's what's my situation then the peripheral the mind established upon the peripheral discernment of the of the of the domain of the perception of the earth is what my situation is in and then you can go further to the infinite space the infinite consciousness and so on but even even just the perception of the earth is more than enough

in terms of its generality in terms of its its its its structural capacity to to to allow the understanding and the cessation of any greed aversion delusion lust towards things that are inferior to it but one needs to start welling in it it's not it's not a theory it's not an abstract thought you need to see yourself by taking you need to see yourself in your being as something that but takes to that level of that general perception that's what it is he's clear about he's established on it he remains in it he dwells in

it so that takes repetitive effort and obviously it takes require seclusion that's why the Buddha could not have sort of encouraged too much monks and those interested in practice to to go and and develop physical dwell in the physical seclusion because it all comes from it and there is that another sutra similar on emptiness whether the monk goes into the empty forest root of a tree empty cave and tea dwelling and says this place is empty of others and that's his starting point again to go back into discerning one by one this structure of the

arisen situation of that which is present which is just another way of saying the establishment of the mind and John is working the same way just their their most specific in terms of the domain of sensuality being surmounted and so on and maybe we can talk about it in a different occasion but in this case a physical seclusion dwelling in that which is superior to the inhabited life inhabited areas crowded areas that's how that's how these perceptions begin to be discerned peripherally and that's how the mind can get established upon them so just one more

thing to point out that the more general perception of Earth is established upon or rather through the perceptions of the mood of the forest the mood of the situation of being in the forest anything that doesn't go in that order like one after the other as in the perception of Earth after the perception of the mood of the forest it will be abstract so if it doesn't follow the right order it's going to be on the level of abstraction abstraction which means there won't be mindfulness properly established and mind will not be established upon the

one pointedness of that more general perception so if a person wants to discern the perceptions of Earth they need to be done within or on the basis or through the basis of the of the mood of being in the forest the mood of being part of the forest the mood of being the forest within that then you start refining that very mood perception of the mood of being the forest and that's where the perception of Earth is found