A Purport of Kevaḍḍha-sutta (DN)
By Madhyama
The following verse is extracted from the Kevaḍḍha-sutta of the Long Discourses of the Buddha (Dīgha Nikāya):
Viññāṇaṃ anidassanaṃ,
anantaṃ sabbato pabhaṃ,
ettha āpo ca paṭhavī,
tejo vāyo na gādhati
ettha dīghañca rassañca
aṇuṃ thūlaṃ subhāsubhaṃ
ettha nāmañca rūpañca,
asesaṃ uparujjhati,
viññāṇassa nirodhena,
etth’etaṃ uparujjhati.
Bhikkhu Ñ̃āṇananda, a Sri Lankan Bhikkhu and Buddhist scholar, currently residing in a forest or cave in the interior part of Sri Lanka, rendered the verse into English version thus:
It is in consciousness, that is non-manifestative, endless and
lustrous on all sides. It is here that Water, Earth, Fire and Air
do not find a footing. It is in this consciousness that long and short,
fine and coarse, and pleasant and unpleasant, as well as name
and form, are kept in check. It is by the cessation of consciousness
that all these are held in check.
The above exposition of the early discourse of Gotama Buddha mirrors the mental state of the self-enlightenment of an Arahant. It is most ideal state which all Buddhists aspire to realize and attain. An Arahant, the Enlightened One and the Worthy One, is the man perfected in knowledge and conduct. It is pure consciousness of this Enlightened one who has discerned the ultimate Truth of Ultimate Reality- perceiving the true nature of all phenomena beginning with the human personality.
The Three Universal Characteristics of Five Aggregates (pañcakkhandhā), namely Impermanence (Anicca), Suffering (Dukkha) and Insubstantiality (Anattā) have been intuitively discerned in term of the principle of Dependent Co-arising and the Four Noble Truths. The First Noble Truth states that the ordinary worldlings are vulnerable to suffering . The Second Noble Truth states that Ignorance (Avijjā) of the Insubstantiality (Anattā) of the Five Aggregates (Pañcakkhandhā) is the cause of suffering (dukkha) . The Third Noble Truth states that when the mind is absolutely appeased or nibbānic, suffering ceases. The Fourth Noble Truth states that the cultivation and practice of the Noble Eight Fold Path is the pathway to the cessation of suffering.
Non-manifestative
The successful undertaking of the Noble Eight Fold Path in terms of the three-fold training of Morality (Sīla), Concentration (Samādhi) and Wisdom (paññā) purifies the consciousness. A purified consciousness is non-manifestative. Non-manifestative consciousness is released consciousness. Released consciousness connotes that the mind of an Enlightened One is liberated from suffering and the bondage of saṃsāra.
Endless
The consciousness is endless because it is infinite like the empty space. This is divine state of all saints or sages. The enlightened mind is comparable to the infinite space because the space is able to contain unlimited myriad things without being saturated and most importantly, without being defiled. The metaphor of empty space is popularly utilized by Chan patriarchs of the Chan tradition to describe the Nirvāṇic state of the Enlightened One, such as the Chan or Zen Patriarchs or Masters . When the human consciousness is finite, there is definitely a corresponding plane of existence to be reborn into upon death. As long as the mental consciousness is finite, saṃsāric journey is incessant. When the consciousness is infinite, one becomes deathless and eternally blissful. It neither exists nor non-exists. It is a state of liberation or freedom (vimutti) from suffering.
Lustrous
The Enlightened mind of an Arahant is lustrous because it illuminates the five aggregates brightly so that its true nature of insubstantiality is revealed to the discerning one. In short, when one has developed the Wisdom of Insight, the mind becomes lustrous or bright. When one has developed the wisdom (paññā) of insight (vipassanā), one acquires a perfect view of the human personality (microcosm) and also that of the world (macrocosm). This perfect view is called perfect knowledge (ñāṇa) of oneself and of the cosmos. One with the perfect knowledge is bright mentally or very wise as he has developed the sixth supernormal knowledge (abhiññā) of the complete destruction of cankers (āsavas) – the highest wisdom of insight which terminates suffering. Most importantly, this wisdom perfects human character formation. His lovingkindness, compassion and appreciative joy, supported by equanimity, are exercised boundlessly or non-discriminatively towards all sentient beings.
No Footing
The four Great Elements of Earth, Water, Fire and Wind do not find a footing or support on the non-manifestative consciousness. There are no nutriment at all supplied to the field of consciousness for these four Great Elements to germinate and grow. The nutriment is the grasping or clinging upon the Five Aggregates. Owing to the Wisdom of Insight developed by the bright Arahant, there is non-grasping or non-clinging upon the Five Aggregates. Non-grasping or non-clinging means the cessation of the supply of nutriment to the field of consciousness. Without grasping, the Four Great Elements (Earth, Water, Fires and Wind) are not conditioned to produce ordinary consciousness. Ordinary consciousness forms the basis of saṃsāric life.
Non-discriminative Wisdom
The non-manifestative consciousness arises because of the non-discriminative Wisdom of Insight into the insubstantiality of all phenomena. Insubstantiality denotes that a human personality is empty of Self or Ego internally. Externally, all phenomena are perceived as empty of self-natures or self-identities. Without self-natures or self-identities, there exist no signs,marks nor characteristics. The non-manifestative consciousness is a the resultant product of signless liberation of mind. Signless liberation arises from the perception of emptiness of Self or Ego (Anattā) of human personalities as well as the Insubstantiality of all internal and external phenomena. Perception of the emptiness of the Self or Ego or the Insubstantiality of the Five Aggregates leads to liberation due to the non-grasping upon the Five Aggregates (Anupādānakkhandhā). The Five Aggregates of non-grasping eradicates attachment and aversion which gives rise to Greed (Lobha), Hatred (Dosa) and Delusion (Moha).
In the non-manifestative consciousness of an Arahant, the duality or discrimination between long and short, fine and coarse, pleasant and unpleasant as well as name and form do not perturb the tranquility or the silence of the stilled mind of an Arahant. It is important to recognize that discrimination exists in the world of Conventional Truth but from the Right Vision of the Ultimate Truth, discrimination is an illusion and unreality. The Arahant destroys the ordinary consciousness with his or her non-discriminative wisdom. Non-discriminative wisdom produces signless liberation. Signless or non-discriminative wisdom engenders non-manifestative consciousness. Non-manifestative consciousness is released consciousness designated as inoperative consciousness in the Theravāda Abhidhamma.. The inoperative consciousness does not connote that the sense faculties are dead or non-functioning. It connotes that only the ordinary consciousness is purified into non-manifestative consciousness . The purified ordinary consciousness produces the equanimous, cankerless or nibbānic consciousness. The equanimous, cankerless or nibbānic consciousness connotes that the mind is completely tamed or silenced. The complete silence of the mind is called Nibbāna which is neither arising nor ceasing. Conventionally speaking, a nibbānic person is one who has totally appeased or tamed his or her mind. Having been tamed, the tamed one is fully restrained in all actions through the body, speech and mind. He or she does not consciously safeguard the Five Precepts (Pañcasīlas) and yet he or she never transgresses the Five Precepts. In this pure consciousness, the notion of self and ego has been totally annihilated. A Nibbānic person is called an Arahant in the Theravāda tradition. When delivered one is supremely, unsurpassedly, completely perfected, this maximally excellent person is called a Buddha. The Man of Perfection has consummated his or her knowledge or wisdom and conduct. |
