Sunday, March 24, 2013

the six sense bases

The six sense bases. That is eyes, ears nose tongue body and mind. When we think of permanence of the sense bases we should know that there are two ways of doing the meditation on sense bases.
The first method is the method that we are currently doing.
We keep on thinking that
eye is permanent
ear is impermanent
nose is impermanent
tongue is impermanent
body is impermanent
mind is impermanent
And we keep on saying it over and over again and the most dangerous thing is that we think that this is the method stated in sutta and which was taught to ven Rahula by Lord Buddha himself. And to some extent this is true.
But there is a problem in doing the meditation on sense bases like that. That is we think that eye is impermanent And nose is impermanent etc but after and even during the meditation if we hear a sound (say for example of a bird) then for us that is not only a sound just heard but we quickly identify from which direction the sound came and from what bird etc. So even though we are doing the meditation on impermanence on the sense bases and the impermanence of the objects we hear a sound and that sound come from a bird and we can open our eyes and see the bird and may be even touch the bird etc in essence we see permanence. We see today the same bird we saw yesterday. We see the same things we saw yesterday or past or we see permanence.
So there is an error in doing the meditation on sense bases like that.
So what is the other method of seeing the impermanence of the six sense bases?
Let’s take the same example of you sitting for meditation and your eyes are closed and you hear a sound. When you hear the sound you get to know that it’s the sound of a parrot or a crow. And now you see the picture of a crow in your mind its colour its size etc.
Now when we look closer to these events you initially hear a sound and at the moment of hearing the sound there is nothing happening rather than hearing the sound. That is the sound meet the ear and ear consciousness arise and when those three gets into contact you hear the sound. But as soon as you hear it just contact arising and passing away.
But as soon as you hear then you identify that sound is from a parrot. Now how does that parrot come from where does thought of a parrot arise? The thought of parrot arise in the mind. It is not arising from the eye because the eyes are still closed and no objects are taken from the eyes at this moment.
So in this case as soon as ear and sound and ear consciousness arises and passes away then the mind and a thought is arising to continue the picture and gives a parrot. And then we may want to see the parrot and we open our eyes and see the parrot. And likewise the arising of another sense base will happen or occur and this is how our sense bases continue in existence. When one sense base arises and passes away another sense base is born. And this happen every moment.
So how to stop the continuation of this ongoing arising of sense bases? This is where we have to be mindful about the arising and passing away. When you hear the sound then the ear arises and passes away and sound arises and passes away ear consciousness arise and pass away. Impermanent. No parrot. Parrot is a lie created from the mind. Which keep us pushing us toward the existence.

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