via විමුක්තිය
Upstream Journey
Understanding and Reflecting Dharma Through Oneself
The subject of understanding Dharma, and reflecting those Dhamma through oneself is a widely taught lesson in the teachings of the Buddha. Today, we have great many opportunities to listen to such Dharma by those who have taken endeavors to understand such teachings to reflect the same through themselves. Expansion of social media makes such opportunities accessible to larger majority in the world.
In many text books, the term Janatho and pajanatho, (- [i]the original recorded words preached by the Buddha) is simply translated into English as knowing and seeing. But the knowing of ‘what’ and seeing ‘why, how and when’ are the points that we require more clarifications and definitions. The question of ‘what’ is answered by the essence of Buddha’s teachings such as ‘Thilakkhana’, pancha upadanaskanda, paticca samuppapada, and chathu ariya sachcha and ari atangee magga. The best ever useful and widely used tools and techniques elaborated in the ‘sathara sathi patthana sutra”. Entering into the process of revelation of wisdom could be gained through comprehending those teachings. Today we are fortunate to listen to defined and refined versions of these teachings from those who explore themselves through these algorithms. The inspirational energy that they transfer towards others would eventually help others who wish to gain their own wisdom by reflecting such teachings within themselves.
This short introductory article would never sufficient to explain anything in depth. However, let’s pick one little section of such explanations as an entry point into this whole process. We have six senses eye, year, nose, tongue, skin and the mental energy. They grasp external sensory elements of images, sounds, smell, taste, bodily stimulation and psyche or persona. The moment the internal sense organs touch external elements they generate an energetic heat which is called ‘vedana’ the stimuli. These stimuli are energized by ranges of greed, hatred, delusion, non greed, non hatred and non delusion. Then that stimuli construct an intense heat within our persona. Persona will then construct psychical desires such as aversion, anger, cruelty, pleasure, pain, sadness, joules, stinginess, greediness, smartness and many more thousands of psyche within us. However, these intense heat is ephemeral and transient. They arise, tense to decay and demise over billions of billions of times within beings in one particular life cycle. However, when they die, they will never vanish in totality, rather they leave new energy fueled by the previous process as preconceived constructs in our persona. Beings are attached to those heat waves and continuously floating in the waves of never ending process of Samsara which is driven according to this algorithm.
The one who wants to hold those waves to understand this process is called ‘Janatho’ or the knowing. This process will help that person to recognize why and how those heat waves work within oneself in the moment they are arising. Detecting the level of “intense heat” that generates together with causes and consequences is defined as Pajanatho or seeing. This process is also called ‘Vipassana’. In another words, observing and detecting how the thought process behave in the very moment they arise, fueled up to the intense level to decline and demise. This observation is a day today activity and one should not have to separate from the day to day life. This contemplation process will help one to evaluate the consequences; understand how one’s internal senses are biased towards external elements; how they affect condition the internal chemistry. That is the beginning of the ending of arising waves of desires to condition the thought process generated through six sense process. Then one would be able to hold onto the automatic thought construction process drive towards self divulge. This self reflection is called “pajanatho’ or seeing dharma through oneself.
[i] Due to the fact that the Buddha had advised to his followers not do the word to word translations of any of words uttered by him, no any word to word translations are given in this article.
Note: i write this post based on the essay i submitted and published in the Buddhist Vihara Society Sunday School Annual Magazine of 2017 in Sinhalese, the most closer language of the original words of the Buddha.
