Inconstancy

January 16, 2009 One of the basic principles of insight or clear seeing is that all compounded or all fabricated things are inconstant. They dont last. They waiver. They change. And as someone once said, So what else is new? Things change. And if thats all there was to the Buddhas insight, there wouldnt be much to it. But it goes deeper than that. ts not !ust that things change, but that things change in line with their conditions. And you want to be able to see that changing in line with their conditions"in other words, to see that this arises when that arises, this ceases when that ceases. #ven thats not much of an insight until you reali$e that were also trying to feed in those areas where things arise and pass away. %ere loo&ing for our happiness there. And if we loo& for happiness in these things in and of themselves, were going to be disappointed. And if we cant 'gure out the pattern, we are going to be neurotic. once read about a test they ran on some pigeons. They put each of them in a bo( and in each bo( there was a green lever and a red lever. n some of the bo(es, when you pushed the green lever, youd get food) and sometimes when you pushed it, you wouldnt get food. Sometimes when you pushed the red lever, youd get food and sometimes you wouldnt. Then they compared the birds in these bo(es with another set of birds placed in bo(es where the levels behaved in a predictable way* %hen you pushed the green level, youd food) when you pushed the red level, you wouldnt. The birds in the second set of bo(es were perfectly normal. The birds in the 'rst set of bo(es went cra$y and began behaving in very neurotic ways"for two reasons. One was the only way they were going to get food was by pressing levers. And yet, two, they couldnt 'gure out when a lever was going to wor& and when it wasnt. That drove them to distraction. So as long as were loo&ing for food in things that arise and pass away, weve got to learn the pattern of how were going to get good food for the mind from these arising+and+passing+away things. This is part of the Buddhas other insight into inconstancy* that even though some things arise and pass away and cant give an ultimate happiness in and of themselves, they do function as a path to the ultimate happiness, whereas other things dont. This is the pattern. The things that can function as a path to true happiness are s&illful. Those that dont are uns&illful. An important part of insight is learning, through observation, which is which. So we loo& for inconstancy not !ust to see how things arise and pass away, but how we can learn how to manipulate the process so we can actually 'nd the food that we want, and ultimately, of course, get to the point where we dont need food anymore. But the only way you get to that point is by feeding on the right things. This is why we meditate. %hen you start out meditating, and you see that states in your mind are arising and passing away, youre already dealing in whats called the frame of reference of mental ,ualities in and of themselves. #ven though your focus is on the breath, you

cant help but notice that there are times when the mind is concentrated on the breath and times when its not. -ouve got to learn how to 'gure out both sides of the ,uestion* which things are helping to foster concentration, and which things are getting in the way of concentration. And you have to learn how to encourage the 'rst sort of conditions, and get rid of the second. So even though were focusing on the breath as our primary frame of reference, theres this other frame of reference going on at the same time. -ou have to learn how to recogni$e which ,ualities are hindrances and which are the factors for awa&ening. The hindrances are the primary set of uns&illful ,ualities) the factors for awa&ening are the primary s&illful ones. n fact, the factors of awa&ening are the ones that get you started on this path to begin with, for they help you in sorting all of these things out. The factors for awa&ening begin with mindfulness. Once youre mindful of the breath, for instance, you begin to see that there are s&illful and uns&illful ,ualities arising in the mind and that youve got to learn how to distinguish them. Thats called analysis of ,ualities, the second factor for awa&ening. Then you foster the e.ort to do away with the uns&illful ones and to encourage the s&illful ones, which is the third factor for awa&ening* persistence. So right there youve got the 'rst three of the factors for awa&ening. -ou want to encourage that ability to observe your mind, because even though youre trying to stay with the breath, or trying to stay focused on the breath, youre not going to be able to do it unless youve got these other faculties helping you along. As A!aan /ee e(plains it, analysis of ,ualities is directly connected with directed thought and evaluation, which are factors of !hana. Those are things you need to help you get into the meditation, to get solidly with the breath. So youre dealing with two di.erent frames of reference right there* the body in and of itself and these mental ,ualities in and of themselves. So when any of the hindrances arise"sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and an(iety, or uncertainty"your 'rst duty is simply to recogni$e them for what they are, to see that they are hindrances and they deserve to be let go. That right there is ,uite an accomplishment because for the most part, when a hindrance arises, were already with it. %ere on its side. 0or e(ample, when sensual desire comes along, we see it as a good thing. %eve got decades of %estern psychology to prove that sensual desire cant be thwarted. f you thwart it, it turns into The Thing and goes underground. At least thats what the mind tells itself when it decides its going to go along with the desire. There are all &inds of reasons the mind can produce for its actions, but youve got to learn how to loo& past them and as& yourself, 1%hat does this desire actually do to the mind?2 This is not !ust a matter of watching it arise and pass away. -ouve got to see, when it arises, what does it bring along with it? %hat does it do? %hen it passes away, whats it li&e? And you begin to reali$e when its present it really does cloud up the mind. t creates a lot of disturbance, a lot of stress, ma&es it impossible to stay with the breath. And youve got to decide whether youre on the side of the sensual desire or on the side of the breath. The same goes with ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and an(iety, uncertainty and doubt. -ouve got to decide whether youre on their side or on the side of the breath. And the best way to decide is !ust to watch these things,

step bac& from them. As& yourself, when they come, what comes along with them? %hen they go away, what goes away with them? And when they come, why do they come? %hat intentions underlie them? 3an you trust those intentions? At this stage in the practice, this is how you use the principle of inconstancy* not !ust watching things arise and pass away, arise and pass away"because, after all, youre trying to feed in these areas, so you want to 'nd good food for yourself. %hat &ind of food do the hindrances provide? f they give you bad food, poisonous food, spoiled food, what can you do to clear them out of the mind? So youre not engaged in !ust a passive watching. -ou watch with a purpose. -ou want to get past these things. A similar principle applies to the factors for awa&ening. Once youve analy$ed things and seen whats s&illful and uns&illful, youve got to 'gure out why it is that the s&illful ,ualities arise) when theyre there, how you protect them, how you maintain them"in A!aan 0uangs words, how you prakhawng them. The Thai word prakhawng means that you nurture them along, protect them, support them. So even though you &now that theyre inconstant, you try to use the principle of inconstancy"i.e., seeing that they depend on causes and conditions"in order to nurture those conditions because you &now youre going to depend on them. These ,ualities are going to be your food on the path, the good &ind of food that strengthens the mind. The Buddha compares the states of !hana to di.erent &inds of food. -oure o. in a fortress at the edge of a frontier. The enemy is all around you, but youve got food in the fortress, so even though the enemy is laying siege, you still can stay well fed, strong, and &eep up the 'ght. -ouve got water, rice, sesame seeds, all sorts of good food, all the way up to the fourth !hana, which is compared to butter, ghee, sugar, and honey. And because these things are good food, you dont !ust watch them arise and pass away. -ou do what you can to grow the food and then to &eep the food because without it, the practice dies. Only when youve used that food to strengthen your concentration, strengthen your insight, strengthen the tran,uility of the mind can you get to the point where youve fully mastered that process of cause and e.ect. Thats when you turn to loo& at it and see, 14ow far does it ta&e me?2 ts brought you a long way, but it can ta&e you only so far. -oure not yet at the other shore. Thats when you start loo&ing at everything in terms of arising and passing away, and try to develop the dispassion that comes from not wanting to eat any of these things, even good food, anymore. The Buddha uses the word nibbida, which means disenchantment but also disgust, distaste. -ouve had enough of that food. Thats when you can let go of everything. Thats when theres 'nal release. This is the stage where you treat all compounded things in the same way, whether theyre obstacles or part of the path, because you dont need to feed anymore. The mind doesnt have any hunger. But as long as it still does have hunger, your relationship to inconstancy is going to be di.erent. -ou want to be li&e those healthy well+ad!usted pigeons, &nowing which lever gives food and which lever gives no food, or which lever gives good food and which lever gives bad. %hen you 'gure it out, you can really nurture yourself, really nourish

yourself. Then the mind stays strong. So there are many stages in this understanding of inconstancy. 5ot !ust, 1Oh, saw concentration last night and saw that it was inconstant, so let it go and that was that. %hats ne(t?2 That &ind of insight goes nowhere. The insight that does go somewhere is the insight that sees, 1Oh, when this arises, it arises because of this. %hen it passes away, it passes away because of that.2 And if the 1this2 is a s&illful ,uality, you want to nurture it. f its an uns&illful ,uality, you want to 'gure out the principle of cause and e.ect so you can stay away, let these things go. Because you still need to feed properly. -ouve got to ta&e care of yourself. -ou still have those four duties with regard to the four noble truths. The path is to be developed. Su.ering is to be comprehended. The causes of su.ering are to be abandoned, so that the cessation of su.ering can be reali$ed. So for the time being, you use the principle of inconstancy to 'gure out what are the causes for the path, and how you &eep them going, even though they are inconstant. ts only when you get to the end of the path that the duties change. A!aan 6un ma&es an interesting point. 4e says, there comes a point in the meditation where all four noble truths are one. %hat he means is they all come to have the same duty, whether its stress or the path or whatever. ts all compounded. ts all inconstant. ts all to be abandoned. But as you practice you need to &now where you are in the practice and what the duties appropriate to that stage in the practice are. Thats how you use insight into inconstancy with wisdom and discernment, so the teaching ful'lls its intended purpose.