Posted By Mahabodhi on Feb 15, 2024 | 0 comments

Below is an excerpt from my forthcoming book…

© Mahabodhi Burton

16 minute read

This excerpt is from the chapter ‘The Undiscovered Foundations’ and it explores the way in which Mind conditions the other Foundations of Mindfulness, including the poorly understood concept of worldly and spiritual feeling: which can be roughly correlated with conscience or lack of it.  This excerpt follows on directly from Mindfulness and Conditionality: feeling.

vii Mindfulness of mind conditioning happiness / Awakening

Mind

When we are trying to transform our mind to be sources of happiness, we need to bear in mind that it will always affect the other foundations. When the condition of mind is in place—as it always is, it will always affect body, feeling and views, contributing towards Awakening or suffering in the future, through the processes of manifestation, ethical feeling and reflection.

Body and feeling come in the category of experience; we are presented with them as experience in each moment, and as such in that moment there is nothing we can do about them, but experience them. Mind and views, on the other hand, are not experience as such, because we can choose to develop one mental state (or view) instead of another, as we do when we meditate (or reflect). Mind and views are responses to experience.

We saw in the previous section how an appropriate response to ethical feeling depended on correctly identifying worldly and spiritual feeling. This could only be achieved once we had correctly identified the skilful and unskilful mental states that fostered them. Once a worldly feeling has been identified the mental state which opposes its progenitor needs to be developed; the pain of seeing our enemy is caused by the mental state of aversion, hence the mental state of loving kindness needs to be developed to counteract it, and thus alleviate the pain. Likewise, if we identify a worldly feeling of bliss as originating in a mental state of unawareness, we need to cultivate mindfulness until our unawareness becomes painful to us.

By being aware of the effect of our body, feelings and views have on our mental states (as a source of happiness and well-being for ourselves and others) we aim maintain these in the best state we can.

These are the conditions for happiness and suffering concerning mind.

MANIFESTATION

Firstly, there is manifestation. Mind and Body are interconnected, and so our mental and emotional states will manifest^[1] tangibly within the body, and the world (through the operation of karma).

Mental and emotional states —–Manifest—–> Body / World

An angry state of mind will be apprehended as tension in the body; fear as tightening in the stomach; contentment as relaxation. If the body is to be a source of happiness, the monk needs to work on his states of mind. Only mindfulness will help the monk discern that which will lead him towards Awakening and it is here that he places his attention and his effort.

We need to ask ourselves ‘Is what manifests in the body due to our mental states leading to happiness or not?’ If not, what can we do about it? And also; ‘What is the tangible effect on the world of those mental states?’

Manifestation of mental states that leads to happiness

When we are meditating, we look for clues as to our mental states by seeing what shows up in our bodies; it is helpful that they manifest in our body because this allows us to see them more clearly, and work to make them better sources of happiness.

Buddhism talks of expansive (skilful) mental states, such as loving kindness, in which we open our hearts to ourselves and others. A positive consequence of such states is that they tend to condition expansive, relaxed, open states in the body, a source of happiness for the body. The tangible effect of expansive mental states on the world too is positive, bringing care, lightness and awareness to the world.

Manifestation of mental states that leads to suffering

If whatever manifests in the body due to our mental states, then causes us to panic or freeze, we can get into a negative feedback loop. This is what a panic attack is; the physical symptoms themselves trigger further negative (unskilful) mental states, and we are unable to stay in awareness. We are panicking because we are panicking. Sometimes we can experience too much. In this case we need to take our attention away from the physical symptoms.

Contracted mental states, such as frustration and anger, further condition contracted, tense, closed-off states in the body; emotional conflict, and blocked or wasted energy leads to feeling physically drained, all sources of suffering for  the body. And the tangible effect of contracted mental states on the world too is negative; it is that which brings selfishness, unawareness and suffering to the world.

If we are to help the body (and the world) be a better source of happiness, we need to tune into what our body tells us about our inner states without letting ourselves be overcome by the experience. Having thus identified our internal states we need to make the effort to make them skilful. We need to:

1. prevent unskilful mental states from arising
2. eradicate unskilful mental states that have arisen
3. cultivate skilful mental states that are unarisen
4. maintain already arisen skilful mental states^[2]

ETHICAL FEELING

Secondly, there is ethical feeling. Ethical feeling is the feeling that is conditioned by the ethical status of our mental and emotional states.

Mental and emotional states —–Ethical feeling—–> Feeling

Secular mindfulness trainers tend to refer only to two arrows, yet in the Satipatthana Sutta the Buddha teaches the monk to know when he is experiencing ‘worldly’ feeling (samisa vedana) and ‘spiritual’ feeling (niramisa vedana), which together constitute what I have come to call ethical feeling.^[3]

Here the Buddha’s teaching on mindfulness goes beyond the domain of the secular approach, which is constrained in its very secularity from teaching about ethical feeling.^[4]

A word about happiness

The Niramisa Sutta teaches that joy and happiness^[5] exist on three levels;

1. the ‘worldly’ (samisa)
2. the ‘spiritual’ (niramisa)
3. the ‘more spiritual than spiritual’ (niramisa niramisatara) ^[6]

Worldly happiness

What we usually mean by happiness and suffering is the pleasant and unpleasant feeling that arises either when we get what we want, or we don’t get what we don’t want in life. The Niramisa Sutta teaches that worldly feeling arises ‘in dependence on the five cords of sensuality’,^[7] indicating desire for and attachment to sensory experience;^[8] essentially, we are looking beyond ourselves to ‘the world’, not only for pleasant sensory experiences and material possessions, but also status and psychological goals like self-esteem and for our satisfaction, including the experience of being hit by Cupid’s arrow, the pleasurable intoxication of falling in love.

When we get the thing that we desire, at first, we feel elated, excited, joyful, we feel that our life has gained some meaning for a while. The excitement then calms down and if the experience lasts for a while, we begin to feel happy. But as whatever is conditioned is subject to impermanence the experience doesn’t last, our happiness inevitably fades, and we go looking for a new ‘hit.’

Happiness of the worldly kind is limited, depending as it does on conditions that are impermanent or outside of our control. The Buddha doesn’t say never develop attachment to loved ones but warns us that it will be painful when we inevitably lose them. So worldly joy arises when our aim to experience pleasant feeling through the senses is achieved; and worldly happiness arises when that feeling is consistently experienced, becoming the norm.

‘Seeing through’ sense experience

According to the legend, when Gautama was living in the palace, he had everything that life could offer in terms of material happiness. What the four sights meant was he began to see the emptiness of sense experience, as a source of happiness, subject as it was to old age, sickness and death. This is what the Buddha means by worldly equanimity; one’s interest in whatever is beyond hedonic sensory experience—represented by the sight of the wandering mendicant—has become strong enough to make one equanimous about whatever one’s sensory experience happens to be; one ‘sees through’ it and no longer relies on it as a refuge.^[9] Worldly freedom represents this process being complete.^[10]

Higher states of consciousness

The Niramisa Sutta teaches that spiritual feeling arises in dhyana, which come about as a result of ‘seeing through’ sense experience and developing skilful mental states.^[11]

Spiritual happiness

Leading on from worldly freedom, spiritual joy marks the fact that it is possible to experience a joy that is based on something other than the world of the senses. According to the Niramisa Sutta this joy arises in the first and second dhyanas,^[12] and the reason why it is called ‘spiritual’^[13]  is that as the pleasure experienced here arises solely on the basis of skilful mental states it has no downside in that it is not a potential cause of suffering; an example being the pleasurable feelings that arise with loving kindness.

• Spiritual happiness, present in the second and third dhyanas, is experienced when that feeling is consistently experienced, and becomes the norm.^[14]
• Spiritual equanimity, present in the fourth dhyana, occurs when interest in things beyond spiritual experience become strong enough to make one equanimous about one’s spiritual / dhyanic experience.^[15]
• Spiritual freedom occurs when a person ‘sees through’ dhyanic experience altogether, one knows it as ultimately being a source of suffering due to its impermanent nature.^[16]

More spiritual than spiritual happiness

Leading on from spiritual freedom, more spiritual than spiritual joy (Pali: niramisa niramisatara piti) marks the fact that it is possible to experience joy based something other than the dhyanas.^[17] According to the Niramisa Sutta this is the joy that arises when a monk knows that he is Enlightened; that is, he has overcome the taints and is free from greed, hatred and delusion.

More spiritual than spiritual happiness is experienced when that pleasant feeling is consistently experienced and becomes the norm.^[18]

The reason why such joy and happiness are called ‘more spiritual than spiritual’ is that the pleasure experienced, arising as it does on the basis of transcendental insight, is stable irreversible and stable, more spiritual than spiritual happiness is the ‘bliss of release.’

More spiritual than spiritual equanimity occurs when a Buddha-to-be goes beyond even the bliss of release, becoming equanimous about even that experience.^[19]

And the state of more spiritual than spiritual freedom cannot really be conceptualized, except as ‘The Unconditioned.’ It represents the fact that a Buddha is free of all limitations whatsoever, a Buddha will not even make a distinction between Enlightened and Unenlightened experience.^[20]

As the goal of Buddhism in the end goes far beyond any kind of happiness in the end, it is best characterized by freedom; the path can be viewed as a path of increasing happiness, even as it becomes refined, purified, and increasingly informed by wisdom.

Considering the above, we can now offer a broader definition of worldly and spiritual feeling than those on offer, namely that:

• worldly feeling is any feeling that arises in connection with an unskilful mental state. Here are some examples of unskilful mental states and their corresponding worldly feelings;

• Craving: it is pleasant to possess what we crave; painful to not possess it
• Hatred: it is painful to see our enemy coming towards us down the street; we avoid them and feel pleasure
• Harmfulness: we are indifferent (neutral) to suffering
• Envy: it is painful to see someone else getting what we want
• Stinginess: we enjoy the thought of not sharing our money
• Ingratitude: we are indifferent to what we have received
• Slyness: we feel relieved that no-one knows what we have done
• Dishonesty: it feels good to keep a secret
• Unawareness: we are blissfully unaware of what is going on around us

• spiritual feeling is any feeling that arises in connection with a skilful mental state. Here are some examples of skilful mental states and their corresponding spiritual feelings;

• Loving kindness: we feel connected to another being, through wanting them to be happy and feel pleasure
• Compassion: we see someone suffering; and resonate with their pain^[21]
• Sympathetic joy: we see someone doing well and feel happy for them
• Generosity: seeing someone in need is painful to us
• Gratitude: we are happy with our life and what we have received
• Patience: we are happy to tolerate pain for the greater good
• Contentment: we feel pleasure in the simple things in life
• Honesty: it is painful to keep a secret
• Mindfulness: it is pleasant to be aware
• Conscience: we feel uncomfortable, when we have been unskilful

Ethical feeling that leads to happiness

To be aware of worldly and spiritual feeling is to develop an ethical sensibility, in which:

• we don’t act on worldly feeling

• We resist grasping what we crave
• We try to connect with our enemy
• We try to not be indifferent to suffering
• We tolerate others possessing what we want
• We question our happiness at hoarding
• We try to not be indifferent to what we have received
• We question our happiness to hide things about ourselves
• We question our happiness to lie
• We question our happiness to be unaware

• we do act on spiritual feeling

• We stay connected to ourselves and others
• We try to relieve a suffering person’s pain
• We congratulate a person doing well
• We give, where needed
• We give thanks, where due
• We tolerate pain
• We live simply
• We don’t keep secrets, where appropriate
• We maintain mindfulness
• We confess and make amends, when unskilful

We may experience pain on renouncing sensory experiences, but this is helped when we understand the dangers of compulsion and addiction, and see how we are paving the way for a life less dominated by them; as represented by the dhyanas in meditation.

Ethical feeling that leads to suffering

If we don’t develop an ethical sensibility, suffering ensues, as when:

• we do act on worldly feeling

• We don’t resist grasping what we crave
• We don’t try to connect with our enemy
• We stay indifferent to suffering
• We don’t want others to possess what we want
• We don’t question our happiness at hoarding
• We stay indifferent to what we have received
• We stay happy at hiding things about ourselves
• We stay happy at lying
• We don’t question our happiness at being unaware

• we don’t act on spiritual feeling

• We don’t stay connected to ourselves and others
• We don’t relieve a suffering person’s pain
• We don’t congratulate a person doing well
• We don’t give where needed
• We don’t give thanks where due
• We don’t tolerate pain
• We don’t live simply
• We keep secrets
• We don’t maintain mindfulness
• We don’t confess and make amends when unskilful

REFLECTION

Thirdly, there is reflection. The monk’s views are not only transformed by keen observation, or by whether or not he accepts his experience, but by whether or not he thinks about his views, where thinking is an aspect of mind. Reflection is the way that our thinking influences our views.

Thought —–Reflection—–> Views

Buddhism is a rational religion and its teachings therefore need to make sense. If we never reflect on our views, which may have unconsciously been absorbed from other people or society, they will stay as they are, and may be for ourselves—and others—an (unexamined) source of suffering.

At any one time the monk will likely hold certain views. These can be transformed by reflection; by carefully thinking about them to see if they make sense. Contrary to a popular myth, Buddhist practice isn’t about going beyond thought altogether; reason, emotion and experience—the three grounds for showing confidence in the Buddha’s teachings—dovetail into, and augment, each other as we approach the Enlightenment experience. All are important in their own ways; reflection simply establishes the logical validity of holding a particular view.

Thought can go in two directions; towards Awakening or away from it. It can be the process of working with the cognitive contents of the mind to arrive at a conscious conclusion, which we call conscious reflection. It can also be the process of the mind being dominated by unconscious and unchosen mental contents, as when stray thoughts or images wander into the mind unbidden. But whichever they are, thoughts are conditioned by the mind as a whole, including the emotions.

In the Dvedhavitakka Sutta the Buddha outlines two kinds of thought;

‘There is thought which leads to unskilful mental states such as sense desire, ill-will and harmfulness (in the opposite direction to wisdom and Nirvana), and which leads to one’s own suffering and that of others.’

 

‘And there is thought which leads to skilful mental states such as renunciation, good will and harmlessness (towards wisdom and Nirvana), beneficial to himself and others.’^[22]

Seeing a thought of the former type he ‘wiped it out of existence’, seeking only to cultivate thoughts which led to skilful mental states, and the general good. By thought in this case the Buddha means a view.

A view in Buddhism is a deeply ingrained attitude, and the place from which all our actions stem, not only including what we consciously think but it our unconscious desires, hopes and fears (in relation to its topic) as well. That our views determine our actions is the reason why our unconscious emotions often hold more sway over our actions than our conscious thoughts do, as many of us will have found when we tried to give up an ‘addiction’, whether sugar, tobacco or the internet. We have good and rational reasons to give up but struggle to experience ourselves without our ‘fix.’

Desires often lead to mental proliferation (papanca), an about out-of-control spiralling of thoughts leading to more thoughts. Possessing the view that material possessions will bring happiness, our mind will proliferate thoughts and images about the things that it wants. Imagining that new car or computer in our hands, we rehearse they joyful experience of using it, and the more we do this, the more we strengthen our desire for that object. We can think of papanca as an unconscious negative form of ‘reflection’ that undermines any sense of renunciation.

Reflection proper—what we normally mean by the term—on the other hand, is conscious and constructive. If we take the view that material possessions will bring us happiness and reflect on it, we will realize that while such possessions may bring us short term satisfaction, In the long term they will let us down due to them being impermanent. Such reflection will weaken our materialistic view, and our desire for those possessions, fostering the skilful mental state of renunciation.

The Buddha realized that views—whether consciously or unconsciously held—condition mental and emotional states; this cannot be overemphasized:

‘That which a monk keeps pursuing with his thinking and pondering, becomes the inclination of his mind and emotions (his citta).’^[23]

In other words, what we dwell on we become! And because happiness and wellbeing are the most important things for us, our views are often about them; we think we will be happy when we start a new relationship, so this is what we our attention, emotion and thought (our citta) go to achieving. This is what our life becomes about.

Buddhism is not a philosophy; in that it doesn’t aim at knowledge for its own sake. Nor is it a theistic religion, with God at its centre. It is instead a soteriology. It claims—as other religions do—to offer salvation (Greek. soteria) in the sense of solving life’s existential problems, but without a saviour. The aim of reflection in Buddhism is to develop wisdom (prajna); which we explored at the end of Chapter 4.

Reflection that leads to happiness

When we consciously reflect on our views, transforming them to be in line with reality and thus cultivating wisdom, this leads to happiness for ourselves and others.

Reflection that leads to suffering

When we allow our minds to mentally proliferate about the experiences we might have when we possess what we crave, we give those objects unwise attention, ignore their drawbacks, and move our views further from reality, causing suffering for ourselves and others.

The chapter goes on to explore how the Foundation of Views conditions the others.

^[1] Manifest: ‘to show clearly to the eye or mind’, from the Latin manus, hand and festus, struck.

^[2] The four right efforts.

^[3] The former being unethical and the latter being ethical in origin.

^[4] Religious education holds a clear distinction between professional and confession teaching situations. In a professional teaching situation, the teacher-student relationship operates explicitly outside of any commitment to a specific set of religious values; for instance, an atheist teacher might teach a class consisting of mixed religious beliefs all about the doctrines and practices of Buddhism. The teacher’s job is to impart information about Buddhism to the students; to make sure that they understand what Buddhism is; and how a Buddhist might practice. But there is no expectation within the class that the students would adopt Buddhist doctrines and practices themselves. One student might make a personal decision to do so, but this would take place outside of the context of the class. In a confessional teaching situation, however, the situation is different: in this case, teachers operate within a framework of religious commitment. Buddhism is the official religion of and here, If Buddhism is taught in a confessional setting – say in Thailand, there is an expectation that the students would practice Buddhism, and that the teachers will provide them with appropriate guidance, including training in Buddhist ethics. When mindfulness is taught in a secular setting, secular mindfulness trainers not only have to keep their courses simple, but their approach professional rather than confessional: this would preclude teaching their students how to practice mindfulness of worldly and spiritual feeling, as such feeling is ethically based.

^[5] Also, equanimity and freedom.

^[6] ‘There is, O monks, worldly joy, there is spiritual joy, and there is a more spiritual than spiritual joy. There is worldly happiness, there is spiritual happiness, and there is a more spiritual than spiritual happiness. There is worldly equanimity, there is spiritual equanimity, and there a more spiritual than spiritual equanimity. There is worldly freedom, there is spiritual freedom, and there is a more spiritual than spiritual freedom.’ Niramisa Sutta. SN 36.31. I am drawing on two translations here: Nyanaponika Thera’s from Access to Insight:

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn36/sn36.031.nypo.html and Bhikkhu Bodhi’s from The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. (2000) Wisdom. p1283. Bodhi translates samisa vedana; niramisa vedana; and niramisa niramisatara vedana respectively as ‘carnal feeling’; ‘spiritual feeling’; and ‘more spiritual than the spiritual feeling’; whereas Nyanaponika Thera translates them as ‘worldly feeling; ‘unworldly feeling’; and ‘still greater unworldly feeling.’ I prefer ‘worldly feeling’; ‘spiritual feeling’; and ‘more spiritual than spiritual feeling.’

^[7] ‘Now, O monks, what is worldly joy? There are these five cords of sense desire: forms cognizable by the eye that are wished for and desired, agreeable and endearing, associated with sense-desire and tempting to lust. Sounds cognizable by the ear… odours cognizable by the nose… flavours cognizable by the tongue… tangibles cognizable by the body, wished for and desired, agreeable and endearing, associated with sense-desire and tempting to lust. It is the joy that arises dependent on these five cords of sense desire, which is called “worldly joy”.’ Similarly, ‘Now, O monks, what is worldly happiness? … It is the happiness and gladness that arises dependent on these five cords of sense desire, which are called “worldly happiness”.’ Niramisa Sutta.

^[8] Theravada commentators talk of worldly feeling as being ‘of the flesh’ or ‘carnal’ (amisa); and spiritual feeling (niramisa) as being ‘not of the flesh.’ Carnal indicates ‘relating to physical, especially sexual, needs and activities.’ The Pali Text Society Pali-English Dictionary goes into different meanings of the word amisa – which derives from ama, meaning raw: 1) originally raw meat; hence prevailing notion of ‘raw, unprepared, uncultivated’; 2) ‘fleshy, of the flesh’ (as opposed to mind or spirit), hence material, physical; generally in opposition to dhamma; 3) food, especially palatable food; food for enjoyment, dainties; 4) bait; 5) gain, reward, money, gratuity; 6) enjoyment; 7) greed, desire, lust. Although these interpretations of samisa are in the correct ballpark – namely, they suggest basic unskilful desires, it is better, I propose, to have samisa represent all unskilful mental states.

^[9] ‘Now, O monks, what is worldly equanimity? … It is the equanimity that arises with regard to these five cords of sense desire, which is called “worldly equanimity”.’ Niramisa Sutta.

^[10] ‘Now, O monks, what is worldly freedom? The freedom connected with the material.’ Niramisa Sutta.

^[11] The first dhyana specifically arises ‘in seclusion from sensuality and unskilful mental states’, with the higher dhyanas further building on the twin principles, of detachment from sense experience and of skilfulness.

^[12] ‘Now what is spiritual joy? Quite secluded from sense desires, secluded from unwholesome states of mind, a monk enters upon and abides in the first meditative absorption, which is accompanied by thought-conception and discursive thinking, and has joy and happiness born of seclusion. With the stilling of thought-conception and discursive thinking, he enters upon and abides in the second meditative absorption which has internal confidence and singleness of mind without thought conception and discursive thinking, and has joy and happiness born of concentration. This is called “spiritual joy”.’ Niramisa Sutta.

^[13] It is sometimes called ‘unworldly.’

^[14] ‘Now what is spiritual happiness? Quite secluded from sense desires, secluded from unwholesome states of mind, a monk enters upon and abides in the first meditative absorption… With the stilling of thought-conception and discursive thinking, he enters upon and abides in the second meditative absorption… With the fading away of joy as well, he dwells in equanimity, mindfully and fully aware he feels happiness within, and enters upon and abides in the third meditative absorption of which the Noble Ones announce: “He dwells in happiness who has equanimity and is mindful.” This is called “spiritual happiness”.’ Niramisa Sutta.

^[15] ‘Now, what is spiritual equanimity? With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of gladness and sadness, a monk enters upon and abides in the fourth meditative absorption, which has neither pain-nor-pleasure and has purity of mindfulness due to equanimity. This is called “spiritual equanimity”.’ Niramisa Sutta.

^[16] ‘And what is spiritual freedom? The freedom connected with the immaterial.’ Niramisa Sutta.

^[17] ‘And what is the more spiritual than spiritual joy? When a taint-free monk looks upon his mind that is freed of greed, freed of hatred, freed of delusion, then there arises joy. This called a “more spiritual than spiritual joy”.’ Niramisa Sutta.

^[18] ‘And what is the more spiritual than spiritual happiness? When a taint-free monk looks upon his mind that is freed of greed, freed of hatred, freed of delusion, then there arises happiness. This is called a “more spiritual than spiritual happiness”.’ Niramisa Sutta.

^[19] ‘And what is the more spiritual than spiritual equanimity? When a taint-free monk looks upon his mind that is freed of greed, freed of hatred and freed of delusion, then there arises equanimity. This is called a “more spiritual than spiritual equanimity”.’ Niramisa Sutta.

^[20] ‘And what is the more spiritual than spiritual freedom? When a taint-free monk looks upon his mind that is freed of greed, freed of hatred, and freed of delusion, then there arises freedom.’ Niramisa Sutta.

^[21] Anukampa—to resonate with, vibrate with.

^[22] Dvedhavitakka Sutta MN19.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.019.than.html

^[23]Dvedavitakka Sutta. Thanissaro translates this passage as; ‘Whatever a monk keeps pursuing with his thinking and pondering, that becomes the inclination of his awareness,’ although there is more to citta than only awareness.