By Oliver Chang
Buddhism is a practical religion, a creed to live by, not just another system of metaphysical philosophy as most outsiders imagine it to be. To be a faithful and diligent Buddhist, one should follow the Buddha’s teaching and practice the Dharma (meditation), to remove sorrow and lamentation in daily life. More specifically, one will fulfill the three aspects of learning–Morality, Tranquility, and Wisdom– from the practice of meditation, to meet the daily challenges, defilements, and to remove sorrow and lamentation.
In the Dec. 2004 retreat at the Bodhi Center in Houston, Texas, Ven. Sujiva gave a Dharma talk on the subject of clear comprehension – an aspect of awareness that develops in the daily practice of meditation. The Teacher’s Dharma talk was in line with the Sutra, and Commentary on this subject has been published in the Journal of Dharma Garden, March of 2005 issue, by TBA of Houston. Based on the aspect of Dharma practice, or meditation, and from the point of view of a yogi student, this article tries to touch upon two fundamentally difficult questions: how to go up to the entry level of clear comprehension, and how to carry it over from meditative practice to the application of Dharma in daily life?
Simply put, clear comprehension is the state of awareness that exists when your mind is sharp enough to enable you to detect your own intentions and thoughts in daily life before they become processed into action, speech and all forms of emotional, mental phenomena. The greater your ability to be aware of your intentions and thoughts, the better will be your ability to exercise proper action, right speech and wisdom in your daily life.
In essence, Clear comprehension is equivalent to Clarity of consciousness, or Clear Awareness. This term is frequently seen in combination with the word ‘mindfulness’. Then, what is the difference between Clear comprehension and Mindfulness?. Mindfulness is a skill of mental training and the center of practicing insight meditation. Clear comprehension is an insight knowledge from practicing mindfulness meditation. And it simply means clear consciousness for any given activity in daily life, whether it be action, speech, or thoughts from our interactions with those around us. So basically, clear comprehension is an application of practicing mindfulness in daily life activities to remove sorrow and lamentation.
The Buddha taught only one thing – Dukkha (suffering) and the cessation of suffering. A life in true peace and a wholesome mental state can only be obtained by the cessation of defilements. The body/mind processes which operate in us, around us, and through us are the Universal Laws of Nature–the Dharma. By learning how to witness the ceaseless, ever changing, moment to moment influx of the Dharma in each and every present moment that we live, true happiness and enlightenment can be achieved.
Why meditate? How can we afford not to? How often do we find ourselves trapped in a flood of defilement; an unknowing whirlwind of emotional frustrations, cravings (sense desires) and aberrant thoughts? While we can’t change the physical laws of nature, how often do we feel out of balance and out of harmony with them? Before we can end suffering, we must first be able to distinguish the root of it. The problem is that most of us never pay attention to the workings of the inner world. We take it for granted. If we want to become a better person, more joyful and well balanced day after day, then the study and practice of meditation to explore the inner self becomes a priority and a lifetime commitment.
You and I are different, and each of us unique. Yet, if we look closely beneath the surface of our uniqueness, we will discover that in each and every one of us, the mind/body processes are similarly cyclical and ever changing. Irrespective of our difference, the intricate system of the mind/body processes work the same way. We all experience the constant bombardment of our five sense organs by stimuli from the external world around us; the reaction of our inner mind to this sensor stimuli. Our habits (or Karma) reflect our personality, attitude, and perspective; which in turn manifests into action, speech, and thoughts, and the way we relate to society.
Clear Comprehension – The Application of Mindfulness
Clear comprehension is an English translation of the Pali word Sampajana, and equivalent to Clarity of Consciousness, or Clear Awareness. This term is frequently seen in combination with the word ‘mindfulness’. It simply means clear consciousness for any given activity in daily life, whether it be action, speech, or thoughts from our interactions with those around us. So basically, clear comprehension is an application of practicing mindfulness in daily life activities to remove sorrow and lamentation.
If the power of observation from the practice of mindfulness is strong enough to seclude the five hindrances from the noting mind, or able to hold the three mental toxins at bay, the mindful state of the noting mind will be at peace to work during meditation. At this meditative state of the noting mind, the skill of mindfulness in noting/observation will naturally extend the domain of awareness into daily activity, whether in action, speech, or thoughts. In these three deeds, daily activity is composed of Rupa, and Nama, or the five aggregates, to realize that “Dharma is a way of life”. This stage of insight knowledge is known as “Stability of Dharma knowledge”. It is also called “clear comprehension” or “pre-stream-entering”. These three terms are different wordings for one meaning, to develop insight knowledge at the level of the Act of Understanding.
There are four skills of clear comprehension that are acquired when one practices faithfully and mindfully. Let us briefly examine what these four skills of mindfulness meditation are.
1) Clarity of Purpose (Right Intention) –
If the skill of mindfulness is continuous, one will detect the intention in a thought of desire to push, prior to each tiny step of motion in walking meditation. It is the intention to walk, and the intention in a thought of desire that represents the motivation and will power from the act of the active aspect of the volition aggregate. Just like a spark before the flame, it seems as if there is an inner voice that says “push, push”, repeatedly right before a tiny motion of walking. One clearly discovers a relationship between the subject and object, the causes and effects in a conditioning process. Because of this, that is coming to be. This is the 2nd stage of insight knowledge in conditionality to be used as a criteria to determine whether mindfulness in the power of observation is continuous or not.
2) Clarity of Suitability (Proper Action/Speech) –
Proper Action/Speech, is a natural by-product of Wise Attention and Right Intention. Our inner mind is the forerunner. Our internal phenomena now become external realities in observing precepts of morality. A second thought switches from ill will to good intention before any action best illustrates the skill of wise attention. As we move through our daily activities in the world, our relationship changes with those around us.
3) Clarity of Domain (to the objects of mindfulness) –
Right concentration at this level of Clear Comprehension will expand the domain of the working area in meditation to every inch of the entire body from the one pointed object of mindful observation . The entire body at this mature stage of insight seems to become semi transparent in a tidal wave of free flow of energy. Also, the domain of clear awareness will automatically extend to every single act of daily activities from mindfulness practice in sitting and walking postures.
4) Clarity of understanding (Wisdom) –
The Act of understanding in this level of clear comprehension allows one to observe every activity in daily life as the following sign of the reality of nature.
{Intention – Action – Awareness} — etc.
To give an example, with every single bending and stretching of the arm, the action of arm movement breaks up and falls apart, from one moment to the next moment. Not only that, in between each moment of body action, there is a moment of intention occuring prior to each moment of action. Also, there is a moment of awareness in knowing what happened right after the moment of action. That is a real realization of the Dharma as a way of life! The impermanent nature of all things becomes apparent at this stage. It breaks up from continuity into discontinuity, one by one, and from one moment to the next moment. In the past, the impermanence was concealed by continuity, and is called permanence from delusion. This level of investigative insight into the sign of reality simply reflects the act of understanding in the aspects of daily activity.
A moment of duration is the smallest unit of time in Buddhism, and it is the course of running from arising and decay to disappearing for any given phenomenon. The conditioning in a given due order of process is just like a candle flame flickering in the air, and keeps passing on from process to process . Intention-action-knowing/awareness happens in a series of bundling Dharma phenomena, from one moment to the next moment and from a process of processes to the next processes. In the same token, the nature of No-Self becomes evident in practice of mindfulness to observe the process of action.
In the past, one perceives intention, action, and awareness as a lump sum, single event, due to the hindrance of delusion and ignorance. At the act of understanding in this level of clear comprehension, the experience/perception of daily activities goes beyond the ordinary sensory cognition to a total transformation of the landscape of life experience. The purpose of mindfulness meditation, or Vipassana, is nothing less than the radical and permanent transformation of our entire sensory and cognitive experience. The insight knowledge at the stage of Stability of Dharma is simply meant to revolutionize the whole of our life experience.
During a Dharma talk given by a Burmese monk, Ven. Ashin Eindaka in 1 day retreat in Houston, he shared his personal experience of long ago while attending his first 49 day long retreat at the Mahasi Meditation Center of Rangoon, Burma. He had practiced faithfully and mindfully from the moment of waking up at 4 am to bed time at 10 pm continuously. He just focused on action alone, whether in sitting, walking, or daily activity postures. In the end, he couldn’t stop sobbing from the joyful tasting of Dharma when he first experienced impermanence at every single bending and stretching of the arm during lunch. That is a real realization of the Dharma as a way of life!
Scientific Verification
In the past 15 years, mindfulness practice has moved into the mainstream of psychology, neuroscience, and medicine, as their positive effects on the mind, the brain, and the whole body are being studied. Scientific study of the practice mindfulness has successfully discovered that mental training is able to change brain function and its structure. Worldwide, more than 600 hospitals have set up mindfulness clinics to treat physical stress/pressure, mental tension and related illnesses. The basic skill of mental training in the practice of mindfulness has been introduced to the general public to reduce stress, pressure, and mental illness.
It is encouraging and important for practitioners and yogis to know that science is now validating time-honored mindfulness meditation and the power of observation. However, scientific studies have concluded that it will take 10 years of practicing meditation to permanently change the physical structure and its functioning.
Once, on a private occasion, Bhante Sujiva told the author that, “Oliver you have practiced Vipassana for almost 10 years under my guidance, and it is about time to introduce Clear Comprehension gradually into your daily activity to meet daily challenges, and to firmly grasp the skill of emotional management.” What is a miracle coincidence for a duration of 10 years of mental exercise required to change body structure/functioning! Once more, Western scientific study meets the empirical science of Eastern meditation.
To illustrate the permanent change of body structure from more than 10 years practice of meditation, let us cite an analogy for the mind and body. If the noting mind resembles software programming, the body would be the hardware in a computer system. The insight knowledge of Clear Comprehension equates to the functioning of programming software that is naturally embedded into the circuitry of a tiny silicon chip in terms of computer hardware .
Conclusion
In 2014 meditation teacher training camp at Italy, Bhante Sujiva concluded his Dharma talk as follows:
“In the old days, at the minimum one would have to be a stream entered, enlightened noble person to qualify for being a meditation teacher. But in modern days, such a quality of teacher is hard to come by. Today, one must at least gain the above four insights of Clear Comprehension or be a pre-Stream Enterer to qualify for the teaching of meditation.”
Similarly, in old days, it is the goal of yogis to achieve the stream entered in this very life. To tread the path of mind purification, it would be a major milestone for one to reach the insight knowledge at/and exceeding the level of Stability of Dharma or Clear Comprehension. As put it by a mediation teacher in TMC retreat of 2010, for any yogi establishing of Clear Comprehension assembles to one holding a train ticket ready to take on the train. The train eventually will take one to the final destination of Nibbana for the cessation of suffering from the liberation of bondage.
The development of clear comprehension opens the door to Vipassana – the Pali word for Insight or Wisdom – that exactly means “multiple modes of seeing”. The verified insight coincides that 3 marks are 3 different words but in one meaning. The insight at this level, according to the Commentary – Path to Purification, Stability of Dharma or witness of Dharma a way of life, and Lesser-Stream-Enterer are different names, but one meaning to clear comprehension. By direct experience and first-hand knowledge, we come to know the truth of our mind/body process beyond the thinking level. With attentive, mindful awareness we witness the character of reality in Dharma. With peace, happiness and humility we accept this reality and learn to flow with instead of fight against it; we start to lose ourselves and learn to let go (of attachment).
In summary, meditation, in essence, is a slow process of conditioning the body/mind. Whether in daily practice or long retreat, the conditioning takes patience and effort to see the benefit, just like observing the fruit-ripening process. The fact that the six sensors in our bodies connect the inner world to outside world, guarding these six sensors becomes the name of the game in meditation. In daily activity, when we start to witness the sense organs become sensitive, the mind soften and open, the inconceivable benefit of conditioning clearly becomes apparent. At this level, one is getting closer to Clear Comprehension. With continuous practice of Dharma, a way of life for reaching a major milestone of clear comprehension, we can be more certain of our destiny in this very life: to be a Stream-Enterer, a noble person with an open Dharma eye. In the process of spiritual awakening, there is only bare awareness; no attainment, no where to go. Tread on the Path, from In the Present Moment, Letting Go, then to Freedom/Independence. Go back to nature with a pure mind at peace.