When the Buddha was residing at
Jethavana in Savathnuwara, one night, a god named Rohitassa approached
him and after seeking permission asked the blessed one ‘ whether it is possible
for someone to reach the edge of the world by walking, where birth, death,
decay , passing away and reappearance , do not exist. The Buddha responded
saying that no one can reach the edge of the world by walking where,
birth, death, decay, passing away and reappearance do not exist.
Rohitassa was delighted with
this response from the Buddha and exclaimed, ‘oh, isn’t it wonderful that the
blessed one said that no one can reach the edge of the world by walking
,where birth, death, decay , passing away and reappearance do not exist,’
he went on to admit that in his previous existence as a rishi he possessed
super natural powers that enabled him to travel so fast, however, despite
his attempts throughout his entire life, he still couldn’t reach the edge of
the world which is free of birth, death, decay , passing away and
reappearance.
Nevertheless, the Buddha added
‘though it is true that no one can reach the edge of the world by walking where
birth, death, decay , passing away and reappearance do not exist , I claim that
without reaching the edge of the world one cannot find the refuge, free from
of birth, death, decay , passing away and reappearance .
He declared that the edge of the
world in fact is found within the twelve sense basses, i.e. eye, ear, nose,
tongue body, mind, visible objects, sound, odour and so on and hence, the
Enlightened one preached,
“It is in this very fathom-long
physical frame with its perceptions and mind that, I declare, lies the world,
and the arising of the world, and the cessation of the world, and the path
leading to the cessation of the world.”
(“Imasmin yeva wyama matte
kelavare sa sangnimbhi lokan cha pannambhi samanake loke cha, Panchapemi
lokasamudayancha loka nirodan cha, Loka nirodha gamini papipadan cha panchapemi”)
Rohitassa Sutta: Samyutta Nikaya
(Translation: Bikkhu Nanananda, 2007)
The Buddha went on to say ‘I
consider that understanding the sense bases, the eye, the ear, the nose, the
tongue, the body, the mind and visible objects, sound, odour, tactile and
dhamma alone is reaching the edge of the world, the unconditional state or the asankathaya.’
In order to understand this
dhamma we need to distinguish between the world and the edge of the world says
Venerable Sudassana, First you
need to know the garden before you look for the periphery or boundary.
The world is the state of mind
where one believes in the existence of objects that is seen, both before and
after seeing. It is where someone uses the eye, the ear, the nose and so on
throughout his or her life to perceive things and persons. Perceiving gold,
silver, car, father, mother, child and so on is the nature of the mind in the
world. To the one who finds people and things in what he or she sees, hears,
and smells & so on, in short everything that one associates with and is
able to remember, is the world. It is said that such persons mind is heavily
burdened with associations with greed, aversion or delusion.
The edge of the world is where
you see the reality as it is. It is where you encounter four great elements and
the forms created by those elements (upadaya forms) yet in sketchy format. For
example if you capture the scene in front of you by a camera and print it to a
life size photo, it will portray the shapes and colours but you will not find
life in it as you see now in front of you with people and perhaps animals. The
state of cognition is identical to this experience apart from that you give
life to the shapes of people and things that you see, in your mind, influenced
by defilements you have accumulated. We project our sensual thoughts onto the
picture and make it real. In other words we see according to the way we behold.
The
blessed one has preached,
‘Objects of sensuality in the world become sensual
only due to man’s lustful conceptions. The things of beauty exist in this world
as they are; they do not carry sensuality that man associates with. The wise,
subdue their desire, in this regard.
When we behold a visual object
as a man or a woman we associate him or her accordingly, same with sounds such
as vehicle sound, voice of singers etc. In perceiving sound we have a habit of
identifying them with visual images, for example, when we hear a sound of a
vehicle we quickly connect it to an image of a car or a truck in our mind. Same
with odour and taste, the other sense bases.
Venerable Sudassana explains,
‘If you meet a foreigner who talks to you in a strange language you will not
have any feeling either with like or dislike though he may even be accusing
you. However, if you know the language and understand what he says you will
either like him or dislike him and may even express your feelings.’
At the edge of the world we only
meet sketches with no details; similar to how we sensed when we were toddlers.
This is the true nature of the world. As adults we project our knowledge to the
sketchy images that we encounter to associate them as things or persons that
exist.
The mind can only recall or
memorise impressions of our own mental constructions and not what is out there.
We combine our mind impressions with external elements for our satisfaction. As
long as we are deluded in this manner in the sensual world we continue to have
attachments and thus craving prevails. The one who realises the truth will
eventually get dissatisfied.
Venerable Sudassana explains how
one could get dissatisfied; ‘a person who is having a meal thinks that the
taste he enjoys is in the food on his plate where in fact it is the taste of
the morsel of food that has become a pulp mixed with saliva while chewing. For
some reason if he has to put it out he will throw it away with disgust. The one
who realises that what he enjoys when eating is nothing pleasant to look at as
the piece of meat or fish on the plate, he will no longer crave for food.’
To overcome our delusion we need
to understand the true nature of the sense bases which is found at the edge of
the world. The sketchy images that we encounter initially is a result of our
past ignorance, kamma and craving.
When we see the true nature that
is present at the edge of the world (or the sense bases) we liberate from
death, decay etc. and suffering due to losing valuables, separating from the
beloved and so on. This state is called attaining Sopadishesha nirvana.
The teachings guide us to live
while enjoying the truth free from fermentations (cankers). The edge of the
sense basses is the edge of the world and the truth, whether a Buddha is
present or not, is that. When the truth is not known we do not see the reality
and we are said to be having a wrong view and due to the wrong view the truth
in turn gets concealed. In other words owing to the Ignorance, fermentations
are formed and these fermentations in turn cause ignorance.
Other religions show us how to
live while we associate the things that exist in the world. On the contrary
Buddha showed us how the world is created within this fathom long body and it
is the excellence of his dhamma.
