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Inconstancy

January 16, 2009

One of the basic principles of insight or clear seeing is that all compounded orall 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 allthere was to the Buddhas insight, there wouldnt be much to it. But it goesdeeper than that. ts not !ust that things change, but that things change in linewith their conditions. And you want to be able to see that changing in line withtheir conditions"in other words, to see that this arises when that arises, thisceases when that ceases.

#ven thats not much of an insight until you reali$e that were also trying tofeed in those areas where things arise and pass away. %ere loo&ing for ourhappiness there. And if we loo& for happiness in these things in and ofthemselves, were going to be disappointed. And if we cant 'gure out thepattern, we are going to be neurotic.

once read about a test they ran on some pigeons. They put each of them in abo( and in each bo( there was a green lever and a red lever. n some of thebo(es, when you pushed the green lever, youd get food) and sometimes whenyou 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 inthese bo(es with another set of birds placed in bo(es where the levels behaved ina predictable way* %hen you pushed the green level, youd food) when youpushed the red level, you wouldnt. The birds in the second set of bo(es wereperfectly normal. The birds in the 'rst set of bo(es went cra$y and beganbehaving in very neurotic ways"for two reasons. One was the only way theywere going to get food was by pressing levers. And yet, two, they couldnt 'gureout when a lever was going to wor& and when it wasnt. That drove them todistraction.

So as long as were loo&ing for food in things that arise and pass away, wevegot to learn the pattern of how were going to get good food for the mind fromthese arising+and+passing+away things. This is part of the Buddhas other insightinto inconstancy* that even though some things arise and pass away and cant givean ultimate happiness in and of themselves, they do function as a path to theultimate happiness, whereas other things dont. This is the pattern. The things thatcan function as a path to true happiness are s&illful. Those that dont areuns&illful. An important part of insight is learning, through observation, which iswhich.

So we loo& for inconstancy not !ust to see how things arise and pass away, buthow we can learn how to manipulate the process so we can actually 'nd the foodthat we want, and ultimately, of course, get to the point where we dont needfood anymore. But the only way you get to that point is by feeding on the rightthings. This is why we meditate.

%hen you start out meditating, and you see that states in your mind are arisingand passing away, youre already dealing in whats called the frame of reference ofmental ualities in and of themselves. #ven though your focus is on the breath, you

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cant help but notice that there are times when the mind is concentrated on thebreath and times when its not. -ouve got to learn how to 'gure out both sides ofthe uestion* which things are helping to foster concentration, and which thingsare getting in the way of concentration. And you have to learn how to encouragethe '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. -ouhave to learn how to recogni$e which ualities are hindrances and which are thefactors 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 ofawa&ening are the ones that get you started on this path to begin with, for theyhelp you in sorting all of these things out.

The factors for awa&ening begin with mindfulness. Once youre mindful of thebreath, for instance, you begin to see that there are s&illful and uns&illfulualities arising in the mind and that youve got to learn how to distinguishthem. Thats called analysis of ualities, the second factor for awa&ening. Thenyou foster the eort 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 thereyouve got the 'rst three of the factors for awa&ening. -ou want to encouragethat ability to observe your mind, because even though youre trying to stay withthe breath, or trying to stay focused on the breath, youre not going to be able todo it unless youve got these other faculties helping you along. As A!aan /eee(plains it, analysis of ualities is directly connected with directed thought andevaluation, which are factors of !hana. Those are things you need to help you getinto the meditation, to get solidly with the breath.

So youre dealing with two dierent frames of reference right there* the bodyin and of itself and these mental ualities in and of themselves. So when any ofthe 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 theyare, to see that they are hindrances and they deserve to be let go. That rightthere is uite an accomplishment because for the most part, when a hindrancearises, 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 bethwarted. f you thwart it, it turns into The Thing and goes underground. At leastthats what the mind tells itself when it decides its going to go along with thedesire. There are all &inds of reasons the mind can produce for its actions, butyouve got to learn how to loo& past them and as& yourself, 1%hat does thisdesire 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$ewhen 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 todecide whether youre on the side of the sensual desire or on the side of thebreath.

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 onthe side of the breath. And the best way to decide is !ust to watch these things,

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step bac& from them. As& yourself, when they come, what comes along withthem? %hen they go away, what goes away with them? And when they come,why do they come? %hat intentions underlie them? 3an you trust thoseintentions?

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 foryourself. %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? Soyoure not engaged in !ust a passive watching. -ou watch with a purpose. -ouwant to get past these things.

A similar principle applies to the factors for awa&ening. Once youve analy$edthings and seen whats s&illful and uns&illful, youve got to 'gure out why it isthat the s&illful ualities arise) when theyre there, how you protect them, howyou maintain them"in A!aan 0uangs words, how you prakhawngthem. TheThai word prakhawngmeans that you nurture them along, protect them, supportthem.

So even though you &now that theyre inconstant, you try to use the principleof inconstancy"i.e., seeing that they depend on causes and conditions"in orderto 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 thatstrengthens the mind.

The Buddha compares the states of !hana to dierent &inds of food. -oure oin a fortress at the edge of a frontier. The enemy is all around you, but youve gotfood in the fortress, so even though the enemy is laying siege, you still can staywell fed, strong, and &eep up the 'ght. -ouve got water, rice, sesame seeds, allsorts of good food, all the way up to the fourth !hana, which is compared tobutter, ghee, sugar, and honey.

And because these things are good food, you dont !ust watch them arise andpass away. -ou do what you can to grow the food and then to &eep the foodbecause without it, the practice dies. Only when youve used that food tostrengthen your concentration, strengthen your insight, strengthen thetranuility of the mind can you get to the point where youve fully mastered thatprocess of cause and eect. Thats when you turn to loo& at it and see, 14ow fardoes 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 interms of arising and passing away, and try to develop the dispassion that comesfrom not wanting to eat any of these things, even good food, anymore. TheBuddha uses the word nibbida,which means disenchantment but also disgust,

distaste. -ouve had enough of that food. Thats when you can let go ofeverything. 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 feedanymore. The mind doesnt have any hunger. But as long as it still does havehunger, your relationship to inconstancy is going to be dierent. -ou want to beli&e those healthy well+ad!usted pigeons, &nowing which lever gives food andwhich lever gives no food, or which lever gives good food and which lever givesbad. %hen you 'gure it out, you can really nurture yourself, really nourish

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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 andthat was that. %hats ne(t?2 That &ind of insight goes nowhere. The insight thatdoes go somewhere is the insight that sees, 1Oh, when this arises, it arisesbecause 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, youwant to 'gure out the principle of cause and eect so you can stay away, letthese things go. Because you still need to feed properly. -ouve got to ta&e careof yourself. -ou still have those four duties with regard to the four noble truths.The path is to be developed. Suering is to be comprehended. The causes ofsuering are to be abandoned, so that the cessation of suering can be reali$ed.So for the time being, you use the principle of inconstancy to 'gure out what arethe causes for the path, and how you &eep them going, even though they areinconstant.

ts only when you get to the end of the path that the duties change. A!aan6un 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 thesame duty, whether its stress or the path or whatever. ts all compounded. tsall inconstant. ts all to be abandoned.

But as you practice you need to &now where you are in the practice and whatthe duties appropriate to that stage in the practice are. Thats how you useinsight into inconstancy with wisdom and discernment, so the teaching ful'lls itsintended purpose.