To summarize, the stage of Anagami is reached when sexual desire no longer controls the mind. After this, the Anagami must continue using the same methods of investigation that brought this result, developing and refining them further until images of the body no longer appear within the Citta. The mind creates mental images and then becomes attached to its own creations. A fully accomplished Anagami understands this with complete certainty. The human body, and everything people believe it represents, are only deceptions created by the mind itself. The body is merely a mass of material elements combined together. It is not a person; it is neither beautiful nor ugly. It simply exists according to its natural condition. The mind creates the false appearance that we perceive, and then becomes deceived by its own false perceptions.
All the organs of the human body are only instruments used by the knowing nature of the Citta. The knowing awareness of the Citta spreads throughout the whole body. This spreading of consciousness through the body is entirely an expression of the Citta itself. The physical elements that make up the body have no awareness of their own. They do not know anything and possess no consciousness. Knowing and sense awareness connected with the body arise only from the Citta and its activities. The eyes, ears, and nose can perceive objects only because of the awareness of the Citta. These organs are simply tools through which sense consciousness operates. By themselves, they have no awareness at all.
Normally, we believe that the eyes themselves can see. But when the true nature of the body is fully understood, we realize that the eyeball is only a piece of flesh. It is the consciousness flowing through the eyes that actually sees and knows visual objects. Consciousness uses the eyes as instruments to access the visual world. The eyes are no different from the eyes of a dead animal lying beside the road. The physical eye has no real value on its own; it is basically lifeless matter. This truth becomes known with complete clarity. So how can the body be oneself? How can it truly belong to oneself? Such a belief is unnatural.
This truth becomes especially clear when consciousness that normally spreads throughout the body gathers inward and enters deep concentration. At that moment, the whole body appears as nothing more than a lump of matter—a log or tree stump. When the Citta leaves deep concentration, awareness spreads back through the body again, filling every limb and every part. Awareness and knowing are natural functions of the Citta, not of the physical body. In ordinary waking consciousness, a meditator at this stage clearly knows that the Citta and knowing are one timeless reality, while the physical body itself knows nothing. During deep concentration, the body may disappear from awareness, but awareness itself never disappears.
In truth, this is an unchanging law of nature. However, when mental defilements enter the Citta, they make us cling to everything as “me” or “mine,” causing confusion between our true nature and the body and senses it animates. This is how defilements operate. Wisdom works in the opposite way. It sees the body clearly for what it really is and corrects this misunderstanding. Defilements always cling to the body and make us believe it is an important part of ourselves. Wisdom sees the body only as a collection of ordinary physical substances, and because of this, it releases all personal attachment to it.
The brain, for example, is only a lump of matter. It is simply a tool used by consciousness. When the Citta enters deep calm and concentration, the awareness that normally spreads throughout the body gathers together into one central point in the middle of the chest. The knowing quality becomes very clear at that point. It does not come from the brain. Although memory and learning are connected with the brain, direct realization of truth is not. From the beginning stages of concentration practice onward, true progress in meditation is experienced and understood in the heart alone. This is where truth is realized, and sincere meditators know this through direct experience. When it comes to understanding the true nature of reality, the brain itself is not useful. The peaceful and radiant qualities of the Citta are experienced in the heart. They shine clearly from that point. Every aspect of the Citta, from the grossest to the most subtle, is experienced there. And when all mental defilements are finally destroyed, they also cease there.
Within the Citta, memory and thought are the main causes of delusion. Beginning in the later stages of body contemplation at the level of Anagami, these mental parts become the main focus of investigation. Once the body is no longer a major issue, the meditator naturally turns attention toward feelings, memory, thoughts, and consciousness. Among these, memory and thought are especially important. They constantly arise together to create mental images and meanings. The same principles of investigation still apply, but now the focus is no longer the body. Instead, the thinking process itself becomes the object of examination.
With deep introspection, wisdom watches thoughts and memories arise and disappear, arise and disappear, continuing endlessly as a chain of mental activity. No sooner does a thought appear than it vanishes again. No matter what kind of thought it is, the result is always the same: it lasts only a moment before disappearing. The investigation focuses directly on the thinking process itself, penetrating deeply into the knowing nature of the mind. Wisdom follows every thought and every small idea as it appears and fades away, then immediately observes the next one. This is a difficult and exhausting task that requires complete attention day and night. At this stage, time and place no longer matter. The investigation can continue constantly for weeks or even months while mindfulness and wisdom struggle with the endless flow of mental activity.
This work is mentally exhausting. Wisdom examines every aspect of mental activity without stopping, day and night. While observing thoughts, it also uses thoughts themselves to question and examine the workings of the mind in order to discover truth. This kind of thinking serves the path of practice. Wisdom uses it as a tool for uncovering reality. It is not ordinary thinking driven by craving and suffering. Even so, because the investigation is so intense, the mind eventually becomes tired, dull, and sluggish after many hours of effort. When this happens, the mind must rest. More than at any other stage, the mind now needs regular periods of calm concentration. Yet because the results gained through wisdom seem so extraordinary compared to the peaceful stillness of concentration, meditators are often reluctant to rest in concentration. The mind feels bright, energetic, and highly alert, so concentration may appear inactive and unproductive. In reality, however, concentration is an essential support for wisdom.
Therefore, the mind must sometimes be forced into concentration. It must temporarily stop all investigation and focus entirely on entering a calm, peaceful, unified state. There it rests until it becomes fully refreshed and strengthened again before returning to the liberating work of wisdom. As soon as the mind leaves concentration, it quickly returns to investigation. Like a horse eager to run, the mind rushes back toward its main task—the destruction of all mental defilements. But care must be taken so the mind does not become too extreme in its efforts. Excessive investigation can itself become a cause of suffering, allowing thoughts to overpower the mind. The mental processes used by wisdom naturally gather momentum and do not know moderation on their own. From time to time they must be restrained so that balance is maintained between work and rest. At this stage, wisdom naturally functions at full strength. When it is time to rest, concentration must also be practiced with full commitment. This balance is the middle way leading to liberation and Nibbāna.
The Citta and its relationship with mental phenomena become the central focus of investigation at this stage. The Citta is the essential knowing nature at the center of our being. It is pure awareness that simply knows. Awareness of good and bad, along with the judgments connected to them, are only temporary conditions arising within the Citta. Sometimes these activities appear as mindfulness; at other times, as wisdom. But the true Citta itself does not perform activities or create conditions. It simply knows. Activities such as happiness and suffering, praise and blame, or awareness of good and bad are all conditions arising from consciousness flowing out from the Citta. Because these conditions constantly arise and disappear, they are unstable and unreliable. In this way, memory, thought, and consciousness are all temporary conditions connected with the Citta.
These conditions create the changing flow of mental phenomena. Through the interaction of feeling, memory, thought, and consciousness, images and forms arise within the Citta. The awareness that knows these images is the Citta itself. Mental defilements, such as sensual desire, influence and color this knowing. As long as the Citta believes these inner images are real and solid, desire and aversion will continue to arise. Internal images are then loved or hated according to how they are perceived—good or bad, attractive or repulsive. The mind becomes trapped between these opposites and identifies with a world of duality and instability. The knowing nature of the Citta itself does not arise or disappear, but it imitates the unstable qualities of the defilements and mental phenomena connected to it. When wisdom clearly sees through this deception, the Citta no longer clings to these phenomena even though they continue arising and disappearing within the mind. In this way, the Citta becomes empty of them.
From the moment of birth until now, mental and physical phenomena have been continuously arising and disappearing. By themselves, they possess no lasting substance at all. The Citta’s mistaken interpretation gives them a false appearance of personal reality. The Citta clings to them as oneself or as belonging to oneself. This misunderstanding creates a heavy burden of self-identity that the Citta carries within itself without receiving any benefit. The only result is suffering produced by self-delusion.
When the Citta investigates these things and sees them clearly through sharp wisdom, the body is understood simply as a natural phenomenon existing according to its own physical qualities. It is not part of oneself and therefore is no longer clung to. Bodily feelings—pleasant, painful, and neutral feelings connected with the body—are also clearly understood as natural conditions existing only within their own domain, and attachment to them is abandoned as well. However, wisdom has not yet fully penetrated the subtle feelings arising only within the Citta itself. Emotional and psychological feelings—pleasant, painful, and neutral mental feelings—still continue to attract the attention of the Citta. Although their true nature is not yet fully understood, these subtle feelings remain as reminders that continue encouraging the Citta to investigate further.
……………………………………
Read next chapter #10 – Click Here
Go back to list of chapters – Click Here
……………………………………..