when do i contemplate the three characteristics?

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
User avatar
johnny
Posts: 151
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2012 5:52 am

when do i contemplate the three characteristics?

Post by johnny »

i am mindful of my actions all day and i practice jhana meditation once a day or whenever i can. if this is very successful i have not included any time too contemplate not self, impermanence, and suffering.

what am i missing?

is this supposed too be literal "contemplation" as understood in the western sense where one ponders on a topic. or in the commentary/sutta sense in which one just notes thoughts as they come and go?

"he abides contemplating in the body it's nature of arising...etc." when? how?
The time would not pass. Somebody was playing with the clocks, and not only the electronic clocks but the wind-up kind too. The second hand on my watch would twitch once, and a year would pass, and then it would twitch again.
There was nothing I could do about it. As an Earthling I had to believe whatever clocks said -and calendars.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five
santa100
Posts: 6814
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:55 pm

Re: when do i contemplate the three characteristics?

Post by santa100 »

Contemplating on the three characteristics should be done frequently, but they are particularly helpful when you're in situations conducive to the arising of defilements like lust, hatred, envy, etc. A young voluptuous woman passes by your office cubicle at work, your co-worker just got a big promotion or a huge raise while you don't, you found out that your closest friend has just back-stabbed you, your girlfriend or wife left you for another man, etc.. Seeing the inherent nature of all conditioned phenomena as anicca, anatta, and dukkha would make your mind calm and serene under negative circumstances..
User avatar
johnny
Posts: 151
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2012 5:52 am

Re: when do i contemplate the three characteristics?

Post by johnny »

santa100 wrote:Contemplating on the three characteristics should be done frequently, but they are particularly helpful when you're in situations conducive to the arising of defilements like lust, hatred, envy, etc. A young voluptuous woman passes by your office cubicle at work, your co-worker just got a big promotion or a huge raise while you don't, you found out that your closest friend has just back-stabbed you, your girlfriend or wife left you for another man, etc.. Seeing the inherent nature of all conditioned phenomena as anicca, anatta, and dukkha would make your mind calm and serene under negative circumstances..

okay, so basically if something strong happens that breaks my mindfulness?

how do i contemplate? note and release? or ponder? like, negative emotion: i think "this thought is not self." and release it? or do i dissect the thought?
The time would not pass. Somebody was playing with the clocks, and not only the electronic clocks but the wind-up kind too. The second hand on my watch would twitch once, and a year would pass, and then it would twitch again.
There was nothing I could do about it. As an Earthling I had to believe whatever clocks said -and calendars.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five
santa100
Posts: 6814
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:55 pm

Re: when do i contemplate the three characteristics?

Post by santa100 »

Say if lust is about to arise upon seeing some attractive forms, you immediately reflect on the three characteristics until your lust subsides. Then you could either go back to your object of meditation or return to whatever you were doing like work if you're at work, cooking, cleaning, mowing the lawn if you're doing yard work, etc..
User avatar
manas
Posts: 2678
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 3:04 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: when do i contemplate the three characteristics?

Post by manas »

Hi johnny

I have not 'entered & remained in jhana' as yet, but I can recall a few meditations where the five hindrances were considerably weakened, and I had this interesting perception "this is not the same mind" (as usual). Then, after arising from the sitting, I noticed how the mind had changed back again. Now I would call that a 'contemplation of impermanence'. I could ask you: thinking back to your most recent jhana experience: where is that state of mind now?

Even jhana is subject to arising & passing away...nothing in the World is permanent! Nothing in the World is fitting to be held on to as 'me' or as 'mine'...

But, in our un-wisdom, we do try...

metta :anjali:
To the Buddha-refuge i go; to the Dhamma-refuge i go; to the Sangha-refuge i go.
User avatar
johnny
Posts: 151
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2012 5:52 am

Re: when do i contemplate the three characteristics?

Post by johnny »

manas wrote:Hi johnny

I have not 'entered & remained in jhana' as yet, but I can recall a few meditations where the five hindrances were considerably weakened, and I had this interesting perception "this is not the same mind" (as usual). Then, after arising from the sitting, I noticed how the mind had changed back again. Now I would call that a 'contemplation of impermanence'. I could ask you: thinking back to your most recent jhana experience: where is that state of mind now?

Even jhana is subject to arising & passing away...nothing in the World is permanent! Nothing in the World is fitting to be held on to as 'me' or as 'mine'...

But, in our un-wisdom, we do try...

metta :anjali:
where is that state of mind now? the zen part of me wants too say it's still there, just covered by defilements. i'm not entirely sure how this kind of thing is viewed in theravada. my own opinion, if i try too ignore the view points i have been taught, is it's irrelevant, because everything is impermanent, that state of jhana is not important at all, just a means too an end.
The time would not pass. Somebody was playing with the clocks, and not only the electronic clocks but the wind-up kind too. The second hand on my watch would twitch once, and a year would pass, and then it would twitch again.
There was nothing I could do about it. As an Earthling I had to believe whatever clocks said -and calendars.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five
Caldorian
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon May 21, 2012 9:22 am
Location: Germany

Re: when do i contemplate the three characteristics?

Post by Caldorian »

I saw this today and it seems to be one fitting answer to your question: http://theravadin.wordpress.com/2012/02 ... yesterday/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

:namaste:
User avatar
Goofaholix
Posts: 4017
Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2009 3:49 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: when do i contemplate the three characteristics?

Post by Goofaholix »

johnny wrote:i am mindful of my actions all day and i practice jhana meditation once a day or whenever i can. if this is very successful i have not included any time too contemplate not self, impermanence, and suffering.

what am i missing?
In everything you observed during your day to day mindfulness did you observe anything that was permanent? anything that was self? anything that provided lasting satisfactoriness?

If not then you have been observing the three characteristics.
Pronouns (no self / not self)
“Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher. Where you experience suffering, you can also find freedom from suffering. Trying to run away from suffering is actually to run toward it.”
― Ajahn Chah
pegembara
Posts: 3466
Joined: Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:39 am

Re: when do i contemplate the three characteristics?

Post by pegembara »

When you leave here, you should practice bringing everything back to your own mind. Look at your mind with this mindfulness and clear comprehension and develop this wisdom. With these three conditions there will arise a ''letting go''. You'll know the constant arising and passing away of all phenomena.

You should know that that which is arising and passing away is only the activity of mind. When something arises, it passes away and is followed by further arising and passing away. In the Way of Dhamma we call this arising and passing away ''birth and death''; and this is everything - this is all there is! When suffering has arisen, it passes away, and, when it has passed away, suffering arises again2. There's just suffering arising and passing away. When you see this much, you'll be able to know constantly this arising and passing away; and, when your knowing is constant, you'll see that this is really all there is. Everything is just birth and death. It's not as if there is anything which carries on. There's just this arising and passing away as it is - that's all.

This kind of seeing will give rise to a tranquil feeling of dispassion towards the world. Such a feeling arises when we see that actually there is nothing worth wanting; there is only arising and passing away, a being born followed by a dying. This is when the mind arrives at ''letting go'', letting everything go according to its own nature. Things arise and pass away in our mind, and we know. When happiness arises, we know; when dissatisfaction arises, we know. And this ''knowing happiness'' means that we don't identify with it as being ours. And likewise with dissatisfaction and unhappiness, we don't identify with them as being ours. When we no longer identify with and cling to happiness and suffering, we are simply left with the natural way of things.

So we say that mental activity is like the deadly poisonous cobra. If we don't interfere with a cobra, it simply goes its own way. Even though it may be extremely poisonous, we are not affected by it; we don't go near it or take hold of it, and it doesn't bite us. The cobra does what is natural for a cobra to do. That's the way it is. If you are clever you'll leave it alone. And so you let be that which is good. You also let be that which is not good - let it be according to its own nature. Let be your liking and your disliking, the same way as you don't interfere with the cobra.

So, one who is intelligent will have this kind of attitude towards the various moods that arise in the mind. When goodness arises, we let it be good, but we know also. We understand its nature. And, too, we let be the not-good, we let it be according to its nature. We don't take hold of it because we don't want anything. We don't want evil, neither do we want good. We want neither heaviness nor lightness, happiness nor suffering. When, in this way, our wanting is at an end, peace is firmly established.



Ajahn Chah



http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Living_With_Cobra1.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, & from idle chatter: This is called right speech.
Spiny Norman
Posts: 10178
Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2010 10:32 am
Location: Andromeda looks nice

Re: when do i contemplate the three characteristics?

Post by Spiny Norman »

santa100 wrote:Say if lust is about to arise upon seeing some attractive forms, you immediately reflect on the three characteristics until your lust subsides.
I thought the 3 characteristics were about developing insight rather than dealing with hindrances?
Buddha save me from new-agers!
User avatar
Cittasanto
Posts: 6646
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:31 pm
Location: Ellan Vannin
Contact:

Re: when do i contemplate the three characteristics?

Post by Cittasanto »

johnny wrote:i am mindful of my actions all day and i practice jhana meditation once a day or whenever i can. if this is very successful i have not included any time too contemplate not self, impermanence, and suffering.

what am i missing?

is this supposed too be literal "contemplation" as understood in the western sense where one ponders on a topic. or in the commentary/sutta sense in which one just notes thoughts as they come and go?
Both, noticing when the three characteristics are present & as a reflection on what these mean, both of these support & inform each other.
"he abides contemplating in the body it's nature of arising...etc." when? how?
At all times!
There are several methods used in the texts, such as the fire sermon SN35.28, & there are a few passages in the Dhammapada you could use, beside noticing the characteristics as they become obvious or looking for them.
Ti-lakkhaṇ’ādi-gāthā – Verses on the three characteristics V.277-279
277.
'All fabrications are inconstant' when you see this with discernment,
you become disenchanted with stress. This is the path to purity.
278.
'All fabrications are stressful' when you see this with discernment,
you become disenchanted with stress. This is the path to purity.
279.
'All phenomena are not-self' when you see with discernment,
you become disenchanted with stress. This is the path to purity.
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
santa100
Posts: 6814
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:55 pm

Re: when do i contemplate the three characteristics?

Post by santa100 »

Porpoise wrote:
"I thought the 3 characteristics were about developing insight rather than dealing with hindrances?"

Sure, the 3 characteristics is for insight development. And what is the purpose of developing insight ? The total destruction of the 3 unwholesome roots and final liberation. While it's important for one to develop certain level of concentration/serenity, but this alone isn't enough to eradicate all fetters, clingings, and latent tendencies. This is why serenity and insight are both included in the training of anapanasati (first 3 tetrads for serenity and the 4th tetrad for insight)..
daverupa
Posts: 5980
Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2011 6:58 pm

Re: when do i contemplate the three characteristics?

Post by daverupa »

santa100 wrote:This is why serenity and insight are both included in the training of anapanasati (first 3 tetrads for serenity and the 4th tetrad for insight)..
We can see each tetrad as comprising both approaches: the term "experiencing" suggests vipassana, while "calming" suggests samatha, a pattern which replicates in each of the first three tetrads. For the fourth, anicca can already be seen, which marks the practice of one who can enter and leave jhana at will; the fourth tetrad is making it ones object to let go. One or another tetrad is to be practiced; I do not think they are to be done stepwise, 1 through 16.
  • "And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting oneself one protects others? By the pursuit, development, and cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness. It is in such a way that by protecting oneself one protects others.

    "And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting others one protects oneself? By patience, harmlessness, goodwill, and sympathy. It is in such a way that by protecting others one protects oneself.

- Sedaka Sutta [SN 47.19]
santa100
Posts: 6814
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:55 pm

Re: when do i contemplate the three characteristics?

Post by santa100 »

Thanks for clarification Dave. Bhikkhu Bodhi doesn't think it should be done stepwise either. He also added that "experiencing" could suggest both modes: "one experiences rapture in two ways: by attaining one of the lower two jhanas in which rapture is present, one experiences rapture in the mode of serenity; or by emerging from that jhana and contemplating that rapture as subject to destruction, one experiences rapture in the mode of insight"..
User avatar
Assaji
Posts: 2106
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2009 7:24 pm

Re: when do i contemplate the three characteristics?

Post by Assaji »

Hi Johnny,
johnny wrote:i am mindful of my actions all day and i practice jhana meditation once a day or whenever i can. if this is very successful i have not included any time too contemplate not self, impermanence, and suffering.

what am i missing?

is this supposed too be literal "contemplation" as understood in the western sense where one ponders on a topic. or in the commentary/sutta sense in which one just notes thoughts as they come and go?

"he abides contemplating in the body it's nature of arising...etc." when? how?
Please have a look at Chachakka sutta: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you are really mindful, and practice jhana, you may easily find:
- the sense door where appropriation leads to suffering;
- the element of Conditioned Arising worth working with to lessen suffering.

Then you may notice consistently how this element on thus sense door arises and ceases, and how suffering happens. Eventually there will be much less appropriation.

Good luck!
Post Reply