Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Using the striking image of sixty-five moments packed into a single finger snap, Khensur Rinpoche draws a precise line between coarse and subtle impermanence in this 45-minute commentary. He argues that the very cause of an object’s creation is sufficient to cause its destruction — no external force required — then works through the four general characteristics: impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and selflessness, explaining how each dismantles a specific wrong conception about the body. The specific characteristics of feeling (experience) and mind (knowing) are covered in turn. The session closes by contrasting Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna approaches to close placements of mindfulness — differing in object of observation, scope of selflessness meditated, and the ultimate attainment sought.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 CP of M 1997 06 08.mp3
UUID: b3f4012b-2861-409b-b0f3-f520abfa13ae
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Close Placements of Mindfulness (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1997-06-08
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.4 minutes
Words: ~2,750
Let us say nirvana is peace. So what in this first characteristic: all compounded phenomena are impermanent. By compounded phenomena, we mean phenomena which arise as a compounding of causes and conditions. Through the coming together of causes and conditions, a phenomenon is produced.
So all that is produced out of a compounding or coming together or collecting together of cause and conditions is impermanent. So, whatever is a compounded phenomena is necessarily impermanent. And by impermanent we mean momentarily arising and disintegrating. So, first a compounded phenomena arises, that is to say it comes into creation and immediately it disintegrates. It is destroyed.
So with regard to impermanence, there are two levels, coarse and subtle impermanence. What we mean by coarse impermanence would be, for example, the death of a person or the collapse of a house or the breaking of a cup or the wearing out of clothes. These would all be examples of coarse impermanence. We need to think a great deal about that. We can actually see that for ourselves.
When we when we talk about something being coarse and something being subtle, generally this implies that that which is coarse is easy to realize, whereas the subtle is difficult to realize. So subtle impermanence is difficult to realize. So, for those who are ordinary individuals in this context, that would mean that one who has not realized subtle impermanence previously and is seeking to newly or initially or freshly realize subtle impermanence, it’s necessary that they employ a process of reasoning. That by means of examination using prime cognition and the process of reasoning, using the signs of impermanence, one can come to a new understanding. But the initial new realization of subtle impermanence necessarily requires that we use a process of reasoning.
So how are we to proceed in contemplating subtle impermanence? In terms of what is the minutest component? The minutest, the smallest component of, for example, time. Looking at what that is. The smallest interval of time.
In terms of form, the smallest particle. In terms of building block of which these are made out of. In terms of name or language, the building block the minute the smallest component of time, of form, the various particles, atoms, for example, and in terms of language, the letters. So, for example, in terms of language, literally what the word is here is names, but perhaps we can think of it in terms of language. The smallest component is letters.
A language does not consist of a letter but it is developed out of combining letters to form words and to form names. So, the component that is it’s built out of letters. The same holds true for form or the things about us. These large, massive things about us are built out of small particles. So, a combination of particles builds up into large forms.
So, then with regard to time, and, you know, there are various structures of time. For example, years, there’s months, and we can work down to hours and minutes. And these are all built out of the smallest durations of time. For example, to give you an idea of what the smallest duration of time would be, that there are sixty five moments within the sixty five of these durations of time or sixty five of these moments within the snap the time of a snap of a finger. So, the finger snap regarded as the smallest interval for an activity, and within this activity, and even over the duration of the smallest activity in terms of its time that it takes, there are sixty five of these moments or intervals of time.
So, you know, we can begin to appreciate how very minute are these components, these smallest components time which build up into time. So this is what subtle impermanence is referring to. One of the smallest durations of time, which is one sixty-fifth of the time of a finger snap. So, just as, you know, when we when we look at the time on our watch that that the time never stands still. That it never even for the slightest, briefest of possible time spans, it never remains the same.
Likewise, that immediately upon our birth that we are undergoing this subtle impermanence. That from the very first moment to the second moment, we have not remained the same. And to the third moment, that there is no remaining the same even from these minutest time spans. So there’s a great deal of benefit in to be realized in terms of our Dharma practice. There’s a great deal of benefit in our in terms of our Dharma practice if by realizing impermanence.
Now, as to the causes of creation and disintegration of an object, there is within our own tradition, it is held that once having come into existence, no other cause is needed for an object to disintegrate. That the very cause of creation is itself cause for an object’s destruction. That no other cause is needed. Are other traditions which hold, for example, take example of a cup, that in order to destroy the cup, it’s necessary that there be another cause. For example, we take a a stone and we we smash the cup, we destroy the cup.
And therefore, another cause has to be introduced in order for disintegration to take place. But in in our own tradition, we say no. In fact, in order for at the level of subtle impermanence for the disintegration to take place, no other cause needs to be introduced by its very its cause of coming into being created is necessary cause for it to go out of existence through its disintegration. So, in meditating the subtle impermanence of the body, we should try to understand that in the very second moment, the body is disintegrating, that it does not remain the same even for another moment. But even that from moment to moment, it is disintegrating.
So, what is the reason that we can give establishing that the body is impermanent? The reason that we give is because it is dependently created. This is the reason set forth by Dharmakīrti when he says: why is the body impermanent — that is to say, in terms of subtle impermanence? Because it is dependently created — by which is meant, arising from causes and conditions.
Sometimes the body is created and sometimes it goes out of existence. So why are impermanence and suffering general characteristics? And with regard to the body, because it applies to all bodies — both our own bodies and the bodies of others — they are all such that bodies in general are impermanent and in the nature of suffering. So, why do we cultivate this understanding?
In order to overcome our holding the body as permanent. We have a wrong conception which holds that the body is permanent. This is a wrong conception. And this holding of the body as permanent is overcome by realizing it is impermanent. So this, as was mentioned in the teachings on Lojong or mind training, was this conception of “I’m not going to die today.”
“I’m not going to die — when that day comes, I’m not going to die today.” This constant thinking that one is not going to die today — that is to say, which is holding oneself as being permanent — is said to be the root of all our inappropriate conduct and is a great obstacle to our practice of Dharma. So then secondly, the characteristic of suffering. Why is the body in the nature of suffering?
The body is not under its own control. It is under the power of others. That is to say, it is under the influence — it exists under the influence of karma and afflictive emotions. The body is generated or is born out of karma and afflictive emotions. So what is it that this understanding stops or blocks? It is in order to stop the conception that the body is pure and is a source of happiness.
So, how is it that this understanding is able to stop the conception of holding the body as pure? If we look at how the body comes into existence, it arises from the combining of impure or unclean substances. The ovum and sperm of our parents unite and then through the force of karma and afflictive emotions, our consciousness enters into this combination. So our consciousness enters into the combination of sperm and ovum — and the sperm and ovum constitute our body. And so, can we say that the source of our body is clean or unclean?
And we are bound by afflictive emotions and karma, and the body is bound by karma and afflictive emotions — and therefore can we say that the body is a source of happiness? If someone else were to tie you up with a rope, would you be happy tied up? Here, we are trying to overcome the conception of the body as pure and as a source of happiness. So, then we apply the characteristic of being empty to the body. And this is done in order to overcome the assertion of other tenet systems or philosophic systems which hold that the body is not empty.
How is it that we are able to refute those assertions? The other tenet systems hold that the self is permanent. So how does this understanding — of applying the characteristic of being empty to the body — overcome this conception of a permanent self, this assertion of a permanent self? First, the self is not in fact permanent because it is impermanent.
It is impermanent because it is continually being generated and disintegrating from moment to moment. The momentary arising and disintegration of the self is a mark of impermanence. The assertion of the other tenet systems is that the self has no parts and its existence does not rely upon parts. But in fact, the aggregate relies upon its parts.
The self relies upon its parts. And the assertion of the other tenet systems is that the self and the aggregates are different entities. But in fact, the self and the aggregates are the same entity. They are one entity. So then it is necessary that we establish the selflessness in terms of the body, and then — to overcome the conception of a self of persons — it is due to the conception of the true existence of persons that we accumulate karma, and due to the accumulation of karma that we continue to circle within cyclic existence.
So, this selflessness is to be understood in order to overcome the conception of self with regard to the person. And here the conception of self — the existence of a self, the self which is to be refuted here — is a self which is independent, which does not rely upon the five aggregates or the continuum of the five aggregates. Such a self does not exist. This self which exists independently and does not rely upon the five aggregates or the continuum of the five aggregates does not exist. These are general characteristics since they apply to all phenomena.
So then follows an analysis of the body, feelings, and consciousnesses — now an analysis in terms of the body in terms of specific characteristics. These specific characteristics are the individual entities of the body, feelings, and so forth. These are the uncommon characteristics of each of these — for example, the body and the feelings and so forth.
They have specific or uncommon characteristics. And as was mentioned yesterday, in terms of the specific characteristics of the body, that would be the four elements — the earth element, fire, water, and wind elements — along with the evolutes, those which arise out of a combination of these elements. So the body is composed of a combination of elements and evolutes. For example, if we look at our body, which arises out of a combination of sperm and ovum — actually, it is more literally expressed as blood and substances.
For example, our flesh arises from the blood of our mother, whereas our bones and skin arise from the substance of our father. So there are other various constituents such as the channels and so forth, but we don’t need to go into that. So this is the mode of, or the manner of, meditating the specific characteristics of the body. If we went on like this and talked about all the parts of the body and what constitutes the body, we would probably get a good laugh out of it.
So, then we can apply these general characteristics in the same way to feelings. We apply the characteristics of impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and selflessness in the same way to feeling. So we are to meditate on both the general and specific characteristics of each of these, including the feelings. And the specific characteristic of feeling is that of experience. A happy feeling is a happy experience. A pleasurable feeling is a pleasurable experience.
An unpleasurable feeling is an unpleasurable experience. A neutral feeling is a neutral experience. So, the specific characteristic of feeling is experience. So with regard to the mind, the specific characteristic of the mind — that is to say, the uncommon characteristic — is that of being a knower. A mind is a subject observing objects.
So, it takes objects and knows them. This is the specific characteristic — that quality of being a knower. So, with regard to the specific characteristics of phenomena, there are a great many. And because there are a great many phenomena within this category — for example, all the various mental factors; there are fifty-one mental factors, for example —
then there are non-associated compositional factors, and then there are unproduced phenomena. So, each of these, according to which of these are taken as your object of observation, you would have to determine the particular entity. Each would have its own specific characteristics according to its own entity. This meditation is common to both the individual vehicle and the universal vehicle.
So we said that there were two manners of meditation — that which was common and that which was uncommon. And what was meant by the uncommon manner of meditation was that which is exclusive to the universal vehicle. And with regard to the exclusive manner of meditation — of meditating the close placement of mindfulness — there are three characteristics: objects of observation, mental engagement, and attainment. So these are the exclusive characteristics of the mode of meditating in terms of the universal vehicle.
Objects of observation, mental engagement, and attainment. So, the difference between these two manners of meditation is that whereas the individual vehicle would take as its object of observation, for example, the body — it would be analyzed in terms of both its general and specific characteristics — but in terms of the body, it would be only the body of the practitioner him or herself. But in the case of the manner of meditation within the universal vehicle, the body, analyzed in terms of both general and specific characteristics, would encompass both the bodies of oneself and others. Then the second exclusive manner of meditation is that of mental engagement.
And here this means that in terms of the general characteristic of selflessness, the common mode of meditation was that we understand selflessness in terms of the selflessness of persons. So we went through these various objects — body, and so forth — in terms of the selflessness of persons. But the exclusive manner of meditation of the universal vehicle includes not only the selflessness of the person, but also the selflessness of phenomena. Then the third quality of the uncommon manner of meditation is that of attainment.
The hearer seeks, through meditating the close placement of mindfulness, freedom from a contaminated body and the attainment of an uncontaminated body. Whereas in the exclusive manner of meditation of the universal vehicle, the practitioner is seeking to attain the parinirvana — passage beyond sorrow — that is to say, Buddhahood. So there is a difference in the results of the practice, since there is a difference in motivation for engaging in the practice between the hearers and solitary realizers on the one hand and the bodhisattvas on the other. Then the reasons for meditating.