..續本文上一頁perly." Otherwise, for your whole life you may say "Everything is anicca, everything is dukkha, everything is anatta-. We are the believers in anicca, we are the believers in dukkha, we are the believers in anatta." What do you gain

　　 Tell me, what do you gain

　　 It is a big delusion. I didn”t gain anything until I practised. Buddha is not in favor of any devotional or emotional entertainment. Buddha is teaching the actual practice of Dhamma. He taught sila and people reached the stage, whereby, experiencing the truth inside, they naturally abstained from breaking sila.

　　He taught samadhi, which before him was just the eight jhanas. As you go deeper in the technique, you will understand the difference between the eight jhanas of those days, which are lokiya jhanas, and how Buddha gave a twist, a turn towards liberation making them lokuttara. Sampajanna in its true sense: constant thorough understanding of impermanence, was not included in the eight jhanas of those days. Buddha started the practice with sati-sampayana. By the time one attains the third jhana, the third jhana samapatti (attainment), the sampajanna is perfect. Sampajanna is perfect only if you are aware of these sensations - arising, passing; arising, passing; continuously aware day and night.

　　One who practises Vipassana properly will start understanding the importance of the words of the Buddha when he says sampajannam narincati, sampajannam na rincati: You can”t afford to miss even one moment of sampajanna. Every moment-sampajanna, sampajanna, arising; passing, arising; passing, then it is not just a theory, then it is not just a philosophy, it is a practice. When you are with this arising, passing; arising, passing; anicca, anicca, anicca, you can”t generate a new impurity. And when you are with this anicca the old impurities keep coming on the surface. They come on the surface and get eradicated, layers after layers of impurities, come and pass away. Then you become the master of your mind, and the samadhi is not mere samadhi, panna is included with it.

　　With sampajanna included, Buddha”s practice takes one to the first phala samapatti; as one becomes sotapanna one experiences the first jhana. Proceeding on the path one gets the second phala samapatti:sakadagami, which may come with the first jhana or higher jhanas. As one attains the third phala samapatti: anagami, and the fourth: Arahant, the third and fourth jhanas are useful. It is not absolutely necessary to practise the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth jhanas to attain the phalas, though one can easily do so after these stages if one wants. But in these first four jhanas, he included sampajanna, sati-sampajana, which at the time was not available anywhere.

　　Of course, there had been other Buddhas, but since the passing of the teaching of the previous Buddha nobody prior to the Gotama the Buddha or at the time of Gotama the Buddha or other teachers that came after Gotama the Buddha could understand the proper meaning of sampajanna. This word had percolated down from the time of previous Buddhas but the real meaning was lost. In the teaching of the lokiya jhanas it had the meaning of, "knowing intentionally, or deeper, precise awareness." But the wisdom of anicca was absent so the actual teaching and practice of sati-sampajana was far away. This wisdom was the contribution of the Buddha, the wonderful contribution of the Buddha.

　　And then, with this experiential understanding inside, it becomes so clear that there is no sectarian teaching at all. This is just the law of nature. It is not necessary that I must call myself a Buddhist to practise the teaching of Buddha. I may keep calling myself by any name, because it doesn”t make any difference. Even if I call myself a Buddhist, if I generate raga/lobha, I gener…

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