Sampajañña: The Fullness of Understanding

　　- by S. N. Goenka

　　Four people who were blind from birth were led to a tame elephant and asked to describe it. Lacking the faculty of sight, they used their sense of touch to discover what an elephant might be.

　　The first felt the leg of the elephant, and after exploring carefully with his fingertips, he decided: "An elephant is a pillar!"

　　The second caught hold of the tail of the elephant and came to a different conclusion: "Not a pillar, an elephant is a broom!"

　　The third examined the ear of the elephant and gave his judgement: "You are both wrong. An elephant is a fan!"

　　The fourth felt the tusk of the elephant and finally gave his opinion:

　　"You are all wrong. An elephant is a stake of wood!"

　　All four drew conclusions that explained correctly the evidence of their senses. All four were equally wrong because their judgements were based on incomplete evidence, on partial truth.

　　So long as one sees from only one angle, one has only a partial truth. Without a general understanding, this partial truth is bound to be misleading, bound to create misconceptions. When one observes a phenomenon in different ways from different viewpoints, the full truth is revealed. This is real wisdom: to see things from different angles-in Pāli, Pakārena jānātīti paññā. As one proceeds from a narrow, partial view to an understanding of truth in all aspects, automatically illusions and confusions disappear.

　　By remaining extroverted we see only one aspect of reality, and

　　inevitably are misled by partial truths. Through the practice of introspection, however, we begin to see from another perspective. Thus we emerge from illusions and start awakening to the entire truth.

　　How does the process of introspection actually awaken in us a comprehensive grasp of truth

　　To understand this we must recall that every sensory phenomenon-whether a person, a thing, or an event-exists for us only when it comes into contact with our sense organs. Without this contact, the sensory object in fact is nothing for us. If we remain extroverted, we attach importance to external objects and ignore the essential internal base of their existence for us, because we never examine ourselves. Thus deluded by a partial truth, we are led into folly.

　　But if we remain aware of external reality and also observe ourselves, the entire situation changes. Now external objects help to throw light on our inner experiences, and inner experiences help us to understand the whole truth. And with this all embracing view we come out of the habit of wallowing in sensory experiences and start instead to observe them objectively.

　　As the meditator begins moving from a partial and fragmentary vision to an understanding of truth in its totality, he sees more clearly how the phenomenon of mind and matter actually works. As soon as a sensory object comes into contact with one of the sense doors, instantaneously the mental faculty of cognition, recognition and evaluation, sensation and reaction all follow. For this process to occur there must first be a contact between a sensory object and the mental-physical structure; otherwise the object has no reality for us. And this law applies not only to the five physical senses, but also to the mind. As much as eyes or ears, the mind exists within the structure of the body. Therefore mental objects, just as much as sights or sounds, have their real existence for us within this physical structure, not outside. If we forget this important fact we can never attain an understanding of the entire truth.

　　By observing sensations throughout the body dispassionately, the meditator experiences sensory objects, both external and internal, as they actually affect the mental-physical structure withi…

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