Could Ajahn please guide us on entering brahma world using vipassanā? How to do it so that the attainment will be more permanent?

The Teaching Of Ajahn Suchart.

30th September, 2022

Question:  Could Ajahn please guide us on entering brahma world using vipassanā? How to do it so that the attainment will be more permanent?

Than Ajahn:  In order to enter the brahma world by using vipassanā, you have to attain to the third level of enlightenment, the anāgāmi level. Before you can reach to the third stage of enlightenment, you have to reach to the first stage (the Sotāpanna) and the second stage (Sakadāgāmi) of enlightenment first.

In order to attain to the first stage of enlightenment, you have to let go of the sakkayadiṭṭhi fetter – the view that the 5 khandhas have a self. 

The truth is that the 5 khandhas have no self. It is anicaṁ, dukkhaṁ, anattā. The body is not you. The feeling is not you. The thought is not you. And the perception is not you. They are physical and mental processes.

The body is the physical process which made up of the 4 elements: earth, water, fire and wind. The mental phenomena are the feeling, perception, thought and consciousness. There is no self in all of these 5 khandhas.

They are in the state of flux – constantly changing, rising and ceasing. You can’t control them. Like the body, you can’t stop the body from growing, then becoming old, sick and die. You can’t control your feelings to only have good feelings. You’ll have good feelings, neutral feelings and bad/painful feelings. 

What you do is to understand the nature of the 5 khandhas and leave them alone. 

You don’t cling to them. You don’t have any desire for them. Once you can do this, it means that you have let go of the 5 khandhas.

You have no attachment towards the 5 khandhas. Then, your mind will be free from the fear from ageing, sickness and death. You reach the first stage of enlightenment through vipassanā.

The next stage is to develop asubha, to see that the body is not attractive by looking at the stages of the corpse or looking at the 32 parts of the body.

You see that the body is not attractive at all. By doing this, you can lighten and eventually eliminate all your sexual desire. Once you have gotten rid all your sexual desire, you enter the third stage of enlightenment, the anāgāmi. If you can lighten your sexual desire, you reach the second level of enlightenment, the sakadāgāmi. So, in order to enter the brahma world by using vipassanā, you have to get rid your sexual desire and your attachment to the body.

You have to go through the 3 stages of enlightenment in order for you to enter the brahma world permanently.

As an anāgāmi, you will not return to the sensual sphere of existence because you have no desire for anything in the sensual sphere of existence.

However, you become attached to the happiness of the brahma world. So, you’ll still need to practise more vipassanā, to see that the happiness in the brahma world is also aniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ, anattā. Once you can see this and let go of your attachment to the desire for happiness from the brahma world, you have freed yourself from the brahma level. You become an arahant, the fourth stage of enlightenment. This is the summary of the practice of vipassanā, to move your mind out of samsara. First you move it out of the sensual sphere of existence. Then, you move into the brahma world. Once you get into the brahma world, you have to move it out again to enter nibbāna. 

Dhamma in English, Aug 5, 2020.

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

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