Contemplation of
Feelings
David Dale Holmes
Buddhistdoor Global | 2017-08-11 |
Venerable Nyanatiloka
Mahathera cites the Word of the Buddha on the contemplation of
feelings (Diga Nikaya 22):
But how does the disciple
dwell in contemplation of the feelings?
In experiencing feelings,
the disciple knows: “I have an agreeable feeling;” or: "I have a
disagreeable feeling,” or: "I have an indifferent feeling;” or: “I
have a worldly agreeable feeling,” or: “I have an unworldly
agreeable feeling,” or: “I have a worldly disagreeable feeling,”
or: “I have an unworldly disagreeable feeling,” or: “I have a
worldly indifferent feeling,” or: “I have an unworldly indifferent
feeling.”
Thus he dwells in
contemplation of the feelings, either with regard to his own
person, or to other persons, or to both. He beholds how the
feelings arise; beholds how they pass away; beholds the arising and
passing away of the feelings. “Feelings are there:” this clear
awareness is present in him, to the extent necessary for knowledge
and mindfulness; and he lives independent, unattached to anything
in the world. Thus does the disciple dwell in contemplation of the
feelings. (Nyanatiloka 1967, 64–65)
The word “feeling” here
indicates how the mind is “disposed” when it encounters an object
or experience. When a pleasant feeling arises, it may arouse greed
and desire. An unpleasant feeling may arouse fear, hate, or
aversion. Neutral feelings may arouse delusion.
The secret to this
meditation exercise is to look at experience and cut off the root
of unwholesome volition when it begins to arise and interact in
feeling. If we just let the mind play in an uncontrolled manner,
the defilements will exert a role in coloring
experience.
If, however, through
mindfulness, we watch an experience as it arises and as it passes
away, we can catch unwanted kamma and defuse the attachment,
aversion, or indifference. Through mindfulness we can turn the
experience back into a bare mental event.
The secret is to learn to
let the flow of events arise and dissolve without being
subjectively involved. When the unwholesome root of feeling loses
its hold on events, events lose their illusory sense of permanence
and become part of the impermanent flux of the stream of events.
With subjective feeling thus suppressed in connection with
observation, there is no sense of a permanent ego interacting with
events. This is what non-involvement means. It is the detachment
necessary for right mindfulness. (For more details see Bhikkhu
Bodhi 1984, 45-46)
Venerable Nyanatiloka
comments :
The disciple understands
that the expression “I feel” has no validity except as a
conventional expression . . .; he understands that, in the absolute
sense (paramattha), there are only feelings, and that there is no
ego, no experiencer (sic) of the feelings. (Nyanatiloka 1967,
65)
Venerable Nyanaponika
Mahathera in his Contemplation of Feeling explicates in more
precise detail:
Feeling (vedana) is
understood as the bare sensation experienced as pleasant,
unpleasant (painful), or neutral (indifferent). It is distinguished
from emotion, a more complex phenomena which arises from the basic
feeling but adds to it various overlays of an evaluative,
volitional, and cognitive character. Feeling in the Buddhist sense
is the second of the five aggregates constituting what is
conventionally called “a person.” The specific factors operative in
emotion belong to the aggregate of mental formations
(sankhara-khandha) the fourth aggregate. . . .
Feeling arises whenever
there is the arising of three factors—sense-organ, object, and
consciousness. The meeting of these three is called . . .
sense-impression, contact, or impact (phassa). Sense-impression is
a mental, not a physical event.
It is six-fold, as being
conditioned either by one of the five physical senses or by the
mind. This six-fold sense-impression is the chief condition for the
corresponding six kinds of feeling borne of contact through the
five physical senses and of mind contact.
In the formula of dependent
origination (paticca-samuppada), this relationship is expressed by
the line, “Sense-impression conditions feeling”
(passa-paccaya-vedana). When emotions follow, they do so in
accordance with the next link of dependent origination, “Feeling
conditions craving.” (vedana-paccaya-tanha). . . .
Feeling is one of those
mental factors (cetasika) common to all types of consciousness. In
other words, every conscious experience has a feeling tone,
pleasant, painful, or neutral. . . .
The subsequent emotional,
practical, moral, or spiritual values attached to any particular
feeling are determined by the associated mental factors belonging
to the aggregate of mental formations. It is the quality of those
other mental functions that makes the co-nascent feeling either
good or bad, noble or low, kammic or non-kammic, mundane or
supramundane.
Since feeling in its
primary state simply registers the impact of the object, in itself
it is quite devoid of any emotional bias. Only when volitional
evaluations are admitted will there appear emotions such as desire
and love, aversion and hate, anxiety and fear, as well as
distorting views.
But these admixtures need
not arise, as the emotions are not inseparable parts of the
respective feelings. . . .
This shows that it is . . .
possible to stop at the bare feeling and that this can be done
intentionally with the help of mindfulness and self-restraint. . .
.
Through actual experience,
it can be confirmed that the ever-revolving round of dependent
origination can be stopped at the stage of feeling, and that there
is no inherent necessity for feeling to be followed by
craving.
Here we encounter feeling
as a key factor on the path of liberation and we can see why, in
the Buddhist tradition, the contemplation of feeling has always
been highly regarded as an effective aid on the path.
The contemplation of
feeling is one or the Four Foundations of Mindfulness
(satipatthana). As such it may be undertaken in the framework of
that meditative practice, aiming at the growth of insight
(vipassana).
It is, however, essential
that this contemplation should also be remembered and applied in
daily life whenever feelings are prone to turn to unwholesome
emotions. . . . There will be many such occasions, provided the
mind is alert and calm enough to notice the feelings clearly at
their primary stage.
In the contemplation of
feelings there should first be a mindful awareness of the feelings
when they arise. One should clearly distinguish them as pleasant,
unpleasant (painful), or neutral. There is no such thing as “mixed
feelings.”
Mindfulness should be
maintained throughout the short duration of a specific feeling,
down into its cessation. If the vanishing point of feelings is
repeatedly seen with increasing clarity, it will become much easier
to forestall the emotions, thoughts, and volitions which normally
follow them so rapidly and so often become habitually associated
with them.
Pleasant feeling is
habitually linked with enjoyment and desire; unpleasant feeling
with aversion; neutral feeling with boredom and confusion—and also
serving as a background for wrong views. But when bare attention is
directed towards the arising and vanishing feelings, these
polluting additives will be held at bay. (Nyanaponika 1983,
3–5)