Understanding just one world at a time
Excerpt from the Dhamma discussion in English (and Chinese) with Ajahn Sujin on Zoom on Sun Jul 20th 2025.
Mp3 audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n5QbQL7SFTbFOofck7M03uMITLn1_HY4
Letting go of wrong view by understanding clearly what the world is
[Da Zhuang] Why do we say we live in our own world?
[A. Sujin] Aren't you living in your own world now? [Yes, living in the conventional world.]
How come to be, the conventional world? [Because of thinking.]
So what is *a* world now? [The dhamma that arises and passes away.]
*A* dhamma. What dhamma is that, arising and falling away? [For example, cetana to speak.]
We are now trying to understand the ultimate world... aren't we now in our own world, or what? [From the Dhamma there's no "my world".]
Just from the Dhamma? Or what is the truth, the ultimate truth? We learn to understand the truth, the ultimate truth, which is so very subtle. As long as there's no understanding of the truth, there can be my world or me, all the time "I" or something. As long as there's no clear understanding of what the world is, it's impossible to let go of wrong understanding and ignorance. So, what is wrong? Everyone lives in one's own world! The question is, what is the world? Or, what is taken for the world? [Sometimes he is thinking about the Dhamma, sometimes as referring to the conventional world.]
That's why it's so very subtle and it has to be carefully considered again and again, to get closer and closer to the ultimate truth of *a* world.
Taking the world with its many different moments as a whole
So, now it's time to begin to consider carefully about what is there now. [All are different dhammas, they're just conditioned to arise and pass.]
See, how many worlds are there? We are going to understand the ultimate world because everyone has the idea of the world. One lives in one's own world without any understanding of anything at all. That's why even just one word, what is the ultimate truth of that reality or the world represented? [Do we need to clearly know all the dhammas before liberation?]
If there is no understanding of the world, how can there be such, as he said? [Right, he has to begin to understand dhamma.]
Yes, now he knows what dhamma is, but what is the world? [Right, he has to have right thinking and gradually let go of the wrong view...]
By understanding what is the world! If nothing arises at all, at all, can there be world, any world? [No.] Okay, is seeing a world now? [Yes.]
So, seeing arises here and there and everywhere, and falls away, can it be anyone's world? Because seeing arises and falls away. So, can we think or say that we live in our own world? [It's just seeing arising and passing away, no more.]
And this is the way to let go of ignorance, taking the world with its many different moments, different characteristics, as a whole, as something permanent, and it's me living in the world. But in truth, even just a reality arising and falling away, that is a world. Seeing arises in the room, seeing arises here and there and it's gone, can it belong to anyone? So now, is it Da Zhuang's seeing or no-one's? Until it appears to be realized as it arises and falls away, the understanding of the truth is the only way to let go of the idea of self with wrong understanding and ignorance. [The attention normally is toward vedana.]
Understanding the words, the meaning, but not the characteristic yet
All are dhammas, is there feeling now? [Yes.] Is it a world? [It appears.] How can it appear? [I don't know how it can appear].
That's why learn to understand what is there, it's conditioned, otherwise nothing can arise at all. So many moments to be studied, so many realities should be studied, otherwise there can never be the understanding of the truth, the ultimate truth of life of each moment. That's why the Buddha taught again and again and again about the truth of what is there in a day, all day, from day to day. Did He say anything about seeing? [The seeing is not I, it's conditioned to arise, just seeing. It's not I or it's not mine.]
Yeah, that's the words repeated, and what about the understanding? Is it deep enough? He taught all about everything in this world, and there can be the understanding of the word, of the meaning, of the nature, but not yet of the characteristic of any one. That's why we keep on talking about whatever is there, again and again and again because it's always there, every day, from day to day, considering again: there is nothing there at all, and then there is seeing, here or there, by conditions.
Attention to the characteristic of just one reality at a time
Isn't it time to have a little more confidence of seeing, no matter where... it doesn't belong to anyone, it arises and falls away instantly. We don't talk about anything, we don't talk about citta, cetasikas, feeling... just seeing... it's there, it's gone. But the seeing there, on the mountain or anywhere, does it belong to anyone? So, why seeing now is yours? [Because of not knowing it's just dhamma.]
That's why we learn about all different kinds of reality, they are different. Seeing is conditioned to arise, no matter where, and it's gone, so it cannot belong to anyone, no matter what, that which arises cannot belong to anyone. But there is not just seeing, there are all different kinds of dhamma conditioned to arise, to appear in a day without any understanding. Is it true? There is not just seeing. That's why without the Teachings of the Enlightened One, who would understand the truth which is there right now? What is what as no one and nothing at all. And if we don't talk about it again and again, can there be a little more of attention to the characteristics of just one reality at a time? That's why the reality which arises and falls away is so very important, without it, nothing could appear at all. But even so, that which arises and experiences the object is only one reality. That's why we learn about the characteristics of each reality, to have confidence of the truth that it's just that, otherwise there could not be letting go of the idea of self or something now. And if there's no understanding little by little of what is there now, how can there be more understanding of what's going to be there, from what, now? That's why each word of the Buddha's Teachings should be studied a little more, a little more, until it's so firm. For example, understanding that which is there, arisen right now, isn't it very subtle? Just understanding that which is there arisen now.
Hunger, when the four primary rupas are not even or right as before
[Vincent] Ajahn, you were asking if there is feeling now. It just reminds me of a question another person asked: where is hunger?
[A. Sujin] Is it only at your stomach or at other's stomach as well? What condition feeling, the bodily feeling? [In terms of hunger, it's conditioned by kamma.]
No, hunger is not conditioned by kamma. The rupa which conditions that kind of unpleasant feeling, the body-base, is the rupa conditioned by kamma, otherwise there could not be that feeling at all, even hunger. Because the four primary rupas, when they're not even or right as before, condition such different feeling, pain and so on, something more than usual. That's why learn to understand different kinds of feeling, before it arises it's not there, not the world of hunger, but when it's there it's just the world of hunger, by conditions. So, learn to understand the truth, can hunger belong to anyone? Isn't it a world, of hunger? And hunger can appear anywhere, not just at what we take for my hunger at all. So, it's the world of hunger, when it's there.
The collective world of each moment of that which arises and falls away
So, when we talk about the whole world of diseases and of everything, they are the collected worlds of each moment, of that which arises and falls away. Without each single world, can there be so many worlds just as the whole world? But what is true? Only a single reality is conditioned to arise and it falls away conditioning the next moment, again and again and again until it's the world full of everything. So now, understand the whole world with many things to be just one world at a time. Isn't this the Teachings of the Buddha, the Enlightened One? So, can it be anyone's world? What's the answer? [No, it can't be anyone's world.] And this is the beginning of firmer and firmer understanding about the ultimate truth. No one, anatta. Is there any question?
#Dhammahome source video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIPzYamqHuk