Upādāna, moving far away from this moment
Excerpt from the EN-VN Dhamma discussion with Ajahn Sujin on Zoom on Sun Jul 27th 2025.
Mp3 audio file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QLw42U0tfnlH74TJuA5vlhbNgFzkODoI
Sīlabbat-upādāna, clinging to the wrong deeds or actions
[Tam B.] Ajahn, do you have any comments on upādāna, clinging?
[A. Sujin] We can understand the differences between upādāna and upādāna-khandha because it is lobha only, which is upādāna, right? Clinging so very strongly to the object. So the object of clinging is also the object of upādāna, it's another meaning of upādāna-khandha, right?
According to paticca-samuppada, tanha -lobha- conditions upādāna; upādāna conditions bhava. [Yes, and Ajahn, there are four kinds of upādāna.]
Four, what are they? [Kām-upādāna.] Yes, what is it?
There is attachment to kāma objects so strongly, so it is kām-upādāna, clinging to the sensous objects strongly. It has to be lobha, of the degree that it clings to the kāma only, so strong. And? [The second one is the ditth-upādāna.]
See, ditthi and upādāna, clinging to ditthi, so strongly. [So that refers to all kinds of ditthi, right?]
The base of all kinds of ditthi is att-anuditthi, isn't it? [Yes.] And? [And then the third one is sīla...]
Sīlabbat-upādāna, clinging to the wrong deeds or actions because of the upādāna, clinging so much to them. That's why people sometimes pay respect to the tree or to the image or to whatever is there without any understanding that the truth is not the object, but it's the virtues of the Buddha, not just the object, the image. At the moment of paying respect, for example, paying homage to the Buddha image, at that moment it's not to the Buddha image, but to the virtues of the Buddha. But when it's wrong, no idea at all, right? Just paying respect to the image of the Buddha instead than to the quality of His virtues. So, it is sīlabbat-upādāna, we can say, even the wrong practice, trying to do something in order to gain right understanding or different degrees of vipassana ñana, wrongly. It is sīlabbat-upādāna, it's not just in mind, but it's the moment of doing something wrong, by wrong understanding.
So, at the moment of developing right understanding, is there sīlabbat-upādāna or sīlabbata-paramasa-kaya-gantha? See, the wrong way. So, what kind of upādāna right now? Kām-upādāna, right? [Yes.]
And ditth-upādāna, depending on the moment; attavad-upādāna; and sīlabbat-upādāna, not now, right? [Yes, not now.]
It's daily life, for sure. When one just prays and asks for something in return, is it wrong or is it right? [It's wrong, Achaan.]
What condition such moments, deeds, can it be sīlabbat-upādāna? [Yes]
Upādāna-khandha, is the arahant seeing permanent?
[Tam B.] Why didn't the Buddha just say that the five khandhas are dukkha, instead than the five upādāna-khandhas?
[A. Sujin] Is the arahatta's seeing permanent? [No, Achaan.]
So, all conditioned realities arise and fall away, dukkha.
[Tam B.] We learn that each visible object is different, for example, blue color is different from pink color.
[A. Sujin] All by conditions, right? [Yes.] Even color. What about the eyes of the Buddha and the others? Different or not different? So, we learn about which rupa is conditioned by kamma, which one is conditioned by utu, and which is conditioned by ahara and which by temperature. Is that right? Is it true? Sacca-parami, the most important, being true to the truth. Why someone has blue eyes and another brown? Even the eyes are different by conditions. That's why we learn about what conditions what.
[Tam B.] The realities, when forming concepts, can be agreed upon by many different people.
[A. Sujin] Can this moment be another moment? No matter what, now, can it be the next moment? [It cannot.]
It's the answer for all questions, right? The truth is that it's gone, never to arise again in samsara, not just today or tomorrow, but it will never arise again in samsara at all. So, we are talking about that which has gone, what about now? This moment is not another moment.
Upādāna, moving far away from this moment
Be truthful to the truth, sacca-parami, otherwise there will never be the moment of understanding the truth of what is there right now at all, right? And the point of listening to the truth is to understand what is there now. Is that right? Each moment is gone instantly, very, very quickly, unknown. So, what can be known is only that which is now appearing, no thought about it yet, but what is there now, this moment? Seeing for sure, and that which is seen, not anyone, beginning to be true to the truth, it's just different colors, and one color at a time, right? Otherwise, how could there be the idea of something, someone? Only colors, different colors from moment to moment, conditioning such thoughts about something all the time, from birth to death, they are all gone.
So, what about now? Gone, unknown, until it's gradually known, to let go of ignorance and attachment, kām-upādāna, ditth-upādāna, sīlabbat-upādāna, getting far away from this moment. In the ultimate truth, isn't it sīlabbata-paramasa? Deeper and deeper, to understand the truth of what has been heard many times already about seeing and that which is seen, they can never be the same at all, by conditions. Be true to the truth, right now.
So, we talk about just one reality at a time, to understand it a little more, deeper, deeper; more understanding, it's more subtle; now it seems like it's not subtle at all, but in truth, what appears now does not appear as it is, as just different colors seen from moment to moment only, and that is the truth of seeing. Isn't that right? No one.
So, learn to understand the very subtle realities, that it does not appear as it is right now, but the truth is that it's there by conditions and gone instantly. That is the the First Truth of the Four Noble Truth, dukkha-ariya-sacca. We keep repeating "dukkha-ariya-sacca" many times, how much understanding of the sacca, which is so true, what is there is conditioned to arise and falls away instantly, unknown, but there can be moments of beginning to hear, little by little, about the truth of each reality. By then, there can be right understanding that it's so deep because at each moment now in a day, what appears always appears as something, is that right? But in truth, it's there and gone instantly, can that be realized? If not, it's useless to listen to the truth.
So, the truth is the truth, and ignorance cannot understand it at all, that now seeing is a reality which arises by conditions just to see. No one can stop it, it's there already, and it sees. And it sees only that which impinges on the eye-base, not other rupas, which do not impinge on the eye-base at all. So, how many moments for that which is now appearing as different things around? Just living without any understanding of this moment, until beginning to consider the truth when there is hearing about the truth, little by little.
The words conditioning the way to understand the truth
So, now we are talking about upādāna, it's there now, unknown, beginning to be known. If we consider the truth of each different one, the seeing and that which is seen; beginning to attend to the characteristic of seeing. And at moment of attending to that which is seen, there cannot be anything at all, just that which is seen, and now it's seeing, no understanding of seeing until there are enough conditions to attend, beginning to attend, to the characteristic which experiences the object, from birth to death, many different realities. Seeing is not liking, we've said many words about realities like sati; is there sati today, now? Not just the word, but is it there arising and falling away by conditions, different ones, never to arise again, what has arisen, fallen away.
Each word is the word conditioning the way to understand the truth, that it has to be the understanding of the very subtle truth, and that is the way to wear away the idea of "I can do", or "I can understand it". No "I" at all. Imagine, when understanding develops to that degree, no doubt about this moment, it's only that which is seen. How long will it be before that moment? How long? Can anyone tell, or only you, or only the moment of understanding the truth? But if the understanding of seeing is not forgotten, that it sees now - it - not anyone, it can be condition for the sudden, anatta, moment attending to seeing, when there is understanding of what is the way, to have such moment, only by understanding, a little more.
So, it conditions moments of not forgetting the truth of seeing right now, that it's there, but it's not known. And without attention to the characteristic of seeing, the seeing cannot be object of understanding, like now. Until it's the object of right understanding of the nature of seeing, and of the nature of thinking, smelling, tasting, touching, any moment.
Sati, be truthful to each reality, otherwise it's just the word
Beginning to understand the differences between the reality which is the chief of experiencing the object, and the attachment or aversion to that object, the liking or disliking, and different feelings, and different memories now. Can this be known? Because it's so true. Feeling is now; memory is now; attachment is now; irritation or aversion, even it's so slight, it's now, unknown until it's known. Can it be known? And if we don't talk about it again and again and again, can there be conditions for the moment of attending to seeing right now? By conditions. It's so very difficult because no one can make it arise, only be patient to hear again, consider again and again and again, to be condition for not being forgetful about it.
And the characteristic which does not forget is sati, right? So, is any moment of sati being there today? Learn to understand what we're talking about, like sati, if it's not known now, can there be the moment of understanding that the reality which does not forget about wholesomeness is different from the moment of attachment or aversion or ignorance? Be truthful to each reality, otherwise it's just the word, no doubt about the definition of sati, but is there sati now? And how can there be thinking about it, even that it's not "I".
Patience, enough not to be sīlabbata-paramasa?
What is there? It's just a reality. Is there patience enough? Not to be sīlabbata-paramasa! It's there in life unknown, if we don't talk about sīlabbata-paramasa, it's just the word, but it's not a word, it's any moment of wrong doing or practicing, trying so hard to gain such and such understanding or realization, It's not far away from daily life, it can be any moment, when there is no understanding. Are we talking about the path leading to realize the truth of this moment or any moment? The only way.
#Dhammahome source video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2_BnbJsY6A