Although vedanā (sensations) have played an important role in many meditation practices, there were no practitioners in the past, save the Buddha, who investigated their real nature. These vedanā are sometimes gross and sometimes subtle, the latter becoming more distinct when the mind is concentrated. However, the mind becomes agitated when it encounters more intense vedanā, and the meditator finds it difficult to observe them objectively and thereby investigate their true nature.
Many of the samaṇas and brāhmaṇas of the past who engaged in meditation held that these vedanā arise only due to the ripening of kamma (deeds committed in past lives). They therefore attempted to deliberately create vedanā through various austere practices and bodily torture. They believed that in this way they could destroy all the effects of their past actions manifesting as these vedanā and achieve the summum bonum, the stage of ultimate peace.
The Buddha, however, instead of stressing the causes of vedanā, instructed his followers to try to comprehend their true nature of impermanence (anicca) and thereby purify the mind. He advised them to maintain equanimity of mind, neither craving for pleasant vedanā nor having aversion to unpleasant vedanā, understanding that all vedanā are intrinsically impermanent in nature and are bound to pass away. The meditator must learn to observe them as they really are—arising (samudaya) and passing away (atthaṅgama). He must learn to recognise the danger (ādīnava) of relishing them (assāda) and must observe their cessation (nirodha) and the way leading to their cessation (nirodha-gāminī-patipadā). The Buddha taught that one can purify the mind only by observing and understanding the real nature of vedanā as anicca. In this way, the meditator can be freed from the cycle of birth and death and thereby attain the stage beyond mind and matter, which is free from all sorrow and misery.
The Buddha said:
Samāhito sampajāno, sato buddhassa sāvako; Vedanā ca pajānāti, vedanānañca sambhavaṃ.
Yattha cetā nirujjhanti, maggañca khayagāminaṃ; Vedanānaṃ khayā bhikkhu, nicchāto parinibbuto ti.1
A follower of the Buddha, with concentration, awareness and constant thorough understanding of impermanence, knows with wisdom the sensations, their origin, their cessation and the path leading to their end. A meditator who has reached the end (has experienced the entire range) of sensations (and has gone beyond) is freed from craving, is fully liberated.
An interesting story is narrated in the Sīvaka Sutta of the Saṃyutta Nikāya. Moḷiya-sīvaka, a sectarian mendicant, came to the Buddha and told him there were samaṇas and brāhmaṇas who held the view that sensations arise only due to the ripening of previous kamma (deeds). The Buddha replied that samaṇas and brāhmaṇas who held this view indeed 'run to extremes' (atidhāvanti) as they do not take other causes of vedanā into account. Others held the view that the only cause of vedanā was bile (pitta), and they were also going to extremes. Both of these opinions are miccha (incorrect)2. Believing that previous actions are the sole cause of vedanā, one indulges in different futile austere penances, hoping to eradicate the evil deeds committed in the past and reach a stage of purity and peace. It is equally useless and incorrect to regard bile as the sole cause of vedanā.
Ye te samaṇabrāhmaṇā evaṃvādino evaṃdiṭṭhino – 'yaṃ kiñcāyaṃ purisapuggalo paṭisaṃvedeti sukhaṃ vā dukkhaṃ vā adukkhamasukhaṃ vā sabbaṃ taṃ pubbekatahetū’ti. Yañca sāmaṃ ñātaṃ tañca atidhāvanti, yañca loke saccasammataṃ tañca atidhāvanti. Tasmā tesaṃ samaṇabrāhmaṇānaṃ micchāti vadāmi.3
Now when those ascetics and brahmins hold such a doctrine and view as this, ‘Whatever a person experiences, whether it be pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant, all that is caused by what was done in the past,’ they go beyond personal experience and beyond what is generally considered to be true in the world. Therefore I say that this is wrong on the part of those ascetics and Brahmins.
The Buddha, having a comprehensive understanding of reality, pointed out other factors which may cause vedanā. For instance, bile may be a cause; the increase of phlegm (semha) may also be a cause. Additionally, wind (vāta) in the body may be aggravated and cause different vedanā. At times, all three of these may become unbalanced, and due to the diffusion of chemical reactions in the body (sannipāta), one may feel various vedanā. Vedanā may also be caused by seasonal variations (utūni). For example, one feels certain vedanā when cold but different vedanā when the weather is hot. It also happens that in adverse circumstances, or when one is frightened, the equilibrium of the mind and body is disturbed (visamaṃ). Different vedanā will then be experienced. In addition, a person may have to undergo physical punishment, or he may deliberately adopt austere penances and torture himself as mentioned above, falsely believing that he can thereby erase his sins and attain a pure and steadfast life (opakkamikaṃ). In this instance as well, different vedanā may be experienced. Finally, the ripening of previous kamma may cause vedanā to arise in the body. Thus, by abandoning both extreme viewpoints, that of previous kamma as the sole cause or that of bile as the sole cause, the Buddha delineated eight causes of vedanā:
Pittaṃ semhañca vāto ca, sannipātā utūni ca;
Visamaṃ opakkamikaṃ, kammavipākena aṭṭhamī ti.4
Bile, phlegm, and wind, union of body humors and seasonal changes,
Imbalance and adverse external circumstances, with the fruit of past deeds as the eighth.
The Buddha advised his followers to meditate on vedanā arising every moment within the body, whatever their cause, and to learn to maintain a dispassionate state of mind towards them, knowing that they are bound to pass away. By this training, a disciple of the Buddha can go beyond the sphere of all vedanā and experience the cessation of misery. This is the experience of nibbāna.
Notes: (All references are to the VRI edition.)
- Samyutta Nikaya 2.4.249 Vedanāsaṃyuttaṃ, Samādhisuttaṃ
- Ibid 2.4.269 Sīvakasuttaṃ
- Ibid 2.4.269
- Ibid 2.4.269