Dec 6 MN 28 The Greater Discourse on the Simile of the Elephant's Footprint - The Four Noble Truths

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening everyone. I'm going to be reading Majjhima Nikaya 28. This is also known as the Greater Discourse on the Simile of the Elephant's Footprint. This is a translation by Bhikkhu Bodhi. Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Savatthi in Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's Park. There the venerable Sariputta addressed the bhikkhus: "Friends." They replied: "Friend." Venerable Sariputta said this: "Friends, just as the footprint of any living being that walks can be placed within an elephant's footprint, and so the elephant's footprint is declared the chief of them because of its great size, so too all wholesome states can be included in the four noble truths. What four? In the noble truth of suffering, in the noble truth of the origin of suffering, in the noble truth of the cessation of suffering, and in the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering. And what is the noble truth of suffering? Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, death is suffering, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering, not to obtain what one wants is suffering.

In short, the five aggregates affected by clinging are suffering. And what are the five aggregates affected by clinging? They are the material form aggregate affected by clinging, the feeling aggregate affected by clinging, aggregate affected by clinging. And what is the material form aggregate affected by clinging? It is the four great elements and the material form derived from the four great elements.

And what are the four great elements? They are the earth element, the water element, the fire element, and the air element. What, friends, is the earth element? The earth element may be either internal or external. What is the internal earth element? Whatever internally belonging to oneself is solid, solidified and clung to, that is: head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm, spleen, lungs, intestines, mesentery, contents of the stomach, feces, or whatever else internally belonging to oneself is solid, solidified, and clung to. This is called the internal earth element.

Because even if bandits were to sever you savagely limb by limb with a two-handled saw, he who gave rise to a mind of hate towards them would not be carrying out my teaching. So tireless energy shall be aroused in me and unremitting mindfulness established. My body shall be tranquil and untroubled, my mind concentrated and unified. And I'll let contact with fists, clods, sticks, and knives assail this body. For this teaching of the Buddhas is being practiced by me. When that bhikkhu thus recollects the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, if equanimity supported by the wholesome does not become established in him, then he arouses a sense of urgency thus: it is a loss for me, it is no gain for me, it is bad for me, it is no good for me, that when I thus recollect the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, equanimity supported by the wholesome does not become established in me.

Now there comes a time when the external water element is disturbed. It carries away villages, towns, cities, districts, and countries. There comes a time when the waters in the great ocean sink down a hundred leagues, two hundred leagues, three hundred leagues, four hundred leagues, 500 leagues, 600 leagues, 700 leagues. There comes a time when the waters in the great ocean stand seven palms deep, six palms deep, five palms deep, four palms deep, three palms deep, two palms deep, only a palm deep.

There comes a time when the waters in the great ocean stand seven fathoms deep, six fathoms deep, five fathoms deep, four fathoms deep, three fathoms deep, two fathoms deep, only a fathom deep. There comes a time when the waters in the great ocean stand half a fathom deep, only waist deep, only knee deep, only ankle deep. There comes a time when the waters in the great ocean are not enough to wet even the joint of a finger.

At that point too, friends, much has been done by that bhikkhu. If, friends, internally the ear is intact, but no external sounds come into its range, at that point too, friends, much has been done by that bhikkhu. If, friends, internally the nose is intact, but no external smells come into its range, at that point too, friends, much has been done by that bhikkhu. If, friends, internally the tongue is intact, but no external flavors come into its range, at that point too, friends, much has been done by that bhikkhu. If, friends, internally the body is intact, but no external tangibles come into its range, at that point too, friends, much has been done by that bhikkhu. If, friends, internally the mind is intact, but no external mind objects come into its range, and there is no corresponding conscious engagement, then there is no manifestation of the corresponding section of consciousness.

This is what the Venerable Sariputta said. The bhikkhus were satisfied and delighted in the Venerable Sariputta's words. So this sutta is a wonderful and brilliant analysis of the Four Noble Truths and an elaboration of them. Sariputta declares that the Four Noble Truths are the be-all and end-all of the Dhamma. Within the Four Noble Truths is contained everything that one requires in order to liberate the mind and to break the bonds of samsara. He analyzes the first noble truth according to what is usually talked about in terms of what is suffering. Birth is suffering, death is suffering, old age is suffering, not getting what one wants is suffering, being detached from what one wants is suffering, and so on and so forth.

And then, of course, the end statement of that first noble truth is that the five aggregates affected by clinging are suffering. And then he takes, well, first he states each of the five aggregates, and then he takes the form aggregate, the material form aggregate, and then he deciphers what form is and elaborates on what form is. During the Buddha's time and around ancient India, the understanding was that there are the four great elements. Sometimes there are six. The first four are always the same, which is earth, water, fire, air, and then there's sometimes space and the consciousness element. Form is the material form and what it is comprised of. And he talks about it in the context of the four great elements of ancient Indian thought.

If we were to bring this into contemporary understanding as one sees it, it is attributable to the four states of matter: water being the liquid state of matter, air being the gaseous state of matter, and fire being the plasma state of matter. And if you were to take a look at this body, this material form, it encompasses all of the solid matter in the form of what Sariputta describes as the skin, the bones, the muscles, the sinews, the joints, the teeth, the nails, the organs, and so on and so forth.

Likewise, we can see that the blood and the different liquid materials within the body are the water element or the liquid state of matter. And then the different courses of air that move around the stomach, the digestive system, and so on, are comparable to the gaseous state of matter.

And the way I see the plasma state of matter is the electrical circuitry that is in our neurons and in our nervous system. And one should see that all of these different elements of the body, whether you see it from the four great elements or the four states of matter, are nonetheless not sentient. They're insentient. They are impersonal, and they have no life to them, no vitality to them, if there was no consciousness there. The elements that make up the body are one and the same in the way of understanding with the external elements, or the states of matter around us in the universe that we experience in this reality that we experience. So there is no real difference between the materials of this body, on a chemical, biological, organic, and inorganic state of being,

with that of the elements of the universe. So in that case, when one experiences anything in the way of sensory feelings, sensory experiences, through the eyes, through the ears, through the nose, through the tongue, through the body or the skin, or through the mind, one should see it as dependent upon the materials that make up the sixth sense basis, that make up the mentality and materiality, that make up this physicality of the body.

The physical eyes, the physical ears, the physical nose, the physical tongue, the physical body, and the mind from which we experience the thoughts, the circuitry of the brain, the physical matter of the brain. And when one sees this, one understands that if contact arises dependent upon these things which have no inherent sense of self in them, which are impersonal, and is dependent upon these things which continually change, in the way of cellular change, in the way of metabolic change, in the way of atomic change, in the way that our eyes weaken as we age, our ears weaken as we age, and so on and so forth, if that contact is dependent upon those sort of sixth sense bases, which they are, then the sensory experiences that arise, in the way of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking, are also impermanent.

Because the moment these physical sense bases are no longer present, so too will the sensory experiences not be present. The feeling in the links of dependent origination, or the feeling aggregate, that one feels, that one has, is also impermanent, is also not worth holding on to, is subject to change, subject to dissolution, and so should not be considered as self, should not be considered as possessing a sense of inherent self. And along with feeling you have perception. So perception is conjoined with feeling, and if perception arises, or core arises, with feeling, in the same way as feeling, being dependent upon contact, which is dependent upon the sixth sense basis, which are all impermanent and therefore not worth holding on to and not to be considered to be self, then we should understand perception in the same way.

Perception being the part of the mind, the faculty and process of the mind that recognizes what is being felt, what is being experienced, what is being seen or heard or smelled or tasted or touched or thought about. It provides the understanding based on what one has learned previously and based in memory. So this perception, too, continually changes.

If we broaden the idea of perception as being part of what one considers to be the views one holds, let's say, based on what one has learned and gathered up and aggregated through knowledge gathering, through learning, and through the words of one's elders and friends, these perceptions too change based on the person that goes through various kinds of evolution. The perception of one thing might be different than the perception of what one had a week ago, a month ago, a year ago, five years ago, ten years ago, or even when one was a child.

So perceptions are fickle, just like feeling, just like contact, just like the sixth sense base. Then you have formations. Formations are dependent upon contact. They are activated by contact. They are conditioned by ignorance in one who is not fully released. But they are arisen dependent upon kamma. Dependent upon contact. And these formations, when they arise, they then activate a certain kind of consciousness.

So the formations that arise, arise in less than a microsecond, arise very quickly, and then continue on to influence the consciousness, and so on. But because they are impermanent, because they arise dependent upon other factors, causes and conditions, they should not be and they cannot be considered to be self. They cannot be considered to be me, mine, or myself.

And then consciousness itself is dependent upon the sensory experiences one has. Consciousness arises dependent upon the contact and the feeling. So there is, as Sariputta talks about, the conscious engagement. He talks about the physical sixth sense basis being intact. Various sensory experiences, the external senses, sensory experiences, tied to each of the sixth sense spaces, coming into range.

For example, one sees the light and it comes into range. But if there is no conscious engagement of that corresponding consciousness, which means that there has to be an intention of attention. That means that the factors of intention and attention, the faculties of intention and attention are being processed and carry forward that conscious engagement to be able to see that light, to have that sensory experience.

And then that intention will then drive forward either craving or mindfulness, as Sariputta talks about, meaning one could get carried away by the visual form, delight in it, and take it to be a sense of self, or being attractive to a sense of self and attached to it, or have aversion towards that visual form, have distaste towards it, and then have the idea that it is aversive, it is distasteful, it is disgusting to a sense of self. In either case, the sense of self has arisen or just merely identifies with that visual form. Then that craving is present and that craving arises through one or more of the five aggregates and the experience of the five aggregates.

It is the clinging aspect of the five aggregates, these five aggregates affected by clinging that need to be seen, and that need to be let go of in the way of clinging to them. And that is done through awareness and mindfulness, through proper attention. In whatever is being experienced through the five aggregates, one needs to understand that it is just a series of impersonal phenomena that is arising.

It is a series of impersonal, impermanent phenomena, that are made up of one or more of the elements or states of matter. And so there is no sentience to them. There is no sense of self or consciousness to them. They are just arising dependent upon causes and conditions. And when they come into the range of the field of the sixth sense basis, and there is conscious engagement with them, then at that point, there needs to also be sharp mindfulness, so that one understands that whatever is arising is to be taken as impersonal, impermanent, and not worth holding on to.

And so if that happens, then one stops the flow of dependent origination at that point. Then one stops that craving from arising, that clinging from arising, that bhava or being from arising, that birth from arising, and then the suffering from arising. And so if at any point this feeling that arises, the sensory experience that arises, is taken as self, or there is craving present through one of the five aggregates, or the experience that is occurring through one or more of the five aggregates, and if that arises, one needs to see with mindfulness and how does that happen it is through the understanding of the Eightfold Path. So here in the sutta, Sariputta talks about the five aggregates and the craving that arises from them and the craving for them, which is the origin of suffering, and rightly so, because once one craves, personalizes and takes any of these five aggregates to be permanent and a sense of self, creating that craving, then that will then create the clinging, that will then create the being, that will then create the birth of action rooted in kamma, and then that will create suffering.

So this is the origin of suffering, taking any of these five aggregates as sense of self, with a sense of self. Then he talks about the second noble truth, being that craving for them that arises, the origin of that, and then he talks about the cessation, which is the abandoning and removal of the craving. This is done through the Eightfold Path. Although he doesn't mention it, it is quite implicit within the sutta, and it should be understood thus: that it is the Eightfold Path that is the way to the cessation of suffering. And that starts with obviously right view, that is first and foremost not subscribing to an eternalist view or a nihilistic or annihilationism view, which still considers there to be a sense of self in there. And then there is the mundane view, which begins with understanding that there is action and consequence, there is cause and consequence, there is benefit in giving and being generous, there is a debt of gratitude that one owes to one's parents or those who have brought one up.

There is the world that exists now and there is worlds beyond this world. There are worlds beyond this world. That's the mundane right view. The super mundane right view is the understanding of the four noble truths and seeing them in every moment of every phenomenon that arises and passes away, to right intention. Right intention being the intention of letting go, of renunciation, of having the idea that there is nothing worth holding on to and whatever is being held on to should be let go of, should be understood as attachments that need to be let go of. And there is the intention of non-ill will and non-cruelty, not to engage in actions and speech that would create in oneself or in others ill will or a sense of harmfulness.

And so the cultivation of loving kindness, the cultivation of the brahmaviharas, is quite important in order to understand this intention and to actually exercise this right intention. And then that naturally spills over into right speech and right action and right livelihood. Right speech being not using false speech, not using harsh speech, not using divisive speech, not engaging in idle chatter.

Right action being refraining from ill will and intentionally harming anyone in mind, body, or speech. Refraining from taking what is not given, from stealing essentially, and refraining from sexual misconduct. Right livelihood is that livelihood that contributes to peace, that contributes to the well-being of others, doesn't snatch away the possibility of another's potential to gain liberation or to access liberation. And so right livelihood is that which is peaceful and bears fruit through peace and with peace, and bears fruit in peace. And then this goes into right effort, which is the six R's process, as one understands it. The four right efforts.

When one understands the four right efforts, then mindfulness can naturally arise. The four right efforts being preventing the unwholesome states from arising, abandoning already arisen unwholesome states, then bringing up wholesome states, and then maintaining those wholesome states. This happens obviously in the meditation process and through the six Rs. When you prevent unwholesome states from arising, you do so by recognizing when the mind is hindrances.

When you release and relax, you are abandoning and letting go of the hindrances that are already present in the mind and the craving and tension attached to them. When you come back to your smile or re-smile, you are bringing up the wholesome state of mind, starting with the enlightenment factor of joy. Your object of meditation, you inevitably and quite effectively start to bring up the other factors of awakening. You are activating them every time you do the six R's process. And so this is right effort, and this goes into mindfulness. Mindfulness means having the awareness of the present in terms of where one's mind is in relation to the body, in relation to sensory experiences, in relation to the mind itself and the mental states within that mind. One is mindful, one develops mindfulness, and one is mindful in order to see if there is any craving or aversion present. To that extent, one utilizes mindfulness and comes back to the present awareness of the body, the feelings, the mind, and mental states.

By exercising this mindfulness in this way, one is practicing the recognition step, strengthening the mindfulness through recognizing what is occurring in the mind when one continues to meditate. When one is meditating, one accesses one or more of the jhanas, and then the higher levels of perception. These encompass the Eightfold Path. When one utilizes the Eightfold Path through this understanding and effectively exercises them, one then has the cessation of suffering by rooting out the craving that might have arisen or rooting out even the potential for craving to arise, and staying in a mind that is free of craving, that is free of suffering.

And so when one attains arahatship, then that unlocks the right knowledge, the effective insight into the understanding that the mind is liberated. And so there is right liberation in where the mind is immersed in that nibbana. So that is the fruit of the practice. And this is how it should be understood, that one has to see that everything around oneself and everything that is comprised of the body, the material aggregates, the form aggregate, the feeling aggregate, the perception aggregate, the formations aggregate, and the consciousness aggregate are all impersonal, are all impermanent, and should not be held onto. If one does not exercise right mindfulness, if one does not exercise the awareness and proper attention to what is arising and considering that all that arises is not me, not mine, not myself.

When one does this, one has let go of the craving and one has let go of the potential for craving, and one lets it go, but then also one lets go of the potential for the craving from then having arisen. It will not arise. And so when this happens, one is naturally in a place of what one can say is a mundane nibbana, a peaceful state of mind, void of craving, void of any attachments, void of any personalizations.

and void of any ignorance because one has properly exercised the Four Noble Truths in this manner. Any questions? Hi, Delson. Hello. The simile of the saw. And a question that comes up many times in people is: how should one engage socially when you see things that are not fair or that should be changed? I noticed that in many communities there is great discussion in either one should take care of their own practice versus one should do good in the world and engage in politics or whatever.

And I would like your view on it. See, it is we should always first create a foundation in the mind for loving kindness, for compassion, for joy and equanimity. In other words, develop the brahmaviharas. We start off from that, and then at that point we can engage in a manner that is effective and in alignment with the Dhamma. And when we engage with the world, it is for the sake of providing peace to the world, for the sake of providing peace of mind to people who might not have peace of mind, to resolve conflicts if it is possible. And I mean that on a personal level. So it starts with oneself, then it continues on with one's family, friends, but the idea of engaging in politics and so on, one can do that so long as one is a lay person and has the intention of doing that.

But as far as I know from the suttas, the Buddha talks about how, as a monk, one should not engage in politics. But as lay people, one can, or as a lay person, one can definitely utilize the principles of the Dhamma in such a way that it can create some sort of positive influence for one's community and an at-large society, if possible. We see this happening in different ways that are not necessarily rooted in the complete understanding of the Dhamma, but when we look at history, there have been figures in history, in modern history. For example, you have Martin Luther King, who utilized non-violence, who utilized the right intention of letting go and not engaging in ill will or cruelty or violence, and was able to make some kind of change, at least for the foreseeable future in his generation and so on.

They made their impact on history by utilizing such principles. See, it is. It always begins with ourselves. It always begins with first establishing that loving kindness in ourselves, which then we can first and foremost radiate to others, and then engage consciously, actively, through that mindset of loving kindness, through that mindset of not having ill will. Hi, Darshan. Hello. I probably want to take this opportunity again. So this sutta is a really good example that is showing the interrelationship between the links of dependent origination and the five aggregates. Yeah. They're saying these five aggregates are independently rich, not independently rich. So these five aggregates are really the product of the flow of the origination. So they are a reason, they arise because of the conscious engagement.

They do not arise if there is no engagement. So that engagement. What is that engagement? Is this our inclination, our craving, our desire? Why do they arise? This is kind of, yeah? Shall we, would you be able to expand on this one? Yeah. It's the conscious engagement. The conscious engagement is the intention. It starts first and foremost with the intention, which then pays attention. The intention to pay attention to what is arising.

Now, when one does that, then you have to see if there is any craving arising from that. When there's conscious engagement, there can be either craving or there can just be the present understanding that this is here right now. There is present this particular sensation or this particular perception or whatever it might be. And then also have the understanding through correct mindfulness and correct understanding.

That this is impersonal and impermanent, so obviously at that point, with that sort of intention or that sort of attention, there is no clinging or craving for what is arising. When it was talking about the wind, fire, water, it was talking about the changes happening outside of it in the environment. So I feel like sometimes, when we see some situation is happening, like some wildfire is happening or some sea levels are changing, if we become too emotional with that, and we become angry maybe sometimes, that can cause trouble to us.

How do you see this in terms of what is your perspective on seeing these kinds of things happening outside with respect to the five aggregates? Yeah. It's interesting because Sariputta talks about the fire and about water, for example, which is in the current environment. And if things continue the way that they are going, that there will be a lack of the resource of water.

And so there will be problems there. And so there can be wars and fighting and all kinds of things that might arise from the scarcity of water, for example. Or when you see these natural disasters arising, that can create tragedies for people because of untimely death or whatever it might be. When one sees all of this, let's say on the news, what one has to first consider is, is this actually in one's control at the moment? You can't do anything about it in terms of changing what has already arisen. way of creating for oneself or preventing from this arising again. There is the practical approach to seeing it and then implementing certain things that can help to prevent that from arising again.

And this has been done in some ways or another for preventing wildfires, for example. But in terms of seeing this in the news or hearing about it, what first needs to be understood is what in the way of emotions when one sees it or one hears about it. First and foremost, you need to see for yourself if there is any kind of, as you mentioned, anger or discontentment or frustration that arises, that can then give rise to further craving, and then that can give rise to further clinging, and so on. So first you see if that's present, let go of it, and come back to a more balanced state of mind. If there is the intention of doing something about it and changing it, let it come from a wiser perspective rather than a reactive perspective, rather than coming from anger, understanding that this causes destruction. And if there are the capabilities in oneself to do something about it, then do so from a mind that is more harmonious and that is rooted in a

perspective of Dhamma. Thank you. Thank you. Let's share some merit. May suffering ones be suffering free, and the fear-struck fearless be. May the grieving shadow grieve, and may all beings find relief. May all beings share this merit that we have thus acquired for the acquisitions of all kinds of happiness. May beings inhabiting space and earth, devas and nagas of mighty power, merit of ours. May they long protect the Buddha's dispensation.