What is the "I" Concept - Paramatthaka Sutta -Clinging to Views

So this is, here we are, the octet on the supreme, Paramatthaka Sutta. So what do we mean by Paramatthaka? Parama means the supreme or the unsurpassed, and Atthaka really is the octet, right? So that's probably because of the eight verses that it's on. So I'll get started. Settling on his own as supreme among views, whatever a person esteems as best in the world, in comparison, he says, all others are inferior.

Therefore, he has not transcended disputes. So this is really a sutta on transcending views, and on letting go of holding on to views, even views of the Dhamma. Give me one second. Let me just change something here. So whatever a person esteems as best in the world, right? Supreme among all views. Okay, I just needed to change the settings. Okay, coming back. Settling on his own as supreme among views. So that means someone has concluded the idea that whatever I have now learned, that is the supreme, that is better than all others. Everything else is inferior.

So what does that mean? In fact, it uses this word, comparison. In comparison, he says, all others are inferior. Therefore he has not transcended disputes. Whenever you hold on to a view, you are still violent. Sounds very explicit, but that is the truth. As long as you hold on to a certain view, that means you are against others. Against others. The whole point of the Dhamma is to transcend that duality of "I am better" or "others are inferior." Why do I use the word violence? Because that is the beginning of violence. That is the beginning of taking up the stick and sword, you know. We would assume that in the Dhamma there is a sense of harmlessness, right?

There is a sense of not causing harm to others. There is a sense of having the intention of being kind to others. But it's sad to say that even in the world of the Dhamma, I don't care whether it's TWIM or whether it's other schools. I'm not pointing out any school. I'm pointing out people who still believe themselves to take the Dhamma as a security blanket for their ego.

That the ego holds onto the idea that now I have found the true path, right? And I'm telling this to the people who feel that the Dhamma is the true path. Wonderful, that's wonderful. But as soon as somebody says something against your view, how does your mind react? Or forget about even that. If you take in the security that this is the Dhamma and this is the supreme and everything else is inferior, there is the likely, not the likelihood, but there is the small liability in the mind for it to defend that. And in defending that, there can be an egoic identification with it. And when there's an egoic identification with it, it's a slippery slope.

It can take you all the way down to the taking up of the stick and the stone. A lot of people ask me, how do you know you're ready to teach Dhamma meditation? And I've said this a few times too, in different places and events. First of all, it's one thing to be aware and knowledgeable and perhaps even have a little bit of wisdom. But especially in today's world, let alone the time of the Buddha, or the time between when the Buddha was around and now, there's always been a defensiveness about views, and it can take you to very, very corruptible states of mind. So the reason I bring that up is because from my own personal experience, I've had people send emails. I've had people make comments. I've had people even give death threats. This is what I'm talking about. The attachment to views leads to even thinking about harm, right?

So that's why it says, therefore he has not transcended disputes, whether it's mental disputes, whether it's emotional disputes, whether it's verbal disputes, or even physical disputes, the intention to harm. So it's a very insidious thing, or it can be an insidious thing. You must see this, you must understand that the Dhamma is a raft. Working for you, great.

Remember to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others, right? We're not here to evangelize. We're not here to say, oh, poor the world around us, that they don't know this Dhamma. It's their kamma. They will come to it when they have to. We are not responsible for whether they come to it or not. We are responsible first and foremost for our own well-being.

And then, from seeing our own well-being, having cultivated wholesome mindset and wholesome intentions, and very carefully understanding and seeing where the insidiousness of conceit comes up, where it's comparing, where a certain kind of pride and egoic identification arises, and letting that go. So every time you notice your mind saying, oh, I want to hold on to that. Oh, that person is wrong. I should correct them. Where is it coming from? Where is the intention coming from? Is it coming from the comparison? Is it coming from pity? Is it coming from sympathy, where you're looking down?

Is it coming from I know better? What is it coming from? Pay attention to your mind. to your intentions. Whatever benefit one sees for oneself in the seen, the heard, the sensed, or in good behavior and observances, having grasped hold of that alone, one regards all else as inferior. The skilled speak of that as a not, when one is attached and regards others as inferior. inferior. Therefore, one should not be attached to the seen, to the heard, or the sensed, or to good behavior and observances.

Very interesting. Whatever benefit one sees for oneself in the seen, the heard, the sensed. So what is that? In the seen, the heard, the sensed, through the sense basis. Not necessarily through the cognized, although that can also be included here. Really, he's pointing out to what? He's pointing out to experience. He's pointing out to vedana. He's pointing out to feeling.

If you just notice what is happening with regards to feeling, what is happening when the eyes make contact with the world outside, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the body, and how the mind takes that and perceives it, the more you do it. And it's not about taking a step of noting everything. It's about seeing from a perspective of, let's say, an objective or nearly objective perspective, of there's just this thought, pleasant experience.

Even if it's pleasant, there is, okay, fine, benefit in that, but it is also impermanent. Seeing the conditioned nature of experience, seeing the impermanence or instability of every experience, and therefore seeing that holding onto it is the knot, K-N-O-T, the knot, right? The skilled, who are the skilled? They are those who have gone further on the path and seen for themselves.

So what do we mean by the skilled? They are somebody who has not only developed and cultivated the path, but maybe even had a couple of attainments, if not one. And especially by the time that you become fully awakened, these knots are not present. Right? So having seen through that attachment and letting it go, one experiences relief from that.

One remains unattached. One remains detached to the scene. You know, this is echoing the Bahiya Sutta. In the scene, there's only the scene. In the hearing, there's only the heard. In the basis, either cognizing, there's only the cognized. That means the mind is observant, the mind is aware, the mind is attentive, the mind is wisely attentive. Wisely, what does that mean? To be wisely attentive is to see this as not me, not mine, not myself. And it is, experientially speaking, the perspective of, or taking the perspective of, oh, okay, I see there is craving coming up.

I see there is clinging coming up. I see there is becoming coming up, or habitual tendencies coming up. I see there is an unpleasant feeling coming up, right? Or I'm feeling terrible, or I'm feeling happy, or I'm feeling joyful. But in that process, because remember, it's not about using the language. Maybe when you're a beginner it helps to say there is this, or there is what I'm seeing here, instead of okay, this is what I am feeling, or this is what I am experiencing. Maybe that helps to bring some space between what is experienced and what is the becoming of the experience.

So the idea here is we understand that everything that is experienced is just experience. Anything after that is the mind taking it personally as me, mine, or myself, when it relates to it from a sense of comparison or conceit, or holding on to views, or holding on to a specific opinion, or holding on to the conceit or bhava of becoming more with that feeling. That I want more of that feeling to remain because it makes me feel good. Or I want this feeling to stop because it makes me feel bad.

Right? The moment you notice that, that's a wonderful thing. The moment you see that, that's a wonderful thing. Don't judge yourself by, oh, it's still there. Judge yourself by, oh, I'm catching it. I'm seeing it. And that's a wonderful thing to do. I'm noticing it. The moment you are noticing it, there is that space. There is that gap. There is that pause, where you're no longer encumbered by, shadowed by, encircled by, or ensnared by it. You're no longer in the fogginess of the experience as I am experiencing it, I am in the thick of it. You are now having a clear perspective that this is what is going on. The recognize step. And when you see that, then you're able to gently release and relax. When you do that, your mind becomes purified.

Your mind becomes cultivated. Your mind becomes developed in the right direction, towards liberation. Now, interesting, he says not only that, that one should not be attached to the seen, to the heard, or the sensed, or to good behavior and observances. Really, what is he talking about? He's talking about the rites and rituals. The translation here is good behavior and observances, but really what we're speaking of is rites and rituals.

So what is it about rites and rituals? Why does one let go of that, or aim to let go of that? Because, again, insidiously within those rites and rituals can come views about this or that, about the world, about who am I in the world, my place in the world, what do I have to do in the world? And so on and so forth.

Understand that sila is an imperative for the benefit of the mind to experience greater degrees of freedom. Sometimes what happens, I have noticed, sometimes on retreat for example, people get very neurotic about the sila. People are like, am I actually doing the right thing? Oh, I stepped on that bug. Was I in the wrong there? Am I being overly cautious or am I being too careless? What should I be doing? Look at that. Look at that whole series of those bubbles of thoughts that come up. Where are they coming from? They're coming from conceit. They're coming from a sense of "I'm not good enough, so I need to be good enough by being a good little boy or a good little girl." That's what it is. But the Buddha, his whole emphasis was on kusala and akusala. Kusala is the wholesome, that which is skillfully liberating. Akusala is the unwholesome.

Akusala is that which is binding, which causes contraction, which causes disturbance. So the very set of rules and observances and good behavior, whatever you want to call it, the rites and rituals, the sila, the very attachment to it comes from: Am I being good enough? To clarify all of that, where is my intention? What is my intention?

Is my intention leading me to be more skillfully liberated? Is my intention leading me to be more aware, more attentive? It's okay to feel a certain way. It's okay for experiences to be a certain way. But where is my intention? Is my intention to cause harm or is my intention to let go of harm? Is my intention to be unkind or is my intention to be kind? Is my intention to be attached and constrictive and stubborn and inflexible?

And stingy? Or is my intention to let go and be expansive and generous and wholesome? It all boils down to intention. So the attachment to good behavior and observances is not about that we have to stop being wholesome. It's about letting go of, am I good enough? Am I doing it right? The moral perfectionism. It's not about doing the right thing because I have to be a good little boy or a good little girl. It's about, is this helping me to let go? Is this helping me to be more collected? Because the sila is just a stepping stone towards samadhi. Nor should one construct any view in the world by means of knowledge or good behavior and observances.

First, let's break that down. That is what the mind is always doing. Once we are out of survival mode for food and water and clothing and shelter and all of these things, especially in places like the US and in Europe, in the so-called developed cities of India and elsewhere, where we feel like to be civilized is to have a view.

To be civilized is to construct an opinion about things, because that way we can make good conversation with people. Okay, you can play that little game. That's completely fine. But to what extent are you holding on to that view? You want to talk about kings and politics? Can you do it being unattached? Can you do it without holding on to a perspective?

Can you do it without saying that this is my worldview? You see, when we become practitioners of the Dhamma, the worldview is filtered through that practice. But to what extent do I hold on to that filtration system, right? Where I construct a view, to the extent that I am having comparisons, because the other part of this is: one should not take oneself as equal or think of oneself as inferior or superior. This is the conceit. This is definitely the conceit. One should not think of oneself as superior. Why? Because there is a perspective that my view is better than others. And by the way, it's not about just the view of the Dhamma. It's about anything as simple as holding on to a political view or an ideological view.

Look at the fact that you don't even have to go back far in history, even recent history, where holding on to an ideological perspective, where the clashes are going on, where the mind becomes inflamed, where it even causes division amongst family members, a person based on the kind of view that they're holding on to.

We characterize people based on the views that they hold on to. Why should you care? Notice that. Notice that characterization process that's happening. Oh, that person is inferior, or that person is superior, because they have something more than I want or need, so I need to know what that is. This person does the things that I do. This person believes in the things that I do. This person speaks to my thoughts, speaks to my opinions, therefore they are my equal. Or perhaps they speak better, so they're my superior in that sense.

The moment you have concepts like that, then you are still mired by conceit. You're still mired by conceit. The idea is it doesn't matter who holds on to what view or the other. Our objective is to liberate the mind from suffering. That's it. If you're coming to these talks because you want to be heard or seen based on your particular views, maybe that's secondary to what I'm doing here.

I'm only here because, well, I want to be able to explore the suttas, not for study, not for cramming information, not for holding on to knowledge, but for developing wisdom. And not only wisdom, but liberating wisdom. If you're here to clarify things with regards to how to let go, wonderful. But if you're here because you want to be recognized for your views, to be seen by me confirming something, I get that all the time as a Dhamma teacher.

And I don't say anything to them, because it's not my position. It's not my responsibility either. If a person is holding on to their views and looking for confirmation and validation, I think that in itself is the answer. If you're looking for validation, then you yourself probably have certain doubts about that view. If you're coming here because you want to be able to be inspired, not by my words, but by the study of the suttas, be inspired by that to practice, then wonderful.

There's a teacher from a different school of practice who said, an ounce of practice is equal to a ton of study. I don't want to say oftentimes, but sometimes maybe, people who come to the retreats and they'll say, it's been a few months since I've done any kind of practice. Then why the hell are you here? Why are you on retreat?

First practice. Do some kind of practice. Then come and do your retreat. And then there are those people who will say, all right, I'll keep the five precepts. I'm on retreat, but once I get off a retreat, it's okay. I'll practice for now in the retreat, see what progress I make, and then I'll go out about my time. And then a month before the next retreat, I'll practice again.

That's not how it works. I don't consider you a true Dhamma practitioner in that case, but that's my personal view, right? That's me holding on to my view. I don't consider you a true Dhamma practitioner if you don't have a consistent practice, right? You can do 100 retreats in your lifetime, but if there's no consistency of practice in between them, what is the point?

Now, in this last retreat, somebody asked, how come you guys are not going on retreat? That's to me and David and Kirsten. Well, the response to that is, we practice every day. We do our practice. We're consistent. On retreat, in terms of for me to conduct a retreat and for them to be there, that's also retreat mode by default. So we're practicing, we're practicing, we're studying, we're reading, we're doing whatever we can to get off the wheel of samsara, to be kinder, to be more patient, to be more loving and kind, to be more equanimous, and all of these things.

Because practice, of course, is not about just sitting for an hour every day. Practice is also when things get difficult. To what extent can I still be steady? To what extent can I still have perspective on situations at hand? To what extent can I still be patient? To what extent can I still practice being compassionate? To what extent can I still be equanimous in difficult situations?

So the idea here is don't worry about the other people. Just work on yourself and be consistent. Even on knowledge. Not taking sides among those who are divided. One does not fall back on any view at all. Now, from the outside, it might look like when we say one does not fall back on any view at all, it sounds like an eel wriggler. Sounds like one of those eel wrigglers. Like, no, I'm not going to conclude on anything. No, it's not about that.

It's about having used the raft to get to the other side, to get to the other shore. You have abandoned what? You have abandoned what is taken up. What is taken up? Views, opinions, the constructs of the world. Letting go of that, not clinging to it. What do we mean by clinging? Not creating associations, not constructing, not creating rationalizations for why this view is better than the other or this view is worse than that, or whatever it is. Knowledge.

To be fully independent means to be fully liberated, means to be fully awakened. There is that understanding in which this is the Diganaka Sutta. We'll be doing that when we go back into Majjhima Nikaya. I believe it's Majjhima Nikaya 74, if memory serves well. Diganaka Sutta, with the long nails. Digha is long and naka is nails, and the story is that this person called Diganaka is an ascetic who is part of the skeptics, who is the eel wriggler, and he goes to the Buddha, and either he is a cousin or a nephew of Sariputta, and Sariputta is fanning the Buddha.

And Diganaka, I should say Diganaka, not Diganikhai. Diganaka goes to the Buddha and he says, I am of the view that I hold no views. I have let go of all views. Right? And the Buddha says, well, have you let go of the view that you have let go of all views? And he goes through seeing in the Dhamma discussion, or in the Sutta, I should say.

He goes through the Vedana, and he shows Diganaka the impermanence of Vedana, of feeling, of experience. And it's then that Sariputta realizes that the Buddha is not even attached to his own Dhamma. And that helps him liberate his mind fully. There doesn't need to be a dependency on the Dhamma. There doesn't need to be a dependency on the knowledge you've cultivated, on the wisdom even that you've cultivated.

Not taking sides among those who are divided, one does not fall back on any view at all. People can have opinions about this, that, or the other. People can have opinions about the suttas, about the Eightfold Path, about jhanas, about everything. There comes a point where you become disenchanted by that. You know, it's nice to play the game for a while and be the good little Dhamma boy, a good little Dhamma girl, and say, no, no, no, but this is actually what it is. No, no, no, but this is actually what it is. There comes a point when you become wizened and a little bit more perspective, and you realize, oh, it's all just games.

It's all just games that the mind is playing to hold on to this construction or that particular view. become disenchanted by it. Why? Because you fall back not on any perspective. You fall back on experience. You fall back on the realization of the emptiness of all views, even of the Dhamma. For one who has no wish here or for either end, for various states of existence here or beyond, there are no places of residence at all grasped after deciding among teachings.

One has let go of any kind of various states of existence here or beyond. Let go of jhanas. Let go of being a good meditator. Let go of being a good Dhamma practitioner. Let go of even the outcome for Nibbana, the outcome for a specific attainment. Let go of even the idea, am I making progress on the path? Because there's a difference. To measure progress is one thing, but to be obsessed by progress is another.

To understand, is my mind more cultivated? Great, that's all. I just need to know that, that's all. Just to understand, am I on the right track? Am I really doing enough? What can I do? That creates tension. That creates identification. Will I be? Will I not be? This is all part of that process of self-view. For such a person who has let go of all of that, it says there are no places of residence at all grasped after deciding among teachings.

So now you have come to the Dhamma, right? Whatever that means for you in terms of your practice. But you don't have an outcome-driven model. And it's very difficult to understand, because the mind is cultivated in that way since the beginning of our life here. Am I an A+ student? Have I done enough to earn enough money? This person in my life as a partner, all of these kinds of things. It's not about just the teaching. It's about the outcome-driven model. It's about letting go of the outcome and just practicing. Then the question will arise, okay, you say that, but then why do the practice at all, because there is a

precedent, let's say. If we are to have enough faith in the suttas, have enough faith in the experiences of those who are talked about in the suttas, that when they do so and so, eventually, over a period of time, when they least expect it, things happen for their benefit. So that level of confidence and faith allows us to go ahead with the path. But if I'm obsessively thinking, when will that happen? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? We're taking a step back.

There is just experience. And in that experience, there is no I, me, or mind holding on to the experience. When there is such a process going on, how can one categorize? How can one detect? How can the mind see the sense of self there? That Brahmin, when he says Brahmin here, he's a wise person, a learned one, an arahant. Any view, let go of. All standpoints, let go of. They do not construct. They have no preferences. Even the teachings are not embraced by them. A Brahmin cannot be led by good behavior and observances. The impartial one, gone beyond, does not fall back. They do not construct. What do we mean by construct?

Mental proliferation. There's no mental proliferation there. There's just awareness. There's just attention. There's just mindfulness. There's just clear comprehension. They have no preferences. They take in the information that is given to them, and based on their understanding of context and intuition, they take a decision. So when we say preferences, we're really saying any kind of identity around a specific choice based on what I feel, what's happening to me.

They take the decision based on everything that is happening and what is most appropriate for the situation. Are not embraced by them. What a line. Interesting. Even the teachings are not embraced by them. Doesn't mean they abandon the teachings. It just means that they don't have attachment to them. They see them as tools to be utilized for whatever context and situation is arising, right? Is existing. Behavior and observances, the impartial one gone beyond does not fall back. So here again, by good behavior and observances, we're talking about attachment to rites and rituals. Such a one is not looking at what will society say. Such a one is not saying what will the world say or what will my friends say. They're just looking at: does this help to be skillfully liberating? And is this? That's it.

Is this making me more kind? Is this making me more happy? Is this making me freer? If it is, wonderful. Doesn't matter what my friends say about it. Doesn't matter what society says about it. It helps me to be more liberated. Such a one who is impartial. Impartial. Doesn't hold on to one perspective or the other. Doesn't take sides. Beyond, that's someone like that, the target, the target gone beyond. There, paragata. Right, para means the beyond. Does not fall back. That means they don't come back to any state of existence. So I'll stop there and open it up for any comments, questions, anything. Okay.

Let me see what comments there are. So wonderful. You are speaking about this today, especially since I woke up experiencing this deeply this morning. I couldn't help but smile. How not to cling to any view related to right view, which is needed to walk on the Noble Eightfold Path, including the passage not to fall back on any view at all. Yeah.

So what is the right view? The right view is to understand action and consequence. So in other words, the right view is to understand what is my intention here. And then on a more super-mundane level, the right view is: what are the Four Noble Truths? Is this causing me suffering, or is this letting go of suffering? That's it. When you see it from this perspective, there is no view to hold on to. This is the beauty of the path. This is the beauty of the practice itself, because people would ask, you know, how do I let go of this view or let go of that view? What is this view? What is the right view? What is whatever?

And the Buddha would say, it's not about whether an I exists or doesn't exist. It's not about whether the world exists or doesn't exist. It's about this. With the arising of this, there is the arising of that. With the cessation of this, there is the cessation of that. Dependent origination. Seeing that, understanding that, seeing the emptiness of that, hold on to views. Okay. Any other questions from anyone? Ah, in meditation, should we let go of all views whatsoever: time, surroundings, etc.? Yes. What does it matter what time it is? What does it matter what the surroundings are? Just sit.

Take it easy. Enjoy the ride. May suffering ones be suffering free, and the fear-struck, fearless be. May the grieving shed all grief, and may all beings find relief. May all beings share this merit that we have thus acquired for the acquisition of all kinds of happiness. May beings inhabiting space and earth, devas and nagas of mighty power, of ours, may they long protect the Buddha's dispensation.