Self Awareness Through Meditation

Author(s): Ranjitsingh Kumat
Publisher: Ranjitsingh Kumat

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MEDITATION IN BUDDHA SYSTEM VIPASSANA
End of Suffering
Lord Buddha was the foremost scientist of mind as well as of the matter who discovered that craving arising in response to vedana or sensation was the root cause of suffering. Other Indian spiritual traditions like Jain and Yoga do accept craving as the cause of suffering but, according to them, craving or "tanha” arises because sense organs get attracted to the objects on the basis of sensations received. Hence the Jain and Yoga pronounce 'Restraint of mind as the means to control the sense organs, whereas Buddha pronounces the end of craving and aversion for the vedana or sensation as the means to achieve the same end. The former missed the most important link, the link between sense objects and craving. The discovery of Buddha that the vedana or sensation is the real cause of craving (which includes aversion as well) is the unparalleled gift of Buddha to humanity.96 The common notion had been that the chain of craving or aversion starts when the sense organs get attracted to the objects. However, the root cause is not the sense organs or the objects per se but the sensations received by the sense organs and processed by the mind resulting in attraction or aversion. Thus the craving and aversion in response to sensations become the basis of our actions, reactions and attachment to objects—the root cause of all suffering.
Sensations and Instant Reactions
Based on the sensations received by touch, smell, sight, taste etc. we decide whether the object wherefrom the sensation came is desirable or otherwise. If it is desirable, we crave for it, make efforts to acquire it, possess it a
rave for it, make efforts to acquire it, possess it and do not hesitate even from ignoble acts of violence, falsehood, theft, robbery etc. If it is not desirable we hate it and may resort to using violent methods. Greater the attachment or aversion with any object, intense are the efforts to acquire or to remove the object. Intensity of suffering is directly related to the intensity of attachment with the object triggerred by the sensations received by us. Thus the easiest way to end suffering is to give up attachment to worldly objects including men, women and creatures. But it is easier said than done. Even though it is accepted at the mental level that attachment is the cause of suffering, mind reacts to sensations because of its deep rooted habit of reacting automatically and quite often we are hardly aware of our instantaneous reaction. Our mind reacts spontaneously and blindly at the deepest level without being aware of it. These are called 'sansakaras' or