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Stream Entry (2 of 2) - Ajaan Thanissaro

The following talk was given by Ajaan Thanissaro at The Sati Center in Redwood City, CA on September 15, 2024. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.

Stream Entry (2 of 2)

This morning we talked about stream entry in the context of the image of entering the stream, the stream being the Noble Eightfold Path which then takes you directly to an experience of Nibbāna. This experience is also called the arising of the Dhamma eye, which is invariably expressed with the same sentence throughout the Canon: "Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation."

Two questions arise from this: first, what does that statement actually say? And second, what kind of experience would validly be expressed by that statement? In other words, what kind of experience would you have where, upon emerging from it, this truth would be the first thing that hits you?

There are a couple of common misinterpretations around these issues. One is the translation: "Whatever is subject to arising is all subject to passing away." But the Buddha actually used the word "origination" (samudaya). Origination doesn't mean just coming into being; it means something that is caused, specifically by something coming from within the mind. So, whatever is caused by the mind is subject to cessation. Sometimes you hear this interpreted simply as an acceptance of the principle of inconstancy, or anicca¹. But the Buddha wouldn't take a mere intellectual decision—finally deciding to believe that things arise and pass away—as a valid basis for such a profound statement. That would just be "pondering through agreement of views."

I remember a story of a Western monk from the Forest Tradition who went home to Canada. His brother asked him, "After all these years in Thailand, what did you learn?" The monk said, "Whatever arises, passes away." The brother replied, [Laughter] "Duh!" If that were the extent of the experience, it wouldn't hit you with such transformative power.

To understand the formula, look at Sāriputta gaining the Dhamma eye upon hearing a verse from Venerable Assaji². Assaji was on his almsround, and Sāriputta was so impressed by his comportment and the way he looked that he followed him out of town to ask who his teacher was. Assaji, already an Arahant³, said, "I’m still new to this Dhamma and Discipline, but I can give you the gist." The gist was: "Whatever is subject to causation, its cause and its cessation—that is the teaching of the Buddha." Sāriputta immediately understood this in terms of the cause of stress and suffering. He pursued it through the factors of Dependent Co-arising⁴.

An important part of Dependent Co-arising that is often overlooked is that the factors leading to suffering have contact (phassa) halfway through. This means you bring a great deal to your experience that determines whether you suffer or not. You can be primed to suffer no matter what you hear or see—not because the input is good or bad, but because of what you are primed to expect. Following this chain back through intention and attention, you eventually get to the factor of fabrication⁵.

The Buddha talks about the aggregates⁶ being put together from potentials coming in from the past, but the actual experience of them depends on your present-moment contribution. If you didn't have that present-moment contribution, you wouldn't be experiencing anything. This leads to the image of the Buddha being asked by a deva⁷, "How did you get across the stream?" He replied, "By neither pushing forward nor by staying in place." You realize that trying to move to another state is stressful, but staying where you are is also stressful. When you find the alternative—neither coming, going, nor staying—and everything falls together properly, you let go. At that moment, there is no intention, no fabrication, and all six sense spheres⁸ fall away. There is a vision of the deathless (amata⁹).

What remains is a consciousness that is outside of space and time. It is not known through the sense spheres and it is not an aggregate, because aggregates exist only in space and time. It is not dependently co-arisen, which is why it is objectively true. Most of our experience is mediated by preconditions we bring to it; this experience is totally unmediated. It has no object, not even consciousness itself, and it is not conditioned.

The Buddha calls this "consciousness without surface" (viññāṇaṃ anidassanaṃ¹⁰). He gives the image of a beam of light: if there is a house with a window on the east and a wall on the west, the sunlight lands on the wall. If you take away the wall, it lands on the ground. If you take away the ground, it lands on the water. If you take away the water, it doesn't land. You only see light because it is reflected off of something. This consciousness has no object to reflect off of, so it cannot be located, yet it is bright in and of itself. Because it is outside of space and time, it has no direction. This is the only experience that validly leads to the expression "Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation," because you see that this deathless state was not caused by anything in your mind.

There is a common misreading of the Majjhima Nikaya 38¹¹ that claims there is no such thing as an unconditioned consciousness. Some translations say, "Have I not stated in many ways consciousness to be dependently originated?" But the Pali actually says, "Have I in many ways said of dependently co-arisen consciousness that apart from a requisite condition there is no origination of consciousness?" This implies there are two types: the dependently co-arisen consciousness, and this unlimited, luminous consciousness of the deathless.

There are several experiences people often mistake for stream entry. One is a state of "blanking out" through letting everything go until you fall into a total void. In the Forest Tradition, this is recognized as the state of "non-perception" (asaññī-satta¹²). It is essentially a "big sleep." I fell into this a few times while meditating at Wat Asokaram¹³ when I was looking after Ajaan Fuang¹⁴. I was so exhausted that during Dhamma talks, I would focus down until I blanked out, only to "wake up" when the meditation ended. Ajaan Fuang told me, "Good that you realized it wasn't Awakening, because some people think it is." It can even become habitual. I was eventually weaned off of it when I heard a monk describe it as a state where the pressure on consciousness is so great that you emerge feeling beur¹⁵—dazed or "bonked."

Other common mistakes include having a strong sense of the "Oneness" of all beings—which is actually a fabricated state—or a "neurotic breakthrough," where a long-standing psychological burden suddenly breaks. While these can feel liberating and meaningful, they lack the specific insight into the workings of the mind, karma, and fabrication that define true stream entry.

Q&A

Is the state of non-perception you described one of the arupa¹⁶ jhanas?

No, it is outside that list. In the arupa jhanas, there is a very clear perception, such as infinite space or infinite consciousness. This state has no perception at all.

Is this experience of the deathless what defines stream entry?

The "stream" itself is the Eightfold Path, and the experience of the deathless is the fruit. After the break, we’ll talk about the results that follow when you emerge from that state.

I have experiences where the breath feels really intense and overwhelming, almost frightening. Is this a desirable form of concentration?

That is a factor called rapture, or pīti¹⁷. It can be very intense, like the first glass of water for someone who has been in the desert. If it becomes tiresome, look for a more subtle level of energy in the body—like changing the dial on a radio to something calmer. If it feels contained and oppressive, imagine it escaping through the palms of your hands and the soles of your feet.

Can you explain how name-and-form and consciousness condition each other?

Your consciousness depends on an object, but you wouldn't know the object unless you had consciousness. Name-and-form provides the object (intention, attention, perception, feeling, and contact), and consciousness provides the awareness of it. One of those things must act as the object for consciousness to exist in an ordinary sense.

It feels like working on virtue is the most important thing to be ready for this.

Yes, because you have to be really honest with yourself. Virtue teaches you honesty. Ajaan Chah¹⁸ used to say that one of the first things you learn when observing the mind is how much of a liar it is.

Could you speak more about the "neurotic breakthrough"?

In true stream entry, you see precisely what the mind was doing leading up to the moment—the acts of intention and attention. In a neurotic breakthrough, something just "gives up" and breaks. It feels good, but there is no insight into why it happened. To nourish the Dhamma, you need two things: commitment and reflection. This is why the Buddha told Rāhula¹⁹ that the practice is like a mirror—you must reflect on your actions.

What is the difference between an Arahant and a Buddha?

Their purity is the same, but a Buddha’s ability to find the Dhamma originally and his skill in teaching it are special.

What is the difference between a feeling nimitta and a light nimitta?

A light nimitta²⁰ is an actual vision of light; a feeling nimitta is a specific physical sensation that corresponds to the mind settling down. You can use light to fine-tune your attention, but eventually, the Buddha has you return to the experience of the body.

Is there a protocol to prime oneself for stream entry?

Start with virtue. It makes you honest, and you must depend on your own honesty to know if an experience is genuine. Then work on concentration. Ajaan Fuang used to say there are two types of meditators: those who don't think enough and those who think too much. Those who don't think enough get quiet quickly but don't know what to do when they can't get quiet. Those who think too much get discouraged early but eventually learn all the ins and outs of the mind. Stick with it until you have a solid foundation.

Why do we need to recognize if we are stream enterers? Doesn't that encourage conceit?

The Buddha warned that stream enterers can become heedless, thinking, "I only have seven more lives left, that’s not bad." But you could be reborn in a place like Gaza; even the human realm isn't entirely safe. One reason I talk about this is that there are many "certified" stream enterers out there who have become heedless.

What should I do about self-doubt and the feeling that I am incapable of this?

That is one of the worst things you can do to yourself. The Ajaans came from social classes and regions that were looked down upon; their only chance was to say, "I am a human being, and this is something human beings can do." You have the requisite conditions.

How do I handle impatience and reactivity in intimate relationships?

The Buddha suggests making your mind like the earth. When people are negative or "spitting" on you, if your goodwill is as big as the earth, their actions look pitifully small. Look at the fabrications you are bringing to the moment: your "wounded" perception of yourself. Change that perception to focus on the parts of you that are not wounded.

Can you explain the five aggregates through the analogy of feeding?

The word for clinging (upādāna) also means to feed.

1. Form: Your body and the food out there.
2. Feeling: The hunger and the pleasure of fullness.
3. Perception: Identifying what is edible.
4. Fabrication: The "cooking"—how you prepare the experience.
5. Consciousness: Your knowledge of these things.

If I break a precept, should I repent?

Remorse doesn't help, but a determination not to repeat the mistake does. Recognize the mistake, have goodwill for yourself and the person you harmed, and move on.

Can you regress from stream entry?

If it is genuine, it is a permanent change. It’s like cutting off an arm—it can't be reconnected the way it was.

Does one thoroughly understand the twelve links of Dependent Co-arising at stream entry?

You understand one of the links so thoroughly that the whole process "unzips." It's like a run in a nylon stocking; once you unhook one part, the whole thing goes.

What is the difference between disenchantment and dispassion?

Disenchantment (nibbidā²¹) means you've had enough of a certain kind of "food." It is aimed at objects like the aggregates. Dispassion (virāga²²) is letting go of the passion to keep fabricating those experiences.

It seems "unnatural" to experiment with different perceptions of the breath.

The way you currently look at reality is already a fabrication. Testing different perceptions is like realizing the world is round even though it looks flat. You hold the perception that gives the best results.

How do I maintain friendships with people who want to "live the human experience" and are put off by renunciation?

Dhamma practice is a human experience. Richard Feynman²³ was once furious when someone said his playing the bongos made him a "human being," as if his physics wasn't part of being human. Renunciation isn't about cutting yourself off; it's about opening up avenues of the mind—like the jhanas—that would otherwise be closed.