7. PURIFICATION BY KNOWLEDGE AND VISION OF THE COURSE OF PRACTICE
The patipada-ñañadassana-visuddhi, patipada means the course of practice, ñaña means knowledge, dassana means vision. Ñaña and dassana are used here in the same sense. In order to lay emphasis on penetration, the text uses the two words in the same sense. So Patipada-ñañadassana-visuddhi means Purification by knowledge and Vision of the Course of practice which extends up to anuloma-ñaña, the Insight Knowledge of Adaptation.
When a meditator has passed maggãmagga-ñañadassana visuddhi, she very clearly perceives the arising and passing away of mental and physical processes the arising and passing away of mental and physical processes as they are observed. With the deeper concentration she realizes very rapid appearance and discrepance of body-mind processes. Later on she perceives the dissolution of formations, but she does not perceive their arising. The final phase of formations is clearly evident to her nothing mind, the initial and middle phases are not manifested. Most of the time she is not conscious of the forms of head, hand, leg and other limbs of the body. She sees constane dissolution of formations that arise at the six sense doors.
When her insight of dissolution becomes keener and clearer, she becomes aware of fearfulness. She feels that all formations are fearful as they are constantly breaking up, vanishing and disappearing.
Then she feels as if she is depressed, miserable, menlacholy and disgusted with the ever vanishing mentality and physicality, So she wishes to forsake all formations and she has a strong desire to get free from them. As a result she unable to stay in one posture for a long time. She often changes from one posture to another. She feels as if she can not find any place to escape from these formations.
She puts forth more effort in her practice to get rid of all formations. The more effort she puts forth, the more penetrating her insight becomes. She more clearly realizes the impermanence, suffering and impersonal nature of body-mind processes.
After some time her mind is more concentrated, more stable and more tranquil; the insight is clearer and more lucid. It easily realizes the arising and passing away of formations. She feels neither happy nor unhappy about formations. Equanimity arises in her mind.
At this stage of meditative experience, no effort is required to realize the arising and passing away of formations. They very swiftly arise and pass away and the insight also very clearly perceives them. This is the Purification by Knowledge and Vision of the Course of Practice, patipada-ñañadassana-visuddhi.
When she continues with her practice, the flow of the processes of mentality and physicality is very rapid as with the insight that clearly realizes them moment to moment. Then she comes to borderline in short time. For a moment of compin she stands on it. The border here is the one between an orde person (puthajjana) and a Noble one (Ariya). When she has passed the border (knowledge of maturity) and experiences the cessation of compounded things, i.e. the cessation of all kinds of conditioned mentality (nama) and physicality (rupa). Then her mind remains in that state of meditation for one thought moment, this is maggañaña, Path Knowledge which thoroughly realizes the the Four Noble Truths:
1. Dukkha-saccã (The Truth of Suffering)
2. Samudaya-saccã (the truth of the cause of suffering
3. Nirodha-saccã (the truth of the cessation of suffering
4. Magga-saccã (The truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering
This sotãpatti-magga ñaña, the First Path Knowledge which is also the First supra-mundane knowleie. It completely eliminates sakkãya-ditthi, the wrong view of a person, a self and a soul, and visikiccha, the sceptical doubt about the Triple Gems.
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