THE SEVEN STAGES OF PURIFICATION (2)

4. PURIFICATION OF OVERCOMING DOUBT

The fourth is Purification by Overcoming Doubt (kankhã-vitarana-visuddhi). 'kankhã' means doubt, 'visuddhi' means purification, vitarana means overcoming; hence purification by overcoming doubt.

When a meditator has attained the second stage of insight knowledge - knowledge of cause and effect (paccaya-pariggaha-ñaña), she no longer doubts the absence of a so-called everlasting soul or self in her past, present and future existences. Through her own personal experiences she comes to discern the conditions of material and mental phenomena. The she judges that there is nothing but the process of mental and physical phenomena dependent on cause and effect in her past, present and future existences. Thus, she overcomes doubt the three periods of time - past, present and future. This is Purification by Overcoming Doubt (kankhã-vitarana-visuddhi).

To attain this knowledge she has to observe every intention, wish or want before every action or movement. All actions are preceded by intentions, wishing or wanting. This is why she has to be mindful of every intention before every action or movement is done. When she has an intention to lift her foot, she has a intention to bend her arm, she should note intendieg, then bending, bending,. While she is eating, she has an intention to open her mouth to fath food, then first of all, she should note 'inventing', then opening, opening'. While opening the mouth; the intention is the cause and the opening of the mouth is the effect.

Without wishing or wanting to come here, could you be here? Then what is the cause and what the effect? The intention is the cause, the act of coming is the effect. Then, why do you sit on the chair? Yes, it is the intention that makes you sit on the chair. Is there any sitter? If you think there is a person who sits on the chair, then we should bring a copse from a mortuary in hospital and make it sit on the chair. It cannot sit because there is no intention. It is only intention, the mind process, that cause an action or movement. Is the sitting posture a man or a woman, a sãmanera? It is none of these. In the sitting posture, there is a physical process supported by the wind-element (vãyo-dhãtu), the internal and external wind element. Sitting is a physical process, neither a man nor a woman.

So, if we want to sit, first of all, we have to note intending then sitting, sitting. All the sitting movements must be nobrested after we have noted intention. When we bend our arm, we must first of all note intention, then the movements of bending. When we stretch out our arm, first of all, we must note intention, then the streching-movements as stretching, stretching. When our concentration is deep enough throug the sharp awareness of the intentions and the actions that follow them, we come to realize that nothing arises without a cause. Everything arises depending on its conditions.

Therefore, a so-called person, a man or a woman is just the process of cause and effect. There is no doer, no one that does anything. If we believe that there is a person who does the sitting, it is called sakkãya-ditthi or atta-ditthi (wrong view of a doer). If we thoroughly realize the relationship of cause and effect, what we realize is just a natural process of castlity. Then there is no person, being, self or soul. Then what did exist in the past? In the past, there existed only the process of cause and effect. Then we have no doubt about our past existence as with our present and future existences too. This is also known as Purification by Overcoming Doubt (kankhã-vitarana-visuddhi).

Some meditators fine it difficult to observe intention before every action and movement because they are not patient enough. They must patiently slow down their actions and movements so that they can observe intentions and movements are fast it is difficult to observe them precisely.

When we observe intention before lifting our foot, we will come to realize how the intention is related to the lifting of the foot. Then again, when we observe intention before the pushing of the foot, we will come to realize how intention is related to the pushing movement of the foot; the same with dropping movement of the foot. In this way we come to realize that it is the intention that causes the movements of the foot to arise. Intention is the cause, movement is the effect. So we realize cause and effect of body-mind processes and judge that there is no everlasting entity such as a self, soul, person, a being.
As we proceed with our intensive practice, gradually we come to comprehend the three characteristics of body-mind processes - impermanence, suffering and not-self. We experience severe painful sensation, but we perceive the initial, middle and final shares of the pain and fine it dissipating very clearly. Thus, we rightly understand both specific and general characteristics of mentality and physicality. We realize the impermanence, suffer and not self.