Let us deal with the first question first. One thing is for sure: enlightenment cannot come about by merely listening to the Dhamma. If this was the case then all who had listened to a Dhamma talk would have attained enlightenment. But the Texts show that not all who listened was enlightened. Some were while others were not. So there must be something else, some differences that exist between those who attained and those who did not, that led one to enlightenment but not the other. And considering what the Buddha said, that satipaṭṭhāna is the only way for the realization of Nibbāna, we can be sure that satipaṭṭhāna had something to do with it.
We have often heard from our teachers that in order to attain enlightenment and be liberated from suffering we need to cultivate the pāramīs sufficiently. What are these pāramīs? Pāramī is usually translated into English as perfection. They are those spiritual qualities which, when they are habitually cultivated over a long period of time, gradually lead to the attainment of spiritual perfection, i.e. enlightenment. All beings who wish to attain enlightenment must develop these pāramīs over many life times, until they become an inseparable part of their person, until they become strong habits that are firmly entrenched in their mind. And the stronger these habits of the pāramīs are the easier the mind can incline towards attaining enlightenment, and so the stronger the potential for enlightenment is.
Those people who attained enlightenment in the Buddha’s time through listening to the Dhamma are people who possess strong pāramīs that were cultivated in their many past lives. They have a very strong potential in their minds to attain enlightenment. Let’s take for example paññā-pāramī or perfection of wisdom. In their many past lives they would have cultivated wisdom in all its various categories except that of the supramundane wisdom. This would include cultivation of vipassanā wisdom, insight into the true nature of the mental and physical phenomena (nāma-rūpa-dhammā) as they really are, i.e. their impermanent, suffering, and non-self nature. Through the practice of satipaṭṭhāna they learnt from previous Buddhas they would have thoroughly developed this vipassanā insight through all its various stages until saṅkhārupekkhā-ñāṇa, knowledge that regards formations (i.e. conditioned mental and physical phenomena) with equanimity, which is the utmost extent that one can develop vipassanā wisdom without attaining enlightenment.
Through their development of vipassanā wisdom over many lives, their mind would have become proficient in observing the impermanent, suffering, and non-self nature of the formations in all their various depths and levels of profundity and they would have become thoroughly familiar with these experiences of insight. They would have already developed a very strong habitual tendency and inclination in their mind to watch and observe and be moved by these experiences of insight into impermanent, suffering, and non-self. This explains why spiritually developed person like the Bodhisatta can be so profoundly moved by the sights of ageing, disease, and death to the extent that they can even renounce all their worldly wealth and luxuries, so treasured by ordinary worldlings, in order to search for an answer to suffering. Ordinary worldlings who are not as spiritually developed, far from being moved by such sights, would become numbed and indifferent towards them. What is more, they would not even lift a finger to help their fellow suffering beings.
But although they have developed such a strong habit and inclination towards discerning the nature of impermanent, suffering, and non-self, because they have not yet uprooted mental defilements such as greed, hatred, and delusion, from their minds, these mental defilements, especially delusion, can still assert their influence over their minds and lead them away from the path of insight. Many times, under the influence of these mental defilements, they have totally forgotten about the experiences of insight that they had had and instead, become totally immersed in the worldly life. This is what happened to the Bodhisatta in his last existence. Once he grew up and began to experience all the sensual enjoyments provided by his father in the palace, he totally lost himself in these enjoyment. But nevertheless this wisdom remains buried deep within their minds as a potential and so too the habit and inclination towards discerning by means of this wisdom.
So what happened when they finally met the Buddha, or one of his disciples, and listen to the Dhamma? When they listened to the Dhamma, and especially if they listen to the Dhamma from the Buddha himself who is the incomparable charioteer of men to be tamed (anuttaro purisadammasārathi), who possesses the ten powers of the Tathāgata among which are knowledge as they really are, of the diverse dispositions of beings, and of the degree of development or decline in the controlling-faculties (such as faith, energy, etc.) of beings, then the Buddha who possesses such qualities would be able to deliver a Dhamma talk to them that is suited to their dispositions and latent tendencies. Such a suitable talk would be able to serve as a hint to their minds of the insight which they have developed before in their past lives and it would be able to arouse from the depth of their minds again, the habit and inclination towards discerning the mental and physical phenomena with insight. And once this happen they will immediately, even as they are sitting there listening to the Dhamma talk, begin to practice vipassanā meditation, contemplating the mental and physical phenomena that are arising and passing away right there. And by developing insight stage by stage, spurred on by the strong habit and inclination towards wisdom that has now been aroused and brought to the fore in the mind, habit and inclination which are the result of the cultivation of paññā-pāramī in their past lives, they bring the insight to maturity. The insight into the nature of impermanent, suffering and non-self of the formations becomes firm, sharp, penetrative and impresses itself upon the mind strongly. The mind lets go of attachment to the conditioned formations, inclines towards the unconditioned and attains enlightenment.
Of course it is not only paññā-pāramī that is involved in bringing about the attainment of enlightenment. The other pāramīs are involved too. Dāna, generosity, which has the characteristic of complete-abandoning (pariccāga) and function of destroying attachment, helps the mind to cut off attachment and abandon things easily. And on the spiritual path there are many attachment to cut and many things to give up: one’s properties, concepts (need to give this up in order to perceive ultimate realities), wrong views, defilements, the self, and saṃsāra itself.
Sīla serve as the foundation upon which one establishes the practice of Dhamma. When sīla-pāramī is developed there is a strong inclination in the mind towards sīla and once this inclination is aroused the mind immediately inclined towards sīla, and sīla-visuddhi or purification of virtue, the first step on the path of purification that leads to enlightenment, is established. A good example is the case of Ven. Aṅgulimāla. The moment he heard a suitable talk on the Dhamma from the Buddha he gave up his murderous way, even request to be admitted into the Saṅgha and so become established in sīla.
Renunciation helps one to give up sense-desire. Energy energizes the mind and fortifies it for the work of insight. Patience helps one to accept and endure both the desirable and undesirable aspects of the mental and physical phenomena that are being contemplated. It ensures that one do not become sidetracked from the work of insight by both aspects. Truthfulness helps one to accept and come into accord with the ugly truth of the nature of impermanent, suffering, and non-self. Determination ensures that one keep to the work of insight right to the end no matter what obstacles there are on the way. Loving-kindness removes resentment towards any difficulties that may present themselves and also towards the suffering being contemplated. Loving kindness towards oneself reminds one of one’s own welfare and so spurs one to strive harder in the work of insight. Loving kindness towards others spurs one on in the hope of benefiting others once one has attained enlightenment. And equanimity helps to stabilize the mind allowing it to remain unshaken by the impermanent, suffering, and non-self nature of the formations being contemplated.
So it is not by mere listening to the Dhamma that one attains enlightenment. Listening to the Dhamma is only one of the conditions for doing so. One must also listen attentively. One must have sufficient pāramīs. If the pāramīs are not yet sufficiently developed the potentials in the mind are not forceful enough yet to thrust the mind towards enlightenment. One must then develop the pāramīs further by more practice and striving. And if one care to investigate further there would be other conditions involved as well. Enlightenment is not a simple matter. It involves many conditions and a lot of hard work to set up these conditions.
Now let us take a look at the second question: Why is it that we no longer hear of people attaining enlightenment through listening to the Dhamma anymore nowadays?
Those beings who are fortunate enough to come across the Buddha-Sāsana (Buddha’s dispensation) are classified into four kinds according to the degree to which they have cultivated their pāramīs:
“Bhikkhus, these four persons are found existing in the world. What four? The ugghaṭitaññū, the vipañcitaññū, the neyya, and the padaparama. These four persons, bhikkhus, are found existing in the world.”
~Aṅguttara-Nikāya, Book of the Fours, Sutta 133
“…an ugghaṭitaññū is an individual who encounters a Buddha in person, and who is capable of attaining the holy Path and the holy Fruits through the mere hearing of a short concise discourse.
“A vipañcitaññū is an individual who has not the capability of attaining the Paths and the Fruits through the mere hearing of a short discourse, but who yet is capable of attaining the Paths and Fruits when the short discourse is expounded to him at some length.
“A neyya is an individual who has not the capability of attaining the Paths and the Fruits through the hearing of a short discourse, or when it is expounded to him at some length, but is one for whom it is necessary to study and take careful note of the sermon and the exposition, and then to practice the provisions contained therein for days, months, and years in order that he may attain the Paths and the Fruits…
“A padaparama is an individual who, though he encounters a Buddha Sāsana, and though he puts forth the utmost possible effort in both the study and practice of the Dhamma, cannot attain the Paths and the Fruits within this lifetime. All that he can do is to accumulate habits and potentials (vāsanā).
“Such a person cannot obtain release from worldly ills during this lifetime. If he dies while practicing samatha (calm) or vipassanā (insight) and attains rebirth either as a human being or a deva in his next existence, he can attain release from worldly ills in that existence within the present Buddha Sāsana.”
~ Ledi Sāyadaw, Bodhipakkhiya-Dīpanī, The Manuals of Buddhism, Pg. 287-288, Publisher: Selangor Buddhist Vipassana Meditation Society
These four individuals represent different degree in the development and cultivation of the pāramīs. The ugghaṭitaññū had developed the pāramīs to maturity and the pāramīs developed are of such a high quality that only a short and concise discourse is enough to spark off the process of enlightenment. The vipañcitaññū had also developed the pāramīs to maturity but the quality of the pāramīs developed are not equal to that of the ugghaṭitaññū, and they need the concise discourse to be elaborated for them before they can attain enlightenment. The neyya has not yet developed the pāramīs to maturity but he had done so sufficiently so that if he were to put in effort in this life to develop the practice further, the pāramīs will come to maturity and he can attain enlightenment. The padaparama still need a minimum of another lifetime of practice before his pāramīs are developed sufficiently and become mature enough to attain enlightenment. Of these four individuals only the first two, the ugghaṭitaññū and the vipañcitaññū, can attain enlightenment while listening to the Dhamma. The neyya individual must make effort in the practice of meditation if he is to attain enlightenment in this life. The padaparama individual must do the same if he is to attain enlightenment in his future life.
In his Bodhipakkhiya-Dīpanī, Ledi Sayādaw again wrote (this view is based partially on the commentaries):
“After the passing of the first thousand years (of the present Buddha Sāsana), which constituted the times of the paṭisaṃbhidā-patta arahat (arahant possessing analytical knowledge), the period of the present Buddha Sāsana comprises the times of the neyya and padaparama classes of individual alone. At the present day, only these two classes of individuals remain.”
~ Ledi Sāyadaw, Bodhipakkhiya-Dīpanī, The Manuals of Buddhism, Pg. 293
This view of Ven. Ledi Sayādaw seems reasonable when we consider that even among the many accomplished contemporary Buddhist meditation masters, none is known to have attain whatever they have attained through merely listening to Dhamma talk. All of them have to invest some time and effort into the practice of meditation before they attain any satisfactory result in their practice. All of them teach from their personal experience and emphasized the importance of practicing meditation. Some of them encourage the study of the Dhamma. Some of them even incorporate the profound Abhidhamma system, a system usually associated with study monks, into their meditation system. But none of them say that one can attain enlightenment just by studying the Dhamma much less by listening to the Dhamma.
Also, in contemporary traditional Theravāda Buddhist lands like Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Thailand, there are many monks who would daily, under the guidance of learned teachers, memorize, recite, study, inquire into, and ponder over, the meaning of the Pāḷi Texts, doing so not only using their local language but also the Pāḷi language, the original language of the Pāḷi Texts, a language which they have studied and become thoroughly familiar with since they were young novices. Non of these monks has ever been known to have attained any stages of enlightenment merely through their study of the Texts.
So it is reasonable to say as Ven. Ledi Sayādaw said that we are living in the time of the Buddha-Sāsana where only the last two individuals, the neyya and padaparama exist. The ugghaṭitaññū and vipañcitaññū individuals who can attain enlightenment through listening to the Dhamma no longer exist in our time. This being the case we must, if we wish to attain enlightenment and be free from suffering, not be contented with just book learning. We must put time and effort into the actual practice of meditation, especially vipassanā meditation, in order to attain our goal. We may not be able to tell whether we are neyya or padaparama individual. But that should not be our concern. For neyya individual, if he put in sufficient effort he may attain the path and fruition in this life. For the padaparama individual, however, even though he may not be able to attain anything in this life no matter how much effort he put into the practice, the effort that he put in now will ensure his success in the practice in the life to come. But if he do not put in any effort now he will not attain anything even in the next life. Therefore regardless of whether one is a neyya or a padaparama it is very necessary to put in effort into the practice of meditation, especially now that we are fortunate enough to have come across the Buddha-Sāsana.
“Hard is it to be born a man; hard is the life of mortals. Hard is it to gain the opportunity of hearing the Sublime Truth, and hard to encounter is the arising of the Buddhas.”
Let us not miss this opportunity to further our spiritual practice on the path towards the cessation of suffering.~ Dhammapada 182
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