I was doing my routine vipassana meditation this morning (a requirement to qualify to sit for long courses in the Goenka centers), and was trying to understand Paticca Samuppada (PS) and how it works.
I usually have a white noise to avoid distractions (the apartment complex is not ideal for meditation). It was 2.30 am so I decided not to use the white noise (ocean waves) because it was quite. The distractions started with someone driving past with loud music. I started to analyze and try to understand the 12 links of the PS process.
(1)I have avijjaa (since I am not liberated), (2) my volition was to sit and meditate and
attemept to cleanse my mind (3) my srota vinnana were activated with the music (4) I was
thinking about the car and the driver (nama rupa) and trying to send metta to him (5) salayatana (6) phassa had
already happened when I heard the noise (7) vedana took place in some parts of the body (8) tanha and
(9) updana was desiring the absence of the music and may be there was clinging for a few seconds.
My question is, is it necessary for all 12 links in the process to happen at all the times, or in this case the music faded away and bhava, jati, jara/ marana, shokha and paridev did not take place? and did I kind of understand the PS process correctly?
Goenkaji, in his talks makes the following statement:
He mentions how a river is constantly flowing and changing, and the entire section of a river is completely different after a given period of time.
Then he makes another statement of a man dipping in the water and coming out, and he says the man
who took a dip some seconds ago is completely different from this current person. That our body is constantly undergoing change.
Is the body or the gandabha which is constantly changing or is it both?
And is the PS process happening continuously as we are changing continuously 24/7 or does it cease happen sometimes (especially when we are in a deep sleep)