@AniccaSeeker: You may not have seen my above comment yet. I will wait to hear from you. I cannot explain things until I know roughly where you are on the Path.
- Until then, the following sutta explains what ‘bhāvanā‘ in Buddha Dhamma is: “Bhāvanā Sutta (AN 7.71).” One must first cultivate Satipaṭṭhāna.
- Essentially, one cannot remove defilements in the mind permanently (with the removal of samyojana) until one grasps the worldview of the Buddha and frees the mind of pañca nīvaraṇa at least for a short time.
- The first time overcoming pañca nīvaraṇa (temporarily) occurs at the Sotapanna phala moment.
- So, the first step is to understand Buddha’s worldview. It explains how the ‘world’ (the same as pañcupādānakkhandha) arises through two stages of mind contamination: purāna kamma and nava kamma. No one knows about the ‘unconscious part’ of the pañcupādānakkhandha generation (the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage) until a Buddha discovers it.
- Until then, everyone tries to stop mind contamination with the mind already in the nava kamma stage. They can never reach the purāna kamma stage until they clearly understand how it arises automatically.
- That seems like a lot of work, but it can be done. But one must proceed step-by-step. Before starting on Satipaṭṭhāna, one must meditate (contemplate) on the complete ‘mind contamination process’ occurring via two stages. That allows the mind to overcome pañca nīvaraṇa (temporarily) and attain the Sotapanna stage.
Dear Mr. Lal,
Thank you for your detailed reply and for the sutta reference 🙏
I’m still a lay practitioner working mainly with daily-life mindfulness — seeing how emotions and thoughts arise from craving and expectations, and trying to reduce clinging and aversion. I don’t really do long sitting meditation for hours yet. Instead, I try to observe my actions and thoughts throughout the day and look at them in terms of anicca, dukkha, and anatta.
I’m not very familiar with the terms purāna kamma and nava kamma. What I currently understand instead are vipāka citta and kamma citta, and that these two processes are operating in the mind. I am not sure whether emotions like anger and jealousy are vipāka citta or kamma citta.
If they are vipāka, I can observe them as anicca, dukkha, and anatta.
But if they are kamma, I wish to understand how to prevent them from arising in the first place.
All I currently understand is that everything is conditioned, a saṅkhata, a paṭicca-samuppanna process. Things do not bend according to our personal will; we can only have a limited, conditional influence. Because of this, I see that grasping and aversion lead to dukkha. By reflecting this way, I see the anatta nature — that there is nothing solid to hold on to.
Could you please explain in simple terms what you mean by “purāna kamma” and “nava kamma,” and how I can apply that practically when anger or jealousy arises in daily life?
Theruwan Saranai 🙏