87. The Six Sense Bases (Extinguishing the Hell Fire)
By Luang Pu Thate Desaraṅsī
July 14, 1982
"Mind is what thinks, fabricates, and perceives various emotions. Defilements are the defilements of the mind — that is, the mind going to grasp onto various emotions that arise from the mind as being its own. Mindfulness is what controls the mind so that it does not get deluded into grasping onto various emotions as being its own."
Last Uposatha day, we talked about the Four Elements, which are the foundation of all elements. This time we will talk about the Six Sense Bases. The Six Sense Bases are the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. They arise from those very Four Elements. If there were no Four Elements as a basis, the Six Sense Bases would not exist either — there would be nowhere to establish them. The Four Elements are the foundation of all material things, but they themselves cannot do anything. Now, the Six Sense Bases — eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind — separate out from the Four Elements. Defilements arise because of the Six Sense Bases; the Four Elements themselves do not produce defilements. The sense bases are the source of all defilements. When defilements arise, heat arises. The heat of defilements is called the hell fire. Coolness, the absence of defilements, is called heaven. Both hell and heaven arise right at this mind. Therefore, the Buddha taught about these Six Sense Bases to the three ascetic brothers who worshipped fire, telling them that this is supremely excellent — that after death, one can be reborn in heaven.
The three ascetic brothers — Pūraṇa Kassapa, Nadī Kassapa, and Gayā Kassapa — had their hermitages in order along the Nerañjarā River. The eldest brother had 500 followers, the second and third had 300 and 200 respectively. They all worshipped fire as their regular practice. They regarded fire as the most excellent thing. Whatever they considered to be good quality — such as food, milk, butter — they would offer all of it to the fire. They considered this a great merit. After the Buddha attained enlightenment, he saw their spiritual disposition: that these three ascetic brothers had the potential to attain the paths, fruits, and Nibbāna. So he went to teach and tame them by various means. In the end, they humbly submitted and listened to his Dhamma teaching.
Then the Buddha taught about the fire that the ascetics worshipped, connecting it to the Six Sense Bases within ourselves. He did not take fire from anywhere else. He took the heat that arises inside the mind. Namely: the eye is hot, forms are hot, consciousness dependent on contact at the eye is hot. Whatever feeling arises with eye-contact as condition — whether pleasant, painful, or neither pleasant nor painful — that too is hot. Why is it hot? Hot because of the fires of lust, aversion, and delusion; because of birth, aging, and death; because of sorrow, lamentation, pain, and grief. That is called hot.
The Buddha taught similarly about the ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. Each one is hot. The noble disciple who has heard this becomes disenchanted with those sense bases. Being disenchanted, they become free and detached from thoughts about those sense bases. Knowledge arises in the heart: "I am freed from thoughts about those sense bases." And they know that they are freed. Thus the holy life is completed — there is nothing more to be done for the sake of liberation from suffering.
The writer said at the beginning: whatever is hot, that is hell; whatever is cool, that is heaven. When the Buddha taught that all six internal sense bases existing within us are hot, and external sense bases such as forms are hot, and the contact between internal and external sense bases producing feeling — even that is hot. When all three are hot, then everything is hell. Every single person with sense bases is afflicted by the fire arising from lust, aversion, delusion, pleasure, pain, and neutral feeling, from sorrow and grief, or from birth, aging, illness, death, and so on — all of it is hell fire. When everything within us is hot, then we are called hell entirely. Where is there any goodness? To be born as a human being is worse than some animals that do not have complete sense bases like humans do — snakes, for example. The Buddha's teaching that "to be born as a human being is most excellent" — that must be false, then?
It is true. If it were not true, the Buddha would not have taught it. But it is people who do not deeply understand the truth that the Buddha taught. How is being born as a human being not good? As a human being, you can do anything. You can be a master, a king, an emperor. Even to become a Buddha, you must first be born as a human being; it is impossible to become a Buddha as anything else. How is that not good? Moreover, nature has provided human beings with complete, fully equipped tools. It has even provided spare parts to guard against wear and tear — for example, two eyes and two ears, because they are necessary for connecting with the external world. When one becomes damaged, you can immediately use the other. If not damaged, you use them together without any problem — in fact, it's even more convenient.
When the Buddha taught that the six sense bases are fire, he was teaching specifically to the thousand ascetics who had mature spiritual faculties, and he tailored it to their preference — that fire worship is good and can lead to rebirth in heaven. Then he explained the fire within that can destroy a person's mind, causing them to fall into hell, compared to external fire that can burn and destroy all things, including ourselves if not properly guarded. External fire knows nothing of good or bad. Internal fire is the same. Those who cause internal fire to arise (i.e., the mind) can also cause themselves to fall into hell. But if someone has the ability or sees the danger and fears falling into hell, they may contemplate this just like the thousand ascetics — there is no prohibition. This Dhamma was taught by the Buddha as something public, for everyone. Whoever wishes to contemplate it in any way may do so, according to their own paramī and ability.
The Buddha taught that internal sense bases such as the eye are fire, external sense bases such as forms are fire, and the contact between internal and external sense bases — e.g., eye contacting form, producing feeling — that too is all fire. So we cannot even move a muscle without it all being fire. The writer thus says that we are falling into hell all the time. But why don't people feel troubled? Why, from time immemorial, has no one ever complained that they are falling into hell?
This is like a fish born in a hot spring: it swims, dives, searches for food, enjoying itself in its own way, not feeling any distress. Only when someone takes it and releases it into fresh water does it become distressed — sometimes even to the point of death. It's the same here. People do not recognize heat. When the heat is not yet intense, they mistake it for comfortable warmth. Likewise, people are infatuated with the five strings of sensual pleasure. Young people see a beautiful form and delight in it, wanting to possess it. They think that form is something warm and delightful. When that form changes or becomes distant, or is no longer present, they become miserable, sad, grieving, longing, and struggling intensely. Because lust — sensual desire and love — stains the mind as the cause. Therefore, it is said that lust is fire. Old people kiss their children and grandchildren; their hearts feel joyful and refreshed. They don't want to be separated from them. When the children and grandchildren go far away, they feel unloved and become angry. Anger arises from love. If disaster strikes and they die, great suffering arises — suffering born of love once again. The fire of lust has been surrounding them all along, step by step, but people don't see it. They see only the warmth because of delusion and infatuation. Only when the heat of that fire intensifies to the point that it cannot be extinguished do they realize that fire can burn — it has blazed up fully and is now unstoppable. The other sense bases are similar.
The five strings of sensual pleasure consist of the twelve internal and external sense bases, and the contact between them — called consciousness, etc. — which is the cause for attachment, satisfaction, delight, enjoyment, infatuation, and sinking into them. That is called the Sensual Realm (Kāmabhava). Those in this sensual realm see the lesser heat as something warm. Thus, the sensual realm becomes the Sensual Plane (Kāmabhūmi), sticking together tightly into a great mass, becoming sensual defilements (Kāmakilesa), and thereby giving rise to an infinitely vast world.
The heat called "fire" that the Buddha taught to the thousand ascetics arises from the internal sense bases such as the eye, from the external sense bases such as forms, and from the contact between internal and external sense bases, producing the feeling called consciousness. Apart from these things, there is no heat called "fire." That fire arises from defilements — lust, aversion, delusion as the foundation. Lust, aversion, and delusion arise because the mind fabricates and concocts them. If the mind does not fabricate, then those defilements — lust, aversion, delusion, etc. — where do they go? We wouldn't know what kind of entity they are. When we are just sitting still, those defilements are absent.
Knowing this, the fires of lust, aversion, delusion, etc., have the mind as their root cause. Knowing this, establish mindfulness to investigate the defilements that cause distress: "From what do they arise that makes them so distressing?" Just as a physician investigates the origin of a disease. When he knows the origin, he can prescribe the right medicine for that disease. Likewise, defilements beginning with lust arise from the mind. Investigate the mind further. The mind is what thinks, what perceives and labels emotions. That is the mind, but it is not defilements. Defilements are the defilements of the mind. For defilements to arise, the mind must grasp onto emotions that arise from the mind itself — that is the real defilement.
Understand this: The mind is what thinks, fabricates, and perceives various emotions. Defilements are the defilements of the mind — that is, the mind going to grasp onto various emotions that arise from the mind as being its own. Mindfulness is what controls the mind so that it does not get deluded into grasping onto various emotions as being its own. When we understand the characteristics of these three things, we use mindfulness to seize and control the mind. The mind will then become still and neutral. Defilements will not be present there. The mind becomes "heart" — meaning there is only knowing, without thinking, conceiving, or fabricating anything at all. Whatever method you use to train and develop meditation, it must all come down to this point. Except for training in the theoretical direction (pariyatti), which involves thinking and conceptualizing according to the texts and has no end.
When the Buddha taught the Ādittapariyāya Sutta (The Fire Sermon) to the thousand ascetics led by Pūraṇa Kassapa, using the sense bases to show that they are hot because of defilements such as lust, those ascetics had faithful, confident minds that inclined toward trust in his Dhamma teaching. They settled into one-pointed concentration (ekaggatāsamādhi), fixed on a single object, contemplating accordingly. Then they clearly knew: "What we held as good — worshipping fire so that after death we could be reborn in heaven — was wrong." A sense of spiritual urgency arose in their hearts. They became disenchanted, detached from their wrong grasp of what they had seen incorrectly. Being disenchanted, they were freed from all those defilements. Being freed, their minds became clear, completely pure, unclouded. Then they understood: "We are freed" (attaining arahantship). There was no other task to be done for abandoning defilements.
Sitting Meditation
(The teacher leads the instruction.)
Now, use the mantra to extinguish the hell fire. Chant the extinguishing mantra. Just use "Buddho" — that's the extinguisher. Just recite "Buddho" and all kinds of turmoil and distress disappear.
Establish mindfulness to firmly control the mind. Take only the single word "Buddho." Don't send it forward or backward. Don't think about this or that. Let the mind remain neutral, unaffected by anything. Having been born into this world, we must be neutral. If we are not neutral, we are not above the world, cannot transcend the world, and will continue to have suffering endlessly.
When the mind is neutral, what else can affect it? Please maintain that neutrality firmly. The hell fire must be extinguished right there.
Consider this: When angry, you have to focus on that person, this person, that thing, this thing — it's not neutral. Focusing on the past, focusing on the future — that's not neutral. Neutrality has nothing, touches nothing, remains constant.
"Buddho" — established firmly in the recitation — then all defilements are extinguished. Even if not completely extinguished all the time, at least at that moment it's good. Let it be extinguished first at that moment. If it can be extinguished for long periods, many times, or frequently, then it may become completely extinguished.
Don't try to extinguish it all at once just yet. Fire has both benefits and drawbacks. If used beneficially, it's good — just like external fire. It's good for cooking, for warming you when it's cold. If used improperly, it can burn even yourself, burn your house, your home. We only use this fire to extinguish it within ourselves. Don't go extinguishing others' fire, because it arises in us, not in others. When we extinguish our own fire, we become cool and at ease.
Just like the Buddha and the noble arahant disciples — they extinguished their fire, they were at ease, living coolly and happily while still alive in this world. They didn't run away from this world. When we extinguish the fire within ourselves, we become at ease.
We extinguish lust — delight and satisfaction in things. We extinguish aversion — anger at various things, at people, at objects, even at ourselves (we can even be angry and displeased with ourselves). That's how the fire arises. When we have extinguished the fire within ourselves, let everyone else in the world live as they please.
Alright, let's do meditation practice instead.