Sound


I am suspicious of using sound as an object for the development of vipassana, as the skill to "deconstruct" the meaning and go back to the sensations can be used as a form of pathological defense, a very skilled version of a little kid covering his ears when he doesn't want to hear his parents say something. To have this skill is wonderful: to automatically use it to avoid unpleasantness could lead to many problems.Sometimes the real obstacle keeping you in samsara is what underlies the feelings aroused by the words, and they must be investigated rather than avoided.
I completely agree with your remarks . As you say "sometimes the real obstacle keeping you in samsara is what underlies the feelings aroused by the words and they must be investigated rather than avoided." You have probably read something about the PATICCASAMUPADA ( usually translated as "dependent origination"). The paticcasamupada is a very pithy, deeply profound analysis of samsara and the conditions that keep samsara revolving. One of the factors is indeed feeling. Here is an extract from the Nidana- Vagga of the Samyutta Nikaya:
The Buddha said: I will teach you , monks, the origin of repeated birth and passing away of beings in this world. What, monks, is the origin of beings?
On account of the EAR BASE and SOUND, EAR CONSCIOUSNESS arises. Contact (phassa) is the conjunction of the three; through contact , FEELING arises; through feeling desire arises ; through desire attachment (upadana) arises; through attachment bhava (process of becoming) arises; through becoming birth arises; through birth decay and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. On account of the eye base and visible object, eye consciousness arises. Contact (phassa) is the conjunction of the three; through contact , feeling arises; through feeling desire arises ; through desire attachment (upadana) arises; through attachment bhava (process of becoming) arises; through becoming birth arises; through birth decay and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. On account of the nose base and odour, smell consciousness arises. Contact (phassa) is the conjunction of the three; through contact , feeling arises; through feeling desire arises ; through desire attachment (upadana) arises; through attachment bhava (process of becoming) arises; through becoming birth arises; through birth decay and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. On account of the taste base and taste, taste consciousness arises. Contact (phassa) is the conjunction of the three; through contact , feeling arises; through feeling desire arises ; through desire attachment (upadana) arises; through attachment bhava (process of becoming) arises; through becoming birth arises; through birth decay and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. On account of the bodybase and bodily impression, body consciousness arises. Contact (phassa) is the conjunction of the three; through contact , feeling arises; through feeling desire arises ; through desire attachment (upadana) arises; through attachment bhava (process of becoming) arises; through becoming birth arises; through birth decay and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. On account of the mental element base and mental object element, mind consciousness arises. Contact (phassa) is the conjunction of the three; through contact , feeling arises; through feeling desire arises ; through desire attachment (upadana) arises; through attachment bhava (process of becoming) arises; through becoming birth arises; through birth decay and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair.
Thus a wide range of daily life realities should be understood. We cling to everything, we confuse everything; thus always trying to deconstruct conversation would be quite wrong. As you say, we must understand feelings also. Avoidance is not the way .Yet, don't we often want to develop understanding only in ideal conditions- we want to avoid distractions. But vipassana understands every moment. What we call "distraction" is only momentary realities, with thinking forming concepts about the situation. When we are developing correctly we don't mind about distraction, we don't mind if we feel irritated sometimes or even if "decay, death, sorrow, lamentation ,pain, grief, and despair arise". All these events are real, they are part of samsara, they should be understood .We don't even mind if there is no understanding; we just understand that too.
It is very important also to understand the nature of concepts. Really what it comes down is that we need to understand everything that arises in life without minding our situation at all but having courage and determination to face all situations; to see that every moment is a moment that can be understood (or not).
Disclaimer: I wouldn't want you to think that I am a brave type who faces every object and wrings every drop of understanding out of it. Not at all. But here I'm writing also for myself. It gives me encouragement also.
Now I'd like to offer some more reflections about the development of understanding.
Vipassana means penetrating the true nature of realities. Those realities appear continuously at this very moment. So the path isn't so complicated- there is either understanding or not. Yet it is not easy, the reason being that the deep tendency to cling to "self"- this powerful wrong view- obscures and complicates matters. The path is like walking a tightrope We try to hard- fall off. Don't try at all -fall off. Yet it's more difficult than a circus act because often we don't know we've fallen off. We think we are balancing well - maybe at the end of the rope when actually we lie injured on the ground almost before we begin. That's why I think discussions can be very useful for pinpointing small errors and so on in practice ( these errors are called silabataparamasa in pali- clinging to rule and ritual- they can be quite obvious or very ,very subtle indeed). If one is developing understanding correctly then gradually these misunderstandings are understood and the clinging to them is gradually eliminated An example of a wrong practice would be trying to always have awareness of sound - as you have already noted this doesn't seem quite rightOr some people mistakenly think that to practice vipassana they should try to know only realities (and have no concepts.). I once heard someone say that she didn't recognise her own husband when practicing - she was very pleased with this as she believed it meant she was close to nibbana. It is all done with a sense of self.
Concepts are also part of our life. It's wrong if we think we shouldn't think or have ideas. Even the Buddha thought , he used concepts. He recognised people and had kindness to them. The difference between him and us is that he perfectly understood the nature of every moment- he didn't mistake realities for concepts and vice versa and he had no attachment to either.
When I spoke about this direct experience of sound - it was in a very general sense. When we bring attention to an object in this way- it is still mostly thinking about the object. We reflect wisely(or not) about the sound. It is a sort of considering of the reality of the present moment, but still at the level of thinking. There is another level of understanding which is a direct penetration- faster and deeper than mere consideration. This type of understanding is supported by wise thinking. (I almost don't like to mention different levels as some people immediately want the highest level and so neglect the foundation which is wise consideration.) This direct understanding of realities can come in very quickly. It may last only a moment or several moments . IT is not something permanent, although each moment conditions future moments. It is like this moment - now there is colour , there is thinking, there is sound. There may be moments with aversion, or with pleasure. There may be greed or irritation. These moments arise and pass away rapidly- as does panna (direct understanding of realities). Panna may take sound for an object or hearing or feeling or bodily impression or greed or fear or indeed any reality whatsoever. It all depends on conditions, not on "self."

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