24 CHAPTER ONEOn the level of attainment, the act of understanding dependent co-arising was
the prerequisite for realizing the Dharma. As a Pali Sutta (S.XII. 70) states, first
there is the knowledge of dependent co-arising, after which there is the
knowledge of nirval)a. For this reason, insight into dependent co-arising
served as the hallmark for distinguishing the Buddhist Awakening experience
from other states of altered or expanded consciousness.
The unusual pattern in which dependent co-arising is expressed can be
explained by Gautaina's approach to the problem of suffering, which was sim-
ilar to that of phenomenology. After seeing that the processes of sa111sara are
driven by the mind, he focused his attention on the patterns of cause and ef-
fect immediately apparent to his present awareness. One of the traditional
names of the knowledge he attained as a result-knowledge and vision of
things as they are (yathabhutaiiifl;ta-dassana)-refl.ects this fact. It denotes the act
of understanding the processes of experience on their own terms, as they are
directly experienced, rather than trying to establish whether they correspond
to anything that might be assumed to lie outside of direct experience. For the
purpose of understanding the cause of suffering, the Buddha formulated sev-
eral modes of analyzing direct experience, based on the insights he gained in
the course of the third watch of the night.
According to the most basic mode, experience could be divided into two
spheres: conditioned and unconditioned. Conditioned experience was further
divided into two classes: niima-rupa (name and form), that is, mental and phys-
ical phenomena. These classes were in turn divided into two basic patterns.
The first pattern was that of the six sense fields: the senses of sight, hearing,
smell, taste, touch, and ideation, together with their respective objects. The
first five sense fields belong to the category of form, and ideation to the cate-
gory of name. In the second pattern, the five skandha (aggregates), form was
one category, whereas name was divided into four: feelings__:.pleasure, pain,
and neither-pleasure-nor-pain; perception (the mental act oflabeling things);
mental formations (thoughts, intentions, and so forth); and consciousness of
the six sense fields. ,
The unconditioned sphere, because it was essentially simple and uncom-
pounded, was not divided into any categories. The Buddha gave it several
names-including the uncompounded, consciousness without feature or with-
out surface, the sphere where the six sense fields cease, and the Deathless-but
for the most part he did not describe it, for description would count as a per-
ception to which. one could easily become attached, thus blocking the possi-
bility of experiencing the unconditioned. Language, being a conditioned
phenomenon itself, was adequate for describing the conditioned, but totally
inadequate and inappropriate for describing the unconditioned. Even terms
such as all, exists, doesn't exist, both exists and doesn't exist, and neither exists nor
doesn't exist, the Buddha said, could apply only to the conditioned. The un-
conditioned lay beyond their range. What could be usefully said about the
unconditioned was that it transcended suffering and stress, that it was worth
experiencing, and that there was a method for experiencing it.