Nothing Is Worth Adhering To

Then a certain Monk approached The Perfectly Enlightened One and said to him:

‘Venerable Sir, is there one thing through the abandoning of which ignorance (unknowing of true reality) is abandoned by a Monk and true wisdom arises?’

There is one thing, Monk, through the abandoning of which ignorance (unknowing of true reality) is abandoned by a Monk and true wisdom arises.

‘And what is that one thing, Venerable Sir?’

Ignorance, Monk, is that one thing through the abandoning of which ignorance is abandoned by a Monk and true wisdom arises.

‘But, Venerable Sir, how should a Monk know, how should he see, for ignorance to be abandoned by him and true wisdom to arise?’

Here, Monk, a Monk has heard: Nothing is worth adhering to. When a Monk has heard: Nothing is worth adhering to, he directly knows everything.

Having directly known everything, he fully understands everything. Having fully understood everything, he sees all signs differently.

He sees the eye differently, he sees forms differently. He sees eye-consciousness differently. He sees eye-contact differently. And whatever feeling arises with eye-contact as condition — experiencing pleasure, pain, or as neither painful-nor-pleasant that too he sees differently.

He sees the ear differently, he sees sounds differently. He sees ear-consciousness differently. He sees ear-contact differently. And whatever feeling arises with ear-contact as condition — experiencing pleasure, pain, or as neither painful-nor-pleasant that too he sees differently. He sees the nose differently, he sees odors differently. He sees nose-consciousness differently. He sees nose-contact differently. And whatever feeling arises with nose-contact as condition — experiencing pleasure, pain, or as neither painful-nor-pleasant that too he sees differently.

He sees the tongue differently, he sees flavors differently. He sees tongue-consciousness differently. He sees tongue-contact differently. And whatever feeling arises with tongue-contact as condition — experiencing pleasure, pain, or as neither painful-nor-pleasant that too he sees differently. He sees the body differently, he sees physical objects differently. He sees body-consciousness differently. He sees body-contact differently. And whatever feeling arises with body-contact as condition — experiencing pleasure, pain, or as neither painful-nor-pleasant that too he sees differently. He sees the mind differently, he sees mental objects differently. He sees mind-consciousness differently. He sees mind-contact differently. And whatever feeling arises with mind-contact as condition — experiencing pleasure, pain, or as neither painful-nor-pleasant that too he sees differently. When, Monk, a Monk knows and sees thus, ignorance (unknowing of true reality) is abandoned by him and true wisdom arises.

(Reference: SN 35.80)

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares that a Practitioner will need to eliminate ignorance (unknowing of true reality) through acquiring wisdom. It is through independently verifying The Teachings of The Buddha that one acquires wisdom to eliminate ignorance (unknowing of true reality).

If a Practitioner closely examines The Six Sense Bases they can observe how discontentedness is experienced through agreeable and disagreeable contact of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. The associated pleasant feelings, painful feelings, and feelings that are neither painful-nor-pleasant are seen clearly or “differently” once one observes the truth to acquire this wisdom.

To attain Enlightenment, a Practitioner will need to learn these Teachings with a Teacher but then independently verify The Teachings to see the truth and acquire wisdom. The mind is liberated through the elimination of ignorance or unknowing of true reality.