THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS By Ajahn Sumedho - DharmaFlower.Net

We are told that they became very happy about the Buddha’senlightenment and that they shouted up through the heavens whenthey heard his teaching. First, one level of devata heard it, then theyshouted up to the next level and soon all the devas were rejoicing -right up to the highest, the Brahma realm. There was resounding joythat the Wheel of Dhamma was set rolling and these devas andbrahmas were rejoicing in it. However, only Kondanna, one of the fivedisciples, was enlightened when he heard this sermon. At the very endof the sutta, the Buddha called him ‘Anna Kondanna’. ‘Anna’ meansprofound knowing, so ‘Anna Kondanna’ means ‘Kondanna-whoknows.’What did Kondanna know? What was his insight that the Buddhapraised at the very end of the sermon? It was: ‘All that is subject toarising is subject to ceasing.’ Now this may not sound like any greatknowledge but what it really implies is a universal pattern: whateveris subject to arising is subject to ceasing; it is impermanent and notself....So don’t attach, don’t be deluded by what arises and ceases.Don’t look for your refuges, that which you want to abide in and trust,in anything that arises - because those things will cease.If you want to suffer and waste your life, go around seeking thingsthat arise. They will all take you to the end, to cessation, and you willnot be any the wiser for it. You will just go around repeating the sameold dreary habits and when you die, you will not have learnedanything important from your life.Rather than just thinking about it, really contemplate:‘All that issubject to arising is subject to ceasing.’ Apply it to life in general, toyour own experience. Then you will understand. Just note:beginning....ending. Contemplate how things are. This sensory realmis all about arising and ceasing, beginning and ending; there can beperfect understanding, samma ditthi, in this lifetime. I don’t knowhow long Kondanna lived after the Buddha’s sermon, but he wasenlightened at that moment. Right then, he had perfectunderstanding.I would like to emphasise how important it is to develop this way ofreflecting. Rather than just developing a method of tranquillising yourmind, which certainly is one part of the practice, really see that propermeditation is a commitment to wise investigation. It involves acourageous effort to look deeply into things, not analysing yourselfand making judgements about why you suffer on a personal level, butresolving to really follow the path until you have profoundunderstanding. Such perfect understanding is based upon the patternof arising and ceasing. Once this law is understood, everything is seenas fitting into that pattern.This is not a metaphysical teaching: ‘All that is subject to arising issubject to ceasing.’ It is not about the ultimate reality - the deathless