The Practice Which leads to Nibbana - A Buddhist Library

Discerning The PastTo discern the past the meditator begins by making an offeringof either candles, flowers, or incense at a pagoda or in front of aBuddha image and making a wish to be reborn as a monk, nun,man, woman, deva or whatever he would like to become.Then he goes and sit in meditation and develops concentrationand then discerns in turn mentality and matter that is internal andexternal. This is important for if the meditator cannot discernexternal mentality and matter he will have great difficulty discerningmentality and matter in the past. This is because of the similarityof external mentality and matter and past mentality and matter.Then the meditator tries to discern the mentality and matter thatoccurred at the time of making the offering at the pagoda or buddhaimage as if they were an external object. He should find that whiledoing this an image of himself at that time of offering appears.Then he discerns the four elements in that image.When the image becomes particles he discerns all the matter ofthe 6 doors, especially the 54 rèpas of the heart basis. Then hediscerns the bhavaºga consciousness and then the mind door processthat occur in the gaps between the bhavaºga consciousnesses. Thenhe discerns forwards and backwards amongst those mind doorprocesses and finds the defilement round (kilesa vatta), and kammaround (kammavatta) mind door processes. The kamma round minddoor process has 34 kinds of mentality while the defilement roundonly has 20 kinds of mentality. Then having discerned the mentalityof the defilement round and the kamma round the meditator thendiscerns the matter that they depend on.There are three rounds or vatta found in the process ofDependent Origination. They are the round of kamma(kammavatta), the round of defilements (kilesavatta), and the roundof results (vipŒkavatta). Of the twelve links of Dependentw 21