Date: 10th August 2025
Session Leads: Dr. Lim Siow Jin & Dr. Rajesh Savera
On 10th August, an insightful session was conducted by Dr. Lim Siow Jin and Dr. Rajesh Savera, focusing on a passage from the Ekottara Āgama (EA 22.5). This early Buddhist scripture sheds light on the nature of conditioned phenomena (saṁskṛta dharmas) and the path of understanding that leads to liberation.
The Buddha’s Teaching
In this discourse, the Blessed One addressed the bhikṣus, presenting three defining characteristics of conditioned dharmas:
- Knowing their Origin (utpāda-jñāna)
- This refers to understanding the arising of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha): form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness.
- It also includes recognizing the emergence of sense faculties and bases, which enable contact with the external world.
- By observing this process, one comprehends how conditioned phenomena arise.
- Knowing their Change (vipariṇāma-jñāna)
- Conditioned things are marked by constant transformation.
- The Buddha pointed to everyday experiences—greying of hair, loss of teeth, decline of strength, and weakening with age.
- Awareness of this inevitable decay and alteration reveals the impermanent nature of life.
- Knowing their Cessation (nirodha-jñāna)
- All conditioned phenomena eventually cease.
- This includes the death of the body, the disintegration of the aggregates, and the separation from loved ones.
- Recognizing cessation highlights the truth of impermanence and the dissolution of life’s processes.
Key Insight
The Buddha emphasized:
- All conditioned things arise due to causes.
- They transform according to their nature.
- They cease when supporting conditions fall away.
One who sees with wisdom the arising, changing, and passing away of all things develops dispassion (virāga) and detachment, moving closer to the path of liberation (nirvāṇa).
Conclusion
The study of Ekottara Āgama 22.5 reminds practitioners to observe deeply the processes of birth, change, and death in daily life. By understanding these truths not merely intellectually but through direct insight, one can transcend attachment, cultivate equanimity, and progress steadily toward freedom from suffering.
To Watch Full Session Click the Link Below
https://www.facebook.com/drsavera/videos/4015372068717395
