Dear Yong Peng,
op 18-07-2003 17:59 schreef Ong Yong Peng op ypong001@...:

> I am fairly new to abhidhamma. I can understand about cognition, and
> the cetasika-object relationship. I also understand the part where we
> cling to our wrong views leading to dukkha. However, I do not
> understand on the part on agreeable and unagreeable. Can I say that
> by 'agreeable', it means that the mind is pleased with it, but may
> not necessarily benefit from that pleasant moment of thought?

N: Rahula admired the beauty of the Buddha and thought, "ahampi sobhaami, I
am also beautiful." He had attachment to his body. There may be clinging by
conceit ("I"), by craving (mine) and by wrong view (I am). Rahula had to
learn, materiality is not mine, this am I not, this is not myself. This
refers to the three ways of clinging which have to be overcome by insight,
vipassanaa. The Buddha knew that Rahula was clinging and taught him the five
khandhas.
The Co. states:
<Therefore Rahula asked, " ruupa.m eva nu kho Bhagavaa, only materiality,
Lord? To Rahula occurred the methods of teaching (naya), because he heard,
materiality is not mine, this am I not, this is not myself. The Buddha said,
you ought to see all material phenomena with insight wisdom (vipassanaa
pa~n~naa). How should he practise with regard to feelings etc.?>
The khandhas are: materiality (all ruupas), feeling, remembrance (sa~n~naa),
sa"nkhaarakkhandha (formations: all cetasikas except feeling and
remembrance) and consciousness, citta. Thus, the khandhas can be summarized
in another way as citta, cetasika and ruupa. Or as naama (citta and
cetasika) and ruupa.
Y: < Can I say that

> by 'agreeable', it means that the mind is pleased with it, but may
> not necessarily benefit from that pleasant moment of thought?>

N: There is no benefit, on the contrary, there is danger and this should be
realized as such. What Rahula was thinking was unwholesome, leading to his
ruin. That is why the Buddha taught him the five khandhas to begin with. He
had to develop right understanding, insight, of naama and ruupa.
We read in the "Kindred Sayings" V (V, 420) Dhamma-Cakkappavattana vagga,
§1, that the Buddha said,< in short, the five khandhas are dukkha.> When the
arising and falling away of naama and ruupa , thus their impermanence, is
realized, dukkha can be understood. What falls away immediately is not worth
clinging to, it is dukkha.
This Rahula had to learn step by step. He had to develop insight stage by
stage.
Rahula had to develop understanding not only of rupa, also of nama, of all
khandhas. When we take them all as a whole, there is the idea of a person.
Hearing is nama, a citta that experiences sound, it is not the ruupa that is
sound, it is not the ruupa that is earsense. Not just intellectual
understanding, but direct understanding of the characteristics of the
elements as they appear one at a time must lead to detachment. Clinging to
the idea of "I, mine" can decrease. As we read in the Mahaarahulovaadasutta:
<pa.thavii-dhaatuyaa nibbindati, pa.thaviidhaatuyaa citta.m viraajeti.
One is disenchanted with the earth element and (so) becomes dispassionate
towards it.>
Next time I shall continue with your other questions and more about Rahula.
Nina.