Dear Robert Arber,
Thanks for your good question.
Op 15 jul 2013, om 05:49 heeft a6a44357 het volgende geschreven:

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> � In reality there are no persons, no deities, only citta, cetasika and ruupa. � What does this mean please?

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N: We believe that Robert sees, Nina sees, but in reality seeing is one moment of consciousness, citta, that sees. It sees for an extremely short moment and is then gone completely. It is the same with hearing, thinking, any moment of experience. They are all elements, arising because of conditions. They arise for a very short moment and are then gone. It seems that seeing lasts, but in reality it is succeeded by other moments of citta, such as thinking about what is seen. They are all different moments and none of them lasts.
This is not theory. We shall have more understanding of what citta is if we are aware of seeing at this very moment. It arises because of visible object or colour and eyesense. It just sees visible object, it does not see a person or thing. There is no one there only different cittas, accompanied by different cetasikas, mental factors. Visible object and eyesense are ruupa, physical phenomena and these do not know anything. In fact our life is naama, realities which experience something, and ruupas which do not experience anything. Just elements arising because of conditions.
Seeing is one citta and when it arises there cannot be hearing at the same time. Seeing experiences visible object. Hearing is another citta that experiences sound. It may seem that we can see and hear at the same time, but this is a delusion. Each citta can experience only one object at a time, and it falls away immediately. After it has fallen away we think of what has been seen and heard, and then we live in the world of concepts.
When realities are taken as a mass, a collection, there is the world of many people. Cittas arise and fall away in succession very rapidly, they are like a flash. That is why we have a concept or idea of what appears as something permanent. We have to be brave in order to understand that what appears is just a reality. We need courage to let go of wrong view that clings to the idea of person or �self�. Right understanding leads to detachment, but our nature is attachment.
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Nina.




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