Concepts III - We cannot stop citta having concepts as object


Question: Satipatthana cannot have concepts as object and therefore when we develop satipatthana should we try to stop citta having a concept as object?
Sujin: That is not right because then we could not lead our ordinary daily lives. We cannot stop citta having concepts as object. However, panna can be developed so that it can be known that when a concept is the object, it is citta, a type of nama that knows that concept. A concept could not be the object at that moment if there were no citta that knows it. When we develop satipatthana we should not force ourselves to not think of concepts. We should not try to stop knowing the different things that we normally see and recognise in daily life. If we did, we would not be able to know the characteristics of nama dhamma, the reality that knows something. When a concept is the object, one should realise that citta and cetasika, which are nama dhammas, have arisen and at that moment they know an object that is a concept.
Satipatthana can study and consider realities and be aware of them. Thus it can be known that when there is thinking it is nama which thinks, an element, a reality which experiences, not a self, a being or person. We should know that all dhammas are non- self (anatta), and that we cannot stop citta thinking of different things. Panna should penetrate the characteristics of the different namas that experience different objects through the six doors. Then, doubt about the characteristics of nama dhammas can be eliminated. Nobody can prevent the arising of the phenomena of our daily lives. It is because of ignorance that one tries not to think or not to know the concepts of the things that appear. If someone tries to avoid thinking of concepts panna cannot be developed.
We should consider our way of practice. One may follow a kind of practice which is not the development of panna (wisdom) which studies, notices, and considers the  characteristics of nama dhammas and rupa dhammas. People don’t lead their usual daily lives when they try to follow a particular practice. Then they develop the wrong path (miccha-magga), which is wrong understanding, wrong thinking, wrong speech, wrong action, wrong livelihood, wrong effort, wrong mindfulness, wrong concentration. That is not the right path, which is the development of satipatthana and vipassana.

Topic 290