ATAMMAYATA
The Rebirth of a Lost Word
The term atammayata cannot be found in the Pali Text Society
Dictionary. Readers will find it difficult to discover references to it
in scholarly works, whether they come from West or East. The meditation
masters of Tibet, Burma, or Zen do not seem to be interested in it.
Mention it to most Buddhists and they will not know what you are talking
about. Yet there is clear evidence in the Pali Canon that the Buddha
gave this word significant meaning. Currently, one of Thailand's most
influential monks is teaching that it is "the highest word in
Buddhism, the final word of Buddhism."
Atammayata appears in a number of Pali suttas and each
context suggests that the term has important meaning. The traditional
commentators, however, never caught on. They glossed atammayata
in a way that suggested the term was out of their depths: they rendered
it as an absence of tanha (craving), absence of ditthi
(wrong views), and an absence of mana (conceit). There are many
Pali terms glossed in this stock, and therefore virtually meaningless,
way. Even so, the commentators recognized atammayata's
importance. Their standard explanation, although vague, describes it as
the awakened state of the Arahant, or fully-awakened, perfected being.
Further confusion occurs in the Thai version of the Pali Tipitaka,
which was originally written in Khmer script. We find three variations
in the spelling: agammayata, akammayata, and atammayata.
There is no reason to believe that these are different words. The Khmer
characters that are here rendered g, k, and t share the basic form of a
horseshoe or upside-down "u." They differ as to whether there
is a small, large, or missing "head" (circle) attached to the
left leg of the horseshoe. Obviously, misspellings have occurred.
Transcribing errors would not be surprising. Of the three variations, atammayata
is the most common. Further, in the final analysis, it can be deciphered
etymologically, consistent with its various contexts.
Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, from Suan Mokkhabalarama in southern Siam, first
took note of this word about thirty years ago. The contexts in which he
found atammayata convinced him that its meaning is important. As
with other terms and teachings found in the Tipitaka, he was careful to
look further than the orthodox grammarians, pedants, and pundits. He
searched for a spiritual meaning on the deepest level possible. In the
1970s, he briefly mentioned atammayata, but felt his listeners
were not yet ready for it. Finally, on Magha Puja Day 2531 (March 2,
1988), he brandished his newest Dhamma weapon. It immediately attracted
attention.
"DON'T MESS WITH ME KNOW MORE!"
In his first talk about atammayata, Tan Ajarn Buddhadasa
interspersed literal interpretations of the term with the spicy, crude
street language "ku mai ao kap mung ik to pai woi,"
which can be rendered, "I won't have anything to do with you ever
again!" or "I ain't gonna mess with you no more!" These
are words used by drunks, rowdies, and angry merchants, rather than
highly respected religious. The pronouns ku and mung are
considered to be low-class and coarse, although they were once proper
and polite. Buddhadasa Bhikkhu has repeatedly used ku to point at
the egoistic mind (the self-concept and selfishness) and its baseness.
Nonetheless, his unique approach to atammayata raised a bit of a
stir. The term was no longer ignored and forgotten. People who thought
Buddhadasa Bhikkhu had grown too old, eighty-two at the time, recalled
previous surprises and controversies.
We can only speculate as to why atammayata (or its
misspellings) was left out of the Pali Text Society Dictionary. Surely
not because it is impossible to decipher. A literal analysis gives us: a
(not), tam (that), maya (to make, create, fabricate, or
produce), and ta (the state of being or suffix
"-ness"). Thus, atammayata may be translated as
"the state of not being made up by, or made up from, that (thing or
condition)."
The meaning becomes clearer if we recognize that maya is a
synonym for sankhara (to concoct, compound, or condition). Atammayata
is "unconcoctability," a state of mind independent of the
objects and conditions of experience. Fully conscious and aware, this
mind is not affected by the defilements of greed, anger, and delusion.
Thus, the concept is close in meaning to the adjective visankhara,
which describes the unconditioned state of Nibbana. Clearly, atammayata
is something Buddhists should be aware of.
Why does Tan Ajarn Buddhadasa consider atammayata so
important? In the Salayatanavibhanga Sutta of the Majjhima-nikaya (#137)
the Buddha describes a spiritual progression carried out by
"relying on this, to give up that." Relying on the pleasure,
pain, and equanimity associated with renunciation, one gives up the
pleasure and pain associated with worldliness. Relying on singular or
one-pointed equanimity (ekaggata-upekkha), one gives up
many-sided or multifaceted equanimity (nanatta-upekkha). Relying
on atammayata, one gives up ekaggata-upekkha.
In this sutta, nanatta-upekkha is explained as
"equanimity toward forms, sounds, odors, tastes, touches, and
mind-objects," which implies the four meditative states known as
the "rupa-jhana." Ekaggata-upekkha is explained
as "equanimity dependent upon the four immaterial absorptions (arupa-jhana)."
To more easily understand what this means, we may compare it with the
common Buddhist hierarchy of the sensual (kama-), pure material (rupa-),
and non-material (arupa-) realms. The ordinary worldling or
"Thickster" (putthujhana) clings to sensual experiences
due to craving for sensual pleasures. One gets free of sensuality by
relying on pure materiality, that is, steady concentration upon material
objects (rupa-jhana). Pure materiality is abandoned by relying on
the arupa-jhana. Finally, these exalted states of consciousness
are abandoned through atammayata.
In the Sappurisa Sutta of the Majjhima-nikaya (#113), the Buddha
describes qualities of the "good person (sappurisa) who
avoids indulging in and goes beyond the eight jhana through atammayata.
There is liberation from the asava (eruptions), which is full
awakening. The Buddha is reiterating his message that final liberation
cannot be found in the temporary peace and bliss of deep meditative
states -- in any conditioned state or thing, for that matter. Atammayata
is given precedence over the most sublime experiences that humanity can
attain. Further, atammayata, rather than mystical states, is
offered as the means to liberation.
Upekkha is the highest of the seven bojjhanga (factors
of awakening). When the seven factors are developed successfully, they
lead to the penetration of the object on which they are focused.
Penetration, or direct spiritual experience, means awakening to and
deeply realizing the true nature of things. Yet, the above sutta tells
us that atammayata takes the spiritual cultivator beyond even upekkha.
The Buddha is saying that even upekkha is a state that can be
clung to, thus preventing liberation. Atammayata frees upekkha,
as well as the other six factors and any wholesome dhamma that
aid liberation, from clinging and grasping. The mind with atammayata
is not concocted by and does not rest in any state of mind, all of which
are impermanent, undependable, oppressive, uncontrollable, and unownable,
that is, void of selfhood.
LAST WORD OF BUDDHISM
Why does Tan Ajarn Buddhadasa call atammayata the "last
word and final sword of Buddhism"? Based on the above
interpretation, he puts atammayata at the transition point
between the dhammatthitinyana (insights into the state, or
reality, of nature) and the nibbananyana (insights regarding
liberation and the realization of Nibbana). He explains this with a list
of nine eyes (the Thai meaning of taa) or insights. The nine taa,
or nyana, are:
 | aniccata = impermanence |
 | dukkhata = unsatisfactoriness |
 | anattata = not-selfhood |
 | dhammatthitata = naturalness |
 | dhammaniyamata = lawfulness |
 | idappaccayata = conditionality, interdependence |
 | sunyata = voidness |
 | tathata = thusness |
 | atammayata = unconcoctability |
The realization of these facts about the state of nature leads to the
fruits of liberation, which can be described by the following nyana
(insight knowledges):
 | nibbida = disenchantment |
 | viraga = fading away of attachment |
 | nirodha = quenching of dukkha |
 | vimutti = release (liberation) |
 | visuddhi = purity |
 | Nibbana = coolness (the spiritual goal) |
The first list of insights describes an active penetration
progressively deeper into the reality of conditioned things. The later
list describes the results of that realization. The insight of atammayata
is the realization that there is no conditioned thing, object, or state
that can be depended upon. Contrary to the way we have learned to
"see" things, they are powerless to concoct or affect us. They
have no power to make us happy, safe, free from death, or whatever else
we might desire. Then why get concocted by them through foolishly
relying upon them? From this realization liberation naturally follows.
ATAMMAYATA IN PRACTICE
Buddhadasa Bhikkhu has given quite a few talks on the subject of atammayata
since reintroducing it into Buddhist thought last year (1988). In these
talks he has applied atammayata in three ways. The first approach
is simple, almost crude. He applies atammayata to the practical
problems of ordinary people with the crude but dramatic "You aren't
gonna mess with me no more!" or "I ain't gonna mess around
with you no more!" He suggests that we may bring this powerful
thought to mind in order to "divorce" the things we ought to
divorce, such as, superstitions, alcohol, tobacco, drugs, dishonesty,
immorality, and so on. When tempted to indulge in such harmful things,
we might recite atammayata as a mantra until the temptation
passes. This method can also be used to divorce emotional states like
greed, lust, anger, hatred, fear, worry, excitement, envy, boredom,
laziness, and stupidity -- "I've had enough of you for ever!"
Whereas the first use of atammayata is to extricate us from
our mistakes, the second use is preventative. It is a way of
understanding the reality of conditioned things. When insight
progressively deepens through the nine "eyes," then one
realizes that there is nothing deserving of being concocted, affected,
manipulated, or cooked and seasoned by us. By cultivating this
understanding, human beings may liberate themselves from ignorance, from
their attachments, from conflict and misery.
The third and highest use of atammayata is to signify the
state of mind that is totally free, independent, liberated. Tan Ajarn
Buddhadasa prefers to describe this state as being "above and
beyond positive or negative." Human beings instinctually feel and
perceive all experience as either positive or negative. This leads to
evaluating and judging those experiences, which turns into liking and
disliking those experiences, which in turn fosters craving, attachment,
and selfishness. Thus arises dukkha (misery, pain, dissatisfaction). The
mind that has gone beyond positive and negative cannot be pulled into
the conditioned arising (paticca-samuppada) of dukkha. Thus, atammayata
in this, its most proper sense, describes the state of the Arahant, the
perfected, liberated human being.
[From Evolution/Liberation #4 (1993)]