[Transcribed from a sermon delivered by Mr. Mithra Wettimuny at a Meditation Retreat in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1993]

 Venerable Sir, My dear friends, Today I want to explain to you about the 5 positions that the Buddha asked one to contemplate on frequently and thereafter get on to insight meditation practice. Buddha says that one must continuously reflect on these five positions, be it a Layman, a Laywoman, a Bhikkhu or Bhikkhuni.

Let me briefly explain to you what these five positions are and thereafter  the significance  and the necessity for the reflection on these five positions.

 The first is “I am of the nature to decay. Decay is inevitable.” That is the first – that one is subject to decay and decay is inevitable.

 The Buddha says you must frequently contemplate on it. Now he gives the reason as to why you should do this. He says that beings have a pride in youth and as a result of this pride in youth, they do wrong conduct by body, speech and mind.  When you frequently reflect on decay, that one is of the nature  to decay, then that pride in youth begins to thin down and as a result of that thinning down of that pride in youth, one abstains from doing wrong conduct by body, speech and mind. And when one reflects on this truth, he also says that to such a person the Path dawns. That means he gets onto this Noble Eightfold Path.  Actually it means that he gets onto the stream of this practice. That is the first position.

 The second is: “I am of the nature to be sick. Sickness is inevitable.” Once again he explains that beings have a certain pride in health and as a result of this pride in health, they do wrong conduct  by body, speech and mind and in order to thin down  this pride in health  and abstain from wrong conduct by body, speech and mind, he asks his disciples to frequently contemplate on sickness. Once again he says  that to one who frequently contemplates on it, the Path will dawn.

 The third position is: “I am of the nature to die. Death is inevitable.” Beings owing to a pride in life, do wrong conduct by body, speech and mind and it is by the continuous reflection on death that the pride thins down and thereafter,  and as a result of that, abstain from wrong conduct, through body, speech and mind.  To such a person, one who contemplates on death frequently, the path will dawn.

 The fourth position is: “All that is lovely and delightful is of the nature to be otherwise and separate.”  Whatever thing that you regard as lovely, whatever thing  that you regard as delightful, all such things will finally, eventually become otherwise. It becomes otherwise  and finally separate. Either you will part from it or that will part from you.  This is the norm  of this world.  That all lovely delightful things   will become otherwise.

 He goes on to say that beings, owing to this delight,  do wrong conduct by body, speech  and mind and when you contemplate  on the otherwiseness of lovely and delightful things, then that wrong conduct  by body, speech and mind goes down, fades away. That is the fourth position. Once again, to the person who contemplates on this truth, the path will dawn.

 The fifth position is: “Kamma is one’s own. Kamma means intention. Kamma is one’s own, one is kamma born, one is bound up in one’s kamma. Kamma is one’s heritage, kamma is one’s inheritence.  Whatever kamma one does,  either skilled or unskilled, that is one’s inheritance.”  So this is a contemplation on kamma and kammavipaka.  Whatever action we do, whatever your intentions are, they will  be your inheritance.  Once again he says that  beings not knowing this, not considering this, not contemplating this, they do wrong conduct by body, speech and mind, but to those who contemplate on it, the Path dawns to them.

  The Venerable Sir and I had an interesting experience recently. We talked to some young men who  are in the detention camps, about a month ago. To our amazement, we found that they rejected completely  this principal of kamma and kammavipaka.   It appears that they have been brainwashed by those who dragged them into that path to reject this truth and we had quite a difficult time talking to them about it.  So having rejected it,  may be they have been quite prepared to do anything anything to achieve their goals.  So wrong conduct by body speech and mind is incurred  when you reject such a truth. Now  these are the five positions. To remind you again to contemplate frequently on decay  that is old age, sickness, death, the otherwiseness of delightful things and kamma vipaka. Now if you look carefully, all these are contained in the First Noble Truth.

 Decay is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering.  To be associated with the unpleasant,  to be disassociated with the pleasant, to not get that which one desires, that is directly related to the fourth position.  So actually this is really a reflection on the First Noble Truth, in a very precise manner.  Now some beings will find  that one particular position of these five is more appealing  or attractive or relevant.  It may also vary with the time of one’s life. That means today,  one may reflect on one position and some years later, he may reflect on another.  However until the Path is completed,  until one has reached one’s goal to its very end, to its completion,  one or more of these positions  or actually ultimately all these positions  will have to be reflected upon.  You must decide which one is relevant to you.  I believe that you are here today listening to  a talk on the Dhamma because one of these five positions must be drawing your attention.  Actually to those beings  who do consider or reflect on any of these five positions, the Dhamma has no appeal to them.  So if you look towards yourself,  you will probably find that one or more of these positions  are finding a foothold in your mind.  And if this disturbs you, then you will seek a way out.  How very true that  all these five are unpleasant things to hear really.  But the very path of escape, the way out, is to contemplate on it.  The more you contemplate on it, the more you will see the truth of it, the more you will come to accept it,  the less you will suffer.  So when you fall sick or when you grow old,  you will realise that this is the norm, that this is nothing unusual  and with that wisdom, you will calmly accept it and carry on.  The Buddha says that whereever beings are born, either here in this world or in another world, as long as beings are born, they are subject to these five positions.

 It is very important to note that he emphasises the fact that you have to contemplate on it frequently, not once in a way. If you contemplate on it frequently, the Path arises very quickly.

 If you do that you will overcome them and the Path will dawn to you and when the Buddha says the Path dawns to you, it means that he is actually referring to the fact that you will enter the stream. That means that you will reach Sovan Margaya – the Path of Stream Entry. The fruit of stream winning.

 When the Buddha says the Path dawns, he doesn’t mean anything else, nothing short of that.  So actually you can see that they are a very powerful contemplation, which will directly take you to your goal.  If you do not contemplate on one or more of these five positions,  in the first place you will not even strive.  If you contemplate frequently,  then you will strive in the right manner  and you will reach your goal.  That is for sure.  So I ask everyone to contemplate on it frequently.  So if you have a certain goal in mind with regard to the attainment of a fruit of this path,  whatever the goal is, then you must take one or more of these positions and frequently contemplate on it.  When you combine that contemplation with the practice of insight, with the development of insight through  the practice  of the four foundations of mindfulness, you will achieve your goal. If however  you neglect this contemplation,  then the Path will not dawn.  Because  this is the First Noble Truth.  All the Four Truths will be realised simultaneously. The effort of insight meditation practice has to culminate by the realization of the Four Noble Truths and this is the first of them.  So I ask everyone to contemplate on it frequently.