Dhamma Talk

Date : 29.3.2008
Title : Free from Depression
By : Ven Balacitta

Sometimes people feel good, uplifted or are happy and sometimes not. When people feel bad, down or are unhappy but if they know how to take care of themselves, are calm and peaceful, then there are no problems. Feelings are impermanent and are subject to change. If they do not know how to take care of themselves, are calm and peaceful, then there are problems. However it will not be a problem if one meets the right person who is able to help or advise one to solve it.

Nowadays, people are exposed to many kinds of advertisements which try to tell people that life would be more wonderful, uplifting or happier when they use their products. When one is looking for help, it is important that one finds someone who really is capable to help, otherwise, no help is better. If a person goes to see a doctor for help because of a feeling of emptiness or unhappiness or they are feeling bad or down, then it is highly possible that the doctor will prescribe some anti-depressant drugs for him. Taking anti-depressant drugs is of course the easiest and quickest way to make oneself feel good again but that is only temporary. In order for us to solve any problem, it is important for us to solve the cause of the problem. If we try to solve any problem without knowing and taking care of the cause, we may only solve the problem superficially. The root cause will still remain to generate the problem again and again. But anyhow, if any of you are taking these anti-depressant drugs already, please do not discontinue it before you find a better solution, otherwise, the sudden termination of the usage of the drugs is known to give many kinds of problematic reactions to the user.

We human beings have a body and mind. The mind of an uninstructed worldly person will surely be adversely affected when encountering a highly unwanted situation like the loss of someone very dear. When the mind is affected, the body will also be affected. If one is unable to accept the reality that all conditions in life are all impermanent and subject to change, then one will be easily disturbed whenever something good changes to bad. A person who is too engrossed with the vicissitudes of life will always be busy running after gain, praise, honour or pleasurable sensations. Similarly, he will also be busy trying to run away from loss, blame, discredit or unpleasurable sensations. When he encounters the former, he will feel elated, and when he encounters the latter, he will feel dejected. One who is easily elated or dejected is also a person who can easily lose his mental balance.

Living in the world, it is inescapable for people to experience the vicissitudes of life. Sometimes we will experience the results of our good kamma and sometimes we will also experience the results of our bad kamma. It is easy for people to be able to take care of themselves, be mindful, be peaceful and calm when life is smooth and easy but when the extreme downside of life happens suddenly, many will loose their mental balance. There will be sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief or despair and very sadly, most will also start to neglect their health.

The Buddha has shown us the four Noble Truths. In the four Noble Truths, he has shown to us what is suffering, what is the cause of suffering, what is the freedom from suffering and what is the path towards the freedom from suffering. The path towards the freedom of suffering is, of course, the Noble Eightfold Path which can be categorized under morality, meditation and wisdom.

Nowadays, there are many meditation retreat centres where one can learn to develop this Noble Eightfold Path. If any of you always feel bad, down, empty or unhappy, I encourage you to go for meditation retreat.i I wish others who are presently feeling good, strong and happy, to protect yourself by cultivating a meditative way of life, who knows when the “U Turn” will come. Correct meditation practice with the right kind of supports (morality and wisdom) can help one to understand the true nature of the world better, which in turn, will help one to be able to maintain mental balance even when facing the extremities in the vicissitudes of life.

As a matter of fact, in order for us to be always 100% free from mental suffering, we have to reach the state of Arahantship (full-enlightenment) . To reach that state, we have to develop the Noble Eightfold path in full perfection and this is not an easy job to do. But anyhow, if one starts correctly in the development of the Noble Eightfold Path, one can be said to have entered the stream of the Noble Eightfold path, a Sotapana (Stream-enterer)- SN. 55.5 A Sotapana, although is not a person 100% free from mental sufferings like an Arahant, is nevertheless, much more free from mental suffering than the most fortunate ordinary person in the world. A Sotapana already has right view with regard to the true nature of the world, the five aggregates or the so called “self”. He understands truly that whatever things that he has been identified with before as “mine”, “I”, or “myself” are actually impermanent, stressful and empty. He will never cling to it madly as before and it is impossible for him to fall into clinical depression like an uninstructed worldling again. A Sotapana might be depressed for a while when encountering the loss of someone dear but he knows the path to come out of it and he will come out of it. Just like venerable Ananda, when venerable Sariputta, venerable Mongallana and the Buddha were gone, he was depressed, down hearted and feeling empty. But it was only for a while because being a Sotapana, he knows the path to come out from suffering. If earlier, a person needs to depend on anti-depressant drugs for his superficial wellbeing, upon reaching the state of Sotapana, he can now throw away all of his anti-depressant drugs forever. Forever he is free.

Now, after talking about freedom from mental suffering, I would like to talk about our physical health. If one takes good care of his own physical health, he will enjoy at least 50%.of wellbeing, that is, bodily wellbeing. But If a person does not take good care of his bodily health and he is still an uninstructed worldling, he will suffer twice if he falls sick, that is, one part in body and the other part in the mind - for lamenting, complaining, worrying, ...

Earlier, I had said that when a person's mind is affected, his body will also be affected. But this does not mean that one who is totally free from mental suffering is also totally free from bodily sufferings. Although our mental wellbeing does influence our bodily wellbeing, this does not mean that all the causes of our bodily wellbeing is caused by our mind. I have found two places in the cannon that tell the causes that can affect our bodily wellbeing. One is from the Sutta and another from the Abhidhamma. They are as follows:

In the Sutta – SN. 36:21, it is mentioned that there are 8 causes that affect our feeling (bodily pain). They are:-

1)Disorders of the bile;
2)Disorders of the phlegm;
3)Disorders of the internal wind;
4)Imbalance of the combination of the bodily humors (bile, phlegm and wind);
5)Change of climate;
6)Uneven care of the body;
7)Harsh treatment (external forces); and
8)The result of kamma.

In the Abhidhamma, it is mentioned that there are only 4 causes but what I can see is that it is quite similar to the above except that it is presented in a different way and they are:-

1) The food that one consumes (the food one consumes could have effect on one or all of the bodily humors);
2) Change of climate (environmental changes like electrical radio magnetic wave pollution, air pollution and any other type of pollution should also be included);
3) The mind (the capability of the mind in facing the vicissitudes of life); and
4) The fruition of past karma.

I will also like to bring to your knowledge some tips for health which I found mentioned by the Buddha in the Suttas:-

“When a man is always mindful, knowing moderation in the food he eats, his ailments then diminish; he ages slowly, guarding his life.” - ( extracted from SN. 3:13)
“...Come, bhikkhus,eat a single session (before noon) by so doing, you too will be free from illness and affliction, and you will enjoy health, strength, and a comfortable abiding.”- (extracted from MN 65)
... your medicine of strong-smelling urine (puttimutta) will seem to you to be just like the various tonics of a householder or householder's son... As you live contented, it will serve for your delight, for a comfortable abiding, for non-agitation, & for alighting on Unbinding. (extracted from AN. VIII, 30)
... 'Good man, this repulsive urine (putimutta )is mixed with various medicines. Drink from it if you want; as you drink from it, its colour, smell and taste will not agree with you, but after drinking from it, you will be well...after drinking it, he became well.ii– ( extracted from MN.46)
Monks, there are these five advantages of walking meditation (cankama) it hardens one for traveling; it is good for striving; it is healthy; tends to good digestion after one has eaten and drunk, munched and crunched; the concentration won from it, last long... (extracted from AN. III, 29)

With the above information, I hope that by now you will know, at least, what needs to be balanced, what needs to be avoided, what needs to be done for your own well being, for your own happiness.

That's all for today. By the power of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, may all of you be successful in finding real peace, real harmony, real happiness and be happy always.

i They are many meditation centers around in Malaysia and all of them are doing great job in strengthening the faith of the people in the teaching of the Buddha. But if a depressive person were to come to see me for advise, I will recommend him or her to attend at least a 10 days meditation course conducted by S.N. Goenka or his assistant teachers. Depressive people are weak in energy and self-discipline, they need constant encouragement. The simple meditation instruction coupled with the healthy atmospheric condition in the Goenka meditation centre, could help. These are there contact numbers: 012 339 0089 (Chinese speaking) and 016 341 4776 (English speaking)
ii If one is in poor health and all conventional treatment had failed, why not give urine therapy a try. Whose knows this simple therapy will work miracle. The book titled “ The Water Of Life” by John W. Armstrong, is a very powerful book, it can change people perception in regard to urine. But if one do not have the gut to try urine even after reading so many cases of successful stories, then why not try Water Therapy. It can also work like miracle for curing many kinds illnesses. Very often, I will drink about 1.5 littles water first thing in the morning. After that, I could feel that my whole bodily cells become very happy. I felt refreshed, energized and good.

Dhammapada

Chapter 11
Old Age

146
When this world is ever ablaze,
why this laughter, why this jubilation?
Shrouded in darkness,
will you not seek the light?

147
Behold this body -- a painted image,
a mass of heaped up sores, infirm,
full of hankering -- of which
nothing is lasting or stable!

148
Fully worn out is this body,
a nest of disease, and fragile.
This foul mass breaks up,
for death is the end of life.

149
These dove-coloured bones
are like gourds that lie scattered about
in autumn.
Having seen them,
how can one seek delight?

150
This city (body) is built of bones,
plastered with flesh and blood;
within are decay and death,
pride and jealousy.

151
Even gorgeous royal chariots wear out,
and indeed this body too wears out.
But the Dhamma of the Good
does not age;
thus the Good make it known
to the good.

152
The man of little learning
grows old like a bull.
He grows only in bulk, but,
his wisdom does not grow.

153
Through many a birth in samsara
have I wandered in vain,
seeking the builder of this house (of life).
Repeated birth is indeed suffering!

154
O house-builder, you are seen!
You will not build this house again.
For your rafters are broken
and your ridgepole shattered.
My mind has reached the Unconditioned;
I have attained
the destruction of craving.*

155
Those who in youth
have not led the holy life,
or have failed to acquire wealth,
languish like old cranes in a pond
without fish.

156
Those who in youth
have not led the holy life,
or have failed to acquire wealth,
lie sighing over the past,
like worn-out arrows (shot from) a bow.

*According to the commentary, these verse are Buddha's "Song of Victory", his first utterance after Enlightenment. House-builder: craving; house: samsaric existence; rafters: passions; ridgepole: ignorance.

Dhammapada

Chapter 10
Violence

120
All tremble at violence;
all fear death.
Putting oneself in the place of another,
one should not kill
nor cause another to kill.

130
All tremble at violence;
life is dear to all.
Putting oneself in the place of another,
one should not kill
nor cause another to kill.

131
One who,
while himself seeking happiness,
oppresses with violence
other being who also desire happiness,
will not attain happiness hereafter.

132
One who,
while himself seeking happiness,
does not oppress with violence
other beings who also desire happiness,
will find happiness hereafter.

133
Speak not harshly to anyone,
for those thus spoken to might retort.
Indeed, angry speech hurts,
and retaliation may overtake you.

134
If, like a broken gong,
you silence yourself,
you have approached Nibbana,
for vindictiveness is no more in you.

135
Just as a cowherd,
drives the cattle to pasture with a staff,
so do old age and death
drive the life force of beings
(from existence to existence).

136
When the fool commits evil deeds,
he does not realize (their evil nature).
The witless man is tormented
by his own deeds,
like one burnt by fire.

137
He who inflicts violence
on those who are unarmed,
and offends those who are inoffensive,
will soon come upon
one of these ten states:

138-140
Sharp pain, or disaster, bodily injury,
serious illness, or derangement of mind,
trouble from the government,
or grave charges, loss of relatives,
or loss of wealth,
or houses destroyed by ravaging fire,
upon dissolution of the body
the ignorant man is born in hell.

141
Neither going about naked,
nor matted locks,
nor filth,
nor fasting,
nor lying on the ground,
nor smearing oneself
with ashes and dust,
nor sitting on the heels (in penance)
can purify a mortal
who has not overcome doubt.

142
Even though he be well-attired,
yet if he is poised, calm, controlled
and established in holy life,
having set aside violence
towards all beings -- he, truly,
is a holy man,
a renunciate, a monk.

143
Only rarely is there a man
in this world who,
restrained by modesty,
avoids reproach,
as a thoroughbred horse
avoids the whip.

144
Like a thoroughbred horse
touched by the whip,
by strenuous,
be filled with spiritual yearning.
By faith and moral purity,
by effort and meditation,
by investigation of the truth,
by being rich in knowledge and virtue,
and by being mindful,
destroy this unlimited suffering.

145
Irrigators regulate the waters,
fletchers straighten arrow shafts,
carpenters shape wood,
and the good control themselves.

Dhammapada

Chapter 9
Evil

116
Hasten to do good;
restrain your mind from evil.
He who is slow in doing good,
his mind delights in evil.

117
Should a person commit evil,
let him not do it again and again.
Let him not find pleasure therein,
for painful is the accumulation of evil.

118
Should a person do good,
let him do it again and again.
Let him find pleasure therein,
for blissful is the accumulation of good.

119
It may be well with the evil-doer
as long as the evil ripens not.
But when it does ripen,
then the evil-doer sees
(the painful results of) his evil deeds.

120
It may be ill with the doer of good
as long as the good ripens not.
But when it does ripen,
then the doer of good sees
(the plesant results of) his good deeds.

121
Think not lightly of evil, saying,
"It will not come to me."
Drop by drop is the water pot filled.
Likewise, the fool,
gathering it little by little,
fills himself with evil.

122
Think not lightly of good, saying,
"It will not come to me."
Drop by drop is the water pot filled.
Likewise, the wise man,
gathering it little by little,
fills himself with good.

123
Jusr as a trader
with a small escot
and great wealth would avoid
a perilous route,
or just as one desiring to live
avoids poison,
even so should one shun evil.

124
If on the hand there is no wound,
one may carry even poison in it.
Poison does not affect one
who is free from wounds.
For him who does no evil, there is no ill.

125
Like fine dust thrown against the wind,
evil falls back upon that fool
who offends an inoffensive,
pure and guiltless man.

126
Some are born in the womb;
the wicked are born in hell;
the devout go to heaven;
the stainless pass into Nibbana.

127
Neither in the sky nor in the mid-ocean,
nor by entering into mountain clefts,
nowhere in the world
is there a place where
one may escape
from the results of evil deeds.

128
Neither in the sky
nor in the mid-ocean,
nor by entering into mountain clefts,
nowhere in the world
is there a place where
one will not be overcome
bu death.

Dhammapada

Chapter 8
The Thousands

100
Better than
a thousand useless words
is one useful word,
hearing which
one attains peace.

101
Better than
a thousand useless verses
is one useful verse,
hearing which one attains peace.

102
Better than
reciting a hundred meaningless verses
is the reciting
of one verse of Dhamma,
hearing which one attains peace.

103
Though one may conquer
a thousand times a thousand men in battle,
yet he indeed is the noblest victor
who conquers himself.

104-105
Self-conquest
is far better than
the conquest of others.
Not even a god, an angel,
Mara or Brahma*
can turn into defeat
the victory of such a person
who is self-subdued
and ever restrained in conduct.

106
Though month after month
for a hundred years
one should offer sacrifices
by the thousands,
yet if only for a moment
one should worship
those of perfected minds
that honour is indeed better
than a century of sacrifice.

107
Though for a hundred years
one should tend
the sacrificial fire in the forest,
yet if only for a moment
one should worship
those of perfected minds
that worship is indeed better
than a century of sacrifice.

108
Whatever gifts and oblations
one seeking merit
might offer in this world
for a whole year,
all that is not worth
one fourth of the merit
gained by revering the Upright Ones,
which is truly excellent.

109
To one ever eager
to revere and serve the elders,
these four blessings accrue:
long life and beauty,
happiness and power.

110
Better it is to live one day
virtuous and meditative
than to live a hundred years
immoral and uncontrolled.

111
Better it is to live
one day wise and meditative
than to live a hundred years
foolish and uncontrolled.

112
Better it is to live
one day strenuous and resolute
than to live a hundred years
sluggish and dissipated.

113
Better it is to live
one day seeing the rise and fall of things
than to live a hundred years
without ever seeing
the rise and fall of things.

114
Better it is to live one day
seeing the Deathless
than to live a hundred years
without ever seeing
the Deathless

115
Better it is to live one day
seeing the Supreme Truth
than to live a hundred years
without ever seeing
the Supreme Truth.


*Brahma: A high divinity in Indian religions.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part III
Our Life Is Our Practice

Just Let Go

Do everything with a mind that lets go. Do not expect any praise or reward. If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will know complete peace and freedom. Your struggles with the world will have come to an end.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part III
Our Life Is Our Practice

Oppose Your Mind

Consider the Buddha's compassion and skill. He taught us after his own enlightenment. Finished with his own business, he got involved in ours, teaching us all these wonderful means. Concerning practice I have followed him, I have made all efforts in seeking, giving up my life to it because I believe in what the Buddha taught - that Path, fruition, and Nirvana exist. But these things are not accidental. They arise from right practice, from right effort, from being bold, daring to train, to think, to adapt, to do. This effort involves opposing your own mind.

The Buddha says not to trust the mind because it is defiled, impure, does not yet embody virtue or Dharma. In all different practices we do, we must therefore oppose this mind. When the mind is opposed, it becomes hot and distressed, and we begin to wonder whether we are on the right path. Because practice interferes with defilement, with desire, we suffer and may even decide to stop practicing. The Buddha, however, taught that this is the correct practice and that defilement, not you, is the one that is inflamed. Naturally, such practice is difficult.

Some meditation monks only seek the Dharma according to words and books. Of course, when it is time for study, study according to the text. But when you are "fighting" with defilement, fight outside the text. If you fight according to a model, you will not be able to stand up to the enemy. The texts only provide an example and can cause you to lose yourself because they are based on memories and concepts. Conceptual thinking creates illusion and embellishment and can take you to the heavens and hells, to the far reaches of imagination, beyond the simple truth here in front of you.

If you undertake the training, you will find that at first, physical solitude is important. When you come to live in seclusion, you can think of Sariputta's advice to monks concerning physical seclusion, mental seclusion, and seclusion from defilement and temptation. He taught that physical seclusion is the cause for the arising of mental seclusion. and mental seclusion is the cause for the arising of seclusion from defilement. Of course, if you heart is calm, you can live anywhere, but in first beginning to know Dharma, physical seclusion is invaluable. Today, or any day, go and sit far away from the village. Try it, staying alone. Or go to some fearful hilltop by yourself. Then you can begin to know what it is really like to look at yourself.

Whether or not there is tranquility, do not be concerned. As long as you are practicing, you are creating right causes and will be able to make use of whatever arises. Do not be afraid that you will not succeed, will not become tranquil. If you practice sincerely, you must grow in Dharma. Those who seek will see, just as those who eat will be satisfied.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part III
Our Life Is Our Practice

Learning Through Life

Boredom is not a real problem; if we look closely we can see that the mind is always active. Thus, we always have work to do.

Relying on yourself to do little things - like cleaning up carefully after the meal, doing chores gracefully and mindfully, not banging on kettles - helps develop concentration and makes practice easier. It can also indicate to you whether or not you have really established mindfulness or are still getting lost in defilement.

You are generally in a hurry; therefore, you will have greater extremes of happiness, suffering, and defilement. If you practice correctly, the fact that you have to deal with many problems can be a source of deep wisdom later on.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part III
Our Life Is Our Practice

Real Love

Real love is wisdom. What most people think of as love is just an impermanent feeling If you have a nice taste every day, you will soon get tired of it. In the same way, such love eventually turns into hatred and sorrow. Such worldly happiness involves clinging and is always tied up with suffering, which comes like the policeman following the thief.

Nevertheless, we cannot suppress nor forbid such feelings. We just should not cling to or identify with them but should know them for what they are. Then Dharma is present. One loves another, yet eventually the beloved leaves or dies. To lament and think longingly, grasping after that which has changed, is suffering, not love. When we are at one with this truth and no longer need or desire, wisdom and the real love that transcends desire fill our world.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part III
Our Life Is Our Practice

Let Others Be

Do not find fault with others. If they behave wrongly, there is no need to make yourself suffer. If you point out to them what is correct and they do not practice accordingly, leave it at that.

When the Buddha studied with various teachers, he realized that their way were lacking, but he did not disparage them. Studying with humility and respect, he benefited from his relationship with them, yet he realized that their systems were not complete. Still, as he had not yet become enlightened, he did not criticize or attempt to teach them. After he found enlightenment, he respectfully remembered those he has studied with and wanted to share his newfound knowledge with them.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part III
Our Life Is Our Practice

Don’t Imitate

We have to be aware of how people tend to imitate their teachers. They become copies, prints, castings. It is like the story of the king’s horse trainer. The old trainer died, so the king hired a new trainer. Unfortunately, this man limped when he walked. New and beautiful horses were brought to him, and he trained them exquisitely – to run, to canter, to pull carriages. But each of the new stallions developed a limp. Finally, the king summoned the trainer, and seeing him limp as he entered the court, he understood everything and immediately hired a new trainer.

As teachers, you must be aware of the force of the examples you set. And, even more important, as students, you must not follow the image, the outer form, of your teacher. He is pointing you back to your own inner perfection. Take the inner wisdom as your model, and do not imitate his limp.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part III
Our Life Is Our Practice

Rely on Yourself

The Buddha taught that those who wish to know must realize the truth for themselves. Then it makes no difference whether others criticize or praise you - whatever they say, you will be undisturbed. If a person has no trust in himself, when someone calls him bad, he will feel he is bad accordingly. What a waste of time! If people call you bad, just examine yourself. If they are not correct, just ignore them; if they are correct, learn from them. In either case, why get angry? If you can see things this way, you will really be at peace. There will be nothing wrong, there will be only Dharma. If you really use the tools the Buddha gave us, you need never envy others. Whereas lazy people want to just listen and believe, you will be self-sufficient, able to earn your living by your own efforts.

To practice using only your own resources is troublesome because they are your own. You once thought practice was difficult because you were contending, grabbing at others' goods. Then the Buddha taught you to work with your own, and you thought everything would be fine. Now you find that too is difficult, so the Buddha teaches you further. If you cling and grasp at something, it does not matter whose it is. If you reach out and grab a fire in your neighbor's house, the fire will be hot; if you grab a fire in your own house, that, too, will be hot. So don't grab at anything.

This is how I practice - what is called the direct way. I do not contend with anyone. If you bring scriptures or psychology to argue with me, I will not argue. I will just show you cause and effect, to let you understand the truth of practice. We must all learn to rely on ourselves.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part III
Our Life Is Our Practice

Moderation

Three basic points of practice to work with are sense restraint, which means taking care not to indulge and attach to sensations; moderation in eating; and wakefulness.

Sense restraint. We can easily recognize physical irregularities, such as blindness, deafness, deformed limbs, but irregularities of mind are another matter. When you begin to meditate, you see things differently. You can see the mental distortions that formerly seemed normal, and you can see danger where you did not see it before. This brings sense restraint. You become sensitive, like one who enters a forest or jungle and becomes aware of danger from poisonous creatures, thorns, and so forth. One with a raw wound is likewise more aware of danger from flies and gnats. For one who meditates, the danger is from sense objects. Sense restraint is thus necessary; in fact, it is the highest kind of virtue.

Moderation in eating. It is easy to fast, more difficult to eat little or in moderation as a meditation. Instead of frequent fasting, learn to eat with mindfulness and sensitivity to your needs, learn to distinguish needs from desires.

Pushing the body is not in itself self-torment. Going without sleep or without food may seem extreme at times, but it can have value. We must be willing to resist laziness and defilement, to stir them up and watch them. Once these are understood, such practices are no longer necessary. This is why we should eat, sleep, and talk little - for the purpose of opposing our desires and making them reveal themselves.

Wakefulness. To establish awareness, effort is required constantly, not just when you feel diligent. Even if you meditate all night at times, it is not correct practice if at other times you still follow your laziness. Constantly watch over the mind as a parent watches over a child. Protect it from its own foolishness, teach it what is right.

It is incorrect to think that at certain times you do not have the opportunity to meditate. You must constantly make the effort to know yourself; it is as necessary as your breathing, which continues in all situations. If you do not like certain activities, such as chanting or working, and give up on them as meditation, you will never learn wakefulness.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part III
Our Life Is Our Practice

What is Natural?

Claiming they want their practice to be “ natural,” some people complain that this way of life does not fit their nature.

Nature is the tree in the forest. But if you build a house, it is no longer natural, is it? Yet if you learn to use the tree, making wood and building a house, it has more value to you. Or perhaps the dog id natural, running here and there, following its nose. Throw food to dogs and they rush to it, fighting each other. Is that what you want to be like?

The true meaning of natural can be discovered with our discipline and practice. This natural is beyond our habits, our conditioning, our fears. If the human mind is left to so-called natural impulses, untrained, it is full pf greed, hatred, and delusion and suffers accordingly. Yet through practice we can allow our wisdom and love to grow naturally until it blossoms in any surroundings.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part III
Our Life Is Our Practice

The Spiral of Virtue, Concentration and Wisdom

The Buddha taught a way out of suffering – the causes of suffering and a practical path. In my practice, I just know this simple path – good in the beginning as virtue, good in the middle as concentration, good in the end as wisdom. If you carefully consider these three, you will see that they actually merge into one.

Let us then consider these three related factors. How does one practice virtue? Actually, in developing virtue, one must begin with wisdom. Traditionally, we speak of keeping precepts, establishing virtue, first. Yet for virtue to be completed, there must be wisdom to understand the full implications of virtue. To start, you must examine your body and speech, investigating the process of cause and effect. If you contemplate body and speech to see in what ways they can cause harm, you will begin to understand, control and purify both cause and effect.

If you know the characteristics of what is skillful and unskillful in physical and verbal behavior, you already see where to practice in order to give up what is unskillful and do what is good. When you give up wrong and set yourself right, the mind becomes firm, unswerving, concentrated. This concentration limits wavering and doubt as to body and speech. With the mind collected, when forms or sounds come, you can contemplate and see them clearly. By not letting your mind wander, you will see the nature of all experiences according to the truth. When this knowledge is continuous, wisdom arises.

Virtue, concentration, and wisdom, then, can be taken together as one. When they mature, they become synonymous- that is the Noble Path. When greed, hatred, and delusion arise, only this Noble Path is capable of destroying them.

Virtue, concentration, and wisdom, then, can be developed in support of each other, then, like a spiral ever revolving, relying on sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and mind objects. Then whatever arises, Path is always in control. If Path is strong, it destroys the defilements - greed, hatred, and ignorance. If it is weak, mental defilements can gain control, killing this mind of ours. Sights, sounds, and so on arise, and not knowing the truth of them, we allow them to destroy us.

Path and defilement walk side by side in this way. The student of Dharma must always contend with both of them, as if there were two persons fighting. When the Path takes control, it strengthens awareness and contemplation.If you are able to remain aware, defilement will admit defeat when it enters the contest again. If your effort is straight on the Path, it keeps destroying defilement. But it you are weak, when Path is weak, defilement takes over, bringing grasping, illusion, and sorrow. Suffering arises when virtues, concentration, and wisdom are weak.

Once suffering has arisen, that which could have extinguished these sorrows ha vanished. Only virtue, concentration, and wisdom can cause Path to arise again. When these are developed, the Path starts functioning continuously, destroying the cause for the arising of suffering in each moment and each situation.This struggle continue one side conquers, and the matter can be brought to an end. Thus, I advice practicing unceasingly.

Practice begins here and now. Suffering and liberation, the entire Path, are here and now. The teachings, words like virtue and wisdom, only point to the mind. But these two elements, Path and defilement, compete in the mind all the way to the end of the Path. Therefore, applying the tools of practice is burdensome, difficult - you must rely on endurance, patience, and proper effort. Then true understanding will come about on its own.

Virtue, concentration, and wisdom together constitute the Path. But this Path is not yet the true teaching, not what the teacher actually wanted, but merely the Path that will take one there. For example, say you traveled the road from Bangkok to Wat Ba Pong; the road was necessary for your journey, but you were seeking the monastery, not the road. In the same way, we can say that virtue, concentration, and wisdom are outside the truth of the Buddha but are the road that leads to this truth. When you have developed these three factors, the result is the most wonderful peace. In this peace, sights or sounds have no power to disturb the mind. There is nothing at all left to be done. Therefore, the Buddha says to give up whatever you are holding on to, without anxiety. Then you can know this peace for yourself and will no longer need to believe anyone else. Ultimately, you will come to experience the Dharma of the Noble Ones.

However, do not try to measure your development quickly. Just practice. Otherwise, whenever the mind becomes calm, you will ask, ”Is this is?” As soon as you think like this, the whole effort is lost. There are no signs to attest to your progress, like the one that says, “This is the path to Wat Ba Pong.” Just throw away all desires and expectations and look directly at the ways of the mind.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part III
Our Life Is Our Practice

Virtue

There are two levels of practice. The first is the foundation, a development of precepts, virtue, or morality* in order to bring happiness , comfort and harmony among people. The second, more intensive and unconcerned with comfort is the practice of Buddha Dharma directed solely toward awakening, toward the liberation of the heart. This liberation is the source of wisdom and compassion and the true reason for the Buddha's teaching. Understanding these two levels is the basic for true practice.

Virtue and morality are the mother and father of the Dharma growing within us, providing it with the proper nourishment and direction.

Virtue is the basic for a harmonious world in which people can live truly as humans, not animals. Developing virtue is at the heart of our practice. It is very simple. Keep the training precepts. Do not kill, steal , lie, commit sexual misdeeds, or take intoxicants that make you heedless. Cultivate compassion and a reverence for all life. Take care with your goods, your possesions, your actions, your speech. Use virtue to make your life simple and pure. With virtue as a basis for everything you do, your mind will become kind, clear and quiet. Meditation will grow easily in this soil.

The Buddha said," Refrain from what is bad, do good, and purify the heart," Our practice, then, is to get rid of what is worthless and keep what is valuable. Do you still have anything bad or unskillful in your heart? Of course! So why not clean house?

As true practice, this getting rid of bad and cultivating good is fine, but limited. Finally, we must step over and beyond both good and bad. In the end, there is a freedom that includes all and a desirelessness from which love and wisdom naturally flow.

Right effort and virtue are not a question of what you do outwardly but of constant inner awareness and restraint. Thus, charity, if given with good intention, can bring happiness to oneself and others. But virtue must be the root of this charity for it to be pure.

When those who do not understand the Dharma act improperly, they look left and right to make sure no one is looking. How foolish! The Buddha, the Dharma, our karma, are always watching. Do you think the Buddha cannot see that far? We never really get away with anything.

Take care of your virtue as a gardener takes care of trees. Do not be attached to big and small, important and unimportant. Some people wants shortcuts -- they say,"Forget concentration, we'll go straight to insight; forget virtue, we'll start with concentration. "We have so many excuses for our attachment.

We must start right here where we are, directly and simply. When the first two steps, virtue and right views, have been completed, then the third step, uprooting defilement, will naturally occur without deliberation. When light is produced, we no longer worry about getting rid of darkness, nor do we wonder where the darkness has gone. We just know that there is light.

Following the precepts has three levels. The first is to undertake them as training rules given to us by our teachers. The second arises when we undertake and abide in them ourselves. But for those at the highest level, the Noble Ones, it is not even necessary to think of precepts, of right or wrong. This true virtue comes from the wisdom that knows the Four Noble Truths in the heart and acts from this understanding.


*5 precepts:
1. Abstain from killing.
2. Abstain from stealing.
3. Abstain from sexual misconduct.
4. Abstain from lying.
5. Abstain from taking intoxicants.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part III
Our Life Is Our Practice

To Grasp a Snake

“Our practice here is not to grasp anything,” Achaan Chah told a new monk.

“But isn’t it necessary to hold onto things sometimes?” the monk protested.

“With the hands, yes, but not with the heart,” the teacher replied. “When the heart grasps what is painful, it is like being bitten by a snake. And when, through desire, it grasps what is pleasant, it is just grasping the tail of the snake. It only takes a little while longer for the head of the snake to come around and bite you.

“Make this non-grasping and mindfulness the guardian of your heart, like a parent. Then your likes and dislikes will come calling like children. ‘ I don’t like that. Mommy. I want more of that, Daddy,’ Just smile and say, ‘Sure, kid.’ ‘But Mommy, I really want an elephant,’ ‘Sure, kid.’ ‘I want candy. Can we go for an airplane ride?’ There is no problem if you can let them come and go without grasping.”

Something contacts the senses; like or dislike arises; and right there is delusion. Yet with mindfulness, wisdom can arise in the same experience.

Do not fear places where many things contact the senses, if you must be there. Enlightened does not mean being deaf and blind. Saying a mantra every second to block things out , you may get hit by a car. Just be mindful and do not be fooled. When others say something is pretty, say to yourself, “It’s not,” When others say something is delicious, say to yourself, “No, it’s not,” Do not get caught in the attachments of the world or in relative judgments. Just let it all go by.

Some people are afraid of generosity. They feel that they will be exploited or oppressed, that they will not be properly caring for themselves. In cultivating generosity, we are only oppressing our greed and attachment. This allows our true nature to express itself and become lighter and freer.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part III
Our Life Is Our Practice

Meditation in Action

Proper effort is not the effort to make something particular happen. It is the effort to be aware and awake in each moment, the effort to overcome laziness and defilement, the effort to make each activity of our day meditation.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part III
Our Life Is Our Practice
（repost 09/02/2008)

Meditation is not seperate from the rest of life. All situations provide opportunity to practice, to grow in wisdom and compassion. Achaan Chah teaches that the right effort for us is to be mindful in all circumstances without running away from the world but to learn to act without grasping or attachment.

Furthermore, he insists that the foundation of a spiritual life is virtue. Although virtue is neglected in our modern society, it must be understood and honored as a fundamental part of meditation. Virtue means taking care so that we do not harm other beings by thought, word, or deed. This respect and caring puts us into a harmonious relationship with all life around us. Only when our words and deeds come from kindness can we quiet the mind and open the heart. The practice of non-harming is the way to begin turning all life situations into practice.

To further establish our lives on the Middle Way, Achaan Chah recommends moderation and self-reliance. A life of excess is difficult soil for the growth of wisdom. To take care with the basics - such as moderation in eating, sleeping, and in speech - helps bring the inner life into balance. It also develops the power of self-reliance. Don't imitate the way others practice or compare yourself to them. Achaan Chah cautions; just let them be. It is hard enough to watch your own mind, so why add the burden of judging others. Learn to use your own breath and everyday life as the place of meditation and you will surely grow in wisdom.

Dhammapada

The Perfected One

90
The fever of passion
exists not for him
who has completed the journey,
who is sorrowless and wholly set free,
and has broken all ties. *

91
The mindful ones exert themselves.
They are not attached
to any home;
like swans that abandon the lake,
they leave
home after home behind.

92
Those who do not accumulate
and are wise regarding food,
whose object is the Void,
the Unconditioned Freedom --
their track cannot be traced,
like that of birds in the air. **

93
He whose cankers
are destroyed
and who is not attached to food,
whose object is the Void,
the Unconditioned Freedom--
his path cannot be traced,
like that of birds in the air.

94
Even the gods hold dear
the wise one,
whose senses are subdued,
like horses well trained
by a charioteer,
whose pride is destroyed
and who is free from the cankers.

95
There is no more worldly existence
for the wise one,
who, like the earth,
resents nothing,
who is as firm as a high pillar
and as pure as a deep pool
free from mud.

96
Calm is his thought
calm is his speech and calm his deed.
who, truly know,
is wholly freed,
perfectly tranquil and wise.

97
The man
who is without blind faith,
who knows the Uncreate,
who has severed all links,
destroyed all causes
(for karma, good and evil),
and thrown out all desires......
he, truly,
is the most excellent of men.

98
Inspiring, indeed,
is that place where Arahats dwell,
be it a village, a forest,
a vale or a hill.

99
Inspiring are the forests
in which worldlings find no pleasure.
There the passionless will rejoice,
for they seek no sensual pleasures.


*Ties (gantha)
Four bonds of covetousness, ill-will, blind adherence to rules and rituals and dogmatic bigotry.
**Accummulates includes accumulation of kamma.
Food:refers to physical nutriment, sensory impression, volitional activity and rebirth consciousness, all of which feed the process of continued existence.

Dhammapada

The Wise Man

76
Should one find a man
who points out faults and who reproves,
let him follow
such a wise and sagacious person
as one would a guide to hidden treasure.
It is always better,
and never worse,
to cultivate such an association.

77
Let him admonish,
instruct and shield one from wrong;
he, indeed,
is dear to the good
and detestable to the evil.

78
Do not associate
with evil companions;
do not seek the fellowship of the vile.
Associate with good friends;
seek the fellowship of noble men.

79
He who drinks deep
the Dhamma
lives happily
with a tranquil mind.
The wise man ever delights
in the Dhamma made known
by the Noble One ( the Buddha).

80
Irrigators regulate the waters;
fletchers straighten the arrow shaft;
carpenters shape the wood;
the wise control themselves.

81
Just as a solid rock
is not shaken by the storm,
even so the wise are not affected
by praise or blame.

82
On hearing the Teachings,
the wise become perfectly purified,
like a lake deep,
clear and still.

83
The good renounce
(attachment for) everything.
The virtuous
do not prattle
with a yearning for pleasures.
The wise
show no elation or depression
when touched
by happiness or sorrow.

84
He is indeed virtuous,
wise and righteous
who neither for his own sake
nor for the sake of another
(does any wrong),
who does not crave for sons,
wealth or kingdom,
and does not desire
success by unjust means.

85
Few among men
are those
who cross to the farther shore.
The rest, the bulk of men,
only run up and down the hither bank.

86
But those who act
accroding
to the perfectly taught Dhamma
will cross the realm of Death,
so difficult to cross.

87-88
Abandoning the dark way,
let the wise man cultivate
the bright path.
Having gone from home
to homelessness,
let him yearn for that delight
in detachment,
so difficult to enjoy.
Giving up sensual pleasures,
with no attachment,
let the wise man cleanse
himself of defilements of the mind.

89
Those whose minds
have reached
full excellence
in the factors of enlightenment,
who, having renounced
acquisitiveness,
rejoice in not clinging to things --
rid of cankers,
glowing with wisdom,
they have attained Nibbana
in this very life. *


*Cankers (asara)
The four basic mental pollutants of sensual desire, desire for continued existence, ignorance and false views. Their destruction is necessary for attainment of Nibbana.

Dhammapada

The Fools

60
Long is the night to the sleepless;
long is the league to the weary.
Long is worldly existence to fools
who know not the Sublime Truth.

61
Should a seeker not find
a companion who is better or equal,
let him resolutely pursue a solitary course;
there is no fellowship with the fool.

62
The fool worries, thinking,
"I have sons, I have wealth."
Indeed, when he himself is not his own,
whence are sons, whence is wealth?

63
A fool who knows his foolishness
is wise at least to that extent,
but a fool who thinks himself wise
is called a fool indeed.

64
Though all his life a fool associates
with a wise man,
he no more comprehends
the Truth
than a spoon tastes the flavour of the soup.

65
Though only for a moment
a discerning person associates
with the wise man,
quickly he comprehends the Truth,
just as the tongue tastes
the flavour of the soup.

66
Fools of little wit are enemies
unto themselves as they move about
doing evil deeds,
the fruits of which are bitter .

67
Ill done is that action doing
which one repents later,
and the fruit of which one,
weeping, reaps with tears.

68
Well done is that action doing
which one repents not later,
and the fruit of which one reaps
with delight and happiness.

69
So long as an evil deed has not ripened,*
the fool thinks it as sweet as honey.
But when the evil deed ripens,
the fool comes to grief.

70
Month after month
a fool may eat his food
with the tip of a blade of grass,
but he still is not worth
a sixteen part
of those who have comprehended
the Truth.

71
Truly, an evil deed committed
does not immediately bear fruit,
like milk that does not
turn sour all at once.
But smouldering, it follows the fool
like fire covered by ashes.

72
To his own ruin
the fool gains knowledge,
for it cleaves his head and
destroys his innate goodness.

73
The fool seeks undeserved reputation,
precedence among monks,
authority over monasteries,
and honour among householders.

74
"Let both laymen and monks
think that it was done by me.
In every work, great and small,
let them follow me"
-- such is the ambition of the fool;
this his desire and pride increase.

75
One is the quest for worldly gain,
and quite another is the path to Nibbana.
Clearly understanding this,
let not the monk,
the disciple of the Buddha,
be carried away by worldly acclaim,
but develop detachment instead.


*Ripened:
Karmic result not always immediate, but may fructify in a future lifetime.

Dhammapada

Flowers

44
Who shall overcome this earth,
this realm of Yama*
and this sphere of men and gods?
Who shall bring to perfection
the well-taught path of wisdom
as an expert garland-maker
would his floral design?

45
A striver-on-the path
shall overcome this earth,
this realm of Yama
and this sphere of men and gods.
The striver-on-the-path
shall bring to perfection
the well-taught path of wisdom,
as an expert garland-maker would
his floral design.**

46
Realizing that this body is like froth,
penetrating its mirage-like nature,
and plucking out Mara's
flower-tipped arrows of sensuality,
go beyond sight of the King of Death!

47
As a mightt flood
sweeps away the sleeping village,
so death carries away the person
of distracted mind
who only plucks the flowers (of pleasure).

48
The Destroyer
brings under his sway
the person of distracted mind who,
insatiate in sense desires,
only plucks the flowers (of pleasure).

49
As a bee gathers honey
from the flower without injuring
its colour or fragrance,
even so the sage goes on his alms-round
in the village.***

50
Let none find fault with others,
let none see the omissions
and commissions of others.
But let one see one's own acts,
done and undone.

51
Like a beautiful flower
full of colour but without fragrance,
even so,
fruitless are the fair words
of one who does not practise them.

52
Like a beautiful flower of colour
and also fragrant,
even so,
fruitful are the fair words
of one who practises them.

53
As from a great heap of flowers
many garlands can be made,
even so should many good deeds
be done by one born a mortal.

54
Not the sweet smell of flowers,
not even the fragrance of sandal,
tagara or jasmine
blows against the wind.
But the fragrance of the virtuous
blows against the wind.
Truly, the virtuous man
pervades all directions
with the fragrance of his virtue.****

55
Of all the fragrances --
sandal, tagara, blue lotus and jasmine --
the fragrance of virtue
is by far the sweetest.

56
Faint is the fragrance
of tagara and sandal,
but excellent is the fragrance
of the virtuous,
wafting even amongst the gods.

57
Mara never finds the path
of the truly virtuous,
who abide in heedfulness
and are freed by perfect knowledge.

58-59
Upon a heap of rubbish
in the road-side ditch blooms a lotus,
fragrance and pleasing.
Even so, on the rubbish heap
of blinded mortals the disciple
of the Supremely Enlightened One shines
resplendent in wisdom.


*Yama
Another name for Mara as king of death and ruler of the statesof woe.
**Striver-on-the -Path (Sekha)
One who has achieved any of the first three stages of supramundane attainment: a Stream-enterer, Once-returner and Non-returner. Sekho perfects the path of wisdom (37 Bodhipakkhiya dhamma).
***Sage collects alms in the village and provides others the opportunity to gain merit (punna).
****Fragrance of virtue pervades everywhere.
Tagara: is a fragrant flowering shrub.

Dhammapada

The Mind

33
Just as fletcher straightens
an arrow shaft,
even so the discerning man
straightens his mind -
so fickle and unsteady,
so difficult to guard and control.

34
As a fish when pulled out of water
and cast on land
throbs and quivers,
even so is this mind agitated.
Hence should one abandon
the realm of Mara*.

35
Wonderful, indeed,
it is to subdue the mind,
so difficult to subdue, ever swift,
and seizing whatever it desires.
A tamed mind brings happiness.

36
Let the discerning man
guard the mind,
so difficult to detect and extremely subtle,
seizing whatever it desires.
A guarded mind brings happiness.

37
Dwelling in the cave* *(of the heart),
the mind, without form,
wanders far and alone.
Those who subdue this mind
are liberated from the bonds of Mara.

38
Wisdom never becomes perfect
in one whose mind is not steadfast,
who knows not the Good Teaching
and whose faith wavers.

39
There is no fear for an awakened one,
whose mind is not sodden
(by lust)
nor afflicted
(by hate),
and who has gone beyond
both merit and demerit***.

40
Realizing that this body
is as fragile as a clay pot,
and fortifying this mind
like
a well-fortified city,
fight out Mara
with the sword of wisdom.
Then, guarding the conquest,
remain unattached.

41
Ere long, alas!
This body will lie upon the earth,
unheeded and lifeless,
like a useless log.

42
Whatever harm an enemy
may do to an enemy,
or a hater to a hater,
an ill-directed mind
inflicts on oneself a greater harm.

43
Neither mother, father,
nor any other relative
can do one greater good
than one's own well-directed mind.


*Mara:
Literally, the destroyer; Mara stands for
1) mental defilements
2) phenomenal world
3) death (no. 1 leads to 2 and 3)
4) Lord of evil forces -- a powerful deity who tempts and misleads those following the path to Nibbana.
**Cave:
Heart is the seat of consciousness. Hence the analogy of the mind resting in the cave of the heart. Every moment of consciousness arises, continues and passes by itself, not together with other moments; hence "alone".
***Beyond both merit and demerit:
The Arahat having abandoned all defilements, can no longer perform evil actions, having no more attachment to any plane of existence his virtuous actions no longer bear karmic fruit.

Dhammapada

Heedfulness

21
Heedfulness is the path to the Deathless.
Heedlessness is the path to death.
The heedful die not.
The heedless are as if dead already.*

22
Clearly understanding
this excellence of heedfulness,
the wise exult therein and enjoy the resort
of the Noble Ones. **

23
The wise ones, ever meditative
and steadfastly persevering,
alone experience Nibbana,
the incomparable freedom
from bondage.

24
Ever grows the glory of him
who is energetic, mindful
and pure in conduct,
discerning and self-controlled,
righteous and heedful.

25
By effort and heedfulness,
discipline and self-mastery,
let the wise one make for himself
an island which no flood can overwhelm.

26
The foolish and ignorant
indulge in heedlessness,
but the wise one keeps his heedfulness
as his best treasure.

27
Do not give way to heedlessness.
Do not indulge in sensual pleasures.
Only the heedful and meditative
attain great happiness.

28
Just as one upon the summit
of a mountain
beholds the groundings,
even so when the wise man
casts away heedlessness
by heedfulness
and ascends
the high tower of wisdom,
this sorrowless sage beholds
the sorrowing and foolish
multitude.

29
Heedful among the heedless,
wide-awake among the sleepy,
the wise man advances
like a swift horse
leaving behind a weak jade.

30
By heedfulness did Indra (Ruler of the gods in ancient indian mythology)
become the overlord of the gods.
Heedfulness is ever praised,
and heedlessness ever despised.

31
The monk who delights
in heedfulness
and looks with fear at heedlessness
advances like fire,
burning all fetters small and large.

32
The monk who delights
in heedfulness
and looks with fear at heedlessness
will not fall.
He is close to Nibbana.


*The Deathless (amata)
Nibbana is deathless because those who attain it are free from the cycle of repeated birth and death.
** The Noble Ones (ariya)
Those who have reached any of the four stages of supramundane attainment leading irreversibly to Nibbana. The resort (gocara) of the Noble Ones are the 37 Requisites of Enlightenment (Bhodipakkhiya dhamma).

Dhamapada

Dhamapada

The Pairs

9
Whoever being depraved,
devoid of self-control
and truthfulness
should don the monk's yellow robe,
he surely is not worthly of the robe.

10
But whoever is purged of depravity,
well-established in virtues
and filled with self-control
and truthfulness,
he indeed is worthy of the yellow robe.

11
Those who mistake
the unessential to be essential
and the essential to be unessential,
dwelling in wrong thoughts,
never arrive at the essential.

12
Those who know
the essential to be essential
and the unessential to be unessential,
dwelling in right thoughts,
do arrive at the essential.

13
Just as rain
breaks through
an ill-thatched house,
so passion penetrates
an undeveloped mind.

14
Just as rain
does not break through
a well-thatched house,
so passion never penetrates
a well-developed mind.

15
The evil-doer
grieves here and hereafter;
he grieves in both the worlds.
He laments and is afflicted,
recollecting his own impure deeds.

16
The doer of good
rejoices here and hereafter;
he rejoices in both the worlds.
He rejoices and exults,
recollecting his own pure deeds.

17
The evil-doer
suffers here and hereafter;
he suffers in both the worlds.
The thought, "Evil have I done,"
torments him, and he suffers
even more when gone to realms of woe.*

18
The doer of good
delights here and hereafter;
he delights in both the worlds.
The thought,"Good have I done,"
delights him, and he delights
even more when gone to realms of bliss.**

19
Much though he recites
the sacred texts,
but acts not accordingly,
that heedless man
is like a cowherd
who only counts the cows of others --
he does not partake
of the blessings of a holy life.

20
Little though
he recites the scared texts,
but puts the Teaching
into practice,
forsaking lust, hatred and delusion,
with true wisdom
and emancipated mind
clinging to nothing
of this or any other world --
he indeed partakes
of the blessings of a holy life.

*realms of woe(duggati):
The worlds of demons, ghosts, animals and the hells.
**realms of bliss(sugatti):
These consist of
1)human and six divine planes of the realms of desire;
2)sixteen planes of the radiant brahma deities of subtle form;
3)four planes of formless (pure mental) brahma deities.

dhamma preaching

i have been to a meditation retreat under bhante aggacitta at sbs before. i found his way of teaching interesting and practical. here is a dhamma talk by bhante. i do not mind to help to spead the evening meditation class conducted by him every saturday night at sbs, taiping.

Title: "Be your own Protector"

By: Ven Aggacitta

Venue: The Organic Cottage, Jalan Tupai, Taiping

Date: 30/12/07

Today's talk is based on Dhammapada #160

Atta hi attano natho, ko hi natho paro siya
Attana hi sudantena, natham labhati dullabham.

Translated it means:

"Self is one self’s protector; for what other protector could there be?
Through a well-tamed self does one get a protector who is hard to get."

Everybody wants protection, whether from sickness, poverty, misfortune, distress or danger. Many will seek protection by praying to deities, by making offerings to monks or inviting them to chant parittas for blessings. But the Buddha says that you can be your own protector. Yesterday, Sayadaw U Indaka talked about four types of happiness and how we can achieve them.

1. Perform dana for the happiness of wealth.

2. Observe sila for the happiness of health and longevity.

3. Develop samatha meditation for the happiness of the mind.

4. Develop vipassana meditation for the happiness of Nibbana.

So, if you want to protect yourself from poverty, practise generosity. If you want protection from illness and premature death, live a moral life by observing the 5 precepts. If you want protection from having mental distress, practise samatha meditation like visualising the Buddha, watching your breath or radiating metta or loving-kindness. If you want Nibbanic bliss, then practise vipassana meditation.

People who are wealthy and healthy are those who had done a lot of dana and lived moral lives before. In this long samsara (round of births and deaths) without discernible beginning, all of us had been generous and stingy, moral and immoral before in our past lifetimes. Therefore, we will never know when our past kamma will ripen, whether it is good or bad. If you become bankrupt or is diagnosed with a terminal illness, it will be too late to do dana or observe the precepts in order to protect yourself from poverty or ill-health. This is just an extreme example. In fact, we often find ourselves surrounded by circumstances beyond our control, e.g. the weather, political instability, business downfall, "bad luck", ill-health, accidents, etc. Although dana and sila can help protect us from future poverty and ill-health, they cannot immediately relieve us of such misfortunes in the present. How we react or respond in any circumstance will determine the quality of our life.

For example, you may be very rich, but if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, how will you react? Most people caught in this situation will go through the whole process of denial, self-pity, anguish, despair, anxiety, asking "Why me?" and so forth. This is especially so for those who have not learnt any meditation technique. But if you have practised samatha or vipasanna meditations before, you will be able to handle the situation better to protect yourself and to lessen your mental and physical sufferings. You will know how to restrain the mind from getting trapped in negative thoughts and emotions. You will be able to remain calm and composed, and therefore respond positively to negative circumstances.

A well-tamed self is one that has been well trained to prevent the mind from being engulfed by negativity and to direct it to respond positively to unpleasant and trying circumstances. This is certainly not easy to achieve, as you will realise if you have tried formal meditation before. Nonetheless, if you really want to protect yourself from the suffering wrought by negativity, sooner or later you will have to learn to train and tame the mind.

So, if you haven't got a tamed mind yet, it's about time to start learning how to become your own protector. Come join us in our Saturday evening meditation session in SBS. We teach metta and vipassana meditation, which will certainly help to produce a well-tamed self and mind, therefore making you your own protector.

Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

new year resolution

i have to make a confession. As for last year, instead of attending dhamma classes every sunday at mbmc and joining a dhamma discussion group once a fortnight at peace house here, i actually absent from most of these classes and discussion. although i still do dhamma reading ( a short while) everynight, but i am behind planning on my religion practise.

new year resolution (well, chinese new year) , allot more time into practise. do more posting on dhamma talks and update the blog with verses from dhammapada etc.

dhamma is for practising in real life. hence i shall strive hard, practice diligently and ardently to reach the state i desire: path and friution and reach nibbana at shortest time possible.

cheers~

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part III
Our Life Is Our Practice

Meditation is not seperate from the rest of life. All situations provide opportunity to practice, to grow in wisdom and compassion. Achaan Chah teaches that the right effort for us is to be mindful in all circumstances without running away from the world but to learn to act without grasping or attachment.

Furthermore, he insists that the foundation of a spiritual life is virtue. Although virtue is neglected in our modern society, it must be understood and honored as a fundamental part of meditation. Virtue means taking care so that we do not harm other beings by thought, word, or deed. This respect and caring puts us into a harmonious relationship with all life around us. Only when our words and deeds come from kindness can we quiet the mind and open the heart. The practice of non-harming is the way to begin turning all life situations into practice.

To further establish our lives on the Middle Way, Achaan Chah recommends moderation and self-reliance. A life of excess is difficult soil for the growth of wisdom. To take care with the basics - such as moderation in eating, sleeping, and in speech - helps bring the inner life into balance. It also develops the power of self-reliance. Don't imitate the way others practice or compare yourself to them. Achaan Chah cautions; just let them be. It is hard enough to watch your own mind, so why add the burden of judging others. Learn to use your own breath and everyday life as the place of meditation and you will surely grow in wisdom.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part II Correcting Our Views

Too Much of a Good Thing

When Achaan Chah arrived at a new American meditation center, the many Western students there were quickly charmed and impressed by his teaching. He was clear and direct yet loving and humorous as he poked fun at people's fears and attachments. It was exciting to have such a skillful and famous master visit. The new stories, golden-robed monks, and fresh expressions of Dharma were all wonderful."Please do not go as soon as you planned, do try to stay a long time," the students requested."We are so happy to have you."

Achaan Chah smiled."Of course, things are nice when they are new. But if I stay and teach and make you work, you will get tired of me, won't you? How is your practice when the excitement wears off? You would be bored with me before long. How does this restless, wanting mind stop? Who can teach you that? There only can you learn the real Dharma."

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part II Correcting Our Views

Let The Tree Grow

The Buddha taught that with things that come about of their own, once you have done your work, you can leave the results to nature, to the power of your accumulated karma. Yet your exertion of effort should not cease. Whether the fruit of wisdom comes quickly or slowly, you cannot force it, just as you cannot force the growth of a tree you have planted. The tree has its own pace. Your job is to dig a hole, water and fertilize it, and protect it from insects. That much is your affair, a matter of faith. But the way the tree grows is up to the tree. If you practice like this, you can be sure all will be well, and your plant will grow.

Thus, you must understand the difference between your work and the plant’s work. Leave the plant’s business to the plant, and be responsible for your own. If the mind does not know what it needs to do, it will try to force the plant to grow and flower and give fruit in one day. This is wrong view, a major cause of suffering. Just practice in the right direction and leave the rest to your karma. Then, whether it takes one or one hundred or one thousand lifetimes, your practice will be at peace.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part II Correcting Our Views

Why Do You Practice

A group of travelers came to visit Achaan Chah with three elegant questions: Why do you practice? How do you practice? What is the result of your practice? They were sent as a delegation by a European religious organization to ask these questions to a series of great masters throughtout Asia.

Achaan Chah closed his eyes, waited, and then answered with three questions of his own: Why do you eat? How do you eat? How do you feel after you have eaten well? Then he laughed.

Later, he explained that we already understand and that teaching has to direct students back to their own inner wisdom, to their own natural Dharma. Therefore, he had reflected the search of these men throughout Asia back to the greater search within.