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.