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.

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Intermediate Paper 2 : Lessons & Values from the Doctrine of Kamma

MODULE 3

Lesson 1 : Lesson of Deeds (3)


Vasala Sutta (snp 1.7 The Outcaste)

Once the Buddha was going on his alms round at Savatthi. A Brahmin named Aggikabharadvaja saw him from afar, shouted at him “Stop there, shave-ling; stop there, wretched ascetic; stop there, outcaste.” “Very interesting. What is an outcaste and what constitutes an outcaste?” asked the Buddha. In which the Brahmin couldn’t answers.

“Whoever is angry, rancorous, evil and hypocritical, has wrong views and is deceitful, he is an outcaste.”
“Whoever harms a living creature, who has no compassion for a living creature, he is to be known as an outcaste.”

“Whoever destroys or besieges villages and towns, and is notorious as a oppressor, he is an outcaste.”
“Whoever takes by theft what has not been given to him and is cherished by others, he is to be known as an outcaste.”

“Whoever having contracted a debt, when urged to repay it, absconds, saying: “I have no debt to you”, he is to be known as an outcaste.”

“Whoever takes the trifle… speak falsely… misbehave among the wives of others… being able does not support his parents… angers with his parents… teaches what is profitless… concealed his evil actions… he is to be known as an outcaste.”

“Not by birth does one become an outcaste, not by birth does one become a Brahmin. By one’s action, one becomes an outcaste, by one’s action one becomes a Brahmin.”

Further reading: Sutta Nipata: snp 1.7 The Outcaste

Vasettha Sutta. (snp 3.9)

There was a disagreement between two young Brahmins on the question on how one becomes a Brahmin. Brahman Bharadvaja argued that one must be well born on both the mother and father’s side, and is of pure descent for seven generations. Brahman Vasettha has a different opinion, as he believes that one must possess virtuous conduct and is endowed with good vows.

They are not able to convince each other and they agreed to see the Buddha for clarification. “There is a dispute between us, Gotama, with reference to birth. Bharadvaja says that one becomes a Brahman by birth, but I say it is because of action. Tell us, who do not know, so that we may know.”

“I shall explain this to you. In due order accordance to the Truth, there are many species of the living creatures. … consider the birds, going on wings, sky travellers, when they are born, their distinguishing marks form different types of species among them. They are not similar, some long beak, some short beak, some long tail, some short tail, some can fly and some cannot fly…

Consider the snakes, fishes… when they are born they are different. They have different type of names; there are the python snake, the rattlesnake, the sea snake and many species of snake.

When a human is born, they are all born the same. They are born with two eyes, two ears, one nose etc. We are born in the same category – Homo sapiens. There is no difference among man and if there is, they are only different in the convention – Indian, Chinese, English, African and etc.

There is not among man different kinds and species with regards to their eye, ear, nose, hair, … they are all the same. From the head to the feet, from the back to the front, we are all the same.

We can never distinguish a person at birth. They do not inherit a variety of features that other creatures have. In the case of human, differences are only differences only by convention. If this guy were to become an adult in his later life, he is called by a different name.

He is called a craftsman because he lives by means of various crafts, we don’t call him a Brahmin. He is called a carpenter because he dwells in wood. He is called a priest because he carries out rites and rituals…

Him, I call a Brahman if he has nothing and is without grasping. Whoever indeed, having cut every fetter, does not tremble, gone beyond attachment, unfettered, him I call a Brahman. Without anger, possessing vows and virtuous conduct, free from haughtiness, tamed, him I call a Brahman.

Whoever does not cling to sensual pleasures, as water does not cling to lotus leaf, him I call a Brahman. Whoever understands the end of his own misery, with burden laid aside, unfettered, him I call a Brahman.

We are not born a doctor, engineer, teacher, lawyer or accountant. It is what you do that you are given a title and that again is a convention. It is by your deeds that we are judged. Even a Brahmin can break their precepts.

Further reading: Sutta Nipata: snp 3.9 Vasettha Sutta

In the Kalama Sutta, the Buddha advised, we should not believe out of respect to a person due to his seemingly abilities. When the Sala Trees were blooming out of season, the Buddha told the Devas that this is not the way to respect him.

Again in order to clear the commotion against Dhammarama who did not visit and pay respect to the Buddha before he passed away, he replied, “The best respect is to ensure I attain enlightenment before the Buddha passed away.” The Buddha clarifies, “Indeed, the best respect is to heed my advised and to follow my path.”

Action speaks louder than your belief

Five Messages

We may deduce the following messages from the Buddha, in the first lesson of deeds.

1. Be-lived and not believe
We should believe in our good and wholesome action.

2. Fear only our action
Hiri & Ottappa - moral shame & moral fear should be the guiding principle of our action
Wise man never fear only the fools do. They only fear their own action.

3. Forgo and ignore label
It doesn’t matter what others say, as far as our conduct are upright and wholesome.
One should not be angry or over elated by the words of others because if you do, you will not be able to see the truth in it.

4. Power of deeds
Meritorious action is performance based. We are measured by our deeds. Wholesome deeds will give rise to wholesome results, unwholesome deeds to unwholesome results. Most of the time, a combination of both and that’s why there are so many inequalities in life. If we don’t act we won’t get the result.

5. Self-esteem and self-respect
Look at ourselves, what we have done and left undone and not others. We do not need to compete with others. We do what we can for drop-by-drop, one day the water pot will be filled. (dhammapada 122). We should establish our own self-esteem for every wholesome deed that we did, it carries the little happiness that we need. We do not need to compete with others. Push yourselves to your best of your ability.

Values # 1
Quality that arises from understanding the lesson.

When we understand a lesson through learning, memorized and ponder over them then a certain value will grow from it. We start to perceive and act everything within that value. Value cannot be practised. They arise automatically from understanding the lesson. Basically if the value does not arise, it means that you don’t understand the lesson. You only cultivate the seed and not the flower. You don’t need to remember the values for then it becomes very academic. We need to practise the lesson.

1. Right Understanding
As it is so fundamental in Buddhism, all the others Rights (Thought, Action, Speech, Livelihood, Effort, Concentration and Mindfulness) in the Noble Eightfold Path become right.

2. Objectivity
We tend to become value-based. We are not distracted by the colour, the gender, the position… the form, as they are just convention and not real. We transcend the forms and we view not the content but the context. We become a person of simplicity and moderation. Our life no longer controlled by ritualistic binding and we have a sense of self-value.

3. Gratitude
A good memory and thankfulness for good deeds performed on us.
We have to be grateful to ourselves as well as others. We become a self-made person rather than outside.

4. Respect for Values
We are able to see the qualities beyond the form and not be caught by its external appearance.
There are 4 things that one should not be disrespect or under estimate -
a. young prince – he will one day becomes the king and sentenced you, …
b. little snake - it can be very poisonous,
c. small fire – it can grew up and burn the forest,
d. young monk – he will not only burn the whole forest tree but also all it roots such that it will not grow again. The roots of evil – greed, hatred, delusion, and became an enlightened person.

5. Prioritising
we begin to give up a smaller happiness for a greater one. Our decisions become wiser and considerate.

6. Moral Sensitivity
We become very conscious and aware of the quality of the deeds. Our moral fear and shame (hiri-ottappa) begin to be more pronounced and grow in our actions and perceptions. We can feel ourselves in the shoes’ of others. The voice of conscience begins to enhance our action.

With all the above values growing in us, we begin to develop a sense of peace within ourselves.

Conclusion

“Do not do onto others what you do not want others to do onto you.”


Note :
DN Digha Nikaya, Long Discourses, consists of 32 suttas.
MN Majjhima Nikaya, Middle Length, (152 suttas)
SN Samyutta Nikaya, Kindred Sayings in 56 groups, (2,889 suttas)
AN Anguttara Nikaya, Gradual Sayings with 11 numbered books, (8,777 suttas)
Snp Sutta Nipata, Sutta Collection (72 suttas)
Dhp Dhammapada, Path of the Dhamma (423 suttas)

e-dhamma course

Intermediate Paper 2 : Lessons & Values from the Doctrine of Kamma

MODULE 2
Lesson 1 : Lesson of Deeds (2)

Beyond forms

“It is not what you eat that makes you a monk. If your head is bald… putting up a robe… or eating one meal a day neither does it make you a monk. It is what you do that makes you a monk.”
- Dhammapada chapter 26 Brahmins -

We should associate with a person not because of his colour, race, gender… or beliefs but his deeds and his capability to change and progress.

When a car, which was recklessly driven, met with an accident, whom do we blame, the driver or the car?

Beyond rituals

Buddhists do not have any tradition or rites such as birth, marriage or death rites. Neither does we have a standard dressing code nor eating procedures. Buddhism emphasizes on the sense of responsible, accountable, devotion and meaningful action.

“The tears that are shed on the grave more often than not are for words not said and for deeds not done.” ~ Traditional ~

In the practice of the Middle path, a Buddhist is encouraged to be moderate and practical. There are no penances in Buddhism. Neither by walking over the fire nor dipping ourselves in the river will cleanse our bad Kamma away.

Once Socrates, because of the temptation of the moment, visited a brothel. After he has done his business he came out and he met his teacher. He quickly took some steps backwards. The teacher noticed him and asked him why is he so afraid to see him (the teacher). Socrates replied that it is because of what he has done.

“Socrates, if you have fear of doing it in the very first place, that fear would have prevented you from doing it and meeting me,” said his teacher.

In Buddhism, they are called “Hiri and Ottapa” which means moral fear and moral shame. A Buddhist should look into the ways of prevention and not seek ways on how to apply the countermeasures.

Beyond Caste

Buddhism does not discriminate one from caste, sex, slavery and etc. One is not an outcaste by birth but by deeds. One’s state of living is the result of one’s own doing either from the previous life or/and from this particular life itself. If one is lazy, one will have to work like a slave to survive later. Everybody has the opportunity to progress in both the worldly and spiritual life. Enlightenment is not limited to the rich, powerful and famous. Neither does age, sex and being an animal deprived one from attaining spiritual Truth.

Beyond Mystic

Happiness does not depend on what is written in Astrology, Numerology, Palmistry, Geomancy, Feng-Shui, and Almanac. Though some of these predictions might have some accuracy in it but these predictions may also be transformed by the way we say, act and think.

Our happiness should be governed by the Noble 8-fold path, which begins with Right Understanding. The Noble 8-fold path itself is performance based. There is no such path called Right Belief.

Sonananda Sutta (DN 4) Quality of the True Brahmin

One day the disciples of a famous Brahmin, Sonananda urged him to challenge the Buddha in a religious discussion. Reluctantly Sonananda agreed because of the pressure and so as not to lose face. But deep in his heart he knew he is going to a losing war; he might lose all his disciples if he failed.

The day came. They were going to the place where the Buddha was residing; each step he took he was thinking of taking two steps backwards.

In his mind, he was thinking how the discussion would take place? There are two possibilities. Either first, he asked the Buddha a question or the Buddha asked him a question. But if he asks the Buddha a silly question, people will laugh at him. And if the Buddha asks him a very difficult question that he could not answer, people will also laugh at him. So he wishes the Buddha to ask him a simple question.

Of course the Buddha can read Sonananda’s mind and the Buddha posed this question to him, “Sonananda, what makes a Brahmin?”

Sonananda was very happy, as he is the most informed person of this subject. And so Sonananda answered, “to be a true Brahmin, one must have the following five qualities:


1. The parents must be 7 generation of Brahmins
2. They must be very handsome if he is a man and very beautiful if she is a lady
3. He must be able to recite all the Vedas
4. He must be very moral
5. He must have wisdom.”

“Well said Sonananda,” the Buddha complimented and all the disciples of Sonananda were very glad that the Buddha, praised Sonananda. “Can any of the five qualities be omitted for one to be called a Brahmin?” asked the Buddha.

After considering for sometime, Sonananda answered, “Yes, sometimes one might not be very handsome. That can be omitted as far as he has the other four qualities.”

The crowd, basically the disciples of Sonananda begun to make some noise and side talk.

Now, can one more criteria be removed?”

“Yes sometimes there are mixed blood…” The crowd became restless and worried.

“Sonananda is repeating exactly the words of the Buddha!” exclaimed some of them.

“Now, can one more criteria be omitted?”

Before Sonananda can speak out, the crowd shouted, “No, Sonananda, never should Sonananda eat the words of the Buddha!”

“If there is any one of you who thinks you are better than Sonananda, please come forward and speak out, and let Sonananda retreat,” said the Buddha to the crowd. And the crowd were thus silenced.

“Very well, since silence means consent, then I shall speak. Yes, you may omit the ability to read all the Vedas. For what does the reading of Vedas means as far as one is morally upright and endowed with wisdom,” answered Sonananda.

“For wisdom is purified by morality, and morality is purified by wisdom: where one is, the other is, the moral man has wisdom and the wise man has morality, and the combination of morality and wisdom is called the highest thing in the world. Just as one hand washes the other, or one foot the other, so wisdom is purified by morality and this combination is called the highest thing in the world."

Thus Brahmin has nothing to do with birth, appearance nor knowledge. One in whom there is truthfulness, virtue, inoffensiveness, restraint and self-mastery, who is free from defilements and is wise – he is truly called a Brahmin. - Dhammapada 260-261

Further reading: Digha Nikaya: DN-4 Sonananda Sutta

Note :
DN Digha Nikaya, Long Discourses, consists of 32 suttas.
MN Majjhima Nikaya, Middle Length, (152 suttas)
SN Samyutta Nikaya, Kindred Sayings in 56 groups, (2,889 suttas)
AN Anguttara Nikaya, Gradual Sayings with 11 numbered books, (8,777 suttas)
Snp Sutta Nipata, Sutta Collection (72 suttas)
Dhp \nDhammapada, Path of the Dhamma (423 suttas)

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MAHINDA e-CORRESPONDENCE COURSE
Intermediate Paper 2 : Lessons & Values from the Doctrine of Kamma

MODULE 1

Introduction
The Doctrine of Kamma is a very central teaching in Buddhism. We cannot claim that we have understood Buddhism until we understand the doctrine of Kamma.

The objective of this Course is to identify: -
1. What can we learn from the lesson taught by the Law of Kamma and
2. What are the values that we can develop in our life through right understanding of the Doctrine of Kamma.

In this Course, our approach is to propose to you the 8 core lessons from the Doctrine of Kamma and their corresponding values. We will also quote some of the relevant Suttas from the Pali Canon to enhance and support each of the 8 lessons.

Basic Definition
The Doctrine of Kamma basically means the Law of Action (Kamma) and Reaction/Result (Vipaka). There will not be any meaning at all in the 4 Noble Truths if there was no Law of Kamma - Suffering and the Cause of Suffering, the End of Suffering and the Path leading to the end of Suffering.

Indeed the 4 Noble Truths are the manifestation of the Law of Kamma. “Suffering” is the Vipaka of the “Cause of Suffering” (Kamma). Following “the Path leading to the end of Suffering” is the Kamma, and the “End of Suffering” is the Vipaka.

The law of Kamma is neither governed by the Buddha nor does the Buddha create it. Whether the Buddha exists or not, the Truth – the Doctrine of Kamma exists.

Five (5) Niyamas
In the Simsapa Sutta (SN 56.31), the Buddha asked his disciples, what is more – the leaves in His hand or the leaves in the forest. In which the disciples answered, the leaves in the forest. The Buddha then explained that what he had taught them is just that knowledge equivalent to what is in His hand as compared to what He knows such as the leaves in the forest. However, these teachings will be sufficient for them to practise to attain enlightenment.

Kamma is not the only law on how the world works. There are five (5) Universal Order that governed the world.
1. Utu Niyama, physical inorganic order, which govern the physical and chemical phenomena such as the cause of winds and rains, the nature of heat, etc.
2. Bija Niyama, physical organic order, which govern the biological and genetic aspect such as germs, seeds, cells and etc.
3. Kamma Niyama, order of action and its result.
4. Dhamma Niyama, order of the norm, which governs the natural phenomena such as gravity, the phenomena of earthquake etc.
5. Citta Niyama, order of mind, which governs the processes of consciousness and the power of mind in the context of psychic power.
~Abhidhammavatara~

Thus the coming of a being is not caused by any single law but the combination of all the 5 Orders. The fertilization process of the sperm on the egg requires the right condition and the gandhaba, the life factor to produce a life.
Kamma may not be the main dominating factor in every event and not everything is due to Kamma. For example, getting sunburnt while walking on the beach has nothing to do with Kamma. It is the result of natural reaction.

Cetana paccaya Kamma
Intention or volition (cetana) conditions Kamma. Action without an intention will not have any kammic effect. e.g. You accidentally knock and drop a vase from your apartment and kill some one down there. It is without intention and thus no Kamma is created.

Not all action is due to Kamma e.g. you respond to the call of nature and you do your business in the toilet. This has nothing to do with Kamma.

An action can be categorized into 4 types:
1. Wholesome action that is accompanied by self-control and discerning mindfulness with the heart composed and filled with Loving-kindness, Compassion, Good Cheer and Equanimity.
2. Unwholesome action that is associated with greed, hatred and delusion.
3. A mixture of wholesome and unwholesome intention.
4. Moral Action– neither wholesome nor unwholesome e.g. the waving of hand which does not have any intention - purely a gesture of action.

Lesson 1 : Lesson of Deeds (1)
Deed here is referring to mental, verbal and physical action.

a. Beyond belief
“What I practise, I teach and what I teach, I practise,” said he Buddha. Buddhism is not a religion to believe but to live. Thus a Buddhist is a doer and not a believer. Buddhism is founded on life and thus it can be practised.

“If it is not practical I wouldn’t have mentioned it just like the Simsapa leave,” said the Buddha.
The Buddha did not want us to just believe in His Teachings for the Dhamma is “Ehipassiko” – come and see. There is no superstitious or ritualistic belief in the Dhamma, as an unfounded belief has no value except instilling fear that hinders one’s spiritual progress.

The Buddha’s last message, “Strive on with Diligence” proves that the Dhamma is not based on belief but of deeds. Buddhism requires you to understand and not merely believe. If you can’t understand it, put it down for the time being. When the condition is right, you will be able comprehend to the Truth.

Reflect now on your belief – is there any practical value in it? If not, put it down.

b. Substance over Form
Substance means Meaningful action.

Once some religious gurus complained about the Buddha’s conversion of their disciples.

“It is not my intention to convert them. It is my duty is to tell them what is wholesome and what is unwholesome and it is up to them to decide and act accordingly in a manner that will lead them to happiness and free from suffering,” replied the Buddha.

Meaningful actions are those deeds that are beneficial, blameless and praised by the wise. When performed, it conduced to the happiness of oneself and others. They (wholesome deeds) are also actions that are not motivated by greed, hatred and delusion that come from inside and not outside. e.g. the ten (10) Kusala Kamma.

“Do not look on others what they have done or left undone but what you have done and left undone.” – Dhammapada 50 -

Note :
DN Digha Nikaya, Long Discourses, consists of 32 suttas.
MN Majjhima Nikaya, Middle Length, (152 suttas)
SN Samyutta Nikaya, Kindred Sayings in 56 groups, (2,889 suttas)
AN Anguttara Nikaya, Gradual Sayings with 11 numbered books, (8,777 suttas)
Snp Sutta Nipata, Sutta Collection (72 suttas)
Dhp Dhammapada, Path of the Dhamma (423 suttas)

Mahindarama e-Buddhist Education Centerwww.mahindarama.com

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part II Correcting Our Views

Trust Your Heart

In the practice of the Dharma, there are many methods; if you know their point, they will not lead you astray. However, if you are a practitioner who does not properly respect virtue and a collected mind, you will not succeed, because you are bypassing the Path followed by the great forest masters of the past. Do not disregard these basics. If you wish to practice, you should establish virtue, concentration, and wisdom in your mind and aspire to the Three Gems -- Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Stop all activity, be an honest person, and go to it. Although various things deceive you time after time, if you are aware of them, you will eventually be able to drop them. The same old person comes telling the same old lies; if you know it, you need not believe him. But it takes a long time before you know; our habits are ever striving to deceive.

When I had been practicing for only two or three years, I still could not trust myself. But after I had experienced much, I learned to trust my own heart. When you have this deep understanding, whatever occurs, you can let it occur, and all things will pass on and be quelled. You will reach a point where the heart tells itself what to do; it is constantly prodding, constantly mindful. Your only concern need be to continue contemplating.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part II Correcting Our Views

Follow Your Teacher

As you grow in Dharma, you should have a teacher to instruct and advise you. The matter of concentrating the mind, of samadhi, is much misunderstood; phenomena occur in meditation that otherwise do not normally arise. When this happens, a teacher's guidance is crucial, expecially in those areas in which you have wrong understanding. Often where he corrects you will be just where you thought you were right. In the complexity of your thinking, one view may obsure the other and you get fooled. Respect your teacher and follow the rules or system of practice. If the teacher says to do something, do it. If he says to desist, desist. This allow you to make an honest effort and leads to making knowledge and vision manifest in your mind. If you do as I am saying, you will see and know.

True teachers speak only of the difficult practice of giving up or getting rid of the self. Whatever may happen, do not abandon the teacher. Lim him guide you, because it is easy to forget the Path.

Alas, few who study Buddhism really want to practice, I certainly urge them to practice, but some people can only study in a logical way. Few are willing to die and be born again free. I feel sorry for the rest.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part II Correcting Our Views

Just That Much

When you take a good look at it, this world of ours is just that much; it exists just as it is. Ruled by birth, aging, sickness and death, it is only that much. Great or little is only that much. The wheel of life and death is only that much. Then why are we still attached, caught up, not removed? Playing around with the objects of life gives us some enjoyment; yet this enjoyment is also just that much.

Whatever is pleasurable, delicious, exciting, good, is just that much; it has its limit, it is not as if it is anything outstanding. The Buddha taught that everything is just that much, of equal value. We should contemplate this point. Just look at the Western monks who have come here to practice. They have experienced much pleasure and comfort in their lives, but it was only that much, trying to make more of it just drove them crazy. They became world travelers, let everything go --it was still only that much. Then they came here to the forest to learn to give it all up, all attachments, all suffering.

All conditioned things are the same -- impermanent, caught up in the cycle of birth and death. Just look at them; they are only that much. All things in this world exist thus. Some people say, " Doing virtuous deeds, pracicing religion, you grow old just the same." This maybe true of the body, but not of the heart, of virtue; when we understand the difference, we have a chance to become free.

Look at the elements of our body and mind. They are conditioned phenomena, arising from a cause and therefore impermanent. Their nature is always the same, it cannot be changed. A great noble and a common servant are the same. When they become old, their act comes to an end; they can no longer put on airs or hide behind masks. There is nowhere to go, no more taste, no more texture. When you get old, your sight becomes dim, your hearing weakens, your body becomes feeble--you must face yourself.

We human beings are constantly in combat, at war to escape the fact of being just that much. But instead of escaping, we continue to create more suffering, waging war with good, waging war with evil, waging war with what is small, waging war with what is big, waging war with what is short or long or right or wrong, courageously carrying the battle.

The Buddha taught the truth, but we are like buffalo--unless they are tied down firmly by all four legs, they will not allow themselves to be given any medicine. Once they have been tied down and cannot do anything-- aha, now you can go ahead and give them medicine, and they are unable to struggle away. In the same way, most of us must be totally bound up in suffering before we will let go and give up our delusions. If we can still writhe away, we will not yet give in. A few people can undersatnd the Dharma when they hear it taught and explained by a teacher. But life must teach most of us all the way to the end.

You can pull on the end of a rope, but if the other end is stuck, the rope will never budge. In order to make it come free, you need to find out where it is stuck, you need to seek out the source or the root of the problem. We must use our practice fully to discover how we are stuck, to discover the heart of peace. We must follow the ox's tracks from the beginning, from the point at which it left the corral. If we start in the middle of the trail, we will not be able to tell whose ox's tracks they are, and thus we could be led anywhere.

Therefore, the Buddha spoke of first correcting our views. We must investigate the very root of suffering, the very truth of our life. If we can see that all things are just that much, we will find the true Path. We must come to know the reality of conditioned phenomena, the way things are. Only then can we have peace in our world.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part II Correcting Our Views

Problems of the World

Many poeple, particularly educated, professional people, are moving out of the big cities, seeking quieter living and simpler livelihood in the small towns and rural areas. This is natural. If you grap a handful of mud and squeeze it, it will ooze through your fingers. People under pressure likewise seek a way out.

People ask me about the problems of our world, about a coming apocalypse. I ask, what does it mean to be worldly? What is the world? You do not know? This very unknowing, this very darkness, this very place of ignorance, is what is meant by worldly. Caught in the six senses, our knowledge develops as a part of this darkness. To come to an answer to the problems of the world, we must know its nature completely and realize the wisdom that shines above the darkness of the world.

These days, it seems that our culture is deteriorating, lost in greed, hatred, and delusion. But the culture of the Buddha never changes, never diminishes.It says,"Do not lie to others or to ourselves. Do not steal from others or from ourselves." Worldly culture has desire as its director and guide. The culture of the Buddha has compassion and Dharma, or truth, as its guide.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part II Correcting Our Views

Sense Objects and the Mind

We do not examine ourselves; we just follow desire, caught in endless rounds of grasping and fearing, wanting to do just as we please. Whatever we do, we want it to be at our ease. If we are not able to have comfort and pleasure and longer, we are unhappy, anger and aversion arise, and we suffer, trapped by our mind.

For the most part, our thinking follows sense objects, and, wherever thought leads us, we follow. However, thinking and wisdom are different; in wisdom, the mind becomes still, unmoving, and we are simply aware, simply acknowledging. Normally, when sense objects come, we think about, dwell on, discourse over, and worry about them. Yet none of those objects is substantial; all are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and empty. Just cut them short and dissect them into these three common characteristics. When you sit again, they will arise again, but just keep observing them, keep checking them out.

This practice is like caring for a buffalo and a rice field. The mind is like the buffalo that wants to eat the rice plants, sense objects; the one who knows is the owner. Consider the comparison. When you tend a buffalo, you let it go free but you keep watch over it. You cannot be heedless. If it goes close to the rice plants, you shout at it and it retreats. If it is stubborn and will not obey your voice, you take a stick and hit it. Do not fall asleep in the daytime and let everything go. If you do, you will have no rice plants left, for sure.

When you are observing your mind, the one who knows constantly notices all. As the sutras say,” He who watches over his mind shall escape the snares of Mara the Evil One,” Mind is mind, but who is it that observes it? Mind is one thing, the one who knows is another. At the same time the mind is both the thinking process and the knowing. Know the mind – know how it is when it meets sense objects and how it is when it is apart from them. When the one who knows observes the mind in this way, wisdom arises. If it meets an object, it gets involved, just like the buffalo. Wherever it goes, you must watch it. When it goes near the rice plants, shout at it. If it will not obey, just give it the stick.

When the mind experiences sense contact, it grabs hold. When it grabs hold, the one who knows must teach it – explaining what is good and what is bad, pointing out the workings of cause and effect, showing that anything it holds on to will bring undesirable results—until mind becomes reasonable, until it lets go. In this way, the training will take effect, and the mind will become tranquil.

The Buddha taught us to lay everything down, not like a cow or a buffalo but knowingly, with awareness. In order for us to know, he taught us to practice much, rest firmly on the principles of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and apply them directly to our own life.

From the beginning I have practice like this. In teaching my disciples, I teach like this. We want to see the truth not in a book or as an ideal but in our own mind. If the mind is not yet free, contemplate the cause and effect of each situation – do not stop looking, keep at ir, drive the point home. Then attachment will find nowhere to rest. This is the way I myself have practiced.

If you practice like this, true tranquility is found in activity, in the midst of sense objects. At first, when you are working on your mind and sense objects come, you cling to them or avoid them. You are therefore disturbed, not peaceful. When you sit and wish not to have sense contact, not to have thinking the very wish not to have is desire. The more you struggle with your thinking, the stronger it becomes. Just forget about it and continue to practice. When you make contact with sense objects, contemplate: impermanent, unsatisfactory, not self. Throw everything into these three pigeonholes, file everything under these three categories, and keep contemplating.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part II Correcting Our Views

The Discriminating Mind

Right understanding ultimately means non-discrimination -- seeing all people as the same, neither good nor bad, neither clever nor foolish, not thinking that honey is sweet and good and some other food is bitter. Although you may eat several kinds of food, when you absorb and excrete them, they all become the same. Is it one or many? Is a glass big? In relation to a little cup, yes; when placed next to a pitcher, no.

Our desire and ignorance, our discrimination colors everything in this way. This is the world we create. Again, a pitcher is neither heavy nor light; we just feel that it is one way or the other. In the Zen koan of the flag in the wind, two persons are watching a flag; one says it is the wind that moves, the other say it is the flag. They can argue forever, take sticks and fight it out, all to no avail, for it is the mind that moves.

There are always differences. Get to know those differences, yet learn to see the sameness too. In our group people come from different backgrounds, different cultures. Yet without thinking, “This one’s Thai, that one’s Lao, he’s Cambodian, he’s a Westerner,” we should have mutual understanding and respect for the ways of others. Learn to see the underlying sameness of all things, how they are all truly equal, truly empty. Then you can know how to deal with the apparent differences wisely. But do not get attached even to this sameness.

Why is sugar sweet and water tasteless? It is just their nature. So too with thinking and stillness, pain and pleasure – it is wrong understanding to want thinking to cease. Sometimes there is thought, sometimes stillness. We must see that both are by nature impermanent, unsatisfactory, not a cause for lasting happiness. But if we continue to worry and think further,” I am suffering, I want to stop thinking,” this wrong understanding only complicates things.

At times, we may feel that thinking is suffering, like a thief robbing us of the present. What can we do to stop it? In the day, it is light; at night, it is dark. Is this itself suffering? Only if we compare the way things are now with other situations we have known and wish it were otherwise. Ultimately things are just as they are -- only our comparisons cause us to suffer.

You see this mind at work -- do you consider it to be you or yours? “I don’t know if it’s me or mine,” you answer, “but it’s certainly out of control,” It is just like a monkey jumping about senselessly. It goes upstairs, gets bored, runs back downstairs, get tired of that, goes to a movie, get bored again, has good food or poor food, gets bored with that too. Its behavior is driven not by dispassion but by different forms of aversion and fear.

You have to learn control. Stop caring for the monkey - -care for the truth of life instead. See the real nature of the mind: impermanent, unsatisfactory, empty. Learn to be its master; chain it down if you must. Do not just follow it, let it wear itself out and die. Then you have a dead monkey. Let the dead monkey rot away, and you have monkey’s bones.
Still enlightenment does not mean to become dead like a Buddha statue. One who is enlightened thinks also but knows the process as impermanent, unsatisfactory, and empty of self. We who practice must see these things clearly. We need to investigate suffering and stop its causes. If we do not see it, wisdom can never arise. There should be no guesswork; we must see things exactly as they are – feelings are just feelings, thought are just thoughts. This is the way to end all our problems.

We can see the mind as a lotus. Some lotuses are still stuck in the mud, some have climbed above the mud but are still underwater, some have reached the surface, while others are open in the sun, stain-free. Which lotus do you choose to be? If you find yourself below the surface, watch out for the bites of fishes and turtles.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part II Correcting Our Views

Happiness and Suffering

A young Western monk had just arrived at one of Achaan Chah's forest monasteries ans asked permission to stay and practice.

" I hope you're not afraid of suffering" was Achaan Chah's first response.

Somewhat taken aback, the young Westerner explained that he did not come to suffer but to learn meditation and to live peacefully in the forest.

Achaan Chah explained, " There are two kinds of suffering : the suffering that leads to more suffering and the suffering that leads to the end of suffering. If you are not willing to face the second kind of suffering, you will surely continue to experience the first."

Achaan Chah's way of teaching is usually straightforward and direct. When he meets his monks on the monestery grounds, he often asks, " Are you suffering much today?" If one answers yes, he replies, " Well, you must have many attachments today," and then laughs with the monk about it.

Have you ever had happiness? Have you ever had suffering? Have you ever considered which of these is really valueble? If happiness is true, then it should not dissolve, should it? You should study this point to see what is real, what is true. This study, this meditation, leads to right understanding.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part II Correcting Our Views

Starving Defilements

Those just beginning often wonder what practice is. Practice occurs when you try opposing the defilements, not feeding old habits. Where friction and difficulty arise, that’s the place to work.

When you pick mushrooms to eat, you do not do so blindly; you have to know which kind is which. So too with our practice - - we must know the dangers, the snake’s bite of defilements, in order to free ourselves from them.

The defilements --- greed, hatred and delusion --- are at the root of our suffering and our selfishness. We must learn to overcome them, to conquer and go beyond their control, to become masters of our minds. Of course it seems hard. It is like having the Buddha tell you to split up with a friend you have known since childhood.

The defilements are like a tiger. We should imprison the tiger in a good strong cage made of mindfulness, energy, patience, and endurance. Then we can let it starve to death by not feeding its habitual desires. We do not have to take a knife and butcher it.

Or defilements are like a cat. If you feed it, it will keep coming around. Stop feeding it, and eventually it will not bother to come around any more.

We will unavoidably be hot and distressed in our practice at first. But remember, only the defilements are hot. People think,"I never had problems like this before. What's wrong?" Before, when we fed our desires, we were at peace with them, like a man who takes care of an internal infection by dressing only the external sores.

Resist defilements. Do not give them all the food or sleep they want. Many people consider this the extreme of self-torture, but it is necessary to become inwardly strong. See for yourself. Constantly watching the mind, you may think you are seeing only effects and wonder about the causes. Suppose parents have a child who grows up to be disrespectful. Distressed by his behavior, they may ask, " Where has this child come from? " Actually, our suffering comes from our own wrong understanding, our attachment to various mental activities. We must train our mind like a buffalo: the buffalo is our thinking, the owner is the meditator, raising and training the buffalo is the practice. With a trained mind, we can see the truth, we can know the cause of our self and its end, the end of all sorrow. It is not complicated, you know.

Everyone has defilements in his practice. We must work with them, struggling when they arise. This is not something to think about but to do. Much patience is necessary. Gradually we have to change our habitual ways of thinking and feeling. We must see how we suffer when we think in terms of me and mine. Then we can let go.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part II Correcting Our Views

Right Understanding

One develops right understanding by seeing impermanence, suffering, and non-self in everything, which leads to detachment and loss of infatuation. Detachment is not aversion. An aversion to something we once liked is temporary, and the craving for it will return.

Imagine some food that you like --- bamboo shoots or sweet curry, for example. Imagine having it everyday for five or six years; you would be tired of bamboo shoots. If someone were to offer you some, you would not get excited. In the same way, we should see impermanence, suffering, and emptiness in all things at all times; bamboo shoots!

We seek not for a life of pleasure, but to find peace. Peace is within oneself, to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on the hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher. Where you experience suffering, you can also find freedom from suffering. To try to run away from suffering is actually to run toward it. Investigate suffering, see its causes, and put an end to them right now, rather than merely dealing with their effects.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part II Correcting Our Views

The Wrong Road

A wandering ascetic, having heard of the Buddha, travelled everywhere looking for him. One night he came to stay in a house where the Buddha was also staying but, not knowing the Buddha's physical appearance, he was unaware of his presence. The next morning he arose and continued on his way, still searching for the Buddha. To search for peace and enlightenment without correct understanding is like this.

Due to a lack of understanding of the truth of suffering and its elimination, all the subsequent factors on the path will be wrong - wrong intentions, wrong speech, wrong actions, and wrong practice of concentration and tranquility. Your likes and dislikes are not a trustworthy guide in this matter either, although foolish people may take them for their ultimate reference. Alas, it is like travelling to a certain town - you unknowingly start out on the wrong road, and since it is a convenient one, you travel it in comfort. But it will not take you where you want to go.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part II
Correcting Our Views

When you pick mushrooms. Achaan Chah cautions, you must know what to look for. When you understand spiritual practice you must also know what attitudes to nourish, what dangers to avoid, and what mental qualities to encourage.

Here he emphasizes the power of training our endurance and courage, developing a willingness to find the Middle Path and follow it despite temptation and defilement. When greed, hatred, or delusion arise, he says, don't give in to them. Don't be discouraged. Just stay mindful and strong in your resolve.

As your training develops you will see that every single experience you pass through is impermanent, and thus unsatisfactory. You will discover firsthand the endless truth of these characteristics in all existence and begin to learn the way of freedom, of nonattachment. But Achaan Chah reminds us that this requires a willingness to investigate both our sufferings and our joys with the an equal mind.

When the heart becomes calm and the mind clear, we come closer to the truth of what Achaan Chah calls," Just that much." The Dhamma, the truth, is really very simple. All things that arise and pass, the whole world of changing phenomena, is really only "that much!" When we truly discover what this means, then here in our world we can come to peace.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part 1 Understanding The Buddha's Teaching

Thieves in Your Heart

The purpose of meditation is to raise things up and put them to the test, to understand their essence. For example, we see the body as something fine and beautiful, whereas the Buddha tells us it is unclean, impermanent, and prone to suffering. Which view accords with the truth?

We are like visitors to a foreign country; not knowing the language, we cannot enjoy ourselves. But once we have learned the language, we can laugh and joke with others. Or we are like children who have to grow up before we can understand what the grown-ups are saying.

The normal view is that the elements of our life, beginning with the body, are stable. One child plays with his balloon until it catches on a branch or a thorn and bursts, leaving him in tears. Another child, smarter than the first, knows that his balloon can burst easily and is not upset when it does. People go through life blindly, ignoring the fact of death like gourmets feasting on fine foods, never thinking they will have to excrete. Then nature calls, but having made no provision, they do not know where to go.

There is danger in the world – danger from the elements, danger from thieves. These dangers have their counterpart in the temples too. The Buddha taught us to investigate these dangers and gave the name bhikku to one who ordains. Bhikkhu has two meanings: one who begs and one who sees danger in the round of samsara, of grasping. Beings experience greed, hatred, and delusion. Succumbing to these defilements, they reap the results, increase their bad habits, make yet more karma, and again succumb to defilements.

Why can’t you get rid of greed, hatred, and delusion? If your thinking is wrong, you will suffer; if you understand correctly, you can end suffering.

Know the workings of the karma, of cause and effect. Attachment to pleasure brings suffering in its wake. You gorge yourself on good food, but stomach trouble and intestinal discomfort follow. Or you steal something and are happy with it, but later the police come around to arrest you. When you watch, you can learn how to act, you can learn to end grasping and sorrow. The Buddha, seeing this, wanted to escape from the real dangers of the world, which we have to overcome within ourselves. External dangers are not as frightening as the dangers within. What are the elements of this inner danger?

Wind. Things come at the senses, causing compulsion, lust, anger, and ignorance to arise, destroying what is good in us. Normally, we see the wind only as that which blows the leaves about, not seeing the wind of our senses, which, unwatched, can cause the storms of desire.

Fire. Our temple may never have been struck by fire, but greed, hatred, and delusion burn us constantly. Lust and aversion cause us to speak and do wrong; delusion leads us to see good as bad, bad as good, the ugly as beautiful, the valueless as valueble. But one who does not meditate does not see this and is overcome by these fires.

Water. Here the danger is the flood of defilement in our hearts submerging our true nature.

Thieves.The real thieves do not exist outside us. Our monastery has been thieves only once in twenty years, but inwardly the five gangs of attachment, the aggregates, are ever robbing, beating, and destroying us. What are these five aggregates?

1. Body. It is a prey to illness and pain; when it does not accord with our wishes, we have grief and sorrow. Not understanding the natural aging and decay of the body, we suffer. We feel attraction or repulsion toward the bodies of others and are robbed of true peace.

2. Feeling. When pain and pleasure arise, we forget that they are impermanent, suffering, not self; we identify with our emotions and are thus tortured by our wrong understandings.

3. Memories and perceptions. Identifying with what we recognize and remember gives rise to greed, hatred, and delusion. Our wrong understanding becomes habitual, stored in the subconscious.

4. Volitions and other elements of mind. Not understanding the nature of mental state, we react, and thoughts and feelings, likes and dislikes, happiness and sorrow arise. Forgetting that they are impermanent, suffering, and selfless, we cling to them.

5. Consciousness. We grasp that which knows the other aggregates. We think, "I know, I am, I feel," and are bound by this illusion of self, of separation.

All these theives, this wrong understanding, leads to wrong action. The Buddha had no desire for this; he saw that there was no true happiness to be found here. Thus, he gave the name bhikkhu to those who also see this danger and seek a way out.

The Buddha taught his monks the true nature of the five aggregates and how to let go of them without clinging to them as me or mine. When we understand them, we will see that they have potential for great harm or great value, but they do not disappear. They are simply no longer grasped as our own. After his enlightenment, the Buddha still had physical ills, had feelings of pain and pleasure, had memories, thoughts, and consciousness. But he did not cling to them as being self, as being me or mine. He knew them as they were, and the one who knew was also not I, not self.

Separating the five aggregates from the defilements and from clinging is like clearing the brush in the forest without destroying the trees. There is just a constant arising and falling away; defilement cannot gain a foothold. We are simply being born and dying with the aggregates; they just come and go, according to their nature.

If someone curses us and we have no feelings of self, the incident ends with the spoken words, and we do not suffer. If unpleasant feelings arise, we should let them stop there, realizing that the feelings are not us. " He hates me, he troubles me, he is my enemy." A bhikkhu does not think like this, nor does he hold views of pride or comparison. If we do not stand up in the line of fire, we do not get shot; if there is no one to receive it, the letter is sent back. Moving gracefully through the world not caught in eveluating each event, a bikkhu becomes serene. This is the way of Nirvana, empty and free.

Investigate the five aggregates, then; make a clean forest. You will be a different person. Those who understand emptiness and practice accordingly are few, but they come to know the greatest joy. Why not try it? You can abolish the thieves in your heart and set everything right.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part 1 Understanding The Buddha's Teaching

The Chicken or the Egg?

During his first visit to England, Achaan Chah spoke to many Buddhist groups. One evening after the talk he received a question from a dignified English lady who had spent many years studying the complex cybernetics of the mind according to the eighty- nine classes of consciousness in the Buddhist abhidharma psychology texts. Would he please explain certain of the more difficult aspects of this system of psychology to her so she could continue her study?

Dharma teaches us to let go. But at first, we naturally cling to the principles of Dharma. The wise person takes these principles and uses them as tools to discover the essence of our life.

Sensing how caught up she was in intellectual concepts rather than benefiting from practice in her own heart, Achaan Chah answered her quite directly, " You, madam, are like one who keeps hens in her yard," he told her, " and goes around picking up the chicken dropping instead of the eggs."

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
Part 1 Understanding The Buddha's Teaching


Study and Experiencing

Let us talk about the difference between studying Dharma ideas and applying them in practice. True Dharma study has only one purpose - to find a way out of the unsatisfactoriness of our lives and to achieve happiness and peace for ourselves and all beings. Our suffering has causes for its arising and a place to abide. Let us understand this process. When the heart is still, it is in its normal condition; when the mind moves, thought is constructed. Happiness and sorrow are part of this movement of mind, this thought construction. So also is restlessness, the desire to go here and there. If you do not understand such movement, you will chase after thought constructions and be at their mercy.

Therefore, the Buddha taught us to contemplate the movements of the mind. Watching the mind move, we can see its basic characteristics: endless flux, unsatisfactoriness, and emptiness. You should be aware of and contemplate these mental phenomena. In this way, you can learn about the process of dependent origination.* The Buddha taught that ignorance is the cause of the arising of all worldly phenomena and of our volitions. Volition gives rise to consciousness, and consciousness in turn gives rise to mind and body. This is the process of dependent origination.

When we first study Buddhism, these traditional teachings may apprear to make sense to us. But when the process is actually occurring within us, those who have only read about it cannot follow fast enough. Like a fruit falling from a tree, each link in the chain falls so fast that such people cannot tell what branches it has passed. When pleasurable sense contact takes place, for example, they are carried away by the sensation and are unable to notice how it happened.

Of course,the systematic outline of the process in the texts is accurate, but the experience is beyond textual study. Study does not tell you that this is the experience of ignorance arising, this is how volition feels, this is a particular kind of consciousness, this is the feeling of the different elements of body and mind. When you let go of a tree limb and fall to the ground, you do not go into detail about how many feet and iches you fell; you just hit the ground and experience the pain. NO book can describe that.

Formal Dharma study is systematic and refined, but reality does not follow a single track. Terefore, we must attest to what arises from the one who knows, from our deepest wisdom. When our innate wisdom, the one who knows, experiences the truth of the heart / mind, it will be clear that the mind is not our self. Not the belonging to us, not I, not mine, all of it must be dropped. As to our learning the names of all the elements of mind and consciousness, the Buddha did not want us to become attached to the words. He just wanted us to see that all this is impermanent, unsatisfactory, and empty of self. He taught only to let go. When these things arise, be aware of them, know them. Only a mind that can do this is properly trained.

When the mind is stirred up, the various mental formations, thought constructions, and reactions start aising from it. building and proliferating continually. Just let them be, the good as well as the bad. The Buddha said simply, "Give them up." But for us, it is neccesary to study our own minds to know how it is possible to give them up.

If we look at the model of the elements of mind, we see that it follows a natural sequence: mental factors are thus, consciousness arises and passes like this, and so forth. We can see in our own practice that when we have right understanding and awareness, then right thought, right speech, right action and right livelihood automatically follow. Different mental elements arise from that very one who knows. The one who knows is like a lamp. If understanding is right, thought and all other factors will be right as well, like the light emanating from the lamp. As we watch with awareness, right understanding grows.

When we examine all that we call mind, we see only a conglomeration of mental elements, not a self. Then where can we stand? Feeling , memory, all the five aggregates of mind and body are shifting like leaves in the wind. We can discover this through meditation.

Meditation is like a single log of wood. Insight and investigation are one end of the log; calm and concentration are the other end. If you lift up the whole log, both sides come up at once. Which is concentration and which is insight? Just this mind.

You cannot really separate concentration, inner tranquility, and insight. They are just as a mango that is first green and sour, then yellow and sweet, but not tow different fruits. One grows into the other; without the first, we would never have the second. Such terms are only conventions for teaching. We should not be attached to the language. The only source of true knowledge is to see what is within ourselves. Only this kind of study has an end and is the study of real value.

The calmness of the mind at the beginning stage of concentration arises from the simple practice of one-pointedness. But when this calm departs, we suffer because we have become attached to it. The attainment of tranquility is not yet the end, according to the Buddha. Becoming and suffering still exist.

Thus, the Buddha took this concentration, this tranquility, and contemplated further. He searched out the truth of the matter until he was no longer attached to tranquility. Tranquility is just another relative reality, one of the matter until he was no longer attached to tranquility. Tranquility is just another relative reality, one of numerous mental formations, only a stage on the path. If you are attached to it, you will find yourself still stuck in birth and becoming, based on your pleasure in tranquility. When tranquility ceases, agitation will begin and you will be attached even more.

The Buddha went on to examine becoming and birth to see where they arise. As he did not yet know the truth of the matter, he used his mind to contemplate further, to investigate all the mental elements that arose. Whether tranquil or not, he continued to penetrate, to examine further, until he finally realized that all that he saw, all the five aggregates of body and mind, were like a red-hot iron ball. When it is red-hot all over, where can you find a cool spot to touch? The same is true of the five aggregates – to grasp any part causes pain. Therefore, you should not get attached even to tranquility or concentration; you should not say the peace or tranquility is you or yours. To do so just creates the painful illusion of self, the world of attachment and delusion, another red-hot iron ball.

In our practice, our tendency is to grasp, to take experiences as me and mine. If you think,” I am calm, I am agitated, I am good or bad, I am happy or unhappy,” this clinging causes more becoming and birth. When happiness ends, suffering appears; when suffering ends, happiness appears. You will see yourself unceasingly vacillating between heaven and hell. The Buddha saw that the condition of his mind was thus, and he knew, because of this birth and becoming , his liberation was not yet complete. So he took up these elements of experience and comtemplated their true nature. Because of grasping, birth and death exist. Becoming glad is birth, becoming dejected is death. Having died, we are then born; having been born, we die. This birth and death from one moment to the next is like the endless spinning of a wheel.

The Buddha saw that whatever the mind gives rise to are just transitory, conditioned phenomena, which are really empty. When this dawned on him, he let go, gave up, and found an end to suffering. You too must understand these matters according to the truth. When you know things as they are, you will see that these elements of mind are a deception, in keeping with the Buddha’s teaching that this mind has nothing, does not arise, is not born and does not die with anyone. It is free, shining, resplendent, with nothing to occupy it. The mind becomes occupied only because it misunderstands and is deluded by these conditioned phenomena, this false sense of self.

Therefore, the Buddha has us look at our minds. What exists in the beginning? Truly, not anything. This emptiness does not arise and die with phenomena. When it contacts something good, it does not become good; when it contacts something bad, it does not become bad. The pure mind knows these objects clearly, known that they are not substantial.

When the mind of the meditator abides like this, no doubt exists. Is there becoming? Is there birth? We need not ask anyone. Having examined the elements of mind, the Buddha let them go and became merely one who was aware of them. He just watched with equanimity. Conditions leading to birth did not exist for him. With his complete knowledge, he called them all impermanent, unsatisfactory, empty of self. Therefore, he became the one who knows with certainty. The one who knows sees according to this truth and does not become happy or sad according to changing conditions. This is true peace, free of birth, aging, sickness, and death, not dependent on causes, results, or conditions, beyond hapiness and suffering, above good and evil. Nothing can be spoken about it. No conditions promote it any longer.

Therefore, develop samadhi, calm and insight; learn to make them arise in your mind and really use them. Otherwise, you will know only the words of Buddhism and with the best intentionns, go around merely describing the characteristics of existence. You may be clever, but when things arise in your mind, will you follow them? When you come into contact with something you like, will you immediately become attached? Can you let go of it? When unpleasant experiences arise, does the one who knows hold that dislike in his mind, or does he let go? If you see things that you dislike and still hold on to or condemn them, you should reconsider - this is not yet correct, not yet the supreme. If you observe your mind in this way, you will truly know for yourself.

I did not practice using textbook term; I just looked at this one who knows. If it hates someone, question why. If it loves someone, question why. Probing all arising back to its origin, ou can solve the problem of clinging and hating and get them to leave you alone. Everything comes back to and arises from the one who knows. But repeated practice is crucial.

A Still Forest Pool

The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah

Part 1 Understanding The Buddha's Teaching

Go Beyond Words:
See for Yourself

In my own practice, I did not know or study much. I took the straightforward teachings the Buddha gave and simply began to study my own mind according to nature. When you practice, observe yourself. Then gradually knowledge and vision will arise of themselves. If you sit in meditation and want it to be this way or that, you had better stop right there. Do not bring ideals or expectations to your practice. Take your studies, your opinions, and store them away.

You must go beyond all words, all symbols, all plans for your practice. Then you can see for yourself the truth, arising right here. If you do not turn inward, you will never know reality. I took the first few years of formal Dharma text study, and when I had the opportunity, I went to hear various scholars and masters teach, until such study became more of a hindrance than a help. I did not know how to listen to their sermons because I had not looked within.

Then great meditation masters spoke about the truth within oneself. Practicing, I began to realize that it existed in my own mind as well. After a long time, I realizes that these teachers have really seen the truth and that if we follow their path, we will encounter everything they have spoken about. Then we will be able to say: “ Yes, they were right. What else would there be? Just this.” When I practiced diligently, realization unfolded like that.

If you are interested in Dharma, just give up, just let go. Merely thinking about practice is like pouncing on the shadow and missing the substance. You need not study much. If you follow the basics and practice accordingly, you will see the Dharma for yourself. There must be more than merely hearing the words. Speak just within yourself, observe your own mind. If you cut off these verbal, thinking mind, you will have a true standard for judging. Otherwise, your understanding will not penetrate deeply. Practice in this way and the rest will follow.


Buddhist Psychology

One day, a famous woman lecturer on Buddhist metaphysics came to see Achaan Chah. This woman gave periodic teachings in Bangkok on the abhidharma and complex Buddhist psychology. In talking to Achaan Chah, she detailed how important it was for people to understand Buddhist psychology and how much her students benefited from their study with her. She asked him whether he agreed with the importance of such understanding.
“ Yes, very important”, he agreed.
Delighted, she further questioned whether he had his own students learn abhidharma.
“Oh, yes, of course.”
And where, she asked, did he recommend they start, which books and studies were best?
“Only here,” he said, pointing to his heart, “ only here,”