
                           A TASTE OF FREEDOM

                                   by
                               Ajahn Chah

  
          Copyright 1991 The Sangha Bung Wai Forest Monastery
  
                    All commercial rights reserved.

            Any reproduction, in whole or part, in any form,
           for sale, profit or material gain, is prohibited.
         However, copies of this book, or permission to reprint
       for free distribution, may be obtained upon notification.
  
                               The Abbot
                            Wat Pah Nanachat
                                Bungwai
              Warinchumrab, Ubolrajadhani 34110, Thailand
  
                         1st. published -- 1980
                   2nd. impression (revised) -- 1982
                   3rd. impression (revised) -- 1991
  
                                 * * *

                         DharmaNet Edition 1995

                      Transcription: David Savage
                      Proofreading: Jane Yudelman
                        Formatting: John Bullitt

        This electronic edition is offered for free distribution
             via DharmaNet by arrangement with the author.
                                          
                        DharmaNet International
                 P.O. Box 4951, Berkeley CA 94704-4951


                            * * * * * * * *



                                CONTENTS
  
        Introduction
        About this Mind
        On Meditation
        The Path in Harmony
        The Middle Way Within
        The Peace Beyond
        Opening the Dhamma eye
        Convention and Liberation
        No Abiding
        Right View -- The Place of Coolness
        Epilogue
        Notes on Selected Talks
        About the Author
  
  
                            * * * * * * * *
  
  
                            Acknowledgments
  
  The production manager would like to thank Venerable Ajahn Puriso, the
  translator, who kindly not only revised the text for this edition, but
  also helped with the final proof reading.

    This book has come into existence with the help of many devoted
  people. Khun Vanee Lamsam, along with her brother Khun Parl Na
  Pombejra, raised the Fund to support all costs of publication. Khun
  Thanu Malakul Na Ayudhaya supplied us a slide of his beautiful
  painting for the cover. Khun Panya Vijinthanasarn helped with the
  cover design and illustrations. Khun Chutima Thanapura helped with the
  first proof-reading. Khun Pansak Panpak-deeddisakul supplied us an
  invaluable photograph of Luang Por Chah (Phra Bodhinyana Thera). Khun
  Karoon Hansachainand helped with the pasting some parts of the artwork
  and saw the book through the press. May the kind meritorious deeds of
  the above-mentioned people help them experience the supreme bliss,
  Nibbana.
  
                            * * * * * * * *
  


                              Introduction
  
  The talks translated in this book were all taken from old cassette
  tape recordings of Venerable Ajahn Chah, some in Thai and some in the
  North-Eastern dialect, most recorded on poor quality equipment under
  less than optimum conditions. This presented some difficulty in the
  work of translation, which was overcome by occasionally omitting very
  unclear passages and at other times asking for advice from other
  listeners more familiar with those languages. Nevertheless there has
  inevitably been some editing in the process of making this book. Apart
  from the difficulties presented by the lack of clarity of the tapes,
  there is also the necessity of editing when one is taking words from
  the spoken to the written medium. For this, the translator takes full
  responsibility.
       
    Pali words have occasionally been left as they are, in other cases
  translated. The criteria here has been readability. Those Pali words
  which were considered short enough or familiar enough to the reader
  already conversant with Buddhist terminology have generally been left
  untranslated. This should present no difficulty, as they are generally
  explained by the Venerable Ajahn in the course of the talk. Longer
  words, or words considered to be probably unfamiliar to the average
  reader, have been translated. Of these, there are two which are
  particularly noteworthy. They are //Kamasukhallikanuyogo// and
  //Attakilamathanuyogo//, which have been translated as Indulgence in
  Pleasure and Indulgence in Pain respectively. These two words occur in
  no less than five of the talks included in this book and although the
  translations provided here are not those generally used for these
  word, they are nevertheless in keeping with the Venerable Ajahn's use
  of them.

    Venerable Ajahn Chah always gave his talks in simple, everyday
  language. His objective was to clarify the //Dhamma//, not to confuse
  his listeners with an overlog of information. Consequently the talks
  presented here have been rendered into correspondingly simple English.
  The aim has been to present Ajahn Chah's teaching in both the spirit
  and the letter.

    In this third printing of //A Taste of Freedom//, a number of
  corrections have been made to clumsily worded passages, of which there
  are now hopefully less than in the first editions. For such
  inadequacies the translator must also take responsibility, and hopes
  the reader will bear with any literary shortcomings in order to
  receive the full benefit of the teachings contained herein.
  
                                        The translator
  
  
                                 * * *
  

                           About this Mind...

  About this mind... In truth there is nothing really wrong with it. It
  is intrinsically pure. Within itself it's already peaceful. That the
  mind is not peaceful these days is because it follows moods. The real
  mind doesn't have anything to it, it is simply (an aspect of) Nature.
  It becomes peaceful or agitated because moods deceive it. The
  untrained mind is stupid. Sense impressions come and trick it into
  happiness, suffering, gladness and sorrow, but the mind's true nature
  is none of those things. That gladness or sadness is not the mind, but
  only a mood coming to deceive us. The untrained mind gets lost and
  follows these things, it forgets itself. Then we think that it is we
  who are upset or at ease or whatever.

    But really this mind of ours is already unmoving and peaceful...
  really peaceful! Just like a leaf which is still as long as no wind
  blows. If a wind comes up the leaf flutters. The fluttering is due to
  the wind -- the "fluttering" is due to those sense impressions; the
  mind follows them. If it doesn't follow them, it doesn't "flutter." If
  we know fully the true nature of sense impressions we will be unmoved.

    Our practice is simply to see the Original Mind. So we must train
  the mind to know those sense impressions, and not get lost in them. To
  make it peaceful. Just this is the aim of all this difficult practice
  we put ourselves through.
  


                                 * * *
  

        "... That which "looks over" the various factors which arise in
        meditation is 'sati', mindfulness. Sati is life. Whenever we
        don't have sati, when we are heedless, it's as if we are dead...
        This sati is simply presence of mind. It's cause for the arising
        of self-awareness and wisdom... Even when we are no longer in
        samadhi, sati should be present throughout..."
  
  
  
                                 * * *
  
  
                             On Meditation
  
  To calm the mind means to find the right balance. If you try to force
  your mind too much it goes too far; if you don't try enough it doesn't
  get there, it misses the point of balance.

    Normally the mind isn't still, it's moving all the time, it lacks
  strength. Making the mind strong and making the body strong are not
  the same. To make the body strong we have to exercise it, to push it,
  in order to make it strong, but to make the mind strong means to make
  it peaceful, not to go thinking of this and that. For most of us the
  mind has never been peaceful, it has never had the energy of
  //samadhi//, [*] so we establish it within a boundary. We sit in
  meditation, staying with the //One who knows//.

        [*] //Samadhi// is the state of concentrated calm resulting from
            meditation practice.


    If we force our breath to be too long or too short we're not
  balanced, the mind won't become peaceful. It's like when we first 
  start to use a pedal sewing machine. At first we just practice
  pedaling the machine to get our co-ordination right, before we
  actually sew anything. Following the breath is similar. We don't get
  concerned over how long or short, weak or strong it is, we just note
  it. We simply let it be, following the natural breathing.

    When it's balanced, we take the breathing as our meditation object.
  When we breathe in, the beginning of the breath is at the nose tip,
  the middle of the breath at the chest and the end of the breath at the
  abdomen. This is the path of the breath. When we breathe out, the
  beginning of the breath is at the abdomen, the middle at the chest and
  the end at the nose tip. We simply take note of this path of the
  breath at the nose tip, the chest and the abdomen, then at the
  abdomen, the chest and the tip of the nose. We take note of these
  three points in order to make the mind firm, to limit mental activity
  so that mindfulness and self-awareness can easily arise.

    When we are adept at noting these three points we can let them go
  and note the in and out breathing, concentrating solely at the
  nose-tip or the upper lip where the air passes on its in and out
  passage. We don't have to follow the breath, just establish
  mindfulness in front of us at the nose-tip, and note the breath at
  this one point -- entering, leaving, entering, leaving. There's no
  need to think of anything special, just concentrate on this simple
  task for now, having continuous presence of mind. There's nothing more
  to do, just breathing in and out.

    Soon the mind becomes peaceful, the breath refined. The mind and
  body become light. This is the right state for the work of meditation.

    When sitting in meditation the mind becomes refined, but whatever
  state it's in we should try to be aware of it, to know it. Mental
  activity is there together with tranquility. There is //vitakka//.
  //Vitakka// is the action of bringing the mind to the theme of
  contemplation. If there is not much mindfulness, there will be not
  much //vitakka//. Then //vicara//, the contemplation around that
  theme, follows. Various "weak" mental impressions may arise from time
  to time but our self-awareness is the important thing -- whatever may
  be happening we know it continuously. As we go deeper we are
  constantly aware of the state of our meditation, knowing whether or
  not the mind is firmly established. Thus, both concentration and
  awareness are present.

    To have a peaceful mind does not mean that there's nothing
  happening, mental impressions do arise. For instance, when we talk
  about the first level of absorption, we say it has five factors. Along
  with //vitakka// and //vicara//, //piti// (rapture) arises with the
  theme of contemplation and then //sukha// (happiness). These four
  things all lie together in the mind established in tranquility. They
  are as one state.

    The fifth factor is //ekaggata// or one-pointedness. You may wonder
  how there can be one-pointedness when there are all these other
  factors as well. This is because they all become unified on that
  foundation of tranquility. Together they are called a state of
  //samadhi//. They are not everyday states of mind, they are factors of
  absorption. There are these five characteristics, but they do not
  disturb the basic tranquility. There is //vitakka//, but it does not
  disturb the mind; //vicara//, rapture and happiness arise but do not
  disturb the mind. The mind is therefore as one with these factors. The
  first level of absorption is like this.

    We don't have to call it First //Jhana//, [*] Second //Jhana//,
  third //Jhana// and so on, let's just call it "a peaceful mind." As
  the mind becomes progressively calmer it will dispense with
  //vitakka// and //vicara//, leaving only rapture and happiness. Why
  does the mind discard //vitakka// and //vicara//? This is because, as
  the mind becomes more refined, the activity of //vitakka// and
  //vicara// is too coarse to remain. At this stage, as the mind leaves
  off //vitakka// and //vicara//, feelings of great rapture can arise,
  tears may gush out. But as the //samadhi// deepens rapture, too, is
  discarded, leaving only happiness and one-pointedness, until finally
  even happiness goes and the mind reaches its greatest refinement.
  There are only equanimity and one-pointedness, all else has been left
  behind. The mind stands unmoving.

        [*] Jhana is an advanced state of concentration or //samadhi//,
            wherein the mind becomes absorbed into its meditation
            subject. It is divided into four levels, each level
            progressively more refined than the previous one.


    Once the mind is peaceful this can happen. You don't have to think a
  lot about it, it just happens by itself. This is called the energy of
  a peaceful mind. In this state the mind is not drowsy; the five
  hindrances, sense desire, aversion, restlessness, dullness and doubt,
  have all fled.

    But if mental energy is still not strong and mindfulness weak, there
  will occasionally arise intruding mental impressions. The mind is
  peaceful but it's as if there's a "cloudiness" within the calm. It's
  not a normal sort of drowsiness though, some impressions will manifest
  -- maybe we'll hear a sound or see a dog or something. It's not really
  clear but it's not a dream either. This is because these five factors
  have become unbalanced and weak.

    The mind tends to play tricks within these levels of tranquility.
  "Imagery" will sometimes arise when the mind is in this state, through
  any of the senses, and the meditator may not be able to tell exactly
  what is happening. "Am I sleeping? No. Is it a dream? No, it's not a
  dream..." These impressions arise from a middling sort of
  tranquility; but if the mind is truly calm and clear we don't doubt
  the various mental impressions or imagery which arise. Questions like,
  "Did I drift off then? Was I sleeping? did I get lost?..." don't
  arise, for they are characteristics of a mind which is still doubting.
  "Am I asleep or awake?"... Here, it's fuzzy! This is the mind getting
  lost in its moods. It's like the moon going behind a cloud. You can
  still see the moon but the clouds covering it render it hazy. It's not
  like the moon which has emerged from behind the clouds -- clear, sharp
  and bright.

    When the mind is peaceful and established firmly in mindfulness and
  self-awareness, there will be no doubt concerning the various
  phenomena which we encounter. The mind will truly be beyond the
  hindrances. We will clearly know as it is everything which arises in
  the mind. We do not doubt it because the mind is clear and bright. The
  mind which reaches //samadhi// is like this.

    However some people find it hard to enter //samadhi// because it
  doesn't suit their tendencies. There is //samadhi//, but it's not
  strong or firm. But one can attain peace through the use of wisdom,
  through contemplating and seeing the truth of things, solving problems
  that way. This is using wisdom rather than the power of //samadhi//.
  To attain calm in practice it's not necessary to sit in meditation,
  for instance. Just ask yourself, "Ehh, what is that?..." and solve
  your problem right there! A person with wisdom is like this. Perhaps
  he can't really attain high levels of //samadhi//, although he
  develops some, enough to cultivate wisdom. It's like the difference
  between farming rice and farming corn. One can depend on rice more
  than corn for one's livelihood. Our practice can be like this, we
  depend more on wisdom to solve problems. When we see the truth, peace
  arises.

    The two ways are not the same. Some people have insight and are
  strong in wisdom but do not have much //samadhi//. When they sit in
  meditation they aren't very peaceful. They tend to think a lot,
  contemplating this and that, until eventually they contemplate
  happiness and suffering and see the truth of them. Some incline more
  towards this than //samadhi//. Whether standing, walking, sitting or
  lying, [*] enlightenment of the Dhamma can take place. Through seeing,
  through relinquishing, they attain peace. They attain peace through
  knowing the truth without doubt, because they have seen it for
  themselves.

        [*] That is, at all times, in all activities.


    Other people have only little wisdom but their //samadhi// is very
  strong. They can enter very deep //samadhi// quickly, but not having
  much wisdom, they cannot catch their defilements, they don't know
  them. They can't solve their problems.

    But regardless of whichever approach we use, we must do away with
  wrong thinking, leaving only Right View. We must get rid of confusion,
  leaving only peace. Either way we end up at the same place. There are
  these two sides to practice, but these two things, calm and insight,
  go together. We can't do away with either of them. They must go
  together.

    That which "looks over" the various factors which arise in
  meditation is 'sati', mindfulness. This //sati// is a condition which,
  through practice, can help other factors to arise. //Sati// is life.
  Whenever we don't have //sati//, when we are heedless, it's as if we
  are dead. If we have no //sati//, then our speech and actions have no
  meaning. This sati is simply recollection. It's a cause for the
  arising of self-awareness and wisdom. Whatever virtues we have
  cultivated are imperfect if lacking in //sati//. Sati is that which
  watches over us while standing, walking, sitting and lying. Even when
  we are no longer in //samadhi//, //sati// should be present
  throughout.

    Whatever we do we take care. A sense of shame [*] will arise. We
  will feel ashamed about the things we do which aren't correct. As 
  shame increases, our collectedness will increase as well. When 
  collectedness increases, heedlessness will disappear. Even if we don't
  sit in meditation, these factors will be present in the mind.

        [*] This is a "shame" based on knowledge of cause and effect,
            rather than mere emotional guilt.


    And this arises because of cultivating //sati//. Develop //sati//!
  This is the dhamma which looks over the work we are doing or have done
  in the past. It has usefulness. We should know ourselves at all times.
  If we know ourselves like this, right will distinguish itself from
  wrong, the path will become clear, and cause for all shame will
  dissolve. Wisdom will arise.

    We can bring the practice all together as morality, concentration
  and wisdom. To be collected, to be controlled, this is morality. The
  firm establishing of the mind within that control is concentration.
  Complete, overall knowledge within the activity in which we are
  engaged is wisdom. The practice in brief is just morality,
  concentration and wisdom, or in other words, the path. There is no
  other way.
  


                                 * * *



        "...With right samadhi, no matter what level of calm is reached,
        there is awareness. There is full mindfulness and clear
        comprehension. This is the samadhi which can give rise to
        wisdom, one cannot get lost in it. Practitioners should
        understand this well..."
  

                                 * * *
  
  
  
                          The Path in Harmony
  
  Today I would like to ask you all. "Are you sure yet, are you certain
  in your meditation practice?" I ask because these days there are many
  people teaching meditation, both monks and laypeople, and I'm afraid
  you may be subject to wavering and doubt. If we understand clearly, we
  will be able to make the mind peaceful and firm.

    You should understand "the Eightfold Path" as morality,
  concentration and wisdom. The path comes together as simply this. Our
  practice is to make this path arise within us.

    When sitting meditation we are told to close the eyes, not to look
  at anything else, because now we are going to look directly at the
  mind. When we close our eyes, our attention comes inwards. We
  establish our attention on the breath, center our feelings there, put
  our mindfulness there. When the factors of the path are in harmony we
  will be able to see the breath, the feelings, the mind and its mood
  for what they are. Here we will see the "focus point," where
  //samadhi// and the other factors of the Path converge in harmony.

    When we are sitting in meditation, following the breath, think to
  yourself that now you are sitting alone. There is no-one sitting
  around you, there is nothing at all. Develop this feeling that you are
  sitting alone until the mind lets go of all externals, concentrating
  solely on the breath. If you are thinking, "This person is sitting
  over here, that person is sitting over there," there is no peace, the
  mind doesn't come inwards. Just cast all that aside until you feel
  there is no-one sitting around you, until there is nothing at all,
  until you have no wavering or interest in your surroundings.

    Let the breath go naturally, don't force it to be short or long or
  whatever, just sit and watch it going in and out. When the mind lets
  go of all external impressions, the sounds of cars and such will not
  disturb you. Nothing, whether sights or sounds, will disturb you,
  because the mind doesn't receive them. Your attention will come
  together on the breath.

    If the mind is confused and won't concentrate on the breath, take a
  full, deep breath, as deep as you can, and then let it all out till
  there is none left. Do this three times and then re-establish your
  attention. The mind will become calm.

    It's natural for it to be calm for a while, and then restlessness
  and confusion may arise again. When this happens, concentrate, breathe
  deeply again, and them re-establish your attention on the breath. Just
  keep going like this. When this has happened many times you will
  become adept at it, the mind will let go of all external
  manifestations. External impressions will not reach the mind. //Sati//
  will be firmly established. As the mind becomes more refined, so does
  the breath. Feelings will become finer and finer, the body and mind
  will be light. Our attention is solely on the inner, we see the
  in-breaths and out-breaths clearly, we see all impressions clearly. We
  will see the coming together of Morality, Concentration and Wisdom.
  This is called the Path in harmony. When there is this harmony our
  mind will be free of confusion, it will come together as one. This is
  called //samadhi//.

    After watching the breath for a long time, it may become very
  refined; the awareness of the breath will gradually cease, leaving
  only bare awareness. The breath may become so refined it disappears!
  Perhaps we are "just sitting," as if there is no breathing at all.
  Actually there is breathing, but it seems as if there's none. This is
  because the mind has reached its most refined state, there is just
  bare awareness. It has gone beyond the breath. The knowledge that the
  breath has disappeared becomes established. What will we take as our
  object of meditation now? We take just this knowledge as our object,
  that is, the awareness that there's no breath.

    Unexpected things may happen at this time; some people experience
  them, some don't. If they do arise, we should be firm and have strong
  mindfulness. Some people see that the breath has disappeared and get a
  fright, they're afraid they might die. Here we should know the
  situation just as it is. We simply notice that there's no breath and
  take that as our object of awareness. This, we can say, is the
  firmest, surest type of //samadhi//. There is only one firm, unmoving
  state of mind. Perhaps the body will become so light it's as if there
  is no body at all. We feel like we're sitting in empty space, all
  seems empty. Although this may seem very unusual, you should
  understand that there's nothing to worry about. Firmly establish your
  mind like this.

    When the mind is firmly unified, having no sense impressions to
  disturb it, one can remain in that state for any length of time. There
  will be no painful feelings to disturb us. When //samadhi// has
  reached this level, we can leave it when we choose, but if we come out
  of this //samadhi// we do so comfortably, not because we've become
  bored with it or tired. We come out because we've had enough for now,
  we feel at ease, we have no problems at all.

    If we can develop this type of samadhi, then if we sit, say, thirty
  minutes or an hour, the mind will be cool and calm for many days. When
  the mind is cool and calm like this, it is clean. Whatever we
  experience, the mind will take up and investigate. This is a fruit of
  //samadhi//.

    Morality has one function, concentration has another function and
  Wisdom another. These factors are like a cycle. We can see them all
  within the peaceful mind. When the mind is calm it has collectedness
  and restraint because of wisdom and the energy of concentration. As it
  becomes more collected it becomes more refined, which in turn gives
  morality the strength to increase in purity. As our morality becomes
  purer, this will help in the development of concentration. When
  concentration is firmly established it helps in the arising of wisdom.
  Morality, concentration and wisdom help each other, they are
  inter-related like this. In the end the Path becomes one and functions
  at all times. We should look after the strength which arises from the
  path, because it is the strength which leads to Insight and Wisdom.
       

  
                                 * * *



                         On Dangers Of Samadhi

  //Samadhi// is capable of bringing much harm or much benefit to the
  meditator, you can't say it brings only one or the other. For one who
  has no wisdom it is harmful, but for one who has wisdom it can bring
  real benefit, it can lead him to Insight.

    That which can be most harmful to the meditator is Absorption
  //Samadhi// (//Jhana//), the //samadhi// with deep, sustained calm.
  This samadhi brings great peace. Where there is peace, there is
  happiness. When there is happiness, attachment and clinging to that
  happiness arise. The meditator doesn't want to contemplate anything
  else, he just wants to indulge in that pleasant feeling. When we have
  been practicing for a long time we may become adept at entering this
  //samadhi// very quickly. As soon as we start to note our meditation
  object, the mind enters calm, and we don't want to come out to
  investigate anything. We just get stuck on that happiness. This is a
  danger to one who is practicing meditation.

    We must use //Upacara Samadhi//. Here, we enter calm and then, when
  the mind is sufficiently calm, we come out and look at outer activity.
  [*] Looking at the outside with a calm mind gives rise to wisdom. This
  is hard to understand, because it's almost like ordinary thinking and
  imagining. When thinking is there, we may think the mind isn't
  peaceful, but actually that thinking is taking place within the calm.
  There is contemplation but it doesn't disturb the calm. We may bring
  thinking up in order to contemplate it. Here we take up the thinking
  to investigate it, it's not that we are aimlessly thinking to
  investigate it, it's not that we are aimlessly thinking or guessing
  away; it's something that arises from a peaceful mind. This is called
  "awareness within calm and calm within awareness." If it's simply
  ordinary thinking and imagining, the mind won't be peaceful, it will
  be disturbed. But I am not talking about ordinary thinking, this is a
  feeling that arises from the peaceful mind. It's called
  "contemplation." Wisdom is born right here.

        [*] "Outer activity" refers to all manner of sense impressions.
            It is used in contrast to the "inner activity" of absorption
            //samadhi// (//jhana//), where the mind does not "go out" to
            external sense impressions.


    So, there can be right //samadhi// and wrong //samadhi//. Wrong
  //samadhi// is where the mind enters calm and there's no awareness at
  all. One could sit for two hours or even all day but the mind doesn't
  know where it's been or what's happened. It doesn't know anything.
  There is calm, but that's all. It's like a well-sharpened knife which
  we don't bother to put to any use. This is a deluded type of calm,
  because there is not much self-awareness. The meditator may think he
  has reached the ultimate already, so he doesn't bother to look for
  anything else. //Samadhi// can be an enemy at this level. Wisdom
  cannot arise because there is no awareness of right and wrong.

    With right //samadhi//, no matter what level of calm is reached,
  there is awareness. There is full mindfulness and clear comprehension.
  This is the //samadhi// which can give rise to wisdom, one cannot get
  lost in it. Practitioners should understand this well. You can't do
  without this awareness, it must be present from beginning to end. This
  kind of //samadhi// has no danger.

    You may wonder where does the benefit arise, how does the wisdom
  arise, from //samadhi//? When right //samadhi// has been developed,
  wisdom has the chance to arise at all times. When the eye sees form,
  the ear hears sound, the nose smells odor, the tongue experiences
  taste, the body experiences touch or the mind experiences mental
  impressions -- in all postures -- the mind stays with full knowledge
  of the true nature of those sense impressions, it doesn't "pick and
  choose." In any posture we are fully aware of the birth of happiness
  and unhappiness. We let go of both of these things, we don't cling.
  This is called Right Practice, which is present in all postures. These
  words "all postures" do not refer only to bodily postures, they refer
  to the mind, which has mindfulness and clear comprehension of the
  truth at all times. When //samadhi// has been rightly developed,
  wisdom arises like this. This is called "insight," knowledge of the
  truth.

    There are two kinds of peace -- the coarse and the refined. The
  peace which comes from //samadhi// is the coarse type. When the mind
  is peaceful there is happiness. The mind then takes this happiness to
  be peace. But happiness and unhappiness are becoming and birth. There
  is no escape from //samsara// [*] here because we still cling to them.
  So happiness is not peace, peace is not happiness.

        [*] //Samsara//, the wheel of Birth of Death, is the world of
            all conditioned phenomena, mental and material, which has
            the three-fold characteristic of Impermanence,
            Unsatisfactoriness, and Not-self.


    The other type of peace is that which comes from wisdom. Here we
  don't confuse peace with happiness; we know the mind which
  contemplates and knows happiness and unhappiness as peace. The peace
  which arises from wisdom is not happiness, but is that which sees the
  truth of both happiness and unhappiness. Clinging to those states does
  not arise, the mind rises above them. This is the true goal of all
  Buddhist practice.
  


                                 * * *


        "...The Buddha laid down Morality, Concentration and Wisdom as
        the Path to peace, the way to enlightenment. But in truth these
        things are not the essence of Buddhism. They are merely the
        Path...The essence of Buddhism is peace, and that peace arises
        from truly knowing the nature of all things..."
  
  
                                 * * *
  


                         The Middle Way Within
  
  The teaching of Buddhism is about giving up evil and practicing good.
  Then, when evil is given up and goodness is established, we must let
  go of both good and evil. We have already heard enough about wholesome
  and unwholesome conditions to understand something about them, so I
  would like to talk about the Middle Way, that is, the path to escape
  from both of those things.

    All the Dhamma talks and teachings of the Buddha have one aim -- to
  show the way out of suffering to those who have not yet escaped. The
  teachings are for the purpose of giving us the right understanding. If
  we don't understand rightly, then we can't arrive at peace.

    When the various Buddhas became enlightened and gave their first
  teachings, they all declared these two extremes -- indulgence in
  pleasure and indulgence in pain. [*] These two ways are the ways of
  infatuation, they are the ways between which those who indulge in
  sense pleasures must fluctuate, never arriving at peace. They are the
  paths which spin around in //samsara//.

        [*] See Introduction.


    The Enlightened One observed that all beings are stuck in these two
  extremes, never seeing the Middle Way of Dhamma, so he pointed them
  out in order to show the penalty involved in both. Because we are
  still stuck, because we are still wanting, we live repeatedly under
  their way. The Buddha declared that these two ways are the ways of
  intoxication, they are not the way of a meditator, nor the ways to
  peace. These ways are indulgence in pleasure and indulgence in pain,
  or, to put it simply, the way of slackness and the way of tension. If
  you investigate within, moment by moment, you will see that the tense
  way is anger, the way of sorrow. Going this way there is only
  difficulty and distress. Indulgence in Pleasure -- if you've escaped
  from this, it means you've escaped from happiness. These ways, both
  happiness and unhappiness, are not peaceful states. The Buddha taught
  to let go of both of them. This is right practice. This is the Middle
  Way.

    These words, "the Middle Way," do not refer to our body and speech,
  they refer to the mind. When a mental impression which we don't like
  arises, it affects the mind and there is confusion. When the mind is
  confused, when it's "shaken up," this is not the right way. When a
  mental impression arises which we like, the mind goes to indulgence in
  pleasure -- that's not the way either.

    We people don't want suffering, we want happiness. But in fact
  happiness is just a refined form of suffering. Suffering itself is the
  coarse form. You can compare them to a snake. The head of the snake is
  unhappiness, the tail of the snake is happiness. The head of the snake
  is really dangerous, it has the poisonous fangs. If you touch it, the
  snake will bite straight away. But never mind the head, even if you go
  and hold onto the tail, it will turn around and bite you just the
  same, because both the head and the tail belong to the one snake.

    In the same way, both happiness and unhappiness, or pleasure and
  sadness, arise from the same parent -- wanting. So when you're happy
  the mind isn't peaceful. It really isn't! For instance, when we get
  the things we like, such as wealth, prestige, praise or happiness, we
  become pleased as a result. But the mind still harbors some
  uneasiness because we're afraid of losing it. That very fear isn't a
  peaceful state. Later on we may actually lose that thing and then we
  really suffer. Thus, if you aren't aware, even if you're happy,
  suffering is imminent. It's just the same as grabbing the snake's tail
  -- if you don't let go it will bite. So whether it's the snake's tail
  or its head, that is, wholesome or unwholesome conditions, they're all
  just characteristics of the Wheel of Existence, of endless change.

    The Buddha established morality, concentration and wisdom as the
  path to peace, the way to enlightenment. But in truth these things are
  not the essence of Buddhism. They are merely the path. The Buddha
  called them "Magga," which means "path." The essence of Buddhism is
  peace, and that peace arises from truly knowing the nature of all
  things. If we investigate closely, we can see that peace is neither
  happiness nor unhappiness. Neither of these is the truth.

    The human mind, the mind which the Buddha exhorted us to know and
  investigate, is something we can only know by its activity. The true
  "original mind" has nothing to measure it by, there's nothing you can
  know it by. In its natural state it is unshaken, unmoving. When
  happiness arises all that happens is that this mind is getting lost in
  a mental impression, there is movement. When the mind moves like this,
  clinging and attachment to those things come into being.

    The Buddha has already laid down the path of practice fully, but we
  have not yet practiced, or if we have, we've practiced only in speech.
  Our minds and our speech are not yet in harmony, we just indulge in
  empty talk. But the basis of Buddhism is not something that can be
  talked about or guessed at. The real basis of Buddhism is full
  knowledge of the truth of reality. If one knows this truth then no
  teaching is necessary. If one doesn't know, even if he listens to the
  teaching, he doesn't really hear. This is why the Buddha said, "The
  Enlightened One only points the way." He can't do the practice for
  you, because the truth is something you cannot put into words or give
  away.

    All the teachings are merely similes and comparisons, means to help
  the mind see the truth. If we haven't seen the truth we must suffer.
  For example, we commonly say "sankharas" [*] when referring to the
  body. Anybody can say it, but in fact we have problems simply because
  we don't know the truth of these //sankharas//, and thus cling to
  them. Because we don't know the truth of the body, we suffer.

        [*] In the Thai language the word "sungkahn," from the Pali word
        //sankhara// (the name given to all conditioned phenomena), is a
        commonly used term for the body. The Venerable Ajahn uses the
        word in both ways.

    Here is an example. Suppose one morning you're walking to work and a
  man yells abuse and insults at you from across the street. As soon as
  you hear this abuse your mind changes from its usual state. You don't
  feel so good, you feel angry and hurt. That man walks around abusing
  you night and day. When you hear the abuse, you get angry, and even
  when you return home you're still angry because you feel vindictive,
  you want to get even.

    A few days later another man comes to your house and calls out,
  "Hey! That man who abused you the other day, he's mad, he's crazy! Has
  been for years! He abuses everybody like that. Nobody takes any notice
  of anything he says." As soon as you hear this you are suddenly
  relieved. That anger and hurt that you've pent up within you all these
  days melts away completely. Why? Because you know the truth of the
  matter now. Before, you didn't know, you thought that man was normal,
  so you were angry at him. Understanding like that caused you to
  suffer. As soon as you find out the truth, everything changes: "Oh,
  he's mad! That explains everything!" When you understand this you feel
  fine, because you know for yourself. Having known, then you can let
  go. If you don't know the truth you cling right there. When you
  thought that man who abused you was normal you could have killed him.
  But when you find out the truth, that he's mad, you feel much better.
  This is knowledge of the truth.

    Someone who sees the Dhamma has a similar experience. When
  attachment, aversion and delusion disappear, they disappear in the
  same way. As long as we don't know these things we think, "What can I
  do? I have so much greed and aversion." This is not clear knowledge.
  It's just the same as when we thought the madman was sane. When we
  finally see that he was mad all along we're relieved of worry. No-one
  could show you this. Only when the mind sees for itself can it uproot
  and relinquish attachment.

    It's the same with this body which we call //sankharas//. Although
  the Buddha has already explained that it's not substantial or a real
  being as such, we still don't agree, we stubbornly cling to it. If the
  body could talk, it would be telling us all day long, "You're not my
  owner, you know." Actually it's telling us all the time, but it's
  Dhamma language, so we're unable to understand it. For instance, the
  sense organs of eye, ear, nose, tongue and body are continually
  changing, but I've never seen them ask permission from us even once!
  Like when we have a headache or a stomachache -- the body never asks
  permission first, it just goes right ahead, following its natural 
  course. This shows that the body doesn't allow anyone to be its owner,
  it doesn't have an owner. The Buddha described it as an empty thing.

    We don't understand the Dhamma and so we don't understand these
  //sankharas//; we take them to be ourselves, as belonging to us or
  belonging to others. This gives rise to clinging. When clinging
  arises, "becoming" follows on. Once becoming arises, then there is
  birth. Once there is birth, then old age, sickness, death...the whole
  mass of suffering arises. This is the //Paticcasamuppada//. [*] We say
  ignorance gives rise to volitional activities, they give rise to
  consciousness and so on. All these things are simply events in mind.
  When we come into contact with something we don't like, if we don't
  have mindfulness, ignorance is there. Suffering arises straight away.
  But the mind passes through these changes so rapidly that we can't
  keep up with them. It's the same as when you fall from a tree. Before
  you know it -- "Thud!" -- you've hit the ground. Actually you've
  passed many branches and twigs on the way but you couldn't count them,
  you couldn't remember them as you passed them. You just fall, and then
  "Thud!"

        [*] //Paticcasamuppada// -- The Chain of Conditioned Arising,
            one of the central doctrines of Buddhist philosophy.


    The //Paticcasamuppada// is the same as this. If we divide it up as
  it is in the scriptures, we say ignorance gives rise to volitional
  activities, volitional activities give rise to consciousness,
  consciousness gives rise to mind and matter, mind and matter give rise
  to the six sense bases, the sense bases give rise to sense contact,
  contact gives rise to feeling, feeling gives rise to wanting, wanting
  gives rise to clinging, clinging gives rise to becoming, becoming
  gives rise to birth, birth gives rise to old age, sickness, death, and
  all forms of sorrow. But in truth, when you come into contact with
  something you don't like, there's immediate suffering! That feeling of
  suffering is actually the result of the whole chain of the
  //Paticcasamuppada//. This is why the Buddha exhorted his disciples to
  investigate and know fully their own minds.

    When people are born into the world they are without names - once
  born, we name them. This is convention. We give people names for the
  sake of convenience, to call each other by. The scriptures are the
  same. We separate everything up with labels to make studying the
  reality convenient. In the same way, all things are simply
  //sankharas//. Their original nature is merely that of things born of
  conditions. The Buddha said that they are impermanent, unsatisfactory
  and not-self. They are unstable. We don't understand this firmly, our
  understanding is not straight, and so we have wrong view. This wrong
  view is that the //sankharas// are ourselves, we are the
  //sankharas//, or that happiness and unhappiness are ourselves, we are
  happiness and unhappiness. Seeing like this is not full, clear
  knowledge of the true nature of things. The truth is that we can't
  force all these things to follow our desires, they follow the way of
  nature.

    A simple comparison is this: suppose you go and sit in the middle of
  a freeway with the cars and trucks charging down at you. You can't get
  angry at the cars, shouting, "Don't drive over here! Don't drive over
  here!" It's a freeway, you can't tell them that! So what can you do?
  You get off the road! The road is the place where cars run, if you
  don't want the cars to be there, you suffer.

    It's the same with //sankharas//. We say they disturb us, like when
  we sit in meditation and hear a sound. We think, "Oh, that sound's
  bothering me." If we understand that the sound bothers us then we
  suffer accordingly. If we investigate a little deeper, we will see
  that it's we who go out and disturb the sound! The sound is simply
  sound. If we understand like this then there's nothing more to it, we
  leave it be. We see that the sound is one thing, we are another. One
  who understands that the sound comes to disturb him is one who doesn't
  see himself. He really doesn't! Once you see yourself, then you're at
  ease. The sound is just sound, why should you go and grab it? You see
  that actually it was you who went out and disturbed the sound. This is
  real knowledge of the truth. You see both sides, so you have peace. If
  you see only one side, there is suffering. Once you see both sides,
  then you follow the Middle Way. This is the right practice of the
  mind. This is what we call "straightening out our understanding."

    In the same way, the nature of all //sankharas// is impermanence and
  death, but we want to grab them, we carry them about and covet them.
  We want them to be true. We want to find truth within the things that
  aren't true! Whenever someone sees like this and clings to the
  //sankharas// as being himself, he suffers. The Buddha wanted us to
  consider this.

    The practice of Dhamma is not dependent on being a monk, a novice,
  or a layman; it depends on straightening out your understanding. If
  our understanding is correct, we arrive at peace. Whether you are
  ordained or not it's the same, every person has the chance to practice
  Dhamma, to contemplate it. We all contemplate the same thing. If you
  attain peace, it's all the same peace; it's the same Path, with the
  same methods.

    Therefore the Buddha didn't discriminate between laymen and monks,
  he taught all people to practice to know the truth of the
  //sankharas//. When we know this truth, we let them go. If we know the
  truth there will be no more becoming or birth. How is there no more
  birth? There is no way for birth to take place because we fully know
  the truth of //sankharas//. If we fully know the truth, then there is
  peace. Having or not having, it's all the same. Gain and loss are one.
  The Buddha taught us to know this. This is peace; peace from
  happiness, unhappiness, gladness and sorrow.

    We must see that there is no reason to be born. Born in what way?
  Born into gladness: When we get something we like we are glad over it.
  If there is no clinging to that gladness there is no birth; if there
  is clinging, this is called "birth." So if we get something, we aren't
  born (into gladness). If we lose, then we aren't born (into sorrow).
  This is the birthless and the deathless. Birth and death are both
  founded in clinging to and cherishing the //sankharas//.

    So the Buddha said. "There is no more becoming for me, finished is
  the holy life, this is my last birth." There! He knew the birthless
  and the deathless! This is what the Buddha constantly exhorted his
  disciples to know. This is the right practice. If you don't reach it,
  if you don't reach the Middle Way, then you won't transcend suffering.
  


                                 * * *



        "...Meditation means to make the mind peaceful in order to let
        wisdom arise...To put it shortly, it's just a matter of
        happiness and unhappiness. Happiness is pleasant feeling in the
        mind, unhappiness is just unpleasant feeling. The Buddha taught
        to separate this happiness and unhappiness from the mind..."
  
  
  
                                 * * *
  

  
                            The Peace Beyond

  It's of great importance that we practice the Dhamma. If we don't
  practice, then all our knowledge is only superficial knowledge, just
  the outer shell of it. It's as if we have some sort of fruit but we
  haven't eaten it yet. Even though we have that fruit in our hand we
  get no benefit from it. Only through the actual eating of the fruit we
  really know its taste.

    The Buddha didn't praise those who merely believe others, he praised
  the person who knows within himself. Just as with that fruit, if we
  have tasted it already, we don't have to ask anyone else if it's sweet
  or sour. Our problems are over. Why are they over? Because we see
  according to the truth. One who has realized the Dhamma is like one
  who has realized the sweetness or sourness of the fruit. All doubts
  are ended right here.

    When we talk about Dhamma, although we may say a lot, it can usually
  be brought down to four things. They are simply to know suffering, to
  know the cause of suffering, to know the end of suffering and to know
  the path of practice leading to the end of suffering. This is all
  there is. All that we have experienced on the path of practice so far
  comes down to these four things. When we know these things, our
  problems are over.

    Where are these four things born? They are born just within the body
  and the mind, nowhere else. So why is the Dhamma of the Buddha so
  broad and expansive? This is so in order to explain these things in a
  more refined way, to help us to see them.

    When Siddhattha Gotama was born into the world, before he saw the
  Dhamma, he was an ordinary person just like us. When he knew what he
  had to know, that is the truth of suffering, the cause, the end and
  the way leading to the end of suffering, he realized the Dhamma and
  became a perfectly Enlightened Buddha.

    When we realize the Dhamma, wherever we sit we know Dhamma, wherever
  we are we hear the Buddha's teaching. When we understand Dhamma, the
  Buddha is within our mind, the Dhamma is within our mind, and the
  practice leading to wisdom is within our own mind. Having the Buddha,
  the Dhamma and the Sangha within our mind means that whether our
  actions are good or bad, we know clearly for ourselves their true
  nature. It was thus that the Buddha discarded worldly opinions, he
  discarded praise and criticism. When people praised or criticized him
  he just accepted it for what it was. These two things are simply
  worldly conditions so he wasn't shaken by them. Why not? Because he
  knew suffering. He knew that if he believed in that praise or
  criticism they would cause him to suffer.

    When suffering arises it agitates us, we feel ill at ease. What is
  the cause of that suffering? It's because we don't know the Truth,
  this is the cause. When the cause is present, then suffering arises.
  Once arisen we don't know how to stop it. The more we try to stop it,
  the more it comes on. We say, "Don't criticize me," or "Don't blame
  me". Trying to stop it like this, suffering really comes on, it won't
  stop.

    So the Buddha taught that the way leading to the end of suffering is
  to make the Dhamma arise as a reality within our own minds. We become
  one who witnesses the Dhamma for himself. If someone says we are good
  we don't get lost in it; they say we are no good we don't get lost in
  it; they say we are no good and we don't forget ourselves. This way we
  can be free. "Good" and "evil" are just worldly dhammas, they are just
  states of mind. If we follow them our mind becomes the world, we just
  grope in the darkness and don't know the way out. If it's like this
  then we have not yet mastered ourselves. We try to defeat others, but
  in doing so we only defeat ourselves; but if we have mastery over
  ourselves then we have mastery over all -- over all mental formations,
  sights, sounds, smells, tastes and bodily feelings.

    Now I'm talking about externals, they're like that, but the outside
  is reflected inside also. Some people only know the outside, they
  don't know the inside. Like when we say to "see the body in the body."
  Having seen the outer body is not enough, we must know the body within
  the body. Then, having investigated the mind, we should know the mind
  within the mind.

    Why should we investigate the body? What is this "body in the body"?
  When we say to know the mind, what is this "mind"? If we don't know
  the mind then we don't know the things within the mind. This is to be
  someone who doesn't know suffering, doesn't know the cause, doesn't
  know the end and doesn't know the way. The things which should help to
  extinguish suffering don't help, because we get distracted by the
  things which aggravate it. It's just as if we have an itch on our head
  and we scratch our leg! If it's our head that's itchy then we're
  obviously not going to get much relief. In the same way, when
  suffering arises we don't know how to handle it, we don't know the
  practice leading to the end of suffering.

    For instance, take this body, this body that each of us has brought
  along to this meeting. If we just see the form of the body there's no
  way we can escape suffering. Why not? Because we still don't see the
  inside of the body, we only see the outside. We only see it as
  something beautiful, something substantial. The Buddha said that only
  this is not enough. We see the outside with our eyes; a child can see
  it, animals can see it, it's not difficult. The outside of the body is
  easily seen, but having seen it we stick to it, we don't know the
  truth of it. Having seen it we grab onto it and it bites us!

    So we should investigate the body within the body. Whatever's in the
  body, go ahead and look at it. If we just see the outside it's not
  clear. We see hair, nails and so on and they are just pretty things
  which entice us, so the Buddha taught to see the inside of the body,
  to see the body within the body. What is in the body? Look closely
  within! We will see many things inside to surprise us, because even
  though they are within us, we've never seen them. Wherever we walk we
  carry them with us, sitting in a car we carry them with us, but we
  still don't know them at all!

    It's as if we visit some relatives at their house and they give us a
  present. We take it and put it in our bag and then leave without
  opening it to see what is inside. When at last we open it -- full of
  poisonous snakes! Our body is like this. If we just see the shell of
  it we say it's fine and beautiful. We forget ourselves. We forget
  impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and not-self. If we look within this
  body it's really repulsive. If we look according to reality, without
  trying to sugar things over, we'll see that it's really pitiful and
  wearisome. Dispassion will arise. This feeling of "disinterest" is not
  that we feel aversion for the world or anything; it's simply our mind
  clearing up, our mind letting go. We see things are naturally 
  established just as they are. However we want them to be, they just go
  their own way regardless. Whether we laugh or cry, they simply are the
  way they are. Things which are unstable are unstable; things which are
  not beautiful are not beautiful.

    So the Buddha said that when we experience sights, sounds, tastes,
  smells, bodily feelings or mental states, we should release them. When
  the ear hears sounds, let them go. When the nose smells an odor, let
  it go...just leave it at the nose! When the bodily feelings arise, let
  go of the like or dislike that follow, let them go back to their
  birth-place. The same for mental states. All these things, just let
  them go their way. This is knowing. Whether it's happiness or
  unhappiness, it's all the same. This is called meditation.

    Meditation means to make the mind peaceful in order to let wisdom
  arise. This requires that we practice with body and mind in order to
  see and know the sense impressions of form, sound, taste, smell, touch
  and mental formations. To put it shortly, it's just a matter of
  happiness and unhappiness. Happiness is pleasant feeling in the mind,
  unhappiness is just unpleasant feeling. The Buddha taught to separate
  this happiness and unhappiness from the mind. The mind is that which
  knows. Feeling [*] is the characteristic of happiness or unhappiness,
  like or dislike. When the mind indulges in these things we say that it
  clings to or takes that happiness and unhappiness to be worthy of 
  holding. That clinging is an action of mind, that happiness or 
  unhappiness is feeling.

        [*] Feeling is a translation of the Pali word //vedana//, and
        should be understood in the sense Ajahn Chah herein describes
        it: as the mental states of like, dislike, gladness, sorrow,
        etc.


    When we say the Buddha told us to separate the mind from the
  feeling, he didn't literally mean to throw them to different places.
  He meant that the mind must know happiness and know unhappiness. When
  sitting in //samadhi//, for example, and peace fills the mind, then
  happiness comes but it doesn't reach us, unhappiness comes but doesn't
  reach us. This is to separate the feeling from the mind. We can
  compare it to oil and water in a bottle. They don't combine. Even if
  you try to mix them, the oil remains oil and the water remains water.
  Why is this so? Because they are of different density.

    The natural state of the mind is neither happiness nor unhappiness.
  When feeling enters the mind then happiness or unhappiness is born. If
  we have mindfulness then we know pleasant feeling as pleasant feeling.
  The mind which knows will not pick it up. Happiness is there but it's
  "outside" the mind, not buried within the mind. The mind simply knows
  it clearly.

    If we separate unhappiness from the mind, does that mean there is no
  suffering, that we don't experience it? Yes, we experience it, but we
  know mind as mind, feeling as feeling. We don't cling to that feeling
  or carry it around. The Buddha separated these things through
  knowledge. Did he have suffering? He knew the state of suffering but
  he didn't cling to it, so we say that he cut suffering off. And there
  was happiness too, but he knew that happiness, if it's not known, is
  like a poison. He didn't hold it to be himself. Happiness was there
  through knowledge, but it didn't exist in his mind. Thus we say that
  he separated happiness and unhappiness from his mind.

    When we say that the Buddha and the Enlightened Ones killed
  defilements, [*] it's not that they really killed them. If they had
  killed all defilements then we probably wouldn't have any! They didn't
  kill defilements; when they knew them for what they are, they let them
  go. Someone who's stupid will grab them, but the Enlightened Ones knew
  the defilements in their own minds as a poison, so they swept them
  out. They swept out the things which caused them to suffer, they
  didn't kill them. One who doesn't know this will see some things, such
  as happiness, as good, and then grab them, but the Buddha just knew
  them and simply brushed them away.

        [*] Defilements, or //kilesa//, are the habits born of ignorance
            which infest the minds of all unenlightened beings.

    But when feeling arises for us we indulge in it, that is, the mind
  carries that happiness and unhappiness around. In fact they are two
  different things. The activities of mind, pleasant feeling, unpleasant
  feeling and so on, are mental impressions, they are the world. If the
  mind knows this it can equally do work involving happiness or
  unhappiness. Why? Because it knows the truth of these things. Someone
  who doesn't know them sees them as equal. If you cling to happiness it
  will be the birth-place of unhappiness later on, because happiness is
  unstable, it changes all the time. When happiness disappears,
  unhappiness arises.

    The Buddha knew that because both happiness and unhappiness are
  unsatisfactory, they have the same value. When happiness arose he let
  it go. He had right practice, seeing that both these things have equal
  values and drawbacks. They come under the Law of Dhamma, that is, they
  are unstable and unsatisfactory. Once born, they die. When he saw
  this, right view arose, the right way of practice became clear. No
  matter what sort of feeling or thinking arose in his mind, he knew it
  as simply the continuous play of happiness and unhappiness. He didn't
  cling to them.

    When the Buddha was newly enlightened he gave a sermon about
  indulgence in Pleasure and Indulgence in Pain. "Monks! Indulgence in
  Pleasure is the loose way, Indulgence in Pain is the tense way." These
  were the two things that disturbed his practice until the day he was
  enlightened, because at first he didn't let go of them. When he knew
  them, he let them go, and so was able to give his first sermon.

    So we say that a meditator should not walk the way of happiness or
  unhappiness, rather he should know them. Knowing the truth of
  suffering, he will know the cause of suffering, the end of suffering
  and the way leading to the end of suffering. And the way out of
  suffering is meditation itself. To put it simply, we must be mindful.

    Mindfulness is knowing, or presence of mind. Right now what are we
  thinking, what are we doing? What do we have with us right now? We
  observe like this, we are aware of how we are living. When we practice
  like this wisdom can arise. We consider and investigate at all times,
  in all postures. When a mental impression arises that we like to know
  it as such, we don't hold it to be anything substantial. It's just
  happiness. When unhappiness arises we know that it's Indulgence in
  Pain, it's not the path of a meditator.

    This is what we call separating the mind from the feeling. If we are
  clever we don't attach, we leave things be. We become the 'one who
  knows'. The mind and feeling are just like oil and water; they are in
  the same bottle but they don't mix. Even if we are sick or in pain, we
  still know the feeling as feeling, the mind as mind. We know the
  painful or comfortable states but we don't identify with them. We stay
  only with peace: the peace beyond both comfort and pain.

    You should understand it like this, because if there is no permanent
  self then there is no refuge. You must live like this, that is,
  without happiness and without unhappiness. You stay only with the
  knowing, you don't carry things around.

    As long as we are still unenlightened all this may sound strange but
  it doesn't matter, we just set our goal in this direction. The mind is
  the mind. It meets happiness and unhappiness and we see them as merely
  that, there's nothing more to it. They are divided, not mixed. If they
  are all mixed up then we don't know them. It's like living in a house;
  the house and its occupant are related, but separate. If there is
  danger in our house we are distressed because we must protect it, but
  if the house catches fire we get out of it. If painful feeling arises
  we get out of it, just like that house. When it's full of fire and we
  know it, we come running out of it. They are separate things; the
  house is one thing, the occupant is the other.

    We say that we separate mind and feeling in this way but in fact
  they are by nature already separate. Our realization is simply to know
  this natural separateness according to reality. When we say they are
  not separated it's because we're clinging to them through ignorance of
  the truth.

    So the Buddha told us to meditate. This practice of meditation is
  very important. Merely to know with the intellect is not enough. The
  knowledge which arises from practice with a peaceful mind and the
  knowledge which comes from study are really far apart. The knowledge
  which comes from study is not real knowledge of our mind. The mind
  tries to hold onto and keep this knowledge. Why do we try to keep it?
  Just lose it! And then when it's lost we cry!

    If we really know, then there's letting go, leaving things be. We
  know how things are and don't forget ourselves. If it happens that we
  are sick we don't get lost in that. Some people think, "This year I
  was sick the whole time, I couldn't meditate at all." These are the
  words of a really foolish person. Someone who's sick and dying should
  really be diligent in his practice. One may say he doesn't trust his
  body, and so he feels that he can't meditate. If we think like this
  then things are difficult. The Buddha didn't teach like that. He said
  that right here is the place to meditate. When we're sick or almost
  dying that's when we can really know and see reality.

    Other people say they don't have the chance to meditate because
  they're too busy. Sometimes school teachers come to see me. They say
  they have many responsibilities so there's no time to meditate. I ask
  them, "When you're teaching do you have time to breathe?" They answer,
  "Yes." "So how can you have time to breathe if the work is so hectic
  and confusing? Here you are far from Dhamma."

    Actually this practice is just about the mind and its feelings. It's
  not something that you have to run after or struggle for. Breathing
  continues while working. Nature takes care of the natural processes --
  all we have to do is try to be aware. Just to keep trying, going
  inwards to see clearly. Meditation is like this.

    If we have that presence of mind then whatever work we do will be
  the very tool which enables us to know right and wrong continually.
  There's plenty of time to meditate, we just don't fully understand the
  practice, that's all. While sleeping we breathe, eating we breathe,
  don't we? Why don't we have time to meditate? Wherever we are we
  breathe. If we think like this then our life has as much value as our
  breath, wherever we are we have time.

    All kinds of thinking are mental conditions, not conditions of body,
  so we need simply have presence of mind, then we will know right and
  wrong at all times. Standing, walking, sitting and lying, there's
  plenty of time. We just don't know how to use it properly. Please
  consider this.

    We cannot run away from feeling, we must know it. Feeling is just
  feeling, happiness is just happiness, unhappiness is just unhappiness.
  They are simply that. So why should we cling to them? If the mind is
  clever, simply to hear this is enough to enable us to separate feeling
  from the mind.

    If we investigate like this continuously the mind will find release,
  but it's not escaping through ignorance. The mind lets go, but it
  knows. It doesn't let go through stupidity, not because it doesn't
  want things to be the way they are. It lets go because it knows
  according to the truth. This is seeing nature, the reality that's all
  around us.

    When we know this we are someone who's skilled with the mind, we are
  skilled with mental impressions. When we are skilled with mental
  impressions we are skilled with the world. This is to be a "Knower of
  the World." The Buddha was someone who clearly knew the world with all
  its difficulty. He knew the troublesome, and that which was not
  troublesome was right there. This world is so confusing, how is it
  that the Buddha was able to know it? Here we should understand that
  the Dhamma taught by the Buddha is not beyond our ability. In all
  postures we should have presence of mind and self-awareness -- and
  when it's time to sit meditation we do that.

    We sit in meditation to establish peacefulness and cultivate mental
  energy. We don't do it in order to play around at anything special.
  Insight meditation is sitting in //samadhi// itself. At some places
  they say, "Now we are going to sit in //samadhi//, after that we'll do
  insight meditation." Don't divide them like this! Tranquility is the
  base which gives rise to wisdom; wisdom is the fruit of tranquility.
  To say that now we are going to do calm meditation, later we'll do
  insight -- you can't do that! You can only divide them in speech. Just
  like a knife, the blade is on one side, the back of the blade on the
  other. You can't divide them. If you pick up one side you get both
  sides. Tranquility gives rise to wisdom like this.

    Morality is the father and mother of Dhamma. In the beginning we
  must have morality. Morality is peace. This means that there are no
  wrong doings in body or speech. When we don't do wrong then we don't
  get agitated; when we don't become agitated then peace and
  collectedness arise within the mind. So we say that morality,
  concentration and wisdom are the path on which all the Noble Ones have
  walked to enlightenment. They are all one. Morality is concentration,
  concentration is morality. Concentration is wisdom, wisdom is
  concentration. It's like a mango. When it's a flower we call it a
  flower. When it becomes a fruit we call it a mango. When it ripens we
  call it a ripe mango. It's all one mango but it continually changes.
  The big mango grows from the small mango, the small mango becomes a
  big one. You can call them different fruits or all one. Morality,
  concentration and wisdom are related like this. In the end it's all
  the path that leads to enlightenment.

    The mango, from the moment it first appears as a flower, simply
  grows to ripeness. This is enough, we should see it like this.
  Whatever others call it, it doesn't matter. Once it's born it grows to
  old age, and then where? We should contemplate this.

    Some people don't want to be old. When they get old they become
  regretful. These people shouldn't eat ripe mangoes! Why do we want the
  mangoes to be ripe? If they're not ripe in time, we ripen them
  artificially, don't we? But when we become old we are filled with
  regret. Some people cry, they're afraid to get old or die. If it's
  like this then they shouldn't eat ripe mangoes, better eat just the
  flowers! If we can see this then we can see the Dhamma. Everything
  clears up, we are at peace. Just determine to practice like that.

    So today the Chief Privy Councillor and his party have come together
  to hear the Dhamma. You should take what I've said and contemplate it.
  If anything is not right, please excuse me. But for you to know
  whether it's right or wrong depends on your practicing and seeing for
  yourselves. Whatever's wrong, throw it out. If it's right then take it
  and use it. But actually we practice in order to let go both right and
  wrong. In the end we just throw everything out. If it's right, throw
  it out; wrong, throw it out! Usually if it's right we cling to
  rightness, if it's wrong we hold it to be wrong, and then arguments
  follow. But he Dhamma is the place where there's nothing -- nothing at
  all.
  

                                 * * *


        "...The Buddha was enlightened in the world, he contemplated the
        world. If he hadn't contemplated the world, if he hadn't seen
        the world, he couldn't have risen above it. The Buddha's
        enlightenment was simply enlightenment of this very world. The
        world was still there: gain and loss, praise and criticism, fame
        and disrepute, happiness and unhappiness were all still there.
        If there weren't these things there would be nothing to become
        enlightened to..."
  
  
                                 * * *
  
  

                         Opening the Dhamma Eye

  Some of us start to practice, and even after a year or two, still
  don't know what's what. We are still unsure of the practice. When
  we're still unsure, we don't see that everything around us is purely
  Dhamma, and so we turn to teachings from the Ajahns. But actually,
  when we know our own mind, when there is //sati// to look closely at
  the mind, there is wisdom. All times and all places become occasions
  for us to hear the Dhamma.

    We can learn Dhamma from nature, from trees for example. A tree is
  born due to causes and it grows following the course of nature. Right
  here the tree is teaching us Dhamma, but we don't understand this. In
  due course, it grows until it buds, flowers and fruit appear. All we
  see is the appearance of the flowers and fruit; we're unable to bring
  this within and contemplate it. Thus we don't know that the tree is
  teaching us Dhamma. The fruit appears and we merely eat it without
  investigating: sweet, sour or salty, it's the nature of the fruit. And
  this Dhamma, the teaching of the fruit. Following on, the leaves grow
  old. They wither, die and then fall from the tree. All we see is that
  the leaves have fallen down. We step on them, we sweep them up, that's
  all. We don't investigate thoroughly, so we don't know that nature is
  teaching us. Later on the new leaves sprout, and we merely see that,
  without taking it further. We don't bring these things into our minds
  to contemplate.

    If we can bring all this inwards and investigate it, we will see
  that the birth of a tree and our own birth are no different. This body
  of ours is born and exists dependent on conditions, on the elements of
  earth, water, wind and fire. It has its food, it grows and grows.
  Every part of the body changes and flows according to its nature. It's
  no different from the tree; hair, nails, teeth and skin -- all change.
  If we know the things of nature, then we will know ourselves.

    People are born. In the end they die. Having died they are born
  again. Nails, teeth and skin are constantly dying and re-growing. If
  we understand the practice then we can see that a tree is no different
  from ourselves. If we understand the teaching of the Ajahns, then we
  realize that the outside and the inside are comparable. Things which
  have consciousness and those without consciousness do not differ. They
  are the same. And if we understand this sameness, then when we see the
  nature of a tree, for example, we will know that it's no different
  from our own five //khandhas// [*] -- body, feeling, memory, thinking
  and consciousness. If we have this understanding then we understand
  Dhamma. If we understand Dhamma we understand the five //khandhas//,
  how they constantly shift and change, never stopping.

        [*] //Khandhas//. They are the five "groups" which go to make up
        what we call "a person."


    So whether standing, walking, sitting or lying we should have
  //sati// to watch over and look after the mind. When we see external
  things it's like seeing internals. When we see internals it's the same
  as seeing externals. If we understand this then we can hear the
  teaching of the Buddha. If we understand this, then we can say that
  Buddha-nature, the 'One who knows', has been established. It knows the
  external. It knows the internal. It understands all things which
  arise. Understanding like this, then sitting at the foot of a tree we
  hear the Buddha's teaching. Standing, walking, sitting or lying, we
  hear the Buddha's teaching. Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting,
  touching and thinking, we hear the Buddha's teaching. The Buddha is
  just this 'One who knows' within this very mind. It knows the Dhamma,
  it investigates the Dhamma. It's not that the Buddha-nature, the 'one
  who knows', arises. The mind becomes illumined.

    If we establish the Buddha within our mind then we see everything,
  we contemplate everything, as no different from ourselves. We see
  various animals, trees, mountains and vines as no different from
  ourselves. We see poor people and rich people -- they're no different!
  They all have the same characteristics. One who understands like this
  is content wherever he is. He listens to the Buddha's teaching at all
  times. If we don't understand this, then even if we spend all our time
  listening to teachings from the various Ajahns, we still won't
  understand their meaning.

    The Buddha said that enlightenment of the Dhamma is just knowing
  Nature, [*] the reality which is all around us, the Nature which is
  right here! If we don't understand this Nature we experience
  disappointment and joy, we get lost in moods, giving rise to sorrow
  and regret. Getting lost in mental objects is getting lost in Nature.
  When we get lost in Nature then we don't know Dhamma. The Enlightened
  One merely pointed out this Nature.

        [*] Nature here refers to all things, mental and physical, not
        just trees, animals, etc.


    Having arisen, all things change and die. Things we make, such as
  plates, bowls and dishes, all have the same characteristic. A bowl is
  molded into being due to a cause, man's impulse to create, and as we
  use it, it gets old, breaks up and disappears. Trees, mountains and
  vines are the same, right up to animals and people.

    When Anna Kondanna, the first disciple, heard the Buddha's teaching
  for the first time, the realization he had was nothing very
  complicated. He simply saw that whatever thing is born, that thing
  must change and grow old as a natural condition and eventually it must
  die. Anna Kondanna had never thought of this before, or if he had it
  wasn't thoroughly clear, so he hadn't yet let go, he still clung to
  the //khandhas//. As he sat mindfully listening to the Buddha's
  discourse, Buddha-nature arose in him. He received a sort of Dhamma
  "transmission," which was the knowledge that all conditioned things
  are impermanent. Any thing which is born must have aging and death as
  a natural result.

    This feeling was different from anything he'd ever known before. He
  truly realized his mind, and so "Buddha" arose within him. At that
  time the Buddha declared that Anna Kondanna had received the Eye of
  Dhamma.

    What is it that this Eye of Dhamma sees? This Eye sees that whatever
  is born has aging and death as a natural result. "Whatever is born"
  means everything! Whether material or immaterial, it all comes under
  this "whatever is born." It refers to all of Nature. Like this body
  for instance -- it's born and then proceeds to extinction. When it's
  small it "dies" from smallness to youth. After a while it "dies" from
  youth and becomes middle-aged. Then it goes on to "die" from
  middle-age and reach old-age, finally reaching the end. Trees,
  mountains and vines all have this characteristic.

    So the vision or understanding of the 'One who knows' clearly
  entered the mind of Anna Kondanna as he sat there. This knowledge of
  "whatever is born" became deeply embedded in his mind, enabling him to
  uproot attachment to the body. This attachment was //sakkayaditthi//.
  This means that he didn't take the body to be a self or a being, or in
  terms of "he" or "me." He didn't cling to it. He saw it clearly, thus
  uprooting //sakkayaditthi//.

    And the //vicikiccha// (doubt) was destroyed. Having uprooted
  attachment to the body he didn't doubt his realization. //Silabbata
  paramasa// [*] was also uprooted. His practice became firm and
  straight. Even if his body was in pain or fever he didn't grasp it, he
  didn't doubt. He didn't doubt, because he had uprooted clinging. This
  grasping of the body is called //silabbata paramasa//. When one
  uproots the view of the body being the self, grasping and doubt are
  finished with. If just this view of the body as the self arises within
  the mind then grasping and doubt begin right there.

        [*] //Silabbata paramasa// is traditionally translated as
            attachment to rites and rituals. Here the Venerable Ajahn
            relates it, along with doubt, specifically to the body.
            These three things, //sakkayaditthi//, //vicikiccha//, and
            //silabbata paramasa//, are, in the scriptures, the first
            three of the ten "fetters," which are given up on the first
            glimpse of Enlightenment, known as "Stream Entry." At full
            Enlightenment all ten fetters are transcended.


    So as the Buddha expounded the Dhamma, Anna Kondanna opened the Eye
  of Dhamma. This Eye is just the "One who knows clearly." It sees
  things differently. It sees this very nature. Seeing Nature clearly,
  clinging is uprooted and the 'One who knows' is born. Previously he
  knew but he still had clinging. You could say that he knew the Dhamma
  but he still hadn't seen it, or he had seen the Dhamma but still
  wasn't one with it.

    At this time the Buddha said, "Kondanna knows." What did he know? He
  just knew Nature! Usually we get lost in Nature, as with this body of
  ours. Earth, water, fire and wind come together to make this body.
  It's an aspect of Nature, a material object we can see with the eye.
  It exists depending on food, growing and changing until finally it
  reaches extinction.

    Coming inwards, that which watches over the body is consciousness --
  just this 'One who knows', this single awareness. If it receives
  through the ear it's called hearing; through the nose it's called
  smelling; through the tongue, tasting; through the body, touching; and
  through the mind, thinking. This consciousness is just one but when it
  functions at different places we call it different things. Through the
  eye we call it one thing, through the ear we call it another. But
  whether it functions at the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body or mind it's
  just one awareness. Following the scriptures we call it the six
  consciousness, but in reality there is only one consciousness arising
  at these six different bases. There are six "doors" but a single
  awareness, which is this very mind.

    This mind is capable of knowing the truth of Nature. If the mind
  still has obstructions, then we say it knows through ignorance. It
  knows wrongly and it sees wrongly. Knowing wrongly and seeing wrongly,
  or knowing and seeing rightly, it's just a single awareness. We say
  wrong view and right view but it's just one thing. Right and wrong
  both arise from this one place. When there is wrong knowledge we say
  that Ignorance conceals the truth. When there is wrong knowledge then
  there is wrong view, wrong intention, wrong action, wrong livelihood
  -- everything is wrong! And on the other hand the path of right
  practice is born in this same place. When there is right then the
  wrong disappears.

    The Buddha practiced enduring many hardships and torturing himself
  with fasting and so on, but he investigated deeply into his mind until
  finally he uprooted ignorance. All the Buddhas were enlightened in
  mind, because the body knows nothing. You can let it eat or not, it
  doesn't matter, it can die at any time. The Buddhas all practiced with
  the mind. They were enlightened in mind.

    The Buddha, having contemplated his mind, gave up the two extremes
  of practice -- indulgence in pleasure and indulgence in pain -- and in
  his first discourse expounded the Middle Way between these two. But we
  hear his teaching and it grates against our desires. We're infatuated
  with pleasure and comfort, infatuated with happiness, thinking we are
  good, we are fine -- this is indulgence in pleasure. It's not the
  right path. Dissatisfaction, displeasure, dislike and anger -- this is
  indulgence in pain. These are the extreme ways which one on the path
  of practice should avoid.

    These "ways" are simply the happiness and unhappiness which arise.
  The "one on the path" is this very mind, the 'One who knows'. If a
  good mood arises we cling to it as good, this is indulgence in
  pleasure. If an unpleasant mood arises we cling to it through dislike-
  this is indulgence in pain. These are the wrong paths, they aren't the
  ways of a meditator. They're the ways of the worldly, those who look
  for fun and happiness and shun unpleasantness and suffering.

    The wise know the wrong paths but they relinquish them, they give
  them up. They are unmoved by pleasure and displeasure, happiness and
  unhappiness. These things arise but those who know don't cling to
  them, they let them go according to their nature. This is right view.
  When one knows this fully there is liberation. Happiness and
  unhappiness have no meaning for an Enlightened One.

    The Buddha said that the Enlightened Ones were far from defilements.
  This doesn't mean that they ran away from defilements, they didn't run
  away anywhere. Defilements were there. He compared it to a lotus leaf
  in a pond of water. The leaf and the water exist together, they are in
  contact, but the leaf doesn't become damp. The water is like
  defilements and the lotus leaf is the Enlightened Mind.

    The mind of one who practices is the same; it doesn't run away
  anywhere, it stays right there. Good, evil, happiness, and
  unhappiness, right and wrong arise, and he knows them all. The 
  meditator simply knows them, they don't enter his mind. That is, he
  has no clinging. He is simply the experiencer. To say he simply
  experiences is our common language. In the language of Dhamma we say
  he lets his mind follow the Middle Way.

    These activities of happiness, unhappiness and so on are constantly
  arising because they are characteristics of the world. The Buddha was
  enlightened in the world, he contemplated the world. If he hadn't
  contemplated the world, if he hadn't seen the world, he couldn't have
  risen above it. The Buddha's Enlightenment was simply enlightenment of
  this very world. The world was still there: gain and loss, praise and
  criticism, fame and disrepute, happiness and unhappiness were still
  there. If there weren't these things there would be nothing to become
  enlightened to! What he knew was just the world, that which surrounds
  the hearts of people. If people follow these things, seeking praise
  and fame, gain and happiness, and trying to avoid their opposites,
  they sink under the weight of the world.

    Gain and loss, praise and criticism, fame and disrepute, happiness
  and unhappiness -- this is the world. The person who is lost in the
  world has no path of escape, the world overwhelms him. This world
  follows the Law of Dhamma so we call it worldly dhamma. He who lives
  within the worldly dhamma is called a worldly being. He lives
  surrounded by confusion.

    Therefore the Buddha taught us to develop the path. We can divide it
  up into morality, concentration and wisdom -- develop them to
  completion! This is the path of practice which destroys the world.
  Where is this world? It is just in the minds of beings infatuated with
  it! The action of clinging to praise, gain, fame, happiness and
  unhappiness is called "world." when it is there in the mind, then the
  world arises, the worldly being is born. The world is born because of
  desire. Desire is the birthplace of all worlds. To put an end to
  desire is to put an end to the world.

    Our practice of morality, concentration and wisdom is otherwise
  called the Eightfold Path. This Eightfold Path and the eight worldly
  dhammas are a pair. How is it that they are a pair? If we speak
  according to the scriptures, we say that gain and loss, praise and
  criticism, fame and disrepute, happiness and unhappiness are the eight
  worldly dhammas. Right view, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right
  Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right
  Concentration, this is the Eightfold Path. These two eightfold ways
  exist in the same place. The eight worldly dhammas are right here in
  this very mind, with the 'One who knows' but this 'One who knows' has
  obstructions, so it knows wrongly and thus becomes the world. It's
  just this one 'One who knows', no other! The Buddha-nature has not yet
  arisen in this mind, it has not yet extracted itself from the world.
  The mind like this is the world.

    When we practice the path, when we train our body and speech, it's
  all done in that very same mind. It's the same place so they see each
  other; the path sees the world. If we practice with this mind of ours
  we encounter this clinging to praise, fame, pleasure and happiness, we
  see the attachment to the world.

    The Buddha said, "You should know the world. It dazzles like a
  king's royal carriage. Fools are entranced, but the wise are not
  deceived." It's not that he wanted us to go all over the world looking
  at everything, studying everything about it. He simply wanted us to
  watch this mind which is attached to it. When the Buddha told us to
  look at the world he didn't want us to get stuck in it, he wanted us
  to investigate it, because the world is born just in this mind.
  sitting in the shade of a tree you can look at the world. When there
  is desire the world comes into being right there. Wanting is the birth
  place of the world. To extinguish wanting is to extinguish the world.

    When we sit in meditation we want the mind to become peaceful, but
  it's not peaceful. Why is this? We don't want to think but we think.
  It's like a person who goes to sit on an ant's nest: the ants just
  keep on biting him. When the mind is the world then even sitting still
  with our eyes closed, all we see is the world. Pleasure, sorrow,
  anxiety, confusion -- it all arises. Why is this? It's because we
  still haven't realized Dhamma. If the mind is like this the meditator
  can't endure the worldly dhammas, he doesn't investigate. It's just
  the same as if he were sitting on an ants' nest. The ants are going to
  bite because he's right on their home! So what should he do? He should
  look for some poison or use fire to drive them out.

    But most Dhamma practitioners don't see it like that. If they feel
  content they just follow contentment, feeling discontent they just
  follow that. Following the worldly dhammas the mind becomes the world.
  Sometimes we may think, "Oh, I can't do it, it's beyond me...", so we
  don't even try! This is because the mind is full of defilements, the
  worldly dhammas prevent the path from arising. We can't endure in the
  development of morality, concentration and wisdom. It's just like that
  man sitting on the ants' nest. He can't do anything, the ants are
  biting and crawling all over him, he's immersed in confusion and
  agitation. He can't rid his sitting place of the danger, so he just
  sits there, suffering.

    So it is with our practice. The worldly dhammas exist in the minds
  of worldly beings. When those beings wish to find peace the worldly
  dhammas arise right there. When the mind is ignorant there is only
  darkness. When knowledge arises the mind is illumined, because
  ignorance and knowledge are born in the same place. When ignorance has
  arisen, knowledge can't enter, because the mind has accepted
  ignorance. When knowledge has arisen, ignorance cannot stay.

    So the Buddha exhorted his disciples to practice with the mind,
  because the world is born in this mind, the eight worldly dhammas are
  there. The Eightfold Path, that is, investigation through calm and
  insight meditation, our diligent effort and the wisdom we develop, all
  these things loosen the grip of the world. Attachment, aversion and
  delusion become lighter, and being lighter, we know them as such. If
  we experience fame, material gain, praise, happiness or suffering
  we're aware of it. We must know these things before we can transcend
  the world, because the world is within us.

    When we're free of these things it's just like leaving a house. When
  we enter a house what sort of feeling do we have? We feel that we've
  come through the door and entered the house. When we leave the house
  we feel that we've left it, we come into the bright sunlight, it's not
  dark like it was inside. The action of the mind entering the worldly
  dhammas is like entering the house. The mind which has destroyed the
  worldly dhammas is like one who has left the house.

    So the Dhamma practitioner must become one who witnesses the Dhamma
  for himself. He knows for himself whether the worldly dhammas have
  left or not, whether or not the path has been developed. When the path
  has been well developed it purges the worldly dhammas. It becomes
  stronger and stronger. Right view grows as wrong view decreases, until
  finally the path destroys defilements -- either that or defilements
  will destroy the path!

    Right view and wrong view, there are only these two ways. Wrong view
  has its tricks as well, you know, it has its wisdom -- but it's wisdom
  that's misguided. The meditator who begins to develop the path
  experiences a separation. Eventually it's as if he is two people --
  one in the world and the other on the path. They divide, they pull
  apart. Whenever he's investigating there's this separation, and it
  continues on and on until the mind reaches insight, vipassana.

    Or maybe it's //vipassanu//! [*] Having tried to establish wholesome
  results in our practice, seeing them, we attach to them. This type of
  clinging comes from our wanting to get something from the practice.
  This is //vipassanu//, the wisdom of defilements (i.e., "defiled
  wisdom"). Some people develop goodness and cling to it, they develop
  purity and cling to that, or they develop knowledge and cling to that.
  The action of clinging to that goodness or knowledge is //vipassanu//,
  infiltrating our practice.

        [*] I.e., //vipassanupakkilesa// -- the subtle defilements
            arising from meditation practice.

    So when you develop //vipassana//, be careful! Watch out for
  //vipassanu//, because they're so close that sometimes you can't tell
  them apart. But with right view we can see them both clearly. If it's
  //vipassanu// there will be suffering arising at times as a result. If
  it's really //vipassana// there's no suffering. There is peace. Both
  happiness and unhappiness are silenced. This you can see for yourself.

    This practice requires endurance. Some people, when they come to
  practice, don't want to be bothered by anything, they don't want
  friction. But there's friction the same as before. We must try to find
  an end to friction through friction itself! So, if there's friction in
  your practice, then it's right. If there's no friction it's not right,
  you just eat and sleep as much as you want. When you want to go
  anywhere or say anything you just follow your desires. The teaching of
  the Buddha grates. The supermundane goes against the worldly. Right
  view opposes wrong view, purity opposes impurity. The teaching grates
  against our desires.

    There's a story in the scriptures about the Buddha, before he was
  enlightened. At that time, having received a plate of rice, he floated
  that plate on a stream of water, determining in his mind, "If I am to
  be enlightened, may this plate float against the current of the
  water." The plate floated upstream! That plate was the Buddha's right
  view, or the Buddha-nature that he became awakened to. It didn't
  follow the desires of ordinary beings. It floated against the flow of
  his mind, it was contrary in every way.

    These days, in the same way, the Buddha's teaching is contrary to
  our hearts. People want to indulge in greed and hatred but the Buddha
  won't let them. They want to be deluded but the Buddha destroys
  delusion. So the mind of the Buddha is contrary to that of worldly
  beings. The world calls the body beautiful, he says it's not
  beautiful. They say the body belongs to us, he says not so. They say
  it's substantial, he says it's not. Right view is above the world.
  Worldly beings merely follow the flow of the stream.

    Continuing on, when the Buddha got up from there, he received eight
  handfuls of grass from a brahmin. The real meaning of this is that the
  eight handfuls of grass were the right worldly dhammas -- gain and
  loss, praise and criticism, fame and disrepute, happiness and
  unhappiness. The Buddha, having received this grass, determined to sit
  on it and enter //samadhi//. The action of sitting on the grass was
  itself //samadhi//, that is, his mind was above the worldly dhammas,
  subduing the world until it realized the transcendent. The worldly
  dhammas became like refuse for him, they lost all meaning. He sat over
  them but they didn't obstruct his mind in any way. The various maras
  came to try to overcome him, but he just sat there in //samadhi//,
  subduing the world, until finally he became enlightened to the Dhamma
  and completely defeated Mara. [*] That is, he defeated the world. So
  the practice of developing the path is that which kills defilements.

        [*] Mara (the Tempter), the Buddhist personification of evil. To
            the meditator it is all that obstructs the quest for
            enlightenment.


    People these days have little faith. Having practiced a year or two
  they want to get there, and they want to go fast. They don't consider
  that the Buddha, our Teacher, had left home a full six years before he
  became enlightened. This is why we have "freedom from dependence." [*]
  According to the scriptures, a monk must have at least five rains [**]
  before he is considered able to live on his own. By this time he has
  studied and practiced sufficiently, he has adequate knowledge, he has
  faith, his conduct is good. Someone who practices for five years, I
  say he's competent. But he must really practice, not just "hang out"
  in the robes for five years. He must really look after the practice,
  really do it!

        [*] "Freedom from dependence," that is, he lives under the
            guidance of a senior monk, for the first five years.

        [**] "Rains" refers to the yearly three-month rains retreat by
             which monks count their age. Thus, a monk of five rains has
             been ordained for five years.


    Until you reach five rains you may wonder, "What is this 'freedom
  from dependence' that the Buddha talked about?" You must really try to
  practice for five years and then you'll know for yourself the
  qualities he was referring to. After that time you should be
  competent, competent in mind, one who is certain. At the very least,
  after five rains, one should be at the first stage of enlightenment.
  This is not just five rains in body but five rains in mind as well.
  That monk has fear of blame, a sense of shame and modesty. He doesn't
  dare to do wrong either in front of people or behind their backs, in
  the light or in the dark. Why not? Because he has reached the Buddha,
  'The One who knows'. He takes refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the
  Sangha.

    To depend truly on the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha we must see
  the Buddha. What use would it be to take refuge without knowing the
  Buddha? If we don't yet know the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha,
  our taking refuge in them is just an act of body and speech, the mind
  still hasn't reached them. Once the mind reaches them we know what the
  Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha are like. Then we can really take
  refuge in them, because these things arise in our minds. Wherever we
  are we will have the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha with us.

    One who is like this doesn't dare to commit evil acts. This is why
  we say that one who has reached the first stage of enlightenment will
  no longer be born in the woeful states. His mind is certain, he has
  entered the Stream, there is no doubt for him. If he doesn't reach
  full enlightenment today it will certainly be some time in the future.
  He may do wrong but not enough to send him to Hell, that is, he
  doesn't regress to evil bodily and verbal actions, he is incapable of
  it. So we say that person has entered the Noble Birth. He cannot
  return. This is something you should see and know for yourselves in
  this very life.

    These days, those of us who still have doubts about the practice
  hear these things and say, "Oh, how can I do that?" Sometimes we feel
  happy, sometimes troubled, pleased or displeased. For what reason?
  Because we don't know Dhamma. What Dhamma? Just the Dhamma of Nature,
  the reality around us, the body and the mind.

    The Buddha said, "Don't cling to the five //khandhas//, let them go,
  give them up!" Why can't we let them go? Just because we don't see
  them or know them fully. We see them as ourselves, we see ourselves in
  the //khandhas//. Happiness and suffering, we see as ourselves, we see
  ourselves in happiness and suffering. We can't separate ourselves from
  them. When we can't separate them it means we can't see Dhamma, we
  can't see Nature.

    Happiness, unhappiness, pleasure and sadness -- none of them is us
  but we take them to be so. These things come into contact with us and
  we see a lump of 'atta', or self. Wherever there is self there you
  will find happiness, unhappiness and everything else. So the Buddha
  said to destroy this "lump" of self, that is to destroy //sakkaya
  ditthi//. When //atta// (self) is destroyed, //anatta// (non-self)
  naturally arises.

    We take Nature to be us and ourselves to be Nature, so we don't know
  Nature truly. If it's good we laugh with it, if it's bad we cry over
  it. But Nature is simply sankharas. As we say in the chanting, //Tesam
  vupasamo sukho// -- pacifying the //sankharas// is real happiness. How
  do we pacify them? We simply remove clinging and see them as they
  really are.

    So there is truth in this world. Trees, mountains and vines all live
  according to their own truth, they are born and die following their
  nature. It's just we people who aren't true! We see it and make a fuss
  over it, the Nature is impassive, it just is as it is. We laugh, we
  cry, we kill, but Nature remains in truth, it is truth. No matter how
  happy or sad we are, this body just follows its own nature. It's born,
  it grows up and ages, changing and getting older all the time. It
  follows Nature in this way. Whoever takes the body to be himself and
  carries it around with him, will suffer.

     So Anna Kondanna recognized this "whatever is born" in everything,
  be it material or immaterial. His view of the world changed. He saw
  the truth. Having got up from his sitting place he took that truth
  with him. The activity of birth and death continued but he simply
  looked on. Happiness and unhappiness were arising and passing away but
  he merely noted them. His mind was constant. He no longer fell into
  the woeful states. He didn't get over-pleased or unduly upset about
  these things. His mind was firmly established in the activity of
  contemplation.

    There! Anna Kondanna had received the Eye of Dhamma. He saw Nature,
  which we call //sankharas//, according to truth. Wisdom is that which
  knows the truth of //sankharas//. This is the mind which knows and
  sees Dhamma, which has surrendered.

    Until we have seen the Dhamma we must have patience and restraint.
  We must endure, we must renounce! We must cultivate diligence and
  endurance. Why must we cultivate diligence? Because we're lazy! Why
  must we develop endurance? Because we don't endure! That the way it
  is. But when we are already established in our practice, have finished
  with laziness, then we don't need to use diligence. If we already know
  the truth of all mental states, if we don't get happy or unhappy over
  them, we don't need to exercise endurance, because the mind is already
  Dhamma. The 'One who knows' has seen the Dhamma, he is the Dhamma.

    When the mind is Dhamma, it stops. It has attained peace. There's no
  longer a need to do anything special, because the mind is Dhamma
  already. The outside is Dhamma, the inside is Dhamma. The 'One who
  knows' is Dhamma. The state is Dhamma and that which knows the state
  is Dhamma. It is one. It is free.

    This Nature is not born, it does not age nor sicken. This Nature
  does not die. This Nature is neither happy nor sad, neither big nor
  small, heavy nor light; neither short nor long, black nor white.
  There's nothing you can compare it to. No convention can reach it.
  This is why we say //Nirvana// has no colour. All colors are merely
  conventions. The state which is beyond the world is beyond the reach
  of worldly conventions.

    So the Dhamma is that which is beyond the world. It is that which
  each person should see for himself. It is beyond language. You can't
  put it into words, you can only talk about ways and means of realizing
  it. The person who has seen it for himself has finished his work.
  

                                 * * *



        "...Regardless of time and place, the whole practice of Dhamma
        comes to completion at the place where there is nothing. It's
        the place of surrender, of emptiness, of laying down the
        burden..."
  
  
                                 * * *
  
  
  
                       Convention and Liberation
  
  The things of this world are merely conventions of our own making.
  Having established them we get lost in them, and refuse to let go,
  giving rise to clinging to our personal views and opinions. This
  clinging never ends, it is //samsara//, flowing endlessly on. It has
  no completion. Now, if we know conventional reality then we'll know
  Liberation. If we clearly know Liberation, then we'll know convention.
  This is to know the Dhamma. Here there is completion.

    Take people, for instance. In reality people don't have any names,
  we are simply born naked into the world. If we have names, they arise
  only through convention. I've contemplated this and seen that is you
  don't know the truth of this convention it can be really harmful. It's
  simply something we use for convenience. Without it we couldn't
  communicate, there would be nothing to say, no language.

    I've seen the Westerners when they sit in meditation together in the
  West. When they get up after sitting, men and women together,
  sometimes they go and touch each other on the head! [*] When I saw
  this I thought, "Ehh, if we cling to convention it gives rise to
  defilements right there." If we can let go of convention, give up our
  opinions, we are at peace.

        [*] The head is regarded as sacred in Thailand, and to touch a
            person's head is considered an insult. Also, according to
            tradition, men and women do not touch each other in public.
            On the other hand, sitting in meditation is regarded as a
            "holy" activity. Perhaps here the Venerable Ajahn was using
            an example of Western behavior which particularly shock a
            Thai audience.


    Like the generals and colonels, men of rank and position, who come
  to see me. When they come they say, "Oh, please touch my head." [*] If
  they ask like this there's nothing wrong with it, they're glad to have
  their heads touched. But if you tapped their heads in the middle of
  the street it'd be a different story! This is because of clinging. So
  I feel that letting go is really the way of peace. Touching a head is
  against our customs, but in reality it is nothing. When they agree to
  having it touched there's nothing wrong with it, just like touching a
  cabbage or a potato.

        [*] It is considered auspicious in Thailand to have one's head
            touched by a highly esteemed monk.


    Accepting, giving up, letting go -- this is the way of lightness.
  Wherever you're clinging there's becoming and birth right there.
  There's danger right there. The Buddha taught about convention and he
  taught to undo convention in the right way, and so reach Liberation.
  This is freedom, not to cling to conventions. All things in this world
  have a conventional reality. Having established them we should not be
  fooled by them, because getting lost in them really leads to
  suffering. This point concerning rules and conventions is of utmost
  importance. One who can get beyond them is beyond suffering.

     However, they are a characteristic of our world. Take Mr. Boonmah,
  for instance; he used to be just one of the crowd but now he's been
  appointed the District Commissioner. It's just a convention but it's a
  convention we should respect. It's part of the world of people. If you
  think, "Oh, before we were friends, we used to work at the tailor's
  together," and then you go and pat him on the head in public, he'll
  get angry. It's not right, he'll resent it. So we should follow the
  conventions in order to avoid giving rise to resentment. It's useful
  to understand convention, living in the world is just about this. Know
  the right time and place, know the person.

    Why is it wrong to go against conventions? It's wrong because of
  people! You should be clever, knowing both convention and Liberations.
  Know the right time for each. If we know how to use rules and
  conventions comfortably then we are skilled. But if we try to behave
  according to the higher level of reality in the wrong situation, this
  is wrong. Where is it wrong? It's wrong with people's defilements,
  nothing else! People all have defilements. In one situation we behave
  one way, in another situation we must behave in another way. We should
  know the ins and outs because we live within conventions. Problems
  occur because people cling to them. If we suppose something to be,
  then it is. It's there because we suppose it to be there. But if you
  look closely, in the absolute sense these things don't really exist.

    As I have often said, before we were laymen and now we are monks. We
  lived within the convention of "layman" and now we live within the
  convention of "monk." We are monks by convention, not monks through
  Liberation. In the beginning we establish conventions like this, but
  if a person merely ordains, this doesn't mean he overcomes
  defilements. If we take a handful of sand and agree to call it salt,
  does this make it salt? It is salt, but only in name, not in reality.
  You couldn't use it to cook with. It's only use is within the realm of
  that agreement, because there's really no salt there, only sand. It
  becomes salt only through our supposing it to be so.

    This word "Liberation" is itself just a convention, but it refers to
  that beyond conventions. Having achieved freedom, having reached
  liberation, we still have to use convention in order to refer to it as
  liberation. If we didn't have convention we couldn't communicate, so
  it does have its use.

    For example, people have different names but they are all people
  just the same. If we didn't have names to differentiate between them,
  and we wanted to call out to somebody standing in a crowd, saying,
  "Hey, Person! Person!", that would be useless. You couldn't say who
  would answer you because they're all "person." But if you called,
  "Hey, John!", then John would come, the others wouldn't answer. Names
  fulfill just this need. Through them we can communicate, they provide
  the basis for social behavior.

    So you should know both convention and liberation. Conventions have
  a use, but in reality there really isn't anything there. Even people
  are non-existent! They are merely groups of elements, born of causal
  conditions, growing dependent on conditions, existing for a while, or
  control it. But without conventions we would have nothing to say, we'd
  have no names, no practice, no work. Rules and conventions are
  established to give us a language, to make things convenient, and
  that's all.

    Take money, for example. In olden times there weren't any coins or
  notes, they had no value. People used to barter goods, but those
  things were difficult to keep, so they created money using coins and
  notes. Perhaps in the future we'll have a new king decree that we
  don't have to use paper money, we should use wax, melting it down and
  pressing it into lumps. We say this is money and use it throughout the
  country. Let alone wax, it may even happen that they decide to make
  chicken dung the local currency -- all the other things can't be
  money, just chicken dung! Then people would fight and kill each other
  over chicken dung! This is the way it is. You could use many examples
  to illustrate convention. What we use for money is simply a convention
  that we have set up, it has its use within that convention. Having
  decreed it to be money, it becomes money. But in reality, what is
  money? Nobody can say. When there is a popular agreement about
  something, then a convention comes about to fulfill the need. The
  world is just this.

    This is convention, but to get ordinary people to understand
  liberation is really difficult. Our money, our house, our family, our
  children and relatives are simply conventions that we have invented,
  but really, seen in the light of Dhamma, they don't belong to us.
  Maybe if we hear this we don't feel so good, but in reality is like
  that. These things have value only through the established
  conventions. If we establish that it doesn't have value, then it
  doesn't have value. This is the way it is, we bring convention into
  the world to fulfill a need.

    Even this body is not really ours, we just suppose it to be so. It's
  truly just a supposition. If you try to find a real, substantial self
  within it, you can't. There are merely elements which are born,
  continue for a while and then die. Everything is like this. There's no
  real, true substance to it, but it's proper that we use it. It's a
  tool for your use. If it breaks there is trouble, so even though it
  must break, you should try your utmost to preserve it. And so we have
  the four supports [*] which the Buddha taught again and again to
  contemplate. They are the supports on which a monk depends to continue
  his practice. As long as you live you must depend on them, but you
  should understand them. Don't cling to them, giving rise to craving in
  your mind.

        [*] The four supports -- robes, alms-food, lodgings, and
            medicines.


    Convention and liberation are related like this continually. Even
  though we use convention, don't place your trust in it as being the
  truth. If you cling to it, suffering will arise. The case of right and
  wrong is a good example. Some people see wrong as being right and
  right as being wrong, but in the end who really knows what is right
  and what is wrong? We don't know. Different people establish different
  conventions about what's right and what's wrong, but the Buddha took
  suffering as his guide-line. If you want to argue about it there's no
  end to it. One says, "right," another says, "wrong." One says "wrong,"
  another says "right." In truth we don't really know right and wrong at
  all! But at a useful, practical level, we can say that right is not to
  harm oneself and not to harm others. This way fulfills a use.

    So, after all, both rules and conventions and liberation are simply
  dhammas. One is higher than the other, but they go hand in hand. There
  is no way that we can guarantee that anything is definitely like this
  or like that, so the Buddha said to just leave it be. Leave it be as
  uncertain. However much you like it or dislike it, you should
  understand it as uncertain.

    Regardless of time and place, the whole practice of Dhamma comes to
  completion at the place where there is nothing. It's the place of
  surrender, of emptiness, of laying down the burden. This is the
  finish. It's not like the person who says, "Why is the flag fluttering
  in the wind? I say it's because of the wind." Another person say's
  it's because of the flag. The other retorts that it's because of the
  wind. There's no end to this! The same as the old riddle, "Which came
  first, the chicken or the egg?" There's no way to reach a conclusion,
  this is just Nature.

    All these things we say are merely conventions, we establish them
  ourselves. If you know these things with wisdom then you'll know
  impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and not-self. This is the outlook
  which leads to enlightenment.

    You know, training and teaching people with varying levels of
  understanding is really difficult. Some people have certain ideas, you
  tell them something and they don't believe you. You tell them the
  truth and they say it's not true. "I'm right, you're wrong..." There's
  no end to this. If you don't let go there will be suffering. I've told
  you before about the four men who go into the forest. They hear a
  chicken crowing, "Kak-ka-dehhh!" One of them wonders, "Is that a
  rooster or a hen?" Three of them say together, "It's a hen," but the
  other doesn't agree, he insists it's a rooster. "How could a hen crow
  like that?" he asks. They retort, "Well, it has a mouth, hasn't it?"
  They argue till the tears fall, really getting upset over it, but in
  the end they're all wrong. Whether you say a hen or a rooster, they're
  only names. We establish these conventions, saying a rooster is like
  this, a hen is like that; a rooster cries like this, a hen cries like
  that...and this is how we get stuck in the world! Remember this!
  Actually, if you just say that really there's no hen and no rooster
  then that's the end of it. In the field of conventional reality one
  side is right and the other side it wrong, but there will never be
  complete agreement. Arguing till the tears fall has no use!

    The Buddha taught not to cling. How do we practice non-clinging? We
  practice simply to give up clinging, but this non-clinging is very
  difficult to understand. It takes keen wisdom to investigate and
  penetrate this, to really achieve non-clinging. When you think about
  it, whether people are happy or sad, content or discontent, doesn't
  depend on their having little or having much -- it depends on wisdom.
  All distress can be transcended only through wisdom, through seeing
  the truth of things.

    So the Buddha exhorted us to investigate, to contemplate. This
  "contemplation" means simply to try to solve these problems correctly.
  This is our practice. Like birth, old age, sickness and death -- they
  are the most natural and common of occurrences. The Buddha taught to
  contemplate birth, old age, sickness and death, but some people don't
  understand this. "What is there to contemplate?" they say. They're
  born but they don't know birth, they will die but they don't know
  death.

    A person who investigates these things repeatedly will see. Having
  seen he will gradually solve his problems. Even if he still has
  clinging, if he has wisdom and sees that old age, sickness and death
  are the way of Nature, then he will be able to relieve suffering. We
  study the Dhamma simply for this -- to cure suffering. There isn't
  really much as the basis of Buddhism, there's just the birth and death
  of suffering, and this the Buddha called the truth. Birth is
  suffering, old age is suffering, sickness is suffering and death is
  suffering. People don't see this suffering as the truth. If we know
  truth, then we know suffering.

    This pride in personal opinions, these arguments, they have no end.
  In order to put our minds at rest, to find peace, we should
  contemplate our past, the present, and the things which are in store
  for us. Like birth, old age, sickness and death. What can we do to
  avoid being plagued by these? Even though we may still have a little
  worry, if we investigate till we know according to the truth, all
  suffering will abate, we will no longer cling to it.
  

                                 * * *


       "...The worldly way is to do things for a reason, to get some
        return, but in Buddhism we do things without any gaining idea..
        If we don't want anything at all, what will we get? We don't get
        anything! Whatever you get is just a cause for suffering, so we
        practice not getting anything... Just make the mind peaceful and
        have done with it!..."
  
  
                                 * * *
  
  
                               No Abiding
  
  We hear some parts of the teachings and can't really understand them.
  We think they shouldn't be the way they are, so we don't follow them,
  but really there is a reason to all the teachings. Maybe it seems that
  things shouldn't be that way, but they are. At first I didn't even
  believe in sitting meditation. I couldn't see what use it would be to
  just sit with your eyes closed. And walking meditation...walk from
  this tree, turn around and walk back again... "Why bother?" I thought,
  "What's the use of all that walking?" I thought like that, but
  actually walking and sitting meditation are of great use.

    Some people's tendencies make them prefer walking meditation, others
  prefer sitting, but you can't do without either of them. In the
  scriptures they talk about the four postures: standing, walking,
  sitting and lying. We live with these four postures. We may prefer one
  to the other, but we must use all four.

    They say to make these four postures even, to make the practice even
  in all postures. At first I couldn't figure out what this meant, to
  make them even. Maybe it means we sleep for two hours, then stand for
  two hours, then walk for two hours...maybe that's it? I tried it --
  couldn't do it, it was impossible! That's not what it meant to make
  the postures even. "Making the postures even" refers to the mind, to
  our awareness. That is, to make the mind give rise to wisdom, to
  illumine the mind. This wisdom of ours must be present in all
  postures; we must know, or understand, constantly. Standing, walking,
  sitting or lying, we know all mental states as impermanent,
  unsatisfactory and not-self. Making the postures even in this way can
  be done, it is possible. Whether like or dislike are present in the
  mind we don't forget our practice, we are aware.

    If we just focus our attention on the mind constantly then we have
  the gist of the practice. Whether we experience mental states which
  the world knows as good or bad we don't forget ourselves, we don't get
  lost in good or bad. We just go straight. Making the postures constant
  in this way is possible. If we have constancy in our practice and we
  are praised, then it's simply praise; if we are blamed, then it's just
  blame. We don't get high or low over it, we stay right here. Why?
  Because we see the danger in all those things, we see their results.
  We are constantly aware of the danger in both praise and blame.
  Normally, if we have a good mood the mind is good also, we see them,
  as the same thing; if we have a bad mood the mind goes bad as well, we
  don't like it. This is the way it is, this is uneven practice.

    If we have constancy just to the extent of knowing our moods, and
  knowing we're clinging to them, this is better already. That is, we
  have awareness, we know what's going on, but we still can't let go. We
  see ourselves clinging to good and bad, and we know it. We cling to
  good and know it's still not right practice, but we still can't let
  go. This is 50% or 70% of the practice already. There still isn't
  release but we know that if we could let go that would be the way to
  peace. We keep going like that, seeing the equally harmful
  consequences of all our likes and dislikes, of praise and blame,
  continuously. Whatever there is, the mind is constant in this way.

    But for worldly people, if they get blamed or criticized they get
  really upset. If they get praised it cheers them up, they say it's
  good and get really happy over it. If we know the truth of our various
  moods, if we know the consequences of clinging to praise and blame,
  the danger of clinging to anything at all, we will become sensitive to
  our moods. We will know that clinging to them really causes suffering.
  We see this suffering, and we see our very clinging as the cause of
  that suffering. We begin to see the consequences of grabbing and
  clinging to good and bad, because we've grasped them and seen the
  result before -- no real happiness. So now we look for the way to let
  go.

    Where is this "way to let go"? In Buddhism we say "Don't cling to
  anything." We never stop hearing about this "don't cling to anything!"
  This means to hold, but not to cling. Like this flashlight. We think,
  "What is this?" So we pick it up, "Oh, it's a flashlight," then we put
  it down again. We hold things in this way. If we didn't hold anything
  at all, what could we do? We couldn't walk meditation or do anything,
  so we must hold things first. It's wanting, yes, that's true, but
  later on it leads to //parami// (virtue or perfection). Like wanting
  to come here, for instance... Venerable Jagaro [*] came to Wat Pah
  Pong. He had to want to come first. If he hadn't felt that he wanted
  to come he wouldn't have come. For anybody it's the same, they come
  here because of wanting. But when wanting arises don't cling to it! So
  you come, and then you go back...What is this? We pick it up, look at
  it and see, "Oh, it's a flashlight," then we put it down. This is
  called holding but not clinging, we let go. We know and then we let
  go. To put it simply we say just this, "Know, then let go." Keep
  looking and letting go. "This, they say is good; this, they say is not
  good" ...know, and then let go. Good and bad, we know it all, but we
  let it go. We don't foolishly cling to things, but we "hold" them with
  wisdom. Practicing in this "posture" can be constant. You must be
  constant like this. Make the mind know in this way, let wisdom arise.
  When the mind has wisdom, what else is there to look for?

        [*] Venerable Jagaro, the Australian abbot of Wat Pah Nanachat
            at that time, who brought his party of monks and laypeople
            to see Ajahn Chah.


    We should reflect on what we are doing here. For what reason are we
  living here, what are we working for? In the world they work for this
  or that reward, but the monks teach something a little deeper than
  that. Whatever we do, we ask for no return. We work for no rewards.
  Worldly people work because they want this or that, because they want
  some gain or other, but the Buddha taught to work just in order to
  work, we don't ask for anything beyond that. If you do something just
  to get some return it'll cause suffering. Try it out for yourself! You
  want to make your mind peaceful so you sit down and try to make it
  peaceful -- you'll suffer! Try it. Our way is more refined. We do, and
  then let go; do, and then let go.

    Look at the brahmin who makes a sacrifice: he has some desire in
  mind, so he makes a sacrifice. Those actions of his won't help him
  transcend suffering because he's acting on desire. In the beginning we
  practice with some desire in mind; we practice on and on, but we don't
  attain our desire. So we practice until we reach a point where we're
  practicing for no return, we're practicing in order to let go. This is
  something we must see for ourselves, it's very deep. Maybe we practice
  because we want to go to //Nirvana// -- right there, you won't get to
  //Nirvana//! It's natural to want peace, but it's not really correct.
  We must practice without wanting anything at all. If we don't want
  anything at all, what will we get? We don't get anything! Whatever you
  get is just a cause for suffering, so we practice not getting
  anything.

    Just this is called "making the mind empty." It's empty but there is
  still doing. This emptiness is something people don't usually
  understand, but those who reach it see the value of knowing it. It's
  not the emptiness of not having anything, it's emptiness within the
  things that are here. Like this flashlight: we should see this
  flashlight as empty, because of the flashlight there is emptiness.
  It's not the emptiness where we can't see anything, it's not like
  that. People who understand like that have got it all wrong. You must
  understand emptiness within the things are here.

    Those who are still practicing because of some gaining idea are like
  the brahmin who makes a sacrifice just to fulfill some wish. Like the
  people who come to see me to be sprinkled with "holy water." When I
  ask them, "Why do you want this 'holy water'?" they say, "We want to
  live happily and comfortably and not get sick." There! They'll never
  transcend suffering that way. The worldly way is to do things for a
  reason, to get some return, but in Buddhism we do things without any
  gaining idea. The world has to understand things in terms of cause and
  effect, but the Buddha teaches us to go above cause, beyond effect; to
  go above birth and beyond death; to go above happiness and beyond
  suffering. Think about it...there's nowhere to stay. We people live in
  a "home." To leave home and go where there is no home...we don't know
  how to do it, because we've always lived with becoming, with clinging.
  If we can't cling we don't know what to do.

    So most people don't want to go to //Nirvana//, there's nothing
  there; nothing at all. Look at the roof and the floor here. The upper
  extreme is the roof, that's an "abiding." The lower extreme is the
  floor, and that's another "abiding." But in the empty space between
  the floor and the roof there's nowhere stand. One could stand on the
  roof, or stand on the floor, but not on that empty space. Where there
  is no abiding, that's where there's emptiness, and, to put it bluntly,
  we say that //Nirvana// is this emptiness. People hear this and they
  back up a bit, they don't want to go. They're afraid they won't see
  their children or relatives.

    This is why, when we bless the laypeople, we say "May you have long
  life, beauty, happiness and strength." This makes them really happy,
  "//Sadhu//!" [*] they all say. They like these things. If you start
  talking about emptiness they don't want it, they're attached to
  abiding. But have you ever seen a very old person with a beautiful
  complexion? Have you ever seen an old person with a lot of strength,
  or a lot of happiness?... No... But we say, "Long life, beauty,
  happiness and strength" and they're all really pleased, every single
  one says "//Sadhu//!" This is like the brahmin who makes oblations to
  achieve some wish. In our practice we don't "make oblations," we don't
  practice in order to get some return. We don't want anything. If we
  still want something then there is still something there. Just make
  the mind peaceful and have done with it! But if I talk like this you
  may not be very comfortable, because you want to be "born" again.

        [*] //Sadhu// is the traditional Pali word used to acknowledge a
            blessing, dhamma teaching, etc. It means "it is well."


    So all you lay practitioners should get close to the monks and see
  their practice. To be close to the monks means to be close to the
  Buddha, to be close to his Dhamma. The Buddha said, "Ananda, practice
  a lot, develop your practice! Whoever sees the Dhamma sees me, and
  whoever sees me sees the Dhamma." Where is the Buddha? We may think
  the Buddha has been and gone, but the Buddha is the Dhamma, the Truth.
  Some people like to say, "Oh, if I was born in the time the Buddha I
  would go to //Nirvana//." Here, stupid people talk like this. The
  Buddha is still here. The Buddha is truth. Regardless of whoever is
  born or dies, the truth is still here. The truth never departs from
  the world, it's there all the time. Whether a Buddha is born or not,
  whether someone knows it or not, the truth is still there. So we
  should get close to the Buddha, we should come within and find the
  Dhamma. When we reach the Dhamma we will reach the Buddha; seeing the
  Dhamma we will see the Buddha and all doubts will dissolve.

    To put it simply, it's like Teacher Choo. [*] At first he wasn't a
  teacher, he was just Mr. Choo. When he studied and passed the
  necessary grades he became a teacher, and became known as Teacher 
  Choo. How did he become a teacher? Through studying the required 
  things, thus allowing Mr. Choo to become Teacher Choo. When Teacher
  Choo dies, the study to become a teacher still remains, and whoever
  studies it will become a teacher. That course of study to become a
  teacher doesn't disappear anywhere, just like the Truth, the knowing
  of which enabled the Buddha to become the Buddha. So the Buddha is
  still here. Whoever practices and sees the Dhamma sees the Buddha.
  These days people have got it all wrong, they don't know where the
  Buddha is. They say, "If I was born in the time of the Buddha I would
  have become a disciple of his and become enlightened." That's just
  foolishness. You should understand this.

        [*] In Thailand the word "Teacher" is used as a title of address
            much like "Doctor" is used in English. "Teacher Choo" is one
            of four elderly local residents who came to spend the rains
            retreat at Wat Pah Nanachat, to whom the latter part of this
            talk was addressed.


    Don't go thinking that at the end of the rains retreat you'll
  disrobe. Don't think like that! In an instant an evil thought can
  arise in the mind, you could kill somebody. In the same way, it only
  takes a split-second for good to flash into the mind, and you're there
  already. Don't think that you have to ordain for a long time to be
  able to meditate. Where the right practice lies is in the instant we
  make kamma. In a flash an evil thought arises...before you know it
  you've committed some really heavy kamma. And in the same way, all the
  disciples of the Buddha practiced for a long time, but the time they
  attained enlightenment was merely one thought moment. So don't be
  heedless, even in minor things. Try hard, try to get close to the 
  monks, contemplate things and then you'll know about monks. Well, 
  that's enough, huh? It must be getting late now, some people are 
  getting sleepy. The Buddha said not to teach Dhamma to sleepy people.
  
  
                                 * * *
  
  

        "...Our discontent is due to wrong view. Because we don't
        exercise sense restraint we blame our suffering on externals...
        The right abiding place for monks, the place of coolness, is
        just Right View itself. We shouldn't look for anything else..."
  
  
  
                                 * * *
  
  
  
                  Right View -- The Place of Coolness
  
  The practice of Dhamma goes against our habits, the truth goes against
  our desires, so there is difficulty in the practice. Some things which
  we understand as wrong may be right, while the things we take to be
  right may be wrong. Why is this? Because our minds are in darkness, we
  don't clearly see the Truth. We don't really know anything and so are
  fooled by people's lies. They point out what is right as being wrong
  and we believe it; that which is wrong, they say is right, and we
  believe that. This is because we are not yet our own masters. Our
  moods lie to us constantly. We shouldn't take this mind and its
  opinions as our guide, because it doesn't know the truth.

    Some people don't want to listen to others at all, but this is not
  the way of a man of wisdom. A wise man listens to everything. One who
  listens to Dhamma must listen just the same, whether he likes it or
  not, and not blindly believe or disbelieve. He must stay at the
  half-way mark, the middle point, and not be heedless. He just listens
  and then contemplates, giving rise to the right results accordingly.

    A wise man should contemplate and see the cause and effect for
  himself before he believes what he hears. Even if the teacher speaks
  the truth, don't just believe it, because you don't yet know the truth
  of it for yourself.

    It's the same for all of us, including myself. I've practiced before
  you, I've seen many lies before. For instance, "This practice is
  really difficult, really hard." Why is the practice difficult? It's
  just because we think wrongly, we have wrong view.

    Previously I lived together with other monks, but I didn't feel
  right. I ran away to the forests and mountains, fleeing the crowd, the
  monks and novices. I thought that they weren't like me, they didn't
  practice as hard as I did. They were sloppy. That person was like
  this, this person was like that. This was something that really put me
  in turmoil, it was the cause for my continually running away. But
  whether I lived alone or with others I still had no peace. On my own I
  wasn't content, in a large group I wasn't content. I thought this
  discontent was due to my companions, due to my moods, due to my living
  place, the food, the weather, due to this and that. I was constantly
  searching for something to suit my mind.

    As a //dhutanga// [*] monk, I went traveling, but things still
  weren't right. So I contemplated, "What can I do to make things right?
  What can I do?" Living with a lot of people I was dissatisfied, with
  few people I was dissatisfied. For what reason? I just couldn't see
  it. Why was I dissatisfied? Because I had wrong view, just that;
  because I still clung to the wrong Dhamma. Wherever I went I was
  discontent, thinking, "Here is no good, there is no good..." on and on
  like that. I blamed others. I blamed the weather, heat and cold, I
  blamed everything! Just like a mad dog. It bites whatever it meets,
  because it's mad. When the mind is like this our practice is never
  settled. Today we feel good, tomorrow no good. It's like that all the
  time. We don't attain contentment or peace.

        [*] //Dhutanga// properly means "ascetic." A Dhutanga monk is
            one who keeps some of the thirteen ascetic practices allowed
            by the Buddha. Dhutanga monks traditionally spend time
            traveling (often on foot) in search of quiet places for
            meditation, other teachers, or simply as a practice in
            itself.

    The Buddha once saw a jackal, a wild dog, run out of the forest
  where he was staying. It stood still for a while, then it ran into the
  underbrush, and them out again. Then it ran into a tree hollow, then
  out again. Then it went into a cave, only to run out again. One minute
  it stood, the next it ran, then it lay down, then it jumped up...That
  jackal had mange. When it stood the mange would eat into its skin, so
  it would run. Running it was still uncomfortable, so it would lie
  down. Then it would jump up again, running into the underbrush, the
  tree hollow, never staying still.

    The Buddha said, "Monks, did you see that jackal this afternoon?
  Standing it suffered, running it suffered, sitting it suffered, lying
  down it suffered. In the underbrush, a tree hollow or a cave, it
  suffered. It blamed standing for its discomfort, it blamed sitting, it
  blamed running and lying down; it blamed the tree, the underbrush and
  the cave. In fact the problem was with none of those things. That
  jackal had mange. The problem was with the mange."

    We monks are just the same as that jackal. Our discontent is due to
  wrong view. Because we don't exercise sense restraint we blame our
  suffering on externals. Whether we live at Wat Pah Pong, in America or
  in London we aren't satisfied. Going to live at Bung Wai or any of the
  other branch monasteries we're still not satisfied. Why not? Because
  we still have wrong view within us, just that! Wherever we go we
  aren't content.

    But just as that dog, if the mange is cured, is content wherever it
  goes, so it is for us. I reflect on this often, and I teach you this
  often, because it's very important. If we know the truth of our
  various moods we arrive at contentment. Whether it's hot or cold we
  are satisfied, with many people or with few people we are satisfied.
  Contentment doesn't depend on how many people we are with, it comes
  only from right view. If we have right view then wherever we stay we
  are content.

     But most of us have wrong view. It's just like a maggot! A maggot's
  living place is filthy, its food is filthy...but they suit the maggot.
  If you take a stick and brush it away from its lump of dung, it'll
  struggle to crawl back into it. It's the same when the Ajahn teaches
  us to see rightly. We resist, it makes us feel uneasy. We run back to
  our "lump of dung" because that's where we feel at home. We're all
  like this. If we don't see the harmful consequences of all our wrong
  views then we can't leave them, the practice is difficult. So we
  should listen. There's nothing else to the practice.

    If we have right view wherever we go we are content. I have
  practiced and seen this already. These days there are many monks,
  novices and laypeople coming to see me. If I still didn't know, if I
  still had wrong view, I'd be dead by now! The right abiding place for
  monks, the place of coolness, is just right view itself. We shouldn't
  look for anything else.

    So even though you may be unhappy it doesn't matter, that
  unhappiness is uncertain. Is that unhappiness your "self"? Is there
  any substance to it? Is it real? I don't see it as being real at all.
  Unhappiness is merely a flash of feeling which appears and then is
  gone. Happiness is the same. Is there a consistency to happiness? Is
  it truly an entity? It's simply a feeling that flashes suddenly and is
  gone. There! It's born and then it dies. Love just flashes up for a
  moment and then disappears. Where is the consistency in love, or hate,
  or resentment? In truth there is no substantial entity there, they are
  merely impressions which flare up in the mind and then die. They
  deceive us constantly, we find no certainty anywhere. Just as the
  Buddha said, when unhappiness arises it stays for a while, then
  disappears. When unhappiness disappears, happiness arises and lingers
  for a while and then dies. When happiness disappears, unhappiness
  arises again...on and on like this.

    In the end we can say only this -- apart from the birth, the life
  and the death of suffering, there is nothing. There is just this. But
  we who are ignorant run and grab it constantly. We never see the truth
  of it, that there's simply this continual change. If we understand
  this then we don't need to think very much, but we have much wisdom.
  If we don't know it, then we will have more thinking than wisdom --
  and maybe no wisdom at all! It's not until we truly see the harmful
  results of our actions that we can give them up. Likewise, it's not
  until we see the real benefits of practice that we can follow it, and
  begin working to make the mind "good."

    If we cut a log of wood and throw it into the river, and that log
  doesn't sink or rot, or run aground on either of the banks of the
  river, that log will definitely reach the sea. Our practice is
  comparable to this. If you practice according to the path laid down by
  the Buddha, following it straightly, you will transcend two things.
  What two things? Just those two extremes that the Buddha said were not
  the path of a true meditator -- indulgence in pleasure and indulgence
  in pain. These are the two banks of the river. One of the banks of
  that river is hate, the other is love. Or you can say that one bank is
  happiness, the other unhappiness. The "log" is this mind. As it "flows
  down the river" it will experience happiness and unhappiness. If the
  mind doesn't cling to that happiness or unhappiness it will reach the
  "ocean" of //Nirvana//. You should see that there is nothing other
  than happiness and unhappiness arising and disappearing. If you don't
  "run aground" on these things then you are on the path of a true
  meditator.

    This is the teaching of the Buddha. Happiness, unhappiness, love and
  hate are simply established in Nature according to the constant law of
  nature. The wise person doesn't follow or encourage them, he doesn't
  cling to them. This is the mind which lets go of indulgence in
  pleasure and indulgence in pain. It is the right practice. Just as
  that log of wood will eventually flow to the sea, so will the mind
  which doesn't attach to these two extremes inevitably attain peace.
  
  
                                 * * *
  

                                Epilogue

  ...Do you know where it will end? Or will you just keep on learning
  like this? ... Or is there an end to it?... That's okay but it's the
  external study, not the internal study. For the internal study you
  have to study these eyes, these ears, this nose, this tongue, this
  body and this mind. This is the real study. The study of books is just
  the external study, it's really hard to get it finished.

    When the eye sees form what sort of things happens? When ear, nose,
  and tongue experience sounds, smells and tastes, what takes place?
  When the body and mind come into contact with touches and mental
  states, what reactions take place? Are there still greed, aversion and
  delusion there? Do we get lost in forms, sounds, smells, tastes,
  textures and moods? This is the internal study. It has a point of
  completion.

    If we study but don't practice we won't get any results. It's like a
  person who raises cows. In the morning he takes the cow out to eat
  grass, in the evening he brings it back to its pen -- but he never
  drinks the cow's milk. Study is alright, but don't let it be like
  this. You should raise the cow and drink it's milk too. You must study
  and practice as well to get the best results.

    Here, I'll explain it further. It's like a person who raises
  chickens, but he doesn't get the eggs. All he gets is the chicken 
  dung! This is what I tell people who raise chickens back home! Watch
  out you don't become like that! This means we study the scriptures but
  we don't know how to let go of defilements, we don't know how to
  "push" greed, aversion and delusion from our mind. Study without
  practice, without this "giving up," brings no results. This is why I
  compare it to someone who raises chickens but doesn't collect the
  eggs, he just collects the dung. It's the same thing.

    Because of this, the Buddha wanted us to study the scriptures, and
  then to give up evil actions through body, speech and mind; to develop
  goodness in our deeds, speech and thoughts. The real worth of mankind
  will come to fruition through our deeds, speech and thoughts. But if
  we only talk well, without acting accordingly, it's not yet complete.
  Or if we do good deeds but the mind is still not good, this is still
  not complete. The Buddha taught to develop fine deeds, fine speech and
  fine thoughts. This is the treasure of mankind. The study and the
  practice must both be good.

    The Eightfold Path of the Buddha, the path of practice, has eight
  factors. These eight factors are nothing other than this very body:
  two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, one tongue and one body. This is the
  path. And the mind is the one who follows the path. Therefore both the
  study and the practice exist in our body, speech and mind.

    Have you ever seen scriptures which teach about anything other than
  the body, the speech and the mind? The scriptures only teach about
  this; nothing else. Defilements are born here. If you know them they
  die right here. So you should understand that the practice and the
  study both exist right here. If we study just this much we can know
  everything. It's like our speech: to speak one word of Truth is better
  than a lifetime of wrong speech. Do you understand? One who studies
  and doesn't practice is like a ladle of soup pot. It's in the pot
  every day but it doesn't know the flavor of the soup. If you don't
  practice, even if you study till the day you die, you won't know //the
  taste of Freedom//!
  
  
                            * * * * * * * *
  
  
                        Notes on selected talks

  
  1. //On meditation// -- an informal talk given in the Northeastern
     dialect, taken from an unidentified tape.
  
  2. //The Path in Harmony// -- a composite of two talks given in
     England in 1979 and 1977 respectively.
  
  3. //The Middle Way Within// -- given in the Northeastern dialect to
     an assembly of monks and laypeople in 1970.
  
  4. //The Peace Beyond// -- a condensed version of a talk given to the
     Chief Privy Councillor of Thailand, Mr. Sanya Dharmasakti, at Wat
     Nong Pah Pong, 1978.
  
  5. //Opening the Dhamma Eye// -- given at Wat Nong Pah Pong to the
     assembly of monks and novices in October, 1968.
       
  6. //Convention and Liberation// -- an informal talk given in the
     Northeastern dialect, taken from an identified tape.
  
  7. //No Abiding// -- a talk given to the monks, novices and laypeople
     of Wat Pah Nanachat on a visit to Wat Nong Pah Pong during the
     rains of 1980.
  
  
                            * * * * * * * *
  

                            About the Author

  Venerable Ajahn Chah (Pra Bhodinyana Thera) was born into a typical
  farming family in Bahn Gor village, in the province of Ubol
  Rachathani, N.E. Thailand, in 1917. He lived the first part of his
  life as any other youngster in rural Thailand, and, following the
  custom, took ordination as a novice in the local village Wat for a
  number of years, where he learned to read and write, in addition to
  some basic Buddhist teachings. After a number of years he returned to
  the lay life to help his parents, but, feeling an attraction to the
  monastic life, at the age of twenty he again entered a Wat, this time
  for higher ordination as a //bhikkhu//, or Buddhist monk.

    He spent the first few years of his //bhikkhu// life studying
  scriptures and learning Pali, but the death of his father awakened him
  to the transience of life and instilled in him a desire to find the
  real essence of the Buddha's teaching. He began to travel to other
  monasteries, studying the monastic discipline in detail and spending a
  very brief but significant time with Venerable Ajahn Mun, the most
  outstanding meditation Master of the ascetic, forest-dwelling
  tradition. Following his time with Venerable Ajahn Mun, he spent a
  number of years traveling around Thailand, spending his time in
  forests and charnel grounds, ideal places for developing meditation
  practice.

    At length he came within the vicinity of the village of his birth,
  and when word got around that he was in the area, he was invited to
  set up a monastery at the //Pa Pong// forest, a place at that time
  reputed to be the habitat of wild animals and ghosts. Venerable Ajahn
  Chah's impeccable approach to meditation, or //Dhamma// practice, and
  his simple, direct style of teaching, with the emphasis on practical
  application and a balanced attitude, began to attract a large
  following of monks and laypeople.

    In 1966 the first westerner came to stay at //Wat Pa Pong//,
  Venerable Sumedho Bhikkhu. From that time on, the number of foreign
  people who came to Ajahn Chah began to steadily increase, until in
  1975, the first branch monastery for western and other non-Thai
  nationals, //Wat Pa Nanachat//, was set up with Venerable Ajahn
  Sumedho as the abbot.

    In 1976 Venerable Ajahn Chah was invited to England together with
  Ajahn Sumedho, the outcome of which was eventually the establishment
  of the first branch monastery of Wat Pa Pong outside of Thailand.
  Since then, further branch monasteries have been established in
  England, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand and Italy.

    In 1980 Venerable Ajahn Chah began to feel more acutely the symptoms
  of dizziness and memory lapse which he had been feeling for some
  years. This led to an operation in 1981, which, however, failed to
  reverse the onset of the paralysis which eventually rendered him
  completely bedridden and unable to speak. However this did not stop
  the growth of monks and laypeople who came to practice at his
  monastery, for whom the teachings of Ajahn Chah are a constant guide
  and inspiration.
  
                            * * * * * * * *


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 TITLE OF WORK: A Taste of Freedom
 FILENAME: ATASTEOF.ZIP
 AUTHOR: Ajahn Chah (1917-1992)
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 PUBLISHER'S ADDRESS: The Abbot, Wat Pah Nanachat, Bungwai,
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