eBUDDHANET'SBOOK LIBRARYE-mail: bdea@buddhanet.netWeb site: www.buddhanet.net

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by Ajahn ChahA Taste of FreedomA Taste of Freedom

A Taste of FreedomA Taste of Freedom by

Venerable Ajahn Chah(Phra Bodhinyana Thera)

Copyright 1991

The Sagha 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 19802nd impression (revised) 19823rd impression (revised) 1991

5th impression 2002

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Cover Painting by Sa-gnad Pui-ock

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DharmaNet Edition 1995

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

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Contents

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

About this mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

On Meditation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

The Path in Harmony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

On Dangers Of Samdhi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

The Middle Way Within . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

The Peace Beyond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Opening the Dhamma Eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Convention and Liberation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

No Abiding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Right View The Place of Coolness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Notes on selected talks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

A Biographical sketch of Ven. Ajahn Chah(Phra Bodhinyana Thera) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Acknowledgments

The production manager would like to thank VenerableAjahn Puriso, the translator, who kindly not only revisedthe text for this edition, but also helped with the finalproof reading.

This book has come into existence with the help ofmany devoted people. Khun Vanee Lamsam, along withher brother Khun Parl Na Pombejra, raised the Fund tosupport all costs of publication. Khun Thanu Malakul NaAyudhaya supplied us with a slide of his beautiful paintingfor the cover. Khun Panya Vijinthanasarn helped with thecover design and illustrations. Khun Chutima Thanapurahelped with the first proof-reading. Khun Pansak Panpak-deeddisakul supplied us an invaluable photograph ofLuang Por Chah (Phra Bodhinyana Thera). Khun KaroonHansachainand helped with the pasting of some parts ofthe artwork and saw the book through the press. May thekind meritorious deeds of the above-mentioned peoplehelp them experience the supreme bliss, Nibbana.

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DharmaNet Edition 1995

Transcription: David Savage

Proofreading: Jane Yudelman

Formatting: John Bullitt5

Introduction

The talks translated in this book were all taken from oldcassette tape recordings of Venerable Ajahn Chah, some inThai and some in the North-Eastern dialect, most recordedon poor quality equipment under less than optimum condi-tions. This presented some difficulty in the work of transla-tion, which was overcome by occasionally omitting veryunclear passages and at other times asking for advice fromother listeners more familiar with those languages. Never-theless there has inevitably been some editing in the proc-ess of making this book. Apart from the difficultiespresented by the lack of clarity of the tapes, there is also thenecessity of editing when one is taking words from the spo-ken to the written medium. For this, the translator takesfull responsibility. Pali words have occasionally been left asthey are, in other cases translated. The criteria here hasbeen readability. Those Pali words which were consideredshort enough or familiar enough to the reader already con-versant with Buddhist terminology have generally been leftuntranslated. This should present no difficulty, as they aregenerally explained by the Venerable Ajahn in the course ofthe talk. Longer words, or words considered to be probablyunfamiliar to the average reader, have been translated. Ofthese, there are two which are particularly noteworthy.They are Kmasukhallikanuyogo and Attakilamathnu-yogo, which have been translated as Indulgence in Pleas-ure and Indulgence in Pain respectively. These two wordsoccur in no less than five of the talks included in this bookand although the translations provided here are not those7

generally used for these word, they are nevertheless inkeeping with the Venerable Ajahns use of them.

Venerable Ajahn Chah always gave his talks in simple,everyday language. His objective was to clarify theDhamma, not to confuse his listeners with an overlog of in-formation. Consequently the talks presented here havebeen rendered into correspondingly simple English. Theaim has been to present Ajahn Chahs teaching in both thespirit and the letter.

In this fifth printing of A Taste of Freedom, a numberof corrections have been made to clumsily worded pas-sages, of which there are now hopefully less than in thefirst editions. For such inadequacies the translator mustalso take responsibility, and hopes the reader will bearwith any literary shortcomings in order to receive the fullbenefit of the teachings contained herein.

The translator

* * * That which looks over the various factors which arise in meditation is sati, mindfulness. Sati is life.

Whenever we dont have sati, when we are heedless, its as if we are dead. This sati is simply presence of mind.

Its cause for the arising of self-awareness and wisdom. Even when we are no longer in samdhi, sati

should be present throughout.

On Meditation

* * *

8

About this mind

About this mind. In truth there is nothing really wrongwith it. It is intrinsically pure. Within itself its alreadypeaceful. That the mind is not peaceful these days is be-cause it follows moods. The real mind doesnt have any-thing to it, it is simply (an aspect of) Nature. It becomespeaceful or agitated because moods deceive it. The un-trained mind is stupid. Sense impressions come and trickit into happiness, suffering, gladness and sorrow, but theminds true nature is none of those things. That gladnessor sadness is not the mind, but only a mood coming to de-ceive us. The untrained mind gets lost and follows thesethings, it forgets itself. Then we think that it is we who areupset or at ease or whatever.

But really this mind of ours is already unmoving andpeaceful really peaceful! Just like a leaf which is still aslong as no wind blows. If a wind comes up the leaf flutters.The fluttering is due to the wind the fluttering is dueto those sense impressions; the mind follows them. If itdoesnt follow them, it doesnt flutter. If we know fullythe true nature of sense impressions we will be unmoved.

Our practice is simply to see the Original Mind. So wemust train the mind to know those sense impressions, andnot get lost in them. To make it peaceful. Just this is theaim of all this difficult practice we put ourselves through.

* * * 9

On Meditation

To calm the mind means to find the right balance. If you tryto force your mind too much it goes too far; if you dont tryenough it doesnt get there, it misses the point of balance.

Normally the mind isnt still, its moving all the time, itlacks strength. Making the mind strong and making thebody strong are not the same. To make the body strong wehave 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 mindhas never been peaceful, it has never had the energy ofsamdhi,1 so we establish it within a boundary. We sit inmeditation, staying with the One who knows.

If we force our breath to be too long or too short werenot balanced, the mind wont become peaceful. Its likewhen we first start to use a pedal sewing machine. At firstwe just practice pedaling the machine to get our co-ordination right, before we actually sew anything. Follow-ing the breath is similar. We dont get concerned over howlong or short, weak or strong it is, we just note it. We sim-ply let it be, following the natural breathing.

When its balanced, we take the breathing as our med-itation object. When we breathe in, the beginning of thebreath is at the nose tip, the middle of the breath at thechest and the end of the breath at the abdomen. This is thepath of the breath. When we breathe out, the beginning ofthe breath is at the abdomen, the middle at the chest and

1. Samdhi is the state of concentrated calm resulting from meditation practice.11

the end at the nose tip. We simply take note of this path ofthe breath at the nose tip, the chest and the abdomen, thenat the abdomen, the chest and the tip of the nose. We takenote 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 canlet them go and note the in and out breathing, concentrat-ing solely at the nose-tip or the upper lip where the airpasses on its in and out passage. We dont have to followthe breath, just establish mindfulness in front of us at thenose-tip, and note the breath at this one point entering,leaving, entering, leaving. Theres no need to think of any-thing special, just concentrate on this simple task for now,having continuous presence of mind. Theres nothing moreto 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 forthe work of meditation.

When sitting in meditation the mind becomes refined,but whatever state its in we should try to be aware of it, toknow it. Mental activity is there together with tranquility.There is vitakka. Vitakka is the action of bringing the mindto the theme of contemplation. If there is not much mind-fulness, there will be not much vitakka. Then vicra, thecontemplation around that theme, follows. Various weakmental impressions may arise from time to time but ourself-awareness is the important thing whatever may behappening we know it continuously. As we go deeper weare constantly aware of the state of our meditation, know-12

ing whether or not the mind is firmly established. Thus,both concentration and awareness are present.

To have a peaceful mind does not mean that theresnothing happening, mental impressions do arise. For in-stance, when we talk about the first level of absorption, wesay it has five factors. Along with vitakka and vicra, pti(rapture) arises with the theme of contemplation and thensukha (happiness). These four things all lie together in themind established in tranquility. They are as one state.

The fifth factor is ekaggat or one-pointedness. Youmay wonder how there can be one-pointedness whenthere are all these other factors as well. This is becausethey all become unified on that foundation of tranquility.Together they are called a state of samdhi. They are noteveryday states of mind, they are factors of absorption.There are these five characteristics, but they do not disturbthe basic tranquility. There is vitakka, but it does not dis-turb the mind; vicra, rapture and happiness arise but donot disturb the mind. The mind is therefore as one withthese factors. The first level of absorption is like this.

We dont have to call it First Jhna,2 Second Jhna,Third Jhna and so on, lets just call it a peaceful mind.As the mind becomes progressively calmer it will dispensewith vitakka and vicra, leaving only rapture and happi-ness. Why does the mind discard vitakka and vicra? Thisis because, as the mind becomes more refined, the activityof vitakka and vicra is too coarse to remain. At this stage,as the mind leaves off vitakka and vicra, feelings of great

2. Jhna is an advanced state of concentration or samdhi, wherein the mind becomes absorbed into its meditation subject. It is divided into four levels, each level progressively more refined than the previous one.13

rapture can arise, tears may gush out. But as the samdhideepens rapture, too, is discarded, leaving only happinessand one-pointedness, until finally even happiness goes andthe mind reaches its greatest refinement. There are onlyequanimity and one-pointedness, all else has been left be-hind. The mind stands unmoving.

Samdhi is the state of concentrated calm resultingfrom meditation practice. Once the mind is peaceful thiscan happen. You dont have to think a lot about it, it justhappens by itself. This is called the energy of a peacefulmind. In this state the mind is not drowsy; the five hin-drances, sense desire, aversion, restlessness, dullness anddoubt, have all fled.

But if mental energy is still not strong and mindfulnessweak, there will occasionally arise intruding mental im-pressions. The mind is peaceful but its as if theres acloudiness within the calm. Its not a normal sort ofdrowsiness though, some impressions will manifest maybe well hear a sound or see a dog or something. Itsnot really clear but its not a dream either. This is becausethese five factors have become unbalanced and weak.

The mind tends to play tricks within these levels oftranquility. Imagery will sometimes arise when the mindis in this state, through any of the senses, and the medita-tor may not be able to tell exactly what is happening. AmI sleeping? No. Is it a dream? No, its not a dream.These impressions arise from a middling sort of tranquil-ity; but if the mind is truly calm and clear we dont doubtthe various mental impressions or imagery which arise.Questions like, Did I drift off then? Was I sleeping? did I14

get lost? dont arise, for they are characteristics of amind which is still doubting. Am I asleep or awake?Here, its fuzzy! This is the mind getting lost in its moods.Its like the moon going behind a cloud. You can still seethe moon but the clouds covering it render it hazy. Its notlike the moon which has emerged from behind the clouds clear, sharp and bright.

When the mind is peaceful and established firmly inmindfulness and self-awareness, there will be no doubtconcerning the various phenomena which we encounter.The mind will truly be beyond the hindrances. We willclearly 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 samdhi is like this.

However some people find it hard to enter samdhi be-cause it doesnt suit their tendencies. There is samdhi,but its not strong or firm. But one can attain peacethrough the use of wisdom, through contemplating andseeing the truth of things, solving problems that way. Thisis using wisdom rather than the power of samdhi. To at-tain calm in practice its not necessary to sit in meditation,for instance. Just ask yourself, Ehh, what is that? andsolve your problem right there! A person with wisdom islike this. Perhaps he cant really attain high levels of sam-dhi, although he develops some, enough to cultivate wis-dom. Its like the difference between farming rice andfarming corn. One can depend on rice more than corn forones livelihood. Our practice can be like this, we dependmore on wisdom to solve problems. When we see thetruth, peace arises.15

The two ways are not the same. Some people have in-sight and are strong in wisdom but do not have muchsamdhi. When they sit in meditation they arent verypeaceful. They tend to think a lot, contemplating this andthat, until eventually they contemplate happiness and suf-fering and see the truth of them. Some incline more to-wards this than samdhi. Whether standing, walking,sitting or lying,3 enlightenment of the Dhamma can takeplace. Through seeing, through relinquishing, they attainpeace. They attain peace through knowing the truth with-out doubt, because they have seen it for themselves.

Other people have only little wisdom but their samdhiis very strong. They can enter very deep samdhi quickly,but not having much wisdom, they cannot catch their de-filements, they dont know them. They cant solve theirproblems.

But regardless of whichever approach we use, we mustdo away with wrong thinking, leaving only Right View. Wemust get rid of confusion, leaving only peace.

Either way we end up at the same place. There arethese two sides to practice, but these two things, calm andinsight, go together. We cant do away with either of them.They must go together.

That which looks over the various factors which arisein meditation is sati, mindfulness. This sati is a conditionwhich, through practice, can help other factors to arise.Sati is life. Whenever we dont have sati, when we areheedless, its as if we are dead. If we have no sati, then ourspeech and actions have no meaning. This sati is simply

3. That is, at all times, in all activities.16

recollection. Its a cause for the arising of self-awarenessand wisdom. Whatever virtues we have cultivated are im-perfect if lacking in sati. Sati is that which watches over uswhile standing, walking, sitting and lying. Even when weare no longer in samdhi, sati should be present through-out.

Whatever we do we take care. A sense of shame4 willarise. We will feel ashamed about the things we do whicharent correct. As shame increases, our collectedness willincrease as well. When collectedness increases, heedless-ness will disappear. Even if we dont sit in meditation,these factors will be present in the mind.

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

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

* * *4. This is a shame based on knowledge of cause and effect, rather than mere emotional

guilt.17

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

should understand this well

The Path in Harmony

* * *18

The Path in Harmony

Today I would like to ask you all. Are you sure yet, areyou certain in your meditation practice? I ask becausethese days there are many people teaching meditation,both monks and laypeople, and Im afraid you may be sub-ject to wavering and doubt. If we understand clearly, wewill be able to make the mind peaceful and firm.

You should understand the Eightfold Path as moral-ity, concentration and wisdom. The path comes togetheras simply this. Our practice is to make this path arisewithin us.

When sitting meditation we are told to close the eyes,not to look at anything else, because now we are going tolook directly at the mind. When we close our eyes, our at-tention comes inwards. We establish our attention on thebreath, center our feelings there, put our mindfulnessthere. When the factors of the path are in harmony we willbe able to see the breath, the feelings, the mind and itsmood for what they are. Here we will see the focus point,where samdhi and the other factors of the Path convergein harmony.

When we are sitting in meditation, following thebreath, 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 themind lets go of all externals, concentrating solely on thebreath. If you are thinking, This person is sitting overhere, that person is sitting over there, there is no peace,19

the mind doesnt come inwards. Just cast all that aside un-til you feel there is no-one sitting around you, until thereis nothing at all, until you have no wavering or interest inyour surroundings.

Let the breath go naturally, dont force it to be short orlong or whatever, just sit and watch it going in and out.When the mind lets go of all external impressions, thesounds of cars and such will not disturb you. Nothing,whether sights or sounds, will disturb you, because themind doesnt receive them. Your attention will come to-gether on the breath.

If the mind is confused and wont concentrate on thebreath, take a full, deep breath, as deep as you can, andthen let it all out till there is none left. Do this three timesand then re-establish your attention. The mind will be-come calm.

Its natural for it to be calm for a while, and then rest-lessness and confusion may arise again. When this hap-pens, concentrate, breathe deeply again, and them re-establish your attention on the breath. Just keep going likethis. When this has happened many times you will becomeadept at it, the mind will let go of all external manifesta-tions. External impressions will not reach the mind. Satiwill be firmly established. As the mind becomes more re-fined, so does the breath. Feelings will become finer andfiner, the body and mind will be light. Our attention issolely on the inner, we see the in-breaths and out-breathsclearly, we see all impressions clearly. We will see thecoming together of Morality, Concentration and Wisdom.This is called the Path in harmony. When there is this har-20

mony our mind will be free of confusion, it will come to-gether as one. This is called samdhi.

After watching the breath for a long time, it may be-come very refined; the awareness of the breath will grad-ually cease, leaving only bare awareness. The breath maybecome so refined it disappears! Perhaps we are just sit-ting, as if there is no breathing at all. Actually there isbreathing, but it seems as if theres none. This is becausethe mind has reached its most refined state, there is justbare awareness. It has gone beyond the breath. The know-ledge that the breath has disappeared becomes estab-lished. What will we take as our object of meditation now?We take just this knowledge as our object, that is, theawareness that theres no breath.

Unexpected things may happen at this time; some peo-ple experience them, some dont. If they do arise, we shouldbe firm and have strong mindfulness. Some people see thatthe breath has disappeared and get a fright, theyre afraidthey might die. Here we should know the situation just as itis. We simply notice that theres no breath and take that asour object of awareness. This, we can say, is the firmest,surest type of samdhi. There is only one firm, unmovingstate of mind. Perhaps the body will become so light its asif there is no body at all. We feel like were sitting in emptyspace, all seems empty. Although this may seem very un-usual, you should understand that theres nothing to worryabout. Firmly establish your mind like this.

When the mind is firmly unified, having no sense im-pressions to disturb it, one can remain in that state for anylength of time. There will be no painful feelings to disturb21

us. When samdhi has reached this level, we can leave itwhen we choose, but if we come out of this samdhi we doso comfortably, not because weve become bored with it ortired. We come out because weve had enough for now, wefeel at ease, we have no problems at all.

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

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

On Dangers Of Samdhi

Samdhi is capable of bringing much harm or much bene-fit to the meditator, you cant say it brings only one or theother. For one who has no wisdom it is harmful, but for22

one who has wisdom it can bring real benefit, it can leadhim to Insight.

That which can be most harmful to the meditator isAbsorption Samdhi (Jhna), the samdhi with deep, sus-tained calm. This samdhi brings great peace. Where thereis peace, there is happiness. When there is happiness, at-tachment and clinging to that happiness arise. The medi-tator doesnt want to contemplate anything else, he justwants to indulge in that pleasant feeling. When we havebeen practicing for a long time we may become adept atentering this samdhi very quickly. As soon as we start tonote our meditation object, the mind enters calm, and wedont want to come out to investigate anything. We just getstuck on that happiness. This is a danger to one who ispracticing meditation.

We must use Upacra Samdhi. Here, we enter calmand then, when the mind is sufficiently calm, we come outand look at outer activity.5 Looking at the outside with acalm mind gives rise to wisdom. This is hard to understand,because its almost like ordinary thinking and imagining.When thinking is there, we may think the mind isnt peace-ful, but actually that thinking is taking place within thecalm. There is contemplation but it doesnt disturb the calm.We may bring thinking up in order to contemplate it. Herewe take up the thinking to investigate it, its not that we areaimlessly thinking to investigate it, its not that we are aim-lessly thinking or guessing away; its something that arisesfrom a peaceful mind. This is called awareness within calm

5. Outer activity refers to all manner of sense impressions. It is used in contrast to the inner activity of absorption samdhi (jhna), where the mind does not go out to external sense impressions.23

and calm within awareness. If its simply ordinary thinkingand imagining, the mind wont be peaceful, it will be dis-turbed. But I am not talking about ordinary thinking, this isa feeling that arises from the peaceful mind. Its called con-templation. Wisdom is born right here.

So, there can be right samdhi and wrong samdhi.Wrong samdhi is where the mind enters calm and theresno awareness at all. One could sit for two hours or even allday but the mind doesnt know where its been or whatshappened. It doesnt know anything. There is calm, butthats all. Its like a well-sharpened knife which we dontbother to put to any use. This is a deluded type of calm, be-cause there is not much self-awareness. The meditatormay think he has reached the ultimate already, so hedoesnt bother to look for anything else. Samdhi can be anenemy at this level. Wisdom cannot arise because there isno awareness of right and wrong.

With right samdhi, no matter what level of calm isreached, there is awareness. There is full mindfulness andclear comprehension. This is the samdhi which can giverise to wisdom, one cannot get lost in it. Practitionersshould understand this well. You cant do without thisawareness, it must be present from beginning to end. Thiskind of samdhi has no danger.

You may wonder where does the benefit arise, howdoes the wisdom arise, from samdhi? When right samdhihas been developed, wisdom has the chance to arise at alltimes. When the eye sees form, the ear hears sound, thenose smells odor, the tongue experiences taste, the bodyexperiences touch or the mind experiences mental impres-24

sions in all postures the mind stays with full know-ledge of the true nature of those sense impressions, itdoesnt pick and choose. In any posture we are fullyaware of the birth of happiness and unhappiness. We letgo of both of these things, we dont cling. This is calledRight Practice, which is present in all postures. Thesewords all postures do not refer only to bodily postures,they refer to the mind, which has mindfulness and clearcomprehension of the truth at all times. When samdhi hasbeen rightly developed, wisdom arises like this. This iscalled insight, knowledge of the truth.

There are two kinds of peace the coarse and the re-fined. The peace which comes from samdhi is the coarsetype. When the mind is peaceful there is happiness. Themind then takes this happiness to be peace. But happinessand unhappiness are becoming and birth. There is noescape from sasra6 here because we still cling to them.So happiness is not peace, peace is not happiness.

The other type of peace is that which comes from wis-dom. Here we dont confuse peace with happiness; weknow the mind which contemplates and knows happinessand unhappiness as peace. The peace which arises fromwisdom is not happiness, but is that which sees the truthof both happiness and unhappiness. Clinging to thosestates does not arise, the mind rises above them. This is thetrue goal of all Buddhist practice.

* * *6. Sasra, 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.25

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

* * *26

The Middle Way Within

The teaching of Buddhism is about giving up evil and prac-ticing good. Then, when evil is given up and goodness isestablished, we must let go of both good and evil. We havealready heard enough about wholesome and unwhole-some conditions to understand something about them, soI would like to talk about the Middle Way, that is, the pathto escape from both of those things.

All the Dhamma talks and teachings of the Buddhahave one aim to show the way out of suffering to thosewho have not yet escaped. The teachings are for the pur-pose of giving us the right understanding. If we dont un-derstand rightly, then we cant arrive at peace.

When the various Buddhas became enlightened andgave their first teachings, they all declared these two ex-tremes indulgence in pleasure and indulgence in pain.7

These two ways are the ways of infatuation, they are theways between which those who indulge in sense pleasuresmust fluctuate, never arriving at peace. They are the pathswhich spin around in sasra.

The Enlightened One observed that all beings are stuckin these two extremes, never seeing the Middle Way ofDhamma, so he pointed them out in order to show the pen-alty involved in both. Because we are still stuck, becausewe are still wanting, we live repeatedly under their way.The Buddha declared that these two ways are the ways ofintoxication, they are not the way of a meditator, nor the

7. See Introduction.27

ways to peace. These ways are indulgence in pleasure andindulgence in pain, or, to put it simply, the way of slack-ness and the way of tension. If you investigate within,moment by moment, you will see that the tense way isanger, the way of sorrow. Going this way there is only dif-ficulty and distress. Indulgence in Pleasure if youve es-caped from this, it means youve escaped from happiness.These ways, both happiness and unhappiness, are notpeaceful states. The Buddha taught to let go of both ofthem. This is right practice. This is the Middle Way.

These words, the Middle Way, do not refer to ourbody and speech, they refer to the mind. When a mentalimpression which we dont like arises, it affects the mindand there is confusion. When the mind is confused, whenits shaken up, this is not the right way. When a mentalimpression arises which we like, the mind goes to indul-gence in pleasure thats not the way either.

We people dont 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 themto a snake. The head of the snake is unhappiness, the tailof the snake is happiness. The head of the snake is reallydangerous, it has the poisonous fangs. If you touch it, thesnake will bite straight away. But never mind the head,even if you go and hold onto the tail, it will turn aroundand bite you just the same, because both the head and thetail belong to the one snake.

In the same way, both happiness and unhappiness, orpleasure and sadness, arise from the same parent want-ing. So when youre happy the mind isnt peaceful. It really28

isnt! For instance, when we get the things we like, such aswealth, prestige, praise or happiness, we become pleasedas a result. But the mind still harbors some uneasiness be-cause were afraid of losing it. That very fear isnt a peace-ful state. Later on we may actually lose that thing and thenwe really suffer. Thus, if you arent aware, even if yourehappy, suffering is imminent. Its just the same as grabbingthe snakes tail if you dont let go it will bite. So whetherits the snakes tail or its head, that is, wholesome or un-wholesome conditions, theyre all just characteristics ofthe Wheel of Existence, of endless change.

The Buddha established morality, concentration andwisdom as the path to peace, the way to enlightenment. Butin truth these things are not the essence of Buddhism. Theyare merely the path. The Buddha called them Magga,which means path. The essence of Buddhism is peace, andthat peace arises from truly knowing the nature of all things.If we investigate closely, we can see that peace is neitherhappiness nor unhappiness. Neither of these is the truth.

The human mind, the mind which the Buddha ex-horted us to know and investigate, is something we canonly know by its activity. The true original mind hasnothing to measure it by, theres nothing you can know itby. In its natural state it is unshaken, unmoving. Whenhappiness arises all that happens is that this mind is get-ting lost in a mental impression, there is movement. Whenthe mind moves like this, clinging and attachment to thosethings come into being.

The Buddha has already laid down the path of practicefully, but we have not yet practiced, or if we have, weve29

practiced only in speech. Our minds and our speech arenot yet in harmony, we just indulge in empty talk. But thebasis of Buddhism is not something that can be talkedabout or guessed at. The real basis of Buddhism is fullknowledge of the truth of reality. If one knows this truththen no teaching is necessary. If one doesnt know, even ifhe listens to the teaching, he doesnt really hear. This iswhy the Buddha said, The Enlightened One only pointsthe way. He cant do the practice for you, because thetruth 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 havent seenthe truth we must suffer. For example, we commonly saysakhras8 when referring to the body. Anybody can sayit, but in fact we have problems simply because we dontknow the truth of these sakhras, and thus cling to them.Because we dont know the truth of the body, we suffer.

Here is an example. Suppose one morning youre walk-ing to work and a man yells abuse and insults at you fromacross the street. As soon as you hear this abuse your mindchanges from its usual state. You dont feel so good, youfeel angry and hurt. That man walks around abusing younight and day. When you hear the abuse, you get angry,and even when you return home youre still angry becauseyou feel vindictive, you want to get even.

A few days later another man comes to your house andcalls out, Hey! That man who abused you the other day,hes mad, hes crazy! Has been for years! He abuses every-

8. In the Thai language the word sungkahn, from the Pali word sakhra (the name given to all conditioned phenomena), is a commonly used term for the body. The Venerable Ajahn uses the word in both ways.30

body like that. Nobody takes any notice of anything hesays. As soon as you hear this you are suddenly relieved.That anger and hurt that youve pent up within you allthese days melts away completely. Why? Because youknow the truth of the matter now. Before, you didntknow, you thought that man was normal, so you were an-gry at him. Understanding like that caused you to suffer.As soon as you find out the truth, everything changes: Oh,hes mad! That explains everything! When you under-stand this you feel fine, because you know for yourself.Having known, then you can let go. If you dont know thetruth you cling right there. When you thought that manwho abused you was normal you could have killed him.But when you find out the truth, that hes mad, you feelmuch better. This is knowledge of the truth.

Someone who sees the Dhamma has a similar experi-ence. When attachment, aversion and delusion disappear,they disappear in the same way. As long as we dont knowthese things we think, What can I do? I have so muchgreed and aversion. This is not clear knowledge. Its justthe same as when we thought the madman was sane. Whenwe finally see that he was mad all along were relieved ofworry. No-one could show you this. Only when the mindsees for itself can it uproot and relinquish attachment.

Its the same with this body which we call sakhras.Although the Buddha has already explained that its notsubstantial or a real being as such, we still dont agree, westubbornly cling to it. If the body could talk, it would betelling us all day long, Youre not my owner, you know.Actually its telling us all the time, but its Dhamma lan-31

guage, so were unable to understand it. For instance, thesense organs of eye, ear, nose, tongue and body are con-tinually changing, but Ive never seen them ask permissionfrom us even once! Like when we have a headache or astomachache the body never asks permission first, it justgoes right ahead, following its natural course. This showsthat the body doesnt allow anyone to be its owner, itdoesnt have an owner. The Buddha described it as anempty thing.

We dont understand the Dhamma and so we dont un-derstand these sakhras; we take them to be ourselves, asbelonging to us or belonging to others. This gives rise toclinging. When clinging arises, becoming follows on.Once becoming arises, then there is birth. Once there isbirth, then old age, sickness, death the whole mass ofsuffering arises.

This is the Paiccasamuppda.9 We say ignorance givesrise to volitional activities, they give rise to consciousnessand so on. All these things are simply events in mind.When we come into contact with something we dont like,if we dont have mindfulness, ignorance is there. Sufferingarises straight away. But the mind passes through thesechanges so rapidly that we cant keep up with them. Its thesame as when you fall from a tree. Before you know it Thud! youve hit the ground. Actually youve passedmany branches and twigs on the way but you couldntcount them, you couldnt remember them as you passedthem. You just fall, and then Thud!

9. Paiccasamuppda The Chain of Conditioned Arising, one of the central doctrines of Bud-dhist philosophy.32

The Paiccasamuppda is the same as this. If we divideit up as it is in the scriptures, we say ignorance gives riseto volitional activities, volitional activities give rise to con-sciousness, consciousness gives rise to mind and matter,mind and matter give rise to the six sense bases, the sensebases give rise to sense contact, contact gives rise to feel-ing, feeling gives rise to wanting, wanting gives rise toclinging, clinging gives rise to becoming, becoming givesrise to birth, birth gives rise to old age, sickness, death, andall forms of sorrow. But in truth, when you come into con-tact with something you dont like, theres immediate suf-fering! That feeling of suffering is actually the result of thewhole chain of the Paiccasamuppda. This is why theBuddha exhorted his disciples to investigate and knowfully their own minds.

When people are born into the world they are withoutnames once born, we name them. This is convention.We give people names for the sake of convenience, to calleach other by. The scriptures are the same. We separateeverything up with labels to make studying the reality con-venient. In the same way, all things are simply sakhras.Their original nature is merely that of things born of con-ditions. The Buddha said that they are impermanent, un-satisfactory and not-self. They are unstable. We dontunderstand this firmly, our understanding is not straight,and so we have wrong view. This wrong view is that thesakhras are ourselves, we are the sakhras, or that hap-piness and unhappiness are ourselves, we are happinessand unhappiness. Seeing like this is not full, clear know-ledge of the true nature of things. The truth is that we cant33

force all these things to follow our desires, they follow theway of nature.

A simple comparison is this: suppose you go and sit inthe middle of a freeway with the cars and trucks chargingdown at you. You cant get angry at the cars, shouting,Dont drive over here! Dont drive over here! Its a free-way, you cant tell them that! So what can you do? You getoff the road! The road is the place where cars run, if youdont want the cars to be there, you suffer.

Its the same with sakhras. We say they disturb us,like when we sit in meditation and hear a sound. We think,Oh, that sounds bothering me. If we understand that thesound bothers us then we suffer accordingly. If we investi-gate a little deeper, we will see that its we who go out anddisturb the sound! The sound is simply sound. If we under-stand like this then theres nothing more to it, we leave itbe. We see that the sound is one thing, we are another.One who understands that the sound comes to disturb himis one who doesnt see himself. He really doesnt! Once yousee yourself, then youre at ease. The sound is just sound,why should you go and grab it? You see that actually it wasyou who went out and disturbed the sound. This is realknowledge of the truth. You see both sides, so you havepeace. If you see only one side, there is suffering. Once yousee both sides, then you follow the Middle Way. This is theright practice of the mind. This is what we call straighten-ing out our understanding.

In the same way, the nature of all sakhras is imper-manence and death, but we want to grab them, we carrythem about and covet them. We want them to be true. We34

want to find truth within the things that arent true! When-ever someone sees like this and clings to the sakhras asbeing himself, he suffers. The Buddha wanted us to con-sider this.

The practice of Dhamma is not dependent on being amonk, a novice, or a layman; it depends on straighteningout your understanding. If our understanding is correct,we arrive at peace. Whether you are ordained or not its thesame, every person has the chance to practice Dhamma, tocontemplate it. We all contemplate the same thing. If youattain peace, its all the same peace; its the same Path, withthe same methods.

Therefore the Buddha didnt discriminate between lay-men and monks, he taught all people to practice to knowthe truth of the sakhras. When we know this truth, welet them go. If we know the truth there will be no more be-coming or birth. How is there no more birth? There is noway for birth to take place because we fully know the truthof sakhras. If we fully know the truth, then there ispeace. Having or not having, its all the same. Gain andloss are one. The Buddha taught us to know this. This ispeace; peace from happiness, unhappiness, gladness andsorrow.

We must see that there is no reason to be born. Born inwhat way? Born into gladness: When we get something welike we are glad over it. If there is no clinging to that glad-ness there is no birth; if there is clinging, this is calledbirth. So if we get something, we arent born (into glad-ness). If we lose, then we arent born (into sorrow). This isthe birthless and the deathless. Birth and death are both35

founded in clinging to and cherishing the sakhras.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 theBuddha constantly exhorted his disciples to know. This isthe right practice. If you dont reach it, if you dont reachthe Middle Way, then you wont transcend suffering.

* * *

Meditation means to make the mind peaceful in order to let wisdom arise. To put it shortly, its 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

* * * 36

The Peace Beyond

Its of great importance that we practice the Dhamma. If wedont practice, then all our knowledge is only superficialknowledge, just the outer shell of it. Its as if we have somesort of fruit but we havent eaten it yet. Even though we havethat fruit in our hand we get no benefit from it. Only throughthe actual eating of the fruit we really know its taste.

The Buddha didnt praise those who merely believeothers, he praised the person who knows within himself.Just as with that fruit, if we have tasted it already, we donthave to ask anyone else if its sweet or sour. Our problemsare over. Why are they over? Because we see according tothe truth. One who has realized the Dhamma is like onewho has realized the sweetness or sourness of the fruit. Alldoubts are ended right here.

When we talk about Dhamma, although we may say alot, it can usually be brought down to four things. They aresimply to know suffering, to know the cause of suffering,to know the end of suffering and to know the path of prac-tice leading to the end of suffering. This is all there is. Allthat we have experienced on the path of practice so farcomes down to these four things. When we know thesethings, our problems are over.

Where are these four things born? They are born justwithin the body and the mind, nowhere else. So why is theDhamma of the Buddha so broad and expansive? This is soin order to explain these things in a more refined way, tohelp us to see them.37

When Siddhattha Gotama was born into the world, be-fore he saw the Dhamma, he was an ordinary person justlike us. When he knew what he had to know, that is thetruth of suffering, the cause, the end and the way leadingto the end of suffering, he realized the Dhamma and be-came a perfectly Enlightened Buddha.

When we realize the Dhamma, wherever we sit weknow Dhamma, wherever we are we hear the Buddhasteaching. When we understand Dhamma, the Buddha iswithin our mind, the Dhamma is within our mind, and thepractice leading to wisdom is within our own mind. Havingthe Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sagha within our mindmeans that whether our actions are good or bad, we knowclearly for ourselves their true nature.

That is how the Buddha discarded worldly opinions, hediscarded praise and criticism. When people praised orcriticized him he just accepted it for what it was. These twothings are simply worldly conditions so he wasnt shakenby them. Why not? Because he knew suffering. He knewthat if he believed in that praise or criticism they wouldcause him to suffer.

When suffering arises it agitates us, we feel ill at ease.What is the cause of that suffering? Its because we dontknow the Truth, this is the cause. When the cause is present,then suffering arises. Once arisen we dont know how tostop it. The more we try to stop it, the more it comes on. Wesay, Dont criticize me, or Dont blame me. Trying to stopit like this, suffering really comes on, it wont stop.

So the Buddha taught that the way leading to the endof suffering is to make the Dhamma arise as a reality38

within our own minds. We become one who witnesses theDhamma for himself. If someone says we are good wedont get lost in it; they say we are no good we dont getlost in it; they say we are no good and we dont forget our-selves. This way we can be free. Good and evil are justworldly dhammas, they are just states of mind. If we fol-low them our mind becomes the world, we just grope inthe darkness and dont know the way out.

If its like this then we have not yet mastered ourselves.We try to defeat others, but in doing so we only defeat our-selves; but if we have mastery over ourselves then we havemastery over all over all mental formations, sights,sounds, smells, tastes and bodily feelings.

Now Im talking about externals, theyre like that, butthe outside is reflected inside also. Some people only knowthe outside, they dont know the inside. Like when we sayto see the body in the body. Having seen the outer bodyis not enough, we must know the body within the body.Then, having investigated the mind, we should know themind within the mind.

Why should we investigate the body? What is thisbody in the body? When we say to know the mind, whatis this mind? If we dont know the mind then we dontknow the things within the mind. This is to be someonewho doesnt know suffering, doesnt know the cause,doesnt know the end and doesnt know the way. Thethings which should help to extinguish suffering donthelp, because we get distracted by the things which aggra-vate it. Its just as if we have an itch on our head and wescratch our leg! If its our head thats itchy then were ob-39

viously not going to get much relief. In the same way,when suffering arises we dont know how to handle it, wedont know the practice leading to the end of suffering.

For instance, take this body, this body that each of ushas brought along to this meeting. If we just see the formof the body theres no way we can escape suffering. Whynot? Because we still dont see the inside of the body, weonly see the outside. We only see it as something beautiful,something substantial. The Buddha said that only this isnot enough. We see the outside with our eyes; a child cansee it, animals can see it, its not difficult. The outside ofthe body is easily seen, but having seen it we stick to it, wedont know the truth of it. Having seen it we grab onto itand it bites us!

So we should investigate the body within the body.Whatevers in the body, go ahead and look at it. If we justsee the outside its not clear. We see hair, nails and so onand they are just pretty things which entice us, so theBuddha taught to see the inside of the body, to see thebody within the body. What is in the body? Look closelywithin! We will see many things inside to surprise us, be-cause even though they are within us, weve never seenthem. Wherever we walk we carry them with us, sitting ina car we carry them with us, but we still dont know themat all!

Its as if we visit some relatives at their house and theygive us a present. We take it and put it in our bag and thenleave without opening it to see what is inside. When at lastwe open it full of poisonous snakes! Our body is likethis. If we just see the shell of it we say its fine and beau-40

tiful. We forget ourselves. We forget impermanence, un-satisfactoriness and not-self. If we look within this body itsreally repulsive. If we look according to reality, withouttrying to sugar things over, well see that its really pitifuland wearisome. Dispassion will arise. This feeling of dis-interest is not that we feel aversion for the world or any-thing; its simply our mind clearing up, our mind lettinggo. We see things are naturally established just as they are.However we want them to be, they just go their own wayregardless. Whether we laugh or cry, they simply are theway 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, letthem go. When the nose smells an odor, let it go justleave it at the nose! When the bodily feelings arise, let goof the like or dislike that follow, let them go back to theirbirth-place. The same for mental states. All these things,just let them go their way. This is knowing. Whether itshappiness or unhappiness, its all the same. This is calledmeditation.

Meditation means to make the mind peaceful in orderto let wisdom arise. This requires that we practice withbody and mind in order to see and know the sense impres-sions of form, sound, taste, smell, touch and mental forma-tions. To put it shortly, its just a matter of happiness andunhappiness. Happiness is pleasant feeling in the mind,unhappiness is just unpleasant feeling. The Buddha taughtto separate this happiness and unhappiness from the mind.41

The mind is that which knows. Feeling10 is the character-istic of happiness or unhappiness, like or dislike. When themind indulges in these things we say that it clings to ortakes that happiness and unhappiness to be worthy ofholding. That clinging is an action of mind, that happinessor unhappiness is feeling.

When we say the Buddha told us to separate the mindfrom the feeling, he didnt literally mean to throw them todifferent places. He meant that the mind must know hap-piness and know unhappiness. When sitting in samdhi,for example, and peace fills the mind, then happinesscomes but it doesnt reach us, unhappiness comes butdoesnt reach us. This is to separate the feeling from themind. We can compare it to oil and water in a bottle. Theydont combine. Even if you try to mix them, the oil remainsoil and the water remains water. Why is this so? Becausethey are of different density.

The natural state of the mind is neither happiness norunhappiness. When feeling enters the mind then happi-ness or unhappiness is born. If we have mindfulness thenwe know pleasant feeling as pleasant feeling. The mindwhich knows will not pick it up. Happiness is there but itsoutside the mind, not buried within the mind. The mindsimply knows it clearly.

If we separate unhappiness from the mind, does thatmean there is no suffering, that we dont experience it?Yes, we experience it, but we know mind as mind, feelingas feeling. We dont cling to that feeling or carry it around.

10. Feeling is a translation of the Pali word vedan, and should be understood in the sense Ajahn Chah herein describes it: as the mental states of like, dislike, gladness, sorrow, etc.42

The Buddha separated these things through knowledge.Did he have suffering? He knew the state of suffering buthe didnt cling to it, so we say that he cut suffering off. Andthere was happiness too, but he knew that happiness, if itsnot known, is like a poison. He didnt hold it to be himself.Happiness was there through knowledge, but it didnt existin his mind. Thus we say that he separated happiness andunhappiness from his mind.

When we say that the Buddha and the EnlightenedOnes killed defilements,11 its not that they really killedthem. If they had killed all defilements then we probablywouldnt have any! They didnt kill defilements; when theyknew them for what they are, they let them go. Someonewhos stupid will grab them, but the Enlightened Onesknew the defilements in their own minds as a poison, sothey swept them out. They swept out the things whichcaused them to suffer, they didnt kill them. One whodoesnt know this will see some things, such as happiness,as good, and then grab them, but the Buddha just knewthem and simply brushed them away.

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 mentalimpressions, they are the world. If the mind knows this itcan equally do work involving happiness or unhappiness.Why? Because it knows the truth of these things. Someonewho doesnt know them sees them as equal. If you cling to

11. Defilements, or kilesa, are the habits born of ignorance which infest the minds of all unen-lightened beings.43

happiness it will be the birth-place of unhappiness lateron, because happiness is unstable, it changes all the time.When happiness disappears, unhappiness arises.

The Buddha knew that because both happiness and un-happiness 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 draw-backs. They come under the Law of Dhamma, that is, theyare unstable and unsatisfactory. Once born, they die. Whenhe saw this, right view arose, the right way of practice be-came clear. No matter what sort of feeling or thinkingarose in his mind, he knew it as simply the continuous playof happiness and unhappiness. He didnt cling to them.

When the Buddha was newly enlightened he gave asermon about indulgence in Pleasure and Indulgence inPain. Monks! Indulgence in Pleasure is the loose way, In-dulgence in Pain is the tense way. These were the twothings that disturbed his practice until the day he was en-lightened, because at first he didnt let go of them. Whenhe knew them, he let them go, and so was able to give hisfirst sermon.

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

Mindfulness is knowing, or presence of mind. Rightnow what are we thinking, what are we doing? What dowe have with us right now? We observe like this, we are44

aware of how we are living. When we practice like this wis-dom can arise. We consider and investigate at all times, inall postures. When a mental impression arises that we liketo know it as such, we dont hold it to be anything substan-tial. Its just happiness. When unhappiness arises we knowthat its Indulgence in Pain, its not the path of a meditator.

This is what we call separating the mind from the feel-ing. If we are clever we dont attach, we leave things be. Webecome the one who knows. The mind and feeling are justlike oil and water; they are in the same bottle but they dontmix. Even if we are sick or in pain, we still know the feelingas feeling, the mind as mind. We know the painful or com-fortable states but we dont identify with them. We stayonly with peace: the peace beyond both comfort and pain.

You should understand it like this, because if there isno permanent self then there is no refuge. You must livelike this, that is, without happiness and without unhappi-ness. You stay only with the knowing, you dont carrythings around.

As long as we are still unenlightened all this may soundstrange but it doesnt matter, we just set our goal in thisdirection. The mind is the mind. It meets happiness andunhappiness and we see them as merely that, theres noth-ing more to it. They are divided, not mixed. If they are allmixed up then we dont know them. Its like living in ahouse; the house and its occupant are related, but sepa-rate. If there is danger in our house we are distressed be-cause we must protect it, but if the house catches fire weget out of it. If painful feeling arises we get out of it, justlike that house. When its full of fire and we know it, we45

come running out of it. They are separate things; the houseis one thing, the occupant is the other.

We say that we separate mind and feeling in this waybut in fact they are by nature already separate. Our realiza-tion is simply to know this natural separateness accordingto reality. When we say they are not separated its becausewere clinging to them through ignorance of the truth.

So the Buddha told us to meditate. This practice of med-itation is very important. Merely to know with the intellectis not enough. The knowledge which arises from practicewith a peaceful mind and the knowledge which comes fromstudy are really far apart. The knowledge which comesfrom study is not real knowledge of our mind. The mindtries to hold onto and keep this knowledge. Why do we tryto keep it? Just lose it! And then when its lost we cry!

If we really know, then theres letting go, leavingthings be. We know how things are and dont forget our-selves. If it happens that we are sick we dont get lost inthat. Some people think, This year I was sick the wholetime, I couldnt meditate at all. These are the words of areally foolish person. Someone whos sick and dyingshould really be diligent in his practice. One may say hedoesnt trust his body, and so he feels that he cant medi-tate. If we think like this then things are difficult. TheBuddha didnt teach like that. He said that right here is theplace to meditate. When were sick or almost dying thatswhen we can really know and see reality.

Other people say they dont have the chance to medi-tate because theyre too busy. Sometimes school teacherscome to see me. They say they have many responsibilities46

so theres no time to meditate. I ask them, When youreteaching do you have time to breathe? They answer,Yes. So how can you have time to breathe if the work isso hectic and confusing? Here you are far from Dhamma.

Actually this practice is just about the mind and its feel-ings. Its not something that you have to run after or strug-gle for. Breathing continues while working. Nature takescare of the natural processes all we have to do is try tobe aware. Just to keep trying, going inwards to see clearly.Meditation is like this.

If we have that presence of mind then whatever workwe do will be the very tool which enables us to know rightand wrong continually. Theres plenty of time to meditate,we just dont fully understand the practice, thats all. Whilesleeping we breathe, eating we breathe, dont we? Whydont we have time to meditate? Wherever we are webreathe. If we think like this then our life has as muchvalue as our breath, wherever we are we have time.

All kinds of thinking are mental conditions, not condi-tions 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, theres plenty of time. We justdont know how to use it properly. Please consider this.

We cannot run away from feeling, we must know it. Feel-ing is just feeling, happiness is just happiness, unhappinessis just unhappiness. They are simply that. So why should wecling to them? If the mind is clever, simply to hear this isenough to enable us to separate feeling from the mind.

If we investigate like this continuously the mind willfind release, but its not escaping through ignorance. The47

mind lets go, but it knows. It doesnt let go through stupid-ity, not because it doesnt want things to be the way theyare. It lets go because it knows according to the truth. Thisis seeing nature, the reality thats all around us.

When we know this we are someone whos skilled withthe mind, we are skilled with mental impressions. Whenwe are skilled with mental impressions we are skilled withthe world. This is to be a Knower of the World. TheBuddha was someone who clearly knew the world with allits difficulty. He knew the troublesome, and that whichwas not troublesome was right there. This world is so con-fusing, how is it that the Buddha was able to know it? Herewe should understand that the Dhamma taught by theBuddha is not beyond our ability. In all postures we shouldhave presence of mind and self-awareness and when itstime to sit meditation we do that.

We sit in meditation to establish peacefulness and cul-tivate mental energy. We dont do it in order to playaround at anything special. Insight meditation is sitting insamdhi itself. At some places they say, Now we are goingto sit in samdhi, after that well do insight meditation.Dont divide them like this! Tranquility is the base whichgives rise to wisdom; wisdom is the fruit of tranquility. Tosay that now we are going to do calm meditation, laterwell do insight you cant do that! You can only dividethem in speech. Just like a knife, the blade is on one side,the back of the blade on the other. You cant divide them.If you pick up one side you get both sides. Tranquility givesrise to wisdom like this.

Morality is the father and mother of Dhamma. In the48

beginning we must have morality. Morality is peace. Thismeans that there are no wrong doings in body or speech.When we dont do wrong then we dont get agitated; whenwe dont become agitated then peace and collectednessarise within the mind. So we say that morality, concentra-tion and wisdom are the path on which all the Noble Oneshave walked to enlightenment. They are all one. Moralityis concentration, concentration is morality. Concentrationis wisdom, wisdom is concentration. Its like a mango.When its a flower we call it a flower. When it becomes afruit we call it a mango. When it ripens we call it a ripemango. Its all one mango but it continually changes. Thebig mango grows from the small mango, the small mangobecomes a big one. You can call them different fruits or allone. Morality, concentration and wisdom are related likethis. In the end its all the path that leads to enlighten-ment.

The mango, from the moment it first appears as aflower, simply grows to ripeness. This is enough, weshould see it like this. Whatever others call it, it doesntmatter. Once its born it grows to old age, and then where?We should contemplate this.

Some people dont want to be old. When they get oldthey become regretful. These people shouldnt eat ripemangoes! Why do we want the mangoes to be ripe? Iftheyre not ripe in time, we ripen them artificially, dontwe? But when we become old we are filled with regret.Some people cry, theyre afraid to get old or die. If its likethis then they shouldnt eat ripe mangoes, better eat justthe flowers! If we can see this then we can see the49

Dhamma. Everything clears up, we are at peace. Just de-termine to practice like that.

So today the Chief Privy Councillor and his party havecome together to hear the Dhamma. You should take whatIve said and contemplate it. If anything is not right, pleaseexcuse me. But for you to know whether its right or wrongdepends on your practicing and seeing for yourselves.Whatevers wrong, throw it out. If its right then take it anduse it. But actually we practice in order to let go both rightand wrong. In the end we just throw everything out. If itsright, throw it out; wrong, throw it out! Usually if its rightwe cling to rightness, if its wrong we hold it to be wrong,and then arguments follow. But he Dhamma is the placewhere theres nothing nothing at all.

* * *The Buddha was enlightened in the world, he

contemplated the world. If he hadnt contemplated the world, if he hadnt seen the world, he couldnt have risen

above it. The Buddhas 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 werent these things there would be nothing to

become enlightened to.

Opening the Dhamma Eye

* * *

50

Opening the Dhamma Eye

Some of us start to practice, and even after a year or two,still dont know whats what. We are still unsure of thepractice. When were still unsure, we dont see that every-thing around us is purely Dhamma, and so we turn toteachings from the Ajahns. But actually, when we knowour own mind, when there is sati to look closely at themind, there is wisdom. All times and all places becomeoccasions for us to hear the Dhamma.

We can learn Dhamma from nature, from trees for ex-ample. A tree is born due to causes and it grows followingthe course of nature. Right here the tree is teaching usDhamma, but we dont understand this. In due course, itgrows until it buds, flowers and fruit appear. All we see isthe appearance of the flowers and fruit; were unable tobring this within and contemplate it. Thus we dont knowthat the tree is teaching us Dhamma. The fruit appears andwe merely eat it without investigating: sweet, sour orsalty, its the nature of the fruit. And this Dhamma, theteaching of the fruit. Following on, the leaves grow old.They wither, die and then fall from the tree. All we see isthat the leaves have fallen down. We step on them, wesweep them up, thats all. We dont investigate thoroughly,so we dont know that nature is teaching us. Later on thenew leaves sprout, and we merely see that, without takingit further. We dont bring these things into our minds tocontemplate.

If we can bring all this inwards and investigate it, we51

will see that the birth of a tree and our own birth are nodifferent. This body of ours is born and exists dependenton conditions, on the elements of earth, water, wind andfire. It has its food, it grows and grows. Every part of thebody changes and flows according to its nature. Its no dif-ferent from the tree; hair, nails, teeth and skin allchange. If we know the things of nature, then we willknow ourselves.

People are born. In the end they die. Having died theyare born again. Nails, teeth and skin are constantly dyingand re-growing. If we understand the practice then we cansee that a tree is no different from ourselves. If we under-stand the teaching of the Ajahns, then we realize that theoutside and the inside are comparable. Things which haveconsciousness and those without consciousness do not dif-fer. They are the same. And if we understand this same-ness, then when we see the nature of a tree, for example,we will know that its no different from our own fivekhandhas12 body, feeling, memory, thinking and con-sciousness. If we have this understanding then we under-stand Dhamma. If we understand Dhamma we understandthe five khandhas, how they constantly shift and change,never stopping.

So whether standing, walking, sitting or lying weshould have sati to watch over and look after the mind.When we see external things its like seeing internals. Whenwe see internals its the same as seeing externals. If we un-derstand this then we can hear the teaching of the Buddha.If we understand this, then we can say that Buddha-nature,

12. Khandhas. They are the five groups which go to make up what we call a person.52

the One who knows, has been established. It knows the ex-ternal. It knows the internal. It understands all thingswhich arise. Understanding like this, then sitting at the footof a tree we hear the Buddhas teaching. Standing, walking,sitting or lying, we hear the Buddhas teaching. Seeing,hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking, we hearthe Buddhas teaching. The Buddha is just this One whoknows within this very mind. It knows the Dhamma, it in-vestigates the Dhamma. Its not that the Buddha-nature,the one who knows, arises. The mind becomes illumined.

If we establish the Buddha within our mind then wesee everything, we contemplate everything, as no differentfrom ourselves. We see various animals, trees, mountainsand vines as no different from ourselves. We see poor peo-ple and rich people theyre no different! They all havethe same characteristics. One who understands like this iscontent wherever he is. He listens to the Buddhas teachingat all times. If we dont understand this, then even if wespend all our time listening to teachings from the variousAjahns, we still wont understand their meaning.

The Buddha said that enlightenment of the Dhamma isjust knowing Nature,13 the reality which is all around us,the Nature which is right here! If we dont understand thisNature we experience disappointment and joy, we get lostin moods, giving rise to sorrow and regret. Getting lost inmental objects is getting lost in Nature. When we get lostin Nature then we dont know Dhamma. The EnlightenedOne merely pointed out this Nature.

Having arisen, all things change and die. Things we13. Nature here refers to all things, mental and physical, not just trees, animals, etc.53

make, such as plates, bowls and dishes, all have the samecharacteristic. A bowl is molded into being due to a cause,mans impulse to create, and as we use it, it gets old,breaks up and disappears. Trees, mountains and vines arethe same, right up to animals and people.

When A Kondaa, the first disciple, heard theBuddhas teaching for the first time, the realization he hadwas nothing very complicated. He simply saw that what-ever thing is born, that thing must change and grow old asa natural condition and eventually it must die. AKondaa had never thought of this before, or if he had itwasnt thoroughly clear, so he hadnt yet let go, he stillclung to the khandhas. As he sat mindfully listening to theBuddhas discourse, Buddha-nature arose in him. He re-ceived a sort of Dhamma transmission, which was theknowledge that all conditioned things are impermanent.Any thing which is born must have aging and death as anatural result.

This feeling was different from anything hed everknown before. He truly realized his mind, and so Buddhaarose within him. At that time the Buddha declared thatA Kondaa had received the Eye of Dhamma.

What is it that this Eye of Dhamma sees? This Eye seesthat whatever is born has aging and death as a natural re-sult. Whatever is born means everything! Whether mate-rial or immaterial, it all comes under this whatever isborn. It refers to all of Nature. Like this body for instance its born and then proceeds to extinction. When itssmall it dies from smallness to youth. After a while itdies from youth and becomes middle-aged. Then it goes54

on to die from middle-age and reach old-age, finallyreaching the end. Trees, mountains and vines all have thischaracteristic.

So the vision or understanding of the One who knowsclearly entered the mind of A Kondaa as he sat there.This knowledge of whatever is born became deeply em-bedded in his mind, enabling him to uproot attachment tothe body. This attachment was sakkyadihi. This meansthat he didnt take the body to be a self or a being, or interms of he or me. He didnt cling to it. He saw itclearly, thus uprooting sakkyadihi.

And the vicikiccha (doubt) was destroyed. Having up-rooted attachment to the body he didnt doubt his realiza-tion. Slabbata parmsa14 was also uprooted. His practicebecame firm and straight. Even if his body was in pain orfever he didnt grasp it, he didnt doubt. He didnt doubt,because he had uprooted clinging. This grasping of thebody is called slabbata parmsa. When one uproots theview of the body being the self, grasping and doubt are fin-ished with. If just this view of the body as the self ariseswithin the mind then grasping and doubt begin rightthere.

So as the Buddha expounded the Dhamma, AKondaa opened the Eye of Dhamma. This Eye is just theOne who knows clearly. It sees things differently. It seesthis very nature. Seeing Nature clearly, clinging is up-rooted and the One who knows is born. Previously he

14. Slabbata parmsa is traditionally translated as attachment to rites and rituals. Here the Ven-erable Ajahn relates it, along with doubt, specifically to the body. These three things, sakkya-dihi, vicikicch, and slabbata parmsa, 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.55

knew but he still had clinging. You could say that he knewthe Dhamma but he still hadnt seen it, or he had seen theDhamma but still wasnt one with it.

At this time the Buddha said, Kondaa knows. Whatdid he know? He just knew Nature! Usually we get lost inNature, as with this body of ours. Earth, water, fire andwind come together to make this body. Its an aspect ofNature, a material object we can see with the eye. It existsdepending on food, growing and changing until finally itreaches extinction.

Coming inwards, that which watches over the body isconsciousness just this One who knows, this singleawareness. If it receives through the ear its called hearing;through the nose its called smelling; through the tongue,tasting; through the body, touching; and through themind, thinking. This consciousness is just one but when itfunctions at different places we call it different things.Through the eye we call it one thing, through the ear wecall it another. But whether it functions at the eye, ear,nose, tongue, body or mind its just one awareness. Fol-lowing the scriptures we call it the six consciousness, butin reality there is only one consciousness arising at thesesix different bases. There are six doors but a singleawareness, which is this very mind.

This mind is capable of knowing the truth of Nature. Ifthe mind still has obstructions, then we say it knowsthrough ignorance. It knows wrongly and it sees wrongly.Knowing wrongly and seeing wrongly, or knowing andseeing rightly, its just a single awareness. We say wrongview and right view but its just one thing. Right and56

wrong both arise from this one place. When there is wrongknowledge we say that Ignorance conceals the truth.When there is wrong knowledge then there is wrong view,wrong intention, wrong action, wrong livelihood every-thing is wrong! And on the other hand the path of rightpractice is born in this same place. When there is right thenthe wrong disappears.

The Buddha practiced enduring many hardships andtorturing himself with fasting and so on, but he investi-gated deeply into his mind until finally he uprooted igno-rance. All the Buddhas were enlightened in mind, becausethe body knows nothing. You can let it eat or not, it doesntmatter, it can die at any time. The Buddhas all practicedwith the mind. They were enlightened in mind.

The Buddha, having contemplated his mind, gave upthe two extremes of practice indulgence in pleasure andindulgence in pain and in his first discourse expoundedthe Middle Way between these two. But we hear his teach-ing and it grates against our desires. Were infatuated withpleasure and comfort, infatuated with happiness, thinkingwe are good, we are fine this is indulgence in pleasure.Its not the right path. Dissatisfaction, displeasure, dislikeand anger this is indulgence in pain. These are the ex-treme ways which one on the path of practice shouldavoid.

These ways are simply the happiness and unhappi-ness which arise. The one on the path is this very mind,the One who knows. If a good mood arises we cling to itas good, this is indulgence in pleasure. If an unpleasantmood arises we cling to it through dislike this is indul-57

gence in pain. These are the wrong paths, they arent theways of a meditator. Theyre the ways of the worldly, thosewho look for fun and happiness and shun unpleasantnessand suffering.

The wise know the wrong paths but they relinquishthem, they give them up. They are unmoved by pleasureand displeasure, happiness and unhappiness. These thingsarise but those who know dont cling to them, they letthem go according to their nature. This is right view. Whenone knows this fully there is liberation. Happiness and un-happiness have no meaning for an Enlightened One.

The Buddha said that the Enlightened Ones werefar from defilements. This doesnt mean that they ranaway from defilements, they didnt run away anywhere.Defilements were there. He compared it to a lotus leaf ina pond of water. The leaf and the water exist together,they are in contact, but the leaf doesnt become damp. Thewater is like defilements and the lotus leaf is the Enlight-ened Mind.

The mind of one who practices is the same; it doesntrun away anywhere, it stays right there. Good, evil, happi-ness, and unhappiness, right and wrong arise, and heknows them all. The meditator simply knows them, theydont enter his mind. That is, he has no clinging. He is sim-ply the experiencer. To say he simply experiences is ourcommon language. In the language of Dhamma we say helets his mind follow the Middle Way.

These activities of happiness, unhappiness and so onare constantly arising because they are characteristics ofthe world. The Buddha was enlightened in the world, he58

contemplated the world. If he hadnt contemplated theworld, if he hadnt seen the world, he couldnt have risenabove it. The Buddhas Enlightenment was simply enlight-enment of this very world. The world was still there: gainand loss, praise and criticism, fame and disrepute, happi-ness and unhappiness were still there. If there werentthese things there would be nothing to become enlight-ened to! What he knew was just the world, that which sur-rounds the hearts of people. If people follow these things,seeking praise and fame, gain and happiness, and trying toavoid their opposites, they sink under the weight of theworld.

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

Therefore the Buddha taught us to develop the path.We can divide it up into morality, concentration and wis-dom develop them to completion! This is the path ofpractice which destroys the world. Where is this world? Itis just in the minds of beings infatuated with it! The actionof clinging to praise, gain, fame, happiness and unhappi-ness is called world. When it is there in the mind, then theworld arises, the worldly being is born. The world is bornbecause of desire. Desire is the birthplace of all worlds. Toput an end to desire is to put an end to the world.

Our practice of morality, concentration and wisdom is59

otherwise called the Eightfold Path. This Eightfold Pathand the eight worldly dhammas are a pair. How is it thatthey are a pair? If we speak according to the scriptures, wesay that gain and loss, praise and criticism, fame and dis-repute, happiness and unhappiness are the eight worldlydhammas. Right view, Right Intention, Right Speech,Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mind-fulness and Right Concentration, this is the Eightfold Path.These two eightfold ways exist in the same place. Theeight worldly dhammas are right here in this very mind,with the One who knows but this One who knows hasobstructions, so it knows wrongly and thus becomes theworld. Its just this one One who knows, no other! TheBuddha-nature has not yet arisen in this mind, it has notyet extracted itself from the world. The mind like this is theworld.

When we practice the path, when we train our bodyand speech, its all done in that very same mind. Its thesame place so they see each other; the path sees the world.If we practice with this mind of ours we encounter thisclinging to praise, fame, pleasure and happiness, we seethe attachment to the world.

The Buddha said, You should know the world. It daz-zles like a kings royal carriage. Fools are entranced, butthe wise are not deceived. Its not that he wanted us to goall over the world looking at everything, studying every-thing about it. He simply wanted us to watch this mindwhich is attached to it. When the Buddha told us to look atthe world he didnt want us to get stuck in it, he wanted usto investigate it, because the world is born just in this60

mind. Sitting in the shade of a tree you can look at theworld. When there is desire the world comes into beingright there. Wanting is the birth place of the world. To ex-tinguish wanting is to extinguish the world.

When we sit in meditation we want the mind to be-come peaceful, but its not peaceful. Why is this? We dontwant to think but we think. Its like a person who goes tosit on an ants nest: the ants just keep on biting him. Whenthe mind is the world then even sitting still with our eyesclosed, all we see is the world. Pleasure, sorrow, anxiety,confusion it all arises. Why is this? Its because we stillhavent realized Dhamma. If the mind is like this the med-itator cant endure the worldly dhammas, he doesnt inves-tigate. Its just the same as if he were sitting on an antsnest. The ants are going to bite because hes right on theirhome! So what should he do? He should look for some poi-son or use fire to drive them out.

But most Dhamma practitioners dont see it like that. Ifthey feel content they just follow contentment, feeling dis-content they just follow that. Following the worldly dham-mas the mind becomes the world. Sometimes we maythink, Oh, I cant do it, its beyond me, so we donteven try! This is because the mind is full of defilements,the worldly dhammas prevent the path from arising. Wecant endure in the development of morality, concentra-tion and wisdom. Its just like that man sitting on the antsnest. He cant do anything, the ants are biting and crawlingall over him, hes immersed in confusion and agitation. Hecant rid his sitting place of the danger, so he just sits there,suffering.61

So it is with our practice. The worldly dhammas existin the minds of worldly beings. When those beings wish tofind peace the worldly dhammas arise right there. Whenthe mind is ignorant there is only darkness. When know-ledge arises the mind is illumined, because ignorance andknowledge are born in the same place. When ignorancehas arisen, knowledge cant enter, because the mind hasaccepted ignorance. When knowledge has arisen, igno-rance cannot stay.

So the Buddha exhorted his disciples to practice withthe mind, because the world is born in this mind, the eightworldly dhammas are there. The Eightfold Path, that is, in-vestigation through calm and insight meditation, our dili-gent effort and the wisdom we develop, all these thingsloosen the grip of the world. Attachment, aversion and de-lusion become lighter, and being lighter, we know them assuch. If we experience fame, material gain, praise, happi-ness or suffering were aware of it. We must know thesethings before we can transcend the world, because theworld is within us.

When were free of these things its just like leaving ahouse. When we enter a house what sort of feeling do wehave? We feel that weve come through the door and en-tered the house. When we leave the house we feel thatweve left it, we come into the bright sunlight, its not darklike it was inside. The action of the mind entering theworldly dhammas is like entering the house. The mindwhich has destroyed the worldly dhammas is like one whohas left the house.

So the Dhamma practitioner must become one who62

witnesses the Dhamma for himself. He knows for himselfwhether the worldly dhammas have left or not, whether