The Guiding Principle (Part 3)

The Dhamma always outstrips the kilesas. The kilesas always surrender to the Dhamma. They are not afraid of anything else but the Dhamma. They capitulate to the Dhamma. So how do we make the kilesas surrender and be fearful of the Dhamma? We must develop and train ourselves with the Dhamma. We must not relent or back down. We will then experience calm and insight right within the heart. We will also discover the means and techniques used in subduing the kilesas right within the heart. Once we have cleared the way of hindrances, then the Dhamma will have the opportunity to grow steadily, not dependent on time or place or postures. When the opportunity is there, the Dhamma will steadily appear, just like when the kilesas emerge. When the conditions are right for them to appear, then they will appear. The more the kilesas appear, then the more the dukkha. The more the Dhamma emerges, then the more the happiness. This is the basis of comparison and competition between the Dhamma and the kilesas that can be seen clearly within our hearts. The kilesas have ruled over our hearts for a long time. Aren’t we ever going to learn our lesson about their menace? It is about time that we did so now, as there is now the Dhamma that will serve as the competitor to them, and the object of comparison and contrast.

We will then begin to exert in our practice, and keep on driving inwards. At least we should try to make our heart calm, so that we can have peace and happiness. For one who has gone forth, especially if he is a practitioner, if he doesn’t have any calm within his heart, he will never have any happiness. Living amongst his peers, he will see that everything around him is antagonistic to him. Though he might not exhibit this externally, it will be building up within his heart. He will not be able to see how wonderful and noble all of his teachers are because his mind is burning with fire. All of his thoughts are fiery. When the mind doesn’t have anything unusual or marvellous within itself, but is fully possessed with the kilesas. Then, when he thinks about his peers, his fellows in Dhamma, and his teachers, it will all go in the way of the kilesas. He will not be able to see their marvel and wonder. He will become dull, weak, discouraged, always retreating, letting the kilesas trample upon him, totally tearing him into pieces.

Does this befit us who are the practitioners, the followers of the Tathāgata, who take up the foremost and most supreme Dhamma of the Lord Buddha? We are making ourselves vulnerable to the kilesas, and letting them trample all over us from the tops of our heads down to the soles of our feet, for countless lives. And we still have not learned our lesson yet! When are we ever going to come up with any wisdom? How can we ever believe in the Lord Buddha? It is more correct to say that we take up ‘Rāga-taṅhā saraṇaṁ gacchāmi’, lust as our refuge. There is just empty wind when we utter ‘Buddhaṁ, Dhammaṁ, Sanghaṁ saraṇaṁ gacchāmi’, for truly it is all the time ‘Rāga, dosa, moha saraṇaṁ gacchāmi’, as we are much closer to them than to the Dhamma. We only think about the Dhamma occasionally. But the kilesas are ever-present, deeply buried and completely merged with the heart itself. There is no way that the Dhamma can infiltrate the heart to make it marvellous and wonderful.

But when the mind has attained calm, we will then see our worth and assets, and see the merit and virtue of the heart, of our colleagues, and of our teacher. The more subtle and lofty the mind becomes, the more we will come to see the marvel and greatness of our teacher. And why is this so? Previously, when our teacher taught us the Dhamma instructions in their depth, profundity and subtlety, we could only listen. It never got to our hearts. But when we have experienced the Dhamma like the state of calm, we can see clearly that it is exactly as our teacher had explained. It is now a living reality within our hearts. All the various levels of sati and paññā instructed by our teacher have now also appeared within our hearts. We will see clearly within the heart the results that arise from the investigation of paññā that overcomes, uproots, and eliminates the kilesas, until the heart becomes purified. The intensity of our conviction, belief, and admiration for our colleagues and our teacher, will become heightened as the mind remains with the way of Dhamma.

I try my best to provide all of you with favorable times and opportunities to practice, but you have to put in the effort yourselves. I try to keep all the extra-curricular activities to the minimum, so that you can really strive in your practice. If you find walking meditation is good for you, then you should keep on walking. If you are not doing any other kind of work, then you should do a lot of walking meditation. The body can be adversely affected if it is not given the proper work-out and exercise. You should, therefore, do a lot of walking meditation, as a way of working-out.

Sitting for a long time or sitting a lot depends on your ability. This is not something that can be forced upon you. It depends on your own disposition, and what is suitable for you. As far as I myself was concerned, in the beginning stages of practice I found it quite painful after sitting for about 30 minutes. But then I was able to extend it to an hour, an hour and a half, two hours, and three hours and four hours, sitting each time. During each session of sitting, I usually sat for about three or four hours. But when the time came for putting in an all-out effort, then it just happened by itself. There is a time when you come to a critical situation, with which you will have to contend until you come up with the results and come to true realization and insight. This is when you go into the ring and put your whole life at stake, like sitting all night. I had never anticipated doing this before. But as I began to sit, then the kilesas would begin to gather up their forces and really strike at and swoop down on me. I began to wonder what was going on. It seemed like I was being obstinate and unyielding, though it was going in the way of Dhamma. I said ‘What is happening?’ This is the way of the magga, contending with my own kilesas. I’m not picking a fight with anyone. If I’m fighting with other people, then this is the work of the kilesas. But if I’m doing it for the purpose of conquering myself, then this must be the magga, the weapon to fight the kilesas with. My mind now begins to turn around incessantly, but when it stops, I then say ‘Alright, it’s either I realize the truth or death!’

I immediately set up a resolve: “Today I have to get to see the truth that is manifesting itself right at this time. What is it like? If I don’t die, then I have to remain sitting until morning before I will get up from this seat. From this moment until dawn, I will not let anything come to sidetrack me from this work.”

The mind then began to turn around investigating incessantly. That is how it was when I sat meditating all night long. When you have established a firm foundation from this way of practice, then this becomes a very good way to proceed. You will have no qualms, nor have any fear of the pain that you have investigated before, now that you know how to totally separate the pain from the heart. It can no longer enter the heart and affect it in any way. You have clearly realized the truth of the body. Every part of the body is one form of truth, it is as it is. The pain that appears doesn’t know that it is painful. It is one form of process or condition, one form of truth. It exists as it is. It is the mind that alleges that I am painful, that I am experiencing the pain, rounding it all into this ‘I’. When the body, the pain, and ‘I’ are mixed together, the mind then ends up burning itself, because paññā cannot catch up with this delusion.

But when paññā has analyzed and differentiated every part of the body and the nature of pain, and seen them according to the truth, then every part of the body is just the body, the pain is just the pain. They are all just as they are, and as they have been since ancient times. Pain is a condition that arises, remains, and disappears, as it is natural for it to do so. It is the mind that supposes, assumes and presumes. Saññā is really the chief culprit here. When you understand this, then the mind will steadily draw inwards. Actually it is saññā that is steadily drawing inwards. You will then get to see the truth within your heart. The heart then becomes real, the body is real, and so is the pain. They each are real. Although the pain did not disappear, it will not affect the heart. The heart will remain calm and at ease.

This is an extremely crucial technique, for you have now established a base. You are now bold and courageous, and the mind becomes sublime, elegant, brilliant and luminous. You can now see the indescribable marvel within your heart that you have never experienced before. With this much success, you are quite proud of yourself. You can now fearlessly face up to the pain, as well as coming face to face with death. You will just say, “Where will this death come from? What form of pain can deceive me? At the time of death, what kind of pain can appear if not this same kind of pain that is appearing at this time?”

But I have already understood the truth of the pain that is appearing at this time. For me, death really has no meaning or significance at all. All that is necessary is to get to know the truth. The four elements of earth, water, air, and fire, will just dissolve from this body. They just return to their original state. And how can the mind die? Whilst I think that it passes away, it instead becomes more distinct and remains knowing. So what really dies? Do the four elements of earth, water, air, and fire, ever really die? Have they ever been destroyed? Of course not! It never happened! And how can the mind die, when I can see it becoming more distinct and obvious? Is this the one that is going to die? How can it die? I cannot find the cause of it’. It just manifests itself more distinctly and obviously. I become very brave and courageous. This is speaking about the time when it is suitable to put in an all-out effort into the practice. This will come by itself.

May all of you put in your effort and strive in your practice. Don’t relent or retreat, and be always and constantly endeavouring and striving. You have to take hold of this supreme treasure, and make it your own possession right within your heart. As far as the kilesas which are ruling over your hearts are concerned, they have been here for aeons, their origin untraceable. This is due to your delusion that makes you fall completely under the control of the kilesas, allowing them to trample on and damage your heart, pushing you to take birth in the various forms of existence.

Whatever form of birth you take up, it is all due to the influence of the kilesas. It is the kilesas that lead you to born and die, to suffer pain, trouble and hardship. If you cannot see the harm of the kilesas, then what can you see the harm of? There is nothing else that is harmful to you. The external conditions such as the climate, the hot and the cold weather, are all something quite ordinary. They are not as dangerous as the kilesas which hurt and oppress you. This is how you have to see the danger of the kilesas. Then it will be possible for the heart to live in peace and tranquillity. In practice, there are two essential keys to success. The first one is when you come to the true conviction in the principle of Dhamma, when you have established a firm foundation for the heart, and are completely certain that the mind will no longer deteriorate. It can be achieved by sitting all night. This accomplishment will be clearly perceived. You now know definitely that the mind will now not deteriorate. You then move on to eliminate rāga or lust by incessantly contemplating on the loathsome nature of the body, which is a bit tricky but you will eventually achieve it. You then move on to the last stage of your practice, to the pinnacle of the heart, to the pinnacle of knowledge, and to the pinnacle of your practice, where you will find that this is also a bit tricky to achieve. If you have not ‘cracked’ this secret yet, you will not be able to explain it to the other practitioner. You can only learn it from practical experience.

This is similar to what the scriptures say: That an ordinary person who has not yet realized any of the four stages of enlightenment is not capable of solving the problems of a sotāpanna. A sotāpanna is not capable of solving the problems of a sakadāgāmī. A sakadāgāmī is not capable of solving the problems of an anāgāmī. An anāgāmī is not capable of solving the problems of an arahant. An arahant is not capable of solving the problems of the Lord Buddha. Also, no other arahant is capable of solving the problems of the Venerable Sāriputta and the Venerable Mogallāna, problems that are not about the elimination of the kilesas, but are beyond the ability of the other arahants. But when I spoke about the tricks needed to solve the problems of the sotāpanna, the sakadāgāmī, the anāgāmī, and the arahant, I meant the tricks used in the elimination of the kilesas. When you ask someone who has not learned these tricks that you have learned and seen not from written scriptures, but clearly from your practical experience, be it at any level, he will not be able to answer you. Even if he is a very learned scholar of the Tipiṭaka or Buddhist Canon, he will be stuck. Therefore, speaking from the practical experience point of view, how can anyone be contemptuous of the kammaṭṭhāna practitioner who can ask you questions that you cannot answer?

Consider, for example, at the time of the Lord Buddha. There was a well-learned scholar who had accomplished his study of the tipiṭaka. He was scornful of the kammaṭṭhāna bhikkhus and treated them with contempt and derision. All of these kammaṭṭhāna bhikkhus were arahants. So when the Lord Buddha heard of him and came upon the scene, he asked them some questions. He first asked the scholar, whose name was Poṭhila, but he was not able to give an answer. He then asked a kammaṭṭhāna bhikkhu, who happened to be an arahant. He was able to give an answer immediately. The Lord then asked another question on another level of Dhamma. He asked Poṭhila the scholar. Again he was not able to answer. When he asked the kammaṭṭhāna bhikkhu, he answered immediately again. When the Lord Buddha asked the scholar some more questions, he was not able to answer any of the questions. When he asked the kammaṭṭhāna bhikkhu, he was always able to answer right away. The Lord Buddha then said to the scholar, ‘You should not be contemptuous of the kammaṭṭhāna bhikkhu, because you are similar to a cowherd, a hired hand. You only get paid a salary to make a living from. But the arahants, who are the sons of the Tathāgata are similar to the owners of the cattle. They can do anything with the cattle at any time they please, for they are the owners. They are not the hired hands. They are the bosses’. That was how the Lord Buddha expounded this discourse, as it was recorded in the scriptures.

There are a few tricks in the practice. When those who have already experienced them talk about them, they will all understand. They know what wrong view is. When you have the wrong view, although you may think it is the right view, and tell it to someone who has already attained, he will know. For instance, you may think that you have got rid of rāga or lust. When you tell it to someone who has already eliminated lust, he will know if you have really got rid of it or not. The important thing is that you should keep on practicing and progressing until you yourself experience these sublime results which cannot be kept hidden from you.

(Ajahn Maha Boowa “Forest Desanas”)