A Taste of Freedom - Ajahn Chah

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A Taste of Freedom

by Venerable Ajahn Chah

Copyright c 2007 The Sangha, Wat Nong Pah Pong

For free distribution

It is the spirit of d ana , freely offered generosity, which has kept the entire Buddhist tradi-tion alive for more than 2,500 years.

Sabbad ana m dhammad ana m jin ati The gift of Dhamma excels all gifts

This computer edition of the book A Taste of Freedom may be freely copied and redis-tributed electronically, provided that the le contents (including this agreement) are not alteredin any way and that it is distributed at no cost to the recipient. You may make printed copies of this work for your personal use; further distribution of printed copies requires permission fromthe copyright holder. Permission to reprint this book for free distribution may be obtained upon

notication. Any reproduction (in whole or part, in any form) for sale, prot or material gain isprohibited.

The AbbotWat Nong Pah PongTambon NonPeungAmpher Warin ChamrabUbon Rachathani 34190Thailandwebsite: www.watnongpahpong.org

This edition of A Taste of Freedom is taken from the book The Teachings of Ajahn Chah(edition 4.3). Both books are available for download (pdf, html and lit) at www.ajahnchah.org.


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Contents

Introduction 1

About Ajahn Chah 3

Training this Mind 11

On Meditation 13

The Path in Harmony 19

The Middle Way Within 26

The Peace Beyond 35

Opening the Dhamma Eye 47

Convention and Liberation 64

No Abiding 72

Right View - the Place of Coolness 80

Epilogue 86

Glossary of Pali Words 89

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Introduction

Most of the talks in this collection were originally taken from oldcassette tape recordings of Venerable Ajahn Chah, some in Thaiand some in the North-Eastern Dialect, most recorded on poorquality equipment under less than optimum conditions.

This presented some difculty in the work of translation, whichwas overcome by occasionally omitting very unclear passagesand at other times asking for advice from other listeners morefamiliar with those languages. Nevertheless there has inevitably

been some editing in the process of making this book. Apart fromthe difculties presented by the lack of clarity of the tapes, thereis also the necessity of editing when one is taking words from thespoken to the written medium. For this, the translator takes fullresponsibility.

Pali words have occasionally been left as they are, in othercases translated. The criteria here has been readability. Those

Pali words which were considered short enough or familiar enoughto the reader already conversant with Buddhist terminology havegenerally been left untranslated. This should present no dif-culty, as they are generally explained by the Venerable AjahnChah in the course of the talk. Longer words, or words consid-ered to be probably unfamiliar to the average reader, have beentranslated. Of these, there are two which are particularly note-worthy. They are K amasukhallik anuyogo and Attakilamath anu-yogo , which have been translated as Indulgence in Pleasure

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INTRODUCTION 2

and Indulgence in Pain respectively. These two words occur inno less than ve of the talks included in this book, and althoughthe translations provided here are not those generally used forthe words, they are nevertheless in keeping with the VenerableAjahns use of them.

Finding the middle way between a dull, over-literal approachand a more owing, but less precise rendering hasnt always beeneasy. Each of the various translators has compromised in differ-ent ways. Hopefully we have managed to bring out both the clearsimplicity, the directness and the humor of these talks on the one

hand, and at the same time, the profundity that underlies and in-spires them.

Venerable Ajahn Chah always gave his talks in simple, ev-eryday language. His objective was to clarify the Dhamma, notto confuse his listeners with an overload of information. Conse-quently the talks presented here have been rendered into corre-spondingly simple English. The aim of the translators has been

to present Ajahn Chahs teaching in both the spirit and the letter.

The Translator


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About Ajahn Chah

VENERABLE AJAHN CHAH (Phra Bodhi an. a Thera) was born

into a typical farming family in a rural village in the provinceof Ubon Rachathani, N.E. Thailand, on June 17, 1918. He livedthe rst part of his life as any other youngster in rural Thailand,and, following the custom, took ordination as a novice in the lo-cal village monastery for three years. There, he learned to readand write, in addition to studying some basic Buddhist teachings.After a number of years he returned to the lay life to help his

parents, but, feeling an attraction to the monastic life, at the ageof twenty (on April 26, 1939) he again entered a monastery, thistime for higher ordination as a bhikkhu, or Buddhist monk.

He spent the rst few years of his bhikkhu life studying somebasic Dhamma, discipline, P ali language and scriptures, but thedeath of his father awakened him to the transience of life. Itcaused him to think deeply about lifes real purpose, for although

he had studied extensively and gained some prociency in P ali,he seemed no nearer to a personal understanding of the end of suffering. Feelings of disenchantment set in, and a desire to ndthe real essence of the Buddhas teaching arose. Finally (in 1946)he abandoned his studies and set off on mendicant pilgrimage. Hewalked some 400 km to Central Thailand, sleeping in forests andgathering almsfood in the villages on the way. He took up resi-dence in a monastery where the vinaya (monastic discipline) wascarefully studied and practiced. While there he was told about

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ABOUT AJAHN CHAH 4

Venerable Ajahn Mun Bhuridatto, a most highly respected Medi-tation Master. Keen to meet such an accomplished teacher, AjahnChah set off on foot for the Northeast in search of him. He beganto travel to other monasteries, studying the monastic disciplinein detail and spending a short but enlightening period with Ven-erable Ajahn Mun, the most outstanding Thai forest meditationmaster of this century. At this time Ajahn Chah was wrestlingwith a crucial problem. He had studied the teachings on moral-ity, meditation and wisdom, which the texts presented in minuteand rened detail, but he could not see how they could actually be

put into practice. Ajahn Mun told him that although the teachingsare indeed extensive, at their heart they are very simple. Withmindfulness established, if it is seen that everything arises in theheart-mind: right there is the true path of practice. This succinctand direct teaching was a revelation for Ajahn Chah, and trans-formed his approach to practice. The Way was clear.

For the next seven years Ajahn Chah practiced in the style of

an ascetic monk in the austere Forest Tradition, spending his timein forests, caves and cremation grounds, ideal places for devel-oping meditation practice. He wandered through the countrysidein quest of quiet and secluded places for developing meditation.He lived in tiger and cobra infested jungles, using reections ondeath to penetrate to the true meaning of life. On one occasionhe practiced in a cremation ground, to challenge and eventuallyovercome his fear of death. Then, as he sat cold and drenchedin a rainstorm, he faced the utter desolation and loneliness of ahomeless monk.

After many years of travel and practice, he was invited tosettle in a thick forest grove near the village of his birth. Thisgrove was uninhabited, known as a place of cobras, tigers andghosts, thus being as he said, the perfect location for a forestmonk. Venerable Ajahn Chahs impeccable approach to medita-tion, or Dhamma practice, and his simple, direct style of teach-


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ABOUT AJAHN CHAH 5

ing, with the emphasis on practical application and a balancedattitude, began to attract a large following of monks and lay peo-ple. Thus a large monastery formed around Ajahn Chah as moreand more monks, nuns and lay-people came to hear his teachingsand stay on to practice with him.

The training at Wat Nong Pah Pong at that time was quiteharsh and forbidding. Ajahn Chah often pushed his monks totheir limits, to test their powers of endurance so that they woulddevelop patience and resolution. He sometimes initiated long andseemingly pointless work projects, in order to frustrate their at-

tachment to tranquility. The emphasis was always on surrenderto the way things are, and great stress was placed upon strict ob-servance of the Vinaya (discipline).

Ajahn Chahs simple yet profound style of teaching has a spe-cial appeal to Westerners, and many have come to study and prac-tice with him, quite a few for many years. In 1966 the rst west-erner came to stay at Wat Nong Pah Pong, Venerable Sumedho

Bhikkhu. The newly ordained Venerable Sumedho had just spenthis rst vassa (rains retreat) practicing intensive meditation ata monastery near the Laotian border. Although his efforts hadborne some fruit, Venerable Sumedho realized that he neededa teacher who could train him in all aspects of monastic life.By chance, one of Ajahn Chahs monks, one who happened tospeak a little English, visited the monastery where VenerableSumedho was staying. Upon hearing about Ajahn Chah, Ven-erable Sumedho asked to take leave of his preceptor, and wentback to Wat Nong Pah Pong with the monk. Ajahn Chah will-ingly accepted the new disciple, but insisted that he receive nospecial allowances for being a Westerner. He would have to eatthe same simple almsfood and practice in the same way as anyother monk at Wat Nong Pah Pong.

From that time on, the number of foreign people who cameto Ajahn Chah began to steadily increase. By the time Venerable


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ABOUT AJAHN CHAH 6

Sumedho was a monk of ve vassas, and Ajahn Chah consid-ered him competent enough to teach, some of these new monkshad also decided to stay on and train there. In the hot seasonof 1975, Venerable Sumedho and a handful of Western bhikkhusspent some time living in a forest not far from Wat Nong PahPong. The local villagers there asked them to stay on, and AjahnChah consented. Thus Wat Pah Nanachat (International ForestMonastery) came into being, and Venerable Sumedho becamethe abbot of the rst monastery in Thailand to be run by and forEnglish-speaking monks.

In 1977, Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Sumedho were invited tovisit Britain by the English Sangha Trust, a charity with the aimof establishing a locally-resident Buddhist Sangha. Seeing theserious interest there, Ajahn Chah left Ajahn Sumedho (with twoof his other Western disciples who were then visiting Europe) inLondon at the Hampstead Vihara. He returned to Britain in 1979,at which time the monks were leaving London to begin Chithurst

Buddhist Monastery in Sussex. He then went on to America andCanada to visit and teach.In 1980 Venerable Ajahn Chah began to feel more accutely

the symptoms of dizziness and memory lapse which had plaguedhim for some years. In 1980 and 1981, Ajahn Chah spent therains retreat away from Wat Nong Pah Pong, since his health wasfailing due to the debilitating effects of diabetes. As his illnessworsened, he would use his body as a teaching, a living exam-ple of the impermanence of all things. He constantly remindedpeople to endeavor to nd a true refuge within themselves, sincehe would not be able to teach for very much longer. His worsen-ing condition led to an operation in 1981, which, however, failedto reverse the onset of the paralysis which eventually renderedhim completely bedridden and unable to speak. This did not stopthe growth of monks and lay people who came to practise at hismonastery, however, for whom the teachings of Ajahn Chah were


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ABOUT AJAHN CHAH 7

a constant guide and inspiration.After remaining bedridden and silent for an amazing ten years,

carefully tended by his monks and novices, Venerable Ajahn Chahpassed away on the 16th of January, 1992, at the age of 74, leav-ing behind a thriving community of monasteries and lay suportersin Thailand, England, Switzerland, Italy, France, Australia, NewZealand, Canada and the U.S.A., where the practise of the Bud-dhas teachings continues under the inspiration of this great med-itation teacher.

Although Ajahn Chah passed away in 1992, the training which

he established is still carried on at Wat Nong Pah Pong and itsbranch monasteries, of which there are currently more than twohundred in Thailand. Discipline is strict, enabling one to leada simple and pure life in a harmoniously regulated communitywhere virtue, meditation and understanding may be skillfully andcontinuously cultivated. There is usually group meditation twicea day and sometimes a talk by the senior teacher, but the heart

of the meditation is the way of life. The monastics do manualwork, dye and sew their own robes, make most of their own req-uisites and keep the monastery buildings and grounds in immacu-late shape. They live extremely simply following the ascetic pre-cepts of eating once a day from the almsbowl and limiting theirpossessions and robes. Scattered throughout the forest are indi-vidual huts where monks and nuns live and meditate in solitude,and where they practice walking meditation on cleared paths un-der the trees.

Wisdom is a way of living and being, and Ajahn Chah hasendeavored to preserve the simple monastic life-style in orderthat people may study and practice the Dhamma in the presentday. Ajahn Chahs wonderfully simple style of teaching can bedeceptive. It is often only after we have heard something manytimes that suddenly our minds are ripe and somehow the teach-ing takes on a much deeper meaning. His skillful means in tai-


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ABOUT AJAHN CHAH 8

loring his explanations of Dhamma to time and place, and to theunderstanding and sensitivity of his audience, was marvelous tosee. Sometimes on paper though, it can make him seem inconsis-tent or even self-contradictory! At such times the reader shouldremember that these words are a record of a living experience.Similarly, if the teachings may seem to vary at times from tradi-tion, it should be borne in mind that the Venerable Ajahn spokealways from the heart, from the depths of his own meditative ex-perience.


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Training this Mind 1

TRAINING THIS MIND ... actually theres nothing much to this

mind. Its simply radiant in and of itself. Its naturallypeaceful. Why the mind doesnt feel peaceful right now is be-cause it gets lost in its own moods. Theres nothing to mind itself.It simply abides in its natural state, thats all. That sometimes themind feels peaceful and other times not peaceful is because it hasbeen tricked by these moods. The untrained mind lacks wisdom.Its foolish. Moods come and trick it into feeling pleasure one

minute and suffering the next. Happiness then sadness. But thenatural state of a persons mind isnt one of happiness or sadness.This experience of happiness and sadness is not the actual minditself, but just these moods which have tricked it. The mind getslost, carried away by these moods with no idea whats happening.And as a result, we experience pleasure and pain accordingly, be-cause the mind has not been trained yet. It still isnt very clever.

And we go on thinking that its our mind which is suffering orour mind which is happy, when actually its just lost in its vari-ous moods.

The point is that really this mind of ours is naturally peaceful.Its still and calm like a leaf that is not being blown about bythe wind. But if the wind blows then it utters. It does that

1Previous editions of A Taste of Freedom used a different translation of

this talk, titled About this Mind.

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TRAINING THIS MIND 12

because of the wind. And so with the mind its because of thesemoods getting caught up with thoughts. If the mind didnt getlost in these moods it wouldnt utter about. If it understood thenature of thoughts it would just stay still. This is called the naturalstate of the mind. And why we have come to practice now is tosee the mind in this original state. We think that the mind itself is actually pleasurable or peaceful. But really the mind has notcreated any real pleasure or pain. These thoughts have come andtricked it and it has got caught up in them. So we really have tocome and train our minds in order to grow in wisdom. So that we

understand the true nature of thoughts rather than just followingthem blindly.

The mind is naturally peaceful. Its in order to understand justthis much that we have come together to do this difcult practiceof meditation.


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On Meditation 1

TO CALM THE MIND means to nd the right balance. If you

try to force your mind too much it goes too far; if you donttry enough it doesnt get there, it misses the point of balance.

Normally the mind isnt still, its moving all the time. Wemust strengthen the mind. Making the mind strong and makingthe body strong are not the same. To make the body strong wehave to exercise it, to push it, in order to make it strong, butto make the mind strong means to make it peaceful, not to go

thinking of this and that. For most of us the mind has never beenpeaceful, it has never had the energy of sam adhi 2 , so we mustestablish it within a boundary. We sit in meditation, staying withthe one who knows.

If we force our breath to be too long or too short, were notbalanced, the mind wont become peaceful. Its like when werst start to use a pedal sewing machine. At rst we just practise

pedalling the machine to get our coordination right, before weactually sew anything. Following the breath is similar. We dontget concerned over how long or short, weak or strong it is, we just note it. We simply let it be, following the natural breathing.

When its balanced, we take the breathing as our meditation

1An informal talk given in the Northeastern dialect, taken from an uniden-tied tape

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Sam adhi is the state of concentrated calm resulting from meditationpractice.

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ON MEDITATION 14

object. When we breathe in, the beginning of the breath is atthe nose-tip, the middle of the breath at the chest and the end of the breath at the abdomen. This is the path of the breath. Whenwe breathe out, the beginning of the breath is at the abdomen,the middle at the chest and the end at the nose-tip. Simply takenote of this path of the breath at the nosetip, the chest and theabdomen, then at the abdomen, the chest and the tip of the nose.We take note of these three points in order to make the mind rm,to limit mental activity so that mindfulness and self-awarenesscan easily arise.

When our attention settles on these three points, we can letthem go and note the in and out breathing, concentrating solelyat the nose-tip or the upper lip, where the air passes on its in andout passage. We dont have to follow the breath, just to establishmindfulness in front of us at the nose-tip, and note the breath atthis one point entering, leaving, entering, leaving.

Theres no need to think of anything special, just concentrate

on this simple task for now, having continuous presence of mind.Theres nothing more to do, just breathing in and out. Soon themind becomes peaceful, the breath rened. The mind and bodybecome light. This is the right state for the work of meditation.

When sitting in meditation the mind becomes rened, butwhatever state its in we should try to be aware of it, to knowit. Mental activity is there together with tranquillity. There is vi-takka . Vitakka is the action of bringing the mind to the theme of contemplation. If there is not much mindfulness, there will be notmuch vitakka . Then vic ara , the contemplation around that theme,follows. Various weak mental impressions may arise from time totime but our self-awareness is the important thing-whatever maybe happening we know it continuously. As we go deeper we areconstantly aware of the state of our meditation, knowing whetheror not the mind is rmly established. Thus, both concentrationand awareness are present.


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ON MEDITATION 15

To have a peaceful mind does not mean that theres nothinghappening, mental impressions do arise. For instance, when wetalk about the rst level of absorption, we say it has ve fac-tors. Along with vitakka and vic ara , p ti (rapture) arises with thetheme of contemplation and then sukha (happiness). These fourthings all lie together in the mind established in tranquillity. Theyare as one state.

The fth factor is ekaggat a or one-pointedness. You maywonder how there can be one-pointedness when there are allthese other factors as well. This is because they all become uni-

ed on that foundation of tranquillity. Together they are calleda state of sam adhi . They are not everyday states of mind, theyare factors of absorption. There are these ve characteristics, butthey do not disturb the basic tranquillity. There is vitakka , but itdoes not disturb the mind; vic ara , rapture and happiness arise butdo not disturb the mind. The mind is therefore as one with thesefactors. The rst level of absorption is like this.

We dont have to call it rst jh ana , second jh ana , third jh ana 1

and so on, lets just call it a peaceful mind. As the mind be-comes progressively calmer it will dispense with vitakka andvic ara , leaving only rapture and happiness. Why does the minddiscard vitakka and vic ara ? This is because, as the mind becomesmore rened, the activities of vitakka and vic ara are too coarse toremain. At this stage, as the mind leaves off vitakka and vic ara ,feelings of great rapture can arise, tears may gush out. But as thesam adhi deepens rapture, too, is discarded, leaving only happi-ness and one-pointedness, until nally even happiness goes andthe mind reaches its greatest renement. There are only equa-nimity and one-pointedness, all else has been left behind. Themind stands unmoving

1Jh ana is an advanced state of concentration or sam adhi , wherein the mindbecomes absorbed into its meditation subject. It is divided into four levels,each level progressively more rened than the previous one.


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ON MEDITATION 16

Once the mind is peaceful this can happen. You dont haveto think a lot about it, it just happens by itself when the causalfactors are ripe. This is called the energy of a peaceful mind.In this state the mind is not drowsy; the ve hindrances, sensedesire, aversion, restlessness, dullness and doubt, have all ed.

But if mental energy is still not strong and mindfulness weak,there will occasionally arise intruding mental impressions. Themind is peaceful but its as if theres a cloudiness within thecalm. Its not a normal sort of drowsiness though, some impres-sions will manifest maybe well hear a sound or see a dog or

something. Its not really clear but its not a dream either. This isbecause these ve factors have become unbalanced and weak.

The mind tends to play tricks within these levels of tranquil-lity. Imagery will sometimes arise when the mind is in thisstate, through any of the senses, and the meditator may not beable to tell exactly what is happening. Am I sleeping? No. Is ita dream? No, its not a dream... These impressions arise from

a middling sort of tranquillity; but if the mind is truly calm andclear we dont doubt the various mental impressions or imagerywhich arise. Questions like, Did I drift off then? Was I sleep-ing? Did I get lost?... dont arise, for they are characteristics of a mind which is still doubting. Am I asleep or awake?... Here,the mind is fuzzy. This is the mind getting lost in its moods.Its like the moon going behind a cloud. You can still see themoon but the clouds covering it render it hazy. Its not like themoon which has emerged from behind the clouds clear, sharp andbright.

When the mind is peaceful and established rmly in mindful-ness and self-awareness, there will be no doubt concerning thevarious phenomena which we encounter. The mind will truly bebeyond the hindrances. We will clearly know everything whicharises in the mind as it is. We do not doubt because the mind isclear and bright. The mind which reaches sam adhi is like this


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ON MEDITATION 17

Some people nd it hard to enter sam adhi because they donthave the right tendencies. There is sam adhi , but its not strong orrm. However, one can attain peace through the use of wisdom,through contemplating and seeing the truth of things, solvingproblems that way. This is using wisdom rather than the powerof sam adhi . To attain calm in practice, its not necessary to besitting in meditation, for instance. Just ask yourself, Eh, whatis that?... and solve your problem right there! A person withwisdom is like this. Perhaps he cant really attain high levels of sam adhi , although there must be some, just enough to cultivate

wisdom. Its like the difference between farming rice and farm-ing corn. One can depend on rice more than corn for ones liveli-hood. Our practice can be like this, we depend more on wisdomto solve problems. When we see the truth, peace arises.

The two ways are not the same. Some people have insight andare strong in wisdom but do not have much sam adhi . When theysit in meditation they arent very peaceful. They tend to think a

lot, contemplating this and that, until eventually they contemplatehappiness and suffering and see the truth of them. Some inclinemore towards this than sam adhi . Whether standing, walking,sitting or lying, enlightenment of the Dhamma can take place.Through seeing, through relinquishing, they attain peace. Theyattain peace through knowing the truth, through going beyonddoubt, because they have seen it for themselves.

Other people have only little wisdom but their sam adhi isvery strong. They can enter very deep sam adhi quickly, but nothaving much wisdom, they cannot catch their delements, theydont know them. They cant solve their problems.

But regardless of whichever approach we use, we must doaway with wrong thinking, leaving only right view. We must getrid of confusion, leaving only peace.

Either way we end up at the same place. There are thesetwo sides to practice, but these two things, calm and insight, go


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ON MEDITATION 18

together. We cant do away with either of them. They must gotogether.

That which looks over the various factors which arise inmeditation is sati , mindfulness. This sati is a condition which,through practice, can help other factors to arise. Sati is life.Whenever we dont have sati , when we are heedless, its as if weare dead. If we have no sati , then our speech and actions have nomeaning. Sati is simply recollection. Its a cause for the arisingof self-awareness and wisdom. Whatever virtues we have culti-vated are imperfect if lacking in sati . Sati is that which watches

over us while standing, walking, sitting and lying. Even when weare no longer in sam adhi , sati should be present throughout.

Whatever we do we take care. A sense of shame 1 will arise.We will feel ashamed about the things we do which arent cor-rect. As shame increases, our collectedness will increase as well.When collectedness increases, heedlessness will disappear. Evenif we dont sit in meditation, these factors will be present in the

mind.And this arises because of cultivating sati . Develop sati ! Thisis the quality which looks over the work we are doing in thepresent. It has real value. We should know ourselves at all times.If we know ourselves like this, right will distinguish itself fromwrong, the path will become clear, and cause for all shame willdissolve. Wisdom will arise.

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

1This is a shame based on knowledge of cause and effect, rather than

emotional guilt.


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The Path in Harmony 1

TODAY I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU ALL . Are you sure yet,

are you certain in your meditation practice? I ask becausethese days there are many people teaching meditation, both monksand lay people, and Im afraid you may be subject to waveringand doubt. If we understand clearly, we will be able to make themind peaceful and rm.

You should understand the eightfold path as morality, con-centration and wisdom. The path comes together as simply this.

Our practice is to make this path arise within us.When sitting meditation we are told to close the eyes, not to

look at anything else, because now we are going to look directlyat the mind. When we close our eyes, our attention comes in-wards. We establish our attention on the breath, centre our feel-ings there, put our mindfulness there. When the factors of thepath are in harmony we will be able to see the breath, the feel-

ings, the mind and mental objects for what they are. Here we willsee the focus point, where sam adhi and the other factors of thepath converge in harmony.

When we are sitting in meditation, following the breath, think to yourself that now you are sitting alone. There is no-one sittingaround you, there is nothing at all. Develop this feeling that youare sitting alone until the mind lets go of all externals, concentrat-

1A composite of two talks given in England in 1979 and 1977 respectively

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THE PATH IN HARMONY 20

ing solely on the breath. If you are thinking, This person is sit-ting over here, that person is sitting over there, there is no peace,the mind doesnt come inwards. Just cast all that aside until youfeel there is no-one sitting around you, until there is nothing atall, until you have no wavering or interest in your surroundings.

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

attention will come together on the breath.If the mind is confused and wont concentrate on the breath,

take a full, deep breath, as deep as you can, and then let it all outtill there is none left. Do this three times and then re-establishyour attention. The mind will become calm.

Its natural for it to be calm for a while, and then restlessnessand confusion may arise again. When this happens, concentrate,

breathe deeply again, and then reestablish your attention on thebreath. Just keep going like this. When this has happened manytimes you will become adept at it, the mind will let go of allexternal manifestations. External impressions will not reach themind. Sati will be rmly established.

As the mind becomes more rened, so does the breath. Feel-ings will become ner and ner, the body and mind will be light.Our attention is solely on the inner, we see the in-breaths andout-breaths clearly, we see all impressions clearly. Here we willsee the coming together of morality, concentration and wisdom.This is called the path in harmony. When there is this harmonyour mind will be free of confusion, it will come together as one.This is called sam adhi .

After watching the breath for a long time, it may become veryrened; the awareness of the breath will gradually cease, leavingonly bare awareness. The breath may become so rened it dis-


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appears! Perhaps we are just sitting, as if there is no breathingat all. Actually there is breathing, but it seems as if theres none.This is because the mind has reached its most rened state, thereis just bare awareness. It has gone beyond the breath. The knowl-edge that the breath has disappeared becomes established. Whatwill we take as our object of meditation now? We take just thisknowledge as our object, that is, the awareness that theres nobreath.

Unexpected things may happen at this time; some people ex-perience them, some dont. If they do arise, we should be rm

and have strong mindfulness. Some people see that the breath hasdisappeared and get a fright, theyre afraid they might die. Herewe should know the situation just as it is. We simply notice thattheres no breath and take that as our object of awareness.

This, we can say, is the rmest, surest type of sam adhi : thereis only one rm, unmoving state of mind. Perhaps the body willbecome so light its as if there is no body at all. We feel like were

sitting in empty space, completely empty. Although this mayseem very unusual, you should understand that theres nothing toworry about. Firmly establish your mind like this.

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

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

Morality has one function, concentration has another func-


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tion and wisdom another. These factors are like a cycle. We cansee them all within the peaceful mind. When the mind is calm ithas collectedness and restraint because of wisdom and the energyof concentration. As it becomes more collected it becomes morerened, which in turn gives morality the strength to increase inpurity. As our morality becomes purer, this will help in the de-velopment of concentration. When concentration is rmly estab-lished it helps in the arising of wisdom. Morality, concentrationand wisdom help each other, they are inter-related like this.

In the end the path becomes one and functions at all times.

We should look after the strength which arises from the path,because it is the strength which leads to insight and wisdom.

On Dangers Of Sam adhi

Sam adhi is capable of bringing much harm or much benet to themeditator, you cant say it brings only one or the other. For onewho has no wisdom it is harmful, but for one who has wisdom itcan bring real benet, it can lead to insight.

That which can possibly be harmful to the meditator is ab-sorption sam adhi (jh ana) , the sam adhi with deep, sustained calm.This sam adhi brings great peace. Where there is peace, there ishappiness. When there is happiness, attachment and clinging tothat happiness arise. The meditator doesnt want to contemplateanything else, he just wants to indulge in that pleasant feeling.When we have been practising for a long time we may becomeadept at entering this sam adhi very quickly. As soon as we startto note our meditation object, the mind enters calm, and we dontwant to come out to investigate anything. We just get stuck onthat happiness. This is a danger to one who is practising medita-tion.

We must use upac ara sam adhi : Here, we enter calm and then,


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when the mind is sufciently calm, we come out and look at outeractivity 1 . Looking at the outside with a calm mind gives rise towisdom. This is hard to understand, because its almost like or-dinary thinking and imagining. When thinking is there, we maythink the mind isnt peaceful, but actually that thinking is tak-ing place within the calm. There is contemplation but it doesntdisturb the calm. We may bring thinking up in order to contem-plate it. Here we take up the thinking to investigate it, its notthat we are aimlessly thinking or guessing away; its somethingthat arises from a peaceful mind. This is called awareness within

calm and calm within awareness . If its simply ordinary thinkingand imagining, the mind wont be peaceful, it will be disturbed.But I am not talking about ordinary thinking, this is a feelingthat arises from the peaceful mind. Its called contemplation.Wisdom is born right here.

So, there can be right sam adhi and wrong sam adhi . Wrongsam adhi is where the mind enters calm and theres no awareness

at all. One could sit for two hours or even all day but the minddoesnt know where its been or whats happened. It doesntknow anything. There is calm, but thats all. Its like a well-sharpened knife which we dont bother to put to any use. This isa deluded type of calm, because there is not much self-awareness.The meditator may think he has reached the ultimate already, sohe doesnt bother to look for anything else. Sam adhi can be anenemy at this level. Wisdom cannot arise because there is noawareness of right and wrong.

With right sam adhi , no matter what level of calm is reached,there is awareness. There is full mindfulness and clear compre-hension. This is the sam adhi which can give rise to wisdom, onecannot get lost in it. Practisers should understand this well. You

1Outer activity refers to all manner of sense impressions. It is usedin contrast to the inner inactivity of absorption sam adhi ( jh ana ), where themind does not go out to external sense impressions.


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cant do without this awareness, it must be present from begin-ning to end. This kind of sam adhi has no danger.

You may wonder: where does the benet arise, how does thewisdom arise, from sam adhi ? When right sam adhi has been de-veloped, wisdom has the chance to arise at all times. When theeye sees form, the ear hears sound, the nose smells odours, thetongue experiences taste, the body experiences touch or the mindexperiences mental impressions in all postures the mind stayswith full knowledge of the true nature of those sense impressions,it doesnt follow them.

When the mind has wisdom it doesnt pick and choose. Inany posture we are fully aware of the birth of happiness and un-happiness. We let go of both of these things, we dont cling. Thisis called right practice, which is present in all postures. Thesewords all postures do not refer only to bodily postures, they re-fer to the mind, which has mindfulness and clear comprehensionof the truth at all times. When sam adhi has been rightly devel-

oped, wisdom arises like this. This is called insight, knowledgeof the truth.There are two kinds of peace the coarse and the rened. The

peace which comes from sam adhi is the coarse type. When themind is peaceful there is happiness. The mind then takes this hap-piness to be peace. But happiness and unhappiness are becomingand birth. There is no escape from sa ms ara 1 here because we stillcling to them. So happiness is not peace, peace is not happiness.

The other type of peace is that which comes from wisdom.Here we dont confuse peace with happiness; we know the mindwhich contemplates and knows happiness and unhappiness aspeace. The peace which arises from wisdom is not happiness,but is that which sees the truth of both happiness and unhappi-

1Sa ms ara , the wheel of birth and death, is the world of all conditionedphenomena, mental and material, which has the threefold characteristics of impermanence, suffering, and not-self.


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ness. Clinging to those states does not arise, the mind rises abovethem. This is the true goal of all Buddhist practice.


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The Middle Way Within 1

THE TEACHING OF BUDDHISM is about giving up evil and

practising good. Then, when evil is given up and goodnessis established, we must let go of both good and evil. We havealready heard enough about wholesome and unwholesome con-ditions to understand something about them, so I would like totalk about the Middle Way, that is, the path to transcend both of those things.

All the Dhamma talks and teachings of the Buddha have one

aim to show the way out of suffering to those who have notyet escaped. The teachings are for the purpose of giving us theright understanding. If we dont understand rightly, then we cantarrive at peace.

When all the Buddhas became enlightened and gave their rstteachings, they declared these two extremes indulgence in plea-sure and indulgence in pain 2 . These two ways are the ways of

infatuation, they are the ways between which those who indulgein sense pleasures must uctuate, never arriving at peace. Theyare the paths which spin around in sa ms ara .

The Enlightened One observed that all beings are stuck inthese two extremes, never seeing the Middle Way of Dhamma,so he pointed them out in order to show the penalty involved in

1Given in the Northeastern dialect to an assembly of monks and lay people

in 19702See introduction

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THE MIDDLE WAY WITHIN 27

both. Because we are still stuck, because we are still wanting, welive repeatedly under their sway. The Buddha declared that thesetwo ways are the ways of intoxication, they are not the ways of ameditator, not the ways to peace. These ways are indulgence inpleasure and indulgence in pain, or, to put it simply, the way of slackness and the way of tension.

If you investigate within, moment by moment, you will seethat the tense way is anger, the way of sorrow. Going this waythere is only difculty and distress. Indulgence in Pleasure if youve transcended this, it means youve transcended happiness.

These ways, both happiness and unhappiness, are not peacefulstates. The Buddha taught to let go of both of them. This is rightpractice. This is the Middle Way.

These words the Middle Way do not refer to our body andspeech, they refer to the mind. When a mental impression whichwe dont like arises, it affects the mind and there is confusion.When the mind is confused, when its shaken up, this is not the

right way. When a mental impression arises which we like, themind goes to indulgence in pleasure thats not the way either.We people dont want suffering, we want happiness. But in

fact happiness is just a rened form of suffering. Suffering itself is the coarse form. You can compare them to a snake. The head of the snake is unhappiness, the tail of the snake is happiness. Thehead of the snake is really dangerous, it has the poisonous fangs.If you touch it, the snake will bite straight away. But never mindthe head, even if you go and hold onto the tail, it will turn aroundand bite you just the same, because both the head and the tailbelong to the one snake.

In the same way, both happiness and unhappiness, or pleasureand sadness, arise from the same parent wanting. So whenyoure happy the mind isnt peaceful. It really isnt! For instance,when we get the things we like, such as wealth, prestige, praiseor happiness, we become pleased as a result. But the mind still


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harbours some uneasiness because were afraid of losing it. Thatvery fear isnt a peaceful state. Later on we may actually losethat thing and then we really suffer.

Thus, if you arent aware, even if youre happy, suffering isimminent. Its just the same as grabbing the snakes tail if youdont let go it will bite. So whether its the snakes tail or itshead, that is, wholesome or unwholesome conditions, theyre all just characteristics of the Wheel of Existence, of endless change.

The Buddha established morality, concentration and wisdomas the path to peace, the way to enlightenment. But in truth these

things are not the essence of Buddhism. They are merely thepath. The Buddha called them magga , which means path. Theessence of Buddhism is peace, and that peace arises from trulyknowing the nature of all things. If we investigate closely, wecan see that peace is neither happiness nor unhappiness. Neitherof these is the truth.

The human mind, the mind which the Buddha exhorted us to

know and investigate, is something we can only know by its activ-ity. The true original mind has nothing to measure it by, theresnothing you can know it by. In its natural state it is unshaken, un-moving. When happiness arises all that happens is that this mindis getting lost in a mental impression, there is movement. Whenthe mind moves like this, clinging and attachment to those thingscome into being.

The Buddha has already laid down the path of practice in itsentirety, but we have not yet practised, or if we have, weve prac-tised only in speech. Our minds and our speech are not yet inharmony, we just indulge in empty talk. But the basis of Bud-dhism is not something that can be talked about or guessed at.The real basis of Buddhism is full knowledge of the truth of real-ity. If one knows this truth then no teaching is necessary. If onedoesnt know, even if he listens to the teaching, he doesnt reallyhear. This is why the Buddha said, The Enlightened One only


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know the truth you cling right there. When you thought that manwho abused you was normal you could have killed him. But whenyou nd out the truth, that hes mad, you feel much better. Thisis knowledge of the truth.

Someone who sees the Dhamma has a similar experience.When attachment, aversion and delusion disappear, they disap-pear in the same way. As long as we dont know these things wethink, What can I do? I have so much greed and aversion. Thisis not clear knowledge. Its just the same as when we thought themadman was sane. When we nally see that he was mad all along

were relieved of worry. No-one could show you this. Only whenthe mind sees for itself can it uproot and relinquish attachment.

Its the same with this body which we call sa nkh aras . Al-though the Buddha has already explained that its not substantialor a real being as such, we still dont agree, we stubbornly clingto it. If the body could talk, it would be telling us all day long,Youre not my owner, you know. Actually its telling us all the

time, but its Dhamma language, so were unable to understandit.For instance, the sense organs of eye, ear, nose, tongue and

body are continually changing, but Ive never seen them ask per-mission from us even once! Like when we have a headache ora stomachache-the body never asks permission rst, it just goesright ahead, following its natural course. This shows that thebody doesnt allow anyone to be its owner, it doesnt have anowner. The Buddha described it as an object void of substance.

We dont understand the Dhamma and so we dont understandthese sa nkh aras ; we take them to be ourselves, as belonging to usor belonging to others. This gives rise to clinging. When clingingarises, becoming follows on. Once becoming arises, then thereis birth. Once there is birth, then old age, sickness, death ... thewhole mass of suffering arises.


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This is the pat .iccasamupp ada 1 . We say ignorance gives rise

to volitional activities, they give rise to consciousness and so on.All these things are simply events in mind. When we come intocontact with something we dont like, if we dont have mindful-ness, ignorance is there. Suffering arises straight away. But themind passes through these changes so rapidly that we cant keepup with them. Its the same as when you fall from a tree. Beforeyou know it Thud! youve hit the ground. Actually youvepassed many branches and twigs on the way, but you couldntcount them, you couldnt remember them as you passed them.

You just fall, and then Thud!The pat . iccasamupp ada is the same as this. If we divide it

up as it is in the scriptures, we say ignorance gives rise to vo-litional activities, volitional activities give rise to consciousness,consciousness gives rise to mind and matter, mind and mattergive rise to the six sense bases, the sense bases give rise to sensecontact, contact gives rise to feeling, feeling gives rise to wanting,

wanting gives rise to clinging, clinging gives rise to becoming,becoming gives rise to birth, birth gives rise to old age, sickness,death, and all forms of sorrow. But in truth, when you come intocontact with something you dont like, theres immediate suffer-ing! That feeling of suffering is actually the result of the wholechain of the pat .iccasamupp ada . This is why the Buddha exhortedhis disciples to investigate and know fully their own minds.

When people are born into the world they are without names once born, we name them. This is convention. We give peoplenames for the sake of convenience, to call each other by. Thescriptures are the same. We separate everything up with labelsto make studying the reality convenient. In the same way, allthings are simply sa nkh aras . Their original nature is merely thatof compounded things. The Buddha said that they are imperma-

1

Pat .iccasamupp ada The pinciple of conditioned arising, one of the cen-tral doctrines of the Buddhist teaching.


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nent, unsatisfactory and not-self. They are unstable. We dontunderstand this rmly, our understanding is not straight, and sowe have wrong view. This wrong view is that the sa nkh aras areourselves, we are the sa nkh aras , or that happiness and unhappi-ness are ourselves, we are happiness and unhappiness. Seeinglike this is not full, clear knowledge of the true nature of things.The truth is that we cant force all these things to follow our de-sires, they follow the way of nature.

Here is a simple comparison: suppose you go and sit in themiddle of a freeway with the cars and trucks charging down at

you. You cant get angry at the cars, shouting, Dont drive overhere! Dont drive over here! Its a freeway, you cant tell themthat. So what can you do? You get off the road! The road is theplace where cars run, if you dont want the cars to be there, yousuffer.

Its the same with sa nkh aras . We say they disturb us, likewhen we sit in meditation and hear a sound. We think, Oh, that

sounds bothering me. If we understand that the sound bothersus then we suffer accordingly. If we investigate a little deeper, wewill see that its we who go out and disturb the sound! The soundis simply sound. If we understand like this then theres nothingmore to it, we leave it be. We see that the sound is one thing,we are another. One who understands that the sound comes todisturb him is one who doesnt see himself. He really doesnt!Once you see yourself, then youre at ease. The sound is justsound, why should you go and grab it? You see that actually itwas you who went out and disturbed the sound.

This is real knowledge of the truth. You see both sides, soyou have peace. If you see only one side, there is suffering. Onceyou see both sides, then you follow the Middle Way. This is theright practice of the mind. This is what we call straightening outour understanding.

In the same way, the nature of all sa nkh aras is imper-manence


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and death, but we want to grab them, we carry them about andcovet them. We want them to be true. We want to nd truthwithin the things that arent true. Whenever someone sees likethis and clings to the san kharas as being himself, he suffers.

The practice of Dhamma is not dependent on being a monk,a novice or a layman; it depends on straightening out your un-derstanding. If our understanding is correct, we arrive at peace.Whether you are ordained or not its the same, every person hasthe chance to practise Dhamma, to contemplate it. We all con-template the same thing. If you attain peace, its all the same

peace; its the same path, with the same methods.Therefore the Buddha didnt discriminate between laymen

and monks, he taught all people to practise to know the truthof the sa nkh aras . When we know this truth, we let them go. If we know the truth there will be no more becoming or birth. Howis there no more birth? There is no way for birth to take placebecause we fully know the truth of sa nkh aras . If we fully know

the truth, then there is peace. Having or not having, its all thesame. Gain and loss are one. The Buddha taught us to know this.This is peace; peace from happiness, unhappiness, gladness andsorrow.

We must see that there is no reason to be born. Born in whatway? Born into gladness: When we get something we like weare glad over it. If there is no clinging to that gladness there isno birth; if there is clinging, this is called birth. So if we getsomething, we arent born (into gladness). If we lose, then wearent born (into sorrow). This is the birthless and the deathless.Birth and death are both founded in clinging to and cherishingthe sa nkh aras .

So the Buddha said. There is no more becoming for me,nished is the holy life, this is my last birth. There! He knew thebirthless and the deathless. This is what the Buddha constantlyexhorted his disciples to know. This is the right practice. If you


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dont reach it, if you dont reach the Middle Way, then you wonttranscend suffering.


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The Peace Beyond 1

ITS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE that we practise the Dhamma. If

we dont practise, then all our knowledge is only supercialknowledge, just the outer shell of it. Its as if we have some sortof fruit but we havent eaten it yet. Even though we have thatfruit in our hand we get no benet from it. Only through theactual eating of the fruit will we really know its taste.

The Buddha didnt praise those who merely believe others, hepraised the person who knows within himself. Just as with that

fruit, if we have tasted it already, we dont have to ask anyone elseif its sweet or sour. Our problems are over. Why are they over?Because we see according to the truth. One who has realized theDhamma is like one who has realized the sweetness or sournessof the fruit. All doubts are ended right here.

When we talk about Dhamma, although we may say a lot, itcan usually be brought down to four things. They are simply to

know suffering, to know the cause of suffering, to know the endof suffering and to know the path of practice leading to the endof suffering.

This is all there is. All that we have experienced on the pathof practice so far comes down to these four things. When weknow these things, our problems are over.

1A condensed version of a talk given to the Chief Privy Councillor of

Thailand, Mr. Sanya Dharmasakti, at Wat Nong Pah Pong, 1978

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Where are these four things born? They are born just withinthe body and the mind, nowhere else. So why is the teachingof the Buddha so detailed and extensive? This is so in order toexplain these things in a more rened way, to help us to see them.

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

When we realize the Dhamma, wherever we sit we know

Dhamma, wherever we are we hear the Buddhas teaching. Whenwe understand Dhamma, the Buddha is within our mind, theDhamma is within our mind, and the practice leading to wisdomis within our own mind. Having the Buddha, the Dhamma andthe Sangha within our mind means that whether our actions aregood or bad, we know clearly for ourselves their true nature.

That is how the Buddha discarded worldly opinions, praise

and criticism. When people praised or criticized him he just ac-cepted it for what it was. These two things are simply worldlyconditions so he wasnt shaken by them. Why not? Because heknew suffering. He knew that if he believed in that praise or crit-icism they would cause him to suffer.

When suffering arises it agitates us, we feel ill at ease. Whatis the cause of that suffering? Its because we dont know thetruth, this is the cause. When the cause is present, then sufferingarises. Once arisen we dont know how to stop it. The more wetry to stop it, the more it comes on. We say, Dont criticize me,or Dont blame me. Trying to stop it like this, suffering reallycomes on, it wont stop.

So the Buddha taught that the way leading to the end of suf-fering is to make the Dhamma arise as a reality within our ownminds. We become those who witness the Dhamma for them-selves. If someone says we are good we dont get lost in it; they


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say we are no good and we dont forget ourselves. This way wecan be free. Good and evil are just worldly dhammas, theyare just states of mind. If we follow them our mind becomes theworld, we just grope in the darkness and dont know the way out.

If its like this then we have not yet mastered ourselves. Wetry to defeat others, but in doing so we only defeat ourselves;but if we have mastery over ourselves then we have mastery overall-over all mental formations, sights, sounds, smells, tastes andbodily feelings.

Now Im talking about externals, theyre like that, but the out-

side is reected inside also. Some people only know the outside,they dont know the inside. Like when we say to see the bodyin the body. Having seen the outer body is not enough, we mustknow the body within the body. Then, having investigated themind, we should know the mind within the mind.

Why should we investigate the body? What is this body inthe body? When we say to know the mind, what is this mind?

If we dont know the mind then we dont know the things withinthe mind. This is to be someone who doesnt know suffering,doesnt know the cause, doesnt know the end and doesnt knowthe way leading to the end of suffering. The things which shouldhelp to extinguish suffering dont help, because we get distractedby the things which aggravate it. Its just as if we have an itch onour head and we scratch our leg! If its our head thats itchy thenwere obviously not going to get much relief. In the same way,when suffering arises we dont know how to handle it, we dontknow the practice leading to the end of suffering.

For instance, take this body, this body that each of us hasbrought along to this meeting. If we just see the form of the bodytheres no way we can escape suffering. Why not? Because westill dont see the inside of the body, we only see the outside. Weonly see it as something beautiful, something substantial. TheBuddha said that only this is not enough. We see the outside with


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smells an odour, let it go...just leave it at the nose! When bodilyfeelings arise, let go of the like or dislike that follow, let them goback to their birth-place. The same for mental states. All thesethings, just let them go their way. This is knowing. Whetherits happiness or unhappiness, its all the same. This is calledmeditation.

Meditation means to make the mind peaceful in order to letwisdom arise. This requires that we practise with body and mindin order to see and know the sense impressions of form, sound,taste, smell, touch and mental formations. To put it shortly, its

just a matter of happiness and unhappiness. Happiness is pleas-ant feeling in the mind, unhappiness is just unpleasant feeling.The Buddha taught to separate this happiness and unhappinessfrom the mind. The mind is that which knows. Feeling 1 is thecharacteristic of happiness or unhappiness, like or dislike. Whenthe mind indulges in these things we say that it clings to or takesthat happiness and unhappiness to be worthy of holding. That

clinging is an action of mind, that happiness or unhappiness isfeeling.When we say the Buddha told us to separate the mind from

the feeling, he didnt literally mean to throw them to differentplaces. He meant that the mind must know happiness and knowunhappiness. When sitting in sam adhi , for example, and peacells the mind, then happiness comes but it doesnt reach us, un-happiness comes but doesnt reach us. This is to separate thefeeling from the mind. We can compare it to oil and water in abottle. They dont combine. Even if you try to mix them, theoil remains oil and the water remains water, because they are of different density.

The natural state of the mind is neither happiness nor unhap-

1Feeling is a translation of the P ali word vedan a , and should be un-derstood in the sense Ajahn Chah herein describes it: as the mental states of pleasure and pain.


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piness. When feeling enters the mind then happiness or unhap-piness is born. If we have mindfulness then we know pleasantfeeling as pleasant feeling. The mind which knows will not pick it up. Happiness is there but its outside the mind, not buriedwithin the mind. The mind simply knows it clearly.

If we separate unhappiness from the mind, does that meanthere is no suffering, that we dont experience it? Yes, we ex-perience it, but we know mind as mind, feeling as feeling. Wedont cling to that feeling or carry it around. The Buddha sepa-rated these things through knowledge. Did he have suffering? He

knew the state of suffering but he didnt cling to it, so we say thathe cut suffering off. And there was happiness too, but he knewthat happiness, if its not known, is like a poison. He didnt holdit to be himself. Happiness was there through knowledge, but itdidnt exist in his mind. Thus we say that he separated happinessand unhappiness from his mind.

When we say that the Buddha and the Enlightened Ones killed

delements, its not that they really killed them. If they had killedall delements then we probably wouldnt have any! They didntkill delements; when they knew them for what they are, they letthem go. Someone whos stupid will grab them, but the Enlight-ened Ones knew the delements in their own minds as a poison,so they swept them out. They swept out the things which causedthem to suffer, they didnt kill them. One who doesnt know thiswill see some things, such as happiness, as good, and then grabthem, but the Buddha just knew them and simply brushed themaway.

But when feeling arises for us we indulge in it, that is, themind carries that happiness and unhappiness around. In fact theyare two different things. The activities of mind, pleasant feeling,unpleasant feeling and so on, are mental impressions, they are theworld. If the mind knows this it can equally do work involvinghappiness or unhappiness. Why? Because it knows the truth


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of these things. Someone who doesnt know them sees them ashaving different value, but one who knows sees them as equal. If you cling to happiness it will be the birth-place of unhappinesslater on, because happiness is unstable, it changes all the time.When happiness disappears, unhappiness arises.

The Buddha knew that because both happiness and unhappi-ness are unsatisfactory, they have the same value. When happi-ness arose he let it go. He had right practice, seeing that boththese things have equal values and drawbacks. They come underthe Law of Dhamma, that is, they are unstable and unsatisfactory.

Once born, they die. When he saw this, right view arose, the rightway of practice became clear. No matter what sort of feeling orthinking arose in his mind, he knew it as simply the continuousplay of happiness and unhappiness. He didnt cling to them.

When the Buddha was newly enlightened he gave a sermonabout indulgence in pleasure and indulgence in pain. Monks!Indulgence in pleasure is the loose way, indulgence in pain is the

tense way. These were the two things that disturbed his practiceuntil the day he was enlightened, because at rst he didnt let goof them. When he knew them, he let them go, and so was able togive his rst sermon.

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

Mindfulness is knowing, or presence of mind. Right nowwhat are we thinking, what are we doing? What do we have withus right now? We observe like this, we are aware of how we areliving. Practising like this, wisdom can arise. We consider andinvestigate at all times, in all postures. When a mental impres-sion arises that we like we know it as such, we dont hold it to


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be anything substantial. Its j ust happiness. When unhappinessarises we know that its indulgence in pain, its not the path of ameditator.

This is what we call separating the mind from the feeling. If we are clever we dont attach, we leave things be. We becomethe one who knows. The mind and feeling are just like oil andwater; they are in the same bottle but they dont mix. Even if weare sick or in pain, we still know the feeling as feeling, the mindas mind. We know the painful or comfortable states but we dontidentify with them. We stay only with peace: the peace beyond

both comfort and pain.You should understand it like this, because if there is no per-

manent self then there is no refuge. You must live like this, thatis, without happiness and without unhappiness. You stay onlywith the knowing, you dont carry things around.

As long as we are still unenlightened all this may sound strangebut it doesnt matter, we just set our goal in this direction. The

mind is the mind. It meets happiness and unhappiness and we seethem as merely that, theres nothing more to it. They are divided,not mixed. If they are all mixed up then we dont know them.Its like living in a house; the house and its occupant are related,but separate. If there is danger in our house we are distressed be-cause we must protect it, but if the house catches re we get outof it. If painful feeling arises we get out of it, j ust like that house.When its full of re and we know it, we come running out of it.They are separate things; the house is one thing, the occupant isanother.

We say that we separate mind and feeling in this way but infact they are by nature already separate. Our realization is simplyto know this natural separateness according to reality. When wesay they are not separated its because were clinging to themthrough ignorance of the truth.

So the Buddha told us to meditate. This practice of medita-


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tion is very important. Merely to know with the intellect is notenough. The knowledge which arises from practice with a peace-ful mind and the knowledge which comes from study are reallyfar apart. The knowledge which comes from study is not realknowledge of our mind. The mind tries to hold onto and keepthis knowledge. Why do we try to keep it? Just to lose it! Andthen when its lost we cry.

If we really know, then theres letting go, leaving things be.We know how things are and dont forget ourselves. If it happensthat we are sick we dont get lost in that. Some people think,

This year I was sick the whole time, I couldnt meditate at all.These are the words of a really foolish person. Someone whossick or dying should really be diligent in his practice. One maysay he doesnt have time to meditate. Hes sick, hes suffering,he doesnt trust his body, and so he feels that he cant meditate.If we think like this then things are difcult. The Buddha didntteach like that. He said that right here is the place to meditate.

When were sick or almost dying thats when we can really knowand see reality.Other people say they dont have the chance to meditate be-

cause theyre too busy. Sometimes school teachers come to seeme. They say they have many responsibilities so theres no timeto meditate. I ask them, When youre teaching do you have timeto breathe? They answer, Yes. So how can you have time tobreathe if the work is so hectic and confusing? Here you are farfrom Dhamma.

Actually this practice is just about the mind and its feelings.Its not something that you have to run after or struggle for. Breath-ing continues while working. Nature takes care of the naturalprocesses all we have to do is try to be aware. Just to keeptrying, going inwards to see clearly. Meditation is like this.

If we have that presence of mind then whatever work wedo will be the very tool which enables us to know right and


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wrong continually. Theres plenty of time to meditate, we justdont fully understand the practice, thats all. While sleeping webreathe, eating we breathe, dont we? Why dont we have timeto meditate? Wherever we are we breathe. If we think like thisthen our life has as much value as our breath, wherever we arewe have time.

All kinds of thinking are mental conditions, not conditions of body, so we need simply have presence of mind, then we willknow right and wrong at all times. Standing, walking, sitting andlying, theres plenty of time. We just dont know how to use it

properly. Please consider this.We cannot run away from feeling, we must know it. Feeling

is just feeling, happiness is just happiness, unhappiness is justunhappiness. They are simply that. So why should we cling tothem? If the mind is clever, simply to hear this is enough toenable us to separate feeling from the mind.

If we investigate like this continuously the mind will nd re-

lease, but its not escaping through ignorance. The mind lets go,but it knows. It doesnt let go through stupidity, not because itdoesnt want things to be the way they are. It lets go because itknows according to the truth. This is seeing nature, the realitythats all around us.

When we know this we are someone whos skilled with themind, we are skilled with mental impressions. When we areskilled with mental impressions we are skilled with the world.This is to be a knower of the world. The Buddha was someonewho clearly knew the world with all its difculty. He knew thetroublesome, and that which was not troublesome was right there.This world is so confusing, how is it that the Buddha was able toknow it? Here we should understand that the Dhamma taught bythe Buddha is not beyond our ability. In all postures we shouldhave presence of mind and self awareness and when its time tosit meditation we do that.


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We sit in meditation to establish peacefulness and cultivatemental energy. We dont do it in order to play around at any-thing special. Insight meditation is sitting in sam adhi itself. Atsome places they say, Now we are going to sit in sam adhi , af-ter that well do insight meditation. Dont divide them like this!Tranquillity is the base which gives rise to wisdom; wisdom isthe fruit of tranquillity. To say that now we are going to do calmmeditation, later well do insight you cant do that! You canonly divide them in speech. Just like a knife, the blade is on oneside, the back of the blade on the other. You cant divide them.

If you pick up one side you get both sides. Tranquillity gives riseto wisdom like this.

Morality is the father and mother of Dhamma. In the begin-ning we must have morality. Morality is peace. This means thatthere are no wrong doings in body or speech. When we dont dowrong then we dont get agitated; when we dont become agi-tated then peace and collectedness arise within the mind.

So we say that morality, concentration and wisdom are thepath on which all the Noble Ones have walked to enlightenment.They are all one. Morality is concentration, concentration ismorality. Concentration is wisdom, wisdom is concentration. Itslike a mango. When its a ower we call it a ower. When it be-comes a fruit we call it a mango. When it ripens we call it a ripemango. Its all one mango but it continually changes. The bigmango grows from the small mango, the small mango becomesa big one. You can call them different fruits or all one. Morality,concentration and wisdom are related like this. In the end its allthe path that leads to enlightenment.

The mango, from the moment it rst appears as a ower, sim-ply grows to ripeness. This is enough, we should see it like this.Whatever others call it, it doesnt matter. Once its born it growsto old age, and then where? We should contemplate this.

Some people dont want to be old. When they get old they


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become depressed. These people shouldnt eat ripe mangoes!Why do we want the mangoes to be ripe? If theyre not ripe intime, we ripen them articially, dont we? But when we becomeold we are lled with regret. Some people cry, theyre afraidto get old or die. If its like this then they shouldnt eat ripemangoes, better eat just the owers! If we can see this then wecan see the Dhamma. Everything clears up, we are at peace. Justdetermine to practise like that.

Today the Chief Privy Councillor and his party have cometogether to hear the Dhamma. You should take what Ive said

and contemplate it. If anything is not right, please excuse me.But for you to know whether its right or wrong depends on yourpractising and seeing for yourselves. Whatevers wrong, throw itout. If its right then take it and use it. But actually we practise inorder to let go of both right and wrong. In the end we just throweverything out. If its right, throw it out; wrong, throw it out!Usually if its right we cling to rightness, if its wrong we hold it

to be wrong, and then arguments follow. But the Dhamma is theplace where theres nothing nothing at all.


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OPENING THE DHAMMA EYE 48

teaching us. Later on the new leaves sprout, and we merely seethat, without taking it further. We dont bring these things intoour minds to contemplate.

If we can bring all this inwards and investigate it, we will seethat the birth of a tree and our own birth are no different. Thisbody of ours is born and exists dependent on conditions, on theelements of earth, water, wind and re. It has its food, it growsand grows. Every part of the body changes and ows accordingto its nature. Its no different from the tree; hair, nails, teeth andskin all change. If we know the things of nature, then we will

know ourselves.People are born. In the end they die. Having died they are

born again. Nails, teeth and skin are constantly dying and re-growing. If we understand the practice then we can see that atree is no different from ourselves. If we understand the teachingof the Ajahns, then we realize that the outside and the inside arecomparable. Things which have consciousness and those without

consciousness do not differ. They are the same. And if we un-derstand this sameness, then when we see the nature of a tree, forexample, we will know that its no different from our own vekhandhas 1 body, feeling, memory, thinking and conscious-ness. If we have this understanding then we understand Dhamma.If we understand Dhamma we understand the ve khandhas ,how they constantly shift and change, never stopping.

So whether standing, walking, sitting or lying we should havesati to watch over and look after the mind. When we see exter-nal things its like seeing internals. When we see internals itsthe same as seeing externals. If we understand this then we canhear the teaching of the Buddha. If we understand this, then wecan say that Buddha-nature, the one who knows, has been es-tablished. It knows the external. It knows the internal. It under-

1Khandhas : the ve groups which go to make up what we call a per-son.


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stands all things which arise.Understanding like this, then sitting at the foot of a tree we

hear the Buddhas teaching. Standing, walking, sitting or lying,we hear the Buddhas teaching. Seeing, hearing, smelling, tast-ing, touching and thinking, we hear the Buddhas teaching. TheBuddha is just this one who knows within this very mind. Itknows the Dhamma, it investigates the Dhamma. Its not thatthe Buddha who lived so long ago comes to talk to us, but thisBuddha-nature, the one who knows arises. The mind becomesillumined.

If we establish the Buddha within our mind then we see ev-erything, we contemplate everything, as no different from our-selves. We see the different animals, trees, mountains and vinesas no different from ourselves. We see poor people and rich peo-ple theyre no different from us. Black people and white peo-ple no different! They all have the same characteristics. Onewho understands like this is content wherever he is. He listens to

the Buddhas teaching at all times. If we dont understand this,then even if we spend all our time listening to teachings from theAjahns, we still wont understand their meaning.

The Buddha said that enlightenment of the Dhamma is justknowing nature, the reality which is all around us, the nature 1

which is right here. If we dont understand this nature we experi-ence disappointment and joy, we get lost in moods, giving rise tosorrow and regret. Getting lost in mental objects is getting lost innature. When we get lost in nature then we dont know Dhamma.The Enlightened One merely pointed out this nature.

Having arisen, all things change and die. Things we make,such as plates, bowls and dishes, all have the same characteristic.A bowl is moulded into being due to a cause, mans impulse tocreate, and as we use it, it gets old, breaks up and disappears.

1

Nature here refers to all things, mental and physical, not just trees, ani-mals etc.


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Trees, mountains and vines are the same, right up to animals andpeople.

When A a Kon. daa, the rst disciple, heard the Buddhasteaching for the rst time, the realization he had was nothingvery complicated. He simply saw that whatever thing is born,that thing must change and grow old as a natural condition andeventually it must die. A a Kon. daa had never thought of thisbefore, or if he had it wasnt thoroughly clear, so he hadnt yet letgo, he still clung to the khandhas . As he sat mindfully listening tothe Buddhas discourse, Buddha-nature arose in him. He received

a sort of Dhamma transmission which was the knowledge thatall conditioned things are impermanent. Any thing which is bornmust have ageing and death as a natural result.

This feeling was different from anything hed ever known be-fore. He truly realized his mind, and so Buddha arose withinhim. At that time the Buddha declared that A a Kon. daa hadreceived the Eye of Dhamma.

What is it that this Eye of Dhamma sees? This Eye sees thatwhatever is born has ageing and death as a natural result. What-ever is born means everything! Whether material or immaterial,it all comes under this whatever is born. It refers to all of na-ture. Like this body for instance its born and then proceeds toextinction. When its small it dies from smallness to youth. Af-ter a while it dies from youth and becomes middle-aged. Thenit goes on to die from middle-age and reach old-age, nallyreaching the end. Trees, mountains and vines all have this char-acteristic.

So the vision or understanding of the one who knows clearlyentered the mind of A a Kon. daa as he sat there. This knowl-edge of whatever is born became deeply embedded in his mind,enabling him to uproot attachment to the body. This attachmentwas sakk ayadit . t .hi . This means that he didnt take the body tobe a self or a being, he didnt see it in terms of he or me. He


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didnt cling to it. He saw it clearly, thus uprooting sakk ayadit .t .hi .And then vicikicch a (doubt) was destroyed. Having uprooted

attachment to the body he didnt doubt his realization. S labbata par am asa 1 was also uprooted. His practice became rm andstraight. Even if his body was in pain or fever he didnt graspit, he didnt doubt. He didnt doubt, because he had uprootedclinging. This grasping of the body is called s labbata par am asa .When one uproots the view of the body being the self, graspingand doubt are nished with. If just this view of the body as theself arises within the mind then grasping and doubt begin right

there.So as the Buddha expounded the Dhamma, A a Kon. daa

opened the Eye of Dhamma. This Eye is just the one who knowsclearly. It sees things differently. It sees this very nature. Seeingnature clearly, clinging is uprooted and the one who knows isborn. Previously he knew but he still had clinging. You could saythat he knew the Dhamma but he still hadnt seen it, or he had

seen the Dhamma but still wasnt one with it.At this time the Buddha said, Kon . daa knows. What didhe know? He knew nature. Usually we get lost in nature, as withthis body of ours. Earth, water, re and wind come together tomake this body. Its an aspect of nature, a material object wecan see with the eye. It exists depending on food, growing andchanging until nally it reaches extinction.

Coming inwards, that which watches over the body is con-sciousness just this one who knows, this single awareness.If it receives through the eye its called seeing. If it receives

1S labbata par am asa is traditionally translated as attachment to rites andrituals. Here the Venerable Ajahn relates it, along with doubt, specicallyto the body. These three things, sakk ayadit .t .hi , vicikicch a , and s labbata par am asa , are the rst three of ten fetters which are given up on the rstglimpse of Enlightenment, known as Stream Entry. At full Enlightenment

all ten fetters are transcended.


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through the ear its called hearing; through the nose its calledsmelling; through the tongue, tasting; through the body, touch-ing; and through the mind, thinking. This consciousness is justone but when it functions at different places we call it differ-ent things. Through the eye we call it one thing, through theear we call it another. But whether it functions at the eye, ear,nose, tongue, body or mind its just one awareness. Following thescriptures we call it the six consciousnesses, but in reality there isonly one consciousness arising at these six different bases. Thereare six doors but a single awareness, which is this very mind.

This mind is capable of knowing the truth of nature. If themind still has obstructions, then we say it knows through Igno-rance. It knows wrongly and it sees wrongly. Knowing wronglyand seeing wrongly, or knowing and seeing rightly, its just a sin-gle awareness. We call it wrong view and right view but its justone thing. Right and wrong both arise from this one place. Whenthere is wrong knowledge we say that Ignorance conceals the

truth. When there is wrong knowledge then there is wrong view,wrong intention, wrong action, wrong livelihood everything iswrong! And on the other hand the path of right practice is born inthis same place. When there is right then the wrong disappears.

The Buddha practised enduring many hardships and torturinghimself with fasting and so on, but he investigated deeply intohis mind until nally he uprooted ignorance. All the Buddhaswere enlightened in mind, because the body knows nothing. Youcan let it eat or not, it doesnt matter, it can die at any time. TheBuddhas all practised with the mind. They were enlightened inmind.

The Buddha, having contemplated his mind, gave up the twoextremes of practice indulgence in pleasure and indulgence inpain and in his rst discourse expounded the Middle Way be-tween these two. But we hear his teaching and it grates againstour desires. Were infatuated with pleasure and comfort, infatu-


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ated with happiness, thinking we are good, we are ne this isindulgence in pleasure. Its not the right path. Dissatisfaction,displeasure, dislike and anger this is indulgence in pain. Theseare the extreme ways which one on the path of practice shouldavoid.

These ways are simply the happiness and unhappiness whicharise. The one on the path is this very mind, the one whoknows. If a good mood arises we cling to it as good, this is in-dulgence in pleasure. If an unpleasant mood arises we cling to itthrough dislike this is indulgence in pain. These are the wrong

paths, they arent the ways of a meditator. Theyre the ways of the worldly, those who look for fun and happiness and shun un-pleasantness and suffering.

The wise know the wrong paths but they relinquish them, theygive them up. They are unmoved by pleasure and pain, happinessand suffering. These things arise but those who know dont clingto them, they let them go according to their nature. This is right

view. When one knows this fully there is liberation. Happinessand unhappiness have no meaning for an Enlightened One.The Buddha said that the E

A Taste of Freedom - Ajahn Chah

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