My Experiences
in Dhamma Practice
By Phra Rajsuddhinanamongkol
LOK1002
Today I would
like to talk about my life story and relate some of my experiences in the
practice of Dhamma for your edification, as requested by my inviter.
My
birth name is Jaran, my family name Janyaraks. His Majesty Phra Mongkutklao conferred this family name of
my grandmother. I am a student of
life, I have searched for knowledge on both worldly and the religious
planes. I studied in primary
school and secondary school and entered the Police Academy, but I never thought
I would ordain as a monk because I was not a religious man from childhood.
In
addition to the above, I also studied as a mechanic with Ajahn Leuan Pongsobhon
and studied music with Luang Pradit Pairoh, and I was a friend of the late Dr,
Utit Nagasavat. I had lived in
monasteries, but not out of faith.
I lived in them in order to pursue my studies, I used them as a second
home. Eventually I made my way to
Bangkok. By nature I was not particularly
inspired by monks, I am of stubborn temperament. I didn’t like bowing or “wai”ing to monks, I only did so out
of compulsion so that I could live in the monasteries. This is what I was like.
As
time went of I finished my worldly studies, but I had not yet make any studies
of the Dhamma. I was almost twenty
years old, and my father and my mother wanted me to ordain as a monk in the
Buddhist religion. Whenever they
brought up the subject I would just shake my head, I wasn’t at all interested
in ordaining as a monk. But I had
to agree to it because my parents believed that all sons should ordain for at
least some time in accordance with the ancient Thai tradition. My parents loved their children like
their own eyes. These two eyes,
everyone knows them, and everyone knows how precious they are.
Thinking
carefully about the matter, I realized that if I refused to ordain as a
Buddhist monk I would be an ungrateful son, blind to virtues of my esteemed
parents, so I agreed to ordain. I
didn’t become a novice first, I became a monk straight away at the age of
20. I intended to ordain for three
months and ten days, or four months, 120 days, at the most. After that I wanted to disrobe and go
back to the home life, to continue my studies or get a job in the world, in
order to make a living.
Having
made up my mind, I became ordained in the Consecration ground (baddhasima)
of Wat Promburi, Amphur Promburi, Singburi Province. My hometown was in the area of the border of Lopburi and
Singburi. The reason I ordained at
Wat Promburi was because my family had moved to the Pak Bang market to get away
from the thieves and bandits in our hometown. In accordance with the wishes of my father and mother, I
followed them to live in the market, where they engaged in buying and
selling. But I never helped my
parents in their business because from an early age I had been intent on
studying. By the time I had
finished as much studies as I wanted I was 20 years old. I didn’t get a degree, but I finished
the study of mechanics and, like I said, I also studied music.
To
keep the matter brief, let it be said that I ordained as a Buddhist monk in
1948, and have been a monk now for 34, 35 years of uninterrupted time. In the first Rains Retreat I memorized
all the teachings, and intended to disrobe after the end of the Rains, and the
offering of the kathina robe.
I got everything ready for disrobing on that day.
But
a very unusual thing happened. A
strange sound arose in my ears, and I became very sleepy. That sound was very loud: “You’ve
ordained now that’s very good. It
doesn’t matter if you disrobe, but you haven’t got the namo yet. You should memorize the namo
first and then disrobe.” I thought
about it: “Eh? Namotassa, I’ve memorized it already. Bhagavato…. I could chant all
that from when I was a small child, I had learned them in school.” But still I couldn’t say for sure what
the “namo” was. This
miraculous sound has arisen: “You haven’t got the namo yet, and you’re
going to disrobe. What a
shame!” I was filled with
trepidation and uncertainly. Where
was the sound coming from? On top
of it all, I was extremely sleepy.
The sound arose again: “Sure, you can disrobe, it’s nothing. Disrobing is easy to do, what’s so
difficult about that? But let me ask
you, have you got the Buddhaguna (the virtues of the Buddha) yet? Have
you got the Dhammaguna (the virtues of the Dhamma) yet? Have you got the Sanghaguna (the
virtues of the Sangha) yet?”
I
was furious. “What’s this crazy
sound, where is it coming from?
I’ve got the Buddhaguna, I can chant ‘itipi so’ fluently. But may be it’s not yet fluent in my
heart?” This is what the sound was
telling me. At time same time I
was feeling very uncomfortable. I
thought of the old saying, “If your mind is in a bad state, don’t disrobe. If you do you will be like someone who
is only ‘half-there’, you won’t be able to make a success of anything. You’ll go crazy.” This is what they say. So I postponed the time of my disrobing
from the eleventh month to the twelfth month, I got everything ready. I had never intended to live the
celibate life all my life. I
figured I definitely had to disrobe, because I had work waiting for me, I was
going to join the civil service.
There were many things I could do because I had the education, what was
there to worry about? That was how
I thought. I’m reminded of the
words of Sunthorn Phu, “With knowledge you can stand on your own feet, you
don’t have to depend on others.” I
had memorized these words since I was a child:
“What
makes me free, that do I love.
Even
though I may lose honor and influence,
They
only desert me, after all, they do not stay,
But
knowledge with stay by me to my last breath.”
Having reached this point I would like to give you this piece of advice: if you have both sons and daughters, who should you give more attention to? You should give more attention to your daughter than your son. You should give more attention to your daughter than your son. You should train her, make her proficient, because if your daughter is not proficient in home care her husband is going to kick up a storm. I’ve seen it before: at four or five in the morning he sends her flying off the veranda. He didn’t have any conscience at all. That’s why I say to make your daughter proficient in her housework … you never hit your daughter, but if you saw her being beaten right in front of your eyes, wouldn’t you be furious? Even if you weren’t furious you certainly wouldn’t be pleased with your son-in-law.
At
that time I thought to myself, “Eh? I haven’t got the namo yet … It’s
true. Before, I refused to admit
it, like a husband arguing with his wife: he never gives in. There was no pliancy, no submission. I was a stubborn and willful
fellow. When you argue with your
elders there is no song of namo in your heart. I realized then, “Oh, in ordaining I have to get the song of
namo, is that it?”
Later
on I translated the “song of namo” into such simple words that children
could understand and remember it:
“Humble,
obedient, gentle speech, gentle body, gentle hands, respectful and grateful,
upholding order and discipline, pay attention to your studies, this will lead
you from suffering and to eternal happiness. This is the great principle.”
So
this is the namo? I’d been ignorant
for so long. This is the song of namo. I’d only realized it over the last
couple of years. Before I wouldn’t
let anyone look me in the eye. If
anyone dared to look at me I’d give them a punch in the face. That’s how stubborn I was, I didn’t have
the namo.
Having come to this understanding, I washed my robes and prepared myself for traveling through the forest. I met Luang Poh Derm, Phra Khru Nivasdhammakhan. At that time he was 105 years old. I stayed with him for six months and asked to study with him. The first thing he taught me was the study of Victory in War, which I gradually learned. He was skilled in the sword songs and the club songs. He was the fifth teacher of the Generals of Ayudhya. In 1767 many generals fled the sacking of Ayudhya by boat, making their way down to Nakornswan and all ordaining as monks.
I
stayed at Wat Nong Pho in Nakornswan Province with Luang Poh. I thought I’d learn the Great
Popularity Verse (gathamahaniyom) so that when I left the monkhood and
began to make a living I would have lots of admirers and friends. But it turned out that he gave me
techniques of elephant raising instead.
I didn’t want that, but Luang Poh Derm said I should learn it: “Son,
learn it, it will be useful in the future.” So I had to learn the technique of raising elephants,
rounding up wild elephants, and how to handle elephants that were in rut. Later on I really did use this
knowledge, with a nun who had been an elephant in the previous life at Phu Phan
Mountain. It was only a few years
ago. After interrogating her, and
having some knowledge of elephants, I realized that she must have been an
elephant in her previous life in Phu Phan Mountain, in the Northeast during the
time of Luang Poo Mun (Bhuridatto) and Tong Dee the hunter, who used to round
up elephants. I won’t go into the
story in detail, but I mention it to point out how all learning is valuable,
and you should take it all on. How
did I study the Victory in War text?
The text was at the Wat.
The learning involved studying about swords and clubs.
In
the ancient past our country was able to maintain its independence because the
Thai people were trained as soldiers of the Buddha primarily, and secondarily
as soldiers of the King. They studied
the songs of sword and the club in the Wats. You must understand this, in the past there was always a
“royal person” skilled in many branches of learning.
1. The “royal
person” was skilled in what these days we might call political science,
administration of self and others.
This was the “royal person” in the Wat.
2. Law, customs and
regulations were learned from the monastery, and they were incorporated into
the Dhamma. Accounting, livelihood
and work were all learned in the Wat.
The Wat was the institute of learning, and the text was the Tipitaka.
There were also teachings on pharmacy and medicine, the ways to grind
and apply herbs. Fifty years ago
all this was learned in the monastery.
Apart from these
branches of learning, there were also the arts, handicrafts, architecture, the
texts. All sciences were learned
from the Wat, and so were the arts and crafts. The Wats have now handed these over to the Arts
Department. Where did all the
ornate artwork at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha come from? Didn’t it come from the Wat? Not only that, but even music, stringed
and wind instruments, the text of Victory in War, the songs of swords and the
songs of the clubs, came from the Wats, everything was there. The Wat was the institute for developing
virtues, livelihood and society all rolled into one.
After that I wanted to seek out a monk in the forest just past Khon Kaen in an area that is now flooded. I wanted to go and study the art of “stretching medallions” into three lottery numbers, which was the subject of much talk. I got excited along with everybody else and wanted to go and study the art of “stretching medallions.”
I
met a man who was the village head, 84 years old, and stayed at his house. While there I asked the village head
where the monk who could stretch medallions was staying, and could he take me
there? That man told me, “Every
year this monk comes to stay at a large banyan tree. He stays for only one month each time, then He
disappears. From the time I was a
child running around naked, taking the cows out with my father, I have eaten
the leftovers of his alms food.
Now I am 84 years old. He
is still alive, but I don’t know how old he is.” I asked the man to take me there. We had to walk a long way. In the morning he would go for alms round from the banyan
tree to the village, a distance of about 4-5 kilometers. He stayed under a branch of the big
banyan tree. You can’t go there
now because the area is flooded by the big dam just north of Khon Kaen.
The
84 years old village head told me that he had a tobacco box. It was made of brass and had handles
for threading a rope and tying around the waist. It had a lid and inside were cigarettes already rolled, a
cigarette lighter—that is, a flint and a piece of metal for striking it and
making a fire. It had been around
from the time his father had been the kamnan or sub-district head—they
used to call them dignitaries (khun bandasak). But there was a medallion that had been at the bottom of the
tobacco case from the time he had asked for it from his father. He had forgotten all about it. It wasn’t a coin, like a baht coin,
that people like to hold onto, it was a medallion conferred by the King,
probably the fourth or fifth Reign.
I can’t remember because there was no date on it.
This
monk usually didn’t talk. But that
day he spoke. He said, “you have
something of value in your tobacco case, you shouldn’t just throw it away.” The man had forgotten al about it because
it was just lying in the bottom of his case. Whenever the tobacco was finished he would just top it up
without a second thought. He
didn’t look at medallion. This
Luang Poh said, “Take the medallion and revere it, your children and
grandchildren will live comfortably.
It’s royally conferred.” It
was a medallion given to village heads of kamnans who had performed there
duties well, looking after the people and maintaining peace and order in the
village, as a gift on there retirement.
That was how he had got the medal.
It had three digits on it.
Eventually the man told his children and grandchildren, “Oh, today Luang
Poh said something! Usually he
doesn’t say a word, he just sits in meditation under the banyan tree for a
month and then goes away.”
When
I went to that man’s house I asked to look at the medallion. It had a date, with three digits on
it. And I went to meet the monk. When I met him I bowed to him. He was sitting with eyes closed, he
didn’t say a word. From his
appearance he looked about seventy years old. He still had all his teeth and hair wasn’t the slightest bit
grey, it was black. His body was
dark skinned and was very well built, not flabby, but well proportioned. I went to pay respects to him around
1954.
When
I had paid respects I said to him, “Luang Poh, why don’t you talk? What monastery do you stay at? Luang Poh, I have traveled a long way,
all the way from Singburi Province, to come to this banyan tree. I have to stay at the house of the
village head. I’ve gone to a lot
of trouble to get there. I want to
learn the art of stretching medallions so that I get three lottery
numbers. I am only a young monk,
I’m still very much attached to the world, I want to learn this art of
stretching medallions so that I can help my relatives to be rich and get the
right lottery numbers.” This was
my real intention.
But
he didn’t say a word. He just sat
there in meditation at the banyan tree.
I looked at the belongings he had: just one bowl, a robe and a sanghati
(outer robe), which he placed over his shoulder at all times. He had a glot (umbrella) hanging
from a branch of the tree … and what else? He had a water kettle and a mug which he used for a drinking
glass. The scooper was polished
and shiny like a glass. That was
all he had, nothing else. I paid
respects to him, but he didn’t seem to be the slightest bit interested in
me. He didn’t even open his eyes.
I
changed my approach. I said, “Most
Venerable Sir, whom I revere most highly, I am a new monk, I have only been
ordained three years. I want to
come and study the Dhamma.” This
was my new approach. “I am still a
new monk, I do not know the way of Dhamma or the practices for developing
meditation. I want to come and
learn this from the Most Reverend Luang Poh. Please instruct me.”
He moved his eyes a little.
I had been speaking for a long time but he had not even opened his eyes,
but once I said that I wanted to study the Dhamma and seek instruction, he
opened his eyes: but still he didn’t smile, his face was very stern.
He
said, “It’s admirable that you’ve made such an effort to come and study the
Dhamma.” Since he had agreed to
speak, I asked him, “What instructions do you have?” He spoke so little that it was difficult to see what he was
getting at. He said, “Do you know
what the Buddha taught? If you
don’t know what have you ordained for?
What have you been striving for?”
I told him I had studied the Navakovada, studied the Dhamma and the Vinaya. “You have studied too much, you know so
much I think you will be impossible to teach.” This was his teaching.
“If you know too much, you probably won’t get anywhere in the practice. Don’t forget what the Buddha
taught. The Buddha taught about
suffering and the way to quench suffering. This was his teaching.
What else did he teach, do you know?” “I don’t know, sir.” “He taught not to harm yourself and not
to harm others, not to make others suffer. Look for the source of suffering. Study this point within yourself. What is there?
There is suffering. Look
for its source and begin the practice of quenching it. And what is the practice? It is morality, concentration and
wisdom.”
So
now I had it. Was that all? “I’ve already learned that,” I thought
to myself, “is this all there is to his teaching? I thought there would be more psychic wonders than
this. I’ve heard about morality,
concentration and wisdom before.”
No sooner had these thoughts gone through my mind when the old monk
pointed at me and said:
“It’s
because you’re like this that you’ve learned everything but you know
nothing. You’ve been looking for
useless things, but you haven’t put your knowledge into practice. You don’t take what you already have,
you only want something else. You
don’t want the truth, you want what’s false.” I remember his words very clearly because he spoke them very
often. “You don’t like what is
true, you look for what it false.
What you already have you don’t want, so you look for what you don’t
have. He really laid into me. I was chagrined that day, hurt
inside. I went back to sleep but I
was ill at ease. I didn’t really
sleep. This monk in the forest was
really sharp. I could see that he
was right on the ball, sharp as a razor.
He pointed out many things to me.
By
that time it was getting dark, so I had told the village head that he didn’t
have to wait for me, I would be sleeping there. I wanted to see whether during the night he would say more
than this. During the day he
didn’t talk much, may be he would talk at night. That’s what I thought.
So I went to him again and said, “Most Revered Sir, I would like to
offer myself as a disciple.” He
opened his eyes, “Thank you very much for offering yourself as a disciple. You have to really offer yourself, you
know.” On this day he pointed straight
at me, “The mystic power of the teacher has turned on the disciple and deranged
him, that is, you.” He pointed
right at my face. How humiliating,
he really knew how to abuse someone so it hurt. He said I was deranged, that upset me. He spoke sharp. I looked at him: he lived alone in the
forest, yet he could say such sharp and profound things. I can still remember that his speech
had three kinds of sharpness. It
was razor sharp, in that if I asked anything that was off the beam he would
just sit quietly and say nothing.
It was neat in that he could turn my words around and hit me with
them. And it was blade-sharp in
that his words were certain. He
had taken an axe and pounded me with it, he didn’t use knife to drive in this
nail. So I say that he was razor
sharp, neat and blade sharp.
I
thought for a while and said, “I would like to stay here.” He wouldn’t have it. It was getting dark by that time, about
six o’clock in the evening. The
sun was going down and darkness was setting in. It would take me a good time to walk back to the layman’s
house, about three or four kilometers away. He wouldn’t let me stay, so I said, “If you won’t let me
stay, I would like to offer myself as an apprentice to your most Revered
Sir. I wanted to come and learn
the art of stretching medallions, but I haven’t realized my wish, so I would
like to offer myself as a student of the Dhamma, and make a declaration to
follow in your footsteps. Will you
accept me? Please have pity on
me.”
He
sat quietly for a while, and then opened his eyes and said, “You should wait
until you are 45 years old, then come and see me again. You are still very young, you are not
yet stable. How can I accept you
when you are so sloppy? I can only
accept one disciple, no more. Do
you have sincerity, goodwill and harmony yet? If you don’t yet have sincerity how can goodwill arise? If you don’t have goodwill, how can
harmony of body and mind arise, how can you see mentality and
materiality?” He really spoke sharp,
going right to my heart. He told
me to come back when I was 45 years old, and he gave three special techniques
for getting to meet him. However,
I can’t reveal them here.
I
went back to stay at the village head’s house, and the children and grandchildren
talked all about their medallion until daybreak. They would say, “Here, I got the lottery three times. Before my fields were only twenty
rai—now I have 400, 500 rai of land—through paying reverence to the medallion
and chanting as Luang Poh instructed I’ve got the lottery three times.” It seems this was the least intelligent
of the children: he went to buy the lotteries at random, and managed to win
three times with those three digits.
I wasn’t too interested about that but I was worried about this other
thing. Think about it, I went to
learn the art of stretching medallions but instead I got the Dhamma. At first I was searching for the false
Dhamma, but I ended up finding the real thing. He pointed out the way for me, to practice morality, concentration
and wisdom, to develop insight meditation. But he didn’t tell me how to do it. He just said to practice morality,
meditation and wisdom and pointed out what the Buddha taught. The Buddha taught about suffering, he
didn’t teach about fun. He taught
the way to quench suffering. This
was how the monk taught me, very brief.
I
went back to my monastery and devoted myself to studying the Dhamma. I traveled around to learn meditation
with this and that Ajahn. I went
to study with Luang Poh Lee of Wat Asokaram before he had built Wat Bahng
Ping. When he went wandering to
Chantaburi and Lopburi I went with him.
I followed him to the Northeast and up north. These days I haven’t kept in touch and I don’t know anybody
at his monasteries. He’s passed
away many years now. I practiced
meditation: “Bud” on the in-breath and “dho” on the out-breath,
according to the technique. And I
met another monk who was very skilled with the kasina meditation. He could fix his mind on a flame and
expand it. I met another monk who
had developed the manomayiddhi (astral traveling), he could talk with the
devas. That sounded like a lot of
fun. And he could go and talk with
the Hell realms.
I
went and met the Lord of Death (yomabahl), I said I was coming to pay a bribe
in return for letting my relatives out of Hell. The Lord of Death said “Venerable sir, how do you think you
can help your relatives? I can’t
even help my own mother-in-law. I
really can’t. My wife asked me to
help her mother, she felt sorry for her.
Her mother had killed a lot of ducks, chickens and pigs, she was
ruthless and cruel. She killed
them to eat. My wife asked me to
help her.” This is what the Lord of Death told me. He wanted to help his mother-in-law out a little, but there
were so many plaintiffs, the geese were squawking, the ducks were quacking, the
pigs were squealing. They said
“Lord of Death, you can’t help her, she caused us a lot of suffering.” The Lord of Death saw that the
situation was getting ugly so he gave up in his attempts. He couldn’t help her.
I
tried out manomayiddhi and everything else but it was all wrong. I couldn’t find the true path which
would really be of used to me. I
tried find the true path which would really be of use to me. I tried everything: manomayiddhi, did
it have any use? Did it really
help me? No it didn’t. Could it help to be free of suffering? No it couldn’t. I tried it out already. I’m a monk, I wouldn’t lie to you.
As
time went on I reached the age of forty-five and made up my mind to try to meet
the Luang Poh from the forest. I
chanted and meditated according to the method and went to meet him at Khao Yai
Mountain. I had to travel there on
foot and go to a big tree. It was
a little past Khao Yai Mountain, between Nakorn Rachasima and Saraburi. The foreast there was called “Forest of
the Fire-King” (dong phra-yah fai) King Chulalongkorn changed the name of that
forest to “Forest of the Cool-King” (dong phra-yah-yen).
I
met him there and stayed with him for one night. He talked about Dhamma to me from 10 at night till 4 in the
morning, instructing me about everything.
The Luang Poh in the forest taught according to the scriptures. He said, “Now all that you’ve done is
good, it can lead to vipassana, insight, but listen, you must turn
around. What help has it been to
you? Can it help to extinguish
suffering? No it can’t”. He immediately began telling me this
path. “Don’t forget the Four
Foundations of Mindfulness.”
That’s what he said. He
said, “It isn’t that going to learn about manomayiddhi wasn’t good, but
it cannot help you, it cannot quench suffering. You’ve just increased your suffering. You’ve gone to talk with the Lord of
Death. Do you understand? Through the power of exceptionally
strong rapture and faith, adhering to one-pointedness, you can immediately
perform the psychic wonder of manomayiddhi. I’ve done it before.”
He said that I should take the Path that leads to the transcendence of
suffering, developing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.
He
began teaching as follows: Stand
like this, wit right hand holding the left hand. Just stand for one hour without moving. Now I was really in trouble. I had never stood still for one
hour. This is the wonder that
happened on that night. I stood
for one hour: right hand grasping the left hand behind me, the weight of both
hands coming to balance at the waist.
Standing for one hour was really difficult, may arms were getting stiff. “Don’t put your hands in front of your
chest, you won’t be able to breathe normally and it may lead to lung
diseases.” He gave really detailed
teachings.
Then
he taught “Kesa, loma, nakha, danta, taco, taco, danta, nakha, loma kesa” (hair
of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth, skin; skin, teeth, nails, hair of
body, hair of the head). Bringing
the mind together, establishing mindfulness from the tips of the hair on
downward, upwards from the tips of the toes up to the tips of the hair,
downward from the tip of the hair to the tips of the toes. This is where I began to enter into the
Buddha’s teaching, the point at which I became really “gone forth” in the most
complete sense. I stood for one
hour. After forty minutes my legs
were shaking, things were starting to happen. He said just to look at it, to stand mindfully sweeping from
the head to the feet and then count “one;” from the feet up to the head, “two;”
surveying the body with mindfulness from the head down to the feet, “three.”
“Bring up your mindfulness. Didn’t
your preceptor teach you on the day of your ordination? From the lower part up to the upper
part, from the upper part down to the lower part. You’ve learned too much. You have too much knowledge, you have gone beyond the
practice of the Buddha, that’s why you haven’t gotten anywhere”
I
stood observing, direction my mindfulness to a mirror image of myself standing
for one hour. I knew that I was
standing with mindfulness. Oh,
standing with mindfulness, I could read myself, I could see myself, I could use
my self. I could show the psychic
power of standing by standing gracefully, with full mindfulness in the act of
standing. Kayanupassanasatipatthana
(mindfulness on the body), the base upon which the mind shows its power by
having full awareness, thinking with wisdom. Standing this way is really useful. This is what I obtained from the
forest, I stood with mindfulness.
“Oh, that’s it. This is how
(reflecting on) kesa, loma, nakha, danta, taco leads to benefit.” Standing, walking, sitting, reclining,
the four postures. Any of the four
foundations of mindfulness.
Standing with mindfulness.
Seeing a person walking towards us, watching them from the head down to
the feet, we know immediately what their mind is like. These things are related, we can know
them only through the wisdom-eye.
This is really a useful thing.
Second
stage: he taught to walk with mindfulness, stepping out with the foot, having
mindfulness in every movement.
This is the teaching he gave at Khao Yai Mountain when I was 45 years old. It was very appropriate as I had already
developed calm meditation, I had already developed samadhi. I used this to upturn the world,
establishing mindfulness on the material form adhered to by convention as
meditation object. Doing so,
convention disappeared and immediately became instead the five aggregates (Khand
has).
Then
he continued his teaching. He said
to me, “Do you know what your mind state is like?” “I don’t know, Luang Poh.” “Remember your meditation object. When you wake up in the morning, what is your meditation
object? Be skilled in entering and
leaving (the meditation object).
When you get some money, or lose some money, the memory lingers. What happens then? It’s like we’re businessmen.” This is how the forest monk taught,
really practical. I can clearly
remember his words. “Do you know
your meditation object? It is the
short breaths and long breaths.
The natural function of the mind is to read mental states, it can record
mental states for a long period of time, like a tape recorder. You can’t touch the mind, it doesn’t
have any material form, it’s an abstract condition (namadhamma). And what kind of mental state is it
holding onto? If the mood is anger
or fury, it is like a businessman making a transaction. It’s useless. And remember this mental state. Make contact with you mental states from the people that
approach you. Experience the
mental states, the stream of mental states that allow you to live. If our mindfulness is fully developed
we will know how light, subtle or heavy is the stream of thinking of other
people.
Then
he taught to know the sense bases.
Where are they studied?
They are studied at ourselves.
This is how he said it. He
taught really briefly and simply. When
the eye sees form, is there moral restraint (sila) at the eye? When the ear hears sound, is there moral
restraint at the ears? When the
nose experiences a smell is there moral restraint at the nose? When the tongue tastes a flavor is there
moral restraint at the tongue?
When the body experiences feelings at heat, cold, hardness, and softness
is there moral restraint? I
listened to him talking. “When you
see forms is there mindfulness?” “Yes there is, Luang Poh.” “That’s right, mindfulness. Morality has to have an abode to live
in,” he said, “You have to live in a hut, right? The householders have to have a house, a place to live. They can’t just sit under the sun and
rain. They must have a place to
live. There must be a place to
live—when eye sees form, have mindfulness.
Then
he said, “Wherever you go the eyes and ears are most important. Don’t give the importance to your
mouth. Your mouth is only a small
teacher, it is not the big teacher.
Mostly we give importance to our mouths. The eyes see, the ears hear, the mind creates and begins to
work, speech comes afterwards.”
Here, his teaching was really good. I got a lot from this teaching. He said when the eyes have morality wealth will follow. When you hear others abusing you, if
your ears do not have morality, when you lose mindfulness for a moment, you
have a problem. The abuse us once,
we abuse them twice. We let our
mouths lead us. This is our ears
having no morality. Set up
mindfulness. When the ears have
mindfulness the ears will have wealth because they will have morality. When you speak in the present moment
you mouth has morality. You speech
is silver and gold. Wealth comes,
your speech is silver and gold, through the power of mindfulness.
Remember
this. What color car is the best,
what model is the best? This color
really crashes well. Good color
which has good luck, which doesn’t crash, doesn’t exist. Don’t forget. It’s all in the heart.
The car leaves all the care and its fate into the hands of its
owner. If the owner has bad luck,
what does the car know about it?
The car meets utter ruin because of its owner. You don’t have to choose a color, just take the one you
like, you don’t have to go looking for a fortune. Whatever color is appealing, take
that one. If the fortune teller
tells you to get a red one, but you like green, don’t force yourself. You buy a red one but after you have it
repaired you won’t feel so good.
You can give up believing the fortune tellers. Just believe in what is comfortable for you.
Sunakkhattam
sumangalam supabhatam….Is it convenient? The auspicious time is the auspicious occasion. Auspicious time is free time. If you are not free the time is not
good. Before you can conduct
your work the tools have to be in order.
When everything is in order, that is the right time. These days, you can’t even be free on
Saturdays or Sundays, you have to find other work to do. Just go ahead. When everything is in order, just go
ahead and do it, and it is done quickly and properly, everything in order. Remember, if the fortune teller tells
you to get red but you like green, if a read color is not pleasing to you, why
should you buy it? Isn’t it better
to choose the color that pleases you?
This is the teaching of the Buddha.
Being
such, I would like to leave this with all of you. Developing insight meditation, concentration meditation,
generosity, morality and meditation, you must know the proper method. When making offerings, you must have intention. You all know what I mean without me
having to explain it. Look at you
intention before doing it. When
you’ve done it you feel good. If
you’ve done it for a long time you feel even better. Take this principle when you make merit. Making merit until your purses are worn
out, do you get any merit for it?
Here is another way to make merit in which you don’t have to give up you
work or you money, but you have to give up time. Just practicing meditation regularly you can solve the
problems that arise before you without having to use any money—but you have to
give up some time. You can do it
at all moments. When you leave you
house problems may arise, but you can solve them on the way. You solve problems at the eyes, the
nose, the tongue, the body and the mind.
When a problem arises you solve it straight away. When you go into your house a problem
may arise, when you arrive at you destination a problem may arise, when a
businessman reaches his office a problems may arise. Problems can always arise, but if we have good mindfulness
and wisdom we will not create problems but work to rectify them the minute they
arise, in the present moment. If
you have nay kind of problem, if you can’t solve it but keep making more
problems and making more trouble, how can you be said to have mindfulness and
concentration?
You
don’t have to think in terms of going to the Wat. Go to your own Wat.
If you don’t have time to go to the Wat that is a building, a place, go
to your own Wat, measure (wat) yourself. Measure yourself whenever you stand, walk, sit or lie down, whenever
you are going to pick up something or sell something, establish mindfulness and
you will always have good sales.
Remember this. Can you
remember the Buddha’s teaching of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness? The one path, what is it called, what
is the city? It is the city of the
body (kayanagara). It’s
there within us. For whoever has
mindfulness and clear comprehension fully developed from practicing the Four
Foundations of Mindfulness, money will flow. That is if your mindfulness is fully developed. Only if the mindfulness is fully
developed can it be said that one has the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. Such a person is fully developed. If he is a merchant he will be rich
through his perfect mindfulness.
He sells with mindfulness and has wisdom, he knows what will lead to
profit and what will lead to loss. And he knows it in advance. That is having perfectly developed
mindfulness.
It
all comes down to these Four Foundations of Mindfulness, developing them to
perfection, having perfect mindfulness.
When mindfulness is good, money follows. Without mindfulness, your money will only disappear, it will
surely go away. Viradayo
viragonayam: you chant this verse for bringing in the money, but does the
money come? If the Westerners ask
what you are doing, don’t tell them that you are chanting to get rich. Why are you chanting? If you chant and the money doesn’t come
they will just ridicule you. You
chant to bring the mind to fruition. When the mind comes to function, money comes to fruition. If your chanting just makes the mind
shrink, your money will shrink also.
It’s not that you just chant and money will com. One the mind comes to fruition, it
sends out branches of shade of the wisdom tree, and then money will shrink
also, you food supplies will shrink, everything shrinks. Thus I say that viradayo viragonayam
is chanted to raise the mind up.
When the mind is at ease and replete within itself, when mindfulness is
perfected, you will get your money.
Just think of money and it will come streaming in.
Remember
this. You chant to make the mind
grow. If all of you make your
minds grow, I guarantee that you will succeed in all your undertakings. If you mind shrinks, your battery runs
flat, how will your car run? If
you don’t look after the battery your mind will run out of energy. If you don’t use a battery, if you don’t
run the engine, the battery run flat.
Eventually it gets ruined.
When the cells are ruined what do you do? You have to throw the battery out and buy a new one, and
that costs money. That is what I
mean by the mind running out of energy.
If you boost your mental power by developing mindfulness in all your
activities, that is all you need to do.
Increase your mindfulness, increase your charge, then your battery will
be recharged.
Just
have mindfulness. The Buddha
taught 84,000 sections of Dhamma, but in brief it is just morality (sila)
concentration (samadhi) and wisdom (panna). This is what the monk in the forest
taught me, very pithy teachings.
To put it even more briefly, it is just mindfulness and clear
comprehension. Even two is too
many. Have only one: the apex of
the cetiya is heedfulness.
Have mindfulness, morality.
Clear comprehension. Even
two is too many. Have only one:
the apex of the cetiya is heedfulness. Have mindfulness, morality. Clear comprehension (sampajanna) is
concentration. You know yourself,
your mind is clearly established, you are possessed on concentration. When your mind is thus well
established, what follows is wisdom.
When that arises all that is left is the one condition of heedfulness in
all activities. There is only one
thing left in the practice. If you
think there is too much to Dhamma practice, just remember not to be neurotic
and not to he heedless. But you
can’t just walk that way, you must begin at the beginning, with morality,
concentration and wisdom. From
there leave only two, mindfulness and clear comprehension, knowing yourself in
all situations and not being heedless.
When heedfulness arises there is just this one factor. This is how the monk taught.
I
caught the gist of his teaching, and returned to my monastery, I understood his
teaching and obtained a lot of other tricks in the practice. If you want to get these tricks, if you
want to know about them, you must come and ask me about them personally. For today I will just give this brief
description, my meeting with a certain Luang Poh in the forest. I don’t know what his name was, but
form his appearance I would say he was about 70 years old, but he must have
been older because the village headman had seen him since he was a youngster
running around naked until he was 84 years old. That headman has died now. If that headman was still alive—don’t forget, in 1950 this
man was 84 years old—then he would now be over a hundred. He must be dead by now. As for me, I am now almost 60.
-----------------------------