Dharma
The Teachings of Ajahn Dhammadharo
Sometimes inconstancy makes us happy, sometimes it
makes us sad. Say we hear that a person we don’t like is going to be demoted,
or is sick or dying. It makes us gleeful, and we can’t wait for him or her to
die. His body is impermanent, his life is uncertain—it can change—but we’re
glad. That’s a defilement. Say we hear that a son or daughter has become
wealthy, influential, and famous, and we become happy. Again, our mind has
strayed from the noble path. It’s not firmly in right concentration. We have to
make the mind neutral: not thrilled over things, not upset over things, not
thrilled when our plans succeed, not upset when they don’t. When we can make
the mind neutral like this, that’s the neutrality of right view. We see what’s
wrong, what’s right, and try to steer the mind away from the wrong and toward
the right. This is called right resolve, part of vipassanā-ñāṇa.
The same holds true with stress, whether it’s our
stress and pain, or somebody else’s. Say we hear that an enemy is suffering.
‘Glad to hear it,’ we think. ‘Hope they hurry up and die.’ The heart has
tilted. Say we hear that a friend has become wealthy, and we become happy; or a
son or daughter is ill, and we become sad. Our mind has fallen in with
suffering and stress. Why? Because we don’t have any knowledge. We’re
unskilled. The mind isn’t centered. In other words, it’s not in right
concentration. We have to look after the mind. Don’t let it fall in with
stress. Whatever suffers, let it suffer, but don’t let the mind suffer with it.
The people in the world may be pained, but the mind isn’t pained along with
them. Pain may arise in the body, but the mind isn’t pained along with it. Let
the body go ahead and suffer, but the mind doesn’t suffer. Keep the mind
neutral. Don’t be pleased by pleasure, either—pleasure is a form of stress, you
know. How so? It can change. It can rise and fall. It can be high and low. It
can’t last. That’s stress. Pain is also stress: double stress. When you gain
this sort of insight into stress—when you really see stress—vipassanā has
arisen in the mind.
As for anattā, not-self: Once we’ve examined things
and seen them for what they really are, we don’t make claims, we don’t display
influence, we don’t try to show that we have the right or the power to bring
things that are not-self under our control. No matter how hard we try, we can’t
prevent birth, aging, illness, and death. If the body is going to be old, let
it be old. If it’s going to hurt, let it hurt. If it has to die, let it die.
Don’t be pleased by death, either your own or that of others. Don’t be upset by
death, your own or that of others. Keep the mind neutral. Unruffled. Unfazed.
This is saṅkhārūpekkhā-ñāṇa: letting saṅkhāras—all fabrications—follow their
own inherent nature. The mind like this is in vipassanā.
This is the first branch of knowledge—vipassanā—in
brief: You see that all things fashioned are inconstant, stressful, and
not-self. You can disentangle them from your grasp. You can let go. This is
where it gets good. How so? You don’t have to wear yourself out, lugging saṅkhāras
around.
To be attached means to carry a load, and there are
five heaps (khandhas) we carry:
rūpūpādānakkhandho: physical phenomena are the first
load;
vedanūpādānakkhandho: feelings that we’re attached to
are another;
saññūpādānakkhandho: the concepts and labels that we
claim are ours are a pole for carrying a load on our shoulder;
saṅkhārūpādānakkhandho: the mental fabrications that
we hang onto and think are ours;
viññāṇūpādānakkhandho: our attachment to sensory consciousness.
Go ahead: Carry them around. Hang one load from your
left leg and one from your right. Put one on your left shoulder and one on your
right. Put the last load on your head. And now: Carry them wherever you
go—clumsy, encumbered, and comical.
Go ahead and carry them. The five khandhas are a heavy
load,
Carry them everywhere you go,
and you waste your time suffering in the world.
The Buddha taught that whoever lacks discernment,
whoever is unskilled, whoever doesn’t practice concentration leading to
vipassanā-ñāṇa, will have to be burdened with stress, will always be loaded
down. It’s pathetic. It’s a shame. They’ll never get away. When they’re loaded
down like this, it’s really pathetic. Their legs are burdened, their shoulders
burdened—and where are they going? Three steps forward and two steps back. Soon
they’ll get discouraged, and then after a while they’ll pick themselves up and
get going again.
Now, when we see inconstancy—that all fabrications,
whether within us or without, are undependable; when we see that they’re
stressful; when we see that they’re not our self, that they simply whirl around
in and of themselves: When we gain these insights, we can put down our burdens,
i.e., let go of our attachments. We can put down the past—i.e., stop dwelling
in it. We can let go of the future—i.e., stop yearning for it. We can let go of
the present—i.e., stop claiming it as the self. Once these three big baskets
have fallen from our shoulders, we can walk with a light step. We can even
dance. We’re beautiful. Wherever we go, people will be glad to know us. Why?
Because we’re not encumbered. Whatever we do, we can do with ease. We can walk,
run, dance and sing—all with a light heart. We’re Buddhism’s beauty, a sight
for sore eyes, graceful wherever we go. No longer burdened, no longer
encumbered, we can be at our ease. This is vipassanā-ñāṇa: the first branch of
knowledge.
~
From Knowledge in Inner Strength & Parting Gifts:
Talks by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo, translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/InnerStrength/Contents.html
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