“Wisdom”.
Question: “After we have jhāna, do we directly
have the wisdom? How do we develop the wisdom?”
Than Ajahn: “When you enter into jhāna, you’ll
discover a new form of happiness. That’s also wisdom: to know that there are
other kinds of happiness besides the kind of happiness that people are normally
looking for such as getting happiness from wealth, happiness from having
contact with sensual gratification. There are other kinds of happiness, that is
the happiness from jhāna.
Having developed this a new kind of knowledge is
considered to have the wisdom, knowing that you can be happy without having to
have money, without having to have a husband or a wife. You don’t have to be
anything to make you happy. You don’t have to be anybody to be happy. You don’t
have to go anywhere to make you happy. This is wisdom.
You have discovered the real happiness, the easier
kind of happiness because you don’t have to rely on anything or anybody to make
you happy. All you have to have is a strong mindfulness, a continuous
mindfulness. Then, you can have this kind of happiness. This is one part of the
wisdom that you gain from entering into jhāna.
After you come out of jhāna, your desire hasn’t been
destroyed yet. Then, you need another kind of wisdom. This kind of wisdom is
developed by telling yourself that doing what your desire asks you to do is
bad. It can only hurt you because what you desire for can only satisfy you
temporarily, it can only make you happy briefly. And when that happiness
disappears, you will be sad again. So, everything that you go after in this
world is a temporary happiness. When it disappears, you will be sad again.
You have to keep teaching your mind so that you can
resist your desire to go after things in this world. It’s better for you to go
back into jhāna where you can have the permanent kind of happiness. Once you
know how to have jhāna, you can always have it all the time. This is the way to
get rid of all your desires which cause you to have rebirth.
Once you can get rid of all your desires, then there
will be no more rebirth, no more ageing, sickness and death. This is the wisdom
that you have to develop when you come out of jhāna. You have to tell your mind
that nothing in this world is permanent. Nothing can give you long term
happiness. Everything is short term. Once it disappears, it will only cause you
sadness and misery. Keep teaching your mind whenever your desire for something
arises. You can say, ‘It’s better not to have it. It’s better to have jhāna.’
You have a choice between having jhāna or having a
wife/a husband for happiness. If you have a wife, sometimes she can get mad at
you, then that happiness will disappear. If she departs or she separates from
you, you become sad again. If you have wisdom, you’d say, ‘I’d better have
jhāna.’ Because you can always have jhāna.
Stop having anything else because everything in this
world is only temporary. It doesn’t last. Everything is aniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ,
anattā. Aniccaṁ means temporary, dukkhaṁ is sadness, unhappiness. Anattā means
you cannot keep it, you cannot force it to be with you all the time. It comes
and goes as it likes. So, this is wisdom that you have to develop: all the
things in this world whether they are money, people, or even our bodies are
aniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ, anattā. If you see all things in this way, you can let go of
your desire to possess them. Once you don’t have any desire, your mind will be
peaceful and happy. Then, you don’t have to enter into jhāna because your mind
can be happy without jhāna.
The thing that makes your mind unhappy is your desire.
Once you get rid of all your desires, there will be no agitator that will cause
any sadness or dissatisfaction. Your mind will be always happy and peaceful.
Then, you don’t have to practice any more Dhamma. You don’t have to develop
mindfulness. You don’t have to enter into jhāna. You don’t have to use wisdom.
It’s because you have solved the problem. You have got rid of all your desires.
You need samādhi. You need mindfulness. You need
wisdom to get rid of your desires. Once you’ve got rid of them, then you no
longer need samādhi, wisdom or mindfulness. They are like medicines. When
you’re sick, you need to take medicines. After your sickness disappears, you
don’t need to take the medicines anymore.
After the Buddha and his noble disciples became
enlightened, they have completely got rid of their desires, they don’t have to
practice Dhamma anymore. They don’t have to be mindful. They don’t have to
enter into jhāna. They don’t have to use wisdom. Although they will use them
occasionally as the need arises, but the jhāna and wisdom are not used for
getting rid of their desires because all of their desires have been got rid off
permanently.
So, keep the precepts, practice dāna, develop
mindfulness, sit in meditation, contemplate on aniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ, anattā to
develop wisdom. Then, one day you will achieve the goal. You will become
enlightened like the Buddha.”
From: “Dhamma in English to laypeople from
Indonesia, Feb 11, 2018.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com
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