May you now be determined to listen to Dhamma.
Today is the sixth day of this meditation retreat and coming on a retreat is when you build your meditation object,
Making the mind peaceful.
You put down your work,
Duties,
Responsibilities,
Put down all the various communication devices and you bring up mindfulness with the body,
With speech,
With the mind and this is building our bhāramī,
Our spiritual accumulations and this bhāramī is something,
Is a merit that we have done in the past.
Upekkhata-punyata is merit that has been done in the past and this merit will bring us happiness.
So we have to develop it.
So now we are practicing meditation,
Listening to Dhamma,
Doing chanting,
Giving alms,
Practicing dhāna,
Generosity.
So this is all the merit and goodness that we're doing in this life and we have practiced that yesterday,
The day before,
Last month,
Last year and even in past lives.
So if we've contemplated that this isn't the first time that we're doing and practicing building our bhāramī,
Making merit like this,
Even in past lives we've done it before.
So it's not just this one life and so this life then we come back again to build our goodness,
Our merit,
Our bhāramī.
We are building goodness through developing sila,
The precepts,
Samādhi,
Concentration and wisdom or practicing or the practice of generosity,
Morality and meditation,
Bhāvanā.
And if our bhāramī is full,
Then we will receive the results coming from that in this very life.
So we have to put in effort to build our good karma and to practice meditation,
Practice dhamma is a lot of good karma that we are doing.
And so some may have the question that I've been practicing for many years already,
How come I haven't yet seen the dhamma?
We have to see how much bhāramī that we have made in the past.
Is it a little or is it a lot?
We can take an example or a simile of a cup of water.
If this water is just one tenth full,
Then it is another nine more parts until it becomes completely full.
And that is like one can then see the dhamma when it's full.
So we must keep filling this cup up.
We develop and practice merit,
Practice develop goodness and our meditation.
We have to be intense to develop this until our mindfulness improves,
Our samādhi becomes firmly concentrated and our wisdom is better and higher.
And this is like then we're pouring more water into this cup instead of nine parts left and we have eight or seven left.
We're increasing the water from one to two to three to four to five parts like that.
Or some maybe have even filled it all the way till nine parts.
But maybe they don't yet see the dhamma in that life and they die before that.
And because of the merit and goodness they've made,
The results of that is they're born into a higher realm.
And then later they come to be reborn in the human realm again.
In the beginning they may be deluded but when they meet with suffering then they want to find the path leading out of suffering to be liberated from it.
And they already have built nine tenths of their bhāramī or the cup is that full.
And so then in this life they just need to build one more part until it's completely full.
And then they see the dhamma.
To some it's nine parts or even more.
That it's just one more drop and the cup is full.
Then they can just listen to the dhamma,
Contemplate the dhamma and they can see the dhamma.
Because at that time their minds have firmly established samādhi.
They're able to maintain that while they're listening to dhamma.
Their minds are focused and concentrated on that dhamma.
So they can then see dhamma very easily and it's able to change over their views.
To see the dhamma is to change one's views.
Right now we see things according to self.
We believe that there is this abiding self.
Everything is seen from a self.
It truly exists.
But the Buddha said that things are impermanent.
But we don't see it that way.
We see things as nīcchang,
Which is permanent.
So we attach to things and then when those things change according to nature,
Then we have to suffer because of that.
Because we haven't yet accepted the truth.
So we need to change our views.
We change them to accept the truth of impermanence.
The truth of not-self.
And then if we can change our views like that,
Then that's someone who's completely full of kilesas or mental defilements.
And because they've changed their views,
They can reduce the defilements in their heart by say 25%.
And so this is someone who has bhāramī and who has inner wealth.
And I can give an example in relation to this.
One person is born as a human being and in that life they have a great amount of wealth.
They're a millionaire or more billionaire and they have a lot of precious gold and they decide to hide it away in their house.
They have a stone or brick house.
So they hide away the gold in the walls and then from that life they die as a human being from the merit they've made.
They're born in a heaven realm and they cycle around birth and death like that.
Then they come to be reborn again and they're born somewhere else.
But then they come back to this house and the owner there is selling that house and this person then really likes the house.
It's in a very good place.
There's trees,
There's nature around,
It's very peaceful there.
So they go buy that house and then they live in there and one day a stone falls from the wall and they look inside and they can find all that gold again.
The precious gold inside there and then in that life then they're a very wealthy person again.
So this is like one's merit that one has done before because someone has built it in the past then one will receive it in the future.
So this is a simile for the inner wealth that we've built,
That we've developed,
Our Barami.
It will lead to merit results in the future.
People may contemplate of why Venerable Sivali could attain to the Dhamma so quickly,
Become enlightened so quickly.
Just when he had his hair shaved off,
The first part of hair falling down and he could attain to Sotapanna.
The next part and he could attain to Sakadagami,
Anagami and then Arahantship already just in that one shaving of his hair.
This is because he had built his Barami a lot already in past lives and so we may ask then if we then try to sincerely practice in this life,
Will we be able to see the Dhamma?
We will be able to because the Dhamma can arise at any time.
It's not dependent on time and place.
That is if we have developed Sila,
We have kept,
Maintained good Sila,
We have a firmly concentrated mind in Samadhi and wisdom has arisen,
Then we can know and see the Dhamma.
In the beginning,
It may be difficult to build and develop Samadhi,
But lay people can do it as well if they're determined.
They sit meditation.
If you can do two hours a day or if you have more time,
Then you can do three hours a day.
You try to develop a lot of mindfulness through the day and be intent to listen and contemplate into Dhamma and keeping the five precepts,
The eight precepts and practicing meditation without fail.
Then the mind gets more firmly concentrated in Samadhi and then one can see something of conventional reality and before we had been deluded in it as being a self,
As being me and mine,
But we listen to the Dhamma and then our minds are very focused and the minds have peace.
Then we can see that same thing that was of conventions,
We see it for what it really is,
That it's simply elements of nature coming together.
Then we can understand just like we have names,
This is a child,
This is an adult,
They're names in conventional reality or we call this a monk,
This one's a Samaneri,
A Bhikkhuni,
These are names or conventions that we put on things that have come together from elements from nature.
Just like we name this Mahayana and we name it Theravada,
They're simply just labels and conventions.
If we see all things as being empty,
Then the mind is able to see that through those conventions it sees into emptiness.
We may do our chants of these verses of Dhamma,
But we shouldn't just chant with our mouth,
We should also reflect,
Let our mind contemplate along with the chanting as well.
We do this every day,
Every day,
We chant until the mind can become peaceful and then that knowing and understanding arises into that all things are inherently empty.
When our faculties,
The training of Sila,
Samadhi,
Panya has gathered together,
They're complete,
Then we're able to see the Dhamma.
Our intent to listen to Dhamma,
To learn to practice Dhamma,
Then we will have a chance to see the Dhamma.
That is when our Barami is full,
We will see the Dhamma.
This applies also to someone who is doubting about the practice still.
In the beginning I had doubts about the practice as well,
But then after practicing and understanding,
Then those doubts were naturally abandoned.
This is something that you can attain to in this life,
Just be determined and it requires sincere effort in the practice.
Just like in the world,
We're able to succeed.
We wanted to get a bachelor's degree,
Master's or a doctorate or succeed in our work,
We were able to do it,
We could succeed.
In Dhamma practice it's the same as well,
We can do it,
It's not beyond our ability.
In this life we must be determined and if we keep practicing without stopping,
Then we will attain to it.
Just like Venerable Ajahn Chah said that underneath the ground there's definitely water,
We go dig looking for water.
If we keep digging without stopping,
Then we'll definitely find water.
These days they may dig for natural resources and they're underground,
Maybe they have to dig 10 kilometers deep down and then they can find oil or gas.
Just like that,
They have to keep digging until they find that resource.
Human beings are able to use their intellect in this way in order to gain resources and to succeed.
In Dhamma practice is the same.
If we're able to be determined,
Sincere and practice without stopping,
Then we will see the Dhamma or at the least we will have built our Barami to be higher and better so that it becomes a cause that one day we do see the Dhamma.
We may contemplate about Venerable Sivali and question of why he was able to attain so quickly to Sotapanna,
Sakadagami,
Anagami,
Arahantship.
Why is it that some of those in the Buddha's time were able to attain in that life,
In that very life,
Listening to that talk?
This is because they had built their Barami in the past.
One who has Barami,
Then even if they aren't interested in Dhamma,
They can be brought and attain Dhamma quickly.
Just like the son of Anathapindika,
The wealthy merchant in the time of the Buddha,
Who wasn't interested in Dhamma at all.
He was born very wealthy and he didn't want to go listen to the teachings of the Buddha because he didn't want to abandon his enjoyments,
Indulging and his satisfaction in all the wealth.
He just wanted to enjoy every day.
But Anathapindika was very wise and so Anathapindika had a method that he would pay the son to go listen to the Dhamma,
The teachings of the Buddha.
And he told the son to go listen to the Dhamma and just to remember one verse and go back to tell his father.
And so the son,
Who didn't really want to listen to the Dhamma,
Sat at the very back.
But the Buddha gave a teaching that really entered deep down into his heart and he was able to see the Dhamma.
And so when he went back,
He didn't want the money because what he had gotten was much more valuable than any money could have bought.
So may you be determined in your practice and may you all see the Dhamma.
