Meditation is creating the causes and conditions to calm our minds.
We are seeking wisdom and knowledge in our studies,
In our work,
And in our practice of Dhamma.
Wisdom is the understanding of the truth that the Buddha taught,
Enabling us to comprehend the natural principles of arising,
Persisting,
And ceasing.
Suffering,
Not understanding these truths,
Causes suffering to arise in our minds.
The Buddha taught the path to extinguish suffering,
Which involves walking the noble path of sila – morality,
Samadhi – concentration,
And panna – wisdom.
This is the most sublime path,
The middle way,
The highest practice that can liberate our minds from suffering.
It is said that everything arises from causes and conditions.
If we understand the causes and conditions of arising and ceasing,
We gain the wisdom to be free from suffering.
However,
As long as we are alive,
Children must study and learn,
While adults must work.
We must also study Dhamma in terms of sila – moral conduct.
Sometimes people misunderstand and misinterpret the Buddha's teachings,
Saying that the Buddha taught us only to let go.
Teaching letting go makes people lazy and not be diligent.
They say that Buddhism teaches people to not have patience and forbearance,
And to simply let go.
But that is not the case.
It is essential to have wisdom.
From the very beginning,
The Buddha taught about the qualities of morality,
Concentration,
And wisdom.
He taught us to understand the principles of nature that are already there.
Like in our daily lives,
When we work,
We will inevitably feel tired.
If we are caught in the rain during a storm,
We will get wet.
For those who work outdoors,
Under the sun,
Farming or doing other outdoor tasks,
They will feel the heat.
So the foundational virtue in the beginning is to have kantit – patience and forbearance in how one leads one's life,
Which is the Garavasa Dhamma – the virtues of a good household life,
Which includes having patience,
Forbearance and self-restraint constantly.
So laypeople need to have these principles in leading one's life.
And if we lack these virtues,
We will face difficulties and will not achieve success.
Now let us consider that people these days face lots of problems because they want to get things quickly.
Looking back 50 years ago,
People also wanted things quickly.
They wanted to get rich fast.
In Dhamma practice,
Wanting to achieve spiritual attainments quickly,
To excel in their studies,
And to make profits and get rich in business.
However,
They did not create the causes and conditions for gaining knowledge,
Nor did they put in the effort to study.
They wanted high profits without investing or working hard,
Or they wanted wealth without enduring any hardships.
So such attitudes will certainly not lead to success.
Even if one is the child of a wealthy family,
Laziness and associating with bad company will lead to squandering one's wealth.
In the end,
They cannot maintain their status as the child of a wealthy family.
Why?
Because they lack good inner virtues.
Therefore sometimes,
Krubarjans,
Enlightened teachers,
May teach us to know and recite mantras and chants to give us confidence that we will succeed in various aspects of life.
However,
We must also use wisdom to reflect.
After reciting these chants,
Have we taken action following them?
Has any action been taken?
If no action is taken,
It won't work,
Because all phenomena arise from causes.
If we want knowledge and education,
We must study.
If we want to be rich,
We must endure the heat of the sun,
Fatigue and exhaustion.
If we want to become wealthy,
Well let's ask wealthy people how they did it.
How did they achieve their success?
What did they do to get to that point?
They must have forbearance and to seek wealth through righteous means.
If wealth is acquired unrighteously,
It will eventually be wasted away.
Therefore one must be diligent,
Determined and make persistent efforts.
Once wealth has been acquired,
It must be preserved and used frugally.
Repair what is broken and improve it.
Do not be wasteful.
Associate with good friends who can support and uplift you,
Helping your business and endeavours to grow and prosper.
Do not associate with those who lead you into gambling or wasteful pursuits.
Do you want to be rich?
Then invest wisely.
If you think you can invest little and gain much,
You will likely be deceived.
In the end,
You won't become wealthy.
And once you have wealth,
Don't spend it recklessly.
Use it appropriately and frugally,
Ensuring that everything is worth the money spent.
There's a saying,
Money doesn't fall from the sky.
It comes from hard work and effort.
Just like all of you who work tirelessly,
Enduring everything,
Yet still have the generosity to set aside a portion of your earnings to make merit in the Buddha's dispensation.
That merit,
Which is initially material,
Transforms into something intangible,
Which resides in the hearts of each and every one of us.
Therefore when we study and understand the teachings of the Buddha,
We see that the Buddha teaches us to achieve success in life,
To be someone who is diligent and persistent in studies and in seeking knowledge,
To associate with good friends and to endure with patience.
We should memorise and reflect on knowledge and education to have clear understanding with mindfulness and wisdom.
We focus on our studies and we use our intelligence to explore it until we achieve success.
It's not about being idle or gaining things with no effort.
Some people see others who have graduated,
Have good education and successful careers,
And they feel envious.
But we must consider that everything others have achieved comes from their hard work,
From their learning and from the strength of their intelligence and forbearance.
Only through these efforts can they succeed in their fields.
And so,
If any of you desire that success,
You can achieve it as well.
Students who want to excel in their studies should look to those who are dedicated to learning as role models.
Associate with knowledgeable and capable people as they can help elevate you to higher levels.
In doing our work,
We must do it with intelligence and carefulness,
Guided by a heart of honesty and integrity.
This is crucial and is called such a truthfulness.
When we are honest,
Have a good heart,
Are patient,
Have forbearance and are able to restrain ourselves,
Then we can live as laypeople in a stable and happy manner,
As the Buddha taught.
And Sila morality will ultimately lead us to Nibbana.
Initially we keep the five moral precepts and cultivate our inner virtues.
Then this will be the virtues that support our knowing,
Understanding and seeing of the Dhamma as taught by the Buddha.
So we must walk the path of Sila.
Therefore start with generosity,
Morality and mental development.
Can you see?
When we uphold Sila,
Sila becomes the condition for the arising of Samadhi and Samadhi becomes the condition for the arising of wisdom.
Initially it is the Sila from education which is staying within the set framework,
Rules and discipline.
Concentration is established in studying and wisdom arises from the knowledge gained through learning until one gains success.
And this is accompanied by virtue.
The same applies to work.
We perform our duties within the boundaries of Sila with focused determination in our tasks.
Wisdom arises,
Leading to intelligence and expertise in our work and fields,
Deepening our knowledge and expertise until we become renowned and a reliable source of guidance for those who lack knowledge.
Whoever is suffering,
We can help alleviate their suffering according to our knowledge and abilities.
This progresses according to the level of our Sila.
Eventually we realize that the life of a lay person is just this much.
Therefore let us study the Dhamma together.
For example,
We gather every Saturday,
Sunday or every Friday and come together to study and learn the Dhamma.
Because we see that what we have in this world is sufficient for us and is simply for our livelihood.
However we study the Dhamma further to realize that our minds are still not at peace.
The mind still experiences suffering.
Even having happiness,
It is just a lesser form of suffering.
When we seek true happiness,
We train our bodies and speech in Sila and we firmly establish our minds in Samadhi.
We establish our awareness on the in and out breath.
We can focus it on a single point.
Do not let the mind scatter too much.
Gather it all together.
When we recite Ittipiso Bhagavata,
The virtues of the Buddha,
Dhamma and Sangha,
We can eventually reduce it to a single word such as Bhutto,
Dhammo or Sangho.
Why?
It's to have a single object of focus.
Then the mind will become calm and still.
There were the monks who were enlightened.
And in the beginning,
They greatly enjoyed reciting the virtues of the Buddha.
The earlier generations of teachers would instruct them,
Alright,
Continue developing reciting the virtues of the Buddha,
Dhamma and Sangha until it's reduced to a single word.
So it came to the one word Bhutto.
When only the one word Bhutto remained,
Their minds would become bright,
Calm and be concentrated in Samadhi.
Then when we contemplate the meditation object of this body as a mass of elements,
It gathers together and the mind is brought to stillness.
When we contemplate the unattractiveness of this body,
We bring the mind to stillness.
When we are aware of the in and out breath,
It gathers on the word Bhutto,
Calming the mind and the mind doesn't think of other things anymore.
This is called that Sila has trained the mind and it gives rise to the benefit of Samadhi.
The Samadhi that is well cultivated gives rise to wisdom.
There is knowing arising.
It is the causes and conditions to understand the cyclical nature of the world.
We see that the sun rises and sets,
Trees grow and flourish,
Leaves fall and eventually everything disintegrates and decomposes.
The young trees initially absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen,
But as they grow older,
The trees become less efficient at this.
They may need to be replaced,
Removing old trees and using them for benefit and then planting new ones to create conditions for better air and oxygen.
Or in the atmosphere,
There is an abundance of dust and PM2.
5,
Making it difficult for humans to live and causing illnesses.
So despite our great material progress,
Having built many things in this world,
But we cannot overcome nature.
Nature maintains its balance.
When heavy rains fall,
They wash away the dust,
Allowing us to live.
Can we see?
No matter how much the world has advanced and developed materially,
But if nature becomes imbalanced,
Then it will be difficult for us to live comfortably.
And this relates to the mind as well.
When our minds are too much into the world,
The mind is too focused and involved on worldly matters and pays too much attention to news and information,
Then it causes our minds to become chaotic.
In the past,
Even without modern communication devices,
Society was still somewhat chaotic,
But it was manageable.
However,
In this era,
The chaos has intensified due to worldly progress.
Desires and defilements arise even more,
And the craving for knowledge and sights for various things create the most turmoil.
Now,
If we gather into ourselves,
We can stop somewhat.
Like when we come to the monastery,
We put it down and stop.
Even if we have a phone,
We don't look at it for an hour,
Two hours or three hours while we're at the monastery.
Or when we are learning Dhamma every Friday,
We stop.
Do you see?
This is having sila.
We have rules that discipline us.
We know about the five precepts,
So let's look at the fourth precept,
Avoiding idle chatter,
And the fifth precept,
Refraining from intoxicants.
Therefore,
When we become intoxicated with communication devices or indulge in meaningless knowledge and useless information,
It falls under idle chatter,
Speech and idle sights.
So we put it down.
It is sila,
And it is peaceful.
Our minds become calmer,
More peaceful and cooler.
This is how sila protects the mind,
And samadhi further protects the mind and body.
So we gradually develop ourselves like this until mindfulness arises,
Leading to wisdom and all-rounded knowing.
All of this depends on consistent practice and training.
When we can put things down on some occasions,
Whether by coming to practice at the monastery or every Friday or every weekend,
We can put things down,
And we are putting down the chaos and turning inwards to our own hearts.
We observe our own minds with mindfulness.
We examine and understand our minds,
How it is,
And we will see,
Why is my mind so restless and in suffering?
If we don't want suffering,
We must follow the path taught by the Buddha,
The noble path.
So we train our mindfulness to arise.
We strive to develop mindfulness,
For our minds to be calm and peaceful in samadhi.
This is what they call developing iddhi,
Spiritual power.
Spiritual power is one aspect.
The other aspect is the iddhipada,
The pathways to success.
The Buddha taught us to walk this path.
To achieve success,
We must be determined,
Diligent,
And focus our minds on investigating within our minds,
To see where suffering comes from.
What is greed,
Anger and delusion like?
If these diminish,
Then the heat cools down,
And coolness of heart arises.
We create the causes and conditions.
It's not about miracles.
If miracles could solve everything,
The Buddha would have already freed all beings from defilements.
Venerable Ajahn Chah once said something I didn't fully understand at first.
He said,
The Buddha eradicated defilements.
If he had eradicated all defilements,
Wouldn't we be free from them too?
It's worth thinking about.
The Buddha eradicated his own defilements by his own efforts,
And he taught us the way to eradicate the defilements.
But the Buddha couldn't eradicate our defilements for us.
Do you see?
In those times,
If people wanted wealth or abundance,
They had to work for it themselves.
The Buddha taught the causes and conditions for us to practice them,
Explaining that such and such actions lead to such and such results.
We've all heard the saying,
What you sow,
So shall you reap.
Whatever our actions are,
They will determine the specific results we receive.
If we are lazy,
We won't succeed in our duties,
Studies,
Work,
Or in Dhamma practice.
But if we create the right causes and conditions with diligence from childhood onwards,
We will succeed in our studies,
Along with gaining mindfulness and wisdom.
We will succeed in our work,
And we will succeed in our Dhamma practice.
Even for our physical health,
We know what makes the body strong and the many things that weaken the body.
To stay healthy,
We must be careful and avoid dangers.
If there's lots of dust,
We must avoid it.
We try to overcome the state we are in to be safe from all dangers,
Like we put on protective gear or have air purifiers.
If we're outdoors and can't control the environment,
Then we must be cautious,
Avoiding outdoor exercise when necessary.
Doctors and nurses advise us and we follow their guidance to stay safe and healthy,
And we exercise to strengthen our bodies.
Therefore,
All phenomena arise from causes.
If we create good causes,
We will reap good results.
But if we go deeper,
We see that causes arise and cease.
This is the Four Noble Truths,
The truth of suffering.
We come to understand the cause of suffering,
The cessation of suffering,
And the path leading to the cessation of suffering.
This is the practice leading to letting go.
However,
The Buddha taught starting with generosity,
Morality,
And mental development.
He didn't immediately teach complete letting go,
Especially for students or those engaged in work.
Yet at some point in our lives,
We must take time to let go temporarily all that we have been holding onto throughout the day.
We realize there is no permanent self or anything that is truly ours.
This creates some emptiness in our minds.
There is some emptiness which arises,
And this is such a good thing.
If our minds are chaotic,
Filled with emotions and thoughts,
We can't cope with it.
The mind isn't able to handle it.
Similarly,
If the atmosphere is filled with dust,
Leaving no emptiness in the air,
It becomes difficult to live comfortably.
When rain falls and washes away the dust,
The air becomes clear and empty of dust.
In the same way,
When our minds are empty from defilement somewhat,
Empty of the sense of self somewhat,
We begin to see the true nature of the self.
Then this brings ease to our hearts.
So it's about knowing how to let go somewhat,
Just not letting go of everything.
Some people misunderstand this and misinterpret the Buddha's teachings.
Therefore,
Let us reflect and understand this correctly.
By practicing and creating good causes,
Good results will follow.
Then you will all find happiness and spiritual growth.
May you grow in blessings.
