The Benefits Of Awareness, Serenity & Wisdom | 28 June 2024

Mostly,

Our minds will be lost and indulge in all the aramana,

Sense impressions.

Like a child who will indulge in playing and enjoyments,

And not know the loss in that.

If there is no one looking after them,

Or the parents have abandoned them,

Then that child may not succeed in their education.

But even a child who has a short attention span,

If they receive guidance in time,

Then they can overcome it.

This requires a lot of love and compassion from the parents.

They have deep attentiveness to that child.

Whereas even someone with a normal attention span,

But they indulge in the sensual pleasures and enjoyments,

Then they will have a short attention span in learning.

They aren't interested in studies.

We may have heard recently about the news of a student in primary school,

Year one,

Who didn't want to study.

They had one type of sickness,

Of being allergic to homework.

They didn't want to study.

If they had to do homework,

Then they would get an allergic reaction straight away.

It was a new sickness that the mind created,

Finding a way to not study,

When questioned that how come before,

You weren't allergic to it,

And the child answered that it took time for the sickness to develop,

And now they were allergic to it.

So if the ones looking after them aren't smart,

And they think it's really like that,

Then the child will stay stupid forever.

They can't look after themselves,

And it will be hard for them to live in this world.

These days,

Even people with wisdom have difficulty living in the world.

They get cheated by scammers,

Call centres,

Tricking them to send money.

It comes from fear,

Being duped,

Getting surprised and scared,

And sending large sums of money to the scammers.

And this is happening to people who have wisdom.

They're not someone who doesn't have wisdom,

But they can make mistakes all the same.

There are some children who are born and have everything in abundance.

The parents have wealth and money and give them everything.

But because the child enjoys and pleasures themselves in various forms of entertainment,

They don't gain success in their studies.

But there are others who have difficulties and troubles,

But they endure it,

Have diligence and effort,

Together with mindfulness and wisdom,

Intelligence,

And they can go well.

Because their mind is deeply interested in various knowledges and skills.

When they don't know,

They go ask from those who have knowledge,

Like teachers and the learned,

And ultimately they can succeed.

And this is together with having sila-dhamma,

Within moral virtue.

They make it in their livelihood in this world.

So this is not being heedless.

A child may be heedless,

But they may have someone looking after them who helps them to have wisdom.

And older people are the same.

Having grown up,

They aren't heedless in looking for wealth,

Not heedless in gaining a livelihood.

They don't have excessive greed,

To the point they lose their wealth.

We can see someone with lots of greed,

They invest a little and want a lot back.

Then they can have people coming to cheat them.

To invest 100 and get back 1 million,

Where would this be possible?

Investing 100 and getting 100,

000 is already hard to find.

Investing 100 baht and getting 10,

000 in return is beyond reality.

But one with greed can make a mistake,

And ultimately they lose it all.

It's wasted.

And has even led many to suicide,

Because of becoming bankrupt in the mind.

And so a foolish belief is something concerning,

As it can cover over the mind.

So we need to be careful of this.

We may notice that even in Buddhism,

There are many different types of doctrines and teachings.

There is a doctrine of samadhi,

Meditative concentration,

Being for the purpose to get free from monetary debt.

Is it possible to be free from debt by doing samadhi?

One trains in samadhi in this particular way and one's debt will be gone.

All phenomena arise from causes.

Samadhi is for the purpose of a firmly concentrated mind.

But it's not that when one has samadhi,

Concentration,

And one can be free from debt.

If we don't work to pay it off,

The debt will still be there,

And the interest will have grown as well.

So this samadhi that we are practicing is to make the mind peaceful.

It will release us from the feelings of heaviness in the mind first.

We first put down the feelings of being in debt,

Or whatever it is which makes us agitated.

We practice samadhi first.

And it's harder to do than other things.

Because being in debt is suffering in this world.

It's a feeling of the mind.

And making the mind peaceful is even harder.

Because the mind is not in a normal state.

Sila is normalness.

If we don't have debt,

Then when we sit in meditation,

We don't worry.

So sila,

The benefit of sila is that samadhi arises.

But if we are relatively skilled in samadhi already,

Then we may have duties and worries,

But we put them down first.

Now we sit in meditation to become peaceful first.

And we use this samadhi to contemplate and find a way to solve our situation.

We improve our mind's strength to do work and duties.

And we may find a way and method to overcome our situation.

There are some things we may lose out on,

And we need to cut that loss off.

We begin again,

Re-establish ourselves,

And then we may gain wealth,

Or even more than before.

The mind is not wavering.

This is the benefit of samadhi.

But it's not that practicing samadhi will free us from debt.

This is a delusion.

We are deluded.

But the deeper samadhi is samadhi for gaining wisdom,

Which we can let go of upadana,

Attachment,

Clinging.

It lets go of the sense of me and mine.

Then we won't suffer.

If we talk about does nibbana exist,

What is nibbana like?

This may be a bit far from us.

If we look in the present,

We have dana,

Generosity,

And sila,

So our minds are cooled to one level.

But the mind is still wavering and scattered,

So we need to practice samadhi.

We make samadhi be firmly established.

Then the scatteredness,

Doubts,

And bad feelings in the mind disappear.

We have happiness arising.

There is rapture and bliss,

And the body and mind are light.

The mind is cooled.

The mind is very spacious.

We may do work all day and are exhausted.

But if we can enter samadhi,

Then the exhaustion and tiredness is gone.

It's like we're tired,

And we take a shower,

And the body is cleansed and refreshed.

If we can do samadhi to this level,

Then it's really good.

It's like we clear the troubles in our brain,

About things bound up with self,

About work,

About me and them,

To be all taken out.

Because if there are a lot of sense impressions and moods,

It will squeeze on our minds.

If we have no cleansing yet to weigh,

Then the mind is full of rubbish,

Like our bodies.

If there was no automatic system of cleansing and clearing out,

Then it would be full of rubbish,

On the inside and outside of the body.

It would be piled up in dirtiness.

Like if we eat,

And for one month we don't excrete it out,

Then it would be hard to live.

And there are some people who are like this,

I'm not sure how they can live.

But if we have the process of excreting and change,

Then we eat,

And the waste is excreted out,

And the body is at ease.

All the sense impressions that enter into the mind,

We have to clear it out somewhat.

Clear it out every day.

We cleanse it out every day by practicing samadhi.

Then the mind will be more light.

When the mind is more light and at ease,

Then here we train and learn about dhamma.

And then we'll be able to understand the dhamma.

That which we don't understand,

That which we have heard before and still have doubts on,

We will understand how it really is.

That which we attach and cling to,

We will contemplate on,

And be able to put it down and let it go.

Right there,

Then the mind will be more spacious.

It has wisdom.

This is training in samadhi to bring up bhajna,

Wisdom.

Someone who walks this way,

Of dana,

Sila and bhavana meditation,

In sila,

Samadhi and bhajna,

This is someone who is not heedless and who sees the faults of the mind that is all over the place.

They see the benefit of training the mind by having effort and diligence.

There was one venerable elder who had practiced dhamma with venerable Ajahn Chah.

And Ajahn Chah taught him to put forth effort and diligence in the practice.

Whether the weather is hot or cold,

Practice.

However hungry you are,

Practice.

If it's raining and storming,

Practice.

So not skipping it and to keep trying at it.

And through having the right method to develop effort in developing mindfulness,

Then the mind becomes peaceful.

So the meditation object of anapanasati,

Mindfulness of the in and out breath,

Or mindfulness with the movement and deportment of the body,

Is developing sati,

Mindfulness.

It is of the aspect of the body,

Within the body aspect in the four foundations of mindfulness.

So mindfulness is in the present.

We stop all thoughts and come to this present moment,

Until the mind is peaceful.

Then we will contemplate the body as being a super,

Not beautiful,

Or as being a heap of elements,

A heap of aggregates.

The mind is peaceful.

When the mind is peaceful,

Then it sees the body as simply a body.

Here,

This is wisdom.

And we can see it.

In the start,

We train the mind to be peaceful first,

Through using the meditation object of mindfulness of the in and out breath,

Through mindfulness of movement of the body,

Contemplating the body as not beautiful or as elements.

So one who develops this is one who is not heedless.

The Buddha said one who is not heedless is one who doesn't die.

This is in regards to the mind.

There is leading one's life without being heedless.

Children not being heedless in their studies will prosper.

So we prepare ourselves,

Like how we go travelling.

In the past,

We travelled by foot and had to prepare many things.

We couldn't be heedless.

We would need supplies for the journey.

We prepared many things in order to protect oneself from dangers,

Like going in a big group.

So we have faith to try to train ourselves.

This is being determined and not heedless.

We see that our life is passing by,

Passing by,

Passing by,

Constantly.

The Buddha had us to contemplate,

What are we doing now?

Even when the Buddha was about to pass away into final nibbana,

He taught,

May you all be established in heedfulness.

So we contemplate what things are we heedless in.

For children,

It could be heedless in studies.

We are sick with an allergy to homework or not being interested in learning.

Or one is not interested in doing work.

Just doing useless things.

Just looking for enjoyments and pleasure.

Taking bad and evil people as friends.

Going gambling.

Going out late at night.

These various things lead to ruining everything.

But if someone is well established in a basic level of moral conduct,

Then they will have a good foundation.

They won't have greed.

They won't lose wealth.

Not being in a lot of debt.

One needs to have well-rounded attentiveness.

Because we have to think we can't trust anything.

So we try to put effort in Dhamma practice and meditation.

We reflect on the Buddha's last teaching.

We are determined to not be heedless.

Then we will understand the Dhamma.

The mind is peaceful and still.

And then we learn like this.

We give dana,

Suitable,

To our means and faith.

We aren't troubled by it.

We give one portion of what we have.

So the Buddhists who live in Thailand and around the world,

Wherever they are,

They have a lot of faith and great generosity.

It's a good energy.

An energy of giving.

The giver and receiver have happiness and joy.

We also give with metta,

Goodwill.

The Buddha taught us to have metta.

The Karaniya Metta Sutta is about developing metta.

We chant it and develop metta.

And it's an energy that is pure.

We have no ill will or grudge with anyone.

So this is important.

May your minds be well established,

Not wavering with anything.

Then you will have wisdom to look after your minds.

So you will know what you need to do,

At what time.

And your body is safe and protected,

Which is through having mindfulness.

There are some who get trapped in the bathroom and can't get out because the door is locked and won't open.

They need to have mindfulness.

Shouting out,

No one will hear.

But they can figure their own way out.

They use the showerhead to break the door handle.

Then they can get out.

So mindfulness is important.

It makes you safe and protected.

And looks after the body.

And looks after your mind.

To be free from suffering.

From all the sense experiences.

With mindfulness and wisdom.

May you all train,

Instruct and develop the mind to be well established.

With Sila as its foundation.

And ultimately it will progress to wisdom.

May you grow in blessings.