So today is the One Prabh,
The Lunar Observance Day,
And so we should be intent on practicing together.
And why is that?
It's because our lives,
They don't last,
And they're not short.
And we don't know when this sankhara,
This body which has been conditioned,
Brought about through different factors,
When it will break apart,
We just don't know when that's going to happen.
And if we don't hurry and practice and meditate,
Then when these painful feelings appear within the body due to illness,
Our mindfulness won't be able to keep up with that.
And what we need is to have,
And train ourselves to have,
Mindfulness which is strong and has energy.
So we do that with sila as our foundation,
As the five precepts,
The eight precepts,
The ten precepts of a novice,
Or the 227 precepts of a bhikkhu,
And we have a mindfulness there within this practice of sila and vinaya,
Being composed,
Restrained in our acts of body and speech within the bounds of sila,
Of virtue.
And then from that,
We put our efforts into meditation practice,
Because we have this firm foundation already.
So we try to bring the mind to a state where it's not chaotic and agitated,
So we can take our minds to chant,
And maybe chant many different verses,
We can chant in praise of the Buddha and praise of the Dhamma and praise of the Sangha,
Or their virtuous qualities.
And when the mind gathers together,
What's left is just this one word of Buddha.
So we try to bring it to a state where it's unified,
It's just this one thing,
And so that it's not distracted and shaken.
And when it's brought together and unified,
Then Buddha disappears,
And what's left is the stillness of heart,
And this is the foundation which can bring the mind to develop wisdom.
So if we're skilled at contemplation in order to bring the mind to peace,
Then we should use that.
So contemplating the body as being composed of elements,
This heap of earth,
Water,
Fire and air,
A heap of anicca,
Dukkha and anatta,
Of inconstancy or change and stress and not self,
Using this to bring the mind to peace.
So we need to have a refuge for our hearts,
And this is something which is extremely important.
And why is that?
Well it's because if the mind doesn't have a refuge,
Then it won't be able to be brought to peace,
And these sankharas,
They won't be able to be stilled,
And the mind will then be agitated,
And there'll be this sense of self,
That ignorance brings up this conditioning,
And conditions ourselves,
That we take the body and the mind to be a self,
To be me.
And so this is conventions appearing,
But in the beginning we have these conventions,
So we need to study them and get to know them and understand them,
And to act correctly in line with convention.
And so we have these conventions now of people,
And of novices,
And of monks,
These are all conventions,
Suppositions.
They are the conventions of society,
Like the main laws that society establishes.
So we try to act in line with these,
And be helping each other as well,
And this is sila dhamma,
This dhamma quality or virtue.
So there's the samuti sacca,
So the conventional truth,
And there's also the ultimate truth as well,
Which is that in reality there isn't any true self,
It's all anicca,
Dukkha,
Anatta,
And this is sacca dhamma,
This is the truth of the dhamma,
This is the paramattha dhamma,
So the highest dhamma.
So if we can see that,
See the paramattha dhamma,
Then we've seen the dhamma,
The true dhamma.
But in order to get to that point,
We begin with conventions first.
And so we need to use these conventions,
Suppositions,
In a way which are useful,
That bring benefit.
And so we have these conventions of mother and father,
Grubbhajana,
Great teacher,
Conventions of divinia,
And we have this self,
So we bring that self to be acting in ways which are correct according to the established modes of doing things and the laws and ways of organizing.
So any dhamma,
Any quality that we have experienced or realized,
Then we know that for ourselves,
What that is,
Paccattam veditabhu nyuhi,
That the wise know this for themselves.
So the sāvakas,
The awakened disciples of the Buddha,
They didn't claim to be this or that.
There wasn't any claim to be an arahant or an anagami,
Sakatakami,
Sotapanna,
These different levels of awakening.
And this is something which is really important,
And to understand this not being anything,
That we don't become an arahant,
We don't become a sāvaka,
So we need to know this point of not being anything.
Because if there's anything that arises,
That thing is not sure,
It's unstable.
If there's a thing,
Then what that is,
Is a self.
And so if an arahant appears,
Or if there's clinging to being an arahant,
Then that's a self.
But really all rūpa and nāma,
This physicality,
Mentality,
This is not self.
It's something which is always changing.
And this is the paramattha dhamma,
So the highest dhamma,
The sacca dhamma.
It's paccattam,
It's to be known for oneself.
But initially,
We still need to be following the conventional ways,
The conventional ways of doing things,
The ways of organizing and the laws.
Need to be cultivating the four brahma viharas,
Need to be using our meditation objects,
And practicing to bring our minds to peace,
So they can get to that still point.
So like today,
It's the Lunar Observance Day,
May you really put your effort in and to not be desirous of sleeping a lot,
And maybe not to sleep at all tonight.
And why is that?
It's because what we're going for is this end point,
Where we pass over all conventions,
And abide above conventions,
Which means to be abiding above aramanas.
So these experiences of the mind,
Objects of the mind.
This is lukuttara,
It's transcendence.
And here we see the truth.
We need our effort to get there,
Effort to bring the mind to stillness,
Into peace,
And to see the body as anicca,
Something which is always changing.
And then the mind will be released,
And we'll see emptiness,
And see the body as being composed of these elements of earth,
Water,
Fire,
And air,
And perceive those breaking apart,
And then there's emptiness.
Or we can start off using asubha,
It's a contemplation of the unattractive aspect of the body,
And then this leads into the elements,
Which then go into emptiness.
And see the anicca,
Dukkha,
Anatta there.
And so we need to teach our minds initially in this way,
And then next,
As they become skilled already,
And then this knowledge appears within them.
So may you set your hearts on this,
That you've ordained already,
And given up everything already.
So you need to really give it all that you've got,
In order to pass over the cycle of saṃsāra.
Saṃicca-vatā-saṅkāra-upādhavaya-damino upajjhito vāni-lujjhānti-tesaṃ-upasamo-sukho So,
Conditioned things cannot last,
And their nature is to rise and fall.
Having arisen,
Things must cease.
Their stilling is true happiness.
So when they're stilled,
Then we're not chaotic and agitated.
So we need to bring these conditions to stillness.
And then when we do that,
We will see the Dhamma.
And so may you set your hearts on this.
