Letting Go,
Completing the Path,
A series of short Dharma teachings by Venerable Ajahn Anand,
The Most Important Thing.
There was once a layman who came to visit Ajahn Chah.
At that time,
Something was bothering this man and he was really suffering.
So he went to seek Ajahn Chah's guidance.
When he arrived at the monastery,
He found him carrying a heavy bucket.
Ajahn Chah gave it to him to carry,
And then started talking generally about this and that,
Steering the topic away from the man's problem.
Soon,
He forgot all about what was bothering him.
After a while,
Ajahn Chah said,
Hey,
You've been holding that bucket for a long time.
Isn't it heavy?
It sure is,
The man replied.
Well,
If it's heavy,
Why don't you put it down?
He put the bucket down,
Along with the problem that was bothering him.
When you can put down your burdens,
The result is a great lightness of body and mind.
This is the way it is when you let go.
When you let go of things,
That's when emptiness arises.
There's no attachment,
No heaviness,
No suffering.
Letting go is the most important thing,
More important than anything we might hold on to.
Ajahn Chah was a very diligent teacher,
Always finding skillful means to help people let go of their attachments.
In fact,
We can say that that was the flavor of his teaching,
Getting people to let go.
On the level of morality,
Letting go of the things that led them to break the precepts and make bad karma.
On the level of concentration,
Letting go of thoughts,
Worries and moods.
And then on the level of wisdom,
Getting them to see the very impermanent nature of all these mental states that we normally take as a self.
We say,
I'm stressed,
I'm angry,
I'm depressed.
But those are actually just conditions of mind.
When we see that they're impermanent,
We're able to let them go.
Ajahn Chah used to say that people who don't know very much are actually easier to teach.
Generally,
The more we know,
The harder it is to see the Dhamma.
This is because we tend to wrongly attach to our knowledge.
We can attach to views about the practice,
About different techniques,
Even to states of calm and happiness that arise.
But all that attachment is,
Is what we call ego,
A sense of self which comes up and blocks our progress.
If we cling to these views,
We'll never get to the cessation of suffering.
We have to contemplate to see the harm in them and let them go.
Unmoved by the world.
If we hear somebody criticizing us,
Can we let it go?
If someone praises us,
Then how do we feel?
Because in reality,
Praise and blame are of equal worth,
They just sound.
It's like having a 5 kilogram piece of gold and a 5 kilogram piece of rock.
We give great value to the gold and don't see any value in the rock.
That's the way the mind is.
If we find this piece of gold,
We'll happily pick it up and carry it around with all our enthusiasm,
Even if it's heavy.
But if it's the rock,
We're not interested.
As soon as we try to pick it up,
We complain that it's too heavy and don't want to drag it around.
We're not interested in it because we think it has no value.
That's how the mind sees things.
But as we progress in the practice,
We see these two things as having the same value.
Both of them are heavy.
Whether it's 5 kilograms of gold or 5 kilograms of rock,
Grasping onto either of one is equally burdensome.
The mental impressions we experience are the same.
If we hold onto them,
They'll be heavy.
Whether praise or blame,
We see them as having the same value,
As impermanent,
Unsatisfactory,
And not self.
Praise and blame,
Gain and loss,
Fame and disrepute,
Pleasure and pain.
These eight worldly conditions are the normal ways of the world.
But by seeing them as being of equal value,
As empty,
They'll cease to bring us suffering.
Beyond all conventions.
Whoever follows the proper path of practice can let go of his or her attachments.
By developing virtue,
Concentration,
And wisdom,
We're taking the mind to a place of clarity where it can see the true nature of all things.
There's just pure understanding,
Pure insight,
Beyond the normal conventions of reality that we attach to.
It takes us beyond being a lay person,
Beyond being a monk or a nun,
Beyond gender,
Beyond age.
When we see beyond these conventions of existence,
This is when liberation will arise within the mind.
It becomes free of all clinging and attachment to mental impressions.
Since it's no longer lost in mental impressions,
It's no longer deluded by the world.
Ajahn Chah used to give the simile of water.
When the mind clings to mental impressions,
It's like adding drops of dye to clear water.
Whichever color dye we put in,
The water changes color accordingly.
But if we take the dye out,
The water returns to its clear,
Natural state.
With greed,
Aversion,
Delusion,
Love,
Hate,
Stress,
Fear,
Whatever the mind experiences,
It gets colored by these states.
But a mind that sees the arising and passing of mental impressions doesn't get lost in them.
It's not colored.
If our mindfulness is weak,
We'll cling to these impressions.
And this is what sustains saαΉsΔra,
The cycle of birth and death.
The cycle is sometimes happiness on the level of heaven,
And sometimes suffering on the level of hell.
Our physical body only experiences one birth that will last many years,
But the mental births arise in rapid succession.
In one day,
The mind can experience so many ups and downs,
So much change,
So many lifetimes.
This can be seen as so many births and deaths in just one day.
A mind without clinging,
Though,
Can experience real happiness,
Clarity,
And a sense of lightness and freedom.
It can uproot the sense of self that has kept us deluded for an inconceivable length of time.
This is seeing the Dhamma.
As the Buddha said,
One who sees the Dhamma sees the Buddha.
And by seeing the Dhamma,
One becomes a part of the Noble Sangha.
Whether we're a monk or a nun,
A novice or a lay person,
These are just conventions.
Though we might shave our heads and put on the robes,
We're still not yet part of the true Sangha.
But with really seeing the Dhamma,
This is the real Sangha,
The Noble Sangha,
Regardless of whether we're ordained or not.
Those who practice the way of virtue,
Concentration,
And wisdom are the noble disciples of the Buddha.
Whether lay or ordained,
If a person really sees the Dhamma,
The mind is bright and pure.
This is the mind that is Buddha.
But this doesn't mean that one is a Buddha,
But rather this inner Buddha is a state of awakening which comes from following the teachings.
Once awakened to this state of mind,
One's knowing is complete and perfect.
People go on pilgrimage to India,
Going to see the place where the Buddha was born,
The place where he was enlightened and where he passed away.
They do this so as to recollect the great qualities of the Buddha,
Dhamma,
And Sangha,
Bringing peace and joy to their hearts and encouragement to practice harder.
But when we realize the true Dhamma,
This is seeing the Buddha within our self.
We're already on our way.
Don't ever overlook the importance of the effort you've been making in your practice.
This effort to see the Dhamma.
You might think it's only a little,
But even a little effort in the Dhamma is so worthwhile.
We have to remember that the road to enlightenment is generally a gradual one.
But the rate of progress also depends on our karmic situation and where we are in our spiritual development.
Maybe it's going to take a bit of time,
Or maybe not.
But the more we practice,
The further we'll go.
