Letting Go Into Joy

What would happen if you put down that which is heavy? What is left is lightness. One practices Dhamma to put things down. One does not practice to gain any thing, but one gains lightness in one's heart - then one comes back to joy and brightness.

Transcript

Welcome to all of you.

This Friday let us learn about Dhamma together.

All of us have learned about Dhamma and would have likely heard about one Arahant enlightened monk who was the son of a king in India.

He had the faith to ordain as a monk and became an Arahant.

He was one possessed of great wisdom and he became the great teacher of all the Zen monks in China.

This monk's name is Venerable Arahant Bodhidharma.

When he was still a prince,

He met one venerable monk who he had never met before.

He asked this monk,

Before I was born,

Who was I?

And after I am born,

Who am I?

He used these two sentences to contemplate until wisdom arose.

Until he gave up all the happiness and pleasures of the palace and all that he would have got as a king.

He left it all to search for the true Dhamma following this venerable teacher.

He studied and practiced with this teacher until he succeeded in becoming an Arahant.

And before the teacher was about to pass away,

The teacher ordered him to go to spread the Dhamma in China.

After he went to China,

He spread the teachings of the Buddha in China.

He would gain the name,

The great teacher Bodhidharma and he was the first to build the Shaolin temple.

When he went to China,

In some monasteries,

He saw the monks meditating for many days.

But he asked them,

Sitting like this,

How would one attain this way?

The monks had great doubts about him.

But in the end,

He taught the monks to contemplate to arise wisdom and many became Arahants.

And this led to the Zen tradition spreading throughout China.

And today I have one story to tell you from the Zen tradition for us to study together.

There was one man who had the thought that his own life had no meaning.

He was bored and weary of life.

He couldn't find the way to get out of this feeling.

And had just turmoil in his heart and a lot of suffering.

He couldn't find happiness at all.

Until he met with one Zen teacher whose name was venerable teacher Wu Ji.

He asked the teacher for advice on how to gain true happiness.

He wanted to get the suffering out of his heart.

The teacher Wu Ji didn't say anything.

He just picked up one bamboo basket and took him to the bank of a small river.

There was a cool breeze and the teacher Wu Ji and the disciple walked along the river bank.

The teacher Wu Ji asked the man,

Do you see the stones along this path?

From this spot,

Walk one step and pick up one stone and put it into the basket on your back.

Agreed?

The man nodded and said okay.

Even though the man didn't understand the intention of the monk,

But because of his faith and confidence in his teacher.

When he was told to pick up one stone and walk one step and pick up another stone,

He would do it.

This man walked and saw many different types of stones on the river bank.

He picked up the stones and put them in the basket.

He picked them up and thought with confusion in the mind,

Why is the teacher telling me to pick up stones?

It's a waste of time.

I want to learn about Dhamma.

I want to ask Dhamma so that I can overcome the suffering in the heart.

So why is he telling me to pick up stones?

After I pick them up,

What will I get out of it?

He didn't see the benefit of this at all and he thought this way many times over.

His mind was greatly confused.

Why do I have to pick up the stones?

He thought about this question over and over,

But he still continued to do it.

He walked one step and picked up one stone,

Walked another step and picked up another stone.

He did it until he felt very tired and weary,

Until all the thoughts and doubts that he had and all the suffering he had before had already reduced.

He kept continuing to pick up the stones willingly because he had strong faith in the venerable teacher Ujji.

In no long time he felt very tired.

The basket on his back was getting very heavy.

And the teacher Ujji saw this and knew that it was the right time to uplift the man's mind and the time to teach him.

When the man got to the end of the path,

The teacher asked him how he felt.

The man shook his head.

The basket is getting heavier and heavier.

I almost can't lift it.

The teacher smiled happily.

Do you know what is the reason your heart isn't able to be happy?

Because you are carrying too many things.

Then the teacher took a stone out of the basket one at a time.

He said,

This stone is having power and he threw it in the water.

This stone is money and gold and he threw it in the water.

This stone is pleasure with forms of all types,

Pleasure in beautiful forms and he threw the stone in the river.

This stone is our anxieties.

This stone is loneliness.

This stone is proliferating thoughts.

This stone is worry.

And with each stone he explained it and threw it into the river.

This stone is thinking and worry about the past and future.

He threw it in the river.

The man didn't just listen to the teaching but contemplated it as well.

The man picked up the basket once more and it felt light and easy to lift.

And suddenly the mindfulness arose that just to put it down and it's happiness already.

May I just be able to put it down then happiness will overflow.

Each day I should train in putting things down.

This is letting go.

Letting go of rank and status that makes us anxious.

Letting go of winning and losing that makes us exhausted.

Letting go of having loss,

The things that when we lose them they make our heart hurt.

Letting go of the relationships that we have that lead us to suffering and worry.

Letting go of the pain and the hurt that have been persisting in our hearts for a long time.

From different experiences and feelings that are of the past.

Let it all go.

Let go of suffering,

Sadness,

Loneliness and all forms of sorrows.

And this makes our life easier.

We come back to being joyful and bright again.

Putting down is happiness.

Putting down is true happiness.

This man gained insight and saw the Dhamma.

He bowed and paid his respects to the venerable teacher Ujji who had taught him and made him have deep understanding.

Originally having great suffering and trying to search for happiness but not being able to find it.

Now he could understand in a direct and easy way that putting down makes him have happiness.

Picking things up is like picking up more and more stones.

Carrying it around and it adds to the heaviness of the heart and weakens it.

This is a Zen way of teaching that leads to the sudden arising of wisdom.

And this story is similar to Venerable Ajahn Chah who is known to be the Zen teacher of the northeast of Thailand.

Venerable Ajahn Chah taught one man who came to pay respects to him.

The man had great suffering in his heart.

Ajahn Chah gave him one bucket of water to hold and talked to him about other things first.

Talked to him until Ajahn Chah felt that the man was more at ease.

And then Ajahn Chah asked him,

Hey,

Holding that bucket,

Is it heavy?

Because this man had been holding the bucket for a long time already.

He had forgotten about his suffering a lot already.

The man replied that it was heavy.

Then Ajahn Chah said,

If it's heavy,

Then why don't you put it down?

In the process of putting the bucket down,

The man gained the wisdom that the thing that was heavy in his heart,

Why doesn't he put it down?

So he let it go at the same time as he put down the bucket.

He let go of the attachments of the different things that was causing him suffering in his heart.

He got it all out of his heart.

Here Ajahn Chah taught in a Zen-like way,

Similar to the teacher Ujji teaching his disciple.

We can see that Paticca Samuppada is about dependent origination or the causal links leading to suffering.

And it is very deep Dharma.

It's very difficult to understand into the cause of arising and passing independent origination.

Our wisdom won't reach it.

Because this was a Dharma that the Buddha contemplated and became enlightened as the Buddha.

But these teachers taught in a wise and skillful way so that the disciple could understand this deep Dharma and reach it.

To teach them that suffering arises because of attachment.

When we learn of this story,

We can contemplate and try to train in this way until we can have wisdom arise little by little.

Until we can let go more and more.

Gain wisdom like Venerable teacher Ujji and Ajahn Chah teaching their disciples in a Zen way until they can get to the heart of the Dharma.

And Venerable Ajahn Chah said often that suffering arises because of attachment and the suffering continues on because of craving.

So we should try to let go of attachments and don't let the suffering continue on.

That is,

We let go of desire.

So that all of us may ultimately reach to the heart of the Dharma.

May you all grow in blessings and in Dharma.

Reviews

One of the Great Teachings

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This is the most calming and beautiful piece, to me. I learn every time I hear
this meditation.

Today I needed to hear these stories to remember to "put it down" thank you
Namaste

Let go.and be un burdened. Joyess and free.the teachings of Buddhism are what I need,the religion of Christianity has corrupted the words of christ,but Buddhism seems pure and uncorrupted.I will continue as a fledgling student

Thank you 🙏

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Dropping even a few rock or drops from the bucket already feels better. Thanks Ajahn 🙏

A great lesson on letting go❤️

I’ve been listening to this each morning for a week to help me let go of the suffering in my heart. 🙏

Really wonderful. Thank you

so grateful that I was led to tour message. may the blessings be

Great lesson. Thank you 🙏

Thank you for blessing us with these stories of wisdom. I will keep them in my heart to guide my journey. 🙏🏽✨

I found the visual analogy relatable and encouraging. It helped me “see” how we create suffering and can gradually let it go. Also, it helped me understand how awakening can occur suddenly, but it still requires a disciplined process.

Wonderful practice, full of wisdom and bearer of peace and joy! I am very grateful. Namaste 🙏🏻

Excellent teaching. Thank you.

Incredibly beautiful. Thank you so much for this lesson on non-attachment. Much needed. 🙏🏼🥰