Managing The Mind In A Troubled World | 7 Mar 2025

In this talk, Ajahn Anan discusses managing the mind in a world dominated by advanced technology, social media, and information overload. While AI can instantly provide data about the Dhamma, it lacks true comprehension. Modern connectivity often strips people of inner spiritual virtues like patience, stability, and peace, sending the mind outward and making it vulnerable to defilements, online blame, and material loss.

Without mindfulness and wisdom, the mind becomes defenceless. Ajahn Anan urges us to put down our devices, return to ourselves, and find content in having "enough." He emphasizes developing generosity (*Dāna*), morality (*Sīla*), and mental cultivation (*Bhāvanā*). By establishing mindfulness and practicing letting go, we can experience an enduring inner coolness and peace. Finally, he stresses the importance of setting a virtuous example for future generations to help them build a healthy character and meet with the true Dhamma.

Transcript

Compared to 50 years ago, The world now is so different. There are devices that provide many conveniences nowadays, And send a lot of information. Technology is so advanced that humans can develop artificial intelligence. And we know what AI is like, That it can analyze various things, It can compile data, And even for the Dhamma. We can ask it, What is Samadhi? What is Samadhi in the Noble Eightfold Path? And it can answer everything. And it can answer clearly as well. The information given is very comprehensive. We can ask it anything, And it knows everything. But if you ask the AI, Does it really understand it? It can answer it, And say that it is just a tool from patterns and data only. But it cannot have true knowledge and comprehension on this matter. So for people born into this present day world, There are many things that they are lacking, Which are the inner spiritual virtues. Like patience, It disappears. In the past, We had high patience in working, Studying, And doing various duties, Because the mind would have some peace. We were with nature. But now the mind is not with itself. It is sent outside. There is almost no time to rest. Whenever there is free time, People in the present world, They must have a communication device using their smartphone. They must watch all the stories of the world. They know about everything in this world. In the time of the Buddha, Venerable Anuruddha was able to know everything going on in this world in the palm of his hand. He could see it with his jhāna, Special knowledges. And he was an arahant, An enlightened being, So his mind was not attached to this world. But nowadays, It is the opposite. Our mind is sick. We have many mental defilements. And the current of the mind is sent outside whenever we receive sense impressions. We experience forms, Sounds, Tastes, Smells, Bodily feelings, And mind objects. And these have developed in the modern day. Samadhi, Concentration, Left in our minds. When there is none left, There is no samadhi, There's no wisdom. Then, When there are the sense impressions that contact our minds, Then it's hard to control our minds. Because our minds have no stability, There's no wisdom arising. We have only suffering arising. And the mind is already embedded in the world of communication The world of illusion There is blame, Criticism and harsh speech The one who is the subject of this will suffer a lot It's really difficult for them It's as if it's real This is because the mind has entered this world The online social world And when the mood, The object has come in and affected you There's no mindfulness and wisdom left to protect yourself at all. Why? It's compared to like a child. The mind is a child who has no guardian to take care of it. Or they do have a guardian, But sometimes that guardian doesn't take care of the child closely, And they may drown and die. Or the child may get hit by a car and die. Things and comes back to the car where he had kept a gun. And the child who knows nothing takes that gun and shoots himself and dies. They don't know anything. They don't have wisdom to protect and look after themselves. So our mind is like an orphan who has no one looking after it. There's no mindfulness or wisdom to protect and defend it. So there's only suffering. Accepted the truth that it is natural to be that way. We have never learnt that separation from loved ones and loved things will happen to me. What we gain are material things, External things, And they will be separated from us according to causes and conditions. We read the news and sometimes we see a person has a million dollar house, A lot of material things, And a fire comes through and everything is gone or a flood comes in and everything's gone a thief comes to steal their belongings or we keep a lot of money and wealth and the thief steals it or steals it by way of the computer there's fraud from call center scams and it's all gone so think how much suffering the mind will have the things we get are happiness but this happiness is happiness from material things we have gotten, For which we have the luck, Fortune and gain, But we do not think about the deterioration of that gain, The decline of the fame, Praise and happiness. So a person in the online circle has happiness, Being praised and flattered. But one day they become the object of gossip and blame. And the mind is unable to endure the blame. It can't endure the change of those worldly conditions. So there arises a lot of suffering in one's daily life. So we must train. Train the mind to understand about what we have in this world. There are the things that really are a necessity for us, That is the four basic requisites. We must have shelter, Have clothing, Have medicine to cure diseases, And have food that we consume to the right amount, Not too much. We use things to the level appropriate for our status. Then we will have peace and have happiness when the mind knows enough. If we know the word enough, Then it's peaceful. Everything is just the right amount. So we must train the mind. If the mind is stilled, It is calm and has wisdom, We will see that the objects and things that provide convenience, We use them appropriately for us to survive and get by. We use it with our mindfulness and wisdom. We don't use it extravagantly and wastefully. And we're not infatuated in them in a way where we don't have wisdom. We must try to train our minds. If society does not train the mind like this, Then it is chaotic and all troubled. The mind is not able to be stable and settled. Because whenever we're free, The mind is sent outside. We see the news, Politics, And what's going on outside. But we don't know about ourselves at all. So when we come back to be with ourselves, Put things down. Put down all the communication devices. Put them down. Put it down and come back to see how our minds are like. Ever since we have been born, We have never come to see how we are. We think that how it is, Is normal. Having greed is normal. Having anger and delusion is normal. It just stays like that then. We have never studied about whether it would be possible to have no greed, No anger, No delusion. We didn't think about that. But when the time comes, The time is right. We come back to see why our mind is chaotic. Why is it not calm? We want peace. We find ways to train our mind and to develop our mindfulness. Standing, Walking, Sitting and lying down, We try to be mindful until our mind is calm. Then we will see that this body that is moving about, Coming and going, It's not a being. A person, An individual, A me or you, We will begin to see it, And our mind will become calm and cooled. Those who contemplate on one of the meditation objects, For example contemplating on death, They may have joy and peace arise. Thinking of the Buddha and joy and bliss arises. We give alms. We see the monks and feel full of joy. Like on the funeral ceremony of Ajahn Chah's passing in Wat Nongpa Pong Monastery, A large sangha gathered together. It was 5, 000 monks. Or on the Ajahn Chah memorial there's 500 monks. And what is that like? The laity see it and have faith arise. The eye sees forms, And there is faith and confidence arising. Those there who are practicing the brahmacharya, The holy life, They have an average of about 30 years ordained each. So if it's 500 monks, 5, 000 monks, Then the total number of years the holy life is tens of thousands of years so seeing this there's a feeling of inner joy and happiness and it has a power here faith and confidence arises we think then if we practice and observe the precepts then it will be good so if we don't have the five precepts we then observe the five precepts and we keep the eight precepts on some occasions we train the mind and stay practicing in the monastery. We have been in the world and living in a house for a long time already, So we go and stay in the monastery and we're peaceful. We find a peaceful place in the forest, And that is external peace, And we use it so that it creates the inner peace of the mind. We can come to look at our minds and ask, Are the thoughts, The mental proliferations, Are they us? Is all the knowledge us? We want to have good thoughts, But why does my mind think of bad thoughts? Why does the mind proliferate in that way? We don't want to get angry, But why do we get angry? We don't want to have desire, But why do we get desire? We don't want to be deluded, So why are we deluded? So we train ourselves and be able to be victorious over these things. Because we have confidence that the Sama Sambuddha, The perfectly self-awakened one, Was victorious over his mind. He became an Arahant, Fully purified. So we have the highest respects that the Buddha has the highest goodness. The Buddha's mind had no defilements, Had pure love and compassion. And had wisdom. We believe this and are confident in this. So we come to practice according to the teachings of the Krubarjans, The enlightened teachers, The monks who had practiced until they attained to Arahantship. Venerable Ajahn Mun and Venerable Ajahn Chah, They were Arahants already, And so we will practice according to their teachings. They teach us to be mindful, To look at the mind. When the sense objects are experienced, Then however that sense object fabricates the mind, We know it in time. Then the mind is empty. When we can put it down, We call it letting go. Letting go of what we are imprisoned by. Then we are released from it. We are empty of what is heavy in our hearts. And then our hearts will be more empty bit by bit. What they call coolness appears in our heart. But if our hearts are sent out to receive the worldly sensory objects a lot, Excessively, Then, Like we see in society, It's people hunched over these days. When it is the day off, The time of rest, Then people run to the communication devices. Someone told me they take the train. And before, There'd be some people reading books. But these days, No one has any books. They look at everything on their smartphones. Watching the news, Household affairs, City affairs. Looking at every subject, Every story, And it's all about self, An I, A self, An I. This is the sense of self arising continually throughout the day. We have many births and existences, And we look at the births that we're born into each day. How are we born? We contemplate our lives. How much time do we have left? Life is like one candle. Since birth, A light is lit. There's a light, And then the candle will gradually go out. But before it goes out, What should we create in our hearts? What should we learn about? Some may have passed 60 years already. Some are 70 years old. So what should we build in our hearts? What is it that we will take with us? For the external things, There will be one day when the breath ends, And then everything ends. It is something of the world. But that which will follow us is goodness. It is the dana, Generosity, Sila, Morality, And bhavana, Mental cultivation, That we do. And cultivating the mind is especially important. Wherever we are, We are internally chanting and repeating We do it a lot, Develop it a lot. We make our minds still and peaceful and rapture arises. Then we will understand that these things truly exist. The Buddha teaches about Samadhi the coolness of heart that really exists. It can make our minds calm, Peaceful and contented for the whole day. It can last all night. It can be for two days. It can be two days and two nights. It can be for a month. It can be for six months. It's amazing that it's possible to have that rapture and bliss arise. And the more you see the Dhamma, The more beautiful your mind becomes. The more you understand, The more joyful you become. But the more that desire grows, The mind gets darker and darker and darker. Dhaka. When our mind has greed, Anger, Delusion, Then it's darker. When it gets more dark, And it has no sila dhamma, A basic level of morality, It has no goodness. And ultimately, One will go cheat others, Running a gambling site, Or various illegal activities, Then getting caught by the police, Then being unable to live on anymore, Because the mind has gone totally out. It has no strength. Being deluded in the wealth that one has got through incorrect means. Ultimately the mind is corrupted and defiled. And ultimately they take their own life. And this happens a lot in the present day world. Therefore we need to establish our principles well. We must teach the children and future generations to come back and hold on to sila-dhamma, Virtue and goodness. Train the mind to be well established in virtue, To have patience and forbearance, To be able to restrain and rein the mind in. And this has great benefit. But in the present day world people lack patience. They lack mindfulness and wisdom a lot. So we should try to set an example and teach the children and next generation to accept the right views. In the past our children would listen to us but these days we have to listen to our children and put down our pride and ego and try to gradually communicate and try to train and build their character. In the end, Our children and descendants will be good children and good people. So we have to lead the way and practice as an example first, And then they will meet with the true Dhamma. May you grow in blessings.

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