Seeing The Harm In Sense Pleasures | 18 Oct 2024

Ajahn Anan's talk stresses that human life is a precious opportunity for Dharma practice, but the modern world's sense pleasures (like social media, which acts as an intoxicant) constantly steal time and scatter the mind.

To intensify practice and gain liberation, the key steps are: 1. Use Wisdom: Recognise the harm in distractions and actively reduce them. 2. Cultivate Mindfulness & Concentration: Develop sati and samadhi. 3. Watch the Mind: Observe the arising of all moods (liking/disliking) and abandon them. Reflect on the impermanence of defilements.

Consistent, determined effort will lead to wisdom, relief, and liberation.

Transcript

To learn about the foundations of Dhamma practice,

We have to have mindfulness and wisdom to see the drawbacks and dangers in the cycle of saṃsāra,

Renewed birth and death.

We contemplate and see that our life we have been born into is a good opportunity for us.

It is our merit.

We have a lot of merit and bhārami,

Spiritual perfections,

To have been born and be in a time that has the Buddha sāsana,

The dispensation,

And to have the sangha who are practicing by the dhamma-vinaya,

The monastic discipline,

And following the teachings of the Sama Sambuddha,

The perfectly self-awakened Buddha,

Which has been carried on continually until Venerable Ajahn Chah.

We have texts and suttas and biographies of the Krubājāns,

The enlightened teachers,

For us to learn and gain faith and confidence in.

There is the founder of the Thai forest tradition,

Venerable Ajahn Mun,

Down to many of the senior monks such as Venerable Ajahn Chah and Venerable Ajahn Mahābhūr.

They have practiced following in the dhamma-vinaya and the teachings and ways of practice of Venerable Ajahn Mun until they attained to Arahantship.

They are witnesses to the truth that we have faith and confidence in.

So in this life,

When we have this good opportunity,

We have to have effort,

Perseverance,

And determination.

We follow the strength of our faith,

Or we may need to promote our faith by learning and contemplating the benefits of dhamma practice and see the drawbacks of us being lazy.

We do already have faith,

But the level of faith that makes us be focused and determined to practice more is important.

Because all the things in this world make us enjoy and delight a lot already.

All the sights,

Sounds,

Smells,

Tastes,

Bodily sensations,

And mind-objects,

They make us very delighted.

And we waste lots of time as well,

In this developed and advanced world of the present day.

If we have wisdom,

Then we use it for benefit.

Like we can use it to communicate the dhamma online.

Fifty years ago,

There wasn't any of this.

To listen to the dhamma was hard and difficult.

To read a dhamma book was not easy.

But these days,

It's easier.

But other things are easier as well.

In the span of one day,

We receive lots of communications and information,

And that which is unnecessary is great.

So we waste time.

We waste our opportunity.

We waste time in watching our mind.

Waste time in training our mind to be peaceful.

Especially the more we receive sense impressions,

And with our small mindfulness and wisdom,

Then our mind is scattered.

This is because it's all about conventional things.

When we receive,

Experience,

By way of the sense bases,

We read,

We hear things,

Then it's all about a sense of self.

We have a sense of self arising.

We are the ones who see.

We are the ones who hear.

This is a sense of self arising.

So we have to be careful,

That we won't be enjoying and delighting.

Some people indulge and delight in that sense impression.

We call it gamma thanha.

We watch movies,

Watch dramas.

If it is a country that isn't developed,

A movie theatre will be harder to find.

They have it in an open field,

And go to it once in a while.

Then the country develops,

And the movie theatre is in the city.

And later,

The movie theatre is in the shopping centre.

So it's even easier then.

It keeps getting more convenient.

And these days,

All the movie theatres are in the smartphone.

We can watch anything we want.

So it's even easier.

We may not even be interested to watch,

And there are people sending it to you.

And then there is AI as well.

We open something on a subject,

And oh,

You like that do you?

Then it suggests more of that.

We don't go out looking for it.

But us humans,

Anything sent to us,

We can't help being interested.

You can't not take a look.

So it makes our time to be wasted.

So may we understand that this is currently coming to trick us.

It's coming to steal from us.

Steal our time.

Whatever we like,

Then that thing comes to steal our time.

Then it's harder for us to chant,

To sit meditation,

To cultivate the mind,

To walk meditation,

And to watch the mind.

This is because of enjoyments.

And this is more so if we have Facebook,

Instagram,

And so on.

Can you see that you can get attached?

I have one disciple who said,

Venerable Ajahn,

The fifth precept of Surat Miraya,

Not taking intoxicants,

I only drink once in a while,

And I don't get very drunk with it.

But with Facebook,

I can be very drunk.

I'm not able to stop myself from looking at it every day.

So I will take up the determination that in this vasa,

The three-month rains retreat,

I am determined not to play with Facebook.

So to refrain from intoxicants,

They add refraining from Facebook,

And adding on others that could lead them to be drunk,

To include within this fifth precept.

It pulls away our time.

So we need to use wisdom,

To contemplate on that which has no benefit,

And won't help to free our heart from suffering,

And we must reduce it.

And may we see that which has benefit.

We will develop mindfulness and samadhi concentration.

We have effort and perseverance.

If we don't do this,

Then it will be harder for us to understand the Dhamma.

Because it is this mind that indulges.

The mind goes off delighting and seeking pleasure,

And our samadhi is gone.

Then we go sit meditation,

And we will be all scattered with the subjects of what we have experienced already.

So we need to receive less sense impressions,

Just what is necessary.

May you have the time to hear Dhamma,

Find Dhamma,

Learn Dhamma,

Contemplate Dhamma,

And discuss Dhamma.

Like you coming online to learn and listen to Dhamma,

Then this is a good chance for you to learn and to understand Dhamma.

You need to have effort and perseverance.

So you need to be able to abandon and let go,

Have mindfulness.

If you feel like you want to see this and that,

Okay,

I don't want that anymore,

Put it down.

Do it only at a certain time.

It's not that whenever you are free,

Then you run to your devices and such.

Whenever you have time,

You have to have mindfulness to see the mind.

Recollect with the mind.

Look at the mind and heart.

Is there liking?

Is there disliking?

At the point of not liking or disliking,

Right there is the path that you will see the Dhamma.

There was one time in my practice when the mind was buoyant,

And the body was buoyant.

There was rapture for one month.

When walking,

Standing,

Sitting,

Lying down,

There was samadhi.

It was like the mind could be free of the gelases,

The mental defilements.

Like Nibbana was very close,

And I had the thought of how to become enlightened to the Dhamma.

This was a thought when I was walking meditation.

And then after this,

I listened to a Dhamma talk of Venerable Ajahn Chah.

And Ajahn Chah began with this very subject.

Usually,

Ajahn Chah would talk about something else first,

And then would conclude the talk about training the mind to not have liking or disliking.

But that day,

He talked about it directly.

It was the first point.

Direct.

He talked right to the point.

Oh,

I was so deeply impressed by listening to this.

My heart was overjoyed.

I was deeply moved while listening to the Dhamma talk.

I thought and reflected on how fortunate I was that in this life I had met an enlightened teacher and that I could listen to his Dhamma.

It is the path that will make us free from suffering.

And to get a chance like this,

It's uncertain how many future lives you would have to be born into.

The chance is extremely hard.

So in this life,

When we have the chance to learn Dhamma,

We should do it sincerely.

Be determined.

We sincerely learn.

We work with determination.

And in Dhamma practice,

We must be determined.

But not determined to the point where we are stressed and it's too tense.

Just be determined at the right level.

Sometimes in Western society,

They say to be determined.

Then there's a problem that to be determined,

We need to have it quickly and fast.

So there is stress and tension.

Mostly because Western people do things on time and do things sincerely.

And I have a story to tell you of a Western monk who stayed in a branch monastery of Wat Nong Pa Pong.

The head monk there said,

Today after you eat,

Wash your bowl and quickly come back into the hall.

So the Western monk was curious because usually the head monk didn't say it like that.

But today he said to quickly come back in.

So was there some sort of danger?

Or something special happening?

The head monk meant not to dawdle around and be leisurely about it.

To not talk.

To be determined to come back quickly,

Just at the appropriate time.

And in Dhamma practice,

It is the same.

May you be determined at an appropriate amount.

Be determined in letting go.

And have effort too.

Whatever arises,

When the mind has any liking or disliking,

There is any mood arising,

Then abandon it.

If you have anger,

Ill will,

Harmful thoughts,

Then say,

It's not sure,

It's not permanent.

Look at the mind.

If you tell the mind like this and it still doesn't listen,

Then continue to explain it.

Who are you angry at?

Who do you have ill will towards?

Who do you love?

Who do you hate?

Is this our body?

Who is the one who is angry?

Who loves?

Who hates?

That which we detest,

Is it really there?

Isn't it the four elements?

It just arose in this world.

A hundred years ago,

That person didn't exist.

In another hundred years,

There won't be us or them.

It will all be gone.

So we look.

What's going on here?

What do we love?

What do we hate?

Where do they come from?

Search for it.

Oh,

It's the elements.

The four elements.

It arises,

Stays,

And ceases.

There is decay.

And so on.

We have wisdom.

We have effort and wisdom.

And some have wisdom since childhood.

Like the venerable elder Sariputta's nephew,

Who was seven years old.

He saw an old person giving him a blessing.

They were making him marry.

Because venerable Sariputta and almost all of his relatives had gone to ordain already.

And this young nephew was the last one.

So they would marry him when he was still very young.

They intended to marry him quickly.

But he saw that the one who was giving him blessings was already very old.

Her hair was already grey.

The body was already decayed.

She could barely walk.

And he had wisdom.

And saw this and thought,

Oh,

I can't do this.

This body is no good at all.

So he ran away.

And with his mindfulness and wisdom attained to becoming a Narahant.

So he was one who had wisdom already.

So today,

This time online,

We are building our Bharami.

And so we need to have a lot of effort.

Have forbearance.

Sometimes it is peaceful.

Sometimes not peaceful.

But be patient.

You don't need to be scared.

Don't need to be worried.

If Dhamma practice is torturous and suffering,

Never mind.

When the defilements arise,

It makes us all hot and bothered.

But keep watching it.

Keep bearing it.

Do it without stopping.

Watch your mind and heart constantly.

And then wisdom will arise.

There will be an all-round knowing arising,

Which we call wisdom.

All-round knowing into the heap of this bodily formation.

We will have less suffering.

And then we won't doubt.

We will know the path of practice.

This is important.

We have faith in the Buddha,

Dhamma,

Sangha already.

And so we learn.

The practice is in here.

To learn is the Four Noble Truths already.

Venerable Ajahn Chah didn't give Dhamma talks about this much.

That this is Dukkha,

Samudaya,

Nirodha,

Magha.

He just led us in the practice.

He taught to walk meditation,

Taught to sit meditation,

And to develop mindfulness.

He did not explain about Samuti conventions.

But by having watched the mind,

One can let go of attachment and clinging.

Then there is no suffering.

It's Tathanga Nibbana,

Temporary liberation.

And we keep doing it on and on.

Then we see through conventions and liberation arises.

The mind is empty and we see the Dhamma like that.

From that point,

The path is clear and open.

Our hearts are relieved.

May you be determined and make an effort.

May you set your hearts on this.

May you grow in blessings.

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