We perform meritorious deeds,
Give alms,
Observe precepts,
Chant and meditate.
We recollect the virtues of the Buddha,
The Dhamma and the Sangha.
These are considered immensely meritorious acts.
When we pay homage to the Buddha,
We also give our Dhamma practice as homage to him.
This is what the Buddha had praised.
Because no matter how we offer alms,
Perform meritorious deeds or show respect to the buddha with various offerings and these do bring immense blessings that will follow us through every life and every existence but the buddha praised for us to practice following his teachings though performing meritorious deeds and giving alms will bring about completeness in all aspects to sustain our lives in every existence however as long as As our minds still have upadana,
Clinging and attachments,
And the sense of self,
It will lead us to be born,
Grow old,
Get sick and die.
We likely understand that once we are born,
Even if we have everything in abundance,
This body will deteriorate,
Perish,
And when it becomes imbalanced,
It leads to illness and suffering.
Yet the wealth we possess does not have the power to make our bodies strong and healthy.
This is impossible,
Because it is conditioned.
The term conditioned refers to things that arise from causes and factors.
This physical body,
No matter how it is conditioned,
Once it comes into existence,
It will inevitably decay and dissolve.
This is the natural way.
In the act of giving alms,
We aim to let go of greed When we do this repeatedly,
A question arises In our lives,
When we have abundant wealth and possessions,
What should we do?
Then wisdom answers,
We must create goodness in this world Because our lives are uncertain,
And eventually we must leave this world When we see this clearly,
We realize that the next step is to train the mind to let go of greed,
Anger and delusion,
To cultivate wisdom.
However,
For wisdom to arise,
And for us to let go of attachments and reduce suffering,
We must rely on the tranquility of the mind.
This is why we must train the mind to develop samadhi,
Concentration.
For the mind to achieve samadhi,
We must have sila,
The precepts.
Having sila is peace in our body and speech,
Freeing them from all harmful actions.
With this foundation,
We can sit in calmness.
Yet the mind is always occupied with memories,
Thoughts and proliferations.
It's never still.
We must observe it mindfully,
Watching where it wanders,
What it thinks,
And how it fabricates.
We teach the mind that these memories and proliferations are not us.
These memories,
Thoughts,
And mental formations are not us.
They are one type of mental phenomena that we call Sanya,
Perception,
Or Sankara,
Mental formations.
Even the awareness arising of these mental fabrications is vinyana,
Consciousness.
And we let it go as well.
We continue to train the mind with mindfulness.
By watching over our thoughts,
Seeing what the thoughts are about,
Then sometimes the mind may eventually become still.
The mind stops proliferation because we have become aware of the defilements in time.
When we practice meditation,
And sometimes find it difficult when the mind is still restless.
It's okay.
Don't be discouraged.
Don't despair,
Thinking,
Why can't I do this?
Why is my mind not calm?
Don't worry.
We have our duties to fulfill,
And we must continue to cultivate goodness through acts of generosity and self-sacrifice.
We should keep doing this often.
We have generosity,
In our body and speech,
And we train until it becomes a habit,
Until we can let go of the sense of self.
The mind is at ease.
It brings happiness.
The giver will inevitably receive happiness in return.
When we practice like this repeatedly,
Our restless mind gradually becomes calm and attains samadhi.
In the beginning,
Achieving the peace of samadhi may require relying on mental but the bringing up of the meditation object.
Such as contemplating that this body is composed of the four elements.
The breath is the air element,
The warmth that keeps the body warm is a fire element,
And the hairs,
Nails,
Teeth,
Skin or bones are the earth elements with their hard and solid characteristics.
We see that this body is a gathering of earth,
Water,
Fire and air.
There.
Starting from just two tiny cells,
It rapidly multiplies into 4,
8,
16 and so on,
Expanding into countless cells.
The mind clings to every cell,
Believing it to be me or mine.
There is clinging like this.
It is the craving,
Attachment,
Delusion and ignorance of the mind.
We begin our training by using memories to contemplate that this body is not truly us.
It is merely a combination of the four elements and it will inevitably disintegrate.
Can it truly be us?
If it were truly us,
Why is it that when we don't want to age,
Get sick or die,
Yet then why does this body age,
Get sick and die?
We have no control over it.
We cannot control be us or ours?
This is the question that the Buddha posed to the group of the five ascetics,
The Pancavagya.
Through this,
The five ascetics awakened to wisdom and realized that the body is not the self.
All five of them attained enlightenment as Arahants,
Seeing clearly that body and mind are not the self.
They had already developed profound and refined wisdom,
And their meditation practice was well established.
Their quality of sila was complete for a long time already.
Their quality of dana,
They had performed countless acts of generosity and sacrifice.
Therefore we begin with the practice of giving and performing meritorious deeds.
When we do this repeatedly,
The mind becomes inclined to thoughts of generosity and less focused on accumulating worldly possessions.
We make time to train the mind because even when we have external abundance,
The mind still suffers due to clinging,
Attachment and the sense of me and mine.
When we experience loss or separation,
We suffer.
Again.
Our minds are not peaceful.
When we have samadhi,
We can temporarily calm the mind and wisdom arises from memory,
Thought and contemplation.
We strive to practice like this first.
We use the principle that instead of letting the mind wander into unwholesome or negative thoughts,
We direct it to thoughts of merit and to reflect,
Which we call developing a meditation object.
Through contemplation,
The mind becomes calm.
When we sit and radiate metta,
Loving kindness,
Wishing all beings happiness and freedom from suffering,
We contemplate the body,
Mentally breaking it down and heaping them into the four heaps of elements,
Fire,
Water,
Earth and air.
We then examine which part of it truly belongs to us.
We imagine dismantling the body,
Piling up the bones.
Have we not seen the dead,
With their piles of bones and skeletons?
Can that be called us,
Or them?
They disintegrate,
Nameless and unrecognizable,
Returning to their natural elements.
When the breath ceases,
The fire element extinguishes,
The water element evaporates and dries up,
And the earth element dissolves.
This body,
Which we call Ours is like this.
As we sit here,
Whether I am teaching or you are listening,
If the breath stops at this very moment,
The body collapses.
What we call ourselves is no longer there.
It is only temporary.
So we contemplate this,
And the mind becomes calm.
We begin to see that this is truly not us.
How can we cling to it as us or ours?
When greed,
Anger or delusion arise,
We reflect.
Why should we be greedy?
Why should we be angry?
Why should we be deluded?
This body is not us,
Not ours.
We contemplate and see that they are just the air element,
The earth element,
The water element and the fire element,
The same as us.
Why should we be angry?
Why should we love or hate?
The mind becomes calm.
When the mind proliferates,
We recognize it as it arises.
Why is it proliferating?
There is no us,
No ours.
Sometimes the mind becomes aware,
And may even experience emptiness.
We see everything as conventional reality,
And the mind temporarily breaks free from these conventions.
We see everything clearly.
When we see in this way,
The nature of reality becomes apparent.
Of all things,
Our house,
The various supports we're supported by,
And we see clearly into it,
Including this body.
We understand the Dhamma.
We see the Dhamma,
Little by little.
Wisdom arises,
And Samadhi supports the arising of wisdom.
When wisdom arises,
We have the knowledge and skill to practice Dhamma,
To practice generosity,
Observe precepts,
And perform meritorious deeds solely for the purpose of letting go of greed,
Anger,
And delusion.
It is for the sake of emptiness,
For the purity and liberation of the mind.
We strive and make an effort.
Whenever unwholesome actions arise,
We try to abandon them.
We consistently cultivate merit and wholesome deeds.
We train the mind to transform from its original state as an ordinary mind filled with greed,
Anger and delusion into a mind of beauty.
Our faces become radiant,
Smiling and bright.
Our complexion glows.
Why?
Because the mind has improved.
The mind is filled with Dhamma,
Understands the Dhamma.
And possesses virtue,
Has sila,
Has samadhi and wisdom.
Therefore,
The power of samadhi brings greater benefits than sila.
A person who can observe the precepts and practices restraint may still have a restless,
Distracted mind filled with incessant thoughts,
Doubts and hesitations.
But that's okay.
They can continue training the mind.
Eventually doubts will lessen and greed and anger will gradually diminish.
It eases and lessens.
The mind that has restlessness and agitation like a burning fire,
Will subside.
The mind,
Which was once wildly distracted,
Will slowly calm down.
As the mind becomes calmer bit by bit,
We begin to understand.
The mind cools down through samadhi.
Some people find it helpful to meditate on Bhutto,
Dhammo or Sankho.
They may repeat Arahang Bhutto,
Bhutto Arahang,
Or chant mantras to calm the mind.
Reciting Ittipiso Bhagavata 108 times can help the mind settle into peace and samadhi.
Some may not need to reach 108 repetitions,
Just 9 times may be enough to calm the mind.
For others,
Even a single repetition of buttho can bring stillness,
Leading to rapture and samadhi.
Like Anathapindika,
The wealthy merchant,
He had practiced a lot in the past and had greatly developed mindfulness of the Buddha.
Merely hearing the word Buddha had arose.
It filled him with joy,
And his heart was so rapturous and full that he couldn't sleep all night.
He longed to visit the Buddha,
But it wasn't the right time.
Early in the morning,
Before dawn,
He hurried to meet the Buddha at Jetavana Grove.
When he listened to the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One on generosity,
Morality,
And meditation,
He had already practiced giving and observed precepts.
Understood the benefits of generosity and morality,
And joy arose in him.
He realized and saw that clinging and attachment lead to suffering,
And he immediately saw into the Four Noble Truths.
During his first hearing of the Dhamma,
He took refuge in the Buddha as his lifelong shelter.
For us,
When we have cultivated and accumulated merit and barami,
Spiritual perfections,
We have started by practicing generosity extensively.
When we are well established in giving,
We also perform meritorious deeds,
Make sacrifices and help others,
Assisting the poor and needy.
We strive to do this.
As monks,
We fulfill our duties and make sacrifices in every way.
Whatever knowledge we have,
We use it to support the Sangha.
Everything is done willingly and with a contented heart,
Bringing immense benefits.
As for Samadhi,
Whether the mind is calm or not,
Never mind,
We continue to practice.
We live by Sila.
Destroyed.
Having external wealth,
On the other hand,
Is uncertain.
Some people,
Due to past actions,
May lose their wealth.
It can vanish,
Be destroyed by fire,
Floods or disasters.
But if we haven't created such karma,
Our wealth remains intact,
And no one can destroy or harm it.
We strive to cultivate virtue and merit.
When we uphold Sila in this way,
Then Samadhi gradually arises.
There is Kanika Samadhi,
A small but calming peace that brings contentment to the heart.
Rejoicing in the good deeds of others brings a sense of coolness and fulfillment to the mind.
When we perform good deeds ourselves,
We feel joy.
Reflecting on the virtues of the Buddha,
Dhamma and Sangha fills us with joy and satisfaction,
And Samadhi arises at times.
So we practice it through consistent effort and develop it.
We can observe that a calm mind with samadhi feels cool,
Light and at ease,
While a restless mind is chaotic.
We see the benefits of practicing meditation and the drawbacks of agitation.
So we strive to cultivate samadhi daily.
Gradually our mind becomes calmer and wisdom develops little by little.
However,
During Dhamma practice,
We may encounter what is called Gilesa Mara,
The defilements,
Or Khanda Mara,
The hindrance of the body.
The body may fall ill,
Or thoughts may arise as obstacles hindering our practice.
Even people around us,
Those we know and those we don't,
May try to discourage us.
They might ask,
Why do good deeds?
Why meditate?
Why observe precepts?
Their words may drain our motivation,
But we must not lose heart.
We should maintain our faith steadfastly until it becomes a wisdom-based faith,
Seen clearly for ourselves.
We come to understand that letting go of attachment to the aggregates is profoundly beneficial.
Therefore,
There are immense benefits,
Particularly the development of wisdom.
The Buddha desired for all of us to dedicate ourselves to honor him through our Dhamma practice.
By doing so,
We can gradually let go of greed,
Anger and delusion,
Just as the Buddha did.
Because the Buddha saw that abandoning greed,
Anger,
Delusion leads to supreme happiness,
Nibbāna.
Setting goal little by little is called Nibbana little by little.
Starting with doing only acts of generosity and merit,
We then incorporate meditation and Dhamma practice.
When we practice in this way,
It is giving our practice in homage,
And one day we will see the Buddha within our hearts.
This is because we clearly perceive the Dhamma,
Realizing that body and mind are impermanent,
Suffering and not-self.
The truth of Dhamma becomes evident,
And overwhelming joy and happiness arises in our hearts.
Our faith in the Buddha's teachings become unshakable,
And we see the Buddha vividly in our hearts.
This is called the radiant Dhamma shining brightly within our hearts.
May all of you be happy,
Prosperous and successful in every endeavor,
Whether in studies,
Work or duties.
May all your wishes be fulfilled.
May your meditation practice lead to clear insight and true understanding of the Dhamma of the Buddha.
May you grow in blessings.
