We have often heard of the quality that has great benefit,
Which assists in all types of work and duties,
The quality of sati,
Mindfulness,
And sampajanya,
Clear comprehension.
It is compared to the father and mother who look after and take care of a small child against all dangers,
To protect the child and help it to be free from harm,
And if the child has suffering in their heart,
The parents will relieve it.
This quality of mindfulness is also compared to a main post that is firmly planted in an aramana,
A sense or mental object.
One who has mindfulness in whatever they think of will consider and reflect on all aspects of it in a refined and all-encompassing manner and not thinking restlessly about other things.
They will understand that object clearly and well.
So it's like a post that is the main post.
We say that it is the post in front of the Buddha altar or the load-bearing post that holds up the roof.
So that post must be firm and solid.
They compare mindfulness as a main post that is firmly planted,
Enabling it to think and contemplate different aspects.
And another way they compare mindfulness is to being like a gatekeeper,
Which examines and inspects the different things that come in through it.
In the past,
The gatekeeper had to examine and inspect thoroughly whoever was going through the city gates,
To make sure there were no people entering to harm the city.
Or if this body is a city fortress,
Then we have an eye,
Ear,
Nose,
Tongue,
Body and mind.
And there are the sense objects that enter.
The forms,
Sounds,
Odours,
Tastes,
Touch,
Mind objects.
And so mindfulness,
Which is the gatekeeper,
Needs to be very careful.
Which way are our sense objects going?
We have to examine and contemplate it,
So as not to let the mind proliferate following with the sense object.
This is mindfulness like the gatekeeper.
Then there is mindfulness that is a treasurer,
Who must examine the various budget and expenses.
Or like a housewife that lists out the income and expenses with detail and circumspection.
Another comparison is mindfulness like being a rudder,
Which controls every path travelled.
If it is a car,
It is like a steering wheel.
Whether turning left or turning right,
It is up to the steering wheel.
If it is a boat,
Mindfulness is a boat's rudder,
Which sets the direction of travel.
There needs to be the right destination.
And there must be care not to let the boat hit something in the water that would endanger the boat.
So here this needs to be trained in,
Even if we are grown up already.
Because is this mind grown up?
Does this mind know sense objects?
We have often heard of news of the many people who have mindless thoughts,
Just in the flash of one sense experience.
And for some,
It is not the time to die,
Because they can have mindfulness come up first.
But for many other people,
Without it,
They end up dying.
Or there are people with no mindfulness who lose themselves,
Who have greed,
Anger,
Delusion arise.
And this greed,
Anger,
Delusion damages all the goodness they've done.
So we come to offer robes and to cultivate ourselves.
We are determined to have sila,
The moral precepts.
And this is whether we ask it from the monks or we take the precepts up ourselves.
The sila is that which looks after us.
Even if we have greed,
Anger and delusion,
But the sila can look after us.
And this is just us not acting following our sense experiences,
Thoughts and moods.
Because if we act following them,
And we don't get control over it,
Then there is disorder arising for sure,
To us,
To our family and to society.
So the mind needs to have someone to look after it,
That which maintains it.
This is the one who knows,
Which is needed to maintain our mind well.
It is able to teach our mind,
That whatever we attach to too much,
It says,
It's not sure,
It's not permanent.
Sometimes the great teachers may say,
It's like a sport,
Like boxing.
We need to punch the gilases,
The mental defilements first.
Punching the defilements means saying it's not sure,
It's not permanent first.
This is using mindfulness and wisdom to fight against the defilements.
Because what is the mind's state usually like?
When this mind is peaceful,
Clean and with nothing coming to bother it,
Then the mind has no problem.
But when we experience and receive the sense object that enters,
By way of the eye,
Ear,
Nose,
Tongue,
Body and mind,
We experience the sense object,
Then the mind proliferates.
The mind experiences the sense object,
Then proliferates to many different things.
There is pleasure and displeasure arising.
And there is inner disorder and disturbance arising.
This is the mind that is already deluded with the sense object.
Venerable Ajahn Chah said that the mind that is deluded by a sense object is already deluded by the world.
Being deluded in the world is being already deluded in sense objects.
There is inner disorder arising.
It is compared like the leaf that is still.
When the wind blows on it,
Then the leaf wavers.
It flutters and flaps.
When the wind is strong,
Then the leaf may be torn out and can fall.
Like our mind.
The sense object moves,
It blows on the mind,
And it makes the mind waver.
If it wavers a lot,
Our mind may be torn.
If mindfulness is torn,
One could even kill someone.
There are many who break the law because of not being able to control their body and speech.
Or one's own life can end,
Because the mind's been torn.
This is one who has been deluded in a sense object.
So we have to be careful.
We have things and possessions,
And we are careful not to lose them.
These days,
There are call center scammers that try to scam in every kind of way.
So we have to be careful.
This is the suffering of a person having money.
If someone has no money,
Or just a little,
They will have little suffering because they're not too worried.
But those who have wealth and money have to be careful.
They need to have wisdom.
They can't not have wisdom.
If one has wealth and money and doesn't have wisdom,
Then they won't be able to keep that wealth.
So one has to be very careful to be able to maintain their wealth.
So this mind is something of value.
We need to maintain it.
All the things and possessions have value,
But they are on the exterior.
Even if you lose it,
Don't lose your mind.
Because if you lose your mind,
Then you lose everything.
So we look at how we can be careful.
It is through mindfulness.
Like if one is elderly already,
Then they have to be careful,
Whether standing,
Walking,
Sitting,
Or lying down,
To have mindfulness.
They must have mindfulness.
Is it dangerous?
If we do this,
Is it dangerous?
So we are careful again and again.
We need to examine,
Consider,
And make sure the logic and reasoning is good first.
And if we don't train in this,
Then our mind will go just following sense objects,
Moods,
And thoughts.
And ever since we've been born as a child,
We have had no idea.
And so the mind just goes following its own thinking and moods.
When we experienced what we didn't like,
We cried.
We called out to someone to help us,
Pleading for our father or mother to help us,
So we could be free from suffering.
Because we can't deal with our own thinking and moods.
We can't get a grip on what we're experiencing at all.
And I want to share with you a story about this.
There was a woman who was born and studied in China,
Who had a daughter who was in kindergarten.
The mother had enrolled the daughter to study in a school that prepared her for entrance into first grade.
And one day,
The daughter,
Who was a cute little child,
She came back home,
Crying really badly.
She was pleading out for pity.
She said she wanted to change her father.
Her mother was puzzled and confused,
Because the daughter was fine before,
And now she came back saying she wanted to change her father.
The daughter got onto her bed,
Continuing to cry.
The mother wondered what had happened.
What happened when she went to school?
So she tried to ask her child why she was suffering.
Crying is suffering.
So she was looking for the cause,
The cause of suffering,
So that she could help alleviate and overcome the suffering of the daughter.
She didn't get an answer,
But the daughter instead cried out more loudly,
And pleaded again,
I want mother to find a new father.
The mother heard this and was taken back by it.
She was confused,
Why my young daughter is asking to change her father.
But here the mother was smart.
A mother has lots of welfare for the child,
Someone who has a lot of virtue.
The mother was not discouraged from trying to solve the suffering of the child.
She asked for the child's logic.
Then in that minute,
All the mother's suffering was gone.
The daughter answered,
Along with her tears still on her face,
It is so hard to write the surname of my father.
I want mother to find a father who has the surname Wong.
The child didn't understand why it was so difficult.
It would be easier to find a new father than writing the surname of her father,
Which was so hard.
Because her school friend's surname was Wong,
Which was so easy to write.
But her father had the surname Zheng,
And so the child had trouble writing it.
So she pleaded to the mother to find a new father,
So then she could write an easy surname from her father.
And we may laugh at this,
Seeing it as such a trivial matter.
But this is a concern of a child.
The suffering of a little child is like this.
And there are those like the great teachers who have practiced Dhamma well and successfully.
There is of course the Sama Sambuddha,
The perfectly self-awakened Buddha.
There is Venerable Ajahn Chah,
Who have practiced already,
Have let go already.
They see us,
The monks and all the laity,
As like children,
Who constantly go attaching to this sense object and attach to that sense object.
Even this body,
If it could talk,
It would say,
Don't attach to my body,
If you attach to me,
You will suffer.
But the mind doesn't listen,
And it goes and attaches first.
If you go attach to the body,
You will suffer.
This body is a nest of sickness.
Roka Nidang,
A nest of sickness.
All the sicknesses will arise right here.
Why love this body?
But the mind has already attached to the body.
The mind already loves the body.
It already likes it.
So it's hard to pull out.
This is called Sakya Ditti,
Self-identity view,
And it's hard to pull out.
But it's not beyond our ability.
Those who are grown up will see that when we attach to something,
Then that will bring us suffering.
So they teach the path to freedom from suffering.
Like a mother teaching their child the way,
Trying to guide them in the teachings,
To walk in sila and samadhi concentration,
To walk in the way of wisdom,
In order to become liberated.
And we can be liberated from suffering,
Coming from our diligence and determination,
By having good mindfulness and clear comprehension,
Having strong sila and having effort and other good qualities,
Wisdom to look after our mind.
Then we will have the intelligence in looking after the mind,
And we won't have to experience suffering.
And we can become free from suffering,
Whether a little or a lot.
So may you grow in Dhamma.
May you grow in blessings.
