Turning The Mind Into The Dharma

Powerful reflections from Ajahn Chah to an old and weary monk: "Make the mind know the Dharma. When it knows the Dharma, make it see the Dharma. Practice the Dharma so that the mind is Dharma." This recording is an exerpt from Ajahn Chah's talk 'In the Shape of a Circle.'

Transcript

We suffer over things that never amount to much.

We want to get this,

Want it to be like that,

Want to be something.

If you want to be an Arahant,

You'll immediately suffer,

Right here and now.

Arahants have stopped wanting to be like this or like that.

But we want to get this and that,

To be this and that.

So we're sure to suffer.

If you see that this spot is good,

Or that spot is excellent,

It all comes out of you.

If you see yourself,

That's the end of saying things like that.

I'll give you a simple comparison.

This food is good.

This tray is worth many hundreds,

And that tray many tens.

They're all nothing but good things.

When they're on the plates,

This is mine,

This is yours.

But when they've gone into the stomach and come out the other end,

Nobody argues over whose is whose.

Or would you still want to argue?

That's what it's like.

When you're willing to admit the way things are,

That's just what it's like.

If we don't really understand,

We argue over what's mine and what's yours.

But when they all come together,

As the same sort of thing,

Nobody lays any claims.

They're simply the condition they are.

No matter how wonderful the food might be,

When it comes out the other end,

If you wanted to give it as a gift to your brothers and sisters,

No one would want it.

Or would you still want it?

Nobody would fight over it at all.

For this reason,

If we gather things together as Eko-Dhamma,

One single Dhamma,

And see that their characteristics are all the same,

It gives rise to disenchantment.

This disenchantment,

It isn't disgust.

The mind simply loses its grip.

It's had enough.

It's empty.

It's sobered up.

There's no love.

No hatred.

No fixating on anything.

If you have things,

Okay.

If you don't,

It's still okay.

You're at ease,

At peace.

Nibbanaṃ paramāṃ sukhāṃ.

Nibbanaṃ paramāṃ sunyāṃ.

Nibbana is the ultimate happiness.

Nibbana is the ultimate peace,

Emptiness.

Listen carefully.

Worldly happiness isn't the ultimate happiness.

Worldly emptiness isn't the ultimate emptiness.

The ultimate emptiness is empty of clinging.

The ultimate happiness is peace.

There's peace,

And then there's emptiness.

The ultimate emptiness.

At the moment though,

The mind is at peace,

But it's not ultimate.

It's happy,

But it's not ultimate.

This is why the Buddha described Nibbana as the ultimate emptiness.

Its happiness is the ultimate happiness.

It changes the nature of happiness to be peace.

It's happy,

But not fixated on any object.

Pain still exists,

But you see the pains and pleasures that arise as equal to each other.

They have the same price.

The objects we like and don't like are equal to each other.

But as for us right now,

These things aren't equal.

The objects we like are really pleasing.

The objects we don't like we want to smash.

That means they're not equal.

But their reality is that they are equal.

So think in a way that makes them equal.

They're not stable,

Not constant,

Like the food I mentioned just now.

This is good,

That's wonderful.

But when they all get brought together,

They're equal.

Nobody says,

Give me a little more,

I didn't get enough.

It's all been brought together to the way it is.

If we don't drop the principles of inconstancy,

Stress and not-self,

We're on the path.

We see with every moment.

We see the eye,

We see the mind,

We see the body.

Like when you sit in meditation.

After a moment,

The mind goes off in a flash,

So you pull it back.

No matter what you do,

It won't stay.

Try holding your breath.

Will it go away then?

It goes,

But not far.

It's not going to go now.

It circles around right here,

Because your mind feels like it's about to die.

The same with sounds.

I once stuffed my ears with beeswax.

Noises bothered me,

So I stuffed my ears.

And things were totally quiet.

With the sound from just within my ears themselves.

Why did I do it?

I contemplated what I was doing.

I didn't torment myself just out of stupidity.

I thought about the matter.

If people could become noble ones from not hearing anything,

Then every deaf person would be a noble one.

Every blind person would be a noble one.

They'd all be our hunts.

So I listened to my thoughts,

And oh,

Discernment arose.

Is there any use in stuffing your ears and closing your eyes at self-tortment?

But I did learn from it.

I learned,

And then I stopped doing it.

I stopped trying to close things off.

Don't go wrestling and attacking.

Don't go cutting down the trunks of trees that have already died.

It gets you nowhere.

You end up tired and stand there looking like a fool.

They were such a waste,

Such a real waste,

My early years as a meditator.

When I think about them,

I see that I was really deluded.

The Buddha taught us to meditate to gain release from suffering.

But I simply scooped up more suffering for myself.

I couldn't sit in peace.

I couldn't lie down in peace.

The reason we live in physical seclusion,

Or kaya viveka,

Is to get the mind in mental seclusion,

Citta viveka,

From the objects that stir up its moods.

These things are synonyms that follow one after the other.

Rupadi viveka refers to seclusion from our defilements.

When we know what's what,

We can pull out of them.

We can pull out from whatever the state the mind is in.

This is the only purpose of physical seclusion.

If you don't have any discernment,

You can create difficulties for yourself when you go off into physical seclusion.

When you go to live in the wilderness,

Don't get stuck on the wilderness.

If you get stuck on the wilderness,

You become a monkey.

When you see the trees,

You miss the trees.

You start jumping around just like the monkey that you were before.

But the Buddha never taught us to be this or be that.

When you live in a peaceful place,

The mind becomes peaceful.

Mmm,

Peace at last.

The mind is at peace.

But when you leave the wilderness,

Is the mind at peace?

Not anymore.

So what do you do then?

The Buddha didn't have us stay in the wilderness.

He had us use the wilderness as a place to train.

You go to the wilderness to find some peace so that your meditation will develop,

So that you'll develop discernment.

That's so that when you go into the city and deal with people,

With sights,

With sounds,

Smells,

Tastes,

And tactile sensations,

You'll have strength,

You'll have your strategies.

You'll have your firm foundation for contemplating things,

To see that they're not for sure.

Going to the wilderness in this way is something that can really help give you strength.

If you think that you can live anywhere,

That you can live with lots of people,

It's like a knife with a double-edged blade.

If you don't have enough strength,

You can create difficulties for yourself.

It's like monks who study Abhidharma.

They say that when you study the Abhidharma,

You don't have to cling to anything,

Don't have to fixate on anything.

It's nice and easy.

You don't have to observe the precepts.

You just focus right on the mind.

And that's what the monks who study the Abhidharma say.

As for women,

What's the matter with getting near them?

Women are just like our mothers.

We ourselves were born right out of that spot.

But that's bragging too much.

They ordained just yesterday,

And yet they refuse to be careful around women.

That's not the real Abhidharma.

That's not what the Abhidharma says.

But they say that the Abhidharma is on a level higher than the human level.

But when you're that high,

It doesn't matter whether you're near someone or not.

There's no near,

No far.

There's nothing to be afraid of.

Women are just like us.

Just pretend that they're men.

That way you can get near them,

Touch them,

Feel them.

Just pretend that they're men.

But this sort of thing,

Can you pretend?

It's a double-edged blade.

If we were talking genuine Abhidharma,

There wouldn't be a problem.

But this Abhidharma is fake.

The Buddha taught us to live in the wilderness.

The proper way,

When a monk goes into the wilderness,

Is to stay in a quiet place.

To wander in the quiet wilderness.

Not to be entangled with friends and companions and other sorts of things.

That's the right way to do it.

But most of us don't follow the right way.

We live in a quiet place and get attached to the quiet.

As soon as we see a form,

It gives rise to defilement.

In our ears there's nothing but defilement.

And that's going too far.

It lacks discernment.

If you bring things together,

They come together at the path.

The right path,

Or right view.

That's where things come together.

If you have right view,

You can live with a large group of people.

And there's no problem.

You can live with a small group of people.

And there's no problem.

You can live in a forest or in a cave.

And there's no problem.

But this is something you can't just attain without any effort.

You have to get so that that's the way the mind really is.

Make the mind know the Dhamma.

When it knows the Dhamma,

Make it see the Dhamma.

Practice the Dhamma so that the mind is Dhamma.

You don't want to be able just to speak about the Dhamma.

It's something very different.

The Buddha taught all the way to the truth.

But we only go halfway,

In half measures.

That's why progress is difficult.

If we come to live in the wilderness,

We get to train ourselves.

Like training ourselves to grow rice.

Once we plant it,

It grows gradually.

If nothing eats it,

That's okay.

But what happens?

As soon as the rice grains begin to appear,

A baby buffalo comes to eat them.

We chase it away and look after the plant.

But as soon as more grains appear,

The baby water buffalo comes to eat them again.

Keeps on eating as soon as the grains begin to fill out.

And if that's the case,

How are we going to eat any rice?

The strategies you'll need will grow from within the mind.

Whoever has discernment gains intuitive knowledge.

Whoever has intuitive knowledge gains discernment.

That's the way it is.

Are intuitive knowledge and discernment different from each other?

If you say they aren't,

Why are they two different words?

One is called intuitive knowledge.

One is called discernment.

Can you have only intuitive knowledge?

No.

You need to have discernment too.

Can you have only discernment?

No.

You need to have intuitive knowledge as well.

Whoever has discernment gains intuitive knowledge.

Whoever has intuitive knowledge gains discernment.

These things arise from your own experience.

You can't go looking for them in this book or that.

They arise in your own mind.

Don't be timid.

Reviews

Always enlightening. Sadhu sadhu sadhu. 🙏

Excellent enseignement. Simple, clair et pertinent.

Simple and helpful, just like I'm aiming to be!

The way in which you explained it was perfect for me. A light bulb or penny dropping moment right there for me.
Thank you kindly 🙏

Love the humor of the talk and the wisdom as well 🙏

Love the talk but it goes so fast it's a bit hard to absorb. Important points to understand and we would benefit from a bit slower presentation.

Thank you 🙏

🙏🏼

Perfect thank you 🙏