Buddha's Life # 13 Buddhas - The Greatest Heroes Who Ever Lived

This highly insightful talk, given at the sacred Bodhi Tree in Bodhgaya, encompasses the concept of vast stretches of time. It covers the events of when a budding spiritual, adept by the name of Sumedha, received the prediction of Buddhahood from Dipankara Buddha many thousands of aeons ago. This talk is best suited to people with deep faith who follow the teachings on rebirth and kamma, as well as psychic powers as a matter of fact rather than metaphor. There is a lot of ambient background noise, but if listened to on speaker instead of headphones the talk is both clearly audible and deeply interesting. With the right attitude the background noise can help to transport the listener to the sacred Holy Site in India. Give rise to feelings of deep gratitude for the effort and sacrifices of the Bodhisattva.

Transcript

The title of his talk is called,

Qualities and Practices which Lead to Liberation.

So now let us sit nicely and prepare ourselves to hear the precious teachings of the Dharma by a venerable master who has been in deep practice so he can share his wisdom with all of us.

So with that we would now like to welcome most venerable Ajahn Acharo.

Thank you.

Good evening everybody.

Thank you for welcoming me and giving me the opportunity.

It's my pleasure and honor.

I'd like to take the opportunity to ask,

Request permission of the Holy Vajra Asana,

Seat of Enlightenment in this universe,

The sacred Bodhi tree,

The relics of the Buddha,

This Buddha and previous Buddhas contained in the Chedi,

The Buddha Mehta,

The Buddha statue,

The Maha Bodhi Chedi,

The Devas of the Bodhi tree,

The Maha Teras,

All of the monks and nuns and lay people.

I ask permission to speak on Dharma.

So today I've been meditating under the Bodhi tree just behind the wall for several hours and had the pleasure and honor of listening to the beautiful chanting in Kali.

Madam Wang Mo informs me that the text that people have been reciting is the Buddha Wang Tzu Star from the Kudaka Nikkaya.

When I received the invitation I did read through,

I have done some study about that text and all I can say is,

Wow,

Where to start and how to start.

It's quite a text.

It's an awe-inspiring text about the incredible qualities of the Buddhas and those who aspire to be Buddhas.

I'm also going to try to make it practical for us and hopefully give some suggestions as to how we can learn from the text.

So in the Buddha Wang Tzu,

The Buddha relays this particular teaching called the Chronicle of the Buddhas at the request of Venerable Sariputta,

Foremost in wisdom,

Equal to wisdom as Lord Buddha.

So Sariputta asks Lord Buddha about the occasion where he received his prophecy and prediction of attaining full Buddhahood.

So that was four asankhya's in calculable periods plus 100,

000 eons ago.

So an asankhya is a period of time so vast that only a Buddha's mind can measure it.

If you understand that one eon is the time from when the world system begins and to the time it burns up at the end of one eon.

This fortunate eon has five teaching Buddhas.

So that's one eon.

And the 100,

000 eons at the end,

That is a smaller,

Much smaller period of time than the asankhya,

The incalculable period.

So we're talking about really extraordinarily phenomenally unimaginably long periods of time.

So,

But Buddhas can measure these periods of time.

So four asankhya,

100,

000 eons ago,

There was a Brahmin by the name of Sumedha.

He was very wealthy and he was a master of the Vedas and of mantra.

But he became weary of the lay life,

Of the home life.

And so he gave away all of his wealth.

He gave away all of his wealth and he headed for the,

What in those days would have been the equivalent of the Himalaya to meditate.

So at the beginning he had a cloth robe and he ate grains.

But within not very long he gave up eating grains and only ate fruit.

And then he wore only bark robes.

So he was extremely austere,

Ascetic.

He mastered the jhanas within not a very long time and he became so adept at this,

His samadhi and he delighted in it.

So that he didn't notice that Dipankara Buddha had descended into the womb of his mother.

Because there's a flash of light that fills the whole world.

But he was absorbed in his absorption so he didn't notice.

He also didn't notice the light when that bodhisattva came forth into the world from the womb or the enlightenment or the first teaching.

So according to the words Lord Buddha relayed to Sariputta,

As a yogi he was especially adept.

He was actually flying through the air.

And looking down he saw a huge caravan of a buddha followed by I think 400,

000 arahants.

And the devas were raining down flowers and humans were throwing flowers.

And so he descended to the earth from the sky and he asked what's all the jubilation and the joy.

He said this is a teaching Buddha,

A teaching Buddha is coming this way.

Dipankara,

Conqueror of the world and we're clearing the way for him.

So Sumedha asked for the opportunity to clear a patch of road.

But it said that even at the word Buddha Sumedha felt great for zeal and rapture and kept repeating to himself Buddha,

Buddha,

Buddha.

He also had a very interesting thought and it's really incredible to have the opportunity to mention this on this occasion in this particular place because in a way this is where the Theravada and the Mahayana come together in the Buddha's own words.

I don't want to misquote them so I'm going to read what his thought was.

So he was mindful having heard the word Buddha that the Buddha had conquered,

Conquered the farmers and that he had these 400,

000 arahants following him.

He was mindful that he could burn up his defilements and put an end to the round of birth and death.

So his thoughts were if I so wished I could burn up my defilements today then he had this next thought.

But what is the use of my crossing over alone?

Being a man aware of my strengths,

So Sumedha was aware keeping in mind that he renounced an entire fortune and had become adept at Samadhi in not a very long time and already had the four rupajanas and the four arupajanas,

The eight janas and psychic powers.

So being a man aware of my strengths,

Having reached omniscience I will cause the world together with the devas to cross over.

So at this thought what's the use of my crossing over alone?

He had the potential to become an arahant that day,

Sumedha.

Being aware of my strengths,

Having reached omniscience I will cause the world together with the devas to cross over.

So Sumedha set the aspiration to become a sammasambuddha,

Teaching Buddha.

So Sumedha was clearing a stretch of the road and he saw that Lord Buddha was coming and there was some mud in the road and he didn't have anything to cover it with so he took off his bark road,

Put it in the mud,

He unloosened his hair and he laid down prone in that mud and he thought let the conqueror and his disciples step on me,

Let them not step in the Maya and so he lay down before the Buddha.

So when Lord Buddha came he made a pronouncement,

The Buddha Dipankara says the name of the father of the bodhisattva,

He pronounces in four asantya at a hundred thousand eons,

The bodhisattva will have the kinsa dhokana and his wife and he pronounces the name of the kingdom that he will live in and then he pronounces the mode that he will leave the palace,

He pronounces the duration that he will practice austerities,

It says the tree under which he will become enlightened,

He says the place that he will teach the first sermon and in Isipatana in Adiyapark,

He pronounces the names of the foremost bhikkhu disciples and then the names of the foremost bhikkhuni disciples and how long he will teach,

How many beings will go forth and when he will pass away and how long his teachings will last in the world.

So thinking about that is so extraordinary.

Four asantya and a hundred thousand eons ago Dipankara Buddha was able to see with perfect clarity all of that detail and made a prophecy and from what I understood he didn't actually step on him,

He walked around him.

As we can see Sumedha was a very developed being already and so the Buddha Chronicles continues basically Lord Buddha was explaining all of those details of the 23 Buddhas that passed during the time since Sumedha received his benediction,

His prophecy enlightenment.

So there were 23 Buddhas during that period of four asantya,

Four incalculable periods and a hundred thousand eons there were 23 Buddhas teaching Buddhas and then finally we have Gautama Buddha,

Sakya Muni Buddha.

So Lord Buddha not only explains the place that they were born,

The parents names,

The going forth,

The Bodhi tree,

The place of the turning of the wheel,

How many beings were liberated,

Humans and devas.

He also tells of the life that he had at that time.

So the bodhisattva trained with each of these 23 Buddhas in that incredibly long period of time.

Sometimes he was a Brahman and other times he was a governor.

On one occasion he was the ruler of the entire world and in perfecting the paramita he would always give up vast amounts of wealth so on that occasion I would give hundreds of thousands of monks,

I offered robes to hundreds of thousands of monks.

On the occasion that he was a king he gave the entire kingdom to the Buddha and the order and sometimes he was a lion and he protected Lord Buddha in the jungle for a week.

On another occasion he was two occasions he was a naga king and he I believe played musical instruments to entertain the Buddhas but the general theme is wherever the Buddha was the bodhisattva in training was there too and he would always shower the Buddha and the order with wonderful gifts and give away,

Continue to protect his paramitas by giving away enormous wealth.

And it is here under the Bodhi tree in Burkha Ayal for incalculable periods,

100,

000 eons and 23 Buddhas later that Siddhartha Gautama received his meal offered by Siddhartha and his eight bundles of kusha grass.

It's interesting to note there's all sorts of very interesting details in this text.

The Bodhisattva about to be a Buddha will always receive his meal before enlightenment from a young woman and he will always receive bundles of grass from a man and he will always attain his enlightenment under a tree.

There are different modes of going forth from the palace.

There was one of those Buddhas walked.

Sometimes they ride a horse,

Sometimes the horse is drawn by a chariot,

Sometimes they ride an elephant.

On three occasions,

This is very interesting,

The Bodhisattva actually levitates the entire palace to the Bodhi tree and this is the Buddha's words and then on that occasion the Bodhisattva doesn't leave the palace,

Everybody else leaves the palace and it will be the mother or the wife who offers the meal before the final enlightenment.

The shortest period of striving for a Buddha is one week sometimes.

There are a good number of Buddhas who strive for one week before they attain their final enlightenment and curiously it was just our Buddha,

Shakyamuni Buddha,

Gautama Buddha who strived for six full years.

This is unusual.

I think all of the others were much less.

Also,

Our Buddha was the only Buddha who had a lifespan between the age of 80 and 100.

The next,

The youngest Buddha lived 9,

000 years.

Many of them lived 40,

000,

60,

000,

80,

000,

Up to 80,

000 years.

According to the prophecy of Maitreya,

We are told that he will live 80,

000 years.

There are three modes that the Bodhisattva will perfect the parameters.

I'm sure many people have studied this.

There is the mode of wisdom which is the fastest even though it's an incredibly unfathomably long period of time to try and contemplate.

People who take the wisdom approach will spend four uncalculable periods plus 100,

000 eons fulfilling the parameter and becoming a Buddha.

The next is faith.

If one approaches becoming a Buddha,

Having received the prediction,

The prophecy,

It will take eight asanghyas plus 100,

000 eons.

If one uses effort as the mode of perfecting the parameter,

It will take 16 asanghyas plus 100,

000 eons.

It's probably the case that the Buddhas who lived very,

Very long lives were on the effort manner of developing the parameter because in spending 16 asanghyas,

The amount of merit that any Buddha produces is of course incredibly enormous.

But if you spend four times as long doing it,

The merit is four times as much.

So then you get these Buddhas appearing.

Imagine the earth as being somewhere between heaven and hell.

For example,

When Maitreya comes,

It's as if the human realm and human beings are closer to Davis than as in this era where things are degenerating and many human beings are not fully human in regards to not keeping precepts strictly.

So our Buddha did it in four asanghyas,

100,

000 eons,

And had a lifespan of 84.

And here,

After his enlightenment,

What I'm trying to make things,

It's so awe-inspiring.

We think of that vast amount of time.

We think of the abilities that the budding bodhisattva had even before he received his prediction.

Then it can seem a little intimidating or not so practical.

So two lists that I love to recollect frequently whenever I teach and I contemplate them frequently myself.

After all of that striving,

All of that cultivation,

All of that accumulating of merit,

When Lord Buddha became enlightened under the Bodhi tree,

After delighting in the bliss of liberation,

In one of the weeks,

The seven weeks that he spent in this vicinity,

He was considering how was that possible?

How did I do this?

How did I realize what I've realized?

He had two lists coming after.

So one of them was five faculties that beings have can be cultivated to become five powers.

And these five powers,

When made much of,

Lead to the deathless and merge in the deathless.

So this is,

I really love this because you imagine millions of lives perfecting virtue,

Accumulating merit.

Lord Buddha said on another occasion the dhammas that he understood,

Having studied so broadly,

So vastly,

Were equal to the leaves in a forest.

But the dhammas that he taught were equal to the leaves in a palm of his hand.

So Lord Buddha teaches the cause of suffering and the path leading beyond suffering.

So it's five spiritual powers,

Faith,

Energy,

Mindfulness,

Concentration and wisdom.

This is not difficult to remember.

And it's a wonderful,

Pithy,

Deeply meaningful list.

Lord Buddha is looking back on those millions of lives.

I don't like the word enlightenment so much.

I don't like the word attainment.

I prefer the word realize.

Because attain seems like getting something outside of oneself.

Whereas realizing something seems closer to,

It's the ignorance and delusion that obscure our minds.

So when the ignorance and delusion fall away from the mind,

If we cultivate the eightfold path,

What happens is we realize deeper nature,

Deeper truths.

Because the darkness and the ignorance that deludes that,

Obscures it,

Falls away,

Is uprooted.

So Lord Buddha realized,

He was contemplating what he realized.

In having that realization,

The mind is liberated.

So Lord Buddha,

In having his realization,

It's liberated from ignorance and delusion.

I think it's also nice to give some consideration to these really simple,

Basic things.

We say them so fast and we don't give much attention to what is it really.

So what is ignorance?

Ignorance is not knowing.

What don't we know?

We don't know things according to their actual nature.

Because we don't know things according to their actual nature,

We have delusion.

What is delusion?

Delusion is misunderstanding or misapprehending.

Because of that,

We think we're a self.

Because we think we're a self,

We have things that we like and things that we don't like,

Craving for,

Craving not for.

And then comes birth,

Aging,

Association with the dislike,

Separation from the loved and death.

So Lord Buddha,

After another week of delighting in his liberation in this vicinity,

After his enlightenment,

He was once again contemplating,

How did I realize this?

What are the qualities that really made this possible?

And he has another quite short statement,

Which is incredibly profound and we would all benefit from giving attention to.

These four foundations of mindfulness merge in the depthless,

Lead to the depthless.

It is through cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness that a mind is liberated.

Once again,

It's not Lord Buddha taught 84,

000 Dhamma verses.

And if we read the suttas,

We see that he's teaching one type of person on one occasion in a certain manner.

He's teaching other people on another occasion in another manner.

He's teaching other people on another occasion in another manner.

And I don't think there's anywhere in the suttas where he tells the bhikkhus,

You should understand and memorize every single verse I taught everybody.

But he does say statements such as,

Cultivation of the four foundations of mindfulness leads to the depthless,

Merges in the depthless,

Or these five spiritual powers,

When made much of,

Lead to the depthless and merge in the depthless.

So it's also good to give some attention to asking the question,

What is mindfulness?

What is mindfulness actually?

Because we often hear it said,

Just be mindful.

Just be mindful.

What does it mean to just be mindful?

So I think it's good to understand that.

So mindfulness is a quality of knowing,

A quality of awareness.

And I think it's really important that we differentiate and acknowledge that there is such a thing as fuzzy mindfulness,

Cloudy mindfulness,

Weak mindfulness,

Poor mindfulness,

Bad mindfulness.

We all have some.

We couldn't put on our shoes and go to the bathroom and drive cars and all the things we do without some awareness of what we're doing.

But then there is the question of what is good mindfulness?

What is clear mindfulness?

And this is where our,

This is where Lord Buddha's training,

The threefold training of generosity,

Ethical conduct,

And mental cultivation is the generosity brightens the mind,

The merit that it produces brightens the mind and the act of giving away things that we're attached to weakens the power of greed in the mind and so the mind becomes brighter through being generous.

In being ethical we have to restrain the power of lust.

We have to restrain the power of irritation,

Aversion,

Anger,

Hatred.

And so the chelases which darken the mind also become weaker,

Become thinner.

What happens is the radiant nature of the mind is able to shine forth.

And we think about,

Sometimes we think about Sīla as being a list of things we can't do.

My main teacher in Thailand,

Thanajana Nanak explains that when we keep the ethical precepts what occurs is that virtue is able to blossom in the mind.

So that's a very beautiful way of looking at it.

It's because of the things that we don't allow ourselves to do our innate human goodness is able to fully blossom and shine.

So in this training of being generous,

In being ethical,

In being virtuous what happens is the mind experiences deeper clarity,

A lack of remorse,

A lack of anxiety,

Feelings like trust and safety.

And so then when we take that foundation and we cultivate a meditation practice and we train with being mindful of one meditation object for periods of time each day what happens is the mindfulness gets clearer,

Sharper,

More present,

More steady.

And so good mindfulness,

When we're thinking about the four foundations of mindfulness,

Good mindfulness sees forms as forms.

So my body not as I,

Not as me,

Just a body.

It sees thoughts,

It sees feelings as feelings.

So any feeling associated with the body and any feeling in the mind is a feeling and aware of the nature of a feeling.

It arises,

It stays for some time,

It changes,

It ceases.

And then emotions or mind states,

Mindfulness sees them just as mind states and then dharmas,

The various dharmas,

Wholesome dharmas,

Unwholesome dharmas,

The mind knows dharmas.

And so the four foundations of mindfulness lead to the depthless,

Emerge in the depthless.

That was Lord Buddha's realization.

What does the depthless mean?

That means realizing nirvana,

No longer the subject to birth.

So how does it work?

In terms of how you experience it,

Where is the mindfulness?

Where is our mindfulness?

We all understand that Lord Buddha became enlightened,

He was sitting under the Bodhi tree,

But if we think about it less physically,

Lord Buddha actually became enlightened in his mind.

He was sitting under the Bodhi tree,

But the enlightenment occurred within his mind.

So Lord Buddha says,

Within this patterned long body is where liberation occurs.

So for example,

If we're practicing breath meditation,

While trying to be aware of the breath,

You notice that you're thinking.

And sitting meditation and trying to be mindful of the breath,

You notice the feeling,

You notice the knee pain,

You notice back pain,

And you notice the feeling of the breathing,

But you also notice all sorts of other feelings,

Pleasant feelings,

Painful feelings,

Neutral feelings.

So it's just in this establishing mindfulness in the present moment within the parameters of the body that we begin to become mindful of forms as forms,

Feelings as feelings,

Thoughts as thoughts,

Sense contact as sense contact,

And not the layers of self that we add to things out of habit can fall away.

So if we really have good mindfulness,

We generate mindfulness,

Cultivate mindfulness for the daily practice upon a good foundation of generosity and ethical behavior.

Then we become mindful of sense contact at the same spaces.

So a sound is just a sound,

And there's a less of a sense of a being that's listening and liking and not liking.

So when mindfulness is good,

There's awareness of a sound,

A pleasant sound or an unpleasant sound,

But that feeling of being someone who's listening to it and that response of liking or not liking,

That is something we add.

And so in training with daily meditation practice,

Which is certainly recommended by Lord Buddha,

And he says about Anupana Sati,

Great meditation,

That it is the crown in the crown jewel of all of the meditations that he teaches,

And he says that it is suitable for everybody.

So many people ask what meditation practice is suitable for my character,

And my teacher,

And I always answer,

Great meditation is suitable for everybody.

Lord Buddha said it's the crown jewel in the crown of all meditations.

So in my experience,

I just want to encourage people that in a daily meditation practice upon the breath,

One becomes aware of feelings in the body,

One becomes aware of mind states,

One becomes aware of thoughts as they arise and cease.

And as we train in seeing them with more objectivity,

More clarity,

The habit of grasping at them and perceiving them as me and mine,

Self and other,

And the habit that we have of liking and not liking.

Lord Buddha says the most important thing in practice is learning to keep the mind in the middle.

So keep the mind in the middle,

Not being swayed by the liking and the disliking.

Simply if we take this simple approach,

Not to fall into liking too much or not liking too much,

Trying to keep the mind steady,

Having some equanimity,

It weakens the power of craving.

So when we're looking at the Four Noble Truths,

The first Noble Truth into suffering,

The cause of suffering is the craving based on the ignorance and delusion,

Craving for and craving not for,

Or craving for becoming.

But if we don't make karma with it,

If we don't grasp that,

If we don't follow these energies,

Then we get weaker and weaker and the mind that is able to stay in the middle becomes more and more peaceful,

More and more tranquil,

More and more serene.

So the Buddha Wamsa,

This Lord Buddha describes the event of his meeting with Ankhira Buddha,

He is receiving the prediction,

He is having met 23 Buddhas since that time,

Over a period of four incalculable periods and a hundred thousand eons,

And it culminates with this final life.

It's interesting to note that the two Buddhas before this eon,

In this eon there was Kakosanda Buddha,

Konegamuna Buddha,

And Kasaba Buddha,

Then Gotara Buddha.

Before that there was Sikhi and Vesabuddha.

It's said that that was 32 eons ago.

It's just interesting from our perspective.

I just mention this because I keep saying four Sankhya's and a hundred thousand eons,

It's so vast,

It doesn't impact us very much.

If you consider that before this eon there were 32 eons with no Buddhas at all.

And the reason I mention that is we're all here under the Bodhi Tree,

We all love the Buddha,

But in terms of the gratitude,

Our recognition of how precious it is to meet the teaching Buddha and his teachings,

So they both,

When they met the Bodhisattva,

Made the pronouncement,

And in 32 eons this Bodhisattva will be Gotama Buddha.

He will be born in Kapali Vatu,

He will go forth and he will be enlightened in Gaia,

He will teach in Isipatana.

So 32 eons,

No Buddhas before this eon.

Quite amazing.

And this eon is called the Fortunate Eon because there are five Buddhas and four of them have come,

One remaining,

The Maitreya Buddha.

So it's a very interesting text.

When you think of different chronicles of different types of fame,

What comes to mind is like Forbes magazine of the current millionaires or billionaires in the world,

Or you think of the celebrities in this day and age who are the most wealthy or the most famous,

Who get the most plays on YouTube or Vivo or whatever it is,

And it's like,

Then you read the Buddha-wantā and it actually talks about 24 Buddhas who arose over a period of four incalculable periods and a hundred thousand eons,

How many beings they liberated,

How long their satsang has lasted,

And then this word awesome is often overused when it comes to Buddha-wantā.

This really is an awesome subject,

This really is an awesome text.

But I also just like to come back to the point that after all of that effort,

All of that training,

All of that incredible,

Even the word heroic doesn't come near touching what that must require.

But after his final realization,

Through cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness,

When Lord Buddha realized the deptless,

He was looking back on it,

Just this training in being generous,

Being ethical and meditating,

Just this training in developing mindfulness to be able to reflect within these four spheres of reference,

These four foundations,

This will do it,

This will liberate beings from free hatred and suffering in the cycle of rebirth.

So again mindfulness is in the five spiritual powers list.

So just have another look again,

Faith,

Faith in Lord Buddha.

Lord Buddha recognized that it was a faculty that could become a power,

So beings have faith,

But often they don't put it in the right place.

So when we have faith in the Buddha,

That's the right place.

We also need to have faith in our potential.

Many people doubt their potential,

And this is very self-defeating.

So what Lord Buddha demonstrated is the potential of a conscious being to liberate themselves.

And when he went and taught the five disciples in sadhana,

Then it was more proof.

This isn't just the Buddha that does this,

This strange being that comes along every few million lives.

This is something that when beings follow the path,

Other beings attain what the Buddha attained.

So Lord Buddha,

When he describes the Arahants,

He says they have the same quality of liberation.

I think that's very important to understand.

So they don't have all of the qualities of a Buddha.

They can't teach as well,

They don't have the same amount of merit,

They might,

But they have the same liberation,

There's no more suffering.

They don't grasp at the five khandhas,

There's no more birth,

Aging,

Sickness and death.

So faith that that's our potential.

You,

If every single one of us,

If we just cultivate the four foundations of mindfulness,

You will put an end to your suffering,

That's our potential.

Lord Buddha demonstrated it here.

So energy,

When we put faith in the right place,

You have faith in Lord Buddha's enlightenment,

You have faith in your potential,

Then good energy arises.

Then we have mindfulness.

If we maintain good,

Clear mindfulness through our meditation practice,

Through being mindful throughout the day,

This also creates energy,

Because energy isn't being dissipated by becoming restless and reactive.

Then what happens when you have mindfulness and good energy?

The mind can collect.

Samadhi is also translated as right collectiveness.

The mind can gather.

And so when we have,

One of my teachers talks about mindfulness as being truth discerning awareness,

A quality of awareness that simply sees things according to their characteristics of how they really are.

When we have a quality of clarity,

This quality of mindfulness and some steadiness of mind,

Then the wisdom,

What is wisdom?

Wisdom is seeing things according to three characteristics,

Impermanent,

Not self,

Unsatisfactory.

So there's three ways that we develop wisdom.

We can look at these five powers and we can investigate them in more detail.

There's three ways that we develop wisdom,

Through listening,

As we're doing now,

Contemplating what the person is saying,

Does that make sense,

Is it true?

When we develop conviction,

This makes good sense actually,

Then we meditate upon it and then we experience wisdom that comes from direct deep insight.

So when we maintain our consistent mindfulness and we have a strong quality of faith,

Good energy arises,

All of those qualities become collectedness,

Steadiness of mind,

And then the wisdom becomes penetrative and it literally burns through,

It sees through.

Going back to what I was saying earlier,

Ignorance is not knowing.

Delusion is misapprehending.

Mindfulness and wisdom is the direct antidote.

When you cultivate mindfulness and wisdom,

You are generating qualities that know,

According to the way things really are.

When they penetrate and see that deeper truth,

The ignorance and the delusion simply have to disappear.

It's like turning on a light in a dark room.

There are many suttas where people,

After listening to the Buddha,

Have a realization of Dharma and they make that sabhā,

It's as if the Lord has lit a lamp in a darkened room,

I see now.

So ignorance and delusion is not seeing,

It's darkness.

Mindfulness and wisdom is seeing things simply as they are.

The delusion falls away.

With mindfulness and wisdom,

We see the truth.

We see the truth,

The mind realizes its true nature of conditions.

Seeing the nature of conditions arising and ceasing,

Arising and ceasing,

If we can just see that,

See the nature of conditioned phenomena,

All that has the nature to arise has the nature to cease.

That was the insight that Anya Kondanya had at the Deer Park when he attained to stream entry.

Seeing the nature of conditions,

The unconditioned nature of the mind shines through.

So all we need to remember is the mind wants to cease the nature of conditions.

In seeing the nature of the conditions,

The unconditioned is able to be revealed.

And that is exactly what happened here.

I've been talking for quite a long time and there has to be a translation,

So I think I'll stop it here.

Thank you for the opportunity to talk on this awesome Dhamma of Lord Buddha,

His realization,

His liberating truth,

This wonderful power.

And I offer these words to your affection.

Please cultivate the five spiritual powers and the four foundations of mindfulness.

I will lead you to the deathless.

I was one last thing,

I'm sorry.

Sorry.

Today is the birthday of the previous,

The late Thai King,

King Bumipong,

Rama IX.

Sitting under this Bodhi tree as I have for thousands of hours,

Fulfilling my vow,

I've heard many people,

Thai bhikkhus give Dhamma talks and some Thai lay down teachers.

I heard it said many times that the Thai King is a bodhisattva who has received his prediction of Buddhahood.

And so apparently Lumpur Singh,

Who is a great arahant,

And Lumpur Rishi Lingdam,

Both said of King Bumipong that he will be a future Buddha.

Apparently he just has five lives left.

And so it's a nice way to make what I've been saying today real.

In this day and age we also have great bodhisattvas living in Theravada countries.

And so this text really brings the Theravada and the Mahayana together.

There are those rare beings amongst us who have extraordinary compassion and work tirelessly and effortlessly.

My own feeling,

Having lived 20 years of the past 25 in Thailand,

Obviously have affection and respect for that King also.

And when we consider,

When we look at what happened to Laos,

Cambodia,

And Vietnam in the communist era,

And we look at what happened in Burma with a very tyrannical and oppressive military regime,

Somehow Thailand was able to maintain a certain amount of autonomy,

And the Thai people had freedom,

And the sathana flourished.

And it would seem to suggest that a being with great merits was living there,

Protecting.

The merits of such beings offer incredible protections for the world.

So I myself feel gratitude to King Bumipong Rama IX.

And I'd like to dedicate the merit of this Dharma talk to Bumipong Rama IX,

And with gratitude for the life I've been able to live in Thailand.

Reviews

I have been listening to Ajahn Achalo for years and continue to learn from him.

what a wonderful teacher we have in Ven. Ajahn Achalo. I did not expect much from this one based on the general topic and then found myself fascinated, applying insights and encouragements to my own practice.

Wow. There’s so much here to help a student of Buddhism or even simply mindfulness. I appreciated your description of the difference between attainment and realization, and then the four foundations of mindfulness and what mindfulness really is all about. I am eager to return to this talk again and again to mind its wisdom and to sharpen my own skills.

“Virtue is able to blossom in the mind by keeping the precepts.” A powerful and practical motivation. Thank you again Ajahn. Sadhu. Sadhu. Sadhu.

Ajahn. 🙏🏻

This (all) is so incredibly, insightful, truly inspiring and nourishing. I really love listening to your teachings. intention certainly a pillar of our practice and helps reinforce the journey to liberation. i will return over and over again for this lecture(s). Excellent. With all my Respect. Sadhu 🙏🏻

I always love listening to Ajahn Achalo but I’m a bit sorry to say it was not easy listening as the recording is poor. Sorry about that. Namaste 🙏🏼

Very informative!

Thank you 🙏 for the very informative talk, I can’t believe I sat for 45 mins & listening to every word being said. I loved the background noise, it took me back to when I visited India in 2011 and the very busy traffic there & all the horn bibbing. Thank you for taking the time in helping us understand a bit more about the Buddha teachings. X