“When you meditate, you’re pulling your mind away from the eyes, ears, nose and tongue. You go inside.”

“When you meditate, you’re pulling your mind away from the eyes, ears, nose and tongue. You go inside.”

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Question (M): So, can the same mind be the mind that is at one time ‘avijjā’ and at another time ‘vijjā’?

Tahn Ajahn: Yes, but once it’s vijjā, it won’t be avijjā anymore. Once you know, you will always know. Once you are enlightened, you cannot be delusional anymore.

Question (M): Is it true that the same reality can be conditioned and can be unconditioned when being viewed by different minds?

Tahn Ajahn: It is a matter of having different minds view things differently. When you are enlightened, you will think that everything is impermanent; everything is not under your control; and everything is not good for you. A delusional mind will think that everything is good; everything is permanent; and everything can be managed and can be controlled. These are the differences between the mind that is ‘vijjā’ and the mind that is ‘avijjā.’

An enlightened mind sees everything as it is. An enlightened mind sees that everything contains the Three Characteristics nature in it. A delusional mind sees everything in the opposite way. It sees everything without the Three Characteristics nature in it. Instead of seeing that everything is impermanent, a delusional mind sees everything as permanent. Instead of seeing everything as bad for the mind, it sees that everything is good for the mind. Instead of seeing that everything is not a self, it sees everything as a self or as belonging to itself. So, these are the differences between an enlightened mind and a delusional mind.

You’re to re-educate the mind to see the truth as it is. Right now, you see the truth under the delusional mind. So, you are always unhappy because everything is not what you think it is. But once you see everything as it is, you leave it alone. You don’t need it to be happy. You can be happy without having anything. This is something you don’t know. That’s why you have to pull yourselves away from everything by practising meditation. When you meditate, you’re pulling your mind away from the eyes, ears, nose and tongue. You go inside. You become peaceful and content. Then, the mind knows that it doesn’t need to have anything.

Layperson: Thank you.

Youtube: “Dhamma in English, Dec 18, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g