“Your mind becomes empty and full at the same time. It’s empty of the desire, but it feels full because the mind becomes calm and empty of any cravings.”

“Your mind becomes empty and full at the same time. It’s empty of the desire, but it feels full because the mind becomes calm and empty of any cravings.”

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Question (F1):  “How do we deal with the defilements that are very latent inside us? This defilements are very deep inside us and they arise only through the rising of certain condition.”

Than Ajahn:  “You have to create the conditions for it to arise. Like having the fear of death, you have to go to places where it can cause your fear of death to arise; For fear of pain, you have to sit until the body becomes painful. If you wait for it to happen by itself, it might be too late. For example, if you wait until the time when you get sick or when you’re about to die, it might be too late for you to handle this latent tendency. So, that’s why you have to create the conditions for this latent tendency to arise.

That’s why forest monks go to the forests. They go live with wild animals, with ghosts in the cemeteries or they sit in meditation for many hours to let the strong bodily pain to arise so that they can use mindfulness and wisdom to deal with this pain. The pain is not the problem. The problem is the latent tendency to reject the pain which is causing the mental suffering. And this can be dealt with by the application of mindfulness and wisdom. So, you have to generate conditions for it to arise.

Like people fast for many days to create hunger so that they know how to handle the hunger. There are two types of hunger: the physical hunger and the mental hunger. For physical hunger, you know that there is nothing you can do about it because it’s part of the body’s needs. But for the mental hunger, you can deal with it by calming your mind because your mental hunger arises from your craving for food. Once you use the right kind of contemplation and you can stop your thought about food, your mental hunger will disappear. Then, your mind becomes empty and full at the same time. It’s empty of the desire to eat but it feels full because the mind becomes calm and empty of any cravings.”

Youtube video: “Dhamma in English, Aug 15, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

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