“Samādhi can happen when the mind is in the present”

“Samādhi can happen when the mind is in the present”

Question:  Can I ask about the basic, the beginning of the practice, the meditation object. When I use parikamma ‘Buddho’ or ānāpānasati as the object of meditation, is the aim to get a complete body feeling, to maintain the inside body feeling? Is this called sati?

Than Ajahn:  No. The aim is to stop thinking, to stop the mind from wandering all over the world, bring it back to the present, to the here and now.

Question:  Does it (the here and now) mean in the body?

Than Ajahn:  If you are with your body, then you are not going anywhere. You are in the present. When you are in the present, you are ready to enter into samādhi. Samādhi can happen when the mind is in the present.

Question:  Do we focus our attention into our body and if we cannot do it then we use the preparatory work of parikamma?

Than Ajahn:  The goal is to stop your mind from thinking. If your mind is thinking, somehow you should stop it by using the body as a point of focus or using parikamma, like a mantra as your point of focus to stop your mind thinking. When the mind stops thinking, the mind will converge and become one. It becomes singular,  สักว่ารู้ (sak-ta-wa-roo) means really knowing, it separates from the body, it becomes by itself.

Question:  Does ‘Jit ruam yay’ mean having just peacefulness? Is it samādhi? And when I reach this state, I can then start contemplate on asubha etc?

Than Ajahn:  Yes. When you reach this state then you are in complete control of your mind. You can stop your mind from generating all kinds of defilements. If you cannot do this yet, when you come out (of samādhi), you cannot stop your defilement when it starts to manifest. When you have this ‘ruam yay’ then you have the strength to stop your defilement when they appear.

Question:  Is this when there is separation of the body and mind?

Than Ajahn:  Yes. ‘Ruam yay’ is when the body disappears from the awareness of the mind. It is like there is no body anymore, so in a way you can see that the mind and the body are two separate things. You can deduce from this fact that whatever happens to the body doesn’t happen to the mind. You can use this basis to investigate your body to see that the body is not the mind, and then you can let go of the body.

Question:  So even when you stand up, the separation will last for a long time afterwards? 

Than Ajahn:  No. When you come out of samādhi, the separation: the body and the mind will rejoin. Then you need to use wisdom to remind yourself that we are two different parts but we are together right now and we must not cling to this body because the body is only a temporary parts of our life. We should stick to the mind. Just to be aware. Just know. Don’t have any desire to have anything remaining with you all the time, because you cannot, everything comes and goes.

That’s the duty of wisdom when you come out of samādhi, to remind yourself that the mind is not the body, to remind the mind that one day the body will disappear, it will separate from the body forever and to cling to it will only create dukkha in the mind. If you don’t want any dukkha then you will just have to let it go.

You have to go find something fearful that causes you to have fear of death, then you have to let go of your body and that fear of death will disappear. That’s why you have to go into the forest to be alone, to find some place fearful, some place that might present you a life and death situation. When you face something like a tiger or a snake, then you can have a choice of clinging or letting go.

If you cling then you will have dukkha. If you let go then you will have peace because the dukkha will disappear. Once you have let go then you know that it is better to let go then to cling. When you cling you have dukkha, when you let go you have peace of mind.

However, you will need to have samādhi first. When you don’t have samādhi, when you are faced with the life and death situation, you are not be able to stop your clinging. Your clinging will be stronger than your letting go, even though your logic tells you to let go, the mind won’t listen to the logic because the mind is still driven by delusion. It still thinks that it is going to die with the body. So you need to have samādhi first, so that you can resist this clinging, get rid of this clinging. When you are in samādhi, you are already getting rid of this clinging temporarily, but when you come out of it the clinging returns. Samādhi cannot destroy the clinging permanently.

You need wisdom to be the one to tell the mind to let go of the clinging because by clinging you are only creating dukkha in your mind. If you don’t want dukkha, you have to let go.

I hope you will all meet your goal one day. If you all try hard enough, I think one day you will. Wherever there is a will, there is a way. It is like eating, if you keep eating, one day you will get full right? If you keep on practising, one day you will attain your goal. As soon as you stop you will never (reach your goal).

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto
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