“The physical pain has its own cause, and when the cause of the pain disappears, the physical pain will disappear.”

“The physical pain has its own cause, and when the cause of the pain disappears, the physical pain will disappear.”

Question:  Are all deaths painful? 

Than Ajahn:  Yes, everybody has to experience pain because the body is such that it has to get sick. When the body gets sick then there is pain, so it is natural. But bodily pain is not harmful to the mind. What harmful to the mind is the mental pain, the pain that arises from the desire to get rid of the physical pain. The Buddha taught us to eliminate the desire to get rid of the physical pain, because we cannot get rid of the physical pain, it is beyond our ability.

The physical pain has its own cause, and when the cause of the pain disappears, the physical pain will disappear. So what the mind has to do is to live with the physical pain when it arises, and not try to reject it or try to get rid of it. When you try to get rid of it, this creates mental pain which is a lot stronger than the physical pain. Once you can control your mental pain, then the physical pain will not cause you any distress, and you can live with this physical pain comfortably.

The way to get rid of your mental pain is to get rid of your desire to get rid of the physical pain. The first method to get rid of your desire is to use mindfulness, like reciting a mantra: Buddho, Buddho. When you have physical pain, don’t think about it. Forget about it. Concentrate on repeating your mantra: Buddho Buddho Buddho. If you can concentrate on repeating the mantra, you will forget about the physical pain and you will stop the desire to get rid of it, and as there is no mental pain then you can live with the physical pain. Your mind will become peaceful and calm.

The next method is to use wisdom to study the nature of physical pain, that the pain doesn’t belong to the mind. The pain affects the body but it doesn’t affect the mind. But because the mind is deluded, it thinks that the body is itself and that it is affected by the physical pain.

You have to teach the mind that the mind and the body are two separate things, that when the body is in pain, the mind doesn’t have to be. But now due to its own delusion, the mind thinks that it itself is the body, so it wants to get rid of the physical pain. When it wants to get rid of this physical pain, it is creating another kind of pain, the mental kind which is a lot stronger than the physical kind.

Once the mind knows that it is not the body which experiencing the pain and the physical pain is not the pain that the mind experiences, what the mind has to do is just to leave the physical pain alone. When there is no desire to get rid of the physical pain, there is no mental pain and therefore the mind can live unaffected by the physical pain.

………………

Question:  Do I need jhāna in order to get that wisdom (to study the nature of the physical pain)?

Than Ajahn:  First you need to have mindfulness to be able to concentrate your mind to have jhāna. Once the mind has jhāna then the mind will not be affected by the physical pain. But this is just an escape route, and not a permanent cure.

The permanent cure is to face the physical pain and use wisdom to stop the mind from rejecting the physical pain. Once you can stop the mind from rejecting the physical pain, then the mind will not be affected by it.

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Youtube: Dhamma in English
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g