The Teaching Of Ajahn Chah.

The Teaching Of Ajahn Chah.

So  the  Buddha  exhorted  his  disciples  to  practise  with  the  mind,  because  the  world  is  born  in  this  mind,  the  eight  worldly  dhammas  are there.  The  eightfold  path,  that  is,  investigation  through  calm  and  insight  meditation,  our  diligent  effort  and  the  wisdom  we  develop,  all these  things  loosen  the  grip  of  the  world.  Attachment,  aversion  and delusion  become  lighter,  and  being  lighter,  we  know  them  as  such.  If we experience fame,  material gain,  praise,  happiness or suffering we’re aware  of  it.  

We  must  know  these  things  before  we  can  transcend  the world,  because  the  world  is  within  us. 

When we’re  free of  these  things it’s just like leaving a  house.  When we  enter  a  house  what  sort  of  feeling  do  we  have?  We  feel  that  we’ve come  through  the  door  and  entered  the  house.  When  we  leave the  house we  feel  that  we’ve  left  it,  we  come  into  the  bright  sunlight,  it’s  not  dark like it was  inside. The  action of the mind  entering the worldly  dhammas is  like  entering  the  house.  

The  mind  which  has  destroyed  the  worldly dhammas  is  like  one  who  has  left  the  house. 

So  the  Dhamma  practitioner  must  become  one  who  witnesses  the Dhamma  for  himself.  He  knows  for  himself  whether  the worldly  dhammas  have  left  or  not,  whether  or  not  the  path  has  been developed.  

When the  path  has  been  well  developed  it  purges  the  worldly  dhammas.  It becomes  stronger  and  stronger.  Right  view  grows  as  wrong  view  de creases,  until  finally  the  path  destroys  defilements  –  either  that  or  def ilements  will  destroy the  path! Right  view  and  wrong  view,  there  are  only  these  two  ways.  Wrong view  has  its  tricks  as  well,  you  know,  it  has  its  wisdom  –but  it’s  wisdom  that’s  misguided.  The  meditator  who  begins  to  develop  the  path experiences  a  separation.  

Eventually  it’s  as  if  he  is  two  people:  one in  the  world  and  the  other  on  the  path.  They  divide,  they  pull  apart. 

Whenever  he’s  investigating  there’s  this separation,  and  it  continues  on and  on  until  the  mind  reaches  insight,  vipassan¯a. Or  maybe  it’s  vipassanu¯1!  Having  tried  to  establish  wholesome results  in  our  practice,  seeing  them,  we  attach  to  them.  This  type  of clinging  comes  from  our  wanting  to  get  something  from  the  practice. This  is  vipassanu¯,  the  wisdom  of  defilements  (i.e.  “defiled  wisdom”). Some  people  develop  goodness  and  cling  to  it,  they develop  purity  and cling  to  that,  or  they develop  knowledge  and  cling  to  that.  

The  action of  clinging  to  that  goodness  or  knowledge  is  vipassanu¯,  infiltrating  our practice. So  when  you  develop  vipassana¯,  be  careful!  Watch  out  for vipassan¯u,  because  they’re  so  close  that  sometimes  you  can’t tell  them  apart. But  with  right  view  we  can  see  them  both  clearly.  If  it’s  vipassan¯u  there will  be  suffering  arising  at  times  as  a  result.  If  it’s  really  vipassana¯ there’s  no  suffering.  There  is  peace.  Both  happiness  and  unhappiness are  silenced.  This  you  can  see  for  yourself.