In Memoriam
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116th Year of the Birth of
Phra Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo
31 January 1906 – 26 April 1961
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The Dhamma is like the thatch or tiles that people put on their roofs to protect them from the sun and rain.
When people are born into the world it’s as if they’re left out in the open without any shelter. They’re sure to suffer from the sun and rain and stormy winds. Only if they have the Dhamma ensconced in their hearts will they escape from these dangers. This is why we’re taught to find shelter for the heart—i.e., the Dhamma—to give us protection. The Dhamma here is virtue, concentration, and discernment.
There are four types of virtue: restraint of the senses, restraint in terms of the Pāṭimokkha (precepts), purity of livelihood, and contemplation of the requisites. These four types of virtue are like walls on all four sides, which will protect us from stormy winds. Concentration—the four levels of jhāna—is like a four-sided roof that will protect us from the sun and rain. Discernment—transcendent discernment—is like a solid floor that will protect us from the danger of falling into the states of deprivation. When you’ve provided yourself with these three types of protection, you have a sense of security and don’t have to fear any of the sufferings that might come in this world or the next.
The precepts are shelter for the body; concentration is shelter for the mind. This shelter for the mind is composed of tranquility and insight. Tranquility means making the mind quiet and firm, free from the hindrances. Insight means using your discernment to investigate the causes and effects of all fabricated things within you so that you can see their truth to the point where you can let go of defilements, level by level. When you can let go of them all, your mind will gain release from mental fermentations, reaching the goodness of purity.
Some people say that tranquility and insight are two separate things, but actually they’re one and the same.
Tranquility is making the mind still. When the mind is still, it gives rise to a glow.
As the glow gets brighter and brighter, it turns into the light of insight. When insight arises, you enter into the goodness of purity. And so this goodness, this purity, comes from tranquility: this plain old stillness of mind.
The mind that isn’t still is the mind that doesn’t stay with the body. When this happens, you’ll meet with nothing but suffering and defilement. It’s like a house in which no one is living: It’s bound to get dusty and messy. You don’t have to look very far for an example: Take this meditation hall we’re sitting in.
Suppose all the monks, novices, and lay people were to go off and leave it for just a day. On your return you’d see that it was covered with dust and cobwebs, simply from having no one to do the sweeping and dusting.
In the same way, when the mind goes off and leaves the body, both the body and mind get dusty and defiled. And when the body is dusty, how can the mind stay with it? It’s like a dusty, dirty house: The owners can’t live there, and nobody else can either. Monks won’t want to visit them. Suppose you lay people were to invite me into your home. If your home were messy and filthy, filled with chicken droppings and duck droppings, I wouldn’t want to go in, I wouldn’t want to sit down, I’d scarcely be able to breathe.
So keep this comparison in mind: If the mind doesn’t have concentration, isn’t developing skillful qualities, it’s like a filthy house. Where would you find monks who would like to visit your house when it’s like that? And when monks won’t visit you, where will you gain any blessings?
When the mind is outside of the body, it’s the world. When it’s inside the body, it’s Dhamma. If it’s the world, it has to be as hot as fire. If it’s Dhamma, it’s as cooling as water.
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From The Heightened Mind: Dhamma Talks of Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo, translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.
https://www.dhammatalks.org/ebook_index.html#heightenedMind
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