The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.
21 July 2023
Question: After samatha meditation, does insight arise automatically?
Tan Ajahn: No. Samatha only gives you peace, calm, a sense of well-being, and a sense of contentment, but no insight whatsoever. You can only have insight when you point your mind towards an object that you have dukkha with, you have problems with.
A good example is having problems with your body. You have to point your mind towards the body and study the nature of the body until you clearly see the three characteristics inherent in the body; then you will be able to eliminate your desire, which is the cause of your suffering.
This is called insight, being able to see the three characteristics of the body and to see your desire as the cause of your suffering.
Therefore, if you haven’t seen the three characteristics of your body, then you must study, you must investigate. Ask yourself: is your body permanent or not permanent? Does the body belong to you or not?
Can you keep the body with you all the time or not? Does the body give you happiness or give you suffering? When the body gets sick, do you feel happy or do you feel sad? When the body gets old, do you feel good or do you feel bad? When your body dies, do you feel good or do you feel bad? You have to ask this. What makes you feel bad when the body dies?
Because of your desire, you want your body to last forever, you don’t want the body to leave you, but is that possible or not? So, this is what you have to contemplate, to investigate, to ask yourself, and to think about analytically. This is what we call vimaṁsā. When you find the cause, then you can eliminate that cause.
Like when a patient who comes to see a doctor is sick and wants to get well, the doctor will have to figure out the cause of the sickness. If the doctor cannot figure out the cause of the sickness, the doctor cannot cure the disease. Once the doctor finds out the cause, s/he must then find the medicine that can cure this cause. If s/he cannot find the medicine, then s/he cannot cure this disease.
This is the way the practice of Dhamma works – insight happens after you analyse your problems. And your problem is that you don’t see the three characteristics in the things that you are attached to, in the things that make you unhappy, such as the body.
When you can see the body as having the three characteristics, then you know that you cannot cling to your body because the body will not stay with you all the time. If you cling, it follows that when the body leaves you, you will become very sad, very unhappy. But when you let the body go and accept the truth that the body is impermanent, that it doesn’t belong to you, then when the body leaves you, you won’t feel any suffering.
“Dhamma for the Asking, Dec 9, 2014”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
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