𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐕𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐄 ~ 𝐀𝐉𝐀𝐇𝐍 𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐇𝐌

𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐕𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐄
~ 𝐀𝐉𝐀𝐇𝐍 𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐇𝐌

In the deep meditations, especially the stages of nimittas and Jhānas, your mind becomes powerful, strong and beautiful. But also nimittas come up earlier than expected; they burst through the breath simply because they are just too powerful to ignore. But if nimittas don’t come, or when they come, they are very weak, that may mean that your mind is not pure enough, not strong enough. The mind is not empowered enough by goodness, by virtue, by purity, by strength. When one realises this, one also realises that one doesn’t keep the precepts just to go to heaven. One cannot meditate and just forget the precepts as being a ‘cultural accretion’ to Buddhism. You don’t keep the precepts just because it says so in the scriptures, or because a monk says so. You can see first hand, that one of the reasons why you have to keep these precepts is to have success in your meditation.

When you see that connection at first hand, you also see the importance of not only keeping precepts, but also of actually doing the opposite of violating the precepts. The opposite of killing is helping people, saving peoples lives, and helping their pain by looking after them. 

Compassion is the opposite of killing. The opposite of stealing is generosity, not just, not taking from others, but also giving to others. The opposite of adultery is faithful commitment, and keeping your promises. The opposite of lying is being truthful, and speaking kindly to each other. Never saying a word you would not like to have said to yourself. And lastly, the opposite of taking alcohol and drugs that cloud the mind is developing mindfulness, and practising meditation, which clears the mind.

Our practise of virtue is not just avoiding that which is bad; it’s also putting forth effort, and doing that which is good. It’s an active aspect of our lives, supporting: the community, the Buddhist Society, the monastery, our parents, the elderly, or whatever else we can do. We actually go out there and do something rather than thinking, "Look at me, I’m so good, I don’t kill, I don’t steal, I don’t commit adultery, I don’t lie, I don’t take alcohol and drugs. I don’t speak to anybody. I stay in my little home all by myself all day and all night". But that's not good enough! Is it?

Those of you, who have known me for a long time, know just how busy I have been, especially in the first years of building our monastery in Serpentine. That really was hard work, working all day from early in the morning to late at night, and then washing in the cold lake, with the wind as a chill factor as well. We used to work all day and we hardly slept because we slept outside in the wind. We would wake up in the middle of the night and be awake for the rest of the night. 

On Friday evenings, we used to go to our small City Centre, in North Perth. I looked forward to that very much, because first of all we could have a hot shower for the first time in the week, and wash all the dirt away, and then we could have a proper sleep and catch up.

It was very hard in those days, and sometimes I thought I was sacrificing my meditation. I thought that I was working too hard, and having no time for myself. Whenever we got back in the evening, we just crashed out until four o’clock in the morning, and then we pulled ourselves out of bed for another days work. It was so hard. I thought I was getting nowhere. But the surprise came when I had a week off. When I sat down to meditate I went straight back again to the beautiful nimittas, and I had a beautiful meditation. 

I couldn’t really believe it at first. What’s going on? I hadn’t been meditating for weeks, for months, not really continuously. I had been trying but only getting very sleepy. But as soon as I had the time, I was right back there again. 

At the time I didn’t really understand why.

Why was it so easy to meditate after such a long period of hard work? Of course, it was because I had been building up the virtue, building up the power of the mind. I was being selfless, giving myself up to one of the greatest acts of good kamma in the world – building a monastery. It was a huge act of good kamma. I was actually helping, and I was giving it all my effort, I was also making huge amounts of good kamma. So when I stopped working that beautiful mind was right there, and it just burst into my consciousness.

I realized then, as I’ve realized many times since, that you don’t lose anything by giving to others. It’s not as if you lose your energy, you gain more energy. People sometimes say, "Ajahn Brahm worked so hard on the retreat, and gave two talks a day as well as all the interviews". If you count how many hours I gave, it is in fact quite a lot of hours. Actually in the workforce, you probably wouldn’t be expected do as much work as this. Nevertheless, I get so much happiness out of it. If you get happiness out of it then it is good kamma, and whenever you do stop, you get into a beautiful space. I love doing these retreats. They are my holiday, because I get beautiful meditations. You’ve got the opportunity to brighten up your mind by giving even more.

Source: Practicing in the world by AJAHN BRAHM

https://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebmed084.htm

📸: Ajahn Brahm, 8 April 2022 @Perth