The Skill of Release: Teachings of Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo

The Skill of Release: Teachings of Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo

The Buddha taught that the five aggregates are a heavy burden, because they all get to the point where we can’t bear carrying them around anymore and have to throw them down in the mud. 

If you don’t keep cleansing them, they keep getting heavier and heavier. If you then try to go depending on other people, you weigh them down, and you yourself are helpless. 

This is because stashing things away in the heart is like taking pictures without ever developing the film. What you eat gets put on the film, what you say gets put on the film, what you hear gets put on the film, but that’s as far as it gets: on the film. You’ve never stopped to look at what kind of pictures you have, pretty or ugly. 

If you want to see your pictures, you have to take the film into the darkroom, by closing your eyes and practicing concentration, attaining the first jhāna, directing your thoughts to the present and evaluating it until you can see yourself clearly. 

If you don’t go into the darkroom now, someday the King of Death is going to blindfold you, tie up your feet and hands, and drag you into his darkroom. 

In other words, when you’re on the verge of death you won’t be able to open your mouth or eyes. Nobody will be able to feed you. You’ll want to eat but won’t be able to eat. You’ll want to speak but won’t be able to speak. Your ears will get closed off so that you can’t hear anything clearly. You won’t be able to see your parents, family, children, or grandchildren. You won’t be able to tell them your last wishes. That’s called the darkroom of the King of Death.

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The Skill of Release: Teachings of Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo, translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. https://www.dhammatalks.org/ebook_index.html#skillofrelease

8 February 2023