The teachings of Ajahn Lee.

The teachings of Ajahn Lee.

When trees are withered and dry, it’s because they don’t have any water to nourish them. The same holds true with us. If the mind doesn’t stay inside the body, the body won’t flourish. It’ll have to wither and wear out, grow ill in one way or another, and eventually die because of this disease or that. 

So the mind is like water that permeates the body to give it nourishment. If the mind focuses its attention outside of the body, then the body won’t be able to gain any sense of freshness, fullness, or ease. This is because the mind is the most important factor influencing the body. 

It’s our most valuable resource.

Now, when the mind is a valuable resource in this way, we should learn how to look after it. We have to hand it over to someone we can trust. In other words, we entrust it to somebody venerable. 

But the word venerable here doesn’t mean the external venerables, like monks, because not all monks are trustworthy. Some of them are good monks, some of them aren’t. If we let them cheat us out of our valuables, we end up even worse off than before. 

No, venerable here means internal venerables: the venerable qualities of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha within the mind.

When we meditate, we’re handing our minds over to these venerable qualities. They’re qualities that are kind and considerate. They won’t abuse us or cause anyone any harm. This is why we can wholeheartedly entrust our valuables—our mind—to them. 

For example, when we meditate buddho, buddho, we have to be sincere to these qualities. We really have to think about them. We don’t just think about them in jest. 

“Thinking in jest” means that we think without really being intent. We have to be really intent on keeping buddho with the mind, and the mind with buddho each and every time we breathe in and out. This is what it means to be sincere in our thinking. It’s the kind of thinking that serves a purpose.

The purpose here is to develop something of real and abundant essence within ourselves—to create results that will be lasting. Things that don’t serve any real purpose are those giving results that don’t last. 

When we talk about lasting results: for example, when you sit here and meditate, you’ll find that the results will continue appearing even after you die. 

But if you aren’t really meditating, if you let your mind think about other things, you’ll find that the results will vanish at death, because the things you think about aren’t certain or sure. 

They’re not lasting. They’ll have to change, deteriorate, and end up disappearing and dying in the same way that you will.

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Starting Out Small: A Collection of Talks for Beginning Meditators, by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo

https://www.dhammatalks.org/ebook_index.html#StartingOutSmall

27 February 2023