                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
            "NOT SURE!" -- THE STANDARD OF THE NOBLE ONES
    
    
 There was once a western monk, a student of mine. Whenever he saw 
 Thai monks and novices disrobing he would say, "Oh, what a shame! 
 Why do they do that? Why do so many of the Thai monks and novices 
 disrobe?" He was shocked. He would get saddened at the disrobing of 
 the Thai monks and novices, because he had only just come into 
 contact with Buddhism. He was inspired, he was resolute. Going forth 
 as a monk was the only thing to do, he thought he'd never disrobe. 
 Whoever disrobed was a fool. He'd see the Thais taking on the robes 
 at the beginning of the Rains Retreat as monks and novices and then 
 disrobing at the end of it..."Oh, how sad! I feel so sorry for those 
 Thai monks and novices. How could they do such a thing?"
    
    Well, as time went by some of the western monks began to disrobe, 
 so he came to see it as something not so important after all. At 
 first, when he had just begun to practice, he was excited about it. 
 He thought that it was really important thing, to become a monk. He 
 thought it would be easy.
    
    When people are inspired it all seems to be so right and good. 
 There's nothing there to gauge their feelings by, so they go ahead 
 and decide for themselves. But they don't really know what practice 
 is. Those who do know will have a thoroughly firm foundation within 
 their hearts -- but even so they don't need to advertise it.
    
    As for myself, when I was first ordained I didn't actually do 
 much practice, but I had a lot of faith. I don't know why, maybe it 
 was there from birth. The monks and novices who went forth together 
 with me, come the end of the Rains, all disrobed. I thought to 
 myself, "Eh? What is it with these people?" However, I didn't dare 
 say anything to them because I wasn't yet sure of my own feelings, I 
 was too stirred up. But within me I felt that they were all foolish. 
 "It's difficult to go forth, easy to disrobe. These guys don't have 
 much merit, they think that the way of the world is more useful than 
 the way of Dhamma." I thought like this but I didn't say anything, I 
 just watched my own mind.
    
    I'd see the monks who'd gone forth with me disrobing one after 
 the other. Sometimes they'd dress up and come back to the monastery 
 to show off. I'd see them and think they were crazy, but they 
 thought they looked snappy. When you disrobe you have to do this and 
 that...I'd think to myself that that way of thinking was wrong. I 
 wouldn't say it, though, because I myself was still an uncertain 
 quantity. I still wasn't sure how long my faith would last.
    
    When my friends had all disrobed I dropped all concern, there was 
 nobody left to concern myself with. I picked up the //Patimokkha// 
 [*] and got stuck into learning that. There was nobody left to 
 distract me and waste my time, so I put my heart into the practice. 
 Still I didn't say anything because I felt that to practice all 
 one's life, maybe seventy, eighty or even ninety years, and to keep 
 up a persistent effort, without slackening up or losing one's 
 resolve, seemed like an extremely difficult thing to do.
 
 * [The central body of the monastic code, which is recited 
 fortnightly in the Pali language.]
 
 
    Those who went forth would go forth, those who disrobed would 
 disrobe. I'd just watch it all. I didn't concern myself whether they 
 stayed or went. I'd watch my friends leave, but the feeling I had 
 within me was that these people didn't see clearly. That western 
 monk probably thought like that. he'd see people become monks for 
 only one Rains Retreat, and get upset.
    
    Later on he reached a stage we call...bored; bored with the Holy 
 Life. He let go of the practice and eventually disrobed. 
    
    "Why are you disrobing? Before, when you saw the Thai monks 
 disrobing you'd say, 'Oh, what a shame! How sad, how pitiful.' Now, 
 when you yourself want to disrobe, why don't you feel sorry now?"
    
    He didn't answer. He just grinned sheepishly.
    
    When it comes to the training of the mind it isn't easy to find a 
 good standard if you haven't yet developed a "witness" within 
 yourself. In most external matters we can rely on others for 
 feedback, there are standards and precedents. But when it comes to 
 using the Dhamma as a standard...do we have the Dhamma yet? Are we 
 thinking rightly or not? And even if it's right, do we know how to 
 let go of rightness or are we still clinging to it?
    
    You must contemplate until you reach the point where you let go, 
 this is the important thing...until you reach the point where there 
 isn't anything left, where there is neither good nor bad. You throw 
 it off. This means you throw out everything. If it's all gone then 
 there's no remainder; if there's some remainder then it's not all 
 gone.
    
    So in regard to this training of the mind, sometimes we may say 
 it's easy. it's easy to say, but it's hard to do, very hard. It's 
 hard in that it doesn't conform to our desires. Sometimes it seems 
 almost as if the angels [*] were helping us out. Everything goes 
 right, whatever we think or say seems to be just right. Then we go 
 and attach to that rightness and before long we go wrong and it all 
 turns bad. This is where it's difficult. We don't have a standard to 
 gauge things by.
    
 * [Devaputta Mara -- the Mara, or Tempter, which appears in a 
 seemingly benevolent form.]
 
 
    People who have a lot of faith, who are endowed with confidence 
 and belief but are lacking in wisdom, may be very good at 
 //samadhi// but they may not have much insight. They see only one 
 side of everything, and simply follow that. They don't reflect. This 
 is blind faith. In Buddhism we call this //Saddha adhimokkha//, 
 blind faith. They have faith all right but it's not born of wisdom. 
 But they don't see this at the time, they believe they have wisdom, 
 so they don't see where they are wrong.
    
    Therefore they teach about the Five Powers (Bala): //Saddha//, 
 //viriya//, //sati//, //samadhi//, //panna//. //Saddha// is 
 conviction; //viriya// is diligent effort; //sati// is recollection; 
 //samadhi// is fixedness of mind; //panna// is all-embracing 
 knowledge. Don't say that //panna// is simply knowledge -- //panna// 
 is all-embracing, consummate knowledge.
    
    The wise have given these five steps to us so that we can link 
 them, firstly as an object of study, then as a gauge to compare to 
 the state of our practice as it is. For example, //saddha//, 
 conviction. Do we have conviction, have we developed it yet? 
 //Viriya//: do we have diligent effort or not? Is our effort right 
 or is it wrong? We must consider this. Everybody has some sort of 
 effort, but does our effort contain wisdom or not?
    
    //Sati// is the same. Even a cat has //sati//. When it sees a 
 mouse, //sati// is there. The cat's eyes stare fixedly at the mouse. 
 This is the //sati// of a cat. Everybody has //sati//, animals have 
 it, delinquents have it, sages have it.
    
    //Samadhi//, fixedness of mind -- everybody has this as well. A 
 cat has it when its mind is fixed on grabbing the mouse and eating 
 it. It has fixed intent. That //sati// of the cat's is //sati// of a 
 sort; //samadhi//, fixed intent on what it is doing, is also there. 
 //Panna//, knowledge, like that of human beings. It knows as an 
 animal knows, it has enough knowledge to catch mice for food.
    
    These five things are called powers. Have these Five Powers 
 arisen from Right View, //sammaditthi//, or not? //Saddha//, 
 //viriya//, //sati//, //samadhi//, //panna// -- have these arisen 
 from Right View? What is Right View? What is our standard for 
 gauging Right View? We must clearly understand this.
    
    Right View is the understanding that all these things are 
 uncertain. Therefore the Buddha and all the Noble Ones don't hold 
 fast to them. They hold, but not fast. They don't let that holding 
 become an identity. The holding which doesn't lead to becoming is 
 that which isn't tainted with desire. Without seeking to become this 
 or that there is simply the practice itself. When you hold on to a 
 particular thing is there enjoyment, or is there displeasure? If 
 there is pleasure, do you hold on to that pleasure? If there is 
 dislike, do you hold on to that dislike?
    
    Some views can be used as principles for gauging our practice 
 more accurately. Such as knowing such views as that one is better 
 than others, or equal to others, or more foolish than others, as all 
 wrong views. We may feel these things but we also know them with 
 wisdom, that they simply arise and cease. Seeing that we are better 
 than others is not right; seeing that we are equal to others is not 
 right; seeing that we are inferior to others is not right.
    
    The right view is the one that cuts through all of this. So where 
 do we go to? If we think we are better than others, pride arises. 
 It's there but we don't see it. If we think we are equal to others, 
 we fail to show respect and humility at the proper times. If we 
 think we are inferior to others we get depressed, thinking we are 
 inferior, born under a bad sign and so on. We are still clinging to 
 the Five //Khandhas//, [*] it's all simply becoming and birth.
 
 * [The Five //Khandhas//: Form (//rupa//), feeling (//vedana//), 
 perception (//sanna//), conceptualization or mental formations 
 (//sankhara//) and sense-consciousness (//vinnana//). These comprise 
 the psycho-physical experience known as the "self".]
 
 
    This is one standard for gauging ourselves by. Another one is: if 
 we encounter a pleasant experience we feel happy, if we encounter a 
 bad experience we are unhappy. Are we able to look at both the 
 things we like and the things we dislike as having equal value? 
 Measure yourself against this standard. In our everyday lives, in 
 the various experiences we encounter, if we hear something which we 
 like, does our mood change? If we encounter an experience which 
 isn't to our liking, does our mood change? Or is the mind unmoved? 
 Looking right here we have a gauge.
    
    Just know yourself, this is your witness. Don't make decisions on 
 the strength of your desires. Desires can puff us up into thinking 
 we are something which we're not. We must be very circumspect.
    
    There are so many angles and aspects to consider, but the right 
 way is not to follow your desires, but the Truth. We should know 
 both the good and the bad, and when we know them to let go of them. 
 If we don't let go we are still there, we still "exist," we still 
 "have". If we still "are" then there is a remainder, there are 
 becoming and birth in store.
    
    Therefore the Buddha said to judge only yourself, don't judge 
 others, no matter how good or evil they may be. The Buddha merely 
 points out the way, saying "The truth is like this". Now, is our 
 mind like that or not?
    
    For instance, suppose a monk took some things belonging to 
 another monk, then that other monk accused him, "You stole my 
 things". "I didn't steal them, I only took them." So we ask a third 
 monk to adjudicate. How should he decide? He would have to ask the 
 offending monk to appear before the convened Sangha. "Yes, I took 
 it, but I didn't steal it." Or in regard to other rules, such as 
 //parajika// or //sanghadisesa// offenses: "Yes, I did it, but I 
 didn't have intention". How can you believe that? It's tricky. If 
 you can't believe it, all you can do is leave the onus with the 
 doer, it rests on him.
    
    But you should know that we can't hide the things that arise in 
 our minds. You can't cover them up, either the wrongs or the good 
 actions. Whether actions are good or evil, you can't dismiss them 
 simply by ignoring them, because these things tend to reveal 
 themselves. They conceal themselves, they reveal themselves, they 
 exist in and of themselves. They are all automatic. This is how 
 things work.
    
    Don't try to guess at or speculate about these things. As long as 
 there is still //avijja// (unknowing) they are not finished with. 
 The Chief Privy Councilor once asked me, "Luang Por, is the mind of 
 an //anagami// [*] pure yet?"
    
 * [//Anagami// (non-returner): The third "level" of enlightenment, 
 which is reached on the abandonment of the five "lower fetters" (of 
 a total of ten) which bind the mind to worldly existence. The first 
 two "levels" are //sotapanna// ("stream-enterer") and //sakadagami// 
 ("once-returner"), the last being //araham// ("worthy or 
 accomplished one").
 
 
    "It's partly pure."
    
    "Eh? An //anagami// has given up sensual desire, how is his mind 
 not yet pure?"
    
    "He may have let go of sensual desire, but there is still 
 something remaining, isn't there? There is still //avijja//. If 
 there is still something left then there is still something left. 
 It's like the bhikkhus' alms bowls. There are "a large-size large 
 bowl; a medium-sized large bowl, a small-sized large bowl; then a 
 large-sized medium bowl, a medium-sized medium bowl, a small-sized 
 medium bowl; then there are a large-sized small bowl, a medium-sized 
 small bowl and a small-sized small bowl...No matter how small it is 
 there is still a bowl there, right? That's how it is with 
 this...//sotapanna, sakadagami, anagami//...they have all given up 
 certain defilements, but only to their respective levels. Whatever 
 still remains, those Noble Ones don't see. If they could they would 
 all be //arahants//. They still can't see all. //Avijja// is that 
 which doesn't see. If the mind of the //anagami// was completely 
 straightened out he wouldn't be an //anagami//, he would be fully 
 accomplished. But there is still something remaining.
    
    "Is his mind purified?" 
    
    "Well, it is somewhat, but not 100%."
    
    How else could I answer? He said that later on he would come and 
 question me about it further. He can look into it, the standard is 
 there.
    
    Don't be careless. Be alert. The Lord Buddha exhorted us to be 
 alert. In regards to this training of the heart, I've had my moments 
 of temptation too, you know. I've often been tempted to try many 
 things but they've always seemed like they're going astray of the 
 path. It's really just a sort of swaggering in one's mind, a sort of 
 conceit. //Ditthi//, views, and //mana//, pride, are there. It's 
 hard enough just to be aware of these two things.
    
    There was once a man who wanted to become a monk here. He carried 
 in his robes, determined to become a monk in memory of his late 
 mother. He came into the monastery, laid down his robes, and without 
 so much as paying respects to the monks, started walking meditation 
 right in front of the main hall...back and forth, back and forth, 
 like he was really going to show his stuff.
    
    I thought, "Oh, so there are people around like this, too!" This 
 is called //saddha adhimokkha// -- blind faith. He must have 
 determined to get enlightened before sundown or something, he 
 thought it would be so easy. He didn't look at anybody else, just 
 put his head down and walked as if his life depended on it. I just 
 let him carry on, but I thought, "Oh, man, you think it's that easy 
 or something?" In the end I don't know how long he stayed, I don't 
 even think he ordained.
    
    As soon as the mind thinks of something we send it out, send it 
 out every time. We don't realize that it's simply the habitual 
 proliferation of the mind. It disguises itself as wisdom and waffles 
 off into minute detail. This mental proliferation seems very clever, 
 if we didn't know we would mistake it for wisdom. But when it comes 
 to the crunch it's not the real thing. When suffering arises where 
 is that so-called wisdom then? Is it of any use? It's only 
 proliferation after all.
    
    So stay with the Buddha. As I've said before many times, in our 
 practice we must turn inwards and find the Buddha. Where is the 
 Buddha? The Buddha is still alive to this very day, go in and find 
 him. Where is he? At //aniccam//, go in and find him there, go and 
 bow to him: //aniccam//, uncertainty. You can stop right there for 
 starters.
    
    If the mind tries to tell you, "I'm a //sotapanna// now", go and 
 bow to the //sotapanna//. He'll tell you himself, "It's all 
 uncertain". If you meet a //sakadagami// go and pay respects to him. 
 When he sees you he'll simply say "Not a sure thing!" If there is an 
 //anagami// go and bow to him. He'll tell you only one 
 thing..."Uncertain". If you meet even an //arahant//, go and bow to 
 him, he'll tell you even more firmly, "It's all even more 
 uncertain!" You'll hear the words of the Noble Ones..."Everything is 
 uncertain, don't cling to anything."
    
    Don't just look at the Buddha like a simpleton. Don't cling to 
 things, holding fast to them without letting go. Look at things as 
 functions of the Apparent and then send them on to Transcendence. 
 That's how you must be. There must be Appearance and there must be 
 Transcendence.
    
    So I say "Go to the Buddha". Where is the Buddha? The Buddha is 
 the Dhamma. All the teachings in this world can be contained in this 
 one teaching: //aniccam//. Think about it. I've searched for over 
 forty years as a monk and this is all I could find. That and patient 
 endurance. This is how to approach the Buddha's teaching...  
 //aniccam//: it's all uncertain.
    
    No matter how sure the mind wants to be, just tell it "Not 
 sure!." Whenever the mind wants to grab on to something as a sure 
 thing, just say, "It's not sure, it's transient." Just ram it down 
 with this. Using the Dhamma of the Buddha it all comes down to this. 
 It's not that it's merely a momentary phenomenon. Whether standing, 
 walking, sitting or lying down, you see everything in that way. 
 Whether liking arises or dislike arises you see it all in the same 
 way. This is getting close to the Buddha, close to the Dhamma.
    
    Now I feel that this is more valuable way to practice. All my 
 practice from the early days up to the present time has been like 
 this. I didn't actually rely on the scriptures, but then I didn't 
 disregard them either. I didn't rely on a teacher but then I didn't 
 exactly "go it alone." My practice was all "neither this nor that'.
    
    Frankly it's a matter of "finishing off," that is, practicing to 
 the finish by taking up the practice and then seeing it to 
 completion, seeing the Apparent and also the Transcendent. 
    
    I've already spoken of this, but some of you may be interested to 
 hear it again: if you practice consistently and consider things 
 thoroughly, you will eventually reach this point...At first you 
 hurry to go forward, hurry to come back, and hurry to stop. You 
 continue to practice like this until you reach the point where it 
 seems that going forward is not it, coming back is not it, and 
 stopping is not it either! It's finished. This is the finish. Don't 
 expect anything more than this, it finishes right here. 
 //Khinasavo//- one who is completed. He doesn't go forward, doesn't 
 retreat and doesn't stop. There's no stopping, no going forward and 
 no coming back. It's finished. Consider this, realize it clearly in 
 your own mind. Right there you will find that there is really 
 nothing at all.
    
    Whether this is old or new to you depends on you, on your wisdom 
 and discernment. One who has no wisdom or discernment won't be able 
 to figure it out. Just take a look at trees, like mango or jackfruit 
 trees. If they grow up in a clump, one tree may get bigger first and 
 then the others will bend away, growing outwards from that bigger 
 one. Why does this happen? Who tells them to do that? This is 
 Nature. Nature contains both the good and the bad, the right and the 
 wrong. It can either incline to the right or incline to the wrong. 
 If we plant any kind of trees at all close together, the trees which 
 mature later will branch away from the bigger tree. How does this 
 happen? Who determines it thus? This is Nature, or Dhamma.
    
    Likewise, //tanha//, desire, leads us to suffering. Now, if we 
 contemplate it, it will lead us out of desire, we will outgrow 
 //tanha//. By investigating //tanha// we will shake it up, making it 
 gradually lighter and lighter until it's all gone. The same as the 
 trees: does anybody order them to grow the way they do? They can't 
 talk or move around and yet they know how to grow away from 
 obstacles. Wherever it's cramped and crowded and growing will be 
 difficult, they bend outwards.
    
    Right here is Dhamma, we don't have to look at a whole lot. One 
 who is astute will see the Dhamma in this. Trees by nature don't 
 know anything, they act on natural laws, yet they do know enough to 
 grow away from danger, to incline towards a suitable place.
    
    Reflective people are like this. We go forth into the homeless 
 life because we want to transcend suffering. What is it that make us 
 suffer? If we follow the trail inwards we will find out. That which 
 we like and that which we don't like are suffering. If they are 
 suffering then don't go so close to them. Do you want to fall in 
 love with conditions or hate them?...they're all uncertain. When we 
 incline towards the Buddha all this comes to an end. Don't forget 
 this. And patient endurance. Just these two are enough. If you have 
 this sort of understanding this is very good.
    
    Actually in my own practice I didn't have a teacher to give as 
 much teachings as all of you get from me. I didn't have many 
 teachers. I ordained in an ordinary village temple and lived in 
 village temples for quite a few years. In my mind I conceived the 
 desire to practice, I wanted to be proficient, I wanted to train. 
 There wasn't anybody giving any teaching in those monasteries but 
 the inspiration to practice arose. I traveled and I looked around. I 
 had ears so I listened, I had eyes so I looked. Whatever I heard 
 people say, I'd tell myself, "Not sure." Whatever I saw, I told 
 myself, "Not sure," or when the tongue contacted sweet, sour, salty, 
 pleasant or unpleasant flavors, or feelings of comfort or pain arose 
 in the body, I'd tell myself, "This is not a sure thing"! And so I 
 lived with Dhamma.
    
    In truth it's all uncertain, but our desires want things to be 
 certain. what can we do? We must be patient. The most important 
 thing is //khanti//, patient endurance. Don't throw out the Buddha, 
 what I call "uncertainty" -- don't throw that away. 
    
    Sometimes I'd go to see old religious sites with ancient monastic 
 buildings, designed by architects, built by craftsmen. In some 
 places they would be cracked. Maybe one of my friends would remark, 
 "Such a shame, isn't it? It's cracked." I'd answer, "If that weren't 
 the case then there'd be no such thing as the Buddha, there'd be no 
 Dhamma. It's cracked like this because it's perfectly in line with 
 the Buddha's teaching." Really down inside I was also sad to see 
 those buildings cracked but I'd throw off my sentimentality and try 
 to say something which would be of use to my friends, and to myself. 
 Even though I also felt that it was a pity, still I tended towards 
 the Dhamma.
    
    "If it wasn't cracked like that there wouldn't be any Buddha!"
    
    I'd say it really heavy for the benefit of my friends...or 
 perhaps they weren't listening, but still I was listening.
    
    This is a way of considering things which is very, very useful. 
 For instance, say someone were to rush in and say, "Luang Por! Do 
 you know what so and so just said about you?" or, "He said such and 
 such about you..." Maybe you even start to rage. As soon as you hear 
 words of criticism you start getting these moods every step of the 
 way. As soon as we hear words like this we may start getting ready 
 to retaliate, but on looking into the truth of the matter we may 
 find that...no, they had said something else after all.
    
    And so it's another case of "uncertainty." So why should we rush 
 in and believe things? Why should we put our trust so much in what 
 others say? Whatever we hear we should take note, be patient, look 
 into the matter carefully...stay straight. 
    
    It's not that whatever pops into our heads we write it all down 
 as some sort of truth. Any speech which ignores uncertainty is not 
 the speech of a sage. Remember this. As for being wise, we are no 
 longer practicing. Whatever we see or hear, be it pleasant or 
 sorrowful, just say "This is not sure!" Say it heavy to yourself, 
 hold it all down with this. Don't build those things up into major 
 issues, just keep them all down to this one. This point is the 
 important one. This is the point where defilements die. Practicers 
 shouldn't dismiss it.
    
    If you disregard this point you can expect only suffering, expect 
 only mistakes. If you don't make this a foundation for your practice 
 you are going to go wrong...but then you will come right again later 
 on, because this principle is a really good one.
    
    Actually the real Dhamma, the gist of what I have been saying 
 today, isn't so mysterious. Whatever you experience is simply form, 
 simply feeling, simply perception, simply volition, and simply 
 consciousness. There are only these basic qualities, where is there 
 any certainty within them?
    
    If we come to understand the true nature of things like this, 
 lust, infatuation and attachment fade away. why do they fade away? 
 Because we understand, we know. We shift from ignorance to 
 understanding. Understanding is born from ignorance, knowing is born 
 from unknowing, purity is born from defilement. It works like this.
    
    Not discarding //aniccam//, the Buddha -- This is what it means 
 to say that the Buddha is still alive. To stay that the Buddha has 
 passed into //Nibbana// is not necessarily true. In a more profound 
 sense the Buddha is still alive. It's much like how we define the 
 word "//bhikkhu//." If we define it as "one who asks," [*] the 
 meaning is very broad. We can define it this way, but to use this 
 definition too much is not so good -- we don't know when to stop 
 asking! If we were to define this word in a more profound way we 
 would say: "//Bhikkhu// -- one who sees the danger of //Samsara//'.
    
 * [That is, one who lives dependent on the generosity of others.]
 
 
    Isn't this more profound? It doesn't go in the same direction as 
 the previous definition, it runs much deeper. The practice of Dhamma 
 is like this. If you don't fully understand it, it becomes something 
 else again. It becomes priceless, it becomes a source of peace.
    
    When we have //sati// we are close to the Dhamma. If we have 
 //sati// we will see //aniccam//, the transience of all things. We 
 will see the Buddha and transcend the suffering of //samsara//, if 
 not now then sometime in the future.
    
    If we throw away the attribute of the Noble Ones, the Buddha or 
 the Dhamma, our practice will become barren and fruitless. We must 
 maintain our practice constantly, whether we are working or sitting 
 or simply lying down. When the eye sees form, the ear hears sound, 
 the nose smells an odor, the tongue tastes a flavor or the body 
 experiences sensation...in all things, don't throw away the Buddha, 
 don't stray from the Buddha.
    
    This is to be one who has come close to the Buddha, who reveres 
 the Buddha constantly. We have ceremonies for revering the Buddha, 
 such as chanting in the morning //Araham Samma Sambuddho 
 Bhagava//...This is one way of revering the Buddha but it's not 
 revering the Buddha in such a profound way as I've described here. 
 It's the same as with that word "//bhikkhu//." If we define it as 
 "one who asks" then they keep on asking...because it's defined like 
 that. To define it in the best way we should say "//Bhikkhu// -- one 
 who sees the danger of //samsara//'.
    
    Now revering the Buddha is the same. Revering the Buddha by 
 merely reciting Pali phrases as a ceremony in the mornings and 
 evenings is comparable to defining the word "//bhikkhu//" as "one 
 who asks." If we incline towards //annicam, dukkham and anatta// [*] 
 whenever the eye sees form, the ear hears sound, the nose smells an 
 odor, the tongue tastes a flavor, the body experiences sensation or 
 the mind cognizes mental impressions, at all times, this is 
 comparable to defining the word "bhikkhu" as "one who sees the 
 danger of //samsara//." It's so much more profound, cuts through so 
 many things. If we understand this teaching we will grow in wisdom 
 and understanding.
    
 * [Transience, Imperfection, and Ownerlessness.]
 
 
    This is called //patipada//. Develop this attitude in the 
 practice and you will be on the right path. If you think and reflect 
 in this way, even though you may be far from your teacher you will 
 still be close to him. If you live close to the teacher physically 
 but your mind has not yet met him you will spend your time either 
 looking for his faults or adulating him. If he does something which 
 suits you, you say he's no good -- and that's as far as your 
 practice goes. You won't achieve anything by wasting your time 
 looking at someone else. But if you understand this teaching you can 
 become a Noble One in the present moment.
    
    That's why this year [*] I've distanced myself from my disciples, 
 both old and new, and not given much teaching: so that you can all 
 look into things for yourselves as much as possible. For the newer 
 monks I've already laid down the schedule and rules of the 
 monastery, such as: "don't talk too much." Don't transgress the 
 existing standards, the path to realization, fruition and nibbana. 
 Anyone who transgresses these standards is not a real practicer, not 
 one who has with a pure intention to practice. What can such a 
 person ever hope to see? Even if he slept near me every day he 
 wouldn't see me. Even if he slept near the Buddha he wouldn't see 
 the Buddha, if he didn't practice.
    
 * [2522 of the Buddhist Era, or 1979 CE.]
 
    
    So knowing the Dhamma or seeing the Dhamma depends on practice. 
 Have confidence, purify your own heart. If all the monks in this 
 monastery put awareness into their respective minds we wouldn't have 
 to reprimand or praise anybody. We wouldn't have to be suspicious of 
 or favor anybody. If anger or dislike arise just leave them at the 
 mind, but see them clearly! 
    
    Keep on looking at those things. As long as there is still 
 something there it means we still have to dig and grind away right 
 there. Some say "I can't cut it, I can't do it", -- if we start 
 saying things like this there will only be a bunch of punks here, 
 because nobody cuts at their own defilements.
    
    You must try. If you can't yet cut it, dig in deeper. Dig at the 
 defilements, uproot them. Dig them out even if they seem hard and 
 fast. The Dhamma is not something to be reached by following your 
 desires. Your mind may be one way, the truth another. You must watch 
 up front and keep a lookout behind as well. That's why I say, "It's 
 all uncertain, all transient."
    
    This truth of uncertainty, this short and simple truth, at the 
 same time so profound and faultless, people tend to ignore. They 
 tend to see things differently. Don't cling to goodness, don't cling 
 to badness. These are attributes of the world. We are practicing to 
 be free of the world, so bring these things to an end. The Buddha 
 taught to lay them down, to give them up, because they only cause 
 suffering.
                                        
                                        
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