                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
             SAMMA SAMADHI -- DETACHMENT WITHIN ACTIVITY
    
    
    Take a look at the example of the Buddha. Both in his own 
 practice and in his methods for teaching the disciples he was 
 exemplary. The Buddha taught the standards of practice as skillful 
 means for getting rid of conceit, he couldn't do the practice for 
 us. having heard that teaching we must further teach ourselves, 
 practice for ourselves. The results will arise here, not at the 
 teaching.
    
    The Buddha's teaching can only enable us to get an initial 
 understanding of the Dhamma, but the Dhamma is not yet within our 
 hearts. Why not? Because we haven't yet practiced, we haven't yet 
 taught ourselves. The Dhamma arises at the practice. If you know it, 
 you know it through the practice. If you doubt it, you doubt it at 
 the practice. Teachings from the Masters may be true, but simply 
 listening to Dhamma is not yet enough to enable us to realize it. 
 The teaching simply points out the way to realize. To realize the 
 Dhamma we must take that teaching and bring it into our hearts. That 
 part which is for the body we apply to the body, that part which is 
 for the speech we apply to the speech, and that part which is for 
 the mind we apply to the mind. This means that after hearing the 
 teaching we must further teach ourselves to know that Dhamma, to be 
 that Dhamma.
    
    The Buddha said that those who simply believe others are not 
 truly wise. A wise person practices until he is one with the Dhamma, 
 until he can have confidence in himself, independent of others.
    
    On one occasion, while Venerable Sariputta was sitting, listening 
 respectfully at his feet as the Buddha expounded the Dhamma, the 
 Buddha turned to him and asked,
    
    "Sariputta, do you believe this teaching?"
    
    Venerable Sariputta replied, "No, I don't yet believe it".
    
    Now this is a good illustration. Venerable Sariputta listened, 
 and he took note. When he said he didn't yet believe he wasn't being 
 careless, he was speaking the truth. He simply took note of that 
 teaching, because he had not yet developed his own understanding of 
 it, so he told the Buddha that he didn't yet believe -- because he 
 really didn't believe. These words almost sound as if Venerable 
 Sariputta was being rude, but actually he wasn't. He spoke the 
 truth, and the Buddha praised him for it.
    
    "Good, good, Sariputta. A wise person doesn't readily believe, he 
 should consider first before believing."
    
    Conviction in a belief can take various forms. One form reasons 
 according to Dhamma, while another form is contrary to the Dhamma. 
 This second way is heedless, it is a foolhardy understanding, 
 //micchaditthi//, wrong view. One doesn't listen to anybody else.
    
    Take the example of Dighanakha the Brahmin. This Brahmin only 
 believed himself, he wouldn't believe others. At one time when the 
 Buddha was resting at Rajagaha, Dighanakha went to listen to his 
 teaching. Or you might say that Dighanakha went to teach the Buddha 
 because he was intent on expounding his own views...
    
    "I am of the view that nothing suits me."
    
    This was his view. The Buddha listened to Dighanakha's view and 
 then answered,
    
    "Brahmin, this view of yours doesn't suit you either."
    
    When the Buddha had answered in this way, Dighanakha was stumped. 
 He didn't know what to say. The Buddha explained in many ways, till 
 the Brahmin understood. He stopped to reflect and saw...
    
    "Hmm, this view of mine isn't right."
    
    On hearing the Buddha's answer the Brahmin abandoned his 
 conceited views and immediately saw the truth. He changed right then 
 and there, turning right around, just as one would invert one's 
 hand. He praised the teaching of the Buddha thus:
    
    "Listening to the Blessed One's teaching, my mind was illumined, 
 just as one living in darkness might perceive light. My mind is like 
 an overturned basin which has been uprighted, like a man who has 
 been lost and finds the way."
    
    Now at that time a certain knowledge arose within his mind, 
 within that mind which had been uprighted. Wrong view vanished and 
 right view took its place. Darkness disappeared and light arose.
    
    The Buddha declared that the Brahmin Dighanakha was one who had 
 opened the Dhamma Eye. Previously Dighanakha clung to his own views 
 and had no intention of changing them. But when he heard the 
 Buddha's teaching his mind saw the truth, he saw that his clinging 
 to those views was wrong. When the right understanding arose he was 
 able to perceive his previous understanding as mistaken, so he 
 compared his experience with a person living in darkness who had 
 found light. This is how it is. At that time the Brahmin Dighanakha 
 transcended his wrong view.
    
    Now we must change in this way. Before we can give up defilements 
 we must change our perspective. We must begin to practice rightly 
 and practice well. Previously we didn't practice rightly or well, 
 and yet we thought we were right and good just the same. When we 
 really look into the matter we upright ourselves, just like turning 
 over one's hand. This means that the "One Who Knows," or wisdom, 
 arises in the mind, so that it is able to see things anew. A new 
 kind of awareness arises.
    
    Therefore cultivators must practice to develop this knowing, 
 which we call Buddho, the One Who Knows, in their minds. Originally 
 the one who knows is not there, our knowledge is not clear, true or 
 complete. This knowledge is therefore too weak to train the mind. 
 But then the mind changes, or inverts, as a result of this 
 awareness, called wisdom or insight, which exceeds our previous 
 awareness. That previous "one who knows" did not yet know fully and 
 so was unable to bring us to our objective.
    
    The Buddha therefore taught to look within, //opanayiko//. Look 
 within, don't look outwards. Or if you look outwards then look 
 within, to see the cause and effect therein. Look for the truth in 
 all things, because external objects and internal objects are always 
 affecting each other. Our practice is to develop a certain type of 
 awareness until it becomes stronger than our previous awareness. 
 This causes wisdom and insight to arise within the mind, enabling us 
 to clearly know the workings of the mind, the language of the mind 
 and the ways and means of all the defilements.
    
    The Buddha, when he first left his home in search of liberation, 
 was probably not really sure what to do, much like us. He tried many 
 ways to develop his wisdom. He looked for teachers, such as Udaka 
 Ramaputta, going there to practice meditation...right leg on left 
 leg, right hand on left hand...body erect...eyes closed...letting go 
 of everything...until he was able to attain a high level of 
 absorption //samadhi//. [*] But when he came out of that //samadhi// 
 his old thinking came up and he would attach to it just as before. 
 Seeing this, he knew that wisdom had not yet arisen. His 
 understanding had not yet penetrated to the truth, it was still 
 incomplete, still lacking. Seeing this he nonetheless gained some 
 understanding -- that this was not yet the summation of practice -- 
 but he left that place to look for a new teacher.
 
 * [The level of nothingness, one of the "formless absorptions", 
 sometimes called the seventh "jhana", or absorption.]
 
 
    When the Buddha left his old teacher he didn't condemn him, he 
 did as does the bee which takes nectar from the flower without 
 damaging the petals.
    
    The Buddha then proceeded on to study with Alara Kalama and 
 attained an even higher state of //samadhi//, but when he came out 
 of that state Bimba and Rahula [*] came back into his thoughts 
 again, the old memories and feelings came up again. He still had 
 lust and desire. Reflecting inward he saw that he still hadn't 
 reached his goal, so he left that teacher also. He listened to his 
 teachers and did his best to follow their teachings. He continually 
 surveyed the results of his practice, he didn't simply do things and 
 then discard them for something else.
 
 * [Bimba, or Princess Yasodhara, the Buddha's former wife; Rahula, 
 his son.]
 
 
    Even when it came to ascetic practices, after he had tried them 
 he realized that starving until one is almost skeleton is simply a 
 matter for the body. The body doesn't know anything. practicing in 
 that way was like executing an innocent person while ignoring the 
 real thief.
    
    When the Buddha really looked into the matter he saw that 
 practice is not a concern of the body, it is a concern of the mind. 
 //Attakilamathanuyogo// (self-mortification) -- the Buddha had tried 
 it and found that it was limited to the body. In fact, all Buddhas 
 are enlightened in mind.
    
    Whether in regard to the body or to the mind, just throw them all 
 together as Transient, Imperfect and Ownerless -- //aniccam//, 
 //dukkham// and //anatta//. They are simply conditions of Nature. 
 They arise depending on supporting factors, exist for a while and 
 then cease. When there are appropriate conditions they arise again; 
 having arisen they exist for a while, then cease once more. These 
 things are not a "self," a "being," an "us" or a "them." There's 
 nobody there, simply feelings. Happiness has no intrinsic self, 
 suffering has no intrinsic self. No self can be found, there are 
 simply elements of Nature which arise, exist and cease. They go 
 through this constant cycle of change.
    
    All beings, including humans, tend to see the arising as 
 themselves, the existence as themselves, and the cessation as 
 themselves. Thus they cling to everything. They don't want things to 
 be the way they are, they don't want them to be otherwise. For 
 instance, having arisen they don't want things to cease; having 
 experienced happiness, they don't want suffering. If suffering does 
 arise they want it to go away as quickly as possible, but even 
 better if it doesn't arise at all. This is because they see this 
 body and mind as themselves, or belonging to themselves, and so they 
 demand those things to follow their wishes.
    
    This sort of thinking is like building a dam or a dike without 
 making an outlet to let the water through. The result is that the 
 dam bursts. And so it is with this kind of thinking. The Buddha saw 
 that thinking in this way is the cause of suffering. Seeing this 
 cause, the Buddha gave it up.
    
    This is the Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering. The Truths of 
 Suffering, its Cause, its Cessation and the Way leading to that 
 Cessation...people are stuck right here. If people are to overcome 
 their doubts it's right at this point. Seeing that these things are 
 simply //rupa// and //nama//, or corporeality and mentality, it 
 becomes obvious that they are not a being, a person, an "us," or a 
 "them." They simply follow the laws of Nature.
    
    Our practice is to know things in this way. We don't have the 
 power to really control these things, we aren't really their owners. 
 Trying to control them causes suffering, because they aren't really 
 ours to control. Neither body nor mind are self or others. If we 
 know this as it really is then we see clearly. We see the truth, we 
 are at one with it. It's like seeing a lump of red hot iron which 
 has been heated in a furnace. It's hot all over. Whether we touch it 
 on top, the bottom or the sides it's hot. No matter where we touch 
 it, it's hot. This is how you should see things.
    
    Mostly when we start to practice we want to attain, to achieve, 
 to know and to see, but we don't yet know what it is we're going to 
 achieve or know. There was once a disciple of mine whose practice 
 was plagued with confusion and doubts. But he kept practicing, and I 
 kept instructing him, till he began to find some peace. But when he 
 eventually became a bit calm he got caught up in his doubts again, 
 saying, "What do I do next?" There! the confusion arises again. He 
 says he wants peace but when he gets it, he doesn't want it, he asks 
 what he should do next!
    
    So in this practice we must do everything with detachment. How 
 are we to detach? We detach by seeing things clearly. Know the 
 characteristics of the body and mind as they are. We meditate in 
 order to find peace, but in doing so we see that which is not 
 peaceful. This is because movement is the nature of the mind.
    
    When practicing //samadhi// we fix our attention on the in and 
 out-breaths at the nose tip or the upper lip. This "lifting" the 
 mind to fix it is called //vitakka//, or "lifting up." When we have 
 thus "lifted" the mind and are fixed on an object, this is called 
 //vicara//, the contemplation of the breath at the nose tip. This 
 quality of //vicara// will naturally mingle with other mental 
 sensations, and we may think that our mind is not still, that it 
 won't calm down, but actually this is simply the workings of 
 //vicara// as it mingles with those sensations. Now if this goes too 
 far in the wrong direction, our mind will lose its collectedness, so 
 then we must set up the mind afresh, lifting it up to the object of 
 concentration with //vitakka//. As soon as we have thus established 
 our attention //vicara// takes over, mingling with the various 
 mental sensations.
    
    Now when we see this happening, our lack of understanding may 
 lead us to wonder: "Why has my mind wandered? I wanted it to be 
 still, why isn't it still?" This is practicing with attachment.
    
    Actually the mind is simply following its nature, but we go and 
 add on to that activity by wanting the mind to be still and thinking 
 "Why isn't it still?" Aversion arises and so we add that on to 
 everything else, increasing our doubts, increasing our suffering and 
 increasing our confusion. So if there is //vicara//, reflecting on 
 the various happenings within the mind in this way, we should wisely 
 consider..."Ah, the mind is simply like this". There, that's the One 
 Who Knows talking, telling you to see things as they are. The mind 
 is simply like this. We let it go at that and the mind becomes 
 peaceful. When it's no longer centered we bring up //vitakka// once 
 more, and shortly there is clam again. //Vitakka// and //vicara// 
 work together like this. We use //vicara// to contemplate the 
 various sensations which arise. When //vicara// becomes gradually 
 more scattered we once again "lift" our attention with //vitakka//. 
    
    The important thing here is that our practice at this point must 
 be done with detachment. Seeing the process of //vicara// 
 interacting with the mental sensations we may think that the mind is 
 confused and become averse to this process. This is the cause right 
 here. We aren't happy simply because we want the mind to be still. 
 This is the cause -- wrong view. If we correct our view just a 
 little, seeing this activity as simply the nature of mind, just this 
 is enough to subdue the confusion. This is called letting go.
    
    Now, if we don't attach, if we practice with "letting 
 go'...detachment within activity and activity within detachment...if 
 we learn to practice like this, then //vicara// will naturally tend 
 to have less to work with. If our mind ceases to be disturbed, then 
 //vicara// will incline to contemplating Dhamma, because if we don't 
 contemplate Dhamma the mind returns to distraction.
    
    So there is //vitakka// then //vicara//, //vitakka// then 
 //vicara//, //vitakka// then //vicara// and so on, until //vicara// 
 becomes gradually more subtle. At first //vicara// goes all over the 
 place. When we understand this as simply the natural activity of the 
 mind, it won't bother us unless we attach to it. It's like flowing 
 water. If we get obsessed with it, asking "Why does it flow?" then 
 naturally we suffer. If we understand that the water simply flows 
 because that's its nature then there's no suffering. //Vicara// is 
 like this. There is //vitakka//, then //vicara//, interacting with 
 mental sensations. We can take these sensations as our object of 
 meditation, calming the mind by noting those sensations.
    
    If we know the nature of the mind like this then we let go, just 
 like letting the water flow by. //Vicara// becomes more and more 
 subtle. Perhaps the mind inclines to contemplating the body, or 
 death for instance, or some other theme of Dhamma. When the theme of 
 contemplation is right there will arise a feeling of well-being. 
 What is that well-being? It is //piti// (rapture). //Piti//, 
 well-being, arises. It may manifest as goose-pimples, coolness or 
 lightness. The mind is enrapt. This is called //piti//. There are 
 also pleasures, //sukha//, the coming and going of various 
 sensations; and the state of //ekaggatarammana//, or 
 one-pointedness.
    
    Now if we talk in terms of the first stage of concentration it 
 must be like this: //vitakka, vicara, piti, sukha, ekaggata//. So 
 what is the second stage like? As the mind becomes progressively 
 more subtle, //vitakka// and //vicara// become comparatively 
 coarser, so that they are discarded, leaving only //piti, sukha, and 
 ekaggata//. This is something that the mind does of itself, we don't 
 have to conjecture about it, just to know things as they are.
    
    As the mind becomes more refined, //piti// is eventually thrown 
 off, leaving only //sukha// and //ekaggata//, and so we take note of 
 that. Where does //piti// go to? It doesn't go anywhere, it's just 
 that the mind becomes increasingly more subtle so that it throws off 
 those qualities that are too coarse for it. Whatever's too coarse it 
 throws out, and it keeps throwing off like this until it reaches the 
 peak of subtlety, known in the books as the Fourth //Jhana//, the 
 highest level of absorption. Here the mind has progressively 
 discarded whatever becomes too coarse for it, until there remain 
 only //ekaggata// and //upekkha//, equanimity. There's nothing 
 further, this is the limit.
    
    When the mind is developing the stages of //samadhi// it must 
 proceed in this way, but please let us understand the basics of 
 practice. We want to make the mind still but it won't be still. This 
 is practicing out of desire, but we don't realize it. We have the 
 desire for calm. The mind is already disturbed and then we further 
 disturb things by wanting to make it calm. This very wanting is the 
 cause. We don't see that this wanting to calm the mind is //tanha// 
 (craving). It's just like increasing the burden. The more we desire 
 calm the more disturbed the mind becomes, until we just give up. We 
 end up fighting all the time, sitting and struggling with ourselves.
    
    Why is this? Because we don't reflect back on how we have set up 
 the mind. Know that the conditions of mind are simply the way they 
 are. Whatever arises, just observe it. It is simply the nature of 
 the mind, it isn't harmful unless we don't understand its nature. 
 It's not dangerous if we see its activity for what it is. So we 
 practice with //vitakka// and //vicara// until the mind begins to 
 settle down and become less forceful. When sensations arise we 
 contemplate them, we mingle with them and come to know them.
    
    However, usually we tend to start fighting with them, because 
 right from the beginning we're determined to calm the mind. As soon 
 as we sit the thoughts come to bother us. As soon as we set up our 
 meditation object our attention wanders, the mind wanders off after 
 all the thoughts, thinking that those thoughts have come to disturb 
 us, but actually the problem arises right here, from the very 
 wanting.
    
    If we see that the mind is simply behaving according to its 
 nature, that it naturally comes and goes like this, and if we don't 
 get over-interested in it, we can understand its ways as much the 
 same as a child. Children don't know any better, they may say all 
 kinds of things. If we understand them we just let them talk, 
 children naturally talk like that. When we let go like this there is 
 no obsession with the child. We can talk to our guests undisturbed, 
 while the child chatters and plays around. The mind is like this. 
 It's not harmful unless we grab on to it and get obsessed over it. 
 That's the real cause of trouble.
    
    When //piti// arises one feels an indescribable pleasure, which 
 only those who experience can appreciate. //Sukha// (pleasure) 
 arises, and there is also the quality of one-pointedness. There are 
 //vitakka, vicara, piti, sukha and ekaggata//. These five qualities 
 all converge at the one place. Even though they are different 
 qualities they are all collected in the one place, and we can see 
 them all there, just like seeing many different kinds of fruit in 
 the one bowl. //Vitakka, vicara, piti, sukha and ekaggata// -- we 
 can see them all in the one mind, all five qualities. If one were to 
 ask, "How is there //vitakka//, how is there //vicara//, how are 
 there //piti// and //sukha//?..." it would be difficult to answer, 
 but when they converge in the mind we will see how it is for 
 ourselves.
    
    At this point our practice becomes somewhat special. We must have 
 recollection and self-awareness and not lose ourselves. Know things 
 for what they are. These are stages of meditation, the potential of 
 the mind. Don't doubt anything with regard to the practice. Even if 
 you sink into the earth or fly into the air, or even "die" while 
 sitting, don't doubt it. Whatever the qualities of the mind are, 
 just stay with the knowing. This is our foundation: to have 
 //sati//, recollection, and //sampajanna//, self-awareness, whether 
 standing, walking, sitting, or reclining. Whatever arises, just 
 leave it be, don't cling to it. Be it like or dislike, happiness or 
 suffering, doubt or certainty, contemplate with //vicara// and gauge 
 the results of those qualities. Don't try to label everything, just 
 know it. See that all the things that arise in the mind are simply 
 sensations. They are transient. They arise, exist and cease. That's 
 all there is to them, they have no self or being, they are neither 
 "us" nor "them." They are not worthy of clinging to, any of them.
    
    When we see all //rupa// and //nama// [*] in this way with 
 wisdom, then we will see the old tracks. We will see the transience 
 of the mind, the transience of the body, the transience of 
 happiness, suffering, love and hate. They are all impermanent. 
 Seeing this, the mind becomes weary; weary of the body and mind, 
 weary of the things that arise and cease and are transient. When the 
 mind becomes disenchanted it will look for a way out of all those 
 things. It no longer wants to be stuck in things, it sees the 
 inadequacy of this world and the inadequacy of birth.
    
 * [//Rupa// -- material or physical objects; //nama// -- immaterial 
 or mental objects -- the physical and mental constituents of being.]
 
 
    When the mind sees like this, wherever we go, we see //aniccam// 
 (Transience), //dukkham// (Imperfection) and //anatta// 
 (Ownerlessness). There's nothing left to hold on to. Whether we go 
 to sit at the foot of a tree, on a mountain top or into a valley, we 
 can hear the Buddha's teaching. All trees will seem as one, all 
 beings will be as one, there's nothing special about any of them. 
 They arise, exist for a while, age and then die, all of them.
    
    We thus see the world more clearly, seeing this body and mind 
 more clearly. They are clearer in the light of Transience, clearer 
 in the light of Imperfection and clearer in the light of 
 Ownerlessness. If people hold fast to things they suffer. This is 
 how suffering arises. If we see that body and mind are simply the 
 way they are, no suffering arises, because we don't hold fast to 
 them. Wherever we go we will have wisdom. Even seeing a tree we can 
 consider it with wisdom. Seeing grass and the various insects will 
 be food for reflection.
    
    When it all comes down to it they all fall into the same boat. 
 They are all Dhamma, they are invariably transient. This is the 
 truth, this is the true Dhamma, this is certain. How is it certain? 
 it is certain in that the world is that way and can never be 
 otherwise. There's nothing more to it than this. If we can see in 
 this way then we have finished our journey.
    
    In Buddhism, with regard to view, it is said that to feel that we 
 are more foolish than others is not right: to feel that we are equal 
 to others is not right; and to feel that we better than others is 
 not right...because there isn't any "we." This is how it is, we must 
 uproot conceit.
    
    This is called //lokavidu// -- knowing the world clearly as it 
 is. If we thus see the truth, the mind will know itself completely 
 and will sever the cause of suffering. When there is no longer any 
 cause, the results cannot arise. This is the way our practice should 
 proceed.
    
    The basics which we need to develop are: firstly, to be upright 
 and honest; secondly, to be wary of wrong-doing; thirdly, to have 
 the attribute of humility within one's heart, to be aloof and 
 content with little. If we are content with little in regards to 
 speech and in all other things, we will see ourselves, we won't be 
 drawn into distractions. The mind will have a foundation of 
 //sila//, //samadhi//, and //panna//.
    
    Therefore cultivators of the path should not be careless. Even if 
 you are right don't be careless. And if you are wrong, don't be 
 careless. If things are going well or you're feeling happy, don't be 
 careless. Why do I say "don't be careless"? Because all of these 
 things are uncertain. Note them as such. If you get peaceful just 
 leave the peace be. You may really want to indulge in it but you 
 should simply know the truth of it, the same as for unpleasant 
 qualities.
    
    This practice of the mind is up to each individual. The teacher 
 only explains the way to train the mind, because that mind is within 
 each individual. We know what's in there, nobody else can know our 
 mind as well as we can. The practice requires this kind of honesty. 
 Do it properly, don't do it half-heartedly. When I say "do it 
 properly," does that mean you have to exhaust yourselves? No, you 
 don't have to exhaust yourselves, because the practice is done in 
 the mind. If you know this then you will know the practice. You 
 don't need a whole lot. Just use the standards of practice to 
 reflect on yourself inwardly.
    
    Now the Rains Retreat is half way over. For most people it's 
 normal to let the practice slacken off after a while. They aren't 
 consistent from beginning to end. This shows that their practice is 
 not yet mature. For instance, having determined a particular 
 practice at the beginning of the retreat, whatever it may be, then 
 we must fulfill that resolution. For these three months make the 
 practice consistent. You must all try. Whatever you have determined 
 to practice, consider that and reflect whether the practice has 
 slackened off. If so, make an effort to re-establish it. Keep 
 shaping up the practice, just the same as when we practice 
 meditation on the breath. As the breath goes in and out the mind 
 gets distracted. Then re-establish your attention on the breath. 
 When your attention wanders off again bring it back once more. This 
 is the same. In regard to both the body and the mind the practice 
 proceeds like this. Please make an effort with it.
                                        
                                        
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