                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                   RIGHT PRACTICE STEADY PRACTICE
                                        
                                        
 Wat Wana Potiyahn [*] here is certainly very peaceful, but this is 
 meaningless if our minds are not calm. All places are peaceful. That 
 some may seem distracting is because of our minds. However, a quiet 
 place can help to become calm, by giving one the opportunity to 
 train and thus harmonize with its calm.
 
 * [One of the many branch monasteries of Ajahn Chah's main 
 monastery, Wat Ba Pong.]
 
 
    You should all bear in mind that this practice is difficult. To 
 train other things is not so difficult, it's easy, but the human 
 mind is hard to train. The Lord Buddha trained his mind. The mind is 
 the important thing. Everything within this body-mind system comes 
 together at the mind. The eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body all 
 receive sensations and send them into the mind, which is the 
 supervisor of all the other sense organs. Therefore it is important 
 to train the mind. If the mind is well trained all problems come to 
 an end. If there are still problems it's because the mind still 
 doubts, it doesn't know in accordance with the truth. That is why 
 there are problems.
    
    So recognize that all of you have come fully prepared for 
 practicing Dhamma. Whether standing, walking, sitting or reclining, 
 the tools you need with which to practice are well-provided, 
 wherever you are. They are there, just like the Dhamma. The Dhamma 
 is something which abounds everywhere. Right here, on land or in 
 water...wherever...the Dhamma is always there. The Dhamma is perfect 
 and complete, but it's our practice that's not yet complete.
    
    The Lord, Fully Enlightened Buddha taught a means by which all of 
 us may practice and come to know this Dhamma. It isn't a big thing, 
 only a small thing, but it's right. For example, look at hair. If we 
 know even one strand of hair, then we know every strand, both our 
 own and also that of others. We know that they are all simply 
 "hair." By knowing one strand of hair we know it all.
    
    Or consider people. If we see the true nature of conditions 
 within ourselves then we know all the other people in the world 
 also, because all people are the same. Dhamma is like this. It's a 
 small thing and yet it's big. That is, to see the truth of one 
 condition is to see the truth of them all. When we know the truth as 
 it is all problems come to an end.
    
    Nevertheless, the training is difficult. Why is it difficult? 
 It's difficult because of wanting, //tanha//. If you don't "want" 
 then you don't practice. But if you practice out of desire you won't 
 see the Dhamma. Think about it, all of you. If you don't want to 
 practice you can't practice. You must first want to practice in 
 order to actually do the practice. Whether stepping forward or 
 stepping back you meet desire. This is why the cultivators of the 
 past have said that this practice is something that's extremely 
 difficult to do.
    
    You don't see Dhamma because of desire. Sometimes desire is very 
 strong, you want to see the Dhamma immediately, but the Dhamma is 
 not your mind -- your mind is not yet Dhamma. The Dhamma is one 
 thing and the mind is another. It's not that whatever you like is 
 Dhamma and whatever you don't like isn't. That's not the way it 
 goes.
    
    Actually this mind of ours is simply a condition of Nature, like 
 a tree in the forest. If you want a plank or a beam it must come 
 from the tree, but the tree is still only a tree. It's not yet a 
 beam or a plank. Before it can really be of use to us we must take 
 that tree and saw it into beams or planks. It's the same tree but it 
 becomes transformed into something else. Intrinsically it's just a 
 tree, a condition of Nature. But in its raw state it isn't yet of 
 much use to those who need timber. Our mind is like this. It is a 
 condition of Nature. As such it perceives thoughts, it discriminates 
 into beautiful and ugly and so on.
    
    This mind of ours must be further trained. We can't just let it 
 be. It's a condition of Nature...train it to realize that it's a 
 condition of Nature. Improve on Nature so that it's appropriate to 
 our needs, which is Dhamma. Dhamma is something which must be 
 practiced and brought within.
    
    If you don't practice you won't know. Frankly speaking, you won't 
 know the Dhamma by just reading it or studying it. Or if you do know 
 it your knowledge is still defective. For example, this spittoon 
 here. Everybody knows it's a spittoon but they don't fully know the 
 spittoon. Why don't they fully know it? If I called this spittoon a 
 saucepan, what would you say? Suppose that every time I asked for it 
 I said, "Please bring that saucepan over here", that would confuse 
 you. Why so? Because you don't fully know the spittoon. If you did 
 there would be no problem. You would simply pick up that object and 
 hand it to me, because actually there isn't any spittoon. Do you 
 understand? It's a spittoon due to convention. This convention is 
 accepted all over the country, so it's spittoon. But there isn't any 
 real "spittoon." If somebody wants to call it a saucepan it can be a 
 saucepan. It can be whatever you call it. This is called "concept." 
 If we fully know the spittoon, even if somebody calls it a saucepan 
 there's no problem. Whatever others may call it we are unperturbed 
 because we are not blind to its true nature. This is one who knows 
 Dhamma.
    
    Now let's come back to ourselves. Suppose somebody said, "You're 
 crazy!", or, "You're stupid", for example. Even though it may not be 
 true, you wouldn't feel so good. Everything becomes difficult 
 because of our ambitions to have and to achieve. Because of these 
 desires to get and to be, because we don't know according to the 
 truth, we have no contentment. If we know the Dhamma, are 
 enlightened to the Dhamma, greed, aversion and delusion will 
 disappear. When we understand the way things are there is nothing 
 for them to rest on.
    
    Why is the practice so difficult and arduous? Because of desires. 
 As soon as we sit down to meditate we want to become peaceful. If we 
 didn't want to find peace we wouldn't sit, we wouldn't practice. As 
 soon as we sit down we want peace to be right there, but wanting the 
 mind to be calm makes for confusion, and we feel restless. This is 
 how it goes. So the Buddha says, "Don't speak out of desire, don't 
 sit out of desire, don't walk out of desire,...Whatever you do, 
 don't do it with desire." Desire means wanting. If you don't want to 
 do something you won't do it. If our practice reaches this point we 
 can get quite discouraged. How can we practice? As soon as we sit 
 down there is desire in the mind.
    
    It's because of this that the body and mind are difficult to 
 observe. If they are not the self nor belonging to self then who do 
 they belong to? It's difficult to resolve these things, we must rely 
 on wisdom. The Buddha says we must practice with "letting go," isn't 
 it? If we let go then we just don't practice, right?...Because we've 
 let go.
    
    Suppose we went to buy some coconuts in the market, and while we 
 were carrying them back someone asked:
    
    "What did you buy those coconuts for?"
    
    "I bought them to eat."
    
    "Are you going to eat the shells as well?"
    
    "No."
    
    "I don't believe you. If you're not going to eat the shells then 
 why did you buy them also?"
    
    Well what do you say? How are you going to answer their question? 
 We practice with desire. If we didn't have desire we wouldn't 
 practice. Practicing with desire is //tanha//. Contemplating in this 
 way can give rise to wisdom, you know. For example, those coconuts: 
 Are you going to eat the shells as well? Of course not. Then why do 
 you take them? Because the time hasn't yet come for you to throw 
 them away. They're useful for wrapping up the coconut in. If, after 
 eating the coconut, you throw the shells away, there is no problem.
    
    Our practice is like this. The Buddha said, "Don't act on desire, 
 don't speak from desire, don't eat with desire." Standing, walking, 
 sitting or reclining...whatever...don't do it with desire. This 
 means to do it with detachment. It's just like buying the coconuts 
 from the market. We're not going to eat the shells but it's not yet 
 time to throw them away. We keep them first. This is how the 
 practice is. Concept and Transcendence [*] are co-existent, just 
 like a coconut. The flesh, the husk and the shell are all together. 
 When we buy it we buy the whole lot. If somebody wants to accuse us 
 of eating coconut shells that's their business, we know what we're 
 doing.
    
 * [Concept (sammutti) refers to supposed or provisional reality, 
 while transcendence (vimutti) refers to the liberation from 
 attachment to or delusion within it.]
 
 
    Wisdom is something each of us find for oneself. To see it we 
 must go neither fast nor slow. What should we do? Go to where there 
 is neither fast nor slow. Going fast or going slow are not the way.
    
    But we're all impatient, we're in a hurry. As soon as we begin we 
 want to rush to the end, we don't want to be left behind. We want to 
 succeed. When it comes to fixing their minds for meditation some 
 people go too far...They light the incense, prostrate and make a 
 vow, "As long as this incense is not yet completely burnt I will not 
 rise from my sitting, even if I collapse or die, no matter 
 what...I'll die sitting" Having made their vow they start their 
 sitting. As soon as they start to sit Mara's [*] hordes come rushing 
 at them from all sides. They've only sat for an instant and already 
 they think the incense must be finished. They open their eyes for a 
 peek..."Oh, There's still ages left!"
 
 * [Mara: the Buddhist personification of evil, the Tempter, that 
 force which opposes any attempts to develop goodness and virtue.]
 
 
    They grit their teeth and sit some more, feeling hot, flustered, 
 agitated and confused...Reaching the breaking point they think, "it 
 must be finished by now."...Have another peek..."Oh, no! It's not 
 even //half-way// yet!"
    
    Two or three times and it's still not finished, so they just give 
 up, pack it in and sit there hating themselves. "I'm so stupid, I'm 
 so hopeless!" They sit and hate themselves, feeling like a hopeless 
 case. This just gives rise to frustration and hindrances. This is 
 called the hindrance of ill-will. They can't blame others so they 
 blame themselves. And why is this? It's all because of wanting.
    
    Actually it isn't necessary to go through all that. To 
 concentrate means to concentrate with detachment, not to concentrate 
 yourself into knots.
    
    But maybe we read the scriptures, about the life of the Buddha, 
 how he sat under the Bodhi tree and determined to himself,
    
    "As long as I have still not attained Supreme Enlightenment I 
 will not rise from this place, even if my blood dries up".
    
    Reading this in the books you may think of trying it yourself. 
 You'll do it like the Buddha. But you haven't considered that your 
 car is only a small one. The Buddha's car was a really big one, he 
 could take it all in one go. With only your tiny, little car, how 
 can you possibly take it all at once? It's a different story 
 altogether.
    
    Why do we think like that? Because we're too extreme. Sometimes 
 we go too low, sometimes we go too high. The point of balance is so 
 hard to find.
    
    Now I'm only speaking from experience. In the past my practice 
 was like this. Practicing in order to get beyond wanting...if we 
 don't want, can we practice? I was stuck here. But to practice with 
 wanting is suffering. I didn't know what to do, I was baffled. Then 
 I realized that the practice which is steady is the important thing. 
 One must practice consistently. They call this the practice that is 
 "consistent in all postures." Keep refining the practice, don't let 
 it become a disaster. Practice is one thing, disaster is another. 
 [*] Most people usually create disaster. When they feel lazy they 
 don't bother to practice, they only practice when they feel 
 energetic. This is how I tended to be.
 
 * [The play on words here between the Thai "//phadtibut//" 
 (practice) and "//wibut//" (disaster) is lost in the English.]
 
 
    All of you ask yourselves now, is this right? To practice when 
 you feel like it, not when you don't: is that in accordance with the 
 Dhamma? Is it straight? Is it in line with the Teaching? This is 
 what makes practice inconsistent.
    
    Whether you feel like it or not you should practice just the 
 same: this is how the Buddha taught. Most people wait till they're 
 in the mood before practicing, when they don't feel like it they 
 don't bother. This is as far as they go. This is called "disaster," 
 it's not practice. In the true practice, whether you are happy or 
 depressed you practice; whether it's easy or difficult you practice; 
 whether it's hot or cold you practice. It's straight like this. In 
 the real practice, whether standing, walking, sitting or reclining 
 you must have the intention to continue the practice steadily, 
 making your //sati// consistent in all postures.
    
    At first thought it seems as if you should stand for as long as 
 you walk, walk for as long as you sit, sit for as long as you lie 
 down...I've tried it but I couldn't do it. If a meditator were to 
 make his standing, walking, sitting and lying down all equal, how 
 many days could he keep it up for? Stand for five minutes, sit for 
 five minutes, lie down for five minutes...I couldn't do it for very 
 long. So I sat down and thought about it some more. "What does it 
 all mean? People in this world can't practice like this!"
    
    Then I realized..."Oh, that's not right, it can't be right 
 because it's impossible to do. Standing, walking, sitting, 
 reclining...make them all consistent. To make the postures 
 consistent the way they explain it in the books is impossible."
    
    But it is possible to do this: The mind...just consider the mind. 
 To have //sati//, recollection, //sampajanna//, self awareness and 
 //panna//, all-round wisdom...this you can do. This is something 
 that's really worth practicing. This means that while standing we 
 have //sati//, while walking we have //sati//, while sitting we have 
 //sati//, and while reclining we have //sati//, -- consistently. 
 This is possible. We put awareness into our standing, walking, 
 sitting, lying down -- into all postures.
    
    When the mind has been trained like this it will constantly 
 recollect Buddho, Buddho, Buddho...which is knowing. Knowing what? 
 Knowing what is right and what is wrong at all times. Yes, this is 
 possible. This is getting down to the real practice. That is, 
 whether standing, walking, sitting or lying down there is continuous 
 //sati//.
    
    Then you should understand those conditions which should be given 
 up and those which should be cultivated. You know happiness, you 
 know unhappiness. When you know happiness and unhappiness your mind 
 will settle at the point which is free of happiness and unhappiness. 
 Happiness is the loose path, //kamasukhallikanuyogo//. Unhappiness 
 is the tight path, //attakilamathanuyogo//. [*] If we know these two 
 extremes, we pull it back. We know when the mind is inclining 
 towards happiness or unhappiness and we pull it back, we don't allow 
 it to lean over. We have this sort of awareness, we adhere to the 
 One Path, the single Dhamma. We adhere to the awareness, not 
 allowing the mind to follow its inclinations.
 
 * [These are the two extremes pointed out as wrong paths by the 
 Buddha in his First Discourse. They are normally rendered as 
 "Indulgence in sense pleasures" and "Self mortification."]
 
 
    But in your practice it doesn't tend to be like that, does it? 
 You follow your inclinations. If you follow your inclinations it's 
 easy, isn't it? But this is the ease which causes suffering, like 
 someone who can't be bothered working. He takes it easy, but when 
 the time comes to eat he hasn't got anything. This is how it goes.
    
    So I've contended with many aspects of the Buddha's teaching in 
 the past, but I couldn't really beat him. Nowadays I accept it. I 
 accept that the many teachings of the Buddha are straight down the 
 line, so I've taken those teachings and used them to train both 
 myself and others.
    
    The practice which is important is //patipada//. What is 
 //patipada//? It is simply all our various activities, standing, 
 walking, sitting, reclining and everything else. This is the 
 //patipada// of the body. Now the //patipada// of the mind: how many 
 times in the course of today have you felt low? How many times have 
 you felt high? Have there been any noticeable feelings? We must know 
 ourselves like this. Having seen those feelings can we let go? 
 Whatever we can't yet let go of we must work with. When we see that 
 we can't yet let go of some particular feeling we must take it and 
 examine it with wisdom. Reason it out. Work with it. This is 
 practice. For example when you are feeling zealous, practice, and 
 then when you feel lazy, try to continue the practice. If you can't 
 continue at "full speed" then at least do half as much. Don't just 
 waste the day away by being lazy and not practicing. Doing that will 
 lead to disaster, it's not the way of a cultivator.
    
    Now I've heard some people say, "Oh, this year I was really in a 
 bad way."
    
    "How come?"
    
    "I was sick all year. I couldn't practice at all."
    
    Oh! If they don't practice when death is near when will they ever 
 practice? If they're feeling well do you think they'll practice? No, 
 they only get lost in happiness. If they're suffering they still 
 don't practice, they get lost in that. I don't know when people 
 think they're going to practice! They can only see that they're 
 sick, in pain, almost dead from fever...that's right, bring it on 
 heavy, that's where the practice is. When people are feeling happy 
 it just goes to their heads and they get vain and conceited.
    
    We must cultivate our practice. What this means is that whether 
 you are happy or unhappy you must practice just the same. If you are 
 feeling well you should practice, and if you are feeling sick you 
 should also practice. Those who think, "This year I couldn't 
 practice at all, I was sick the whole time"...if these people are 
 feeling well, they just walk around singing songs. This is wrong 
 thinking, not right thinking. This is why the cultivators of the 
 past have all maintained the steady training of the heart. If things 
 are to go wrong, just let them be with the body, not in mind.
    
    There was a time in my practice, after I had been practicing 
 about five years, when I felt that living with others was a 
 hindrance. I would sit in my //kuti// and try to meditate and people 
 would keep coming by for a chat and disturbing me. I ran off to live 
 by myself. I thought I couldn't practice with those people bothering 
 me. I was fed up, so I went to live in a small, deserted monastery 
 in the forest, near a small village. I stayed there alone, speaking 
 to no-one -- because there was nobody else to speak to.
    
    After I'd been there about fifteen days the thought arose, "Hmm. 
 It would be good to have a novice or pa-kow [*] here with me. He 
 could help me out with some small jobs." I knew it would come up, 
 and sure enough, there it was!
 
 * ["//Pa-kow//: an eight-precept postulant, who often lives with 
 bhikkhus and, in addition to his own meditation practice, also helps 
 them with certain services which bhikkhus are forbidden by the 
 Vinaya from doing.]
 
 
    "Hey! You're a real character! You say you're fed up with your 
 friends, fed up with your fellow monks and novices, and now you want 
 a novice. What's this?"
    
    "No", it says, "I want a good novice". 
    
    "There! Where are all the good people, can you find any? Where 
 are you going to find a good person? In the whole monastery there 
 were only no-good people. You must have been the only good person, 
 to have run away like this!"
    
    ...You have to follow it up like this, follow up the tracks of 
 your thoughts until you see...
    
    "Hmm. This is the important one. Where is there a good person to 
 be found? There aren't any good people, you must find goodness 
 anywhere else, you must look within yourself. If you are good in 
 yourself then wherever you go will be good. Whether others criticize 
 or praise you, you are still good. If you aren't good, then when 
 others criticize you, you get angry, and when they praise you, you 
 get pleased.
    
    At that time I reflected on this and have found it to be true 
 from that day up until the present. Goodness must be found within. 
 As soon as I saw this, that feeling of wanting to run away 
 disappeared. In later times, whenever I had that desire arise I let 
 it go. Whenever it arose I was aware of it and kept my awareness on 
 that. Thus I had a solid foundation. Wherever I lived, whether 
 people condemned me or whatever they would say, I would reflect that 
 the point is not whether they were good or bad. Good or evil must be 
 seen within ourselves. However other people are, that's their 
 concern.
    
    Don't go thinking, "Oh, today is too hot", or, "Today is too 
 cold," or, "Today is...". Whatever the day is like that's just the 
 way it is. Really you are simply blaming the weather for your own 
 laziness. We must see the Dhamma within ourselves, then there is a 
 surer kind of peace.
    
    So for all of you who have come to practice here, even though 
 it's only for a few days, still many things will arise. Many things 
 may be arising which you're not even aware of. There is some right 
 thinking, some wrong thinking...many, many things. So I say this 
 practice is difficult.
    
    Even though some of you may experience some peace when you sit in 
 meditation, don't be in a hurry to congratulate yourselves. 
 Likewise, if there is some confusion, don't blame yourselves. If 
 things seem to be good, don't delight in them, and if they're not 
 good don't be averse to them. Just look at it all, look at what you 
 have. Just look, don't bother judging. If it's good don't hold fast 
 to it; if it's bad, don't cling to it. Good and bad can both bite, 
 so don't hold fast to them.
    
    The practice is simply to sit, sit and watch it all. Good moods 
 and bad moods come and go as is their nature. Don't only praise your 
 mind or only condemn it, know the right time for these things. When 
 it's time for congratulations then congratulate it, but just a 
 little, don't overdo it. Just like teaching a child, sometimes you 
 may have to spank it a little. In our practice sometimes we may have 
 to punish ourselves, but don't punish yourself all the time. If you 
 punish yourself all the time in a while you'll just give yourself a 
 good time and take it easy either. That's not the way to practice. 
 We practice according to the Middle Way. What is the Middle Way? 
 This Middle Way is difficult to follow, you can't rely on your moods 
 and desires.
    
    Don't think that only sitting with the eyes closed is practice. 
 If you do think this way then quickly change your thinking! Steady 
 practice is having the attitude of practice while standing, walking, 
 sitting and lying down. When coming out of sitting meditation, 
 reflect that you're simply changing postures. If you reflect in this 
 way you will have peace. Wherever you are you will have this 
 attitude of practice with you constantly, you will have a steady 
 awareness within yourself.
    
    Those of you who, having finished their evening sitting, simply 
 indulge in their moods, spending the whole day letting the mind 
 wander where it wants, will find that the next evening when sitting 
 meditation all they get is the "backwash" from the day's aimless 
 thinking. There is no foundation of calm because they have let it go 
 cold all day. If you practice like this your mind gets gradually 
 further and further from the practice. When I ask some of my 
 disciples, "How is your meditation going?". They say, "Oh, it's all 
 gone now". You see? They can keep it up for a month or two but in a 
 year or two it's all finished.
    
    Why is this? It's because they don't take this essential point 
 into their practice. When they've finished sitting they let go of 
 their //samadhi//. They start to sit for shorter and shorter 
 periods, till they reach the point where as soon as they start to 
 sit they want to finish. Eventually they don't even sit. It's the 
 same with bowing to the Buddha-image. At first they make the effort 
 to prostrate every night before going to sleep, but after a while 
 their minds begin to stray. Soon they don't bother to prostrate at 
 all, they just nod, till eventually it's all gone. They throw out 
 the practice completely.
    
    Therefore, understand the importance of //sati//, practice 
 constantly. Right practice is steady practice. Whether standing, 
 walking, sitting or reclining the practice must continue. This means 
 that practice, meditation, is done in the mind, not in the body. If 
 our mind has zeal, is conscientious and ardent, then there will be 
 awareness. The mind is the important thing. The mind is that which 
 supervises everything we do.
    
    When we understand properly then we practice properly. When we 
 practice properly we don't go astray. Even if we only do a little 
 that is still all right. For example, when you finish sitting in 
 meditation, remind yourselves that you are not actually finishing 
 meditation, you are simply changing postures. Your mind is still 
 composed. Whether standing, walking, sitting or reclining you have 
 //sati// with you. If you have this kind of awareness you can 
 maintain your internal practice. In the evening when you sit again 
 the practice continues uninterrupted. Your effort is unbroken, 
 allowing the mind to attain calm.
    
    This is called steady practice. Whether we are talking or doing 
 other things we should try to make the practice continuous. If our 
 mind has recollection and self-awareness continuously, our practice 
 will naturally develop, it will gradually come together. The mind 
 will find peace, because it will know what is right and what is 
 wrong. It will see what is happening within us and realize peace.
    
    If we are to develop //sila// (moral restraint), or //samadhi// 
 (firmness of mind) we must first have //panna// (wisdom). Some 
 people think that they'll develop moral restraint one year, 
 //samadhi// the next year and the year after that they'll develop 
 wisdom. They think these three things are separate. They think that 
 this year they will develop, but if the mind is not firm 
 (//samadhi//), how can they do it? If there is no understanding, 
 (//panna//) how can they do it? Without //samadhi// or //panna//, 
 //sila// will be sloppy.
    
    In fact these three come together at the same point. When we have 
 //sila// we have //samadhi//, when we have //samadhi// we have 
 //panna//. They are all one, like a mango. Whether it's small or 
 fully grown, it's still a mango. When it's ripe it's still the same 
 mango. If we think in simple terms like this we can see it more 
 easily. We don't have to learn a lot of things, just to know these 
 things, to know our practice.
    
    When it comes to meditation some people don't get what they want, 
 so they just give up, saying they don't yet have the merit to 
 practice meditation. They can do bad things, they have that sort of 
 talent, but they don't have the talent to do good. They throw it in, 
 saying they don't have a good enough foundation. This is the way 
 people are, they side with their defilements.
    
    Now that you have this chance to practice, please understand that 
 whether you find it difficult or easy to develop //samadhi// is 
 entirely up to you, not the //samadhi//. If it is difficult, it is 
 because you are practicing wrongly. In our practice we must have 
 "Right View" (//sammaditthi//). If our view is right then everything 
 else is right: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right 
 Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Recollection, Right 
 Concentration -- the Eightfold Path. When there is Right View all 
 the other factors will follow on.
    
    Whatever happens, don't let your mind stray off the track. Look 
 within yourself and you will see clearly. For the best practice, as 
 I see it, it isn't necessary to read many books. Take all the books 
 and lock them away. Just read your own mind. You have all been 
 burying yourselves in books from the time you entered school. I 
 think that now you have this opportunity and have the time, take the 
 books, put them in a cupboard and lock the door. Just read your 
 mind.
    
    Whenever something arises within the mind, whether you like it or 
 not, whether it seems right or wrong, just cut it off with, "this is 
 not a sure thing." Whatever arises just cut it down, "not sure, not 
 sure." With just this single ax you can cut it all down. It's all 
 "not sure'.
    
    For the duration of this next month that you will be staying in 
 this forest monastery, you should make a lot of headway. You will 
 see the truth. This "not sure" is really an important one. This one 
 develops wisdom. The more you look the more you will see "not 
 sure'-ness. After you've cut something off with "not sure" it may 
 come circling round and pop up again. Yes, it's truly "not sure." 
 Whatever pops up just stick this one label on it all..."not sure." 
 You stick the sign on .."not sure'...and in a while, when its turn 
 comes, it crops up again..."Ah, not sure." Dig here! Not sure. You 
 will see this same old one who's been fooling you month in, month 
 out, year in, year out, from the day you were born. There's only 
 this one who's been fooling you all along. See this and realize the 
 way things are.
    
    When your practice reaches this point you won't cling to 
 sensations, because they are all uncertain. Have you ever noticed? 
 Maybe you see a clock and think, "Oh, this is nice." Buy it and 
 see...in not many days you're bored with it already. "This pen is 
 really beautiful," so you take the trouble to buy one. In not many 
 months you tire of it again. This is how it is. Where is there any 
 certainty?
    
    If we see all these things as uncertain then their value fades 
 away. All things become insignificant. Why should we hold on to 
 things that have no value? We keep them only as we might keep an old 
 rag to wipe our feet with. We see all sensations as equal in value 
 because they all have the same nature.
    
    When we understand sensations we understand the world. The world 
 is sensations and sensations are the world. If we aren't fooled by 
 sensations we aren't fooled by the world. If we aren't fooled by the 
 world we aren't fooled by sensations.
    
    The mind which sees this will have a firm foundation of wisdom. 
 Such a mind will not have many problems. Any problems it does have 
 it can solve. When there are no more problems there are no more 
 doubts. Peace arises in their stead. This is called "Practice." If 
 we really practice it must be like this.
                                        
                                        
                           * * * * * * * *
