Venerable Acariya Maha Boowa ~Nanasampanno
Wat Pa Baan Taad
Jun 13, 1979
Translated: Achaan Sudchaad
"...The Lord said that Nibbana is permanent when the Citta has attained to full contentment and has let go of all Sammuti..."
"...Whoever says anything about anything it will not pose any problem for that particular Citta because that Citta is totally devoid of any problems. What problems can there be?..."
"...Whether one is living or whether one dies it is no problem for these just follow the natural law. This Citta does not fall within the realm of problems..."
The Heart of the Practitioner Must be Firm, Strong and Resolute
We must always be careful and cautious. Be very careful in your conversation. When you come together to work or have your drink be observant of your heart.
As far as having a drink is concerned, it is merely to keep your body going. But as far as the conflict between the Kilesas and Dhamma is concerned it must always be in a constant state of struggle.
If you ever want to come across the most supreme and valuable treasure, the most important thing you have to watch out for is
Sankhaara and Sa~n~naa. As a practitioner of Bhaavanaa you must get to know the tricks of these two Khandhas for they are the most significant Khandhas. As far as the eye and visible form, the ear and sound and so forth is concerned, they are not as incessant as the Sa~n~naa and Sankhaara.
We tend to get involved in the thoughts that arise from the Kilesas, Tanha and Asava, all the time. They then entangle us. These two
exhibit themselves constantly. Even when we are walking Camkama they draw up images right in front of us and these images are the images of the Kilesas.
Sa~n~naa takes up the past. It takes up the forms, sounds, smells, tastes and tactile objects that we have experienced in the past and then creates a mental object that bothers the heart. This is due to the Sa~n~naa and Sankhaara that concoct up various things inside the heart. Even while one is walking Camkama one can be creating Kilesas right there and then. This is because we are deceived by the Khandhas both day and night. As soon as we wake up in the morning they begin to create images of the Kilesas again but we do not know that they are the images of the Kilesas. Whatever stories or things that Sa~n~naa takes hold of or whatever things that Sa~n~naa concocts, Dukkha Vedana will then appear, or restlessness or agitation inside the heart, because these two Khandhas round up all the poisons that enter the heart.
So how can the Citta not get out of hand when it receives all those poisons brought in by Sa~n~naa and Sankhaara? They constantly concoct up various things to deceive one. If you are observant, you will
know. As a practitioner how can you not know this? You will get to see very clearly both Sa~n~naa and Sankhaara and how important they are.
They constantly create the Dhammaaramma.na, the Dhamma objects, the mental objects, all the time. As a practitioner you must be earnest and serious in your practice. Totally commit yourself. I would really like to listen to the results that arise from the practice of my fellow practitioners who have come to live with me and receive the instructions that I have given them to the utmost of my ability. I have not hidden anything or kept anything secret from you concerning the various aspects and levels of Dhamma. Every aspect of Dhamma
arising from the practice and the result of it, I have revealed openly to you without hiding anything. What happened to this Dhamma that I have explained to you? Has it become void, without any result? This is why you cannot take it up and practice it and attain to the result that I have explained to you. This is really something worth thinking about.
The heart of the practitioner must be firm, strong and resolute. Don't be weak and feeble-minded. This is not good because it is
contrary to the principle of Dhamma. Once it is weak it is no good when we are going the way of Dhamma. We tend to be quite strong but at the same time very weak in the way of Dhamma. At the time, when we are weak in the way of Dhamma then we are usually strong in the way that is contrary to Dhamma. This is important. In the way of
practice concerning the heart one must always be earnest and really committed to one's work.
As far as Sammadhi and Pa~n~na are concerned you must not wait for the right time. When ever it is appropriate to use Pa~n~na you must use Pa~n~na. Pa~n~na is for the purpose of correcting the Kilesas within the heart. Sammadhi is used for subduing or subjugating them and calming them down. They are about nothing else but the work of subduing or suppressing the Kilesas.
Pa~n~na is terribly important. You must see that while you are investigating in the way of Pa~n~na how it suddenly turns into
Sa~n~naa Aaramma.na (speculative thoughts) and goes out of the way of Dhamma. Then you must turn around and go into the way of Sammadhi. Subdue and calm down the restless Kilesas by the means of Samatha. This means calm. What is your object of calm? The Aramana of Samatha. I have explained this before. Whichever Dhamma object suits your personality is the one you must take to use as your object of
calm.
And you must master your heart and force it truly to remain with that particular Dhamma object. If you are concentrating on the in and out breathing then you must be wholly concerned with the in and out breathing as if the whole world is just not there. Don't let anything become involved with your concentration at that time. The heart tends
to push out and go out to think about the various things in the world of Sa"msaara. The Kilesas are the chief culprit here that push
Sankhaara to do the various thinking about this and that and push Sa~n~naa to presume and assume about this and that. They are all concerned with the Kilesas in which we can never find any calm. They
are worse than monkeys and that is the way of Kilesas. That is why the heart behaves like a monkey. When we investigate in the way of Pa~n~na, like the Dhaatu Khandha for instance, differentiating and analysing it, but you don't seem to get the result whether you
investigate in the way of Asupa or in the way of Aniccam, Dukkha and Anattam, this means that the Kilesas have the upper hand. It means that the Citta is hungry for the various Aramana and so you must immediately curb it by using the object of Aramana or Samatha. You must use Sammadhi to calm the Citta.
Be earnest. Really commit yourself. Once the Citta has gained calm, then you should begin to investigate using Pa~n~na again. You must also force and control it and then your investigation will become fruitful and will bear result. This means that you are really doing
the work of Pa~n~na. This is because the Citta has filled itself with calm. You must observe yourself when you do the investigation. When you practice Bhavana you cannot avoid observing. You have to observe. You cannot wait for the technique handed down by your teacher alone without doing your own investigation or coming up with new ideas. Otherwise you will not gain any wisdom. Anytime when it is suitable to investigate or anytime investigation is suitable to you, you must investigate. You can investigate in the way of Aniccam, Dukkham and Anatta; or you can investigate in the way of Asuppa or any other way you like that accords with the truth. They are all the truth.
But usually, when the Citta goes contrary to Dhamma, it is not willing to accept this truth. What is our body like? Where does it arise
from? You must dig into it and differentiate it to see it's true nature. We say that it is "I" or "you" or "they" or "them" or that it is people or animal. Where does this body get it from? You must dig down into it's original nature which is the original elements.
Most of the nature of this body is the earth element. For instance, the hair of the head, the hair of the body, the nails, the teeth, the
skin, the sinews and the bones. We can see it clearly with our own physical eyes. They are of the earth element. Water, like saliva for instance, is just the water element. The air is the air that we breath in and this is just the air element. The fire element is the fire or heat that digests our food, for instance. These are the four elements. But when the heart takes possession of this body it then
begins to make up the various concepts about it, that is to say "I" or "they" or people or animal. That is "I", that is "mine", that is "my" eye, that is "my" arm, these legs are "mine". The different parts that make up this body are all "mine". And the heart can concoct up these ideas without having any body to tell it to do so. It is the same way with animals. They don't have to be told to concoct up these ideas. So this is very much a natural principle, part of the natural law.
The Kilesas are one aspect of the natural principle found within our heart. The Kilesas do not need to be taught because once they are the Kilesas, that is enough. And these four elements that come together to be possessed by the Citta and taken over by it, how long have they been so formed together? From the day of the birth of this body, for maybe ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or sixty years. We are deceived by the trickery of the Kilesas that tell us that this body is "I", that tell us that this body is a human being, that this body is an animal, that it is "you" or that it is "me", from time long ago, although this body is just the formation of the four elements, earth,
water, air and fire, following it's original nature which is the genuine truth. But we concoct up the various concepts about this body so that we get deceived by the Kilesas. How long have we been deceived by them?
Let us think of when this body dissolves. Where does it go to? Can we still call it a human being? Or an animal? The earth returns to earth. The water returns to water. The air returns to air and the fire returns to fire. They all go back to their original element. Can we then call this thing a human being? Or an animal? Of course, we cannot. They are just the original elements. And truly so.
But when they form the body, why do we give them a different name although they are still just the original elements? You must
investigate right into the basis of truth and then this will become Pa~n~na. It is only the heart that can make this body move around.
This body itself is just the genuine and true elements. It is similar to a piece of earth.
When this body dissolves it just returns to the earth element. But we always call it "I" or "mine". From the day of our birth to the
present day we have been lied to by the Kilesas.
Are we still going to be deceived by them? We will be deceived by them until the day of our death if we cannot learn the true nature of them. If our Pa~n~na cannot catch up with the Kilesas then we will carry the burden of the concept of "I" and "mine" and the concepts of animals and human beings until the day of our death. Even if this body returns to it's original elements, the Upadana (attachment) will never dissolve with it. It will always remain embedded within the Citta. And with any new mode of birth that the Citta takes hold of it will still carry the burden of attachment by calling the various forms
that it takes up "I" and "mine". This will happen forever and ever without ever coming to an end. But the investigation with Pa~n~na, this is how one should investigate.
In order that one can see according to the truth one must do this again and again, repeatedly. Investigate until you become truly impressed and truly see it within the Citta. Then, as far as the attachment is concerned, one will not have to worry about it because it will be let go of naturally when one has really seen the truth. Nobody can force or coerce the the attachment to let go by itself, it is only Pa~n~na that can do this. When Pa~n~na has penetrated the truth then the attachment will let go. Whichever part of the truth one has seen then that part will be free. That is why we are taught to investigate because once we have investigated and we come to understand truth then we will let go of these things because all of them are fake; they are not the truth. We are going contrary to the truth and we are constantly living with a false truth in all of our postures, standing, sitting, walking and lying down, both day and night. We don't know this and so we must investigate.
Speaking about Paticula (the filthiness of this body), it is full of excrement. This excrement comes out through the hair of the head or comes out through the nails or the teeth or comes out through all the pores of the body. They are all over the body. There is nothing
there that we can call pretty or beautiful. There is a very thin membrane of skin that wraps itself around the whole thing. Is it
really impossible for Sati and Pa~n~na to penetrate this thin membrane of skin if we really want to use our Sati and Pa~n~na?
What is the purpose of Sati Pa~n~na? It is really for digging out the truth, especially that of the five Khandhas. You cannot make food out of Pa~n~na. Pa~n~na is only used for the investigation and analysis of various parts of the body that the king of falsehood has taken hold of. When you have seen it clearly then the Upadana will be let go of.
This Upadana is much heavier than a whole solid mountain. When you have investigated clearly then you will gradually let go of your
attachment and then the Citta will begin to spring forth. It will begin to elevate itself until it finally arrives at the state of freedom. This is what we call the purified Citta.
Be earnest. Really commit yourself in your practice. You have to have standards in your practice. Don't speculate or imagine about
other places that can be of more benefit to you than the place of the Svakkhata Dhamma. This is the chief principle. Wherever you are you have to take up this principle. Take this as your battle ground. This is where the Kilesas are found. You must get to see this very clearly.
The Lord Buddha taught Dhamma without leaving any doubt or questions. His Dhamma was well taught in every respect. This Dhamma is capable of leading the practitioner gradually up away from Dukkha, eventually
attaining to the highest state of freedom from Dukkha without any doubts. So how can we have any doubts? The Kilesas do not have a teacher so how is it that they can become our teacher? The Lord Buddha tried so hard to teach us the Dhamma. How then can the Dhamma have no power over the Kilesas? In our circle of practice we must be
able to conquer the Kilesas. The Kilesas have no teacher but we do have a teacher who has taught us very well.
What then is the reason for us not being able to combat the Kilesas which have not been to school at all? We have always been on the
loosing side. This is no good. It is very natural that in the beginning we have to really struggle. This is because the Kilesas
have been on the powerful side for so long. They have been dominating our hearts for a long time, so when we want to subject and subdue them we must use our all out effort to do so, sometimes even putting our lives at stake. When it is the time to give up our lives then it is the time to sacrifice because we are going after the real essence. Let's get to see the result within our hearts. Let the light shine forth within our hearts when we come to perceive the truth. This is what is meant by seeing truly and realising the truth. When we have really seen the truth that really impresses our heart, then we cannot help but utter, is this really so? Now, I know this truth about this and about that. Now I know the truth of the Dukkha, found within the Khandhas. Now I know about attachment. They cannot escape from Pa~n~na.
Be serious and earnest. The teachers that can really teach Dhamma are very hard to find nowadays. There are many practising Bhikkhus but those who have discovered or come across the real essence from their
practical experience are very few indeed. And what is the reason? The reason is that material things trample all over them. It is
nothing else. These material things are the chief culprit. They can really destroy people. The more material things develop or progress, the more the heart will deteriorate and degenerate whether it is in the way of the world or in the way of Dhamma. That is the way it is nowadays. It may be just a piece of paper that people conventionally
set up and call money but it is enough to scorch the heart of a Bhikkhu although, in truth, we know it is just a piece of paper. If
you use it to roll a cigarette, it doesn't taste good at all but we are deluded by it. As far as the fake and counterfeit things are
concerned the Citta can grab at them very quickly because the Citta itself is full of fake and false things so when two false things come together it is very easy for them to hold hands because in the Citta there is no truth. But when one has practised and developed the Citta and has established truth within the Citta, stage by stage, then
whatever truth it knows it will take hold of and it will throw away the false things.
It is this one and the same Citta but now they differ from each other. In the beginning it is very hard but although it is hard you have to endure it. We have shouldered the burden of Dukkha for Culpas and Culpas in the past and even in this life the Dukkha has already been quite severe. When the Citta constantly builds up troubles and worries how can one avoid being involved with Dukkha? These Khandhas are the instruments of the Kilesas and that is why the Kilesas can constantly exhibit themselves. And as soon as they exhibit themselves they simultaneously create Dukkha. So how can one then not shoulder the burden of Dukkha if we cannot see the harm of these things? How then can we find the virtue and worth of Dhamma?
I have instructed you to the utmost of my ability. I really want you to understand and practice. I don't want to see practice without any substance. When walking Camkama there is just sleepiness and when sitting in Sammadhi there is just sleepiness; no result can come forth from these postures of exertion. So what are we going to do? Today, this is the way it is. Tomorrow, we take up the same old habits and so we only come up with the same old habitual results. Nothing new to come up and surprise the heart. One then becomes steadily discouraged. The teachings that the teacher has given you will then turn into something without any meaning. This is because the Kilesas have the victory. They make no exception for any class of people. They dominate the heart and subjugate it under their influence. We therefore have to suffer Dukkha and hardship because of the Kilesas.
We have taken up the robe so that we can overcome and correct the poison of the Kilesas with our diligent effort and strenuous exertion. Why can't we do it? When we have eliminated some of the Kilesas we will come to see the value and efficiency of our diligent effort. When the Citta has calmed down with the means of Bhavana while before it was in a state of restlessness and agitation, we will come to see the worth of this practice. We will then mov e upwards if we take Satti Pa~n~na and use it, then Satti Pa~n~na will arise. If we develop it, it will become apparent. When we begin to investigate and
probe into the Dhaatu Khandha and the other Khandhas, slowly the truth will arise and we will learn the lesson of Dhamma and this will keep on arising as we keep on doing the investigation. This is the Pa~n~na
that will arise due to our investigation and examination. We will eventually come across this Pa~n~na.
In the beginning stages this is what we have to do to develop Pa~n~na. When we have seen the work and results of Pa~n~na we will become energetic and keep up the investigation with this Pa~n~na until it becomes automatic Pa~n~na. As the Kilesas steadily diminish, our diligent effort will intensify until we are fully possessed with
diligent effort. We will always be ready to go into battle and this is the only thing that we will be looking for. Just to keep on struggling. Just to fight and fight. All the laziness disappears because it is the affair of the Kilesas. The more the Kilesas diminish the more intensified will be our diligent effort. The more the Kilesas disappear the more will Dhamma appear until all the Kilesas are totally eliminated. We will then perceive that all the Dukkha that used to consume our hearts has disappeared. The Citta then becomes totally empty without having anything to come in and disturb or destroy it like it used to be in the past. This is because
one has totally relinquished and let go with Pa~n~na. When Pa~n~na has clearly seen the truth by investigation then it will let go of
everything. Then the Citta becomes empty.
The Citta is now devoid and empty of the Kilesas, Ta.nhaa and Aasava that were the poisons of the heart in the past. This emptiness then becomes holy Dhamma. All that is left behind is the Khandhas. They
still go on just like the lizards tail that wriggles and wriggles after it has been cut off the body of the lizard. These Khandhas still continue on until they finally dissolve. They have no meaning in themselves. They themselves don't know their own meaning.
For instance, Rupa (form or body), doesn't know that it is Rupa. The Vedana in the Khandha doesn't know it is Vedana and similarly with Sa~n~naa, Sankhaara and Vi~n~naana. They concoct and conceive of
things but as soon as they have done that they disappear. They just do this and then disappear. Sa~n~naa, when it begins to imagine or draw up pictures will then disappear. Vi~n~naana, (the awareness of
these things), will acknowledge and then also disappear because Avijja, the chief culprit, is no longer there inside the heart to push them around. The Khandhas then become the instrument of Dhamma. Before, it used to be the instrument of the Kilesas, but once the
Dhamma of emptiness has appeared in the heart one just depends on one's Khandhas to do benefit for the world like the Lord Buddha who dispensed the teaching and the Savakas who gave it to the people. As they are still intact the Khandhas have all turned into the instrument of Dhamma because the Kilesas have died. They are now just the instrument of Dhamma. When the Khandhas can no longer go on they dissolve and disappear following the Law of Aniccam, Dukkham and
Anatta for they are Sammuti and they have to follow the law of Sammuti.
The Khandhas are Sammuti and so are Aniccam, Dukkham and Anatta. They must go their natural way. The one who has attained to purity doesn't have any problems. He is the one who is free from worry. Nibbanam
Parranam Sukkham. Nibbana is the supreme happiness. Where do you find it? Once the Kilesas have disappeared from the heart that is enough. What else are we going to seek for? We have to experience Dukkha because of the Kilesas but once the Kilesas have disappeared where are we going to find any Dukkha? And where are we going to look for Nibbana? If one is still deluded one will have to seek for it but once one knows one doesn't look for it any more. Nibbanam Parranam
Sukkham. Eternity for ever and ever. The Lord said that Nibbana is permanent when the Citta has attained to full contentment and has let go of all Sammuti. Whoever says anything about anything it will not pose any problem for that particular Citta because that Citta is totally devoid of any problems. What problems can there be?
Whether one is living or whether one dies it is no problem for these just follow the natural law. This Citta does not fall within the realm of problems like the world of problems does.
End of Dessana.
