ဗုဒၶဘာသာအေမးအေၿဖမ်ား

ေထရ၀ါဒဗုဒၶဘာသာထြန္းကားတဲ.နုိင္ငံတစ္နုိင္ငံၿဖစ္တဲ.ထုိင္းနုိင္ငံကဆရာေတာ္ႀကီးတစ္ပါး
အေႀကာင္းနဲ.သူေဟာတဲ.တရားေတာ္ေတြကိုမိတ္ဆက္ေပးခ်င္ပါတယ္။အဲဒီဆရာေတာ္ႀကီးကေတာ.
ိပ်ံလြန္ေတာ္မူသြားၿပီၿဖစ္တဲ.အာဂ်န္ခ်ား(အရွင္ေဗာဓိဥာဏေထရ)ၿဖစ္ပါတယ္။ထုိင္းနုိင္ငံမွာေတာ.
ပရိနိဗၺာန္စံလြန္ေတာ္မူသြားၿပီးရဟန ၱာလုိ.ထင္ရွားကုိးကြယ္ေနတဲ.ဆရာေတာ္ႀကီးအာဂ်န္မန္းၿပီးယင္
ဒုတ္ိယေၿမာက္ႀကည္ညဳိကုိးကြယ္ခံရဆံုးဆရာေတာ္ႀကီးပါ။သူလည္းပဲအဲဒီအာဂ်န္မန္းဆရာေတာ္ႀကီးရဲ.
တပည္.တစ္ပါးၿဖစ္ခဲ.ပါတယ္။ယေန.ၿပည္ပမွာရွိႀကတဲ.ဓူတင္ေဆာင္ေတာရထုိင္းဘုန္းႀကီးေက်ာင္းေတြရဲ.
အမ်ားစုကေတာ.ဆရာေတာ္ႀကီးအာဂ်န္မန္းနဲ.အာဂ်န္ခ်ားတုိ.ရဲ.ႀသ၀ါဒခံေက်ာင္းခြဲေတြပဲၿဖစ္ပါတယ္။
ထူးၿခားတာကေတာ.သူတုိ.ရဲ.ၿပင္းထန္လွတဲ.ဓူတင္အက်င္.ေတြကိုအေနာက္နုိင္ငံသားေတြအားက်
လုိက္နာနုိင္ေအာင္သြန္သင္ဆံုးမနိင္တာပါပဲ။သာယာလွပတဲ.ေတာေတာင္ရွဳခင္းနဲ.ေအးခ်မ္းတိတ္ဆိတ္
တဲ.ပတ္၀န္းက်င္ရွိတဲ.ထုိင္းနုိင္ငံေၿမာက္ပုိင္း(ခ်င္းမုိင္၊ခ်င္းရိုင္းေဒသ) ကေတာရေက်ာင္းေတြကိုသူေတာ္
ေကာင္းဓါတ္ခံစိတ္ရွိတဲ.နုိင္ငံၿခားသားေတြနွစ္သက္စြာနဲ.တရားအားထုတ္ေနနိုင္တာအမွန္ပါပဲ။
တစ္ကယ္ေတာ.လည္းက်ြန္ေတာ္တုိ.တုိင္းၿပည္မွာလည္းအဲဒီလုိေတာရေက်ာင္းေတြ၊ကမၼဌာနစရိယ
ဆရာေတာ္ႀကီးေတြရွိပါတယ္။လက္ရွိနု္ိင္ငံေရးအေၿခအေနေတြေႀကာင္.သာဆရာေတာ္ႀကီးေတြမွာၿပည္ပကို
အပင္ပန္းခံၿပီးသာသနာၿပဳႀကြေနႀကရတာပါ။အမွန္ဆုိသူတုိ.ကအလုိရွိတာ၊ကုိယ္.နိုင္ငံကုိလာရမွာ။သူ.ရဲ.
တရားေတြကုိဖတ္ရတာၿမန္မာၿပည္ကမဟာၿမဳိုင္ဆရာေတာ္ဦးေဇာတိကကုိသတိရစရာပါပဲ။ဆရာေတာ္
ဦးေကာသလ ႅ(ဓမၼေစတီ ) လည္းအာဂ်န္ခ်ားရဲ.စာအုပ္ေတြကိုႀကဳိက္ေႀကာင္းသူ.တပည္.တစ္ဦးကက်ြန္
ေတာ္.ကိုေၿပာဖူးပါတယ္။
ကဲဆရာေတာ္ႀကီးအာဂ်န္ခ်ားရဲ.ဓမၼအေမးအေၿဖေလးေတြဖတ္ႀကည္.ပါဦး။၀ိပႆနာတရားေတြက
အဓိကၿဖစ္လုိ.တစ္ခ်ဳိ.အတြက္ေတာ.ပ်င္းစရာၿဖစ္ေနမလားပဲ။ဒါေပမယ္.ေလးေလးနက္နက္ေတြးယင္ေထရ
၀ါဒအတြက္ေတာ္ေတာ္အေထာက္အကူၿပဳတဲ. အေႀကာင္းအရာေတြပါ။ဓမၼဗဟုသုတေပါ.။


Questions and Answers1


Question: I'm trying very hard in my practice but don't seem to be
getting anywhere.

Answer: This is very important. Don't try to get anywhere in the practice.
The very desire to be free or to be enlightened will be the
desire that prevents your freedom. You can try as hard as you
wish, practice ardently night and day, but if it is still with the desire
to achieve in mind, you will never find peace. The energy
from this desire will be a cause for doubt and restlessness. No
matter how long or how hard you practice, wisdom will not arise
from desire. So, simply let go. Watch the mind and body mindfully
but don't try to achieve anything. Don't cling even to the
practice of enlightenment.


Q: What about sleep? How much should I sleep?

A: don't ask me, I can't tell you. A good average for some is four hours
a night. What is important, though, is that you watch and know
yourself. If you try to go with too little sleep, the body will feel
uncomfortable and mindfulness will be difficult to sustain. Too
much sleep leads to a dull or a restless mind. Find the natural
balance for yourself. Carefully watch the mind and body and
keep track of sleep needs until you find the optimum. If you wake
up and then roll over for a snooze, this is defilement. Establish
mindfulness as soon as your eyes open.


Q: How about eating? How much should I eat?

A: Eating is the same as sleeping. You must know yourself. Food
must be consumed to meet bodily needs. Look at your food as
medicine. Are you eating so much that you only feel sleepy after
the meal and are you getting fatter every day? Stop! Examine
your own body and mind. There is no need to fast. Instead,
experiment with the amount of food you take. Find the natural
balance for your body. Put all your food together in your bowl
following the ascetic practice. Then you can easily judge the
amount you take. Watch yourself carefully as you eat. Know
yourself. The essence of our practice is just this. There is nothing
special you must do. Only watch. Examine yourself. Watch the
mind. Then you will know what is the natural balance for your
own practice.


Q: Are minds of Asians and Westerners different?

A: Basically there is no difference. Outer customs and language may
appear different, but the human mind has natural characteristics
which are the same for all people. Greed and hatred are the same
in an Eastern or a Western mind. Suffering and the cessation of
suffering are the same for all people.


Q: Is it advisable to read a lot or study the scriptures as a part of practice?

A: The Dhamma of the Buddha is not found in books. If you want to
really see for yourself what the Buddha was talking about, you
donft need to bother with books. Watch your own mind. Examine
to see how feelings come and go, how thoughts come and go.
don't be attached to anything. Just be mindful of whatever there
is to see. This is the way to the truths of the Buddha. Be natural.
Everything you do in your life here is a chance to practice. It
is all Dhamma. When you do your chores, try to be mindful. If
you are emptying a spittoon or cleaning a toilet, don't feel you are
doing it as a favor for anyone else. There is Dhamma in emptying
spittoons. Don't feel you are practicing only when sitting still,
cross-legged. Some of you have complained that there is not
enough time to meditate. Is there enough time to breathe? This
is your meditation: mindfulness, naturalness in whatever you do.


Q: Why donft we have daily interviews with the teacher?

A: If you have any questions, you are welcome to come and ask them
anytime. But we donft need daily interviews here. If I answer
your every little question, you will never understand the process
of doubt in your own mind. It is essential that you learn to examine
yourself, to interview yourself. Listen carefully to the lecture
every few days, then use this teaching to compare with your own
practice. Is it still the same? Is it different? Why do you have
doubts? Who is it that doubts? Only through self-examination
can you understand.


Q: Sometimes I worry about the monksf discipline. If I kill insects
accidentally, is this bad?

A: SP.la or discipline and morality are essential to our practice, but you
must not cling to the rules blindly. In killing animals or in breaking
other rules, the important thing is intention. Know your own
mind. You should not be excessively concerned about the monks'
discipline. If it is used properly, it supports the practice, but some
monks are so worried about the petty rules that they can't sleep
well. Discipline is not to be carried as a burden. In our practice
here the foundation is discipline, good discipline plus the ascetic
rules and practices. Being mindful and careful of even the many
supporting rules as well as the basic 227 precepts has great benefit.
It makes life very simple. There need be no wondering about
how to act, so you can avoid thinking and instead just be simply
mindful. The discipline enables us to live together harmoniously;
the community runs smoothly. Outwardly everyone looks and
acts the same. Discipline and morality are the stepping stones for
further concentration and wisdom. By proper use of the monks'
discipline and the ascetic precepts, we are forced to live simply,
to limit our possessions. So here we have the complete practice
of the Buddha: refrain from evil and do good, live simply keeping
to basic needs, purify the mind. That is, be watchful of our
mind and body in all postures: sitting, standing, walking or lying,
know yourself.


Q: What can I do about doubts? Some days I'm plagued with doubts
about the practice or my own progress, or the teacher.

A: Doubting is natural. Everyone starts out with doubts. You can learn
a great deal from them. What is important is that you don't identify
with your doubts: that is, don't get caught up in them. This
will spin your mind in endless circles. Instead, watch the whole
process of doubting, of wondering. See who it is that doubts. See
how doubts come and go. Then you will no longer be victimized
by your doubts. You will step outside of them and your mind
will be quiet. You can see how all things come and go. Just let
go of what you are attached to. Let go of your doubts and simply
watch. This is how to end doubting.


Q: What about other methods of practice? These days there seem to
be so many teachers and so many different systems of meditation
that it is confusing.

A: It is like going into town. One can approach from the north, from
the southeast, from many roads. Often these systems just differ
outwardly. Whether you walk one way or another, fast or slow,
if you are mindful, it is all the same. There is one essential point
that all good practice must eventually come to . not clinging. In
the end, all meditation systems must be let go of. Neither can one
cling to the teacher. If a system leads to relinquishment, to not
clinging, then it is correct practice.
You may wish to travel, to visit other teachers and try other systems.
Some of you have already done so. This is a natural desire.
You will find out that a thousand questions asked and knowledge
of many systems will not bring you to the truth. Eventually you
will get bored. You will see that only by stopping and examining
your own mind can you find out what the Buddha talked
about. No need to go searching outside yourself. Eventually you
must return to face your own true nature. Here is where you can
understand the Dhamma.


Q: A lot of times it seems that many monks here are not practicing.
They look sloppy or unmindful. This disturbs me.

A: It is not proper to watch other people. This will not help your practice.
If you are annoyed, watch the annoyance in your own mind.
If othersf discipline is bad or they are not good monks, this is not
for you to judge. You will not discover wisdom watching others.
Monksf discipline is a tool to use for your own meditation. It is
not a weapon to use to criticize or find fault. No one can do your
practice for you, nor can you do practice for anyone else. Just be
mindful of your own doings. This is the way to practice.


Q: I have been extremely careful to practice sense restraint. I always
keep my eyes lowered and am mindful of every little action I do.
When eating, for example, I take a long time and try to see each
touch: chewing, tasting, swallowing, etc. I take each step very
deliberately and carefully. Am I practicing properly?

A: Sense restraint is proper practice. We should be mindful of it throughout
the day. But don't overdo it! Walk and eat and act naturally.
And then develop natural mindfulness of what is going on
within yourself. Don't force your meditation nor force yourself
into awkward patterns. This is another form of craving. Be patient.
Patience and endurance are necessary. If you act naturally
and are mindful, wisdom will come naturally too.


Q: Is it necessary to sit for very long stretches?

A: No, sitting for hours on end is not necessary. Some people think
that the longer you can sit, the wiser you must be. I have seen
chickens sit on their nests for days on end! Wisdom comes from
being mindful in all postures. Your practice should begin as you
awaken in the morning. It should continue until you fall asleep.
Don't be concerned about how long you can sit. What is important
is only that you keep watchful whether you are working or
sitting or going to the bathroom.
Each person has his own natural pace. Some of you will die at
age fifty, some at age sixty-five, and some at age ninety. So,
too, your practice will not be all identical. Donft think or worry
about this. Try to be mindful and let things take their natural
course. Then your mind will become quieter and quieter in any
surroundings. It will become still like a clear forest pool. Then
all kinds of wonderful and rare animals will come to drink at the
pool. You will see clearly the nature of all things (san.khaPraP s) in
the world. You will see many wonderful and strange things come
and go. But you will be still. Problems will arise and you will see
through them immediately. This is the happiness of the Buddha.


Q: I still have very many thoughts. My mind wanders a lot even though
I am trying to be mindful.

A: Don't worry about this. Try to keep your mind in the present. Whatever
there is that arises in the mind, just watch it. Let go of it.
Don't even wish to be rid of thoughts. Then the mind will reach
its natural state. No discriminating between good and bad, hot
and cold, fast and slow. No me and no you, no self at all. Just
what there is. When you walk on alms-round, no need to do anything
special. Simply walk and see what there is. No need to
cling to isolation or seclusion. Wherever you are, know yourself
by being natural and watching. If doubts arise, watch them come
and go. It's very simple. Hold on to nothing.
It is as though you are walking down a road. Periodically you will
run into obstacles. When you meet defilements, just see them and
just overcome them by letting go of them. don't think about the
obstacles you have passed already. Don't worry about those you
have not yet seen. Stick to the present. Don't be concerned about
the length of the road or about the destination. Everything is
changing. Whatever you pass, do not cling to it. Eventually the
mind will reach its natural balance where practice is automatic.
All things will come and go of themselves.


Q: Have you ever looked at the Altar Sutra of the 6th Patriarch, Hui
Neng?

A: Hui Neng's wisdom is very keen. It is very profound teaching, not
easy for beginners to understand. But if you practice with our
discipline and with patience, if you practice not-clinging, you
will eventually understand. Once I had a disciple who stayed in
a grass-roofed hut. It rained often that rainy season and one day
a strong wind blew off half the roof. He did not bother to fix it,
just let it rain in. Several days passed and I asked him about his
hut. He said he was practicing not-clinging. This is not-clinging
without wisdom. It is about the same as the equanimity of a water
buffalo. If you live a good life and live simply, if you are patient
and unselfish, you will understand the wisdom of Hui Neng.


Q: You have said that samatha and vipassana or concentration and insight
are the same. Could you explain this further?

A: It is quite simple. Concentration (samatha ) and wisdom (vipassana)
work together. First the mind becomes still by holding on to a
meditation object. It is quiet only while you are sitting with your
eyes closed. This is samatha and eventually this samPadhi -base
is the cause for wisdom or vipassana to arise. Then the mind is
still whether you sit with your eyes closed or walk around in a
busy city. It's like this. Once you were a child. Now you are an
adult. Are the child and the adult the same person? You can say
that they are, or looking at it another way, you can say that they
are different. In this way samatha and vipassana could also be
looked at as separate. Or it is like food and feces. Food and feces
could be called the same and they can be called different. Don't
just believe what I say, do your practice and see for yourself.
Nothing special is needed. If you examine how concentration
and wisdom arise, you will know the truth for yourself. These
days many people cling to the words. They call their practice
vipassana. Samatha is looked down on. Or they call their practice
samatha. It is essential to do samatha before vipassana, they say.
All this is silly. Don't bother to think about it in this way. Simply
do the practice and youfll see for yourself.


Q: Is it necessary to be able to enter absorption in our practice?

A: No, absorption is not necessary. You must establish a modicum
of tranquillity and one-pointedness of mind. Then you use this
to examine yourself. Nothing special is needed. If absorption
comes in your practice, this is OK too. Just don't hold on to it.
Some people get hung up with absorption. It can be great fun to
play with. You must know proper limits. If you are wise, then
you will know the uses and limitations of absorption, just as you
know the limitations of children verses grown men.


Q: Why do we follow the ascetic rules such as only eating out of our
bowls?

A: The ascetic precepts are to help us cut defilement. By following the
ones such as eating out of our bowls we can be more mindful of
our food as medicine. If we have no defilements, then it does not
matter how we eat. But here we use the form to make our practice
simple. The Buddha did not make the ascetic precepts necessary
for all monks, but he allowed them for those who wished to practice
strictly. They add to our outward discipline and thereby help
increase our mental resolve and strength. These rules are to be
kept for yourself. Don't watch how others practice. Watch your
own mind and see what is beneficial for you. The rule that we
must take whatever meditation cottage assigned to us is a similarly
helpful discipline. It keeps monks from being attached to
their dwelling place. If they go away and return, they must take
a new dwelling. This is our practice . not to cling to anything.


Q: If putting everything together in our bowls is important, why don't
you as a teacher do it yourself? Don't you feel it is important for
the teacher to set an example?

A: Yes, it is true, a teacher should set an example for his disciples. I
don't mind that you criticize me. Ask whatever you wish. But it
is important that you do not cling to the teacher. If I were absolutely
perfect in outward form, it would be terrible. You would
all be too attached to me. Even the Buddha would sometimes tell
his disciples to do one thing and then do another himself. Your
doubts in your teacher can help you. You should watch your own
reactions. Do you think it is possible that I keep some food out
of my bowl in dishes to feed the laymen who work around the
temple?
Wisdom is for yourself to watch and develop. Take from the
teacher what is good. Be aware of your own practice. If I am
resting while you must all sit up, does this make you angry? If I
call the color blue red or say that male is female, donft follow me
blindly.
One of my teachers ate very fast. He made noises as he ate. Yet
he told us to eat slowly and mindfully. I used to watch him and
get very upset. I suffered, but he didnft! I watched the outside.
Later I learned. Some people drive very fast but carefully. Others
drive slowly and have many accidents. Don't cling to rules, to
outer form. If you watch others at most ten percent of the time
and watch yourself ninety percent, this is the proper practice. At
first I used to watch my teacher Ajahn Tong Raht and had many
doubts. People even thought he was mad. He would do strange
things or get very fierce with his disciples. Outside he was angry,
but inside there was nothing. Nobody there. He was remarkable.
He stayed clear and mindful until the moment he died.
Looking outside the self is comparing, discriminating. You will
not find happiness that way. Nor will you find peace if you spend
your time looking for the perfect man or the perfect teacher. The
Buddha taught us to look at the Dhamma, the truth, not to look at
other people.


Q: How can we overcome lust in our practice? Sometimes I feel as if
I am a slave to my sexual desire.

A: Lust should be balanced by contemplation of loathesomeness. Attachment
to bodily form is one extreme and one should keep in
mind the opposite. Examine the body as a corpse and see the process
of decay or think of the parts of the body such as the lungs,
spleen, fat, feces, and so forth. Remember these and visualize
this loathesome aspect of the body when lust arises. This will
free you from lust.


Q: How about anger? What should I do when I feel anger arising?

A: You must use loving-kindness. When angry states of mind arise
in meditation, balance them by developing feelings of lovingkindness.
If someone does something bad or gets angry, don't
get angry yourself. If you do, you are being more ignorant than
they. Be wise. Keep in mind compassion, for that person is suffering.
Fill your mind with loving-kindness as if he were a dear
brother. Concentrate on the feeling of loving-kindness as a meditation
subject. Spread it to all beings in the world. Only through
loving-kindness is hatred overcome.
Sometimes you may see other monks behaving badly. You may
get annoyed. This is suffering unnecessarily. It is not yet our
Dhamma. You may think like this: He is not as strict as I am.
They are not serious meditators like us. Those monks are not
good monks. This is a great defilement on your part. Do not
make comparisons. Do not discriminate. Let go of your opinion
as watch your opinions and watch yourself. This is our Dhamma.
You can't possibly make everyone act as you wish or be like you.
This wish will only make you suffer. It is a common mistake
for meditators to make, but watching other people won't develop
wisdom. Simply examine yourself, your feelings. This is how
you will understand.


Q: I feel sleepy a great deal. It makes it hard to meditate.

A: There are many ways to overcome sleepiness. If you are sitting in
the dark, move to a lighted place. Open your eyes. Get up and
wash your face or take a bath. If you are sleepy, change postures.
Walk a lot. Walk backwards. The fear of running into things
will keep you awake. If this fails, stand still, clear the mind and
imagine it is full daylight. Or sit on the edge of a high cliff or
deep well. You won't dare sleep! If nothing works, then just
go to sleep. Lay down carefully and try to be aware until the
moment you fall asleep. Then as you awaken, get right up. Don't
look at the clock or roll over. Start mindfulness from the moment
you awaken. If you find yourself sleepy everyday, try to eat less.
Examine yourself. As soon as five more spoonfuls will make you
full, stop. Then take water until just properly full. Go and sit.
Watch your sleepiness and hunger. You must learn to balance
your eating. As your practice goes on you will feel naturally
more energetic and eat less. But you must adjust yourself.


Q: Why must we do so much prostrating here?

A: Prostrating is very important. It is an outward form that is part of
practice. This form should be done correctly. Bring the forehead
all the way to the floor. Have the elbows near the knees and the
palms of the hands on the floor about three inches apart. Prostrate
slowly, be mindful of your body. It is a good remedy for our conceit.
We should prostrate often. When you prostrate three times
you can keep in mind the qualities of the Buddha, the Dhamma
and the Sangha, that is, the qualities of mind of purity, radiance
and peace. So we use the outward form to train ourselves. Body
and mind become harmonious. Don't make the mistake of watching
how others prostrate. If young novices are sloppy or the aged
monks appear unmindful, this is not for you to judge. People can
be difficult to train. Some learn fast but others learn slowly. Judging
others will only increase your pride. Watch yourself instead.
Prostrate often, get rid of your pride.
Those who have really become harmonious with the Dhamma
get far beyond the outward form. Everything they do is a way
of prostrating. Walking, they prostrate; eating, they prostrate;
defecating, they prostrate. This is because they have got beyond
selfishness.


Q: What is the biggest problem of your new disciples?

A: Opinions. Views and ideas about all things. About themselves,
about practice, about the teachings of the Buddha. Many of those
who come here have a high rank in the community. There are
wealthy merchants or college graduates, teachers and government
officials. Their minds are filled with opinions about things.
They are too clever to listen to others. It is like water in a cup.
If a cup is filled with dirty, stale water, it is useless. Only after
the old water is thrown out can the cup become useful. You must
empty your minds of opinions, then you will see. Our practice
goes beyond cleverness and beyond stupidity. If you think, I am
clever, I am wealthy, I am important, I understand all about Buddhismh.
You cover up the truth of anatta or no-self. All you will
see is self, I, mine. But Buddhism is letting go of self. Voidness,
emptiness, Nibb Pana.


Q: Are defilements such as greed or anger merely illusory or are they
real?

A: They are both. The defilements we call lust or greed, or anger or
delusion, these are just outward names, appearances. Just as we
call a bowl large, small, pretty, or whatever. This is not reality. It
is the concept we create from craving. If we want a big bowl, we
call this one small. Craving causes us to discriminate. The truth,
though, is merely what is. Look at it this way. Are you a man?
You can say gyesh. This is the appearance of things. But really
you are only a combination of elements or a group of changing
aggregates. If the mind is free, it does not discriminate. No big
and small, no you and me. There is nothing: anatta, we say, or
non-self. Really, in the end there is neither atta nor anatta.


Q: Could you explain a little more about karma?
A: Karma is action. Karma is clinging. Body, speech, and mind all
make karma when we cling. We make habits. These can make us
suffer in the future. This is the fruit of our clinging, of our past
defilement. All attachment leads to making karma. Suppose you
were a thief before you became a monk. You stole, made others
unhappy, made your parents unhappy. Now you are a monk, but
when you remember how you made others unhappy, you feel bad
and suffer yourself even today. Remember, not only body, but
speech and mental action can make conditions for future results.
If you did some act of kindness in the past and remember it today,
you will be happy. This happy state of mind is the result of past
karma. All things are conditioned by cause . both long term and,
when examined, moment to moment. But you need not bother
to think about past, or present, or future. Merely watch the body
and mind. You must figure karma out for yourself. Watch your
mind. Practice and you will see clearly. Make sure, however, that
you leave the karma of others to them. Don't cling to and don't
watch others. If I take a poison, I suffer. No need for you to share
it with me! Take what is good that your teacher offers. Then you
can become peaceful, your mind will become like that of your
teacher. If you will examine it, you will see. Even if now you
donft understand, when you practice, it will become clear. You
will know by yourself. This is called practicing the Dhamma.
When we were young, our parents used to discipline us and get
angry. Really they wanted to help us. You must see it over the
long term. Parents and teachers criticize us and we get upset.
Later on we see why. After long practice you will know. Those
who are too clever leave after a short time. They never learn. You
must get rid of your cleverness. If you think yourself better than
others, you will only suffer. What a pity. No need to get upset.
Just watch.


Q: Sometimes it seems that since becoming a monk I have increased
my hardships and suffering.

A: I know that some of you have had a background of material comfort
and outward freedom. By comparison, now you live an austere
existence. Then in the practice, I often make you sit and wait for
long hours. Food and climate are different from your home. But
everyone must go through some of this. This is the suffering that
leads to the end of suffering. This is how you learn. When you
get angry and feel sorry for yourself, it is a great opportunity to
understand the mind. The Buddha called defilements our teachers.
All my disciples are like my children. I have only loving kindness
and their welfare in mind. If I appear to make you suffer, it
is for your own good. I know some of you are well-educated and
very knowledgeable. People with little education and worldly
knowledge can practice easily. But it is as if youWesterners have
a very large house to clean. When you have cleaned the house,
you will have a big living space. You can use the kitchen, the
library, the living room. You must be patient. Patience and endurance
are essential to our practice. When I was a young monk
I did not have it as hard as you. I knew the language and was
eating my native food. Even so, some days I despaired. I wanted
to disrobe or even commit suicide. This kind of suffering comes
from wrong views. When you have seen the truth, though, you
are free from views and opinions. Everything becomes peaceful.


Q: I have been developing very peaceful states of mind from meditation.
What should I do now?

A: This is good. Make the mind peaceful, concentrated. Use this concentration
to examine the mind and body. When the mind is not
peaceful, you should also watch. Then you will know true peace.
Why? Because you will see impermanence. Even peace must
be seen as impermanent. If you are attached to peaceful states
of mind you will suffer when you do not have them. Give up
everything, even peace.


Q: Did I hear you say that you are afraid of very diligent disciples?

A: Yes, thatfs right. I am afraid. I am afraid that they are too serious.
They try too hard, but without wisdom. They push themselves
into unnecessary suffering. Some of you are determined to become
enlightened. You grit your teeth and struggle all the time.
This is trying too hard. People are all the same. They don't know
the nature of things (san.khara ). All formations, mind and body,
are impermanent. Simply watch and don't cling.
Others think they know. They criticize, they watch, they judge.
Thatfs OK. Leave their opinions to them. This discrimination is
dangerous. It is like a road with a very sharp curve. If we think
others are worse or better or the same as us, we go off the curve.
If we discriminate, we will only suffer.


Q: I have been meditating many years now. My mind is open and
peaceful in almost all circumstances. Now I would like to try
to backtrack and practice high states of concentration or mind
absorption.

A: This is fine. It is beneficial mental exercise. If you have wisdom,
you will not get hung up on concentrated states of mind. It is the
same as wanting to sit for long periods. This is fine for training,
but really, practice is separate from any posture. It is a matter of
directly looking at the mind. This is wisdom. When you have
examined and understood the mind, then you have the wisdom to
know the limitations of concentration, or of books. If you have
practiced and understand not-clinging, you can then return to the
books. They will be like a sweet dessert. They can help you to
teach others. Or you can go back to practice absorption. You
have the wisdom to know not to hold on to anything.


Q: Would you review some of the main points of our discussion?

A: You must examine yourself. Know who you are. Know your body
and mind by simply watching. In sitting, in sleeping, in eating,
know your limits. Use wisdom. The practice is not to try to
achieve anything. Just be mindful of what is. Our whole meditation
is looking directly at the mind. You will see suffering, its
cause and its end. But you must have patience; much patience
and endurance. Gradually you will learn. The Buddha taught his
disciples to stay with their teachers for at least five years. You
must learn the values of giving, of patience and of devotion.
Don't practice too strictly. Don't get caught up with outward
form. Watching others is bad practice. Simply be natural and
watch that. Our monks' discipline and monastic rules are very
important. They create a simple and harmonious environment.
Use them well. But remember, the essence of the monksf discipline
is watching intention, examining the mind. You must have
wisdom. Don't discriminate. Would you get upset at a small tree
in the forest for not being tall and straight like some of the others?
This is silly. Don't judge other people. There are all varieties. No
need to carry the burden of wishing to change them all.
So, be patient. Practice morality. Live simply and be natural.
Watch the mind. This is our practice. It will lead you to unselfishness.
To peace.