A Tree in the Forest

Category: Ajahn Chah Bodhinyana

From Buddhist Encyclopedia

A Tree in a Forest is collection of similes taught by Ajahn Chah.

Ajahn Chah reminded us that the Buddha could only point out the way and could not do the practice for us, because the truth is something that cannot be put into words or given away. All the teachings, Ajahn Chah taught, "are merely similes and comparisons, means to help the mind see the truth. If we establish the Buddha within our mind, then we see everything, we contemplate everything, as no different from ourselves."

Many of the similes that Ajahn Chah himself used to teach came out of his vast experience of living in the forest. His practice was simply to watch, all the while being totally open and aware of everything that was happening both inside and outside himself. He would say that his practice was nothing special. He was, in his own words, like a tree in a forest, "A tree is as it is," he's say. And Ajahn Chah was as he was. But out of such "nothing specialness" came a profound understanding of himself and the world.

Ajahn Chah used to say, "The Dharma is revealing itself in every moment, but only when the mind is quiet can we understand what it is saying, for the Dharma teaches without words." Ajahn Chah had this uncanny ability to take that wordless Dharma and convey its truth to his listeners in the form of a simile that was fresh, easy to follow, sometimes humorous, sometimes poetic, but always striking a place in the heart where it would jar or inspire the most: "We are like maggots; life is like a falling leaf; our mind is like rain water."

The teachings of Ajahn Chah teem with similes and comparisons like these. We thought it would be a good idea to collect them all in the form of a book as a source of inspiration for those who may want some respite from the "heat" of the world and seek some rest in the cool and abundant shade of a tree in the forest.

Similes

We have to talk about the Dharma like this, using similes, because the Dharma has no form. Is it square or is it round? You can't say. The only way to talk about it is through similes like these.

All the teachings are merely similes and comparisons, means to help the mind see the truth.

A Hundred of Everything

People only think about the pleasure of acquiring and don't consider the trouble involved. When I was a novice I used to talk to the lay people about the happiness of wealth and possessions, having servants and so on - a hundred male servants, a hundred female servants, a hundred cows, a hundred buffaloes . . . a hundred of everything. The lay people really liked that. But can you imagine looking after a hundred buffaloes, or a hundred cows, not to mention the two hundred servants? Would that be fun? People do not consider this side of things. They have the desire to possess, to have the cows, the buffaloes and the servants, hundreds of them. But I say fifty buffaloes would be too much. Just twining the rope for all those brutes would already be one big headache! But people don't consider this. They just want to acquire as much as they can.

Aimless Wanderer

When we have no real home, we're like an aimless wanderer out on the road, going this way for a while and then that way, stopping for a while and then setting off again. Until we return to our real home, whatever we do we feel ill at ease, just like somebody who's left his village to go on a journey. Only when he gets home again can he really relax and be comfortable.

Nowhere in the world is any real peace to be found. That's the nature of the world. Look within yourself and find it there instead. When we think of the Buddha and how truly he spoke, we feel how worthy he is of reverence and respect. Whenever we see the truth of something, we see his teachings, even if we've never actually practiced Dharma. But even if we have knowledge of his teachings, have studied and practiced them but still have not seen their truth, then we're still homeless like the aimless wanderer.

Ants' Nest

When we sit in meditation we want the mind to become peaceful, but it doesn't. We don't want to think, but we think. It's like a person who is sitting on an ants' nest. The ants just keep on biting him. Why? Because when the mind is in the world, then even though a person is sitting still with his eyes closed, all he sees is the world. Pleasure, sorrow, anxiety, confusion, they all arise, because he still hasn't realized Dharma. If the mind is like this, the meditator can't endure the worldly Dharmas, he can't investigate. It's just the same as if he were sitting on an ants' nest. The ants are going to bite because he's right on their home. So what should he do? He should look for a way to get rid of them.

Apple Orchard

If you ask people why they were born, they probably would have a lot of trouble answering, because they're sunk in the world of the senses and sunk in becoming. For example, suppose we had an orchard of apple trees that we were particularly fond of. That's becoming for us if we don't reflect with wisdom. How so? Suppose our orchard contained a hundred apple trees and we considered them to be our trees. We'd then be born as a worm in every single one of them, and we'd bore into every one of them. Even though our human body may still be back at the house, we'd wend out tentacles into every one of those trees. It's becoming because of our clinging to the idea that those trees are our own, that that orchard is our own. If someone were to take an axe and cut on of the trees down, we would die along with the tree. We'd get furious and would have to go and set things straight. We'd fight and even kill over it. The quarrelling is the birth. We are born right at the point where we consider anything to be our own, born from the becoming. Even if we had a thousand apple trees, if someone were to cut down just one, it would be like cutting the owner down. Whatever we cling to, we are born right there, we exist right there.

Apples

You can begin doing away with selfishness through giving. If people are selfish they do not feel good about themselves. And yet people tend to be very selfish without realizing how it affects them. You can experience this at any time. Notice it when you are hungry. If you get a couple of apples and then the opportunity arises to share them with someone else, a friend, for instance, you think it over. Really, the intention to give is there, but you only want to give away the smaller one. To give the big one, well, it would be a shame. It's hard to thin straight. You tell your friend to go ahead and take one but then you say, "Take this!" and give him the smaller one. This is one form of selfishness, but people don't often notice it. Have you ever seen this? In giving, you really have to go against the grain. Even though you want to give the smaller fruit, you must force yourself to give the bigger one. Of course once you've given it to your friend, it feels so good. Training the mind by going against the grain in this way requires self-discipline. You must know how to give and how to give up and not nurture your selfishness. This is called going against the grain in a correct way.

Banana Peel

When you see things in the world like banana peels that have no great value to you, then you're free to walk in the world without being moved, without being troubled, without being hurt in any way by all the various kinds of things that come and pass away, whether pleasant or unpleasant. This is the path that leads you to freedom.

Blind from Birth

To know the taste of Dharma, you will have to put the teaching into practice yourself. The Buddha didn't talk about the fruits of the practice in much detail because it's something one can't convey in words. It would be like trying to describe the different colors to someone who has been blind from birth. You couldn't do it. You could try, but it wouldn't serve much purpose.

Blind Man

Both the body and mind are constantly arising and ceasing, conditions are in a state of constant turmoil. The reason we can't see this in line with the truth is because we keep believing in the untrue. It's like being guided by a blind man. How can we travel with him in safety? A blind man will only lead us into forests and thickets. How could he lead us to safety when he can't see? In the same way, our mind is deluded by conditions, creating suffering in the search for happiness, creating difficulty in the search for peace. Such a mind can have only problems and suffering. Really, we want to get rid of suffering and difficulty, but instead we create those very things. All we can do is complain. We create bad causes, and the truth of appearances and conditions and try to cling to them.

Bottle of Medicine

We can compare practice to a patient who does not take the medicine that his doctor has left for him. Although detailed instructions have been written on the bottle, all the patient does is read them and doesn't actually take the medicine. And before he dies, he may complain bitterly that the doctor wasn't any good; that the medicine didn't cure him. He may think that the doctor was a fake or that the medicine was worthless, yet he had only spent his time examining the bottle and reading its instructions instead of actually taking the medicine. If he had followed the doctor's advice, however, and taken the medicine regularly as prescribed, he would have recovered.

Doctors prescribe medicine to eliminate diseases from the body. The teachings of the Buddha are prescribed to cure diseases of the mind and to bring it back to its natural healthy state. So the Buddha can be considered to be a doctor who prescribes cures for the illnesses of the mind, which are found in each one of us without exception. When you see these illnesses of the mind, does it not make sense to look to the Dharma as support, as medicine to cure your illnesses?

Bamboo Shoots

No matter how much you like something you should reflect that it's uncertain. Like bamboo shoots: they may seem to be so delicious but you must tell yourself "not sure!" If you want to test out if it's sure or not, try eating them every day. Eventually you'll complain: "This doesn't taste so good anymore!" Then you'll prefer another kind of food and be sure that food is delicious. But you'll find out later that's "not sure" too. Everything is just "not sure."

Big Stick, Little Stick

People aren't able to see themselves outside of their problems because of wrong view. They're like the man who throws away a small stick and picks up a bigger one, thinking that the bigger stick will be lighter.

Body and Its Charms

We are deluded by the body and its charms, but really it is foul. Suppose we didn't take a bath for a week. Could we bear to be close to each other? We'd really smell bad. When we sweat a lot, such as when we are working hard together, the smell is awful. We go back home and rub ourselves down with soap and water, and the fragrance of the soap replaces our bad body odor. Rubbing sweet-smelling soap on the body may make it seem fragrant, but actually the bad smell of the body is still there, temporarily suppressed. When the smell of the soap is gone, the smell of the body comes back again. Now we tend to think the body is beautiful, delightful and strong. We tend to think that we will never age, get sick or die. We are charmed and fooled by the body and so we are ignorant of the true refuge within ourselves. The true place of refuge is the mind.

Boiled Rice

The teachings of the Buddha can help us to solve our problems, but first we must practice and develop wisdom. It's like wanting to have boiled rice. We must first build a fire, wait until the water comes to a boil, and let the rice cook for as long as it needs to. We just can't throw rice into a pot of water and have boiled rice right away.

Brick Oven

If some sensation makes an impression on the mind, don't simply disregard it. It's like baking bricks. Have you ever seen a brick oven? They build a fire up about two or three feet in front of the oven so that all the smoke gets drawn into it, and none is left outside. All the heat then goes into the oven and the job gets done quickly. People who practice the Dharma should be like a brick oven. All their feelings will then be drawn inwards to be turned into Right View. Seeing sights, hearing sounds, smelling odors, tasting flavors, and so on, the mind draws everything inwards. Feelings thus become experiences which give rise to wisdom.

Bridge

Let your mind be like a bridge which is steady, and not like the water that rises and falls underneath it.

Buddha Statue

Enlightenment does not mean to become dead like a Buddha statue. An enlightened person still thinks, however he knows that the thinking process is impermanent, unsatisfactory, and empty. Through practice we can see these things clearly. We need to investigate suffering and stop its causes. If not, wisdom can never arise. We must see things exactly as they are - feelings are just feelings, thoughts are just thoughts. This is the way to end all our problems.

Building a House and Dyeing Cloth

Only wanting to make merit without developing virtue is like building a beautiful house without preparing the area first. It wouldn't be long before the house would collapse. Or it's like wanting to dye a piece of cloth without washing it first. Most people do it like that. Without looking at the cloth, they dip it into the dye straight away. If the cloth is dirty, dyeing it makes it come out even worse than before. Think about it. Would dyeing a dirty old rag look good?

Yet this is how people are. They just want to perform good deeds, but don't want to give up wrongdoing. They still haven't understood that it is only when the mind is free of impurities that the mind can be peaceful. You have to look into yourself, look at the faults in your actions, speech and thoughts. Where else are you going to practice but in your actions, speech and thoughts?

Buffalo

The Buddha really taught the truth.  If you contemplate it, there is nowhere you can argue with him.  But we people are like a buffalo.  If it's not tied down by all four legs, it'll not let itself be given any medicine.  If tied down and it can do anything - aha! - now if you want to, you can go ahead and give it medicine and it can't struggle away.  At this extent it will give up.  We people are similar.  Only when we are completely bound up in suffering will we let go of our delusions.  If we can still struggle away, we will not give up very easily.

Child Playing

When we have contemplated the nature of the heart many times, we will come to understand that the heart's ways are just as they are and can't be otherwise. They make up the nature of the heart. If we see this clearly, then we can detach from thoughts and feelings. And we don't have to add on anything more if we constantly tell ourselves that "that's just the way it is." When the heart truly understands, it lets go of everything. Thinking and feeling will be deprived of power.

It is like at first being annoyed by a child who likes to play in ways that annoy us so much we scold or spank him. But later we understand that it's natural for a child to play and act like that, so we leave him alone. We let go and our troubles are over. Why are they over? Because we now accept the natural ways of children. Our outlook has changed and we now accept the true nature of things. We let go and our heart becomes more peaceful. We now have right understanding.

Cobra

Mental activity is like a deadly, poisonous cobra. If we don't interfere with a cobra, it simply goes its own way. Even though it may be extremely poisonous, we are not affected by it. We don't go near it, or take hold of it, and so it doesn't bite us. The cobra does what is natural for a cobra to do. That's the way it is. If you are clever, you'll leave it alone. Likewise, you let be that which is not good - you let it be according to its own nature. You also let be that which is good. Don't grab at liking and disliking, just as you wouldn't grab at the cobra. One who is clever will have this kind of attitude towards the various moods that arise in his mind. When goodness arises, we let it be good. We understand its nature. In the same, we let be the non-good. We let it be according to its nature. We don't take hold of it because we don't want anything. We don't want evil. We don't want good. We don't want heaviness or lightness, happiness or suffering. When our wanting is at an end, peace is firmly established.

Coconut Shells

Desire is a defilement. But we must first have desire in order to start practicing the Way. Suppose you went to buy coconuts at the market and while carrying them back home someone asked: "Why did you buy those coconuts?" "I bought them to eat," you reply. "Are you going to eat the shells, too?" "Of course not!" "I don't believe you," he insists. "If you're not going to eat the shells, then why did you buy them?" Well, what do you say? How are you going to answer that question?

We practice with desire to begin with. If we didn't have desire, we wouldn't practice. 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? They're useful for wrapping the coconuts in. If after eating the coconuts you throw the shells away, there is no problem. Our practice is the same. We keep desire first, just like we do with the coconut shells, for it's still not time to "throw" it away. This is how the practice is. If somebody wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, that's their business. We know what we're doing.

Cooking

At first, we train the body and speech to be free of unwholesomeness. This is virtue. Some people think that to have virtue you must memorize Pali phrases and chant all day and night, but really all you have to do is make your body and speech blameless, and that's virtue. It's not so difficult to understand. It's just like cooking food - put in a little bit of this and a little bit of that until it's just right and it's delicious. And once it's delicious, you don't have to put anything else into it. The right ingredients have already been added. In the same way, taking care that our actions and speech are proper will give us delicious virtue, virtue that is just right.

Crazy Man

Suppose one morning, you're walking to work and a man starts yelling insults at you. As soon as you hear his insults, your mind gets agitated. You don't feel so good, you feel angry and hurt, and you want to get even! A few days later, another man comes to your house and tells you, "Hey, that man who abused you the other day, he’s crazy! Has been for years! He abuses everybody like that. Nobody takes notice of anything that he says." As soon as you hear this, you are suddenly relieved. That anger and hurt that you've pent up within you all these days melt away completely. Why? Because now you know the truth. Before, you didn't. You thought that man was normal, so you were angry at him and that caused you to suffer. As soon as you found out the truth, however, everything changed: "Oh, he's mad! That explains everything!"

When you understand the truth, you feel fine because you know for yourself. Understanding, you can then let go. If you don't know the truth, you cling right there. When you thought that the man who abused you was normal, for example, you could have killed him. But when you found out the truth, that he was mad, you felt much better. This is knowledge of the truth. Someone who sees the Dharma has a similar experience. When attachment, aversion and delusion disappear, they disappear in the same way. As long as we don't know these things, we think, "What can I do? I have so much greed and aversion." This is not clear knowledge. It's just the same as when we thought the madman was sane. Until we learned that he was really otherwise, we weren't able to let go of our hurt and anger. Only when the mind sees for itself, can it uproot and relinquish attachment.

Cup of Water

Many of those who came to see me have a high standing in the community. Among them are merchants, 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 a cup of water. If a cup is filled with stale, dirty water, it is useless. Only after the old water has been thrown out can the cup become useful again. You must empty your minds of opinions, then you will see. Our practice goes beyond cleverness and stupidity. If you think that you are clever, wealthy, important, or an expert in Buddhism, you cover up the truth of non-self - I and mine. But Buddhism is letting go of self. Those who are too clever will never learn. They must first get rid of their cleverness, first empty their "cup".

Dam

The training in concentration is the practice to make the mind firm and steady. This brings about peacefulness of mind. Usually our minds are moving and restless, hard to control. The mind follows sense distractions wildly, just like water flowing this way and that. Men, though, know how to control water so that it is of greater use to mankind. Men are clever. They know how to dam water, make large reservoirs and canals - all of this merely to channel water and make it more usable, so that it doesn't run wild and eventually settle down into a few low spots, its usefulness wasted. So, too, the mind that is dammed and controlled, trained constantly, will be of immeasurable benefit. The Buddha himself taught, "The mind that has been controlled brings true happiness, so train your minds well for the highest benefits." Similarly, the animals we see around us - elephants, horses, buffalos, and so on - must be trained before they can be useful for work. Only after they have been trained is their strength of benefit to us.

In the same way, the mind that has been trained will bring many more blessings than an untrained mind. The Buddha and his noble disciples all started out in the same way as us - with untrained minds. But, afterwards, look how they became the subjects of reverence for us all. And see how much benefit we can gain from their teachings. Indeed see what benefits have come to the entire world from these men who had gone through the training of the mind to reach the freedom beyond. The mind controlled and trained is better equipped to help us in all professions, in all situations. The disciplined mind will keep our lives balanced, make work easier, and develop and nurture reason to govern our actions. In the end, our happiness will increase accordingly as we follow the proper mind training.

Deep Hole

Most people just want to perform good deeds to make merit, but they don't want to give up wrongdoing. It's just that "the hole is too deep." Suppose there was a hole and there was something at the bottom of it. Now anyone who put his hand into the hole and didn't reach the bottom would say the hole was too deep. If a hundred or a thousand people put their hands down the hole, they'd all say, "The hole is too deep!" No one would say that his arm was too short. We have to come back to ourselves. We have to take a step back and look at ourselves. Don't blame the hole for being too deep. Turn around and look at your own arm. If you can see this, then you will make progress on the spiritual path and will find happiness.

Dirty Clothes

It is only natural that when our body is dirty and we put on dirty clothes that our mind will not be light and cheerful but will feel uncomfortable and depressed. So, too, when morality is not practiced, our bodily actions and speech are dirty. This causes the mind to be unhappy, uncomfortable, and distressed. We become separated from right practice and this prevents us from penetrating into the essence of the Dharma in our mind. Wholesome bodily actions and speech themselves depend on the mind properly trained, since mind orders body and speech. Therefore, we must continue to practice by training our minds.

Drinking Glass

How can you find right understanding? I can answer you simply by using this glass of water I am holding. It appears to us as clean and useful, something to drink from and keep for a long time. Right understanding is to see this as broken glass, as if it has already been shattered. Sooner or later, it will be shattered. If you keep this understanding while you are using it - that all it is is a combination of elements which come together in this form and then break apart - then no matter what happens to the glass, you will have no problem. The body is like the glass. It is also going to break apart and die. You have to understand that. Yet when you do, it doesn't mean you should go and kill yourself, just as you shouldn't take the glass and break it or throw it away. The glass is something to use until it falls apart in its own natural way. In the same way, the body is a vehicle to use until goes its own way. Your task is to see what the natural way of things is. This understanding can make you free in all the changing circumstances of the entire world.

Drunk

Anyone attached to the senses is like a drunkard whose liver is not yet cooked. He does not know when he has had enough. He continues to indulge and drink carelessly. He's caught badly and later suffers illness and pain.

Duck

Your practice is like raising a duck. Your duty is to feed it and give it water. Whether the duck grows fast or slowly is its business, not yours. Let it go and just do your own work. Your business is to practice. If it's fast or slow, just know it, don't try to force it. This kind of practice has a good foundation.

Empty Space

People want to go to Nibbana but when you tell them that there is nothing there, they begin to have second thoughts. But there's nothing there, nothing at all! Look at the roof and floor here. Think of the roof as a "becoming" and the floor as a "becoming", too. You can stand on the roof and you can stand on the floor, but in the empty space between the roof and the floor there is no place to stand. Where there is no becoming, that's where there's emptiness, and to put it bluntly, we say that Nibbana is this emptiness. People hear this and they back up a bit. They don't want to go. They're afraid that they won't see their children or relatives. That's why whenever we bless the laity by wishing them long life, beauty, and strength, they become very happy. However, if we start talking about letting go and about emptiness they don't want to hear about it. But have you ever seen a very old person with a beautiful complexion, or a lot of strength, or a lot of happiness? No! But we wish them long life; beauty, happiness and strength, and they are all pleased. They're attached to becoming, to the cycle of birth and death. They prefer to stand on the roof or on the floor. Few are they who dare to stand in the empty space between.

Family

If you want to find Dharma, it has nothing to do with the forest with mountains or the caves. It's only in the heart, and has its own language of experience. There is a great difference between concepts and direct experience. With a glass of hot water, whoever puts his finger into it will have the same experience - hot - which can be expressed in as many different words as there are different languages. Similarly, whoever looks deeply into the heart will have the same experience, no matter what his nationality, culture, or language may be. If in your heart you come to that taste of truth, of Dharma, then you become like one big family - like mother and father, sisters and brothers - because you've tasted that essence of the heart which is the same for all.

Fertilizer

Our defilements are like fertilizer for our practice. It's the same as taking filthy stuff like chicken manure and buffalo dung to fertilize our fruit trees so that the fruit will be sweet and abundant. In suffering, there is happiness; in confusion there is calm.

Fire

Nothing happens immediately, so in the beginning we can't see any results from our practice. This is like the example that I have often given you of the man who tries to make fire by rubbing two sticks together. "They say there's fire here!" He says, looking at his sticks. He then begins rubbing energetically. He rubs on and on, but soon becomes impatient. He wants to have that fire, but the fire just won't come, so he gets discouraged and stops to rest for while. When he starts again the initial heat that he had worked up has already been lost so the going is slow. He just doesn't keep at long enough. He rubs and rubs until he is tired and stops altogether. Not only is he tired, but he becomes more and more discouraged. "There is no fire here!" He finally decides and gives up completely. Actually he was doing the work, but there wasn't enough heat to start the fire. The fire was there all the time, but he didn't carry on to the end. Likewise with the mind. Until we are able to reach peace, the mind will continue in its confusion. For this reason the teacher says, "Just keep on doing it. Keep on with the practice!" Maybe we think, "If I don't yet understand, how can I do it?" Until we're able to practice properly, wisdom won't arise. So we say just keep on with it.

Fish

We don't want desire, but if there is no desire, why practice? We must have desire to practice. Buddha had desire too. It's there all the time, but it's only a condition of the mind. Those with wisdom, however, have desire but no attachment. Our desires are like catching a big fish in a net - we must wait until the fish loses strength and then we can catch it easily. But all the time we must keep on watching it so that it doesn't escape.

Fish and Frog

If you attach to the senses, you're the same as a fish caught on a hook. When the fisherman comes, you can struggle all you want, but you won't be able to get loose. Actually you're not caught like a fish, but more like a frog. A frog gulps down the whole hook right to its guts. A fish just gets it caught in its mouth.

Fish Trap

If you see clearly the harm in the benefit of something, you won't have to wait for others to tell you about it. Consider the story of the fisherman who finds something in his fish trap. He knows something is in it because he can hear it flopping about inside. Thinking it's a fish; he reaches his hand into the trap, only to grab hold of a different kind of animal. He can't see it, so he's not sure what it is. It could be an eel, but it could also be a snake. If he throws it away, he may regret it, for if it turns out to be in eel, he'll have lost something nice for dinner. On the other hand, if he keeps on holding onto it and it turns out to be a snake, it may bite him. He's just not sure. But his desire is so strong that he holds on, just in case it's an eel. The minute he brings it out and sees that it's a snake, however, he doesn't hesitate to fling it away from himself. He doesn't have to wait for someone to call out, "Hey, it's a snake! Let go!" The site of the snake tells him what to do more clearly than words could ever do. Why? Because he sees the danger - snakes can bite and make you very sick or kill you. Who has to tell him about that? In the same way, if we practice until we see things as they are, we won't meddle with things that are harmful.

Fisherman

Our practice of contemplation will lead us to understanding. Let us take the example of a fisherman pulling in his net with a big fish in it. How do you think he feels when pulling it in again? If he's afraid that the fish will escape, he'll rush and start to struggle with the net, grabbing and tugging at it. In this way, before he knows it, the big fish will have escaped. The fisherman mustn't try to hard. In the old days, they taught that we should do it gradually, carefully gathering it in without losing it. This is how it is in our practice. We gradually feel our way with it, carefully gathering it in without losing it. Sometimes it happens that we don't feel like practicing. Maybe we don't want to look, or maybe we don't want to know, but we keep on with it. We continue feeling for it. This is the practice. If we feel like doing it, we do it. If we don't feel like doing it, we do it just the same. We just keep on doing it. If we are enthusiastic about our practice, the power of our faith will give us the energy needed to practice, but we will still be without wisdom. Being energetic alone won't make us benefit much from our practice. On the contrary, after practicing energetically for long time, the feeling that we are not going to find the Way may arise. We may feel that we cannot find peace, or that we're not sufficiently equipped to do the practice. Or maybe we feel that this Way just isn't possible anymore. So we give up! At this point, we must be very, very careful. We must use patience and endurance. It's just like pulling in the big fish - we gradually feel our way with it, we carefully pull it in. The struggle won't be too difficult, so continue to pull it in without stopping. Eventually, after some time, the fish becomes tired and stops fighting and we're able to catch it easily. Usually this is how it happens. We practice gradually and carefully, gathering it together. It's in this manner that we do our contemplation.

Flashlight

In Buddhism we are endlessly hearing about letting go and about not clinging to anything. What does this mean? It means to take hold of but not to cling. Take this flashlight, for example. We wonder: "What is this?" So we pick it up: "Oh, it's a flashlight." Then we put it down again. We take hold of things, even of wanting, in this way. If we didn't take hold of wanting, what could we do? We couldn't do walking meditation or anything else. It's wanting, yes, a defilement, that's true, but later on that leads to perfection. So we must take hold of things first. It is like coming here. First you had to want to come here. If you didn't want to, you wouldn't be here today. We do things because of wanting, but when wanting arises, we don't cling to it, just like we don't cling to that flashlight - "What's this?" We pick it up. "Oh, it's a flashlight." We then put it down again. This is what "holding but not clinging" means. We know and then we let go. We don't foolishly cling to things, but we "hold" them with wisdom and then let them go. Good or bad, we let them all go.

Freeway

Not having full, clear knowledge of the true nature of things, we will go on thinking that we are the sankharas or that we are happiness and unhappiness. The truth is that we can't force things to follow our desires. They follow the way of Nature.

A simple comparison is this: Suppose you go and sit in the middle of a freeway with the cars and trucks speeding down toward you. You can't get angry at the cars, shouting, "Don't drive over here! Don't drive over here!" It's a freeway. You can't tell them that. So what can you do? You get off the road. The road is the place where cars run. If you don't want the cars to be there, you suffer. It's the same with [sankhara]]s. We say they disturb us, like when we sit in meditation and hear a sound. We think, "Oh, that sound's bothering me!" If we understand that the sound bothers us, then we suffer accordingly. If we investigate a little deeper, we will see that it's we who go out and disturb the sound. The sound is simply sound. If we understand it in this way, then there's nothing more to it. We leave the sound alone. We see that the sound is one thing and we are another. This is real knowledge of the truth. We see both sides, so we have peace. If we see only one side there is suffering. Once we see both sides, then we follow the Middle Way.

This is the right practice of the mind. This is what we call straightening out our understanding. In the same way, impermanence and death are the nature of all sankharas, but we don't want it that way. We want the opposite to be true. We want to find truth within the things that aren't true. Whenever someone sees like this and clings to the sankharas as being himself, he suffers. The Buddha told us to contemplate this.

Frog

The more you neglect the practice, and the more you neglect going to the monastery to listen to the Teachings, the more your mind will sink down into a bog, like a frog going into a hole. Later when someone comes along with a hook, the frog's days are over. He doesn't have a chance. All he can do is stretch out his neck and be caught. So watch out you don't back yourself up into a hole. Someone may just come along with a hook and pull you up. At home, being pestered by your children and grandchildren, and possessions, you are even worse off than the frog! You don't know how to detach yourself from them. When old age, sickness and death come along, what will you do? This is the hook that's going to catch you. Which way will you turn?

Fruit Tree

When a fruit tree is in bloom, a strong gust of wind will blow some of its blossoms to the ground. Those that don't fall will eventually grow into small green fruit. But then another gust comes and some of them will fall, too. As for the rest, they will grow to become fruit nearly ripe, or even fully ripe, before they fall.

And so it is with people. Like flowers and fruit in the wind, they, too, fall in different stages of life. Some people die while still in the womb, others within only a few days after birth. Some people live for a few years, then die, never having reached maturity. Some die in their youth. Still others reach a ripe old age before they die. When reflecting upon people, consider the nature of fruit in the wind - both are uncertain. Our minds are also uncertain. A mental impression arises, draws and blows at the mind, and then the mind falls - just like fruit.

The Buddha understood this uncertain nature of things. He observed the phenomena of fruit in the wind and reflected upon the monks and novices who were his disciples. He found that they, too, were essentially of the same nature - uncertain! How could it be otherwise? This is just the way of all things.

Garbage Pit

If your mind becomes quiet and concentrated, it is an important tool to use. But if you're sitting just to get concentrated so you can feel happy and pleasant, they you're wasting your time. The practice is to sit and let your mind become still and concentrated, and then use that quiet concentration to examine the nature of the mind and body. If you make the mind simply quiet with no investigation, however, then for that time it's peaceful and there is no defilement, but that is like taking a stone and covering up a smelly garbage pit. When you take the stone away, it's still full of smelly garbage. You must use your concentration, not to attain temporary bliss, but to accurately examine the nature of the mind and body. This is what actually frees you.

Gift

We should investigate the body within the body. Whatever's in the body, go ahead and look at it. If we just see the outside, it's not clear. We see hair, nails, and so on and they are just pretty things that entice us. So the Buddha taught us to look at the inside of the body, to see the body within the body. What is the body? Look closely and see! We will see even though it is within us, we've never seen it. Wherever we go we carry it with us, but we still don't know it at all. It's as if we go and visit some relatives at their house and they give us a gift. We take it and put it in our bag and then leave without opening it to see what is inside. When at last we open it we find it is full of poisonous snakes! Our body is like that. If we just see the shell of it, we say it's fine and beautiful. We forget ourselves. We forget impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and not-self. If we look within this body, it's really repulsive. There's nothing beautiful in it. If we look according to reality, without trying to sugar things over, we'll see that it's really sad and wearisome. Dispassion will then arise. This feeling of disinterest does not come from feeling an aversion toward the world. It's simply our mind clearing up, our mind letting go. We see all things as not being substantial or dependable. However we want them to be, they just go their own way, regardless. Things that are unstable are unstable. Things that are not beautiful are not beautiful.

So the Buddha said that when we experience sights, sounds, tastes, smells, bodily feelings or mental states, we should let them go. Whether happiness or unhappiness, they're all the same. So let them go!

Grass

You must contemplate in order to find peace. What people usually mean whenever they say peace is only the calming down of the mind and not the calming down of the defilements. The defilements are simply being temporarily subdued, just like grass being covered by a stone. If you take the stone away, the grass will grow back again in a short time. The grass hadn't really died; it was just being suppressed. It's the same when sitting in meditation. The mind is calm, but the defilements are not really calm. Therefore samadhi is not a sure thing. To find real peace you must develop wisdom. Samadhi is one kind of peace, like the stone covering the grass. This is only a temporary peace. The peace of wisdom is like putting the stone down and just leaving it there. In this way the grass can't possibly grow back again. This is real peace, the calming of the defilements, the sure peace that results from wisdom.

Hand

Those who study theory and those who practice meditation misunderstand each other. Usually those who emphasize study say things like, "Monks who only practice meditation just follow their own opinions, they have no basis in their teaching." Actually, in one sense, these two ways of study and practice are exactly the same thing. We can understand this better if we consider the front and back of our hand. If we hold our hand out, it seems like the back of our hand has disappeared. Actually the back of our hand hasn't gone anywhere. It's merely hidden underneath. We should keep this in mind when we consider practice. If we think that it has "disappeared," we'll go off to study, hoping to get results. But it doesn't matter how much we study the Dharma, we'll never understand it if we don't know it in accordance with Truth. If we do understand the real nature of Dharma, then we begin to let go. This is surrendering, removing attachment, not clinging anymore, or if there is still clinging, it diminishes as time goes by. So study and practice are really just two sides of the same hand.

Hole

At times it may seem to some of you that I contradict myself when I teach, but the way I teach is very simple. It is as if I see someone coming down a road he isn't familiar with but which I have traveled on many times before. I look up and see him about to fall into a hole on the right-hand side of the road, so I call out to him to go left. Likewise, if I see someone else about to fall into a hole on the left, I call out to him to go right. The instructions are different, but I teach them to travel in the same direction on the same road. I teach them to let go of both extremes and come back to the center where they will arrive at the true Dharma.

House

All my disciples are like my children. I have only loving-kindness for them and care for their welfare. 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 world knowledge can practice easily. But people with a lot of knowledge are like someone who has a very large house to clean. They have a lot to do. But when the house has been cleaned, they will have a big, comfortable living space. In the meantime, be patient. Patience and endurance are essential to our practice.

Housewife

Don't be like a housewife washing the dishes with a scowl on her face. She's so intent on cleaning the dishes that she doesn't realize her own mind is dirty! Have you ever seen this? She only sees the dirty dishes. She's looking too far away from herself, isn't she? Some of you have probably experienced this, I'd say. This is where you have to look. People concentrate on cleaning the dishes, but they let their minds go dirty. This is not good. They're forgetting themselves.

Jackal

The Buddha and his disciples once saw a jackal run out of the forest they were staying in. It stood still for a while, then it ran into the underbrush, and then out again. Then it ran into a tree hollow, then out again. One minute it stood, the next it ran, then it lay down, then it jumped up. The jackal had the mange. When it stood, the mange would eat into its skin, so it would run. Running, it was still uncomfortable, so it would stop. Standing, it was still uncomfortable, so it would lie down. Then it would jump up again, running to the underbrush, the tree hollow, never staying still.

The Buddha said, "Monks, did you see that jackal this afternoon? Standing, it suffered. Lying down, it suffered. It blamed standing for its discomfort. It blamed sitting. It blamed running and lying down. It blamed the tree, the underbrush, and the cave. In fact, the problem was with none of those things. The problem was with his mange." We are just the same as the jackal. Our discontent is due to wrong view. Because we don't exercise sense restraint, we blame our suffering on externals. Whether we live in Thailand, America or England, we aren't satisfied. Why not? Because we still have wrong view. Just that! So wherever we go, we aren't content. But just as that jackal would be content wherever it went as soon as its mange was cured, so would we be content wherever we went once we cured ourselves of wrong view.

Knife

A knife has a blade, a spine and a handle. Can you lift up only the blade? Can you lift up only the handle? The handle, the spine and the blade are all parts of the same knife. When you pick up the knife, all three parts come up at the same time. In the same way, if you pick up that which is good, the bad must follow. People search for goodness and try to throw away evil, but they don't study that which is neither good nor evil. If you don't study this, then you won't have real understanding. If you pick up goodness, badness follows. If you pick up happiness, suffering follows. Train the mind until it is above good and evil. That's when the practice is finished.

Knot

We contemplate happiness and unhappiness as uncertain and impermanent and understand that all the various feelings we experience are not lasting and not to be clung to. We see things in this way, because we have wisdom. We understand that things are impermanent according to their own nature. If we have this kind of understanding, it's like taking hold of one strand of a rope that makes a knot and pulling it in the right direction. The knot will then loosen and begin to untangle. It'll no longer be so tight and tense.

This is similar to understanding that things don't always have to be the way they've always been. Before, we felt that things had to be a certain way, and in so doing, we pulled the knot tighter and tighter. This tightness is suffering. Living that way is very tense. So we loosen the knot a little and relax. Why do we loosen it? Because it's tight! If we don't cling to it, then we can loosen it. It's not a condition that must always be that way. We use the teaching of impermanence as our basis. We see that both happiness and unhappiness are not permanent. We see them as not dependable. There's absolutely nothing that is permanent. With this kind of understanding, we gradually stop believing in the various moods and feelings that come up in our mind. Wrong understanding will decrease in the same degree that we stop believing in them. This is what is meant by undoing the knot. It continues to become looser. Attachment will be gradually uprooted.

Ladle

If you listen to the Dharma teachings but don't practice, you're like a ladle in a soup pot. The ladle is in the soup pot every day, but it doesn't know the taste of the soup. You must reflect and meditate.

Leaking Roof

Most of us just talk about practice without having really done it. This is like the man whose roof is leaking on one side so that he sleeps on the other side of the house. When the sunshine comes in on that side, he rolls over to the other side, all the time thinking, "When will I ever get a decent house like everyone else?" If the whole roof leaks, then he just gets up and leaves. This is not the way to do things, but that's how most people are.

Leaves

Right now we are sitting in a peaceful forest. Here, if there's no wind, the leaves remain still. When a wind blows, they flap and flutter. The mind is the same. When it contacts a mental impression, it, too, flaps and flutters. According to the nature of that mental impression. And the less we know of Dharma, the more the mind will continually pursue mental impressions. Feeling happy, it succumbs to happiness. Feeling suffering, it succumbs to suffering. It's in a constant flap.

Letter

Just know what is happening in your mind - not happy or sad about it, not attached. If you suffer, see it, know it, and be empty. It's like a letter - you have to open it before you can know what's in it.

Log

If we cut a log of wood and throw it into a river, it floats downstream. If that log doesn't rot or get stuck on one of the banks of the river, it will finally reach the ocean. Likewise, the mind that practices the Middle Way and doesn't attach to either extreme of sensual indulgence or self-mortification will inevitably attain true peace.

The log in our analogy represents the mind. The banks of the river represent, on one side, love, and on the other, hate. Or you can say that one bank is happiness and the other unhappiness. To follow the Middle Way is to see love, hate, happiness and unhappiness for what they really are - only feelings. Once this understanding has been achieved, the mind will not easily drift toward them and get caught. It is the practice of the understanding mind not to nurture any feelings that rise or to cling to them. The mind then freely flows down the river unhampered and eventually flows into the "ocean" of Nibbana.

Lumber

If you don't bother to train your heart, then it remains wild, following the ways of nature. It's possible to train that nature, however, so that it can be used to advantage. This is comparable to trees. If we just left trees in their natural state, then we would never be able to build houses with them. We couldn't make planks or anything of use to build houses with. However, if a carpenter came along wanting to build a house, he would go looking for trees in their natural state. He would take raw material and use it to advantage. In a short time he could have a house built. Meditation and developing the heart are similar to this. You must take this natural, untrained heart as you would take a tree in its natural state in the forest, and train it so that it is more refined, more aware of itself, and more sensitive.

Maggot

Contentment doesn't depend on how many people we are with. It comes only from right view. If we have right view, then wherever we stay, we are content.

But most of us have wrong view. It's just like a maggot living in a pile of dung. It lives in filth, its food is filth, but it suits the maggot. If you take a stick and dislodge it from its lump of dung, it'll squirm and wiggle back to its home. We are the same. The teacher advises us to see rightly but we squirm about and are uncomfortable. We quickly run back to our old habits and views because that's where we feel at home. If we don't see the harmful consequences of all our wrong views, then we can't leave them. The practice is difficult, so we should listen to the teacher.

Mango

We say that morality, concentration and wisdom are the path on which all the Noble Ones have walked to enlightenment. They are all one. Morality is concentration, concentration is morality. Concentration is wisdom, wisdom is concentration. It's like a mango. When it's a flower, we call it a flower. When it becomes a fruit, we call it a mango. When it ripens, we call it a ripe mango. It's a lone mango, but it continually changes. The big mango grows from the small mango, the small mango grows from the small mango, and the small mango becomes a big one. You can call them different fruit or all one. Morality, concentration and wisdom are related like this. In the end it's the entire path that leads to enlightenment. The mango, from the moment it first appears as a flower, simply grows to ripeness. We should see it like this. Whatever others call it, it doesn't matter. Once it's born, it grows to old age and then where? We should contemplate this. Some people don't want to be old. When they get old, they become regretful. These people shouldn't eat ripe mangoes. Why do we want the mangoes to be ripe? If they're not ripe in time, we ripen them artificially, don't we? But when we become old we're filled with regret. Some people cry. They're afraid to get old and die. If it's like this, they shouldn't eat ripe mangoes. They'd better eat just the flowers! If we can see this then we can see the Dharma. Everything clears up and we are at peace.

Medicines and Fruit

Don't be angry with those who don't practice. Don't speak against them. Just continually advise them. They will come to the Dharma when their spiritual factors are developed. It's like selling medicines. We advertise our medicines and those with a headache or stomachache will come and take some. Those who don't want our medicines let them be. They're like fruit that are still green. We can't force them to be ripe and sweet — just let them be. Let them grow up, sweeten and ripen all by themselves. If we think like this, our minds will be at ease. So we don't need to force anybody. Simply advertise our medicines and leave it at that. When someone is ill, he'll come around and buy some.

Merchants

Everything that you do you must do with clarity and awareness. When you see clearly, you'll no longer feel the need to force yourself to do and complete everything. Now you are burdened with difficulties because you miss the point: whatever you do, you should just do with your body and mind completely. This will bring you peace. If you think you have to do and complete everything, then whenever you leave something undone or incomplete, you'll feel discontented and never stop worrying about it. You want to complete everything, but it's really impossible to do so. Take the case of the merchants who regularly come here to see me. They say, "Oh, when my debts are all paid and property in order, I'll come to get ordained." They talk like that, but will they ever finish and get it all in order? There's no end to it. They pay off their debts with another loan; they pay off that one, and do it again. A merchant thinks that when he gets rid of all of his debts, he will be happy, but there's no end to paying things off. That's the way worldliness fools us. We go around and around like that never realizing our predicament.

Oil and Water

Oil and water are different in the same way that a wise man and an ignorant man are different. The Buddha lived with form, sound, odor, taste, touch and thought, but he was an arahant so he was able to turn away from them rather than toward them. He turned away and let go little by little, since he understood that the heart is just the heart and thought is just thought. He didn't confuse them and mix them together like an ignorant man does. The heart is just the heart. Thoughts and feelings are just thoughts and feelings. Let things be as they are. Let form be just form, let sound be just sound, let thought be just thought. Why should we bother to attach to them? If we feel and think in this way, then there is detachment and separateness. Our thoughts and feelings will be on one side and our heart will be on the other. Just like oil and water - they are in the same bottle but they are separate.

Orphan

In the end, people become neurotic. Why? Because they don't know. They just follow their moods and don't know how to look after their own minds. When the mind has no one to look after it, it's like a child without a mother or a father. An orphan has no refuge, and without a refuge, he is very insecure. Likewise, if the mind is not looked after, if there is no training or maturation of character with right understanding, it's really troublesome.

Ox Cart

Suppose we had a cart, and an ox to pull it. The wheels of the cart aren't long, but the tracks are. As long as the ox pulls the cart, the tracks will follow. The wheels are round, yet the tracks are long. Just looking at the stationary cart, one couldn't see anything long about the wheels, but once the ox starts pulling the cart, we see the tracks stretching out behind. As long as the ox keeps pulling, the wheels keep turning. But there comes a day when the ox gets tired and throws off its yoke. The ox walks off and the cart is left there. The wheels no longer turn. In time the cart falls apart. Its constituent parts go back into the four elements of earth, water, wind and fire. People who follow the world are the same. If one were to look for peace within the world, one would go on and on without end, just like the wheels of a cart. As long as we follow the world, there is no stopping, no rest. If we simply stop following it, the wheels of the cart no longer turn. There is stopping right there. Following the world ceaselessly, the tracks go on. Creating bad kamma is like this. As long as we continue to follow the old ways, there is no stopping. If we stop, then there is stopping. This is the practice of Dharma.

Pool

Be mindful and let things take their natural course, then your mind will become quiet in any surroundings. It will become still like a clear forest pool and all kinds of wonderful and rare animals will come to drink from it. Then you will clearly see the nature of all things in the world. You will see many wonderful and strange things come and go. But you will be still. This is the happiness of the Buddha.

Cars

All religions are like different cars all moving in the same direction. People who don't see it like that have no light in their hearts.

Cat

If defilements arise, you have to do something about them. Defilements are like a cat. If you give it as much food as it wants, it will constantly be coming around to look for more. But if one day it scratches you and you decide not to feed it anymore, it will finally not come around. Oh, yes, it will still come around meowing at first, but if you remain firm it will finally stop doing so. It's the same with the different defilements of your mind. If you do not feed them, they will not come around to disturb you again and again, and your mind will be at peace.

Chicken in a Coop

As the mind develops calm, it is held in check by that calm, just like a chicken that is put in a coop. Once inside the coop, the chicken is unable to wander outside, but it is still able to walk around within the confines of the coop. The action of walking to and fro doesn't lead to any great harm because the chicken is always inside the coop. Some people don't want to experience any feelings or thoughts when they meditate, but thoughts and feelings do arise. The awareness that is present when the mind is calm, however, keeps the mind from getting agitated. This means that whenever there are thoughts or sensations walking around in the mind, they do so within the coop of calm, and so cannot cause you any harm or disturbance.

Child

If you don't oppose and resist your mind, you just follow its moods. This is not right practice. It would be like indulging a child's every whim. Will that child be a good child? If the parents give their child everything it wishes is that good? Even if they do so at first, by the time it can speak they may start to spank it occasionally because they're afraid it'll end up spoiled and helpless. The training of your mind must be like this. Don't indulge its whims.

Crooked Tree

The essence of our practice is to watch intention and examine the mind. You must have wisdom. Don't discriminate. Don't get upset with others if they are different. Would you get upset at a small and crooked tree in the forest for not being tall and straight like some of the others? That would be silly. Don't judge other people. There are all varieties. No need to carry the burden of wishing to change them all. If you want to change anything, change your ignorance to wisdom.

Dirty Tray

Many people contend that since the mind is inherently pure, since we all have Buddha nature, it's not necessary to practice. But this is like taking something clean, like this tray, for example, and then I come and drop some dung on it. Will you say that this tray is originally clean, and so you don't have to do anything to clean it now?

Downstairs, Upstairs

We invent names for the sake of study, but actually nature is just as it is. For example, we are sitting here downstairs on this stone floor. The floor is the base. It's not moving or going anywhere. Upstairs is what has risen out of this floor. Upstairs is like everything that we see in our minds: form, feeling, memory, and thinking. They don't really exist in the way we presume they do. They are merely the conventional mind. As soon as they arise, they pass away again. They don't really exist in themselves.

Drops of Water

Keep your precepts. At first you'll make mistakes. When you realize it, stop, come back and establish your precepts again. Maybe you'll go astray and make another mistake. When you realize it, re-establish yourself. If you practice like this, your mindfulness will improve and become more consistent, just like the drops of water falling from a kettle. If we tilt the kettle just a little bit, the water drips out slowly - plop! . . .plop! . . . plop! If we tilt the kettle a little bit more, the drops fall faster - plop, plop, plop! If we tilt the kettle even further, the water doesn't drip anymore but turns into a steady stream. Where do the plops go? They don't go anywhere. They simply change into a steady stream of water. This is how your increasing mindfulness will be.

Duck

However much we want the body to go on living for a long, long time, it won't do that. Wanting it to do so would be as foolish as wanting a duck to be a chicken. When we see that that's impossible, that a duck has to be a duck, that a chicken has to be a chicken, and that the body has to be the body and get old and die, then we will find strength and energy when we have to face the changes of the body.

Earthworm

Some people come and ask me whether a person who's come to realize impermanence, suffering, and non-self would want to give up doing things altogether and become lazy. I tell them that's not so. On the contrary, one becomes more diligent, but does things without attachment, performing only actions that are beneficial." And then they say, "If everyone practiced the Dharma, nothing could be done in the world, and there'd be no progress. If everyone became enlightened, nobody would have children and humanity would become extinct." But this is like an earthworm worrying that it would run out of dirt, isn't it?

Excrement Odor

No matter where you go in the world there is suffering. There is no escape from it as long as your mind is in the world. It would be like trying to escape the odor of a big pile of excrement by moving over to a smaller one. In big piles or little ones, the odor of excrement is exactly the same wherever you go.

Expensive Object

Suppose we come to possess a very expensive object. The minute it comes into our possession our mind changes: "Now where can I keep it? If I leave it here somebody might steal it." We worry ourselves into a state, trying to find a place to keep it. This is suffering. And when did it arise? It arose as soon as we understood that we had obtained something. That's where the suffering lies. Before we had obtained that object there was no suffering. It hadn't yet arisen because there was no object yet for the mind to cling to. The self is the same. If we think in terms of my self then everything around us becomes mine. And confusion follows. If there is no I and my then there is no confusion.

External Sore

People wonder why they have so many problems when they start cutting down on their desires. They can't figure out why they have to suffer so much. It was easier before, when they satisfied their desires, because then they were at peace with them. But that's just like a man who has an infection inside his body but only treats the sore outside on his skin.

Falling from a Tree

If we divide up the Paticcasamuppada as it is in the scriptures, we say Ignorance gives rise to Volitional Activities, Volitional Activities give rise to Consciousness, Consciousness gives rise to Mind and Matter, Mind and Matter give rise to the six Sense Bases, the Sense Bases give rise to Sense Contact, Sense Contact gives rise to Feeling, Feeling gives rise to Wanting, Wanting gives rise to Clinging, Cling gives rise to Becoming, Becoming gives rise to Birth, Birth gives rise to Old Age, Sickness, Death and all forms of sorrow. But in truth, when we come into contact with something we don't like, there is immediate suffering. The mind passes through the chain of the Paticcasamuppada so rapidly that we can't keep up.

It's like falling from a tree. Before we can realize what's happening - thud! - we've already hit the ground. Actually we pass by many twigs and branches on the way down, but it all happens so fast that we aren't able to count them nor remember them as we fall. It's the same with the Paticcasamuppada. The immediate suffering that we experience is the result of going through the whole chain of the Paticcasamuppada. This is why the Buddha exhorted his disciples to investigate and know fully their own mind, so that they could catch themselves before they hit the ground.

Falling Leaves

Our lives are like the breath, like the leaves that grow and fall. When we really understand about growing and falling leaves, we can then sweep the paths every day and have great happiness in our lives on this ever-changing earth.

Farmer and Mother

Wherever you are still lacking in your practice that's where you apply yourself. Place all your attention on that point. While sitting, lying down or walking, watch right there. It's just like a farmer who hasn't yet finished his field. Every year he plants rice, but this year he still hasn't gotten his planting finished, so his mind is always stuck on that. His mind can't rest happily because he knows his work is not yet finished. Even when he's with friends, he can't relax. He's all the time nagged by the thought of his unfinished field. Or it's like a mother who leaves her baby upstairs in the house while she goes to feed the animals below. She's always got her baby on her mind, for fear something might happen to it. Even though she may be doing other things, her baby is never far from her thoughts. It's just the same for us in our practice. We should never forget it. Even though we may be doing other things, our practice should never be far from our thoughts. It should constantly be with us, day and night. It has to be like this if we're really going to make progress.

Football

Even though simply listening to the Dharma might not lead to realization, it is beneficial. There were, in the Buddha's time, those who did realize the Dharma, even became arahants, while listening to a discourse. They could be compared to a football. When a football gets air pumped into it, it expands. Now the air in that football is all pushing to get out, but there's no hole for it to do so. As soon as a needle punctures the football, however, all the air comes rushing out. This is the same as the minds of those disciples who were enlightened while listening to the Dharma. As soon as they heard the Dharma and it hit the right spot, wisdom arose. They immediately understood and realized the true Dharma.

Friends

The Buddha didn't want us to follow this mind. He wanted us to train it. If it goes one way, go the other way. In other word, whatever the mind wants, don't let it have. It's like having been friends with someone for years, but we finally reach a point where our ideas are no longer the same. We no longer understand each other. In fact, we even argue too much and so we split up and go our separate ways. That's right, don't follow your mind. Whoever follows his mind follows its likes and desires and everything else. This means that that person has not yet practiced at all.

Fruit in Hand

It's of great importance to practice the Dharma. If we don't practice it, then all our knowledge is only superficial knowledge, just the outer shell of it. It's as if we have some sort of fruit in our hand, but we don't eat it. Even though we have that fruit in our hand, we get no benefit from it. Only through the actual eating of the fruit will we really know its taste.

Fruit Tree

A tree matures, blossoms, and fruit appear and ripen. They then rot and the seeds go back into the ground to become new fruit trees. The cycle starts once more. Eventually there are more fruit which ripen and fall, rot, sink into the ground as seeds, and grow once more into trees. This is how the world is. It doesn't go very far. It just revolves around the same old things. Our lives these days are the same. Today we are simply doing the same old things we've always done. We think too much. There are so many things for us to get interested in, but none of them leads to true completion.

Garbage Can

Sometimes teaching is hard work. A teacher is like a garbage can that people throw their frustrations and problems into. The more people you teach the bigger the garbage disposal problem. Don't worry. Teaching is a wonderful way to practice Dharma. The Dharma can help all those who genuinely apply it in their lives. Those who teach grow in patience and in understanding.

Going Astray

People think that doing this and memorizing that, studying such-and-such, will cause suffering to end. But it's just like a person who wants a lot of things. He tries to amass as much as possible, thinning if he gets enough his suffering will get less. It's like trying to lighten your load by putting more things on your back. This is how people think, but thinking is astray of the true path, just like one person going northward and another going southward, and yet believing that they are going in the same direction.

Going Into Town

Some people get confused because these days it seems like there are so many teachers and so many different systems of meditation. But it's just like going into town. One can approach the town from many directions. Whether you walk one way or another, fast or slow, it's all the same. Often the different systems of meditation differ outwardly only. There's one essential point that all good practice must eventually come to - not clinging. In the end, you must let go of all meditation systems, even the teacher himself. If a system leads to relinquishment, to not clinging, then it is correct practice.

Good Digestion

Don't be in a hurry to get rid of your defilements. You should first patiently get to know suffering and its causes well, so that you can then abandon them completely, just as it's much better for your digestion if you chew your food slowly and thoroughly.

Grand Central Station

When it comes to practice, all that you really need to make a start are honesty and integrity. You don't have to read the Tipitaka to have greed, hatred and delusion. They are all already in your mind, and you don't have to study books to have them. Let the knowing spread from within you, and you will be practicing rightly. If you want to see a train, just go to the central station. You don't have to travel the entire Northern Line, Southern Line, Eastern and Western Lines to see all the trains. If you want to see trains, every single one of them, you'd be better off waiting at Grand Central Station. That's where they all terminate. Some people tell me that they want to practice but don't know how, or that they're not up to studying the scriptures, or that they're getting old, so that their memory's not so good any more. Just look right here, at Grand Central Station. Greed arises here, anger arises here, delusion arises here. Just sit here and you can watch all these things arise. Practice right here, because right here is where you're stuck, and right here is where the Dharma will arise.

Hair in Your Soup

Why does the body attract you and you get attached to it? Because your body-eye sees and not your heart-eye. The real nature of our body is that it is not clean, not pretty, but impermanent and decaying. See the body like a hair in your soup. Is it pretty? See clearly that the body is nothing but earth, fire, water and air - nobody there. You only fall down when you want to make it beautiful.

Hair that Hides a Mountain

Our opinions, attachments, and desires are like a hair that can hide a whole mountain from our view, because they can keep us from seeing the most simple and obvious things. We get so caught up in our ideas, our self, our wants, that we can't see how things really are. And that's when even a hair can keep us from seeing a whole mountain. If we're attached to even a subtle desire, then we can't see that which is true, that which is always very obvious.

Hall

We are only visitors to this body. Just like this hall here, it's not really ours. We are simply temporary tenants, like the rats, lizards and geckos that live in it, but we don't realize this. Our body is the same. Actually the Buddha taught there is no abiding self within this body, but we believe it to be our self, as really being us. This is wrong view.

Handful of Mud

If you grab a handful of mud and squeeze it, it will ooze through your fingers. People who suffer are the same. When suffering has a squeeze on them, they, too, try to seek a way out.

Hen or Rooster?

Teaching people with different levels of understanding is very difficult. Some people have certain set ideas. You tell them the truth and they say it's not true: "I'm right, you're wrong!" There's no end to this. If you don't let go there will be suffering. It's like the four men who go into the forest and hear a rooster crowing. One of them wonders if it is a rooster or a hen. Three of them decide it's a hen, but the curious one insists it's a rooster. "How could a hen crow like that?" he asks. They answer, "Well, it has a mouth, doesn't it?" They argue and get really upset, but in the end they are all wrong. Whether you say a hen or a rooster, they're only names. We say a rooster is like this, a hen is like that. This is how we get stuck in the world! Actually if you just say that there's really no hen and no rooster, then that's the end of it.

Herbal Medicine

The theory of Dharma is like a textbook on herbal medicine, and going out to look for the plants is like the practice. Having studied the book, we know what it says about herbal medicine, but we do not know what the actual herbs look like. All we have are some sketches and names. But if we already have the textbook on herbal medicine, we can then go looking for the plants themselves, and do so often enough so that we can recognize them easily when we see them. In this way we give the textbook value.

The reason we were able to recognize the various herbs is because we studied the textbook. The textbook on herbal medicine was our teacher. The theory of Dharma has this kind of value. However, if we depend completely on practice and do not take time to learn, then it would be like going out looking for herbal plants without having first done some study. Without knowing what we were looking for, we would not succeed in finding any. So both theory and practice are important.

Host and Guests

Your mind is like the owner of