Finding Your Mind

[aprin]

People search for happiness all their lives and yet it often eludes them. The Lord Buddha laid down a simple path to happiness - the practice of mindfulness - that each of us can easily follow if we put our minds to it. PATCHARAWALAI SANYANUSIN points out some of the first few steps based on her own experiences

'Why was I born? What am I living for? When will my life end?" I believe everybody finds these questions floating in their minds from time to time. The first question is too complicated to discuss and the last is too scary to think about. It might take us a while to find the real purpose of our life, but whatever it is, I'm sure the conclusion will be that it's for one thing only: happiness. And the next question, why do we want to be happy? That's easy to answer, too. It's because we love ourselves, isn't it? And yet, ironically, while we may love ourselves the most, we're not aware that we're continually neglecting ourselves, too.

All through life we tend to pay more attention to the people and objects around us rather than to ourselves. We are always curious to know about everything but ourselves. And whenever our attention is fixed on others, we forget about ourselves.

"Hardly any of the people in this world are awake," said Phra Pramote Pamotecho, or Luang Phor Pramote, of Suan Santidham in Chon Buri. "We all get lost in the world of delusions all the time."

His remarks caught me by surprise, and at first I told myself I wasn't one of those people. But as I listened further, I couldn't help nodding in agreement.

"Even when we're alone, we are trapped in the world of our own thoughts," the monk continued. "Sometimes we know our thoughts, but often we aren't even aware of what we're thinking about."

Luang Phor Pramote is respected by a large number of dhamma practitioners for his easy-to-understand teaching about the practice of mindfulness. He insists that only mindfulness can pull us out to the real world to discover the truth about ourselves and bring us real happiness. And the more we develop mindfulness, the less suffering we will have.

But what is mindfulness? Most of us think we are mindful people because we know what we're doing, and in the worldly sense, that may be the case. But in terms of Buddhism, this word refers to the right mindfulness, or samma sati, which focusses on the awareness of two things only: the body and the mind.

According to Luang Phor Pramote, being mindful of the body means knowing all the postures and movements the body makes, such as standing, walking, sitting, lying, bending, stretching and the like. Similarly, being aware of the mind means knowing the behaviour, or characteristics of the mind, and any feelings or emotions that arise in the mind in the present moment.

"In short, whenever we are aware of our body and mind at the present moment, it means we have mindfulness," he said.

The monk's words left me totally stunned. I made a quick search back to the past in the hope that there might be times during my three decades of life that I was really mindful, but now I wasn't so sure if there were any.

And I'm certain that I'm not alone; most people in this world are like me. We have lived our lives far from being mindful. We hardly notice our own bodies. Whenever we are walking, our minds are somewhere else. While we're eating, drinking, going to the toilet, taking a bath, our minds are far away from us. Sometimes it seems as if we know the actions our body is performing, but that lasts only a few seconds before our attention moves on to something else.

If we are confident that we know our minds best, we should take a closer look at it. We will probably see that it hardly ever stays with us; most of the time it is wandering. And instead of looking at what our minds are doing, we aimlessly follow our thoughts and get carried away.

You may think you know your own feelings quite well, but are you sure you know them correctly? Remember the last time you were angry with someone? Could you describe your anger? Was it actually the face of the enemy that absorbed all your attention while you were fuming? If so, that means you didn't know your anger at all.

To know it correctly is to see it in your mind, to notice how it feels to get angry. If it's just a mild irritation, you might detect some discomfort in your chest; but if it's rage, you might feel an active volcano inside you.

Here's another example to test how well you know your feelings. I'm sure everyone's had a crush once in a while. But have you ever noticed how it feels to be desperately in love? Of course, you might feel your limbs trembling, your heart racing, your face burning, or you might even feel like swooning when you're near the object of your interest.

But admit it, you didn't really observe those feelings. Either you were struggling to suppress them, or else all your attention was fixed on the object of your love. This is true for everyone.

Even when we're worried, suspicious, fearful, sad, lonely, jealous, bored, lazy, indifferent or happy, we never fully realise those feelings. So what should we do to be really mindful? Concentrate our attention only on our bodies' movements all the time? Stop our minds from wandering away? Or "stare" at our minds in order to detect every feeling that arises?

No, no, no! They're all wrong and impossible to do. Luang Phor Pramote always insists that when practising mindfulness, we have to stick to the number one rule - take the role of "knower" or "watcher" without interfering in any way. That means we don't need to do anything except constantly observe our bodies and minds as they truly are.

The monk also points out two big mistakes that practitioners habitually make. "The first is we tend to forget about ourselves because we become absent-minded and our minds just wander away. The second is that we intentionally concentrate on our body and mind, and this is unnatural."

The first problem is because absent-mindedness is a natural characteristic of the mind. "Our duty is not to prevent it from slipping away. That would be impossible anyway, because the mind is uncontrollable. What we have to do is to detect the activity as often as possible," he explained.

As beginners, we might find it hard to detect this absent-mindedness because all our lives we've been accustomed to losing ourselves in the world of our thoughts. But whenever we can detect them, we will find that our minds stop thinking immediately, and those thoughts in our minds at that moment will disappear. Of course, they'll stop for only a second or two before our untamed mind starts to wander again. But that's no problem; just be aware of it every time it happens.

It's just as easy to solve the second problem. Instead of forcing ourselves to be on high alert to any physical and mental activities in or around us, we should be comfortably aware of them as if we're playing with them.

Luang Phor Pramote also suggests an important method of helping mindfulness to grow in us. "Observe every kind of bodily sensation and mental state as often as possible so that your mind can remember those conditions precisely," he says. In other words, if we can keep detecting these feelings until our minds can remember them, we'll be aware of them automatically when they occur again.

Mindfulness can be practised anywhere and any time, from the moment we wake up in the morning until we go to asleep at night, but it must be practised constantly in everyday life. This might sound impossible to do, and many of us might feel it would be boring and a waste of time. The fact is, though, that mindfulness is the most powerful protection we have to prevent the two enemies that cause all the suffering in life - kiles (defilements) and tanha (craving) - from taking control of us.

Luang Phor Pramote explained that the more we observe the body and mind, the more we will notice their "working process". We will see that our minds have feelings and thoughts all the time, and when we're unaware of them, they will develop into kiles and tanha.

But once we are aware of them, they cannot emerge and take hold of us. Instead, we will feel calm and concentrated and will be able to exercise our reasoning to make careful decisions or to deal with problems with a neutral mind.

This is only one of the initial benefits of mindfulness for those who wish to live happily in this world. It will bring them insight into understanding where their suffering comes from, and show them how to avoid it.

Luang Phor Pramote said that the real objective of mindfulness practice is to make us see the truth that everything that happens in our life is temporal. Happiness and suffering and all kinds of feelings, whether positive or negative, all rise and fall.

"Our bodies and minds don't actually belong to us, or even exist," he said. "We will discover that our body is simply a movable object with substances moving in and out all the time, while our mind can work independently on its own and is not part of the body at all. Both are just things being felt and observed, and are impermanent and uncontrollable.

"At this stage we must observe ourselves constantly until 'our' mind rectifies itself and finally detaches itself from clinging to the body and mind. And this is the end of all suffering."

This might sound a bit too difficult to understand, but I can probably summarise it by saying that the more we watch our bodies and minds, constantly, at each moment, the nearer we shall be to real happiness.

I have no idea how long it will take me to reach that ultimate goal. It may be seven years or seven lifetimes, but this will not discourage me as I'm confident that at least I'm on the right track. Life is uncertain; suffering may knock on the door at any moment. But I strongly believe that whoever practises mindfulness as part of his or her life will be able to survive perfectly in every situation. They will know how to free themselves from the cycle of birth and death, and will know no fear in the last moments of their lives.

Mindfulness practice is about studying the body and mind in the present moment as they truly are, until we have the wisdom to truly understand the real truth about ourselves. It takes patience and perseverance, but it is the most valuable investment in life for everyone, of whatever age, gender, career, nationality or religious belief. It is guaranteed by the Lord Buddha as the only path to enlightenment. The pity is that so few people in this world can see its value and are willing to follow it - the road less travelled.

Source : http://www.bangkokpost.net/021107_Realtime...007_real013.php

[aprin]

Path to Enlightenment

by Pra Pramote Pamotecho (Santinan)

translate by Hataitip Devakul

PREFACE

“Witee hang kuam roo jang”, or the Path to Enlightenment, in the teaching of Buddhism, is to develop mindfulness. There is no alternative, second path.

The development of mindfulness, or awareness, is the most direct way to lead us away from the world of illusion, or make-belief, which prevents us from understanding of the real Truth. Once one can detach oneself from the world of illusion, one’s mind will develop to a state in which it can understand the Absolute as it arises and falls, namely Mind and Matter which represent all mental factors and Material nature. Only when one’s mind has gained insight and is detached will one see this Absolute Truth.

The attainment of Ultimate Reality cannot be obtained through conditioning such as almsgiving, good conduct, or mental discipline, not to mention misguided conditioning driven by ignorance and greed. Some examples are: giving alms to reduce one’s avariciousness, abiding to the five precepts to prevent oneself from harming others because of one’s lustfulness and/or aversion, doing mental discipline to subdue one’s wandering thoughts, or analyzing a corpse to get rid of one’s desire for sensual pleasures. All these behaviors, even though they are beneficial and should be practiced, are like giving painkillers to a patient without determining the true cause of the illness.

To train one’s mind until it understands reality beyond conditioning, one must give up the world of thoughts and illusion and confront oneself with the ever-present Absolute Truth with an unbiased mind, without emotional attributes to all defilements, intense meditation, or absent-mindedly letting thought processes take control. Such is the way to minimize the flow of mental activities. And once this flow stops altogether, the real Truth will manifest itself.

This development of mindfulness is something that we are not accustomed to. All our lives we have not spent much time to really know ourselves and are lost in our own world of thoughts and dreams. Therefore it is essential to begin to study and understand this mind-conditioning and steadfastly train our minds.

This book is a collection of writings by a lay Buddhist named Mr. Pramote Santayakorn, who used the pen names “Santinan” and “Upasokniranam”. All four chapters have the same aim, which is to present a guideline for developing mindfulness, but vary in level of understanding. Chapter 1, “For You The Newcomer: A Simple And Ordinary Story of Dhamma” is for people who are new to Buddhism and are not familiar with Buddhist terminology. Chapter 2, “A Brief Guideline for Practicing Dhamma” is an in-depth explanation of the previous chapter. Chapter 3, “The Guide to Dhamma Practice by Pra Rajwutajarn (Luangpu Dule Atulo)” is a method for practicing Dhamma that Luangpu Dule taught one of his pupils. One point to note is Luangpu’s teaching varies according to each student’s character. Chapter 4, “The Study of Citta: Meaning, Method and Result of Dhamma Practice” gives an in-depth explanation so that both a Dhamma practitioner and a person studying the Scriptures have the same understanding.

May all true Buddhists understand the Path to Enlightenment, and let this true knowledge bring us all to follow the Lord Buddha’s footsteps.

(1 November 2001)

“For You The Newcomer:

A Simple And Ordinary Story of Dhamma”

by Santinan, August 31, 1999/ 14:07:29

It is difficult for us to see that Dhamma is simple and very ordinary. This is because the portrayal of religion, or of Dhamma as we know it, is less than ordinary no matter how we look at it. To begin with, the language used is full of Pali words, with so much special terminology and technical terms. Just understanding these terms is already a challenge for anyone.

Once the terms are familiarized, there is another obstacle: there are so many volumes of the Lord Buddha’s Teaching, and an over-abundance of interpretations by His disciples.

Some people, once ready to start, are faced with yet another problem. There are so many of the meditation centers and all of them declare that their method conforms most accurately to the Buddha’s teaching on the Foundations of Mindfulness. Some places are even scornful of others, saying other places deviate from the actual Teachings.

All these problems are quite common, which lead me to question myself whether it is possible to study Dhamma with ease, without having to learn the Pali vocabulary, without having to read the scriptures, or without having to join a meditation center.

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Actually Dhamma as taught by our Lord Buddha is quite plain and simple, as we always read of His disciples in the scriptures exclaiming “So explicitly clear my Lord! Your Sermon is like turning the right side up of an inverted object”. This should not come as a surprise because we are all born with Dhamma, live with Dhamma, and will all die with Dhamma. We just don’t realize where Dhamma is until the Lord Buddha reveals to us with His Teachings, enabling us to follow them with ease.

Another point to note is that the Lord Buddha was a true genius. He could make the most complicated topic seem simple and easy to comprehend. He could expound from a simple phrase, without any language barrier, making His Teachings easily understood by His pupils.

On the contrary, many followers in later years tend to turn Dhamma which is omnipresent and ordinary into something so complicated, out of reach, impossible to comprehend, and cannot be applied as a tool to end suffering. Even the language used in their teaching is too difficult for an ordinary person to understand.

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The truth is that Dhamma is all around, so close to us that we can actually say it is about ourselves. And it’s scope is simple - how to be free from suffering.

To study about Dhamma, we would just look directly into “where the suffering is, how it arises, and how it ends”. And the goal of this Dhamma study is to put an end to suffering. It is not about being well versed or skilled in the ability to explain Dhamma in great detail.

The truth is suffering that we all experience lies within our body and mind. The field of study on Dhamma is actually in us. Instead of searching for an outside source, we just need to look inward at our own selves. The procedure is simple, just observe our body and mind closely. To start with, let’s take note of our physical body carefully.

The first step is to relax. Do not be tense, or think that we are about to practice Dhamma, but just think that we are going to observe our own body. It does not matter how observant we are, just do it.

Once we are at ease, think of our whole body like we are watching a robot that can walk, move, talk and process food into the body, and excrete waste out of the body.

If we can observe this robot, which is called “us”, perform this and that task, with us merely being a neutral observer, we will eventually conclude that this body is not ours, but merely an object that never stays still and is unstable. Even the parts that make up this robot changes constantly, with substances moving in and out all the time. Some examples are: breathing in and breathing out, eating food and excreting waste. It is something that is not permanent. The incorrect belief that the body is “us” will eventually fade, and we will see that there is something else that understands this body, and is situated within this body.

Now that it is clear this body is just an element, impermanent and not ours, let’s examine the something else that is hiding inside our body. Let’s look in further detail at our selves.

This something that’s hidden within us can easily be discerned. They are feelings of happiness, unhappiness, or indifference. For example, when we observe this robot moving around, soon it will ache, it will be hungry or thirsty, or it will feel other pains coming at different intervals. Once the suffering passes, we will feel happy momentarily. An example would be when we are thirsty, we become unhappy. Once we drink water this suffering from thirst goes away. Another example would be when we sit too long, we feel aches and pains, and the feeling of unhappiness arises. Once we re-adjust our body the pain goes away, and the suffering goes away, and we become happy again.

Sometimes when we are sick, we can detect suffering for a longer period. For example when we have a toothache for several days, if we closely monitor the pain, we will discover that the discomfort arises from somewhere between the tooth and the gum, but that these objects themselves don’t give out pain. The body is like a robot which does not feel pain and suffering, but this discomfort appears to be from somewhere inside the body.

We will clearly see that these feelings of happiness, suffering, and neutrality are not part of the body, but something that can be felt and observed within the body, just like the body itself.

From that, let’s study in more detail about ourselves. Closely observe that when suffering arises, our mind also feels the discomfort. For example, when we are hungry we get upset more easily, when we are tired we get angry more easily, when we have fever we get agitated more easily, or when our desires are not fulfilled we get disturbed more easily. Let’s be readily aware of this anger that arises when we are faced with suffering.

On the other hand, when we see beautiful sights, hear pleasant sounds, smell wonderful flagrances, taste pleasing flavors, feel the touch of softness and the warmth of a perfect temperature, not too hot or cold, think of pleasant thoughts, we will love and be contented with such sights, sounds, fragrances, tastes, touches and thoughts. Our task is to be aware of these happy feelings that arise. Once we can detect anger, or affection, we can then understand other feelings as well. Some examples are doubtfulness, vengeance, torpor, jealousy, disdain, cheerfulness and tranquility of the mind, etc.

Once we study further these feelings we will begin to realize that actually all feelings are temporal. For example when we are angry, and conscious of this anger, we will detect that the intensity of this anger changes constantly, and eventually fades and disappears.

At this point we can clearly see that our body is like a robot, and happiness, suffering, and all other feelings are detached from it. The more we understand the workings of our minds, the more evident is the truth that suffering occurs only when there is a cause.

We will find that there is an impulse, or force, within our mind. For example when we see a beautiful woman, our mind develops a liking towards her. This will create an impelling force towards that woman. Our mind will in turn move forward towards that woman, and forget about our own selves.

(About our mind moving from one place to another, a person studying the scriptures may be a little perplexed. But if he (or she) actually starts analyzing accordingly, he will see that it can actually travel, exactly like what the Lord Buddha said about how the mind can travel far.)

Or when we have doubts about how to practice Dhamma, we feel this impulsion that will force us to find an answer. Our mind will move into the world of thoughts. That is when we forget to be mindful about our body. The robot is there, but we forget to think about it, as if it has disappeared from this world. There may be other feelings inside, but we don’t know because our mind is set on trying to find an answer to the problem at hand.

If we observe ourselves more and more, we will soon understand how suffering occurs, how to be free from it, or how it feels to be without suffering. Our mind will rectify itself, without having to think about meditation, wisdom, or the Path leading to the cessation of suffering.

We may not know much Buddhist vocabulary, or the Pali text, but our mind is free from suffering, or the suffering is minimized, and temporal.

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I wrote this story for all beginners who want to study Dhamma, to reaffirm that Dhamma is very ordinary because it’s about our selves. We can learn without much difficulty by ourselves. So do not hesitate when you hear others talk about Dhamma and you don’t fully understand what they are saying. In fact, you do not need to know anything, but just how to be free from suffering, as THAT is essentially the key for a person to understanding Buddhism.

Source : http://www.wimutti.net/download/pramote/bo...TheNewComer.htm

[aprin]

“A Brief Guideline for Practicing Dhamma”

by Santinan, Friday January 7, 2000/ 15:41:32

Lots of my comrades in arms come to study Dhamma with me, and I have seen many problems that arise.

Some are afraid that they will not be able to practice Dhamma correctly if they are not near me. Bangkokians are a bit relieved as they know they can find me easily, but friends from abroad or upcountry are more worried, and request a brief guideline on how to practice Dhamma with ease and with some structure so that when I am not around they will still feel somewhat secured.

Some listen to my talks and still get confused. Some take my answer to other people’s problems and ignorantly apply it to themselves. This method does not work because it’s like taking other patient’s prescribed medicine without realizing that the illness is not the same. I have therefore been requested to put together all my talks on practicing Dhamma to clarify any misunderstandings.

Yet another problem I have heard is some people arguing against each other, both quoting my speeches for different people at different times, resulting in disagreements.

Therefore I feel a need to summarize by writing a brief guideline for practicing Dhamma, just as I have told my colleagues and friends, so that the whole process is clear and in order from the beginning onwards to avoid all the problems I have stated above.

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1. Understanding The Framework Of Buddhism

Friends who have had little background in Buddhism need to know that Buddhism is not a medicine that cures all ills of the universe. Neither is it the only tool in aiding someone through life. Therefore if you are a college student you do not just quit college to come and study Buddhism because general knowledge is essential for one to lead a normal life in this world. A student of Buddhism needs to be well-rounded in other fields of study as well. Do not misunderstand that Buddhism is the study of anything else other than of suffering and how to be rid of suffering. Buddhism does not give answers to questions relating to the supernatural, fate, past lives, future lives, ghosts, angels, etc.

2. Tools For Practicing Dhamma

For those who already know the Buddhist principle of suffering and the cessation of suffering, my advice is for you to get to know the tools for practicing Dhamma, which are mindfulness and clear comprehension.

My most common advice is for us to be fully aware of things that are happening to our mind. Some examples are feelings such as doubt, greed, worry, happiness, and sadness. This is the lesson on being mindful, which is the tool to understanding emotions that arise.

It is this tool that reminds us to be aware, and not lose ourselves to the six sensual doors, namely the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind. The most common doors are the eye and the mind, which means losing ourselves in our thoughts, or concentrating on the emotions that are happening. To encourage mindfulness (not lost or be transfixed in thoughts) is the way for us to achieve clear comprehension, or clear consciousness.

3. Foundations of Mindfulness

Once we have the necessary tools for practicing Dhamma, the next step I would like to encourage is for us to develop the four Foundations of Mindfulness. This means to be mindful and have clear comprehension of the body, feelings, mental conditions, and/or mind-objects, depending on each individual’s ability. Some examples are mindfulness of bodily movements, when doing the circular walk meditation, and when breathing in and out. In the beginning, if the mind is still weak, just do the concentration development, which is to concentrate at the body. As the mind gets stronger it becomes clear that movements of the body or movement of the air when breathing in and out is just something that the mind detects and sees. It is not cognizance, and is impermanent, causes bodily pain, and is void of self, right in front of our eyes.

Once conditioned, the mind gains strength in being mindful and comprehending, and whatever mental factor appears the mind will automatically detect it. Some examples are happiness, sadness, virtue, and unwholesomeness. All these mental objects are detected by the mind, just like any visible object.

Note that if you are conditioned to be mindful of mental factors, then you can go right ahead with this exercise. But for some people who are not accustomed to this, the suggestion is to be mindful of visible factors.

Once the mind observes mental and visible factors continually it gains a deeper understanding, and either reacts with satisfaction, dissatisfaction or neutrality. I often suggest to this group of friends to directly observe these feelings and see that they too are impermanent just like everything else. At this point the mind will achieve a state of equanimity. This occurs momentarily at first, and feelings will quickly set in again. Once proficient this evenness of mind happens more often and for longer periods. Try to be observant without bias, and the mind, once strengthened, will be able to distinguish with refinement the different Aggregates.

At this stage of mental development, many intellects are faced with 2 complications:

1. They become bored and stop the exercise.

2. They become hesitant, don’t know how to proceed, and again stop the exercise. Instead of being observant and gain a deeper understanding, they try to answer their own doubts by going through with the thinking process.

Actually once the mind reaches the state of impartiality, all one has to do is maintain at this state. The mind will then improve by itself when the strength of the three components (mind, mental discipline and wisdom) is fully matured.

Thus this concludes a brief guideline for practicing Dhamma, which I would like to present to my friends and colleagues for future discussions.

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Opinion no. 16 by Khun Santinan, Monday 10 January 2543 09:24:14 (cont’d)

From the above guideline, once people start to actually practice Dhamma, they are faced with many different obstacles, mainly from incorrect methods.

For many of us, the more we practice the more we divert from the goal. The main mistake is, instead of being mindful of things as they happen, we tend to create a new object of consciousness and are bound by it as a consequence.

This mistake occurs because some think their minds are too distracted, and they need to do concentration meditation first. Then they practice meditation the wrong way by focusing on just one sense-object to the point that the mind takes hold of this object, being bound and carried away by it, instead of just being mindful and alert, and not lost in or being too focused on such object. The mind is just peacefully and detachedly being mindful of only one object.

With wrong concentration meditation the mind attaches to a particular sense-object. Then after coming out of meditation these people try to be mindful, but without success because the mind is still bound and biased, and this impartiality obscures the actual truth.

The mistake often cited is, instead of developing the mind with ease and relaxation, many people are afraid to be lost in the thought process, especially when they are about to see me or are around me. The mind becomes too alert and nervous, no different than a runner at the starting line.

Yet another hindrance is to want to practice Dhamma too strongly. Examples of this are to want to be enlightened quickly, to want to be smart and outstanding, to want praise and acceptance from friends. The more one wants to excel the “faster” one has to go through the mental exercise. This accelerated conditioning, instead of the normal mindful development process, makes one stressful. This may seem good from the outside, but the inner self is neither happy nor peaceful. To conclude, the three mistakes above are what many of us fall into. We cling on to a certain sense-object and think that we can clearly be mindful of our feelings. Now some of us are able to learn from these mistakes and begin to realize that by wanting to practice Dhamma we are actually building another state of existence instead of being truly mindful of what is happening.

There is a funny story of a young man whose mind is locked inside his thoughts. I advised him to just to know this with impartiality so his mind can then be receptive to the outside surrounding. This boy was very troubled as he thought I was teaching him to not be mindful. Fortunately he came back to discuss the misunderstanding with me, otherwise if he had mentioned this to the elder monks, I would have been condemned and kicked out of the temple.

Actually when one unknowingly builds a sense-object and is trapped in it, he is in fact not being mindful. I tried to correct this point for the young man, never intending for him to not be mindful.

One problem that arises in a few of us is to be lost in our own consciousness. Examples are getting lost in “nimitr” (sign of absorption) of light, color, sound, even bodily jerks. When this happens some people are overjoyed, and some are angered. I have to guide them through knowing these emotions until the mind becomes unbiased, and not concentrate into these emotions and have greed, anger and ignorance take control of the mind.

To avoid mistakes in practicing Dhamma, we must adhere strictly to the goal, which is “to practice Dhamma to better understand defilements which always impairs our mind, to wise up, away from craving and selfish desires”. We do not practice Dhamma to satisfy our thirst of knowledge, our desire to be famous, or even our desire to reach nirvana. This is because by desiring these things we risk making mistakes as our mind makes a new set of conditions, instead of just understanding everything the way it is.

We need to be observant of ourselves. If we start to feel that our mind is weightier than everything else around, then this means it has already grabbed hold of something. The natural state of the mind should not have any weight at all, and should be neutral to its surrounding. Try to see at this moment, be at peace and observe all around us. Buildings, tables, chairs, trees, all these elements have no weight because we do not carry them with us. But our mind is sometimes heavy and sometimes light because we think it’s ours. The more possessive we are the heavier we feel. We differentiate it from nature. This differentiation is what we create for ourselves ignorantly because we are fooled by our own illusions and desires.

Once we understand this point, let us observe further. Does the mind judge everything that it comes into contact with? Observe until the mind is impartial to all feelings, until inner thoughts and things of the outside world are one and the same, until there is no more weight to carry around.

Our Lord Buddha taught that the Five Aggregates (Khandha 5) are heavy. Anyone carrying these with them will never find happiness. His Teaching is so absolutely true, word for word. The Five Aggregates are so very heavy for those who have the faculty to see.

Source : http://www.wimutti.net/download/pramote/books/GudielineToPracticing.htm

[sabaijai]

Aprin, kindly refrain from posting any more text. Members can follow the links you have generously provided. Let's have some discussion instead. Thanks