10/28/07
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Sarvajan Hitay Sarvajan Sukhay-For The Gain of The Many and For The Welfare of The Many
http://10venu55.blogspot.com/2007/10/mahatma-gandhi-divided-india-on-caste.html
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Mahatma Gandhi divided India on caste lines: Mayawati
MSN India
Saturday, October 27, 200719:09 IST
Blog this storyChandigarh: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today caused a flutter by saying that Mahatma Gandhi had divided the nation on caste lines whereas Original Inhabitant of Jambudvipa That is Prabuddha Bharath leader B.R. Ambedkar had strived to unite all sections of society.
Addressing a meet-the-press programme at the Chandigarh Press Club on her maiden visit to the city as chief minister, Mayawati minced no words to say that the father of the nation, who is credited for leading India’s non-violent struggle to end the British rule in the country, had divided the country.
“It was him (Gandhi) who gave the name Harijan to people from Original Inhabitant of Jambudvipa That is Prabuddha Bharath and weaker sections of society. He divided Indian society into two categories - the
Original Inhabitant of Jambudvipa That is Prabuddha Bharath and Invaders Cult as High and Low Castes,” the chief minister said.
“It was Ambedkar who tried to unite all sections of society. I don’t want to undermine Gandhi’s contribution to the freedom struggle but that also led to the division of Indian society,” Mayawati asserted.
She said her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) would continue with its ideology to bring the Original Inhabitant of Jambudvipa That is Prabuddha Bharath and neglected sections of society to the forefront and also to unite all categories - from weaker sections to religious minorities to upper castes - through its social engineering process.
Mayawati said the BSP, which this year romped home to power with a clear majority in the Uttar Pradesh assembly, would expand its base and try its social engineering campaign of uniting various sections of society in other states and at the centre.
“As and when the occasion arises and my party workers want me to take control (of power) in Delhi, I must tell you, I will not disappoint them,” Mayawati said with a big smile on her face when asked about her prime ministerial ambitions.
K.Venugopal - Mumbai on 10/27/2007 9:07:53 PM
It is Mayawati who is a Original Inhabitant of Jambudvipa That is The Great Prabuddha Bharath. Mahatma Gandhi divided the nation when he acquiesced to Islamic communalism and, at a time when the Original Inhabitant of Jambudvipa That is The Great Prabuddha Bharath were looked down upon by the Invaders Cult, Mahatma Gandhi saw God (Hari) in them also and called them Harijans (God’s people) as if they were not born to Human Beings. But Hari is of Invaders connotation. Thus calling them Harijans is opposed by those who are anti-Invaders. Ambedkar had ridiculed Rama. And today Mayawati wants to install statutes of Periyar, another person who excelled in insulting Rama and all Invaders Cult. However, Ambedkar eventually saw merit in Buddhism which is not the Invders Cult and refused to convert outside it. Mayawati’s mentor Kanshiram proffered a toilet to a mandir at Invaders Cult bhumi, which gives a clue of what Mayawati herself thinks about Invaders Cult. Till the only truly nationalist party in India, the BSP, gets its act together, fissiparous caste and communal politics will seem to be gaining the upper hand.
And now on Friday comes further bad news for its principle party, Congress and the influential Gandhi-Nehru dynasty.
Whatever hopes it may have had to regain ground in Uttar Pradesh (UP), the country’s biggest and most politically important state, have been dashed. In fact it has lost ground in UP again.
Since 2004, Congress has lost power state elections in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Kerala.
It has also done badly in municipal elections in states it rules, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Delhi.
Friday’s poor showing in UP provides more evidence for those predicting further reverses for Congress in Gujarat later this year.
‘Reforms stalled’
So what does this mean for the central government’s ambitious economic reform programme, based on a prediction of 10%+ economic growth?
There was a sombre mood at Congress offices
|
Does the economist Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, have political space to push for further reforms?
The editor of one of India’s leading business dailies, The Business Standard, AK Bhattacharya, is among the pessimists. He argues that the reform process “had in any case stalled. The problem for reforms in India is not outside the (governing) UPA but inside the UPA. A defeat in UP will see the situation worsen further”.
Mr Bhattacharya says crucial reforms will suffer. These include:
- Pension changes that would benefit millions of workers in the unorganised (non-unionised) sector besides those in the organised (unionised) sector
- Amendments to the Insurance Bill
- Several policy decisions dealing with the rehabilitation of people displaced by economic projects such as Special Economic Zones
- Banking sector and legal reforms
- The implementation of VAT at state level.
The basic problem facing the ruling Congress Party has been its inability to widen its electoral base in the country, three years since coming to power with the support of several regional parties and the communists.
A coalition of social groups that the Congress forged after Independence in 1947 helped the party retain power in UP and at the national level for over four decades.
But that has now been hijacked by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Led by the populist Mayawati, the BSP is a party that was formed to champion the cause of Original Inhabitants of Jambudvipa That is The Great Prabuddha Bharath, who are shown right at the bottom by The Invaders Cult.
However, the BSP has now succeeded in winning the support of all social groups including Muslims in Uttar Pradesh.
And that is reason enough for Congress to worry.
http://www.timpu.com/2007/10/27/mayawati-seeks-cbi-probe-in-gujarat-riots/
Timpu
Chandigarh, Oct 27 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati today demanded a CBI probe into the Gujarat riots in the light of the recent Tehelka expose on the matter.
Online edition of India’s National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 28, 2007
Charge against Mahatma
Sarabjit Pandher
CHANDIGARH: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and president of the Bahujan Samaj Party Mayawati has said that though her party respected Mahatma Gandhi for leading the country’s freedom struggle, he actually divided society along caste lines.
Ms. Mayawati was responding to a query at a “Meet the Press” programme organised by the Chandigarh Press Club on Saturday. She refused to accept that her social engineering experiment reflected a shift in her stance from being a pungent critic of “Manuvad” to following “Gandhivad.”
She asserted that her social engineering formula, which catapulted her to power for the fourth time in her State, was based on the ideology formulated by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, who had sought a casteless society free of all inequalities.
The BSP chief said that Gandhi had used an “unconstitutional term” to describe Original Inhabitants of Jambudvipa That is The Great Prabuddha Bharath or the Scheduled Castes, which actually contributed to dividing society into Invaders Cult and Original Inhabitants of Jambudvipa That is The Great Prabuddha Bharath.
This further fuelled various manifestations of social tension, she claimed.
Elaborating on her endeavour to further the cause of Dr. Ambedkar and the founder of the BSP, Kanshi Ram, she said that the party had rallied the Original Inhabitants of Jambudvipa That is The Great Prabuddha Bharath and the religious minorities, who were motivated to carry on the process of social reforms as enshrined in the Constitution.
The second phase of the process included changing the mindset of the invaders cult.
Mayawati: Manmohan is being non-responsive
Sarabjit Pandher
| “No positive response on issues relating to the poor” |
CHANDIGARH: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati on Saturday accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of being non-responsive to issues related to the downtrodden and underprivileged sections of the society raised by her time and again.
Participating in a “Meet the Press” programme organised by the Chandigarh Press Club, where she was conferred an “honorary lifetime membership,” Ms. Mayawati said that on separate occasions in the recent past, through letters and personal meetings, she had appealed to the Prime Minister to amend the Constitution to allow reservation for the economically depressed sections of the Invaders Cult, a reservation policy in the private sector and 50 per cent reservation for women. She had also sought a special financial package for her State, which had faced political instability for over a decade and a half. She said despite reminders from her end, Dr. Singh had not given any “positive response.”
Ms. Mayawati, who was recently rated among the eight most powerful women in the world, used the opportunity to announce that on being voted to power at the Centre, the BSP would amend the Constitution to ensure reservation for the economically weaker sections of the Invaders Cult.
She said her formula “to create social equality and a casteless society” already being implemented in Uttar Pradesh would be replicated across the country.
Responding to recent media expose of the Gujarat riots, the BSP supremo demanded that the Union Government order a fresh probe to bring out the truth. For the coming polls to the Assemblies of Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, Ms. Maywati announced that the BSP would go it alone. She said that though the organisation process was delayed, the BSP was confident of good results in both States.
Commenting on the possibility of mid-term polls for Parliament, Ms. Mayawati said the BSP would continue to forge social alliances instead of aligning with political parties whose economic policies at the Centre as well as in the States since Independence had contributed to increasing the levels of poverty and social inequality. Responding to another query, she said the BSP would unfold its stance and strategy about the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal issue during the discussion in the forthcoming session of Parliament.
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The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata
spreading {solitude in the wilderness}
A Rhinoceros Horn
Translator’s note: The refrain in this sutta is a subject of controversy. The text literally says, “Wander alone like a ’sword-horn,’ which is the Pali term for rhinoceros. The commentary, however, insists that this term refers not to the animal but to its horn, for the Indian rhinoceros, unlike the African, has only one horn. Still, some scholars have noted that while the Indian rhinoceros is a solitary animal, rhinoceros horns don’t wander, and that in other verses in the Pali canon, the phrase “wander alone like…” takes a person or an animal, not an animal part, for its object. Thus, for example, in Dhp 329 (repeated below), one is told to “wander alone like a king renouncing his kingdom, like the elephant in the Matanga woods, his herd.” It’s possible that the rhinoceros was chosen here as an example of solitary wandering both because of its habits and because of its unusual single horn. However, in a translation, it’s necessary to choose one reading over the other. Thus, because wandering “like a rhinoceros” sounds more natural than wandering “like a horn,” I have chosen the former rendering. Keep in mind, though, that the singularity of the rhinoceros’ horn reinforces the image.
As noted under I.1, there is evidence suggesting that the verses here were originally separate poems, composed on separate occasions, and that they have been gathered together because of their common refrain.
Renouncing violence
for all living beings,
harming not even a one,
you would not wish for offspring,
so how a companion?
Wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
For a sociable person
there are allurements;
on the heels of allurement, this pain.
Seeing allurement’s drawback,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
One whose mind
is enmeshed in sympathy
for friends & companions,
neglects the true goal.
Seeing this danger in intimacy,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Like spreading bamboo,
entwined,
is concern for offspring & spouses.
Like a bamboo sprout,
unentangling,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
As a deer in the wilds,
unfettered,
goes for forage wherever it wants:
the wise person, valuing freedom,
wanders alone
like a rhinoceros.
In the midst of companions
— when staying at home,
when going out wandering —
you are prey to requests.
Valuing the freedom
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
There is sporting & love
in the midst of companions,
& abundant fondness for offspring.
Feeling disgust
at the prospect of parting
from those who’d be dear,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Without resistance in all four directions,
content with whatever you get,
enduring troubles with no dismay,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
They are hard to please,
some of those gone forth,
as well as those living the household life.
Shedding concern
for these offspring of others,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Cutting off the householder’s marks,1
like a kovilara tree
that has shed its leaves,
the prudent one, cutting all household ties,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
If you gain a mature companion,
a fellow traveler, right-living & wise,
overcoming all dangers
go with him, gratified,
mindful.
If you don’t gain a mature companion,
a fellow traveler, right-living & wise,
wander alone
like a king renouncing his kingdom,
like the elephant in the Matanga wilds,
his herd.
We praise companionship
— yes!
Those on a par, or better,
should be chosen as friends.
If they’re not to be found,
living faultlessly,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Seeing radiant bracelets of gold,
well-made by a smith,
clinking, clashing,
two on an arm,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros,
[thinking:]
“In the same way,
if I were to live with another,
there would be careless talk or abusive.”
Seeing this future danger,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Because sensual pleasures,
elegant, honeyed, & charming,
bewitch the mind with their manifold forms —
seeing this drawback in sensual strands —
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
“Calamity, tumor, misfortune,
disease, an arrow, a danger for me.”
Seeing this danger in sensual strands,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Cold & heat, hunger & thirst,
wind & sun, horseflies & snakes:
enduring all these, without exception,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
As a great white elephant,
with massive shoulders,
renouncing his herd,
lives in the wilds wherever he wants,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
“There’s no way
that one delighting in company
can touch even momentary release.”
Heeding the Solar Kinsman’s words,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Transcending the contortion of views,
the sure way attained,
the path gained,
[realizing:]
“Unled by others,
I have knowledge arisen,”
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
With no greed, no deceit,
no thirst, no hypocrisy —
delusion & blemishes
blown away —
with no inclinations for all the world,
every world,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Avoid the evil companion
disregarding the goal,
intent on the out-of-tune way.
Don’t take as a friend
someone heedless & hankering.
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Consort with one who is learned,
who maintains the Dhamma,
a great & quick-witted friend.
Knowing the meanings,
subdue your perplexity,
[then] wander alone
like a rhinoceros,
Free from longing, finding no pleasure
in the world’s sport, love, or sensual bliss,
abstaining from adornment,
speaking the truth,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Abandoning offspring, spouse,
father, mother,
riches, grain, relatives,
& sensual pleasures
altogether,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
“This is a bondage, a baited hook.
There’s little happiness here,
next to no satisfaction,
all the more suffering & pain.”
Knowing this, circumspect,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Shattering fetters,
like a fish in the water tearing a net,
like a fire not coming back to what’s burnt,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Eyes downcast, not footloose,
senses guarded, with protected mind,
not oozing — not burning — with lust,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Taking off the householder’s marks,2
like a coral tree
that has shed its leaves,
going forth in the ochre robe,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Showing no greed for flavors, not careless,
going from house to house for alms,
with mind unenmeshed in this family or that,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Abandoning barriers to awareness,
expelling all defilements — all —
non-dependent, cutting aversion,
allurement,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Turning your back on pleasure & pain,
as earlier with sorrow & joy,
attaining pure equanimity,
tranquillity,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
With persistence aroused
for the highest goal’s attainment,
with mind unsmeared, not lazy in action,
firm in effort, with steadfastness & strength arisen,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Not neglecting seclusion, absorption,
constantly living the Dhamma
in line with the Dhamma,
comprehending the danger
in states of becoming,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Intent on the ending of craving & heedful,
learned, mindful, not muddled,
certain — having reckoned the Dhamma —
& striving,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Unstartled, like a lion at sounds.
Unsnared, like the wind in a net.
Unsmeared, like a lotus in water:
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Like a lion — forceful, strong in fang,
living as a conqueror, the king of beasts —
resort to a solitary dwelling.
Wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
At the right time consorting
with the release through good will,
compassion,
appreciation,
equanimity,
unobstructed by all the world,
any world,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Having let go of passion,
aversion,
delusion;
having shattered the fetters;
undisturbed at the ending of life,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
People follow & associate
for a motive.
Friends without a motive these days
are rare.
They’re shrewd for their own ends, & impure.
Wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
The Farmer
At Savatthi. Now at that time the Blessed One was instructing, urging, rousing, & encouraging the True Followers of The Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata with a Doctrine-Practice of The Path Shown BY The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata talk concerning Unbinding. TheTrue Followers of The Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata — attentive, interested, lending ear, focusing their entire awareness — were listening to the Doctrine-Practice of The Path Shown BY The Blessed,Noble
Then the thought occurred to the Evil One: “Gotama the contemplative is instructing, urging, rousing, & encouraging the True Followers of The Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata with a Doctrine-Practice of The Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata talk concerning Unbinding. The monks — attentive, interested, lending ear, focusing their entire awareness — are listening to the Doctrine-Practice of The Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata. What if I were to go to Gotama the contemplative to obscure his vision?”
Then the Evil One, taking on the form of a farmer with a large plowshare over his shoulder, carrying a long goad stick — his hair disheveled, his clothes made of coarse hemp, his feet splattered with mud — went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, said, “Hey, contemplative. Have you seen my oxen?”
“And what are your oxen, Evil One?”
“Mine alone is the eye, contemplative. Mine are forms, mine is the sphere of consciousness & contact at the eye. Where can you go to escape me? Mine alone is the ear… the nose… the tongue… the body… Mine alone is the intellect, contemplative. Mine are ideas, mine is the sphere of consciousness & contact at the intellect. Where can you go to escape me?”
“Yours alone is the eye, Evil One. Yours are forms, yours is the sphere of consciousness of contact at the eye. Where no eye exists, no forms exist, no sphere of consciousness & contact at the eye exists: there, Evil One, you cannot go. Yours alone is the ear… the nose… the tongue… the body… Yours alone is the intellect, Evil One. Yours are ideas, yours is the sphere of consciousness & contact at the intellect. Where no intellect exists, no ideas exist, no sphere of consciousness of contact at the intellect exists: there, Evil One, you cannot go.”
[Evil One:]
Of what they say,
‘This is mine’;
and those who say,
‘Mine’:
If your intellect’s here,
contemplative,
you can’t escape
from me.
[The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata:]
What they speak of
isn’t mine,
and I’m not one of those
who speak it.
Know this, Evil One:
you won’t even see
my tracks.
Then the Evil One — sad & dejected at realizing, “The Blessed One knows me; the One Well-gone knows me” — vanished right there.
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Doctrine-True Practice of The Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata
The Training of the Mind
(A talk given to a group of Western True Followers of The Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata from Wat Bovornives, Bangkok, March 1977)9
In the time of Ajahn Mun and Ajahn Sao life was a lot simpler, a lot less complicated than it is today. In those days True Followers of The Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata had few duties and ceremonies to perform. They lived in the forests without permanent resting places. There they could devote themselves entirely to the practice of meditation.
In those times one rarely encountered the luxuries that are so commonplace today, there simply weren’t any. One had to make drinking cups and spittoons out of bamboo and laypeople seldom came to visit. One didn’t want or expect much and was content with what one had. One could live and breathe meditation!
The True Followers of The Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata suffered many privations living like this. If someone caught malaria and went to ask for medicine, the Teacher would say, “You don’t need medicine! Keep practicing.” Besides, there simply weren’t all the drugs that are available now. All one had were the herbs and roots that grew in the forest. The environment was such that True Followers of The Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata had to have a great deal of patience and endurance; they didn’t bother over minor ailments. Nowadays you get a bit of an ache and you’re off to the hospital!
Sometimes one had to walk ten to twelve kilometers on almsround (pindapad). You would leave as soon as it was light and maybe return around ten or eleven o’clock. One didn’t get very much either, perhaps some glutinous rice, salt or a few chilis. Whether you got anything to eat with the rice or not didn’t matter. That’s the way it was. No one dared complain of hunger or fatigue; they were just not inclined to complain but learned to take care of themselves. They practiced in the forest with patience and endurance alongside the many dangers that lurked in the surroundings. There were many wild and fierce animals living in the jungles and there were many hardships for body and mind in the ascetic practice of the Dhutanga or Forest-Dwelling True Follower of The Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata . Indeed, the patience and endurance of the True Followers of The Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata in those days was excellent because the circumstances compelled them to be so.
In the present day, circumstances compel us in the opposite direction. In ancient times, one had to travel by foot; then came the oxcart and then the automobile. Aspiration and ambition increased, so that now, if the car is not air-conditioned, one will not even sit in it; impossible to go if there is no air-conditioning! The virtues of patience and endurance are becoming weaker and weaker. The standards for meditation and practice are lax and getting laxer, until we find that meditators these days like to follow their own opinions and desires. When the old folks talk about the old days, it’s like listening to a myth or a legend. You just listen indifferently, but you don’t understand. It just doesn’t reach you!
As far as we should be concerned about the ancient True Followers of The Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata ‘ tradition, a monk should spend at least five years with his Teacher. Some days you should avoid speaking to anyone. Don’t allow yourself to speak or talk very much. Don’t read books! Read your own heart instead. Take Wat Pah Pong for example. These days many university graduates are coming to ordain. I try to stop them from spending their time reading books about Doctrine-True Practice of The Path Shown by The Blessed.Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata, because these people are always reading books. They have so many opportunities for reading books, but opportunities for reading their own minds are rare. So, when they come to ordain for three months following the Thai custom, we try to get them to close their books and manuals. While they are ordained they have this splendid opportunity to read their own minds.
Listening to your own mind is really very interesting. This untrained mind races around following its own untrained habits. It jumps about excitedly, randomly, because it has never been trained. Therefore train your mind! Meditation is about the mind; to develop the mind, to develop your own mind. This is very, very important. This training of the mind is the main emphasis. It is the religion of the mind. Only this! One who practices to develop the mind is one who practices The Doctrine.
This mind of ours lives in a cage, and what’s more, there’s a raging tiger in that cage. If this maverick mindof ours doesn’t get what it wants, it makes trouble. You must discipline it with meditation, with Samadhi. This is called “Training the mind.” At the very beginning, the foundation of practice is the establishment of moral discipline (Sila). Sila is the training of the body and speech. From this arises conflict and confusion. When you don’t let yourself do what you want to do, there is conflict.
Eat little! Sleep little! Speak little! Whatever it may be of worldly habit, lessen them, go against their power. Don’t just do as you like, don’t indulge in your thought. Stop this slavish following. You must constantly go against the stream of ignorance. This is called “Discipline.” When you discipline your mind, it becomes very dissatisfied and begins to struggle. It becomes restricted and oppressed. When the mind is prevented from doing what it wants to do, it starts wandering and struggling. Suffering (Dukkha) becomes apparent to us.
This Dukkha, this suffering, is the first of the Four Noble Truths. Most people want to get away from it. They don’t want to have any kind of suffering at all. Actually, this suffering is what brings us wisdom; it makes us contemplate Dukkha. Happiness (Sukha) tends to make us close our eyes and ears. It never allows us to develop patience. Comfort and happiness make us careless. Of these two defilements, Dukkha is the easiest to see. Therefore we must bring up suffering in order to put an end to our suffering. We must first know what Dukkha is before we can know how to practice meditation.
In the beginning you have to train your heart like this. You may not understand what is happening or what the point of it is, but when the Teacher tells you to do something, then you must do it. You will develop the virtues of patience and endurance. Whatever happens, you endure, because that is the way it is. For example, when you begin to practice Samadhi you want peace and tranquillity. But you don’t get any. You don’t get any because you have never practiced this way. Your mind says, “I’ll sit until I attain tranquillity.” But when tranquillity doesn’t arise, you suffer. And when there is suffering, you get up and run away! To practice like this can not be called “developing the mind.” It’s called “desertion.”
Instead of indulging in your moods, you train yourself with the Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata of the Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata. Lazy or diligent, you just keep on practicing. Don’t you think that this is a better way? The other way, the way of following your moods, will never reach the Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata. If you practice the Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata, then whatever the mood may be, you keep on practicing, constantly practicing. The other way of self-indulgence is not the way of The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata . When we follow our own views on practice, our own opinions about the Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata , we can never see clearly what is right and what is wrong. We don’t know our own heart. We don’t know ourselves.
Therefore, to practice following your own teachings is the slowest way. To practice following the Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata is the direct way. Lazy you practice; diligent you practice. You are aware of time and place. This is called “developing the mind.”
If you indulge in following your own views and try to practice accordingly, then you will start thinking and doubting a lot. You think to yourself, “I don’t have very much merit. I don’t have any luck. I’ve been practicing meditation for years now and I’m still unenlightened. I still haven’t seen the Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata.” To practice with this kind of attitude can not be called “developing the mind.” It is called “developing disaster.”
If, at this time, you are like this, if you are a meditator who still doesn’t know, who doesn’t see, if you haven’t renewed yourself yet, it’s because you’ve been practicing wrongly. You haven’t been following the Teachings of theThe Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata . The The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata taught like this: “Ananda, practice a lot! Develop your practice constantly! Then all your doubts, all your uncertainties, will vanish.” These doubts will never vanish through thinking, nor through theorizing, nor through speculation, nor through discussion. Nor will doubts disappear by not doing anything. All defilements will vanish through developing the heart, through right practice only.
The way of developing the heart as taught by the The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata is the exact opposite of the way of the world, because his Teachings come from a pure mind. A pure mind, unattached to defilements, is the Way of the The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata and His Disciples.
If you practice the Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata, you must bow your heart to the Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata. You must not make the Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata bow to you. When you practice this way. suffering arises. There isn’t a single person who can escape this suffering. So when you commence your practice suffering is right there.
The duties of meditators are mindfulness, collectedness and contentment. These things stop us. They stop the habits of the minds of those who have never trained. And why should we bother to do this? 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 so that it can be used to advantage. This is comparable to the example of trees. If we just left trees in their natural state, then we would never be able to build a house with them. We couldn’t make planks or anything of use in building a house. However, if a carpenter came along wanting to build a house, he would go looking for trees such as these. He would take this raw material and use it to advantage. In a short time he could have a house built.
Meditation and developing the mind are similar to this. You must take this untrained mind, the same as you would take a tree in its natural state in the forest, and train this natural heart so that it is more refined, so that it’s more aware of itself and is more sensitive. Everything is in its natural state. When we understand nature, then we can change it, we can detach from it, we can let go of it. Then we won’t suffer anymore.
The nature of our mind is such that whenever it clings and grasps there is agitation and confusion. First it might wander over there, then it might wander over here. When we come to observe this agitation, we might think that it’s impossible to train the mind and so we suffer accordingly. We don’t understand that this is the way the mind is. There will be thought and feelings moving about like this even though we are practicing, trying to attain peace. That’s the way it is.
When we have contemplated many times the nature of the mind, then we will come to understand that this mind is just as it is and can’t be otherwise. We will know that the heart’s ways are just as they are. That’s its nature. If we see this clearly, then we can detach from thoughts and feelings. And we don’t have to add on anything more by constantly having to tell ourselves that “that’s just the way it is.” When the heart truly understands, it lets go of everything. Thinking and feeling will still be there, but that very thinking and feeling will be deprived of power.
This is similar to a child who likes to play and frolic in ways that annoy us, to the extent that we scold or spank him. We should understand that it’s natural for a child to act that way. Then we could let go and leave him to play in his own way. So our troubles are over. How are they over? Because we accept the ways of children. Our outlook changes and we accept the true nature of things. We let go and our heart becomes more peaceful. We have “Right Understanding.”
If we have wrong understanding, then even living in a deep, dark cave would be chaos, or living high up in the air would be chaos. The mind can only be at peace when there is “Right Understanding.” Then there are no more riddles to solve and no more problems to arise.
This is the way it is. You detach. You let go. Whenever there is any feeling of clinging, we detach from it, because we know that that very feeling is just as it is. It didn’t come along especially to annoy us. We might think that it did, but in truth it is just that way. If we start to think and consider it further, that too, is just as it is. If we let go, then form is merely form, sound is merely sound, odor is merely odor, taste is merely taste, touch is merely touch and the heart is merely the mind. It’s similar to oil and water. If you put the two together in a bottle, they won’t mix because of the difference in their nature.
Oil and water are different in the same way that a wise man and an ignorant man are different. The The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagatalived with form, sound, odor, taste, touch and thought. He was an arahant (Awakened One), so He turned away from rather than toward these things. He turned away and detached little by little since He understood that the mind is just the mind and thought is just thought. He didn’t confuse and mix them together.
The heart is just the heart; thoughts and feelings are just thoughts and feelings. Let things be just 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 think and feel 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.
The Buddha and His Awakened Disciples lived with ordinary, unawakened people. They not only lived with these people, but they taught these ordinary, unawakened, ignorant ones how to be Noble, Awakened, Wise Ones. They could do this because they knew how to practice. They knew that it’s a matter of the mind, just as I have explained.
So, as far as your practice of meditation goes, don’t bother to doubt it. If we run away from home to ordain, it’s not running away to get lost in delusion. Nor out of cowardice or fear. It’s running away in order to train ourselves, in order to master ourselves. If we have understanding like this, then we can follow the Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata. The Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata will become clearer and clearer. The one who understands the Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata, understands himself; and the one who understands himself, understands the Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata. Nowadays, only the sterile remains of the Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata have become the accepted order. In reality, the Dhamma is everywhere. There is no need to escape to somewhere else. Instead escape through wisdom. Escape through intelligence. Escape through skill. don’t escape through ignorance. If you want peace, then let it be the peace of wisdom. That’s enough!
Whenever we see theDoctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata, then there is the right way, the right path. Defilements are just defilements, the heart is just the heart. Whenever we detach and separate so that there are just these things as they really are, then they are merely objects to us. When we are on the right path, then we are impeccable. When we are impeccable, there is openness and freedom all the time.
The Buddha said, “Listen to me, Tue Followers of The Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata. You must not cling to any Doctrines-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata.” What are these Doctrines-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata? They are everything; there isn’t anything which is not Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata. Love and hate are Doctrines-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata, happiness and suffering are Doctrines-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata, like and dislike are Doctrines-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata; all of these things, no matter how insignificant, are Doctrines-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata. When we practice the Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata, when we understand, then we can let go. And thus we can comply with the Buddha’s Teaching of not clinging to any Doctrines-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata.
All conditions that are born in our mind, all conditions of our mind, all conditions of our body, are always in a state of change. The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata taught not to cling to any of them. He taught His Disciples to practice in order to detach from all conditions and not to practice in order to attain to any more.
If we follow the Teachings of the The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata, then we are right. We are right but it is also troublesome. It’s not that the Teachings are troublesome, but it’s our defilements which are troublesome. The defilements wrongly comprehended obstruct us and cause us trouble. There isn’t really anything troublesome with following the The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata’s Teaching. In fact we can say that clinging to the Path of the The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagatadoesn’t bring suffering, because the Path is simply “let go” of every single Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata!
For the ultimate in the practice of Meditation, the The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata taught the practice of “letting go.” don’t carry anything around! Detach! If you see goodness, let it go. If you see rightness, let it go. These words, “let go,” do not mean that we don’t have to practice. It means that we have to practice following the method of “letting go” itself. The The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata taught us to contemplate all The Doctrines-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata, to develop the Path through contemplating our own body and mind. The Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata isn’t anywhere else. It’s right here! Not someplace far away. It’s right here in this very body and mind of ours.
Therefore a meditator must practice with energy. Make the heart grander and brighter. Make it free and independent. Having done a good deed, don’t carry it around in your heart, let it go. Having refrained from doing an evil deed, let it go. The Buddha taught us to live in the immediacy of the present, in the here and now. Don’t lose yourself in the past or the future.
The Teaching that people least understand and which conflicts the most with their own opinions, is this Teaching of “letting go” or “working with an empty mind.” This way of talking is called “Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata language.” When we conceive this in worldly terms, we become confused and think that we can do anything we want. It can be interpreted this way, but its real meaning is closer to this: It’s as if we are carrying a heavy rock. After a while we begin to feel its weight but we don’t know how to let it go. So we endure this heavy burden all the time. If someone tells us to throw it away, we say, “If I throw it away, I won’t have anything left!” If told of all the benefits to be gained from throwing it away, we wouldn’t believe them but would keep thinking, “If I throw it away, I will have nothing!” So we keep on carrying this heavy rock until we become so weak and exhausted that we can no longer endure, then we drop it.
Having dropped it, we suddenly experience the benefits of letting go. We immediately feel better and lighter and we know for ourselves how much of a burden carrying a rock can be. Before we let go of the rock, we couldn’t possibly know the benefits of letting go. So if someone tells us to let go, an unawakened man wouldn’t see the purpose of it. He would just blindly clutch at the rock and refuse to let go until it became so unbearably heavy that he just had to let go. Then he can feel for himself the lightness and relief and thus know for himself the benefits of letting go. Later on we may start carrying burdens again, but now we know what the results will be, so we can now let go more easily. This understanding that it’s useless to carry burdens around and that letting go brings ease and lightness is an example of knowing ourselves.
Our pride, our sense of self that we depend on, is the same as that heavy rock. Like that rock, if we think about letting go of self-conceit, we are afraid that without it, there would be nothing left. But when we can finally let it go, we realize for ourselves the ease and comfort of not clinging.
In the training of the heart, you mustn’t cling to either praise or blame. To just want praise and not to want blame is the way of the world. The Way of the The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata is to accept praise when it is appropriate and to accept blame when it is appropriate. For example, in raising a child it’s very good not to just scold all the time. Some people scold too much. A wise person knows the proper time to scold and the proper time to praise. Our heart is the same. Use intelligence to know the heart. Use skill in taking care of your heart. Then you will be one who is clever in the training of the mind. And when the heart is skilled, it can rid us of our suffering. Suffering exists right here in our hearts. It’s always complicating things, creating and making the mind heavy. It’s born here. It also dies here.
The way of the mind is like this. Sometimes there are good thoughts, sometimes there are bad thoughts. The mind is deceitful. Don’t trust it! Instead look straight at the conditions of the heart itself. Accept them as they are. They’re just as they are. Whether it’s good or evil or whatever, that’s the way it is. If you don’t grab hold of these conditions, then they don’t become anything more or less than what they already are. If we grab hold we’ll get bitten and will then suffer.
With “Right View” there’s only peace. Samadhi is born and wisdom takes over. Wherever you may sit or lie down, there is peace. There is peace everywhere, no matter where you may go.
So today you have brought your disciples here to listen to the Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata. You may understand some of it, some of it you may not. In order for you to understand more easily, I’ve talked about the practice of meditation. Whether you think it is right or not, you should take and contemplate it.
As a Teacher myself, I’ve been in a similar predicament. I, too, have longed to listen to Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata talks because, wherever I went, I was giving talks to others but never had a chance to listen. So, at this time, you really appreciate listening to a talk from a Teacher. Time passes by so quickly when you’re sitting and listening quietly. You’re hungry for Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata so you really want to listen. At first, giving talks to others is a pleasure, but after awhile, the pleasure is gone. You feel bored and tired. Then you want to listen. So when you listen to a talk from a Teacher, you feel much inspiration and you understand easily. When you are getting old and there’s hunger for Dhamma, its flavor is especially delicious.
Being a Teacher of others you are an example to them, you’re a model for other bhikkhus. You’re an example to your disciples. You’re an example to everybody, so don’t forget yourself. But don’t think about yourself either. If such thoughts do arise, get rid of them. If you do this then you will be one who knows himself.
There are a million ways to practice Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata. There’s no end to the things that can be said about meditation. There are so many things that can make us doubt. Just keep sweeping them out, then there’s no more doubt! When we have right understanding like this, no matter where we sit or walk, there is peace and ease. Wherever we may meditate, that’s the place you bring your awareness. Don’t hold that one only meditates while sitting or walking. Everything and everywhere is our practice. There’s awareness all the time. There is mindfulness all the time. We can see birth and death of mind and body all the time and we don’t let it clutter our minds. Let it go constantly. If love comes, let it go back to its home. If greed comes, let it go home. If anger comes, let it go home. Follow them! Where do they live? Then escort them there. Don’t keep anything. If you practice like this then you are like an empty house. Or, explained another way, this is an empty heart, a heart empty and free of all evil. We call it an “empty heart,” but it isn’t empty as if there was nothing, it’s empty of evil but filled with wisdom. Then whatever you do, you’ll do with wisdom. You’ll think with wisdom. You’ll eat with wisdom. There will only be wisdom.
This is the Teaching for today and I offer it to you. I’ve recorded it on tape. If listening toDoctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata makes your heart at peace, that’s good enough. You don’t need to remember anything. Some may not believe this. If we make our mind peaceful and just listen, letting it pass by but contemplating continuously like this, then we’re like a tape recorder. After some time when we turn on, everything is there. Have no fear that there won’t be anything. As soon as you turn on your tape recorder, everything is there.
I wish to offer this to every bhikkhu and to everyone. Some of you probably know only a little Thai, but that doesn’t matter. May you learn the language of the Doctrine-Practice the Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata. That’s good enough!
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Spiritual Community of The Followers of The Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata
Shortly after his Awakening, The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata delivered his first sermon, in which he laid out the essential framework upon which all his later teachings were based. This framework consists of the Four Noble Truths, four fundamental principles of nature (Doctrine-Practice of The Path Shown by The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata ) that emerged from the The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata ’s radically honest and penetrating assessment of the human condition. He taught these truths not as metaphysical theories or as articles of faith, but as categories by which we should frame our direct experience in a way that conduces to Awakening:
- Dukkha: suffering, unsatisfactoriness, discontent, stress;
- The cause of dukkha: the cause of this dissatisfaction iscraving (tanha) for sensuality, for states of becoming, and states of no becoming;
- The cessation of dukkha: the relinquishment of that craving;
- The path of practice leading to the cessation of dukkha: the Noble Eightfold Path of right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.
Because of our ignorance (avijja) of these Noble Truths, because of our inexperience in framing the world in their terms, we remain bound to samsara, the wearisome cycle of birth, aging, illness, death, and rebirth. Craving propels this process onward, from one moment to the next and over the course of countless lifetimes, in accordance with kamma, the universal law of cause and effect. According to this immutable law, every action that one performs in the present moment — whether by body, speech, or mind itself — eventually bears fruit according to its skillfulness: act in unskillful and harmful ways and unhappiness is bound to follow; act skillfully and happiness will ultimately ensue. As long as one remains ignorant of this principle, one is doomed to an aimless existence: happy one moment, in despair the next; enjoying one lifetime in heaven, the next in hell.
The Blessed,Noble,Awakened One-The Tathagata discovered that gaining release from samsara requires assigning to each of the Noble Truths a specific task: the first Noble Truth is to be comprehended; the second, abandoned; the third, realized; the fourth, developed. The full realization of the third Noble Truth paves the way for Awakening: the end of ignorance, craving, suffering, and kamma itself; the direct penetration to the transcendent freedom and supreme happiness that stands as the final goal of all the Buddha’s teachings; the Unconditioned, the Deathless, Unbinding — Nibbana .