The term ‘Majjhimā’, or suitability, refers to the application of the Dhamma weapon to encounter and overwhelm any kind of kilesa that might appear. When the strength of this Dhamma weapon matches the strength of the kilesas, then we can withstand them. But there is still the possibility of the kilesas overwhelming and defeating us. But if we are tough and a lot more forceful than the kilesas, then they will steadily diminish. We will come to see the result which will testify to the efficacy of our exertion at this stage, using this particular kind of Majjhimā as the means of countering the kilesas. We will then use this particular method of practice in the future. One must steadily and constantly do the work of suppressing and eradicating the kilesas.
When the kilesas steadily weaken, the application of the Majjhimā-dhamma will be automatically adjusted to the intensity of the kilesas. When the kilesas are violent and vehement, then the Majjhimā-dhamma must be equally forceful and vigorous. One must really stand on one’s ground and fight to the death. One must not retreat one step or back down. One must not abandon or let go of one’s sati and paññā, which is the foremost and the principal weapon, such as during the time when dukkha-vedanā or pain appears within the body due to sitting for a long time. There will be a lot of pain in the various parts of the body, which becomes more intense and severe. It will yield no result or benefit if we merely endure this pain. We must use our endurance and persevere in our struggle using sati and paññā. Paññā will have to dig and search, probe and analyze, for the truth of the dukkha-vedanā or pain which is appearing at that time, by constantly having sati controlling and directing the work of paññā.
Both of these factors must be relentlessly performing their work. One has to investigate to see where this pain arises. It will be unavoidable that there will be the presumption and assumption that pain arises from any one particular part of the body. For instance, at the knee or round the waist, or at the bottom, or at the thighs around the pelvis, or at any other particular part. Whichever part seems to be most profoundly affected by this pain is where one has to focus one’s sati and paññā. One has to examine and find out what is the cause of this pain. What is it that is being afflicted? Is it the flesh, or is it the skin? Or the sinews or the bones? One has to examine the flesh, and then compare it with the pain to find out if they are one and the same thing. Are they similar to one another? The flesh has a physical appearance and characteristic, but the pain doesn’t. It simply manifests itself.
This is the way of differentiating them so that one can see them clearly as they are. This work of differentiating must rely on sati to direct and focus paññā to probe and examine the nature of pain and the nature of the flesh. Then one’s understanding, perception, and insight of this truth will be consistent and continuous. One must not relent in the application of one’s sati and paññā, as they must always go together in a pair as they investigate all of the sabhāva-dhammas or phenomena like the pain and the flesh. If we want to isolate a bone for investigation, because there are aches and pains in the bone and we have the understanding that this bone is being afflicted by pain, we must then concentrate our attention in looking at this pain until we can see it very clearly.
Then we have to look at the bone itself to see what kind of characteristics it has, for the bones have their distinct characteristics, features, and colors. But this pain has no such feature. It is simply pain, similar to the pain that we have alleged to be arising from the flesh. It is just our presumption to think that the flesh is being afflicted with pain. Whether it is the pain of the skin, the flesh, or the bones, it always has the same characteristic. But the skin, flesh, and bones, all have different characteristics. How can they be pain? Let’s consider when a person is dead. The bones, the flesh, the sinews and the skin still remain. But there is no pain. If they are one and the same thing, why is there no pain in a dead person, in spite of the fact that the skin, the flesh, the sinews, and the bones are still there? If this is the case, how can we consider them to be one and the same thing? This is one aspect of investigation.
The second aspect deals with the citta, which is terribly important. We must now isolate the citta and look into it. Is the citta afflicted with pain? If it is not any single part of the body that is being afflicted with pain, then is it the citta that is being so afflicted? We have to look at the citta and at the pain, and also at the body to see how they are different from one another. All the citta has is just knowingness. Whether pain arises, remains or disappears, this knowingness is still there. Even before this pain arose, this knowingness was still there. If the pain is the citta and the citta is the pain, then when the pain disappears the citta must also disappear. The citta, knowingness, should not remain. If they are one and the same thing, then it would have to be like this. But what happened here was that when the pain vanished, this knowingness still remained, and before this pain arose, the citta also knew. How can they be considered one and the same thing? We have to identify the saññā that alleges this thing or that thing is painful, the flesh is painful, the sinews are painful, the bones are painful, the heart is painful.
In short, we are painful! When it gets to the point where ‘We are painful!’, then it can be excruciating. We have to differentiate and analyze so that we can see it clearly as it is. This is one type of Majjhimā to be used in combating the pain that becomes extremely intense after we have sat for a long time, or when we are afflicted with illness. This is especially so during the last moments when we are about to pass away. Then the pain will launch its full onslaught. It will attack us with maximum force, to the extent where we may not be able to withstand it, but perish right there and then. Between this pain that is so severe that we are unable to withstand it and will have to pass away, and the pain that arises from practice—of these two types of pain—which is more severe? If we are not capable of realizing the true nature of pain, by doing the investigation at this time, how then can we gain insight into the true nature of pain that arises at the time when we are about to pass away, when the pain is at its maximum intensity?
If our work of investigation is in vain at this time, then when we die we will also die in vain. We will never be able to come up with any truth to hold on to as our support. We have to investigate until we gain true realization and insight into the nature of pain, of the body and all its parts, like the skin, the flesh, the bones, and the sinews. We must investigate with paññā until we see that the citta is the citta, that each separate phenomenon is a separate truth, that pain is just pain, then it is possible for us to separate ourselves from them. Even if the pain doesn’t disappear, it will not be able to disturb, agitate, confuse and trouble the heart. We will remain at ease, comfortable, bold and courageous. We will have a shield protecting our heart. Each of these phenomena is real. They do not affect one another. The body is merely the body, the pain is merely the pain, and the citta is merely the citta.
They each are real. This is how I myself was able to perceive them with sati and paññā. This is another aspect of the Majjhimā that we will have to apply in our practice. When rāga-taṇhā or lust becomes very intense, we will have to apply the means that is equally forceful and strong. We have to counter it with its opposites. We have to bring in the nimitta of asubha or the contemplation of loathsomeness. We have to visualize a body that is very sexy and beautiful in our mind, and then break it down, decompose it, until it becomes bloated, rotten, being devoured by vultures, crows, and dogs. How then can there be any lust or infatuation? This is the way of the Majjhimā—this is how we will have to apply it. We have to come up with the tool that is suitable for the different kinds of kilesas that exhibit themselves. No matter how forceful and violent, or how subtle they might be, we have to come up with the appropriate tools that will neutralize them. Or else we will never achieve our goal. It is the same way with asubha.
We have to do it in a way that will catch up with the kilesas and see them clearly within our hearts. We have to counter and overwhelm each different kind of kilesa with the appropriate kind of Majjhimā. Then we will live in peace and happiness. The Dhamma teaching of the Lord Buddha which we call the Majjhimā is of many different levels or categories. When we have established bases within ourselves, then the Majjhimā that we have utilized will now have to vary to suit the various kinds of kilesas that still exist and which are far more subtle, until this Majjhimā flows continually, day and night, due to our relentless investigation. When the kilesas become more subtle, then paññā will also become correspondingly more subtle. The things that are capable of catching up with the kilesas are sati and paññā. No matter how the kilesas may manifest themselves; sati and paññā will always catch up with them, and outwit them. You have to apply this sati and paññā, and really investigate, doing it thoroughly. Don’t remain idle, doing nothing.
Don’t be weak or discouraged. Don’t project difficulties into the future. Don’t think that in the future it will be very hard to do the practice. If we want to think, then we should think that the kilesas will always be menacing and trampling over our heart in every form of existence that we will take up. This will go on ceaselessly if we cannot find a way of eliminating them. They will be the ruler of the heart, and subject it to take up birth in the various forms of existence following the kamma that we have accumulated in the past. We will be totally useless if we allow the kilesas to menace and damage ourselves. If we are going to think about the future, this is how we should think. It is only the present that is of any importance. We have to pick ourselves up, stand our ground, set up our resolve, and not back down. The Lord Buddha had vouched for the efficacy and the result of all the Dhamma that he laid down for us. He was the first one to cultivate this Dhamma, and was able to attain the fruits, rising up steadily from the mundane state of existence to the state of illumination, to the state of Buddho or the state of purity, by the power of this Dhamma. The Lord Buddha had tested this Dhamma before expounding it to us, so how can this Dhamma go off the mark?
The kilesas can never surpass this Dhamma. Every kind of Dhamma surpasses and outsmarts every kind of kilesa. If we apply the Dhamma that is suitable to each different type of kilesa, then it is certain that we will overcome and vanquish every kind of kilesas. This is the fundamental principle that we have to consider and apply in our practice. We have to exert ourselves to the utmost and be very diligent and enterprising. We should not see anything to be more valuable than Dhamma to the extent where we become obsessed and engrossed in it; or see anything to be more valuable than the state of deliverance from the kilesas and āsava, which oppress the heart. This is a crucial point. We should aspire for the happiness that arises from being totally free of all kinds of kilesas, as this is the everlasting happiness that is totally independent of time, the happiness that lasts forever. You have to set up your determination to concentrate in your investigation.
I teach you, my fellows in the Dhamma, wholeheartedly and with pure intention. I have not kept any secret from you. I teach and bring to light the various means and methods in coping, conquering, and overcoming those influences that are harmful and antagonistic to the heart, from my personal and practical experience. I illustrate and point out all the facts and know-how of practice. You must strive relentlessly in your exertion and set your heart into the practice. Sati or mindfulness is terribly important. You must always maintain your sati. Don’t be careless or unmindful. But when we come together the tendency is for us to be absentminded and to lose our guard, like the time when we come to have our hot drinks, or while we are walking along the path together, or when we have to work together. We tend to be unmindful, to the extent where we become carried away and become somewhat wild and reckless.
Don’t let this happen within the circle of the practitioner who sees the danger of the vaṭṭa-saṁsāra, the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, and the menace of the kilesas. While we are walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, while we are eating or drinking, we must always be seeing the harm of the kilesas. Don’t be immersed in the pleasure of eating. While standing, walking, sitting, or lying down, don’t be immersed in reverie and fantasy, nor be heedless or negligent, for this is not the way of the Lord Buddha. This is not the way for one who is going to be free from dukkha. Remember this very well. Wherever you are, be possessed with sati. Don’t be negligent or heedless. Be possessed with sati always. You must really and firmly establish your sati. Don’t waste your time thinking of or concocting the things that you have done countless times before. All there is in this vaṭṭa-saṁsāra and this entire world is just our thinking and concoction that agitates and troubles our hearts. Haven’t we seen their menace already?
Why do we have to cherish them and be immersed in thinking about them? We should learn our lesson well from those things which have been harmful to us. We should avoid and stop that kind of thinking, and try to suppress and eradicate all those things that are harmful to us, namely our thinking and concocting. Let us think in the way of the Dhamma, so that the Dhamma can appear. Then all the thinking that goes in the way of samudaya will gradually fade away. Then this other thinking can spring forth be-coming truth and Dhamma that is capable of overcoming the kilesas and āsava. The citta that steadily attains calm is the result of our practice. Let us not put the blame on our vasanā or endowments or gifts. The kilesas pay no attention to the vasanā of anyone.
Regardless of the numbers of the kilesas, they all are always harmful to us. We have to look at the kilesas as the curse and as the devil. We must not think about those vasanās that can help us eradicate the kilesas, apart from thinking about our diligent effort and strenuous exertion, having sati and paññā as our weapon. This is the crucial criterion for the eradication and suppression of the kilesas. Don’t be concerned with the vasanās, for this can only cause us to become weak and discouraged. Then we will not succeed. We have to be tough and strong, we who are the practitioners. When I heard Tan Ajaan Mun relate the way that he had exerted himself, I was moved with sympathy and compassion for him, for he was really earnest and serious, putting his whole life into it.
He really sought for the truth and Dhamma, without anyone to teach and guide him. He kept on struggling and plowing through doggedly by himself with only the aid of the scriptures that were presented in general terms, and was eventually able to succeed and become our wonderful teacher of this era. Before he could become famous and an honor to Buddhism, and be respected and venerated both by those who had gone forth and by the laity, he had to really struggle. He was really earnest and serious, really putting up his life in exchange for what he was looking for. It was this that enabled him to become wonderful and noble, and to be free from all forms of dukkha. No form of samudaya or conventional reality could delude him any longer, from that very moment on to the end of time. This is what is meant by ‘Nibbāna is permanent’. The kilesas are impermanent, for they are samudaya, which have sukha and dukkha, gain and loss. They make people happy and sad, and will always do so.
When we have eliminated all of them, then it is no longer an issue to say whether the citta is permanent or not, or whether Nibbāna is permanent or not. It is only the kilesas that infiltrate the citta that make it have its ups and downs, highs and lows, constantly changing and not remaining the same. It keeps changing from sukha to dukkha, from being luminous to being dull, from being confused and agitated to being calm. These are all the influences of the kilesas. But when the kilesas calm down due to our exertion, then the heart also attains calm. If our exertion becomes more intense, then our mind will get calmer. When we can overcome any particular kind of kilesa, then that kilesa will disappear forever. We will keep on overcoming and getting rid of every kind of kilesa, until there isn’t a single one left within the heart. We will then not have to go look for any happiness anywhere else.
We can see very clearly that the reason that we cannot find any happiness is because of the kilesas which obstruct and oppress us with dukkha. We have to shoulder the burden of this dukkha constantly—all of the time, in all the various forms of existence right on up to the present one. But when we are totally free from this oppression of the kilesas and they have been totally vanquished from the heart, then it is not necessary to ask about the akāliko citta, the timeless citta or the akāliko Dhamma, the timeless Dhamma, or the Dhammopadipo, the radiance of Dhamma which is constant and unchanging. We don’t have to ask about these things, for they will be found within our mind.
You must really strive in achieving this, for it is the most valuable treasure—much more precious than all the other possessions of the world that are highly cherished and valued, with tremendous greed for them, and boundless desire to acquire them. Although one might already have lots of them, one still wants more of them. This is the way of lobha or greed. The ambition for power and influence is also the work of the kilesas. Greed, or lobha, is the work of the kilesas. Hatred is the work of the kilesas. Delusion is the work of the kilesas, as well as the confusion and trouble of both the body and the heart. They are all the work of the kilesas. They are not the work of Dhamma. Although it might have to go through dukkha, the work of Dhamma is the work for happiness. This dukkha is the investment capital; the sukha is the profit that arises therefrom. This is not the dukkha that is damaging and menacing without there being any reward, like the dukkha created by the kilesas to destroy people. This dukkha is different. When we strive in our exertion, if there is dukkha then let us face it, so long as the results are steadily forthcoming and the heart becomes more blissful and joyful until we arrive at the state of perfection when all of our burdens will be discarded.
The battle that has been raging intensely against the kilesas like a Dhamma-cakka turning around re - lentlessly and ceaselessly both day and night, while walking, stand - ing, sitting, and lying down, with the exception of the time when we go to sleep will cease immediately when all of our enemies have been totally vanquished. Then the weapon that countered the kilesas, or the mode of our practice that has been turning around like a revolving wheel, will also cease immediately. This is because all of the opposi - tion and all of the enemies that we have been contending with, have all totally disappeared. The battle between the kilesas and the citta has now come to a decisive conclusion. We have won. The conquering of oneself, which is the conquering of the kilesas within one’s heart, is far more supreme than conquering other people or winning battles a hundred thousand times. We have to accomplish this task.