For the Lord Buddha and the sāvakas, the Dhamma is most important. They weren’t interested in building temples and monasteries, but were solely interested in their Dhamma practices. After they became enlightened, they were only interested in propagating the Dhamma teaching to the world, like Ven. Ajaan Mun, for example. Did he build any monasteries? All he ever did was to develop his citta to his utmost ability. After he became enlightened, he then tirelessly taught the Dhamma. You should take him as your role model. People all over Thailand and abroad have great esteem for him. After you’ve attained enlightenment, your ability to teach the world the Dhamma will be immeasurable. Think about it! This will only happen after the Dhamma becomes established inside the heart. The heart is, therefore, of paramount importance. After enlightenment, it will have extraordinary powers. Has there ever been a temple or a shrine that can teach the world the Dhamma and make people good? Have you ever seen any shrine capable of doing this? I’m not speaking in contempt. I’m just saying this based on facts and common sense. I’m not saying that shrines should not be built.
In places where it is appropriate, I wouldn’t object at all. But in places where it’s not suitable, like in forest monasteries, then it shouldn’t be built because it will only hurt those places. This monastery, for example, is the place for the development of the heart. After you’ve achieved this goal, imagine the benefits you’ll give the world. I’ve carefully considered this point. Therefore, all of you who come here from the various parts of the country and the world, please be earnest and take this to heart. I always have compassion for you. That’s why I have never let go of my responsibilities in teaching you. Although I may not always have the time to teach the laity, I always find the time to teach you. After you become enlightened you can then help the world by propagating the Dhamma, which will happen naturally. When you have the treasure of the Dhamma, then you can share it. But to share something you don’t have is pure delusion. To teach the Dhamma when you haven’t yet become enlightened is counterproductive.
You’ll do more harm than good. The Lord Buddha and the sāvakas didn’t do it this way. They became enlightened first before they taught the Dhamma. If they hadn’t yet realized the Dhamma, what could they teach? There’s no truth in empty wind, no substance with which to attract people’s attention, and no basis for others to depend on. But when we have established the Dhamma within our hearts, our teachings will become very invaluable. This is the benefit of developing the citta. So please become more determined—be serious and earnest in your practice. Don’t speculate about the magga, phala and Nibbāna to be in various places other than in the body and the citta, for they are found right in these two places which make up the five khandhas. Take this to heart. When the forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile objects contact the heart they will entrap it with love and hate. It’s therefore imperative to investigate them with paññā until the heart has understood their true nature and let go of them and retreated inward.
Paññā will constantly feed the heart with the right information to prevent the heart from being confused, anxious or worried. When it’s time to develop samādhi, it’ll be easily achieved. The heart will be cool and calm. You must solve your problems with paññā when it’s appropri - ate to do so. Don’t be idle. Paññā is extremely important, whilst sati is the workhorse that directs your practice and keeps you mindful and attentive, and enables paññā to investigate at its fullest. When you’ve seen the results of your investigations with paññā, you’ll become en - couraged to intensify your investigation further. This is similar to a businessman who has made a profit: he will be encouraged to work harder. But if he keeps losing, then he’ll become discouraged and lazy. It is the same way with the development of the heart. When you’ve gained some results and progressed, you’ll be encouraged to intensify your efforts. Don’t remain idle like a tree stump, lacking appreciation for the Dhamma.
Don’t get involved with worldly matters because they are all devised by the kilesas to oppress, depress and delude the citta, causing it to be totally ignorant of the truth and Dhamma. When you walk or sit in meditation you only do it with your body, not with your citta because it’s involved with worldly matters, with the forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile objects, with the past, and with the future, which cause it to be restless and agitated. How then can you profit from your practice? When you’re not profiting but losing you’ll become discouraged and lazy. This laziness is created by you and it’s you who has to pay for it with dukkha that devours your hearts in every form of existence. This is the fruit of laziness, so you must see its harm. You must use your satipaññā to devise a way to overcome your laziness. This is the way of a wise man. Developing yourself is much more important than developing anything else. Whether it is hard or easy, it’s not beyond your abilities. The Lord Buddha taught the 84,000 Dhamma discourses to suit our temperaments and abilities. They can be summarized into three categories namely, sīla, samādhi and paññā.
So they aren’t really that many, and involve just the body and the citta. Why can’t you devel - op them? When you do walking meditation or caṅkama, you should have continuous mindfulness. It is the same way when you do sitting meditation or samādhi. You’re your own master when you practice diligently. You mustn’t think that mastering yourself is a thorn, and doing what you like is a good thing, for this is the kilesas whispering to your heart to lead you astray. If you see practicing diligently as your adversary and see the kilesas as your friends then you might as well be dead because you’ll repeatedly be born and die, again and again. Therefore, you must really be earnest. Really commit yourself. The practice environment in this monastery is fairly suitable, though not quite like that in the time of the Lord Buddha when they were mainly forests and mountains. But there are quite enough forested areas here. I am trying my best to help you in all respects because I really consider your welfare. I can tell people who come to this monastery, regardless of their social status, not to disturb your practices. I’m not afraid of anybody. I’m only afraid of contradicting the Dhamma. I have more respect for the Dhamma than for anyone else.
When it’s time to speak the truth, I will do so. I can tell them not to disturb you, because you’re meditating. ‘Don’t bother them!’ I will tell them. ‘They’re practicing. If they see you coming they’ll have to move somewhere else. You’ll disturb them.’ I will also tell them when it is the proper time to see you. If they’re disappointed or dismayed, that’s not my concern, because speaking the truth should be the norm. There is nothing wrong with that. If it’s wrong, it’s because they’re thinking wrongly. They don’t know that it’s essential to have privacy during practice. If sitting meditation is hard on your body or if you’re not engaged in any physical activity, then you should do a lot of walking meditation instead. At the same time, you should also develop your mindfulness because your practice depends significantly on it. In your investigation, you should consider your body as well as other people’s bodies, both male and female, to see their true nature, because this is the way of developing satipaññā, mindfulness and wisdom.
Magga can be developed by investigating internal and external objects, because samudaya, the cause of dukkha, is created by clinging to both of them. Attachment to forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile objects, which are outside the heart, is a form of samudaya that arises when you become attached to this or that person, this or that thing. You must, therefore, develop satipaññā to eliminate this attachment because satipaññā is the magga, the path to the cessation of dukkha. You can investigate anybody’s body, male or female because they can all be the object of your investigation.
You must investigate by using the Dhamma teaching as your guide, for instance, investigating to see the loathsome nature or asubha of the body, to see its filthiness or paṭikūla, to see it as a cemetery, and to see it as aniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ, and anattā because they are the truth. You can investigate either your body or someone else’s body. You must always fight the kilesas because they’ve always been your enemy and are inside your hearts. Most of the time it’s the kilesas that have the upper hand and you don’t even know this. How can you not know when you’re knocked out by your opponent? If you do, you’ll be spurred into developing your satipaññā, saddhā and viriya to fight and eventually destroy all the kilesas. This is the way of a fighter. If you fight like mad with all your might, you’ll eventually win. If you don’t fight, you’ll never achieve any result from your sitting or walking meditation, such as calm or insight to encourage you to strive harder. When it’s time to be tough, you must be tough. When it’s time to go easy, you go easy. When the kilesas are aggressive, you must also be equally aggressive. If you should die, so be it! I, myself had been in this situation. I am not speaking without anything to back up what I say. When it’s time to let it all out, I really let it all out. When this happens, I can assure you that you’ll achieve results and destroy the kilesas.
You have to investigate using your own devices because each practitioner has a different temperament and abilities. But let me warn you that the kilesas always like to be weak, and the Dhamma always likes to be resolute and strong, and can overcome weakness. Wisdom can overcome ignorance. It is the kilesas that make you ignorant, but the kilesas themselves are not ignorant. In fact they’re very clever. Therefore, you must develop satipaññā to gradually eliminate ignorance from your hearts. The splendor of the heart will then gradually appear. The treasure of the Dhamma is vital for the world’s well-being, without it the world would be burning hot. Wealth alone can’t make you happy, peaceful and cool. For this reason, the sāsana or the Lord Buddha’s teaching is extremely essential. The sāsana’s critics accuse it of being a narcotic and an addiction. If you’ve never practiced or benefited from the sāsana, you’ll probably not be able to answer their accusations. They criticize the bhikkhus for doing nothing.
But they never find fault with the pots and pans for not plowing the rice fields, because they are cooking utensils not ploughs and perform different functions. A battery charger is for charging batteries. The sāsana is for charging your courage and uplifting your spirits. This is the purpose of the sāsana. If a sick person doesn’t seek help from a physician, how can he get well? He can only become a corpse. Think about it! Patients need physicians and medicine. If they think relying on physicians and medicine is harmful or addictive, then they will surely die. It’s the same with people who are afflicted with the kilesas. They are mentally ill. They can’t tell right from wrong, good from bad. They need the sāsana to tell them, and cure them of their illness. Greed, hate, and delusion are mankind’s deadliest threat. If left unchecked, they will tear the world apart. If you use the sāsana to subdue and eliminate them what harm can this do? How can the sāsana be harmful or addictive when it makes people good and the world peaceful? How can medicine and physicians be harmful and addictive to patients? Narcotic drugs will destroy you, but the sāsana, physicians and medicine won’t. Only the dead don’t have to rely on anything, but the living still do.
They have to rely on medical professionals for their physical well-being and the sāsana or the Dhamma teaching for their mental health. Cars need roads to get to their destinations. Patients need physicians and medicine to get well, whether this is an addiction or not is irrelevant. To accuse the sāsana of being a narcotic drug is just dirt that comes out of dirty mouths and dirty minds. Common sense will tell you that when you’re sick, you need physicians and medicine to make you well. It’s the same with the citta. When it’s still afflicted with the kilesas, taṇhā, and āsava, then it has to rely on the Dhamma teaching to show it how to remove them. When it has finally removed them, it›ll transcend both good and evil and won›t need the Dhamma teaching anymore. It’s like walking up the stairway to this sālā or building. As soon as you reach it, the stairway becomes irrelevant. You don›t cling to the stairway.
The sāsana doesn’t teach you to cling. When you’re cured from your illness, you won’t need your doctor and medicine anymore. It’s the same with the citta, when it has fully developed, it will no longer need the sāsana and will let go of it naturally. Right now you must exert yourself to the full. Use your satipaññā to help the citta eliminate the kilesas. It’s the kilesas that are the addiction! But the critics don’t say this. If the Dhamma helps you remove the kilesas, how can it be harmful? It’s the kilesas themselves that are harmful and have been for eons and countless existences. But you don’t know this. It’s very hard to find someone who’s really sick of the kilesas to the point of ditching them. They’ve attached themselves to the heart and are completely hidden from view. Why doesn’t anybody criticize them for doing this? It’s only fair that the kilesas should also be criticized. You should think sensibly and fairly.
Mindfulness is extremely important, and you mustn’t be without it. You should devise different techniques to entice the citta to practice. Then your mindfulness will become continuous. For example, you can try a different mantra or a new method of practice. Then you’re really developing your satipaññā. I also practiced in this way. You have to apply satipaññā in your investigation of the body, your own body and other people’s bodies until you see clearly the body’s true nature. In the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, or the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse, the Lord Buddha said that you should alternately investigate the internal and external body and then compare them. This is the way of developing the magga or the path and the correct way of investigation. It’s the same way with the investigation of the inner and the external vedanā or feelings. Actually, the external vedanā here isn›t about other people›s feelings but about the bodily or physical feelings, whilst the internal vedanā is about the mental feelings.
I’ve gained this insight from my practice and I›m profoundly convinced of this, but I do not deny that the external vedanā can also refer to other people›s feelings. But this is very far from the four satipaṭṭhāna that are within you. If the internal and external vedanās are not in the body and the citta, where else could they be? Then the four satipaṭṭhāna would not be complete. But truly, the four satipaṭṭhāna are complete in each indi - vidual, so you can see them vividly and clearly if you investigate them. Dukkha, samudaya, nirodha and magga are also in the body and citta. When you’re absolutely convinced that they’re in yourselves, it doesn’t hurt if you compare them with those of other people. You can investigate anyway you like, but your findings mustn’t contra - dict the truth or the Dhamma. The Lord Buddha taught you to be wise, not stupid. What’s essential here is for you to practice until the kilesas disappear from your hearts by the power of your satipaññā. This happened with my investigation of asubha or the loathsomeness of the body. When I got myself really involved with this investiga - tion, I became so disillusioned with the body that I burst into tears. I said to myself: ‘So this is how to see the asubha of the body!’ When satipaññā probed into the body, it would slowly decompose and dis - appear like pointing a torch at it.
You should investigate until you see this asubha image clearly in your mind. Don’t imagine or speculate. When you’ve seen the truth of asubha, you’ll ditch the perception of beauty right away because you can see that it’s just paṭikkūla or filthy, and it’s made up of the four elements of earth, water, fire, and air. How then can you be delud - ed? You’ve now seen the truth of asubha, and realize that it was your imagination all along that obliterated the Lord Buddha’s Dhamma.
You can now see how powerful and clever the kilesas really are in de - ceiving you to mistake loathsomeness for beauty. According to the Lord Buddha, the body is aniccaṁ or impermanent, constantly chang - ing, and it’s just the four elements of earth, water, fire, and air. But the kilesas manage to convince you that it’s permanent, it’s a human being, an animal, you or I. According to the Lord Buddha, the body is aniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ and anattā, but the kilesas wipe it all out by convinc - ing you that it’s otherwise, just like the critics of the sāsana who wipe the sāsana out by labeling it harmful and addictive. The Lord Buddha said that the body is aniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ, and anattā, but you see it otherwise. When you believe the kilesas you’ll wipe out the Dhamma teaching. Asubha can be seen very clearly, but you don’t see it. You see beauty in the body instead. But after you’ve seen the truth of the body, how can you go on contradicting it, and perpetually shoulder the burden of this contradiction? You’ll definitely let go of the perception of beauty after you’ve seen the truth of asubha and seen the harm of your attachment that results from your investigation based on the Dhamma teaching. When your perceptions don’t contradict the Dhamma teaching, you’ll see the truth.
The heart will let go of this wrong perception and become empty, peaceful, and at ease. You’ll then investigate for more truths. You must investigate the asubha of the body, as well as all the organs of the body, such as the muscles and sinews that hold the bones to - gether, and the skin that wraps the entire body. This skin is like a shroud, a garment in which a corpse is wrapped. How can it be beau - tiful? You must investigate until you see the truth. Then you’ll let go of your misperception naturally. No matter how dark this perception may be, it’s just like the darkness of the night. After you’ve turned on the light, the darkness will disappear. It’s the same with satipaññā. Whatever object it investigates, that object will become illuminated. No other light in the world can be brighter than the light of paññā. The light of the sun can’t pass through opaque objects, but the light of paññā can penetrate through every object.
One who has this light of paññā is called Lokavidū, the knower of the cosmos. All the truths that you’ve realized with paññā and are firmly established within your heart are similar in nature; they are all aniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ and anattā. You should choose the method of investigation that suits your temperament. If you enjoy investigating the asubha of the body, then you should concentrate on this investigation until you truly see the loathsome and filthy sides of the body. You’ll definitely see the truth and discard your delusion if you’re not lazy and don’t let the kilesas lull you to sleep. The reason why you’re still attached to this body is because you’re still deluded and think that the body is I and mine, that the body is an animal or a human being. You then become attached to the body and brush aside the Dhamma teaching. But after you’ve investigated with paññā and realized the truth of the body, then your delusion and attachment will disappear.
You’ll leave the body alone. Then you’ll be anālayo or devoid of any sorrow because you’ve completely severed your attachment to the body. You’ll become blissful, light and at ease, and feel like a businessman who has made a lot of money and become very rich. Next, you must investigate vedanā or feelings. The Lord Buddha said that they’re merely feelings that appear and disappear. They can be good, bad, or neither good nor bad feelings of either the body or the mind. How can there be a human being, an animal, you or I in them? After you’ve investigated them using paññā, you’ll see that they are merely mental objects or phenomena. As far as saññā or perception is concerned, it’s the most subtle of the five khandhas. It’ll quietly create mental images to fool you. On the other hand, saṅkhāra or the thought process will stir before it begins to think. You can distinctly feel this stirring. But with saññā there’s no stirring at all.
It’ll create images to deceive you long before you realize it. The citta is continually deluded by these five khandhas. They deceive it with sammati or relative truths that are created by saññā and saṅkhāra. With the power of paññā, you’ll discover that you’ve been deluded all along. When you probe the citta with paññā, you’ll see the mental images appear and then disappear and you’ll realize that they are all created by the five khandhas and you have unknowingly become deluded by them. These images are not real. The citta is deceived by the five khandhas. It has taken whatever the five khandhas conjured up as the objects of its pleasure and sorrow for eons. Regarding viññāṇa or cognizance, it flicks on and off.
It flicks on to acknowledge the sense data and ideas as they occur, and flicks off when they disappear, similar to a lightning flash, or the light of the firefly. When you’ve developed satipaññā by continuously investigat - ing the activities of the kilesas, you’ll become distrustful of the five khandhas and want to know their true nature. You’ll then earnestly investigate them and will eventually realize the truth. Then you’ll know that they are merely physical and mental phenomena. Actually, whether you realize this or not they still are what they are. But due to your delusion and desires, you mistake them to be something else. These desires are samudaya, the cause of dukkha, and originate from the citta. Now, as satipaññā advances with its probe, the scope of the investigation becomes narrower as satipaññā understands more and more, and eventually converges on the citta. Whatever now appears, you’ll know that it comes out of the citta, not from saññā or saṅkhāra because satipaññā is now capable of differentiating them. As soon as the citta produces them they will immediately disappear, just like the light of a firefly. Once satipaññā has caught up with the citta, it can’t go on creating them. When satipaññā is always watching, they can only appear and disappear.
Satipaññā will now put forth an all-out effort in waging the final battle. All that is left now is avijjā. Both avijjā and the citta have become one and the same thing as they are blended together. If you’re posses - sive of the citta, you’ll also be possessive of avijjā. If you cherish the citta, you’ll also cherish avijjā. If you›re attached to the citta, you’ll also be attached to avijjā. If you blindly believe the citta, you’ll also blindly believe avijjā. For both the citta and avijjā are together. Satipaññā will now keep on advancing with its probe because it’s the only thing it can do. Retreating is not possible. When the investigation has been consummated, paññā will then drop its atomic bomb on its target and completely demolish it. Then the seed of births and existences, avijjā, will be completely destroyed and you’ll see clearly that there is no more birth and death for you. The Lord Buddha said that this is the end of the holy life: vusitaṁ brahmacariyaṁ. As soon as the citta has been freed, the knowledge that freedom has been realized will appear simultaneously. This is where the bhikkhu’s endeavor comes to an end, not anywhere else, but right here.
After satipaññā has crushed avijjā, all of its enemies will also be de - stroyed. Satipaññā which has been investigating relentlessly, will now itself stop investigating because it has nothing more to do and no problem to solve. There aren’t any kilesas left to be eliminated. After the master of the vaṭṭa-cakka, the ceaseless cycle of birth and death, has been destroyed, then everything else comes to an end. The result obtained from your strenuous exertion will surpass everything else. Your misperceptions will all be removed. You’ll perceive the present clearly. Whether you live or die, you’ll have no more problems with the past, present, and future. It’s no problem how you may die. After you’ve attained to the level where there are no more problems, then everything else ceases to be a problem. So there is no problem for an arahant when he passes away. An arahant can pass away in any posture, either standing, sitting, walking, or lying down. He can pass away in any position of his choosing, just like what Tan Ajaan Mun had said in his biography.
And what’s the reason for this? It’s because the dukkha-vedanā, which is sammati, can’t enter the citta to cause any - more trouble. So why couldn’t an arahant pass away in any position that he sees fit, when he has already transcended sammati ? Dukkha vedanā is sammati, and remains in the body. It can’t enter the citta of an arahant to cause any trouble. So there is no reason why an arahant, for his last act, can’t pass away in any position that he finds appropriate.