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Things As They Are “The Gift of Dhamma Excels All Other Gifts” —The Lord Buddha Things As They Are Ajaan Mahã Boowa Ñãõasampanno Translated by Åhãnissaro Bhikkhu A Forest Dhamma Publication ThingsA Forest DhammaAs They Publication Are All commercial rights reserved. © 2012 Ajaan Mahã Boowa Ñãõasampanno Dhamma should not be sold like goods in the market place. Permission to reproduce this publication in any way for free distribution, as a gift of Dhamma, is hereby granted and no further permission need be obtained. Reproduction in any way for commercial gain is strictly prohibited. Inquiries may be addressed to: Forest Dhamma Books Baan Taad Forest Monastery Udon Thani 41000, Thailand [email protected] www.forestdhamma.org Ajaan Mun Bhýridatta Thera Ajaan Mahã Boowa Ñãõasampanno “Just as if there were a pool of water in a mountain glen – clear, limpid, and unsullied – where a man with good eyes standing on the bank could see shells, gravel, and pebbles, and also shoals of fish swimming about and resting, and it would occur to him, ‘This pool of water is clear, limpid, and unsullied. Here are these shells, gravel, and pebbles, and also these shoals of fish swimming about and resting;’ so too, the monk discerns as it actually is, that ‘This is suffering... This is the origin of suffering... This is the stopping of suffering... This is the way leading to the stopping of suffering... These are mental outflows... This is the origin of mental outflows... This is the stopping of mental outflows... This is the way leading to the stopping of mental outflows.’ His heart, thus knowing, thus seeing, is released from the effluent of sensuality, released from the effluent of becoming, released from the effluent of ignorance. With release, there is the knowledge, ‘Released.’ He discerns that, ‘Birth is no more, the holy life is fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.’ “This, great king, is a reward of the contemplative life, visible here and now, more excellent than the previous ones and more sublime. And as for another visible reward of the contemplative life, higher and more sublime than this, there is none.” Sãmaññaphala Sutta Dïgha Nikãya Contents Preface of the Editor for this edition.................. 11 Introduction ....................................................... 13 From Ignorance to Emptiness ............................. 15 The Tracks of the Ox .......................................... 31 The Path of Strength .......................................... 35 The Savor of the Dhamma .................................. 55 The Middleness of the Middle Way ..................... 77 The Simile of the Horse ...................................... 86 Principles in the Practice, Principles in the Heart .................................. 89 The Four Frames of Reference .......................... 115 The Work of a Contemplative ........................... 137 The Fangs of Ignorance .................................... 161 The Outer Space of Mind .................................. 165 To Be an Inner Millionaire................................ 189 Every Grain of Sand ......................................... 211 Glossary ........................................................... 215 List of Talks ..................................................... 223 9 The Sala at Wat Pa Baan Taad Preface of the Editor for this edition To avoid possible confusion for the reader, many Pãli terms initially translated into English have, at the discretion of the editor, been for this edition left untranslated in the original Pãli. Any reader unfamiliar with these Pãli terms should refer to the Pãli-Glossary at the back of this book. Also the explanations of Pãli-words in the Glossary have been replaced with the here commonly used translations and explanations. Wat Pa Baan Taad June, 1999 Note In these talks, as in Thai usage in general, the words »heart« and »mind« are used interchangeably. (Both are included under the Pãli term »citta« – the editor) 11 Introduction These talks – except for the first – were originally given ex- temporaneously to the monks at Venerable Ãcariya Mahã Boowa’s monastery, Wat Pa Baan Taad, in Udorn Thani Prov- ince, Thailand. As might be expected, they deal in part with is- sues particular to the life of Buddhist monks, but they also contain much that is of more general interest. Since the monks who had assembled to listen to these talks were at different stages in their practice, each talk deals with a number of issues on a wide va- riety of levels. Thus there should be something of use in these pages for every reader interested in the training of the citta. The title of this collection is taken from a Pãli term that, directly or indirectly, forms the theme of a number of the talks: yathã-bhýta-ñãõa-dassana – knowledge and vision of things as they are. My hope is that these talks will aid and encourage the reader in his or her own efforts to taste the liberation that comes with the reality to which this term refers. Åhãnissaro Bhikkhu Rayong January, 1988 13 From Ignorance to Emptiness oday I’d like to take the opportunity to tell you some of my own ignorance and doubts, with the thought that we T all come from the land of ignorance and doubt inasmuch as our parents and their ancestors before them were people with defilements (kilesa) that led them to ignorance as well. Even all of us here: There’s probably not a one of us who slipped through to be born in the land of intelligence and freedom from doubt. This being the case, we all must be subject to doubts. So today I’d like to take the opportunity to resolve some of the issues that are on your minds by giving a talk instead of answering the ques- tions you have asked from the standpoint of your various doubts, ranging from the most basic to the highest levels – which I’m not sure I can answer or not. But the questions you have asked seem to follow so well on one another that they can provide the frame- work for a talk instead of a question-and-answer session. Each of us, before starting the practice and in the beginning stages of the practice, is sure to suffer from ignorance and doubt, as these are the qualities that lead to the states of becoming and birth into which all living beings are born. When we lay the groundwork for the beginning of the practice, we don’t have enough starting capital for intelligence to take the lead in every situation, and so ignorance is sure to find an opening to take the lead. And as for this ignorance: If we have never trained our intelligence to show us the way, the ignorance that holds the upper hand in the heart is sure to drag us in the wrong direc- tion as a matter of course. 15 Things as they are In the beginning of my own training, I felt doubts about whether the teachings of the Buddha – both the practices to be followed and the results to be obtained – were as complete as he said they were. This was an uncertainty that ran deep in my heart during the period in which I was debating whether or not to practice for the really high levels of Dhamma – or, to put it bluntly, for the sake of nibbãna. Before I had considered prac- ticing for the sake of nibbãna, these doubts hardly ever occurred to me, probably because I hadn’t yet aimed my compass in this direction. But after I had ordained and studied the Dhamma – and especially the life of the Buddha, which was the story of his great renunciation leading to his Awakening to the paths (magga), fruitions (phala), and nibbãna; and then the lives of the Noble Disciples who, having heard the Dhamma from the Bud- dha, went off to practice in various places until they too gained Awakening, becoming witnesses to the truth of the Buddha and his teachings – when I had studied to this point, I felt a sense of faith and conviction, and wanted to train myself to be like them. But the training that would make me be like them: How was I to follow it? The Dhamma – in other words, the practice that would lead the heart to awaken to the higher levels of Dhamma like the Buddha and his disciples: Would it still produce the same sorts of results or would it be fruitless and simply lead to point- less hardship for those who practiced it? Or would it still give the full results in line with the well-taught teachings (svãkkhãta- dhamma)? This was my primary doubt. But as for believing in the Buddha’s Awakening and that of his disciples, of this I was fully convinced in my way as an ordinary run-of-the-mill per- son. The thing that formed a stumbling block to me in the be- ginning stages was the doubt as to whether or not the path of practice I would take, following the Buddha and his disciples, would lead to the same point they had reached. Was it now all overgrown with brambles and thorns? Had it changed into something other than the Dhamma that leads away from 16 From Ignorance to Emptiness suffering (niyyãnika-dhamma), even though the Buddha and his disciples had all followed this very same path to the land of peace and security? This was my doubt concerning the causes in the practice. As for the results of the practice, I wondered whether the magga, phala, and nibbãna still existed as they had in the time of the Buddha. These doubts, which ran deep in my heart, I couldn’t tell to anyone else because I felt there was no one who could resolve them for me and dispel them from my heart. This is why I had my hopes constantly set on meeting Ven- erable Ãcariya Mun. Even though I had never met him before, I had heard his reputation, which had been spreading from Chieng Mai for quite some time, that he was a monk of distinc- tion.

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