Sammā Samādhi - Detachment Within Activity¹

''I am of the view that nothing suits me.''

This was his view. The Buddha listened to Dīghanakha's view and then answered,

''Brahman, this view of yours doesn't suit you either.''

When the Buddha had answered in this way, Dīghanakha was stumped. He didn't know what to say. The Buddha explained in many ways, till the Brahman understood. He stopped to reflect and saw....

''Hmm, this view of mine isn't right.''

On hearing the Buddha's answer the Brahman abandoned his conceited views and immediately saw the truth. He changed right then and there, turning right around, just as one would invert one's hand. He praised the teaching of the Buddha thus:

''Listening to the Blessed One's teaching, my mind was illumined, just as one living in darkness might perceive light. My mind is like an overturned basin which has been uprighted, like a man who has been lost and finds the way.''

Now at that time a certain knowledge arose within his mind, within that mind which had been uprighted. Wrong view vanished and right view took its place. Darkness disappeared and light arose.

The Buddha declared that the Brahman Dīghanakha was one who had opened the Dhamma Eye. Previously Dīghanakha clung to his own views and had no intention of changing them. But when he heard the Buddha's teaching his mind saw the truth, he saw that his clinging to those views was wrong. When the right understanding arose he was able to perceive his previous understanding as mistaken, so he compared his experience with a person living in darkness who had found light. This is how it is. At that time the Brahman Dīghanakha transcended his wrong view.

Now we must change in this way. Before we can give up defilements we must change our perspective. We must begin to practice rightly and practice well. Previously we didn't practice rightly or well, and yet we thought we were right and good just the same. When we really look into the matter we upright ourselves, just like turning over one's hand. This means that the ''one who knows,'' or wisdom, arises in the mind, so that it is able to see things anew. A new kind of awareness arises.

Therefore cultivators must practice to develop this knowing, which we call Buddho, the one who knows, in their minds. Originally the one who knows is not there, our knowledge is not clear, true or complete. This knowledge is therefore too weak to train the mind. But then the mind changes, or inverts, as a result of this awareness, called wisdom or insight, which exceeds our previous awareness. That previous ''one who knows'' did not yet know fully and so was unable to bring us to our objective.

Footnotes

...¹

Given at Wat Pah Pong during the rains retreat, 1977

...amādhi²

The level of nothingness, one of the ''formless absorptions,'' sometimes called the seventh ''jhāna,'' or absorption.

...ahula³

Bimba, or Princess Yasodharā, the Buddha's former wife; Rāhula, his son.

...nāma⁴

Rūpa - material or physical objects; nāma - immaterial or mental objects: the physical and mental constituents of being.