Sense Contact - the Fount of Wisdom¹

The cultivators of old saw their minds in this way. There is only arising and ceasing. There is no abiding entity. They contemplated from all angles and saw that there was nothing much to this mind, nothing is stable. There is only arising and ceasing, ceasing and arising, nothing is of any lasting substance. While walking or sitting they saw things in this way. Wherever they looked there was only suffering, that's all. It's just like a big iron ball which has just been blasted in a furnace. It's hot all over. If you touch the top it's hot, touch the sides and they're hot - it's hot all over. There isn't any place on it which is cool.

Now if we don't consider these things we know nothing about them. We must see clearly. Don't get ''born'' into things, don't fall into birth. Know the workings of birth. Such thoughts as, ''Oh, I can't stand that person, he does everything wrongly,'' will no longer arise. Or, ''I really like so and so...'', these things don't arise. There remain merely the conventional worldly standards of like and dislike, but one's speech is one way, one's mind another. They are separate things. We must use the conventions of the world to communicate with each other, but inwardly we must be empty. The mind is above those things. We must bring the mind to transcendence like this. This is the abiding of the Noble Ones. We must all aim for this and practice accordingly. Don't get caught up in doubts.

Before I started to practice, I thought to myself, ''The Buddhist religion is here, available for all, and yet why do only some people practice while others don't? Or if they do practice, they do so only for a short while and then give up. Or again those who don't give it up still don't knuckle down and do the practice. Why is this?'' So I resolved to myself, ''Okay... I'll give up this body and mind for this lifetime and try to follow the teaching of the Buddha down to the last detail. I'll reach understanding in this very lifetime... because if I don't I'll still be sunk in suffering. I'll let go of everything else and make a determined effort, no matter how much difficulty or suffering I have to endure, I'll persevere. If I don't do it I'll just keep on doubting.''

Thinking like this I got down to practice. No matter how much happiness, suffering or difficulty I had to endure I would do it. I looked on my whole life as if it was only one day and a night. I gave it up. ''I'll follow the teaching of the Buddha, I'll follow the Dhamma to understanding - why is this world of delusion so wretched?'' I wanted to know, I wanted to master the teaching, so I turned to the practice of Dhamma.

How much of the worldly life do we monastics renounce? If we have gone forth for good then it means we renounce it all, there's nothing we don't renounce. All the things of the world that people enjoy are cast off: sights, sounds, smells, tastes and feelings... we throw them all away. And yet we experience them. So Dhamma practicers must be content with little and remain detached. Whether in regard to speech, in eating or whatever, we must be easily satisfied: eat simply, sleep simply, live simply. Just like they say, ''an ordinary person,'' one who lives simply. The more you practice the more you will be able to take satisfaction in your practice. You will see into your own heart.

The Dhamma is paccattam, you must know it for yourself. To know for yourself means to practice for yourself. You can depend on a teacher only fifty percent of the way. Even the teaching I have given you today is completely useless in itself, even if it is worth hearing. But if you were to believe it all just because I said so you wouldn't be using the teaching properly.

If you believed me completely then you'd be foolish. To hear the teaching, see its benefit, put it into practice for yourself, see it within yourself, do it yourself... this is much more useful. You will then know the taste of Dhamma for yourself.

This is why the Buddha didn't talk about the fruits of the practice in much detail, because it's something one can't convey in words. It would be like trying to describe different colors to a person blind from birth, ''Oh, it's so white,'' or ''it's bright yellow,'' for instance. You couldn't convey those colors to them. You could try but it wouldn't serve much purpose.

The Buddha brings it back down to the individual - see clearly for yourself. If you see clearly for yourself you will have clear proof within yourself. Whether standing, walking, sitting or reclining you will be free of doubt. Even if someone were to say, ''Your practice isn't right, it's all wrong'', still you would be unmoved, because you have your own proof.

Footnotes

...¹

Given to the assembly of monks after the recitation of the Patimokkha, at Wat Pah Pong during the rains retreat, 1978

...sāmaneras²

Novices.

...dhammas³

The word dhamma can be used in different ways. In this talk, the Venerable Ajahn refers to Dhamma - the teachings of the Buddha; to dhammas - ''things''; and to Dhamma - the experience of transcendent ''Truth.''

...Sāriputta⁴

At that time Sāriputta had his first insight into the Dhamma, attaining sotāpatti, or ''stream-entry.''

... sense⁵

That is, nibbidā, disinterest in the lures of the sensual world.

...cca....⁶

The truth of suffering, the truth of its cause, the truth of its cessation and the truth of the way (leading to the cessation of suffering): The Four Noble Truths.

...uposatha⁷

Observance days, held roughly every fortnight, on which monks confess their offenses and recite the disciplinary precepts, the pātimokkha.

... wood⁸

The heartwood from the jackfruit tree is boiled down and the resulting color used both to dye and to wash the robes of the forest monks.

... factors⁹

Bojjhanga - the Seven Factors of Enlightenment: sati, recollection; dhamma-vicaya, inquiry into dhammas; viriya, effort; pīti, joy; passaddhi, peace; samādhi, concentration; and upekkhā, equanimity.