Sense Contact - the Fount of Wisdom¹

One day I was walking past and saw the collapsed roof.

''Eh? Whose kuti is this?''

Someone told me whose it was, and I thought, ''Hmm. Strange....'' So I had a talk with him, explaining many things, such as the duties in regard to our dwellings, the senāsanavatta. ''We must have a dwelling place, and we must look after it. 'Letting go' isn't like this, it doesn't mean shirking our responsibilities. That's the action of a fool. The rain comes in on one side so you move over to the other side, then the sunshine comes out and you move back to that side. Why is that? Why don't you bother to let go there?'' I gave him a long discourse on this; then when I'd finished, he said,

''Oh, Luang Por, sometimes you teach me to cling and sometimes you teach me to let go. I don't know what you want me to do. Even when my roof collapses and I let go to this extent, still you say it's not right. And yet you teach me to let go! I don't know what more you can expect of me....''

You see? People are like this. They can be as stupid as this.

Are there visual objects within the eye? If there are no external visual objects would our eyes see anything? Are there sounds within our ears if external sounds don't make contact? If there are no smells outside would we experience them? Where are the causes? Think about what the Buddha said: All dhammas³ arise because of causes. If we didn't have ears would we experience sounds? If we had no eyes would we be able to see sights? Eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind - these are the causes. It is said that all dhammas arise because of conditions, when they cease it's because the causal conditions have ceased. For resulting conditions to arise, the causal conditions must first arise.

If we think that peace lies where there are no sensations would wisdom arise? Would there be causal and resultant conditions? Would we have anything to practice with? If we blame the sounds, then where there are sounds we can't be peaceful. We think that place is no good. Wherever there are sights we say that's not peaceful. If that's the case then to find peace we'd have to be one whose senses have all died, blind, and deaf. I thought about this....

''Hmm. This is strange. Suffering arises because of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind. So should we be blind? If we didn't see anything at all maybe that would be better. One would have no defilements arising if one were blind, or deaf. Is this the way it is?''...

But, thinking about it, it was all wrong. If that was the case then blind and deaf people would be enlightened. They would all be accomplished if defilements arose at the eyes and ears. There are the causal conditions. Where things arise, at the cause, that's where we must stop them. Where the cause arises, that's where we must contemplate.

Actually, the sense bases of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are all things which can facilitate the arising of wisdom, if we know them as they are. If we don't really know them we must deny them, saying we don't want to see sights, hear sounds, and so on, because they disturb us. If we cut off the causal conditions what are we going to contemplate? Think about it. Where would there be any cause and effect? This is wrong thinking on our part.

This is why we are taught to be restrained. Restraint is sıla. There is the sīla of sense restraint: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind: these are our sīla, and they are our samādhi. Reflect on the story of Sāriputta. At the time before he became a bhikkhu he saw Assaji Thera going on almsround. Seeing him, Sāriputta thought,

''This monk is most unusual. He walks neither too fast nor too slow, his robes are neatly worn, his bearing is restrained.'' Sāriputta was inspired by him and so approached Venerable Assaji, paid his respects and asked him,

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.