''Not Sure!'' - The Standard of the Noble Ones¹

The right view is the one that cuts through all of this. So where do we go to? If we think we are better than others, pride arises. It's there but we don't see it. If we think we are equal to others, we fail to show respect and humility at the proper times. If we think we are inferior to others we get depressed, thinking we are inferior, born under a bad sign and so on. We are still clinging to the five khandhas⁴, it's all simply becoming and birth.

This is one standard for gauging ourselves by. Another one is: if we encounter a pleasant experience we feel happy, if we encounter a bad experience we are unhappy. Are we able to look at both the things we like and the things we dislike as having equal value? Measure yourself against this standard. In our everyday lives, in the various experiences we encounter, if we hear something which we like, does our mood change? If we encounter an experience which isn't to our liking, does our mood change? Or is the mind unmoved? Looking right here we have a gauge.

Just know yourself, this is your witness. Don't make decisions on the strength of your desires. Desires can puff us up into thinking we are something which we're not. We must be very circumspect.

There are so many angles and aspects to consider, but the right way is not to follow your desires, but the Truth. We should know both the good and the bad, and when we know them to let go of them. If we don't let go we are still there, we still ''exist,'' we still ''have.'' If we still ''are'' then there is a remainder, there are becoming and birth in store.

Therefore the Buddha said to judge only yourself, don't judge others, no matter how good or evil they may be. The Buddha merely points out the way, saying ''The truth is like this.'' Now, is our mind like that or not?

For instance, suppose a monk took some things belonging to another monk, then that other monk accused him, ''You stole my things.'' ''I didn't steal them, I only took them.'' So we ask a third monk to adjudicate. How should he decide? He would have to ask the offending monk to appear before the convened Sangha. ''Yes, I took it, but I didn't steal it.'' Or in regard to other rules, such as pārājika or sanghādisesa offenses: ''Yes, I did it, but I didn't have intention.'' How can you believe that? It's tricky. If you can't believe it, all you can do is leave the onus with the doer, it rests on him.

But you should know that we can't hide the things that arise in our minds. You can't cover them up, either the wrongs or the good actions. Whether actions are good or evil, you can't dismiss them simply by ignoring them, because these things tend to reveal themselves. They conceal themselves, they reveal themselves, they exist in and of themselves. They are all automatic. This is how things work.

Don't try to guess at or speculate about these things. As long as there is still avijjā (unknowing) they are not finished with. The Chief Privy Councilor once asked me, ''Luang Por, is the mind of an anāgāmī⁵ pure yet?''

''It's partly pure.''

''Eh? An anāgāmī has given up sensual desire, how is his mind not yet pure?''

''He may have let go of sensual desire, but there is still something remaining, isn't there? There is still avijjā. If there is still something left then there is still something left. It's like the bhikkhus' alms bowls. There are 'a large-sized large bowl, a medium-sized large bowl, a small-sized large bowl; then a large-sized medium bowl, a medium-sized medium bowl, a small-sized medium bowl; then there are a large-sized small bowl, a medium-sized small bowl and a small-sized small bowl'.... No matter how small it is there is still a bowl there, right? That's how it is with this... sotāpanna, sakadāgāmī, anāgāmī... they have all given up certain defilements, but only to their respective levels. Whatever still remains, those Noble Ones don't see. If they could they would all be arahants. They still can't see all. Avijjā is that which doesn't see. If the mind of the anāgāmī was completely straightened out he wouldn't be an anāgāmī, he would be fully accomplished. But there is still something remaining.''

Footnotes

...¹

An informal talk given at Ajahn Chah's kuti, to some monks and novices one evening in 1980

...pātimokkha²

The central body of the monastic code, which is recited fortnightly in the Pāli language.

... angels³

Devaputta Māra - the Māra, or Tempter, which appears in a seemingly benevolent form.

...khandhas⁴

The five khandhas: Form (rūpa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saññā), conceptualization or mental formations (sankhārā) and sense-consciousness (viññāna). These comprise the psycho-physical experience known as the ''self''.

...anāgāmı⁵

Anāgāmī (non-returner): The third ''level'' of enlightenment, which is reached on the abandonment of the five ''lower fetters'' (of a total of ten) which bind the mind to worldly existence. The first two ''levels'' are sotāpanna (''stream-enterer'') and sakadāgāmī (''once-returner''), the last being arahant (''worthy or accomplished one'').

... asks⁶

That is, one who lives dependent on the generosity of others.

...anattā⁷

Transience, imperfection, and ownerlessness.

... year⁸

2522 of the Buddhist Era, or 1979 CE.