The Four Noble Truths¹

Today I have been invited by the abbot to give you a teaching, so I ask you all to sit quietly and compose your minds. Due to the language barrier we must make use of a translator, so if you do not pay proper attention you may not understand.

My stay here has been very pleasant. Both the Master and you, his followers, have been very kind, all friendly and smiling, as befits those who are practicing the true Dhamma. Your property, too, is very inspiring, but so big! I admire your dedication in renovating it to establish a place for practicing the Dhamma.

Having been a teacher for many years now, I've been through my share of difficulties. At present there are altogether about forty branch monasteries² of my monastery, Wat Nong Pah Pong, but even these days I have followers who are hard to teach. Some know but don't bother to practice, some don't know and don't try to find out. I don't know what to do with them. Why do human beings have minds like this? Being ignorant is not so good, but even when I tell them, they still don't listen. I don't know what more I can do. People are so full of doubts in their practice, they're always doubting. They all want to go to Nibbāna, but they don't want to walk the path. It's baffling. When I tell them to meditate they're afraid, or if not afraid then just plain sleepy. Mostly they like to do the things I don't teach. When I met the Venerable Abbot here I asked him what his followers were like. He said they're the same. This is the pain of being a teacher.

The teaching I will present to you today is a way to solve problems in the present moment, in this present life. Some people say that they have so much work to do they have no time to practice the Dhamma. ''What can we do?'' they ask. I ask them, ''Don't you breathe while you're working?'' ''Yes, of course we breathe!'' ''So how come you have time to breathe when you're so busy?'' They don't know what to answer. ''If you simply have sati while working you will have plenty of time to practice.''

Practicing meditation is just like breathing. While working we breathe, while sleeping we breathe, while sitting down we breathe... Why do we have time to breathe? Because we see the importance of the breath, we can always find time to breathe. In the same way, if we see the importance of meditation practice we will find the time to practice.

Have any of you ever suffered?... have you ever been happy?... Right here is the truth, this is where you must practice the Dhamma. Who is it who is happy? The mind is happy. Who suffers? The mind suffers. Wherever these things arise, that's where they cease. Have you experienced happiness?... Have you experienced suffering?... this is our problem. If we know suffering³, the cause of suffering, the end of suffering and the way leading to the end of suffering we can solve the problem.

Footnotes

...¹

This talk was given at the Manjushri Institute in Cumbria, U.K., in 1977

... monasteries²

At the time of printing this book (1992), there are about one hundred branch monasteries, big and small, of Wat Nong Pah Pong.

... suffering³

Dukkha: ''Suffering'' is a most inadequate translation, but it is the one most commonly found. Dukkha literally means ''intolerable,'' ''unsustainable,'' ''difficult to endure,'' and can also mean ''imperfect,'' ''unsatisfying,'' or ''incapable of providing perfect happiness.''

...samsāra⁴

Samsāra: The world of delusion.

...Attavādupādāna⁵

One of the Four Bases of Clinging: Kāmupādāna, clinging to sense objects; sīlabbatupādāna: clinging to rites and rituals; ditthupādāna: clinging to views, and attavādupādāna, clinging to the idea of self.

... one⁶

Soon after his enlightenment, the Buddha was walking on his way to Benares and was approached by a wandering ascetic, who said, ''Your features are clear, friend, your bearing serene... who is your teacher?'' The Buddha answered that there was no-one in this world who could claim to be his teacher, because he was completely self-enlightened. The ascetic could not understand his answer, and walked off, muttering, ''Well, good for you, friend, good for you.''