"Tuccho Pothila'' - Venerable Empty-Scripture¹

Therefore the Buddha taught that this mind must be trained and developed. We must develop the mind just like we develop the body, but we do it in a different way. To develop the body we must exercise it, jogging in the morning and evening and so on. This is exercising the body. As a result the body becomes more agile, stronger, the respiratory and nervous systems become more efficient. To exercise the mind we don't have to move it around, but bring it to a halt, bring it to rest.

For instance, when practicing meditation, we take an object, such as the in- and out-breathing, as our foundation. This becomes the focus of our attention and reflection. We note the breathing. To note the breathing means to follow the breathing with awareness, noting its rhythm, its coming and going. We put awareness into the breath, following the natural in and out breathing and letting go of all else. As a result of staying on one object of awareness, our mind becomes refreshed. If we let the mind think of this, that and the other there are many objects of awareness, the mind doesn't unify, it doesn't come to rest.

To say the mind stops means that it feels as if it's stopped, it doesn't go running here and there. It's like having a sharp knife. If we use the knife to cut at things indiscriminately, such as stones, bricks and grass, our knife will quickly become blunt. We should use it for cutting only the things it was meant for. Our mind is the same. If we let the mind wander after thoughts and feelings which have no value or use, the mind becomes tired and weak. If the mind has no energy, wisdom will not arise, because the mind without energy is the mind without samādhi.

If the mind hasn't stopped you can't clearly see the sense objects for what they are. The knowledge that the mind is the mind, sense objects are merely sense objects, is the root from which Buddhism has grown and developed. This is the heart of Buddhism.

We must cultivate this mind, develop it, training it in calm and insight. We train the mind to have restraint and wisdom by letting the mind stop and allowing wisdom to arise, by knowing the mind as it is.

Footnotes

...¹

An informal talk given at Ajahn Chah's kuti, to a group of lay people, one evening in 1978

...samana²

One who lives devoted to religious practices. The term is used also to refer to one who has developed a certain amount of virtue from such practices. Ajahn Chah usually translates the term as ''one who is peaceful.''

...ñānadassana³

Literally: knowledge and insight (into the Four Noble Truths).

... Mind⁴

One of the four foundations of mindfulness: body, feeling, mind, and dhammas.

...kāmachanda⁵

Kāmachanda: Sensual desire, one of the five hindrances, the other four being ill will, doubt, restlessness and worry, and doubt.

...khandhas⁶

The five khandhas, or ''heaps'': form, feeling, perception, conception, and consciousness.

...sīla-dhamma⁷

Sīla-dhamma: The practice of virtue.

... Wisdom⁸

Sīla, samādhi, paññā.