Are You Sure?

Observing the mind is a very interesting and also extremely tricky thing. It is just like a magician doing a lot of tricks, and living in a world of make-believe. Sometimes, it makes one believes one is living in a heaven, a wise and the most blessing person; soon enough, dropped into the hell, and one feels like a depressed and foolish guy who just like any ordinary person shares the same defilements of greed, hatred and delusion. One may start to wonder, after all these years of practice, one is back to square one. One has not achieved anything and not wiser, after-all, nothing much has been changed. This sounds familiar experience to most people who are practicing meditation, or observing the mind.

I am not sure, is this a perception or truth? I think the main culprit is the attachment of things in life, it can be in a subtle way of not letting go. This creates and lets the delusion of 'I' continue and operate in the mind. Use the Buddhist term: may be still haven't realized the Anatta or Non-self, (無我) because in life, there are still deep and subtle attachments that mind clings to and still not letting go. May be this is lack of sharp mindfulness that can penetrate through the subtle layer of mind.

The so called 'I' is the medium of attachment that mind identifies with the arising object, and it is affected or involved with the object. If the object makes mind happy, it likes the object and being happy; if the object makes mind sad or angry, it dislikes the object and being sad and angry, and so on. During the process, it is so fast that the illusionary 'I' is formed and created and attached to the object in one go! Then it becomes: 'I am sad', 'I am angry', and so on. This is the nature of mind. The reaction is automatic and due to ignorance, and therefore it is suffering, because it cannot be controlled. This is due to not thoroughly understand how the nature of mind at work . Without wisdom or understanding, so the mind reacts in the habitual pattern. If the object is negative, the reactions include thought, feeling, and emotional things are all in a negative mode, so mind becomes moody. That is how the mind functions in our day to day life not being aware of its constant changing, and live in this kind of deluded mental state without knowing.

If mind can be calm enough, with self-awareness, it can observe that whenever there is an object arises, be it a thought, a person's image or a past event, instantly mind knows there is an object arising, so mind is 'there' to grab or cling to it. Conceptually, we think that mind 'flies over there' or ‘飛蛾撲火', to the object, but in reality it is already there. Mind's nature is to attach or cling to the arising object, no matter what object. Once it is attached, then it is reacted. Mental reaction is also natural and standard; it likes the object, or it dislikes the object, or it reacts with indifference, something in between like and dislike, in a dull or confused state.

Observation with tranquility, mental activities slow down, the mental process can be seen clearer. When sensation or pain, thought or mood change arises, there is always a reflection on the mind or background consciousness. It is like a mirror, reflects everything happening or arising in this mind-body process to the vast background consciousness. Like image playing on a big screen. Due to calmness, it softens the effect and in a detached way of looking at the arising object, so even pain or negative mental feeling is getting bearable. This is a natural process of mind at work. At this state, if mind unmindfully clings to the arising object, then the background consciousness is affected immediately. If it is mindful and with wisdom, the mind knows that it is just a mental creation, take thought as thought, feeling as feeing, as what it is, then mind letting go and not cling to the arising object, immediately the object fading away. The mind is not affected and remains in its calm and peaceful state. It seems so perfect, but question is, is it possible to have this state of mind all the time and apply to the daily life?

In daily life, so long as the mind still reacting to its arising object, then the mind is accumulating defilements all day long and the mind suffers. The genuine wisdom is to develop the 'built-in power', or so called wisdom, to neutralize the mental activity when it is attached and created the suffering, due to the reaction to the mind-body process. With calmness, mind creates space, the developed wisdom or 'the 'built-in power', can neutralize the mental reaction automatically, when mind encounters the arising object. It is done without the conceptual thinking or thought. Thought cannot rescue or save the mind from suffering. Only mindfulness with wisdom is possible to do that. It is also said that it needs to practice with continue mindfulness from moment to moment, day in day out. Is it possible to do that in the ordinary daily life?

From the above understanding, it is very obvious and a good indicator to gauge the practice: as long as mind is reacting to the arising object, whether good or bad, positive or negative object, the mind is definitely not reaching 'there' yet. This is because the mind still involves or 'jumps' to objects and reacts with it. It means the 'I' still follows us all the time, we still cannot see suffering as suffering, or see thing as what it is at that particular moment. Then, the emotion or the mood will take over and control the mind. It means we are still suffering. After all these years, some already practice for 10, 20 or 30 years, we still walk in and out of retreat center to practice every year, in a certain duration of time. It means the mind is still not well equipped and ready to deal with the harsh, stressful and vicissitudes of life? So have to come back again and again. One may say, we have to practice for the whole life! Looks like no other choice, so be patient and just do it!

We spend most parts of our life in society and work place, so the practice must be related to the daily life, it is not only confined to meditation retreat centers. The interaction with the outside world, the society, is the real challenge. The society, family and work place, press our the inner buttons, activate and expose our weaknesses, manifest the defilements to the maximum, and show the 'real' and ugly self, which is concealed and hidden in a conducive environment, like a retreat center. Life is only meaningful and happy when our inner world is relatively calm and peaceful when interacts with the outside world. This is the least expectation and the essential step with the intention for the practice to achieve that. So next time, during the practice when we feel we have 'attained' something, or feel like 'floating in the air', it is time to ask ourselves: "Are you sure?"...

Every Insight You Have Is Born Out of Your Thinking - UG

UG

1. Nature is interested in only two things--to survive and to reproduce one like itself. Anything you superimpose on that, all the cultural input, is responsible for the boredom of man.
2. I think the solution to your real problems is, in any case, not possible for you unless you undergo the sort of biological transformation that has happened to me.
3. You do create me. I don't create you for the simple reason that I don't have any image of myself.
4. All revolutions are nothing but reevaluations of our value systems. You only replace one system with another system.
5. This body is a perfect piece that has been created by nature. In this assemblage of the species of human beings on this planet one being is endowed with the intelligence of an Einstein, another is endowed with the brawn of a Tyson, and someone else is endowed with the beauty of a Marilyn Monroe. I can't conceive any possibility of all the three blooming in one individual--brain, brawn and beauty.
6. Traveling destroys many illusions and creates new illusions for us. I have discovered, to my dismay, if I may put it that way, that human nature is exactly the same whether a person is a Russian, or an American, or someone from somewhere else.
7. We think that thoughts are there inside of us. We think that they are self-generated and spontaneous. What is actually there is what I call a thought-sphere. The thought-sphere is the totality of man's experiences, thoughts, and feelings passed on to us from generation to generation.
8. Boredom is a bottomless pit. As long as you think that there is something more interesting, more purposeful, more meaningful to do than what you are actually doing, you have no way of freeing yourself from boredom.
9. You are not ready to accept the fact that you have to give up. A complete and total surrender. It is a state of hopelessness which says that there is no way out... Any movement in any direction, on any dimension, at any level, is taking you away from yourself. Only if you reject all the other paths can you discover your own path.
10. When belief is not producing the results you expect of that , you introduce what is called faith. That means hope. There is no way you can look at anything without the use of the knowledge that you have of what you are looking at. The talk of intuition and insight is another illusion. Every insight you have is born out of your thinking.

普緹 ： 一位有正義感的法醫 - 2

Dr. Pornthip Rojanasunand (普緹)

1. 隨着閱歷的增長，對了解人生也加深。普緹說："我的工作，讓我不斷有機會接觸亡者。我常常反問自己：為什麼他們死得如此悲慘？他們到底發生了什麼事？” 從死者身上，晋緹了解到每個人的因緣業力都不一樣，也同時明白及時行善的道理。“除了父母，出家人，佛陀的教導，我的工作也是我的善知識。這份工作是最能使我真切感悟佛法的。

2. 從工作上，晋緹了解到 "有生必有死" 的道理；從佛法的教導中，她明白 "有死必有生" 的輪迴實像。如果我們了解輪迴是苦的道理，我們就要常常行善培福，同時去除自己內心的雜念。這樣，才能免於受輪迴之苦。與死亡的頻密接觸，讓普緹看透了輪迴之苦，因為世間太多苦難，而無論轉世到天道，或地獄，也免不了受苦。因此她笑稱："最好是不要輪迴了!"

3. 生命脆弱，無常可怕。生命何其脆弱，無常是多麼可怕。普緹從佛法的角度分析，她認為這是業力的因素。我們不知道下一秒將發生什麼事，好比海嘯的災民完全沒預料海嘯的發生一樣。倘若不把握及時行善，就後悔莫及了。

Quoted from Facebook (Dr. Pornthip Rojanasunand Fan Club)

Kg Pong - Be a Batman in a Batcave

Kg. Pong of Klian Intan, is a small Thai village, situated at the remote part of Grik district of Perak, Malaysia. Surrounded by high mountains, with green, cool and peaceful environment, is a perfect place for outdoor meditation retreat.

Under the guidance of Meditation Master Ajahn Suk, a free style of meditation practice is adopted. The whole village is surrounded by mountains, one can meditate anywhere under trees. There are natural caves, cemetery, mountainous areas, are all natural places for meditation.

The most impressive and memorable place of meditation is the Batcave, a distance away from Kg. Pong and located at the certain height of a mountain. This is a cool and home of bats. Occasionally at night, could notice the roaming of wild animals in the vicinity. It is a very unusual experience to explore on meditation for the practice at this cave.

Those who like natural environment, outdoor activity, like climbing mountain, enjoy aloneness, deep contemplation, independent and prefer for self practice on meditation, then this is the most suitable place that you are looking for. Want to be a Batman, in a Batcave?

Kg Pong, a Thai village

Monks' rest house

Vicinity of Thai cemetery, an ideal place for practice

A popular place for meditation under trees at cemetery area

The Batcave, serves as a meditation center

A forest monk at front side of a cave

Kg. Pong, a suspended wooden bridge

Ajahn Suk- Meditation Teacher & Forest Monk

平凡

浪花雖巨，但瞬間消失

山洪雖猛，但片刻無蹤

怎能奈何大海，群山毫發呢

只有平凡才是真正的強者

Tide withdraws fast though it strikes hard.

Flood disappears quickly though it comes fast.

They can not do any harm to oceans and mountains.

The commonness is really powerful.

Zen Sixth Patriarch

六祖慧能法師

尊者阿姜查：解脫之鑰 － 1

1. 我们学习佛法的根本原因是要找到超越苦、获得宁静的方法。只有使你从苦中解脱的方法，才是修持的正确方法，而不是其它什么方法。这是因为苦和苦因就在当下。

2. 你在观想苦因时应当了解，我们称为心的这个东西，当它静止时，那是正常状态。一旦它动起来，心也升起反感或追逐它们、 受它们影响。一旦心动，就有了世俗之心，当即沦陷于緣起緣滅的世界。佛陀 教导我们观照的就是这些心的动态。

3. 每当心有动态，它都是无常、苦、非我。佛陀要我们观察和观想这一点。他教导我们观想影 响心的動態。你已经在书里学习、阅读了这个主题，尽管那里说得正确，实际发生时你却跟不上。实际上，没有什么记号告诉你现在是无明、现在是緣起、接下来是意识、现在是名色，等等。

4. 一般来说，你经历苦时，看到的都是结果，也就是心里有苦痛、悲 哀、绝望。你实际上并不知道它从哪里来，那个你从书里是找不到的。书里没有哪里会描述你那个苦的细节与因缘。

5. 因此佛陀教导我们要安住于 “知性”(that which knows)，只观察事物的生灭。一旦训练意识留驻于 “觉知”(awareness)，一旦探索了心，对心与它所形成的真相（reality)，而获得了洞见(insight，),你会 把心看成非我。你会发现一切心理状态与物质状态终究是必须放下的，你会清楚地看到，执取或者给予不必要的重视是愚蠢的。

6. 佛陀教我们了解无常、 苦、非我。因此佛教修持的根本目的，是把它们放下、放到一边。你必须对心与升起的心所确立和保持觉知。实际上心在过去已经习惯于思维的不断繁殖，再加上各 种善恶概念的影响。佛陀教导我们把这一切放下，但是你能够放下之前，必须学习与修行。 考虑八圣道，它是以智慧或者说正见为基础的。

7. 如果你经历不喜欢的事，仍然把反感储存在心里，你必须重头开始修。因为你还有错误; 修 持不圆满。修持达到圆满的地步，心会自动把事放下，要这样对待修持。你在修持时要切实 深入地探索心，获得洞见，自证果报。你真要了解这些东西，必须获 得直观洞见，获得透视事物的亲身理解。

8. 我在个人修持中，内心升起反感的念头时，我问: “为什么有反感?” 升起喜爱的念头时，我 问: “为什么有喜爱?” 这就是禅修之道。我不了解那些精细的理论要点，也没有对心与心所作 详细的分析。我只是始终在对付心中那一点，直到整个解决了反感与欲喜的问题，让它们彻 底消失。不管发生什么，如果我能把心带到一个地步，在那里喜欢与不喜欢终止了，那就超 越了苦。心已经达到无论经历什么都保持宁静的地步。没有执取、粘着......它止息了。这是 你的修持该瞄准的目标。其他人要谈理论，那是他们的事。不过到头来，不管谈了多少，还 得回到这一点开始修。

Training This Mind - Ajahn Chah

TRAINING THIS MIND...

Actually there’s nothing much to this mind. It’s simply radiant in and of itself. It’s naturally peaceful. Why the mind doesn’t feel peaceful right now is because it gets lost in its own moods. There’s nothing to mind itself. It simply abides in its natural state, that’s all.

That sometimes the mind feels peaceful and other times not peaceful is because it has been tricked by these moods. The untrained mind lacks wisdom. It’s foolish. Moods come and trick it into feeling pleasure one minute and suffering the next. Happiness then sadness. But the natural state of a person’s mind isn’t one of happiness or sadness. This experience of happiness and sadness is not the actual mind itself, but just these moods which have tricked it.

The mind gets lost, carried away by these moods with no idea what’s happening. And as a result, we experience pleasure and pain accordingly, because the mind has not been trained yet. It still isn’t very clever. And we go on thinking that it’s our mind which is suffering or our mind which is happy, when actually it’s just lost in its various moods.

The point is that really this mind of ours is naturally peaceful. It’s still and calm like a leaf that is not being blown about by the wind. But if the wind blows then it flutters. It does that because of the wind. And so with the mind it’s because of these moods – getting caught up with thoughts. If the mind didn’t get lost in these moods it wouldn’t flutter about. If it understood the nature of thoughts it would just stay still. This is called the natural state of the mind. And why we have come to practice now is to see the mind in this original state.

We think that the mind itself is actually pleasurable or peaceful. But really the mind has not created any real pleasure or pain. These thoughts have come and tricked it and it has got caught up in them. So we really have to come and train our minds in order to grow in wisdom. So that we understand the true nature of thoughts rather than just following them blindly.

The mind is naturally peaceful. It’s in order to understand just this much that we have come together to do this difficult practice of meditation.

This talk was previously printed as a different translation under the title ‘About this Mind’ - Ajahn Chah

自我醒覺與快樂

深入內心觀察，可以了解到自我醒覺 (self-awareness) 與快樂有直接的關係。常常知道當下身和心的知覺，感覺，那是可以培養的習慣，如起心動念時，心想些甚麼，這些念頭又如何影響當下的心境。

為什麼要培養自我醒覺？是要防止思維像野馬那樣，毫無約束的到處奔跑。心胡思亂想是造成心不平衡，不平靜的主要原因，心不能平靜，即不能快樂。原本的心是平靜的，就像一片藍色的天空；不平靜的心就像一片烏雲，遮住藍色的天空；烏雲散開後又是藍天一片。原本平靜的心，被負面的思維擋住了，就像烏雲擋住了藍色的天空。

要快樂或平靜之心，就要培養自我醒覺，知道心在想甚麼。對任何升起的念頭，都不執著。又如何能自我醒覺？觀察，注意心在想甚麼，常常提醒自己，提高醒覺（awareness) 注意當下的起心動念。這很重要，因為整個身和心的感覺，知覺 (consciousness) 就能決定我們當下的情緒，情感。這是可以自己測試的。

往往長期沈浸在負面思維，就會導致負面的知覺或心態，就這樣，在不知不覺中掉入沮喪，鬱抑的心境。所謂悶悶不樂，鬱郁，是日常生活常見的感覺。

長期的觀察，了解內心的起起伏伏，慢慢的，學會不執著於好或壞的想法。其實，壞或好，就像留在沙灘上的腳印，隨著浪潮的衝擊而消失。那時的心境是超越好或壞，是平靜，快樂而不執著的。