Nibbana Is Giving Up, Letting Go, and Being Free

Ajahn Chah compares awakened knowledge to counting fruit. Once you’ve got it, you don’t have to count again.

The Buddha taught to see the body in the body. What\r\ndoes this mean? We are all familiar with the parts of the body, such as hair,\r\nnails, teeth, and skin. So how do we see the body in the body? If we recognize\r\nall these things as being impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not-self, that’s\r\nwhat is called seeing the body in the body.

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When we see the body in the body, which means we see\r\nthe dhamma in the body, knowing our own and others’ bodies as impermanent\r\nphenomena, then we don’t need detailed explanations. Sitting here, we have\r\nmindfulness constantly in control, knowing things as they are, and then\r\nmeditation becomes quite simple.

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Still, meditation is generally not well understood.\r\nWe practice in a group, but we often don’t know what it’s all about. Some people\r\nthink meditation is really hard to do. They say, “I come to the monastery, but\r\nI can’t sit. I don’t have much endurance. My legs hurt, my back aches, I’m in\r\npain all over.” So they give up on it and don’t come anymore, thinking they\r\ncan’t do it.

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But, in fact, samadhi is not sitting. Samadhi isn’t\r\nwalking. It isn’t lying down or standing. Sitting, walking, closing the eyes,\r\nopening the eyes—these are all mere actions. If you’re sitting with your eyes\r\nclosed, but you’re falling asleep, with your head bobbing all over and your\r\nmouth hanging open, that’s not sitting in samadhi. It’s sitting with your eyes\r\nclosed. Samadhi and closed eyes are two separate matters. Real samadhi can be\r\npracticed with eyes open or eyes closed. You can be sitting, walking, standing,\r\nor lying down.

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Samadhi means the mind is firmly focused, with\r\nall-encompassing mindfulness, restraint, and caution. You are constantly aware\r\nof right and wrong, constantly watching all conditions arising in the mind.\r\nWhen it shoots off to think of something, having a mood of aversion or longing,\r\nyou are aware of that. Some people get discouraged: “I just can’t do it. As\r\nsoon as I sit, my mind starts thinking of home. That’s evil (Thai: bahp).” Hey!\r\nIf just that much is evil, the Buddha never would have become Buddha. He spent\r\nfive years struggling with his mind, thinking of his home and his family. It\r\nwas only after six years that he awakened.

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Some people feel that these sudden arisings of\r\nthought are wrong or evil. You may have an impulse to kill someone. But you are\r\naware of it in the next instant; you realize that killing is wrong, so you stop\r\nand refrain. Is there harm in this? What do you think? Or if you have a thought\r\nabout stealing something, and that is followed by a stronger recollection that\r\nto do so is wrong, and so you refrain from acting on it, is that bad kamma?\r\nIt’s not that every time you have an impulse you instantly accumulate bad\r\nkamma. Otherwise, how could there be any way to liberation? Impulses are merely\r\nimpulses. Thoughts are merely thoughts. In the first instance, you haven’t\r\ncreated anything yet. In the second instance, if you act on it with body,\r\nspeech, or mind, then you are creating something: avijja (ignorance) has taken\r\ncontrol. If you have the impulse to steal, and then you are aware of yourself\r\nand aware that this would be wrong, this is wisdom, and there is vijja\r\n(knowledge) instead. The mental impulse is not consummated.

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This is the timely awareness of wisdom arising and\r\ninforming our experience. If there is the first mind-moment of wanting to steal\r\nsomething, and then we act on it, that is the dhamma of delusion; the actions\r\nof body, speech, and mind that follow the impulse will bring negative results.

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This is how it is. Merely having the thoughts is not\r\nnegative kamma. If we don’t have any thoughts, how will wisdom develop? Some\r\npeople simply want to sit with a blank mind. That’s wrong understanding.

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I’m talking about samadhi that is accompanied by\r\nwisdom. In fact, the Buddha didn’t wish for a lot of samadhi. He didn’t want jhana\r\n(meditative absorption) and samapatti (spiritual attainments). He saw samadhi\r\nas one component of the path. Sila (virtue), samadhi and pañña (wisdom) are\r\ncomponents, or ingredients, like ingredients used in cooking. We use spices in\r\ncooking to make food tasty. The point isn’t the spices themselves, but the food\r\nwe eat. Practicing samadhi is the same. The Buddha’s teachers, Uddaka and\r\nAlara, put heavy emphasis on practicing the jhana and attaining various kinds\r\nof powers, like clairvoyance. But if you get that far, it’s hard to undo. Some\r\nplaces teach this deep tranquility, to sit with delight in quietude. The\r\nmeditators then get intoxicated by their samadhi. If they have sila, they get\r\nintoxicated by their sila. If they walk the path, they become intoxicated by\r\nthe path, dazzled by the beauty and wonders they experience, and they don’t\r\nreach the real destination.

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The Buddha said that this is a subtle error. Still,\r\nit’s something correct for those on a coarse level. What the Buddha wanted was\r\nfor us to have an appropriate measure of samadhi, without getting stuck there.\r\nAfter we train in and develop samadhi, then samadhi should develop wisdom.

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Samadhi that is on the level of\r\nsamatha—tranquility—is like a rock covering grass. In samadhi that is sure and\r\nstable, even when the eyes are opened, wisdom is there. When wisdom has been\r\nborn, it encompasses and knows (“rules”) all things. The Teacher did not want\r\nthose refined levels of concentration and cessation, because they become a\r\ndiversion, and the path is forgotten.

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So what is necessary is not to be attached to\r\nsitting or any other particular posture. Samadhi doesn’t reside in having the\r\neyes closed, the eyes open, or in sitting, standing, walking, or lying down.\r\nSamadhi pervades all postures and activities. Older persons, who often can’t\r\nsit very well, can contemplate especially well and practice samadhi easily;\r\nthey too can develop a lot of wisdom.

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How is it that they can develop wisdom? Everything\r\nis rousing them. When they open their eyes, they don’t see things as clearly as\r\nthey used to. Their teeth give them trouble and fall out. Their bodies ache\r\nmost of the time. Just this is a place of study. So, really, meditation is easy\r\nfor old folks. Meditation is hard for youngsters. Their teeth are strong, so they\r\ncan enjoy their food. They sleep soundly. Their faculties are intact and the\r\nworld is fun and exciting to them, so they get deluded in a big way. For the\r\nold ones, when they chew on something hard, they’re soon in pain. Right there\r\nthe devaduta (divine messengers) are talking to them; they’re teaching them\r\nevery day. When they open their eyes, their sight is fuzzy. In the morning\r\ntheir backs ache. In the evening their legs hurt. That’s it! This is really an\r\nexcellent subject to study. Some of you older people will say you can’t\r\nmeditate. What do you want to meditate on? Who will you learn meditation from?

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This is seeing the body in the body and sensation in\r\nsensation. Are you seeing these or are you running away? Saying you can’t\r\npractice because you’re too old is only due to wrong understanding. The\r\nquestion is, are things clear to you? Elderly persons have a lot of thinking, a\r\nlot of sensation, a lot of discomfort and pain. Everything appears! If they\r\nmeditate, they can really testify to it. So I say that meditation is easy for\r\nold folks. They can do it best. It’s like the way everyone says, “When I’m old,\r\nI’ll go to the monastery.” If you understand this, it’s true all right. You\r\nhave to see it within yourself. When you sit, it’s true; when you stand up,\r\nit’s true; when you walk, it’s true. Everything is a hassle, everything is\r\npresenting obstacles—and everything is teaching you. Isn’t this so? Can you\r\njust get up and walk away easily now? When you stand up, it’s “Oy!” Or haven’t\r\nyou noticed? And it’s “Oy!” when you walk. It’s prodding you. So how can you\r\nsay it’s difficult to meditate? Where else is there to look? It’s all correct. The\r\ndevaduta are telling you something. It’s most clear. Sankhara (mind and body)\r\nare telling you that they are not stable or permanent, not you or yours. They\r\nare telling you this every moment.

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Ajahn\r\nChah – Lion’s Roar