On a rare visit to Cittaviveka, Ajahn Koon discusses the five khandas, explaining that when we regard them as a self, they become a burden, but if we are able to let go of them, there is freedom. He describes how the triple gem is a refuge, and likens the precepts to a boat that fills in the gaps of our experience and allows us to float and eventually sail to nibbana.
Returning to Chithurst after an interval of 40 years, Luang Por Piak, one of Luang Por Chah’s most revered and well known disciples, recalls an encounter with a ghost during his previous visit, and remarks on how much Chithurst has developed into a forest monastery conducive to states of concentration and tranquillity. He stresses that this concentration must be used as a tool for attaining insight, and details the five traditional objects of meditation traditionally given to new monastics: hair of the head, hair of the body, teeth, nails and skin.
Thai audio:
Translation by Ajahn Moshe:
The normal ways of the world are to be excited and interested in sensual experiences external to oneself, being drawn to pleasant ones and repelled by those that are unpleasant. This can create a lot of stress, and a constant searching for “What’s next?”. By orienting oneself by a commitment to moral precepts, and a determination to remain present with all that arises, the heart can learn to trust in awareness and find a strength which can allow a lasting happiness to emerge.
It is very important to balance the traditional Buddhist practice of silent formal meditation, with the more external factors of the practice, namely Right Speech and a healthy engagement with one’s fellow practitioners. Assisting with this are vitakka and vicara, directing the mind on to an object and examining the result, as a way to be deeply informed and directly know that one is on a path towards liberation.
Spiritual practice is not just ‘mystical’. There are benefits in everyday applicable states such as kindness, compassion and careful attention. It is dangerous to claim possession of states, and claiming them can even result in using others for one’s own gratification and needs.
Considering the fact of uncertainty, it is unwise to attempt to control. Explore the advantages of being fully open and present with all types of insecurity. Based on a solid foundation of integrity, responsibility and honesty, cultivation can make the heart open and malleable for the purpose of attaining insight.
The compulsive shaping and drives of the citta are held by grasping – an involuntary reflex that can be mastered through careful cultivation. As the end of this grasping and shaping is the sense of self, that sense of ‘me’, ‘I am this’ is the ongoing focus of our Dhamma practice.
The emphasis on virtue, beyond keeping rules, customs and procedures, is to bring about harmony. It enables us to establish a fluent relationship that isn’t domineering nor indifferent, clearing of heart from destructive tendencies. It’s the tonality of careful attention in what we do. Not seeking results, but just bringing forth harmony, beauty, purity in our daily lives.
Our general mode follows a track called becoming. It’s a track that keeps moving, flavoured with craving that never arrives at satisfaction. The Buddha presented a more natural way – step-by-step, chart the course, with friendliness and purity of intention. Mindfulness of body and contemplative thought (vitaka-vicara) support a wider, wholistic mode.