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by Sympathy
(A Dhamma talk given by Mr S.N. Goenka in Singapore)
Why should you not kill? If somebody comes and kills you, you
certainly don't like it. Therefore when you try to kill somebody, that
person won't like it. What you don't like,
Another approach: you are a human being and every human being
has to live in society. A householder has to live with the members of
his own family, members of the society. Even if someone renounces
the householder's life, yet one remains in contact with the society. As
a member of the society you should not do anything which will
disturb the peace and harmony of the society. You cannot enjoy
peace and harmony if all around you there is no peace and harmony
at all. If you want to live a life of peace and harmony, that means you
must encourage peace and harmony around you. If you are
surrounded by burning fire, don't think that you won't suffer from
that fire.
The heat of the fire will make you miserable. If you want peace, then
don't do anything at the physical level or at the vocal level which will
disturb the peace and harmony of others, which will harm and hurt
others. Wonderful! Wonderful!
People keep listening to such discourses, but they listen with this ear,
and it goes out the other ear. This happens with everyone's teaching.
We are not here to condemn the teaching of other religions but to
understand the difference. A drunkard knows very well that drinking
is not good for him. He wants to come out of it. A gambler
understands that gambling is not good for him. He would like to
come out of it; and yet when the time comes, he or she can't control
himself or herself. He or she commits the same thing. One
understands that one should not do it, and yet one is a slave of one's
own mind, because one does not have mastery over the mind.
So the next step is to develop samadhi, mastery over the mind. Again,
the teaching of samadhi was not just the monopoly of the Buddha.
The contemporary teachers at the time of the Buddha were teaching
samadhi. Before the Buddha became Buddha, he himself went to two
teachers, Alara Kiama and Uddaka Ramaputta from whom he learned
the technique of deep samadhi up to the seventh jhana (absorbed
concentration) and the eighth jhana. So samadhi was being taught.
Different types of practices of samadhi were there, and yet the
teaching of the Buddha is wonderfully different. There can be no
comparison between the samadhi that was practiced in those days,
the lokiya-jhana (mundane absorption), and what he developed and
taught others, the lokuttara-jhana (supramundane absorption).
It is the same with the teaching of panna, wisdom. This mind, this
body, which includes the entire sensorium, is impermanent, anicca,
anicca. This cannot be a source of happiness for us. This is only a
source of misery, dukkha, dukkha. This phenomenon is not "I," is not
"mine," is not "my soul." Anatta. To many people it seems that this
was the contribution of the Buddha. But this is not so. Even at the
time of the Buddha we find instances when people who were not his
disciples came to him and he questioned them, "Kim mannasi? What
do you believe about this mind-matter sensorium?
The teaching of the Buddha takes you from the gross, olarika, to
sukhuma, the subtle: subtle mind and matter. A constant interaction
of mind and matter is going on throughout one's life. From the time
one takes birth to the time when one passes away, there is a constant
interaction. The mind, the matter are influencing each other - are
getting influenced by each other. Mind arises because of matter, the
matter arises because of mind-currents, cross currents, under-
currents, and all of this is happening within the framework of the
body.
As you practise Vipassana you will find that there are sensations
throughout your body; but don't take them merely as physical
sensations. The body alone cannot feel; the mind is involved - mind is
feeling. A particular sensation has come - mind feels it and a part of
the mind reacts to it. If it is pleasant, it reacts with craving.
If it is unpleasant, it reacts with aversion. When the mind is reacting
with aversion, the unpleasant sensation becomes more unpleasant.
This interaction is going on, every moment and one does not know
what is happening.
As you start experiencing these sensations, you will notice that as and
when you kill you generate a tremendous amount of anger or hatred
or ill will or animosity. This dosa must arise in your mind - only then
will you kill someone. If you are a good Vipassana meditator, you will
find that as soon as you generate any negativity in your mind - anger,
hatred, ill will, animosity-you are getting agitated, you are becoming
miserable.
You can't enjoy peace when you generate anger. As soon as you
generate anger you are the first victim of your anger. This is
Dhamma, the law of nature. When anyone arouses anger it makes no
difference if he or she is a Hindu, a Muslim, a Christian or a Jain; a
Singaporean, an Indian, an American or Russian, a black, a white or a
brown. Anyone who generates anger, or any negativity, gets
punishment here and now. You have broken the law of nature. When
you break the law of the state, the state punishes you. You might
escape that punishment, but when you break the law of nature, you
can't escape it. If you break the law of the state, the punishment may
come after a few years, after going to this court or that court, but
with the law of nature there is no wait.
It is the same with stealing. You can't steal unless you generate greed
in your mind. You can't commit sexual misconduct unless you
generate passion in your mind. You can't lie and deceive others unless
you generate ego or craving or some impurity or the other in your
mind. The law of nature is such that as soon as you generate any
negativity in your mind, you start suffering. And it is not that the
result of this action will come after death. It will come after death
also but nature doesn't wait for that - it starts punishing you here and
now and it keeps punishing you.
When you perform any action, physical or vocal, with a defiled mind,
then what happens?
Then misery will keep following you - following you, like the wheel
of the cart follows the bullock, that is yoked to the cart.
Wherever it runs, because it is yoked to the cart, the wheel is there,
the wheel is there. Because you perform an action, physical or vocal,
with the base of a defiled mind, you have multiplied your habit
pattern of reacting with the defiled mind. And this habit pattern
keeps multiplying, keeps generating misery for you. One understands
this by practicing Vipassana. Every moment that I react with
aversion, I become miserable. The sensation that I experience while
generating aversion is a very unpleasant sensation. It makes me feel
so unhappy, and I realize, "Look nature is punishing me, nature is
punishing me now, here and now and will continue to punish me
unless I come out this habit pattern."
This is the law of nature. The Buddha did not create it. Buddha is not
the creator of Dhamma. Dhamma is there. The Buddha discovered it.
He went to such a depth that he discovered the law of nature at the
experiential level, which made him an enlightened person.
Everyone can practise the technique that he discovered and they will
get the same result. Everyone can explore the truth within the
framework of the body and can understand the interaction: "Look
what is happening. As soon as I defile my mind the punishment is
there." When you become more and more established in this truth at
the experiential level your sila becomes perfect. If I place my hand on
the fire - knowingly or unknowingly - it burns. The next time I will
be very careful: "Oh, I should not place my hand on the fire - it burns
- look, it burns and I don't like this burning. I want to keep my hand
away."
As the fire outside burns you as soon as you touch it, so also, your
impurities burn you as you start generating them, and you start
experiencing this burning. You won't want to generate more misery
for yourself when you start experiencing the truth inside.
He taught samadhi, which before him was just the eight jhanas. As
you go deeper in the technique, you will understand the difference
between the eight jhanas of those days, which are lokiya jhanas, and
how Buddha gave a twist, a tum towards liberation making them
lokuttara. Sampajanna in its true sense: constant thorough
understanding of impermanence, was not included in the eight jhanas
of those days. Buddha started the practice with sati-sampayana. By
the time one attains the third jhana, the third jhana samapatti
(attainment), the sampajanna is perfect. Sampajanna is perfect only if
you are aware of these sensations - arising, passing; arising, passing;
continuously aware day and night.
They come on the surface and get eradicated, layers after layers of
impurities, come and pass away. Then you become the master of your
mind, and the samadhi is not mere samadhi, panna is included with
it.
Of course, there had been other Buddhas, but since the passing of the
teaching of the previous Buddha nobody prior to the Gotama the
Buddha or at the time of Gotama the Buddha or other teachers that
came after Gotama the Buddha could understand the proper meaning
of sampajanna. This word had percolated down from the time of
previous Buddhas but the real meaning was lost.
In the teaching of the lokiya jhanas it had the meaning of, "knowing
intentionally, or deeper, precise awareness." But the wisdom of anicca
was absent so the actual teaching and practice of sati-sampajana was
far away. This wisdom was the contribution of the Buddha, the
wonderful contribution of the Buddha.
But is the cake really sweet or not? Only when you put it on your
own tongue and you taste it can you say, "Yes, it is sweet." It is sweet
on your tongue . If you do not practise Buddha' s teaching - you just
keep admiring his teaching - then you are a wonderful admirer of
Buddha. You are also a wonderful devotee of Buddha but you are not
a follower of Buddha. And one does not get anything unless one
follows what Buddha taught.
Devotion is wonderful. Saddha- (devotion) is the first step on the
path of Dhamma. I say saddha is like preparing a field for cultivation.
You plough the field, you remove all the pebbles and stones, you
cultivate it well-and then you sit near this field and keep praying.
"Now I have prepared the field. Oh field, give me a wonderful crop;
please give me a fruitful crop." Similarly, "Oh Buddha, please do
something to give me a wonderful crop." But nothing comes up. You
have to plant the seeds in the field; you have to irrigate it; you have
to fertilize properly. Only then will you find that healthy crops have
grown. Devotion is like preparing the ground but don't stop there. It
is a very important step, no doubt. But then, you have to take the
next steps and those you have to take yourself, nobody else can do
that for you. A Buddha cannot do that for you. Your guru cannot do
that for you. Your teacher cannot do that for you. You have to work
yourself.
A Tathagata, will only show the path; he won't carry you on his
shoulders to the final goal. Nobody can carry you on his shoulders to
the final goal. Tumhe hi kiccam atappam: you have to work out your
own salvation - you have to work out your own emancipation.
Someone can guide you because he has walked over the path, step by
step. As the Buddha explained, "I walked over this path. I benefitted.
If you want to come along, then you also walk. Start taking steps." As
many steps as you take, you will get that much benefit. If you take all
the steps on the path, then you will reach the final goal.
The path is universal. One comes to a course of ten days or longer to
practise what the Buddha taught. And the first requisite is: when you
come you have to observe five precepts during your stay. It doesn't
matter whether you have been observing them in the past or not.
While you are in a retreat, when you are trying to practise what he
wanted you to practise, at least for these ten days, you must observe
these five precepts very scrupulously. Hindu or Muslim,
Christian,Buddhist or Jain, all will take five precepts. They don't
disagree; they accept this discipline-because the precepts are
universal. Which religion will say, "Yes, you can kill; it doesn't
matter. Go ahead, you can steal; it doesn't matter. You can commit
adultery; doesn't matter. You can speak lies." No religion will teach
that, because moral conduct is the greatest common denominator of
all the religions.
So the first step is to practise moral physical and vocal actions. Next
you are asked to sit down comfortably. You are not required to sit in
a lotus or half-lotus posture. You choose whichever way you can sit
comfortably, keeping your back straight. You close your eyes, close
your mouth and your guide will say, "Observe your breath." This is
what Buddha taught: "Observe your breath, natural breath - as it
comes in - as it goes out."
In the same way if you recite, "Rama, Rama, Rama,"your mind will
get concentrated. You can say, "Christ, Christ, Christ," your mind will
get concentrated. If you say, "Allah, Allah," it will get concentrated.
But these are sectarian words and Buddha's path must remain
universal. Even if you use an ordinary word, like, "clock, clock,clock,
clock," the mind will get concentrated. If you repeat any word
continuously, your mind will get concentrated. This is a law of
nature. But the Buddha never gave his followers any word to
concentrate on.
You are asked to keep the attention at the entrance of the nostrils.
For three days you keep working continuously because nothing else is
allowed in a Vipassana course. From 4:00-4:30 in the morning until
9:00-9:30 at night, you are permitted no reading, no discussions, no
arguments, no newspapers, no TV, no radio; nothing else. You are
just observing yourself. What will reading the newspaper do? It will
make you more extroverted. If you are extroverted you can't observe
yourself as Buddha wants you to observe yourself. So no distractions
are permitted, no disturbances from outside. You simply observe your
breath.
You observe your breath and you are asked to be aware of this area -
the entrance of the nostrils where the breath comes in, where it goes
out.
One day, two days, three days pass, then you begin to notice that
besides this breath going in and coming out, something else is
happening. What is happening? Some biochemical reaction or the
other. Every moment there is some biochemical reaction throughout
your body, but at the conscious level you are unaware of this. At a
deeper level your mind keeps feeling these biochemical flows and
keeps reacting to them. There is some sensation happening
everywhere in the body. It may be heat or perspiration; it may be
throbbing, pulsing,itching, tickling something or the other keeps
happening. But you are instructed to keep your attention on the area
of the nostrils.
On the third day you start feeling something happening here. Again,
your teacher will say, "Just observe. Do nothing. If it is itching, just
observe. Don't scratch it. Don't rub it. Just observe the itching. See
how long it lasts." You observe, observe, observe. . . and it passes
away. No itching is eternal; it doesn't stay forever. It increases and
decreases, and sooner or later it goes. "Oh, anicca. Oh, anicca.
Again this is universal. This is not something Buddha created for you,
me or for anybody else. This is true for everybody but people don't
have the eye of wisdom. They don't have this technique of Vipassana,
to feel this process of mind and matter interaction - arising, passing;
arising, passing; arising, passing. And this is the specialty of Buddha's
teaching. As I say, in the tradition from which I came, that teaching
was there: "You must be free from craving-ra-ga"; in that teaching
vita raga is the highest goal. "You must come out of aversion"; vita
dosa is the highest goal. "You must come out of ignorance"; vita moha
is the highest goal. I used to recite all that in the Gita. I used to recite
these in different Upanishads of Vedanta.
But how to come out of raga? How to come out of dosa? How to come
out of moha? These are nothing but sermons:
"Oh, you people of the world,you must come out of greed; this is very
dangerous for you. Oh, you people of the world, you must come out
of aversion; this is very dangerous for you. People of the world, you
must come out ignorance; it is very dangerous for you."
If Buddha had also said only this, then there would have been no
difference between Buddha and other teachers. Buddha tells us how
to come out of our suffering: "Look, here is a technique. Where the
greed starts, you go to the depth where it is generated. Where the
aversion starts, you go to the depth and you see how it starts." By
practising Vipassana you will start to understand. Initially you will
experience very unpleasant sensations, gross, solidified sensations like
heaviness or pressure or heat. But as you keep observing, observing,
observing, you will find that they get disintegrated, they get
dissolved. And then you come to very subtle vibrations throughout
the body. There is nothing but a flow of subtle vibrations which is
very pleasant. One feels like having more and more. Students come to
me in the middle of the course and they say, "Oh, wonderful! Oh,
Goenkaji, today's meditation was so wonderful. I had a free flow, so
much piti (joyful delight). So wonderful! So wonderful!"
Unless you go to the depth of the mind, you can't change its habit
pattern at the deepest level. This is what the Buddha found by
practising all eight jhanas - the anusaya kilesa (sleeping impurities)
remain. These impurities are the behavior pattern of the mind from
so many lives and they will continue in future lives unless you strike
at the root, unless you cut that root. Otherwise there is no possibility
of getting liberated. Practising these lokiya jhanas, you may enjoy
wonderful ecstasy which does bring purity of mind at the surface
level. With this layer of mental purity, after death you may attain this
loka (plane of existence) or that loka; but still you are rolling. You are
rotating in the loka. You cannot go beyond that. Only when you cut
the root - the root of all the anusaya kilesa, where the impurities arise
- only then will you get liberated.
Understand that there is a big barrier, a very big barrier between the
so-called "conscious mind" and what is called the half-conscious or
unconscious mind by Western psychologists. Buddha never used
these words because no part of the mind is unconscious. What is
called "conscious mind" he called paritta citta, a very tiny part of the
mind.
Day and night the so- called unconscious mind is aware of these
sensations in the body-day and night, every moment. And it is not
only aware of them; it is reacting to them - every moment, it is
reacting. That means it is multiplying the behavior pattern of craving,
of aversion; of craving, of aversion. Either the sensations are pleasant
or unpleasant, and this part of the mind keeps reacting, over and
over. The conscious mind doesn't know what is happening at all. This
tiny mind at the surface doesn't know at all.
An example - it is night time and you have gone to bed. You are in
deep sleep. Who is in deep sleep? The conscious mind is in deep
sleep. But the so-called unconscious mind never sleeps. It is
constantly in contact with these body sensations. You are in deep
sleep. A mosquito has come and bitten you. The unconscious mind
immediately feels - there is an unpleasant sensation - and it reacts. It
will drive the mosquito away or kill the mosquito.
Still, this unpleasant sensation is going on. Now it will scratch and
the conscious mind doesn't know at all. In the morning if somebody
asks you, "During the night, how many mosquitoes bit you?" You
don't know. You will know nothing about it, and yet the whole night
you were reacting to these mosquito bites.
And it does not happen only at night. This barrier remains all the
time, twenty-four hours a day. For example now, at this moment, I
am sitting. If I am not a good Vipassana meditator, what happens?
While I am talking, my conscious mind is working: "Look, I have said
so much. Now I must conclude in this way. Time is getting short. I
must finish the talk now. And whatever I am saying - are people
listening to it? Are they understanding or are they getting bored?
They have started yawning. They are looking at their watches. I must
stop talking." My conscious mind is doing this job. The unconscious
mind has nothing at all to do with it. The unconscious mind is busy
feeling sensations. Sitting for one hour in one position with this
heavy weight, a pressure starts somewhere in my body. When a
pressure starts this unconscious mind says, "I don't like it. You better
move." So I move a little. After some time another pressure appears.
Again I move a little. Some itching might start up and automatically I
scratch it. My conscious mind doesn't know what I am doing. Try
observing someone.
With the base of the six senses, contact arises; with the base of
contact, sensation arises; with the base of sensation, craving and
aversion arise.
Otherwise you would not have come to a talk like this. By now,
perhaps, you would have been in some theatre or some cinema or
some dance hall or somewhere else. You are here. That shows that
you have got the seed of Dhamma in you. But if for the whole life the
seed remains only a seed, you won't get anything. The seed must
grow and give wonderful fruits. And certainly the seed can give
wonderful fruits. I invite all of you. As Buddha says, "Give me seven
days of your life. Just give a trial." I am not a Buddha. I say, "Give me
ten days of your life and try. Just try." Accept it only after you have
passed through these ten days. You will find that Buddha's way is
really beneficial - that it gives results, akaliko, here and now. You
won't have to wait until after death. You will benefit here and now,
and keep on benefitting.
Here and now he rejoices, after death he rejoices, in both cases the
well doer rejoices.
The moment you start practising Dhamma, you will see that you are
benefiting. In the beginning, it is beneficial; in the middle, it is
beneficial; at the end, it is beneficial. But it is beneficial only when
you practice.
I hope all of you, sooner or later, will find the time to begin the
practice of Buddha's teaching. You have done a lot of intellectual
entertainment already. Today also you have listened for one hour,
which was only intellectual entertainment. But now take this hour
and turn it into the strong determination that whenever you find
time, you will pass through a practice of ten days.