Ajahn Chah (ajahnchah.org) via Ven. Sujato, Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
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| Why? Cuz I want to. Why not? Cuz I don't want. |
[It's a MONKEY MIND.] It jumps about excitedly, randomly because it has never been trained.
Therefore, train the heart! Buddhist meditation is about the heart -- developing the heart/mind, developing our own untrained heart. This is very, very important.
This training of the heart is the main emphasis. Buddhism is the religion of the heart. Only this! One who practices to develop the heart is one who practices Buddhism.
This heart of ours lives in a cage. And what’s more, there’s a raging monkey-tiger-gorilla in that cage.
If this maverick heart of ours doesn’t get what it wants, it makes trouble. We must discipline it with meditation, with samādhi (unification, concentration, purifying focus). This is called "training the heart."
At its inception, the foundation of Buddhist practice is the establishment of ethical-moral discipline (sīla).
Sīla or "virtue" is the training of body and speech (our physical and verbal actions and conduct).
From this attempt at discipline arises conflict and confusion: When we restrain ourselves, not letting ourselves do what we want to do when we want to do it, there is conflict. There is strife. There is uncomfortable frustration. [Stick with it.]
Eat little! Sleep little! Speak little! Whatever worldly habits we may have, lessen them. Go against the stream. Go against their power. (Feeding them only makes them grow stronger).
Let us avoid doing just as we like. Let us not indulge in [discursive] thought. Stop this slavish following! We must constantly go against the stream of ignorance. This is called "discipline."
When we discipline our heart, it becomes very dissatisfied. It feels restricted and oppressed. It begins to squirm and struggle. When the heart is prevented from doing what it wants to do when it wants to do it, it starts wandering about and struggling to escape.
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| There are Four Noble Truths to penetrate on this Path. |
Suffering [dukkha, disappointment, unsatisfactoriness, agony, anguish, the sense of never finding fulfillment in anything] becomes apparent to us.
This dukkha -- the recognition of suffering in its many forms -- is the first of the Four Ennobling Truths (where "noble" means enlightened and "ennobling" means enlightening).
Most people want to get away from dukkha. We don’t ever want to have ANY kind of suffering at all. But actually this suffering is what brings us wisdom: It makes us contemplate dukkha, the First Noble Truth.
Happiness (sukha) tends to lull us into a false sense of security, makes us close our eyes and ears. It never gives us reason to develop patience. Too much comfort and happiness make us careless.
Of these two defilements [habitual aversion to pain and clinging to pleasure], dukkha is the easiest to see. Therefore, we must bring up suffering in order to put an end to all suffering.
We must first know what dukkha is before we can know how to practice meditation to bring about "the end of all suffering" (which the Buddha called nirvana).
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