1.
I encourage you to thoroughly develop serenity and peace of mind. Don't let the mind be blocked by the perception of beauty. Contemplate: your body is something utterly unattractive. Beauty is a false illusion. The face is the dirtiest of all: two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, eye crust, snot and ear wax. In the morning you hurry to wash your face to get all that crud off. If a hair falls into your food, it's disgusting. If you contemplate like this repeatedly, this will be enough for acceptance to arise. Por Mae Krujahn (Luang Pu Mahเ Boowa) says to investigate until you reach the fundamental level of the citta. If you do this...it's amazing! The masters of our tradition (Krooba Ajahns) recommend that we investigate in this way. The Krooba Ajahns themselves did it in this way--not by just eating and sleeping, socializing and chatting away like chattering sparrows. After the chores, unless there's a necessary reason, quickly return to continue developing meditation (bhavanเ). Once the fundamental level of the citta is reached, the heart will be bright.
At this time in the monastery there are no work projects. Your only work is to do bhavanเ. But around here there's only kilesa. The monks are no different than the laypeople: not proficient in either samเdhi or paคคเ. Once you've seen the Dhamma, the heart will accept it. Holding onto your deluded views and opinions (ditthi-mเna) is a big obstacle. It blocks magga, phala and Nibbเna. We can't admit it when we've done something badly or when we're at fault, giving excuses just like someone who's been thrown into jail. A heart with kilesa is like this.
Accelerate your efforts in practice. Take this advice to heart and contemplate the meaning of what I've said.
2.
Monks here aren't firmly determined. They're unreliable. This is the reason why the Dhamma doesn't arise. The Buddha taught to push yourself to the limit. Train yourself. Frustrate your defilements. Look at your own mind. What arises? Contemplating like this leads to wisdom. If you take up a theme of contemplation, make sure the mind is calm beforehand. If the mind isn't calm, don't contemplate. You can't effectively do it without being peaceful.
Peace of mind conquers everything in the world. Without serenity, there's no victory. If you don't practise, you're just playing with your shadow. Wherever you go you just fool and trick yourself. If you don't understand the strategy of the shadow, you can't grab it. You have to remedy your problems like this. Once you understand the process, you solve one problem after another—like a child who's bored with one toy seeks a new one. This is what it's like. If the knowing keeps pace with whatever you're presented with, then letting go will take place.
It's the same with body investigation. The Buddha used the four foundations of mindfulness as his battlefield. Contemplate them in this body. In actual fact, all together they are one. But you can separate them as well, contemplating whichever one you find useful. Choose the weapon that fits. All I ask is that you do it with sincerity and determination. In one night you can fully succeed. Sit until dawn. You'll become firmly established in Dhamma. But when you guys go to put forth effort there's only sleeping and sleeping. If you say you want to know, then make an effort until dawn. Dhamma will arise naturally. Once you see this you won't ever again be interested in distractions. I'm not joking around.
The ones who are going to preserve the sเsana, who will truly prosper in the Dhamma—their speech is in line with truth. But someone who's a comedian, who's a boisterous talker, is not someone who's living the Dhamma. You guys joke and play, then you fight, bickering: "I'm better than you." Remember you are all beggars, poor mendicants. Put forth effort! These days there isn't anyone going off to practice in solitude like the Krooba Ajahns of the past. If you don't face the dangers, your fear remains unchanged. In the old days the jungle and the dangerous animals helped to challenge us, so the mind would not wander away from the body. In such situations bhavanเ is better, the mind unifies quickly. If you're afraid, go seek out a tiger. Without getting past the fear of death Dhamma cannot arise.
Confront yourself. One mind wants to see the Dhamma; one mind wants to run away. If there's no fear in your heart, then it's not necessary to seek out and chase a tiger. Tan Ajahn Juan, while staying at Moon Cave, was sick with fever when he heard a tiger roar nearby. He was too weak to walk, so he crawled after the tiger, following the sound. In all of you staying here however, there is only the fear of death, without having transcended death. It's just a question of whether death comes sooner or later. What is more real than death? Even if no one kills us we still die.
Whatever you choose to investigate do it until it reaches the fundamental level of the citta, until it breaks through, cleanly through--like hitting a spike with a hammer to punch a hole. If you're not determined enough, the spike doesn't go all the way through. If you don't truly investigate, seriously and earnestly, you'll just come back again, same as before, as if you hadn't practised at all, with no deep disenchantment.
3.
Each day reflect: "Is the bhavanเ peaceful or not?…due to what causes?" Each day may be different. Do this for each posture. The Krooba Ajahns can only describe the path. The work is up to you.
Luang Pu Kao put forth effort until he fainted...Luang Pu Mun the same. No need to be interested in a big group of monks for practising. Two or three is enough. At the time of Luang Pu Mun, monks used to seek out remote and secluded places with one other monk and a novice, then return to the monastery for the uposatha. But these days you're all just hanging out, playing around. Even when you return to your kutis your heads are still full of thoughts about the conversations you've had. The food is too good these days. In the old days it often happened that there was very little food or simply plain rice. This was good for bhavanเ. It was a cause for less pain (dukkha vedanเ) to arise while sitting. The body was light, not sleepy.
4.
Learn the ork pansa pavเranเ chanting until you know it by heart. Determination in practice reveals itself in these ways. Otherwise we just display our foolishness in front of the Sangha.
For one who is going to carry on the sเsana, there's no playing around. Here however, while doing the chores and at the afternoon drink, there's only loud talking, "Oke ake oke ake. "If you behave in this way, your bhavanเ will never progress. There'll be no peace of mind. If you want to play around, you can go live in a city monastery where there's no shortage of entertainment. If your desire is for loud noise and boisterous behavior, why do you come here? You cause the practice of the Krooba Ajahns to degenerate. Take a look at yourselves to see if what I'm saying is true or not. The noise reaches me at my kuti, and you wish to realize Nibbเna? You're not looking after your own hearts. It's the heart that attains to Nibbเna. If Nibbเna doesn't arise here, it won’t arise anywhere. The heart is that which knows, that which receives sense impressions. The reality of the body is that it dies and returns to the four elements: merely bones remaining. Sincere determination is the most important thing.
You walk jongrom and where does your mind go? It's like a water buffalo wandering around following the scent of a female in heat. Observe and consider: "Is thinking like this beneficial or not?" If it's not beneficial, don't let it spill out into speech--that is, if you wish to become established in Dhamma. Once firmly established in the Dhamma it's as if we're rich with assets. It's like water is flowing down to us, filling our pool. So take this practice seriously.
Luang Pu Lee
Red Cliff Mountain
Pu Pa Daeng—Udon Thani
Four Dhamma talks from the pansa of 1995.
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