Page 1 of 3 -
Ajahn Chandako: May we please ask a few questions, Tahn Ajahn?
Tahn Ajahn Wanchai: [gestures affirmatively] But Ajahn Chah is already top-notch.
Ajahn Chandako: Venerable Ajahn, how should one develop and train one's temperament and personality in order to see and realize the Dhamma?
Tahn Ajahn Wanchai: Every person, every heart—kilesa has been their master since time immemorial. Whatever kilesa has led us to do has become our personality. Some people like to eat a lot, sleep a lot or have a lot of material possessions. Some people don't like having to deal with others. Kilesa causes these traits to form. Once we've decided to modify these habitual tendencies, applying the Buddha's Dhamma, we take the Dhamma which is their opposite, their enemy.
For example, someone who likes to sleep a lot has to practice going without sleep. Someone who likes to eat a lot has to take on the ascetic practices (dhutangavatta): putting all your food in your bowl, with absolutely nothing left outside of it, and then eating just the right amount. People who are gregarious and chatty have to go and live alone, not allowing themselves to get involved with other people. One keeps working on these tendencies. People who are coarse, people who are sloppy, people who never put their heart into anything they do, have to train themselves with those things which counter their innate character traits.
You have to be discriminating in choosing the Dhamma teachings which are appropriate. Study and get to know your own temperament. Make sure you really do it. Once you know if you are a greedy type—for instance, greedy for food or you love to sleep--then make sure you take up the teachings of the Buddha which are the kilesas' opposites in order to counteract them. Once we manage to oppose them, we then find out that we have some strength to contend with these kilesas. Stand up to them. For example, I told Tahn Brad, "Don't have any coffee. Just try it out for a while. Resist this one." Stand up to your deeply ingrained habits of personality. Stand up to them until the mind and heart are balanced and centered, until the mind and heart do not waver. Whether you then get any coffee to drink or not, the mind and heart are equanimous, still and unmoved. That is, equanimous after being tested. Until we've tested ourselves it's still not a sure thing. There's also the equanimity of kilesa. The equanimity that we're looking for arises from having tested, struggled with and seen for ourselves.
Ajahn Chandako What is the purpose and benefit of monastic etiquette (kor wat) and serving one's teacher (เcariya vatta), specifically the way the Krooba Ajahns of our tradition use them?
Tahn Ajahn Wanchai: The Buddha himself taught it all: the fourteen kiccavattas, how the Ajahn relates to his disciples—this is the Ajahn's particular kor wat—and how the disciples relate to their Ajahn—this is the kor wat specifically for them. There's kor wat for the senior monks concerning how to behave towards those more junior to them and kor wat for the junior monks concerning how to behave towards those more senior.
Kor wat includes everybody. It doesn't just refer to the responsibilities of those newly ordained towards their mentor. The Ajahn has his kor wat practices as well. He has to look after all aspects of his disciples' well-being, from the food they eat and the requisites they use, to words of guidance and teaching. He's there to benefit his disciples, so they don't have to struggle to find food, shelter and requisites, in order that they will have the time to put forth unremitting effort.
The disciples repay their Ajahn by carrying out the various kor wat duties. While repaying their debt of gratitude to him they also get to know his personal characteristics. They study the traditional ways of the Buddha and of the old generation of Krooba Ajahns in order that those traditions won't decline. They see the appropriate way for disciples to relate to their mentor and how the mentor relates to his disciples. Each person has their appropriate kor wat.
The benefits of this are that the disciples have abundant free time for practising. They inherit the knowledge imparted by the Krooba Ajahns. They make the lives of these old masters a bit easier; and as those disciples become more senior they will be thoroughly acquainted with the Vinaya of this sasana and the monastic etiquette so that they in turn may pass it on to others in the future. A further benefit is that once you've taken care of a Krooba Ajahn, when you yourself become senior other people will return the favor to you. Or whether you become a layperson or wherever you happen to be reborn, having offered services to a Krooba Ajahn, there will be people waiting to lend you a helping hand. Having fetched water, offered this and that, people will look after you in a similar way.
The greatest benefit is this: one gets the opportunity to study intimately the ways and habits of the Krooba Ajahns, gets to know what kind of temperaments they have that they were able to do battle with the kilesas and emerge as our Krooba Ajahns. This is the most important point, the best and highest benefit. The lesser benefit is that there will be people to attend on and look after us in the future. Wherever we're reborn and whatever we do, we won't go without or be poor. There will always be people to help us.
Kor Wat defines how we practise towards each other: between teacher and student, seniors and juniors, general communal etiquette, behavior in the dinning hall, at the hot drink, while using the toilet, etc. There are lots, and it's all beneficial. You have to use your pa¤¤à to thoroughly contemplate these duties, so you know that without exceptions they are all of benefit.
They have the ability to subdue our kilesas—subdue laziness, for one thing. They subdue conceited opinions and arrogance. Maybe our teacher didn't have much schooling, didn't graduate with any degrees, only completing a few years in grade school. But his knowledge of Dhamma is vast. Those of us who are highly educated however, might be very arrogant and proud of ourselves that we have a degree and have studied a wide range of subjects. We do this kor wat for subduing conceit as well. This self-inflation can't be allowed to manifest or else we'll never see our heart's true nature. Conceit is one form of kilesa. If we are proud of ourselves for being well educated, well off or upper class, we will never be able to dissolve this conceit and flush it out of our heart. This is another important point.
Ajahn Chandako: Venerable Ajahn, what are the biggest obstacles for meditation (kammatthเna) monks in the present age?
Tahn Ajahn Wanchai: Oneself. The kammatthเna monk himself. Other things don't obstruct. If the kammatthเna monk goes astray, everything else gets totally spoiled. In any age the most important factor is oneself. There's no greater obstacle than one's own heart, the kilesas in one's own heart. That says it all, don't you think?
Just that. Don't go thinking that other things are obstacles. Just ourselves. It doesn't matter how abundant food may be, if we're under control we won't get lost in it. Even if we have too many tools and an excess of equipment, if we don't get lost in it it's not detrimental. But if we start to get lost in it—even a little bit—then even if we're eating little and living simply we sabotage ourselves. The obstacle for a kammatthàna monk is the kammatthàna monk himself, the kilesas in the heart of the kammatthàna monk. This is the most important one.
The next most important obstacle is not having a Krooba Ajahn to guide us. If we get stuck at some point, it can be next to impossible to solve it by ourselves. Still, this is of secondary importance. We are our own biggest obstacle. Luang Pu Mun and Luang Pu Sao didn't have a Krooba Ajahn at all. They read the scriptures and practised accordingly. They were still able to attain enlightenment because they were careful with themselves.
One's primary enemy is oneself. This is the most onerous, the most cruel. Next to that is being without a Krooba Ajahn and a good monastic community, but this is secondary. Not being diligent in putting forth effort in meditation, not having a heart that's firmly resolved, this is the obstacle. If we are lazy in even just one area, there's no chance of ever seeing Dhamma. If we're feeble and frail rather than strong and steadfast in our Dhamma practice, we won't see our own heart. This is the abbreviated answer.
Warrior Heart
Tahn Ajahn Wanchai Wijito
Sangha Forest Monastery, Serng Kerng Mountain
Questions and Answers
With Monks From Wat Pah Nanachat
10 January, 2000
loading..
