EXHAUSTING THE SOUND OF
THE DRUM
By Ven. Sayadaw of Henzada, Burma
Translated
by Ba Thet Gyi
This is the translation of a Dhamma discourse
given by Venerable Ananda Sayadaaw of Henzada, Burma, to
his disciples. He was a disciple of the Lion Cave Sayadsaw.
I had studied the scriptures for some years
and had gained a good comprehension of Buddhism. By the time
I had been ordained as a monk for fourteen years, meditation
was becoming intensely popular. Words like nama and rupa
were on everyone's tongues and heard as frequently as the
noise of planes flying over during the war. Some went so
far as to say that it was not difficult to become sotapanna
[*] at a single sitting. This made think very carefully.
I thought at this point I should stop my scripture study
and proceed with the meditation practice. If I did not, I
would be like the cowherd in the Dhammapada verse who looks
after the cows and yet does not know the taste of milk. "With a lot of book knowledge but
without practical experience, one will be bitten by craving,
pride and delusion. With a lot of practice and no book
knowledge, craving, pride and delusion will be destroyed." This
is how the saying goes.
I also remembered that is mentioned in the scripture that
one needs to learn up to a certain point in order to understand
the teachings, but if one doesn't practice one will be left
behind. This thought gave me the determination to practice
meditation. Also in the scriptures one reads that at the
end of the Buddha's discourses, there were people who were
immediately enlightened. So it is shown that one need not
have to undertake a meditation technique to achieve the goal.
If there were a teacher who could explain and show the way
to the goal, one could realize that nibbana is within you,
and that I sincerely believed.
The reason for my certainty was that
at the time of the Buddha there were arahats like Ven.
Yasa who worked very hard and diligently, yet this attainment
came through wise reflection (yonisomanasikara ). Also
there is a story of Angulimala. When he was chasing after
the Buddha to kill him he could not catch up no matter
how fast he ran. Angulimala called out to the Buddha: "Stop." The Buddha replied: "I
have already stopped but you have not stopped." When
Amgulimala heard that he attained sotapatti [*]. Some claimed
that this way of attaining dhamma was possible because of
past perfections (parami) and the fact that they had met
the Buddha. They maintained that in this day and age immediate
realization was not possible anymore. As for me, I did not
believe in such claims because we are living in such an advanced
world with people of high intellect and knowledge. So I felt
that to realize Dhamma must be still be possible.
I decided to listen to a discourse to see if I could attain
something. If need be, I would try for seven days or seven
months or even seven years. If still I had not gained what
I had hoped for, then I would undertake meditation practice
for one or two years.. If I failed the only thing left for
me would be to disrobe and live as a layman observing the
five precepts for the rest of my years.
I was invited to meet the Lion Cave Sayadaw. He was well
known for discoursing a new trend in Buddhism. I listened
to his discourses and discussions for fifteen days. Here
is what the Sayadaw taught me.
"Do
not let your worldly thoughts of liking and disliking delude
your mind. If you can live that way you have already the
Nibbana you want. Can you do that? You have to know yourself
whether you can live like that or not."
I respectfully replied that I did not know how to live that way.
So he continued, the nature of the mind
is to follow one object after another. Thought is not there
from the beginning. It only arises when you become aware
of an object. If the mind is not aware of the object, the object is not there.
Do concern yourself with the object that is not there. The consciousness
that could be aware of the object is not there before it arises. It is not
there at first. If it is not there, and then you can ask, where does it come
from? Foe example, before you came to this monastery you were not here, were
you? Consciousness also is not there before it arises. When you win the lottery
you will build a cottage, but how can you build one before winning the lottery?
This animitta anicca lakkhana that is, it ceases to exist. You have to be
able to live discerning mental objects from consciousness itself.
" To begin with,
the consciousness of the object was not there. If consciousness
was not there, what sort of mind was there? The un-concocted
mind was there and one must be able to see that with insight
knowledge. You must be able to see the un-concocted mind
for yourself to know its nature. Only then you will be
able to know the mental production that follows, and how
it happens. As yet, you don't see the un-concocted mind
beforehand. You have to see the unconcocted mind beforehand.
Only then you will know when a mental object arises. The
point I am making is that it's essential to see clearly
the unconcocted mind with insight. If you know and understand
the unconcocted mind you will be able to know the arising
phenomena, and you cannot avoid knowing it even if you
try. The arising phenomena is known as annicca and dukkha,
impermanence and suffering. This is how I teach and this
is how you have to contemplate. If you can see the arising
phenomena with wisdom, impermanence and suffering will
disappear."
"When the
mind arises, objects arise."
"When objects arise, the world
of sensual pleasures will arise based on them."
"Greed, hate, despair and grief
arise, and when they arise impermanence comes along with
them just like an internal disease. And if you cannot see
that intuitively and directly then what you perceive as
impermanence it's only a mental concept. This deluded the
idea of impermanence is the creation of the impermanent
mind. There is a saying: ' The golden deer, seeing the
mirage as water, laps it up.'
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"Now let us turn the discussion
to dhamma and thought that is free of the five sense bases.
This is called the dhammayon. Before you achieve the Path
knowledge the nature of nibbana is only dhamma theory to
you. And only when you have attained the knowledge and
wisdom of the Path does the dhammayon become distinct"
"All beings want
nibbana. If you want nibbana you must be able to practice
according to dhamma which is this: the arising and passing
away must not touch the mind. Now you do not practice like
this. Your mind is pulled all the time following these
impermanent things so your mind is mixed up with worldly
dhammas all the time. As you have been living like this
you have been going round and round in samsara.
"We are always performing habitual
actions through body, speech, and mind. 'Whatever actions
you perform by body, speech, or mind are dukkha, ' so they
say. You must be able to observe the original mind that
is free of all concocting. You must be able to live by
keeping the mind unconnected so that habitual actions of
body, speech, and mind do not have a chance to come into
being. Please try to practice observing the non-arising,
original mind, which is the way of arahats. The habit of
fixing the attention on the phenomenal world, that is the
way to nibbana. Cultivate the way of being able to live
in contact with the unconcocted mind. Now let's look and
you will see that when annatta is seen, atta destroyed
and this is the way of the Path
If you want nibbana you must be able to observe and contemplate
impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and non-self. How are you
going to contemplate these? The body we have is not impermanent,
and this means that what has arisen will break apart. This
impermanence is known as dukkha, unsatisfactoriness. It is
also known as is, anatta, this ungovernable.
What is impermanent is anissa.
What is impermanent is dukkha.
What is impermanent is anatta.
They are called by three different names. This body will
die one day, do you believe it? If you do, you do not have
to meditate on the impermanence of the body. If you believe
that this is becoming and breaking apart all the time, then
you have secured one right view but there still remains the
mind and its mental factors to be considered.
All the thoughts of liking and disliking arise based on
this body, isn't that so?
Sometimes a wholesome thought arises
and sometimes an unwholesome thought arises. The mind is
like that, isn't it? If I ask you if pleasant thoughts
are always there, you will say no. You must be able to
observe directly that all thoughts are impermanent and
that thoughts are not appearing all the time. Unwholesome
thoughts are not always either. You must be able to see
this impermanence with insight. Do not believe that the
mind is always filled with defilements. Only after seeing
the impermanence of thoughts will you be able to understand
where the "non-happening" is, which is permanent,
and you have to understand the effortlessly.
Thought is not happening all the time in the mind. To see
impermanence of thought is to know clearly the voidness of
the mind. To see impermanence is equal to seeing the unconcocted
mind. It is natural law that the mind if never static or
permanent. When you are not ill, this is the sign of health,
isn't it? When there is no happening, then in its place there
will be voidness or peace. The majority of dhamma practitioners
are meditating on the arising and passing away of phenomena.
Those who are contemplating non-happening are few. I want
to point out to you that you must realize that before something
arises, the mind is inherently peaceful. Be able to see that
as it is. I am always advising you to do this.
Defilements and wholesome thoughts are not inherent in
the mind, they are not primary. They are not there right
from the beginning. It is like the wake-up bell in the monastery
and like the big drum that calls the monks to the meal. The
drum by itself does not produce sound. Reflecting in this
way we see that you cannot get rid of something that is not
always there. T his is called nirodha dhamma or the truth
of cessation. The truth of cessation means that an object
does not arise.
When we can see the original voidness of the mind we think
that defilements and wholesome thoughts have been with us
all the times. Because we believe that they are always there,
we struggle to annihilate them, to get rid of them, to uproot
them. All this struggling in unnecessary work, and this unnecessary
work is dukkha it self. Lord Buddha said that all compounded
things are sufferings. As we cannot see the original voidness
and impermanence of thought we think that is permanent. Our
struggle against this mental state is nothing other than
clinging to 'I' and 'mine' 'self' and 'other'. Because you
do not see voidness, you struggle against your mind.
Look at it like this. The noises of the drum arise because
you strike it. You do not have to keep striking the drum
to exhaust the sound and make the sound disappear. The drum
is like the body-mind with defilements and wholesome thoughts
arising and pacing away. We do not have to go and do something
so that defilements will never arise again. If you do something,
then the doing is sankhara dukkha on the increase. If you
try to struggle against it the view of atta arises. Try to
observe the original voidness of the mind. Practice and live
according to what you have seen.
There are two ways of practice: one is by doing, so you
have to work. The other is the path of knowledge or the path
of seeing. The discourse that I am giving you is based completely
on this path of knowledge. I am not saying that there is
no good or evil. What I want to emphasize is that they are
not inherent in you, and that they are not always there.
As they are not always there I want you to observe that they
are originally there. This is sunyata dhamma. This is what
I want you to know. If you can understand with insight, you
need not exert yourself. If you don't you will exhaust yourself
in your struggle to pacify or eradicate the defilements.
This struggle is known as atta dhitti or self-view. And where
atta dhitti does not arise there is nibbana. The knowledge
of the first Path and Fruition sees nibbana truly.
If the emptiness of mind and anatta are the
highest truths, why do good and evil arise, you may ask?
When the eyes and object meet, the sense of sight arises.
When the mind and objects meet, the sense of mental activity
arises. When you contemplate things in the wrong way the
mind becomes defiled. When you contemplate in the correct
way, the mind is wholesome. This is how good and evil arise
according to Lord Buddha's discourses. It is just like the
metaphor of the bell and the drum that we have been discussing.
Only when they are struck will produce sound.
When good and evil appear in the mind, do not attempt to suppress them. Instead,
observe the space of the mind. Never try to annihilate thought, but look at
where it ceases. Never try to extinguish it, but look at where it extinguishes
itself.
This is the teaching of the Lion Cave Sayadaw and I am
passing it on to you. Here I conclude my discourse.
[*] Sotapanna, sotapatti: One who has realized the first
stage of enlightenment is called a sotapanna. Sotapatti is
the name of /for that knowledge and realization.
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