LETTER FROM MY NEICE
I
wrote that ‘ Thor
Thor ‘ article
in two parts and whenever I had written it, I usually sent
her a copy of it. There were occasions when I was visiting
her family, I always made a point to talk about the dhamma.
The following letter I received from Nwe New, my niece, who
lived in Mergui.
My dear Uncle , 10-18-1999
I thank you very much for your article, “Thor Thor “ and
through this letter I made my obeisance to you. Your article
came to hand sometime ago and I read it once, but without
full comprehension. Now that I have read it over and over
again, the ambiguity had diminished.
Now I can understand it better and it
made me feel lighter at heart. You mentioned about the
fish dish and stated that the ‘like and dislike ’which made me ponder over
and over again. In my situation where I had to deal and live
with the people in the environment, I had experienced lots
of ‘like and dislike’ Sometimes, when the inconvenience
prevails, my mind became unbearable and exploded into anger.
I felt the flame of discontent burning in me.
Only after my family incident that I know about my consciousness,
about my angry, anxious and frustrated minds which were very
detrimental and harmful. I managed to console myself to contain
my anger up to a certain point only. Beyond that I exploded
and for that reason I cannot get along with some people.
I began to review my past dhamma practices and decided that
what I know of the dhamma is very negligible.
After reading your article, I began to
appreciate and I am not ashamed of my ignorance anymore.
After going through the following paragraph, I can grasp
the meaning thoroughly:-“ the
like and dislike are the dhamma, so is free of like and dislike” and
I am so happy about this knowledge. When everything was going
on well and I haven’t being able to reflect the mind,
but now I am aware of the angry, joyful or suffering consciousness
that I don’t feel the burning sensation anymore. And
for that I am very thankful to you.
Your article had given me the understanding
of the three types of consciousness. I feel now that my
mind is more stable. I can live in harmony with the society
and the people around me. Again I thank you for your advise
and instruction. Although I am not yet an tolerable arahat,
I still have the lobha, dosa and moha mind appearing intermittently,
but with the guidance by you, I found the awareness to
be very helpful then those ‘ non-awareness’ days.
This is my personal experience and I believe it without
reservation.
Trusting that this letter will find uncle’s
family and am sending all the metta to you.
With greatest respect,
Nwe New
* * * * *
My dear Nwe Nwe, 10-25-1999.
Your letter reahed me on the 10th instant. Your experiences
had helped me to confirm my concept that the dhamma, apart
from the traditional techniques, could be put into practice
anytime, anywhere and many other ways..
I don’t have anymore article written.
A lot can be said about this dhamma, but there is only
one ultimate truth. We can talk about it endlessly but
there will never an end to it.. Our Lord Buddha discoursed
that in this body, one fathom tall, you have all the dhamma.
Furthermore, when I approached one of my teachers to recommend
some good dhamma books, I was told me to read the book
that is not yet written
You had a lot of experiences in meditation and only the
aspects differ from one another. Although there are four
positions to meditate and four techniques to contemplate,
it is a matter of choice to individual taste. The cardinal
practice is in our contemplation of the ultimate truth. It
is at this juncture where the individual concepts and believe
becomes a domineering fa ctors. A lot could be said at this
stage, but than it will be only personal ideas. It will be
better that I adhere to my mode of observation.
When I am meditating, I concentrate over
the respiration. My awareness is directed to the breathing
in and out, especially when the breath grazed the nostril
hair. Those sensations were my focal points. In those feeling,
there weren’t
any judgement, discrimination, like or dislike, or any defilement.
And it was a tranquil state. While you were contemplating,
you might hear a sound or a touch of cool breeze. They are
not distraction, but the natural phenomenon was doing its
work and be aware it and continue the contemplation. Just
notice the feel of the equanimity.
Another method of looking at it was, When you were having
a head ache, you will take medication to relief it. Once
relieved, you will be very happy. Your condition before and
after the headache are the identical and yet you do not appreciate
the free of pain before the head ache. You must learn to
appreciate more the painless condition before the headache.
Knowing the awareness for only once is insufficient, but
you have to keep on developing all the time. Especially when
your thoughts are detrimental to what you are doing at the
moment. When you are having the angry thought and realize
that you are having an angry thought, the anger thought will
be annihilated spontaneously.
No body can make you happy or sad, and
if you do it will be your own creation. That is why I was
told to read the book, which is not written yet. Lord Buddha
quoted “You
have to take refuge in your ownself. ”
With metta,
Ba Thet Gyi
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