Dhamma Quotes by the Buddha & his Disciples - Realising the Handful of Leaves

“Inconceivable, bhikkhus, is the beginning of this samsara.
A first point is not known of beings roaming and wandering the round of rebirth,
hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving."

"Which do you think, bhikkhus, is more:
the stream of tears that you have shed as you roamed
and wandered on through this long course,
weeping and wailing because of being united with the
disagreeable and separated from the agreeable – this or the
water in the four great oceans?
The stream of tears that
you have shed as you roamed and wandered on through
this long course…this alone is greater than the water in
the four great oceans…For such a long time, bhikkhus,
you have experienced suffering, anguish, and disaster, and
swelled the cemeteries.”
(S.15.3 “Assu Sutta”)

6. Craving for Fine-Material Existence 7. Craving for Immaterial Existence 8. Conceit

"Monks, suppose that this great earth were totally covered with water, and a man were to toss a yoke with a single hole there. A wind from the east would push it west, a wind from the west would push it east. A wind from the north would push it south, a wind from the south would push it north. And suppose a blind sea-turtle were there. It would come to the surface once every one hundred years. Now what do you think: would that blind sea-turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole?"

"It would be a sheer coincidence, lord, that the blind sea-turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, would stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole."

"It's likewise a sheer coincidence that one obtains the human state.
It's likewise a sheer coincidence that a Tathagata, worthy &
rightly self-awakened, arises in the world.
It's likewise a sheer coincidence that a doctrine & discipline
expounded by a Tathagata appears in the world."

"Now, this human state has been obtained.
A Tathagata, worthy & rightly self-awakened, has arisen in the world.
A doctrine & discipline expounded by a Tathagata appears in the world."
(Samyutta Nikaya 56.48 "Chiggala Sutta")

Who knows by tomorrow, one may still be living or dead.
Thus reflecting, without procrastinating tomorrow or the day after,
One should incessantly exert right away on this very day.
(Uparipan Bhaddekanatta Sutta 226)

I teach one thing and one thing only:
that is, suffering and the end of suffering.

...

Develop the mind of equilibrium.
You will always be getting praise and blame,
but do not let either affect the poise of the mind:
follow the calmness, the absence of pride.
(Sutta Nipata)

Pay no attention to the faults of others, things done or left undone.
Consider only what by oneself is done or left undone.

In what is seen, there should be just the seen;
In what is heard, there should be just the heard;
In what is sensed, there should be just the sensed;
In what is thought, there should be just the thought.

He should not kill a living being, nor cause it to be killed, nor should he incite another to kill.
Do not injure any being, either strong or weak in the world.
(Sutta Nipata II,14)

Conquer the angry man by love.
Conquer the ill-natured man by goodness.
Conquer the miser with generosity.
Conquer the liar with truth.
(The Dhammapada)

"Monks, even if bandits were to savagely sever you, limb by limb, with a double-handled saw, even then, whoever of you harbors ill will at heart would not be upholding my Teaching.

Monks, even in such a situation you should train yourselves thus:

'Neither shall our minds be affected by this, nor for this matter shall we give vent to evil words, but we shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and we shall not give in to hatred. On the contrary, we shall live projecting thoughts of universal love to those very persons, making them as well as the whole world the object of our thoughts of universal love - thoughts that have grown great, exalted and measureless. We shall dwell radiating these thoughts which are void of hostility and ill will.'

It is in this way, monks, that you should train yourselves."

"Monks, if you should keep this instruction on the Parable of the Saw constantly in mind, do you see any mode of speech, subtle or gross, that you could not endure?"

"No, Lord."

Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment are cherished in the mind.
Anger will disappear just as soon as thoughts of resentment are forgotten.

Just as a mother would protect with her life her own son, her only son,
so one should cultivate an unbounded mind towards all beings,
and loving-kindness towards all the world.
One should cultivate an unbounded mind, above, below and across,
without obstruction, without enmity, without rivalry.
Standing, or going, or seated, or lying down, as long as one is free from drowsiness,
one should practice this mindfulness.
This, they say, is the holy state here.
(Sutta Nipata)

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle,
and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Happiness never decreases by being shared.

Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, its depth, its broad extent,
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.
Then as you stand or walk,
Sit or lie down,
As long as you are awake,
Strive for this with a one-pointed mind;
Your life will bring heaven to earth.
(Sutta Nipata)

The fool thinks he has won a battle when he bullies with harsh speech,
but knowing how to be forbearing alone makes one victorious.
(Samyutta Nikaya I, 163)

One day Ananda, who had been thinking deeply about things for a while,
turned to the Buddha and exclaimed:
"Lord, I've been thinking - spiritual friendship is at least half of the spiritual life!"
The Buddha replied: "Say not so, Ananda, say not so.
Spiritual friendship is the whole of the spiritual life!"
(Samyutta Nikaya, Verse 2)

In Aryans' Discipline, to build a friendship is to build wealth,
To maintain a friendship is to maintain wealth and
To end a friendship is to end wealth.
(Cakkavatti Sutta, Patika Vagga, Dighanikaya)

Solitude is happiness for one who is content, who has heard the Dhamma and clearly sees.
Non-affliction is happiness in the world - harmlessness towards all living beings.
(Udana 10)

Make an island of yourself,
make yourself your refuge;
there is no other refuge.
Make truth your island,
make truth your refuge;
there is no other refuge.
(Digha Nikaya, 16)

These teachings are like a raft, to be abandoned once you have crossed the flood.
Since you should abandon even good states of mind generated by these teachings,
How much more so should you abandon bad states of mind!

"If beings knew, as I know, the results of sharing gifts, they would not enjoy their gifts without sharing them with others, nor would the taint of stinginess obsess the heart and stay there. even if it were their last and final bit of food, they would not enjoy its use without sharing it,
if there were anyone to receive it."
(Itivuttaka 18)

A brahmin once asked The Blessed One:
"Are you a God?"
"No, brahmin" said The Blessed One.
"Are you a saint?"
"No, brahmin" said The Blessed One.
"Are you a magician?"
"No, brahmin" said The Blessed One.
"What are you then?"
"I am awake. See the truth, and you will see me."

Do not pursue the past.
Do not lose yourself in the future.
The past no longer is.
The future has not yet come.
Looking deeply at life as it is.
In the very here and now, the practitioner dwells in stability and freedom.
We must be diligent today.
To wait until tomorrow is too late.
Death comes unexpectedly.
How can we bargain with it?
The sage calls a person who knows how to dwell in mindfulness night and day,
'one who knows the better way to live alone.'
(Bhaddekaratta Sutta)

What is this world condition?
Form (Body) is the world condition.
And with form goes feeling, perception, consciousness, and all the activities throughout the world.
The arising of form and the ceasing of form--everything that has been heard, sensed, and known, sought after and reached by the mind--all this is the embodied world, to be penetrated and realized.
(Samyutta Nikaya)

If form were the self, this form would not lend itself to disease. It would be possible [to say] with regard to form, 'Let this form be thus. Let this form not be thus.' But precisely because form is not self, form lends itself to disease. And it is not possible [to say] with regard to form, 'Let this form be thus. Let this form not be thus.'

"Feeling is not self...
"Perception is not self...
"[Mental] fabrications are not self...
"Consciousness is not self.
(The Five Aggregates)

"What do you think, monks — is form constant or inconstant?"

"Inconstant (anicca), lord."

"And is that which is inconstant easeful or stressful?"

"Stressful (dukkha), lord."

"And is it fitting to regard what is inconstant, stressful, subject to change as: 'This is mine. This is my self. This is what I am'?"

"No, lord."

"...Is feeling constant or inconstant?"

"Inconstant, lord."...

"...Is perception constant or inconstant?"

"Inconstant, lord."...

"...Are fabrications constant or inconstant?"

"Inconstant, lord."...

"What do you think, monks — Is consciousness constant or inconstant?"

"Inconstant, lord."

"And is that which is inconstant easeful or stressful?"

"Stressful, lord."

"And is it fitting to regard what is inconstant, stressful, subject to change as: 'This is mine. This is my self. This is what I am'?"

"No, lord."

"Thus, monks, any form whatsoever that is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle; common or sublime; far or near: every form is to be seen as it actually is with right discernment as: 'This is not mine. This is not my self. This is not what I am.'

"Any feeling whatsoever...

Any perception whatsoever...

Any fabrications whatsoever...

Any consciousness whatsoever...

that is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle; common or sublime; far or near: every consciousness is to be seen as it actually is with right discernment as: 'This is not mine. This is not my self. This is not what I am.'

"Seeing thus, the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones grows disenchanted with form, disenchanted with feeling, disenchanted with perception, disenchanted with fabrications, disenchanted with consciousness. Disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion, he is fully released. With full release, there is the knowledge, 'Fully released.' He discerns that 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.'"

That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the group of five monks delighted at his words. And while this explanation was being given, the hearts of the group of five monks, through not clinging (not being sustained), were fully released from fermentation/effluents.

Again, bhikkhus, how does a bhikkhu abide contemplating consciousness as consciousness?

Here, bhikkhus,

Birth is suffering; aging is suffering; sickness is suffering; death is suffering; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair are suffering; association with the unpleasant is suffering; separation from the pleasant is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering;
in brief, the five aggregates of clinging are suffering.

Bhikkhus, Mindfulness with Breathing (Anapanasati) that one has developed and make much of has great fruit and great benefit.

Even I myself, before awakening, when not yet enlightened, while still a Bodhisatva (Buddha to be), lived in this dwelling (way of life) for the most part. When I lived mainly in this dwelling, the body was not stressed, the eyes were not strained, and my mind was released from the asava (corruptions, cankers) through non-attachment.

For this reason, should anyone wish "may my body be not stressed, may my eyes be not strained, may my mind be released from the asava through non-attachment," then that person ought to attend carefully in his heart to this Mindfulness with Breathing meditation.

The Buddha praises ānāpānasati thus:
Bhikkhus, this concentration through mindfulness of breathing,
when developed and practised much, is both peaceful and sublime.
It is an unadulterated blissful abiding, and
it banishes and stills evil unwholesome thoughts as soon as they arise.
(Samyutta Nikāya)

"Skillful virtues have freedom from remorse as their purpose,
Ananda, and freedom from remorse as their reward."

"Concentration has knowledge & vision of things as they actually are as its purpose,
knowledge & vision of things as they actually are as its reward."

"In this way, Ananda, skillful virtues lead step-by-step to the consummation of arahantship."
(Kimattha Sutta Anguttara Nikaya 11.1)

If there is any doubt about the necessity of the Jhanas, look at ...

Samma Samadhi
(Right Concentration)

"And what, monks, is right concentration? (i) There is the case where a monk — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful (mental) qualities — enters & remains in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. (ii) With the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, he enters & remains in the second jhana: rapture & pleasure born of concentration, unification of awareness free from directed thought & evaluation — internal assurance. (iii) With the fading of rapture, he remains equanimous, mindful, & alert, and senses pleasure with the body. He enters & remains in the third jhana, of which the Noble Ones declare, 'Equanimous & mindful, he has a pleasant abiding.' (iv) With the abandoning of pleasure & pain — as with the earlier disappearance of elation & distress — he enters & remains in the fourth jhana: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, neither pleasure nor pain. This, monks, is called right concentration."

SN 45.8

"´This Dhamma is for one with samádhi, not for one without samádhi.' So it was said. For what reason was this said? Here a monk enters and abides in the first jhána … second jhána … third jhána … fourth jhána." AN 8.30

When the Bodhisatta had the insight that Jhana was the way to Enlightenment, he then thought, "Why am I afraid of that pleasure which has nothing to do with the five senses nor with unwholesome things? I will not be afraid of that pleasure (of Jhana)!" MN 36

The Buddha said that one who indulges in the pleasures of Jhana may expect only one of four consequences: Stream Winning, Once-returner, Non-returner, or Full Enlightenment!
In other words, indulging in Jhana leads only to the four stages of Enlightenment.
(Pasadika Sutta, DN 29,25)

"Jhana is to be followed, is to be developed and is to be made much of. It is not to be feared." MN 66

"One trains in the higher virtue (sila), the higher mind, and the higher wisdom … What is the training in the higher mind? Here a monk … enters and abides in the first jhána … second jhána … third jhána … fourth jhána." AN 3.84, 88, 89

"That one could perfect samádhi without perfecting virtue or that one could perfect wisdom without perfecting samádhi - this is impossible." AN 5.22

"It is impossible to abandon the fetters that bind us to samsára (samyojana) without having perfected samádhi. And without abandoning those fetters it is impossible to realize Nibbána." AN 6.68

"I say, monks, that the destruction of the mind's poisons is dependent on the first jhána … eight jhána." AN 9.36

'For a person with right samádhi there is no need to arouse the wish,
´May I see things as they truly are.´
It is a natural process, it is in accordance with nature that someone with right samádhi will see things as they truly are.' AN 10.3

'There is no jhána without wisdom,
there is no wisdom without jhána,
but for someone with both jhána and wisdom,
Nibbána is near.' Dhp 372

Develop concentration, bhikkhus; concentrated, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu understands according to reality. (Samàdhi Sutta, S.III.I.i.v)

Silenced in body, silenced in speech,
silenced in mind, without inner noise,
Blessed with silence is the sage!
He is truly washed of all evil ...

" ... And as I remained thus heedful, ardent, & resolute, thinking imbued with renunciation / non-ill will / harmlessness arose. I discerned that 'Thinking imbued with renunciation / non-ill will / harmlessness has arisen in me; and that leads neither to my own affliction, nor to the affliction of others, nor to the affliction of both. It fosters discernment, promotes lack of vexation, & leads to Unbinding. If I were to think & ponder in line with that even for a night... even for a day... even for a day & night, I do not envision any danger that would come from it, except that thinking & pondering a long time would tire the body. When the body is tired, the mind is disturbed; and a disturbed mind is far from concentration.' So I steadied my mind right within, settled, unified, & concentrated it. Why is that? So that my mind would not be disturbed.
... first jhana, second jhana ... "

"When sitting in meditation, say, “That’s not my business!” with every thought that comes by."

Do not try to become anything.
Do not make yourself into anything.
Do not be a meditator.
Do not become enlightened.
When you sit, let it be.
What you walk, let it be.
Grasp at nothing.
Resist nothing.

"Don’t think that only sitting with the eyes closed is practice. If you do think this way, then quickly change your thinking. Steady practice is keeping mindful in every posture, whether sitting, walking, standing or lying down. When coming out of sitting, don’t think that you’re coming out of meditation, but that you are only changing postures. If you reflect in this way, you will have peace. Wherever you are, you will have this attitude of practice with you constantly. You will have a steady awareness within yourself."

"The Dhamma has to be found by looking into your own heart and seeing that which is true and that which is not, that which is balanced and that which is not balanced."

"The heart of the path is quite easy. There’s no need to explain anything at length. Let go of love and hate and let things be. That’s all that I do in my own practice."

"We practice to learn how to let go, not how to increase our holding on to things. Enlightenment appears when you stop wanting anything."

"If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will have complete peace."

"You are your own teacher. Looking for teachers can’t solve your own doubts. Investigate yourself to find the truth - inside, not outside. Knowing yourself is most important."

"Try to be mindful and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool. All kinds of wonderful, rare animals will come to drink at the pool, and you will clearly see the nature of all things. You will see many strange and wonderful things come and go, but you will be still. This is the happiness of the Buddha."

"Our birth and death are just one thing. You can’t have one without the other. It’s a little funny to see how at a death people are so tearful and sad, and at a birth how happy and delighted. It’s delusion. I think if you really want to cry, then it would be better to do so when someone’s born. Cry at the root, for if there were no birth, there would be no death.
Can you understand this?"

All things are just as they are. They don’t cause suffering to anybody. It’s just like a thorn, a really sharp thorn. Does it make you suffer? No, it’s just a thorn. It doesn’t bother anybody. But if you go and stand on it, you’ll suffer. Why is there suffering? Because you stepped on the thorn. The thorn is just minding its own business. It doesn’t harm anybody. It’s because of we ourselves that there is pain. Form, feeling, perception, volition, consciousness…. all things in this world are simply as they are. It’s we who pick fights with them. And if we hit them, they hit us back. If they’re left alone, they won’t bother anybody. Only the drunkard gives them trouble.

If those who have studied the theory hang on to what they have learnt when they sit in meditation, taking notes on their experience and wondering whether they have reached jhana yet, their minds will be distracted right there and turn away from the meditation. They won’t gain real understanding.
Why is that? Because there is desire. As soon as tanha (craving) arises, whatever the meditation you are doing, it won’t develop because the mind withdraws.
It is essential that you learn how to give up all thinking and doubting,
give it up completely,
all of it.

If I’d wanted to stop formal practice, was there any laziness, tiredness or irritation? None at all. The mind was completely free from such defilements. What was left was the sense of complete balance or ‘just-rightness’ in the mind.
If I was going to stop, it would just have been to rest the body, not for anything else.

If you experience different kinds of nimitta during meditation, such as visions of heavenly beings, before anything else it’s important to observe the state of mind very closely. Don’t forget this basic principle. The mind has to be calm for you to experience these things. Be careful not to practice with desire either to experience nimitta or not to experience them. If they arise, contemplate them and don’t let them delude you. Reflect that they are not you and they don’t belong to you. They are aniccam, dukkham, anatta, just like all other mind-objects. If you do experience them, don’t let your mind become too interested or dwell on them. If they don’t disappear by themselves, reestablish mindfulness. Put all your attention on the breath, taking a few extra deep breaths. If you take at least three extra-long breaths you should be able to cut out the nimitta. You must keep reestablishing awareness in this way as you continue to practice.

Whenever delusion, carelessness, and forgetfulness come in, there arise desire and attachment to the false idea "I," "mine," "I am So-and-so," "I am Such-and-such,"...
and this is birth.

Whenever there arises the idea "I," "mine," at that time the cycle of Samsara has come into existence in the mind, and there is suffering, burning, spinning on, ... When no such idea arises, there is no birth, and this freedom from birth is a state of coolness ... And whenever there is freedom from defects of these kinds, there is Nirvana.

When you are sitting in meditation and a mosquito bites you, you develop an evil emotion. How can you get rid of it? The way to drive it away is to improve the breath. Make it long, make it fine, make it chase that wicked emotion away. This is the best way to solve the problems.

4. manipulating those images in any ways that we want in order to gain power over them;

5. selecting one of these images and contemplating it in a most concentrated way until the breath becomes truly calm and peaceful.

2. Wisdom method - see the assada and adinava of piti (which excites and disturbs)

The vedana have the highest power and influence over human beings, over all living things.

3. Then, know how to control those things that condition the feelings, which is the same as controlling the feelings themselves.

If the mind has correct samadhi, we will observe three distinct qualities in it.
1. samahito (stableness), 2. parisuddho (pureness), and 3. kammaniyo (activeness).

It may sound funny to you that all Truth - aniccam, dukkham, anatta, sunnata -- ends up with tathata. It may amuse you that the Ultimate Truth of everything in the universe comes down to nothing but thusness. In Thai, tathata is translated "just like that."

If we say that the mind has attained or realized emptiness it leads some people to understand that the mind is one thing and emptiness another. To say that the mind comes to know emptiness is still not particularly correct.

Please understand that if the mind was not one and the same thing as emptiness, there would be no way for emptiness to be known.

If one is to understand those things called dhatu well enough to understand the Dhamma they must be studied in this way. Don't be deceived into thinking that knowing the elements of earth, water, wind and fire is sufficient, they are a matter for children. Those elements were spoken of and taught before the time of the Buddha. One must go on to know vinnanadhatu, the immaterial consciousness-element, akasadhatu, the space element and sunnatadhatu, the emptiness-element that is the utter extinction of earth, water, fire, wind, consciousness and space. The element of emptiness is the most wonderful element in all the Buddhist Teachings.

In the Anguttara Nikaya, the Buddha states that when the mind is empty of greed, aversion and delusion, empty of 'I' and 'mine' then kamma ends by itself.
This means that kamma, vipaka (its result), and the mental defilements which are the cause for the creation of kamma, spontaneously and simultaneously come to an end.
So we don't have to be afraid of kamma, to fear that we must be ruled by our kamma.
We don't have to be too interested in kamma. Rather, we should take an interest in emptiness. If we have created emptiness with regards to 'I' and 'mine', kamma will utterly disintegrate and there will be no way that we will have to follow its dictates.

When the Buddhist Teachings spread to China, the Chinese of those days were intelligent and wise enough to accept it, and there arose teachings such as those of Hui Neng and Huang-Po in which explanations of mind and Dhamma, of Buddha, the Way and emptiness were extremely terse.
There emerged the key sentence that mind, Buddha, Dhamma, the Way and emptiness are all just one thing.
This one sentence is enough there is no need to say anything more. It is equivalent to all the scriptures.

To sum up - this one subject of emptiness covers all of the Buddhist Teachings, for the Buddha breathed with emptiness.
Emptiness is the theoretical knowledge, it is the practice and it is the fruit of the practice. If one studies one must study emptiness; if one practises it must be for the fruit of emptiness, and if one receives the fruit it must be emptiness, so that finally one attains that thing that is supremely desirable.
There is nothing beyond emptiness.
When it is realized, all problems end. It is not above, it is not below, it is not anywhere-I don't know what to say about it, better to shut up!
Suffice it to say that emptiness is the supreme happiness.

Paticcasamuppada
(Doctrine of Dependent Origination)
points of disputes in
The Path of Purification by Buddhaghosa

Breathe whichever way is most comfortable for you. Or, better yet, learn to breathe comfortably all four ways, because your physical condition and your breath are always changing.

The common breath is long and slow. The refined breath is short and light.
It can penetrate into every blood vessels. It's a breath of extremely high quality.

The in-and-out breath is stress --
the in-breath, the stress of arising; the out-breath, the stress of passing away.

Once you cut off thoughts of past and future, you don't have to worry about the Hindrances.

Some people believe that they don't have to practice centering the mind, that they can attain release through discernment (pañña-vimutti) by working at discernment alone.
This simply isn't true.
Both release through discernment and release through stillness of mind (ceto-vimutti) are based on centering the mind. They differ only in degree.
Like walking: Ordinarily, a person doesn't walk on one leg alone. Whichever leg is heavier is simply a matter of personal habits and traits.

When you see that a nimitta has appeared, mindfully focus your awareness on it -- but be sure to focus on only one at a time, choosing whichever one is most comfortable. Once you've got hold of it, expand it so that it's as large as your head. The bright white nimitta is useful to the body and mind: It's a pure breath that can cleanse the blood in the body, reducing or eliminating feelings of physical pain.

When you have this white light as large as the head, bring it down to The Fifth Base, the center of the chest. Once it's firmly settled, let it spread out to fill the chest. Make this breath as white and as bright as possible, and then let both the breath and the light spread throughout the body, out to every pore, until different parts of the body appear on their own as pictures. If you don't want the pictures, take two or three long breaths and they'll disappear. Keep your awareness still and expansive. Don't let it latch onto or be affected by any nimitta that may happen to pass into the brightness of the breath. Keep careful watch over the mind. Keep it one. Keep it intent on a single preoccupation, the refined breath, letting this refined breath suffuse the entire body.

When you've reached this point, knowledge will gradually begin to unfold. The body will be light, like fluff. The mind will be rested and refreshed -- supple, solitary, and self-contained. There will be an extreme sense of physical pleasure and mental ease.

If you don't want the nimitta to appear, breathe deep and long, down into the heart, and it will immediately go away.

Letting go has two forms:
(1) Being able to let go of mental objects but not of one's own mind.
(2) Being able to let go both of the objects of the mind and of one's self.

To be able to let go both of one's objects and of one's self is genuine knowing. To be able to let go of one's objects but not of one's self is counterfeit knowing. Genuine knowing lets go of both ends: It lets the object follow its own nature as an object, and lets the mind follow the nature of the mind. In other words, it lets nature look after itself. "Object" here refers to the body; "self" refers to the heart. You have to let go of both.

Turmoil comes from our own defilements, not from other people.
You have to solve the problem within yourself if you want to find peace.

My motto is, "Make yourself as good as possible, and everything else will have to turn good in your wake." If you don't abandon your own inner goodness for the sake of outer goodness, things will have to go well.

The mind is the only thing that senses pleasure and pain. The body has no sense of these things at all. It's like taking a knife to murder someone: They don't hunt down the knife and punish it. They punish only the person who used it to commit murder.

Don't let defilements inside make contact with defilements outside. If we have defilements at the same time that other people do, the result will be trouble. For instance, if we're angry when they're angry, or we're greedy when they're greedy, or we're deluded when they're deluded, it spells ruination for everyone.

Results don't come from thinking. They come from the qualities we build into the mind.

If you want to just think buddho, you can, but it is too light.
Your awareness won't go deep...

But there have to be causes — our own actions — before the results can come fully developed.

When the mind becomes still, uggaha nimittas can appear in either of two ways:

Uggaha nimittas of both sorts can be either beneficial or harmful, true or false, so we shouldn't place complete trust in them. If we're thoroughly mindful and alert, they can be beneficial. But if our powers of reference are weak or if we lack strength of mind, we're likely to follow the drift of whatever images appear, sometimes losing our bearings to the point where we latch on to the images as being real.

So when sensation-images or thought-images arise in one way or another, you should then practice adjusting and analyzing them (patibhaga nimitta). In other words, when a visual image arises, if it's large, make it small, far, near, large, small, appear, and disappear. Analyze it into its various parts and then let it go. Don't let these images influence the mind. Instead, have the mind influence the images, as you will. If you aren't able to do this, then don't get involved with them. Disregard them and return to your original practice with the breath.

Focal points for the mind

These include: (1) the tip of the nose; (2) the middle of the head; (3) the palate; (4) the base of the throat; (5) the tip of the breastbone; (6) the "center," two inches above the navel.

In centering the breath at any of these points, people who tend to have headaches shouldn't focus on any point above the base of the throat.

With one exception [anapanassati], all of the [39] meditation themes mentioned here are simply gocara dhamma — foraging places for the mind. They're not places for the mind to stay. If we try to go live in the things we see when we're out foraging, we'll end up in trouble.

When you practice meditation, you don't have to go foraging in other [39] themes; you can stay in the single theme that's the apex of all meditation themes: anapanassati, keeping the breath in mind. This theme, unlike the others, has none of the features or various deceptions that can upset or disturb the heart.

As for the four sublime abodes, if you don't have jhana as a dwelling for the mind, feelings of good will, compassion, and appreciation can all cause you to suffer. Only if you have jhana can these qualities truly become sublime abodes, that is, restful places for the heart to stay (vihara dhamma)

"To study is to know the texts,
To practice is to know your defilements,
To attain the goal is to know & let go."

"If a person isn't true to the Buddha's teachings, the Buddha's teachings won't be true to that person — and that person won't be able to know what the Buddha's true teachings are."

When one does what Buddhas do, one is a Buddha.
When one does what Bodhisattvas do, one is a Bodhisattva.
When one does what Arhats do, one is an Arhat.
When one does what ghosts do, one is a ghost.
These are all natural phenomena.
There are no shortcuts in cultivation.

...

Things are not what they appear to be: nor are they otherwise.
(Surangama Sutra)

If we are not empty, we become a block of matter.
We cannot breathe, we cannot think.
To be empty means to be alive, to breathe in and to breathe out.
We cannot be alive if we are not empty.
Emptiness is impermanence, it is change.
We should not complain about impermanence,
because without impermanence, nothing is possible.

...

Meditation is not to escape from society,
but to come back to ourselves and see what is going on.
Once there is seeing, there must be acting.
With mindfulness, we know what to do and what not to do to help.

Enlightenment, for a wave in the ocean,
is the moment the wave realises it is water.

(Thich Nhat Hanh)

Remember, wanting is that force which takes you away from whatever you are
experiencing now, into something in the future, into fantasies or dreams.

Remember that the jhanas are the places that Mara (the doer) can’t go, where Mara is blindfolded.

Do absolutely nothing and see how smooth and beautiful and timeless the breath can appear !

The mind seeks out silence constantly, to the point where it only thinks if it really has to, only if there is some point to it. Since, at this stage, you have realized that most of our thinking is really pointless anyway, that it gets you nowhere, only giving you many headaches, you gladly and easily spend much time in inner quiet.

It is impossible that such a gross activity as thinking can exist in such a refined state as Jhana. In fact, thinking ceases a long time prior to Jhana.

The happiness generated by sensual excitement is hot and stimulating but also agitating and consequently tiring. It lessens in intensity on repetition.

The happiness caused by personal achievement is warm and fulfilling but also fades quickly, leaving a sense of a vacant hole in need of filling.

But the happiness born of letting go is cool and very long lasting. It is associated with the sense of real freedom.

1. It appears only after the fifth stage (above) of the meditation, after the meditator has been with the beautiful breath for a long time;

3. It only comes when the external five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch are completely absent;

4. It manifests only in the silent mind, when descriptive thoughts (inner speech) are totally absent;

I mention these features so that you may distinguish real nimittas from imaginary ones.

The flavor of the Dhamma will begin to appear when the mind is centered in concentration.

Only those who practise meditation can truly understand the spiritual path. Learning meditation properly requires the guidance of a gifted teacher. The teacher cannot afford to make even the slightest mistakes especially when his disciple is meditating at a very high level. The teacher must know more than the disciple so that the disciple can respectfully follow his lead. It is wrong for the teacher to teach above his level of understanding. The disciple will not benefit from such instruction. But when the teaching is based on a direct experience of the truth gained through meditation, the disciple will progress very quickly.

We will be able truly to see things as they are -- without a doubt -- once we can remove the counterfeit things that conceal them. For example, beauty: Where, exactly, is the body beautiful? What is there about it that you can claim to be beautiful? If you speak in terms of the principles of the truth, how can you even look at the human body? It's entirely filled with filthiness, both within and without, which is why we have to keep washing it all the time. Even the clothing and other articles on which the body depends have to be dirty because the main part -- the body -- is a well of filth within and without. Whatever it comes into contact with -- robes, clothing, dwelling, bedding -- has to become dirty as well. Wherever human beings live becomes dirty, but we don't see the truth, mainly because we aren't interested in looking.

People who are well-trained in concentration, with their hearts resting on a solid foundation, will maintain that foundation wherever they are. They constantly rest in peaceful meditative states whether they are standing, walking, sitting or lying down. Issues such as tiredness, pain or hunger will never bother or concern them. So try to keep sitting straight with legs crossed no matter how tired, painful or hungry you become while you are meditating. Centering your mind through focused attention and supervising the whole process with continuous mindfulness, is the effort required to bring about concentration, firmness and stability of mind. If you persist in your efforts until the heart finally passes through the threshold to concentration, all your previous concerns will disappear. You will no longer worry about them because your heart is detached from your body when you are resting in concentration [Jhana].

Are memories or perceptions surfacing in your mind? If they are, they should be understood as enemies that come to destroy your meditation. So you must cut them off quickly.

When practicing Jhana, you disengage yourselves from the thinking process so that a sense of peace, happiness and well-being will naturally arise in your hearts. You will then be able to appreciate why the Buddha encouraged his disciples to let go of their concerns and preoccupations, and stay with pure knowing instead. You will see clearly the happiness, well-being and freedom arising from practicing meditative absorptions (Jhanas) - among all the knowledge (Nana) to be developed, you should developed this first !

When you are heedful like this without interruption, pure knowing will come to the front and become bright and luminous; thoughts arising in consciousness will vanish immediately - they arise and vanish at the same time.

The things that we need to be watchful of are many. Forms, sounds, smells, tastes, bodily sensation and mental objects - all of them are potential causes of lust once they contact our sense doors,· any of them can be the origin of craving, defilement and suffering. But to what extent have you realized the harm latent in your sense doors? How clearly do you see it as your duty to watch over them? Your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind are busy receiving forms, sounds, smells, tastes, bodily sensations and mental objects all day every day, but have you realized that the important issue here, the really meaningful approach to be taken, is to stay heedful and remain self-controlled so that you can put out the fire of lust (Ragaggi), the fire of hatred (Dosaggi), and the fire of delusion (Mohaggi) that are waiting to flare up at any moment?

If you experience one jhana, you have the potential to experience Nibbana--if you don't stop.

The purpose of Buddhist meditation is to attain Nibbàna ...
the cessation of mentality (nàma) and materiality (råpa).

If you ... try to do Vipassanà by contemplating the arising and passing away of ... the råpa kalàpas, you will be trying to do Vipassanà on concepts. So you must analyse the råpa kalàpas further, until you can see the elements in single ones: in order to reach ultimate reality.

When the breath becomes subtle, that subtle breath is better.
At that time do not make the breath clear. If you try to make the breath clear, then because of excessive effort, it will make concentration to decrease.

When you are able to discern your immediate past life ... you need in the same way to discern progressively back to the second, third, fourth, and as many lives back as you can.

Whenever one's mind wanders, one brings it calmly back to the breath.
One does not get upset when one's mind wanders.

The Buddha said the bhikkhu breathes in and out understanding that his breath is long or short. As one's mindfulness of breathing develops, this comes naturally: one comes naturally to understand that one's breath is sometimes long, sometimes short. It is not important whether it is long or short; what is important is that one is calmly aware that it is either long or short.

Then The Buddha said the bhikkhu breathes in and out experiencing the whole body. By the whole body (sabbakaya), The Buddha means the whole body of breath. This understanding also comes naturally. As one's mindfulness of breathing develops further, one becomes naturally aware of the beginning, middle, and end of each in-breath and each out-breath as it passes by the nostrils or at the upper lip. Here again, it is not important whether one's breath is long or short; what is important is that one all the time knows the whole body of each in and out breath: that one knows the whole body of breath from beginning to middle to end.

Lastly, The Buddha said the bhikkhu breathes in and out tranquillizing the bodily formation. By the bodily formation (kayasankhara), The Buddha means the breath passing in and out through the nose.

Tranquillizing the breath also comes naturally, because as one's mindfulness of breathing develops, one's breath becomes more and more subtle, more and more tranquil. So, all one does is to try all the time mindfully to comprehend the subtle breath.

... if we do not understand the workings of kamma, we cannot understand the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering (Dukkha·Samudaya Ariya·Sacca), the origin of the five aggregates. That means we cannot become a Noble Disciple (Ariya·Savaka), and escape suffering. Therefore, we must attend closely to The Buddha’s explanations of the workings of kamma. But we must always remember that although we must try to understand The Buddha’s explanations of the workings of kamma, such explanations cannot provide true understanding.

To gain true understanding of the workings of kamma, we need, as far as it is possible for a disciple, to know and see the workings of kamma for ourselves by practising proper insight meditation, and attaining the Cause-Apprehending Knowledge (Paccaya-Pariggaha·Ñana) ...

... for us to succeed in our meditation, we need to have accomplished much practice of the three merit-work bases: not only in this life but also in past lives. And that practice needs to have been of a high quality: consistent and continuous.

The three merit-work bases (puñña·kiriya·vatthu) are three ways to accomplish wholesome kamma, to develop wholesome consciousness. They are: offering (dana), morality (sila), and meditation (bhavana)...

The persistent, strongly held wrong view that alone can lead to rebirth in hell is the view that somehow denies kamma and its result: either an annihilation view or an eternity view.

Please do not forget, stubbornness and pride are defilements. Defilements do not produce a high birth, they produce a low birth. Such are the workings of kamma.

Now you know what to do. The very first thing for you to do is to develop strong and powerful faith in the workings of kamma as explained by The Buddha. With that faith and understanding, you may then accomplish superior wholesome kammas. With the working of those kammas, you may eventually attain the unworking of kamma.

Unhappy thought is further away from the jhana.
Happy thought at least is nearer.
But the joy that comes with thinking is not so good.
The joy that comes without thinking is better.

As long as the nimitta is changing, not stable, don't look at it. Because you can never take a changing object to strengthen your concentration to the point of jhana. It is impossible. It must be a static object. You must not look at change. Know that it is impossible and give up hope. If you really take the impossible as impossible & give up (that) hope ... listen to talk

What is essential is that one develop a sense of dispassion for the state of jhana, seeing that even the relatively steady sense of refined pleasure and equanimity it provides is artificial and willed, inconstant and stressful, a state fabricated from many different events, and thus not worth identifying with.

Jhana thus becomes an ideal test case for understanding the workings of kamma and dependent co-arising in the mind. Its stability gives discernment a firm basis for seeing clearly; its refined sense of pleasure and equanimity allow the mind to realize that even the most refined mundane states involve the inconstancy and stress common to all willed phenomena.

Anything fashioned by conditions, whether physical or mental, is called a sankhara. All sankharas are unsteady and inconstant (anicca) because they are continually moving and changing about. All sankharas are incapable of maintaining a lasting oneness: This is why they are said to be stressful (dukkha). No sankharas lie under anyone’s control. They keep changing continually, and no one can prevent them from doing so, which is why they are said to be not-self (anatta). All things, whether mental or physical, if they have these characteristics by nature, are said to be not-self. Even the quality of deathlessness - which is a quality or phenomenon free from fashioning conditions, and which is the only thing in a state of lasting oneness - is also said to be not-self, because it lies above and beyond everything else. No one can think it or pull it under his or her control. Only those of right view, whose conduct lies within the factors of the path, can enter in to see this natural quality and remove their attachments to all things - including their attachment to the agent which goes about knowing those things. In the end, there is no agent attaining or getting anything. However natural phenomena behave, that is how they simply keep on behaving at all times.

When meditators practice correctly and have the discernment to see that quality (of deathlessness) as it really is, the result is that they can withdraw their attachments from all things - including their attachment to the discernment which enters in to see the quality as it really is.

about what the Buddha taught

The greatest achievement is selflessness.
The greatest worth is self-mastery.
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.
The greatest precept is continual awareness.
The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.
The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.
The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.
The greatest generosity is non-attachment.
The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.
The greatest patience is humility.
The greatest effort is not concerned with results.
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

Atisha
(11th century Tibetan Buddhist master)

With the exception of attachment, these states are not imperfections in themselves;
however, when they arise, there is a temptation for the meditator to think:

“‘Such [powerful] light…knowledge…rapture…tranquility… etc. never arose in me before. I have surely reached the path, reached fruition [i.e., Nibbana].’
Thus he takes what is not the path to be the path and what is not fruition to be fruition.”

Strong concentration is absolutely necessary for liberating insight. "Without a firm basis in concentration," he often said, "insight is just concepts." To see clearly the connections between stress and its causes, the mind has to be very steady and still. And to stay still, it requires the strong sense of well being that only strong concentration can provide.

To gain insight into a state of concentration, you have to stick with it for a long time. If you push impatiently from one level of concentration to the next, or if you try to analyze a new state of concentration too quickly after you've attained it, you never give it the chance to show its full potential and you don't give yourself the chance to familiarize yourself with it. So you have to keep working at it as a skill, something you can tap into in all situations. This enables you to see it from a variety of perspectives and to test it over time, to see if it really is as totally blissful, empty, and effortless as it may have seemed on first sight.

The best state of concentration for the sake of developing all-around insight is one that encompasses a whole-body awareness. There were two exceptions to Ajaan Fuang's usual practice of not identifying the state you had attained in your practice, and both involved states of wrong concentration. The first was the state that comes when the breath gets so comfortable that your focus drifts from the breath to the sense of comfort itself, your mindfulness begins to blur, and your sense of the body and your surroundings gets lost in a pleasant haze. When you emerge, you find it hard to identify where exactly you were focused. Ajaan Fuang called this moha-samadhi, or delusion-concentration.

An ideal state of concentration for giving rise to insight is one that you can analyze in terms of stress and the absence of stress even while you're in it. Once your mind was firmly established in a state of concentration, Ajaan Fuang would recommend "lifting" it from its object, but not so far that the concentration was destroyed. From that perspective, you could evaluate what levels of stress were still present in the concentration and let them go. In the initial stages, this usually involved evaluating how you were relating to the breath, and detecting more subtle levels of breath energy in the body that would provide a basis for deeper levels of stillness. Once the breath was perfectly still, and the sense of the body started dissolving into a formless mist, this process would involve detecting the perceptions of "space," "knowing," "oneness," etc., that would appear in place of the body and could be peeled away like the layers of an onion in the mind. In either case, the basic pattern was the same: detecting the level of perception or mental fabrication that was causing the unnecessary stress, and dropping it for a more subtle level of perception or fabrication until there was nothing left to drop.

(In breath meditation) we move
from diversity to duality,
from duality to unity, and
from unity to emptiness.

When the nimitta is bright, clear, transparent,
like a diamond or water, and has approached a point where the breath touches the nostril / lip,
let go of the breath and concentrate on the nimitta.

Penetrate ultimate reality when one withdraws from the fourth jhana. When the mind is tired from this contemplation, one rests by re-entering the fourth jhana.
One does this again and again.

"That which can be said is not worth saying, and that which is worth saying
cannot be said. So there is no way except to become silent."

Enlightenment is not something you wish for.
It is the state that you end up in when all your wishes come to an end.

Live the present, the past is gone and the future has yet to come.
Whatever in the present there is a need to let go of, what more the past and the future.

Keeping to the present will take care of the future and the past:
for every moment in the present has been the immediate future and will be an immediate past. There is no other time worth to be but the present.

This practice is present-based, not future-based.
This practice is cause-orientated, not result-orientated.
This practice is steps-based, not destination-based.
This practice is process-orientated, not goal-orientated.
Try avoiding livelihood which is goal-orientated.
They are sources of immense stress as a result of tanha.

Work on the causes, rather than worry about the results.
If we do this, the results will naturally follow.

How does one let go ?
Imagine one is gripping a glowing hot iron, what does one do ?
Imagine one is grasping a king cobra which is about to strike, what does one do ?

Know and see the defilements: hatred, anger, ill-will, greed, lust, seeking sense pleasures, sloth & torpor, laziness, haziness, fear, worry, anxiety, restlessness, doubting, aversion, passion, wanting, not wanting, desiring, delusion, craving, clinging, my-ness, i-ness, ...

When you have known and seen the defilements, even before the vedana arises on contact, you would have let go.
Paticcasamuppada in practice

We need to learn to take both the wholesome together with the unwholesome within.
It is may be difficult initially to accept the unwholesome.
Knowing both is to have gained sight from blindness.
Knowing both is to have gained insight from delusion.
Work on making the wholesomeness sustaining more.
Work on making the unwholesomeness diminishing less.
Every unenlightened being is living with a cobra within.
Use restrain in speech and action. Strengthen the mind and build up samadhi.
We need to have strong faith in this path well tested by the wise.

We also need to learn to take both the pleasant and unpleasant
that are being experienced at the present moment.
Attachment to pleasantness and aversion to unpleasantness need to be noted.
Learn to let them go. Let them be.
Let the unpleasant be. And let the pleasant be as well.
Stillness in body and mind results.

When there is a need to speak, let the spoken truth be also harmonious not divisive,
pleasant not harsh, and useful not mere idle chattering.

We should constantly straighten our views to harmonise with the Truth
and not to bend the Truth to suit our views.

The 'I' is indeed dangerous and harmful.
There is indeed a need to penetrate Anatta.

Avoid blaming.
When atta is strong, it bites strongly.
It bites strongly the one who harbours it.
It bites strongly the one who blames.
There is no other way but to let 'I' go.

The best way to make the Buddha-Dhamma last longer is to practice diligently &
realize it for oneself.
One can be sure the Dhammacakka is still kept turning
if one has indeed tasted the Dhamma for oneself.

Cultivate the 4 protective Brahmaviharas (Metta, Karuna, Mudita & Upekkha).
We may just never know for the one beside us may very well be a Noble one !
He/She does not need to be in saffron.

Tolerance is not good enough. The fire is already burning.
However, this training does start with restrain.

Dislike is not good at all. For the fire has already started burning.
Even the amber is not good at all. It can anytime rekindle into a fire.
So, too is like, although it is more subtle to detect.
But they all have the same taste, the taste of stress.

Tanha grips and grasps the body (& mind) like the penetrating claws of the nerves from the spinal cord, and stays.

Avoid the two extremes, like and dislike, the mothers of lobha and dosa.
Even like and dislike need to be abandoned, what more greed and hate.
There differ only in intensity.

Like and greed have the same taste.
Just so, dislike & hate have the same taste.
The taste of stress.
For those who love a lot, be prepared to hate a lot as well.
They are the two sides to the same coin.
We simply can't have one without the other.
The bigger one side of the coin is the bigger the other side will be.
We simply can't have the two sides of different sizes.
The Middle Path is a path between these two.

The illusion of compactness of the body (rupa)

If the individual particles (with its protons and electrons),
which make up the whole, are ever continuously changing
... how could the whole be not !

Signs of progress:

calmness, peacefulness, quietness, silencing, soothing, relieving, easing, releasing, evenness, balance, harmony, centeredness, stability, unwavering, undisturbed, gentleness, flexible, lightness, brightness, detaching, unbinding, unbending, straightening, presentness, settling, converging, one-pointedness, clarity, uplifting, composed, openness, unhiddenness, abiding, contentment, rapture, joy, tranquil, equanimous ...

Walking, sitting, standing or lying down ...
in every present moment in meditation.
We take the object of meditation, the breath, everywhere we go.

There we breathe, there we meditate.
Peacefully and silently with the breath, every waking moment.
Not only during formal meditation. Meditation is the art of living.
Every breath. Steadfast and unrelenting.
more & more abiding in mindfulness.
There will be lapses, forgetfulness.
Never mind, start again.

Finding suitable occasions to meditate is good.
Doing it a few hours a day is better.
Maintain mindfulness throughout every waking moment is the best.
This may sound burdensome for the untrained mind.
But when effort, mindfulness and concentration are right, it becomes peaceful.
With every breath in and out breath.
There will be lapses, forgetfulness.
Never mind, start again.
Whenever we stumble, we recompose again.

Knowing only the five senses are not enough.
Each sense knows only its own domain:
the eye-visual, the ear-audio, tongue-taste, nose-odour & body-touch.
The sixth sense knows a few domains:
the mind-rupa (body), mind-vedana (feelings), mind-sanna (perceptions),
mind-sankara (fabrications like thoughts) and mind-vinnana (consciousness).
Even the body, only the mind knows. The body does not.

Concentration achieved through force, as a result of wanting, is not right.
It will not last and will result in unpleasantness and tenseness, no matter how slight.
Be gentle.

Right Concentration reveals tenseness rather than causes it.
Right Concentration reveals the existing uneaseness.
If there is none, there is none the need to practise in the first place !
If there is none, then the First Noble Truth is not.

Radiate metta to oneself on breathing in long gently.
Radiate metta on breathing in long very gently to the heart.

Then radiate metta to all beings on breathing out long gently.
Radiate metta on breathing out long very gently through the eyes,
the lips, the face, the heart, the whole body. Suffusing ... from every pore.

Wishing every being in the whole universe including oneself to be happy, healthy, peaceful. Free from the stress of dosa, lobha & moha.

Guard the 6 sense doors on contact. It is a cause of the unstill mind.
For those who are steadfast in stilling their mind need to guard these sense doors.

Lust is just but a very powerful desire for sense pleasure.
The pleasure of touch.

All thoughts, wholesome and unwholesome, need to be let go of if one aspires to achieve stillness.

Despite the noise outside, the actual noise inside which if becomes gradually silent is the actual peace. Try to stay in the present on the breath, it will gradually reduce the sound of thoughts. Then we will eventually experience the peaceful sound of silence within. The noise outside will then become immaterial because it affects us much less than before. Let the mind be with the breath more and more. Tell ourselves this is the place where it matters most - only this breath. And this present in- or out- breath is that which will bring us into the jhanas. This breath. It can be thousands of such breaths. It does not matter. Only this breath matters. Free from distress and stress, more and more ...

In anapanasati, the position and movement of one's eye balls
reflect the occupation of the mind.
When thoughts distract, eye ball alignment runs.
Realign ! Refocus !

The gaze gets gentler and closer to the touch at the nostril
when tightness in the eyes eases and clears.

The practice of sila (virtues) culminates in the experience of peace due to
the non-presence of remorse
: the excellence in the beginning

The practice of samadhi (absorption) culminates in the experience of peace due to
the temporary non-presence of cankers or asavas
: the excellence in the middle

The practice of panna (wisdom) culminates in the experience of peace due to
the permanent non-presence of cankers or asavas
: the excellence in the end

The Buddha's Path starts with Right View ... the view that Nibbana is attainable in the very present moment. If the practise is for the next life or even the next moment, then it is not right.

Walking is an excellent exercise.
And it is enough to provide a relatively healthy body.
Try avoiding strenuous exercises that give rise to pain and strain.

Over sleeping or laying down too long causes lethargy to the body and mind.
Blood-flow slows. Body becoming heavy. Sloth and torpor prevail.
Avoid over in every posture.

When the body is able in every posture, strive.
When it is not, more obstacles to striving have already arisen.
For those immobile, it is indeed difficult.

Take a rest from each posture.
Even resting from reclining, resting from sitting, not only from walking & standing.
There is simply no way in staying in one posture for very long.

Try recline on the right side.
Reclining on the left suppresses the heart which gives rise to unease.

The lion's posture :
Recline on the right side.
Covering foot on foot provides the most stability and ease.
The left arm along on the body.

The heart beat is intrinsically dukkha.
The body shakes as a result, trembles, vibrates, wobbles, ...
The very muscles tense and tense, alternately.
Unlike the lungs which tense and relax, alternately.
For the heart, there is no relaxing moment.
For the lungs, we simply can't have only the relaxing moment.

In Jhana, all these stop.

Indeed the supreme Sammasambuddha has found a conducive point on the kaya (body) which is fundamentally unease. A conducive point of touch of the breath at the nostril, which initially may be neutral in terms of vedana (feeling).

However when concentration increases, this neutral feeling gradually changes to pleasant. And this subtle pleasantness serves as an inducement for the mind to greater concentration.
A gateway to the jhana.
Indeed an object is found where the mind can find a peaceful abiding.
Despite this pleasantness, effort still needs to be consistent.

Now, if there is an object, like the abdomen, which is fundamentally unease.
Can the mind find a peaceful abiding in that object and enter jhana?
Can the mind absorb in stress?
This is indeed impossible.

Jhanas are resting states in which an Arahant abides. Even when there is no-sufferer to be found, still the Arahant needs a resting abode because suffering is still there to be felt.

For those who think that the jhanas are too difficult to be attained in this present times
but Nibbana is not, and so they work on discernment without samadhi.
Then they need to change this erroneous view, for how could the harder (Nibbana) be achieved without achieving the easier (Jhanas).

The Sammasambuddha is indeed unmatched in compassion (karuna).
Despite the body and mind being unease, he has made possible a peaceful abiding.
A gradual peaceful abiding here and now even before total release.

He did say:
'I teach one thing and one thing only:
that is, suffering and the end of suffering.'

He did not stop only at suffering.
And the end of suffering is here and now, not in the future.

The Buddha's Path is a path of knowing and seeing.
Practise concentration and the individual factors will be clearly known for oneself.

There are dhammas as many as the leaves in the forest that can be known and realized.
Let there be only the knowing & realisation of the handful of leaves,
the Supreme Dhamma sufficient for Nibbana.
By the power of the Buddha, Dhamma & Sangha,
let there be only the knowing and realisation of the Essentials till Release is attained.

The more one practises, the more silent one becomes.
The words have all been spoken by the Sammasambuddha, perfectly.
There is nothing else to say but practice to verify
what the Buddha had taught.

What-Buddha-Taught.net

Dhamma Quotes & Guides in Realizing the Handful of Leaves
“Inconceivable, bhikkhus, is the beginning of this samsara. A first point is not known of beings roaming and wandering the round of rebirth, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving." "Which do you think, bhikkhus, is more: the stream of tears that you have shed as you roamed and wandered on through this long course, weeping and wailing because of being united with the disagreeable and separated from the agreeable – this or the water in the four great oceans? The stream of tears that you have shed as you roamed and wandered on through this long course…this alone is greater than the water in the four great oceans…For such a long time, bhikkhus, you have experienced suffering, anguish, and disaster, and swelled the cemeteries.” (S.15.3 “Assu Sutta”) ... Furthermore: “There will come a time when the mighty ocean will dry up, vanish and be no more…There will come a time when the mighty earth will be devoured by fire, perish and be no more. But yet there will be no end to the suffering of beings roaming and wandering this round of rebirth, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving.” (S.22.99 “Gaddulabaddha Sutta”) ... "Through many a birth I wandered in samsara, Seeking, but not finding the builder of this house. Painful it is to be born again and again." “O house-builder! You are seen. You shall build no house again. All your rafters are broken. Your ridgepole is shattered." "My mind has attained the unconditioned. Achieved is the end of craving." [Builder: craving; House: body (the five aggregates); Rafters:defilements; Ridgepole: ignorance] (Dh.153-154 “Udana Vatthu”) ... The Five Lower Fetters: 1. Personality View 2. Skeptical Doubt 3. Attachment to Rites and Rituals 4. Sensual Desire 5. Ill-Will The Five Higher Fetters: 6. Craving for Fine-Material Existence 7. Craving for Immaterial Existence 8. Conceit 9. Restlessness 10. Ignorance These ten fetters have been our master since the beginning of samsara. When the first three are shattered, the Stream Entry is attained. Release is assured at the most 7 rebirths. ... This precious human birth "Monks, suppose that this great earth were totally covered with water, and a man were to toss a yoke with a single hole there. A wind from the east would push it west, a wind from the west would push it east. A wind from the north would push it south, a wind from the south would push it north. And suppose a blind sea-turtle were there. It would come to the surface once every one hundred years. Now what do you think: would that blind sea-turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole?" "It would be a sheer coincidence, lord, that the blind sea-turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, would stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole." "It's likewise a sheer coincidence that one obtains the human state. It's likewise a sheer coincidence that a Tathagata, worthy & rightly self-awakened, arises in the world. It's likewise a sheer coincidence that a doctrine & discipline expounded by a Tathagata appears in the world." "Now, this human state has been obtained. A Tathagata, worthy & rightly self-awakened, has arisen in the world. A doctrine & discipline expounded by a Tathagata appears in the world." (Samyutta Nikaya 56.48 "Chiggala Sutta") So do not waste this precious human birth ... Who knows by tomorrow, one may still be living or dead. Thus reflecting, without procrastinating tomorrow or the day after, One should incessantly exert right away on this very day. (Uparipan Bhaddekanatta Sutta 226) ... I teach one thing and one thing only: that is, suffering and the end of suffering. ... Birth is perpetual suffering. ... True happiness consists in eliminating the false idea of 'I'. ... Develop the mind of equilibrium. You will always be getting praise and blame, but do not let either affect the poise of the mind: follow the calmness, the absence of pride. (Sutta Nipata) ... Pay no attention to the faults of others, things done or left undone. Consider only what by oneself is done or left undone. ... Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts. ... In what is seen, there should be just the seen; In what is heard, there should be just the heard; In what is sensed, there should be just the sensed; In what is thought, there should be just the thought. ... He should not kill a living being, nor cause it to be killed, nor should he incite another to kill. Do not injure any being, either strong or weak in the world. (Sutta Nipata II,14) ... Conquer the angry man by love. Conquer the ill-natured man by goodness. Conquer the miser with generosity. Conquer the liar with truth. (The Dhammapada) ... "Monks, even if bandits were to savagely sever you, limb by limb, with a double-handled saw, even then, whoever of you harbors ill will at heart would not be upholding my Teaching. Monks, even in such a situation you should train yourselves thus: 'Neither shall our minds be affected by this, nor for this matter shall we give vent to evil words, but we shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and we shall not give in to hatred. On the contrary, we shall live projecting thoughts of universal love to those very persons, making them as well as the whole world the object of our thoughts of universal love - thoughts that have grown great, exalted and measureless. We shall dwell radiating these thoughts which are void of hostility and ill will.' It is in this way, monks, that you should train yourselves." "Monks, if you should keep this instruction on the Parable of the Saw constantly in mind, do you see any mode of speech, subtle or gross, that you could not endure?" "No, Lord." (Parable of the Saw) ... Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment are cherished in the mind. Anger will disappear just as soon as thoughts of resentment are forgotten. ... Just as a mother would protect with her life her own son, her only son, so one should cultivate an unbounded mind towards all beings, and loving-kindness towards all the world. One should cultivate an unbounded mind, above, below and across, without obstruction, without enmity, without rivalry. Standing, or going, or seated, or lying down, as long as one is free from drowsiness, one should practice this mindfulness. This, they say, is the holy state here. (Sutta Nipata) ... Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. ... Let your love flow outward through the universe, To its height, its depth, its broad extent, A limitless love, without hatred or enmity. Then as you stand or walk, Sit or lie down, As long as you are awake, Strive for this with a one-pointed mind; Your life will bring heaven to earth. (Sutta Nipata) ... The fool thinks he has won a battle when he bullies with harsh speech, but knowing how to be forbearing alone makes one victorious. (Samyutta Nikaya I, 163) ... One day Ananda, who had been thinking deeply about things for a while, turned to the Buddha and exclaimed: "Lord, I've been thinking - spiritual friendship is at least half of the spiritual life!" The Buddha replied: "Say not so, Ananda, say not so. Spiritual friendship is the whole of the spiritual life!" (Samyutta Nikaya, Verse 2) ... In Aryans' Discipline, to build a friendship is to build wealth, To maintain a friendship is to maintain wealth and To end a friendship is to end wealth. (Cakkavatti Sutta, Patika Vagga, Dighanikaya) ... Solitude is happiness for one who is content, who has heard the Dhamma and clearly sees. Non-affliction is happiness in the world - harmlessness towards all living beings. (Udana 10) ... Make an island of yourself, make yourself your refuge; there is no other refuge. Make truth your island, make truth your refuge; there is no other refuge. (Digha Nikaya, 16) ... These teachings are like a raft, to be abandoned once you have crossed the flood. Since you should abandon even good states of mind generated by these teachings, How much more so should you abandon bad states of mind! ... "If beings knew, as I know, the results of sharing gifts, they would not enjoy their gifts without sharing them with others, nor would the taint of stinginess obsess the heart and stay there. even if it were their last and final bit of food, they would not enjoy its use without sharing it, if there were anyone to receive it." (Itivuttaka 18) ... A brahmin once asked The Blessed One: "Are you a God?" "No, brahmin" said The Blessed One. "Are you a saint?" "No, brahmin" said The Blessed One. "Are you a magician?" "No, brahmin" said The Blessed One. "What are you then?" "I am awake. See the truth, and you will see me." ... Do not pursue the past. Do not lose yourself in the future. The past no longer is. The future has not yet come. Looking deeply at life as it is. In the very here and now, the practitioner dwells in stability and freedom. We must be diligent today. To wait until tomorrow is too late. Death comes unexpectedly. How can we bargain with it? The sage calls a person who knows how to dwell in mindfulness night and day, 'one who knows the better way to live alone.' (Bhaddekaratta Sutta) ... What is this world condition? Form (Body) is the world condition. And with form goes feeling, perception, consciousness, and all the activities throughout the world. The arising of form and the ceasing of form--everything that has been heard, sensed, and known, sought after and reached by the mind--all this is the embodied world, to be penetrated and realized. (Samyutta Nikaya) ... "Form, monks, is not self (anatta). If form were the self, this form would not lend itself to disease. It would be possible [to say] with regard to form, 'Let this form be thus. Let this form not be thus.' But precisely because form is not self, form lends itself to disease. And it is not possible [to say] with regard to form, 'Let this form be thus. Let this form not be thus.' "Feeling is not self... "Perception is not self... "[Mental] fabrications are not self... "Consciousness is not self. (The Five Aggregates) ......................................................... "What do you think, monks — is form constant or inconstant?" "Inconstant (anicca), lord." "And is that which is inconstant easeful or stressful?" "Stressful (dukkha), lord." "And is it fitting to regard what is inconstant, stressful, subject to change as: 'This is mine. This is my self. This is what I am'?" "No, lord." "...Is feeling constant or inconstant?" "Inconstant, lord."... "...Is perception constant or inconstant?" "Inconstant, lord."... "...Are fabrications constant or inconstant?" "Inconstant, lord."... "What do you think, monks — Is consciousness constant or inconstant?" "Inconstant, lord." "And is that which is inconstant easeful or stressful?" "Stressful, lord." "And is it fitting to regard what is inconstant, stressful, subject to change as: 'This is mine. This is my self. This is what I am'?" "No, lord." "Thus, monks, any form whatsoever that is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle; common or sublime; far or near: every form is to be seen as it actually is with right discernment as: 'This is not mine. This is not my self. This is not what I am.' "Any feeling whatsoever... Any perception whatsoever... Any fabrications whatsoever... Any consciousness whatsoever... that is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle; common or sublime; far or near: every consciousness is to be seen as it actually is with right discernment as: 'This is not mine. This is not my self. This is not what I am.' "Seeing thus, the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones grows disenchanted with form, disenchanted with feeling, disenchanted with perception, disenchanted with fabrications, disenchanted with consciousness. Disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion, he is fully released. With full release, there is the knowledge, 'Fully released.' He discerns that 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.'" That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the group of five monks delighted at his words. And while this explanation was being given, the hearts of the group of five monks, through not clinging (not being sustained), were fully released from fermentation/effluents. (Anatta-lakkhana Sutta) ......................................................... Again, bhikkhus, how does a bhikkhu abide contemplating consciousness as consciousness? Here, bhikkhus, [1] a bhikkhu understands (pajànàti) a consciousness associated with lust as a consciousness associated with lust........................................... [2] He understands a consciousness dissociated from lust as a consciousness dissociated from lust....................................... [3] He understands a consciousness associated with hatred as a consciousness associated with hatred...................................... [4] He understands a consciousness dissociated from hatred as a consciousness dissociated from hatred.................................. [5] He understands a consciousness associated with delusion as a consciousness associated with delusion................................... [6] He understands a consciousness dissociated from delusion as a consciousness dissociated from delusion................................... [7] He understands a contracted consciousness as a contracted consciousness..................................................... [8] He understands a distracted consciousness as a distracted consciousness........................................................ [9] He understands an exalted consciousness as an exalted consciousness....................................................... [10] He understands an unexalted consciousness as an unexalted consciousness................................................. [11] He understands a surpassed consciousness as a surpassed consciousness........................................................ [12] He understands an unsurpassed consciousness as an unsurpassed consciousness................................................... [13] He understands a concentrated consciousness as a concentrated consciousness.................................................. [14] He understands an unconcentrated consciousness as an unconcentrated consciousness........................................ [15] He understands a liberated consciousness as a liberated consciousness......................................................... [16] He understands an unliberated consciousness as an unliberated consciousness................................................. Thus, he abides contemplating consciousness as consciousness internally, or he abides contemplating consciousness as consciousness externally, or he abides contemplating consciousness as consciousness both internally and externally. (Mahasatipatthana Sutta) ... Birth is suffering; aging is suffering; sickness is suffering; death is suffering; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair are suffering; association with the unpleasant is suffering; separation from the pleasant is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates of clinging are suffering. ... "And what is dependent co-arising? From ignorance as a requisite condition come fabrications. From fabrications as a requisite condition comes consciousness. From consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-&-form. From name-&-form as a requisite condition come the six sense media. From the six sense media as a requisite condition comes contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging/sustenance. From clinging/sustenance as a requisite condition comes becoming. From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth. From birth as a requisite condition, then aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair come into play. Such is the origination of this entire mass of stress & suffering. [The Second Noble Truth] (SN 12.2) ... And what is dependent cessation? With the complete cessation of ignorance kamma formations cease. With the cessation of kamma formations consciousness ceases. With the cessation of consciousness mind and body cease. With the cessation of mind and body the six sense bases cease. With the cessation of the six sense bases contact ceases. With the cessation of contact feeling ceases. With the cessation of feeling craving ceases. With the cessation of craving clinging ceases. With the cessation of clinging becoming ceases. With the cessation of becoming birth ceases. With the cessation of birth, ageing, death, sorrow, lamentation, physical pain, mental pain, and anguish cease. Such is the cessation of this entire mass of stress & suffering. Nibbana. [The Third Noble Truth] ... HOW DID THE LORD BUDDHA DWELL? Bhikkhus, Mindfulness with Breathing (Anapanasati) that one has developed and make much of has great fruit and great benefit. Even I myself, before awakening, when not yet enlightened, while still a Bodhisatva (Buddha to be), lived in this dwelling (way of life) for the most part. When I lived mainly in this dwelling, the body was not stressed, the eyes were not strained, and my mind was released from the asava (corruptions, cankers) through non-attachment. For this reason, should anyone wish "may my body be not stressed, may my eyes be not strained, may my mind be released from the asava through non-attachment," then that person ought to attend carefully in his heart to this Mindfulness with Breathing meditation. (Samyutta Nikaya. Samyutta LIV, Sutta 8) ... The Buddha praises ānāpānasati thus: Bhikkhus, this concentration through mindfulness of breathing, when developed and practised much, is both peaceful and sublime. It is an unadulterated blissful abiding, and it banishes and stills evil unwholesome thoughts as soon as they arise. (Samyutta Nikāya) ... "What is the purpose of skillful virtues? What is their reward?" "Skillful virtues have freedom from remorse as their purpose, Ananda, and freedom from remorse as their reward." "Freedom from remorse has joy as its purpose, joy as its reward." "Joy has rapture as its purpose, rapture as its reward." "Rapture has serenity as its purpose, serenity as its reward." "Serenity has pleasure as its purpose, pleasure as its reward." "Pleasure has concentration as its purpose, concentration as its reward." "Concentration has knowledge & vision of things as they actually are as its purpose, knowledge & vision of things as they actually are as its reward." "In this way, Ananda, skillful virtues lead step-by-step to the consummation of arahantship." (Kimattha Sutta Anguttara Nikaya 11.1) ... If there is any doubt about the necessity of the Jhanas, look at ... Samma Samadhi (Right Concentration) "And what, monks, is right concentration? (i) There is the case where a monk — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful (mental) qualities — enters & remains in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. (ii) With the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, he enters & remains in the second jhana: rapture & pleasure born of concentration, unification of awareness free from directed thought & evaluation — internal assurance. (iii) With the fading of rapture, he remains equanimous, mindful, & alert, and senses pleasure with the body. He enters & remains in the third jhana, of which the Noble Ones declare, 'Equanimous & mindful, he has a pleasant abiding.' (iv) With the abandoning of pleasure & pain — as with the earlier disappearance of elation & distress — he enters & remains in the fourth jhana: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, neither pleasure nor pain. This, monks, is called right concentration." SN 45.8 ... Samma Samadhi (Right Concentration) (www.what-Buddha-said.net) ... "´This Dhamma is for one with samádhi, not for one without samádhi.' So it was said. For what reason was this said? Here a monk enters and abides in the first jhána … second jhána … third jhána … fourth jhána." AN 8.30 ... When the Bodhisatta had the insight that Jhana was the way to Enlightenment, he then thought, "Why am I afraid of that pleasure which has nothing to do with the five senses nor with unwholesome things? I will not be afraid of that pleasure (of Jhana)!" MN 36 ... The Buddha said that one who indulges in the pleasures of Jhana may expect only one of four consequences: Stream Winning, Once-returner, Non-returner, or Full Enlightenment! In other words, indulging in Jhana leads only to the four stages of Enlightenment. (Pasadika Sutta, DN 29,25) ... "Jhana is to be followed, is to be developed and is to be made much of. It is not to be feared." MN 66 ... "One trains in the higher virtue (sila), the higher mind, and the higher wisdom … What is the training in the higher mind? Here a monk … enters and abides in the first jhána … second jhána … third jhána … fourth jhána." AN 3.84, 88, 89 ... "That one could perfect samádhi without perfecting virtue or that one could perfect wisdom without perfecting samádhi - this is impossible." AN 5.22 ... "It is impossible to abandon the fetters that bind us to samsára (samyojana) without having perfected samádhi. And without abandoning those fetters it is impossible to realize Nibbána." AN 6.68 ... "I say, monks, that the destruction of the mind's poisons is dependent on the first jhána … eight jhána." AN 9.36 ... 'For a person with right samádhi there is no need to arouse the wish, ´May I see things as they truly are.´ It is a natural process, it is in accordance with nature that someone with right samádhi will see things as they truly are.' AN 10.3 ... 'There is no jhána without wisdom, there is no wisdom without jhána, but for someone with both jhána and wisdom, Nibbána is near.' Dhp 372 ... Develop concentration, bhikkhus; concentrated, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu understands according to reality. (Samàdhi Sutta, S.III.I.i.v) ... Silenced in body, silenced in speech, silenced in mind, without inner noise, Blessed with silence is the sage! He is truly washed of all evil ... (Itivuttaka 3.67) ... " ... And as I remained thus heedful, ardent, & resolute, thinking imbued with renunciation / non-ill will / harmlessness arose. I discerned that 'Thinking imbued with renunciation / non-ill will / harmlessness has arisen in me; and that leads neither to my own affliction, nor to the affliction of others, nor to the affliction of both. It fosters discernment, promotes lack of vexation, & leads to Unbinding. If I were to think & ponder in line with that even for a night... even for a day... even for a day & night, I do not envision any danger that would come from it, except that thinking & pondering a long time would tire the body. When the body is tired, the mind is disturbed; and a disturbed mind is far from concentration.' So I steadied my mind right within, settled, unified, & concentrated it. Why is that? So that my mind would not be disturbed. ... first jhana, second jhana ... " (Dvedhavitakka Sutta, MN.019) "When sitting in meditation, say, “That’s not my business!” with every thought that comes by." ... Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. What you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing. ... "When one does not understand death, life can be very confusing." ... "Don’t think that only sitting with the eyes closed is practice. If you do think this way, then quickly change your thinking. Steady practice is keeping mindful in every posture, whether sitting, walking, standing or lying down. When coming out of sitting, don’t think that you’re coming out of meditation, but that you are only changing postures. If you reflect in this way, you will have peace. Wherever you are, you will have this attitude of practice with you constantly. You will have a steady awareness within yourself." ... "Only one book is worth reading: the heart." ... "The Dhamma has to be found by looking into your own heart and seeing that which is true and that which is not, that which is balanced and that which is not balanced." ... "The heart of the path is quite easy. There’s no need to explain anything at length. Let go of love and hate and let things be. That’s all that I do in my own practice." ... "We practice to learn how to let go, not how to increase our holding on to things. Enlightenment appears when you stop wanting anything." ... "If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will have complete peace." ... "You are your own teacher. Looking for teachers can’t solve your own doubts. Investigate yourself to find the truth - inside, not outside. Knowing yourself is most important." ... "Try to be mindful and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool. All kinds of wonderful, rare animals will come to drink at the pool, and you will clearly see the nature of all things. You will see many strange and wonderful things come and go, but you will be still. This is the happiness of the Buddha." ... "Our birth and death are just one thing. You can’t have one without the other. It’s a little funny to see how at a death people are so tearful and sad, and at a birth how happy and delighted. It’s delusion. I think if you really want to cry, then it would be better to do so when someone’s born. Cry at the root, for if there were no birth, there would be no death. Can you understand this?" ... All things are just as they are. They don’t cause suffering to anybody. It’s just like a thorn, a really sharp thorn. Does it make you suffer? No, it’s just a thorn. It doesn’t bother anybody. But if you go and stand on it, you’ll suffer. Why is there suffering? Because you stepped on the thorn. The thorn is just minding its own business. It doesn’t harm anybody. It’s because of we ourselves that there is pain. Form, feeling, perception, volition, consciousness…. all things in this world are simply as they are. It’s we who pick fights with them. And if we hit them, they hit us back. If they’re left alone, they won’t bother anybody. Only the drunkard gives them trouble. ... If those who have studied the theory hang on to what they have learnt when they sit in meditation, taking notes on their experience and wondering whether they have reached jhana yet, their minds will be distracted right there and turn away from the meditation. They won’t gain real understanding. Why is that? Because there is desire. As soon as *tanha* (craving) arises, whatever the meditation you are doing, it won’t develop because the mind withdraws. It is essential that you learn how to give up all thinking and doubting, give it up completely, all of it. ... If I’d wanted to stop formal practice, was there any laziness, tiredness or irritation? None at all. The mind was completely free from such defilements. What was left was the sense of complete balance or ‘just-rightness’ in the mind. If I was going to stop, it would just have been to rest the body, not for anything else. ... If you experience different kinds of nimitta during meditation, such as visions of heavenly beings, before anything else it’s important to observe the state of mind very closely. Don’t forget this basic principle. The mind has to be calm for you to experience these things. Be careful not to practice with desire either to experience nimitta or not to experience them. If they arise, contemplate them and don’t let them delude you. Reflect that they are not you and they don’t belong to you. They are aniccam, dukkham, anatta, just like all other mind-objects. If you do experience them, don’t let your mind become too interested or dwell on them. If they don’t disappear by themselves, reestablish mindfulness. *Put all your attention on the breath, taking a few extra deep breaths. If you take at least three extra-long breaths you should be able to cut out the nimitta.* You must keep reestablishing awareness in this way as you continue to practice. ... "Let your aim be Nibbana." (Ajahn Chah) Whenever delusion, carelessness, and forgetfulness come in, there arise desire and attachment to the false idea "I," "mine," "I am So-and-so," "I am Such-and-such,"... and this is birth. ... And whenever there is birth, there is suffering. ... Whenever there arises the idea "I," "mine," at that time the cycle of Samsara has come into existence in the mind, and there is suffering, burning, spinning on, ... When no such idea arises, there is no birth, and this freedom from birth is a state of coolness ... And whenever there is freedom from defects of these kinds, there is Nirvana. ... When you are sitting in meditation and a mosquito bites you, you develop an evil emotion. How can you get rid of it? The way to drive it away is to improve the breath. Make it long, make it fine, make it chase that wicked emotion away. This is the best way to solve the problems. ... Calming the Breath (the body-conditioner) to calm the body. 5 Skillful Means to calm the breath 1. following the breath; 2. guarding the breath at a certain point; 3. giving rise to an imaginary image at that guarding point; 4. manipulating those images in any ways that we want in order to gain power over them; 5. selecting one of these images and contemplating it in a most concentrated way until the breath becomes truly calm and peaceful. ... Calming the Vedana (mind-conditioners) to calm the mind. Piti and Sukha are mind-conditioners. 1. Samadhi method - by way of higher Jhanas 2. Wisdom method - see the assada and adinava of piti (which excites and disturbs) ... The vedana have the highest power and influence over human beings, over all living things. "If we can master the vedana we will be able to master the world." ... These three things make up the secrets of the vedana. 1. Understand the feelings themselves. 2. Know the things that condition the feelings. 3. Then, know how to control those things that condition the feelings, which is the same as controlling the feelings themselves. These are the three important things to understand about vedana. ... We realize that the feelings condition both coarse thoughts and subtle thoughts. When piti dominates the mind, it is impossible to think subtle thoughts. Sukha, however, has advantages. It leads to tranquil, refined states. It can cause subtle, profound, and refined thoughts. (However), these two feelings, piti and sukha, must arise together. We have discovered that piti is an enemy of vipassana, whereas sukha is not. Should piti arise, vipassana is impossible. The mind gets all clouded and restless. ... If we know how the thoughts are, we will know how the mind is. ... If the mind has correct samadhi, we will observe three distinct qualities in it. 1. samahito (stableness), 2. parisuddho (pureness), and 3. kammaniyo (activeness). ... It may sound funny to you that all Truth - aniccam, dukkham, anatta, sunnata -- ends up with tathata. It may amuse you that the Ultimate Truth of everything in the universe comes down to nothing but thusness. In Thai, tathata is translated "just like that." ... Sunnata If we say that the mind has attained or realized emptiness it leads some people to understand that the mind is one thing and emptiness another. To say that the mind comes to know emptiness is still not particularly correct. Please understand that if the mind was not one and the same thing as emptiness, there would be no way for emptiness to be known. ... If one is to understand those things called dhatu well enough to understand the Dhamma they must be studied in this way. Don't be deceived into thinking that knowing the elements of earth, water, wind and fire is sufficient, they are a matter for children. Those elements were spoken of and taught before the time of the Buddha. One must go on to know vinnanadhatu, the immaterial consciousness-element, akasadhatu, the space element and sunnatadhatu, the emptiness-element that is the utter extinction of earth, water, fire, wind, consciousness and space. The element of emptiness is the most wonderful element in all the Buddhist Teachings. ... In the Anguttara Nikaya, the Buddha states that when the mind is empty of greed, aversion and delusion, empty of 'I' and 'mine' then kamma ends by itself. This means that kamma, vipaka (its result), and the mental defilements which are the cause for the creation of kamma, spontaneously and simultaneously come to an end. So we don't have to be afraid of kamma, to fear that we must be ruled by our kamma. We don't have to be too interested in kamma. Rather, we should take an interest in emptiness. If we have created emptiness with regards to 'I' and 'mine', kamma will utterly disintegrate and there will be no way that we will have to follow its dictates. ... When the Buddhist Teachings spread to China, the Chinese of those days were intelligent and wise enough to accept it, and there arose teachings such as those of Hui Neng and Huang-Po in which explanations of mind and Dhamma, of Buddha, the Way and emptiness were extremely terse. There emerged the key sentence that mind, Buddha, Dhamma, the Way and emptiness are all just one thing. This one sentence is enough there is no need to say anything more. It is equivalent to all the scriptures. ... To sum up - this one subject of emptiness covers all of the Buddhist Teachings, for the Buddha breathed with emptiness. Emptiness is the theoretical knowledge, it is the practice and it is the fruit of the practice. If one studies one must study emptiness; if one practises it must be for the fruit of emptiness, and if one receives the fruit it must be emptiness, so that finally one attains that thing that is supremely desirable. There is nothing beyond emptiness. When it is realized, all problems end. It is not above, it is not below, it is not anywhere-I don't know what to say about it, better to shut up! Suffice it to say that emptiness is the supreme happiness. ... Paticcasamuppada (Doctrine of Dependent Origination) points of disputes in The Path of Purification by Buddhaghosa ... (Buddhadasa Bhikkhu) Learn four ways of adjusting the breath: 1. in long and out long, 2. in long and out short, 3. in short and out long, 4. in short and out short. Breathe whichever way is most comfortable for you. Or, better yet, learn to breathe comfortably all four ways, because your physical condition and your breath are always changing. ... The common breath is long and slow. The refined breath is short and light. It can penetrate into every blood vessels. It's a breath of extremely high quality. ... Breath subdues pain. Mindfulness subdues the Hindrances. ... The in-and-out breath is stress -- the in-breath, the stress of arising; the out-breath, the stress of passing away. ... Once you cut off thoughts of past and future, you don't have to worry about the Hindrances. ... Some people believe that they don't have to practice centering the mind, that they can attain release through discernment (pañña-vimutti) by working at discernment alone. This simply isn't true. Both release through discernment and release through stillness of mind (ceto-vimutti) are based on centering the mind. They differ only in degree. Like walking: Ordinarily, a person doesn't walk on one leg alone. Whichever leg is heavier is simply a matter of personal habits and traits. ... You can't do without concentration. If concentration is lacking, you can gain nothing but jumbled thoughts and conjectures, without any sound support. ... When you see that a nimitta has appeared, mindfully focus your awareness on it -- but be sure to focus on only one at a time, choosing whichever one is most comfortable. Once you've got hold of it, expand it so that it's as large as your head. The bright white nimitta is useful to the body and mind: It's a pure breath that can cleanse the blood in the body, reducing or eliminating feelings of physical pain. When you have this white light as large as the head, bring it down to The Fifth Base, the center of the chest. Once it's firmly settled, let it spread out to fill the chest. Make this breath as white and as bright as possible, and then let both the breath and the light spread throughout the body, out to every pore, until different parts of the body appear on their own as pictures. If you don't want the pictures, take two or three long breaths and they'll disappear. Keep your awareness still and expansive. Don't let it latch onto or be affected by any nimitta that may happen to pass into the brightness of the breath. Keep careful watch over the mind. Keep it one. Keep it intent on a single preoccupation, the refined breath, letting this refined breath suffuse the entire body. When you've reached this point, knowledge will gradually begin to unfold. The body will be light, like fluff. The mind will be rested and refreshed -- supple, solitary, and self-contained. There will be an extreme sense of physical pleasure and mental ease. ... If you don't want the nimitta to appear, breathe deep and long, down into the heart, and it will immediately go away. ... Vedana 1. Watch the arising of feelings in the present. You don't have to follow them anywhere else. Tell yourself that whatever may be causing these feelings, you're going to focus exclusively on what is present. 2. Focus on the fading of feelings in the present. 3. Focus on the passing away of feelings in the present. 4. Stay with the realization that feelings do nothing but arise and fall away — simply flowing away and vanishing in various ways — with nothing of any substance or worth. When you can do this, you can say that your frame of reference is firmly established in feelings in and of themselves — and at that point, the Path comes together. ... Letting go has two forms: (1) Being able to let go of mental objects but not of one's own mind. (2) Being able to let go both of the objects of the mind and of one's self. To be able to let go both of one's objects and of one's self is genuine knowing. To be able to let go of one's objects but not of one's self is counterfeit knowing. Genuine knowing lets go of both ends: It lets the object follow its own nature as an object, and lets the mind follow the nature of the mind. In other words, it lets nature look after itself. "Object" here refers to the body; "self" refers to the heart. You have to let go of both. ... Turmoil comes from our own defilements, not from other people. You have to solve the problem within yourself if you want to find peace. ... My motto is, "Make yourself as good as possible, and everything else will have to turn good in your wake." If you don't abandon your own inner goodness for the sake of outer goodness, things will have to go well. ... The mind is the only thing that senses pleasure and pain. The body has no sense of these things at all. It's like taking a knife to murder someone: They don't hunt down the knife and punish it. They punish only the person who used it to commit murder. ... Don't let defilements inside make contact with defilements outside. If we have defilements at the same time that other people do, the result will be trouble. For instance, if we're angry when they're angry, or we're greedy when they're greedy, or we're deluded when they're deluded, it spells ruination for everyone. ... Results don't come from thinking. They come from the qualities we build into the mind. ... If you want to just think buddho, you can, but it is too light. Your awareness won't go deep... The Skills of Jhana ... People who develop jhana fall into three classes: 1. Those who attain only the first level [First Jhana] and then gain liberating insight right then and there are said to excel in discernment (paññadhika). They Awaken quickly, and their release is termed pañña-vimutti, release through discernment. 2. Those who develop jhana to the fourth level [Fourth Jhana], there gaining liberating insight into the Noble Truths, are said to excel in conviction (saddhadhika). They develop a moderate number of skills, and their Awakening occurs at a moderate rate. Their release is the first level of ceto-vimutti, release through concentration. 3. Those who become skilled at the four levels of jhana [Rupa Jhana]— adept at entering, staying in place, and withdrawing — and then go all the way to the four levels of arupa-jhana, after which they withdraw back to the first jhana, over and over again, until finally intuitive knowledge, the cognitive skills, and liberating discernment arise, giving release from mental fermentation and defilement: These people are said to excel in persistence (viriyadhika). People who practice jhana a great deal, developing strong energy and bright inner light, can Awaken suddenly in a single mental instant, as soon as discernment first arises. Their release is cetopariyavimutti, release through mastery of concentration. These are the results to be gained by meditators. But there have to be causes — our own actions — before the results can come fully developed. ... Uggaha nimittas When the mind becomes still, uggaha nimittas can appear in either of two ways: — from mental notes made in the past; — on their own, without our ever having thought of the matter. Uggaha nimittas of both sorts can be either beneficial or harmful, true or false, so we shouldn't place complete trust in them. If we're thoroughly mindful and alert, they can be beneficial. But if our powers of reference are weak or if we lack strength of mind, we're likely to follow the drift of whatever images appear, sometimes losing our bearings to the point where we latch on to the images as being real. So when sensation-images or thought-images arise in one way or another, you should then practice adjusting and analyzing them (patibhaga nimitta). In other words, when a visual image arises, if it's large, make it small, far, near, large, small, appear, and disappear. Analyze it into its various parts and then let it go. Don't let these images influence the mind. Instead, have the mind influence the images, as you will. If you aren't able to do this, then don't get involved with them. Disregard them and return to your original practice with the breath. ... Focal points for the mind These include: (1) the tip of the nose; (2) the middle of the head; (3) the palate; (4) the base of the throat; (5) the tip of the breastbone; (6) the "center," two inches above the navel. In centering the breath at any of these points, people who tend to have headaches shouldn't focus on any point above the base of the throat. ... With one exception [anapanassati], all of the [39] meditation themes mentioned here are simply gocara dhamma — foraging places for the mind. They're not places for the mind to stay. If we try to go live in the things we see when we're out foraging, we'll end up in trouble. When you practice meditation, you don't have to go foraging in other [39] themes; you can stay in the single theme that's the apex of all meditation themes: *anapanassati,* keeping the breath in mind. This theme, unlike the others, has none of the features or various deceptions that can upset or disturb the heart. ... As for the four sublime abodes, if you don't have jhana as a dwelling for the mind, feelings of good will, compassion, and appreciation can all cause you to suffer. Only if you have jhana can these qualities truly become sublime abodes, that is, restful places for the heart to stay (vihara dhamma) Basic Themes ... "To study is to know the texts, To practice is to know your defilements, To attain the goal is to know & let go." ... "If a person isn't true to the Buddha's teachings, the Buddha's teachings won't be true to that person — and that person won't be able to know what the Buddha's true teachings are." (Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo) When one does what Buddhas do, one is a Buddha. When one does what Bodhisattvas do, one is a Bodhisattva. When one does what Arhats do, one is an Arhat. When one does what ghosts do, one is a ghost. These are all natural phenomena. There are no shortcuts in cultivation. ... If you wish others to know about your good deeds, they are not truly good deeds. If you fear others will find out about your bad deeds, those are truly bad deeds. (Master Hsuan Hua) Things are not what they appear to be: nor are they otherwise. (Surangama Sutra) Compassion is a verb. ... If we are not empty, we become a block of matter. We cannot breathe, we cannot think. To be empty means to be alive, to breathe in and to breathe out. We cannot be alive if we are not empty. Emptiness is impermanence, it is change. We should not complain about impermanence, because without impermanence, nothing is possible. ... Meditation is not to escape from society, but to come back to ourselves and see what is going on. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. With mindfulness, we know what to do and what not to do to help. ... Enlightenment, for a wave in the ocean, is the moment the wave realises it is water. (Thich Nhat Hanh) This too will pass. ... All the cravings and desires, (and thus dukkha) come from a sense of ‘self’... ... Just bare attention, just bare perception, is not enough. The defilements have already been at work and that’s the problem. We cannot trust even the first experience that comes to our senses. ... Remember, wanting is that force which takes you away from whatever you are experiencing now, into something in the future, into fantasies or dreams. ... One cannot will the mind to be still! ... Remember that the greatest controller of all is Mara (the doer). ... Understand that Mara is the ‘doer’ inside you. He’s always trying to push and pull you, saying, “Come on; don’t get so sleepy”. “Come on, put forth some effort”. “Come on, get into a jhana”. “Come on, who do you think you are?” “Come on, how long have you been a monk, how long have you got left of your retreat?” “Come on, get going.” That is Mara! ... Remember that the jhanas are the places that Mara (the doer) can’t go, where Mara is blindfolded. ... Do absolutely nothing and see how smooth and beautiful and timeless the breath can appear ! ... Silence is so much more productive of wisdom and clarity than thinking. ... The mind seeks out silence constantly, to the point where it only thinks if it really has to, only if there is some point to it. Since, at this stage, you have realized that most of our thinking is really pointless anyway, that it gets you nowhere, only giving you many headaches, you gladly and easily spend much time in inner quiet. ... It is impossible that such a gross activity as thinking can exist in such a refined state as Jhana. In fact, thinking ceases a long time prior to Jhana. ... Thinking is an obstacle to gaining the samadhi which can know those worlds. ... Basic Method of Meditation Sustained attention on the present moment Silent awareness of the present moment Silent present moment awareness of the breath Full sustained attention on the breath Full sustained attention on the beautiful breath Experiencing the beautiful Nimitta First Jhana ... ... The happiness generated by sensual excitement is hot and stimulating but also agitating and consequently tiring. It lessens in intensity on repetition. The happiness caused by personal achievement is warm and fulfilling but also fades quickly, leaving a sense of a vacant hole in need of filling. But the happiness born of letting go is cool and very long lasting. It is associated with the sense of real freedom. ... You can recognize a nimitta by the following six features: 1. It appears only after the fifth stage (above) of the meditation, after the meditator has been with the beautiful breath for a long time; 2. It appears when the breath disappears; 3. It only comes when the external five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch are completely absent; 4. It manifests only in the silent mind, when descriptive thoughts (inner speech) are totally absent; 5. It is strange but powerfully attractive; and 6. It is a beautifully simple object. I mention these features so that you may distinguish real nimittas from imaginary ones. ... When you’re doing the meditation on the breath, when you are watching the breath, when you have the breath in mind, don’t just watch any old ordinary boring breath. Make a resolution, a gentle suggestion to the mind, “May I breathe in just experiencing pitisukha, may I breathe out experiencing pitisukha.” (Ajahn Brahm) The flavor of the Dhamma will begin to appear when the mind is centered in concentration. ... The blessings of meeting a good spiritual master Only those who practise meditation can truly understand the spiritual path. Learning meditation properly requires the guidance of a gifted teacher. The teacher cannot afford to make even the slightest mistakes especially when his disciple is meditating at a very high level. The teacher must know more than the disciple so that the disciple can respectfully follow his lead. It is wrong for the teacher to teach above his level of understanding. The disciple will not benefit from such instruction. But when the teaching is based on a direct experience of the truth gained through meditation, the disciple will progress very quickly. ... We will be able truly to see things as they are -- without a doubt -- once we can remove the counterfeit things that conceal them. For example, beauty: Where, exactly, is the body beautiful? What is there about it that you can claim to be beautiful? If you speak in terms of the principles of the truth, how can you even look at the human body? It's entirely filled with filthiness, both within and without, which is why we have to keep washing it all the time. Even the clothing and other articles on which the body depends have to be dirty because the main part -- the body -- is a well of filth within and without. Whatever it comes into contact with -- robes, clothing, dwelling, bedding -- has to become dirty as well. Wherever human beings live becomes dirty, but we don't see the truth, mainly because we aren't interested in looking. (Maha Boowa) Life is uncertain. Death is. (Ven Dhammananda) When you meditate you're gaining practice in how to die – how to be mindful and alert, how to endure pain, how to gain control over wayward thoughts and maybe even reach the deathless –so that when the time comes to die, you'll do it with skill. (Ajahn Fuang) People who are well-trained in concentration, with their hearts resting on a solid foundation, will maintain that foundation wherever they are. They constantly rest in peaceful meditative states whether they are standing, walking, sitting or lying down. Issues such as tiredness, pain or hunger will never bother or concern them. So try to keep sitting straight with legs crossed no matter how tired, painful or hungry you become while you are meditating. Centering your mind through focused attention and supervising the whole process with continuous mindfulness, is the effort required to bring about concentration, firmness and stability of mind. If you persist in your efforts until the heart finally passes through the threshold to concentration, all your previous concerns will disappear. You will no longer worry about them because your heart is detached from your body when you are resting in concentration [Jhana]. ... Are memories or perceptions surfacing in your mind? If they are, they should be understood as enemies that come to destroy your meditation. So you must cut them off quickly. ... When practicing Jhana, you disengage yourselves from the thinking process so that a sense of peace, happiness and well-being will naturally arise in your hearts. You will then be able to appreciate why the Buddha encouraged his disciples to let go of their concerns and preoccupations, and stay with pure knowing instead. You will see clearly the happiness, well-being and freedom arising from practicing meditative absorptions (Jhanas) - among all the knowledge (Nana) to be developed, you should developed this first ! ... When you are heedful like this without interruption, pure knowing will come to the front and become bright and luminous; thoughts arising in consciousness will vanish immediately - they arise and vanish at the same time. ... The things that we need to be watchful of are many. Forms, sounds, smells, tastes, bodily sensation and mental objects - all of them are potential causes of lust once they contact our sense doors,· any of them can be the origin of craving, defilement and suffering. But to what extent have you realized the harm latent in your sense doors? How clearly do you see it as your duty to watch over them? Your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind are busy receiving forms, sounds, smells, tastes, bodily sensations and mental objects all day every day, but have you realized that the important issue here, the really meaningful approach to be taken, is to stay heedful and remain self-controlled so that you can put out the fire of lust (Ragaggi), the fire of hatred (Dosaggi), and the fire of delusion (Mohaggi) that are waiting to flare up at any moment? (Ajahn Uthai Siridharo) If you experience one jhana, you have the potential to experience Nibbana--if you don't stop. ... 6Rs Recognize Release Relax Re-smile Return Repeat (Bhante Vimalaramsi) "Oh! I forgot the breathing. Never mind, start again." (Achan Dhammarato Bhikkhu) The purpose of Buddhist meditation is to attain Nibbàna ... the cessation of mentality (nàma) and materiality (råpa). ... If you ... try to do Vipassanà by contemplating the arising and passing away of ... the råpa kalàpas, you will be trying to do Vipassanà on concepts. So you must analyse the råpa kalàpas further, until you can see the elements in single ones: in order to reach ultimate reality. ... When the breath becomes subtle, that subtle breath is better. At that time do not make the breath clear. If you try to make the breath clear, then because of excessive effort, it will make concentration to decrease. ... When you are able to discern your immediate past life ... you need in the same way to discern progressively back to the second, third, fourth, and as many lives back as you can. ... Whenever one's mind wanders, one brings it calmly back to the breath. One does not get upset when one's mind wanders. ... Anapanassati The First Tetra in the Practice for the Jhana The Buddha said the bhikkhu breathes in and out understanding that his breath is long or short. As one's mindfulness of breathing develops, this comes naturally: one comes naturally to understand that one's breath is sometimes long, sometimes short. It is not important whether it is long or short; what is important is that one is calmly aware that it is either long or short. Then The Buddha said the bhikkhu breathes in and out experiencing the whole body. By the whole body (sabbakaya), The Buddha means the whole body of breath. This understanding also comes naturally. As one's mindfulness of breathing develops further, one becomes naturally aware of the beginning, middle, and end of each in-breath and each out-breath as it passes by the nostrils or at the upper lip. Here again, it is not important whether one's breath is long or short; what is important is that one all the time knows the whole body of each in and out breath: that one knows the whole body of breath from beginning to middle to end. Lastly, The Buddha said the bhikkhu breathes in and out tranquillizing the bodily formation. By the bodily formation (kayasankhara), The Buddha means the breath passing in and out through the nose. Tranquillizing the breath also comes naturally, because as one's mindfulness of breathing develops, one's breath becomes more and more subtle, more and more tranquil. So, all one does is to try all the time mindfully to comprehend the subtle breath. ... With the fourth jhana, one's breath stops: that is how one fully tranquillizes the bodily formation. ... The Workings of Kamma ... if we do not understand the workings of kamma, we cannot understand the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering (Dukkha·Samudaya Ariya·Sacca), the origin of the five aggregates. That means we cannot become a Noble Disciple (Ariya·Savaka), and escape suffering. Therefore, we must attend closely to The Buddha’s explanations of the workings of kamma. But we must always remember that although we must try to understand The Buddha’s explanations of the workings of kamma, such explanations cannot provide true understanding. To gain true understanding of the workings of kamma, we need, as far as it is possible for a disciple, to know and see the workings of kamma for ourselves by practising proper insight meditation, and attaining the Cause-Apprehending Knowledge (Paccaya-Pariggaha·Ñana) ... p52/504 The Workings of Kamma ... ... for us to succeed in our meditation, we need to have accomplished much practice of the three merit-work bases: not only in this life but also in past lives. And that practice needs to have been of a high quality: consistent and continuous. p145/504 The Workings of Kamma ... The three merit-work bases (puñña·kiriya·vatthu) are three ways to accomplish wholesome kamma, to develop wholesome consciousness. They are: offering (dana), morality (sila), and meditation (bhavana)... p77/504 The Workings of Kamma ... The persistent, strongly held wrong view that alone can lead to rebirth in hell is the view that somehow denies kamma and its result: either an annihilation view or an eternity view. p185/504 The Workings of Kamma ... Please do not forget, stubbornness and pride are defilements. Defilements do not produce a high birth, they produce a low birth. Such are the workings of kamma. p291/504 The Workings of Kamma ... The Buddha explains the things that need to be known for insight knowledge to arise: ‘When, Ananda, a bhikkhu is in the elements skilled, is in the bases skilled, is in dependent origination skilled, is in the possible and impossible skilled, in that way he can be called a wise man and an enquirer.’ And He explains that skill in the elements is to know and see the eighteen elements (the elements of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, their six objects, and their six types of consciousness); the three elements (the three planes of existence: sensual-, fine-material-, and immaterial element); and the two elements (all formations: the conditioned element; Nibbana: the unformed element). He explains that when a bhikkhu knows and sees these elements: ‘a bhikkhu can be called in the elements skilled.’ Skill in the bases He explains as to know and see the six internal and external bases (eye/ colour, ear/ sounds, nose/ odours, tongue/ flavours, body/ touches, mind/ other objects). Skill in dependent origination He explains as to know the twelve factors of dependent origination and of dependent cessation. And skill in the possible and impossible He explains as to understand that certain things are impossible, although their opposite is possible: p440/504 The Workings of Kamma ... Do you want to be like a lotus? Now you know what to do. The very first thing for you to do is to develop strong and powerful faith in the workings of kamma as explained by The Buddha. With that faith and understanding, you may then accomplish superior wholesome kammas. With the working of those kammas, you may eventually attain the unworking of kamma. p352/504 The Workings of Kamma (Pa Auk Sayadaw) In this stage (the first jhana) there is no thinking - vitaka is not thinking and vicara is not thinking. ... When memories & perceptions arise, we can see that they are clouded and hazy, like a murky and overcast sky, incapable of penetrating to things as they actually are. (Ajahn Anand Akincano) Unhappy thought is further away from the jhana. Happy thought at least is nearer. But the joy that comes with thinking is not so good. The joy that comes without thinking is better. ... Work on the causes. It is impossible not to progress when the causes are right. ... As long as the nimitta is changing, not stable, don't look at it. Because you can never take a changing object to strengthen your concentration to the point of jhana. It is impossible. It must be a static object. You must not look at change. Know that it is impossible and give up hope. If you really take the impossible as impossible & give up (that) hope ... listen to talk (Ven Bhikkhu Mangala) Awakening cannot occur without the attainment of jhana in the canonical sense. Commentaries & The Path of Purification - a cause of controversies on the jhanas ... Even this refined jhanas states are anicca, dukkha & anatta What is essential is that one develop a sense of dispassion for the state of jhana, seeing that even the relatively steady sense of refined pleasure and equanimity it provides is artificial and willed, inconstant and stressful, a state fabricated from many different events, and thus not worth identifying with. Jhana thus becomes an ideal test case for understanding the workings of kamma and dependent co-arising in the mind. Its stability gives discernment a firm basis for seeing clearly; its refined sense of pleasure and equanimity allow the mind to realize that even the most refined mundane states involve the inconstancy and stress common to all willed phenomena. Wings to Awakening (Bhikkhu Thanissaro) The Meaning of Anatta Anything fashioned by conditions, whether physical or mental, is called a sankhara. All sankharas are unsteady and inconstant (anicca) because they are continually moving and changing about. All sankharas are incapable of maintaining a lasting oneness: This is why they are said to be stressful (dukkha). No sankharas lie under anyone’s control. They keep changing continually, and no one can prevent them from doing so, which is why they are said to be not-self (anatta). All things, whether mental or physical, if they have these characteristics by nature, are said to be not-self. Even the quality of deathlessness - which is a quality or phenomenon free from fashioning conditions, and which is the only thing in a state of lasting oneness - is also said to be not-self, because it lies above and beyond everything else. No one can think it or pull it under his or her control. Only those of right view, whose conduct lies within the factors of the path, can enter in to see this natural quality and remove their attachments to all things - including their attachment to the agent which goes about knowing those things. In the end, there is no agent attaining or getting anything. However natural phenomena behave, that is how they simply keep on behaving at all times. When meditators practice correctly and have the discernment to see that quality (of deathlessness) as it really is, the result is that they can withdraw their attachments from all things - including their attachment to the discernment which enters in to see the quality as it really is. The practice of all things good and noble is to reach this very point. (Venerable Ajahn Tate) One's own opinion is the weakest authority of all ... (Venerable Buddhaghosa) about what the Buddha taught The greatest achievement is selflessness. The greatest worth is self-mastery. The greatest quality is seeking to serve others. The greatest precept is continual awareness. The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything. The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways. The greatest magic is transmuting the passions. The greatest generosity is non-attachment. The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind. The greatest patience is humility. The greatest effort is not concerned with results. The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go. The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances. Atisha (11th century Tibetan Buddhist master) What is and What is Not Path It is at this stage, as you apply these methods and your insight becomes stronger, that the ten imperfections of insight may arise. The ten imperfections are: 1. Light 2. Knowledge 3. Rapture 4. Tranquillity 5. Happiness 6. Confidence 7. Effort 8. Mindfulness 9. Equanimity 10. Attachment With the exception of attachment, these states are not imperfections in themselves; however, when they arise, there is a temptation for the meditator to think: “‘Such [powerful] light…knowledge…rapture…tranquility… etc. never arose in me before. I have surely reached the path, reached fruition [i.e., Nibbana].’ Thus he takes what is not the path to be the path and what is not fruition to be fruition.” If this happens to you, your progress will be interrupted – you will “drop [your] basic meditation subject and sit just enjoying the [light, knowledge, rapture, tranquility, etc.].” This is where an experienced teacher can help, by pointing out the imperfection when it arises and encouraging you to overcome this attachment by seeing it as impermanent, suffering and without a self. (Bhikkhu Moneyya) Strong concentration is absolutely necessary for liberating insight. "Without a firm basis in concentration," he often said, "insight is just concepts." To see clearly the connections between stress and its causes, the mind has to be very steady and still. And to stay still, it requires the strong sense of well being that only strong concentration can provide. To gain insight into a state of concentration, you have to stick with it for a long time. If you push impatiently from one level of concentration to the next, or if you try to analyze a new state of concentration too quickly after you've attained it, you never give it the chance to show its full potential and you don't give yourself the chance to familiarize yourself with it. So you have to keep working at it as a skill, something you can tap into in all situations. This enables you to see it from a variety of perspectives and to test it over time, to see if it really is as totally blissful, empty, and effortless as it may have seemed on first sight. The best state of concentration for the sake of developing all-around insight is one that encompasses a whole-body awareness. There were two exceptions to Ajaan Fuang's usual practice of not identifying the state you had attained in your practice, and both involved states of wrong concentration. The first was the state that comes when the breath gets so comfortable that your focus drifts from the breath to the sense of comfort itself, your mindfulness begins to blur, and your sense of the body and your surroundings gets lost in a pleasant haze. When you emerge, you find it hard to identify where exactly you were focused. Ajaan Fuang called this moha-samadhi, or delusion-concentration. An ideal state of concentration for giving rise to insight is one that you can analyze in terms of stress and the absence of stress even while you're in it. Once your mind was firmly established in a state of concentration, Ajaan Fuang would recommend "lifting" it from its object, but not so far that the concentration was destroyed. From that perspective, you could evaluate what levels of stress were still present in the concentration and let them go. In the initial stages, this usually involved evaluating how you were relating to the breath, and detecting more subtle levels of breath energy in the body that would provide a basis for deeper levels of stillness. Once the breath was perfectly still, and the sense of the body started dissolving into a formless mist, this process would involve detecting the perceptions of "space," "knowing," "oneness," etc., that would appear in place of the body and could be peeled away like the layers of an onion in the mind. In either case, the basic pattern was the same: detecting the level of perception or mental fabrication that was causing the unnecessary stress, and dropping it for a more subtle level of perception or fabrication until there was nothing left to drop. Ajaan Fuang Jotika / Thanissaro The 5 Hindrances and The Maggaphala By the "worldling" (puthujjana), however, only a temporary suspension and partial weakening of the hindrances can be attained. Their final and complete eradication takes place on the stages of sanctity (ariyamagga): • Doubt is eliminated on the first stage, the path of stream-entry (sotápatti-magga). • Sensual desire, ill will and remorse are eliminated on the third stage, the path of nonreturner (anágami-magga) • Sloth and torpor and restlessness are eradicated on the path of Arahatship (arahattamagga). Hence the reward of the fight against the hindrances is not only the limited one of making possible a shorter or longer spell of meditation, but every step in weakening these hindrances takes us nearer to the stages of sanctity where deliverance from these hindrances is unshakable. ... Contemplation of the Five Threatening Dangers to Promote ZEAL If, monks, a monk perceives these five threatening dangers, it is enough for him to live heedful, zealous, with a heart resolute to achieve the unachieved, to attain the unattained, to realize the unrealized. Which are these five dangers? 1. Here, monks, a monk reflects thus: "I am now young, a youth, young in age, black haired, in the prime of youth, in the first phase of life. But a time will come when this body will be in the grip of old age. But one who is overpowered by old age cannot easily contemplate on the Teachings of the Buddha; it is not easy for him to live in the wilderness or a forest or jungle, or in secluded dwellings. Before this undesirable condition, so unpleasant and disagreeable, approaches me, prior to that, let me muster my energy for achieving the unachieved, for attaining the unattained, for realizing the unrealized, so that, in the possession of that state, I shall live happily even in old age." 2. And further, monks, a monk reflects thus: "I am now free from sickness, free from disease, my digestive power functions smoothly, my constitution is not too cool and not too hot, it is balanced and fit for making effort. But a time will come when this body will be in the grip of sickness. And one who is sick cannot easily contemplate upon the Teachings of the Buddha; it is not easy for him, to live in the wilderness or a forest or jungle, or in secluded dwellings. Before this undesirable condition, so unpleasant and disagreeable, approaches me, prior to that, let me muster my energy for achieving the unachieved, for attaining the unattained, for realizing the unrealized, so that, in the possession of that state, shall live happily even in sickness." 3. And further, monks, a monk reflects thus: "Now there is an abundance of food, good harvests, easily obtainable is a meal of alms, it is easy to live on collected food and offerings. But a time will come when there will be a famine, a bad harvest, difficult to obtain will be a meal of alms, it will be difficult to live on collected food and offerings. And in a famine people migrate to places where food is ample, and there habitations will be thronged and crowded. But in habitations thronged and crowded one cannot easily contemplate upon the Teachings of the Buddha. Before this undesirable condition, so unpleasant and disagreeable, approaches me, prior to that, let me muster my energy for achieving the unachieved, for attaining the unattained, for realizing the unrealized, so that, in the possession of that state, I shall live happily even in a famine." 4. And further, monks, a monk reflects thus: "Now people live in concord and amity, in friendly fellowship as mingled milk and water and look at each other with friendly eyes. But there will come a time of danger, of unrest among the jungle tribes when the country people mount their carts and drive away and fear-stricken people move to a place of safety, and there habitations will be thronged and crowded. But in habitations thronged and crowded one cannot easily contemplate upon the Teachings of the Buddha. Before this undesirable condition, so unpleasant and disagreeable, approaches me, prior to that, let me muster my energy for achieving the unachieved, for attaining the unattained, for realizing the unrealized, so that, in the possession of that state, I shall live happily even in time of danger." 5. And further, monks, a monk reflects thus: "Now the Congregation of Monks lives in concord and amity, without quarrel, lives happily under one teaching. But a time will come when there will be a split in the Congregation. And when the Congregation is split, one cannot easily contemplate upon the Teachings of the Buddha; it is not easy to live in the wilderness or a forest or jungle, or in secluded dwellings. Before this undesirable condition, so unpleasant and disagreeable, approaches me, prior to that, let me muster my energy for achieving the unachieved, for attaining the unattained, for realizing the unrealized, so that, in the possession of that state, I shall live happily even when the Congregation is split." AN 5:78 (Bhikkhu Nyanaponika Thera) (In breath meditation) we move from diversity to duality, from duality to unity, and from unity to emptiness. (Ajahn Siripañño) When the nimitta is bright, clear, transparent, like a diamond or water, and has approached a point where the breath touches the nostril / lip, let go of the breath and concentrate on the nimitta. ... Penetrate vipassana when one withdraws from the fourth jhana. (Sayalay Dipankara) Penetrate ultimate reality when one withdraws from the fourth jhana. When the mind is tired from this contemplation, one rests by re-entering the fourth jhana. One does this again and again. (Sayadaw Thuzana) "That which can be said is not worth saying, and that which is worth saying cannot be said. So there is no way except to become silent." (Ancient Sage) Yearn not for a body free of disease and suffering, because having pain and becoming sick is an inevitable part of being alive and having a body. Wish not for a life free of mishaps and obstacles, because without them one tends to become, narrow-minded, neglectful, arrogant and egoistic. Pray not for a quick shortcut fix regarding spiritual introspect, because without serious effort, one becomes a short-and-shallow surface-glider. Fear not the haunting disturbance of evils, while accumulating good merit, because without them one's determination does not grow steel strong. Hope not for easy success in one’s work, because without difficulties and failures, one tends to undervalue others and become overly proud. Build not relationships on selfish gain, because a friendship based on the purpose of gaining profit has lost its genuine good meaning, and function! Look not for a universal agreement regarding one’s "own" personal opinion, because complete adoption to a single rigid view will produce intolerance. Expect not repayment, appreciation or reward for benevolent services, because calculation and expectation contradicts true altruistic service. Engage not irrationally into profitable attractions, because jumping too quickly into temptation may well blind rational attention & true wisdom. Stir not at being victim of injustice, because keenness to clear reputation belongs to an ego clinging in panic to the imagined idea of my superior self. (Bhikkhu Samahita) Enlightenment is not something you wish for. It is the state that you end up in when all your wishes come to an end. Live the present, the past is gone and the future has yet to come. Whatever in the present there is a need to let go of, what more the past and the future. ... Keeping to the present will take care of the future and the past: for every moment in the present has been the immediate future and will be an immediate past. There is no other time worth to be but the present. ... This practice is present-based, not future-based. This practice is cause-orientated, not result-orientated. This practice is steps-based, not destination-based. This practice is process-orientated, not goal-orientated. Try avoiding livelihood which is goal-orientated. They are sources of immense stress as a result of tanha. ... Work on the causes, rather than worry about the results. If we do this, the results will naturally follow. ... How does one let go ? Imagine one is gripping a glowing hot iron, what does one do ? Imagine one is grasping a king cobra which is about to strike, what does one do ? Know and see the defilements: hatred, anger, ill-will, greed, lust, seeking sense pleasures, sloth & torpor, laziness, haziness, fear, worry, anxiety, restlessness, doubting, aversion, passion, wanting, not wanting, desiring, delusion, craving, clinging, my-ness, i-ness, ... You will know and learn how to let go when wisdom arises. ... When you have known and seen the defilements, even before the vedana arises on contact, you would have let go. Paticcasamuppada in practice ... We need to learn to take both the wholesome together with the unwholesome within. It is may be difficult initially to accept the unwholesome. Knowing both is to have gained sight from blindness. Knowing both is to have gained insight from delusion. Work on making the wholesomeness sustaining more. Work on making the unwholesomeness diminishing less. Every unenlightened being is living with a cobra within. Use restrain in speech and action. Strengthen the mind and build up samadhi. We need to have strong faith in this path well tested by the wise. ... We also need to learn to take both the pleasant and unpleasant that are being experienced at the present moment. Attachment to pleasantness and aversion to unpleasantness need to be noted. Learn to let them go. Let them be. Let the unpleasant be. And let the pleasant be as well. Stillness in body and mind results. ... Speak only the truth. But not all truths need to be spoken. ... When there is a need to speak, let the spoken truth be also harmonious not divisive, pleasant not harsh, and useful not mere idle chattering. ... We should constantly straighten our views to harmonise with the Truth and not to bend the Truth to suit our views. ... The 'I' is indeed dangerous and harmful. There is indeed a need to penetrate Anatta. ... Avoid blaming. When atta is strong, it bites strongly. It bites strongly the one who harbours it. It bites strongly the one who blames. There is no other way but to let 'I' go. ... The best way to make the Buddha-Dhamma last longer is to practice diligently & realize it for oneself. One can be sure the Dhammacakka is still kept turning if one has indeed tasted the Dhamma for oneself. ... One is not genuinely a Buddhist unless he/she is at least a Sotapanna. ... Cultivate the 4 protective Brahmaviharas (Metta, Karuna, Mudita & Upekkha). We may just never know for the one beside us may very well be a Noble one ! He/She does not need to be in saffron. ... The Bhikkhu and Bhikkhuni order provides the best conditions for practice. ... Impatience is tanha. ... Tolerance is not good enough. The fire is already burning. However, this training does start with restrain. ... Dislike is not good at all. For the fire has already started burning. Even the amber is not good at all. It can anytime rekindle into a fire. So, too is like, although it is more subtle to detect. But they all have the same taste, the taste of stress. Liking and disliking are both tanha. ... Tanha grips and grasps the body (& mind) like the penetrating claws of the nerves from the spinal cord, and stays. ... Avoid the two extremes, like and dislike, the mothers of lobha and dosa. Even like and dislike need to be abandoned, what more greed and hate. There differ only in intensity. ... Like and greed have the same taste. Just so, dislike & hate have the same taste. The taste of stress. For those who love a lot, be prepared to hate a lot as well. They are the two sides to the same coin. We simply can't have one without the other. The bigger one side of the coin is the bigger the other side will be. We simply can't have the two sides of different sizes. The Middle Path is a path between these two. ... The illusion of compactness of the body (rupa) If the individual particles (with its protons and electrons), which make up the whole, are ever continuously changing ... how could the whole be not ! ... Signs of progress: calmness, peacefulness, quietness, silencing, soothing, relieving, easing, releasing, evenness, balance, harmony, centeredness, stability, unwavering, undisturbed, gentleness, flexible, lightness, brightness, detaching, unbinding, unbending, straightening, presentness, settling, converging, one-pointedness, clarity, uplifting, composed, openness, unhiddenness, abiding, contentment, rapture, joy, tranquil, equanimous ... ... Walking, sitting, standing or lying down ... in every present moment in meditation. We take the object of meditation, the breath, everywhere we go. ... There we breathe, there we meditate. Peacefully and silently with the breath, every waking moment. Not only during formal meditation. Meditation is the art of living. Every breath. Steadfast and unrelenting. more & more abiding in mindfulness. There will be lapses, forgetfulness. Never mind, start again. ... Finding suitable occasions to meditate is good. Doing it a few hours a day is better. Maintain mindfulness throughout every waking moment is the best. This may sound burdensome for the untrained mind. But when effort, mindfulness and concentration are right, it becomes peaceful. With every breath in and out breath. There will be lapses, forgetfulness. Never mind, start again. Whenever we stumble, we recompose again. ... Knowing only the five senses are not enough. Each sense knows only its own domain: the eye-visual, the ear-audio, tongue-taste, nose-odour & body-touch. The sixth sense knows a few domains: the mind-rupa (body), mind-vedana (feelings), mind-sanna (perceptions), mind-sankara (fabrications like thoughts) and mind-vinnana (consciousness). Even the body, only the mind knows. The body does not. ... Concentration achieved through force, as a result of wanting, is not right. It will not last and will result in unpleasantness and tenseness, no matter how slight. Be gentle. ... Right Concentration reveals tenseness rather than causes it. Right Concentration reveals the existing uneaseness. If there is none, there is none the need to practise in the first place ! If there is none, then the First Noble Truth is not. ... Whatever cause that is Right, it has one result ... relief from dukkha, here and now. Right Effort relieves ... otherwise it is not. The Noble Path, with the Eight Rights, causes one natural result ... relief from all dukkha, here and now. ... Radiate metta to oneself on breathing in long gently. Radiate metta on breathing in long very gently to the heart. Then radiate metta to all beings on breathing out long gently. Radiate metta on breathing out long very gently through the eyes, the lips, the face, the heart, the whole body. Suffusing ... from every pore. Wishing every being in the whole universe including oneself to be happy, healthy, peaceful. Free from the stress of dosa, lobha & moha. ... Guard the 6 sense doors on contact. It is a cause of the unstill mind. For those who are steadfast in stilling their mind need to guard these sense doors. ... Lust is just but a very powerful desire for sense pleasure. The pleasure of touch. ... Thoughts are verbal. Thoughts talk. Peace is quietness. ... All thoughts, wholesome and unwholesome, need to be let go of if one aspires to achieve stillness. ... When thoughts arise, the object is lost. ... Peace is a constant companion of progress in letting go. ... Despite the noise outside, the actual noise inside which if becomes gradually silent is the actual peace. Try to stay in the present on the breath, it will gradually reduce the sound of thoughts. Then we will eventually experience the peaceful sound of silence within. The noise outside will then become immaterial because it affects us much less than before. Let the mind be with the breath more and more. Tell ourselves this is the place where it matters most - only this breath. And this present in- or out- breath is that which will bring us into the jhanas. This breath. It can be thousands of such breaths. It does not matter. Only this breath matters. Free from distress and stress, more and more ... ... In anapanasati, the position and movement of one's eye balls reflect the occupation of the mind. When thoughts distract, eye ball alignment runs. Realign ! Refocus ! ... The gaze gets gentler and closer to the touch at the nostril when tightness in the eyes eases and clears. ... The practice of sila (virtues) culminates in the experience of peace due to the non-presence of remorse : the excellence in the beginning The practice of samadhi (absorption) culminates in the experience of peace due to the temporary non-presence of cankers or asavas : the excellence in the middle The practice of panna (wisdom) culminates in the experience of peace due to the permanent non-presence of cankers or asavas : the excellence in the end ... The Buddha's Path starts with Right View ... the view that Nibbana is attainable in the very present moment. If the practise is for the next life or even the next moment, then it is not right. ... Nibbana occurs only in the present. ... Just one breath. This breath. ... Walking is an excellent exercise. And it is enough to provide a relatively healthy body. Try avoiding strenuous exercises that give rise to pain and strain. ... Over sleeping or laying down too long causes lethargy to the body and mind. Blood-flow slows. Body becoming heavy. Sloth and torpor prevail. Avoid over in every posture. ... When the body is able in every posture, strive. When it is not, more obstacles to striving have already arisen. For those immobile, it is indeed difficult. ... Take a rest from each posture. Even resting from reclining, resting from sitting, not only from walking & standing. There is simply no way in staying in one posture for very long. ... Try recline on the right side. Reclining on the left suppresses the heart which gives rise to unease. ... The lion's posture : Recline on the right side. Covering foot on foot provides the most stability and ease. The left arm along on the body. ... The heart beat is intrinsically dukkha. The body shakes as a result, trembles, vibrates, wobbles, ... The very muscles tense and tense, alternately. Unlike the lungs which tense and relax, alternately. For the heart, there is no relaxing moment. For the lungs, we simply can't have only the relaxing moment. In Jhana, all these stop. ... Indeed the supreme Sammasambuddha has found a conducive point on the kaya (body) which is fundamentally unease. A conducive point of touch of the breath at the nostril, which initially may be neutral in terms of vedana (feeling). However when concentration increases, this neutral feeling gradually changes to pleasant. And this subtle pleasantness serves as an inducement for the mind to greater concentration. A gateway to the jhana. Indeed an object is found where the mind can find a peaceful abiding. Despite this pleasantness, effort still needs to be consistent. ... Now, if there is an object, like the abdomen, which is fundamentally unease. Can the mind find a peaceful abiding in that object and enter jhana? Can the mind absorb in stress? This is indeed impossible. ... Jhanas are resting states in which an Arahant abides. Even when there is no-sufferer to be found, still the Arahant needs a resting abode because suffering is still there to be felt. ... For those who think that the jhanas are too difficult to be attained in this present times but Nibbana is not, and so they work on discernment without samadhi. Then they need to change this erroneous view, for how could the harder (Nibbana) be achieved without achieving the easier (Jhanas). ... The Sammasambuddha is indeed unmatched in compassion (karuna). Despite the body and mind being unease, he has made possible a peaceful abiding. A gradual peaceful abiding here and now even before total release. He did say: 'I teach one thing and one thing only: that is, suffering and the end of suffering.' He did not stop only at suffering. And the end of suffering is here and now, not in the future. ... The Buddha's Path is a path of knowing and seeing. Practise concentration and the individual factors will be clearly known for oneself. ... There are dhammas as many as the leaves in the forest that can be known and realized. Let there be only the knowing & realisation of the handful of leaves, the Supreme Dhamma sufficient for Nibbana. By the power of the Buddha, Dhamma & Sangha, let there be only the knowing and realisation of the Essentials till Release is attained. And what are the essentials? the 4 Noble Truths ... The more one practises, the more silent one becomes. The words have all been spoken by the Sammasambuddha, perfectly. There is nothing else to say but practice to verify what the Buddha had taught. Anumodana & Aditthana

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If there is any doubt about the necessity of the Jhanas, look at ...

Samma Samadhi (Right Concentration)

SN 45.8

Focal points for the mind

Samma Samadhi
(Right Concentration)