Presently there is a Chinese course going on. Chinese speakers from over ten countries. 600 or 700 hundred of them are listening and benefiting. The teachings can spread much further and wider than previously. In the old days, when we wanted to learn the Dhamma, we had to find it for ourselves –not listen live from another country. Even within our own country it wasn’t easy to find the Dhamma. In the past, I would learn from masters in the Northeast of Thailand. I would take the train or a coach out of province. Sometimes, I would have to transfer buses in the city centre to enter the village, where the temple was. Sometimes, I would arrive too late for the last bus into the village and would have to walk. There weren’t devices to help in obtaining Dhamma teachings. In those days, even using cassettes to record wasn’t a thing. The teachers often didn’t approve of recording. The masters wanted us to listen and understand right then, but sometimes we didn’t understand what he would say, and we’d have to remember it ourselves.
But the really good teachings that are transmitted to the student penetrate the heart. I can remember many such teachings even decades later. They are not forgotten. Especially the teachers that we learned with our heart and soul from. In my case, Luang Pu Dune. I remember his words as if I’ve recorded them. So, for us, if we are truly dedicated and interested in the teachings, we can open YouTube or Facebook. There are ample media sources. We feel like we can listen whenever we want. “Ah, I’m lazy to listen now, I’ll listen to something else first.” If we can listen whenever we feel like it, we might have the feeling that we can then practice whenever we feel like it. When we’re listening to a master, we need to practice as we’re listening, right then and there. We practice Dhamma, we meditate, and the master will teach us, right then and there. Some teachers just see our faces and will teach us, but some masters are quiet. They barely say anything, just a phrase once and while. Some teachers see our face and lunge at us with teachings even though they don’t know who we are!
The old masters were very impressive indeed. I wouldn’t approach them with any pride or arrogance in the heart. I would surrender with complete humility. They know; we don’t. We have to learn the correct attitude or approach to receive such beautiful teachings. If our mind is ready or appropriate for particular teachings, then the master will provide those teachings for you. The masters don’t come with a script. They don’t have a plan or scriptures memorized to teach that day. We just bring our hearts and minds for him to see. If our mind is too harsh for us to learn, then the master will be indifferent. If we are not in a position mentally to learn, then the master won’t teach us anything. But if we have enough humility and focus on the Dhamma, then the master will teach us.
The mind is the Buddha
Like with Luang Pu Dune. He was amazing. I’ve never met a teacher like him ever before. When I would go and pay respects to him and tell him I wanted to learn Dhamma, he didn’t teach at first. He just sat in meditation for almost an hour. For some people, over an hour he would sit and then he would open his eyes and teach. He would teach just a couple of sentences and that would be all. We would go and practice what he said. Some phrases he taught me took over twenty years to understand fully. Over twenty years or twenty-one years until I truly understood what he said. One teaching many of his students would hear is, “The mind is Buddha”. I heard him teach this many time at length. Every word he said he would speak the truth. He would say the same thing over and over again and each time with exactly the same words.
The teachings of “The mind is the Buddha” were in a book by Huangbo. Luang Pu Dune read and considered this teaching to be true regarding the final stage of Dhamma practice, what the mind of an arahant is like. Huangbo taught this and Luang Pu Dune contemplated it and considered it to be a unique and accurate explanation. So, he borrowed these words, “The mind is Buddha.” The first time I heard him talk about it, I felt like I understood. I thought it meant the knower mind is Buddha, but then after a long time of practice my understanding changed.
If you want to know about “The mind is buddha” then you can read about and you’ll think you understand, but you don’t really understand because you haven’t seen this actual Buddha state. You have to practice until there is a release from the mind and body and all the elements. Then you’ll see that the entire world is empty. You’ll see that physical things and the body are empty. The body, the world, is empty. The mind is empty, just the same. There are traces of these teachings in the Buddhist scriptures. There was one person named Mokharaja that asked the Buddha a question. He was a very intelligent man. He was a student of the brahmin, Bavari, who was originally the spiritual advisor of the King Pasenadi of Kosala.
When the brahmin, Bavari, was older, he left his duties with the kingdom and opened a spiritual centre out in nature. He had sixteen top students. Once the news broke that there was the Buddha that enlightened, the brahmin, Bavari, prepared sixteen questions for the Buddha. One for each of his students to ask. So, they set out to meet this ascetic, Gotama, the Buddha. Each of the students asked their question and upon their answers would become arahants, successively. Until the last student, who was the nephew of the brahmin Bavari, he didn’t enlighten. He was more concerned with bringing the answers to his uncle. When he did return and provided the answers to his uncle, brahmin Bavari enlightened to the level of non-returner – not Arahant.
Out of these sixteen questions, the most senior student got to ask the first. His name was Ajita. The second in line was Mokharaja, but when he would try to ask the Buddha said, “Not yet, let’s let the others ask their questions.” And each time he would try to interject and ask his question the Buddha said, “Not yet.” He ended up being fifteenth to ask his question. And why was that? It’s because his mind was too busy. He was thinking too much. The mind was looking for answers, wanting responses. There was too much wanting in the mind so the Buddha wouldn’t let him ask yet. I use this method too, quite often. Sometimes I’ll say, “Don’t ask anything, just listen first, and when it is appropriate and the mind is ready, then you can ask.”
So, Mokharaja asked the Buddha, “How should one view the world so as to escape from the eyes of the Lord of Death (the Grim Reaper).” Just listening to this question we’re all confused here. The brahmin Bavari is quite exceptional, isn’t he? He formulated such amazing questions that when his student asked the Buddha these questions and they got their answers they enlightened as arahants. Amazing! But Bavari was too old and couldn’t make it to the Buddha himself, so he sent his students on his behalf. “How does one view the world as to escape the vision of the Lord of Death?” The Buddha answered, “We see the world as empty, and the Lord of Death will not see us. Death will not see the state that is beyond birth, aging, illness, and death. In short, it is the arahant that death does not see. And how is that an arahant views the world? He sees it as empty. He sees. He doesn’t think about the world being empty. He doesn’t attend to the mind in any way to believe that it is empty. He doesn’t focus in any way to intend to see the world as empty. The arahant just sees the emptiness of the world.”
How is it that we can see the world as empty? We practice vipassana that’s how. We learn about physical and mental phenomena. Mindfulness recognises physical phenomena as they are with a steady mind and wisdom arises and sees physicality as impermanent, as suffering, and as non-self. And mindfulness knows mental phenomena as they are with a steady mind. Mental phenomena will be seen as impermanent, suffering, and non-self. What is it we call the world? It is matter and mind. Not just the outside world, what we call the world is mental and physical phenomena. When we see physicality and mentality as falling under the three characteristics, the mind will sacrifice, or return mentality or physicality back to the world. It is the end of attachment. With no more attachment the world is seen as empty.
In writings scholars try to decipher, empty in which way? When they say empty of a person, of a ‘him/her’, or being, are they correct? Yes, they are. But that’s not the entire heart of the matter. It is enticing to see what is meant by empty in order to see the world; the body and mind (physical and mental phenomena) as empty. To do this, our minds must have morality, samadhi (mental training) and wisdom all in complete fruition. It is impossible to see form and matter (body and mind) as empty without wisdom because all we see is they exist, or they don’t exist. If we see existence or non-existing, that’s still seeing pairs (having and not having). But true emptiness isn’t part of a pair, part of duality.
When speaking of emptiness, or non-duality, some people get completely intoxicated by the idea. In this era in Thailand, in this dynasty, there have been two monks that were truly exceptional scholars. One is Buddhadasa and the other is Ajahn Payutto. Ajahn Payutto has an illustrious title. I can’t remember what it is. These are the two leaders in scholarly knowledge and understanding. Ajahn Buddhadasa talked a lot about emptiness. Those that would listen or read his teachings without full comprehension would try to place their minds in emptiness or think about emptiness, trying to see everything as empty. As long as the mind is still at work or being used to think about emptiness, to observe emptiness, or mentality and physicality as emptiness –in these cases the mind is still doing. It’s not empty and thus the world is not empty.
So contemplating emptiness has no benefit at all. Like when we read Huangbo Xiyun book on Zen, is it a good book? Yes, it’s a very good book. But if reading it we become intoxicated by teachings on emptiness, “This is empty and that is empty.” That type of empty isn’t real emptiness. It’s an emptiness that arises out of contemplating it, believing it’s true and then focusing on it, formulating it, subtly contriving it. If you want to see the real truth of the world being empty, of mentality and physicality being empty, you’ll have to develop vipassana insights. You’ll have to see the truth of the body and see the truth of the mind. Seeing and practising you will see that the body is under the dominion of the three characteristics. It is impermanent, suffering and not a self and likewise, the mind is under the dominion of the three characteristics. It is impermanent, suffering, and not a self. When that is seen, there is release. One must see the truth as it really is first, and then there is release. If there is release, then there is emptiness. If there is no release, there is no emptiness.
So, if you’re trying to arrive at emptiness prior to the release, you won’t find the real thing because focusing on, or moving the mind into a state of emptiness, there is attachment there. There’s attachment to wanting this mind to be free from suffering or wanting this mind to be in a good place. So, seeing true emptiness isn’t arrived at by contemplating and thinking. Contemplating and thinking about it we just become intoxicated by it, “Oh everything’s empty, this and that’s empty.” But there’s one thing that’s not empty, it’s that ‘Self’. Some people bring the mind into emptiness and try not to think, not to fabricate. But by just bringing the mind to something is not empty. Intending to not think, formulate, or fabricate, that’s already fabricating something. Fabricating emptiness is called Anenja Visankhara. It is fabricating, creating a state.
So, let’s not try to make emptiness happen. Let’s just see the truth of physical and mental phenomena and when we see physical phenomena are under the three characteristics, then there will be an end to clinging and attachment to physicality. When the truth of the three characteristics is seen regarding mentality, there will be no more attachment or clinging to the mind. It won’t matter if the mind is good, bad, happy, or sad, if the mind is knowing or the mind is lost, whether it is in the process of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling, at the body, or thinking at the mind, all these states are the same. They are all subject to the three characteristics. When this is seen clearly, release can occur. If wisdom is truly powerful, there will be release of the body and the mind, of mentality and physicality. The world, mentality and physicality, both inside us and outside, it’s all the same. The physical body and physical matter of the world is all the same thing. All feelings and thoughts just belong to the world.
“The mind isn’t the mind, but the mind also isn’t not the mind”
The five aggregates belong to the world. We’ll see the aggregates are merely physical and mental processes. Keep practising and see that the whole world is just a phenomenon passing by. It has no point of origin. It has no end. This is the phenomenon of the world. It’s just moving and passing by without a beginning or an end. Arising and falling, spinning in flux with no end. That is samsara, the cycle of birth and death. We’ll see the world is just a phenomenon that is moving and passing, like a dream. Just a dream. If we see the truth in this way, we don’t have to be in pursuit of the fundamental state of the mind, or consciousness is. Whenever there is seeking or searching, there is not emptiness.
When the truth of physicality and mentality are finally seen with crystal clarity and complete release of them occurs, Nibbana need not be sought or pursued any longer. The world is formation and fabrication. Nibbana is the state beyond formation and fabrication. It is freed from fabrication, and nothing fabricates it. That is the truth of emptiness. The world is empty in a way, and the mind that has released from the world is empty in another way. They are different emptiness. The world still has stuff. Things arise out of causes and when those causes are absent, then the effect disappears. There’s no control. The world is empty in the sense that there’s no “us”, “them”, or individuals. There are just moving and passing phenomena ad infinitum. Now the mind that has released from the world is empty in a different way. It has released from all fabrication, all formation, once and for all. There isn’t any need to identify what exists, what doesn’t exist.
In the book that Luang Pu Dune has called, “The Mind is Buddha”, there is a passage that says, “The mind isn’t the mind, but the mind also isn’t not the mind,” Sounds like a tongue twister! It sounds exciting, something you want to listen to. Luang Pu Dune said this to me in person as well, “The mind isn’t the mind, but the mind also isn’t not the mind.” So, is the mind the mind, or isn’t it? Well, that’s just how the mind that is completely released, liberated from all formations is. That’s how it feels. If we read The Mind is Buddha, Luang Pu Dune talks about something called “the one mind”. Buddhadasa explains it as “the original mind” and these terms coincide with what the two famous Zen writers (Huangbo, Xiyun) called these states. Luang Pu Taed called it “heart”. The former Supreme Patriarch of Thailand called it “the consciousness element”. Luang Ta Maha Bua called it, “the Dhamma element”. Luang Pu Buddha called it, “the one heart”.
There are many ways to say it. We’re just using conventions to point to or speak of this same phenomenon. The phenomenon of the mind that has completely and utterly liberated from suffering. Here, the entire world and all physicality and mentality are empty, irrespective of the fact that they are still moving and fabricating. It is all empty because there is no attachment to them. It’s a different kind of emptiness. So, we must practice with full dedication. Take the plunge. Take the risk. Flirt with death. Nibbana is on the side of death. That’s what the masters say, and it is the truth. It is no joke. If we’re still in love with ourselves and afraid of death than we shall not release from this world.
Some of the masters that practiced by observing the body first before their enlightenment, would say that the body is under such oppression by suffering it as if a mountain has crushed them and stirred them to bits. The masters that have walked the path of primarily by seeing the mind (Citta-Vipassana), they see the mind as suffering itself. Not just oppressed by, but actual suffering proper. As if a mountain has landed on the mind and not just crushed it but stirred it up as well. Have you ever seen the truck that grinds cement? That’s what we’re talking about. Whether it be the experience of the body or the mind itself, it is utterly the full intensity of suffering. If the mind is too weak and afraid of death, then the mind will withdraw out of the experience and won’t develop further. If we welcome death in this experience, samsara and birth and death will shatter and collapse in front of our eyes. The samsara outside, the world, will be seen as merely phenomena that pass by endlessly according to causes and conditions. This consciousness element is empty. It’s empty because there are no formations, creations, or fabrications. On the other hand, mentality and physicality are empty because they are not clung to or attached to, nor are they of any importance.
So, when we hear this concept of emptiness, don’t go being empty! Instead try to know and see the mind as they really are. One day, you’ll see that the body is subject to the three characteristics. The mind is subject to the three characters. You’ll see that which is impermanent is suffering and that which is suffering is unworthy of attachment to. So, the mind releases attachment and becomes free, liberated. So, don’t go digging for emptiness. Don’t try to pursue it. The more you seek it the less you’ll find it. Study this body and study this mind and see their three characteristics until the day samsara collapses. That will be emptiness. The body and mind are the world. Empty in the sense of not a “him” a “her” a “me” a “you” or a “them”, just phenomena that arise and fall and spin around in constant flux according to their own causes and conditions. When there is arising there will certainly be falling.
The world is comprised of things that arise and fall away. Now, true Dhamma, the Dhamma element, doesn’t arise or fall. It is an element that they call the “immortal element”, and we will know the end of suffering is right then and there, completely free of all formation, fabrication and creation once and for all. We might hear a monk at a cremation ceremony exclaim: Anicca Vata Sankhara Uppada Vaya Dhammino Uppajjitva Nirujjhanti Tesam Vupa Samo Sukho. All formations are impermanent. They arise and they fall away. All formations once put to rest is true happiness.” Formations here (Sankhara) means all creating and fabricating. When all formations cease, Nibbana is right then and there. There is no need to seek or pursue Nibbana. The more you look for it and have craving to find Nibbana or achieve Nibbana, the more actions, movement, wavering, and shiftiness in the mind there will be. Thus, there will be more becoming and creating realms and lifetimes and suffering. Nibbana gets farther and further away.
“Emptiness” not intending to sense emptiness, nor contemplating emptiness
Once I was practicing back when I was a lay person, Luang Pu Taed was still alive, but Luang Pu Dune had passed away at that time. I was practising and I thought about Luang Pu Dune and how he said, “Don’t send the mind out.” Luang Pu Sim said, “Don’t send the mind in.” Luang Pu Taed said, “One who achieves a mind in the middle will be free from all sufferings.” So, learning with Luang Pu Dune, he said, “Don’t send the mind out.” Sending the mind ‘out’ is a mind that travels out and becomes lost in sense objects through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. The mind does this through the force of craving.
At first when I heard Luang Pu Dune say, “Don’t send the mind out,” I instead sent my mind inside. I would practice and see defilements arise from the centre of the chest. They would come up. I would see them, and they would disappear. Then I got curious. Where are these defilements originating from? So then, when the defilement would arise and come up, I would just observe it very lightly. If I observed it more acutely, it would disappear immediately. So, instead I would just observe it very subtly and it would start to move downward, deeper, and deeper down and I’d have my mindfulness follow it down because I wanted to know where the origin of these things was. I figured maybe I could destroy the defilements completely if I found the point of origin. And then maybe, finally, there wouldn’t be any more defilements to battle. So, I’d go deep, deep in and follow it down until the defilement would disappear and it would just be empty or a void down there. I couldn’t find where it originated from. So, what did I do? I brought my mind up from the emptiness and let my mind contact the world again through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind and then another defilement would come up. Then I would have my mindfulness just touch it and follow it down again as it got chased away and then it was empty down there again. So, I would follow the defilements down like this for a while. Then I had the opportunity to see Luang Pu Sim.
Luang Pu Sim was a great master, an expert at seeing the minds of others. He had the divine eye and the divine ear, or clairaudience. His powers were uncanny. I went up to Wat Tham Pha Plong to pay my respects to him. I was still in the process of following the defilements down inside. As soon as he saw my face he just said (I didn’t even have to ask), “Hey Knower, Knower!” That’s what he called me, “Get out of there! That’s not where the defilements are. The defilements are out here.” He knew I was looking for the defilements deep down inside. He said, “The defilements aren’t in there. Come on out,” After hearing him say that I was confused. Luang Pu Dune would say, “Don’t sent the mind out,” and Luang Pu Sim said, “Don’t go inside,” so I figured somewhere in the middle is correct because Luang Pu Taed once said, “Those that reach a mind in the middle are free from all types of suffering.” A mind in the middle just means a mind that isn’t pleased or displeased, but I tried a different version, a different approach because the mind and its object is a pair. Sometimes, the mind is attached to an object and then sometimes the mind is attached to the mind itself.
So, I tried to not attach to the object and not attach to the mind. So, I tried something. I brought my attention to the meditation object and the mind would move out to it and as soon as it hit the object, it would then move and stream back towards the knowing mind. When it arrived at the knowing mind I wouldn’t hold it, and so it would stream back down towards the meditation object. The mind would move back and forth between these two places until then, finally, it dropped down in the middle. It didn’t hold to the meditation object or the mind. It dropped down in the middle and was totally empty. There was no thinking and no fabrication. There was no time. I didn’t know how long these periods were. There were no thoughts. There were no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body. All that was left was the mind. Only mind. Being there, in that spot, when I would withdraw out of it, I would think, “I guess that’s Nibbana.” Nibbana has no attachment to the mind or to the objects. It has no attachment to form or mind. It has no attachment at all. So, I would bring my mind to that empty place. There’d be no thoughts or fabrications whatsoever.
So, I would play with this state. One day I realized, playing in this way by coming in and coming out of this state, there was an intention there to do it. It wasn’t Vipassana. It was an activity of the mind. An activity of someone who is good at concentration and meditation practices, shifting the mind hither and thither at will. That’s Samatha. So, I went back to Luang Pu Taed what I was doing, “I’m not holding at the Knower mind. I’m not holding at the meditation object. The mind entered emptiness. I’m starting to be skeptical about it, thinking it’s a Samatha practice.” And Luang Pu Taed agreed, “Yep. It’s just a meditative practice. Ajahn Taed was amazing. He answered immediately. But he said, “You know what, keep practicing it. Become an expert. These days people with great meditative skills are extremely rare. They don’t exist, so, become an expert at it.” But then I told him, “I’m afraid I’ll get stuck in it.” He said, “Don’t worry, if you do get stuck in it, I’ll get you out of it.” That’s what he told me. So, I kept playing with that state. I would play, even though I knew it was Samatha because a great master wanted me to practice and get familiar with it.
A Samatha where there isn’t an attachment to the mind or meditation object. The mind isn’t attached to anything at all. It actually is a formless state. No attachment. Anyway, I kept doing this practice and one day I met Luang Pu Boonjan. I didn’t know who he was. I’d never heard his name. He had a monk call me in. He asked me, “So, tell me about your practice.” I told him, “I’m not attaching to the Knower and I’m not attaching to what the Knower knows. It’s empty, very empty, completely empty.” Then he exclaimed, “Hey, what kind of Nibbana has an entrance and an exit?” And then he asked me, “So, how are you going to practice now?” But when I heard him, I misunderstood and thought that he didn’t understand my accent because his was pretty thick. He was from the Northeast of Thailand and staying in the North. I’m from the South and he’s from the North, so our accents were a bit different.
So, I told him again what I was practicing. He exclaimed once again, “Hey, what kind of Nibbana has an entrance and an exit.” In that moment, my mind threw away that meditation. I didn’t want it anymore. If I kept doing it, it would be just a waste of time. The mind tossed it. Now, there was still a trace of it, and I knew how to achieve that state of Samatha, but I was done with it. It was a waste of time. I became skilled in the state as Luang Pu Taed told me to do, but I believed Luang Pu Boonjan. Doing things like this makes things progress too slowly. They’re a waste of time. Even the slightest trace of intending is incorrect because the true Nibbana has no entrance or exit. It is a state that is whole in itself, and we’ll experience it automatically. When the mind has released from all formation and fabrication. Our mind will be free of formations once there is a cessation of craving. Cessation of wanting. Formations is becoming. Becoming has roots in desire and it is desire that creates becoming. The root of desire is ignorance. Not knowing the truth regarding the world, matter and mind. Ignorance is not knowing the truth of all physical and mental phenomena.
So, let’s learn within this body and mind of ours and see physical and mental workings. There is no need to try and bring your mind towards any empty state. That’s just a Samatha state. There’s no need to talk about emptiness because we don’t know it. We don’t understand it. This emptiness is right in front of our eyes. One old master named Luang Por Gim. He was an excellent teacher who was a student of Luang Pu Dune. His name, Gim, comes from Surin province. It isn’t a Chinese name. He’s from Surin province. Once I was with him and he pointed to the floor tiles out in front of his hut and he said, “Can you see that they’re empty?” At that time, I brought my attention to the emptiness of them, and I said, “Yeah, yeah they’re empty.” I thought bringing my attention to the empty state meant we would see the emptiness in the thing the master was talking about. But actually, it wasn’t the emptiness that he meant because what I was doing had intention in it. I made it up.
Real emptiness has no intending to sense emptiness. It has no contemplating emptiness. Instead, see the truth of matter and see the truth of mind. Once the attachment to form and matter has ceased, then emptiness will be experienced automatically. You’ll see the world moving and changing ceaselessly as physical phenomena and mental phenomena. If there is a cause, then they arise. If the cause is gone then they disappear. There is no controlling any of this. Things slide and move by ceaselessly. There is no point of origin and there is no end. The Buddha said that samsara has no beginning and no end. That’s what we’ll see. Things still exist, but they are empty. Emptiness doesn’t mean nothing exists at all. It’s not bringing the mind to see there truly isn’t anything. That is an absorption state, a formless meditative state that happens when one brings the mind to be with nothingness.
The path of the Buddha is the practice of vipassana. To see the body, see its three characteristics and then let go of the body. Seeing the mind. Seeing the three characteristics of the mind and releasing it. Releasing the physical form and releasing the mind is releasing the whole world because the things we call the world are form and matter. Then we will see the world changing, arising, and falling in accordance with their conditions and causes. There’s no beginning, no middle, no end. That’s what we will see. Now, regarding the Dhamma element, that is something else. It is empty because it is beyond any formation. That is the emptiness of Nibbana. So, that’s the mind that Luang Pu Dune said, “isn’t the mind and isn’t not the mind” because we can’t say if it’s the mind or not the mind. It’s beyond what words can express. It is an element of sorts. If we call it the mind, then we can say the mind is what experiences Nibbana or what experiences Dhamma. And it is the mind that is Dhamma itself. It is Dhamma that is experiencing Dhamma and there is nothing else.
So, I think that’s enough teachings for today. Shall we say? Keep this recording and 10, 20, 30 years in the future maybe you’ll see. If you don’t see it in this life, then you’ll see it in another life if you keep practicing. One day you’ll arrive. Let me just tell you before we stop that tomorrow there is an election. So, don’t just be temple dwellers who don’t go and vote. You are lay people, so, you have a duty to go and vote. I’m not concerned about us here, we’re not greedy. We have mindfulness and wisdom, and we don’t take the bait that they use to deceive the population. There are two types of bait. One is giving out 1000 Baht per vote. The other type of bait is about the ego. “If you elect me, I’ll give you this, I’ll give you that.” If they actually give what they say they’re giving, then the country would collapse. They can’t do what they say.
So, go and vote for who you would like to but don’t take their bait. Use your mindfulness and wisdom. The future of the country is nothing to laugh about. The country cannot survive, and neither can religion. There isn’t anywhere in this world that can be a keeper or holder of Buddhism. In the era of Koon Ashoka of India, he tried to propagate Buddhism in other countries. He sent Monks out to Suvarnabhumi (historical Thailand) and sent monks elsewhere, to many places. He tried to plant Bodhi seeds all around just in case the original Bodhi tree died. It would still have children. Eventually the mother Bodhi tree did die. Meaning that Dhamma disappeared from India. It remained in nearby countries and then started to disappear in those too. Like in the Gandhara area (formerly Pakistan and Afghanistan), Buddhism is completely erased. There are no Buddhists there. What’s left is this Suvarnabhumi area.
If this country is not a peaceful one and is filled with chaos, our religion won’t be able to survive that. When the politics are poor, religion falters easily. In the past, this has happened. The leaders prohibited people from ordaining as monks, so, the monkhood completely disappeared. They wanted labourers. They wanted soldiers. Here and now, there are still monks, but there aren’t that many. So, let’s not imagine the Buddhist religion in our country is something stable and secure. True, genuine monks are a minority. Not many are left. In the news, we regularly hear of monks doing unscrupulous things. Naïve people think those monks were arahants or great monks. Certainly, wishful thinking. I just take one look at these monks and want nothing to do with them. I turn away from them. If they’re on my left, I look to my right.
When we like to guess that this or that monk is enlightened, once we see them get defeated by their defilements, we conclude that Buddhism is bad. That’s not the case at all. It’s a totally different story. The bad monks were just regular bad people that got defeated by the defilements. That’s quite a normal and natural phenomenon in this world. It’s not easy to defeat the defilements. I’ve already mentioned that Nibbana is on the side of death.
Wat Suansantidham
13 May 2023