36th Lesson of the Sixth Patriarch’s Platform Sutra

(Based on a direct transcript from the recording of the 46th Lesson of the Sixth Patriarch’s Platform Sutra class [dated 27.11.2016] Conducted by Bro. Teoh at Wu Pin Chin Seah, No. 4, Jalan 11/8, Petaling Jaya, Selangor)

For free distribution - to non-Muslim only

Donated by:

Kalyāṇamitta funds of Bro. Teoh Kian Koon

teohkiankoon@hotmail.com

Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

Dated: 31.12.2016

Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng Boddhisattva

六祖惠能普萨

White Board Note of 36th Lesson of Sixth Patriarch Platform Sutra

Purpose of Meditation - to see the Truth means to Realise The Wisdom.

If you try to stop you Thought - It means you are suppressing / controlling it.

Dwell - A place where you stay.

Biodata of Bro. Teoh Kian Koon

Bro. Teoh graduated from University of Malaya in Civil Engineering in 1979. He has been a spiritual practitioner cum ‘Meditator’ since 1971. Since his retirement in 2001 from his Engineering career, he has been sharing his understanding and experiences with those who are keen in their search for true happiness, peace and liberation from birth and death and all mental suffering so that they can be more virtuous, nobler and wiser human beings. He gives Dharma talks and holds meditation classes & retreats and weekly Dharma classes at various meditation centers, Buddhist society and places that invite him.

For more details of Bro. Teoh’s dharma activities and his Kalyāṇamittaship grouping please login to his dharma website at: http://broteoh.com

1. Preface

It is Brother Teoh’s sincere wish that all Dharma friends, spiritual practitioners, seekers of truth, and cultivators will be able to make use of these enclosed dharma transcript notes to develop a better understanding of the Buddha Dharma as taught by the Buddha so that they may progress along the path of dharma to become more virtuous, noble and wiser human beings that can be a blessing to all of humanity and mankind.

As these notes were mostly compiled based on a direct transcript from the recording of the 36th lesson of the Sixth Patriarch’s Platform Sutra class (dated 27.11.2016); the text is aligned as closely as possible to the colloquial speech in the talk. However some editorial amendments have been made to the text without detracting from the essence of the talk. With this, it is hoped that readers can adjust themselves accordingly to better understand its true meaning and intent. A good way to do this is to listen to the recordings first before reading the transcript notes. To listen to the recording you can download the talk at this link:

http://broteoh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/36th-6th-Patriarch-27-Nov-2016.mp3

Alternatively you can contact Brother Ng Swee Aun at sang47500@yahoo.com for further details.

2. Acknowledgement

It is the donors’ sincere intentions that these dharma transcript notes be given free to those who are interested and have the affinity to receive them. I would like to take this opportunity to thank and rejoice in the generosity and wholesomeness of all those Dharma friends (Kalyāṇamitta) who have donated and/or helped out in the transcription, typing, typesetting, formatting, proof reading, etc. to make this free distribution of dharma dāna possible.

Special thanks should be accorded to Sister Chee Guit Yeng who had taken this great initiative to develop her draft transcript for my subsequent editing thereby enabling this dharma book to be printed.

By the power of all these wholesomeness, may all beings be well and happy, free from all mental and physical sufferings and dangers and may there be love, peace and joy - deep within their hearts. And may it also pave the way for the existence of causes and conditions for all dharma friends who have donated and/or helped out in one way or another to realize their good and noble wishes/aspirations soonest possible.

With Mettā always,

Brother Teoh Kian Koon

teohkiankoon@hotmail.com

Dated: 31.12.2016

3. 36th Lesson Sixth Patriarch’s Platform Sutra

3.1 Pre-Pūjā

We can start the pūjā now. Compose your mind, develop your faith, and then pay respect mindfully to Lord Buddha. We shall pay our respects first before we start the pre-pūjā:

Nā Mó Běn Shī Shì Jiā Móu Ní Fó (南无本师释迦牟尼佛) (3x)

Nā Mó Guān Shì Yīn Pú Sà (南无观世音菩萨) (3x)

Salutation to Lord Buddha:-

Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammāsambuddhassa (3X)

Taking of the Three Refuges:-

Buddhaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi, Dhammaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi, Saṅghaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi

Dutiyampi - Buddhaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi, Dhammaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi, Saṅghaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi

Tatiyampi - Buddhaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi, Dhammaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi, Saṅghaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi

Renewing of the Five Precepts:-

Pānātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi;

Adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi;

Kāmesu micchācārā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi;

Musāvādā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi;

Surā-meraya-majja-pamā-daṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi

Sādhu! Sādhu! Sādhu! (Rejoicing)

We shall now pay respect mindfully to Lord Buddha, Guan Yin Bodhisattva and all the Worthy Ones to end the pre-pūjā.

3.2 Dharma Sharing By Bro. Teoh

Today is the 27th Nov 2016, we will continue with our 36th Sixth Patriarch’s Platform Sutra class. Please turn to page 206 and we will continue from there.

The master instructed the assembly:

‘Good knowing Advisors, the Single Conduct Samadhi is the constant cultivation of maintaining a direct straightforward mind in all places (this is very important), whether one is walking, standing, sitting or lying down’. As the Vimalakīrti Sutra says, ‘The straightforward mind is the Bodhimaṇḍala; the straightforward mind is the Pure Land.’ This 6th Patriarch Platform Sutra’s opening statement is very profound. It’s exactly the same as what I have been sharing with you all this while, except they use a different name (Single Conduct Samadhi) here to express it.

How do they define the Single Conduct Samadhi? According to Master Hui Neng, it’s the constant cultivation but in the text, they use the word `practise’. Practise is not such an appropriate word because when you ‘practise’ something, it’s repetitive and mechanical in nature. But when you ‘cultivate’, it develops understanding, so constant cultivation of maintaining a direct straightforward mind in all places means the constantly meditative and ever mindful mind. This is what Heedfulness is all about.

This Single Conduct Samadhi is actually the cultivation of the continuity or stability of mindfulness to develop the meditation - which is equivalent to Heedfulness as taught by the Buddha. Master Hui Neng explained it this way: If your mind can maintain a direct straightforward ‘silent mind’ in all places whether one is walking, standing, sitting or lying down (it includes the in between movements i.e. whatever activities or movements between the four postures), then he quoted, ‘As stated in the Vimalakīrti Sutra, the straightforward mind is the Bodhimaṇḍala.’ Bodhi is wisdom and Mandala is a way place so Bodhimaṇḍala is a way place where you cultivate your wisdom. Bodhimaṇḍala, the direct straightforward ‘silent mind’ is your true mind or Pure Land. This is very good and profound dharma.

This Vimalakīrti Sutra is a very unique sutra. But it’s a Mahayana Sutra; you will not find it in the Theravada text. This Bodhisattva Vimalakīrti is a very wise and a very unique Bodhisattva. He likes to come in the form of a lay person. According to the Sutra, he had met not less than 90 million Sammā Sambuddha and he has a lot of wisdom, a lot of understanding.

We move on: ‘Do not speak of straightforwardness with the mouth only’ – it means lip-service’. That’s why verbal knowledge is not the real wisdom. If you cultivate verbal knowledge, you will not realize the enlightenment. You can never progress. ‘So do not speak of straightforwardness with the mouth only while the mind and cultivation are crooked. Do not speak of the Single Conduct Samadhi without maintaining a straightforward mind. Simply just cultivating, keeping a straightforward mind and have no attachment to any dharma is what you are supposed to do’. “The confused person is attached to the mark of Dharma while holding onto the Single Conduct Samadhi and saying, `I am sitting or I sit unmoving and falseness does not arise in my mind. This is the Single Conduct Samadhi’. Such an interpretation serves to make him insensate and obstruct the causes and conditions for attaining the way because if you hold onto the concept and idea of that single straightforward mind, you can never realize the way.”

`Good knowing Advisors, the way must penetrate and flow. How can it be impeded? If the mind does not dwell in Dharma, the way will penetrate and flow. The mind that dwells in Dharma is in self-bondage. To say that sitting unmoving is correct is to be like Venerable Sariputta who sat quietly in the forest but was reprimanded or scolded by Bodhisattva Vimalakīrti.’ Do you know Venerable Sariputta? – He is the chief disciple of Sākyamuni Buddha with foremost wisdom.

In this respect, there is was a passage in the Vimalakīrti Sutra. It seems there was an incident when Venerable Sariputta was sitting quietly in the forest meditating then Bodhisattva Vimalakīrti passed by and saw him doing the meditation. Then he spoke to Venerable Sariputta, ‘what are you doing?’ He said, ‘I’m cultivating meditation and meditating.’ And the way Bodhisattva Vimalakīrti reprimanded him actually woke him up. He said to Venerable Sariputta, ‘who told you that meditation is just sitting unmoving like that.’ He then explained the real cultivation to him. ‘If your mind is quiet, peaceful, still and silent when you are in a stable posture, that is not meditation. That is trying to bring forth the condition for the mind to be very calm. So indirectly, you are seeking peace, quietness and silence instead of wisdom. You are experiencing the conditioned mind. The real meditation is in the midst of life itself, in the midst of activity; when you can still be peaceful, silent, still and unaffected by whatever life situations or conditions. That is the real meditation.’ At that time Venerable Sariputta has not developed that type of understanding yet.

In the Sutra, it was mentioned, there was an incident where there was a very famous great Being whom all the Buddhas of the entire universe respect; they will send their representative or they themselves will go with their disciples to pay respect and make offerings. But because this being that they are supposed to pay their respect and gratitude (if I am not wrong it’s Bodhisattva Vimalakīrti) is extremely wise hence they have to be more careful. At that time, everybody was trying to suggest who should go? Then everybody pointed at Venerable Sariputta because he was the wisest among Sākyamuni Buddha’s disciples. Venerable Sariputta, when he heard of Bodhisattva Vimalakīrti’s name, straightaway he told the Buddha and the congregation: `No, I cannot go because I am of no match for his wisdom. He had reprimanded me before.’ Finally, they had no choice but to seek Mañjusrī Bodhisattva, `Wen Shu Pusa’ who is also foremost in wisdom. For Mañjusrī Bodhisattva, has reached a very high state of cultivation - having completed the perfection of wisdom; that was what that Sutra was all about. That is the reason why, Master Hui Neng mentioned it here: `The mind that dwells in Dharmas is in self-bondage. To say that ‘sitting unmoving is correct’ is like Sariputta who sat quietly in the forest but was reprimanded by Bodhisattva Vimalakīrti.’ So this is the story behind. If you have not read the Vimalakīrti Sutra, you may not understand.

Now we shall go into the commentary and see what Master Hsuan Hua said in his commentary. Master Hsuan Hua’s commentary: “You should not speak of directness and act dishonestly. If you greet rich people with smiles and compliment them with saying `Welcome! Welcome!’ In mandarin, it is `Huan ying! (欢迎!) Huan ying! (欢迎!).” When in fact, it’s not the person you are welcoming, but their money, power and status instead. So that is flattery. If you speak of the Single Conduct Samadhi but you act improperly, such hypocrisy betrays a cultivator’s mind. But if you cultivate keeping a direct straightforward mind, a sincere mind, a silent mind then your mind is the Bodhimaṇḍala. You should manage all your affairs with a direct sincere mind with no attachment.”

A stupid person gives rise to Dharma attachment. Hence they will comment and they will say, `I sit here unmoving and I have no false thinking. This is equivalent to the Single Conduct Samadhi.’ Master Hsuan Hua said, `Such a person is foolish. He is completely wrong. One who thinks this way turns into a vegetable.’ I don’t know why he uses the word vegetable. In the Mahayana Zen Monastery, if you sit like a statue, not moving (like a rock), do you know what they will do to you? The Zen master will come and whack you and tell you, `we have enough Buddha statues here; we don’t need another one.’ Do you understand? Can you follow?

When you sit there unmoving, no false thinking, no thought - what are you doing? You are like the statue, isn’t it? The statue is also unmoving, also no thought, but I think what Master Hsuan Hua meant, could be this: When a person suffers a stroke or when they no longer have control over their physical senses or body, they are said to be a ‘vegetable’. It means you cannot have any movement or activity physically. You may be conscious but you cannot move or talk, in that sense it could be a simile. But the actual meaning is they meditate until there is no more thought, which means their mind is in absorption or in one-pointedness, energy field concentration which is a conditioned state.

Then they will say their mind is unmoving and without any false thinking, without the heedless thinking or mental thinking. Even in that state Master Hui Neng said, it is not the real meditation. So you have to be very careful when you meditate. That’s why when you meditate without understanding, you can become gullible especially so if you go to a retreat with all the tranquil setting, the peacefulness, and you do a lot of sitting and a lot of formal meditation until your mind becomes very calm, very still, very silent, no more false thinking, no more movement, in very strong absorption or one-pointedness Jhāna etc. thinking that you have done well, then you believe you have progressed and you equate those experiences to enlightenment or awakening. You are deluded if you think that way because that is a conditioned mind held in energy field hence not a free mind. That’s why for those who understand, especially the Zen Master, they will tell you this: `we don’t need another Buddha statue here because we have enough of them and have you forgotten the purpose of you meditating?’

3.2.1 What Is The Purpose Of Meditation?

Let us now go deeper into this topic to develop a clearer understanding of what is the purpose of meditation and what is meditation according to the Buddha? Come, give it a try. What is the first purpose? Just now I heard somebody mention something like ‘to see the truth’. Who was it? Miss Lee, right? ‘To see the truth’ what does that mean? To see the truth means to realize the wisdom. Because only wisdom frees the mind! Nothing else! Just like what I have always explained to you all. Even if you can sit in meditation to experience all the fantastic meditation, the calmness, the stillness until you have no more thought, no more false thinking, so what? After you come out of that meditation, you still need to go back to life; then you will become heedless again because you have not developed the wisdom and the understanding via the direct seeing to root out your defilements and free your mind as yet. That’s why in the midst of life you still cannot cope. Now you understand why you go for meditation? Do not be gullible. Don’t always believe what other people tell you.

Nowadays there are a lot of meditations being taught, some very well-known internationally and they have this usual ten-day retreat. You join this retreat, and due to the rather conducive conditions there, the beautiful setting and nature etc, your mind will become very calm, very peaceful and you can experience a lot of good meditative states. Hence for the first two occasions, a lot of people would endorse to it that this particular meditation is fantastic and very good. But then they didn’t know that it’s just a conditioned state. It’s like you experience some beautiful mind states because of the conditions there. So what?

Meditation as taught by the Buddha is not about just seeking calmness and peacefulness. It’s about insight into the characteristics of nature to develop wisdom so as not to be deluded by the phenomenal world, not to be entangled by the delusion that arises in your mind (when you are lacking in understanding and wisdom). Understanding this is very important and very fundamental to the whole cultivation and this is what Hui Neng is trying to point out to all those people in his Platform Sutra teaching.

Can you follow? If you can then it is good and I rejoice. Otherwise, a lot of people will not be able to accept what I said earlier on. All along, I have been telling you the same message; if you go for retreats just to sit and develop all the fantastic and beautiful meditative mind states: the Jhānas, the tranquillity, the stillness, the calmness until your mind is like no more false thinking, no more thinking, no more thoughts, then you believe you have done very well because you experience fantastic mind states, you see nimittas, you can lock onto it, you can build up all the energy fields and develop all the psychic abilities to see images which you think are your past lives. And a lot of other related things, like you can read mind and see your past etc. But to the Buddha, this is not the meditation he taught. That is why he warned the monks at that time. He said, `if you train your mind to do psychic and perform psychic, you are violating the Patimokha (monks precepts); to show off and impress people with your ability.’

That’s why for those who understand, they will not pay attention to all those phenomena. No point because without wisdom, your mind can still be entangled. You can still be deluded by what you see, what you hear, what you smell, what you taste, what you tactilely feel and think. The phenomenal world still has power over you and you can still be afflicted when you confront the eight types of first noble truth realities starting from birth, old age, sickness and death, leading to separation; when you are with people whom you don’t like, when things don’t go your way, when you cannot get what you want, expectations in life are not met, etc.) You also fail to understand who you are and what you are? The 5 aggregates of form and mind, they appear so real to you and you grasp, cling and hold onto them. The Buddha summarized all of sufferings as your self-delusion that conditions you to grasp and cling onto the 5 aggregates of form and mind (the human being) via thinking those are what you are. That’s why he said the 5 Upādānakkhandhas or grasping aggregates is dukkha or suffering. So this understanding is very important and very fundamental to understanding meditation. If you meditate and you still cannot understand who you are and what you are, what these 5 aggregates of form and mind are and how when you attach, cling and grasp, suffering comes to be then you are not doing it right. If you cannot insight into phenomena to realize the impermanence leading to suffering and because they are impermanent, condition arising, dependent originating hence it is not a permanent unchanging entity that you can call, this is me, this is I, and therefore all these can be mine. There is no such thing. Hence, if your meditation does not lead to such understanding or awakening, then it’s not the meditation as taught by the Buddha. Then it’s just like what they call `Wai Tao’ or externalist type of meditation. Those who develop these types of meditations are more interested in the psychic field, in energy field and seeking out fantastic meditation experiences.

Okay? We shall move on to page 207 third paragraph:

‘A stupid person gives rise to dharma attachment. I sit here unmoving and I have no false thinking…’ This part, we have gone through. `This is the Single Conduct Samadhi. So people who say that, he is completely wrong, one who thinks this way turns into a vegetable.’ We were here. Now you understand?

`The way should flow without obstruction …’ – what does it mean? If you have wisdom, you will know how to accord and flow. You will not resist anything. ‘If you stop your thoughts, you turn into dead ashes and rotten wood and become useless.’ See, this is what meditation is all about. Stop your thoughts means what? Yes! Very good! And Sadhu! If you try to stop your thoughts, it means you are suppressing them or controlling them. This understanding is very important; you cannot suppress and control the thoughts. The question is, `who is controlling, who is suppressing?’ The thought which says `I don’t want to have any thought because it makes me think a lot, it makes me heedless, so I have to stop the thought.’ Who is saying all these? The ‘thought’, so the thought wants to suppress, the thought wants to control, not understanding that the ‘controller is the controlled’. Thought is trying to control thought; thought is trying to suppress thought. How can you do that? It is like; you are trying to control yourself. That is clearly suppression!

If you don’t have violence and anger, there is no need for suppression and control. But if you have violence, anger, emotion and fear then you try to control them yourself. What are you trying to do? You are being stupid, isn't it? Because the fact is, you are violent, you are emotional, you are selfish, and you have fear. That’s why you must cultivate until you have developed the wisdom to liberate your mind then there is no need for control and suppression. Then naturally when you have the wisdom, there is no need for control and suppression of the thought.

Thought is just thought. Like what I had told you all before, thought is neither good nor evil, just like money. Then why do you say ‘Money is the source of all evil and thought is the one that causes you all the heedlessness’? Is this the reason why you want to control and suppress the thought? That’s wrong because it’s the user of money that is more important (or the user of thought that is more important). If you have wisdom, there is no more problem. You don’t have to control, you don't have to suppress. Thought can just arise (due to response to memories). And what is thought? Thought is condition-arising, dependent originating, impermanent not real. If you grasp and cling and hold, it leads to suffering; meaning you grasp and cling at the wrong thought. But if you don’t grasp and don't cling and understand that thought is just an instrument for you to use, to live life, then it will be different because you will know how to use it appropriately with wisdom, with understanding. Then what happens? Thought becomes your friend, it will serve you well. Then you can make use of it to arise the right thought, the wholesome thought following the noble eightfold path based on right view and right understanding which is wisdom. Then thought becomes wholesome, thought becomes beautiful. Then you don’t have to control thought. When there is wisdom, there is understanding; there is no movement because it doesn’t deludedly latch on anymore. It doesn’t cling; it doesn’t have to think anymore because there is no more fear, worries, anxiety and delusion. It understands, it sees things as they are, it accords and flows and it can be with all things, no more rigidity, no more resistance, thing is just the way it is. That's why with this understanding, the whole of meditation and cultivation becomes very different. Now can you understand?

That’s why all of meditation usually starts off with this wrong understanding. When you don’t have the correct understanding, you will do it wrongly because you think thought is a problem; Thought is the one that makes you heedless; that creates the division and all those things. But you do not understand that all these divisions and heedlessness come from your inner delusion. If you have wisdom, all these will not arise. Like the Buddha said, without the spiritual faculties, the mental hindrances will arise and when the mental hindrances are there, the evil roots are there. That is how thoughts can make you evil, bring about downfall, and bring about negativity of mind states which includes all of your fears, your worries, your anxieties, your sorrows, your lamentation and insecurities, etc. They all come from your delusion, nothing else.

Hence meditation has to be developed with understanding. It is about developing understanding and wisdom to liberate the mind. Always remember: don't try to control or suppress anything. Thing is just the way it is. Develop wisdom. That's why mindfulness is very important; to be mindful is to be aware without thought; only then can you be in a state of silence to see clearly via the silent mind. To see clearly how this mundane mind that is entangled with the wrong view arises the causes and conditions for you to become evil, for you to become heedless. And through that understanding, you just have to straighten your views and reverse all these retrospectively. With that understanding, you are no longer deceived, no longer deluded; then the 5 aggregates of form and mind will become different because it now understands how it becomes entangled, how it gets itself drawn into all these via delusion.

Hui Neng is very wise and he straightaway knew this is where the problem is. Almost all meditators and cultivators go into energy field and they love that type of meditation because they can straightaway become so calm, so peaceful, no more thought, no more false thinking, enjoying the bliss, the pīti, the sukha, the very strong energy and all of the nimittas experiences, including all of the by-products of this type of meditation (which is energy field, thought-based and psychic-based). Then like the Zen Master said, even Hui Neng also said, `This is not the real samādhi, this is not the one that can bring forth the wisdom. This is the one that traps you.’

That is the reason why, in the Zen way place, if you go there and sit like a statue and every day doing the sitting and walking then sit and sit and sit, thinking that by doing this so-called meditation, one day you will become enlightened. Then they will give you the frog analogy via telling you, ‘If by sitting, you can become enlightened, then all the frogs would have become arahants, enlightened because they also sit a lot’. It is not the sitting; it’s the development of wisdom. When the Zen Masters, know that you are doing concentration or Samatha Meditation, they will come and hit you and tell you, `We have enough Buddha statues here. We don’t need another one’

Now can you understand? That's why, daily mindfulness is very important and it is the key to development of wisdom. The formal meditation, the retreat can be useful for you to train your mind initially. But then the ‘real meditation is life itself’ – daily mindfulness leading to heedfulness. Can you maintain that silent mind, that type of so-called free mind that is in Samadhi, without control, without suppression? That free mind, through its own understanding and wisdom, connected to the form and mind, becomes beautiful because when it is no longer deluded, then that mind serves ‘you’ well, it will listen to ‘you’. It will make you beautiful; then you can use it to develop wholesomeness, cultivate virtues, goodness and love so that you can become a blessing to all. This is what meditation is all about. This is what meditation is for.

That is also the reason why I have always said, ‘when you have developed the right meditation according to what the Buddha has taught you, it will bring you back to the Noble Eightfold Path cultivation’. You will have right view leading to right thought, right speech, right action, right effort, right living/livelihood then right mindfulness and right Samadhi. If whatever you do in the name of meditation makes you more egoic (after experiencing all the fantastic meditation), and it doesn’t bring you back to the Noble Eightfold path cultivation to transform you personality wise, character wise and wisdom wise then you better check, because that is not the meditation taught by the Buddha. If your emphasis is only on the Jhāna, on the calmness, the peacefulness, the stillness, the fantastic nimittas experiences and all the other various types of fantastic manifestations of mind (when you reach those so called deep ‘samādhi’ or deep ‘Samatha’ concentration or absorption mind states), then it is a deviation because that is not what the Buddha taught.

The first six years before his enlightenment, the ‘Buddha to be’ learned from all those teachers those meditations and He did all those energy fielded, thought based meditation too. That's why he was still stuck and He knew. That is the reason why He left them and continued to seek on his own. In a similar way Master Hui Neng, the 6th Patriarch via his Platform sutra pointed it out to you very clearly that this type of meditation is a deviation. Okay? With this we shall move on.

3.2.2 The Mind Must Have No Dwelling

‘The way should flow without obstruction. If you stop your thoughts, you turn into dead ashes and rotten wood and become useless’ like another statue. ‘You should instead produce that thought which is nowhere supported’. You remember the Diamond Sutra that states: ‘The mind must have no dwelling’? It must not dwell anywhere. In Mandarin, what do you call it? ‘Xīn wú gua ài’ (心无挂碍), or ‘Xīn wú suǒ zhù (心无所住)’ meaning your mind must have no dwelling. It must not dwell anywhere. Can you have that type of mind? That is the real meditative mind. Your mind doesn’t dwell on anything; the silent mind that is able to have the direct seeing will not dwell. Do you know how you dwell? What is dwelling? The Mandarin word is ‘Zhù’ (住)- which is a very good word. Dwell, is like you live somewhere; like a place where you stay or dwell.

Do you know how your mind dwells? How do you dwell? Throughout the day, you arise thoughts and you have been dwelling everywhere. How do you dwell? The moment you perceive something, you dwell there. Can you understand? Then the moment you perceive, you think, you become heedless again. That is why the silent mind is the meditative mind and the silent mind which is Sati, is capable of direct seeing. What is the definition of Sati? Sati is awareness before the knowing. What knows? Perception! - The moment you perceive you know. How do you know my voice? The moment you perceive it, you dwell here hence you are not aware of the outside world. The moment you perceive that Buddha image that instant your mind will dwell there. The worst is, when you dwell, you allow your conditioned mind to condition you into further thinking. `Hi! This Buddha image is very nice, very beautiful. I wish I could have one. Where did you buy it?’ So this proliferation of thoughts, if you are not mindful and not aware, it already takes you off tangent and makes you heedless (lost in thought). You easily become heedless and this is how dwelling can make you heedless. So the mundane mind dwells everywhere because it constantly perceives.

But when you have the silent mind, the true mind, it is just aware. It sees things as they are. It does not dwell. That’s why, you can just be aware, aware, aware…. in the midst of life. It just flows. Everything just flows, the mind and the phenomena as one (specific phenomenal awareness). It just flows. It doesn’t dwell. But to live life, you have to arise your thought and you have to perceive. But when you have the understanding and the wisdom, you can perceive without attachment, without accumulation and without dwelling on it, without getting lost in it. It just perceive, aware, aware then perceive again… etc. That’s what meditation is all about. That is the reason why I used to remind you all that you have to meditate until you can realize and understand all these so that you can produce a mind, a free mind that does not dwell anywhere. That is Zen and that is meditation; that is heedfulness or Appamāda and you have to be in that state in the midst of life, most of the time. That is why the real meditation is not what people think! It is not only about sitting quietly, okay? I’ll read on.

This chapter is going to be very good and very interesting. I didn’t know - this chapter already talks about this. Master Hui Neng said, ‘you should produce a mind (not thought) which is nowhere supported or the mind that has no dwelling, by attaching yourself neither to emptiness, to existence nor to dharma’. Attachment to dharma results in attachment to existence, and attachment to existence results in perishing in emptiness. But when you are unsupported the Way will circulate freely.

This is Hsuan Hua’s commentary and interpretation because theoretically they will talk about these. To add to that my explanation is clearer and deeper: You neither attach yourself to emptiness is because the word emptiness is not emptiness and the understanding of emptiness is not an intellectual knowledge, not a concept; then nor to existence. You know what is existence? - The phenomenal world; all of phenomena - if you dwell, attach and cling you will get into trouble for they are not real and mind made are they. Nor to Dharma for Dharma is truth that can allow you to realize the wisdom and the understanding to live life.

3.2.3. Only Truth And Wisdom Liberates The Mind

But when you attach to Dharma then what happens? If you dwell on it, attach to it and want to argue about it via right and wrong then you will have problems. You want to be right so you want to challenge others. Then it defeats the whole purpose of meditation. That is attachment to dharma. Dharma is the truth. Truth liberates the mind, frees the mind. It is an understanding. The moment you understand, the mind is liberated. The mind realizes itself and sets itself free. That’s why the mundane mind that realizes itself will cease to be. It sees the delusion in doing all those things, the foolishness in doing all those things. That’s why meditation is mainly about wisdom. The moment you understand, you’re free. But the moment you don’t understand, you remain the same, continuously heedless, continuously deluded. You will continue to hold, cling, and react to sense experience through your views and opinions and conditionings because you lack wisdom. You cannot understand truth, the reality. You cannot see things as they are. You see things through your tinted perceived views and opinions and conditionings, your memories, your conditioned mind, your storehouse of consciousness, accumulated knowledge and experiences of life; everything that you hold onto, cling onto like your fears, your phobias, your insecurities, your scars of memories, your happy and unhappy moments, your miseries, etc - you hold onto them and accumulate them all. Then you retain them all in your memory. Now you understand why accumulation is suffering.

Memory is useful but it is not for you to store all these psychological memories that can give rise to suffering, which can condition your fears, worries and anxieties because these are all wrong memories, wrong thoughts. That’s why I always teach you how to understand what wrong thoughts are - which is more important. What are wrong thought? Thought that conditions your fears, your worries, your anxieties, your sorrows and lamentation, etc. When you project your thought, you worry about the future. When you recall the unhappy past (some scars of memory), then it conditions you to be unhappy. It also includes thoughts that condition your selfishness, your emotional negativity, your doubt - which are the evil roots of greed, hatred and delusion. Without greed, you cannot be selfish. That’s why all these are wrong thoughts borne of wrong view. When you understand that all these are wrong thoughts, then your mind that understands via this wisdom will enable you to straighten your views. You will not create all these wrong thoughts anymore. Then you will diligently learn how to develop through right effort and right view, what constitute right thought? What are right thoughts? All of the good and wholesome thought that bring about love, compassion, kindness, goodness of heart, respect, gratitude, contentment, harmony, peacefulness, happiness and joy, etc are right thoughts.

Apart from the 4 Brahma Vihāra’s right thought of loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity, there are also a lot of other right thoughts: like thoughts of generosity, respect, contentment, sincerity, etc. These are all right thoughts. Then thoughts of gentleness, pleasantness, kindness, goodness, all these are also right thoughts. The thought of love to help people so as to be a blessing to all is also a right thought. Then to have faith, to develop the spiritual faculties of Saddhā, Vīriya, Sati and Samadhi leading to wisdom is also a right thought. To be in the state of awareness/mindfulness leading to heedfulness is also a right thought. Then to enable you to cultivate the first 2 of the four right efforts to abandon the wrong thoughts that have arisen and to prevent the arising of wrong thoughts you must understand what constitute wrong thoughts. Then to enable you to cultivate the third right effort to cultivate the right thoughts that are still not in you, you have to understand what are right thoughts which you still don’t have. Like the thought of kindness, goodness, generosity, good emotions, love and compassion, etc. Just like the mandarin video which I just sent out this morning for sharing - what does it say? The first thing you must have if you want to improve your life greatly is what? Take care of what? The words in Mandarin that say if you have that vital virtue in you all of your problems will fall into place and get resolved.

What is that? Yes! ``Pí qì’ (脾气)- which is your anger, your emotions, your mental negativity; ‘Pí qì yào hǎo (脾气要好); Pí qì hǎo (脾气好), Yī qiè dōu hǎo (一切都好)’. That’s why if you don’t have that understanding, if you don’t have this goodness, this kindness, then every time you get angry, throw your tantrums and become emotional, unhappy, and aggressive and hit out at others you will become evil because all these are evil roots, roots of all evil that will make you evil. That’s why it will bring about downfall. Your business will fail, your relationship will fail, your marriage will be affected and you will have problems with your children. Even when you go to your office, you don’t know how to communicate with your colleagues and staff, interact with them because you don’t have this goodness and kindness in you as well as this understanding in you.

So meditation is all about Noble Eightfold Path. That is right view leading to right thought, all the good and virtuous thoughts. You should check your life. How often do you cultivate this right thought? Your gratitude towards what people have done for you, whether it is a part of your nature to thank people sincerely for what they have done for you, for what they have sacrificed for you? Rejoice in all the wholesomeness and goodness that people have done. Be sensitive to others. Understand the world, understand fellow living beings and understand everything else within nature. To do that you must have wisdom only then you can feel for them so that you are not selfish. Otherwise you will always think of yourself and selfishness which is a very strong evil root will always be there because the deluded mind can cunningly  come back through the back door to deceive you again via telling you to consider selfishly, ‘for me or not for me, advantage to me or not? Otherwise I don’t want to do them’. All these are selfishness. Nothing to do with my family, my business, I don’t want to get involved. No advantage to me, I don’t want to know. That’s why you don’t have love. You don’t have sincerity, generosity, kindness and goodness. You are not able to help people. You are incapable of kindness and goodness. That’s why such people cannot develop virtues because they don’t have sincerity and they are very selfish. They always think of advantages and motives.

Hence meditation has a lot to do with the Noble Eightfold Path. That’s why, life itself is the meditation. Because it’s only in life, you can apply the Noble Eightfold Path factors and this is real meditation. If you cannot develop a mind that is free, that understands, that does not dwell you will suffer. Do you know, what will happen when you dwell on your unhappy past? Meaning you hold onto your grudges. Do you know the meaning of grudges? In Mandarin, it’s pronounced as ‘Chóu hèn (仇恨)’. This means you hold onto your vengeance and grudges so strongly. When you understand all these, you will develop the wisdom to straighten your views to reverse all these negativities of mind states. When you understand that all these bring about downfall and bring about wrong thought leading to suffering, cause your karmic nature to fall and they will make you weak and miserable and when you also understand that: ‘you hold the key to your own life destiny, to be happy or unhappy have a choice’; you will never allow yourself to become afflicted again or become so deluded anymore. That’s how you will wake up and you will choose to be happy and change overnight. This is just common sense! And you will not do all those stupid and deluded things again because the moment you understand you are free, you can liberate your mind. This is the real meditation. Okay? Can you all follow? ‘Can!’ - Good then we read on.

‘Attachment to Dharma results in attachment to existence and attachment to existence results in perishing in emptiness. But when you are unsupported, the way will circulate freely’. It means when you don’t dwell, when you don’t deludedly grasp and cling and hold you will not have suffering. You become free, your mind is liberated and there is nothing in this world that can bring forth the condition for you to have fear, worry and anxiety, sorrow, lamentation or even the slightest unhappiness. No more, because you see clearly how that form and mind, with the wisdom connected, understands that all these are not real. They are just condition-arising and dependent originating phenomena and mind made are they. Only form and mind, form and mind, and Hey no you, Hey no me! Just like what the Buddha said via his Dhammapada verse. He said, ‘my son, my children, my wealth, my property, these only the fools (foolish ones) lament, for that very body also doesn’t belong to him, wherein son, wherein wealth and all those things.’

Those who have wisdom, they will understand all these. They will not cling, not hold but they also understand that the condition world is the condition world and the existential world is the existential world. In the existential world ‘there are things’ even though they are ‘not real’ (in the ultimate truth sense) but they are still subject to its sets of nature’s laws. For example the law of karma which recognizes relationship and things but that pertains to the form and mind, nothing to do with the ultimate wisdom. But because our form and mind is born of its karma, heir to its karma, conditioned and supported by its karma and it is what it is because of its karma (subject to this law of karma), therefore the form and mind still has its duties towards this law. But with true wisdom (or in true emptiness – as stated in the Heart Sutra), there is none of all these. So when you have that ultimate truth understanding and the understanding of the existential world, meaning the supra mundane and mundane, then you would have developed perfect wisdom. This will help complement your understanding. Then you can live anywhere on both sides because you understand the unconditioned and the conditioned worlds.

That’s how your mind can transcend duality; transcend all the phenomena world of consciousness. Like the lotus, it will arise even though it is from the muddy pond but it will stay above the filth to blossom into full blossom. That’s why it is so beautiful and so unique. That’s why the symbol for Mahayana enlightened being is the famous lotus flower.

Okay. This part is very good. ‘Then the way will circulate freely’ - means you are free to move. There is no resistance no more impediments. There is no rigidity, you just accord and flow. ‘The mind that dwells in Dharma is in self-bondage’. This statement is very powerful. When you dwell in Dharma, you create the Atta, the Self. You create the attachment to Dharma. That’s why it’s self-bondage via sakkāyadiṭṭhi or self-delusion. ‘If you get attached to the meditation Dharma and sitting without moving, you tie yourself up and become a prisoner’. Sariputta, Sākyamuni’s disciple foremost in wisdom, sat in the forest, quietly meditating. But the layman Vimalakīrti reprimanded him saying, `What are you doing? What use are you sitting there like a corpse?’ It should be like a statue. This particular understanding on chapter 4 is very useful. That’s why the title is about Samadhi and wisdom.

Do you remember? Samadhi and wisdom go hand in hand and Samadhi is not concentration. Please bear that in mind. Samadhi is the collected mind, unwavering mind. That is why it is related to wisdom. When wisdom is stable, Samadhi will become even more stable then it will cumulate into Upekkhā, the last factor of enlightenment. But initially without Samadhi you cannot see things as they are, to realize the wisdom. That’s why the two are inter-connected and related. You cannot separate them. You cannot say I just want to cultivate Samadhi. They are inter-connected in many ways, like the stick analogy I gave last Sunday. When you pick up a stick, there are two ends to it. You cannot say I hold this end. I don’t want that end. Then the stick disappears. That’s why Samadhi and wisdom (Panna in pāḷi), they are together. Okay. Do you have any questions? Don’t have? Then we shall move on.

The last paragraph: ‘Good knowing advisors. There are those who teach people to sit, looking at the mind and contemplating stillness, without moving or rising. They claim that it has merits’.

What do you think? A lot of people do that. They call it Cittānupassanā, according to their own interpretation. They say, ‘I can be mindful of my thought’. “They claim that it has merits. Confused men, not understanding, easily become attached and go insane (and Master Hsuan Hua used such harsh words ‘go insane’). There are many such people. Therefore you should know them. Teaching of this kind is a great error”. By now, I really hope you can understand.

I will go through this one more time. ‘There are those who teach people to sit …..’

The key word is to sit a lot. Then keep on ‘looking at the mind and contemplating stillness without moving or arising’. Who is the one looking and doing all these? Huh! The thought is looking at the mind and contemplating stillness! And because of that they are so actively arising the thought and thinking instead of meditating. So one thought is trying to look at another thought and they call that ‘Cittānupassanā’. The real Cittānupassanā is about mindfulness. It’s about the silent mind in sati choicelessly ‘watching’ via awareness. You don’t go and look for it. Only the awareness is aware of it. It is totally different. Then when you sit in the formal meditation, don’t contemplate. You only contemplate when you are out of the meditation, having a free mind, then you can contemplate and develop the inquiry. Then from there, the contemplative understanding (which is the 2nd turning wisdom) will arise through the silent creative mind in contemplation.

All these ‘meditation’, when you do it without understanding you will end up doing all these (including sit without moving or arising); it means you sit like a statue down there. Do you think by just sitting, one day, you can become enlightened? Maybe your mind can become more and more calm, more and more peaceful and more and more stable. But then, every time you have problems when you are back to society, you will have to run back to the retreat or meditation centre and try to perfect it again. Again when you come out of such meditation, you realize that you are not peaceful when you are back to normal life so you go back in again. That’s why a lot of people say they cannot live in society anymore after going for long meditation retreats. They say society and the world is crazy.

Of course, they use a lot of Dharma - mainly knowledge wise. They say crazy, in the sense that there is so much noise and disturbances outside there; there are so many activities and problems in life. There is also too much sensuality and distractions. There is no way one can meditate. Then society also has so many things that can make people miserable. So by running away, sitting in meditation and making themselves peaceful in a tranquil setting with such a conditioned state of mind, is not going to free them. It’s just a temporarily measure. But the moment you go back to society, you cannot cope; you cannot live as a normal living being. And you say, ‘it’s a crazy world full of crazy things’. If the Buddha is like that, he cannot be the Buddha. He’s the Buddha because he is at peace everywhere, in the midst of life and society. All these need understanding. That’s why Hui Neng can understand.

Now let us look at Master Hsuan Hua’s commentary: “The deluded person does not understand the principle (means the true cultivation). They think, ‘I will just sit here and not get up. This is the way to attain skill in Zen meditation’. They get attached to what they are doing (meaning the sitting) and they go insane’. For example, many people have come here, saying that they are enlightened. That is insanity.

There are many such people. Teachers from their number say, `if you certify my enlightenment, I will certify yours’. Like an exchange, I honour you Datukship and Tan Sri, you honour me back. ‘That is a big mistake. In China, in the Tang Dynasty, there were false Buddhist Patriarchs who practice intellectual Zen’. You know what is intellectual Zen? Intellect means knowledge; based on knowledge and the intellect. They have clever answers but no foundation in actual cultivation. They can answer you in debate because they quote the book; they repeat the answers that Master Hui Neng and other Zen masters gave. But they don’t have the understanding. They will quote to you like, ‘the mind must have no dwelling, ‘Xīn wú suǒ zhù (心无所住) or ‘Xīn wú gua ài’ (心无挂碍), and all those things.’ But they don’t have the understanding. They only have the words, the knowledge. They have not realized. Then they will argue with you on what that means according to their interpretation. They have clever answers but no foundation in actual cultivation. “It’s not surprising that we find such people even in America today But these impostors who falsely claim to be enlightened pave the way for those of true enlightenment. No one knew about enlightenment so the impostors say, ‘we are enlightened.’ Everyone then says, `So this is enlightenment,’ and they examine themselves closely to see what enlightenment is. Suddenly a true enlightened being comes and no one believes in him. They think that the truly enlightened one is the same as the impostor. You who now cultivate to become enlightened will be forced to deal with the widespread influence of such pretenders or impostors”. That leads Master Hsuan Hua to advise you as follow: ‘when you become enlightened, you should not say that you are’. That is the best method according to him. This is the way of the world, `true, true, false false; false, false, true true’. I think it’s a direct translation from the Mandarin words: `Cen cen jie jie, jie jie cen cen.’ If you are true, they say you are false. If you are false, they say you are true. Therefore you should not speak of true and false. Tell people to go and see for themselves (meaning you don’t attach or cling to duality). Thing is just the way it is, no right no wrong, true and false is your perception. One should inquire - True according to whom? False according to whom?

But the reality is just the way it is. That’s why there is no right, no wrong. Unenlightened beings will say that they are enlightened. If you have already become enlightened and claim to be enlightened then you are just like those who are not. Why? People who are actually enlightened do not introduce themselves, saying, ‘Don’t you know me? I am enlightened. I am the same as so and so who is also enlightened’. Enlightenment and non-enlightenment are the same, not different. Do not hang out a false name - enlightened. You are a human being, unenlightened; you are still a human being even when enlightened.

The enlightened and the unenlightened both can realize Buddha hood. It’s just a question of time so do not advertise yourself. If no one knows you, that is the best. Then your straightforward mind is the Bodhimaṇḍala. That’s why the ego will not be there. You would not be tempted to tell people. But for those who understand, they will tell you very clearly that this one is not them. You can say that this form and mind, when it has developed the wisdom, the insight and the direct seeing, it is enlightened. But this one is just the form and mind, not a permanent unchanging entity. How can it be you? That’s why, how can you claim that you are enlightened? It has got no meaning.

That’s the reasons why for those who don’t understand; they will go around and deludedly claim that they are enlightened. They will use words to impress you because they want respect from you and they want followers. When they have followers and people who respect them then they will get a lot of monetary support from them. But for those who are truly enlightened, they will naturally understand that their virtues, wisdom and understanding will shine forth on its own and there is no greed in them. There is no delusion in them and they can never take advantage of you or ask you to believe them or join them. They will allow you the freedom to decide, to investigate for yourself, to find out for yourself because it’s your life, nothing to do with them.

Their duty/nature is to share what they understand when there is condition. These are what cultivation is all about. You have to have that understanding not to be deluded, not to be gullible, not to just easily believe people and allow people to condition you. If without proper investigation and understanding, you just simply go and quote, then follow the crowd to promote all these - that can be very dangerous. But if you yourself have cultivated and developed the understanding then you don’t have to worry.

Just like during the earlier years after I met my teacher, Phra Ajahn Yantra, I learnt so much from him. I could feel him. Then many years later, he got into some issues in Thailand and there were many types of negative stories about him. Then they forced him to disrobe. Despite what happened, I never wavered because my nature knew. I could feel his nature and I learned a lot from him, I received the dharma from him and I have continued even up till today dare to say that he was my teacher and he taught me very well despite what the world said about him. Can you understand? Most people would have run away, trying not to have anything to do with him because they may think if he goes down, their image or reputation will also be affected. If you have anything to do with him, others may perceive you the same.

It’s like what the Buddha had said. It’s not like that. There are causes and conditions behind. If you cannot see those causes and conditions, you will not understand. Even the Buddha, during his time, he was also affected by the Cinca incident. Can you remember? For many months he had to endure all those abuses and accusation (whatever people said about him). Cinca had accused the Buddha of making her pregnant for many months until Ananda also could not take it anymore. He told the Buddha, `We have to leave this place. Nobody trusts us anymore. We don’t even have proper support anymore.’ The Buddha said, `No, three months from now it will come to pass. If you try to walk away, wherever you go the same news will travel.’ He said this was due to his past karmic action.

The Buddha knew and he told Ananda, `I have to endure all these abuses and accusations and it will come to pass in three months time.’ That’s why after that everything cleared up because the Cinca pregnancy was a fake used to plot against him. She was not even pregnant but ill intended people wanted to bring him down. It happened because in one of the past lives when he (Sākyamuni Buddha) was a Bodhisattva, he scolded and abused a Pacceka Buddha without knowing that he’s a Pacceka Buddha. He said a lot of bad things to that person. That’s why when he became the Sammā Sambuddha, when there’s condition; he got it back - the Cinca incident.

Even my teacher, Ajahn Yantra also had a similar karmic condition of the past affecting him this life. I met one of his disciples who visited me at my house after somebody told me about him. Then we decided to invite him over to share with us what he knew. There were conditions then. After that we came to know a lot of things. According to him, Ajahn Yantra told him that all those happenings are related to his karmic past. He had to pay back all those past wrong actions. Hence the reason why he can accept what happened. Then he was very happy, very peaceful because he just allowed the thing to settle. It seems many lay people and monks helped him to fight the case and finally got him an amnesty to stay in the US. He won the cases. He cleared them all. It seems they tried to extradite him from the US government via diplomatic channel because it was politically motivated. But finally everything was cleared but that news was no longer important by then.

What you need to understand is - don’t become gullible by the big names you hear or be affected by the bad news you hear. You should investigate them yourself, cultivate and realize the true dharma. When you have realized the true Dharma, you will understand then you have no more worries about what the world says, what people say. Just like the famous quote of the Buddha: ‘the incense, its fragrance will shine forth and spread out far and wide.’ The incense really has its fragrance hence similarly for those who have the pāramīs, the wisdom, the virtues, the understanding, when they share the Dharma, their nature will shine forth just like the fragrance of the incense.

All these, if you have the understanding, the wisdom and the meditative training, then you can sense them. You can feel them and you can recognize them. Just like my cultivation in the early days, I didn’t chase after famous teachers. I didn’t chase after big names and all those popular monks and teachers. I will investigate and I will find out for myself via listening attentively and observing them first. When there were conditions, I would go and listen. But because my nature understands, the moment I listen, I will know which one has the dharma and which ones don’t have the dharma. That’s why I have a lot of affinity with a lot of good teachers; good masters and I learnt a lot from them.

But for those that my nature didn’t have affinity with, somehow it didn’t click and I couldn’t develop much understanding from what they shared. Some were very famous and popular but no point because this nature understands very clearly the way and the cultivation. That’s why it’s very different. Hence Hui Neng’s sharing on this part is very important, very beautiful, so that you understand.

3.2.4. Meditation Is Not About Sitting Only

Meditation is not about sitting only; prolonged sitting until the mind becomes very calm, very peaceful, very still and no more false thinking, thinking that is the result. Then you better check because this is a conditioned mind, a conditioned state. Meditation is not about developing all the peacefulness, the calmness and the fantastic meditation and the fantastic mind. It’s about insight into phenomena, developing the wisdom, the understanding, realizing the characteristics of nature, the impermanence, the suffering state and the non self or empty nature. This understanding is most important and very different. If meditation does not bring you back to the Noble Eightfold Path to realize the three types of right view, the wisdom that is related to the Buddha’s teaching, then that is not the meditation as taught by the Buddha.

Hence it’s not about retreat condition alone. It’s not about calmness, peacefulness, running away from society etc. That’s the reason why when I met Ajahn Yantra and when he told me, ‘life itself is the real meditation, life itself is our greatest teacher’, immediately those words resonate deep in my nature, because it was like I had heard them before and I knew this was it all the while. Even though as a lay person in my early years of my cultivation I had never heard from people about this before.

Then when I relate them to the teaching I realized they matched perfectly. That’s why after that I decided to reverse my cultivation. I come out of Ānāpānasati and released the absorption calmness borne of continuous mindfulness via relaxing into it. While in the university days of the 70s, I was already very good in Ānāpānasati. I could do the Ānāpānasati until my ‘nature’ could carry that calmness, that absorption mind state with me while in the midst of life and the mind was so still and full of mettā. But later on, when I came out to work, when I started to touch money, intermingled with society and went into life, when I didn’t meditate so often I realized this calm mind started to move and stir again. The calmness loses its power and the mind started to stir. Then I realized the thoughts started to develop all the craving like before. It wanted to be successful financially, career wise; it wants to study not only engineering, it wants to do an MBA, the law degree and it had a lot of ambition (like make more money to achieve financial freedom).

I realized there was still movement inside the mind. Then I recalled an incident in the Sutra where the Buddha said, ‘A glass of water with sediment still down there, the moment you stir it, it will arise again. But if you leave it and allow the sediment to settle down on its own then the water appears clear again, like when you do concentration or samatha meditation, all the defilement or mental hindrances will be suppressed.’ I realized that must be the reason. All along, that mind was peaceful, calm and full of mettā due to the Ānāpānasati absorption, the continuous mindfulness. I didn’t go into the daily mindfulness at that time until my teacher Ajahn Yantra told me this: The highest meditation is, ‘we choose aware every action, every movement in the present moment.’ The moment I heard that I knew I have not done this type of meditation as yet. Then I checked; I was hardly even aware or mindful for 5 minutes in a day.

I determined to do it from that moment onwards. I even put up my hand when he asked, `who wants to promise the Buddha?’ I remember at that time two of us put up our hands. I did not know who the other guy was. Within two weeks, the mindfulness came and the whole of meditation became very clear after that. After that my nature’s silent mind and awareness became very different. It started to understand that the eternal nature was already there all these while; once connected the spiritual inheritance and everything else came back to support this nature. That’s how all the conditions fell into place and it matched. Then all of a sudden after that, I started to ‘see’ a lot of things via the true direct seeing and insight kept on arising; then the teacher came, the guide came, the books and everything else came. Everything just fell into place. This nature becomes what it is on its own and it understands that there is no being inside there. That’s why I always told you that this form and mind which you call Bro. Teoh is not me. It’s just a ‘vehicle’ and a ‘tool’, karmically conditioned out for this nature of mine to use, to live life, to perform the function of this nature to fulfil its vows, its affinity with living beings, etc. via this functional body that performs the function of Bro. Teoh for this segment of its nature’s life and to continue with its cultivation and its perfection until all its vows are fulfilled.

3.3 Teoh’s Closing Remarks

This is what meditation is all about. Understand it clearly and don’t be gullible. That’s the reason why I always said, ‘you must meditate with understanding’, otherwise no point. You are wasting your time. You can still be led astray, while thinking you have progressed. Because progress is not about how strong your mind is, how beautiful your mind or meditation is. It’s about understanding via wisdom to free your mind from delusion. When you have that, when you have become more and more mindful, heedful, and the free mind understands, that is the real progress. When `Avijjā Paccaya Saṅkhāra’ weakens; less saṅkhāra, implies less mental activity, less thinking, more clarity, more awareness, more moments of silence and stillness and you become more heedful, that is progress.

There is no need to have all those fantastic meditations. When you can understand things clearly with every moment of sense door contact, your mind will become different. When you return to society and life, it will not stir or react like before. It does not get itself entangled anymore because it has developed the 5 spiritual faculties and understanding to straighten its views. When you have the 5 spiritual faculties cultivated, the 5 mental hindrances will cease to be and the mind will be in a meditative state on its own naturally because there is no more mental hindrance.

It has become a free mind, hence no need to concentrate, no need to focus, no need to train, no need to do anything. It will be like that by itself. But you need wisdom and the spiritual faculties to stay in that state. When you understand that, the whole of meditation becomes different; no more according to what they say. All the methods and techniques, sitting and walking, you only need to do them if you haven’t stabilized the spiritual faculties. That is the reason why you have to train the mind that is still heedless and work very hard. But if you continuously do that and think that is meditation, then you are being gullible because that is just an initial training to anchor the heedless mind when you still lack the stability of the spiritual faculties to make it heedful. That’s why they need to train their heedless mind via all those thought based meditation of noting and focusing, etc.

If you already have the spiritual faculties, the 5 mental hindrances will cease to be by themselves. Then the moment you sit, you are already calm, still, silent, in a free mind state with no more movement. Then when you come out of it, you are also the same; aware and mindful. Walk also the same, go around doing whatever in life you are also in that state of mindfulness. When you lie down to sleep or rest, you are also aware within. This is the real Samadhi, not the calm mind that becomes heedless again (so fast) once it is out of the retreat. All the suppressed mental hindrances can still come out because they are not rooted out via wisdom as yet. This is a very important understanding. We shall stop here at Pg 209. It’s already 4.40pm. Do you have any question? Is there anything that you still need me to clarify? Can you follow? Good! There are some who can. Pass the microphone to our sister Chin over there.

4. Questions And Answers

Q1. Sis. Chin: Bro. Teoh, I have seen in your WhatsApp sharing of the Bodhisattva vows and it’s written there - `nature of mine’. I don’t quite understand.

Bro. Teoh: It’s a very good question. This ‘human being’ is just one segment of our countless lives. We are born into this world because the law of karma brings forth the condition. The Buddha said, ‘We are all born of our Karma, heir to our Karma, conditioned and supported by our Karma; we are what we are because of our Karma’. Hence your question is very good because in the Bodhisattva vow, I use the words `this nature of mine vows’. This word your ‘nature’, the meaning is very deep. It’s not about this form and mind alone because this one is just this life’s segment. It is a ‘vehicle’ and a ‘tool’ for you to come. This ‘nature of mine’ means, all of the countless, billions of births and deaths, the billions and billions of form and mind that had come through karmic conditioning; the summation of all these, is your form and mind’s existences. That one will cumulate into a ‘nature’ which we call ‘karmic nature’ - summation of all your karmic existences. The summation of everything you do – good and bad. They are all accumulated and become your ‘karmic nature’. That’s why through this karmic nature which is recorded in the Nature’s Law, it will condition rebirth.

There is another part which we call the ‘spiritual nature’. ‘Spiritual nature’ means after ‘you’ come as the form and mind, then you develop the understanding to meditate and it enables ‘you’ to connect to that nature of yours which is your true mind via the silent mind. You can, from that moment onward inherit your spiritual nature’s perfections and cultivation to continue your present life spiritual cultivation. And when you connect, that is the moment your ‘spiritual nature’ (with whatever spiritual perfection, wisdom and virtues that you have cultivated from the distant past until now), will help you to understand the cultivation. It can only come in at that time. But if you don’t meditate, if you don’t have the ability to connect to that nature, you cannot inherit; you can only inherit your karmic nature.

When I use those words ‘this nature of mine’, it includes both the karmic and spiritual nature. Which means it’s not about you now making the vow. All of the form and mind that come in the future, they are also included. Then when you cultivate the ‘spiritual nature’, they are all connected. That’s why it will continue life after life until the full perfection. That nature is very different. Like when we vow, “Whomsoever from the distant past until now, that ‘this nature of mine’ whether knowingly or unknowingly has caused any karmic negativity or suffering or mislead, we would like to sincerely ask for forgiveness”. It means you are requesting on behalf of your nature (meaning each and every birth and death, segmented life that you have come before) that has caused any karmic negativity, etc. That’s why it’s very complete; it covers everything. Hence it is also the same for the Bodhisattva vow; it covers everything, not only this life. That ‘nature of mine’ is your entire nature, both karmic and spiritual. Sadhu! To sister Chin for asking such a good question. She will progress very fast. I really rejoice. Sadhu! X3. Okay is there any other question?

If you are not sure you should ask. Like Sis. Chin. She can learn very fast because she’s very sincere and she is a clean slate with hardly any conditioning. She just has faith, then read with faith. Whatever she doesn’t understand, she asks. All her questions thus far are all very good and related. For somebody who really wants to understand she will inquire and investigate. Then the moment, she understands she will progress again. This is how meditation should be developed. You have to be sincere to cultivate sincerely. Don’t be `paiseh’ (shy in hokkien) and feel scared to ask. This is what the thought will tell you. The thought is `paiseh’ or shy not you. But if you are sincere, you just sincerely bring forth whatever question because it will arise the causes and conditions for the Dharma to flow. Do you have any more questions? Otherwise you can meditate. We will switch off the light and you can have thirty five minutes of meditation. I will set the alarm clock for 35 minutes.

You can relax and silenced your mind, then develop the training of the mind if you need to. If you already have the ability to meditate, then you just continue with the meditation. Those who are doing the recording, if you want to pause it you can, then the battery won’t drain so fast.

( 35 minutes of meditation) - Ting! X 3.

For those who still want to meditate, you can continue. For those, who have enough, slowly and mindfully come out of the meditation. Always remember, you are here (most of the time) to stabilize this mindfulness, the silent mind and to train your mind to develop the natural state of awareness, a free mind that is not in concentration, Samatha, one-pointed ness or absorption. Relax into every mind state that arises, and then maintain the silence and awareness within to stabilize it. And when the silent mind stabilizes, it will become very different. It will enable you to develop the meditation; then it will understand. After that you have to make sure, you can bring forth this trained mind state of awareness or sati (the silent mind) to be with you so that in the midst of life you can use it to develop the daily mindfulness cumulating to heedfulness, to be ever mindful, to understand, to develop the wisdom and to insight into phenomena. Also to contemplate and cultivate the Noble Eightfold Path; all these will bring forth the way.

When you are in Sati leading to Appamāda or heedfulness, you are destined for enlightenment. So don’t try to know. Just maintain that daily mindfulness, awareness in all actions and activities daily. Then when you go back, every action, every movement, determine to be aware. When you reach home, it’s the same. When you go to office, working the cultivation is also the same. Maintain mindfulness and this daily mindfulness will arise. It will stabilize.

If you can, have a proper daily religious routine; every day when you reach home, pay respects to your altar. Early morning after you wake up, before you get to do whatever daily chores or answer nature’s call you can determine to pay respects to the Triple Gem first. If it’s urgent, that you have to answer nature’s call first then do it mindfully. After that come out with full awareness to sit (meditate) for a while. If you need to radiate loving kindness (mettā) do it. If you need to do some chanting do it. Then silent your mind to meditate for about fifteen minutes (if you can, half an hour will be very good). Then you can share and transfer merits. In the afternoon, whenever you have the free time, like lunch break or whatever, developed the ability to silence your mind and meditate. Then at night before you sleep, do the same. In between, maintain mindfulness and awareness of whatever that is going on from moment to moment. If you cultivate this way you will progress and your mind will transform. You will become different. Heedfulness will arise. Then you will understand many things including all of the dharma sharing that I have given because they come from the silent mind and you can relate to them easily.

Now we will open up for meditation reporting and Q&A (questions and answers). You can ask any questions related to the meditation or the Dharma. Pass the microphone to Sis. PG.

Q2. Sharing by Sister PG : Bro Teoh, on the way to work and while coming to our class today, I was listening to last Thursday’s dharma sharing by Sis. Eng Bee. The one thing that came to my mind is, how true it is, that we are attached to so many things including good and bad people. She started off with negative people. Then she reflected on people who are kind to her and all that. To me, it shows that we are all so attached. Towards the end of today’s sitting, it just occurs to me, that the Second Noble Truth is so true. It is our attachment and craving that leads us to all our suffering.

Every day, my mind is so restless. Now I can see that it is all due to my attachments to what I have done, from way back then until now. Very often, the mind just runs along, I could see the thoughts keep coming up. But of course, I have not reached the stage where I can be mindful enough to understand that all these thoughts coming up are just condition-arising phenomena, hence impermanent, lead to suffering when we deludedly cling and grasp. The heedless mind without the wisdom just runs along and proliferates so fast and that is the cause of all the restlessness in my life. And that’s also the reason why I can’t sleep at night. This is just part of my sharing today which I hope will help others to understand. Thank you.

Bro. Teoh: Very good! I rejoice with your latest understanding even though you still can’t cope with what has happened. To be able to see this is already a very good progress. It is the beginning of wisdom development and later on deeper understanding will follow. That’s why the Buddha said; when you can see how all these mental activities which are saṅkhāra borne of your self-delusion make you heedless and behave that way then you will understand that it is not because you do it or you make it. It’s because of the conditioning, the attachment and the self-delusion borne of wrong view. You haven’t developed the right view or ability to cope with what happened because the wisdom and the stability of understanding borne of the 2nd turning contemplation and 3rd turning direct seeing is still not there yet. It’s okay. It will come later because today is just the beginning. This is already very good because when you can see how your mind proliferates and thinks a lot via attachment borne of self-delusion as the cause of your suffering you can then reflect and contemplate until very clear then retrospectively reverse it via straightening your views.

If you reflect and check back via mindfulness you will come to realize that it’s all the old stories, the old attachment, your habitual tendencies, your wrong views and your opinions, the way you have been behaving, your conditioning, your reaction and stirring of mind. And when you look clearly, all of a sudden you will realize and understand, this is what the Buddha meant by ‘Sabbe Saṅkhāra Dukkha’. That is: all of Saṅkhāra (mental activities and thinking borne of attachment) bring about suffering, nothing else. Then like you say, they are also impermanent. You will come to understand the reason why the Buddha said, ‘Sabbe Saṅkhāra Anicca’; Anicca means Impermanence, they come and they go; they are dependent originating. You have to reflect and contemplate on all these until you understand them clearly. Then you will realize, no point thinking, holding and reacting. All these have become habitual tendencies borne of your wrong view and heedlessness. These habitual tendencies are very difficult to root out. That’s how it makes you heedless. That’s how you become what you are. When you understand, this is the cause of suffering. What must you do? You have to straighten your views. Straighten your views means what? Allow it to arise, don’t resist it, don’t suppress it, and don’t control it. Do not be afraid of it. Just allow the saṅkhāra to arise and pass away. Don’t follow. Don’t continue your old way of habitual thinking, habitual verbalization and chattering etc. Forget about it because you already knew as you were in tears just now.

If you saw that as the cause of your suffering, it means the Second Noble Truth is so true. It’s your attachment, your clinging (via self delusion) when you give meaning to them and all these seem so important to you. All these are the understanding of it. This is an initial realization, realizing that these are all Saṅkhāra (mental thinking, activities due to your wrong view, your conditioning, the way you perceive thing) and mind made are they. A phenomena world of consciousness, an illusion hence how real can it be? Then why do you still continue to react, stir and allow all these wrong thought to proliferate. This is mere delusion right? Why not, allow them to be via seeing things as they are, do not resist, do not become unhappy, do not blame yourself and do not ask why am I so heedless after hearing so much dharma, after going to so many meditation retreats. No need. You just accept them for what they are. Then there is no resistance, no suppression and no control. You allow it to be and let it flower. Then tell yourself, ‘the untrained mind without the spiritual faculties, without the stability of understanding is heedless’. It thinks a lot, these habitual tendencies have yet to be rooted out. That’s the reason why meditation is mainly about developing wisdom and the straightening of views to deal with all these. It’s not about suppressing all these through calmness, through peacefulness, through all the formal meditation, no use.

When you are peaceful in the midst of life and your mind is not in a conditioned state, the free mind does not think, does not proliferate, does not do all these. That is the real meditation, the real Samadhi, which is the real silent mind, the true mind, the meditative mind. Hence allow it to be. Do not resist it. Then through the silence, you will start to understand and witness slowly how the Saṅkhāra slows down, loses its power day by day, as you learn to accept the reality of the moment or ‘what IS’. Do not resist, do not try to do anything because all these doing, trying, control, suppressing, and resisting, they come from the thought. And thought create more mental activity and make you more heedless because thought is knowledge, thought-based knowledge.

Knowledge which is accumulation via memory arises as thought to condition one to keep on saying, ‘I must not think, I must not be heedless.’ No point because the source of heedlessness is your deluded thinking and your thinking comes from your thought and thought is response to memory. As long as you accumulate and hold on to them via memory heedlessness will continue. Why can’t you just relax, silent and let things be. Just like swimming, relax and free yourself. The natural tendency of the body is buoyancy. When you relax and don’t struggle you will float. You don’t have to learn how to float right? In a similar way, your mind, if you just relax and allow it to be, then this thinking will slow down on its own because the natural state of mind before its stirring and reaction to sense experience is stillness, silence and just aware - without thought. The moment you are without thought you are already aware. Hence the silent mind is very important. You just allow it to be, until one day, you will realize, ‘Hey! I don’t have to do anything. I just have to relax and stay silent then the silent mind just understands.’

Don’t try to know. Just be aware of the arising and passing away of all phenomena. That’s it. Don’t try to know. Don’t try to link the Dharma. Don’t try to do anything. Then the understanding will arise. It’s just like how you saw your own suffering. After a long time of observation, you will come to understand. Then the next phase is, allow it to be. Don’t resist, don’t fight, don’t control, don’t suppress! Let it be. Then everything is just the way it is, dependent-originating, conditioned arising. Without ignorance when you understand you will straighten your view and allow it to be, there is no more resistance, suppression, nor control; there is also no ‘meditator’ and ‘controller’ for the ‘controller is the controlled’ and the ‘meditator’ is the thought. When this is understood, the thought is no longer active. Then you just allow it to be or let things be.

But these habitual tendencies need wisdom to root out and it will take some time. Then like what J. Krishnamurti said, `the very flowering of that thought process is the very ending of that thought process’ because thought is energy based, dependent originating, condition arise via ignorance and delusion. When you have straightened your views and don’t feed it with anymore thought energy via delusion, when you don’t do anything, everything will start to slow down. Then you will come upon the silence and the stillness on its own via not doing anything. This is the 3rd way to overcome unwholesome thought as advised by the Buddha.

If you find difficulty with the sitting posture, you can sit on a chair like what I’m doing or you can lie down - silent and just aware. The danger is, initially when you are still not stable, you may fall asleep. Initially it’s okay. But maintain awareness within. Then later on when you are skilful, you can lie down on the floor to meditate. This is the most relaxed posture. If you know how to relax and just let things be then the silence will be there more and more and this is mindfulness. If you have trained yourself in Ānāpānasati, then do Ānāpānasati. After you come out of your meditation, you can continue with your Ānāpānasati. But you have to relax into every mind state that arises and whatever thought that arises, just let it be because when you are in this very strong continuous mindfulness, the defilements are also suppressed. It’s the same as concentration and energy field meditation. You have to relax and release it out into normal awareness. That’s why for those who do Ānāpānasati, when they are very absorbed in their meditation, they are not able to develop much wisdom because it’s a conditioned state with all the mental hindrances still suppressed. You have to release it out and then go into daily mindfulness cultivation. Train the mind to reach the stability of a normal mind (not in a conditioned state). Then use that to meditate, to live life. Use it to understand what is going on in life, to observe yourself, the movement of thought, the movement of the activities of mind (Saṅkhāra) and your aggregates of mind. You will witness all the essential Dharma within. Take for example the mindfulness of the 5 mental hindrances which is the 1st category of practice of the 4th foundation of mindfulness (Dhammānupassanā). You will start to see them according to the Sutra because when you are silent, observant and just aware you will understand how the ‘un arisen mental hindrance’ comes to be. They arise due to your wrong view at the moment of sense experience.

According to the Buddha without the stable 5 spiritual faculties the 5 mental hindrances will arise. They will hinder your mind from entering the meditative state of inner peace and inner awareness. These 5 mental hindrances of sensual desire, ill-will, sloth and torpor, restlessness of mind and doubt will become your habitual tendencies thereby making you heedless. If I just let it be and continue to relax and maintain silence within then sati will arise because you no longer stir the mind via wrong view to arise the mental hindrances of sensual desire and ill-will. That’s how you meditate. When you become quiet, peaceful and still and you don’t deludedly give the mental hindrances any more meaning via arising the spiritual faculties of sati, these mental hindrances will disappear and cease to be. Then you will come to realize that the original state of mind, without the wrong view to condition those Saṅkhāra’s stirring and thinking via habitual tendencies is already in the meditative state of inner peacefulness and stillness. Realizing this is wisdom.

Sati (or mindfulness) will give rise to the pure awareness - which is the original state of mind before the stirring will be there. It is already mindful, it is already aware, it is already peaceful. This is how you learn. Then like what the sutra said, ‘you will come to understand how the arisen mental hindrances cease to be, just by not doing anything, following the Buddha’s 3rd way to meditate - via just silent and aware’. To develop the more stable wisdom, you have to use the 4th way as taught by the Buddha to trace the origination factors via sati then retrospectively reverse it. It every time comes in through your senses especially via the seeing, hearing and thought mind doors. This is how you come to trace its origination factors via sati. Then don’t react or stir your mind, just allow it to be; the natural state of mind which is already aware (in Sati) will arise because without thought, you are already aware. This is how you meditate.

Regarding tracing the origination factors you have to be very mindful. It’s always from one of your senses. Your thinking is the mind door and it moves very fast. It arises every time you see something, the moment of sense impression, sense perception, seeing consciousness, hearing consciousness, thought consciousness etc. Then later on, when you are more skilful, more stable in your daily mindfulness cultivation, you can even understand how your taste and smell consciousness function; how it arises the subtle craving of sensual desire and ill will (mental hindrances) via your wrong view. You will understand them all. Then when you reflect and contemplate, you will start to understand that ‘Thing is just the way it is’.

When I am near to something smelly or pungent or with foul smell the senses will pick it up, then your mind have two choices; whether I accept the reality of the moment and be at peace with it or the moment I smell through my perception and negativity, I react. Then I will have the aversion to move away. This is how I see within my mind, how the unarisen mental hindrance of ill-will comes to be.  Why can’t I accept the reality of ‘What IS’? I am just a form and mind with the senses; when I am nearby, I will smell it. If I have to endure, I have to endure. I have to let it be, then walk pass it because thing is just the way it is. When I am near this place, the sense experiences will come. If I can accept it, I don’t have to fight it, resist it or push it away. Technically I don’t have to do anything. I just mindfully move on. If I need to walk away, then I just walk away.

The best test was: - about 20+ over years ago, I like to walk to our ‘pasar malam’ (night market in SS2) and ‘wai sek kai’ (glutton square) because at night they have a lot of nice food. At that time my mindfulness was already so stable, I ‘saw’ how the sense data come, how upon contact it triggers off consciousness, then how the mind wants to latch onto it because of habitual tendencies. With the understanding, it can accept things as they are via understanding; when your senses are there, when you are nearby, it will come and these are dependent originating, conditioned arising phenomena, saṅkhāra - mind states are they. They arise and they pass away following the law of dependent origination. That’s how the understanding frees the mind. Then it just senses. It’s just aware and it does not get lost in thought. It does not get entangled anymore. It moves on. It’s fully aware and mindful. That’s how daily mindfulness is to be cultivated. I can still decide what I want to buy. Sometimes I just walk one round then I come back didn’t buy anything. Sometimes I buy something.

Whenever I travel or move around, even while in my office, my mind is very sensitive and fully aware. It can sense many things. But it’s not involved because it understands, these are the realities. If you continue with this type of daily mindfulness cultivation via straightening your views constantly, you will progress much faster than those who just go for formal meditation and retreats to experience all those good meditation, calmness and peacefulness but never develop the daily mindfulness; never contemplate to develop the straightening of their views to develop the wisdom to cope with life, to cope with the mundane and the heedless mind, the delusion and the attachment.

You will definitely progress a lot faster. This is the real mediation, not the sitting, walking and the doing without understanding. Those are just for those who still have the mental hindrances and those whose spiritual faculties are not stable yet, to train their minds. That’s the reason why they have to do that. They have no choice. They have to anchor their mind to the object of meditation, and these are all thought-based, still involving a lot of thought-based noting and doing.

Have you not suffered enough via your delusion all these while? Do you still want to continue with all these types of gullible meditation? The moment you come out of this type of meditation retreat you are back to square one and very soon you become heedless again. Why can’t you see that? Why can’t you develop the understanding and remind yourself, ‘I need to be mindful in the midst of life. I need to have awareness. I need to have all these understanding so that I can cope with life, so that I can cope with the sense experiences arising from the six sense doors’. Do you know, they arise and pass away so fast? In the midst of life, mental activities arise and pass away so fast; sense experiences arise and pass away so fast, hence without a stable daily mindfulness leading to Heedfulness in daily life how can you cope? Without wisdom, without Yoniso Manasikāra (the wise attention at the moment of sense experience) you cannot cope with life. Then you can forget about meditation because according to Dhammapada verse 21 of the Buddha, ‘the Heedless are as if dead’ hence all these doing without understanding have got no more meaning. If you meditate without understanding then you are trying to fool yourself, deceiving yourself, thinking that you have meditated. No! The real meditation is to understand all these in the midst of life, to see your defilements, to see the essential dharma, to straighten your views and to free your mind; not to latch onto all those so called good meditation via delusion anymore and not to cling onto them anymore. Wisdom cannot be developed via knowledge. It is only possible to develop it via the silent mind that sees and understands all these. If you are serious about life, serious about meditation, you will see them through your silent mind.

That’s the reason why meditation is about training this mind to be aware, stabilizing it, developing the spiritual faculties to overcome the mental hindrances. When you have cultivated the 5 spiritual faculties until they are very stable, your mindfulness will be there. You will be mindful naturally. You can meditate very easily in any posture, anywhere, anytime and anyplace. The problem with human beings is, initially they are already heedless because they haven’t developed the opposite 5 spiritual faculties to cope with their mental hindrances. Hence they don’t know what to do. Just like your case, you only start to see how it affects you and how it torments you. The Second Noble Truth is so true and clear to you only now.

If this is the case then you have to determine and inquire, ‘How can I develop the wisdom to free my mind? How can I come out of it? How can I develop the wisdom, especially the contemplative wisdom of the Second Turning to free?’ Reflect on the Dharma that the Buddha has taught us. Reflect on what I have shared with you. I have introduced a lot of skilful means, a lot of understanding for you to awaken, to liberate, for you to understand and not to be gullible anymore. These are all the understanding that can help you straighten your views.

I used to advise you as follows: ‘whenever you are not peaceful and not happy, the mental hindrances are there’. This is how you check for defilements. You will come to realize that you have been holding onto all these (likes and dislikes and pleasant and unpleasant reaction of mind) all the while. That’s why most of the time you are heedless and not peaceful; to sleep also you have difficulty. But now, at least, you can see that these are the causes of suffering. Then when you relate it to the Dharma you will understand: No wonder, the Buddha said. `Sabbe Saṅkhāra’ (all of these mental activities) led to suffering. And why did the Buddha say, `Sabbe Saṅkhāra Aniccam’? Why did he say, they are impermanent? As I had explained, you have to reflect and contemplate until you understand. Saṅkhāra are mental activities and they arise and they pass away. That’s why they are impermanent; they are condition-arising, dependent origination, based on your views and opinions. Wrong views create wrong thoughts. You have to understand what constitutes wrong thoughts. Only then can you determine to arise the right effort to abandon them because these are evil thoughts that are unfit for attention according to the Sabbāsava Sutta.

Then things that you have to endure, you have to endure. For precepts, you have to restrain yourself. You have to restrain from killing, causing harm etc. When condition is harsh, you have to endure, you have to endure. Dangerous situation you have to avoid. For some defilements you have to overcome them through wisdom, you have to reflect and contemplate and develop the understanding to straighten your views. When you have the ability to see what constitutes evil and wrong thoughts then you can arise the right effort to abandon them straight away via using the 5 ways as taught by the Buddha. The first two ways are thought based, then the third way is meditative followed by the fourth way which is the wisdom way.

After you have the ability to abandon them, you can arise the right effort to prevent them from arising the next time. The moment you see or hear you will know, the habitual tendencies (your old way of reaction to sense experience, they will come again. Then you can use your understanding, your wisdom to stop it via saying, ‘Enough! You have caused me enough suffering before.’ Then it ceases to be. The defilements move with the same pattern. You just aware and you will understand, just like what happened to Sis. Alicia. After 16 years of severe depression, she just came out of it after having this understanding. There is no need for any medication or to visit the Psychiatrists anymore. After that every time the thought tries to arise, to let her think the old way, the negative way, she will just say, `Enough’, then finish! ‘You have tormented me for so long. That’s it, enough! That is so stupid of me!’ She can do it now because of her new understanding.

Later on, when you start to cultivate more of these, right thoughts, wholesome thoughts, love, mettā, borne of right views, this will be your new way of living life, the heedful way, the wholesome and righteous way. This training will help you de-condition your heedless thinking and do away with all the wrong thoughts. Later on, you don’t need to have the right effort to abandon the wrong thoughts or prevent them from arising anymore because you will be always cultivating the right effort to arise the right thoughts that are still not in you, like sincerity, generosity, gentleness, pleasantness, kindness, goodness, the good emotion - 好脾气 (hǎo Pí qì’). Good emotions mean you will not behave like last time via selfishness and delusion. That is cultivating the 3rd right effort to cultivate the right thought, right speech, right action and right living and livelihood that are still not in you followed by the last or 4th right effort to refine upon and perfect all those right thoughts, right speech, right action, wholesomeness and understanding that you have already cultivated. Then you will have a lot of gratitude, a lot of respect for others and you will rejoice whenever there is wholesomeness. You will rejoice in the goodness of what people do - their wholesomeness. No more envy and jealousy. You don’t perceive people with negativity anymore. You will come to realize, all these understanding can help straighten your views and when you have right views it will condition your right thoughts then you become beautiful and wholesome. Your mind becomes so different and people will like you. The animals will like you, all the beings, they can feel you. Then your nature shines forth. There is an aura that is rather radiant and very different. They become your karmic inheritance. Then you become beautiful. That’s how you transform and this is what meditation is all about; then your cultivation becomes beautiful and this will transform you from a heedless deluded way of living into a heedful wholesome way of living life. Then your life becomes so different. There is so much love, so much understanding and so much joy. Then life takes a turn and become so meaningful. You can experience all of the pristine beauties and wonders of life. You see life in a different light, not like before, every day getting angry, unhappy, stressful, miserable, running around here and there, holding onto this, holding onto that, worry about this and that, etc. That is crazy, heedless living with so much suffering and so much misery. Why can’t I develop the understanding to be more aware, to be at peace with every moment and every situation in life? Then I can get to experience all of the pristine beauties and wonders of life.

I can be with the moment more and more, more and more, with more and more joy. If I don’t think, don’t carry things or all those burdens around, don’t worry about them, then I am at peace. Why do you have to worry? Why do you carry? All these come from delusion, due to your wrong views. You don’t have right view. You don’t have faith in your own karma. That’s why you project your thoughts and you worry so much. If you have faith, if you have followed the advice of the Buddha to avoid all evil, do good and purify the mind, take the Bodhisattva vows, your nature will be beautiful.

You will have the ability to avoid all the negative conditions that can lead to negativities of karma. Then all these beautiful understanding and cultivation will help arise the conditions for good karma to come, for you to receive your good karmic inheritance and your spiritual nature will also come. Then when you continue to develop the purification of mind, the wisdom, you become more and more beautiful, you become more wholesome and virtuous. And this is what meditation is all about. Not all the sitting, the walking and doing of all those funny things without proper understanding. They have no choice but to do them because they have not trained their minds. They don’t have the spiritual faculties. They don’t understand this very important point and they still think what they have been doing all these while is meditation. That is the most gullible because that is just a skilful means to train their heedless minds. But most of them don’t understand and instead go into energy field via focusing and concentrating their mind. That’s why they cannot progress. They get trapped there via clinging to the peacefulness and the calmness of mind.

All these peacefulness, calmness and stillness of mind will come when you have the correct understanding to meditate because these are by products of meditation. But there are 2 types of meditation. If you go into energy field, then it is Samatha bhāvanā and you develop all the calmness and peace - that is also one way to get it. The other one is the wisdom way via Vipassanā insight. You just silent your mind and allow it to develop the understanding; this one is very peaceful and harmonious. The calmness, the stillness, the quietness come from understanding, come from a free mind that doesn’t hold and cling because of the understanding.

That’s why if you cultivate the wisdom way there is this Upekkhā (equanimity) enlightenment factor borne of wisdom as opposed to the other one. That one, you have to be in energy field which is a conditioned state, to be peaceful, calm and still but the defilements, anusayas (latent tendencies) are still inside, not rooted out yet because they are all suppressed by the energy fields generated to make the mind still. That one cannot cope with life, that one cannot understand life, that one cannot live life. That’s the reason why when you understand these two differences, you will not be gullible. You will not be doing all those thought based meditation. You will just know what to do, what is important, what is essential. If you need to train the mind, train it. If you need to build up the spiritual faculties build them up and be patient. Then have a good religious routine, develop daily mindfulness and I can assure you - you will progress very fast. Then contemplate to straighten your views. This is what meditation is all about. Okay? We should thank Sis. PG for asking the good question and providing the good condition for this beautiful sharing to be possible! Sadhu! (3x)

We still have two minutes. Do you have any more questions? …. Ah! Pass the mic (microphone) to our sister. Today’s recording I hope it is in order. The dharma shared can help many people.

Q3. Sis. Chin: Bro Teoh, it’s actually not a question. I would like to share my experience. That day I think it is a Tuesday class after I listen to its recording about the consciousness - I don’t quite understand yet I tried to listen. So during that night, I was in deep sleep and my mind like ‘awakened’. It is not with full clarity but it is good enough for me to be aware of my body. I don’t call it body because it’s like white foam. It’s just the awareness of it, full of vibration. Then when the mind tried to understand, the concept of the body starts to arise, and then I felt the vibration again. Then it continued for one or two minutes. Then it went back.

Bro. Teoh: Very, very good! I rejoice! Sadhu! (3x) When you really meditate with understanding, it becomes like that. You can see, her mindfulness is good, that’s why she can feel her whole bodily vibration and there is no word or concept of a body. Because when you are in the state of awareness, you can feel the whole thing. But there is no word. Then when she tried to understand - that’s when the thought tried to come out and relate it. Then she saw how the creation, how the solidity came back. This is what meditation is all about; this is what that mind is all about. When you are fully aware, you will understand that the true mind and the mundane mind are so different. The moment perception arises, the aggregates of mind arise and the mundane mind arises. That’s why she saw. And this is what meditation is all about and this is how you develop understanding and wisdom. This is how beautiful it can be. That’s why I rejoice with her good progress. Sadhu! (3x)

Continue with your cultivation to develop the training further. Do not be complacent, otherwise you can lose it. So this is meditation. That’s why I said, you must have faith. You must have a simple mind, listen attentively and give it a try. Have an open mind. When you contemplate and reflect and come to a realization that what I have shared with you (regarding those thought based meditation they do) is so true, i.e. it will not lead them anywhere, then you will no longer be gullible. Otherwise you can be wasting a lot of your precious time year in and year out; sometimes for thirty years, forty years, doing the same thing and you are still back to square one, not much change except maybe Dharma knowledge wise. For these people, when they sit, they are calmer and more peaceful. But when they don’t sit, they are back to square one and yet they still don’t understand. They still think they are meditating. In the midst of life if you cannot be heedful and mindful, you don’t stand a chance. The reason being, the Buddha said it very clearly under Dhammapada verse 21, ‘the heedless are as if dead (spiritually). Heedlessness is the path to the dead’. Without heedfulness, you don’t stand a chance. Okay. Good! And I rejoice (Sadhu! x3). I hope it’s recorded. We should end because my brother from Alor Star is coming over. We will do the sharing and transfer of merits etc. – the closing puja.

5. Closing Pūjā

Closing Pūjā chanting: (covering the sharing of merits, transference of merits, invoking the blessing for our nation and making of aspiration etc. The class ends with reverential salutation via mindful bow of respect to Lord Buddha, Guan Yin Bodhisattva and all the Worthy Ones).

Table of Contents

36th Lesson of the Sixth Patriarch’s Platform Sutra

White Board Note of 36th Lesson of Sixth Patriarch Platform Sutra

Biodata of Bro. Teoh Kian Koon

1. Preface

2. Acknowledgement

3. 36th Lesson Sixth Patriarch’s Platform Sutra

3.1 Pre-Pūjā

3.2 Dharma Sharing By Bro. Teoh

3.2.1 What Is The Purpose Of Meditation?

3.2.2 The Mind Must Have No Dwelling

3.2.3. Only Truth And Wisdom Liberates The Mind

3.2.4. Meditation Is Not About Sitting Only

3.3 Teoh’s Closing Remarks

4. Questions And Answers

5. Closing Pūjā