“…The Buddha exhorts us to calm our mind as the first priority because when the mind is restless and agitated it is confused, it can’t tell north from south, cause from effect, right from wrong, good from bad, pain from pleasure; it is deluded, not seeing things clearly as they are, such as seeing pleasure in sensual gratification when in fact it’s miserable and painful.
When we are addicted to sensual pleasure we are subjected to stress and discontent like a drinker or a drug user, whereas a non-drinker or a non-user of drugs would know the difference, that it’s better not to be addicted to alcohol or drugs.
When we are possessed by the kilesa or delusion we would not be able to see clearly. It is therefore imperative that we should first make the mind calm in order to clear up the clouds of defilement blinding the mind like purifying water of pollutants.
Once the water is separated from the pollutants it would become clear and transparent and would enable us to see what’s in the water. It is the same with the mind, when it’s defiled it would become murky, couldn’t see clearly, not knowing what is obscuring its vision.
But once the mind has calmed down it would temporarily be cleared of the defilement of greed, anger and delusion, enabling it to experience a brief moment of joy and peace, long enough to let it know what true happiness is and where to find it.
Next we must use discernment (paññā) to separate good from bad, right from wrong, wholesome from unwholesome, etc., just like separating the pollutants from the water. With a mind calm and content we would see that the defilement (kilesa) such as greed, anger and delusion are really a threat to our happiness and contentment because when the mind is calm and tranquil, it would render the kilesa temporarily inactive,creating peace and contentment as a result, but as soon as the mind emerged from repose (samādhi) the kilesa would become active again by inciting greed, anger and delusion into action causing it to become restless and agitated.
We would be able to see the harmful effect caused by the kilesa very clearly if we have already developed samādhi even if we haven’t heard of the kilesa before, we would know them by their destructive impact on our peace of mind and mental well being.
When we realize this, we must apply paññā (insight) based on the four noble truths (ariya-sacca) and the three characteristics of existence (ti–lakkhaṇa) inherent in all conditioned phenomena namely, being inconstant (anicca), stressful (dukkha), and anattā (not-self) to eliminate them. If we cling to anything in this world we would be consumed by stress, sorrow and pain because they are impermanent, subject to change and dissolution and are not ours or ourselves such as our body for example, which we can see clearly will get old, get sick and die one day, sooner or later.
If we cling to it we would then wish it to live for as long as possible which is a form of greed or craving that runs contrary to the truth of the Buddha’s teaching that says all bodies are impermanent, cause stress and anguish, and not a self.
If we have the Dhamma teaching residing in our mind to remind us of the truth of the ti–lakkhaṇa we would be able to eliminate our attachment to our body because it’s like a lump of burning coal that would burn our hands if we scoop it up. But if we merely look, it would not cause us any pain, because the body is just a lump of the four physical elements namely, earth (solidity), water (liquidity), wind (gas) and fire (heat) that our deluded mind happens to take possession of. If we know this and let go of our clinging, it would then not cause us any pain or anguish.
It’s similar to taking possession of a plot of land that doesn’t belong to anybody and claims it to be our property. If someone should snatch it away from us we would be sorry because we were attached to something that doesn’t really belong to us in the first place and would not permanently remain with us anyway.
Our body is like this plot of land that we stake our claim to by considering it to be ours and ourselves. When it becomes old, sick and dies, we would be consumed by sorrow and pain because we lack paññā or insight into its true nature…”
By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto
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