The Key to Liberation

　　by Ajahn Chah The following Dhamma talk was informally given to a visiting

　　scholar monk who had come to pay respects to Venerable Ajahn Chah.

　　In Buddhism, the primary reason we study the Dhamma (the truth) is to find the way to transcend suffering and attain peace. Whether you study physical or mental phenomena, the citta (mind or consciousness) or cetasika (mental factors), it is only when you make liberation from suffering your ultimate goal, rather than anything else, that you will be practicing in the correct way. This is because suffering and its causes already exist right here and now.

　　As you contemplate the cause of suffering, you should understand that when that which we call the mind is still, it”s in a state of normality. As soon as it moves, it becomes sankhara (that which is fashioned or concocted). When attraction arises in the mind, it is sankhara; when aversion arises, it is sankhara. If there is desire to go here and there, it is sankhara. As long as you are not mindful of these sankharas, you will tend to chase after them and be conditioned by them. Whenever the mind moves, it becomes sammuti-sankhara - enmeshed in the conditioned world - at that moment. And it is these sankharas - these movements of the mind - which the Buddha taught us to contemplate.

　　Whenever the mind moves, it is aniccam (impermanent), dukkham (suffering) and anatta (not self). The Buddha taught us to observe and contemplate this. He taught us to contemplate sankharas which condition the mind. Contemplate them in light of the teaching of paticcasamuppada (Dependent Origination): avijja (ignorance) conditions sankhara (karmic formations); sankhara conditions vinnana (consciousness); vinnana conditions nama (mentality) and rupa (materiality); and so on.

　　You have already studied and read about this in the books, and what”s set out here is correct as far as it goes, but in reality you”re not able to keep up with the process as it actually occurs. It”s like falling out of a tree: in a flash, you”ve fallen all the way from the top of the tree and hit the ground, and you have no idea how many branches you passed on the way down. When the mind experiences an arammana (mind-object) and is attracted to it, all of a sudden you find yourself experiencing a good mood without being aware of the causes and conditions which led up to it. Of course, on one level the process happens according to the theory described in the scriptures, but at the same time it goes beyond the limitations of the theory. In reality, there are no signs telling you that now it”s avijja, now it”s sankhara, then it”s vinnana, now it”s nama-rupa and so on. These scholars who see it like that, don”t get the chance to read out the list as the process is taking place. Although the Buddha analyzed one moment of consciousness and described all the different component parts, to me it”s more like falling out of a tree - everything happens so fast you don”t have time to reckon how far you”ve fallen and where you are at any given moment. What you know is that you”ve hit the ground with a thud, and it hurts!

　　What takes place in the mind is similar. Normally, when you experience suffering, all you really see is the end result, that there is suffering, pain, grief and despair present in the mind. You don”t really know where it came from - that”s not something you can find in the books. There”s nowhere in the books where the intricate details of your suffering and its causes are described. The reality follows along the same course as the theory outlined in the scriptures, but those who simply study the books and never get beyond them, are unable to keep track of these things as they actually happen in reality.

　　Thus the Buddha taught to abide as ”that which knows” …

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