Deep Insight
Ajahn Brahmavamso
Perth, April 1999
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This article is a transcription of one of the talks given by Ajahn Brahmavamso during a 9-day meditation retreat in North Perth, April 1999.
This morning”s talk is the last of the major talks of this retreat and so it”s nice to talk about those things which really count. In other words, it”s about the practice of deep insight to find out the way of the mind, the way of the world, and also to be able to have such insight which can really change one”s way of looking at things and thereby change one”s life. So this is that deep insight we”re looking at, which is life-changing. And that”s the sort of deep insight which the Buddha was recommending and which forms the heart of this path.
When I talked in the last few days about the Eightfold Path, in some parts of the suttas there”s a Ten-fold Path. They add an extra two factors on the end. Did you know that
This is the hidden two factors of the eightfold path. We only give these secret teachings at the end of a retreat! They”re not really secret at all. The ninth factor is right wisdom, right understanding, samma-nyana, an understanding which is not just view, but which is a real deep seeing. The tenth factor is the perfect release - freedom, samma-vimutti. But it”s nice to add those two factors onto the end of the eightfold path. It”s as if the eightfold path is what you”re doing and the ninth and tenth factors are what happens as a result. By practicing the Eightfold Path you get that insight wisdom, samma-nyana, the clear seeing into reality. Seeing things as they truly are and not as they appear to be, or as we want them to be, but as they truly are. A result of that is the tenth factor - perfect freedom.
Those are two factors which need to be stressed in this eightfold path, or tenfold path, because they show that this eightfold path is what you do to get somewhere. And to get it through insight, through wisdom. But when people use that word "insight" they should really stress the word "in" - actually to see within, to see deep within, to see the source of things. Because so much of what people take to be "insight" is really "ex-sight", and that”s why it excites you! It”s seeing outside somewhere. And that”s why it sort of stimulates the mind instead of settling it. If it really is true insight it makes you very peaceful and calm. So there”s a difference there and again, the main reason why people don”t get those deep insights is because their mind is not calm enough, not powerful enough to see deeply within themselves. And that”s why traditionally, in Buddhism, to gain that sort of insight we say the Five Hindrances [1] have to be overcome first of all. That”s the whole job of the Eightfold Path, if you like, to overcome the five hindrances, and to get the mind in that sort of state that it”s clear and it”s powerful, and it can discover insight. So the insight is the result of the Eightfold Path - and I”m talking about the big insight now.
And so to overcome those five hindrances that I”ve been talking about, you”ve seen very clearly in the last eight or nine days that there”s something you should know about - the hindrances, their power, and just how sneaky they are sometimes. Just when you think that you”re getting peaceful, sometimes a thought might come up, a desire, a wanting, and that”s a hindrance which stops you getting into deep meditation. Or sometimes a little bit of ill-will towards yourself which manifests as impatience - that”s a form of ill-will. And to see those and hindrances shows you how insidious and difficult are these hindrances to overcome. And to gain insight, all the teachers, all the texts, all say that without aband…
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