..續本文上一頁aning moon of the eleventh month, Luang Pu”s birthday, falls on the second day after the end of the Rains Retreat every year. So his students — both scholarly monks and practicing monks — liked to travel to pay their respects to him on that day, to ask his advice on the practice or to report the results of their practice from the preceding Rains. This is one tradition they observed as long as he was alive.
Once, after giving detailed advice on how to practice, Luang Pu ended with the following words,
"Studying the Dhamma by reading and listening results in perceptions and concepts. Studying the Dhamma by practicing it results in actual levels of Dhamma in the heart."
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71. There”s only one place
Phra Maha Thaweesuk was the first of Luang Pu”s students to pass the ninth and final level of the Pali exams. Thus, in Luang Pu”s name, Wat Burapha sponsored a celebration of his achievement.
After Phra Maha Thaweesuk had paid his respects to Luang Pu, Luang Pu gave him a short admonition:
"To be able to pass the ninth level exams shows that you”re very industrious, sufficiently intelligent, and an expert in the Canon, for this counts as the completion of the study course. But to be interested just in study can”t bring release from suffering. You have to be interested in the practice of training the mind as well.
"All 84,000 sections of the Dhamma came out of the Buddha”s mind. Everything comes out of the mind. Whatever you want to know, you can look for it in the mind."
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72. The world vs. the Dhamma
On March 12, 1979, Luang Pu went to Sri Kaew Cave Monastery on Phu Phaan Mountain, Sakon Nakorn province, for more than ten days of solitude and rest. On the evening of the last day before he was to leave, Ajaan Suwat together with the other monks and novices in the monastery came to pay their respects.
Luang Pu commented, "It”s been comfortable resting here. The air is good, and the meditation easy. It makes me think of the old days when I was wandering."
Then he gave a Dhamma talk, which included the following passage:
"That which can be known all belongs to the world. As for that which has no thing that can know it, that”s the Dhamma. The world always has things that come in pairs, but the Dhamma is one thing all the way through."
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73. Should you ask
Many people interested in the practice, whether lay or ordained, are not only intent on their practice but also like to search out teachers who are skilled in giving advice.
Once a group of meditating monks from the central region of Thailand came to spend many days listening to Luang Pu”s Dhamma and to his advice on meditation. One of the monks told Luang Pu of his feelings: "I”ve searched out many teachers, and although they all teach well, they generally teach just about the Vinaya, or the practicing of wandering and following the ascetic practices, or else the bliss and stillness that come from practicing concentration. But as for you, you teach the straight route to the top: not-self, emptiness, nibbana. Forgive me for being so forward as to ask, but in teaching about nibbana, have you attained it yet
"
Luang Pu answered,
"There”s nothing that will attain, and nothing that won”t attain."
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74. The purpose of the practice
Ajaan Bate, a close relative of Luang Pu”s, lived at Khoke Mawn Monastery. Even though he ordained only late in life, he was extremely strict in his practice of meditation and the ascetic practices. Luang Pu once praised him, saying …
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