The Path to Enlightenment
Dhamma Talk No.10
August 22, 2007
By Ajaan Suchart (Abhijato Bhikkhu)
Transcribed by Eurmporn Pechapan
Edited by June Gibb
The following talk was given to a group of university students from the European Union.
Let me start by welcoming you all to Thailand and to Buddhism. Buddhism is the teaching of the Buddha, an enlightened person who knows what we don”t know, sees what we don”t see, namely, the mind, the other half of ourselves. We only see our body, but we don”t see the mind. We don”t know what the mind is, don”t know how to make our mind happy. Instead we tend to do the opposite. We make our mind unhappy all the time. We worry, are anxious and restless. We don”t know how to take care of our mind. We don”t even know that we have a mind to look after. So we only take care of our body and our desires. This is where the problem is. We don”t know what the mind needs, what makes the mind happy. We need someone like the Buddha to tell us. If we believe him and follow his teaching then our mind will always be happy and content.
Buddhism arises from the enlightenment of the Buddha. After the Buddha became enlightened he spread this knowledge to other people. People who heard and took up his teaching eventually became enlightened. They then helped spread this knowledge further until today. Buddhism is now 2550 years old. Why is Buddhism still practical and useful today
It”s because it can teach us to find what we”re looking for, which is happiness and contentment, that nothing else in this world can. No matter how much money we have, we will still be hungry, still want more. We will never find contentment or be free from stress, anxiety, worry and fear. Because we don”t know how.
What we should know is that our existence, our life, is composed of two parts: the body and the mind. The body is the servant, the mind is the master. Before the body can do anything, like standing, walking, going here and there, it first has to take command from the mind. For example the mind has to think first that you want to come to Thailand. Then your body begins making preparations, getting your passport, visa, and money ready. The mind initiates all our physical and verbal actions, which can be either good, bad, or neither good nor bad. A good action generates feelings of peace and happiness. A bad action creates stress, anxiety, worry, agitation and restlessness. Action that is neither good nor bad produces neither good nor bad feelings. These are the three types of actions that are initiated by the mind.
Good action is when we think of doing something good for other people, helping other people. Like buying a piece of cake for your friend”s birthday. It makes you and your friend feel good. This is a good action. Bad action is when you hurt someone like stealing your friend”s camera. It makes you feel bad, worried that you might be caught. Your friend also feels bad. This is a bad action resulting in bad feelings. Action that is neither good nor bad is when you neither hurt nor help other people, like eating, exercising and sleeping. These three actions are called karma: actions of body, speech and mind. The most important action is the mental action, what you think. The Buddha therefore teaches us to watch our mind, watch our thoughts and steer them in the right direction, the good direction. Every time you want to do something good, you should do it right away. Don”t wait. Every time you want to do something bad, you must stop it right away, because it will hurt yourself and other people.
The Buddha teaches the way to perfect peace of mind free from bad feelings in three stages: charity, morality and mental development. Charity is giving or helping others. Give away what you don”t need. What you need, you keep.…
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