Unshakeable Peace
by Ajahn Chah
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Meditation is like a single stick of wood. Insight (vipassana) is one end of the stick and serenity (samatha) is the other. Insight has to proceed from peace and tranquility. The entire process will
happen naturally of its own accord.
We cannot force it ...
In my own search I tried nearly every possible means of contemplation.
I sacrificed my life for the Dhamma, because I had faith in the reality of enlightenment and
the Path to get there ... But to realize them takes practice, right practice. It takes pushing yourself to the limit.
It takes the courage to train,
to reflect and to fundamentally change. It takes the courage to actually do what it takes.
You have got to discover it in the depths of your own heart.
Venerable Ajahn Chah
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The whole reason for studying the Dhamma, the teachings of the Buddha, is to search for a way to transcend suffering and attain peace and happiness. Whether we study physical or mental phenomena, the mind (citta) or its psychological factors (cetaskas), it”s only when we make liberation from suffering our ultimate goal that we”re on the right path: nothing less. Suffering has a cause and conditions for its existence.
Please clearly understand that when the mind is still, it”s in its natural, normal state. As soon as the mind moves, it becomes conditioned (sankhara). When the mind is attracted to something, it becomes conditioned. When aversion arises, it becomes conditioned. The desire to move here and there arises from conditioning. If our awareness doesn”t keep pace with these mental proliferations as they occur, the mind will chase after them and be conditioned by them. Whenever the mind moves, at that moment, it becomes a conventional reality.
So the Buddha taught us to contemplate these wavering conditions of the mind. Whenever the mind moves, it becomes unstable and impermanent (anicca), unsatisfactory (dukkha) and cannot be taken as a self (anatta). These are the three universal characteristics of all conditioned phenomena. The Buddha taught us to observe and contemplate these movements of the mind.
It”s likewise with the teaching of dependent origination (paticcasamuppada): deluded understanding (avijja) is the cause and condition for the arising of volitional kammic formations (sankhara); which is the cause and condition for the arising of consciousness (viññana); which is the cause and condition for the arising of mentality and materiality (nama-rapa), and so on, just as we”ve studied in the scriptures. The Buddha separated each link of the chain to make it easier to study. This is an accurate description of reality, but when this process actually occurs in real life the scholars aren”t able to keep up with what”s happening. It”s like falling from the top of a tree to come crashing down to the ground below. We have no idea how many branches we”ve passed on the way down. Similarly, when the mind is suddenly hit by a mental impression, if it delights in it, then it flies off into a good mood. It considers it good without being aware of the chain of conditions that led there. The process takes place in accordance with what is outlined in the theory, but simultaneously it goes beyond the limits of that theory.
There”s nothing that announces, ”This is delusion. These are volitional kammic formations, and that is consciousness.” The process doesn”t give the scholars a chance to read out the list as it”s happening. Although the Buddha analyzed and explained the sequence of mind moments in minute detail, to me it”s more like falling out of a tree. As we come crashing …
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