The Path to Peace

　　There are two kinds of peacefulness :

　　one is the peace that comes through samådhi,

　　the other is the peace that comes through paññå.

　　The mind that is peaceful through samådhi is still deluded.

　　The peace that comes through the practice of samådhi alone is dependent on the mind being separated from mind-objects.

　　by Luang Por Chah

　　Silâ, samådhi and paññå are the names given to the different aspects of the practice. When you practise silâ, samådhi and paññå, it means you practise with yourselves. Right silâ exists here, right samådhi exists here. Why

　　 Because your body is right here! You have hands, you have legs right here. This is where you practise silâ. It”s easy to reel off the list of wrong kinds of behaviour as found in the books, but the important thing to understand is that the potential for them all lies within us. Your body and speech are with you right here and now. You practise moral restraint, which means taking care to avoid the unskilful actions of killing, stealing and sexual misconduct. For instance, in the past you may have killed animals or insects by smashing them with an axe or a fist, or perhaps you didn”t take much care with your speech: false speech means lying or exaggerating the truth; coarse speech means you are constantly being abusive or rude to others -”you scum,” ”you idiot,” and so on; frivolous speech means aimless chatter, foolishly rambling on without purpose or substance. We”ve indulged in it all. No restraint! In short, keeping silâ means watching over yourself, watching over your actions and speech.

　　So who will do the watching over

　　 Who will take responsibility for your actions

　　 Who is the one who knows before you lie, swear or say something frivolous

　　 Contemplate this: whoever it is who knows is the one who has to take responsibility for your silâ. Bring that awareness to watch over your actions and speech. That knowing, that awareness is what you use to watch over your practice. To keep silâ, you use that part of the mind which directs your actions and which leads you to do good and bad. You catch the villain and transform him into a sheriff or a mayor. Take hold of the wayward mind and bring it to serve and take responsibility for all your actions and speech. Look at this and contemplate it. The Buddha taught us to take care with our actions. Who is it who does the taking care

　　The practice involves establishing sati, mindfulness, within this ”one who knows.” The ”one who knows” is that intention of mind which previously motivated us to kill living beings, steal other people”s property, indulge in illicit sex, lie, slander, say foolish and frivolous things and engage in all the kinds of unrestrained behaviour. The ”one who knows” led us to speak. It exists within the mind. Focus your mindfulness (sati) - that constant recollectedness - on this ”one who knows.” Let the knowing look after your practice. Use sati or awareness to keep the mind recollecting in the present moment and maintain mental composure in this way. Make the mind look after itself. Do it well.

　　If the mind is really able to look after itself, it is not so difficult to guard speech and actions, since they are all supervised by the mind. Keeping silâ - in other words taking care of your actions and speech - is not such a difficult thing. You sustain awareness at every moment and in every posture, whether standing, walking, sitting or lying down. Before you perform any action, speak or engage in conversation, establish awareness first. You must have sati, be recollecting, before you do anything. It doesn”t matter what you are going to say, you must first be…

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