The Essence of Dhamma

　　- by S. N. Goenka

　　(The following is a talk by Goenkaji for Vipassana meditators in California on 26 August 1986. It was first published in the VRI publication For the Benefit of Many, which is a compilation of Goenkaji”s talks and answers to questions from Vipassana students. It has been adapted for the Newsletter.)

　　Dear members of our Dhamma family:

　　You are all old students who wish to become established in Vipassana, progress on the path and enjoy the best fruits of Dhamma. To progress on the path of Dhamma it is absolutely essential that you practise Dhamma, and to practise Dhamma it is essential that you understand Dhamma.

　　If you do not practise Dhamma and merely develop attachment to it-taking it as a dogma, a cult or an organized religion-then Dhamma is no longer Dhamma for you. When you understand Dhamma in its true nature, the deep essence of Dhamma, then the outer shell has no importance.

　　To understand what Dhamma is you have to understand what silā is and why it should be practised; you have to understand what sammā-samādhi is and why this type of samādhi should be practised; you have to understand what real paññā is and why it should be practised.

　　The Buddha made people understand at the experiential level why they should observe silā, and then gave them the ability to really observe silā. At the intellectual level one may understand, I should not do this, it is unwholesome. I should do that, it is wholesome. And yet in daily life we keep performing unwholesome actions. One of the ancient scriptures points this out, saying:

　　Janami dharmam, na ca me pravrittih;

　　Janami adharmam, na ca me nivrittih.

　　I know very well what is dharma and yet I cannot follow it.

　　I know very well what is contrary to dharma, and yet I cannot abstain from it.

　　Someone who becomes a Buddha discovers a way for people to abstain from unwholesome actions. He makes people realise what actually happens when you kill, steal, commit adultery, lie, or consume alcohol or drugs.

　　Going deep inside, you start to understand, I cannot kill anybody unless I generate negativity in my mind-anger, hatred, ill will, animosity, some negativity or the other. And you also realise, As soon as I generate negativity in my mind, nature starts punishing me. I become miserable then and there. Realising this universal truth the Buddha said,

　　Idha tappati, pecca tappati.

　　You start suffering now and you continue to suffer in the future.

　　The seed of the unwholesome action that you have planted makes you suffer here and now, and it will grow and give very bitter fruit.

　　The Buddha gave a simile: If you take a rope and twist it repeatedly the rope will become tighter and tighter. Every time you break silā you twist that rope further, and you become tense deep inside. The tendency to react in the same way becomes a habit, and you twist it again and again; thus your misery continues to grow. He said that, quite possibly, at the surface level of the mind you don”t know that you are creating tension inside. How does it happen that you are unaware of this

　　If you look at a burning ember covered by a thick layer of ash it appears as if the charcoal is not burning, as if there is no fire. In the same way, ninety-nine percent of your mind is burning and the one percent at the surface might be distracted by enjoying this or that sensual pleasure. Because you have not seen inside you do not know that you are burning.

　　Every time you break silā you justify it, and at the surface level you feel perfectly all right. You say to yourself, I killed that fellow because he was bad. Or you may say, Why should he have that

　　 What was wrong with my taking it

　　 I”m quite happy now. Or else you say, I had sexual relations but I didn”t harm anybody; it wa…

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