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　　Wisdom Power Better Than Will Power

　　You will find that when suffering arises, you have two options. You can either try to escape from the suffering or you can investigate it.

　　Ajahn Maha Boowa (a contemporary Thai meditation master) would only give talks when there was a special occasion to do so. I”m pretty sure that when I went to visit him as a young monk it must have been such an occasion because he asked one of his senior Western monks to translate for the visiting Western monk, which was me. Fortunately, I could already speak Thai so I understood perfectly what Ajahn Maha Boowa was saying. The story that he told - which I took for my own benefit - turned out to be very instructive for my whole monastic life.

　　He was talking about himself as a young monk in the time of Tan Ajahn Mun (Thai meditation master and ”founder” of the Thai forest meditation tradition). He was saying that once he had malaria and, instead of just laying in bed, in typical Ajahn Maha Boowa style he decided to fight it, to battle it and conquer it with his will. So he got off the floor, went out of his hut, got a broom, and started to sweep even though he was sweating and shaking. Tan Ajahn Mun saw him and told him off. Later that evening he gave a talk to the monks saying: "There are some people in this monastery who are born boxers and they haven”t changed". He was of course alluding to Ajahn Maha Boowa who was a boxer when he was a layperson. Ajahn Mun said that”s not the way of Buddhism. He actually said it is the way of Hindu yogis. The way of Buddhism is to investigate suffering, not to fight it. Because if you fight you will find that you just get more and more suffering. Instead, use wisdom power rather than will power. Wisdom power is always much more effective because it”s coming from a good place. Will power, in nearly all cases, comes from ego, from self, and you cannot expect it to produce results if it”s coming from such an unfortunate source.

　　To use wisdom power means remembering the Teachings and looking at your experience in the framework of those teachings, the framework of the Four Noble Truths. The Lord Buddha taught that birth is suffering, old age, sickness and death are suffering. And all that goes in between is also suffering. In brief, life is suffering. So when suffering comes - as disappointment, as frustration, as loneliness or depression, or as wondering what you”re supposed to be doing - you”re seeing here a basic truth of nature which every human being, whether in a monastery or outside, must come across from time to time in their lives.

　　There are times when you don”t know what to do because the suffering is so bad. As Ajahn Chah used to say, "You cannot go forward, you cannot go back, you cannot stand still" - you don”t know what to do. This is a beautiful time. It is the time you can really understand what the Lord Buddha was talking about - about the suffering of life. The thing to do when suffering arises is to investigate. To investigate means to watch and to observe in silence. You have to watch without interfering, without getting involved, because if you get involved you”re not watching fully.

　　It requires courage and strength to stand your ground and just watch. One of the things you will see is that suffering passes, and it always passes into happiness. This is the play of samsara (the perpetual wandering from life to life), the play of night and day, the play of warmth and cold. It is the basic duality of experience. There is no escape from that in this realm or in any other realm. It will always follow you around, this duality of experience.

　　The Lord Buddha said that getting what you don”t want is suffering and not getting what you do want is also suffering. I often ask myself, "Just what do …

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