Consciousnesses
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Teachings of Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo
by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo
(Phra Suddhidhammaransi Gambhiramedhacariya)
Translated from the Thai by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
For free distribution only, as a gift of Dhamma
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Translator”s note: Less than a year before Ajaan Lee”s death, some of his students began tape-recording his Dhamma talks. The following talk is one of the nine for which we have transcripts from the tapes — and one of the four for which the tapes are still extant. It”s a very unusual talk, showing his distinctive humor and style, and providing a lively discussion of the ways in which the concepts of "self" and "not-self" actually function in practice.
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In all our activities, persistence and endurance are things we have to foster within ourselves at all times. There have been cases, both in the past and in the present, where people with little education — who couldn”t even read or write — have thrown themselves into the effort of the practice and discover that they can read and even memorize whole passages. Some of them have even earned the right to sit for the government exams — this sort of thing has happened. So we should keep reminding ourselves that everything in the world comes from effort and persistence. No matter what kind of person you are — very smart or very stupid, with a poor education and poor social skills — as long as you have these qualities of persistence and endurance in your heart, there”s hope for you. As for people who are very smart, sophisticated, and well-educated: if they lack effort and persistence, they won”t be able to succeed in their aims, in terms either of the world or of the Dhamma. Especially for those of us who aim at the highest happiness, or nibbana: effort and persistence are the magnets that will pull us toward our goal.
Now, when effort and persistence are present within us, then endurance will have to be present as well. Why
When you put effort and persistence into something, there are bound to be obstacles that get in your way. If you”re really persistent, those obstacles will have to disappear, which means that you”ve been using endurance as well. If you have effort but no endurance, you won”t get anywhere. If you have persistence, that means that your effort has endurance, too. So we should regard effort as coming first, and endurance second. Once these qualities are constantly working together within you, then no matter how deep or faraway your aims may be, the Buddha has forecast that you”ll attain them in line with your hopes. This is why he said, as a way of ensuring that we”ll make the proper effort, that Viriyena dukkhamacceti: It”s through effort and persistence that people gain release from the world and reach nibbana. Effort and persistence are our roots, or the magnets that will pull us to nibbana.
That”s what the Buddha said. But our own wrong views, which come from the power of defilement, take issue with his teaching. In other words, they don”t believe it. They believe themselves, by and large, and aren”t willing to believe the teachings of the wise. This is why we have to keep stumbling and crawling along in this world. We simply believe in ourselves, in our own views, but "ourself" is made up of defilement. This defilement is the obstacle that keeps us from believing the Buddha when he tells us that it”s through effort and persistence that people will gain release from suffering and stress. We simply hear the words but don”t understand them. What we hear goes only as far as our ears and doesn”t enter in…
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