Dhamma in the Mornings II

The following are transcribed selections of Ashin Tejaniya’s English morning Dhamma reminders recorded over a six-month period from October 2009 to March 2010. We’ve tried to keep Ashin Tejaniya’s rhythm and style of speaking intact while organizing the morning reminders into discrete themes and eliminating some repetition in the text.

MINDFulNESS MEDITATIoN IS A lEARNING PRocESS

Meditation is about cultivating the good qualities of mind. We are just trying to cultivate moment-to-moment, very simple. Don’t forget what is happening in you. If awareness is present, wisdom is also present and the mind is free, liberated. It is free from the wrong view and free from suffering.

Mindfulness meditation is a learning process, not a creative process. So, we are not trying to do anything. We just wait and watch what is happening as it is, not wanting, no expectations. We just practice simply and continuously.

We are not trying to make something happen, to resist anything, or to make anything disappear. We are not trying to create something. We are in the present moment, just staying in the present moment by being awake, knowing, and aware.

cHEckING THE ATTITuDE

We check our attitude first before we meditate. What attitude, what background ideas do you have when you meditate?

Do you want anything?  

Do you expect anything?  

Why are you meditating?  

Why are you being mindful? 

We want to understand—that is why we are watching and learning. We are not trying to control anything. We are not trying to create anything. We simply want to be in the present moment: Awake, alert, aware.

Check your state of mind. Check your quality of awareness in the observing mind. Is it tense or relaxed? What attitude do you have? Is the attitude right or wrong? Very often you need to check your attitude. When you are checking your mind, awareness is already present. Only reminding and checking is enough. Just check your effort, energy and quality of mind. How do you feel when you are mindful?

Wait and watch, very simply, with the right attitude. You don’t want to control the experience. You don’t want to change the object or experience. Whatever is happening is not your responsibility. Your responsibility is right attitude and checking if awareness is present or not and that it is moment-to-moment. Check, learn, and have interest.

INTEREST IN THE AcTIvITy oF THE MIND

If the mind doesn’t want anything, it is peaceful and relaxed. Think about it as it is. Try to have interest in the activity of the mind. The mind knows, the mind is paying attention and the mind feels.

The object is not very important. Don’t go looking for it. Take care of the quality of your mind. Check the quality of your mind—what attitude, what idea, and what states of mind are there when you meditate? Take care of your awareness and maintain your awareness. Don’t attach to anything. Don’t resist anything.

So, how do you do this? If you don’t have the right attitude or the right idea, the mind will always attach to something or resist something. The mind never rests. If you don’t have wisdom you can’t go the middle-way. When you use wisdom, right attitude, right idea, and right thought, the mind follows the middle-way. With equanimity and understanding nature as it is there is no problem. At that time you can learn more deeply.

Don’t forget to think the right way, have the right information, right idea, and right attitude. What are you doing now? What is the mind doing? What is happening in the mind? Whatever is happening, everything is okay, no problem. Let it be. Stay with the awareness. In the present moment we are trying to be awake, alert, and interested. We are not trying to go anywhere. We are not trying to get anything. We only need to have right view, awareness, and interest.

Experience is happening and  objects are happening all the time. Whatever is happening is not our responsibility—it is as it is. 

Our responsibility is to think the right way, to have the right attitude, and to be aware continuously. Right thought is very important; right attitude, right thought means perceiving everything as nature. Object is object. Everything is nature. Nothing is a problem. We want to know and we want to understand nature as it is.

Check your energy: How much energy do you use? If you use too much energy, the mind becomes tense. Are you sure awareness is present? If you can see awareness, awareness is surely present. We are not trying to get something. Meditation is cultivation of awareness moment-to-moment. We don’t use too much energy, focusing, penetration, or concentration. Just remember in the present moment. If you don’t want anything, the mind is very peaceful.

You can’t get anything because you want it. Whatever you get is because of conditions. Because the cause is fulfilled, the effect comes. Not because you want it to. You need to pay attention to awareness, to the meditating mind. In the present moment, is awareness present or not? Don’t follow the object. The object is not very important. The mind is more important. You need to check what state of mind, what attitude you have when you meditate. Check your energy: How much energy do you use? Is the mind relaxed or not, tense or not? You don’t need too much effort to know the object. The mind naturally can know the object. Your responsibility is to take care of your awareness. Is it present or not?

We are not trying to go anywhere. We don’t expect anything. We are not trying to create anything. We are being aware present moment by present moment. The meditating mind must be simple. We are waiting. We wait and watch, as it is, thinking about nature as nature. Nature is not ours, not others’, no body. Nature is no person, nobody. It’s all a natural process as there are causes and there are effects. The cause and effect process and conditioning are nature. The mind is aware, the mind is feeling, the mind is paying attention, and the mind is recognizing. Everything is mind. Mind is working. Mind is happening. Nature is happening, nature is working.

Why are you aware? Don’t forget what you are doing, don’t forget why you are doing this. What is the state of your observing mind? You are cultivating awareness and watching continuously. This is moment-to-moment cultivation. The meditating mind must have the right attitude. The practice must be done the right way. Experience is always happening. What [background] idea do you have in your practice? What state of mind are you watching it with? What point of view are you looking at it with? When you are not expecting anything, when you don’t want anything, at that time, understanding can arise.

uNDERSTANDING oBjEcTS AS oBjEcTS

Any object or experience that appears  should not disturb your practice.  Objects are helping your awareness. You can use any object to grow sīla, samādhi, and paññā. If you have right attitude then everything is no problem and the object does not disturb you. Any object is a dhamma object, dhamma nature. Even pain can be an object. Pain is an object; no pain is also an object. Object is object; if you understand object as object, the mind can’t attach and can’t resist. The mind with no craving and no aversion has samādhi.

Now, the sound of this machine is obvious [the microphone is creating feedback]. Is this sound a problem? Think about it as it is. Dhamma nature is arising, appearing. It becomes an object that the mind can then know. You can be aware of this object and you can cultivate this awareness, concentration, and wisdom. Use this object. If you have the right attitude, you can cultivate awareness, concentration, and wisdom.

The object helps you to be aware, awake, and alert. Because of the object you can learn,  you can be aware, and you can understand. 

In the present moment we just try to be awake and alert. With no expectation, or greed, the mind is very peaceful and free. In the present moment we need to be alert, awake, and ready. We are just trying moment-to-moment to be awake. Because of wanting, because of desire, we are not free. If we want something, if we are resistant, the mind is not awake. Without expectation, without resisting, the mind is awakened. Awakening means we know and understand what is happening. With everything, any experience in the present moment, there is only mind, objects, and awareness. We need to have the right attitude in the awareness. Nature is nature, feeling is just feeling.

ARE you SuRE AWARENESS IS THERE?

The meaning of awareness is not forgetting. This means not forgetting to think the right way, not forgetting to be aware, not forgetting the right object. Awareness is not forgetting. Remembering and reminding is awareness.

Are you sure awareness is present? Recognize when awareness is present. If awareness is present then the object is already there. You don’t need to focus on the object. You just need to check if awareness is present or not, whether awareness is continuous or not. Whatever is happening in the mind and body is not your responsibility. Experience is experience. The experience is not your responsibility.

Your responsibility is to have the right attitude  and to be aware continuously. Check again and again, whether you have  the right or wrong attitude. Reminding, checking, remembering—this is enough. You don’t need to use too much energy to focus. 

How does the mind feel when it is aware? Relaxed or not, tense or not? Check your mental state. The meditation mind must be relaxed, peaceful, and interested. When you are meditating, whatever is happening, no experience should disturb you. Everything is nature, dhamma, or object. Whatever is happening is for learning. You are not looking for any object. You are checking your quality of mind, the quality of the watching mind. Do you have the right attitude or not? Is the mind relaxed or not?

Check your quality of mind, the quality of awareness, how the mind is working, if the meditating mind is interested, if awareness is present. You are checking, reminding, and remembering moment-to-moment. If the mind is stronger and stronger, the watching mind stronger and stronger, it is doing its job. Your responsibility is only to maintain awareness, moment-to-moment in a relaxed way and with interest.

DoN’T FolloW THE oBjEcT

You need to take care of awareness, not objects. If you are aware, some object is already there. You are cultivating awareness continuously. You don’t do anything with the object. Stay with the awareness. It is more important that you take care of your awareness, checking and continuing like this, momentto-moment. So simple! Whatever objects the mind is knowing, let it be. The mind knows some object, the mind knows this object or that object. You are waiting and watching how the mind is working. Where is the mind? The mind is knowing, so continue to try to be knowing continuously. Sometimes you can get stuck on one object. You can know any object and you can know anything about an object. If the mind slowly calms down and just checks, the mind can know anything.

How does the mind react to any experience?  Is the mind aware or not? When you notice an object, how do you feel? What do you think? 

Being continuously aware is very important. If you want continuous awareness, you must see, you must know that awareness is present or not. If you follow the object, awareness can’t be continuous. If you check that awareness is present, the object is already there. There is no need to follow the object, no need to focus on the object. It’s a waste of time and energy and not necessary. If you notice your awareness is present the object is already happening. You don’t want to fixate on one object. With any object, you just want to know that nature is happening.

The meditating mind is important. Knowing, being aware, the mind is working, the mind is aware, the mind is watching. You must have right attitude and right idea. Whatever is happening is experience. The meaning is not important. Just recognizing the experience is okay. You are aware of what is happening. Hearing is happening. You are not trying to think about the meaning, you are trying to be aware of the experience. Knowing you are hearing is enough. Before you are hearing, before you are listening, awareness must be ready. If awareness is continuous, awareness is always waiting and watching. Now you are hearing the sound and silence, not only the sound, but the silence also. Object is the experience, experience is the object.

We are not following any object. We let the object come. The object is already there and the experience is always there. We are not trying to follow the object, focus on the object. Why are we aware? Why are we watching? We must have the right idea, right motivation, and right knowledge. We want to understand and know the real nature of experience. We want to understand. That’s why we are learning and that’s why we are watching.

vIPASSANā SAMāDHI

Samādhi comes from right attitude, right idea, and right knowledge. You are not trying to do anything with craving. You are not trying to do anything with aversion or delusion. You are aware in the present moment with the right attitude. Whatever is happening in the mind and body is just nature. If you think this way that nature is nature, feeling is feeling, the mind is not reacting, liking or disliking. So the mind is peaceful and stable.

Whatever is happening is not your responsibility. Your responsibility is to try to think the right way and to try to be aware continuously. Right view and right thought is very important. With right view and right thought, samādhi is already there. Check in your mind: If there is no craving, no aversion, and no reaction, this is also samādhi. This is vipassanā samādhi and sammā-samādhi. Because of understanding, because of right view, because of right thought, the mind is already calm, peaceful and stable.

The meaning of samādhi is stability of mind, not focusing. Just ask yourself how the mind is working, why the mind is working and if the mind is relaxed. Check the quality of mind. With just checking, you don’t need too much energy to be mindful. If you have the right view, right idea, and right thought then the mind is stable. When the mind is calm and peaceful, this is samādhi. If there is no lobha, this is samādhi. If there is no dosa, this is also samādhi. This is vipassanā samādhi.

ExPEcTATIoNS AND PATIENcE

For any experience that appears, check to see whether you have a reaction. Are you interested in being mindful? Are you interested in practicing? Why are you aware? Your practice should be simple and natural, with no expectation. You are not trying to gain something. You are trying to be aware in the present moment. If your expectations are high, the mind will not have any interest. It can’t be satisfied with what it already has. The mind becomes bored or disinterested.

If you understand in the present moment  what you are doing and already getting,  understand clearly, the mind can be satisfied or interested. Meditation is a learning process. You can’t hurry. 

Meditation is recognizing what is happening. Sometimes expectations arise but it’s not a problem. The only thing you need to do is to recognize that the expectation is there. Don’t judge this expectation. Meditation is not about trying to change anything or trying to control anything. It is just recognizing what is happening. Don’t complicate things in the present moment. Be simple and just know. If you don’t have expectations (not wanting anything) the mind is already at peace.

BEING PRESENT

Stay with the peace in the present moment. Just be in the present moment, stay in the present moment. The present moment is the only thing that exists. Past does not exist and future does not exist either. Now, stay in the present moment, peacefully. Just simply be aware in the present moment; the mind is very peaceful not wanting anything. If wanting or craving exists, your duty is just to recognize. No need to judge what is happening.

When we meditate, there is no need to hurry. We are not going anywhere. We are staying in the present moment fully. If you can stay in the present moment you can be satisfied. Because of knowing, you understand what is happening now, understand what is going on in the present moment, this is real life. Whatever you put into the practice you get in return. If you don’t know what you are already getting, you will want more. You get as much as you put in. If you can stay fully in the present moment, expectations won’t come. No need to regret the past. No need to expect the future. You are trying to think the right way. Thinking is very powerful. If your thinking is reasonable, if your thinking is right, the mind is already calm, relaxed and peaceful.

WHEN THE MIND IS INTERESTED, WISDoM IS WoRkING

Because of knowledge, because of wisdom, the mind is peaceful and stable already. So that’s why there’s no need to use too much focusing. Check the mind, what the mind is thinking and what the mind is knowing. Only interest is necessary. When the mind is interested, wisdom is working.

When we are meditating and the mind thinks about the Dhamma, about practice, nature, or object, this thinking makes our awareness stronger and stronger, because of interest. The dhamma nature is more awake and alert because of checking. If our minds are thinking [these right thoughts] the mind can’t be sleepy. Then we are thinking the right way. We must both think about the practice and practice. We are not blindly aware. Awareness alone is not enough. Awareness and wisdom come together. If someone is aware continuously, naturally wisdom will slowly, slowly grow.

Defilements do their job and wisdom also does its job. We already have intelligence. We use our knowledge,  intelligence and effort to practice. When we don’t have craving, aversion, worry or anxiety in the present moment, the mind is free and peaceful because of knowledge, wisdom and awareness. Do you understand this? It’s not only about being mindful. We are being aware, thinking, and recognizing.

We should be thinking about the practice. If we are thinking the right way, the mind can’t think the wrong way. We prevent delusion when we are aware and when we understand. Knowing what is happening is also right view. Whether it is good or bad, we know what is happening in the present moment.

So, don’t forget why you are doing this; don’t forget why, for what, with what motivation. Do you want to get something? Are you sure awareness is present? If it is present, what do you understand? Sometimes you need to use the questions of what, why, and how. But the answer is not important. Interest is important. You only need interest. You can’t and you don’t want to get results immediately.

THE BENEFITS oF AWARENESS

When you are aware continuously, how do you feel? In the present moment, now, do you want anything? Do you have expectations? What are you doing? If awareness is present in this moment, how do you feel? If awareness is lost, what is different? Having awareness and not having awareness: How is the mind different?

Do you understand the value of awareness? Stay with the awareness. All objects come to awareness. What is the difference between having awareness and not having awareness? There is a different quality of mind. You need to understand the value of awareness. If you are aware, how do you feel? When you are meditating, is the mind tense or not, relaxed or not? When you are interested, wisdom is working. Because of the object, you can be aware.

Continuity is very important, moment-to-moment and moment by moment. And momentum, momentum is nature, nature is dhamma. Continuity of practice becomes a habit; habit becomes nature. Habit becomes nature when the practice gains momentum and the dhamma is working, nature is working, “nobody” is meditating, and nobody is practicing. Nature is practice. Momentum comes because of the cause and effect process.

Any time awareness is present, the mind is safe,  secure, meaningful and alive. If we’re not aware, we are lost, and we’ve lost meaning. We don’t know what’s happening in the present moment. We are blind and we are deaf. Awareness and lack of awareness have two very different qualities. If we have awareness with wisdom (depending on the wisdom quality) awareness will be stronger. The value is also very different.

We need to understand that as much as we put into practice we get in return. If we don’t understand what we already have, we can’t be satisfied. If we have too many expectations, we don’t know what we have. If our expectations are too high, we can’t be satisfied with what we already have.

We need to appreciate what we are doing. We should understand the value of what we are doing. What is the benefit of doing this? What is the result if we don’t do this? If we are not doing this, what is happening? We are cultivating and growing these good qualities of mind, moment-to-moment.

oN RIGHT EFFoRT AND ENERGy

Check your energy and how much energy you use. You don’t need too much energy to know something, to be aware. If there’s an expectation or if you want something, the mind uses more energy. Check your state of mind. Don’t let the mind be tense or tired. The meditating mind must be relaxed. Don’t use too much energy to be focused.

We don’t need to use too much energy to know the object. Naturally the mind can know the object. We need to continually remind ourselves and recognize the importance of staying in the present moment, moment by moment.

We don’t need to use too much effort or too much energy to be focused, to be mindful. The nature of the mind can know the object naturally, so we don’t need to try to know the object. If the mind is relaxed, the mind knows something about itself. The meaning of effort is to try to continue, try to be patient, try to be relaxed. Effort is doing what we should do and not doing what should not be done. Effort is also to try to reduce defilements. Making awareness continuous is also effort.

oN RIGHT PRAcTIcE

Sometimes we sit and stop meditating; to stop meditating is wrong meditation. Wrong attitude and wrong meditation is “stopping,” meaning right meditation is “starting”. The mind can know, the mind has momentum already, awareness all the time, it knows many things. If you have right idea, right attitude, right thinking, the mind immediately calms down, becomes peaceful. We stop the wrong practice, meaning we start the right practice.

THE NoBlE EIGHTFolD PATH

We are practicing the Noble Eightfold Path. In this moment we can hear. The fact that we are aware that we are hearing is right view. We know what is happening in the present moment. This is right view. This is nature. This is experience. Object is object. Experience is experience. There’s no body, no person. If we have this attitude and we are aware of what is happening, this is right view and right thought.

When we have right view and right thought,  we can’t speak wrongly, we can’t act wrongly,  and we can’t live wrongly. This is right speech, right action, and right livelihood. Being aware is right action. Then we have right effort, right awareness, and right samādhi. This is the Noble Eightfold Path.

FIvE SPIRITuAl FAculTIES (INDRIyA)

Right effort is perseverance. Effort means being persistent, being patient, continuing again and again, and not giving up. This is the meaning of effort. Don’t use too much energy. Check your quality of sati, samādhi, viriya, saddhā, and paññā. How much interest do you have? Are you willing to practice? Paññā is understanding, wisdom. So you need to check if awareness is present in the mind. Is understanding present? Is wisdom present? Check the quality of the watching, meditating mind. The mind is meditating. The mind is watching. The mind is practicing.

You don’t use too much energy to practice. You are just watching with the right attitude, right idea, and interest. You need to know if awareness is present or not. You need to appreciate that awareness is present, which you are recognizing, being aware of what is going on.

You should know if samādhi is present or not. Is samādhi present? If you know there’s no samādhi,  you know there’s no samādhi. 

Because you are aware, you know. If you recognize clearly whether awareness is present or not, if you recognize clearly that samādhi is present or not, wisdom is present or not, if you recognize clearly that wisdom is NOT present, this in itself is wisdom! This is also understanding.

cRAvING

Craving is very tricky; it’s always pushing you. Whatever you think, whatever you say, whatever you do, craving is pushing you, motivating you. There are many ways for craving to come in or arise in your mind. What do you want? Sometimes you should ask yourself: What do I want? Do I want something? There’s always wanting. Because of this wanting, desire, craving, expectation (same meaning), the mind is suffering, tense, and dissatisfied. If the mind doesn’t want anything, it is very free. 

You can’t get what you want. If you understand the principle that you can’t get something because you want it and that you only get what comes from conditions, cause and effect, then desire gets weaker and weaker. Craving will be less and less. Everything happens because of cause and effect, not because you want it to happen.

My teacher once said, “If you want, it will happen. If you don’t want, it will not happen.” What is the meaning behind this? “If you want, it will happen” means if you want because of craving, you will suffer. The first sentence means wanting comes from craving. For example, someone doesn’t like pain. He wants the pain to go away. He wants no pain. The second sentence, “If you don’t want” means if you don’t want through craving or aversion, then suffering doesn’t happen. First “wanting” is because of craving. Second “don’t want” is because of wisdom. First is origin of suffering (samudaya) and dukkha. 

Second is because of path knowledge (magga ñāṇa) and no suffering (nirodha). If you have craving or wanting, lobha, then dosa and aversion come. Craving and aversion are lobha and dosa. But, magga ñāṇa, “don’t want,” is because of understanding that you don’t want craving and aversion. That’s why suffering doesn’t arise. If you want something with craving, suffering will surely arise.

You don’t get something just because you wanted it. Whatever you get is because of conditioning, because of cause and effect. But people think they’ll get what they want. Actually, you can only get suffering if you want something with craving.

If you understand that everything happens  through cause and effect—everything happens because of conditions—then you won’t want craving or aversion, good or bad. Suffering doesn’t arise. Peace, liberation, freedom comes  because you don’t want anything. 

Raga khayo Nibbāna, meaning if you don’t have craving, this is Nibbāna. If craving disappears, this is liberation. We are suffering because we don’t know and we want; because we don’t know, lobha and dosa exist.

AccEPTANcE

We are trying to think the right way; we are trying to be aware. We are not complaining about what is happening. We check our quality of awareness. Reminding, checking, recognizing. Acceptance is very important. If we don’t have right view or if we don’t have right thought, we can’t accept. If we can’t accept, we can’t learn. We let it be. We are not trying to change the experience. We don’t change the process. We are trying to be aware.

We don’t complain about what is happening. Everything is experience. Whatever is happening is happening through cause and effect. They do their job, we do our job. What should we do? We just recognize what is happening. Everything is nature.

APPREcIATE THAT THE MIND IS WoRkING

We don’t appreciate what we are doing. We are always complaining or thinking about what is happening. Experience may be good or bad, right or wrong—it’s not important. Experience is experience. We need to appreciate and we need to recognize that the mind is working, being aware and watching. If our experience is good, the mind becomes happy. Happy, happy! If our experience is bad, we become very sad, upset. This means that we don’t understand. We must understand that nature is nature and object is object. We let go of experience. We are not trying to hold onto any experience or object. We are trying to appreciate that the mind is working. We need only to check the quality of awareness of the watching, meditating mind. Is the meditating mind working or not? Is the mind interested or not? Is it strong or not? Just check.

STRENGTHENING THE MIND

Your watching mind must be strong and purified, with less defilement. If your mind is ready, understanding arises. So take care of your mind, take care of your practice and take care of your watching mind. Cultivate it so that it is stronger and stronger. Depending on your quality of mind, the object  may be perceived differently and the view changes. 

Our duty is to make the quality of awareness stronger. Stronger awareness means awareness and wisdom are working together continuously. This is awareness with the right view, right attitude, right idea, and right thought. If this is continuous, then the mind is stronger and stronger. We only need to do this. If the mind becomes stronger it can do its job. Dhamma does its job and nature does its job.

We are not trying to see the object. We are not trying to look for something. We are trying to make the meditating mind stronger and stronger.

How do we make the mind stronger? When we are aware, with the right attitude and right understanding, then the mind has wisdom and it becomes stronger. This is not because we are putting in a lot of energy; if we use too much energy the mind will become tired. If we try to see something, the mind becomes tenser. We are cultivating the quality of awareness to make the mind stronger and stronger. If we have awareness with wisdom and continuity, then the mind becomes stronger and stronger. When the mind becomes stronger it can do its job.

For someone who has been meditating  or practicing for a long time,  the mind must be of a better and better quality.  The mind is more aware,  more stable and more peaceful. There is more understanding. It should be like this. When we have more understanding, we have less resistance and fewer reactions. Because of reactions, we suffer. Because of learning, we understand. With understanding comes confidence.

ANIccA, DukkHA, ANATTA

Nothing stays the same. Everything is always changing. Nature is happening because of conditioning. Because of conditions, objects are arising. This is the meaning of anicca. You need to understand whatever is happening (thinking is happening, sensation is happening, knowing mind is happening, awareness is happening); you need to notice that it’s happening. Arising, happening, becoming. Happening, becoming, and arising. Happening is anicca, happening is dukkha, and happening is anatta. When your mind is purified you can understand. You can understand happening is impermanence, happening is dukkha, and happening is cause and effect, anatta, no body. Awareness is noticing everything that is happening; object is also happening, knowing is also happening, sensation is also happening, thinking is also happening. It’s all new, new, new.

SIMPlE ExPERIENcE, DEEP uNDERSTANDING

When you are aware of some sensation or some object, what do you understand about this object? Now, what do you understand? Do you understand something? Sometimes you can know but you don’t understand. You know many objects and you are aware of many things. What is your purpose?

Defilements cover the mind. We can’t understand the nature of defilement. That’s why we need to understand the nature of craving, the nature of aversion, the nature of delusion. Then they have no chance to come in. When the mind is clear, without craving, without aversion, without delusion, the mind is ready to understand. When the mind is clear then wisdom can arise.

The experience may be very simple,  but our understanding may be very deep. Because of understanding of object as object (understanding very deeply)  we don’t have delusion, craving, or aversion. 

We have many experiences throughout the day; we are always meeting experiences. But when our watching mind is purified, when awareness and understanding are complete, this simple experience becomes very strange [extraordinary]. Because we have always had the wrong view when knowing experience and now we have right view, right understanding, our view is opposite—very strange [extraordinary].

THE cHANcE To PRAcTIcE MINDFulNESS MEDITATIoN IS vERy RARE

To be aware of something sounds simple, but this technique is very difficult to practice. We can practice this way, with this technique when a Buddha arises. But if we have no Buddha, we can’t practice. Truly practicing mindfulness meditation is very rare.

DHAMMA IS EvERyWHERE

Because the mind is covered by defilements, we are unable to see dhamma or to understand nature as it is. What is the meaning of nature? It is cause and it is also effect. The cause and effect process itself is nature. Whatever is happening in the present moment is nature, dhamma. Even defilements become dhamma, become nature. Nature is becoming, nature is arising, knowing is arising and awareness is arising—object and mind, object and mind. In nature, there is nobody there. Nature is not us, not them, not others; nature is nature.

Dhamma is ever present and there is dhamma talk everywhere. Nature is also teaching us dhamma but we are unable to hear. We can’t know or see dhamma because of the defilements in the mind and because there isn’t enough understanding or wisdom. If we can think and see nature as it really is, the mind is free and free from defilements.

Dhamma is everywhere. Dhamma is there all the time, everywhere. Is the mind ready to understand?