Living in Truth (Luangpoh Sudhiro)

We all want to be happy. Is there a secret to it? If anything, it is living in truth. The Pali word for truth is Dhamma. This carries a lot of meaning to us in Thailand. The word Buddhism is a Western word like all the other –isms and sounds strange to us in the East. So we speak of Dhamma. When Buddha’s pupil said he did not believe what Buddha said, but he had tested and found for himself the effectiveness of his teachings, Buddha was pleased and instructed others to follow a similar process in the Kalama sutta. Our purpose in doing this is dhamma or truth.

One of my earliest memories was seeing a body burning. First the skin and then the muscles and… it was a very interesting experience! In the West, we try to cover up and hide away these things, but it is very instructive and in Thailand the children are taken to watch. I realized that the body that burns is just like my body. Where did he go? ...his relatives no longer hold him close, but turn away and leave. One day that will happen to me also. It was a moment of truth.

We could wake up every morning and create fantasies in our imagination, but the happiness that brings is not lasting. Facing the truth of our life doesn’t bring happiness immediately, but when the truth is accepted, the conditions that we hold onto are let go of, then we come into unity and harmony with the state of nature around us and a deeper happiness arises. Meditation is the description of that process. Meditation is often described in terms of two branches, samatha and vipassana, but these are like two wings of the same bird. Samatha is often translated as peace, vipassana as insight. To use the analogy of the soldier training to fight, samatha is building up the muscles, it is “pure” training, while vipassana is training how to react and what to do in every situation, it is “applications”. We must do both. The dhamma that arises cannot be described. It can only be experienced. 

There is a saying in Thailand. Two ears, many mouths. We can control our own two ears much more easily than we can control the many mouths around us. It is the same with nature in general. We cannot control it and mould it. It is just simply so. We can only control how we react to it, how we live in harmony with it. Death is part of our nature. It is always with us, so in Buddhist meditation, we turn it into our friend and we learn to make use of it. If something causes us pain, we do not put attention on it as belonging to us, but just notice it as we would notice how tears come when we eat spicy food. Also, we focus on the breath, and as long as we breathe in and breathe out, something amazing happens - we are still living!

Source: Based on a talk by Tan Sudhiro and written up by me. Errors of misunderstanding are mine.

Posted originally to Buddhist Travellers in 2010.

A couple of dhamma talks

These are notes from memory of a dhamma talk.

Than B:
Before meditating, and a hundred times throughout the day, I remind myself of the following things:

1) I am going to die. Everyone is going to die.

2) The unsatisfactoriness of samsara. This gives me motivation to practice.

3) The foulness of the body. The foulness of everyone’s body. Bringing to mind an unpleasant aspect of it, such as the undigested food in your stomach, you detach from the body and its beauty or ugliness. This was very difficult to understand at first. The point of it is to realize that the body is temperamental, and subject to ageing. So, the body is not a refuge.

4) Finally, everyone’s favourite: Metta, or loving kindness meditation. I wish to be happy, healthy and wise. I wish you to be happy healthy and wise. I wish everyone to be happy, healthy and wise.

Why give up attachments? Are there good attachments? We imagine so. We think that without the attachment to our mother, we won’t be a good son. Without the attachment to the body, we won’t look after it. In fact, the opposite is often the case. When you give up the attachment, you still have a deep sense of caring.

Luangpoh Sudhiro:
People have an image of monks as meditating all day, but it is not like this. From ten in the morning till ten in the evening, monks in Thailand often do hard manual work. They wake up at three for morning chanting, then a bit of housework around the monastery to wake up. At eight, they go out on alms round. Alms round can be quite long. I once went walking for four hours on alms round. Then, after eating, work begins. One meal is not enough for the whole day. I find that too. In the first year, the body protests. But the mind is strong — it’s ok! Later body and mind come closer together. The mind is the source of self-confidence or faith. If we are not certain, we can also tell a friend. There’s a famous saying of Ananda saying to the Buddha that admirable friendship was half the holy life. And Buddha responded, no, it is actually the whole of the holy life. Doubt is also a good teacher. Because whenever there is doubt, it is a sign we do not know yet. Something which works for me, if I have fear or desire, is “walking with eyes closed”. I used to do this on the mountain, and it was actually quite dangerous. But for me it really woke me up. Once we see and know, then we can let go.

See, know, let go.


Source: Based on a discussion with Buddhists about meditation, and “living the dream”.
http://asifindreams.tumblr.com/post/34853603641/karmice-regard-all-phenomena

Regard all phenomena as like dreamsExamine the nature of unborn awarenessIn life, be a child of illusion

—Lojong Slogans of Atisha: http://www.tricycle.com/complete-lojong-slogans

1st Meditation.
Regard all phenomena as like dreams: Isolate the five sense doors in meditation. Close your eyes. Feel the touch of your feet on the floor. If you hear the sound of footsteps, experience it as pure sound, not footsteps, disengaging the mind from the perception. Let there be lightness of touch in our reactions to experience. Like in dreams, experience the objects of the mind without judging them.

2nd Meditation.
Examine the nature of unborn awareness: Let us do a breathing meditation. Focus on the breath. Who is breathing? Let go… there is a possibility we generate an image of ourselves with a lot of judgmentalism attached… let it go…

3rd Meditation.
In life, be a child of illusion: Let us do a metta meditation, extending loving-kindness outwards to ourselves, to those we love, to the whole universe. May I be well and happy. May you be well and happy. May everyone be well and happy.
In the sense of dream-like awareness, the solidity of the self dissolves. True awareness offers us a place to stand. Ego can’t examine ego, but if we enter a sense of flow, we can experience effortless ego-less awareness. From this place, we can feel a greater unity and compassion with all around us.