u/Bhante-K

^(พระสุทธิธรรมรังสี - ลี ธมฺมธโร)

> He was one of the foremost vipassanā meditation disciples of Phra Ajahn Mun Bhuridatto, the great teacher of the Thai Forest Tradition.
>
> He founded and built Wat Asokaram, which flourished and remains renowned to this day. He was deeply revered by his disciples and by local people. Even Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram, a former Prime Minister, came to place himself under him as a student. ...
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> Origins
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> He was from Ban Nong Song Hong, Muang Sam Sip District, Ubon Ratchathani Province, and was born on 31 January 1906 (B.E. 2449).
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> As a young child he was rather difficult to raise: fussy, whiny, and often sick. At age 12 he began studying Thai, but one thing stayed constantly in his mind: thoughts about merit and demerit, and a strong wish to one day ordain as a monk.
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> When he reached the full age of 20, he was ordained in B.E. 2468 (1925) in the Mahānikāya order.
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> Later he had the chance to meet and hear a sermon by Phra Ajahn Bot, a disciple in Ajahn Mun's lineage. Seeing his conduct and the way he carried out monastic duties, Ajahn Lee developed faith and decided to go on tudong (wandering practice) to find Ajahn Mun, who was then spending the rains retreat at Wat Burapha in Ubon Ratchathani.
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> He received only brief instruction from Ajahn Mun: "This word Buddho is something special. It is a jewel of Dhamma." This was the basic method for beginning meditation practice.
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> He also studied further with Phra Ajahn Sing Khantiyagamo and Phra Ajahn Maha Pin Paññābalo at Ban Tha Wang Hin, a quiet place well suited to meditation.
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> He practised Dhamma and vipassanā meditation diligently. In B.E. 2471 (1928) he re-ordained, transferring from the Mahānikāya to the Dhammayut order. Ajahn Mun gave him the novice ordination, and Phra Paññāpisāla Thera (Nu) of Wat Sra Pathum served as his preceptor.
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> After that he wandered with Ajahn Mun until Ajahn Mun sent him to wander on his own. He then travelled to many places for meditation, including Cambodia, Burma and India, and eventually settled for the rains retreat at the Mae Chi Khao monastery in Samut Prakan Province.
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> Founding Wat Asokaram
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> It was here that Luang Pho Lee began establishing a monastery focused on meditation practice. This may have come from a vision (nimitta) he had that the site was a place where relics of the Buddha were enshrined.
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> He named the monastery "Wat Asokaram" in honour of King Ashoka the Great, the Indian emperor who spread Buddhism throughout Asia, including Thailand. He built a statue of King Ashoka and various monastic buildings, and it grew into the Wat Asokaram that still flourishes today.
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> He is regarded as a monk of excellent and upright conduct, a strict meditation master of the forest lineage, spiritually powerful and possessed of higher knowledges (abhiññā), and revered by Buddhists everywhere.
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> His last ecclesiastical title, granted by royal appointment in B.E. 2500 (1957), was Phra Rajakhana (ordinary grade) with the name Phra Suddhidhamma Rangsi.
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> His passing
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> On the night of Tuesday, 25 April 1961 (B.E. 2504), Luang Pho Lee sat discussing Dhamma with his disciples and had them take notes on the Four Noble Truths. Around 10 p.m. he went to rest, appearing completely normal. The revisions he had them record for the book Sangha Duties and Basic Meditation (Sanghakit lae Mula Kammatthana) became his final written Dhamma, left behind out of compassion.
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> The next morning, Wednesday, 26 April 1961, his disciples waited as usual to offer him his meal. When it grew late, they went to his hut and found it unusually quiet. They opened the window and went in, and found he had passed away peacefully, aged 55 years and 3 months, after 35 rains as a monk. His disciples were deeply grieved.
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> Since his death, Wat Asokaram has continued to develop step by step. It has expanded its grounds and completed the Dhutanga Chedi according to the plans he had drawn up. The chedi enshrines relics of the Buddha and serves as a place for meditation practice, especially the ānāpānasati (mindfulness of breathing) method whose foundations he laid.
>
> Thai Source: Khaosod newspaper, amulets column. Image adapted from: ubom.org Books

Thai Wiki - https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&q=พระสุทธิธรรมรังสี_(ลี_ธมฺมธโร)

^(Luang Por Sao's Teaching) ^(A Reminiscence of Phra Ajaan Sao Kantasilo) ^(transcribed from a talk by Phra Ajaan Phut Thaniyo)
^(translated from the Thai by Thanissaro Bhikkhu © 1997)

> In our day and age, the practice of going into the forest to meditate and follow the ascetic dhutanga practices began with Phra Ajaan Sao Kantasilo, the teacher of Phra Ajaan Mun and, by extension, Phra Ajaan Singh and Phra Ajaan Lee. Phra Ajaan Sao was inclined to be, not a preacher or a speaker, but a doer. When he taught his students, he said very little. And those who studied directly under him are now elders who speak very little, who rarely preach, having picked up the habit from their teacher. Thus, as Phra Ajaan Sao was not a preacher, I would like to tell you a little of the way in which he taught meditation.
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> How did Phra Ajaan Sao teach? If it so happened that someone came to him, saying, "Ajaan, sir, I want to practice meditation. How should I go about it?" he would answer, "Meditate on the word 'Buddho.'"
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> If the person asked, "What does 'Buddho' mean?" Ajaan Sao would answer, "Don't ask."
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> "What will happen after I've meditated on 'Buddho'?"
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> "Don't ask. Your only duty is simply to repeat the word 'Buddho' over and over in your mind."
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> That's how he taught: no long, drawn-out explanations.
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> Now, if the student was sincere in putting the Ajaan's instructions into practice and was persistent in practicing the repetition, if his mind then became calm and bright from entering into concentration, he would come and ask Ajaan Sao: "When meditating on 'Buddho' my state of mind becomes such-and-such. What should I do now?" If it was right, Ajaan Sao would say, "Keep on meditating." If not, he would say, "You have to do such-and-such. What you're doing isn't right."
>
> For example, once when I was his attendant novice, a senior monk of the Mahanikaya sect came and placed himself under his direction as a beginning student in meditation. Ajaan Sao taught him to meditate on "Buddho." Now, when the monk settled down on "Buddho," his mind became calm and, once it was calm, bright. And then he stopped repeating "Buddho." At this point, his mind was simply blank. Afterwards, he sent his attention out, following the brightness, and a number of visions began to arise: spirits of the dead, hungry ghosts, divine beings, people, animals, mountains, forests... Sometimes it seemed as if he, or rather, his mind, left his body and went wandering through the forest and wilderness, seeing the various things mentioned above. Afterwards, he went and told Ajaan Sao, "When I meditated down to the point were the mind became calm and bright, it then went out, following the bright light. Visions of ghosts, divine beings, people, and animals appeared. Sometimes it seemed as if I went out following the visions."
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> As soon as Ajaan Sao heard this, he said, "This isn't right. For the mind to go knowing and seeing outside isn't right. You have to make it know inside."
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> The monk then asked, "How should I go about making it know inside?"
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> Phra Ajaan Sao answered, "When the mind is in a bright state like that, when it has forgotten or abandoned its repetition and is simply sitting empty and still, look for the breath. If the sensation of the breath appears in your awareness, focus on the breath as your object and then simply keep track of it, following it inward until the mind becomes even calmer and brighter."
>
> And so the monk followed the Ajaan's instructions until finally the mind settled down in threshold concentration (upacara samadhi), following which the breath became more and more refined, ultimately to the point where it disappeared. His sensation of having a body also disappeared, leaving just the state in which the mind was sitting absolutely still, a state of awareness itself standing out clear, with no sense of going forward or back, no sense of where the mind was, because at that moment there was just the mind, all on its own. At this point, the monk came again to ask, "After my mind has become calm and bright, and I fix my attention on the breath and follow the breath inward until it reaches a state of being absolutely quiet and still — so still that nothing is left, the breath doesn't appear, the sense of having a body vanishes, only the mind stands out, brilliant and still: When it's like this, is it right or wrong?"
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> "Whether it's right or wrong," the Ajaan answered, "take that as your standard. Make an effort to be able to do this as often as possible, and only when you're skilled at it should you come and see me again."
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> So the monk followed the Ajaan's instructions and later was able to make his mind still to the point that there was no sense of having a body and the breath disappeared more and more often. He became more and more skilled, and his mind became more and more firm. Eventually, after he had been making his mind still very frequently — because as a rule, there's the principle that virtue develops concentration, concentration develops discernment, discernment develops the mind — when his concentration became powerful and strong, it gave rise to abhiñña — heightened knowledge and true insight. Knowledge of what? Knowledge of the true nature of the mind, that is, knowing the states of the mind as they occur in the present. Or so he said.
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> After he had left this level of concentration and came to see Ajaan Sao, he was told, "This level of concentration is fixed penetration (appana samadhi). You can rest assured that in this level of concentration there is no insight or knowledge of anything at all. There's only the brightness and the stillness. If the mind is forever in that state, it will be stuck simply on that level of stillness. So once you've made the mind still like this, watch for the interval where it begins to stir out of its concentration. As soon as the mind has a sense that it's beginning to take up an object — no matter what object may appear first — focus on the act of taking up an object. That's what you should examine."
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> The monk followed the Ajaan's instructions and afterwards he was able to make fair progress in the level of his mind.
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> This is one instance of how Phra Ajaan Sao taught his pupils — teaching just a little at a time, giving only the very heart of the practice, almost as if he would say, "Do this, and this, and this," with no explanations at all. Sometimes I would wonder about his way of teaching. That is, I would compare it with books I had read or with the Dhamma-talks I heard given by other teachers. For example, Phra Ajaan Singh wrote a small handbook for the practice of meditation, entitled, Taking the Triple Refuge and the Techniques of Meditation, and in it he said that in practicing meditation you must, before all else, sit with your body straight and establish mindfulness directly in front of you. That's how he put it, but not how Ajaan Sao would put it. Still, the principles they taught were one and the same, the only difference being that Ajaan Sao was not a preacher, and so didn't make use of a lot of rhetoric.
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> As he explained to me: "When we make up our mind to repeat 'Buddho,' the act of making up the mind is in itself the act of establishing mindfulness. When we keep thinking 'Buddho' and are not willing to let the mind slip away from 'Buddho,' our mindfulness and alertness are already healthy and strong, always watching over the mind to keep it with 'Buddho.' As soon as our attention slips away, so that we forget to think 'Buddho' and go thinking of something else, it's a sign that there's a lapse in our mindfulness. But if we can keep our mindfulness under control and can think 'Buddho, Buddho' continuously, with no gaps, our mindfulness is already strong, so there's no need to go 'establishing mindfulness' anywhere. To think of an object so that it is coupled with the mind is, in and of itself, the act of getting mindfulness established." That was how he explained it to me.
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> This was one instance of how I saw and heard Phra Ajaan Sao teaching meditation, and should be enough to serve us all as food for thought.

^(©1997 Metta Forest Monastery.)
^(Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License)

> See it as a bubble,
> see it as a mirage:
> one who regards the world this way
> the King of Death doesn't see *[one].

^(Dhammapada 170)
^(translated from the Pali by Luang Por Thanissaro)
^(* added)

> “the Dhamma is similar to a raft, being for the purpose of crossing over, not for the purpose of grasping.”

^(MN 22: Alagaddūpama Sutta - Translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi)
^(Copyright CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

> “If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will have complete peace.”

^(No Ajahn Chah can be found online at http://ajahnchah.org)

> ... The lion, the king of beasts, lies down on his right side, having covered one foot with the other and tucked his tail in between his thighs. When he awakens, he raises his front quarters and looks back at his hind quarters. If the lion sees any disorderliness or distension of his body, he is displeased. If he does not see any disorderliness or distension of his body, he is pleased. This is called the lion’s posture....

^(sutta copyright wisdom publications, Bhikkhu Bodhi, images also copyright protected)

> “Until we have seen the Dhamma we must have patience and restraint. We must endure, we must renounce! We must cultivate diligence and endurance. Why must we cultivate diligence? Because we're lazy! Why must we develop endurance? Because we don't endure! That's the way it is. But when we are already established in our practice, have finished with laziness, then we don't need to use diligence. If we already know the truth of all mental states, if we don't get happy or unhappy over them, we don't need to exercise endurance, because the mind is already Dhamma. The 'one who knows' has seen the Dhamma, he is the Dhamma.
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> When the mind is Dhamma, it stops. It has attained peace. There's no longer a need to do anything special, because the mind is Dhamma already. The outside is Dhamma, the inside is Dhamma. The 'one who knows' is Dhamma. The state is Dhamma and that which knows the state is Dhamma. It is one. It is free.
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> This nature is not born, it does not age nor sicken. This nature does not die. This nature is neither happy nor sad, neither big nor small, heavy nor light; neither short nor long, black nor white. There's nothing you can compare it to. No convention can reach it. This is why we say Nibbāna has no colour. All colours are merely conventions. The state which is beyond the world is beyond the reach of worldly conventions.”

^(Opening the Dhamma Eye)

> “True teachers speak only of the difficult practice of giving up or getting rid of the self. Whatever may happen, do not abandon the teacher. Let him guide you, because it is easy to forget the Path.”

^(Luang Por Chah - อาจารย์ชา, )^(No Ajahn Chah)

> “Whether our progress is fast or slow, it’s up to our spiritual maturity and accumulated merit. It isn’t certain! Some meditators come along later but progress quicker. How does this work? It’s because of the cycle of saṁsāra*. Some are around for a long time but still haven’t achieved many results. Whether someone succeeds sooner or later is dependent on their accumulated level of pāramī. The ones who find success quickly put forth effort and accumulated a lot of pāramī in a previous life. Maybe someone had enough pāramī to be ordained in the time of the Buddha, but only enough to ordain at an old age which was too late to allow them to see the Dhamma. It really depends on the merit we have accumulated. Some monks have been practicing ever since they were a novice and still haven’t got any results. They may even reach old age and still not see any results. This doesn’t just apply to one individual monk, it affects everyone.”

^(Page 56 of Sotapattimagga)

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• ^(* Saṁsāra: literally ‘perpetual wandering.’ Referring to the continuous process of birth and death.)

> “Seeing the truths you will be able to let go of your self-illusion (sakkāyadiṭṭhi), and doubt In dhamma (vicikicchā), You will firmly practice precepts by heart, not iust keep them by words or action (sīlabbataparāmāsa). You will have no doubt about sīla and dhamma. You will not worry about your husband or children. Now! What do you think of dhamma? Don't get the delusion. I also have the suffering too. It is difficult for me to move or get up. You can also see the truth of my suffering, don't you?
>
> Let's see the truths, now. See it for yourself. Get ready to practice meditation. I have already taught you the 4 truths. Try sitting meditation for 30 minutes. Take a battle to see who can be a winner. Who is defeated?
> > Focus on your mind only. Recite parikamma words, Bud-dho, dham-mo and san-gho. Close your eyes, close your mouth and see inside your mind. You only have body and mind.”

^(– Luang Pu Fun Ācāro, See Through Your Mind Book.)

> “When the energy of the mind is pacified, unified and grounded on the knowing, a firm faith and confidence in that knowing arises. There is sila — and it is the knowing that keeps sila, that cares for actions and speech. There is samadhi — and it is the knowing that is firm. There is pañña — and it is the knowing that has direct knowledge of the mass of physical and mental conditions. There is nothing that lies beyond the mind.
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> This mind can both know truly and know deludedly. When we justly allow it to blindly follow forms, sounds, odors, flavors, tangible objects and ideas it is deceived day and night, from birth until old age, from old age until death. It can be fascinated by those things for innumerable lifetimes. When we come to meditate, we put effort into burning up the defilements in our hearts so that they diminish and finally come to an end. Thus our effort is concentrated on this mind. We keep reminding ourselves that apart from this knowing that is established in the present moment, everything — be it past or present, good or bad — is all impermanent. There is nothing lasting to be found in the world. Everything outside of this knowing is unsatisfactory and impersonal. Even the knowing itself is still not sure if the masses of defilement cram and encompass it. We must put effort into burning up the defilements right here. We must develop generosity, morality and meditation right here, here in the mind of present knowing. Be wary of the forms that come into our line of vision and the sounds that enter the ears — don't follow them. Odors that enter at the nose, flavors that pass by the tongue, sensations hot and cold, hard and soft — don't be deluded by them. Don't be misled by discursive thought. Don't be fooled by conditions.
>
> Why did the Buddha not want us to be deluded? Because he wanted us to know. By now all of us in the course of time have come to know all sorts of things. But what have we got from it? All we have got is old age and death. Death and then birth and then death and then birth over and over again. Can you see this? All human beings are born and then they die, just like a sound that having arisen disappears or a form once created comes to an end. Wherever there is arising there must be passing away. The Buddha taught us to know this truth. It is the knowledge taught by the Buddha and all his noble disciples. They all instruct us to know our minds, to be aware of ourselves, not to be intoxicated by mental states, thinking or craving.”

^(The Urgent Task, Luang Pu Sim Buddhacaro)^(, )
^(Photograph of the Emerald Buddha without its decoration, taken in 1932.)

> “King Beloved of the Gods Priyadarsin speaks thus. This rescript on morality was caused to be written by me (when I had been) anointed twenty-six years.
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> (Happiness) in this (world) and in the other (world) is difficult to secure without great love of morality, careful examination, great obedience, great fear (of sin), (and) great energy.
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> But indeed by my instruction this regard for morality and love of morality have been promoted day by day and will progress still (more).
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> And my agents also, both the high ones and the low ones and those of middle rank, are conforming to and practising (morality), (and are thus) able to stir up fickle (persons).
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> In the same way the Mahamatras of the borderers also (are acting). For (their) instruction (is) this, viz. to protect according to morality, to dispose according to morality, to cause pleasure according to morality, (and) to guard (their speech) according to morality.”

^(Major Pillar Edict 1 – Asoka’s principle of protection of the people.)
^(English translation Prakrit in Brahmi script.)
^(Translation by E. Hultzsch - 1857-1927 - Published in India in 1925. Inscriptions of Asoka p.119-. Public Domain.)

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^(Website Source)^( Images: )^(Rock Edicts numbering I-X and XIV at Dhauli – Odisha.), ^( )^(Fragment of the Deli-Meerut pillar with part of the Edict I inscription, now on display in the British Museum, London.)

> “When taking birth in each and every lifetime, all the Buddhas would re-establish or continue anew with their aspiration for Buddhahood. They gave up all that is unskillful, bad or immoral. In each lifetime, they cleansed their hearts by performing only good deeds until finally making the heart pure.
>
> The arahant disciples also set their hearts upon building up the spiritual perfections in order to transcend dukkha (suffering, discontentment); namely, for the realization of Nibbāna. They had patience and endurance by not acting upon their kilesas, for doing anything immoral or unwholesome would be a cause for suffering both here in the present and also in the future. They accumulated only goodness by performing the meritorious acts of observing moral precepts, developing concentration and cultivating wisdom. As a result, their store of virtue and pāramī gradually grew until their hearts became strong and unshakeable. They had mindfulness and wisdom investigating, penetrating through to the truth regarding their body or personal condition, realizing that the bodies of all sentient beings are merely aggregates of earth, water, air and fire that come together only temporarily: once born, no-one can go beyond ageing; no-one can go beyond sickness, and so no-one can go beyond death. When there is birth, change then follows, until ultimately the body breaks apart.
>
> If we understand clearly that once having come into being, all natural conditions and phenomena will go through change until eventually disintegrating, and that the mind is unable to dictate that they be otherwise - stable or constant. As a consequence, we will make the effort to have sati-paññā, mindfulness and wisdom, seeing through things to what they truly are, not being heedless in one’s life but rather attempting to progressively build up and increase one’s spiritual perfections and virtue. Sati-paññā investigates any dukkha, or defilements, that are within one’s heart - these being born of delusion, with greed, anger, satisfaction and dissatisfaction as their outcome. One must recognize that all emotions of discontentment or unsatisfactoriness are unfavorable and so must seek out the path that avoids or subdues this dukkha, hence bringing an end to the greed, anger and delusion that are within one’s heart. > > We should all try, therefore, not to be negligent in our lives. Always have mindfulness and wisdom watching over and tending to the mind in each and every moment by striving to remove any kilesas and harmful thoughts from one’s mind. One’s thoughts do not arise from trees, houses, cars or one’s personal wealth. Rather, all thoughts, or dukkha, originate from within one’s mind. If we hold to incorrect or wrong views, our thinking will, as a result, be mistaken. If we do not have the sati-paññā to restrain our thoughts, we will speak or act in ways that are improper or harmful. > > We must have mindfulness guarding over the mind, for the mind is the kilesas’ place of birth. Patiently persevere with any unwholesome thoughts that arise by looking for skilful ways to reflect upon and discard - at that very moment - any greed, anger, satisfaction and dissatisfaction from one’s heart, not keeping or holding to such adverse mental states. One has to know how to let go of one’s attachment towards emotions and thoughts by not acting or speaking unskillfully. If we have mindfulness watching over the mind, staying in the present moment, we will be wise to any defiled emotions, recognizing that they are states of mind, naturally subject to arising and ceasing. >
> However, if one’s mindfulness and wisdom are lacking in strength, not having the energy or the wisdom to reflect upon one’s emotions or kilesas in order to remove them from the heart, we must then bring mindfulness to focus upon one’s meditation object so as to establish concentration, thus cutting any adverse emotions out from the heart. Constantly recollect the Lord Buddha, or his teachings, by reciting the meditation word ‘buddho, buddho, buddho...’ silently within your mind so as to give rise to samadhi, the peacefulness and coolness of mind.
>
> The mind will be still and concentrated - all thoughts, both good and bad, will be absent from the mind. Once the mind has firm, strong mindfulness, one will have the wisdom to continually reflect upon and abandon any kilesas from one’s heart. Even if the gross kilesas of greed and anger arise, mindfulness and wisdom will be abreast of them. When more moderate or subtle defilements arise, sati-paññā will gradually become wise to them by having the skilful means to see the emotions for what they truly are: impermanent and without any self entity, thus releasing one’s hold of them.
>
> We make an effort, therefore, to remain focused upon growing in goodness and virtue, along with building up the spiritual perfections. What is important is that we don’t go making any bad kamma by performing unwholesome or immoral deeds. We need to have patience and a commitment to following the teachings of the Lord Buddha by refraining from doing anything that is bad or immoral and by practicing only that which is good, for this is what cultivates one’s heart to go beyond all suffering, bringing true, genuine happiness”.

• ^(This is the Path)
• ^(Image copyright Abayagiri Monastery)

> “Why be mindful in your heart? Wherever you’re aware of Buddho, your awareness, establish mindfulness right there. Look right there. Listen right there. We want to hear what happiness is like. We want to see what happiness is like. So how about knowing yourself right there? Take your measure right there. Is your heart meritorious or the opposite? If it’s meritorious, what’s that like? Is your heart good or bad? What’s goodness like? When the heart is good, it’s good and peaceful—happy, at ease. Cool. Not hot and troubled. Not disturbed or in turmoil. Buddho: a cheerful heart. At ease. Buddho: The heart is bright. Buddho: The heart is clear—free from stress, free from harmfulness, free from danger, free from animosity, free from everything evil and vile, free from poverty, free from disease. Look at it.
>
> Your mind has quieted down. When it’s like this, it isn’t doing any bad kamma, so where will bad kamma come from? Your heart is clear and bright, and when the heart is clear and bright, you can see yourself, you can see others, you can see heavens, you can see hells, you can see merit, you can see evil. So look.
>
> What merit is like, I’ve already explained: The heart is happy. The heart is at ease. That’s merit. When you die, you’ll go to a place that’s happy and at ease. So understand this.”

^(Come and See, Luang Por Fun)

> “Our practice is like this. For instance, if out of all of us living here, practicing steadily, only ten of you practice well, then Wat Pah Pong will prosper. Just as in the villages: in the village of one hundred houses, even if there are only fifty good people that village will prosper. Actually to find even ten would be difficult. Or take a monastery like this one here: it is hard to find even five or six monks who have real commitment, who really do the practice.”

^(Source)

> “Whoever you ask will say that our nation is in turmoil. But where is the turmoil? Look right there. Wherever it’s in turmoil, solve the problem right there. That’s right. Solve it right there. We’ve all gathered here together—how many of us?—and yet when each person is quiet, there’s no problem. Everything is in good order. This is what merit and goodness are like. So understand this. Keep meditating often.”.

^(come and see)

> “Everything bad and worthless was gathered right there. But now that we gradually come to comprehend causes and effects, and to understand the Dhamma, the results have begun to appear. Where has our laziness gone? All that's left is diligence and persistence. We can contend with anything, heavy or light — we can contend with death — because we have begun seeing results. Even though we have been curing kilesa all along, the difference is that at one stage we don't see results, and at another we do — and persistence really arises.
>
> So. If things get heavy, we fight. We're disciples of the Tathāgata and so we have to follow in our Teacher's footsteps. Our Teacher met with difficulties, so his disciples will have to meet with difficulties. Our Teacher passed out two or three times. Is there anyone among us who has passed out from the effort of the practice? I don't see anyone who has. So why are we afraid of dying when we've never even passed out? How can we be so stubborn in our fear of death? The Lord Buddha lost consciousness three or four times. What do we have to say to that? When we lose consciousness, it's because we are falling asleep. Why aren't we afraid of dying then? So why are we afraid of dying when we practice meditation? Exactly what dies?
>
> When we have explored and seen the truth, we won't fear death — because nothing in the world dies. All there is, is the citta making its assumptions. It deceives itself — "I'm afraid of dying, I'm afraid of dying" — but when it knows the truth of everything of every sort, it's not afraid. It's not afraid of death. It's not afraid of birth — because it has nothing left to be born. So what is there to fear? Why bother with these empty, hollow fears? The citta is now released from birth, so why be afraid of birth? There are no more seeds for the birth of a body, a man, or a woman. There is nothing to fear, nothing to be brave about. The citta is even with itself — uniform, unchanging — not "even" in the ordinary sense of "coming out even." It's "even" in the sense of a citta that has reached sufficiency: "even" in its excellence.”

^(taken from )^("straight from the heart")

^(image from https://forestdhamma.org/about/ajaan-maha-boowa/)

> “The Four Satipatthāna are the same as our body and heart.
>
> Dhamma arises from the body and heart. The body and heart are Lokiya. The person who sees body/heart and all the conditions of the body/heart says, “What state are they in?”
>
> When our hearts stop concocting and are steadfast - not being perturbed by various conditions - they have reached “TADI” ^(*Equipoise, a neutral singularity.).
>
> They are then in their pristine state. Even though the body, by its nature, will be Lokiya - one is unable to change it - when Paññā (which is the affair of the heart) enters and investigates the body/heart together with its conditions, it sees clearly how all things exist in reality. This is the state that our hearts are in when they no longer imagine and concoct things.
>
> Pull out misunderstanding, make the Citta go beyond the body, destroy delusion and forsake the Lokiya body. The heart will then be bright - being above Lokiya - and on its own. Even though Satipatthāna is Lokuttara Dhamma, the Lord Buddha taught it to ordinary people. People who are both Lokiya in body and in heart. Someone who sees suffering, thus being tired of it and wishing to be free from it, practise and proceed until that wish is fulfilled!
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> In short, this is a specific path that directs those who wish to be free from suffering.”

^(Flavour of Dhamma, )^)By Luang Pu Thate)

^(Translation by Steven Towler © 2022.)