Three Phrases of the Secret, Ajahn Golf
There is a simple secret—three phrases. Remember them. These three phrases belong to morality, stillness, and wisdom:
Knowing, Calmness, and Letting Go.
Do you understand?
Knowing means awareness.
Calmness means collectedness of mind.
Letting go means not clinging—this is wisdom.
For example, when some emotion arises and touches you, causing suffering, making you feel angry or agitated—then you don't need to keep fabricating, keep proliferating, asking why it is this way, why this happened to you, why they did this or that. You don't need to keep creating stories, keep constructing.
When such emotions arise, simply be aware of them—knowing. Then let the mind be calm—calmness. And then stop fabricating further, stop proliferating, and put it down—that is letting go. It is that simple. Then your mind will return to that natural calmness, that happiness, free from suffering—you will feel at ease and light.
So please remember this, recite it, and listen to it: Knowing, Calmness, Letting go. Whatever the situation, memorise these words and repeat them. When you drive back home, with traffic jams and stress inside the car, just remain calm—knowing, calmness, letting go. When you get home and your family looks at you or interacts with you—knowing, calmness, letting go. Do you understand?
This is called guarding the mind. If you can guard your mind, then anywhere you go, whatever you do, you will have happiness. If you do not know how to guard your mind, there is not a single corner in this world where you can go and find happiness. Do you understand? If we cannot guard our mind, cannot take care of it, and our mind is in a bad state, then even with wonderful things—beautiful clothes, nice appearances, great wealth—if our mind is not good, we will have no happiness.
If we do not know how to protect the mind, it is very difficult to find this happiness. Do you understand? We seek happiness in the wrong places, we seek it externally—and that is why we end up this way. We should turn back to guard this mind, to cultivate this mind, and then we will attain true happiness.