TRANSCENDENCE When the group of five ascetics [] abandoned the Buddha, he saw it as a stro

                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                            TRANSCENDENCE
    
    
 When the group of five ascetics [*] abandoned the Buddha, he saw it 
 as a stroke of luck, because he would be able to continue his 
 practice unhindered. With the five ascetics living with him, things 
 weren't so peaceful, he had responsibilities. And now the five 
 ascetics had abandoned him because they felt that he had slackened 
 his practice and reverted to indulgence. Previously he had been 
 intent on his ascetic practices and self-mortification. In regards 
 to eating, sleeping and so on, he had tormented himself severely, 
 but it came to a point where, looking into it honestly, he saw that 
 such practices just weren't working. It was simply a matter of 
 views, practicing out of pride and clinging. He had mistaken worldly 
 values and mistaken himself for the truth.
    
 * [The //pancavaggiya//, or "group of five", who followed the 
 Buddha-to-be (Bodhisatta) when he was cultivating ascetic practices, 
 and who left him when he renounced them for the Middle Way, shortly 
 after which the Bodhisatta attained Supreme Enlightenment.]
 
 
    For example if one decides to throw oneself into ascetic 
 practices with the intention of gaining praise -- this kind of 
 practice is all "world-inspired," practicing for adulation and fame. 
 Practicing with this kind of intention is called "mistaking worldly 
 ways for truth'.
    
    Another way to practice is "to mistake one's own views for 
 truth." You only believe yourself, in your own practice. No matter 
 what others say you stick to your own preferences. You don't 
 carefully consider the practice. this is called "mistaking oneself 
 for truth'.
    
    Whether you take the world or take yourself to be truth, it's all 
 simply blind attachment. The Buddha saw this, and saw that there was 
 no "adhering to the Dhamma," practicing for the truth. So his 
 practice had been fruitless, he still hadn't given up defilements.
    
    Then he turned around and reconsidered all the work he had put 
 into practice right from the beginning in terms of results. What 
 were the results of all that practice? Looking deeply into it he saw 
 that it just wasn't right. It was full of conceit, and full of the 
 world. There was no dhamma, no insight into //anatta// (not self) no 
 emptiness or letting go. There may have been letting go of a kind, 
 but it was the kind that still hadn't let go.
    
    Looking carefully at the situation, the Buddha saw that even if 
 he were to explain these things to the five ascetics they wouldn't 
 be able to understand. It wasn't something he could easily convey to 
 them, because those ascetics were still firmly entrenched in the old 
 way of practice and seeing things. The Buddha saw that you could 
 practice like that until your dying day, maybe even starve to death, 
 and achieve nothing, because such practice is inspired by worldly 
 values and by pride.
    
    Considering deeply, he saw the right practice, //samma 
 patipada//: the mind is the mind, the body is the body. The body 
 isn't desire or defilement. Even if you were to destroy the body you 
 wouldn't destroy defilements. That's not their source. Even fasting 
 and going without sleep until the body was a shrivelled-up wraith 
 wouldn't exhaust the defilements. But the belief that defilements 
 could be dispelled in that way, the teaching of self-mortification, 
 was deeply ingrained into the five ascetics.
    
    The Buddha then began to take more food, eating as normal, 
 practicing in a more natural way. When the five ascetics saw the 
 change in the Buddha's practice they figured that he had given up 
 and reverted to sensual indulgence. One person's understanding was 
 shifting to a higher level, transcending appearances, while the 
 other saw that that person's view was sliding downwards, reverting 
 to comfort. Self-mortification was deeply ingrained into the minds 
 of the five ascetics because the Buddha had previously taught and 
 practiced like that. Now he saw the fault in it. By seeing the fault 
 in it clearly, he was able to let it go.
    
    When the five ascetics saw the Buddha doing this they left him, 
 feeling that he was practicing wrongly and that they would no longer 
 follow him. Just as birds abandon a tree which no longer offers 
 sufficient shade, or fish leave a pool of water that is too small, 
 too dirty or not cool, just so did the five ascetics abandon the 
 Buddha.
    
    So now the Buddha concentrated on contemplating the Dhamma. He 
 ate more comfortably and lived more naturally. He let the mind be 
 simply the mind, the body simply the body. He didn't force his 
 practice in excess, just enough to loosen the grip of greed, 
 aversion, and delusion. Previously he had walked the two extremes: 
 //kamasukhallikanuyogo// -- if happiness or love arose he would be 
 aroused and attach to them. He would identify with them and wouldn't 
 let go. If he encountered pleasantness he would stick to that, if he 
 encountered suffering he would stick to that. These two extremes he 
 called //kamasukhallikanuyogo// and //attakilamathanuyogo//.
    
    The Buddha had been stuck on conditions. He saw clearly that 
 these two ways are not the way for a //samana//. Clinging to 
 happiness, clinging to suffering: a //samana// is not like this. To 
 cling to those things is not the way. Clinging to those things he 
 was stuck in the views of self and the world. If he were to flounder 
 in these two ways he would never become one who clearly knew the 
 world. He would be constantly running from one extreme to the other. 
 Now the Buddha fixed his attention on the mind itself and concerned 
 himself with training that.
    
    All facets of nature proceed according to their supporting 
 conditions, they aren't any problem in themselves. For instance, 
 illnesses in the body. The body experiences pain, sickness, fever 
 and colds and so on. These all naturally occur. Actually people 
 worry about their bodies too much. That they worry about and cling 
 to their bodies so much is because of wrong view, they can't let go.
    
    Look at this hall here. We build the hall and say it's ours, but 
 lizards come and live here, rats and geckoes come and live here, and 
 we are always driving them away, because we see that the hall 
 belongs to us, not the rats and lizards.
    
    It's the same with illnesses in the body. We take this body to be 
 our home, something that really belongs to us. If we happen to get a 
 headache or stomach-ache we get upset, we don't want the pain and 
 suffering. These legs are "our legs," we don't want them to hurt, 
 these arms are "our arms," we don't want anything to go wrong with 
 it. We've got to cure all pains and illnesses at all costs.
    
    This is where we are fooled and stray from the truth. We are 
 simply visitors to this body. Just like this hall here, it's not 
 really ours. We are simply temporary tenants, like the rats, lizards 
 and geckoes...but we don't know this. This body is the same. 
 Actually the Buddha taught that there is no abiding self within this 
 body but we go and grasp on to it as being our self, as really being 
 "us" and "them." When the body changes we don't want it to do so. No 
 matter how much we are told we don't understand. If I say it 
 straight you get even more fooled. "This isn't yourself," I say, and 
 you go even more astray, you get even more confused and your 
 practice just reinforces the self.
    
    So most people don't really see the self. One who sees the self 
 is one who sees that "this is neither the self nor belonging to 
 self." He sees the self as it is in Nature. Seeing the self through 
 the power of clinging is not real seeing. Clinging interferes with 
 the whole business. It's not easy to realize this body as it is 
 because //upadana// clings fast to it all.
    
    Therefore it is said that we must investigate to clearly know 
 with wisdom. This means to investigate the //sankhara// [*] 
 according to their true nature. Use wisdom. To know the true nature 
 of //sankhara// is wisdom. If you don't know the true nature of 
 //sankhara// you are at odds with them, always resisting them. Now, 
 it is better to let go of the //sankhara// or to try to oppose or 
 resist them. And yet we plead with them to comply with our wishes. 
 We look for all sorts of means to organize them or "make a deal" 
 with them. If the body gets sick and is in pain we don't want it to 
 be, so we look for various Suttas to chant, such as //Bojjhango//, 
 the //Dhammacakkappavattana-sutta//, the //Anattalakkhanasutta// and 
 so on. We don't want the body to be in pain, we want to protect it, 
 control it. These //Suttas// become some form of mystical ceremony, 
 getting us even more entangled in clinging. This is because they 
 chant them in order to ward off illness, to prolong life and so on. 
 Actually the Buddha gave us these teachings in order to see clearly 
 but we end up chanting them to increase our delusion. //Rupam 
 aniccam//, //vedana anicca//, //sanna anicca//, //sankhara anicca//, 
 //vinnanam aniccam//... [**] We don't chant these words for 
 increasing our delusion. They are recollections to help us know the 
 truth of the body, so that we can let it go and give up our longing.
 
 * [//Sankhara//: conditioned phenomena. The Thai usage of this term 
 usually refers specifically to the body, though //sankhara// also 
 refers to mental phenomena.]
 
 
    This is called chanting to cut things down, but we tend to chant 
 in order to extend them all, or if we feel they're too long we try 
 chanting to shorten them, to force nature to conform to our wishes. 
 It's all delusion. All the people sitting there in the hall are 
 deluded, every one of them. The ones chanting are deluded, the ones 
 listening are deluded, they're all deluded! All they can think is 
 "How can we avoid suffering?" Where are they ever going to practice?
    
    Whenever illnesses arise, those who know see nothing strange 
 about it. Getting born into this world entails experiencing illness. 
 However, even the Buddha and the Noble Ones, contracting illness in 
 the course of things, would also, in the course of things, treat it 
 with medicine. For them it was simply a matter of correcting the 
 elements. They didn't blindly cling to the body or grasp at mystic 
 ceremonies and such. They treated illnesses with Right View, they 
 didn't treat them with delusion. "If it heals, it heals, if it 
 doesn't then it doesn't" -- that's how they saw things.
    
    They say that nowadays Buddhism in Thailand is thriving, but it 
 looks to me like it's sunk almost as far as it can go. The Dhamma 
 Halls are full of attentive ears, but they're attending wrongly. 
 Even the senior members of the community are like this, so everybody 
 just leads each other into more delusion.
    
    One who sees this will know that the true practice is almost 
 opposite from where most people are going, the two sides can barely 
 understand each other. How are those people going to transcend 
 suffering? They have chants for realizing the truth but they turn 
 around and use them to increase their delusion. They turn their 
 backs on the right path. One goes eastward, the other goes west -- 
 how are they ever going to meet? They're not even close to each 
 other.
    
    If you have looked into this you will see that this is the case. 
 Most people are lost. But how can you tell them? Everything has 
 become rites and rituals and mystic ceremonies. they chant but they 
 chant with foolishness, they don't chant with wisdom. They study, 
 but they study with foolishness, not with wisdom. They know, but 
 they know foolishly, not with wisdom. So they end up going with 
 foolishness, living with foolishness, knowing with foolishness. 
 That's how it is. And teaching...all they do these days is teach 
 people to be stupid. They say they're teaching people to be clever, 
 giving them knowledge, but when you look at it in terms of truth, 
 you see that they're really teaching people to go astray and grasp 
 at deceptions.
    
    The real foundation of the teaching is in order to see //atta//, 
 the self, as being empty, having no fixed identity. It's void of 
 intrinsic being. But people come to the study of Dhamma to increase 
 their self-view, so they don't want to experience suffering or 
 difficulty. They want everything to be cozy. They may want to 
 transcend suffering, but if there is still a self how can they ever 
 do so?
    
    Just consider...Suppose we came to possess a very expensive 
 object. The minute that thing comes into our possession our mind 
 changes..."Now, where can I keep it? If I leave it there somebody 
 might steal it"...We worry ourselves into a state, trying to find a 
 place to keep it. And when did the mind change? It changed the 
 minute we obtained that object -- suffering arose right then. No 
 matter where we leave that object we can't relax, so we're left with 
 trouble. Whether sitting, walking, or lying down, we are lost in 
 worry.
    
    This is suffering. And when did it arise? It arose as soon as we 
 understood that we had obtained something, that's where the 
 suffering lies. Before we had that object there was no suffering. It 
 hadn't yet arisen because there wasn't yet an object for it to cling 
 to.
    
    //Atta//, the self, is the same. if we think in terms of "my 
 self," then everything around us becomes "mine." Confusion follows. 
 Why so? The cause of it all is that there is a self, we don't peel 
 off the apparent in order to see the Transcendent. You see, the self 
 is only an appearance. You have to peel away the appearances in 
 order to see the heart of the matter, which is Transcendence. Upturn 
 the apparent to find the Transcendent.
    
    You could compare it to unthreshed rice. Can unthreshed rice be 
 eaten? Sure it can, but you must thresh it first. Get rid of the 
 husks and you will find the grain inside.
    
    Now if we don't thresh the husks we won't find the grain. Like a 
 dog sleeping on the pile of unthreshed grain. Its stomach is 
 rumbling "jork-jork-jork," but all it can do is lie there, thinking 
 "Where can I get something to eat?" When it's hungry it bounds off 
 the pile of rice grain and runs off looking for scraps of food. Even 
 though it's sleeping right in top of a pile of food it knows nothing 
 of it. Why? It can't see the rice. Dogs can't eat unthreshed rice. 
 The food is there but the dog can't eat it.
    
    We may have learning but if we don't practice accordingly we 
 still don't really know, just as oblivious as the dog sleeping on 
 the pile of rice grain. It's sleeping on a pile of food but it knows 
 nothing of it. When it gets hungry it's got to jump off and go 
 trotting around elsewhere for food. It's a shame, isn't it?
    
    Now this is the same: there is rice grain but what is hiding it? 
 The husk hides the grain, so the dog can't eat it. And there is the 
 Transcendent. What hides it? The Apparent conceals the Transcendent, 
 making people simply "sit on top of the pile of rice, unable to eat 
 it," unable to practice, unable to see the Transcendent. And so they 
 simply get stuck in appearances time and again. If you are stuck in 
 appearances suffering is in store, you will be beset by becoming, 
 birth, old age, sickness and death.
    
    So there isn't anything else blocking people off, they are 
 blocked right here. People who study the Dhamma without penetrating 
 to its true meaning are just like the dog on the pile of unthreshed 
 rice who doesn't know the rice. He might even starve and still find 
 nothing to eat. A dog can't eat unthreshed rice, it doesn't even 
 know there is food there. After a long time without food it may even 
 die...on top of that pile of rice! People are like this. No matter 
 how much we study the Dhamma of the Buddha we won't see it if we 
 don't practice. If we don't see it then we don't know it.
    
    Don't go thinking that by learning a lot and knowing a lot you'll 
 know the Buddha Dhamma. That's like saying you've seen everything 
 there is to see just because you've got eyes, or that you've got 
 ears. You may see but you don't see fully. You see only with the 
 "outer eye," not with the "inner eye'; you hear with the "outer 
 ear," not with the "inner ear'.
    
    If you upturn the apparent and reveal the Transcendent you will 
 reach the truth and see clearly. You will uproot the Apparent and 
 uproot clinging.
    
    But this is like some sort of sweet fruit: even though the fruit 
 is sweet we must rely on contact with and experience of that fruit 
 before we will know what the taste is like. Now that fruit, even 
 though no-one tastes it, is sweet all the same. But nobody knows of 
 it. The Dhamma of the Buddha is like this. Even though it's the 
 truth it isn't true for those who don't really know it. No matter 
 how excellent or fine it may be it is worthless to them.
    
    So why do people grab after suffering? Who in this world wants to 
 inflict suffering on themselves? No-one, of course. Nobody wants 
 suffering and yet people keep creating the causes of suffering, just 
 as if they were wandering around looking for suffering. Within their 
 hearts people are looking for happiness, they don't want suffering. 
 Then why is it that this mind of ours creates so much suffering? 
 Just seeing this much is enough. We don't like suffering and yet why 
 do we create suffering for ourselves? It's easy to see...it can only 
 be because we don't know suffering, don't know the end of suffering. 
 That's why people behave the way they do. How could they not suffer 
 when they continue to behave in this way?
    
    These people have //micchaditthi// [*] but they don't see that 
 it's //micchaditthi//. Whatever we say, believe in or do which 
 results in suffering is //all// wrong view. If it wasn't wrong view 
 it wouldn't result in suffering. We couldn't cling to suffering, nor 
 to happiness or to any condition at all. We would leave things be 
 their natural way, like a flowing stream of water. We don't have to 
 dam it up, just let it flow along its natural course.
 
 * [//micchaditthi//: Wrong-view.]
 
 
    The flow of Dhamma is like this, but the flow of the ignorant 
 mind tries to resist the Dhamma in the form of wrong view. And yet 
 it flies off everywhere else, seeing wrong view, that is, suffering 
 is there because of wrong view -- this people don't see. This is 
 worth looking into. Whenever we have wrong view we will experience 
 suffering. If we don't experience it in the present it will manifest 
 later on.
    
    People go astray right here. What is blocking them off? The 
 Apparent blocks off the Transcendent, preventing people from seeing 
 things clearly. People study, they learn, they practice, but they 
 practice with ignorance, just like a person who's lost his bearings. 
 He walks to the west but thinks he's walking east, or walks to the 
 north thinking he's walking south. This is how far people have gone 
 astray. This kind of practice is really only the dregs of practice, 
 in fact it's a disaster. It's disaster because they turn around and 
 go in the opposite direction, they fall from the objective of true 
 Dhamma practice.
    
    This state of affairs causes suffering and yet people think that 
 doing this, memorizing that, studying such-and-such will be a cause 
 for the cessation of suffering. Just like a person who wants a lot 
 of things. He tries to amass as much as possible, thinking if he 
 gets enough his suffering will abate. This is how people think, but 
 their thinking is astray of the true path, just like one person 
 going northward, another going southward, and yet believing they're 
 going the same way.
    
    Most people are still stuck in the mass of suffering, still 
 wandering in //samsara//, just because they think like this. If 
 illness or pain arise, all they can do is wonder how they can get 
 rid of it. They want it to stop as fast as possible, they've got to 
 cure it all costs. They don't consider that this is the normal way 
 of //sankhara//. Nobody thinks like this. The body changes and 
 people can't endure it, they can't accept it, they've got to get rid 
 of it at all costs. However, in the end they can't win, they can't 
 beat the truth. It all collapses. This is something people don't 
 want to look at, they continually reinforce their wrong view.
    
    Practicing to realize the Dhamma is the most excellent of things. 
 Why did the Buddha develop all the Perfections? [*] So that he could 
 realize this and enable others to see the Dhamma, know the Dhamma, 
 practice the Dhamma and be the Dhamma -- so that they could let go 
 and not be burdened.
    
 * [The ten //paramita// (perfections): generosity, morality, 
 renunciation, wisdom, effort, patience, truthfulness, resolution, 
 goodwill and equanimity,]
 
    
    "Don't cling to things." Or to put it another way: "Hold, but 
 don't hold fast." This is also right. If we see something we pick it 
 up..."Oh, it's this"...then we lay it down. We see something else, 
 pick it up...one holds, but not fast. Hold it just long enough to 
 consider it, to know it, then to let it go. If you hold without 
 letting go, carry without laying down the burden, then you are going 
 to be heavy. If you pick something up and carry it for a while, then 
 when it gets heavy you should lay it down, throw it off. Don't make 
 suffering for yourself.
    
    This we should know as the cause of suffering. If we know the 
 cause of suffering, suffering cannot arise. For either happiness or 
 suffering to arise there must be the //atta//, the self. There must 
 be the "I" and "mine," there must be this appearance. If when all 
 these things arise the mind goes straight to the Transcendent, it 
 removes the appearances. It removes the delight, the aversion and 
 the clinging from those things. Just as when something that we value 
 gets lost...when we find it again our worries disappear.
    
    Even before we see that object our worries may be relieved. At 
 first we think it's lost and suffer over it, but there comes a day 
 when we suddenly remember, "Oh, that's right! I put it over there, 
 now I remember!" As soon as we remember this, as soon as we see the 
 truth, even if we haven't laid eyes on that object, we feel happy. 
 This is called "seeing within," seeing with the mind's eye, not 
 seeing with the outer eye. If we see with the mind's eye then even 
 though we haven't laid eyes on that object we are already relieved.
    
    This is the same, When we cultivate Dhamma practice and attain 
 the Dhamma, see the Dhamma, then whenever we encounter a problem we 
 solve the problem instantly, right then and there. It disappears 
 completely, laid down, released.
    
    Now the Buddha wanted us to contact the Dhamma, but people only 
 contact the words, the books and the scriptures. This is contacting 
 that which is //about// Dhamma, not contacting the actual Dhamma as 
 taught by our Great Teacher. How can people say they are practicing 
 well and properly? They are a long way off.
    
    The Buddha was known as //lokavidu//, having clearly realized the 
 world. Right now we see the world all right, but not clearly. The 
 more we know the darker the world becomes, because our knowledge is 
 murky, it's not clear knowledge. It's faulty. This is called 
 "knowing through darkness," lacking in light and radiance.
    
    People are only stuck here but it's no trifling matter. It's 
 important. Most people want goodness and happiness but they just 
 don't know what the causes for that goodness and happiness are. 
 Whatever it may be, if we haven't yet seen the harm of it we can't 
 give it up. No matter how bad it may be, we still can't give it up 
 if we haven't truly seen the harm of it. However, if we really see 
 the harm of something beyond a doubt then we can let it go. As soon 
 as we see the harm of something, and the benefit of giving it up, 
 there's an immediate change.
    
    Why is it we are still unattained, still cannot let go? It's 
 because we still don't see the harm clearly, our knowledge is 
 faulty, it's dark. that's why we can't let go. If we knew clearly 
 like the Lord Buddha or the arahant disciples we would surely let 
 go, our problems would dissolve completely with no difficulty at 
 all.
    
    When your ears hear sound, then let them do their job. When your 
 eyes perform their function with forms, then let them do so. When 
 your nose works with smells, let it do its job. When your body 
 experiences sensations, then let it perform its natural functions 
 where will problems arise? There are no problems.
    
    In the same way, all those things which belong to the Apparent, 
 leave them with the Apparent. And acknowledge that which is the 
 Transcendent. Simply be the "One Who Knows," knowing without 
 fixation, knowing and letting things be their natural way. All 
 things are just as they are. 
    
    All our belongings, does anybody really own them? Does our father 
 own them, or our mother, or our relatives? Nobody really gets 
 anything. That's why the Buddha said to let all those things be, let 
 them go. Know them clearly. Know then by holding, but not fast. Use 
 things in a way that is beneficial, not in a harmful way by holding 
 fast to them until suffering arises.
    
    To know Dhamma you must know in this way. That is, to know in 
 such a way as to transcend suffering. This sort of knowledge is 
 important. Knowing about how to make things, to use tools, knowing 
 all the various sciences of the world and so on, all have their 
 place, but they are not the supreme knowledge. The Dhamma must be 
 known as I've explained it here. You don't have to know a whole lot, 
 just this much is enough for the Dhamma practicer -- to know and 
 then let go.
    
    It's not that you have to die before you can transcend suffering, 
 you know. You transcend suffering in this very life because you know 
 how to solve problems. You know the apparent, you know the 
 Transcendent. Do it in this lifetime, while you are here practicing. 
 You won't find it anywhere else. Don't cling to things. Hold, but 
 don't cling.
    
    You may wonder, "Why does the Ajahn keep saying this?" How could 
 I teach otherwise, how could I say otherwise, when the truth is just 
 as I've said it? Even though it's the truth don't hold fast to even 
 that! If you cling to it blindly it becomes a falsehood. Like a 
 dog...try grabbing its leg. If you don't let go the dog will spin 
 around and bite you. Just try it out. All animals behave like this. 
 If you don't let go it's got no choice but to bite. The Apparent is 
 the same. We live in accordance with conventions, they are here for 
 our convenience in this life, but they are not things to be clung to 
 so hard that they cause suffering. Just let things pass.
    
    Whenever we feel that we are definitely right, so much so that we 
 refuse to open up to anything or anybody else, right there we are 
 wrong. It becomes wrong view. When suffering arises, where does it 
 arise from? The cause is wrong view, the fruit of that being 
 suffering. If it was right view it wouldn't cause suffering.
    
    So I say, "Allow space, don't cling to things." "Right" is just 
 another supposition, just let it pass. "Wrong" is another apparent 
 condition, just let it be that. If you feel you are right and yet 
 others contend the issue, don't argue, just let it go. As soon as 
 you know, let go. This is the straight way.
    
    Usually it's not like this. People don't often give in to each 
 other. That's why some people, even Dhamma practicers who still 
 don't know themselves, may say things that are utter foolishness and 
 yet think they're being wise. They may say something that's so 
 stupid that others can't even bear to listen and yet they think they 
 are being cleverer than others. Other people can't even listen to it 
 and yet they think they are smart, that they are right. They are 
 simply advertising their own stupidity.
    
    That's why the wise say, "Whatever speech disregards //aniccam// 
 is not the speech of a wise person, it's the speech of a fool. It's 
 deluded speech. it's the speech of one who doesn't know that 
 suffering is going to arise right there." For example, suppose you 
 had decided to go to Bangkok tomorrow and someone were to ask, "Are 
 you going to Bangkok tomorrow?" 
    
    "I hope to go to Bangkok. If there are no obstacles I'll probably 
 go." This is called speaking with the Dhamma in mind, speaking with 
 //aniccam// in mind, taking into account the truth, the transient, 
 uncertain nature of the world. You don't say, "Yes, I'm definitely 
 going tomorrow." If it turns out you don't go what are you going to 
 do, send news to all the people who told you were going to? You'd be 
 just talking non-sense.
    
    There's still much more to it, the practice of Dhamma becomes 
 more and more refined. But if you don't see it you may think you are 
 speaking right even when you are speaking wrongly and straying from 
 the true nature of things with every word. And yet you may think you 
 are speaking the truth. To put it simply: anything that we say or do 
 that causes suffering to arise should be known as //micchaditthi//. 
 It's delusion and foolishness.
    
    Most practicers don't reflect in this way. Whatever they like 
 they think is right and they just go on believing themselves. For 
 instance, they may receive some gift or title, be it an object, rank 
 or even words of praise, and they think it's good. They take it as 
 some sort of permanent condition. So they get puffed up with pride 
 and conceit, they don't consider, "Who am I? Where is this so-called 
 "goodness"? Where did it come from? Do others have the same things?"
    
    The Buddha taught that we should conduct ourselves normally. If 
 we don't dig in, chew over and look into this point it means it's 
 still sunk within us. It means these conditions are still buried 
 within our hearts -- we are still sunk in wealth, rank and praise. 
 So we become someone else because of them. We think we are better 
 than before, that we are something special and so all sorts of 
 confusion arises.
    
    Actually, in truth there isn't anything to human beings. Whatever 
 we may be it's only in the realm of appearances. If we take away the 
 apparent and see the Transcendent we see that there isn't anything 
 there. There are simply the universal characteristics -- birth in 
 the beginning, change in the middle and cessation in the end. This 
 is all there is. If we see that all things are like this then no 
 problems arise. If we understand this we will have contentment and 
 peace.
    
    Where trouble arises is when we think like the five ascetic 
 disciples of the Buddha. They followed the instruction of their 
 teacher, but when he changed his practice they couldn't understand 
 what he thought or knew. They decided that the Buddha had given up 
 his practice and reverted to indulgence. If we were in that position 
 we'd probably think the same thing and there'd be no way to correct 
 it. Holding on to the old ways, thinking in the lower way, yet 
 believing it's higher. We'd see the Buddha and think he'd given up 
 the practice and reverted to indulgence, just like he'd given up the 
 practice and reverted to indulgence, just like those Five Ascetics: 
 consider how many years they had been practicing at that time, and 
 yet they still went astray, they still weren't proficient.
    
    So I say to practice and also to look at the results of your 
 practice. Especially where you refuse to follow, where there is 
 friction. Where there is no friction, there is no problem, things 
 flow. If there is friction, they don't flow, you set up a self and 
 things become solid, like a mass of clinging. There is no give and 
 take.
    
    Most monks and cultivators tend to be like this. However they've 
 thought in the past they continue to think. They refuse to change, 
 they don't reflect. They think they are right so they can't be 
 wrong, but actually "wrongness" is buried within "rightness," even 
 though most people don't know that. How is it so? "This is 
 right'...but if someone else says it's not right you won't give in, 
 you've got to argue. What is this? //Ditthi mana//...//Ditthi// 
 means views, //mana// is the attachment to those views. If we attach 
 even to what is right, refusing to concede to anybody, then it 
 becomes wrong. To cling fast to rightness is simply the arising of 
 self, there is no letting go.
    
    This is a point which gives people a lot of trouble, except for 
 those Dhamma practicers who know that this matter, this point, is a 
 very important one. they will take not of it. If it arises while 
 they're speaking, clinging comes racing on to the scene. Maybe it 
 will linger for some time, perhaps one or two days, three or four 
 months, a year or two. This is for the slow ones, that is. For the 
 quick response is instant...they just let go. Clinging arises and 
 immediately there is letting go, they force the mind to let go right 
 then and there.
    
    You must see these two functions operating. Here there is 
 clinging. Now who is the one who resists that clinging? Whenever you 
 experience a mental impression you should observe these two 
 functions operating. There is clinging, and there is one who 
 prohibits the clinging. Now just watch these two things. Maybe you 
 will cling for a long time before you let go.
    
    Reflecting and constantly practicing like this, clinging gets 
 lighter, becomes less and less. Right view increases as wrong view 
 gradually wanes. Clinging decreases, non-clinging arises. This is 
 the way it is for everybody. That's why I say to consider this 
 point. Learn to solve problems in the present moment.

                            * * * * * * * *



                              CORRECTIONS
  
  In preparing this electronic edition for DharmaNet, some minor changes
  and corrections were made to the original text. These include changing
  the spellings of certain words from British to American English and
  adapting punctuation and style to conform more closely to the Chicago
  Manual of Style (13th edition) guidelines. In addition, the following
  changes were made ("---->" means "was changed to"):
  
  
  1.  "The Flood of Sensuality", paragraph beginning "However, even though
   simply listening..." (p. 62): 
      
      whose who realized the Dhamma ----> those who realized the Dhamma
   

                        * * * * * * * *


                         DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT

TITLE OF WORK: Food for the Heart
FILENAME: GOODFOOD.ZIP
AUTHOR: Venerable Ajahn Chah
AUTHOR'S ADDRESS: N/A (deceased 1992)
PUBLISHER'S ADDRESS:    The Abbot
                        Wat Pah Nanachat
                        Bahn Bung Wai
                        Warinchamrab
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                        34310, Thailand
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 1992
DATE OF DHARMANET RELEASE: April 1994
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