A Meditator Guide Book

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A Meditators GuideBy

Luang Por Pramote Pamojjo (2009)

Translated by

Jess Peter Kofman (2009-2010)

Edited by Phra Korakot Kittisobhan. o

and Jess Peter Kofman


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A Meditators Guide

By

Luang Por Pramote Pamojjo (2009)

Translated by

Jess Peter Kofman (2009-2010)

Edited by Phra Korakot Kittisobhan. o

and Jess Peter Kofman


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Tis book has been printed for free distribution

All commercial rights reserved

Any reproduction, in whole or in part, in any orm, or sale, prot, ormaterial gain, is prohibited However, permission to re-print or reedistribution may be obtained upon request rom:

Suan Santidhamma Hermitage332/1 Moo 6, Baan Kongdara Nongkham, Sriracha Chonburi,ailand 20110

Layout & cover design: Nabwong Chuaychuwong


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Contents

Getting Started 4

Samatha and Vipassana Meditation 6

e ree Areas o Training 9

1 Moral Training 9

2 Mental Training 12

3 Training in Wisdom 17

e Principles o Vipassana Practice 31

Conversations with Luang Por Pramote 46

About LP Pramote 61

About the Translator 62


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A Meditators Guide

4

Getting Started

It is a wonderul thing to have an interest in medi-tation However, beore we get started with thepractice there are our things we need to be clear about:

1) What are we going to practice?2) What can we expect to achieve rom this practice?3) How do we engage in this practice?4) When we practice, are we actually doing what

we intended?

Regarding the ourth point, we want to do what

we set out to do, and shouldnt slip into practicing

something other than what we intended without imme-

diately knowing that we have done so Being mindulo these our points is essential as they provide the

oundation that directs our practice and keeps it rom

slipping of track ey are a basic type o wisdom,

which in the Pali language is called sampajaa In

English we can call it clear comprehension


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5

Whenever we observe objects o meditation, there

must always be two assistants present e rst assistant

is called sati, the mindulness which recognizes the

object that is being observed or has arisen in any given

moment e second is sampajaa, the clear compre-

hension that keeps our practice in check Together, sati

(mindulness) and sampajaa (clear comprehension)

make up the overall awareness that is essential or

all meditators Without these two assistants, without

knowing what objects arise and without being clear

on what we are doing, it is easy to lose our way and

alter in our practice


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A Meditators Guide

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Samatha and Vipassana Meditation

There are two main types o meditation ound inBuddhism: Samatha and Vipassana In coming tothe practice o Samatha or Vipassana, we need to have

the mental clarity to know which one we have selected

and or what purpose e purpose o Samatha is to

bring a mind that is not peaceul to a state o peace, to

bring a mind that is not happy to a state o happiness,and to bring an unwholesome mind to a state o virtue

In Vipassana, we do not practice to change anything

in this way, but to gain a proper understanding o the

way things are (samm-dhitti) We practice so we can

see the true nature o body and mind

e body and mind were seen by the Buddha as ve

distinct groups or aggregates called the ve khandhas

Each o which has the inherent characteristic that is

called non-substantiality and unsatisactoriness (duk-

kha) We must come to know the truth o this in

our experience So our job is to become aware o the


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body and mind regularly with an inner watchulness

is is the practice o Vipassana When we practice

in this way with requency, wisdom arises we come

to know the true nature o the body and mind is

kind o wisdom is called right understanding (samm-

dhitti) We come to know that the body and mind

are impermanent, sufering and are not our sel, not

us When we have enough wisdom to see the truth

o this clearly, authentically, consciousness can then

let go o any attachment to the body and mind, and

automatically comes to know nirvana (nibbna), the

end o sufering

I we practice watching the body and mind a great

deal, one day we will truly see that the body and mind

are just aggregates, elements o nature, ractions o

the earth ey are not us, nor do they belong to us

When we see the truth that there is nothing we can

constitute as being ourselves, we will reach the rst


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A Meditators Guide

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stage o enlightenment called stream-entry (sotpanna)I we continue watching the body and mind careully

to the point o letting go o all attachment to them,

then we become an arahant -- one who has completely

ended sufering An arahant is not someone who is

able to make the mind something permanently good, or

create permanent happiness or permanent peace He orshe is one who no longer takes interest in such things

Peace, happiness and the like are worldly endeavors

An arahant knows the utility in trying to pursue sat-

isaction through worldly measures He or she knows

the true nature o body and mind and is beyond any

attachment to them We need to practice Vipassana

to learn the truth about the body and mind that we

consider our own True liberation, the end o sufering,

is not in trying to make the mind permanently happy

or peaceul, but in seeing the nature o the body and

mind as impermanent, sufering and not us and then

letting go


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The Three Areas of Training

In watching and learning the body and mind directly,the Buddha taught that there are three areas otraining (ti-sikkh): morality, mentality, and wisdom

Problems will arise i we dont train in all three o

these areas

1. MoralTrainingMany Buddhists believe that morality consists merely

o taking a vow in ront o a monk to ollow a list o

moral precepts It is certainly not that supercial For

meditators, it is not only about the lists o Buddhist

precepts (ve or daily lie, eight or nuns and 227 or

monks) ere is an entire other kind o morality weneed to understand, called indriya-samvara-sila Sila

means morality Indriya-samvara means to guard

onesel at the level o the senses When our eyes see

things and orms, our job is to be aware o any liking

or disliking as soon as it arises When we are aware


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in such a way, the mental delements (such as greedand anger) cannot afect us en morality will occur

in the mind automatically Can we see how important

it is to be mindul o what arises within our mind?

It is necessary beyond the scope o meditation, and

promotes moral behavior as well Such awareness is

something we need with us everywhere we go and atall times It upholds the virtuous mind needed or

moral behavior, or keeping the mind attentive and

ree rom wandering, and or attaining wisdom So

when our eyes see a lovely lady, and wanting and lik-

ing subsequently arise, have the mindulness to see

that desire has arisen e mind will then not be at

desires mercy, and action in accordance with the desire

will not ollow Resultantly, we will not break moral

precepts, such as pursuing a woman who is spoken or,

or deceiving her in some way

Perhaps we are walking and see a mans mobile

phone all out o his pocket unknowingly As it turnsout, it is not just any phone but the exact model that

we were looking to buy! Greed and wanting arise,

but mindulness sees this It knows right away that

greed has afected the mind, and thus the greed will

immediately drop of and be unable manipulate us As

a result, we will not steal, even i we have no chance

o getting caught

I someone scolds us and we get angry, mindulness

sees the anger arise us, the anger cannot afect

us we will not shout back, become violent or harm

anyone in any way e mind will be impartial We


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will be moral automatically because o the mindulnessthat immediately sees whatever arises in the mind

e Buddha taught, When your eyes see orms

in the world, liking and disliking appear in the mind

Have the mindulness to know when they do I you

dont see the liking or disliking immediately, the mind

will be burdened and inuenced by greed, aversion

and ignorance e mind will stray rom its normal

state o purity and become immoral A mind without

morality is actually an abnormal mind It has the

mental delements (greed, aversion, etc) inuencing it

All meditators need to practice this method omorality I our ears hear we are being praised, we

become buoyant and inated like a balloon We must

be watchul and know this as it happens so that we

do not gloat and lose our way

Usually when we are on our own, we are in think-

ing mode: analyzing, replaying, projecting, curiousabout this, concerned about that Some thoughts

are about good things, some about bad things Some

thoughts create virtue in the mind, others vice Have

the mindulness to see whatever appears in the mind

as it arises It then cannot override the minds normal

and natural state is is when we can truly say that

our mind is moral


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2. MentalTraining

e lesson in mental training is about the loneliest

and unluckiest lesson there is since so ew people are

interested in learning it Nevertheless, it is o such

importance that the wisdom which sees the true nature

o things cannot arise without it

ere is one type o meditator that does not take

interest in learning proper mental training He or she

will just sit and meditate, thinking that meditating

or hours on end and losing onesel in the object o

meditation is proper mental training is is not so

ere is another type o meditator that believes that it

is enough to just practice labeling mental and physical

phenomena and the mind will become concentrated by

itsel Once, again, proper mental training is not as

easy as just sitting and meditating!

Mental training is about learning our own mental

states which state o mind is a virtuous one, whichis not, which state o mind is suitable or Samatha

meditation, which or Vipassana, and which state o

mind is unt or any practice at all We need to know

clearly the characteristics o each mental state is

way, we can see which is the most appropriate practice

at any given time

We must understand that there are two ways o

learning e rst is the intellectual way, rom teachers

and textbooks ose that learn the details o medita-

tion in a scholarly setting will oten nd themselves

studying the Abhidhamma In this ancient Buddhist


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scripture, 72 conditioned phenomena (dhammas) aredetailed, o which mind is just one e mind, however,

is the only one that can be separated into 89 or 121

diferent states ough the Abhidhamma is interesting,

nobody actually experiences all these states Learning

in this way can be tedious and complicated

e other way to learn is much simpler is is

learning the truth as it happens in our own experience

But at rst, we need to understand some principles, such

as which mental states are virtuous and which are not

For such things, it helps to have a meditation teacher

to point us in the right direction Otherwise, we can

all into situations like creating unwholesome stateso mind within ourselves that we think are virtuous

ones is is surprisingly a very common occurrence

among meditators We also need to understand which

mental states are suitable or Samatha and which or

Vipassana I we dont, we will likely bring a mind

o low quality into our Vipassana practice and thusrender it inefectual

A vast number o meditators dont truly know

what Samatha and Vipassana are ey intend to do

Vipassana but actually unknowingly practice Samatha

is is extremely common in all meditation halls It

is important to clearly understand the undamentalprinciples o each practice, and then all meditation

centers will be o good use One centers practice isnt

any better than any other; however, i watching the

body and mind is not taught, there is no Vipassana and

no way to gain insight into our true nature When


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we know the principles behind the practice, meditationis not so hard I we dont know the principles, i we

dont know about watching our body and mind, the

practice will be very dicult indeed, like shing or

a needle in a haystack

Lets have a look at what types o mental states are

virtuous and which are not Virtuous ones do not

have desire, aversion or ignorance controlling them

So i in any moment the mind is wanting, is in a

state o anger or stress, is lost in thought or in sense

perception (looking, hearing, etc) then it is surely not

a virtuous one in the Buddhist sense is is an easy

way to measure the quality o the mind in any givenmoment With that said, sometimes we cant tell i

the mind has desire, aversion or ignorance because they

are there in such a subtle orm In such cases, there

are other ways to know

A truly virtuous mind is a light one (lahut) e

arising o a weighty mind is a sure sign that we arealtering in our practice, that unscrupulousness or un-

wholesomeness has come in to replace virtue Some

peoples minds become so heavy in their practice it is as

i they are carrying a mountain on their shoulders A

virtuous mind is also gentle and pliant (mudut) Any

rigidity or dullness is not virtuous Some people havetheir minds held rigid all day long A virtuous mind

must be agile and nimble (pguat) Be cautious

and cognizant o such things

We may notice that i we are too deliberate when

we set our minds to practice, there will arise heaviness,


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tightness, dullness or inattentiveness Why is that? Itis because greed has entered Wanting to practice is a

orm o greed When we want to meditate we bring

the wanting into our practice and it will afect our

mind Normally when the desire arises to meditate, we

meditate As such, our actions are resulting rom a

state o mind that is deled with desire, a non-virtuousstate Heaviness, rigidity, inattentiveness and dullness

will thus appear ere will be no chance or a truly

impartial mindulness o inner phenomena to occur

Genuine mindulness cannot occur at that moment

because the area has already become a deled one

Mindulness can certainly never arise in conjunction

with a delement We can only have one or the other

ereore, i we are meditating and the mind is rigid

or dull, know that this mental state has arisen out

o greed Also when the rigidity and dullness arise,

aversion will ollow because we want these states to go

away We dont like them and eel conned and edgy

We want to be pleased, happy and comortable Onceagain, mental delements prevail So we must come to

learn the qualities o virtuous and non-virtuous mental

states within ourselves

Speaking bluntly, almost all meditators are practic-

ing without virtue, in so ar as they are wanting to be

virtuous What they are creating is rigidity, dullness,

heaviness, discomort Greed comes in Aversion comes

in But what is constantly arising is ignorance, and

it goes unseen e true nature o the mental state

goes unnoticed or such meditators as the ignorance is

blinding them rom it When we practice by rmly


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holding our attention somewhere or intensely notingphenomena, the mind oten ends up in a daze or just

still and lieless

Sometimes, however, the mind does become gentle

and bright, though what oten happens next is that the

mind becomes attached to the happiness or peace that

arises We lose our ooting; we lose our way is is

a common type o meditator, who rmly holds his or

her attention somewhere or intensely notes phenomena

as mentioned above and nds that the mind gets very

calm and light e mind is happy and shining bright

is type o meditator must careully notice that the

mind is stiller than it should be, more still than normale truth is that the most suitable mind or practicing

Vipassana is a mind in its natural, normal state A

regular human mind is just right Humans already are

higher minded beings that are ready to uncover the true

nature o things (Dhamma) Nevertheless, a number

o meditators when deciding to practice orcibly holdtheir attention or mentally note phenomena until the

normal human mind is lost and replaced by a subtle

mind like that o a godly deity (brahma): serene, calm

and happy Such a mind gets lost in these states and

oats away in them Here there is still desire looming

but the meditator does not see it

So these are some common mistakes o meditators

One group practices and a non-virtuous mind arises:

stressed, rigid, heavy and tight Another group practices

and enjoys the beautiul sensations and mind states

that come along with the practice, and gets absorbed


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in them is group is actually virtuous, but onlyin the worldly sense is group is actually creating

an obstacle to the path o enlightenment in a very

subtle way We must be very careul Some people

in this group practice so much meditation that their

minds become too subtle and serene, much more than

is naturally so ey are immersed in such sublimestates or days and days Desire and ignorance have

come in but they go unseen In other cases, ignorance

and aversion may be arising right rom the start is

is especially true or beginners who practice by the

method o mentally noting mental phenomena By

mentally labeling again and again, orcibly ocusing

attention each time, ignorance and aversion come in

We have to keep learning until we truly know the

characteristics o the mind, and then we can practice

properly without making these mistakes us our

mind will be an impartial one that can truly see and

know mental phenomena clearly is is quality mind,

one o virtue and wisdom Such a mind arises on itsown without any efort (in the Abhidhamma this mind

is called Mahkusolajit-anasampayuta-Asankhrika)

In this type o mind, the virtuousness has momen-

tum and ortitude It is the most suitable mind or

practicing Vipassana ere are many more details

about this; and we must have patience and graduallyunderstand them

3. TraininginWisdom

Now we come to the lesson on the arising o in-

sight wisdom which sees the true nature o the body


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(rpa) and mind (nma) But rst we must see themistakes that meditators make which create obstacles

to path o insight We must not alter to either o

the two extremes that block our progress in Vipassana

and in the arising o wisdom e rst extreme is

controlling our mind to the point o suspending it,

making it rozen stif or overly ne and subtle eother extreme is letting the mind get lost, mindlessly

ollowing our ignorant and indulgent thoughts ese

are the two directions we can alter total control,

or mindlessly ollowing the lure o the delements

Buddhism teaches the middle way It is important

to remember that everything starts in the mind, and

then action ollows So whether we tortuously keep

our bodies under control, or have them mindlessly go

unchecked and do whatever they please, the physical

world is not where the root o the mistakes in our

practice lies We must try to open our minds to what

is being said here and practice it en we will see or

ourselves whether or not sufering subsides in our lives

I we want to know the Buddhas middle way in our

experience then we should gradually keep learning until

genuine mindulness arises, the automatic and impartial

awareness o mental and physical phenomena as they

arise in our experience Genuine mindulness (samm-

sati) will occur as a result o clearly recognizing mental

states as they arise, not rom holding concentration in

one spot, or mental noting, or orcing it into being

e Abhidhamma teaches that the proximate cause that

enables genuine mindulness to arise is the recognizing

o mental and physical phenomena When we rst


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practice using the our oundations o mindulness(satipat. t.hna) that were taught by the Buddha (namely,

the body, eelings, mind and Dhamma), we do so to

achieve this mindulness We practice watching the

body until we can see the truth o physicality (rpa)

We practice watching eelings until we truly see the

reality o eelings (vedan) We practice watching themind until we come to know the truth o the mind

(citta) Genuine mindulness arises on its own when

we see the reality o these things

Usually I teach my students to watch the mind is

is because most o those who come to see me are city

people with busy minds ey are thinkers eir jobsinvolve thinking all day Watching the mind is the

practice most suitable or such people ose who are

greedy, who want the comorts in lie and enjoy ashion

and beauty should practice by watching the body

Take a look at the decision to go to practice at a

meditation center We dont think about what typeo personality we have We want to go, so we do We

dont notice our mental states Our riends decide to

go, so we go too We unwittingly believe that i a

meditation center becomes popular, it must be a good

one e truth is it may or may not be Furthermore,

the master may be rst-class, but i the practice doesntsuit our aptitudes and we merely ollow the technique

as directed, we wont accomplish much So beore we

practice we need to observe ourselves and determine

where our abilities lie I we are the kind that is happy

with worldly pleasures, beautiul things, comortable


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surroundings, and like being let alone in peace andquiet, we may best suited to watch the body is is

because when we watch the body, we will easily come

to know that it is not happy, comortable or beautiul

ose who think too much, who are caught up in their

heads, should watch the mind

We should discern which o these two main person-

ality types matches us best: sensual or analytical; that

is, do our passions lie primarily with worldly pleasures

or intellectual ones? Let the choice here act as a guide-

line or what our objects o meditation should be when

we begin our practice I we are primarily sense driven,

we should watch the body, and i we are analytical weshould watch the mind e other two areas to watch

(according to the teachings o the Buddha on the our

oundations o mindulness, the Satipat. t. hna Sutta)

are eelings (vedan-nupassan) and the true nature

o phenomena (dhamm-nupassan) We should not

watch those two areas until our minds are a little moreadvanced, a little more ripe or wisdom Watch the

mind and the body rst as they are undamental It

is important to note, however, that watching body is

most appropriate or those that are skilled in the absorp-

tion concentration levels (jhna) Unskilled minds that

concentrate hard will completely lose themselves in the

body For example, i we watch the abdomen rising

and alling, the mind will be motionless and completely

latched to the abdomen, thus rendered inefective In

walking meditation, the mind will be latched to the

eet liting and moving In watching the breath, the

mind will stick to the breath so completely that we


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lose ourselves in it

It is dicult to watch the body correctly i the mind

is not rmly rooted in awareness, that is, i our mind

tends to slip down into the object o observation I

we can reach the peace and higher concentration o the

second jhna, something arises that masters in the orest

monk tradition call the knower or the watcher

is watcher is the awakening o right concentration,

an unshakable awareness that clearly sees that the

body, the eelings, the good and bad thoughts, and

the mind that watches are all distinct and separate

entities e body moves; the mind is the watcher e

body sits, and the mind is the watcher is point isclearly presented in the Abhidhamma when it shows

the distinction between the knower and the known

This means that when we watch the body, we

should not get immersed in it e mind should be

independent and watch rom a distance as i we are

watching someone else We see this body stand, walk,sit and lay down e mind is the watcher When

we practice in this way, we will see directly that the

body is not us ere will be no need to think about

it; the body will be clearly and directly seen as not us

or ours e body stands, walks, sits and lies down

and the mind is the watcher is is how to watch thebody One day the truth will show itsel that the body

is just esh and bones, water, heat and movement e

body is under constant oppression by unsatisactoriness

(dukkha), always in some orm o discomort en the

mind orders the body to move or act to try to relieve


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the discomort When we practice correctly we willsee the true characteristics o the body or ourselves

Watching the mind is easier than watching the body

When we watch the mind we will see that there are two

things that arise in each moment: a mental phenomenon

and consciousness is is because ones consciousness

does not arise unless there is an object o consciousness

they appear in unison We cannot watch the mind

without mental phenomena (cetasika) because the mind

has no body or orm o its own So rst we should

watch each mental phenomenon, whether it is classied

as a eeling or sensations (vedan), memory (sa), or

active thinking or mental ormations (sankhra) Allsuch phenomena arise and all in conjunction with

consciousness For example, at times we have a virtu-

ous mind and at times we do not Our impression

is that the mind that belongs to us is now virtuous,

or it is greedy, averted or lost in thought or sense

perceptions is is how we perceive it at rst Butwhen the mind that is ripe with wisdom arises, it will

see clearly that consciousness is one thing and greed

is another Consciousness is one thing and disliking

is another Consciousness is one thing and thought is

another ey will show themselves as separate and

distinct processes Later we will be able to directly

watch their true nature (dhamm-nupassan) But rst,

keep watching and knowing the phenomena that arise

in the mind

I we have already been practicing a certain medita-

tion technique which involves watching the body and/


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or the mind, I recommend we stay with it ere is noneed to stop or change what we do I do not teach a

specic technique do whatever style you do best and

learn the principles I am teaching When we under-

stand the principles correctly, we should integrate them

into our present practice I the undamental principles

behind our practice are lacking or misconstrued, then itdoesnt matter how graceully we walk or how still we

sit; we will not be practicing Vipassana and what we

do will not lead to insight wisdom ose in marching

bands have beautiul posture and perorm graceully,

but we certainly dont see much enlightenment going

on there! Our posture and technique is not the least

bit relevant We can just keep practicing whatever style

we have learned in the past, though we must bring a

correct understanding into it

I we have practiced watching the in-breath and

out-breath, and we are comortable with it, then we

should keep at it I we eel agitated, we may then wantto pick another place in the body as a home base or

our attention Wherever in the body we may choose

as our home base or primary object o attention, the

mind will all into one o the ollowing our categories:

1) In the irst type, we may be watching the

breath, the abdomen rising and alling, oreven an intentional body movement such as

raising and lowering the arm What happens

is we get caught up in something and orget

ourselves Whether it is in dreamy states or

peaceul sensations, we lose our awareness


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and mindlessly stray rom our intended taskAlmost all meditators who enjoy watching their

breath get totally lost in it this way is state

is unproductive

2) e second type occurs when the mind moves

its way down into breath or other meditation

object Let us pay attention to our breath

now We will start to notice that the mind

moves down into it e mind that moves into

the breath is not one o right concentration,

not rooted in awareness e mind has sunk

down It is the same or those who watch the

abdomen rise and all or ocus on other bodilymovements: the mind sinks down into the

area o attention Watching the body standing,

walking, sitting, and laying down can equally

result in the mind rmly holding its ocus In

this case, the mind sinks down and xates on

the whole body is is not a hard thing todo It is quite easy to x our attention on the

breath, the abdomen, or on the whole body

Many people practice by rmly xing their

attention somewhere is is not the way o

authentic awareness, not the watcher we spoke

o Many people irmly ix their attention

on their mind, ocusing as hard as they can

until the mind is still is is equivalent to

Samatha practice, and the efects o Samatha

will result such as tingly sensations, swaying,

eeling light, or like our body is extremely

large or oating away Some people mistak-


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enly think when they get such sensations thatthey are entering the path o insight (na)

But these are merely bodily sensations e

path o insight is about wisdom, seeing the

true nature o things So why is it that we

intend to practice Vipassana and yet we get

sensations associated with Samatha? is isbecause we are xing our attention somewhere,

latching onto the abdomen or the breathing

perhaps I we keep at it, we are sure to eel

lightness, oating sensations, swaying and so

on ere is nothing surprising about this, as

ocusing attention in one area is the practice

o Samatha Its not a bad thing to do this,

but it is not Vipassana I ever our mind

is so distracted and exhausted that it doesnt

have the energy to do Vipassana, then we can

practice Samatha I we are skilled at watching

the breath or the abdomen rise and all, then

we can gently bring attention there and eelcalm and happy

An important piece o knowledge is that concentra-

tion will not arise by orcing it to Concentration is

not the cause o happiness Happiness is the cause

o concentration Try to remember this Actually asconcentration gets more proound and subtle, happiness

drops of and there is but equanimity (upekkh) So we

dont practice concentration so that happiness will arise;

happiness is the one that brings about concentration

When arriving at the nature o things (dhamma), oten


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the cause-efect relationship between things will revealthat our previous notions were inversions o the truth

In this case o happiness and concentration, we can

see that those who enjoy playing cards can oten do

so happily until dawn e body and the mind are

totally concentrated on the game Those who like

watching sporting events can get intensely ocused onthem and stay up ar past their usual sleeping hour

ey can do this because they are happy e happiness

brings them the concentration, and they stay ocused

on the game is is how we should choose what to

watch when we practice meditation: choose whichever

primary object makes us happy Whether our choice

is the breath, the abdomen, or any other phenomenon,

it will quickly make us calm Our mind will keep to

the practice and will come to a rest

So ar we have covered the rst two types o minds

that occur when practicing meditation, namely, getting

totally lost, or losing onesel in Samatha by xing ourattention on the arms, the eet, the abdomen, on the

whole body or the mind What seem like many difer-

ent meditation techniques rom many diferent centers

are really just the same thing: latching our attention

on to something Most meditators oscillate between

the rst two types without ever being truly aware as

in the third type

3) e third type occurs when we watch the body

as in Vipassana meditation We can choose

any observable phenomenon o the body, such

as the breath, the rising and alling o the


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abdomen, or intentional body movements Inthe case o the abdomen, we can see that there

is rising and alling occurring there, and the

mind merely watches this e mind must be

the watcher, an independent phenomenon rom

the object e mind does not sink down to

the abdomen but is rooted in awareness, andsimply sees that the body has this rising and

alling motion at the abdomen Or the mind

sees the body is breathing in It sees the body

breathing out e mind watches the body

stand, walk, sit and lay down It watches the

hands and arms moving and stretching and

so on It sees the body doing what it does

e mind is just the watcher e body moves

and the mind watches e body ceases to

be ours is body moves, but it is not us

moving e hand reaches but not our hand

It wont even eel like it is a hand It is just a

physical orm moving When we see it in thisway, there will be a lightness to all that we

do But when we see it as our hand moving,

the mind carries more weight Whenever the

hand moves and the mind just knows it, there

is tremendous relie True mindulness arises

e mind awakens and sees that the physicalorm that is moving is not us

4) e ourth mental state occurs when we have

been practicing the watching o an object o

meditation such as in-breath and out-breath,

and we are able to notice the occurrence o


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mental phenomena Perhaps the mind goes ofin thought, or the mind latches itsel on the

breath or the abdomen Here are a ew more

examples: We watch the breath and a eeling

o joy or rapture arises (pti) in the mind and

we immediately know that joy has arisen We

watch the breath and happiness arises; the mindknows that happiness has arisen We watch

the breath and eel anxious; the mind knows

the anxiousness Or we watch the abdomen

and eel rustrated; the mind knows rustra-

tion has arisen Whatever mental state arises,

mindulness is there to recognize it As we

practice this more and more, we will see how

what arises in the mind is always changing

We will eventually come to recognize a great

number o mental phenomena We will know

what getting lost in thought is like, what xing

the mind on a spot is like, what a virtuous or

non-virtuous mind is like, what greed, aversionand ignorance are like When we recognize

them well, mindulness will arise on its own

in our daily lie

So we can see that mindulness can be practiced

throughout the day ose who are skilled at

watching the mind can do this quite easily

It is a little harder or those who preer to

watch the body, as the body tends to take

up all o our attention when we do As an

example o watching our mind in daily lie, we

may see our riend coming towards us When


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she does, gladness arises Mindulness knowsthis right away, even i we werent intending

to practice Wisdom sees the gladness and

it alls away Phenomena just arise and pass

away We start talking with our riend and we

start enjoying ourselves e un eeling arises,

mindulness knows it and then the un eelingpasses en our riend says something that

bothers us A little anger arises, it is known

immediately and then alls away I we can

watch the arising and alling away o mental

phenomena repetitively in this way, then we

are able to develop our mindulness daily lie

e rst mental state is the state that most people

are in all the time, lost all day and all night ere are

six ways to be lost: in seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting,

bodily sensations, and in thinking ere is one more

way to be lost, actually, and that is the second mental

state: lost in meditating, that is, lost in xation on anobject or in mental noting We can enter this second

mental state anywhere, but it is quite common among

temple goers ey go on a short retreat and get very

good at losing themselves in the breath or the abdo-

men e third or ourth mental state can be done

without having to go on a meditation retreat In the

third, whatever the body is doing standing, walking,

sitting, lying the mind keeps watching it repeatedly

e mind sees that the body that is engaged in these

activities is not us Such a mind is light and gentle,

pliant and agile, adaptable and procient


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The Principles of Vipassana Practice

Please try to ollow what I say We should read andlisten to my talks repetitively and our understand-ing will deepen We will slowly absorb more and more

each time Dont just listen once now and come back

a ew years later and say it is all the same We need

to listen or read oten so we will not orget Please do

keep at it I wont orce anyone to come I dont chargeor my lectures, and I give out my books and CDs or

ree All Im doing is asking us to come and listen,

asking us or some determination and perseverance

Now, the last ew moments I have not been teach-

ing about the true nature o things (Dhamma) Can

we notice that our minds have a lot more movement?

Our minds are much more active now is is how we

watch Just know this is happening Its easy ere

isnt much to it Most people have the perception

that practicing the Dhamma means we must do di-

cult things, things greater or on a higher level than


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is normal or natural I we endeavor to do thingshigher than normal, then we wont see the Dhamma

e Dhamma is completely normal, natural We are

not trying to become superman here We are not even

learning so that we can eel happy, or be intelligent,

knowledgeable or worldly We are learning so that we

can see the truth at is all

It is not necessary to know all the Buddhist scrip-

tures No one does We are not the Buddha We just

need to know what happens in our experience Practic-

ing the Dhamma is similar to climbing a mountain

Beore we climb, we want to see what path others have

successully taken, and ollow it I we do, one daywe will arrive at the goal We will also believe that

we chose the right way to get there But standing on

the mountain top, we then can see there are many

pathways to arrive at the same peak We could have

taken other ways, practiced at other centers, we just

needed to know the principles o the practice that I amexplaining and thus get the undamentals right We

need to know the our diferent categories I explained

e mind at each moment can be depicted as in one

o the our, and only the third and the ourth are

conducive to wisdom

Watching the rising and alling o the abdomenand wandering of in thought or enjoyment is a u-

tile practice, and is our rst category Watching by

holding our attention at the abdomen is Samatha, our

second category Watching the abdomen as merely

the body moving, with the mind as the independent


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observer, is Vipassana practice by watching the body(kynupassan) We will see that the body is not us

is is our third category Watching the abdomen

and seeing the mind happy one moment, sufering

the next, good one moment, bad the next with the

abdomen acting as the basis rom which we watch

the mind, is Vipassana practice by watching the mind(cittnupassan) is is our ourth category

e same undamentals are true or watching the

breath Watching the breath and losing our awareness

will have no benet Watching the breath with a high

degree o ocus is Samatha Watching the breath and

seeing the body moving with the mind as the watcheris Vipassana by way o the body We will see that this

body, now sitting here and breathing, is not us Watch-

ing the breath and noticing mental states is Vipassana

by way o the mind

For those who practice a style such a Venerable

Master Tians, where we sit and move the arms, theundamentals are the same Moving the arms with

the mind wandering here and there is useless The

second way is moving the arms and keeping ocus on

them Staying ocused intently with each movement

in this way is Samatha e third way is to know the

body is moving with the mind as the watcher eourth way is moving the arms as a basis or watching

mental movement and mental states e ourth way

is how the practice was intended and originally taught,

knowing the body is moving and knowing the mind

is moving Unortunately most people dont ollow


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the teachings and get stuck in the second state, andmany more in the rst, stuck in thinking about each

movement What step is next? Oh yes, this step

Ok great Whats next? is is nothing but think-

ing Even i we mentally note, inking, thinking,

thinking, we are still thinking!

Keep watching the diferent mental and physical

phenomena It doesnt matter which technique we

choose We all have our own ways; there is no need

to copy others Just remember well the three areas

o training that I discussed Learn by observing the

eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind Whatever

comes into contact with them, be aware as soon as itarises Watch how the sensations are always changing

Observe the mind Know what states are virtuous,

non-virtuous Most o us here are listening and eeling

light Not in the oating away sense, but just gentle

Become aware o it now Some o us are stuck intently

ocusing, xing our attention It will eel dull, sort odry and emotionless i we are holding our concentration

in this way

(Venerable Pramote then takes the opportunity to

assist an audience member) In your case, you are stuck

in the practice o intense ocus You make yoursel

peaceul until you are in a kind o daze is is notright You need to be in a state o knowing, attentive,

awake, sel-aware, yet calm and relaxed I you practice

and you eel irritable or uncomortable, the mind is

not virtuous In act, these are dening characteristics

o a non-virtuous mind A mind that eels heavy is


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surely non-virtuous A mind that is light or happy,however, may or may not be virtuous us we must

be careul not to be mistaken Light or happy dont

necessarily mean virtuous Some people have light and

calm minds all day and all night but are just lost,

without awareness

Please keep at it What I said doesnt mean that

the practice you are doing has been useless But you

need to keep working on it Listen to me a little more

and you will be able to practice Vipassana properly

Most o us are stuck in Samatha We get attached to

the sensations that occur as a result o our one-pointed

concentration on an object, and think that we havereached a level o Vipassana insight Another name

or Vipassana insight is wisdom Wisdom has nothing

to do with physical sensations; it is about seeing the

truth is misunderstanding may be a result o some

meditation masters o previous generations that would

play little tricks to give encouragement and say thattheir students are reaching levels o insight even though

they werent ey were happy that at least the students

made progress in Samatha and they hoped that the

students would then keep practicing And one day, by

the grace o their merit, they may break ree o Samatha

and enter the path o Vipassana So everyone please

keep learning, keep practicing Whatever technique

we have chosen is ne; they can all be done correctly

or incorrectly just the same

I have practiced with many well-known masters

o the orest monk tradition: Luang Pu Dune Atulo,


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middle o the street or playing in the rain and we havecompassion or our child We dont want to see our

child get struck by a car or catch a cold So we call

our child into the house But when our child reuses

to come in, we start to get angry What we say or do

may hurt the child more than a cold would In this

case, we can see a virtuous mind soon produced anunscrupulous one Once there was a well-known monk

who had so much loving-kindness Unortunately, his

love was so vast that it exceeded his mindulness is

caused desire and attachment to enter at times when he

wasnt suciently aware I we have loving-kindness,

losing our ooting just a little bit can cause desire

I we have compassion, and our mindulness is not

strong enough, it may result in anger So we must

truly be careul

Non-virtue can create virtue and virtue can cre-

ate non-virtue It goes both ways, as in the ollowing

example We can be in the non-virtuous state wellknown as the wandering mind But ater an hour or so,

we remember our mindulness and recognize that the

mind has been wandering Now the mind has become

virtuous, at least or this moment o mindulness We

may then get upset with our mind or wandering away

or so long: I cant believe that happened again! Now

we are lost in non-virtue again, this time in regret and

over-thinking Another common situation is when we

are concerned about the uture and the mind wanders

away into diferent scenarios Such a non-virtuous

mind becomes virtuous the moment that mindulness

realizes this is going on But then we think, How can


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I prevent all this wandering? And we then proceedto everishly mentally note the thinking is is most

certainly greed, and not virtue

Please listen to this careully: We are not practicing

so that the mind will not wander We are practicing

to know ourselves, to be aware o ourselves We need

to see the wandering mind, to know what it is like, to

see it is not permanent, and see that the aware mind

that was lost is not permanent either We are not even

practicing so that we can be aware o ourselves all the

time We are not practicing to be or get anything at all!

e truth is that most people in this world walkaround with their minds wandering all the time ere

is no awareness o it or their entire lives Even in their

next lie, they are completely caught up in thought

And they never wake up and notice it How could

they notice? eir minds are too busy wandering all

the time! Lets look at an example Suppose each

person in this room, including mysel, was a badperson en no one here would be bad Can we

see why? Everyone would be equal We would all be

good the same amount Now i one member o the

audience became a good person, then I would be a

pretty bad monk! We would be able to see contrasts

In general, the minds o people are completely lost insense perception and thought all o the time ey

have no idea that this is the case, but all the while

they all are sufering rom it It is consistent across

the entire globe: there is no mindulness at all rom

birth until death ere are only a ew handuls o


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struggle to avoid or chase away dukkha Ater that,the mind lets go o its attachment to the aggregates o

dukkha; which is to say, it lets go o its attachment to

the body and mind It ows back into the stream o

pure consciousness on the Noble Path to reedom, and

the delements that previously covered pure conscious-

ness are then lited away by the Noble Path is iswhy in the Buddhist scriptures (Tipitaka) it says that

the mind is released rom what was tainting it (sava)

because it no longer clings It is all perectly laid out

in the Tipitaka It is surprising how its words o truth

managed to be preserved or so long

It is the delements that cover up the mind Whenthe mind completely sees the true nature o things; that

is, sees that aggregates which make up body and mind

(khandhas) are nothing but sufering, the mind will

release its attachment to them and be ree o dele-

ments It is like a ully developed chick that breaks its

way through the egg shell into the vastness o the worldWhen the mind is let go o, it releases rom the

world and the idea o sel so completely, so ully, that

it never attaches again We can picture a clown that

sells helium balloons, holding a huge cluster o them

together by just the string ends in his ist All he

has to do is open his hand, and all the balloons arereleased in a wink

Humans and other beings dont realize that the

body and mind are sufering We place a alse sense o

importance on them, and cling to the idea that they are

us, that they are our possessions and not the worlds,


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that they are good things, wonderul things to bringus happiness Can everyone see? I we dont know

the truth o sufering, the truth o body and mind,

then we always want to be happy Such desire keeps

us struggling struggling in our pursuit o happiness

or our body and our mind, struggling to keep our

body and our mind out o pain We are always do-ing this Nevertheless, the more we struggle to bring

happiness and push away sufering, the more we sufer

is is much easier to see when pain arises When

we have pain, our desire or it to vanish is so strong

that our minds are oten in a greater state o sufering

than the body is Furthermore, this sufering is above

and beyond the normal sufering, which are inherent

characteristics o the body and mind already! Here

we can see that when sufering arises, not knowing the

truth o sufering causes desire to arise And when

desire arises, it causes sufering us we have the wheel

o samsara, the cycle o birth and death o worldly

phenomena We can see it all in just this processIgnorance as to the truth o sufering causes the birth

o desire, which in turn causes the birth o sufering

e truth o sufering that the Buddha taught just

means this body and this mind are not us ey are

just sufering ey are just aggregates (khandhas)

that belong to the earth e mind is just an element

Consciousness is an element ere is no us We need

genuine mindulness to see this, right concentration and

the wisdom to penetrate into the depths o truth is

truth cannot be arrived at through thinking inking

cannot release attachment; it cannot let go Our job


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as meditators is to stay determined in observing thebody and mind When we train in this way, we will

soon see that when wanting arises, when attachment

arises, the mind sufers When there is no wanting, no

attachment, the mind does not sufer It is important

to mention, however, that this is not quite yet the stage

o penetrating insight into the true nature o thingsHere we are seeing two types o body and two types o

mind, namely, mind that sufers and mind that doesnt

and body that sufers and body that doesnt is is

not what the Buddha taught e Buddha taught that

the body and mind are sufering (dukkha), not that

they are sometimes sufering and sometimes happy So

in the early stages, we still dont see the truth ully,

we are just seeing a part o the chain o causality

(pat. iccca-samuppda; dependent origination) But i we

watch the body and mind, come to know the body and

mind prooundly, we will know that they are sufering

itsel ey are not us When we see the truth in

this way, the stage will be reached where we return thebody and mind to the world, give them back to their

rightul owner, relinquishing all attachment to them

Desire then becomes a thing o the past, as there is

no longer anyones mind to preserve or maintain So

when we know the truth o sufering clearly, its cause

(desire) will be automatically abandoned

I used to be curious about the order o the Four

Noble Truths as the Buddha taught them, namely,

sufering, its cause, the end o sufering and the Noble

Path to the end o sufering I wondered why the cause

o sufering wasnt the rst one I concluded that He


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must have ordered them this way because sufering wasthe undamental problem is conclusion, however,

was purely a result o analytical thinking e truth

is, the Buddha ordered them in this way because this

is the way o the practice First we must see sufering

clearly and directly We cannot just rush into knowing

the cause, the end, or jump on the Noble Path It isall about the practice e Buddha didnt teach these

things so we can memorize them and play with the

concepts; He taught them so we can rightly practice

He knew we must see sufering rst We must watch

the body and mind and see sufering or ourselves

I we are watching incorrectly, we will be lost inone o two ways We will be lost in thought, or lost

in ocusing, xing, orcing our attention somewhere

I we watch correctly, we are practicing what is called

the middle way We watch the natural workings o the

body and mind We see the body and mind as they are

e ree Characteristics, the truth o impermanence,sufering and non-sel, will then reveal themselves or

us to see I the truth is not revealed, then we are

doing something wrong

I we make our mind still, the mind will seem to be

a permanent xture In doing so, we will not have the

right understanding We will not see the true natureo the mind Everything else will exhibit the ree

Characteristics, but the mind wont To practice the

middle way rightly is to know what is wrong Practice

by knowing physical and mental phenomena, practice

by watching dierent states: this is going o into


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thought, this is orcing attention, this is greed, this isanger, this is mindlessness, and so on Keep practicing

in this way and genuine mindulness will arise on its

own, and the middle way will too We cant orce

the middle way to arise We cant determine ourselves

where the middle is!

Many people try to nd where the middle is Some

try to nd it in the middle o the chest or the middle

o the orehead, or just above the navel I am not sure

what they are trying to nd e middle way cannot

be ound in the body e middle way arises in the

place where there is genuine mindulness And the

mind will have mindulness when it recognizes physicaland mental phenomena ere is no thinking here

We have to eel it Vipassana is not about thinking

ose who practice mental noting, be very careul

I anger or another non-virtuous state arises, know

it e knowing is virtuous To then proceed and

mentally note, anger, anger is thinking, which isnon-virtuous once again We must keep watch Watch

the body Watch the mind ere is movement o the

body, and the mind watches ere is movement in

the mind, and the mind watches


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LP: Whenyouknowthatyouarelooking,itisnot

anaturalknowing.Itisstillalittleoverdone,

whichmakesitdull.

LS: Sometimes I want to come back to watching themind.

LP: Dontdothat.Ifyouwantto,justknowthere

iswanting.Oncethereiswanting,seethe

wanting.Tatiswatchingthemind!

LS: I have trouble seeing the wanting clearly. I knowIm wanting, but I cant quite sense anything.

LP: Just that is enough. Know thereis wanting,

andthenwhenitisgoneknowitisgone.It

doesnthavetogofurtherthanthat.


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LS: Te mental objects are often weak. I can barelysee the wanting at all.

LP: Tatdoesntmatter.Justseewhatyoucan.It

doesntmatterwhichofthefourfoundationsof

mindfulness(body,feelings,mind,Dhamma)

wewatch.

LS: Sometimes when I come back to watch my mind,

the wanting is already gone.

LP: Ifyoucomebacktowatchyourmindintention-

ally,youshouldknowthatyouarebringing

itback.Here,greedhasarisen;adelementhasarisen.

LS: When I intentionally come back to watching the

mind, I know there is wanting to do it, but then

the original mental phenomenon that I came back

for becomes so weak that there is nothing left to

watch.

LP: Itissoweakbecauseitissomethingofthepast.

Tatphenomenonhasfallenawayalready.

LS: But the wanting seems to stay because it went un-

noticed from the start.LP: Sohowdoyouknowthenthatyouarewanting

towatchthemind?Tatistheknowingwe

need.Wedontneedtowatchwantinginany

detail.Wejustneedtoknowthereiswant-

ing.Afewdaysagoachildwaslisteningto


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metalkingaboutseeingthedelementsandasked,Whenweseethem,whatdotheylook

like?Dotheyhavebigscaryeyes?Ianswered

thatwedontseetheirbodyorshape;wejust

knowwhentheyhavearisen.Shereplied,

Ooh,thenIseethemjustne.

LS: When I listen to you talk, I am still watching my

mind too purposefully, right?

LP: Yes,alittleoverdone,alittlemorethannatu-

ral.Canyousee?Yourmindisrendereda

bitdull.

LS: If this is so, what should I do about it?

LP: Tere is nothing to do. Merely know it, just

thewayitis.Anddonthateiteither.Ifyou

hateit,knowyouarehatingit.Ifyouwant

toxit,knowyouarewantingtoxit.Just

followeachphenomenonwithknowing,as

muchasyoucannotice.InVipassana,wecan

only knowas much as we are ableto. Tere

isntastandardbywhichweneedtofollow

regarding how many phenomena we need to

know.Shouldsarejustourownexpecta-tions.Justknowwhatyoucanofwhatever

occursnaturally.

LS: I cant seem to separate from my body or mind.

LP: Because you still want a separation. Ikeep


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sayingthatwecannotmakeanythinghappen.Justknow.Justknowthatyouwantthemind

toseparate.Tatisallyouneedtodo.Sepa-

ration will occurornotaccordingto its own

causes.Whatisthecauseofthisattachment?

Youareforcingthepracticetoomuch,asI

havesaid,anditismakingtheminddull.

LS: When I am looking out at things, does that mean

I dont have an inner awareness? Does that mean

I am sending my mind out?

LP: No. In your case, youdont totally let your

mindgoout.Youarescaredtoletitout,so

youpullitbackabit.

LS: Well, if I let it out it will stay out a long time; it

will get lost in thought.

LP: Let the mind getlost. Ten when it is lost,

justknowit.

LS: But it gets lost for so long.

LP: See?Itistoolong,right?Itshouldbeshorter,

shouldntit?Tereisthewordshouldagain.

oomuch,toolittle,toolong,tooshorttheyallcomefromourexpectations.Whatcanyou

do so that youare lost forshorter periodsof

time?Ifyourmindrecognizesmentalstates

withprecision,itwillgetlostforshorterperi-

odsandmindfulnesswillcomeinmoreoften.


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EveryonepleaseconsiderwhatIsaynowashomework:Whatevermethodofmeditation

wepresentlypractice,pleasecontinueit.

Doitdiligently.heonlymethodsIdont

recommendare thosewherewe are watching

somethingoutsideourselves,likelookingata

candleame.Tesestylesarenotrelevanttowatchingourbodyandmind.Itistoodicult

tocomebackinsideandseethebodyandmind

inthesemethods.Ifourpracticeisrelevantto

thebodyandmind,thenpleasecontinueit.I

recommendatnight,wedooureveningritual

ofprayersorchantingandthendosomesitting

andwalkingmeditation.Weshoulddowhat-

evermethodofmeditationweareaccustomed

to,butdoittoknowthebodyandmental

states.Ifourmethodiswatchingtheabdomen

riseandfall,likelywewatchitasintentlyas

wecaninthehopesthatwewillbenetone

day. Now we willmake alittle adjustment.

Nowaswewatchourabdomen,ifthemind

goes o to think,then knowit. If themind

isforcingattentionsomewhere,thenknow

it.Ifthemindishappy,suering,virtuous,

non-virtuous,thenknowit.Keepwatching

andknowingthedierentphysicalandmental

phenomenathatarise.Ifwekeepupwatching

andknowingphenomenaeveryday,themind

willbetterrememberthem.Tiswillenable


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statesastheychange.Eventually,themindwillwellrememberagreatnumberofstates.

LS: When we are watching, arent we intending to?

LP: No,that is not true. Allow the feeling or

mentalstatetoariserst,andthenknowit.

Inthisway,atfirstwewillonlyknowthe

reallyobviousones,forexampleanger.Ten

later,wewillknowstatesalittlemoresubtle,

likebeingannoyed,andeventually,wewillbe

abletonoticeeventheslightestirritation.We

dontforceourselvestoseesubtlephenomena

arise;thewayistoknowsimplyandenjoyably.

Tis is what we all should do. Practiceour

normal meditation method, but when the

mind gets lost in thought,knowit. When it

is focusing, knowit. When it is happy,sad,

angry,greedyorlost,justknoweachstatehasarisen.raininthiswayeveryday.Make

timetodothis.Tereneednotbetheslightest

ideaaboutwhenourpracticewillimproveor

whengenuinemindfulnesswillarise.When

wehavehadplentyofpractice,ourmindwill

remembermanystatesandthusrecognizethematoncewhentheyappear.Mindfulnesswill

then arise on its own in our daily life. In

thisroomheretherearemanyofmystudents

whohavemindfulnessariseonitsown.And

whenitdoes,wewillcometoseethebodyis


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notus.Itisjustaformwithmovement.Wewillalsoseethemindisimpermanent,ever

changingandcannotbecontrolled.Tisis

howwewillseeit.

At this point, we will have learned what is

necessary.Andwhenwekeepfeedingthetruthtoourmindeachday,watchingthebodyand

mindeachday,onedaytruewisdomwillblos-

som.Itwillbecrystalclearthatthebodyand

mindarenotus.Weseemoreandmoreclearly

asweseverthewrongviewthatthebodyand

mindareus.(Tereare10 fettersthataresevered,calledsam. yojana.)Wewillthenback

awayandneverhavethefeelingthatthebody

andmindareusagain.Tereisnothingto

holdonto,nothingtomaintain.

Keeppracticinguntilonedaywewillrelin-

quishourattachmenttothebody.Temind

willbecompletelyandconstantlyawake

withoutanyeort.TisistheBuddhiststage

ofsainthoodknownastheAngm.Aswe

practicefurther,consciousness,the knowing

element,willshowitscharacteristicsofim-

permanence(anicca),suering(dukkha)and

non-self(anatt).Andthemindwillletgo;

asitwillnolongerbeanyonespossession,it

willreturnitselftotheworld.Andthenit

isnal.Tereisnothinglefttodo.Wedont


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evenneedtocallonewhohasundergonethisprocessenlightenedoranarahantthere

remainsnothingsubstantialtogivealabel

ordenote.

(Venerable Pramote then turns his attention to Moomai,a lady in the audience)

LP: Moomai, how are you doing?

Now,whoturnedtolookatMoomaiwithout

rememberingtobeawareofthemselves?Be

braveenoughtoadmitit!(VenerablePramote

acknowledgestwopeopleatthefront)Te

twoofyouhereareknowingcorrectly.Youunderstand,right?Allthatisrequiredfor

myapprovalofyourpracticeistoknowthe

statesthatarise.Seethemindgetlostatthe

eyes,theears,inthethoughts,andsoon.

Justthatisenough.Justthatisenoughfor

genuinemindfulnesstoarise.

Letsnotletourpracticeslip.Eventheworld

championboxerdoesntstoptraining.No

matterhowmuchstrengthwevelostinour

lefthook,weshouldneverstoptraining.If

weliketouseamantralikeBuddho,Bud-dho,thenuseit.Ifweareaccustomed

to watching the breath, then keep going. If

wehavetrainedinwatchingtheabdomen

riseandfall,thenkeepatit.Justknowas

dierentmentalstatesarise.Somedayswe


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A Meditators Guide

56

are tired and lethargic. Some days we fallintoSamatha.Somedaysweseparateout

ofthementalstatesandareabletoseethem

clearly.Tisishowthepracticegoes.Ifwe

practiceinthiswaymindfulnesswillarisein

ourdailylife.

(Another lay-student now addresses Venerable Pramote)

LS: Intellectually, I know so much about the truth.

However, when it comes to my practice, Im afraid

Im just totally lost in desire. I dont have mindful-

ness. I am not aware. I keep thinking about what

you teach and what you say, but I cant seem todo it right.

LP: Just knowing that at the time it arises is

enough.Mindfulnessisnotusorunderour

control.Ifitdoesntarise,thenitdoesnt

arise. We dont practice so that we can beaware twenty-fourhours per day. We want

tobeawaresothatwecanknowtrulythat

non-virtuousmentalstatesareimpermanent

andthatvirtuousonesareimpermanenttoo.

hisiswhatwearelearning.Wearenot

learningtohavemindfulnesseverymomentofourlives,knowingineverymoment.Perhaps

youcanseethatifwewereneverawareof

thebodywalking,thenwewouldneverknow

thatwewereprimarilylostinthoughtwhile

walking.Butifwecanbeawareofthebody


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walking,thenassoonaswearewewillsee,amomentagoIwaslostinthought,andnow

Iamnot.Oh,Igotlostagain,andnowIam

knowingagain.Bothbeinglostandaware

ofbodyandmindareimpermanentmental

states;theycomeandgo.Wecannotcontrol

them.Eventually,themindwilldropbothofthem.Itwillnotdropthestateofbeinglost

andkeepthestateofmindfulness.Bothof

themwillbeletgoof.Ibelievethisistheplace

ofyourconfusion.Sometimesthedelements

suchasdesireareincontrol.Tisisnormal.

Itisgoodthatyoucanseethis.

LS: Well, I dont think it is normal in my case. I mean,

I do see small desires come and go, but when it is

desire to develop in my practice, it sends me on a

tangent. I keep feeling that it is correct to have

such desires.

LP: Itis easy for good people to stop doing bad

deeds,butdiculttostopgoodones.Can

youseethatwhenwelovegoodnessitishard

toletitgo?TeBuddhasaidthatitishard

forgoodpeopletodobaddeeds,buteasyfor

themtodogoodones.Anditisdicultfor

badpeopletodogood,buteasyforthemtodo

bad.Soinyourcase,youareagoodperson,

soitiseasytostopdoingbad.Assoonasyou

seeanybadnessariseinyourmind,itdrops


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A Meditators Guide

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awayquickly.Seeit,anditgoes.Regardinggoodness,itisadierentstory.Youarea

goodperson,soitishardforyoutoletgoof

goodness.Noneedtobesurprisedbythis.

LS: I always want my thoughts to be good ones. So I

have this unpleasant wanting in the mind withoutbeing aware of it.

LP: Te truth is that once wanting has arisen, it

isnotagoodthing.

LS: I am not aware of the desire when it arises. I just

think Im doing something good.

LP: Tis is a mental state that youdidntknow

previously.Butnowyouknowit.Doyousee

that?Nowitcannotfoolyou.Nowsomething

elsewillinstead.Whateverwecanknow

whenitarisesinawarenesscannotfoolus

intobecomingitorclingingtoit.Whatever

wedontknowhasarisenwillfoolusagain.

Butrememberthatwearenotpracticingto

achieveorreceiveanything.Wejustpractice

toseethetruththatallmentalandphysical

phenomenaareimpermanent,suering,andarenotus.Andwhenweseethis,wereturn

italltotheworld.Uponcompletelyletting

go,nofeelingofresponsibilitywillremain,

eventheonetobeanddogood.

Terewasadoctoroncethattoldmehewent


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topayhisrespectstoameditationmaster.Whenhedid,hetoldthemasterthathehas

mindfulnessallofthetime;alldaylongheis

abletowatchhisbodyandmindwithoutfail.

Temasterthenlookedatthedoctor,smiled

and said just two words: childs play. he

doctorsaidhewasveryconfused,andsoheaskedthemasterifhewasnotinastateof

mindfulness.Temastersaidthathewasnot.

Tedoctorthenaskedwhatthemastersin-

ternaldwellingplaceis.Temasterthensaid

hewillrefrainfromansweringthatquestion.

Fromthisstory,wecanseethatmindfulness

ofthebodyandmind,rightconcentration,

wisdomandsuchthingsaretheboatonwhich

wesailtonibbna.Wearenotpracticingso

thatwecankeepthisboat.Graduallywatch-

ingandknowingthebodyandmindmoreandmoreistherightthingtodo,andwill

bringbenet.

LS: Another thing I would like to say is that I think this

is great. When a thought arises and mindfulness

knows it quickly, the mind wont start wandering

o. Sometimes when Im not aware enough and the

mind already gets into the story, I become aware a

few moments later and know that I was thinking.

I just want to say that I think this is a good thing.

LP: Good. Wedontpracticesothatwecanstop


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thinking.Wepracticesothatsowecanknowwhenthoughtdoesappear.Inthisway,we

willnotstartthinkingaimlesslyandunwhole-

somely.If we have sometaskto performthat

requiresthinking,wecanthink.Butifthereis

noreasontothink,wedonthavetomindlessly

fallintonon-virtuousthoughts.Whenwearemindful,we will see that we cannotprevent

themindfromthinking,andwecannotcontrol

thefactthateverythingarisesandthenfalls

away.Allmentalstatesarethesameinthis

regard.

Ibelievethatisenoughfortoday.


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About LP Pramote

Venerable Luang Por Pramote resides in Suan

Santidhamma (e Garden o the Peaceul Dhamma),

Sriracha, Chonburi, ailand He teaches the Dhamma

to avid practitioners looking to truly understand the

middle way and to progress in their practice Bangkok

residents set out on an hour and a hal drive in the

darkness o the early morning to arrive beore sunrise

and line up outside Luang Pors center to get a good

seat to listen to his teachings, express their concerns

regarding their own practice and receive individual

advice a custom that has been coined submitting

their homework or the headmaster to ne-tune or

modiy

Luang Por became a monk in 2001 ater being an

avid meditator since he was seven years old He has

had many teachers along the way, but considers himsel

primarily a disciple o Luang Pu Doon, rom North

Eastern ailands orest monk lineage o Luang Pu

Mun Bhridatto


61


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About the Translator

Ater a shortened career as an actuarial mathemati-

cian, Jess Peter Kofman became interested in medita-

tion in 2000 on a journey through ailand, and has

never looked back Since then, he has completed a

multitude o Buddhist meditation retreats, and has com-

piled, edited and translated spiritual books including

Te op Secretby Som Sujira and Te Handbook forMankindby Buddhadasa Bhikkhu He holds an MAin Buddhist Studies and is a special lecturer in Applied

Dhamma at Mahachula University in Bangkok, where

he was awarded Best esis o 2009 He primarily

works as a Reiki Master Teacher/Healer and meditation

instructor in ailand and Canada, and he continuesto practice meditation under the guidance o Luang

Por Pramote For more about Jess and his work, please

visit wwwhealinglieorg

A Meditators Guide

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