Ajahn Fuang

A Single Mind

February 5, 1980

by

Ajaan Fuang Jotiko

translated from the Thai by

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

© 1999

Ajaan Fuang rarely allowed his talks to be taped, and he was even more adamant about not allowing anyone to tape his conversations. Somehow, though, the following conversation was taped with his permission. In it, he's giving advice to some of his students — young women in their late twenties and early thirties — who were being pressured by their parents to settle down, get married, and start having children. There were other occasions on which, when asked, he gave advice on how to lead a happily married life to any of his students who were planning on marriage, but it's easy to see from this discussion where his heart really lay.

---------

Student: When I see someone carrying a child and I give it some thought, all I can see is that it's a lot of suffering.

Ajaan Fuang: That's right. Give it a lot of thought. Once there's birth, there has to be suffering. We've all suffered in this way. First there's your own suffering, then you take on the sufferings of others. Look at a baby. What is it? Where does it come from? The Buddha says that it's suffering; it comes from the power of craving and defilement. First you have to carry it around in your womb, then when it's born you have to carry it around on your hip, and then when it starts to walk you have to lead it by the hand. When you see this sort of thing your heart just...

Student: Withers.

Ajaan Fuang: Yes. It withers. This is what gives you a sense of samvega. This is the sort of thing you want in your practice. It's your teacher. They call it your teacher. Ask yourself: "Is this what you want out of life? Is this what you want, this sort of thing?" Not really. "Then if you don't want this sort of thing, don't get involved." How many times have you been through this already? This isn't the first time, you know. You've been doing this holding-carrying-weighing-yourself-down routine for a long, long time — hundreds of thousands of eons. If you keep getting involved, there's no way you'll get free.

Birth, aging, illness, and death: these things are normal. Birth is the normal way of things, aging's the normal way of things, illness and death are the normal way of things. Get so that you can see clearly that this is the way things normally are. That's when a sense of disenchantment can arise. You'll be able to loosen the grip that these things have on you. You'll be able to pull them out, root and all.

We've suffered as the slaves of defilement and craving for how long now? Can you remember? Ask yourself. Can you remember all you've been through? And how much longer are you going to let it keep on happening — this holding and carrying and weighing yourself down? How many eons have you been doing this? Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of eons. Can you count them all? Of course you can't. And how much longer will you have to keep on suffering in this way? If you're still stubborn, still unwilling to listen to the Buddha's teachings, this is the kind of reward you'll have to expect out of life. Do you want it? Do you like it? If you don't want it, then you'll have to develop the goodness of your mind so that you can see your way out of this, so that you can see your defilements, so that you can see the suffering and harm they cause.

Look at suffering. Look at the rewards of suffering. When people feel that we don't have much suffering, they find more suffering for us. Even just the five aggregates provide us with more than enough suffering — the suffering we have just on our own. So when they talk about the happiness of taking on another person, exactly what happiness is there? Nothing but more suffering. "Treasures" that bring you suffering. Our parents want us to get married, to have a spouse and a family. They've had plenty of suffering raising us, and yet it's not enough. How many children has your mother carried around in her womb? And now she's looking for more suffering for her children.

Student: Than Phaw, is it true what they say, that a woman gains of lot of merit in having a child, in that she gives someone else the chance to be born?

Ajaan Fuang: If that were true, then dogs would get gobs of merit, giving birth to whole litters at a time. No, that's just propaganda from those who want to see more and more beings getting born in this world.

Student: When people want to get married, it's because they have a lot of bad karma with each other. Isn't that right?

Ajaan Fuang: Of course that's right. Just look at what they're doing. There's no need to explain. It's nothing but imposing on each other, causing each other affliction and pain. There's no real happiness there; nothing but suffering. Getting married is no way to escape suffering. Actually, all you do is pile more suffering on yourself. The Buddha taught that the five aggregates are a heavy burden, but if you get married, all of a sudden you have ten to worry about, and then fifteen, and then twenty. And that's not the end of the matter. As soon as a child is born, it comes down with this, then comes down with that. It's not the case that from the moment it pops out it doesn't need to take medicine, that we can just leave it alone and it'll grow day and night. Oh, all the things you have to do for it until it's grown! It starts out so small and can only lie there. Then think of what it needs until it can sit up, and then what it needs until it can stand, and then what it needs until it can walk. When was it ever an easy thing, raising a child? And that's not all. As soon as you want to lie down for a little rest, it cries. You lie down for a little bit and it cries. There's nothing wonderful about it at all.

When people pressure you to get married and have children, it's like someone who walks along and steps in a pile of excrement and then tries to figure out how to get other people to step in it, too, to make up for his own mistake. Yes, it's karma that makes people want to get married. Karma is what obscures their vision. They can't see that what they want is a form of suffering. To them it's something wonderful — because that's the best they know. The best they have. They don't know anything better than that.

When your parents want you to get married, it's because that's all they know. Get them to meditate, and then they'll realize: "Oh! What we've been through is suffering!" To see this sort of thing, though, you have to meditate. If you don't meditate, you won't see. If you don't meditate, you'll have to see things the way they do. Even when you do meditate, you still see things the way they do. It's not easy to pull yourself out of that way of thinking. It's not easy at all. If the power of this defilement won't surrender... Only when your views are straight and you really let go: only then will you be done with the matter.

Even the devas in heaven: they're still satisfied with their sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations. They're still satisfied with what they've got. They're infatuated with the way they look and sound and smell, infatuated with their companions. They're tied down to sensuality, hand and foot, which is why it disturbs them when we meditate. They're afraid we'll get away. They're determined not to let it happen. When we meditate and our minds grow still, they come and attack, stirring us up so that we start turning back in our tracks, so that we don't see the right path to release from suffering. This is called karma that keeps us in the round of samsara, the karma we do that makes us fall in line with everyone else, so that we don't see the path to release from suffering. All we can see is the path to staying stuck, staying stuck in suffering.

Student: In that case, then, when you think you've found your mate, you've really found someone who holds some of your old karma debts.

Ajaan Fuang: What else did you think? It's like horseshoe crabs. Have you ever seen them? They live in the sea. Even they have their mates. Everywhere they go, they go in pairs. The male doesn't know how to feed itself, so it rides on the back of the female.

Student: So how can we escape this? We can avoid this, can't we, Than Phaw, if we really want to?

Ajaan Fuang: If you don't want this sort of thing, then don't let any horseshoe crabs catch hold of you. After all, it's just an animal instinct. Animals have to mate in order to spread their species, their influence. But if we don't want to have a part in that, we just don't get involved. Your mate can demand repayment on your old karma debts only if you get involved.

Student: Can you really escape?

Ajaan Fuang: Why shouldn't you be able to escape? Just don't get involved, don't get attached. Try to keep your mind strong and don't waver. Develop your perfections so that they're greater and greater, and these other desires will just wither away. They're really shallow, you know, and nothing but suffering. They come about because we're attracted to our own bodies, but when you get an image of yourself in meditation, just take it apart. Take it apart, and then what's left? Anything? Nothing at all. It's all in the form. When you take the form apart, there's nothing left. And what substance is there in the form? Look at it. Take it apart. There's nothing but earth, water, wind, and fire. Is there anything to be attracted to then?

Student: No, nothing.

Ajaan Fuang: And when you're sound asleep. Does the body know anything of desire?

Student: No, not at all.

Ajaan Fuang: The mind is the instigator. The body on its own doesn't have anything to do. It simply acts under the orders of its boss: the mind. The body doesn't know a thing. It depends on the boss' orders. So when the boss says, "Enough! No more!" then that's the end of the matter. The mind doesn't struggle or thirst. What struggles and thirsts is the aggregate of fabrication (sankhara). If you latch on to fabrication, that's the essence of suffering — big-time suffering. If you look at the body, you'll see that there really are no issues there. The issues all come from fabrication. If the mind can break through and understand this attachment to the body, then where else will desire come from?

The body isn't really ours. Wherever you see anything that's "yours," uproot it, take it apart, and let it go. Take it apart: the earth, the water, the wind, the fire. That's all there's been to it, all along, since who knows when. That's all there is to it now. The problem is that we've been deluded about it and so we've latched onto it. We've been deluded just like everyone else. Deep down, doesn't the mind already know this? Of course it knows, for that's the nature of the mind: to know. We have to know. So bring this knowledge in and take it to heart. You have to be your own refuge, you know. If you're the sort that has to take refuge in other people, then you'll have to see things the same way they do, which means you have to be stupid the same way they are. So pull yourself out of all that and take a good look at yourself until things are clear within you. Keep contemplating things until there's just the "knower" inside. This knower isn't paired with anything else. It doesn't have a mate. It's single. It's one. It doesn't have anything. So focus in on the knower and make it one. Get so that it lets go of everything. It lets go of pleasure, lets go of pain, lets go of equanimity. It's bright, all on its own. Keep focused there until there's nothing left but a state of oneness. Then ask yourself: is it male or female? There's no "male" or "female" in there at all. It doesn't place labels on anything. And when you've gotten there, that's the end of those issues.

Those who get stuck on mental phenomena are called Brahmas. Once they reach this point in their practice... The devas in their heavens still have their mates, but the Brahmas have no interest in sights, smells, sounds, tastes, tactile sensations. They're content in their oneness...

Timeless and True

July, 1978

by

Ajaan Fuang Jotiko

translated from the Thai by

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

© 1998

This is translated from a talk given in July, 1978, to a group of monks and nuns, most of whom were relatively new to meditation. Because his listeners were already familiar with the basic techniques of concentration practice as explained in "Method 2" in Ajaan Lee's book, Keeping the Breath in Mind, Ajaan Fuang here focuses less on technique than on the proper attitude and understanding to bring to the practice. The style of the talk is fairly repetitive and so works best when it is read aloud.

---------

Our teachers have laid the basis for our practice, setting out everything, with nothing lacking. The fact that the developments we experience in the practice aren't complete comes from a lack within ourselves, in our own practice. We haven't practiced enough to cut things away. We haven't given the practice our full effort. So let's take the opportunity today to make an effort, i.e., to fix our mindfulness — each and every one of us — securely on the in-and-out breath. There's nothing much to it. Each of us has a breath. It's a meditation theme we already have within ourselves. We don't have to go looking for it anywhere else. And there's no need to doubt as to whether or not it's true. So let's come and look within ourselves, observe, investigate, ponder what's within ourselves. The Buddha knew for himself what was true within himself; and we follow him by practicing in line with his teachings so as to see whether what's within ourselves is true or false. So try to be as observant as possible within yourself.

This practice is said to be akaliko — timeless. The Buddha's teachings are timeless. The fact that there are no developments in our practice is because we have times. The Buddha says, "timeless." We say there are times. Our times are more than many. Time for this, time for that, times for walking, times for sitting, times for sleeping, times for eating, times for talking — there are lots of them. Our life turns into nothing but times. So now let's try practicing in a way that it becomes timeless. The truth will then appear in our minds — each and every one of us. Everything that's ready to develop is already there. We don't have to get it from anywhere else. Awareness itself — the "knowing" in the mind — is already there within us. So use your mindfulness to keep the breath in mind so that what's already there will appear clearly, continually — and developments in the mind will appear as well.

We've got to be observant as much as possible. Use your mindfulness to keep the breath in mind — the breath that's already there within you, that's been there from the day you were born up to the present. The effort lies in taking what's already there and keeping it continuous, without break, so that it grows, so that it's steady and constant. It'll then gain momentum. There will be strength in the breath. Developments will appear. Our in-and-out breath will become timeless. It will appear continuously to our awareness. This is something we have to pursue as much as possible, do as much as possible. The more we do it, the more all sorts of good things will appear within us. If we don't work at it, our goodness won't develop. It'll turn into times. The opportunity to know the truth won't appear clearly within us. The truth will stay incomplete. So we have to use the power of our mindfulness to keep the breath in mind in a way that becomes more and more complete. Then developments will appear within us.

The Dhamma — our meditation theme — is something we all have within us — each and every one of us. It's something we're doing as we sit here. We're practicing it, training in it. The question is how we take what's already here and make it more complete. We have to make an effort to use our powers of observation to acquaint ourselves with what's already there. Our teachers simply tell us, point out the way. As for us, we have to train ourselves to use our powers of observation within ourselves: to know in line with the truth within us. Once we see that it's true, we look after it so that it develops — we keep looking after it as much as possible, and there's no two ways about it: it'll simply have to progress.

There aren't a lot of complicated steps to all this. We simply look after what's already there so that it can become more full and complete. It'll grow day by day, month by month, year by year. The developments in our minds will get better and better. It's not the case that things appear only for a moment and that's plenty enough. That's not the case at all. Whatever appears here and now, while we're sitting here, we have to keep looking after it continually, all day, all night, all month, all year long. We have to keep after it continuously, without stop. If we keep looking after it, the developments in our minds will keep developing further along.

If things happen just once, that's not enough. It's the same as when we eat. One mouthful of food isn't enough. We have to keep eating and eating until we're full. The same holds true in the effort to develop good qualities, noble qualities, within ourselves. Whether we build them through our thoughts, our words, or our deeds, it all comes down to the one heart. We have to train our heart to gain a sense of respite and peace. We have to train it to grow better and better, for all good things arise from the heart. This is why we train it to be mindful, to stay with the in-breath, the out-breath. We train it in its meditation theme so that it will have roots, a foundation — so that it will be steady and solid and won't go straying off after its thoughts and concepts. We get it to gather together solely at the in-and-out breath so as to give it respite from its Hindrances, so that the Hindrances won't be able to come in and interfere with its goodness. That way we'll be able to develop more goodness, to get the mind firmly established in concentration.

This is something each person has to do for him or herself — each and every one of us. It's our very own personal duty. Whatever techniques actually solve the problems of our hearts so that they can experience peace, whatever methods work in getting the mind to stay with the body in the present — whatever the methods — the important thing is that the mind stays firmly in its goodness all day, all night, whether we're standing, walking, sitting, or lying down. After all, we don't get much of a chance to do good, you know. It's not the case that we'll get to do this forever. There are always obstacles ready to get in the way. So while you've got the chance — right now and on into the future, as long as you've got the opportunity — you should try to accelerate your efforts. Keep at it. Keep at it as much as you can until the mind gains full strength, so that it can prevent all its lower qualities, its unskillful qualities, from getting in the way, from interfering with it, so that you'll have the opportunity to develop your goodness in full.

The goodness that arises from our thoughts, words, and deeds is something we all have. It's not the case that anyone without any goodness is sitting here. The question is how we take this goodness and make it even better — making it better, here, means meditation, the goodness accomplished in the area of the mind. For this, we have to make an effort to train the mind to be more solid and steady. We have to make an effort, persevere, be resilient, put the mind through its paces — for who else can train the mind for us? We ourselves are the only ones who can train our own minds. We have to draw the line to teach ourselves. Only then will things be able to develop.

Other people can teach you only the outer skin, the rind, but as for what lies deeper inside, only you can lay down the law for yourself. You have to draw the line, being mindful, keeping track of what you do at all times. It's like having a teacher following you around, in public and in private, keeping watch over you, alerting you, telling what to do and what not to do, making sure that you stay in line. If you don't have this sort of teacher inside you, the mind is bound to stray off the path and get into mischief, shoplifting all over town. That's the way it is with the mind. So we have to draw the line to keep it in place. We can make it stay in place from morning to noon, or from noon to late afternoon — whatever the boundaries we set for it, we have to make it stay in line, to make it stay in school. Like a child in a schoolroom: we give it directions and set a goal for its work so that the results will be substantial and solid.

We have to keep training the mind in line with the path of our practice, and as a result it'll get gradually more familiar with the work, bit by bit. It'll keep getting more tractable, more tame, so that it wanders off only occasionally, only once in a long, long while. It'll rarely get lost. If we strap it down too tightly, it may struggle to get away. So we may have to put it on a long leash. But whether you keep it on a slack leash or a tight leash all depends on which technique you find works for you. The strategies needed for training the mind aren't the same for everyone. Some people really have to force the mind, come down hard on it, go without water and food. But it all comes down to whatever works in keeping the mind within its proper bounds.

To summarize, our practice is to keep the breath in mind. This is the path our teacher, Ajaan Lee, set out for us while he was still alive. We practice staying with the in-and-out breath. We focus on keeping track of the in-and-out breath. We watch, follow, know the in-and-out breath. Stay with the breath. Don't wander off. Observe the in-and-out breath so that it's clear, so that it's complete. If we can maintain this, continue keeping this in mind, there's no problem — for the breath is always there. It's already coming in, going out, all day, all night. Whether or not we watch it, whether or not we focus on it, it's always there by its very nature. All we have to do is maintain what's already there, look after what's already there.

Actually, it sounds pretty easy: it's not the sort of thing you have to go borrow from anyone else anywhere else at all. It's already there, already happening. All you have to do is look after it, or keep it in mind. And you don't have to invest a lot of capital. Just keep the breath in mind, gently support and protect what's already developing there so that it becomes more complete. If you do just this, you'll experience a sense of ease. Bodily pleasure. Mental pleasure. The mind will experience peace.

So straighten out your views. Make them right. If your views are right, the mind will immediately experience a sense of ease. If your views are wrong, everything else will immediately be wrong — for the things we're talking about are already there, already happening. So keep your views straight in line with the breath. You won't have to exert a lot of energy. You'll experience a sense of ease. Your mind will immediately feel peace.

Now, how do you use your powers of observation to get acquainted with the breath? Ask yourself: Do you know the breath yet, or not? Is the breath truly there, or not? If you can't see whether the breath is true, look further in until it's clearly there. There's no trick, no mystery to it. It's always true, right there. The important thing is whether or not you're true.

Are you?

Yes.

Then that's all there is to it — this little, tiny point. There aren't a lot of complications. Once that awareness is true, you simply maintain it, maintain that truth, your truth, continually. Keep it constantly in mind, and the developments in the mind will be able to continue developing. They'll gradually grow stronger, and the mind will grow calm. Just be clear about what you're doing. Don't have any doubts. If you can doubt even your own breath, then there are no two ways about it: You'll doubt everything. No matter what happens, you'll be uncertain about it. So being true in this way is what will solve the problem of vicikiccha, the Hindrance of uncertainty.

So reflect, ponder, investigate what's going on inside yourself, as you're sitting here practicing, to see why the mind isn't experiencing any peace, why there's no sense of physical or mental pleasure. Why is it? Why is the mind still restless and distracted? Set your mind on what you're doing. Don't let yourself have any doubts. Be straightforward and true in whatever you do, for everything comes down to whether or not you're true.

So you have to keep using your powers of observation as much as possible. You have to get acquainted with your own breath — coming in, going out — and make it clear. Once you're clearly acquainted with it, then maintain it, keep looking after the way it develops, keep it in mind at all times.

There's just this one little point in our practice. All I ask is that you recognize it, that you're aware of it, for this awareness is already the basis of cognitive skill. The trick is to make it more and more aware, more and more developed. To be aware just once isn't enough. You have to keep becoming more and more aware, more and more aware, until it's totally full — your awareness is totally full, with no lapses, no gaps. It stays steady and continuous at all times. That's when it's called knowing in full measure.

Listen Well

January 1984

by

Ajaan Fuang Jotiko

translated from the Thai by

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

© 2001

We're told that if we listen well, we gain discernment. If we don't listen well, we won't gain any discernment. In terms of the Buddha's teachings, listening well means that the mind has to be centered and firmly intent. Success depends on our mind's being firmly intent. If we're not intent, there won't be any success — we won't succeed in attaining the paths and fruitions leading to nibbana in the way they did in the past. In the past they listened for just an instant and succeeded in attaining nibbana. Why was that? Because they listened well. They gained discernment. They understood. In other words, they took it to heart. Nowadays we study all kinds of things — going abroad to study; studying many, many fields of knowledge — but it doesn't lead to release from suffering. It just leads back into the world of conventional truths and wandering on. We already know a lot, but if we want to listen well, in the way that leads to discernment, the mind has to be still.

How do we make it still? Offerings we've already given. The precepts we've already taken: against killing, against stealing, against illicit sex, against lying, against intoxicants. And now it's up to us as to whether we'll keep them or not. The rewards of keeping the precepts, you know, go all the way to nibbana. The attainment of the human state, the attainment of the heavenly state, the attainment of nibbana are all results of keeping the precepts. That's what we're told.

Next comes meditation, making the mind centered, firmly intent. This is the duty of each and every one of us. You have to make a mental effort to look after the mind. It's a subtle thing, not blatant at all. It's subtle — but it lies within us. Lots of teachers have come through here, teaching you to think buddho, or buddho, dhammo, sangho. You have to keep recollecting these things until the mind gets firmly centered. The reason the mind isn't yet firmly centered in concentration is because you go centering it outside. It's centered inside just a bit and then goes stretching outside. It won't stay centered inside. And when this is the case, you find it hard to listen well. So you have to try to listen well. Make the mind firmly centered. You listen with your mind, not just with your ears. You listen with your mind. When the mind is firmly centered, you gain discernment. Understanding. Total comprehension. In the past, they listened for just a little bit and they understood. They became stream-winners, once-returners, non-returners, and arahants.

So focus your minds on meditating. Make the mind still. Let it calm down from its outside preoccupations. Outside preoccupations are all around us. Let your eyes and ears be still. Our ears keep on hearing, so how can they be quiet? We're the ones who aren't quiet. We keep giving rise to things that go flowing out the ears and eyes. We keep making contact. So we're told to make the mind quiet. Make it centered. We have to be mindful, keeping the breath in mind.

So. Sit and meditate right now. Focus on your breath. Close your eyes and focus on your breath. Close your eyes and think bud- with the in-breath, dho with the out. Bud- in, dho out. Train the mind. And listen. If you simply listen without doing the training, nothing will develop. When you've listened, that's not the end of it. You have to listen and do it as well. What this means is that when you've listened, you have to do it right then and there so that you can gain some benefits from listening. Only then will you gain the skillfulness that you hope for, that you want. When the mind is centered and you understand, it leads to merit and skill. When the mind is still, you see what they mean by "merit," you reach what they mean by "merit." It's not the least bit hard. If the mind isn't centered, it's pretty hard. So fix the mind firmly on nothing but the in-and-out breath. Observe the breath. Is there an in-breath? An out-breath? It's something we all have within each and every one of us. This treasure is already there. The in-breath is there. The out-breath is there. So we have to bring our powers of observation inside the body. Keep this breath in mind. Don't go wandering off far, okay? Look at what's already there inside you.

You have a valuable treasure within you — the treasure of being a human being. So you have to look after this treasure until it grows more complete, until it becomes the treasure of the heavenly realms, the treasure of nibbana. Look after this treasure. It's hard to look after if you don't know how to use it, if you don't know how to take care of it. If you're not discerning, this treasure can turn into a liability — there's no need to doubt it. So what can we do when we're not yet discerning? There are all kinds of dangers that can make us fall away from this treasure. This is why we have to develop the skills needed to take care of it — in other words, observing the five precepts and keeping the mind firmly centered on the in-and-out breath. Keep the mind firmly centered. Keep watch over the breath continually. Keep after it continually, making sure that the in-breath is comfortable, the out-breath is comfortable. When we do this, we're looking after our treasure. When we look after it mindfully, nothing will threaten it. If anything comes our way, we'll know in advance. We'll be able to look after our treasure for the rest of our lives. Or we'll be able to increase it, add to it, so that it becomes the treasure of the heavenly realms, the treasure of nibbana. It all comes from this one spot right here. It comes from the breath. If we can take care of it and keep it firm, it'll take us to the treasure of the human state, the treasure of the heavenly realms, all the way to the treasure of nibbana.

Now, it's only natural that doing this will require persistence. Effort. Patience and endurance. Only then will we arrive at our goal. If we're diligent and persistent, we're sure to succeed, just like the great ajaans, just like the Buddha. They reached the paths and fruitions leading to nibbana through endurance, diligence, and persistence. That's how the Buddha became the Buddha we worship and bow down to every day. Why do we bow down to him? Because he exerted the kind of effort and persistence that enabled him to gain omniscience, to become the mainstay for all beings, human and divine.

The same principle holds true for us. Once we've set our minds on developing our treasures — our noble wealth, our inner wealth as well as our outer wealth — we have take good care of this spot: the breath. We have to train the heart so that it's firmly centered and established, staying with the breath at all times every day.

Actually, the breath is already always there. If it weren't there, we'd be finished. The breath has been with us ever since the day of our birth, but the mind hasn't looked after it, hasn't taken care of it. In other words, it hasn't looked after its guardian, hasn't even been acquainted with its guardian from birth. This guardian has looked after us all along, you know, from the time we came out of our mother's womb up until now. If this guardian hadn't been attentive in caring for us, we'd be dead. Finished. So we shouldn't forget the good that she's done us. Look to see what kind of person she is: What does she look like? What are her features? Is she warm or cold? Short or long? Focus on seeing what kind of person she is, to see why she's been so good-hearted. She's been looking after us all the way up until now, even though we aren't acquainted with her, haven't paid her any attention at all, to see how she's getting along, what her needs are. We've never looked after her at all. So let's give her some thought. Look to see what she's like when she comes in, what she's like when she goes out. Keep track of her. Pay her some attention. Be observant. Reflect on what you see. That way you'll see that the in-breath is there, the out-breath is there. Then it's up to you: sit here and keep this awareness going. Keep the breath going comfortably. Notice: is the in-breath comfortable? Is the out-breath comfortable? If the in-breath and out-breath are comfortable, keep them going that way. If they're not comfortable, we can change them. You might try in long and out short, depending on what you notice feels good. If long breathing isn't comfortable, you can change to short. Or if short breathing isn't comfortable, you can change to long. In other words, gain a sense of how to adjust things so that they're comfortable. If you're well acquainted with the breath, you can adjust it. If you're not acquainted with the breath, how will you be able to adjust it?

So first we have to get acquainted with it, to see the features of the breath already coming in and going out of the body. What's it like when it comes in? What's it like when it goes out? When we can clearly observe it, when it's comfortable, then we keep after it, keep it going, continually. We'll find that our guardian grows more good-hearted and kind. When our guardian is good-hearted, our heart will grow good as well. Why is that? It's the same as when we live with good-hearted people, our heart feels good, too. When our guardian is good-hearted, our heart will keep on being good.

The Buddha taught, asevana ca balanam, panditanañca sevana: when you associate with fools... When our heart sours, it's as if we associate with fools — fools inside us. When the heart is good, it's because we have good friends — panditanañca — within. When the mind has a good friend as its guardian within, it will grow bright, open, and refreshed. It will gain in mindfulness and discernment. Whatever we think of doing won't be for the purpose of harming ourselves or others. So keep your mind firmly established in this way, because you've got a good friend, a guardian who will keep giving you good advice. The mind will experience brightness and clarity throughout the day, the month, the year, all the way until there's no more in-and-out breathing. So keep looking after your guardian until you breathe your last. If the mind is in really good shape, you'll go all the way to nibbana.

If that's what you want, you have to make an effort to study and train a lot, keep after it, for it's a skill that arises only from within you. It's your own direct refuge. In gaining this skill, you have to depend on yourself. The Buddha taught us to train ourselves, that we have to be strict with ourselves. Our parents, brothers and sisters, our teachers: these are simply people with whom we associate for a short while. But if we're really earnest, really intent, we have to depend on ourselves. That's what the Buddha taught. When he had taught living beings to take themselves as their own refuge, he was able to teach them to reach the paths and fruitions leading to nibbana. When he taught them, they took his teachings inward — opanayiko — to contemplate and then to put into practice so that they saw in line with the Dhamma.

So we should train ourselves to be better and better every day, every night, for this is our very own affair. You can say that the practice of the Dhamma is hard, and it is. You can say that it's easy, and it is, for the breath is right here within us. It's our very own affair. It all depends on whether you want to do it or not. If you don't train yourself, aren't strict with yourself, then you won't make progress. If you train yourself, are strict with yourself, then you will — every day, every night. You start out with your parents and teachers. They teach you how to talk, how to eat, how to sit up, how to walk, all kinds of things. Ever since you came out crying: how long has it been? They trained you for months and then years, kept on training you. You depended on your parents to train you. You couldn't sit up, you couldn't walk, and so they taught you how. You couldn't talk, so they kept teaching you how. You gradually became more and more skilled, more and more intelligent. You've depended on your parents as your first teachers to teach you and advise you to the point where you're grown. Now it's your own duty. You're adults. It's your own duty to train yourself, to be strict with yourself. It's all up to you. Whether you're to be good or bad, to rise or fall, it's all up to you. If you don't train yourself, and just let things follow their course, who's going to suffer? You will.

The things we have to practice are all already within us. So we have to be selective in looking at the heart to make it firmly centered within. We have to realize that we've already got wealth. We're human beings. Aggathanam manussesu: the supreme status is in the human state. Being supreme in this way isn't something easily gained, you know. To be born as a human being and to meet with the Buddha's teachings is hard. There are a lot of beings out there who don't make it here. So we already have a treasure, we already have wealth. It's now up to us to develop that treasure into the treasure of the heavenly realms, the treasure of nibbana. It's not all that hard.

For those who don't have this treasure — spirits, angry demons, hungry ghosts — it's hard. They want to do good, but they can't. Why not? Because they don't have any bodies. They don't have any wealth. They want to do good along with everyone else, but they can't. So they have to wander around, begging from people here and there, trying to get a message through by possessing this person and that, telling them to do good. They themselves want to do good but they can't. Back when they were human beings they didn't want to do good. Having gained the human state, they were lazy, eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating, letting the days pass by, pass by.

So we have to take time out every day to give some value to our lives. If human beings had a sense of how to give value to their lives — even just for an hour a day, every day... The important thing is that you not be complacent. Be intent on accelerating your efforts. Whatever goodness you should develop, should realize, should master, should perfect: make an effort to give rise to it. Give the heart something to hold to. When the heart has something firm to hold to, it's not put to any difficulties. So be as intent as you can on not being complacent. The Buddha told us to accelerate our efforts. Whatever goodness you haven't yet developed in your actions, go ahead and develop it. Whatever goodness you haven't yet developed in your words, go ahead and develop it. Whatever goodness you haven't yet developed in the area of the mind, you should accelerate your efforts and build it up within yourself as the treasure of the human state. That way, when you die and leave this human realm, you won't have to beg for anything from anyone else, because you've already provided for yourself. What you have is perfectly complete, with nothing lacking in any way at all.

This is why those who know accelerate their efforts. When we're born into the human realm, we're born into a realm that's abundant in every way. So when those who know are born here, they waste no time and make every effort to build up their perfections even further. Like the Buddha — think about it: for four incalculable periods and one hundred thousand aeons he kept returning to this human realm to build up his perfections, taking birth again and again, growing old, growing sick, and dying again and again. Four. Incalculables. Do you have any idea how long that is? Twenty-eight beings have completed their perfections to the point of becoming Buddhas. Each perfection of each Buddha has to be totally complete in every way. If you were to take all the treasures of the human realm, they'd still be no match for the perfections of the Buddha. He was born for the sake of perfection, to build his perfections. That was his aim. Whatever he was born as, it was always for the sake of his perfections, for the sake of the knowledge of Awakening. That was why he kept swimming around in samsara, dying and taking birth, dying and taking birth, dying and taking birth, over and over again. He kept on building up his perfections until he succeeded in gaining Awakening in line with his aims. The same with his disciples: they all were born for the sake of building up their perfections.

So how about us? What are the perfections we've been born for? Why haven't we accelerated our efforts to give rise to something? Why haven't we aimed our sights higher? Ask yourself: what do you aim for? What are your aspirations? When you have an aspiration, work to fulfil it. Bring it into being in line with your aims. Even if you don't succeed in this lifetime, you're forming the habits, the requisite conditions, for the next life, so that they're tempered and strong, so that they'll keep on growing higher and higher with every lifetime — because you keep adding to them with every lifetime. In that way you'll be able to succeed.

When we come into this world, we have to know within ourselves what we've come for. What were we born for? What were we born for? We're born to build up our goodness, so we should hurry up and develop our goodness and make it a reality. Just like the Buddha and his disciples: They weren't complacent. No matter where they were born, they were born for perfection. They didn't get infatuated with the affairs of worldly treasures. No matter how much worldly pleasure they experienced, they weren't satisfied. As soon as they had the opportunity, they left home to practice the holy life in order to continue building up their perfections in line with their aims.

As for us, as soon as we experience a little bit of pleasure we get stuck on it, addicted to it. And so we aren't willing to go anywhere. Even with just little pleasures, we get satisfied with the way things are. These pleasures are really tricky, you know — these human pleasures. They're called sensual pleasure. Sensual pleasure is like a drug: One taste and you get addicted. They say that with heroin it's hard to break the habit, but this is even worse. It goes deep, right into the bone. It's what made us get born in the first place, and has kept us circling through birth and death for aeons and aeons. There's no medicine you can take to break the habit, to wash it out of your system, aside from the medicine of the Buddha's teachings. Only when you use the Buddha's teachings will your addiction to these pleasures gradually loosen, gradually lighten, gradually fade away. Only then will you be done with the poison of this intoxicant. That's what it is: sensual intoxication. We live with sensual intoxication. It's really fierce. It's what keeps us swimming around in death and rebirth. Think about it. Think about it. Human beings, common animals, they're all in the same boat. No matter where you're born in the sensual realm: even those who are born in the heavenly realm are still addicted. Even in the heavenly realms, they're not done with it. As soon as you escape from the human realm you get stuck in the heavenly realms. So as long as we don't use the medicine of the Buddha's teachings to cut through this addiction, to drive it out, we'll have to keep on swimming through death and rebirth, going and coming back the way we are right now, with never a chance to put an end to it.

This is why those who know have ears, have eyes, have discernment. They listen well and gain discernment. That's why they see through everything. They contemplate all fabricated things and see right through them. That's why they're able to destroy becoming and birth, so that they no longer have to keep swimming through death and rebirth. They let go of all stress and suffering, all difficulties and hardships, and enter nibbana. They abandon all fabrications without leaving a trace and go straight to nibbana. The Buddha and his disciples have all succeeded in this way, washing away all states of becoming and birth, so that they don't have to come back and suffer in this human world ever again.

So we should all set our hearts on making the mind into a firm foundation that we can hold to, as much as possible. If you can't yet hold to it, then do what you need to, so that you can.