                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                        MAKING THE HEART GOOD
                                        
                                        
    These days people are going all over the place looking for 
 merit.[*] And they always seem to stop over in Wat Ba Pong. If they 
 don't stop over on the way, they stop over on the return journey. 
 Wat Ba Pong has become a stop over point. Some people are in such a 
 hurry I don't even get a chance to see or speak to them. Most of 
 them are looking for merit. I don't see many looking for a way out 
 of wrongdoing. They're so intent on getting merit they don't know 
 where they're going to put it. It's like trying to dye a dirty, 
 unwashed cloth.
    
 *["Looking for merit" is a commonly-used Thai phrase. It refers to 
 the custom in Thailand of going to monasteries, or "wats", paying 
 respect to venerated teachers and making offerings.]
    
    
    Monks talk straight like this, but it's hard for most people to 
 put this sort of teaching into practice. It's hard because they 
 don't understand. If they understood it would be much easier. 
 Suppose there was a hole, and there was something at the bottom of 
 it. Now anyone who put their hand into the hole and didn't reach the 
 bottom would say the hole was too deep. Out of a hundred or a 
 thousand people putting their hands down that hole, they'd all say 
 the hole was too deep. Not one would say their arm was too short!
    
    There are so many people looking for merit. Sooner or later 
 they'll have to start looking for a way out of wrongdoing. But not 
 many people are interested in this. The teaching of the Buddha is so 
 brief, but most people just pass it by, just like they pass through 
 Wat Ba Pong. For most people that's what the Dhamma is, a stop-over 
 point.
    
    Only three lines, hardly anything to it: //Sabba papassa 
 akaranam//: refraining from all wrong doing. That's the teaching of 
 all Buddhas. This is the heart of Buddhism. But people keep jumping 
 over it, they don't want this one. The renunciation of all 
 wrongdoing, great and small, from bodily, verbal and mental 
 actions... this is the teaching of the Buddhas.
    
    If we were to dye a piece of cloth we'd have to wash it first. 
 But most people don't do that. Without looking at the cloth, they 
 dip it into the dye straight away. If the cloth is dirty, dying it 
 makes it come out even worse than before. Think about it. Dying a 
 dirty old rag, would that look good?
    
    You see? This is how Buddhism teaches, but most people just pass 
 it by. They just want to perform good works, but they don't want to 
 give up wrongdoing. It's just like saying "the hole is too deep". 
 Everybody says the hole is too deep, nobody says their arm is too 
 short. We have to come back to ourselves. With this teaching you 
 have to take a step back and look at yourself.
    
    Sometimes they go looking for merit by the busload. Maybe they 
 even argue on the bus, or they're drunk. Ask them where they're 
 going and they say they're looking for merit. They want merit but 
 they don't give up vice. They'll never find merit that way.
    
    This is how people are. You have to look closely, look at 
 yourselves. The Buddha taught about having recollection and self- 
 awareness in all situations. Wrongdoing arises in bodily, verbal and 
 mental actions. The source of all good, evil, weal and harm lies 
 with actions, speech and thoughts. Did you bring your actions, 
 speech and thoughts with you today? Or have you left them at home? 
 This is where you must look, right here. You don't have to look very 
 far away. Look at your actions, speech and thoughts. Look to see if 
 your conduct is faulty or not.
    
    People don't really look at these things. Like the housewife 
 washing the dishes with a scowl on her face. She's so intent on 
 cleaning the dishes, she doesn't realize her own mind's dirty! Have 
 you ever seen this? She only sees the dishes. She's looking too far 
 away, isn't she? Some of you have probably experienced this, I'd 
 say. This is where you have to look. People concentrate on cleaning 
 the dishes but they let their minds go dirty. This is not good, 
 they're forgetting themselves.
    
    Because they don't see themselves people can commit all sorts of 
 bad deeds. They don't look at their own minds. When people are going 
 to do something bad they have to look around first to see if anyone 
 is looking... "Will my mother see me?" "Will my husband see me?" 
 "Will my children see me?" "Will my wife see me?" If there's no-one 
 watching then they go right ahead and do it. This is insulting 
 themselves. They say no-one is watching, so they quickly finish the 
 job before anyone will see. And what about themselves? Aren't they a 
 "somebody"?
    
    You see? Because they overlook themselves like this, people never 
 find what is of real value, they don't find the Dhamma. If you look 
 at yourselves you will see yourselves. Whenever you are about to do 
 something bad, if you see yourself in time you can stop. If you want 
 to do something worthwhile then look at your mind. If you know how 
 to look at yourself then you'll know about right and wrong, harm and 
 benefit, vice and virtue. These are the things we should know about.
    
    If I don't talk of these things you won't know about them. You 
 have greed and delusion in the mind but don't know it. You won't 
 know anything if you are always looking outside. This is the trouble 
 with people not looking at themselves. Looking inwards you will see 
 good and evil. Seeing goodness, we can take it to heart and practice 
 accordingly.
    
    Giving up the bad, practicing the good...this is the heart of 
 Buddhism. //Sabba papassa akaranam// -- Not committing any 
 wrongdoing, either through body, speech or mind. That's the right 
 practice, the teaching of the Buddhas. Now "our cloth" is clean.
    
    Then we have //kusalassupasampada// -- making the mind virtuous 
 and skillful. If the mind is virtuous and skillful we don't have to 
 take a bus all over the countryside looking for merit. Even sitting 
 at home we can attain to merit. But most people just go looking for 
 merit all over the countryside without giving up their vices. When 
 they return home it's empty-handed they go, back to their old sour 
 faces. There they are washing the dishes with a sour face, so intent 
 on cleaning the dishes. This is where people don't look, they're far 
 away from merit.
    
    We may know of these things, but we don't really know if we don't 
 know within our own minds. Buddhism doesn't enter our heart. If our 
 mind is good and virtuous it is happy. There's a smile in our heart. 
 But most of us can hardly find time to smile, can we? We can only 
 manage to smile when things go our way. Most people's happiness 
 depends on having things go to their liking. They have to have 
 everybody in the world say only pleasant things. Is that how you 
 find happiness? Is it possible to have everybody in the world say 
 only pleasant things? If that's how it is when will you ever find 
 happiness?
    
    We must use Dhamma to find happiness. Whatever it may be, whether 
 right or wrong, don't blindly cling to it. Just notice it then lay 
 it down. When the mind is at ease then you can smile. The minute you 
 become averse to something the mind goes bad. Then nothing is good 
 at all.
    
    //Sacittapariyodapanam//: Having cleared away impurities the mind 
 is free of worries... peaceful, kind and virtuous. When the mind is 
 radiant and has given up evil, there is ease at all times. The 
 serene and peaceful mind is the true epitome of human achievement.
    
    When others say things to our liking, we smile. If they say 
 things that displease us we frown. How can we ever get others to say 
 things only to our liking every single day? Is it possible? Even 
 your own children... have they ever said things that displease you? 
 Have you ever upset your parents? Not only other people, but even 
 our own minds can upset us. Sometimes the things we ourselves think 
 of are not pleasant. What can you do? You might be walking along and 
 suddenly kick a tree stump...Thud!..."Ouch!" ... Where's the 
 problem? Who kicked who anyway? Who are you going to blame? It's 
 your own fault. Even our own mind can be displeasing to us. If you 
 think about it, you'll see that this is true. Sometimes we do things 
 that even we don't like. All you can say is "Damn!", there's no-one 
 else to blame.
    
    Merit or boon in Buddhism is giving up that which is wrong. When 
 we abandon wrongness then we are no longer wrong. When there is no 
 stress there is calm. The calm mind is a clean mind, one which 
 harbors no angry thoughts, which is clear.
    
    How can you make the mind clear? Just by knowing it. For example, 
 you might think, "Today I'm in a really bad mood, everything I look 
 at offends me, even the plates in the cupboard." You might feel like 
 smashing them up, every single one of them. Whatever you look at 
 looks bad, the chickens, the ducks, the cats and dogs... you hate 
 them all. Everything your husband says is offensive. Even looking 
 into your own mind you aren't satisfied. What can you do in such a 
 situation? Where does this suffering come from? This is called 
 "having no merit". These days in Thailand they have a saying that 
 when someone dies his merit is finished. But that's not the case. 
 There are plenty of people still alive who've finished their merit 
 already... those people who don't know merit. The bad mind just 
 collects more and more badness.
    
    Going on these merit-making tours is like building a beautiful 
 house without preparing the area beforehand. In no long time the 
 house will collapse, won't it? The design was no good. Now you have 
 to try again, try a different way. You have to look into yourself, 
 looking at the faults in your actions, speech and thoughts. Where 
 else are you going to practice, other than at your actions, speech 
 and thoughts? People get lost. They want to go and practice Dhamma 
 where it's really peaceful, in the forest or at Wat Ba Pong. Is Wat 
 Ba Pong peaceful? No, it's not really peaceful. Where it's really 
 peaceful is in your own home.
    
    If you have wisdom wherever you go you will be carefree. The 
 whole world is already just fine as it is. All the trees in the 
 forest are already just fine as they are: there are tall ones, short 
 ones, hollow ones...all kinds. They are simply the way they are. 
 Through ignorance of their true nature we go and enforce our 
 opinions onto them..."Oh, this tree is too short! This tree is 
 hollow!" Those trees are simply trees, they're better off than we 
 are.
    
    That's why I've had these little poems written up in the trees 
 here. Let the trees teach you. Have you learnt anything from them 
 yet? You should try to learn at least one thing from them. There are 
 so many trees, all with something to teach you. Dhamma is 
 everywhere, in everything in Nature. You should understand this 
 point. Don't go blaming the hole for being too deep...turn around 
 and look at your own arm! If you can see this you will be happy.
    
    If you make the merit or virtue, preserve it in your mind. that's 
 the best place to keep it. Making merit as you have done today is 
 good, but it's not the best way. Constructing buildings is good, but 
 it's not the best thing. Building your own mind into something good 
 is the best way. This way you will find goodness whether you come 
 here or stay at home. Find this excellence within your mind. Outer 
 structures like this hall here are just like the "bark" of the 
 "tree", they're not the "heartwood".
    
    If you have wisdom, wherever you look there will be Dhamma. If 
 you lack wisdom, then even the good things turn bad. Where does this 
 badness come from? Just from our own minds, that's where. Look how 
 this mind changes. Everything changes. Husband and wife used to get 
 on all right together, they could talk to each other quite happily. 
 But there comes a day when their mood goes bad, everything the 
 spouse says seems offensive. The mind has gone bad, it's changed 
 again. This is how it is.
    
    So in order to give up evil and cultivate the good you don't have 
 to go looking anywhere else. If your mind has gone bad, don't go 
 looking over at this person and that person. Just look at your own 
 mind and find out where these thoughts come from. Why does the mind 
 think such things? Understand that all things are transient. Love is 
 transient, hate is transient. Have you ever loved your children? Of 
 course you have. Have you ever hated them? I'll answer that for you, 
 too... Sometimes you do, don't you? Can you throw them away? No, you 
 can't throw them away. Why not? Children aren't like bullets, are 
 they? [*] Bullets are fired outwards, but children are fired right 
 back to the parents. If they're bad it comes back to the parents. 
 You could say children are your //kamma//. There are good ones and 
 bad ones. Both good and bad are right there in your children. But 
 even the bad ones are precious. One may be born with polio, crippled 
 and deformed, and be even more precious than the others. Whenever 
 you leave home for a while you have to leave a message, "Look after 
 the little one, he's not so strong." You love him even more than the 
 others.
    
 *[There is a play on words here between the Thai words "//look//," 
 meaning children, and "//look bpeun//," meaning literally "gun 
 children"... that is, bullets.]
    
    
    You should, then, set your minds well -- half love, half hate. 
 Don't take only one or the other, always have both sides in mind. 
 Your children are your //kamma//, they are appropriate to their 
 owners. They are your //kamma//, so you must take responsibility for 
 them. If they really give you suffering, just remind yourself, "It's 
 my //kamma//." If they please you, just remind yourself, "It's my 
 //kamma//." Sometimes it gets so frustrating at home you must just 
 want to run away. It gets so bad some people even contemplate 
 hanging themselves! It's //kamma//. We have to accept the fact. 
 Avoid bad actions, then you will be able to see yourself more 
 clearly.
    
    This is why contemplating things is so important. usually when 
 they practice meditation they use a meditation object, such as 
 Bud-dho, Dham-mo or Sang-gho. But you can make it even shorter than 
 this. Whenever you feel annoyed, whenever your mind goes bad, just 
 say "So!" When you feel better just say "So!...It's not a sure 
 thing." If you love someone, just say "So!" When you feel you're 
 getting angry, just say "So!" Do you understand? You don't have to 
 go looking into the //Tipitaka//.[*] Just "So!" This means "it's 
 transient". Love is transient, hate is transient, good is transient, 
 evil is transient. How could they be permanent? Where is there any 
 permanence in them?
    
 *[The Buddhist Pali Canon]
    
    
    You could say that they are permanent insofar as they are 
 invariably impermanent. They are certain in this respect, they never 
 become otherwise. One minute there's love, the next hate. That's how 
 things are. In this sense they are permanent. That's why I say 
 whenever love arises, just tell it "So!" It saves a lot of time. You 
 don't have to say "//Aniccam, dukkham, anatta//". If you don't want 
 a long meditation theme, just take this simple word...If love 
 arises, before you get really lost in it, just tell yourself "So!" 
 This is enough.
    
    Everything is transient, and it's permanent in that it's 
 invariably that way. Just to see this much is to see the heart of 
 the Dhamma, the True Dhamma.
    
    Now if everybody said "So!" more often, and applied themselves to 
 training like this, clinging would become less and less. People 
 would not be so stuck on love and hate. They would not cling to 
 things. They would put their trust in the truth, not with other 
 things. Just to know this much is enough, what else do you need to 
 know?
    
    Having heard the teaching, you should try to remember it also. 
 What should you remember? Meditate... Do you understand? If you 
 understand, the Dhamma clicks with you, the mind will stop. If there 
 is anger in the mind, just "So!" ... and that's enough, it stops 
 straight away. If you don't yet understand then look deeply into the 
 matter. If there is understanding, when anger arises in the mind you 
 can just shut it off with "So! It's impermanent!"
    
    Today you have had a chance to record the Dhamma both inwardly 
 and outwardly. Inwardly, the sound enters through the ears to be 
 recorded in the mind. If you can't do this much it's not so good, 
 your time at Wat Ba Pong will be wasted. Record it outwardly, and 
 record it inwardly. This tape recorder here is not so important. The 
 really important thing is the "recorder" in the mind. The tape 
 recorder is perishable, but if the Dhamma really reaches the mind 
 it's imperishable, it's there for good. And you don't have to waste 
 money on batteries.
    
    
                           * * * * * * * *
