
                                SIMPLY SO

                            Dhamma Teachings of
                         Looang Boo Sim Buddhacaro


                                 * * *
                                          
                         DharmaNet Edition 1995

                    Transcription: Bradford Griffith
              Proofreading and Formatting: John Bullitt
                                          
        This electronic edition is offered for free distribution
            via DharmaNet by arrangement with the publisher.
                                          
                        DharmaNet International
                 P.O. Box 4951, Berkeley CA 94704-4951
                                          
                            * * * * * * * *






 About the author
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Looang Boo Sim Buddhacaro was born on the 26th November 1909 in Sakhon
 Nakhon Province, North-East Thailand.  His parents were farmers and
 dedicated supporters of the local monastery.  At the age of 17 Looang
 Boo Sim took novice ordination and shortly afterwards became a disciple
 of the great Ajahn Mun.  Looang Boo Sim stayed with Ajahn Mun and
 various of his senior disciples for many years, taking full ordination
 at the age of 20 at Wat Sri Candaravasa, Khon Kaen.

 In later years he has been the Abbot of a number of monasteries in
 various parts of Thailand and was given the ecclesiastical title of
 Phra Khroo Santivaranana in 1959.  In 1967 he established a monastery
 in the remote mountains of Chiang Dao in Chiang Mai province and that
 has remained his residence until the present day.


 Dedication
 ~~~~~~~~~~
 In 1986 a collection of Dhamma discourses, culled from talks that I
 have given over the years, was printed for free distribution.  It was
 entitled [title in Thai].

 The compiler of that book, Upasika Somjy Chayarach, has now arranged
 for the translation and publication of two of the talks that appeared
 in it.

 I wish to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for
 this wholesome act.  Through the power of merit that has been created,
 may she be freed from all suffering. May all those who read this short
 book take its teachings to heart, reflect on them and practice
 accordingly so as to realize true liberation.

                                       Looang Boo Sim Buddhacaro


                           * * * * * * * *




                          SOURCE AND STREAM

 Now it is time for sitting meditation.  Sit in the cross-legged
 posture; place the right leg on top of the left leg and the right hand
 on top of the left hand.  Close your eyes and inwardly recite the
 mantra 'Buddho' in conjunction with the breath. Concentrate the mind on
 Buddho.  Sitting meditation is an important way of paying homage to the
 Buddha.

 The Buddha called all our former experiences, irrespective of their
 quality, (presently existing) thoughts of the past.  Now, in this
 moment, do not allow such thoughts to preoccupy the mind. Let them all
 go.  Concentrate the mind on the inner recitation of the mantra and
 bring the mind to peace in the present, in the immediate reality.  It
 is the present moment that is important. Future matters, good and bad,
 all still lie ahead, for by definition the future refers to things that
 have not yet taken place.  The meditator must compose his mind on the
 present moment.  If a thought surfaces in consciousness simply remind
 yourself that it is just a thought of the past, or a thought of the
 future, as the case may be.  Don't add to or encourage such thoughts.
 Put good thoughts to one side for the time being and the bad ones
 abandon altogether.

 Sitting here, our bodies are in a tranquil posture.  The knowing is
 abiding within the heart, and each one of us is aware.  This present
 knowing is our true mind.  The conditioned mind of thought and
 proliferation is almost like a demon.  Through its actions external
 phenomena tend to become preoccupations which then obstruct or destroy
 meditation.  But if the meditator grounds himself in the present moment
 then he is able to make use of the various meditation techniques.  He
 may develop inner recitation for example or perhaps focus on parts of
 the physical body such as head hair, body hair, nails, teeth, skin,
 sinews and bones.  When contemplation of the body ensues in perception
 of its unattractiveness, or of its constituent elements of hardness,
 cohesion, temperature and vibration [1] then that is meditation.  When
 the mind is at peace in the recitation of 'Buddho', then that too is
 meditation.  And the meditator is the mind.

 The mind itself has no color, shape, or form, but it has energy.  It is
 our duty to let go of and abandon the conditioned, proliferating mind.
 But the mind of present knowing, that which concentrates on Buddha,
 listens to Dhamma and reflects on its meaning, having been clearly
 observed, that true mind should be developed.  In this case to
 'develop' means to give care and attention to establishing it in peace.
 Peace comes by countering the out-going stream of mentality and
 penetrating this present knowing.

 The normal unrestrained mind is absorbed by the thought-consciousness
 seeking distraction.  Go against the stream by looking at the source of
 mental activity.  It originates from this knowing.  The source of the
 mind lies within us.  However this knowing is nothing substantial.  It
 has no color, form or shape in the way that material objects do. It is
 a formless element.  To speak in terms of the five aggregates there is;

        //rupa//      these bodies of ours
        //vedana//    the experience of objects as pleasant or
                        unpleasant, comfortable or uncomfortable.
        //sanna//     discrimination based on memory e.g. that this is
                        a human being and this is an animal; this is red,
                        this is black.
        //sankhara//  conditioning mental activity
        //vinnana//   cognition conditioned by mental activity


 The four formless aggregates of //vedana//, //sanna//, //sankhara// and
 //vinnana// arise within the knowing.  The Buddha taught that during
 sitting and walking meditation we should make the knowing converge on
 itself, not allowing it to go outwards.  Thoughts of good and bad are
 all exterior matters and are endless.  In thinking and cognizing we
 must know the thinker, know the knower.  All movement proceeds from
 this present knowing.  That being the case, don't be deceived by these
 expressions of mind.  They are merely shadows, flitting off into the
 past and future, thinking about and elaborating on the things that we
 like and the things that we don't.  This proliferation is what
 conditions the mind.

 What is it that knows the true mind and what is it that knows the
 conditioned mind?  It is just this one single knowing, the same thing
 that hears the sound of the discourse and meditates on 'Buddho'.  As
 there is just this single knowing, muster your energies and vow to
 yourself "I will not indulge the thinking mind.  I will gather the mind
 into itself."  Not allowing the mind to wander means that it stays with
 Buddho.  All you have to do then is to maintain Buddho.

 'Buddho' is the name of the Fully Enlightened One and should be
 reflected on.  That we have come into contact with Buddhism, with
 Buddha Dhamma and Sangha and that we have come to practice, is due to
 the Buddha.  The Buddha, after realizing supreme enlightenment, gave to
 the world the teachings of Dhamma-Vinaya that we call Buddhism.  The
 great teachers of old and the four assemblies of Buddhists have carried
 on the study and practice of the teachings right up until the present
 time.  In Thailand today, everywhere we go we see monasteries, monks
 and novices, eight-precept laymen and laywomen, and householders with
 faith and inspiration in Buddhism.  This is all thanks to the Buddha.
 It has been a long time --  over 2,500 years -- since the Buddha
 entered final //nibbana//.  Even so, the Dhamma and Vinaya, the
 teachings and the ordinances based on the 5, 8, 10 and 227 precepts,
 still remain.

 We bring the virtues of the Buddha to mind in order to be able to take
 him as an example in our practice.  Where did the Buddha come from?  He
 came from the mind that resolved on Buddhahood and wished to ferry all
 beings to //nibbana//.  From the moment of his initial resolve, in
 whatever realm the Buddha-to-be was born into, then whenever he
 performed acts of charity, refrained from unvirtuous actions and
 speech, or practiced meditation, then Buddhahood was always his
 motivation.  Whenever he was born as a human being he accumulated
 virtue.  Eventually the power of goodness created by his //dana//,
 //sila// and //bhavana//, the //paramis// (perfections) that he had
 developed, were strong enough for him to become Buddha.  Now in
 recollecting the Buddha, we take his virtues as our object.

 'Buddho' refers to the Lord Buddha and the one who inwardly recites
 'Buddho' is just this mind.  It is just this mind that recites Buddho,
 knows Buddho, knows the breath and is aware while doing so that one is
 creating virtue.  This mind has always been here.  The knowing has been
 born into the world countless times, but because ignorance and craving
 have overwhelmed it, our //dana//, //sila// and //bhavana// have been
 insufficient to free us from the mass of suffering with which the human
 organism is fraught.  So we must muster our energy with firm resolve,
 taking meditative calm as our foundation.  The principles that will
 lead us out of this world and the mass of suffering are those of
 //samatha// (calm) and //vipassana// (insight) meditation.  The mind
 must be firmly one-pointed, tranquil, cool and at ease with //samatha//
 before //vipassana// is feasible.  If the mind is still in movement,
 drifting and infirm, still not tranquil and motionless or one-pointed,
 it is impossible for understanding of the nature of things to take
 place.

 Take as example the founder of our religion, the fully self-enlightened
 Buddha.  Before his enlightenment he practiced calm meditation using
 the breath as his initial object.  On the day of his enlightenment he
 practiced this way.  On the in-breath he focussed intently on the
 in-breath.  On the out-breath he focussed intently on the out-breath.
 All mental agitation and movement ceased, leaving only the in-breaths
 and out-breaths remaining.  The Lord's mind was focussed intently on
 the breath until his mind became calm, cool and easeful, attaining the
 firmness of //khanika//, //upacara// and ultimately the unwavering
 //appana samadhi// [2].  When the Buddha-to-be's mind was thus
 unwaveringly and undeviatingly single-pointed //vipassana// took place:
 there was clear knowing of the body and mind as impermanent, of all
 beings and phenomena as transitory.  He saw the suffering inherent in
 being born with a body and mind and he saw selflessness.  He realized
 that the perception of an abiding self is based on delusion.

 In order to clearly know these three characteristics of //aniccam//,
 //dukkham// and //anatta// the mind must be firm.  Thus the effort to
 bring the mind to a secure and steadfast tranquility, not allowing it
 to become fascinated by forms, sounds, odors, flavors, physical
 sensations and mental phenomena is the essence of meditation
 techniques, and something we must all develop.  Take care when the eyes
 see forms not to let the mind waver:  keep up the inner recitation of
 Buddho.  Take care not to be deluded when hearing sounds:  beautiful or
 ugly sounds are all just worldly conditions.   Maintain the mind's
 firmness.  The pleasant and offensive odors that contact the nose --
 know them, don't be deceived by them.  No matter how delicious the
 taste of the food on the tongue -- remain equanimous.  Be impassive to
 the various physical sensations whether hot or cold, hard or soft. This
 is the supreme practice in Buddhism.  So gather your energies and
 establish the mind in the present moment.

 In general, meditator's minds are not unified and tranquil in the
 present moment -- they are wandering up ahead and back behind, taking up
 external matters concerning other people and dwelling on them, finding
 pleasure and satisfaction in agreeable mental states.  They are caught
 up entirely in superficialities. Although the mind of simple knowing is
 already present within us, unless we bring it to the fore through
 meditation, we will be unable to perceive the truth of suffering.

 When suffering arises in the body, contemplate it so that the mind will
 accept it for what it is.  When physical illness occurs, the grasping
 mind starts clinging to the idea of being ill.  In fact it is the
 earth-element that is unwell.  If the meditator's mind is stable and
 clearly sees the three characteristics he will simply regard illness as
 an affair of the elements.  He knows that the mind is formless and not
 subject to such pains.  It is due to clinging to the idea of self, and
 that the body belongs to self, that mental suffering arises.  In fact
 this body is merely elements and it is the elements that are sick.  It
 is the earth, water, fire and air elements that are disturbed.  If one
 can separate things in this way then the mind rests at ease.  Whatever
 occurs in the physical body, there is no clinging to it as belonging to
 self.  It is seen as simply a matter of elements, a matter of //aniccam
 dukkham anatta//, it is just the nature of things. [3] The present
 knowing clearly, truly and constantly.  The mind is cool, no longer hot
 with clinging.

 Suppose someone harshly scolds or maligns us.  Even if they abuse us
 right to our faces, if we don't cling, it ends right there.  What has
 arisen passes away.  But if the knowing is misled it grasps at this
 body and mind as being self.  When someone speaks to us harshly we get
 angry:  "That's nothing to do with me!"  Due to clinging there is 'me'
 and 'mine'.  It is just this clinging that is the cause of suffering,
 agitation, turmoil and disease.

 The Buddha taught us to let go of all external affairs during
 meditation:  whatever physical or mental distress arises is just the
 suffering of the aggregates:  don't let the knowing suffer.  Meditate
 in order to attenuate the defilements of greed, hatred and delusion and
 ultimately bring them to an end.  When the knowing is still deluded and
 clings to the idea of self, to 'me' and 'mine', then it takes birth.
 Perhaps it becomes an animal, a human being, a celestial being, Indra
 or a Brahma god.  But whatever it becomes, it suffers just in being
 that. As long as there is still clinging to the elements and
 aggregates, to name and form, and there is no awareness of the way to
 abandon defilements, then there is suffering in the world.  The five
 aggregates are classified as suffering in the world, for when one
 clings to them as 'me' and 'mine' then right there the mass of
 suffering appears.  We sit right on the pile of suffering, in the midst
 of the fire of craving, hatred and delusion.  The fire flares up and
 constantly burns our heart.

 We are meditating now so as to gather the mind into the knowing, in
 order to put out the fires that are burning our hearts.  Don't harbor
 the fire of anger.  Abandon it.  There is no need to get angry with
 anyone.  If you feel any jealousy or ill-will towards anyone, give it
 up.  Don't allow the mind to indulge in it.  This is cleansing the
 knowing both day and night, whether standing, sitting, walking or
 laying down. It is not clinging to 'me' and 'mine'.  The aggregates do
 not belong to anyone, they are something natural to the world.  As soon
 as the knowing is born with a name and form it tends to grasp onto that
 name and form as self.  But can that name and form last indefinitely?
 If it could, nobody would die, nobody would become ill, nobody would
 experience pain or get old, because the aggregates would do what they
 are told.  It is because the aggregates don't do what they are told
 that the Buddha taught us not to cling to them but to see them clearly
 with penetrative wisdom. If there is no clear seeing then there is
 suffering. So don't be fooled into clinging onto things; it is
 suffering in the world.  When the knowing no longer clings it is empty,
 it is in meditation, it is cool and at ease.

 All the different kinds of mental turmoil come from delusion, the
 agitated striving mind that wants to possess, want to get, wants to be;
 in other words the mind of craving.  Get rid of craving and clinging
 from the mind.  Try to prevent anything from accumulating in this
 knowing.  Make the present knowing radiant and pure.  Meditate.  Firmly
 ground the mind.  Gather the knowing onto itself and abandon the
 cognition of externals. Let the knowing dwell in the heart.  Whatever
 the posture of the body let the knowing know itself at all times.

 If an evil thought arises abandon it.  If goodness occurs develop it
 and here, the goodness we resolve to develop is exemplified by the
 mantra 'Buddho'.  We develop it or concentrate on it internally so as
 to make the mind cool and happy.  We prevent agitation and distress
 with the elements and aggregates, with the bodies and minds of other
 people.  We don't allow them inside.  When the mind is thus cool and at
 ease, it is said that 'Buddho' is dwelling in the heart.  In other
 words the knowing lies within.

 To produce this firm and enduring tranquillity you must go against the
 stream and enter within.  Then you will understand the practice of
 Dhamma with the mindfulness and wisdom that are present in the heart.
 If there is no countering the stream and no entry within, the search
 for virtue externally is an endless one.  Truth and virtue do not lie
 beneath the land or sea, or in the sky or in space.  They lie in
 volitions, the mind that makes effort to give up evil and do good. When
 the mind converges right here it becomes spacious, cool and easeful, it
 is established in Dhamma practice.  Sitting there is meditation in the
 sitting posture, standing there is meditation in the standing posture,
 walking there is meditation while walking and lying down there is
 meditation until one falls asleep.  As soon as we wake we continue the
 inner recitation of 'Buddho', making 'Buddho' our constant concern.
 Wherever the mind goes we don't follow it.  We give up all the going
 and settle for dwelling.

 The knowing lies right here within us; everything else is merely a
 passing affair.  The truth lies with the knowing.  Clearly observe that
 since our birth into this world, the knowing has dwelt in the body.
 Wherever we go, the body goes too. The knowing cannot escape from the
 body and mind.  It drags the body with it here and there. When we sit
 it is the body that sits and when we lay down it is the body that lays
 down, and so the knowing is deceived into attaching to that name and
 form, the the provisional realities of the world.  Not comprehending
 the way to withdraw from them and put them down, the defilements of
 greed, hatred and delusion steadily accumulate.

 So in studying Buddhism, whether it's the Dhamma or the Discipline,
 whatever method it is being taught by, having studied we must put those
 teachings into practice.  We must compose this knowing firmly on
 itself.  Keep the mind within, don't allow it to wander about and
 become fascinated with sentient beings and the material world, through
 delusion and unclear seeing.

 Resolve to put forth effort.  Aspire to rid yourself of defilements.
 Greed, hatred and delusion all lie here within the mind so put effort
 into abandoning them just here.  Be vigilant and care for the mind
 right here.  Recite 'Buddho' right here. Compose the knowing.  When we
 have established the knowing in this way then in whatever posture we
 are in there is constant meditation. Sitting here we can inwardly
 recite 'Buddho', undistracted and undeceived by external matters.  We
 have been deluded by the external world for countless lifetimes.  Let
 us not be deluded by it any more.


                      * * * *  //EVAM// * * * *


Footnotes
~~~~~~~~~

1. Literally earth, water, fire and air (Trans.)

2. 'Momentary', 'access' and 'absorbtion' -- a threefold classification
   based on duration and intensity (Trans.)

3. The author is not recommending a heedless or fatalistic attitude to
   illness.  One of course uses those medicines that are available in
   the appropriate way, but without fear, anxiety, or desperation.
   (Trans.)



                        THE URGENT TASK


 Now it is time for meditation.  Sit in the cross-legged posture.  Place
 your right leg on your left and your right hand on your left one. Sit
 up straight.  The time of sitting meditation is a time to stop.  Close
 your eyes:  right now there is nothing to do and nowhere to go, you
 have no need for them.  Once your eyes are closed, recollect that the
 Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha all lie within our minds.  Don't conceive of
 them as existing outside ourselves.  It is just this mind that inwardly
 recites 'Buddho' on every inhalation and exhalation. It is just this
 mind that is the foundation of the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha.  It is
 here that the practice takes place.  The Dhamma-Vinaya, all the vast
 number of teachings that the Buddha gave, all share the single purpose
 of bringing our minds to peace, the attenuation and abandonment of
 greed, hatred and delusion.

 The teachings of the Buddha were given over a period of forty-five
 years, from the time of  his enlightenment until the day of his death
 (//parinibbana//). In the Buddhist scriptures there is a grouping of
 the teachings into three sections:  the Discourses, the Monastic
 Regulations and the Abhidhamma.  In all it is said there are 84,000
 teachings.  Considered according to the principles of Dhamma, our
 bodies are like the carved wooden cupboard in which the scriptures are
 kept.  The Discourses, the Monastic Regulations and the Abhidhamma are
 each person's action, speech and mind.  We can make this comparison for
 the reason that every single teaching was given in order to be
 actualized by the disciple who received it.  So in our practice let us
 keep the precepts -- 5, 8, 10 or 227 according to our situation.  Let
 us practice samadhi and cultivate wisdom.  Spiritual practice was
 summarized by the Buddha as the three-fold training of //sila//,
 //samadhi// and //panna//. If sila is pure and samadhi is firm enough
 to give rise to panna, then the path to liberation from defilements is
 manifest.

 In sitting meditation do not be deceived by the thought-demon [1]
 (//sankhara mara//).  Those people who only sit a little or don't sit
 at all are the ones who believe in the thought-demon.

 For instance, we decide to sit before dawn and the thought-demon tells
 us it is too early, why not sit later on.  If we believe it then our
 morning session is lost; we don't sit.  Later on in the morning and
 perhaps we forget altogether but if we do remember, just as we are
 about to rouse ourselves and do some sitting meditation, the
 thought-demon pipes up again.  "You don't want to sit yet. You've just
 had your breakfast, your stomach is still full. Have a rest first.  You
 can always do some sitting in the afternoon."  If we believe it, that's
 delusion.  Before dawn it says meditate later on in the morning.  Later
 on in the morning it says meditate in the afternoon.  "If you digest
 your food first you will feel much more comfortable."  If we believe it
 we don't sit.  In the afternoon it starts again.  We end up just
 believing the thought-demon all day and all night and so get nothing
 from meditation.

 Before the Buddha's enlightenment it was this belief in the
 thought-demon that obstructed him.  He just kept continually
 procrastinating.  It took six years from the time of leaving home until
 he finally came to his senses and stopped believing the thought-demon.
 Just picture it now.  On the day of his enlightenment the Buddha-to-be
 sat down with his back to the bodhi tree, facing slightly north of
 east.  Then he made a solemn vow, an absolutely firm resolution that
 his sitting that night would be a life-or-death affair:  under no
 circumstances would he rise from his seat until he was enlightened.  He
 would die first.  The Buddha-to-be had seen through the thought-demon's
 tricks.  He had realized that it was because of falling for the
 constant lies and deceptions of the thought-demon that he was still
 unenlightened.

 On that Visakha Puja night the Lord did not move from his seat; he just
 sat. Even so it says in the scriptures that the daughters of Mara, all
 the hosts of temptation, attacked him strongly. But the Buddha did not
 give in.  They urged him to get up but he would not.  The Buddha
 focussed his attention on his breathing.  If he did get up he knew that
 all that awaited him was death, at most he might postpone it for eighty
 or a hundred years, and so he just looked intently at his breathing. He
 reflected that if after inhalation some obstruction or other prevented
 the exhalation, then he would die.  If after exhalation some blockage
 in the lungs prevented inhalation then also he would die.  The Buddha
 just stayed with the breath, seeing death in every inhalation and
 exhalation.  There was still no Buddha, Dhamma or Sangha.  The Buddha
 was not yet the Buddha, his mind had been pushed around for so long by
 the thought-demon.  So he took up the subject of death to teach his
 mind with every inhalation and exhalation until a strong conviction and
 clarity of mind arose in him that death is indeed certain, that with
 the cutting off of the breath, death is inevitable.

 The Buddha looked intently to see the inevitability of death with every
 breath.  He reflected "there is no one born into this world that does
 not die.  If people do not die as children then they die as youths.  If
 they do not die in their youth they die in their old age.  If they die
 then I must die.  I must completely abandon the defilements of greed,
 hatred and delusion before death.  I must realize enlightenment."  The
 Buddha-to-be made a firm and unwavering resolve.  He brought to mind
 all the virtues that he had developed to perfection:  those of giving,
 morality, renunciation, wisdom, endurance, truthfulness, resolution,
 kindness and equanimity, and he allowed them to converge in the mind,
 as it was aware of the breathing.  The Lord's mind was as solid as the
 earth, more so perhaps because the earth is still subject to tremors.
 As for the mind of the Buddha-to-be, as he recollected the charity,
 morality and meditation that he had practiced and concentrated them in
 this firm mind, more solid than Mother Earth, absolutely immoveable,
 then he felt ready even to sacrifice his life.  If death had come to
 him at that moment he would have felt no fear.  The teachers of old
 described that moment with an image.  They say the earth goddess
 squeezed waters from the bun of her hair that swept away the hosts of
 Mara into the jaws of a fabulous crocodile.  This is putting it
 figuratively.  The earth goddess is the earth.  When our minds are firm
 and stable like the earth we can vanquish the thought-demon, the
 defilement-demon, overcome all the myriad forms of craving and
 clinging. Consider the nature of the earth.  The rain falls in the
 monsoon season and the earth is unaffected. The sun blazes in the hot
 season, hot enough to cause fires, and in the winter the weather is so
 cold that frost forms on the grasstips, and yet the earth remains
 unmoved. Mankind appears and divides the world up into countries.  It
 digs and mines and burns the earth, does all sorts of things, even
 drops atom bombs on it.  But the earth remains impassive.

 If the mind of an ordained or unordained person has a true and clear
 conviction in the Buddha's teachings, then it will not waver in any
 way.  For such a person tiredness and exhaustion is merely an affair of
 the aggregates. [2]  Wherever the body or form aggregate exists there
 is going to be hunger, weariness and exhaustion as a matter of course.
 The body has to eat, it has to sleep, it needs all kinds of things.
 That is a matter of aggregates, a matter of elements. We should not let
 the mind waver in the fact of those conditions.  When you set out to do
 something, sitting meditation for example, don't let the demons of
 thought and defilement fool you.  Or if as a monk you make a resolution
 to keep the ascetic practice of not laying down then make your
 resolution firm.  Don't start worrying about the effects it might have
 on your health.  No illness transcends death.  Death is the worst that
 can happen.  If you miss your sleep, even if you really suffer you'll
 just die, that'

 Let the thought-demon know that you are ready to battle with death and
 it won't come to deceive you again.

 Sit and cultivate 'Buddho' with every inhalation and exhalation. If
 meditators' minds are firmly established in this way they will feel a
 lightness in body and mind and a brightness and clarity as if a
 powerful force has arisen within them.  Such a mind is brave and
 courageous, without fear of death or fear of tiredness, not frail and
 timid.

 When you have spare time, rush to meditate.  Hurry, it's urgent.  If
 you don't wish to do it urgently you won't do it at all.  You will
 believe the thought-demon or believe people not interested in
 meditation, and they will discourage you.  The Buddha said
 "//turitturitam singhasingham//" -- Rush, hurry, it's urgent!  Meditate
 on every inhalation and exhalation.  Determine to practice right at
 this moment.  If we don't, then the demons of thought and defilement
 will lead us away into old age and death.  Even on the day of death we
 still won't have the time.  The people who have no time to practice are
 the people who believe in the thought-demon.

 All of you who are practicing Dhamma, don't believe the thought-demon.
 Teach it at every breath "This is the breath.  It may cease at any
 moment."  The Buddha himself used the breathing process as the subject
 of calm meditation and the foundation of insight meditation.  It was
 the ground of his Dhamma practice.  All of us too are inhaling and
 exhaling, we too all have body and mind.  As the Buddha did, if we
 overcome the defilements in our hearts we will clearly perceive
 Nibbana.  This is certain.  Why bother doubting about it?  Indecision,
 unwillingness to commit oneself to Dhamma practice or to put forth
 effort at this very moment:  it's just that sort of mental state that
 the Buddha called doubt.  Get rid of your doubts!

 The Buddha taught us not to reach out towards the past or future. If we
 do we get stuck.  We don't get anywhere at all.  But if we ground the
 mind in the present we can testify to the inner knowing that lies
 within us all.  If that knowing didn't exist then how could we talk,
 how could we come and listen to Dhamma?  It exists and it is right in
 that knowing that lie virtue and accumulated purity.  We meditate in
 order to gather the energies of the mind into this inner knowing.  We
 put down thoughts and sense-consciousness, the defiled mind that goes
 out in search of distractions.  We give up thinking of friends and
 families, forests and streams, everything that lies outside of the
 present moment. It's all false and wrong.  What is right, what is
 straight is that which the Buddha called '//tattha//' or 'in that
 place.'  'In that place' refers to the knowing that lies within our
 mind.

 When the energy of the mind is pacified, unified and grounded on the
 knowing, a firm faith and confidence in that knowing arises.  There is
 //sila// -- and it is the knowing that keeps //sila//, that cares for
 actions and speech.  There is //samadhi// -- and it is the knowing that
 is firm.  There is //panna// -- and it is the knowing that has direct
 knowledge of the mass of physical and mental conditions.  There is
 nothing that lies beyond the mind.

 This mind can both know truly and know deludedly.  When we justly allow
 it to blindly follow forms, sounds, odors, flavors, tangible objects
 and ideas it is deceived day and night, from birth until old age, from
 old age until death.  It can be fascinated by those things for
 innumerable lifetimes.  When we come to meditate, we put effort into
 burning up the defilements in our hearts so that they diminish and
 finally come to an end.  Thus our effort is concentrated on this mind.
 We keep reminding ourselves that apart from this knowing that is
 established in the present moment, everything -- be it past or present,
 good or bad -- is all impermanent.  There is nothing lasting to be
 found in the world.  Everything outside of this knowing is
 unsatisfactory and impersonal.  Even the knowing itself is still not
 sure if the masses of defilement cram and encompass it.  We must put
 effort into burning up the defilements right here. We must develop
 generosity, morality and meditation right here, here in the mind of
 present knowing.  Be wary of the forms that come into our line of
 vision and the sounds that enter the ears -- don't follow them.  Odors
 that enter at the nose, flavors that pass by the tongue, sensations hot
 and cold, hard and soft -- don't be deluded by them.  Don't be misled
 by discursive thought.  Don't be fooled by conditions.

 Why did the Buddha not want us to be deluded?  Because he wanted us to
 know.  By now all of us in the course of time have come to know all
 sorts of things.  But what have we got from it?  All we have got is old
 age and death.  Death and then birth and then death and then birth over
 and over again.  Can you see this? All human beings are born and then
 they die, just like a sound that having arisen disappears or a form
 once created comes to an end.  Wherever there is arising there must be
 passing away.  The Buddha taught us to know this truth. It is the
 knowledge taught by the Buddha and all his noble disciples.  They all
 instruct us to know our minds, to be aware of ourselves, not to be
 intoxicated by mental states, thinking or craving.

 The Buddha described three kinds of craving:  the craving for
 sense-pleasures, the craving to become and the craving not to become --
 i.e., coarse, middling and subtle craving.  All of its forms lie within
 the mind and their abandonment is dependent on effort and close
 attention, burning up the cravings rather than being swept along by
 them.  Thus practice implies not following the cravings, desires and
 wishes that arise.  When craving starts to cause distress and turmoil
 in the mind we pacify it, know it clearly within.

 The Buddha taught us to clearly see into this mind, and also to see the
 things outside of it.  He wanted us to see that there is nothing
 permanent or substantial anywhere at all and there is nothing that can
 provide us with lasting happiness. All there is is unsatisfactoriness
 or //dukkha//.  We sit and there is dukkha in the sitting posture.  We
 lay down and there is dukkha in the laying.  We stand up and there is
 dukkha in the standing.  We walk and there is dukkha in the walking.
 Even when we talk or give a Dhamma-discourse dukkha is present.

 There is no real happiness.  All those things which we assume to be
 happiness are all false.  If they were true happiness, why is death
 followed by birth?  There is no real happiness.  What people call
 happiness is just a delusion of the worldly.  The enlightened ones say
 that it's all just stories of dukkha and unknowing.  Thus the Buddha
 and his disciples, enlightened and unenlightened, practice calm and
 insight meditation in every posture.  They put energy into their
 meditation at all times, continually accelerating their efforts. They
 go without sleep.  If in the inner struggle with defilements we just
 indulge in rest and sleep the defilements will trample all over us, we
 will be unable to overcome them.  If we get up and sit in meditation,
 contemplate unattractiveness (//asubha//) or the elements (//dhatu//)
 so as to see the unsatisfactoriness inherent in the body and mind,
 point out and reveal these things to our intoxicated, indulgent mind;
 then we will be able to put forth effort to burn up the defilements of
 ignorance and delusion.  Whenever we are deluded or intoxicated with
 something, then we lose our self-awareness and then there is
 pitch-black darkness.  There is no path that will take us into such
 utter darkness as that of delusion, not knowing the nature of the mind
 and body, not perceiving the three characteristics, not seeing clearly
 in the present moment.  The deluded mind puts no effort into
 eradicating defilements in the present moment.  It is engrossed in the
 pleasures derived from forms, sounds, odors, flavors, physical
 sensations and mental states, taking them to be happiness.  But that
 happiness is bound up with materiality, it is not true happiness.  The
 Buddha said that true happiness is the happiness of //nibbana//.

 The happiness of //nibbana// is a non-clinging happiness.  It does not
 depend on obtaining or rejecting anything.  It is the complete
 annihilation of desire, hatred and delusion, both internally and
 externally.  It is because there is not a single remnant of defilement
 that it is called happiness.  It is a true unchanging happiness, not
 fickle and deceitful.  As for happiness in the world, however intense
 it may be, it is still deceitful.  Even millionaires,
 multi-millionaires, kings and emperors must all still suffer through
 the power of defilements.  The Buddha called the defilements 'fires'.
 Fires are hot and wherever the fire of desire occurs, then that place
 is hot.  Whenever the fire of aversion and delusion occur then those
 places are hot.  Where do they occur?  In the mind that does not know
 and see clearly, the mind that does not let go, the mind that does not
 abandon and release.

 The mind tends to cling to the idea of self.  It clings to the body as
 being self, but after death the body lies rotting on the ground and is
 cremated.  Have you ever seen that?  If you haven't yet realized that
 the same fate awaits you, then look at other people.  Parents and
 grandparents, where have they all gone?  They are dead.  After they
 died where did their bodies go? They went to earth.  In the end, this
 body that we cling to as being 'me' and 'mine' will turn to earth, and
 there's nothing we can do to prevent it.  We can't forbid old age,
 sickness and death.  The Buddha said that what we can do is to prevent
 the mind from being deluded by it all.

 Create clear knowing in the mind.  Apart from this knowing mind,
 everything is //aniccam//, impermanent.  Don't be deceived by it all at
 any cost.  Apart from this knowing mind everything is //dukkham//, it's
 all unsatisfactory and unstable.  Apart from this knowing mind, there
 is no //atta//, no independent entity.  Self and others is a convention
 of the world. In truth none of it is self, there is nothing that is
 really 'me' or mine.'  Experiment with separating out hair of the head,
 hair of the body, nails, teeth, skin, flesh and bones.  Divide things
 up into the elements of earth, water, fire and air.  Have a look at
 what is what.  There is nothing substantial there, just agreed
 conventions. Don't be misled by those conditions.

 Go against the out-flowing stream of the mind.  Enter //samadhi// and
 pacify the mind.  Establish yourself in the practice of Dhamma and keep
 burning up the defilements of desire, aversion and delusion.  As long
 as they still remain keep trying to gradually eliminate them.  This is
 called not backsliding. '//Viriyena dukkhamacenti//', said the Buddha;
 '//Dukkha// is transcended through effort.'  When there is effort in
 our minds we can free ourselves of suffering.  If those who practice
 Dhamma believe this saying with all their hearts, don't slacken but
 firmly resolve to practice calm and insight meditation to the best of
 their abilities, when their spiritual faculties and accumulated purity
 are fully mature, then they will realize enlightenment.  Of this there
 is no doubt.  So having listened to these skillful means that I have
 outlined and clearly appreciated the truth of them in your hearts, then
 impress them in your memory and take them away and practice them
 accordingly, for your welfare and happiness.

                      * * * *  //EVAM// * * * *


Footnotes
~~~~~~~~~
1.  The word 'demon' is used here figuratively.  It is not meant to
    refer to any real malignant entity, but as an image to bring out the
    disruptive effects of this mental defilement. (Trans.)

2.  The Buddha explained human existence in terms of five aggregates
    (Khandas):  those of form, feeling, perception, formations and
    consciousness.


                           * * * * * * * *



                              GLOSSARY

Buddha    The Awakened One; The fully selfenlightened sage who lived in
          Northern India over 2,500 years ago; the 'Buddha-wisdom'
          present within the human mind.

Dhamma    The teachings of the historical Buddha; the way things are.

Sangha    The Buddha's enlightened disciples; the correct practice of
          Dhamma.

Anicca    Impermanence; transiency.

Dukkha     Suffering; unsatisfactoriness; discontent; instability; the
           inability of impermanent phenomena to provide any true or
           lasting happiness.

Anatta     Not self; impersonality; absence of a permanent and
           self-existing ego entity in that which is impermanent and
           unsatisfactory.

Sila       Virtue; Morality; Precepts; the volition to refrain from
           actions and speech that cause distress to one-self and/or
           others.

Samadhi    Concentration. The peace, clarity and stability of mind
           resulting from attention to a single object or theme.

Panna      Wisdom.  Direct, non-conceptual understanding of the
           impermanent, unsatisfactory and impersonal nature of
           conditioned existence.

Samatha    Meditation on a single object or theme and the peace that
           results from it.

Vipassana  Meditation on the impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and
           impersonality of conditioned existence and the insight that
           results from it.

                            * * * * * * * *



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 TITLE OF WORK: Simply So: Dhamma Teachings of Looang Boo Sim Buddhacaro
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 AUTHOR: Looang Boo Sim Buddhacaro
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                     Amphoe Chiang Dao
                     Changwat Chiang Mai, Thailand
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