Learning to knock on the Right Skull
– By Ven. Acariya Maha Boowa –
Part 2/2
THE BUDDHA had brought up the topic of the mind which doesn’t experience rebirth–the skull of one whose mind was purified–no matter how many times Ven. Vangisa knocked on it, he couldn’t know where the mind was reborn, even though he had been very talented before, for the place of a pure mind’s rebirth cannot be found.
The same was true in the case of Ven. Godhika: This story should serve as quite some food for thought. Ven. Godhika went to practice meditation, made progress step by step, but then regressed. They say this happened six times. After the seventh time, he took a razor to slash his throat–he was so depressed–but then came to his senses, contemplated the Dhamma, and became an arahant, at the last minute. That’s the story in brief. When he died, Mara’s hordes searched for his spirit. To put it simply, they stirred up a storm, but couldn’t tell where he had been reborn.
So the Lord Buddha said, “No matter how much you dig or search or investigate to find the spirit of our son, Godhika, who has completely finished the task, you won’t be able to find it–even if you turn the world upside down–because such a task lies beyond the scope of conventional reality.” How could they possibly find it? It’s beyond the capacity of people with defilements to know the power of an arahant’s mind.
In the realm of convention, there is no one who can trace the path of an arahant’s mind, because an arahant lies beyond convention, even though his is a mind just the same. Think about it: Even our stumbling and crawling mind, when it is continually cleansed without stop, without ceasing, without letting perseverance lag, will gradually become more and more refined until it reaches the limit of refinement. Then the refinement will disappear–because refinement is a matter of conventional reality–leaving a nature of solid gold, or solid Dhamma, just like the arahants, because our mind will have become a superlative mind, just like the minds of those who have already gained release.
All minds of this sort are the same, with no distinction between women and men, which is simply a matter of sex or convention. With the mind, there is no distinction between women and men, and thus both women and men have the same capacity in the area of Dhamma. Both are capable of attaining the various levels of Dhamma all the way to release. There are no restrictions which can be applied in this area. All that is needed is that we develop enough ability and potential, and then we can all go beyond.
FOR THIS REASON, we should all make an effort to train our hearts and minds. At the very least, we should get the mind to attain stillness and peace with any of the meditation themes which can lull it into a state of calm, giving rise to peace and well-being within it. For example, mindfulness of breathing, which is one of the primary themes in meditation circles, seems to suit the temperaments of more people than any other theme. But whatever the theme, take it as a governing principle, a refuge, a mainstay for the mind, putting it into practice within your own mind so as to attain rest and peace.
When the mind beings to settle down, we will begin to see its essential nature and worth. We will begin to see what the heart is and how it is. In other words, when the mind gathers all of its currents into a single point, as simple awareness within itself, this is what is called the ‘mind’ (citta).
The gathering in of the mind occurs on different levels, corresponding to the mind’s abilitity and to the different stages of its refinement. Even if the mind is still on a crude level, we can nevertheless know it when it gathers inwardly. When the mind beomes more and more refined, we will know its refinement–‘This mind is refined… This mind is radiant… This mind is extremely still…. This mind is something extremely amazing’–more and more, step by step, this very same mind!
In cleansing and training the mind for the sake of stillness,in investigating, probing and solving the problems of the mind with discernment (panna)–which is the way of making the mind progress, step by step, through the means already mentioned–no matter how crude the mind may be, don’t worry about it. If we get down to making the effort and persevere continually with what diligence and persistence we have, that crudeness will gradually fade away and vanish. Refinement will gradually appear through our own actions or our own striving until we are able to go beyond and gain release by slashing the defilements to bits. …
BUT WHILE WE AREN’T yet able to do so, we shouldn’t be anxious. All that is asked is that we make the mind principled so that it can be a refuge and a mainstay for itself. As for ths body. we’ve been relying on it ever since the day we were born. This is something we all can know. We’ve made it live, lie down, urinate, defecate, work, make a living. We’ve used it and it has used us. We order it around and it orders us around. For instance, we’ve made it work, and it has mde us suffer with aches here and pains there, so that we have to search for medicine to treat it. It’s the one that hurts, and it’s the one that searches for medicine. It’s the one that provides the means. And so we keep supporting each other back and forth in this way.
It’s hard to tell who is in charge, the body or us. We can order it around part of the time, but it orders us around all the time. Illnness, hunger, thirst, sleepiness. These are all nothing but a heap of suffering and stress in which the body orders us around, and orders us from every side. We can order it around only a little bit, so when the time is right for us to give orders, we should make it meditate.
So. Get to work. As long as the body is functioning normally, then no matter how much or how heavy the work, get right to it. But if the body isn’t functioning normally, if you are ill, you need to to be conscious of what it can take. As for the mind, though, keep up the effort within, unflaggingly, because it’s your essential duty.
You’ve depended on the body for a long time. Now that it’s wearing down, know that it’s wearing down–which parts still work, which parts no longer work. You’re the one in charge, and you know it full well, so make whatever compromises you should.
BUT AS FOR THE HEART, which isn’t ill along with the body, it should step up its efforts within, so that it won’t lack the benefits it should gain. Make the mind have standards and be principled–principled in its living, principled in its dying. Wherever it is born, make it have good principles and satisfactory standards. What they call ‘merit’ (punna) won’t betray your hopes or expectations. It will provide you with satisfactory circumstances at all times, in keeping with the fact that you’ve accumulated the merit–the well-being–which all the world wants and of which no one has enough. In other words, what the world wants is well-being, whatever the sort, and in particular the well-being of the mind which will arise step by step from having done things, such as meditation, which are noble and good.
This is the well-being which forms the core or an important essence within the heart. We should strive, then, while the body is still functioning, for when life comces to an end, nothing more can be done. No matter how little or how much we have accomplished, we must stop at that point. We stop our work, put it aside, and then reap its rewards–there, in the next life. Whatever we should be capable of doing, we do. If we can go beyond or gain release, that’s the end of every problem. There will be noting to involve us in any turmoil.
Here I’ve been talking about the mind because the mind is the primary issue. That which will make us fare well or badly, meet with pleasure or pain, is nothing else but the mind.
As for what they call bad kamma, it lies within the mind, which has made it. Whether or not you can remember, these seeds–which lie within the heart–can’t be prevented from bearing fruit, because they are rooted in the mind. You have to accept your kamma. Don’t find fault with it. Once it’s done, it’s done, so how can you find fault with it? The hand writes, and so the hand must erase. You have to accept it like a good sport. This is the way it is with kamma until you can gain release–which will be the end of the problem.
Source www.hundredmountain.com
