July 18, 2546 B.E.
The Buddha-Weapon and the Mara-Weapon
Today is the fifth day of this Rains-Retreat. We are doing the countdown every day because we would like this Rains-Retreat to be different from the ones that had gone before it. This is the Rains-Retreat where the monks can see the Dhammakaya, the novice monks can see the Dhammakaya and the lay devotees can see the Dhammakaya. We know how many days have gone past and how many days are left of this Rains-Retreat.
You must ask yourself whether or not you have endeavored to practice meditation to the point where you feel joyful and proud. You must remind yourself of why you are here. You need to be reminded often. Farmers need rain to fall frequently for their rice to grow. We eat frequently. We breathe frequently. Therefore, we must remind our self often the real reason for being here until it is firmly planted in our mind and nothing can ever come between us and our life-goal. It is like hitting a nail. One needs to hit it over and over again until it disappears into the wood and hold it firmly in place.
We are here to make clear the Path and Fruit of Nibbana because life in the round of rebirth is very dangerous. Rebirth as a Universal Monarch, a great king, an ordinary king, a world-class millionaire, an ordinary millionaire, a middle class person, or a low class person does not keep one from the dictate of the Law of Kamma. Good deeds beget good consequences. Evil deeds beget evil consequences. One reaps whateverone sows.
It is because all of us are under the Law of Kamma that every single deedhas its consequences. This is a highly dangerous situation. The Kilesa or defilements in one's mind drive one to commit misdeeds. Kilesa is a form of current. It is the weapon that Phya Mara use to drive humans to commit misdeeds physically, verbally, and mentally. Once a misdeed has been committed, it incurs ill consequences which will continue to plague one over and over again in the Human Realm and in the States of Unhappiness. It causes one to be reborn in the Hell Realm of Mahanaraka followed by rebirth in its satellite sites and then rebirth in the Peta Realm, the Asurakaya Realm, the Animal Realm and then back to the Human Realm. Pain and suffering follow one wherever one is reborn.
When the ill consequences of one's misdeed have not yet run their courses, one is driven to commit new misdeeds. Rebirth in the Human Realm causes amnesia in that one forgets how one had suffered in one's previous rebirths and why. One is prevented from knowing the Truth and remembering the past. One is prevented from knowing the reality of life and the purpose of life. One is kept in ignorance of the Truth.
There is only one way to discover the Truth and that is to keep one's mind still and quiet in the center of one's body. Phya Mara fear humans that can keep their mind still and quiet in the center of their body. They fear it because the still and quiet mind can lead to brightness and the attainment of the Dhammakaya. The attainment of the Dhammakaya, in turn, brings about the Dhammakaya-Eye and Supernormal Insight. And so Phya Mara make sure that human beings stay immersed in desire, desiring to be this or that, desiring to have this or that, desiring physical forms, sounds, smells, tastes, contacts and mind-objects. Desire keeps one trapped inside the round of rebirth and thwarts one's attainment of Nibbana.
Therefore, it is necessary that one makes clear the Path and Fruit ofNibbana. In other words, one must endeavor to attain Nibbana so that one can escape from the Law of Kamma, the Three Characteristics, and other laws. As long as one is still trapped inside the round of rebirth, one is still under the dictate of the Law of Kamma. This fact is something that must
be reiterated often.
The secondary goal of being here on earth is to pursue Perfections. In order to make clear the Path and Fruit of Nibbana, one must possess merit and Perfections. Merit and Perfections have the power to refine one's Dhamma elements such that one's sight, memory, thought and cognizance can be made clean and pure. Purity enables one to extinguish one's defilements.
The Merit Current is the weapon used by the Dhammakaya to quell Phya Mara and demerit. Demerit is the weapon used by Phya Mara. Therefore, there are only Dhammakaya and Phya Mara, merit and demerit, the States of Happiness and the States of Unhappiness. This is what the round of rebirth is all about.
Demerit branches out as greed, anger, and delusion together with theirflowers and fruits. Merit has to do with alms-giving, Precepts observation and meditation practice. Phya Mara have three weapons and so do the Dhammakaya. They have their refined realms of existence and so do we. Battles between the Dhammakaya and Phya Mara are waged in different realms having different levels of refinement. Such is the Truth which must be reiterated often before we can go on to other matters that are unique in themselves. But they are all about the Law of Kamma which appears to be overlooked because people are too busily earning a living, enjoying themselves, being lured by new technologies and the Causes of Ruin. These things distract them and prevent them from learning about the real Truth.
Gloominess or Clarity
The outcome of each human life is measured near the time of death. Itis measured by gloominess vs. clarity. This is a very important fact and it must be borne in mind.
Citte sankilitthe dugati patikankha
When one's mind is gloomy, not bright and clear, rebirth will take place in the States of Unhappiness.
Citte Asankilitthe sugati patikankha
When one's mind is bright and clear, not gloomy, rebirth will take place in the States of Happiness.
Simply put, one's life is measured by gloominess and clarity. It is not measured by one's economic status, one's poverty or one's wealth. One cannot say that one is a world-class billionaire; therefore, one must be reborn in the States of Happiness. Or one is poor; therefore, one must be reborn in the States of Unhappiness. One is not measured by one's beauty or ugliness. But one is measured by one's merit and demerit, by one's wholesome and unwholesome deeds.
Such knowledge had disappeared from the surface of the earth for a time after the Lord Buddha's attainment of Complete Nibbana. In recent times, it has been largely forgotten. Now, there is hi-tech this and hi-tech that until one's time on earth has been frittered away. Then one has to face either gloominess or clarity, rebirth in the States of Unhappiness or in the States of Happiness. Life in the hereafter lasts a very long time. But life in the States of Unhappiness lasts a great deal longer than life in the States of Unhappiness. Yes, it is unfair.
Merit and Demerit
Merit is earned each time a wholesome deed is performed. Merit cansend its blessings over and over again. Demerit is earned each time an unwholesome deed is performed. Demerit can send its ill consequences over and over again as well.
The States of Unhappiness: These include the Animal Realm, the PetaRealm, the Asurakaya Realm and the Hell Realm. Rebirth in these realms can assume a myriad of physical forms. Some are downright bizarre. It all depends on each entity's demerit which is made up of a mixture of greed, anger, and delusion. They work like three primary colors but mixed together in different proportions to produce a profusion of different colors. The mixing of greed, anger, and delusion in different proportions produce a myriad of beings differing in forms and sizes. In the Animal Realm alone, there are so many different kinds, shapes and sizes that it boggles the mind. This is the same with beings in the Peta Realm and the Asurakaya
Realm.
The States of Happiness: In the Celestial Realm, beings assume a myriad of physical forms as Phya Nagas, Gandhabas, Earth Sprites, Air Sylphs, Celestial Beings, Form Brahma Beings, and Non-Form Brahma Beings.
What determines an entity being reborn with a particular physical form in a particular realm is nothing but merit and demerit. The Dhammakaya and Phya Mara are both working behind the scene in that the Dhammakaya are behind the scene where merit is concerned; and Phya Mara are behind the scene where demerit is concerned. An entity's physical form is determined by its overall merit and demerit. Merit is responsible for creating the myriad physical forms of beings in the States of Happiness whereas demerit is responsible for creating the myriad physical forms of beings in the States of Unhappiness. The different Realms of Existence come into being in order to accommodate the myriad beings just as our earth came into being in order to accommodate human beings. The Hell Realm came into being in order to accommodate hell beings, etc. Celestial Beings live in the Celestial Realm and hell beings live in the Hell Realm.
The Celestial Realm has its own activities. The Hell Realm also has its own activities. The Human Realm is the junction where the States of Happiness and the States of Unhappiness meet. The Human Realm is formed by a mixture of merit and demerit.The States of Happiness are formed by merit whereas the States of Unhappiness are formed by demerit. Human beings are formed by a mixture of merit and demerit. And the vast physical and mental differences found in human beings are the result of each human's particular mixture of merit and demerit. Diversity shows up as differences in race, creed, customs, traditions, language, etc. Differences in language hinder the communication among human beings.
In each human being, there exist both merit and demerit. Just look at yourself, for example. You may have lovely eyes but an ugly nose or you may have a lovely mouth but your teeth are crooked. The merit and demerit residing in each human being give rise to diversity in human beings. Diversity, in turn, causes division. Division drives human beings apart.
Divide and rule. Division makes it easy for Phya Mara to control us and to make us ignorant of the fact that we belong together. Siblings have different beliefs. Husband and wife differ in the way they think. Even the same person can be different at different times. He thinks one thing in the morning. Late morning he thinks another thing. Noon and nighttime, he has yet a different thought. Before bedtime, he feels confused about all his different thoughts. He thinks the same thoughts over and over again until he finds it hard to fall asleep. He thinks about what to do, who to get it from, where to get it, in a cycle over and over again until morning comes.
This is what humans do.
Therefore, it is imperative that one makes clear the Path and Fruit of Nibbana. This is not an option. The Path and Fruit of Nibbana can be found inside one's self. All one has to do is to make the time and effort to learn to keep one's mind still and quiet.
Recklessness
Some persons have an easier time practicing meditation. They close their eyes and their mind comes to a standstill. This allows their accumulated merit to send its blessings and enable them to see what is already there inside them. They see the crystals spheres and the Dhammakaya arising from the center of their body one after another. And then they begin to
have doubt about their inner experiences. After all, they have always heard that the Dhamma is too profound to be attained easily. After all,many Buddhist monks have had to undertake Dhutanga by trekking in the forest. They had had to encounter very difficult and very dangerous situations before they could attain or see the Dhamma. But here they are an ordinary human being still laden with defilements and ignorance, how can it be that they can see things inside their center just by being still and quiet? They do not have to encounter anything difficult or dangerous. Perhaps they are just imagining things. They simply forget the fact that it is because they think nothing and expect nothing that they can see what they see.
If you are one of these people, you must never take any inner experiences gained for granted. But you must endeavor to keep these inner experiences. Guard them more than life itself. These inner experiences will help you to make your life complete. You will experience happiness as soon as you arrive at this point and the happiness will continue into the hereafter. You will be able to depart from this world a victor. Your last smiles will be bright and cheerful as you close your eyes and lie still like a dead tree on the forest floor. But your smiles will be bright and cheerful as you depart from this world a victor. Therefore, take great care to keep your inner experiences intact.
When it is close to the time to depart from this world, no amount of money can matter. A person possessing a huge amount of money cannot find true happiness if he does not endeavor to practice meditation earnestly. All he can experience is temporary pleasure or fleeting moments of superficial happiness the same way others possessing much less money can. But chances are that he is busily counting his money, afraid that someone may borrow it. He is afraid that people will know how wealthy he is. He is plagued by all sorts of anxiety and fear. How then can he be happy?
A person who endeavors to practice meditation earnestly possesses inner wealth that fills him with joy and delight. Therefore, whoever can attain whatever level of the Dhamma must take great care to keep it intact and to guard his inner experiences very carefully. He does this by practicing keeping his mind still, quiet, and clear as often as possible. As he
continues to see more inner images until he can see the Dhammakaya arising one after another, he is to keep his mind on each of the arising Dhammakaya. And then his mind will become increasingly refined, pure, clean, bright and clear. And the level of his happiness will also increase.
Take great care of your inner experiences. Do not be reckless by thinking that you can practice meditation whenever you want and will still be able to gain the same inner experiences. Without air, a person can die in minutes. This is the same with meditation practice. The lack of meditation practice in just a short time can kill one's inner experiences.
Make sure to complete your ten daily assignments and the result will amaze you. At the very least, you will become happier. Your mind will become purer with each passing day, each passing night, and each passing second.
