July 25, 2546 B.E.
Making Clear the Path and Fruit of Nibbana
Today is the 12 day of this Rains-Retreat which is the season for attaining the Dhamma where the monks can see the Dhammakaya, the novice monks can see the Dhammakaya, and the lay devotees can see the Dhammakaya. Therefore, everyone must endeavor to practice meditation.Everyone must continue to train his mind to be still and quiet and in time, he will meet with success. Every person has inside himself the Buddha Gem, the Dhamma Gem and the Sangha Gem. These Three Gems are humanity's true refuge.
All you have to do is to keep your mind still and quiet at the seventh base in the center of your body. This position can be found inside you in the middle of your abdomen two fingers' width above your navel. Just practice keeping your mind still and quiet at this position. There is absolutely nothing else that you have to do. Do not think. Do not speak. Do absolutely nothing. Keep your mind empty and soon enough it will become still and quiet. And when your mind has come to a standstill in just the right way, you will be able to see inner images.
Everyone is here on earth to make clear the Path and Fruit of Nibbana and to pursue Perfections. This needs to be reiterated daily for the benefit of the new members. Even older members who have often heard this truthful statement must continue to bear it in mind.To make clear the Path and Fruit of Nibbana implies that Nibbana is inside us. However, it is concealed by darkness such that one cannot see it and does not know what it is like. One may feel that one does not really want to go to Nibbana, fearing that it will not be as much fun. The truth is all that one thinks of as being fun is of no real use at all to one's life. It gives one only momentary pleasure and before one knows it, one's time on earth is already up.
When one dies, that is when real trouble begins. Life is not as simple as one likes to think. There are a myriad of highly complex matters about life in the hereafter which one has no knowledge of. Such knowledge is lacking on earth and so human beings continue to make many mistakes in life. This is highly dangerous. Therefore, making clear the Path and Fruit of Nibbana is the only way that one will be able to obtain true and everlasting happiness.Nibbana is inside each person. But it is hidden by darkness despite the fact that it is incomparably glorious and bright. This situation is akin to dark clouds hiding the sun. The sun is there, but one cannot see it until the clouds have moved on.
The darkness in one's mind is hiding the Path and Fruit of Nibbana. One must endeavor to remove the darkness in one's mind and the only way to achieve this is to keep one's mind still and quiet. One must bring one's mind which is constantly running here and there to a standstill. And in time, the darkness in one's mind will gradually disappear. And then one will be able to see the Path leading towards Nibbana. Now that you know the Path and Fruit of Nibbana is inside you, it remains for you to endeavor to find it.
Every Buddha says the same thing, "Nibbanan paraman vadanti": Nibbana is sublime; and "Nibbanan paraman sukhan": Nibbana is supreme happiness. It means that happiness has many levels and sizes from small happiness, moderate happiness, big happiness to supreme happiness. The happiness in Nibbana is supreme happiness. The happiness in Nibbana does not change. It is eternal. Nothing in the Three Spheres of Existence can give one supreme happiness. For as long as one is still trapped inside the round of rebirth, that is, in the Sense Sphere, the Form Sphere, and the Non-Form Sphere, one's life is still in great danger. And what happiness one experiences is fleeting and momentary.Therefore, one must make clear the Path and Fruit of Nibbana. Phya Mara Fear the Human Body. Each rebirth inside the Three Spheres of Existence lasts only for a time. And each one of us has been reborn countless times and in just about every realm of existence.
Rebirth in the Human Realm is extremely rare. Phya Mara do their utmost to prevent rebirth in the Human Realm because they fear the human body. The reason is that the human body is sturdy and it has the ability to connect with countless Dhammakaya and to work alongside them. Phya Mara fear that human beings will be able to extinguish all defilements and see the things they send to control them as well as other living beings. They fear humans discovering the truth about them.Therefore, Phya Mara try every possible way to harm the human body. If they can kill anyone, they do. If not, they try to injure a person so that he becomes physically impaired. Or they try to make one suffer problems and hardship. Or they drive one to be addicted to physical forms, sounds, smells, tastes, contacts, and mind-objects so that one will have neither the time nor the mood to keep one's mind still and quiet. If they allow one to keep one's mind still and quiet, one may see the brightness and know the Truth.
And then humans will come together as one and be in the position to retaliate and fight against them together. This is what Phya Mara fear. They not only try to harm one's body and mind but they also use the Law of Kamma to control one's body, speech, and mind. They try to make one's mind gloomy and then the program is set to pull one to be reborn in the States of Unhappiness, namely, the Hell Realm of Mahanaraka, the Hell Realm of Ussadanaraka, the Hell Realm of Yamaloka, the Peta Realm, the Asurakaya Realm and the Animal Realm.
By the time one can leave the States of Unhappiness, a very long time has already been wasted. When one is finally reborn in the Human Realm, one's life will be plagued with hardship from the moment that one was born which is now a forgotten memory. One must eat, sleep, defecate, etc. Hardship grows with one's physical growth. One must encounter hardship in school, in earning a living, in having a family, in the forms of aging and sickness. You name it! If one really thinks about it, one will find that life is filled mostly with pain and suffering. Some problems may be critical but the less serious ones, one tends to get used to them. It seems that if it is not one thing, then it is another over and over, again and again. But that's life, one says.
There seems to be only frustration or the absence of frustration. Happiness very rarely comes one's way. It is for these reasons that one must make clear the Path and Fruit of Nibbana. But if one must continue to undergo the round of rebirth, it would behoove one to understand what laws are operating in one's life. For example, the Law of the Three Characteristics states that everything on earth, be it a human being, an animal or a thing, is characterized by impermanence, the inability to remain the same, and the absence of true selfhood. Everything comes into being, exists for a time, and comes to an end. A person changes from a child to a teenager, from a teenager to a young adult, from a young adult to a middle-age adult, and from a middle-age adult to an old adult, and ultimately, one dies. Life on earth is governed by the Eight Worldly Conditions.
There is gain and there is loss; there is title and position and there is the loss of title and position; there is praise and there is blame; there is happiness and there is unhappiness. Every being is governed by the Law of Kamma. Human beings are driven by greed, anger, and delusion. They are driven to kill, steal, commit sexual misconduct, use offensive language, say nonsensical things, use divisive speech, consume alcohol and other addictive substances, engage in gambling activities, etc.
In other words, human beings are driven to commit every form of unwholesome deeds and have to pay for their ill consequences in the States of Unhappiness. Some people think that it is no fun going to Nibbana. They think that way because they have no idea what Nibbana is really like. However, if they are fortunate enough to be able to attain Nibbana, they will fall in love with it. But to attain Nibbana, one must first grow tired of life in the Three Spheres of Existence. And while one still has to undergo the round of rebirth, one must know how to live in it by abstaining from all things unwholesome, performing only wholesome deeds, and keeping one's mind clear and bright to the extent that one can continue to pursue Perfections lifetime after lifetime. And one must have the greatest aspiration which is the attainment of the Uttermost of Dhamma.
