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Ceramah ini membahas inti ajaran Buddha tentang penderitaan (dukkha) dan jalan mengakhirinya, dengan penekanan pada praktik melepaskan (letting go) sebagai kunci menuju kebangkitan. Pembicara memulai dengan mengenang Robert Thurman dan perkembangan Buddhisme di Barat, lalu menegaskan bahwa ajaran Buddha bukanlah filsafat melainkan latihan langsung untuk memahami dukkha dan akhirnya. Ia menjelaskan bahwa samadhi sejati adalah konsentrasi dengan pelepasan sebagai objek, bukan sekadar memusatkan pikiran, melainkan melepas ke dalam kualitas Dhamma yang telah dilatih. Praktik yang benar adalah mempraktikkan Dhamma sesuai Dhamma, bukan berdasarkan preferensi pribadi, dengan membangun fondasi kebajikan, kemurahan hati, dan kebijaksanaan sebagai 'kolam' untuk melepas. Pembicara juga menguraikan nuansa melepas yang mencakup aspek konvensional dan transenden, yang harus dilakukan dengan kebijaksanaan. Ia menjelaskan berbagai lapisan keterasingan yang mendukung praktik, mulai dari keterasingan fisik hingga keterasingan batin dari kekotoran dan pembentukan identitas. Pada akhirnya, ia menggambarkan bahwa seorang yang tercerahkan dikatakan 'jauh dari kekotoran' bukan karena menghindar, melainkan karena berdiam dalam kualitas mengetahui yang secara alami terpisah dari kekotoran, seperti daun teratai di atas air. Pesan utamanya adalah bahwa melepaskan bukan sekadar membuang, melainkan melepas ke dalam kedalaman Dhamma yang telah dilatih, dan melalui praktik yang benar, kita dapat mencapai kebebasan sejati dari penderitaan.
Okay, so it's Saturday evening, and I've been away for a couple weeks.
I just came back a few days ago, still feeling really tired and dull, actually.
I don't know what it is.
I've picked up something and shaken it, but it's what it is.
And it's certainly nice to see so many people out on a Saturday evening, come to listen
to Dhamma.
And one of the things that I meant to do this evening for evening puja and slipped up on
that was the dedication for Robert Thurman for the chanting.
But I think it's...
I just found out today that he passed away a few days ago, and he was a pioneer of Buddhism
in coming to the West, and he had tremendous contributions as a scholar and practitioner
and speaker on Dhamma.
And he's also the...
He's the first Buddhist monk, Western Buddhist monk that was ordained with in the Tibetan
tradition, and studied under his holiness, the Dhamma.
And he always referred to himself as a terrible Buddhist monk, and did leave the road after
just a couple of years.
But he was always a proponent of, say, of...
Of the Sangha and monastic training, along with a rigorous lay training.
And so it's a loss for all of us.
I mean, he was 84, so he definitely led a good life and helped a tremendous amount of
people.
And there's that introduction of Buddhism into America.
And the way that Buddhism is introduced into America is very important.
Because it's, I'd say, when he first ordained in 1965, so those very early days of Buddhism
in America, and certainly when he ordained and came back to America, it was...
And Buddhism was a very new thing and not very well known, not very well understood.
And these days, that's not the case, really.
It's really...
Foundations have been laid.
And I'm thinking of the first time that Ajaan Samedo came back to America to visit his parents.
He'd been away for about 10 years or something.
He came back in, I think it was 1960.
1976.
And one of the things he did was visit the parents of one of the monks at Wat Nanachat.
Wat Nanachat was already established at that time.
It was in the second year, first year, second year of Wat Nanachat, that he came back to
visit family.
And then he visited...
He visited one of the monks' parents, and particularly the mother.
But Buddhism wasn't looked upon in very highly.
It was last year, Lopo Samedo was telling me the story of going to see the, particularly
the mother.
And she was telling him, kind of unburdening her perception.
Her perception.
Of her son being a Buddhist monk in Thailand.
And she was saying that she had recently met another woman, somebody who she had some familiarity
with.
And she was...
And that person, that mother was talking about her daughter, who was addicted to drugs and
prostitutes.
And she was talking about prostitution, to feed her drug habit, and all these terrible
stories, and that mother's reaction.
You think you've got problems.
Yeah.
My son's going to become a Buddhist monk.
No.
And she was serious, talking to Lopo Samedo.
No.
No.
, no, no.
No, no, no.
The acceptance of Buddhism.
And it's, you know, quite widespread.
It's hard to...
That was 50-odd years ago, over 50 years for Robert Thurman, when he first ordained.
And, you know, now it's, you know, very much an acceptance.
a part of the fabric of American society and culture,
that Buddhism has a presence.
It's to reflect on those aspects of,
we owe a lot to the people who came before us
and taken the lead to study and practice and train.
And because the teachings of the Buddha
are quite, I mean, they're vast,
especially, I mean, just the different traditions
of Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana,
can end up being very, very complex
and very, you know, complicated even.
And of course, it's easy to overlook
that they,
you know, the whole purpose of the Buddha's teaching
is one simple thing,
that the Buddha kept reminding his own students of
and it comes up over and over and over again.
In the suttas, I teach only two things,
suffering and the ending of suffering.
That's the whole point of it.
How to dukkha and the ending of dukkha.
Of the aspects of permutations of that word dukkha,
of, you know, whether suffering or stress
or discontent, dissatisfaction, dis-ease,
and how to pay attention to that,
how to, but then also how to free the heart
from that quality of dukkha
and to be able to do it in a very direct way.
And you're not going to think,
you're not going to think your way out of it.
And this is not an exercise in logic or philosophy.
It's an exercise in training.
And it's the foundation of the Buddha's teaching.
And this is, it is a training.
It is a, it is a,
it's a way of educating oneself
within the human condition
and learning, being willing to learn
how to free the heart.
And how to, how do I let go of this dukkha?
And there's a sutta,
there's a series of suttas actually,
but it's the Buddha pointing to the,
it's in teachings on the five spiritual faculties
of faith.
Effort, mindfulness, concentration,
samadhi, and wisdom.
And the Buddha's saying, you know,
what is concentration?
What is samadhi?
And because it, again,
this training of the mind is,
is, is so important.
So how do we, what is this concentration?
What is this samadhi?
What is this meditation?
And the Buddha said, you know,
it's this,
it's this,
when one, let's say,
relies on one-pointedness of mind
or unification of mind
with release as its object,
with release,
with relinquishment as the object.
And the Pali word is vosanga.
And vosanga is release, relinquishment,
giving up, letting go.
So just with letting go,
letting go as the object.
And because oftentimes we,
we approach our spiritual practice with the,
I gotta, I gotta get peace.
I gotta get more knowledge.
I gotta get more wisdom.
I gotta get more, more virtue.
I gotta be a better person.
I gotta be, and, and as we gain,
you know, we've set up projects for ourselves
to get more, gain more, be more.
And the Buddha said,
you know, take, release, relinquishment,
letting go as the object.
And of course, it's a,
wisdom is also a part of the spiritual faculties.
And so that there's this, you know,
you've got to pay attention to what you,
what you let go of.
What are you, what are you letting go into?
What are you letting go of?
What are you letting go into?
Because to, to let go,
you actually have to let go into something.
Like when you, you know,
if you're at a swimming pool
and you, you sort of jump
and to dive into the pool,
you've got to make sure
that there's some water there.
And that's, makes a big difference.
So that, that, so that,
it's not just, oh, just let go.
But because that, that you,
you're, what you're letting go into
is letting go,
into the qualities of Dhamma
that one has, of truth
that one has laid the foundation with.
So that let it go
into this pool of, of virtue,
a pool of integrity,
a pool of, of steadiness of, of mind,
a pool of generosity and giving
that one has cultivated.
Or a pool,
a pool of discernment and wisdom,
a pool of love and kindness
and compassion, right?
So those, those,
that has to be paid attention to.
It has to be the foundation.
And it's, it,
so that letting go is,
is not just this,
oh, I got to get rid of everything.
I got to deal with it.
I got to, I got to,
just, if I just go and practice by myself
and don't have to deal with anybody,
then I'm going to,
I'm going to let go
and be free.
I'm going to be wise and peaceful.
Yeah, you, you,
oftentimes what happens,
you, you let go
and become more confused
and agitated.
It's just this,
it is,
there's, there's one of the qualities
of a stream enterer.
There's a,
it's actually,
there's a sutta by Sari Bhutto
where he points to the different qualities
of the stream enterer
and have four qualities.
And the last one is
that one,
that one,
that one practices Dhamma
in accordance with Dhamma.
Dhamma or Dhammapatibhata.
So this practicing Dhamma
in accordance with Dhamma,
it's also so that you're practicing Dhamma
with the spirit of Dhamma behind it.
You don't practice according
to your own views and opinions.
You don't practice according
to your preferences.
You don't practice according
to your defilements.
You don't practice according
to the world's defilements.
You practice,
according to the principles of Dhamma.
It's also in, say, the structure of the language of the words.
You practice with the little Dhammas fitting into the bigger Dhammas.
You lay those foundations.
Lay those foundations of skillfulness
and that which is brightening to the mind.
And then you're releasing into that which is bright
and peaceful.
It's this, yeah, the results are really apparent as you do that.
So just the sense of letting go.
Because it is, certainly when I was a young monk,
and that was, you know, a buzzword.
All you need to do is let go.
And then Chen Chai himself said,
yeah, there's only two things you need to do.
Know and let go.
Which is really true,
but it's also, there's a bit more nuance to it.
And you have to sort of pay attention to those nuances
and what that really means as you unpack it
and work with it.
So that letting go is,
you know, it's an opportunity for the mind
to really experience,
a sense of stillness and steadiness and release.
And we continue to let go into that release.
And this is where, you know,
the, like Chen Chai,
one of the things he would oftentimes talk about
is that, you know, there's this,
the interplay of conventional and the transcendent.
These work together.
The conventional,
conventional truths and the transcendent,
they work together, they function together.
So is that on a conventional level?
Yeah, do good, refrain from evil,
purify the mind.
But the transcendent is not lost in that.
Or, say, a dual and non-dual, these things.
They're not separate.
They work together, they function together.
The conditioned and the unconditioned,
they rely on each other.
And again, that releasing into the stillness
or releasing into the transcendent
or releasing into the,
with that foundation of the conventional aspects
of practice and life.
So it's just exploring that as we practice
and just,
it needs to be a foundation of our practice.
As we, you know, one of the bases of the practice
or the training, you know, is a sense of seclusion.
And of course, you know, coming to a monastery,
a forest monastery, it's very conscious,
pulling back into a place of seclusion.
And solitude, a natural environment.
And it's very helpful, it's very supportive.
But then that seclusion is also, we've got to,
it's a tool that we use to build
on the different kind of layers of seclusion.
So that the, you know, just the seclusion
of the stepping out of, stepping back from,
releasing the mind from the five hindrances,
sense desire, sensual desire,
ill will, sleepiness, drowsiness,
restlessness, worry, doubt.
These are things that we, you know, you really,
you let go of, you relinquish, you let,
and as we relinquish that, the mind becomes more steady,
becomes more still and experiences,
an inner seclusion, an inner steadiness,
an inner stability that comes with a, you know, clarity.
A relinquish, I mean, and you know,
this path is a path of, you know,
of relinquishing and letting go, letting go of,
and as one does let go, then one experiences
this quality of seclusion, not in the sense of pushing
anything away.
But in, in the sense of settling and becoming more steady
or still within oneself or relinquishing of those stains
of the, of the heart, relinquishing of the kind of
constant chatter within the mind, sort of that constant,
inner dialogue, the constant chatter and being able to,
relinquish.
You don't just relinquish and let go.
It's a relinquishing of, you know, in, in Pali,
we talk kiwi chara and that's sort of the,
the initial thought processes, the,
the sustained thought processes, see?
And a directed thought and evaluation.
We have to use it.
We have to, but you,
you have to learn how to be skillful with that
because that's how you develop discernment and clarity.
but then you also have to learn how to be secluded
from the chatter, incessant chatter of the mind
because so much of it is just that,
we're nattering away at ourselves
and constant comment.
And then that takes us to another level of seclusion,
of just the seclusion from the building blocks
of our sense of self, the sense of me,
the sense of mind.
In Pali, it's upadi, upandi vireka,
the seclusion from the,
literally it's translated as acquisitions,
but what we're acquiring is the things
we build our identity with,
the form, this body,
the feeling, perception,
mental formations, consciousness,
these five aggregates of being,
the different elements of body and mind,
we keep identifying with them,
we keep propping them up,
we keep feeding them,
and you realize, well, that can be let go of.
But again, letting go is not a pushing away
or running away or trying to annihilate them
in some way.
It's just seeing, it's the way it is.
So, they arise, they cease,
they come into being, they pass away.
And there's nothing of any real enduring essence there.
And so, why get entangled?
Why get caught up?
Why create problems and suffering?
This relinquishment is so much more peaceful,
so much more steady.
And so, that letting go.
And it's one of the main ways that the,
especially in the commentarial tradition,
how the arhant, the awakened being,
is defined, is defined as one who is far from defilement,
which is interesting terminology.
It's one who is far from defilement.
And being far from defilement,
doesn't mean that you're having to run away
so that you'll be far,
or you have to push it away so that you're far away.
It's just that the distance is the internal distance
of just being with the knowing,
just being with the quality of awareness and discernment
and recognizing that certainly the Lumpa Chan,
the Thai forest tradition,
this emphasis over and over and over again,
just return to the knowing and stay with the knowing,
be with the knowing.
And as one is, you know, takes one's refuge there,
releases into that knowing,
then, yeah, there is one who is far from defilement.
It's just, it's like the classical image
of the lotus leaf in the water,
and then, yeah, they're right there together,
but they're separate.
Or the classical image, oil and water,
you know, okay, they're there together,
but they don't mix.
And so that this quality of knowing
is capable of being far from defilement.
And it's not because it's pushing away or running away
or struggling in some way, it's just, it's nature.
And so that, again, that with release as the object,
keep turning to that quality.
The nature of that quality of knowing is already release.
So that to be able to turn one's attention in that way,
it's a training.
It's an opportunity that we all have.
And so that, yeah, all of the practice is a support
and a foundation.
It's a foundation for that, as well as an expression.
It's just, you know, we don't keep the precepts
because we're worried about getting punished,
but sometimes we keep the precepts
because it makes the heart bright,
and just because it feels good.
And it feels the same as, you know,
why do we keep sitting and watching our breath?
It's because it leads us to a place of well-being.
It's a place of well-being and clarity, stillness.
So that this is just to keep exploring those scenes,
but also themes, but, you know, keeping it simple.
Be with the knowing.
Make release, make relinquishment, letting go the object.
So offer that for reflection this evening.