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Ceramah ini membahas hakikat mindfulness (sati) dalam ajaran Buddha, dimulai dengan definisi dari sutta yang menekankan peran ingatan dan kesadaran (sampajañña) yang bekerja bersama. Pembicara mengaitkan mindfulness dengan pandangan benar dan niat benar sebagai fondasi, serta memperkenalkan konsep 'kindfulness' dari Ajahn Brahm. Setelah meditasi terpandu yang berfokus pada pernapasan dan pemindaian tubuh dengan sikap melepaskan, sesi tanya jawab membahas berbagai isu praktis dan filosofis. Pertanyaan tentang pikiran gelisah dijawab dengan saran untuk menenangkan pikiran secara bertahap melalui meditasi berjalan atau aktivitas sederhana. Mengenai ingatan dan anatta, dijelaskan bahwa ingatan dalam mindfulness adalah ingatan akan instruksi Dhamma, bukan ingatan pribadi yang memperkuat rasa diri. Terkait kontrol pikiran dan anatta, pembicara menekankan pentingnya tindakan terampil (kusala) dan keseimbangan antara usaha dan pelepasan. Metode meditasi guru dijelaskan menggunakan anapanasati dengan meditasi pendahuluan seperti buddhanussati, metta, dan asubha, serta pengaruh tradisi Mahasi. Pesan utama ceramah ini adalah bahwa mindfulness sejati tidak hanya sekadar perhatian, tetapi melibatkan kebijaksanaan dan pandangan benar, serta praktik yang seimbang antara usaha dan pemahaman anatta.
This is what should be done by one who is skilled in goodness and who knows the path of peace.
Let them be able and upright, straightforward and gentle in speech, humble and not conceited, contented and easily satisfied, unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm and wise and skillful, not proud and demanding in nature. Let them not do the slightest thing that the wise would later reprove.
Wishing in gladness and in safety, may all beings be happy, wherever living beings there may be.
Whether they are happy or not, let them be happy.
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none, the great or the mighty, medium, short or small, those seen, the seen and the unseen, those living near and far away, those born and to be born, may all beings be happy.
Let none deceive another or despise any being.
In any state, let none through anger or ill will wish harm upon another, even as a mother protects with her life her child, her only child.
So with a boundless heart, should one cherish all living beings, radiating kindness over the entire world.
Spread.
Shining.
Upwards to the skies and downwards to the depths!
Outwards and unbounded, freed from hatred and ill will.
Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down, free from drowsiness, one should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
Why not hold until the end of life?
hold into fixed views the pure hearted one having clarity of vision being freed from all sense
desires is not born again into this world okay so i think um now i have about like a half an hour
to give a short dhamma talk so um so yeah just to sort of warm up to the subject so i was i was
i just had a tv tajam brahm uh this this this evening and asked i asked about the armadale
group you know how long uh he has been teaching and you know the subsequently the sangha the
bodhinyana sangha uh i was teaching the armadale group he said about 40 years so
uh uh so i'm i'm i'm based uh in sri lanka um but um when i listen to ajahn's talks
um i hear about you know even on then about you know this this this name come up uh uh once in a
while so i i heard about it uh earlier on um so uh he also uh expressed his appreciation as a you
know as a a very good uh uh a group uh
practitioner uh from early on uh supporting uh the bodhiana monastery and the sangha so uh
i just wanted to sort of start my little uh dhamma talk with that uh sense of appreciation
so um today i was thinking okay what should i talk about and
um this this topic of uh sati uh the mindfulness uh came up um i've been uh thinking about
it lately and uh even giving some of them to dharma talks here in perth i was invited uh to
do some teachings and so i wanted to talk about the sathic uh the mindfulness so what is
mindfulness now uh when we you know that the party term uh behind it is sati usually uh those who you
who know Pali now in different contexts you see there is a little bit of a
subtle different subtle nuances you know this term takes in the suttas in general
we translate it as mindfulness right now it is a good translation then we should
ask ourselves what is it what is this thing called mindfulness you know what
is it to be like being mindful what does it mean now on top of our head they
could think of or we could sort of relate to our you know by looking at our
own practice we could say that being mindful is that you're being aware of
what's happening what's happening in front of you this you know in you know
around you
and so forth and the term sati you know in a general sense even in the pali you see
that is the the usual sort of a sense you get but there are a few places lord buddha
uh precisely defines uh the term sati uh so if i if i quote uh from a sutta please excuse me
with my pali here i'm going to recite the pali first so generally it is defined as like this
so sati means that sati maho
so that is sort of a definition so if i translate it it means basically one is mindful
uh and very sort of mindful so they you know
you know he's uh he or she is sort of practicing mindfulness then the important uh the most
important uh sentence comes
so
whatever like you spoken uh you you were told or you you heard basically
you know it was told for you know ages ago like for for a long time ago but you remember
you know you remember what was told um you know time ago and you can remember the sarita
and anusarita you can thoroughly remember it so basically if i summarize this definition it means
that being mindfulness is that you should be able to remember what you have done what you you know
that you have spoken or what you were told uh you know as you know by a teacher or someone
so in this case like particularly in the in the dhamma context as a practitioner so this is like if i
boil down it further it is like it's about memory remembering something but yet the sati is
translated as mindfulness you know being mindfulness and how should we understand this
sort of you know this disparity now if we look at this other uh suttas um this the this topic of
sati you know comes in you know in other suttas
uh and
and there it's not just the term sati but it is it goes with the sati and the sampajanya
i am sure you've heard of heard about this term so the so when lord buddha talks about
the sati and the sampajanya then you see that there is more to this mindfulness
than being aware of your surroundings or what in front of you so then
um if you look at um what the sati and the sampajanya means now the sampajanya
it it appears in the sub-mahasattva sutta as well
like you know you you know you so you stretch a limb uh you know you then you sort of you
are aware of it you know all this sort of how the body sort of uh
basically bodily movements you are aware of those
moments the term is the sampajanya there so when this this this full term of satisampajanya is used
then you see the sampajanya is the awareness part of this mindfulness
which is like more obvious to us we are trying to be aware of what's happening and then
What is the sati?
Sati is, according to this definition I've just read to you,
you are remembering something.
You are, you know, there are these two-fold, you know, actions happening
while you are sort of practicing sati.
You are aware of your surroundings
and you remember something related to that.
Ajahn Brahm would put it like remembering the instructions.
So it's basically you experience a certain thing.
It may be something, you know, happening in your mind
or some external thing.
An event happens right now, you're aware of it,
and then you know actually how to relate to that experience
by remembering someone,
remembering the instructions what the what the lord buddha um has told to you know to respond
you know how to how to respond to this this particular situation what uh what what had the
teachers told you um you know in order to deal with such a thing what are your experience you
know your prior experience how it's like let's say someone criticizes you and you know actually
it's happening you're aware of it but the anger comes then um part of the mindfulness is there
but it's not complete because if you let the anger to grow and you know the take over the mind
you know usually
people would say yeah i'm aware of the ang you know my anger is coming
anger is a problem for me uh i'm aware of it but i don't know sometimes what to do
and they try to sort of develop meta meditation then and there but you know it wouldn't work either
so then uh so now if you give in then it is like a partial sort of a sati you know
actually it is there but we are not quite sure actually how to relate to it
but maybe you remember in instruction that you try to be kind you try to understand and that
time and time again sometimes people praise you sometimes blame you you know the criticize also
happens it's part of life um it is it is a deal uh you get uh you know when you have a pair of ears
you get um you know pleasing sounds and you get like displacing sounds as well
it is it is a very normal uh thing like you know we we see adwords sometimes and then you see like
an asterisk sign you know star sign you know at the end of some statement and then says it what
is it conditions apply you know it's at the bottom in small print so you got two years but the conditions apply
you know look at this small print it says you know you know you may hear the good the praise and
blame so that's part of the deal so you try to contemplate something like that you know something
i would do sometimes it depends on how you sort of practice if you have like ready you know ready
to go meta you can sort of deploy it then and there if you have done meditation beforehand
otherwise try it you know just start in the meta then and there
sometimes like might not kind of give that boost of energy to sort of push back that anger
but if it is available early on then you can sort of apply or you can contemplate something you know
with is something you know in line with what i've just said something like that so where that that
that instruction or that that that that that course of action came it's from memory it was
from the suttas i read it's from the instructions my teachers gave to me or it may be my previous
experiences you know it's from my previous experiences if i go down so i'm getting you
know i'm facing this fork you know in front of me if i take you know down to the to the left let's
say that is towards the anger and you know actually how that ended up last time you remember that
remember the the definition of the sati is that you remember what you said what you've done
so you you know you bring back you bring back that memory okay if i go down that way okay you
know actually how that's going to end up so because of you know you are no you're not so
the idea is you're not going to go that way basically you have to let's say you're taking
to the right side so something like that so because of that the mindfulness mindfulness has
got the same power as that i'm going to be i'm going to be taught hold on to this by the way
and it's there these are the things that you can also learn or learn from um
with the help of this so if you are a young character and you're involved in a lot of
work or you you're working for a particular organization or you're working for a particular
organization and you're working for a particular organization or some organization or you're
working for a particular organization you can always identify yourself and that's that's a
very important skill it's very important to take care of it and it's important to have this patience
and this awareness of yourself and not having much control over yourself and you sometimes get
the guard watch out for burglars you know it had happened early on you know
recently in the neighborhood you need to be careful be on alert of any sort of
trespassers that was the instruction and then you know he or she went on for
whatever they you know enter and out for and then they you know then they can
they come back then realize that the time that something is actually broken
in to the house and then you know the certain things are gone missing and then
they rushed back to the security guard you know had to get the gates didn't you
know actually didn't you see that you know the people have sort of you know
broken in to the house and they say yes you know that the security guard says
yes
I noticed that said that the the thief went in then I you know then I noted the
thieves going in thieves going in he was going in and then I saw your sort of big
led screen TV you know that TV actually you know you know bringing out by the
thieves and the you know he the security guard contemplated the TV is going out
the TV is going out the TV is going out
so you know so so on with the money and any any anything else in the house so I
know you know actually where where I am going with this sometimes just noticing
just labeling it's not enough now the house owner asks why didn't you call
police why didn't you stop it sir all you asked I wanted me to do is just be
aware and you know to be careful so which I did so that was the answer so
sometimes it happens to us also like we are trying to you know we try to be
careful we are we are watchful but the anger or the last oh you know these
killers has come in and unhindered sometimes and then they do whatever they
do and they go
so just being aware is not enough that memory has to come you know what what
should be the instructions what what happened last time you know when this
thing happened you know what was the you know the outcome you know how this thing
ended up so then I know actually how to respond to this situation so some
pajania or the clear awareness how it is translated is that for reading
reading
the situation in front of you and the sati which is mindfulness is for you
know it is the task of it is that you know how to respond to it you read the
situation with the with the sample Janya and you you respond to it in a in
a good way so then you can say that
you know in normal eight-fold path the seventh factor is the Sama sati so we
practice sati we practice mindfulness but in order to the sati become Sama
sati which is the correct or the right mindfulness you need to have that the
correct instructions do you know bear you know you should you should you should
sort of bring them into the situation otherwise it'll be just sati which is
not kind of the sati that Lord Buddha wanted us to practice you know he wants
more he wants this sati to be driven by the Sama ditti which is the right view
now in the right view if you define it it's about
the four noble truths you know there is the suffering and there's the reason
behind it which is the the wanting or the craving of the tanha and the
solution to is that you go against that wanting that attachment that that craving
and that's the third noble truth and the fourth the noble eight-fold path
basically built around that idea of the Sama sati which is the fourth noble truth
of you know wearing away of your attachments and letting go and all
these sort of wearing away of craving so that is the the view and then and then
you see that's the right view and then you see the right intention or the
motivations the Sama Sankappa then that right view actually more you know
manifested in more sort of a day-to-day situation you know
what we experienced in day-to-day situations like Netama Sankappa...
you know the thoughts of the motivation of renunciating things you
know giving up things and avyapadasankappa which is like non ill will and avyahksansankapa
which is like non harm... basically the third noble truth is you know played out
..
more sort of a practical way now you know the view is there the background and then we start to set
our intentions our motivations around that you know three areas of letting go basically so if
you have them at the background when we are aware of something even when the sati is there and these
instructions also will come naturally you're aware of something and you know actually how
to respond according to the right view and the right intentions if the intentions and
the views are not right you can't expect the the mindfulness to be right
as well so that's why Ajahn Brahm insists on this term you know he that the term he coined
kindfulness it's no some sort of a fancy new agee term he's basically explaining in a very nice way
not just Sati you know you need to have that sense of kindness because the kindness basically covers
that sense of kindness because the kindness basically covers that sense of kindness that
this sense of letting go. You know, to be kind to someone, you are not like, you are
trying to be kind unconditionally. You are not saying, if you are kind to me, then I
will be kind to you. Or if you do like this or act like this, then I'll be kind to you.
It's not like that. Being kind means that you accept the person or the thing as it is,
as they are. And despite their imperfections, you try to be kind. So kindness means letting
go. Actually, at the background, the third noble truth is there. You're letting go of
your craving, your attachment, your wanting, you know, how the world should be, how the
world shouldn't be. You know, the shoulds or shouldn'ts, either way, it's wanting, isn't
it?
So, being kind is that you give up.
You give up bit by bit. It's, you know, at the beginning, it seems like, oh, I'm being
kind and, you know, the so-and-so is the subject of my kindness, you know, the subject to my
kindness, you know. So, sometimes we have this hesitation or, you know, all other sort
of doubts about, like, whether, you know, that so-and-so is actually worthy of our kindness
or not.
So, anything like that. But the thing is, although it appears like an external thing
that you give the kindness, but, you know, it originates in you. Actually, it is mostly
about you at the end of the day. If you are being kind, you become kind first. And then
it will be conveyed in a way, you know, other person also will notice actually you are being
kind.
So, in order to understand it more, I would like to point out this analogy from an old
commentary, you know, the classical commentaries from Venerable Buddha Goswami back in classical
period. So, he says that anger is, you know, being angry and, you know, the anger is like
a hot charcoal. Like you are trying to throw hot charcoal, like burning ember, you know,
like charcoal at someone. And the anger is like that. Now, in order to throw this charcoal
at someone, you know, you need to pick it up. So, you are the one actually get burns
first before, you know, thrown at someone.
So in the same way, if you are being kind and, you know, you are being, you know, trying
to be, you know, you know, practice metta and all.
That means actually you heal first. Then this external person will receive it. It will
be subject to your kindness. So, it's about us mostly, you know, and of course, you know,
it's not only about us, but, you know, it's a gift for the others as well. So, kindfulness,
that term actually goes very deep.
Deeper than we think it is.
So I would like to offer these, my reflection, Dhamma reflections for today's session. So
I hope it was helpful. Wishing you good luck with your practice. So thank you. Thank you
for listening.
So now, now it's time to do this.
We are going to do some meditation, right? So, half an hour?
Okay, so, I'll give you like a quick, yeah, like preparation before the meditation. So,
we, you know, before we sit for meditation, we bring this, you know, we set up our mind
mindfulness, you know, we bring these instructions to our mind, because you know, it's not just
being awareness, but you know, you're bringing this memory to your, you know, you remind
yourself of these instructions. So along with that teaching, what we do is that we tell
ourselves, we make a determination that I'm going to meditate now for half an hour. That's
the first thing we are going to tell us. And then we are, I'll be guiding throughout the
meditation. And this is not the time to think about the past and the future. You know, you
have plenty of time to think about it later. But you wanted to do this, you're logged in
to practice meditation. So now is the time to meditate.
Not
to think about the past and the future or any fantasy. So reminding of that is useful.
You know, actually what you're doing right now. So you've set up the mindfulness, establish
the mindfulness now. Now, eyes closed, find a comfortable posture, pay attention to your
posture, and attend to your body.
If there any adjustment need to be done, do it now. Having a straight back is useful.
If you are leaning against the back of the chair, sometimes you might fall into sleep.
So a little bit of a straight back, not sort of a very stiff one, just enough to, you know,
bear, bear the body instead of leaning against the chair.
Take a few deep breaths and relax. Today we are going to do some breath meditation.
But before we get into that, we are going to anchor our mindfulness in our body in general.
We are going to pay attention to our body, from top of our head to toes. We are going
to scan.
Okay.
Casually. Not a thorough kind of a scan, but casually. It's an easy task to do.
So let's start with the top of your head, face, neck, shoulder, arms, palms, fingers,
arms, shoulder, chest, back.
Tummy. Buttocks. Your legs. Feet. Toes. Feet. Legs. Buttocks. Tummy. Back. Chest. Shoulder.
Fingers. Shoulder. Neck. Face. Top of your head. So do some body scanning. Back and forth.
Be in the body. Just casually scan.
Do you feel the body? This exercise of watching body. This is good enough. This is good enough.
This is good enough. I don't want anything else. Right now, I would rather stay with
the body. This is good enough. This is good enough. This is good enough. We have been
scanning through the body amongst the sensations we felt. The sense of breathing is also there.
So gradually, let's come to the breath. Invite the breath to take the center stage of your
awareness. You may ask this question from you. Am I breathing right now? How do I feel?
How do I know? What are the indications? Let the mind find the answer. How do you know
you are breathing? Pay attention. Stay with that experience. Just stay with it. Stay with
this amazing bodily process of breathing in, breathing out. It happens all the time without
even your knowing.
Why not pay attention to that for a moment and feel what's it like? Breathing in. Breathing
out. Are you breathing? Find out. This being with the breath. This exercise of watching
the breath. This is good enough. This is good enough. This is good enough. I don't want
anything else right now.
I would rather stay with the breath. This is good enough. This is good enough. This
is good enough. Stay with the breath. Are you breathing? Before we conclude our meditation,
let's take a few more minutes to feel, to remember how the meditation went today. What
did work? What didn't work? Have a little bit of a replay so you remember when you meditate
next time.
Okay. Okay. I hope you had at least some quiet time. So do we have any questions now?
Now is the time to ask questions.
Hi, Tante. Thank you.
Hello.
Yeah. I have to say that I don't even, I can't even get past or get to mindfulness.
You know, I could spend 15 minutes thinking, not even be aware of it. So just saying I
practiced a long time, but I, I must be doing something wrong.
Right. So, yeah, sometimes, like, I don't know.
Okay.
It depends on, like, before we, you know, sit to meditation, what we, you know, had
been doing also affects actually, you know, how it's going to play out in our meditation.
So if you are being busy and, you know, doing things, then straight, straight away coming
from that, that, that busy-ness and sitting down.
Sometimes it takes a while to sort of settle. The mind actually, you know, needs some time
to settle.
So, you know, usually teachers give a simile of like, you know, slowing down, slowing down
train, like, you know, you, it's not easy to sort of slow down a train, right? Like,
you know, you had to gradually apply brakes and reduce the, the speed. Otherwise, you're
going to be rolling on the ground.
So, you know, with this, usually, you know, what would happen is that, you know, it'll
derail. You know, if you try to sort of stop it as it is.
In the same way, the mind had been working, you know, with the, you know, with its speed.
So straight away if you ask the mind to take up a subtle object, like breath, for an instance,
it won't, you know, stay on the rail.
It will kind of derail eventually because it had been moving very, very fast.
So basically it's again about how to manage that excess energy.
If you can dump that energy, so to speak, and slow down your mind.
So that's actually one of these principles, actually, we need to pay attention to.
Because of that, if you had a busy day, we sometimes don't go to a sitting meditation
straight away, but we start with a little bit of a walking meditation first.
Because you know, you are working.
Now you...
If you ask the mind to settle to a very simple object, which doesn't do, which doesn't have
that much to do, from working to no work at all, it has this huge contrast.
And the mind wouldn't settle to it.
Mind doesn't like it because you're coming from this happening sort of a situation to
like, you know, next to none, next to nothing, like happening kind of a thing.
So what you do, you find a meditation, deliberately you are doing a meditation with some, you
know, with some work to do.
Like walking meditation, you have work to do.
So as monks also we know actually, walking meditation is the foremost of the methods
to dump your energy, that excess energy.
So you need to do it.
And calm the mind.
Sometimes it might be even sweeping first.
If I'm sort of walking in the, you know, in the, you know, some walking path in the outside,
I may pick up a broom first and sweep around, you know, leaves and stuff first.
Because sweeping also a simpler form of work.
It's not kind of, you don't have to sort of think about too much, but still it gives a
little bit of work.
Because, you know, your mind loves working.
So you start with sweeping first and then after two or three minutes, okay, the sweeping
is done.
Maybe, you know, as much as you like and then, you know, keep the broom aside and then you
start to walk again, like casually, you know, nothing kind of a very serious strenuous sort
of, you know, sort of meditation or anything.
Just casually walk up and down.
Being aware.
Okay.
You know, the more you're aware of your walking, and eventually, you know, it's a, you know,
there are instructions how to do the walking meditation, then you can maybe switch to that
sort of more serious form of walking meditation eventually.
So bit by bit, you see you're slowing down, you know, you pull one lever at a time to
slow down.
And if, you know, the more we are skillful around this, this, this, this, this, this,
this energy management, so to speak, the, you know, you, you know, you'll be, it'll be
more, you know, it'll be, how to put it, you might get like good results, rather than sitting
with a lot of energy, but, you know, the mind wouldn't settle anyway.
It happens.
I mean, even as monks, you know, we work sometimes, you know, then, you know, it's, you know,
before we go to a retreat situation, that's what definitely, you know, we do, we sort
of bring down, bring down that energy first.
Oh, and I just did walking meditation, because it's 7am here, but, you know, I wake up and
I'm like, okay, what am I going to do?
And I, my mind starts going, so, and I always feel like I'm cheating with walking meditation,
like the serious meditation is the sitting, but I like walking meditation.
I like it.
It's good for you.
So sometimes, like, like teachers, like Ajahn Chah, sometimes it's like, oh, yeah, if the
mind is bothering you, walk one hour, or two hour, or three hour, or even four hours, like
something like that.
So sometimes just to kind of get the, get the mind sort of slow down, sometimes it takes
up even that.
And it is not unusual to do like such a long sort of stretches of, you know, walking meditation
as well.
I'm not asking you to do it like, like that, but I mean, that it might kind of help.
Yeah.
Oh, great.
Thank you.
This is great.
My question is about sati in the definition relating to remembering.
So with that, how do we then, when we're trying to focus or practice and understand or realize
anata and sort of this idea of not this fixed self, but then when you sort of collect all
these memories, it really, I feel like for me, at least, it feels more of this story
of myself and then I have these preferences and I did this and this person did that to
me.
So then I find it more hard to just be in the present and then maybe see somebody and
just see them again, new, because I bring with me all these sort of memories.
So how do we balance that?
Those two sort of concepts?
Right.
That's a good question.
So when I said memories, it's not ordinary memories, you know, it's, it's a context,
you know, it is within this context of practicing of sati or your spiritual development.
It's not like our ordinary sort of memories per se, but you know, it, it comes with that
too.
Let's say now, you know, when you're meditating.
Bringing that memory, you know, bringing certain memories doesn't mean that you're
thinking about your past or, you know, things like that.
Let's say you are, you know, trying to pay attention to your breath and you, you know,
if the meditation goes well, fine, you know, you can stay with it without trouble.
But then, you know, in the next sitting, sometimes the mind is not that calm.
The mind wants to, you know, think of something else, you know, things like that.
Then you need to memorize or you need to, you know, remind the mind, remind ourselves
that now it's the time to meditate, you know, I can think these things later on, you know,
look, mind.
You know.
You know, I, you know, we want to meditate, right?
So that's why I came to this retreat or this session.
I want to do it.
So that is what I'm going to do it.
That's what I'm going to do.
So you remind these things, you know, these instructions.
It's not like, like very really ordinary, something not related to your practice.
That kind of a memorization.
That's actually doesn't help.
It'll kind of distract you.
Let's say in a more kind of a, in a daily, you know, like a day to day situation, outside
the formal practice, you start, you know, you know, having, you know, you're talking
to someone, someone, you know, very well, but the certain topic might come up and then,
you know, you know, actually.
Yeah.
If this thing come up, actually, how did, you know, it, you know, ended up last time
or something, you know, that, that memory will remind, you know, remind you to be careful
not to trigger, trigger ourselves or trigger someone else or something like that.
Simple things like that.
So basically memory is that, like, you know, like after we do a project or something, you
know, what they say, okay, you, we try to.
Summarize what are the lessons learned from, from that project.
So we don't need to repeat the same mistakes again and again.
So it is something like that.
It's not just, you know, you know, you know, something, you know, you know, so-and-so said
this to me or things like that.
Otherwise, as you said, that sort of thing actually will, it won't kind of be helpful
for you.
Yeah.
So I think, so that, that I needed to clarify that part.
I think after I, you know, I think that I answered your question, but what do you think?
Have I answered your question?
Yes, Venerable.
For me, I sort of realized, because as you were saying, Ajahn Brahm says that, like,
remembering the instructions.
So I realized for me, ultimately, the Sati is more like remembering and linking back
to the Dhamma.
That's the truth in the Buddha's teachings.
Yes.
That's how you can isolate what is relevant versus what's not.
Yes, exactly.
Now, there's this one sutta, when Vasariputta was asked, you know, these are, there are
like series of questions and it's, you know, it comes to the, this topic of the sensory
strain.
And when Vasariputta was asked, okay, what are the, what is the, the cause for the sensory
strain?
And when Vasariputta says, it is the, the mindfulness.
And then he is asked again, what is the cause for the mindfulness?
And the answer is the yoniso manasikara, which is, what's the technical term for it?
I mean, the translation of it.
You think in line with the Dhamma, if I translate it like that.
You try...
Wise attention, I think.
Wise attention, exactly.
That's what I was looking for.
Basically, yoniso manasikara means you, you try to bring, you know, your, you know, you
try to think in, in line with the Dhamma, that like, you know, you wisely attend to
these things.
So wise attention, you know, this sort of contemplation actually leads to sati.
So.
When I...
mentioned about this memorization, like, you know, like, you know, bringing out this
sort of this, you know, something related to Dhamma in line with the Dhamma or the instructions.
So it can be something we learned from a sutta or from a teacher or something, you know,
some experience we had early on, actually how it went last time, you know, things like
that.
Or, you know, something we have already contemplated, you know, these things are the memories actually
come into that process, actually, you know, once it is injected, we are empowered with
this, with Dhamma.
So we can, you know, relate to it more very, very sort of helpful way.
I think the idea is clear, right?
Any more questions?
Any more questions?
Any more questions?
No questions.
Okay.
So maybe...
Right.
I need to unmute.
It's not a question.
It's just an observation of mine, I think.
So what we're doing is when we come to sit, to do our sitting, we bring our experience
and if I can call it wisdom with us.
Yes.
I mean...
It's just the thoughts that come in when people say, oh this happened, what am I going
to do about it, that's going to happen.
So that's the past, that's the future.
So your wisdom will tell you, now is not the time for the past or the future.
As long as you acknowledge that and you realize that's the past, that's the future, I find
it's easier to put them down.
Yes.
If it's been organized.
But sometimes it...
I do go into...
I mean...
into dreamland, and then you suddenly realize, all right, I can combine that.
That's true, yes, yeah, well said. In Saipho's tradition, the Satisampejanya,
instead of calling it Satisampejanya, you hear these two terms like Satipanya,
and you bring this awareness plus the wisdom to it. So it's kind of a more kind of very
simplified version of this idea. It's not just the awareness, but the wisdom has to
be at the background. So it is a nice way to put it. Ajahn Chah would call it like Satipanya,
Satipanya, you see in his teachings sometimes. Yes?
I see.
I'm just being a bit of a devil's advocate here, but I think the whole notion of the practice of
meditation and how we go about it, there is this thing of us trying to control the mind, which is
so contrary to the fact that there is no mind that's mine that can be controlled. There is just
this process of controlling the mind.
There is this process going on, and we are kind of, obviously, we are trying to introduce
some training to slow the whole process down. But when we approach it, it's as if we are
creating the, enhancing the sense of self that can have some control, some agency.
Yeah, this feels a bit contradictory sometimes.
Yes, that's true. Now, the term we read,
you know, the idea needs to be understood correctly. If you, like, if you try to sort of
control the mind, you know, try to stop thoughts, I mean, I don't know whether it is possible
at all, but you know, we use this, we have this energy of trying to change something,
but as you said, you know, it will increase the sense of self. And sometimes, I think,
actually, it doesn't even help in certain situations. But there are causes and conditions,
actually, we can set forth. The foremost is that, a word of another, right? You know,
and according to the suttas, you start, you know, you listen to some dhamma, and then you start to
feel, oh, that is cool. You know, that is something, you know, very sensible thing. And then you start,
you know, the mind, your mind start to lean towards that. So, then, you know, Lord Buddha
talks about the kusala and the akusala. And, you know, if the mind goes to the akusala
territory, knowing that, you know, it is akusala and doing something about it is also a part
of the practice. You know, if you use sushis, you see that in the sutta.
But, thinking that you are owning all these things,
you are actually, basically the agent of this process, maybe not the correct way or
way to sort of relate to this process. The anatta is at the background always. But there
is this sense of, you know, you are doing a certain, you know, you are, you are, you are
taking this thing to account, right? And, you know, that is something that, you know, you try
an action, there is a sense of virya there. Now, when it came to this idea of kamma, back
in the days, even before Lord Buddha, there were teachers actually who preached kamma,
and when he was asked about his take on the kamma, he would say, I am aham kamma vadhi,
I preach kamma, I believe in kamma, but also, I am kiriye vadhi aham virya vadhi, he says.
Because mostly the teachers back in the days, they'd preach kamma and they'd ask,
and that means you know there are so many karma you have done you know these things going to
unfold we are you know you are not in control in these things you know when you sort of think about
that that karma things the vipaka and stuff so there's nothing much you can do you know there's
such as such a sense every you know amongst that people who believed in the karma but lord buddha
says uh yes you know i believe in karma but but i believe in action as well so because of uh doing
uh good things uh you know like you start with dana you know you keep sealer and you practice
meditation like ajan ram would put you know you take yourself to the onto the question and then
you know you can remind yourself actually
what you're going to do you know you're going to meditate and stuff and then you
try to sort of let go and you know you know
just observe the process actually where it takes you you to rather than trying to control it so
doing that you know being in that positive side of the kusala
is something we need to be done you know it is something we should do
you know it is preached it is in this utah it's not like totally inaction kind of a thing
then the totally inaction thing basically it's also a slippery slope and you know it's it's as
if like we are getting ahead of ourselves kind of a situation it's like yeah you
know there's the anatta at the background but right now it's a theoretical knowledge for us
we uh you know we are not really convinced about the way we are talking about the divine penance but why it is a practical knowledge just because of the buying of knowledge to the divine wisdom is not in a situation like this just like an anatha in the background that's you'll need to sit there directly last night to study and learn from them. you know it's god'sicken that you gonna go pass on the ant Direction or Anatha at the background but right now it's a theoretical knowledge for us we uh you know we are not
about the anatta yet. If we are convinced, that means we have a magapala. If we don't
have a magapala, that means that, okay, you know, we have this sense of self, but we,
okay, we at least have an idea, look, that is not the way forward. It's kind of asking
for trouble. So, until that, you know, we operate in that sort of a realm of conventions.
And after that, you know, these things actually will culminate and take you away from that
conventional world. Until that point, we need to be, you know, in that conventional reality
and all this, you know, this teaching that actually Lord Buddha talks about.
So, that's how I would put, you know, how I try to sort of negotiate with this action
and, you know, the anatta, you know, the balance of it. That's why, you know, he talks about
giving dana and, you know, keeping the seal and all these things. And, you know, it's
kind of a gradually, because on the other hand, understanding these principles, you
need to have that samadhi, that calmness.
Okay.
That calmness in your mind. So, in order to be calm and all these things, the mind need
to be purified.
Okay.
It is not something we, like, you know, something we can do, like, okay, I'm going to purify
like that, right. So, we take up these classic practices like, you know, giving dana and
helping out people out and all these things we do. Actually, that, after a while, you
start to see, actually, it is working. And it, you know, it, it takes time. And that,
it actually wears away certain stuff from your mind.
And bit by bit, it is easy for you to do,
so sit with your meditation object and things like that,
which will eventually, the hindrances are gone,
then you see the things as they are.
So this is a process.
You are sort of conditioned by your teachers
and the Lord Buddha.
And there is this very aspect to it,
but eventually, as you said, it's a process.
So it's both doing and non-doing kind of a thing.
I think this non-doing, doing thing actually is spoken
in Zen Buddhism as well, which is in great detail.
But you know, yeah, so it has to be balanced.
You know, yeah, it's a, yeah, it's a Dhamma talk itself,
I guess, so.
I don't know if you could say anything in a few minutes
about the teach meditation.
How did he guide, did he use the guiding in meditation?
How did he teach?
So he, he's,
his meditation, predominantly, what he did is Anapanasati.
So when you take a Kammatana from him, instructions from him.
First he would ask you to do a little bit of Buddhanasati
or Metta or Asubha, something like that as like
a preliminary sort of meditation.
Like this Chaturarakaya, traditionally, here.
And then if you are, sort of, a student, like a student,
comfortable enough with that meditation then you are given the anapanasati and then eventually he
talks about the vipassana vipassana in the sense that more you know it's more like what you see
in the Visuddhimagga and this mahasivya vipassana meditation sort of dynamic actually what he was
what he you know what he actually the way he meditated you know according to those lineages
and so he himself practiced asubha a little bit of a skull nimitta you know as a one special sort
of a meditation object called the skull as the
as a nimitta and then eventually this the vipassana instructions you know you're when
you you see given in this Mahasi and we saw we said the Magadha in a classical sense which is
of course not Ajahn Brahm's like you know perspective in the vipassana yeah so that's
basically what he does what he did yes
right right any more questions time to conclude any more questions all right so yep thank you for
being here today so it's nice actually you know practitioners come together and practice like
this I'm glad that you know this armadale group is still sort of going on with the international
crowd as well I don't know if you have any other questions that you would like to share with us
no longer like the local armadale group so thank you very much for joining from overseas and you
know it's always nice to see a group of practitioners actually coming together and
listening to dhamma and meditation so I wish you all the best with your practice
that is the most sensible thing we can do as we understand
so I wish you all the best with your practice and may you realize nibbana soon
I'll give you a blessing
subbhi ti o vivajjan tu sabh rogo vinasvatum ate bhavatvānta rāyo sukhi dhīgāhyukō bhava
bhavatu sabba mangalaṁ rakkhāntu sabba devatā
sabba buddhāna bhāvena sabba dhammanu bhāvena
sabba saṅgāna bhāvena sadasottī bhavanti te
abhivāda na sīliṣa nityaṁ uddhāpa cāinu chattāro dhammāvardhanti nitaḥ
May you be happy and well, may you be peaceful and realize Nibbāna in this very life.
Sādhu, sādhu, sādhu.
Thank you, good night all.
Good night, good night.