The demon called 'I' is playing games | Dhamma Siddhi Thero

මුල් සිංහල වීඩියෝව සඳහා Play කරන්න

The demon called 'I' is playing games | Dhamma Siddhi Thero

 

Monk: So, when everyone is living, they exist with some event; that is normal. If everyone is always awake, they are with some incident. If there is nothing else, they are locked onto the chirping sound they hear, and are with that. For the most part, most people don't live like that. Instead, what they do is, they let what is heard be heard, let what comes to the eye be seen, and they go to their world of memories. Having done that, since that past has enough detail, they just wander here and there, aimlessly walking around. Until they get some important work to do. Otherwise, now there is a new thing, the phone. That is also a similar thing; when you switch it on, as one thing finishes, the next one comes. As that one finishes, the next one comes. This has been made to completely capture that side of human beings. Then there are things those people search for. Things they like in this world. So, if we search for something, they keep those details and from time to time start giving us things of that nature. Because of that, they don't let us get fed up with this life. They get us set on this. If that is lost, then this thing [the phone] has now taken over the duty of that other one, the one of being with thoughts. If you study this properly, you can figure out how your own mind is. This is the very same way.

Disciple: Meaning, Venerable Sir, let's think we had a question today about some matter related to the Dhamma. By evening, or somehow, we get to hear the answer in a sermon.

Monk: It's certain that these two have been made one. We have unknowingly reached that state. So, somehow, to put it to one side, as an example in this, if it is difficult for you to figure out the way your own mind works, [think about your phone]: how did this thing that exists now come to be with me? When did I get attached to this? From that day on, how did I transact with it? What is its behavior with me today? How does it transact with me today? In the same way, every time in my life when I try to be quiet, how does this emerge, pull me towards it saying "come to me," and entice me to spend time with it? The mind does the exact same thing.

Even while having this thing called the eye, also having the ear, the nose, the tongue, the body—all of these things we got at birth. However, this thing called the mind has been formed later from details taken in like this, without letting us go to any of those other ones. When we try to be silent, when we try to be calm, it quickly jumps in there from our unawareness.

Disciple: That 'I' that I mentioned is that thing. It quickly… whatever answer I gave was from some memory. That very thing… then I have placed my mindfulness there. This I think… I now understood that as I keep trying to place my mindfulness, the moment I think I am trying to be mindful, a samsāra is created. It comes continuously, like a lot of thoughts being created.

Monk: There is no special way needed to read the meaning of samsāra. You all understand samsāra according to the way monks have said it, the way you have read it in books. There is no great interpretation for samsāra. What is called samsāra is this mental wandering of ours (mānasika særi særīma). The state of restlessly moving (sara sara inna eka). Wandering here, wandering there, the state of being in constant movement. That is what is called samsāra. Without being in one place in one way, at one time you go and are with 'X'. Having wandered there for a bit, you go to another person. From there to another place. Wandering like that... Elderly mothers and fathers. They shout, saying they need to go to the younger son's house. You take them and drop them off. Before even a week passes, they say, "I am bored here, I need to go to the older boy's place." So, you go and leave them there. Understood?

That is the nature of this samsāra. That wandering mind, that is what is called samsāra. In this samsāra, the main part of the story is that for one to fall into samsāra, one has to jump out of the place one is in. The place one is in means the signals that are naturally taken from the sensors connected to this body. The eye is always functioning. The ear is always functioning. However, this mind, without reading these, starts to read the memory side. That is the easiest job for it. Because it can't spend a long time reading something that is being seen. You can't change that quickly, can you? What is seen remains as it is seen. At most, a tree sways like this. After it has swayed like this twice, it doesn't want to stay there any longer. The leaves on the trees sway like this in the wind. It doesn't want to stay with that for more than two or three seconds. Because it knows that it will continue to be just like that. However, if there were events that happened from time to time, then it could wait a little, wondering what will happen next. More than that, it can manage with the ear, with a song, or with some sound from the environment. Or else, we say to practice with things like the contemplation of the body (kāyānupassanā), to just stay with the breath, keeping the mind on the natural breath. When you take the points in the four foundations of mindfulness (Satipaṭṭhāna), the mind is primary. We cannot develop contemplation of the body (kāyānupassanā), or contemplation of feelings (vedanānupassanā), or contemplation of phenomena (dhammānupassanā) by stopping the activity of the mind. That is why we say to apply the contemplation of the mind (cittānupassanā) to anything and develop that. What you said now, is it like we don't even know if we have to develop the contemplation of the body (kāyānupassanā)? You cannot think of a contemplation of the body (kāyānupassanā) that is devoid of the contemplation of the mind (cittānupassanā). What we call contemplation of the body (kāyānupassanā) is settling down by mentally reading into any sensation felt by the body. We establish the mind on the feeling. Now, what is felt is in the body. What knows it is the mind. So because of that, the base is the contemplation of the mind (cittānupassanā). To keep observing that mind. I was talking about this activity. So what does it do? It quickly goes to that other place [memory] and stays with that. There is plenty of access there. From here to there, from there to there, there is access to everywhere. Any single thought is not made from just one thing. Take the word 'mother'. That's a thought. It quickly locked onto 'mother'. But that thing called 'mother' is made... though the sound 'mother' came to your ear, I didn't show a picture of anyone's mother... but as that sound came, a picture also gets switched on for you, doesn't it? As you continue to stay with it, unknowingly her scent, her touch, that entire collection gets switched on. It starts working inside. From that, you can understand that although 'mother' is a thought, it is not a mere thought but a file created by combining all five sense faculties (āyatana) and taking details from all five. To create the file for the sound 'mother', it has also taken images. It has taken her voice. It has taken her touch. It has taken her scent. It has taken from her taste. It creates this by taking the entirety. So, this is an example; the entirety that exists within us is formed, is constructed, by combining these five together. Because of that, if a sound comes to the ear and any file gets switched on, it has the ability to, from that switched-on sound, access any other form, sound, smell, or taste that is even slightly matching or close to it.

Think now, when a thought of 'my mother' comes, along with the sound 'mother', there is also 'wife's mother'. From my mother, there is access to instantly switch to the wife's mother. Or else, while holding the thought about the mother, a little anger that has formed inside regarding, let's say, the younger brother. Or the older brother. So, it was the mother that came, but in a story written based on the mother, there is that other character... like that, it quickly drops the mother and goes there. The mother is connected to all that access. In that way, all thoughts are given access to go to other thoughts. Therefore, the nature of the mind is that when it locks onto one thing, it just wanders off. That wandering is what is called samsāra. Just aimlessly wandering.

Disciple: Venerable Sir, in books it says something like a hundred thousand aeons (kalpa)...

Monk: That whole amount contained in this.

Disciple: So, when we are thinking now, we have gone through billions of samsāras.

Monk: Definitely. After you all came here, figure out how much you have wandered. Then that problem will be solved. What is called becoming (bhava) are the mental states that are built up, the things we feel. Different states of becoming (bhava). So, while we are talking here, how many states of becoming have I myself created? More than the states I created, you all have gone into states of becoming on your own, inside. When I create one, you all go to two or three. To that extent, our mind projects this in different ways, the mind becomes one state of becoming after another. So, it is about that samsāra that the Buddha spoke. First, figure that out. Then the solution to these problems will be very close. A Buddha appears in the world not to find answers for the suffering (dukkha) that arises physically. We have said this plenty of times in sermons. If such a Buddha had appeared, we would have met not a philosophical Buddha, but a physical Buddha. A Buddha like a doctor.

Disciple: Physical.

Monk: Yes. What we have met is not someone who talks about the physical. In every talk of his, there is a surface meaning visible. To a newcomer, it looks like a physical story. We are born. Meaning, our physical body is born. Then, this thing, being subject to the law of change (viparināma dharma), this physical body, it gradually keeps changing. It gets old. Right? In the same way, this switches tracks [gets sick] in places. A thought that comes to us, at certain times it doesn't run to completion. Something happens, and it suddenly switches to something else. Think, I was planning to solve a math problem, focused on the problem, but because another object of mind came midway, I go to a different path before finishing the problem.

Disciple: That is getting sick?

Monk: Yes. That is a part of the law of change (viparināma dharma). It keeps changing, keeps altering. That is what is taken as sickness. Our healthy system of thoughts does not persist for long. As a result of that... meaning, as a result of it changing and getting sick, that thought breaks. Though it breaks, what happens? It is born again.

Disciple: It is born connected to that very thing.

Monk: Yes. So different things keep breaking and... if you have read the Abhidhamma well... but don't get into that now. That's another course. This can be solved more simply.

Disciple: Venerable Sir, when we establish a state (ṭhiti) in the Dhamma... if that is arising (uppāda) and cessation (bhaṅga)…right?

Monk: A state (ṭhiti) is not established in Buddhism. Understand that well. What is in Buddhism is ṭhitassa aññatattaṁ paññāyati [a change is discernible in that which is persisting]. It is not ṭhitassa paññāyati or ṭhitiṁ paññāyati.

Disciple: It's in our head monks’ books... arising (uppāda), stasis (ṭhiti), cessation (bhaṅga)... the three parts that are mentioned.

Monk: Yes. When explaining it simply, you can teach these stages to anyone. However, there is no such thing as ṭhiti (stasis). The content within the concept of ṭhiti is the idea of ṭhitassa aññattaṁ [change within persistence]. Yes, yes. These are the things they teach us in classes like grade one, two, three, four, five. When we go beyond that to the O-Level or A-Level, we sometimes even say that what they taught us when we were small was false, don't we? "What the teachers told us was a lie." There are things like that. This is such a story. Basically, when explaining, they posit three things called arising (uppāda), stasis (ṭhiti), and cessation (bhaṅga). That is not just in our teaching; many other ascetic traditions also say the same thing. So, Buddhism becomes unique in its statement that there is no ṭhiti. There is no static state, no stable existence. What exists is changing every moment to such an extent that one cannot posit that something has been static here or has existed here. The physical body is also like that. The mental functioning is also like that. We don't stop anywhere. We don't go from here to here like this. There is a flow. It flows along. A stream. That is the story of Buddhism. That is why it is said that there is no being or person to be posited here. By the time you go to posit it somewhere, it has already changed. You cannot point to it.

Disciple: Yes, Venerable Sir. As I was speaking earlier, I... truly, Venerable Sir is trying to... this sound, this world... this world is created from sound, sound... When I am speaking now, I am matching words and giving them, aren't I? In those 10 words... I am probably creating about a billion samsāras.

Monk: Certainly.

Disciple: So, not getting attached to it... what is the place for liberation, Venerable Sir? That's where I... after giving an answer, I get a little stuck. It took some time to realize that I had got attached and constructed something Venerable Sir.

Monk: Yes, the problem is you get attached to it. That is why suffering (dukkha) arises. You have created a notion that "I should not be a fool." You feel that what has happened is a foolish type of thing. Then you get disappointed. Why shouldn't you be a fool? As long as you are trying not to be a fool, you exist. "I must be a good person. An enlightened one must be here. One who has figured this out must be here. One who has solved this must be here." Yes, let's say one should be. But ask who that is. Whatever it is... that one who must exist, whoever it may be, that is 'me'. What does Buddhism say? There is no 'me' to be posited in this. If so, why are you making models that "it must be like this, it must be like this, it must be like this"? Right there, aren't you just creating 'I' over and over? Giving birth to little 'I's. We don't have any model. "Now I need to know this." You all might feel when I speak that there is a massive amount of detail inside. No. It's empty. There is nothing here. It is you all who create that story for that conversation. That is why I let you all speak more. The script for this story is taken from you all. What I do is only edit the ugly and confused parts of it. Even the script does not belong to me. None of these words I say are mine; they are yours. The thing is, when you all are heading in a certain direction, there is the 'me' who has gone in that direction. I can see the long-winded paths you all are taking. The shortcuts I took, the easy methods to come in this direction in different ways... the 'me' who went can see. After getting more information from you all, the confusing parts you have... So, for the person who has gone, the path is also finished, the going is also finished, everything is finished. Then there is nothing. That is why I say there is no fixed path. There are only relative paths for you all. So, we speak from within that relativity for you all, saying, "Wouldn't it be easier if it were like this for you?" As I speak that way, as I build up thoughts to tell that story, I realize that it's okay for you. So we say it. So, what we have been discussing is a heavy story. Therefore, understand that the mind is such a thing. Take the question, why a mind? Really, why does this body have a mind? Now this tree... it is also something like me. What is the difference? Just swaying and being.

Disciple: It only sways when we think, isn’t it, Venerable Sir…?

Monk: No, that’s another story. What I am saying is, putting aside what you are thinking, if you take it physically, it sways, doesn't it?

Disciple 2: It doesn't have a mind. It...

Monk: That's what you are saying. It doesn't say that it doesn't have a mind or that it does.

Disciple: Venerable Sir, does that mean this mind is... a sentient being... the power to think. So that’s why we go on thinking and create samsāra. Meaning, we give it value because of our foolishness, isn't that so, Venerable Sir?

Monk: Since no one else will say it, and since it needs to be understood a little, I say it with kindness: it is because of your foolishness. There is no need to take it that way. Those who can understand can understand.

Disciple: Truly, that's why, after we think... Venerable Sir, what you say now...

Monk: Don't panic. Don't panic, proceed with a little calm. Because whatever you do is wrong. That's what I'm saying. Whether you think or don't think, it's wrong. That is why I say, don't panic, just watch. What we do is just watch. Just keep watching. Then that velocity stops. When you try to do something, that velocity continues. You do something, whether it is to be extinguished, to be correct, to realize, to figure out, or to finish this. To do something, you use the same old filthy tools. That is what you use to do something. So, no matter what creation you make with those tools, what gets made is just more filth. Understood? That is why we say don't try to make, don't try to do. Just be still and watch what happens. Then you will see. The way it happens, the way it should be, the whole story will be clearly visible to you.

I was going to talk about a difference between us two [the monk and the plant]. Is there such a difference? Normally, if you take it physically, this one also has a lot of experiences. Understood? According to those experiences, it knows, "Even though I am like this today, with my two feet, the roots, in the cool soil, there will come times when this gradually dries up." When a dry period came before, it got terribly scared, balanced the roots with the water inside, and just barely survived without dying until another watering came. From that old experience, this one knows that such a condition can arise again. Therefore, it not only gets nourished by the good amount it receives, but it also keeps it on standby. From the water given daily, it gets nourished. It uses that bit. It has standby and uses the bit that comes from outside. Understood? So, what does it do? Even if we close this place and go away for two or three weeks, when we come back, we see it is healthy. What is there? There's no water now, no one, nothing. But it has survived. In that way, nature has given it the consciousness (viññāṇa), the state of being conscious, to the extent necessary for its survival. Understood? Every grain of sand has a universal consciousness. A cosmic consciousness. But the consciousness in any two places will never be the same. What this one feels is not what that one feels. Understood? They are not the same. So, for a mechanism that is active like that, that doesn't stay in one place, that is constantly moving, that constantly meets different climatic levels, and that requires a lot of energy for its existence, nature gives it a greater consciousness-energy (viññāṇa shaktiyak), a greater capacity for feeling, than this tree, right from birth. The ones that cannot be given that at birth, die at birth. Understood? It doesn't have a matching consciousness (viññāṇa). So, this one survives by that. It is when we react to the outside that what is needed from the outside comes here. The body of a child, of a newborn child, feels from a young age. But the child doesn't know hunger. It doesn't know fire, doesn't know food. The child doesn't know anything at all. What does the child do? It shows a reaction to that feeling. It cries, it struggles, it does something. It is the people watching who nourish it. Meaning, they are the ones who think, "it is crying because of hunger," "it is crying because of the heat." Whatever it is, that is something that comes from the outside. So now you know why the natural consciousness-ability (svabhāvika viññāṇa hækiyāva) that has been given for one's survival was given. Why was a consciousness (viññāṇa) given, why was a consciousness-energy given to a body? Why was it given to this one [the plant]?

Disciple: To be protected.

Monk: Yes, survival… we say to be protected, for its protection, for its safety. It was given to this one for the very same reason. Nothing more or less has been done for the two of us. Equal rights have been given. To this plant and to me. Who gave them? There is a rhythm that runs universally. Because that rhythm needs to be balanced, this universe itself creates another machine that is needed here, for this earth. This [Plant] has also been made for that. To maintain this machine, it needs to be given oxygen. This tree is quite famous for oxygen, isn't it? So, everything that is built universally is not built for nothing; it is to take something for the universe. It is with the idea of getting a by-product that such a thing is made. We are also that. Having made us that way, we are given what is necessary for our survival. So how is our survival formed? Through a food chain. When hunger comes, food is required to continue maintaining this. We have spoken in sermons that all this madness we do is because the interval between two meals gets boring. That is the truth. People create amazing things, make beautiful things, make flower gardens. A person does anything—gives birth to poetic ideas, or builds a new literature. Goes to build countries, wages world wars. For what? To get rid of the boredom between two meals. They have children for that too.

This one [the plant] is 100% set with nature. We, from a young age, are not allowed to emerge naturally and are acted upon by each person's software in various places. Because of that, we have been unable to go on like this one. In the middle of our natural way of going, different people have installed other programs. Now what has to be done? As soon as one meal is over, we don't exist naturally; we quickly go to a program. Now you understand something, don't you, about what has happened? In this programming, it is our consciousness (viññāṇa) that is used for it. The feelings we feel, the good or bad thoughts that have been built up through them... amidst all this, beautiful literature is formed. Or when this is filled with literature, philosophies emerge to balance the literature. When a lot of different stories come, more software comes to find out what the truth is in all this. Right? When mighty software emerges, security software comes amidst it, doesn't it? Then software that can sneak through that comes again. Saying, "no matter what security you put, if you have this software, you can hit this." In the same way, when a great intelligence emerges in the universe, amidst that comes more and more things that surpass all those levels of intelligence.

Of all the philosophies that have appeared in the world to date, and of all the sciences, the one that the entire world accepts as being above them all, is the philosophy of the Buddha, according to what we hear. It is something accepted by both these Asian scholars and Western scholars, all of them. We accept it traditionally; they accept it because day by day, it stands above the arguments they build, being irrefutable. Because of that. And because it is being proven daily by all their experiments. They come in teams. They get into this. Having gotten in, they search for something. After finishing the search, when those experiments are over, what we call the association with spiritual friends (kalyāṇa mitra sēvanaya) has to happen. All those steps you mention get completed at some point. Having said that, don't you all come to a final conclusion now. "Then this story is right, so from today onwards the work is done." Who is there then? It is my work, isn't it? We are talking right to that point, that there is no 'my' anywhere. Look here [at the plant], was there an 'I' here? No. But there is a beautiful functionality related to a beautiful existence. Does this one have a conflict with those around it? Does it get jealous of that one in the corner? Does it get angry, thinking "this one next to me is taking too much of the water"? There's nothing like that. You may ask “How can you say that, Venerable Sir?” That is in the universal law. The cosmic law. We are the ones who have gotten this wrong, who have jumped the track.

Disciple: Those external problems...

Monk: Yes, that whole thing is because of being outside of that so-called naturalness. We know by direct experience (pratyakṣa) that after becoming natural again, our existence runs beautifully. So who does that? How do I know? I came here. The morning meal was prepared. Things go along beautifully. They get solved. So that's what I'm saying. For the person in that state, any problem related to survival doesn't arise. At the time hunger arises, it will even show a fruit on a nearby tree.

We came to talk about this person and the one called 'I'. Figure it out then, does the imbalance in these two become equal at some point? At that point, I agree with the reason nature brought this into being. As long as that does not happen, we are misusing the consciousness-energy given to us to exist in the rhythm of nature and are building a separate fantasy. The suffering (dukkha) exists only for that long. Suffering exists as long as 'I' am unnatural. Because it's not the software given by nature.

Disciple: We are doing something different.

Monk: Yes. It exists within that mess of those who made us dream, who gave us hopes, who gave us other worldly targets. As long as you struggle to make that mess a reality, the answer is also a mess. So, when you figure this out, there is nothing huge to read into this. Now we have also come a long way down this path of confusion I spoke of. Now there is no special place for us to reverse to. Now, accept. Knowingly or unknowingly, the ownership of this entirety that has come this far does not belong to me, but to nature. Now what to do? You accept that the whole thing that happened at your hands is not your cleverness. It is not your work. Accept the place you have been pushed to naturally. Meaning, the owner of all my powers and energies is not me, but nature. Understood? I remove 'me' and give it to nature. Do you understand what I'm saying? There is no better way than this to eliminate the 'I'.

You will find this in the daily experiences themselves. In every experience you get from today onwards, every time the 'I' becomes big within you, cultivate that surrender you have created inside. Surrender to nature. Keep that daily. So, as a result, if we came here today, there are some related discomforts, troubles, and sorrows that are naturally there. Because we have broken away from those things. Amidst that, there are some sorrows that are our inheritance from the things we have broken away from. Let's say we did something. The Buddhist teaching is to constantly reflect that the consequences of whatever one does belong to oneself. So, now I have opened a shop. I am not saying not to open a shop. Because I opened the shop, what happens? A certain transaction builds up between me and the external world. I must accept that the pleasant experience from the profit gained and the painful experience and suffering from the loss incurred are my own inheritance. Whatever you have done in your life up to this point, good or bad, accept that all the results are my inheritance. That is my lot. This is something that is felt when you go to the highest point of this surrender. Beyond that, even if one feels like doing some work today, one understands there is no background for it. You quickly feel this is not something to be done today... you feel the place where it should be done and where it should not be done. When changing to some work, the place where you should change and where you should not. To a great extent, it is not we who decide that. It is something decided from the outside. These things are understood as you go on with experience. For today, it might feel like a very hopeless state. Or like, "don't I have any power at all?" As long as I establish power, the agent there is 'I'. What Buddhism speaks of is a path of freedom from the sense of self (mamatvaya). Just because one is freed from the sense of self, that person does not fall down, nor does anything bad or unwholesome happen in that person's life. What happens is just an adjustment of the consciousness-energy that was attached to this body at birth to the present day. It is a tuning of the 'I' that exists in the present to that rhythm, 100%. I can't be that small child, can I? But I can take the principles of that small child's existence. That is all that is done.

For some time, we have come in a distorted way, painfully, but today we become natural. We go into that rhythm. Then, one has no special reason to be happy or sad. A small child will cry; it might get food, milk, or whatever. It might not. When he gets tired, what does he do? He sleeps. It's like that. In our lives too, we will go for targets; we may fail. But we don't 'die' there. We do what needs to be done there. What needs to happen, happens. That's all. There is no falling down from there, or going up thinking "I have achieved something." There is nothing. It is to be constantly in a middle state. This is life. Don't go searching for it in some special way, thinking, "I must get rid of this 'I'." Then, the stories you had…That is a problem that needs to be discussed separately. In this way, figure out who this 'I' is. After that, there is something we say. If a need is understood, ask the father. Actually, this is something we understand. We don't do anything in this world. Don't take this in a personal form. There is a system that manages us. We are managed by that system. We are okay with it. If we are not okay with it... all of us are in it anyway. The thing is, for those who make the 'I' big, make the targets big, make the dreams big, that thing is not sensed. No matter what, no matter how much we struggle, what is meant to happen, happens.

Disciple: As long as we are searching like that, it abandons us.

Monk: Yes, truly. That is what I have also understood there. If we build up a lot of dreams, or if our weight increases beyond 50% towards "I must do this," then it [nature] lets go.

Disciple: Now, they tell us about wise attention (yoniso manasikāra), mindfulness, and contemplation. Mindfulness and contemplation is something we’ve being told…taught to take something from a dualistic place. To me, Venerable Sir, this question... does mindfulness mean to accept what is received in that moment as it is?

Monk: Yes, accepting the moment.

Disciple: Accepting the moment... yes.. Like that... whatever one receives...

Monk: Ah, yes

Disciple: Is it after we become obedient like that, that we join with this?

Monk: Definitely. After we surrender, what happens little by little is that nature and I become balanced. Become equal. Come to one rhythm.

Disciple: Otherwise, if we try to overcome it, we are let go of.

Monk: Truly, yes. That’s why I said, if you overcome it, you are not thrown out. But its support lessens.

Disciple: It lessens.

Monk: After passing about 50%...After passing one or two, what I feel is like there is no support at all. Like I have to do it myself.

Disciple: Venerable Sir, as long as we are searching, it is just weariness.

Monk: Definitely, it is only weariness. If you break out of that...

Disciple: To tear it away...[Inaudible]

Monk: Don't tear it away in a special way. That's what I said. The place you are in now, it is not your heroic deed. This is what nature is, what my nature has been. Accept it that way. This place I am in today is not my cleverness or some magic; I have been pushed into this method, this frame, in this way by nature. That is what is called surrendering.

Disciple: Venerable sir even if I try…

Monk: You cannot get it by trying. When you complete the qualifications, it will fall into place.

[Disciples discuss amongst themselves how they managed to come and meet the monk, attributing it to circumstances falling into place after they let go of trying too hard or expecting it. One disciple explains how he gave up hope of coming himself and encouraged his brother to go, after which the opportunity opened up for him unexpectedly.]

Monk: So, if we take a rough sketch of all these stories, what is here is to be free from the dream world. To be free from the entirety of hopes about the future. Within "what can I do today," there is something that tells me to do it. I do it, but not as my program. There is a feeling, "it would be good if I did this." Don't put 'I' there. The ownership of that is not mine. There is something I feel. There is something I sense. It's a "that should be done" kind of thing. As if an order is being given to me from somewhere. That should be done. Like that. So, when you go to do that, the other background you need has been created. The facilities to support it... maybe even a vehicle has been placed on the road for you. When you are going, a vehicle might stop and ask, "Where are you going, brother?" Like that, this is all programmed. It was programmed from the day we were born, from the moment we were born, until we die. Our program is already made. This is something I understand today, I am not saying something I saw before. It is already made. Later, what needs to happen to enter that life that is made, that beautifully flowing life, is to crush and throw away the big ego we have built. Then, what is supposed to happen through me... I said this tree was given to the world to get some work done, right? By nature. In the same way, I have also been placed here to get a service. Yes. Now, nature cannot get the service for which it placed me, because a demon has possessed the machine. While that demon is doing whatever it wants... do you understand? The demon called 'I' is playing games (pissu kelinavā). Until then, nature cannot get work from you.

They talk about a story of rebirth, don't they? There is a place where I accept that to a certain extent. Meaning, this stream of life flows continuously. The idea that it continues even after this body is gone... not 100%. I am not okay with it at that point. But there is a reasonable way to accept it. That is, if nature does not accept the period of time we have come here and gone mad, centered on the 'I'—if it says "you are too much"—then it has to, that rhythm has to, put it into another body. It has to get the rest of the service done through that one. Understood? I am not talking about fatalism (niyativādayak). I am talking about a nature. If we can understand this situation and become natural, become normal, we think that a state of becoming (bhava) beyond this one simply cannot exist. I know that a past becoming or a future becoming does not touch me anywhere. Because what I catch is only this moment (kṣaṇa). Only this. That's all. There is no past or future. Past and future are also just a set of distorted concepts. While you are thinking about the past and future, you lose this moment.

Disciple: We lose that, Venerable Sir. Even what we got from our education... now after I grasp onto the ‘mother’, when someone says 'mother', that is what appears to me. Is that why?

Monk: No. The tools required for us to exist are supplied in our childhood. The problem is that we try to do other things with those tools. We get mothers. We get people around us. Culturally, they have been given a nomenclature; name-and-form (nāma-rūpa) exists anyway. As long as we exist. The problem is that because of excessive conflict with or excessive attachment to this name-and-form, a dream world is created. "I must become like this for my mother." Mother says, "I must become a doctor." So "I must become like this." It’s already messed and over, right? I mean, it's already over, isn't it? We are talking to those who have already messed up. We don't say anything to those who are in the process of messing up. Because this needs to be said to those who have got messed up.

Disciple: Those who have fallen into the pit. [Inaudible]

Monk: Yes. And even if you tell the others, they won't understand. You also said that when you listened in the early days, it didn't quite resonate.

Disciple: At that time, I didn't understand, Venerable Sir.

Monk: You don't understand, do you? Yes. You don't understand until you mess up.

Disciple: It's after that, that you understand.

Monk: That's it. That's it.

Disciple: Afterwards, when you are listening freely and aligning it with that, you realize the real story of nature. The other stuff is just books, it has no meaning.

Monk: You must have heard in my sermons about the world of books, about what we have studied before. So, having done all that, amidst it all, I searched for a way I could align with what the Buddha said. Having aligned with that, I put that stuff to one side. Then I speak in my own language. The reason is, the people in this country are another group of people who speak my language. I will need Pali if I go to a country that uses Pali. Pali is needed to speak with people who know that language. Sermons must be given to those who don't know Pali in the language they know. What has happened to you all, even though you are Sinhalese, is a problem where you can't do without Pali.

Disciple: Yes, even for me, when Pali words are said, I understandable it at least a little, others are just waiting like this. No idea what they are saying. It’s beautiful, don’t misunderstand but they go one saying it like a song. We also do that. But we don’t understand the meaning of it.

Monk: Theres a joy in it. We kill that joy and tell the truth. That's what we do. It's very harsh. Sometimes people scold me as they leave. There's nothing to be done. Because for that person to understand one day, they have to come back to that very point. They have to understand it in their mother tongue. Why? Because the entirety of their mental formations (sanskāra) has been created in their mother tongue. The arising of formations (sanskāra samudaya) has happened in the mother tongue. Therefore, the cessation of formations (sanskāra nirodha) must also happen in the mother tongue. That is why the Buddha said, "Anujānāmi bhikkhave sakāya niruttiyā buddhavacanaṁ pariyāpuṇituṁ" [I allow you, monks, to learn the Buddha's words in your own dialect]. The meaning people give to the words sakāya niruttiyā is a distortion. Sakāya niruttiyā means in one's own dialect. However, people take sakāya niruttiyā to mean in the Buddha's own language. The Buddha used Pali in Magadha, so they say it must be in Pali. Do you see the difference?

Disciple: Venerable Sir, that… I said that anuttara means 'only answers'. But truly, Venerable Sir, it is the 'no-answer' that is right. Even if we say anuttara, we take it as 'only answers'. No problem. After saying there is no answer, you can't change it, can you? I have been thinking about those two or three words, "what is this word this Venerable Sir has put together?" "Why does only this Venerable Sir say it like this while others say something else?" There must be a reason. Those are the things you grasp little by little. Something has to be understood. Right? If I can't hear from that side, I must at least be able to hear from this side, right? [Inaudible]

Monk: If you come here today and leave with an answer, you will become a fool again. I don't give any answers here. I tell a story related to your existence. From within that story, you go away having comprehended something. There is nothing that was comprehended. There is nothing you can say, "I specifically comprehended this thing." What you comprehended was the sheer magnitude of the foolishness in the concept of 'I'. And without it, the wonder of the beautifully existing rhythm. That's all. So, to show this, you cannot establish a place to say, "I understood this much," or "I understood these things."

[A disciple shares a personal story about his mother who had wanted to meet the monk for a very long time, and how the opportunity suddenly arose for him to come after he had given up on the idea.]

Monk: To come, she must be able to walk, no? If it's difficult for her to walk, tell me, we can go to a place where she is.

Disciple: She says, "Son, if I get the chance, I will come somehow." She called recently. We quickly got ready. It was something that had been let go of. Maybe because we let it go…

Monk: It is because you let go that you received it. Therefore, don't be afraid to let go. Buddhism is a path of letting go. It is given only to the one who let’s go. The seeker does not find this. It is the seeker who loses. Understood? The seeker finds things in the physical, in the worldly. But after they find it, when they look, what they have found is not what they were looking for. Everything is like that. Even when building a house, I plan, program, do everything, and build the house. Go and ask everyone who has built a house if they are satisfied with it. No. There is some shortcoming for them. Think of anything. Ask anyone who has done something, "Are you satisfied now?" Right after it's done, they will say, "Oh, I'm satisfied." But ask them again after a month. Therefore, the reason the seeker does not find is that there is nothing to be found. The reason the seeker does not find is that the seeking is due to ignorance (avijjā). When the seeker is eliminated, what is to be received is right there. That is the nature of the Dhamma (dhammatāvaya). As long as the seeker exists, the nature of the Dhamma is not realizing that one is standing on Nibbāna itself. As long as one is seeking, the nature of the Dhamma is that one is seeking within samsāra.

Prince Siddhartha also searched in every possible way. He checked one by one all sixty-two wrong views. There were five or six main philosophies of teachers that could be considered the most serious among those sixty-two. He went to them and studied for certain periods of time. What is called the period of austere practices was not just sitting under a tree. It was that period of study. For those full six years, he studied and also practiced the most severe disciplines of those six teachers. Having done that, he understood, "No. This cannot be it." After that, there was nothing left for him to seek. He gave up. Having searched and given up, he sat calmly at the root of a tree. The group that was around him understood, "He is not searching anymore. So, there is no point in staying with him." That group of five left him and went away. It was after that, when there was no one around, while sitting calmly, that he properly understood the story: reality is not in the seeking; reality is found when one is free from seeking. The middle is there. As long as the seeker is seeking, they are seeking either within self-view (ātmavāda) or no-self-view (anātmavāda), either within eternalism (sassatavāda) or annihilationism (ucchedavāda), either a white side or a black side, either a right side or a wrong side. The search is always within something. There is nothing to search for in the middle. For the man who is right here, what is there to search for? This much exists. This is what one exists with.

Disciple: Venerable sir, aren’t we in the middle because there are two?

Monk: The word neutral (madhyastha) exists not because we are neutral, but because there are two things on two sides. Yes.

Disciple: So, are we not in the middle because there are two things?

Monk: The instruction is not to be in the middle, but to be here.

Disciple: To be in this moment.

Monk: To live at that time. To live with this bit that is felt, heard, seen.

Disciple: So, when they say, "avoid the two extremes, be neutral," as long as we are trying to become neutral, it doesn't happen.

Monk: Yes. As long as one is struggling to be neutral, there is a struggler with a hope of becoming neutral. That struggler has to exert effort, has to struggle. Then, as a result, what comes is the feeling that what was sought was not met. What comes again is suffering (dukkha). So, as long as you make that experience your own, you have problems to solve.

We have said plenty of times in sermons that life is a dream. We have said an immeasurable number of times that there is no difference whatsoever between the dreams one sees in sleep and whatever one experiences in this reality. You yourself just said, when the news came that there was a chance to come, "It felt like a dream to me." If you see this as a dream, if you understand it, then in a short while, when you wake up from sleep, what will you think? You will accept that "it was indeed a dream." In a little while, you will wake up. Understood? Someone will knock on the door. You will wake up. As soon as you wake up, you are in your bed at home. Now what do you do? You even listened to a sermon in the dream.

Disciple: You have to accept the change.

Monk: We say to accept everything in life that way. Then will you feel anger towards those people?

Disciple 2: No, Venerable Sir. At that point, something has to be done, right? Now that...

Monk: Does something have to be done there again? It's already done, isn't it? It's over now.

Disciple 2: Now I think...

Monk: Then don't struggle again. That's what I am saying. Hand that file over to nature, to the father.

Disciple: The very reason you keep remembering it again and again is because…

Monk: There's conflict inside, that why it keeps surfacing. I am saying, hand it over to that moment. Be free, thinking, "This is what was meant to happen at this time." Or else, frame it like this: a friend of yours faced these kinds of experiences, and this is how that friend is today. Understood? Then it's not you. It has been handed over to someone else. In the same way, we say to hand this over to the nature of the Dhamma. "I rejected the proposals from doctors on those days in a way that matched the rhythm I existed in up to that point. Perhaps if I were in other rhythms at that time, I might also have drunk and struggled more than that."

Disciple: Yes. Now when I think back... I mean, I would have had great financial benefits there. OT is higher, I could have lived with fewer troubles, and it was close to home, half an hour away. Because I wanted to escape from there, I had to do exams again, study again, I lost OT, my travel time increased, my time with my family has decreased... I lost a lot of things. But I have a mental happiness that something good happened to me. And I feel amidst the sadness I may have been tested.

Monk: From the day you were born until today, everything that has happened was only a test. Not just that. Let's say two years passed without any problem whatsoever. That is another test. Without any trouble at all.

[The disciple explains how his behavior has changed recently. People say to his mother that he has become quieter, engages less in conversations, maybe he’s mad. His mother accepts it. He feels like he's going "mad" but also feels a sense of peace.]

Monk: That's fine. If you can spend your life within the model of "the madman," which is what a handful of people in the world are called, rather than the model of those who are supposedly not mad. You will realize it is very, very beautiful. This is a special place. To be like a madman without being mad. Because, truly, there is no one as mad as we are.

Disciple: No, truly... my mother says, "Don't be like that, talk." I said, "Okay, I will talk. If you ask something, I will give an answer. I just don't initiate conversations.". She says “no,no, you are being distant, just reducing the talk. So what is the problem?” But I don’t have any problem. But I Don’t take their problems. Just laughing at it and going.

Monk: That happens. Even today, many people say to me, "Venerable Sir, what are you thinking about so much?" I'm not thinking. I am just being like this. It is a normal thing. Because what people in the world expect is a person who is talking all the time, a character who says "hi" and "bye" to everyone. They always need a new event, even through you. A new thing. Because they have an emptiness inside. The support that comes from you to cover that emptiness is your words, your activities. When you try to exist without those things, it becomes like living with a robot. It's boring, no matter what. You have to tell a robot what to do. It's boring. It's like that. So, apart from that, what I am saying is, after understanding this whole thing, don't behave in a strange way from today onwards. When you are eating, eat together with everyone. If something funny comes up, talk about it. If you have a political idea, talk about it at that time. Watch a match when it's on. That is what is natural. It's not that people who have understood go off to a side and just watch.

Disciple: Ah, Venerable Sir, that's all good, but I have a small issue with that.

Monk: That's a model. You are going to become a model. Don't create a model that "I am a person who has understood, I am a person who has realized, they are like this." There are some people, after they understand something, they change their clothes. Right? Meaning, they want to show "I have understood." Or they change their names. They want to show... ‘I’m not like you now, very different now.’ To show. Right. It is a sign of non-understanding.

Disciple: A sign...So, Venerable Sir, now we talk, right? If there is some... "No, it's not like this, it's like this." We go to argue. Now, it's better to step aside and listen, and say a word or two like, "Yes, there is some truth to that," and move aside. Otherwise, they argue. I let them argue. I stay in your corner and listen. Say a word or two and move on. There's no point.

Monk: You don't have to leave, just be there.

Disciple: Now I say... as I said, there is no question and no answer. You all are searching, shouting "it's not like that, it's like this." There's no such search, is there? You just stay quiet. They say, "son, you tell strange stories." Then he tells my mother after I leave, "his answers are very different."

Monk: Such person’s answers are very different.

Disciple: So, when that happens, I feel a little bit alienated from society.

Monk: That's what I'm saying. You need to be like the example I often give. Before enlightenment: chopping wood and carrying water to the top of the mountain. Now: chopping wood and carrying water. There is no difference. Enlightenment... even though we live on this human plane, it's not that they are not on the human plane. The change is not physical. They are on a different plane now, but what is there now? If now there are laywomen who have taken precepts gathered around, having a chat. So, I am in that. Is it time to go now? Then I am in that. When it's time to go, I go. When it's time to eat, I eat. One exists like that at those times. To be mentally detached amidst a group, not taking anything as an object of mind, is a ritualistic practice. That is not Buddhism. When you are in a group, you must be involved with that group. We say that the same jug of water can be transferred into vessels of different shapes. But water is water. However, the world sees it as "Ah, this is a cup of water, this is a bottle of water." It defines it in different ways. That is not relevant to the water. Water is water. Don't try to become a special person. That’s artificial. If you can just be natural. If you are with kids be with them in a way that makes them happy to the fullest. This doesn't mean trying to please anyone. Or trying to explain something to them with effort. Or holding something inside and behaving in another way. That's not it. If you can have a good chat, do that. Don't try to be a strange person.

Disciple: Venerable Sir, this liking or disliking, does it all happen because of my own liking?

Monk: Yes. Liking is relative to disliking inside. Disliking... as long as these two exist, you will try to do certain things in certain ways. To get rid of the mind's laziness, it constantly leans to one of these two sides. Yes. It leans on one of these two to go on without being bored. The person who knows this, at that moment, knows it and the required activity happens. Awareness is what is important. Knowledge (vijjā) must be made to arise. Knowledge. The person in whom knowledge has arisen is distant from ignorance (avijjā). Is away from it. Without ignorance, one can exist in the world in any way. The final answer in Buddhism is through the cessation of ignorance (avijjā nirodha). It is through the cessation of ignorance that all the suffering in this entire cycle ceases. The cause for everything is ignorance. For all suffering, problems, and issues, it is "avijjā paccayā" [from ignorance as a condition...]. If you are at the point of "avijjā nirodho" [the cessation of ignorance], even if formations (sanskāra) are built up, they do not become karma. Even if consciousness (viññāṇa) is built up, it does not cause harm. In any case, when we think, there is consciousness. Name-and-form (nāma-rūpa) is formed for us. Things come to the eye and ear, we identify people, "this is so-and-so." When a new product comes, "Ah, this is its name," we identify it like that. When we go to a new village, "Ah, this is this place," we identify it; name-and-form happens. A new child is born to one's child, "Ah, his name is this. This is so-and-so."

Disciple: Venerable Sir, if there is no consciousness (viññāṇa), is there something like a sequence in us?

Monk: There is no fixed sequence. However, this process of dependent origination (paṭiccasamuppāda) is the one and only process by which this entire world exists. The reality is that this circle runs continuously because of ignorance, because of not knowing how this happens. When one makes knowledge (vijjā) arise, one knows that formations are built up because of ignorance. Because of not understanding what the proper functioning of these things is. From there, one can move forward and forward, having been formed in various ways. No matter how much it continues to go one, it’s because of foolishness, because of ignorance that everything happens.

Original Source (Video):

Title: මම කියන භූතයා පිස්සු කෙළිනවා | ‪@dhammasiddhi‬

https://youtu.be/pIHZoDBLs2s?si=lpvYoWT8imMQJ2j5

Disclaimer

The translations shared on this blog are based on Dhamma sermons originally delivered in Sinhalese. They have been translated into English with the help of AI (ChatGPT & Gemini AI), with the intention of making these teachings more accessible to a broader audience.

Please note that while care has been taken to preserve the meaning and spirit of the original sermons, there may be errors or inaccuracies in translation. These translations are offered in good faith, but they may not fully capture the depth or nuance of the original teachings.

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