Starting Out Small: A Collection of Talks for Beginning Meditators by Phra Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo

Author:Phra Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo [Dhammadharo, Phra Ajaan Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Dharma, Meditation, Jhana, Pali Canon, Theravada, Thai Forest Tradition
Publisher: Metta Forest Monastery
Published: 2016-09-05T07:00:00+00:00

When you do this, it’s a blessing for yourself. You’ve put your wealth in safekeeping in these four banks. When you need that wealth, all you have to do is to remember the good you’ve done, and the mind will be comforted. This type of wealth is noble wealth: It follows you to your dying day, and even when you go to the next world, you’ll have plenty to use without any worry.

For this reason, the Buddha looked after the world to keep it happy and at peace by teaching people to give these four kinds of gifts. And he taught the Dhamma so that we would observe the precepts and practice meditation. He taught us, “Don’t stay stuck in the pleasures of the world—being able to lie down and sleep, and eating your fill—because being full in this way doesn’t stay full for long, and isn’t really full. If you’re full today, you’ll be hungry again tomorrow. If you’re full tomorrow, you’ll be hungry again the next day. You have to suffer in running around always looking for things to eat. As for the pleasure in lying down, there’s nothing reliable about it. Try lying down for three days and see what it’s like. Your back will get so stiff that you won’t be able to get up. You’ll have to find someone to massage you and rub you down with oil. What you thought would be pleasant ends up giving you pain.

That’s why the Buddha taught us not to be infatuated with the pleasure of eating and lying down, and instead to pulverize that pleasure into a fine powder so that it’ll turn into something of value. It’s like a tapioca root that costs 20 cents. If you slice it, dry it in the sun, and then grind it down to a fine flour, then when you take it to sell in the market you’ll find that its price has increased to four or five dollars a kilogram. Or like ordinary rice, which costs a dollar and a half per liter: If you sun it and grind it down into flour for making sweets, you’ll be able to sell it for twice its original price.

In the same way, the Buddha taught us to take our wealth and pulverize it so that it’ll grow in value. In other words, he has us use our discernment to see that wealth is simply common property of the world, and that we can gain value from it by giving material support and offerings to others, so that we’ll then be generous to others. Don’t eat it all yourself. “N’ekāsī labhate sukhaṁ: Those who eat alone can find no happiness.” When you lie down, don’t lie down for long. Sacrifice some of your time in bed by sitting up in meditation, developing thoughts of goodwill as a means of strengthening your heart and mind. In that way you won’t oppress other people, and you won’t oppress yourself.

The Buddha taught that if the mind falls into good thoughts, it’ll find ease and happiness.

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