Chapter 8 - Start Doing It!

(A lively talk, in Lao dialect, given to the Assembly of newly ordained Monks at Wat Pah Pong on the day of entering the Rains Retreat, July 1978) ^[1]

Breathe in... breathe out... just like that. Even if others are "standing on their heads" ^[2] thats their business. Dont bother your head over it. Just concentrate on breathing in and out, just know your breath, thats enough. Nothing else. Just know when the air comes in and goes out, or you can say to yourself; "BUD" on the in breath, "DHO" on the out breath. ^[3] Take this as your subject of awareness. Just do it like that for now. When the air comes in, you know it; when it goes out, you know it. Then your mind will be peaceful, not disturbed, not restless. Just the air going in and out, continuously.

In the beginning, keep it this simple, nothing fancy. However long you may sit, if youre "sabai" ^[4] or peaceful, youll know within yourself. If you keep at it, the breath becomes refined and softer, the body becomes soft (relaxed), the mind becomes soft — thats worth having! Go ahead, let it happen naturally. Sitting "sabai," firm in meditation, not in a daze, not drowsy or nodding off, everything becomes effortless. Now youre peaceful! Then as youre getting up: "Wow, what was that?" You cant stop thinking of that peace.

Then we follow through by keeping constant clear mindfulness, ^[5] knowing ourselves. Whatever we say, whatever we do, going here, going there, going on alms round, washing our bowls or eating, we know what it is we are doing. We have mindfulness, staying steady. Just keep on doing it like this! Whatever its time to do, do it with constant mindfulness.

And walking meditation: take a straight path between two trees, about seven or eight full armspans. Walkings the same as sitting Samadhi. Collect yourself, resolve that now youre going to get into this meditation and calm down your mind so that clear mindfulness will be strong enough to arise. As to methods, some will start by spreading Metta (loving kindness) to all living creatures for protection. Go ahead, the chicken hearted need various approaches!

Begin with your right foot first. Take a good step and walk, saying to yourself: "BUD DHO, BUD DHO..." with your footsteps. Keep your attention right there with your feet the whole time. If you feel restless, stop till peaceful, then step again. Knowing the beginning, middle and end of the path, and know when youre walking back. Know where you are continuously!

So thats the method. You can do walking meditation. Some people will say: "Walking back and forth like that is looney!" But theres a lot of wisdom in walking meditation, you know. Walk back and forth. If youre tired, stop. Turn your attention inwards and bring your mind to rest by calmly being aware of your breath.

Then become aware of one more thing, your alternating postures. Standing, walking, sitting, lying down, we keep changing positions. We cant only stand, only sit, or only lie down! We live using all these postures, thus we must develop awareness in each and every position and make them useful.

Go ahead and do it! Its not easy. But, to put it simply: Its as if you take this glass and put it here for two minutes, then put it there for two minutes. Move it from here to there every two minutes. Just an example, but do it like this with concentration. In watching your breath its the same; you do it until you doubt and suffer and thats when wisdom can arise. Some people will say: "What? Moving a glass back and forth like that is nutty, not useful! Are you crazy?" Never mind, just do it. And dont forget, two minutes not five minutes. Concentrate! Its all in the doing.

Same with watching your breath. Sit up balanced in the cross legged posture, right leg resting on the left. Breathe in till it reaches here (abdomen), breathe out till all the air is out of your lungs. Breathe in until full then let it go. Now dont try to regulate it! However long or short it is its okay, good enough. Sit and watch your breath go in and out naturally. Dont let it slip away. If it does, stop! Where has it gone? Find it and bring it back.

Sooner or later youll meet up with something good. Just keep at it. Dont think you cant do it. Just like sowing rice in the earth, as if youre throwing it away, but soon a sprout is born, then it becomes a sheaf, and soon you husk it and can eat "khao mow" (green sweet rice). Its like that, you know. Thats its nature.

This is the same — just sitting. Sometimes you think, "What am I sitting here looking at my breath for anyway? Itll go in and out by itself without me gawking at it!" Thats just our opinionated mind, always flea picking. Ignore it! Just try to do it till peaceful, because when calm, the breath becomes fine, body becomes relaxed, mind is relaxed, alls just right. Continuing on till perhaps youre just sitting there without your breath going in or out, but still alive. Dont be scared! Dont run away thinking youve stopped breathing! This is already a peaceful state. You dont have to do anything, just sit in it. Sometimes, its like youre not even breathing, but you are. Many things like this can happen, but its okay. Just be aware of it all, without being fooled by any of it.

Just keep doing it and often! Right after you eat, hang up your robe and just start walking: "BUD DHO, BUD DHO..." Keep at it till your path becomes a knee deep trench, just keep walking. When tired, go and sit. Do a lot! Do it so that you know, so that you have it, so that its born, so that you understand what its all about. Not just walking a bit: chung, chok, chung, chok... thinking of this and that, then up to lie down in your hut, soon snoring away! Youll never see anything that way. If youre lazy, when will it ever be finished? If youre tired or lazy, how far will you get? Just get it together, work through and get beyond your laziness. Not saying: "Peaceful, peaceful, peaceful," then sit and arent peaceful right away, then quit because it isnt there.

Its easy to say, but hard to do. Huh! Like saying: "Oh, its not hard to plant rice, to plant and eat rice is better than this." But go out and do it and you dont know the oxen from the buffalo from the plow! Actually, doing it is a lot different from talking about it. Thats how it is, you know.

All of you, wanting to find peacefulness — its there! But you still dont know anything yet. Whoever you ask, you wont know. Just get to know your own breath going in and out, "BUD DHO, BUD DHO..." Thats enough. Just do that. You dont have to think of much. At this time, know this, learn this for now. "I do it and I dont see anything." Doesnt matter, just do it. Whatever comes up, okay, just do it like this, so youll know what its about. Do it and see! If you just sit like this and know whats happening its really all okay. When your mind becomes peaceful, it knows. You can sit all night till dawn and you wont feel youre even sitting, you enjoy it. You cant explain it, its like enjoyment.

When it gets like this, you might want to give "profound" sermons, but beware of getting "verbal diarrhea," expounding the Dhamma constantly, driving folks nutty with your non stop teaching. Like old Novice Sang. One night just at dusk, walking meditation time, I heard someone in the bamboo grove nearby carrying on: "Yo, yo, yo, yo..." I sat and listened, thinking, "Whos teaching who over there? Whos carrying on?" He didnt stop, just kept babbling on. So I took my flashlight and walked over to see. Sure enough, it was Novice Sang sitting under his bamboo clump, lantern lit, cross legged, bellowing at full blast, expounding the Dhamma to the night! "Sang, have you flipped your lid?" "Oh, I just cant hold it in!" he said. "When sitting, I gotta teach; when walking, I gotta teach... dont know where itll end!" A real nut! Oh well, thats how it is, it can happen, you know.

But keep at it. Dont just follow your moods. When lazy, keep at it! When energetic, keep at it! Do the sitting and walking and even when lying down, watch your breath. Before sleeping, teach your mind: "I wont indulge in the pleasure of sleep." When you awaken, continue meditating. And when eating, we remind ourselves: "I wont eat this food with greed, but only as medicine to sustain my life for this day and night, in order to have strength enough to carry on meditating." Before sleeping we teach ourselves; before eating we teach ourselves like that continually. If standing, be aware; if sitting, be aware; if lying down, be aware. Everything, do it that way! When you lie down, lie on your right side, focusing on your breath, "BUD DHO, BUD DHO..." until you fall asleep. And as soon as you awaken, continue "BUD DHO, BUD DHO..." as if you hadnt skipped a breath! Then peacefulness will arise... be continuously mindful.

Dont look at anothers practice, you cant do that. Regarding sitting meditation, sit balanced and erect. Dont have your head tilted back or hanging down. Keep it balanced. Like the Buddha statue — now hes "sitting tight" and bright! If you want to change posture, endure the pain to the utmost limit before changing. "What?" you say, "I cant handle that!" But wait before moving. Endure the pain to its limit, then take more. However much it hurts, go ahead and endure it. And if its too painful to keep "BUD DHO" in mind, then take the pain as your object of awareness: "Pain, pain, pain, PAIN!" on and on instead of "BUD DHO." Stay with it till the pain reaches its end, and see what comes up. The Buddha said that pain arises by itself, and itll stop by itself. Let it just die, dont give up! Maybe youll break out in a sweat — drops as big as corn kernels rolling down your back. But if you can get past the feeling once, then youll know what its about. But that comes gradually, dont push yourself too far. Just slowly keep at it.

And know about eating... chew, swallow, and where does it end up? Food thats right or wrong for your body, youll know it. Know where it reaches. Refine the art of eating; eat and estimate when youll be full after five more mouthfuls, then stop! Take enough water and thats it. Try and see if you can do it. Most people dont do it like that. Instead, they eat till full, then top up with five more mouthfuls! But thats not the way, understand? The Buddha said just keep eating attentively and know youre not yet full, but you will be in five more mouthfuls, then stop! Take enough water till full. Then, whether walking or sitting, youll not feel heavy and your meditation will become automatically better. But people dont want to do it like that. If you dont really want to train yourself, then you cant do it. Otherwise, you eat till youre too full, topping up with another five mouthfuls. Thats how it is, the nature of our greed and defilements and the things the Buddha taught go in different direction. We have to watch ourselves.

And sleeping, being aware, its up to your know how. Sometimes you wont get to sleep on time; sleep early, sleep late, never mind. Thats what I do. Get to sleep late or not late, doesnt matter, when I first awaken, I get right up. dont make a fuss over it. Cut it right there. If you awaken and are still sleepy, just get right up! Get up and go, wash your face and start walking meditation, go right ahead and walk. Thats how we must train ourselves, do it!

So these are the things to do. But you wont know about them from just listening to what others tell you. You can only know from actually doing the practice. So go ahead and do it. These are the first steps in training the mind. When meditating, focus on only one thing. Sitting, the mind only watches the breath going in and out, continually watching, slowly becoming peaceful. If the mind is scattered, as soon as you sit youre off missing home, mind reaching way over there, thinking youd like to eat some noodles (those whove just ordained — hungry, no?). You want to eat, want to drink, hungry, wanting, missing everything! Till youre crazy. But if you go crazy then be crazy, till you can work through it.

But do it! Have you ever done walking meditation? How is it? "Mind wanders." Then stop till it comes back. If it really wanders, then dont breathe until you cant stand it — your mind will come back. If you sit and your mind goes running everywhere, hold your breath, dont let it out, and when you cant stand it, itll come back! Make the mind strong. Training the mind is not the same as training animals, you know, its something thats really difficult to train! Dont be easily discouraged. At times, holding your breath till your chest is about to burst is the only thing thatll catch your mind — itll come running back! Try it and see.

During this rains retreat get to know what its about. In the daytime, do it; at night, do it; whenever youre fee, go ahead and do it. Do walking meditation night and day, even if you dont talk. Turn your attention right back to your meditation, make it continuous.

Its the same as the water in this drinking bottle. If we tilt it a bit, it starts to "drip, drip, drip..."; we tilt it more and "drippity, drippity, drippity..." Thats like our mindfulness. And if we really pour it out, it becomes a steady stream of water, like out of a tap, not just dripping. Meaning that: whether we stand, walk, sit, lie down or whatever, if we are always aware, then our mindfulness is the same as a steady stream of water. If we really pour it out, its a steady stream. So, if our mind wanders, thinks of this and that, then our mindfulness is only like dripping water.

So training our mind is just like this. Whether we think of this or that, are restless, arent together, doesnt matter. Just keep practicing continually, and youll develop awareness until its a constant flow. Whether standing, sitting, lying down, or whatever, that awareness will be right there with you. Do it and see!

Just sitting around, its not going to happen by itself, you know. But if you try too hard, you cant do it either. dont try at all — still cant do it! Keep that in mind. Sometimes you dont even intend to sit in meditation, but your works finished and you sit down, empty your mind, and pap! — youre peaceful right away. Easy, because youre right there.

Take this then — thats enough for now!

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Translators Note: One must imagine Ajahn Chah sitting on his Abbots cushion, surrounded by the Assembly of newly ordained Monks and Novices, chuckling, teasing and spontaneously picking objects near him to illustrate his points more simply. Trying to keep the bounce of his words, his humor, and his joy on paper is difficult. However, the conversational tone has been kept and Lao slang replaced by American slang in most places.

[2]:

"are standing on their heads": the Venerable Ajahn used a common Lao expression which literally means: "raise their ass to the sky."

[3]:

"BUD DHO": a Parikamma or "Mantra" commonly used to maintain ones attention when used in conjunction with other methods such as mindfulness of the in and out breath or in the walking meditation or by itself as a recollection on the Buddha.

[4]:

sabai: a Thai word generally meaning "comfortable," "content" or physical and/or mental well being, as opposed to discomfort or dis ease. In meditation it can imply positive happiness or neutral contentment.

[5]:

clear mindfulness: in Pali it is Sati Sampajanna, lit. mindfulness and clear comprehension or more generally, a clear presence of mind and self knowing.