Things as They Are
A Collection of Talks on the Training of the Mind
by Acariya Maha Boowa Nanasampanno | 1988 | 69,215 words
Translated from the Thai by Thanissaro Bhikkhu Note: In these talks, as in Thai usage in general, the words 'heart' and 'mind' are used interchangeably....
Preface
"Just as if there were a pool of water in a mountain glen — clear, limpid, and unsullied — where a man with good eyes standing on the bank could see shells, gravel, and pebbles, and also shoals of fish swimming about and resting, and it would occur to him, This pool of water is clear, limpid, and unsullied. Here are these shells, gravel, and pebbles, and also these shoals of fish swimming about and resting; so too, the monk discerns as it actually is, that This is stress... This is the origin of stress... This is the stopping of stress... This is the way leading to the stopping of stress... These are mental effluents... This is the origin of mental effluents... This is the stopping of mental effluents... This is the way leading to the stopping of mental effluents. His heart, thus knowing, thus seeing, is released from the effluent of sensuality, released from the effluent of becoming, released from the effluent of unawareness. With release, there is the knowledge, Released. He discerns that, Birth is no more, the holy life is fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.
"This, great king, is a reward of the contemplative life, visible here and now, more excellent than the previous ones and more sublime. And as for another visible reward of the contemplative life, higher and more sublime than this, there is none."