This was taught during a 10-day meditation retreat. The final chapter was a closing speech from Ayya Khama and it made me feel that I was attending the retreat and was bidding farewell. Yes, the Dhamma is not in the temple, it’s not anywhere but in our heart.
This book can be read by clicking the following link https://www.bps.lk/olib/bp/bp511s_Khema_Being-Nobody-Going-Nowhere.pdf
Below are a few quotes to ponder.
“One second of concentration in meditation is one second of purification because, luckily, the mind can only do one thing at a time.”
“The spiritual path is all about letting go. There is nothing to achieve or gain.”
“The only time the mind can have a real rest is when it stops thinking and starts only experiencing.”
“A moment which brings the kind of happiness not available anywhere else, through anything else. A happiness which is independent of outer conditions. It’s not unconditioned but conditioned only by concentration. It’s not dependent upon good food or climate, entertainment or the right relationships, other people or pleasant responses or possessions, all of which are totally unreliable and cannot be depended upon because they are always changing…”
“Thinking is suffering, no matter what it is that we think. There is movement in it and because of that there is friction. Everything that moves creates friction. The moment we relax and rest the mind it gains few strength and also happiness because it knows it can go home at anytime. The happiness created at the time of meditation carries through to daily living because the mind knows that nothing has to be taken so seriously that it can’t go home again and find peace and quiet.”
“When the ego stops wanting, all unsatisfactoriness vanishes. This is why we should meditate. Now we’ll look at the ‘how’ of meditation.”
“When the mind becomes calm and tranquil, the breath becomes equally soft and tranquil. When the breath becomes so fine we can’t find it, that’s the moment when we actually enter into a concentrated state.”
“All minds are alike. You don’t have to think: I am especially unsuited for this. ‘Who’s ’I’ anyway? It’s just an untrained mind as opposed to a trained one. Anyone who enters a marathon race can run well and quickly if they have trained for it. It is silly to think I’m useless, I can’t run fast’ if you haven’t trained for it.”
“One doesn’t have to think about anything when meditating. Life keeps on happening and doesn’t need us to think about it. It’s constantly arising and ceasing every single moment.”
“The one way for the purification of beings, for the destruction of unsatisfactoriness, for entering the noble path, for realising freedom from all suffering, is mindfulness.”
“When people dispute what the Buddha was teaching, he didn’t argue. He wasn’t defending a viewpoint. He was talking about his own experience.”
“When that calm and pleasant feeling arises, which the Buddha called a pleasant abiding, and then it disappears again, which it must, because whatever has arisen will disappear, the first reaction that has to come to mind is knowing the impermanence; not, ‘Oh dear, it’s gone again.’ Or ‘That was nice. How am I going to get it back?’ Which is the usual way of reacting.”
“Liberation is not ‘knowing’, it is ‘feeling’. Everybody feels a ‘me’. Everybody knows their name but everybody also feels that the name describes this special ‘me’. One can feel the self. So in order to get to non-self, it has to be felt too.”
“The enjoyment of the sense becomes or refined when there’s more purification in a person. The smallest thing can be enjoyed, but the danger lies in wanting it. This wanting, the craving, brings the unsatisfactoriness because the wanting can never be fully satisfied. We’re always lagging behind. There’s always something more beautiful to be seek, something more to be heard or touched. There’s always something else. This creates much restlessness, because we can never get total satisfaction.”
“The hope and anticipation of the gratification of sensual desire is that which makes it pleasurable. Once it has been gratified, it’s already finished and done with and new desire arises.”
“One antidote the Buddha prescribed for restlessness and distracted thoughts is learning more abut the Dhamma, the teaching. When one knows the teaching, one can direct the mind to it often. One remembers the Buddha’s words. When one learns more about it there are clear-cut and decisive answers in any kind of difficulty that arises. The Buddha’s answers always lead out of suffering. They always leads out of egoism, but they are not so easy.”
“The Buddha said the one who can get rid of these five hindrances is one who has finished the work, with nothing ore to be done.”
“I am the owner of my kamma. I inherit my kamma. I am born of my kamma. I am related to my kamma.. I live supported by my kamma. Whatever kamma I created whether good or evil, that I shall inherit. ‘The Buddha said we needed to remember this every day.”
“Right intention is our kamma-making process because our mental formations are having the intentions. Right view can be established in ourselves through some wisdom and insight. It will be foundation for our intentions. Intentions are constantly arising with every action and reaction. ‘Kamma, O’monks, I declare, is intention, are the Buddha’s words. This is how we make kamma, and if we believe that good kamma is essential for our wellbeing, we have to watch our intentions.”
“When we live with mindfulness there is a marked difference in our awareness. We know what’s happening with ourselves but we don’t become involved in it. When anger arises we know it’s arising, but we don’t have to become angry. That’s a great skill. When there is boredom, we know boredom has arisen, but we don’t have to become bored or frustrated. We just know the arising and also the ceasing of all mental states.”
Last but not least…
“There is no escape route externally or through non-attention or non-awareness. The only escape is through insight, which brings total clarity. Every other escape route is blocked.”
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