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"The Arising of Widom" by ven. Ajahn Chah |
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"The Arising of Widom" by ven. Ajahn Chah |
| Wisdom is to see the truth of the
various manifestations of body and mind. When we use our trained and
concentrated minds to examine the five khandhas (material form, feelings,
perceptions, mental formations and consciousness), we will see clearly
that both body and mind are impermanent, unsatisfactory and soul-less. In
seeing all compounded things with wisdom we do not cling or grasp.
Whatever we receive, we receive mindfully. We are not exessively happy.
When things of ours break up or disappear, we are not unhappy and do not
suffer painful feelings - for we see clearly the impermanent nature of all
things. When we encounter illness and pain of any sort, we equanimity
because our minds have been well trained. The true refuge is the trained
mind.
All of this is known as wisdom which knows the true characteristics of things as they arise. Wisdom arises from mindfulness and concentration. Concentration arises from a base of morality or virtue. All these things, morality, concentration and wisdom, are so inter-related that it is not really possible to separate them. In practice it can be looked at in this way: First there is the arising of morality. When mindfulness of breathing is practised continuously until the mind is quite, this is the arising of concentration. Then examination showing the breath as impermanent, unsatisfactory and not-self, and the subsequent non-attachment, is the arising of wisdom. Thus the practice of mindfulness of breathing can be said to be the course for all development of morality, concentration and wisdom. They all come together. We can say this practice reaches the Buddha-Dhamma truly and precisely |
"The Arising of Wisdom" is an exerpt of a collection of Dhamma-Talks published under the title: bodhinyana
