The Way to Ultimate Calm - Selected Discourses of Webu Sayadaw

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What happens if you are negligent? We fall asleep, sir. S; You are disciples of the Buddha. You know that ignorance is your enemy. And though you know that, you start meditating only after preparing a bed for yourself. After meditating for some time you will become bored, and sloth and torpor will creep in. What will you do then? We will endure them. And if sloth and sleepiness are very strong, will you still resist?

No, sir, we will say to them, "Now only you come! Yes, that's just Hke you! I have had the bed ready for a long time. When will you wake up again after going to sleep? We will get up when it is day and time for breakfast, sir. If you go on speaking in this way, this will have the effect that the dangers of ignorance will never be overcome.

You don't praise understanding and wisdom, but ignorance. If you work like this, will you ever obtain the happiness to which you have aspired? Will you just pretend to work then? If we just pretend, we won't get anywhere, sir. So, if you can't achieve your goal, what will you do? I think we will have to continue with this practice until we reach the goal, sir. Yes, you know the difference between understanding and 23 Copyrighted material The Way to Ultimate Calm ignorance.

Knowing what to do to achieve understanding, focus your attention on the spot and then keep it there. If you hve with this awareness, do you still have to fear and be worried about the moment of death? Tell me, what happens if you die without this awareness? I will be reborn in one of the four lower planes. Do you want this to happen? Do you really not want to go, or are you telling me a lie?

You are right, sir, I have fallen into telling lies. I am walking on the path that leads straight to the lower worlds. I am speaking only empty words when I say that I don't want to go to hell and am still staying on the broad highway leading downwards. If you know for yourself whether you have got some understanding or not, then you are on the right path. If you know when you don't understand, you have understood. But if you think you have understood though you haven't understood a thing, then there is not the slightest hope for you to acquire any understanding.

You see, he knows that he is lazy when he is lazy; he knows that he is useless when he is useless.

Dhamma Wheel

If you can see yourself in the correct hght, then you will achieve understanding, because you are able to correct yourselves. Well, with all the meditation I'm doing I'll be alright. After all it doesn't take that much. No, sir, I don't take what is wrong to be right and what is right to be wrong. If you firmly fix your attention on the spot and are aware of mind and matter, you practise understanding. If you have no awareness, you are living in ignorance.

If you die with your mind steeped in ignorance, you will go down, even if you are observing the Uposatha precepts. Wherever I am, if I can't concentrate my mind when I die, I will go down, sir. Suppose I think, "Ha, my stock of merit is quite great, much greater than the merit of those lay people," and then I wander about here and there with a smile on my face.

If I were to die, where would I be reborn? We don't dare to say anything about monks, sir. You needn't say anything about monks, just take me as an example. Sir, we would dare even less say anything about you. I'm assuming that my mind wouldn't stay with any object and I had to die, what would happen, my disciple? Sir, I don't think there is a time when you are not aware of this spot. But if I were to die without this awareness?

If it were me, I would fall into the lower planes. Whoever it is, if there is no awareness at the moment of death, the result will be rebirth in hell. Therefore, establish your mindfulness so that you never forget this small spot. If I were to wish to be reborn in hell after having reached complete understanding due to this awareness, would there be a possibility of my going to hell? Such a wish couldn't come true, sir. If we don't understand what should be understood, and then start praying for Nibbana, will we get it?

However long we pray for Nibbana, we will go down. Ignorance leads to the four lower worlds. But if you take up this training of awareness of in-breath and out-breath, you will gradually develop towards the attainment of Nibbana to which you have aspired. So, place your attention at this small spot steadfastly so that it doesn't budge. Isn't it possible for you to fix your mind on this small spot while you are sitting in front of me? Can it be done while standing and walking? Can you practise while eating, drinking, or working?

D; It is possible, sir. Can you practise andpanasati when you are alone? Or when you are in a crowd? Even then it is possible to keep up the awareness, sir. Do you get tired if you keep your attention at the spot all the time? No, sir, it is not tiresome. Does it cost you anything? No, sir, it doesn't cost anything. Is your work interrupted or disturbed? No, sir, it isn't. Are you more efficient in your work if you let your mind wander here and there or if you keep your attention focused on the spot?

It takes the same amount of time, sir. Who is more efficient, the one with a wandering mind or the one who keeps his mind under control?

The one who keeps his attention at the spot does his job, and at the same time he is working for the attainment of Nibbana. One may earn one hundred thousand, but the one who works and practises awareness at the same time earns twice as much. From now on you will earn two hundred thousand. But, tell me, when we make our mind firm and tranquil, will our reward be only this much? No, sir, when the mind is clear it becomes stable, firm, and strong. The housewives here are surely all experienced in cooking. You have to cook at times though you are very tired.

Yes, sir, at times we just stare into the fire and nod from fatigue. Then the rice is burned sometimes, sir. Why does this happen? Because our mind is not on the job, sir. Just yesterday I was thinking of some scene I had seen in a show and I burned the rice, sir. If my mind didn't wander, I would be able to do my work more quickly, and I wouldn't bum the food. What happens if you eat rice that isn't properly cooked? Some people get an upset stomach, sir.

If you cook in a haphazard manner, you are slow, you get tired easily, and the food isn't good. The fire burns down, and you have to kindle it anew. The water for the rice cools down, and you have to bring it to a boil again. Nothing is improved by not being attentive. When we improve our awareness, so many other things improve. I am only telling you what the Buddha taught, but of course I can't tell you all he taught. There are many more advantages resulting from this practice. The Buddha's teachings are complete and without a flaw.

It is impossible to teach every aspect of the Dhamma. But if you keep your attention focused on the spot and are aware from moment to moment, then you will reach your goal. The Buddha did teach this, and the wise people of old did reach their goal by this practice, and yet there are many things the Buddha realized that are not contained in this.

But you can reach your goal if you keep knowing in- breath and out- breath at the spot. You will become really happy. I am talking only about this little spot. You know all the theories about meditation for tranquillity samatha and insight meditation vipassand and how they come about.

Yes, there is samatha and there is vipassana, but the Buddha did say that you have to establish yourselves well in one practice: If you practise one, you accomplish one. If you practise one, you accomplish two. If you practise one, you accomplish three. We have to practise with effort equal to the effort of the wise people of old. When we teach the Dhamma we have to distinguish between Sutta, Abhidhamma, and Vinaya according to the established order, but only after having practised meditation to the same extent and with the same effort as the noble disciples of the Buddha will you really be able to explain the teachings.

Though I have explained the technique to you in the proper way, some of you may remain closed to it and without understanding. If I ask you about the house in which you are living, you will describe it to me accurately. If I were to think and ponder about your house, would I be able to visualize how it really is? If I were to think and ponder all day and all night without even sleeping, would I find out about your house?

Tell me then, how can I find out for myself what your house looks like? If you come to my house yourself, you will immediately know all about it even if no one says a word to you. So, you too should proceed in such a way that you reach your goal. When you get there you wiU know, "Ah, this is it. No, of course not.

You can attain the Dhamma here and now. Understanding all this, practise, make effort. You told me just now that meditation doesn't tire you. You said that it didn't cost anything, it didn't disrupt your work, and that you were able to practise it while alone and while you are with your family.

Can you still find excuses for not practising, or are you going to continue living in the same way as you have been, without even trying to find excuses? Most of the time we just carry on as usual, sir. Those who take up this practice will receive the answers to their questions. So, keep your mind focused and your cooking will be done quickly; the rice is not going to be burned, and no wood is wasted. Your whole life will improve, and the time will simply fly. There is right conduct, and there is understanding. Right conduct is the fulfilment of your manifold duties and your giving of the four requisites for the support and furthering of the Buddha's teaching.

The control over your mind gives you understanding.

Way to Ultimate Calm, The: Selected Discourses of Webu Sayadaw - Webu Sayadaw - Google Книги

There are these two elements of training, and you have to train yourselves in both simultaneously. Is it not possible to be aware of the breath while 27 Copyrighted material The Way to Ultimate Calm you are preparing and giving the four requisites to the community of monks? It is possible, sir. Under which of the two discipHnes does sweeping fall?

Sweeping is part of right conduct. Can't you keep your attention at the spot while you are sweeping? Under which of the two trainings does serving your parents fall, to whom you are deeply indebted for the love, compassion, and support they ,ve given you? That is right conduct, sir. What do you accomplish if you keep your attention focused at the spot while you are serving and helping your parents? We develop our understanding, sir. So you can train yourselves both in right conduct and understanding at the same time. Sometimes you may say that you can't meditate, though you would like to, because you can't ignore your old father and mother.

Does this happen to you? Young people often think in this way and put off meditation, sir. What about older people? They often say they can't meditate because they have to look after their children, sir.

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To fulfil our duties is part of moral conduct. If you don't fulfil your duties, your conduct is not perfect. At the same time that you fulfil your duties, admonishing your children, for example, you can train yourself in the awareness of the spot. Now you have the time to train yourselves in both moral conduct and understanding. Venerate and respect your benefactors — your parents, your teachers, and the community of monks — without ever resting.

From now on work without ever resting, with firm effort, as the wise of old did before you. Your aspirations will be realized as were the aspirations of the wise disciples of the Buddha. The contents of the Tipitaka taught by the Buddha are so vast that it is impossible to know all they contain. Only if you are intelligent will you be able to understand clearly what the monks have been teaching you out of great compassion. You have to pay attention only to this.

Sir, we don't quite understand what you mean by: Let me try to explain in this way. If you build a house, you put a roof on it, don't you?

Yes, sir, we cover our houses with roofs. When you put the roof on you make sure that it is watertight, don't you? If you cover your house well and it rains a httle, will the roof leak? And if it rains very hard, will the roof leak? And when the sun bums down, will it still give you good shelter? Because your roof is well built. Will you be able to know whether your roof is leaking or not after it rains? Yes, sir, when it rains it is easy to find out. You see, you think that the teachings of the Buddha are vast and varied, but really they are just one single way of escape from suffering.

Only if you take up one object of meditation given by the Buddha and pursue it with steadfast effort to the end can you justly claim that your roof is not leaking any more. If your roof is not rain-proof yet, you have to be aware of this. There must be many houses in your neighbourhood and they all have roofs.

What are the materials used for roofing? There are comigated iron roofs, there are tiled roofs, there are houses roofed with palm leaves or bamboo. Now, if a palm-leaf roof is well built, is it reliable?

Oh yes, sir, it won't leak. If a tin roof is well assembled, is it rain proof? Yes, sir, it is. What about a well-made tile roof? No rain will come through, sir. What about bamboo roofs or roofs made out of planks? If they are well done, they are watertight, sir. So, if you take the roofing material you like best and build a good roof, will it give you shelter when it rains and when the sun shines? If we build it well, it will not leak, sir.

We are building roofs because we don't want to get wet when it rains, and we want to avoid the scorching sun. The teachings of the Buddha are available now. Take up one of the techniques the Buddha taught, establish steadfast effort and practise. Only if you are steadfast does your practice resemble a roof, and greed, anger, and ignorance cannot leak through.

Only if the roof is not leaking can we say that we are sheltered. If the roof is still leaking rain, is this because it is good or is not so good? Because it is not so good, sir. Is it leaking because the palm leaves are not a good roofing material? No, sir, palm leaves are a good roofing material.

Or is it because coiiugated iron, or tiles, or bamboo, or planks are not suitable as roofing materials? No, sir, all these are quite okay. Then why is the roof leaking?

See a Problem?

Because it isn't well built, sir. But, of course, the mistake is made now. Is it difficult to repair it? If one is skilful, it is quite easy, sir. Tell me then, if it leaks in a certain place, what do you have to do? We have to patch up the leak, sir. It is just the same in meditation. Now that you exert effort, there is no leak; you are safe. If greed, anger, and ignorance still drip in, in spite of your practising the teachings of the Buddha, you have to be aware of the fact that your roof is not yet rain-proof. You have to know whether the roof you built for your own house is keeping the rain out or not.

Sir, we have all the roofing materials, but the roof is still leaking. We would like to know the technique of building a good roof. Don't build a thin, shaky roof; build a thick, strong roof. How are we to build a strong roof, sir? While we are sitting here like this, we still have to endure being drenched by the rain. You too have to practise in this way. The disciples of the Buddha established awareness of the spot and then did not allow their minds to shift to another object. Now, can the rains of greed, anger, and ignorance still affect those who are steadfast?

No, sir, they can't. If you establish the same quality of awareness whether sitting, standing, or walking, will the rain still be able to penetrate your protecting roof? Sir, please teach us the technique which will give us shelter.

Tell me, all of you are breathing, aren't you? Oh yes, sir, all are breathing. When do you first start breathing? Why, when we are born of course, sir. Are you breathing when you are sitting? Are you breathing while you are standing, walking, and working?

The Way to Ultimate Calm

D; Of course, sir. When you are very busy and have a lot to do, do you stop breathing, saying, "Sorry, no time to breathe now, too much work! No, sir, we don't. Are you breathing while asleep? Yes, sir, we are. Then, do you still have to search for this breath? No, sir, it's there all the time. There is no one, big or small, who doesn't know how to breathe.

Now, where does this breath touch when you breathe out? Somewhere below the nose or above the upper lip, sir. And when you breathe in? At the same spot, sir. If you pay attention to this small spot and the touch of air as you breathe in and out, can't you be aware of it?

When you are thus aware, is there still wanting, aversion, ignorance, worry, and anxiety? You see, you can come out of suffering immediately. If you follow the teachings of the Buddha, you instantly become happy. If you practise and revere the Dhamma, you remove the suffering of the present moment and also the suffering of the future. If you have confidence in the monks and teachers, this confidence wiU result in the removal of present and future suffering.

The only way out of suffering is to follow the teachings of the Buddha, and at this moment you are revering the teachings by establishing awareness. Do you still have to go and ask others how the Dhamma, if practised, brings immediate relief from suffering? We have experienced it ourselves, so we don't have to go and ask others any more.

If you know for yourselves, is there still doubt and uncertainty? No, sir, there isn't. S; By keeping your attention at the spot for a short time only, you 31 Copyrighted material The Way to Ultimate Calm have understood this much. What will happen if you keep your niind focused for a long time?

Understanding will become deeper, sir. If your time were up and you were to die while your attention is focused on the spot, would there be cause for wony? There is no need to worry about one's destiny if one dies while the mind is under control. This frees us from suffering in the round of rebirths, and having discovered this for ourselves, we need not ask others about it.

If we estabhsh strong and steadfast effort in accordance with our aspiration for awakening, is there stiU cause for doubt: No, sir, we have gone beyond doubt. So, then you have full confidence in what you are doing and due to your effort the viriya-iddhipdda factor arises. Suppose people come and say to you, "You haven't got the right thing yet; how could you ever succeed? You know that though you are certain that you will be able to reach the goal with your practice, other people might tell you that you will not.

Sir, knowing for oneself, one will not have doubts, whatever people may say. What if not just a hundred people or a thousand people come to teU you that what you are doing is no good, but say the whole town? Even if the whole town comes, no doubt will arise, sir. Suppose the whole country came to contradict you?

Even so, sir, there will be no space for doubt to arise, because we realized this happiness for ourselves. Yes, you know how much effort you have established. But don't think that your effort is perfect yet. You are only at the beginning. There is still much room for improvement. While you sit, walk, stand, and work it is always possible to be aware of the in-breath and the out-breath, isn't it? If you focus your attention on the spot, are you unhappy? The people, devas and brahmas who received the teachings after the Buddha's awakening practised continuously, and therefore their respective aspirations for awakening were fulfilled.

What the Buddha taught is enshrined in the Tipitaka. If you keep your attention focused on the spot and on the in-breath and the out-breath, the 32 Copyrighted material A Roof That Does Not Leak whole of the Tipitaka is there. We don't quite understand this, sir, S: Why shouldn't you understand this? Of course, you understand. But we would Uke to be certain that we understand this in detail, sir. You have understood already. Have you checked whether all of the Buddha's teaching is contained in this awareness? But, sir, our awareness is not deep enough to check this.

But you can talk about the Buddha's discourses, the monks' rules, and Abhidhamma philosophy. When we discuss these, we just talk without really knowing. Talking into the blue. Now, if you keep your attention at this spot, can you tell me whether the whole of the teaching is present there? We don't know, sir. Are you not telling me because you are tired? No, sir, we aren't tired. We would like to answer.

If we want to make an end to suffering we have to observe the behaviour of mind and matter.

Matter is composed of eight basic elements. There are fifty-three mental concomitants. When others discuss the teachings you correct them and tell them where they went wrong and where they left something out. You refute them and criticize them. You are debating like this, aren't you? We said just now that the thing that doesn't know is matter and the entity that knows is mind.

These two entities must be evident to you. Under which of the two comes the spot below the nose; is it mind or matter? I think that the spot is matter, sir. The kaya-pasdda sensitive matter through which we feel touch sensation is rupa. But those who study Abhidhamma philosophy tell us that we are just concepts pannatti and that the spot too is but a concept, sir.

If you can't keep your attention on the spot, you will of course get involved in discussions. D; But, sir, if we don't answer, we have to admit defeat. Tell me, what do you have to do when you are hungry? We have to eat rice, sir. What about monks, what do you have to give them to still their hunger? Are the oblation rice they eat and the rice you eat two completely different things?

D; They aren't different, sir. In order to show respect to the monks we 33 Copyrighted material The Way to Ultimate Calm call their rice "oblation rice", but it is the same as we eat. So, whether we call it "rice" or "oblation rice," it will satisfy our hunger. Yes, sir, both fill the stomach. Now what about the nose, the spot? You can call it by its conventional name, or you can talk about sensitive matter.

It's just the same as with rice and oblation rice. Is it worth arguing about? No, sir, there is no need for long discussions. Having understood this, will you stop arguing, or will you carry on with your debates? No, sir, we shall not debate, but those Abhidhanmia students will. In that case you just don't take part in the discussion of such issues. You have known all along that rice and oblation rice are the same, but we have to talk about it so that you understand. Now, what do we call the entity that is aware? It is called mind, sir. Only if you have gained such control over your mind that it doesn't jump from one object to another are you able to distinguish clearly between mind ndma and matter rupa.

Yes, sir, now we are able to distinguish between mind and matter. Is this knowledge of mind and matter you have gained called understanding vijjd or ignorance avijjd! Is there still ignorance present when you are able to distinguish clearly between mind and matter? No, sir, ignorance has run away.

When you concentrate at the spot there is understanding, and ignorance has been banned. Now, if we continue to concentrate on the spot, will ignorance spring back up again? Yes, you see, you have to establish understanding in this way. You have found it now; don't allow it to escape again. Can you again suddenly be overpowered by delusion if your understanding keeps growing moment by moment? Throughout the film there seems to be an emphasis of stressing that the teaching fits in with the rather different traditions of U Ba Khin and S N Goenka, and that they were closely connected, and so we see rare photos and footage of these teachers also.

Women lay their hair out for Webu Sayadaw to walk on, a blessing custom in Myanmar. The nose is a prominent part of the body. The out-breath and the in-breath are always touching the nostrils. The nostrils are the sensitive part of the nose which the out-breaths and the in-breaths touch as they come out or go in. In other words, the wind element or element of motion comes into contact with the nostrils, producing a sensation.

Be mindful of the nostrils. One knows the sensation of breathing in. One knows the sensation of breathing out. Keep on knowing the in-breath and the out-breath and there will be no chance for lobha, dosa, and moha greed, hatred, and ignorance to arise. The fires of lobha, dosa, and moha remain extinguished and the result is calm and peace of mind. One cannot know the sensation before contact is made.

One can no longer know the sensation when the contact has disappeared. One must take notice of the actual contact.

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