20. Maintain Your Position Fully and Completely

By Luang Pu Thate Desaraṅsī

January 6, 1985

Practitioners should not aim too high. Just aim for this: in the Dhamma-Vinaya that we must practice, must observe, must keep within the bounds of this Dhamma-Vinaya—that is sufficient for now. That is, as monks and novices, maintain your position fully and completely first. Do not aim beyond that. When this is full and complete, then faith, satisfaction, devotion, and delight will arise in your own duties and conduct, staying within the bounds of the Dhamma-Vinaya. Just that much for now.

Laymen and laywomen are the same. If they practice within the bounds of laypeople, not exceeding the bounds, not transgressing the bounds, and not falling short of being complete laypeople in their own duties, then that is called complete. In this Dhamma-Vinaya, laymen, laywomen, monks, and novices each maintain their own duties to be fully and completely perfect in every way. This is called nurturing Buddhism, honoring Buddhism, allowing it to grow and prosper sufficiently. Do not aim beyond that. Especially monks and novices who think that practicing more strictly or more highly than laypeople will make them better—that is a misunderstanding. Sometimes laymen and laywomen who practice their own duties completely and perfectly, with firm confidence, may attain purity or even the paths, fruits, and Nibbāna before monks. If we monks are lax, we might not reach them.

Therefore, it is said: if you aim and desire beyond the bounds, but do not maintain your own goodness, virtue, faith, and confidence fully and completely, then that desire exceeds the bounds. Thus it is called not being able to maintain your position. When you cannot maintain your position, then as you reflect and practice, you become lax and discouraged. You do not see your own virtues and goodness, so you become discouraged and lax, your faith declines, and it yields no results or benefits.

If you maintain your faith firmly, fully, and completely at any time, then those little things—the very things you practice—they are indeed small things. But when they are completely perfect in every way, fully complete in every way, they yield benefits and bring about greater completeness.

For example: if we do our small daily duties and small practices without faith, devotion, satisfaction, or delight, they become useless. But when we are satisfied, devoted, and delighted, when our mind is full and complete, and we see the duties we do as our own duties in Buddhism—seeing that we have ordained in Buddhism and this is our responsibility—then we are content, delighted, fully devoted. That becomes a great benefit, capable of purifying our mind and making it fully complete.

All the small duties and practices taught in Buddhism are beneficial. For example, eating food—the Buddha taught us to reflect on paṭisaṅkhā yoniso (wise reflection on the purpose of food) or yathāpaccayaṁ (reflection on the proper use of requisites), to see it as merely elements, etc. For someone who sees it as merely elements, that is not easy or shallow. But if one does not see it as elements, then we consume food as merely elements to nourish the body—not eating for indulgence, not eating to make the body perfectly strong, but just eating enough to maintain the elements firmly, to preserve Buddhism, to practice the religion steadfastly—that is sufficient.

What is so excellent or wonderful about elements? They are merely elements—not self, not belonging to a self, not a being, not a person, nothing at all. Merely elements. To see all of that as merely elements—that is something wonderful and excellent. It can free one from intoxication and delusion regarding that food. That is a high level—and that is already good. No need to seek distant paths, fruits, or Nibbāna. This very thing is the path, fruit, and Nibbāna. This very thing leads to the path, fruit, and Nibbāna. Because of this very thing—if you reflect until you reach it, you will reach it. If you don't reflect enough to reach it, you'll never reach it. No matter what you bring to reflect upon, you won't get it. But if you reach it, then everything is reached. Therefore it is said that it is not coarse. The very same thing—coarse or refined—if you practice correctly, it all becomes refined. If you practice incorrectly, it becomes coarse, and everything degenerates. Even good things degenerate and yield no benefit for yourself. When practicing Buddhism, you must know how to practice like this. Maintain it like this, and it will be stable.