51. Marvelous Things

By Luang Pu Thate Desaraṅsī

April 1, 1988

Contemplating kammaṭṭhāna requires a foundation. The word "kamma" means action, and "ṭhāna" means foundation or basis. Making it a foundation is called kammaṭṭhāna. Where is the foundation of kammaṭṭhāna? It is none other than this very body. Make it the principle, the foundation; make it the basis, the source of benefit. If we practice kammaṭṭhāna without establishing a foundation, we remain confused and restless, reaping no benefit. No matter how many years we practice, we stay the same, gaining nothing at all.

The body is the foundation of kammaṭṭhāna, the foundation of all things. It is the foundation of a charnel ground of rotting corpses, the foundation of a cemetery of foul dead, the foundation of loathsome impurities, the foundation of all kammaṭṭhānas. Everything emerges from this body. As for it being the foundation of a charnel ground of rotting corpses – that refers to all kinds of creatures, large and small, such as ducks, chickens, shrimp, shellfish, etc., that gather and are buried here. This very place can be called a cemetery of foul dead. Each day we bury many, many of them here. Therefore we should contemplate the danger: this body is a gathering place for the rotting corpses of all creatures. We fear only external things, only external ghosts, but we are not afraid of the ghosts within. We hug and embrace rotting corpses every single day. We are born as a cemetery of foul dead. If we contemplate this and see it clearly, it should arouse a sense of spiritual urgency within us. If we see it with absolute clarity, that sense of urgency will cause the mind to gather and unify. But if we just see it as seeing, it will not unify. We may contemplate on and on, but if the mind does not feel urgency, it will not unify.

There are many kinds of kammaṭṭhāna that the masters have taught – this subject, that subject: lustful temperaments, hateful temperaments, deluded temperaments, Buddha-type temperaments, and so on, many different matters. We think that one is not good, another is not good; this one doesn't suit our disposition, that one doesn't suit – and so we become messy and scattered. In truth, every one of them is good. For instance, our body is a gathering place for all rotting corpses, all assembled here. If we can truly and earnestly contemplate them and unify into this point, then we will see the rotting corpses within our own body. Then what will there be to cling to? There is only that which inspires urgency.

There is nothing to contemplate in terms of Dhamma apart from this body. Just think about it. Contemplating foulness – you contemplate this body. Contemplating mindfulness of death – you contemplate this body. Seeing clearly into this body. Contemplating the four foundations of mindfulness, the five aggregates, the six sense bases, mindfulness of breathing – all of it comes down to this body. So where else would you go looking apart from this body? There is nowhere. If you keep searching outside, you won't see anything. But if you earnestly and truly contemplate just this one thing, it all unifies right here. All Dhammas gather right here. The masters' teachings may be expansive and detailed – for example, the five aggregates, but in essence there are only two: form and mind. What we call the five aggregates, when we analyze them further, become the six sense bases, the twelve sense bases, and when they contact, that becomes contact, the six contacts, then feeling, and so on, spreading out widely. So we forget the original principle – we forget that it all comes from the body.

Whatever you contemplate, keep it within the principle: the body and the mind. Do not go beyond that. Wherever you contemplate, contemplate there, but do not forget the principle: body and mind. Keep to the principle, do not forget it. If you forget that principle, then as you contemplate you will become increasingly scattered and endless. The Buddha taught unification, not dispersion. You may contemplate many varied things, but then unify them into the body and mind. All defilements arise from body and mind. If there were only the body, there would be no defilements. If there were only the mind, it wouldn't be apparent how defilements could occur. It is the combination of body and mind that makes defilements manifest. Greed, hatred, and delusion manifest. Lust, aversion, and delusion manifest. Therefore the masters say that defilements do not escape from body and mind.

What is the mind like? What is the body like? Know them in every posture – standing, walking, sitting, lying down. We seek within the body and mind for the end, the stopping point, the resting place of the Buddha's teaching. Thus it is said that the Buddha's teaching has an endpoint, enabling the attainment of path, fruit, and Nibbāna. Other religions or sciences teach without end, without a stopping point; therefore they do not attain path, fruit, and Nibbāna. The Buddha taught extensively but without forgetting the principle – unify into the body and mind. When Dhamma arises, it arises right here. The extensive, detailed teachings are for the sake of following the defilements, which are endless. Therefore he taught to unify into the body and mind. Body and mind then unify into the mind alone. The mind is one. The mind is the middle – the middle of all things. No defilements, no non-defilements, no merit or demerit, no results, no good or bad – all are abandoned. It rests right in that middle. That cannot be put into words. There is something, but it cannot be spoken. You must see that very thing. You don't know what it is – no one can say it – but it exists. It can be seen with one's own mind.

All Buddhas and all disciples have seen clearly right there. The Buddha had confidence in his own heart. The disciples had confidence in his Dhamma that this is something marvelous, a miraculous Dhamma – a Dhamma that never before existed has come to exist in the world. It arose in him, it arose in the disciples themselves. Those who are such know the marvelous thing in their own hearts. Therefore they can confirm: "We have attained path, fruit, and Nibbāna." If that marvelous thing did not arise, what would there be in this world? It's like ordinary knowledge from research – knowledge arises, and thus a marvelous thing arises. Understanding arises: "This is certain, this is correct." No one in the world could teach it, no one could know it like this. Therefore the Buddha is said to be the Perfectly Self-Awakened One who arose in the world.

We are distracted and infatuated with other things, so we remain deluded and do not see the real thing. Seek the real thing – that is the mind itself. Seek the neutral point, the middle of all things. Practitioners must act according to their own dispositions. Knowing this and that, many different and strange things – all of it is just the mind concocting. That is not the real thing. The true real thing is constant, unchanging. It does not go knowing other things. It knows in a constant, unwavering way – clear and vivid, marvelous within the mind. That is called the real thing. But no one can put it into words. That's enough.