60. Seeing Defilements as Good
By Luang Pu Thate Desaraṅsī
August 27, 1988
Because one doesn't see the heat, one remains entirely within that heat, mistaking it for coolness. One mistakes defilements for their opposite — as comfortable, as good. "Heat" here refers to the heat of passion (rāga), of aversion (dosa), of delusion (moha) — heat from the very beginning to the very end. This is called heat.
When the eye sees a beautiful, pleasing form, and lust and delight arise — how is it hot? When desire, delight, and satisfaction arise — how is it hot? Consider this: why is it called hot?
Because that love, that lust, that passion, that delight, that satisfaction, that enjoyment — none of it is in a normal, balanced state. If a person's mind is normal and balanced, it is neutral — neither hot nor cold. That is being normal. But this is turmoil — filled with love, anger, delusion, delight, and craving. That is why it is called hot. Yet people do not see that heat. On the contrary, they see it as good. They want beautiful forms, pleasant sounds, good smells and tastes that please them, soft tactile objects, and mental objects that are enjoyable. They mistake these for good. Beautiful forms are mistaken for good, mistaken for coolness, mistaken for pleasing. Because they are pleasing, they are considered cool.
Because people do not see their own defilements — that delight and displeasure, satisfaction and dissatisfaction are all defilements — the Lord Buddha investigated and realized: "Ah, this is what causes human beings and worldly beings to become deluded and confused in various ways, seeing bad things as good, seeing defilements as pleasing." Then it becomes extremely difficult to escape this world. He saw that all human beings run about within that very boundary, unable to go beyond, because they keep circling around and dare not cross over.
Regarding these defilements: all of us live within this heat. That is called hell (naraka). Why can hell-beings still exist? It is exactly this. They exist because they take delight in it. Only when the heat becomes unbearable — when it is completely full — do they cease to exist. That is called "fully heated." For example, seeing a form like this — liking it, being pleased with it — wherever it is, one wants to go. Hearing news of it, one wants to go see it. With sounds, the same: hearing that a pleasant sound exists somewhere, one wants to listen. No matter how near or far, one makes the effort to go, just to let the mind sink into it, not allowing it to rise above it. That is how hell-beings exist.
If you try to teach hell-beings, they don't understand. Teaching them that it's hot — they don't get it. Similarly, if we humans are taught that something is harmful, we don't get it either. It's the same as with hell-beings. No matter how much you teach, they don't understand. No matter how much you teach, they don't realize it's hot, that it's bad. Instead, they keep seeing it as good, plunging deeper and deeper. That is why it's called "human hell." Humans themselves are hell-beings. "Naraka" comes from "na-ra-ka," meaning "person," but we spell it as "hell." In truth, it is we human beings — we have forgotten.
Everything, no matter what, cannot be understood through words. Words don't get through. When shown that something is wrong, they don't see it as wrong. They see it as good and pleasing, so they end up not listening or understanding. That is hell within oneself — within all of us, in all these surroundings. Don't think you've escaped hell yet. Only when you make the mind free from hell, making it always neutral — not leaning forward, backward, left, or right, not toward past or future — when it becomes neutral, what is there then? One can escape hell. Even if not for long, just a moment, a single instant of escaping hell is good. Remember that.
But some people, even when they escape hell, don't realize they've escaped because they lack understanding and wisdom. They want to run back into hell to feel comfortable again. For example, someone meditates and stays still, then thinks, "I have no wisdom, I'm stupid." They struggle and flail about, seeking thoughts and chattering — that feels comfortable to them. This has been human nature for so long. That state of calm, of neutrality, of being aware and mindful — they have never had it, never been it, never attained it. So when they reach that point, they don't know where to go. They go looking for trouble again, and it just gets bigger and bigger.
A path never traveled, a place never encountered — when someone arrives there, that's how it is. One must observe how much happiness and ease there is in that non-turmoil. We have trained and practiced from the beginning, long ago — purifying, clearing away, abandoning evil, doing good step by step — in order to reach neutrality. But when we actually reach neutrality, we misunderstand it as not real, not good, and run back to find turmoil again. So it never ends, never finishes.
Try everything — whether internal or external, Dhamma or worldly — there is a stopping point, a place to stop, an end. People who farm, garden, trade — they have a stopping point. Rice farmers harvest and finish. Gardeners harvest, store in the barn, and finish. Traders, likewise, after trading, finish that work. That is called "enough." When you stop, it's there. If someone never stops, they never have enough. Travel is the same. No matter how far we go, there must be a place to stop. Look at airplanes — even flying in the sky, they have a place to land. If they never stop, they never reach a final destination.
The Dhamma is the same. We contemplate everything. When there's nowhere left to go, it settles into impermanence (anicca), suffering (dukkha), not-self (anattā). Then it stops. It stops as concentration (samādhi), or as life-continuum (bhavaṅga), or as absorption (jhāna), or enters into fixed attainment (appanā). It must stop to reach the end. The end of samādhi is appanā samādhi. The end of jhāna is appanā jhāna. The end of insight wisdom (vipassanā) is anicca, dukkha, anattā. When there's nowhere to go, it's finished, completely finished. That's the final end. Only when it settles.
Everything must have an end — both internal and external things. If there is no end, the path is wrong. You can observe that a correct path must have a stopping point, an end. It remains still and neutral. As I have often said: that which is neutral does not lean forward or backward, does not lean left or right. It is not affected by anything. When it is neutral, that's the end of all impacts. Just being aware and neutral — that is the final end of meditation practice.