63. That Which Unites
By Luang Pu Thate Desaraṅsī
October 10, 1988
Today I will give a Dhamma talk on "That Which Unites." All things must come together. The Dhamma is the same; worldly matters are the same. In worldly matters, if you can unify them, they become Dhamma. If you cannot unify them, they don't become Dhamma. Just like human beings: when we are born, we have to act. Whether by body, speech, or mind, we must act. Bodily actions are numerous and varied – these are called bodily karma (kāya-kamma): engaging in work and livelihood in all areas. That is action through the body. Verbal actions – we speak endlessly, non-stop, not knowing how many hundreds or thousands of words in a day. We never remember how many there are. This is called verbal karma (vacī-kamma). As for the mind, its thinking is even bigger; it has no end. Even while sleeping, we dream – dreams follow our thoughts, notions, and wanderings. Sitting, we wander; standing and walking, we wander. Sleeping, we wander even more than others. This is called mental karma (mano-kamma). It never stops and settles down. That is all worldly matters – things that cannot be unified.
But if you can unify them – the things we have done through the body in various ways: doing good, doing evil, doing coarse or refined actions, learning to choose and filter what we do, acting for our own benefit and for others' benefit, acting for happiness and comfort, or acting for harm and suffering – all these things can be unified, as in: "Ah! That is suffering; that is for my benefit and others' benefit; this is beneficial both in this life and the next." When they can be unified, that's the end of the matter. It stops right there. No need to think a lot. Just contemplate what is beneficial for yourself and for others.
Because we are born hoping for happiness – every one of us. What we do with the body is all for our own happiness, for our own benefit. Wanting to benefit others is not genuine. Contemplate carefully: it's all for your own benefit. For example, when people love their children and grandchildren, they love them for themselves – to give themselves happiness, to satisfy their own desires. That is called "self-benefit." Earning a living for others is also self-benefit: when others are happy and comfortable, the owner feels at ease – that too is for self-benefit. So it can be unified: all for one's own happiness alone. When you can unify it like this, that settles everything.
When it comes to speech – we talk all day and all night, even until dawn. Sometimes we repeat old words, sometimes we repeat them but forget – not knowing what we're saying, going around in circles. Why do we speak? To gain personal benefit as well. We speak in a hundred, a thousand ways for the sake of happiness, for the sake of our own desires and needs. We speak for self-benefit, speak to give ourselves comfort, speak harshly, speak to insult or belittle others so they feel uncomfortable – all to make ourselves feel good, to please ourselves. That is what we do, talking all day and all night. If you unify it, it's all for self-benefit.
The inner thoughts are the same – hundreds and thousands of them. Thinking and thinking, not knowing yourself, lost in delight, forgetting, never coming back to yourself. That too is for self-benefit – to satisfy your own desires.
Body, speech, and mind – if they are not unified, they become engrossed, infatuated, and intoxicated in various ways, hundreds and thousands of ways. That is worldly matters. But when you turn back and contemplate as described – when you unify them – they become Dhamma. Contemplating the world becomes Dhamma. It's nothing far away: it's simply the ability to unify. When you unify, it becomes Dhamma. Then it stops. You don't think about other things anymore. You are still, firmly established in that state.
We humans are born and must come to an end – that is, we must die. Every person born – there is no one who is born and does not die. Contemplate and contemplate: old age, decay, deterioration, changing step by step. Some become old and decrepit before dying; some, not yet old or decrepit, fall ill and die in mid-course. When you die, you leave all those things behind. All the many thoughts, many words, many deeds – they end at death, finish at death. When you contemplate and see this, you let go. The mind can settle down and become unified. We strive to unify it so that it reaches the Dhamma. Everything we say, everything we do, everything we think – when unified, it all comes down to death.
We maintain a neutral mind, a unified mind. We keep ourselves from being agitated and scattered. When we are peaceful in this life, while still alive, then when we die, we will be peaceful too. Learn to take care of yourself, to take care of your own happiness. Seek happiness. Know your own happiness by practicing in this way. Then you can be called a practitioner who saves oneself, who practices to find peace and stillness, free from agitation and scattering. You see all those things as aniccaṃ, dukkhaṃ, anattā – impermanent, suffering, not-self. The mind becomes unified into one. That's enough.