79. Meditation
By Luang Pu Thate Desaraṅsī
January 3, 1984
Practicing meditation strengthens the mind, and it also makes the body healthy and robust. Even if we don't wish for health or don't mind whether we are healthy or not, it happens on its own.
The body is a receptacle for all kinds of suffering. Wanting to live long, wanting a long lifespan—that's just wanting suffering, isn't it? Eighty years, ninety years, one hundred years—the longer the lifespan, the longer the suffering. People are so desirous of suffering. That's why it's better for us to practice meditation instead. Train the mind in meditation so that our mental health improves. As for the body, we don't cling to it. When we sit down, it may ache, throb, or feel various pains—no need to worry or get involved with it. Just let the mind remain still. When the mind becomes calm, the body will become still on its own. When the mind lets go of the body, there is no perception of "this is lying down" or "this is such and such"—nothing appears. Only the mind alone appears. That is the mind having abandoned the body. Then it becomes truly at ease and happy.
The benefits of meditation are numerous and vast. First, you must be able to meditate; then you will gradually understand. If you don't practice yourself, no matter how much others explain, you won't truly know. You must see for yourself firsthand before you can know and understand. For example, if you have never sat before, the first time you sit, it will inevitably hurt and ache in various ways. But after you keep practicing sitting meditation until you see the peace and happiness—whether from sitting, standing, or walking—when the mind completely lets go of everything related to the body and attains supreme stillness, you will come to love it and want to do it. At first, you have to force and resist. Once meditation becomes established, then there's no need to force—the mind wants to do it, it becomes diligent on its own.
Meditation is the training of this very mind. There's no need to do anything else—just train and cultivate this single mind. From time immemorial, the mind has never been trained. If we don't train and cultivate it, it will never attain concentration. And no one else can do it for you. Unlike other things—material things, like farming, gardening, or various kinds of work—others can do them for you. But meditation, no one else can do it for you. Only by doing it yourself will you succeed. And you see it for yourself; others do not see it.
Therefore, it is said that meditation—if you say it's difficult, it's difficult; if you say it's easy, it's easy. What is difficult is that our mind wants to become concentrated. "How can I achieve concentration?" Then we struggle and strive in various ways, and as a result, it becomes even less concentrated. That is called difficult. What is easy is this: not wanting anything, not desiring anything, letting go, being neutral, not getting involved in various matters and stories. Then it remains on its own. Just take the mind. When the mind lets go of various objects, it becomes still and concentrated. It doesn't think or intend to become concentrated, but it happens by itself. That is what is called easy.
Therefore, meditation is finding a method to catch hold of the mind. The mind is the thinker, the rememberer, the fabricator of all sorts of things. It doesn't stay still. When it's not still, it becomes agitated, restless, and distressed. All of those things are just the mind. It scatters and wanders everywhere. If we see the drawbacks, we let go of all that is chaotic—everything. "We don't want it anymore." Let it be as it will. When we let go of everything, what else remains? Only the mind remains. It becomes still in one place. There is only stillness. That is knowing—or you could call it the knowing element, or the one who knows. That is called reaching our true self, having protected our true self. Our true self is with itself. That is when we see the "true self"—which is the knowing element itself. Once you reach that point, then whatever anyone does, whatever anyone thinks, whatever anyone says—it no longer affects you. Whether people are good or bad, right or wrong, it doesn't affect you. Nothing matters. When you reach that point, you don't look at anyone else. You take only your own self.
Train to achieve this repeatedly. This is called making our mind strong and mature, making our mind become old and wise. Then there will be no more issues. No worries or entanglements of any kind. It remains still and neutral. When you attain concentration, it all ceases on its own. Money, wealth, possessions—all of them are completely absent there. Only the one who knows remains, alone, not thinking, not pondering. The ultimate goal of Buddhism is right there. Don't go looking elsewhere. When you see that point, there is nowhere left to go.
Therefore, not thinking, not remembering, not fabricating, not concocting—that itself is the end of the world. Fabricating and concocting are worldly matters. Thinking and remembering are worldly matters. Not thinking, not remembering, not fabricating, not concocting, yet knowing, being still—that is transcendent. That is called lokuttara (supramundane). Once you can do that, what more could you want beyond that?
Alright, let's practice meditation.