Inner Strength - Access to Insight

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5they reveal their true meanings only when related to the experience of thepractice. For the reader unfamiliar with these terms, I have provided a glossaryexplaining the more important ones at the end of the collection. The remainingterms can be adequately understood from their context or, if not, passed over asstylistic devices—of interest to people already acquainted with them, but by nomeans necessary for understanding the meaning of what is being said.I hope that these obstacles to eavesdropping on Ajaan Lee will not bedeterrent, for the talks included here are among those that I personally havefound most useful and inspiring my own practice, and my hope is that otherswill find them useful in theirs.≥h›nissaro Bhikkhu(Geoffrey DeGraff)Metta Forest MonasteryValley Ce n te r, CA 92082-1409 USA
6I. Inner WealthThe Last Sermon“On February 19, 1956, Khun Nai Thawngmuan Siasakun invited Phra Ajaan LeeDhammadharo to deliver a sermon for Khun Thao Satyanurak in Nekkhamma House, WatBoromnivas. This sermon—which Khun Thao Satya listened to quietly, with her handsfolded in respect as she lay on her sickbed—was the last sermon she ever heard. When itwas over, I approached her and said, ‘If you die, I’d like to jot down this sermon and haveit printed to distribute at your funeral.’ She smiled with her eyes, nodded slightly toshow her approval, and asked, ‘Can you remember it all?’ ‘Not all of it, ‘ I answered, ‘butat least some of it.’ So she reviewed a few of the points for me. She seemed delighted andmoved by the taste of the Dhamma all the while she spoke. Thus I have written out thissummary of what I can remember of the sermon.”namo tassa bhagavato arahato samm›-sambuddhassa.›yudo balado dhıro’ti.Now I will discuss a point from the Buddha’s teachings for you to listen tobriefly as a means of fostering strength of body and strength of mind. All of uslive in dependence on strength of body and strength of mind. Without these twothings, life couldn’t last.Strength of body, no matter how much we may foster it with the fournecessities and with worldly wealth, can’t help but waste away and vanish by itsvery nature. It can’t escape from aging, illness, and death. And for strength ofbody to exist, it needs help from strength of mind. But strength of mind doesn’tneed to depend on the four necessities or worldly wealth; and it doesn’t need todepend on strength of body at all. It can get along solely on ‘noble wealth.’ Sostrength of mind is more important than strength of body.People who don’t have enough strength of their own have to start out byhoping to depend on others until they reach the point where they can stand ontheir own. In depending on others, we have to be careful in choosing a goodmainstay, in line with the P›li phrase, asevan› ca b›l›naª, pa˚˜it›nañca sevan›: Wehave to choose good people to associate with. If we associate with wise peopleand sages, they’ll teach us to be good. If we associate with fools, we’ll suffer forit.So searching for a mainstay of this sort doesn’t rank as being really good,because it’s like shooting a bird: We might hit it on the wing or on the tail. If wereally want to be right on target, we have to depend on another sort ofmainstay: att› hi attano n›tho, we have to depend on ourselves. This sort ofmainstay the Lord Buddha praised as being the highest because it will teach us to
Page 2 and 3: Inner Strength&Parting GiftsTalks b
Page 4 and 5: 3InnerStrength
Page 8 and 9: have a sense of our own good and ba
Page 10 and 11: 9A Mind of Pure GoldJuly, 1958The m
Page 12 and 13: 11sunk in worldly matters, are stil
Page 14 and 15: 13not their owner will have you thr
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Page 20 and 21: say, or what our teachers tell us.
Page 22 and 23: 21II. Inner SkillThe ABC’s of the
Page 24 and 25: persons running: They’ll have a h
Page 27 and 28: 26warm the fires of digestion, just
Page 29 and 30: Stick with whichever way of breathi
Page 31 and 32: 30Observe & EvaluateJuly 24, 1956In
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Page 35 and 36: air inside seems still, and yet the
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56PartingGiftsIntroductionOnly in t
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as word of this gathering passed by
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We depend on our minds that are swi
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As for caulking the mind, that stan
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coarse breathing, you know. When it
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So, all of you who have gathered to
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comes out of ignorance. Goodness co
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merit. Now suppose that those thoug
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we can use to develop goodness with
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All four of these types of defileme
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76KnowledgeOctober 4, 1960Vijj›-c
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through not thinking. The first lev
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there’s too much evaluation, thou
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eally causing stress. These are nob
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84Wherever we go, people will be gl
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are the ones made of skin. The inne
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88ConsciousnessesIn all our activit
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Buddha tells us not to go joining i
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probably our enemies in past lives.
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consciousness is so slack and limp
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why we keep losing out to them. We
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98as, “That’s the consciousness
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100GlossaryI. TermsThe definitions
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102m›ra: The personification of d
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104sabbe satt› sad› hontuaver
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