Inner Strength - Access to Insight

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have a sense of our own good and bad actions—‘kammassako’mhi’—and we won’tneed to go pinning our hopes on other people any more.To create this sort of mainstay, we have to develop five qualities—conviction,persistence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment— which are called bala,or strengths, that will help give us the strength of mind to stride toward thegood. All five of these qualities can be gathered under the headings of virtue,concentration, and discernment. Conviction comes under virtue; persistence,mindfulness, and concentration come under concentration; and discernment isdiscernment.To have conviction is tantamount to having wealth. Virtue is like a white cloththat enwraps the body and makes it beautiful, just as the petals of a lotus enwrapthe scent of its pollen. Virtue is the act of abandoning that cuts away evil andcorruption from our deeds so that our deeds will be honest and upright. This isvirtue, but it’s not the ultimate good. When our body has virtue, our mind needsrectitude to go with it.Persistence means diligence, determination, perseverance, being audaciousand unrelenting in what we do, so as to be strong in progressing toward what isgood.Mindfulness means care and restraint to make sure that our thoughts, words,and deeds don’t go off the mark; being conscious of good and evil so that ourbehavior doesn’t fall into ways that are bad and unwise.Concentration means keeping the mind firmly centered in a single object—thedirect path (ek›yana-magga)—not letting it tip, lean, or waver under the influenceof its preoccupations, whether good or bad, past or future; keeping the mindhonest and upright.All three of these qualities form the rectitude of the mind that abstains fromthoughts of sensuality, ill-will, and harm. This is termed the resolve ofrenunciation (nekkhamma-saºkappo): The mind isn’t pleased or displeased withsensual moods or sensual objects, whether good or bad. This is a mind goneforth from the home life. Whether or not we ordain, whether we live at home orin a monastery, we’re classed as having gone forth.The next quality, which the Buddha classed as the highest good, isdiscernment. Once we have virtue and concentration, discernment will arisefrom the mind in the first, second, third, and fourth levels of jh›na. This is thelight of discernment that enables us to see the Dhamma both within us andwithout. We can see ourself from both sides. We can see that the aspect that takesbirth, takes birth; and that there is also an aspect that doesn’t take birth. Theaspect that ages, ages; and there is also an aspect that doesn’t age. The aspectthat’s ill, is ill; and there is also an aspect that isn’t ill. The aspect that dies, dies;and the aspect that doesn’t die, doesn’t die. This is change-of-lineage knowledge(gotarabhÒ-ñ›˚a), which sees both sides, like having two eyes. Whichever side welook at, we can see, but we aren’t stuck on either side. We simply know things inline with their nature as fabrications, that they have to take birth, age, grow ill,and die. These four facts have made arahants of the many people who havecontemplated them and seen their true nature clearly to the point of workingfree from unawareness.7
8The nature of the body is that it flows in one direction—toward decay—butthe mind won’t flow along with it. The mind is sure to progress in line with itsstrength. Whoever has a lot of strength will go far. Whoever gets stuck on birthwill have to take birth. Whoever gets stuck on aging will have to age. Whoevergets stuck on illness will have to be ill. Whoever gets stuck on dying will have todie. But whoever isn’t stuck on birth, aging, illness, and death is bound for a statethat doesn’t take birth, doesn’t age, doesn’t grow ill, and doesn’t die.When we can do this, we’re said to have found a hunk of noble wealth inbirth, aging, illness, and death. We needn’t fear poverty. Even though the bodymay age, our mind doesn’t age. If the body is going to grow ill and die, let itgrow ill and die, but our mind doesn’t grow ill, our mind doesn’t die. The mindof an arahant is such that, even if someone were to break his head open, hismind wouldn’t be pained.* * *When the mind is involved with the world, it’s bound to meet with collisions;and once it collides, it will be shaken and roll back and forth, just as round stonesin a large pile roll back and forth. So no matter how good or bad other peoplemay be, we don’t store it up in our mind to give rise to feelings of like or dislike.Dismiss it completely as being their business and none of ours.* * *The five hindrances are five diseases that fasten on and eat into the mind,leaving it thin and famished. Whoever has concentration reaching deep into theheart will be able to kill off all five of these diseases. Such a person is sure to befull in body and mind—free from hunger, poverty and want—and won’t have togo asking for goodness from anyone.The results we’ll receive are: (1) We’ll make ourselves rich in noble wealth. (2)If the Buddha were still alive, he’d be sure to be pleased, just as a parent whosechild is wealthy and self-sufficient can stop being anxious and thus sleep in peace.To summarize: Worldly wealth is what fosters strength of body; noble wealthis what fosters strength of mind. So I ask that we all put this teaching intopractice, training ourselves and polishing our thoughts, words and deeds so thatthey’re worthy and pure, reaching the stage of noble wealth, which is the path tothe highest happiness:nibb›na.
Page 2 and 3: Inner Strength&Parting GiftsTalks b
Page 4 and 5: 3InnerStrength
Page 6 and 7: 5they reveal their true meanings on
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
Page 16: for instance, can’t jump up to cl
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
Page 33 and 34: 32the point where it flows evenly w
Page 35 and 36: air inside seems still, and yet the
Page 37 and 38: 36self-sufficient, the body is self
Page 39 and 40: 38When these five strengths appear
Page 41 and 42: 40This is called knowing the moment
Page 43 and 44: Once you can focus comfortably on t
Page 45 and 46: pervades every thread in the mantle
Page 47 and 48: whose minds are certain and sure, b
Page 49 and 50: people with only partial knowledge
Page 51 and 52: emedy it—keeping at it with our e
Page 53 and 54: 52Dhamma of study and practice with
Page 55 and 56: 54say. They can say ‘stress,’ b
Page 57 and 58: 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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