Luang Por Liem: The Ways of the Peaceful - Wat Pah Nanachat

Dhamma; we are prejudiced. If one sees things from an angle
without preconceptions, one can see the way things really are. An
example is our living together: if we look at the physical features
of people, or the conditions of their bodies, everybody is different.
There are big and small people. The colour of the skin is not the
same. There are many differences all the way up to people’s
voices and the languages they use for communication. In these
aspects, each individual is unique, but if we see things in the light
of Dhamma, in terms of form, elements and aggregates –
everybody is the same. We chant this in the “five subjects for
frequent recollection”: we all age, become sick and become
separated when we die – all the same for everyone.
From this point of view, the feeling of being especially close
to certain persons won’t arise. We see everybody in the same way.
Actually, everybody is our relative in terms of nature, or
concerning our true situation, the saccadhamma, the truth of the
reality of life. If we can manage to realise this aspect of nature, we
will be possessed of a mind that isn’t prone to seeing others with
perceptions of being better, worse, or on the same level. The term
for these biased perceptions is mana, conceit. The Buddha wanted
us to observe what kind of form mana takes. Thinking “I’m not
like this or that person” will eventually lead to seeing others as
either good or bad. It will lead to accepting or resenting them.
When such mind states arise, we need to put things in the right
perspective, a perspective that is based on saccadhamma, the truth
of reality in its universal scope. From this angle, states of mind
that are free from aversion, where we neither denigrate nor praise
others, will come about naturally. We see others as part of nature,
as perfectly right and appropriate. The Buddha called this the
attitude of somebody who has Right View. It is the mind state of a
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