Most Venerable Bhante Walpola Piyananda's 80th Birthday Celebrating - Collected Essays

What we call “mind” is a flow or stream of thoughts which rise
and vanish repeatedly, leaving no gap. Rise and vanish together with
mind–unit of this process consists of a number of mental characteristics
which rise and vanish together. Every mind-unit arises depending on
an object; there is no mind-unit arising without dependence on some
object:visible objects, sounds, odors, flavors, tangibles and ideas.
There are six kinds of objects depending on which mind-units arise in
the mind-stream.
If we examine how our thought arises and vanishes, we find
our mind is wandering and straying. This mind is scattered, not unified
or fixed on one object. The Buddha said in the Dhammapada (#34),
“As a fish when pulled out of the water and cast on land throbs and
quivers, even so is this mind agitated.”
During the Buddha’s first visit to Kapilavattu Prince Nanda
was admitted to the order of monks. Although Nanda had taken up
Bhikkhuhood he could still hear his fiancée Janapadakalyani saying to
him “O my dear come back to me soon.” This is what he imagined.
Nanda tried to run away from the monastery. The Buddha, knowing
the distress of Bhikkhu Nanda, explained to him, “When the house is
protected with a well-thatched roof, it is not at all harmed by the rain.
The rainwater cannot seep through. In the same way, a well cultivated
mind does not allow passion to come through.” The rain represents
thoughts and the well-thatched roof is a disciplined mind.
According to the Buddha there are four kinds of food. The
physical organism craves food (kabalinkahara); it needs food to
survive. The second kind of food (phassahara); craving for contact.
The Buddha referred to this contact with regards to the five senses.
The third kind of food (manosancetasikahara) is the mind craving for
thoughts. It needs thoughts to keep it busy, to keep control and to create
things. The fourth kind of food (vinnaahara); this is consciousness
craving for the false “I” concept.
If we are not mindful, craving for thoughts can feed our mind
toxic narratives. We can get negative thoughts which are unwholesome.
Some thoughts may even become a major source of anxiety and stress.
That is why the Buddha asked us to feed ourselves with right thoughts
which are wholesome. “Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall
into the mind to take root there produces its own blossoming action
sooner or later to bear its own harvest of opportunity and circumstance.
Good thoughts bear good fruit; bad thoughts, bad fruit.” [“As a Man
Thinketh” p. 12]
The Buddha said, “Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is
their chief; they are all mind-wrought. If with an impure mind a person
speaks or acts, suffering follows…If with a pure mind a person speaks
or acts, happiness follows…” [Dhammapada v.1 & 2]
About the Author
Ven. Walpola Piyananda, “Bhante”, is the founder, president
and abbot of Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara in Los Angeles, California.
Born in 1943, in the village of Walpola, Bhante was ordained as a
novice monk at the age of 12. He gave up his lay given and family
names, taking his village name Walpola and given the Buddhist name
Piyananda, meaning “pleasant joy.” Assuming the name of his village
as his new “surname,” in accordance with Sri Lankan tradition, it
showed he now belonged not just to his biological family, but to his
entire village, the broadest level of organization in a traditional rural
society.
Bhante received full ordination as a monk, bhikkhu, in 1970,
and after completing his education in Sri Lanka, with a B.A. Honors
from Kaleniya University, he continued his studies in India, getting
an M.A. from Calcutta University. He then came to the U.S. in 1976
for further studies. He received a second M.A. from Northwestern
University in Chicago in 1980, and in 1985 completed the requirements
for a Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles. He received
a Ph.D. from the College of Buddhist Studies, Los Angeles, in 1997.
Bhante is president of the Buddhist Sangha Council of Southern
California and the Chief Sangha Nayaka Thera in America. He was
also advisor to the President of Sri Lanka on International Religious
Affairs. He has provided many services for Southeast Asian refugees
in L.A., and was Buddhist Chaplain for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic
Games. In 2012, he received the title of Aggamaha Pandita from
the government of Myanmar for his work spreading Buddhism. He
currently teaches Dhamma and meditation at Dharma Vijaya Buddhist
Vihara, one of the oldest Theravada temples in the U.S.
A frequent speaker on Buddhist issues in the U.S. and around
the world, he is also the author of numerous articles and books
in English and his native Sinhala. In 1990 he published Love in
Buddhism and Buddha Vandana, in 2001 he published Saffron Days
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