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Observations on the Art of Meditation by Translated from the Thai This work may be freely copied, printed, and redistributed
* * * DharmaNet Edition 1994 This electronic edition is offered for free distribution
* * * DharmaNet Internationa
* * * Transcribed for DharmaNet by David Savage * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
K. Khao-suan-luang is the penname of Upasika Kee Nanayon
(1901-1978), one of the foremost women teachers of Dhamma in modern
Thailand. Following Thai tradition, she took her penname from the name
of the place where she lived: the forested hill in Rajburi province
where she had established a women's center for practicing Dhamma.
Although she did not allow men to reside in her center, both men and
women were welcome to visit on the weekly Observance days and listen
to her talks. Known for the simplicity of her way of life and the
direct, uncompromising style of her teaching, she had a way with words
evident not only in her talks but also in her poetry, which was widely
published.
Many of her talks were transcribed and printed for free
distribution. This present collection consists of a brief outline of
the practice that she wrote as an introduction to one of her early
books of talks, plus excerpts from her later talks that help flesh out
the outline.
Although this collection is too brief to serve as a complete
guide to the practice, my hope is that it will provide insight and
inspiration for all those who, in their search for freedom and
happiness, have begun looking inward to the subtleties of their own
minds. The translator
Those who practice the Dhamma should train themselves to
understand in the following stages:
The training that is easy to learn, gives immediate results, and
is suitable for every time, every place, for people of every age and
either sex, is to study in the school of this body -- a fathom
long, a cubit wide, and a span thick -- with its perceiving mind in
charge. This body has many things, ranging from the crude to the
subtle, that are well worth knowing.
The steps of the training:
These properties are unstable (inconstant), stressful, and full
of filth. If you look into them deeply, you will see that there's no
substance to them at all. They are simply impersonal conditions, with
nothing worth calling "me" or "mine." When you can clearly perceive
the body in these terms, you will be able to let go of any clinging or
attachment to it as an entity, your self, someone else, this or that.
a. Start out by brushing aside all external concerns and turn to
look inside at your own mind until you can know in what ways it is
clear or murky, calm or unsettled. The way to do this is to have
mindfulness and self-awareness in charge as you keep aware of the body
and mind, until you've trained the mind to stay firmly in a state of
normalcy.
b. Once the mind can stay in a state of normalcy, you will see
mental formations or preoccupations in their natural state of arising
and disbanding. The mind will be empty, neutral, and still -- neither
pleased nor displeased -- and will see physical and mental phenomena
as they arise and disband naturally, of their own accord.
c. When the knowledge that there is no self to any of these
things becomes thoroughly clear, you will meet with something that
lies further inside, beyond all suffering and stress, free from the
cycles of change -- deathless -- free from birth as well as death,
since all things that take birth must by nature age, grow ill, and
die.
d. When you see this truth clearly, the mind will be empty, not
holding onto anything. It won't even assume itself to be a mind or
anything at all. That is, it won't latch onto itself as being anything of
any sort. All that remains is a pure condition of Dhamma.
e. Those who see this pure condition of Dhamma in full clarity
are bound to grow disenchanted with the repeated sufferings of life.
When they know the truth of the world and the Dhamma throughout, they
will see the results clearly, right in the present, that there
exists that which lies beyond all suffering. They will know this
without having to ask or take it on faith from anyone, for the Dhamma
is paccattam, i.e., something really to be known for oneself.
Those who have see this truth within themselves will attest to it
always. K. Khao-suan-luang
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