Path to Enlightenment

by Pra Pramote Pamotecho (Santinan)

PREFACE

“Witee hang kuam roo jang”, or the Path to Enlightenment, in the teaching of Buddhism,
is to develop mindfulness. There is no alternative, second path.

The development of mindfulness, or awareness, is the most direct way to lead us away
from the world of illusion, or make-belief, which prevents us from understanding of the
real Truth. Once one can detach oneself from the world of illusion, one’s mind will
develop to a state in which it can understand the Absolute as it arises and falls, namely
Mind and Matter which represent all mental factors and Material nature. Only when one’s
mind has gained insight and is detached will one see this Absolute Truth.

The attainment of Ultimate Reality cannot be obtained through conditioning such as

To train one’s mind until it understands reality beyond conditioning, one must give up the
world of thoughts and illusion and confront oneself with the ever-present Absolute Truth
with an unbiased mind, without emotional attributes to all defilements, intense meditation,
or absent-mindedly letting thought processes take control. Such is the way to minimize
the flow of mental activities. And once this flow stops altogether, the real Truth will
manifest itself.

This development of mindfulness is something that we are not accustomed to. All our
lives we have not spent much time to really know ourselves and are lost in our own world
of thoughts and dreams. Therefore it is essential to begin to study and understand this
mind-conditioning and steadfastly train our minds.

This book is a collection of writings by a lay Buddhist named Mr. Pramote Santayakorn,
who used the pen names “Santinan” and “Upasokniranam”. All four chapters have the
same aim, which is to present a guideline for developing mindfulness, but vary in level of
understanding. Chapter 1, “For You The Newcomer: A Simple And Ordinary Story of
Dhamma” is for people who are new to Buddhism and are not familiar with Buddhist
terminology. Chapter 2, “A Brief Guideline for Practicing Dhamma” is an in-depth
explanation of the previous chapter. Chapter 3, “The Guide to Dhamma Practice by
Pra Rajwutajarn (Luangpu Dule Atulo)” is a method for practicing Dhamma that
Luangpu Dule taught one of his pupils. One point to note is Luangpu’s teaching varies
according to each student’s character. Chapter 4, “The Study of Citta: Meaning,
Method and Result of Dhamma Practice” gives an in-depth explanation so that both a
Dhamma practitioner and a person studying the Scriptures have the same
understanding.

May all true Buddhists understand the Path to Enlightenment, and let this true knowledge
bring us all to follow the Lord Buddha’s footsteps.

(1 November 2001)
 “For You The Newcomer:
A Simple And Ordinary Story of Dhamma”
by Santinan, August 31, 1999/ 14:07:29

It is difficult for us to see that Dhamma is simple and very ordinary.  This is because
the portrayal of religion, or of Dhamma as we know it, is less than ordinary no matter
how we look at it.  To begin with, the language used is full of Pali words, with so much
special terminology and technical terms.  Just understanding these terms is already a
challenge for anyone.
 
Once the terms are familiarized, there is another obstacle: there are so many volumes
of the Lord Buddha’s Teaching, and an over-abundance of interpretations by His
disciples.
 
Some people, once ready to start, are faced with yet another problem.  There are so
many of the meditation centers and all of them declare that their method conforms
most accurately to the Buddha’s teaching on the Foundations of Mindfulness.  Some
places are even scornful of others, saying other places deviate from the actual
Teachings.
 
All these problems are quite common, which lead me to question myself whether it is
possible to study Dhamma with ease, without having to learn the Pali vocabulary,
without having to read the scriptures, or without having to join a meditation center.
 
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Actually Dhamma as taught by our Lord Buddha is quite plain and simple, as we always
read of His disciples in the scriptures exclaiming “So explicitly clear my Lord!  Your
Sermon is like turning the right side up of an inverted object”.  This should not
come as a surprise because we are all born with Dhamma, live with Dhamma, and will
all die with Dhamma.  We just don’t realize where Dhamma is until the Lord Buddha
reveals to us with His Teachings, enabling us to follow them with ease.
 
Another point to note is that the Lord Buddha was a true genius.  He could make the
most complicated topic seem simple and easy to comprehend.  He could expound from
a simple phrase, without any language barrier, making His Teachings easily understood
by His pupils.
 
On the contrary, many followers in later years tend to turn Dhamma which is
omnipresent and ordinary into something so complicated, out of reach, impossible to
comprehend, and cannot be applied as a tool to end suffering.  Even the language used
in their teaching is too difficult for an ordinary person to understand.
 
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The truth is that Dhamma is all around, so close to us that we can actually say it is
about ourselves.  And it’s scope is simple - how to be free from suffering.
 
To study about Dhamma, we would just look directly into “where the suffering is, how
it arises, and how it ends”.  And the goal of this Dhamma study is to put an end to
suffering.  It is not about being well versed or skilled in the ability to explain Dhamma
in great detail.
 
The truth is suffering that we all experience lies within our body and mind.  The field of
study on Dhamma is actually in us.  Instead of searching for an outside source, we just
need to look inward at our own selves.  The procedure is simple, just observe our body
and mind closely.  To start with, let’s take note of our physical body carefully.
 
The first step is to relax.  Do not be tense, or think that we are about to practice
Dhamma, but just think that we are going to observe our own body.  It does not matter
how observant we are, just do it.
 
Once we are at ease, think of our whole body like we are watching a robot that can
walk, move, talk and process food into the body, and excrete waste out of the body.
 
If we can observe this robot, which is called “us”, perform this and that task, with us
merely being a neutral observer, we will eventually conclude that this body is not ours,
but merely an object that never stays still and is unstable.  Even the parts that make up
this robot changes constantly, with substances moving in and out all the time.  Some
examples are: breathing in and breathing out, eating food and excreting waste.  It is
something that is not permanent.  The incorrect belief that the body is “us” will
eventually fade, and we will see that there is something else that understands this
body, and is situated within this body.
 
Now that it is clear this body is just an element, impermanent and not ours, let’s
examine the something else that is hiding inside our body.  Let’s look in further detail
at our selves.
 
This something that’s hidden within us can easily be discerned.  They are feelings of
happiness, unhappiness, or indifference.  For example, when we observe this robot
moving around, soon it will ache, it will be hungry or thirsty, or it will feel other pains
coming at different intervals.  Once the suffering passes, we will feel happy
momentarily.  An example would be when we are thirsty, we become unhappy.  Once
we drink water this suffering from thirst goes away.  Another example would be when
we sit too long, we feel aches and pains, and the feeling of unhappiness arises.  Once
we re-adjust our body the pain goes away, and the suffering goes away, and we become
happy again.
 
Sometimes when we are sick, we can detect suffering for a longer period.  For example
when we have a toothache for several days, if we closely monitor the pain, we will
discover that the discomfort arises from somewhere between the tooth and the gum,
but that these objects themselves don’t give out pain.  The body is like a robot which
does not feel pain and suffering, but this discomfort appears to be from somewhere
inside the body.
 
We will clearly see that these feelings of happiness, suffering, and neutrality are not
part of the body, but something that can be felt and observed within the body, just like
the body itself.
 
From that, let’s study in more detail about ourselves.  Closely observe that when
suffering arises, our mind also feels the discomfort.  For example, when we are hungry
we get upset more easily, when we are tired we get angry more easily, when we have
fever we get agitated more easily, or when our desires are not fulfilled we get
disturbed more easily.  Let’s be readily aware of this anger that arises when we are
faced with suffering.
 
On the other hand, when we see beautiful sights, hear pleasant sounds, smell
wonderful flagrances, taste pleasing flavors, feel the touch of softness and the warmth
of a perfect temperature, not too hot or cold, think of pleasant thoughts, we will love
and be contented with such sights, sounds, fragrances, tastes, touches and thoughts. 
Our task is to be aware of these happy feelings that arise.  Once we can detect anger,
or affection, we can then understand other feelings as well.  Some examples are
doubtfulness, vengeance, torpor, jealousy, disdain, cheerfulness and tranquility of the
mind, etc.
 
Once we study further these feelings we will begin to realize that actually all feelings
are temporal.  For example when we are angry, and conscious of this anger, we will
detect that the intensity of this anger changes constantly, and eventually fades and
disappears.
 
At this point we can clearly see that our body is like a robot, and happiness, suffering,
and all other feelings are detached from it.  The more we understand the workings of
our minds, the more evident is the truth that suffering occurs only when there is a
cause.
 
We will find that there is an impulse, or force, within our mind.  For example when we
see a beautiful woman, our mind develops a liking towards her.  This will create an
impelling force towards that woman.  Our mind will in turn move forward towards that
woman, and forget about our own selves.
 
(About our mind moving from one place to another, a person studying the scriptures
may be a little perplexed.  But if he (or she) actually starts analyzing accordingly, he
will see that it can actually travel, exactly like what the Lord Buddha said about how
the mind can travel far.)
 
Or when we have doubts about how to practice Dhamma, we feel this impulsion that
will force us to find an answer.  Our mind will move into the world of thoughts.  That is
when we forget to be mindful about our body.  The robot is there, but we forget to
think about it, as if it has disappeared from this world.  There may be other feelings
inside, but we don’t know because our mind is set on trying to find an answer to the
problem at hand.
 
If we observe ourselves more and more, we will soon understand how suffering occurs,
how to be free from it, or how it feels to be without suffering.  Our mind will rectify
itself, without having to think about meditation, wisdom, or the Path leading to the
cessation of suffering.
 
We may not know much Buddhist vocabulary, or the Pali text, but our mind is free from
suffering, or the suffering is minimized, and temporal.
 
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I wrote this story for all beginners who want to study Dhamma, to reaffirm that
Dhamma is very ordinary because it’s about our selves.  We can learn without much
difficulty by ourselves.  So do not hesitate when you hear others talk about Dhamma
and you don’t fully understand what they are saying.  In fact, you do not need to know
anything, but just how to be free from suffering, as THAT is essentially the key for a
person to understanding Buddhism.