Achaan Naeb

Catching Fish With Your Hands

Born into the family of a Thai provincial governor, Achaan Naeb did not begin studying Buddhist psychology until she was 35. Twelve years later, she began teaching, and later under royal patronage she established Wat Sraket, a research and educational foundation in Bangkok. Wak Sraket is, in part, an island of quiet cool chambers and halls in the center of the modern city. A visitor may find himself instructed to sit comfortably. Then Achaan Naeb asks him not to move. Shortly, of course, he automatically begins to change positions. Wait, hold it! Why are you moving? Achaan Naeb points directly to the most obvious source of suffering, our own bodies. If we simply stay still and try not to move, eventually, the pain increases until we must change posture. Almost all of our actions throughout the day follow this same pattern. After waking we go to the bathroom to ease bladder pain. Then we eat to ease the hunger pain. Then we sit down to ease the pain of standing. Then we read or watch T.V. to distract us from the pain of our turbulent minds. Then we move again to ease another pain. Each movement or action is not done to bring about happiness but to ease the suffering that inevitably comes from being born with a body. Achaan Naeb asks that people look at the simple cause and effect of suffering in our daily lives and actions. Clear perception of this process is the direct entry to the happiness of the Buddha and the end of suffering.
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Advantages of Contemplating Suffering

When a monk sees six advantages, it should be enough for him to establish the perception of suffering in all formations, without exception. What six?

'Towards all formations a perception of revulsion will be preset in me, as towards a murderer with raised sword. My mind will emerge from all the world. I shall come to see the peace in Nibbana. The evil proclivities will come to be uprooted. I shall be one who has completed his task; and I shall have served the Master with loving-kindness.'

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Here is a list of Achaan Naeb's general instructions for vipassana practice:

1. When beginning vipassana, develop a thorough understanding of how all existence is composed only of mental states and matter.

2. The matter and mental states that concern you are those that occur in your own body. So to see their nature clearly, you must be aware of these moment to moment in the present.

3. Either mind states or matter should be the continual object of meditation, always those of the present moment. If feelings arise, examine these. If you lose track, don't worry. Simply start afresh on your examination of matter and mental states.

4. During practice the meditator must take care that the desire to see certain things or desire to develop certain insight is not aroused. He should simply watch his mind states and matter.

5. Don't try to examine both matter and mind states at the same time. Examine them separately, each in the present moment.

6. Stick to the four major postures: standing, sitting, walking, reclining. Avoid minor movements.

7. If it is necessary to change position, make sure to know the reason or cause for the movement before making it.

8. Use your ordinary postures and positions and examine the matter and mind states in each of your ordinary positions.

9. Try to be natural. Do not exaggerate slow walking and moving to speed up insight. This desire will block insight.

10. When practicing, don't do anything unnecessary: Don't speak more than required. Don't change postures until necessary. Don't eat, etc., until necessary.

11. Before you do anything, you must understand the necessary reason for the action. See how you are forced by suffering to do it.

12. Let go of the feeling that meditation is something special. It is not a time to acquire anything, but simply to examine the causes for our actions and the nature of our mind and body.

13. Do not try to attain any special mind states such as bliss or peacefulness through meditation.

14. The vipassana meditator must be like a spectator at a play. Don't try to direct the activity. Simply watch mindfully the constant flow of matter and mental states as they come into consciousness. This balanced state will lead to wisdom.

The Development of Insight

There are in Buddhism two methods of mental development. One is the development of insight (vipassana), and the other is the development of tranquility (samatha). The latter aims only at concentration, whereby the individual is constantly conscious of one object, and this concentration is directed along a single channel or one-pointedness until a serene tranquility is reached. This kind of mental development brings only tranquility, not an understanding of reality, nor of its cause and effect. The development of insight, on the other hand, calls for an understanding of form or matter, and mind or mental states. This understanding is the aim of vipassana.

The traditional objects through which concentration can be achieved, according to the development of tranquility, are forty in number, and cannot be used directly for the development of insight. These are the ten colors and elements, ten impurities, ten recollections, four sublime abodes, four boundless meditations, one reflection upon the loathsomeness of food, and the analysis of the four primary qualities, namely: solidity, cohesion, heat, and vibration. Any one of these may be taken as the meditation subject for the deveopment of tranquility.

Insight is wisdom which enables one to see that mental states and matter are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and impersonal. What we regard as "self' or "ego" or "soul" is a miscomprehension arising from a lack of knowledge of absolute truth. In reality a self is only a very rapid continuity of birth and decay of mental states and matter.

Considering the present object, which occurs in a split second, is like catching a fish in water. We think that we can catch a particular fish because we see it swimming in one place, so we stretch out our hand to catch it. But we fail to catch it because it slips off in another direction. It is the same in being mindful of the present object, since factors of attachment and aversion are always pushing the present existence aside. The present object is the most important factor of vipassana practice. We must know how to be mindful of present existence at all times. Whenever we are mindful of any object which occurs by itself, then that object is the present object. But most of the time we are not mindful of present existence. If this is the case, we are wasting our time during the practice. But if we realize that our mind has slipped away from the present object, we can then mindfully set the mind on the present object once more.

We should be mindful even while eating. We should consider the reason why we take food. It is indicated in Buddhist texts that we take food not because we want it, not because it is good, but rather because it is necessary to sustain the body. The Buddha also told why we want the body to live, which is to have sufficient strength to develop the path which leads to the end of all suffering.

It is necessary to have such consideration. Otherwise we will be unable to prevent defilements from arising. We must understand that we do not take food because it tastes good, but in order to cure pain and satisfy hunger. When we take food to satisfy hunger, even though the food is not good, it will satisfy the hunger. Suppose we take food for the sake of its flavor without further consideration. If it is not good, then aversion will occur. If it is good, then greed will occur. This would mean that we are taking the food to encourage either greed or aversion, which are defilements of mind. To eat without consideration is to create more cycles of birth and death, which is the endless continuation of suffering.

Therefore, when we are applying mindfulness as wo take food, we must understand the reason at each mouthful, so that we are eating solely for the purpose of being free from suffering. If attachment and aversion do not arise while we are taking food, then insight can occur. As soon as the practitioner has finished the meal, it may be possible to attain Enlightenment. This is truly possible, for it is known to have happened in the past.

When we take a bath, we must also understand this act as an action curing suffering. In our daily duties we should see the reasons for our actions. We should not put on clothing for the sake of beauty, thus we do not select this or that color. Instead, clothes are used to protect the body against cold and to keep insects from biting us. Whatever our actions may be, they are for the realization of Nibbana and the deliverance from suffering. When we have this kind of thorough understanding, the attachment to changing mental states and matter will become weaker and weaker.

Remember, we must realize what mental state it is, and what matter it is, and we must have this awareness at all times. All kinds of existence are nothing more than mental phenomena and matter. Nobody, no soul, no woman, no man really sits there. There is no one who stands, walks, or sleeps. No one is there who smells, sees, hears, etc. There is nobody who understands or knows these things.

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