I am not sure about other people, but for myself to get into deep meditation (a complete quiet mind) is not easy. If I can keep my mind silent for more than 30 minutes, I will be over joy. I have asked many people who have practised meditation for at least more than three years. They all said their mind is still chattering inside. I attended a 10 days meditation retreat in 2014. It took me three to four days to calm my mind down to a minimum level of noise. If you have never tried meditating then you won’t know how nosy it is inside our mind. We are constantly talking to ourselves without us knowing it. That is why we are tired; we are stressed; one minute we are happy; next minute we are sad. We spend a vast amount of energy in self-chattering. We constantly torture ourselves with all the past events; we grasp on the present moments and we dream the future. It is quite interesting to observe these thoughts arise and pass away in our mind. Although during the retreat we have taught not to react to these thoughts but at the end of the day we are still exhausted.
In my recent Thien Bat Nha I course, I have learnt a technique to use two words: “Don’t talk”. These two words are similar to an order. When I said “Don’t talk” in my mind, I could get a complete silence quicker than I use the breathing technique. After I practised for couple of days, I have improved the time to keep my mind silence. If I continuously practise in this way then I have the ability to order my brain when I need it to be silence. It is like a trigger. When I want it to be silence then it ought to be silence.
These two words are as the password to open our purest awareness (the wordless cognitive awareness area) in our brain. Why do we want to achieve this? This helps us to reach the realization of Nibbana (Atakkāvacara).
Since birth till now, we have been taught how to label all things that we have contacted. When we are brought into this world, straight away we receive a name from our parents. They have already labelled us in such a way. We have been taught this is our mother, father, sister, food, tree, flower, etc.etc. We see things not as what they are but as what we have defined them in our world. We contact the world through our eyes, ears, nose, tongue and our skins. Through these senses we see not what we truly see; we hear not what we truly hear; we feel not what we truly feel; we cognise not what we cognise. Instead we contact with the world subjectively. This is how we brought up and we have forgotten how to look at the world around us objectively.
For example during Thien Can Ban, we had congee for lunch. When we see a bowl of congee, straight away in our mind we will say: “How come this congee is so loose. After we have this congee, we might go to toilet many times.” So we label this is a loose congee and will make us go to toilet. We have not even eaten this bowl of congee but in our chattering mind we have concluded this loose congee will make us go to the toilet. In this way how can we see the true nature of this bowl of congee?
This reminds me Bhikkhu Dae In’s talk at Shravasti the Korean temple. He actually wanted to point out to us the truth of nature. He used a flower as an example. He said we have named this is a rose, an orchid, a lily and so on. But have these flowers said they are roses, orchid, lily and so forth. Have they said they are yellow, red or white? Have they said they are big or small? All these names that we have given to the world around us are so limited and yet we think we are always right. Because of these labelling and differentiation we have conflicts therefore we cannot see the true nature of these flowers. We like roses and dislike lilies base on our subjective chattering mind. Bhikkhu Dae In also said Silence is the best Dharma.
At that time I thought Silence gives us the opportunity to reflect upon ourselves in a serene and silent tone. I can now understand further what he meant by this after attended the Bat Nha I Thien course conducted by Ni Su Triet Nhu. This silence is to give up labelling. This silence in our mind is a MUST for us to be able to see the world in an objective way - without prejudgement, bias and preference. Silence means no self-dialogue inside our mind. Ni Su Triet Nhu gave talk on Bāhiya Sutta: “In reference to the seen, there will be only the seen. In reference to the heard, only the heard. In reference to the sensed, only the sensed. In reference to the cognized, only the cognized. That is how you should train yourself. When for you there will be only the seen in reference to the seen, only the heard in reference to the heard, only the sensed in reference to the sensed, only the cognized in reference to the cognized, then, Bāhiya, there is no you in connection with that. When there is no you in connection with that, there is no you there. When there is no you there, you are neither here nor yonder nor between the two. This, just this, is the end of stress.” (translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
If we can see ‘This, just this’ then we have seen the truth nature of the phenomena. If we can see ourselves as ‘this, just this’ (as such) in our purest awareness then we have seen the truth nature of us. The truth nature of the phenomena and the truth nature of us are one. ‘This, just this’ has no beginning and ending, nor it has less or more, nor it is impure or pure. It is everywhere. That is why Buddha taught us to practise to see the insight of things as they are (Yathābhūtaṃ), not as what we want them to be then we can experience the truth of nature.
