Following is a talk given by Ajahn Suchart Abhijito. He is one of the living Arahant disciples of Ajahn Maha Boowa:
If we continually contemplate on the truth of the three characteristics of existence such as anicca (impermanence), dukkha (stress) and anatt (not-self), we would not dare to cling to anything or wish for things to be as we would like them to be, but instead we’d let them be as they are and will be, and be ready to see them depart even if they are our possessions.
If we could really do it, then we wouldn’t be consumed by pain and sorrow because we have pañña(wisdom) and vipassana (insight) to eliminate the kilesa from our mind leaving it peaceful, content and blissful. We’d have achieved the supreme bliss that the Buddha had pointed out to us by declaring that the happiness of this world can never equal or surpass the supreme bliss that arises out of a mind permanently subdued by the total removal of the kilesa from the mind.
The bliss that results from the development of samdhi (concentration) is not this supreme bliss because of its temporary nature. Once the mind emerges from this samdhi, the kilesa which were also subdued by the power of samdhi would also emerge to wreak havoc on the mind again, which is not the same as the supreme bliss that results from the work of pañña(wisdom) that has completely eradicated the kilesa from the mind, not allowing them to ever return again, like the minds of the Buddha and his Noble disciples.
If we truly aspire to this supreme bliss, we must develop both samdhi and pañña. Do not be content with just samdhi because it’s like a piece of rock sitting on a patch of grass preventing the grass from growing. But when the rock is removed the grass would eventually grow again, because it was not uprooted, just like the kilesa, which can’t be uprooted by samdhi alone. We need pañña (wisdom) or vipassana(insight) to do the job.
Therefore after we have developed samdhi we must then turn to the development of paññaor vipassanaa by continually contemplating on the characteristics of all conditioned phenomena such as the five khandha or the five physical and mental components of our existence namely, rupa (body), vedna (feeling), saññ (memory or perception), sankhara (thought), and viñña (sensory awareness) as being impermanent, stressful and not-self.
By continually contemplating on these three characteristics of conditioned phenomena pañña(wisdom) would gradually transform from conceptual to practical. Conceptual wisdom is contemplation of the truth while practical wisdom is the application of the truth in our daily life like when we get sick and become anxious. We must let go of our attachment to the body if we want to eliminate our anxiety. We should always be vigilant by constantly developing paññaand vipassana after we emerge from samdhi.
After contemplating for a while, the mind gets tired. We must then return to samdhi for a rest, after having rested we would then do more contemplation. This is the way to develop samdhi and pañña - they go together like the left and right foot we use for walking, taking turns stepping. Don’t listen to those who say skip samdhi, develop pañña straight away, or those who say once you have developed samadhi, pañña would automatically appear.
These views are not correct. In fact both of them have to be cultivated and developed, one at a time alternatively. They perform different duties. Samadhi is for resting and recharging the mental energy, while pañña is like a knife for cutting our attachment to things that agitate and vex the mind.
We must watch what we are getting into in our practice. If we are devoting all our time to samadhi even after we have already mastered it, we should turn to developing pañña or vipassana by contemplating on the three characteristics of all conditioned phenomena such as our body, feeling, memory, thought and sensory awareness. But if we are engaging entirely in contemplating without the support of samadhi, we could become more deluded by our contemplation, by thinking that we have become enlightened when no such thing has actually occurred.
We should therefore rest and recharge the mind from time to time to keep it in balance. Samadhi and pañña are interdependent; they support and assist each other. Cultivating both would make our journey toward nibbana smooth and trouble-free.
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