Validación de estructura de costos

The four requisites34 _{which accrue to the monastery in varying quanti-}

ties from time to time are shared out so that they go to every Bhikkhu and

Sāmaṇera in the monastery. Excepting only when there are too few things to

go all round in which case they are given to those who are in the most need. When more of such things are given on a later occasion they are then distrib- uted after considering who has the greater need and who the lesser and then giving to the former first, but also attempting to distribute some to each of them, according to how much of each requisite each one has.

When someone gives things of various kinds, the Elder (Thera) who is the head Bhikkhu must call the Bhikkhus to come and arrange the things and dis- tribute them to everyone including the Sāmaṇeras with a heart of friendliness

(mettā), as if they were truly his own children. For his love and compassion for

the Bhikkhus and Sāmaṇeras as well as his attitude and conduct towards them is the same as that of parents for their children. Except in so far as he does

33. A rains retreat for three lunar months approximately between July and October. Again, Vassa means the number of Vassa (1 Vassa is approximately equal to 1 year) one has been ordained.

not act in the “ways of the world” as parents do who sometimes tease and play with them, but he accords with the usual ways in which love and compassion take place in the Buddhist religion.

The head Bhikkhu considers that he has an important responsibility and duty which he should never neglect, this being to watch and take note of the behaviour and the characters of the Bhikkhus and Sāmaṇeras who he is looking after, and to advise, teach, admonish and scold them. Although the Bhikkhus and Sāmaṇeras under the Ācariya may be very afraid of him, yet they also respect him greatly, love him much and have a lot of faith in him. At the same time, the Ācariya also has mettā for them and he loves and guards them well.

If any one does anything wrong he must be told so, reproved, taught and well scolded without any fear or favour, because both sides are very close to each other and they look on themselves as being virtually one and the same — a unity, which cannot be separated. Because of this, looking after such a group is easy, because both sides are based on Dhamma.

But if anyone does anything wrong intentionally it is considered by those who practise the way to be a serious matter. For even though the fault may be small it makes the Ācariya and the rest of his followers lose confidence in that person, and it is only after he has been sent away from them that they can regain calm and happiness. That the Bhikkhus show such a dislike of one who does wrong things deliberately is in accordance with Dhamma. Because it is the way of people, that when they deliberately do wrong things of little importance it is sure to be only the prelude to wrong doing of great impor- tance in the future. So when they “cut out the tree that has caught fire, while the fire is still small” they are doing the right thing, (sāmīci–kamma) which we should agree with.

As was written in Venerable Ajaan Mun’s biography, they generally had meetings to listen to and receive training once every seven days in the Vassa pe- riod. But on other days, those who had any doubts could go and ask Venerable Ajaan about them when there was a suitable opportunity and he was free.

While staying at the Vihāra, some of the Bhikkhus would look for a suitable place in the forest, outside the monastery, where they could walk caṅkama and sit in samādhi bhāvanā as they felt like it, both in the day time and at night. After the end of the Vassa period, many of them liked to go out far away from the monastery and find a place where they could hang their umbrella tents and where it was suitable for the work of self-development. But when it was

time for sweeping the paths and clearings in the monastery (each afternoon) and for doing other routine functions of various kinds, including going on the alms round (piṇḍapāta) and eating food, they would normally come and join in with the others.

These Bhikkhus did not fix their times for walking caṅkama and sitting in

samādhi bhāvanā, for as soon as they were free they just started doing it; and

they never had any fixed routine of walking or sitting nor did they determine for how long they would go on working. Some of them sometimes walked from dusk to dawn whereas at other times they may walk from between two to seven hours.

In doing the sitting practice, one who is new to it can sit for about one hour and then gradually increase the time as he gains more skill and ability of heart (citta). But those who have become used to sitting can do so for a long time, and the more the citta has the ground of samādhi, or wisdom, the longer can they sit. Each time they may sit for between three and eight hours and sometimes all night; but walking caṅkama or sitting in samādhi bhāvanā for three to five hours is considered normal by those who are used to it and do it regularly. There are no aches, pains, tiredness or stiffness, because their walking or sitting is done entirely for the development of the citta and their interest is in this task and not in being anxious about various aches and pains in the body. Therefore bodily feeling does not bother them as it would when sitting normally, not doing bhāvanā.

For those Bhikkhus in whom the ground of the citta is at a high level as far as samādhi is concerned, as soon as they have entered into the practice of meditation enough for the citta to drop down into a concentrated state, they can rest there undisturbed for many hours before rising out of it. When this happens, feeling (vedanā) is not able to disturb them, and as long as the citta does not rise up out of this state, feeling does not arise. Therefore, the walking or sitting of someone who has a ground or basis of citta is very different from that of someone who still has no ground. Even in the same individual there is a great contrast between his walking caṅkama and sitting in samādhi when his

citta still has no ground in Dhamma at all, and when his citta has such a ground.

Thus for example, when one is new to the training, to walk or sit for as much as one hour is very hard, but as soon as the citta has a ground in Dhamma, one is not troubled by painful feeling even after walking or sitting for many hours. This shows us quite clearly that what matters most is associated with

the heart rather than the body. And again, when the weather is pleasantly cool, or when a light rain is falling and the body feels comfortable and the citta is quite clear, as soon as one starts doing one’s meditation practice one finds that the citta tends to be different from its usual state both as regards samādhi and wisdom. For the citta can quickly go down and rest there for a long time before rising out of it, and when the citta has completely come out there are no aches or pains in the body at all. Therefore the heart is the important one in the human being.

When these Bhikkhus strove for self-development they did so truly with full commitment to the work of doing this one duty without getting themselves involved in anything else. Their striving therefore went on continuously with causes and results taking place consistently and steadily. The way in which their hearts developed thus became more clear for them to see every time. If this was in samādhi they would know clearly that the citta was able to go deeply into a very subtle state. If it was in the direction of wisdom (paññā), they knew clearly that they had the skilfulness every time that they became involved in any of these “things”35 _{(ārammaṇa) which are the means of develop-}

ing investigation (vicāra). So the heart gradually emerges and rises out of the “boiling swamp” composed of the various kilesas like the sun arising from the ground (the horizon) to spread its light over the world.

These are the results which make all those who practise the way en- grossed in their striving so that they forget whether it is day or night, what day month or year it is, and they forget time and how many hours or minutes have passed because they are just not interested enough to think about them. But the things which they pay close attention to all the time are their strivings with mindfulness and wisdom which will bring victory closer to them all the time they go on striving. For they see freedom from dukkha becoming more and more apparent in the heart which is being opened up. In other words, the various kilesas which cover it up are being removed by mindfulness and wisdom unceasingly. Whether sitting, walking, standing or lying down, all the time it is being opened up, the only exception being while asleep. But as soon as they wake up they start the process of opening up the heart by removing the kilesas from it. This is the nature of their work which is truly as important as their own lives.

35. “Things” refers to the Paññā Kammaṭṭhānā, including such things as: anicca, dukkha,

allthOse ācarIyaswhOhaveDONethepractIce, both those of the past and

those who are still living, must have been strong and persistent and they must have experienced a lot of suffering and difficulty due to the training and the ascetic practices, in a similar way, before they were able to become

Ācariyas teaching other people. Therefore, those who intend and hope to reach

Dhamma, in a manner like those Ācariyas who have experience and who reveal it for others to hear, should not do the practice of “jumping the queue” and doing as they please in the way that people in the world do things expediently to get results. One ought to know that Dhamma is very different from the world, and if those who practise do not follow the path and pattern of teaching along which the Ācariyas lead them, but just do what they think is convenient and easy or quick and, as they say, “jumping the queue” and taking up some modern, up-to-date Dhamma which grows in their hearts, there is no hope for them. Because Dhamma does not adapt to ancient or modern times, for “Dhamma”

is just “Dhamma”, and the “World” is just the “World” and they have always been thus and they do not change and adapt. The practice of Dhamma therefore, should go the way of enacting those causes which are appropriate and suitable. The results which they should rightly hope for will then be able to arise.

But distorting Dhamma to suit their desires or fancies without any thought of looking to see whether it is appropriate or not is the same as the practice of “jumping the queue”, and the results which they are anxious to attain will be out of line, like a broken queue, or the wrong way round, and useless. Then they will be sorry and assume that although they did the practice until they almost died they did not get results as they should and it would be better not to do any practice at all. The word, “better”, and not doing the practice because of their false understanding, will then become a poison which burns them for a long time, thus becoming a doubly compounded fault. This is nothing but the way to destroy themselves entirely, due to going the easy way and taking short cuts as one likes and doing the practice in the manner of “jumping the queue”.

Therefore I ask you please to take note of and to keep in mind that Dhamma is of such a nature that it has definite laws in regard to both its causes and results. If then, one is going to practise Dhamma in the hope of gaining value and the highest blessings (siri–maṅgala) from it, one should take good note of the methods of practice, without thinking of acquiring or doing anything which is characterised by an underlying distortion in the sphere of practice.

This includes such things as come from the conceit of being an up to date, modern man who wants to spread his views loudly and wants to be the motive force in a reform, all of which leads in the wrong direction.

Those of the greatest wisdom practised and gained experience to begin with, and then chose what was suitable, rejecting what was unsuitable with penetrating wisdom, before they revealed Dhamma to others in the name of the “Svākkhāta Dhamma” (The Rightly Taught Dhamma), which is right and complete and always suitable in all ages. So that in whatever place and age, the Dhamma is entirely acceptable and complete in word and meaning. From this we can understand that the Dhamma is already complete and entire, both in its causal aspect and the ensuing results and it is fit to be followed and practised without any doubt and uncertainty. The results that come from this practice are always a steadily increasing happiness and all one hopes for, from the level of the Dhamma of virtuous behaviour (Kalyāṇa–Dhamma) upwards to the levels of Ariya Dhamma. Or, if we speak in terms of the class of people who get these results, it includes the virtuous person (kalyāṇajana) and the noble person (ariyajana) going up through the various levels to the Arahant

(Arahatta–puggala) and there is nothing lacking on the path of the virtue which

arises from the “Middle Way” (majjhima) of practice.

Those who have practised the “Middle Way” in accordance with the principles of Dhamma have always pointed out that it consists of sīla,

samādhi and paññā. In other words, whenever one should have sīla (moral

behaviour), one should pay attention to sīla; whenever one should have

samādhi — calm of heart — one should pay attention to doing the samādhi

practice so as to arouse it; and whenever one should have paññā (wisdom) one should develop paññā so that it arises. But one must neither promote exclusively, nor reject any one of these three and thus spoiling it, for this would be to reject and spoil oneself, because sīla, samādhi and paññā are Dhamma treasures which are interrelated with each other.

Those who practise the way should pay equal attention to sīla, samādhi and

paññā and whenever it is appropriate to develop any of these Dhammas they

should do so. For they are not things which should be rejected or chosen just as one feels inclined, which would be a wrong interpretation of Dhamma. These three factors are not three piles of treasure all having value in the same way, like silver, gold and the finest diamonds, so that one may just choose

this one and reject that one. But because sīla, samādhi and paññā are Dhamma qualities which are linked to the practice of those who need these Dhamma qualities, they should practise in such a way that they may be brought into action in a harmonious manner as and when there is need for either sīla, or

samādhi or paññā respectively. In other words, “sīla” is the ground of someone

who maintains sīla to look after himself all the time, whereas “samādhi” and

“paññā” should be practised in whatever way suits his ability so that they may

grow in strength, for they are a pair which help each other so that neither of them may be deficient in any way. The way of practice in connection with these two Dhammas is as follows:

If samādhi has not yet been achieved at all, one should try to attain it by way of a “preparatory meditation” (parikamma–bhāvanā),36_{or by any}

other method which both suits one’s temperament and is able to cause

samādhi to arise. But if one already has some ability with samādhi, one

should also develop insight wisdom (vipassanā–paññā) when one has the chance to do so after the citta rises out of samādhi and it has sufficient strength for it.

In doing that investigation with paññā, one should analyse the elements (dhātu) and khandhas, such as the body (rūpa–khandha), breaking it apart and investigat- ing its nature, going through it forwards and backwards, in and out, again and again while keeping to the way of seeing the loathsomeness of it all, or the way of seeing it all as the “Ti–lakkhaṇa” (anicca, dukkha, anattā), until one becomes skilled and proficient at doing so. After this one rests the citta in samādhi in the way that one has been accustomed to doing so. In this way, samādhi and

paññā may be practised in an evenly balanced way without doing too little of

that Dhamma and too much of this one. Because both samādhi and paññā are Dhammas which help the citta to develop steadily without any deterioration or slackening. Therefore one who practises the way should pay attention to both of them in an even, balanced way, from the beginning to the end of his training and practice for reaching the Path, Fruition and Nibbāna.

Neither sīla, samādhi, nor paññā are Dhammas that are out of date nor past their time, but in fact, they are Dhammas which are always suitable and appro- priate in every era, every age. They are always unlimited by time (anantakāla)