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NOTE: The following features talks by Ven. Acariya Maha Bowa, from the book "Straight from the Heart," (Thailand, 1987), reprinted with permissions outlined in the book. In these talks, as in Thai usage in general, the words 'heart' and 'mind' are used interchangeably.
By Ven. Acariya Maha Boowa THE VENERABLE ACARIYA MUN taught that all hearts have the same language. No matter what one's language or nationality, the heart has nothing but simple awareness, which is why he said that all hearts have the same language. When a thought arises, we understand it, but when we put it into words, it has to become this or that language, so that we don't really understand one another. The feelings within the heart, though, are the same for everyone. This is why the Dhamma fits the heart perfectly, because the Dhamma isn't any particular language. The Dhamma is the language of the heart. The Dhamma resides with the heart. Pleasure and pain reside with the heart. The acts which create pleasure and pain are thought up by the heart. The heart is what knows the results which appear as pleasure and pain; and the heart is burdened with the outcome of its own thoughts. This is why the heart and the Dhamma fit perfectly. No matter what our language or nationality, we can all understand the Dhamma because the heart and the Dhamma are a natural pair. The heart forms the core within the body. It's the core, the substance, the primary essence within the body. It's the basic foundation. The conditions which arise from the mind, such as thought-formations, appear and vanish, again and again. Here I'm referring to the rippling of the mind. When the mind ripples, that's the formation of a thought. Labels, which deal with conjecturing, memorizing and recognizing, are termed sanna; short thoughts are sankhara. In other words, when a thought forms--'blip'--that's a sankhara. Sanna refers to labeling and recognizing. Vinnana refers to the act of taking note when anything external comes and makes contact with the senses, as when visible forms make contact with the eye and cognition results. All of these things are constantly arising and vanishing of their own accord, and so the Buddha called them khandas. Each 'heap' or 'group' is called a khanda. These five heaps of khandas are constantly arising and vanishing all the time. Even arahants have these same conditions--just like ordinary people everywhere--the only difference being that the arahants' khandas are khandas pure and simple, without any defilements giving them orders, making them do this or think that. Instead, their khandas think out of their own free nature, with nothing forcing them to think this or that, unlike the minds of ordinary people in general. PAGE TWO: The only skull worth knocking
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