In June 2015, shortly after the 2015 Retreat, Wat San Fran welcomed a visit from Phra Arjan Daeng, Assistant Abbott of Wat Pa Ban Koh and one of Laung Por Thoon’s esteemed students. I was fortunate to be at the Wat and receive a teaching from him advising me on how to practice. Here I will share a some of the notes I took from that teaching:

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You should sit and focus well, meditate everyday for 5-10 minutes and see how your mind and heart is. Extreme focus is necessary, without it you can’t do anything, you have to observe and see what your mind and heart does. When you are tired of thinking sit in Sammati, it will give focus and mindfulness, when you exit meditation focus your wisdom on the 3 Characteristics (impermanence, no self, suffering).You have a body (tangible) and a soul (intangible), you need to use mindfulness to touch your soul its like trying to trap a monkey in a cage.  Wisdom and focus must be used together.

Just recognize the emotions that arise when you see and hear. Its like a chain gang, a row of prisoners chained-up together, to become free you only need to untie the knot or break the chain closest to your own feet, not worry about all the chains tying up the whole gang. All the things in this world you are so obsessed with are not obsessed with you in return (I.e. objects don’t care about you at all) . And yet, we are so obsessed we will even kill for these objects. It is so silly to get so obsessed, if you try to fix this obsession beyond yourself, it will still be attached to your leg, that is why you need to fix it there.

There is no need to search outside ourselves, in books or scriptures, for knowledge when it is already in ourselves. Everything we need to know is contained in the body, soul and emotions. If you look inwards and study yourself, you will get it. Sometimes, through proper practice, teachings arise on their own. Contemplate this and through understanding happiness will occur.  *If you contemplate on your body according to the three characteristics there is no way to go wrong. Contemplate nothing really belongs to us. Use focus and concentration as a rest so you have the energy to contemplate how nothing really belongs to you. When you lose your stuff, you shouldn’t suffer too much. Whatever your addicted to, whatever you love, that is what you should think about according to the 3 Characteristics.  When you become addicted to things, that is when you suffer.

In sum:

• Use Sammati to build focus
• Think about my body according to the 3 Characteristics
• Think about my belongings according to the 3 Characteristics
• Realize that my belongings don’t feel pain and suffer, I do