Ayya Anandabodhi: Inner and Outer Knowing

So I've just been away, and I'll see Ananda and I, both were over in a set of us, they were also in Seattle. So we've just been away in Samish Island, on Samish Island to co-teach your retreat, with Ajahn Kovilo on inner and outer, it was both and, the inner, the outer and both, internal, external and both. And this is sort of a paradigm that we live in all the time. And it's also something that the Buddha points to, to get to know what this body is, and how it is to be here in this body. And then he goes through all different ways of looking at that. So the flesh and bones of the body and the body made up of earth, water, fire and air, and body breathing, all the breath. And then postures that we have, sitting, standing, walking, lying down. And then all the movements in between that. And the body goes through stages of decay after death. So all of those ways the Buddha points to the, our body, this body. And then he invites us to reflect, the body is like this inside here. It's like that outside there, all these other bodies and both. And likewise with feeling tone, like pleasant pain for the neutral, experience it here inside. And you can, you can't experience it outside yourself, probably. But you can see on people's expressions and so on that other people experience joy or pain or neutrality. So you're like, oh, inside it's like this here, it's like that there and both. And then the mind, different states of mind that you can see. Sometimes the mind's very spacious and open, peaceful. Sometimes it's heavy and weighed down or contracted. And then also sometimes the mind's kind of crazy, you know. And I remember many years ago being in a monastery and there was a young man who was had a very strong accent, Scottish accent. And there was a Thai woman also living at this monastery and she didn't speak any or very, very little English. And she had her strong Thai accent and then he had his strong Scottish accent and they couldn't understand each other. And this young guy was a little crazy, you know. And then at one point she said, him, you know, he's a little crazy. And then I was like, how do you know? Because you can't understand anything he's saying. And then she was like, well, you can just see it, you know, it's evident. And it's like, yeah, that's right. It is like that. So that can be internal, that can be external, it can be both. And that's not what we were aiming for, of course, to be crazy, but what you can see it. You can see it in the person, even if you don't know their culture or their language. Sometimes culture can make it this harder to tell. And then, yeah, then the contents of the mind. So the mood of the mind or the state of the mind and then the contents of the mind, whether they're wholesome or unwholesome. And this too, you can see to some degree, I mean, not obviously one can't, unless you can read somebody else's mind, you know, you can't see exactly what's going on. But you can see if somebody's, there are indications if somebody's mind is overwhelmed with greed or hatred or loving kindness or compassion. You know, you can see a certain degree of that. So there's this exploration, what's internal, what's external and both. And this practice is a very interesting practice to do as we do it, because we feel, you know, without that exploration, we just feel like this is me and I'm here and I am this. And there's not much doubt about that or sometimes there might be doubt about it. And then there's doubt, the hindrance of doubt. But it's, it's, there's this very strong sense of separate, separate self and separate otherness. And then they've gone out there. And so the Buddha is inviting us to explore that, not to say, no, no, that's not true, but to explore it. So there is this, it's true. There is this separate individual that was born, you know, as a separate being, just like all of you. And it goes through life as this individual person. But this individual person is also completely interrelated to everything else. We're co-arising with everything else in this universe. And this is something to explore, not just as a concept, but in actuality. So every breath actually, every breath is, is teaching that. Every meal, every drink, every visit to the bathroom, every interaction. And then how we're influenced by our environment. So even just today, you're going to be coming from outside, beautiful sunny day to inside. It's dark. It changes, it influences us. So this is going on all the time. And the Buddha is inviting us to pay attention to that. To how, partly how we're influenced by the outside, but also that we are part of everything. And so because of that, what we do with this life that we've been given, what we do with this process matters. And he points to, I don't have them here actually, but he points to several internal factors that are really important for guiding us on the path. And I think it's very easy to live, so like, well there's me here and then there's all of that out there, you know, relationships and environment and then the world, you know. And it's very easy to believe that that out there is the most important influence on our life. That all of those things out there are what make my life for good or not good. If I don't feel good inside it's because of them or that. So we can externalize a lot of our experience and then we become powerless actually because we're sort of blaming or relying on the external to make us feel whole or good. And the Buddha does point to a couple of things externally that matter that are really important on the path. And those two things are good friends, good friends and good companions and right resort is the way it's translated. So being in a place that supports a certain level of well-being and for wholesome states to arise. So right resort. So there are environments that maybe will are interested but they're just going to scramble your mind or they look like fun but you end up getting into trouble with such a character, whatever it might be. And so those two external things, good friends, which is very lovely and being in this supportive environment really matter. But then there are also internal things which are essential. So I can say some of them I don't remember all of them off by heart but heedfulness or being mindful, being present in a way is a key element to having well-being and to being aligned with the power. And heedlessness is a key element for suffering to arise. And arousing energy is another key element. Arousing energy for the practice for wholesome states, you know, for, could be in relationship, for listening, for generosity, patience. Or it can be more internal, you know, for arousing energy from meditation, for appreciating joy, you know, for outlifting the heart. And then laziness is what brings us down. Tricky one I find. And then wise attention. So why is it tending to things? This is what lifts us up and leads us on further on the path and then careless attention is where we get lost again. And trying to get the translation. Translation of Sanpa Janya. Clear comprehension, having a good sense of the context of things. So mindfulness with clear comprehension. So that's like having discernment and understanding of the context of what's going on at any, pretty much any moment as best we can. And this strengthens the path and strengthens our sense of wellbeing. And it stops a lot of chaos that could form if we weren't mindful in a way of our context and environment. And then not having this leads to greater more duke. And arousing energy to cultivate the wholesome, that is to uplift wholesome states that haven't yet been aroused and to maintain those. And to arouse energy to not stir up unwholesome states that haven't come up yet, but are waiting for our attention. And then if we have fallen into them to let them go, as best we can. So these are all internal practices we can do that align our life with the path and bring a sense of joy and wellbeing really. And I think one of the things that I can speak for myself and I get caught in again and again, is that the story of self. And then the story of the world, you know, and where they're going, where it's going, where it's all going. And that story, there are all kinds of ways we can tell those stories. But that story, it's always something in the future. And it's always got a sort of consistent, like there are no pauses in it as a story. But then when I remember mindfulness, mindfulness and clear comprehension, oh yeah, what's going on? Oh yeah, there's that story. What if I drop it and then just here with this and then open to what might want to arise now. And the story just stops for a moment and then it's like something fresh can arise in the present. Or if I remember, oh yeah, there are wholesome states and unwholesome states and if we pay attention, we can remember to drop that unwholesome or at least not feed the unwholesome and nourish the wholesome in the moment. And then it changes things. So these are some ways that we can align our life to the path and just bring greater happiness and well-being when we do this. And then so there's this internal and external, you know, on one hand there's one way of practices to just kind of let go of their perception of internal and external. And that can be very beautiful. And that allows the mind to open up and expand in a way that when we have a strong sense of separate self, it's much smaller. So the part of what we were touching into on this retreat was that the nature of the mind is unbounded. It doesn't have to have boundaries. So when you allow the mind to be unbounded in wholesome states, it gets really beautiful. And it doesn't mean it has to be, it has to go on forever, but you're just not putting boundaries on it. You're not holding it in, you're not making it smaller than it needs to be. And then so exploring the edges of the mind, if you can find any edges and then when you get to the edges just see, well, what's the other side of those edges? You might find, oh, it's just more mind, just more consciousness when it goes. So it's a kind of beautiful exploration. So that's one way. But then there's also this way of looking inward and seeing, you know, rather than looking outward at the problems are out there, looking inward at how can I change the way I'm attending? Am I attending to things in a way that's making things more difficult? And can I change that? And if so, how? And then to look around and see, you know, are there good friends around? And is this environment supportive, you know, good enough or even better than good enough? And if not, you know, how do I, you know, how do I realign my life so that those conditions are in the external? They don't have to be perfect. They won't be perfect. But we can find them, maybe not too far away.