The Power of Abandoning ...

The Power of Abandoning

QUESTION  :  May I ask something more detail and deep?  What exactly is the state of mind that has the power of abandoning?  How to acquire that particular state of mind?  Can you please explain this to me in more specific and detailed manner.  How should I train my mind in order to acquire the power of abandoning?  I really do not have any idea.

You always tell us to do all our actions by using the mind power of abandoning.  How exactly to use this mind power of abandoning?  What are the methods to use this particular mind power of abandoning?  Please kindly elaborate .....

Sayadaw  :  Firstly, you have to learn to do 'abandoning' in your mind at all times.  You will attain the mind power of abandoning only when you start to do 'abandoning' in your mind continuously and diligently.

QUESTION  :  Do we need to abandon everything?

Sayadaw  :  It is not sufficient.  Your understanding of 'abandoning everything' can still be considered as mano kamma (action of the mind).  It also means that the mind is still doing habitual created action called 'doing'. 

Our actions and mindset of grasping everything (possessions), the understanding of nothing is permanent, we have to leave everything behind once we are gone, need to abandoning everything (possessions), etc, can be also considered as habitual created actions of mind.  Thus, you need to abandon those created actions from your mind.

The method to do is ... you need to do the single most important task of 'abandoning' in your mind diligently and continuously .  Your action of doing 'abandoning' in your mind is called doing the original action.  This can also be interpreted as 'abandoning your habitual created understandings' in your mind.

By understanding the action of 'abandoning' in your mind, you will automatically be able to abandon all your other habitual created actions such as doing, working, talking, coming, going, etc in your mind. 

So long as you are unable to abandon your habitual created actions in your mind, you can never be able to live without doing, working, talking, coming, going, etc.  You cannot live without doing those created actions just because you cannot abandon them in your mind.

The key point here is that you always need to remind yourself to use your mind only on the actions of 'abandoning' and doing nothing but 'abandoning' in your mind.

We habitually place central emphasis on created actions such as doing, working, talking, coming, going, etc.  We use our mind to do actions such as this, that, you, I, etc only.

In order to abandon these habitual created actions of mind, you have to change the focus of your mind only on the actions of 'abandoning' and use your mind for nothing but 'abandoning' purpose only. 

By doing so, you will gradually attain and possess the mind power of 'abandoning'.  Once you have acquired the mind power of 'abandoning', you will be able to do all your actions as 'doing-only' and 'experiencing-only'.

'Abandoning' does not actually mean abandoning of all your physical and oral actions. Doing 'abandoning' this way is the easiest way.

The essence is that 'abandoning' action must be started from the leader, your mind.  You need to learn to abandon your habitual created actions, such as I, you, my parents, my children, my husband, my wife, etc in your mind.

This is the reason why you need to continuously doing non-habitual mind actions of 'abandoning'.  By doing so, you will gradually be able to abandon all your habitual created actions in your mind.

You might find these tasks as difficult if you do now know how to do it. Once you know how to do it, you might not find them as difficult.

I now can say things so effortlessly like this and teach this method so confidently just because I successfully abandoned my past habitual created actions from my mind.

I might only be teaching dhamma by following the traditional methods of concentrate on breathing: inhaling and exhaling if I do not practice 'abandoning' in my mind.

By using the mind power of 'abandoning', I now can teach dhamma in a more effective,  comprehensive and exhaustive way and thus become expert in this field.

As for you, you will see and feel apparent results only when your mind contemplate on 'abandoning' while doing meditation.

Let us construct one scenario in our imagination ... Say supposing, when you are not well, you will not be able to do any of your routine actions. As such, you might probably resign to your fate and decide to contemplate only on dhamma,  and place understanding dhamma as your priority.  You put in your best effort to understand dhamma and thus you understand dhamma and attain insight wisdom as a valuable bonus out of your sickness.

If you can successfully construct the above scenario in your mind, it will not be that difficult for you to apply the above imagination in action.

As long as you are unable to even imagine the above scenario in your mind and as long as you cannot abandon habitual created actions of mind (doing this, doing that), you will forever need to do endless of created actions.

The key point here is that, as long as you can do 'abandoning' mentally, it will not be difficult for your to put them into action.

The truth is that it is not at all difficult for you to do 'abandoning' in your mind as long as you practice hard enough and use your mind freely.

As long as you practice hard enough and use your mind freely, it is possible for you to attain wide range of insight understandings and wisdoms.

Let us touch on the topic of  life and death situation.  Traditionally we only know how to protect ourselves from harms and dangers.  We have never once imagined or be able to mentally abandon our own life and bear the loss. In contrast, once you practice 'abandoning', you will gradually be able to abandon the grasping of your life mentally.

As long as you are doing good deeds continuously, you will gradually be able to abandon whatever you can 'abandon', be able to withstand all kinds of 'losses' and gain the ability to 'sacrifice' limitlessly.

Naturally, we are unable to even imagine doing those actions in our mind.  This is the reason why we are unable place those actions in practice.

Only if your mind can imagine and contemplate on those actions while practicing meditation, you will not be afraid or worried even over the perceived taboo topic 'death'.

This method is called 'widen up the scope of your mind limitlessly'.  In reality and by nature, mind can do anything and everything limitlessly.  You cannot do anything and everything in your mind just because you do not have any intention to do so.

Instead, you only want to do habitual and created actions like ... what to do, how to do, etc.  This is the sole reason why you always like to do usual actions, this and that.  Such created actions do not require the mind power of 'abandoning'.

Once you place central emphasis on understanding dhamma, you might not even have time to do other actions and therefore you do not have to do other created actions except from the action of trying to understand dhamma in your mind.

So long as you increase your momentum of doing good deeds and contemplating on the original truth, you will gradually be able to abandon all your created actions. 

As long as you know how to use your 'abandoning' mind power and as long as you know how to abandon them in your mind, you will not face any problem even when you need to do created actions.

The core problem now is that you keep on doing your habitual and created actions with grasping and attachment just because you are unable to abandon them in your mind ... you cannot live without earning, you cannot live without worrying, you cannot live without learning, you cannot live without working, etc. That is the reason why none of your actions become 'doing-only'.