พระอาจารย์อธิบายโอวาทหลวงปู่ที่ว่าความสุขในรูปเสียงกลิ่นรสสัมผัสเป็นเพียงสุขชั่วปรบมือกระพือปีกไก่ ความสุขที่แท้จริงอยู่ในทาน ศีล และภาวนา พร้อมอธิบายว่าบารมีทั้ง 10 ทัศคือเครื่องมือที่จะนำเราหลุดพ้นจากราคะและอวิชชาThe teacher explains the late great teacher's teaching that pleasure found in sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch is only "happiness as brief as a handclap or the flutter of a chicken's wing." True happiness lies in giving, virtue, and meditation, and the Ten Perfections are the tools that free us from lust and ignorance.
A student shared their late great teacher's teaching on " brief as a handclap" and asked the teacher to elaborate.
Happiness Found in Sights, Sounds, Smells, Tastes, and Touch Is Only as Brief as a Handclap or the Flutter of a Chicken's Wing
The teacher explained that our late great teacher taught: once born human, seek happiness in giving, in the of keeping body and speech blameless, and in meditation — for these are truly vast and great happiness. The wealth and possessions we accumulate belong to us only while we are alive; the moment the body breaks apart, they no longer belong to us at all. This human world is only a place we pass through, never truly our permanent home — it is instead a ground for building perfections: giving, virtue, renunciation, wisdom, effort, , truthfulness, resolve, , and equanimity. Once we understand this, we should let go of the smaller pleasures — the attachment to pleasing sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch that keeps us mired in the sensual realm. This is only a tiny happiness, happiness as brief as a handclap or the flutter of a chicken's wing.
Once we take on the human form — itself a realm for building merit and perfections — we instead become attached to lust and delight in sensual pleasures, falling into likes and dislikes, allowing unwholesome and neutral forces to dominate us, consuming nearly all our time and resources wastefully, and guiding us to create trouble for ourselves and others, generating unwholesome karma that must eventually be repaid through suffering.
The Tools That Come with the Human Body, and Checking Which Way Our Perfections Are Turning
What matters is that, having received the human form, we come equipped with tools: the spheres of virtue, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the and vision of liberation. We must use these tools to generate merit and benefit, by learning the training in virtue, concentration, and wisdom. Once the spheres of virtue, concentration, and wisdom are established, the sphere of liberation helps free us from unwholesome domination, and the sphere of the knowledge and vision of liberation carries us toward an ever more excellent life.
We should examine our Ten Perfections — giving, virtue, renunciation, wisdom, effort, patience, truthfulness, resolve, loving-kindness, and equanimity — to see whether they turn easily in the right direction or spin backward. If any perfection feels difficult, or we find ourselves doing the opposite, side has taken hold. Giving means being generous toward all beings — when we give luck to others, we become fortunate ourselves. Virtue means offering safety to others while aiming for our own . Renunciation means leaving sensuality behind through (). Wisdom means breaking free from through (vipassanā). Effort is the drive that comes from a clear vision. Patience is the endurance that breaks through obstacles, forging a stronger resolve each time. Truthfulness is reaching the truth by daring to face suffering directly. Resolve is the unwavering determination toward what is good. Loving-kindness is boundless goodwill that benefits both oneself and others. Equanimity is the balance of life that remains unshaken by whatever the three natures throw at us. As these perfections develop, they rise from ordinary perfections to higher perfections, and eventually to the ultimate perfections.
The World We Perceive Through the Senses Contains Only Lust and Ignorance
The teacher concluded that the world we perceive through eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind consists only of lust — delight in sensuality — and ignorance. Calm meditation helps release the craving bound up with our emotions; meditation frees us from the false guidance of the unwholesome and neutral natures rooted in ignorance. Once we understand this principle, we can abide within the cycle of existence without fear of suffering, able to benefit others and all beings, all the way to the ultimate end of the path.