พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าการบำเพ็ญตบะในช่วงต้นของการปฏิบัติคือการเจริญทุกขสัจ ต้องอาศัยขันติธรรมเป็นเกราะป้องกัน จึงจะฝ่าฟันด่านต่าง ๆ ไปถึงสัจจบารมีและพระนิพพานได้The teacher explains that practicing austerity in the early stages of meditation is what it means to develop the truth of suffering, which requires patience as armor to break through obstacle after obstacle toward the perfection of truthfulness and nibbana.
A lay follower asked: how does one develop, or cultivate, ?
Calm and Insight Must Always Be Practiced Together
The teacher explained that to develop , one first needs calm () as a foundation, clearing away so can follow. But the two must be practiced together continuously, from the very beginning all the way to the final goal — even while hindrances remain, insight is used alongside it to know things as they truly are. Calm leads to , freedom from im through the power of concentration; insight leads to liberation through wisdom, freedom from all wrong views.
The Truth of Suffering: The First Gate of Practice
The truth of suffering applies from the very outset of meditative development. After building the worldly foundation of life's blessings and finding a suitable teacher, the next stage is the practice of austerity (tapa). The reason austerity comes first is that, from childhood to adulthood, we have carried a heavy load of impurity never once cleared away — so the first attempt to clear it jolts us badly. Neither nor the neutral force gives way easily; even sitting for one to five minutes feels tormenting. Some people say they'll do anything at all except sit in meditation, because this practice of austerity is precisely the coarse, initial clearing of impurity. It requires () to fight through the suffering — this is the truth of suffering itself. The Buddha, knowing this, taught that suffering is simply a condition that must be endured and is hard to endure; it need only be acd, not wrestled with. As we hold that awareness, patience steps in alongside austerity. Austerity acts like armor, protecting us from that suffering turning into true torment — so that even though it must be endured and is hard to endure, it remains bearable.
Why the Unwholesome Keeps Obstructing Practitioners
When we think, speak, or act wrongly, the unwholesome stores up that impurity to use against us later — especially against those determined to practice, who face greater obstruction than those who show no interest in the at all. It's like gate after gate, each one a mass of accumulated demerit forming a wall of suffering — which is why Buddhism speaks of "going all the way to the end of the mass of suffering." Breaking free from one dimension into the next is never easy, because impurity is always there to obstruct. This is why great acts of merit are needed, drawn from the orious action — giving, precepts, meditation, humility, service to others, sharing of merit, rejoicing in others' merit, listening to and teaching the Dhamma, and straightening one's views — each making it easier to break through the particular obstacles at each stage. Someone who isn't practicing the Dhamma at all is actually worse off, because the unwholesome simply lets them drift along until the time comes to drag them straight down into the lower realms.
Patience and Austerity: The Armor Against Torment
Practicing austerity is thus a fight against the mass of suffering. One begins sitting for just two or three minutes, then gradually builds up to fifteen, twenty, thirty minutes, and beyond — each level bringing its own degree of suffering to face. Each day, only three forces compete for our time. If we consistently cooperate with side every day — waking to meditate, chanting, radiating , making a wish, then doing the same again in the evening — we come to hold that time permanently, continuously drawing in the energy of merit. But to expand that territory further, we must fight the forces currently holding those other hours — for instance, the times ordinarily claimed by desire or greed. Every such struggle brings suffering with it. But once we understand the principle of developing the truth of suffering, there's no need to fear pushing through it, because patience and austerity always come to our aid. During the struggle, if we can endure, patience forges new, stronger armor for us, letting us bear more — more tolerance toward sights, tastes, smells, sounds, touch, and mental objects, more endurance against craving and every unwholesome pull. But if patience runs out and we give up before reaching our goal — say, intending to sit for two hours but giving in to the unwholesome or neutral force's suggestion to stop just before the time is up — the process that was nearly complete goes unfinished, and the intended result isn't sealed, precisely because patience and austerity, which train the mind never to give up, were lacking.
The Truth of Suffering Leads to the Perfections of Patience and Truthfulness
Developing the truth of suffering and patience always go hand in hand. Ordinary people, upon meeting suffering, tend to flee or look away, but the noble ones face suffering head-on, gritting their teeth and pushing through. The armor won at one gate carries them through to the next. The deeper within oneself one goes, the larger each gate becomes, requiring one to climb, gate by gate, ever upward. Without developing the truth of suffering, this becomes nearly impossible — one simply stalls. Breaking through with patience leads to the perfection of truthfulness, a state of oneness with the knower of boundless power; the ultimate truth is nibbana itself. This is exactly why the unwholesome piles up impurity before we can reach that truth. But once truthfulness is reached, the next perfection is that of resolute wish — whatever one determines becomes accomplished. Anyone who wishes to break through to truthfulness must, therefore, first pass through the development of the truth of suffering.