The Creator


revised on 2019-12-02


Dhamma Talks by Mogok Sayadaw; (no date noted)

After you know how bad the mind is and will become disenchantment with it. Therefore let us contemplate the mind. The result of this khandha came from kamma. Could it be done by itself alone? You must ask me. Did it have any leader above him? The mind is controlling and governing on kamma.

Mind is the cause and kamma the result. Kamma is so strange and wonderful and the mind also. With the mind, in the future the result will arise. You’re following the path without ending. Does everyone have the same result? For example, body, face, etc. It’s not the same that there is something controlling it.

Kamma strangely making the construction and each one of us is not the same. Living beings fall into hells are in different types of hells. With different kinds of kamma and different kinds of result arise. If you ask why kamma can give different kinds of result? At the time of doing kamma the mind is strange and wondrous. As the mind is so strange and wondrous, the kamma also is.

With the strange and wondrous kamma and the result khandhas are also strange and wondrous. Someone can’t control his mind and creates kamma like a blind elephant passing through the thicket forest. With blindly creating kamma the results will arise blindly/randomly. The Buddha mentioned the importance of controlling the mind in the Cittavagga, The Dhammapada.

In the Aṅguttara Nikāya, a monk asked the Buddha three questions.

①. What is leading the world? (The mind is leading the world. All kinds of action are leading by the mind)

②. What is pulling the world? (The mind is pulling and pushing the world to rebirths, e.g., celestial realm, hell realm, etc. arise with the inclination of the mind)

③. With which desire is the world following? (The world is following and arising with the desire of the mind)

The Buddha answered that the mind was leading the world. (The world was referred to the mind and body, the five khandhas or living beings)

For example, you have come here to listen to talk, it is led by the mind. Falling into the realms of becoming is led by the mind. Now you know that who is the culprit leading living beings and wandering in saṁsāra. Our khandhas are controlled by the mind.

Before we didn’t know the master of kamma. Now, you have found the master of kamma. The mind makes you suffer and shameless in the 31 realms of existence. If you overcome/conquer the mind and everything is finished. Devadattta (the cousin of the Buddha) couldn’t control his mind and fell into hell.

Because of the mind, living beings are arriving into the wombs of different kinds of animal, and taking rebirth anywhere. They are arriving into others’ mouths as corpses, etc. (i.e., as foods). People are taking these things as coming from kamma, so they don’t practice cittānupassanā. Instead they are making good kammas. Most wrong views have connection with the mind.

For example, it makes me angry; I want to eat, etc. Cittānupassanā is the quickest way to enter the stream. With the contemplation of vedanā and it kills taṇhā, with kāyānupassanā to lobha and dhammānupassanā to moha. Mind and feeling are arising together (sahajāta). It’s like the fire and the light. The result of kamma also will be gone if you can control or overcome the mind.

Therefore the mind is leading the world (i.e., answer to Q ①). Again the mind is pulling the worlds. The mind is pulling it towards the family members and arriving there (i.e., the A to Q ②). Again the world is following the desire of the mind. Because of the mind, volition (cetanā/kamma) arises.

The result of khandha arises because of kamma. Is it possible if you don’t kill the primary cause (i.e., the mind and not kamma)? The mind will make you become a being eating vegetarian or excrement.

(People living in the poor rural area are using a deep pit toilet. There will be a lot of white worms appearing there after a while. It seems they are wriggling and struggling among each other for the excrements. Nowadays human beings are like these worms, just only thinking about money, power, fame and sensual pleasure. They never mention about moral issues except money and pleasure. The media and people behaviors testify this point)

How much terrible it’s? Don’t listen with a normal ear. We must conquer it. If not it’ll conquer us, and becoming corpses in others’ mouths, in hell woks. Living in the egg shells and becoming worms are arranging by the mind.

If you can’t overcome to contemplate the sense bases (āyatana) with sense objects impinge on it and the mind will lead you here and there. The mind is making people crazy. If you overcome the mind, there are no craziness, ageing, sickness and death.

If you overcome the mind and no kamma arises. And without kamma and no ageing, sickness and death arise. (By using the reverse order of D.A. process – paṭiloma and tracing the cause of birth, ageing and death, and it ending at sense bases – āyatana.)

āyatana ← phassa ← vedanā ← taṇhā ← upādāna ← kamma ← jāti, jarā, maraṇa.

There are six sense bases. It's matter (rūpa) from cakkhāyatana ….. to kāyāyatana, and manāyatana is the mind. The cessation of sense bases is Nibbāna (from the Saṁyutta Nikāya).

Therefore, the Buddha said there were no cakkhāyatana ….. manāyatana in Nibbāna. You have to make the mind ceases if you want to arrive Nibbāna. Therefore the Buddha said that there were no sun and moon, āyatana existing in Nibbāna.

Let us contemplate manāyatana – the mind. Normally if the mind arises it leading to feeling …… action (vedanā …. Kamma). In the whole saṁsāra we didn’t cut it off that the khandha processes were continuing. Without cutting off we are running in a circle.

If you overcome the mind and the world of living beings will end (satta loka). I am encouraging you to work hard for the overcoming of the mind. It’s only following behind the mind with magga. Every time mind arises contemplate its impermanence. You’ll complain as it’s difficult to follow behind the mind every time arises.

Normally you’re following downstream with the mind. Downstream is always easy. You’re easily following behind phassa to kamma. Now, you have to follow only one (the mind). During the five steps you’re not tired. (i.e., phassa → kamma) For this only one step, you say you are tired. So what can I do?!

If you keep the playful monkey for quiet and it’ll not happy (here monkey is the mind). You have to follow behind the mind every time it arises. If not after the five steps and you’ll fall into the wok (hell). If ñāṇa can’t overcome the mind and kamma will influence you.

It is very important to overcome the mind. In the Dhammapada it had mentioned that someone could train the mind was leading to Nibbanic Happiness. Let us tame the mind with maggan. The mind is also making the material world of breathing (in/out breathing mind). The air follows behind the mind. If you’re breathing long and it’s long.

The matter arises in accordance with the mind. At walking, the body is also walking fast if the mind is fast. It was also by the mind that we had been missed with every Buddha.. It’s clear that the mind is controlling us.

(Sayadaw continued on the practice of cittānupassanā using the simile of a spider). Contemplate the impermanence of the mind arising from the six sense doors. You have the khandha process, so asking you to cut its dukkha. With magga following behind the mind and can’t continue the khandha process.

The ending of the mind is the ending of the khandha. Then you will attain Nibbāna in this life. Taṇhā also can’t follow behind the mind and saṁsāra is cutting off.


revised on 2019-12-02; cited from https://oba.org.tw/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=4362&p=36291#p36291 (posted on 2019-04-12)


  • Content of Part 11 on "Dhamma Talks by Mogok Sayadaw"

  • Content of "Dhamma Talks by Mogok Sayadaw"

  • Content of Publications of Ven. Uttamo

According to the translator— Ven. Uttamo's words, this is strictly for free distribution only, as a gift of Dhamma—Dhamma Dāna. You may re-format, reprint, translate, and redistribute this work in any medium.

據英譯者—鄔達摩比丘交待,此譯文僅能免費與大眾結緣,作為法的禮物(Dhamma Dāna)。你可以在任何媒體上重新編製、重印、翻譯和重新發布這部作品。