Relinquish All Else: The Path to Dhamma : หน้า 51/135

53. RELINQUISH ALL ELSE Merely meditating and reciting the mantra "samma arahang" will create merit. It is not easy to attain Dhammanetya when the mind wants to dart here and there around the entire world. We have to rein the mind back to the center of our body, two fingers’ breadth above the navel. Then reciting everything else. When the mind comes to a standstill, it will glow radiant. Keep the mind steady and think of the bright Buddha image at the center of the body. 54. "STOP" SO YOU WILL SUCCEED To “stop” all success springs from this one action. I mean success both in the spiritual and in the earthly sense. In the material world, if we want to go somewhere quickly we have to travel in a fast vehicle such as a car or a plane. But in the world of Dhamma it is the opposite; we have to “stop”. If we don’t stop, we won’t get there. The more we stop, the faster we go. "Stop" in the sense of stopping the mind from wandering, or stop doing bad deeds. Recall the story of Angulimala which Luang Por recounted. Angulimala believed that if he collected the fingers of 1,000 people, he would become the ruler of the world. He saw the Lord Buddha and ran after him with the intent to cut off his finger—the last finger—the last finger—he called out, “Stop, Monk, stop!” The Lord Buddha answered him, “I have stopped already. It is you who has not stopped.” "Stop" is the key to success. “Stop“ here means stopping your mind from wandering, bringing it to a peaceful stillness. If you cannot, you will not be able to reach the Dhamma kaya within you. All Dhamma (Truth) resides within us. You have to stop your mind to read into it. This is why meditation is so important. The Tipitaka¹ has 84,000 sections. They can be summed up into three practices: purifying the body, purifying the mind, and purifying speech. These three can be further summed up in just one word: “Stop”. Once the mind is still, it, along with the body and speech, will become purified. And this in turn will bring us much merit. Follow my advice and learn to divide your time. When you meditate, think of nothing else but meditation. Focus only on advancing on your journey. March 1, 1981 ¹ “The Tipitaka (Skt. Tripitika), Buddhist scripture — Tipitaka means Three Baskets. They consist of the Basket of Disciplines (Vinaya Pitaka) — rules and regulations of the Order of monks and nuns; the Basket of Discourses (Sutta Pitaka) — dis­courses concerning moral, social, philosophical and spiritual significance; and the Basket of Tutors (Abhidhamma Pitaka) — dealing with psychological and philosophical aspects of the Dhamma, the four ultimate things, mind (citta), mental processes (cetasika), matter (rupa) and Nirvana.