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Yunmen Temple Dharma Talk (for) Monks
The thirteenth exercise of mindful breathing is contemplating the nature of impermanence. Impermanence must not remain a mere concept, but must become a deep insight and concentration. Without this insight, we fail to cherish our loved ones, teachers, and parents while they are alive. True insight into impermanence acts like a flame that completely burns away the match of intellectual notions, leading to nirvana, which is the burning out of all notions. Impermanence is what makes life, growth, and healing possible; suffering arises only when we mistake the impermanent for the permanent. From the angle of time, this reality is impermanence, and from the angle of space, it is non-self and emptiness. Emptiness does not mean non-existence, but rather being empty of a separate self. Just as a sheet of paper contains the entire cosmos—including trees, clouds, sunshine, soil, and the paper mill worker—it lacks only a separate self.
The fourteenth exercise is contemplating the nature of no desire, which requires looking deeply into the objects of our craving. There are six primary objects of desire:
- Wealth
- Fame
- Power
- Sex
- Food
- Sleep
These desires act as obstacles to happiness rather than its foundation. Running after them is driven by a wrong perception of desire (dục tưởng). The practice is not to resist desire, but to understand its nature, which naturally dissolves its appeal. The Buddha compared the danger of these desires to three things:
- A person holding a torch and walking against the wind, which burns their hand.
- A small bird carrying a piece of raw meat that must release it or be killed by a larger bird.
- A dog gnawing on a bare bone, which can never satisfy its hunger.
True freedom comes from releasing our cows—our possessions, positions, and attachments—and instead cultivating wholesome desires, such as the aspiration to practice, develop wisdom and compassion, and relieve the suffering of others.
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Yunmen Temple Dharma Talk (for) Monks