Maha Ghosananda's education

My first teacher Venerable Choun Nath, the Sangharaja of Cambodia. That was quite a great honor for such a young monk.

As a novice, we followed the Three Trainings – in morality, concentration, and wisdom. These three things go together like the head, the body, and the limbs. And we learned the Eightfold Path: Right Understanding; Right Thinking; Right speech; Right Action; Right Livelihood; Right Effort; Right Mindfulness; and Right Meditation.

That is the path of the Buddha, to overcome these three things: greed, hatred, and ignorance.

All the Buddha’s teachings are about ‘compositing.’ Everything in life follows four formulas: when this is existing, that comes to be; with the arising of this that arises; when this does not exist, that does not exist; with the ceasing of this, that ceases. Every moment is like that. It is the universal law. It is the Dhamma.

Morality was taught to us by five precepts: to refrain from killing; to refrain from cheating people by word, and to refrain from intoxicants. This always goes together with compassion, right livelihood, good conduct, loving speech, mindfulness, and clear comprehension. This is Buddhist morality.

We put wisdom into action by taking care of the present moment. In speaking, be rightful, lovely, timely, and useful. This is the right verbal action. And physical action, don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t’ commit adultery. And develop compassion, right livelihood, right conduct. Create mindfulness and comprehension. Don’t’ drink poison, so that your mind can become clear.

You know, we have thirty-eight blessings. First among them is to associate with a wise man. You are who you associate with. In Buddhism, this actually has many meanings. We are what we eat, what we drink. If we drink good things, we become healthy. If we drink poison, we will die. If you eat the world, you are the world. If you understand it, you understand the Dhamma.

Buddha’s teachings are very easy! There is no need to make them complicated. You must do three things only: to refrain from evil, to do what is good, and to purify the mind. That is all.

Buddhism is neither pessimistic nor optimistic. It is realistic. Dharma means truth. The trust is realistic. People are fighting because they still have hatred, they are against each other. But we tell them that everything is changing every moment. Breathing-in changes into breathing-out.

Every moment is like that. Life will change into death.

This is the first teaching of the Buddha – impermanence. Because of impermanence we suffer. We cannot stop things from changing. And we cannot control suffering because we are ultimately not permanent ourselves. We are therefore selfless. We have no permanent self. We are only a composite. Our own body is composed of elements: air element, water element, earth element, and also elements of consciousness, element of space. Everything changes. Even hatred will change.

Only the Buddha has escaped this cycle of life.