Kittisaro

 
A unified heart, a composed heart, sees things the way they are. Realizing that everything is always becoming otherwise, the heart lets go of grasping and notices the ever present peacefulness of its own nature. Any moment when we see things as they are, is an awakened moment. Every moment of mindfulness be a waking up

 What is to you an awakened life or an awakened moment?

I don't use the phrase 'an awakened life', so I am not sure exactly what you mean. If you are referring to a 'life dedicated to awakening', then that is something I can speak about. If our life is committed to awakening, then we have confidence that there is such a thing as awakening, a seeing through and relinquishing of our afflictions -- our suffering, and all the fears, biases, and false notions that confuse us. If we believe that we are our worries and difficulties, that we have no way to get beyond them, then we don't practice and our life is perpetually enslaved by our habitual tendencies.

As our confidence in the Way of Awakening deepens, we find more and more energy and effort flowing to align all of our thoughts, words and deeds with the Buddha's Eightfold Path -- the Way of Virtue, Concentration, and Wisdom. A life dedicated to Awakening gathers into awareness the whole of our experience -- mind and body, the sense of self and others, inside and out, subtle and gross. Everyday, many times a day, we check if we are living with integrity -- harmless, trustworthy, not exploiting others, truthful, and alert. If we notice lapses in our virtue, in thought, word or deed, then right there we try and make amends, we recommit ourselves in that very moment to the Refuge.

By overseeing our actions with a sense of conscience and concern for the results of what we do, then we naturally develop mindfulness, an aware moment to moment connectedness with our experience. A life dedicated to awakening strives to develop and maintain this mindfulness and clear comprehension. That effort naturally leads to samadhi, a gatheredness of heart that is centered, unshaken, concentrated in the broad sense of the word. Concentric circles widen out, include the whole, and yet converge at the centre, unified.

A unified heart, a composed heart, sees things the way they are. Just as a drop of water falling on a hot stove, instantly sizzles and disappears, so too does each experience reveal its changing, uncertain, and insubstantial nature to a heart/mind that is composed.  Realizing that everything is always becoming otherwise, moment after moment, the heart lets go of grasping and notices the ever present peacefulness of its own nature

Any moment when we see things as they are, is an awakened moment. As our teacher Ajahn Chah used to say, right where it's hot is where we find coolness, and right where it's cool, the heat can suddenly appear. In a moment when we let go of grasping, we are the Buddha. Cling to that thought, and in an instant there is birth and death.  Samsara and Nibbana are right here.

What is your definition for spiritual awakening or awakening in daily life?

I suggest letting every moment of mindfulness be a waking up. Even when we realize we are lost, totally caught up in some distressed mood, in that moment of awareness, we at least begin to get that afflicted state into perspective. Right there we are back on the path.  If we create a 'person who has this big problem', we notice that as a view and let it go. At the same time, we renew our efforts to maintain clear seeing. We don't hate the problems that trip us up, and in fact we can learn to be grateful that they really are our teachers, goading us on to deepen our practice.

As our cultivation deepens, and we sense the outflows of desire and aversion, those deluded movements that are always seeking satisfaction and completion 'out there', then we start to get weary and disenchanted with that futile and endless wandering. We start the 'great reversal', turning the light within, listening into our own heart. If we have a measure of trust, faith, and confidence in the great sages, then we are open to the possibility that the treasure is right here, not somewhere else. Then in moments, when we truly let go of grasping and rejecting, we can experience our own 'original brightness', that undying peaceful dimension of our Dharma-nature, which is always here and now, at the heart of all conditions.

Someone who has completely let go of all views, desire and aversion, even subtle conceits and restlessness, is called an Awakened One.

Ajahn Chah says:

"First, one learns Dharma but does not yet understand it. Then one understands, but has not yet practiced. One practices, but has not seen the truth of Dharma; then one sees Dharma, but one's being has not yet become Dharma. ... Although he knows and sees Dharma, his being is not yet Dharma... To actually be Dharma is something quite difficult.  It is a place for each individual to reach, a point where there is no falsehood." 

Please share with us an insight you've recently had. 

This morning I was exhausted. It would have been easy to go back to bed, justified with the proof of my aching body. I got up anyway, dizzy, and made a cup of Chinese tea. I bowed for 1/2 hour, feeling the fatigue, resting my head on the blanketed floor, honoring the measureless qualities of wisdom, knowingness, compassion, connectedness, that precious interwoven affinity we have with all beings. Each bow, slowly, again and again, bringing all thoughts and opinions to that easeful place of awareness, that inner listening that has no walls and contains everything. By the end of the bowing, when I sat in silence, I had so much ease and good energy. The fatigue was completely gone, like a dream.

The convincing thoughts, 'I feel terrible, this is unfair, they shouldn't be that way, etc, etc' all are so flimsy when we persevere and question them. This morning was a lovely insight into how my mind often deceives me. And yet, how wonderful that within this very mind is a precious jewel. Peace itself.