The Living Computer
Photo: Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives C01194
“Do you believe that mindfulness is the only means by which we can liberate the mind? That is, are enlightened Buddhists the only truly wise and happy people in the world?”
~ Response by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ~
Mindfulness (sati) is not the one that brings about liberation. The agent that brings about liberation is not sati but is paññā – correct understanding or wisdom. Sati is what goes and brings the wisdom to the situation, sati is aware of the situation and then retrieves paññā (wisdom), and then wisdom is the agent for liberation. Sati alone will never bring about liberation, and the same is true about wisdom. All the knowledge and understanding in the world is useless, is wasted without mindfulness. All the things we learn in university, for example, are wasted without mindfulness, so don’t separate the two. Do not separate mindfulness from wisdom. Mindfulness alone cannot free us from dukkha. Wisdom alone cannot free us from dukkha. For example the person who is drunk, intoxicated, is an example of someone without mindfulness, who does all kinds of stupid, careless, clumsy things. No matter how wise or intelligent one is, without mindfulness one cannot solve the problem of dukkha. So do not separate them. Both are needed together for liberation. And even when we’re not talking about Dhamma, when we just talk about ordinary worldly existence, we need both mindfulness and understanding. To do anything in this life we need to both pay attention and then apply our knowledge and understanding. One without the other is never enough, so we cannot separate the two. But when speaking of Dhamma, don’t speak of mindfulness as bringing about liberation, but it’s mindfulness that retrieves the wisdom, and then the wisdom, paññā, is what bring about, or makes, liberation.
You spoke of the enlightened Buddhists. Actually the word ‘Buddhist’ is redundant. When we speak of enlightened beings, the term for this is the ‘arahant.’ The arahants are those who have perfected mindfulness and wisdom so that this perfected mindfulness and wisdom have ended all problems. The arahant has no more burdens, no more problems, no more dukkha, and is free. And so the arahants’ attention can then be turned to the difficulties and problems of others. The arahant can live for the sake of others because the arahant has no more self, is no longer obsessed, concerned, with ‘me.’ The arahant can live for the sake and benefit of others. So the arahant’s life is the most useful kind of life because the arahant has accomplished the highest personal benefit and purpose, and then is also able to dedicate her or his life for the sake of others.
So in short, sati or mindfulness is the servant of wisdom, and then when mindfulness serves wisdom, then wisdom can function in order to solve our problems.
(From the retreat “The Living Computer,” as translated from the Thai by Santikaro)
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Dhamma Questions & Responses sessions were offered by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu in 1990-1991 to foreign meditators attending Suan Mokkh International Dharma Hermitage courses.
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