The Living Computer
Photo: Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives C00900
“Can you explain more about ‘walking without a walker?’ Has it the same meaning as a ‘self that is not-self’?”
~ Response by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ~
Listen and figure out for yourself whether the two are the same. When there is ‘walking with a walker,’ when there is the one who walks, then there is the desire to walk and there is the desire to arrive, and then there is the gladness and sadness of arriving or of meeting obstacles while walking. When there is ‘walking without a walker,’ there is just body and mind walking naturally without any concept or even a feeling of some ‘me’ who is walking. Instead of the ‘me’ or the walker, there is just mindfulness, correct understanding, and sampajañña – the immediate application of that understanding. So there’s just walking, everything is Dhamma. The mind, the body, everything is just Dhamma because of this sati (mindfulness) and paññā (wisdom). So there’s no walker. ‘Walking with a walker’ and ‘walking without a walker’ are totally different – one is walking with desire and attachment, the other is walking with mindfulness and wisdom. With one the mind is still disturbed by positive and negative events, in the other the mind is totally peaceful. In ‘walking without a walker,’ there is just no way that there can be any dukkha, the mind is free.
Regarding the ‘self which is not-self,’ that is one meaning, but this ‘walking without a walker’ has the meaning of ‘just the mind.’ There’s just the mind with wisdom, which is not-self. One is the self which is not-self, but now we are talking about the mind which is not-self. This is a way of practice, this is a lesson for understanding anattā, this is the direct investigation of anattā, this is a lesson which makes it easy for us to understand anattā. And so there is a difference between the ‘self which is not-self’ and ‘walking without any self at all.’
Please extend the meaning of this until it becomes ‘doing without a doer,’ doing all the things we must do in life each day, doing everything without any doer, acting without an actor. Extend the meaning of this until it includes everything in life so that it’s just the five khandhas doing things, but there’s no doer, no actor, just the five khandhas operating naturally according to the law of idappaccayatā. It’s all anattā, not-self. Please extend this meaning until one thoroughly understands anattā.
If you’re going to shoot your rifle at a target, if you’re in a marksmanship or a shooting context, every time you shoot the gun, shoot without a shooter and you will win the prize every time. If every time we aim the gun and pull the trigger there’s no aimer, no puller, no shooter, then we will always win the prize. There is just the mind’s intention to shoot the gun correctly, but there is no thought of the ‘me’ who is shooting, the ‘me’ who will shoot well or shoot poorly, no thoughts of winning or losing. There is just the intention to shoot the gun correctly, and then the mind controls the body in order to do so. If you can shoot the gun in this way, then you’ll always take the first prize.
The mind that acts through voidness – the mind that acts in voidness – and the mind that acts full of attachment – full of ego – are totally different. One should study this difference between the mind that is totally free and void of self and void of things belonging to self, and then the mind that is full of desire, attachment, and ego. The mind that acts through voidness will always do a much better job, will always be much more competent and efficient and successful than the mind that acts through self, through attachment.
Please don’t worry about who will gain the benefits of these actions. The results of the action will accrue, will fall to the one who did them. This is just the way things happen, the way they work. Whether acting through voidness or acting through attachments, the fruits and results of the actions will accrue to the one who did the actions. But the results will be much different when one acts with attachment. When one acts through voidness, then there’re no complications, no busyness, no confusion; the mind is peaceful, and so the action is most efficient and successful. But when acting through attachments, things get complicated, confused, busy, stressful, and things aren’t at all peaceful. So the results will always happen to whoever does the action, but the kind of results will differ according to how one acts. It’s always wisest and best to act through voidness, to act without an actor.
This way of acting is what we call ‘Buddhist art.’ The art of Buddhism is not the paintings and statues and all those things. The real art of Buddhism is the art of acting without self, of acting without attachment, the art of voidness.
(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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