Clarity

~ By Ajahn Jayasāro ~

Clarity can be convincing.

Imagine you once misinterpreted a comment somebody made as an insult. It hurt so much that even years later the memory of it is crystal clear. The memory is so vivid that you assume that therefore the thing that is remembered – the painful insult – must definitely have occurred. In fact the clarity is merely the result of the emotion that the memory evokes. So many arguments over the past could be avoided through understanding this point.

Imagine there is an abstract topic which you have been struggling to understand for years. You are very frustrated. Then you hear a brilliant analogy that explains the point. Your frustration dissolves. What was foggy and obscure is now simple and clear. You assume that the clarity of the image is a proof of the accuracy of the analogy. It is not. Wise people do not abandon the principle of ‘not sure’.

Although mental clarity may be misleading, there is a case in which it is reliable: the clarity that manifests when the five hindrances are abandoned through meditation. Here the clarity is not an attribute of the objects that arise in consciousness, but of the ground in which they appear. It is the clarity which allows mental objects to be recognized as impermanent, ownerless phenomena rather than as self or possessions of self. It is the clarity which is a pre-requisite for the development of wisdom.

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"Food for the Heart", a series of Dhamma teachings handwritten weekly is posted on the Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives page with Ajahn's kind permission.

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For other teachings by Ven. Ajahn Jayasāro, please visit the Panyaprateep Foundation website.