The Teachings Are Tools
November 21, 2023

When the Buddha has you watch your breath, it’s not for the sake of the breath. It’s for the sake of giving the mind a focal point so that you can then watch the mind—to see what you’ll see there.

It’s not the case that he wants you to simply accept his teachings and say, “Yeah, they’re true.” All of his teachings are tools to be used. We learn how to use our body. We learn how to use our speech. We learn how to use our mind—as tools. And if we do it correctly, do it skillfully, we’re going to find some things that are not mentioned, or as the Buddha said, can’t be put into words. There is freedom for the mind. That’s when you know that you’ve mastered the tools. You really understand them.

So the practice is not a matter of simply copying his wisdom and pasting it on your mind. You take his teachings on suffering, you take his teachings on goodwill, and you try them out. See what happens. See what happens in your mind.

This is why he said the Dhamma is nourished not simply by memorization or by acceptance. It’s nourished by committing yourself to the practice and then reflecting on what you get as a result. We’re here to train our powers of observation so that we can see things more clearly. There’s a lot going on in the mind right now, even when you’re just focusing it on the breath.

There’s a sutta that talks about Ven. Sariputta’s ability to see all kinds of mental movements in the mind, even as his mind was in concentration. You know he had very sharp discernment. It’s not necessary that we see all the same things that he saw. But we should see the ways in which we’re acting and we’re placing an unnecessary burden on the mind—an unnecessary disturbance. When we see it’s unnecessary, we can stop. When there’s a sense of freedom that results, that’s when you know that you’ve used the teachings properly.

Now it is possible, though—as in the case of the cow—where the Buddha says you twist the horn of the cow, you’re not going to get any milk. There are some people who’ve been twisting the horn and getting no milk. Then they stop twisting the horn and they say, “That’s much better. Maybe that’s what it’s all about: not putting in any effort at all.” But you don’t get any milk that way. There’s a little bit of relief, but you don’t get the real benefits from having a cow around. It’s when you learn to pull on the right part of the cow, that’s when you know for sure that you’ve gotten really good results.

So we’re not here just to accept things. We’re here to use the Buddha’s teachings to see what special things can be found inside.

I was talking this weekend with someone who was saying he’d heard a teacher saying to a group of people that it’s all about accepting, being equanimous, being okay with whatever comes up. Someone in the group complained: “Is that all there is to the teaching?” And the teacher said, “Well isn’t that enough?”

Of course it’s not enough. If that’s all the Buddha had to offer, his teachings wouldn’t have lasted this long. He’s got something really special to offer to us, *if *we put his teachings into practice as tools. Then we’ve got something that we can know for sure is really very special inside. That’s when we know for sure.

So, sharpen your powers of observation. Sharpen your powers of reflection. That’s where you’ll see what’s going on. It’s going on right now, but many times you miss it, because everything is a blur inside. You’ve got to get the mind really still, really settled in a state of contentment, so that when subtle things come up, you’ll notice them.

It’s like the princess and the pea. Other people would lie down on that bed and not feel anything at all. But because she was a princess, she could feel the pea buried under all those mattresses. That’s the kind of sensitivity you want to develop.

And that’s where you want to use it: inside your mind. So commit and reflect. Keep those two words in mind and act on them. Then you’ll see for yourself what kind of Dhamma the Buddha was teaching—not just the words, but the freedom inside, which is the purpose of all he taught.