Lessons In Practical Buddhism - Sirimangalo.Org

of experience. Once we are able to see that it is not possible
to control experience, giving up our mistaken beliefs
otherwise, we will no longer be bothered by change, stress or
chaos in experience, as we will no longer cling to things that
cannot possibly satisfy us. Therefore, a person who sees this
truth should actually consider oneself very lucky.
The problem is that when one begins to realize the truth,
most meditators will not feel so lucky at all. Most meditators
when seeing impermanence, suffering, and non-self, will feel
that something is terribly wrong. They will feel that either a)
there is something wrong with the meditation practice, or b)
there is something wrong with how they are practising. In
truth, a person who sees the changing, discomfort, and
uncontrollability of experience is a person who sees things as
they really are. Only by seeing these three characteristics of
all experience can we change our misconceptions about
reality. Only by giving up our misconceptions of reality can
we free ourselves from our dependence on specific
experiences and aversion towards other experiences. This
profound state can be attained simply by watching one’s own
breath. Once we are able to simply observe the stomach as
it is, bearing with all of its changes and variations without
becoming frustrated or angry or falling into suffering, letting
it carry on unimpeded by expectation or control, our minds
will become accustomed to such simple observation and we
will be able to likewise let go of our attachments to
everything in the universe. Simply by watching our own
stomach rise and fall, we learn how to deal with all problems
in our lives without difficulty, finding peace, happiness and
freedom from suffering no matter what suffering arises or
what problems we encounter, because we will be free from
attachment to anything at all.
The main benefit of understanding the impermanence,
suffering, and uncontrollability of all arisen things is that one
will then let go of the idea of entities. Instead of seeing
people as people, for example, one will experience them as a
set of momentary experiences, a set of phenomena that
arise. The mindful meditator will hear others’ voices and
understand them as “hearing” – as momentary sounds,
arising and ceasing. When seeing others, one will
understand it just as “seeing”, and so on. The idea of a
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