A DISCOURSE ON THE ABODE OF THE NOBLE ONES – INITIAL DOUBT

A DISCOURSE ON THE ABODE OF THE NOBLE ONES – INITIAL DOUBT

Some people who have never meditated may have some doubt and no wonder for only seeing is believing and their skepticism is due to their lack of experience. I myself was a skeptic a one time. I did not then like the Satipa.t.thaana method as it makes no mention of naama-ruupa, anicca, anatta and so forth. But the Sayadaw who taught the method was a learned monk and so I decided to give it a trial. At first I made little progress because I still had a lingering doubt about the method which, in my view, had nothing to do with ultimate reality.

It was only later on when I had followed the method seriously that its significance dawned on me. I realized then that it is the best method of meditation since it calls for attentiveness to everything that is to be known, leaving no room for absent-mindedness. So the Buddha describes the Sati-pa.t.thaana method as the only way: Ekaayanomaggo.