Buddhanussati, the virtues of the Buddha are there, to be visited

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[Chanti] They say the Buddha said if you have faith and confidence in my Teachings you should go to the places where I was born, where I was enlightened, etc, and was interpreted as the Buddha really said you should go, and if you go and do the pilgrimage then you'll be reborn in heaven.

[A. Sujin] To go anywhere is not a must at all, all depends on conditions, so, each has one's own motivation to do this and that or to visit the holy places on, but for me, I think that when I went there I thought about the place [where] the Buddha once sat and whatever he taught, from this place to another place, all over the the places there. That's why it can be the reminder of his great compassion, his great virtue, and at that very moment I think that I'm paying respect to the place where he was born and enlightened and taught the Teachings and passed away, to pay respect to such quality that were once there in that place.

So, it doesn't matter at all, for someone, even in the Buddha's time, a certain monk wouldn't [go to] visit the Buddha at all, he had understanding of his enlightenment but he didn't visit him, that was his nature because he could think of the virtues of the Buddha and pay respect at any time when he understood the Teachings and what was there as it is, as it was. So it depends on conditions, someone just wants to visit for pleasure or to pay respect, liking to be so respectful, but in fact no understanding at all. So, all depends on conditions, so once we've walked there, that place was walked by the Buddha, all the way up the mountain, the Kuchikutta and so on and there at Sarnath and the first [time the] Teachings, in the Buddha's time, what happened there, just like [when] we were sitting at the moment when we were there and so on.

Just to be reminded of the virtues of his great compassion, enabling us to understand the truth of whatever was there at that very moment. Just like paying respect by reflecting on the virtues of the Buddha: Buddha anussati, Dhamma anussati, Sangha anussati, they're all there, to be visited, to be reminded of the place, what happened there once and so on. Even right now I'd like to visit again because we have different conditions, some would like to go to the mountain or to the sea resort and so on but I think that many people would like to visit the holy places and have the understanding by being reminded of his Teachings and so on. Just like going somewhere for a rest, to the resort and so on, but this is a much better resort for understanding and health which is wholesome, not just the body's health.

[Chanti] Isn't this only right thinking because there are no places in reality to go to?

[A. Sujin] What you mean by right thinking?

[Chanti] Well, you say you'd like to go there...

[A. Sujin] Yes, because it's like a reminder about the past, so long ago, 2000 and more than 500 years, what happened there.

[Chanti] But to go there is to do, it's the self that goes there.

[A. Sujin] Like when you recollect the past, you think about it with attachment or with aversion or with respect or with understanding, depending on conditions. So, it's not a must, all's by conditions. No rule, to pay respect by walking around three times and so on, what [once] was there could be[come] the object of understanding, to let go. And that is the Teaching and we pay respect to the Teachings of the truth.

[Chanti] How is this different from going to a meditation center, going to a place to pay respect?

[A. Sujin] As long as there as is no understanding of what is there as it is, [when] saying meditation center, what does it mean? What is center and what is meditation? Without understanding it's wrong, to do something without any understanding at all. It's been done for aeons and aeons ago, without any understanding of the truth.

[Chanti] But if the meditation center were around the place where the Buddha sat, under the tree, what's the difference if the meditation center's where's the tree?

[A. Sujin] I think that meditation center today means the place where people go to do something trying to see or experience something, but without understanding of what is there at any moment, each moment the truth is the truth. So I think that the meditation centre is a place for people to go there to try to do something, to experience something, but no understanding of the truth of this very moment at all. So any place or any word which does not condition the understanding of the truth of this moment cannot be the word of the Buddha, the Enlightened One, which means enlightening of the truth of what is there at any time, not [just] at some certain place at all.

[Chanti] So, how would be at the places where the Buddha has been which are concepts?

[A. Sujin] It depends whether you think of the virtues of the Buddha or not, even you were sitting there no thought about the Teachings, the truth and his virtues, the Enlightened One's, at all. All depends, it can be moment of akusala, attachment, aversion, but the understanding can be conditioned when there is condition to understand it, and that's the point, no matter where one goes. To the holy places without any understanding and trying to respect what? No understanding at all or it can be anywhere, anytime there can be the moment of understanding the Teachings, it can be right now, paying respect, great respect to the truth of reality that he had enlightened and taught about for everyone to consider, to have one's own understanding.

So it does not depend on the place but when we have accumulation, would you like the sea would you like the mountain? Where would you like to go? Depending on the others, but what for? Going to the sea, what for? Going to the mountain, what for? Coming here, what for? [At] any place [there] can be moments of understanding, by conditions! Not [by] one just wanting to experience [that] and trying so hard that one keeps [oneself] away from the real life, natural life, ordinary life, common life. How can that be understanding? Because what is life? It's not the moment at the meditation center but it's now.

And to go somewhere without the understanding of this very moment, how can that be the understanding, when one goes to that certain place? How come? But when there's the understanding of what is there now it can condition moments of understanding, whatever arises, whatever will come because of understanding this moment, the seeing here, the seeing [of] yesterday, the seeing [of] tomorrow, seeing cannot be changed because it is a reality which is called seeing or no need to call it any word at all, anything at all because the nature of that is there, already arisen, experiencing an object and then gone. That's the truth.

So from understanding: from where and how come to have such understanding, without the word of the Enlightened One how can there be any understanding of the truth of where everyone is? Even at the holy places or even now, here, we can think about the past, and while we were there it might have conditioned moments of reflecting about the truth, the words, what the Buddha did in the past and so on, just right there, on the mountain, where he was sitting or something that you think of about it or call it, and at the place where he was born, taught the Teachings, the first sermon or the first Teaching, Dhamma-cakka-pavattana-sutta, or before his death, who was there, the Mallas, royal Mallas, Maha Kassapa and so on. It can be condition for different thinking, by conditions, with different conditioned moments never arisen before whatever was then, [it] had never arisen before at all, just one moment in lifetime, in eons and eons, never be the same at all. To let go of the clinging to the idea of I last life, and I next life or I this life, at the end of life and so on. So, all about understanding of the truth, now.

[Chanti] Yes, the Buddha answering Ananda, what would he have meant if he says there are four places, and it's not really a place but it's..........

[A. Sujin] It isn't really the place but what about what is there now and what was there then? But the place is still the same, the same place but not the same one because even rupa arises and falls away all the time until the end, by conditions.