The way not to fear anything

(Excerpt from the Dhamma discussion with Ajahn Sujin Boriharnwanaket on Zoom (Sat Jul 9th 2022). Suitable for beginners.)

0:00 - Fear of death
[Nina] We are so much taken away by concepts and thinking of concepts. This week I have been thinking about fear of death and death and it's always the story of what will happen to me and the end of my personality and we know in theory that is wrong, but still we are overwhelmed. I think it's so helpful if Ajahn talks about death...

0:37 - Death can be right now: no time for fear
[A. Sujin] It seems like we know death, but in truth what is death? Is death now? See, we just think about the terms, the story and we fear the moment of death, but it can be just right now, no time to fear, and when it is momentary death, right now, it's not fearful at all.

[Nina] Yes, that's true, one citta follows another.

1:10 - Only the word and the idea about death
[A. Sujin] So, it's better not to think about death, I think, because it can be right now, but we don't know when we do not understand what death really is: it's just [a kind of] citta, no one at all, it's just like now, arising and falling away, but it's not time [for citta] to be death yet, but it's time to see, it's time to hear, it's time to think on and on and on, non-stop, moment before death and then death and moment after death, as now: nothing to be afraid of. Only the word and the idea about death, but it's just like any reality, it arises only when there are conditions to condition the moment of death: no more of this personality at all. So just live in this life as this person, that's all. And what will be next? By conditions, who knows whether it will be fear or not, it has to be as it is, by conditions, that's all.

2:21 - The way not to fear anything
That is the way not to fear anything because whatever is there is by conditions, seeing now is by conditions, hearing now is by conditions, thinking now is by conditions. All conditioned moments, from moment to moment that's all, and that can be studied, that can be learned, to know that actually we just dream or think about that which is not there anymore. Even right now, we're talking about what seems like it's there now, but in truth it's not there anymore, that is the absolute truth that can be known little by little, whether it's true or not. Sound just a moment ago, hearing just a moment ago, thinking just a moment ago... why there's no fear of that? So death is just like that, exactly the same, if you don't think about death, like we don't think about next moment, it's exactly the same.

3:23 - Death is like just only one moment of samsara
So we can think about other things, better than thinking about death because it's just like this moment. When it will be there or not yet, it's not time to see such and such objects, it's not time to hear such a object, it's not time to die in this life, but who knows that moment? No one knows beforehand at all. No expectations about how it will come, by accident or covid or whatever, who knows? Just a reality like other realities, conditioned to arise and then gone. There cannot be death on and on and on, just only once in samsara, only one moment as [for] whatever is now appearing: seeing, just a moment in samsara, death is like just only one moment of samsara, that's all.

4:25 - The truth releasing from trouble and fear
All [dhammas] are there so very very shortly, it cannot last and it cannot be taken for anything because now it's not there, only in memory. Just keep on thinking of that as it's there, but in truth nothing is there at all, nothing is there at all. What is there appearing is gone instantly, it's not there at all. This is so true and it can be a kind of release from trouble and fear: it's there by conditions, like now. If we don't understand this we can think about it and fear it, but when there is the understanding that it's just like any moment, conditioned to arise and then fall away, death moment arises and falls away as well. And there are conditions for others realities after death, arising instantly like now, just like now, everything is just like now. So, if there's no fear of seeing, hearing: just only a moment, death is just a moment, but it's different from other moments, that's all.

[Nina] Ajahn, but I'm clinging to the idea of that I want to know the arising and falling away, but it cannot be forced because it all depends on pañña.

6:06 - Not thinking about the truth
[A. Sujin] Because clinging and ignorance cannot let go of fear at all, but the understanding of: what is there is just a moment, no one there at all, or no one, it's only a reality, it's different by conditions. And the truth is there now to understand what is there, seeing is not hearing, is not thinking, is not liking and so on. The truth is there all the time but we forget to think about it because of the accumulation of interest in other things, rather than being interested in what is there now. That's why hear it again and consider it again: seeing is gone, see, it's gone, it's not always there at all, no more. And this is life, no matter when it's gone, just in split seconds, being there and then gone. So, it's just as it is, like now, but right understanding is not enough to understand a reality, which is different from another reality from moment to moment. Like seeing sees, nobody is afraid of seeing and it's gone, and hearing is just a reality, it's there and then gone, no one is afraid of it when it's gone because not understanding it as it is, as just the way it is.

7:41 - Not being used or acquainted to the idea of the truth
Not only death, not only birth, everything is just like that, and it can be proved or its nature understood right now. From hearing about: seeing is not hearing and who hears and who sees? Thinking only, so no one there at all. And hearing? Just a moment and then gone. So, actually one is not used or acquainted to the idea of the truth that it's not anybody, it does not belong to anyone because it's completely absolutely gone, no matter in what life, it's there only when it appears.

8:24 - Beginning to understand what is there in life
Little by little all these words accumulate, develop, to condition moments of beginning to understand what is there in life, little by little, that it's only there when it appears.