If you do not want it (rebirth) ... - Ajahn Suchart
“If you do not want it (rebirth), you will have to stop your mind from dreaming, from going to a new life. That's what the Buddha did. He stopped his mind by cutting off the desire in his mind.”
Monk 2: I have one idea that is wrong and that is that the mind is produced by the brain. How can I overcome this idea or delusion? How can I work with it?
Than Ajaan: Oh, just ignore it! It is just a theory, just like believing that the world is flat or round. It doesn't change reality anyway, right? You can believe that the world is flat, but that won't change the fact that it is round. You believe that the world is round, but that does not confirm the fact that it is round. It only helps you to have the right attitude, so that you can react properly. That's all. So, all you have to do is to react properly according to the truth.
The truth is that the body is not yourself; the brain is not yourself. So whatever happens to it, let it go because you are going to lose it one day. The solution is not to cling to it. Be ready to let it go. Treat it like you’ve borrowed it from someone else. It doesn't belong to you. If the owner comes and claims it, you will have to let it go.
The point is to let go because if you can do so, you will not suffer. You will not be in pain — I mean, mental pain. If you cannot let go, you will always have mental suffering. So, don't worry about whether you are from the brain or not. That doesn't really matter. What matters is, can you let go of it or not? If you cannot let go, you will suffer. If you can, you will not suffer.
One of the things that will help you to let go is to see the body as not ‘you’. If you know that, you can let go easily. If you think that it is you and belongs to you, it will be hard for you to let go. If you cannot accept this truth, at least you should accept the fact that if you can let go, you will not suffer, because this is something you can experience in real time. For instance when you get sick, if you cannot let go of your body, your mind will also suffer because the mind doesn't want to let the body be sick. But if you say, “Well, I cannot stop it. If it is gonna get sick, it will be sick anyway. The only thing I can do is get some medicine or go to a doctor. That's all I can do. If the medicine can fix it, fine. If the doctor can fix it, also fine. If it can’t or he can’t, then I will just have to live with it. So what? I am not sick; it is the body that is sick. That's all.
If I cannot use the body, fine, I will just sit down and not do anything. If I don't have any food to eat, that is also fine because I will eventually die. Maybe it is not time for me to die.” You can accept that it is not yet your time to die; instead it is the time for this body to die. If you can accept that truth, there will be no problem.
No matter how good the doctor or medicine is, one day they will also not be able to fix the body anyway. One day the body will say, “Don't treat me; don't fix me. I cannot go on; I have to stop.” You are the owner, so the mind that owns the body will just have to say, “Okay, if you want to stop then good-bye.” That's all. What's wrong with that?
Like the Buddha when he was about to die just went into samādhi. He just lay down, focused his mind, and left the body alone. It is like when you are going to sleep, you leave your body alone, right? Dying is like going to sleep. You leave this body, and when you wake up, you get a new body. That's all. That's what rebirth is about. You leave one body and go to the next body.
In the process of going from the old to the new body, you go to heaven or hell. It is like when you are going to sleep, and you go through good or bad dreams. When you wake up, you come back from heaven or hell. So this is what we do through for countless lifetimes, from one body to the next, from one dream to the next. That's all. There is nothing to be afraid of. It is a natural process, and it happens whether you like it or not.
If you do not want it (rebirth), you will have to stop your mind from dreaming, from going to a new life. That's what the Buddha did. He stopped his mind by cutting off the desire in his mind. He had no desire, and when there is no desire, the mind doesn't generate anything, doesn't generate any thoughts, and doesn’t have any force to drive it to go into a new body. So the key idea here is to let go of everything. Nothing belongs to you. If you cling to it, you will suffer. If you let go, you will be at ease and be peaceful.
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