The Language of the Heart

The Venerable Acariya Mun taught that all hearts have the same language. No matter what one’s language or nationality, the heart has nothing but simple awareness, which is why he said that all hearts have the same language. When a thought arises, we understand it, but when we put it into words, it has to become this or that language, so that we don’t really understand one another. The feelings within the heart, though, are the same for everyone. This is why the Dhamma fits the heart perfectly, because the Dhamma isn’t any particular language. The Dhamma is the language of the heart. The Dhamma resides with the heart.

Pleasure and pain reside with the heart. The acts that create pleasure and pain are thought up by the heart. The heart is what knows the results that appear as pleasure and pain; and the heart is burdened with the outcome of its own thoughts. This is why the heart and the Dhamma fit perfectly. No matter what our language or nationality, we can all understand the Dhamma because the heart and the Dhamma are a natural pair.

[The Lord Buddha] taught us to foster and develop the goodness we already have so as to nourish the heart, giving it refreshment and well– being, giving it a standard of quality, or goodness, so that when it leaves its present body to head for whatever place or level of being, this citta that has been constantly nourished with goodness will be a good citta. Wherever it fares, it will fare well. Wherever it takes birth, it will be born well. Wherever it lives, it will live well. It will keep on experiencing well–being and happiness until it gains the capacity, the potential, the accumulation of merit it has developed progressively from the past into the present — in other words, yesterday is today’s past, today is tomorrow’s past, all of which are days in which we have fostered and developed goodness step by step — to the point where the citta has the firm strength and ability, from the supporting power of this goodness, that enables it to pass over and gain release.

This reflection by Ajahn Maha Boowa is from the book, Straight from the Heart, pp. 13, 15.