The World vs. the Dhamma

On March 12, 1979, Luang Pu went to Sri Kaew Cave Monastery on Phu Phaan Mountain, Sakon Nakorn province, for more than ten days of solitude and rest. On the evening of the last day before he was to leave, Ajaan Suwat together with the other monks and novices in the monastery came to pay their respects.

Luang Pu commented, “It’s been comfortable resting here. The air is good, and the meditation easy. It makes me think of the old days when I was wandering.”

Then he gave a Dhamma talk, which included the following passage:

“That which can be known all belongs to the world. As for that which has no thing that can know it, that’s the Dhamma. The world always has things that come in pairs, but the Dhamma is one thing all the way through.”

This reflection by Phra Ajaan Dune Atulo is from the book, Gifts He Left Behind: The Dhamma Legacy of Phra Ajaan Dune Atulo, (pdf) p. 77, translated into English by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.