Venerable Luang Pu Buddha Isara's Dhamma Sermon on Saturday Afternoon, July 11, 2026

May you all flourish in the Dhamma and in happiness, beloved devotees who seek the path of virtue.
Today is the Dhamma talk for the second week of July.
In just a few days, the Rains Retreat (Vassa) will begin. It is the time when all monks and novices observe the disciplinary rules established by the Buddha.
During the past two or three days, many people have been asking me, “Luang Pu, when will you don the saffron robe again?”
When?
So, when do you think I should put the saffron robe back on?
I suppose I'll wait until the Royal Cremation Ceremonies are over. If I were to don the saffron robe again before then, it would be difficult for me to continue cooking for the Royal Funeral Chanting Ceremonies. Some people would approve, while others would disapprove, and I'd rather avoid all that.
Living in conventional reality, we must understand conventions. 
Once we know what conventions are, we must learn to understand them, make good use of them, and contribute to them.
Having benefited from conventions, we should, in turn, contribute to them appropriately according to our own roles and abilities. 
Ultimately, do not cling to anything that is merely a convention.
Especially in today's world, we are no longer dealing with simple, basic conventions. Instead, conventions are layered upon conventions, piling up one upon another, and become deeply ingrained. We are immersed in a world saturated with conventions—layer upon layer, tier upon tier—forming countless veils that obscure reality. Eventually, even the original conventions become lost beneath these accumulated layers.
As a result, living becomes more difficult for us. It becomes far more difficult to learn and understand the truth of reality. Because conceptual conventions are superimposed layer upon layer, they become very thick and complex.
As a result, investigating beyond these conventions or seeking to understand the ultimate reality beneath fundamental conventions becomes increasingly difficult.
Those who cling to conventional reality are no different from those who dwell in a theatrical world, a world of illusion. There, they continue playing out the drama: entertaining themselves, suffering and finding happiness, lamenting and celebrating, laughing and crying, gaining and losing.
In the end, it is all but an illusion— like mist or smoke, like a drifting cloud. Once the wind blows, the cloud disappears. 
Nothing will endure forever. An entire life remains under the spell of illusion, forever dominated by conventional reality. 
Therefore, do not ask about the true essence of life. 
Do not ask about the true meaning of birth and existence. 
Do not ask about the true essence of existence itself.
Such people are left with nothing of real substance. Day after day, their lives revolve around food, lust, status, anger, and the endless pursuit of whatever they desire. They are trapped in conventional reality, allowing it to dominate their lives.
Those who truly understand conventional reality know how to live within it without stumbling, despairing, or being dominated by it.
As Luang Pu (I) wrote a Dhamma verse decades ago: “The wise know how to use defilements, only the foolish are used by them.”
If we are wise enough to make use of our defilements, our lives will have true substance and meaning. Then life is no longer a loss but a gain. 
Our existence becomes an opportunity to cultivate wisdom, mindfulness, concentration, merit, and wholesome virtues—in short, cultivation of wholesome qualities.
By contrast, people trapped in conventional reality and ruled by defilements live in ignorance. Their lives become a loss. Trapped and enslaved by conventional reality, they lose the original potential of life itself. 
In doing so, they bind themselves ever more tightly to the endless cycle of birth and delusion. They remain trapped in upādāna—clinging to all the aggregates. 
Here, the aggregates do not refer only to the physical body composed of the four elements—earth, water, fire, and wind. They also include the aggregates shaped by the mind: thoughts, emotions, likes and dislikes, gain and loss, love and hatred, acceptance and rejection. All of these are conditioned formations, comprising internal and external aggregates.
Those who fail to understand conventional reality become dominated by the aggregates through clinging. They become increasingly attached to conventional reality and more deeply bound by it. 
In doing so, they create their own suffering and strengthen the chains that bind them to the cycle of rebirths. They continue to wander in this cycle, life after life.
Once we understand the basic principle that gives rise to clinging to all the aggregates, what is that principle?
The Buddha called it ignorance (avijjā). Ignorance is not knowing that this world is merely a convention, not an absolute reality.
It is only what people designate and name: this is this, that is that, with certain perceived benefits and harms.
Everything is merely a convention. Understanding this makes us wiser.
If we fail to understand this, we become increasingly ignorant.
Understanding makes us wiser; we become people of true knowledge. 
Without understanding, ignorance deepens, and one remains under the influence of avijjā.
Therefore, avijjā is the underlying cause and condition, as stated in The Law of Dependent Origination or the Chain of Causation (paṭiccasamuppāda).
Because of ignorance (avijjā), mental formations (saṅkhārā) arise.
Saṅkhārā are the mind's conditioned formations—the mental processes that shape one’s thoughts, perceptions, and reactions.
What is ignorance (avijjā)?
It is not seeing reality. Failing to see that this world is merely conventional, not ultimately real.
With ignorance (avijjā) as condition, mental formations (saṅkhārā) arise.
With volitional formations (saṅkhārā) as condition, consciousness (viññāṇaṃ) arises.
What does consciousness (viññāṇaṃ) give rise to?
nāma-rūpa 
What is nāma-rūpa?
nāma-rūpa refers to mental and physical aspects of a living being.
nāma is mind, and rūpa is body.
What does nāma-rūpa give rise to?
saḷāyatana-the six sense bases—eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind—the six faculties through which one experiences the world.
What do the six sense bases (saḷāyatana) give rise to?
Contact (phassa)
Contact with what?
With conventional reality. One’s contact is always with conventional reality, and nothing else.
How often in a day do we experience ultimate reality?
How often do we understand that all things arise, are impermanent, subject to suffering, and do not truly exist? 
Everything is impermanent, subject to suffering, and not truly existent.
Yesterday, a soldier came to say goodbye to me. He asked for permission to return home.
I asked, "Why are you going back?"
He replied, "My wife is having an affair."
"You idiot, your wife has a lover? I’d be damn happy!"(laughs)
"If it were me, I’d be damn happy."
He asked, "Why?"
"Because then I could find a new wife. (laughs) This convention has already become rotten. Then, I will find a new one.
Why go back? If you go back, you’ll end up arguing with her, hitting her, or even killing her, creating problems.
It becomes one convention piled upon another. You are trapped and endlessly controlled by it. Do you understand?”
"I understand, sir."
"See? He’s still here. He hasn’t left. (laughs) That means he understands. He’s not leaving."
"Well, I’ll just find a new wife. It’s not a big deal."
“Your ex-wife has a lover. What's there to worry about? 
Why go back? Are you trying to get something rotten back? 
Once it's rotten, just let someone else have it. That's even better. You didn't have to let her go. She left on her own. You should be thanking her. Why would you guard something that's already rotten?"
See? He's let it go. That's why he's still here.
Just before I came here, I gave him something to do. “You're too idle. Go blend some garlic, chilies, and shallots to keep yourself busy.
Life is like that, always full of heat and spice. We must learn to understand and accept it.”
With ignorance (avijjā) as condition, mental formations (saṅkhārā) arise.
With volitional formations (saṅkhārā) as condition, consciousness (viññāṇaṃ) arises.
With consciousness as condition, nāma-rūpa (mind and body) arise.
nāma-rūpa (mind and body) come with the six sense bases
The six sense bases—the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind—give rise to contact (phassa).
Contact gives rise to feeling (vedanā)—pleasant, painful, or neutral—experienced through the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind.
When feeling (vedanā) arises, craving (taṇhā) arises.
Craving (taṇhā) follows.
When craving (taṇhā) arises, what arises next?
Clinging (upādāna).
Clinging (upādāna) arises. What comes next?
Then comes existence (bhava) and birth (jāti).
Then come aging, illness, and death.
So, what is the source of it all?
Not understanding. Not knowing. It all comes from not understanding and not knowing, in other words, ignorance.
Not understanding is simply ignorance. Not knowing is simply ignorance. The Buddha called this avijjā—ignorance. Not knowing that this is merely conventional reality, not something truly real.
The laws of ultimate reality: all things are impermanent, subject to suffering, and without inherent existence.
Year after year, month after month, day after day, we never truly encounter ultimate reality, because our lives are trapped in the cycle of conventional reality.
We live with conventions, even though ultimate reality is arising at every moment. Ultimate reality arises at every moment.
If we look at ourselves in the mirror, we will realize, "Ah, ultimate reality has revealed itself."
Why does our skin become wrinkled?
Our hair has turned gray. 
Our eyesight has dimmed. 
Our bodies have become stooped and frail.
These are the laws of ultimate reality. All things are impermanent, subject to suffering, and without inherent existence.
When we understand it this way, conventional reality loses its grip and no longer dominates us.
Yet day after day, we reject ultimate reality, weaving ever tighter knots of conventional reality.
Face is getting wrinkled. So, what to do?
Put on anti-wrinkle cream.
Our hair has turned gray, hasn’t it?
Then dye it.
This is convention layered upon convention. Trapped in the world of conventional reality.
This part is sagging; have it tightened.
Whatever is unattractive, have it fixed.
Not handsome enough, have nose reshaped.
These days, we hardly see the faces people were born with. All we see are Korean faces, Western faces, and every other kind of face. As soon as people have the money, they get cosmetic surgery. This is convention layered upon convention. We spend our lives immersed in conventional reality, taking great pride in it.
As a result, we fail to see ultimate reality for what it truly is: impermanent, subject to suffering, and without inherent existence. 
All things are impermanent, subject to suffering, and without inherent existence.
We cannot perceive it.
We cannot understand it.
We cannot truly know it.
Let me give you two examples. 
Have you ever seen King Rama IX dye his hair?
Have you ever seen Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn dye her hair, have cosmetic surgery, or undergo a facelift?
They lived wisely in conventional reality, understanding ultimate reality—that all things are impermanent, subject to suffering, and without inherent existence.
They possess immense wealth, yet they never sought to change their faces, dye their hair, or alter their appearance. They live by these principles:
True beauty lies in good conduct, not in beautiful eyes.
True maturity lies in wisdom, not in long years.
True wealth lies in virtue and generosity, not in a grand house.
This was the wisdom of our ancestors. 
They taught their children: “True beauty lies in good conduct, not in beautiful eyes. Do not become attached to conventions and mistake them for absolute truth.”
True beauty lies in manners, virtue, good deeds, and a noble way of living—maintaining beautiful conduct consistently and naturally.
Sīla means normality or proper conduct.
By living a wholesome life, one can become truly beautiful, wealthy, and admirable.
True wealth lies in virtue and generosity, not in a grand house.
This is the ancient wisdom passed down to help people live in the world of conventions without being controlled by them.
But today, it is different. Being handsome or beautiful means having money to reshape your face and hair. Some people may even go as far as renewing their skin. 
When they return home, their grandparents might get confused and say, “Wait, who are you?”
But grandparents today probably would not be surprised. They would say, “Oh, you have money? Take me with you—I want it done too.”
What happens when we remain trapped in convention upon convention, endlessly layering one upon another?
What happens next?
We fail to truly know.
We lack the wisdom to clearly understand both conventional and ultimate reality.
When the time comes to use it, we use it obsessively, excessively, and under its complete control.
In the end, we are controlled by it because we lack the wisdom to use conventions skillfully.
A Śloka (Dhamma verse) that I wrote three or four decades ago says:
“My beloved child, the most successful person is one who understands conventional reality, knows it clearly, uses it wisely, benefits from it, and ultimately does not become attached to it.”
Then, throughout my life, I live in the world of conventions as one who uses them, not one who is used by them.
I make full use of it, turning it into something meaningful and beneficial—not just for myself, but for both my own benefit and the benefit of others—guided only by the principle of heedfulness.
Understanding conventional reality clearly allows us to see the signs of ultimate reality: impermanence, suffering, and the lack of inherent existence.
When there is no inherent existence, there is nothing to cling to. 
This morning, I woke up around 4 a.m. and did my morning chanting.
I felt like my body did not want to wake up. I felt slightly feverish, as if there was some inflammation inside my body. 
“Why are you protesting?” I asked my body.
“What do you want from me?  
At six o’clock, I must get up and cook.
So, what is this protest? 
I give you one hour—then you must recover.”
And then sickness disappeared. I got up and prepared food (for the Royal Abhidhamma Ceremony). I only drank water.
I know very well that I work all day, then go back to work again at one in the morning. I sleep at three in the morning and then wake up at four or five. I get only one or two hours of sleep.
When this continues repeatedly, the four elements of the body begin to warn: “Hey, I can’t take this anymore. I can no longer remain in balance.”
If my body is protesting, I keep pushing myself harder.
I told my body, “Work harder. Soon, you won’t even have the chance to do it anymore.”
Yesterday afternoon, I taught the novices.
“Where are the novices? Haven’t they woken up yet, or have they not arrived?” 
I told them that this monastery teaches people to be strong in both body and mind, because weak people cannot survive in this world.
A person with a strong body and a strong mind cannot be controlled by anyone.  
We must learn to be the master of our own body and mind.
If external forces can control us, we eventually become victims, dominated by living beings, material things, and nature itself.
Once a person becomes a slave, they cannot request anything.
The weak cannot ask for opportunities.    
Who would want to associate with someone who is discouraged and defeated?
Who would sympathize with them?
Who would give them a chance?
Therefore, we must make ourselves strong, strengthening both our body and our mind. We must develop inner strength to the point that we are not dominated by anything.
Nothing can control us.
Nothing can shake our steadfastness, dignity, and noble spirit.
That is the true purpose of learning the Dhamma.
The Buddha taught that true victory is not conquering others, but conquering oneself.
Self-mastery is the greatest victory. This is what the Buddha taught.
What does it mean to conquer oneself?
It means conquering conventional reality. 
Conquering everything that is merely conventional. All of it is created through human designation. Various components come together, and we assign them a single name based on their identity and purpose.
When ultimate reality becomes evident, we clearly see that nothing is permanent, nothing truly endures, and everything is subject to change.
Iron may seem strong. 
Electrical wires may seem durable. 
And this microphone, as useful as it is.
Yet when the lifespan of these conventional things ends, they rust, crack, break, and eventually disintegrate.
My child, ultimate reality is always present in every moment. The only question is whether we recognize and truly understand it.
Ultimate reality becomes apparent only when we truly understand conventional reality. The more we understand conventional reality, the better we perceive ultimate reality.
Whenever we fail to understand conventional reality, even if we were practicing Dhamma on the Buddha’s lap, we would not see ultimate reality. It remains veiled and obscured by the world of conventions and illusions. 
Want an example? 
Look at those of you sitting there. In a moment, you'll fall asleep.
Then you'll fall right off your chair. Look at the person beside you or the one in front of you.
You are overpowered by conventions. 

You doze off. Your head starts to droop. You become drowsy. Then your mind wanders. 
This is exactly how the world of conventions won’t let go of you. It keeps taking hold of your mind, again and again.
How, then, can you possibly perceive ultimate reality? 
You simply cannot see it.
The day before yesterday, I was teaching the newly ordained novices. 
He asked them, “How are you doing?”
I said, “For a Buddhist monk, sleeplessness can actually be a blessing and something beneficial.”
Why? Because in the Apantaka-paṭipadā, the Buddha taught three practices that cultivate heedfulness.
The first is indriya-saṃvara—the restraint of the six sense faculties: the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind.
The second is jāgariyānuyoga—the practice of diligent wakefulness.
For one who is wise and spiritually awakened, sleeplessness is a blessing, as it gives more time for practice instead of wasting it on nonsense.
Of course, sleep is an excellent way to rest. But if we sleep too much, we become extremely lazy. Like a python: eating, sleeping, and slowly crawling along. 
Therefore, do not waste time on meaningless things.
If sleeping were a path to enlightenment, all babies who spend over ten months in their mothers’ wombs would already have attained enlightenment. 
Human beings should manage their time wisely.
Therefore, the Buddha taught jāgariyānuyoga—cultivating the diligence of one who is ever vigilant.
The third and final practice is bhojane mattaññutā—moderation in food and consumption: using the four requisites wisely, without extravagance.
The Buddha called these three practices apaṇṇaka-paṭipadā—the practice that does not lead one astray. They are three principles that guide one to act, speak, and think without error.
My child, there is a simple way to understand conventional reality. 
How can we truly understand conventional reality?
We should first practice contemplating conventions. 
Eyes see objects.
Ears hear sounds
Nose smells odors.
Tongue tastes flavors.
Body experiences tactile sensations.
Mental phenomena arise in the mind.
When the eye sees a visible form, we remind ourselves: “That is a conventional object.”
When the ear hears a sound, we remind ourselves: “That is a conventional sound.”
When the nose smells an odor, we remind ourselves: “That is a conventional smell.”
When the tongue tastes a flavor, we remind ourselves: “That is a conventional taste.”
When the body experiences contact, we remind ourselves: “That is a conventional sensation.”
By repeatedly reminding ourselves in this way, we cultivate awareness of conventions.
Sounds—whether pleasant or unpleasant, bring joy or sorrow, uplift or disturbance—all of them are merely conventional sounds.
The same applies to tastes, smells, and tactile sensations.
Through repeated contemplation of conventions, this understanding becomes deeply rooted: In truth, this world is merely a conventional designation. There is nothing truly real in this world; everything is merely conventional.
Someone is designated as a father, a husband, a wife, a brother, a sister, a friend, a teacher, an acquaintance, an enemy, or an ally. 
All things are conventions. 
Once we see that all things are conventions, what should we do?
Use conventions and benefit from them. 
Know conventions and understand them clearly. 
Use conventions wisely and contribute to them. Performing the duties of a husband is a way of contributing to that convention.
Performing the duties of a wife, a parent, a child, a friend, or a teacher is likewise contributing to those conventions.
This is what we do every day: using conventions and contributing to them. 
But the final principle is: do not cling to conventions.
We use conventions and benefit from them, but do we truly understand them?
No, we do not.
We fail to recognize that these roles are merely conventions.
That is what it means not to understand conventions.
“That's my husband!”
“That's my wife!”
“I'm going to kill the person they're having an affair with. I'll beat them up because that's my spouse!”
That is what it means not to understand conventional reality.
Instead of using conventions, we let conventions control us.
That is why the second śloka (Dhamma verse) says: “The foolish are used by their defilements; the wise make use of them.”
Use conventions.
Understand them.
See them clearly.
Use them and benefit from them.
Fulfill one’s duties according to one’s conventional roles.
Above all, do not cling to them.
Ultimately, it all comes down to whether one is foolish or wise.
If we are foolish, we are controlled.
If we are wise, we are the ones in control.
The question is whether we are foolish or wise.
When we are wise, the world becomes our chessboard, and every piece is ours to move.
But whenever we are foolish, we become pawns for someone else to play.
Then conventions themselves will move, use, and control us. 
That is why the Buddha said, “Wisdom is the light of the world.” 
To possess wisdom is like possessing immense wealth. 
Did you ever learn this in school? 
Knowledge is a treasure beyond measure.
Wherever you go, you will never lack.
Even in times of hardship, it will sustain you.
Knowledge alone is not enough.
Cultivate mastery, and it will yield rewards.
Do people still learn it these days?
No wonder they're so foolish. No wonder they lack wisdom.
When I was a child, my mother made me memorize this. My mother and grandfather insisted that I learn it by heart. Even if I couldn't live up to it yet, at least I remembered it. If we remember it, we'll be able to apply it when the time comes. 
People today reject memorization as nothing more than parroting. Yet they fail to see that what we memorize becomes a reminder, guiding us to think, speak, and act wisely according to the circumstances, and to discern whether our actions will bring benefit or harm.
That is precisely what it means not to understand conventions.
When we fail to understand them, even as we think we are using them, we end up being used by them instead.
Just because we use conventions, does that mean they have no power over us?
They use us as well.
Ask yourself: while using conventions, have you ever been used by them?
Have you been used by tastes? By smells? By sounds? By physical sensations? By emotions?
All day long.
What is happening throughout the day?
You have been the one being used—not the one using them.
So, when you are the one being used, are you foolish or wise?
You have only yourself to blame, for you remain foolish and unwilling to learn.
Understanding conventions begins with the practice of contemplating conventions.
Today, I have explained this. If you ask how we come to understand conventions.
The answer is through the contemplation of conventions.
This means when the eye sees a form, we recognize: “This is a conventional form.”
This is called contemplating conventions. 
When the ear hears a sound, we recognize: “This is a conventional sound.”
When the nose smells an odor, we contemplate: “This is a conventional smell.”
When an emotion appears in the mind, we recognize: “This is a conventional mental phenomenon.”
When the body experiences contact, we recognize: “This is a conventional sensation.”
Practice this until you clearly understand the nature of conventions as they truly are.
Then, when we use conventions, we will not throw ourselves completely into them. We will not become their slaves. They will no longer be able to control us.
More than 30 years ago, when the monastery was newly established, I taught over 130 monks and novices. After teaching them for some time, only six remained.
They left because they were attached to conventions. They went off to stay at more comfortable monasteries— Sangkhathan Temple, Ratchanatdaram Temple, and Debsirindrawas Temple. There were also Dhammayut monks among them. Later, they went their separate ways, staying at different royal and local monasteries.
They still came back to visit from time to time, both Dhammayut and Mahanikaya monks.
Perhaps it was because they did not truly understand the meaning of “convention.”
Once, when I went to pay my respects to His Holiness Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara before disrobing.
I disrobed in the morning and re-ordained that very evening.
He said to me, “Venerable, would you like to stay with me?”
He meant that he wanted me to join the Dhammayut Order at the Bowonniwet Vihara Temple.
I replied, “Your Holiness, I believe that all phenomena arise from causes. 
To bring them to an end, one must eliminate their causes.
Therefore, I should remain where those causes arise.
To extinguish them, we must do so at their source.
But if I run away from those causes, the path of my practice will never mature.
And the wisdom leading to Buddhahood will never truly blossom if I turn away from these very conditions.
So, there is no need. Gold remains gold, even in a pit of filth.”
His Holiness listened quietly and then said, “You are such a rare person.”
In the past, while living in the world of conventions, I constantly asked myself: “When will I stop layering convention upon convention? 
When will I be free to live in the world of conventions without being bound by it? 
When will conventions no longer dominate me?
When will I make the best use of conventions: gaining the greatest benefit with the least cost, realizing their highest value?
When will I truly benefit from conventions?
These were the questions I carried with me every moment of my life. I never thought of myself as one who merely indulges in conventions. My aspiration was always to use conventions without being used by them.
That is the whole principle: use conventions without allowing conventions to use you.
Let me emphasize once again: first, build a solid foundation for understanding conventional reality.
The principle has always been the same: know conventions, understand them clearly, use them, benefit from them, and contribute to them.
But you have managed only the last two steps. You benefit from conventions and contribute to them. That's all. You have skipped the first three steps: knowing conventions, clearly understanding them, and using them properly.
You are not masters of conventions; you have become their servants. You have bypassed the first three steps. Instead of using conventions, you are being used by them.
You have benefited from conventions. All you do is demand more from them. Even when you think you are contributing to conventions, you do so in delusion, with heedlessness, and without truly understanding them. How, then, can ultimate reality ever reveal itself?
In truth, ultimate reality is all around us. Every aspect of life reveals it. It is found in a husband, a wife, a child, a father, a mother, an elder sibling, a younger sibling, money, gold, work, wealth, fields and farms, our way of life, our emotions, tastes, forms, sounds, and smells. The ultimate reality is present in all of these.
Why?
Because none of them is permanent. None possesses inherent existence. They are all subject to suffering and change. This is the world of ultimate reality.
And what are the principles of conventional reality?
It arises, endures while constantly changing, and ultimately disintegrates.
That is the nature of conventional reality.
Yet we overlook it. We fail to learn from it.
When it comes to ultimate reality, people fail to understand it.
Because they never truly understood conventional reality in the first place.
Simply recognizing conventions is not enough. 
You must also understand them. 
First, recognize conventions.
Then, seek to understand them.
Then, when the time comes to use conventions, you will be able to use them properly, wisely, and to the greatest benefit.
Then, when the time comes, you will fully benefit from conventions.
Then, when it is time to contribute to conventions, you do so appropriately, not blindly. 
Like parents who indulge their only child by giving them everything they ask for. They end up harming the child instead. Such cases are all too common.
The Buddha taught us that once we possess loving-kindness (Mettā), compassion (Karuṇā), and appreciative joy (Muditā), we must also practice equanimity (Upekkhā).
Yet many parents neither can nor will practice equanimity, because they do not know how to use conventions wisely. Nor do they behave properly towards conventions, because they do not understand conventions in the first place. 
This is why we need this contemplation practice:
When the eyes see a form, remind yourself: "This is a conventional form."
When the ears hear a sound: "This is a conventional sound."
When the nose smells an odor: "This is a conventional smell."
When the tongue tastes a flavor: "This is a conventional taste."
When a mental object arises: "This is a conventional mental object."
By contemplating in this way, we gradually come to understand conventional reality more. From there, everything becomes easier.
In time, ultimate reality will naturally reveal itself, becoming ever clearer in every moment of life. 
There is no need to shut yourself away in meditation or spend countless hours in formal practice. Simply live wisely and learn to use conventions wisely. 
After all, every defilement originates from conventions.
In other words, the wise use conventions, while the foolish are used by them.
Defilements themselves are conventions. 
Who creates conventions?
Who creates defilements? 
We do. 
The mind creates the world of conventions, and the mind also destroys it.
Look at the destruction and conflict in the world. They all begin in the mind.
The mind destroys, and the mind creates.
“I'll kill you,” people are acting according to the causes and conditions of the conventional reality.
After all, are they wise?
Not at all. 
Conventions made them foolish. They are completely dominated by conventions.
“Who would like to ask questions?”
Question: What is the most dangerous form of heedlessness in conventional reality? And how should we guard against it?
Answer: The greatest heedlessness is failing to learn. Failing to learn to understand is the most dangerous form of negligence.
The Buddha taught three kinds of wisdom:
Sutamayapaññā — wisdom gained through listening,
Cintāmayapaññā — wisdom gained through reflection,
Bhāvanāmayapaññā — wisdom gained through practice.
Listen, reflect, and practice.
If you are heedless in learning—if you refuse to listen, learn, accumulate knowledge, and cultivate yourself.
That is the gravest form of heedlessness. Such heedlessness will never lead to an understanding of conventional reality.
Question: How harmful is it to be dominated by the world of conventions? 
Answer: How harmful? You already know from your own experience. 
When taste dominates you, when sounds, smells, or physical sensations take control of you, how do you feel?
Have you ever seen dogs during the mating season? Even if you pour hot water on them, they still won't stop. That is how completely dogs are overpowered when they are in heat.
They kill, steal, and harm others. How harmful can they be?
Clinging to conventional reality can destroy the world.
Look at what is happening now—Iran and the United States are once again attacking each other. Isn’t that serious?
Oil prices will rise. The whole world will suffer. Isn’t that serious?
If everyone simply lived their own lives within their own conventional reality, perhaps it would end there. But it does not, because conventions are layered upon conventions, overlapping again and again.
People can no longer distinguish what is “my country” and what is “your country”. What is “me” and what is “you.” They lose sight of reality.
Then they fight, kill, and compete over things they do not truly understand. For reasons they cannot explain and principles they cannot see clearly. Sometimes they even claim the name of democracy as a justification to destroy anyone who is not on their side. This has happened throughout history, and it continues to repeat itself.
Even in the Buddha’s time, a group of 500 ascetics, driven by attachment to their own beliefs, conspired to kill Venerable Moggallāna, a chief disciple of the Buddha.
All of this arose merely from attachment to one’s own beliefs. People have been killing one another over such things for a very long time. It is nothing new.
This is why becoming enslaved by conventional reality is so dangerous.
And what is conventional reality?
It begins with us. Are emotions, sounds, forms, smells, and tastes conventions?
People kill over nothing more than sights, sounds, smells, and tastes —mere conventions. They kill over what is merely conventional, not ultimately real. 
That shows how dangerous attachment to conventions can be.
If you don’t understand conventions, you won’t know how to use them properly.
And if you cannot use them properly, you won’t fully benefit from them. And when the time comes to contribute to conventions, you will not know the right way to do so. 
By then, letting go is no longer easy, because you have become deeply attached. Instead, you cling even more tightly, becoming lost in conventional reality. In doing so, you create the cycle of saṃsāra or the endless round of birth, aging, sickness, death, and rebirth.
In truth, no one else creates this cycle. Who created it?
You do. That is the answer.
Question: When we repeatedly suppress anger or resentment, what Dhamma principle should we cultivate to let go of conventions?
Answer: Why suppress it? Have you ever seen me suppress anything? I never do.
If I'm displeased, I say so, and it's over.
If I'm pleased, I laugh, and that's it. 
The difference is that I know it is only a convention. 
Why suppress it? You'll only make yourself miserable. It's like holding in gas. You keep forcing it down. Eventually you'll burst.
So why suppress it? 
Others may teach suppression, but I do not. 
The wise use defilements; the foolish are used by them.
Last night, I got up around 1 a.m. to cook. Everyone was half-asleep, barely able to keep their eyes open.
Then they saw me and immediately woke up and got to work.
So why suppress it? Did the work get done?
I asked them: “Would you rather sleep? Hey, are you going to sleep?”
They’ll wake right up and start helping.
But if you think, “Hold it in. Don’t criticize them. Stay calm and suppress it,” the benefit will be lost. You miss the opportunity to use the moment properly. In the end, everything is lost.
“Oh, I’m not some kind of angel. If I feel like scolding someone, I scold them.
It’s not that difficult.
Maybe it’s because of who I am. That’s my trademark: Buddha Isara.
I don’t suppress my feelings, but I know what I’m doing.
The wise use defilements consciously. I don’t act mindlessly, impulsively, or without understanding. 
No. I’m fully aware. I understand. I know exactly what I’m about to do.
Why would I suddenly scold someone?
Why would I suddenly criticize them?
I don’t particularly like talking to people anyway.
I can talk to dogs, cats, chickens, whatever. If a bird flies over, I’ll even talk to it.
But when a person comes along, I immediately go quiet. Talking to people is such a hassle.
When I talk to a bird, it just listens to me. It never argues back.

Question: How can we live and work with others without letting pride and ego cause us suffering?
Answer: It’s simple. Make yourself smaller, and you’ll fit in anywhere.
As long as you have a strong sense of “I,” you’ll struggle wherever you go. 
Let go of the ego, and you can live anywhere. 

Question: When we pray, chant, and ask for blessings from sacred beings, are we making use of conventions?
Answer: It depends on how you do it, why you do it, and what you hope to gain. It all comes down to intention.
The Buddha said, “Intention is karma.” Intention can bring either benefit or harm.
What is our intention when we pay homage to the Buddha and chant?
We do so to connect with and cultivate the virtues of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha.
As for asking for blessings and prosperity, that is a personal benefit we hope to attain.
Aspiration is one of the ten perfections.
You may dismiss it as old-fashioned, misguided, or superstitious, but how else do you think these great beings came to be?
It was through aspiration.
Each of them made aspirations—the Buddha himself and every arahant.
So don't dismiss it as foolish, outdated, or superstitious.
Those who do are merely bookworms who have read much but do not truly understand.

Question: How is suffering in the Four Noble Truths similar to or different from suffering in the Three Characteristics of all Existence and Beings?
Answer: In the Three Characteristics, suffering is suffering that is being extinguished—recognized and extinguished. It truly ceases.
In the Four Noble Truths, suffering is suffering that is seen and experienced but has not yet ceased. Its cause has not yet been understood. 
That is why the Buddha taught the next step: once you recognize suffering, you must investigate its cause.
So, suffering in the Four Noble Truths has not yet ceased.
Suffering in the Three Characteristics is approaching cessation or is ceasing, with a path leading to its complete cessation.

Question: Is it wise to make an aspiration to follow an arahant or bodhisattva through every lifetime? And if they do not take rebirth, where would we be?
Answer: Stay at your own home. Where else would you go?
If you have nowhere to stay, you can come live at the Onoi Temple.
It’s not difficult. Everyone only lives according to their own circumstances.
Everything is governed by causes and conditions of one’s actions.
Our power comes from the causes and conditions we create, and losing that power also comes from the causes and conditions we create ourselves. 
Don’t blame others for what happens to us. We are the ones who act; we are the ones who create.
The mind creates the conventional reality.
The mind also learns and understands ultimate reality. 
There is nothing greater than the workings of the mind.

Question: If the conventional world has winning, losing, and drawing, what does ultimate reality have?
Answer: Nothing. Ultimate reality has only its fundamental characteristics: impermanence, suffering, and the absence of real existence. 
If it does not truly exist, what is there to have? That is the whole principle.
Question: How can seeing things as conventional realities help reduce anger, greed, and delusion? 
Answer: Try it yourself, and you will know. 
Don’t ask others how it works; you have to experience it for yourself. 
How would you know whether the curry is delicious by asking others? 
If you only listen to people praise it, you will never know its true taste.
If you want to know, you have to taste it yourself.
This is paccattaṃ—something that can only be known through one’s own experience.

Question: In today’s conventional reality, where humans are developing AI to replace human workers, how can we perceive ultimate reality in an AI-driven world?
Answer: That is conventions layered upon conventions—like π raised to the eighth power. They become increasingly complex until we can no longer see the underlying foundation, or the primordial convention. 
We become so lost that we forget our own identity. 
Our potential is stripped away or even harmed. We can no longer develop our own minds to their full potential.
The human brain has folds and ridges. But future generations might have brains shaped more like a ping-pong ball or an egg. 
Smooth, right? Exactly. 
There would be no folds because they no longer know how to think. They don’t practice thinking, so where would those folds come from?
Anyone who becomes too dependent on AI will eventually lose the ability to think for themselves.
Can children still do basic arithmetic nowadays? Do they practice mental math anymore? They simply pull out a smartphone and let it do the calculations.
So, future generations may no longer need anything else. Eventually, they won’t even need legs. Their physical abilities will deteriorate, leaving only a brain and fingers to tap on screens. 
AI is merely convention layered upon convention, compounded upon itself until we lose sight of reality. 
Then where would ultimate reality have any room to emerge? 
No way.

Question: How can we find ourselves in a way that frees us from suffering?
Answer: To find yourself is to understand conventions. Once you understand conventions, you see that they have no real existence.  
By understanding conventions, you come to understand yourself. And by understanding yourself, you realize that what we call “self” is merely a convention.
The four elements come together to form what we call “me.” 
When those four elements eventually break apart, the “self” disappears. In truth, there is no permanent self.

Question: If every action in the conventional reality is karma, what kind of karma should we choose so that we do not bind ourselves?
Answer: Habitual karma-habitual wholesome actions, practiced continuously and consistently every day. That is the kind of karma we should cultivate.
Human beings cannot escape karma. As long as you are breathing, eating, standing, walking, sitting, or sleeping, you are creating karma. You cannot say you are not creating karma.
If you truly created no karma at all, you would have to lie still like someone in a coma. Even then, that condition itself would be the result of karma. One of the karmic debts one must repay.
All beings are subject to karma. We are born of karma, shaped by karma, led by karma, and carried along by karma. 
We have four types of karma: regenerative karma, supportive karma, obstructive karma, and destructive karma. 
These four types continually alternate and produce their effects. 
Productive Karma (Janaka karma) generates mental and physical aggregates at the rebirth.
Supportive Karma (Upatthambhaka karma) assist, maintain, and prolong the results or state established by the productive karma
Obstructive Karma (Upapīḷaka karma) weakens, interrupts, or retards the fruition of productive or supportive karma.
Destructive Karma (Upaghātaka karma) cuts short the current life-stream or prematurely alters the trajectory of existence by introducing a totally different result.
Throughout the day, these four types of karma continually alternate and produce their effects. 
So, it is impossible to say that there is no karma.
Even arahants still have karma, but it is wholesome karma. 
So, you cannot say that arahants have no karma at all. 
If arahants had no karma, why was Venerable Moggallāna beaten?
Why were his bones crushed?
By what does an arahant sustain their life? Is an arahant sustained by karma? 
No. They live only until their past karma has been exhausted. 
An arahant no longer has supporting karma, obstructive karma, or generative karma. Having reached the end of suffering, there is no more karma generating rebirth. Generative, supporting, and obstructive karma have all been cut off. What remains is only destructive karma (upaghātaka kamma)—karma that cuts off or terminates.
The case of Venerable Moggallāna is an example. Destructive karma cut off his life.
So, you cannot say that there is no karma. Karma remains.
Karma is also divided into past, present, and future karma. 
An arahant has no future karma—only past and present karma. 
Ordinary people and other beings, however, have present karma arising from past karma and producing future effects. Arahants, the noble ones who are asekha—those who have completed their practice—can cut off karma. 
But “cutting off karma” does not mean eliminating all karma. They cut off generative, supporting, and obstructive karma, but they cannot cut off upaghātaka karma or destructive karma.
No one knows what weighty karma they may have accumulated in the distant past. 
Not even the Buddha was exempt from the consequences of past karma. Even the Buddha had to experience the consequences of past karma. For example, in his relationship with Devadatta. 
So, saying that arahants can “cut off karma” is not wrong. It is correct, but incomplete. The real question is: Which karma can be cut off, and which cannot?

Question: When making decisions in the conventional world, should we begin by creating the right causes, or focus primarily on the consequences, so that we do not become attached to conventions?
Answer: You haven’t even learned to understand conventions yet, so how can you begin by choosing the right causes?
First, you must learn to know and understand conventions. 
Only then can you understand what causes and conditions give rise to them.
What consequences arise from which causes and conditions is a secondary matter.
First, you must learn to understand conventions: how are the forms you see, sounds you hear, smells you smell, bodily sensations you experience, and tastes through the tongue all conventions?
Then, look back at the laws of the conventional reality: things arise, endure, and change, and eventually break apart. That is the law of conventions.
Compare the forms you see with the law of conventions. Do they arise, endure, and change, and eventually break apart?  
Only then can you determine whether what you see is conventional or not.
Compare the sounds you hear with the law of conventions. Do they arise, endure, and change, and eventually cease?
Only then can you truly understand and recognize conventions. 
You cannot simply claim to understand conventions and immediately jump to their causes.

Question: Living in conventional reality, we inevitably encounter different kinds of people. When we interact with someone who holds wrong views, how should we behave ourselves?
Answer: What is there to practice? Right view is a convention, and wrong view is a convention too. 
If they are both conventions, what is there to practice?
However, the Buddha taught us to understand and use conventions. Once you understand them, you use them—benefiting from them and contributing to them.
Asevanā ca bālānaṃ—do not associate with fools, and Paṇḍitānañca sevanā—associate with the wise. 
In other words, reject fools and associate with the wise. That is how a wise user of conventions conducts themselves.
Those who do not understand conventions, however, remain under their influence. 
If someone has wrong view, you already know that person is a fool.
If someone has right view, you know that person is wise. 
So don’t associate with the fool. That’s all.

You have to compare them. Arising, enduring, changing, and breaking apart. That is the very nature of the conventional world.
Smells, too, must be examined against the principles of the conventional reality.
Forms, too, must be examined against the principles of the conventional reality.
Tastes, too, must be examined against the principles of the conventional reality.
They arise, endure, change, and break apart. 
Sensations, too, must be examined against the principles of the conventional world.
They arise, endure, change, and break apart. 
Only then can you truly understand and recognize conventions.
If you do not make this comparison and simply claim to understand, what exactly do you understand? How do you understand it?
Until this is clear, doubts about conventions will remain.

A novice (Singaporean) has a question. Let him ask. Give him the microphone. The interpreter can translate it afterward. Let’s record the audio.
Lay follower: The novice asked, “What is a convention?” 
I explained that a convention is something that people in a society collectively establish and agree to call something by a particular name—for example, this is called a car, this is called a house, this is called a person, this is called a teacher, and this is called a novice.
Luangpu Buddha Isara: First, explain to him the principle of the conventional world: things arise, endure, change, and eventually break apart.
Lay follower: He asks whether the ten precepts for a novice are conventions.
Luangpu: Are the novice’s ten precepts a convention? Yes. They are conventions established as the principles of practice for novices.
Anything that arises, endures, changes, and eventually breaks apart is a convention.
Lay follower: So, if we want to determine whether something is a convention, we should use our own judgment based on the principle you explained. Is that correct?
Luangpu: Anything that arises, endures, changes, and eventually breaks apart is a convention.
The true meaning of “convention” is that it has no permanent existence. It is impermanent and unsustainable. It exists only temporarily and, in time, breaks apart. That is why it is called a convention.
Then what is not a convention?
The mind, merit, and demerit—what we call the wholesome and the unwholesome. These arise through what conventions create.
The mind is said not to be a convention because it has the capacity to receive, know, remember, and think about objects. Even after death, this capacity to receive, remember, think, and know continues into other realms of existence.
Compare that with this temple. When the temple eventually collapses, it is simply gone. Nothing remains to follow us into another realm.
Even the tallest building reaching the sky, when its time comes, collapses and does not follow us into another life.
But the mind’s capacity to receive, remember, think, and know follows us through countless lives.
When the mind receives, remembers, knows, and reflects on what we have done, it retains those experiences.
When we are reborn, what the mind has received, remembered, known, and thought about can manifest its results in future lives.
Those results are called the fruits of karma—wholesome and unwholesome karma. 
This is the basis for the saying that we are born to reap the consequences of our karma.
That is why it is said that the mind, merit, demerit, wholesome karma, and unwholesome karma are not merely conventions; everything else is convention.
Do you understand?
But when viewed according to the principles of ultimate reality, everything is impermanent, subject to suffering, and without permanent existence. 
Yet merit and demerit can still produce results in the realm of ultimate reality. 
Even the Buddha had to experience the consequences of past karma.
That is why the Buddha taught us not to do evil, but to cultivate what is good. 
No matter how many hundreds of lives or realms we pass through, good and bad karma continue to follow us. 
This is different from wealth, possessions, temples, and other physical structures. When we die, none of these can follow us. 
Only wholesome and unwholesome karma can follow us.

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