Venerable Luang Pu Buddha Isara's Dhamma Sermon on Conventional Reality and Ultimate Reality on June 28, 2026

May you all flourish in the Dhamma and in happiness, beloved devotees who seek the path of virtue.
Today, I would like to raise an important topic worthy of learning and contemplation.
How can we live in conventional reality without being dominated by it? Or, how can we free ourselves from its influence?
My Shloka on the conventional world (a Sanskrit term meaning a verse or stanza used to express teachings, wisdom, or spiritual principles):
Understand sammuti — understand conventions.
Accept sammuti — accept conventions.
Make use of sammuti — make use of conventions.
Gain benefit from sammuti — gain benefit from conventions.
And ultimately, do not become attached to what is merely conventional.
Explanation: In Pāli, sammuti refers to something that exists through collective agreement and shared recognition. In English, sammuti is commonly translated as “convention.”
This is what I consider one of my “treasures kept at the bottom of the chest”—a shloka that I wrote down thirty or forty years ago.
At that time, no one was talking about the conventional reality, nor about the ultimate reality.
If anyone had spoken about these subjects, it would have been some 30 or 40 years earlier. One person who did was Ajahn Sathien Phothinanta, but he spoke about them only a few times. 
After that, no one continued teaching on the subject.
I am not certain whether people merely forgot it or they could not grasp the essence of the Dhamma concerning conventional reality and the ultimate reality. Eventually, people stopped discussing the topic.
After that, I never again heard anyone teach about conventional reality.
Learning and understanding conventional reality are immensely important, as significant as understanding the cause of suffering.
This is because the Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths as follows:
To understand suffering. 
To understand the cause of suffering. 
To understand the end of suffering. 
To understand the practice that leads to the end of suffering.
Therefore, understanding conventional reality is essential to understanding the causes of suffering.
If we wish to end suffering, we must first clearly understand the conventional reality. Then, the suffering within the conventional world will not have power over us.
However, its simple meaning may not deeply impress people, or listeners may fail to grasp its significance. 
As a result, no one has spoken about or taught on conventional reality.
Or perhaps they feared it might distort or deviate from the Buddha’s original teaching—namely, to understand suffering and to understand the cause of suffering.
In fact, suffering arises in relation to conventional reality, which is the world we experience around us.
To prevent it from dominating us and causing suffering, we must remain independent of it, without becoming attached to it. This is quite simple and not complicated at all.
There are two fundamental principles.
The first is to learn and contemplate it until we gain profound understanding—to see the true nature of conventions exactly as they manifest, moment by moment, until nibbidā-ñāṇa arises: a deep sense of disillusionment with and detachment from them.
The second principle is to keep the mind unshaken. Then, conventional reality cannot dominate us.
In essence, these two principles eliminate the causes of suffering. 
Then, the suffering that arises within conventional reality will no longer have power over us or disturb us.
Therefore, learning about conventional reality is a way of understanding the root cause of suffering.
And the reason I call it a treasure hidden at the bottom of the chest is that I wrote it down thirty or forty years ago, when I first began to understand conventional reality. I came to recognize its great value.
In the beginning, I wrote down many Dhamma verses.
These treasures, hidden at the bottom of the chest, were not only about conventional reality.
I wrote down thousands of Dhamma verses. One among them was this: 
Understand sammuti — understand conventions.
Clearly and thoroughly understand sammuti — clearly and thoroughly understand conventions.
Gain benefit from sammuti — gain benefit from conventions.
Relate to conventions properly and also accept them.
Make use of sammuti — make use of convention.
And ultimately, do not become attached to what is merely sammuti — merely conventional.
The very process of truly understanding conventional reality leads to a sense of disenchantment, as we come to realize, “Oh, everything around us is merely conventional.”
All suffering and distress that arise from clinging to what is merely conventional lose their power over us, because they are ultimately unreal.
This accords with the Buddha’s teaching that, for whatever phenomena arise from causes, the Buddha revealed their causes and the cessation of those causes.
This is also consistent with the teaching of the Four Noble Truths: by realizing the origin of suffering, suffering ceases to arise.
In other words, once we eliminate the cause of suffering, suffering ceases to arise.
One who understands the conventional world knows the cause of suffering.
One who understands the cause of suffering also understands the meaning of this teaching: “Whatever phenomena arise from causes can cease only through the elimination of those causes.”
The matter is quite simple and uncomplicated. 
However, my purpose is to clarify its meaning for those who have not yet understood the true nature of the two worlds that coexist and overlap: the conventional world and the ultimate world.
Through the process of learning and understanding the conventional reality, suffering no longer arises because of the two principles explained above.
That is, by learning and understanding conventional reality so clearly that disenchantment (nibbidā-ñāṇa) arises, by guarding the mind so that it remains undisturbed, the conventional reality cannot overpower us.
Maintaining an undisturbed mind can bring immediate peace, but that state is often short-lived.
This differs from the process of gaining a clear understanding of conventional reality—of truly knowing and comprehending its nature. This kind of understanding gradually permeates the mind, just as the air surrounds and permeates us.
Just as the air surrounds us, this understanding gradually permeates the mind until it fills it. At that point, one genuinely and clearly understands conventional reality.
In time, a fundamental principle naturally arises in our mind—the principle, or law, that governs the world. It is the law that governs conventional reality, and no one can deny it.
One comes to realize its fundamental law: all conditioned phenomena arise, abide while changing, and ultimately cease and disintegrate.
When understanding becomes this clear, nibbidā-ñāṇa—the knowledge of disenchantment—naturally arises.
When nibbidā (disenchantment) arises, it gives rise to virāga (dispassion), the fading of attachment.
Then, craving (taṇhā)—the longing that gives rise to all suffering and distress—no longer arises.
As a result, upādāna—attachment to craving and to the five aggregates—no longer arises.
The five aggregates—namely form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness—are all phenomena of the conventional reality.
Then who created the conventional reality?
The mind itself created conventional reality. Perhaps it was not our own mind, but the minds of others. We were not even born when people first named this type of tree “Kaew mango”.
But it surely originated from the mind.
The mango tree itself is just a tree. Why, then, did people give it different names such as “Kaew mango,” “Khiew Sawoey mango,” and “Nam Dok Mai mango”?
The names “Kaew mango,” “Khiew Sawoey mango,” and “Nam Dok Mai mango” come from the mind’s recognition of their distinct characteristics—their benefits, qualities, and drawbacks.
Therefore, people gave it a name. Because it serves this particular purpose, it should be called by this name, and so on.
In summary, it was the mind that designated a certain kind of tree as a mango tree.
It was the mind that transformed mere stones, earth, and sand into palaces, Buddha images, and sacred places worthy of reverence.
The mind also established the conventional designation of people.
 “This is my child, my husband, my wife, my father, my relative, my teacher, and my student.” 
The mind itself constructs these designations. Such construction does not happen randomly. It is based on foundations, principles, and reasoning.
What elements make up these foundations, principles, and reasons?
When designating a person, certain qualities must be present: virtue, morality, goodness, and complete usefulness.
This is like the Buddha’s teaching on the qualities that lead to fulfillment of one’s purpose.
The Buddha taught that human beings have principles and practices for their actions, speech, and mind grounded in the principles that lead to accomplishment: chanda (aspiration), viriya (perseverance), citta (thoughtfulness), and vimamsā (reflection), collectively known as the Four Bases of Success (iddhipāda).
There are also virtues beneficial to both body and mind: sati (mindfulness—the recollection and awareness of what is present) and sampajañña (the clear awareness of one’s actions and circumstances).
These are the distinctive qualities that ordinary people can develop by learning the Buddha’s teachings, receiving guidance, and putting them into practice for their benefit.
The Buddha defined the concepts of “father” and “mother” according to qualities that make parents worthy of respect, homage, and heartfelt reverence: the Four Divine Abodes (Brahmavihāra)—loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity.
These qualities are not found only in parents. The designation of people extends further: the Four Divine Abodes (Brahmavihāra) are also important principles for those who hold positions of responsibility and leadership. 
Those who are regarded as elders should learn and cultivate these qualities.
Therefore, moral qualities are expressed in a person through both concrete and abstract dimensions. 
The concrete aspect is that this person is recognized as a father or a mother.
The society generally recognizes that parents should possess the Four Divine Abodes (Brahmavihāra).
A teacher or a spiritual guide is conventionally expected to possess the Four Divine Abodes (Brahmavihāra).
When a person or group of people is recognized as elders, they are expected to possess the Four Divine Abodes (Brahmavihāra). Without the Four Divine Abodes (Brahmavihāra), a person cannot truly fulfill that role.
However, we cannot say for sure that the role is not fulfilled, because we do not always know whether a person has the Four Divine Abodes (Brahmavihāra).
Whether this elder, these parents, or this teacher truly possesses the Four Divine Abodes (Brahmavihāra) is not difficult to verify.
In sum, these special qualities give meaning to the designations of parent, teacher, and elder.
All of these are merely designations of persons. They are all conventional, because they arise, exist while changing, and eventually pass away.
Do parents die? Do teachers die? Do elders also die? Everybody eventually passes away; nobody remains forever.
Are all these conventional? 
Indeed, they are all conventions. 
Being a parent in this life does not mean one will continue in the role of a parent in the next lifetime; one may instead take the role of a child.
Being someone’s child in this life does not mean one will remain their child in the next life; one may instead become a parent, a disciple, or someone unrelated.
A person who is a teacher in this life is not a teacher in every lifetime.
In summary, everything follows the law of conventional reality: it arises, changes, and eventually passes away or disintegrates. This is the law of conventional reality that no one can deny.
Even Brahmās, Māras, devas, yakṣas, ghosts, spirits, pretas, and asuras are subject to this law. No one can escape the conventional world.
When one truly understands this, it leads to letting go of clinging.
All forms of clinging, such as “my teacher,” “my father,” “my mother,” “myself,” “my relatives,” “my possessions,” and the things I love, will gradually loosen because they are merely conventions. It is merely a convention that arises at a certain time. 
When that convention loses its condition and follows the law of arising, existing, changing, and dissolving, it disappears. Nothing is permanent.
It is merely a mental perception and memory that retains the notion that one person was my father in a past life, another was my child, and another was my mother.
Just the day before yesterday, that person was still my mother.
Just last night, that person was still my father.
But what are they tonight? 
They are simply a corpse in a coffin.
This clearly shows the principle that everything merely arises, exists for a time, changes, and eventually dissolves.
This kind of clear understanding is bhāvanā—specifically, the cultivation and development of wisdom (paññā-bhāvanā).
Now, let us compare this with the four types of bhāvanā. 
What are the four types of bhāvanā?
Knowledgeable teachers who understand the Pali language and the Buddha’s teachings often begin their explanations with the practice of sīla-bhāvanā, the cultivation of moral conduct.
But for Buddha Isara (me), there is no need to make the explanation so lengthy. 
I did not include this topic in my writing for a specific reason.
When the mind and body unite, does sīla—understood as morality or the natural, proper state of being—already exist?
When body and mind are united, is that considered a natural and proper state? 
Is the body functioning as it should?
Is life itself in its normal condition?
Our thoughts, too, are in their proper state. 
Since sīla refers to being firmly established in a proper condition, the integration of body and mind constitutes a state of sīla.
There is no need to mention sīla-bhāvanā, because we are already practicing sīla when our mind and body are united with mindfulness.
Therefore, we do not need to explain sīla-bhāvanā; we move directly to kāya-bhāvanā, the cultivation of bodily awareness.
But kāya-bhāvanā (meditation on the body) is the unification of body and mind through mindfulness, which is already encompassed within sīla-bhāvanā.
Through kāya-bhāvanā, body and mind become united and firmly established. Then, mental peace arises. Peaceful, relaxed, and secure.  
Peaceful, relaxed, and secure.
Once peace, relaxation, and inner security are firmly established, they mature into citta-bhāvanā—the cultivation of the mind, which means maintaining an undisturbed mind.
Maintaining an undisturbed mind—when the mind remains steady and undisturbed, it is considered citta-bhāvanā, the cultivation of the mind.
When the cultivation of mind is established, it naturally leads to paññā-bhāvanā, the cultivation of wisdom. 
This is not difficult; it is contemplation of conventional reality.
It is the conventional reality experienced through seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and bodily contact, while the mind remains undisturbed.
Then, we contemplate conventional reality, looking within ourselves and beyond to see what is merely a convention, what is real, what is permanent, and what is unchanging.
This is the principle to contemplate.
Through paññā-bhāvanā or the cultivation of wisdom, we come to understand the true nature of conventional reality and realize that everything is impermanent, subject to suffering, and not truly existent.
Impermanence, suffering, and the lack of true existence belong to the law of which world? 
They are the laws of ultimate truth (paramattha).
We enter the realm of ultimate reality, not through desire or intention, but through understanding.
When we fully understand the true nature of conventional reality, we become disenchanted with it and naturally move toward ultimate reality through understanding the principles of impermanence, suffering, and the absence of true existence. 
The process is not complicated. When this is done, this phenomenon appears; when that is done, another phenomenon appears.
We only need to understand each step clearly without skipping stages. Everything follows the law of causes and conditions.
Everything follows the Buddha’s teaching: “All phenomena arise from causes, and the Buddha explained both their causes and their cessation.”
Everything arises from causes and conditions. When those causes and conditions end, nothing remains to continue the process.
This is the realization that nothing truly exists on its own, because everything depends on causes and conditions.
Ultimate reality is not reached through desire, but through understanding true causes and conditions.
Wanting to attain ultimate reality is not ultimate reality. It is the realm of craving and desire, not the realm of ultimate truth.
One realizes ultimate reality through causes and conditions, not through desire. 
These conditions begin with understanding conventional reality: understanding conventions, making proper use of them, relating to conventions appropriately, seeing them clearly, and ultimately not clinging to them.
Together, these principles constitute the causes and conditions that lead to a clear realization of ultimate reality.
Now, let us return to conventional reality.
As we come to understand it, we gradually let go of attachment. It gradually frees us from the bondage of “I” and “mine.” We gradually let go of clinging to the five aggregates. We no longer fall under the power of or become intoxicated with the aggregates.
We are no longer slaves of the five aggregates: form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness.
These aggregates are grouped into two categories: material form (rūpa) and mentality (nāma).
Neither form nor mind has power over us, because what we call “I,” a person, an animal, or an object, is simply a name for many elements combined.
Develop this understanding gradually, one aspect at a time, until you can say, “Now I understand. Now I know.”
Once we can truly say, “Now I know,” all doubt disappears. We see with understanding, listen with understanding, learn with understanding, and live with understanding.
Once we understand, we no longer carry it as a burden. We do not cling to it or become bound by it. We only use it wisely. That is true wisdom.
Another treasure from the bottom of the chest is this: What does a wise person use?
A wise person knows how to use defilements. This is the second treasure from the bottom of the chest: to live with a true understanding of conventional reality and use it wisely.
Those who understand conventional reality can manage the conventions around them wisely. They gain only benefit, making the most effective and economical use of everything.
Without understanding conventional reality, even gold can become worthless, because we do not know how to properly use it.
Understanding conventional reality enables us to create the greatest benefit, avoid loss, and make the best use of everything. Nothing is wasted. Everything becomes meaningful and valuable.
By understanding the value of the conventional resources and environment, we use them wisely and make the best use of them. 
The principle of attaining the greatest benefit while living within conventional reality with true understanding is to receive benefits, generate benefits for others, and share benefits according to causes and conditions.
Therefore, “the wise use defilements” is not about being clever only in the intellectual sense. 
A truly wise person clearly understands conventional reality.
But if one does not understand conventional reality, then even with a Ph.D., the title of professor, or numerous degrees from different universities, one is not truly wise if one remains under the control of defilements, craving, and attachment.
Such a person is still driven by endless desires and pressures from conventional reality, both within and around oneself. This is not called wisdom.
Therefore, to use defilements wisely, one must first be wise in conventional reality. 
Only then can we make the best use of it and gain the greatest benefit with the least waste.
Understanding conventional reality is essentially the same as studying the Four Noble Truths on the cause of suffering.
There is no need to search for suffering, because it is already present all around us. Standing, walking, sitting, or lying down all involve suffering. Even just staying still is already suffering, let alone having to go to work. Whether we stand, sit, or lie down, suffering is always present.
The older we get, the more we may suffer; the younger we are, the less we may suffer.
Yet some young people suffer even more than the elderly.
The greater the ignorance, the greater the suffering.
Suffering depends on causes and conditions, not on age alone.
As such, understanding the causes of suffering is the foundation of the Four Noble Truths.
The phrase “knowing the causes” may be clear and meaningful in one era but lose its clarity and relevance in another as time and circumstances change.
We need a new term that carries the same meaning but is clearer, simpler, and accessible to everyone, regardless of age or background.
When we clearly understand the difference between what is real, artificial, and conventional, we see their true value. 
Convention (sammuti) is a form of deception —indeed, it is even more misleading than something artificial. An artificial thing looks like the real thing, but convention appears real while deceiving us. It deceives us in every aspect.
In summary, whether we call it artificial, conventional, or deceptive, the conclusion is the same: it is only something created by designation.
We are designated as “mother,” “father,” “husband,” “wife,” “child,” “teacher,” or “student.”
When the role ends, that designation is gone.
It is like a theater performance: at night, a person may appear as a king on a golden throne, but by day, they return to an ordinary life, selling grilled chicken and sticky rice.
“Last night I was still a king!” (laughs) “Why am I selling grilled chicken this morning?” 
That is because it is all conventions. 
Last night I assumed the role of a king.
Now you assume the role of a grilled chicken seller. 
Later in the afternoon, you may walk through the market looking for chicken scraps to grill. 
We keep taking on one convention after another.
Through this understanding, we see clearly that nothing in conventional reality is permanent, unchanging, or enduring. Everything arises, persists for a time, undergoes change, and ultimately dissolves.
Even each conventional role eventually ends and disappears.
Can someone who plays the role of a king play it forever? Do they play it until death? 
No, they do not.
A person who plays the role of a commoner does not hold that role forever. They may become wealthy in the future. Nothing is certain.
A person of royal title may become a commoner in the future. 
Nothing is certain. Everything is merely a convention.
The entire world exists within the realm of convention. Failing to understand them leads to what we see around us: conflict, killing, competition, exploitation, greed, selfishness, struggle, theft, destruction, and harm toward one another.
Understanding conventional reality helps diminish the effects of karma.
Another benefit is that when we clearly understand the mechanisms of conventional reality.
All the karma from the past and the present. The past refers to karma accumulated across previous lifetimes, while the present refers to the karma created in each passing moment, including that generated just moments, hours, or days ago.
When we clearly understand conventional reality, we begin to discern its subtle workings and the concealed nature of every convention and every situation. A unique characteristic of this insight is its ability to perceive the gap between conventions.
Recognizing this gap requires wisdom of ultimate reality, for it is within this very gap that ultimate reality reveals itself.
Karma no longer exerts its full force, for it no longer fully takes hold in the realm of ultimate reality.
Any karma being created through actions, speech, or thoughts is cut short and weakened. Its power is diminished, for it no longer comes fully under the domain of ultimate reality.
Why is this so? 
Because ultimate reality arises in the gap between conventions—the very gap beyond the workings of karma. 
Familiarity with the cultivation of ultimate reality from the past leaves behind latent tendencies (anusaya). As a result, understanding and recognition arise naturally.
This is much like the case of Venerable Cūḷapanthaka in his past life. At that time, he was a king, and after his coronation, he rode on a royal elephant in a ceremonial procession through the capital.
It was hot and humid, with clouds of dust billowing all around.
He was sweating, with sweat running down his body. He was sitting on the elephant. The heat was unbearable. 
As sweat poured down, he took out a cloth and wiped his face, neck, and arms. Then, looking at the cloth, he thought: Ah, my body is composed of dirty and undesirable things that are continually revealed.
This kind of thought is called seeing the ultimate truth. It is seeing the true nature of phenomena that appear within conventional reality; in this case, it is seeing the body’s impurity.
Seeing the impurity inherent in conventional reality enables one to see the cycle of unwholesome karma being cut off.
Then light of wisdom arose. Immediately, joy and delight arose in the mind: “Ah, now I know, this body is naturally impure.” 
That past life as a king inspired him to live with heedfulness, free from negligence and delusion. 
Through the fruits of that wholesome thought, he was reborn as a disciple of the Buddha, had the opportunity to meet the Buddha, listen to the Dharma, and attain enlightenment.”
When ultimate reality penetrates conventional reality and the law of karma, it creates a space. This space diverts or weakens the course of unwholesome actions or bad karma, while supporting wholesome actions or good karma to flourish in the future, according to causes and conditions.
It is like the story of the young quail associated with the Quail King’s Chant. 
In his previous existence, he had made a truth-based aspiration (sacca-adhiṭṭhāna). (Such an aspiration is a vow grounded in wholesome intention and determination, in which one aligns mind, speech, and action, bringing about its fulfillment.)
Born as an animal, he made a truth-based aspiration (sacca-adhiṭṭhāna), when a forest fire came from the four directions.
Though I have two wings, I cannot fly.
Though I have two legs, I am not strong enough to run away.
Though I have parents, they are not here in the nest, for they have gone out in search of food.
Now, a fire has arisen from all four directions.
By this truth-based aspiration (sacca-adhiṭṭhāna), may the fire not come near to harm or destroy me.
At that very moment, the fire neither came near nor harmed him.
Thus, the quail king was saved from the perilous fire that raged, swirled, and advanced toward him.
Even today, it is said that the place where this occurred remains untouched by fire.
Many years have passed since that event. Whenever anyone attempts to set the place on fire, the flames will not ignite.
“Doctor”, since you frequently visit India, please try and see whether the flames will catch.
A monk told me that he tried lighting the place with an entire box of matches, but they would not catch fire. Even a lighter did not produce a flame.
Everything arises from causes, my child. 
Whatever phenomena arise from causes, the Buddha revealed the causes and their cessation.
Strive to understand the processes of the conventional reality.
Even if our understanding of it is still limited, we can learn to live in the conventional world with the greatest benefit.
We can make the wisest use of conventions: maximizing benefit, minimizing loss, and gaining the greatest value from them.
Do you see how I live my life? I use everything with great care and make the most of everything. 
I make everything beneficial. Even things others discard, I can make them useful. Since I understand the nature of conventions (sammuti), I can see the potential of each convention and how they differ from one another.                    
 
   
                 
    
    

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