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Following the Buddha's Foot Step

The Buddha’s Last word and

the Meaning of Practice?

          Meditation is becoming more and more popular nowadays. There are many different traditions and different schools in each tradition. Visiting one meditation center, you might learn a certain practice. Visiting another meditation center later on, you might learn another form of practice. With so many different practices being taught, is there any common practice that is shared in all the practices?

The meaning of practice is to purify of the mind. The opening verse of the Dhammapada says that the mind is the forerunner of all activities. When the mind is tainted, suffering will follow one just as the wheel of a cart follows the foot-step of the ox which pulls the cart. Likewise, when the mind is pure, then happiness will follow one just as one’s shadow follows one.

Just before the Buddha passed away, he might have chosen one of the deepest teachings such as emptiness or nibbana to conclude his 45-year teaching career. However, he told his disciples of the driving Dhamma that propelled him to enlightenment. The Buddha said: “Formations are bound to vanish. Strive to attain the goal by appamaada” (SN 6:15)

What is he meaning of appamaada ? The Pali word appamaada is usually translated into English as “untiringly,” “earnestly,” or “with diligence,” conveying the notion of sustained, determined effort. These give the impression that the Buddha’s last message was to stick with the practice. There are other translations such as “unrelenting mindfulness” in Sri Lankan commentaries and “heedfulness, vigilance, wariness, care" in Thai. However, the Buddha himself, on another occasion, expressed the nuance of appamaada as carefully guarding the mind against defiling mental states, while at the same time strengthening it in terms of the five faculties: faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom (SN 48:56). This passage points out that appamaada is not simply holding onto the practice untiringly and diligently. Rather, appamaada means the purification of the mind by practicing the five faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom.