One single beneficial word

The Buddha could not have reached the peak of wisdom had he not developed it during four incalculable periods of time and a hundred thousand kappas. He had to begin once. He had to begin again and again to be mindful of nama and rupa, one at a time, in daily life. He had to be patient to develop understanding for innumerable lives. We have to be "long-sighted" to develop wisdom. There are many conditions needed to attain enlightenment. We need patience to develop all the perfections together with right understanding.

The Buddha discovered the truth of all phenomena. All conditioned realities are impermanent (anicca), dukkha and not self (anatta) . We may have theoretical understanding of the fact that what is subject to change and impermanent cannot give us security and happiness, but that is only thinking. If we could really penetrate the truth of dukkha after having heard about it we would be a sotapanna. The wisdom which realizes directly the truth of this moment develops very gradually, in the course of many lives. If there is no direct knowledge of the arising and falling away of a nama or a rupa which appears now, how could the truth of dukkha be realized? And then, before the arising and falling away of a nama or a rupa can be realized we have to know precisely the nama which appears as nama and the rupa which appears as rupa. We know in theory that nama is the reality which experiences an object and that rupa is the reality which does not experience anything, but are their different characteristics realized when they appear one at a time?

Acharn Sujin reminded us: “Is there any understanding of the characteristic of seeing? If one does not understand it as it is yet, understanding of it should be developed. We cannot expect to have clear understanding of the characteristic of seeing as not self in the beginning.”

We expect that the characteristic of nama can be described exactly as it is, and that it can be understood merely by listening to many descriptions of it. However, we should carefully consider what we have heard and we should begin to be mindful of the reality which appears. The characteristic of seeing can be known when seeing appears. If one considers carefully what one hears, one sentence such as, "Nama is the reality which experiences an object" could be enough. We want to have many Dhamma discussions but we neglect to consider the Dhamma. “You want quantity, not quality”, Acharn Sujin said. We read in the "Dhammapada”, vs. 100:

“Better than a thousand utterances with useless words is one single beneficial word, by hearing which one is pacified.”