Detachment Meditation in Four Steps by Sayadaw Ashin Ottamasara

My teaching is based on what we all should do, not on what I want you to do. Let's try to do what we should do, how we should do it. Doing good deeds and practicing meditation are what we all should do. Doing-only, without attachment, is how we should do.

Meditation is not doing nothing, but abandoning all our action with the help of Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. Don't think about what to do. Just think about letting go of all your normal action. Meditation and doing good deeds are not for one, but for everyone. With this right understanding, you should meditate for each one, for all, not only for yourself. Try to use right understanding to meditate.

First step, we have to abandon all our physical, verbal and mental actions. We also need to use Right Understanding, which is: not something, not someone, no I, no you, just Ever-New Impermanent Nature.

The second step is concerned with the mind. The mind needs to disconnect from the objects outside. Be mindful on your breathing. We can also be mindful on the obvious things we are experiencing. If there is pain, be mindful to the pain. If we feel worry or anger or disappointment, be mindful on that present mind. We should keep the mind in the body and not let it go outside.

The third step is to abandon deliberate or intentional action, which will help us to understand the Truth, which is Ever-New Impermanent nature, or Nama and Rupa. We need the power of detachment, or Alobha, to understand the real Nama and Rupa or Original Impermanent Nature. If we see form the side of Original Truth, Ever-New Impermanent Nature, there is not something, not someone.

No I, no you, no mine, no yours. Seeing from the side of Original Truth will make our attachments weaker and weaker. Doing intentionally or deliberately is natural to us. We can do, but we should not attach to these actions. This practice is intended for detachment from intentional actions.

In the fourth step, we need to detach from created past, present and future. The real time is the present moment, which has no limit. By using the present moment time, we should detach from the created time, which is past, present, and future. One second, one minute, one hour, one day, one week, one month, one year, one life-all these times have limit. The present moment time is a very short time, without limit.

To understand the Original Truth, we should accept the present moment time. We need to detach from the limited time and place. We can use the limited time and place, but we should not attach to it as something real. If we think about the future, we will feel happy and worried. If we think about the present time, we will feel something in the mind. We should not dwell in the past. We should not dream of the future. We should not think of the present moment happening as reality. The Truth is just Ever-New Impermanent Nature, which is appearing and disappearing very quickly, depending on each present moment time.

(copy from a lecture of Sayadaw Ashin Ottamasara)