About This Teaching
Ajahn Dtun frames practice as a military campaign. The defilements of greed, anger and delusion have occupied three cities: speech, action and the heart. Generosity slips in quietly, and the army of sīla retakes the cities of speech and action, so the defilements retreat into the heart. Concentration then lets the army of Dhamma enter, and mindfulness and wisdom seek out the defilements wherever they hide: greed answered with giving, anger with mettā and muditā, and what cannot be helped met with equanimity.
He then turns to the two things the mind deludedly takes as self, the body and its thoughts and emotions. Can anyone command the body not to sicken, age or die? Seen as temporary elements, the body is let go. To guard the heart he gives the image of a householder who places a chair at the front door to see every guest who comes and goes, which is how mindfulness watches the mind. Material wealth stays behind at death; only goodness travels on.