About This Answer
Can a lay person attain the Dhamma just by watching thoughts and emotions arise and pass, without sitting meditation, as some friends claim is a faster, modern approach? Ajahn Dtun answers that a degree or doctorate is only worldly intelligence, not the wisdom that frees the heart from greed, anger and delusion; clever people still act badly when defilements take over.
To overcome the kilesas, three strengths are needed together: morality, concentration and wisdom. Were watching the mind enough, the Buddha would not have taught virtue and samādhi first. He notes that a new monk's preceptor teaches five contemplations, hair of the head, body hair, nails, teeth and skin, which reveal the body as impermanent and not-self. The idea that concentration is unnecessary is often a trick of the defilements, which want to keep us in saṃsāra.
Without samādhi, a watching mind notices emotions only vaguely and still takes them as "me" and "mine." He compares mindfulness to a mobile phone used but never recharged: its battery dies. The Buddha's path of sīla, samādhi and paññā is timeless.