The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

15 January 2026

Q:  We contemplate asubha to reduce our sexual desire. What should we contemplate on for us to reduce our jealousy i.e. jealous of others’ successes or wealth, etc.?

Than Ajahn:   You contemplate on the law of kamma. 

We are all subject to the law of kamma. Kamma is action—what we do and what we had done. The result of our action arises from what we do now and what we had done in the past. If someone is better than us, it means that he had done something better than we did. 

It’s the law. It’s the truth. 

There is no point to be envious or jealous. It won’t change anything. You have to accept that there are people who are better than you are, there are people who are equal to you and there are people who are worse off than you. So, when you see that somebody is better than you, you should also look at somebody who is worse off than you. This may balance out your perspective about others.

“Dhamma in English, Jun 19, 2018.”

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Q:  Could you tell me how to deal with envy and jealousy? Because sometimes it overwhelms me and consumes my life and I am unable to get it out of my mind.

Than Ajahn:  Don’t compete with other people but compete with yourself, then there will be no envy and jealousy. Try to compete with yourself. What you have to compete with is your kilesas (defilements), which is your greed, hatred and delusion. Don’t compete with other people because some other people may be smarter or better than you are and some people are worse off than you. So when you want people to be like you but they happen to be smarter than you are, then you can be envious.

If you have to compare with other people, then you should think that we all have different kamma. We did different kamma in the past and it makes some people smarter than us, some people less smart than us. We just have to accept the truth of the kamma that people are not the same. If they are better than us, we should just accept it because this is the truth.

“Dhamma in English, Oct 27, 2016.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

14 January 2026

Q:  How do we get rid of jealousy?

Than Ajahn:  The easiest way to do when jealousy comes up is to use the mantra. As soon as you know you're being jealous, you just keep reciting ‘Budho, Budho, Budho.’ 

Once you can calm your mind down then maybe you can teach your mind that we are all the same. 

We are all subjected to the same things - aging sickness and death - so there's no need to be envious of anybody. 

Nobody is better than we are. We are all about the same. We are all in the same boat, the sinking boat, so it doesn't matter how rich we get or how famous we become, we are all going to get drown in the end. 

Right? 

So try to look at our similarities, don't try to look at our differences. We have more similarities than we have differences so look at our similarities. We're all going to get old, we're all going to get sick, we're all going to die. 

Q:  That's true. Does it help if sometimes I try to cover up the jealousy by doing something for that person like doing a nice thing for that person?

Than Ajahn:  It depends on your intention, the purpose of helping that person. Because by helping other people doesn’t get rid of your jealousy. Your jealousy is in your mind, you compare yourself with other person and you say, ‘Oh I'm worse than that person,’ so it makes you envious of that person. But if you look at whatever things that person has e.g. fame, money or anything, they are all temporary. All things are anicca, they are not [things that give] true happiness. I can guarantee you that people who have money, people who have status, they're not happy. In fact, they're more unhappy than we are because they have to try to maintain their status. 

When you have nothing then there’s nothing you have to worry about losing. As soon as you have something then you have to worry about losing it. So in fact it's better not to have anything. 

Being envious of others is your defilement, your craving, You can counter this craving by looking at everything as anicca (impermanent), everything is temporary, it doesn’t matter what it is. Good look will turn into bad look one day. We are going to turn into bad look in the end anyway. Look at all the stars who are at their 60s, they are all look like old men now, right?

Think of impermanent then you will not be envious of anybody. In fact, if you don’t have anything good then you have nothing good to lose.

“Dhamma in English, Aug 20, 2024.

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

8 January 2026

Question: Does a Sotāpanna know that he has become a Sotāpanna?

Than Ajahn: He may not know the name of a Sotāpanna, but he knows the qualities of a Sotāpanna.

He knows that his sorrow or suffering is created by his desire, his attachment to his body.  He knew that he was no longer attached to his body.  He sees his body not himself.  He has no attachment to his body and no desire for his body to exist forever.  

So, he is not hurt by the aging, disease, and death of his body.  That is the quality of a Sotāpanna.

He was able to let go of his body because he saw his body as not himself.  He sees his body as something impermanent.  He saw that his suffering or mental pain was caused by his desire for his body to last forever, so that his body would not grow old, sick, and die.   In order for him not to be affected by aging and bodily diseases, he must have the wisdom or insight to see that the body is not himself.  It is the mind that is like the driver, while the body is like the car.  When the car is worn out, he just leaves it.  When the body is dead, he just lets the body die.  It is not hurt by the death of the body.

- - -

Question: Will the next life continue to intersect with the Buddha's teachings?

Than Ajahn: He does not need to come into contact with the teachings of the Buddha because he already has the teachings of the Buddha in his mind.  The 'Four Noble Truths' were embedded in his mind.  He will continue to progress with or without the teachings of the Buddha because he can be freed from all his suffering.

He knows the cause of his suffering is his own desire.  

So, whenever he experiences suffering, bad feelings, he just gets rid of his desires that cause these bad feelings.

Finally, he will be freed from all the desires that cause him to suffer mentally.  Then, it will reach nirvana. 

"Dhamma in English, 28 Mar 2018."

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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“The real happiness is right here (inside) waiting for you to discover.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

4 January 2026

“The real happiness is right here (inside) waiting for you to discover.”

*****

What does running around do for you? It’s doing nothing for you. It’s better to be still. 

But that’s the hardest thing to do. If you can be still, if you can overcome your desire to go here and there, you will find peace and happiness. And this kind of happiness is far better than any kinds of happiness that you can find on this earth.

Stop going out to look for happiness. 

Happiness is right here within you. 

But you keep going away from this real happiness in you. You go look for the false kind of happiness outside. 

The real happiness is right here (inside) waiting for you to discover. 

You can find it by developing mindfulness. If you have mindfulness, you can stop your thinking. When you can stop your thoughts, you can stop your desire to go here and there.

If you keep thinking about Singapore, about Malaysia, about China, your desire will arise. 

Then, you want to go back to Singapore. You want to go to Malaysia. You want to go to China. But if you don’t think about it, if you only think about Buddho, Buddho, Buddho, there is no desire to go anywhere. 

Then, you can be here, be still and be happy without having to do anything. 

So, try to develop mindfulness. This is very important. 

This is the key to your success.

The Buddha said that mindfulness is the main element of success. Without mindfulness, nothing can happen. 

If you have no mindfulness, you cannot have samādhi. 

If you have no samādhi, you cannot use wisdom to get rid of your desire.

So, do what I told you to do. Keep controlling your thoughts from the time you get up, either by using a mantra or by focusing on your body. 

Whatever you do with your body, keep watching your body. Don’t let your mind go elsewhere. 

Bring it here and now, in the present. The present is in the body or at the recitation of mantra.

If you go to the past or to the future, you’ve already started thinking. You have to think to go to the past. 

When you asked yourself, ‘What happened yesterday?’ 

This is already a thought form. 

When you asked yourself, ‘What is going to happen tomorrow?’ This is another thought form. 

So, you have to stop. Stop going to the past or to the future by concentrating on the present moment, on your body or on a mantra. 

Then, your mind will become blank, empty, peaceful, and happy. It’s not heavy-hearted.

Your mind becomes heavy-hearted because you think about something and you want to take some actions on it but you can’t. The inability to do something makes you feel heavy-hearted. 

But if you don’t think about it, your mind becomes light-hearted. So, stop thinking. 

Thinking is bad for you. 

Thinking is worse than smoking a cigarette because thinking is the one that causes you to go to smoke. 

Thinking causes you to get addicted to something. It all comes from your thoughts. 

So, if you can stop thinking, you can stop all your addictions, all your desire.

“Dhamma in English, Apr 24, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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#ajahnsuchartabhijato #happiness #mindfulness #samādhi #wisdom

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

30 December 2025

Q:  When sankhāra (thinking) comes in, the five aggregates will mix together so there will be pain, otherwise there will be no pain, am I correct?

Than Ajahn:  It depends on how your sankhāra thinks. 

If you think with defilement then you have dukkha. If you don’t think with defilements, the mind has no dukkha. The painful feeling is not due to sankhāra but due to the impermanence of the body. Sometime your the body gets sick so you have painful feeling. You have to separate them.

There are two types of feelings: mental feeling and physical body feeling. The mental dukkha is caused by your defilement, by your cravings; the physical dukkha is caused by the impermanent nature of the body. When the body gets sick, hungry or when it’s hot or cold, you get painful feeling which you can’t do anything about. 

But the mental feeling, the dukkha that arise from your craving, you can stop it by stopping your cravings.

- - - - - 

Q: You mentioned that physical pain is not as bad as mental pain. Does this mean that mental pain is caused by our defilement but physical pain is just from the body and if we know how to let go of the body, it will not be as painful as the mental pain.

Than Ajahn:  That’s right. Because physical pain is only 10% of the total pain and the mental pain is 90% of the total pain so if you can stop the mental pain then you're only experiencing the 10% of the physical pain. 

Like somebody who is afraid of the needle, when you take a shot, the mental pain is much stronger than the physical pain. Even before you get the physical pain, the mental pain has already started when you think of getting that shot. Or, when you go to see a dentist, when the doctor said that you have to take the anaesthesia injection, you start to feel the pain before the needle actually touch your body. But if you calm your mind and just say, ‘Okay, no problem,’ then when you get the physical pain, it's just a very small pain. 

Sometimes you don't have any physical pain at all but you have mental pain like when you lose someone you loved. When you feel sad or depressed, that’s mental pain. 

Q: The way to counter mental pain is to remind myself that this pain will go away, it will pass and I try to forget about it.

Than Ajahn:  Accept the truth. Maybe the pain won't go away yet. If it stays on, let it stay. If it goes away, let it go. Don't expect because when you expect, you start creating stress, ‘When will it go away? When will it go away?’ So just be happy with the pain then your mind will be happy. Welcome the pain like you welcome the pleasure. They're the same things. They are only in the opposite end of each other, the pain is on one end and the pleasure is on the other end. 

As long as you don’t have any craving - attraction or aversion - then there will be no mental pain. That’s why you need to practice a lot of mindfulness and meditation to train the mind to be neutral, to be merely knowing, to not reacting with aversion or attraction, then the physical pain will not hurt your mind at all it. 

It will hurt the body but the body doesn't care because the body doesn't know anything anyway.

The body is like a car. If you smash a car, the car doesn't know that it's being smashed, right? The same way with the body. The one who knows is the one who is reacting. Once there is no connection between the mind and the body then you can take the body anywhere, you can bury it, you can burn it and the body won't react at all because the body is just like a car. The one who reacts is the mind and when it reacts, it causes suffering or stress in the mind. 

So if you don't want to have any stress, don't react. Just stay calm, stay neutral. That's why you need to meditate, to practice, to teach your mind how to stay calm, how to stay neutral. 

Just merely knowing. Know that ‘I have good feeling today.’ If you have bad feeling tomorrow, know that you have bad feeling. Know that you have painful feeling, you have pleasure feeling, they all come and go, they are all just feelings. They are impermanent, they keep changing. They are anatta, they are not under your control. You can’t tell them to go away or to come whenever you want them to come. If you learn to accept them for what they are, accept them as they are, then you will have no cravings. And when you have no craving, you have no stress in your mind.

“Dhamma in English, July 30, 2024.”

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Q: When I am suffering from pain, what should I do?

Than Ajahn:  There are two ways to deal with painful feelings. First is the way of mindfulness. When you are experiencing pain in the body and if you don’t want it to disturb your mind, you have to recite a mantra. Keep reciting a mantra to prevent your mind from reacting with aversion or with the desire to have the pain to go away. If you can succeed then there will be no pain in the mind and the pain in the body will be bearable. But this is a temporary measure because when you fail to maintain the mantra, or fail to keep the mind from reacting, your mind will have aversion or the desire to have this painful feeling disappears. 

[Next] How to deal this painful feeling permanently is to study the nature of pain. 

According to the Buddha, the painful feeling is a natural phenomenon like the weather. Cold weather, hot weather, come and go. 

They are affected by some other factors which we can’t control. What we can do is we can live with this pain by accepting it. Don’t try to deny it. Don’t try to have any desire to get rid of it. Just learn to live with it. This is the reality of life. We can stop our desire or our aversion to this painful feeling by accepting the truth that we can’t run away from it. It’s like the weather, hot or cold weather. If we can accept this then there will be no pain in the mind.  

“Dhamma in English, Aug 13, 2024.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

28 December 2025

The Buddha said ‘bhārā have pañcakhandā’: the five aggregates are a very heavy burden. 

When you wake up, you have to feed your body and then walk after finishing your meal. 

You have to change your postures regularly and to take a bath. You have to do a lot of things. For example, when someone comes to see me, I have to give them a Dhamma talk, teach them, and speak to them—these are all work.

Without a body, you will be at ease as there will be no need to take care of the body. The mind can be separated from the body; that is to know what the mind is, what the body is, what makes the mind happy, and what makes it suffer. When the mind is aware of its nature and able to discern what causes suffering and agitation, then it will become disengaged.

It is better to let things be as they are. If you can still continue living, then do so. When you can no longer do so, when it is time to leave, then leave. No one can live forever. We all have to die one day. So you should make it count and not waste it while you still have the opportunity. 

While you are still alive, you should practise Dhamma and cultivate merit and perfections (pāramī) to make spiritual progress. It will bring more peace and calm to the mind as well as wisdom in order to fight against your mental defilements (kilesas), namely craving, passion, and hatred. These defilements are the things you have to address more than anything else.

As for other people, you don’t need to fix or change them, because we all have to rely on ourselves in the end. No one can fix or change anyone else. You only have to see to yourself by relying on the teachings of those who know, such as the Buddha and his noble disciples. 

The Buddha cannot eradicate your defilements, and neither can any respectable teacher. They can only advise you on the methods to do so. But if you don’t make use of their methods, you then cannot rid yourself of the defilements.

The body is a means to cure issues of the heart. You need your body to listen to the Dhamma. Once you’ve listened, you can put your body to work—to get rid of the defilements. It is to practise walking and sitting meditation in order to fight against the defilements. 

The defilements also need your body to carry out their work. They use your body to go out, watch movies, listen to music, eat, and drink. 

The defilements need your body and so do you.

So you have to drag yourself to get on a walking-meditation path and to go to the temple. Do not let yourself go along with the defilements. Once you can resist the power of the defilements, your craving and defilements will gradually disappear. 

Nothing can then disturb your mind. You’ll be at ease and happy wherever you are. 

Whether it is to sit, walk, or sleep, you’ll be happy inside because there is nothing to trouble your mind. 

There is no craving or wanting of anything from the outside world. 

You live and eat only out of physical necessity to maintain your body, but your mind no longer has any craving to have or to be.

“Against the Defilements.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

24 December 2025

Q:  What is the best way to practise vipassanā?

Than Ajahn:  Vipassanā means the development of wisdom (insight), to see the true nature of things. 

Before you can develop vipassanā, you have to develop samatha or samādhi first because the mind that is not calm will not have the ability to see things as they are. 

The mind that is still clouded with delusion will not be able to see that everything is impermanent, everything is bad for the mind, everything hurts the mind, everything is not under your control. So, you have to first clear the cloud of delusion by practicing samādhi. 

Samādhi is the practice of calming the mind. 

You should first meditate to make the mind becomes calm and peaceful. Once the mind becomes calm and peaceful, the mind will be clear like a glass that has been cleaned then when you look at things, you’ll look at them in their true way, you look at them exactly for what they are. 

Before you develop vipassanā, you’ll have to develop samādhi first by using mindfulness. 

You need mindfulness to stop your mind from thinking. 

If you don’t have mindfulness, you will not be able to stop the mind from thinking. When you cannot stop the mind from thinking, then the mind cannot be still, calm and peaceful. So, you have to first learn how to develop mindfulness. 

Mindfulness is developed using the 40 objects of meditation. We call them, ‘kammaṭṭhāna.’ In Thailand, we recite a mantra ‘Buddho, Buddho, Buddho,’ continuously all the time during our waking hours, from the time we get up to the time we go to sleep. 

Then, we can prevent the mind from thinking. We only stop reciting when we have to think. If we don’t have to think, then we should not let the mind think aimlessly. 

We stop thinking by reciting the mantra. For example, you should not let the mind think when you are preparing yourself to go to work, such as when you’re taking a bath, washing, brushing your teeth, dressing, eating. You stop thinking by reciting the mantra, ‘Buddho, Buddho, Buddho.’

If you don’t like to use the mantra, you can use another method that is by concentrating on your body movement. Keep watching what your body is doing at that moment. If you keep focusing your mind on the action your body is doing, your mind can’t go think about other things. If your mind goes to think about other things, it means that your mind is not focusing on the action you are doing. So those are the ways to build up your mindfulness. Once you have mindfulness, then you can sit and meditate to make the mind becomes calm. 

When you sit, you are mindful of the breath. 

You are watching your breath: watch when the breath comes in, watch when the breath goes out. Watch it at one point, usually at the tip of the nose. And if you can watch your breath and focus on it, you will not think about other things. If you think, you should ignore it. 

Come back to your breath. If you can persist, eventually your mind will stop thinking. Your mind will become calm, peaceful and clear. 

When you withdraw from that state of meditation, your mind will still be clear. Then, you can develop vipassanā. Teach your mind to look at everything as impermanent. 

Everything comes and goes. Everything rises and ceases. Everything is not under your control. You cannot control it. You cannot stop it from coming or going. The only thing you can do is to accept it for what it is. If you can accept it, you won’t be hurt. You will only be hurt if you resist it. When you resist something, you become stressful and unhappy. But if you accept it, you become calm and peaceful. This is the practice of vipassanā.

“Dhamma in English, Jun 19, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g