The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

13 October 2024

Q: The Buddha’s teaching is akaliko (timeless), but how come Buddhism will disappear after 5000 years?

Than Ajahn:  Because nobody takes it up, that’s all. It’s still there. The next Buddha will bring it up again. It’s still there but no one study and practice the Buddha’s teaching so it will disappear from people’s mind. Then we have to wait for the new Buddha to discover it again. 

The Four Noble Truths are always there. Like the law of gravity, it is always there. It’s waiting for somebody to discover it. Can you say that the law of gravity changes? No, it doesn’t change, right? It’s always there but whether people know it or not, that can change. 

There will be a new Buddha who will discover the Four Noble Truths and teach the people. 

So there is a new person who will discover the Four Noble Truths after they disappear. 

Like our Buddha, when he practiced, there were no Four Noble Truths taught by anybody so nobody knew anything about the Four Noble Truths. He also didn’t know about the Four Noble Truths but he wanted to get rid of his suffering so he investigated it and found them. The Four Noble Truths are in our heart, but we just don’t see them, that’s all. 

When you have stress, is that the Noble Truth or not? 

When you cry, that’s the first Noble Truth, right? But you don’t investigate it, ‘Why am I crying? Why should I cry?’ 

Because you want your money back, or you want your husband back. He went for somebody else so you cried. 

If you don’t see the cause of your crying which is your craving, so you cry.

These are the Noble Truths happening all the time in people’s mind. But they don’t see them as such. When you are sad, that’s the first Noble Truth. When you hear bad news, you are sad. What’s the cause of your sadness? You don’t want to hear bad news, you want to hear good news. So the Four Noble Truths are always there but nobody sees them. Even the Buddha, before he became enlightened, he had them inside himself but he didn’t see them. 

The delusion is so great so you don’t see them. 

When you feel sad, you blame on somebody else. [For example] You blame on your husband. He is the one who makes you sad. 

But it’s not him leaving you that makes you sad, it’s your desire for him not to leave you that makes you sad. So if you change your mindset, ‘Okay, he could leave me, I don’t care,’ then you won’t be sad, right? 

See, the Noble Truths are always there. 

People don’t see them. It takes one person, once in a long time, to see these Truths then he can teach other people to see them. As soon as the Buddha saw the Four Noble Truths, he then taught the 5 ascetics then they could also see them. After he taught the Four Noble Truths in the First Discourse, one of the ascetics became enlightened. ‘Yes, I can see the Four Noble Truths now. It’s in myself, in my mind, working all the time. But I just don’t see them. When I feel sad, instead of killing my craving, I go kill other people who make me sad.’ Then he had to keep killing other people because there would be more people that made him sad again. But if he killed the defilement once and for all, then he would never be sad anymore. 

This is what we want to do: to stop the second Noble Truth from happening. If it happens – which is the craving – we want to eliminate it or stop it by using the practice of meditation and wisdom to see that everything is beyond our control. People die or people leave us, we can’t stop them when that happened. The only thing that we can do is just to accept it. If we can accept it then we won’t become sad. 

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Q:  How to solve sadness?

Than Ajahn:  Sadness comes from your desire. You want something and you don’t get what you want then it makes you sad. So somehow you have to stop this desire for things to be the way you want them to be. 

And you can do this by meditating, by stopping your thoughts. Once you stop thinking then you forget about what you want, then your sadness will temporarily disappear. But it doesn’t disappear permanently.  As soon as you think about it again then you become sad again. 

If you want to get rid of your sadness permanently then you have to accept that things just happen the way they are because they are not under your control. They don’t respond to your desire. They are anattā. 

You have to use mindfulness to stop it first. Stop thinking. Stop thinking. 

Q:  Last night I was very sad. 

Than Ajahn:  Well, what you should do is to accept the sadness itself. Don’t try to get rid of it if you can’t get rid of it. Accept the sadness. Just be sad and be happy with the sadness instead. Your problem is you don’t want to be sad which cause you to have more sadness. 

And you don’t know how to get rid of it then it makes you even more sad. So the best way if you don’t know how to get rid of your sadness is to accept it. ‘Okay, let’s be sad and be happy with it.’ 

If you can accept the sadness then you don’t have to watch your breath anymore. Once you accept it then you can become happy. If you could let go of it completely then there’d be no sadness left in the mind and you’ll feel light and easy and happy. 

Q:  Is this phenomenon due to my past kamma?

Than Ajahn:  Don’t worry about past kamma. 

Worry about how to deal with your problem now. The best way is to embrace it if you can’t get rid of it. Accept it. 

If you can’t get rid of your sadness then try to live with it. If you can accept sadness, then you won’t be so sad. 

The problem is when you are so sad, you can’t accept your sadness. If you can meditate, then you can temporarily stop your sadness. But if you can’t meditate and you can’t get rid of your sadness, then just try to accept your sadness. Or be grateful that you are still alive. 

“Dhamma in English, April 30, 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

24 September 2024

The third spiritual power is mindfulness or sati. If we want quick results from our practice we need mindfulness. We must always be mindful of what we do because mindfulness controls the mind.

The mind is like an automobile and mindfulness its driver. If the driver has no mindfulness like when he is drunk, he would not be able to drive safely. He would probably unknowingly run through a red light at an intersection. 

Without mindfulness we will not be able to stop our mind when we want to. Without mindfulness to rein it in we could go mad and do things that normal people dare not do. We could go berserk and eventually be incarcerated in a mental asylum because we have lost touch with reality. We have lost our mindfulness or sati.

 Mindfulness is therefore essential in the performance of meritorious and skilful actions such as giving to charity, maintaining the precepts or sitting in meditation.

Having mindfulness to control the mind is like tying a monkey to a tree. If it were not put on a leash it would go everywhere causing a lot of troubles. On the other hand, if it’s tied to a tree, it couldn’t go far. At first it might struggle to free itself. After a while, it would get tired and stop struggling. It is subdued. 

Similarly, we can use mindfulness to control our mind. When we get angry or become greedy, if we have mindfulness, we would be able to stop our anger and greed. 

Mindfulness is therefore extremely essential and useful. 

When we lose our mindfulness, we would be like cars without brakes. We would misbehave and cause a lot of troubles for ourselves. People wouldn’t respect or admire us but get sick of us. They would think that we are insane because we would do or say whatever we like without giving consideration to what is right or proper. We are driven by our whims and fancies. People wouldn’t like to be associated with us. 

It’s therefore imperative for us to have mindfulness if we want to excel and become a good and respectable citizen. Having mindfulness means we must always be mindful of our actions. We must be mindful of what we do or say. Our mind must always be in the present, here and now, not drifting away to some other place. If it does, we wouldn’t be aware of what we are doing. 

For example, if our mind is thinking about something else while we cut meat or vegetables, we might cut our fingers instead. 

This is because we have no mindfulness. If we do we would know all the time what we are doing. Without mindfulness, we wouldn’t be able to thread the needle because our mind is drifting here and there. But when we have mindfulness to control the mind, we would be able to do it easily.

Mindfulness is a very valuable tool that should be earnestly developed. One way to do this is to mentally recite ‘buddho’. ‘Buddho, buddho’ at all times. 

Whatever we do, just think of ‘buddho’. Concentrate on it. 

Do not let the monkey or our mind run away. 

Tie it to a tree. That tree is buddho. 

If we could restrain our mind, it would eventually calm down and realize samādhi or concentration, not wandering here and there but stay put, here and now, like this glass of water that was placed here. It is still here and not going anywhere. Similarly, if we use mindfulness to control our mind, we would be able to concentrate and remain still. Once that happens, we can accomplish many things. 

“Sensual Pleasures Are Painful”

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.

22 September 2024

Question:  Why some cultivators, like Devadatta, who could attain jhāna, were capable of extreme evil acts?

Than Ajahn:  Attaining jhāna doesn’t stop you from doing bad or evil actions because your bad or evil actions come from your delusion (moha). 

Your delusion can make you think that what you do is right. 

Like Devadatta, he thought that the Buddha was old, so the Buddha should be replaced by someone younger like him. Devadatta thought that he had a good thought. 

He thought that he would help the Sangha by becoming the leader of the Sangha. But this was delusional because he himself hadn’t become enlightened yet. He wasn’t an arahant. So, how could he become the leader of the Sangha? It was also his desire to be big, to be the leader, which was a defilement. 

But he didn’t see this because he didn’t have the wisdom. He only had jhāna. 

Jhāna doesn’t distinguish between the delusion and the truth. Jhāna cannot distinguish truth from delusion. You need to have wisdom in order to be able to distinguish truth from delusion. So, you have to be very careful especially when you’ve got the psychic power like the Devadatta. You might think that you are supreme. 

But in reality, psychic power is useless as far as using it as the weapon to eliminate the defilements. You need to develop vipassanā. 

You need to see aniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ, anattā. 

You have to be very careful when you have achieved jhāna or any type of samādhi. You have to know that your delusion is still strong. 

You always have to watch your cravings. You have to curb or suppress your cravings. You have to try to eliminate them because they are your enemies. They will cause you a lot of dukkha. They will only lead you to the wrong direction. 

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Question:  How could Devadatta be angry at the Buddha, and had so much hatred towards the Buddha?

Than Ajahn:  Because Devadatta had no equanimity. He had no wisdom. And when he wasn’t mindful, he could be overwhelmed by his defilements. 

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Question:  Why was Devadatta opposing the Buddha?

Than Ajahn:  Because he was jealous of the Buddha. They were cousins. Once Devadatta had gotten psychic power, he thought he was more superior to the Buddha. 

Hence, he didn’t want to be the number two. He wanted to be the number one. 

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Question:  It’s scary to see that one’s anger and defilements could be so strong even when one has such high cultivation.

Than Ajahn:  Your anger and defilements arise from the delusion, the desire to make yourself great, to make yourself better than other people. So, you have to be very careful about your desire to be somebody or something. 

You should know it right away that this is a defilement. 

With Dhamma, you don’t want to be anything. You are contented to be yourself. 

You’re happy inside so you don’t need anything from the outside to make you happy. 

You don’t need to be big. You don’t need to be rich. 

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Question: If we are not enlightened, are we subjected ourselves to become the evil persons and how can we prevent this?

Than Ajahn: The Buddha said that we have to learn to be humble, to consider ourselves to be nobody. We stop our delusion from thinking great things about ourselves. 

Because when we are not enlightened, no matter what we have or what we become, even when we become presidents or the kings, we are still nothing compare to the enlightened persons. We are still subjected to dukkha. And we are still subjected to the round of rebirth. 

So, try to be humble. Think of yourself as a servant, or as someone who comes from the lowest level of society. Don’t think of yourself as being important because thinking of yourself as an important person is delusional. In reality, there is no self in the first place. 

We are just the spiritual beings with the capability to know, to perceive and to feel. 

That’s all we are. We are the same. We are spiritual beings. 

So, our true role is to be aware, to know, to feel and to not react to anything. Our role is to keep our minds calm and content. Once the mind becomes calm and content, then it doesn’t need to be anything.

Dhamma in English, Aug 25, 2020.

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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#ajahnsuchartabhijato #dhamma #devadatta #jhana #meditation #psychicpowers #vipassana

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

11 September 2024

This brings us to the second of spiritual powers, exertion or viriya. If we want to achieve the lofty goal of Dhamma practice, we must be diligent and hardworking. We must come to the temple regularly to give alms, maintain the precepts or sīla, listen to Dhamma talks, and make as much merit as we possibly can. Don’t be lazy. The more we sow, the more we  will reap. If we don’t put in the effort, we will reap nothing. 

No one can do it for us, not even the Buddha or his noble disciples. They can only point us the way, instruct us on how to realize the goal. This goal is not to be materially wealthy, but spiritually wealthy. We should be rich with morality, charity, spiritual happiness and contentment. This kind of wealth can never be stolen from us, unlike the worldly possessions. Our husbands and wives can be taken away from us. 

Our children and our property can be seized. But the real wealth within ourselves can never be stolen from us by anyone. 

Meritorious actions or kusala-kamma are truly our possessions. They will protect us; make us happy and content, now and in the future. When we die, we will go to sugati or a happy destination, not to apāya-bhūmi or state of deprivation, the four lower levels of existence into which we will be reborn as a result of our past unskilful actions namely rebirth in hell, as a hungry ghost, as an angry demon, or as a common animal. 

If we could maintain all the meritorious actions such as keeping the five precepts and giving to charity, we would at the least be reborn as a human being endowed with beauty, brain and wealth, and suffered no hardship or injury because we were led by our skilful actions. 

Without these meritorious actions, we would go to a lower level of existence, to be reborn as an animal such as a cat, a bird, or a buffalo. Such is the consequence of not doing meritorious actions. This is the law of Dhamma, the truth. 

Therefore, if we want to improve ourselves, go to a happy destination or sugati, a good existence, a noble plane of existence or ariya-bhūmi, we must be diligent and persistent in doing meritorious or skilful actions. 

We must strive in maintaining our ethical and moral purity, not allowing it to slip away, and push to have more of it. For example, if we now keep the five precepts, we must not slide back but should keep more precepts, going from the five precepts to the eight, ten and eventually to the 227 precepts practiced by the monks or bhikkhu, which is a good and right thing to do. 

We must also work hard in preventing ourselves from doing more unwholesome and unskilful actions that we have already discarded. For example, in the past we used to be erratic and emotional. Now we are calm and rational. People may say bad things about us, but we don’t mind, we can forgive and forget. We can now manage our anger and keep it under control, not allowing it to reappear. 

If we still possess any other unwholesome qualities like holding grudges or being stubborn, we should also strive to eradicate them. We should be rational, rather than being greedy, hateful and delusional. What we haven’t yet discarded we ought to do. 

What we have already eliminated we must not allow to return. In other words, we must strive to cultivate good, avoid all evil, and cleanse our  mind. This is what is meant by exertion or viriya, the second spiritual power. 

Once we start coming to monastery and listening to the Dhamma talks, we start to see the benefits. We gain something that we never had before, namely Dhamma, which is unlike all other material things, such as automobiles. We can see these motor vehicles with our naked eyes, but not so with Dhamma because it is spiritual. It gradually seeps into our mind. We might not feel anything at all although we might have been coming to the temple for a long time. But Dhamma continues to slowly infiltrate. Then one day, suddenly there is calmness in our mind. We will then realize that this is what we have come to the temple for all along. 

Maybe in the future we might encounter some crisis, go through unpleasant situations such as losing our loved ones, if we have the Buddha’s teaching to reflect on, we could remain calm and peaceful, rather than being afflicted with sorrow and lamentation to the point of not being able to eat or sleep, because the Buddha has told us that parting from our loved ones is a natural occurrence. 

It happens to everyone. It is not unusual. 

There is no need to be sad or tearful. We are still alive. 

Life goes on. We should maintain our composure and not fall prey to depression. If we could do this, we would see the benefits of the Dhamma teaching. In the past we came to the temple without knowing why we came. But when we run into trouble the Dhamma teaching that we have heard before could help get us out of our predicament and ease us out of our suffering, we would then appreciate immensely the value of the Dhamma teaching, would be a lot more diligent in our practice, and would want to do more meritorious actions like giving to charity. 

Why do people give to charity or keep the training precepts? We might ask ourselves. 

It’s because it makes them feel good and help them in time of crisis. If we haven’t done it before we might not appreciate it. To find out we just have to do it. Just keep doing it until we reap the results. 

It is like planting trees. We don’t expect trees to bear fruit right away. When we plant durian or mango trees, we have to wait five to ten years for them to bear fruit. 

It’s the same with making merits, keeping the precepts or listening to Dhamma talks. It doesn’t come to fruition instantly. It takes time. What we have to do is to have faith in the Buddha’s teaching and apply it untiringly. The fruits of our labor will come in due course. 

“Sensual Pleasures Are Painful”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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

“Nibbāna is inside, not outside.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

10 September 2024

“Nibbāna is inside, not outside.”

Monk: Did you visit any other forest Masters?

Than Ajahn: No, once I got to Wat Pa Baan Taad, Ajahn Mahā Boowa said, ‘You  should practice. You shouldn’t go anywhere because any other places are all the same. The Masters will teach you the same thing.’ 

He didn’t want monks to go pay respect to other teachers during the vassa period. He’d go alone, by himself. He didn’t want to disturb the monks’ practice. 

He knew that once the monks went out of the monastery, the senses would start to go out through the senses door and they could start to disrupt the peace of the mind. He tried to protect us from exposing ourselves through all the bombardments of the senses, like the things you saw, the things you heard. 

Because once you went out and when you came back, you’d find it difficult to calm it down. It took a while before you could go back to the state before you went out. So, he thought of the pros and cons of going to pay respect to other teachers, and it’s not worth the cost of the disturbance to the mind.

Because he’s already a great teacher himself, so going to one great teacher to another great teacher are the same. He’s really very smart. He thought of the welfare of his students’ minds more than anything else. He tried to protect their welfare, protect their minds from being disrupted. Once you stayed there, you were expected to stay at least for the first five years. 

He wouldn’t let you go anywhere without any good reasons. And ‘reasons’ usually means family emergency, or medical emergency. If you just want to see other temples, or pay respect to other teachers, he wouldn’t let you go. It’s a waste of time. You’re distracted. 

Your defilement starts to deceive you, telling you, ‘It’s time to go out.’ But your goal is to go inside because that’s where nibbāna is. 

Nibbāna is inside, not outside. 

You only went to see teachers to tell you to go inside. 

Once you know that you have to go inside, then there’s no need to go outside. 

But you’re still going outside. You won’t find nibbāna in all these places you’re going. The only thing you find is a mirror, pointing to you back to go inside. So, when you go home, you should stay put and meditate. 

Then, you’ll find nibbāna there, in your home or in your monastery. If you still keep going outside, looking for teachers, looking for places, you’ll never find nibbāna there.

Dhamma for the Asking, Feb 6, 2017

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

28 August 2024

Q: Is it possible to take refuge from you?

Than Ajahn:  I cannot give you a refuge. You have to be your own refuge. I can only give you instruction on how to have a refuge. 

When we take the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha as our refuges, it means we take them as our teacher. 

That’s all. We believe in our teacher’s teachings and we don’t believe in other people’s teachings. If other people’s teachings contradict with the teachings of the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, we will only follow the teachings of the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha if we want to get rid of all suffering. So when you asked me questions and I answered your questions, you are already taking refuge from me automatically without having to go through the ritual, ‘Buddhaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi, Dhammaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi, Sanghaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi.’

“Dhamma in English, Apr 14, 2024.”

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Question:  Can Ajahn elaborate on what it means by taking refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha? I also read that one should be one's own refuge. What is the difference? 

Than Ajahn:  Taking refuge in Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha means you take the Triple Gem as your teacher. 

Before you can teach yourself, you need someone to guide you because in the beginning you don’t know what you should do. So you need a teacher to tell you what to do. 

You need the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha as your refuge, as your teacher.

Once you have learnt from the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha and knew what you are supposed to do, then you have to be your own refuge. You have to apply what you have learnt yourself because the Buddha cannot do it for you; the Sangha cannot do it for you; you have to do it yourself. So this is what it means by taking yourself as your own refuge: you have to do the practice yourself. So you need both: you need to take refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha as your teacher and you need to be your own refuge as a practitioner.

“Dhamma in English, May 5, 2017.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

22 August 2024

Q:  I reduced watching the news.

Than Ajahn:  Yes, the news is the same. You cannot change the news anyway. That’s how things happen. I think the real news that you should be watching every day is your future, that is, of ageing, sickness, and death. This is the news that will happen to everybody. So once you see this news then you don’t need to worry about other news. You know things are going to end anyway. It doesn’t matter who becomes the president or the prime minister. You know all will end up dead. 

Don’t forget the real news. The Buddha said that you should think of the ageing, sickness and death every day as much as possible. That’s the real news. All other news is fake news. And it’s important for you to be aware of this news then you will prepare your mind for it when you have to face it. 

If you have a mind that is ready to face the real news then there will be no dukkha. So this is really a more important news than any other news. 

“Dhamma in English, Mar 26, 2024.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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