The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

4 February 2026

Q:  How to cope with stress and tackle life’s issues irrespective of religious backgrounds? 

What should be done to relieve stress and anxiety?

Than Ajahn:  Well, if they know how to meditate, that is the best way to relieve stress. Whenever they feel stressed, just keep reciting the mantra ‘Buddho Buddho.’ 

After a while, maybe after five minutes or ten minutes, they will feel better. 

As far as how to cope with stress and how to tackle life’s issues, they have to learn the fact of life, that life is not certain. Life is anicca. 

Everything is changing all the time. So don’t put too many expectations on anything. Take things as they come. 

Hope for the best and do your best. Expect for the worst. If you can do these, then you won’t have any stress. Take things as they come, because you cannot force things to happen the way you want it to happen. 

Like I said, ‘Life is a buffet, not an ala carte’.   

“Dhamma in English, Oct 4, 2022.”

- - - - -

Q:  I have a lot of problems at home with very bad anxiety. I just want some advice.

Than Ajahn:  Okay, what are you anxious about? What causes your anxiety?

Layperson:  I’m not sure. I just have a lot of sweating and am feeling sick in the stomach but I’m not quite sure what the cause of this anxiety is.

Than Ajahn:  According to Buddhism, our anxiety is usually caused by the uncertainty of things in life. The problem is we want certainty. But the truth is nothing is certain. 

So, what we have to do is to adapt our mind to the uncertainty of life. We have to embrace them, accept them, because if we don’t accept them, we’ll always be anxious, we’ll always be worried. 

The Buddha said that we should study the truth of life. 

According to the Buddha’s wisdom, he said that life is impermanent. 

Everything in life is not permanent. 

Everything is in the state of changing. You cannot expect things to be the same all the time. So, you have to prepare yourself by teaching yourself that what they are today might not be the same tomorrow. If you can accept this truth, then you can adapt and adjust your mind accordingly. 

When you adjust your mind to embrace the truth, then your mind will not be anxious. If you cannot do it yet, what you should first do is to try to still your mind, to lessen your thoughts about things by meditating, by concentrating your mind on one particular object such as your breath. If you sit down, just concentrate on watching your breath, so you can forget about other things. Keep focusing on your in and out breath. Just know when you’re breathing in, know when you’re breathing out. Just keep watching your breath and then you will stop thinking for a while. 

When you stop thinking, you’ll find a sense of peace and serenity and you will realize that the problem is not what happens; the problem is your thoughts worrying about what’s going to happen. So, you just stop worrying, stop thinking and let things be. Let nature be. 

Let the truth be. 

There are things that we cannot do anything about. But they cannot hurt us mentally or emotionally. They could only hurt your body which is being subjected to this thing, regardless whether it will be good or bad. 

Your body will eventually have to die. If you can accept this fact about things, you can live with them. So, try to live with them.

The problem is we don’t want to live with things we don’t like. And the only way that we can force our mind to live with things we don’t like is by meditating. 

When we meditate, we stop our reaction towards things we don’t like, and let the things we don’t like embrace us.

Layperson:  Ok, thank you.

Than Ajahn:  Do you understand what I said?

Layperson:  Yeah.

Than Ajahn:  Do you think you can do something about it? 

Layperson:  I think you are correct. I think I try to control everything.

Than Ajahn:   Yes. Try to go along with things, flow with the events. Don’t try to control them all the time. 

Control what you can control but stop controlling things that you cannot control. Then, you’ll be ok. Alright?

Layperson:  Thank you.

“Dhamma in English, Feb 25, 2019.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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

How to overcome fear

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

2 February 2026

How to overcome fear

Meet a Teacher: Phra Ajahn Suchart Abhijato 

Like many Thai Forest teachers before him, Ajahn Suchart eschews scriptural study and places emphasis on meditation, including concentration practices like anapanasati (mindfulness of the breath) and repeatedly chanting Buddho (“Buddha”) as a mantra. 

“Dhamma that comes from just studying is different from Dhamma that comes from meditation practice,” Ajahn Suchart writes. 

“We call Dhamma that is the result of meditation practice ‘genuine Dhamma.’ ”

“I never laid out a plan or my life’s goal.… My destination is the coffin. How I get there is another matter.”

Every Saturday, Sunday, national holiday, and Observance day, Ajahn Suchart gives a dhamma talk outside his kuti (meditation hut). Some of the talks are recorded and distributed freely on his website, along with his books. In addition to his work at the monastery, Ajahn Suchart also hosts weekly Zoom meetings to answer questions in Thai and English for domestic and international audiences alike. But beyond these brief windows of communication, Ajahn Suchart chooses not to interact with the outside world, spending most of his time practicing instead. “When the day’s Dhamma talk is over, my day is done. I do not further engage with anyone,” he writes.

Despite receiving numerous offers to travel and teach abroad, Ajahn Suchart seems content doing exactly what he’s doing, exactly where he is. “I never laid out a plan or my life’s goal.… My destination is the coffin. 

How I get there is another matter.”

Q: How do you overcome fear?

By teaching yourself the truth of the three characteristics: anicca (impermanence), dukkha (suffering), and anatta (nonself). 

When you know that you will die one day, you will not be afraid. We are afraid because we want to live forever. We don’t want to die. We cannot accept the truth. Once you see that life is like the rising and setting of the sun, you will not be afraid of dying; it is like the setting of the sun. You have to teach yourself all the time that one day you will die, using this as your meditation object. It will make your mind calm and peaceful.

Monks live in the forest in order to be close to life-threatening situations that will spur us to let go of our attachment to our bodies. When we have truly let go, we will not be affected by whatever happens to the body. It’s better to live without fear for one day than to live with fear for a hundred years, because fear is very damaging to the mind. You can get rid of fear by accepting the truth through the practice of meditation.

You will need a calm mind to reflect on this truth. If your mind is not calm, you will be prevented by your aversion from contemplating this truth. Aversion is delusion’s protective mechanism, but the truth will liberate you from it.

You must first calm your mind by concentrating on your breathing. Once you have achieved some calm, you can then contemplate the three characteristics of existence, the fact that you will die one day. 

You may be able to do this for a while. But eventually, the calm will disappear and the delusion will come back, bringing with it an aversion to the truth. You must then meditate to calm your mind again. When the mind becomes calm, you can then return to contemplating impermanence. Go back and forth like this until the truth sinks deeply into your mind, and you will find that accepting it is more beneficial than denying it.

Denial of the truth will always cause you to be afraid. 

But once you have accepted it, you will never be afraid. 

That’s all there is to it. The problem is in your mind. 

You can’t change external things. Whether you think about it or not, you will die anyway. But by thinking about it and accepting it, you will get rid of your fear; if you don’t think about it and deny it instead, you will always be afraid.

===

From Dhamma for the Asking Volume 2 by Ajahn Suchart Abhijato.

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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

===

Dhammapada, beloved and favorite teachings of the Buddha channel:

http://t.me/dhammapadas

===

Moonlight and Starlight

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

1 February 2026

Moonlight and Starlight

In a place as dark as this, even starlight can be useful.

During my nine years of staying with Luangta at Wat Pa Baan Tad, I was like a family member to him, seeing each other every day, going for alms and having meals together. He noticed that I was not much into socializing with the others, and he was afraid that I would be ostracized. Therefore, he was kind enough to assign certain things for me to do.

When I left Baan Tad to reside at Wat Yan, some people did not understand why I did not go to pay respect to my teacher whenever he visited a nearby place. It has been my way. 

Throughout my residence at Baan Tad, I kept to myself and never went to visit  Luangta at his kuti. We only saw each other when we participated in the same activities.

I tend not to be attached to other people. I only hold on to Dhamma. It might look like I am ungrateful because when Luangta passed away I didnʼt pay respects or attend his funeral. Why not? Because he is always in my heart and I pay my respects to him every day—no need to go. For outsiders, it may seem strange, but really it is not.

Having good teachers is a blessing. This is because we can depend on them for encouragement and advice. However, the real core matter of teachers is inside the Dhamma, not in the persons. We were deluded into clinging to them. We took their pictures for keepsakes to worship. But the teachers taught us that they are in the Dhamma. 

The Lord Buddha said, “He who sees Dhamma, sees me.” Therefore, no one built a statue of him during his lifetime. They emphasized Dhamma. The Lord Buddha said, “Dhamma and vinaya (doctrine and discipline) will be your teacher after I am gone.” “Those who see Dhamma, see me.”

Therefore, we should just abide by the teaching of Dhamma because it is the genuine flesh and blood of the Lord Buddha. 

It is the genuine core of Luangta and of his teachings. 

His body is just the outer case like clothing that covers the body. His real self is the Dhamma.

- - - - -

Kruba Ajahns are like leaves that gradually fall off one by one. New leaves will sprout to replace them, although how they will turn out is unknown at that point in time. The good ones will usually keep a low profile, out of high regard for their teacher. 

They would never overshadow their Kruba Ajahn. In Venerable Ācariya Mun’s Spiritual Biography, he says that, in a vision, he saw junior monks and novices stepping out of line and overtaking their teachers. Ven. Acariya Mun explained that in the future, monks and novices would show up and compete with one another for fame and attention. 

In the lineage of the forest meditation monks, however, monks revere their Kruba Ajahn and take him as their leader. During Luangtaʼs time, as there were other Kruba Ajahns  who were senior to him, he therefore rarely appeared in public. When these senior Kruba Ajahns had passed, Luangta then came out and took on the leaderʼs role.

No teachers want to be famous because it is tiring. It is better to remain unknown. As for me, I am not famous. I have resided here 30 some years and no one knew of me; if Luangta had not mentioned me, no one would have known anything about me. 

Each individual has his own destiny. My destiny is to spread Dhamma through books and publications. I think this is good. I do not have to deal with a lot of people. When the dayʼs Dhamma talk is over, my day is done. I do not engage further with anyone. Whoever invites me to go anywhere, I will not accept. 

This upsets people, which actually is good because they do not come back. If I were to accept the invitations, they and their friends would keep extending more and more invitations that I would have to accept, and eventually I would not have any time to give Dhamma talks.

- - - - - 

“Than Suchart has always been practicing Dhamma in solitude and in modesty. When I went to observe him last year, I found him still there abiding by the same standard. He is very modest and enjoys solitude. He holds fast to the principles of the Kruba Ajahns. 

There are many disciples of Wat Pa Baan Tad. 

If they follow the principles of the Kruba Ajahn, they will feel happy and peaceful, but there are some who only hold on a little. In the lineage of Kruba Ajahn Mun, he is taken as the core. Its branches are scattered all over. Now it is in its second and third generation. 

I feel that Than Suchart follows the path very well. He is in solitude and is not interested in anything else. I, therefore, went to visit him. If he was fickle and did not hold steady to the path, I would not go to visit him. If a monk practiced well, I would go to visit, no matter where he was.”

(Ven. Ajahn Mahā Boowa Ñāṇasampanno)

“Beyond Birth, Moonlight and Starlight”

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.

31 January 2026

The Forest Container of the Rains Retreat

If you remove the fuel, you stop the fire.

By Phra Ajahn Suchart Abhijato

I arrived at Wat Pa Baan Taad in April. In June, [Ajahn Luangta Maha Bua] considered whom he would allow to stay on during the rains retreat. That year, he accepted Phra Sudjai (Ven. Ajahn Sudjai Tantamano), who had been ordained two years before me at Wat Asokaram. I had been ordained for only one year at that point.

Also staying at the monastery then were Ven. Ajahn Boonmee Paripunno and Ven. Ajahn Lee Kusalataro. I was closer to Phra Sudjai because our kutis were next to each other and we sat next to each other at mealtime. 

Phra Boonmee (Ven. Ajahn Boonmee Dhammarato), who had been staying at Wat Tham Khao Tao, came after me. Although we had observed the same number of rains, because I had been ordained a few months before him, he would sit after me and walk behind me during alms round.

On that day, before Luangta gave the dhamma talk, he chose the monks who would be staying on for the rains retreat. He said, “You may stay,” or “You may not stay,” and when he got to me, he kept his cards close to his chest. Instead, he asked, “You, from Wat Bowon, do you remember we had an agreement on the first day you arrived? Your stay was to be temporary, which meant that you would not be staying on.” He left it at that, so I resigned myself to the fact that I would not stay; I would have to leave, and so be it.

After that, he gave an hour-long dhamma talk. At the end of the meeting, when he got up to pay respect to the Buddha, he said “You, from Wat Bowon, if youʼd like to stay, you certainly may.”

When he approved my stay, the monks who were already staying there permanently came up to congratulate me. That year, Luangta accepted only four monks; the others had to leave. He was very selective, because having too many monks could be problematic in overseeing how they practiced meditation. If the numbers were small, Luangta was able to watch over everyone and recognize them by face. He could take care of them in all ways, and the quality of the monks would be better. 

Besides, if we got anything easily, we would not see the value in it. Anything that takes us a lot of difficulty to get, we then take care of.

Once Luangta allowed me to remain at Wat Pa Baan Taad, I stayed there for a long time because I had found a good place to meditate. A great bonus was having Luangta as a teacher, who gave us many methods that we could not find in books, or if we did, the explanations were not as detailed as when we applied them in reality.

***

The Vinaya states that, in the first five years after monks have ordained, they have to stay with their teacher. This same regulation was followed at Wat Pa Baan Taad: We could not go anywhere except for unavoidable reasons, such as the death of a parent.

If anyone wanted to travel to this or to that quiet spot, Luangta would not allow it. For example, a monk of two rains would not be able to travel unless Luangta saw that he had the capacity and that the trip would bring benefit. There was a monk who had two or three rains and was pestering Luangta for permission to go wandering on dhutanga (abiding by a specific set of austere practices). Finally, Luangta said, “If you go, donʼt come back.” Luangta considered the practitionerʼs mind as core, and not how many rains he had. Even if a monk had the requisite five rains, if Luangta thought that he wasnʼt ready, Luangta would not let him leave, because the trip would ruin him and he might end up disrobing. Such a monk, kept in the monastery, could at least keep learning from his teacher.

Whoever wants to develop wisdom must then look for suffering. 

It was also more peaceful and secluded at the monastery. If oneʼs practice had been well established, then it would not be necessary to go anywhere else. But the mind doesnʼt like to stay at the same place for long, because it becomes bored and wants someplace new. 

The mind therefore tricks us into thinking going somewhere else will be better.

But the truth is that staying with the teacher is best. 

Staying with Luangta created the feeling of being one of his children. Luangta took care of everything. He made sure that we were comfortable and that we did not have to participate in unnecessary activities.

This is why, when we were first ordained, we needed to stay put, because kilesas tend to want to take us elsewhere. We had to conquer this wanting first, because if it kept dragging us around, there would be no stopping. Thus the Vinaya demands that we stay with the first teacher for five years. All the monks staying with Luangta during my time there knew that once they started their stay, they had to remain for the entire five-year duration. Except for the morning alms round, they were not to go anywhere else, because there were no invitations at that time.

If we could remember that Luangta was our true teacher and that staying with him would be beneficial, we would be able to endure. If he did not want us there, he would probably ask the police to take us away. He always said things to provoke us, to test how much our minds could endure. If we did something incorrectly, he would say whatever he had to say. If he held back, that would be to our detriment. He therefore tested our minds to see if we could take the abrasiveness. So if we reflected on the benefits we were deriving now that we were staying with Luangta, we could endure and become more resilient through his efforts. Without endurance, the spiritual perfections, or parami, cannot be cultivated. Having khanti parami, or patience, is a must, understand? Without it, we will be torn to pieces when we encounter Mara. 

There has to be Mara to compel us to cultivate our parami for protection; we cultivate khanti so we will not suffer. Wisdom hasnʼt yet arisen, so if we want to be smart, we have to look for suffering. When we face suffering, we will have to find the way to solve it. Only then can wisdom arise.

Wisdom isnʼt something that others can give to us. While they can teach us, it remains words and external knowledge. But when it comes to the crunch, we have to make wisdom arise ourselves. We can take what we have learned as a means to give rise to wisdom, but we have to do the work. If we didnʼt face suffering, we wouldnʼt have to find a solution. Similarly, if we didnʼt have to take an exam, we wouldnʼt study. Only when we have to take an exam, would we have to figure out how best to tackle it. After thinking it through, we can then take the exam. This is wisdom. When suffering arises, we solve it by extinguishing the suffering in our mind. This is wisdom that knows that this particular suffering will not arise again within us. We resolve suffering using wisdom. So whoever wants to develop wisdom must then look for suffering. If they look for happiness, they will only get kilesas: confusion, attachment, and craving for happiness to last. But there isnʼt any happiness that can last; it can change at any time.

This article was excerpted and adapted from Phra Ajahn Suchart Abhijato’s autobiography, Beyond Birth, and was republished with permission from Phra Ajahn Suchart Abhijato at Wat Yannasangwararam. 

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Phra Ajahn Suchart Abhijato is a Thai Forest Tradition monk and teacher at Wat Yannasangwararam in Chonburi, Thailand. His books include My Way (2014), Beyond Birth (2021), and the series, Dhamma for the Asking.

“Dhamma in English, Oct 5, 2024.”

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.

30 January 2026

Q:  How to quiet the mind when there are wars around us?

Than Ajahn:  You have to learn how to meditate before you run into these things. 

You have to train your mind first to be calm and still so whenever you run into anything you can control your mind and keep your mind still. But if you haven’t learned it then it will be natural that you react to things that you come across.

In Buddhism, we have to train ourselves to develop a lot of mindfulness before we can meditate. Mindfulness means to focus our mind on one thing at a time; don’t let the mind go running thinking about this and that. 

You can use a mantra as the object of focus such as by reciting Budho Budho mentally or watching the body movement. Whatever your body is doing just keep watching your body activities, don’t let the mind go think about other things at the same time. Then you will be able to control your mind to be still then you can sit and meditate. 

When you meditate, you can focus your attention on your breath. Just watch the breath comes in and goes out at the tip of the nose. Don’t do anything. Don’t think about anything. Just watch.

If you can focus on your breath and you can do it continuously, your mind can become still eventually. 

When the mind becomes still, it doesn’t react to anything. It doesn’t react to the body’s feeling, to the sound or noises around you. The mind will be calm and equanimous. We call it ‘having equanimity’. 

This is what we want to train our mind to become – to be able to remain still. And whenever we come across anything, we can just use the mantra to make the mind still. If you mind wants to react to anything, you can use mindfulness or the mantra to bring it to become still. But if you haven’t trained your mind, you will automatically react to things the way you used to react - when you run into good things, you react with happiness; and when you run into bad things, you react with bad feelings.

It's your reactions to things. Things are like this whether you are here or not. There were wars before and there will still be wars later on. So it’s just about how we react to things that we have to change. We shouldn’t react at all to anything. Just be merely observing and knowing what’s going on. If you can do this then there will be no stress, no bad feelings, no sadness, nothing. You just remain as if nothing happens.

1:34:40

Q: For people who haven’t practised but yet there are a lot of difficulties around the regions like right now, how do we support them? How do we support another beings? Is that possible to do so?

Than Ajahn:  Well, if you have to deal with people, the Buddha said that you should use loving kindness toward people and animals. 

Treat them nice. Be nice and be kind to them. Help them if you can. 

But if it is beyond your ability then you just have to stop. You shouldn’t feel sad about it because it’s beyond your control. If there is anything that you can do, do it. If you cannot do it then you just have to accept that this is the limit of your ability to help them. 

If not, you can become stressful yourself and you don’t want this to happen. 

You want to remain calm regardless of what you do or don’t do. You should be able to remain calm and happy. 

If you use loving kindness toward people like being nice, being kind to people, you can be happy that way. 

But if it is beyond your ability to help them then you just have to use equanimity to prevent your mind to become sad or stressful. 

But this is something you have to practise. 

Like yoga, you have to practise. You can’t just start and be able to do it right away. It takes time to learn and takes time to get it into habit. It’s just a matter of changing the habits. 

Our mind used to react to things so now we have to train it to react properly. React with loving kindness, not react with anger for instance. Not react with hatred because react with anger or hatred will create more stress than reduce suffering. React with loving kindness. And react with equanimity if it is beyond your ability to do something about it. 

You have to train yourself by meditating. Because by meditating, if you succeed, you can get to equanimity. 

Once you have equanimity, you can practise loving kindness. 

With equanimity, you have happiness inside yourself. If you are happy, you can give, you can help other people. 

If you are not happy, you are not able to help other people because you might be angry or sad. But if you are happy then you can help others. 

Look at the time when it’s Christmas. People are happy to give and help each other but at some other time, people are not happy. So you have to practise meditation every day like you practise yoga. Then you’ll establish some equanimity in your mind that will enable you to be calm and peaceful if you can’t do anything about something. Or if you do something, you do it with loving kindness.  

“Dhamma in English, Oct 5, 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.

26 January 2026

Q: can you please explain exactly what patience is and how I can continue to cultivate it in my working, living and daily life? 

Mindfulness is one thing, and I understand it but patience…

Tan Ajahn: Well patience is the result of having mindfulness. Patience in Buddhism means to not react to any situations or circumstances. Just to be aware of what’s happening. Being aware when someone said something good or bad to you. But don’t react. If you don’t react then you have patience. Just remain still, not reacting. Only strong mindfulness can prevent you from reacting. When you start to react, if you have strong mindfulness, you can stop it right away.

Student: Thank you, I understand this, but I am a kindergarten teacher. So when I mean patience I mean in regards to having 15 children that are running around and I have to calm them all and get them on track and I am losing my patience.

Tan Ajahn: It’s because you’re emotional. If you react rationally it will not hurt you. The reason is you want to control them and you know that you cannot. The truth is that you cannot control them so you have to accept the truth that you can only do so much. 

Control them at a certain level. But like you said before, you like to be a perfectionist. You would like to be able to control 15 children. 

You need 15 teachers to control 15 children. If you are 1 against 15, you can only do so much. So just accept how much you can do. 

Then you will not be frustrated or emotional. 

Think rationally. I mean you have to react but reacting rationally is okay. Rationality doesn’t hurt the mind. 

What hurts the mind is emotional reactions. When you become emotional. 

Emotion arises from your desire to conquer, to vanquish, to suppress, and to get things under control. 

But according to the Buddha, everything is not under our control. You forget this fact. 

Nothing is under control. It might be under control sometimes. But not all the time. So when you reach the time that you cannot control then you have to let go. 

Then you will not be frustrated or upset. You just say, “c’est la vie”, that’s life. And you can do this if you have mindfulness. Because if you don’t have mindfulness your emotions will take over right away. 

But if you have mindfulness, when you feel yourself becoming emotional, you can stop it. You say, “I’m being emotional, I have to backtrack. I have to come back to rationality”.

Student: and that would be true in arguments with let’s say…

Tan Ajahn: everything, everything.

Student: okay, my spouse, my employer, everything and everyone.

Ajahn: yeah. You can stop your desire to conquer, to win, to convince or whatever. And you look at the facts, whether you can do it or not. If you can do it, then do it. 

If you cannot, then just let it be.

Student: thank you.

“Dhamma in English, Q&A #36/2024.”

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 January 2026

Q: How to do contemplation of the Three Characteristics of Existence and what is the goal?

Than Ajahn: Well, the goal of contemplating the Three Characteristics of Existence is for you to see the truth – that the things you crave for or desire for can hurt you in the end. 

They might make you feel good in the beginning when you acquire them, but they will eventually cause you harm, make you sad because they might not be with you, because they are impermanent. 

Everything that you think that will make you happy, it usually won’t stay with you forever. 

One day, sooner or later it will be separated from you, and when that happens, then you’ll become sad. Sad is dukkhaṁ or suffering. 

Anicca is impermanent. Anattā is beyond your control - you cannot always control the things that you have. 

So this is the purpose of contemplating on the Three Characteristics: to see that things change; and when they change, they can cause you sadness or hurt you; they are beyond your ability to control them all the time, sometimes you can control them but sometimes you will not be able to control them, and when you cannot control them, then there will be sadness.

“Dhamma in English, Sep 3, 2019.”

- - - - -

Q:  Could you give some advice on when is the time to move from samatha to vipassanā?

Than Ajahn:  Vipassanā is the second level of practice. 

You have to complete your samatha practice first. 

When I say, ‘complete,’ it means that you have to be fully capable of calming your mind at any time you want. 

When you meditate, you should be able to calm your mind within 5 minutes, and should stay calm and become still at least for an hour or more. Then it means that you have samatha capability, you can stop your mind any time when your mind is restless, agitated, angry, greedy or desiring for things. 

If you still cannot control your emotions with samatha, then you cannot go to the level of vipassanā. Do you know why? Because samatha and vipassanā do the same functions, they get rid of your emotions. But samatha can only do it temporarily. If you want to get rid of your emotions permanently, you need to go up to the vipassanā level. 

Before you can go up to vipassanā level, you have to be capable of getting rid of your emotions - your love, hate, fear, delusion - on the level of samatha first. Once you can do that, when you want to completely rid of all your emotions, all your defilements, then you need the work on the vipassanā. 

Do you see what I mean? Samatha is simply stopping your thinking. When you stop your thinking, you can stop your anger, your greed, your desire. But when you restart your thinking, your greed and hatred will come back again. So, if you want to get rid of these love, hatred, fear and delusion permanently, even when you think that they won’t come back again, you need to develop vipassanā.

Vipassanā is to see things that you are involved with have the Three Characteristics of Existence: they are impermanent, they are constantly changing; they are not always under your control; and they can hurt you when they cannot satisfy you or when they cannot do what you want them to do for you. 

If you can see them as having these Three Characteristics, then you will stop your desire to have them.  Then, you can remain living alone without having to have anything because you see things with wisdom or vipassanā. You see that it’s better to have nothing than to have something, because as soon as you have something, that things you possess will eventually hurt your mind. 

Because when you become emotionally attached to them, you don’t want to lose them. But all things come and go and there is no way to stop them from leaving you. 

So, this is vipassanā: you can see everything as having the Three Characteristics: as being anicca (impermanent), dukkha (hurting, harmful) and anattā (not under your control). 

Then you would not want to have anything to do with them. You’d rather live alone. Every time you think, you will not think of having desire for anything because you see everything as having the Three Characteristics: this is vipassanā. 

You have to have samatha first. You have to have the ability to stop your desire, your greed, your hatred, your delusion first, although it’s temporary. Then, you can go up to the next level by using vipassanā, to get rid of your greed, hate and delusion permanently.

“Dhamma in English, Apr 22, 2019.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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