"May they take what is taught to heart and put it into practice.”

"May they take what is taught to heart and put it into practice.”

Question: Out of compassion for your students, may Than Ajahn live a long time.

Than Ajahn: I will have compassion as long as this body allows. When the body breaks down I won’t be able to do anything about it. I can’t control it. May the students also have compassion for the teacher. May they take what is taught to heart and put it into practice.

When the students don’t practice, the teacher feels weary. Sometimes whatever is taught goes in one ear and right out the other. Even though they come back days or months later, they still haven’t changed at all. When this happens the teacher gets discouraged. The students are stuck in 1st grade and refuse to move on to 2nd or 3rd. They don’t want to graduate college at all.

Oh, be considerate of the person teaching as well! It’s not just for the teacher to have loving kindness. Really, the student should have loving kindness for the teacher as well. If the students complete their studies, then “Oh!” It will really encourage the teacher to live a long time because then he sees the results coming from his teaching.

There really is nothing like seeing people free themselves from suffering. Seeing people cry is so sad; wouldn’t it be better to see them laughing? Wouldn’t it be better to see them happy? Truly, once we attain to the Dhamma, we can laugh even when we are sick and dying because Dhamma teaches us to know that the body is not us or ours.

The body is but a house on fire, a mountain that weighs down the heart. Every day we feel burdened and heavy-hearted because of the issues related to the body, making a living, and maintaining our body so that it can live free from illness. All these things revolve around the body. If there were no body, we would be light-hearted. Or to get the same result while there is a body, we do not attach to it or believe it to be ourselves.

May you have compassion for your teacher and go practice. Then you can come back and tell me, “Now I’m so happy! I’m no longer bothered by my body at all. If something happens to it, even if it dies, I can accept it. It’s not a problem at all.”

If that happens, out of compassion I will live a long time.

“Mountain Dhamma”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

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