AJAHN BRAHM "Don't Worry, Be Grumpy: Inspiring Stories for Making the Most of Each Moment."

AJAHN BRAHM
"Don't Worry, Be Grumpy: Inspiring Stories for Making the Most of Each Moment."

Other people will sometimes get angry with you. Even your loved ones. It happens to all of us. Some people even got angry with the Buddha! So what can you do when you are on the receiving end of someone else's rage? The answer is to be found in the following story.

A husband was enjoying an afternoon off work at home. His wife was busy preparing dinner when she realized she was short of eggs.

"Darling," she asked, "would you mind going to the market and buying some eggs for me?"

"Sure, sweetheart," he happily replied.

The husband had never been to the market before. So his wife gave him some money, a basket, and the directions to the egg stall in the middle of the market.

When he entered the market, a young man came right up to him and shouted loudly, "Hello, Camel Face!"

"What!" replied the startled husband, "Who are you calling Camel Face!?"

But that only encouraged the young man, who started abusing the husband even more aggressively, "Hey Bat Breath! Did you use dog poo for aftershave this morning? May the fleas of a thousand stray dogs infest your armpits!"

Worst of all, the husband was being yelled at in public, in the middle of the market, and he had done nothing wrong at all. He got so upset and embarrassed that he turned around and walked out of the market as fast as he could.

"You're home early darling," remarked his wife on his return. "Did you get the eggs?"

"No!" huffed her husband. "And don't send me to that uncivilized obnoxious, ill-mannered, toilet hole of a market ever again!"

Now the secret of a lasting marriage is to know how to smooth the ruffled feathers of your partner when he or she has just had a nasty experience. So his wife comforted and caressed him until the thermometer inside his heart registered a safer temperature.

Then she softly asked him what that young man looked like.

Her husband screwed up his face and, between bouts of spitting indignation, gave a description of the young man.

"Oh, him!" said his wife, concealing a chuckle."He does the same to everyone. You see, when he was a child, he fell over and hit his head. He suffered permanent brain damage, and he's been crazy like this ever since. Poor fellow, he couldn't go to school, he couldn't make any friends, he can't find a job, nor will he ever marry a nice girl and have a family. The unfortunate young man is mad. He shouts abuse at anyone and everyone. Don't take it personally."

After her husband heard that, his own indignation completely melted away. Now he felt compassion for the youth.

His wife noticed the change of heart and said, "Darling, I still need those eggs. Would you mind...?"

"Sure, sweetheart," said the husband and he returned to the marketplace.

The young man saw him coming and shouted out, "Hey! Look who's coming! Old Camel Face has returned with his bat breath! Hold your noses everyone - a pile of dog shit on legs has just oozed into our marketplace!"

This time, the husband was not annoyed. He walked straight to the egg stall with the young man following him, hurling many an insult.

"Don't mind him," said the lady selling the eggs. "He does this to everyone. He's crazy. He had an accident when he was young."

"Yes, I know. Poor boy," said the husband as he paid for the eggs. The young man followed the husband to the edge of the market, shouting ever-louder obscenities at him. But this time it never made the husband upset. Because he now knew that the young man was mad.

When you understand this story, then the next time that someone calls you terrible names, or your partner gets angry at you, just assume that they have hit their head today and are suffering momentary brain damage. For in Buddhism, getting angry at others and insulting them is called "temporary insanity."

When you realized that the person getting angry at you is temporarily insane, you are able to respond with equanimity and even compassion: "You poor thing!"

***from his book "Don't Worry, Be Grumpy: Inspiring Stories for Making the Most of Each Moment."

Ninety nine percent of your thinking is delusional

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

24 October 2023

“Ninety nine percent of your thinking is delusional.”

Nun:  “Do you think it’s the subtle attachment that cause me to still feel this way (wanting to do something for my father who has passed away)?” 

Than Ajahn:  “It’s not subtle. It’s obvious. You showed it through your speech. You’re still attached to him.”

Nun:  “But I’ve separated from him for so many years.” 

Than Ajahn:  “You still think about him. By thinking about him, you’re still attached to him. It’s attachment when you think of him and you want to do something for him. If you think about him and you can just leave him alone, this is not attachment. You can think of him just as memory. If you have any desire to do something for him, it is considered as attachment.

You have to get rid of your desire because you cannot do anything about it anyway. He is not in the place where you can help him. Should he come in your dream and ask you for your help, then you can ask him, ‘What do you need? Do you need food?’ If he said yes, then you give dāna and you send the food to him through dāna. If he needs Dhamma, you teach him the Dhamma about how to get rid of suffering. You tell him to get rid of his desires, his cravings, and then he will have no suffering."

Nun:  “Ok.”

Than Ajahn:  “That’s why all the devas come and listen to Dhamma talks. That’s the only way they can get help from the Buddha. The Buddha gave Dhamma talks every night to the devas. That’s the only way the Buddha could help them – by teaching them Dhamma.

The Buddha could not send his magical power and make every deva happy or make the devas become enlightened. They have to become enlightened by studying and teaching their own minds to let go of their attachment and their cravings.

So, if you can let go, then your mind will be at peace with yourself and with his situation, knowing that there is nothing else you can do for him. Besides, he might be happy right now. He might be in the deva realm and enjoying himself. You don’t know. It’s just your imagination about his state of mind. It’s better not to have any imagination. If you don’t know, just leave it alone. Don’t think about it.

Your thinking is not the reality. Your thinking is delusional. Ninety nine percent of your thinking is delusional, avijjā paccayā saṅkhāra. If you have wisdom, there will be Dhammā paccayā saṅkhāra. 

Then, you’ll say, ‘Sabbe Dhammā anattā.’ You will leave everything alone.”


From "Dhamma in English to a nun from Germany, Jan 05, 2018."

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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“The mind doesn’t rise so it doesn’t cease.”

“The mind doesn’t rise so it doesn’t cease.”

Question: “Why do you say, ‘The mind is permanent;’ when the Buddha said, ‘All is impermanent'?”

Than Ajahn:  “All except the mind. When the Buddha said, ‘All,’ he means ‘all the things that are created in this world.’ Everything that is created is impermanent. Everything that is created will eventually dissolve because everything is made up of the four elements.

Like this body, it comes from the four elements and one day the four elements will separate, they’ll go back to the four elements. When a person dies and if you leave the corpse alone, eventually all the fluids will come out of the body. The air will disappear. The heat will disappear. All that is left is just the solid part which becomes earth.

So, everything in this world is made up of the four elements: earth, water, fire, and air. If you use the scientific terminology, everything is made up of solid, liquid, heat, and gases. Like these wooden beams are solid, they are made of solid things and they will break down slowly. Eventually, they will return back to earth. So, everything in this world is impermanent.

The Buddha never said, ‘The mind is impermanent.’ It’s a misunderstanding. No one clarifies his teaching. So you start to imagine it in your own mind because you have never seen the mind before. You don’t know the true nature of the mind.

When the Buddha says, ‘everything,’ he means ‘everything that rises will cease’.  But the mind doesn’t rise so it doesn’t cease because the mind has no form. The mind is not made up of anything. The mind is like empty space. How can you destroy empty space? Can you destroy space? You cannot. Space is always there.

All objects, all emotions, all feelings, all thoughts are impermanent. They rise and cease. They come and go. But the feelings never disappear. They will always stay with the mind.

The mind has four functions: to feel, to think, to remember/to perceive and to be aware. These are the characteristics of the mind. They never die. They never disappear but they change. They come and go. You think and then you stop thinking. You remember, then you stop remembering and you forget. You have feelings, you have good feelings then you have bad feelings, then you have neutral feeling. These phenomenon keep changing. These will only stop when you meditate.

When you meditate, the mind becomes calm, and all these four function of the mind will stop functioning temporarily. But they will never disappear. They will always be with the mind.”

Dhamma for the Asking,
Q&A, Jan 9, 2017 (youtube live)

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube:
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“If you cannot stop your mind from thinking, your mind cannot be calm, cannot enter into jhāna.”

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

11 February 2024

“If you cannot stop your mind from thinking, your mind cannot be calm, cannot enter into jhāna.”

Question: “Is it realistic for the lay practitioner who wants to achieve the first jhāna in the day to day meditation practice?”

Than Ajahn: “It depends on the strength of your mindfulness. If you have strong mindfulness, you can have jhāna. If you don’t have strong mindfulness, you can’t. Some people have strong mindfulness so they can have jhāna anytime, anywhere. They don’t have to become monks. Some monks don’t have strong mindfulness, so they could not have jhāna. If their mindfulness is not strong enough, they could not have jhāna.

Jhāna is the ability to concentrate on one object, not to let your mind think about other things. This is the thing that will make your mind enter into jhāna. It’s like when you try to put a thread through a needle hole, you need to have a very still hands, not a wobbly hands. If your hands shake, you cannot get the thread into the needle hole. It’s the same thing with your mind, in order to enter into jhāna, your mind has to be steady. It has to be fixed on one object, like watching your breathing and not think about any other things. When you think, your mind starts to shake and it cannot enter into jhāna.

You need a strong mindfulness to keep your mind to become still, not to shake. Some people may have it from their previous lives. So, when they meditate, they can get the mind to become calm easily and quickly. Some people don’t have mindfulness. They struggle when they sit in meditation. When they sit, they start to think about this and that, then they come back to the object of their meditation for a few seconds, and they go and think about this and that again. In this way they’ll never be able to get the mind to become still, to become calm, to enter into jhāna.

You need to develop mindfulness. You can do this all the time from the time you get up to the time you go to sleep. Just focus on whatever you do. Don’t think about other things while you’re doing something with your body. If you’re walking, just watch your walking activity. If you’re eating, just watch that you’re eating. Just watch your body activities. Don’t think about other things at the same time.

We tend to do two things at the same time. We eat and at the same time we plan what we’re going to do next, or where we’re going to go. This is not mindfulness. If you have mindfulness, when you eat, you just think about your eating activity only. The mind only thinks about what you’re doing at the moment. Watch what the body is doing at the moment. It doesn’t go and think about other things.

If you want to succeed in meditation, you first have to develop strong mindfulness, continuous mindfulness. From the time you get up to the time you go to sleep. Focus on your body activities. If you have to think about what you need to do, you just focus on thinking of what you have to do. It’s okay if you think about what you’re doing because you’re still watching your body. But if you think about some other things other than what you are doing right now, then it’s not okay because it means that your mind has gone away.

You want to bring the mind back to the present, to what’s happening right now. When you work, you have to concentrate on your work. If you have to think about your work, then you have to be mindful of your thinking, not thinking about some other things other than your work. But it’s best not to think. So, it’s best not to work because when you work, you still have to think. When you work, you have to think what to do about your work. If you can afford it, it’s better not to work. When you don’t work, you have all the time to stop your mind from thinking. You don’t have to think. Even when you think you can stop it by concentrating on what you are doing.

Or you can use a mantra to help you stop thinking. You use a mantra, like repeat the name of the Buddha, ‘Buddho, Buddho, Buddho, Buddho, Buddho.’ When you recite the mantra, then you cannot think about what you want to think.

The goal of having mindfulness is to have the ability to be able to control your thought, to stop your thought. Right now, your thought is like a runaway car, you cannot stop it. You have to get into the car and apply the break. Right now, your thought just keeps thinking. It thinks all the time. You have to apply the brake to your thought by using mindfulness.

If you have strong mindfulness, you don’t need a mantra. You don’t need to focus on your body activities. 

You can just let your mind stop thinking. It’s a matter how long you can stop it. You may stop it momentarily. Then, when you forget, it starts to think again. So, you have to keep stopping it because if you cannot stop your mind from thinking, your mind cannot be calm, cannot enter into jhāna.”

Dhamma for the Asking,
Laypeople from Canada, Jan 20, 2017.

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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

Dhamma Talk Self Reliance September 2, 2000 By Ajahn Suchart (Abhijato Bhikkhu)

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

26 March 2024

 Self Reliance

Translated by Chantaporn Gomutputra
Edited by June Gibb

When we make merits, like giving to charity or keeping the moral precepts we are providing our mind with sustenance.  Our life is made up of two parts, body and mind.  Our body needs the four requisites of life namely, food, shelter, clothing and medicine in order for it to live comfortably.  Our mind needs meritorious and wholesome actions, and the Dhamma teaching.  

Without them we will not be happy although we may have lots of money and possessions. This is because money, possessions, and the four requisites of life cannot quell our restlessness, worry, and stress.  What we need is the Dhamma teaching of the Buddha to sustain our mind, and make it peaceful, happy, and content.  This is because the Dhamma can tell us where suffering and happiness are located.

If we are not wise, then we are deluded.  In this world there are two categories of people: the wise and the deluded.  The latter seek after useless things that make them miserable rather than happy. Most of us belong to the second group because we still have kilesa such as greed, anger and delusion.  Delusion is the cause of our greed and anger.  It prevents us from seeing that greed and anger are like fire.  When they appear they set our heart on fire, becoming restless and agitated.  Our mind is blind and lacks the light of the Dhamma teaching.  If we turn to the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha to seriously study the Dhamma teaching, we would be able to separate the cause of happiness from the cause of misery.  If we have the guiding light of Dhamma to lead us, we would live a good and trouble-free life.

The Buddha said that whether we are good or bad, happy or miserable, prospering or not, depends on ourselves.  The causes of our happiness and stress are the three kinds of kamma namely, physical, verbal and mental.  Kamma by itself is neutral; it’s neither good nor bad.  Good kamma is called kusala-kamma, skillful and meritorious.  Bad kamma is called akusala-kamma, unskillful and demeritorious.  These two kamma are the primary forces that propel us to go on a certain path, either good or bad.  It is like when we come to the Sukhumvit intersection where we can turn left or right.  

If we turn left we would go to Sattaheep, turn right to Pattaya and Bangkok.

Similarly skillful and meritorious physical, verbal and mental kamma, will lead us to sugati or happy destinations; to rebirth in the human world or in the heavens; to happiness; to magga (path to the cessation of suffering), phala (fruition of the four transcendent paths), and nibbana (liberation).  Unskillful and demeritorious physical, verbal and mental kamma will lead us to apaya-bhumi (state of deprivation), to rebirth in hell, to suffering, difficulties and hardship.  This is the absolute truth.  Whether the Buddha teaches it to the world or not, it still is true.  It’s the law of nature, just like the sun that rises in the east and sets in the west.  Whether someone tells us about it or not is not important because that’s the way it is.

The same is true with kamma and its consequences or vipaka that follow us like our shadow.  If we do good kamma, happiness and prosperity will follow.  When we die, we will go to heaven, to nibbana.  If we do bad kamma, unskillful and demeritorious actions, we would go to apaya-bhumi (state of deprivation) such as hell.  

No one can help us.  The only thing that can help us is our physical, verbal and mental kamma.  The Buddha says that we can only rely on ourselves.  Attahi attano nadho means we are our own refuge, for better or for worse.  The Buddha only points the way.  If we don’t believe him and follow his advice, then it cannot be helped.

A Brahmin once queried the Buddha about his teaching people to go to heaven, to magga (path to the cessation of suffering), phala (fruition of the four transcendent paths), and nibbana (liberation). Why then only some of his followers could realize nibbana, while the rest couldn’t.  In reply the Buddha asked the Brahmin why some of the people whom the Brahmin gave direction to go to a certain place never get there.  Since the Brahmin knew the way and told them precisely how to get there, how come only some of them made it while the rest didn’t.  The Brahmin replied that it was beyond his control.  He could only give them the direction, whether they followed his instruction or not was entirely up to them.  If they followed what he told them, they would definitely get there.  The Buddha replied that it was the same with his teaching.  Good kamma, heaven, magga (path to the cessation of suffering), phala (fruition of the four transcendent paths), and nibbana (liberation) do exist.  He has told them how to get there.  Whether they get there or not is entirely up to them.  They have to do it themselves.  

They are their own refuge. The Buddha only points the way.  If they follow his instruction, not making any wrong turns, they will definitely get there.

The Buddha teaches that kamma separates human from animal.  It also makes human different from one another.  There are tall, short, intelligent, stupid, diligent, lazy, good and bad people.  It’s because our past kamma are not the same.  In our past lives, if we did good kamma, were diligent and wise, liked to study, liked to listen to the Dhamma, we would possess these qualities in our present existence.  If in our past lives, we were lazy, hated to go to work, liked to live off others, hated to go to school, didn’t pay attention to the teachers, didn’t learn anything new in order to become wiser, we would be like that in this life.  Our differences are mostly due to our past kamma.

We can’t change the past, but we can change the present.   If we are lazy we can train ourselves to become diligent. We can use diligence to overcome laziness.  If we are ignorant, we should study hard and associate ourselves with the wise and learned, who are more knowledgeable and wiser.  They can teach us, and we can learn from them.  Don’t hang around with the foolish and ignorant.  If we do we wouldn’t learn anything from them. It would be a waste of time.  We should instead stick with the good and the wise, who regularly go to the temples to make merits by giving to charity and keep the moral precepts. They could influence us to do good.  We can’t change the past, but we can change the present.  We can start anew.  When we have done a lot of good kamma today, then good consequences will appear in the future.  Our lives will be better tomorrow, next month, next year and next life because we are living a virtuous life today.

The Buddha says that we are not all equal and have our differences.   Even siblings are different.  Some are bright, some are not, some are stupid, some are diligent, some are lazy, some are good, and some are bad.  The Buddha divides them into three groups namely, those who are brighter and more virtuous than their parents; those who are the same; and those who are worse.

Parents with brighter and smarter offspring are considered blessed and lucky.  They hardly need to be taught because they are able to learn by themselves or have already acquired lots of knowledge from their past lives, like the Buddha for example.  He belongs to the smarter and brighter kind.  His father couldn’t teach him anything that he didn’t already know.  He even knew more than all of his teachers.  Parents who have offspring who are worse than they are have to be patient in teaching them about good and bad, right and wrong.  If they can afford it, they should provide their children with quality education.  If they study hard, they might one day become brighter and smarter than their parents.

On the other hand, if they don’t like to go to school, to study hard and be good students, but like to go out and have fun, to drink and gamble, parents shouldn’t lose sleep over them, but should consider that their children are not themselves and vice versa.  The Dhamma teaches that all beings are created by their own kamma. 

Whatever kamma they have committed, good or bad, they themselves would reap the consequences.  

Although they may be your sons and daughters, they are only so physically, but not spiritually or mentally.  

Their spirit or mind has their past kamma as their real parents.  Parents shouldn’t therefore lose sleep over their children’s failures if they have done their best to raise them to be good and smart.  If they insist on going down the road of moral deprivation, then it’s not your fault but the consequence of their past kamma.  In this regard it can’t be helped, as the Buddha points out:  Attahi attano nadho, we are our own refuge.

Therefore, if we wish to live a happy and prosperous existence, and avoid all the trials and tribulations of life, we should keep a close watch on our physical, verbal and mental kamma.  Make sure that they are going in the skillful and meritorious direction. If we don’t know what they are then we should learn from someone who knows, like all the well-learned and well-known ajahns.  Go to them and learn from them.  Then we will know how to live a happy and prosperous life.

If we are going down the wrong path, we must resist it with all our might.  For example, if we like to go out and drink, to gamble, to cheat, to lie, to steal, to kill animals like hunting and fishing, then we must put a stop to all of them.  If we have friends who like doing these things, we should avoid them.  Don’t socialize with them because they would only drag us down.  We should therefore consider attahi attano nadho; we are our own refuge as our guiding principle and put our physical, verbal and mental kamma into good use in order for us to subsequently reap their good consequences.

“Sensual Pleasures are Painful.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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

Translated 8/8/48

Glossary of Pali and Buddhist Terms

How do I investigate the elements (water, fire, wind, earth) in meditation?

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

27 March 2023

Question: How do I investigate the elements (water, fire, wind, earth) in meditation?

Tan Ajahn: Contemplation or investigating the four elements is part of the vipassanā practice. It is usually done after you have your samatha practice because it will not be effective if you don’t have samatha. You can do it, but it doesn’t bring any good result.

You have to do it after you have samatha. But it doesn’t mean that you cannot do it. You can. You can reflect on and investigate the four elements if you find that it suits your character, is good for you, or makes you calm and peaceful. That is OK.

But the point is that the reason why we want to reflect on the four elements is to be able to see that the body is just the four elements—that there is no self, no you, no me, in this body. The body is made up of the four elements. One day, sooner or later, it will return to the four elements. You want to see this so that you can let go of your attachment and your delusion, thinking that the body is you.

The body is just your puppet or a toy, a living doll that can breathe. The difference between the body and the toy that children play with is that the toy cannot breathe, but the body can breathe. The body does things that the mind tells it to do. That’s all.

The body is the same thing as the toy. The toy is made up of materials, and so is the body. The body is made up of the four materials: water, air/wind, earth/ solid material, and heat or temperature/fire. These materials form the body. They will stay together for a certain length of time. After a while, they will start to disintegrate. When that happens, the body stops functioning. The body dies. So, this is what you want to reflect on until you truly see that it is not your self.

You (that which contemplates) are not the body. You are part of the mind, the one who knows. You are the thinker. Thinking makes you think that you are you. You think you are you, so you believe you are you. You think the body is you, so you believe that. And when you believe that, whatever happens to the body, will make you worried and anxious because you don’t want anything to happen to your body. You think that whatever happens to your body is happening to you.

You can see clearly after your contemplation that the body is simply the four elements; then you can stop your anxiety, worry, and fear of losing your body.

“Dhamma for the Asking, Dec 9, 2014”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

“If you react with reasons or logic, this is not delusion.”

“If you react with reasons or logic, this is not delusion.”

Question:  “How do you let go of the mind once you've let go of the body?”

Than Ajahn:  “You let go of your delusion, the thought that the mind is ‘I, myself,’. You have to change your perception of your mind. Your real ‘self’ is just the ‘knower’, not the actor. If you react to whatever you see, you still use your delusion to react. You’re still delusional if you react. But if you see or hear something and you remain calm and neutral, you are not reacting, you just know, then you are returning to the real mind, the knower.

That’s why the Buddha said, ‘Whatever you see, you should just see, don’t react. Whatever you hear, just hear, don’t react.’ Then, you’ll get rid of your ‘I,’ your ego, your delusion. So, watch your reaction. If you still react, then you’re still deluded. However, if you react with reasons or logic, this is not delusion.

If you react with emotion, like when you hear something you don’t like, you start screaming, this is delusion, this is ego reacting. But if you hear something loud and you say, ‘calm down’ or if you hear something loud, then you turn the volume down, this is not reacting, because you do it with reasons, not with desire or emotion. This is not delusional. This is wisdom.”

“Q&A, Oct 9, 2017”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

Is there a sequence when to use the mantra, the breath, the elements, or the asubha objects?

Question: Is there a sequence when to use the mantra, the breath, the elements, or the asubha objects?

Tan Ajahn: It is up to each individual practitioner to choose the right kind of meditation object or mindfulness object for himself.

For a person who likes a mantra, he can use the mantra all day long from the time he gets up to the time he goes to sleep and while sitting in meditation. He can use the mantra all the time. The goal of using the mantra is to stop the mind from wandering, to stop the mind from thinking. When the mind doesn’t wander or think, it stays in the present with the body and then you don’t have to use the mantra.

But as soon as it starts to wander, starts to think of this and that or going to the past or future, then you should bring it back to the present. When you have time, you should sit, because your mind cannot enter into jhāna while the body is still moving. You need a still body to bring the mind to stillness, to bring the mind to jhāna.

Sitting is very important if you want to have samatha, if you want to have apanā-samādhi. You need to sit down, close your eyes, and focus only on the meditation object; then your mind will eventually enter into jhāna and become one with itself. It will separate from the body temporarily. All the things that come through your body will no longer be in your mind, such as sight, sound, smell, taste and tactile objects; then the mind is peaceful and left alone. But it can only remain in that position for a short while. The stronger your mindfulness is and the more you sit, the longer your mind will remain in that state.

When you first start, it might just stay there briefly and then withdraw from that position; we call that khaṇika-samādhi. Khaṇika is brief. Apanā-samādhi is longer in duration—5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes, or in some cases one hour. Some yogis can remain in it for seven days, depending on the strength of their mindfulness.

“Dhamma for the Asking, Dec 9, 2014”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

“Don’t do anything when the mind becomes calm and peaceful. Don’t start investigation or contemplation during that time.”

“Don’t do anything when the mind becomes calm and peaceful. Don’t start investigation or contemplation during that time.”

⋆ ⋆ ⋆

Question: What is the meditation technique practised here?

Than Ajahn: It is the same everywhere. You can use ānāpānasati or the mantra Buddho. It is up to you. The method that you are comfortable with and you find it useful and can produce (good) results. Basically you must have mindfulness all the time before you can sit and succeed in your meditation. If you don’t have mindfulness, when you sit, your mind will not stop thinking but will keep wandering, thinking about this and that instead of focusing on your meditation subject.

First, you have to bring your mind to stop wandering. You have to maintain mindfulness all day long, from the time you get up to the time you go to sleep. You need to have something for your mind to be fixed on to and do not let it move around. You can use a mantra: Buddho Buddho Buddho; or you can watch your body activities. If you can bring your mind to a stationary state, then when you sit down, you can succeed in your meditation.

If you have mindfulness, when you sit in meditation, you can watch your breathing. You can use your breathing as your meditation subject. Just focus on your breathing, and don’t think about other things. Don’t worry about the breathing whether it is short or long, whether it is coarse or fine. Just be aware of the breath.

Use the breathing as your point of focus to keep your mind from wandering, and going to places. If you concentrate continuously, your mind will suddenly drop into calm. When the mind becomes calm, there is nothing for you to do because the mind will just stop doing anything. Then you can just be aware and let the mind rest for as long as possible.

Don’t do anything when the mind becomes calm and peaceful. Don’t start investigation or contemplation during that time. You have to wait until the mind withdraws from that calm state because you want to establish the strength of calm mind to resist your defilements later on. It is like your body. You need to rest your body before you go out and work. So you don’t want to do anything when the body goes to sleep. You don’t want to wake it up, you want to let the body sleep for as long as it wants.

After the body has rested. You can then get up and can go to work with strength. It is the same with the mind; the mind needs the strength of upekkhā.

“Dhamma in English, Jun 23, 2015.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

**********

“You can use the body for both methods, for samatha-bhāvanā or vipassanā-bhāvanā. It depends on how you use it.”

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

9th April, 2022

“You can use the body for both methods, for samatha-bhāvanā or vipassanā-bhāvanā. It depends on how you use it.”

Question:  “Ajahn Suchart recommends for us to stop our thinking completely, and then to develop wisdom by keeping our minds on an object such as body parts, death, etc. Luangta said that focusing our thoughts on a certain object such as body parts is a method for developing samādhi, not wisdom. Can Ajahn clarifies?

Than Ajahn:  “If you focus just on one object, like the bone, then you’re using it as an object loop of meditation. If you study the body like a medical student, then this is wisdom. You want to find out if there is any part of the body belongs to you or any parts of the body is you. 

You try to find it by investigating. Investigation is a method of developing wisdom.

This is wisdom when you ask yourself, ‘Is the hair me?’ ‘Am I the hair?’ ‘What happens when I shave my head; when my hair disappears, do I disappear with the hair?’. So, you want to teach the mind that there isn’t any part in this body is ‘you’. This body is not ‘you’. This body is not ‘I’; not ‘mine’; not ‘myself,’.

But if you only focus on one part of the body, such as the bone or the breath, you’re using it as samatha, a method of calming the mind. So, you can use the body for both methods, for samatha-bhāvanā or vipassanā-bhāvanā. It depends on how you use it.”

“Q&A, Oct 9, 2017”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

“We contemplate continuously until we see that the body is just another doll that we have possessed and taken as ours temporarily.”

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

22 March 2023

“We contemplate continuously until we see that the body is just another doll that we have possessed and taken as ours temporarily.”

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Question: What about walking meditation?

Ajahn: Walking meditation has two purposes. Walking for the sake of cultivating mindfulness and walking for the sake of developing wisdom. Which purpose we choose depends on whether or not we have concentration.

If we are not yet able to attain concentration, then we should cultivate mindfulness in order to do so. If this is the case, then as we walk, we shouldn’t allow the mind to think in terms of wisdom, but only allow it to think Buddho, Buddho, or to closely watch the movements of the body, such as observing the feet, noting whether the left or right foot is hitting the ground. We do this to prevent the mind from thinking about this or that issue.

- - -

Question: Should this be done alternately with sitting meditation?

Ajahn: After you walk for some time and you start to ache, you have to sit, don't you? If you are stiff from sitting, get up and walk. The purpose of meditation is to restrain and control your thoughts in order to make the mind peaceful, at least on the level of entering concentration. Once we have attained concentration and come out of it, we might be sore and stiff from sitting for a long time so we can then again do walking meditation.

But this time instead of observing the movements of the body, watching the left or right foot, or repeating Buddho, Buddho, we can contemplate the body. We contemplate the 32 parts of the body, its loathsomeness, its nature to be born, age, sicken, and die, how it is composed of earth, water, wind, and fire.

We contemplate continuously until we see that the body is just another doll that we have possessed and taken as ours temporarily. It is just like a cell phone. We have to look at it in this way until we can really see it, until we can let it go, until we are no longer bothered or fear old age, pain, or death. No matter where we are, no matter how alone, we’ll be able to stay. We will feel no fear.

“Mountain Dhamma, Apr 6, 2013”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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

“In the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, the Lord Buddha teaches about mindfulness of the body first, then mindfulness of feelings and subsequently mindfulness of the mind.”

“In the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, the Lord Buddha teaches about mindfulness of the body first, then mindfulness of feelings and subsequently mindfulness of the mind.”

- - -

Question: Can I practice mindfulness of feelings, mind, and mental qualities directly and skip mindfulness of body?

Than Ajahn: Mindfulness is usually developed through the mantra or through the body activities because when you first start, your mindfulness is very weak. You are not able to watch your mind or your feelings because they are too subtle for the beginner.

For beginners, it is easier to use a mantra or the body, which you can see. Sometimes when there is no feeling, where are you going to place your mindfulness? And when you have severe feelings, you cannot maintain your mindfulness anyway. When you have a painful feeling, you lose all your mindfulness because your desire to escape the pain will take over. Your desire will say, I want to get rid of this feeling. I am feeling bad. I am feeling terrible.

So, mindfulness of vedanā (feeling) and that of the mind are the second and third levels of mindfulness. The first level is the mindfulness of the body. In the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, the Lord Buddha teaches about mindfulness of the body first, then mindfulness of feelings, and subsequently mindfulness of the mind. You have to go step by step. You cannot just go up to the highest level.

For instance, if you have strong painful feelings, can you still remain calm and peaceful? If you can, that means you have mindfulness. But when you cannot become calm and peaceful and you start to become irrational, become restless, that means you don’t have the ability to have mindfulness of your feelings yet.

“Dhamma for the Asking, Dec 2, 2014”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

“If you can control your thoughts, when you meditate, you can control the mind and focus on one object such as the breath.”

“If you can control your thoughts, when you meditate, you can control the mind and focus on one object such as the breath.”

⋆ ⋆ ⋆

Question: Can Than Ajahn tell us a way to meditate from the start to enlightenment?

Than Ajahn: The first thing before you can meditate is that you have to develop mindfulness. You have to be able to control your thoughts most of the time, from the time you wake up. When you wake up and open your eyes, you normally will start thinking, ‘What am I going to do today?’ Then, your thought keeps rolling on. You want to stop it by using a mantra or by asking your mind to watch your body, ‘Where am I? What is my body doing now? My body is lying down. My body is getting up. My body is sitting. My body is standing. My body is walking.’ Just keep your mind stays with your action. If it doesn’t want to stay with the body, then you have to use a mantra. When you start to think aimlessly, you should stop it by reciting Buddho, Buddho, Buddho.

You are allowed to think about things that you have to think about, like doing some planning for today, ‘What am I going to do today?’ You can think about that. Once you finish with your planning, then you should stop thinking. When you prepare yourself to get ready to do the things you have to do, you shouldn’t be thinking. You should focus on what you’re doing. If you’re brushing your teeth, just keep watching brushing your teeth. If you’re taking a shower, just stay with the action. If it doesn’t want to stay with the action, you have to use a mantra, Buddho, Buddho to stop yourself from thinking about the future or the past. This is developing mindfulness, developing the ability to control your thoughts.

If you can control your thoughts, when you meditate, you can control the mind and focus on one object such as the breath. If you can keep focusing on your breath, eventually your mind will enter into jhāna, into calm. You will experience bliss and happiness. So, the most important thing is mindfulness.

You shouldn’t just start with your sitting meditation if you cannot control your thoughts because if you do so, when you sit, instead of focusing on your breath, you might be thinking about this and that, and you will never achieve any result from your sitting meditation.

Youtube: “Dhamma in English, Nov 9, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

“Sounds are just simply sounds.”

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

4 April 2024

“Sounds are just simply sounds.”

“In order to keep your mind calm and at ease, you must first maintain your mindfulness. Your mindfulness is what controls your mind from going astray to thinking about other things, which are unnecessary to your well-being. If you are to think, you’ll only think about things that are necessary: what’s on today’s to-do list? Once you know them, you’ll stop thinking and then turn your attention to the present, that is, focussing your mind on your body and the movement of your body. You need to be mindful of all the changes in your postures: standing, walking, sitting, and lying down.

You need to constantly observe your body. You also need to continually watch your mental proliferations, or your thoughts: what is it that you are thinking about? If you’re thinking about unskilful things, you can stop it by focussing your mind on your mental state with the use of a meditation subject that you’re used to. If you’re used to reciting ‘Buddho’, then just keep reciting it in whichever posture—be it standing, walking, sitting, or lying down—and with whatever you do. Just keep on reciting ‘Buddho’ if there’s no need for you to think. Your mind won’t proliferate as much if you do so. It won’t conjure all the various emotions. All sorts of discontents or emotions that occur in your mind are due to your mental fabrication.

If you let your mind wander with things that you come across, it will waver. When you see something not to your liking, you’ll then be irritated. When you see something pleasing, you’ll get happy and excited, giving rise to craving. With craving, you’ll become anxious and obsessed with obtaining whatever it is that you want. Once you have it, you’ll continue being anxious and struggle to hold onto it. So there’s no room for your mind to be calm and at ease, because your mind is constantly dealing with things that come through all the five senses.

However, with mindfulness, when you come into contact with sensual stimuli—when forms come into contact with your eyes or when sounds come into contact with your ears—they will quickly dissipate. 

Being mindful will allow your mind to simply acknowledge these stimuli for what they are. Your mind will be aware that these stimuli are not permanent: they come and go. Sounds come into contact with your ears and then they dissipate; no emotions need to be conjured up. It has nothing to do with the sounds, be they good or bad. It all comes down to your mind, which lets them affect you. The same sound may come across as melodious to one person, but piercing to another.

For instance, a parent’s compliment to a child may bring joy to the one getting the compliment, but tears to the one not getting it. Two people can hear the same thing and feel completely different about it and have very different reactions. This is all due to the lack of mindfulness while listening— to listen without the guidance of wisdom, but under the influence of emotions, delusions and the sense of self (attā). When someone else gets a compliment and you don’t, you feel slighted and hurt.

But if you listen to it with mindfulness, you’ll realise that it is simply sounds that are being uttered by someone else. How can they possibly make you a good or a bad person? Goodness or evil is not a result of someone else’s utterance but your own actions. If you do good deeds, you’re a good person with or without someone else’s praise. If you do bad deeds, someone else’s compliment or praise will not make you a good person in any way, although you might get excited and carried away, forgetting that you’ve just done a bad deed.

This is an indication of a mind that is without mindfulness—being carried away by craving, pleasure, passion, and aversion. You get happy and excited when you hear something to your liking. And when it is not, you get upset, frustrated, and unhappy.

But if you learn about the Dhamma and practise according to the Buddha’s teaching, you can be sure that your mind will remain equanimous with whatever you hear. Your mind will not react to either praise or criticism. To listen with mindfulness, under the guidance of wisdom, you’ll see it for what it is—sounds are just simply sounds.

If you don’t make anything out of it—to interpret it, to burden yourself with it, and to hold onto it—then it will just be uttered sounds that shall pass. When you don’t cling onto it and let it concern you, then there’s no worry. For example, when people swear and curse while you happen to be present, if you hear it but don’t think that it is directed at you, then you won’t feel anything. But you’ll get upset if you think that it has to do with you.”

“Essential Teachings”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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

Can Than Ajahn explain about the Four Noble Truths?

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

29 September 2023

Question:  Can Than Ajahn explain about the Four Noble Truths?

Than Ajahn:  The Four Noble Truths, the truths that the Buddha has discovered. The first truth, the Buddha called it, ‘the truth of suffering.’ The Buddha said, ‘What is suffering?’ Being born is suffering. Once you are born, you have to suffer. You have to feed yourself. 

You have to struggle to stay alive. No matter how hard you struggle or how well you live, you will have to get old, get sick and die. This is not good for us. Nobody likes to get old, get sick or die. The Buddha called this ‘suffering’.

So, the first noble truth is the ‘truth of suffering.’ Birth, ageing, sickness, death and separation from the loved ones are suffering. When we live in this world, we have people and things that we love. But one day, we will have to lose them all. We will have to be separated from them. When that happens, it makes us unhappy, sad and suffer. Hence, the Buddha said that ‘birth is suffering’. Because once we are born, we have to get old, we have to get sick, we have to die, and we have to separate from the things and people that we love.

The second noble truth is ‘the truth of the causes of suffering.’ What causes us to suffer? The Buddha said that what causes us to be born or to suffer is our cravings or desires. There are three kinds of craving or desires. First is craving for sensual pleasures – craving for seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. 

When we have this craving, we have to have a body. In order to have a body, we have to be born so that we can get what we crave for. We have to have eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body in order to be able to satisfy our cravings, our sensual desires or our sensual gratification. This is the first kind of craving which causes us to be born.

The second kinds of craving is the desire to be something or somebody, i.e. to become rich, to become famous. This will also cause you to be born. The third kinds of craving is the desire not to be i.e. the desire not to get old, not to get sick, not to die, not to be in trouble. However, when you are born, you can’t run away from these things. These are the three desires that will cause you to be born. The Buddha called this, the second noble truth – ‘the truth of the cause of suffering’: the three desires that causes us to be born i.e. the desire for sensual gratification, the desire to be and the desire not to be.

The third noble truth is ‘the truth of the cessation of suffering.’ The cessation of birth, ageing, sickness and death. The Buddha has discovered that there is a possibility that we can discontinue this cycle of birth and death using the fourth noble truth. The fourth noble truth is the way that will lead us to the cessation of birth, ageing, sickness and death.

The fourth noble truth is ‘the truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering, the Noble Eightfold Path.’ 

This is the path that will take us stop our birth, ageing, sickness and death. The Noble Eightfold Path consists of:
sammā diṭṭhi (right view),
sammā saṅkappa (right thought),
sammā kammanta (right action),
sammā vācā (right speech),
sammā ājīvo (right livelihood),
sammā vāyāma (right exertion),
sammā sati (right mindfulness) and
sammā samādhi (right concentration).

If you can develop the Noble Eightfold Path to the full extent, then you will be able to stop birth, ageing, sickness and death.

So, these are the Four Noble Truths that the Buddha has discovered and taught to the world. Whoever follows his teaching and develops the Noble Eightfold Path, one will be able to stop the first noble truth, to stop the birth, ageing, sickness and death. The Noble Eightfold Path practice will also eliminate the cause of suffering (the second noble truth). It eliminates the cause of the first noble truth (the cause of suffering), which are the three cravings. Once you have the Noble Eightfold Path, you can eliminate the three cravings. Once you have eliminated the three cravings, then you will discover the third noble truth, ‘the truth of the cessation of suffering’.

“Dhamma in English, Apr 10-15, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

Being Right Thanissaro Bhikkhu

"How do you deal with people whose views don’t coincide with yours, and whose idea of right and wrong doesn’t coincide with yours? 

Being Right
Thanissaro Bhikkhu 

One possible solution might be to give up your ideas of right and wrong, but that doesn’t work. You don’t feel right inside when you do that. The communities where they say, “We’ll have no right and wrong here; everything is going to be non-dual”: They don’t work. They’re very dysfunctional because right and wrong get shifted around. In other words, people do what they want, and then when anybody complains, the people who complain the ones who are wrong. They’re the ones who are “clinging.” They’re the ones who are “holding on”—  i.e., they are the ones who are wrong. So there is still right and wrong in a place like that, but it’s a strange, twisted standard for right and wrong. It allows people to be harmed, with no recourse to have that harm acknowledged.

The Buddha, however, had a very strong sense of right and wrong. If he hadn’t had a strong sense of right and wrong, he wouldn’t have set forth the Vinaya, he wouldn’t have established the precepts. He wouldn’t have pointed out that there are lots of views out there that are dead wrong, that cause people to suffer, that keep people in the round of rebirth, that prevent them from finding any release. He was very clear about that. And when any of the monks or nuns misbehaved, he was very strong in his criticism."

Being Right
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/CrossIndexed/Published/Meditations8/090724_Being_Right_mp3.pdf

What is the value of going to wake practices?

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

20 August 2023

Monk:  What is the value of going to wake practices?

(Like the recent commemoration of a hundred year of Ajahn Chah’s passing away. So many people find it so inspiring to go and do the circumambulation, or when Buddha talked about visiting the holy places).

Than Ajahn:  These are catalysts. Did you study the chemical reactions in chemistry?

Monk:  Yes, I’ve heard of it.

Than Ajahn:  Sometimes you need catalyst to start some reactions. These events are like catalysts. They will sort of light up the fire in people’s minds to start practicing or to paying attention to the Dhamma. That’s why there is Visakha puja Day where people stop all other activities and go to temple. So, people need these events as catalysts to start the fire inside them, so that they can start practicing Dhamma. But they are only act as catalysts and it’s only briefly. That’s all. If the fire doesn’t start, then it doesn’t help. It’s good for people who need catalysts to kick start their practice or their interest in Dhamma.

Like the people who go to the 4 places in India. After they went there, somehow they generated the desire to follow the teachings of the Buddha. They are convinced that the Buddha actually exists and his teachings must be good. This might generate the interest to study the teachings and to follow his teachings. 

So, these events are for this purpose.

When you go to the 100 years’ commemoration, there’re many monks attending, many teachers are going there at the same time. It’s a good chance for you to run into some enlightened monks that you might not be able to meet during any ordinary time. 

These are the reasons for these events. But sometimes people don’t understand why they go to these events. They just go. Therefore, they don’t get anything because they don’t know what is the reason they go for, anyway.


“Dhamma in English, Jan 29, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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

“Dhamma has many different aspects that you have to learn.”

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

“Dhamma has many different aspects that you have to learn.”

Question: Do I have to read and listen to Dhamma talks every day?

Than Ajahn: You should if you can and if it gives you the information you need. Dhamma has many different aspects that you have to learn. But you don’t have to study for the whole day. You may do it one hour a day, enough to refresh your understanding of the Dhamma practice.

You don’t have to know everything that is being taught in the Dhamma. You just have to concentrate on what you have to do, like doing charity, morality and meditation. You learn about how to do those properly, when and how to do it, and also why you have to do it.

Youtube: “Dhamma in English, Nov 9, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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

“You have to be mindful at all times and as much as possible.”

“You have to be mindful at all times and as much as possible.”

Question:  “How do I get my mind to focus when it is full of thoughts?”

Than Ajahn:  “It is due to a lack of mindfulness; you haven’t yet established your mindfulness. Mindfulness (sati) is what controls your thoughts—preventing it from thinking about other things. You should try reciting only the word, ‘Buddho’. It has to be done beforehand, prior to your sitting meditation.

Mindfulness is something that you must continually cultivate and keep up with from the moment you wake up to the time of your sitting meditation. If you cultivate your mindfulness only after starting to sit in meditation, your mind won’t be able to quell all of the proliferations. You have to practise from the moment you awake. As soon as you’re awake, just start reciting ‘Buddho’ and then carry on doing your routine while reciting it. You may stop reciting it and focus on other things when they require your attention.

You should only think about necessary things. For instance, what is on today’s schedule or your to-do list? Once you’ve figured it out, you may then get yourself ready. You should carry on reciting ‘Buddho’ even while getting ready. Just keep reciting it and don’t think about anything else. If you can manage that, your mind will easily calm down when you do your sitting meditation. You’ve already cut down your thoughts and there’s mindfulness in place to keep a hold on them. Once in sitting meditation, your mind will quickly calm down with the recitation.

It all comes down to mindfulness for those who cannot seem to get any result from their meditation practice. You didn’t cultivate your mindfulness beforehand. You start meditating right away when it is time, just like a boxer who goes into a match without any practice. As soon as he gets into the ring, he gets knocked out in the very first round. Without any training and practice with his partner, he ends up being knocked out himself, thinking that he can easily take down his opponent.

It is not unlike expecting your mind to be calm as soon as you sit down and start reciting ‘Buddho’. Your mind readily goes astray thinking about other things with no more than two words of ‘Buddho’. So it all comes down to your mindfulness. You have to be mindful at all times and as much as possible."

“Essential Teachings”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

“Don’t procrastinate.”

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

15 August 2023

“Don’t procrastinate.”

"We believe that despite having been set forthe over 2,500 years ago, the Buddha’s teachings are still proper, effective, and relevant to those who practise. His Dhamma has not at all declined over time like many other things in this world. Both objects and people are bound to gradually disintegrate over time. Any objects that have been created will eventually deteriorate after a certain period of time, as our bodies and those of animals will. Once there’s birth, there will be growth, ageing, illness, and death to follow; it is just how things are in this world.

The Buddha’s teachings are, however, different: they remain the same and constant, both in terms of causes and effects. Whoever practises accordingly will surely reap good results. Regardless of the Buddha’s enlightenment and demonstration of his teachings, Dhamma will still be Dhamma. The Buddha was just someone who did a thorough investigation until he discovered the Dhamma and then taught it to others.

Those with conviction, who put the Dhamma into practice, are bound to gain the very same result that the Buddha and his noble disciples did in the past. It is timeless—just as there were people who managed to liberate themselves during the Buddha’s time, those who follow and practise according to the Buddha’s teachings can still manage to rid themselves of sufferings today. It is not as if the Buddha had taken the Dhamma with him once he proceeded to his final liberation.

The Dhamma belongs to Buddhism; it belongs to this world. It all depends on the faith of those who have heard—how much confidence and conviction, how much effort and diligence, and how much determination and perseverance they have to practise according to the Buddha’s teachings. If they manage to practise well and properly, they will surely see a result—a decrease in sufferings in proportion to the level of their practice. Happiness will continually increase to the point where there is only contentment in one’s heart.

Those who have heard and listened to the Buddha’s teachings should put them into practice. Don’t procrastinate. Some people just keep putting off their practice despite having heard of the Buddha’s teachings: to do wholesome acts, to forego any wrongdoing, and to purify one’s mind from greed, hatred, and delusion. They keep having an excuse of awaiting a new Buddha to become enlightened. They just want to keep accumulating their perfections (pāramı) for now by making merit and giving.

They don’t want to maintain the precepts just yet, nor do they want to practise Dhamma by sitting in meditation and cultivating wisdom (vipassanā). This is because they are still not convinced that they can be liberated in this lifetime. They think that it can only happen when the next Buddha (Buddha Ariya Metteyya) has become enlightened. They would need to hear and listen to his Dhamma directly in order to liberate themselves. To think in such a way is wrong. Such a belief is based on delusion— something that arises out of weakness and attachment to worldly pleasures (kāma-sukha)—thinking that such pleasures are sublime.

In reality, those who truly know—the Buddha and his noble disciples—are fully aware that worldly pleasures are neither true nor sublime. The true happiness comes from peace and calm (santi-sukha). It is a kind of happiness that comes from practising Dhamma, sitting in meditation, and cultivating wisdom in order to forego things—to rid oneself of craving and desire and to eliminate greed, hatred, and delusion from one’s mind."

“Essential Teachings”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

EVERY GRAIN OF SAND

EVERY GRAIN OF SAND
~
...When we investigate, we have to investigate over and over, time and time again, many, many times until we understand and are fully sure. The mind will then let go of its own accord. There's no way we can try to force it to let go as long as we haven't investigated enough. It's like eating: If we haven't reached the point where we're full, we're not full. There's no way we can try to make ourselves full with just one or two spoonfuls. We have to keep on eating, and then when we're full we stop of our own accord. We've had enough.

~

The same holds true with investigating. When we reach the stage where we fully know, we let go of our own accord: all our attachments to the body, feelings, labels, thought-formations, cognizance, step by step until we finally penetrate with our discernment into the mind itself — the genuine revolving wheel, the revolving mind — until it is smashed to pieces with nothing left. That's the point — that's the point where we end our problems in fighting with defilement. That's where they end — and our desire to go to nibbana ends right there as well.

~

The desire to go to nibbana is part of the path. It's not a craving. The desire to gain release from suffering and stress is part of the path. It's not a craving. Desire has two sorts: desire in the area of the world and desire in the area of the Dhamma. Desire in the area of the world is craving. Desire in the area of the Dhamma is part of the path. The desire to gain release from suffering, to go to nibbana, strengthens the Dhamma within us. Effort is the path. Persistence is the path. Endurance is the path. Perseverance in every way for the sake of release is the path. Once we have fully come into our own, the desire will disappear — and at that point, who would ask after nibbana?

~

Once the revolving wheel, the revolving mind has been smashed once and for all, there is no one among any of those who have smashed that revolving mind from their hearts who wants to go to nibbana or who asks where nibbana lies. The word 'nibbana' is simply a name, that's all. Once we have known and seen, once we have attained the genuine article within ourselves, what is there to question?

~

This is what it means to develop the mind. We've developed it from the basic stages to the ultimate stage of development. So. Now, no matter where we live, we are sufficient unto ourselves. The mind has built a full sufficiency for itself, so it can be at its ease anywhere at all. If the body is ill — aching, feverish, hungry, or thirsty — we are aware of it simply as an affair of the body that lies under the laws of inconstancy, stress, and lack of self. It's bound to keep shifting and changing in line with its nature at all times — but we're not deluded by it. The khandhas are khandhas. The pure mind is a pure mind by its nature, with no need to force it to know or to be deluded. Once it's fully true from every angle, everything is true. We don't praise or criticize anything at all, because each thing is its own separate reality — so why is there any reason to clash? If one side is true and the other isn't, that's when things clash and fight all the time — because one side is genuine and the other side false. But when each has its own separate reality, there's no problem.

~

Contemplate the mind so as to reach this stage, the stage where each thing has its own separate reality. Yatha-bhuta-ñana-dassana: the knowledge and vision of things as they are. The mind knows and sees things as they are, within and without, through and through, and then stays put with purity. If you were to say that it stays put, it stays put with purity. Whatever it thinks, it simply thinks. All the khandhas are khandhas pure and simple, without a single defilement to order their thinking, labeling, and interpreting any more. There are simply the khandhas pure and simple — the khandhas without defilements, or in other words, the khandhas of an arahant, of one who is free from defilement like the Lord Buddha and all his Noble Disciples. The body is simply a body. Feelings, labels, thought-formations, and cognizance are each simply passing conditions that we use until their time is up. When they no longer have the strength to keep going, we let them go in line with their reality. But as for the utterly true nature of our purity, there is no problem at all...

~

...Those who have reached full release from conventional realities of every sort, you know, don't assume themselves to be more special or worse than anyone else. For this reason, they don't demean even the tiniest of creatures. They regard them all as friends in suffering, birth, aging, illness, and death, because the Dhamma is something tender and gentle. Any mind in which it is found is completely gentle and can sympathize with every grain of sand, with living beings of every sort. There's nothing rigid or unyielding about it. Only the defilements are rigid and unyielding. Proud. Conceited. Haughty and vain. Once there's Dhamma, there are none of these things. There's only the unvarying gentleness and tenderness of mercy and benevolence for the world at all times.

❀❀❀

Venerable Ãcariya Mahã Boowa Ñãnasampanno
"Every Grain of Sand"
from the eBook THINGS AS THEY ARE
Translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

~
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/boowa/thingsas.html#sand

When we are angry, is it better to observe it or get rid of it by reciting ‘Buddho’?

The Teaching Of Ajahn Suchart 

12 August 2023

Question from Paris:  When we are angry, is it better to observe it or get rid of it by reciting ‘Buddho’?

Than Ajahn:  Well, for some people, if they know that they are angry, by merely know that they are angry, they might be able to stop their anger. If they know that they are angry, but they can’t stop it, then they might have to use a mantra to stop it.

Like when you’re angry and you know that, ‘I’m angry but I cannot stop it,’ then you have to use ‘Buddho, Buddho, Buddho’. Don’t think about the things that make you angry. If you keep thinking about the things that make you angry, you will become more angry. When you switch your mind to think about something else, you’ll forget about the things that make you angry. The anger will eventually disappear. 

So, it can be either way. If you have strong mindfulness, when you’re angry and this anger can disappear by you knowing that you’re angry, then you don’t have to do anything. But if you know that you’re angry and the anger is still there, then you have to use a mantra or use wisdom (common sense) to stop your anger.

Wisdom is common sense. You have to analyse at the things that make you angry. If it’s a person, you ask yourself, ‘Can you change the person? Can you change that person’s action from causing you to get angry?’ If the answer is no, then you have to accept that you can’t change that person’s action. This can minimize or get rid of your anger. You have to look at that person’s action like a natural process.

Like when it rains, can you stop the rain or not? If you know you can’t stop the rain, you won’t get angry at the rain because you know that you can’t control the rain. You let it rain. 

It’s the same way with the action made by that person. If you can’t stop the actions made by that person which make you angry, then you shouldn’t have the desire to stop that action. 

Let it happen. Merely acknowledge the action. 

Don’t try to control that action if you can’t do it.

“Dhamma in English, Mar 28, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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

“Don’t worry about whether someone is an Arahant or not. You should be more concerned about whether you yourself are an Arahant or not.”

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

28 December 2023

“Don’t worry about whether someone is an Arahant or not. You should be more concerned about whether you yourself are an Arahant or not.”

- - -

Question: Are there any observable characteristics of someone who is an Ariya or at least one who has reached Stream-entry?

Tan Ajahn: You have to be at that level first before you can gauge other people because you need to have a standard for measurement. If you do not have a standard, you cannot measure the other person. So, you first have to become a Sotāpanna before you can know whether the other person is a Sotāpanna or not.

A Sotāpanna cannot tell whether the other person is a Sakadāgāmī, an Anāgāmī, or an Arahant because the other person is at a higher level than him. It is like a student who has graduated from high school, he cannot tell whether a person has graduated from college because he doesn’t know how to measure that person’s knowledge yet.

You have to also talk to that person to be able to assess how much they have achieved. You have to achieve the level first, because if you don’t, when you talk to them, they can deceive you and you won’t know the difference.

But don’t worry about whether someone is an Arahant or not. It shouldn’t matter to you really. You should be more concerned about whether you yourself are an Arahant or not. If you are not, then you have to make yourself an Arahant. And the way to do it is to follow the teaching of the Buddha.

If you are listening to the teaching of other monks (that is, not the Buddha) and if you are not sure, don’t worry. 

The Buddha teaches you in the Kalama Sutta that you don’t have to believe what other monks tell you, even if you think that they are your teacher.

If you cannot verify it yourself, then don’t listen to them, don’t believe them yet. The Buddha said you have to prove to yourself that the things they teach you can eliminate stress from your mind; then you know that the person knows what he is talking about.

If he teaches you something and you apply it in your practice and achieve no result, maybe he is not telling you the truth, or maybe you are not practicing it correctly. So you have to be patient. You don’t want to jump to conclusions.

“Dhamma for the Asking, Dec 2, 2014”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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

❖ Welcoming Uncertainty ❖ ~ By Ajahn Amaro ~

❖ Welcoming Uncertainty ❖

~ By Ajahn Amaro ~

When we meet with a feeling of uncertainty usually what we do is we feel worried, we feel threatened. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future so what we tend to do is to try to fill up that unknown with a plan or a hope or a belief. We fill it with ideas of what might happen.

We often distract ourselves: ‘I don’t want to think about the future. I don’t want to worry about that. So, I’ll just look at my phone and catch up on my Facebook friends or see what communication I have coming through Line, what’s on the news or something.’ We thus deal with that feeling of worry or uncertainty with choosing distraction or, alternatively, we just switch off – we go blank, go numb and shut the world down, disengage all together. We do this because the feeling of not being sure is something that most of us don’t like and we relate to it as a problem, that feeling of anxiety, uncertainty. We automatically think of it as a problem, something that’s unwelcome.

This habit is interesting and useful to consider because life is always uncertain. More importantly, if the feeling of uncertainty was automatically a problem why would the Buddha encourage us to investigate it, that quality of anicca, of change? Why would he have said this is something good to look at? And why is it that it has been spoken of by the great Ajahns, the great elders, as the gateway to wisdom? Most of us are probably familiar with the Buddha’s description of what are called the Three Characteristics of Existence – aniccaṃ, dukkhaṃ, anattā – that everything is in a state of change; everything is not satisfying in and of itself; and that all things are not truly who and what we are. These are the principles of aniccaṃ, dukkhaṃ, anattā...

(From the book 'ไม่แน่! Not Sure!' by Ven. Ajahn Amaro, published in 2019)

- - ❖ - -

To read/download the full text (pdf), please visit Amaravati monastery's website:

https://www.amaravati.org/dhamma-books/ไม่แน่-not-sure/

Crashing in the Same Car

Crashing in the Same Car

Liberation in the psychological realm, begins with the reduction or elimination of the sense of guilt and remorse. The liberation from guilt and remorse is a wonderful thing and is reliant upon sila. You freely set boundaries for yourself. Not having precepts imposed upon you, you willingly take them on. Through a practice in which you consistently are able to live within those boundaries a growing confidence in yourself arises. You know that you have certain principles that you can uphold even in situations or circumstances in which it might be quite difficult to do so. As a result, you don’t have to be constantly going over and over in your mind, ‘Why did I say that?!? Why did I do that?!?’

If any of you have done meditation retreats, you may have encountered a phenomenon in which a certain song arises in your brain and it won’t go away. This happened to me during a long retreat when I was a young monk. My song was by David Bowie and it was one that I had been very fond of as a layman. The song is called Always Crashing in the Same Car, and it sums up the idea that we make the same mistakes over and over and over again. You say, ‘Never again! Never am I going to be so stupid! Never am I going to do this ever again!’ Until the next time you do it, and so you crash in the same car over and over and over again. At that time I was in this state where I felt that I was making the same mistake again and again, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, popped up this song from the mid-seventies.

This is a real problem in meditation. If you are consistently acting is ways which undermine your principles and your goals and your ideals, then you lose a lot of energy and self-confidence. It’s then very easy to start looking on yourself in a very demeaning way. You lose your self-respect and self-esteem. If you’re not careful you start creating a harmful sense of self. ‘I’m a bad person. I’m hopeless. I can’t do this’. You believe in that little voice in your head, and you create this person - ‘me’ - who is no good. Sometimes even, in a chronic state, you see a path towards an increased happiness and growth, and you think, ‘Well I’m not good enough to deserve that.’ This is an awful, twisted state of mind. You finally see some sort of happiness in life, and then say to yourself, ‘But I don’t deserve this.’ The question that needs to be asked straight away is ‘Why not?’

These days, efforts have made to counter this kind of negativity with its opposite. But they has been focused on the most basic kinds of pleasure. ‘You deserve it! Buy this because you deserve it. Consume this because you deserve it. You deserve all the sense pleasures, the fame, the success that you crave’. The result is a wide spread sense of entitlement, a form of heedlessness. You do deserve happiness, but not quite in the way that the advertisers are intending. It’s not in a way that requires a credit card. You deserve happiness because you’ve done all the hard work to be born as a human being. You’d be surprised at how difficult it is to be born like this in the first place. Given that you have a body and mind, you do deserve to be able to realise true happiness in life. If there is a fundamental article of faith in Buddhism, it is a faith in the capacity of the human being for liberation - whether we’re men or women, Westerners or Easterners. Our gender, our backgrounds are irrelevant. Just by virtue of the fact that we were born as human beings we do have the capacity to find liberation and to find true freedom and happiness. We have earned our chance to create the causes and conditions for these things through a constant and patient application of the Buddhas’s teachings.

SOURCE : Mindfulness, Precepts and Crashing in the Same Car

by AJAHN JAYASARO

[https://cdn.amaravati.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Mindfulness-Precepts-and-Crashing-in-the-Same-Car-Ajahn-Jayasaro.pdf]