“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

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