The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.
29 March 2023“This is the best opportunity of your life.”
“If you are convinced that nibbāna is the best for you, you will be willing to commit yourself to the path of practice dāna, sīla and bhāvanā. But if you are not convinced yet, then you’ll be still undecided. You will still think ‘Should I leave my wife, my husband, my family, my wealth for nibbāna? Is nibbāna really that good?’
You won’t get the answer on your own. You have to seek advice from the noble ones – people who have attained to nibbāna. Then, they will tell you in no uncertain terms that nibbāna is the best for you.
If you seek advice from teachers who haven’t yet reached nibbāna, they would not be able to tell you whether nibbāna is good or not good. Because they themselves are not sure. So, when you go to look for teachers, when you listen to Dhamma talks, you should look for the noble teachers – teachers who have attained to nibbāna.
Then, they will speak in no uncertain terms that there is nothing in this world that is as good as nibbāna. And the way to get to nibbāna is to practice dāna, sīla and bhāvanā.
So, this is what you should try to achieve, to have the inspiration in the Dhamma, and to be convinced that nibbāna is the best for you. The Buddha was convinced that the life as a prince was not as good as the life as a monk. As a prince, he still had to face a lot of problems. But once he became a monk, he could get rid of all the problems. And he found that there’s nothing like peace of mind. Peace of mind is nibbāna.
When you have no desire, your mind will become peaceful and happy.
So, you have to practice. By merely listening to Dhamma is not enough. Listening to Dhamma is just learning what you have to do. Once you know what you have to do, then you have to do it. Only when you do it, you will be able to achieve it.
It’s easy for you to achieve it because the Buddha’s teachings are still around. You don’t have to do trials and search for the path yourself.
Right now, you have the Buddha's teachings that tell you exactly what to do. If you can do it, you’ll get the result as what the Buddha has promised – you can achieve the result in 7 days or 7 months or 7 years.
Without the teachings, you will never be able to achieve the result because you don’t know how to do it.
So, this is the best opportunity of your life. It is an opportunity that only happen once in many, many millions years. Because every time you are born, it doesn’t mean that you will come across the teachings of the Buddha. Now you have found the teachings and therefore you should not throw it away. You should make use of it as best as you can.”
“Dhamma in English to laypeople from Malaysia & Singapore, May 12, 2018.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
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