“The mind itself doesn’t get old, get sick or die.”

“The mind itself doesn’t get old, get sick or die.”

Upāsikā: "When I was walking, I saw many stray dogs around. I can see the attachment to my own body when the dogs came towards me. Can you advise how to make my mind calm when the dogs bark and come towards me?"

Than Ajahn: "You just have to let them bite you. If it’s going to be your kamma to be bitten by the dogs, then just let it be. This is the only way that you can become calm. In reality, you might be bitten or not be bitten by the dogs. That’s not the point. The point is that you’re willing to be bitten.

Once you are willing to be bitten by the dogs, it doesn’t matter whether you’re bitten or not. This is what makes your mind calm – the willingness to accept your fate. If it is your fate to be bitten by the dogs, let it be. 

Once you accept this, you will be calm forever. If you can’t accept it, then the only thing you could do is to recite a mantra and keep walking. Don’t pay attention to the dogs barking. This will also calm your mind."

Upāsikā: "I have problems with accepting things."

Than Ajahn:  "If you can accept things, your mind will stop resisting. When your mind stops resisting, your mind will become calm. Right now your mind is agitated because of your resistance to the reality. That’s the reason why the Buddha taught us to contemplate all the time that you’re going to get old, get sick and die.

Don’t resist. Because when you resist, you’ll become agitated and stressful. If you accept it, you’ll not be agitated and stressful. You have to teach your mind to accept things. Tell your mind that the one who has to get old, get sick or die is not the mind, it’s the body. The body doesn’t care because the body doesn’t know that it gets old, gets sick or dies. It’s the mind that knows. But the mind itself doesn’t get old, get sick or die. So, you have to teach the mind to know its proper place. The mind’s proper place is just to know, to acknowledge the reality of the body. And to let things be."

“Dhamma in English, May 8-12, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com
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