The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.
1 March 2023
“The defilement is in your mind.”
Question (from Singapore): Whenever a defilement arises, I tried searching for an exact location within my body that I can pin down as "anger", "lust" etc. However, I cannot seem to find a singular point within my body where the defilement resides. I understand that this is a way to manage defilements but I also thought it might be a key towards greater insight (vipassanā). Where do I go from here?
Than Ajahn: The defilement is not in the body, so don’t waste your time looking for it in the body. The defilement is in your mind and the only way to stop your defilement is to either use mindfulness or wisdom. Using wisdom to stop your defilements is a lot harder when you don’t have it. It is easier to stop your defilements by using mindfulness.
Mindfulness can be developed by reciting a mantra, Buddho Buddho. When the defilement emerges, you just keep reciting a mantra and your defilement will disappear, but it will come back as soon as you stop reciting the mantra.
If you want to get rid of your defilement permanently, you have to first look at the kind of defilement you have, for example if you want to have more money, you have to look at the nature of money, that is, money is not permanent. While it can give happiness, it can also give you suffering because when you lose your money, you become sad. So if you can see that your desire for more money will lead you to more suffering, not less suffering, then you can stop your desire for money.
By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto
Youtube: Dhamma in English
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g
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