"What was the Buddha’s advice on how to practise?

"What was the Buddha’s advice on how to practise? 

He taught to practise like the earth; practise like water; practise like fire; practise like wind. Practise like the ‘old things’, the things we are already made of: the solid element of earth, the liquid element of water, the warming element of fire, the moving element of wind.  

If someone digs the earth, the earth is not bothered. It can be shovelled, tilled, or watered.  

Rotten things can be buried in it. But the earth will remain indifferent. Water can be boiled or frozen or used to wash something dirty; it is not affected. Fire can burn beautiful and fragrant things or ugly and foul things - it doesn’t matter to the fire.  

When wind blows, it blows on all sorts of things; fresh and rotten, beautiful and ugly, without concern. 

The Buddha used this analogy.  The aggregation that is us is merely a coming together of the elements of earth, water, fire and wind. If you try to find an actual person there, you can’t. There are only these collections of elements. 

But for all our lives, we never thought to separate them like this to see what is really there; we have only thought, ‘This is me, that is mine.’ We have always seen everything in terms of a self, never seeing that there is merely earth, water, fire and wind. 

But the Buddha teaches in this way. He talks about the four elements and urges us to see that this is what we are. There are earth, water, fire and wind; there is no person here.  

Contemplate these elements to see that there is no being or individual, but only earth, water, fire and wind."

 ~ Ajahn Luang Por Chah

 "Wholehearted Training"