The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.
23 May 2024“Your defilements will try to make you giving up the practice…”
Upāsikā: “When western people practice, we push ourselves very hard, and then we get stress and dishearten. Like when we try to sit in a full lotus position, and when we can’t do it, we feel bad.”
Than Ajahn: “Those are all defilements. Your defilements will try to make you giving up the practice by misleading you to think that you have the ability to do the maximum. So, when you try to do the maximum, and when you can’t do it, then you’d say, ‘Hell! I’d better not do it.’ This is defilement.
Everyone has an ego and his ego tells him, ‘You can do it. If the Buddha could do it, I can do it.’ He doesn’t look at the status of where he is. Like right now, you are not on the same level as the Buddha. However, you can be there. It just takes more time for you to build it up.”
Upāsikā: “There is a place in Burma where some people who have never meditated before, are forced to sit in full lotus. There are other people who will hold their hands when they scream. They have to sit for 5 hours.”
Than Ajahn: “Usually this is counter-productive. The person will eventually give up because it’s too hard for him. So, you have to do from the level you can do. Do it as much as you can. And then, try to increase your practice.
It’s like being a child. Before he can run, he has to learn to walk first. Before he can walk, he has to learn how to stand first. Before he can stand, he has to learn how to crawl first. This is a process he has to go through. But nowadays, simply because you’ve read how to become enlightened, you expect that you’re going do it now and get the result now. You don’t look at your position and your ability, whether you can do it or not. If you try to do something more than you can do, you’ll be frustrated and you’ll be disappointed. And you’ll eventually give up.”
“Dhamma in English, May 8-12, 2018.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
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