“The questions that could not be answered.”

The teachings of Ajahn Suchart. 

“The questions that could not be answered.”

Question:  “How did this sense of self and ignorance begin?

What is the origination of ignorance and self?”

Than Ajahn:  “Those are the questions that could not be answered because the Buddha himself couldn’t find the origin of ignorance. So he said, ‘It’s useless. Don’t waste your time.

Just find the way of getting rid of it. It’s enough. Once you can get rid of your ignorance, then all your problems will be solved.’

He gave an example of a person being shot by an arrow and there’s a doctor who came by to pull the arrow out of the wound but the man said, ‘Don’t do it yet. I want to know who shot me, what kind of person he is, male or female; what family status, whether they are rich or poor; this person has a family or not?’ The doctor said, ‘If you send me to look for this information, you’ll be dead.’ 

So, don’t worry about the information that is not important or essential. Try to do the right thing. The right thing is right now you’re hurt by your own ignorance. What you need to do is to get rid of your ignorance. And you can get rid of your ignorance with wisdom. In order to have wisdom, you need samādhi first. In order to have samādhi, you have to have sīla. You have to keep the precepts first.

So, try to develop the three Dhamma: sīla, samādhi and paññā. Once you have this, then you can get rid of your ignorance and get rid of all of your suffering.”

“Q&A, Oct 9, 2017”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

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