The teachings of Ajahn Chah

The teachings of Ajahn Chah

Do you know where it will end? Or will you just keep on studying like this? Or is there an end to it? That’s okay but it’s external study, not internal study. For internal study you have to study these eyes, these ears, this nose, this tongue, this body and this mind. This is the real study. 

The study of books is just external study, it’s really hard to get it finished.

When the eye sees form what sort of thing happens? When ear, nose and tongue experience sounds, smells and tastes, what takes place? 

When the body and mind come into contact with touches and mental states, what reactions take place? 

Are greed, aversion and delusion still there? Do we get lost in forms, sounds, smells, tastes, textures and moods? 

This is the internal study. It has a point of completion.

It’s like a man who raises chickens, but doesn’t collect the eggs. All he gets is the chicken dung! This is what I tell the people who raise chickens back home. Watch out you don’t become like that! This means we study the scriptures but we don’t know how to let go of defilements, we don’t know how to ‘push’ greed, aversion and delusion from our mind. Study without practice, without this ‘giving up’, brings no results. 

This is why I compare it to someone who raises chickens but doesn’t collect the eggs, he just collects the dung. It’s the same thing.

~ Ajahn Chah