The teachings of Ajahn Suchart.
“Things don’t last forever.”
Dhamma is the truth. Dhamma teach you to see things as they are, not as what you think they are. If you don’t have Dhamma, you will look at things in the wrong perspective. Usually you see the thing that is impermanent as permanent. You see the thing that is bad for you as good for you. You see the thing that doesn’t belong to you as belonging to you.
The Buddha said that, ‘Everything in this world that you come into contact with is impermanent’. Things don’t last forever. Whatever you get, sooner or later, either you or the things that you get will have to separate. We have to go in a separate way. If you go after the things that are impermanent, when you lose them, you’ll get hurt mentally. You’ll get heartbroken. You’ll get sorrow. You’ll get sadness from losing the things that you have. If you don’t have anything, then you’ll have nothing to lose. Nothing can hurt you. So, the Buddha said, ‘If possible, don’t have anything.’ Live with nothing. Live like a beggar.
The Buddha teaches the monks to live like beggars who only live from day to day. Every day monks go out to the village to collect food. When monks finish their meals, they’ll give away whatever food left. They will not store the food because it’s a burden to the mind, to the heart.
Try to live simply. Live with as little as possible, with just the basic necessities of life. The four requisites of life are food, clothing, shelter and medicine. Once you have these, then you should tell yourself, ‘enough’. You should not have anything more than that.
If you want more happiness, you shouldn’t seek it from the things that you can find in this world because instead of giving you happiness, all things in this world will give you sadness. You will have to lose them one day sooner or later. The Buddha said that you should seek another kind of happiness, the happiness that you can acquire from making your mind calm and peaceful using the practice of meditation.
Once you have the basic necessities of life, the four requisites of life, you should turn your attention towards practicing meditation. Instead of going out and having happiness from entertainment, from going on a holiday, from traveling or from buying things, you should pull all your resources to do the practice of meditation.
If you succeed in the practice of meditation, you’ll find a better kind of happiness, the kind of happiness that is permanent. The happiness that you can always have anytime you want it. It’s not like the kind of happiness that you are having now, of which sometimes you have it, and sometimes it disappears. Then, you have to keep looking for new kinds of happiness, and no matter how much you get, you will always lose this happiness in the end. So, try to look for this new kind of happiness, the kind of happiness that the Buddha has discovered. It’s the happiness of peace of mind which you can get from meditation."
Dhamma for the Asking,
Laypeople from SriLanka, Nov 3, 2017.
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube:
No comments:
Post a Comment