The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

18th October, 2022

Question:  How significant is the influence of past kamma on our ability to live as a monk in this life time?

Than Ajahn:  Past kamma can be supporting or obstructing. If you were a monk in your past life, you’d find it easy to be a monk in this life. But if you were doing something else, then you’d find that being a monk is not so easy. What you had done in your past lives became part of your habit.

When it became a habit, you’d find it easier to do. When you have to do something that wasn’t your habit, you’d find it difficult to do. So, if you keep doing things, like going to a monastery, keeping the precepts, and learning to meditate, then those activities will accumulate to become your habits. In your next life, when you’re born again, even if there is no Buddhism, you might still have this desire to go to quiet places to meditate, and to live a monk’s life. If there is no monastery and no Buddhism, you might become a hermit or a reusi. So, this is what past kamma would do to your life. 

Your past kamma would be one of the forces that will guide or push your life depending on how strong it is.

Question:  What if many fortune tellers forecast me that I will not last as a monk and will disrobe afterwards in this life time?

Than Ajahn:  You went to the wrong fortune teller. You should go to the Buddha. The Buddha said if you follow his teachings, you can become enlightened either in 7 days, 7 months or 7 years. So, you’ve gone to the wrong fortune teller. You have to go to the right fortune teller.

If you want to become a monk for life, you go to the Buddha.

 

“Dhamma in English, Mar 15, 2019.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

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