“You won't be able to manage if you don't train yourself in advance.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

2 February 2024

“You won't be able to manage if you don't train yourself in advance.”

Question:  “Are there some tips to deal with sexual desires?

Than Ajahn:  “Sexual craving (rāga) results from seeing things that are appealing. So to quell them, you have to look at things that are unappealing. 

Seeing things that are appealing will give rise to appreciation and sexual craving. Seeing things that are unappealing will lead to aversion and repulsion instead.

So you should consider organs and parts of the body that are unattractive and foul. If you only look at attractive parts, there will only be sexual craving. 

Recollecting repulsive aspects will help you curb those desires, such as looking at internal bodily functions.

Don't just focus on the appearance. 

You have to look beyond the skin-deep level: to consider things that are beneath the skin, such as bones, skull, and skeleton. What exactly are you looking at when you see someone with an attractive feature? 

You're only looking at their skin or externals, aren't you? You don't see things that are below the surface; underneath the skin lies the skull. Will you still have sexual feelings if you see their skull or other internal organs, such as their heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, intestines, and so on? You can go and take a look at the butcher shop of these internal organs; be it of cows or pigs, they are all the same. You'll see if there will still be sexual desires. This is how to quell your sexual craving and arousal—to look at unappealing aspects of the body.

You have to learn to consider and observe these things in advance. It will be too late to look at them when your sexual desires have already arisen because you won't be able to focus on unappealing and foul aspects. It's like handling a fire: you need to have a bucket of water ready in case of emergency. You won't have the time to look for water when there's a fire. You need to prepare all the preventative measures in advance, so that you can readily use them to douse the fire when it happens.

So you need to take into consideration the foulness of the body (asubha)—to contemplate the dirtiness and loathsomeness of one's body, such as bodily waste, sweat, odours, excretions, decaying corpses, and internal organs underneath the skin. 

You have to reflect on them—to train yourself in advance—in order to readily handle sexual desires, should they arise. You won't be able to manage if you don't train yourself in advance. 

You won't have the strength to use asubha to put out rāga.”

“Essential Teachings”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

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