The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.
18 March 2024
Question: How to develop the Noble Eightfold Paths, 7 factors of enlightenment, and the 5 spiritual powers? The Buddha said that we need to develop each one of these.
Than Ajahn: They’re all the same. You practice sīla, samādhi, paññā and all those things will come into play.
You don’t pinpoint one group or another, they all come in together. When you analyze them, you can analyze them as such and such, but when you practice, when you start developing mindfulness, you’re also developing other factors as well.
Layperson: The Buddha said we need to develop each one based on seclusion.
Than Ajahn: Yes, because if you don’t have seclusion, you’ll be distracted. So, you need to be alone. Like monks, they go live in the forests by themselves. Then, they can concentrate on developing those factors.
“Dhamma in English, Apr 22, 2019.”
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Question: In the 7 factors of enlightenment, how will one factor lead to another factor?
Than Ajahn: Well, it starts with mindfulness. You need mindfulness to be the first factor of enlightenment.
Mindfulness is always the chief, the head of the group, the conductor of the band. You need to have a conductor to gather the band members. Once you have mindfulness, then you’ll have the other factors coming after so you don’t have to worry about the other factors, just worry about mindfulness first. When you have mindfulness, you can sit and meditate and then you’ll have equanimity.
When you have equanimity, you’ll have the strength to develop wisdom—you can investigate or contemplate on death or contemplate on asubha then everything else will fall into place.
So, all you need is to have the key to your automobile.
You need the key to drive your car. If you have no key, you cannot start the engine and you cannot drive the car but if you have the key, then you can start the engine and drive the car to go to anywhere you want to go. It’s the same way with the mind—if you have mindfulness, you can drive the mind towards nibbāna. So, don’t worry about the other factors of enlightenment. Just know what they are and know that you will have to develop them but you have to have mindfulness first before you can develop the other factors of enlightenment.
“Dhamma in English, Oct 31, 2018.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
YouTube: Dhamma in English.
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