The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.
Question: How to deal with dukkha when it arises in real time? I know I can use mindfulness temporarily but I hope that I could apply wisdom to the situation. Do I recognize the cravings that cause the dukkha? Do I deal with it in that way?
Than Ajahn: That’s right, you have to investigate it. You look at ‘what is your expectation? What is it that you want?’ Because when you don’t get what you want, you get dukkha. For example, if you want to have no covid-19 because you find it stressful, but you cannot get rid of covid-19, then you have to study the nature of the object of your craving to see that it is not under your control. When you see it, then your mind accept the reality that you have to live with covid-19 for a while. When your mind accept it, your craving for covid-19 to disappear will disappear, then your dukkha will also disappear and you can live with covid-19 without any stress.
Question: So, is the focus on aniccaṁ?
Than Ajahn: Aniccaṁ or anattā. Sometimes you have to look at anicca. When you lose something then you’d say ‘Oh! This is aniccā,’ but if you deal with something that you can’t control, then it’s anattā.
Sometimes you have use one or the other. If you lose something and you want it back, when you can’t get it back, then you’ll have stress (dukkha). If you look at the thing that you’ve lost and say, ‘It’s gone, it can’t come back, it’s aniccā,’ or ‘It’s anattā, I can’t force the thing that I’ve lost to come back, it’s not under my control,’ when you accept this, you stop your desire to get that object back. When you have no desire to get that object back then you’ll have no dukkha. So, every time when you are stressful, try to find the cause of your stress, ‘What are you craving for? What are you desiring for? What do you want?’ If you find out that the object of your desire is anicca or anatta, then you have to accept it. Then, the dukkha will disappear.
Question: A lot of the time when I feel some dukkha, I know there’s craving, but I can’t figure out what is the object that I’m craving for. Should I just go back to Buddho?
Than Ajahn: Yes. If you cannot yet investigate the object of your craving, then you just have to calm your mind first, stop your mind from getting stress. When you have no stress, then you might be able to look back and see the object of your dukkha.
“Dhamma in English, Jun 22, 2021.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
YouTube: Dhamma in English.
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