The teachings of Ajahn Suchart.
11 December 2023
“This is my advice to you: Be happy with what you have. Live as simply as you can.”
My word of advice to you is to be thankful to have come across the teachings of the Buddha, because what the Buddha knew and what he told us is a hard-to-come-by transcendental truth that will make us happy all the time and free us from all forms of stress and grief. If you study his teaching and apply it in your daily life, I’m sure you’ll always be happy.
First of all, the Buddha said you have to do good by giving to charity, helping those who are less fortunate than you are. Secondly, don’t hurt other people, no matter what you do. Thirdly, find some peace of mind by doing meditation. You can start by mentally chanting some verses you know. Just keep chanting and not thinking about anything, in order to rid your mind of restlessness.
When you think, you agitate your mind. When you stop thinking, the agitation will disappear.
You will then have peace of mind and happiness. The Buddha said that the happiness that arises from peace of mind surpasses all other happiness.
But it’s not easy to do, because the mind by its nature keeps thinking all the time, like a monkey that keeps moving from one tree branch to the next. The mind thinks about one story, then moves on to the next story, on and on. At the same time, it creates all kinds of emotions along with it. If you think good thoughts, you’ll feel good. If you think bad ones, you’ll feel bad.
If you helped someone today, making him happier and improving his life, when you think about it, you’ll feel good. If you did something bad to someone, hurting someone, when you think about it, you’ll feel bad.
Learn how to control your mind. Steer your mind to think good thoughts, and prevent it from thinking bad ones. In order to do this, you have to live simply. If you don’t, your greed will push you to do things that you’ll regret later on. If you live simply, you won’t do things that will cause problems or hurt other people.
So this is my advice to you: Be happy with what you have. Live as simply as you can. Just have the four requisites of life: food, shelter, clothing, and medicine.
Once you have these, there’s no need to have anything else because what you have will give you problems and stress. When you possess something, you want to keep it as long as possible, but things don’t last forever or remain the same. They always change. They come and they go. If you cling to them, you will feel terrible when they leave you. Take it as it comes. Don’t cling.
Then you will always be happy.
By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto
Youtube: Dhamma in English
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