The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.
21st July, 2022
Question: If the stress builds up inside me until it is like a pressure cooker, should I just sit on it and just know that this feeling is going to pass?
Than Ajahn: It might take a long time if you sit on it. The best way to lessen the pressure is by reciting a mantra. Your stress is built by your thoughts. You think about things that make you stressful. If you can pull your thoughts away from those things that make you stressful, then the stress will become less and less. So, the best way to lessen your stress is to use mindfulness, by reciting a mantra, chanting or listening to Dhamma talks: this can pull your mind away from thoughts that cause you to have stress.
“Dhamma in English, May 28, 2019.”
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Question: Why do I find that the sensual desires tend to be more pronounced during meditation retreat compare to my normal days?
Than Ajahn: It’s because your sensual desire is being curbed more when you’re in a retreat.
You cannot let your eyes, ears, nose, and tongue to see and hear things as they normally do because you have to meditate, so the desire can become stronger. It’s like a pressure cooker.
When the steam inside the pressure cooker has no exit, the steam keeps on building up and it becomes very strong.
When you are not in meditation retreat, you can see, hear and do anything you like, whenever you like, hence, the sensual pleasure has some outlet to release its pressure and you don’t feel the pressure. When you go for a retreat, you are closing the pressure releaser. It then builds up inside your mind and it becomes stronger. The only way to deal with this is by using mindfulness and meditation. When you have mindfulness or when you meditate, you stop your mind from creating cravings and desires, then the pressure will subside and disappear temporarily. But as soon as you come out of your meditation, if you are not mindful, you start creating more cravings and desires again.
“Dhamma in English, Nov 9, 2018.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
YouTube: Dhamma in English.
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