The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.
13 June 2024
Question: What is the role of the observer or the one who knows in the process of liberation?
Than Ajahn: Well, the one who knows is just that. It just knows. The problem is the defilements keep telling the one who knows to react. So, you’re here to stop the reactions, to make the one who knows just knows. Right now, the one who knows isn’t just knowing, it reacts to what it knows, so this is the problem. When you react to what it knows, it can cause suffering in the mind, it can cause uneasiness and bad feeling in the mind, because when you react and cannot get what you are reacting for, you become sad or angry. But if you merely know, then you don’t feel anything. So, the goal is to keep the mind or the one who knows merely knows. Don’t react.
This is why you have to meditate and you have to be mindful because mindfulness can stop the mind from reacting, it keeps the mind in equanimity, and doesn’t react to anything the mind comes to know.
“Dhamma in English, May 28, 2019.”
- - - - -
Question: Ajahn, when one gains enlightenment, does it mean that one will not harbor hatred or have extreme happiness but just be peaceful at all time?
Than Ajahn: When one becomes fully enlightened, one will have no greed, hatred, delusion or fear. One merely lives or exists without having to react or rely on anybody or anything. One can be alone and be happy. One doesn’t need anything to be happy, once one becomes enlightened. That’s the nature of an enlightened mind. An enlightened mind is a contented mind, a happy mind; it doesn’t need to have anything to make it content or happy; it can be happy by itself.
- - - - -
Question: Do Arahants still have thoughts that come and go even when they are enlightened?
Than Ajahn: Yes, the Buddha still used thoughts to teach the Dhamma to us. The arahant and the ordinary persons have the same 5 khandhas. The difference is that the arahant doesn’t have any defilement in the mind that drives the 5 khandhas. The arahant uses Dhamma to drive the 5 khandhas, while ordinary people use the defilements to direct the 5 khandhas.
Question: When an Arahant is sweeping the floor, would thoughts still pop up while they are sweeping the floor?
Than Ajahn: The arahants have thoughts. They can think and they can also stop thinking if they want to.
The Arahants have full control of the thoughts. They can tell the mind when to stop thinking and when not to stop thinking.
“Dhamma in English, Aug 22, 2021.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
YouTube: Dhamma in English.
No comments:
Post a Comment