The teachings of Ajahn Suchart.
18 May 2024
Than Ajahn: Do you have any questions? One question a day keeps the devil away.
Question: At the end of the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta, when the Buddha mentioned about the different paces of attainment, 7 days until 7 years, what is the cause of the different paces of attainment? Is it because of the past factors or is it more of the present factors?
Than Ajahn: It’s the learning faculty of each person.
Each person has different learning faculties. Usually, the factor is wisdom (paññā), the ability to learn. Each person has different levels of understanding of the Dhamma; some people have to read or listen to the Dhamma many times before they can understand it; some people can read or listen to it one time and they can understand it.
Another factor is how much effort each person has put into the practice; some people have put in lots of effort; some people don’t put in much effort into the practice, they don’t practice as hard as or as much as other people. So, these are the cause of the variation of the time to attain enlightenment: the ability to understand the Dhamma and the ability to apply the Dhamma into the practice—viriya, paññā, and the ability to have mindfulness. So, you need these: viriya, sati, samādhi, paññā. These factors can vary from person to person.
When the Buddha gave his first sermon, he gave it to the 5 ascetics. They all had mindfulness. They all had samādhi. But the ability to grasp at the Dhamma differed. Only one out of the 5 ascetics could understand the Four Noble Truths and applied it in his heart right away. The other 4 still didn’t quite understand it so they did not become enlightened yet.
But after they contemplated and thought about it over a few times, then they finally understood it and they became enlightened.
“Dhamma in English, Apr 22, 2019.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
YouTube: Dhamma in English.
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