The teachings of Ajahn Suchart.
1 August 2024
“When one attains the first level of enlightenment, it becomes automatic in his mind to continue to practice...”
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Question: How does deva make merits?
Than Ajahn: When you become a deva or a spiritual being, you have no opportunity to make merits. It’s the time you receive your merits. Only when you become a human being, you can do good merits or bad merits.
When you are a spiritual being, you go and receive the fruits of your kamma. If you did bad kamma, you would become a spiritual being with a lot of suffering.
If you did good kamma, you would become a spiritual being with a lot of happiness.
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Question: How do devas continue to practice Dhamma in deva realms?
Than Ajahn: They don’t practice except for those who incline to listen to Dhamma talks. For devas who incline to listen to Dhamma talks, if they know there is a monk or an enlightened person who can communicate with them, the devas will go and look for that monk or that enlightened person and communicate Dhamma with that monk or that enlightened person.
Having said that, if in the previous lives (when the deva was a human being) he had attained the first level of enlightenment, then he would still continue on practicing. It’s because when one attains the first level of enlightenment, it becomes automatic in his mind to continue to practice regardless of whether he has a physical body or not. He has initiated the practice.
If at the time when one was born as a human being, he only practised casually or only practised when he felt like doing it, then when he is reborn as a spiritual being, he might not want to practise.
Youtube: “Dhamma in English, Dec 18, 2018.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
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