Metta: Loving-Kindness. ~ Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda Mahathera

Metta: Loving-Kindness.
~ Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda Mahathera

What is lacking in the world today is loving-kindness or goodwill.

In the world today, there is sufficient material wealth. There are very advanced intellectuals, brilliant writers, talented speaker, philosophers, psychologists, scientists, religious advisors, wonderful poets and powerful world leaders. In spite of these intellectuals, there is no real peace and security in the world today. Something must be lacking. What is lacking is loving-kindness or goodwill amongst mankind.

Material gain in itself can never bring lasting happiness and peace. Peace must first be established in man's own heart before he can bring peace to others and to the world at large. 

The real way to achieve peace is to follow the advice given by religious teachers.

In order to practise loving-kindness, one must first practise the Noble Principle of non-violence and must always be ready to overcome selfishness and to show the correct path to others. The fighting is not to be done with the physical body, because the wickedness of man is not in his body but in his mind. Non-violence is a more effective weapon to fight against evil than retaliation. The very nature of retaliation is to increase wickedness.

In order to practise loving-kindness, one must also be free from selfishness. Much of the love in this world of self-centered, only a love of one is own self:

'Not out of love for the husband loved; but the husband is loved for love of self. Children are loved by the parents, not out of love for the children, but for love of self. The gods are loved, not out of love for the gods, but for love for self. Not out of love is anybody loved, but for love of self are loved.'

Man should learn how to practise selfless love to maintain real peace and his own salvation. Just as suicide kills physically, selfishness kills spiritual progress. Loving-kindness in Buddhism is neither emotional or selfish. It is loving-kindness that radiates through the purified mind after eradicating hatred, jealousy, cruelty, enmity and grudges. According to the Buddha, Metta _ Loving-kindness is the most effective method to maintain purity of mind and to purify the mentally polluted atmosphere.

The word 'love' is used to cover a very wide range of emotions human beings experience. 

Emphasis on the base animal lust of one sex for another has much debased the concept of a feeling of amity towards another being. According to Buddhism, there are many types of emotions, all of which come under the general term 'love' First of all, there is selfish love and there is selfless love. One has selfish love when one is concerned only with the satisfaction to be derived for oneself without any consideration for the partner's needs or feelings. Jealousy is usually a symptom of selfish love. Selfless love, on the other hand, is felt when one person surrenders his whole being for the good of another _parents feel such love for their children. 

Usually human beings feel a mixture of both selfless and selfish love in their relationships with each other. 

For example, while parents make enormous sacrifices for their children, they usually expect something in return.

Another kind of love, but closely related to the above, is brotherly love or the love between friends. In a sense, this kind of love can also be considered selfish because the love is limited to particular people and does not encompass others. In another category we have sexual love, where partners are drawn towards each other through physical attraction. It is the kind that is most exploited by modern entertainment and it can cover anything from uncomplicated teenage infatuations to the most complex of relationships between adults.

On a scale far higher than these, is Universal Love or Metta. This all-embracing love is the great virtue expressed by the Buddha. Lord Buddha, for example, renounce His kingdom, family and pleasures so that He could strive to find a way to release mankind from an existence of suffering. In order to gain His Enlightenment, he had to struggle for many countless lives. A lesser being would have been disheartened, but not the Buddha-elect. It is for this He is called 'The Compassionate One'. The Buddha's boundless love extended not only to human beings but all living creatures. It was not emotional or selfish, but a love without frontiers, without discrimination. Unlike the other kinds of love, Universal love can never end in disappointment or frustration because it expects no reward. It creates more happiness and satisfaction. One who cultivates universal love will also cultivate sympathetic joy and equanimity and he will then have attained to the sublime state.

In this book, The Buddha's Ancient Path Ven. Piyadassi says:

'Love is an active force. Every act of the loving one is done with the stainless mind to help, to succor, to cheer, to make the paths of others easier, smoother and more adapted to the conquest of sorrow, the winning of the highest bliss.

'The way to develop love is through thinking out the evils of hate, and the advantages of non-hate; through thinking out according to actuality, according to karma, that really there is none to hate, that hate is a foolish way of feeling which breeds more and more darkness, that obstructs right understanding. Hate restricts; love release. Hatred strangles; love enfranchises. 

Hatred brings remorse; love brings peace. Hatred agitates; love quietens, stills, calms. Hatred divides; love unites. Hatred hardens; love softens. Hatred hinders; love helps. And thus through a correct study and appreciation of the effects of hatred and the benefits of love, should one develop love.'

In Metta Sutta, the Buddha has expounded the nature of love in Buddhism. 'Just as a mother would protect her only child even at the risk of her own life, even so, let him cultivate a boundless heart towards all beings. Let his thoughts of boundless love pervade the whole world, above, below and across without any obstruction, without any hatred, without any enmity.'

With the current pandemic situation, what should we do?

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

7 January, 2023

Question:  With the current pandemic situation, what should we do?

Than Ajahn:  We should contemplate on the impermanent nature of life, that we all have to end our lives one day, regardless of whether there is pandemic or not. So, we have to be ready to face the end of life. If we are ready, then we will not be hurt when it happens or when we are still alive, we are not worried about it. 

So, keep reminding yourself that life is impermanent. The body is not your self. The body is just a servant. 

You’re just using the servant to satisfy your craving. That’s all. You don’t die with your body. ‘You’ go on either to nibbāna or continue on in the samsara. If you want to get to nibbāna, then you have to practice samatha and vipassanā bhāvanā.  

Dhamma in English, Jul 29, 2020.

- - - - -

Question:  Is it true that vipassanā meditation can heal sickness?

Than Ajaan:  It depends on what the sickness is. If the sickness is mentally induced, when you use vipassanā, then the mind will let go of its attachment to a certain thing. Then, you become calm, peaceful and happy. The mentally induced sickness (such as depression) will disappear. 

People are depressed because they can’t get what they want. If they use vipassanā to teach themselves that they can’t always get what they want, their depression will disappear. So sometimes, you get what you want, but sometimes, you don’t get it. If you don’t get it, then you just accept it. Stop your desire for wanting to get it. If you can do this, then your depression will disappear.

Dhamma in English, Jul 31, 2020.

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

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DIPA MA EXPLAINS VIPASSANA

DIPA MA EXPLAINS VIPASSANA

The following questions and answers were recorded in interviews with Dipa Ma in India in the 1970s and at Insight Meditation Society in the 1980s. 

Q: How do I practice vipassana [insight] meditation? 

Dipa Ma: Sit [with your back straight]. Close your eyes and follow the rising and falling, the rising and falling of the abdomen as you breathe. Feel the breath. When watching the breathing in and out, ask yourself, "Where is the touch of the breath?" Keep your mind on the touch only. 

You are to do nothing with the breathing, only feel the touch. If it is heavy, let it be heavy. 

It if is short, let it be short. If it is fine, let it be fine. Just feel it. 

When your mind wanders away, notice this and say to yourself, "Thinking," and then come back again to the rising and falling of the breath. If you feel a sensation somewhere else, like pain m the leg, then take your mind to the pain and note, "pain." And when it goes away or fades, then again come to watching the touch of the breath. If restlessness comes, note "restlessness." 

If you hear a noise, say to yourself, "Hearing, hearing," and again come back to the feeling of the breath. 

If memories come, know them as "memories." Anything you see, anything that comes to mind, just be aware of it. If you see visions or lights, just note "seeing" or "lights." 

There is no need to keep any of it, to make it stay. Simply observe. 

In insight meditation, you are observing the rising and falling of the breath and the phenomena that arise in the mind and body. So there is a shifting of the mind from sensations felt, both painful and pleasurable, to thoughts as well. Whatever is happening is to be noticed, then that will go away, and another thing will come. In this way, insight practice is a method of observation. All six senses [the mind being the sixth] will arise. 

Just watch them arise and pass away and come back to the feeling of the breath. Anything you see, anything that comes to mind, just be aware of it.

~ Dipa Ma: 

The Life and Legacy of a Buddhist Master

“You should think back on things that made you enthusiastic.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

26 April 2024

“You should think back on things that made you enthusiastic.”

Samanera:  In the beginning of my practice, it seemed like every method to get into samādhi was working. 

Than Ajahn:  When you first started, you were not distracted by anything. You focused on what you were doing. After a while, you lost that focus and started to think about this and that. 

Your fight became more difficult. But it is not due to the method, it is the ability to focus on your practice. 

When you first started, you were enthusiastic. 

You put in all your energy in the practice. After a while, you lost the enthusiasm. So you have to bring back the enthusiasm. You should think back on things that made you enthusiastic. 

It is like in a marriage, when you just got married, you were happy. After a while, when reality sets in, you realised that being married is not as good as you thought it to be. 

It is the same with the practice. When you first started, you had this noble idea of becoming a Buddha, but when you actually do the practice, when you start running into all sort of obstacles, you realise that it is not as easy as you think. 

You just have to accept the reality and try to persevere with your practice. Keep pushing yourself. Keep doing the basics. It is like learning the alphabets, just keep learning the alphabets first, don’t skip steps. 

Right now you have to maintain mindfulness. 

Eventually it will lead you to samādhi. When you have samādhi, it will eventually lead you to wisdom. These are the basics.

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

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Youtube: Dhamma in English

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Kamma and Merits ~ By Venerable Aggacitta

Kamma and Merits
~ By Venerable Aggacitta

 

Today we had an excellent opportunity to collect pindapata and I am also happy to be able to deliver this Dhamma talk. For Buddhists, it is normal practice to chant the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts before giving alms food. The reason for this is that we believe in the concept of merits and merits-making. 

There are varying degrees of merits which can be obtained, depending on the type of dana one has performed. It is a fact that merits are obtained irrespective of whether a person gives dana to an animal, a beggar, a ‘bogus’ monk or a practising monk who is pure in his precepts. 

However, the merits obtained varies in each of the above situations. Furthermore, if a person takes the Three Refuges and observes the Five Precepts before performing the dana, the merits obtained is enhanced especially if the person keeps the precepts diligently. 

So, the purity of mind and conduct of both the donor and the recipient of a particular dana determine the value of the merits accrued. 

A devotee once asked the Buddha whether it is true that one will only obtain merit if he gives dana to the Buddha and his retinue of monks as opposed to giving to those of other religions. 

The Buddha replied that this was not true and merits are always obtained whenever a person does a good deed. For example, when a person dis-cards food remnants from his plate into the river with the thought that the remnants may provide food for the fishes in the water, he also gains merits. 

The Buddha also mentioned that there are many different degrees of merits. 

He told the story of Anathapindika, a great philanthropist, who gave to all and sundry that needed his help. On one occasion, Anathapindika lamented that the food he had donated on that day was of poor quality ( rice cooked by boiling broken grains and a dish of fermented paste). 

However, the Buddha said that the value of the food given is not as important as the virtue of the donor. If one gives with faith and respect, does not ridicule or harm the recipient and is full of generosity, the dana is well performed. 

The Buddha then gave the example of Velama, an exceedingly wealthy Brahmin, who performed dana of an astoundingly rich value. 

However, the merits he obtained were only minimal because at that time, there were no virtuous, enlightened monks to receive them. If he had had the opportunity to just offer even a simple meal to a sotapanna, the merits accrued would have far surpassed the merits obtained from that luxurious dana of his. Again, the value of meritorious actions increases in multiples of a hundred in direct proportion to the virtues of the recipient, in ascending order from a sotapanna to a full-fledged arahant, a Pacceka Buddha and from there to a Samma Sambuddha. Even greater than all these are the merits accrued by a person who takes refuge in the Triple Gem in all its purity. But one who undertakes and steadfastly upholds the Five Precepts obtains merits that far surpasses what has been mentioned earlier. And even greater that this are the merits accrued by one who radiates metta to all beings for a few seconds. 

The greatest merits are obtained when one can observe, even mo-mentarily, the arising and passing away of the Five Aggregates. 

In Thailand, where Buddhism is deeply entrenched, there are people whose chosen livelihoods leave much to be desired, for example, members of drug or vice syndicates and people in the sex industry. However, being Buddhists, they know about kamma vipaka and realise that they will reap whatever they have sown. In order to counteract the demerits of such unmeritorious lifestyles, they are usually very generous and do a lot of dana, donating a lot to build temples and schools. In their future rebirths, they may be reborn as animals in luxurious surroundings such as pampered pets of rich people. Even in SBS, we have three cats, which are quite pampered and will only eat fish and not plain rice! In some homes, people rear arowana, an expensive breed of fish, which thrives on a good diet. However these animals have no freedom and are caged. 

It is thus a good practice not to keep ‘caged’ animals in our houses such as birds in cages or fishes in small aquariums so that in our future lives, we will also be free. 

Whenever we finish chanting the Three Refugees and the Five Precepts, the monks normally say ‘appamadena sampadetha’. This means “do not forget to fulfill your vows/training”, thus reminding devotees to continue to uphold in their daily lives what they have chanted. There are people who are afraid to chant the Five Precepts because they fear that they will break these precepts easily. 

They are under the misconception that once a precept is broken, a serious akusala deed has been committed and that is the end of everything. In truth, we can always renew our precepts as long as we are honest with ourselves about how serious we truly are in keeping them pure. 

Furthermore, for every second that you keep your precepts pure, you have already achieved that second of good meritorious kamma. That is how kamma works. If you have enough good supportive kamma, sometimes even some non-weighty bad kamma can be nullified. Of course, if you have accumulated some very weighty akusala kamma, there is no way out and you just have to bear the consequences of that action. If you take the lives of others, you will have a very short lifespan. If you torture others, you will be born sickly. Always keep in mind that kamma does not act on its own accord. It is dependant on the conditions present such as the environ-ment one is in, food, surroundings and also one’s state of mind. Keep your precepts well and you will be fine.

Sadhu ........ Sadhu .......... Sadhu .........

In this photo - The Wild Boar represent "KAMMA" The Monk represent "MERITS"

👇🏼

 

“You need to use your mindfulness and discern your emotions.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart

20 April 2024

“You need to use your mindfulness and discern your emotions.”

You have to keep watching your own mind. 

Your mental defilements (kilesas) will keep fooling you. 

Sometimes it will give you a sense of overconfidence, misleading you to think that you’re almost there and about to reach the enlightenment. 

And sometimes it will discourage you, tricking you into thinking that you barely made any progress.

These thoughts will come up constantly. So you just have to realise that they are just thoughts, just like clouds in the sky that come and go and won’t last forever. These thoughts and feelings will also pass, just like clouds that block the sun and cause an overcast sky.

Negative emotions can also cloud your mind at times, making you feel discouraged, downhearted, and weary. You need to use your mindfulness and discern your emotions. Your mind is the perceiver, just like the sun, whereas emotions are like clouds. You need to understand that these emotions are impermanent (anicca)—they do come and go.

Don’t let them sway you. Stick to your routine and duties. When it is time to chant, just chant. When it is time to meditate, just meditate. 

Even if you don’t feel like meditating, just do it. 

Just think of it as having a meal. There are days when you don’t feel like eating but you still need to eat, because you know that you’ll be hungry if you don’t.

You will feel that your mind has regressed on days that you don’t meditate. So even if you don’t make progress, at least maintain your position so that you don’t regress. 

Just do whatever you used to do. Just do it regardless of the result. When it is time to practise, just practise.

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Youtube: Dhamma in English

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The Teaching of Ajahn Chah

The Teaching of Ajahn Chah:

When we sit in meditation we want the mind to become peaceful, but it’s not peaceful. Why is this? We don’t want to think but we think. It’s like a person who goes to sit on an ants’ nest: the ants just keep on biting him. When the mind is the world then even sitting still with our eyes closed, all we see is the world. 

Pleasure, sorrow, anxiety, confusion – it all arises. Why is this? 

It’s because we still haven’t realized Dhamma. 

If the mind is like this the meditator can’t endure the worldly dhammas, he doesn’t investigate. It’s just the same as if he were sitting on an ants’ nest. 

The ants are going to bite because he’s right on their home! So what should he do? He should look for some poison or use fire to drive them out.

But most Dhamma practitioners don’t see it like that. If they feel content they just follow contentment, feeling discontent they just follow that. 

Following the worldly dhammas the mind becomes the world. Sometimes we may think, ‘Oh, I can’t do it, it’s beyond me,’ so we don’t even try. This is because the mind is full of defilements; the worldly dhammas prevent the path from arising. We can’t endure in the development of morality, concentration and wisdom. 

It’s just like that man sitting on the ants’ nest. 

He can’t do anything, the ants are biting and crawling all over him, he’s immersed in confusion and agitation. He can’t rid his sitting place of the danger, so he just sits there, suffering.

So it is with our practice. The worldly dhammas exist in the minds of worldly beings. 

When those beings wish to find peace the worldly dhammas arise right there. When the mind is ignorant there is only darkness. When knowledge arises the mind is illumined, because ignorance and knowledge are born in the same place. When ignorance has arisen,

knowledge can’t enter, because the mind has accepted ignorance. When knowledge has arisen, ignorance can not stay.

~ Ajahn Chah

“The term—mindfulness (sati)—means to be present in this particular place and moment. It means to be here and now.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

21 April 2024

“The term—mindfulness (sati)—means to be present in this particular place and moment. It means to be here and now.”

Reciting ‘Buddho’ frequently can be useful in certain situations. When you’re sleepy, you can recite it more continually. You can do this too when your mind is distracted. But if you’re not mindful, it doesn’t matter how repeatedly you recite it, your mind will still go astray.

So you have to train yourself to maintain mindfulness. 

You can’t avoid it. Without developing mindfulness, you’ll never make good progress in meditation practice. 

It won’t really work if you think that you can just maintain mindfulness during your sitting meditation. 

You have to be mindful at all times, no matter where you are and what you do.

The term—mindfulness (sati)—means to be present in this particular place and moment. It means to not think about the past or the future, no matter how immediate or distant. It means to be here and now—present with whatever you’re doing. You don’t need to think about other things. 

When you’re listening, only focus on listening. 

Don’t think about other things in order to benefit from listening.

If you keep thinking about other things while listening, it won’t really make sense. Whatever you’re listening to will merely be heard but not properly understood. 

You won’t be able to grasp it or know how things all come together. 

If there’s no mindfulness to control your mind, you won’t stop yourself from thinking about things.

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

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Youtube: Dhamma in English

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Making Merits

Making Merits

If you make merit everyday...I guarantee that when you die, you do not have to wait for others to make merit for you.

Those who come to receive such merit are those who made little merit. 

Or worse, refused to make any merit at all. 

"I didn't make any merit on my birthday. Buddhist festivals. New Year's Day came and went, nope, still no merit. Didn't make merit on any day. 

Let's spend on our money on eating, drinking, going out and playing. It's more fun, its more enjoyable."

These are the spirits who will come for the merit you make during transference ceremonies. If we are worried for the departed ones who never made much merit, if we still love them, yes we can make merit and dedicate it to them. 

We don't really have to pour water (grad nam) to dedicate merit to others. We have the intention to do it, to share our happiness of doing good deeds, that's sufficient. Just pray, I dedicate and share this merit of this good deed to Mr or Ms XXX...

It is better to think of this person and his name in your mind, so that he will be able to rejoice with you and accept the merit made. If we are worried that our loved one has become a hungry ghost due to the lack of merit. We should anumodana (rejoice) in the merit of others as well. 

Don't stop making merit. Merit is food for the heart. 

~ Phra Julnayok Thamma Bon Khao

The Consequences of Unwholesome Kamma. Sunday Dhamma Talk ~ By Venerable Aggacitta

The Consequences of Unwholesome Kamma.
Sunday Dhamma Talk
~ By Venerable Aggacitta

 

Everybody loves to listen to stories and I am sure it is the same with those of you present here. Today I will tell you some stories from this book that has been written by Luang Por Jaren. 

He was born in August 1928, making him 75 years old this year. Luang Por is a re-nowned meditation teacher at Wat Ambhavan in Singburi near Bangkok. He is a very famous monk because he is supposed to have psychic powers such as the ability to look into the past and read your mind just by looking at you. 

In his book, Luang Por explains that when he was young, he was not interested in religion and was quite naughty and rebellious. There is an interesting section where he tells us about how he had to pay for the bad kammic deeds of his youth, although he had renounced and become a monk in later life. 

When he was young, he didn’t like to look at monks or have anything to do with them. 

Once, when he was a teenager staying at his grandmother’s house, he was asked to take a tiffin car-rier of food as dana to the abbot of a nearby temple. On the way there, he met some school-mates who were playing truant. Since they were feeling hungry, they decided to finish up the food in the tiffin carrier. When questioned by his grandmother later, he lied and said that he had taken the food to the temple but had not given it to the abbot personally. He said he had instead passed the food on to the dek wat (these are the village children who have been sent by their parents to help the monks at temples and in return, they receive food, lodging and education—a tradition in Thailand in the past). His grandmother wisely advised him to offer the dana personally to the abbot in future and receive his blessing before returning home. 

On another occasion when he was asked to offer dana, he again did as before. This time, when questioned by his grandmother, he lied that he had offered the food personally to the abbot and had received his blessings. 

However, unknown to him, the abbot was actually sit-ting in his house at that time as he had been invited for dana, thus letting the cat out of the bag! His grandmother admonished him strongly saying that such an action can result in his being reborn as a hungry ghost with a small mouth like a pinhole in the next life. 

Luang Por recalled many occasions when he committed many unpleasant deeds and broke the five precepts frequently. There was an occasion, for example, when he tricked a boat operator and did not pay his fare for the boat ride. He would also steal padi from other people’s har-vest. Once he lied to his mother, telling her that he was going to school for extra tuition when in actual fact, he went to the forest with his teacher to hunt for wild ducks and birds. Each time he shot one, he would put it in his basket. 

However, there were occasions when the birds that were shot were half-dead only and would peck at him when he tried to catch them. He would then get very angry, break their necks and skin them alive. Once, when he had to chase an injured heron for a distance before managing to catch it, he broke its legs. Apart from these unwholesome deeds, he also boiled turtles alive to sell to drinkers. 

Luang Por’s life began to change dramatically soon after he reached the age of 20, when, ac-cording to Thai tradition, he entered the novitiate programme to gain merits for his family. He agreed to become a monk for the four months of the rainy season before going back to main-stream working life. Just as he was about to disrobe, he heard a mysterious voice goading him to find out more about the Dhamma before disrobing. Eventually, this led him to stay on in the robes, seeking knowledge and training under various teachers. The most notable teacher was a mystical, forest monk who urged him to cultivate morality, concentration and insight. 

He became the abbot of Wat Ambhavan when he was 29 years old, teaching and practising meditation. 

But the evil actions of the past soon bore fruit and caught up with him. 

Once dur-ing meditation, he heard a voice tell him that in six month’s time (a specific time was men-tioned, i.e. at 12.45 hrs on October 14, 1977), he would have to pay for his past bad deeds and die. Knowing this to be the truth, he proceeded to set his house in order in the available time he had left. He gave away his personal belongings and instructed his bhikkhus to elect a new abbot. 

Meditation retreats were organised, first for the female yogis and then later, for male yogis, so that he could impart his knowledge of meditation to them before he departed. 

On the predicted day, after returning from a trip to the hospital to visit a sick devotee, the car he was in was involved in a nasty accident. 

Luang Por was thrown far out of the vehicle, broke his neck and all his limbs except for one hand and was scalped by the fall (repaying the kammic debt of breaking the necks and legs of herons he had shot and skinned alive). 

He did not, however, die as he thought he would. On the way to the hospital he heard a voice say, “Good! You deserve this and more.” 

The radiator of the motorcar transporting him burst, spilling hot water all over him (repaying the kammic debt of boiling turtles for sale). As he went through the hellish suffering of both the accident and the scalding from the radiator fluid, he thought: “May I go off peacefully now after having paid for my past unwholesome deeds. 

Even if the unwholesome kammic debts have not been settled, may I settle them in my future lives.” 

On top of that, as the male nurses were transporting him to the emergency unit, they tripped and Luang Por was again thrown out of the stretcher onto the floor. The doctors at the hospi-tal were truly amazed that such a badly injured person could have survived such an ordeal. 

For 50 days he recuperated in the ICU, encased in plaster and immobilised. At times Luang Por felt like a hungry ghost as he had to be fed through a tube inserted into his mouth al-though an assortment of rich food offerings were laid in front of him (repaying the kammic debt of misappropriating food offerings meant for the Sangha). Miraculously he did manage to recover and at present is still practising and teaching in Thailand. 

This story serves to warn us about kamma and its subsequent results. It demonstrates how heavy the result can be because of one’s evil deeds. 

Many of us chant the five precepts regu-larly but how many of us observe them conscientiously? How many of us realise the conse-quences of breaking the precepts or contemplate the results that will arise in due course? Even an excellent meditator like Luang Por still had to pay for the mistakes of his past and could not escape their consequences. 

We don’t know what unwholesome actions we have performed in our past lives; only what we have done in this present life. 

Therefore, each time we meditate, we must learn to endure whatever suffering that arises and acknowledge that it may be part of our unwholesome kammic debts. We must also con-sciously try to avoid and abstain from wrong actions so that we do not have to suffer the re-sultant consequences. Only then can we continue to strive diligently and make good progress! 

Sadhu ....... Sadhu ......... Sadhu .........

“When you can instantaneously think of the organs of the body or when the body turns into corpse then you don’t have any problem with sexual desire.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

19 April 2024

“When you can instantaneously think of the organs of the body or when the body turns into corpse then you don’t have any problem with sexual desire.”

Than Ajahn:  Asubha only has impact when you have sexual desire.  When there’s no sexual desire, then the contemplation on asubha does not have any impact.  Like if you don’t have a headache and you take a pain killer, it does not make any difference.  But when you have a headache and you take some aspirins, then you will feel the difference.  

In the same way when you have sexual desire and you contemplate on asubha, it can suppress or eliminate the sexual desire in the mind.  So, when you don’t have it yet, you have to first prepare the ground work or do the homework. 

You have to contemplate on asubha so that it can becomes instantaneous when you need it.  

Once you can spontaneously recall these asubha images, then you should try to arouse your sexual desire to test whether or not you can suppress it using asubha. 

When you don’t have sexual desire, it doesn’t mean you have lost them because it may be due to your physical condition.  So, it is necessary for you to test when you have sexual desire whether you can suppress it or not. The reason is sometimes sexual desire is very devious (conniving) and you don’t know whether you have really lost it or not.  You have to at least know that if it comes up, you should be able to always get rid of it.  

The tool to get rid of sexual desire is the asubha practice.  When you can instantaneously think of the organs of the body or when the body turns into corpse then you don’t have any problem with sexual desire.  

This problem usually arises for those people who keep the eight precepts or monks who have to maintain this purity.  They are not allowed to be near the opposite sex, so this can sort of pressure the sexual desire to come up.  

So, monks have to always try to contemplate on asubha to suppress or to eliminate this sexual desire.  But for laypeople sometimes you have other ways of enjoying yourself without having sex.  You can enjoy yourself by having food or drink or going places of entertainment.  So, maybe this sexual desire is put on the back burner.  

Thus, you don’t feel the pressure to have to contemplate on asubha because you can still be happy without having sex.  But for monks, they are prohibited from going to places to drink or to enjoy themselves through all the senses.  Then, the pressure will build up and when a monk sees a woman, his sexual desire may suddenly just arise. If he doesn’t have asubha contemplation, he will just keep thinking about the woman and images of her will arouse his desire.  Eventually, he will find that he can no longer remain in robe. 

Have you heard of one of Ajahn Chah’s monks who disrobed after being a monk for about 40 years?  

Layperson:  Recently?

Than Ajahn:  Yes, a Japanese monk. He was in close contact with a woman and he didn’t have this protection, I guess.  So, instead of trying to get rid of her, he kept on having more contact, more relationship. Then, he eventually found it’s quite impossible for him to remain as a monk, so he had to disrobe.  After disrobe, they got married or they lived together.  

This is because he doesn’t see the asubha in that body.  Every time he sees that body, he sees the attractiveness of that body, not the repulsiveness of that body. 

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Youtube: Dhamma in English

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

WHAT BUDDHISTS BELIEVE Development of Sangha Community. The Sangha community, in the course of time, evolved themselves into several sects, many of whom, while adhering to some major precepts as laid down by the Buddha, had, however, tended to ignore some of the minor rules. The Theravada sect appeared to be more orthodox, while the Mahayana and some other sects tended to be more liberal in their outlook and religious observances. The Theravada sect tried to observe the Vinaya to the very letter despite of changing circumstances and environment. Minor changes to the precepts had, however, taken place from time to time, but were not officially recognised even amongst the members of the Theravada sect. For instance, the Theravada sect observe strictly the rule of not taking food after the stipulated time of the day. The Theravada sect has not openly acknowledged the fact that certain variations could be allowed under special circumstances. Whilst members of other schools adapt themselves to the wearing of robes with appropriate colour and pattern, the Theravada sect has continued to adhere to the use of the original robes that were traditionally prescribed despite the changed social and climatic conditions. As a result many of the practices of the monkhood are clearly understood only by those who are born into traditional Buddhist cultures. This of course creates many problems when Buddhism is spread to other parts of the world, such as western countries. Then, there are some monks who insist on observing the very letter of the Vinaya code rather than in its spirit, even though such action would embarrass the people around them. For example, more and more Buddhist monks are being invited to western countries where the culture of the people and the climatic conditions are so vastly different from that in Asia. If monks insist on behaving exactly as they did in their homelands their behaviour would appear strange and ridiculous. Rather than earning respect, they would be subject to ridicule and suspicion. Here again the monk must apply his common sense and try not to make a mockery of himself in the eyes of people who belong to a culture different than his own. The important rule to be observed is that no immoral, cruel, harmful and indecent acts are committed and that the sensitivities of others are respected. If the monks can lead their lives as honest, kind, harmless and understanding human beings by maintaining their human dignity and discipline, then such qualities will be appreciated in any part of the world. Maintaining the so-called traditions and customs of their respective countries of origin have little to do with the essence of the Dharma as taught by the Buddha. Then, there is another problem. Many people, especially those in the West who have accepted the Buddhist way of life, having read the Vinaya rules in the texts, think that the monks must follow all the rules without amending them in any part of the world, in exactly the same manner as they were recorded in the texts. We must remember that some of these rules which were practiced in Indian society 25 centuries ago are irrelevant even in Asia today. It must be clearly borne in mind that the Buddha instituted the rules only for the members of the Sangha community who lived in India, the region where He lived. Those monks never had any experience of the way of life in another country. Their main concern was with their spiritual development with the minimum of disruption and annoyance to the society where they lived. Today, monks may experience many other new problems, if they strictly observe all the rules in a country where people cannot appreciate or understand them. The disciplinary code for lay devotees shows how a layman can lead a virtuous and noble life without renouncing the worldly life. The Buddha’s advice to lay people is contained in such discourses as the Mangala, Parabhava, Sigalovada, Vasala and Vygghapajja and many others. Many Vinaya rules apply only to those who have renounced the worldly life. Of course a lay person may follow some of the rules if they help to develop greater spirituality. by the Venerable Dr K. Sri Dhammananda

WHAT BUDDHISTS BELIEVE
Development of Sangha Community.

 

The Sangha community, in the course of time, evolved themselves into several sects, many of whom, while adhering to some major precepts as laid down by the Buddha, had, however, tended to ignore some of the minor rules. The Theravada sect appeared to be more orthodox, while the Mahayana and some other sects tended to be more liberal in their outlook and religious observances. 

The Theravada sect tried to observe the Vinaya to the very letter despite of changing circumstances and environment. Minor changes to the precepts had, however, taken place from time to time, but were not officially recognised even amongst the members of the Theravada sect. 

For instance, the Theravada sect observe strictly the rule of not taking food after the stipulated time of the day. The Theravada sect has not openly acknowledged the fact that certain variations could be allowed under special circumstances. Whilst members of other schools adapt themselves to the wearing of robes with appropriate colour and pattern, the Theravada sect has continued to adhere to the use of the original robes that were traditionally prescribed despite the changed social and climatic conditions. As a result many of the practices of the monkhood are clearly understood only by those who are born into traditional Buddhist cultures. This of course creates many problems when Buddhism is spread to other parts of the world, such as western countries.

Then, there are some monks who insist on observing the very letter of the Vinaya code rather than in its spirit, even though such action would embarrass the people around them. 

For example, more and more Buddhist monks are being invited to western countries where the culture of the people and the climatic conditions are so vastly different from that in Asia. If monks insist on behaving exactly as they did in their homelands their behaviour would appear strange and ridiculous. Rather than earning respect, they would be subject to ridicule and suspicion. Here again the monk must apply his common sense and try not to make a mockery of himself in the eyes of people who belong to a culture different than his own. The important rule to be observed is that no immoral, cruel, harmful and indecent acts are committed and that the sensitivities of others are respected. If the monks can lead their lives as honest, kind, harmless and understanding human beings by maintaining their human dignity and discipline, then such qualities will be appreciated in any part of the world. Maintaining the so-called traditions and customs of their respective countries of origin have little to do with the essence of the Dharma as taught by the Buddha. 

Then, there is another problem. Many people, especially those in the West who have accepted the Buddhist way of life, having read the Vinaya rules in the texts, think that the monks must follow all the rules without amending them in any part of the world, in exactly the same manner as they were recorded in the texts. We must remember that some of these rules which were practiced in Indian society 25 centuries ago are irrelevant even in Asia today. 

It must be clearly borne in mind that the Buddha instituted the rules only for the members of the Sangha community who lived in India, the region where He lived. Those monks never had any experience of the way of life in another country. 

Their main concern was with their spiritual development with the minimum of disruption and annoyance to the society where they lived. 

Today, monks may experience many other new problems, if they strictly observe all the rules in a country where people cannot appreciate or understand them.

The disciplinary code for lay devotees shows how a layman can lead a virtuous and noble life without renouncing the worldly life. The Buddha’s advice to lay people is contained in such discourses as the Mangala, Parabhava, Sigalovada, Vasala and Vygghapajja and many others.

Many Vinaya rules apply only to those who have renounced the worldly life. 

Of course a lay person may follow some of the rules if they help to develop greater spirituality.

by the Venerable Dr K. Sri Dhammananda

“When there is no desire, there is no dukkha.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

18 April 2024

“When there is no desire, there is no dukkha.”

- - -

“The first goal of studying is to know the true nature of the body, that the body isn’t you. It is just the composition of the 32 parts, like the skin, the hair of the head, hair of the body and so forth. This is the thing that we will have to remind ourselves all the time, that truly there is no ‘self’ in this body. There is only the 32 parts, which will eventually disintegrate and return to the original source. The source of these 32 parts are the four elements: earth, water, air and fire. 

What happens when the body dies? 

The body turns cold, which means the fire element has disappeared. The next thing is the wind element, there is no breathing, there is no air going in, there is only air that is escaping from the body. The next thing that will separate from the body is the liquid part. All the liquid parts in the body will ooze out of the body, leaving the body just with the earth part. 

If you leave the body in the cemetery, eventually it will turn to dust or earth. 

This is the study of the true nature of the body in order to eliminate the delusion that the body is ‘me’, so that you can be free from suffering when the body gets sick, gets old or dies. 

You will then know that you do not get sick, get old or die with the body. This is one aspect of the body that we have to study and to remind ourselves all the time. We must never forget this. 

In order not to forget, we have to think about it all the time in all four postures from the time we get up to the time we go to sleep. Just keep thinking about the body as being a composition of the 32 parts that comes from the four elements and which eventually disintegrate and return to its original source. 

If we keep reminding ourselves like this, then the delusion will not be able to have desire for the body not to die, not to get sick or not to get old, because we know that this is what the body has to be. The body will get sick, will get old and will die, but we are not the body. We are the mind. The mind doesn’t die with the body. 

If we can remember this truth all the time then when the body gets sick, gets old or dies, we will remain calm and peaceful because we will not have any desire to wish for the body not to get sick, get old or die. 

When there is no desire, there is no dukkha.

“Singapore via skype, Aug 9, 2015.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

12th March, 2022

Question:  There is no direct connection between having samādhi at the moment, and having wisdom at the same time. So we have to practise samādhi to reinforce the mind to enable it to develop wisdom.

Than Ajahn:  Right, samādhi will give you the strength to stop your mind from being greedy and angry. 

But you need wisdom to stop your anger and greed permanently by seeing that the thing you are angry with is something that you can’t do anything about. Like when you are angry at someone because the person doesn’t do the thing you want him to do for you, when you look at the truth, you realized that you can’t force the person to do something for you if the person didn’t want to do it, right?  So you see it as anattā then you can stop your anger. 

With samādhi, you can stop your anger. 

Without samādhi, even though you know that you can’t tell the person what you want him to do for you, you will still want to try it anyway. 

So you need both, samādhi and wisdom, to get rid of your defilements, your greed, hate and delusion, permanently. They are like your right hand and left hand for you to do things efficiently. 

You have to develop samādhi and wisdom separately. At one time, you develop samādhi, then the next time, you develop wisdom. You develop them alternately. You sit and meditate for an hour. After you’ve come out of meditation, you start to think in term of anicca, dukkha, anattā to teach your mind that everything will hurt you because everything is anicca, everything is anattā. When you see these in your mind all the time, when your defilement comes up, you can stop it right away. So you need to develop them both but not at the same time. 

Some people have the misperception that once they have samādhi then wisdom will arise by itself. This doesn’t happen. Because when you are in samādhi, you have emptiness; maybe emptiness can be a form of wisdom too—that truly there is nothing. Emptiness is the real happiness: this is wisdom. But how would you maintain it? How can you stay with emptiness all the time while your defilements still want you to have things to make you happy?

So maybe you can use that emptiness to remind yourself that nothing is as good as emptiness; to be alone, to be by yourself and to not have anything—that’s wisdom. How can you do it as your mind keeps going after things all the time? So you need wisdom to tell your mind that the things your mind is going after will hurt you because they are temporary, they are impermanent.

“Dhamma in English, Nov 9, 2021.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

Traumatised by being spat at!

Traumatised by being spat at!

I pressed for the lift to go down to Level 1. 

When the lift doors opened, I saw a man in a wheelchair. I declined to go in and waited for another lift to arrive.

When I subsequently walked past the same man in his wheelchair, he spat at me! I felt both disgusted and terrified by his behaviour. 

The emotions were probably reflected on my face.

I became very anxious whenever I walked through the void deck henceforth. Another time, I spotted him at a distance. He glared at me and spat on the floor! I felt traumatised.

I decided to attend the 3-day mindfulness retreat on trauma in October, and consulted one of the trainers on the incident. I was advised to do an act of kindness when I next meet him. 

At first, I felt uncomfortable with the suggestion. My thought was, "What! - be kind to him?" I wanted to hear about a strategy to stand up to him or report to the police. Instead I was encouraged to befriend him and even be kind to him! This approach is not conventional.

I did not see him for about two weeks following the retreat. Then one afternoon, I saw him sitting in his wheelchair, next to his friend, in the nearby coffee shop.

Instantly, I contemplated if I should buy some apples and give them to him in the coffee shop in the public's view or to wait for another day when he would be sitting alone in the void deck.

A thought came into my mind, "This is the best time to do it as he has never spat on me in front of the public before".

I quickly headed to a nearby fruit store and bought 2 bags of 6 largest apples. I then mustered my courage and walked up to the man in the wheelchair and handed a bag of 6 apples. He didn't look pleased when he first saw me. The angry face of the man suddenly became relaxed. He looked even more pleased and smiled when I passed him the second bag of apples to be passed to his friend, who happened to have walked away.

Indeed, the act in kindness to my perpetrator by offering him a bag of fruits worked like a miracle!

 I was surprised to see the same man in the wheelchair again the next day. 

He was on his way to take the lift. I hesitated whether to take the same lift with him. My heart was racing. 

Then I noticed his friends could be joining him too.

A thought came then came into my mind, "If I would join him in the same lift, my issue with him could be further resolved as it was my unwillingness to be in the same lift as him in the first place that provoked his aggressive behaviour towards me".

So I quickened my pace to join him to take the same lift. I then took a silent deep breath mindfully and greeted him gently, "Good evening Uncle."  I suddenly realised that he knew I was behind him all along as he could see me from his motorised wheelchair wing mirror. I thought, "Goodness, I am glad I didn't slow down or walked away to avoid him".

In an aloof tone, he spoke loudly, "Thank you for your apples!" 

I replied, "Hope you liked them".  "Of course!" He asserted.

Inside the lift, he bellowed, "Which level?"  I swiftly revealed the level I was going to. I felt uneasy revealing the information even though I believed he knew all along which level I live on. 

Looking at the lit buttons on the lift panel, all his friends were living above my level too.

He then turned to one of his friends to continue asserting his opinions about something relentlessly. All of us listened quietly and none dared to highlight to him that he was not wearing a mask.

To me, that was not important. What's important is that I'm glad I took the lift with him and I'm grateful I have gotten over the anxiety of meeting him and the fear of being spat on again by him. 

I now know kindness is the best way to overcome my fear of people I am not comfortable with. 

The above was an account from a mindfulness student who agreed for her story to be shared as she is grateful how she overcame her anxiety.

“The Buddha said, ‘Everything is like bubbles.’ It comes and goes. Everything is fleeting and transient.”

 The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

10 April 2024

“The Buddha said, ‘Everything is like bubbles.’  It comes and goes. Everything is fleeting and transient.”

Insight or vipassanā will tell you that everything that you think is good for you is actually bad for you.  So, once you see that everything you desire is bad for you, you will stop desiring for them.  Why are they bad for you?  It’s because they are impermanent; they are temporary.  

They might be good for you briefly but after a while things will change.  Things that make you happy can turn out to make you unhappy.  

So, everything is like that.  Everything will change or disappear.  You may get happiness from getting what you want and once you’ve got it, that good feeling will disappear in a few days.   

What you have doesn’t mean anything to you anymore.  You got to have something more, something better.  

If you have vipassanā or insight, you’ll see that everything is temporary.  They are like a mirage.  

They seem real but when you have them, they don’t seem to be like what you think before you have them. 

Before you have them, you think they are everything.  But once you have them, you say, ‘It’s no big deal.’  

So, it’s your mind that conjure up images of thing to make them look great (makes them have the picture, the greatness of things).  But in fact, everything is not that great.”  

The Buddha said, ‘Everything is like bubbles.’  It comes and goes.  You cannot hold on to anything for long.  Everything is fleeting and transient.  You can see thing but you cannot control it.  You cannot tell it to be like this all the time.  Some days when you have good feeling, you will say, ‘Oh!  I want to have this good feeling all the time.’ But you cannot do that.  Sooner or later, it will evolve into something else.  

If you have this insight that see the (true) nature of things around you, then you can see that the things that you desire for are not really that good.  In fact, they will make you sad and hurt you one day because they will change or disappear.  So, it’s better not to have them. It’s better to go back to your samādhi.  

Once you’ve got rid of your desire, then there will be nothing to disturb your samādhi, your peace of mind.  Then your samādhi (calm) will be continuous without having to enter into samādhi.  You can be sitting normally like this and your mind can be peaceful and calm as if you’re in samādhi. That’s what Lord Buddha called, ‘Nibbāna,’ the permanent state of calm. 

Regardless of what happens, the mind is not being affected because the mind does not have any desire for anything.  The mind has gotten rid of the desire for the body.  

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Youtube: Dhamma in English

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

"You should pay no attention to and leave supramundane matters alone if you have yet to attain liberation.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

15 July 2023

"You should pay no attention to and leave supramundane matters alone if you have yet to attain liberation.”

- - -

Question: How does one get to communicate with others through telepathy?  Are there ways to attain that level or ability? 

Than Ajahn: You just have to calm your mind. 

However, not everyone with a calm mind will have such an ability. It depends on your accumulated merits and perfections. 

If you had practised and trained your mind in your previous lives, your mind would have this telepathic ability.

The Buddha, for example, could communicate with various celestial beings. Luangpu Mun's mind could also communicate with other heavenly beings (devas). That's why all the devas were grateful to them because the devas could listen to their teachings, just as you are at the moment.

But if someone who teaches Dhamma doesn't have such a telepathic ability, then the devas cannot listen or gain access to the teachings from them. All these supramundane abilities are like bonuses or gifts. It's good if you have them because you can use them to benefit others. But you must be careful. If you still have defilements (kilesas), you might get tricked by your own defilements and use them in a way that will bring more suffering.

You should pay no attention to and leave these supramundane matters alone if you have yet to attain liberation; you'll end up being the subject of your own kilesas. Instead of ridding yourself of defilements, they will make your kilesas even more powerful. 

Take Devadatta as an example. You have to be careful as they will only waste your time. 

They'll derail you from and ruin your practice for liberation as you'll end up not practising. 

When you get into a state of absorption, you'll want to communicate with other people and minds. Or maybe you'll want to recollect your previous lives or know about what others are thinking. These things could very well happen, but are nonetheless not of any use to your practice and aim for liberation.

But if you've attained enlightenment, you may then use your knowledge and these special abilities as means to help you teach others. 

They can promote your audiences' faith and conviction while encouraging them to put what they've learnt into practice.

The Buddha, for instance, used his supranatural ability with Angulimala. 

Angulimala was running as fast as he could but he couldn't catch up with the Buddha who was walking calmly. 

‘The Blessed One willed a feat of psychic power such that Angulimala, though running with all his might, could not catch up with the Blessed One walking at normal pace.' This bewildered Angulimala so much that he called the Buddha to stop.

The Buddha said that he himself had already stopped and that it was Angulimala who should stop. 

Angulimala asked for further explanation, after which the Buddha said that he had stopped himself from his own greed, hatred, and delusion. 

Angulimala suddenly came to the realisation that his pursuit was out of his own misapprehension—a misguided path. He then put the Buddha's teachings into practice, eradicating his own greed, hatred, and delusion, until he attained his arahantship in the end. 

Such is a way to make good use of one's special ability. But if you still have defilements, there's no doubt that you'll use your abilities as means for your defilements, bringing your own demise in the end, just as it happened with Devadatta.

“Essential Teachings.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

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Awareness technique

Awareness technique

The first method of training awareness is to be aware of the present physical and mental phenomenon, all phenomena are the goal of awareness.

The Buddha said in ′′ The One Night's Wrecker :" ′′ Notwithstanding the past, not pleased with the future; the past has been abandoned, the future has not yet arrived; the present is willing to see, and to see every law; surely it will not be shaken, and learn to learn See; today is diligent, who knows tomorrow will die?"

We don't need to find goals or create awareness goals. Any physical and mental phenomenon that first appears is the goal of awareness. 

Observing, instead of deliberately looking for the target, the observer must first seize the body and mind and wait for the phenomena that occur naturally in the body and mind, and then observe them with a sober awareness, without judgment, and accept everything that happens, The ' good ' or the ' bad ' ones. In the process of observation, a walker is developing his ' positive ', ' positive ', ' positive ' and ' positive '.

The second is that the observer observes it in a calm and relaxed attitude, not engaging and not overly focused. Our aim is to fix vipassana, that is, ' view ', so we cannot participate in the observed phenomenon, and do not turn the phenomenon into ', ', and then become samatha, That's ' sure '. So the observer cannot join any individual's emotional role, observe the observed physical and mental phenomena, with enthusiasm (atapi) and equal mind. The merely perceived or aware of the physical and mental phenomena observed. So we don't need to spend a lot of energy on repairing it, as long as we can perceive it is enough. The more we pretend, the more difficult it is to understand, because the heart has become tight, too much work, this will cause tiredness, so must Going to relax. When the heart is glued to the goal, it is enough to know that it is ' greed ', it is enough to know that it is ' greed ', and it is not necessary to restrain it. Similarly, for any unpleasant physical and mental phenomenon, unhappy thoughts that arise in the heart, or exclude it, it is enough to know that it is 'thorny'. This is the teachings of the Buddha in the heart of the Sutra of the Dainen Sutra, and other mentality is the same

The third is to allow the truth to appear naturally, that is, Xiuhui, that is, to see the physical and mental phenomenon ' impermanence ', ' bitter ', and ' This must appear in a state of unwantedness, anything that comes from thinking is not 'Guan Zi', it is thinking. I think it's one of the five.

As shown below. The Sherifer said to yamaka, ′′ I think, I think, I think, I think, I think, I think. To protect and pity these five goodies, they were finally hurt by these five grudges, just like that rich man, who was blasphemy and pretending to be a friend and not aware of it. And the Holy Disciples observed them like sickness, like thorns, like thorns, and like slaughter. Impermanence, bitter, empty, not me, not mine. They are not persistent to these five commandments, not persistent to feel, not persistent to feel, so they do not cling to, and they do not cling to their own consciousness, and I am done, and I have done, and I have done, and I know that I have not."[ ) ())

As soon as we complain, we will persist in ' the body is me ', ' the body is me ', ' I think it's me ', ' it's me ', ' it's me ', ' know it's me ', ' at once twenty ' I ' will be born, and the And then forgets the awareness, and is controlled by greed and bribery. This is a common problem with practitioners.

Those people will testify that they can focus on fixing the fate, whether it be Anapana sati or cankama, and then look at the body and mind with pure heart, and see the truth when time is enough. He has always done it seriously according to the teachings of his mentors. In practice, he does not draw up his feet, is not self-righteous, is focused on doing it, is quietly and orderly, and is dealing with the greed of his heart, the blasphemy and the idiots, and the wrong perception of his body is It's also idiots, greed and vigilance will also appear anytime and anywhere, so the heart must be very quiet, always aware! Awareness! Awareness! The Buddha's perception (Buddha) is the consciousness of the truth, seeing the truth, and knowing the truth. The mind that trains awareness is always observing the body and the mind, and it is not practicing if it is not aware of them.

The reaction of recognizing the color, sound, fragrance, taste, touch, and heart that we encounter is to know our heart all the time, that is to fix our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and meaning. Our hearts have always known through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, meaning, what? 

Knowing the color, sound, fragrance, taste, touch, and law of the outside world, our heart will always have all kinds of thoughts, that is, it will love, hate, and our first step is to know them, this That is to be aware, to be aware, that when the troubles last, we will be tond it, and in various ways that the Buddha taught us, we will be able to tune the greed (kamachanda, tanha), vyapada, Earn ($) in points! 

Details And if we keep in this way, we are fixing the six roots, which is called the law, and evil is not born, and evil is broken, and this is the troubles of the heart.

′′ Training the mind of the awareness ′′ method grows old

***********************

觉知的技巧

训练觉知的方法第一是觉知当下的身心现象，一切的现象都是觉知的目标。

佛陀在《一夜贤者偈》中说：「不顾于过去，不欣于将来；过去已抛弃，未来还未至；当下愿能见，慧观每一法；肯定不动摇，修习得彻见；今日精勤修，谁知明日死？」

我们不需要去发掘目标，或者去创造觉知的目标。任何第一时间显现的身心现象都是觉知的目标。随缘而观察，而不是刻意去找目标，观察者先要安住身心，等待身心自然发生的现象，然后以清醒的觉知力去观察它们，不加以判断，接受一切发生的现象，不论它是‘好’或‘坏’的。在观照的过程，一个行者是在发展他的‘正念’、‘正定’、‘正精进’和‘正思惟’。

 第二是观察者以平静而放松的态度观察它，不参与，不过于专注。我们的目的是在修毗婆舍那（vipassana），即是‘观’，所以不能参与所观察的现象，不要把现象变成‘所缘’，然后变成修奢摩他（samatha），即是‘定’了。所以观察者是不能加入任何个人的感情作用，对所观察到的身心现象，以热诚（atapi）和平等的心态去观察它们。禅修者纯粹的只是觉知或知道所观察到的身心现象。所以我们不须要耗费很大的气力去修，只要能够觉知就够了，越是装作，就越难觉知，因为心已经变的紧绷了，过于造作了，这将会引起疲倦，所以必须要放松。当心粘着于目标时，要觉知它是‘贪’，知道它是‘贪’时就已足够了，不需要克制它。同样的，对任何不愉快的身心现象，心中生起的不喜之念，或排斥它，我们也只要知道它是‘瞋’就够了。这是佛陀在《大念处经》心念处部分的教导，其他的心态也是一样。

 第三是让真相自然显现，这即是修慧，即是看到身心现象的‘无常’、‘苦’、和‘无我’。这必须在不想的状态下出现的，任何从想而出现的都不是‘观智’，它是想。想即是五蕴之一。

 就如下经所示。舍利弗尊者对焰摩迦（yamaka）说道：「愚痴无闻凡夫对五蕴作常想、安稳想、不会病想、我想、属於我想。对这五蕴善加保护爱惜，终於被这五个怨贼所害，就如那个大富翁，被怨贼假装成亲友所害而不觉知。焰摩迦，多闻圣弟子对这五蕴观察它们如病、如痈、如刺、如杀。无常、苦、空、非我、非我所。他们对这五蕴不执著、不执著感受、不执著感受故不粘著，不粘著故自觉涅盘，我生已尽，梵行已立，所作已作，自知不受后有。」《杂阿含104经》（同南传《相应部》22 相 应85 经）

 我们一愚痴起来，就会执着‘身体是我’，‘受是我’，‘想是我’，‘行是我’，‘识是我’，一下子二十个‘我’就生起来，结果就是在造业，然后又忘记了觉知，就被贪和瞋控制住。这是修行人常犯的毛病。

 那些人会证果就是他们能专注于修定所缘，不论是安般念（Anapana sati）或是经行（cankama），然后以纯净的心观照身心，时间够了就能够看到真相。他是一直认真的按照导师的教导做，在修行上，不画蛇添足，不自以为是，专心的做，安静有序的做，对付心里的贪、瞋和痴，对身体的错误看法是一种邪见，也是痴，贪和瞋也是会随时随地出现的，所以心必须非常安静，一直在觉知！觉知！觉知！佛陀的觉（buddhi）就是觉悟真相，看到了真相，知道了真相。训练觉知的心一直在观察身心，全天候的随时随地觉知它，若不觉知它们的话，那就不是在修行。

 认清我们所遇到的色、声、香、味、触、法后心的反应，就是一直在认识我们的心，就是在修眼、耳、鼻、舌、身、意。我们的心是一直通过眼、耳、鼻、舌、身、意而知道的，知道什么？知道外界的色、声、香、味、触、法，这样，我们的心就会一直起各种各样的念头，就是它会起爱，会起恨，我们的工作第一步是要认识它们，这就是觉知，能觉知，当烦恼（kilesa）持续时我们就要调伏它，以佛陀教我们的各种方法去调伏心中所起的贪爱（kamachanda, tanha）、瞋恨（vyapada）、昏沉睡眠(tinna middha)、掉举（uddhacca kukkucca）、怀疑（viccikicca）、我慢（mana）等烦恼。如果我们一直这样调伏的话，我们就是在修六根，这也叫做律仪，恶未生不生，恶已生即断，这就是在调伏心中的烦恼。

——《训练觉知的心》法增长老

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

17 October 2024

Question:  The ego cannot kill the ego so I ask myself: How do I transcend my ego - my false sense of separate self?

Than Ajahn:  You use knowledge. 

Because your ego is the production of your delusion, your ignorance. 

Because in reality there is no ego. An ego is just an invention by your mind due to ignorance of the true nature of the mind. The mind is the one who knows, who thinks. But it isn’t an ego, it isn’t a self, it isn’t a person. It is just a function, like knowing and thinking. 

But it thinks that this thinking is itself; is an ego. So you have to use wisdom or knowledge to get rid of your ego. 

The knowledge of the truth. How do you get to this truth? You have to meditate. When you meditate, when your mind becomes calm, then your ego will disappear because your thoughts stop thinking. And you realize that your ego is the product of your thoughts, your thinking.

“Dhamma in English, May 24, 2019.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

Modes of Birth and Death

Modes of Birth and Death 

Buddhism explains four modes of birth: egg-born beings, womb-born beings, moisture-born beings, and beings having spontaneous births.

The beings that have a spontaneous birth are generally invisible to the physical eye. 

Conditioned by their past kamma, they appear spontaneously without passing through an embryonic stage. Spirits (Petas), divine beings (Devas) and Brahmas belong to this group.

In Buddhism, death is assigned to one of the four causes:

1. Exhaustion of the Reproductive Kammic energy -

The Buddhist belief is that, as a rule, the thought, volition or desire, which is extremely strong during a life-time becomes predominant at the time of death and conditions the subsequent birth. A special potentiality is present in this last thought moment. When the potential energy of this Reproductive Kamma is exhausted, the organic activities of the material form in which is embodied the life-force, cease even before the end of the lifespan in that particular plane. This often happens in the case of beings who are born in states of misery; but it can happen in other planes also.

2. Exhaustion of the Natural Life-Span -

The expiration of the life-term varies in different planes. Natural deaths, due to old age, may be classed under this category.

3. Death due to the simultaneous exhaustion of the Reproductive Kammic energy and expiration of the life-term.

4. The opposing action of a stronger Kamma that unexpectedly obstructs the flow of the Reproductive Kamma before the life term expires. Sudden, untimely deaths and deaths of children are due to this cause.

Death, according to Buddhism, is the cessation of the psycho-physical life of any one individual existence. 

It takes place by the passing away of vitality, i.e. psychic and physical life-stream of consciousness. The only difference between the passing of one thought to another in a single life-time and of the dying thought-moment to the rebirth consciousness, is that in the latter case, a marked perceptible physical death is apparent to all.

~ Ven. Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda

“When you're unhappy, you'd blame the things that you can physically see. In reality, your discontent is due to your own craving.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

6 April 2024

“When you're unhappy, you'd blame the things that you can physically see. In reality, your discontent is due to your own craving.”

- - -

Question: How is cultivating mindfulness related to being aware of dukkha —the first of the Four Noble Truths? 

Than Ajahn: Cultivating mindfulness (sati) has to do with the fourth Noble Truth, or the path (magga). It is to be aware and mindful of the movement of and changes in your body. There are four foundations to the Establishing of Mindfulness: body (kāya), feelings (vedanā), mind (citta), and phenomena (dhamma).

In the beginning, you have to start from the body—to use it as your basis (to cultivate mindfulness) for it is the easiest object of contemplation. Feelings, mind, and phenomena are subtler and more profound, hence difficult for beginners to penetrate. 

You have to be able to establish an awareness of your body first—to ground your mind and train it to be in the present in order to gain concentration (samādhi). You'll be able to see your suffering (dukkha)—the first of the Four Noble Truths—once your mind is concentrated. You won't be able to discern the first of the Four Noble Truths when your mind is restless, unfocussed, and distracted. When you're unhappy, you'd blame the things that you can physically see. You'd blame others, attributing your unhappiness to their actions. In reality, your discontent is due to your own craving—wanting them to be in a certain way.

In order for you to notice your unhappiness or discern dukkha— the first of the Four Noble Truths, you first need to calm and focus your mind. You ought to cultivate your mindfulness because it will lead to your mental calm and concentration. With a calm mind, you'll able to notice the difference immediately when suffering arises. It's because your mind will waver as opposed to being tranquil. The arising of suffering is like repercussions of throwing a stone into a pond. 

Only those with calm minds will notice the suffering when it arises, whereas those with unruly minds won't because their minds are constantly in flux. So to discern the first Noble Truth, or dukkha, requires an establishing of mindfulness—getting the mind concentrated first. The Buddha thus emphasised cultivating the path, or magga. Magga includes: generosity (dāna), precepts (sıla), and mental cultivation (bhāvanā). 

Bhāvanā is basically to establish mindfulness (sati), concentration (samādhi), and wisdom (paññā).

“Essential Teachings.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

 Although there were a number of supranatural events in Ajaan Lee's autobiography that were truly remarkable, a rarely seen facet of his personality that the following excerpt highlights is nothing short of amazing in its own right, especially in light of the period's lingua franca and his solemn wilderness warrior-monk persona. 

While it was neither as spectacular nor as intensely focused as in the episode where he stopped a raging elephant in its tracks by radiating thoughts of good will towards it, Ajaan Lee's metta and kindness towards those around him are just as palpable here. 

Instead of trying to maintain the image of an infallible teacher and keeping to himself to avoid the embarrassment of faltering over foreign languages, he was willing to step out of his and into the comfort zone of others, trying his best to communicate with these people in their languages though he could not speak them properly, even going out of his way to the extent of using sign language to answer the questions that a person who had impinged on his sleep had for him.

Ajaan Fuang once described Ajaan Lee as a very curious person who would, if he had met Ajaan Geoff, pick his brain to learn what a modern university education teaches. As could be seen in the manner with which he had conducted himself here, virtues like patience, humility, and being genuine underlie his ability to win over strangers. In fact, these were the same qualities that worked together with his intellectual inquisitiveness to help him develop into a consummate meditator and a nonpareil teacher, and should serve as food for thought for the discerning person looking to enhance their own practice. 

Through his exemplary conduct and endearing mannerisms in a foreign land, Ajaan Lee further affirmed the truth of the following stanza in the Mangala Sutta for the people who had the good fortune of meeting him, all of which served to strengthen their conviction in the Triple Gem whilst he played his part- like he'd always been doing- to ensure that the true Dhamma might last for a long time with his relatively brief yet absolutely meaningful life: 

Khantī ca sovacassatā

Samaṇānañ-ca dassanaṁ

Kālena dhamma-sākacchā

Etam-maṅgalam-uttamaṁ.

Patience, composure, seeing contemplatives,

discussing the Dhamma on timely occasions: 

This is the highest blessing.

~ Admin, 

Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo's Facebook Page

* * * * * 

"After daybreak, when I had finished my meal, the wife of the man in whose house we were staying got us onto the bus to Kyondo (Steamboat) Landing. From there we took the boat to Moulmein. The ride lasted about four hours. While we were on the boat, Indians and Burmese came to talk with me, but I couldn’t understand much of what they were saying. At about four in the afternoon the boat reached Moulmein. From here we had to take another boat across the river to Martaban, a ride that took a fair while. Reaching the shore we could see the railroad station far in the distance.

The train wasn’t going to leave until 7 p.m., we learned at the station, so we went to wait under the shade of a tree. A young man, about 30 years old and very well-mannered, came and approached us, saying, ‘You have special permission to sit and wait in the train before it leaves, because you’re Thai and have come a long way.’ He called me ‘Yodhaya Gong Yi.’

So I said in English, ‘Thank you very much.’

He smiled, raised his hands in respect, and asked in English, ‘Where do you come from?’

‘I come from Siam.’

Then we went to rest in the train car. Some of the railway officials came to chat with me, and we were able to understand one another fairly well, speaking in Burmese mixed with English. 

When the time came, the train left. We traveled by night, and the air was very cold. I slept all wrapped up in a blanket. Nai Chin sat up and watched over our things. When the train reached the station at Pegu, a woman about 30 or so got on and sat down right near where I was sleeping and started asking me questions in Burmese, some of which I could understand and some of which I couldn’t. I sat up to talk with her, in order to be polite. I said in Burmese, ‘I’m going to Rangoon.’

‘Where will you stay?’

‘Schwe Dagon.’

We talked using sign language. She seemed quite taken with me. The train traveled on until about 5 a.m., when she got off. Nai Chin and I stayed on until the train reached Rangoon at dawn, just as the monks were going out for alms.

A layperson came running into the train car and helped us with our things, as if he knew us well. 

He invited us into his car. We got in and sat down without saying a word. He took us to Schwe Dagon Pagoda, where we found a place to stay. The man—his name was Mawng Khwaen—turned out to be a very faithful supporter all during our stay in Rangoon, looking after our needs and helping us in every way.

We stayed twelve days at the Pagoda and got to know a good number of Burmese laypeople. 

We were able to converse and understand one another fairly well.

Nai Chin and I then left Rangoon, taking the boat at the city docks and heading on to India. The boat took two nights and three days to cross the Bay of Bengal, reaching the docks at Calcutta just at dark. On the boat I met a Bengali monk from Kusinara. We discussed the Dhamma, sometimes in Pali, sometimes in Bengali, sometimes in English. Sometimes in one sentence we’d have to use up to three languages before we could understand each other, starting out in Bengali, going on in Pali, and finishing off in English. 

It never occurred to me to feel embarrassed about not being able to speak correctly, though, because I really couldn’t speak correctly. Even what I could say, I couldn’t pronounce properly. 

We seemed to become close friends during our time out on the ocean."

*******

From The Autobiography of Phra Ajaan Lee, translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu 

https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/AutobioAjaanLee/Section0001.html

“You need to be aware that the suffering that you experience has to do with your mind and not your physical body.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart

28 November 2024

“You need to be aware that the suffering that you experience has to do with your mind and not your physical body.”

- - -

Question: Is there a boundary to an awareness of suffering (dukkha)? Does dukkha, itself, have boundaries and to what extent? 

Than Ajahn: You need to be aware that the suffering that you experience has to do with your mind and not your physical body. For example, when your body is healthy with no ailments—eating and sleeping properly—and yet you still feel uneasy, that is the kind of discontentment of which you need to be aware. 

The dukkha that is in your mind entails any sense of dis-ease, worries, anxiety, and agitation.

You also need to be aware that the dukkha, which is in your mind, comes from your own craving. It is your craving for things to be in a certain way and when things don't go according to your wishes, you feel agitated and uneasy.

Such discontentment, or dukkha, needs to be addressed on a mental level. It is to see to the root cause—your craving. For instance, you shouldn't crave to fix or change someone else. 

You get upset when they don't act according to your wishes. If you want to cure your discontentment, you shouldn't try to fix or change them. Don't criticise or force them to act according to your wishes. You instead should quell your own craving: take into consideration that whoever upsets you doesn't belong to you (anatta)—not within your command nor under your control to do or act as you wish them to.

To rid yourself of your own dis-ease is to put an end to your own desires for others to be in a certain way. 

Such are the boundaries of being aware of your own suffering. It is to know that the suffering comes from your own craving and desire; it has only to do with your mind and not with your body.

Physical suffering—the sickness and pain of your body—may also be the cause of your mental agitation. 

For instance, when you're ill, your longing to get well or fear of not recovering and death are all considered 'cravings'. Your longings for your body to not suffer, to recover, and to not die all give rise to your discontentment.

You may be able to address the issue temporarily on a physical level. For example, seeing a doctor when you're ill will cure your dis-ease temporarily. But you'll get all upset again when the sickness reoccurs.

You need to address the issue in your mind if you want to cure your suffering permanently. It is to curb your mental craving of wanting your body not to get sick. You have to accept the reality: your body is always prone to illnesses and will die one day—no one can prevent the inevitable.

If you can rid yourself of your desires to not get ill or die, you'll then be permanently free from your suffering and discontent related to your health and sickness. You won't suffer no matter how often you may be subjected to illnesses—your mind won't be troubled or affected.

This is how to address the issue—to cure the craving in one's heart and mind and not the suffering of one's body. The physical suffering is rather trivial. What really matter are the dukkha in your mind and its causes: craving not to age, not to get ill, and not to die. Your ageing, illnesses (whether you recover or not), and death will not bother or matter to you in any way once you've addressed the root cause.

“Essential Teachings.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

“An Arahant doesn’t have bad thoughts, he only has good thoughts because it is how an Arahant became one. He only thinks about good thoughts”

The Teachings if Ajahn Suchart

1 April 2024

“An Arahant doesn’t have bad thoughts, he only has good thoughts because it is how an Arahant became one. He only thinks about good thoughts”

Question:  Do the Buddha and the Arahants still carry on practising meditation after their enlightenment?

Than Ajahn:  They do it for the pleasure of resting their minds. The mind can still get tired after they teach people or after they think. 

They don’t do it to get rid of the defilements because there are no more defilements to get rid of. 

Meditation is like a therapeutic activity to make their mind rested and healthy. 

………

Question:  Does an Arahant still have unpleasant thoughts or are all his thoughts neutral? 

Than Ajahn:  An Arahant can have good or bad thoughts but he is not attached to these thoughts. He is not affected by these thoughts. 

When he sees people die, or people being abused, his mind is not disturbed by it. His mind is not disturbed by whatever thoughts that arise. I would say an Arahant doesn’t have bad thoughts, he only has good thoughts because it is how an Arahant became one. He becomes an Arahant because he has gotten rid of the bad thoughts. 

He only thinks about good thoughts.

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Youtube: Dhamma in English

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

True Offerings

True Offerings

The practice of Offering gets rid of selfishness; the practice of Precepts keeps one thoughtful of the rights and comforts of others; the practice of Endurance helps one to control a fearful or angry mind; the practice of Endeavor helps one to be diligent and faithful; the practice of Concentration helps one to control a wandering and futile mind; and the practice of Wisdom changes a dark and confused mind into a clear and penetrating insight.

Offering and Keeping Precepts make the foundation necessary to build a great castle on. 

Endurance and Endeavor are the walls of the castle that protect it against enemies from outside. Concentration and Wisdom are the personal armor that protects one against the assaults of life and death.

If one gives away a gift only when convenient, or because it is easier to give than not to give, it is an offering, of course, but it is not a True Offering. 

A True Offering comes from a sympathetic heart before any request is made, and a True Offering is the one that gives not occasionally but constantly.

Neither is it a True Offering if after the act there are feelings of regret or of self-praise; a True Offering is one that is given with pleasure, forgetting oneself as the giver, the one who receives it and the gift itself.

True Offering springs spontaneously from one’s pure compassionate heart with no thought of any return, wishing to enter into a life of Enlightenment together.