The Teaching of Ajahn Cheah

The Teaching of Ajahn Chah

The Buddha’s teaching states that there is no better means to overcome suffering than to see that “this is not  my self,” “this is not mine.” This is the greatest method.  

But we don’t usually pay attention to this. When suffering arises we simply cry over it without learning from it. 

Why is that so? We must take a good hard look at these things, to develop the Buddho, the one who knows.

Take note, some of you may not be aware that this is Dhamma teaching.  

I’m going to give you some Dhamma  that’s outside the scriptures. Most  people read the scriptures but don’t see the Dhamma. Today I am going to give you a teaching that’s outside the scriptures. Some people may miss  the point or not understand it.

Suppose two people are walking together and see a duck and a chicken. One of them says, “Why isn’t that chicken like the duck, why isn’t the duck like the chicken?” He wants the chicken to be a duck and the duck to be a chicken. It’s impossible. If it’s impossible, then even if that person were to wish for the duck to be a chicken and the chicken to be a duck for the rest of his life it would not come to pass, because the chicken is a chicken and the duck is a duck. As long as that person thought like that he would suffer. The other person might see that the chicken is a chicken and the duck is a duck, and that’s all there is to it. There is no problem. He sees rightly. If you want the duck to be a chicken and the chicken to be a duck you are really going to suffer.

In the same way, the law of aniccam states that all things are impermanent. If you want things to be permanent you’re going to suffer. 

Whenever impermanence shows itself you’re going to be disappointed. 

One who sees that things are naturally impermanent will be at ease, there will be no conflict. The one who wants things to be  permanent is going to have conflict, maybe even losing sleep over it. This is to be ignorant of aniccam˙, impermanence, the teaching of the Buddha.

If you want to know the Dhamma where should you look? You must look within the body and the mind. You won’t find it in the shelves of a bookcase. To really see the Dhamma you have to look within your own body and mind. There are only these two things. The mind is not visible to the physical eye, it must be seen with the “mind’s eye.”   

Before the Dhamma can be realized  you must know where to look. The Dhamma that is in the body must be seen in the body. And with what do we look at the body? We look at the  body with the mind.  

You won’t find the Dhamma looking  anywhere else, because both  happiness and suffering arise right here. Or have you seen happiness  arising in the trees? Or from the  rivers, or the weather? Happiness and suffering are feelings which arise in our own bodies and minds.

Therefore the Buddha tells us to know the Dhamma right here.The Dhamma is right here, we must look right here.The Master may tell you to look at the Dhamma in the books, but if you think that this is where the Dhamma really is, you’ll never see it.  

Having looked at the books you must reflect on those teachings inwardly.  

Then you can understand the Dhamma. Where does the real  Dhamma exist? It exists right here in this body and mind of ours. This is the essence of contemplation practice.

When we do this, wisdom will arise in our minds. When there is wisdom in our minds, then no matter where we  look there is Dhamma, we will see  aniccam˙, dukkham˙, and anatta¯ at  all times. Aniccam˙means transient.  Dukkham˙– if we cling to the things  that are transient we must suffer, because they are not us or ours (anatta¯). But we don’t see this, we always see them as being our self and  belonging to us.

This means that you don’t see the truth of convention. You should understand conventions. For example, all of us sitting here have names. Are our names born with us or are they assigned to us afterwards? Do you  understand?  

This is convention. Is convention useful? Of course it’s useful. For example, suppose there are four men, A, B, C, and D. They all must have their individual names for convenience in communicating and working together. If we wanted to speak to Mr. A we could call Mr. A and he would come, not the others.  

This is the convenience of  convention. But when we look deeply into the matter we will see that really there isn’t anybody there. We will see transcendence.  

There is only earth, water, wind and fire, the four elements. This is all  there is to this body of ours.

~ Ajahn Chah