The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.
27 May 2024
“You can practise regardless of the conditions. It is just a matter of progress.”
Taking care of your parents is also a form of practice. If you don’t look after your parents, who will? It is a path one must take. If you can’t take a direct path, then you just have to go along with it and take care of your parents first. If you don’t look after them, your mind will run into problems during your practice anyway. You’ll feel bad about yourself and not be able to practise properly.
I think taking care of your parents shouldn’t be an obstacle to your practice. If you’re smart enough, you’ll be able to manage. That is, you’ll be able to find time to be away from them. But if your parents can no longer take care of themselves and there’s no one else to look after them for you, then your caring for them can serve to cultivate merit and perfections for the time being.
Venerable Ananda is an example. He is unlike other monks. He took care of and served the Buddha for twenty-five years. He only attained a stream entry (sotāpana) during the time that he was the Buddha’s attendant. But other monks, who didn’t have such a responsibility, went on to attain enlightenment very quickly after ordaining; they listened to the Buddha's Dhamma and practised on their own in the forest. It depends on each individual’s path.
But Venerable Ananda also benefited a lot from being around the Buddha and constantly hearing his teachings. He attained his own enlightenment only three months after the Buddha passed away.
So don’t think that taking care of your parents is an obstacle. Think of it as a path that you must take for the time being. This will give you determination and confidence in your own destination. It is better than acting prematurely.
Do you understand? If you were to do something prematurely, you could end up being worse off or with nothing.
Wherever you are, you can practise there and then. The only thing that varies is how much you can gain from it. So don’t worry. Doing good deeds regardless of place and time will lead you to where you want to be.
If you don’t have other options, then you must carry on with it. But if you do have a better alternative, why wouldn’t you take it? For example, if there are two traffic routes, one is very congested and time-consuming whereas the other is not, wouldn’t you take the latter?
But you must take what's given if you don't have any other options.
You can practise regardless of the conditions.
It is just a matter of progress. Sometimes you just have to bear with it when there’s no other option. If there’s still an obligation that you can’t free yourself from, then you just have to accept it for the time being. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything. You can still meditate and read Dhamma books.
Taking care of your parents isn’t an around-the-clock job. When you have already fed them and happen to have some free time, you can read Dhamma books or meditate. It might not be as intense as practising at a monastery, but you’re still doing what you can.
It’s like being stuck in traffic and there’s no other route, so you just have to stick to it for the time being.
Once there’s a better route, then take it. Each of our paths is completely different. I am not sure if it’s because of my merit or what, but I just happened to have a favourable option without planning it out beforehand.
By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto
Youtube: Dhamma in English
No comments:
Post a Comment