The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.
6 August 2024
“The Noble Eightfold Path is divided into two levels: the laypeople level and the meditator level."
Question: Can you please advise about the duty of a person and the importance of sacrifice in order to successfully walk the Noble Eightfold Path?
Than Ajahn: The Noble Eightfold Path is divided into two levels: the laypeople level and the meditator level.
For the laypeople level, they should do dāna, charity. If they can afford to share, then they should share with those who are less fortunate. And they must keep the five precepts so that they don’t hurt other people and themselves. To live with other people, you have to be generous, be kind, and also you should not hurt other people. You have to keep the five precepts and practice generosity. This is the duty of laypeople.
For meditators, for the people who are ordained, they live a different level of practice.
They will not live with the family or the community. If they were to live in a community, it will be the community of monks. In this community, they live separately, they don’t socialize. They only come together when they have to do their daily routine. They try to maintain mindfulness and keep their minds calm by not conversing, and not interacting with each other.
These are the two levels of practice for the Noble Eightfold Path. First, you practice the lower level as the laypersons. You practice generosity and keep the five precepts. If you have spare time, before you go to bed, you meditate and read Dhamma books, so you have some wisdom of the Buddha to guide your life.
But you can only do this on the minimal level because you won’t have much time to practice.
You have to spend more time in your working life. You have to make a living. So, most of your time will be devoted to making a living and then spending money for enjoyment. You won’t have much time to meditate or read the wisdom of the Buddha. But you should do as much as you can because it can then lead you to the next level.
If you don’t meditate, if you don’t study the teaching of the Buddha, you will be stuck in the lower level.
But if you read the teaching of the Buddha and you practice meditation, then you’ll have the strength or the capability to move up to the next level, to live an ordained life, live a monk’s life. Everybody starts the same way. We all start from the low level first and after that we move to the higher level.
By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto
Youtube: Dhamma in English
No comments:
Post a Comment