“You can do your tudong inside the temple.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

30 June 2024

“You can do your tudong inside the temple.”

- - -

Monk: With regards to gaining samādhi, is it more on trying different methods or is it just a matter of keeping on doing one practice or whatever practice one is doing?

Than Ajahn: I think the main problem that has created all your hindrances is your lack of mindfulness. If you have mindfulness then all this problem will disappear. 

You also need the support of other practices like the support of moderation in eating or fasting. 

Sometimes when you eat too much you get drowsy, sleepy and you don’t feel like doing walking or sitting meditation, then you might have to fast. When you fast, your mind becomes alert because it is hungry. It forces you to maintain mindfulness, to stop your mind from thinking about food.

By doing this, you gain mindfulness and when you sit in samādhi, your mind becomes peaceful and calm and the hunger disappears because most of the hunger arises from the mind and not the body. There are two types of hunger, the physical hunger and the mental hunger. The mental hunger is the main culprit, the main problem. 

Ninety percent of the hunger comes from your mind.

Once you stop thinking about food and your mind has samādhi, your mind will become full and you feel that the hunger of the body is very minimal, and it has no effect on your mind. So it is good to fast if you have this temperament, and if it fits your character. Fasting is a good method. It is a fast track to get your practice going, to get rid of your hindrances.

When I first started my practice, I still had problems with thinking about food in the evening. The mind still thought about food, but once I started fasting, all the thoughts in the evening about food disappeared. 

So it was very good. This is considered as part of the Buddha’s instruction, moderation in eating. If you eat too much, you’ll be sleepy. Sometimes even eating once a day can be too much for a practitioner, so you might have to skip meals, maybe fast for 3 days, 5 days, then you will find that you are constantly alert and you are forced to maintain mindfulness to stop thinking about food. 

If you cannot stop thinking about food then eventually you will not be able to maintain your fast or maintain your practice. You also have to be alone, and have minimal activity with other people. This is why fasting is helpful because it leaves you alone, you don’t have to come to do any communal work. You can be alone in your kuti or you might find a place in the forest to sit and walk. So you don’t need to go dhutanga outside of the temple. 

You can do your tudong inside the temple, which is much more convenient because you don’t have to worry about where to find food. 

You will also be close to your teacher who will constantly remind you about what you should be doing. If you go out dhutanga by yourself, sometimes your mind can go wild. Instead of practicing, sometimes you might think where should I go next? What should I do next? So I never went for dhutanga. I stayed in the temple and did my dhutanga by fasting.

“Monks from Wat Pah Nanachaat, Jun 9, 2015”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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