The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.
21 December 2023
Layperson: There is a fear of war. Many people are dying.
Than Ajahn: You have to look at the big picture that everybody dies sooner or later. For every birth, there is a death following. So you have to look at the big picture, then you can accept everything that is happening. What can you do? Can you stop the war?
Let them fight.
When they get tired, they will stop. If everybody follows the Buddha’s teachings, there will be no war.
The Buddha says, ’mettā.’ (loving kindness).
Layperson: There is no war in the spiritual world because spiritual beings don’t have to fight for food, for example.
Than Ajahn: Yeah, because there is nothing to fight for in the spiritual world. No gold, no silver, no oil to fight for.
Layperson: I cried because many people die due to the war that is happening.
Than Ajahn: You didn’t cry when people die in the hospital in your country. Many people die every day in your country, but you never cry for them. So, if you cry because there are many people die during the war, then you should cry for everybody every day because there are many people who are dying every day. So you don’t have upekkhā. If you have upekkhā, then you don’t cry.
Layperson: The world is very cruel.
Than Ajahn: Yes, look at how many million animals like cows, chickens, and pigs are being killed every day. This is what the Buddha mean when he said that birth is suffering: when there is birth, there is ageing, sickness and death. So stop birth by practising meditation.
Layperson 2: We are not too far away from the war. I feel very grateful for your talks because I am also scared, and when I listen to Dhamma talks, it helps me to become a little bit calmer.
The war is about 1100km from our village and if we go to Berlin, it’s only about 700km away from the war. We expect many refugees will be arriving, and so after this meeting, I will spend some money (give dāna) for the refugees and see if we can give them what they need.
Than Ajahn: Good. This is the time to do dāna.
Layperson 2: I work as a teaching assistant in a school, and I met with a girl from Ukraine, and seeing her was just heart breaking. She still has families and relatives in Ukraine. I am glad that I can connect with some of them and help them.
Than Ajahn: Yeah. You just have to accept the truth, right? There are things that we can’t do anything about.
Even our own life, we can’t do anything about it. If it’s time for the body to die, we can’t stop it.
But if you accept it, then your mind won’t have any fear or suffering.
This is a good Dhamma, it’s a good contemplation: contemplation of death. This reminds us that eventually, we will also have to die.
Layperson 2: I don’t want to survive a nuclear war, I’d rather die.
Than Ajahn: You can’t choose though. That’s the problem.
Layperson 2: Yes, I know. I am also still checking on my own translation work. I’ve translated two of your books and all these works also help me to stay calm under this circumstances.
Than Ajahn: Yeah, try to stay calm because that’s the only thing you can do. Once you are calm, then nothing can hurt you. The body is not us. The body is our servant. And we can’t protect our body all the time. But we can protect our mind all the time with Dhamma, with mindfulness and wisdom. So try to keep being mindful and keep thinking about the three characteristics of existence.
“Dhamma in English, Mar 01, 2022”
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Laypeople: A few hours ago there was a terrorists attack in Paris and such attacks are happening in many other countries as well. I would like to know from a Buddhist perspective, how we can respond in such circumstances.
Than Ajahn: You have to look at the total picture.
There are many other people who also died but not from terror attacks. Death from terror attack is very small. For example, three people died yesterday. But many die from natural causes: thousands or tens or hundreds of thousands every day but it never gets into the news, that’s all.
So you have to look at the big picture. Don’t look at the news only. News only highlights some of the events and it may look terrible, but the news does not really report how many people have died in the world. How many people have died in Africa from famine and sickness? Many people die every day.
We ourselves make it look worse. Just let it be natural.
Two policemen died, one terrorist died.
Just three people died. Compare this to the twenty thousand that died today. What then is the difference of another three people? We tend to react to something that is magnified, when such incident is just as normal as apple pie.
People die every day. People die from automobile accidents more than they die from being shot down by a terrorist.
Laypeople: I mean this violence and terror are committed freely in the name of religion.
Than Ajahn: People die in the name of religion, country and race or are killed for various reasons. If you were to look at the big picture, people will still die anyway from natural or unnatural causes. We all die anyway.
We try to magnify something normal to become abnormal.
Instead of leaving it naturally, we make it worst by our reactions. For example: ‘If they kill three of us, we will bomb 300 of them.’
I do not wish to go into the causes that resulted in this current situation. There are causes that lead people into such actions. We only look on our side and not on the other side who is hurt by our actions. We choose not to see by our justification for killing them. So they also have their justifications for killing us.
They say, “Since you kill us, we also have the right to kill you.” That is why the Buddha said that: Hatred can never be appeased by hatred.
Hatred can only be appeased by love and forgiveness.
So we just have to forgive them and look at it as a natural thing. People are born and die but whatever causes this doesn’t matter. We all die anyway when the time comes for us to die.
Seeing in this way will prevent us from taking revenge or creating more bad actions.
Laypeople: So, we have to see the big picture and must not let this incident overshadow it.
Than Ajahn: Yes. Everybody dies. How many people are there in France? Eighty million?
They are all going to die. How many people are there in Thailand? Seventy million? They too are all going to die. So what’s the big deal of 3 people dying yesterday or today? There are more people dying of drinking alcohol.
Laypeople: But it is how they die that matters, right?
Than Ajahn: That’s what I mean; you look from the wrong perspective. I see from the perspective of just death and not how they die.
If you choose to see how they die, you can get angry.
But if you choose to see death as the end result of life, regardless of how we die we are all going to die. So why should you do anything about it? If a person dies, let him die.
Instead of seeing things in this way, we take revenge. If you try to kill me, I will kill your father and his son will come and kill you. Back and forth and it’s never ending. So instead of living together peacefully, you live in hatred and violence.
If you contemplate on the nature of the body, you will see that death is just part of the body’s nature.
Regardless of how it dies, it doesn’t really matter.
Maybe, there are more people killed by their own loved ones, such as husband and wife. I suppose if you are to look at the statistics, you are more likely to be killed by your spouse than terrorists. You make your wife angry and she can kill you!
So, in Buddhism, it teaches us to just be ready to die.
Just accept it. Who dies or not has no significance in Buddhism. What dies isn’t us.
The body is like our servant, a robot. Right now, we are developing a robot to do things for us. If the robot you built ‘dies’, would you get mad or angry? Would you get sad? It’s OK!
The body is a just biological robot and not a mechanical one. That’s all it is. It is not you or me. It’s just your robot or my robot. So why get so upset when your robot dies? You just get a new one. Reborn again, you get a new robot.
Like vines that wrap themselves round sandal trees,
People who keep company with holy ones
Become, in their turn, holy.
And like kusha grass left in a fetid marsh,
People who keep company with evil beings
Will in their turn be evil.
So keep the company of holy beings
And from bad teachers strive to keep your distance.
— Longchenpa
“Dhamma in English, April 21, 2017.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
YouTube: Dhamma in English.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g
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