The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.
24 January 2024
“Paying respect to the Buddha is thus not for the sake of wishing and asking for things from him. But it is out of respect and gratitude.”
"Buddhism is the teachings of the Buddha—the Rightly Self-awakened One, who realised the truth and saw things clearly. The Dhamma that the Buddha taught is real—relevant and timeless—as practitioners can see and prove it for themselves. His teachings, or the Dhamma, will guide those who practise to real happiness and success. The Buddha is the One who knows: ‘Buddha’ means ‘to know’. The Buddha is an enlightened noble being (arahant). For he is the One without any defilements (kilesas), that is, without greed, hatred, and delusion.
The Buddha’s propounding of his Dhamma was truly out of his pure and good intentions.
There was no desire for any material gain or anything else. There was no expectation from anyone by putting forth his teachings. His heart was already brimming with eternal bliss; his teachings were, therefore, purely out of his compassion.
He noticed that all sentient beings in this world were still blinded by delusions (moha).
Ignorance (avijjā) was still pervasive in their hearts and minds; it gulls them into being subjected to the endless cycle of rebirth and death—the burden of suffering due to being born, ageing, getting ill, and dying—without any ends in sight.
Without heeding the Buddha’s Dhamma, there is no chance to be liberated from this perpetual cycle of rebirth and death. The Buddha himself was also once subjected to this endless cycle.
In each realm and existence, he experienced sufferings (dukkha). The term bhava-jāti (existence-birth), in fact, means sufferings.
When there are birth, growth, and existence, there must then also be ceasing. With ceasing naturally come sufferings, sadness, and lament for all sentient beings.
The Buddha discerned such sufferings thoroughly.
After having gained his unequivocal knowledge of Dhamma through practice and liberated himself from the endless cycle of rebirth and death, his compassion and empathy compelled him to help and salvage other sentient beings, who were still subjected to such an endless cycle, so that they would have a chance of ridding themselves of dukkha.
The Buddha hence put forth his teachings of the Dhamma to those who were interested.
Having listened to his Dhamma, they began putting his teachings into practice out of faith and conviction.
They also managed to liberate themselves from sufferings. Therefore, the Buddha was a noble teacher: a mentor, not a God or someone who could grant people their wishes, so that they would be free of sufferings among other things.
Paying respect to the Buddha is thus not for the sake of wishing and asking for things from him.
But it is out of respect and gratitude—being aware of the insurmountable compassion that he had for all sentient beings. It is also to recollect the noble path—the proper conduct of his that he had practised and then demonstrated to us. We are, therefore, learners who believe in his teachings and try to put them into practice with confidence, sheer effort, mindfulness, and wisdom."
“Essential Teachings”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g
No comments:
Post a Comment