The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.
3 January, 2023
Question: Phra Ajahn, how can someone overcome a guilty conscience, that can make one depressed feeling that one is not good enough?
Tan Ajahn: If you have a guilty conscience then you should do something like punish yourself. But not physically punishing your body.
You should punish yourself by punishing your defilements, like stopping some of your cravings. If you want to go shopping then you should say that you want to punish your defilements by not going shopping if you have any guilty conscience. Then this way eventually will stop you from doing things that will cause you to have a guilty conscience. If you do something and it creates a guilty conscience, you should punish your defilements, punish your cravings by restricting your defilements, restricting your cravings, not to do what your craving asks you to do like watching a movie or having a special meal. Fast for one meal to punish your defilements. Then your guilty conscience will disappear because you will feel good that you have punished your defilements which is the cause of your guilty conscience.
It’s your defilements that cause you to do things that will make you feel guilty. So you have to punish your defilements every time you have a guilty conscience.
“Dhamma in English, Jul 24, 2022.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
YouTube: Dhamma in English.
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