***ON SKILLFUL USE OF TEXTS***
“To hold to the texts isn’t wrong, but they should be held to discerningly, just as in medicine: A doctor who thinks that the only way to cure a fever is to drink a concoction of boiled neem and quinine leaves is wrong.
Some doctors may add the leaves of other trees and make it into a powder; some may make a concentrated extract; others may vary the dosage.
In the same way, when practicing the Dhamma, to go no further than the texts may in some cases be wrong. Actually, any path that abandons defilement and brings relief from suffering is right. The value of medicine lies in its ability to cure disease; the value of a method of practice lies in its ability to abandon defilement.
As far as I can see, there is nothing wrong with any method that has been found to work. In the end, all such methods must follow the basic principles of virtue, concentration, and discernment, and differ only as to whether they are crude or sophisticated, direct or indirect, fast or slow.”
❀❀❀
Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo
Translated from the Thai by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
Excerpt from Introduction to “Frames of Reference”
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You can read Ajaan Lee's full introduction here:
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/FramesOfReference/Section0004.html
28 April 2023
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