The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.
7 June 2023
Question: Does hatred have no limit e.g. able to create maximum suffering to others?
Than Ajahn: Yes, hatred is the result of your craving. Craving to do things you want to do, and when you can’t do what you want to do, you become angry and hateful. And craving has no limit.
When the cause of hatred has no limit, then hatred has no limit. The cause of hatred is craving.
When you crave for something and you cannot get what you want, then you become angry and hateful.
The more you want to get something, the more hateful you become.
“Dhamma in English, Oct 23, 2022.”
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“Your thoughts can be both skilful (kusala) and unskilful (akusala). When monks chant at a funeral, 'Kusalā dhammā akusalā dhammā abyākatā dhammā', it means there are three kinds of thoughts or mental concoctions: 1) Skilful, 2) Unskilful, and 3) Neither skilful nor unskilful.
If you think in a skilful way, it will bring you peace of mind. If you think in an unskilful way, it will cause you mental agitation and discontent (dukkha). If you think in a way that is neither skilful nor unskilful, it will not bring you peace of mind and contentment nor mental agitation and discontent.
However, thinking in such a way is not comparable to thinking in a skilful way—one that is in line with the path (magga), because thinking in a skilful way will bring you peace of mind and sense of ease. If you think in an unskilful way, it will be in line with your various cravings, pointing to the arising of discontent (samudaya).
For instance, when you’re alone, you might want to go meet friends, to drink tea or coffee, to eat desserts, or to search for things on television and in books. If you think in such a way, it is considered unskilful, because it causes craving for the mind. So you cannot remain still, thus seeking out things to have and do.
Your actions would only gratify your cravings temporarily. After a short while, your thoughts and cravings would arise again, because they have become your habit. Whatever you’ve enjoyed doing, you will always think about that.
Once you’ve done it for a while, you will get tired and stop doing it. But after getting some rest, you will think about it again. Your life repeats in cycles of acting on these insatiable cravings.
If you take note of yourself, you will see that you’ve acted according to your craving since the day you were born. Have you ever had enough? Have you ever felt truly satisfied? Haven't you done enough?
You’ve seen enough movies and shows. You’ve been to enough parties. You’ve travelled around and been to enough places. Perhaps it is time to stop. However, such a feeling has never crossed your mind due to the nature of your craving.
The Buddha once said that our craving is boundless and limitless: ‘No matter how big the ocean is, it still has a boundary. But it is not so with our craving. For craving has no bounds nor limits. Once a craving has arisen, it will continue on and on, and grow stronger and stronger.’
This is just like people say, ‘When you have an inch, you want a whole foot. When you have a foot, you want a whole yard’. This is just how it is: our craving just keeps multiplying on and on.
So who bears the burden of gratifying these cravings? It is the mind that is in charge and gives a command to seek things, and so you have to act accordingly. Once you’ve done it, it is only happy for a little while.
There will soon be a new command to seek other things, and so you have to act on it again. If you cannot get the things you want, then sorrow and sadness follow— disappointment and suffering arise. Suffering also prevails when you lose the things you’ve already obtained.”
“Against the Defilements”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
YouTube: Dhamma in English.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g
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