The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.
6 January 2024
Q&A
Q: Paritta chanting is quite popular in any Buddhist country and it is said to offer immense mental and physical benefits. However since the verses are in pāli, some of us do not know the exact meaning of each and every line. For example if a person recites ‘Karaṇīya mettā Sutta’ without knowing its full meaning, he may not feel the power of bestowing Mettā on others as reflected in the sutta. Will merely reciting paritta without knowing its meaning be of any use?
Than Ajahn: Yes, when reciting a sutta one has to be mindful. So, one is developing mindfulness when reciting a sutta. Even though one does not know the meaning of the sutta he/she uses it as an object of concentration and as a result, the person can stop thinking about other things. Then the mind becomes peaceful and calm, temporarily. But when one doesn’t understand what one is reciting, it will not give the knowledge or wisdom that one can apply and practice.
Every sutta is actually the teaching of the Buddha. If you understand the teachings such as the Four Foundation of Mindfulness then you will understand what the Buddha is telling us what to do. It is the same way with every sutta. The Buddha is telling us what we should do. In the case of Karaṇīya mettā Sutta, the Buddha teaches us to practise loving kindness towards all living beings who are either visible or not visible.
And by doing so one can reap the benefits of having loving kindness such as being joyful all the time whether one is awake or asleep, not having bad dreams, being loved and protected by people and the devas, etc.
So this is the meaning of the Sutta. If one practises loving kindness as reflected in Karaṇīya mettā Sutta, he/she will reap the ten benefits of having loving-kindness.
But if one doesn’t understand the meaning of the sutta, if one just uses it as an object of mindfulness, one can have calm, peace, and happiness from chanting the sutta. It is like doing ānāpānasati meditation but doing it in an easier form that is by chanting the sutta because the mind has yet to have enough mindfulness to focus on the breath so one uses the chanting instead. After one finished chanting the verse, if one wants to go deeper into meditation then one has to switch to watching the breath because watching the breath can make the mind goes deeper into jhāna.
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Q: As I understand, the butcher who kills the animals for other people’s consumption (to sell in the market to cater to the demands of meat consumers) violates the First Precept thus committing a grave sin. But those who would buy meat from the butcher/seller will not acquire any bad kamma. Am I correct?
Than Ajahn: Yes, because the buyer doesn’t do the killing or asks the butcher to do the killing for the buyer. The buyer just happens to come by and the butcher displays the meat and says that he has some meat to sell, so the buyer supports the butcher’s livelihood.
Even though it is not a good livelihood to support, this is not considered to be breaking of the First Precept for the buyer.
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Q: Could you elaborate on the bad Karmic effects of violating the First Precept?
Than Ajahn: The first Precept is to abstain from killing. The violation of the first precept has the worst karmic consequences. The consequence of killing is worse than stealing (second Precept), stealing is worse than committing adultery (third Precept), and committing adultery is worse than telling lies (fourth Precept). So the consequences of these actions vary. If one kills, one gets the worst consequences if it compares to the consequences of breaking the other three Precepts.
The consequences of killing also depend on the reason for killing. If you kill for survival, you will become an animal when you get reborn. Actually, your mind has turned to be of that animal’s mind even while you are still alive because when you kill for survival, you are acting like the animals.
Second, if you kill out of greed, if you want to have more things even when you don’t need them, then you will become a hungry ghost, your mind becomes that of a hungry ghost—forever hungry for more things.
Regardless of how much you get, your hunger or greed will not be satisfied. You will feel hungry all the time.
Third, if you kill out of fear, then you become a scary ghost, a ghost or spiritual being that constantly lives in fear. Fourth, if you kill out of hatred/ for revenge, you will go to hell when you die or the mind will become a ‘hellish being’, who is constantly consumed by the fire of hatred and anger. So these are the consequences of breaking the first Precept.
Actually breaking any of the Precepts can cause the same consequences depending on the reason. The intensity of the consequence can be different, it could be from light to heavy.
So if you kill for survival, if you steal for survival, if you commit adultery for survival, or if you lie for survival, you will become an animal. If you do these things out of greed, you become a hungry ghost. If you do them out of fear, you become a scary ghost. If you do so out of hatred, you become a hellish being.
So these are the consequence of breaking the precepts.
Violating the fifth Precept is not considered to be bad kamma. It does not cause any of those consequences.
But violating the fifth precept is a trigger to break other precepts, it will be easier for a person who gets drunk to commit bad kamma than a person who does not drink or get drunk.
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Q: Is the gender into which a person is born determined by his/her past kamma? If so, what are those past kamma?
Than Ajahn: As males or females, we have different way of thinking, and different way of doing things and this is considered to be the work of past kamma.
Women like beautiful things such as flowers, while men like something heavy and strong. It is their liking that would make the persons become males or females.
What they used to like in the past will be carried into the next life.
If you are a woman in this life, you will probably be born as a woman again in your next life. If you want to change your gender in your next life, you need to change your liking - you have to start to like what a man does. Then eventually you will be able to change your character then you will take up a different gender when you are born in your next life. But this might take a few lifetimes. So in between, your mind might have a conflict. Half of your mind may want to be a male, and the other half may want to be a female, or maybe sixty percent of your mind may want to be male and forty percent wants to be female.
Then there will be a conflict inside the mind- a male body within a female mind - for instance homosexuals.
One half of the mind likes to be a woman and the other half likes to be a man.
So this causes the gender of a person to be somewhere in between male or female, not fully male or not fully female.
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Q: Is pet breeding /dog breeding ethical? What is the Buddhist point of view?
A: No, we should not make a living out of the life of other beings. Breeding pets or human trafficking are all considered bad livelihoods.
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Q: Intake of intoxicants is a violation of the fifth precept (of the five Precepts.) Some people hold the view that intake of soft liquor e.g. wine is fine and not a violation of the fifth precept as soft liquor is not an intoxicant. Is this a misconception?
A: I think it depends on the amount of intoxicants you take into your body. The point is that when you become drunk you will not be able to control your actions, your mind especially.
When you want to do bad kamma, it is easier to do so when you are drunk than when you are not drunk.
So the Buddha wants us to be sober so that we can control our actions more easily than when we are drunk. But breaking the fifth Precept is not committing any bad kamma because you have not yet hurt anybody.
But the point is if you take a lot of alcohol, then you become drunk and are not capable of controlling your emotions. Then you might not be able to control your actions and when you feel like hurting someone you will do it more easily when you are drunk than when you are not drunk. So it is better not to take any alcohol because one drink may lead to the second drink and the second to the third and so on.
When you take a glass of alcohol for the first time your body will react. But the next time when you take another glass of alcohol your body will not react the same way as when you had it for the first time. So if you want to have the same reaction you may need to have two glasses or more instead of one. This is the reason why people drink more and more, it’s to get the same effect out of drinking. And eventually, by taking more and more they become drunk. And they will not be able to take care of their actions when they feel like hurting somebody or something. It is easier to do so when you are drunk than when you are not drunk.
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Q: When diagnosed with some kind of a disease/physical ailment, the patient often focuses on his/her illness and that would aggravate the illness even further. How should a physically ill person maintain his/her mental wellbeing/fitness without fully focusing on the physical ailment? Could you explain using the teachings of the Buddha?
A: The Buddha teaches us to instill in our mind at all times the conditions of the body.
Having been born, the body will get old, sick, and die, and this is something that will happen to everybody. By learning this truth and accepting this truth, one will not be disturbed mentally when one gets old, gets sick, or dies. You have to contemplate this impermanent nature of the body until you become fully aware and accept the truth of this condition. And then when you fall ill your mind will not feel disturbed by the sickness of the body and you can maintain your mental well-being.
Your mind will not be affected if you constantly teach your mind to accept the truth of the body, accept that the body will get old, the body will get sick and the body will die. And if you are still not ready to accept this, you need to do some meditation because your defilements do not want you to accept this truth.
You have to calm down your defilements by practising meditation. When you meditate, when your mind becomes calm, your defilements will also stop reacting to the truth and will accept the truth eventually.
So you need both wisdom and the practice of samādhi to maintain your mental well-being when your body is subjected to aging, sickness and death.
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Q: People are used to criticising others and often fail to praise others and pay compliments.
What are the bad karmic consequences of always being critical without seeing any good in others?
Than Ajahn: You get exactly the same thing you do to other people. When you criticise other people, you get criticism in return from other people. If you gives compliments to other people, you will get compliments back. So try to give/pay compliments and try to abstain from criticising people. Then people will not criticize you, they will only give/pay you compliments.
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Q: What are the benefits of looking after one’s parents in their old age and could you elaborate on Buddha’s words on looking after parents?
Than Ajahn: Well, looking after your parents is another act of charity - a form of doing charity. It is a very important form of charity because you are paying back somebody who has looked after you, who has helped you, who has brought you into this world and given you all that you have today. So when you are looking after them it is like showing your respect, your gratitud e to them.
The Buddha said that by looking after your parents you reap the same benefit as you are looking after the Buddha and his noble disciples. So you make a lot of merit when you take good care of your parents.
Because it shows that you have respect, loving-kindness, and gratitud e. These are important qualities of good people. When people see you doing a noble act of this nature, they will respect you, they will trust you, and they can judge you from this action of taking care of your parents. If you can’t be helpful to your parents, who will you be helpful to?
The Buddha said parents are like arahants or noble disciples to their children. Those who are taking good care of their parents are making a lot of merits, doing a lot of charity. This can send them to heaven once they die.
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Q: What are the greatest meritorious deeds as explained in Buddhism?
Than Ajahn: To become Enlightened, through the attainment of four stages of Enlightenment - becoming a sotāpanna, sakadāgāmī, anāgāmi and arahant. These are the most powerful meritorious ‘deeds’ acquired by the practice of meditation and wisdom to get rid of the ten fetters.
But before you can get to that point you have to practise morality and charity first. These are the prerequisites for the practice of meditation and wisdom.
Having done those two, you can progress towards the practice of meditation and wisdom. And when you do that, you will be able to attain the four stages of Enlightenment.
“Dhamma in English, Feb 26, 2023.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
YouTube: Dhamma in English.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g
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This Q&A was published on Sunday Observer
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