The teachings of Ajahn Suchart.
3 August 2023
Student: Ajahn taught us that if we want to see defilements, we have to meditate and let the mind calm down then we’ll be able to see the defilements.
Than Ajahn: You can see some defilements.
But to see the more subtle ones, you have to have a calmer mind to be able to see them.
Normally you can see the big ones.
The big ones are easy to see like when you get angry, when you crave for something, when you want to do something badly—these are all defilements whether you know it or not.
But to know more subtle ones like the fetters then you might have to have samādhi first before you are able to see them. The suffering you have with your body for instance, you don’t know this is the defilement that is causing you to have this suffering with your body. Worry about your body when it's getting old, whether it’s going to get sick or not, or when it’s going to die and so forth. This is something you normally can’t see.
You have to have samādhi then you know that this kind of feeling, this kind of thinking are not good, they are defilements. You have to stop them.
And the way to stop them is to accept reality, accept the truth that this body is gonna die whether you are worried about it or not.
See, you don’t want to accept the reality so you keep worrying. You only die once but you worry about it one hundred thousand times.
That's because you don't accept reality. If you just accept reality once then there won't be any worries anymore.
But you don't know that worry is dukkha. To you, worry is good so you have to keep on worrying. That’s why people like to worry because they think it’s good for them but they don’t know that this is causing them dukkha without them knowing it.
But if you have samādhi then you'll know, ‘Ah! this is bad for the mind.’ It agitates the mind, it destroys the calm of the mind, so you have to get rid of this worry, anxiety, and fear because they are all dukkha. But they are all the more subtle defilements.
Student: What does Than Ajahn mean that we think worry is good for us?
Than Ajahn: Because you keep on worrying.
If it’s not good for you, why do you worry?
Student: Oh! Because we think it’s good for us that’s why we keep on worrying.
Than Ajahn: That’s right. If you know that it’s bad for you then you stop worrying right? Simple logic!
Student: Yeah! I didn’t think that way.
Than Ajahn: If you keep something, that means it’s good for you. If you know that it’s bad for you, you’ll get rid of it right? But you don’t see it. If you have no samādhi, you won’t be able to see that worry is bad for you, bad for your mind.
Because when you worry, you worry about your body, you see. And you think by worrying about your body, it will remind you to keep taking care of the body, so you keep worrying.
This is bad for the mind. It might be good for the body because if you worry about the body then you have to scrutinise more about how to look after the body right? That’s why people keep on worrying because they think it’s good for them.
But if you have samādhi, you know that it's bad for you because it will destroy your samādhi, it will destroy your upekkhā, your peace, your happiness. Your samādhi will be gone once you start worrying.
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Student 2: Ajahn was talking about subtle forms of fear and anxiety. How do we recognize this is happening and deal with it appropriately?
Than Ajahn: You don't know. You can’t. Sometimes you just feel bad and you don't know why. Someday you get up in the morning and suddenly you feel bad and you don't know what causing it. Because you don’t have enough scrutiny of your mind. You don't have a telescope to see the germs and the more subtle things in your mind so you need to have samādhi first.
Samādhi is like having a microscope so you can look at all the microbes that you normally won't be able to see with your own eyes.
Sometimes you just feel bad, right? And you don't know why, right? Sometimes you just have some anxiety or some worry deep inside you and you don’t even know why.
But you worry about something all the time sometimes and sometimes you just don't know why because you never look inside the mind.
You keep worrying about things around you and this is the one that's causing the stress. The one that’s causing the stress is not the things around you but your worry about the things around you because you don't understand the nature of the things around you. They are all work of nature, they are all anattā, they are something that you can’t control all the time.
If you can just accept things around you for what they are then there will be no worry, no anxiety. But you still want to control things, right? You want to control all things because you thought by controlling them, it will make you happy. And then when you could not control them, they fire back at you causing you anxiety, worry and fear and so forth.
If we can just accept reality as it is then there will be no fear, no anxiety because everything is anattā, everything is work of nature. Okay?
Student 2: Okay, very clear. Thank you.
Than Ajahn: So you need to practice samādhi first. If you have samādhi then when anything happens in your mind, you can see it right away.
Because now without samādhi, you don't look at your mind, you keep looking outside. Your defilements keep pushing your mind to go look outside and be concerned about things outside, not knowing that the one that’s causing the concern is inside. Your defilement.
But if you practice samādhi or mindfulness, you're pulling the mind inside. You're pulling your mind away from sensual objects and you start to see how the mind works. So practice samādhi first. Practice mindfulness first before you can have samādhi.
Okay?
Student 2: Thank you Than Ajahn.
“Dhamma in English, Jan 3, 2023.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
YouTube: Dhamma in English.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g
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