The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.
16 August 2023
“Dhamma is like medicine - to cure your delusion.”
Question (from Las Vegas): “Is it better to have faith in the Dhamma or to just have a little knowledge about it?”
Than Ajahn: “First, you have to have faith in the Buddha’s teaching because you haven’t seen the truth yourself. So, you have to rely on someone who has seen the truth to tell you the way to see the truth. Then, you follow his instructions. The Buddha said that if you want to become enlightened like me, you have to practice meditation. You have to develop mindfulness. You have to develop wisdom.
You have to keep the precepts.
The Buddha is like a doctor. You’re like a sick person. When you go to see a doctor, you have to have faith in the doctor, right? When the doctor said, ‘Take this medicine’ and if you say, ‘No,’ then you won’t know whether this medicine is good for you or not. If you want to find out whether this medicine will cure your sickness or not, you’ll just have to have faith in that medicine and take the medicine. If it doesn’t cure your sickness, then you don’t have to believe it. But if it cures your sickness, you say, ‘Ah! This is good for me.’ This is the same thing with the Dhamma. Dhamma is like medicine, to cure your delusion, to make you become enlightened.
But before you can become enlightened, you have to apply Dhamma to your heart. If you have no faith, or if you’re afraid that you’ll be misled or deceived and you don’t want to do it, then you’ll never know. But if you look at other people who believe in the Buddha and who have become enlightened, then they may be able to encourage you to have more faith.”
Dhamma for the Asking,
Q&A, Jan 9, 2017 (youtube live)
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g
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