❖ Holding On to Your Principles in a Skilful Way ❖ ~ By Ajahn Jayasāro ~

❖ Holding On to Your Principles in a Skilful Way ❖
~ By Ajahn Jayasāro ~

Holding on to your principles in a skilful way is not easy. Some people make compromises too easily. 

Others can be too harsh and judgemental. Here is a story about my teacher Ajahn Chah, told by one of his disciples.

“One day a layman from Ubon brought a car to offer to Ajahn Cha. He said, ‘I absolutely refuse to take it back; you must accept this gift from me.’ He drove the car in and parked it behind Ajahn Cha’s kuti, at the foot of a big old tree, and placed the keys in Ajahn Cha’s shoulder bag. He was so proud of himself that he was laughing.

Not even once did Ajahn Cha go out to look at the car. When he left his kuti he always took a different path. If he had to go out of the monastery on business he would rely on someone elses car. He never showed the slightest interest in the car, even so much as to go and see what make of car it was or what colour. After seven days Ajahn Cha asked a lay supporter to go and tell the donor of the car to come and pick it up. Ajahn Cha had accepted it, the man had made is merit, and now Ajahn Cha would like to return it. A car was not a proper possession for a monk.”

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"Food for the Heart", a series of Dhamma teachings handwritten weekly is posted on the Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives page with Ajahn's kind permission.

https://forestsangha.org/teachings/books/food-for-the-heart?language=English

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10 September 2023