The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

4 January 2025

Q: My daughter is 13yo and she has cancer since she was 9yo. She has many operations and treatment that make her body in a lot of pain. Her question is ‘Why does this happen to me? I’m a good person, I barely start my life, why life is so unfair? Why life brings so much suffering to me?’ One time I tried to use the concept of kamma to explain to her and she said, ‘Okay, I get it. I was a bad person so I don’t deserve a good life.’ Dear LuangPhor, I don’t have the wisdom to answer her, please help.

Than Ajahn:  Well, the Buddha said that life is anicca. 

Life is not certain. It is not fixed. It varies from person to person due to the past kamma that each person has done. If we did bad kamma in the past, we have to reap the fruit of the bad kamma in this life. If we did good kamma, we would reap the benefit of good kamma that we did. But we can’t go back and erase our past kamma. We can’t change the past. But we can still be happy with what we get by accepting things as they are. 

Don’t try to reject something you don’t like because trying to reject things will cause you to have more suffering, more stress and anxiety. You can accept that this is the way things are, this is what you are given and just accept it. Then there will be no stress, and your mind can be calm, peaceful and happy. In this way, maybe you can be happier than someone who has a healthy body. 

When people have a healthy body, it does not mean that they are happy inside their mind. 

With a healthy body, they want to have more things, they want to do more things, and get more things. And when they can’t get what they want, they can be as unhappy as someone who is sick. 

So it’s not whether your body is good or bad. 

It’s how you make your mind happy or sad. 

And making your mind happy or sad is something you can do regardless of the condition of your body. 

The Buddha said that if you want to be happy inside, happy with your mind, then try to use wisdom. Try to accept the truth – that life is not certain, life varies from person to person; some people have a longer life, some people have a shorter life. 

You can make yourself feel better if you think of people who are worse than you are like someone who is blind, someone who is more sick than you are, who has to lie in bed. If you can look at it this way then you might not feel too bad about your situation. And then you can accept the truth that you are what you are, and you can be happy regardless of what you are if you know how to let go of your attachment, your cravings or desire. 

The problem that causes us to be unhappy is our desire. 

We want something more than what we have. And when we can’t get what we want, we become sad regardless of whether our body is good or not good, whether we are rich or poor. This sadness is caused by our desire for things. So try not to have any desire. Try to take things as they come. Be happy with what you have, be thankful for what you get. Then you can be happy. 

No matter how well or sick we are, one day, we are all going to be at the same point, at same place – we all will go to the cemetery. 

It’s just a matter of time, sooner or later. 

That’s all. If you can think like this, you can release the pressure in your mind and it can make you feel better. 

You can be happy right now. Just stop your desire. And the way to do it is to learn how to meditate. Just sit down, close your eyes and watch your breath. Keep watching your breath. Don’t let your mind thinks about anything. If you don’t think, then you won’t have any desire for things. And when you don’t have desire, your mind can become peaceful and happy. 

So meditate. Be happy that you can still walk, you can still do things because we don’t know when we are going to die. I might die tomorrow, I might go before you. Your parents may go before you even though they are healthy right now, but who can say how long they are going to live? Nobody can guarantee that. 

Try to stay in the present. Be happy in the present. 

Don’t worry about the future. Don’t worry about the past. You can’t go back to the past, you can’t erase or change the past. 

And the future hasn’t come yet. What you’ve got is right now, in the present. So try to make the best of it by keeping your mind happy, by not having any desire. 

Just take things as they come.  

“Dhamma in English, Aug 4, 2024.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

27 December 2024

Q:  You mentioned that the difference between a self in Sotāpanna and in Arahant is that one is physical and the other one is mental. Does it mean that our delusion thinks that there are two self? 

Than Ajahn:  No. It’s because the mind thinks that the mind and the body are one, are the same things but when you practice, you know that the mind and the body are two separate things. 

So you have the delusion of a self in the body as well as the delusion of a self in the mind. A Sotāpanna gets rid of the delusion of a self in the body. After that, he has to get rid of the delusion of the self in the mind, the conceit that he still has in the mind.

There are really two persons in our existence. 

We don’t know that we are twins. We thought we are one but we actually are two persons, the mind and the body. Since the mind is invisible so we then presume that the body and the mind are one. But in fact, the body and the mind are two separate entities. 

The mind is the master, the body is the servant. The mind is the one who tells the body what to do, ‘Go get me a glass of water, eat this, eat that, go here, go there,’ it’s the mind telling the body what to do. But we presumed that the body and the mind are the same person. You have to tell your body what to do right? If you don’t tell the body what to do, then the body will just sit there. If you don’t tell the body to get up, you won’t be getting up. 

Our problem is we are only taking care of the body and not the mind. We leave the mind always in a state of turmoil, in state of agitation and discontent. We feed the body with plenty of food until we overeat, give the body everything that the body needs until we overdo looking after the body. But we hardly look after the mind. 

We don’t give the mind what the mind needs. 

The mind needs you to do charity because when you give, you feel good, you feel happy. 

Like Christmas, you give presents, right? When you give presents, you feel good. But you only give once a year so you only give food [to the mind] once a year.

 You give food to the body every day, three times a day, but with the mind, you do it maybe only on Christmas, New Year, birthday or some occasions. And for the rest of the year, you leave the mind hungry all the time. 

And when the mind is hungry, you thought that body is hungry so you feed the body with more food. You don’t feed the mind. You give the body more food while the body said, ‘I don’t need more food, I’m overweight already.’ You keep feeding the body not the mind.  

When you want something that your body doesn’t need, it means your mind is hungry, not the body. But you thought that the body is hungry so you eat more food, get more drinks. In doing so, instead of making the mind full, you make the mind more hungry because you're feeding the wrong person. Instead of feeding the mind, you feed the body. 

Every time when the mind wants something, you feed the body but not the mind. The mind says, ‘I want food,’ and food for the mind is charity, doing good things for other people, making other people happy. 

When you make other people happy, your mind feels good, your mind feels fulfilled, content. If you don’t give this kind of food to the mind, then the mind will keep telling you, ‘I’m hungry,’ and you thought that the mind is hunger for sensual pleasure then you take the mind to go for holiday, to Italy for instance, but your mind will still be hungry. Once you get to Italy, then you want to go somewhere else. 

The mind then says, ‘I don’t want this, this doesn’t give me contentment.’ 

Q: So do we not listen to our mind? 

Than Ajahn:  We don’t know what the mind needs. The mind also needs the four requisites like the body. The food requisite for the mind is charity. The clothing for the mind is keeping the precepts or morality. The home for the mind is meditation (samādhi/calm). And the medicine for the mind is wisdom. These are what the mind needs in order for the mind to be happy, healthy and content. But we hardly give these things to the mind. So the mind is constantly in a state of hunger, in a state of dissatisfaction, discontent. Even if you give the mind $100 million dollars, the mind is still discontent, dissatisfied because you give it to the wrong person. All the things that you do, you do it for the body not for the mind. It’s because nobody teaches you what to give to the mind unless you come to Buddhism. 

Buddhism teaches you to give the 4 requisites to the mind. 

(i) If you want to give food to the mind, you do good things for other people like do charity; 

(ii) If you want to give clothing for the mind, you keep the precepts. This is like putting on nice clothing. When you put on nice clothing, when people look at you, they will feel happy, and they want to be near you. If you are morally good, people want to be close to you because they know that you are not going to hurt them. This is clothing for the mind —morality; 

(iii) Housing for the mind is meditation, jhāna. When you get to jhāna, you know that you are in a safe place, nothing can harm you. It’s like when you stay in the house, you feel protected;

(iv) When you are sick, you use the Dhamma medicine which is wisdom—the Three Characteristics of Existence or the Four Noble Truths—to tell you why your mind is sick, why you have stress. It’s because you have cravings. So stop your cravings. Once you stop cravings then your mind has no stress then your mind is well, your mind is not sick. 

Q:  Do we have to have the first 3 requisites before we get to the 4th one because without the first 3 requisites we are not able to use the medicine fully?

Than Ajahn:  Well you might be able to use it partially by studying from the text or learning from the Buddha’s teachings. You can apply it to cure some sickness that is not deeply rooted. Like when you have a cut, you can use a plaster, you don’t need a surgery. But if you have cancer, then you have to go to hospital to get surgery. 

So wisdom has many levels: lower level and higher level. The wisdom that you learn from here is on a lower level and you can apply it when you have lower-level stress. It’s like using a bandage or applying some tincture on to your wound. For wound that needs surgery [wisdom on higher level], you need to do meditation first. You need to calm the mind first before you can apply this higher type of medication. You need upekkhā. 

“Dhamma in English, Dec 26, 2023.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

21 December 2024

Q:  How do you define saṃvega? 

Than Ajahn:  Well, the way I see it if you look at the world as afflicted with suffering—that is saṃvega. The world that we live in is a sad world, it is not a happy world. Everyone is afflicted with some type of unhappiness. No one is happy. And basically we are all afflicted with ageing, sickness and death. 

So just contemplate on the nature of the body—the body is subjected to ageing, sickness and death. This can give you saṃvega, sadness. What’s the point of being born here if you were born just to get old, get sick and die? But people forget this fact. 

People keep going after things and they forget that they are going to get sick, get old and die. They don’t have saṃvega.  

But if you keep contemplating on this everyday as much as you can, ‘Once I’m being born, I’m subjected to ageing, sickness and death, and separation from the loved ones,’ then it can give you a good picture of the world we live in. It's a sad world. It’s not a happy world. You don’t want to return to this world if you can, if you know the way.

“Dhamma in English, Jan 16, 2024.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

Deception is deceiving

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

20 December 2024

"Deception is deceiving"

True happiness does not depend on external things. Not with sights, sounds, smells, tastes, objects. Don't live with material things and money. Not with that person, with this person. But in the heart that does good, abandons sin, cleanses greed, anger, and delusion until it is gone. Make your heart happier. There is less suffering. Until it's finally gone. Doing good and avoiding sin are the fruits of wisdom. Is the correct opinion.  

It's called right view. 

See that only doing good deeds. Only not sinning that will make us happy. Make us have no suffering.  

Therefore we must create wisdom. Because if we just do good and avoid sin it does not create wisdom to eliminate delusion. When you die and leave this life, you will be able to forget it. 

When you are reborn, if you go to live in a society that only commits sin, we don't do good things, we will do it because we are influenced by society. 

But if you have already strengthened your intellect shows that there are reasons for doing good and not sinning. Because it makes us happy and no suffering. 

You don't have to look for happiness outside. 

We will always do good and refrain from sin. 

If there is passion, it will trick us into finding happiness from outside. It will be difficult for us to do good. It is easy to do evil and sin. 

Therefore, wisdom must be created. So you won't go and seek happiness from outside, from various things and people, instead will seek happiness within the heart. 

By keeping your mind calm to stop delusion that causes greed and desire.  When there is no greed, there will be no anger. Because anger arises when things aren't as desired. 

When we want something and someone else blocks it, we become angry. 

The root of all problems lies in this delusion. I don't know where true happiness lies. See that happiness is outside lives with external matters.  So we ran to each other. 

Wisdom cannot keep up with our delusion and stupidity that is smarter than the Buddha's wisdom.  So it serves as a guide. 

Instead of going to the temple often We return to the temple a little, and visit often. 

The main goal of approaching Buddhism is to create right view.  To form correct opinions that true happiness lies within the heart.   

Because external things are not true happiness but only causes suffering.   It's chaotic these days. It's because of external things. 

The body is suffering. You have to take care of yourself, you have to be afraid, you have to worry abd concern about your body. 

One pile of suffering is not enough. Still looking for more suffering.  Find a partner to add another pile of suffering. And then you will have children who will be in trouble again. 

It's all suffering.  If considered with wisdom, 

You will see that there is only suffering. 

Infatuation tricks us into wanting things. 

Makes us revolve around death and rebirth in samsara. 

Revolving around in the world of lusts for the most part.   Because it is attached to images, sounds, smells, tastes, and objects. It revolves around the search for sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and objects. 

Come drink, come experience, and bring happiness. 

Because if you just stay at home, you will get bored. 

Seeing the same, repetitive images makes me bored. 

You have to constantly go out and experience strange new images. 

When someone invites you to travel,  It feels like a fish getting water. Immediately rejuvenated.  But if anyone invites you into this temple has to be pulled many times 

There must be an activity, a merit-making event, a charity event in order to go. If you go sit and close your eyes and pray. I don't really want to go. 

Go find happiness within your heart. You can't go back because you're not good at it. 

You're good at finding happiness from outside.

Phra Acharn Suchat Aphichato

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

2 December 2024

Student:  One of the chanting is giving prayers to the Sangha, ’Uju-paṭipanno bhagavato sāvaka-saṅgho, Ñāya-paṭipanno bhagavato sāvaka-saṅgho, Sāmīci-paṭipanno bhagavato sāvaka-saṅgho,’ which refer to the Sangha who have practiced straightforwardly, methodically, and masterfully. Why did the Buddha have to say it three times?

Than Ajahn:  4 times. The first one is Supaṭipanno. Because this is how you should practice. 

Supaṭipanno means to practice well. Uju-paṭipanno means to practice straightforwardly. My translation of Ñāya-paṭipanno is to practice for the eradication of your suffering, for getting rid of your suffering. Sāmīci-paṭipanno is to practice correctly according to the teachings of the Buddha. 

So you need these 4 in order to practice properly to get the result. You have to Supaṭipanno, Uju-paṭipanno, Ñāya-paṭipanno and Sāmīci-paṭipanno. If you can do these 4, then you can become a noble disciple because these are the qualities of the noble disciples.

Student:  I was doing the chanting and was trying to understand the difference between these four words because they sound the same thing to me. 

Than Ajahn:  They are different. Supaṭipanno means you have to be a good student. You have to be an ‘A’ student to be Supaṭipanno. 

You have to practice all the time, 100 percent. 

If you only practice 50 percent, then this is half Supaṭipanno. 

To practice straightforwardly [Uju-paṭipanno] means to practice toward nibbāna. You don’t want to practice for any other purpose. You don't want to practice to become a deva. You don’t want to practice to become a brahma. 

You want to practice to become a noble disciple, to be an arahant.

The third one [Ñāya-paṭipanno] means that you want to practice for the eradication of dukkha in the four noble truths.

Can you do these 4? Not yet? You only practice 10% of your time, right? So you only get 10% Supaṭipanno result, not even a passing grade because a passing grade should be 50%. [laugh]

Student:  That’s true. How about Sāmīci-paṭipanno? 

Than Ajahn:  It’s to practice correctly: sammā-diṭṭhi, sammā-sankappa, sammā-kammanta. You have to practice correctly: Right-practice.  For example, when you keep the 8 precept, you are not supposed to eat after midday. You shouldn’t eat at 2 P.M. If you eat at 2 P.M., this is not considered to be practicing correctly. 

You have to not eat after midday: this is to practice correctly. 

“Dhamma in English, Jun 28, 2022.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

#ajahnsuchartabhijato

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

18 November 2024

Question:  When we come out of meditation and we like to share the merit with our parents who has passed away, is it possible or not possible?

Than Ajahn: Well, it was never mentioned by the Buddha. He only mentioned giving dāna and giving to charity, and then you can dedicate that merit to the departed. But regarding dedicating the merit from the result of your meditation for the departed, he didn’t mention it. But you can try. There is nothing to stop you from doing it.

Layperson: But you know that sometimes the king and people go to some temples to chant, pay respect and give merits to kings who had passed away. So, it’s not impossible, right?

Than Ajahn: Well, it’s not possible and it’s not impossible because the Buddha didn’t say either way. 

He only said to dedicate the merit to the dead by giving dāna, by giving offerings to monks and once you’ve done that, then you have merit, so you can dedicate this merit to the people who died.

Layperson: And if they haven’t died, can we give it to them or not?

Than Ajahn: No.

Layperson: And we cannot give it from the meditation.

Than Ajahn: No, you cannot because if I can give it to you, then you don’t have to meditate, right?

Layperson: But sometimes we want to share.

Than Ajahn: I know. I think if it’s possible, the Buddha would have mentioned it. The merit that you can give is the merit that you do by charity. Maybe it’s because it’s the thing people can do readily, right away because most people won’t be able to meditate any way. 

So, maybe you can if you can meditate and you can have this serenity, and you dedicate this serenity. But for the people, whether they are waiting for it and can accept it or not, it depends. It’s because nothing can stop you from dedicating whatever you have.

Layperson: No, I heard in your dhamma talk that some people asked if someone they know died, what could they do? You said truthfully, ‘Well, if they didn’t practice throughout their lives, what can you do? You just let them go. Some are auspicious. They have their own kamma.”

Than Ajahn: Yes, it’s the law of kamma, ‘Whosoever does any good or evil kamma, will receive the result of that kamma.’

Layperson: The foreigners say, ‘What goes around, comes around,’ the same thing.

Than Ajahn: Yes, the same thing. You reap what you sow.

“Dhamma in English, Aug 4th, 2017.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

14 November 2024

Q: As we come close to the year end, is there any reflection that we should work on?

Than Ajahn:  You reflect that this is anicca. 

Time is running out for you. You have less time to live, less time to practice so better hurry up

Student:  Oh okay, that's a very wise reflection because people usually will reflect that this is a festive period, let’s celebrate.

Than Ajahn:  The Buddha said that as you see the days and the years gone by you should ask yourself, ‘What am I doing now? Am I meditating? Am I practicing the noble eightfold path? Or am I going after money and wealth and so forth?’ 

Student:  Okay. So that's the correct reflection we should have.

Than Ajahn:  That's right. So if you go in the wrong direction, you should take a U-turn. If you go after money then you should U-turn back to go after dāna (generosity) instead. If you’re going on holiday, you should instead go to the monastery to meditate. Make a U-turn. If you know that you are going in the wrong direction then you should take a U-turn so that you can go to the right direction.

You should remind yourself not just at the end of the year. You should remind yourself at the end of every day: ‘Today has gone by, what have I done? Am I going in the right direction or not?’ You should review it every day. Because one year is too long, it might be too late. There might be no next year, who knows? So constantly ask yourself, ‘What am I doing now? Am I going after sensual pleasure or am I going after meditation pleasure?’

Buddha asked his assistant to reflect on death in every breath. Every time he takes a breath he should think, ‘Every time I breathe in, if I don’t breathe out, I die. 

Every time I breathe out, if I don’t breathe in, I die.’ 

This will then stir you to go in the right direction. A year is too long, too far away and by then you forget what to do. Besides, who knows if we are going to live for another year or not, right? 

People say that Buddhist teaching is very pessimistic, only thinking about death. But we use death as a tool to fix our problems which is our suffering or our stress.

“Dhamma in English, Dec 19, 2023.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

Self Reliance

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

3 November 2024

Self Reliance.

The Buddha teaches that kamma separates human from animal. It also makes human different from one another. There are tall, short, intelligent, stupid, diligent, lazy, good and bad people. It’s because our past kamma are not the same. In our past lives, if we did good kamma, were diligent and wise, liked to study, liked to listen to the Dhamma, we would possess these qualities in our present existence. If in our past lives, we were lazy, hated to go to work, liked to live off others, hated to go to school, didn’t pay attention to the teachers, and didn’t learn anything new in order to become wiser, we would be like that in this life. Our differences are mostly due to our past kamma. 

We can’t change the past, but we can change the present. If we are lazy we can train ourselves to become diligent. We can use diligence to overcome laziness. If we are ignorant, we should study hard and associate ourselves with the wise and learned, who are more knowledgeable and wiser. They can teach us, and we can learn from them. 

Don’t hang around with the foolish and ignorant. If we do we wouldn’t learn anything from them. It would be a waste of time. We should instead stick with the good and the wise, who regularly go to the temples to make merits by giving to charity and keep the moral precepts. 

They could influence us to do good. 

We can’t change the past, but we can change the present. We can start anew. When we have done a lot of good kamma today, then good consequences will appear in the future. 

Our lives will be better tomorrow, next month, next year and next life because we are living a virtuous life today. 

The Buddha says that we are not all equal and have our differences. Even siblings are different. Some are bright, some are not, some are stupid, some are diligent, some are lazy, some are good, and some are bad. The Buddha divides them into three groups namely, those who are brighter and more virtuous than their parents; those who are the same; and those who are worse. 

Parents with brighter and smarter offspring are considered blessed and lucky. They hardly need to be taught because they are able to learn by themselves or have already acquired lots of knowledge from their past lives, like the Buddha for example. He belongs to the smarter and brighter kind. His father couldn’t teach him anything that he didn’t already know. He even knew more than all of his teachers. 

Parents who have offspring who are worse than they are have to be patient in teaching them about good and bad, right and wrong. If they can afford it, they should provide their children with quality education. If they study hard, they might one day become brighter and smarter than their parents. On the other hand, if they don’t like to go to school, to study hard and be good students, but like to go out and have fun, to drink and gamble, parents shouldn’t lose sleep over them, but should consider that their children are not themselves and vice versa. 

The Dhamma teaches that all beings are created by their own kamma. Whatever kamma they have committed, good or bad, they themselves would reap the consequences. Although they may be your sons and daughters, they are only so physically, but not spiritually or mentally. 

Their spirit or mind has their past kamma as their real parents. Parents shouldn’t therefore lose sleep over their children’s failures if they have done their best to raise them to be good and smart. If they insist on going down the road of moral deprivation, then it’s not your fault but the consequence of their past kamma. In this regard it can’t be helped, as the Buddha points out: Attãhi attano nãtho, we are our own refuge. 

Therefore, if we wish to live a happy and prosperous existence, and avoid all the trials and tribulations of life, we should keep a close watch on our physical, verbal and mental kamma. Make sure that they are going in the skilful and meritorious direction. If we don’t know what they are then we should learn from someone who knows, like all the well-learned and well-known ajahns. Go to them and learn from them. Then we will know how to live a happy and prosperous life. 

If we are going down the wrong path, we must resist it with all our might. For example, if we like to go out and drink, to gamble, to cheat, to lie, to steal, to kill animals like hunting and fishing, then we must put a stop to all of them. If we have friends who like doing these things, we should avoid them. 

Don’t socialize with them because they would only drag us down. 

We should therefore consider attãhi attano nãtho; we are our own refuge as our guiding principle and put our physical, verbal and mental kamma into good use in order for us to subsequently reap their good consequences.

“Sensual Pleasures are Painful.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

 27 October 2024

Q: What does หมากน้อยสันโดษ (mâak nói săn-dòht) mean?

Than Ajahn:  mâak nói means wanting little. 

Small is beautiful. Săn-dòht means to be content or happy with whatever you get whether it is many or little. Be thankful for getting it. Less is more. Small is beautiful. 

Because it doesn’t require much to have little. If you want to have more things, you have to work harder to get it. If you don’t want as much, you don’t have to work as hard to get it, so it releases the stress on your mind. If you want lots of things, then you have to work hard to get it. If you don’t want that much things then you don’t have to work that hard to get it. And if you are just happy with whatever you get then you don’t have any worries because you are just happy with anything or nothing. 

“Dhamma in English, Jun 1, 2024.”

- - - - -

Q:  In one of your teachings, you mentioned that the more you have, the more suffering you will be. Can you help enlighten me on this?

Than Ajahn:  If you have one house, then you only have one house to worry about. If you have two houses, then you doubled the worry. It also depends on how strong your attachment is. The cause of your suffering is based on your attachment. The stronger your attachment to things is then the stronger your suffering will be. If you are not attached to anything then you don’t have any suffering. The reason why you have more is because you have attachment so you want more. When you have more, then you have more suffering. If you have less attachment, then you have less suffering. 

Q: We do need a house to live so how much is enough? Does it depend on the individual?

Than Ajahn:  Yes, it depends on the individual. The Buddha tells the monks to not have a house, just live in the forest instead. 

You can decide for yourself. There are a wide range of accommodation you can chose from. The least expensive one will give you the least suffering. The most expensive one will give you more suffering because you have to pay more for it. 

“Dhamma in English, Jun 5, 2024.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

13 October 2024

Q: The Buddha’s teaching is akaliko (timeless), but how come Buddhism will disappear after 5000 years?

Than Ajahn:  Because nobody takes it up, that’s all. It’s still there. The next Buddha will bring it up again. It’s still there but no one study and practice the Buddha’s teaching so it will disappear from people’s mind. Then we have to wait for the new Buddha to discover it again. 

The Four Noble Truths are always there. Like the law of gravity, it is always there. It’s waiting for somebody to discover it. Can you say that the law of gravity changes? No, it doesn’t change, right? It’s always there but whether people know it or not, that can change. 

There will be a new Buddha who will discover the Four Noble Truths and teach the people. 

So there is a new person who will discover the Four Noble Truths after they disappear. 

Like our Buddha, when he practiced, there were no Four Noble Truths taught by anybody so nobody knew anything about the Four Noble Truths. He also didn’t know about the Four Noble Truths but he wanted to get rid of his suffering so he investigated it and found them. The Four Noble Truths are in our heart, but we just don’t see them, that’s all. 

When you have stress, is that the Noble Truth or not? 

When you cry, that’s the first Noble Truth, right? But you don’t investigate it, ‘Why am I crying? Why should I cry?’ 

Because you want your money back, or you want your husband back. He went for somebody else so you cried. 

If you don’t see the cause of your crying which is your craving, so you cry.

These are the Noble Truths happening all the time in people’s mind. But they don’t see them as such. When you are sad, that’s the first Noble Truth. When you hear bad news, you are sad. What’s the cause of your sadness? You don’t want to hear bad news, you want to hear good news. So the Four Noble Truths are always there but nobody sees them. Even the Buddha, before he became enlightened, he had them inside himself but he didn’t see them. 

The delusion is so great so you don’t see them. 

When you feel sad, you blame on somebody else. [For example] You blame on your husband. He is the one who makes you sad. 

But it’s not him leaving you that makes you sad, it’s your desire for him not to leave you that makes you sad. So if you change your mindset, ‘Okay, he could leave me, I don’t care,’ then you won’t be sad, right? 

See, the Noble Truths are always there. 

People don’t see them. It takes one person, once in a long time, to see these Truths then he can teach other people to see them. As soon as the Buddha saw the Four Noble Truths, he then taught the 5 ascetics then they could also see them. After he taught the Four Noble Truths in the First Discourse, one of the ascetics became enlightened. ‘Yes, I can see the Four Noble Truths now. It’s in myself, in my mind, working all the time. But I just don’t see them. When I feel sad, instead of killing my craving, I go kill other people who make me sad.’ Then he had to keep killing other people because there would be more people that made him sad again. But if he killed the defilement once and for all, then he would never be sad anymore. 

This is what we want to do: to stop the second Noble Truth from happening. If it happens – which is the craving – we want to eliminate it or stop it by using the practice of meditation and wisdom to see that everything is beyond our control. People die or people leave us, we can’t stop them when that happened. The only thing that we can do is just to accept it. If we can accept it then we won’t become sad. 

- - -

Q:  How to solve sadness?

Than Ajahn:  Sadness comes from your desire. You want something and you don’t get what you want then it makes you sad. So somehow you have to stop this desire for things to be the way you want them to be. 

And you can do this by meditating, by stopping your thoughts. Once you stop thinking then you forget about what you want, then your sadness will temporarily disappear. But it doesn’t disappear permanently.  As soon as you think about it again then you become sad again. 

If you want to get rid of your sadness permanently then you have to accept that things just happen the way they are because they are not under your control. They don’t respond to your desire. They are anattā. 

You have to use mindfulness to stop it first. Stop thinking. Stop thinking. 

Q:  Last night I was very sad. 

Than Ajahn:  Well, what you should do is to accept the sadness itself. Don’t try to get rid of it if you can’t get rid of it. Accept the sadness. Just be sad and be happy with the sadness instead. Your problem is you don’t want to be sad which cause you to have more sadness. 

And you don’t know how to get rid of it then it makes you even more sad. So the best way if you don’t know how to get rid of your sadness is to accept it. ‘Okay, let’s be sad and be happy with it.’ 

If you can accept the sadness then you don’t have to watch your breath anymore. Once you accept it then you can become happy. If you could let go of it completely then there’d be no sadness left in the mind and you’ll feel light and easy and happy. 

Q:  Is this phenomenon due to my past kamma?

Than Ajahn:  Don’t worry about past kamma. 

Worry about how to deal with your problem now. The best way is to embrace it if you can’t get rid of it. Accept it. 

If you can’t get rid of your sadness then try to live with it. If you can accept sadness, then you won’t be so sad. 

The problem is when you are so sad, you can’t accept your sadness. If you can meditate, then you can temporarily stop your sadness. But if you can’t meditate and you can’t get rid of your sadness, then just try to accept your sadness. Or be grateful that you are still alive. 

“Dhamma in English, April 30, 2024.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart

24 September 2024

The third spiritual power is mindfulness or sati. If we want quick results from our practice we need mindfulness. We must always be mindful of what we do because mindfulness controls the mind.

The mind is like an automobile and mindfulness its driver. If the driver has no mindfulness like when he is drunk, he would not be able to drive safely. He would probably unknowingly run through a red light at an intersection. 

Without mindfulness we will not be able to stop our mind when we want to. Without mindfulness to rein it in we could go mad and do things that normal people dare not do. We could go berserk and eventually be incarcerated in a mental asylum because we have lost touch with reality. We have lost our mindfulness or sati.

 Mindfulness is therefore essential in the performance of meritorious and skilful actions such as giving to charity, maintaining the precepts or sitting in meditation.

Having mindfulness to control the mind is like tying a monkey to a tree. If it were not put on a leash it would go everywhere causing a lot of troubles. On the other hand, if it’s tied to a tree, it couldn’t go far. At first it might struggle to free itself. After a while, it would get tired and stop struggling. It is subdued. 

Similarly, we can use mindfulness to control our mind. When we get angry or become greedy, if we have mindfulness, we would be able to stop our anger and greed. 

Mindfulness is therefore extremely essential and useful. 

When we lose our mindfulness, we would be like cars without brakes. We would misbehave and cause a lot of troubles for ourselves. People wouldn’t respect or admire us but get sick of us. They would think that we are insane because we would do or say whatever we like without giving consideration to what is right or proper. We are driven by our whims and fancies. People wouldn’t like to be associated with us. 

It’s therefore imperative for us to have mindfulness if we want to excel and become a good and respectable citizen. Having mindfulness means we must always be mindful of our actions. We must be mindful of what we do or say. Our mind must always be in the present, here and now, not drifting away to some other place. If it does, we wouldn’t be aware of what we are doing. 

For example, if our mind is thinking about something else while we cut meat or vegetables, we might cut our fingers instead. 

This is because we have no mindfulness. If we do we would know all the time what we are doing. Without mindfulness, we wouldn’t be able to thread the needle because our mind is drifting here and there. But when we have mindfulness to control the mind, we would be able to do it easily.

Mindfulness is a very valuable tool that should be earnestly developed. One way to do this is to mentally recite ‘buddho’. ‘Buddho, buddho’ at all times. 

Whatever we do, just think of ‘buddho’. Concentrate on it. 

Do not let the monkey or our mind run away. 

Tie it to a tree. That tree is buddho. 

If we could restrain our mind, it would eventually calm down and realize samādhi or concentration, not wandering here and there but stay put, here and now, like this glass of water that was placed here. It is still here and not going anywhere. Similarly, if we use mindfulness to control our mind, we would be able to concentrate and remain still. Once that happens, we can accomplish many things. 

“Sensual Pleasures Are Painful”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

22 September 2024

Question:  Why some cultivators, like Devadatta, who could attain jhāna, were capable of extreme evil acts?

Than Ajahn:  Attaining jhāna doesn’t stop you from doing bad or evil actions because your bad or evil actions come from your delusion (moha). 

Your delusion can make you think that what you do is right. 

Like Devadatta, he thought that the Buddha was old, so the Buddha should be replaced by someone younger like him. Devadatta thought that he had a good thought. 

He thought that he would help the Sangha by becoming the leader of the Sangha. But this was delusional because he himself hadn’t become enlightened yet. He wasn’t an arahant. So, how could he become the leader of the Sangha? It was also his desire to be big, to be the leader, which was a defilement. 

But he didn’t see this because he didn’t have the wisdom. He only had jhāna. 

Jhāna doesn’t distinguish between the delusion and the truth. Jhāna cannot distinguish truth from delusion. You need to have wisdom in order to be able to distinguish truth from delusion. So, you have to be very careful especially when you’ve got the psychic power like the Devadatta. You might think that you are supreme. 

But in reality, psychic power is useless as far as using it as the weapon to eliminate the defilements. You need to develop vipassanā. 

You need to see aniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ, anattā. 

You have to be very careful when you have achieved jhāna or any type of samādhi. You have to know that your delusion is still strong. 

You always have to watch your cravings. You have to curb or suppress your cravings. You have to try to eliminate them because they are your enemies. They will cause you a lot of dukkha. They will only lead you to the wrong direction. 

- - -

Question:  How could Devadatta be angry at the Buddha, and had so much hatred towards the Buddha?

Than Ajahn:  Because Devadatta had no equanimity. He had no wisdom. And when he wasn’t mindful, he could be overwhelmed by his defilements. 

- - -

Question:  Why was Devadatta opposing the Buddha?

Than Ajahn:  Because he was jealous of the Buddha. They were cousins. Once Devadatta had gotten psychic power, he thought he was more superior to the Buddha. 

Hence, he didn’t want to be the number two. He wanted to be the number one. 

- - -

Question:  It’s scary to see that one’s anger and defilements could be so strong even when one has such high cultivation.

Than Ajahn:  Your anger and defilements arise from the delusion, the desire to make yourself great, to make yourself better than other people. So, you have to be very careful about your desire to be somebody or something. 

You should know it right away that this is a defilement. 

With Dhamma, you don’t want to be anything. You are contented to be yourself. 

You’re happy inside so you don’t need anything from the outside to make you happy. 

You don’t need to be big. You don’t need to be rich. 

- - -

Question: If we are not enlightened, are we subjected ourselves to become the evil persons and how can we prevent this?

Than Ajahn: The Buddha said that we have to learn to be humble, to consider ourselves to be nobody. We stop our delusion from thinking great things about ourselves. 

Because when we are not enlightened, no matter what we have or what we become, even when we become presidents or the kings, we are still nothing compare to the enlightened persons. We are still subjected to dukkha. And we are still subjected to the round of rebirth. 

So, try to be humble. Think of yourself as a servant, or as someone who comes from the lowest level of society. Don’t think of yourself as being important because thinking of yourself as an important person is delusional. In reality, there is no self in the first place. 

We are just the spiritual beings with the capability to know, to perceive and to feel. 

That’s all we are. We are the same. We are spiritual beings. 

So, our true role is to be aware, to know, to feel and to not react to anything. Our role is to keep our minds calm and content. Once the mind becomes calm and content, then it doesn’t need to be anything.

Dhamma in English, Aug 25, 2020.

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

#ajahnsuchartabhijato #dhamma #devadatta #jhana #meditation #psychicpowers #vipassana

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

11 September 2024

This brings us to the second of spiritual powers, exertion or viriya. If we want to achieve the lofty goal of Dhamma practice, we must be diligent and hardworking. We must come to the temple regularly to give alms, maintain the precepts or sīla, listen to Dhamma talks, and make as much merit as we possibly can. Don’t be lazy. The more we sow, the more we  will reap. If we don’t put in the effort, we will reap nothing. 

No one can do it for us, not even the Buddha or his noble disciples. They can only point us the way, instruct us on how to realize the goal. This goal is not to be materially wealthy, but spiritually wealthy. We should be rich with morality, charity, spiritual happiness and contentment. This kind of wealth can never be stolen from us, unlike the worldly possessions. Our husbands and wives can be taken away from us. 

Our children and our property can be seized. But the real wealth within ourselves can never be stolen from us by anyone. 

Meritorious actions or kusala-kamma are truly our possessions. They will protect us; make us happy and content, now and in the future. When we die, we will go to sugati or a happy destination, not to apāya-bhūmi or state of deprivation, the four lower levels of existence into which we will be reborn as a result of our past unskilful actions namely rebirth in hell, as a hungry ghost, as an angry demon, or as a common animal. 

If we could maintain all the meritorious actions such as keeping the five precepts and giving to charity, we would at the least be reborn as a human being endowed with beauty, brain and wealth, and suffered no hardship or injury because we were led by our skilful actions. 

Without these meritorious actions, we would go to a lower level of existence, to be reborn as an animal such as a cat, a bird, or a buffalo. Such is the consequence of not doing meritorious actions. This is the law of Dhamma, the truth. 

Therefore, if we want to improve ourselves, go to a happy destination or sugati, a good existence, a noble plane of existence or ariya-bhūmi, we must be diligent and persistent in doing meritorious or skilful actions. 

We must strive in maintaining our ethical and moral purity, not allowing it to slip away, and push to have more of it. For example, if we now keep the five precepts, we must not slide back but should keep more precepts, going from the five precepts to the eight, ten and eventually to the 227 precepts practiced by the monks or bhikkhu, which is a good and right thing to do. 

We must also work hard in preventing ourselves from doing more unwholesome and unskilful actions that we have already discarded. For example, in the past we used to be erratic and emotional. Now we are calm and rational. People may say bad things about us, but we don’t mind, we can forgive and forget. We can now manage our anger and keep it under control, not allowing it to reappear. 

If we still possess any other unwholesome qualities like holding grudges or being stubborn, we should also strive to eradicate them. We should be rational, rather than being greedy, hateful and delusional. What we haven’t yet discarded we ought to do. 

What we have already eliminated we must not allow to return. In other words, we must strive to cultivate good, avoid all evil, and cleanse our  mind. This is what is meant by exertion or viriya, the second spiritual power. 

Once we start coming to monastery and listening to the Dhamma talks, we start to see the benefits. We gain something that we never had before, namely Dhamma, which is unlike all other material things, such as automobiles. We can see these motor vehicles with our naked eyes, but not so with Dhamma because it is spiritual. It gradually seeps into our mind. We might not feel anything at all although we might have been coming to the temple for a long time. But Dhamma continues to slowly infiltrate. Then one day, suddenly there is calmness in our mind. We will then realize that this is what we have come to the temple for all along. 

Maybe in the future we might encounter some crisis, go through unpleasant situations such as losing our loved ones, if we have the Buddha’s teaching to reflect on, we could remain calm and peaceful, rather than being afflicted with sorrow and lamentation to the point of not being able to eat or sleep, because the Buddha has told us that parting from our loved ones is a natural occurrence. 

It happens to everyone. It is not unusual. 

There is no need to be sad or tearful. We are still alive. 

Life goes on. We should maintain our composure and not fall prey to depression. If we could do this, we would see the benefits of the Dhamma teaching. In the past we came to the temple without knowing why we came. But when we run into trouble the Dhamma teaching that we have heard before could help get us out of our predicament and ease us out of our suffering, we would then appreciate immensely the value of the Dhamma teaching, would be a lot more diligent in our practice, and would want to do more meritorious actions like giving to charity. 

Why do people give to charity or keep the training precepts? We might ask ourselves. 

It’s because it makes them feel good and help them in time of crisis. If we haven’t done it before we might not appreciate it. To find out we just have to do it. Just keep doing it until we reap the results. 

It is like planting trees. We don’t expect trees to bear fruit right away. When we plant durian or mango trees, we have to wait five to ten years for them to bear fruit. 

It’s the same with making merits, keeping the precepts or listening to Dhamma talks. It doesn’t come to fruition instantly. It takes time. What we have to do is to have faith in the Buddha’s teaching and apply it untiringly. The fruits of our labor will come in due course. 

“Sensual Pleasures Are Painful”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

“Nibbāna is inside, not outside.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

10 September 2024

“Nibbāna is inside, not outside.”

Monk: Did you visit any other forest Masters?

Than Ajahn: No, once I got to Wat Pa Baan Taad, Ajahn Mahā Boowa said, ‘You  should practice. You shouldn’t go anywhere because any other places are all the same. The Masters will teach you the same thing.’ 

He didn’t want monks to go pay respect to other teachers during the vassa period. He’d go alone, by himself. He didn’t want to disturb the monks’ practice. 

He knew that once the monks went out of the monastery, the senses would start to go out through the senses door and they could start to disrupt the peace of the mind. He tried to protect us from exposing ourselves through all the bombardments of the senses, like the things you saw, the things you heard. 

Because once you went out and when you came back, you’d find it difficult to calm it down. It took a while before you could go back to the state before you went out. So, he thought of the pros and cons of going to pay respect to other teachers, and it’s not worth the cost of the disturbance to the mind.

Because he’s already a great teacher himself, so going to one great teacher to another great teacher are the same. He’s really very smart. He thought of the welfare of his students’ minds more than anything else. He tried to protect their welfare, protect their minds from being disrupted. Once you stayed there, you were expected to stay at least for the first five years. 

He wouldn’t let you go anywhere without any good reasons. And ‘reasons’ usually means family emergency, or medical emergency. If you just want to see other temples, or pay respect to other teachers, he wouldn’t let you go. It’s a waste of time. You’re distracted. 

Your defilement starts to deceive you, telling you, ‘It’s time to go out.’ But your goal is to go inside because that’s where nibbāna is. 

Nibbāna is inside, not outside. 

You only went to see teachers to tell you to go inside. 

Once you know that you have to go inside, then there’s no need to go outside. 

But you’re still going outside. You won’t find nibbāna in all these places you’re going. The only thing you find is a mirror, pointing to you back to go inside. So, when you go home, you should stay put and meditate. 

Then, you’ll find nibbāna there, in your home or in your monastery. If you still keep going outside, looking for teachers, looking for places, you’ll never find nibbāna there.

Dhamma for the Asking, Feb 6, 2017

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

28 August 2024

Q: Is it possible to take refuge from you?

Than Ajahn:  I cannot give you a refuge. You have to be your own refuge. I can only give you instruction on how to have a refuge. 

When we take the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha as our refuges, it means we take them as our teacher. 

That’s all. We believe in our teacher’s teachings and we don’t believe in other people’s teachings. If other people’s teachings contradict with the teachings of the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, we will only follow the teachings of the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha if we want to get rid of all suffering. So when you asked me questions and I answered your questions, you are already taking refuge from me automatically without having to go through the ritual, ‘Buddhaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi, Dhammaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi, Sanghaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi.’

“Dhamma in English, Apr 14, 2024.”

- - - - -

Question:  Can Ajahn elaborate on what it means by taking refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha? I also read that one should be one's own refuge. What is the difference? 

Than Ajahn:  Taking refuge in Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha means you take the Triple Gem as your teacher. 

Before you can teach yourself, you need someone to guide you because in the beginning you don’t know what you should do. So you need a teacher to tell you what to do. 

You need the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha as your refuge, as your teacher.

Once you have learnt from the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha and knew what you are supposed to do, then you have to be your own refuge. You have to apply what you have learnt yourself because the Buddha cannot do it for you; the Sangha cannot do it for you; you have to do it yourself. So this is what it means by taking yourself as your own refuge: you have to do the practice yourself. So you need both: you need to take refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha as your teacher and you need to be your own refuge as a practitioner.

“Dhamma in English, May 5, 2017.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

22 August 2024

Q:  I reduced watching the news.

Than Ajahn:  Yes, the news is the same. You cannot change the news anyway. That’s how things happen. I think the real news that you should be watching every day is your future, that is, of ageing, sickness, and death. This is the news that will happen to everybody. So once you see this news then you don’t need to worry about other news. You know things are going to end anyway. It doesn’t matter who becomes the president or the prime minister. You know all will end up dead. 

Don’t forget the real news. The Buddha said that you should think of the ageing, sickness and death every day as much as possible. That’s the real news. All other news is fake news. And it’s important for you to be aware of this news then you will prepare your mind for it when you have to face it. 

If you have a mind that is ready to face the real news then there will be no dukkha. So this is really a more important news than any other news. 

“Dhamma in English, Mar 26, 2024.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

13 August 2014

Q:  Regarding rites and rituals, a Sotāpana still perform rites and rituals but he/she is not attached to them whilst a layperson is attached to them, is this right?

Than Ajahn:  When you do some rituals, it’s because you want to get something from doing it. Like if you're afraid of losing your job then you do some rituals and hope that those rituals might prevent you from losing your job. But a Sotāpanna knows that the problem is your attachment to having a job. You do rituals because you don’t see that having a job is impermanent. It’s not dependable. Not certain. It’s anicca. 

Having work or not having work, you can’t always control it. A Sotāpanna sees this. A Sotāpanna sees that dukkha comes from having the desire to have this work all the time and the desire not to lose it. A Sotāpanna sees the truth that a job is not always dependable. One might lose it any time, any day. So instead of having to do the rituals, a Sotāpanna prepares for the worst, prepares for losing the job and accepts the truth. Then there will be no dukkha. 

So there is no need to do any rituals if one sees the Four Noble Truths. All your stress come from your craving. 

And the things that you are attached to are impermanent, they are not reliable, not stable, not something that you can always depend on. So when you see the truth then you say, ‘Okay, I might lose it.’ 

Then you have no resistance to the truth. 

You have no craving to have it all the time and if this happens [you lose it] then you have no stress, and when you have no stress, you don’t need to do any rituals. 

People do rituals to get rid of the stress created by the uncertainty of things which they still hang on to or attached to. But a Sotāpanna sees everything as impermanent so he doesn't attach to anything. He willingly lets things go if it’s the time for it to go so there's no stress then there's no need to go do any rituals. 

Q:  So performing rituals is for people who want a false sense of security.

Than Ajahn:  Yes, it’s for them to feel good, to feel hopeful they have done something that might help to maintain or retain what they want to keep. 

Q:  People do many sorts of rituals like having the right time to get married, choosing the colour they need to wear.

Than Ajahn:  Because they want their life to be good, not to have bad things happen to them. But a Sotāpanna knows that life is both good and bad, they come and go, they change – sometimes things are good, sometimes they are bad. A Sotāpanna accepts both sides of the story. 

But for the those who are not enlightened, they only want the good side, they don't want the bad side so they want to make sure that whatever they do, they will ensure that they only have good things happening to them. So they do all kinds of rituals. When they build a new house, they have to do rituals before they go live in that new house. When they get a new car, they have to go to the monk and ask the monk to bless the car. These are rituals. 

The problem with people doing rituals is they don't see the impermanent nature of things. 

With a Sotāpanna, he sees the impermanent nature of things and he knows he cannot control them all. 

Sometime things can be good, sometimes they can be bad. A Sotāpanna sees whatever rises will come to a cessation one day sooner or later. 

Doing rituals are psychological. It makes you feel assured that things will be fine because you have done the rituals so it will guarantee your success for instance.

They never listen to the song, ‘Que Sera, Sera (Whatever will be will be).’ (laugh). It means things are not always the same, things can change anytime. 

So look at things as good and bad, up and down. This is the way things work. This is the nature of anicca, anattā. Anattā means you can’t control them, you can’t tell things to only be good and nothing bad will happen to you. You can’t do that. So you prepare to accept both sides of the story. ‘Hope for the best and expect the worst.’ So you won’t be disappointed when the worst thing happens to you because you expect it to happen. [For example] You know that this guy is going to cheat you, so when he does it, you say, ‘Okay’, you know it. 

So you don’t trust anybody which means that you don’t trust that other people will always be good to you. You always think that one day they can always turn around and stick a knife in your back. Nothing permanent. 

Nothing you can say that things will be like this all the time. Things can change anytime. 

“Dhamma in English, Mar 26, 2024.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart. 

26 July 2024

Q:  Is there a purpose in life when we have to go through many rebirths and repeat the same things over and over again?

Than Ajahn:  You have to first ask yourself why are you here in the first place. Do you know why you are here? If you don't know then there is no purpose, really.

When you go to a place, you have a purpose, right? You go to a market because you want to buy chicken or some vegetables. You go to school because you want to study. So there’s always a purpose when you do something. If you don't know why you are here for then there's no purpose for you. 

What I’m trying to get at is that if we don’t have the Buddha’s teachings, we don’t know what’s going on with ourselves. In the Buddha’s teachings, the Buddha said that our continuous rebirths are caused by our cravings, cravings for sensual gratification. 

We go after sensual objects and in order to go after sensual objects, we need to have a body. The body has sensual organs i.e. the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and the body, so we can access to the sensual objects which are the form, sound, smell, taste and tactile objects. This is why we are here today in this world. 

We exist in this sensual plane of existence because we have sensual cravings. Cravings for sensual pleasure are what brought us here. And they will keep bringing us back here because no matter how much you have access to your sensual objects you will never be satisfied, you will never be content. Your sensual cravings will never disappear. So when your body dies, the mind which comes and possesses the body will be driven by the sensual desire or sensual cravings to go get a new body. So this is the reason why we are here. 

The purpose of us being here is to satisfy our sensual cravings and these cravings will keep us coming back again and again. No matter how much you have access to, or you have become e.g. become the President, become the King, it's temporary. When your body dies, your desire to have more of it doesn’t die with the body. 

These cravings or desires will push you, push your mind to go look for a new body so you keep coming back again and again for endless time. 

You will never ever stop these rounds of rebirths until you come across the teachings of the Buddha which tell you what cause you to have rebirths. If you want to stop rebirths, you have to stop your sensual pleasure cravings. In order to stop your sensual cravings, you have to practice charity, morality and meditation. 

So it's up to you what purpose in life you want. Do you want to continue with going round and round in this cycle of rebirths? If this is what you want, then you just go after what you want to have, go after what you want to see, what you want to hear. 

But if you want to stop this round of rebirth then you have to practice charity, morality and meditation which will stop your sensual pleasure cravings. 

So the purpose is now for you to choose. 

There are two options: to continue with your rounds of rebirths or to stop your rounds of rebirths. 

In order to stop your rounds of rebirth, you have to stop your sensual cravings. In order to stop your sensual cravings, you have to practice charity, morality and meditation.

“Dhamma in English, Feb 13, 2024.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

How can I attain sotāpanna?”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

25 July 2024

Question from Myanmar:  “How can I attain sotāpanna?”

Than Ajahn: “You have to get rid of the fetters. There are three fetters you have to get rid of: sakkāyadiṭṭhi – wrong view of the body and the five khandhas; your doubt in the Buddha, Dhamma and the Saṅgha; and your attachment to rituals. These are the three fetters that a sotāpanna needs to eliminate. In order to do these, you need to have sīla, samādhi and paññā. 

Paññā means that you see the body, the five khandhas, as aniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ, anattā. 

Once you’ve seen this and have seen the Four Noble Truths, then you will have the eye of the Dhamma. You see the Dhamma. Those who see the Dhamma, see the Buddha. Then, you’ll have no doubt in the Buddha, Dhamma and Saṅgha. The Saṅgha is you who see the Buddha and the Dhamma. 

You’ll also see that your suffering arises from your attachment to your cravings or your desires. Performing any kinds of rituals cannot get rid of your suffering. So, once you know the cause of your suffering, which is your craving or your desire, you don’t perform any more rituals. All you need to do when you are not happy is to get rid of your cravings or your desires.”

“Dhamma in English, Q&A session, Aug 15, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

23 July 2024

Q:  I feel like I have so much love for the world and I really want to try to, in some way, help the world and help my friends and my family. By awakening myself, is this the best chance that I have for helping others?

Than Ajahn:  Yes. Before you can help others, you have to have the tools or the ability to help others. If you don’t have the ability to do it then your intention is useless because you can’t put it into practice. Like if you want to be a lifeguard but you don’t know how to swim then how are you going to help other people when they drown? You first have to learn how to swim then you can become a life guard and you can protect people's life on the beaches.

So it’s the same way if you want to help other people overcome their suffering, you first have to know how to do it. Overcoming your own suffering first is like learning how to swim [in the simile mentioned above]. 

You learn how to get rid of your mental suffering, your stress, your depression, your anxiety, your worry and all these negative feelings inside of you. You have to learn how to get rid of them first. Unless you know how to do it then you can help other people to do it. 

Like the Buddha, before he started teaching to the world, he first had to find the way for himself to deal with his own suffering. Once he had found a path and got rid of all his suffering then he was ready to help the world. He did it for 45 years after his 6 years on solitude and meditation. 

So you first have to develop your ability to help other people before you can help other people. Intention alone is not good enough.

Q :  So I don't have to worry about forgetting about them once I become enlightened. I’m not going to lose my love for the world by becoming enlightened.

Than Ajahn:  They’ll come to you once you’re enlightened. You don’t have to go after them. 

You'll be the super lover of the world, super Santa Clause like the Buddha. 

Look at the Buddha, he worked tirelessly teaching people every day. He taught people four times a day. In the afternoon, he taught the lay people; in the evening, he thought the monks and the bhikkhunis; late at night, he taught the devas, the spiritual beings; and early in the morning before he went on almsround, he’d send his mental mind searching for people that he could help on that particular day. So that was what the Buddha had done every day of his life for 45 years. Who else could do this without getting paid? He got only the food on almsround, that’s all he got, that’s all he needed. 

And the Buddha’s love and compassion still linger to this day. We still respect him for what he had done. We couldn't thank him enough for what he had done for the world. 

Without him, we won't be here, we would probably be in in the mental institution somewhere. Really! I'm not kidding! You could end up in a mental institution or end up killing yourself if you don’t have Buddhism to help you. That's what a lot of people do nowadays because they don't know how to overcome their suffering or their depression. 

Okay? Understood?

Don't worry about other people for now. 

Worry about your practice. Finish your work first. Once you’ve finished your work then you can help others. 

Student:  Okay, thank you so much.

“Dhamma in English, Sept 19, 2023.”

- - - - -

Monk:  Is there a role for doing generosity, as a service, in the community, maybe to create the feeling of happiness? For example, Than Ajahn Paññā liked to fix watches for his friends, which is a kind of being generous. How is this connected to development of samādhi?

Than Ajahn:  It is an alternative way, but it is not the right way because the right way is samādhi that you eventually have to achieve. 

Other things are just a means to bring your mind towards that goal eventually. 

When you do things for other people, you are in a way stopping your defilement from doing things for yourself. It is this defilement that is one of the problems which we call hindrances that prevent you from having samādhi. 

You have to be very careful because sometimes you may overdo it and you become attached to the path and forget that it is just a path, it is not the goal. The problem is sometimes you take the path to be the goal, so you are not getting anywhere. 

The path is to stop your mind from doing anything for yourself. So instead of watching TV or doing something that is harmful or not useful, you go do some work for other people. But for monks, I will discourage this. I think monks should solely concentrate on developing mindfulness. Because the Buddha said, in order to achieve the results of your practice, you need the constant development of mindfulness. You have to live alone in a secluded place, don’t socialize and don’t mingle with other people. You have to know how to be moderate in your eating. You have to constantly guard your senses. 

When you go help other people you are generally not guarding your senses. You are actually opening the gate to let your mind go out towards all the senses. So I don’t think that that is the proper way, except that if you cannot do these four things that the Buddha requires you to do, then maybe you have to go back and do this pre-requisite work first, do things for other people first. But eventually this is to lessen your desire to do things for yourself, then you can come back, be with yourself, be alone and develop mindfulness.

“Monks from Wat Pah Nanachaat, Jun 9, 2015”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g 

**********

Could you please give a summary of the meaning of anattā?

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

20 July 2024

Q:  Could you please give a summary of the meaning of anattā? 

Than Ajahn:  Anattā is a word opposite of atta. Atta means self. Anattā is no self. Anattā means something natural like the wind, the rain. There is no self pushing the wind, controlling the wind or telling the wind when to blow or when not to blow. This is what it means by anattā – no one behind the activity except the condition that keep it rises. It’s scientific, that’s what it means. 

Like the rain. We get rain from the evaporation of water. There is evaporation because of the heat. So there are conditions that are pushing one condition to cause another thing to happen but there’s nobody behind these activities. 

So is the body. There is no ‘you’ or ‘me’ pushing this body. We can’t push this body. 

The body has its own course. Once it takes conception, it will grow and then it will take birth, it will come out of the womb and it will continue to grow by adding the four elements into the body. So it keeps growing and one day, it gets to the maximum growth and starts to deteriorate. It starts to countdown because the four elements that were combined lose the strength that bind them together and this causes the four elements start to separate gradually, and eventually the body ceases to exist because the four elements separated. So this is a natural phenomenon, there is no somebody pushing it or telling it what to be or what not to be. 

This is what is meant by anattā – no self, no body pushing, controlling, or telling it what to be. 

We might think that we can control the body, yes, to a certain extent, we can tell it when to eat or when not to eat, when to walk, when not to walk. But those who tell the body what to eat is not a self either, they are just thoughts. According to Buddhism, there are thinking but there are no thinkers. 

So everything is natural conditions, natural phenomena or natural processes that interact with one another and causing one to appear and the other to disappear. 

Everything is the interaction of conditions, usually, the interaction between the four elements (the earth, wind, water and fire element). In science we have four qualities of matter: solid, liquid, temperature [plasma/superheated matter], and gas. They interact with each other, that's what they are. 

Our body is like that too. Everything is like that like your house, your car. Everything is the interaction of four elements forming and then dissolving. You build something and one day, it falls apart, right? That’s the law of nature in this physical world we live in. 

In Pāli, anattā usually translated into English as no self. 

Everything is like the weather. 

Sometimes we control some of them, sometimes we can’t. Like flooding, we can make dam to prevent flooding but eventually the dam will break down and the flooding starts again. And the one who thinks that it is managing everything is not a self either. It’s just the working of the perception, memory and thinking that create new ideas, new desire and cravings. 

So no self. Everything is just the natural phenomena: mental phenomena and physical phenomena. 

Sometimes the mental phenomena interact with physical phenomena like body. 

Sometimes the body is intervened by the mental phenomena like by our thoughts and our perception. 

The term self is a concept created by the delusion of the mind. There's no self. The delusion creates the concept of a self. You’ll find that the self disappears when you stop your thoughts. 

When you meditate and get into jhāna, your perception and your thinking stop and all that is left with is just knowing. But when you come out of meditation, your perception and your thoughts start to work again and then you start to think in terms of self and no self again, think about you, me and other people and so forth. It's just thinking. It’s a concept. 

Like in ancient time, there’s this concept that The World is Flat and everybody believes that the World is Flat. 

That's just a concept. It’s just a delusion, it’s not the truth. 

The same way with the self. This is a delusional concept. But we were born with it, we have been stuck with it for a long time and it becomes second nature to us. 

Meditate and get into jhāna, then you can find the disappearance of the self temporarily. 

There is a knowing but no knower. Just knowing.

“Dhamma in English, Dec 26, 2023.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

We are so LUCKY to live, in different forms, for 20 or 50 millions years, then a Buddha revealing the Truth or Dhamma appears, we have five Buddhas in our present earth-cycle.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

15 June 2024

We are so LUCKY to live, in different forms, for 20 or 50 millions years, then a Buddha revealing the Truth or Dhamma appears, we have five Buddhas in our present earth-cycle.

Why so lucky ?

Because in the previous 91 earth-cycles, lasting 50 or 100 billions years each, the Buddha only found six SammasamBuddhas like Him. 

Furthermore the Dhamma is only for the ones in suitable conditions to understand It and only for the ones ready or able to understand It.

It is like winning at a lottery (where we have billions or almost uncountable possibilities to loose and only one to win) and this means that the so lucky ticket is when the true Dhamma can be heard, evaluated and understood. 

Having it now in our hands, we should not  waste it, because so rare that can be easily seen as the only possibility each of us has in a future that can hardly be quantified. 

🙏❤️🙏

---

“This is the best opportunity of your life.”

“If you are convinced that nibbāna is the best for you, you will be willing to commit yourself to the path of practice dāna, sīla and bhāvanā. But if you are not convinced yet, then you’ll be still undecided. 

You will still think ‘Should I leave my wife, my husband, my family, my wealth for nibbāna? 

Is nibbāna really that good?’ You won’t get the answer on your own. You have to seek advice from the noble ones – people who have attained to nibbāna. Then, they will tell you in no uncertain terms that nibbāna is the best for you. 

If you seek advice from teachers who haven’t yet reached nibbāna, they would not be able to tell you whether nibbāna is good or not good. Because they themselves are not sure. 

So, when you go to look for teachers, when you listen to Dhamma talks, you should look for the noble teachers – teachers who have attained to nibbāna. Then, they will speak in no uncertain terms that there is nothing in this world that is as good as nibbāna. 

And the way to get to nibbāna is to practice dāna, sīla and bhāvanā. 

So, this is what you should try to achieve, to have the inspiration in the Dhamma, and to be convinced that nibbāna is the best for you. 

The Buddha was convinced that the life as a prince was not as good as the life as a monk. 

As a prince, he still had to face a lot of problems. But once he became a monk, he could get rid of all the problems. And he found that there’s nothing like peace of mind. Peace of mind is nibbāna. When you have no desire, your mind will become peaceful and happy. 

So, you have to practice. By merely listening to Dhamma is not enough. Listening to Dhamma is just learning what you have to do. 

Once you know what you have to do, then you have to do it. Only when you do it, you will be able to achieve it. It’s easy for you to achieve it because the 

Buddha’s teachings are still around. You don’t have to do trials and search for the path yourself. 

Right now, you have the Buddha's teachings that tell you exactly what to do. If you can do it, you’ll get the result as what the Buddha has promised – you can achieve the result in 7 days or 7 months or 7 years. 

Without the teachings, you will never be able to achieve the result because you don’t know how to do it. 

So, this is the best opportunity of your life. It is an opportunity that only happen once in many, many millions years. Because every time you are born, it doesn’t mean that you will come across the teachings of the Buddha. Now you have found the teachings and therefore you should not throw it away. 

You should make use of it as best as you can.”

“Dhamma in English to laypeople from Malaysia & Singapore, May 12, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

#ajahnsuchartabhijato #dhamma #nirvana #nibbana #dana #sila #bhavana #meditation

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

3 December 2024

The Buddha teaches us to contemplate that as a result of birth:

I am of the nature to age. I cannot escape from ageing.

I am of the nature to get sick and experience pain. I cannot escape from sickness and pain.

I am of the nature to die. I cannot escape from death.

All that is mine, beloved and pleasing, will become otherwise, will become separated from me. 

This is something that is worthwhile for us to remember constantly, many, many times a day. 

Otherwise this truth will not stay with us. We will then not forget and be deluded into working on anything that brings no benefit to ourselves and will instead take on worthwhile activities, such as making merit, nurturing our virtue, meditating, and listening to and practising Dhamma. 

If we do not reflect deeply, we may think that we will not experience old age, sickness, pain, and death. We will then go seeking fortune, status, fame, and pleasure through ears, nose, tongue, eyes, and body just like our current lifestyle. We will make very little effort to ne, keep the precepts, meditate, or listen to and practise Dhamma. On the contrary, when it comes to seeking fortune, status, fame, and pleasure through the ears, nose, tongue, eyes, and body, we strive the whole day and night, except when we are asleep. 

When we wake up, we are off again to seek pleasure through the ears, nose, tongue, eyes, and body. We open the refrigerator, looking for snacks, looking for drinks, or go off to the kitchen to see what else there is to eat. 

Once our stomach is full, we are off again seeking pleasure through the ears, nose, eyes, tongue, and body, seeking entertainment all night long in all sorts of places, looking for this person or that person, looking for this thing or that thing. This is seeking that is of no use to our heart. It does not bring fulfilment and contentment, but leads only to more and more mental deprivation, hunger, and craving continuously. 

When we don’t have anything to protect our mind, we will have loneliness, irritation, depression, and be easily agitated. This arouses dukkha in our mind and causes us harm. If we are only concerned with seeking fortune, status, fame, and pleasure through the ears, nose, tongue, eyes, and body when the body cannot meet our needs our mind will be stressed and tormented. 

For instance, when the physical body falls into sickness or becomes bed-ridden, it is not possible to seek pleasure through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body. 

It is not possible to seek pleasure through fortune, status, and fame. When that happens, we will be lonely and depressed. It may even lead to feeling like we want to kill ourselves because we do not know what we are still living for without the means to enjoy physical pleasure as we did before. That is because we do not know the means to find happiness within the mind. 

For if we can find happiness within our mind, when anything happens to the body, we will not be agitated because we know the way to find happiness within our mind. Even if the body is sick, painful and bed-ridden or paralyzed, we can still find happiness within the heart. We can calm the mind, develop mindfulness, and practise the repetition of Buddho, Buddho. 

If we practise Buddho continuously without thinking of this or that person, this or that issue, our mind will be clear, cool, and relaxed, leading to calm and stillness. 

There will then be bliss. 

This is happiness that does not need the body or fortune, status, and fame. This is nurturing our mind to have happiness that leads and delivers us away from dukkha. For when we are calm, we are bound to be able to see the origin of dukkha and the origin of our perpetual death and rebirth, thus leading us into deeper levels of calm and reducing our kilesas (defilements), craving, and desire. 

For when the mind is calm, defilement and craving stop working and as a result the stressed, agitated, and angry mind ceases and disappears completely as well. This is the contentment that will stop discontentment, only it is temporary. The practice of mental calm through the repetition of Buddho, Buddho is not lasting, for when the calm mental state becomes weak, the kilesas will have the power to rise up, distressing the mind. 

To overcome this, we will have to use wisdom to teach the mind to understand that kilesas are the origin that of mental distress and torment that not worth wanting. 

If we do not wish to experience mental distress, but instead to have mental peace and calm forever, we should stop and resist desire, stop and resist greed, hatred and delusion. The method to stop and resist greed, hatred, and delusion is to teach our mind that whatever we desire through the kilesas and the resultant sukha that it brings to us is not comparable to the happiness that is already within our mind. 

The pleasure acquired through desire is little, arises only once, and will be followed by discontentment. 

Craving will arise again to regain the lost pleasure, and we will want it even more. It is like someone who already has a handful who then wants a whole sack. 

Having a sack, he craves and wants the whole store. 

Already having $10,000, his greed wants $100,000, and then a million. 

Already having a million, he wants 10 million, 100 million, without any end in sight. This goes on and on. 

Our mind is agitated, seeking all of this according to our desire. 

If we want our mind to be calm, cool, and happy, and not agitated, we have to fight against desire and teach our mind not to desire. For if we desire, dukkha will follow. 

Whatever happiness gained will be minimal because it is not permanent, and we cannot control it to provide happiness for us forever. 

Whatever sukha brought to us may within a day or night change and bring dukkha (unhappiness) instead. 

For example, when the relationship with our partner first starts, our partner is agreeable to us. 

Everything is delightful, and we are happy. 

But when our partner changes, whatever brought happiness before may become disagreeable and stressful for us. When our partner changes from being nice to being mean, from being truthful to being dishonest, our mind is no longer happy and only suffers. 

Additionally, it is not within our power to stop or change our partner. If our partner chooses to be bad, we will be depressed and despair. 

This is wisdom we use to teach our mind every time it desires anything, to teach the mind not to take things whenever it is not necessary. If we really need something, take it, such as our clothing. If it is torn and not possible to be worn, buy a replacement. But know what is enough and sufficient; two or three sets is enough. The same goes for sandals and other goods. Do not want more than necessary, otherwise it is desire driven. 

If you follow your desire, it will keep on increasing until it becomes too much and overloads your house. 

Owning too many things is not what increases the happiness in our mind. 

“Dhamma for the Asking, May 11, 2013.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g