The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.
9 May 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
YouTube: Dhamma in English.
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