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: 

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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