“We must train our minds to be centered.”

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

31 July 2025

“We must train our minds to be centered.”

The happiness that comes from calming the mind with meditation is good, but it is not as good as the peace that comes from eliminating defilements with wisdom, because the peace of meditation is temporary, like a stone pressed on grass. 

When the stone presses the grass, the grass will not grow. When the stone is removed, the grass will receive water, air, and sunlight, and will grow again. 

Defilements are the same when we meditate until the mind is calm and still. At that moment, we feel that there are no defilements at all. There is no greed, anger, or delusion. There is only happiness and comfort, but it does not last long. When we leave meditation, we start thinking, fabricating, seeing, and hearing. Defilements will come out and wander. We start liking this, hating that, wanting that, wanting to escape from this, because meditation only stops defilements. It temporarily stops defilements. 

Defilements rely on the mental fabrication of thoughts, using memory and perception as tools. When we see something, we remember what it is. Whether it is male or female, good or bad, like or dislike, it will follow. 

When we like something, the mental fabrication will order us to go and get it. If we do not like it, we tell us to walk away. The mental fabrication of desire arises. 

Whatever we like, we want to get close to it. Whatever we dislike, we want to get away from it. If we cannot escape, we suffer and are troubled. If you have to live with things you don’t like, such as when you meet someone, you just scold them, criticize them, and criticize them, your mind will not like them. If you can’t get away from them, you will suffer. If you meet someone who compliments you all the time, you want them to stay with you forever and not disappear. When they disappear, you will feel sorry and sad, which will cause suffering. 

If you like them, you will suffer. If you don’t like them, you will suffer. 

Therefore, you have to train your mind to be in the middle between liking and disliking. Be equanimity. 

Just know and be aware of everything your mind senses, whether it be form, sound, smell, taste, or touch. 

To do this, you have to consider that what you like is not really good. What you don’t like is not really bad. 

Both what you like and dislike are the same. They are the three characteristics. 

They are both impermanent. They cause you suffering. 

They cannot be controlled. This is the way to practice with these things. This is to prevent your mind from being disturbed and clouded. This is to make your mind equanimity. 

To make your mind equanimity, you have to have concentration. If you don’t have concentration, you won’t know where equanimity is. You will only like or dislike things. However, if you have concentration, you will know what equanimity is. When you move to like or dislike something, you will know immediately that you have left the point of equanimity. You will know that your mind is starting to waver. I am entering into suffering because if I like something, I will be sad. 

When something I like goes away, if I encounter something I dislike, I will immediately feel anxious. I have to pull my mind back to equanimity. If I pull it with mindfulness, it will last temporarily. If I pull it with wisdom, it will last permanently. I have to accept the truth that things I dislike are a part of life. When we have to be together, we should stay together. We don’t have to reject it, move away, or drive it away. The form we like or dislike is the same form. The person we like or dislike also comes from the earth, water, wind, and fire. If we see it as just a form, there will be no emotion of like or dislike. If we consider everything down to the three characteristics, the mind will be equanimous. The mind will let go. This is a matter of wisdom that requires concentration to support it. If we don’t have concentration, we won’t be able to stop the mind and make the mind equanimous. The wisdom will not yet be true wisdom. It is wisdom that comes from hearing, listening, and studying, which is called Pariyatti Dhamma or Suttamaya wisdom. If it is wisdom that comes from contemplation, it will be imaginary wisdom. It doesn’t have enough power to stop defilements or cut off defilements because it is incoherent wisdom. It can be remembered and forgotten. It is still far from the mind. 

When a real event occurs, we won’t be able to extinguish defilements in time because we have accidentally forgotten. We know that it is not good. But when I actually met him, I saw that everything was good. I liked him immediately. I forgot all about the pain and suffering I had experienced with that person. 

When I met him, my heart softened because I still liked him. But if I had concentration, I would be able to continuously develop my wisdom. I would consider that this person was not good with every breath I took. 

If I considered in this way, then it would be the wisdom of meditation, the wisdom that cuts off defilements.

Phra Ajahn Suchart Aphichato

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.

30 July 2025

Q:  When I stay at a monastery, I have to cook and do chores. The advantage is if I have any questions, I can ask the abbot. If I stay at my cottage, I can listen to Ajahn Mahā Boowa’s talks and your talks and message you my questions. Is it better to practise meditation in a monastery or at my cottage when I am alone?

Than Ajahn:  Well, it depends on the result, which one is better? You have to look at the result of your practice. If one is better than the other one then you choose the one that is better. Look at the result of your practice, the calm and the progress that you make on your practice. Sometimes you might have to switch and go back to your teacher. 

Sometimes the teacher can help you solve your obstacles, but sometimes, if you’re alone, you can have more time to do your practice. So it depends on what you need and then you can decide, for that particular time, whether you should be with your teacher or be alone. 

Q:  I am an artist (an actor and musician) living in Vancouver, Canada. I have some minor success over the years but I rarely have experienced a satisfied life energy. I have a few wonderful opportunities coming up soon which I am grateful for but ultimately, for many days I feel myself disconnected, alone and sad. Can you please help me find my way again?

Than Ajahn:  Well, according to the Buddha, there is nothing in this world that can give you contentment and satisfaction. No matter how successful you might be, you’ll still find loneliness and emptiness when you’re alone. 

The only thing in this world that will make you content and happy is the practice of meditation. You should learn to practice meditation, mindfulness meditation so that you can stop your thoughts, your emotions, your desires and your cravings that make you feel lonely, that makes you feel hungry for things, makes you feel empty.

Q: Are vedanā, saññā, saṅkhārā and viññāṇa made up by the 4 elements?

Than Ajahn:  No, those are parts of the knowing element. The 5 elements make up the body. The earth element, the water, the fire and the wind element are combined to form the body; while the nāma-khandha (which is vedanā, saññā, saṅkhārā and viññāṇa) comes from the mind. The nāma-khandha is part of the mind (which is the knowing element). 

Q:  If my parents and my sister create emotional distress for me, is it bad kamma if I distance myself from them?  

Than Ajahn:  No, this is the way to stop creating kamma because if you remain close to them, you couldn’t resist reacting to what they do and say and then you’re creating more kamma. The way to stop creating new kamma is to distance yourself from them. 

Q:  My heart knows that I have to let go of things, but my mind will cling to them and worry about many things. What is the difference between the heart and the mind? 

Than Ajahn:  It’s the same thing. We just refer to the mind as the intellect part, the thinking part, while the heart is the emotional part so there is no difference. It comes from the same thing which we call ‘mind’ or ‘heart.’ It’s the non-physical part of us, the thinking and the knowing part of us. 

The way for you to go forward from here is to develop the tools that will enable you to let go of everything. 

You know that clinging is bad for you because when you cling to things, it can make you sad, it can hurt you. 

You cannot let go of them because you don’t have the tools of the strength.

So you need to develop the tools of the strength which is composed of the three training called ‘the Triple Training,’ i.e. dāna (charity), sīla (morality) and bhāvanā (mental development or meditation). You need these 3 tools to let go of your attachment to different things. You do charity to let go of your attachment to money. You maintain morality to let go of your bad actions. And you do meditation or mind development to get rid of your cravings, your attachments to other things. Once you can practice these 3 steps then you will be able to let go of everything and then you will be peaceful and happy.

By Ajaan 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.

25 July 2025

Phra Ajahn  :  Where are you from?

Layperson.  :  I’m from Aruba, about 24hours away from here, somewhere in the Caribbean. My questions are: What is it that can see the citta? Is it the Buddho itself?  Is it the knowing that sees the citta? And do the citta and the Buddho itself separate from each other?

Phra Ajahn.  :  Well, let’s answer them one by one. The Buddho is the creation of the citta. 

The citta uses the thought to create ‘Buddho, Buddho’—when you think, you think of Buddho, Buddho. The thinking is called the saṅkhārā, which is part of the citta. The citta is the one who knows. Most of the time the citta only knows the saṅkhārā because the saṅkhārā keeps blocking the citta from knowing itself. So, when you use Buddho, Buddho, eventually your thought (saṅkhārā) will stop thinking. When the thought stops, then the mind (citta) will be left alone. 

Then, the citta will see itself. That’s it.   

Question.  :  How can the citta see itself?

Phra Ajahn.  :  By stopping from thinking is the way the citta sees itself. Right now, the citta does not see itself, it sees the thought, sees the thinking. When you stop the thinking (that blocks the citta from seeing itself), then you see the citta. 

Question.  :  Is the citta itself deathless?

Phra Ajahn.  :  Yes, the citta never dies. The citta is a spiritual being that comes and possesses the physical body. When the body dies, the citta doesn’t die with the body. If the citta still has any desires, it goes and looks for a new body. That’s when we have rebirth; we keep being reborn. We keep getting a new body because we still have the cravings, desires to use the body to provide us with happiness. But once you can practice meditation and make the mind (citta) happy in itself, the citta no longer needs to have a body. Then, there will be no rebirth. 

Layperson.  :  So, the citta will be floating by itself. 

Phra Ajahn.  :  Yes, in the spiritual space. It doesn’t need to have a body to make it happy. Right now, the citta connects itself to the body and use the body to bring it some kinds of happiness.

Question.  :  At the moment of nirvana, is the citta still there or is the citta also gone?

Phra Ajahn.  :  The citta is always there. What disappears when someone attains nibbana is the craving or the desire. Understand?

Layperson.  : Yes.

Phra Ajahn.  :  Have you been following my YouTube talks?

Layperson.  :  I’ve been following the teachings of LuangPu Sao, LuangPu Mun, LuangPu Chob. I’ve been practicing for the last seven years and I want to become a monk to end all suffering completely. This was one big question I have because I thought there was something that could see the citta but it’s the citta that sees itself. 

When I see it, there is nothing and this is strange and I don’t trust the mind.

Phra Ajahn.  :  You don’t trust the thought created by the mind. But you can trust the mind itself because the mind is real. 

However, you never get to see it because you’re being blocked by your thoughts so you only see your thoughts. From the time you get up, you start thinking therefore you only see your thoughts; you never see the one who knows, the mind itself—who creates the thoughts. So, you have to stop the thoughts. 

Once the thought disappears, then you see the mind.

Let me give you an example: it’s like looking at the TV screen—when you turn on the TV, you see the images on the TV but you don’t see the screen because the screen is being blocked by the images that appear on the screen but once you turn off the TV, what happens? 

There’s no images appear and what you see is the TV screen. 

Layperson.  :  How can I always stay in that state?

Phra Ajahn.  :  Frist, you need to have mindfulness by reciting, ‘Buddho, Buddho,’ to stop your thoughts and you need to sit down and watch your breath until your mind stops thinking then you’ll see the one who knows, the mind. The next step is to teach yourself that the thoughts and the mind are two separate things.

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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

《How do you know you are a sotapanna?》

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

19 July 2025

《How do you know you are a sotapanna?》

Question:  What conditions must be met for someone to reach the first stage of liberation (sotāpanna)? And how someone knows for sure that he/she is a sotāpanna and not imagining it, what are the signs? 

Than Ajahn:  You have to understand the nature of the body and the feelings. They come and go. They rise and cease. You can’t control them all the time. When your body is going to die, you’ll have to let it die. If your body is sick, if you can fix it, fix it. But if you cannot fix it, just let it be. 

Like when the body is in pain and there is nothing you can do about it, then just live with the pain. Don’t try to get rid of the pain by taking pain killers because you may end up getting addicted to pain killers and they become more hurtful than helpful. So, just leave the body alone. Leave the feelings alone. Then, you become a sotāpanna. 

A sotāpanna is not afraid of ageing, sickness or death. 

How to prove that you are not afraid of ageing, sickness or death? You’ll have to look for the situation and test yourself. For example, to prove that you are not affected by the pain of the body, just sit and let the pain in the body arises and ceases by itself. If you want to prove whether you are afraid of death, you’ll have to go and look for a place where you feel that your life is threatened, and see how you feel. If you feel peaceful and are not disturbed, it means you are not afraid of death. If you are afraid of death, then you’ll be afraid of the situation.

Question:  So, does it mean that a sotāpanna completely has no fear of death?

Than Ajahn:  Right. No fear of death. No fear of pain. No fear of ageing. 

Question:  Is separation of the body and mind an indicator of a sotāpanna.’?

Than Ajahn:  No, but the detachment of the mind from the body.

Question:  You mentioned that by using mindfulness, one attains jhāna, but using wisdom, it’s a different one. 

Than Ajahn:  If it’s jhāna, you’ll only have the detachment temporarily. If it’s wisdom, you’ll have it permanently.

“Dhamma in English, May 11, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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

more about Ajahn Suchart 

https://www.knownsee.com/%E5%A4%A7%E5%B8%AB%E7%88%B6-masters/%E6%B3%B0%E5%9C%8B-thailand/ajahn-suchart

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

8 July 2025

Attãhi attano nãtho, we are our own refuge is the central theme of Buddhist teaching. The Buddha teaches us to rely only on ourselves because we are the creator of good and evil, and the one who will reap their corresponding results of happiness and pain. 

The creating mechanism of good and evil, joy and sorrow, heaven and hell are inside our mind. Mind is the principal architect. 

The Buddha therefore concludes that the mind is the chief, the forerunner of all things. 

It is both a doer and a receiver of its own actions. The mind is the master who gives order to his servant, the body, to do and say things. 

There are three kinds of actions or kamma namely physical, verbal and mental. When we do good kamma, happiness, progress and heaven will be the results that follow. On the other hand when we do evil kamma, then pain, worry, anxiety and degradation will follow.

After death, the mind will go to one of the four states of deprivation (apāya-bhūmi) such as hell for example. 

Therefore, the Buddha insists that we must rely only on ourselves. 

We shouldn’t wait for someone else to create happiness and prosperity, heaven and nibbāna for us. We must do it ourselves. To pray to Buddha images or to ask monks for blessings of success and prosperity is not the Dhamma teaching of the Buddha because he can only point the way to peace, happiness, and prosperity, and the way to suffering and deterioration. 

His teaching can be summarized as follows: avoid doing evil, do good and cleanse the mind of all impurities.

Doing good kamma or making merits such as giving to charity is like depositing money in a bank. The more we deposit the more money we will have accumulated. 

The interest will also increase and soon we will be rich. 

On the other hand, doing evil kamma is like borrowing money from the bank in which we would have to pay back the loan plus the interest as well. It can become a heavy burden to bear. People in debt are always anxious and worried, unlike those who have money in the bank, who are always smiling because their money keeps growing all the time. 

It is the same with making merits. It gives us peace of mind; makes us feel happy and content. But when we do bad kamma, our mind would be set on fire. We become worried and restless. This we can see because it’s happening in our mind instantaneously, here and now, not in the next life.

Therefore, if we want to be happy and prosperous, to sleep well and suffer no pain, then we must do only good kamma and avoid doing bad kamma.

“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.

7 July 2025

Q:  Sometimes I feel like I have an attachment to thinking, and I don’t feel like meditating or applying mindfulness to the breath. So at those times I let the mind to have a natural peacefulness by either doing asubha or mettā, and once there is a little bit of peace then watching the breath almost feels natural, is that possible? 

Phra Ajahn:  Yes, that’s possible if you can recite a sutta. Try to memorize a sutta and keep reciting the sutta (the discourse of the Buddha) or you can use the asubha or the 32 parts to the body. Just keep reciting the names of the 32 parts of the body such as hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, bones, bone marrows - all these parts, in order to keep your mind busy and prevent it from thinking aimlessly then your mind can become calmer and then you might feel that you want to stop, then you can watch the breath. So you can do this. When you start, if you feel that you want to think, let it think with the Dhamma. Think with the 32 parts, the asubha, or think of the discourse of the Buddha. You can memorize it and then use it as your meditation object. 

Q:  Is it okay to think about Dhamma in a less rote way like thinking about the drawback of sensual pleasure, the anicca, dukkha, anattā? 

Phra Ajahn:  You can do this later when you’re not meditating. When you meditate, you don’t want to think intellectually. You want to use the recitation or the memorizing as a way of calming your mind so you don’t want to intellectualize it. You just want to recite, to keep your mind busy from thinking about something else. 

Q:  So I do it outside of sitting.

Phra Ajahn:  Yes, like right now. Right now you’re not meditating so you can think intellectually. You can think in terms of reality. 

Q:  So thinking intellectually can be a distraction when we sit down.

Phra Ajahn:  Right. If you want to calm your mind, stop your mind, you don’t want to think intellectually because if you do, you’ll keep thinking, you won’t stop thinking so you have to use rote thinking instead. 

Q:  When we have a degree of stillness, can we still do that?

Phra Ajahn:  You can stop and then switch to watching your breath. If you don’t want to think anymore then you just watch your breath instead. 

Q:  Once there is the concentration on the breath, is it ok to switch back to contemplation?

Phra Ajahn:  No, the goal is to be completely still by focusing on your breath. Once you become fully concentrated then your mind becomes peaceful and calm, and it will be inactive temporarily. You’ll just be aware with nothing to be aware of - that’s where you want to get to in your meditation because that’s where peace and happiness is. 

Once you get there, you want to try to sustain it for as long as possible by preventing your mind from starting to think. When your mind starts to think, stop it. If you have strong mindfulness, you don’t need to use anything to stop it. Just use your mindfulness. Just tell yourself to stop thinking and it will stop. If it doesn’t stop then you have to use something like a mantra or a chant to prevent it from thinking. Then, you can continue with your concentration. 

In the beginning, you want to develop this stage of calm for as much as possible first because it will then serve you as the support for your contemplation later on. Because contemplation without calm cannot bring any result. You contemplate to see the harm in your defilement and you need a calm mind to resist your defilement. You need contemplation to tell you why you have to resist your defilement because your defilement can only bring you sorrow and pain. You don’t want that so you have to stop your defilement i.e. your greed, your hate, your delusion. But if you don’t have a calm mind, you won’t be able to stop your defilement. So, you first need to develop samādhi before you can go to the next level which we call ‘wisdom’ or ‘paññā.’  

Q:  And what is the support that we can have in daily life especially as lay practitioners that can help us be better at developing samādhi?

Phra Ajahn:  You need a quiet environment to be alone and have no distraction from the outside that can distract your concentration so try to find a quiet place and be alone. 

Don’t mingle with anybody and try to develop mindfulness all the time, from the time you get up to the time you go to sleep. Keep controlling your thought, stopping your thought. Only use it sparingly, only use it when you have to; when you don’t have the need to use your thought, then don’t use it. 

And when you don’t have to do anything, try to sit for as long as possible, as many time as possible. The more you do it, the more proficient you’ll become. It’s a training. The more you train, the more you will become acquainted with your practice. 

And if you have any questions, you can read books or talk to someone who have the experience and ask them for advice. You need people who know to advise you. 

You cannot practice alone without knowing exactly what you’re doing. 

Q:  And should these people who advise us be people we have confidence in to have at least some right understanding? 

Phra Ajahn:  Definitely, you have to trust the person you consult with. If you don’t trust them, then you don’t consult with them. You have to at least believe that they know something that you don’t know and they can help you. If they cannot help you, then you go look for someone else. 

Q:  Is it important that they are established on the path in order to help me?

Phra Ajahn:  Well, the more established they are, the more helpful they become. Different people have different levels of development. 

There are 4 levels of noble disciples: sotāpanna, sakadāgāmi, anāgāmī, arahant. 

These are people who are established on various levels of the path. Sometimes it depends on your luck, who you’re gonna run into. If you can run into the Buddha, then you’re the luckiest because the Buddha will be the one who knows almost everything that you want to know. With other noble disciples, they might not know as much as the Buddha knows, or they cannot do as much as the Buddha can do. You can always go to the Buddha by reading his discourses. 

If you don’t trust anybody, then just trust the discourses but you have to be intelligent enough to be able to understand what you’re reading. If you don’t understand, then it’s not useful. So you can try reading the discourses or you can look for different teachers. 

There are many teachers now which you can search for on the Internet and then you just go and meet them and try them out, like trying a new automobile. Before you buy a new car, you might want to visit different dealers to try different cars to see which car suits you best. 

Teachers are like that. Sometimes they are established in the path but their methods of teaching might not suit you. So you might have to look for someone else.

“Dhamma in English, Sep 3, 2019.”

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.

5 July 2025

Q:  How can we let go our attachment to the world and have a strong motivation to begin practicing the Dhamma in every moment?

Than Ajahn:  By contemplating on death that life is impermanent, one day we’re going to lose everything. 

No matter how much we have, eventually we will have to give it all up. 

So if we know that we will be forced to give it up then it will be easy for us to give it up now because when we are not attached, we feel better. When we’re attached to things, we feel bad because we have to worry and we have to look after things that we are attached to.

So by contemplating on death, it will help you cut off your attachment to things and people then you will have the motivation to practice Dhamma. You need Dhamma to help you detach from everything. You cannot detach by just knowing that you will die. This is a way to initiate the practice and to start practicing Dhamma by developing mindfulness to get samādhi. 

Once you have samādhi then you will have the power to let go, the mind will be strong enough to be able to resist your attachment. 

Q:  Ajahn, I have some friends who are not Buddhists but they have interest in Buddhism. How can I explain to them about Buddhism and about meditation in a simple way? 

Phra Ajahn:  Buddhism is like a subject you study in the university. When you go to a university you study science, mathematics, etc. Buddhism is another subject that people can study. The Buddha and his noble disciples are the teachers. So it doesn’t require you to be a Buddhist to study Buddhism and to practice Buddhism. It’s like when you go to a university, they don’t require you to be of a certain religion, you can be a Christian, you can be a Muslim and you can still study all the subjects. 

Buddhism is just another subject. It deals with looking after the mind, how to take care of the mind. Most subjects in the university teach you how to take care of your body. No subject teaches you how to take care of your mind. Only Buddhism teaches the knowledge of how to take care of your mind, to make your mind always happy and never sad. 

Tell your friends like this: it’s just another knowledge, another subject that they can study. They don’t have to be Muslim, they don’t have to be Buddhists, they don’t have to be anything. It’s just the knowledge like any other knowledge. The only difference is all the other knowledge deal with the physical things; only Buddhism deals with the mental or the psychic thing which is more important than the physical things. 

Our life is composed of 2 parts: physical part and mental (or psychic) part. We don’t know anything about the mental or the psychic part because we rarely come across somebody who knows and understands and teaches us on that. Now, you’re lucky because you run into the Buddha and his noble disciples. They are teachers that can teach you about your mind, how to look after your mind, how to make your mind happy, how to get rid of all the sadness of your mind. So this is what Buddhism is. It’s not a religion, really. It’s a form of knowledge.

Q:  I have been using rising and falling of stomach as the subject of my meditation. 

Recently I discovered that it's getting more and more difficult to note about the movements of the stomach. 

Most of the time I could only note about the rising but I lose track when it comes to the falling of the stomach.

When this occurs during meditation the thoughts of changing to other subject of meditation kicks in. I tried to subdue the thought by reasoning it in my head that if I were to switch, I will not reach either ends. 

Can Than Ajahn give advice?

Than Ajahn:  Well, if you cannot watch the rising, you can watch the falling. Just keep on watching the falling. 

You don’t need to watch both of them. If you can still watch either one of them then you can still continue on with your meditation. But if you find it not productive maybe the next time, not this time - this time try to stick with your method, you might want to switch to watching at the tip of your nose instead. You can watch the breath, watch at the entrance of the breath and the exit of the breath which is at the tip of your nose. You can watch that also. But if you find that it is not productive then maybe use another method like a mantra. But don't switch it in the middle of the race. It's like racing horses, when you race horse, you just stick to the same horse until you finish the race but the next time if you find this horse is not good enough for you then you can find a new horse. When you are meditating, try to stick with just the one that you choose.

“Dhamma in English, Sep 29, 2019.”

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.

3 July 2025

Q:  Can a layperson in white practice at home able to achieve anāgāmī?

Than Ajahn:  It doesn't matter who you are, whether you are a layperson or a monk. What is important is the Dhamma inside your heart whether you have the Dhamma to accomplish the goal you want or not. For an anāgāmi you need to have strong samādhi to be able to stop your desire. Then you need to have the perception of what we call ‘the opposite of beauty.’ Not beautiful. If you can see the ugly parts of the body, the loathsome parts of the body then the images can eliminate your sexual desire. If you use samādhi, you can only do it temporarily; you can eliminate your sexual desire when you go into samādhi. But when you come out of samādhi, your mind will still think of beautiful body. In order for you to stop your sexual desire, when you come out of samādhi you must teach your mind to think of the ‘not beautiful body,’ think of corpses, think of the different parts of the body especially the inside parts or the parts under the skin. If you can see the body in that light then you can get rid of your sexual desire. If you can get rid of it entirely and permanently then you can become an anāgāmi.

“Dhamma in English, Sep 29, 2019.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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

"Don't procrastinate"

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

1 July 2025

"Don't procrastinate"

Approaching this religion should not be to seek fame, power, or authority, not to become a manager or administrator of a temple or monastery, but to seek spiritual refuge, to seek the Dharma, not to seek fame, power, or authority, nor to seek happiness through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, or body from Buddhism, because Buddhism is where the path to Nirvana is found, where liberation is found, and freedom from the cycle of rebirth and all suffering is found. Do not give importance to anything that is not related to studying and practicing the Dharma teachings of the Lord Buddha. 

Just be aware of it, and that will not lead you astray or lose focus.

Our point is to seek the Dharma and freedom from the cycle of rebirth and all suffering, so we must focus on the Dharma teachings of the Lord Buddha. Our goal is to study the Dharma teachings of the Lord Buddha and then apply the teachings with diligence, determination, and the four bases of influence that will push the practice for the path to Nirvana and the results of liberation from the cycle of rebirth and all suffering to be successful. Without the four bases of influence, the path to Nirvana cannot be reached. This is the point that should be given importance, which is to study and practice the Buddha's teachings by listening to sermons and Dhamma regularly, as we have been doing regularly for the past 7-8 years, so that it will be a light leading to liberation. 

The most important teaching is the final teaching of the Buddha, which teaches that all conditioned things are impermanent, that birth, aging, illness and death are the nature of things. Therefore, we should seek the benefit of ourselves and others with diligence. This is a summary of the Buddha's teachings, that the importance lies in being diligent, not procrastinating, and having to hurry and strive to complete the tasks that need to be done before time runs out. It is like when we enter an exam room, we cannot sit and chat, we must hurry to finish the exam within the specified time. If we chat and play, we will not be able to complete the exam completely, we will not get the full score, and the results will not be as desired. 

Therefore, the Buddha taught us to constantly practice mindfulness of death, that all conditioned things are impermanent, that birth, aging, illness and death are the nature of things. We should always think that once we are born, we will grow old, get sick and die. No one can guarantee when we will get sick or die. It is better to think that you may get sick or die today or tomorrow. If you think like this, you will not be careless because there is little time left. If you know that you will die today, tomorrow or in 3 months, you will not have the heart to do things as you used to do, which is to earn a living, to find wealth, property, money, gold, fame, praise, and happiness through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body. If you go to the doctor and the doctor diagnoses you with a serious illness that will make you die within 3 months, will you still have the heart to seek fame, praise, and happiness through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body? 

You will not want it anymore because you know that it is not a refuge for the mind, it is only a refuge for the body. When the body will cease to function within 3 months, you will focus on the Dhamma only because the Dhamma is a refuge for the mind. There is nothing in this world that can extinguish the suffering of the mind except the Dhamma teachings of the Lord Buddha. If you know that you will die within 3 months, you will have diligence, determination and determination to create merit and virtue because it is the only thing that the mind can rely on, both while you are still alive and after you die. Therefore, you should think about death all the time. Do not think that it is something far away. Think that it is something close to you because death can come in many forms. If you do not die from old age or from illness, you will die from various disasters. If you think like this, you will have the diligence to study and practice the teachings of the Lord Buddha with full diligence. You will study and practice, walk and meditate all the time.

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Youtube: Dhamma in English

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

Phra Ajahn Suchart Aphichato

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

30 June 2025

Q:  It scares me that one day I will become old and I am getting close to it. Sometimes I think I don’t want to become old because I don’t want my kids to take care of me when I can no longer take care of myself. How should I think about this?

Than Ajahn:  You can take care of yourself until the day you die if you learn how to take care of yourself now. So don't worry, when you no longer can take care of yourself then just let it be. If other people want to help take care of your body, it is their business, it's their charity. If it makes them happy to help you, let them help you but if nobody wants to help you then you just prepare yourself for death. 

If you don't eat for a few days, you will die. So there's no need to worry as long as you try to take care of yourself until you're unable to do it. You don't expect anybody to help you. You are ready to let things happen to your body. If you cannot eat, ‘Okay, don't eat.’ If you cannot find food, ‘Okay, don’t eat.’ But if people want to help you, find food for you, let them do it as long as you don't go and ask for their help. If their help comes up because of their own compassion or their love then let them do it. 

So you shouldn’t worry about when you get old and you have to let other people take care of you. As long as you don’t rely on other people, as long as you are willing to starve to death, you are willing to die if nobody helps you, then there is nothing to worry about. 

As long as you know how to take care of your body now, you will be able to take care of your body later on. 

When you no longer can take care of your body then just leave it up to whoever wants to do it. If nobody wants to do it, the body will eventually die. If other people want to help, let them help. If nobody helps, don’t worry about it, just let the body exist until it no longer can exist. 

“Dhamma in English, Sep 29. 2019”

- - - - -

Q:  Preparation for death. 

Than Ajahn:  It’s like getting ready to travel. When you die, you move on to the next world so you have to prepare your suitcases, your Visa, exchange your money, bring your credit card with you. If you don't, then you go like a refugee. This is what dāna is. Dāna is the wealth you can take with you - the money, the credit card. Without it you'll be like a refugee, they won't let you enter the country, they let you stay at the border and stay in the refugee camp.

Q:  If dāna is like credit card, how about those people who are meditators?

Than Ajahn:  Meditators go to a higher realm, they go to the realm with more happiness. 

The result is still like giving dāna, but with more happiness. 

When they come back to become human, they don’t bring anything with them except the way to get more jhāna. They will be practising meditation whichever way they used to do. They will come back and continue to do it again because that’s the way it makes them happy. 

If you are happy giving dāna, when you come back to become human, you will continue to give dāna. If you are happy doing meditation, when you come back, you will continue to meditate. So that’s why some people ordain and some people don’t ordain. Some people give dāna, some people meditate. It becomes a habit. If you used to drink a certain type of drink, you’ll always come back and order it again, right? If you like Coke, you’ll always order Coke, you never order other drink. 

Some people keep changing because it’s their habit, they have the habit of wanting to keep changing. That’s why people are different because people have different preferences. 

“Dhamma in English, Dec 12, 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.

29 June 2025

Q:  If we know that we did something bad and regretted it, what should we do?

Phra Ajahn:  You should use it as a lesson to teach you not to do it again. What you have done, you cannot go back and erase it but you can use it as a reminder that ‘I should not do that again because if I do, I will regret it and I will feel bad again.’ So this is the only thing you can do with what you had done. 

- - - - -

Q:  Peace and happiness are hard to find but do you think they are something you can find and hold for a long time?

Phra Ajahn:  Yes, this is the goal of Buddhism - to find peace and happiness that is truly lasting but it is within yourself. It is not the peace and happiness that you find from outside of yourself. The happiness from outside yourself are not true happiness. They are temporary happiness because they are impermanent.

The true and lasting happiness is to be found within yourself by the practice of meditation, mindfulness meditation and insight meditation. These meditations will eventually make your mind become peaceful and content and then you will have peace and happiness forever. Even long after your body dies, your mind doesn’t die with your body. 

Your mind is the one who finds peace within itself. And then it will no longer need to be reborn again. So, this is what you want. 

And what you need to do is to follow the teaching of the Buddha which teaches us to practice 3 steps. 

(1) The first step is to practice charity if you can afford it. If you have lots of money, you shouldn’t spend it on yourself, you should spend it on helping other people. It will make you start realizing the first level of internal peace and happiness. 

(2) Then you want to keep the precepts, the 5 precepts. And once you can keep the 5 precepts, if you want to move up to the third level, you need to change the 5 precepts to the 8 precepts. 

(3) Then you will have time to meditate. First, you meditate to calm your mind. You will get this peace and happiness temporarily when you meditate but after you withdraw from your meditation, this peace and happiness can disappear. If you want to make it lasting, you have to practice the next level which we call ‘insight meditation,’ it’s to teach your mind to see the truth, to see what makes your mind unhappy.

The Buddha said what makes your mind unhappy are the 3 cravings: craving for sensual pleasure, craving to be and craving not to be. You can get rid of these 3 cravings by looking at the truth of things, that the things you crave for are impermanent, they cannot bring you true happiness, then you can stop your craving for these things. Once you have stopped your craving then your mind becomes completely peaceful and happy forever. So this is what you need to practice. 

- - - - -

Q:  I want to ask regarding the difference between samādhi and jhāna. Is samādhi the knowing mind? 

Phra Ajahn:  They are the same. Samādhi and jhāna are the same things. Samādhi means the calm of the mind; and jhāna means the concentration of the mind. When you concentrate, the mind becomes calm, becomes samādhi. You have different levels of concentration, different levels of jhāna. 

You have the 1st jhāna, 2nd jhāna, 3rd jhāna, 4th jhāna until the 8th jhāna. They are the different intensity of your concentration. The more you can concentrate, the more your mind becomes calmer. 

What you should worry is mindfulness or sati. 

This is the tool that will make your mind concentrated. 

You have to be mindful. Let your mind be mindful of only one object such as a mantra ‘Budho Budho Budho.’ This is the way to build up concentration of your mind. 

Just concentrate on ‘Budho Budho Budho.’ 

No matter what you do, don’t let your mind go think about some other things. Bring it back with ‘Budho Budho Budho’ then your mind will stop thinking and become fully concentrated and your mind will become samādhi. When the mind becomes still, then it’s called, ‘samādhi.’ If it’s still for a brief duration, we call it ‘khanika-samādhi.’ If it’s still for a long duration, we call it ‘appanā-samādhi.’

“Dhamma in English, Sep 29, 2019.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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

"According to the power of merit and karma"

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart. 

27 June 2025

"According to the power of merit and karma"

Question: How does the mind know which body it will enter?

Phra Ajarn: It is according to the law of karma. It is automatic. If the mind still has desires, the mind will search according to the power of merit and karma. If there is pregnancy somewhere, it will go there. If it cannot find a human body, it must first get the body of a dog, cat, bird, or fish, depending on the power of merit and karma. 

If the power of merit is high, it will get a human body. 

If the power of karma is high, it will get the body of an animal, a ghost, or a hell being.

Question: Heaven and hell do not exist.

Phra Ajarn: It is a state of the mind. If it is hot as fire, suffering, cannot eat, cannot sleep, it is hell. But it will last longer than when living, which is hot for a day or two and then disappears because there are other things to cover it up. But if there is no body or other factors to cover it up, it will be hot until it is exhausted and the germs that defilements and desires produce are gone. 

When it disappears, new karma will be produced. If it is good, it will be cool and comfortable. If it is greed, it will be a ghost, hungry all the time, wanting to eat and want all the time. If it is good, it will be happy with the images, sounds, smells, and tastes that are bright and delightful, like having a good dream, like being in heaven. Heaven is a state of mind where goodness and virtue are produced in the mind and then run out. When it runs out, it will be replenished in the human realm. 

As a human, we can accumulate merit and karma again. 

Doing evil deeds will accumulate evil deeds in the mind. Doing good deeds will accumulate heaven. If there is no Buddha to teach us, we will alternately commit evil deeds. When someone displeases us, we will get angry. When someone pleases us, we will be happy. We will continue to cycle like this until the Buddha comes to teach us to empty our minds. 

Thinking bad thoughts will accumulate evil deeds. 

Thinking good thoughts will accumulate good deeds. It is better to let go of all thoughts. Think but do not cling to them or attach them. Let them be just actions. Do not be attached to emotions. 

Do whatever you want but do not be emotional. Then you will not become a realm. 

Do whatever you have a duty to do. Do whatever you have a job to do but do not cling to it. When you are done, let it go.

Phra Ajahn Suchart Aphichato

Wat Yan Sangwararam, Chonburi

Encouragement 44, Chapter 392

Date 22 December 2008

“The mind and the body are never together, they are only connected by the consciousness of the mind.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

19 June 2025

“The mind and the body are never together, they are only connected by the consciousness of the mind.”

Than Ajahn:  The mind and the body are never together, they are only connected by the consciousness of the mind. The mind sends the consciousness to the body and it attaches itself to the body. It gathers information from the body, for example when the body sees things, the mind sends the object it sees to the consciousness. So the mind and the body are actually two separate persons. The mind is not in the body. 

When you meditate, you pull away from the consciousness, plug away from the connector, like unplugging the computer from the electrical outlet. 

When you meditate, you pull the plug out and the mind doesn’t receive any information from the body, therefore whatever happens to the body when you are in meditation doesn’t bother you. But when you come out of your meditation, it is as if you plug the connector back to the body. 

The purpose of meditation practice is to enlighten the mind that the mind is not the body, that they are two separate entities. The problem with the mind is that it thinks that it (the mind) is the body and it becomes attached to the body. Whatever happens to the body, it clings to it. The mind wants the body to last. However, the body doesn’t last and when the body has to die, it causes the mind to suffer. If the mind has wisdom, it knows that the body and the mind are like the driver and his car. When the car breaks down, the driver doesn’t break down with the car. 

The driver simply gets out of the car and gets a new car. 

Similarly, when the body dies, if the mind still needs a new body, it goes and takes a new rebirth. If the mind doesn’t want any more rebirths then it has to stop the desire to use the body. 

Right now, the mind uses the body to make it happy. 

The mind wants to see, to hear, to go here and there, and in order to do these activities, it needs to have a body.  The mind depends on the body. It doesn’t want to lose the body because when there is no body, it cannot do the things it wants to do and it becomes unhappy. 

If you understand that having a body means that you are carrying a burden, you wouldn’t want to have the body.  It is a burden that you have to look after the body, to feed it, to take care of it, to protect it and then it still has to get sick, get old and die. So having a body hurts the mind more than helping the mind. If you see this with wisdom, then you will not want to use the body, you will get rid of your desire to use the body. 

You want to find the happiness from meditation. 

If you can have happiness through your meditation, then you don’t need to use the body to bring you happiness. You won’t have any desire to rely or be dependent on the body. When you don’t depend on the body, whatever happens to the body will not hurt you, it will not hurt the mind.

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Youtube: Dhamma in English

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

"The Path to Nirvana"

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

2 June 2025

"The Path to Nirvana"

Our bodies, our lives, if we do not have a human body, the body of an animal is useless. If we are born as dogs or cats, we will only come to live in the temple and eat. 

The only benefit is to stay in the temple, have a place to live, have food to eat, but we cannot benefit from the teachings of the Lord Buddha because we do not understand the language. Therefore, we do not know what the meaning of the sermons and teachings of the Lord Buddha is.

If we are humans, but listen to the sermon like a ladle in a pot of curry, it is no different from cats and dogs who do not understand the sermon. A ladle in a pot of curry does not know what kind of curry it is, right? 

Asking a ladle what kind of curry it is, it does not know. 

It only knows how to scoop curry out of the pot and put it in a bowl. But it does not know whether it is spicy curry, bland curry, or what kind of curry. Listening like a ladle in a pot of curry, we listen to the sermon with a wandering mind. While listening, we think about this and that. If we do not listen carefully, we will not understand. So it is like a ladle, not like a tongue. When a tongue has a drop of curry flavor that touches the tongue, we know what kind of curry it is. If we want to benefit from listening to the sermon, we have to listen like a tongue and curry. 

That is, focus on listening to the Dhamma and think and consider it. When you consider it, you will understand it. Now I understand how important Buddhism is. It is like a map, like a GPS. Our body is like a car. We are like the driver. Right now, we are lost and cannot find our way home. Our home is Nirvana. It is the safest place, free from suffering, and full of happiness. This is our home, which the Lord Buddha has reached. He has found the path to Nirvana. So he told us about it. If we listen carefully, we will know which way to Nirvana. 

He said we must go to the precepts. After the precepts, we must go to meditation.

After meditation, we must go to wisdom. 

Once we go to wisdom, we will arrive home. It is like going to Bangkok, which way do we have to go? If we go back via Sukhumvit, we must go to Si Racha, Bangsaen, Chonburi, and then we will go to Bangkok. 

There are places on the road that we must pass through. 

The way to Nirvana is a place that we must pass through. He told us to go to the precepts. Do we have the precepts yet? If we do not have the precepts, we will not go to the precepts. We can go to other places if we are still killing animals, stealing, committing adultery, lying, and drinking alcohol. We will not go to the precepts. Going to different paths of immorality.

Therefore, if we want to go the way the Lord Buddha went, we must go as the Lord Buddha taught, to follow the precepts, to follow the precepts, to follow the 5 precepts first, not to kill animals, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to lie, not to drink alcohol and other vices. Once we have followed the 5 precepts, the next step is to follow the 8 precepts. 

At the beginning, we can follow the Buddhist holy days first, on weekdays, follow the 5 precepts. When it is inconvenient to follow the 8 precepts when going to work, follow the 5 precepts first. As for holidays, we follow the 8 precepts. Nowadays, Buddhist holy days do not coincide with holidays, so they have been changed from Buddhist holy days to holidays. On days when we stop working and do not go to work, we can follow the 8 precepts because if we go to work, we have to eat dinner and have energy. But if we do not go to work, we can just eat lunch because we do not use our physical energy. We will sit still, meditate, and listen to sermons and Dhamma. Once we have the 8 precepts, we will be able to reach meditation. If we follow the 8 precepts, we will have time to meditate because when we meditate, our minds will be calm. We will reach the wisdom stage, listen to the sermons and Dhamma of the Lord Buddha and attain the Dhamma. 

This is the path to our home. We must seize the opportunity quickly. Because the opportunity to come to this body, this human body and meet Buddhism is not easy. They say that winning the first prize in the lottery is easier. Think about it, have we ever won the lottery in our lives? First prize, don't even mention first prize, have we ever won the second or third prize? This is the same. We consider ourselves to have won the first prize in the lottery. We have met Buddhism and were born as humans. We consider ourselves to have won the first prize in the lottery. Now, when we win the lottery, what do we do? We have to go and claim the prize, right? If we just keep the ticket, there will be no prize for us.

So when we win the lottery, we have to go and claim the prize. We have won the lottery of Buddhism. We have found the GPS, and we have to go and claim the prize. We have to travel along the path that the Buddha taught us to practice. Having been born as humans and receiving the Buddha's teachings, the next step is to follow the teachings. 

Phra Ajahn Suchart Aphichato

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Youtube: Dhamma in English

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

"Why can't monks cook for themselves?"

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

1 May 2025

"Why can't monks cook for themselves?"

Question: Why did the Buddha let them go out to beg for food? Why can't they cook for themselves? I pay my respects.

Phra Ajarn: Because it will eliminate the desire to eat this and that. If we let monks cook, one day they won't have to study the Dhamma, practice the Dhamma, or sit around thinking about what to eat for the next meal. 

We have to be content with little, be happy with what is happening, and then we won't waste a lot of time. At most, it will only take an hour to go out to beg for alms, and another hour to come back and eat. And there will be no need for a kitchen, no need for pots, and nothing else to be complicated. 

Because the Buddha wanted monks to do only one thing: to practice the Dhamma. As for feeding their stomachs, this is a trick for the laity to make merit. 

Those who don't have the opportunity or reason to do so, when there are monks, they have to do it. They have the opportunity to make merit. As for the monks, they get food and diligence. They eliminate laziness because they have to go out to beg for alms.

Phra Ajarn Suchart Aphichato

Wat Yanasangwararam, Chonburi Province

By Ajaan 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.

14 April 2025

Q:  My brother has a vision that someone will harm me in the next few months. He warns me to stay away from that person. As it is something that is going to happen in the future, can it be changed and what should I do because I don’t have that kind of vision that my brother has? 

Than Ajahn:  Well, this is something that you have to accept. “Whatever Will Be, Will Be.” 

Something will happen regardless of what you do. The way to deal with the future is to be calm and be accepting then your mind will not be affected. You can be happy regardless of whatever happens. But if you are choosy, you want to have this kind of future and not kind of future, when you don’t get the kind of future you want then you can be unhappy. So the way to deal with the future is to teach your mind that whatever happens, happens. 

They are beyond your control but you can deal with them if you can keep your mind calm. Then you mind can be undisturbed by whatever happens in the future. 

Q:  If a female cannot find a suitable place to practice at a monastery, can she attain nibbāna if she lives in a peaceful house, gives dāna, practises the 8-precept and meditates at home?

Than Ajahn:  Yes, it’s not the location alone that determines your success in your practice. What you need to have is the cause for your success which is the practice of charity, morality and meditation. 

Q:  What clothing should I wear while practising the 8-precepts as a lay person but not staying in a monastery? Can I wear colorful clothing to work while keeping the 8-precepts?

Than Ajahn:  Yes, it doesn’t matter what clothing you wear, it’s the precepts that you keep that matters. In Thailand, people tend to identify the 8-precepters with white clothing so when people keep the 8-precepts, they usually put on white clothing but it’s not necessary, you can put on colorful clothing [if you are not staying in the monastery]. 

However, if you put on colorful clothing, it can be a sign that you are not keeping the 8-precepts because one of the precepts in the 8-precepts is to stop putting on nice clothing. You don’t want to have happiness from putting on nice clothing. You just want to use clothing for the protection of the body. 

Q:  What is the best way to hold a funeral or send off the deceased?

Than Ajahn:  Just burn, cremate or bury it. 

That is usually the normal way.

Q:  Is living less involved with society and in isolation a practical method to follow as a lay person? 

Than Ajahn:  Well, as a lay person, you still have to have involvement with other people. 

If you want to live in isolation, that’s because you want to release your mind from the attachment to things and to people that can make you unhappy. So it’s a matter of choice - what you want to do. If you want to get rid of your sadness, loneliness, unhappiness or suffering, then you have to develop the meditation practice. You would be successful if you live alone because if you live with other people, they can become distraction to your practice. So it’s up to you, up to what you want. If you still want to live with people, then you have to stay with people. But if you want to get rid of all your mental or emotional bad feelings, then you have to meditate. And to meditate successfully, you need a quiet environment to be alone. No distraction. 

Q:  When I see someone caught a fish using fishing rod, I feel very sad towards the fish which is struggling to live, and I feel very angry towards the person who caught the fish. How should I react seeing this type of cruelty? Is it due to the fish own kamma?

Than Ajahn:  You should look at the other side of the picture. The man who catches the fish will become the fish and the fish will become the man who is catching the fish, then you won’t feel bad because they will cancel each other out. The man who catches fishes will eventually become a fish and the fish will then become a man who will catch the fish. 

Q:  What kamma will the person get for committing this type of cruelty killing?

Than Ajahn:  He will get the same thing as he gives to others. You take back what you give. 

You give money, you get money back. You give cruelty, you get cruelty back. 

Q:  Is it due to my bad kamma that I get extremely sensitive when seeing this type of cruelty because my husband seems to display no sign of anger when he sees it?

Than Ajahn:  It’s just your perception of things which might be different from other people. This is how you react to things through your knowledge and perception of things which you can change if you want to. 

You can change your reactions. If you have mindfulness, you can control your reactions. 

And if you have wisdom, if you understand the Law of Kamma, then you won’t have such reaction. Then you will say ‘It’s just a matter of kamma’. The fish is paying its own kamma. 

Maybe in the past it was the fish that was fishing this man and now this man is fishing this fish. So it just goes on like that. If you can see it like this then you won’t feel disturbed by what you see or by the cruelty of people toward other people or animals. 

Q:  What motivates an enlightened person to teach the Dhamma? Is it pure compassion? 

Than Ajahn:  Well, the Buddha taught the Dhamma out of compassion. It also depends on the enlightened person whether he has the ability to teach or not because teaching ability is not a part of enlightenment. 

Teaching ability is part of the nature of that person. 

Some people can elucidate, can explain things and make other people understand the teachings; and some people don’t have that ability. So an enlightened person might teach or might not teach depending on his ability to teach and also depending on the students who come for his teachings. If he cannot teach then usually there won’t be students who come to see him. But if he can teach then he will attract students to come and learn from him. But basically, he teaches out of compassion because he does not get anything in return by teaching. 

He has already had all that he needs or wants so teaching is not for any gain; it’s out of compassion. He sees that he was once in the same state as the people are in now, and he could help them to make a difference, so out of compassion, he teaches the Dhamma to other people.

 Q:  Is pure compassion the right way to live in this world? 

Than Ajahn:  You have to be enlightened before you can have pure compassion, otherwise your compassion will still be a delusional compassion.

Q:  In our 10-day vipassanā courses in India taught by Goenka, we were taught to do a 3-day ānāpānasati, then jumped to 4 days vipassanā practice. On our last day, the teacher asked us to practise vipassanā when we go back home. You teach us to develop sati first, samādhi then vipassanā. Why do Goenka course focus more on vipassanā?

Than Ajahn:  Well, Goenka wants to give you a complete course but in reality you don’t do this in 7 days’ time. Sometimes it takes years before you can develop samādhi. The course was just a course to give you a glimpse of what you should do. In reality, you still have to go through the steps. First you have to develop mindfulness and be able to sit and enter into jhāna and be really proficient in your jhāna practice before you can move up to vipassanā level. When they give you a course, they want to give you a sort of example of what you should be doing. In reality, you have to look where you are and what you can do now before you can move to the next step. 

Q:  How many minutes does one need to meditate per day to get the real benefits from the practice? Is 30 minutes sufficient to see any real benefits or get any results?

Phra Ajahn:  It’s not the length of time that determines the benefit. The thing that determines the benefit is the result of your practice. If you can calm the mind, then you will reap the benefit right away. And the longer you stay reaping the benefit, the more benefit you’ll get. So it’s not the length of time alone is the factor. 

You can sit for many minutes or even many hours and yet you’re not reaping any benefit, you haven’t achieved the result i.e. making the mind calm and still and happy. So it’s not the length of time alone that determines the benefit, it’s the result that determines the benefit. If you can sit down, even just in 5 minutes, your mind can become calm and happy. This is better than sitting for half an hour but the mind is not calm or happy.

“Dhamma in English, Sep 3, 2019.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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

"Loyal of Passion Day"

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

12 April 2025

"Loyal of Passion Day"

The 15th day of the waxing moon of the 12th lunar month is a Buddhist holy day, a day for listening to sermons, a day for practicing Dhamma, and a day for Loi Krathong. It is a day of special activities, which is the Loi Krathong festival. According to the belief that if we float a Krathong, this Krathong will remove all suffering from our lives, allowing us to live happily and comfortably, free from suffering. But it is just a belief. 

In reality, Loi Krathong cannot remove all suffering from our lives because the cause of our hearts' suffering is not the Krathong itself, not the flowers or candles in the Krathong. The cause of our hearts' suffering is our greed, delusion, and ignorance, which we must float. 

Instead of floating Krathongs, we float our defilements. 

If we can put our defilements in the Krathong and let them flow with the current of the water, the suffering in our hearts will disappear.

Therefore, if we want our wishes and beliefs to come true when floating Krathongs, let's float our defilements. Put defilements in the Krathong. Put greed, anger, delusion, and various desires in the Krathong and let them flow with the current of the water. This Krathong must be a special Krathong. The krathong that the Lord Buddha created, the krathong that will make all the greed, anger, delusion, and desires in our hearts disappear, that will make all the suffering that comes from greed, anger, delusion, and desires disappear, we must float the krathong that the Lord Buddha created and then bring it to spread and teach us. Let's create krathongs like this, the krathong that will make all the defilements, which are greed, anger, delusion, and desires, and the suffering that comes from these defilements, disappear from our lives and minds, which is the practice of giving, morality, and meditation.

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Youtube: Dhamma in English

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

Phra Ajahn Suchart Aphichato

Wat Yan Sangwararam, Chonburi

Dhamma in front of the kuti

November 15, 2024

The Unsatisfactory Nature of Existence

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

9 April 2025

The Unsatisfactory Nature of Existence 

We have faith and belief in the teachings of the Buddha who taught that when our body passes away, we do not pass away with the body but return to be born again in accordance with our kamma. For our next life to be better than the previous one, we have to make merit, do good deeds, and avoid bad deeds. And if we do not desire to be born again, we ought to meditate and constantly develop samatha (calm) meditation and vipassana (insight) meditation, and have faith in the Buddha who taught us to recollect and reflect on the certainty of impermanence of our body. 

If we constantly remind ourselves of death, we will not remain negligent or careless but will quickly put in effort to fully benefit ourselves and others without complacency. 

If we do not recollect death constantly, we are being complacent. We will not remember that we will have to die and we will seek out worldly things such as food, money, or people as our valuable possessions, not knowing that whatever things in this world we are able to gather up are only temporary. 

When the time comes for the body to die, we cannot take these possessions with us. But what we can take with us is our merit, our wise wholesome actions such as giving, nurturing our virtue, meditating, and listening to and practising Dhamma.  

Developing goodness, causing it to arise and be established within ourselves, is something that can be taken along with us. This is indeed very important, especially to our own mind, for it becomes our mind’s refuge. 

Whatever valuable possessions, food, or money are not refuges for the mind. They cannot cause sukha (happiness), fulfilment, and contentment within the mind, and they cannot completely extinguish all kinds of dukkha (discontent and stress) within the heart. Our material possessions cannot protect the mind from disturbing conditions that enter and give rise to dukkha within our mind.  

Thus the Buddha taught us that we ought to continuously strive to make more wholesome merit, discard more wholesome actions, and make our hearts more and more pure. For these actions will truly benefit ourselves. 

They will not benefit the body, but will benefit the mind. 

The mind is us and is ours. The body is not us and is not ours. We should not be deluded into excessively seeking all kinds of things through the body, for the body. Be content and just obtain what is necessary for our livelihood. Seeking food, housing, medicine for illness, and clothing is enough. 

It is proper that we seek a refuge for the mind more through cultivating merit and goodness by giving, maintaining our virtue, practising Dhamma, sitting and walking meditation, developing mindfulness, developing samādhi, and developing wisdom. By undertaking these actions, we can have Dhamma and merit to oversee and maintain sukha in the mind all the time, and have no dukkha or agitation whatsoever. This noble work to oversee and nurture our mind is very important to us. 

Do not be excessively concerned about caring and nurturing the body. For no matter how much care the body receives, you still cannot prevent aging, sickness, pain, or death. 

However, with regards to caring for the mind, whatever progress we are able to make will bring a corresponding cessation of dukkha. 

This will build up happiness and contentment within our mind even more. Overseeing and taking care of our mind is not empty of benefits but instead brings results here in the present as well as in the future. 

As for taking care of the body, we just get present benefits while the body is still alive. 

But when the body dies, we are no longer able to take care of the body. Whatever benefits the body used to give will also cease. This is something that we ought to constantly remember.  

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. 

“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

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

18 March 2025

Devotee: My mother has been bedridden for almost 4 years. My other siblings have conspired to push the responsibility of caring for her to me. I’ve asked them for help but they did not bother about me. I then asked for financial assistance to cover some expenses but they won’t give me any money. No matter what I say, they don’t wish to cooperate in any way. I feel so disgusted with them and don’t wish to consider them as my family anymore. Sometimes I feel very stressed [and wished] I have another family member to rely on. I don’t know what to do.

LP Suchart: We should reconsider and think that being able to care for our parents is great merit. Because parents are like Phra Arahants to their children. Being able to repay this gratitude to parents is considered a very good opportunity and a lot of merit. 

If others do not wish to earn this merit, then we can take it all. We must think in this way, then we will find happiness in caring for our parents. We don’t remember the kindness of our parents so we end up disputing with one another. 

We don’t remember that when we were children and couldn’t help ourselves, our parents had to go through many difficulties when we were newborns and crying, they had to wake up to check on us. When we had stomachaches or were hungry, they were there to provide comfort and nourishment. 

Because we don't think about the gratitude we owe our parents, we sometimes haggle and dispute with one another. 

But if we recollect the kindness of our parents, then we would want to return the favour, even if it is only us and the rest are not interested. Because the kindness of our parents is very great.

How much wealth and property do the parents have? In just a moment, there will be fighting over it, isn’t that right? After parents pass away, and everyone is fighting over the property trying to grab it. But when parents need assistance, nobody steps forth to help. 

This is because of greed and selfishness. We only want advantages and benefits, we don’t want to shoulder burdens and responsibilities….

Luang Phor Suchart Apichato

Wat Yansangwararam, Chonburi

Cr. เพจพุทโธ

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.

12 March 2025

Q:  You’ve just redefined smartness and stupidity for me. We spent on other things which are less useful for ourselves.

Than Ajahn:  Yes. Everything you do in the world is useless. It’s worthless. Really! It doesn’t worth anything as far as your mind is concerned. It doesn’t make your mind happier. It doesn’t make your mind relieved from stress, from suffering. It doesn’t do that for your mind at all. So looking from the perspective of the mind, it’s useless. 

It's only useful from the perspective of the defilements. 

Defilements like to make money, spend money, be rich, be famous, be respected and so forth. These are all useful to the defilements but they are not useful to the mind. They don’t help you getting rid of the mental suffering of the mind at all. In fact, they increase more suffering, more stress and depression to the mind. 

But you don’t see that. You think that having more money is good, getting a higher position is good, being able to spend money on traveling, buying a new car, or buying a new condo is good. What does it do to your mind? Nothing. It just produces more craving for your mind. It creates more hunger. There is no contentment arising from those things. 

No peace. No contentment. Just restlessness, agitation, hunger and more craving. Have you reached the point where you’d say, ‘I have had enough yet?’ Just for sometimes, but eventually you’d want for more again. 

You don't see how important your mind is to you. 

Because you are being influenced by your defilements to see that what you can get for your body is more important than what you can get for your mind. But the body is temporary. Once the body dies, everything that you’ve accumulated for the body becomes useless to the mind. The mind couldn’t take anything with it at all. 

Try to practice because whatever you accumulated from your practice the mind can take that practice with it. 

You can take mindfulness with you, you can take wisdom with you, you can take jhāna with you; but you can’t take your Rolls-Royce with you, you can’t take your condominium with you. So what do you want? 

You can’t take anything that is physical with you. You can only take the mental qualities with you like charity, morality, contentment, peace, calm and wisdom. These are the things that you can take with you. These mental qualities will keep the mind peaceful and happy. 

But if you don’t have any of those mental qualities, if you keep hungering for this and that thing, when the body dies, the mind will be consumed with hunger because those were the things that you’ve been giving it to the mind everyday of your life. You give the mind more hunger, more craving, more desire. You will end up becoming a hungry spirit when you die. You take these poisons – greed, hate, delusion and fear – with you too. 

If you have mindfulness and wisdom, you can get rid of those 4 poisons, so you don’t have to take them with you. 

Just keep practising the triple steps: charity, morality and meditation. This is the path to freedom, path to everlasting happiness. 

The path of the worldly things is not the path to freedom; it’s path to subjugation, path to imprisonment in the realm of saṃsāra – continuous rebirth: birth, ageing, sickness and death.

“Dhamma in English, Sep 19, 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.

1 February 2025

Q:  How can I have a balance between my personal meditation practice and taking care of my children? I was meditating at a monastery for 5 weeks and my 11 year old got into a little bit of trouble when I was away.

Tan Ajahn:  Well you need to give them all the time that they need. So you just have to see how much time they need from you. If you feel that when you leave them, they are in good hands or they can look after themselves, then you can leave them for awhile. But if you feel that when you leave them, they can be bad or something like that, then you may have to stay with them more. 

Just look at how they behave.

Understand?

Sometimes you just have to sacrifice your own time for their benefit. Because they are still young and not able to distinguish good from bad, right from wrong. So it’s your job to teach them to distinguish good from bad, right from wrong and then you can may be leave them for awhile to see how they do alone without you. If they seem to be doing okay then may be you can leave them longer.

But now your priority is to teach them and look after them until they can look after themselves or else you will be neglecting your duty as a mother.

Okay?

In the meantime if you cannot leave them then you just have to meditate at home whenever you can. Or practice mindfulness or practice the Brahma Viharas.

When you live with people you have to practice Mettā, Karuṇā, Muditā and Upekkhā. 

So that you don’t lose your precious time doing everything else but not Dhamma. So you have to change may be from not doing as much meditation to do more mindfulness and do more loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity.

Is that clear?

Just think it’s not too far away, just a few more years and they’ll be gone to college or something and then you probably be free to do whatever you like.

But now it’s your kamma, you are paying the consequence of your kamma, the result of your sensual pleasure cravings.

But don’t be mad or be angry under your situation, you just have to accept your fate and try to make the best out of it. You can always be happy under any situation if you just let go of your cravings and accept the status of the situation that you are in.

Okay?

Good to see you. I hope you have a strong mind and are able to cope with everything that you have to cope with

“Dhamma in English, Feb 13, 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.

20 January 2025

Q: A person can achieve Sovan status (become a Sotapanna) if he can get rid of the first three fetters namely sakkāya–diṭṭhi, vicikicchā, and sīlabbata–parāmāsa. What steps should a Buddhist follow to get rid of these three fetters? Could you enlighten the readers on the procedure to be followed to get rid of the three fetters?

A: First you have to develop equanimity through jhāna. In order for you to develop equanimity through jhana, you need to have sīla (morality). You need to keep the Eight Precepts first and you have to practise this consistently and continuously, all the time, doing nothing else. You have to be a professional practitioner. 

You cannot go to work and then come back and practise on your day off because this will not give you enough time to keep the practice going forward. In order for you to practise - to go forward- you have to give up everything and concentrate all of your efforts on the practice of sīla (morality), meditation, and wisdom. 

So you have to go and look for a quiet place –somewhere in a forest - or live in a quiet monastery which would allow you to do the practice all day long. 

Once you can do this - when you get to a quiet surrounding like the monastery - then you have to keep at least the Eight Precepts. Then you have to practise mindfulness all day long from the time you get up to the time you go to sleep and meditate whenever you have the time to get your mind to the fourth jhāna, so that you can achieve equanimity. 

Once you become well-versed or proficient in your samādhi practice, when you come out of samādhi, you have to teach your mind that the body is not you. The body is temporary, it is anicca; it is subjected to ageing, sickness, and death. So you have to teach your mind to accept ageing, sickness, and death.

When the body becomes sick and gets painful, you have to accept it. Do not try to reject or deny it. Don’t try to get rid of the painful feelings that arise from your sickness. 

You have to learn to live with it, to take it as it comes. 

It is the same with death. When the body dies you should accept it because it is anattā. The body is not you. It is not something you can stop or prevent from happening. You just have to let it happen. 

Once you can let go of your attachment to the body and your painful feelings, then you have overcome the first Fetter (sakkāya–diṭṭhi) 

When you let go of the sakkāya–diṭṭhi, and when you experience the peace of mind of letting go, then you will see the Four Noble Truths clearly in your mind. 

This means you see the Dhamma. Once you see the Dhamma, you have no doubt in the Buddha- whether he existed or not, because the Dhamma came from the Buddha. And the one who can see the Dhamma is the Sangha which is you. So you have no more doubt in the Buddha, Dhamma, and the Sangha. Thus you have overcome the second fetter (vicikicchā).

Then you will have no attachment to rites or rituals (sīlabbata–parāmāsa) which is the third fetter. You won’t have any attachment to rites or rituals because you see that your suffering, stress, and bad feelings all arise from your craving, and your bad action (bad kamma) so you will not do any more bad kamma. You will never break the Five Precepts for the rest of your life. 

And you do not have to do any rites and rituals when you have stress in your mind. 

When you are not feeling good about something, you understand that it is the nature of things to be like that. 

Then you can let go and accept things as they come. 

So this is basically what you will have to teach the mind with wisdom: to see that everything is anicca, dukkha, and anattā. 

This includes your body and your feelings. 

You cannot control them, you have to face them calmly with equanimity. Then you will have no stress or dukkha. 

“Dhamma in English, Apr 23, 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.

17 January 2025

Q:  Even when one gets old and the mind starts to deteriorate, the mind still can see the Four Noble Truths.

Than Ajahn:  Yes, because the Four Noble Truths is not in the body, it’s in the mind. The mind sees things that appear in the mind. So when you get dukkha (stress), your stress is in the mind not in your body. If you have mindfulness, you’ll see, ‘Right now, I am stressful,’ then you start to investigate and you’ll find that the cause of your stress is your desire or your expectation. 

You want something and when you can’t get what you want, you feel stressful. For instance, you don’t want to get sick so when you get sick, you feel stressful because you don’t want to get sick. You see this in your mind. 

If you want to get rid of your stress, you can do it by using samādhi and wisdom. Samādhi is to stop your mind from craving; and wisdom is to tell your mind that to crave is to create stress so you have to stop craving for things. You see this automatically, right away, in your mind if you keep practising mindfulness.

Right now, your mind goes outside of your mind, you see things, you see people. So you don’t see what’s going on inside your mind. 

But when you start to develop mindfulness, you start pulling your mind back inside so you start to see the inner activities or mental activities that you normally don’t see because you keep seeing the external activities. 

The external activities come through the body. You need the body to see or to hear things and the body faculties deteriorate e.g. you are not able to see things clearly, your eyes get blurry, your ears can’t pick up sound clearly, your brain doesn’t function as good as when you are younger, your body can’t do things you used to do. 

But the mind is different. Your mind doesn’t deteriorate with your body. So you can always see the inner activities of the mind if you use mindfulness to pull the mind away from the body.

When you meditate, you are pulling your mind away from the body, you bring it inside. 

So when it starts to pull inside, you’ll start to see the four nāma-khandhas (saññā, vedanā, sankhāra, viññāṇa) and see how they work together then you understand that when you have stress, it’s because of your craving or desire. So you see this all inside your mind. 

But first, you have to bring your mind back inside. 

Right now you keep looking at other things outside so you don’t see the real cause of your problem which is inside your mind. 

So no matter how old you are, you can see the Four Noble Truths if you have the tools. 

And the tools are mindfulness and wisdom which you have to learn to develop. 

“Dhamma in English, Feb 10, 2024.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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