"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 Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

14 September 2025

Than Ajahn:  You were here a few weeks ago.

Student: Yes Tan Ajahn.  A question I’ve had is when I’m able to develop a nice place of concentration I want to hold onto it and keep it going for as long as possible but then social interactions happen and social obligations pull me out of it and then I am not able to get back into it. And I start to feel depressed, start to feel sad about that. So I wonder if you could offer some advice.

Than Ajahn:  Well you have to figure out what caused you to lose your concentration and it’s your social interaction (TA laughs) so if you want to maintain your concentration, you have to stop your social interaction. 

Simple as that. 

So you have to live in seclusion, live alone. 

You have to become a monk eventually if you want to maintain constant or continuous concentration. 

Like the Buddha, he has to leave the palace. 

Because if he lives in the palace, he would have all this social interaction to deal with every day. So he took off.

This is the path for those who want to develop spiritual perfection. Spiritual peace, spiritual happiness. 

You have to let go of all your social interaction. The Buddha said, don’t cling. 

Don’t socialize. Try to stay alone because then you can maintain your concentration continuously. So now you know the problem so you have to find a way to solve this problem. How to get yourself out of all this social interaction.

Student:  I start getting lonely as well. I mean it’s on both sides. When I am well concentrated 

I am happy to be alone. When I am not, I start missing people. It’s like both things.

Than Ajahn:  Then you should try to bring your concentration back. Because if you follow your sadness then you have to leave your seclusion and go interact with people. And then once you do that you start to miss your concentration again. So you’re just going back and forth like a ping pong ball. When you are alone you feel lonely so you want to interact with people. But when you interact with people you don’t feel good. You want to be alone. (TA laughs) 

So you have to decide what you want. You cannot have your cake and eat it too. This is the question that everybody has to answer. 

Once they find the answer they find a sense of relief. 

This the hardest question to answer: “Which path should I take?” The worldly path that I used to or the spiritual path. 

So before you can decide, you have to have enough practice to make sure that once you are alone you can continue on with your practice. 

But if your practice is still off and on, this can be a problem when you are alone. When your practice is down you can feel lonely. And your defilements will consume your mind to the point where you want to go back. We just recently lost a monk. He came and wanted to devote the remainder of his life to the practice. 

He gave up his job and everything. But after he had been ordained for just a few months, he just could no longer do it. So eventually he had to disrobe. 

This is something like climbing the mountain. 

Once you start climbing, you cannot stop. If you haven’t reached the top yet, you cannot stop. Only when you get to the top then you stop your practice, stop climbing. Because as soon as you stop climbing, the gravity will start pulling your body down. As soon as you stop [your practice], your defilements will start pulling you back toward the worldly life. So this is something you have to prepare yourself for before you make your final decision.

One thing that can help you is to constantly contemplate on the impermanent nature of the worldly life. 

Things don’t last. And your body is getting older and older. The Buddha saw the four sights—an old man, a sick man, a dead man and a monk. So this was the message he needed to push himself to become a monk. 

You have to constantly think of your body. 

That it is going to get old, get sick and die. 

Then you wouldn’t be able to enjoy your worldly life anyway. This will push you to do more practice. Do more meditation. 

May be right now you can do it on a temporary basis. 

Go seek seclusion for awhile then come back, then go back again back and forth. Until you become strong enough to leave forever. 

Then you don’t come back.

“Dhamma in English, Nov 29, 2022.”

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.

7 May 2026

Mae Chee:  If I keep money offered with the intention that I might need it in the future for medical purposes, is this the correct thinking?

Tan Ajahn:  I think it is better just to give it away. Because this can be deception by your defilements, your greed. It will make you want more and more. Just give it away and let the Dhamma decide for you in the future when you get sick. If you give it away, what you give away will come back to you when you need it. So don’t worry. If you keep it then you are actually keeping dukkha because you have to look after that money. You have to worry with your money. 

So it can be a hindrance to your practice. So it’s better just to give it away or keep it with someone you can trust and forget about it. Don’t keep it with yourself. I think the best thing is to give it away. That will solve all your problems. If you keep it then you will have attachment to it and this is against your practice of letting go. Don’t worry about if you get sick. You know you’re going to get sick, you know you’re going to die. So why worry about getting sick or dying. Your purpose is to accept death, accept sickness.

“Dhamma in English, Oct 2, 2022.”

- - - - - - -

Mae Chee:  About giving money away, does it mean that I shouldn’t keep any money at all and should not worry about the future because my expenses are now covered by the Monastery?

Than Ajahn:  Ideally you should follow the Buddha’s example. The Buddha didn’t have any money. If you feel that you have to have money, you have to be very careful. You have to put a cap/limit on how much you should have. If you don’t put a limit on it, you’ll keep thinking, ‘Maybe I need more money, maybe I need more money,’ and it will start to make you look for more money than look for meditation. It makes you forget that you’re going to die, you are going to get sick. 

Mae Chee:  Yeah, I find that when my meditation was not good, I was tempted to use the money to buy things so I was thinking whether I should give all my money away so that I don’t have any option. 

Than Ajahn:  Yes. Cast your life to faith, to your kamma. If it’s the time for you to die, no matter how much money you have, you cannot stop yourself from death. If it isn’t yet the time for you to die, probably somebody will be there to look after you. 

When I ordained, I didn’t have any money. I was penniless when I became a monk. And when I spent almost 9 years at Wat Pa Baan Taad, I didn’t have money at all. I never thought about money. I was only thinking about meditation, mindfulness, wisdom and asubha. 

So you don’t really need to have money if you are a real meditator. Even when you get sick, you can use the ‘Dhamma medicine’ if you have no money to buy medicine. Just use mindfulness (samādhi) and wisdom as your medicine—to look after your mind. The body is not worth more important than the mind. 

Now when your body gets sick, your mind gets sicker than the body. 

So you feel terrible not because of the sickness of the body but of the sickness of your mind. 

But if you have ‘Dhamma medicine’, you can cure the sickness of the mind. You might not be able to cure the sickness of the body, but that doesn’t matter. Once the mind has no sickness, the mind is happy, and the mind can live with the sickness of the body or the death of the body if it has to happen that way. 

So concentrate on the ‘Dhamma medicine’ if you worry about sickness. That’s why you ordain. 

You don’t want to have any dealing with money anymore. You are willing to give up your life for the Dhamma. 

Mae Chee:  So in the future, if people give me money, should I say that I don’t accept any money? 

Than Ajahn:  No. You can accept it and then you can give it away. Because people want to give it to you so you want to accept their kindness but you don’t have to tell them that you are not going to keep the money. They don’t care what you do with the money after they gave it to you, right? It’s up to you on what you want to do with it. When someone gives you money, you shouldn’t say, ‘Oh, I am going to give the money to somebody else.’ Because it may make the person feels bad because the person wants to give it to you, not to somebody else. So you don’t have to tell people what you are going to do with that money. But if people give you money with a condition attached to it, then you can decline it. If they say, ‘We give you this money so you can do this or that,’ if you cannot accept the condition, then you can decline it. 

But if they give you without any condition, then you just accept it. And then you can do whatever you want with it. 

Mae Chee:  Currently, the Monastery gives me some allowance, should I tell them that I don’t need it? 

Than Ajahn:  You don’t want to make an issue out of it. When they give you allowance, you just accept it, and then you can give it to anybody you want. Quietly. Because if you try to tell them that you don’t want it, it might cause an issue for them. People might think, ‘What’s wrong with you? Are you trying to show off?’ Whatever you do, try to be discreet as much as possible. 

I think the word, ’discreet,’ has been forgotten in this new world here. It’s always showing off. 

Whether it’s on Facebook or Instagram, it’s always showing off and showing off. There is no such thing as being discreet anymore. Why do people want to show it off for? What do they get when other people give the ‘Like’? Maybe they want to use it for advertisement purposes, to monetise it if they get a lot of ‘Like’ and a lot of followers. 

“Dhamma in English, Oct 4, 2022.”

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.

9th November, 2022

Question:  I want to ask about hiri ottappa.

Than Ajahn:  Hiri ottappa are two words. Hiri means to be shameful of your immoral conduct. 

Ottapa means to be fearful of the result of your immoral conduct. If you have these two, then you will not do any bad karma because you are shameful of yourself if you steal, you lie or you cheat. If you have no shame, then you can do those things, but if you have shame, then you don't want to do those things. So you have to establish a certain sense of shamefulness in yourself. ‘I'm ashamed of myself for stealing somebody's money.’ You shouldn’t think, ‘Oh I'm clever. I can steal somebody's money.’ Because you lose your integrity when you commit bad karma. You lose your good quality, your goodness. So you should be shameful of your immoral conduct. 

You also have to be afraid of the consequence because when you die, you might not be reborn as a human right away. You might have to be reborn as an animal or go to hell first before you can come back as a human. So these are the qualities that will help to prevent you from conducting any immoral act or bad karma. Hiri and otappa will help you keep the five precepts.

Student:  Shameful and fear are not good emotions, but in this case, they are good emotions.

Than Ajahn:  Yes. It's like a knife. You can use it to protect yourself, or you can use it to hurt yourself. It depends on how you use it. If you are ashamed of yourself acting immorally, then you won’t do any immoral acts, right? If you know the consequence of doing immoral act can cause you to be born as an animal, and you have a choice not to be reborn as an animal, would you rather not take that choice of doing immoral act so you won’t be reborn as an animal? If you know that doing bad karma will be the cause of your bad rebirth, to reborn in the lower realm of existence, then you won’t do any bad kamma. 

To be born in the four lower realms of existence are the consequences of your bad karma or your immoral act. If you don't do any immoral act, then you won't take birth in those four lower realms of existence, lower forms of existence. But you cannot see this, so you have to rely on the teaching of the Seer like the Buddha who have the wisdom in their eyes to be able to penetrate, to see the truth of the mind, to see what happens to the mind after death. Until you become a Sotāpanna, then you can see it by yourself, you can see the consequence of doing bad karma by yourself. Then you will never do any bad karma from that point on. 

Student:  When you said ‘You see it,’ does it mean you see the mind? 

Than Ajahn:  You see the mind. You see the consequence that happen right away when the mind commits immoral act. The mind catches fire, the mind is being consumed by fire, by fear, and by hatred.

Question:  So this is how a Sotāpanna sees it, hence he won't commit bad kamma anymore.

Than Ajahn:  That's right. It's like when your head was hit by something, you wouldn’t want to get hit by it again, right? When you’re walking and you hit something because you didn’t see the thing that block your path, then the next time when you walk pass it again, you make sure that you won’t hit it again, right? Because you’ve seen it before that there's something blocking your path, so every time when you come to that point, you will look up first before you move on. 

The same way with a Sotāpanna. He sees what happens to his mind whenever he commits any bad karma, he sees dukkha. Dukkha arises in his mind when he performs any bad karma.

Student:  Okay, it’s in his mind. He doesn't care about the body anymore, but it’s in his mind. 

Than Ajahn:  In his mind, even though the body has yet to receive the consequence of his bad action, even though he can get away from stealing for instance. When nobody catches him for his bad action, his mind has already paid for the consequence of the action. The mind starts to feel bad, get worried, and afraid that he might get caught.

Question:  If we are not the noble disciples and don't see the consequence of bad kamma, and hence, we keep hitting the rock onto our head, is it because we just don't feel the pain or we just don't see where the rock is?

Than Ajahn:  You don't have enough mindfulness to see the anxiety and suffering. You know that you’re not happy but you don't know what caused it for you not to be happy, what caused you to have anxiety and worry, namely the dukkha. Dukkha arises from your bad action, your bad karma. And your craving or your defilements also can cause dukkha. They usually go together. Craving or defilements usually will initiate bad karma. Not always, but usually. 

Even with good karma, when you have defilements or craving, your mind will start to feel agitated. When you want something and you're not getting it, you might be a little bit anxious, worried whether you will get it or not. Once you get it, you also become worried and anxious whether you will lose it or not. So all noble disciples see this in their mind all the time, so they try to get rid of the cause of their dukkha. And they discover that dukkha arises from the ten fetters. 

“Dhamma in English, May 31, 2022.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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

“If you have strong mindfulness, you might be able to resist your desire without having to go into samādhi.”

The teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

24 May 2025

“If you have strong mindfulness, you might be able to resist your desire without having to go into samādhi.”

Upāsikā:  Sometimes I found that the kilesa is very strong. For example, when I come out of the peaceful stage, suddenly my mind thinks, ‘I want a cup of coffee’. It is really ridiculous because it was very calm and peaceful and all of a sudden this wanting for a cup of coffee arises.”

Than Ajahn:  “Your peacefulness and calmness disappear because of the desire for a cup of coffee. It destroys your peacefulness. The only way to fix it is by going back to your meditation instead of having a cup of coffee. It is because when you get your cup of coffee, you’ll feel good for a while. After that, the desire for another cup will arise. So, instead of having a cup of coffee, you should resist it by going back into your meditation. 

If you have strong mindfulness, you might be able to resist your desire without having to go into samādhi. 

But if you cannot resist it using mindfulness, then you might have to go into samādhi.”

“Dhamma in English, Apr 1, 2018”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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

“Beggars are not choosers.”

The teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

6 May 2025

“Beggars are not choosers.”

Question:  Can a monk refuse food he receives?

Than Ajahn:  When monks go on pindapatt (alms round), he should not refuse the food given. It is a courtesy that you accept things out of gratitude of people’s generosity, but you don’t have to eat everything that people give you. You can choose (what to eat) once the food is in your bowl, which food you want to eat, which food you don’t want to eat. But you cannot tell people what you want to eat such as that you cannot tell people that “I am a vegetarian, please don’t give me any meat”. If people want to give vegetables and meat together, and if you just want to eat vegetables, you just take the meat out. You don’t have to eat the meat, but you don’t have to tell people what to give. Beggars are not choosers. 

…….

Question:  When two persons offer food, one buys pork in the market and cook it and the other kills a pig to prepare the same dish, so can a monk refuse the food?

Than Ajahn:  No, if they don’t tell you how the food was obtained then we (monks) cannot tell them. If they tell you that the pig was intentionally killed then the monk has to advise them not to do it again because they are doing more harm than benefit. You might get the benefit of giving the food, but you are also creating a harmful action to yourself because you killed the pig. 

So the duty of the teacher is to tell them not to do it. 

But if they go to the market and buy meat (or something that had already died), then it doesn’t matter. 

…….

Question:  For a new full time practitioner must I stay in a forest monastery or must I stay in a monastery in the city where there are more structured training? Is the place to practice important?

Than Ajahn:  The intensity of practice is different. If you have higher intensity of practice then you have a better chance of achieving the result. If you have lower intensity of the practice then you have a lower chance to get the result. So it is up to you, what do you want? 

If you want to have the result then you need to practise intensely. The more intense you practice the better will be your result. So it depends on how much input you want to put in. 

The place will provide you with what kind of practice there is. If you stay in the monastery in town, the practice may not be so intense, it is easy going and not practising full time because you will have other activities such as you have to study scriptures, go chanting, accept invitation of Sangha-dāna, to people’s home. So if you engage in this kind of activities then you won’t have much time to put into your practice. 

But with forest monks, they disregard all other activities except meditation, so they get the result faster. So it is up to you what you want.

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.

28th July, 2022

Question:  I find it hard to meet people and situations that are difficult. I feel like I start to get judgemental, and I would like to exchange this judging attitude for metta, but I think it is really hard.

Than Ajaan: I think you should instead change your attitude towards things and other people. 

You should see them as things that you cannot expect anything from. Try not to expect anything from things or people. Just take them as they are. Don't expect anything, because when you expect, you become disappointed. You expect people to smile at you, but if they don't, you become disappointed. You expect people to be nice to you, but when they don't act nice to you, you again become disappointed. 

So don't expect anything from anybody. Just go through life expecting only what you can do for yourself. 

Don't expect anything from other people. Just do what you have to do, and then try to find the time to be by yourself to meditate. I think that is better. Don't expect to get anything from anybody because whatever you get is not worth the time you spent going after it. You should only go after your meditation. Okay? 

Understand? If you don't expect anything, then you won't feel bad. Even with the weather conditions, you cannot expect anything because you cannot tell the weather what you want. Take it as it is, as it comes. 

Take things as they come and don't expect anything.

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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

“The goal of meditation is twofold: mental calm and wisdom or insight into the true nature of all physical and mental processes.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

31 March 2025

“The goal of meditation is twofold: mental calm and wisdom or insight into the true nature of all physical and mental processes.”

To eliminate greed, hatred and delusion effectively we have to meditate. The simplest form of meditation for lay Buddhists is to chant Buddhist verses. By concentrating on chanting and not thinking about other things the mind will gradually become calmer and more content because it has no time to think and worry. 

This is the simplest form of meditation that will develop to a more advanced level when we will just concentrate on one particular mental object, such as the in-and-out breath.

The goal of meditation is twofold: mental calm and wisdom or insight into the true nature of all physical and mental processes. Once the mind is calm, it becomes reasonable, logical and unemotional, ready to be taught the truth of life that we will all have to face. 

Having been born, we are all subject to aging, sickness and death, which no one can escape. The best way to face them is to be ready for them.

The body doesn’t know that it will age, get sick and die — the mind does. Due to delusion the mind thinks the body is itself and clings to it. When the body becomes sick, old and dies, the mind thinks that it is the one that gets sick, gets old and dies, when in fact it doesn’t. The mind, as I said, goes on after the dissolution of the body.

So we have to teach the mind to be brave, to face up to the truth of the body. Once the mind becomes calm and composed, it will accept it and be free from anxiety and agitation. This is the development of wisdom in Buddhism: to know the truth of life and face it squarely and calmly. Because the mind doesn’t get old, get sick or die; it’s the body that does. Due to delusion the mind thinks that it is getting old, getting sick and dying.

Once the mind has learned the truth and embraces it, the mind will no longer resist or be afraid. 

It will accept it just like anything else, just like the rain, a storm, and good or bad weather. They come and go, but the mind doesn’t change with these things. The mind just knows.

By Ajaan 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.

9 January 2026

Question:  Is it okay to place a Buddha statue in the bedroom, not for praying but just for supporting my meditation?

Than Ajahn:  I think it’s better to place the Buddha inside your heart, in your mind, by reciting ‘Budho, Budho, Budho,’ then you can take the Buddha with you everywhere. As far as placing the Buddha statue, it’s a matter of tradition. Some people think it’s not good to place the Buddha statue in the bedroom in which you have sexual activities, for instance. 

You don’t want the Buddha to keep watching you do something. 

Usually, in a Thai house, people would have a room specifically for the Buddha statue. We call it ห้องพระ (hông phra). ‘Hông’ means room and ‘Phra’ means Buddha, so 'hông phra' is the Buddha’s room. So, if you have Buddha statues, you should have a room or a place separate from all other activities. It’s like a shrine. 

The Buddha should be in a shrine, not in your bedroom, not in your bathroom. Some Westerners like to cut off the head of the Buddha statue and place it in the toilet. 

This is not considered appropriate. If you respect the Buddha, then you want to have a shrine for him. You should build a room like a house for the Buddha, a shrine for the Buddha statue. 

But in a practical sense, you should have the Buddha in your heart, in your mind, by constantly reciting ‘Budho, Budho, Budho,’ the name of the Buddha. 

So, there are two ways of having the Buddha: in a shrine in your house; or in your heart, in your mind, by keep reciting ‘Budho, Budho, Budho’ all the time. 

“Dhamma in English, May 3, 2022.”

- - - - - - - -

Question:  Several weeks ago, someone asked about where to place a Buddha statue, and you said to place the Buddha in your heart. This really helps me because when I lose my mindfulness, I kept telling myself, ‘Oh, Ajahn said to place the Buddha in my heart.’ So, I keep saying Budho and place the Buddha in my heart. The teaching is very meaningful and helpful for me.

Than Ajahn:  Yes, that’s the goal of our practice—to have the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha inside our heart. That’s when you achieve the first level of enlightenment, the sotāpanna level, the one who has established the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha inside the heart. Then, you can use the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha (that had been established inside your heart) to continue on with the fight, to get rid of the remaining defilements until all the defilements are completely destroyed. 

Once you become a sotāpanna, you don’t need Buddhism to guide you anymore because you have Buddhism inside your heart to guide you, wherever you are, in whichever realm of existence you might happen to be. You don’t need Buddhism. You don’t need the outside Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, to guide you because you have the inside Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. You have the real Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha inside your heart. 

That’s why a sotāpanna has no doubt about the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha because a sotāpanna has the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha within himself or herself. So, what is there to doubt about? It’s something that he/she has already had, something that he/she can feel, can touch. 

The Buddha says ‘Opanayiko,’ draw the teachings inward, into your heart. Draw mindfulness, draw wisdom, draw sīla, draw charity, into your heart. 

Question:  Oh, that’s what 'inward' means. 

Than Ajahn:  Yes, you draw the teachings inside your heart by practicing them. The more you do, the more they will stay inside your heart. The more charity you do, the more precepts you keep, the more meditation you do, then the more of these Dhamma will remain inside your heart. But if you don’t do the practice, then you will lose them eventually. So you have to keep maintaining and increasing the level of practice until you are able to keep the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha inside your heart permanently. 

Layperson:  Thank you, Than Ajahn. 

“Dhamma in English, May 17, 2022.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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

“If you meditate and you still don’t feel any joy or happiness, it means you haven’t yet reached the goal.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

9 March 2025

“If you meditate and you still don’t feel any joy or happiness, it means you haven’t yet reached the goal.”

Question: I have been meditating for a long time now. However, joy and peace never arise. Where have I gone wrong?

Than Ajahn:  I think you haven’t gone deeply enough yet. You have only gone half way to jhāna. 

You haven’t reached the fourth jhāna. If you have reached that, you will experience something that you have never experienced before—a life changing experience. You will find that there is no other kind of happiness in this world comparable to this happiness. 

If you meditate and you still don’t feel any joy or happiness, it means you haven’t yet reached the goal. 

You should concentrate on your meditation object and continue meditating. Don’t stop. If you don’t succeed this time, try the next time. Keep doing it. The reason why you haven’t reached that point yet is because your mindfulness is not strong enough to overcome the resistance. 

The mind is constantly being pushed by your desire to go out, to go do the things that you want to do, to see, to hear. So you have to use this mindfulness to push it back in. If your mindfulness is not strong enough, you cannot push it into the deepest level yet. So you have to develop more mindfulness. Keep on practicing more and more.

…………….

Question:  Occasionally when I make a decision about something, after some time, the thoughts will arise questioning the decision that I have made, trying to convince myself that I have made the wrong decision. 

Why is this so?

Than Ajahn:  Because when you do something, you are not sure what you are doing. You don’t know the reason behind it. 

So before you do anything, you should think carefully and make sure you know exactly what to expect from your actions. Once you know, you won’t have any doubt. But if you are not sure what you are doing, then all sorts of doubts will come up. So think before you do anything.

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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“You have to be mindful at all times and as much as possible.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart

13 December 2024

“You have to be mindful at all times and as much as possible.”

Question:  “How do I get my mind to focus when it is full of thoughts?”

Than Ajahn:  “It is due to a lack of mindfulness; you haven’t yet established your mindfulness. 

Mindfulness (sati) is what controls your thoughts—preventing it from thinking about other things. You should try reciting only the word, ‘Buddho’. It has to be done beforehand, prior to your sitting meditation.

Mindfulness is something that you must continually cultivate and keep up with from the moment you wake up to the time of your sitting meditation. If you cultivate your mindfulness only after starting to sit in meditation, your mind won’t be able to quell all of the proliferations. You have to practise from the moment you awake. As soon as you’re awake, just start reciting ‘Buddho’ and then carry on doing your routine while reciting it. You may stop reciting it and focus on other things when they require your attention.

You should only think about necessary things. 

For instance, what is on today’s schedule or your to-do list? 

Once you’ve figured it out, you may then get yourself ready. You should carry on reciting ‘Buddho’ even while getting ready. Just keep reciting it and don’t think about anything else. 

If you can manage that, your mind will easily calm down when you do your sitting meditation. You’ve already cut down your thoughts and there’s mindfulness in place to keep a hold on them. Once in sitting meditation, your mind will quickly calm down with the recitation. 

It all comes down to mindfulness for those who cannot seem to get any result from their meditation practice. You didn’t cultivate your mindfulness beforehand. You start meditating right away when it is time, just like a boxer who goes into a match without any practice. 

As soon as he gets into the ring, he gets knocked out in the very first round. Without any training and practice with his partner, he ends up being knocked out himself, thinking that he can easily take down his opponent.

It is not unlike expecting your mind to be calm as soon as you sit down and start reciting ‘Buddho’. Your mind readily goes astray thinking about other things with no more than two words of ‘Buddho’. So it all comes down to your mindfulness. You have to be mindful at all times and as much as possible."

“Essential Teachings”

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.

27 October 2024

Question:  After samatha meditation, does insight arise automatically?

Tan Ajahn:  No. Samatha only gives you peace, calm, a sense of well-being, and a sense of contentment, but no insight whatsoever. You can only have insight when you point your mind towards an object that you have dukkha with, you have problems with.

A good example is having problems with your body. You have to point your mind towards the body and study the nature of the body until you clearly see the three characteristics inherent in the body; then you will be able to eliminate your desire, which is the cause of your suffering. 

This is called insight, being able to see the three characteristics of the body and to see your desire as the cause of your suffering.

Therefore, if you haven’t seen the three characteristics of your body, then you must study, you must investigate. Ask yourself: is your body permanent or not permanent? Does the body belong to you or not? 

Can you keep the body with you all the time or not? Does the body give you happiness or give you suffering? When the body gets sick, do you feel happy or do you feel sad? When the body gets old, do you feel good or do you feel bad? When your body dies, do you feel good or do you feel bad? You have to ask this. What makes you feel bad when the body dies?

Because of your desire, you want your body to last forever, you don’t want the body to leave you, but is that possible or not? So, this is what you have to contemplate, to investigate, to ask yourself, and to think about analytically. This is what we call vimaṁsā. When you find the cause, then you can eliminate that cause.

Like when a patient who comes to see a doctor is sick and wants to get well, the doctor will have to figure out the cause of the sickness. If the doctor cannot figure out the cause of the sickness, the doctor cannot cure the disease. Once the doctor finds out the cause, s/he must then find the medicine that can cure this cause. If s/he cannot find the medicine, then s/he cannot cure this disease. 

This is the way the practice of Dhamma works – insight happens after you analyse your problems. And your problem is that you don’t see the three characteristics in the things that you are attached to, in the things that make you unhappy, such as the body. 

When you can see the body as having the three characteristics, then you know that you cannot cling to your body because the body will not stay with you all the time. If you cling, it follows that when the body leaves you, you will become very sad, very unhappy. But when you let the body go and accept the truth that the body is impermanent, that it doesn’t belong to you, then when the body leaves you, you won’t feel any suffering.

“Dhamma for the Asking, Dec 9, 2014”

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

28th March, 2022

Question : How can I move up the ladder from dāna to bhāvanā?

Tan Ajahn: The reason why you want to do dāna is to get rid of your money, your surplus money. Because when you have surplus money, sometimes you want to buy things, you want to go do something. This will take away your time to meditate, to develop your mindfulness. 

So, if you want to go on a holiday trip, why not spend that money on dāna instead, and go stay in a temple. 

You have to force yourself to do these things and force yourself to develop mindfulness. It doesn’t come automatically, especially for those people who haven’t had any mindfulness previously. 

Some other people are fortunate. Maybe in their past lives they have developed a certain amount of mindfulness, so for them to meditate might be a lot easier than for those who haven’t yet developed any mindfulness. If you have no mindfulness at all, then you must force yourself to develop it. And this is the reason why you want to do charity. 

Instead of going on holiday for a week, you stay in the temple instead and spend your money paying the temple for the facilities that you have used. This will enable you to be alone to focus on developing mindfulness all day long, from the time you get up to the time you go to sleep. And when you are in the temple and you are close to a teacher, you can ask any questions that might come up. 

So this is the real reason for charity, for dāna. It is for you to get rid of your surplus money, so that it doesn’t take away your time, so you can have the time to be alone and to practice mindfulness.

Dāna will also help you keep the precepts because when you give money to charity, you will become kind-hearted. You will think of the welfare of other people. You will not be selfish and not want to hurt other people. When you don’t want to hurt other people, you’ll find that keeping the five precepts is very easy. 

If you only think of yourself, that is, if you want to make a lot of money to spend on yourself, you will not care about other people. You will find that keeping the precepts is very difficult, and even more, you will find it to be a hindrance to making money because when you want to make quick and easy money, sometimes you have to cheat or lie.

So, this is the purpose of dāna: to help you develop mettā, compassion, loving-kindness, and to be less selfish, so that you will think of the welfare of other people and not want to hurt them. You can easily keep the five precepts. Once you do, your mind will become a lot calmer and more peaceful. If you cannot keep the precepts, your mind will be constantly agitated by the bad things that you have done. You will worry that you might be caught or you will have to pay for your bad kamma. 

But if you can keep the precepts, you won’t be creating any bad kamma, and you will find it a lot easier to be peaceful and calm as your mindfulness develops. This happens because when you develop mindfulness, you want to go stay alone in quiet places. If you have done something bad, your conscience will always bother you. Especially when you stay in the forest monastery, you might worry about your bad kamma, which will make you pay for what you have done. So you might not be able to stay alone in the temple if you have a bad conscience. 

You want to prevent this worry by keeping the five precepts. And in order to keep the five precepts, you have to be kind and caring towards other people, so you have to give dāna, be charitable. And you will then have the time to meditate. If you are selfish, you want to find happiness for yourself, perhaps by going on holiday instead of going to the temple, so you will never have the time to develop mindfulness, and you will never be able to bhāvanā successfully.

“Dhamma for the Asking, Dec 2, 2014”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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“Deciding To Ordian

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

19 December 2025

“Deciding to Ordain.”

I was ordained on February 19, 1975. Four people attended my ceremony: my parents, my sister and a cousin from Chulalongkorn University who heard about it and accompanied her. I was ordained with the generalʼs son who had just graduated from Long Beach in the US and was to be ordained for two weeks. 

Hundreds of people attended his ceremony while mine only had four people.

I did not tell anyone else about my ordination because I prefer to do things quietly by myself. 

Also, I didnʼt see any reason to tell anyone, since this was a matter that concerned me and not others. For me, I prefer not to make anyone else busy or troubled on my account. If someone were to find out, he might comment or criticize this and that. Then he would want to persuade me not to ordain because he is speaking based on his own thinking. Maybe he thought that I have suffered a major disappointment and wanted to help comfort me by saying one should be hopeful in life, and there was no need to ordain. 

Therefore, if I wanted to ordain, it was better not to tell anyone. If I wanted to practice meditation, I had to cut off all ties with other people. 

This is because they are just the ways of the world. If I didnʼt  have to pay attention, I could be at ease. Itʼs like driving alone on a wide open road without other vehicles in the way. If there is anything to pay attention to, itʼs like having other cars on the road. One has to wait for them or be ready to dodge.

After I ordained, I didnʼt need to concern myself with anyone anymore. But there was a person who had by chance heard about my ordaining and wrote me a telegram saying that he wanted me to work for him.

I said to myself, “Is this crazy or what? I am ordained and still they want me to work again?”

“Beyond Birth”

- - - - - - -

“First Test as a Newly Ordained Monk.”

I had chosen to go to Wat Pa Baan Taad upon the recommendation of a foreign monk. I had no intention to stay there for long, but I just wanted to see what Wat Pa Baan Taad was like and whether I would like the place. At the same time, I also understood that even if I liked it there, I could not be able to stay if I was not granted permission. I did not have much expectation. I was simply seeking a quiet place that allowed me to have time to practice to the fullest—my only goal. 

Furthermore, at first, I did not think that having a teacher was essential and assumed that Dhamma books would be sufficient to guide me in this path.

All I knew was that I had to go there. I did not know any highly respected teachers in Thailand or how to find them because I had never read books about the practice of Dhammayuttika-nikāya monks. Most of the books I read were about Bhikkhus (Buddhist monks) mentioned in the Tipiṭaka (Buddhist Pāli Canon).

When I arrived, I went directly to the meeting hall, and it was time to go for alms round. 

Luangta had just come down and I went to pay respect to him. Luangta then said that I could not stay there for long. I could only stay temporarily because the Kuṭīs (monks’ dwellings) were all occupied. Luangta did not say anything else. I quickly prepared my requisites and left for morning alms round.

I felt like a newborn baby who had just been introduced into the new world of monkhood. 

On the first day of my arrival at the monastery, I realized how incapable I was. At Wat Pa Baan Taad, the walking pace on the way to the village was relaxed, but after alms round it was very fast. I had never walked that fast before. 

On the way back, as soon as we went past the last devotee’s home, a monk would immediately help carry Luangta’s alms bowl, and everyone else would then speed walk back to the monastery. It was like a speed-walking competition in the Olympics. I walked with alms bowl full of sticky rice and it was very heavy. 

Furthermore, the bag sling for my alms bowl was not tightly secured, and it fell off halfway along my way back to the monastery. I also had to secure my main robe as it had also slipped off my shoulder. I was so disordered that by the time I reached Sālā (meeting hall), everyone else had already started arranging the food collected from the alms round.

Luangta must have noticed my disorderliness, yet he showed Mettā (loving-kindness) and did not make any comments. For those who were new in the monastery, Luangta appeared to be lenient, even pretending to be indifferent. Only when a new monk seriously misbehaved would he reprimand directly. Luangta’s attention was on the monk’s determination to practice. 

For other matters such as being slow but still being able to perform one’s duties correctly, Luangta would not say anything.

Typically about one month before the beginning of Vassa, or the rains retreat, Luangta would decide which monks would be the Vassa residents, that is, who would dwell permanently throughout the three months of the rainy season. He would usually accept about fifteen to sixteen monks. When it came to my turn, Luangta asked me, “You remember, on your first day here, you agreed that you could not stay here for long, that your stay was only temporary, therefore, you would not be allowed to spend the Vassa here?” 

After hearing Luangta’s words, I did not know what to do. I did not say anything and was undecided about what to do next.

After that Luangta gave a Dhamma talk for almost two hours. When it ended, all monks paid respect to the Lord Buddha all together.

Then, Luangta surprised me by turning to me and giving me his permission to stay. He announced, “For the monk who came from Wat Bowon, if you would like to stay here, you are allowed to do so.” All other monks who had been staying there started to congratulate me because Luangta did not accept monks to stay with him easily. There were many monks whom Luangta did not permit to stay at the monastery. 

Luangta wanted us to see the value of being allowed to stay with him. He wanted us to have the determination to practice meditation. For anything that is easily obtained, we have the tendency to take it for granted, and for anything that is obtained with difficulties, we would have a greater appreciation. For this reason, I was allowed to continue to stay.

A rule practiced at the monastery was that monks who had less than five rains retreats were not allowed to go anywhere, except for emergency reasons. According to the Vinaya (Monastic Code of Disciple), new monks are not allowed to be without a teacher’s guidance. 

Luangta would not allow monks to travel here and there, unless the five-year rule was completed. For example, a monk with a two-year rains retreat wanted to go for Dhutaṅga wanderings. In addition to evaluating the suitability of the proposed wanderings, Luangta would consider whether it was beneficial to do so. If he felt that it was not beneficial, Luangta would not give permission to go. There was a monk with two to three rains retreats who wanted to go for Dhutaṅga wanderings, and had asked for permission several times, but Luangta did not allow him to go. When he asked again for the last time, Luangta told him that if he went, he would not be allowed to come back. 

Luangta considered the mind of each monk to be more important than the number of Vassas he spent. 

Sometimes, a monk, after spending five years of rains retreat, wanted to leave the monastery, but Luangta thought that it was inappropriate for him to go. His practice might deteriorate, or he might even leave the monkhood. If this was the case, Luangta would try to hold him back. 

At least, if he stayed in the monastery, he could continue to learn from the Teacher.

I stayed there for five years before leaving on even a short trip.

“My Way.”

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 December 2024

Question:  Is it important to make an adhitthāna whether one wants to be an Arahant, a Paceka Buddha or a Buddha? Does it matter to explicitly making an adhitthāna?

Than Ajahn:  Well, adhitthāna means to set a goal for you, what you want to achieve—that’s what adhitthāna means. Because if you don’t have a goal, then you might not stride towards that goal, you might go do something else. But if you say, ‘I want to be an Arahant,’ then you will have to stride towards that goal by following the path that will lead you to become an Arahant. 

If you say, ‘Oh! I don’t care to be an Arahant, I just want to be a human,’ then there is no need for you to practice meditation. 

It’s like aiming at something. In worldly life, you might want to aim at completing college, getting a Master’s degree or a Ph. D., for instance. This is the same way with adhitthāna in Buddhism. You have to set a goal. 

Where do you want to go from here? Would you want to be here all the time or would you want to move forward towards that goal? If you want to go towards your goal, then you have to do the practice.

Question:  So, may Ajahn describe the differences among those 3 options?

Than Ajahn:  Normally, the way to set a goal in Buddhism is not aiming at a particular stage of enlightenment. Really! I think you should set the goal to free your mind from suffering: this should be the real goal. You want to eliminate suffering from your mind. 

So whenever you have suffering, you want to get rid of it. And the causes of suffering are your defilements i.e. your greed, your cravings, your desires. 

These are the things that will cause you to have dukkha, sooner or later. So, you want to get rid of these things. 

Don’t worry about the stages whether it’s a Sotāpanna or whatever that is. If you get rid of your defilements, eventually, you’ll get to the stages automatically without having to set up effort to that particular goal. 

Just set a goal: ‘My goal is to free myself from all types of mental suffering like fear, anxiety, depression, stress.’ This is what your goal should be. 

Because we are sick. Our minds are sick. We are sick of these mental stresses so we want to cure our minds from these stresses, these sufferings. 

Being an Arahant doesn’t mean anything. You don’t know what an Arahant is, in the first place, so how would you want to become one? So, be realistic. You know you have suffering, right? 

You still have stress, you still have depression, you still have loneliness, you still have fear, you still have worry and anxiety—these are the things that you can get rid of from your practice. So, you should apply your adhitthāna towards this goal i.e. try to get rid of your depression, your stress, your suffering, your mental suffering.

Question:  That makes me very happy. I feel that it is a goal that fits me well. I had that intuition yesterday, i.e. the right goal, but I hear from different teachings that one has to decide the goal. 

And I just think that freedom from suffering is good for everybody. Thank you. 

Than Ajahn:  Once you have completely eliminated all of the suffering, then you become an Arahant automatically. An Arahant is someone who is above suffering, no mental suffering can enter his mind anymore. 

- - - - -

Question:  When people talk about making adhitthāna to become an Arahant or a Sotāpanna, I don’t feel connected, but your explanation makes me feel that that’s exactly the adhitthāna that we should have, it’s to eliminate the suffering. The explanation is so worthy.

Than Ajahn:  Like when your body is sick, what do you want? You want to get well, right? 

Your mind is like your body. Right now, your mind is sick, so you want your mind to get well. That’s all that matters. 

Whatever that name is, it doesn’t matter. Name is just a label you place on the condition of your mind, that’s all. 

And it can be confusing for people when they try to remember and imitate that condition, ‘Oh! In order to be an Arahant, I have to have no greed.’ So people try to imitate an Arahant by trying not to have any greed. 

But you cannot imitate it. Greed cannot be got rid of by just imitating it.

“Dhamma in English, Dec 28, 2021.”

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.

8 September 2025

Question:  What is the best way to deal with emotional feelings triggered by jealousy, resentment and disappointment?

Than Ajahn:  The way to deal with emotions is to understand the nature of emotion. The nature of emotion is impermanent, it’s changing; it’s not under your control—you cannot always control your emotions, sometimes you have good emotions, sometimes you have bad emotions. The way to deal with emotion is to train your mind to be calm and not react to your emotion. Merely know or acknowledge those emotions, good and bad. And the way to be able to calm your mind is to meditate. 

You have to learn to meditate by using mindfulness as the tool to develop it. Without mindfulness, you cannot calm your mind, cannot make your mind still and not reacting. Right now, the mind will react to anything that it comes into contact with. When you have good emotion, it will react by having desire for more of it. 

When you have bad emotion, it will react by having the desire to get rid of the bad emotion. 

When it cannot get rid of the bad emotion, it becomes stressful. If you train your mind to just acknowledge it and not react to the emotion, then whatever emotion that comes up will not affect your mind. Your mind will remain calm and undisturbed by whatever emotion that appears, good or bad emotion. 

So, what you need to do is to train your mind to merely acknowledge it and not react to it. And the way to make the mind like that is to meditate, to use mindfulness to control your thoughts. 

If you can stop your thoughts, then you can stop your mind from reacting. You should learn to develop mindfulness first. Mindfulness is to stop your mind from thinking aimlessly, and you can do it by using a mantra. You can use a mantra to stop your thoughts. If you start to think aimlessly, you can recite a mantra, then you won’t continue on thinking aimlessly. And if you keep focusing on your mantra, eventually, your aimless thoughts will disappear and your mind will become calm and empty. And if you sit still, your mind will be more still and calmer. And eventually, it will stop reacting. 

Once you can train your mind to not react to anything, when you come across whatever kind of emotions, you can tell the mind to just be still, to not react, and to just to acknowledge it. Then, nothing can hurt the mind. No stress can happen.

Question:   How can one reduce attachment to foods, drugs, tobaccos, coffee and sugar?

Than Ajahn:  The way to reduce your attachment to these things is to see the harm in them. 

You have to study the nature of those things and how they affect your mind and body. Eating too much food can cause you to become overweight and get all kinds of sickness. If you are addicted to drugs or alcohol, they will hurt your body and your mind because you will become dependent on those drugs or alcohol. Anytime when you can’t have them, your mind will be miserable. So, this is the first stage: to study the nature of those things whether they are beneficial or they are harmful to you. 

Once you know that they are harmful to you, if you’ve never tried them, then you must stay away from them. 

Don’t try to go after them. But if you are already hooked on them, the only way you can do is to try to pull yourself away from them. Sometimes, you need to go to a rehab or a meditation center where you can be away from the things that are harmful to you. At that time, when your mind is craving for them, you will feel miserable, and the way to stop your mind from being miserable is to learn how to meditate. 

When you meditate, if you’re successful, you can stop the misery that arises in the mind. 

When the mind is calm, all miseries, and all bad feelings will disappear. So, this is basically what you should do: you have to learn to control your mind, to calm your mind and make your mind become still. 

Then, your mind will be happy and contented, it will not desire or crave for things that are bad for the mind and the body.

“Dhamma in English, Jun 23, 2019.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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

“Once you can control your thoughts, then you can stop your craving for music or entertainment.”

The Teachings if Ajahn Suchart

28 July 2024

“Once you can control your thoughts, then you can stop your craving for music or entertainment.”

Question (from US):  I study Buddhism rather seriously.  However, I am a classical musician.  I am wondering how frequently I should be listening to music or playing music? 

Than Ajahn:  If you listen to music and play music, then you won’t have the time to meditate.  That’s the reason why you have to keep the precepts so that you can get rid of all the other activities and have the time to meditate.  If you want to meditate, you have to give up your musical activities by thinking that the result from your meditation is far better than the result that you get from playing music.

……….

Question:  Could I progress to Sakadāgāmī even as a classical musician?

Than Ajahn:  It doesn’t matter who you are. If you have the triple training, if you have sīla, samādhi, paññā, you can progress to the highest level.  Your profession doesn’t matter.

……….

Question (from Canada):  I am a teacher of Elementary school and I usually teach music, singing and other instruments. Is it better to teach mathematics and language rather than music, in order to help to reduce my craving for entertaining subjects? 

Than Ajahn:  Your teaching subject doesn’t change much on your craving. The only way to change your craving is to resist them and the only way to resist them is to have something to stop your mind from thinking about them. If you keep thinking about music, you will have craving for music. You have to stop thinking about it, and you can use a mantra to stop your mind thinking about things. You should recite a mantra and do it all day long, not only when you meditate. You repeat the mantra all day long from the time you get up, except when you really have to think about things that you have to do. Other than that you should have a mantra to restrain your mind about entertainment or music. Once you can control your thoughts, then you can stop your craving for music or entertainment.

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Youtube: Dhamma in English

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

“This is incorporated in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta: the development of mindfulness, the practice of samādhi, and the development of wisdom.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

16th January, 2022

“This is incorporated in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta: the development of mindfulness, the practice of samādhi, and the development of wisdom.”

Question:  “Can you explain the difference between Ānāpānasati Sutta and Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta.  Are they complementary? Do we have to practice both of them?”

Than Ajahn:  “Ānāpānasati is the practice of samādhi – concentrating, focusing on your breathing.  The Buddha sometimes talked only about Ānāpānasati, so it’s called, ‘Ānāpānasati Sutta,’ sometimes he incorporated this in Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta.

Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta consists of the practice of samādhi, paññā, and mindfulness (sati). These are the three practices consisting in Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta.  When you’re not sitting in meditation you have to be mindful with whatever you are doing. You have to keep watching your body activities. Don’t let your mind goes somewhere else.  Bring your mind to be watching the body activities.  So, this way you can have mindfulness. It will prevent you from thinking about other things. It will make your mind empty of thoughts, but is not yet calm. If you don’t have any control, it still thinks. But it doesn’t think as much as before. 

So, you have to control your thoughts as much as possible by focusing your attention on something like your body or your mantra. This is the first practice, to develop mindfulness.  

Once you have mindfulness, you want to meditate.  The Buddha says, ‘When you sit and meditate, you should watch your breath because your body is not moving anymore.’  

The only thing that is moving is your breath, so you keep watching your breath.  If you can focus on watching your breath and do not think of anything, then your mind will gradually enter into singularity, become one.  Having no thought, you will become peaceful, happy, and still.  So, this is the practice of samādhi.  Once you have mastered this practice of samādhi, you can enter into samādhi any day, anytime, anywhere.  

Then, the next step is to develop vipassanā or paññā or wisdom or insight – that is to see the true nature of the body, the true nature of the feelings, and the true nature of the mind.  

These are three things that you have to understand clearly. Right now you are addicted or attached to these three things. Your attachment is the one that causes you sadness and unhappiness because you don’t understand the nature of the body. You don’t see that the body will get old, get sick and die, so you become attached to your body. When you’re attached, you want your body to live forever, not to get sick and not to get old.  But when your body starts to get old, get sick or die, then you will be unhappy.  

If you know that the body will get old, get sick and die, then you will not be unhappy, you’re willing to accept the truth. Right now you are not ready to accept the truth, so you have to keep reminding yourself: if you don’t want to be sad or unhappy, you have to accept this truth. This is the development on wisdom. 

It’s the same thing with your feelings.  Your feeling is impermanent.  It keeps changing; it doesn’t remain the same.  Sometimes it is good feeling but sometimes it is bad feeling.  

Sometimes it’s neither good nor bad feeling. It keeps changing and you cannot tell it to be otherwise.  

When it’s bad feeling, you want to get rid of it but you cannot.  When it’s good feeling, you want to hang on to it but you cannot.  So, you just have to understand the nature of the feelings that it comes and goes. 

And you’re willing to face it and let it go.  Be willing to face it when it comes and let it go when it has to go.  Then, you will not be attached to them.  

It’s the same way with your mind.  Your mind has different moods and emotions.  Sometimes you have good feeling, feeling high.  

Sometimes you’re down and depressed.  

Sometimes the mind is bright.  Sometimes the mind is dull.  These are the nature of the mind.  

So, you have to understand that this is just the nature of the mind and don’t try to manage or control it.  

Try to understand it. Accept it for what it is.  Then, you will not be sad when the mind doesn’t appear to be what you want it to be.  This is the practice of wisdom or insight.  

This is incorporated in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta: the development of mindfulness, the practice of samādhi, and the development of wisdom.      

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Youtube: Dhamma in English

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

Should somebody seek legal justice for the wrongdoing of another person to him/her?

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

9 November 2025

Question:  Should somebody seek legal justice for the wrongdoing of another person to him/her?

Than Ajahn:  Well, ideally not if you want to have compassion and goodwill towards that person. Then you just forgive that person who did wrong to you. This will end all problems as there will be no retaliation. If you take legal action, then you might instigate more retaliation from your enemy. So the ideal way is to forgive and forget and move on. It’s already gone anyway, right? What had been done was already done. 

So it’s better to leave it alone and forget about it. 

Because if you take legal action, it can also cause you stress. And if you lose, you’ll have more stress and sorrow, and you will lose a lot of money at the same time. So, why do it in the first place, right? 

Let it go. 

This is what radiating compassion or goodwill (mettā) means. Radiating mettā is not by doing chanting, but by actual action of doing it, by forgiving others. A lot of Buddhists think that radiating mettā means doing chanting. But by just doing chanting, they don’t do anything. 

Chanting is just teaching you how to do it.

Question:  Would this stop future harm to other people? 

Than Ajahn:  Well, if that person wants to harm other people, who can stop him or her from doing it? 

Unless you kill that person. And then that person will go and take another birth and do it again anyway. So let things be naturally. You just do things on your part to protect yourself. 

But as far as other people are concerned, who knows? 

Maybe by you forgiving that person, it might change that person’s character from being a bad person to become a good person. 

Because there is compassion in this world, there is goodwill in this world. 

The Buddha said that you don’t end hatred by hatred; you end hatred by loving kindness. 

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Question:  As the mind is not enlightened, even though I exercise compassion towards others, I find that after a year, there is still baggage of resentment. 

Than Ajahn:  The reason is because you don’t see that you are the one who benefit from your action. By forgiving others, you are actually the one who benefit from this action. 

Because your mind will have no hatred. You have no bad feeling. If you still want to take revenge, then your mind will still be stressful and angry. 

So actually, when you forgive others, it doesn’t benefit the person whom you forgive. It benefit you yourself. If you can see this, then you will forgive others. 

You need to have equanimity before you can see the effect of forgiveness. 

If you don’t have equanimity, if your mind is not neutral, then your mind will be constantly craving for things and you won’t be able to see the benefit of forgiving others.  But when your mind has equanimity, then you can see that when you want to take revenge, it hurts the mind right away.  

Question:  I didn’t take any revenge, I take it as it’s my own kamma. But after a year, I still talk about it. Are there tips to overcome this?

Than Ajahn:  Well, every time when you think about something bad, you should stop it by using a mantra. 

Just keep reciting, ‘Budho, Budho, Budho’. 

If you can do this, then your bad thought will not arise. 

Because as soon as it arises, you use ‘Budho’ to stop it right away. 

“Dhamma in English, Dec 21, 2021.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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

"Good feeling, leave it alone. Bad feeling, leave it alone."

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

19 July 2024

"Good feeling, leave it alone. Bad feeling, leave it alone."

Question from Sydney, Australia:  “Do you recommend moving the attention throughout the body to feel sensations when meditating?” 

Than Ajahn:  “No, when you’re meditating for calm, you need to stay with one object. Normally, we use the breath (ānāpānasati). 

Keep focusing the mind on one point where the air contacts the body. Just stay on that point. 

Don’t follow the air in or out. Just stay at the point of contact. This will bring the mind to become still, peaceful and happy. 

As far as sensations, this is the development of wisdom which you do after you come out of meditation. 

When you start to have painful feeling and you are not happy with it, then you’ll have to teach your mind that this painful feeling is part of the feelings which come and go. 

There are three types of feelings: good feeling, bad feeling and neutral feeling. You cannot control them. 

They are beyond your control. If you want to get rid of your bad feeling, you’re causing your mind to become unhappy. 

So, if you don’t want your mind to become unhappy, then you’ll have to leave feelings alone. Good feeling, leave it alone. Bad feeling, leave it alone. Just be aware that they come and go on their own. You don’t have to do anything. Then, you will be always peaceful and calm, and not be affected by the coming and going of the changing of the feelings.”

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

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

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