One Good Thing Done Ajahn Sucitto

One Good Thing Done
Ajahn Sucitto

I was reading something from a talk of Ajahn Sumedho that touched me very much. He was saying that when he’d just become a monk, he didn’t speak Thai at all and he met a Thai monk who had previously been in the Thai Navy; so, he’d met Americans and knew a bit of English.

This Thai monk had been with Ajahn Chah for a while, so he was quite diligent in terms of discipline and meditation. Ajahn Sumedho got quite inspired so this monk said he would take him to see Ajahn Chah. 

This is how Ajahn Sumedho got introduced to Ajahn Chah, so he always felt grateful to this monk.

But later on, this Thai monk disrobed and went right downhill. He became a drunkard, an alcoholic and a wastrel. He became quite renowned in that province as being ‘a real no-good’, so Ajahn Sumedho no longer wanted to feel connected to this person.

But Ajahn Chah said to him, ‘Whenever you come to Ubon, you should always make the effort to see this man, because when you do, he can remember one good thing he’s done in his life. Your act of generosity would just be to make contact with him. Even if he’s a complete wastrel and degenerate, at least maintain contact. This is what you can do: give of yourself to just be in that person’s attention. It reminds him of one good thing he has done in his life, so he is a little bit stronger than he would be if you didn’t do it.’

Ajahn Chah had a remarkable sense of compassion and insight to point to that and ask Ajahn Sumedho to give himself in that way. It really shows the understanding of how generosity can be practised by anybody, when we’re giving attention.

This reflection by Ajahn Sumedho as recounted by Ajahn Sucitto is from the book, The Most Precious Gift. 

https://ajahnsucitto.org/books-2/?fbclid=IwAR1_Rw9BhJBEm0YNNb5Td6pRrBr4vl-aIOy7dzj_TwQPwPx37bAfRnhRhs4

23th December, 2022

It’s Time to Learn Something
~ Ajahn Sucitto

I think that one of the most helpful things in my practice was having to be in a lot of situations in which I wasn’t at all interested or engaged. I had to learn to be open to them.

When I was in Thailand, at the beginning of my monastic life, I had to go to ceremonies. I didn’t know what the ceremonies were about. I didn’t know the people. I didn’t understand the language and I didn’t know the chanting. 

Everything was very uncertain, and I just had to sit. I could feel a tremendous irritation because I felt I was wasting my time. I could be doing something important, something necessary, something that would be meaningful, useful, interesting or significant. I could be working out problems or meditating or doing something helpful, instead of sitting around and being another brown robe in the line.

But actually, in the long run, it was very helpful because I could only carry on complaining inwardly for so long until I got the point that there was something there to work with. I would then realize, ‘Well, I think this is trying to tell me something.’

In meditation there isn’t anything to observe in particular, except the residual wanting to have, wanting to grasp, wanting to get – that feeling of selfhood. As our meditation develops, we call it ‘meditation without an object’ because we are not concentrating on any particular thing. 

There is the sensitivity to feel out what is balance, what is peacefulness, what is attention. And when we’re leaning into something, hanging on to, avoiding or looking for something, then we recognize those feelings.

When they come up, we can see that it’s time to be more attentive and patient; it’s time to learn something. 

There’s something to be learned in all these experiences that we think are of no use and no point. There’s also something to be learned from our lifelong tendency to try to dismiss certain kinds of experiences…

Who wants to know what hunger feels like? 

Who wants to know what feeling tired feels like? Who wants to be with that? Most people just want to stuff their face and crash out: ‘I don’t want to know what feeling hungry and feeling tired feel like! What’s the point in that? 

I don’t want to hang around and wait for a bus or wait for things. 

It’s pointless! Get on with it and get it done quickly!’

That’s the everyday brutalization. 

When there’s nothing to get out of an experience, a person or a situation, then most of the time we want to go to something else – something out of which we can get a sense of success, confidence or inspiration.

This reflection by Ajahn Sucitto is from the book, The Most Precious Gift