Teaching of Ajahn Chah

Teaching of Ajahn Chah

Fostering the practice of Buddhism can be likened to a tree. A tree has roots, a trunk, branches and leaves. Every single leaf and branch, including the trunk, depend on the roots to absorb nutriment and send it up to them. A tree is dependent on the roots for sustenance. We are the same. 

Our actions and our speech are like the trunk, branches, and twigs. The mind is like the root which absorbs nutriment and sends it out to sustain them which in turn bear fruit. 

Whatever state the mind is in, be it based in wrong view or right view, it expresses that wrong view or right view outwardly through our actions and speech. 

So nurturing Buddhism through the practical application of the Teachings is very important.

~ Ajahn Chah

*Walking meditation.” -

*Walking meditation.”

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Question:  During walking meditation, I keep reciting ‘Buddho’ while keep watching my body movement, like the right and left footstep. Is it okay?

Than Ajahn:  Yes, you can do that also. You can recite ‘Buddho’ and watch your steps. If you don’t want to recite ‘Buddho’, but just watch your steps, that is okay also. The purpose is to stop your mind from thinking. You also have to watch whether you’re thinking or not. If you are thinking, it means you are not watching your steps or reciting your mantra continuously. I hope I answered your question.

Question:  Are we supposed to keep reciting ‘Buddho’ or just watch the steps during walking meditation?

Than Ajahn:  You can do both or do either one of them. You can recite the mantra. But you also have to know that you’re walking. Make sure that you don’t step on any slippery surface and fall down. So, you have to watch your steps and if you want to, you can recite ‘Buddho’ as well. Or you can just keep watching your steps without having to recite ‘Buddho’.

“Dhamma in English, Sep 12, 2020.”
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Monk:  We have two teachers who gave us meditation instructions. One of them told us that when we do walking meditation, we don’t have to bother about the feeling touching the floor or even noticing left foot or right foot, instead, we just concentrating on the mantra ‘Buddho’. The other teacher said that we should be aware of the foot touching the floor, we should be aware of which foot is moving. Some of my fellow monks are confused with regards to these two methods, could we ask some clarity about these two points from Luang Phor?

Than Ajahn:  Actually both methods are okay. It depends on individual preferences, that’s all. You can use ‘Buddho’ while you walk. The goal is the same, which is to prevent the mind from thinking aimlessly. When the mind has to recite ‘Buddho’ or when it has to watch the feet walking, then it cannot think aimlessly. That’s the whole purpose – to stop the mind from thinking aimlessly.

So, whichever method you want to use, it is okay. You can even use body contemplation, then you are developing both mindfulness and wisdom at the same time. In practice, there are many different methods. We have 40 kammaṭṭhāna, 40 ways of developing mindfulness and samādhi. So it is up to you to use whichever way you like, whichever way that will produce the result is that you want to have.

“Singapore via Skype, Aug 9, 2015.”
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Question:  Could you explain the proper method of walking meditation?

Than Ajahn:  It’s the same like sitting meditation, but instead of focusing on your breath, you focus on your walking or on your steps, on your feet. When you move your left foot, you say, ‘left,’ when you move your right foot, you say, ‘right.’ Left, right, left, right. That’s to stop you from thinking about other things. Do this until you feel tired, then you come back and sit again.

You cannot get full absorption from walking. You need to walk in order to alleviate your physical pain after sitting for a long time. After you sit for a long time, you feel painful, then you get up to relieve the pain. After you walk until you feel tired, then you go back and sit again. The important thing is to be mindful when you walk, and to be mindful when you sit. When you sit, be mindful of your breath. When you walk, be mindful of your feet, of your walking.

“Dhamma in English, Jul 26, 2017.”
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Question: What about walking meditation?

Than Ajahn:  Walking meditation has two purposes. Walking for the sake of cultivating mindfulness and walking for the sake of developing wisdom. Which purpose we choose depends on whether or not we have concentration.

If we are not yet able to attain concentration, then we should cultivate mindfulness. If this is the case, then as we walk, we shouldn’t allow the mind to think in terms of wisdom, but only allow it to think ‘Buddho’, ‘Buddho’, or to closely watch the movements of the body, such as observing the feet, noting whether the left or right foot is hitting the ground. We do this to prevent the mind from thinking about this or that issue.

“Mountain Dhamma, Apr 6, 2013”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com
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Teaching of Ajahn Maha Boowa

Teaching of Ajahn Maha Boowa

Suppose that we return home without a teacher or instructor. 

Well, what teaching have we already received and what are we really missing? The teacher is still present in his teaching, and it's there that we'll find the Tathagata and the Dhamma. We are with the Dhamma, with the Buddha, and with the Sangha at all times because of the Teaching that we train ourselves with. 

We do not lack a teacher or an instructor. We live with a refuge in having mindfulness, wisdom, faith, and energy out fighting to destroy those things that are our enemy. 

How can we say we are without a teacher when we exist with our teacher! So we must strive to gain knowledge together with this teacher.

This is the way to practice, without loneliness or wavering but endowed with firmness and steadfastness in the truth of Dhamma. The teacher's instructions are constantly embraced as the internal guide within the heart. 

Wherever we may be, we can say that we are with a teacher, with an instructor, with the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha — because the real Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha are within the heart. It is only the heart that can be with Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, or the whole essence of Dhamma.

~ Ajahn Maha Boowa

“The core of the practice is in the mind itself.”

“The core of the practice is in the mind itself.”

Upāsikā:  To practise restraint, do you recommend us taking up austere practices? 

Than Ajahn:  Austere practices will help, but it’s not the core of the practice. The core of the practice is in the mind itself. And the only thing that can tame your mind is mindfulness. All types of practices assist in the taming of your mind. 

These practices, such as keeping the 8 precepts, keeping the austere practices, eating once a day, eating in a bowl, help to curb your mind. But it’s not enough. What you really need is mindfulness. 

Stop thinking. If you can stop thinking, then you can stop your desire. And when you can stop your desire, your mind will become calm and peaceful. You must be mindful from the time you get up to the time you go to sleep. Stop thinking aimlessly. Think only what you have to think. Otherwise, don’t let it think. Recite a mantra, Do chanting or focus on your actions.

Be alone. Don’t socialize because when you do, you let go of your constraints. You let your mind think. When you start talking, your mind starts creating all kinds of desires and cravings. If you’re alone, it is easier to tame your mind.

Upāsikā:  What if I have to interact with others?

Than Ajahn:  Do it to the minimum level. Do only the necessary interaction. When it’s not necessary, don’t interact. Even when you come together and do some work, try not to talk. Everybody concentrates on what he/she is doing.

“Dhamma in English, May 8-12, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

“This is why we have to practise samādhi….”

“This is why we have to practise samādhi….”

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“In the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha said that dukkha or mental suffering arises from our three desires: kāma-taṇhā – desire for sensual pleasure; bhava-taṇhā – desire to be, to have and vibhava-taṇhā – the desire not to be, not to have. If we know the truth, then these desires will not arise. We will not have the desire for the body to last forever, to be healthy all the time, to be young all the time, because we know it is not the truth. 

The truth is that the body will get sick, get old and die. If we have this knowledge all the time with us, then whenever the body becomes old, sick or dies, it will not hurt us. The mind will not be hurt by the aging, sickness and death of the body because we know that the body is not ‘us’, we are not the body. This is the goal of body contemplation, the study of the nature of the body, to see the body as it really is, not as what we think it is. 

We always think that this body is ‘us’, which is not the truth. The truth which the Buddha discovered is that the body is not ‘us’. The body is just a body. We are the mind. We are the ones who come and possess this body and then use this body as the means of acquiring things that we want to have. We have this delusion that our happiness relies on acquiring things, acquiring money, acquiring status, acquiring a husband or wife and children and acquiring everything that we can acquire through our body. 

But whatever we acquire, is all temporary; it doesn’t last forever. When we have to be separated from them, we become unhappy and sad. So we have to teach the mind, not to acquire anything. The thing that the mind should acquire is calm or peace of mind. This is the real and true happiness because it stays with us all the time and the calm mind will never leave us. 

This is what we should strive for, but should not desire to possess things outside of the mind. Don’t strive for money, status, praise or sight, sound, smell, taste and tactile objects. All these things can only give you temporary happiness. When you see things you are happy, but when you don’t see them, then this happiness disappears. One day you will not be able to see things because the body will have to get sick, get old and die, and when you cannot acquire things through your body, then you will be sad and unhappy. If you have the inner happiness of the mind, you will not be affected by the sickness, aging and death of the body, because you can always maintain this mental or spiritual happiness with or without the body. 

So, this is why we have to practise samādhi. Samādhi is the way to bring about this mental happiness. Samādhi will make the mind calm and peaceful. When the mind becomes calm and peaceful, the mental happiness will arise. This mental happiness is a better happiness than the happiness that we acquire through the body. 

Once we have acquired this inner peace from mental happiness, the next thing to do is to maintain and protect it. The thing that will come to destroy this mental happiness is our desire. When we come out of samādhi, if we are not careful and let our desire take over, then our desire will eliminate the inner peace or mental happiness that we have acquired from sitting in samādhi. If we use wisdom from the truth that the Lord Buddha discovered and taught, we will know that our sadness arises from our desire, so if we can stop our desire, we will be able to protect our mental happiness. 

“Singapore via skype, Aug 9, 2015.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

DEDICATING MERIT

 DEDICATING MERIT

"There was a woman who came to meditate at the monastery several years back when Ajaan Fuang was still alive. She was a friend of one of the women who cooked in the kitchen. And the woman in the kitchen told Ajaan Fuang that this friend had a particular problem. Every time she tried to meditate, her body would start shaking uncontrollably.

So the night she meditated with us in the chedi, sure enough, she started shaking. Ajaan Fuang had a student who was quite psychic and he told her to look into what was happening. She saw two beings behind the woman, shaking her. And to make a very long story short, she found out these had been the parents of this woman in a previous lifetime. She had killed them in that lifetime — this was a very long time ago — and they didn’t like the idea that by meditating she might get out of their grasp.

So Ajaan Fuang’s student asked them, “What do you want? What could she do that would satisfy you?” And then they said, “If she could help build a Buddha image and dedicate the merit to us, that would satisfy us.” It so happened that we were building a Buddha image at the monastery at the time. So Ajaan Fuang told the student, “You can’t say anything to her about this. Otherwise, it’ll look like we’re trying to squeeze money out of her.” But a couple of years later, someone else was building a Buddha image and she participated in that — and the shaking stopped.

We don’t know who we’ve got in our past or what we’ve done in our past. So it’s always a good idea to dedicate merit just in case, to pay off some old debts."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Dedicating Merit"

Dhamma Questions & Responses sessions were offered by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu in 1990-1991 to foreign meditators attending Suan Mokkh International Dharma Hermitage courses.

Dhamma Questions & Responses sessions were offered by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu in 1990-1991 to foreign meditators attending Suan Mokkh International Dharma Hermitage courses.

❖ “Can you imagine you are the spectator at the birth of a baby? Wouldn’t you be overwhelmed, excited from this occasion when a completely innocent human being enters into this world without any attachments except his/her very natural necessities? Or would you think of a normal process of life which leads to suffering?” ❖

~ Response by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ~

For us this is just a natural, normal process of life. There’s nothing strange, special, or anything like that about a baby being born. It’s just something that happens naturally.

For someone with Buddhist understanding, this is not yet full birth. Just seeing a child being physically born is not the full meaning of the word ‘birth.’ It’s not until the senses of that child are functioning normally – the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind are functioning to the degree that the child can experience the sensual world – that sense consciousness arises and there’s contact with the world.

Then the contact leads to vedanā (feeling), both positive and negative, and then that leads to desire. It’s only when the senses of the child are functioning to the degree that there is desire – it’s only at that point – that we say the child is completely born.

Please try to remember these six groups of things, these six stages of the mental process: first there’s the inner āyatana (senses), meaning the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. Then the outer āyatana – forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and mental objects. And then the six kinds of sense consciousness – eye consciousness, ear consciousness, and so on.

Then the six sense-specific types of contact: when the inner sense and the outer sense object and then consciousness – when these three meet and function together – we call that ‘contact.’ Then there arise the six kinds of feelings – feelings based on the eyes, feelings based on the ears, and so on. 

Then lastly the six kinds of desire – desire toward things seen, desire toward things heard, desire toward things smelled, and so on, including desire towards things thought about and remembered.

Please try to remember these six groups of things, because within these six groups or categories there’s a tremendous amount of things that we need to study and investigate. Basically all we need to know can be found in our study of these six groups of things, so please try to remember them.

(From the retreat “Why Dhamma?,” as translated from the Thai by Santikaro)

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Dhamma Questions & Responses sessions were offered by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu in 1990-1991 to foreign meditators attending Suan Mokkh International Dharma Hermitage courses.

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To listen to this teaching on Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/buddhadasa/19910510-4-dhamma-questions-and-responses

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For more information and free ebooks, visit Suan Mokkh – The Garden of Liberation:

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Photo: Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives C01317