The Autobiography of Phra Ajaan Lee, translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

The Autobiography of Phra Ajaan Lee, translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

I returned to Bangkok and stayed at Wat Boromnivasa. At the time, the Somdet was very ill and gave me an order: ‘You’ll have to stay with me until I die. As long as I’m still alive, I don’t want you to leave. I don’t care whether or not you come to look after me. I just want to know that you’re around.’ So I promised to stay. Sometimes I’d wonder about what karma I had done that had me cooped up like this, but then I’d remember the caged dove* I had dreamed about in Chanthaburi. That being the case, I’d have to stay.

Once I had made up my mind to stay, the Somdet asked me to come and teach him meditation every day. I had him practice anapanasati—keeping the breath in mind. We talked about a number of things while he sat in meditation.

One day he said, ‘I never dreamed that sitting in samadhi would be so beneficial, but there’s one thing that has me bothered. To make the mind still and bring it down to its basic resting level (bhavanga): Isn’t this the essence of becoming and birth?’

‘That’s what samadhi is,’ I told him, ‘becoming and birth.’

‘But the Dhamma we’re taught to practice is for the sake of doing away with becoming and birth. So what are we doing giving rise to more becoming and birth?’

‘If you don’t make the mind take on becoming, it won’t give rise to knowledge, because knowledge has to come from becoming if it’s going to do away with becoming. This is becoming on a small scale—uppatika bhava—which lasts for a single mental moment. The same holds true with birth. To make the mind still so that samadhi arises for a long mental moment is birth. Say we sit in concentration for a long time until the mind gives rise to the five factors of jhana: That’s birth. If you don’t do this with your mind, it won’t give rise to any knowledge of its own. And when knowledge can’t arise, how will you be able to let go of ignorance? It’d be very hard.

‘As I see it,’ I went on, ‘most students of the Dhamma really misconstrue things. Whatever comes springing up, they try to cut it down and wipe it out. To me, this seems wrong. It’s like people who eat eggs. Some people don’t know what a chicken is like: This is ignorance. As soon as they get hold of an egg, they crack it open and eat it. But say they know how to incubate eggs. They get ten eggs, eat five of them, and incubate the rest. While the eggs are incubating, that’s “becoming.” When the baby chicks come out of their shells, that’s “birth.” If all five chicks survive, then as the years pass it seems to me that the person who once had to buy eggs will start benefiting from his chickens. He’ll have eggs to eat without having to pay for them. And if he has more than he can eat, he can set himself up in business, selling them. In the end he’ll be able to release himself from poverty.

‘So it is with practicing samadhi: If you’re going to release yourself from becoming, you first have to go live in becoming. If you’re going to release yourself from birth, you’ll have to know all about your own birth.’

***

*NB: "During the Rains that year (referring to an earlier period at Khlawng Kung Forest Monastery in Chanthaburi) I fell ill. I came down with fierce stomach pains, and no matter what I took for them, they wouldn’t go away. One night I sat up in meditation almost till dawn. At about 4 a.m. I fell half-asleep and dreamed, ‘My disease is a karma disease. There’s no need to take any medicine.’ That is, while I was sitting in meditation, I felt absolutely still, almost as if I had fallen asleep, and a vision appeared: a birdcage containing a thin, famished dove.

The meaning was this: I had once kept a pet dove and had forgotten to feed it for several days running. 

This karma was now bearing fruit, causing me to have gastritis. Therefore, there was only one way to cure it—to do good by way of the mind. I decided it was time to go off alone."

***

From The Autobiography of Phra Ajaan Lee, translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/AutobioAjaanLee/Section0001.html

Photo: Somdet Mahawirawong (Somdet Uan)

ON THE MIND GOING OUT AFTER THINGS

ON THE MIND GOING OUT AFTER THINGS

“Luang Puu Dune had an interesting way of explaining the four noble truths. Sending the mind outside, he said, was the cause of suffering. Suffering was the result of sending the mind outside. The mind seeing the mind is the path, and the result of the mind seeing itself was the cessation of suffering. His explanation fits in with a theme that you see again and again in the teachings of the forest ajaans: that the mind is not simply sitting there on the receiving end. It's sending things out, flowing out. Or, as Ajaan Lee used to say, "We go leaking out through our eyes and ears, our nose, our tongue, our body, our mind," because we don't see the mind. We don't see what it's doing. We're focusing on other things.

That's basically what craving is—the mind going out after something else and not being very aware of itself. That's why there's ignorance in the craving. Then it lands on something. But then when it lands on something, the relationship is very complex. To stay, it has to cling. In other words, it has to keep going back, back, back there. And there's going to be suffering in going back. So there's going to be the desire and irritation mixed together. This is why the Buddha says that to comprehend suffering, you have to abandon not only passion for it, but also your aversion and your delusion around it. That's what it means to comprehend. You understand it to the point where there's no more passion, no more aversion, no more delusion, because you see what you're doing.

With craving, you're going after things that are going to disappoint. And even if you land on them, no matter how well you land, it's always unstable. It's like a cat jumping around the room from one piece of furniture to the next, and suddenly finding itself on a lamp, and the lamp is wobbly, and it's got to hold on tight. If it's not careful, if it tries to jump from the lamp to something else, it might fall. So we've got to learn how to watch the mind, to see both the craving as it shoots out for something, and the clinging as it lands and tries to stay there…”

❀❀❀

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Excerpt from “Craving & Clinging”

~

You can read the full talk here:

https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/CrossIndexed/Published/Meditations11/201030_Craving_&_Clinging.pdf

“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

Golden Moments

Golden Moments

Venerable Webu Sayadaw and Sayagyi U Ba Khin meet for the first time.

The door to the hut opened and the Sawadaw emerged, proceeded by a cloud of mosquitoes.

Keeping his attention in the body with awareness of annica, Sayagyi paid respects to Sayadaw.

“What is your aspiration, layman?” Webu Sayadaw asked Sayagyi.

“My aspiration is to attain nibbāna, sir,” U Ba Khin replied.

“Nibbāna? How are you going to attain nibbāna?”

“Through meditation and by knowing anicca, sir” said Sayagyi.

“Where did you learn to be aware of this anicca?”

Sayagyi explained how he had studied Vipassana meditation under Sayadaw Thetgyi.

“You have been practicing Vipassana?”

“Yes, sir, I am practising Vipassana.”

“What sort of Vipassana?” Webu Sayadaw questioned him closely and Sayagyi gave the details. 

The Sayadaw was very pleased.

He said, “I have been meditating in this jungle for years in order to experience such stages of Vipassana as you describe.” 

He seemed astonished to encounter a householder who had reached advanced proficiency in the practice without being a monk.

[SUBK Journal]

#buddha #dhamma #sangha #vipassana #ledisayadaw #uthetgyi #webusayadaw #ubakhin #sngoenka 

________________________________________

Words of Dhamma

Te jhāyino sātatikā, niccaṃ daḷhaparakkamā,

phusanti dhīrā nibbānaṃ, yogakkhemaṃ anuttaraṃ.

The wise ones, ever meditative and steadfastly persevering,

alone experience Nibbana, the incomparable freedom from bondage.

Dhammapada 2.23

“The one who will accept the result of your good or bad deeds is yourself.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

27 July 2025

“The one who will accept the result of your good or bad deeds is yourself.”

Question from Singapore:  “When we are doing the right things but being accused for wrong doings, how shall we handle the situation?  Shall we accept it and prevent anger arises?”

Than Ajahn:  “Yes, you should not be angry at people’s accusation. You should never get angry regardless of what happens. You should always be logical and rational. You deal situation in a rational way. If somebody accuses you of doing something you didn’t do, if you can prove that you didn’t do it, then prove it. 

If you cannot prove it, as long as you know that you didn’t do anything wrong, then just remain calm because there is nothing you can do about it. Accept that this part of life. Some people will believe you. 

Some people won’t believe you. But the one who will accept the result of your good or bad deeds is yourself. 

This is all you have to know. You wouldn’t care what other people think or what other people say.” 

Question:  “Does renunciation in daily life mean there is no right or wrong, ‘yes or no’?” 

Than Ajahn:  “No, right or wrong is always there. Renunciation means stop seeking happiness from the body; stop looking for happiness through your eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body. Find happiness through meditation. Right and wrong are still there but you don’t have to get involved with them.”

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

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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

The Story of Ajahn Suchart.

The Story of Ajahn Suchart.

7 August 2023

“I was just an ordinary man”.

My father, Somchai Reungtanasarn, was from Suphanburi. My grandmother had three daughters and two sons, my father being the eldest. 

At this time (Nov. 2019), two of my fatherʼs younger sisters are still alive: my aunt who lives in Suphanburi and an aunt who lives in Laem Chabang, Chonburi Province. My uncle and elder aunt have since passed away. 

The younger aunts still occasionally come to visit me here.

My grandparents came from China, because our birth certificates were still using Sae Eung. 

Eventually, my father changed his surname to my uncleʼs, “Reungtanasarn.”

Life was tough for my father growing up because his father passed away when he was young. At that time, my grandmother sold coffee in the market and my father had to help her out. He had no chance to study or go to school, but my father was resourceful. He would have the people who came for coffee teach him the ABCs. Whenever people came to drink coffee, heʼd ask them, “Could you teach me a bit, please?” Thatʼs how my father learned how to read and write.

When my father was a teenager, 15 or 16 years old, he left home and took a boat to Bangkok. 

Back then, that was how you got from Suphanburi to Bangkok: by boat. He went looking for work and to learn whatever jobs came his way. It was there that he met my mother, Mrs. Surin Reungtanasarn. 

Eventually, they married.

My mother, a Thai of Cantonese descent, was from Bangkok. Her parents had a business in the Odeon Circle area [of Bangkokʼs Chinatown]. She was educated in a Chinese school, and had a very good command of the Chinese language. 

She worked as a receptionist for Dr. Promathat of Hua Chiew Hospital, who had a clinic near Si Phraya Intersection.

I was born on Sunday, November 2, 1947 (Year of the Pig, 4th waning moon in the 11th month of the Lunar Year) at St. Louis Hospital, Sathorn Road. At that time my father was renting a house by the Sathorn Pier, but then he had an opportunity to work as a cook at Hat Yai [in Songkhla Province] with his uncle. 

Later on, he moved to Tanyong Mat in Narathiwat Province, where he sold congee near the train station.

His move happened around the time I was born, so my father sent my mother and me to live with my grandmother in Suphanburi for a short while. Then we moved south. I lived and attended preschool in Tanyong Mat until I was four, when my father sent me back to live with my grandmother long term because both my parents were working and didnʼt have time to care for me.

When my parents entrusted me to my grandmother, she raised me as if I was her child so I did not feel deprived. I came to see her as a parent. I was the grandchild who stayed with her the longest because the other children all had places of their own to stay, leaving just me and my aunt with grandma for a total of three people living at her place at that time.

At that time, my grandmother no longer sold coffee, but there were still some snacks for sale. She made and sold Chinese specialties such as kanom geuoy (desserts) and ba jang (dumplings). She occasionally sold cakes of the type youʼd offer at a Chinese festival. They would make them together: the dumplings or whatever else would sell.

I was still a child and couldnʼt help with anything. As far as I can remember, I would mostly go play, not yet knowing how to do these things.

While living in Suphanburi, I spoke with the rural accent of the local people there. I lost my accent only after coming to study in Bangkok.

“Beyond Birth.”

By Ajahn 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