The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

17 May 2024

Q: Could you define ‘I’? Who/what is ‘I’? Does ‘I’ mean ‘mind’ or the ‘body’?

A:  Actually, there is no ‘I’, no ‘me’, or no ‘my’. 

It is just a mental fabrication or mental fantasy created by the delusion or ignorance of the mind. The mind is just a knowing element that contains the ability to feel, remember or perceive, think, and connect with a body to receive the sensual objects coming into contact with the sensual organs of the body. So in reality, there is no ‘I’ in the mind or there is no ‘I’ in the body. The mind is just a knowing element, while the body is the composition of the Four Elements - earth, water, fire, and wind.

So this is what the mind and the body are. 

The body is composed of four elements - the earth, water, fire, and wind; while the mind is the knowing element connected to the body. 

But the mind has delusions. It creates an ‘I’, and then think that it is ‘I’, and when it has a body, it thinks the body is ‘I’ or mind. It is just a mental fabrication. No basis for truth because in truth there is no ‘I,’ but just 4 elements - earth, water, fire, and wind.

Q:  What is the Buddhist definition of ‘death’? 

When does a person die? Is it when the brain is dead or when the heart is dead?

A:  The Buddha taught his assistant, Venerable Ānanda, on how to contemplate on death. He said, “Ānanda, when you breathe in and when you do not breathe out you die and when you breathe out and when you do not breathe in, you die.” So death is a cessation of breathing. When the body stops breathing that is when death happens according to the Buddha.

Q:  People are dissatisfied with their lives and complain constantly about the outside world and attribute their unhappiness to causes from the outside world- either a family member, office colleague, or the ruling government. Should a Buddhist behave in this manner?

A:  No. It is an illusion to blame others for causing this dissatisfaction or dukkha. In reality, it’s the nature of these things is the cause of the dissatisfaction. 

Everything in this world is under the law of Three Characteristics of Existence- namely Impermanence (anicca), suffering (dukkha), and having no self/having no body (anattā). 

Everything is run by nature. So one needs to understand that everything in the outside world that we live in is subjected to the Law of the Three Characteristics of Existence - everything in this world is subjected to the law of change or impermanence, everything keeps changing, everything rises and ceases eventually and nobody can stop this process. 

Our dissatisfaction comes from the fact that we want to keep things/people from not changing; we want to control them; we want to keep the things unchanged; and when we cannot keep them the way we want we become dissatisfied.

So Buddhists are taught to reflect on the Three Characteristics of Existence, especially when dealing with the body. The Buddha teaches the Buddhists to contemplate the nature of the body always; that once the body is born, it is subjected to aging, sickness, and death and no one can stop this process. If you try, if you want to stop it, you will face dissatisfaction or disappointment. 

And this is the same with everything, not just the body. 

Everything you feel, you see, you hear, you touch are all the same. They are all impermanent. They are subjected to change and dissolution or disappearance. If you want to keep them, you will be dissatisfied when they disappear or go away from you.

So this is how Buddhists should behave or should think about things.

Blame yourself or your ignorance for expecting things around you to make you satisfied, because nothing in this world will keep you satisfied for long. It is because everything in this world keeps changing; everything will disappear sooner or later. So this is the way we should look at things. 

And we should stop our clinging or attachment to them by finding a different way of making us satisfied which is the way of Buddhist meditation practices - the way of charity, morality and meditation. This will bring true satisfaction to us. Nothing else can.

Q:  We consider Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha as the Triple Gem. Here who does the Sangha represent - the monks who are living today or the arahants who lived during the time of the Buddha?

A: The Sangha here means the Noble Disciples, the Arya Sangha who are living today. It is because we cannot connect with those who have passed away except through their teachings if the teachings were recorded like the Buddha’s teachings. They are still in existence. We can access the Buddha through studying the teachings of the Buddha in the Tripitaka or studying the teachings of some of the Noble disciples or teachers who had passed away if we still have their teachings recorded.

Otherwise you have to depend on the living Noble disciples to give you the proper instructions. So the Sangha means the Noble disciples - those who have attained/reached at least the first level of attainment. 

They are either a Sotāpanna, a Sakadāgāmī, an Anāgāmī, or an Arahant. These are considered to be the Noble Disciples and the Noble Sangha. These are the real Sangha that represents the ‘Sangha’ in the Noble Triple Gem. Not those monks who are ordained but still possess defilements; who are not yet enlightened—they are not considered to be the Sangha in the Triple Gem.

Q:  As I know, modern psychology divides the mind into four categories; the super-conscious mind, the conscious mind, the subconscious mind, and the unconscious mind. How does this explanation in psychology differ from the Buddhist teaching of the mind? As I have read Buddhism does not compartmentalise the mind, but focuses on Cetasikas. 

Could you explain?

A:  According to my understanding, the mind is called the knowing element and this mind has the ability to know. Besides the ability to know, it also has these four other abilities called nāma-khandhas. In Pali we call them, vedanā, saññā, sankhāra, and viññāṇa. 

Vedanā means feeling; saññā means memory; sankhāra means thinking, and viññāṇa means consciousness or awareness of the sensual object that comes into contact with the sensual organs of the body.

This is the mind according to Buddhism. The mind itself is the knowing element. Within the knowing element, there are four functional abilities - the ability to feel, the ability to remember or to perceive, the ability to think, and the ability to connect to a body so that it can access essential objects such as images, sound, taste and smells and tactile objects. 

This is the Buddhist interpretation of the mind.

Q:  What is the most meritorious offering (dāna) according to the Buddha?

A:  The Buddha said the best offering is the gift of Dhamma. But before you offer the gift of Dhamma, you have to look at the people to whom you give. You have to see what they need first. If they need food first, but if you try to give the gift of Dhamma instead, it won’t be beneficial for them because what they need first is food for survival. So even though the gift of Dhamma is the best of all gifts, you have to consider what they need first. If they need housing, you should give them houses first, if they need clothing, you should give them clothing, not the gift of Dhamma. But if you find someone who wants to learn Dhamma then you can give him/her the Dhamma teachings. That is the best gift because the Dhamma teachings can liberate one’s mind from suffering - complete liberation from suffering. Nothing else in this world can do that. That is why the gift of Dhamma is the best gift of all. But they have to know the right person and the right time to give this best gift.

Q:  What are the external features of an Arahant or how can we know whether a person is an Arahant by his outward behaviour as one’s inward behaviour or thoughts cannot be observed by an outsider?

A:  Well, there are two ways of determining whether a person is an Arahant or not. One is, you have to wait for him to die and then see after his cremation whether some fragments of his bones are turning to stone or relics. If some of the fragments of his bones turn into relics or stones, it means he was an Arahant.

The second way of knowing whether he is an Arahant or not is to study with him, live with him, learn from him, and follow his teachings until you, yourself can become an Arahant. 

Once you become an Arahant, then you can be sure that your teacher is an Arahant.

These are two ways of judging whether a person is an Arahant or not. Otherwise, you cannot tell. Outward appearances may differ. 

One can be neat and clean and another can be dirty and rough. That does not mean that he is not an Arahant. So his behaviours cannot be judged whether he is an Arahant or not.

“Dhamma in English, Jun 20, 2023.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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

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This Q&A was also published on Sunday Observer:

https://www.sundayobserver.lk/2023/07/02/non-attachment-key-happiness

“Your body has to be still first before your mind can become still because it is the mind that directs the body.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

15 March 2025

“Your body has to be still first before your mind can become still because it is the mind that directs the body.”

Lay:  I have a better sitting after you taught us how to meditate and to use mantra recitation mentally, and I use Arahang.

Than Ajahn:  You can use anything. You need something to control your thoughts. You have to keep doing it, make it continuous. The mantra is like a break to stop your mind from thinking, because usually you never stop your mind from thinking.

But your mind will not converge into one, and be totally still until you sit down. You have to sit down. 

Your body has to be still first before your mind can become still because it is the mind that directs the body. 

As long as the mind still have to direct the body, it cannot be still but when the body is still then the mind can leave the body alone and it itself can become totally still. When you have achieved that, you have achieved maximum peace of mind, the maximum happiness. 

You have to try. It is not something that you can do overnight. For some people it takes years, not just days. 

But at least you have some feel of it, that this is the right way, this is what you want but somehow you just couldn’t get to that yet. When you meditate you want to be alone so you can concentrate on your meditation object and don’t let the mind wander. 

You can meditate at home. You don’t have to come to the temple because sometimes the temple is not as quiet as your own home. In the temple you might have some other people coming at the entry level so they are subjected to group meditation or group chanting so it may not be good for an advanced level meditator.

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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“The four aggregates.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

17 November 2023

“The four aggregates.”

Layperson:  “I was reading about the four aggregates. 

When meditating, which of these four aggregates do we actually train?”

Than Ajahn:  “The nāma (the four mental aggregates) come in groups. They come together. They don’t come separately, so they work in unison. Each aggregate is doing a different function. The viññāṇa aggregate is the one that receives information from the senses: from the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body. So, the mind will know what it’s seeing or hearing. This is the working of viññāṇa aggregate. Viññāṇa is translated as the consciousness. 

Once the mind receives the information, then it processes the information with saññā (memory or perception). It will try to identify the picture that it sees or the sound that it hears: who is this person? what is this sound? This is the working of saññā aggregate. 

Saññā is translated as perception or memory. 

After you recognize the picture or the sound, you know whether it is something you like or something you dislike. You will have vedanā (feeling) arises. If you perceive it as something you like, you’ll feel good. If you perceive it as something you don’t like, you’ll feel bad. There are three different vedanā: good feelings, bad feelings and neutral feelings. 

Then, once feeling arises, the fourth aggregate comes into action, the saṅkhāra (volition) aggregate. You will start to think, ‘What should I do with the information that I have?’ If you like the information, you will move towards that information. You want to be close to that information. Like when you see somebody you like, you want to be close to that person. You’ll tell the body, 

‘Let’s get closer to that person.’ If you don’t like that person, your thought will say, ‘It’s better to stay away from that person.’ 

So, the aggregates work together and they work very fast. They are like computers. All happen in an instant. 

What I said is dissecting the process, but when the aggregates are working, they work very fast. 

What you have to be careful of is the fourth aggregate. 

You almost can’t change the working of the other three aggregates. But you can change the working of the fourth aggregate. For instance, if you see something you dislike and you want to do something bad towards it, you can still stop your action if you know that doing something bad towards it is not good for you. You can stop your saṅkhāra, your thought. 

The tool that can stop your thought is mindfulness. This is the reason why we practice mindfulness. It is for us to have the ability to stop our thoughts when we’re thinking in the wrong way, when we’re thinking in the way that will hurt us. For example, when you see something you like but you don’t have money to buy it, and so when you think of stealing it, you should stop this thought because you know this action is bad. 

The one who knows this action is bad or good is wisdom or insight. You learn this wisdom from the Buddha. When you listen to Dhamma talks, the Buddha tells you, ‘You have to keep the precepts because keeping the precepts is good for you. It will protect you from getting into trouble.’ For example, when you want to steal something, then you say, ‘I cannot steal it because it’s bad for me. 

When I steal, I will run into trouble.’ So, you have to have wisdom, then you know what to do with the things that you come into contact with.”

From:  “Dhamma in English to layperson from Italy, Feb 8, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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Ajahn Chah

 If your mind becomes quiet and concentrated, it is an important tool to use. 

But if you're sitting just to get concentrated so you can feel happy and pleasant, then you're wasting your time.

The practice is to sit and and let your mind become still and concentrated, and then to use that to examine the nature of the mind and body, to see more clearly. 

Otherwise, if you make the mind simply quiet, then for that time it's peaceful and there is no defilement. 

But this is like taking a slab and covering up a smelly garbage pit. When you take the slab away it's still full of smelly garbage. You must use your concentration, not to temporarily bliss out, but to accurately examine the nature of mind and body. This is what actually frees you.

(Ajahn Chah )

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2 November 2023

Metta

Metta 

Metta is "love", but it is the type of love that has the qualities of a loving-kindness, friendliness, goodwill, benevolence, fellowship, amity, concord, inoffensiveness, non-violence, and a wish for a welfare and happiness of others.  True metta is devoid of self-interest.  True metta only gives and never wants anything in return.  

These wholesome qualities of love, metta help liberate the mind from the bondage of hatred, anger, selfishness, greed, and delusion.  Every time one practices metta, for however short a period, one enjoys a measure of freedom of mind. In Ukkhā Sutta the Buddha said that it would be better to cultivate metta at morning, noon and eventide than to give a gift of one hundred ukkhās (large pots with large mouths) in the morning, one hundred ukkhās at noon, and one hundred ukkhās in the evening.     

The Buddha pointed out that when metta was ardently practiced, developed, made the foundation of one's life, fully established, well consolidated and perfected, then the eleven blessings can be expected:  one sleeps happily; one wakes happily; one does not suffer bad dreams; one is dear to human beings; one is dear to non-human beings; the gods protect one; no fire or poison or weapon harms one; one's mind gets quickly concentrated; the expression of one's face is serene; one dies unperturbed; and even if one fails to attain higher states, one will at least reach the state of the Brahma world.

May we cultivate metta both in thoughts and in deeds towards all sentient beings!

1 November 2023

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Mãgha Pũjã 15th February, 1976

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

15 November 2023

Mãgha Pũjã
15th February, 1976

Today is Mãgha Pũjã day. It is the day when the Lord Buddha declared his intention to let go of life, taking leave of the world of saṁsãra and the prison of the cycle of birth and death. 

He chose to abandon his body and discard the very heavy burden he carried for eighty years. He had borne this extremely oppressive load during all that time, and it was never anything but a burden. Such is the nature of the human body (dhãtu khandha).

By contrast, other things are sometimes heavy and sometimes light, allowing us to occasionally catch a breath. For example, food and water are heavy when we have to carry them, but as we steadily use them, they become lighter and lighter. But we have been bearing the load of our body since birth, and it never gets lighter. It’s always heavy. As we advance in years and our strength declines, it seems increasingly heavy. That is why the Buddha declared: “Bhãrã have pañcakhandhã” – these five groups are an extremely heavy load.

Apart from shouldering the heavy load of this body, we also have painful feeling, memory, thought and consciousness to put up with – all burdensome and piercing to the heart. Not only are they oppressive, but they are also sharp-pointed, so they pierce through the body and the heart.

The Lord Buddha put up with this body until he was eighty years old. To put it simply, he must have said: “Oh! This body is beyond bearing. It is time to leave it!” Thus he declared that in three months' time he would abandon life and lay down the burden. He made the decision on the full moon day of the third lunar month.

On that very same day, twelve hundred and fifty noble disciples (Ariya Sãvakas) assembled together, spontaneously, without invitation, each coming his own initiative. The Lord Buddha then expounded the teaching to the Arahant disciples, delighting them with the bliss of the Buddha Dhamma. This gathering thus became the Pure Assembly (Visuddhi Uposatha). Here is a brief outline of what was said on that day.

Sabbapãpassa akaranaṁ      kusalassūpasampadã

Sacitta parlyodapanaṁ        etaṁ Buddhãnasãsanaṁ

Anūpavãdo anūpaghãto       pãṭimokkhe ca saṁvaro

Mattaññutã ca bhattasmiṁ pantañca sayanãsanaṁ

Adhicitte ca ãyogo,                 etaṁ Buddhãnasãsanaṁ

The Buddha gave this teaching to the twelve hundred and fifty Arahants as a form of diversion on that afternoon. For those Arahants, it was more of an enjoyment than an exhortation, because all of them were already Pure Ones, no longer needing instruction to cleanse the kilesas and ãsavas from their hearts. That is why they were called the Pure Assembly. In the history of Buddhism, this was the sole occasion that the Lord Buddha expounded his teaching to a gathering of 1250 Arahant disciples. During the Lord Buddha’s lifetime up until his final passing away (Parinibbãna), it never occurred again.

We commemorate the Buddhas and Arahants because of their rare brilliance. They were figures of wonder among all people throughout the world, for worldly people's hearts are corrupted by the stain of kilesas, so none of them could be considered pure like the Arahants.

Sabbapãpassa akaranaṁ - to refrain from unwholesome actions which give rise to all kinds of dukkha. 

The evil nature of the heart is critically important. We can act unwholesomely all the time. The bad actions of body and speech have their limitations, but the evil of the citta, which depresses and dulls itself, is prompted by our own thinking and imagining. The agents that push and compel the citta into sadness and depression are those things in the citta which are already murky and defiled. The Lord Buddha called them kilesas. They are those factors which maneuver saññã and sankhãra into functioning. They cause the citta to become gloomy and disconsolate.

Evil acts of wrongdoing are not merely actions like robbery, looting and plundering. 

That is evil on a gross level. But our tendency is to continually generate the intermediate and more subtle evils in our hearts all the time, and this automatically brings feelings of depression. The heart that is downcast will be downcast wherever we go because we constantly create that condition in our hearts. 

Walking, standing, sitting or reclining – our hearts always imagine and contrive, thus we become miserable in every posture. The Lord Buddha urged us not to produce gloom and misery for ourselves. 

This is one aspect of his teaching.

What method will prevent the heart from being gloomy and depressed? 

Kusalassūpasampadã – we must develop enough wisdom to be capable of correcting this depression. By cleaning out the gloom-makers and the evils, we will then have 

Sacitta pariyodapanaṁ – a bright and cheerful heart. When our cleverness – which is our satipaññã – has cleaned out all the filth and gloom from the heart, it becomes 

Sacitta pariyodapanaṁ – bright and clear. Evils, great and small, then gradually fade away as the citta becomes purified.

The teaching of all the Buddhas is like this. 

They all say: “Do it this way. There is no alternative.” Any easier way would be known by the wisest of all, the Lord Buddha. He would have woven us all a hammock to lounge around in as we progressively eliminate the kilesas. This would accord with his reputation as a teacher full of love and compassion, ministering to a world full of frail and grumbling beings. In fact, the Lord Buddha had already used his superior skill and ability to establish the shortest and most direct path.

Each of the Buddhas had to cultivate the Perfections (pãramï) before realizing Buddhahood. They used the Dhamma in their hearts to drive out the kilesas and then taught this as the true and correct way. They tested and selected with the maximum power of their minds before discovering and teaching Dhamma suitable for all living beings. ‘Suitable’ here does not mean suitable to people’s liking; it refers to a practice suited to overcoming the kilesas.

Dhamma that is right and suitable has just this one purpose. No other dhammas can surpass the Middle Way of practice passed on by the Lord Buddha. The kilesas are not frightened by any other means or methods. 

Nothing else can eject them from the heart, or even scratch their skins.

Anūpavãdo – Don’t slander other people.

Anūpaghãto – Don’t harm or kill human beings or animals.

Pãṭimokkhe ca saṁvaro – Keep your behavior within the bounds of Dhamma, which is the means of uprooting the kilesas.

Mattaññutã ca bhattasmiṁ – Know the right measure in using food and living frugally. 

Don’t indulge and exceed what is reasonable for a practitioner. Know the right amount in whatever you’re involved with.

Pantañca sayanãsanaṁ – Look for seclusion, and use this solitude to deal with the kilesas.

Adhicitte ca ãyogo – Develop the citta to excel in Dhamma, employing satipaññã, step by step.

Etaṁ Buddhãnasãsanaṁ – This is the essence of the teaching of all the Buddhas.

This was the Dhamma with which the Lord Buddha delighted all the Sãvakas. To those Sãvakas who were not yet Arahants, he also taught Sabbapãpassa akaranaṁ. This is a practice necessary for us to follow, the only way we can gradually destroy the kilesas in our hearts. But do we genuinely feel this to be true, or is it merely that hammock that takes our fancy?

The essence of the pure Dhamma, imparted by each Buddha, is directly drawn from each of their hearts. 

But have we received it into ours? The Lord Buddha shared it with his utmost love (mettã). Do we receive it with full devotion and trust? With total mind and heart? If we merely feign acceptance of the Dhamma and later discard it, then it will have no value for us at all, and that would go against the Buddha’s original intention.

The Lord Buddha decided to relinquish his body on the full moon day of the sixth lunar month. He had announced this on the third month's full moon – which is today. From that moment on, the elements (dhãtu) and khandhas – with all their oppressive and irritating affects –vanished from the Lord. 

This is Anupãdisesa Nibbãna (complete passing away without remainder). No more worries, no more responsibilities to any sammuti (mundane convention). Nothing remained. 

This is the Dhamma that transcends the world. The ultimate Dhamma.

“Amata Dhamma”

By Ajaan Mahā Boowa Ňāṇasampanno

Translated by Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

8 March 2025

Question:  How do you define ‘nirvana’? 

Than Ajahn:  Nirvana is the cessation of all suffering in the mind. There is no suffering, no sadness, no misery, no bad feelings within the mind. This is called, ‘nirvana’ or ‘nibbāna.’ 

Question:  How can we know that we have attained nirvana if indeed we have attained it? 

Than Ajahn:  You know it when you no longer have any sadness. When you are always happy. Regardless of any situation you encounter, you’re happy. Even when you get old, get sick or are going to die, you’re happy. 

Then, you know that you are in nibbāna.

“Dhamma in English, Mar 28, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

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