“Disciples’ Carelessness”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

9 September 2025

“Disciples’ Carelessness”

In fact, having a teacher is to study their teachings. 

They teach us to practice, to create a refuge for ourselves because teachers will eventually grow old, fall ill, and die. Since the first one, the Lord Buddha, he also had to grow old, fall ill, and die. He taught us to practice, to create a refuge, to create the path, to create mindfulness, to create wisdom. If we have a refuge, mindfulness, and wisdom, our hearts will not have to depend on others. When we do not have to depend on others, when something happens to others, we will not suffer. But if we still cannot rely on ourselves, we keep relying on others who will one day leave us. 

When they leave us, we are shaken because we will have no refuge. We are shaken because we are afraid that when they leave us, we will have no refuge.

This is the carelessness of disciples who seek teachers, but do not seek to practice, seek to cling to them. 

Hearing and listening to their teachings at that time is like having the Dhamma. 

When listening to the Dhamma, the mind is happy, feeling that there is wisdom, but it is temporary wisdom. When listening, we understand. When we stop listening, it disappears and we forget. When something affects the mind, it shakes because the wisdom that comes from listening to the Dhamma can deteriorate. 

After listening, we forget.

Therefore, we must constantly consider the wisdom that we hear, constantly think. That impermanence is impermanent. Things in this world are impermanent. 

The teachers we rely on are also impermanent. They will soon leave us. Our bodies are also impermanent. 

We will soon leave this world. We must create a permanent Dhamma. If we have Dhamma, we will be able to rely on this Dhamma to protect and maintain our minds. The Dhamma we must have is concentration and wisdom, which we do not have. If we have concentration and wisdom, our minds will not be shaken by various events. Whatever happens and whatever ceases, our minds will not be troubled because our minds have a refuge and happiness within themselves. We do not need to seek happiness from others. 

We do not need to seek happiness from listening to sermons and Dhamma teachings from teachers. We do not need to seek happiness from making merit with teachers. 

We can be happy by ourselves, with our own Dhamma.

Phra Ajahn Suchart Aphichato

Wat Yan Sangwararam, Chonburi

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

7 September 2025

Namo Buddhaya 

—🌷🌷🌷—

Q:  My friend said that we can just do meditation, we do not have to do any chanting. what’s your comment on this, please?

 Phra Ajahn:  Well, chanting is the way for someone who cannot meditate yet. If you sit and you cannot stop your mind from thinking then chanting can help you stop a lot of your thinking and then it will be easier for you to meditate afterwards. So it depends on your mind. If your mind doesn’t think too much, you can meditate right away but if your mind keeps thinking about this person or that person, think about what happens and your mind cannot concentrate on your meditation then you have to use chanting to help you get rid of these thoughts first. If you are good in meditation, you don’t need to do chanting. When you begin [your meditation] but you cannot meditate, then you need chanting to help you eliminate your thoughts first or help you bring your thoughts down to a manageable level. 

Q:  If we are new to Buddhism, which morning and evening chanting that we should practice daily?

Phra Ajahn:  Well, in Thailand, they have a set of chanting verses to chant so you can use that as the chanting practice. You may have to get a chanting book with English translation so you can follow the chanting session. Or you can choose any sutta to chant. If you like the first discourse, you can chant that first discourse, you can choose any discourse you like. If you like the Mangala Sutta, you can chant the Mangala Sutta. Any suttas you like to chant, you can use them.

- - - - -

Q:  I want to know a bit more on how to practice asubha meditation. 

Phra Ajahn:  Well, the goal of asubha contemplation is to embed in your mind the other aspect of the body that you don’t see which is the repulsive aspect of the body such as when the body dies. There are 10 stages of corpses you can reflect upon when the body dies. You can contemplate upon death to embed it into your memory so that you can use it when you want to get rid of your sexual desire. This is more for those who want to practice meditation, those who want to give up sexual conduct. 

When you have sexual desire arises, if you have these images of repulsive aspect of the body, this can stop your sexual desire. So you need to embed it in your mind which might take a while. You have to keep thinking of it. It’s like memorizing your multiplication table. You have to memorize 2 times 2 is 4. You have to keep thinking of the 10 stages of the corpses, from dying, becoming bloated and so on. This is one way of contemplating the unattractive aspect of the body. 

There is also another way which is to look inside, under the skin, of the body. Look at all the organs like a medical student who dissects a corpse, dissect a body. 

So you’ll see under the skin there will be flesh, there will be sinews, there will be bones, bone marrows, there will be all kinds of organs, like heart, lungs, intestines, brain and so forth. And you try to imagine the images of these various parts of the body in your mind. So whenever you feel that you have any sexual desire, when you think about these unattractive parts of the body, then the sexual desire will disappear. 

Visitor:  So when I see a good-looking girl on the street, I say to myself, ‘Ok, it is a skeleton.’ 

Phra Ajahn:  Yeah. It sounds easy but when you really do it, you might forget.

Visitor:  I try not to forget. 

Phra Ajahn:  See, when you don’t have sexual desire, it’s easy to do it but when you have sexual desire, these images that you have been trying to implant in your mind, they somehow disappear. So you have to do a lot of it. And your goal is to bring it out at the time when you need it. If you cannot bring it out when you need it, then it’s useless even though you might have contemplated it for many, many times before. When you see a beautiful boy or girl, suddenly you forget everything, you only see that beautiful images then you know that you have failed. 

Visitor:  So, the way to do it is to meditate on Budho or on the breath first and after that, I look into myself.  

Phra Ajahn:  Well, it’s not in the same instance. These are 2 stages. The first stage is to be able to make your mind calm on a long term basis, not just briefly when you meditate. You have to be calm because when you contemplate on asubha you want to contemplate on a long term basis, not just a few minutes and then you say, ‘Oh, I know, I know.’ Yes, you know but can you remember it when you need it? That’s the point. You’ll find out in real practice. When you have sexual desire, you’ll see if you can bring the asubha images out to stop it or not. If they don’t come out, that means you  have to do more contemplation. Doing contemplation is like doing your homework, preparing your mind for a test when it comes.  

Visitor:  Thank you very much.

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

“Dhamma in English, Sep 18, 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.

17 March 2026

Q:  How can I attain to Anāgāmī level? 

Than Ajahn:  You have to move up to the next level of investigation. You have to get rid of your sexual desire. 

Your sexual desire arises from you thinking about beautiful women or men. When you think of good looking men or women, you have sexual desire for them. So you have to look the other side of the body: look at the body when it’s old, is sick, when it dies, when the body becomes a corpse, or look inside the body under the skin. There are many things that you don’t see about the body. So you have to look at the other side of the body which is the unattractive side. If you can see the unattractive side of the body then you can get rid of your sexual desire, then you become an Anāgāmi. 

- - - - -

Q:  After chanting, my breath becomes subtle. When the breath disappears, sometimes it is difficult to fix my attention at one point and sometimes I just see the emptiness of the breath. 

How to deepen my samādhi? Should I fix my attention at one point or should I just be aware of the emptiness? 

Than Ajahn:  Just be aware of the emptiness and be aware whether you are thinking or not. If any thought arises, you should stop it. 

Don’t continue your thoughts. 

- - - - -

Q:  While meditating using ānāpānasati, I am confused whether my breathing is the natural breathing or the controlled breathing. How to distinguish them?

Than Ajahn:  It doesn’t matter. Just keep watching the breath comes in and goes out, whether it’s natural or not natural is not the point. The point is to use it as the point of focus of your mind in order to prevent your mind from thinking. If you start to wonder whether it’s controlled or not controlled breath, you are already thinking. So don’t worry whether it’s controlled or not controlled. Just watch. Just observe and don’t think. 

- - - - -

Q:  After 15 min of meditation with my eyes closed, I felt burning sensation on my eyes so I opened my eyes which gave me much relief. 

But after opening my eyes for a while, the eyes felt heavy, this cycle keeps repeating throughout my meditation. Can Ajahn please advise?

Than Ajahn:  Well, if there is nothing physically cause your eyes to have irritation then you should just ignore it. If it only happens when you meditate then you should ignore it. When you feel any irritation while you’re meditating, just ignore it. Just keep focusing on your meditation object then eventually, this feeling can disappear. For meditators, there are many distractions. 

Sometimes you feel itchy here and there, sometimes you feel painful here and there. If you let these things distract your mind from your meditation then your meditation will not succeed. In order to succeed you have to ignore them and keep focusing on your meditation object. 

- - - - -

Q:  As listening to music is not allowed when we practice the 8 precepts, does Buddhist songs such as the Heart Sutra or the mantra with music acceptable and it will not break the 8 precepts?

Than Ajahn:  It’s still not good. It’s better to not listen to music whether it’s chanting music or not. It can still be a distraction. It’s better to listen to the chant alone or do the chanting yourself.

“Dhamma in English, Nov 12, 2019.”

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

1 September 2025

Q: In Ajahn’s book ‘Inspiring Dhamma,’ it mentioned that The Buddha taught us that we should try to always keep an open mind and not be narrow-minded. Can Ajahn advise why is this important?

Than Ajahn:  There is an opportunity to learn when you open up your mind because there are many things that you don’t know yet. If you’re close-minded, then you won’t learn anything more. So this is what the Buddha meant by keeping an open-mind attitude. Just listen, you don’t have to believe or disbelieve. If you want to know whether it is good or not, then you have to prove it by practicing it. There are many things that you need to know in order to get yourself free from all forms of suffering. In order to stop you from keep coming back to be reborn again and again, you need to know the path that will lead you to be the unborn. So you have to have an open mind to listen to the teaching and then try to prove it yourself whether what you’ve heard is good or not good. If you don’t know, maybe you can ask somebody else to compare or to verify it.

- - - - -

Q:  When a person killed another person in his past live, does that person have to pay back all his kamma?

Phra Ajahn:  Not necessarily. It depends on how much Dhamma practice you have. If you can reach nibbāna, then you don’t have to pay all your old debts. But if you haven’t reached nibbāna yet, then you still have to pay your debts depending on what kind of bad kamma you did. If you achieve the level of the noble disciples, then you don’t have to pay your bad kamma by being born in the lower realms of existence. But you can still be haunted by the people whom you did something wrong to. They could come and try to get even with you in your life time. 

Q:  For example, I see some people, before they parinibbāna, they still* *have to suffer with their body conditions.

Phra Ajahn:  That’s right, but the mind is not affected by the conditions of the body. Like the Buddha, he still had to experience some bad kamma from his past life. 

He used to cause cows that wanted to drink water not being able to drink water so in his final day, when he started to get thirsty, he could not find any clean water to drink. 

- - - - -

Q:  Is ‘the mind detaching from the body’ one of the signs of a sotāpanna? What does a sotāpanna have to overcome to pass the test?

Phra Ajahn:  A sotāpanna has to give up the body, he is not being hurt by whatever happens to the body. The body can get old, get sick and die, and the mind will not be affected by it.

- - - - -

Q:  Sometimes can we just do 4-precepts instead of the 5-precept?

Phra Ajahn:  Well, it’s like taking an examination, you can only do 4 questions, you cannot do all the questions so you cannot get a perfect score. You still have to pay for the one that you do not keep.

- - - - -

Q:  I still live together with my ex-boyfriend. So, to deal with grief of ending the relationship, I still must see him daily. What is the best approach to deal with grief after a relationship ends? Is it necessary to give time to grief?

Than Ajahn:  The best thing is to forget it. If you can forget it then the grief will disappear. When you start to think about your past relationship then try to stop it by reciting a mantra, chanting or sitting in meditation. 

Once you meditate or when your mind becomes calm then you forget what you think. When you don’t think then the past will not come and haunt you. You bring the past back by thoughts. If you stop thinking, then your past won’t come back. The past has already gone but you keep bringing it back by thinking about it. So you have to stop thinking about it then it will not come and bother you.  

“Dhamma in English, Nov 12, 2019.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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

Collected and shared by Andrew Sum

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

26 August 2025

Question: Is it jhāna when breathing seems to be stopped?

Than Ajahn: No, it just means that your mind is paying attention to breathing. It becomes jhāna when the mind enters a stillness where you no longer notice the breath. 

You go deeper and become calmer. You reach the fourth jhāna when the mind stops paying attention to the body. 

Mind becomes calm and happy by itself. 

Sometimes it can still hear a voice or feel a body, but the mind is not disturbed by what it hears or what it feels. This is the fourth jhāna.

If you want to go deeper, you have to focus your mind further. Then, you will enter arūpa-jhāna. 

But, no need to reach that deeper level. If you want to develop the mind to attain enlightenment, you only need the fourth jhāna. Once you get out of the fourth jhāna, when you return to a normal state of mind, you teach your mind that everything the mind wants is not permanent. Everything will cause you to suffer because everything will change or one day it will disappear.

So when your mind wants something, it knows it will end in misery. Thus you will not want for anything. 

You can stop your want or passion for something and someone else. 

Once you have no passion and desire, there will be no more anxiety, anxiety, sadness, or mental torment left in the mind.

“Dhamma in English, February 27, 2018. ”

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Youtube: Dhamma in English

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

#ajahnsucharttabhijato #meditasi #perhatian #jhana

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

2 September 2025

Q:  What is the difference between boredom and restlessness and how to overcome those states of mind?

Than Ajahn:  They are different forms of unhappiness. Boredom is a form of unhappiness. 

Restlessness is another form of unhappiness or suffering. In Buddhism, we use the term ‘suffering’ to cover every form of unhappiness or sadness. To overcome them you have to stop your mind from thinking, make your mind calm. When your mind becomes calm, all boredom and restlessness will disappear. So you have to learn how to meditate. Before you can meditate, you have to have mindfulness first. 

You have to try to develop mindfulness all the time. 

Stop your mind from thinking aimlessly or uselessly. 

Only think about what you have to do or what is necessary to think, otherwise, use a mantra to stop it or focus on your body actions. 

- - - - -

Q:  I’ve heard that teachers who have not attained nibbāna but teach others meditation will not get bad kamma because they are doing it with good intention. 

What is the repercussion of such teachers who teach others even though they themselves are not Ariyas? 

And what would be our approach to those teachers who are teaching meditation but clearly they themselves are not Arahants?  

Than Ajahn:  Well, if they teach what they know and what they know is not wrong, then there is nothing wrong with that because there are many different levels of knowledge that you can teach. You can teach about keeping the precepts, you can teach about how to develop mindfulness. But if you are trying something that you don’t know then you can mislead other people. 

So don’t try to teach something that you don’t know. 

Only teach people what you know then there will be no problem. You will not mislead other people into the wrong direction.

- - - - -

Q:  What is the best method to stay calm and avoid becoming quick-tempered in daily life situation?

Than Ajahn:  If you can recite a mantra, this is the easiest way. Just keep reciting the mantra when you feel uneasy. When you feel restless, keep reciting ‘Budho Budho Budho’ for a few minutes. It can calm your mind very quickly. 

- - - - -

Q:  When a person wants to develop meditative path but he/she keeps on getting disturbed by many obstacles, what cause him or her to keep getting those obstacles? Does it happen due to his bad karmic effect from previous birth?

Than Ajahn:  Sometimes your past kamma can also become a hindrance or obstacle but there are also other things that can become obstacles. It’s not the point to figure out what causes the obstacles, the point is to figure out how to overcome the obstacles. 

Whatever obstacles you have, try to overcome them. If you don’t know how to overcome them then you should seek advice from those who know how to overcome the obstacles. This is better than to think what causes these obstacles to appear in the first place.

“Dhamma in English, Nov 12, 2019.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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

"The hard part is the practice."

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

3 August 2025

"The hard part is the practice."

So we have to go to the temple to listen to sermons and Dhamma to gain wisdom and then we have to put it into practice. The hard part is the practice. It's easy to listen to, like a drug addict who knows that drugs are more harmful than beneficial, but he can't quit. 

When it's time to take them, his heart will shake. He has to be brave, he has to dare to leave them, to escape them. If he's close to them, he can't quit. If he knows what he's addicted to, he has to make up his mind to quit. For example, the Lord Buddha knew that he was still addicted to the palace. 

He stayed there until the age of 29, even though he knew that it wasn't true happiness. 

Finally, he had the chance when another trap arose. At that time, he had to make a decision. Before, the suffering was only 1 time, now it's 2 times. At that time, he had a resolute mind, so he escaped from the palace.

Because it's difficult to go. It's not easy to give up being a layman. I've been through it, so I know. The monk said that when he was going to ordain, it was like he was going to die. But he said that if he was going to die because of ordination, he would accept it. I happened to read his brief biography. He also told about the time he was going to ordain. If he was going to die because of ordination, he would die, willing to sacrifice to repay the kindness of his parents. 

Therefore, giving up and cutting off things is not easy, not a toy, but it is very beneficial. 

Therefore, we should not see it as a small matter. We should see it as an important matter, something that we should try to do, not beyond our ability. It just depends on whether we dare to do it or not. If we do not have enough strength, we should try to cultivate it first, try to accumulate strength, accumulate enough merit. Right now, it is not ripe enough, like a fruit that is not fully ripe, it has not yet come out of the tree. Until it is fully ripe, it will come out on its own. We are like the fruit. 

In order to be fully ripe, we must diligently accumulate various merits, such as generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, loving-kindness, diligence, patience, and determination, like we intend to make merit once a month. It is called determination. We should increase it to twice a month, three times a month is even better. We should do more, but it does not have to be like this. One month it will be like this, but another period we will go alone sometimes. We do not have to come in groups like this. Whenever I have free time, I go to the temple, stay at the temple, and practice. If I keep doing this, sooner or later, I will definitely ordain. The male and female lay devotees who have ordained do this, gradually moving step by step, not doing it all at once, except for some who have already accumulated enough merit.

Phra Ajahn Suchart Aphichato

Wat Yan Sangwararam, Chonburi

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

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