No.218 - “How to practice without a master?”

Ajahn Suchart

“How to practice without a master?”

Question from France: “I live in the countryside in France and cannot find any master. How to practice without a master?”

Than Ajahn: "You don’t need a master to be teaching you all the time. Now you can study the teachings of the masters from Internet. Go look for a book or someone, like Mr. Olivier, who can help you convey your questions to the master. If you have any questions, you can ask me.

When you practice, you don’t need to know much. Like meditation, all you need is mindfulness. Try to be mindful all the time, from the time you get up to the time you go to sleep. That’s all you have to know. Try to sit for as much as possible.

If you don’t have mindfulness, when you sit you cannot become still. So, you need to be mindful when you are not sitting. When you are working, try to be mindful with what you’re doing. Don’t let your mind go someplace else. Be with the work that you are doing. If you are taking a shower, just taking a shower with the body. If you are eating, eating with the body. Don’t send your mind somewhere else. This is developing mindfulness, to bring the mind to be here with the body; To be here and now.

Once you can do this, when you meditate, you can tell your mind to be with your breath. If the mind doesn’t go elsewhere, it will stay with the breath, and the mind will gradually become peaceful and calm. Sometimes the mind might become calm quickly, it might happen all of a sudden. Whatever the situation, don’t anticipate. Just keep being mindful of your breath. Eventually, your mind will become still and happy. If you have any questions, you can go to Internet or come here and ask me.”

From “Dhamma in English to layperson from France, Mar 5-8, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com
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