No.310 - What is Mara?

What is Mara?

For whatever is Mara …

"Form is Mara. Feeling ... Perception ... Volitional formations ... Consciousness is Mara.

Seeing thus ... Experiencing revulsion, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion [his mind] is liberated. When it is liberated there comes the knowledge:'It's liberated.' He understands:' 'Destroyed is birth, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more for this state of being.'"

 ~BUDDHA

No.309 - The teachings of Ven Ajahn Chah

The teachings of Ven Ajahn Chah

How does the Dhamma teach the proper way of life? It shows us how to live. It has many ways of showing it - On rocks, or trees or just in front of you. It is teaching but not in words. So still the mind, the heart, and learn to watch. You'll find the whole Dhamma revealing itself here and now. At what other time and place are you going to look?

With even a little intuitive wisdom we will be able to see clearly through the way of the world. We will come to understand that everything in the world is a teacher. Trees and vines, for example, can reveal the nature of reality to us. With wisdom there is no need to question anyone, no need to study. We can learn enough from nature to be enlightened.

(Ajahn Chah)

No.308 - The teachings of Ven Ajahn Chah Sitting for hours on end is not necessary.

The teachings of Ven Ajahn Chah

Sitting for hours on end is not necessary. Some people think that the longer you can sit, the wiser you must be. I have seen chickens sit on their nests for days on end! Wisdom comes from being mindful in all postures. Your practice should begin as you awaken in the morning. It should continue until you fall asleep. Don’t be concerned about how long you can sit. What is important is only that you keep watchful whether you are working or sitting or going to the bathroom.

(Ajahn Chah)

No.307 - The habits and attachments of beings differ.

The habits and attachments of beings differ. One person may be stuck on the left side, another is stuck on the right side. So the best thing for us to do is to be aware. Be aware of customs in the different places we go. If we have Dhamma custom, then we can smoothly adapt to society’s customs, abroad or at home. If we don’t understand Dhamma custom, then there’s no way to get along. Dhamma custom is the meeting

point for all cultures and traditions.

I’ve heard the words of the Buddha that say, ‘When you don’t understand someone’s language, when you don’t understand their way of speaking, when you don’t understand their ways of doing things in their land,

you shouldn’t be proud or put on airs.’ I can attest to these words – they are a true standard in all times and places. These words came back to me when I travelled abroad, and I put them into practice these last two years when I was outside our country. They’re useful.

Before I held tightly; now I hold, but not tightly. I pick something up to look at it, then I let it go. Before, I would pick things up and hold on. That was holding tightly. Now it’s holding but not tightly. So you can allow me to speak harshly to all of you or get angry at you, but it’s in the way of ‘holding

but not tightly’, picking up and letting go. Please don’t lose this point.

We can be truly happy and comfortable if we understand the Dhamma

of the Buddha. So I am always praising the Buddha’s teachings and practicing to unite the two customs, that of the world and that of the

Dhamma.

(Ajahn Chah)

No.306 - The first key to success in meditation is that you have to cultivate the ability to focus your mind.

“The first key to success in meditation is that you have to cultivate the ability to focus your mind.”

The Buddha found the right way. The problem is not the body. The problem is in the mind that is deluded. The mind takes something that doesn’t belong to itself and thinks that it is itself. So whatever happens to that thing, the mind suffers. This is the work that we do in Buddhist practice — not to correct the body, but to cure the mind that is sick through delusion.

We need the practice of meditation and insight. If we don’t do this, the mind does not have the strength to take and pass the test. Now you know the truth, but you cannot let go of the body yet because the force of attachment is stronger than the force of detachment.

What you need to do now is to develop the force of detachment by calming your mind. As your mind drops into calm, it temporarily detaches from the body and everything else. This is why we need to do meditation. In order to meditate you need to have the ability to focus. You have to be able to focus your mind, to stop your mind from thinking about this and that, from going here and there.

If you continue thinking, when you sit in meditation you cannot focus your mind on your meditation object. Your mind will think about other things while you are trying to focus on your breathing. You will not be able to sit for hours, and you will not experience any peace or calm.

The first key to success in meditation is that you have to cultivate the ability to focus your mind. Secondly, you have to sit down and calm your mind until it becomes totally peaceful. Thirdly, you have to develop insight by teaching your mind the truth.

The truth is that the mind is one thing and the body is another thing. If the mind clings to anything, it becomes agitated, depressed, and stressful because nothing in this world is permanent. If you want something to last forever, you will always be stressed because nothing lasts. Now you think something lasts a long time and you can get it, but the next day it could be gone.

You must learn to detach. Don’t cling to anything. Always remind yourself that everything is temporary. Everything that you have is temporary. Every experience that you are experiencing is temporary. If you are attached to it, when it disappears, you will be depressed. For example, if you have friends over to visit you, you are happy, but when they leave, you are left alone and feel sad and lonely.

If you can focus your mind, focus on your breathing, sitting in meditation and forgetting about everything else, your mind will drop into peace, and you will have real happiness. This is what you should do as a monk or a Buddhist.

Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Youtube: Dhamma in English

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

No.305 - The essence of practice

The essence of our practice is to watch intention and examine the mind. You must have wisdom. Don’t discriminate. Don’t get upset with others if they are different. Would you get upset at a small and crooked tree in the forest for not being tall and straight like some of the others? That would be silly. Don’t judge other people. There are all varieties. No need to carry the burden of wishing to change them all. If you want to change anything, change your ignorance to wisdom.

(Ajahn Chah)

No.304 - Suitable Way For Attaining Nibbana

Suitable Way For Attaining Nibbana

(4th sutta)

Bhikkhus, I will teach you the way that is

suitable for attaining Nibbana. Listen to that ....

And what, bhikkhus, is the way that is

suitable for attaining Nibbana?

What do you think, bhikkhus, is the eye

permanent or impermanent?

“Impermanent, venerable sir.”

Is what is impermanent suffering or

happiness?

“Suffering, venerable sir.”

Is what is impermanent, suffering, and

subject to change fit to be regarded thus: “This

is mine (etam mama), this I am (eso ‘ham asmi),

this is my self (eso me attã)”?

“No, venerable sir.”

(The rest is Identical with the preceding

discourse).

What do you think, bhikkhus, is the form…

the eye-consciousness… the eye-contact…

whatever feeling arises with eye-contact as

condition permanent or impermanent? (The rest is

identical with the above speech, but are stated by

way of the six external sense bases: the ear... the

nose… the tongue... the body ... the mind).

Seeing thus, bhikkhus, the instructed noble

disciple experiences:

Revulsion towards the eye;

Revulsion towards forms;

Revulsion towards eye-consciousness;

Revulsion towards eye-contact;

Revulsion towards whatever arises with

eye-contact as condition-whether pleasant or

painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant.

(Each of the followings is to be completed

as above)

The ear... the nose… the tongue... the body

... the mind.

Experiencing revulsion, he becomes

dispassionate. Through dispassion [his mind] is

liberated.

When it is liberated, there comes the

knowledge: ‘It’s liberated.’

He understands: “Destroyed is birth, the

holy life has been lived, what had to be done

has been done, there is no more for this state of

being.”

This, bhikkhus, is the way that is suitable

for attaining Nibbana.

Bodhi Bhikkhu, The Connected Discourses of the Buddha:

A New Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, Vollum II,

Wisdom Publication, Boston, 2000, 150 (5) Suitable for

Attaining Nibbana (4) p. 1156, 1212-1213

No.303 - Ratana Sutta

Ratana Sutta.

The benefits of reciting Ratana Sutta.

The great benefits are : overcome 3 calamities famine , war and diseases.

Translation :

Lying at the feet of Dipankara Buddha , the Bodhisattva Gotama expressed this desire and determination to strive for Buddhahood . For countless life since then He has striven for and achieved 10 Perfection , doing meritorious deeds for the benefit not only for himself but also for his relatives and the rest of the whole world. He won victory over 5 kinds of Maras and attained Full Enlightenment with the highest virtues and powers. Now let us hear these Noble virtues or attributes of the Buddha in mind and recite Ratana Sutta in the same way as Venerable Ananda recited in Vesali to wipe away the calamities.

The Ratana Sutta is treated with much reverence by the deves in all the univers. It was potent enough to wipe away all the calamities in Vesali.

Let us recite it now.

For the benefit of the whole world are suffering from covid- 19 .

May the whole world be free from covid-19 very soon.

No.302 - Message by Chao Khun Kheng - 22 March 2020 🌻

Message by Chao Khun Kheng - 22 March 2020 🌻

Hey there, for heaven sake don't read news and kalang kabok, steady and keep your focus, contemplate the Buddha Dhamma Sangha. If you can't sit and meditate, all these while of going temple doing Dana, listening to dhamma, put them to PRACTISE, if it gonna happen after all the precautions taken what can we do?

The Buddha's teaching is the most reliable and reasonable way to get the answers at this critical moment, impermanence of all these externally comfort things that we can't really rely on. Attachment to them can't help us at these moments. For us, only the PRACTISE of Dhamma, Sila (PRECEPTS), Samadhi (CONCENTRATION), Panna (WISDOM).

We still can get updates on the news BUT DON'T GET UPSET AND WORRY UNNECESSARILY. 

INSTEAD REMIND OURSELVES OF WHAT IS CALLED:

⏱ IMPERMANENCE, uncertainty, keep changing

😵 SUFFERING very stressful. Don't know when it gonna be over and blah blah blah.

💀ANATTA no self ,no control nature calling.

You may pray or do all the things but if we lack of WISDOM then we will get ourselves entangled in the VIRUS of our own  mind. Greed hatred delusion. Undisciplined mind that is why we need more important gentleness calm down to face it wisely.

Whatever will be, will be ! Hope for best prepare for the worse!

BUDDHO BUDDHO BUDDHO CONTINUALLY IN OUR MIND IS BETTER THAN LEAVING US BEEN TAKEN OVER BY UNTRAINED THOUGHTS! CHEERS! GOOD CHALLENGE TO TEST OUR MIND NOW!

No.301 - Kamma

Kamma

“..Grain, wealth, silver, gold,

Or whatever other possessions there are,

Slaves, workers, messengers, and those who live as one's dependants:

Without taking anything one must go, everything must be left behind.

“But what one has done by body, or by speech or mind:

This is what is truly one's own; this one takes when one goes;

This is what follows one along; Like a shadow that never departs.

“Therefore one should do what is good;

As a collection for the future life.

Merits are the support for living beings;

When they arise] in the other world.”

The Book Of The Gradual Sayings (Anguttara-Nikaya)Vol. III (The Books Of The Fives And Sixes), translated by Hare, E.M., The Pali Text Society, Oxford, 2008, P.294

No.300 - If you do not want it (rebirth), you will have to stop your mind from dreaming

 “If you do not want it (rebirth), you will have to stop your mind from dreaming, from going to a new life. That's what the Buddha did. He stopped his mind by cutting off the desire in his mind.”

Monk 2: I have one idea that is wrong and that is that the mind is produced by the brain. How can I overcome this idea or delusion? How can I work with it?

Than Ajaan: Oh, just ignore it! It is just a theory, just like believing that the world is flat or round. It doesn't change reality anyway, right? You can believe that the world is flat, but that won't change the fact that it is round. You believe that the world is round, but that does not confirm the fact that it is round. It only helps you to have the right attitude, so that you can react properly. That's all. So, all you have to do is to react properly according to the truth.

The truth is that the body is not yourself; the brain is not yourself. So whatever happens to it, let it go because you are going to lose it one day. The solution is not to cling to it. Be ready to let it go. Treat it like you’ve borrowed it from someone else. It doesn't belong to you. If the owner comes and claims it, you will have to let it go.

The point is to let go because if you can do so, you will not suffer. You will not be in pain — I mean, mental pain. If you cannot let go, you will always have mental suffering. So, don't worry about whether you are from the brain or not. That doesn't really matter. What matters is, can you let go of it or not? If you cannot let go, you will suffer. If you can, you will not suffer.

One of the things that will help you to let go is to see the body as not ‘you’. If you know that, you can let go easily. If you think that it is you and belongs to you, it will be hard for you to let go. If you cannot accept this truth, at least you should accept the fact that if you can let go, you will not suffer, because this is something you can experience in real time. For instance when you get sick, if you cannot let go of your body, your mind will also suffer because the mind doesn't want to let the body be sick. But if you say, “Well, I cannot stop it. If it is gonna get sick, it will be sick anyway. The only thing I can do is get some medicine or go to a doctor. That's all I can do. If the medicine can fix it, fine. If the doctor can fix it, also fine. If it can’t or he can’t, then I will just have to live with it. So what? I am not sick; it is the body that is sick. That's all.

If I cannot use the body, fine, I will just sit down and not do anything. If I don't have any food to eat, that is also fine because I will eventually die. Maybe it is not time for me to die.” You can accept that it is not yet your time to die; instead it is the time for this body to die. If you can accept that truth, there will be no problem.

No matter how good the doctor or medicine is, one day they will also not be able to fix the body anyway. One day the body will say, “Don't treat me; don't fix me. I cannot go on; I have to stop.” You are the owner, so the mind that owns the body will just have to say, “Okay, if you want to stop then good-bye.” That's all. What's wrong with that?

Like the Buddha when he was about to die just went into samādhi. He just lay down, focused his mind, and left the body alone. It is like when you are going to sleep, you leave your body alone, right? Dying is like going to sleep. You leave this body, and when you wake up, you get a new body. That's all. That's what rebirth is about. You leave one body and go to the next body.

In the process of going from the old to the new body, you go to heaven or hell. It is like when you are going to sleep, and you go through good or bad dreams. When you wake up, you come back from heaven or hell. So this is what we do through for countless lifetimes, from one body to the next, from one dream to the next. That's all. There is nothing to be afraid of. It is a natural process, and it happens whether you like it or not.

If you do not want it (rebirth), you will have to stop your mind from dreaming, from going to a new life. That's what the Buddha did. He stopped his mind by cutting off the desire in his mind. He had no desire, and when there is no desire, the mind doesn't generate anything, doesn't generate any thoughts, and doesn’t have any force to drive it to go into a new body. So the key idea here is to let go of everything. Nothing belongs to you. If you cling to it, you will suffer. If you let go, you will be at ease and be peaceful.

Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Youtube: Dhamma in English

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

[6:56 am, 11/04/2020] 💙 Angeline: 🙏🙏🙏

No.299 - The teachings of Ajahn Chah

If we throw a log of wood into a river, it floats down stream. If that log doesn't rot or get stuck on one of the banks of the river, it will finally reach the ocean. Likewise the mind that practices the Middle Way and doesn't attach to either extreme of sensual indulgence or self - mortification will inevitably attain true peace.

The log in our analogy represents the mind. The banks of the river represent, on one side happiness, and on the other, unhappiness, you could say. To follow the Middle Way is to see happiness and unhappiness for what they really are - Only feelings. Once this understanding has been achieved, the mind will not easily drift toward them and get caught. It is the practice of the understanding of the mind not to nurture any feelings that rise, nor to cling to them. The mind then freely flows down the river unhampered and eventually flows into the "Ocean" of Nibbana.

(Ajahn Chah)

No.298 - Having done an action

Having Done an Action

“Also, Rahula, after you have done an action

with the body, you should refl ect upon that same

bodily action thus: ‘Does this action that I have

done with the body lead to my own affl iction, or

to the affl iction of others, or to the affl iction of

both? Was it an unwholesome bodily action with

painful consequences, with painful results?’

“When you refl ect, if you know: ‘This

action that I have done with the body leads to my

own affl iction, or to the affl iction of others, or

to the affl iction of both; it was an unwholesome

bodily action with painful consequences, with

painful results’;

“Then you should confess such a bodily

action, reveal it, and lay it open to the Teacher or

to your wise companions in the holy life. Having

confessed it, revealed it, and laid it open, you

should undertake restraint for the future.”

“But when you refl ect, if you know: ‘This

action that I have done with the body does not lead

to my own affl iction, or to the afflliction of others,

or to the affl iction of both; it was a wholesome

bodily action with pleasant consequences,

pleasant results’;

“You can abide happy and .glad, training

day and night in wholesome states.”

The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, A Translation of the

Majjhima Nikaya, by Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Pali

Text Society, Oxford, 2001, p.524-525.

No.297 - Embodiment of truth

EMBODIMENT OF TRUTH

Venerable Vakkali was suffering from a disease, he was sick and afflicted. With his practice, he was not attached to his body, he was not mentally afflicted by the pain caused by the illness. However, he had one regret which was not being able to arouse the energy to pay respects to the Buddha. Despite his understanding of the Dhamma and his practice, it did not cross his mind that his unwholesome state of mind was a result of clinging onto the Buddha's form. It did not occur to him that it too was impermanent and subjected to decay and death.  This did not occur to him even when the Buddha came to visit him out of compassion.

 Therefore the Buddha reminded him that "when one sees the Dhamma, one sees the Buddha, and seeing the Buddha one sees the Dhamma". All form is impermanent, subjected to deformation, subjected to decay.

What can we draw from this?

1. One should see the Buddha as an embodiment of the Truth and not as a physical form. When one sees the Buddha as a physical entity, he doesn't see the real Buddha. The real Buddha lies in seeing the true nature of reality.

2. The Buddha may not be around for us to contemplate on impermanence of his form. However, we could remind and see for ourselves that even well-practiced Sangha that we revere are also subjected to old age sickness and death.

No.296 - Concentration

Concentration is simply a tactic for herding the various defilements into one focal point so that we can rectify or destroy them more easily. To put it simply, concentration is strength for discernment. When the mind gathers in the levels of concentration, it is content to work from various angles in the area of mindfulness and discernment. When it's working, the results of its work appear. The defilements fall away one after another. The heart becomes engrossed in the results of its work and investigates even more, never having its fill, like spring water flowing continually throughout the rainy season.

(Ajahn Maha Boowa)

No.295 - The cause of sufferings

As you contemplate the cause of suffering, you should understand that when that which we call the mind is still, it's in a state of normality. As soon as it moves, it becomes sankhara (that which is fashioned or concocted). When attraction arises in the mind, it is sankhara, when aversion arises, it is sankhara. If there is desire to go here and there, it is sankhara. As long as you are not mindful of these sankharas, you will tend to chase after them and be conditioned by them. Whenever the mind moves, it becomes sammutti-sankhara  -  enmeshed in the conditioned world  -  at that moment. And it is these sankharas  -  these movements of the mind  -  which the Buddha taught us to contemplate.

(Ajahn Chah)