No.367 - “Fear arises out of ignorance, the lack of right knowledge or truth.”

 

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart

 

 

Sun, 12 June 2022

 

 

“Fear arises out of ignorance, the lack of right knowledge or truth.”

 

Layman:  Do you have any thoughts about how people can deal with fear?

 

Than Ajaan: Fear arises out of ignorance, the lack of right knowledge or truth. We are afraid to lose things and afraid to lose our body because we are ignorant of the truth of those things and our body. We don’t see the impermanent nature of things or the body. We don’t see that everything arises and ceases, with nothing remaining the same or remaining forever. We also don’t know who we are. This is the real problem.

 

Our delusion makes us think that the body is ourselves when in fact the body is just another vehicle, like a car that we use to take us from place to place. We are the driver, but the problem is we don’t know that we are just the driver. Instead we think we are the car. The driver doesn’t die with the car. The mind doesn’t die with the body.

 

If you meditate, you will see. If you can enter total calm, you come to realise that there is this separate entity which is the mind. When you meditate and the mind becomes totally concentrated, you will temporarily let go of the body. The body will disappear from the mind’s perception, leaving the mind by itself. Then you will know that this is the mind without the body.

 

Once you know this, you are no longer afraid of death, no longer afraid of losing anything. It’s delusion that makes you think that you will lose everything when everything in the first place never belonged to you. Everything belongs to the earth. We have come and use the body to acquire things, but when the body has to die, you lose everything.

 

Life is just like going to the movies. While we watch a movie there will be this and that, but when it’s over, we have got nothing. We leave the movie theatre with nothing. The earth is like a stage or movie screen. The mind just comes and uses the body as an instrument to experience this movie. Once the body that we used to experience the movie no longer exists, we have to leave the movie theatre, go to a different theatre, and get a new body.

 

So know the truth is that we are not the body, that everything we have here does not belong to us and is only a temporary possession. Once you have the right attitude, the right knowledge, then you can adjust your attitude accordingly. You don’t own the sun, right? So you don’t get mad when the sun sets. You don’t feel bad about the sun setting, because you know the sun doesn’t belong to you. It is the same thing with the body and everything that you have here.

 

Your delusion makes you think that everything belongs to you, including your body, so when you lose it, you think that you are losing everything. You think that you disappear with the body, but that is not the case. Because when you meditate, you don’t have to use the body.

 

Once the mind has entered calm, it separates from the body, and it actually becomes a lot happier than when having a body. The body is really a burden that you have to carry. Like an automobile it gives benefits, but it also comes with costs. You have to pay for it. You have to take care of it; you have to buy gas. You have to clean it; you have to fix it when it needs repairs.

 

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Youtube: Dhamma in English

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

No.366 - How to overcome the tendency to be envious towards others?

 

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart

 

Question:  How to overcome the tendency to be envious towards others?

 

Than Ajahn:  You have to develop muditā.  Muditā means to have joy in other people’s progress.  When you see your friends or people you don’t know achieve success, become richer or become better, you should be happy with their achievement.  You have to look at the truth.  The truth is everyone is different. Different person can achieve different things in life.  Each individual can achieve success slowly or quickly.  This is something you cannot dictate that you should achieve success more than other people.  There’s a tendency that you always think of yourself.  You want to achieve success.  When somebody else achieves success more than you do, you become envious or jealous of other person’s success.  So, you have to look at the truth that everybody has his own abilities; some can achieve success quickly and some can achieve success slowly; some can achieve success and some cannot achieve any success; it’s not for you to become envious of other people.

 

You should come back and look at yourself and see why you are not achieving any success.  If you’re not achieving any success, then you should fix it.  Don’t try to go fix other people by trying to make other people’s achievement go back down to your level.  So, try to look at yourself and don’t look at other people.  If other people advance, just congratulate them, be happy with their achievement.  If you don’t do so, then you will feel bad every time you see somebody else do better than you.  You have to see that people have different abilities.  If they can do it, it’s their business.  It has nothing to do with you.  Tell yourself that whatever people do, how much is their achievement, it’s their business, not your business to give them scores or to criticize them.  So, this is basically what you should do: if you see people have happiness, have advancement in their lives, you should be happy with them.

 

“Dhamma in English, Mar 15, 2019.”

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Question:  We contemplate asubha to reduce our sexual desire. What should we contemplate on for us to reduce our jealousy i.e. jealous of others’ successes or wealth, etc.?

 

Than Ajahn:   You contemplate on the law of kamma. We are all subject to the law of kamma. Kamma is action—what we do and what we had done. The result of our action arises from what we do now and what we had done in the past. If someone is better than us, it means that he had done something better than we did. It’s the law. It’s the truth. There is no point to be envious or jealous. It won’t change anything. You have to accept that there are people who are better than you are, there are people who are equal to you and there are people who are worse off than you. So, when you see that somebody is better than you, you should also look at somebody who is worse off than you. This may balance out your perspective about others.

 

“Dhamma in English, Jun 19, 2018.”

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Question:  Could you tell me how to deal with envy and jealousy? Because sometimes it overwhelms me and consumes my life and I am unable to get it out of my mind.

 

Than Ajahn:  Don’t compete with other people but compete with yourself, then there will be no envy and jealousy. Try to compete with yourself. What you have to compete with is your kilesas (defilements), which is your greed, hatred and delusion. Don’t compete with other people because some other people may be smarter or better than you are and some people are worse off than you. So when you want people to be like you but they happen to be smarter than you are, then you can be envious.

 

If you have to compare with other people, then you should think that we all have different kamma. We did different kamma in the past and it makes some people smarter than us, some people less smart than us. We just have to accept the truth of the kamma that people are not the same. If they are better than us, we should just accept it because this is the truth.

 

“Dhamma in English, Oct 27, 2016.”

 

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

No.365 - Karma has no expiration date.

 

Karma has no expiration date.

 

In our ignorance and delusion, we do not truly understand karma. What we think, say, and do will assuredly come back to us—just as surely as our ball thrown against a wall will ricochet back to us. This ricochet may take a million lifetimes to come back to us, but regardless of the time span a cause will give rise to a result. Many of us will say that we believe in karma. Yet we behave like we do not. Please reconsider this. Have we become even a little irritated with someone or something today? That was anger, and we have not understood karma. Have we ever declared “I want pizza tonight!” (and nothing else). Have we ever thought, Yes! That gap is enough for me to get into the other lane. Those were greed—for taste, for self-interest. If we still have ignorance and delusion, still feel anger and craving, then we have not really understood causality. And instead of planting seeds to be born in the Pure Land, we are continuing to plant the wrong seeds, those that would see us suffering in samsara, over and over.

 

Venerable Wuling

No.364 - The Dhama Reflections of Ven Lindagala Ananda Thero

 

Good Morning

 

"Everything is impermanent in this world. Things that we expect will not be happened, but things that we don't expect will be happened. This is the Nature of the world. The Buddha preached that the meaning of the word 'world' is as dissolving or crumbling. We all know that Life is ups and downs. We have to accept whatever arise in our life and we should react positively. We should always try to understand that everything is impermanent. if good time is going on, we should not forget that bad time also may come again. If bad time is going on, we should be strong and keep the faith and confidence that good time will definitely come again. As Humans, we should be able to see good in every situation, everything and everyone and we need to understand that regretting and focusing on the problems, challenges and bad situations nothing give us, but only fear, worries and sufferings and we become weaker. However, if we can keep the self confidence, strong mind and pure thoughts and positive mental attitudes, definitely we will be able to deal with the difficult situation and to overcome all stress, worries, difficulties, negativities, regrets, pains and sufferings. Our life is too short to be sad and regret. That is why we should try to think, act and speak good all the time. The most important thing for the well-being of our life is patience. Be positive and patience. then, Everything will be fine and we can have the strength, power and energy to get over this disaster soonest. Let's Cultivate more and more Dharmic thoughts, Humane qualities and pure intention in order to Calm down the Nature and to show our goodness to the universe...."

 

"May all sentient beings have happiness and its causes....

May all sentient beings be free from dangers and  suffering and its causes....

May all sentient beings not be separated from sorrowless bliss....

May all sentient beings abide in equanimity free of bias, attachment and anger, and share Loving-kindness and compassion with others....

 

Venerable  Lindagala Ananda Thero

No.363 - From The Autobiography of Phra Ajaan Lee

From The Autobiography of Phra Ajaan Lee

“I've learned to reflect on the teachings that the Buddha taught first to each newly-ordained monk. They're very thought-provoking. He taught the Dhamma first, and then the Vinaya. He'd begin with the virtues of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, followed by the five basic objects of meditation: hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth, and skin. Then he'd give a sermon with four major points^1:

 

a) Make a practice of going out for alms. Be an asker, but not a beggar. Be content with whatever you are given.

 

b) Live in a quiet place, such as an abandoned house, under a projecting cliff face, in a cave. People have asked if the Buddha had any reasons for this teaching, but I've always been convinced that if there were no benefits to be gained from these places, he wouldn't have recommended them. Still, I wondered what the benefits were, which is why I've taken an interest in this matter.

 

c) The Buddha taught monks to make robes from cloth that had been thrown away—even to the point of wearing robes made from the cloth used to wrap a corpse. This teaching made me reflect on death. What benefits could come from wearing the cloth used to wrap a corpse? For a simple answer, think for a moment about a corpse's things: They don't appeal to anyone. No one wants them—and so they hold no dangers. In this point it's easy enough to see that the Buddha taught us not to take pride in our possessions.

 

d) The Buddha taught that we should use medicines near at hand, such as medicinal plants pickled in urine.

 

These teachings of the Buddha, when I first heard them, sparked my curiosity. Whether or not I would benefit from following them, there was one thing I was sure of:

 

That the Buddha was not the sort of person who would hold blindly to anything, and that he would never teach anything without good reason. So even if I wasn't totally convinced of his teachings, I should at least respect them. Or if I didn't yet have confidence in my teacher's ability, I owed it to him and to the traditions of the Sangha to give his teachings a try.

 

I was reminded of the words of MahaKassapa, who asked to be allowed to follow such ascetic practices as living in the forest, eating one meal a day (going out for alms), and wearing robes made from thrown-away rags all of his life.

 

The Buddha questioned him: ‘You've already eradicated your defilements. What is there left for you to strive for?’

 

MahaKassapa answered, ‘I want to observe these practices, not for my own sake, but for the sake of those yet to come. If I don't follow these practices, who will they be able to take as an example? If a person teaches by example, the students will learn easily, just as when a person teaches students how to read: If he has pictures to go along with the text, the students will learn much more quickly. My observing these practices is the same sort of thing.’

 

When I thought of these words, I felt sympathy for MahaKassapa, subjecting himself to all sorts of hardships. If you were to put it in worldly terms, you could say that he was already a multimillionaire, deserving a soft bed and fine food, but instead he slept and ate on the ground, and had only coarse food to eat. Thinking of his example, I'd be ashamed to look for nothing more than creature comforts.

 

As for MahaKassapa, he could have eaten fine food and lived in a beautiful home with no danger of his heart's being defiled. But—and it's not surprising—he was more concerned with benefiting those who came after.

 

All of these things have given me food for thought ever since I was first ordained.”

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

From The Autobiography of Phra Ajaan Lee, translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. https://www.dhammatalks.org/ebook_index.html#autobiography

 

~~~

^1. The four basic requisites are easy to gain and blameless. To be content with them is a factor of the…

No.362 - Making Mertis

 

1. Good people cannot live with evil ones. Evil people cannot live with good ones. You don't need to chase or force them, they will move of their own accord.

 

2. Practising meditation is the best thing you can do in this world. You will receive merit. Benefitting both the living and the departed ones in their future lives.

 

3. Make a lot of merit first, to build up your fortune. Once you have fortune (luck), whatever you want to sell will sell. Whatever you do will not have obstructions. If you have no merit, you will have no luck. Even gold in your house, you won't be able to sell it.

 

4. Even the greatest suffering will come to pass. In the end, when we look back at our lives, we would have experienced many episodes of suffering.

 

5. Every person has a different level of merit. But if we practice the Dhamma consistently, our baramee will be higher than ever before.

 

6. Speak good things, is as valuable as silver and gold. Speak badly to/about others, and the bad things will come around back to you one day.

 

Luang Phor Jaran Thittatammo

Wat Amphawan, Singburi Province

No.361 - The Teachings of Ajahn Chah

 

Anyone can build a house of wood and bricks, but the Buddha taught that that sort of home is not our real home, it’s only nominally ours. It’s home in the world and it follows the ways of the world. Our real home is inner peace. An external, material home may well be pretty but it is not very peaceful. There’s this worry and then that, this anxiety and then that. So we say it’s not our real home, it’s external to us. Sooner or later we’ll have to give it up. It’s not a place we can live in permanently because it doesn’t truly belong to us, it belongs to the world. Our body is the same. We take it to be a self, to be ‘me’ or ‘mine’, but in fact it’s not really so at all, it’s another worldly home. Your body has followed its natural course from birth, and now that it’s old and sick, you can’t forbid it from being that. That’s the way it is. Wanting it to be any different would be as foolish as wanting a duck to be like a chicken. When you see that that’s impossible – that a duck must be a duck and a chicken must be a chicken, and that the bodies have to get old and die – you will find courage and energy. However much you want the body to go on lasting, it won’t do that.

 

The Buddha said:

Aniccā vata saṅkhārā

Impermanent, alas, are all conditions,

 

Uppāda-vaya-dhammino

Subject to rise and fall.

 

Uppajjitvā nirujjhanti

Having arisen, they cease.

 

Tesaṃ vūpasamo sukho.

Their stilling is bliss.

(Ajahn Chah)

No.360 - Why you should do good.

 

Why You Should Do Good

 

At Sāvatthī.

 

King Pasenadi of Kosala sat to one side, and the Buddha said to him, “So, great king, where are you coming from in the middle of the day?”

 

“Sir, my grandmother has passed away. She was old, elderly and senior. She was advanced in years and had reached the final stage of life; she was a hundred and twenty years old. But I loved my grandmother; she was dear to me. If by giving away the elephant treasure I could get my grandmother back, I’d do it. If by giving away the horse treasure I could get my grandmother back, I’d do it. If by giving away a prize village I could get my grandmother back, I’d do it. If by giving away the whole country I could get my grandmother back, I’d do it.”

 

“Great king, all sentient beings are liable to die. Death is their end; they’re not exempt from death.”

 

“It’s incredible, sir, it’s amazing, how well said this was by the Buddha: ‘All sentient beings are liable to die. Death is their end; they’re not exempt from death.’”

 

“That’s so true, great king! That’s so true! All sentient beings are liable to die. Death is their end; they’re not exempt from death. It’s like the vessels made by potters. Whatever kind they are, whether baked or unbaked, all of them are liable to break apart. Breaking is their end; they’re not exempt from breakage. In the same way, all sentient beings are liable to die. Death is their end; they’re not exempt from death.”

 

That is what the Buddha said. …

 

“All beings will die,

for life ends with death.

They pass on according to their deeds,

reaping the fruits of good and bad.

Those who do bad go to hell,

and if you do good you go to heaven.

 

That’s why you should do good,

investing in the future life.

The good deeds of sentient beings

support them in the next world.”

No.359 - Again and again they sow.

 

Again and again they sow – Ven Agacitta

              

I would like to refer to a sutta on this subject from the Samyutta Nikaya. It is the Udaya Sutta in the Brahmana Samyutta collection. In it, we are told that the Buddha went to the house of a brahmin named Udaya on his early morning alms-round. The brahmin was happy to see him and put food in the Buddha’s bowl. On the second occasion, Udaya repeated his offering. On the third time, he was annoyed when he saw the Buddha and commented, “This pesky ascetic Gotama keeps coming again and again.”

The Buddha replied with the following verse:

Again and again they sow the seed
Again and again the sky god sends down rain
Again and again the ploughmen plough the fields
Again and again rain comes to the kingdom.

Again and again the mendicants beg
Again and again the donors give
When donors have given again and again
Again and again they go to heaven.

Again and again the dairy folk draw milk
Again and again the calf goes to the mother
Again and again one wearies and trembles
Again and again the dolt enters the womb.

Again and again one is born and dies
Again and again they take one to the cemetery.

When one has obtained the Path
That leads to no more renewed existence.
Having become broad in wisdom
One is not born again and again!

When the brahmin heard this he was pleased and took refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha for life.

No.358 - Mind and Matter

 

"In reality, We can't go back and Change the beginning, but we can start from where we are now and change the ending. All the problems are stuck between "mind" and "matter". If we don't "Mind", it doesn't "Matter. So, the best thing is to live simple with the nature without any egoistic and unrealistic expectations. So, we don't need to go after happiness. Happiness will arise within us and we can work for our ultimate attainment. Plant at least a small positive thought before start the day and then, definitely we can overcome whatever difficult situation arises within us...."

 

May the Noble Triple Gems the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha bless you, all family members, dhamma friends and all living beings to have good health peace and happiness by being free from the virus, danger, harm, stress, depression, worries, difficulties, problems, sicknesses and all kind of bad situations. May all living beings be free from all sufferings....!

 

No.357 - Two ways to meditate ~

 

 

Two ways to meditate ~

 

When we speak of the “mind,” it is important to know whether we are talking about the ordinary mind, referring to the innumerable chains of thoughts that create and maintain our state of delusion,

or, as here, about the nature of mind at the source of all those thoughts—the clear, void state of awareness completely free of delusion.

 

To illustrate this distinction, Lord Buddha taught that there are two ways to meditate — like a dog and like a lion. If you throw a stick at a dog, he will chase after the stick; but if you throw a stick at a lion, the lion will chase after you. You can throw as many sticks as you like at a dog, but at a lion only one.

When you are completely barraged with thoughts, chasing after each one in turn with its antidote is an endless task. That is like the dog. It is better, like the lion, to look for the source of those thoughts.

 

No.356 - Ego

 

Ego

 

Good morning Master, is our constant stress due to our ego trying to prove that we exist?

 

The ego is trying or making extra unnecessary effort to achieve your desires and to prove that you are worthy in many ways. All these struggles over stretch your energy level especially when your luck is down.

 

Live in a middle path as what the Buddha used to say. If you over stretch your strings of your musical instrument, they will broke and you are too loosen with the strings, you can play a tone.

Hence you need to tune your tone in a middle way.

 

355 - Free Air

 

Free air

 

After the 93 year old in Italy got better in the hospital, he was told to pay for the ventilator for one day, and the old man cried.

The doctor advised him not to cry over the bill.

 

What the old man said made all the doctors cry.

Grandpa said, "I don't cry because of the money I have to pay. I can pay all the money.". I cry because I have been breathing God's air for 93 years, but I never pay for it.

 

It takes 5000f to use a ventilator in a hospital for one day. Do you know how much I owe God? I didn't thank God for that before. "

The truth of the news can't be verified, but grandpa's words are worth our reflection.

 

When we breathe the air freely without pain or illness, no one takes the air seriously. Only when we enter the hospital can we know that even breathing oxygen with a ventilator costs money!

Cherish the time when we can breathe freely!

 

This is authentic or not - not known. But it is Utmost Truth.

 

 

 

No.354 - Good deeds

 

Good deeds

 

 

When you have contributed your resources to build schools, or homes for the poor and orphans or give free services like teaching or nursing to the poor and the needy  in the under-developing countries, the  invisible credits would go to your spiritual account.

 

This spiritual account is important when you are desperately in need the divine to help.

 Believe me.

 

Many years back, I was invited by my friend to see an rich Indonesian man at  Mount Elizabeth Hospital.

He was very ill, lying on the sick bed.

Over there were four doctors, specialists, taking turn to check on this fat man, who was very heavy in built.

All the family members were there.

They were afraid that their father would die.

The four doctors could not come out with a right decision after checking with a close discussion.

I walked up and looked at this fat man lying there.

An answer appeared in my conscious mind.

This man had contributed so much money in building schools, hospitals, universities in Indonesia and in older China.

So I told his son not to worry.

 

Of course they were not  able to understand me.

 I asked his son to get a Chinese physician to prescribe a herbal medicine to his father and he would be out of the hospital in seven days.

His spiritual account had helped him to live on for another ten more years.

He passed away around 90 years old.

 

No.353 - It is usually more effective to approach problems with a light heart

 

It is usually more effective to approach problems with a light heart

 

– a willingness to laugh at them and at ourselves. A sense of humor can be very helpful in preventing us from feeling stuck or overwhelmed by a difficult situations and other unhelpful emotions, it will be very difficult to plan or make clearheaded decisions. You will not be able to look beyond the obstacles to notice the opportunities.

 

No.352 - Life

 

life.

 

Take a moment and look.

Look how our life spins, faster and faster each day. So many things to do, so many things to get and so little time to do it all.

Without a loving awareness it is easy to be pulled into this madness and be completely caught up in the excitement, frustration and disappointment of life.

So relax, be aware. Just see how things are. Don’t judge. Don’t formulate new opinions. Just be with things peacefully and stay in balance. Cast your web of awareness over your life and allow the space for everything to arise and pass away naturally.

Give your attention to this moment and your activity in this moment. This is your whole life, just this.

Live with love and be aware and let things be as they are.

May all beings be happy.SadhuX3

No.351 - Loving heart

 

Loving heart

 

Only the closed heart wants to possess someone or something. The truly loving heart celebrates the freedom of all things.

When the closed heart sees something beautiful it wants to own it. The truly loving heart celebrates the beauty.

Living in harmony with the world and not attempting to dominate it is the way of Dhamma. This is a path worthy of pursuit.

May all beings be happy.

 

No.350 - Mindfulness

 

Mindfulness

 

In the future, does this mean I should be more mindful and apply more wisdom in speech and action (even if I mean well), and be careful not to introduce any hint of satire in my communications?

 

You got the right answers.

 

Does this mean my past communications could have been perceived as insincere and thus misinterpreted?

 

Not all. I did such mistakes before.

 

I try to speak from my heart but not everyone is equal. some times, there are some things I cannot say so I hold my tongue, possibly because they are not ready to listen, or my heart tells me there is no karmic affinity and thus to keep them at arms length

 

Wow, well said. You have improved so much.

 

But master, this non-speaking, not being able to say what I really feel and what my heart tells me, makes me feel like a fraud and insincere at times, which affects how I speak and act. Does that not affect my words and actions, and thus cause the misinterpretation ?