Timeless Teachings
From Forest Sangha Newsletter, January 1997, Number 39
Ajahn Chah
December 25, 2004
Everyone knows suffering - but they don”t really understand suffering. If we really understood suffering, then that would be the end of our suffering.
Westerners are generally in a hurry, so they have greater extremes of happiness and suffering. The fact that they have much kilesa (defilements), can be a source of wisdom later on.
To live the lay life and practise Dhamma, one must be in the world but remain above it. Sila [virtue], beginning with the basic five precepts, is the all important parent to all good things. It is for removing all wrong from the mind, removing that which causes distress and agitation. When these basic things are gone, the mind will always be in a state of samadhi.
At first, the basic thing is to make sila really firm. Practise formal meditation when there is the opportunity. Sometimes it will be good, sometimes not. Don”t worry about it, just continue. If doubts arise, just realise that they, like everything else in the mind, are impermanent.
Living in the world, practising meditation, others will look at you like a gong which isn”t struck, not producing any sound. They will consider you useless, mad, defeated; but actually it is just the opposite.
From this base, Samadhi will come, but not yet wisdom. One must watch the mind at work - see like and dislike arising from sense contact, and not attach to them.
Don”t be anxious for results or quick progress. An infant crawls at first, then learns to walk, then to run and when it is full grown, can travel half way round the world to Thailand.
Dana [generosity], if given with good intention, can bring happiness to oneself and others. But until sila is complete, giving is not pure, because we may steal from one person and give to another.
Seeking pleasure and having fun is never-ending, one is never satisfied. It”s like a water jar with a hole in it. We try to fill it but the water is continually leaking out. The peace of the religious life has a definite end, it puts a stop to the cycle of endless seeking. It”s like plugging up the hole in the water jar!
Living in the world, practising meditation, others will look at you like a gong which isn”t struck, not producing any sound. They will consider you useless, mad, defeated; but actually it is just the opposite.
As for myself, I never questioned the teachers very much, I have always been a listener. I would listen to what they had to say, whether it was right or wrong did not matter; then I would just practise. The same as you who practise here. You should not have all that many questions. If one has constant mindfulness, then one can examine one”s own mental states - we don”t need anyone else to examine our moods.
Once when I was staying with an ajahn I had to sew myself a robe. In those days there weren”t any sewing machines, one had to sew by hand, and it was a very trying experience. The cloth was very thick and the needles were dull; one kept stabbing oneself with the needle, one”s hands became very sore and blood kept dripping on the cloth. Because the task was so difficult I was anxious to get it done. I became so absorbed in the work that I didn”t even notice that I was sitting in the scorching sun dripping with sweat.
The ajahn came over to me and asked why I was sitting in the sun and not in the cool shade. I told him that I was really anxious to get the work done, "Where are you rushing off to
" He asked. "I want to get this job done so that I can do my sitting and walking meditation." I told him. "When is our work ever finished
" he asked. Oh! ...This finally brought me around.
"Our worldly work is never finished," he explained. "You should use such occasions as this as exercises in m…
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