A Tree in the Forest
PART 1
by Ajahn Chah
CONTENT
1 Part 1
2 Aimless Wanderer
3 Banana Peel
4 Blind Man
5 Bottle of Medicine
6 Child Playing
7 Cobra
8 Coconut Shells
9 Cooking
10 Crazy Man
11 Cup of Water
12 Dam
13 Deep Hole
14 Dirty Clothes
15 Drinking Glass
16 Drunk
17 Duck
18 Empty Space
19 Family
20 Fertilizer
21 Fire
22 Fish
23 Fish and Frog
24 Fish Trap
25 Fisherman
26 Flashlight
27 Freeway
28 Frog
29 Fruit Tree
30 Garbage Pit
31 Gift
32 Grass
33 Hand
34 Hole
35 House
36 Housewife
37 Jackal
38 Knife
39 Knot
40 Ladle
41 Leaking Roof
42 Leaves
43 Letter
44 Log
45 Lumber
46 Maggot
47 Mango
48 Medicines and Fruit
49 Merchants
50 Oil and Water
51 Orphan
52 Ox Cart
53 Pool
54 Rainwater
55 River Flow
56 Road
57 Rock
58 Screw
59 Seedling
60 Sharp Knife
61 Snake
62 Spider
63 Still, Flowing Water
64 Sweet Fruit
65 Thermos Bottle
66 Thirsty Man
67 Thorn
68 Trap
69 Traveler
70 Trees
71 Turtle
72 Twigs and Root
73 Unthreshed Rice
74 Water Buffalo
75 Wild Chickens
76 Yard Full of Animals
PART 1
"We have to talk about the Dhamma like this, using similes, because the Dhamma has no form. Is it square or is it round
You can”t say. The only way to talk about it is through similes like these."
Similes
Aimless Wanderer
When we have no real home, we”re like an aimless wanderer out on the road, going this way for a while and then that way, stopping for a while and then setting off again. Until we return to our real home, whatever we do we feel ill at ease, just like somebody who”s left his village to go on a journey. Only when he gets home again can he really relax and be comfortable. Nowhere in the world is any real peace to be found. That”s the nature of the world. Look within yourself and find it there instead. When we think of the Buddha and how truly he spoke, we feel how worthy he is of reverence and respect. Whenever we see the truth of something, we see his teachings, even if we”ve never actually practiced Dhamma. But even if we have knowledge of his teachings, have studied and practiced them but still have not seen their truth, then we”re still homeless like the aimless wanderer.
Banana Peel
When you see things in the world like banana peels that have no great value to you, then you”re free to walk in the world without being moved, without being troubled, without being hurt in any way by all the various kinds of things that come and pass away, whether pleasant or unpleasant. This is the path that leads you to freedom.
Blind Man
Both the body and mind are constantly arising and ceasing, conditions are in a state of constant turmoil. The reason we can”t see this in line with the truth is because we keep believing in the untrue. It”s like being guided by a blind man. How can we travel with him in safety
A blind man will only lead us into forests and thickets. How could he lead us to safety when he can”t see
In the same way, our mind is deluded by conditions, creating suffering in the search for happiness, creating difficulty in the search for peace. Such a mind can have only problems and suffering. Really, we want to get rid of suffering and difficulty, but instead we create those very things. All we can do is complain. We create bad causes, and the truth of appearances and conditions and try to cling to them.
Bottle of Medicine
We can compare practice to a patient who does not take the medicine that his doctor has left for him. Although detailed instructions have been written on the bottle, all the patient does is read them and doesn”t actually take the medicine. And before he dies, he may complain bitterly that the doctor wasn”t any good; that the medicine didn”t cure him. He may think that the doctor was a fake or that the medicine was worthless, yet he had only spent his time examining the bottle and rea…
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