Suppositions & Release
by Ajahn Chah
A talk by Ajahn Chah newly translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
August 15, 2007
All the things in the world are suppositions that we”ve supposed into being. Once we”ve supposed them, we fall for our own supposings, so nobody lets them go. They turn into views and pride, into attachment. This attachment is something that never ends. It”s an affair of samsara that flows without respite with no way of coming to closure. But if we really know our suppositions, we”ll know release. If we really know release, we”ll know our suppositions. That”s when you know the Dhamma that can come to closure.
Take people, for instance. When we start out, we”re born without names. The fact that we have names comes from their being supposed into being. I”ve thought about this and seen that if you don”t really know suppositions, they can cause a lot of harm. Actually, suppositions are simply things for us to use. If we understand what they”re for, that”s enough. Know that if we didn”t have suppositions, there would be nothing we could say to one another, no language to use with one another.
When I went abroad, I saw Westerners sitting in meditation in row after row. When they got up after sitting, men and women together, sometimes they”d go and touch one another on the head, one person after another! When I saw this I thought, “Hmm, if we set up a supposition anywhere and cling to it, it gives rise to defilements right there.” If we”re willing to let go of our suppositions, we can be at peace.
Like the generals and colonels, men of rank and position, who come to see me. When they come they say, “Oh, please touch my head”: That shows that they”re willing, so there”s nothing wrong with it. You can rub their heads, and they”re even glad you did it. But if you rubbed their heads in the middle of the street, there”d be a big fuss! This is because of clinging. So I”ve seen that letting go is really comfortable. When they agree to having their heads touched, they”ve supposed that there”s nothing wrong with it. And there is nothing wrong with it, just like rubbing a cauliflower head or a head of lettuce. But if you rubbed their heads in the middle of the road, they wouldn”t stand for it for sure.
It”s all a matter of willingness—accepting, giving up, letting go. When you can do this, things are light. Wherever you”re clinging, there”s becoming right there, birth right there, poison and danger right there. The Buddha taught about suppositions and he taught to undo suppositions in the right way, to turn them into release. Don”t cling to them.
The things that arise in the world are all suppositions. That”s how they come into being. When they”ve arisen and been supposed, we shouldn”t fall for them, for that leads to suffering. The affairs of supposition and convention are extremely important. Whoever can let them go is free from suffering.
But they”re an activity of this world of ours. Take Boonmaa, for instance. He”s the District Commissioner. His old friend, Saengchai, isn”t a district commissioner, but they”ve been friends from way back. Now that Boonmaa has been appointed district commissioner, there”s a supposition right there, but you have to know how to use it in an appropriate way, because we still live in the world. If Saengchai goes to the district offices and pats Boonmaa on the head, it”s not right. Even if Saengchai thinks about all the old times when they worked together as traveling tailors and about that time they almost died, it”s still not right for him to go playing around with Boonmaa”s head in front of other people. You have to show a little respect. You have to practice in line with our social suppositions. Only then can we live together in peace. No matter how long you”ve been friends, he”s now th…
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