The teachings say that wherever a problem arises it must be settled right there. Where suffering lies is right where non-suffering will arise, it ceases at the place where it arises.
AJAHN CHAHAll that I have said up to now has merely been words. When people come to see me, I have to say something. But it is best not to speak about these matters too much.
More Ajahn Chah Quotes
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Difficult or easy, the Buddha said not to be heedless. Just that–don’t be heedless. Why? Because life is not certain.
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To the birds, the fruit may be sweet or sour or whatever. The birds say sweet or they say sour, but from the tree’s point of view, this is just the chattering of birds.
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When coming out of sitting, don’t think that you’re coming out of meditation, but that you are only changing postures.
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Mental activity is like a deadly poisonous cobra. If we don’t interfere with a cobra, how poisonous it may be, it simply goes its own away.
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Investigate yourself to find the truth – inside, not outside. Knowing yourself is most important.
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If your mind is happy then you are happy anywhere you go. When wisdom awakens within you, you will see Truth wherever you look.
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All religions are like different cars all moving in the same direction. People who don’t see it have no light in their hearts.
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I touch it and it rings! One day the wind may blow it off the shelf, or my elbow may knock it from the table.
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Even if the water is falling right on it, it only touches the outside and not the inside. In this way the bowl will never get full.
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We practice to learn how to let go, not how to increase our holding on to things. Enlightenment appears when you stop wanting anything.
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You will witness all kinds of scenes and actors, all kinds of temptations and stories, everything imaginable.
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We see that the sound is simply sound. If we understand like this, then there’s nothing more to it. We leave it be.
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If it shouldn’t happen, it wouldn’t happen.
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When the heart truly understands, it lets go of everything.
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Proper effort is not the effort to make something particular happen. It is the effort to be aware and awake each moment, the effort to overcome laziness and merit, the effort to make each activity of our day meditation.
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Isn’t it wonderful how the sky can take that dirty water and change it into pure, clean water? Your mind can do the same with your defilements if you let it.
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Wisdom is in yourself, just like a sweet ripe mango is already in a young green one.
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If you haven’t wept deeply, you haven’t begun to meditate.
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Look at your own mind. The one who carries things thinks he’s got things, but the one who looks on sees only the heaviness. Throw away things, lose them, and find lightness.
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The mind is intrinsically tranquil. Out of this tranquility, anxiety and confusion are born. If one sees and knows this confusion, then the mind is tranquil once more.
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The master held up a glass and said: Someone gave me this glass; It holds my water admirably and it glistens in the sunlight.
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These days people don’t search for the Truth. People study simply in order to find knowledge necessary to make a living.
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The only way to experience it is to put the teachings into practice. Once you taste it, you are no longer in any doubt about its flavour and you do not have to ask anyone else. The problem is solved.
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I know this glass is already broken, so I enjoy it – incredibly.
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You should think about your own death 3 times per day at the very least.
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Therefore we have to train our mind. The meditation practice in Buddhism is all about training one’s own mind.
AJAHN CHAH