Steady practice is keeping mindful in every posture, whether sitting, walking, standing or lying down.
AJAHN CHAHSteady practice is keeping mindful in every posture, whether sitting, walking, standing or lying down.
AJAHN CHAHIf you reflect in this way, you will have peace. Wherever you are, you will have this attitude of practice with you constantly.
AJAHN CHAHWe need to develop meditation so that the understanding arises clearly within oneself. It is not the case that merely by listening to another’s explanation our defilements will disappear.
AJAHN CHAHThings are simply the way they are. They don’t give us suffering. Like a thorn: Does a sharp thorn give us suffering?
AJAHN CHAHIf you have time to be mindful, you have time to meditate.
AJAHN CHAHMeditation is like a single log of wood. Insight and investigation are one end of the log; calm and concentration are the other end. If you lift up the whole log, both sides come up at once. Which is concentration and which is insight? Just this mind.
AJAHN CHAHLooking for peace is like looking for a turtle with a mustache: You won’t be able to find it. But when your heart is ready, peace will come looking for you.
AJAHN CHAHWith even a little intuitive wisdom we will be able to see clearly the ways of the world.
AJAHN CHAHThe 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.
AJAHN CHAHAnything which is troubling you, anything which is irritating you, THAT is your teacher.
AJAHN CHAHTo 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.
AJAHN CHAHWe practice to learn how to let go, not how to increase our holding on to things. Enlightenment appears when you stop wanting anything.
AJAHN CHAHWe can always find time to breathe. In the same way, if we see the importance of meditation practice we will find the time to practice.
AJAHN CHAHPeople go through life blindly, ignoring death like revellers at a party feasting on fine foods. They ignore that later they will have to go to the toilet, so they do not bother to find out where there is one.
AJAHN CHAHIf you haven’t wept deeply, you haven’t begun to meditate.
AJAHN CHAHJust know what is happening in your mind – not happy or sad about it, not attached. If you suffer see it, know it, and be empty. It’s like a letter – you have to open it before you can know what’s in it.
AJAHN CHAH