The ultimate truth is like the flavour of an apple which you can’t see with the eye or hear with the ear.
AJAHN CHAHA woman wanted to know how to deal with anger. I asked when anger arose whose anger it was. She said it was hers.
More Ajahn Chah Quotes
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Sati is life. Whenever we don’t have sati, when we are heedless, it’s as if we are dead.
AJAHN CHAH -
To know existence as this flow, empty of lasting pleasure, void of self, is to find that which is stable and free of suffering, to find true peace in the world.
AJAHN CHAH -
When one does not understand death, life can be very confusing.
AJAHN CHAH -
Your only job is to stay in your seat. You will see it all arise and pass, and out of this, wisdom and understanding will come.
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When you sit, let it be. What you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing.
AJAHN CHAH -
I am like a tree in a forest. Birds come to the tree, they sit on its branches and eat its fruits.
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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.
AJAHN CHAH -
If your mind is happy then you are happy anywhere you go. When wisdom awakens within you, you will see Truth wherever you look.
AJAHN CHAH -
To define Buddhism without a lot of words and phrases, we can simply say, ‘Don’t cling or hold on to anything. Harmonize with actuality, with things as they are.’
AJAHN CHAH -
Letting go a little brings a little peace. Letting go a lot brings a lot of peace. Letting go completely brings complete peace.
AJAHN CHAH -
Dharma is in your mind, not in the forest. Don’t believe others, just listen to your mind. You don’t have to go anywhere else.
AJAHN CHAH -
Regarding this Dhamma, it is not something that we can simply talk about or take another’s word for it.
AJAHN CHAH -
If you haven’t wept deeply, you haven’t begun to meditate.
AJAHN CHAH -
Just 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 -
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.
AJAHN CHAH -
Learn to see that it is not things that bother us, that we go out to bother them.
AJAHN CHAH -
Don’t fall for it. Whenever the mind is happy or sad, don’t fall for it. Its all a deception.
AJAHN CHAH -
The forms of the world have their place, but in another way, there is nothing there. To be free, we need to respect both of these truths.
AJAHN CHAH -
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.
AJAHN CHAH -
To practice Dhamma means to observe and examine oneself.
AJAHN CHAH -
We have limited time in our life, therefore we should try to teach ourselves, not to teach others.
AJAHN CHAH -
Read yourself, not books. Truth isn’t outside, that’s only memory, not wisdom. Memory without wisdom is like an empty thermos bottle – if you don’t fill it, it’s useless.
AJAHN CHAH -
Try to be mindful, and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool.
AJAHN CHAH -
Do not be a bodhisattva, do not be an arahant, do not be anything at all. If you are a bodhisattva, you will suffer, if you are an arahant, you will suffer, if you are anything at all, you will suffer.
AJAHN CHAH -
Of course there are dozens of meditation techniques, but it all comes down to this – just let it all be. Step over here where it is cool, out of the battle. Why not give it a try?
AJAHN CHAH -
You should know both the universal and the personal, the realm of forms and the freedom to not cling to them.
AJAHN CHAH