The master held up a glass and said: Someone gave me this glass; It holds my water admirably and it glistens in the sunlight.
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.
More Ajahn Chah Quotes
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We will come to understand that everything in the world is our teacher.
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Anything which is troubling you, anything which is irritating you, THAT is your teacher.
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When we sit in meditation and hear a sound, we think, ‘Oh, that sound’s bothering me.’ If we see it like this, we suffer. But if we investigate a little deeper,
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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.
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If we see suffering then we don’t have suffering.
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Once you understand non-self, then the burden of life is gone. You’ll be at peace with the world. When we see beyond self, we no longer cling to happiness and we can truly be happy.
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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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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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The heart is just the heart; thoughts and feelings are just thoughts and feelings. Let things be just as they are.
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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?
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Practicing meditation is just like breathing. While working we breathe, while sleeping we breathe, while sitting down we breathe…
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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.
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If suffering arises you must contemplate right there, you don’t have to run away.
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I know this glass is already broken, so I enjoy it – incredibly.
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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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The Dhamma has to sink deeply into the mind so that whatever we do, the mind has always goodness within it. All the ways of making merit are aiming at this. Goodness lies in the right view that is established in the mind.
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Whenever we feel that we are definitely right, so much so that we refuse to open up to anything or anybody else, right there we are wrong. It becomes wrong view.
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Raise families and look after themselves, that’s all. To them, being smart is more important than being wise!
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If we only make merit but have not stopped doing bad things, then we will never have a day of completion. It is like an overturned bowl which is left outside in the rain.
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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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If it isn’t good, let it die. If it doesn’t die, make it good.
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It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher. Where you experience suffering, you can also find freedom from suffering.
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Another man understands that nature of the river is to change constantly, regardless of his likes and dislikes, and therefore he does not suffer.
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Happiness and suffering do not depend on being poor or rich, they depend on having the right or wrong understanding in our mind.
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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.
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Regarding this Dhamma, it is not something that we can simply talk about or take another’s word for it.
AJAHN CHAH