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.
AJAHN CHAHThe meditator simply knows them, they don’t enter his mind. That is, he has no clinging. He is simply the experiencer.
More Ajahn Chah Quotes
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If you let go a lot you will have a lot of happiness. If you let go completely you will be free.
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Where does peace arise? Peace arises whenever we let something go.
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The heart is the only book worth reading.
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A woman wanted to know how to deal with anger. I asked when anger arose whose anger it was. She said it was hers.
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Why are we born? We are born so that we will not have to be born again.
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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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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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You will see many strange and wonderful things come and go, but you will be still. This is the happiness of the Buddha.
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We have limited time in our life, therefore we should try to teach ourselves, not to teach others.
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Wherever we start to think that things are certain, uncertainty is lurking right there. Heedlessness is just holding things as certain. It is grasping at certainty where there is no certainty and looking for truth in things that are not true. Be careful! They are likely to bite you sometime in the future!
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 -
Whatever he taught, we should practise it. Only bowing to him is not enough. We need to renounce, give up, stop, so that we may see the Buddha.
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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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Do everything with a mind that lets go. Do not expect praise or reward.
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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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If it shouldn’t happen, it wouldn’t happen.
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Where does rain come from? It comes from all the dirty water that evaporates from the earth, like urine and the water you throw out after washing your feet.
AJAHN CHAH -
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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Learn to see that it is not things that bother us, that we go out to bother them.
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When sitting in meditation, say, “That’s not my business!” with every thought that comes by.
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Raise families and look after themselves, that’s all. To them, being smart is more important than being wise!
AJAHN CHAH -
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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You will have a steady awareness within yourself.
AJAHN CHAH -
Wisdom is in yourself, just like a sweet ripe mango is already in a young green one.
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Therefore we have to train our mind. The meditation practice in Buddhism is all about training one’s own mind.
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This is the nature of the mind. We must find our own practice and persevere.
AJAHN CHAH