The empty mind – the pure mind – is not a blank, zero-land, where you’re not feeling or caring about anything.
AJAHN SUMEDHOThe empty mind – the pure mind – is not a blank, zero-land, where you’re not feeling or caring about anything.
AJAHN SUMEDHOThe goal lies away from the sensual world. It is not a rejection of the sensual world, but understanding it so well that we no longer seek it as an end in itself.
AJAHN SUMEDHOWe look directly into our suffering rather than try to become happy. The happiness that arises from this approach is reliable.
AJAHN SUMEDHOInstead of becoming the world’s expert on Buddhism, just let go, let go, let go.
AJAHN SUMEDHOA new day is here. Yesterday is a memory. Tomorrow is unknown. Now is the knowing.
AJAHN SUMEDHOMeditation is a skilful letting go: gently but with resolution.
AJAHN SUMEDHOIt’s an effulgence of the mind. It’s a brightness that is truly sensitive and accepting. It’s an ability to accept life as it is.
AJAHN SUMEDHOWhatever you think you are, that’s not what you are.
AJAHN SUMEDHOWe no longer demand that sensory consciousness be anything other than an existing condition that we can use skillfully according to time and place.
AJAHN SUMEDHOThe mind of the ignorant person is conditioned and fixed.
AJAHN SUMEDHOThe mind of an enlightened human being is flexible and adaptable.
AJAHN SUMEDHOOf course we can always imagine more perfect conditions, how it should be ideally, how everyone should behave. But it is not our task to create an ideal. It’s our task to see how it is, and to learn from the world as it is. For the awakening of the heart, conditions are always good enough.
AJAHN SUMEDHOSuttas are not meant to be ‘sacred scriptures’ that tell us what to believe.
AJAHN SUMEDHOWhen we accept life as it is, we can respond appropriately to the way we’re experiencing it, rather than just reacting out of fear and aversion.
AJAHN SUMEDHOI contemplated my greed for peace. And I did not seek tranquillity anymore.
AJAHN SUMEDHOOne should read them, listen to them, think about them, contemplate them, and investigate the present reality, the present experience with them. Then, and only then, can one insightfully know the truth beyond words.
AJAHN SUMEDHO