Things are simply the way they are. They don't give us suffering. Like a thorn: Does a sharp thorn give us suffering? No. It's simply a thorn. It doesn't give suffering to anybody. If _x000D_ we step on it, we suffer immediately. _x000D_ Why do we suffer? Because we _x000D_ stepped on it. So the suffering comes from us.
Interpretation
Suffering originates from our reactions to experiences, not from the experiences themselves.
This quote by Ajahn Chah emphasizes that suffering is not an inherent quality of the situations we encounter, but rather a result of our responses to them. Just as a thorn does not cause suffering on its own, our pain arises from our actions or decisions, reminding us that we have the power to change our perspective on difficulties.
In practice
During a mindfulness workshop, to teach participants about the nature of suffering.
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. Learn to let go without struggle, simply let go, to be just as you are - no holding on, no attachment, free.
When sitting in meditation, say, "That's not my business!" with every thought that comes by.
If you haven't wept deeply, you haven't begun to meditate.
To observe and watch one's own mind is something really interesting. The untrained mind will run and follow its old habit patterns. Because it has not been trained and taught, it will get lost in all kinds of stories and issues. Therefore we have to train our mind. The meditation practice in Buddhism is all about training one's own mind.
Meditation 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.
The heart is just the heart; thoughts and feelings are just thoughts and feelings. Let things be just as they are.
You are being suffocated by tradition... Why don't you say, 'I am going to build a life for myself, for my time, and make it a work of art'? Your life isn't a work of art ---it's a thirdhand Victorian whatnot shelf, complete with someone else's collection of seashells and hand-carved elephants.
Look at me as many times as you wish, _x000D_ but you won’t get to know me! _x000D_ Since you have last seen me, _x000D_ I’ve changed a hundred times!
Two kinds of people live a life without care: one kind are extremely worthy of praise, the other kind are extremely worthy of criticism. The first are those who care nothing for the pleasures of the world and the second (i.e. those who are deserving of criticism) care nothing for haya or modesty.
You experience that you are cut off by being in your mind, and there is a quality that is starving in an individual that is locked in their mind. So when you move to another plane of consciousness which is no longer controlled by your intellect, which is really the sub-system and you move into the meta-system, what you feel at that moment is... you are the universe, you feel merged with it, you feel thick with the moment, and that richness is so fulfilling.
Religions have depended on the relative isolation and ignorance of their flocks, forever and this is all breaking down.
I will make a Star-chamber matter of it.
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