by Ajahn Chah
DV: No.
AC: Why not?
DV: Because it has no purpose.
AC: You grew up, right? When you were a child, you saw a balloon as a very valuable thing. You had so much fun; then it broke and maybe you cried. But now it’s different. If someone says, Doctor, do you want to play with balloons? you’re not interested.
But still, children will argue with you. They will say, Of course, it’s valuable to play with balloons. So who is right? Who will win the argument? The kids are right from their side, the adult is right from his side.
Asking these questions is very good. Let’s hear more, and get down to it.
DV: Well, I have another question, about Mrs. B. For ten years or more, she’s been running to get sprinkled with holy water. Wherever it’s happening, she wants to go. She always invites me, but I refuse. I say, I don’t make bad karma, I work hard to help others, and that is one kind of skillful activity that I do with good intention. If there is some mistake or misunderstanding, something inappropriate, I still did not have bad intention to cause harm to anyone, so I believe there is no bad karma. I believe that any religion, whatever it is, teaches people to have lovingkindness, to do good, to help the world and be pure. If we act with selfishness, then we’re finished, we give up responsibility for the world.
I believe it depends on our minds whether or not we receive merit. If we act without harmful intent, want to solve problems, are pure enough. . . . We see people ordain according to custom when the time comes for the purpose of being able to get a wife, but their minds may not be pure or pacified. They have anxiety and concerns or some burden from being in robes, so there is really no benefit. If people will ordain and create wholesome karma, it depends on their minds. Like with putting food in the monks’ alms bowls, I feel lazy about it. My wife always goes out to do it in the morning, but I don’t. I don’t like to take off my shoes to offer the food, as is the custom, but in my mind there is no unskillful thought.
Funeral offerings, putting food in alms bowls—people do these things, but still have greed, anger, and delusion in their minds and still cause suffering for others. Instead of making merit like this, wouldn’t it be better to make one’s mind peaceful and create happiness for others?
AC: There are two issues here. First, why does your wife like to do those things? Doctor, you have chickens around your house; do you give them shirts and pants or a watch? What do you give them?
DV: Rice grains.
AC: Right. That’s useful for chickens. Pants and shirts are for humans, not chickens. Chickens want rice. So you have to know what beings need.
Second, you talk about being lazy to offer food, but that your mind is good. If people are diligent, will they refuse to go to work or to wash dishes and clean the house? We’re talking about a hardworking person, not a lazy person, now.
DV: No need to answer that one.
AC: Right. So we’re talking about someone with faith. Your words are reasonable, but they go too far. You should know the middle, otherwise you exceed the cause and get no result. People with faith want to offer food, perform puja (chanting), and do other activities. They should do it with wisdom, not foolishness, of course. Anyhow, talking about you as a very hardworking person concerning the things you think are important: If you see the house is a mess, can you just sit there and ignore it? If the dishes are dirty, can you refrain from washing them? If the dog defecates on the floor, will you just leave it there? So people who are practicing Dharma in its various forms are not doing something different. Diligent people see things that need to be done, and they do them. Why do you sweep up the mouse and dog droppings? Because you are an aware and responsible person. So it’s not just people living in a different world and doing Buddhist things. Sprinkling the holy water, that’s their level; we don’t forbid the chickens to eat rice.
Good, very good! An hour is not enough, let’s air all those questions.
One Day Passes: A Talk to the Community of Nuns at Wat Pah Pong
WE WHO HAVE TAKEN ORDINATION should be aware of our responsibilities. What are we supposed to be doing? How should we think and speak? Right now, what are we doing and thinking—is there anger or desire in our minds? Do we have ill will toward anyone? Look in the present. Hurry up and decide about this. As one more day and night pass, will we just sit here and suffer?
The Buddha talked about this. If he were still with us, he would speak in this way. In the texts, he said, “The days and nights are passing relentlessly; how well are we spending our time?” The admonition seems small; it is a brief statement. But he forcefully reiterated that we should know ourselves, each one of us, and having ordained, we should know what our responsibilities are.
We want to give up the afflictions. Do we know the afflictions yet? That which is unwholesome, that which we want to relinquish, do we know what it is yet? Have we given it up, or are we in the process of doing so? Is what we have given up actually done with, merely suppressed, or enduring? What exactly is its status now? Do we yet act like samanas, or “renunciants,” think and speak like samanas, make use of the requisites for living like samanas? The Buddha asks these questions so we will come to a decision. For what reason? Because the days and nights pass; will we get to work here? We have lust and anger; we must quickly apply meditation practice to eradicate them.
Having ordained as nuns, you have entered a different “gender” from that of laypeople. Will you still think merely in the same way as people who are enjoying sense pleasures? Will that cut it? The time is little; there is not much. There is little time because one day passes by. Things are changing, nothing is stable, nothing remains the same. Will you depend on heedlessness to get you by? Will you live with attachment in your hearts? Will you stir up all sorts of confusion for yourselves? Why won’t you let go of these things, craving, anger, and delusion? You have to see the fault of them. Until you see the fault, you can’t relinquish. You will still have regrets, regrets over losing the afflictions. People can go on like this, ordained ten years, twenty years, this life, the next life. Just staying like this is easy, if you are not instructed.
Why do we have anger? Because of wrong thinking and wrong understanding. Why do we have delusion? Because we think wrongly. Why do we have desire? Wrong view brings suffering to us, and thus we are not at peace. Peace resides in having right view. If your view is correct, there is only peace. There won’t be desire, aversion, or delusion, because you have seen the fault of them and you don’t hold on to them anymore. Evil states still arise, but you let them go, give them up, let them pass you by.
Why will you give them up? Because your life is little; your time is little. Why is it little? Because you see that days and nights keep passing. To what end will you create suffering? Why would you grasp things? It would just be a waste of your precious time. Letting go is better. If your thinking is straight like this, you will certainly let go.
Wherever one has right view, that place will be tranquil. Without knowing this, living alone will not bring peace. Living in a group will not bring peace. There will be no peace, because there is wrong view. Within a group, though the members differ from each other, there will be certain common characteristics, such as in the genus of birds. All are birds, though there are different breeds. Some have long beaks, some short; some have great wings, some small. But they are all birds. The genus of monastics is likewise. The characteristics of a bird must be a certain way; the characteristics of a practitioner must be a certain way, which is tranquil.
We are supposed to be practicing to make the mind tranquil. Without wisdom, we won’t be able to do this. The dwelling place may be one of plenty, the food abundant, but the mind will not be at peace. All that is wrong within us we have to give up, but we can’t because we haven’t yet seen the liability clearly.
Having contemplated this, we have to make up our minds to work at it and then get down to making a real effort. These days, you can hear the lay folk say that Wat Pah Pong is a model monastery, a place of exem
plary practice. People say the monastics here are of good conduct. We hear about this. Well, are we that good? “The community of nuns are good practitioners, of fine conduct and discipline, worthy of faith and devotion.” Are you this good yet, or is the goodness only in their speech? Do we become good merely by their saying so? We all have to examine ourselves and make sure we are thinking and acting properly. If you are praised, you need to consider whether it is accurate. If you are disparaged and criticized as no good, you should also examine to see whether there is truth in this. Rely on yourselves in this way.
If we are not acting well and someone praises our goodness, we should be ready to say they are in error because we are not yet so good. Don’t start thinking you are somebody great when you still possess the afflictions, when you still have desires. Instead, you should amplify your practice, paying more attention to the fundamentals and inspecting your actions, words, and thoughts constantly to see where there are deficiencies.
As to what is spoken of as practicing alone, when living with many people, we should be as if living alone. We don’t need to be upset or distracted, but should rely on patience instead. If someone speaks in a way that displeases us, we should just know what they are about. Some may not be very skillful; some may not have proper speech or behavior. Be tolerant. When the time is appropriate, we can admonish them. But when it comes to admonishing, we should first be admonishing ourselves. If we admonish others and they don’t listen, it leads to anger. If we admonish another person, we should make ourselves right first. Whatever they say about us, whether it is criticism or whatever, we won’t mind or doubt, because we know we are doing the right things. Then when the occasion comes to admonish them, we go ahead and do it. If they listen, that is good. If not, that’s their affair. One who will instruct others should have this attitude.
And if we are the ones who are admonished—when we hear words such as, “you are wrong, you don’t speak well, your actions are bad”—we should be able to listen. Is it true what they say? If it’s true, we should accept it. If it isn’t true, their thoughts and words are not correct and that is their business. We should let go of it and enter Dharma. We should use such words to enter Dharma, inspecting ourselves to know our minds. We should examine our own minds and know the motivation for our words and deeds and be able to guarantee our speech. If we know that we have good intention, it won’t matter what others accuse us of or how they criticize. It is said, “One should admonish oneself by oneself.” You shouldn’t depend on me to admonish you all the time. That would only make you foolish. Each of you has to control your own minds and do your own practice. My part is to teach you how to do this, how to know whether your actions are correct and whether they are appropriate for a samana.
So they say Wat Pah Pong is a model monastery. And some people say I am an arahant. Isn’t that so? But that’s just a matter of people’s words. Is it really so? The truth of it resides with me. When they say, “There’s an arahant! An arahant has appeared!” should I be elated by that? Whether I am or not, that’s just others talking. We can’t prohibit people from talking, but we have to inspect ourselves, and whatever is really the case only we can know. We don’t need to depend on the words of other people. We rouse ourselves like this. They rouse us like this. You should know for yourselves and not just believe the words of others. Please keep this perspective.
Especially for the older people here—sixty or maybe seventy years old—be aware that days and nights keep passing. Today will soon be over; the sun rose in the morning, and now another day is hastening to its end. Have firm determination not to put your mind in turmoil. Don’t create distractions and confusion with others. Be one who is easy to speak to, easy to teach, not proud or opinionated. It isn’t forbidden to have views—you will always have them—but don’t get all bound up by them, firmly attached to your ideas. Release them, let them go. If you don’t, they become heavy.
We are taught to relinquish the five aggregates, that they are something heavy. Form, feeling, perception, thought, and consciousness—these are heavy things. If we carry heavy things, they will be heavy for us! Form, feelings, and the rest we see as being self, a person, I and others, and we carry them around. That way they become heavy. The Buddha said, “Please put them down!” Because we hold these bodies as ours; we hold feelings of happiness and suffering, pain and pleasure, as ourselves. Don’t do this! It’s very heavy! The Buddha wants us to let go of them.
Sanya refers to “perception,” recollection of various things. Calling it your self is heavy; let it go. Know it and put it down. Sankhara are all conditioned phenomena of body and mind. Don’t grasp them—they are heavy. Consciousness, the faculty of knowing, is the same. All five aggregates are heavy if you hold them as self. They are only nature; they are feeling and perception arising, thinking and awareness. No one is their owner. Holding them to be self is the heavy way; put them down. They are merely aggregates. Merely form, feeling, memory. Remember this “merely,” and don’t grasp so firmly. If you know them like this, liberation appears instantly. Before it was a matter of convention, designation as me and mine. Now there is knowledge that they are merely the aggregates, and liberation is at hand; you go beyond the conventional understanding. Before, you held the five khandhas (aggregates), and it was heavy. Now, letting go, there is lightness. When you let go, things are extinguished.
When someone admonishes us, we should accept it gladly and say, “Sadhu (How wonderful).” We don’t have to hire them to do so; they still admonish us. Even if we are right and they say we are wrong, we should listen gladly. Wisdom can arise. They are giving us something precious.
In Zen, they teach to reduce pride. They don’t say that a lot of learning is necessary. When they sit in meditation, someone walks behind them with a stick. If someone is falling asleep, he gets whacked. Then he raises his palms together in thanks: “Thank you, teacher. Thank you for beating me. Thank you for waking me.” How about us? Would we be able to offer thanks? Maybe I’ll have one of you walk around with a stick and if anyone is sleeping, whack! What do you think? Will you be able to accept it?
Being a teacher or a revered elder is difficult. No one dares to admonish us, because they feel so much awe and deference. You nuns and laypeople get some profit, since I’m always admonishing you and pointing things out. But if I do wrong, it’s hard to find anyone who will tell me, because of the traditional fear and respect for the ajahn. So for an elder, practice can become difficult. We may be doing things wrong, but no one will point them out, and we become oblivious to ourselves. There’s too much deference.
Here we are all fairly comfortable. So if occasionally we do wrong and someone says something about it, we should feel it is a great thing. Don’t try to wiggle away or argue. Look at it and understand what is going on.
We are living in a pretty large group. When you are about to do something, you should recall the head person. Such as here at Wat Pah Pong, the monks and nuns should think about me, since I am the abbot, the one responsible for leading and advising you. If you are about to do something that may not be right and is likely to bring turmoil and distress, think of me first, that I am the one who gives you teachings and good counsel here. Having a place to stay, the monastery and its dwellings, you could say that I was the cause of this because I came here first, and the rest of you were able to follow and live here in comfort. So if you can recollect my virtuous efforts for a tiny moment, that would be good. Then think, Is this right to do? Will it be beneficial?
All of you practicing here should rely on the virtues of the senior people, and then you will have harmony and happiness in your practice. You should think about the head nuns. When you act, recollect me. Do I charge rent for you to stay here? If you go to a hotel, you always have to pay for your room, but there is no such thing in the monastery. It’s good for you to consider this. At night when you are in your kuti, or “dwelling,” think about it. Am I seeking any gain from you? As a monk, I am indifferent. I recei
ved all of you who wanted to stay here. My intentions are good. I have love for you in the way of Dharma, not love in a worldly way, so there needn’t be any friction or fear of exploitation. If there is something wrong, you should come forth and speak about it.
Some of you have never asked me anything. Not just among the nuns; I also have never spoken with some of the monks. We have a large group, so this can happen; it can be hard when you are only one of many. So all of you have to depend on yourselves and make your practice strong, taking care of yourselves to your utmost.
We have to realize that the populace will come here and look at the nuns, the monks, and the monastery. They needn’t ask you anything. They can just see your kutis and the monastery grounds. The place is neat and clean. Everything is put away where it should be. This is the behavior of samanas, and people will naturally feel faith. We don’t have to preach to them. If things are messy, we all lend a hand to straighten it up. When I was younger, I used to walk around the monastery at odd times to take a look at the kutis and the paths in the forest. When I found a kuti and a bathroom that were clean, the paths well swept, I knew this was a person who was a good practitioner; if he had not yet entered into practice, he was certainly going to become good in the near future.
Some make light of this, thinking it’s a small thing. It isn’t. When I see a dirty bathroom, it shows me that the person is not attentive. It’s a sign of extreme coarseness; such a person needn’t talk about practicing Dharma at all. I would ask others to find out who it is whose bathroom is such a mess: no water in the barrel, termites all over, spiderwebs hanging, the floor dirty. “It’s so-and-so; he says he’s too busy practicing meditation to clean the bathroom.” What kind of meditation is he doing with a filthy bathroom? So here we all pay attention to our surroundings and help each other to take care of things. This itself is teaching, and it will cause people to have faith and trust.