A Tree in a Forest

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"People have asked about my practice. How do I prepare my mind for meditation?
There is nothing special. I just keep it where it always is.
They ask, Then are you an arahant?
Do I know?
I am like a tree in a forest, full of leaves, blossoms and fruit.
Birds come to eat and nest, and animals seek rest in its shade.
Yet the tree does not know itself.
It follows its own nature.
It is as it is."

"All the teachings are merely similes and comparisons, means to help the mind see the truth."

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Biography

Ajahn Chah was born in 1918 in a village located in the north eastern part of Thailand. He became a novice at a young age and recieved higher ordination at the age of twenty. He followed the austere Forest Tradition for years, living in forests and begging for almsfood as he wandered about on mendicant pilgrimage.

He practised meditation under a number of masters, among whom was Ajahn Mun, a highly respected and accomplished meditation teacher of the time. Ajahn Mun had an indelible influence on Ajahn Chah, giving his meditation practice the direction and clarity that it lacked. Ajahn Chah later became an accomplished meditation teacher in his own right, sharing his realization of the Dhamma with those who sought it. The essence of his teaching was rather simple: be mindful, dont hang on to anything, let go and surrender to the way things are.

Ajahn Chah passed away in peace after a long bout of illness on January 16, 1992, at his home monastery, Wat Pah Pong, in Ubon Ratchatani.

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Introduction

Ajahn Chah himself reminded us that the Buddha himself could only point out the way and could not do the practice for us, because the truth is something that cannot be put into words or given away. "All the teachings" Ajahn Chah taught, "are merely similes and comparisons, means to help the mind see the truth. If we establish the Buddha within our mind, then we see everything, we contemplate everything, as no different from ourselves.

Many of the similes that Ajahn Chah himself used to teach came out of his vast experience of living in the forest. His practice was simply to watch, all the while being totally open and aware of everything that was happening both inside and outside himself. He would say that his practice was nothing special. He was, in his own words, like a tree in a forest, "A tree is as it is," hes say. And Ajahn Chah was as he was. But out of such "nothing specialness" came a profound understanding of himself and the world.

Ajahn Chah used to say, "The Dhamma is revealing itself in every moment, but only when the mind is quiet can we understand what it is saying, for the Dhamma teaches without words." Ajahn Chah had this uncanny ability to take that wordless Dhamma and convey its truth to his listeners in the form of a simile that was fresh, easy to follow, sometimes humorous, sometimes poetic, but always striking a place in the heart where it would jar or inspire the most: "We are like maggots; life is like a falling leaf; our mind is like rain water."

The teachings of Ajahn Chah teem with similes and comparisons like these. We thought it would be a good idea to collect them all in the form of a book as a source of inspiration for those who may want some respite from the "heat" of the world and seek some rest in the cool and abundant shade of "a tree in the forest".

"We have to talk about the Dhamma like this, using similes, because the Dhamma has no form.
Is it square or is it round?
You cant say.
The only way to talk about it is through similes like these."

When we have no real home, were like an aimless wanderer out on the road, going this way for a while and then that way, stopping for a while and then setting off again. Until we return to our real home, whatever we do we feel ill at ease, just like somebody whos left his village to go on a journey. Only when he gets home again can he really relax and be comfortable.

Nowhere in the world is any real peace to be found. Thats the nature of the world. Look within yourself and find it there instead.

When we think of the Buddha and how truly he spoke, we feel how worthy he is of reverence and respect. Whenever we see the truth of something, we see his teachings, even if weve never actually practiced Dhamma. But even if we have knowledge of his teachings, have studied and practiced them but still have not seen their truth, then were still homeless like the aimless wanderer.

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Banana Peel
When you see things in the world like banana peels that have no great value to you, then youre free to walk in the world without being moved, without being troubled, without being hurt in any way by all the various kinds of things that come and pass away, whether pleasant or unpleasant. This is the path that leads you to freedom.

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Blind Man
Both the body and mind are constantly arising and ceasing, conditions are in a state of constant turmoil. The reason we cant see this in line with the truth is because we keep believing in the untrue. Its like being guided by a blind man. How can we travel with him in safety? A blind man will only lead us into forests and thickets. How could he lead us to safety when he cant see? In the same way, our mind is deluded by conditions, creating suffering in the search for happiness, creating difficulty in the search for peace. Such a mind can have only problems and suffering. Really, we want to get rid of suffering and difficulty, but instead we create those very things. All we can do is complain. We create bad causes, and the truth of appearances and conditions and try to cling to them.

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Bottle of Medicine
We can compare practice to a patient who does not take the medicine that his doctor has left for him. Although detailed instructions have been written on the bottle, all the patient does is read them and doesnt actually take the medicine. And before he dies, he may complain bitterly that the doctor wasnt any good; that the medicine didnt cure him. He may think that the doctor was a fake or that the medicine was worthless, yet he had only spent his time examining the bottle and reading its instructions instead of actually taking the medicine. If he had followed the doctors advice, however, and taken the medicine regularly as prescribed, he would have recovered.

Doctors prescribe medicine to eliminate diseases from the body. The teachings of the Buddha are prescribed to cure diseases of the mind and to bring it back to its natural healthy state. So the Buddha can be considered to be a doctor who prescribes cures for the illnesses of the mind, which are found in each one of us without exception. When you see these illnesses of the mind, does it not make sense to look to the Dhamma as support, as medicine to cure your illnesses?

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Child Playing
When we have contemplated the nature of the heart many times, we will come to understand that the hearts ways are just as they are and cant be otherwise. They make up the nature of the heart. If we see this clearly, then we can detach from thoughts and feelings. And we dont have to add on anything more if we constantly tell ourselves that "thats just the way it is." When the heart truly understands, it lets go of everything. Thinking and feeling will be deprived of power.

It is like at first being annoyed by a child who likes to play in ways that annoy us so much we scold or spank him. But later we understand that its natural for a child to play and act like that, so we leave him alone. We let go and our troubles are over. Why are they over? Because we now accept the natural ways of children. Our outlook has changed and we now accept the true nature of things. We let go and our heart becomes more peaceful. We now have right understanding.

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Cobra
Mental activity is like a deadly, poisonous cobra. If we dont interfere with a cobra, it simply goes its own way. Even though it may be extremely poisonous, we are not affected by it. We dont go near it, or take hold of it, and so it doesnt bite us. The cobra does what is natural for a cobra to do. Thats the way it is. If you are clever, youll leave it alone. Likewise, you let be that which is not good - you let it be according to its own nature. You also let be that which is good. Dont grab at liking and disliking, just as you wouldnt grab at the cobra.

One who is clever will have this kind of attitude towards the various moods that arise in his mind. When goodness arises, we let it be good. We understand its nature. In the same, we let be the non good. We let it be according to its nature. We dont take hold of it because we dont want anything. We dont want evil. We dont want good. We dont want heaviness or lightness, happiness or suffering. When our wanting is at an end, peace is firmly established.

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Coconut Shells
Desire is a defilement. But we must first have desire in order to start practicing the Way. Suppose you went to buy coconuts at the market and while carrying them back home someone asked:

"Why did you buy those coconuts?"

"I bought them to eat," you reply.

"Are you going to eat the shells, too?"

"Of course not!"

"I dont believe you," he insists. "If youre not going to eat the shells, then why did you buy them?"

Well, what do you say? How are you going to answer that question?

We practice with desire to begin with. If we didnt have desire, we wouldnt practice. Contemplating in this way can give rise to wisdom, you know. For example, those coconuts: Are you going to eat the shells as well? Of course not. Then why do you take them? Theyre useful for wrapping the coconuts in. If after eating the coconuts you throw the shells away, there is no problem.

Our practice is the same. We keep desire first, just like we do with the coconut shells, for its still not time to "throw" it away. This is how the practice is. If somebody wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, thats their business. We know what were doing.

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Cooking
At first, we train the body and speech to be free of unwholesomeness. This is virtue. Some people think that to have virtue you must memorize Pali phrases and chant all day and night, but really all you have to do is make your body and speech blameless, and thats virtue. Its not so difficult to understand. Its just like cooking food - put in a little bit of this and a little bit of that until its just right and its delicious. And once its delicious, you dont have to put anything else into it. The right ingredients have already been added. In the same way, taking care that our actions and speech are proper will give us delicious virtue, virtue that is just right.

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Crazy Man
Suppose one morning, youre walking to work and a man starts yelling insults at you. As soon as you hear his insults, your mind gets agitated. You dont feel so good, you feel angry and hurt, and you want to get even!

A few days later, another man comes to your house and tells you, "Hey, that man who abused you the other day, he"s crazy! Has been for years! He abuses everybody like that. Nobody takes notice of anything that he says." As soon as you hear this, you are suddenly relieved. That anger and hurt that youve pent up within you all these days melt away completely. Why? Because now you know the truth. Before, you didnt. You thought that man was normal, so you were angry at him and that caused you to suffer. As soon as you found out the truth, however, everything changed: "Oh, hes mad! That explains everything!"

When you understand the truth, you feel fine because you know for yourself. Understanding, you can then let go. If you dont know the truth, you cling right there. When you thought that the man who abused you was normal, for example, you could have killed him. But when you found out the truth, that he was mad, you felt much better. This is knowledge of the truth.

Someone who sees the Dhamma has a similar experience. When attachment, aversion and delusion disappear, they disappear in the same way. As long as we dont know these things, we think, "What can I do? I have so much greed and aversion." This is not clear knowledge. Its just the same as when we thought the madman was sane. Until we learned that he was really otherwise, we werent able to let go of our hurt and anger. Only when the mind sees for itself, can it uproot and relinquish attachment.

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Cup of Water
Many of those who came to see me have a high standing in the community. Among them are merchants, college graduates, teachers, and government officials. Their minds are filled with opinions about things. They are too clever to listen to others. It is like a cup of water. If a cup is filled with stale, dirty water, it is useless. Only after the old water has been thrown out can the cup become useful again. You must empty your minds of opinions, then you will see. Our practice goes beyond cleverness and stupidity. If you think that you are clever, wealthy, important, or an expert in Buddhism, you cover up the truth of non self - I and mine. But Buddhism is letting go of self. Those who are too clever will never learn. They must first get rid of their cleverness, first empty their "cup".

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Dam
The training in concentration is the practice to make the mind firm and steady. This brings about peacefulness of mind. Usually our minds are moving and restless, hard to control. The mind follows sense distractions wildly, just like water flowing this way and that. Men, though, know how to control water so that it is of greater use to mankind. Men are clever. They know how to dam water, make large reservoirs and canals - all of this merely to channel water and make it more usable, so that it doesnt run wild and eventually settle down into a few low spots, its usefulness wasted.

So, too, the mind that is dammed and controlled, trained constantly, will be of immeasurable benefit. The Buddha himself taught, "The mind that has been controlled brings true happiness, so train your minds well for the highest benefits." Similarly, the animals we see around us - elephants, horses, buffalos, and so on - must be trained before they can be useful for work. Only after they have been trained is their strength of benefit to us.

In the same way, the mind that has been trained will bring many more blessings than an untrained mind. The Buddha and His Noble Disciples all started out in the same way as us - with untrained minds. But, afterwards, look how they became the subjects of reverence for us all. And see how much benefit we can gain from their teachings. Indeed see what benefits have come to the entire world from these men who had gone through the training of the mind to reach the freedom beyond. The mind controlled and trained is better equipped to help us in all professions, in all situations. The disciplined mind will keep our lives balanced, make work easier, and develop and nurture reason to govern our actions. In the end, our happiness will increase accordingly as we follow the proper mind training.

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Deep Hole
Most people just want to perform good deeds to make merit, but they dont want to give up wrongdoing. Its just that "the hole is too deep."

Suppose there was a hole and there was something at the bottom of it. Now anyone who put his hand into the hole and didnt reach the bottom would say the hole was too deep. If a hundred or a thousand people put their hands down the hole, theyd all say, "The hole is too deep!" No one would say that his arm was too short. We have to come back to ourselves. We have to take a step back and look at ourselves. Dont blame the hole for being too deep. Turn around and look at your own arm. If you can see this, then you will make progress on the spiritual path and will find happiness.

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Dirty Clothes
It is only natural that when our body is dirty and we put on dirty clothes that our mind will not be light and cheerful but will feel uncomfortable and depressed. So, too, when morality is not practiced, our bodily actions and speech are dirty. This causes the mind to be unhappy, uncomfortable, and distressed. We become separated from right practice and this prevents us from penetrating into the essence of the Dhamma in our mind. Wholesome bodily actions and speech themselves depend on the mind properly trained, since mind orders body and speech. Therefore, we must continue to practice by training our minds.

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Drinking Glass
How can you find right understanding? I can answer you simply by using this glass of water I am holding. It appears to us as clean and useful, something to drink from and keep for a long time. Right understanding is to see this as broken glass, as if it has already been shattered. Sooner or later, it will be shattered. If you keep this understanding while you are using it - that all it is is a combination of elements which come together in this form and then break apart - then no matter what happens to the glass, you will have no problem. The body is like the glass. It is also going to break apart and die. You have to understand that. Yet when you do, it doesnt mean you should go and kill yourself, just as you shouldnt take the glass and break it or throw it away. The glass is something to use until it falls apart in its own natural way. In the same way, the body is a vehicle to use until goes its own way. Your task is to see what the natural way of things is. This understanding can make you free in all the changing circumstances of the entire world.

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Drunk
Anyone attached to the senses is like a drunkard whose liver is not yet cooked. He does not know when he has had enough. He continues to indulge and drink carelessly. Hes caught badly and later suffers illness and pain.

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Duck
Your practice is like raising a duck. Your duty is to feed it and give it water. Whether the duck grows fast or slowly is its business, not yours. Let it go and just do your own work. Your business is to practice. If its fast or slow, just know it, dont try to force it. This kind of practice has a good foundation.

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Empty Space
People want to go to Nibbana but when you tell them that there is nothing there, they begin to have second thoughts. But theres nothing there, nothing at all! Look at the roof and floor here. Think of the roof as a "becoming" and the floor as a "becoming", too. You can stand on the roof and you can stand on the floor, but in the empty space between the roof and the floor there is no place to stand. Where there is no becoming, thats where theres emptiness, and to put it bluntly, we say that Nibbana is this emptiness. People hear this and they back up a bit. They dont want to go. Theyre afraid that they wont see their children or relatives.

Thats why whenever we bless the laity by wishing them long life, beauty, and strength, they become very happy. However, if we start talking about letting go and about emptiness they dont want to hear about it. But have you ever seen a very old person with a beautiful complexion, or a lot of strength, or a lot of happiness? No! But we wish them long life; beauty, happiness and strength, and they are all pleased. Theyre attached to becoming, to the cycle of birth and death. They prefer to stand on the roof or on the floor. Few are they who dare to stand in the empty space between.

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Family
If you want to find Dhamma, it has nothing to do with the forest with mountains or the caves. Its only in the heart, and has its own language of experience. There is a great difference between concepts and direct experience. With a glass of hot water, whoever puts his finger into it will have the same experience - hot - which can be expressed in as many different words as there are different languages. Similarly, whoever looks deeply into the heart will have the same experience, no matter what his nationality, culture, or language may be. If in your heart you come to that taste of truth, of Dhamma, then you become like one big family - like mother and father, sisters and brothers - because youve tasted that essence of the heart which is the same for all.

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Fertilizer
Our defilements are like fertilizer for our practice. Its the same as taking filthy stuff like chicken manure and buffalo dung to fertilize our fruit trees so that the fruit will be sweet and abundant. In suffering, there is happiness; in confusion there is calm.

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Fire
Nothing happens immediately, so in the beginning we cant see any results from our practice. This is like the example that I have often given you of the man who tries to make fire by rubbing two sticks together. "They say theres fire here!" He says, looking at his sticks. He then begins rubbing energetically. He rubs on and on, but soon becomes impatient. He wants to have that fire, but the fire just wont come, so he gets discouraged and stops to rest for while. When he starts again the initial heat that he had worked up has already been lost so the going is slow. He just doesnt keep at long enough. He rubs and rubs until he is tired and stops altogether. Not only is he tired, but he becomes more and more discouraged. "There is no fire here!" He finally decides and gives up completely.

Actually he was doing the work, but there wasnt enough heat to start the fire. The fire was there all the time, but he didnt carry on to the end. Likewise with the mind. Until we are able to reach peace, the mind will continue in its confusion. For this reason the teacher says, "Just keep on doing it. Keep on with the practice!" Maybe we think, "If I dont yet understand, how can I do it?" Until were able to practice properly, wisdom wont arise. So we say just keep on with it.

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Fish
We dont want desire, but if there is no desire, why practice? We must have desire to practice. Buddha had desire too. Its there all the time, but its only a condition of the mind. Those with wisdom, however, have desire but no attachment. Our desires are like catching a big fish in a net - we must wait until the fish loses strength and then we can catch it easily. But all the time we must keep on watching it so that it doesnt escape.

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Fish and Frog
If you attach to the senses, youre the same as a fish caught on a hook. When the fisherman comes, you can struggle all you want, but you wont be able to get loose. Actually youre not caught like a fish, but more like a frog. A frog gulps down the whole hook right to its guts. A fish just gets it caught in its mouth.

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Fish Trap
If you see clearly the harm in the benefit of something, you wont have to wait for others to tell you about it. Consider the story of the fisherman who finds something in his fish trap. He knows something is in it because he can hear it flopping about inside. Thinking its a fish; he reaches his hand into the trap, only to grab hold of a different kind of animal. He cant see it, so hes not sure what it is. It could be an eel, but it could also be a snake. If he throws it away, he may regret it, for if it turns out to be in eel, hell have lost something nice for dinner. On the other hand, if he keeps on holding onto it and it turns out to be a snake, it may bite him. Hes just not sure. But his desire is so strong that he holds on, just in case its an eel. The minute he brings it out and sees that its a snake, however, he doesnt hesitate to fling it away from himself. He doesnt have to wait for someone to call out, "Hey, its a snake! Let go!" The site of the snake tells him what to do more clearly than words could ever do. Why? Because he sees the danger - snakes can bite and make you very sick or kill you. Who has to tell him about that? In the same way, if we practice until we see things as they are, we wont meddle with things that are harmful.

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Fisherman
Our practice of contemplation will lead us to understanding. Let us take the example of a fisherman pulling in his net with a big fish in it. How do you think he feels when pulling it in again? If hes afraid that the fish will escape, hell rush and start to struggle with the net, grabbing and tugging at it. In this way, before he knows it, the big fish will have escaped. The fisherman mustnt try to hard. In the old days, they taught that we should do it gradually, carefully gathering it in without losing it.

This is how it is in our practice. We gradually feel our way with it, carefully gathering it in without losing it. Sometimes it happens that we dont feel like practicing. Maybe we dont want to look, or maybe we dont want to know, but we keep on with it. We continue feeling for it. This is the practice. If we feel like doing it, we do it. If we dont feel like doing it, we do it just the same. We just keep on doing it.

If we are enthusiastic about our practice, the power of our faith will give us the energy needed to practice, but we will still be without wisdom. Being energetic alone wont make us benefit much from our practice. On the contrary, after practicing energetically for long time, the feeling that we are not going to find the Way may arise. We may feel that we cannot find peace, or that were not sufficiently equipped to do the practice. Or maybe we feel that this Way just isnt possible anymore. So we give up!

At this point, we must be very, very careful. We must use patience and endurance. Its just like pulling in the big fish - we gradually feel our way with it, we carefully pull it in. The struggle wont be too difficult, so continue to pull it in without stopping. Eventually, after some time, the fish becomes tired and stops fighting and were able to catch it easily. Usually this is how it happens. We practice gradually and carefully, gathering it together. Its in this manner that we do our contemplation.

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Flashlight
In Buddhism we are endlessly hearing about letting go and about not clinging to anything. What does this mean? It means to take hold of but not to cling. Take this flashlight, for example. We wonder: "What is this?" So we pick it up: "Oh, its a flashlight." Then we put it down again. We take hold of things, even of wanting, in this way. If we didnt take hold of wanting, what could we do? We couldnt do walking meditation or anything else. Its wanting, yes, a defilement, thats true, but later on that leads to perfection. So we must take hold of things first.

It is like coming here. First you had to want to come here. If you didnt want to, you wouldnt be here today. We do things because of wanting, but when wanting arises, we dont cling to it, just like we dont cling to that flashlight - "Whats this?" We pick it up. "Oh, its a flashlight." We then put it down again. This is what "holding but not clinging" means. We know and then we let go. We dont foolishly cling to things, but we "hold" them with wisdom and then let them go. Good or bad, we let them all go.

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Freeway
Not having full, clear knowledge of the true nature of things, we will go on thinking that we are the sankharas or that we are happiness and unhappiness. The truth is that we cant force things to follow our desires. They follow the way of Nature.

A simple comparison is this: Suppose you go and sit in the middle of a freeway with the cars and trucks speeding down toward you. You cant get angry at the cars, shouting, "Dont drive over here! Dont drive over here!" Its a freeway. You cant tell them that. So what can you do? You get off the road. The road is the place where cars run. If you dont want the cars to be there, you suffer.

Its the same with sankharas. We say they disturb us, like when we sit in meditation and hear a sound. We think, "Oh, that sounds bothering me!" If we understand that the sound bothers us, then we suffer accordingly. If we investigate a little deeper, we will see that its we who go out and disturb the sound. The sound is simply sound. If we understand it in this way, then theres nothing more to it. We leave the sound alone. We see that the sound is one thing and we are another. This is real knowledge of the truth. We see both sides, so we have peace. If we see only one side there is suffering. Once we see both sides, then we follow the Middle Way.

This is the right practice of the mind. This is what we call straightening out our understanding.

In the same way, impermanence and death are the nature of all sankharas, but we dont want it that way. We want the opposite to be true. We want to find truth within the things that arent true. Whenever someone sees like this and clings to the sankharas as being himself, he suffers. The Buddha told us to contemplate this.

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Frog
The more you neglect the practice, and the more you neglect going to the monastery to listen to the Teachings, the more your mind will sink down into a bog, like a frog going into a hole. Later when someone comes along with a hook, the frogs days are over. He doesnt have a chance. All he can do is stretch out his neck and be caught. So watch out you dont back yourself up into a hole. Someone may just come along with a hook and pull you up.

At home, being pestered by your children and grandchildren, and possessions, you are even worse off than the frog! You dont know how to detach yourself from them. When old age, sickness and death come along, what will you do? This is the hook thats going to catch you. Which way will you turn?

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Fruit Tree
When a fruit tree is in bloom, a strong gust of wind will blow some of its blossoms to the ground. Those that dont fall will eventually grow into small green fruit. But then another gust comes and some of them will fall, too. As for the rest, they will grow to become fruit nearly ripe, or even fully ripe, before they fall.

And so it is with people. Like flowers and fruit in the wind, they, too, fall in different stages of life. Some people die while still in the womb, others within only a few days after birth. Some people live for a few years, then die, never having reached maturity. Some die in their youth. Still others reach a ripe old age before they die. When reflecting upon people, consider the nature of fruit in the wind - both are uncertain.

Our minds are also uncertain. A mental impression arises, draws and blows at the mind, and then the mind falls - just like fruit.

The Buddha understood this uncertain nature of things. He observed the phenomena of fruit in the wind and reflected upon the monks and novices who were his disciples. He found that they, too, were essentially of the same nature - uncertain! How could it be otherwise? This is just the way of all things.

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Garbage Pit
If your mind becomes quiet and concentrated, it is an important tool to use. But if youre sitting just to get concentrated so you can feel happy and pleasant, they youre wasting your time. The practice is to sit and let your mind become still and concentrated, and then use that quiet concentration to examine the nature of the mind and body. If you make the mind simply quiet with no investigation, however, then for that time its peaceful and there is no defilement, but that is like taking a stone and covering up a smelly garbage pit. When you take the stone away, its still full of smelly garbage. You must use your concentration, not to attain temporary bliss, but to accurately examine the nature of the mind and body. This is what actually frees you.

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Gift
We should investigate the body within the body. Whatevers in the body, go ahead and look at it. If we just see the outside, its not clear. We see hair, nails, and so on and they are just pretty things that entice us. So the Buddha taught us to look at the inside of the body, to see the body within the body. What is the body? Look closely and see! We will see even though it is within us, weve never seen it. Wherever we go we carry it with us, but we still dont know it at all.

Its as if we go and visit some relatives at their house and they give us a gift. We take it and put it in our bag and then leave without opening it to see what is inside. When at last we open it we find it is full of poisonous snakes!

Our body is like that. If we just see the shell of it, we say its fine and beautiful. We forget ourselves. We forget impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and not self. If we look within this body, its really repulsive. Theres nothing beautiful in it. If we look according to reality, without trying to sugar things over, well see that its really sad and wearisome. Dispassion will then arise. This feeling of disinterest does not come from feeling an aversion toward the world. Its simply our mind clearing up, our mind letting go. We see all things as not being substantial or dependable. However we want them to be, they just go their own way, regardless. Things that are unstable are unstable. Things that are not beautiful are not beautiful.

So the Buddha said that when we experience sights, sounds, tastes, smells, bodily feelings or mental states, we should let them go. Whether happiness or unhappiness, theyre all the same. So let them go!

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Grass
You must contemplate in order to find peace. What people usually mean whenever they say peace is only the calming down of the mind and not the calming down of the defilements. The defilements are simply being temporarily subdued, just like grass being covered by a stone. If you take the stone away, the grass will grow back again in a short time. The grass hadnt really died; it was just being suppressed.

Its the same when sitting in meditation. The mind is calm, but the defilements are not really calm. Therefore samadhi is not a sure thing. To find real peace you must develop wisdom. Samadhi is one kind of peace, like the stone covering the grass. This is only a temporary peace. The peace of wisdom is like putting the stone down and just leaving it there. In this way the grass cant possibly grow back again. This is real peace, the calming of the defilements, the sure peace that results from wisdom.

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Hand
Those who study theory and those who practice meditation misunderstand each other. Usually those who emphasize study say things like, "Monks who only practice meditation just follow their own opinions, they have no basis in their teaching."

Actually, in one sense, these two ways of study and practice are exactly the same thing. We can understand this better if we consider the front and back of our hand. If we hold our hand out, it seems like the back of our hand has disappeared. Actually the back of our hand hasnt gone anywhere. Its merely hidden underneath.

We should keep this in mind when we consider practice. If we think that it has "disappeared," well go off to study, hoping to get results. But it doesnt matter how much we study the Dhamma, well never understand it if we dont know it in accordance with Truth. If we do understand the real nature of Dhamma, then we begin to let go. This is surrendering, removing attachment, not clinging anymore, or if there is still clinging, it diminishes as time goes by. So study and practice are really just two sides of the same hand.

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Hole
At times it may seem to some of you that I contradict myself when I teach, but the way I teach is very simple. It is as if I see someone coming down a road he isnt familiar with but which I have traveled on many times before. I look up and see him about to fall into a hole on the right hand side of the road, so I call out to him to go left. Likewise, if I see someone else about to fall into a hole on the left, I call out to him to go right. The instructions are different, but I teach them to travel in the same direction on the same road. I teach them to let go of both extremes and come back to the center where they will arrive at the true Dhamma.

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House
All my disciples are like my children. I have only loving kindness for them and care for their welfare. If I appear to make you suffer, it is for your own good. I know some of you are well educated and very knowledgeable. People with little education and world knowledge can practice easily. But people with a lot of knowledge are like someone who has a very large house to clean. They have a lot to do. But when the house has been cleaned, they will have a big, comfortable living space. In the meantime, be patient. Patience and endurance are essential to our practice.

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Housewife
Dont be like a housewife washing the dishes with a scowl on her face. Shes so intent on cleaning the dishes that she doesnt realize her own mind is dirty! Have you ever seen this? She only sees the dirty dishes. Shes looking too far away from herself, isnt she? Some of you have probably experienced this, Id say. This is where you have to look. People concentrate on cleaning the dishes, but they let their minds go dirty. This is not good. Theyre forgetting themselves.

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Jackal
The Buddha and his disciples once saw a jackal run out of the forest they were staying in. It stood still for a while, then it ran into the underbrush, and then out again. Then it ran into a tree hollow, then out again. One minute it stood, the next it ran, then it lay down, then it jumped up. The jackal had the mange. When it stood, the mange would eat into its skin, so it would run. Running, it was still uncomfortable, so it would stop. Standing, it was still uncomfortable, so it would lie down. Then it would jump up again, running to the underbrush, the tree hollow, never staying still.

The Buddha said, "Monks, did you see that jackal this afternoon? Standing, it suffered. Lying down, it suffered. It blamed standing for its discomfort. It blamed sitting. It blamed running and lying down. It blamed the tree, the underbrush, and the cave. In fact, the problem was with none of those things. The problem was with his mange."

We are just the same as the jackal. Our discontent is due to wrong view. Because we dont exercise sense restraint, we blame our suffering on externals. Whether we live in Thailand, America or England, we arent satisfied. Why not? Because we still have wrong view. Just that! So wherever we go, we arent content. But just as that jackal would be content wherever it went as soon as its mange was cured, so would we be content wherever we went once we cured ourselves of wrong view.

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Knife
A knife has a blade, a spine and a handle. Can you lift up only the blade? Can you lift up only the handle? The handle, the spine and the blade are all parts of the same knife. When you pick up the knife, all three parts come up at the same time.

In the same way, if you pick up that which is good, the bad must follow. People search for goodness and try to throw away evil, but they dont study that which is neither good nor evil. If you dont study this, then you wont have real understanding. If you pick up goodness, badness follows. If you pick up happiness, suffering follows. Train the mind until it is above good and evil. Thats when the practice is finished.

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Knot
We contemplate happiness and unhappiness as uncertain and impermanent and understand that all the various feelings we experience are not lasting and not to be clung to. We see things in this way, because we have wisdom. We understand that things are impermanent according to their own nature. If we have this kind of understanding, its like taking hold of one strand of a rope that makes a knot and pulling it in the right direction. The knot will then loosen and begin to untangle. Itll no longer be so tight and tense.

This is similar to understanding that things dont always have to be the way theyve always been. Before, we felt that things had to be a certain way, and in so doing, we pulled the knot tighter and tighter. This tightness is suffering. Living that way is very tense. So we loosen the knot a little and relax. Why do we loosen it? Because its tight! If we dont cling to it, then we can loosen it. Its not a condition that must always be that way.

We use the teaching of impermanence as our basis. We see that both happiness and unhappiness are not permanent. We see them as not dependable. Theres absolutely nothing that is permanent. With this kind of understanding, we gradually stop believing in the various moods and feelings that come up in our mind. Wrong understanding will decrease in the same degree that we stop believing in them. This is what is meant by undoing the knot. It continues to become looser. Attachment will be gradually uprooted.

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Ladle
If you listen to the Dhamma teachings but dont practice, youre like a ladle in a soup pot. The ladle is in the soup pot every day, but it doesnt know the taste of the soup. You must reflect and meditate.

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Leaking Roof
Most of us just talk about practice without having really done it. This is like the man whose roof is leaking on one side so that he sleeps on the other side of the house. When the sunshine comes in on that side, he rolls over to the other side, all the time thinking, "When will I ever get a decent house like everyone else?" If the whole roof leaks, then he just gets up and leaves. This is not the way to do things, but thats how most people are.

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Leaves
Right now we are sitting in a peaceful forest. Here, if theres no wind, the leaves remain still. When a wind blows, they flap and flutter. The mind is the same. When it contacts a mental impression, it, too, flaps and flutters. According to the nature of that mental impression. And the less we know of Dhamma, the more the mind will continually pursue mental impressions. Feeling happy, it succumbs to happiness. Feeling suffering, it succumbs to suffering. Its in a constant flap.

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Letter
Just know what is happening in your mind - not happy or sad about it, not attached. If you suffer, see it, know it, and be empty. Its like a letter - you have to open it before you can know whats in it.

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Log
If we cut a log of wood and throw it into a river, it floats downstream. If that log doesnt rot or get stuck on one of the banks of the river, it will finally reach the ocean. Likewise, the mind that practices the Middle Way and doesnt attach to either extreme of sensual indulgence or self mortification will inevitably attain true peace.

The log in our analogy represents the mind. The banks of the river represent, on one side, love, and on the other, hate. Or you can say that one bank is happiness and the other unhappiness. To follow the Middle Way is to see love, hate, happiness and unhappiness for what they really are - only feelings. Once this understanding has been achieved, the mind will not easily drift toward them and get caught. It is the practice of the understanding mind not to nurture any feelings that rise or to cling to them. The mind then freely flows down the river unhampered and eventually flows into the "ocean" of Nibbana.

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Lumber
If you dont bother to train your heart, then it remains wild, following the ways of nature. Its possible to train that nature, however, so that it can be used to advantage. This is comparable to trees. If we just left trees in their natural state, then we would never be able to build houses with them. We couldnt make planks or anything of use to build houses with. However, if a carpenter came along wanting to build a house, he would go looking for trees in their natural state. He would take raw material and use it to advantage. In a short time he could have a house built.

Meditation and developing the heart are similar to this. You must take this natural, untrained heart as you would take a tree in its natural state in the forest, and train it so that it is more refined, more aware of itself, and more sensitive.

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Maggot
Contentment doesnt depend on how many people we are with. It comes only from right view. If we have right view, then wherever we stay, we are content.

But most of us have wrong view. Its just like a maggot living in a pile of dung. It lives in filth, its food is filth, but it suits the maggot. If you take a stick and dislodge it from its lump of dung, itll squirm and wiggle back to its home.

We are the same. The teacher advises us to see rightly but we squirm about and are uncomfortable. We quickly run back to our old habits and views because thats where we feel at home. If we dont see the harmful consequences of all our wrong views, then we cant leave them. The practice is difficult, so we should listen to the teacher.

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Mango
We say that morality, concentration and wisdom are the path on which all the Noble Ones have walked to enlightenment. They are all one. Morality is concentration, concentration is morality. Concentration is wisdom, wisdom is concentration. Its like a mango. When its a flower, we call it a flower. When it becomes a fruit, we call it a mango. When it ripens, we call it a ripe mango. Its a lone mango, but it continually changes. The big mango grows from the small mango, the small mango grows from the small mango, and the small mango becomes a big one. You can call them different fruit or all one. Morality, concentration and wisdom are related like this. In the end its the entire path that leads to enlightenment.

The mango, from the moment it first appears as a flower, simply grows to ripeness. We should see it like this. Whatever others call it, it doesnt matter. Once its born, it grows to old age and then where? We should contemplate this.

Some people dont want to be old. When they get old, they become regretful. These people shouldnt eat ripe mangoes. Why do we want the mangoes to be ripe? If theyre not ripe in time, we ripen them artificially, dont we? But when we become old were filled with regret. Some people cry. Theyre afraid to get old and die. If its like this, they shouldnt eat ripe mangoes. Theyd better eat just the flowers! If we can see this then we can see the Dhamma. Everything clears up and we are at peace.

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Medicines and Fruit
Dont be angry with those who dont practice. Dont speak against them. Just continually advise them. They will come to the Dhamma when their spiritual factors are developed. Its like selling medicines. We advertise our medicines and those with a headache or stomachache will come and take some. Those who dont want our medicines let them be. Theyre like fruit that are still green. We cant force them to be ripe and sweet — just let them be. Let them grow up, sweeten and ripen all by themselves. If we think like this, our minds will be at ease. So we dont need to force anybody. Simply advertise our medicines and leave it at that. When someone is ill, hell come around and buy some.

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Merchants
Everything that you do you must do with clarity and awareness. When you see clearly, youll no longer feel the need to force yourself to do and complete everything. Now you are burdened with difficulties because you miss the point: whatever you do, you should just do with your body and mind completely. This will bring you peace. If you think you have to do and complete everything, then whenever you leave something undone or incomplete, youll feel discontented and never stop worrying about it. You want to complete everything, but its really impossible to do so.

Take the case of the merchants who regularly come here to see me. They say, "Oh, when my debts are all paid and property in order, Ill come to get ordained." They talk like that, but will they ever finish and get it all in order? Theres no end to it. They pay off their debts with another loan; they pay off that one, and do it again. A merchant thinks that when he gets rid of all of his debts, he will be happy, but theres no end to paying things off. Thats the way worldliness fools us. We go around and around like that never realizing our predicament.

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Oil and Water
Oil and water are different in the same way that a wise man and an ignorant man are different. The Buddha lived with form, sound, odor, taste, touch and thought, but he was an arahant so he was able to turn away from them rather than toward them. He turned away and let go little by little, since he understood that the heart is just the heart and thought is just thought. He didnt confuse them and mix them together like an ignorant man does.

The heart is just the heart. Thoughts and feelings are just thoughts and feelings. Let things be as they are. Let form be just form, let sound be just sound, let thought be just thought. Why should we bother to attach to them? If we feel and think in this way, then there is detachment and separateness. Our thoughts and feelings will be on one side and our heart will be on the other. Just like oil and water - they are in the same bottle but they are separate.

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Orphan
In the end, people become neurotic. Why? Because they dont know. They just follow their moods and dont know how to look after their own minds. When the mind has no one to look after it, its like a child without a mother or a father. An orphan has no refuge, and without a refuge, he is very insecure. Likewise, if the mind is not looked after, if there is no training or maturation of character with right understanding, its really troublesome.

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Ox Cart
Suppose we had a cart, and an ox to pull it. The wheels of the cart arent long, but the tracks are. As long as the ox pulls the cart, the tracks will follow. The wheels are round, yet the tracks are long. Just looking at the stationary cart, one couldnt see anything long about the wheels, but once the ox starts pulling the cart, we see the tracks stretching out behind. As long as the ox keeps pulling, the wheels keep turning. But there comes a day when the ox gets tired and throws off its yoke. The ox walks off and the cart is left there. The wheels no longer turn. In time the cart falls apart. Its constituent parts go back into the four elements of earth, water, wind and fire.

People who follow the world are the same. If one were to look for peace within the world, one would go on and on without end, just like the wheels of a cart. As long as we follow the world, there is no stopping, no rest. If we simply stop following it, the wheels of the cart no longer turn. There is stopping right there. Following the world ceaselessly, the tracks go on.

Creating bad kamma is like this. As long as we continue to follow the old ways, there is no stopping. If we stop, then there is stopping. This is the practice of Dhamma.

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Pool
Be mindful and let things take their natural course, then your mind will become quiet in any surroundings. It will become still like a clear forest pool and all kinds of wonderful and rare animals will come to drink from it. Then you will clearly see the nature of all things in the world. You will see many wonderful and strange things come and go. But you will be still. This is the happiness of the Buddha.

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Rainwater
Actually the mind, like rain water, is pure in its natural state. If we were to drop green dye into clear rainwater, however, it would turn green. If yellow dye were added, it would turn yellow.

The mind reacts similarly. When a comfortable mental impression drops into the mind, the mind is comfortable. When the mental impression is uncomfortable, the mind is uncomfortable. The mind becomes cloudy, like the colored water.

When clear water contacts yellow, it turns yellow. When it contacts green, it turns green. It will change color every time. Actually the water that turned green or yellow is naturally clean and clear. This is also the natural state of the mind - clean and pure and unconfused. It becomes confused only because it pursues mental impressions. It gets lost in its moods.

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River Flow
Theres nothing wrong with the way the body grows old and gets sick. It just follows its nature. So its not the body that causes us suffering, but our own wrong thinking. When we see the right wrongly, theres bound to be confusion.

Its like the water of a river. It naturally flows downhill. It never flows uphill. Thats its nature. If we were to go and stand on the bank of a river, and seeing the water flowing swiftly down its course, foolishly want it to flow back uphill, we would suffer. We would suffer because of our wrong view, our thinking "against the stream." If we had right view, we would see that the water must flow downhill. Until we realize and accept this fact, we will always be agitated and never find peace of mind.

Our body is like the river that must flow downhill. It passes through youth, old age and finally dies. Dont let us go wishing it were otherwise. Its not something we have the power to remedy. Dont go against the stream!

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Road
Wherever you are, know yourself by being natural and watchful. If doubts arise let them come and go. When you meet defilements, just see them and overcome them by letting go of them. Its very simple - hold on to nothing.

Its as though you are walking down a road. Periodically you will run into obstacles. When you meet defilements, just see them and overcome them by letting go of them. Dont think about the obstacles you have already passed. Dont worry about the obstacles you have not yet met. Stick to the present. Dont be concerned about the length of the road or about your destination. Everything is changing. Whatever you pass, do not cling to it. Eventually the mind will reach its natural balance. Then it will be still whether you sit with your eyes closed or walk around in a big city.

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Rock
The teaching that people least understand and which conflicts most with their own opinions is the teaching of letting go or working with the empty mind. When we conceive this in worldly terms, we become confused and think that we can do anything we want. It can be interpreted in this way, but its real meaning is closer to this: Its as if we were carrying a heavy rock. After a while we begin to feel its weight, but we dont know how to let go. So we endure this heavy burden all the time. If someone tells us to throw it away, we say, "If I throw it away, I wont have anything left!" If told of all the benefits to be gained by throwing it away, we would not believe it, but would keep on thinking, "If I throw my rock away, I will have nothing." So we keep on carrying this heavy rock until it becomes so unbearably heavy, and we become so weak and exhausted, that we just have to drop it.

Having dropped it, we suddenly experience the benefits of letting go. We immediately feel better and lighter and we know for ourselves how much of a burden carrying a rock can be. Before we let go of the rock, we couldnt possibly know the benefits of letting go. Later on we may start carrying burdens again, but now we know what the results will be, so we can now let go more easily. This understanding - that its useless carrying burdens around and that letting go brings ease and lightness - is an example of knowing ourselves.

Our pride, our sense of self that we depend on, is the same as that heavy rock. Like that rock, if we think about letting go of self, we are afraid that without it there would be nothing left. But when we can finally let it go we realize for ourselves the ease and comfort of not clinging.

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Screw
If you clearly see the truth through meditation, then suffering will become unwound, just like a screw. When you unwind a screw, it withdraws. Its not tightly fixed as when you screw it, clockwise. The mind withdraws like this. It lets go, it relinquishes. Its not tightly bound within good and evil, within possessions, praise and blame, happiness or suffering. If we dont know the truth, its like tightening the screw all the time. You screw it down until it crushes you and you suffer over everything. When you unwind out of all that, you become free and at peace.

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Seedling
In meditation, you must continuously be attentive, just like when planting a seedling. If you plant a seedling in one place, then after three days you pull it up and plant it in another place, and after three more days, pull it up again and plant it somewhere else, it will just die and not grow up and bear any fruit.

Meditation is the same. If you do a seven day meditation retreat and after leaving it, for seven months you go around "soiling" the mind, and then come back and do another seven day retreat where you dont speak and you keep to yourself, its like the tree. Your meditation practice wont be able to grow and it will die with out producing any real results.

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Sharp Knife
When we say that the mind stops, we mean that it feels as if its stopped, that it does not go running about here and there. Its as if we have a sharp knife. If we go and cut away at things randomly, like stones, bricks and glass, without choosing carefully, our knife will quickly become blunt. We must cut only those things which are useful to cut.

Our mind is the same. If we let our mind wander after thoughts or feelings which have no use or value, the mind will become weak because it has no chance to rest. If the mind has no energy, wisdom will not arise, because the mind without energy is a mind without concentration.

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Snake
People want happiness, not suffering. But in fact happiness is just a refined form of suffering. Suffering itself is the coarse form. We can compare them to a snake. The snakes head is unhappiness. The snakes tail is happiness. The snakes head is really dangerous. It has the poisonous fangs. If we touch it, itll bite right away. But never mind the head? Even if we go and hold onto the tail, it will turn around and bite us just the same, because both the head and tail belong to the one snake.

Likewise happiness and unhappiness, pleasure and sadness, arise from the same snake: wanting. So when were happy, the mind isnt really peaceful.

For example, when we get the things we like, such as wealth, prestige, praise or happiness, we become pleased, but the mind remains uneasy for fear of losing them. That very fear isnt a peaceful state. Later we may really lose those things, then we truly suffer. So if were not aware, even when happy, suffering is imminent. Its just like grabbing the snakes tail - if we dont let go, itll bit. So be it the snakes conditions theyre all just characteristics of the Wheel of Existence, of endless change.

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Spider
Watching a spider can give rise to wisdom. A spider spins its webs in any convenient niche and then sits in the center, staying still. Later a fly comes along and lands on its web. As soon as the fly touches and shakes the web - boop! the spider pounces on it and winds it up in thread. It stores the insect away and then returns again to collect itself silently in the center of its web.

This is not at all different from our own minds. Our mind is comparable to the spider, and our moods and mental impressions to the various insects. The senses constantly stimulate the mind. When any of them contacts something, it immediately reaches the mind. The mind then investigates and examines it thoroughly, after which it returns to the center.

"Coming to the center" means living mindfully with clear comprehension, being always alert and doing everything with precision - this is our center. Theres really not a lot for us to do. We just carefully live in this way. But that doesnt mean that we live heedlessly thinking, "No need to do sitting or walking meditation!" and so forget all about our practice. We cant be careless. We must remain alert like the spider waiting to snatch up insects for its food. This is how we abide - alert, acting with precision and always mindfully comprehending with wisdom.

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Still, Flowing Water
Have you ever seen flowing water? Have you ever seen still water? If your mind is peaceful, it will be just like still, flowing water. Have you ever seen still, flowing water? There! Youve only seen flowing water or still water havent you? When your mind is peaceful, you can develop wisdom. Your mind will be like flowing water, and yet still, Its almost as if it were still, and yet its flowing. So I call it "still, flowing water." Wisdom can arise here.

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Sweet Fruit
Even though a fruit is sweet, we must first taste it before we know what its taste is like. Yet, that fruit, even though no one tastes it, is still sweet. But nobody knows it. The Dhamma of the Buddha is like this. Even though its the truth, it isnt true for those who dont really know it. No matter how excellent or fine it may be, it is worthless to them.

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Thermos Bottle
Read yourself, not books. Truth isnt outside. Thats only memory, not wisdom. Memory without wisdom is like an empty thermos bottle - if you dont fill it, its useless.

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Thirsty Man
A man comes walking along a road. He is very thirsty from his journey and is cravi [...?]