Bodhinyana

A Collection of Dhamma Talks

by Ajahn Chah | 1982 | 36,083 words

Bodhinyana; A Collection of Dhamma Talks by The Venerable Ajahn Chah (Phra Bodhinyana Thera)...

Part 2 - Constant Effort

Until we are able to stop our mind, until we reach tranquillity, the mind will just continue as before. Its for this reason that 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 we are able to practice properly, wisdom doesnt arise. So we say just keep on with it. If we practice without stopping well begin to think about what we are doing. Well start to consider our practice.

Nothing happens immediately, so in the beginning we cant see any results from our practice. This is like the example I have often given you of the man who tries to make fire by rubbing two sticks of wood together. He says to himself, "They say theres fire here." and he begins rubbing energetically. Hes very impetuous. He rubs on and on but his impatience doesnt end. He wants to have that fire. He keeps wanting to have that fire, but the fire doesnt come. So he gets discouraged and stops to rest for awhile. He starts again but the going is slow, so he rests again. By then the heat has disappeared; he didnt keep at it long enough. He rubs and rubs until he tires and then he stops altogether. Not only is he tired, but he becomes more and more discouraged until he gives up completely. "Theres no fire here!" Actually he was doing the work, but there wasnt enough heat to start a fire. The fire was there all the time but he didnt carry on to the end.

This sort of experience causes the meditator to get discouraged in his practice, and so he restlessly changes from one practice to another. And this sort of experience is also similar to our own practice. Its the same for everybody. Why? Because we are still grounded in defilements. The Buddha had defilements also, but He had a lot of wisdom in this respect. While still worldlings the Buddha and the arahants were just the same as us. If we are still worldlings then we dont think rightly. Thus when wanting arises we dont see it, and when not wanting arises we dont see it. Sometimes we feel stirred up, and sometimes we feel contented. When we have not wanting we have a kind of contentment, but we also have a kind of confusion. When we have wanting this can be contentment and confusion of another kind. Its all intermixed in this way.

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