Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

A discussion on all aspects of Theravāda Buddhism
Alino
Posts: 650
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2020 3:15 pm
Contact:

Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by Alino »

=Trading our defilements=

"Meditation allow us to understand the meaning of the word 'defilement', and experiance the wonder of its absence. It reveals how pervasive defilement is and how deep-rooted. It show us - irrefutably - that only by abandoning defilements altogether can we hope to realise true inner freedom.

In meditation, we learn how defilements arise and pass away, what triggers them, what feeds them, what weakens them, what removes them. We cannot just bypass defilements or blast them out of our minds. We have to understand our enemies and outwit them.

Liberation is only possible when the meditation is grounded in the Four Noble Truth. Lacking that framework we end up merely trading in our coarser defilements for more subtile ones."

Ajahn Jayasāro 08.01.22
Attachments
IMG-20220108-WA0001.jpg
We don't live Samsara, Samsara is living us...

"Form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness - don't care about us, we don't exist for them"
Ontheway
Posts: 3062
Joined: Wed Aug 11, 2021 3:35 pm

Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by Ontheway »

A good Q&A session with Ajahn Jayasaro conducted several months ago.



:anjali:
Hiriottappasampannā,
sukkadhammasamāhitā;
Santo sappurisā loke,
devadhammāti vuccare.

https://suttacentral.net/ja6/en/chalmer ... ight=false
Alino
Posts: 650
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2020 3:15 pm
Contact:

Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by Alino »

=Process that culminates in liberation=

"The Buddha did not encourage faith in dogmas. He did teach that when we gain a strong conviction that our suffering is a conditioned phenomena and that we can completely eliminate it through practice of the Eightfold Path, a great breakthrough occurs. This faith signals the beginning of the process that culminates in liberation.

In Upanisa Sutta (SN 12.23) the Buddha elaborates:

"Suffering is the supporting condition for faith,
Faith is the supporting condition for gladness,
Gladness is the supporting condition for joy,
Joy is the supporting condition for tranquility,
Tranquility is the supporting condition for happiness,
Happiness is the supporting condition for samādhi,
Samādhi is the supporting condition for the knowledge and vision of things as they really are,
The knowledge and vision of things as they really are is the supporting condition for disenchantment,
Disenchantment is the supporting condition for dispassion,
Dispassion is the supporting condition for liberation,
Liberation is the supporting condition for the knowledge of destruction (of the taints (āsava))." "

Ajahn Jayasāro 11.01.22
Attachments
IMG-20220111-WA0000.jpg
We don't live Samsara, Samsara is living us...

"Form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness - don't care about us, we don't exist for them"
Alino
Posts: 650
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2020 3:15 pm
Contact:

Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by Alino »

=Explaining profound matters in simple language=

"One mark of great teachers is their ability to explain the most profound matters in language that is simple and yet in no way betrays their deep meaning. Ajahn Chah would often use the ordinary objects around him to teach the Dhamma. By doing so he de-mystified it. He showed how the most transformative ideas are rarely intellectually complex. If they seem difficult it is because they oppose our habits and attachments.

Explaining how desire distorts perception he would pick up a nearly object and say, 'If you want it yo be long, it looks too short; if you want it to be short, it looks too long'

In talking about the attitude to take towards the conditioned transient nature of all that we love, he would point to the glass of water beside him: "You must see that this glass is already broken"

Chuckling at how we blame our suffering on other people or situations he would point to his monk's bag. It's as if, he would say, you had a bag full of excrement and then walking around, bag on shoulder, complaining of the bad smell everywhere you went.

Ajahn Jayasāro 15.01.22

* 16th January 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the passing away of Ajahn Chah."
Attachments
IMG-20220115-WA0000.jpg
We don't live Samsara, Samsara is living us...

"Form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness - don't care about us, we don't exist for them"
User avatar
mjaviem
Posts: 2302
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2020 5:06 pm

Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by mjaviem »

Alino wrote: Sat Jan 15, 2022 9:27 am ... He showed how the most transformative ideas are rarely intellectually complex. If they seem difficult it is because they oppose our habits and attachments...
This is one of the things I like about Ajahn Chah.

And Ajahn Jayasaro also related that when Luang Por Chah was once asked by someone about dependent origination he asked back if this person ever fell from a tree and then explained that one loses the grip and goes right to the ground too quickly and without any mindfulness.
Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammā Sambuddhassa
Alino
Posts: 650
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2020 3:15 pm
Contact:

Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by Alino »

=Productive struggle=

"Educationalists have discovered that if you are planning to introduce students to a new concept, it is helpful to give them a test containing questions that can only be answered with that new knowledge before you teach it to them. The effort and frustration the students feel in trying to answer these test questions enhances the understanding and memory of the new concept when it is eventually introduced. Allowing students to wrestle with complex problems beyond their current understanding is called 'productive struggle'.

Students of Dhamma are not strangers to 'productive struggle' but it is somewhat different in nature. They do not have to master an increasingly sophisticated number of concepts. But the most important teachings can only be truly understood when the mind have beed sufficiently stabilized and purified. Lacking the maturity to verify the Dhamma but seeking to do so anyway is frustrating, but by no means a waste of time. By turning the mind again and again to the Three Characteristics' we create a habit and familiarity that will eventually contribute to the most profound understanding."

Ajahn Jayasāro 18.01.22
Attachments
IMG-20220118-WA0002.jpg
We don't live Samsara, Samsara is living us...

"Form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness - don't care about us, we don't exist for them"
Alino
Posts: 650
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2020 3:15 pm
Contact:

Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by Alino »

=Fear of loss=

"Fear if loss cripples us. It makes us grasp too tightly to the things and people we love. It makes us anxious. It makes us angry with anything or anyone who threatens us with loss. In a time of rapid change, fear, anxiety and anger provoked by the prospect of loss spread through the world like viruses.

The Buddha's teachings emphasize the observation and study of the nature of change. The more deeply we understand how things arise and pass away according to causes and conditions, the more we become aware of the limits of what can be controlled and less we suffer. Most importantly, the more closely we look at our minds the clearer it becomes that the owner of experiance, the one threatened by the loss, cannot be found. It is not that the owner of experiance has to learn to let go, but that we need to penetrate a profound truth : there is, in fact, no owner; only the mistaken idea of one."

Ajahn Jayasāro 22.01.22
Attachments
IMG-20220122-WA0003.jpg
We don't live Samsara, Samsara is living us...

"Form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness - don't care about us, we don't exist for them"
Alino
Posts: 650
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2020 3:15 pm
Contact:

Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by Alino »

=Ruam (รวน)=

"Thai meditation masters usually refer to the mind as 'kow' (เข้า) or entering samādhi. Another intrestimg term they use is 'ruam' (รวน). Ruam means to collect together or to unify. Used in reference to meditation it renders well the feeling that something which has been scattered and disorderly becomes coherent and whole. An analogy for this phenomena is provided by time-reverse videos where an object shattered into fragments mysteriously re-forms into its original state. 'Ruam' conveys the sense of convergence, of everything coming together in a deeply satisfying state of completeness. Ajahn Chah once refered to the sense of harmony and unity that appears at this stage of meditation. He said that the mental factors present in the mind might be compared to fruits on a single plate."

Ajahn Jayasāro 25.01.22
Attachments
IMG-20220125-WA0000.jpg
We don't live Samsara, Samsara is living us...

"Form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness - don't care about us, we don't exist for them"
Alino
Posts: 650
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2020 3:15 pm
Contact:

Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by Alino »

An error with Ruam - รวม not รวน

I can't change the post anymore, if someone can help it will be very kind 🙏😊 Thank you !
We don't live Samsara, Samsara is living us...

"Form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness - don't care about us, we don't exist for them"
Alino
Posts: 650
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2020 3:15 pm
Contact:

Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by Alino »

=When our eyes are open=

"The more we look at our body and mind, the more we see their impermanence and unpredictability. Consider: we do not even know what the very next thought in our mind will be. What will our mood be in five minutes time? Who can be sure?

It is through becoming familiar with this truth and fully accepting it that we can find peace in the world. Uncertainty, ambiguity, insecurity are so threatening and create so much anxiety simply because we fail to see how these qualities form the very fabric of our lives.

The challenge is for meditators to learn how to apply the lessons they learn while their eyes are closed to all that happens to them when their eyes are open."

Ajahn Jayasāro 29.01.22
Attachments
IMG-20220129-WA0000.jpg
We don't live Samsara, Samsara is living us...

"Form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness - don't care about us, we don't exist for them"
Alino
Posts: 650
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2020 3:15 pm
Contact:

Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by Alino »

=Life's blessings=

"It is in living our lives with wisdom and compassion that we become vessels for life's true blessings.

Avoiding people who drag you down,
or encourage the worst in you,
Associating with people who lift you up,
and encourage the best in you.
Honouring only those peoples and ideas
truly worthy of honour:
These are root blessings.

Being able to feel and express respect
Being humbly aware of one's limitations
Being able to keep one's mind free
from jealousy and discontent
Being able to appreciate all the benevolent
acts that had benefited you, no matter how small,
These are some of life's higher blessings.

Having a mind unshaken
by all life's ups and downs,
A mind without sorrows,
A mind without stains,
Dwelling in the sublime state
free from all suffering
This is life's highest blessings."

Ajahn Jayasāro 01.02.22
Attachments
YPT - 2022.02.01.jpg
We don't live Samsara, Samsara is living us...

"Form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness - don't care about us, we don't exist for them"
Alino
Posts: 650
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2020 3:15 pm
Contact:

Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by Alino »

=Cleans your mind before sleep=

"The elderly abbot of a monastery close to where I used to live had a special ability. During the weekly Wan Phra all-night practice sessions it was his custom to give a very long Dhamma talks. Every now and again, if he'd had a particulary long and tiring day, he would suddenly fall asleep mid-discourse. But it was not this that was his special gift. The gift was that after some minutes (occasionally punctuated by gentle sonoring) he would open his eyes and immediately continue the talk from the very point on which he'd ended it.

Few of my readers will ever have the opportunity to test for themselves whether they are able to fall asleep in front of a large audience, let alone whether they can carry on their last sentence without hesitation on waking. However, we can all observe the connection between our last mood before going to sleep at night and our first mood on waking up the following morning. This is why it is important not to try to use sleep as an escape from negative emotions. It rarely works, and usually just extends them. Cleanse your mind before sleep with chanting, meditation or spreading thoughts of loving-kindness. You will sleep better; if you dream, you will dream better, and you will wake up feeling refreshing."

Ajahn Jayasāro 05.02.22
Attachments
YPT - 2022.02.05.jpg
We don't live Samsara, Samsara is living us...

"Form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness - don't care about us, we don't exist for them"
Alino
Posts: 650
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2020 3:15 pm
Contact:

Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by Alino »

=Perfectionists=

"Perfectionists obsess over the smallest fault, and fume that nobody else sees its significance like they do. They usually suffer stress and anxiety over their work, which they vent on those around them, especially teammates. Perfectionists can seem to be living on a higher plane to the rest of us, mere steps away from momentous achievement. But, in fact, perfectionists are not heroic strivers on the road to success; they are trapped in a deep rut within it.

Perfectionism is not, I think, all bad. The problem is that it is defined so narrowly. I would suggest expanding it to include impecability of actions and mental states in the perfectionists themselves. In other words, if an almost flawless result is obtained through dishonesty, cutting corners or mistreating those around one, then on those grounds, the result would not be perfect. If the result is superb, but the one who produces the result is filled with disappointment, depression or dispair then the chief imperfection is not to be found in the minor flaws of the product. It is found in the immature reactions of the producer towards them.

A healthy model of perfection does not just focus on short-term results. It gives central importance to long-term processes and relationships. At any one time, perfection is not a pure eternal white. It is - given the present conditions in this inherently imperfect, changing world - the most harmonious blend of colours possible right now."

Ajahn Jayasāro
08.02.22
Attachments
YPT - 2022.02.08.jpg
We don't live Samsara, Samsara is living us...

"Form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness - don't care about us, we don't exist for them"
pegembara
Posts: 3465
Joined: Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:39 am

Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by pegembara »

Alino wrote: Sat Jan 29, 2022 3:32 pm =When our eyes are open=

"The more we look at our body and mind, the more we see their impermanence and unpredictability. Consider: we do not even know what the very next thought in our mind will be. What will our mood be in five minutes time? Who can be sure?

It is through becoming familiar with this truth and fully accepting it that we can find peace in the world. Uncertainty, ambiguity, insecurity are so threatening and create so much anxiety simply because we fail to see how these qualities form the very fabric of our lives.

The challenge is for meditators to learn how to apply the lessons they learn while their eyes are closed to all that happens to them when their eyes are open."

Ajahn Jayasāro 29.01.22
Indeed samsara is living us or should I say, we become a part of samsara.
And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, & from idle chatter: This is called right speech.
Alino
Posts: 650
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2020 3:15 pm
Contact:

Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by Alino »

=Take care of the pennies=

"There is an old English saying much admired by my father : 'Taka care of the pennies and the ponds will take care of themselves.' The principle is a sound one, I think, and can be applied to meditation practice. In that context it might be rephrased as, 'Take care of the breaths and the samādhi will take care of itself.'

A single breath can seem such a small, insignificant thing. Jhānas and ñānas can seem like very big things. But all you have to work with right now is this simple, humble breath. It is, in fact, a most precious thing. Respect it. Take care of it. Don't waste a single breath."

Ajahn Jayasāro
12.02.22
Attachments
YPT - 2022.02.12.jpg
We don't live Samsara, Samsara is living us...

"Form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness - don't care about us, we don't exist for them"
Post Reply