Remembering Ajahn Chah with gratitude on the anniversary of his birth.
Remembering Ajahn Chah
- confusedlayman
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- Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Remembering Ajahn Chah
Never met him, but some of his teachings were in a book which impressed me. This is part of a 1972 talk to lay folk that was translated:
Traveling the path of the Buddha-Dhamma is not done with the body. You must
travel with the mind to reach the bene ts. We can divide these travelers into three groups:
First level: this is comprised of those who understand that they must practice themselves,
and know how to do so. They take the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha as their
refuge and have resolved to practice diligently according to the teachings. These persons
have discarded merely following customs and traditions, and instead use reason to examine
for themselves the nature of the world. These are the group of Buddhist believers.
Middle level: This group is comprised of those who have practiced until they have an
unshakable faith in the teachings of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha. They also
have penetrated to the understanding of the true nature of all compounded formations.
These persons gradually reduce clinging and attachment. They do not hold onto things
and their minds reach deep understanding of the Dhamma. Depending upon the degree
of non-attachment and wisdom they are progressively known as stream-enterers, oncereturners
and non-returners, or simply, noble ones.
Highest level: This is the group of those whose practice has led them to the body,
speech and mind of the Buddha. They are above the world, free of the world, and free of
all attachment and clinging. They are known as arahants or free ones, the highest level of
the noble ones.
Last edited by Nicholas Weeks on Wed Sep 06, 2023 12:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.