Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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sequeller
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by sequeller »

The effort to manipulate how we perceived by others is as old as humanity itself. The first and most powerful tool of choice has always been to lie. That is why keeping the fourth precept has such a transformative effect on the human mind. To begin with, this precept may simply be a matter of not saying something is what it is not, or is not what it is. But as we practice the precept, we become more and more sensitive to the defilements that lie behind our tendency to conceal, distort and dramatize, to minimize and exaggerate. We observe the habit to search for plausibly good reasons to justify or excuse our unwise actions; we catch ourselves trying them on for size in imaginary conversations. We see how fundamental lying is to maintaining the false sense of self that lies at the root of our suffering.

As time passes, we begin to love and value truth for its own sake. We let go of the draining short-term goal of maintaining the best possible image of ourselves in other people's eyes. In its stead, we find that caring for the truth - giving no ground to the false - can provide a deeply fulfilling long-term foundation for our life with others.

Ajahn Jayasāro
11/3/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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In meditation practice, hindrances are not just things that happen to us. An element of volition is always involved. It might seem that one moment we are focused on the breath and the next we are reliving a memory or being swept along on a tide of imagination. In fact, if our mindfulness was sharper, we would observe that craving precedes distraction. Most commonly, it is craving to enjoy the pleasures afforded by memory and imagination. But there is also an addictive pleasure in dwelling on things that have hurt or angered us, and sometimes we crave that pleasure too. The hindrance of dullness and sleepiness is usually preceded by craving for annihilation. Sometimes, the craving to be or become manifests as the need to have something - anything at all - in the mind to sustain the sense of self that we are so attached to.

Meditation is the most profound way to investigate The Four Noble Truths. There can be no liberation from suffering without abandoning craving. We cannot abandon craving without first observing what it is and how it works. We can learn what we need to know about craving by seeing what happens when we give ourselves a simple task like being aware of the breath.

Ajahn Jayasāro
14/3/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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The Pali word "rāga" is usually translated as "lust". It signifies as intense, burning desire. It is most commonly used in reference to sensual cravings, especially sexual. But the Buddha also uses the word in more unusual context. For example, "sanditthi-rāga", has been translated as "infatuation with the rightness of ones own view or dogma or ideology". The term appears in the suttas together with the assertion, "Only I am right. Everyone else is wrong."

Lust and infatuation are strong words to use in speaking of the way people hold their views. But looking at the narrow-mindedness and fanatacism that are endemic in the world today, they seem apt. Another word that the Buddha used with regards to an unwise relationship with views and beliefs is "paramāsa". This is often translated as "tenacious grasping". But some Thai scholars have preferred words meaning "fondling".

These days faith is looked an as a good thing in itself. People with faith in religious dogmas are generally considered more virtuous than those who are without it. People who have faith in their own abilities and dreams are widely praised and admired. But the Buddha gave us an ever-timely warning: whatever the object of faith might be, if it is fondled with lust and infatuation with the feeling of being right, little of long-lasting benefit will come of it.

Ajahn Jayasāro
18/3/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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One afternoon, many years ago, i was sweeping leaves in the central area of monastery when i heard piercing screams come from the Women's Section. I realized that it must be the laywoman with cancer who had recently arrived. Together with another monk i rushed to see what happened. I feared that she had been bitten by a poisonous snake. When we arrived in front of the woman/s hut, she was standing with one arm raised in the air, sobbing with fear. I looked more closely at her hand and saw a single red ant clinging to one of her fingers.

My first reaction was of relief. And then i felt the urge to laugh. These red ants were everywhere in the forest and completely benign. But i managed to compose myself and avoid embarassing the woman. Another laywoman arrived and gently pulled the ant off the woman's finger. I suggested she drink a calming cup of tea.

We cannot always understand a person's emotional reaction from its immediate trigger. This woman had spent a very comfortable life in the city. It was probably the first time she had ever been bitten by an ant. When it happened all the fear of pain and fear of death churned up by her cancer diagnosis found a sudden release. For me, it was a memorable teaching. Distinguish triggers and causes. Consider the subjective pain of the person: not whether or not you think that they should have reacted in some other way.

Ajahn Jayasāro
21/3/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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A common cause of dullness and sleepiness in meditation is the mistaking of relaxation for peace. Many meditators successfully navigate their way through an initial storm of mental agitation, but are then seduced by the relaxation that takes its place. They settle back into it as if it was a comfy armchair. It certainly feels nice. But finding satisfaction in a nice feeling requires abandoning mindfulness and clear comprehension. And letting go of these two virtues means depriving oneself of meditation's guiding lights. Without them true peace remains far away.

The practice of meditation is the cultivation of wakefulness. By being awake to our breath, we learn how to be awake to our life. Whatever stage of meditation we have reached, it is the presence of a bright, stable wakefulness that guarantees that we are following the path of the Supremely Awakened One.

Ajahn Jayasāro
25/3/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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Sometimes people who commit themselves to a strategy or course of action that proves to be unwise are relucant to abandon it. They cannot accept that all their investments of time, effort, money, prestige, etc have been wasted. They continue on the same fruitness path in the blind hope that in the future something will somehow improve. By doing so, they compound their losses. This is called "the sunken-cost fallacy". Leaders seeking to rally their country around a foolish war will employ this way of thinking. They say, "We will never give up. If we stop now, the deaths of all our brave solders will have been in vain". Their solution: the deaths of more brave soldiers.

The most foolish strategy we can commit to in life is the protection and promotion of self. What could be more exhausting and depressing than putting this cluster of desires and fears we call self, at the centre of our existence ?

An alternative becomes clear when we start to look at our mind more closely during meditation. As mindfulness becomes stronger, this "self" which had always seemed to be so real and solid and demanding, is revealed as wispy and insubstantial. In samādhi, for a while, it disappears altogether. We learn how to find refuge in the sky of the mind rather than in the passing clouds of self-concern.

Ajahn Jayasāro
28/3/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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Ignorance is listed as the first link in the teaching of Dependent Origination. This does not mean, however, that the Buddha considered it a first cause; indeed he rejected all theories of a first cause. The Buddha stated that Ignorance is also conditioned, specially by the group of defilements called the Five Hindrances.

Ignorance is not a cause, and it is not a thing; it is an absence. We might, for example, observe that ignorance of the existence of water below the ground in a particular area is the significant prevailing condition for a lack of well-digging. That ignorance, no matter how ancient, is itself conditioned - perhaps by a superstitious belief in the absence of underground water, laziness to dig the earth with no sure result, or vested interests in using other sources of water. But if the correct steps are taken, that ignorance can be replaced by knowledge. And then wells will be dug.

Because ignorance of our human nature is conditioned it can cease when its conditioning factors are abandoned by means of the Eightfold Path. As the work of abandoning these factors progresses, we gain more and more proof and more and more faith in our potential for authentic knowledge of the way thing are and thus for liberation.

Ajahn Jayasāro
1/4/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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Sometimes people would ask Ajahn Chah questions about matters far beyond their capacity to understand any possible answer he might give. A lay supporter who only meditated for a few minutes every day might, for example, ask about the difference between the form and formless jhānas. If Ajahn Chah thought it would be good for the questioner, he might just give them a blank look (one which would never be forgotten) and then start talking to someone else. Occasionally, he would counter-question to help them recognize their intentions in asking the question. Often, he would simply suggest that the person ask about something more relevant to their own practice.

Determining which questions have answers, which questions have useful answers, and which questions have answers which we are ready to benefit from, is an important skill to learn. Of course, i would never try to compare myself with Ajahn Chah, but i also get asked questions which i am disinclined to answer. On a couple of occasions school students have asked me, "Which came first: the chicken or the egg?". The first time i replied, "Which came first in your mind when you thought of the question ?". The second time i replied, "Don't know. Don't care". As i get older, i find only questions concerned with the four noble truths can hold my interest.

Ajahn Jayasāro
4/4/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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There are two kinds of harmony: one supportive and one destructive. In the destructive kind of harmony the members of a group avoid speaking about anything that might bring up bad feelings or create conflict, even when certain topics need to be discussed. The unspoken agreement in this kind of group is "i won't say anything about your behaviour if you don't say anything about mine". Lack of overt conflict is mistaken for social harmony.

In the supportive kind of harmony, the members of a group are devoted to the true welfare of both themselves and others. They humbly accept that they have blind spots and make mistakes. They open themselves up to words of advice and admonishment from those around them. They take on the responsibility of offering words of advice and admonishment at a suitable time and place, having first made sure of the facts and cleansed their mind of anger. Even though there may be some hurt feelings every now and then, the kind of harmony that develops from this way of living together is strong and nourishing.

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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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Many years ago, i received a letter from an old Buddhist friend in the West. In it he inquired whether i would be interested in leaving the monkhood and accepting a position as a meditation teacher in his organization. I thanked him for his offer but politely declined. I said that it seems to me that if i was foolish enough to disrobe, i could not be wise enough to be a teacher of Buddhist meditation.

I have always found joy in being able to live my life within a form defined by the Lord Buddha himself. For me, life as a monk is not incidental to the "real practice" of meditation, but a central element in my cultivation of the Eightfold Path. Living as a monk is an expression of my devotion to the Buddha and his teachings and my gratitude to him.

Lay Buddhist have been given the same Eightfold Path as the monastics. There are no esoteric teachings reserved for a special inner circle of ordained disciples. It is joyful to look on Dhamma practice, not as a personal project, but as a way of honoring the Buddha, expressing devotion to him, and gratitude. It is not just a matter of daily meditation sessions - it is one's whole life. It means cultivating a comprehensive rightness of view, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and samādhi.

Ajahn Jayasāro
11/4/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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The Buddha compared defilements to fires. Defilements take the raw materials of life and consume them, leaving ashes. Anger is the most obvious example. When they're angry, people look so hot and red. Anger burns up the peace and goodness of the mind when we dwell on the things we don't have, or think we should. Not getting what we want, not being treated as we think we deserve and a flame of anger can sweep through the mind. Greed also burns us up. It is the hot agitation that occur when we crave something more: more pleasurable, more intense, more exiting; something new, something - anything - other than this. This fire burns up all contentment and appreciation for what is. Becoming obsessed with our appearance and image, our fears, anxieties, doubts and insecurities: these all create smoky flameless fires. But the smouldering fires of depression, anxiety and confusion can burst into flames at any moment.

Learning to observe the ways in which defilements cause suffering is a major motivator to practice Dhamma. The Dhamma is like water: it cools and ultimately extinguishes the fires of defilement. Observing how the Dhamma puts out the fires raging in our hearts gives us an unshakeable faith in the Triple Gem.

Ajahn Jayasāro
15/4/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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It is common to talk about complex phenomena as being "greater than the sum of their parts". When contributory factors combine in a particular way, new unexpected things can happen. The unique qualities of water - say, for example, its ability to put out a fire - cannot be predicted from any of its constituent elements of hydrogen and oxygen. In Buddhist terminology, so-called "emergent properties" are referred to as "conditioned phenomena". These properties can only be present as long as their supporting causes and conditions prevail. In the case of water and all its properties, they will disappear if electrolysis is used to separate the hydrogen and oxygen atoms.

One way of looking at this very real sense we have of ourselves as the owner of experience, the one who acts and is acted upon, is as an emergent property of the Five Khandas. In Buddhism, when we say that there is "no self" we mean that we cannot find this entity we believe to exist separate from the moment-to-moment interactions of the five khandas. "No self" means that we accept that there is a phenomena that we have agreed to call "self". It's just not what we think it is.

Ajahn Jayasāro
18/4/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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Over the years, many people have asked me how Ajahn Chah was able to communicate with his foreign disciples when he could not speak any of their languages, and they - at least to begin with - could not speak his. If asked this question himself, Ajahn Chah would usually reply humorously. "It's just like water buffaloes on a farm", he would say, eyes gleaming, "they don't know what you're saying but if you just keep tugging on their rope, this way and that, they soon get the hang of things". At times like this, it would seem that he considered himself more of a trainer than a teacher.

One of my own most memorable early exchanges with Ajahn Chah had zero Dhamma content. And yet i treasure the memory of it to this day. I was part of s group of monks following him on an inspection tour of the monastery's kutis. Eager to show off how quickly i was learning Thai, i pointed out a window frame in need of repair. "Nah-tahng", he replied slowly, correcting my pronunciation of the word for "window". It was like he had kicked me in the teeth. I'd got the tones wrong ! How humiliating ! And yet, at the same time, i felt strangely joyful. The thought that my teacher cared enough about me to correct my Thai pronunciation electrified me. The determination that arose in my mind then to practice well and make him proud of me, had more of an uplifting effect on me than if he'd sat down right there and delivered a profound two-hour discourse on Dependent Origination in perfect English.

So, language is important, i tell people. But there is more to it that that.

Ajahn Jayasāro
22/4/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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The Buddha's teachings are "well-expounded". They provide a clear, structured and complete map of the path to liberation.

The Buddha's teachings are "timeless". They deal with unchanging realities of the human condition. The ways in which suffering arises and way in which it ceases will always be true.

The Buddha's teaching are "verifiable". They are not unproveable dogmas to be accepted out of faith.

The Buddha's teachings "invite verification". They challenge us to put them to the test of experience.

The Buddha's teachings "lead us onwards". It is not possible to study and practice these teachings without being changed by them. The more profoundly we understand the teachings the more profoundly we change.

The teachings of the Buddha must be verified by each person individually. No benefactor, no enlightened being can do the work for us. It is like taking medicine. But, the most wonderful medicine.

Ajahn Jayasāro
24/4/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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sequeller wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 6:56 am The Buddha's teachings are "well-expounded". They provide a clear, structured and complete map of the path to liberation.

The Buddha's teachings are "timeless". They deal with unchanging realities of the human condition. The ways in which suffering arises and way in which it ceases will always be true.

The Buddha's teaching are "verifiable". They are not unproveable dogmas to be accepted out of faith.

The Buddha's teachings "invite verification". They challenge us to put them to the test of experience.

The Buddha's teachings "lead us onwards". It is not possible to study and practice these teachings without being changed by them. The more profoundly we understand the teachings the more profoundly we change.

The teachings of the Buddha must be verified by each person individually. No benefactor, no enlightened being can do the work for us. It is like taking medicine. But, the most wonderful medicine.

Ajahn Jayasāro
24/4/23
I'm assuming Ajahn Jayasaro has split ehipassiko into two aspects, here.
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