Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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sequeller
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by sequeller »

For meditators today, a common malaise is spiritual nostalgia. People with this illness suffer from their struggles to reproduce a powerful samādhi experience that occurred in the early days of their practice. They speak with awe of the unforgettable breakthrough they made in their meditation, and with sad eyes admit their frustration at being unable to experience it again. Perhaps one day, they conclude wistfully, it will happen. They live in hope. In fact it is this very hope, expectation and desire that prevents them from moving forward.

The good of Buddhist meditation is not to gain a particular profound state of mind and make it permanent. Such a motivation would mean aiming at a heavenly rebirth. We practice for liberation. We develop samādhi in order to give the mind the necessary stability and clarity to see the nature from our experience whatever it may be, and not to dwell on our memories of the past. There is a lot to learn from deep states of samādhi, but there are also a lot of traps we may fall into because of them.

Ajahn Jayasāro
17/1/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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To most people the simple is boring and repetition is another word for monotony. But, to meditators simplicity and repetition are powerful aids in tracking the movements of the mind. Simplicity and repetition are two of key pillars of monastic life.

When meditation periods are compulsory and take place at the same time every day, monastics are able to observe how their attitude to meditation may fluctuate between enthusiasm, indifference and even resistance. Being unable to follow their moods they are able to recognize them as conditioned phenomena. Noticing how the same event can lead to varying responses is food for wisdom.

It is not, of course, a principle reserved for monastics. Observe your feelings, for example, when your alarm goes off in the morning, and how they change from day to day, and why.

One newly ordained monk could not yet fully grasp this idea. He complained to me that hearing the morning bell at 3am made him feel oppressed and seemed to him to be a signal that he had had lost all autonomy and was spending his life following the dictates of a bell. I advised him to set his alarm for 2.45am so that he could feel the pride of getting up in the morning on his own terms. Similarly, in the afternoon he could come out to work a few minutes before the bell and leave a few minutes later than everyone else. Seeing his face showed dismay rather than gratitude, i added that he might find watching his mind to be better option.

Ajahn Jayasāro
21/1/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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Many of the Buddha's teaching can be put to the test of experience quite easily. It goes not take long to determine for ourselves whether keeping the five precepts does, in fact, increase the level of safety and trust in our family and community, and whether it fosters self-respect and freedom from guilt and remorse. We can observe without difficulty all the various ways that giving without desire for reward brings joy into our lives. We can see clearly how mindfulness practice enhances the quality of our mind and relationships.

But there are many teachings that we are, as yet, unable to prove or disprove. Teachings about rebirth and other realms of existence are obvious examples. In such cases, how should we hold the teachings ? I would suggest that we do so with a deep trust in the great wisdom of the Buddha. The more we observe how his teaching that we are able to test for ourselves are always, without exception, correct, the more confidence we can place in the teachings that we cannot, as yet, verify.

We certainly do not claim something must be true simply because our teacher says it to be so. We do, however, assert confidence in his words based upon all our experience thus far of taking him as our refuge and guide on life's bumpy road.

Ajahn Jayasāro
24/1/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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Ven. Master Hsuan Hua was a major figure in the dissemination of Buddhadhamma in America. He felt a deep appreciation for the monastic lineage of Ajahn Chah, and donated land in Redwood Valley, North California, on which the Wat Pah Pong branch, Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery, was established.

In a discourse he gave to Ajahn Sumedho and his Sangha at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in England, he summarized his views on the different traditions:

"In Buddhism we should unite the Southern and Northern traditions. From now on we won't refer to Mahayana or Theravada. Mahayana is the 'Northern Tradition' and Theravada is the 'Southern Tradition'. [...] Both the Southerb and the Northern Tradition's members are disciples of the Buddha, we are the Buddha's descendants. As such, we should do what Buddhist ought to do. [...] No matter the Southern or Northern Tradition, both share the common purpose of helping living beings bring forth the Bodhi-mind, to put an end to birth and death, and to leave suffering and attain bliss."

In 1991, four years before his death, i had the opportunity to pay my respects to the great master. As i bowed to him, he reminded me of Ajahn Chah. I asked him for advice for my practice. He said sternly: 'Abandon the unwholesome, cultivate the wholesome, purify the mind. What else could there be to do ?'

Ajahn Jayasāro
28/1/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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Through the practice of meditation, the mind can reach a state of calm in which there is a clear bright awareness and a complete absence of thought. This may be accompanied by a profound state of contentment, fullness or bliss. The primary value of experiencing such a state is that it equips the mind that emerges from it with a much enhanced capacity to investigate the three characteristics of anicca, dukhha, anatta, and to do the work of wisdom.

But for one who reviews the experience of stillness, that is not the only benefit. Awareness accompanied by bliss proves that there is a happiness accessible within our minds, simply by removing the barriers to it that we have erected ourselves out of ignorance. Realizing this we feel empowered to develop a much healthier relationship to sense pleasures. We now have a perspective on them and an alternative to their charms.

Experience of awareness without thought proves to us that thinking is not an essential part of who we are. It is a tool to be used wisely. Fear to let go of thinking is a major obstacle for many meditators. Knowing for ourself the sublimity of the thought-free state we find the courage to let go of attachment to thinking.

Ajahn Jayasāro
31/1/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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In the development of the path factors of Right View and Right Thought, yoniso manasikara plays a crucial role.

"Yoniso manasikara" is a difficult term to translate. Renderings include "wise reflection", "wise consideration" and "considered attention".

There are two kinds of yoniso manasikara. The first kind is practised by cultivating perceptual frames and systematic reflections based upon the Buddhist understanding of the nature oh phenomena. These are then used to replace unwholesome thoughts and percetions with the wholesome. An example would be reflecting in a way that result in feelings of loving kindness and replaces the distorted thinking that fuels anger and ill-will.

The second kind of yoniso manasikara is practiced by reflecting on experience in the luight of the three characteristics of anicca, dukkha and anatta. These reflections remove deluded thoughts from the mind and create a path way for the deeper insights of vipassana. Examples include consideration of the impermanent, unpredictable nature of life, the inability of transient pleasures to provide true happiness and the ownerless, uncontrollable native of phenomena.

Ajahn Jayasāro
4/2/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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Ajahn Chah taught the Four Noble Truths in a very simple and direct way. He told his students that if they suffered it was due to craving and attachment. If they wanted to be free from suffering then they needed to identify the craving and attachment that fuelled it, and then let it go.

To help them in this practice, Ajahn Chah led the monks in testing the limits of their physical endurance. He created conditions in the monastery that frustrated the wordly desires of his students. Likes and dislikes were to be seen as reflexes of the mind rather than commands to be obeyed. He said "If you're still following your likes and dislikes, you haven't even begun to practice."

But we don't have to live in a monastery to investigate the Noble Truths. Whenever suffering arises in the mind, we don't turn our back on it or run away from it. We look at it closely: "Where is the defilement here ?" Whatever the situation, whatever the provocation, it is defilement that determines whether or not we suffer. Letting go of craving and attachment allows our mindfulness and wisdom to attend to the problem that confronts us.

Ajahn Jayasāro
7/2/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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We can become indifferent by hardening our heart to the things that upset us. But doing so reduces us as human beings. The cultivation of equanimity is a better path to follow. Equanimity (upekkha) may often be confused with indifference, but it is a world apart. With indifference our heart becomes withered and dry. With equanimity it becomes boundless.

Equanimity is an unshakeable balance of mind. It is a stability that results from insight into the workings of kamma. The more that we see how our experiences are conditioned by volitional actions of body, speech and mind, the more natural this steadiness becomes.

We see how all beings are the owners of their kamma, and in this acceptance the mind rests in equanimity. We seek to help others be happy and to free themselves from suffering. But we do this with the recognition that our efforts are only one condition amongst many. We do what we can and then let go of the results. We return to equanimity. Equanimity is our base, our default mode.

Equanimity is not a goal in itself. When we can open our eyes to situations without bias, and fully accepting them for what they are, we are ready to act wisely. Acts prompted by metta and compassion are more powerful when they are grounded in equanimity.

Ajahn Jayasāro
11/2/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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Let's say you have a delicious cake in front of you. You become aware of a desire to take another slice even though you know that you've ha enough. Why is it so difficult to resist that temptation. What would make it easier. An important clement of the difficulty is the sense that not taking something you enjoy is a kind of loss. And we hate loss. Loss of whatever kind feels - irrationally - like a small death. Hence the conflict. So maybe you rationalize your greed - "it'll be stale by tomorrow", or just forcefully shut down your thinking, and reach out.

One of the qualities of monks of the Noble Lineage is that they "find delight in abandoning the unwholesome and developing the wholesome. In the case of the slice of cake it means that on the Buddhist path we can learn to see that refraining from the extra slice does not necessarily incur a loss. We now see it as making a trade. We are able to exchange without regret a few seconds of sense pleasure for a delight in abandoning greed and developing sense restraint. The more we contemplate the dangers of defilement and the beauty of wholesome dhammas, the more natural this becomes. We come to feel that, in fact, in exercising wise restraint we make a great gain.

Ajahn Jayasāro
14/2/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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One of the first Dhamma books i read as a teenager was Suzuki Roshi's, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind". It affected me deeply. Today i look bask on the book with much affection. I loved the unique, poetic language in which the teachings were expressed. Now, i remember the joy and illumination reading the book gave me with great gratitude.

Suzuki Roshi says, in the sentence that gave the book its name, "in the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few".

My understanding is that Suzuki Roshi does not mean to denigrate learning as such, but the attitude towards it. It is certainly important to gain a sound theoretical grounding in Dhamma through study. But it is as important to avoid attaching to that knowledge and creating an identity - "i am an expert" - out of it. When we do that, we may gain a certain intellectual satisfaction from the Dhamma, but it is at the expense of a great and tragic loss. The mind loses the freshness and openness needed to realise the profound meaning of the texts as a direct experience. And without that as a goal, the study of Buddhism, no matter how lofty, is doomed to remain an essentially worldly endeavour.

Ajahn Jayasāro
18/2/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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There is a significant difference between how object appear through a dirty and clouded window and how they appear through a clean one. The objects we perceive through the clean window are clearer, the relationship between objects is more apparent. The lazy assumptions and unthinking assumptions that the untrained mind are prone to, are absent. Everything makes more sense. Having wiped the window clean, there is no doubt in the mind that by doing so we have gained a superior, and more accurate and trustworthy vision than that provided by peering through the dirty window.

Meditation is like wiping a window clean. As a result our perceptions of ourself and the world around us changes. It becomes immediately obvious to us that these new perceptions are superior, more accurate and more trustworthy. These new perceptions are not the product of viewing things through the lens of a particular philosophy - that could easily lead to a new kind of bias. Rather, they are the result of abandoning all the prejudices and attachments that cloud our normal perceptions. Having done that, we can start to closely examine whatever appears.

Our effort is, in short, not to get anything, or to become anything, but to cleanse the doors of perception. Once those windows have been cleansed, we can really get down to the work of wisdom cultivation.

Ajahn Jayasāro
21/2/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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Kindness and love for people we like, or who are like us, is not so difficult. It is not a spiritual accomplishment. Mettā that draws the line at the cruel and corrupt and violent people in the world is no metta at all. Mettā makes no exceptions. It recognizes no boundaries.

Mettā requires a foundation of Right View, in particular a trust in the law of kamma. It also requires the cultivation of mindfulness and wisdom. The more we observe within ourself how defilement can hijack the mind at any moment, the more compassion we feel for ourself and others. We realize just how difficult it must be for those who have never learnt how to take care of their minds, and have no inner defences. We see that there are no evil people out there, just puppets manipulated by defilement. We take no pleasure in conntemplating the suffering that awaits them in the future as a result of the kamma they have created. Instead we wish all beings the joy of goodness and the safety from defilement that only the Dhamma can provide.

Ajahn Jayasāro
25/2/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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"Knowing the right time and place" occupies a prominent place in the lists of the qualities of wise people found in the Buddha's discourses. Being clearly aware of their intention in acting or speaking, the wise assess whether time is ripe and the immediate environment is conductive to realizing the goals of their proposed action or speech. When initiating a difficult conversation, for example, they take into account such details as the formality or informality of the room or meeting place, the privacy or likelihood of interruption. They decide whether anyone else should be present. They consider the time of day, their own mental state and their understanding of the other persons mental state. They are careful not to rush into an encounter prematurely through impatience. They do not seek reasons to put off the conversation merely out of anxiety or fear of the emotions that might be triggered by it.

Above all the wise are not self-absorbed. They have developed the ability to see the big picture. They are aware of their own desires and fears, but only as background noise. They are focused on the optimum expression of what is true, beneficial and kind.

Ajahn Jayasāro
27/2/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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Serious illness reveals many defilements: attachment to the body, attachment to sense pleasures, craving for the life, fear of death, to name a few, Nagging worries over "unfinished business", remorse over thing said and done, regret over things unsaid and undone - all these combine to disturb the mind. But they don't have to. We can uncouple the mind from the vicissitudes of the body. Doing so is hard work though, work best begun before the onset of illness.

In 1982 Ajahn Chah was convalescing at one of his branch monasteries. Situated on the summit of a large hill, the monastery offered more seclusion than his home monastery, and a better climate. A lay supporter who visited him there was pleasantly surprised at how well he seemed to be doing. She said he looked as radiant as ever; was he really as sick as everyone said ? Ajahn Chah replied that his body was ill, "like a block of ice melting in the sun", but his mind was not. He said that most people with a serious illness were obsessed with getting better. As a result, fears and anxieties about not getting better flooded their minds. Trying to suppress thoughts of death filled them with stress. As for himself, he said he considered that he would either recover or he would not, and he was equally at peace with either outcome.

Ajahn Jayasāro
4/3/23
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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There is nowhere in the human realm where we can escape the eight worldly dhammas of gain and loss, pleasure and pain, praise and blame, increase and decline of status and reputation. Even monastery walls offer scant protection against these eight "worldly winds". Some people might think that living alone in a cave they would be free from them at last. But, in fact, before long they would find themselves reliving past experiences. Everyone has a big file of worldly dhamma material stored in their memory, enough for years of fruitless rumination in an unwise hermit's mind.

It is important to bear in mind that the eight worldly dhammas are included within the first noble truth, not the second. That is to say, they are not things that Buddhist practitioners need to abandon, but things that need to be fully comprehended. We cannot free ourselves of natural phenomena, but we can let go of the cravings based upon them. The untrained mind craves to enjoy gain, pleasure, praise and social status. At the same time it craves a life without loss, pain, blame and decline in status. The more we crave the worldly dhammas we like, the more we fear and resent those we don't. It's not the dhammas themselves that are the problem, but our relationship to them.

Althrough we cannot escape the worldly dhammas, we don't have to suffer on their account. As our understanding of them grows, our attachment to them weakens. The weaker the attachment, the more free we become.

Ajahn Jayasāro
7/3/23
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