Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

A discussion on all aspects of Theravāda Buddhism
sequeller
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by sequeller »

Buddhism has always been characterized by its universal spirit. Not basing itself on belief in dogmas, it has never divided the world into believers and non-believers. Not focusing on human being alone, it has aimed at the welfare of all sentient beings without exception.

As Dhamma practitioners, learning how to let go of limiting attachments to our body and mind, the universal dimension of existence comes to the fore. Selfish behavior diminishes once we see how flimsy is the idea we have about who we are. Things we were blind to become visible, things we took for granted are seen in a new light. Things we thought commonplace are experienced as profound, things we thought mysterious appear simply normal. The idea of the impersonal and universal may seem cold and uninviting. The reality is of coming home.

Ajahn Jayasāro
16/8/22
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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In one of the great satires of religious superstition, a reluctant messiah is becoming exasperated by all the people following him around: "You don't need to follow me. You don't need to follow anybody! You're got to think for yourselves! You're all individuals!" The crowd surrounding him shouts back: "Yes! We're all individuals!" He raises his voice: "You're all different!", and the crowd roars in response, "Yes, we're all different". Then, in a short pause, a defiant voice can be heard: "I'm not!"

The scene is both funny and clever. The crowd deny their individuality by asserting it, the solitary rebel asserts his individuality by denying it.

The irony is that, in fact, the more we think for ourselves, the more deeply we reflect on our mind and life, the less of an individual we become, rather than the more. As meditators we return again and again to the truth that all sentient beings are our companions in birth, old age, sickness and death; that all beings share the desire to be happy and the aversion to suffering. By doing so, we dissolve the barriers that divide us from others.

The less we identify with this particular body and these passing mental states the less we will seek meaning and purpose in the ways we are different from others.

The less we measure the value of our life by the ways in which we differ from others, the better our mental health.

Ajahn Jayasāro
20/8/22
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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The monastic training of action and speech is not defined solely by the rules laid down in the Patimokkha. It also includes
1. the practice of sense restraint
2. the wise use of the basic material supports of food, clothing, shelter and medicines
3. the impeccable, blameless acquisition of those supports

Similarly, the householder's practice of sila is not defined solely by the five or eight precepts. Householders must also practice sense restraint, wise, appropriate use of money and possessions, and find a blameless and supportive livelihood. Of these three it is sense restraint that plays the most prominent role in the Buddha's teachings. Sense restraint means bringing mindfulness to the sense doors. It requires monitoring and filtering the information that is allowed to enter the mind, especially by means of the eyes and ears. Letting go can be hard work. Sense restraint reduces the accumulation of unnecessary mental junk that makes up much of the daily letting go workload. Without sense restraint we are constantly stimulating the same defilements that we are seeking to abandon during meditation. The more we take care of our eyes and ears the easier it becomes to take care of our mind.

Ajahn Jayasāro
23/8/22
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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Today: an old story. In America, two brothers become gangsters. Once they're rich and successful they start to make generous donations to a foundation for poor children run by their local church. The elder brother dies. On the eve of his funeral the grief-stricken younger brother visit the priest. He says that he promises to continue the funding on one condition. Tomorrow, during the funeral oration, the priest must tell the whole world that his dear brother was a saint. The next day a huge crowd is gathered at the church. The priest begins his oration. He starts to speak about the departed gangster: "It must be acknowledged that, generous as he was, he did may unwise, bad things in his life. However, compared to his younger brother, he was a saint."

in conversation, we may often feel that we have just two choices: either speak the truth and hurt somebody's feelings, or lie and reassure them. But a white lie is still a lie and has consequences. The important factor here is the strength of our commitment to truth. If we truly care for our percept we will seek to find a middle way: avoiding untruth without causing unnecessary distress. On special occasions this might be achieved due to fear of losing something important, as in the story. But generally, we need the sensitivity and sharpness of mind which only comes from the practice of mindfulness.

Ajahn Jayasāro
27/8/22
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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As meditators we must always be on our guard against pride. But sometimes we go too far. We come to believe that by downplaying the goodness within us we are practicing humility. The Buddha did not teach that kind of humility. He taught us to observe and find joy in our good intentions and good actions. Learning how to appreciate the goodness arising in our mind is like sprinkling it with water: it grows and grows. Humility lies in remembering the debt of gratitude that we owe to the Buddha and his disciples. Without the example and instructions of our teachers these beautiful mental states would never have found a home in our hearts. We also should remind ourselves that this goodness doesn't belong to us. It is the result of cultivation. It will only continue to flourish if we look after it wisely.

Ajahn Jayasāro
30/8/22
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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We sometimes hear that we should let go of the past, let go of the future, and dwell in the present moment. In fact, we have no choice in the matter. The present moment is all that we have ever had and ever will have. During our long wanderings in samsara the present moment has been the only constant. In our direct experience the past is simply a memory arising and passing arising thought. Our task as meditators is then not so much to let go of attachments to the past and future, as to attachments to memory and imagination. Thought and memory are part of nature and play indispensable roles in life and learning. But it is easy to become entangled by them. Dhamma practice emphasises knowing memory as memory, thought as thought, as they occur. We learn how to see the space around them, into which they arise and fall. By doing so we can become the master of memory and thought, rather than their playthings.

Ajahn Jayasāro
03/9/22
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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A photograph of a waterfall may be exceptionally vivid and well-framed. Perhaps it skillfully evokes the refreshing beauty of a waterfall discovered by chance on a trek through a jungle. Perhaps it brilliantly conveys the awe-inspiring grandeur of one of the huge and famous waterfalls like Niagara. But no matter how brilliant the photo may be, it must, of necessity, omit the most essential element of the waterfall. It can only ever for a moment: water falling.

Our lives, as one great master has written, are like waterfalls. We fall, moment by moment, from birth to death, like water dropping from a cliff. But when we think of lives, we tend to think pf them as fixed entities. We have ideas that this person is like this, and that person is like that. In fact, those are just photographs. No matter how accurate we might believe them to be, we must remind ourselves that those ideas can only ever be still images of something which is never still: lives passing, lives falling from birth to death. our ideas about ourselves and others may be true in a certain sense. But they can only be true in the way that a photograph is a true representation of movement.

Ajahn Jayasāro
6/9/22
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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Five areas in which to practice mindfulness of the speech of ourselves and others:
The suitability of time and place for the conversation
The truthfulness of the words spoken
The value/benefit of the conversation
The motivations of those involved
The quality/style of speech

For our own part, practicing Right Speech in light of these considerations, we try speak only true and useful words at appropriate times and places. We speak politely, our hearts established in loving-kindness.

Some observations on mindfulness of others speech:
The person on front of us is usually either telling the truth, deliberately telling an untruth, or telling an untruth believing it to be true. As the latter is always a possibility, we should not jump to conclusions if we detect an untruth.

The value or benefit meant here is not restricted to content. Someone may, for example. be speaking to us on a relatively trivial matter, but it is calming them down, allowing them to come to terms with some pain. If so, we might consider that to be beneficial speech. Benefit may be intellectual, emotional or spiritual.

People's motivations are often mixed. We should remind ourselves that we can't read minds. All we can know are our own fallible assessments of their mental states.

Coarse speech tends to upset and alienate. Polite speech does not. Hearing views expressed politely, we are more inclined to listen. Politeness is intelligent.

Ajahn Jayasāro
10/9/22
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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To make friends with a wild creature you have to be very patient. You have to make it trust you. You have to show the creature that you are no danger to it. You have to allow the creature to become accustomed to you and to relax in your presence.

The mind shies away from the truth in the same way that a creature instinctively shies away from one who genuinely wishes to be its friend. The process by which the mind becomes accustomed to the presence of truth and learns to trust it, is meditation.

Consistency, patience, kindness, close observation of what works and what does not - all are essential elements of befriending wild creatures and leading the mind to peace.

Ajahn Jayasāro
13/9/22
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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In our Dhamma practice, consistency and continuity are vital. They are what are required to create the momentum we need to push past the defilements. Otherwise, we can easily become like the foolish man rubbing two sticks together to make fire. He stops whenever he feels weary or bored. Each time he picks up the sticks to continue, the wood has cooled and he starts from zero. Before long, he becomes frustrated. He begins to doubt whether this method of making fire actually works. Eventually, he concludes that the practice of rubbing two sticks together does not, in fact, produce fire. He believes that he has proved it to be mere superstition. He persvades himself that his surrender to defilement is some kind of victory.

Don't be like him. Don't stop. If you can't walk so well right now, then crawl for a while. It's okay. Just don't stop. You'll get there.

Ajahn Jayasāro
17/9/22
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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For most people, freedom means being able to make choices and to act without anybody else telling them what to believe or do. It is, essentially, a freedom from external constrains. From the Buddhist point of view, that may be a foundation for freedom, but it is not the thing itself. Our emphasis is on being able to make choices and to act with wisdom and compassion, unhampered by defilement. It is, essentially, a freedom from internal constraints.

Human beings want to be happy and don't want to suffer. However, through our thinking, our speech and our actions, we are often our own worst enemies. Again and again, we neglect to create the supporting conditions for happiness; again and again we create the supporting conditions for suffering. Without self-knowledge, without training the mind, any external freedoms we achieve become two-edged swords. If we don;t face up to our subjugation by defilement and do something about it, we will never realize our profound potential for true freedom.

Ajahn Jayasāro
20/9/22
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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When we see or hear about people acting badly, whether it's people we know or people in the news, our most common reactions are depression and anger. Although depression and anger poison our minds, we let them do it again and again. Why do we do this to ourselves ?

There is a wiser way. When we see or hear of people acting badly, we can consider the mental states that prompted their actions. We may reflect, for example, that 'This is the result of greed. Greed is a truly terrible thing. It causes so much suffering. How wonderful it would be if there was less greed in the world! I too have greed in my heart. Every time i feed this greed, i contribute to the suffering in the world. I will, i must, abandon this greed in my heart, for my own welfare, and to play my small part in reducing the suffering in the world'

(And for greed, we may substitute any other defilement)

Reflecting in this way, each item of news strikes against our complacency and increases our sense of urgency. We recognize the greed and selfishness, the hatreds and jealousies, the attachment to view and beliefs, that cause so much turmoil in the world. Rather than feeling oppressed by them, however, we make them the fuel of practice.

Ajahn Jayasāro
27/9/22
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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In 1977 a remarkable video was released. It was called 'Powers of Ten'. In it, the aerial view of a couple picknicking in a Chicago park starts drawing back by factors of ten: 10m, 100m, 100km... until finally halting 100 million light years from earth. Then the camera zooms back in on the couple, enters the men's hand and keeps zooming inwards by factors of negative ten until it reaches 10(-16), at which point it is revealing quarks in a carbon atom. This video gives the most dramatic presentation imaginable of how a shift in perspective can bring about an immediate and radical change in how we feel about ourselves and the world we live in.

The nature of craving is to make the object of craving seen so real and important and necessary and right for us. When it appears in the mind, craving demands our attention without delay. Craving is usually far too strong for us to overcome with willpower. What we can do is to change perspective, to face up to it within the context of our moral values and spiritual aspirations. If we imagine craving as on intimidating ogre, its as if we change our focus on it from 'portrait' to 'panorama' view. Doing so, we become aware of the meanings, implications, consequences of following craving. It loses it's power over us. Not easy by any means, but doable with regular practice.

We don't have to stand toe-to-toe with craving as it shouts in our face and whispers in our ears. We can be aware of the space around it. We can even learn how to withdraw attention from the craving by factors of ten, until it's a mere pinprick in the heart.

Ajahn Jayasāro
1/10/22
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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The lay Buddhist's training of conduct and speech is founded upon the five precepts. The first four kinds of behaviour they address: violence against other beings, stealing, sexual misconduct and lying, constitute the heaviest kamma that human beings can commit. Abstaining from them protects us from future pain and crippling remorse. It gives the gift of safety and trust to those around us. The kamma created by transgressing the fifth precept is more subtle. Consuming a substance that reduces our ability to take full responsibility for our actions and speech, we significontly increase the likehood of transgressing the first four precepts. Again and again, throughout history, intoxication has been a contributing factor in foolish and criminal acts. For this reason the Buddha taught five rather than four fundamental percepts.

Meditators come to see how Dhamma practice relaxes tension and decreases social anxieties. They learn there is a wiser way to deal with mental pain than trying to numb it with drugs. As a result, their need to self-medicate with alcohol naturally diminishes. As Dhamma practitioners realize the priceless value of a clear, sharp awareness for freeing the mind from the causes of its suffering, the more they turn away from alcohol and drugs that undermine that clarity, so hard to achieve even at the best of times.

Ajahn Jayasāro
4/10/22
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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Forest monks are encouraged bu their teachers to remind themselves everyday of all the ways that their life could suddenly change for the worse. They might be bitten by a poisonous snake or a scorpion or a centipede. They might fall down and break a limb. If they live alone it might be hours or even days before someone comes to look for them. Death could come at any moment and in any one of a number of different ways. The purpose of this reflection is not to make the monks anxious or fearful, but to encourage them in their Dhamma practice. The key point is for the monks to ask themselves how ready they are for whatever life might throw at them at any moment. How well are they spending their precious time ? What unwholesome dhammas still remain in their heart, what wholesome dhammas remain undeveloped ? Have they gained a true refuge yet, one that will sustain them come what may ?

We can use our intelligence to create means to maximize our security and safety. But life will always be, to some degree, insecure and unsafe. Cities hold as many, if not more, dangers as forests. To wish things were otherwise and to be angry that they are not, is self-harming indulgence. What we can do is to learn how to make the best possible use of the uncertain time we have in this world. Using the Buddha's teachings we can create an inner refuge, an island that no flood can submerge.

Ajahn Jayasāro
8/10/22
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