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Just know what is happening in your mind - not happy or sad about it, not attached. If you suffer see it, know it, and be empty. It's like a letter - you have to open it before you can know what's in it.

Ajahn Chah

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Ajahn Chah
Age: 73 †
Born: 1918
Born: June 17
Died: 1992
Died: January 16
Bhikkhu
Ajahn Chah Subhaddo
Like
Happenings
Happening
Letters
Empty
Open
Suffering
Attached
Happy
Letter
Mind
Suffer

More quotes by Ajahn Chah

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People go through life blindly, ignoring death like revellers at a party feasting on fine foods. They ignore that later they will have to go to the toilet, so they do not bother to find out where there is one. When nature finally calls, they have no idea where to go and are in a mess.
Ajahn Chah
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Meditation is like a single log of wood. Insight and investigation are one end of the log calm and concentration are the other end. If you lift up the whole log, both sides come up at once. Which is concentration and which is insight? Just this mind.
Ajahn Chah
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We don't meditate to see heaven, but to end suffering.
Ajahn Chah
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If you see certainty in that which is uncertain, you are bound to suffer
Ajahn Chah
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Things are simply the way they are. They don't give us suffering. Like a thorn: Does a sharp thorn give us suffering? No. It's simply a thorn. It doesn't give suffering to anybody. If we step on it, we suffer immediately. Why do we suffer? Because we stepped on it. So the suffering comes from us.
Ajahn Chah
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I am like a tree in a forest. Birds come to the tree, they sit on its branches and eat its fruits. To the birds, the fruit may be sweet or sour or whatever. The birds say sweet or they say sour, but from the tree's point of view, this is just the chattering of birds.
Ajahn Chah
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All religions are like different cars all moving in the same direction. People who don't see it have no light in their hearts.
Ajahn Chah
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The mind is intrinsically tranquil. Out of this tranquility, anxiety and confusion are born. If one sees and knows this confusion, then the mind is tranquil once more.
Ajahn Chah
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The forest is peaceful, why aren’t you? You hold on to things causing your confusion. Let nature teach you. Hear the bird’s song then let go. If you know nature, you’ll know truth. If you know truth, you’ll know nature.
Ajahn Chah
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But when I know that the glass is already broken, every minute with it is precious.
Ajahn Chah
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When the heart truly understands, it lets go of everything.
Ajahn Chah
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If you let go completely you will have complete peace.
Ajahn Chah
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Know and watch your heart. It's pure but emotions come to colour it.
Ajahn Chah
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Once you understand non-self, then the burden of life is gone. You'll be at peace with the world. When we see beyond self, we no longer cling to happiness and we can truly be happy. Learn to let go without struggle, simply let go, to be just as you are - no holding on, no attachment, free.
Ajahn Chah
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Know and watch your heart. It's pure but emotions come to colour it. So let your mind be like a tightly woven net to catch emotions and feelings that come, and investigate them before you react.
Ajahn Chah
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If you haven't cried deeply a number of times, your meditation hasn't really begun.
Ajahn Chah
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A madman and an arahant both smile, but the arahant knows why while the madman doesn't.
Ajahn Chah
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Why are we born? We are born so that we will not have to be born again.
Ajahn Chah
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The Dharma Path is to keep walking forward. But the true Dharma has no going forward, no going backward, and no standing still.
Ajahn Chah
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Do everything with a mind that lets go. Do not expect praise or reward.
Ajahn Chah