Ajahn Chah Quotes

Quotes about:

• Anything which is troubling you, anything which is irritating you, THAT is your teacher.

  Ajahn Chah

  Teacher, Irritating

  208 Copy quote

• If you let go a little you will have a little happiness. If you let go a lot you will have a lot of happiness. If you let go completely you will be free.

  Ajahn Chah

  Inspirational, Happiness, Letting Go

  221 Copy quote

• There are two kinds of suffering. There is the suffering you run away from, which follows you everywhere. And there is the suffering you face directly, and so become free.

  Ajahn Chah

  Beautiful, Running, Two

  108 Copy quote

• If you want a chicken to be a duck, and a duck to be a chicken, you will suffer.

  Ajahn Chah

  Ducks, Suffering, Want

  164 Copy quote

• One day some people came to the master and asked: How can you be happy in a world of such impermanence, where you cannot protect your loved ones from harm, illness or death? The master held up a glass and said: Someone gave me this glass; It holds my water admirably and it glistens in the sunlight. I touch it and it rings! One day the wind may blow it off the shelf, or my elbow may knock it from the table. I know this glass is already broken, so I enjoy it - incredibly.

  Ajahn Chah

  Philosophy, Blow, Wind

  200 Copy quote

• Happiness and suffering do not depend on being poor or rich, they depend on having the right or wrong understanding in our mind.

  Ajahn Chah

  Understanding, Mind, Suffering

  181 Copy quote

• A woman wanted to know how to deal with anger. I asked when anger arose whose anger it was. She said it was hers. Well, if it really was her anger, then she should be able to tell it to go away, shouldnt she? But it really isn't hers to command. Holding on to anger as a personal possession will cause suffering. If anger really belonged to us, it would have to obey us. If it doesn't obey us, that means it's only a deception. Don't fall for it. Whenever the mind is happy or sad, don't fall for it. Its all a deception.

  Ajahn Chah

  Fall, Mean, Mind

  189 Copy quote

• Where does peace arise? Peace arises whenever we let something go.

  Ajahn Chah

  Doe, Arise

  52 Copy quote

• Try to be mindful, and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool. All kinds of wonderful, rare animals will come to drink at the pool, and you will clearly see the nature of all things. You will see many strange and wonderful things come and go, but you will be still. This is the happiness of the Buddha.

  Ajahn Chah

  Animal, Mind, Trying

  184 Copy quote

• Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. What you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing.

  Ajahn Chah

  Buddhist, Trying, Enlightened

  135 Copy quote

• Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher. Where you experience suffering, you can also find freedom from suffering. Trying to run away from suffering is actually to run toward it.

  Ajahn Chah

  Running, Teacher, Suffering

  158 Copy quote

• 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

  Giving, Suffering, Doe

  161 Copy quote

• The serene and peaceful mind is the true epitome of human achievement.

  Ajahn Chah

  Achievement, Peaceful, Mind

  37 Copy quote

• Learn to see that it is not things that bother us, that we go out to bother them. See the world as a mirror. It is all a reflection of the mind. When you know this, you can grow in every moment, and every experience reveals truth and brings understanding.

  Ajahn Chah

  Reflection, Mirrors, Understanding

  48 Copy quote

• You are your own teacher. Looking for teachers can’t solve your own doubts. Investigate yourself to find the truth - inside, not outside. Knowing yourself is most important.

  Ajahn Chah

  Teacher, Knowing, Doubt

  51 Copy quote

• Don't think that only sitting with the eyes closed is practice. If you do think this way, then quickly change your thinking. Steady practice is keeping mindful in every posture, whether sitting, walking, standing or lying down. When coming out of sitting, don't think that you're coming out of meditation, but that you are only changing postures. If you reflect in this way, you will have peace. Wherever you are, you will have this attitude of practice with you constantly. You will have a steady awareness within yourself.

  Ajahn Chah

  Attitude, Lying, Eye

  27 Copy quote

• Wisdom is in yourself, just like a sweet ripe mango is already in a young green one.

  Ajahn Chah

  Sweet, Green, Young

  35 Copy quote

• One man watches a river flow by. If he does not wish it to flow, to change ceaselessly in accord with its nature, he will suffer great pain. Another man understands that nature of the river is to change constantly, regardless of his likes and dislikes, and therefore he does not suffer. To know existence as this flow, empty of lasting pleasure, void of self, is to find that which is stable and free of suffering, to find true peace in the world.

  Ajahn Chah

  Pain, Men, Self

  126 Copy quote

• To give up doing evil is more important than making merit.

  Ajahn Chah

  Giving Up, Evil, Important

  26 Copy quote

• To observe and watch one's own mind is something really interesting. The untrained mind will run and follow its old habit patterns. Because it has not been trained and taught, it will get lost in all kinds of stories and issues. Therefore we have to train our mind. The meditation practice in Buddhism is all about training one's own mind.

  Ajahn Chah

  Running, Buddhism, Meditation Practice

  118 Copy quote

• Remember you dont meditate to get anything, but to get rid of things. We do it, not with desire, but with letting go. If you want anything, you wont find it.

  Ajahn Chah

  Letting Go, Remember You, Remembers You

  60 Copy quote

• We practice to learn how to let go, not how to increase our holding on to things. Enlightenment appears when you stop wanting anything.

  Ajahn Chah

  Letting Go, Practice, Enlightenment

  71 Copy quote

• Just go into the room, sit in the centre of the room, open the doors and windows, and see who comes to visit.
  You will witness all kinds of scenes and actors, all kinds of temptations and stories, everything imaginable.
  Your only job is to stay in your seat.
  You will see it all arise and pass, and out of this, wisdom and understanding will come.

  Ajahn Chah

  Jobs, Doors, Visits You

  77 Copy quote

• There are people who are born and die and never once are aware of their breath going in and out of their body. That's how far away they live from themselves

  Ajahn Chah

  People, Body, Far Away

  114 Copy quote

• When we sit in meditation and hear a sound, we think, 'Oh, that sound's bothering me.' If we see it like this, we suffer. But if we investigate a little deeper, we see that the sound is simply sound. If we understand like this, then there's nothing more to it. We leave it be. The sound is just sound, why should you go and grab it? You see that actually it was you who went out and disturbed the sound.

  Ajahn Chah

  Thinking, Meditation, Suffering

  111 Copy quote

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