Ajahn Chah Quotes

Quotes about:

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

  Ajahn Chah

  Teacher, Irritating

  184 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

  208 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

  180 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

  174 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

  176 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

  173 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

  155 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

  116 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

  152 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

  109 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

  96 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

  151 Copy quote

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

  Ajahn Chah

  Sweet, Green, Young

  29 Copy quote

• 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

  Party, Ideas, People

  76 Copy quote

• Looking for peace is like looking for a turtle with a mustache: You won't be able to find it. But when your heart is ready, peace will come looking for you.

  Ajahn Chah

  Peace, Heart, Turtles

  71 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

  62 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

  127 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

  40 Copy quote

• 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

  Moving, Heart, Light

  143 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

  105 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

  54 Copy quote

• But when I know that the glass is already broken, every minute with it is precious.

  Ajahn Chah

  Glasses, Broken, Minutes

  20 Copy quote

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

  Ajahn Chah

  Achievement, Peaceful, Mind

  29 Copy quote

• To define Buddhism without a lot of words and phrases, we can simply say, 'Don't cling or hold on to anything. Harmonize with actuality, with things as they are.'

  Ajahn Chah

  Buddhism, Phrases, Actuality

  54 Copy quote

• 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

  Letting Go, Song, Confusion

  53 Copy quote

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