Farewell Dame Liz Taylor.

when people say, 'she's got everything, i've got one answer, i haven't had tomorrow..' ~ Elizabeth Taylor

How zen can this quote be by Dame Liz Taylor.

...RIP...

The Chicken or the egg?

During his first visit to England, Achaan Chah spoke to many Buddhist groups. One evening after a talk he received a question from a dignified English lady who has spend many years studying the complex cybernetics of the mind according to the eighty-nine classes of consciousness in the Buddhist abhidharma psychology texts. Would he please explain certain of the more difficult aspects of this system of psychology to her so she could continue her study?

Dharma teaches us to let go. But at first, we naturally cling to the principles of Dharma. The wise person takes these principles and uses them as tools to discover the essence of our life.

Sensing how caught up she was in intellectual concepts rather than benefiting from practice in her own heart, Achaan Chah answered her quite directly, "You, madam, are like on who keeps hens in her yard," he told her, "and goes around picking up the chicken droppings instead of the eggs."

saddhu!

Buddhist Psychology

This is why I adore Achaan Chah teaching....

One day, a famous woman lecturer on Buddhist metaphysics came to see Achaan Chah.
This woman gave periodic teachings in Bangkok on the abhidharma and complex Buddhist psychology.
In talking to Achaan Chah, she detailed how important it was for people to understand Buddhist psychology and how much her
students benefited from their study with her. She asked him whether he agreed with the importance of such understanding.

"Yes, very important", he agreed.

Delighted, she further questioned whether he had his own students learn abhidharma.

"Oh, yes, of course."

And where, she asked, did he recommend they start, which books and studies were best?

"Only here," he said, pointing to his heart, "Only here."

Saddhu!

J22 尺八 SHAKUHACHI Flûte de bambou 後半 福田輝久 杵屋子邦

J21 尺八 SHAKUHACHI Flûte de bambou 前半 福田輝久 杵屋子邦

JUST LET GO...

From A Still Forest Pool - The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah.

Do everything with a mind that lets go. Do not expect any praise or reward.
If you let go a little, you will have a little peace.
If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace.
If you let go completely, you will know complete peace and freedom.
Your struggles with the world will have tome to an end.

This sounded very easy, but, it's so hard to achieve.
Are you game?!...:)

Saddhu!

Om!

REAL LOVE

From A Still Forest Pool - The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah

Real love is wisdom. What most people think of as love is just an impermanent feeling. If you have a nice taste every day, you will soon get tired of it. In the same way, such love eventually turns into hatred and sorrow. Such worldly happiness involves clinging and is always tied up with suffering, which comes like the policeman following the thief.

Nevertheless, we cannot suppress nor forbid such feeling. We just should not cling to or identify with them but should know them for what they are. Then Dharma ( the truth ) is present. One loves another, yet eventually the beloved leaves or dies. To lament and think longingly, grasping after that which has changed, is suffering, not love. When we are at one with this truth and no longer need or desire, wisdom and the real love that transcends desire fill our world.