Wisdom Points - Text

These are the points that are made in the in the slide show - "Wisdom Points." I found it valuable to copy them down to savor more fully and reflect on them more deeply. Enjoy!

Wisdom Points by Ajahn Chah

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 important.

These days people don't search for the truth. People study simply in order to find knowledge necessary to make a living, raise families - look after themselves, that's all. To them, being smart is more important than being wise.

If you listen to the Dhamma teachings but don't practice, you're like a ladle in a soup pot. The ladle is in the soup pot every day, but it doesn't know the taste of the soup. You must reflect and meditate.

Only one book is worth reading: the heart.

When one doesn't understand death, life can be very confusing.

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 have complete peace.

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

Hoe does the Dhamma teach the proper way of life? It shows us how to live. It has many ways of showing it - on roots or trees or just in front of you. It is teaching but not in words. So still the mind, the heart, and learn to watch. You'll find the whole Dhamma revealing itself here and now. At what other time and place are you going to look?

If you have time to be mindful, you have time to meditate.

Remember you don't 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 won't find it.

Why are we born? We are born so that we will not have be born again.

Comments

Like you, I appreciate the opportunity to be informed by different traditions in our connected times.

Wisdom is nonsectarian. That's why sometimes it saddens me when there's misunderstanding, dogmatism or prejudice.

These are beautiful truths expressed by Ajahn Chah. Thank you for bring them to us.

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