Ajahn Chah: Oil and Water

Ajahn Chah via Ven. Sujato; Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Oil and water separation at its best: Looking for faster and more efficient separation of produced water from crude oil (wartsila.com)

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Oil+water=lava lamp (rookieparenting.com)

Oil and water are different in the same way that a wise person and an ignorant one are different.

The Buddha lived with form (physical body, materiality), sound, fragrance, taste, touch, and thought. He was an enlightened being, so he was able to turn away from them rather than toward them.

He turned away and LET GO little by little because he understood that the heart is just the heart and thought is just thought. He didn’t confuse them or mix them together.

The heart is just the heart. Thoughts and feelings are just thoughts and feelings. Let things be as they are. Let form be just form, let sound be just sound, let thought be just thought.

Why should we let ourselves become attached to them? If we feel and think in this way (seeing them as just feelings and just thoughts) then there arises detachment and separateness.

Our thoughts and feelings will be on one side and our heart will be on the other. Just like oil and water, they may be in the same bottle but they are separate.