Ajahn Chah: practice is most important thing

Ajahn Chah (ajahnchah.org), Ven. Sujato, Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Why is there aversion/attraction?

The practice is thus the most important thing. In my [Ajahn Chah] own practice, I didn't spend all my time studying theoretical descriptions of mind (cittas) and mental factors (cetasikas).

Instead, I watched "that which knows." When the mind had thoughts of aversion I asked, "Why is there aversion?" When there was attraction I asked, "Why is there attraction?" This is the way to practice.

I didn't know all the finer points of theory (the Dhamma) or go into a detailed analytical breakdown of the mind and mental factors (Abhi-Dhamma). I just kept prodding at that one point in the mind until I was able to settle the whole issue of aversion and attraction and make it completely vanish.

Whatever happened, if I could bring my mind/heart to the point where it stopped liking and disliking, it had gone, gone beyond suffering. It had reached the point where it could remain at ease, whatever it was experiencing. There was no craving or attachment...it had stopped.

Ajahn Chah became an enlightened one.

This is what we're aiming for in practice. If other people want to talk a lot about theory, that's their business. In the end, however much we talk about it, the practice has to come back to this point.

Even if you don't talk much about it, the practice still comes back to this point. Whether we proliferate a lot or a little, it all comes back to this. If there is rebirth, it comes from this. If there is extinction [of all ignorance], this is where the extinction occurs.

However much the mind proliferates, it doesn't make any difference. The Buddha called this place "that which knows." It has the function of knowing according to the truth of the way things are. Once we have really discerned the truth, we automatically know the way the mind and mental factors are.