Ajahn Chah: The removing of suffering

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

But what if it hurts too much?

The Buddha taught the world the escape from suffering through wisdom. For example, suppose we had a splinter embedded in our foot without knowing it.

 

We might step on the ground, and that presses on the splinter. It really hurts. So we feel around the foot, but not finding anything, we shrug it off and walk on a bit more. Eventually we step on it, and the pain is there again.

 

This happens many times. What is the cause of this pain? The cause is that splinter in our foot. Whenever the pain arises, we may look and feel around a bit, but not seeing the splinter, we let it go.

 

The pain returns again and again until the need to take it out is constantly with us. Finally it reaches a point where we make up our mind once and for all to get that splinter out. Why? Because it hurts!

 

Our effort in practice must be like this. Wherever it hurts, wherever there's friction, we must investigate. We must confront the problem head on, not just shrug it off.

 

Now take the splinter out of the foot! [But how? That's what a teacher is for, what this practice is for, what Wisdom Quarterly is for. There's knowledge born of listening and study (suta), and wisdom (prajna) born of practice and penetration, which is far more important.]

 

Wherever our mind gets stuck we must take note. As we look into it, we will know it, see it, and experience it just as it is.