49 Endearing Ajahn Chah Quotes:

1:
"To define Buddhism without a lot of words and phrases, we can simply say, 'Don't cling or hold on to anything. Harmonize with actuality, with things as they are.” ~ Ajahn Chah

2:
"You should know both the universal and the personal, the realm of forms and the freedom to not cling to them. The forms of the world have their place, but in another way, there is nothing there. To be free, we need to respect both of these truths." ~ Ajahn Chah

3:
"Where does rain come from? It comes from all the dirty water that evaporates from the earth, like urine and the water you throw out after washing your feet. Isn't it wonderful how the sky can take that dirty water and change it into pure, clean water? Your mind can do the same with your defilements if you let it." ~ Ajahn Chah

4:
"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." ~ Ajahn Chah

5:
"The Dharma Path is to keep walking forward. But the true Dharma has no going forward, no going backward, and no standing still." ~ Ajahn Chah

6:
"One day some people came to the master and asked: How can you be happy in a world of such impermanence, where you cannot protect your loved ones from harm, illness or death?

The master held up a glass and said: Someone gave me this glass. It holds my water admirably and it glistens in the sunlight. I touch it and it rings! One day the wind may blow it off the shelf, or my elbow may knock it from the table. I know this glass is already broken, so I enjoy it incredibly." ~ Ajahn Chah

7:
"Looking for peace is like looking for a turtle with a mustache: You won't be able to find it. But when your heart is ready, peace will come looking for you." ~ Ajahn Chah

8:
“These days people don't search for the Truth. People study simply in order to find knowledge necessary to make a living, raise their families and look after themselves, that's all. To them, being smart is more important than being wise!” ~ Ajahn Chah




9:
"Do not be a bodhisattva, do not be an arahant, do not be anything at all. If you are a bodhisattva, you will suffer, if you are an arahant, you will suffer, if you are anything at all, you will suffer." ~ Ajahn Chah

10:
"If you want to understand suffering you must look into the situation at hand. The teachings say that wherever a problem arises it must be settled right there. Where suffering lies is right where non-suffering will arise, it ceases at the place where it arises.

If suffering arises you must contemplate right there, you don't have to run away. You should settle the issue right there. One who runs away from suffering out of fear is the most foolish person of all. He will simply increases his stupidity endlessly." ~ Ajahn Chah

11:
"We practice to learn how to let go, not how to increase our holding on to things. Enlightenment appears when you stop wanting anything." ~ Ajahn Chah

12:
"Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher. Where you experience suffering, you can also find freedom from suffering. Trying to run away from suffering is actually to run toward it." ~ Ajahn Chah

13:
"A good practice is to ask yourself very sincerely, 'Why was I born?' Ask yourself this question in the morning, in the afternoon, and at night, ask this of yourself every day." ~ Ajahn Chah

14:
"Why are we born? We are born so that we will not have to be born again." ~ Ajahn Chah

15:
"A woman wanted to know how to deal with anger. I asked when anger arose whose anger it was. She said it was hers. Well, if it really was her anger, then shouldn’t she be able to tell it to go away?

But it really isn't hers to command. Holding on to anger as a personal possession will cause us suffering. If anger really belonged to us, it would have to obey us. If it doesn't obey us, that means it's only a deception. Don't fall for it. Whenever the mind is happy or sad, don't fall for it. It is all a deception." ~ Ajahn Chah

16:
"Do everything with a mind that lets go. Don’t accept praise or gain or anything else. Letting go a little brings a little peace. Letting go a lot brings a lot of peace. Letting go completely brings complete peace." ~ Ajahn Chah

17:
"One man watches a river flow by. If he does not wish it to flow, to change ceaselessly in accord with its nature, he will suffer great pain. Another man understands that the nature of the river is to change constantly, regardless of his likes and dislikes about it, and therefore he does not suffer.

To know existence as this flow, empty of lasting pleasure, void of self, is to find that which is stable and free of suffering, to find true peace in the world." ~ Ajahn Chah

18:
"The Dhamma is revealing itself in every moment, but only when the mind is quiet can we understand what it is saying, for the Dhamma teaches without words." ~ Ajahn Chah

19:
"We say that to 'give up all evil and to develop the good' is the heart of the Buddha's teaching. If we only make merit but have not stopped doing bad things, then we will never have a day of completion. It is like an overturned bowl which is left outside in the rain. Even if the water is falling right on it, it only touches the outside and not the inside. In this way the bowl will never get full." ~ Ajahn Chah

20:
"Anything which is troubling you, anything which is irritating you, that is your teacher." ~ Ajahn Chah

21:
"Things are simply the way they are. They don't give us suffering. Like a thorn: Does a sharp thorn give us suffering? No. It's simply a thorn. It doesn't give suffering to anybody. If we step on it, we suffer immediately. Why do we suffer? Because we stepped on it. So the suffering comes from us." ~ Ajahn Chah

22:
“If it isn't good, let it die. If it doesn't die, make it good.” ~ Ajahn Chah

23:
“People go through life blindly, ignoring death like revelers at a party feasting on fine foods. They ignore that later they will have to go to the toilet, so they do not bother to find out where there is one. When nature finally calls, they have no idea where to go and are in a mess.” ~ Ajahn Chah

24:
"In practice, some come to see easily, some with difficulty. But whatever the case, never mind. Difficult or easy, the Buddha said not to be heedless. Just that we shouldn't be heedless. Why? Because life is not certain.

Wherever we start to think that things are certain, uncertainty is lurking right there. Heedlessness is just holding things as certain. It is grasping at certainty where there is no certainty and looking for truth in things that are not true. Be careful! They are likely to bite you sometime in the future!" ~ Ajahn Chah

25:
"A madman and an arahant both smile, but the arahant knows why while the madman doesn't." "A madman and an arahant both smile, but the arahant knows why while the madman doesn't." ~ Ajahn Chah

26:
"With even a little intuitive wisdom we will be able to see clearly the ways of the world. We will come to understand that everything in the world is our teacher." ~ Ajahn Chah