Ajahn Chah quotes

Ajahn Chah (1918-1992) was perhaps the greatest Theravada meditation master of the 20th century.

Quotes

• Do everything with a mind that lets go. Don’t accept praise or gain or anything else. If you let go a little you a 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.

• 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.

• But when I know that the glass is already broken, every minute with it is precious.

• The heart is the only book worth reading.

• If it isn't good, let it die. If it doesn't die, make it good.

• 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 most important.

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

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

• Mindfulness is life. Whenever we don’t have mindfulness, when we are heedless, it’s as if we are dead.

• 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.

References

• A Still Forest Pool: The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah (Jack Kornfield ed.). Theosophical Publishing House (1985).
• Being Dharma: The Essence of the Buddha's Teachings. Shambahla Press (2001).
• Food for the Heart (Ajahn Amaro, ed.). Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2002.
• Teachings of a Buddhist Monk, Ajahn Sumedho, (Ed. Diana St Ruth — Illustrator Marcelle Hanselaar), Buddhist Publishing Group, 1990/2001.