Ajahn Chah Quotes

If you let go a little you will have a little happiness. If you let go a lot you will have a lot of happiness. If you let go completely you will be free.

Anything which is troubling you, anything which is irritating you, THAT is your teacher.

Happiness and suffering do not depend on being poor or rich, they depend on having the right or wrong understanding in our mind.

If you want a chicken to be a duck, and a duck to be a chicken, you will suffer.

All religions are like different cars all moving in the same direction. People who don't see it have no light in their hearts.

There are people who are born and die and never once are aware of their breath going in and out of their body. That's how far away they live from themselves

There are two kinds of suffering. There is the suffering you run away from, which follows you everywhere. And there is the suffering you face directly, and so become free.

Letting go a little brings a little peace. Letting go a lot brings a lot of peace. Letting go completely brings 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.

We practice to learn how to let go, not how to increase our holding on to things. Enlightenment appears when you stop wanting anything.

When sitting in meditation, say, "That's not my business!" with every thought that comes by.

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.'

Remember you dont meditate to get anything, but to get rid of things. We do it, not with desire, but with letting go. If you want anything, you wont find it.

Read yourself, not books. Truth isn't outside, that's only memory, not wisdom. Memory without wisdom is like an empty thermos bottle - if you don't fill it, it's useless.

When the heart truly understands, it lets go of everything.

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.

Where does peace arise? Peace arises whenever we let something go.

If we see suffering then we don't have suffering.

If you see certainty in that which is uncertain, you are bound to suffer

Of course there are dozens of meditation techniques, but it all comes down to this - just let it all be. Step over here where it is cool, out of the battle. Why not give it a try?

Mental activity is like a deadly poisonous cobra. If we don't interfere with a cobra, how poisonous it may be, it simply goes its own away.

The serene and peaceful mind is the true epitome of human achievement.

You should think about your own death 3 times per day at the very least.

Wisdom is in yourself, just like a sweet ripe mango is already in a young green one.

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.

If you haven't wept deeply, you haven't begun to meditate.

Only one book is worth reading: the heart.

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…every day.

When one does not understand death, life can be very confusing.

Do everything with a mind that lets go. Do not expect praise or reward.

Know and watch your heart. It's pure but emotions come to colour it. So let your mind be like a tightly woven net to catch emotions and feelings that come, and investigate them before you react.

Sati is life. Whenever we don't have sati, when we are heedless, it's as if we are dead.

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

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

When we see beyond self, we no longer cling to happiness. And when we stop clinging, we can begin to be happy.

To give up doing evil is more important than making merit.

If you let go completely you will have complete peace.

Why are we born? We are born so that we will not have to be born again.

If it shouldn't happen, it wouldn't happen.

The heart of the path is quite easy. There's no need to explain anything at length. Let go of love and hate and let things be. That's all that I do in my own practice.

Look at your own mind. The one who carries things thinks he's got things, but the one who looks on sees only the heaviness. Throw away things, lose them, and find lightness.

The heart is just the heart; thoughts and feelings are just thoughts and feelings. Let things be just as they are.

The Dhamma has to be found by looking into your own heart and seeing that which is true and that which is not, that which is balanced and that which is not balanced.

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.

We don't meditate to see heaven, but to end suffering.

The one who recognizes the uncertainty of phenomena is the Dharma within you.

A madman and an arahant both smile, but the arahant knows why while the madman doesn't.

Time is our present breath.

Don’t be attached to visions or lights in meditation, don’t rise or fall with them. What’s so great about brightness? My flashlight has it. It can’t help us rid ourselves of our suffering.

The heart is the only book worth reading.