Don't Take Saṅkhāras Personally

~ By Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ~

Saṅkhāras naturally get sick. If we cling to them as 'our saṅkhāras,' the pain and illness become ours, too. So we suffer, we're sad or disappointed. If we are uncompromising with a new intention, with intelligence and mental fortitude, we commit to letting the saṅkhāras be their own story. Let the saṅkhāras happen according to their own business; don't hang on as 'mine' or 'ours.' The story of saṅkhāras is they don't last; they're impermanent. Saṅkhāras are dukkha, stressful, and undependable. Saṅkhāras are anattā, without essential or lasting selfhood. What we wish for is stopping, quieting, and cooling, which is the story of nibbāna.

(From 'Dharma for Ordinary Sick People,' a talk which appears to have been recorded for a student who was ill, while at the same time, 19 July 1982, Tan Ajahn's own health was up and down. Translated from the Thai by Santikaro Upasaka.)

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