Ability of the Great Teacher

~ By Ajahn Jayasāro ~

One mark of great teachers is their ability to explain the most profound matters in language that is simple and yet in no way betrays their deep meaning. Ajahn Chah would often use the ordinary objects around him to teach the Dhamma. By doing so he de-mystified it. He showed how the most transformative ideas are rarely intellectually complex. If they seem difficult it is because they oppose our habits and attachments.

Explaining how desire distorts perception he would pick up a nearby object and say, ‘If you want it to be long, it looks too short; if you want it to be short, it looks too long.’

In talking about the attitude to take towards the conditioned transient nature of all that we love, he would point to the glass of water beside him: ‘You must see that this glass is already broken.’

Chuckling at how we blame our suffering on other people or situations he would point to his monk’s bag. It’s as if, he would say, you had a bag full of excrement and then walked around, bag on shoulder, complaining of the bad smell everywhere you went.

*16th January 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the passing away of Ajahn Chah

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"Food for the Heart", a series of Dhamma teachings handwritten weekly is posted on the Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives page with Ajahn's kind permission.

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For other teachings by Ven. Ajahn Jayasāro, please visit the Panyaprateep Foundation website.