Questions & Answers Ajahn Chah (google translation) Question: I am trying very hard in my practice, but likely will not get anywhere. Answer: It is very important. Do not try to get anywhere in practice.The desire to be free or very will be a desire to be enlightened that prevents your freedom. You can try as hard as you want, diligent practice day and night, but if it is still with the desire to reach in mind, you will never find peace. The energy of this desire would be a cause for doubt and anxiety. No matter how long or how hard you practice, wisdom will not arise from desire. So, just let go.Consider the mind and body mindfully but do not try to achieve anything. Do not cling even the practice of enlightenment.
 
Question: What about sleep? How much should I sleep? Answer: Do not ask me, I can not say. A good average for someis four hours of the night. What is important, though, is that you watch andknow own. If you try to go to sleep too little, your body will feel uncomfortable and awareness will be difficult to maintain. Too much sleep causes dull or a restless mind. Find the balance of nature for themselves. Carefully watch the mind and body and the track needs to sleep until you find the optimum. If you wake up and then roll over to snooze, this is defilement. Build awareness so eyes open.
 
Q: What about eating? How much should I eat? Answer: Look at food as medicine. Did you eat too much so you just feel sleepy after eating and you get a chubby every day? Stop!Check your own body and mind. No need to fast. Instead, experiment with the amount of food you take. Find the natural balance to your body. Put all your food together in a bowl you follow the ascetic practices. Then you can easily can assess the amount you take. Watch yourself carefully while you eat. Know yourself. The core of our practice just this. There is nothing special you have to do. Just watch. Check yourself. Watch the mind. Then you will know what the balance of nature for his own practice.
 
Q: What think Asians and Westerners differ? Answer: Basically there is no difference. Foreign customs and language may appear different, but the human mind has natural characteristics of the same for everyone. Greed and hatred are the same in the minds of the East or West. Suffering and the cessation of suffering is the same for everyone.
 
Q: What is recommended to read or study the scriptures as part of the practice? Answer: The Buddha Dhamma is not found in books. If you want to really see for themselves what the Buddha was talking about, you do not need to bother with books. Watch your own mind. Watch to see how feelings come and go, how thoughts come and go. Do not cling to anything. It will only pay attention to whatever there is to see. This is the way to the truth of the Buddha. Be natural.Everything you do in your life here is an opportunity to practice. It is all Dhamma. When you do your job, try to be conscious. If you are emptying the spittoon or cleaning the toilet, do not feel you are doing it as an aid to others. There Dhamma in emptying spittoons.Do not feel you are practicing only when sitting still, cross-legged.Some of you have complained that there was not enough time to meditate. Is there enough time to breathe? This is your meditation: consciousness, naturalness in whatever you do.
 
Q: Why do not we have daily interviews with the teacher? Answer: If you have any questions, you are welcome to come and ask them anytime. But we do not need daily interviews here. If I answered your question a little of each, you will never understand the process of doubt in the mind of your own. It is important that you learn to examine ourselves, to interview yourself. Listen carefully to lecture every few days, then use this teaching to compare with your own practice. Is it still the same? Is it different? Why do you have any doubts? Who is doubting? Only through self-examination can you understand.
 
Q: Sometimes I worry about the monk's discipline. If I kill insects accidentally, is this bad? Answer: Sila or discipline and morality are important to our practice, but you do not have to stick with the rules blindly. In killing animals or violate other rules, what matters is intention. Know your own mind. You may not care too much about the monk's discipline.If used correctly, supports the practice, but some worry about the rules of monks so small that they can not sleep soundly. Discipline will not be implemented as a burden. In our practice here the foundation is discipline, good discipline coupled with ascetic rules and practices. Being aware and be careful even many supporters of the rules and basic precepts 227 has huge benefits. It makes life very simple. There is no need to wonder about how to act, so you can avoid thinking and instead just be simply realized. This discipline allows us to live together in harmony, community run smoothly. Foreign everyone looks and acts the same. Discipline and morality are the stepping stones for further concentration and wisdom. With the proper use of discipline and precepts ascetic monk, we are forced to live simply, to limit ours. So here we have a full practice of the Buddha: refrain from evil and do good, live simply keeping to basic needs, purify the mind. That is, should alert mind and body in all postures: sitting, standing, walking or lying, know yourself.
 
Q: What can I do about doubts? Some days I'm plagued with doubt about my own practice or progress, or teacher. Answer: in doubt is reasonable. It all starts with doubts. You can learn a lot from them. What is important is that you are not familiar with your doubts: that is, do not get stuck in it. It will spin your mind in a limited circle. Instead, watch the whole process of doubting, wondering. Seeing who is dubious. See how doubts come and go.Then you will no longer be a victim of your doubts. You will step out of them and your mind will calm down. You can see how things come and go. Just let go of what you are attached. Remove your doubts and simply watch. This is a way to end the doubts.
 
Q: What about other methods of practice? Today there are apparently many teachers, so many different systems and that meditation is confusing. Answer: This is like going into town. One can approach from the north, from the southeast, from many paths. Often these systems just differ outwardly. Whether you walk one way or another fast, or slow, if you are aware, it's all the same. There is one important thing that all good practice must eventually come to - does not stick. In the end, all meditation systems must be let go. Can not one attached to the teacher. If the system leads to the release, to not clinging, then it is the right practice. You may want to travel, to visit other teachers and try other systems.Some you have to do it.This is a natural desire. You will find that a thousand questions asked and the knowledge of many systems will not take you to the truth. Eventually you'll be bored. You will see that only by stopping and examining your own mind you can find our what the Buddha talked about. No need to go looking outside of yourself. Finally, you must return to face your own true nature. Here's where you can understand the Dhamma.
 
Q: Many times it seems that many monks here are not practicing.They look sloppy or careless. This is bothering me. Answer: It is not appropriate to look at other people. This will not help your practice. If you are distracted, watching a disturbance in your own mind. If 'discipline other people are bad or they are not good monks, this is not for you to judge. You will not discover wisdom watching others. 'Discipline Monks is a tool to be used for your own meditation. This is not a weapon to be used to criticize or find fault. No one can do the exercise for you, you also can not do the exercises to others. Will only consider your own actions. This is the way to practice.
 
Q: I have been very careful to practice sense restraint. I always keep my eyes down and I realized that every little action I do. When eating, for example, I take a long time and tried to look at every touch: chewing, tasting, swallowing, etc. I take each step very deliberately and carefully. Am I practicing properly? Answer: Sense restraint is proper practice. We must pay attention to it all day. But do not overdo it! Walk and eat and act naturally.And then develop a natural awareness of what is going on inside you. Do not force your meditation do not force yourself into awkward patterns. This is another form of desire. Be patient.Patience and endurance are necessary. If you act naturally and consciously, wisdom will come naturally as well.
 
Q: Is it necessary to sit very long stretches? Answer: No, sitting for hours is not required. Some people think that the longer you can sit, you should be wiser. I have seen chickens sit on their nests for days! Wisdom comes from being realized in all postures. Your practice should start when you wake up in the morning. This should continue until you fall asleep. Do not worry about how long you can sit. What matters is only that you stay alert if you are working or sitting or going to the bathroom.Everyone has their own natural pace. Some of you will die at age fifty, some at age sixty-five, and some at age ninety. Likewise, the practice will not be all identical. Do not think or worry about it. Try to be aware and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become more peaceful and calm in any environment. It will be still like a clear forest pool. Then all kinds of rare and beautiful animals come to drink at the pool. You will see clearly the nature of all things (sankhara) in the world. You'll see beautiful things and odd lot come and go. But you will remain. Problems will arise and you will see through them immediately. This is the happiness of the Buddha.
 
Q: I still have a lot on my mind a very. My mind wandered a lot even though I try to be conscious. Answer: Do not worry about it. Try to keep your mind at the moment. Whatever there is that arises in the mind, just watch it.Release it. It does not even want to get rid of the mind. Then the mind will reach its original state. Does not distinguish between good and bad, hot and cold, fast and slow. No me and no you, there is no self at all. Just what is there. When you walk along the alms, do not need to do something special. Simply walk away and see what is there. No need to cling isolation or seclusion.Wherever you are, know yourself by being natural and watching. If doubts arise, watch them come and go. It's very simple. Hold on to nothing. It is as if you were walking on the street. Periodically you will run into obstacles. When you meet defilements, just see them and just beat them by letting them. not thinking about the obstacles you have passed already. Do not worry about those you have not seen. Stick to the present. Do not worry about the length of the road or on purpose. Everything changed. Whatever you pass, do not cling to it. Eventually the mind will achieve the balance of nature in which the practice of automatically. All the things that will come and go of themselves. 

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