Khanti

“Buddha once saw a jackal, a wild dog, run out of the forest where he was staying. It stood still for a while, then it ran into the underbrush, and then out again. Then it ran into a tree hollow, then out again. Then it went into a cave, only to run out again. One minute it stood, the next it ran, then it lay down, then it jumped up. The jackal had the mange. When it stood, the mange would eat into its skin, so it would run. Running, it was still uncomfortable, so it would stop. Standing, it was still uncomfortable, so it would lie down. Then it would jump up again, running to the underbrush, the tree hollow, never staying still. The Buddha said, “Monks, did you see that jackal this afternoon? Standing, it suffered. Running, it suffered. Sitting, it suffered. Lying down, it suffered. It blamed standing for its discomfort. It blamed sitting. It blamed running and lying down. It blamed the tree, the underbrush, and the cave. In fact, the problem was with none of those things. The problem was with his mange.” We are just the same as that jackal. Our discontent is due to wrong view. Because we don’t exercise sense restraint, we blame our suffering on externals. Whether we live in Thailand, America or England, we aren’t satisfied. Why not? Because we still have wrong view. Just that! So wherever we go, we aren’t content. But just as that jackal would be content wherever it went as soon as its mange was cured, so would we be content wherever we went once we rid ourselves of wrong view.”
― Ajahn Chah

The Buddha once compared looking at one’s mind in Dhamma practice to the way that a young man or woman might look at their reflection in a mirror or bowl of water. If those young people were to see any dirt on their faces they would immediately try to remove it. If they saw their faces were free of dirt, they would take pleasure in the cleanness.

In the same way a practitioner looks at the mind to see whether it is often sullied by covetous thoughts, by thoughts of ill-will, by sloth and drowsiness, by agitation, by hesitation, by irritability, confusion and other corrupting qualities. If they see that these qualities are generally present they should put forth diligent effort to abandon them, with the same sense of urgency they might feel if their turban or head were on fire.

If, on the other hand, they look at their mind and see that generally it is free of such qualities, they may take pleasure in their absence, appreciating how wonderful it is to be free of them even to a limited degree. But rather than allowing that joy to be a cause of complacency, they use it as a spur to increase their efforts to bring the defilements to complete cessation.

Ajahn Jayasāro
1/3/25

https://seeingthroughthenet.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/The-Law-of-Dependent-Arising_LE_Rev_1.0.pdf

English Books By Most Venerable Bhikkhu K. Nanananda

Concept and Reality in Early Buddhist Thought
Saṁyutta Nikāya – An Anthology
Ideal Solitude
The Magic of the Mind
Towards Calm and Insight
From Topsy-turvydom to Wisdom, Volume I
From Topsy-turvydom to Wisdom, Volume II
Seeing Through
Towards A Better World
Nibbāna – The Mind Stilled, Volume I
Nibbāna – The Mind Stilled, Volume II
Nibbāna – The Mind Stilled, Volume III
Nibbāna – The Mind Stilled, Volume IV
Nibbāna – The Mind Stilled, Volume V
Nibbāna – The Mind Stilled, Volume VI
Nibbāna – The Mind Stilled, Volume VII
Nibbāna – The Mind Stilled, Library Edition
Nibbāna and The Fire Simile
A Majestic Tree of Merit
The End of the World in Buddhist Perspective
The Law of Dependent Arising, Volume I
The Law of Dependent Arising, Volume II
The Law of Dependent Arising, Volume III
The Law of Dependent Arising, Volume IV
The Law of Dependent Arising, Library Edition
Walk to Nibbāna
Deliverance of the Heart through Universal Love
Questions and Answers on Dhamma
The Miracle of Contact
From The Wheel of Kamma To The Wheel of Dhamma

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All enquiries should be addressed to: Kaṭukurunde Ñāṇananda Sadaham Senasun Bhāraya, Kirillawala Watta, Dammulla, Karandana

"Life isn’t just suffering. Life has suffering in it, but the problem isn’t life, the problem is the activities of the mind. Knowing that fact gives you focus. This is why we focus on the breath as we meditate, because the breath is very close to the mind. As you get to know your breath better, you get to know your mind better, in a way that allows you to see: This is where you’re adding that unnecessary suffering and this is how you can stop."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Brightness of Life"

The Brightness of Life | dhammatalks.org Those first four reflections that we chanted just now—we’re subject to aging, illness, death, these things are unavoidable, we haven’t gone beyond these things; we’re subject to separation from all the things that we love: These reflections seem to confirm the statement that you often hear a...

"Everything the Buddha teaches gets analyzed down into actions, intentions and their results. The intention you can gauge as to whether it’s skillful or not, the results you can gauge as to whether they are skillful or not. What kind of person you are, how good or bad you are, that’s not anything you can gauge at all. If you try to do it, it really gets in the way. So your duty here is to look at your intentions, and then to see how well those intentions play out when you act on them. And learn how to judge the results. Look at things simply in terms of cause and effect, and measure the effects in terms of whether they’re harmful or not, whether they lead to happiness or whether they lead to stress and suffering."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Thoughts with Fangs"

Thoughts with Fangs | ePublished Dhamma Talks : Volume III ePublished Dhamma Talks : Volume III, by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu