Ajahn Sumedho > Quotes

“Oftentimes, the First Noble Truth is misquoted as “All life is suffering,” but that is an inaccurate and misleading reflection of the Buddha’s insight. He did not teach that life is constant misery, nor that you should expect to feel pain and unhappiness at all times. Rather, he proclaimed that suffering is an unavoidable reality of ordinary human existence that is to be known and responded to wisely.”
― Venerable Ajahn Sumedho, Dancing With Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering

“The point is, the Four Stages are not for ego-development or attainment; they are a skilful means for recognizing the way we cling to things.”
― Ajahn Sumedho, Don't Take Your Life Personally

“When you are overcome with resentment and aversion to suffering, your resistance is indeed an affliction. When you feel ashamed, depressed, and defeated by your suffering, it presses you down, causes you to contract. But if you can learn to separate your resistance to suffering from the actual pains and difficulties in your life, an incredible transformation takes place. You are able to meet your suffering as though you were a wagon receiving the load being placed on it. Paradoxically, the effect is that your load is lightened, and your life can roll forward, whatever its destination.”
― Ajahn Sumedho, Dancing With Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering

“In terms of emotional habits, when somebody insults me or does something I find offensive, I feel anger, and then maybe think, ‘How could he do that? That’s disgusting! He was supposed to be my friend but he’s betrayed me, he’s disappointed me, I’ll never forgive him! No, I’m not even going to speak to him again ― but I’m going to confront him! I’m going to seek revenge!’ and I can go on and on like that. Then the rational mind says, ‘Oh, just forget it! He’s trying his best,’ and there is a feeling of magnanimity, a grand gesture of understanding. But you can’t sustain that for long before it goes back into, ‘How could he? I’ll never forgive him.’ And there is a struggle between the magnanimous, generous ‘Forgive! He’s just doing the best he can. Don’t make it personal. We all have our bad days . . .’ and ‘I’LL NEVER FORGIVE HIM!’ At least this is how my mind works. I have heard all the good advice, but the hurt, the pain of disappointment, the sense of betrayal is still there. So I contemplate these things. And then in this emptiness or this ‘sound of silence’, the thinking process stops.”
― Ajahn Sumedho, Don't Take Your Life Personally

“On a personal level ― getting back to praise and blame ― I like praise and I don’t like blame. When the personality becomes the subject, I am a victim of praise and blame; I have to constantly demand praise and run away from situations in which I might be criticized or blamed. One can see how easy it is to develop a way of life which concentrates on protecting oneself as a person, on just trying to be with people that give one the necessary you’re-a-nice-guy-I-really-like-you kind of feeling, avoiding the critics and only doing those things that one knows will be successful.”
― Ajahn Sumedho, Don't Take Your Life Personally

“People can have strong emotional reactions when their meditation gets towards the cessation of the ego. Panic and terror often become quite strong at those times. One can feel as though one is dying ― that is the message you can get from the conditioning  of the mind.”
― Ajahn Sumedho, Don't Take Your Life Personally

“Now, because Westerners are usually well educated, they often understand the theory quite easily ― this is just how I see it, anyway; this is what I am reflecting on these days ― but they don’t have any confidence in direct insight. They might have direct insight, but still their ego-structure is based on doubting themselves. So they either exaggerate direct insight by saying, ‘I’m enlightened!’ and think that that is a kind of permanent state of the ego, an enlightened ego, or they think, ‘Oh, it was just one of those strange things that happened.’ Or, if the ego suddenly drops away because they are in a very peaceful situation and they experience emptiness, they think it is the result of those conditions, those circumstances”
― Ajahn Sumedho, Don't Take Your Life Personally

“So what does one do if one’s refuge is in another person? or in an institution? or in a way of thinking? or in family life? or in a political view? or in anything which is subject to change, to birth and death?”
― Ajahn Sumedho, Don't Take Your Life Personally

“If you are out on the wheel, you are caught on the dizzying momentum of going round in circles. We call it ‘samsara’ ― ‘samsara-vatta’ means ‘going round in circles’ — endless cycles, not really going anywhere but round. That is why when you do things from ignorance, you find yourself coming back and repeating the same things over and over again.”
― Ajahn Sumedho, Don't Take Your Life Personally

“The terrifying part in meditation is when the ego is being threatened. At first there might be a lot of interest in ‘solving my problems so that I can attain nibbana, be free from suffering and be free from all the problems of my life’, but I found that as all that began to resolve itself, there was quite a lot of myself, my ego, that I really liked. And the thought of not being anything, of extinction, of cessation of the ego ― the ego that is based on becoming something, on reinforcing itself ― was very threatening.”
― Ajahn Sumedho, Don't Take Your Life Personally

“One begins to realize that liberation is through letting go, through allowing life to flow, through openness and attention. 1 August 2001”
― Ajahn Sumedho, Don't Take Your Life Personally

“Mi sve vreme govorimo sami sebi: "Ovo ne bi trebalo da je ovako!", "Ja ne bi trebalo da
sam takav!" i "Ti ne bi trebalo da si takav i ne bi trebalo to da radiš!" i tako u beskraj.
Siguran sam da bih mogao da vam kažem kakvi bi vi trebalo da budete – a i vi biste
mogli da meni kažete kakv bi ja trebalo da budem. Trebalo bi da budemo ljubazni, puni
ljubavi, velikodušni, dobronamerni, vredni, marljivi, hrabri i saosećajni. Uopšte ne
moram da vas poznajem da bih vam to rekao! Ali da bih vas zaista upoznao, ja bi trebalo
da se otvorim pred vama, a ne da krenem od jedne idealne slike o tome kakvi bi muškarac
i žena trebalo da budu, kakav bi budista ili hrišćanin trebalo da budu. Nije stvar u tome da
mi ne znamo kakvi bi trebalo da budemo.
Naša patnja izvire iz naše vezanosti za ideale i iz komplikovanja stvari onakvih kakve
one jesu. Prema našim najstrožijim idealima, mi nikada nismo onakvi kakvi bi trebalo da
budemo.”
― Ajahn Sumedho

“Gde postoje arogancija, obmana ili samopotcenjivanje – gde god da su – istražujte ih;
osluškujte to unutrašnje: "Ja sam..." Budite svesni i posmatrajte taj prostor pre nego što
počnete da razmišljate, samu misao i prostor koji ostaje posle nje. Zadržite svoju pažnju
na toj praznini na kraju i vidite koliko dugo možete svoju pažnju da zadržite na njoj.
Vidite možete li da čujete nekakav zvonki zvuk, zvuk tišine, primordijalni zvuk. Kada
svoju pažnju usmerite na to, možete razmisliti: "Postoji li ikakvo osećanje 'ja'?" Uviñate
da kada ste zaista prazni – kada je u vama samo jasnoća, budnost i pažnja – ne postoji
"ja". Ne postoji taj osećaj "ja" i "moje". Tako, boravim u tom stanju ispražnjenosti i
kontempliram dhammu: pomislim, "Ovo je samo ono što jeste. Ovo telo ovde je upravo
takvo." Bilo da mu dam neko ime ili ne, ali u ovom trenutku ono je baš takvo. Ono nije
Sumedho!
U toj praznini ne postoji budistički monah. "Budistički monah" je samo konvencija, koja
odgovara vremenu i mestu. Kada vas ljudi hvale i kažu: "Ah, izvanredno!", znate da neko
hvali, ali ne doživljavate to lično. Znate da tu tog budističkog monaha nema; postoji samo
Takvost. Ono što jeste. Ukoliko želim da je Amaravati uspešno mesto i to se i dogodi, ja
sam srećan. Ali ako sve propadne, niko za njega nije zainteresovan, ne možemo da
platimo račun za struju i sve propada – neuspeh! Ali, u stvari, Amaravati ne postoji. Ta
ideja o osobi koja je budistički monah ili o mestu zvanom Amaravati – to su samo
konvencije, ne krajnja realnost. Upravo sada to je tako, baš onako kako bi trebalo da
bude. Ne nosimo teret jednog takvog mesta na svojim plećima, jer ga vidimo onakvog
kakvo jeste i nema osobe koja bi bila u to uključena. Hoće li ono biti uspešno ili ne više
nije važno.”
― Ajahn Sumedho

“Kada postoje ispravan napor, ispravna sabranost i ispravna koncentracija, tu je i
neustrašivost. Tu je neustrašivost zato što nema čega da se bojimo. Imamo snagu da
pogledamo stvari i ne protumačimo ih na pogrešan način; imamo mudrost da posmatramo
i promišljamo život; imamo sigurnost i pouzdanost sile, snagu svoje posvećenosti moralu
i odlučnosti da činimo dobro i uzdržimo se od lošeg počinjenog telom i govorom. Na taj
način, čitava stvar stoji zajedno kao put razvoja. To je savršen put, jer sve pomaže i
podstiče; telo, emocionalna priroda (osećanja) i intelekt. Oni su u savršenom skladu,
podupiru jedno drugo.
Bez tog sklada, naša instrinktivna priroda može prevladati. Ukoliko nemamo posvećenost
moralu, tada naši instinkti mogu preuzeti kontrolu. Na primer, ako samo sledimo
seksualne želje bez ikakve veze sa moralom, tada se upetljavamo u mnoge stvari koje
izazivaju odbojnost prema samom sebi. Tu su preljuba, promiskuitet i bolesti, kao i sva
ona uznemirenost i konfuzija koji dolaze kada našom instinktivnom prirodom ne vladaju
ograničenja morala.
Možemo svoju inteligenciju iskoristiti za prevaru i laganje, zar ne, ali kada imamo moral
kao temelj, tad nas vodi mudrost i samadhi; oni nas vode do emocionalne ravnoteže i
emocionalne snage. Ali mi ne koristimo mudrost za potiskivanje osećajnosti. Ne
gospodarimo svojim emocijama uz pomoć mišljenja i potiskujući našu emocionalnu
prirodu. A upravo to često radimo na Zapadu; upotrebili smo naše racionalne misli i
ideale da gospodarimo i potisnemo naše emocije, postajući tako neosetljivi na stvari, na
život, na same sebe. Meñutim, u praktikovanju sabranosti pažnje putem vipassana
meditacije um je potpuno prijemčiv i otvoren, tako da poseduje onu puninu i jedan
kvalitet sveobuhvatnosti. I zato što je otvoren, um je istovremeno kao ogledalo,
reflektivan, odražava stvari. Kada se koncentrišete na neku tačku, um vam više nije
refleksivan – zadubljen je u svojstva tog objekat. Refleksivna sposobnost uma dolazi kroz
pažnju, celovitost uma. Ne filtrirate niti ne birate bilo šta. Samo posmatrate kako sve što
nastane i nestane. Posmatrate da ako ste vezani za nešto što je nastalo, ono i nestaje.
Doživljavate da iako je privlačno dok nastaje, ono se i menja pre nego što nestane. Tada
se njena privlačnost smanjuje i moramo pronaći nešto drugo čime ćemo se zaokupiti.”
― Ajahn Sumedho

“It’s just what it is, it’s natural, it’s nature. It’s just the way it is. And you’re a witness to it, because you recognize you’re in this position of the Buddho, or the knower, the witness.”
― Ajahn Sumedho, The Sound of Silence: The Selected Teachings of Ajahn Sumedho

“Notice that this reflective paradigm of the statement, the prescription, and the result are the three aspects of each noble truth. The first Noble Truth is ‘understanding’, the second is ‘letting go of the causes’, the third is ‘realizing cessation’, and the fourth is ‘cultivating awareness in the ordinariness of life’.”
― Ajahn Sumedho, Don't Take Your Life Personally

“Možete se osloboditi toga tereta ukoliko ste spremni da ovo učenje koristite na pravi
način. Kažite sami sebi: "Ne upadam više u te zamke; odbijam da učestvujem u toj igri.
Neću više popustiti pred takvim raspoloženjem." Počnite da zauzimate poziciju znanja:
"Ja znam da je to dukkha; postoji dukkha". Zaista je važno doneti tu odluku da odemo
tamo gde je patnja i zadržimo se uz nju. Jedino istraživajući je i suočavajući se sa njom
na taj način imamo šansu za onaj duboki uvid: "Ova patnja je shvaćena".”
― Ajahn Sumedho

“It is not a matter of controlling conditioned phenomena in order to realize cessation, but of trusting awareness to the point where it is the refuge. And it isn’t just a fragmentary refuge, just a flash of insight that you forget; you recognize the continuity of it. Otherwise you have moments of insight ― rather like flashes ― but then you are right back into the old habit-tendencies again. This is where you might feel despair with your practice; you understand the idea, but the reality evades you.”
― Ajahn Sumedho, Don't Take Your Life Personally

“Druga plemenita istina sa svoja tri aspekta je: "Postoji izvor patnje, a to je vezanost za
želju. Želju treba napustiti. Želja je napuštena."
Druga plemenita istina kaže da postoji izvor patnje i da je izvor te patnje vezanost za tri
vrste želje: želja za čulnim zadovoljstvom (kama tanha), želja da nešto bude (bhava
tanha) i želja da nešto ne bude (vibhava tanha). To je tvrdnja druga plemenite istine, teza,
pariyatti . O tome razmišljate: izvor patnje je vezanost za želju.”
― Ajahn Sumedho

“We are brought up to proclaim ourselves as individuals in such an extreme way that often we don’t feel any connection to anything at all, not even to our own parents or families.”
― Ajahn Sumedho, Don't Take Your Life Personally

“Obično patnju poistovećujemo sa osećanjem, a osećanje nije patnja. Poistovećivanje sa
željom jeste patnja. Želja ne izaziva patnju; uzrok patnje je poistovećivanje sa željom. O
ovoj konstataciji treba razmisliti i analizirati je u kontekstu sopstevnog iskustva.”
― Ajahn Sumedho

“As a student I learnt how to manipulate the university system. I figured out what I was good at and how I could get through. So I became manipulating and controlling. The point is, no matter how successful you are in getting what you want, it still leaves this sense of lack, of fear, of anxiety, in your consciousness. Even a peak moment, one realizes, cannot be sustained. A sense of despair arises after a peak experience because you have had it and it becomes a memory. Then the downhill slide can be quite depressing ― when taken personally. But one can get outside the personal by putting the creations you have into an objective perspective; you see them as ‘objects’. And you do this by means of awareness. That is the only way you can do it. Then you have consciousness and awareness together.”
― Ajahn Sumedho, Don't Take Your Life Personally

“Pāli is a scholastic language now, it’s not a living language that changes. So it kind of holds concepts and then allows us to use words, to have an agreed vocabulary, ways of expressing and thinking that aren’t just bound into cultural conditioning or personal descriptions of experience.”
― Ajahn Sumedho, The Sound of Silence: The Selected Teachings of Ajahn Sumedho

“Želim da se oslobodim, poništim i iskorenim te negativnosti." Zaista
sam slušao sebe kako u sebi govorim: "Hoću da se oslobodim želje. Hoću da se
oslobodim ljutnje. Neću da više ikada budem uplašen ili ljubomoran. Hoću da budem
hrabar. Hoću da u mome srcu budu samo radost i vedrina."
Ovo vežbanje ne znači da mrzite sami sebe zato što imate takve misli, već da zaista vidite
kako su one zapravo naučene reakcije vašega uma. One su nešto prolazno. Želja nije
nešto što mi jesmo, već je ona način na koji mi obično reagujemo zbog neznanja, onda
kada nismo razumeli ove četiri plemenite istine u njihova tri aspekta. Skloni smo da na
sve tako reagujemo. To su normalne reakcije koje proizlaze iz neznanja.
No, ne moramo nastaviti da patimo. Mi nismo samo bespomoćne žrtve želje. Možemo
dopustiti želji da bude ono što jeste i tako početi da je napuštamo. Želja ima moć nad
nama i zavodi nas sve dotle dok se poistovećujemo sa njom, verujemo u nju i reagujemo
na nju.”
― Ajahn Sumedho

“We can develop wisdom through the conditions and the experiences that we have in this life—which are not guaranteed always to be the best.”
― Ajahn Sumedho, The Sound of Silence: The Selected Teachings of Ajahn Sumedho

“Our idealism tends to make us unhappy with the way things are, doesn’t it? We always think there is something wrong when we have the attitude that things should be like the ideal.”
― Ajahn Sumedho, Don't Take Your Life Personally

“Notice the word ‘noble’ in noble truth. This is a truth to be realized. We are not told to grasp or believe this truth; it isn’t a belief; it isn’t a dogma; it isn’t a metaphysical truth; it isn’t the ultimate reality. It is a very common human experience of loss, identifying with that which is unsatisfactory, with change, with the delusions we create, and the expectations and assumptions we make about our lives.”
― Ajahn Sumedho, Don't Take Your Life Personally

“Sada na bol ili tesklobu koju osećate ne gledate iz perspektive "To je moje" već kroz
misao: "Postoji ova patnja, ova dukkha ." Ova misao javlja se iz stava refleksije "Bude
koji vidi Dhammu". Ovaj uvid je jednostavno priznavanje da postoji ta patnja, ali je ne
činimo ličnom. To priznanje je jedan važan uvid; jednostavno posmatramo mentalnu
teskobu ili fizički bol i vidimo ih kao dukkhu a ne kao nešto lično – vidimo ih kao dukkhu
i ne reagujemo na njih na stari, već naviknuti način.
Drugi uvid prve plemenite istine je: "Patnju treba razumeti." Drugi uvid ili aspekt svake
od plemenitih istina ima u sebi reč "treba": "Treba je razumeti." Drugi uvid je, tako, da
dukkha jeste nešto što treba razumeti. Treba da razumemo dukkhu a ne samo da
pokušavamo da je se otresemo.
Možemo uzeti reč "razumeti". To je sasvim uobičajena reč, ali na jeziku pali "razumeti"
znači zaista prihvatiti patnju, prigrliti je, a ne samo reagovati na nju. Na svaki oblik
patnje – fizički ili mentalni – mi obično samo reagujemo, ali kroz razumevanje možemo
zaista da pogledamo tu patnju, da je zaista prihvatimo kao činjenicu, da je prigrlimo. I to
je drugi aspekt: "Treba da razumemo patnju."
Treći aspekt prve plemenite istine je: "Patnja je shvaćena”
― Ajahn Sumedho, The Four Noble Truths

“Kada tako razmišljamo mi zapravo posmatramo sopstvenu ljudskost kakva ona jeste. Mi
je ne doživljavamo više na ličnom planu, niti bilo koga krivimo zato što stvari nisu
upravo onakve kako bismo voleli ili želeli. Stvari su takve kakve jesu i mi smo takvi
kakvi jesmo. Možete se zapitati zašto ne možemo svi da budemo potpuno isti – sa istom
ljutnjom, istom pohlepom i istim neznanjem; bez svih tih varijacija i promena. Meñutim,
iako možete ljudsko iskustvo da analizirate sve do osnovnih stvari, svako od nas ima i
sopstvenu kammu da se nosi sa njom – sopstvene opsesije i sklonosti, koje su uvek
drugačije po kvalitetu i kvantitetu u odnosu na tuñe.
Zašto svi mi ne možemo da budemo potpuno jednaki, da imamo sve isto i svi isto
izgledamo – da smo jedno androgino biće? U takvom svetu ništa ne bi bilo nefer, ne bi
bile dopuštene razlike, sve bi bilo apsolutno savršeno i ne bi bilo mogućnosti za
nejednakost. Ako ako prepoznajemo dhammu, vidimo da u uslovljenom svetu nijedne
dve stvari nisu identične. Sve su različite, beskrajno drugačije i da se stalno menjaju, i što
se više upinjemo da situaciju uskladimo sa svojim idejama sve smo više frustrirani.
Nastojimo da jedni druge oblikujemo i da društvo prilagodimo prema tome kako
verujemo da bi stvari trebalo da izgledaju, ali uvek završimo sa frustracijom. Ako
razmišljamo, uviñamo: "Stvari su onakve kakve jesu." , stvari su onakve kakve treba da
budu – one jedino takve mogu biti.Ali to nije fatalističko ili negativno razmišljanje. To
nije stav: "Stvari su takve i ja tu ništa ne mogu učiniti." To je, naprotiv, veoma pozitivan
odgovor kroz prihvatanje toka života onakvog kakav jeste. Čak i kada ne teče u smeru
koji želimo, u stanju smo da ga prihvatimo i učimo na osnovu njega.”
― Ajahn Sumedho

“I was brought up in the States where your whole life was about attaining something.”
― Ajahn Sumedho, Don't Take Your Life Personally