The following are excerpts from an interview with Theravada Bhikkhu Ven. Ajahn Suchart Abhijato Maha Thera of Thailand. The Maha Thera is well known worldwide for his effective Dhamma teaching methods and meditation practice.
Q: Sometimes, ‘ letting go’ is easier said than done. Should we force ourselves to ‘let go,’ or wait for the feeling to come naturally?
A: These feelings do not come naturally, because your attachment to material objects is quite strong. To release it, you need to reflect on the Three Characteristics of Existence – anicca (impermanence), dukkha (suffering), and anatta (non-self). See that the things you are clinging to are impermanent, and that sooner or later, you will have to let them go. Everything is anatta — These things are ultimately beyond your control. Clinging to something you cannot hold on to, can lead to dukkha – suffering or stress.
Q: How does the mindset of an Arhant differ from that of an Anagami?
A: An Anagami has completely got rid of his attachment to the body. He no longer feels any sensual attraction or clinging toward the body. He does not care for the body anymore. However, an Anagami still has an attachment to his own mental state—his emotions and feelings—and has yet to fully understand how to deal with them. For example, he may experience fluctuations in mood, with good days and bad days, where his emotions shift from positive to negative and vice versa.
When your emotions shift from good to bad, even though your defilements urge you to keep a positive state always, this can cause more stress because you’re striving for something beyond your control. So you still need to apply the Three Characteristics of Existence—anicca (impermanence), dukkha (suffering), and anatta (non-self)—to your mental state, just as you did with the body, and accept that your mental state is impermanent and constantly changing.
Your mental states are anatta, and not under your control. The only thing you can do is avoid reacting to them and simply let them be. When you do that, your mental states no longer bother you, as you can accept both the positive and negative states as they come.
Q: Can a person who claims to be a Sotapanna be particular about his/her food choices? For example, if someone consumes meat, can they be selective about the type of meat they eat? Is this consistent with being a Sotapanna?
A: Not really. A Sotapanna only deals with his body -his attachment to the body in terms of aging, sickness, and death. A Soptapanna can let go of these attachments, accepting sickness and death as part of the body’s natural process—something beyond control. Trying to change this natural process will only lead to suffering in the mind. By accepting it, there will be no mental suffering when the body ages, falls ill or dies.
Q: So, can he or she be selective about what they eat?
A: This is secondary and not that important. As a meditation practitioner, you typically take things as they come and eat what is available.
Q: What are the consequences for politicians or public officials who misuse public funds for personal gain?
A: It is essentially theft. As a result, in the next life, their property may be taken from them, and their wealth might be stolen by others
Q: How can one remain mindful of the present moment without being distracted by the past or the future?
A: You need to be alone because when you are surrounded by things/people, they can easily distract you. The Buddha advised seeking seclusion to develop proper mindfulness.
Even when you are alone in seclusion, you cannot simply leave your mind alone, unattended. You have to force the mind to focus – either by repeating the mantra ‘Buddho, Buddho’ or by concentrating on your bodily activities—whether walking, standing, sitting, or engaging in any other task. This practice will help cultivate mindfulness.
Q: Being among a group of people prevents us from fully developing mindfulness. Am I correct?
A: Yeah. You cannot fully develop mindfulness in such situations. When you’re around others, you may feel the need to say ‘hello’ or greet them or engage in conversations. Even if they don’t speak to you, your mind might still entertain thoughts about them. So, when you’re around people, it’s difficult to stop your mind from thinking.
Q: So, if we are at work or engaged in any activity, can’t we still be mindful? While addressing someone, can’t we remain mindful of the action, such as being aware that we are talking to the person?
A: Then you only achieve partial mindfulness. What are you mindful of? You are mindful of what you are doing, but you cannot stop thinking. To have full mindfulness, you must stop thinking as well. If you are mindful of something, but cannot stop your thoughts, then you are only experiencing partial mindfulness.For complete mindfulness, you need to be fully aware of what is happening and what you are doing, without thinking about other things.
Q: What kind of relationship should a Buddhist layperson maintain with money?
A: One should have money just enough to survive—enough to cover their basic expenses, including food, clothing, shelter, and medicine.
Q: But don’t we need to be wealthy? Even to do some charity work, don’t we have to be wealthy enough?
A: You don’t earn money to do charity; you do charity because you have extra money that you don’t need. You shouldn’t spend your time going after money just to give it away. It’s better to dedicate your time to meditation practice.
Q: What is the formula for true happiness?
A: The practice of morality, charity, and meditation is the way to keep the mind happy. You do charity to let go of attachment to money or reliance on it for happiness. When you give to charity, you feel happy and this kind of happiness does not harm you—unlike the fleeting happiness you might get from spending money on luxury items or unnecessary possessions.
These things become addictive; no matter how much you buy; you always want more. When you can’t afford to buy more, you become unhappy. But the money you give to charity brings a sense of fullness, happiness, and contentment.
If you become a bhikkhu, you don’t have to worry about charity because you own nothing. Instead, you focus on keeping the Precepts and meditating to calm your mind and stop cravings. It is your cravings that create unhappiness. Once there are no cravings in your mind, you feel content and truly happy.
Q: Does true compassion involve treating all beings equally with the same kindness?
A: True compassion means being ready to help anyone in need, regardless of who or what they are.
Q: Can a Sotapanna be born in a Brahma realm?
A: No, not yet. A Sotapanna still has cravings for sensual objects and has not yet overcome sensual desires. To be born in a Brahma realm, he has to reach the third level. He must become an Anagami, a non-returner.
Q: What is the best way to transfer merit to the dead?
A: The best way is by giving to charity and doing things that help others, making people happy through your generosity. This creates a good feeling, which is called merit. You can share this feeling of contentment and happiness with the departed by dedicating it to them in your mind. For example, you can think “I would like to share this merit- this good feeling of contentment and happiness – with a certain deceased person.”
But it does not mean that this particular person is waiting for your merit. When a person passes away, it does not imply that they rely on the merit shared by us. If they accumulated much merit during their lifetime, they do not need to depend on the merit we share. Then they can be reborn in the Deva or Brahma realms.
Q: When we give alms or do charity, do we always have to recite the particular gatha used to bestow merit on the deceased?
A: Not necessarily.
Q: Do we have to think about the person to whom we want to transfer merit?
A: Well, you need to be aware that you have done something good, and you should feel a sense of satisfaction or joy from that action.
If the spirit is waiting for merit, that may help, but we do not know the state of mind the spirit will be in after death. Regardless, we do it anyway, just in case. Whenever we do charity, we can share the good feeling with the departed. But whether they are waiting for it or not does not matter.
Q: Buddhism always focuses on the present moment. What is the importance of the present moment?
A: Everything happens in the present moment. There is no past, and there is no future; these are merely projections of the mind. When we think of the past, we are projecting our mind towards it. When we think of the future, we are projecting our mind towards something that doesn’t yet exist. The past and the future only exist in our minds. What truly exists is “here and now,” which is constantly moving. It does not remain static. Time moves with each passing second, and the present keeps moving forward. As it moves away, the present becomes the past, and the future becomes the present. So, in reality, there is only the present. There is no past or future; it is only our thoughts about them that make them exist.
– Ven. Ajahn Suchart Abhijato Maha Thera was born on November 2, 1947. Having completed his degree in Civil Engineering at California State University, Fresno, USA, he returned to his motherland where he designed an ice cream parlour for a brief stint.
Quite soon, inspired by a Dhamma book, he decided to go in search of “true happiness,” to find inner peace through the practice of Buddhist meditation. He became a bhikkhu at the age of 27 and received ordination at Wat Bovornives in Bangkok on February 19, 1975, with Somdet Phra Ñanasarivara, the late Supreme Patriarch (Somdet Phra Sangharaja), as his Preceptor.
Ven. Ajahn Suchart Abhijato Maha Thera resides in Wat Yansangwararam, Thailand.
