The-Collected-Teachings-of-Ajahn-Chah-Single-Volume

The Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chahwhen we are caught in the power of mind-objects. The Buddha said thatthose who are still under the sway of mind-objects aren’t looking afterthemselves. They are without a refuge, a true abiding place, and so theylet their minds follow moods of sensual indulgence and pleasure-seekingand get caught into suffering, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair.They don’t know how or when to stop and reflect upon their experience.In Buddhism, once we have received ordination and taken up the life ofthe samaṇa, we have to adjust our physical appearance in accordance withthe external form of the samaṇa: we shave our heads, trim our nails and donthe brown bhikkhus’ robes – the banner of the Noble Ones: the Buddhaand the Arahants. We are indebted to the Buddha for the wholesomefoundations he established and handed down to us, which allow us to liveas monks and find adequate support. Our lodgings were built and offered asa result of the wholesome actions of those with faith in the Buddha and histeachings. We do not have to prepare our food because we are benefitingfrom the roots laid down by the Buddha. Similarly, we have inherited themedicines, robes and all the other requisites that we use from the Buddha.Once ordained as Buddhist monastics, on the conventional level we arecalled monks and given the title ‘Venerable’; 1 but simply having takenon the external appearance of monks does not make us truly venerable.Being monks on the conventional level means we are monks as far as ourphysical appearance goes. Simply by shaving our heads and putting onbrown robes we are called ‘Venerable’, but that which is truly worthy ofveneration has not yet arisen within us – we are still only ‘Venerable’ inname. It’s the same as when they mould cement or cast brass into a Buddhaimage. They call it a Buddha, but it isn’t really that. It’s just metal, wood,wax or stone. That’s the way conventional reality is.It’s the same for us. Once we have been ordained, we are given the titleVenerable Bhikkhu, but that alone doesn’t make us venerable. On the levelof ultimate reality – in other words, in the mind – the term still doesn’tapply. Our minds and hearts have still not been fully perfected through1 Venerable: in Thai, ‘Pra’.700