Quotes from Ajahn Sumedho

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.

One begins to realize that liberation is through letting go, through allowing life to flow, through openness and attention. 1 August 2001

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.

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.

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.

What I am talking about is more a sense of relaxing, opening, receiving, than trying to attain. Pure consciousness is not an attainment; you can't get it; you can only be it. Recognize 'it is like this'. It is natural and being at ease. You feel relaxed and at home here. All the problems of being a separate person, a personality, drop away here. So, as you begin to explore and investigate this, you will find the way out of suffering.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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'.

Obi?no patnju poistove?ujemo sa ose?anjem, a ose?anje nije patnja. Poistove?ivanje sa željom jeste patnja. Želja ne izaziva patnju; uzrok patnje je poistove?ivanje sa željom. O ovoj konstataciji treba razmisliti i analizirati je u kontekstu sopstevnog iskustva.

I contemplated my greed for peace. And I did not seek tranquillity anymore.

We look directly into our suffering rather than try to become happy. The happiness that arises from this approach is reliable.

The mind of an enlightened human being is flexible and adaptable. The mind of the ignorant person is conditioned and fixed.