Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Real Peace, the Calming of Defilements

"You must contemplate in order to find peace. What people usually mean whenever they say peace is only the calming down of the mind and not the calming down of the defilements. The defilements are simply being temporarily subdued, just like grass being covered by a stone. If you take the stone away, the grass will grow back again in a short time. The grass hadn't really died; it was just being suppressed. It's the same when sitting in meditation. The mind is calm, but the defilements are not really calm. Therefore samadhi is not a sure thing. To find real peace you must develop wisdom. Samadhi is one kind of peace, like the stone covering the grass. This is only a temporary peace. The peace of wisdom is like putting the stone down and just leaving it there. In this way the grass can't possibly grow back again. This is real peace, the calming of the defilements, the sure peace that results from wisdom." - Ven. Ajahn Chah

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