I will advise that if you are born as a human being now, you should practise now. There is a Buddha’s teaching now. So now is the best time to practise

Question:  Ajahn Suwat said that in the future it is not worthwhile to wish to be reborn as human being as conditions are going to be very hard to a point where it will be difficult to practice the Dhamma and it will be better to be reborn in the deva realms to practise from there. Will you advice the same?

Than Ajahn:  I will advise that if you are born as a human being now, you should practise now. Don’t worry about your future lives because you cannot guarantee where you are going to be reborn. You are a human being now and there is a Buddha’s teaching now. So now is the best time to practise.

Question:  Does the perfect one have to be still on earth to teach those devas or can he also do it from other realms?

Than Ajahn:  I think he has to be in a human realm because that is when his mental activity still exists. Once he dies, his mental activity will stop and he has no body to make contact with and there is no cause for him to teach anymore. He has no desire to go and search for anybody for him to teach. It is only his mother that he wants to teach. 

After he dies then the sankhāra stops thinking and as there is nothing that makes him thinking, there is no mental activity to contact other beings. So most likely once the Buddha dies he will have no contact with other beings, except for some practitioners whose mental capacity is capable of contacting the Buddha like Ajahn Mun. He could contact the past Buddhas and Arahants therefore they can still communicate. To be able to contact the past Buddhas or the Arahants, you must have some special capacity to do so.

Question:  A deva can practise if he has a teacher who can reach and teach him. What are the conditions for a deva to be able to listen to those teachings?

Than Ajahn:  First of all the deva has to be interested in the Dhamma practice. Secondly, there must be an Arahant or the Buddha who can connect with them. The Buddha can connect to the devas, so the devas can come and listen to the Dhamma talks and after listening to the Dhamma talks, they can become enlightened. It is similar to Buddha’s mother, she was a deva when The Buddha became enlightened and when he could connect with her, he taught her the Dhamma. After three months, she became enlightened, became a Sotāpanna.

Question:   What conditions can we set up to have a chance for a "Perfect one" could contact us in the deva realm to instruct us further, as did the Buddha with his mother?

Than Ajahn:  You have to be a Buddha’s mother or an Arahant’s mother. The Arahant will go to look for his mother because he feels that he still has to pay back the debt he owes to his mother.

Other than that, you have to be a deva who is interested in the study and the practice of Buddhism, so whenever there is a Buddha or an Arahant who can contact the devas and teach them, you will be one of the devas who go to listen to the Buddha or the Arahant’s teaching. If you are not interested in the study or practice of Buddhism and are more interested on going for holidays or vacationing, when you heard the news that there is a Buddha who is teaching the Dhamma, you will not be interested to go, you would rather enjoy your holidays and vacation.

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto