Find something for the mind to do

“We have to find something for the mind to do in order for it to forget about everything else.”

“You don’t have to have your body to get this kind of happiness. You don’t have to have money. Right now, you have to have a good body, a strong and healthy body, and you also need to have money. In order to get money, you have to work hard. Working is not good, because nobody likes to work. But we all have to work because we know if we don’t work, we won’t have money, and if we don’t have money, we won’t have happiness. This is the happiness that we are experiencing that is very precarious.

This is because you don’t know when you will not be able to make money anymore. You don’t know when you are going to run out of money. And when you run out of money, you don’t know how to cope. You cannot stay at home, sit still, and be happy. This is what the Buddha wanted us to learn how to do — to be able to stay at home, sit still, and be happy.

We can be happy without having to do anything if we can control our thoughts and desires. Our desire needs our thinking. You have to think before you can have desire. You have to think of someone or some place before you want to see that person or go to that place. If you don’t think about that person or place, you don’t have any desire for that person or place.

The key to our ability to be able to sit still, to enjoy being alone, without doing anything, is to stop thinking. If we can stop thinking, we can stop our desire. If we can stop our desire, we will find peace and happiness. Our desire is the one that is the problem. When we have desire, we cannot stay put. We cannot keep still. We have to get what we want.

If you want a cup of coffee, you cannot say no to yourself. When you say no, you feel bad. But if you never think of having a cup of coffee, then you don’t have to get a cup of coffee. This is what we have to do — to control our thinking, to not let our mind think in the way of desire. Can you do that?

The way to control our thinking is to meditate. We have to find something for the mind to do in order for it to forget about everything else. Venerable Acariya Mun taught his disciples to recite the name of the Buddha, Buddho, Buddho, Buddho. If you can recite the name of the Buddha all day long, you will not be able to think of getting a cup of coffee, getting a bowl of noodles, going to the movies, going shopping, going to see your friend, or doing this and that.

You can stay at home and have happiness. The problem is that you cannot control your thoughts. When you get up, you start thinking, “Who am I going to see today? What am I going to do today?” Your desire has already led you. You never control your desire. What you should do is as soon as you get up, when you become aware of yourself, repeat the name of the Buddha, Buddho, Buddho, Buddho. Then you will not be able to think about what you want to do today, where you want to go, or who you want to see. Then you can stay at home and be happy…”

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto