Ajahn Chah
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
That's the way it is.
Wanting it to be any different would be as foolish as wanting a duck to be like a chicken.
When you see that that's impossible, that a duck must be a duck and a chicken must be a chicken, and that the bodies have to get old and die, you will find courage and energy
However much you want the body to go on lasting, it won't do that.
The Buddha said, Anicca Vata Sankara.
Impermanent, alas, are all conditions.
The word sankara refers to this body and mind.
Sankaras are impermanent and unstable.
Having come into being, they disappear.
Having arisen, they pass away.
And yet everyone wants them to be permanent.
This is foolishness.
Look at the breath.
Once it's gone in,
It goes out.
That's its nature.
That's how it has to be.
The inhalations and exhalations have to alternate.
There must be change.
Conditions exist through change.