Very Simple Themes

Thinking back on my time with Ajahn Chah, the vast majority of the teachings would end up being around very simple themes: eat little, sleep little, speak little, practice a lot. That was enough. That certainly kept us busy, just trying to figure out how to deal with those basic pulls in the mind to desire—some kind of stimulation or excitement, anything in the mind—or the tendencies to aversion. We get tired of that, so then we try to annihilate it in some way, shape, or form: “Just let me go to sleep and forget about it.”

Or we distract ourselves with conversation and stir ourselves up. Speak little, but then that extends to all the different ways that we communicate or receive communication, all the different forms of media we’re plugged into. We wonder why we’re agitated, restless, and disturbed a lot of the time. That simple “Eat little, sleep little, speak little, practice a lot” is really a crucial part of laying a solid foundation for ourselves in practice.

This reflection by Luang Por Pasanno is from the book, Beneath the Bodhi Tree, (pdf) pp.19-20.