Q8. What Is Amata-Dhamma?

~ By Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ~

Amata means ‘deathless’ or ‘undying’; amata-dhamma is the dhamma (phenomena, reality) that doesn’t die. And what is that? The Buddha once said, ‘The cessation of greed, hatred, and delusion is amata-dhamma.’

Amata-dhamma is the undying reality, the reality that can’t die (because it was never born), as well as the dhamma that brings deathlessness. Wherever there is greed, hatred, and delusion, this is called the mortal condition. One experiences suffering. One has ego, which subjects one to birth, aging, disease, and death. When greed, hatred, and delusion cease – the ceasing of delusion being the ceasing of ignorance and misunderstanding – there no longer arises the false sense of selfhood and there’s no more self to die. When there is no ego, who is there to die? If one is searching for an immortal state, one must search for the condition that is free of greed, hatred, and delusion. This is what the Buddha taught. Amata-dhamma, as we have frequently heard, is the ultimate, the highest teaching of Buddhism. The ‘undying’ taught by other traditions is something different. In Buddhism, it is the cessation of greed, hatred, and delusion.

(From “Buddha-Dhamma for Inquiring Minds”)

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Buddha-Dhamma for Students (title of original translation) was composed of two talks given by Ajahn Buddhadāsa in January 1966 to students at Thammasat University, Bangkok. It was translated from the Thai by Rod Bucknell, and revised in 2018 by Santikaro Upasaka. To read/download as free ebook (pdf).

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For all English retreat talks, visit Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu.

For more information and free ebooks, visit Suan Mokkh – The Garden of Liberation.

Photo: Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives E-22