Freedom from Impurity

~ By Ajahn Jayasāro ~

The seventeenth of June marked the 103rd anniversary of the birth of Ajahn Chah. That night, sitting in the moonlight surrounded by a group of monks, I asked each of them to share one teaching of Ajahn Chah that had particular meaning for them. Some monks mentioned his emphasis on ‘mynae’, the essentially unpredictable, unfixed, contingent nature of life. Others spoke of his advice on letting go, and the importance of practising Dhamma with patience and consistency. I especially appreciated a short quote that I had not thought about for some years. In it, Ajahn Chah asserted that purity is to be found within impurity, nowhere else.

Freedom from impurity does not mean turning our back on it and walking away, because without truly understanding impurity we will always carry the seeds of it within us, ready to sprout up elsewhere. Freedom from impurity is realized by facing up to it until we are aware of the causes and conditions sustaining it, and abandon them. Impurity is simply a name for an unwise relationship with body and mind; purity is the wise relationship that can replace it.

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"Food for the Heart", a series of Dhamma teachings handwritten weekly is posted on the Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives page with Ajahn's kind permission.

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For other teachings by Ven. Ajahn Jayasāro, please visit the Panyaprateep Foundation website.