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“Let me start with the good news. It is good news for you all that you are all blessed with the four great fortunes.
because if you are born as an animal, you are not able to study the teachings of the Buddha. And you cannot practice the teachings of the Buddha. So you cannot be enlightened if you are an animal. But when you are a human being, like you are now, you can study and you can practice following the Dhamma teachings. So this is the first great fortune.
You need the Dhamma teachings to lead you to enlightenment. If there is no Dhamma teaching in this world, nobody will be able to become enlightened by themselves. Only the Buddha can teach himself to become enlightened.
All other human beings have to rely on the Buddha’s teachings. All of the Buddha’s Noble Disciples and all the Arahants had to listen to the teachings of the Buddha and then practice by following the teachings. So this is the second great fortune, to have found or to have discovered the Dhamma teachings of the Buddha.
If you are not alive today, you cannot be there tonight. In order to become enlightened, you have to be alive so that you can listen or study the Dhamma teachings. And after you have learned the Dhamma teachings, you can apply the Dhamma teachings in your practice. So this is the third great fortune, being alive.
You have the time and you make the effort to bring yourself to Wat Palelai so that you can listen to the Dhamma talk and meditate. If you don’t have the time or the effort to practice, even though you might be a human being, you might have found the teachings of the Buddha, and you are still alive, you are not be able to utilize your great fortune. So it is all up to you. You are the only person who can find the time and the effort to study and to practice the Dhamma teachings.
If you do find the time and the effort to practice, the result of your practice will eventually appear because this is the way people have become enlightened from the time when the Buddha gave his first Dhamma discourse to the five ascetics.
Listening to Dhamma talks is like studying. After the ascetics had listened, they applied it in their practice.
They had already developed dāna (charity). They had already developed sīla, keeping precepts. They had developed samādhi, a calm and peaceful mind. So all they needed to do was to develop vipassanā.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
Dhamma in English, Nov 25, 2014.
www.phrasuchart.com
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