THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS By Ajahn Sumedho - DharmaFlower.Net

up with it! I just feel that is the most stupid thing I’ve ever seen -thirty men going out to wash one man’s feet! He probably thinks hedeserves it, you know - it’s really building up his ego. He’s probablygot an enormous ego, having so many people wash his feet every day.I’ll never do that!’I was beginning to build up a strong reaction, an overreaction. I wouldsit there feeling miserable and angry. I’d look at the monks and I’dthink, ‘They all look stupid to me. I don’t know what I’m doing here.’But then I started listening and I thought, ‘This is really anunpleasant frame of mind to be in. Is it anything to get upset about?They haven’t made me do it. It’s all right; there’s nothing wrong withthirty men washing one man’s feet. It’s not immoral or bad behaviourand maybe they enjoy it; maybe they want to do it - maybe it’s all rightto do that....Maybe I should do it!’ So the next morning, thirty-onemonks ran out and washed Ajahn Chah’s feet. There was no problemafter that. It felt really good: that nasty thing in me had stopped.We can reflect upon these things that arouse indignation and anger inus: is something really wrong with them or is it something we createdukkha about? Then we begin to understand the problems we createin our own lives and the lives of the people around us.With mindfulness, we are willing to bear with the whole of life; withthe excitement and the boredom, the hope and the despair, thepleasure and the pain, the fascination and the weariness, thebeginning and the ending, the birth and the death. We are willing toaccept the whole of it in the mind rather than absorb into just thepleasant and suppress the unpleasant. The process of insight is thegoing to dukkha, looking at dukkha, admitting dukkha, recognisingdukkha in all its forms. Then you are no longer just reacting in thehabitual way of indulgence or suppression. And because of that, youcan bear with suffering more, you can be more patient with it.These teachings are not outside our experience. They are, in fact,reflections of our actual experience - not complicated intellectualissues. So really put effort into development rather than just gettingstuck in a rut. How many times do you have to feel guilty about yourabortion or the mistakes you have made in the past? Do you have tospend all your time just regurgitating the things that have happenedto you in your life and indulging in endless speculation and analysis?Some people make themselves into such complicated personalities. Ifyou just indulge in your memories and views and opinions, then youwill always stay stuck in the world and never transcend it in any way.You can let go of this burden if you are willing to use the teachingsskillfully. Tell yourself: ‘I’m not going to get caught in this anymore; Irefuse to participate in this game. I’m not going to give in to thismood.’ Start putting yourself in the position of knowing: ‘I know this is