Getting rid of people

chah-1The teachings of the Buddha get rid of people and give rise to venerables. In other words, they get rid of what’s wrong in the mind. Only then can what’s right arise. They get rid of what’s evil so that goodness can arise. As when your house is dirty: if you sweep it out and wipe away the dirt, it’ll be clean — because the dirt is gone. As long as what’s wrong in the mind isn’t gone, what’s right can’t arise. If you don’t meditate, you won’t know the truth. The Buddha’s Dhamma is very powerful. If it couldn’t change your heart, it wouldn’t be a Dhamma with any power. But the Dhamma can turn ordinary people into noble ones, because it enables people with wrong views to give rise to right views.

~ Venerable Ajahn Chah, from the downloadable free e-book “It’s Like This”
Available at: http://buddhismnow.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/itslikethis-ajahn-chah.pdf

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