A Journey of Self-Discovery
About this eBook
It is not because we are born as humans that we become wise or foolish. It is because we can bring our defilements under control that we become wise, and it is because we can’t bring our defilements under control that we become foolish.
We all have both good and bad qualities.
Snakes, chickens, and pigs are not created for you to eat. It is in such existences that you yourself have been born before. We can’t harm anybody without harming ourselves.
We can’t disturb others without disturbing ourselves.
Patience means accepting. Very beautiful! Accepting both the desirable and the undesirable is the perfection of patience.
You make friends with the defilements all the time, but the defilements never treat you as a friend in return. They treat you as an enemy.
The Buddha never says, 'Come and believe'. He says, ‘Come and see; the wise can know, the wise can see’. ‘One who sees the Dhamma, sees me. One who sees me, sees the Dhamma’."
[From a book published by Pa-Auk Meditation Centre, a Centre of Theravāda Buddhist Tradition]
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About the author
Bhikkhu Revata was born in 1971 in Mawlamyine, Myanmar. He received his bachelor’s degree from Yangon University in 1994 and independently taught computer technology for five years. He was ordained as a Theravāda bhikkhu at Pa-Auk Tawya in 1999, with the Most Venerable U Āciṇṇa, the Pa-Auk Sayadaw, as his preceptor. He has studied the Pāḷi scriptures and commentaries and speaks Burmese, English, and Thai.
After practising meditation under the guidance of the Most Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw, Sayadaw U Cittara, and Sayadaw U Sīla, in 2002 he began teaching meditation to local and foreign yogis, both ordained and lay, and is currently an assistant teacher of the Pa-Auk Sayadaw. He is responsible for teaching local and foreign yogis and for training successful practitioners to teach meditation themselves.
A distinguished meditator and teacher, he has taught extensively both in Myanmar and abroad. He has conducted meditation retreats in China, Indonesia, South Korea, Latvia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
He has written four books in his native language, three of them in collaboration with the Most Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw. Like the present work, other collections of Bhante’s teachings and Dhamma talks have been printed in English under the titles of Awaken, O World! (2006), The Disciple Within (2008), and Bearers of the Burden (2011). His talks have been translated into Korean, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Chinese.
Other teachings from Bhikkhu Revata in e-book, audio, and video formats can be found on the Internet at www.revata-bhikkhu.org
