Ajahn Chah on Right View:

not1not2

From the book A Taste of Freedom:

As a dhutanga* (monk), I went traveling, but things still
weren't right. So I contemplated, "What can I do to make things right?
What can I do?" Living with a lot of people I was dissatisfied, with
few people I was dissatisfied. For what reason? I just couldn't see
it. Why was I dissatisfied? Because I had wrong view, just that;
because I still clung to the wrong Dhamma. Wherever I went I was
discontent, thinking, "Here is no good, there is no good..." on and on
like that. I blamed others. I blamed the weather, heat and cold, I
blamed everything! Just like a mad dog. It bites whatever it meets,
because it's mad. When the mind is like this our practice is never
settled. Today we feel good, tomorrow no good. It's like that all the
time. We don't attain contentment or peace.

The Buddha once saw a jackal, a wild dog, run out of the forest
where he was staying. It stood still for a while, then it ran into the
underbrush, and them out again. Then it ran into a tree hollow, then
out again. Then it went into a cave, only to run out again. One minute
it stood, the next it ran, then it lay down, then it jumped up...That
jackal had mange. When it stood the mange would eat into its skin, so
it would run. Running it was still uncomfortable, so it would lie
down. Then it would jump up again, running into the underbrush, the
tree hollow, never staying still.

The Buddha said, "Monks, did you see that jackal this afternoon?
Standing it suffered, running it suffered, sitting it suffered, lying
down it suffered. In the underbrush, a tree hollow or a cave, it
suffered. It blamed standing for its discomfort, it blamed sitting, it
blamed running and lying down; it blamed the tree, the underbrush and
the cave. In fact the problem was with none of those things. That
jackal had mange. The problem was with the mange."

We monks are just the same as that jackal. Our discontent is due to
wrong view. Because we don't exercise sense restraint we blame our
suffering on externals. Whether we live at Wat Pah Pong, in America or
in London we aren't satisfied. Going to live at Bung Wai or any of the
other branch monasteries we're still not satisfied. Why not? Because
we still have wrong view within us, just that! Wherever we go we
aren't content.

I really love Ajahn Chah's work, and this quote always strikes a chord with me. It really helps me in my approach to practice and is a wonderful demonstration of what the 1st noble truth is all about.

take care & be well

_/\_
metta