June 26, 2026

If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will have complete peace." — Ajahn Chah, as quoted by Ajahn Brahm in Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond

Ajahn Chah was a Thai forest monk who spent decades teaching in rural Thailand, often to farmers and villagers with no formal education in Buddhism. Ajahn Brahm studied under him directly in the 1970s, living in a remote monastery with minimal comforts, and carried this teaching into his own decades of talks in Australia. The quote matters for present-moment awareness because it is not about emptying your mind — it is about stopping the grip you have on what already passed or has not happened yet. When you notice you are holding on to something right now, in this moment, that is the whole practice.