When people would say to  Ajahn Chah that they found it impossible to practice in society, he would ask them. 
"If I poked you in the chest   with a burning stick, would you say that indeed you  were suffering, but since you live in  society you can 't get away from it?

 Ajahn Chah's response makes a point not unlike the Buddha tells of man who had been   shot by an arrow and would not let anyone pull it out until his question about the arrow, the bow and the archer were all answer. The only problem was that the wounded man would probably die before he could get the replies to all of his questions.What the wounded man had realized was that he was in pain and dying, and he should do.

Ajahn Chah emphasized his point over and over again  in his teaching: you're suffering; do something about it now! He wouldn't spend much time talking about peace, wisdom, or nibbanic states, but rather the practice of constantly being aware of what was happening within the body and mind in the present moment, learning how  to   simply watch and let go. Meditation, he'd say, was not getting things but the peace that one could attain through  practice , he put it, peace is the end of confusion.

The collection reflects not on suffering and meditation practice, but also gives us some insight into impermanence, virtue, non-self and so on. We hope that the reader will take this little book as a companion and "good friend" for moments of quiet reflection, and perhaps get a glimpse of the " no-Ajahn Chah" who used to say, " I'm always talking about things to develop and things to give up, but, really , there's nothing to develop and 'nothing' to give up"