01/24/2026
Dhamma Teaching by Phra Ajahn Yantra Amaro
“Dharma from a Hen Incubating Eggs”
Observing a hen incubating her eggs, we can draw lessons in Dharma.
People practicing Dharma are like hens hatching eggs.
For the chick to emerge, everyone must go through the process of incubation.
Some never hatch, dying in the shell.
Similarly, in Dharma practice, if one dies without maturing, it is as if they never emerged.
This happens when practice is inconsistent, starting and then abandoning it repeatedly.
Like the hen, one must incubate the eggs continuously for many days, around 20 days.
A diligent and attentive hen will see her eggs hatch sooner.
When the shell cracks a little, and the chick starts pecking its way out, it’s truly adorable.
When they are small, with their fluffy feathers, they look beautiful, but as they grow, their soft feathers change.
Practicing Dharma is like incubating eggs.
Some people show signs of progress, as if they’re about to break free.
When a practitioner enters the stream of Dharma, they are like a chick that has emerged from its shell.
They have reached the stage of Sotāpanna, full of life, no longer trapped inside the egg.
If you remain an egg inside the shell, you can still be boiled or poached, can’t you?
A chick in an egg and a chick that has hatched are entirely different.
Yes, a chick comes from an egg, but once it has hatched, it’s a completely different state.
A chicken has two stages of birth:
first as an egg, and then, after incubation, it is born again as a chick.
Similarly, a person also has two births: the physical birth and a second birth through the cultivation of virtues.