Corona and How We Could face the Pandemic
Corona, the ‘crowned’ virus, isn't it a heavenly messenger with a bodhisattva crown? Doesn't it honestly and bluntly show us our impotence and all the suffering in Saṃsāra? Illness, death, fear and worry?
The Dhammic Life Which Is Still a Secret
“Since there is no ‘I,’ no ‘me,’ and no ‘mine,’ I know it really wasn’t my father who died of cancer, or my friend who died of AIDS. On an intellectual level I know that everything is impermanent, but what advice do you give to people who are still hurting years after a loved one’s death, and how does one get rid of the memories that are still so strong of having watched these wonderful people deteriorate?”
Praise and Blame
Recounting how Ajahn Chah taught a valuable lesson about praise and blame.
New Translation: Dhamma for Sick People
“This Dhamma talk is for stimulating the intelligence of people who are ill. Please read carefully and consider thoroughly. Illness ought to be seen as natural occurrences for all physical saṅkhāras (bodies), whether humans or other animals…”
The Zen Ox Herding Pictures #10
The old sage on the left represents an enlightened person, who has no attachment to a sense of self and lives only for the benefit of others. In one hand he carries a lantern, which symbolizes illuminating knowledge, and on his back he carries a large sack filled with useful things to share with others.
Easter, Songkran and Enlightenment
These dates in the calendar, these events, these stories, symbolize or remind us of the fact that death can be transcended, that that is not the whole of the story and there is a way that the heart can free itself from the confines of birth and death.
Don't Take Saṅkhāras Personally
Saṅkhāras naturally get sick. If we cling to them as 'our saṅkhāras,' the pain and illness become ours, too. So we suffer, we're sad or disappointed.
Present, Past and Future
The Buddha's teaching on the development of mindfulness encourages us to live more in the present moment. Most people, however, also need to relate to past and future.
Do I delight in solitude or not?
Right now, the normal avenues of social contact and engagement for many people are closed. This can weigh on people. But a helpful question for anyone who is cultivating a spiritual life is: What are the things that are uncomfortable about having extended periods of solitude or extended periods of less social contact?
The Dhammic Life Which Is Still a Secret
“For me a friend is a person I care for, someone I’m attached to. Yet attachment leads to dukkha – I learned that this week – but without attachment the person would not be a friend for me. So can you explain what friendship is for a Buddhist?”
Spiritual Detox
Every full moon and dark moon day – in other words every fifteen days – lay Buddhists are encouraged to undertake the eight precepts. In the modern idiom this might be called a detox.
The Zen Ox Herding Pictures #9
New buds and leaves are blossoming on the trees. This new growth represents a new life in the supra-mundane plane, or Lokuttarabhumi. A new life without the previous sense of self and attachment to the ox, or worldly happiness, has begun to flourish like young shoots growing from an old tree.
Q7. What Should a Householder Study?
This Dhamma, said to resemble a raft, is just as applicable for householders as it is for home-leavers.* If we are to answer in accordance with what the Buddha taught, then we must say, ‘Householders should study all the suttantas, that is, the heart of the Tathāgata’s discourses concerning suññatā (emptiness).’
Is Fear a Problem?
In this Dhamma talk, Ajahn Amaro recalls the naming of Amaravati Monastery ('the deathless realm') by Luang Por Sumedho at the time of the fear of nuclear war in 1984, and compares it to the current fears of the Covid virus pandemic.
Contemplating Old Age, Sickness and Death in Fearful Times
Now, illness and fever have arrived to caution you, to demonstrate how life is. If you wish to be free of this sort of existence – namely, illness – you must prepare yourself for quenching without anything left over.
To Go Beyond Dukkha, Must Quench Without Remaining
Now, illness and fever have arrived to caution you, to demonstrate how life is. If you wish to be free of this sort of existence – namely, illness – you must prepare yourself for quenching without anything left over.
Listening to the Sounds of the World
One significant aspect of compassion is expressed in the figure of Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva, who comes to us from the Northern Buddhist tradition. Guan Yin is the Chinese name for this great spiritual entity – the Sanskrit is Avalokiteshvāra and the Tibetan is Chenrezig – all these names have the same meaning: ‘The one who listens to the sounds of the world’.
Drawing Close to the Qualities That Exemplify the Buddha
“Whether liking or disliking arise just see them all as uncertain. This is how to get close to the Buddha, to get close to the Dhamma.” (Ajahn Chah)
The Dhammic Life Which Is Still a Secret
“Evolution seems to have developed greater varieties of individual characteristics that support the concept of self in man than in most other beings. Why fight against natural conditions by trying to eliminate self, no matter how noble the cause of peace may be?”
Mutual Aid
During a visit to my family home sometime in the mid-1990’s, I came across a dear friend under the stairs. This was not so strange as you may think. The friend was a book – as many of my best friends growing up tended to be – an old, tattered edition of Peter Kropotkin’s ‘Mutual Aid’.