Fear & Learning
Each morning I set out for alms round through Suan Mokkh’s broad confines, along the narrow path through thickets next to the big pond. In the middle of that path I have ‘wasted time’ waiting for a young buck otter that has come out to roll and frolic in the sandy soil. Then after finishing its business, it gets out of my way. While I wait, it from time to time raises itself up on two legs to gaze at me. It’s as if it were challenging me: ‘if you dare to hit me then come on.’
-1- Answers to Life’s Problems
If you have any problem in your life, go see Ajahn Sawai at the Sculpture Studio in the southwest area of this Suan Mokkh…Ajahn Sawai has a lot of worldly experience. He used to be a marketing salesman for the Singer Company, so he knows the art of talking and can answer questions, especially those of small children or young people…
In Pursuit of a Source-oriented Practice
This past week I listened to a talk of Ajhan Munindo’s*, and he was talking about the different approaches to practice, different approaches to worldview or self-view. And I thought it was particularly interesting and worthy of ongoing reflection.
The Dhammic Life Which Is Still a Secret
“In order to know and understand nature, and to practice correctly in line with nature, one can either go into the forest and learn your method of realizing Dhamma, or go into the laboratory investigating the law of nature and our duty by doing research. What do you think about the latter approach?”
Well-Spoken Words (II)
𝗖𝗶𝗿𝗰𝘂𝗺𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲
We ask ourselves if this is the right time and place to have this conversation.
𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀
We train ourselves to speak from the heart. We tell the truth as we see it, always open to the possibility that we have got something wrong.
Seek the Elusive
Physical happiness is not that hard to come by, but spiritual happiness is difficult to attain. Physical happiness is easy to see and know, but spiritual happiness is more elusive. Still, there are few people who accept these truths, because they believe that when the physical body is happy, the mind automatically becomes happy, too - and they are convinced that there is no other happiness to be found elsewhere.
Q8. What Is Amata-Dhamma?
Amata means ‘deathless’ or ‘undying’; amata-dhamma is the dhamma (phenomena, reality) that doesn’t die. And what is that? The Buddha once said, ‘The cessation of greed, hatred, and delusion is amata-dhamma.’
The Illness of Dukkha and the Middle Path to its Cure
Dukkha (suffering) is not a permanent condition. The Buddha makes it very clear in The Four Nobel Truths, which he structures along the principles of ancient Ayurvedic medicine. There is an illness, a disease. One has to find the cause. Can one be free from that illness?
The Dhammic Life Which Is Still a Secret
“Can you explain the difference between the science of religion and other sciences related to the mind such as psychology, psychiatry, neurology? Talking about the spiritual aspect of nature, how would you define the word ‘spiritual’?”
Well-Spoken Words (I)
To speak well and communicate effectively first requires us to check on our 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 in speaking, and on the prevailing 𝘤𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. During the conversation itself we should keep track of the 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 and 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 of our words and of the 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳 in which we speak them.
Fill Your Bowl
The goal of this life is to reach the loftiest levels of what it means to be civilized, both in worldly terms and in Dhammic terms. Life therefore requires both worldly food and Dhammic food; If you partake of only one of these, then life is merely half full.
Recalibrating our Response to the World with the Four Nobel Truths
It’s been another week in quarantine, of sheltering in place. It’s kind of like the movie Groundhog Day: waking up and it's the same day; it’s the same thing; it’s the same old life all over again — not going anywhere.
Visākha Pūjā Day
Today is known as Visākha Pūjā, or Wesak, when we celebrate the birth, awakening, and parinibbāna of the Lord Buddha. What benefits should we who are followers of the Blessed One receive?
The Dhammic Life Which Is Still a Secret
“According to the law of evolution, the quenching of dukkha means quenching of a natural part of the mind. The law of evolution says ‘dukkha is in line with nature.’ Buddhism says ‘dukkha is not in line with nature.’ That is a misunderstanding. Do you deny the law of evolution as a law coining the nature of mind?”
Supporting Condition for Mindfulness
No matter how pleasant and comfortable our surroundings may be, there will always be occasions when a form, sound, odour, taste or physical sensation encourages aversion in the mind. No matter how unpleasant and uncomfortable our surroundings may be, there will always be occasions when a form, sound, odour, taste or physical sensation encourages greed in the mind.
The Highest Joy
Being full in terms of physical sensations – Sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings – is to be full of worldly food; but being filled with the highest joy – which comes from a peaceful mind free from the disturbance of sense-objects – is to be full of the food of the Dhamma.
Going Against the Stream
In a short dialogue between a deva and the Buddha; the young deva asks: ‘Always anxious is this mind, the mind is always agitated with unarisen problems and about arisen ones. If there exists release from fear being asked, please declare it to me.’
The Dhammic Life Which Is Still a Secret
“And it could be said that its very refinement may be the thing that prevents spiritual growth and progress on a simpler level. Therefore can it be said that Buddhism, especially Theravāda Buddhism, is a religion that appeals and is directed towards a select minority, and it may explain why even though Buddhism is the most advanced evolved knowledge of mankind, it remains confined to a small section of the world?”
Release Mind into Freedom
Mind must look to see in this way so it doesn't grasp physical matters as being mine or about me. Let physical saṅkhāras get sick or decay naturally, so that they aren't clung to as my pain, my illness, or my death. Mind won't be bound up with illness and death. Instead, mind is freed from pain, illness, and death.