The Westerners came to Buddhist teachings and monastic life without the cultural conditioning of the Thais. In one sense they had ‘beginner’s mind’. Their open, questioning attitude Ajahn Chah found refreshing and stimulating. As students they were free of the complacency that he considered such a serious obstacle for his Thai disciples. But their openness was not without drawbacks: the Westerners…

As we settle into the retreat and keep bringing our attention and intention inwards, using the breath as an anchor, remember that our meditation is something we have to engage with. Just the physical act of sitting in one posture is not necessarily going to make the mind peaceful. Ajahn Chah used to say that he’s seen chickens sit on their nest for a long time and doesn’t see them get either wise…

The Pāli Canon has a reputation for being humorless. And it’s easy to see why. In some of its passages, the Buddha seems to regard humor in a bad light. For instance, in the Wailing Discourse (AN 3:107) he refers to “laughing excessively, showing one’s teeth,” as a form of childishness, and counsels that a monk, when feeling joy in the Dhamma, should simply smile. His instructions to Rāhula in M…

This is also a useful insight in terms of our inner practice: to recognize that there are times when we actually have a choice to not allow the mind to go in a certain direction. Once I was very angry and there was a strong sense of wanting to punish someone. Fortunately, I was also very clear about the harmfulness of acting on such a negative impulse, so I could just stop it, cut it. Not because…

A question has been asked regarding why we have Dhamma talks with most of the participants passive when we could all be engaged in discussion or dialogue on Dhamma. At this monastery we dedicate time to both activities: quietly listening to Dhamma and constructively discussing Dhamma. There is a way of listening to Dhamma talks which is well-known in the context of Asian Buddhism but not always so…

To answer your questions: Firstly, why does consciousness come before nāma-rūpa in the present life? You must understand that in the Paṭiccasamuppāda, viññāṇa is always talked of as being paṭisandhi viññāṇa, which is the relinking consciousness to the next birth and is thus (as they say) ‘free of sense doors.’ Paṭisandhi viññāṇa is that viññāṇa which displays the nimitta that is the…

Life’s difficulties don’t become fewer, but they don’t have to be a problem. There is a saying attributed to Lao Tzu which defines a great man as someone who encounters difficulties but never experiences them. Problems are problems when we’re trying to find an answer to them or when we’re trying to get away from them. Problems are problems as long as we have the idea that there shouldn’t be any. B…

Learning to settle the mind can be very difficult. It’s not always easy to find a way of stopping the mind from chasing things or to shake off a grudge or obsession. How can we calm down and feel a sense of balanced well-being in ourselves? Can we make the mind attend to itself and be fit for wise reflection and realization? Are we capable of contemplating what is happening to us, what our weaknes…

Sometimes a useful perception is seeing the pain as something receding from you. Think of yourself as sitting in the back of one of those old station wagons where the back seats face back. You’re sitting there watching the road recede away from you as you’re actually headed in the direction behind your back. So when a pain comes, it’s not that it’s actually coming at you. The pain is going, going,…

The sense world is unsatisfactory, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be. When we attach to it, it takes us to despair because attachment means that we want it to be satisfactory; we want it to satisfy us, to make us content, happy and secure. But just notice the nature of happiness – how long can you stay happy? What is happiness? You may think it’s how you feel when you get what you want. Someo…