With all the Ajahns away there’s a certain sense of it being a little quieter here right now. A third of the community is gone; so, it does free up a little bit of space and room. Without so many interactions with people, it can create a sense of spaciousness. And the weather has been conducive to being indoors and getting back to the cabin to practice. It’s been quite nice in those ways. Otherwis…

The heart of what Luang Por was teaching, the two things he was stressing above all else, were the Vinaya and meditation practice. The monastic regimen was not to be discarded or interrupted under any circumstances. If it wasn’t absolutely necessary then there was no break from group meetings. He laid great emphasis on meditation practice. You were told to do walking and sitting meditation, to put…

A talk given by Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi during the ordination of Thitābho Bhikkhu and Sāmanera Cunda in 2007. I would like to express my great joy to be here today on this auspicious occasion. Originally when I planned my trip, I was to fly back to New York last night, but when I arrived at Abhayagiri last week I heard that an ordination was planned for today. Many people said to me, “It’s too bad…

When I lived with Ajahn Chah, he often admonished us not to worry about teaching others but instead to worry about teaching oneself. The foundation of teaching is always to teach oneself, to teach and encourage oneself. Then, later, one may teach others from the perspective of knowing how to teach oneself. One looks after oneself and then one looks after others. There is a fundamental difference b…

I remember before I was a monk, before I had considered making the big step into monastic life, I was considering, “What am I going to do with my life in a way which is actually going to be beneficial for the world?” The idea of making the world a better place seemed so overwhelming to the point of being hopelessly idealistic. It was like trying to clean up the entire environment in the world; it…

A difficulty with the word Nibbana is that its meaning is beyond the power of words to describe. It is, essentially, undefinable. Another difficulty is that many Buddhists see Nibbana as something unobtainable—as so high and so remote that we’re not worthy enough to try for it. Or we see Nibbana as a goal, as an unknown, undefined something that we should some-how try to attain. Most of us are con…

When the weather turns wet and grey like this, the world is a bit less inviting outside, and it’s easy to follow the natural instinct to seek shelter and find a cozy spot. You might find yourself hanging around in the kitchen, the library, or the monk’s office. It starts off with waiting for the rain to ease off; then, an hour goes by, and then two hours go by. You can end up spending hours doing…

Remember the importance of one-pointedness of mind. Find skillful means to sustain one-pointedness. Mindfulness of the body is an important anchor to help that focus and sustain attention. Mindfulness of the body and one-pointedness don’t mean blocking out things around one, but rather having an anchor or focal point. It’s so easy for the mind to get distracted into different things going on aroun…

There has been a lot of busyness these days. There are things that need to be done and we’re doing them, but it’s really important to be careful and attentive to how much one gets swept up into the busyness. Those are two different things—actually doing something and the frantic, busy, scattered energy that you bring to the task. Try to watch and reflect on the feeling behind what you’re doing. Wh…

I don’t ever preach about what I’m doing but I can’t hide the fact that this is my life because I do live in a monastery. That was a big step to take, actually. I’m sure in the early days my family didn’t completely understand what I was doing. I live at Abhayagiri in a way that’s straddling both worlds, straddling the monastic life but it’s also straddling the lay life. Over the years my parents…