One of the Thai terms for meditating— tham khwaam phien—literally means “making an effort.” When I mention this to people here in the West, I often get some raised eyebrows. They’ve been taught that “efforting” is an enemy of meditation. And that’s because they’ve also been taught that there are only two ways of approaching the practice. The first way—the ignorant way—is to try very hard, exerting…

The then Samenera Karunadhammo, after the meal, kindly gave me a fifteen minute tutorial on how to use the sewing machine. He set me up with some cloth, a pattern, and taught me how to sew a “flat felled seam”. Four hours later when people returned for evening tea, I had completed a monastic jacket and was surprised when several people were surprised the jacket was complete. “I thought you had nev…

What are we doing when we sit down and cultivate our meditation practice? The most important piece is bringing mindfulness, awareness, and attention back to a simple object. The mind loves its proliferations – the things it gets excited about, attracted to, wound up about. The mind’s tendency is to move toward complication, to be endlessly attracted to anything other than simplicity. So the first…

Robert Aitken Roshi said he is often asked why he teaches so much about generosity. His answer is that all other positive qualities, all the spiritual perfections, grow out of it. Generosity, dāna, is explained as having several facets or levels: giving material support, giving freedom from fear, and giving the gift of Dhamma, for example. For Westerners who aspire to the Buddha’s way, the first…

“When there are two paths before you, always choose the more difficult one.” –Tibetan proverb I undertook the practice of walking tudong(1) in Chiang Mai province, Thailand, during the month of February and the first half of March 2009. Originally, my intention was to go alone because I didn’t know of any tudong monks to go with and ‘learn the ropes.’ It was my good fortune that I met up with Ajah…

Following are a few of many tales, reflections, and images from Ajahn Amaro’s year away, as told to Fearless Mountain assistant editor Kathryn Guta. From June 2004 to June 2005 I was grateful to have a year- long sabbatical away from the many responsibilities of teaching and the structures of a monastic routine. During my sabbatical year, which I spent in Asia, I was supported by the monastic disc…

This evening I’d like to talk a bit about meditation practice. Particularly as we’ve begun the Vassa, the formal rains retreat, we are trying to encourage everybody to give more time to the formal side of practice. In doing that, one of the things we need to learn is how to measure our own minds. The term “measure the mind” means to give ourselves a more clear sense of what the mind actually needs…

During the first three months of 2004, an Indian man named Manu was part of the winter retreat support crew. I had been ordained for one Rains Retreat at the time and Manu had become a good friend over the past year. A newly ordained bhikkhu understands that he has made a five year commitment to the training under his teachers. After this, if his teachers think he is ready, he can go to other mona…

“In the naturally free openness, peace of mind, remain naturally and gracefully, like an old man.” (Longchenpa – translation from Tulku Thondup) In Thailand, many fine customs are associated with Buddhism, which has been an integral part of the culture and daily life for centuries. Sometimes they are referred to as ariya prapaenie, ‘noble traditions.’ One of the most wonderful, and most meaningful…

Today we have had a very special ceremony for Todd Tansuhaj, a young boy who died about two years ago and who was a novice here just prior to his hospitalization for an illness. His parents and friends have come for a memorial service. Some of them came last year. A couple more have come this year as well. So that all together, we have Todd’s parents, a cousin and several friends. During the day w…