Even if you are doing mettā as a meditation, you still need to have an anchor. You still need to be grounded in something and have someplace to keep returning to, which is mindfulness of the body. Become very familiar with returning to the body. There are many ways of using mindfulness of the body, but in terms of the formal practice of meditation, become familiar with mindfulness of breathing an…

There can be times when there is wisdom in our minds, when we will have wise emotion and times when we have no wisdom in our minds, when we have unwise emotion; the same with thought. When there is wisdom in our minds, then we will have wise thoughts. When there is no wisdom in our mind, then we will have unwise thoughts as a result. These are all results of the perceptual process, which is the th…

Wisdom is one of the great blessings of the citta. True inner happiness is a lovely quality which allows the citta to unfold and be free from anxiety, criticism, doubt, anger and so forth. As the citta unfolds, its wisdom capacities become more available, more revealed. You can imagine the citta as something that gets contracted, distracted and tangled up. Even when it’s excited, it doesn’t have t…

Don’t be fooled by things. Whatever comes your way, it’s just conditions. There’s nothing which can entice a mind like this to create or proliferate, to seduce it into greed, aversion or delusion. This is what it is to be a true supporter of Buddhism. Whether you are among those who are being supported (i.e., the Saṅgha) or those who are supporting (the laity), please consider this thoroughly. Cul…

My nineteenth birthday found me living by the side of a lake with a Hindu monk. He was an inspiring teacher whose practices were similar to Buddhism and he taught me many things. While I stayed with him, I had plenty of time to contemplate my life. In the afternoon I liked to climb up a nearby mountain, sit under an old tree, and enjoy the breeze. Looking down to the lake below and the desert that…

Suffering is the illusion that we project onto life because of our ignorance and through the habits of our unawakened heart or mind. If, instead of focusing on this illusion, we look into the present moment, whatever it is, then we can see that, ‘This is the way it is.’ By recollecting we bring the moment to consciousness. It reminds us that this is the way it is right now. We’re not trying to say…

Can the creation and enjoyment of art be considered a spiritual path? Yes, but in the Buddhist view its spiritual benefits are relatively superficial. Great art may elevate the mind and may illuminate the human condition in profound and emotionally satisfying ways, but it lacks the power in itself to induce the lasting transformation of consciousness provided by the practice of the Eightfold Path.…

The goal of Buddhist practice, nibbāna, is said to be totally uncaused, and right there is a paradox. If the goal is uncaused, how can a path of practice—which is causal by nature—bring it about? This is an ancient question. The Milinda-pañha, a set of dialogues composed near the start of the common era, reports an exchange where King Milinda challenges a monk, Nagasena, with precisely this questi…

Part of all relationships is the unspoken. It sits right there under the ribs. Then what can you say that’s real, at a time when you have to say something? One answer is: you stop thinking and chant. With Luang Por, there were probably all kinds of things that each individual would have liked to say, but the ‘impersonal’ communality of monastic life doesn’t accommodate – at least among the large n…

Generosity represents the emotional binding agent in every community, in every relationship between even just two people. In some Asian cultures, especially those who have integrated Dhamma values, generous conduct is practised daily from early on. Small children are taught, for example, to place some small offering into the alms-bowls of the monks. One is ready to assist the young donor when some…