Right Concentration: This starts with threshold concentration, which acts as the basis for the four jhānas, beginning with the first: vitakka, thinking of whichever aspect of the body you choose to take as your object, such as the four physical properties, starting with the in-and-out breath. And then vicāra: adjusting, expanding, letting the breath sensations flow throughout the body, and at the…

The essence of our daily life as samanas consists of putting forth effort to abandon defilements and develop wholesome qualities through meditation practice. We spend hours a day sitting cross-legged and walking on our walking meditation paths. Even if we may not always be so satisfied with the results of our efforts, we can at least take heart from the fact that we’ve done something practical to…

We begin another day, reflecting on the tasks that we all have, the lists of things to do, the never-ending need to attend to the kitchen, the various work projects, guest-monk duties, construction, and so forth. There’s a sense of continuity, of things carrying on from where we were before, going on and on. Ajahn Chah once came up with a wonderful simile: “Saṃsāra is like the ruts left behind the…

[From a Morning Reflection, 2005] One of the American monks in Thailand, Tan Paññāvuḍḍho, has just died. He had been spending the Rains Retreat at Ajahn Dtun’s monastery. Yesterday morning, he didn’t show up for alms round. A monk was sent to check on him, and he was found lifeless in the bathroom. It looked like he fainted while standing up, fell, and hit his head on the way down. We remind ourse…

We can take this moment to let the momentum of planning for the morning settle before launching into the day. Watch the mind that’s leaping forward to go and accomplish the tasks, to start the workday, to do what needs to be done. Watch the momentum of becoming–identifying with the various activities we’re about to perform and the roles that we have–the ideas, thoughts, views, opinions, perception…

We don’t have to be in our 80s or 90s to feel saṃvega, the urgency to practise. Life is uncertain. There is no way to predict or control how many years we have left to purify ourselves. So we can’t afford to sit back casually and let the practice unfold as it will. Once we realize the truth of our own mortality, we act on that natural longing to be free from the cycle of birth and death. While med…

For the fourth year in a row we received a considerable book delivery as well as one thousand calendars. The Kataññutā Group in Malaysia and Singapore made the generous offer to our global monastic community to print various Dhamma books from teachers of the Forest Sangha annually for five years and to have them all shipped across the oceans to Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. Th…

Our inner life is one that will tend to draw our minds out of the present moment and into past and future. If we can be aware of our inner life and yet remain steadily anchored in the present moment then we will become aware of this steadiness. Clearly seeing and knowing our mental and emotional phenomenon we will come to know the one who knows, and this is the refuge. The essence of this knowingn…

“Monks, for one whose awareness-release through goodwill is cultivated, developed, pursued, given a means of transport, given a grounding, steadied, consolidated, and well-undertaken, eleven benefits can be expected. Which eleven? “One sleeps easily, wakes easily, dreams no evil dreams. One is dear to human beings, dear to non-human beings. The devas protect one. Neither fire, poison, nor weapons…

This Rains Retreat I don’t have much strength; I’m not well, so I’ve come up to this mountain here to get some fresh air. People come to visit but I can’t really receive them like I used to because my voice has just about had it; my breath is just about gone. You can count it a blessing that there is still this body sitting here for you all to see now. This is a blessing in itself. Soon you won’t…