The terms “nimitta” or “sign” and patibhaga-nimitta or “counter-part sign” are frequently referred to in this essay, and it is best to clarify their meaning at the outset. The “sign” means a characteristic mark or phenomenon which accompanies and helps identify an experience. For example, the flu is often accompanied by weakness and nausea; here nausea would be a sign of the flu. Extreme joy may b…
…So one way of training ourselves and being a student of dukkha is to become very sensitive to that dissonance that arises in the heart, that sense that feels somehow incomplete or problematic. Do the counterintuitive thing and stop. Create some clarity so that you can feel that in a way that’s appropriate. Ask yourself, “Why? What’s wrong? What do I really want here? What do I expect here?” When…
Many of you might try to think, “What’s he going to talk about?” Don’t think about that; just listen. When we practice Dhamma, most of the time and for many people including me, I set up the goal. I set up what I’m going to get before I really practice it. I just plan and I see by my understanding, trying to figure out what it should be before I really practice it. I set up the image of the result…
The thing that we put down is light; the thing that we pick up is heavy. It’s lightness and ease that come from putting things down. But it’s like a burden when, of course, we pick things up. This is something that we can all experience for ourselves, especially on the external level in terms of physical objects. When we pick up something, the longer that we hold it, the heavier and heavier it bec…
Whenever in the position of offering reflections or teachings, it would seem that the best that one can ever do is to come from the sincere intention of sharing what you think is useful or relevant, according to your own experience - or from what you have studied or heard from beings who are wiser. Sometimes though, people are struggling with doubts in areas that one might never have guessed or ev…
As a Buddhist monk for over two decades (in the Thai Forest meditation tradition, in the lineage of Venerable Ajahn Chah) I am very aware that my life is blessed with many supports for cultivating meditation and insight. Naturally I feel tremendous gratitude for this – in particular, towards the Buddha for having worked so hard to realise what he did, and to His Teachings, that is, to the deep Tru…
On this day we are considering kataññu-katavedi, which is the Pali for gratitude. Gratitude is a positive response to life; in developing kataññu we deliberately bring into our consciousness the good things done to us in our lives. So on this day, especially, we remember the goodness of our parents, and we contemplate it. We are not dwelling on what they did wrong; instead, we deliberately cho…
In addition to cultivating mindfulness, faith and devotion, chanting can also be used to build concentration or samādhi. We have lots of views and opinions about how to develop one-pointedness of mind, the jhanas; we certainly have heard lots of talks on the subject. Well, we can also use this ancient practice of chanting the parittas. Learn to be really precise with your chanting, to do just one…
So even the simple recitation of the meditation word ‘Buddho’ can capture both aspects of mindfulness – the first one, where you just completely let go and immerse yourself in the present moment experience and just let the awareness of the atmosphere take over your mind, feeling your mind expanding, widening and broadening, becoming radiant and all-encompassing towards anything that happens. And t…
It’s helpful to consider and reflect on how we perceive work. If we bring up the word work, what comes to mind? There may be a feeling of drudgery, that it’s onerous, maybe even odious. We often view work as something we’re beset with, something we have to get done and out of the way before we can be comfortable and at ease. Or we may think of work as something that keeps us from our meditation pr…
