Last night, I gave encouragement to reflect around themes of death and the drawbacks of physical existence. These recollections around death bring up a sense of urgency or cognition that there isn’t time to waste, that there aren’t unlimited opportunities for spiritual practice. We have excellent conditions right now and we should make use of them. The image that the Buddha uses for this sense of…

Last week at the Spirit Rock family retreat we saw many small, young humans beings surrounded by wholesome structures and examples and offered much in the way of skillful guidance. Seeing the good results of that in just a few days made me reflect on the idea that if you catch things early and have an influence at the beginning, as something is setting out and taking shape, then a small influence…

During the time of the Buddha there was a lady who was pregnant for a long period of time. After asking the Buddha for a blessing, the monks chanted some protective verses for her and she finally gave birth to a child named Sivali. The woman was very grateful to the Buddha and asked if she might be able to offer the meal to the Sangha for a whole week. The Buddha asked Mahamogalana and some other…

I had a learning experience when I was a junior monk of two or three pansa. A good friend of mine with whom I ordained was the monastery stores monk. Once he went away to Pu Jum Gorm for a week and I was stores monk in his absence. I was keen to be helpful and do something supportive or generous as a show of kindness to him. So while he was away, I cleaned up and reorganized the stores room. I tho…

We often think of insight meditation as something that we do as part of the formal practice. The usual instructions are to take some time to focus and concentrate the mind, and when it is steady, begin to reflect upon the flow of experience in terms of anicca, dukkha, and anatta—impermanence or uncertainty, unsatisfactoriness, and selflessness or things not being self. Luang Por Chah encouraged us…

The theme of contentment is a good theme for all of us - the aspect of learning how to be content with both the circumstances around us as well as our own mind. Sometimes the agitation, restlessness, negativity and fault-finding that the mind cranks out is not so much about any big thing that’s happening outside, it is almost invariably a lack of contentment internally. When the mind is internally…

(Ajahn Nyaniko recently returned to Abhayagiri after spending five years in Thailand. The Abhayagiri Publications Staff invited Ajahn Nyaniko to write a reflection on his time there. Numbers indicate footnotes which can be found at the end of the article.) Poo Jom Gom was founded in 1990 by Ajahn Pasanno[1], as a place where Wat Nanachat monks could go to seek solitude, have few duties, and deepen…

It’s good to remind ourselves of the importance of bringing mindfulness to our day to day activities. It’s easy to say “OK, just be mindful”. You hear it so often, if it becomes rote or trite it loses its impact. A core part of practice is mindfulness, the application of mindfulness and learning how to direct mindfulness. It’s one of the key foundations of our practice and our training. When we re…

Question: I’ve heard that, in the beginning, Luang Por Chah used to lock the doors of the sala (Dhamma Hall) during the all-night sits. Luang Por: I wasn’t there for that. But he did make us sit right after the meal in all three of our robes in the hot season! But over time, he came to rely more on wisdom than brute force. Q: What caused him to make this change? LP: Well, because he learned that i…

It’s worthwhile to watch the habits of desire and craving which continue to creep into the mind, and on a certain level, to see how insidious these habits are. Really pay attention to desire and notice it, because it is insidious. This isn’t a commentary on one’s inability to deal with it or to understand and recognize it, but more of a call to attend and be willing to investigate how desire keeps…