In his first discourse, the Buddha explained to the group of five monks that suffering was the act of clinging to any of the five aggregates of form, feeling, perception, fabrication, or consciousness. As a result of that discourse, one member of the group gained his first glimpse of awakening. In the succeeding days, the Buddha gave instructions to the remaining members of the group until all fiv…

This is also a useful insight in terms of our inner practice: to recognize that there are times when we actually have a choice to not allow the mind to go in a certain direction. Once I was very angry and there was a strong sense of wanting to punish someone. Fortunately, I was also very clear about the harmfulness of acting on such a negative impulse, so I could just stop it, cut it. Not because…

A friend of the monastery warned me…that currently many people equate the pursuit of contentment with being irresponsible: since the world is in such a precarious state, contentment is the last thing we should be thinking about – everyone ought to be striving to find ways to fix this terrible mess. In that talk I spoke about awareness as a multidimensional reality, not a singular thing: just as th…

Faith is one of the five faculties (indriya) that the Buddha advised us to develop in order to free our hearts. These faculties are faith (saddhā), energy (viriya), mindfulness (sati), collectedness (samādhi) and wisdom (pañña). The list is presented throughout the Buddha’s discourses (suttas) in different ways. One way is progressive: you start out with faith. You need faith to get going, and thi…

There are two ways in which diseases can arise in our bodies: Physical causes (dhātu-samuṭṭhāna). Kammic causes (kamma-samuṭṭhāna). Physical causes: Physically caused diseases are those that come about through disorders in the five physical properties (dhātu)— a. Earth: the solid parts of the body, such as bones, muscles, skin, etc. b. Water: the liquid parts, such as saliva, mucus, blood, etc. c.…

Learning to settle the mind can be very difficult. It’s not always easy to find a way of stopping the mind from chasing things or to shake off a grudge or obsession. How can we calm down and feel a sense of balanced well-being in ourselves? Can we make the mind attend to itself and be fit for wise reflection and realization? Are we capable of contemplating what is happening to us, what our weaknes…

On at least two occasions, the Buddha said that all he taught was dukkha and the ending of dukkha (MN 22 (Alagaddūpama Sutta, The Water-Snake Simile); SN 22:86 (Anurādha Sutta, To Anurādha)). This means that if you want to understand his teachings, dukkha is a good word to know. Its primary meaning is simple enough—pain—but it covers all levels of pain, from acute physical suffering and mental ang…

What is Buddha? Who was the Buddha? What conditions gave rise to the Buddha? What were the qualities of the Buddha? In taking refuge, we should contemplate these questions sometimes. We can recognise that Lord Buddha demonstrated our ultimate potential. Understanding that refuge in the Buddha is refuge in our ultimate nature, we can then affirm that. Then at the heart of our experience lies an ext…

‘Standing on your own two feet.’ Think about it: stability, confidence, simple dignity. The phrase is used as a metaphor, but actually it’s more than that. If you want to get a break from a scattered mind and stressful moods, it could be as easy as literally standing on your own two feet. Furthermore, if you’d like to meditate, but feel challenged by the idea of sitting still with nothing to do fo…

The difference between pain and suffering is the difference between freedom and bondage. If we cannot be with our pain, how can we hope to accept, investigate it, and heal? And if it’s not okay to grieve, be angry, feel frightened or lonely, how will we ever feel what we are feeling or hold it in our hearts and find our peace with it? When we run from life, we are further enslaved because where we…