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…

I’m sure that everyone here can find some things to feel glad about. Even if there are not very many things, we can make much of the few, rather than pushing them to one side, saying, ‘No, they don’t really count; that’s nothing really – but look at all these terrible faults I have!’ We are very good at doing that – but how good are we at looking at the goodness, the beauty of our lives? Everyone…

“These five are a person of integrity’s gifts. Which five? “A person of integrity gives a gift with a sense of conviction. A person of integrity gives a gift attentively. A person of integrity gives a gift in season. A person of integrity gives a gift with an empathetic heart. A person of integrity gives a gift without adversely affecting himself or others. “Having given a gift with a sense of con…

The bliss of concentration is an acquired taste. It’s a specific kind of happiness, which the Thais call santi-sukha, which literally means the happiness of peace. This is a basic level of well-being that we tend to overlook because it carries no excitement, no thrills. It’s just a basic sense of ease that’s steady, like the flame of an oil lamp. For most of us, we notice pleasure and pain because…

Back in Chithurst years ago, I was living with a small group of nuns at Āloka Cottage down by the river near the beautiful forest of Hammer Wood. We were just five or six nuns living and practicing together, working hard and giving ourselves to the Path. A short walk up the hill was the monks’ monastery. They were a larger community, and we would join them for meals and evening meditation. One day…

Apaṇṇaka dhammas are ways of practicing that the Buddha described as incontrovertible. By practicing them, we can be sure of being on the right path and that they will lead to awakening. These teachings are: indriya saṃvara, restraint of the senses; bhojane mattaññutā, moderation in eating; and jāgariyānuyoga, devotion to wakefulness. Once we start working with the apaṇṇaka dhammas, we begin to se…