So here we are with our breath. Sometimes we’ve also got pain and at other times distractions — sometimes both together — and we tend to regard them as mosquitoes swarming around as we meditate. We’d like to swat them and get rid of them so we can actually get down to the real business of meditating. But dealing with the distractions, dealing with the pain is the real business of the meditation. W…

The qualities of great heart are warm-heartedness, compassion, joyfulness, love and warmth for other people. Anukampati means ‘to resonate with’. It’s often translated as compassion, but it also means that you share the happiness of others. You feel gladdened by other people’s good fortune. You see the good in others and that lifts you. You see the good deeds and the lovable qualities of other peo…

Better than if there were thousands of meaningless words is one meaningful word that on hearing brings peace. Better than if there were thousands of meaningless verses is one meaningful line of verse that on hearing brings peace. And better than chanting hundreds of meaningless verses is one Dhamma-saying that on hearing brings peace. This reflection from the Pāli Canon is from Thousands, Dhammap…

We take suffering as a great misfortune. We take the things that stop us in our tracks as a great misfortune, but actually they can be blessings. While you’re getting ahead, succeeding and coming out on top, how much do you stop and listen? There is no need to, is there? When life is fun, who needs to be wise? When we contemplate dukkha (suffering) we begin to be aware of that. We get stopped in o…

Now, in my passage through Malaysia, I have again taken the opportunity to walk piṇḍapāt in the local market of Penang where it is surprisingly easy to beg. I knew I would be well-fed. With my bowl secure in its harness around my shoulder and cradling it in my palms, I stood between the main fruit and vegetable vendors and rows of flimsy stalls that display a collage of baby clothes, ladies’ handb…

Only one book is worth reading: the heart. This reflection by Ajahn Chah is from the book, No Ajahn Chah, (pdf) p. 38.

Of all the concepts central to Buddhism, merit (puñña) is one of the least known and least appreciated in the West. This is perhaps because the pursuit of merit seems to be a lowly practice, focused on getting and “selfing,” whereas higher Buddhist practice focuses on letting go, particularly of any sense of self. Because we in the West often feel pressed for time, we don’t want to waste our time…

…When we’re working, how do we sustain our effort? How do we keep the kind of steadiness and pace that allows us to put forth effort without wearing ourselves out? In meditation, we have a chance to notice how difficulties can arise when we’re focused on trying to get or achieve something in our practice, when there’s an agitated energy of doing. Or we can notice a holding back of effort and how t…

I heard that you went to see cremations at the crematorium in Melbourne. What would be some good reflections to use on this topic? One can take what one sees at a cremation as a theme for questioning oneself. For example: today they have burned this person, but tomorrow who knows who is going to be burned… could it be me? These are good questions because they make us skilled in dealing with the re…

Now it is morning again and, after grey skies in Tromsø, like yesterday it is bright above and sparkling on the water. There is a mellow mood amongst us six – a feeling of re-entering that other world and a drainedness, after the peak of our Svalbard days. When we crossed the Arctic Circle after breakfast today, there was no impulse amongst us to do more than look out of the windows above the ster…