Once someone asked a well-known Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah, "In this world where everything changes, where nothing remains the same, where loss and grief are inherent in our very coming into existence, how can there be any happiness? How can we find security when we see that we can't count on anything being the... Continue Reading →
Much of our mental suffering comes from how tightly we hold our beliefs. In the monastery my teacher Ajahn Chah used to smile and ask, "Is it true?" He wanted us to learn to hold our thoughts lightly.Within the stillness of meditation we learn to observe how words and images arise and then vanish. When... Continue Reading →
The trust expressed by Ajahn Chah comes whenever our consciousness rests in the eternal present. “From where I sit,” he said, “nobody comes and no one goes.” “In the middle way, there is no one who is strong or weak, young or old, no one who is born and no one who dies. This is... Continue Reading →
Since everything in the world simply arises, remains, and then passes away, how could it bring us any lasting happiness? We have to ask ourself, ‘Have we ever experienced happiness in the past? Have we ever experienced pleasure? Pain? Suffering?’ We can see that these feelings simply arise, remain, and then pass away. There is... Continue Reading →
Your spacious mind is the natural awareness that knows and accommodates everything. My meditation teacher in the forests of Thailand, Ajahn Chah, called it the “One Who Knows.” He said this is the original nature of mind, the silent witness, spacious consciousness. His instructions were simple: Become witness to it all, the person with perspective,... Continue Reading →
SEVERAL CENTURIES AGO, seven monks were in a cave in a jungle somewhere in Asia, meditating on the type of unconditional love I described in the previous story. There was the head monk, his brother, and his best friend. The fourth was the head monk’s enemy: they just could not get along. The fifth monk... Continue Reading →
It is a great relief to discover that our stories do not fully define who we are, or what is happening to us. With mindfulness we can step out of the story we tell and simply notice the telling of it. We become the witnessing, the space of awareness. When we do this we rest... Continue Reading →
First you understand the Dharma with your thoughts. If you begin to understand it, you will practice it. And if you practice it, you will begin to see it...We don't meditate to see heaven, but to end suffering You say that you are too busy to meditate. Do you have time to breathe? Meditation is... Continue Reading →
‘About this mind in truth there is nothing really wrong with it. It is intrinsically pure. Within itself it’s already peaceful. That the mind is not peaceful these days is because it follows moods. The real mind doesn’t have anything to it, it is simply (an aspect of) Nature. It becomes peaceful or agitated because... Continue Reading →
My take on 'Everyday Spiritual Life' is the understanding that nothing exists in isolation - no person or event is an island to itself. This awareness helps in looking at people and situations with more compassion & understanding; such as why is the person being 'mean' to me as inherently he has same Buddha Nature... Continue Reading →
Learning the Middle Path, the life of balance, allows the heart’s natural awareness and compassion to grow. We become free and gracious. I heard a story from the first Western monastery that Ajahn Chah set up in a forest two villages away from his main monastery. One December the Western monks there decided to have... Continue Reading →
When you’re angry, does it feel good or bad? If it feels so bad, then why don’t you throw it away? Why bother to keep it? How can you say that you are wise and intelligent if you hold on to such things? Some days the mind can even cause the whole family to quarrel... Continue Reading →
When people would say to Ajahn Chah that they found it impossible to practice in society, he would ask them, "If I poked you in the chest with a burning stick, would you say that indeed you were suffering, but since you live in society you can’t get away from it?" Ajahn Chah’s response makes... Continue Reading →
One day some people came to the master and asked: How can you be happy in a world of such impermanence, where you cannot protect your loved ones from harm, illness or death? The master held up a glass and said: Someone gave me this glass; It holds my water admirably and it glistens in... Continue Reading →
