Today is Friday the 13th, and by tradition some people believe that it’s an unlucky day. Many people have different ideas of why Friday the 13th became known as an unlucky day. In the Thai tradition and the Asian tradition in general, there are lucky days, unlucky days, auspicious and inauspicious times. Ajahn Chah used to say that whatever day we are doing something wholesome, that is an auspicio…

We know when we find the middle – there’s a resting, a clarity, there’s an understanding on a very intuitive level and we can just be with things the way they are. Then the tension and conflict eases out, unravels, dissipates. The more we find that ‘way of being’ (it’s not a static position, it’s a living, responsive, sensitive way of being), the more we begin to recognise it intuitively, and some…

I’d like to propose that the practice of Dhamma is one that has two dimensions – a dimension of depth and a dimension of breadth. Through our lives as practitioners of the Dhamma, there are times when we want to apply ourselves, or be able to apply ourselves, to one of these dimensions – of breadth or depth. There are times when we will be able to devote ourselves to one or the other, situations t…

It would seem obvious that any detailed discussion of a person’s life must, sooner or later, focus on his or her personality. It tends to be assumed that it is in the personality that the essence of a person is to be found. But this apparent truism requires certain qualifications in the case of liberated beings, or those practising for liberation. In such cases, the personality is fluid. Personali…

Once we undertake this practice, it can take a long time just to get to know ourselves, to start to look inwardly and get to know all the forces that are pushing and pulling us. We get to know our own ways and means of being in the world, and of taking on the practice, the discipline and the meditation techniques. We see our own tactics of mind in relationship to pleasure and pain – we see what we…

Briefly, real space rather than imagined space is a bodily experience. It’s a sense of having room and having space. Space, in this sense, is an experience to a degree of containment, a degree of openness. In this very room one can feel a lot of space if the body is open and relaxed. You feel a lot of space. Sitting still you can feel like a vast space. You can be in what looks like a vast space w…

I’ve been thinking about Ajahn Ñāṇadhammo, recalling his most memorable interaction with Ajahn Chah while living at Wat Pah Pong. One day while out on alms round, Ajahn Ñāṇadhammo had a slight argument with another monk and became stirred up and upset. When he returned to the monastery, Ajahn Chah smiled at him and uncharacteristically in English said, “Good morning.” Of course Ajahn Ñāṇadha…

As most of us know, when bringing the practice into our daily lives, it’s necessary to apply mindfulness. But it’s also necessary to ensure that our mindfulness is operating under an appropriate and beneficial view or perspective. If we are mindful, but our view is misguided, then it’s likely that we’re mindfully following some sort of bias or obsession. In order to keep on the right track, we nee…

The word ‘awakening’ is part of a verb. It is an activity, a waking- up process. We can even reflect on the analogy of waking up in the morning: consciousness begins to become clearer, it tunes in to reality more and more, until you recognize that this is how it is. The limitation of that analogy is that when we wake up in the morning, our self-consciousness usually wakes up too. Consciousness is…

Discernment to be really effective has to come from within, has to be your discernment. There’s no way it’s going to be your discernment unless you’re willing to put in the time to watch, to learn, to experiment. So be patient with the practice. This doesn’t mean if things aren’t going well you just let them not go well. But it means having the persistence to keep coming back. If one approach isn’…