Thinking back on my time with Ajahn Chah, the vast majority of the teachings would end up being around very simple themes: eat little, sleep little, speak little, practice a lot. That was enough. That certainly kept us busy, just trying to figure out how to deal with those basic pulls in the mind to desire—some kind of stimulation or excitement, anything in the mind—or the tendencies to aversion.…

In recent years there’s been a modern Western interpretation of dependent co-arising that’s derived from an explanation of the interdependence in the world, with the people in it being interconnected in a vast web of cause-and-effect relationships and experience—“It’s all connected,” as people like to say. There’s a belief that there’s no type of action or activity in the world that doesn’t have s…

Like many seasoned meditators before him, Luang Por saw physical pain as an acid test of his ability to sustain clarity of mind in the most challenging of situations. A meditation practice that could not withstand physical discomfort was seriously flawed; one that could transcend it, immensely powerful. Although it is true that the Buddha emphasized the value of good physical health and roundly cr…

As we continue the practice, there are always more challenges however; there is always more to learn. It seems to me that practice results in a gradual breaking down of the various views we accumulate. Once something works for us in our practice, we often end up creating some kind of view about it. It’s another attempt of the deluded mind to establish some kind of security or foothold. Sooner or l…

Why do we get so wrapped up in the five khandhas – in our thoughts, emotions, passions, relationships, bodies and all the rest of it? When we seek to maximize pleasant experiences and minimize unpleasant experiences we become enmeshed in our desires. And our desires are focused on the khandhas. This is the magnetic attraction that conditions attachment. If we refer to the Four Noble Truths, then i…

My father died about six years ago. He was then 90 years old, and he had never shown love or positive feelings towards me. So from early childhood I had this feeling that he did not like me. I carried this feeling through most of my life; I never had any kind of love, any kind of warm relationship with my father. It was always a perfunctory: “Hello son, good to see you.” And he seemed to feel thre…

We inherit a certain amount of bad resultant kamma from negligence and not knowing. We have probably blundered through life not being that clear, and so bashed into things and got bruised and knocked around. Then, on becoming a little more conscious in the present, we begin to experience the dents and the afflictions of the heart (citta). This is what we inherit, the vipàka. So what can we use to…

The statement by His Holiness, “I’m preparing to die,” is brilliant; it’s very simple and hones in on the essence of practice. We need to come back to what is necessary and practice with mindfulness. It is all the basic principles, getting that sense of urgency and a quality the Buddha refers to as appamāda, translated as heedfulness, circumspection, care. Of all the qualities that we need to cul…

Many of us can be so caught up in what we think of as Dhamma practice or meditation practice that we create a narrow focus for ourselves. Several of us here came to Buddhism with a focus on the practice of meditation in the context of silent retreat, oftentimes with a very specific technique related to quieting the mind. Sometimes it’s easy to get the idea that Buddhist practice boils down to righ…

The notion of a skillful desire may sound strange, but a mature mind intuitively pursues the desires it sees as skillful and drops those it perceives as not. Basic in everyone is the desire for happiness. Every other desire is a strategy for attaining that happiness. You want an iPod, a sexual partner, or an experience of inner peace because you think it will make you happy. Because these secondar…