The Mindful Way

Posted on 1 November 2012 by Buddhism Now

Television program on Buddhism with an interview with Ajahn Chah.

Ajahn Chah (17 June 1918 — 16 January 1992)
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In 1977, Ajahn Chah was invited to visit Britain by the English Sangha Trust, a charity with the aim of establishing a locally-resident Buddhist Sangha. He took Venerable Sumedho and Venerable Khemadhammo along, and seeing the serious interest there, left them in London at the Hampstead Vihara (with two of his other Western disciples who were then visiting Europe). He returned to Britain in 1979, at which time the monks were leaving London to begin Chithurst Buddhist Monastery in Sussex.

Theravada Buddhism, video, The Mindful Way, duration: 20 mins.

From forestsangha.org

Buddhist Videos

Filed under: Ajahn Chah, Beginners, Buddhism, Encyclopedia, History, Theravada, Video | Tagged: , , , | 4 Comments »

Love, by Ajahn Sumedho

Posted on 26 July 2012 by Buddhism Now

Sunlight through woodsWhen I was eighteen years old and at University, I fell in love. I had this powerful experience. For the first time in my life I would do anything for another person. That part was very pure. But, then, being eighteen I didn’t know how to handle the experience; my emotions were still very immature and I ended up being possessive, demanding and jealous. There was no wisdom involved. I thought, ‘If I have this girl, if I possess her, then I’ll get this feeling all the time.’ There was a kind of mystical moment of selflessness, but the emotions were unprepared. I simply reverted to the old habits of grasping, possessing, feeling jealous, making a general nuisance of myself and making myself totally unlovable. This was in about 1952. (more…)

Filed under: Ajahn Chah, Ajahn Sumedho, Biography, Metta, Theravada | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Four Noble Truths, talk by Ajahn Sumedho

Posted on 14 April 2012 by Buddhism Now

Ajahn Sumedho gives a Dhamma talk on meditation, the Four Noble Truths and the impermanence of all conditioned phenomena.

Short film 43mins

The talk was given in January 2010 at a retreat center in Janda Baik, a small town in Pahang.

Read more articles by Ajahn Sumedho

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Trust in your awareness, by Ajahn Sumedho

Posted on 8 March 2012 by Buddhism Now

Wheel and dear above a Buddhist temple. Photo © Lisa DaixNow, the word ‘ignorance’ as used in Pali means ‘not knowing the Four Noble Truths with their three aspects and twelve insights’ (that is the formula of the Four Noble Truths). And the path is in terms of being eightfold (the Eightfold Path). But the Eightfold Path is really just awareness. Awareness is the path, and the eight parts are more or less positions for reflection rather than actual steps on an actual path. It is not a matter of taking this whole conception of a path too literally, thinking that one step leads to the next ― first you do this and then you do that. Taken in personal terms, you might start wondering, ‘Do I have right view? Is my speech really right speech all the time?’ And then maybe thinking, ‘Oh, I’m not on the path! I said something the other day I shouldn’t have said.’ If you start thinking about yourself in that way, you just get confused. My advice is not to make a problem of yourself. Give up making a problem about yourself, or how good or bad you are, or what you should or shouldn’t be. Learn to trust in your awareness more, and affirm that; recognize it and consciously think, ‘This is the awareness ― listening ― relaxed attention.’ Then you will feel the connection. It is a natural state that sustains itself. It isn’t up to you to create it. It isn’t dependent on conditions to support it. It is here and now whatever is happening. (more…)

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The Burdened Heart, by Ajahn Brahmamuni

Posted on 14 February 2012 by Buddhism Now

Translated by Ajahn Sumedho

 Buddha earth touching poseIf we really investigate and examine our hearts [or minds], we will at some time experience joy, rapture and peace. At other times we will experience feelings of indifference, detachment and separation. If we experience the latter we should not blame the dharma [truth; the natural state; the teaching of the Buddha] because the dharma is the natural state. There are times when our hearts incline towards the dharma, and feelings of bliss and calm arise—feelings of complete contentment. At other times, the dharma seems far away. Rather than inclining towards it on those occasions, our hearts seem to move away. Accordingly, we do not taste the dharma: there is no calm, bliss, or joy, because the heart is depressed and negative; the dharma is not there. But if one is skilful one need not fall under the power of this negativity. When the heart is depressed, we can uplift it. If the mind wanders, we can control it and keep it from drifting. (more…)

Filed under: Ajahn Sumedho, Beginners, Buddhism, Buddhist meditation, Theravada | Tagged: , , | 12 Comments »

Realise the peace of the unconditioned, by Ajahn Sumedho

Posted on 17 July 2011 by Buddhism Now

Ajahn Sumedho delivers an inspiring Dhamma talk centred around the conditioning we receive throughout our lives, and the tools one can use to see clearly and to realise the peace of the unconditioned.

The talk was given at the Ajahn Chah Remembrance Day on 16 January 2010 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Part one:

(more…)

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Dhammacakka Teaching, by Ajahn Sumedho

Posted on 14 June 2011 by Buddhism Now

The talk starts after the chanting.

Or download
MP3 Dhammacakka Teaching, by Ajahn Sumedho

Ajahn Sumedho © Amaravati

Ajahn Sumedho

Other posts by Ajahn Sumedho

Thanks to Dhamma Talks UK

(about 44mins)

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Compose your minds, by Ajahn Sumedho

Posted on 20 April 2011 by Buddhism Now

Stone Buddha. Photo: © David BlancoCompose your minds, look inwards and become aware of the here and now ― the body, the breath, the mental state, the mood you are in ― without trying to control or judge or do anything; just allow everything to be what it is.

For many people the attitude towards meditation is one of always trying to change something, always trying to attain a particular state or recreate some kind of blissful experience remembered from the past, or of hoping to reach a certain state by practising. When we practise meditation with the idea of having to do something, however, then even the idea of practice ― even the word ‘meditation’ ― will bring up this idea that ‘if I’m in a bad mood, I should get rid of it’, or ‘if the mind is scattered and I’m all over the place, I should make it one-pointed’. In other words, we make meditation into hard work. So then there is a great deal of failure in it because we try to control everything through these ideas, but that is an impossibility. (more…)

Filed under: Ajahn Chah, Ajahn Sumedho, Beginners, Books, Buddhism, Buddhist meditation, Theravada | Tagged: , , , , , | 10 Comments »

Liberating Emotions, by Ajahn Sumedho

Posted on 12 February 2011 by Buddhism Now

Amaravati Buddhist Monastery. Photo © Buddhist PublishingWe can reflect on the way it is—on this tropical kind of weather, for example. In the attitude of acceptance we can allow ourselves to be receptive to life rather than try to control it, run away from, or resist it. This receptivity contrasts resistance. Culturally, we tend to be conditioned into resisting things. There is a fear of being open and receptive, as if by doing so we shall allow something to take us over. We feel we have to develop some kind of protection in order to keep ourselves from being annihilated or taken advantage of; it is a kind of paranoia of the mind. We may also have the attitude of needing to resist evil, of having to kill the devil and destroy the evil forces. (more…)

Filed under: Ajahn Sumedho, Buddhism, Buddhist meditation, Metta, Theravada | Tagged: , , , , | 6 Comments »

Don’t Take Your Life Personally

Posted on 20 January 2011 by Buddhism Now

Don't Take Your Life Personally by Ajahn SumedhoDon’t Take Your Life Personally

by Ajahn Sumedho

ISBN 13: 978-0946672318
ISBN 10: 0946672318

Buddhist Publishing Group
Published: 2010
Paperback 420 pages

£18.95 / $27.95

Ajahn Sumedho urges us to trust in awareness and find out for ourselves what it is to experience genuine liberation from mental anguish and suffering, just as the Buddha himself did two and a half thousand years ago.

You can buy Don’t Take Your Life Personally from the Book Depository for around £14 with free worldwide delivery. See below for other online sites.

Extract

Mindfulness or awareness is knowing, isn’t it? It is a direct knowing, immanent here and now. It is being fully present, attentive, to this present moment as is. But defining mindfulness tends to make it into something — and then it is no longer mindfulness, is it? Mindfulness is not a thing; it is a recognition, an intuitive awareness. It is awareness without grasping. With this recognition, we have perspective on the conditions that we experience in the present — our thoughts, identities, and the conditioning we have. Concentration, on the other hand, is usually on a form. We choose an object and then put our full attention onto it in contrast to mindfulness which is formless and immeasurable, and does not seek a form. That is why describing mindfulness or awareness leads to the wrong attitude. Terms like ‘wake up’, ‘awakening’ or ‘pay attention’ are not definitions; they are suggestions to trust in this moment, to be present, to be here and now.

Ajahn Sumedho, an American Buddhist monk, practised for ten years in Thailand with the well known monk, Ajahn Chah. He has since spent over thirty years in England and is the founder of the Cittaviveka Forest Monastery in West Sussex and the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in Hertfordshire.

His many books include Teachings of a Buddhist Monk.

You can buy Don’t Take Your Life Personally from:

The Book Depository £15 with free worldwide delivery. (The Book Depository is owned by  Amazon.)

Amazon.com. $20.40 — Amazon Canada CDN$26.55 — Amazon Germany €22,99 — Amazon Spain €17,53 — Barnes & Noble $21.30 — Amazon Japan ￥2,430
— Amazon China ￥280 — Amazon Italy €19,18 — Amazon France €24,28

All prices are approximate.

Filed under: Ajahn Sumedho, Books, Buddhism, Buddhist meditation, Theravada | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

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