All sensory objects satisfy us temporarily, but then we have to find something else to be absorbed into — to read, think, go to sleep, get drunk, take dope, have sex. It goes on and on, without reflection…
Ajahn Sumedho
Tathata or Suchness
When I first came across this word ‘Suchness’ in Zen literature, I thought, ‘What the heck is Suchness?
Brothers and sisters in suffering, old age, sickness and death, by Ajahn Sumedho
If the Buddha had started with the teaching that there is no suffering, none of us would have believed it: There certainly is! He certainly got that wrong! So he started with: There is suffering…
In the moment of mindfulness, there is no suffering, by Ajahn Sumedho
In the moment of mindfulness, there is no suffering. I can’t find any suffering in mindfulness; it’s impossible; there’s absolutely none. But when there’s heedlessness, there is a lot of suffering in my mind…
Pointers to the Ultimate, by Ajahn Sumedho
In any religion there is the exoteric side — the tradition and forms, scriptures, ceremonies and disciplines—and the esoteric, which is the essential nature of that. So, in much of what we call religion, the emphasis is really on the external form.
We can always start anew, by Ajahn Sumedho
Emotions can be very convincing, very powerful, like a melodrama. They can sound real and true when they’re going on. But, at that time, there was that which was aware of them; an awareness of those emotions as mental objects was established already. And I trusted in that.
We need to put ourselves into perspective, by Ajahn Sumedho
Existence is something that can strengthen us, rather than weaken us. We need to put ourselves into perspective; we need to see ourselves in terms of the mass as well as in terms of the individual. When we take life on the extreme level of ‘me’ as a person, we forget the common problem that we share with the rest of humanity…
The Three Refuges, by Ajahn Sumedho
The post discusses the underestimated significance of the three Buddhist refuges: Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha.
These aren’t merely traditional markers but pointers to reality. They elucidate that refuge in Buddha is mindful awareness, going beyond the body’s confines, potentially accessible to every human being.
Buddhism now 