Buddhism is not a brainwashing or conditioning type of teaching. One is not being asked to adopt Buddhist ideas, or say all the right Buddhist things, or wear Buddhist clothes (even though I do).
Theravada
This reflective mind, by Ajahn Sumedho
This reflective mind, then, is the still point in the centre. That is why each one of us is important in our own right. You may feel that you are not a very important person, that you are just one of the 5.5 billion on this planet…
When you are on Retreat, by Ajahn Sumedho
When you are on retreat, restrictions are placed on your physical actions and speech. But there are also mental restraints and limitations. You are not to simply let your mind go wild or indulge in fantasies. Instead, you are to learn to bring the mind into the present.
Two Kinds of Language, by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu
The word ‘Buddha’, for example, in everyday language refers to the historical enlightened being, Gotama Buddha. It refers to a physical man of flesh and bone that was born in India over two thousand years ago, died, and was cremated.
Considered in terms of dhamma language, however, the word ‘Buddha’ refers to the truth that the historical Buddha realised and taught, the dhamma itself…
Worldly Way And Liberation, by Ajahn Chah
Everything that you do must be done with clarity and awareness. When you see clearly, there will no longer be any need for endurance or for forcing yourself…
Making Friends with the Cement Mixer, by Ajahn Sumedho
Human beings are good-hearted. We want to be good. We feel a lot of joy when opportunities for generosity or selfless action are made available to us. You can see that the love of the good, of the true and the beautiful, is very much part of our humanity…
Discomfort without Aversion: A Little Miracle, by Corrado Pensa
You might remember a famous illustration that the Buddha gives of what a healed mind is like. He said, ‘In what is seen, there is only what is seen. In what is heard, there is only what is heard.’…
Vipassana as taught by The Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma
Thinking is always about something. It is an attempt to categorise. What we experience is seen in the light of past experience. What we have experienced in the past is filtered through the way we look at things, our dispositions (sankhara). That is why thought will not allow us to see things anew. If we want to experience things as they really are, then thought about those things must come to an end. When thinking stops, we must be right there with what is happening…
Buddhism now 