Pariyatti

Pariyatti episodes:

• 04.26.2024

  The Jewel in Mumbai by Bikram Dandiya

  The Jewel in Mumbai by Bikram Dandiya "The Global Vipassana Pagoda in Mumbai was built to mark the birth centenary year of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, the Burmese Dhamma teacher of Shri Satya Narayan Goenkaji. The monument is built in...

  
• 03.17.2024

  A Journey into Buddhism

  A Journey into Buddhism by Elizabeth J. A. Harris . "The themes of the talks are rooted in my journey, as a Christian, into Buddhism. In the mid-1980s I felt the need to ’let go’ of my own religious conditioning...

  
• 02.26.2024

  Deconstructing Constructions: The Role of Saṅkhārā in the Buddha’s Discourses

  Deconstructing Constructions: The Role of Saṅkhārā in the Buddha’s Discourses by Bhikkhu Bodhi . In this paper I intend to explore the Pāli term saṅkhārā, one of the pivotal concepts in the Buddha’s discourses. The Pāli word has such a...

  
• 01.27.2024

  Your Best Friend

  Your Best Friend: And Other Essays by M. B. Werapitiya. "To understand ourselves, we must live with ourselves and know all about ourselves. The mind for that matter is flickering, fickle, difficult to guard and control and flutters like a...

  
• 09.23.2023

  Part 6 - Expanding Into New Frontiers by Bhikkhu Bodhi

  Part 6 - Expanding Into New Frontiers from 'What Does Mindfulness Really Mean' by Bhikkhu Bodhi . Mindfulness has traveled a long way from its homeland in northeast India. It has journeyed to the island of Sri Lanka, the river...

  
• 09.16.2023

  Part 5 - Clear Comprehension by Bhikkhu Bodhi

  Part 5 - Clear Comprehension from 'What Does Mindfulness Really Mean' by Bhikkhu Bodhi . While I said just before that clear comprehension plays a more prominent role in the contemplation of experiential phenomena, the refrain on right mindfulness shows...

  
• 09.09.2023

  Part 4 - What the Suttas Say by Bhikkhu Bodhi

  Part 4 - What the Suttas Say from 'What Does Mindfulness Really Mean' by Bhikkhu Bodhi . Nevertheless, despite my reservations about the use of “bare attention” as an alternative expression for sati, if we consider how mindfulness is to...

  
• 09.02.2023

  Part 3 - Mindfulness and Bare Attention by Bhikkhu Bodhi

  Part 3 - Mindfulness and Bare Attention from 'What Does Mindfulness Really Mean' by Bhikkhu Bodhi . Many commentators who teach and practice in the contemporary vipassana movement have sought to convey the experiential flavor of mindfulness by means of...

  
• 08.26.2023

  Part 2 - The Meaning of <em>Sati</em> by Bhikkhu Bodhi

  Part 2 - The Meaning of Sati from 'What Does Mindfulness Really Mean' by Bhikkhu Bodhi . A problem in hermeneutics, with intimate bearings on the actual practice of meditation, concerns the exact meaning of the word sati both in...

  
• 08.16.2023

  Part 1 - Mindfulness in the Buddhist Path by Bhikkhu Bodhi

  Part 1 - Mindfulness in the Buddhist Path from 'What Does Mindfulness Really Mean' by Bhikkhu Bodhi . The entry of systematic mindfulness practice into the fields of stress reduction and psychotherapy has dramatically altered modern medicine’s perspectives on our...

  
• 05.20.2023

  Sangha at the Crossroads

  Sangha at the Crossroads by Bhikkhu Bodhi "In this article I want to focus on one particular constituency of Buddhists in present day Sri Lanka, the Bhikkhu Sangha, the Order of Monks. I intend to examine, though briefly, the problems...

  
• 05.13.2023

  The Changing Face of Buddhism

  The Changing Face of Buddhism by Bhikkhu Bodhi "If Buddhism is failing to penetrate deep into the hearts of those who profess it as their faith, we have to ask ourselves why, and to ask what can be done to...

  
• 05.06.2023

  A Buddhist Approach to Economic and Social Development

  A Buddhist Approach to Economic and Social Development by Bhikkhu Bodhi "The notion of economic and social development has today become the rallying call of politicians, business leaders, and policy planners clear across the globe. This notion thus exercises a...

  
• 04.29.2023

  A Buddhist Social Ethic for the New Century

  A Buddhist Social Ethic for the New Century by Bhikkhu Bodhi "In Theravada Buddhist circles during the past few decades a debate has repeatedly erupted over the question whether or not jhāna is necessary to attain the “paths and fruits,”...

  
• 04.21.2023

  The Jhānas and the Lay Disciple According to the Pāli Suttas

  The Jhānas and the Lay Disciple According to the Pāli Suttas by Bhikkhu Bodhi . "In Theravada Buddhist circles during the past few decades a debate has repeatedly erupted over the question whether or not jhāna is necessary to attain...

  
• 04.15.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 98 excerpt)

  Story 98 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . There is an old story about a young seeker who asks the abbot of a nearby monastery for guidance on how to become enlightened. The abbot declines his request...

  
• 04.12.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 97 excerpt)

  Story 97 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . How long will it take to be enlightened? This is such a firstworld question. We want the truth and we want it now, to paraphrase Jim Morrison. There is...

  
• 04.08.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 96 excerpt)

  Story 96 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . My teacher in India eventually attracted so many students that he began to appoint assistants to lead retreats on their own. I began assisting him in 1996 and soon...

  
• 04.05.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 95 excerpt)

  Story 95 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Doing non-doing is a long path and is not always straightforward. To understand what you need to do and why and how is relatively easy, and in this regard...

  
• 04.01.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 94 excerpt)

  Story 94 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . With the death of a loved one, a grieving period is important, as is understanding how the mind works and how doing nothing with clear comprehension does not eliminate...

  
• 03.29.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 93 excerpt)

  Story 93 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . According to Thoreau, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” I think when people read this, they focus on the word “quiet” as the problematic one in...

  
• 03.25.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 92 excerpt)

  Story 92 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . In the center of Igatpuri village is a street market. Vendors sit at stalls and sell their produce. Because every vendor sits in the same location, everyone knows what...

  
• 03.22.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 91 excerpt)

  Story 91 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . We needn't pause to figure out our next step in life. Life, real life, is there in the pause, in the quagmire of conflicting choices. We then choose one...

  
• 03.18.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 90 excerpt)

  Story 90 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Most everyone is possessed by their possessions. I know people who are owned by their pets. I know others who build heated garages for their prized automobiles. My aunt...

  
• 03.15.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 89 excerpt)

  Story 89 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . I remember a Sayadaw (respected teacher) who lived in a remote monastery in upper Burma in the vicinity of Sagaing Hills. He was elderly and blind and very much...

  
• 03.11.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 88 excerpt)

  Story 88 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . I volunteered with Mother Theresa at her Sisters of Charity palliative care hostel in Calcutta. My service was to help with the lunch meal as well as a certain...

  
• 03.08.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 87 excerpt)

  Story 87 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Two more salient points about mettā. Mettā must be tempered by wisdom. There is a parable from India of a kind man who came upon a frog in the...

  
• 03.04.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 86 excerpt)

  Story 86 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Mettā is a Pāli word meaning loving-kindness. As the mind deconditions, many positive mind states arise. The emergence of these so-called divine abodes had been held back by the...

  
• 03.01.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 85 excerpt)

  Story 85 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . In Maharashtra a few decades ago, my elderly meditation teacher was delivering his evening discourse when a deranged sādhu rushed at him from the back of the hall. The...

  
• 02.25.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 84 excerpt)

  Story 84 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . In her book, Educated, about growing up in a survivalist Mormon family where school was not an option and daily manual labor a necessity, Tara Westover relates how she...

  
• 02.22.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 83 excerpt)

  Story 83 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Friendship. Where would we be without our friends? This is true for the homeless alcoholic who followed his friends’ lead, quit school, took to the road, lived high and...

  
• 02.18.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 82 excerpt)

  Story 82 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . An old proverb says that “as a man thinketh, so he is.” I’d like to alter this somewhat and proclaim that “as a man is conditioned, so he is.”...

  
• 02.15.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 81 excerpt)

  Story 81 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . One time I chose to simply live in a small guesthouse on Gnat Agi Pagoda Road in Bahan Township in Burma. I would forego all travel. Across from my...

  
• 02.11.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 80 excerpt)

  Story 80 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Matthew 21:22 promises us, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, ye shall receive.” Now I grant you that few people read the Bible these days, perhaps because they took...

  
• 02.08.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 79 excerpt)

  Story 79 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Our cottage is on a small lake on the Canadian Shield. Our shoreline is very rocky, with large boulders deposited there as the glaciers retreated 10,000 years ago. Amazingly...

  
• 02.04.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 78 excerpt)

  Story 78 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . One summer I drove a truck for an oil company. Two of us installed the oil tanks for furnaces in the basement of houses. It was dirty work. The...

  
• 02.01.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 77 excerpt)

  Story 77 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Doing non-doing deconditions the mind so that a happy life, defined by the Stoics as true, virtuous, and natural, arises like a phoenix from the ashes of the conditioned...

  
• 01.28.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 76 excerpt)

  Story 76 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . In Korea it is considered rude to speak immediately after someone else has just spoken. Korean culture demands a slight pause to indicate the listeners have fully digested and...

  
• 01.25.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 75 excerpt)

  Story 75 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Years ago, when I would walk around my house late at night after everyone else was asleep, it felt like I had always lived there. I liked that it...

  
• 01.21.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 74 excerpt)

  Story 74 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . I loved the water buffalo I encountered in India. Despite their girth and their horns, they were very gentle creatures. They calmly abided all and sundry afflictions, heat, mosquitoes,...

  
• 01.18.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 73 excerpt)

  Story 73 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . I loved to go fishing with my father, because he was a terrible fisherman. He never caught anything. I was fine with this. I didn't like to put a...

  
• 01.14.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 72 excerpt)

  Story 72 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . I think there is a place in our lives for tradition and even ritual. They keep our lives simple and understandable. In our family we have pancakes every Sunday...

  
• 01.11.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 71 excerpt)

  Story 71 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . The summer after high school, Tony, his younger brother Chris, and I set out in an old Vauxhall held together with spit and bailing wire for points west on...

  
• 01.07.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 70 excerpt)

  Story 70 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Bhante Rahula and I would meditate outside on some very flat but hard boulders because that summer was particularly hot. On this particular day, I crossed my legs and...

  
• 01.06.2023

  How to Find More Psychological Stability in an Unstable Time: The Role of Meditation

  "How to Find More Psychological Stability in an Unstable Time: The Role of Meditation" is an online Zoom talk by Paul R. Fleischman given on November 10th, 2022, co-sponsored by Connecticut Vipassana, Being Well at Yale, Good Life Center, MCDB...

  
• 01.04.2023

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 69 excerpt)

  Story 69 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . The more I investigate and dissect what I focus my attention on with clear comprehension, the more apparent becomes the changing nature of the mind and body. I don’t...

  
• 12.31.2022

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 68 excerpt)

  Story 68 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . On my way to school one bitterly cold winter's day, I passed a house in the early stages of being built. The workers were framing the roof. The wind...

  
• 12.30.2022

  Pariyatti Presents... Maintaining Your Meditation Practice at Home: A Panel Discussiion

  Pariyatti Presents...a panel discussion about "Maintaining Your Meditation Practice at Home: Helpful Supports and Challenges" recorded on November 13, 2022. The panel consists of meditators in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin as taught by S.N. Goenka moderated by...

  
• 12.28.2022

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 67 excerpt)

  Story 67 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . I was too thin to have good quality clothes fit me well. When I wore a suit, my head looked too small. When I turned my head while wearing...

  
• 12.24.2022

  A Lifetime Doing Nothing (Story 66 excerpt)

  Story 66 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . To be a Buddhist is to be a Stoic and to be a Stoic is to be a Buddhist. Neither is a religion. Mere belief in their precepts holds...