Ajahn Dtun responds to questions about relics, metta and fear, body contemplation, and obstructions to practice caused by family. In response to a question about how to develop the desire to meditate, Ajahn Dtun tells the story of three incidents in his life before ordination when he encountered and contemplated death and developed saṁvega, sober sadness. This question and answer session was offered at tea time on May 23, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery and was translated by Ajahn Tejapañño. We might clean up the audio and split it into Thai and English tracks in the future.

The night after the Vesakha Puja, Ajahn Ñaniko reflects on the inspiration of centuries of great beings who kept the Buddha's teachings going through many ups and downs of history. And like them, our path to liberation is to heed the Buddha's final words: “All things are impermanent – strive on with diligence.” This talk was offered on May 21, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

For the Vesakha Puja Ajahn Jotipālo reads a talk by Ajahn Chah, inspired by the story of a monk in the Buddha's time named Tucho Potthila, whom the Buddha referred to as “Venerable Empty Scripture.” Ajahn Chah uses this story to help us see that if we nurture only a superficial practice we become victims of the lies of our minds. This talk was offered on May 20, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

On one level, Ajahn Ñaniko tells us, the Buddha's teachings are quite simple – do good, refrain from bad, purify the mind. But there is often a hidden intention in our mental practice – to get rid of unwanted thoughts and feelings. Yet this is wrong view and just another defilement. The Buddha's way to purifying the mind allows us to use thought in a way that leads much deeper. This talk was offered on May 14, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

Inspired by a recent period of group forest practice and the previous week's anagarika ordinations, Ajahn Jotipālo offers reflections on living successfully in a disparate community, an environment that one of his earliest teachers, Gloria Taraniya referred to as “a rock tumbler.” He draws on points of etiquette from Ajahn Sucitto's handbook for new anagarikas (http://www.bodhinyanarama.net.nz/docs/anagarikaOrdination.txt). This talk was offered on May 13, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

Recently returned from a ten-day tudong with Tan Kassapo, Ajahn Ñaniko relates some of their encounters along the way. He reflects on how this form of practice benefits both the wandering monastics and those who offer them nourishment and support. This talk was offered on May 5, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

What is it that helps the mind become clear, the heart become peaceful? Ajahn Pasanno teaches that it is not the use of speculative thought nor the passive observation of experience. Rather, the Buddha's approach is to cultivate the capacity of the mind for “mindfulness” – the ardent application of effort to recognize and relinquish the hindrances to our awakening. This talk was offered on April 30, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

We are not helpless victims of our unskillful patterns of body, speech, and mind, Ajahn Pasanno tells us. We may have allowed them to become an ordinary part of us, just as we may have allowed the taking of refuges and precepts to become ordinary. But we must find ways to keep the refuges and precepts fresh, for they are an active way out of the ordinary causes of our everyday suffering. This talk was offered on April 29, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

For many years, Iris Landsberg (1949-2014) graced Abhayagiri evening sittings with her beautiful Dhamma talk request. This recording came from Ajahn Amaro's October 18, 2008 talk "Trust in Refuge."

Asked the question, “How do I know if I'm progressing on the path?” Ajahn Pasanno reflects that our practice is an act of uncovering a peaceful inclination of mind that already exists. The way to this uncovering, he teaches, is not in asking, “What am I getting from this practice?” but instead, “What can I let go of?” This talk was offered on April 23, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.