Abhayagiri Talks

Pavāraṇā Day is the final day of the 3–month Vassa retreat period. To celebrate the completion of this period of intensive community practice and vinaya study, Ajahn Chah would invite each junior monk to give a short Dhamma reflection, and this tradition continues to this day. On October 16, 2016, Ajahn Pasanno drew names from the Dhamma hall bell and asked the chosen community member to speak. [0:00] Upāsikā Debbie: Rising and Falling [10:43] Anagārika Jeff: How the Minor Rules Help Us See our Mind States [38:55] Anagārika Hector: Notice the Good Acts of Oneself and Others [48:37] Tan Kaccāna: Contemplation of the Body as Body [55:26] Tan Kondanno: Why Did the Mind Move? Signs and Perceptions [1:12:22] Tan Khantiko: Appreciation of Dāna and Metta [1:14:35] Sāmaṇera Suddhiko: Intuitive Awareness

On a cool and dark rainy Fall evening, Ajahn Jotipālo shares with us a story about a legendary Japanese swordsman named Bokuden, and how his encounter with a mannerless ruffian symbolizes the struggle we can face in our meditation. This talk was offered on October 29, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

Following another bustling and joyous Kathina, Ajahn Jayanto, abbot of Temple Forest Monastery in New Hampshire reflects on the benefits of coming to the monastery together as a community, and on the importance of finding balance between the inner and outer world of our experience. He breaks down the meaning of cultivation and practice, and how to use the monastery’s structure as a canvas upon which we can work with the mind through our conditions. This talk was offered on October 24, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

Offering the dhamma talk for Kathina day, Ajahn Vīradhammo, visiting from Tisarana Monastery in Ontario, leads us on an exploration of the sources of fearlessness, teaching that the first step is to understand how to be with fear. This talk was offered on October 23, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

Visiting from Birken Monastery in British Columbia, Ajahn Sona recollects an encounter with an elderly Chinese monk who had asked him, “Where is the Buddha now?” Reflecting on his answer at the time and the answer he later wished he’d given, Ajahn Sona speaks on the importance of using the concrete structures of practice – from buildings and statues to robes and rituals – to find something more abstract but more fulfilling – the dhamma. He elaborates that for this process one must move from beliefs to conviction to experience, and he uses the beautifully human story of the Buddha’s first six years of searching to illustrate how this is a process of finding our way back to our humanity. This talk was offered on October 22, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

Pavāraṇā Day is the final day of the 3–month Vassa retreat period. To celebrate the completion of this period of intensive community practice and vinaya study, Ajahn Chah would invite each junior monk to give a short Dhamma reflection, and this tradition continues to this day. On October 16, 2016, Ajahn Pasanno drew names from the Dhamma hall bell and asked the chosen community member to speak. [3:33] Tan Sudhīro: Similes For the Gradual Wearing Away of Defilements [15:46] Tan Gambhīro: The Kruba Ajahns Show Us the Middle Way [22:53] Ajahn Kassapo: If You Find a Path That Fits You, Don’t Give Up [27:37] Tan Pesalo: Ups and Downs of a Spiritual Seeker [47:16] Upāsikā Beth: Opening the Heart to Fears, Challenges and Interconnection [1:08:09] Anagārika Dorian: Thoughts and the Resultant Feeling in the Body [1:30:49] Tan Jāgaro: Dukkha and Grounding Oneself in the Body

Moved by the recent passing of the King of Thailand, Ajahn Pasanno reflects on the King as someone with the qualities of a manusia, a “real human being” – one who has sought to develop the highest levels of our fundamental human capacity, those of wisdom, compassion, and purity. This brings to his mind a teaching from the Tibetan tradition, the four thoughts that can “turn the mind.” He elaborates how these can help to take us beyond being simply a human body with a mind and into the realm of a being a real human. This talk was offered on October 15, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

Continuing a theme from the Upasika Day teachings the day before, Ajahn Jotipālo contemplates the somewhat mysterious word from the Buddha's time, papañca. Traditionally translated as “mental proliferation” and more recently translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu as “objectification,” Ajahn Jotipālo reflects on it as a process by which the natural peaceful state of mind is cut off by obstacles of thoughts and mental states that bring us into the realm of “self.” He explores two different angles to come at papañca - paying attention to the resulting actions, and watching how sense contact leads to feeling, which more often than not begins a descent into dukkha. He also relates this phenomenon to the act of asking forgiveness for unskillful actions and speech. This talk was offered on October 9, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

Following the Upasika Day teachings on the subject of Right Speech, Ajahn Pasanno offers a reflection on the deeper meanings of both “right” and “speech” from the Buddha's standpoint. He teaches that the concepts of vitakka and vicara – initial thought and sustained thought – usually thought of as aspects of silent meditation, are an important part of human communication, and that the word translated as “right” means something more akin to music being in tune. This talk was offered on October 8, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Pasanno reflects on the tendency of the mind to latch onto memories from the past or projections of the future as a way to keep a sense of self going, to the point that the alternative – stillness and peace – can become something we actually fear. This is where mindfulness of the body can be a powerful tool for setting an anchor to establish boundaries for the mind. Not to banish thought but to find a balance between our attraction to past and future and the true freedom of the present moment. This talk was offered on October 1, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.