Ajahn Pasanno contemplates our tendency to see a huge divide between sukkha (pleasure, happiness) and dukkha (pain, suffering). He reflects how often we are like children, who see the feeling of the moment, whether sukkah or dukkha, as something permanent and unchangeable, when in fact there is a very permeable wall between the two that we can move through – or really, beyond – if we practice with discernment and diligence. This talk was offered on July 27, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

As the vassa and vinaya study begin, Ajahn Jotipalo asks, "what is the training of a samaṇa or practitioner?" He uses the analogy of sewing robes to describe the training: confidence in the teacher's instructions, trial and error, evaluation, practice over the longer term. He discusses the Buddha's list of training for a recluse (MN 39): conscience about ones own behavior and its effects on others, sense restraint, moderation in eating, wakefulness, mindfulness, abandonment of hindrances, the jhanas, and wisdom leading to arahantship. This talk was offered on July 23, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

On the Āsāḷhā Puja night commemorating the Buddha's first teaching after enlightenment, Luang Por Pasanno urges us to engage this most important teaching on the 4 Noble Truths with a heart of faith and to investigate the experience of the arising and cessation of dukka. This teaching is the essence of how we all can be liberated. It is the Middle Way of practice and training and and the Middle way of view. Luang Por Pasanno suggests we use the experience of dukka to challenge our assumptions about suffering and ask: is craving or ignorance functioning here? He discusses the qualities of heart which can accomplish the cessation of suffering: relinquishment, release, giving away, shedding. This talk was offered on July 19, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

As the community prepares to enter into the vassa, a period of deeper practice, Ajahn Pasanno reflects on a section of the Buddha's discourse on Mindfulness of Breathing (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.118.than.html). He uses a simile of two types of trees in the monastery's forest to show us how, with the breath as an anchor, we can use our thoughts skillfully as tools of meditation (vitakka and vicara). This talk was offered on July 16, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Pasanno reflects on samatha and vipassana not so much as types of meditation practices but as factors of mind that can and should be cultivated at all times. He reminds us that the result of meditation is not to perfect a technique but to arrive at a state where one can see the distinction between the objects of mind and true mind itself. This talk was offered on July 9, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

On American Independence Day Ajahn Pasanno reflects on the difference between a conventional idea of freedom – to be able to get and to have things – and a fundamental truth of the Buddha's teachings – that liberation comes from the deep understanding that all things are impermanent. This talk was offered on July 4, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Jotipālo reflects on mindfulness as a process of finding the silence in each present moment. This talk was offered on July 2, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

As he prepares to depart the community to spend the vassa at the Forest Hermitage, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo reflects on the importance of keeping harmony within a community. He expounds on the Buddha's teaching of the six principles for cordiality, which includes questions one can ask of one's own character that can reveal the presence of the fruits of stream entry. This talk was offered on June 27, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

Still resonating with teachings from the afternoon's Upasika Day session on sutta study, Ajahn Pasanno reflects on ways of truly listening – both to external dhamma and the inner lessons of the heart. He then offers a teaching on one of the afternoon's topics – the seven treasures of the noble ones (AN 7.6), of which listening is one. This talk was offered on June 25, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery. ), of which listening is one.

The Upasika Day closes with a short meditation and chanting the sharing of blessings. This guided meditation was offered as Part 3 of the June 25, 2016 Upasika Day, “Suttas You've Never Heard Of,” at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.