Ayyā Medhānandī

Can we dedicate every single moment to full awareness living? That’s what it takes to totally free the heart from suffering. Whether active with others or spending time alone, resorting to a secluded resting place and removed from social interaction, we study the mind and examine how fear or negativity arise. Looking inwardly at the mind's own weather, we grow wise enough to live in peace. The root of our practice is awareness. We move with awareness, eat with awareness, and do everything wherever we are with mindful awareness. We awaken day by day, drop by drop. Ottawa Buddhist Society Retreat, Nov 21, 2020

We trust that entering the path of Dhamma practice will yield incomparable joy and peace enough to fully satiate the heart. We cannot demand it but we know if the path is to bear fruit, we must walk it patiently, humbly, and graciously, with kindness and faith. Just knowing the possibility of awakening is a cause for joy. This energizes us to work, to give, to persevere and endure obstacles for the sake of this great freedom of heart. By letting go of the world, we return to our true home. At last, free from clinging, we can experience the mind's awakening. OBS, Dec. 18, 2020

 

What is grace in this world? When noble qualities flower within us, that is grace. We come to know our true nature as we witness the pure mind's transcendent luminosity. Listening to the Buddha's teachings, we learn how to open the gates to the Deathless and experience for ourselves this inner splendor. The more we understand ourselves to this depth, the more our wisdom, love, and compassion ripen. So true grace is awakening itself. As the benefactors of the Buddha's enlightenment, we live these teachings everyday in our activities and relationships. Ottawa Buddhist Society, Dec. 17, 2021

While on retreat in the forest, an infestation of cicadas surrounded my meditation hut for weeks on end with intense, incessant screaming. Headphones offered no relief from the din. While bearing it, I closely observed mental pain. That meant seeing and knowing despair and anger too. I listened with patience and pure awareness, trying to draw forth threads – if not shreds – of compassion and empathy for myself. Weaving these qualities together repeatedly brought a welcome reprieve from the suffering – and a profound teaching for living the practice.  Sati Saraniya Hermitage, August 16, 2026

When we bear ill-will to anyone in life, it's a sign that there is some hatred being carried within. This is self-harming. It's like taking poison. Even worse, if we dwell in poisoned habits of thought, fear, anger, selfishness, or careless ways of being, the quality of the mind and our habits of speech and action quickly deteriorate. So be your own doctor. Clear the poisons out and save your mind. The real beauty is within. So treasure the jewels of the heart. That is true happiness. That is life's greatest blessing.

Come out of the shadows. There, ego is silent. It has no say in our intuitive knowing of what we truly are. When universal truths come to light within us, we see all as impermanent, not who we are – and empty of any self. With pure present awareness, we abide in stillness. The mind listens and lets the world be. We are free from fear, deeply in tune, beyond concept, belief, thinking or identifying with thoughts. This pure conscious awareness presides over all the world.

The Dhamma path is one of blessings – for our own life and for the joy of other beings who also benefit. So we train ourselves to live ethically and kindly in our actions, speech, and even our thoughts. This is a noble commitment to harmlessness, integrity, peace and wisdom. Guided by wise reflection, we try to bring forth these universal blessings. Come what may, even during the storms of life, we guard the mind with awareness, just as a compass directs a sailor to safely cross the vast ocean. So may we allay the sufferings of beings in their samsāric journey on this Earth. Sati Saraniya Hermitage, August 2, 2026

Beyond the course conditions of the world, truly aware and present, we care for the mind – stopping and listening in the silence, moment by moment. Now, inwardly secluded from the losses, fears, triumphs, and rewards of sense experience, rest in the fathoms of this pure presence. See how wisdom evolves and know things as they are – beyond our clouded vision and the emotional dust of old habits, mental wanderings, wants, and worries. Awareness is emptiness and fullness of being - the liberating truth of unconditioned love and the heart's infinite joy and peace.

Do we have enough awareness to purify the mind? If we practise humility – not being kidnapped by self-obsession or distraction – if we live with restraint and focus, we come to realize and discover who we really are. Our spiritual parent in this waking up is reflective conscious awareness that is infinite and pervasive. We take greatest care of this consciousness by purifying the mind. The more we abide in that pure awareness, the greater our joy, our peace, and our awakening. Aug, 20, 2026

How do we experience the heart's uplift in the special qualities of joy that we can know and share in different ways during the journey of life? Do we see ourselves as inherently joyful, or do we feel that joy has passed us by? Whatever our opinions are, we all have a potential for profound joy which can and must be tapped in this practice. We do not need to search for joy, but if we practice with patience, humility, and a deep desire to align ourselves with the truth, joy will find us.