How do we extinguish the fires of greed, hatred and delusion that burn within the mind? The Buddha has thrown us a lifeline. We grab hold of it right here and now – one moment at a time. Free yourself from relentless conceptualizing and the suffering that comes of it. Stop and be aware –  again and again. What is happening within you? The Buddha's first aid is just this – see each moment of turmoil or fear that is assaulting us as impermanent. Witness these feelings of despair or darkness arise and pass away – not what you are. Breathe free. Breath by breath, we let the heart heal – at peace. Breakfast reflections, Sati Saraniya Hermitage, 2018

How true can we be so we don’t have to lie? Not just in what we say or think but also in how we live this precious life both in our doings on the outside, and also what goes on inside the mind – where no one can see! But we see. We know the state of the heart. When we turn away from self- deception to the inner shining, we are set free from our deepest pain – with pure love. So live caring for yourself as for others – spiritually in tact and whole, with measureless kindness and compassion. Sitting in the school of Truth, more than pilgrims, we are stars crossing space. We shine, even in the dark.

Living in the forest, we are always aware of the trees. Patient, deep-rooted, even in fierce storms, they stand. So stand like the trees, committed and enduring. See the world with pure awareness, just the way it is. Living in a state of gratitude, we make peace with the divisiveness of this realm. We offer the blessing of our own inner harmony – the heart's compassionate, pure presence – to live and die in a state of grace, gratitude and love. Some will be blessed by that. But can we spread peace in the world without being peaceful ourselves? Ottawa Buddhist Society, June 20, 2025

The Buddha encourages us to abandon the unwholesome and develop wholesomeness in our daily acts, words and thoughts. As we learn to trust in pure awareness and present moment mindfulness, the weight of the world is lifted from the heart. Here and now, we abide in the formless, changeless, and eternal. Not only do we bear testimony to others that this is within our reach but we are also directly blessed by it ourselves. We see the nature of emptiness and know the peace of true freedom.

What is true joy? All too soon, joy declines because of its nature to change, like all conditions of life. True joy is not an idea or belief in a perfect moment but it is knowing the truth of change and how to free ourselves from clinging to ephemeral happiness. Just as we avoid poison ivy when walking in the forest, refrain from touching anger or hatred. To see beyond the duality of likes and dislikes, the beauty of flowers or the fear of danger, wisely investigate and know the nature of all experience. Day by day, living the middle way with pure present moment awareness, we discover the joy of peace in the midst of change.

Do we know the truth of what we are? If not, how can we love unconditionally? When the heart abides in loving-kindness, the misery of fear, anger and despair is vanquished. If we look for unconditional love outside of us, we will never find it. Nor can we know it by thinking. The mind must grow in silence and stillness, in unsullied conscious awareness. Then we can see what we truly are – intuitively, beyond thought, in the quality of this very breath, this moment. We pierce through the dust of lifetimes to know the core of our being, to wake up – here and now. Just to live in that kindness is the truest life of all. Sati Saraniya Hermitage, January, 2025

The heart’s splendor is known in pure awareness – not tainted by any harmful thought or feeling. It is integrity itself – present now. Traverse from the self, the narrow sense of me and mine, to surrender – knowing that we are nothing of this realm. But this emptiness is a fullness, measureless and complete – so vast that it dwarfs everything. It is universal love, compassion, supremely gentle, kind.  Once known, it can never not be known. We are not separate from awareness. Like the sky. It is always there – a silent homage, our true home.

Anger and fear are perilous, flammable states of mind – like barnacles attached to a ship's hull that undermine its power to sail. So we call on wise discernment and forgiveness to rescue us. We take stock: is there any anger within me? Or fear? The Dhamma purifies and frees us from these stains of the heart. So seek refuge. Guard the mind from the fires of anger or unwholesome states by directing full attention to present moment awareness. This is the blessing of our work, and the promise of awakening. Ottawa Buddhist Society, Quaker House, June 21, 2025

Just as one refines gold, we temper the restless thoughts and moods of the mind. We listen and deepen awareness in joyous silence, peaceful and benign. It's a noble healing of every harm we may have suffered in life. Instead of running from pain, we are freed from it – seeing its cause and its falling away into the luminosity of pure consciousness. Awareness of fear is not fearful – is not burdened by any darkness in the mind. So we walk intrepid, daring to forge our path to awakening. Quaker House, Ottawa Buddhist Society, May 2017

Between beauty and terror lies the Middle Way, at times crushing, at last – transcendent. Can we receive all of life with the pure love of awakened awareness? Just listen and watch in silence. Open and understand the heart in pure presence – the way a valley receives a flood. To witness the truth of impermanence is to know there is nothing at all we can cling to in this vast universe. Rumi wrote, “If you want the moon, do not hide from the night. If you want a rose, do not run from its thorns. If you want love, do not hide from yourself.” Sati Saraniya Hermitage, July 2024