Buddhist Society of Western Australia

When it's done it's finished. Meditation allows us to leave the things that have happened in our busy lives and be peaceful, be calm. Forget about what's happened before and just be in this moment. Sit down, close your eyes and relax. Many of us don't give ourselves that opportunity to let it all go. We wake in the morning full of beans and by the end of the day we are mentally tired. We need to train our minds to let the day go. Meditation allows us to do this.

Ajahn guided us in a thirty minute meditation well suited to people learning to meditate.

After the meditation Ajahn related a story about the growth of a fire tree at Bodhinyana Monastery. He had watched the tree grow for many years and wondered why, given the care it received, that it hadn't seemed to grow. Ajahn continued his training in Wat Buddha Dhamma Buddhist Monastery in Wisemans Ferry, New South Wales for five years. On returning to Bodhinyana Monastery, he was quietly walking past the fire tree and wondered how it was faring. He was surprised to find that it was now an enormous mature tree. Just as Ajahn didn't notice the slight growth of the fire tree, when we begin to meditate, we often don't see or rather, notice any progress. Each time we meditate, be it for five minutes a day or half an hour each week, we are retraining our minds and this has a cumulative effect. One day we will sit down and realise that we can let it all go just as easily as sitting down.

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In our daily life we tend to find it difficult to practice present moment awareness, especially when another person has done us wrong. Venerable Hasapanna offers us a simple forgiveness exercise, to help us let go of our past. 

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What is the meaning of life? After Venerable Hasapanna's mother passed away, she realised she could no longer avoid this unanswered question. Venerable shares her insight, that life is not about how much you can accumulate, but how much you can let go.

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Venerable Hasapanna guides a meditation for approximately 30 minutes.

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

The Buddha taught the way out of suffering. Ajahn Vayama offers some reflections on the Buddha’s teaching “Transcendental Dependent Arising”, which Ajahn explains is a teaching on the chain of cause and effect, one thing giving rise to the next, that starts with suffering (dukkha) and goes all the way to the end of suffering; enlightenment Nirvana. This teaching starts with dukkha and looks on it as a teacher, because suffering is an invitation to wake up in our life, to wake up to the realities of life. Ajahn talks about how suffering can motivate us to find a way out of suffering; for us to put in the effort and energy required to find peace and wake up. 

We apologise for the quality of this audio, this Dhamma talk was given in 2000.

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In early March, Ajahn Brahm lectured at the University of Hong Kong on the topic of “Seeing Meaning in Life through Buddhism and Science” to talk about Buddhism, science and life. In the first half of the lecture, A Jiang spoke first of all about scientific threats to religious beliefs. He cited several scientific research results to clarify that Buddhists are most qualified to think outside the box without being limited to academic knowledge;
 
In the second half, three experts from different fields came together to discuss the meaning of life with Ah Jiang. They are Dr. Berry Kerzin, Professor Guo Xin and Professor Chen Lichang. Kerzin is a member of the monks, teachers and doctors. He is currently a scholar of the Center for Spiritual and Life Studies and a therapist for the Dalai Lama. Guo Xin is a renowned astronomer and dean of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, while Chen Lichang is at the University of Hong Kong. Professor of pathology, director of the Center for Medicine and Humanities, is dedicated to humanistic care in blood cancer research and development medicine. The four people went through a two-hour conversation together. Everyone has a great reputation for explaining the meaning of life, science and the mind.

This talk was recorded in front of a large audience in an auditorium in Hong Kong. It is hosted by the organisation Buddhistdoor.

Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon.

This talk was recorded in front of a large audience in an auditorium in Hong Kong. It is hosted by the organisation Buddhistdoor.

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Venerable started the evening by relating an interesting story of events that occurred when receiving dana sometime ago on a particularly hot day.  A lady was standing in bare feet on hot concrete, as was Venerable, and they both had to dance to avoid their feet being burnt.  Venerable used this story to relate to the way we have rain storms in our minds.  Rather than running away and hiding, we need to learn how to dance in the rain of our minds.  

"Life is not about waiting for the rain storm to pass but learning to dance in the rain".  Venerable Nitho.

Venerable continued by encouraging us to follow the first noble truth in Buddhism; Life is suffering or dukkha.  That doesn't mean it is awful, just that we need to learn how to dance in the rain and be happy.  Life starts where your comfort zone ends.  If you stay in your comfort zone, you don't extend your life.
 
Venerable then guided us in a body scan meditation ending with five minutes of silent observation of our minds.

After the meditation Venerable opened to Q&A.  Several of the questions, relating to things that trip us all over when we begin meditation, needed an in-depth explanation, which Venerable Nitho was able to give.



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Ajahn Bodhidhaja talks about how things going wrong in our lives can spiral downwards in a vicious cycle, but how through practicing wholesome behaviour and mindfulness a virtuous cycle upwards can develop. Ajahn Bodhidhaja reflects upon the dual nature within ourselves, and offers tools to help develop the virtuous cycle.

This talk was recorded by the Buddhist Society of Victoria. You can subscribe to their Youtube channel here.

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It sounds easy to just be in the present moment and let go of all the past and the future, but its hard to achieve this in meditation. Ajahn Brahm shows us how to find stillness in this present moment by embracing it. 

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