The Teachings of Dipa Ma.

The Teachings of Dipa Ma.

More on the meditation Dipa Ma did/taught to be free: 

Question: "How do I practice Vipassana [insight] meditation?"

Dipa Ma: "Sit [with your back straight]. Close your eyes and follow the rising and falling, the rising and falling of the abdomen as you breathe. 

Feel the breath. When watching the breathing in and out, ask yourself, "Where is the touch of the breath?" 

Keep your mind on the touch only. You are to do nothing with the breathing, only feel the touch. If it is heavy, let it be heavy. It if is short, let it be short. If it is fine, let it be fine. 

Just feel it.

When your mind wanders away, notice this and say to yourself, "Thinking," and then come back again to the rising and falling of the breath. If you feel a sensation somewhere else, like pain in the leg, then take your mind to the pain and note, "Pain." And when it goes away or fades, then again come to watching the touch of the breath. If restlessness comes, note "restlessness."

If you hear a noise, say to yourself, "Hearing, hearing,"

And again come back to the feeling of the breath. If memories come, know them as "memories." Anything you see, anything that comes to mind, just be aware of it. If you see visions or lights, just note "seeing" or "lights." 

There is no need to keep any of it, to make it stay. Simply observe.

In insight meditation, you are observing the rising and falling of the breath and the phenomena that arise in the mind and body. So there is a shifting of the mind from sensations felt, both painful and pleasurable, to thoughts as well. Whatever is happening is to be noticed, then that will go away, and another thing will come. In this way, insight practice is a method of observation. All six senses [the mind being the sixth] will arise.

Just watch them arise and pass away and come back to the feeling of the breath. Anything you see, anything that comes to mind, just be aware of it." 

From "Dipa Ma: The Life and Legacy of a Buddhist Master."

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart

11 April 2026

Monk:  I would like to pay respect to Than Ajahn and maybe get a few words of Dhamma advice.

Than Ajahn:  As for my advice, it’s to meditate. This is your main occupation: to meditate, samatha bhāvanā and vipassanā bhāvanā. You have to maintain the precepts and attain to the different levels of Dhamma. 

You have to meditate. You have to start with mindfulness. I used the four Foundations of Mindfulness as my guide when I practiced. 

When I sat, I used ānāpānasati. When I wasn’t sitting, I watched my body movements. For other type of work, I’d try to do as little as possible. I’d just do the work of meditation and stay alone most of the time. 

Even though I lived with other monks, I usually didn’t socialize. I just kept to myself and practiced. 

Don’t be misled or distracted by other work like building a monastery, because it can take away a lot of your time and also your mindfulness. When you work, you have to think a lot, so when you meditate, you’ll find it difficult to enter into calm. If your mind is not calm, you can become restless and agitated. 

So, you have to try to keep your mind calm as much as possible. And listen to Dhamma talks or read Dhamma books to inspire and to remind you what you’re supposed to do. 

Monk:  I totally agree with Than Ajahn. It is not so much about socializing with other monks because we have a small community and they like to practice, but it’s more about the administrative work and looking after the monastery. I was surprised even with a small hermitage, it needs so much mental engagement. 

Than Ajahn:  That’s right, because you have to think and there are many things you have to arrange and do. 

So, you have to sort out your priorities, which one is more important: building a monastery or building a place inside your heart? The Buddha did his work first. 

He practiced and became enlightened before he established Buddhism. He didn’t try to start establishing Buddhism before he became enlightened. 

So, enlightenment is the basis to develop anything, whether it’s building a monastery or building anything. 

You need a clear and an enlightened mind to see things clearly, to do things properly and correctly. 

Monk:  Than Ajahn, is it possible to develop mindfulness while doing work?

Than Ajahn:  Yes, but it’s not as good as if you don’t have to do any work. When you do work, you still have to think—this is not the right kind of mindfulness. The right kind of mindfulness is just to be mindful of what you do where you don’t have to think about what you do, like walking. 

When you’re walking, you don’t have to think about walking. You just walk, just watch your walking activities. But if you have to work, you have to make some planning, then you have to use your thought. 

The purpose is to stop your thinking as much as possible. If you want to calm your mind, if you want to have samādhi, you have to stop thinking. And if you keep thinking, it will be difficult for you to stop thinking. But if you’re not thinking, when you sit, you can become calm very easily and quickly. 

Monk:  When the day started, I’d do the work in the morning until about 10:30. I’d speak to the laypeople after the meal and then I get back to my kuṭi and come out the next morning. 

Do you think this is the way to make sufficient progress? I do my work in the morning, and I do my practice in the afternoon until the next morning.

Than Ajahn:  Well, I can answer it by giving you the example of Ajahn Mun’s story. Ajahn Mun used to deal with people before he became fully enlightened. But he realized that he could not go to full enlightenment when he still had to be involved with people. So, he decided to go away and live in a forest alone for 10 years, in Chiang Mai. That’s where he became fully enlightened. 

So, you need to be alone completely, or else, your mind will still be distracted. It’s like putting a cup of water into the icebox. If you keep taking the cup out and putting it back in, it will never get cold. 

But if you just keep it in the icebox all the time, eventually, it becomes very cold. 

Similarly, the mind has to be inside all the time. When you let it come out, your defilements also come out.

Monk:  Can I do the meditation during the retreat period? Maybe during the vassa where I have a period of no work, would this be sufficient to make enough progress?

Than Ajahn:  I cannot say whether it’s sufficient or not, maybe yes, maybe no. It depends on how intensive your practice is during that time. But Ajahn Mun used to get involved with people until the age of 60, I think, and then, he decided to leave everybody behind and went tudong in the forest, in Chiang Mai, from the age of 60 to 70. After that, at the age of 70, his disciples came and asked him to teach the Dhamma, so he taught Dhamma for the last 10 years of his life, from 70 to 80. 

But from the age 60 to 70, he stayed alone. He had monks who went to look for him and sometimes he would let them stay for a vassa, but after the vassa, they would split up because he wanted to be alone. 

Monk:  But at the age of 60, he already had the foundation of Dhamma?

Than Ajahn:  Right, or else he couldn’t live in the forest alone like that. And he had samādhi and maybe some levels of enlightenment already. 

But he could not yet reach the highest level of enlightenment.

Monk:  It's probably simpler to practice during that time because there wasn’t any mobile phone, the Internet, or social media. 

How can we practice nowadays with all kinds of modern technology? 

Than Ajahn:  You have to go to remote places where these things cannot reach you, like go into a dessert or into a forest where there is no mobile signal.

Monk:  I think we do have that in Australia, but it would be difficult to get alms food. 

Than Ajahn:  Yeah, that’s part of the problem. Ajahn Mun had to rely on the hill tribe people for his existence. It’s a very rough existence. There was not plenty of food to eat because the hill tribe people were not rich.

Monk:  So, if I understand Than Ajahn, the only way to really make progress for realizing the Dhamma is not to be involved with people continuously?

Than Ajahn:  Yes, you need continuous practice. But it will only take a certain period of time. The Buddha says in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta that within 7 days or 7 months or 7 years, you’ll become enlightened. So, you just have to devote this time to this practice, rather than stretching it to over 20 years or 30 years and you are still not getting where you want to go. 

Monk:  At the level of my pāramī, I may take 7 life time.

Than Ajahn:  If you think that way, you’re just blocking yourself. You should not think that way. You must think, ‘I can. If the Buddha said that I can do it, then I can.’ The Buddha said that you can do it within 7 days or 7 months or 7 years. 

Monk:  So 7 years is the slowest?

Than Ajahn:  Yeah. Just keep practicing mindfulness and try to enter into jhāna. Once you can get into jhāna, then you can move along quite fast. You need the 4th jhāna or ‘appanā-samādhi.’ Once you have this, your mind has the strength to resist your defilements, and then you use wisdom to teach your mind that it’s bad to follow your defilements, and you can stop following them. 

It’s a matter of common sense to see that your defilements or your desire will only lead you to more disappointment, and more sadness, it doesn’t lead you to more happiness because everything in this world that you seek for is impermanent. 

“Dhamma in English, Jun 23, 2019.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

On Practicing Concentration

On Practicing Concentration

Concentration should be practiced in a systematic and orderly way. The Buddha thus set down a civilized and flexible pattern of four postures, in line with what he himself had practiced: sitting meditation, standing meditation, walking meditation, and meditation lying down. When you practice concentration in any of these four postures, you are said to develop skillfulness through meditation. 

The Pali word for meditation—bhāvanā—literally means to develop what is good and worthwhile within the heart. 

Meditation is a duty for all Buddhists, lay as well as ordained. The skillfulness arising from meditation is the exclusive possession of those who do it. Those of us who believe in the doctrine, its practice, and the resulting attainments, should thus practice accordingly.

Sitting: 

Here we will review the basic method once more: Begin by formulating the intention to observe perfectly the five, eight, ten, or 227 precepts, in line with your position and abilities. Once you see that your virtues are pure, sit in a half-lotus position with your right leg on top of your left. Hold your hands palm-to-palm in front of your heart and call to mind the virtues of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha as your refuge. Repeat the formula for the four sublime attitudes, then Buddho me nātho, dhammo me nātho, saṅgho me nātho, then Buddho buddho, dhammo dhammo, saṅgho saṅgho. Lower your hands to your lap and silently repeat a single word—buddho—in conjunction with your in-and-out breath as your mind’s preoccupation.

Limit your attention to the body. Don’t pay attention to anything outside. 

Focus on the physical properties present in the body—the properties of earth, water, wind and fire—and then let go of these aspects, bringing your attention to the breath, coordinating buddho with its in-and-out movements. Make yourself fully aware. Only if you don’t let your attention wander will you be true to the word “buddho,” because “buddho” means one who is awake, mindful and alert.

Standing: 

Meditate in the same way as above, simply changing the posture. Stand in a way that is composed and self-possessed, keeping your body erect and your mind firmly mindful of what you’re doing. Place your hands down before you, your right hand covering your left. 

You may keep your eyes closed or leave them open, as you like. Focus your mind on buddho, keeping your attention restricted to the body and to your sense of immediate awareness until your mind is firmly established.

Walking: 

Walking meditation, termed caṅkama, is done as follows: Decide on a path as long, short, broad, or narrow as you like, making it level and even, with no ups or downs, so as not to interfere with your walking. You can walk fast or slowly, taking short steps or long, whichever is most comfortable. Hold your head on an even keel, neither lowered nor tilted back, and keep your gaze on the path before you. Place your hands down in front of you, as in the standing posture, and meditate in the same way as in the postures already mentioned.

Lying down: 

Lie on your right side, your right hand pillowing your head, your left arm placed straight down the side of your body. Don’t curl up, lie on your stomach, or lie on your back: Lie on your right side. This is the posture of a noble person, brave, victorious, and virtuous; not the posture of a miserable person at his wits’ end. 

Once you’re in position, keep your mind on the repetition of your meditation word as in the other postures.

From On Practicing Concentration in Craft of the Heart by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo. https://www.dhammatalks.org/.../CraftHeart/Section0015.html

PDF: https://www.dhammatalks.org/.../TheCraftoftheHeart_181215...

“People who died have done different kamma (actions) so they don’t go to the same state of existence.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

5 August 2025

“People who died have done different kamma (actions) so they don’t go to the same state of existence.”

Question from Brisbane, Australia:  Monks in SriLanka at my home country often preach that family members can confer merits to a dead person's next life by performing alms giving on the seventh day, on the three months’ time and on the one year’s time after the death of that person. 

In the historic evidence, it is mentioned about this ritual performed by King Bimbisara who did alms giving and chanting on the advice of the Lord Buddha to invoke blessings for some of the King’s dead relatives who were born in the lower realm who disturbed the King every night. Does this practice agree with your understanding?

Than Ajahn: Yes, but it does not mean that everybody who dies will be reborn in the lower state of existence. 

Your relatives who died might have gone to heaven or been reborn as an animal or as a human being and hence they don’t need the merits. It’s only those who come to disturb your mind, such as come in your dreams, might need your help. 

Then, you can give alms and share the merits that you get from giving alms to the departed ones. It’s not a fixed/sure thing that everybody who dies will need merits. People who died have done different kamma (actions) so they don’t go to the same state of existence. 

The lower realm of existence is just one of many state of existence. If you don’t know whether the person whom you love exists in which realm, you can share merits just in case he needs it. If the person is not in the realm where he is waiting to get merits from you, it doesn’t make any difference whether you give merits or not. Only when he came to see you at night in your dreams or in your meditation, and he came to talk to you directly asking for help, then you can give alms and offer the merits to the departed ones.  

“Dhamma in English, Q&A session, Aug 15, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

“You can do your tudong inside the temple.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

9 April 2026

“You can do your tudong inside the temple.”

- - -

Monk: With regards to gaining samādhi, is it more on trying different methods or is it just a matter of keeping on doing one practice or whatever practice one is doing?

Than Ajahn: I think the main problem that has created all your hindrances is your lack of mindfulness. If you have mindfulness then all this problem will disappear. 

You also need the support of other practices like the support of moderation in eating or fasting. 

Sometimes when you eat too much you get drowsy, sleepy and you don’t feel like doing walking or sitting meditation, then you might have to fast. When you fast, your mind becomes alert because it is hungry. It forces you to maintain mindfulness, to stop your mind from thinking about food.

By doing this, you gain mindfulness and when you sit in samādhi, your mind becomes peaceful and calm and the hunger disappears because most of the hunger arises from the mind and not the body. There are two types of hunger, the physical hunger and the mental hunger. The mental hunger is the main culprit, the main problem. 

Ninety percent of the hunger comes from your mind.

Once you stop thinking about food and your mind has samādhi, your mind will become full and you feel that the hunger of the body is very minimal, and it has no effect on your mind. So it is good to fast if you have this temperament, and if it fits your character. Fasting is a good method. It is a fast track to get your practice going, to get rid of your hindrances.

When I first started my practice, I still had problems with thinking about food in the evening. The mind still thought about food, but once I started fasting, all the thoughts in the evening about food disappeared. 

So it was very good. This is considered as part of the Buddha’s instruction, moderation in eating. If you eat too much, you’ll be sleepy. Sometimes even eating once a day can be too much for a practitioner, so you might have to skip meals, maybe fast for 3 days, 5 days, then you will find that you are constantly alert and you are forced to maintain mindfulness to stop thinking about food. 

If you cannot stop thinking about food then eventually you will not be able to maintain your fast or maintain your practice. You also have to be alone, and have minimal activity with other people. This is why fasting is helpful because it leaves you alone, you don’t have to come to do any communal work. You can be alone in your kuti or you might find a place in the forest to sit and walk. So you don’t need to go dhutanga outside of the temple. 

You can do your tudong inside the temple, which is much more convenient because you don’t have to worry about where to find food. 

You will also be close to your teacher who will constantly remind you about what you should be doing. If you go out dhutanga by yourself, sometimes your mind can go wild. Instead of practicing, sometimes you might think where should I go next? What should I do next? So I never went for dhutanga. I stayed in the temple and did my dhutanga by fasting.

“Monks from Wat Pah Nanachaat, Jun 9, 2015”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

🌱The Fertile Soil of Sangha🌱

 🌱The Fertile Soil of Sangha🌱

Two thousand five hundred years ago, Shakyamuni Buddha proclaimed that the next Buddha will be named Maitreya, the “Buddha of Love.” 

I think Maitreya Buddha may be a community and not just an individual. 

A good community is needed to help us resist the unwholesome ways of our time. Mindful living protects us and helps us go in the direction of peace. With the support of friends in the practice, peace has a chance.

If you have a supportive sangha, it’s easy to nourish your bodhicitta, the seeds of enlightenment. If you don’t have anyone who understands you, who encourages you in the practice of the living dharma, your desire to practice may wither. Your sangha —family, friends, and copractitioners— is the soil, and you are the seed. No matter how vigorous the seed is, if the soil does not provide nourishment, your seed will die. A good sangha is crucial for the practice. Please find a good sangha or help create one.

Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are three precious jewels in Buddhism, and the most important of these is Sangha. The Sangha contains the Buddha and the Dharma. A good teacher is important, but sisters and brothers in the practice are the main ingredient for success. You cannot achieve enlightenment by locking yourself in your room. Transformation is possible only when you are in touch. 

When you touch the ground, you can feel the stability of the earth and feel confident. When you observe the steadiness of the sunshine, the air, and the trees, you know that you can count on the sun to rise each day and the air and the trees to be there. 

When you build a house, you build it on solid ground. You need to choose friends in the practice who are stable, on whom you can rely.

Taking refuge in the sangha means putting your trust in a community of solid members who practice mindfulness together. You do not have to practice intensively—just being in a sangha where people are happy, living deeply the moments of their days, is enough. Each person’s way of sitting, walking, eating, working, and smiling is a source of inspiration; and transformation takes place without effort. 

If someone who is troubled is placed in a good sangha, just being there is enough to bring about a transformation. I hope communities of practice in the West will organize themselves as families. In Asian sanghas, we address each other as Dharma Brother, Dharma Sister, Dharma Aunt, or Dharma Uncle, and we call our teacher Dharma Father or Dharma Mother. 

A practice community needs that kind of familial brotherhood to nourish practice.

If you have a sangha that is joyful, animated by the desire to practice and help, you will mature as a bodhisattva. 

I always tell the monks, nuns, and lay practitioners at Plum Village that if they want to succeed in the practice, they have to find ways to live in harmony with one another, even with those who are difficult. If they can’t succeed in the sangha, how can they succeed outside of it? Becoming a monk or a nun is not just between student and teacher. It involves everyone. Getting a “yes” from everyone in the sangha is a true dharma seal.

♦Thich Nhat Hanh

from: Cultivating the Mind of Love

Real improvement begins with ACCEPTANCE by Kumāra Bhikkhu

Real improvement begins with ACCEPTANCE by Kumāra Bhikkhu

In spiritual teachings, Buddhism included, we often meet with the idea of acceptance. It means non-resistance of the way things are. In itself, it’s kindness. More than that, it allows the mind to be composed, and see things as they are.

 My teacher, Sayadaw U Tejaniya, told us of an interesting encounter at a meditation retreat in Bali. A woman was having difficulty accepting something that had happened in her life. A helper tried to convince her to accept it, but she resisted. “How can I accept it?!” Realising that he couldn’t help her, he brought her to see the teacher. After hearing the story, he told her, “OK. 

Don’t try to accept. Just acknowledge.” The woman thought for a while and said, “This I can do.” 

Sayadaw then told us, “She can’t accept, but she can acknowledge, but actually they are the same!”

 Now, why couldn’t she accept the word accept? I think she perceived it as condoning or agreeing. But that’s not what acceptance mean, at least not in this context. It’s really just acknowledging things as they way they are, not resisting.

 Another reason for resisting acceptance is believing that it entails letting things be as they are, and thus not improving anything. People commonly believe that to motivate change for the better we mustn’t accept things as they are—be it yourself, or the government. There’s some truth to this belief: Acting out of non-acceptance (i.e. resistance) can work. However, being based on aversion, it naturally entails negative results.

 For example, you walk into your living room to see your child having turned a wall into a canvas for his masterpiece. 

Being unable to accept the free decoration, you yell at him. You think that will teach him to never do that again. He is shocked and cries. You yell again, telling him to stop. He doesn’t. So, to assert your demand, you hit him. And that does the job. He forces himself to shut up. He may also never draw on the wall (or anywhere else) again. You achieve your aim. He has ‘improved’.

 Whether or not you consider this an extreme example, you probably agree such things happen. 

You probably also don’t need me to connect the non-acceptance and the negative results. In any case, let me apologise if that example triggered unhappy memories in you. If it did, I invite you to pause reading to just acknowledge the mass of thoughts and feelings as it is, and let it take its own course.

 What suffering we create out of non-acceptance. What suffering we perpetuate.

 The child may have grown up to be a great artist if not for the fear that comes up whenever he thinks of drawing. Other than that fear, no one, nothing, is stopping him. His resistance, his unwillingness to face the fear, perpetuates the suffering.

 If one day he decides that he has had enough of the fear, that he wants to change for the better, to improve, then he needs to acknowledge, not resist: Acknowledge the fear; acknowledge the story of his past underlying the fear; acknowledge even his non-acceptance of the fear, of the story, of himself; acknowledge his desire, his frustration, his anger, his hurt. 

Acknowledge them all as they are: a mass of ‘stuff’.

 As he acknowledges, as he accepts all that, bringing them into his view, allowing them to be as they are, he gradually learns to see them as they are. Then, as if magic, they release him, and disappear, leaving behind a harmless story.

 Real improvement begins with acceptance.

 

Kumāra Bhikkhu was ordained in 1999 at the age of 27. With his past training and interest in education, he has been sharing the Dhamma in several languages (mainly English, Mandarin and Hokkien) with people old and young. Inspired by his main meditation teacher, Sayadaw U Tejaniya, Ven. Kumāra is especially interested in spiritual teachings on how to remove the causes of suffering. Influenced by Bhaddanta Aggacitta Mahāthera, he is open to Dhamma teachings beyond orthodoxy and tradition, so long as they work towards true ending of suffering. Having found his way, he is happy to help others do so too. 

Profile: https://justpaste.it/kumara