Ayyā Medhānandī Bhikkhunī, is the founder and guiding teacher of Sati Sārāņīya Hermitage, a Canadian forest monastery for women in the Theravāda tradition. The daughter of Eastern European refugees who emigrated to Montreal after World War II, she began a spiritual quest in childhood that led her to India, Burma, England, New Zealand, Malaysia, Taiwan, and finally, back to Canada.
In 1988, at the Yangon Mahasi retreat centre in Burma, Ayyā requested ordination as a bhikkhunī from her teacher, the Venerable Sayādaw U Pandita Mahāthera. This was not yet possible for Theravāda Buddhist women. Instead, Sayādaw granted her ordination as a 10 precept nun on condition that she take her vows for life. Thus began her monastic training in the Burmese tradition. When the borders were closed to foreigners by a military coup, in 1990 Sayādaw blessed her to join the Ajahn Chah Thai Forest Saņgha at Amaravati, UK.
After ten years in their siladhāra community, Ayyā felt called to more seclusion and solitude in New Zealand and SE Asia. In 2007, having waited nearly 20 years, she received bhikkhunī ordination at Ling Quan Chan Monastery in Keelung, Taiwan and returned to her native Canada in 2008, on invitation from the Ottawa Buddhist Society and Toronto Theravāda Buddhist Community, to establish Sati Sārāņīya Hermitage.
Too long we have been caught in the grip of anxiety, anger, and clinging that lead nowhere. But there is an oasis in the depths of our native humanity. To understand what is true, we must empty all that is untrue. This is ultimate care of the mind: disentangling the knots in the heart that obstruct the moral-ethical fabric of our true nature. So we set our inner compass beyond all these blinding mental habits to witness that inner radiance. In the mirror of pure emptiness we reflect that silent knowing the truth of what we are.
What does it mean to be noble? As a daughter of the Buddha, I learn that no name can confer authority or self-respect, nor does opinion, tradition or entitlement bestow them, for as the Buddha wisely teaches, “One does not become a noble one by birth. It is by one's deeds that one attains to nobility.” Just so, the riches of our human journey are revealed in the fire of inner purification. Therein we find our true name. It is nothing less than the pure presence behind every name – the emptiness in which all personal identity dissolves. And where only unconditional love abides.
Contentment and generosity nurture a quality of metta that is kind through and through. We learn to respond to life like the good earth that is ever patient with and tolerant of our heedlessness. Whatever you throw on it – even if it’s harmful – the earth receives that. Generating such a depth of goodwill, we endure through hardships with contentment even if we’re struggling. And, with a generosity of harmlessness, we weave great compassion and benevolence to ourselves as well as to others. Such measureless kindness never dies. It is our true wealth and the bedrock of our path to liberation
Stay true to seeing with wisdom and be compassionate to yourself – then, gradually to all beings. Preserve, treasure, grow and rejoice in the moral fabric of your true nature and know its incomparable radiant light. But first, we must have complete trust in the Buddha as our guide. Then we set our compass to the heart's journey of transcendence on the Noble Eightfold Path. Reflecting on the benevolence of the Buddha's awakening, we walk in gratitude, courage, joy and empowerment.
Let us not serve the false, fierce tyranny of fear – withering, unworthy, not to be clung to, and not who we are. By emptying the mind of fearful thoughts, we stop clinging to anything of the world – one moment at a time. Tasting the joy of true freedom, we enter that dimension of transcendence, beyond the prison of grasping a self and all its adornments. For there is no 'one' to be afraid, no ‘one’ who dies, and no ‘one’ to awaken. But there is waking up as we let go into the peace of selfless awareness.
Across millenia, the Buddha speaks of his awakening – teaching us how to take refuge, how to be fearless, how to walk the Middle Way, how to understand suffering, and how to know what to trust. Fear is the opposite of trust. So be willing to relinquish concepts and questions and let yourself live into the answers day by day where fear can end – there in the pure sanctuary of the heart. For this, we learn to have compassion even for those who kill us. But we must give up what is not trustworthy. With courage, compassion, and clear awareness of what we face now, stay quietly present and listen carefully. The truth will speak, and we shall understand.
The core teachings of the Buddha offer us a ready escape from the hells of hatred and hostility. Though the heart is perturbed, we reach deeply into our core to connect to that aquifer of Dhamma within us, calming the mind again and again. This fiber of peace is more than an intention. It's energy sets in motion the wheel of Truth that stirs us to forgiveness, restores us to kindness, and compels in us a breadth of compassion for all beings and all conditions. At last, even in the face of vitriolic treatment, wisdom and peace shall prevail. We are in the shelter of the Sacred.
With selfless awareness, we practise good-will, radiating loving-kindness inwardly and to all beings, even to those who are indifferent or hostile, or to those who cause harm. This is the Buddha's instruction to us in the Metta Sutta. Can we unequivocally wish all beings freedom from harm? Can we forgive enough to convert thoughts of fear, anger or enmity into benevolence? It takes courage to enter a dark space without a light. So we try as much as we can because unconditional compassion and kindness in this world give peace, healing and reconciliation a chance.
The Buddha said it simply. The awakened mind is the best solution. The mind-heart needs happiness to be well and to extend that well-being to others. So we tune inward, listen, meditate and resolve the dis-ease. We teach ourselves to be resilient, joyful and discerning rather than feeding on delusion and misery. When the loss is too great or madness reigns everywhere, we pour benevolent ingredients into awareness itself, patiently practising this way. Then we radiate true compassion, true forgiveness and true peace in all directions.
Can we quieten the mind enough to hear that divine frequency of the heart’s innermost chamber? Into that stillness, we come, softly, humbly – to try – and we persevere, secluded from the noise of the world. As the fevers of wanting are purified, we devote our attention to the serene sound of silence, sublime and joyous. We are bathed as if by a holy baptism, eager to receive the gifts of the true Dhamma. So we practise, patient with our own work and patient with all the world.
We wish for perfect conditions in life. But true perfection only arises within the awakened mind. So we are like mendicants of the present moment – not able to control or know what lies ahead. Let us not lose heart. In truth, this Middle Way of awareness has great fruit and great benefit, and we can walk it – even in this digitally driven era. Being patient, brave, and staying true to the wisest course, we gain strength and skill at each step. It may feel like balancing on a tightrope of fire. But with unflagging resolve and care, we burn out delusion. And that will be the fire of our illumination.
The spiritual path may be exceedingly long and demands nothing less than the most supreme culminating effort. But our patience and faith are radical. In every moment of pure attention, insight into impermanence and awareness of Truth shatter our delusion. Though monstrous dangers and fears assail us, we sever the shackles of worldly views and attachments with the sword of wisdom – courageous to the last frontier of illumination, Nibbana itself.
Remember compassion like the Buddha’s. Remember courage like the Buddha’s – a mind strong, centered, wise and welcoming; spacious, supple and open. We look within and wake up to that seed of awakening. Standing for truth instead of delusion and weakness, even if what we have is not enough – we make it enough. Even from a tiny seed of awakening, plant it in the soil of contentment. Watch it grow into a tall, magnificent refuge in Truth that is not conceptual but is realized intuitively. You are here in the moment like never before.
Joy comes softly. First, we plow through the labyrinth of our emotional compost. We know anguish, selfishness, and all their truant cousins. Then we learn skillful ways to let go. Dying to the ‘self’, the heart is purified. Even despair and the darkest energies vanish in the presence of a happiness that is beyond ownership. There is no ‘one’ to hold on, die, or awaken, but the heart is compassionate, free, and at peace with all things.
Walk away from the tigers that have made us run all our lives. Grow, instead, that beautiful space of selfless love deep within. Growth means breaking out of the shell. It hurts. But this is our journey. Trust that it will ripen into greater and greater insight. And in that unfolding, discover when things fall apart, true wisdom arises from the ashes.
Can we resolutely walk the moral high road and discover Dhamma treasures in the fertile ground of the heart? Good-will or heroic metta, will serve as our anti-inflammatory, quelling the fires of greed, anger, fear, and blame along with every other uncharitable mind state. ‘Shaving’ the heart with kindness and compassion, we ascend the mountain until there is no more mountain and no ‘one’ to climb it.
Generosity and virtue are at the heart of waking up. We give nothing less than our full devotion to the practice, day by day, training in present moment awareness and purifying ourselves. Secluded from dangerous mental states, we endure patiently, courageously. As the wisdom of the ancients dawns within us, we are blessed by that sacred gift of the Path – a noble mind.
To escape clinging to the world and the creations of thought, we purify and tame the restless mind until we directly know the impermanence, unsatisfactory and selfless nature of all conditioned things. No matter what comes, we endure. A diet of discernment, gratitude, and the heart's unconditional compassion rescue us from the swamp of fear and unwholesomeness. Seeing the whole truth and nothing but the truth, we walk with the Buddha, a true spiritual friend to ourselves and to all the world.
We live in a world of toxic fear and earnestly wish for a way beyond it. Devoted to the Buddha’s supreme advice, we undertake this holistic training how to live harmlessly, joyful and at peace in ourselves. With courage and patient humility, we don’t back down when it gets tough or pick and choose only the parts we like. Once the inner world of the mind is purified, liberation dawns. We shall reap untold blessings to the end of selfishness. Wisdom is born and the heart is free.
With the Buddha as our guide, we walk in his footsteps. If we fall away from the path, we return to it as soon as we can. Just as you steer your car back on the road should it veer off. The mind may be on fire with wanting, fear, grief or anger. Then feel the heat. Know its origin and see its ending – not owning nor feeding it, let it subside. Here and now, awareness and wisdom deepen. We are waking up. And we discover – that true friend resides within our own heart.
Rather than running away from suffering, we use it as the way to deliverance. Out of suffering, we draw beneficial mind states, especially compassion – not blaming our dukkha on any external or internal conditions but letting them go. If we are content with simple blessings, our gratitude consecrates the breath that we are breathing right now. We rest in awareness and experience the truth of the present moment – fleeting, flawed, formless and empty. In the stillness of now, we taste the mountain.
Learning to play an instrument, at first nothing good comes of it. The body is like an instrument. At first, it howls, it screams or cries. Then one day, that cry becomes a chant. So it is freeing the mind. We teach ourselves to walk the path. We fall and we get up again. In the darkest moment, we grow that tiny speck in the heart of not being afraid, not panicking, not being angry, not giving up. Practise freeing yourself so you can free everyone. Patiently keep digging. Trust. One day we will find gold.
Every moment of right mindfulness is a gift of pure attention, clarity and discovering the true origin of our pain. Applying the alchemy of kindness and compassion towards ourselves and others, we break through the veils of delusion to experience a selfless happiness, peace, and wise benevolence. Measureless are these blessings of the Dhamma.
Simplicity is not about wearing one colour, shaving your head or fasting but rather a way of mental fasting. When we choose simplicity, we have time to stop, and to observe and study the mind. We see the extent of our suffering and the origin of it. This is of great value to us. Start simplifying on the outside, then slowly draw inward to see the complex world of our ideas, thoughts, fears, longings, and attachments. Stop defending our vulnerability and investigate it. Make time for what is precious. Simplicity reveals the silence and sameness of life that can help us discover the deepest truth of our conditionality and the way to free ourselves from it. That is our work. No one else can do it for us
The Buddha guides us on a way of benevolence, worthy of our praise, worthy of our attention, and worthy of our devotion. It extinguishes the fire of delusion in the mind to kindle the fire of awakening. No 'one' awakens but the heart heals naturally by touching Truth. Freed from the shackles of ignorance, it knows the emptiness that is full and the fullness that is empty – complete peace with all things exactly as they are.
When the mind is completely silent, we experience the peace and happiness of pure awareness. This far surpasses any worldly promise of impermanent gains or pleasures. Instead, through wise intuitive insight, we enter into a blessed interior seclusion. Metaphorically speaking, not a shred of love exists in the cloud where we trust storing all our important digital data. Yet with our pure awareness, we see what can never be seen in the cloud. Where else but within does the Buddha guide us to know our true nature? Giving up all self-preoccupation for unconditional love, we know the heart’s true freedom.
Emptying the mind of fearful thoughts, we stop clinging to anything of the world – one moment at a time. And we come to know a liberating joy. It's a way to enter a dimension of transcendence and to be uplifted beyond the prison of grasping a self with all its adornments and entanglements. As we let go identification with the self, there arises the peace of selfless awareness and waking up to the ultimate truth that is the end of suffering.
How well are we spending our time? Do we endlessly cling to all that perpetuates suffering? Death will have no holiday. So what will free us from the tyranny of death? Be courageous enough to see what gives us true happiness and what brings misery; what is harmful and what is beneficial. Keep the company of those who support our virtues and our best qualities. Stay ‘far from the madding crowd’ and walk the way from blindness to bliss.
To directly know Truth, we enter the depths of the vast ocean of the mind. We refine our attention and focus it like a laser beam. In the knowing of knowing itself, impermanence is revealed together with the inherent suffering of the conditioned world and the intrinsic emptiness of everything everywhere. In the starkness of this Reality, unwavering awareness sees all that we cling to as nothing while ego capitulates to liberating insight.
Where is safety in this world? As the Buddha taught: “Not apart from awakening and austerity, not apart from sense restraint, not apart from relinquishing everything do I see any safety for any living being”. So with unshakeable faith, not faltering in the face of difficulty or pain, we nurture heroic patience and compassion. Wisely probing and seeing the Noble Truths of suffering, its cause, its ending, and the way beyond suffering, we hasten to follow the Noble Eightfold Path into the stream and across – to our freedom
In the face of horrific suffering, how can we abide in the ground of love, protected from every kind of pain? True path effort – inspired courage leaning on virtue – ardently works its way into the heart. Through the power of forgiveness, patient enough to love without blame, we touch the fount of compassion itself. We invite the miraculous.
Our mission is to find truth by turning inward to the space of the heart. We may think we know why we are here on this earth but we can only really know when we enter the sanctuary of this inner space and turn the world off. Then we will surely find the pearl of truth we long for. It is universal, not contrived nor concocted by our ignorant mind – and it gives us a peace and happiness that is unshakeable, incorruptible, and unconditional.
Let us truly live with compassion enough to care. And share that beautiful mind energy with a depth of awareness and attention to each moment. Keeping far from the noise of the world, every breath, every new moment will arise in a field of compassion and condition the next moment after it, the next breath, with kindness and presence of mind. Just so, we learn the art of loving all that we are and the path's unfoldings that free us from fear.
Though we may feel lost in the world, on the path of purification we find secure refuge and blessings shower down upon us. It is by the power of our own mind that we bring forth what is resplendent in this world. We use suffering as our teacher and live in forgiveness, gratitude, and clear seeing – grounded in the treasures of Truth. Doesn't the ocean care for each wave until it reaches the farther shore? Just so, we entrust our aspiration to liberate the heart in the care and protection of the Dhamma.
Compassion is our worthy compass. Radiating compassionate empathy towards our own suffering and the suffering of the world, the mind is tranquil, protected from danger, and at peace. We have courage enough to evict fear and take our proper seat in the pure presence of the heart.
One who practices true compassion inwardly as well as to others is praised as a superior person, a spiritual warrior on the path of harmlessness. How do we emulate that? Guided by right intention, we abandon the hindrances of the mind and patiently whittle away our ingrained habit of ego construction. We learn to see wisely and to forgive conditions as we journey to transcendence.
Compassion is a strength, a generosity, a joy, a guardian of the mind, a rescue from fear and all forms of suffering, and a fountain of peace. It brings untold benefit both for one who gives it and for one who receives it. Compassion enhances the sublime abidings and the factors of awakening, thus serving, in and of itself, as a dynamic vehicle for the heart’s liberation.
The Dhamma summons us to let virtue be purified so that we can hasten to higher ground. What will give us peace in our suffering moments? What will calm the mind in all of life’s struggles? No one is immune. But having known a glimpse of pure presence, the heart follows that true way home, to the ending of pain, to the unexcelled bliss of its freedom.
Patience is love, a faith both fearless and true. How can we know and embody that? How can we value each moment and care for it, patiently turning the mind away from the world to the peace within us – to that raw dimension of a subtle and stunning silence? The less we cling, the deeper we enter it. Emboldened by formidable spiritual tests, as we abandon and purify the mind, the Path unfolds beneath our feet. With joy, wisdom, and gratitude, we persevere to the heart’s freedom – the Deathless.
Impermanence stares us in the face. How then can we free ourselves to understand the raw truth of what we are? There is a sorrowless state, a way out of the pains of life where we can abide in blameless happiness and inviolable peace. It may appear elusive and out of reach. Yet we need only incline our minds faithfully to giving up all that is false, divisive, fearful or fragile. We begin to know the joy that subdues all sorrow. One taste of that and we are on the Path, sheltered in the unsurpassed protection of the Dhamma.
Are we able to dedicate our goodness and our practice for the welfare of others? COVID teaches us that if we are not healthy, others are affected, and if the world is not well, then we will also suffer – because we are all connected. We are wise to seek the inexhaustible well-spring of peace in our hearts – to be uplifted and to freely share that. Far beyond physical health, we can find that peace within our reach if we care for the mind. That will be our spiritual recovery
Not-clinging spreads very fast, very far. Its fuel power is letting go attachment to ‘self’; to selfishness and the inversion of the mind into a cocoon of self-concern – which is spiritual death. There’s no truth in that. Aren’t we all drowning – metaphorically? Not thinking of ourselves, the moment we jump into the river to rescue someone, we begin to wake up. Who can do that? We must help each other. But first we practice and gain strength to traverse the rapids and the mire of this conflicted, misguided world. Destination – directly knowing what we truly are – and are not.
As long as delusion prevails, we are in danger and our happiness is very limited. Beyond its veil, immeasurable riches await us. Four ways to focus our samadhi power help us to clear away the interior cobwebs and tame our mental turbulence into a beautiful mind. With an intention of absolute kindness, we see and know the causes of our suffering and the pathway out of it, steering our attention to pure presence and the crowning moment of the heart’s freedom.
We are searching for the Unconditioned and the way to discover it is by fulfilling our highest potential: complete transformation from human being to spiritual being. Our journey of awakening simulates the monarch butterfly's miraculous flight. Freed from its chrysalis, it emerges whole and ready to traverse unimaginable distances. Just so, the liberated mind is freed from the mire of delusion to transcend the imperfections of this realm. It flies beyond ignorance to touch the Dhamma and know the fullness of our humanity.
Deep in the space of our hearts there is a sanctity unreachable by any vehicle other than wisdom. We travel there silently to explore the galaxies that lie within us. Until we try, we can’t know the wonders of that dimension. Yet we touch this sanctity by parenting the mind with pure intention, humility, uncompromising awareness and trust. The mind gains balance and poise on the Middle Way enough to pierce the veil of delusion. We dive beyond the turbulence of panic and fear to a vast stillness, free and at peace. How long have we ignored this possibility – so priceless, and yet, costing absolutely everything?
When the inner fires flare, stay in your lane – aware, present and know – even if you are on fire, you can still the inner turbulence and sustain peace. Resist wandering to the past or future; resist the viruses of the mind’s obsessions. On the magnanimous wave of Dhamma, let go fear and control. Wise, patient, and pure-hearted, sit fearless in the truth of this moment, and right there, at the very core of the raging storm – watch it die. When the chains of life unravel and the bonds of wanting gently fall away, you enter the chrysalis. It’s a prayer, a holiness, the heart’s peace – indeed, the way from sacrifice to sanctity.
Develop health of the mind. Many who face dire illness and many at the cusp of death overcome their fear or face death fearlessly. How is that possible? Caring for the mind can bring it to peace whereas the health of the body will never free the heart from the pain of losing what is most precious to us.
Patience, humility, and compassion serve as the mind’s compass to enlightened wisdom and unconditional love. Breath by breath, we triumph over hateful feelings until the pain of others becomes unbearable to us. It’s an exalted work of heroic proportions, accomplished through undaunted perseverance, forgiveness, and trust, revealing the jewel within our own heart.
Toronto Theravada Buddhist Community (TBC)
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By Love Alone
The sublime attitudes of loving kindness, compassion, joyous empathy and serene composure create for us a path, a moral training to guide us not to ransom our goodness or our intrinsic values for the fleeting joys of worldly gratification. As we purify the heart, we hasten our escape from the cyclic rounds of rebirth. So let us be heroic in the good. What we never thought was possible is truly within reach – purest gold, that higher knowledge, the jewel of the Dhamma within you.
Toronto Theravada Buddhist Community (TBC)
:
By Love Alone
Dhamma is like mother, father, guardian, the Truth that we can rest in. So rest in the purity of one moment. Offering to listen, what is the message we receive? In the silence of the mind, what do we hear? If there is no silence we listen more intently and dive more deeply. Where there is no past, no future, nothing to run away from, nothing to run towards, we stop to truly listen. And we see. This is pure presence - the gift of our attention. With the compass of the mind, open to the Dhamma. No where do we find any solid essence to call a self, a me, a mine. This is the most sacred knowing.
To celebrate the Buddha’s life is to be his disciple in enlightenment. Every day becomes a day of Vesak when we emulate the Buddha’s virtues and follow his gradual training in Dhamma-Vinaya and spiritual warriorship. We vow to purify the mind, realize the vision of Dhamma, and practice perfect compassion for all living beings. At last we find the teacher present within us.
Peace, patience, and practice ripen with the quality of faith. We trust the teacher on a path distinguished by compassion and a diet for awakening the heart. “All suffering arises when we think about our own happiness. And all happiness arises when we think about the well-being of others.” So we forsake harm to free ourselves from selfishness. Learning to understand and know our true nature, we sow the seeds of unconditional compassion and peace. This is the highest blessing.
As seekers of truth, we turn the wheel of Dhamma inwardly. There alone can we understand the mind’s purity and directly know the true rhythm of the heart, undiluted by worldly refrains. The sounds of the world can turn coarse and invasive until we listen to the silence in our interior depths. Secluded from life's relentless currents, we traverse the ‘cloud of unknowing’ with the riches of our virtue. Then we shall dis-cover and gain strength enough to fulfill the way of the Buddha, a transcendent going forth through the gates of the Deathless.
This path takes us to our true home through cultivating sanctity, and understanding the value of death: the death of greed, hatred and delusion. When we see all things as impermanent, death gives definition to our life. It delimits our experience. That’s how we learn how to love – because if things were permanent, we wouldn’t know the meaning of love. We would not know how to love. And that would be a terrible loss – not to know, not to learn, how to love.
When we’re out of balance, it's due to the worldly winds. Even if you call them Dhamma winds, they end up being worldly - as soon as we grasp them, we’re back in samsara and we’re circling. The ending of circling always begins within us. It doesn’t end out there. Even if the balance of Dhamma out there is perfect, that moment of perfection is impermanent. Once we truly see what we could not see before, balance is restored.
Take refuge and commit to ethical precepts to deepen the purification of virtue within us. This is the basis for true happiness. We take refuge in enlightened wisdom, and in our ability to awaken. We have faith that we can realize that Truth by ourselves – in this life; and we trust in this timeless teaching, worthy of our effort, worthy of our attention, worthy of our faith, and worthy of our refuge.
On a wilderness trail, at times the path is clear, at times not. We get lost, confused, and disheartened. Tested again and again, we gain strength, skill, and clarity, and we learn to see what we could not see at first. The spiritual way is not a trail under our feet but a daunting passage of the heart. Once our view is purified, we know there is no going back. Persevering with humility and trust, we navigate across the depths of our pain and brokenness. We break free.
We may speak of or feel that we know about death but until we truly contemplate, approach and move into death, what do we know? This is a tale about looking into the eye of a tortoise shell butterfly while it lay dying on the shrine. Straining as it reached up towards us waving its frail antennae when it heard our chanting, we felt at one even with this tiniest of creatures - who also wanted only to be loved.
Practice deepens when we are present here and now, able to intuitively understand and contemplate our experience rather than knowing it through concepts. We refine mindfulness with wisdom, receive the moment humbly and offer our full attention and devotion to know what is before us. When Truth rushes in, we forgive more and we grieve less.
A mind weeded of impurities is a field of stillness and wisdom where our suffering melts away. How does this happen? We study the mind and apply four facets of an extraordinary proactive mindfulness: exerted effort, penetrating focus on the object of awareness, heroic diligence, and contemplative devotion. In the silence of the undistracted mind, wisdom and a true and sustainable happiness arise.
Intuitive knowing is the lens that connects us to the heart through our meditation. Leave the world behind and tap into that energy to enter the realm of pure receptivity, not known through the senses but fully known in complete Awareness that is a safe and liberating refuge. It leads us inward, beyond all wanting, to the ending of suffering, to an emptiness that surpasses all experience, all knowledge.
Human beings have that special ability to deeply see and fathom things as they truly are. But we are so impatient. We resist letting go. Clinging, we harm unknowingly and stray from truth, gaining no peace. How can we recover and free ourselves from fear, anger, and mental distress? Purify the mind and directly know the larger truth of impermanence. See blessings where there was darkness. And in the heart’s core, touch the Unconditioned.
Sidelined by COVID, we are compelled to look at ourselves, at each other, at the world caught in pandemic restrictions we never imagined were possible. Besieged by fear and vulnerability, beings lack insight into the truth of things find no safe refuge. The time is ripe for waking up to gain freedom from the eight worldly winds and abide in higher states of mind. With peace of heart, wisdom and compassion run deep such that no season will be too much.
We are braver than we know and can endure more than we realize if there is a readiness to renounce and be creative. Learn to refine, adapt, repeat teachings until they are embodied, and deeply listen to all that life offers. Reaching out to others according to our skills and strength, connect and offer guidance if it is welcome. Compassion born of growing wisdom will be our trustworthy compass.
Think of yourself as a spiritual warrior. What is the danger at hand? What is our true protection? Where is safety? Be ever aware. Staying close to the Dhamma, we will inevitably grow close to the Buddha. We shall uphold virtue foremost through wholesome friendships, purify intention, action, and speech, at rest or work or during mental cultivation, and embody the noble wisdom and compassion of the Buddha by setting our feet in his very footprints.
Let us hone our expertise to witness the charade of gain and loss arising each moment. Seeing the eight worldly winds, impermanent, not giving in when the mind perches in 'self', purify wrong view, empty the basket, and begin here where we are, balanced, the Middle Way.
The contemplative path of purifying the mind is the most important journey of all - inward. Just as the little quail that tricked a hawk, we no longer fall prey to the 'maras' of the world, safe in our proper ancestral domain of virtue. Therein, the heart of generosity is further refined into qualities of joy, selflessness, compassion and wisdom, thus benefiting ourselves and all beings.
Wherever we go the mind does not remain happy - unless we fully awaken. How can we end the restless tides and remain inwardly stable, content within ourselves like the well-hewn wheel that stood still when it stopped rolling and did not fall down? Purifying our bodily acts, speech, and mind in the Buddha's gradual training, we go beyond the eight worldly winds, coming to cessation, to the Deathless.
We go forth into the quiet of the heart, distant from the world, to glimpse the Unconditioned. We are alone but we are as if with all beings. There is no 'one' who wakes up, there is just awakening. It is freeing and it's free - but it will cost us absolutely everything. We give up everything but there is nothing to give up. And we gain the understanding of the ancients.
Too busy in the world, all entangled, we yearn to be free. So direct the mind to Nibbana - like a tree that leans to the East. And when it falls, it will fall in that direction. We too will arrive if we aim for the far goal but keep attention in the present where we are. Chop wood for a thousand days, but in a single moment, see into the emptiness of it all - burnt in the fire of wisdom.
Removing our harness to the world, we really detach and make the intention in the mind to stop. Having moved inwardly into this now moment, we pause and secure our internal connection to truth. This work requires our faith, vigilance, sustained attention, care and perseverance. We long for freedom and it will arise, releasing us to roam free in the vast space of the mind – empty and awake. A guided meditation and Dhamma talk.
In a dialogue between King Milinda and Venerable Nagasena, we hear the Buddha’s instruction on mental training and how to apply our allies of mindfulness, restraint and wisdom. Devoted to the training, we can overcome ignorance, take hold of the mind and cut off the defilements just as the barley reaper cuts his barley. Our mission is to lean towards Nibbāna, not believing the self-making stories, and gradually, patiently, wrestle free from ignorance, waking up right in the middle of any storm we may face.
During times of global pandemic, it’s easier to see how deeply connected we are in our vulnerability to disease. Meditating and touching the silent space of the heart, we see how deeply connected we are at all times – connected in dis-ease – in fear, in sorrow, in suffering; and also in our potential for joy. And we discover the well-spring of goodness within us from which that joy arises. A guided meditation and Dhamma reflections.
Four astounding things happen when the Buddha teaches the Dhamma. When he teaches about non-attachment, people want to listen and to understand how to give up attachment. When he teaches about the removal of conceit, people lend ear and try to understand it. People delight in excitement, but when he teaches the way to peace, people want to lend ear and understand it. And when he teaches how to remove ignorance, people want to listen and follow the Way.
In the Sallekha Sutta, MN 8, the Buddha teaches us how not to imitate the faults of others, and how to be fearless in the good and vanquish unwholesome mental habits. We start where we are and trust the path, learning to live wisely, to glimpse the fruits of letting go, reaching for the farther shore so that when fear dies, unconditional love will prevail. A talk given online during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Fear is the absence of love. Our inner purification is a movement away from fear to the embodiment of pure love - even to love the dying moment. We grow in stillness and peace as if sailing an ocean of joy, in the peace of the mind's deepest waters where we can touch the Deathless. A guided meditation and reflections offered during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Responding to questions about social change during pandemic time protests: seeing that we are the owners of our actions, subject to the law of kamma, we can embody the Buddha's teachings by respecting all beings with compassion, nonviolence and our foundation in virtue, and choosing wise leaders who uphold these principles.
When change and unrest foment around us, we must guard the mind and protect it from disruptive emotions such as fear or anger that may lead us to speak or act unskillfully. In this pandemic of moral decay and heightened fear, seeing how we are not in control, we care both for ourselves and others, morally and spiritually. To bring reform or healing in the world, we speak or act from an inner quiet, not boiling with anger or resentment, but from a heart tempered with patience, compassion, wisdom and peace. A talk given online during Covid-19 and global anti-racism protests.
A guided meditation into the heart of our struggles and fears where, on the altar of our tears, the jewels of the Dhamma are revealed radiant within us. Breath by breath, wisely seeing through and courageously defying all obstacles to our freedom, we embark into the miracle of pure presence in this moment.
The deity Brahma Sahampati appeared before the Blessed One and urged the Buddha to teach to those who had little dust in their eyes so that they could learn the Dhamma and practice for their own awakening.
Praising Truth for its own sake, we lean in the direction of Truth. We make our intention not to harm by body, speech, or thought. Harmlessness leads to selflessness. Selflessness leads to the Deathless. To boundless compassion. It will save us from the flames of greed, violence, and delusion raging around us. Like the baby quail. What saved it from the forest fire was the purity of its own truth developed over lifetimes. A talk given in a Toronto Theravada Buddhist Community (TBC) zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the inner sea, we know what is truly true. Knowing is the mother, breathing is the child. Going beyond past hurts, beyond thought, being old or young, desolate or delighted, go even beyond Covid, there in the timeless emptiness of present moment awareness of the breath itself, teach your mind its true home. Given at an online meditation during the Covid pandemic.
Waking up to our spiritual wealth, we learn the true currency of Covid - it is not fear and frailty but courage, compassion, loving-kindness, community and connection. We see what is protection for ourselves and for each other, dwelling with the Dhamma, the Truth, as our safety - our island and refuge.
To simulate the natural process of death is to experience the impermanence of the five aggregates and a pure awareness that knows the inherent emptiness of things as they truly are. Dying is a potent doorway for liberation of mind and the best death we can die is shattering the ego. Then we can let go of fear once and for all. This guided meditation was given during a death and dying retreat in an Australian church in 2004.
Digging deep through life's trials and pains with unfaltering compassion, discover the way beyond harming, the way beyond anger. At last, can we forgive all the monsters of the mind, letting them go, setting them free? Living harmlessly, fearless in the good and devoted to this radical healing, the face of enlightenment appears in the trenches of our own suffering.
The Fourth Insight known as udayabbaya ñāņa arises bestowing six qualities of upekkha as well as intimate knowledge of anicca through seeing the arising and disappearance of all conditioned things - most importantly, the emptiness of 'self'.
Most highly revered treasures and our true refuges - the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha - are extolled in this devotional chanting of a traditional Pali sutta. The style of the chant arose in the heart while walking in the forests of Sati Saraniya Hermitage.
As the witness of suffering, we gain new eyes to see. A doorway to knowing non-duality opens – there is no 'you', no 'me'. We are in the realm of no separation in one moment – gone beyond opinions, beyond wanting, beyond our pains and brokenness, and our enslavement to all that drives us. Can we see them as empty and powerless apart from the power we give them? Emptying the mind's rubbish each day, every moment that we can – enough to see, to intuitively know unconditional love – we ascend the Everest within to behold the jewel of the heart’s Himalaya.
How long must we wander misguided in life? To courageously seek Truth, extract all impurity from the mind under the scrutiny of the Wisdom Eye – silent, watchful, fully aware, and dedicated to inner purification. See what fills the space of the mind, what percolates within and how we fuel it. Gradually, we will triumph over the sway of delusion and habitual distractions that betray the mind again and again. We’ll take our rightful seat, empty and poised on the throne of present moment awareness. In the safety of true refuge, there’s no going, and no one who goes. When the mind sees itself, there's just pure knowing, awake to its innermost sanctity.
There are many skills and restorative qualities needed for us to grow in our spiritual work. Let us not underestimate the essential ingredient of mettā. This universal quality of love will unfailingly nurture the unfolding of the Noble Eightfold Path. It enhances our energy to persevere with courage, agility and joy so that the journey is sustainable and our trust becomes unwavering. We reach out more to others and support them in the good, while rejoicing that as we accomplish the Way, we draw close to the Buddha.
What are the prerequisites and supports for walking such a path of awakening? Kindness and a loving forgiveness rank with those qualities that are foremost. They allow us to repair the seemingly unforgivable, to heal what we could not see or wish to see, to dwell in the real not in our concepts, and so to ascend with the strength gained from that groundwork. Try forgiveness first. Recovery opens the way home to healing, to Truth.
The Buddha told Mahanama not to be afraid of the muddled mind, just to keep developing the qualities which incline the mind to Nibbana. This Dhamma is for one who is content. A mind unburdened can pacify itself and be calmed. A mind fortified by faith, virtue – in particular, the virtues dear to the noble ones – learning, generosity and wisdom, will go to distinction. But for mental peace we have to consider how to seclude the mind and what we are giving our consent to in daily life.
The path is a gradual one. Don’t go to the depths immediately. First develop the strength. Going slowly but deeply. Forgiveness, supported by patience endurance, acknowledging and seeing the breakage and repairing it regularly, repairing what has been broken or harmed, and freeing ourselves from the prison of our anger. How can we creatively counter the current of our addictions instead of gratifying it. If we do, we tap into the joy of the heart.
We are ascending a mystical ladder which must be done so carefully and gradually. For a spiritual warrior, the path of practice is a gradual one. We are in a cloud of unknowing but patiently the cloud is emptied and we begin to see everything as impermanent. We know what is the path and what is not. This clarity will be for us a refuge. It is a natural unfolding through purification.
The insight into not-self requires a deeper seeing and understanding of reality. Virtue is our saving grace. It gives us the energy for enlightenment which we transform into right effort. Thus we are guided through the wilderness of the world to develop and sustain the heart like an ocean of peace. Patience works with Restraint, Renunciation and Resolve, and with a host of other wholesome qualities to take us beyond the cycle of harm; but we must also keep practising kindness and forgiveness.
When you know what is killing you then you will know what will save you. Right effort protects us and offers safety and seclusion. We find saving grace within if we can navigate through the wilderness of the mind assisted by a host of special qualities. It’s like being at sea. Through the thorns, barnacles and buoys on the Middle Way, learn and understand how to let go – be free. Nothing remains hidden to a true seeker.
The quality of energy manifest as courage, commitment and compassion is the way forward. We have to be brave – like a lion. Brave warriors face the powerful maras, monsters of the mind, to overcome them. They train the mind to gain its freedom by developing heroic energy and superpower wisdom. These qualities are further ennobled with forgiveness and association with true spiritual friends.
Call suffering by its true name and the face of the Dhamma will emerge from within us. We meet the truth of impermanence, of death, and the universality of pain as we carve out the understanding of who we are and why we are here. Nourish the mind with virtue and shine the light to our true home, to insights that repair what has been broken and free us from fear, anxiety, and the many sufferings we have endured.
Contemplating the 4 elements, the 32 parts of the living body, and the remains of the body in a charnel ground, we gain a deeper understanding of impermanence and the intrinsic impersonal and empty nature of the body. Seeing it for what it truly is can free us from fear of death. We study it and gradually unveil the true gift of death as a portal to our liberation.
