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Ayya Medhanandi's Dharma Talks
Ayya Medhanandi
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.
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2020-07-18 Practise Like the Barley Reaper 25:32
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.
Ottawa Buddhist Society
2020-07-18 Secure Connection, Free Roaming 23:03
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.
Ottawa Buddhist Society
2020-07-17 Four Astounding Things 24:36
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.
Ottawa Buddhist Society
2020-07-17 We’re Not Separate At All 32:43
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.
Ottawa Buddhist Society
2005-10-01 Crossing Boundaries 9:10
While living in New Zealand, Ayya Medhanandi pays respects to the relics of St. Therese de Lisieux that were brought to the Catholic Cathedral in Wellington during a world tour. In this interview for the Catholic diocese, she reflects on what drew her to the spirituality of St. Therese.
Bodhinyanarama Monastery, Stokes Valley, New Zealand
2020-05-24 A Cry of Surprise 21:05
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.
Toronto Theravada Buddhist Community (TBC)
2020-06-20 Mantra of Compassion 14:15
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.
Madison Insight Meditation Group
2015-10-11 On The Wings of the Breath 17:38
Using the breath to move into the silent space in the heart and attentively following its rhythm, the breath becomes our whole world. We let go of all objects that arise, all thought, as we stay present and aware in the simple current of breathing. In these moments of pure presence, we are planting the priceless seeds of our awakening.
Sati Saraniya Hermitage
2014-07-19 Speaking of Violence 36:47
If we can deal with the craziness of the mind, we can help to decrease the craziness and violence of the world. But we have to be so patient and keep faith with the process of of cleaning up our own violence. Even when the mind is hot, there will be some good will that we can touch - if we lean towards that which is kind and gentle - harmless - this can lead us towards fearlessness and acceptance.
Ottawa Buddhist Society
2015-12-20 Virtue Goes Full Circle 30:11
Virtue creates a force in the heart, a field of goodness, from generosity to joy to enlightenment and back again. Once there is joy in the heart, the mind finds ease to go to its depths. Be your own doctor, self-examine, see with the inner eye to discern and resolve our inner dis-ease and free the mind. Dukkha is not the problem, it is our teacher.
Sati Saraniya Hermitage

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