Here, Ānanda, a bhikkhu thinks thus: “This is peaceful, this is sublime, that is, the stilling of all activities, the relinquishing of all acquisitions, the destruction of craving, dispassion, cessation, nibbāna.” In this way, Ānanda, a bhikkhu could obtain such a state of concentration that he would have no I-making,…

“Mendicants, I will teach you the diversity of elements. Listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.” “Yes, sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this: “And what is the diversity of elements? The eye element, sight element, and eye consciousness element. The ear element, sound element, and ear consciousness…

When, friends, a noble disciple understands the sixfold base, the origin of the sixfold base, the cessation of the sixfold base, and the way leading to the cessation of the sixfold base, in that way he is one of right view…and has arrived at this true Dhamma. Sammādiṭṭhisutta: Right View…

Suppose there was a black ox and a white ox yoked by a single harness or yoke. Would it be right to say that the black ox is the yoke of the white ox, or the white ox is the yoke of the black ox? No, householder. The black ox…

And what are the six feelings? Feeling born of eye contact …ear contact …nose contact …tongue contact …body contact …mind contact. … Aṭṭhasatasutta: The Explanation of the Hundred and Eight (SN 36.22),translation by Ven. Bhikkhu Sujato Let’s analyze what vedanānupassanā is. This is a gatha from the Mahāsatipaṭṭhānasutta: Vedanāsu vedanānupassī viharati ātāpī sampajāno satimā, vineyya loke abhijjhādomanassaṃ They meditate…

“Venerable sir, it is said, ‘the world, the world.’ In what way, venerable sir, might there be the world or the description of the world?” “Where there is the eye, Samiddhi, where there are forms, eye-consciousness, things to be cognized by eye-consciousness, there the world exists or the description of…

This mind, mendicants, is radiant. But it is corrupted by passing corruptions. An unlearned ordinary person does not truly understand this. So I say that the unlearned ordinary person has no development of the mind. Accharāsaṅghātavagga: The Chapter on a Finger-Snap (AN 1.51), translation by Ven. Bhikkhu Sujato Today, I want…

Thus associating with good persons, becoming full, fills up hearing the good Dhamma. Hearing the good Dhamma, becoming full, fills up faith. Faith, becoming full, fills up careful attention. Careful attention, becoming full, fills up mindfulness and clear comprehension. Mindfulness and clear comprehension, becoming full, fill up restraint of the…

Mendicant, knowing and seeing the eye, sights, eye consciousness, and eye contact as impermanent, wrong view is given up. …The ear …nose …tongue …body …The mind, ideas, mind consciousness, and mind contact as impermanent, wrong view is given up. And also knowing and seeing the pleasant, painful, or neutral feeling…

Just as, with an assemblage of parts,The word “chariot” is used,So, when the aggregates exist,There is the convention “a being.” It’s only suffering that comes to be,Suffering that stands and falls away.Nothing but suffering comes to be,Nothing but suffering ceases. Vajirāsutta: Vajira (SN 5.10),translation by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi Today I want…

Aniccā vata saṅkhārāUppāda vaya dhamminōUuppajjitvā nirujjhantiTesaṃ vūpa samō sukhō Conditions are impermanent,their nature is to rise and fall;having arisen, they cease;their stilling is true bliss. Parinibbānasutta:Final Extinguishment (SN 6.15),translation by Ven. Bhikkhu Sujato Saṅkhārā is one of the main terms in the Buddha’s Teaching, and it has three meanings depending on the…

You entered the woods desiring seclusion,yet your mind strays to outward things.As a person, you should dispel the desire for people.Then you’ll be happy, free of greed. Vivekasutta: Seclusion (SN 9.1),translation by Ven. Bhikkhu Sujato Our monastery is called Cittaviveka (Chittaviveka). The word viveka cannot be translated with a single word, but it can be…

The non-doing of anything wicked,Undertaking of what is good,The purification of one’s mind —This is the teaching of the Buddhas Buddhavagga: The Awakened One (Dhp 183),translation by Ven. Bhikkhu Ānandajoti Many people think that Buddhist practice is only sitting meditation, but this is not the case. The Buddha highlighted three…