It doesn’t matter where you came from
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December 4, 2020
It doesn’t matter where you came from. All that matters is where you are going. — Brian Tracy
Khmer Times photo
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Embracing and accepting imperfection
Comment December 4, 2020Real beauty does not lie in perfection, but in embracing and accepting imperfection. ~Ajahn Brahm
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The reason why rivers and seas are able to be lords over a hundred mountain streams
Comment November 30, 2020The reason why rivers and seas are able to be lords over a hundred mountain streams, is that they know how to keep below them. That is why they are able to reign over all the mountain streams.
— Laozi
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Questions & Answers with Ajahn Chah
Comment November 30, 2020
Question: I’m trying very hard in my practice but don’t seem to be getting anywhere.
Answer: This is very important. Don’t try to get anywhere in the practice. The very desire to be free or to be enlightened will be the desire that prevents your freedom. You can try as hard as you wish, practise ardently night and day, but if it is still with the desire to achieve in mind, you will never find peace. The energy from this desire will be a cause for doubt and restlessness. No matter how long or how hard you practise, wisdom will not arise from desire. So, simply let go. Watch the mind and body mindfully but don’t try to achieve anything. Don’t cling even to the practice of enlightenment.
Question: What about sleep? How much should I sleep?
Answer: Don’t ask me, I can’t tell you. A good average for someis four hours a night. What is important, though, is that you watch andknow yourself. If you try to go with too little sleep, the body will feel uncomfortable and mindfulness will be difficult to sustain. Too much sleep leads to a dull or a restless mind. Find the natural balance for yourself. Carefully watch the mind and body and keep track of sleep needs until you find the optimum. If you wake up and then roll over for a snooze, this is defilement. Establish mindfulness as soon as your eyes open.
Q: How about eating? How much should I eat?
Answer: Look at your food as medicine. Are you eating so much that you only feel sleepy after the meal and are you getting fatter every day? Stop! Examine your own body and mind. There is no need to fast. Instead, experiment with the amount of food you take. Find the natural balance for your body. Put all your food together in your bowl following the ascetic practice. Then you can easily judge the amount you take. Watch yourself carefully as you eat. Know yourself. The essence of our practice is just this. There is nothing special you must do. Only watch. Examine yourself. Watch the mind. Then you will know what is the natural balance for your own practice. Continue reading
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A Warm Fire in Your Heart
1 November 30, 2020
Jendhamuni at the Wachusett Mountain on a rainy and foggy day on November 26, 2020.
Metta can accurately be compared with a warm and radiant fire burning in your heart. You cannot expect to light the fire of loving-kindness by starting with a difficult object, no more than you can expect to light a campfire by striking a match under a thick log. So do not begin metta meditation by trying to spread metta to yourself or to an enemy. Instead begin by spreading loving-kindness to something that is easy to ignite with loving-kindness, or what I like to call kindfulness. Kindfulness enables you to embrace other beings—as well as yourself—just as they and you are.
In metta meditation you focus your attention on the feeling of loving-kindness, developing that delightful emotion until it fills the whole mind. The way this is achieved can be compared to the way you light a campfire. You start kindfulness with paper or anything else that is easy to light. Then you add kindling, small twigs, or strips of wood. When the kindling is on fire you add thicker pieces of wood, and after a time the thick logs. Once the fire is roaring and very hot, you can even put on wet and sappy logs and they are soon alight.
A Warm Fire in Your Heart — Ajahn Brahm
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Jendhamuni at the summit of the Wachusett Mountain on a rainy and foggy day on November 26, 2020.
To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless. — G.K. Chesterton
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Embrace with courage, faith and hope
1 November 30, 2020You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope. — Thomas Merton
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Spiritual satisfaction
Comment November 30, 2020Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction. — E. O. Wilson
Away, away,—to the mountains away,
Where the pine trees murmur and sway,
And the foamy waterfalls sing and spring
Over the boulders gray.In Covert, written by Ruby Archer
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Everything in the world is our teacher
2 November 30, 2020With even a little intuitive wisdom we will be able to see clearly the ways of the world. We will come to understand that everything in the world is our teacher. ~ Ajahn Chah
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Meditation is like a single log of wood
Comment November 30, 2020Meditation is like a single log of wood. Insight and investigation are one end of the log; calm and concentration are the other end. If you lift up the whole log, both sides come up at once. Which is concentration and which is insight? Just this mind. — Ajahn Chah
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Never measure the height of a mountain until you reach the top
Comment November 29, 2020
Never measure the height of a mountain until you reach the top. Then you will see how low it was. — Dag Hammarskjöld
You are not in the mountains. The mountains are in you. – John Muir
The mountains are the last place where man can feel truly wild. – We Dream of Travel
So this was what a mountain was like, the same as a person: the more you know, the less you fear. – Wu Ming-Yi
Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb. — Greg Child
The way up to the top of the mountain is always longer than you think. Don’t fool yourself, the moment will arrive when what seemed so near is still very far. — Paulo Coelho
“Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing. — Barry Finlay Continue reading
Live & Die for Buddhism
Khmer Tipitaka 1 – 110
ព្រះត្រៃបិដក ប្រែថា កញ្រ្ចែង ឬ ល្អី ៣ សម្រាប់ដាក់ផ្ទុកពាក្យពេចន៍នៃព្រះសម្មាសម្ពុទ្ធ
The Tipitaka or Pali canon, is the collection of primary Pali language texts which form the doctrinal foundation of Theravada Buddhism. The three divisions of the Tipitaka are: Vinaya Pitaka, Sutta Pitaka, Abhidhamma Pitaka.
Maha Ghosananda
Samdech Chuon Nath
វចនានុក្រមសម្តេចសង្ឃ ជួន ណាត
Desktop version
Listen to Khmer literature and Dhamma talk by His Holiness Jotannano Chuon Nath, Supreme Patriarch of Cambodia Buddhism.
Shantidevas’ Bodhisattva vows
Should anyone wish to ridicule me and make me an object of jest and scorn why should I possibly care if I have dedicated myself to others?
Let them do as they wish with me so long as it does not harm them. May no one who encounters me ever have an insignificant contact.
Regardless whether those whom I meet respond towards me with anger or faith, may the mere fact of our meeting contribute to the fulfilment of their wishes.
May the slander, harm and all forms of abuse that anyone should direct towards me act as a cause of their enlightenment.
As a solid rock is not shaken by the wind, so the wise are not shaken by blame and praise. As a deep lake is clear and calm, so the wise become tranquil after they listened to the truth…
Good people walk on regardless of what happens to them. Good people do not babble on about their desires. Whether touched by happiness or by sorrow, the wise never appear elated or depressed. ~The Dhammapada
