"I thought I would begin by offering a few reflections about equanimity or upekkhā. This is one of the most significant psychological, emotional qualities talked about in the Buddhist tradition. However, because we commonly translate the word upekkhā in English as ‘equanimity’, it can easily be overlooked or seen as something a bit insignificant, not so practical or even heartwarming, as the word ‘equanimity’ in English can easily mean ‘indifference’, not really caring – it can be taken to be a switched-off, disconnected and somewhat numb attitude towards things." Based on a talk given at Amaravati – 26-4-2020

The theme for this Dhamma talk is ‘My way or the Middle Way?’ As people might recognize, the title was borrowed from the famous Frank Sinatra song, written by Paul Anka, ‘My Way’, which is the supreme anthem of self-confidence: Through it all, when there was doubt, I ate it up and spit it out. I faced it all and I stood tall, And did it my way!’ Confidence is definitely a part of the Buddhist path; having faith, having confidence and resolution, these are all aspects of it. But any of us who have spent much time in life trying to follow that voice of self-assurance, of, ‘Even though there is resistance and it is difficult, I’m just going to keep pushing. I will do it my way.’ Or when we are living in a community, or we are in a role of leadership, if we adopt the attitude of, ‘My way or the highway. Either you do it the way I want or... Read more

This photo-journal records a pilgrimage made in Sri Lanka in November of 2019. I had been invited numerous times to visit this ancient seedbed of Theravāda Buddhism but, prior to this present occasion, had always declined the offers. Thee reason for this was not a disinterest in the country, with its ancient Buddhist traditions and numerous holy places, rather it was that, if I was going to go, I wanted to go quietly as a pilgrim and not on a teaching tour or part of a bustling group of devotees. Sometimes I wondered if I was being too fussy or narrow on this score but, in retrospect, I am very glad to have waited for forty years to make the journey.

Over the last few years I have led residential retreats specifically on the theme of dependent origination on at least five occasions – at Amaravati in the U.K., in Mae Rim, Thailand, and with Le Refuge, at Monastère de Ségriès, in the south of France. Various aspects of this rich, essential theme of Buddhist teaching have been focused upon in these different situations, according to the interests and needs of the various communities. The booklet entitled ‘Just One More…’ – Appreciative Joy: Jealousy, Selfish Desire and the Buddha’s Teaching on the Cycles of Addiction was based on the material from one of these events, a ten-day retreat held at Amaravati in July 2013. Most of the material gathered in this present book was presented at a retreat in Provence, in April 2018; the remainder is from the Mae Rim retreats of 2016-18. The... Read more

THE TITLE OF THIS BOOK, Mind Is What Matters, brings attention to attitude. It points to the enormous difference our attitude makes as the mind receives and processes experience, and it points to that aspect of Dhamma practice of making everything our teacher. In 2017 at our open retreat at Amaravati Monastery, there were over 400 people attending. Ajahn Sumedho gave teachings every evening, and other visiting ajahns offered instruction and led question-and-answer sessions daily. For some of us, it was a very inspiring time. There were a lot of illuminating and imaginative teachings; for me it was a truly encouraging and beautiful event. But what if someone else’s attitude had been different? Even though they were hearing inspiring teachings, they could have begun to think they were not enough. Or they could have compared one teacher to... Read more

Sunday Talk on the 18th September 2016 Good afternoon to you all. The theme for the Sunday talk this week is ‘Forgiving and Compassion’ so I will offer some reflections around these significant areas of our lives. I will start with forgiving. This is a very important aspect of spiritual training and, as a way of life, it is a counterpoint to the attitude of being unforgiving, the attitude of wanting revenge, carrying grudges around. It’s about working with those attitudes of mind where we are determined to hang onto our negativity and our hurts, and to wear those proudly upon our sleeves – all the wrongs that have been done to me, the things that were unforgivable – that we are habitually conditioned to carry around and make much of. Sometimes people find themselves building their entire lives around wanting revenge, or resenting... Read more

The theme for this afternoon’s talk is ‘Less is More – Frugality, Renunciation and Generosity’. I will focus on the frugality and renunciation aspects first of all and then get to generosity later on. First of all, it struck me how, if we say that our usual philosophy in life is ‘more is better’, if ‘less is more’, then ‘less is better’ – if you follow the logic – which is a good way of summarizing this theme. This is an important topic for our times. Probably the kind of people who gather together at a Buddhist monastery on a Sunday afternoon are not those overly committed to consumption (what we call the ‘consumer society’ as if we were just a mouth with legs on) but that doesn’t have to be the way we see ourselves, even though this is often the way that society and our value systems are conditioned to operate. In the very wonderful... Read more

HISTORICALLY THERE HAVE BEEN differences of opinion about the relative merits of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism and, if you read much of the literature, they would seem to be quite divergent in their approaches toward Buddhist practice – yet there also seem to be some tremendous affinities. When I arrived at the International Forest Monastery in Thailand, I had never read any Buddhist books and I wasn’t actually in search of becoming a Buddhist monk. I was a wanderer, a free-lance spiritual seeker, and I just happened to turn up at this forest monastery that Ajahn Sumedho had established a couple of years before, basically as a place for a free meal and a roof over my head for a few nights. Little did I expect, some twelve or thirteen years later, that I would be doing what I am doing now. But when I went there and asked the monks... Read more

The Dhamma talk was given on the 20th of June 2018 at the World Fellowship of Buddhists The topic for this evening is ‘Not Sure!’ Sitting on Sukhumvit Road and not moving in a vehicle, with the evening scheduled to begin at 6:30 and realizing it had already passed that time, I thought: ‘That’s a very good introduction for this evening – Not Sure! – When’s Ajahn Amaro going to arrive? Is he going to arrive? What will happen? It’s uncertain (My Naer). We don’t know. It’s not a sure thing.’ So that was an unplanned but useful preparation for this evening because this is the principle we are investigating here. It’s a part of all of our lives. So, I will offer a few reflections this evening on this theme and hopefully some of the things that I say would be useful for you. When we meet with a feeling of uncertainty usually what we do is... Read more

From a talk given on the winter retreat, Chithurst, February 1991 Gotama Buddha said, when he was an old man, “This body is like an old cart, held together by straps; this body only keeps going by makeshift repairs. The only way I can feel comfortable is to absorb my mind into signless concentration.” For all of us, the Buddha included, we are faced with the inevitable presence of dissatisfaction and physical discomfort. Ever present is the danger of pain and disease, because we are born. Because there is a physical birth, there must be physical decay, the two have to go together, they are one thing. Thus our only true refuge is the Deathless, that which is not subject to disease, not subject to defilement, not subject to time or to limitation, that which is unsupported. In this way, returning to our source, the Deathless, is our... Read more

This story is intended to be both a partner to the novel The Pilgrim Kamanita, written by Karl Gjellerup in 1906, and a tale that stands on its own. There is no need to have read the earlier book in order to make sense of this one; however, should you wish to go to the source from which many of the characters and scenes of this tale have sprung, an English version of it is to be found at: https://www.amaravati.org/dhamma-books/the-pilgrim-kamanita/

Today is the 100th day after the passing away of the king of Thailand: His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Also, at this time, a good friend of the sangha, Yom Ploen Petchkua, is very close to the end of her life. She was diagnosed with five brain tumours a few months ago and I had the chance to go down and see her with Ajahn Pasanno, and a number of monastic and lay friends in December, in her hometown in Songkla, southern Thailand. Reflecting on these people – the king of Thailand and Yom Ploen – it is said in our Buddhist way of regarding things that these are people who have created a lot of merit, a lot of puñña in their lives. The king of Thailand dedicated himself, for the 70 years that he was on the throne, through living in a skilful way and endeavouring to establish wholesome principles of conduct in the hearts of the Thai... Read more

The following is based on a talk given on March 29, 2003, at Abhayagiri Monastery, Redwood Valley, California.

In May of 2003, three senior Buddhist monks from the Thai forest tradition of Ajahn Chah – Ajahn Sumedho, Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Nyanarato – travelled into the Arctic wilderness, 800 miles from the North Pole. This is a photo-journal of their odyssey.

This book contains a miscellany of my writings, rather than transcribed talks, from throughout my life as an ajahn in the Western Thai Forest sangha. The first part, ‘Roots’, is mainly historical; its chapters introduce Ajahn Chah, our founder and inspiration, and Ajahn Sumedho who led us to the UK and beyond, and then describes various events in our Western history.

This book is based upon the talks and meditation instructions offered during a thirteen-day retreat at Amaravati, in the summer of 2012. It is intended to be something of a follow up to Finding the Missing Peace, which was published in 2011 and presented as ‘a primer of Buddhist meditation’. The Breakthrough is intended to be a somewhat more specialized toolkit, describing the path of Buddhist meditation in an in-depth way, specifically highlighting the role of wisdom and reflective investigation in the development of insight and thereby psychological freedom. The title The Breakthrough comes from the Pali word ‘abhisamaya’. The word, as used by the Buddha, is synonymous with the first level of liberation, known as ‘stream-entry’ – the ‘stream’ in question being the Eightfold Path, which leads to full emancipation, enlightenment. As is... Read more

THE BOOK YOU ARE VIEWING HERE is the eBook of the second print edition of The Pilgrim Kāmanīta – a Legendary Romance, published in 2017. The text of the story is largely unchanged from the 1999 and the 2008 editions, although – poetic licence of the author notwithstanding – a few more factual errors have been corrected. There have also been a few additions and amendations to the Notes and References since, over the years, more of the author’s sources have become apparent. Another significant addition to the book has come through the editor having received a copy of the 1995 Boiselle-Löhmann Verlag edition of Der Pilger Kamanita – a photo-reproduction of the original work in German. This edition valuably contained the substantial Note on the text by the author, Karl Gjellerup, which the Thai edition we had been working from had omitted. Read more

This small book is the fourth in a series of four, consisting of reflections and practices related to the ‘sublime abiding places for the heart’ – the four brahma-vihāras, in Buddhist parlance. The vision for the series is to explore these sublime abidings via the somewhat oblique approach of looking at their opposites. In this last book we will be investigating upekkhā and this through the lens of superstitious views about why and how things happen as they do. This might seem a very unusual approach to the development of this sublime quality, said to be the most subtle and expansive of the brahma-vihāras, however, one of the Buddha’s most common reflections to support the cultivation of upekkhā is precisely and solely an investigation of causality: ‘I am the owner of my action, companion to my to my action … whatever action I do, for... Read more

This small book is an expression of the good wishes of many sincere and devoted people. It is a gesture of their faith in the Triple Gem and, in particular, in the life and teaching of Venerable Ajahn Chah and the community of his students. On December the 5th, 2015, Luang Por Pasanno, of Abhayagiri Monastery in California, and Ajahn Amaro, of Amaravati Monastery in England, were given the honorary titles of Jao Khun by H.M. the King of Thailand, in a ceremony at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Luang Por Pasanno received the new name Bodhiñāṇavides, resonating Luang Por Chah’s honorific name of Bodhiñāṇathera, whilst Ajahn Amaro received the name Videsabuddhiguṇa. This book you are holding has been produced as a result of their having been offered these titles and in celebration of the wholesome qualities that such public recognition... Read more

This book is a substantially revised and expanded version of the 2009 original. It explores the link between external action and mind cultivation – both of which are forms of the kamma that leads to liberation. The book teaches formal meditation practices, the role of devotion, aspects of dependent origination, and the need to establish skilful relationships – kalyānamitta – and the cessation of suffering and stress.

This small book is the second in a series of four, consisting of reflections and practices related to the ‘sublime abiding places for the heart’ – the four brahma-vihāras, in Buddhist parlance. The vision for the series is to explore these sublime abidings via the somewhat oblique approach of looking at what counters or muddies their activity. In this second book we will be investigating karuṇā through the lens of that kind of anxious helpfulness that feels like we’re never doing enough, or that wants to fix others so that we will feel better, or the attitude that we don’t deserve ever to feel peaceful or happy while others are still suffering. The other three books in the series similarly explore the remaining brahma-vihāras through aspects of mind and behaviour that oppose or confuse them.

This small book is the third in a series of four, consisting of reflections and practices related to the ‘sublime abiding places for the heart’ – the four brahma-vihāras, in Buddhist parlance. The vision for the series is to explore these sublime abidings via the somewhat oblique approach of looking at what counters or muddies their activity. In this third book we will be investigating muditā through the lens of self-centred desire and its relationship to dissatisfaction; how the quest to fulfil personal cravings leads not to joy but rather to pain-haunted addictions; how joy, instead, comes from unselfishness, giving and consciously delighting in the blessings that others have; how those blessings of others need not feed a sense of lack or unworthiness in us but rather, marvellously and mysteriously, be a contributor to our own... Read more

Almost daily the media tell us that this is a time of environmental crisis. In 2012 the northern polar ice cap melted more than ever before in human memory. Species are said to be disappearing faster than at any time since the last mass extinction, 70 million years ago. Extreme storms and floods are becoming more common events, and 2012 was one of the ten warmest globally since record-keeping began 160 years ago. It does indeed seem to be a time of crisis. When we consider the fragile and fleeting biosphere that we live in, these changes we are seeing and experiencing all around us can easily lead us to fear: What is going to happen? Will my home be destroyed by flood or fire? Will the droughts lead to food shortages? Will all the birds and fishes die? Will our children and grandchildren – and we humans – survive? And is there anything... Read more

There are a number of themes that are very familiar to people who practise Buddhist meditation: ‘mindfulness of breathing’, where you focus on the rhythm of the breath; ‘walking meditation’, that revolves around the feeling of the footsteps as you walk up and down a path; the internal repetition of a mantra, such as ‘Bud-dho’ – these are all designed to help ground the attention in the presence of this very moment, this present reality. Along with these more well-known methods there are many others that can serve a similar function. One of these is known as ‘inner listening’ or ‘meditation on the inner sound’ or, in Sanskrit, ‘nada yoga’. These terms all refer to attending to what has been called ‘the sound of silence’, or ‘the nada-sound’. ‘Nada’ is the Sanskrit word for ‘sound’ as well as being the Spanish word for ‘nothing’ – an... Read more

This booklet, describing meditation tools and techniques for beginners in a series of lessons, is based on a six-week series of classes given in Mendocino, California, in 2002