This book contains a selection of 52 verses taken from The Dhammapada. Accompanying each verse is a short paragraph by Ajahn Munindo, a Theravadin Buddhist monk and currently abbot of Aruna Ratanagiri monastery in Northumberland, UK. The complete Dhammapada contains 423 verses, each a timeless example of the Buddha’s radiant wisdom. They are: ‘very old artefacts that miraculously contain within them the profound utterances of the Buddha’, as Thomas Jones says in the Afterword of “A Dhammapada for Contemplation” 2006, the publication from which these verses are taken.

A difficulty with the word ‘nibbāna’ is that its meaning is beyond the power of words to describe. It is, essentially, undefinable.

Another difficulty is that many Buddhists see Nibbāna as something unobtainable – as so high and so remote that we’re not worthy enough to try for it. Or we see Nibbāna as a goal, as an unknown, undefined something that we should somehow try to attain.

Most of us are conditioned in this way. We want to achieve or attain something that we don’t have now. So Nibbāna is looked at as something that, if you work hard, keep the sīla, meditate diligently, become a monastic, devote your life to practice, then your reward might be that eventually you attain Nibbāna – even though we’re not sure what it is.

Todd’s life was like a river that flows gently to make all who came to know him happy. He always cared about others without expecting anything in return. He shared his favorite toys, lunch money and allowances with friends in need, not to mention the many sweet smiles to encourage people to be happy. He taught us to be generous, kind, caring and forgiving. As one of his buddies, Stephen, put it, “Todd was one of a kind, like finding a needle in the haystack. I will miss him.” Adopting Todd is the best decision that we made in our lives, and we continue to be thankful to have had him as our child.

A Dhamma Compass is a collection of three dhamma talks that Phra Ajahn gave in the three winter retreats during 2003-2005 at Abhayagiri. Debbie Stamp was most helpful and instrumental in ensuring that the manuscripts were ready and arrived in time. Ronna Kabatznick was the editor of the talks, and Dee Cope helped transcribe the talks, to whom all of us would like to record our thanks. Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Jayasaro were so kind as to look over the final version of the texts.

“The Ways of the Peaceful” is one of the many possible renderings of the term “Samana-Dhamma”, an expression that summarizes the whole lifestyle of a Buddhist monk. “Samana” means somebody who is peaceful. Generally in the time of the Buddha all kinds of recluses, ascetics, contemplatives, and members of ordained communities living the life of a homeless practitioner (anagarika) were referred to as “Samanas”. The Buddhas disciples were often called the “Samanas of Gotama” or the “Samanas of the Sakyan clan”, using the Buddhas family and clan names. Whenever the aspect of celibacy of these religious practitioners is stressed, the term “brahmacariya” is used, which translates in short as “Holy Life”. The Buddha himself called his monks “Bhikkhus”. This literally means beggars, but especially in the Thai Forest Tradition a second translation is popular: “Those who see the danger in the round of rebirth”. Besides the specific monastic code that the Buddha established for his monks (the “Vinaya”, with its 227 major training rules and countless minor rules), that spells out the conduct of a Buddhist monk in great detail, there was a general understanding of the etiquette, the virtues and qualities of a Samana, a peaceful ascetic. This is the “Samana-Dhamma”

To što smo i vi i ja morali da pređemo mukotrpno dug put možemo zahvaliti tome što nismo otkrili, nismo shvatili četiri istine. Koje četiri? To su: plemenita istina o patnji, plemenita istina o nastanku patnje, plemenita istina o prestanku patnje i plemenita istina o putu koji vodi do prestanka patnje.

(Digha nikaya, 16)

Dhamma­ćakka­ppavattana sutta, Budino učenje o četiri ple- menite istine, bila je osnovna nit koju sam godinama koristio u svojoj praksi. To smo učenje koristili u našem manastiru u Tajlandu. Budistička teravada škola smatra ovu suttu esencijom Budinog učenja. Ova jedna jedina sutta sadrži sve što je neop- hodno za razumevanje Dhamme i za prosvetljenje.

Premda se Dhamma­ćakka­ppavattana sutta smatra prvim govorom koji je Buda održao posle probuđenja, ponekad volim da mislim da je on svoju prvu propoved održao onda kada je sreo asketu na svom putu u Varanasi. Posle prosvetljenja u Bod Gaji, Buda je pomislio: “Ovo je tako suptilno učenje. Verovatno da re- čima ne mogu izraziti ono što sam otkrio i zato neću podučavati. Jednostavno ću do kraja života sedeti pod bodi drvetom.”

In this discourse, I want to focus on the nuts and bolts of walking meditation. I shall address the how, when, where and why of this form of meditation. I intend this dis- course to include both practical instructions of the technical aspects of walking med- itation and instructions for creating the quality of mind that leads to concentration, insight and wisdom through the physical activity of walking meditation.

The meeting of spiritual traditions, including that of Theravāda wisdom teachings and Dzogchen, two great expressions of the Buddha-Dharma, is one of the major beneficial aspects of life in these times. The technological revolution makes the ability to travel, to communicate, and to study across traditions very simple. Most of the world’s great spiritual texts are online, and a steady stream of conferences and retreats brings meditators, scholars, and spiritual masters together to practice and to openly discuss their lineages, insights, and knowledge. The breakdown of separate spiritual encampments that is occurring nowadays is both remarkable and unprecedented. For the first time, we can enjoy a broad view of all traditions and see where they merge as well as where they collide.

I was reminded of this marvellous confluence of traditions the other evening, just as this retreat began. Shortly before 7:00 p.m., I was sitting in my room. In the midst of the quiet and calm, I heard a loud thumping noise coming from outside. We were doing a lot of earth moving at the monastery at the time, so the noise made me think that maybe some heavy equipment was […]”