I want to learn to meditate in 2024 (BSWA)

Ajahn Brahm (BSWA.org, 2024); Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Fully ordained Theravada Buddhist nuns (BSWA)

The vault is open, and these nuggets of wisdom are available for FREE for anyone wanting to hear the Dharma (Dhamma).

BSWA (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) has a collection of hundreds of teachings dating from 2001 to the present, covering almost every topic in audio, video, and text formats.

• "Be Quiet" Mindfulness Meet-Up | Buddhist Society of Western Australia (bswa.org)
• VIDEO: I want to get enlightened w/ Ajahn Brahm
• Ajahn Brahm resigns as spiritual director of the BSWA (Buddhistdoor Global)

A Meditator's Handbook (Ajahn Brahm, Kornfield)

British Ajahn Brahm trained in the Theravada Thai Forest Tradition with famous arhat Ajahn Chah, who led him through the meditative absorptions as well as serenity-and-insight practices (samatha-vipassana), all the way to awakening (bodhi).

Ajahn Brahm then traveled to Australia, where he became abbot of a monastery system that could support women and men if they 

• wish to fully ordain as nuns (bhikkhunis)
• or monks (bhikkhus),
• train as novices (samaneris), or
• be white-clad lay renunciants (anagarikas),
• or become Buddhist lay practitioners
• (OPEN TO EVERYONE OF ANY RELIGION),

receiving authentic instruction from an accomplished teacher who retained his wit and sense of humor and an open heart for social justice and those in need of whatever background or orientation, preserving the historical Buddha's Teachings (Dhamma).

• More: Buddhist Society of Western Australia • Perth WA

Loneliness: A Dharma Talk (Ajahn Brahm)

About five years ago Matt stumbled upon Ajahn Brahm's accessible talks, full of humor and anecdotes: The way this British monk speaks, teaches Dharma, and gives practical applications of Buddhism brought me to this profound "religion," a religion I had earlier thought of as foreign and superstitious.

I soon learned the complete opposite was true. To this day these very teachings help me through every aspect of my life. I want to share this with everyone in hopes that someone might get something from it as well.

This teaching by Ven. Brahmavamso deals with the subject of "loneliness." There are many, many other topics he has speaks about (bswa.org) as well as the talks of other insightful teachers. This is a long video, so I play it in the background while cleaning, exercising, playing video games, etc.

Ajahn Brahm: "The Jhanas" (read online)

The Jhanas: This book may be copied or reprinted for free distribution without permission from the publisher. Otherwise all rights reserved. October 2005

Contents
PREFACE

• PART ONE

INTRODUCTION
THE BEAUTIFUL BREATH: THE BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEY INTO JHANAS

• PART TWO

THE NIMITTA: THE "HOME STRETCH" INTO JHANAS

• PART THREE

THE LANDMARKS OF ALL JHANAS
THE FIRST JHANAS
THE SECOND JHANAS
THE THIRD JHANAS
THE FOURTH JHANAS
THE BUDDHA'S SIMILES FOR THE FOUR JHANAS
MOVING FROM JHANAS TO JHANAS
THE IMMATERIAL ATTAINMENTS
NIBBANA, THE END OF ALL PERCEPTION
FINAL WORDS

PREFACE
As Buddhist meditation becomes ever more popular in our modern world, it is vital that clear and accurate guidance is available. For many years, there has been an unfortunate lack of thorough instruction in simple English on the deeper states of meditation called Jhana. Even though the Jhanas are, perhaps, the theme most repeated by the Buddha in the Suttas, and in spite of the fact that the old teachers of the Thai forest tradition encouraged, preached, and taught Jhanas, a description of their development is hard to come by.

The booklet, then, serves to remedy this lack of practical information regarding Jhana. It continues where I left off in my earlier booklet, the BASIC METHOD OF MEDITATION. It aims to describe the path into Jhana, the characteristics of Jhana, and the relevance of Jhana to insight and Enlightenment.

Without any appreciation of Jhana, one's understanding of Buddhism is incomplete.

Mettacittena,

Ajahn Brahmavamso
BODHINYANA MONASTERY, MAY 2546 AB

PART ONE

• INTRODUCTION
• THE BUDDHA'S REDISCOVERY
• CAN ONE BE ATTACHED TO JHANA?
• FOR THOSE A LONG WAY FROM JHANA
• FOR THOSE A LITTLE CLOSER TO JHANA

THE BEAUTIFUL BREATH:
THE BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEY INTO JHANAS

• DO NOT BE AFRAID OF DELIGHT
• THE BEAUTIFUL BREATH AND NO EFFORT
• PlTlSUKHA - JOY AND HAPPINESS
• THREE MAJOR TYPES OF PlTlSUKHA
• BEAUTIFUL BREATH, BEAUTIFUL METTA,
• BEAUTIFUL SKULL!
• WHAT IF PlTlSUKHA HASN'T APPEARED?
• THE WAY INTO SILENCE
• WHEN THE BREATH DISAPPEARS
• THE CALMING OF THE SENSES
• SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION
In the original Buddhist scriptures, there is only one word for level of meditation. Jhana designates meditation proper, where meditator's mind is stilled from all thought, secluded from all five sense activity and is radiant with other-worldly bliss. Put bluntly, if it isn't Jhana then it isn't true Buddhist meditation! Perhaps this is why the culminating factor of the Buddha's Noble Eightfold the one that deals with right meditation, is nothing less than Jhanas.

THE BUDDHA'S REDISCOVERY
In the ancient Buddhist texts, the Buddha is said to have discovered Jhana (SN 2,7). This claim is repeated with full explanation by Venerable Ananda in another Sutta (AN 9,42). The fact that the Buddha rediscovered Jhana should not be overlooked, for the rediscovery was a central act in the drama of the Enlightenment.

When it is said that the Buddha discovered Jhana, it is not to be understood that no one had ever experienced Jhana before. For instance, in the era of the previous Buddha Kassapa, countless men and women achieved Jhana and subsequently realized Enlightenment. But in the India of twenty six centuries ago, all knowledge of Jhana had disappeared. This was one reason that there is no mention at all of Jhana in any religious text before the time of the Buddha.

Some might raise an objection that the teachers Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta preached on Jhana, because the texts state that they taught the Bodhisatta (the Buddha-to-be) the attainment of the state of nothingness and the attainment of the state of neither perception nor non-perception. However, those two attainments could not have been connected to Jhana, because the Bodhisatta recalled, just prior to sitting under the Bodhi Tree, that the only time in his life that he had experienced any Jhana was as a young boy, while sitting under a Rose Apple Tree as his father conducted the first-ploughing ceremony (MN 36). That spontaneous early experience of Jhana had been untaught, unplanned and since forgotten. If that was the only Jhana experienced by the Bodhisatta prior to his experience under the Bodhi Tree, then the two teachers Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta could not have taught Jhana at all....

An Inward Journey Book PUBLISHED BY INWARD PATH PUBLISHER @ House of Inward Journey 35 Lebuh Batu Maung 8, Iping Garden 11960 Bayan Lepas, Penang, Malaysia Tel / Fax: 04-6264 696 P.O. Box 1034, 10830 Penang, Malaysia Email: sunanda@pc.jaring.my.sunandahelim@gmail.com www.buddhanet.net/ipp.htm ISBN 983-3512-05-4 (IJ111/05)

COPYRIGHT @ 2005 Ajahn Brahmavamso

This book is for FREE DISTRIBUTION ONLY and printed and published with permission granted by Ajahn Brahmavamso

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

This book had been published for Free Distribution Only and NOT for Sale.

For additional information, please contact the author and publisher.

FIRST EDITION: DHAMMA JOURNAL Vol. 4, No. 1, 2003 (January) published by Buddhist Society of Western Australia, Perth, AUSTRALIA

SECOND RE-PRINT: 3,500 copies May 2003 printed by BGF, Selangor, MALAYSIA

REVISED EDITION: 2003 published by Buddhist Fellowship, SINGAPORE

THIS EDITION 2,000 copies year 2005 Penang

COVER DESIGN & BOOK LAYOUT BY Sunanda Lim

Thai Wisdom

Thai fine art (onepen.com)

Most Americans who ordain, or who have a teacher from former ordinations, have done so in the Thai Forest Tradition. Indeed, many Westerners have found Thailand to be very receptive to ordaining foreigners and providing English-speaking Western teachers of long standing -- Ajahn ("teacher") Brahmavamso, Amaro, Sumedho, Thanissaro, Khantipalo, and so on.

Ajahn Chah was the teacher that revolutionized the practice of training foreigners in the forest, particularly an international monastery set up for this purpose, Wat Pah Nanachat, which was made famous in the book What the Buddha Never Taught by its comedic Canadian-American author, the former monk Tim Ward, and the seminal Living Buddhist Masters by Jack Kornfield.

Thai Buddhism
Leslie Barclay (geocities)

Ajahn Chah
"Why are we born? We are born so that we will not have to be born again."

"If your mind is happy, then you are happy anywhere you go. When wisdom awakens within you, you will see Truth wherever you look. Truth's all there is. It's like when you've learned how to read -- you can then read anywhere you go."

Ajahn Chah (listen to the wisdom of his Dharma talks)

"People who suffer will accordingly gain wisdom. If we don't suffer, we don't contemplate. If we don't contemplate, no wisdom is born. Without wisdom, we don't know. Not knowing, we can't get free of suffering -- that's just the way it is. Therefore, we must train and endure in our practice. When we then reflect on the world, we won't be afraid like before. It isn't that the Buddha was enlightened outside of the world, but within the world itself."

"Remember you don't meditate to 'get anything', but to get 'rid' of things. We do it, not with desire, but with letting go. If you 'want' anything, you won't find it."

"Everything is uncertain. Don't cling to anything."

Buddhadasa Bhikkhu
"Using metaphors makes it easier for us to understand the matter we're discussing. So we will make use of them here today. The first prison which you must look for and see is life itself. If you look on life as a prison, and see the prison that it is, then we must say that you know the truth of nature quite well. Most people, however, look on life as something enjoyable, as an opportunity to have fun. They are willing to live for the enjoyment of life. They then become infatuated with and engrossed in life, which is what turns it into prison."

"Even the present life does not exist, How could the after-life exist?"

Ajahn Fuang
"Before you say anything, ask yourself whether it's necessary or not. If it's not, don't say it. This is the first step in training the mind. If you can't have any control over your mouth, how can you expect to have any control over your mind?"

"The breath can take you all the way to Nirvana."

"It's good that most people can't remember their previous lives. Otherwise, things would be much more complicated than they already are."

(onepen.com)

History
Two thousand years ago, the original ancestors of the people who now largely call themselves Thai migrated to the region now known as Thailand. These Thai tribes from Southeast China mixed over the centuries with local Mon and Khmer peoples as well as Malay, Indian, and Chinese immigrants. Each group brought with them bits of Buddhism from their native lands. These were the first Buddhist incursions into what was then likely an Animist culture.

Buddhism had begun about five centuries before that. (See -- "Who was the Buddha?" and See -- "The Teachings of the Buddha").

In the 12th century, Thailand received another infusion of Buddhism, and this one really took. Burmese and Thai monks traveled to Sri Lanka, where they learned and brought back Theravada Buddhism. These new ideas and practices effectively displaced the Mahayana Buddhism which had come earlier.

Early Thai kingdoms were ruled by enlightened kings who (symbolically) chose to share their throne with Buddhist monks, who acted to propagate the religion. Buddhism spread farther by the publication of works under royal patronage (including one great Thai volume of scriptures).

Buddhism influenced all aspects of Thai culture, from art and architecture to the moral outlook of the people. Following the decline of one kingdom, another flourished and so did Buddhism. Today travelers can wander the ruins and appreciate the beauty of Buddhism in Thailand.

Conquered and destroyed by Burma, Thai kingdoms were reestablished. Most kings have worked to support Buddhism as a foundation of Thai society. The very first king of the current dynasty, King Rama I, helped standardize the basic Buddhist temple rules and procedures throughout the country.

It is the custom of Thai kings (as well as all young men) to temporarily ordain as monks for a brief period when they are young. One king, Rama IV who reigned from 1851-1868, actually spent 27 years of his life as a monk (and abbot) before becoming a king. As king, he tried to purify Buddhism in Thailand and bring it back to its true essence. In so doing, he created a second sect of Buddhism in Thailand, the Dhammayut, or school clinging steadfastly to the Dharma and Rules. The monks belonging to this sect, for instance, walk about barefoot.

Today in a country of 60 million, there are said to be 30,000 Buddhist temples and 300,000 monks. Ninety percent of the people profess Theravada Buddhism.

Ajahn Brahm: Ways and Means into Jhana

Ajahn Brahm Dharma talk

WQ-edited transcription

Tam sukham annatra kamehi annatra akusalehi dhammehi na bhayitabbam (M.I 247, M.II 454). This is a brief saying by the Buddha. It states that happiness which is other, or apart from, sensuality [pleasure that is secluded from unwholesome states (dharmas)] is not to be feared.

And, indeed, I want to use this opportunity this evening to, instead of giving a general talk, to give a specific talk on the process of meditation leading up to meditative-absorptions (jhanas).

I want to give this talk now because it is the right time in the retreat. After just over a fortnight, much of the external activity has disappeared, and mind and body should be settling down. The mind should be inclining towards these quiet and peaceful states.

Now I want to give a talk on how one deals with the mind to lead it into these deep states of peace and bliss, these very useful states.

Many of you who've heard my talks on this subject before will hear much which is repeated. But then again because these talks are not planned, there will be other pieces of information which you have not heard before which will help. And anything that helps settle the mind to let go of the Five Hindrances, to let go of the world of the senses, and gain these uttari-manussa-dhamma, these "superior human states" worthy of the noble ones (aryas), will be useful.

I was talking in my last discourse about the need for sense-restraint. And it goes without saying in this discourse that sense-restraint gives one the groundwork, the foundation, for taking this mind into a fuller restraint of the senses. A fuller letting go of many, many things where the mind used to dwell. It is going to another place in the mind, a place of great peace and bliss, a very profound place which gives you great insights into the nature of the mind.

What the mind is capable of and how it feels to be in these states, why these states are such, and how they come about -- these are the questions. It gives one great insight into a world, a world which you cannot know unless you have been there, because these worlds, these samadhi states are so strange compared to the external world that they are very difficult to describe. Those who have not been there find it very difficult to believe that such states can even exist.

One has to start from the very beginning. Having practiced some sense-restraint, there comes a time when one sits down on one's cushion, still, and starts training the mind. That initial training of the mind should begin with what the Buddha called the iddhi-padas. The iddhi-padas are the Four Roads or Bases of Success, or the Four Bases of Power.

These are what empowers you to actually succeed in this process of meditation. As you all know these iddhi-padas are the arousing of a desire for a goal and the maintaining of the desire for that goal: the chanda-samadhi [desire or resolve to reach concentration]. This is a prerequisite of gaining any success in this meditation.

If you fail to set yourself a goal, you will not arouse that desire, that movement of mind to achieve the goal. And there will be no results. You do not get to one-pointedness of mind by allowing the mind to wander. It will never get close. It needs to be directed, to be pointed. And that direction, that singlepointedness of mind, has to be done through a very clear resolution.

The most important thing about this iddhi-pada is that this resolution has to be maintained throughout the course of the meditation. If you make that resolution and you maintain it then you have got a hope for success. If you make that resolution and after one or two minutes you forget what you are supposed to be doing, what you are aiming for, then it is very easy to turn a corner and go backwards or sideways and waste a lot of time.

These are very profound states, and they need that degree of effort. Not immense effort, but constant effort. So take your goal, and keep it in mind. Read more

• Ajahn Brahm biography

PHOTOS