Monks end Peace Walk, return to TX by bus

(PBS NewsHour) Millions of Americans inspired by Buddhist monks' Walk for Peace

‘We show respect': Police officer goes viral for greeting Theravada monks | NBC4 Washington

Time to return to Texas on a bus

Behind the scenes of Peace Walk

(WSLS 10) Behind the scenes: Inside the Buddhist monks' 15-week

Walk for Peace as it reached state of Virginia in the snow

Meet the monks: Buddhist Peace Walk to DC

(The Way of Buddha) Meet the Monks: Aged 29 to 70, walking 2,300 miles Texas to DC | Ven. Pannakara | Monks Walk for Peace with Aloka the Dog

Will they get to DMV on time? (lol) Local media coverage blooper

Peace Walk in freezing cold: Global warming?

Thousands wait hours to see Buddhist monks' Peace Walk thru Petersburg: 'You can see the love'

(Walk for Peace) Ajahn never sleeps lying down in as a dhutanga practice

(HopeTrails) Stray dog was never adopted but on 106-day Walk for Peace

Freezing snowstorms could be climate chaos.

Is "global warming" real? Who dares to say that it is not? The mainstream media shoves that message down our throat whether we like it or not. University researchers are enticed to find those results and punished when they find anything else. And no one seems to be counting the artificial manipulation of the weather with chemtrails, H.A.A.R.P., and other secret means. Humans are warming it, but it is a concerted effort to warm it and say in an alarmist way that that warming is galloping out of control now. We ignore our eyes. We ourselves do not review the data. When the meteorologist who founded the Weather Channel (weather.com) looked at the data, he did NOT find much of a rise. And he asked his colleagues about. There has been about a 1 degree rise in our lifetimes. Where are all the other headlines coming from and why? They will make us believe and demand that they intervene. We will not only give up our rights, we will demand they be taken away. There may be a mini ice age on the way, but we'll never hear about that above the din of alarmism and artificial youth movements kickstarted to promote an agenda. Natural global warming being brought on by consumer activity? Unlikely. Being brought on by corporate officials and their masters? Obviously.

(AmeriScope) Love travels quietly across the country and into Virginia

(WNEP) Update: Record cold in Florida, nearly 20 inches of snow in North Carolina

Stray dog karma

(Kindness Nest) Aloka – The Peace Dog: Stray Who Walked for Peace and Changed Hearts

Ajahn Mun's nirvana: Forest Tradition

Devas like this devi interact with sensitive humans?

Ãcariya Mun: The Buddhist master who took the gods to school

Maybe Kali's just time, destruction

(American Esoteric) Feb. 19, 2025: [The Theravada Thai Forest Tradition of Isan (Northeast Thailand) has produced numerous enlightened practitioners. How is that possible? All the Zen folks, at least the fans of Joko Beck, say such a thing isn't possible nowadays, now, in the Kali Yuga, the dark decadent age of Hindu cosmology. (Kali is a goddess who kicks arse and is here to kick a lot of arse). It would be silly to think of achieving anything in Zen, which would be so un-Taoist. Of course, the historical Buddha didn't say such things. In fact, it is considered wrong view to believe no one attains nirvana anymore, no one is enlightened, there is no other world, or there's nothing to be done here in this world during this life.

What's a deva or "shining one"?

There is much to be done for the sake of calm and insight, much to practice. But if we let ourselves believe, "Ah, what's the use?" or "There's no one who gets anywhere anyway," we miss the mark and miss the boat. Did Ajahn Mun take such an attitude? It is exactly because there were meditators a few decades back who took the historical Buddha's Teaching seriously and put those teachings into practice that there came to be a Thai Forest Tradition harkening back to the Buddha's time and how things were done back then. Because those teachers attained something, there students were able to. This included Western students like Brit Ajahn Brahm and Americans Ajahn Sumedho, Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, and others.]

TIMESTAMPS

• 

  What do the devas have to do with anything?

  00:00-3:31 The dhutanga (sane ascetic) practices
• 3:32-7:09 Early psychic phenomena
• 7:10-8:43 Embracing fear
• 8:44-11:45 The deva of Sarika Cave
• 11:46-16:07 Remote viewing
• 16:08-20:36 Discipline and progress
• 20:37-22:27 Realms and devas
• 22:28-26:29 Miracles and powers
• 26:30-29:19 Life-death-rebirth
• 29:20-31:00 The hypercritical naga
• 31:01-34:28 The spiritual warrior

SOURCE

• Venerable Ãcariya Mun Bhuridatta Thera, A Spiritual Biography by Ãcariya Maha Boowa Nanasampanno (2004)

Patreon: americanesoteric, Venmo: venmo.com/u/Collin-Conkwright, Instagram: american.esoteric

• Collin Conkwright, American Esoteric, Feb. 19, 2025; Sayalay Aloka and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

How to be ONE with Christ (video)

Collage: idealized Nordic white version of Middle Eastern Jewish guru

How can we save the world, Sid? - Teach, Jess.

It is the goal of Buddhism -- to the extent that we set any goal but basic goodness or being true to our enlightened nature for its own sake -- is to experience the Buddha's awakening. The enlightenment of disciples is exactly like that of the Awakened One. The difference is all the Bodhisatta (Buddha-to-be) did in past lives to become a teacher able to realize and communicate the Dharma (the Truth) to the world and establish it so that it keeps liberating others even after his own liberation. In just the same way, one might speak of an "original Christianity" where being Christed (dying to oneself and being born again) is the goal, as Dr. DC Ammon Hillman speaks of in the use of "mysteries" as mystery cults had been doing for millennia. No one intended to found a "religion" but only to point out the path-of-practice for advancing to the heavens or making an end of all rebirth and suffering here and now.

• Jews and Judaism rejects the belief that Jesus [actual name "Yeshua ben Yusuf of Nazareth"] was the long awaited Messiah [Buddhism's Maitreya, or a political rebel arrived to overthrow imperial Roman rule, according to Dr. Reza Aslan], arguing that Jesus did not fulfill messianic prophecies, was not lawfully anointed [though "anointed" actually comes from the Greek kristos, which is a means of ingesting a psychedelic/entheogenic drug by pressing and holding an anointed cloth against the open skin to take things ("dotes") like snake venom or entheogenic compounds in the cult pharmacopeia through the skin followed by an antidote, as Dr. Hillman goes to great pains to explain] and was neither divine nor resurrected [but rather realized all humans have divine potential and had the audacity to tell them that, because in that sense we are all GOD, and his followers bribed Roman soldiers to cut him down during his crucifixion long before anyone dies from this special form of Roman humiliation and torture reserved for political crimes (trying to foment an insurrection against Roman rule, explains Dr. Aslan). Jesus the Christ would then mean "Yeshua the Anointed One."]

Why "Christ" is a position NOT a person

Hollywood, can you make Him more white? Maybe Judy Garland, Shirley Temple, meets Thor?

Jesus dipped in bleach gone too far?

(Library of Tehuti) Learn the hidden truth about Christhood and its universal nature across ancient wisdom traditions.

Part 2 of the “Many Christs” series shows how "Christ" was not a name but a title and state of consciousness achievable by all. A disciple of Christ would strive to experience it.

Explore the suppressed teachings from the Nag Hammadi Library, ancient Egypt, and Eastern philosophical traditions, all of which point to our innate divine potential and nature.

This tulku was great rinpoche

Learn about the universal path of ascension shared by mystics and sages throughout history. Discover practical techniques to awaken the "Christ Consciousness" by including meditation, self-inquiry, and compassionate practices.

Understand why this powerful knowledge has been hidden and how it relates to the current global shift in consciousness. Begin the journey to realizing our true divine nature and unlocking our unlimited spiritual potential today.

• 00:00 TRUTH OF CHRISTHOOD
• 06:39 UNIVERSAL PATH OF ASCENSION
• 13:14 PATH IN PRACTICE

🌀 All artwork is illustrated and designed by the Library of Tehuti Team. If there is any problem or inquiry about this video, please contact: libraryoftehuti@gmail.com. Thanks for presence and engagement. 🌀

#HigherConsciousness #EsotericKnowledge #SelfRealization

🌀📚 SOURCES

• "The Lost Years of Jesus' Life" (holyart.com)
• "Jesus Journeys East: Tracing the Travel" (The Review of Religions)
• "The Lost Years of Jesus: The Mystery of Christ's Missing 18 Years" (history.co.uk)
• "The Lost Years: SteamChip" (steamchip.com)

The Romans were bad. How could they do what they were told? I would never do that.

.

🔴Subscribe: @libraryoftehuti. TAGS: #Christhood #DivinePotential #SpiritualAwakening #AncientWisdom #NagHammadi #MysticTraditions #ConsciousnessExpansion #SelfRealization #UniversalTruth #DivineCommunion #SpiritualAscension #InnerDivinity #CosmicConsciousness #Enlightenment #SpiritualGrowth #EsotericKnowledge #HigherConsciousness #UnityConsciousness #SpiritualEvolution #DivineNature

• Library of Tehuti, Sept. 10, 2024; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Anana (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Adventures in Church: The 'Fasting' Day

Enormous golden Buddha on the Buddhist island of Sri Lanka

Meditation hall, Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara's Mindfulness Meditation Center (facebook.com)

.

Foodie Anthony Bourdain traveled to Sri Lanka

In post-religious America, there's finally freedom from religion. Good riddance. But it doesn't change the fact that we are starved for spirituality, a deeper understanding of this reality, and liberation from the mundane.

Life has to mean something, right? It's not a carousel to get on and off of, suffer, and all for what.

Knowing that there is more, sure that spirituality is real with no easy way to access the real thing, we're searching.

It's a monthly lunar observance

And if church was all a big joke (coming from patriarchal bombast, high doses of hypocrisy, Catholicism, Protestantism, rigidity, and offensive, regressive bull chips), it did nevertheless provide some much-needed things for Americans: community, participation, identity, meaning, culture, friendship, and the like. What will take its place?

Buddhism provides Sangha (a spiritual community), mindfulness, meditation, yoga (an adjunct tradition), calm, relaxation, insight, and the hope of enlightenment and liberation. To get it all, we have a good time bouncing between Buddhist temples and meditation centers, Quaker Friends Meeting House and Universalist Unitarianism. Anyone who thinks Christians are all bad would be surprised how liberal, open minded, welcoming, and unpretentious some Sunday services are.

Buddhist temples remain awfully culture-specific, serving an ethnic community more than the general public. Universalists are nice, so much so that many traditional Christians would be outraged. In Pasadena, for example, we joined the Wiccan choir. Were we pagans, were we freethinkers, were we labelled at all? It was great to sing in unison at Neighborhood Church, a UU school and chapel with more than one Buddhist group meeting there. There were social justice groups and lots of families... We didn't know an organization calling itself a "church" could be like this.

THE QUAKERS

We're actually Mennonite Amish, not Quakers

Friends, as Quakers call one another, are the biggest surprise. They don't sell oats. They probably don't even eat 'em. That was a stinky marketing campaign by the QO Corporation, stealing the likeness of a group everyone at the time knew as honest and trustworthy. Quakers never made a penny from the campaign or big buckle hat. Quakers have been at the forefront of American progressivism for centuries, opposing slavery and injustice, holding Sunday services in silence rather than preaching. One would never guess. The whole movement needs a PR campaign so we all stop being deceived by appearances and assumptions. The worst thing is they themselves are so reluctant to explain or apply labels.

I would try Jesus Flakes

"Where is the 'quaking'? Does it begin by shaking, a tremble, a tic? Is one slain by faith, falling to one's knees holding a snake and speaking in tongue, the spirit of the Pentecost, the Holy Ghost or Pneuma all up on ya like a sloppy pigeon? Nothing could be further from the truth. And, two, why does the only thing known about this religion have nothing to do with this religion? That Quaker Oats box has to go, or someone should start marketing a Cheerios like box Jesus-Os, where the little grain-based lifesavers swimming in the almond milk are halos: Jesus brand Haley'Os, now with Mother of God land of milk and honey flavored. Wouldn't Christians of the future be p-o'd to have to keep explaining that their religion has nothing to do with an iconic cereal box?

What happened?

Marching in front of the temple grounds at the LA consecration (srilankafoundation.org)

.

Today we traveled from Los Angeles proper to the outskirts, the deep suburbs, nearly to the border of the county to get to the Mindfulness Meditation Center of Covina for the Buddhist Sabbath, the Uposatha, or lunar observance day.

We dressed all in white, took the Eight Precepts for the day, got fed a rich diet of island delicacies from Sri Lanka (the teardrop shaped nation off the southern tip of India). This ancient Theravada Buddhist practice was implemented by the historical Buddha, following a long tradition of setting aside a weekly spiritual day of practice.

Twenty-five of us suited up in the traditional garb, sat on backrest meditation seats on the ground with a cushion or little chairs if one prefers.

Everything hard and austere about it is softened. It's torture to sit IF one's mind is torturing one; otherwise, it is quite nice. It is incredibly hot outside, in the 100s, but inside we have AC in a hospital, museum setting, very well-appointed hall with cool stone floors.

It's the "fasting day," we'll starve! It's impossible to starve. First, breakfast gets served. Lunch, with seconds, is at 11:30 am. And to top off the day, there is the English lecture ("Mindfulness of Thoughts") in the Dharma classroom (as listed in the Rains Retreat Schedule) after which dinner is served.

"Fasting" means only eating between dawn and noon. This is the way Buddhist monastics live everyday all their lives. It's a very healthy way to be so long as one avoids processed foods and sweets, which many do not. To do it one day a week is not asking much, and if it is, it's only once a month on the full moon. In yoga, complete fasting is sometimes recommended on the full moon for health reasons. But few in the U.S. follow yoga recommendations beyond the poses. Dinner was served?

One takes the Eight Precepts in the morning and then returns to the Five Precepts at the end of the day about 4:30 pm. So one is no longer restricted in eating. Of course, it would be good to go home, continue the fast, and meditate. But one can stay, as a sutra is being discussed in Sinhalese in the "church" part of the center with pews and the English Dharma talk is taking place in the classroom for meditation. After which, dinner is served and anyone who wore white and spent the day is more than welcome to partake.

• The next English Dharma talk is Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at 5:00 pm on the topic of "The Embodiment of the Triple Gem and Diving Beings (Buddhanussati, Dhammanussati, Sanghanussati, and Devanussati" with Ven. U Sirinanda, a sharp Theravada monk from Nepal
• The next Uposatha Lunar Retreat Day (free or by donation) is in a month. Contact center for details: Mindfulness Meditation Center - Covina - Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara (Facebook)
• Mindfulness Meditation Center, Covina; Dharma Buddhist Meditation, editors, Wisdom Quarterly

Monk Mode vs. 'Sicko Mode' Challenge

A Buddhist nun followed in the footsteps of her brother who took the monk mode challenge.

(Tasty Husbands) Cleveland hates pervert Glenn Quagmire for cheating with his wife on Family Guy

.

If he succeeds, I'll become a Buddhist nun.

I tried to spend a week eating healthily, meditating skillfully, reading wisely, and sweating profusely by running 5K [as tapas or "burning off" the bad by austerity] every day, all while ditching television completely, giving up social media scrolling, and turning my back and not touching alcohol at all.

I failed, but that didn’t stop it from changing my life.

Health trends are 10 a penny on TikTok, from the genuinely dangerous Gallon of Water a Day for 30 Days trend to the brutal 75 Hard Challenge and the ever-popular 12-3-20. And guys are more likely to be influenced into giving extreme ones a go more than women, according to a recent study.

• If only Doggone could write, we'd know all about it. He took a challenge with Ananda to "muscle" his way to meditation. Then he doesn't turn in his results write up.
• Male sex, high age, little physical exercise, and low levels of education are all associated with allostatic load

If I stare at this rock long enough...something?

I clearly am one of those gullible men. I wanted to throw myself headfirst into a new challenge. I've tried and failed any number of them. (Over lockdown, I stuck to the 100-pushup challenge for a little while).

But after hitting a bit of a slump at the start of the year, I wanted something that would jolt me out of it. I was exercising pretty regularly, but spending too long trapped in YouTube rabbit holes and not reading as much as I’d like. That’s where “monk mode” came in.

Going "monk mode" was far harder than I ever thought (iStock/Indy 100).

It was great living up at the Mt. Baldy Zen Center above LA as a Zen monk before music fame.

.

First Western Buddhist monk was Irish

It’s a pretty far-reaching term one sees bandied across the internet from time to time, and it can encompass any number of different elements.

There are some challenges listed, including ditching caffeine, which I was afraid to do, considering I was only doing monk mode for a week and had absolutely no intention of giving up my addiction to coffee in the long run, so it didn't make sense.

But in essence, monk mode involves dramatically cutting down screen time by placing a ban on drains like social media and TV. 

And it proved to be tough – tougher than I ever imagined it would be. The exercise part was by far the easiest part.

Monks East and West are different. Travel East.

I’m a regular runner anyway, and all it took was upping the level from three 5K runs a week to every day. 

It was a bit of a blessing that I went into monk mode after a relatively heavy weekend, which had involved plenty of Guinness [a type of addictive gluten alcohol the use of which is rampant in Ireland and parts of Europe] during a trip to Twickenham, so the no drinking wasn’t much of a problem either.

The challenge taught me a lot about my habit for procrastinating, though. I don’t think of myself as a social media addict, but I found my thumb unthinkingly heading for the Instagram app – out of boredom more than anything else – and I kept having to stop myself. More

"Sicko Mode" (rap rock metal cover)

(MaryJane Daniel) Here's our favorite rap metal/rock cover of "Sicko Mode"

Trip to America's stupidest city

(MindSquire) Stupidest city in US (Jackson, Mississippi) is full of Americans

• Harry Fletcher (indy100.com via MSN, 2/28/24); Tasty Husbands; MaryJane Daniel; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; MindSquire

World's quietest room less than zero decibels

Ryan Trahan (YT); BBC Future; Microsoft; Kelly Ani, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

I survived the world's quietest room (-9 decibels)

(Ryan Trahan) 21,843,300 views. Oct. 18, 2021. What is the world's quietest room? It used to be this one, but they recently made a quieter one. It's time to defeat Dr. Phil to get him to adopt me. Lots of crazy things go through a person's head in a peaceful environment.

• The quietest place in the world (WIRED)
• Earth’s quietest place will drive one crazy in 45 minutes (Smithsonian Magazine)

Inside the quietest place on earth

Richard Gray (BBC Future, May 28, 2017) edited by Wisdom Quarterly

Testing headphones inside the chamber (wiki)

Microsoft has built a chamber so quiet that one can hear the grind of one's own bones – and it’s helping to fine-tune the next-generation of electronic goods.

If LeSalle Munroe stands still for a few moments in his “office,” something unsettling can happen: He can hear the blood rushing around his body and his eyes squelch as they move in his skull.

While many people work in places filled with the tip-tap of keyboards, the hubbub of chatter from colleagues, and a constant hum of computers, Munroe is surrounded by almost total silence.

His office is the quietest place on the planet. [There might be quieter places in the planet, deep in caves and caverns, or those isolation chambers in Altered States.]

Isolation chambers alter states

The specially constructed chamber is hidden in the depths of Building 87 at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, where the firm’s hardware laboratories are based.

Products like the Surface computers, Xbox, and Hololens have all been developed here. Microsoft’s engineers built the room – known as an anechoic chamber – to help them test new equipment.

That includes sound muffling equipment that in 2015 set the official world record for silence when the background noise level inside was measured at an ear-straining -20.6 decibels. [Google has gotten it even lower. By comparison, a library is about 40 decibels, more than 60 decibels louder.] More

If only they were meditators, they could last longer

Yes, yes, more silence!

Imagine a Zen monk, a forest dwelling Theravada Buddhist wandering ascetic (an original shaman or shramana), lost in his or her object of meditation, fully absorbed (jhana-fied) in the bliss of stillness. With that as one's goal or abode, hours in an anechoic chamber could be bliss. That would be the place to get tested, the way UCLA has MARC or its Mindful Awareness Research Center to test people in Buddhist meditative states.

What if kids became monks? (video)

True Little Monk, 1/3/19; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

English begins at 0:42:44. The initial chanting is in the exclusively-Buddhist language of ancient Pali (Magadhi), a kind of simplified Sanskrit widely spoken in the Buddha's day. It is now only used by Theravada Buddhists, monastics, and scholars.

Learning the Basics of Sane Asceticism

It takes merit to feel called to ordain as a monk.

"Color the Clay Sculptures," Episode 21, is the 21st day of True Little Monk, a wisdom training program for novices or monks-in-training.

It is the last day of the third week to learn about the concept of “love.” At dawn the novices and their monastic mentors gathered for morning chanting, part of the daily routine of monastic life.

After chanting they go for alms in the nearby community and the tree tunnels as usual. Although it rains, there are lots of people waiting to offer food, which for them is a way of making merit.

The first novice was the Buddha's son, age 7.

Before their alms meal the novices learn breathing meditation by placing bamboo sticks on their heads for posture and stillness.

Mentors teach them the basics of Buddhism's 13 "sane ascetic practices" (dhutanga) although, due to their age and maturity-level, they are still not allowed to make pilgrimages to the forest.

In the afternoon the first activity the novices undertake is to create their own Buddhas from clay with Mr. D. (Mr. Dusadee Rukmanee), a skilled sculptor whose works are inspired by his interest in Buddhism.

They then learn to color the clay sculptures with Ms. Phatcharamon Sawana, a teacher and motivational mentor, who also shares her inspiring experience on getting through difficult times in life.

After that they enjoy refreshments and practice their evening chants. ©TruePlookPanya

Meditation: The Language of the Heart

Straight from the Heart: Thirteen Talks on the Practice of Meditation by Ven. Ajahn Maha Boowa Ñanasampanno, Ven. Thanissaro; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Buddhism is about the heart (mind)and the breath (prana or chi) = compassion + wisdom.

Ajahn Mun taught that all hearts (minds) have the same language. No matter what one's language or nationality, the heart has nothing but simple awareness, which is why he said that all hearts have the same language. When a thought arises, we understand it.

• Ajahn Mun Bhuridatta Thera (1870-1949) was a Thai monk of Lao descent who is credited, along with his mentor, Ajahn Sao Kantasīlo, with establishing the Thai Forest Tradition or "Kammaṭṭhāna tradition" that subsequently spread throughout Thailand and to several countries abroad.

But when we put it into words, it has to become this or that language, so that we don't really understand one another. The feelings within the heart, though, are the same for everyone. This is why the Dharma (Pali Dhamma) fits the heart perfectly. The Dharma isn't any particular language. The Dharma is the language of the heart. The Dharma resides with the heart.

Pleasure and pain reside within the heart. The acts that create pleasure and pain are thought up by the heart. The heart is what knows the results that appear as pleasure and pain, and the heart is burdened with the outcome of its own thoughts. This is why the heart and the Dharma fit perfectly. No matter what our language or nationality, we can all understand the Dharma. It is because the heart and the Dharma are a natural pair.

The heart forms the core within the body. It's the core, the substance, the primary essence within the body. It's the basic foundation. The conditions that arise from the mind, such as thought-formations, appear and vanish again and again.

Here I'm referring to the rippling [vrittis] of the mind. When the mind ripples, that's the formation of a thought. Labels, which deal with conjecturing, memorizing, and recognizing, are termed sañña. "Long" thoughts are sañña; short thoughts are sankhara. In other words, when a thought forms — "blip" — that's a sankhara. Sañña refers to labeling and recognizing.

Viññana refers to the act of taking note when anything external comes and makes contact with the senses, as when visible forms make contact with the eye and cognition results. All of these things are constantly arising and vanishing of their own accord, and so the Buddha called them khandhas (heaps, groups, aggregates). Each "heap" or "group" is called a khandha. These Five Heaps of Khandhas are constantly arising and vanishing all the time.

Even arahants (arhats, enlightened beings)have these same conditions — just like ordinary people everywhere — the only difference being that the arahants' khandhas are khandhas pure and simple, without any defilements giving them orders, making them do this or think that. Instead, their khandhas think out of their own free nature, with nothing forcing them to think this or that, unlike the minds of ordinary people in general.

To make a comparison, the khandhas of ordinary people are like prisoners, constantly being ordered about. Their various thoughts, labels, assumptions, and interpretations have something that orders and forces them to appear, making them think, assume, and interpret in this way or that. In other words, they have defilements as their boss, their leader, ordering them to appear.

Arahants, however, do not. When a thought forms, it simply forms. Once it forms, it simply disappears. There's no seed to continue it, no seed to weigh the mind (heart) down, because there's nothing to force it, unlike the khandhas governed by defilements or under the leadership of defilements. This is where the difference lies.

But their basic nature is the same: All the khandhas mentioned are inconstant (aniccam). In other words, instability and changeability are a regular part of their nature, beginning with the rupa khandha [form aggregate], our body, and the vedana khandha [feeling or sensation group], feelings of pleasure, pain, and neutrality. These things appear and vanish, again and again. Sañña, sankhara, and viññana are also always in a state of appearing and vanishing as a normal part of their nature.

But as for actual awareness — which forms the basis of our knowledge of the various things that arise and vanish — that does not vanish. We can say that the mind cannot vanish. We can say that the mind cannot arise. A mind that has been purified thus has no more problems concerning the [re]birth and death of the body and the khandhas; thus, there is no more rebirth here and there, appearing in crude forms such as individuals or as living beings, for those whose minds have been purified.

But those whose minds are not purified, they are the ones who take rebirth and die, setting their sights on cemeteries without end, all because of this undying mind.

This is why the Buddha taught the world, and in particular the world of human beings, who know right from wrong, good from evil, who know how to foster the one and remedy the other, who understand the language of the Dharma he taught.

This is why he taught the human world above and beyond the other worlds. It was so that we could try to remedy the things that are harmful and detrimental, removing them from our thoughts, words, and deeds. It was so we could try to nourish and foster whatever goodness we might already have and give rise to whatever goodness we do not yet have.

He taught us to foster and develop the goodness we already have so as to nourish the heart, giving it refreshment and well-being, giving it a standard of quality, or goodness, so that when it leaves its present body to head for whatever place or level of being, this mind that has been constantly nourished with goodness will be a good mind.

Wherever it fares, it will fare well. Wherever it takes rebirth, it will be reborn well. Wherever it lives, it will live well. It will keep on experiencing well-being and happiness until it gains the capacity, the potential, the accumulation of merit it has developed progressively from the past into the present.

In other words, yesterday is today's past, today is tomorrow's past, all of which are days during which we have fostered and developed goodness step by step — to the point where the mind has firm strength and ability, from the supporting power of this goodness, that enables it to pass over and gain release [from rebirth and suffering].

The forest monastic tradition rediscovered in the 20th century, Isan, Thailand: famous monks

Such a mind has no more rebirth, not even in the most quiet or refined levels of being that contain any latent traces of conventional reality (sammati) — namely, rebirth and death as we currently experience it. Such a mind goes completely beyond all such things. Here the reference is to the minds of buddhas and arahants.

There's a story about Ven. Vangisa that has a bearing on this. Ven. Vangisa, when he was a layperson, was very talented at divining the level of being at which the mind of a dead person was reborn — no matter who the person was. One ould not quite say he was a fortuneteller. Actually, he was more of a master of psychic skills.

When anyone died, he would take that person's skull and knock on it — knock, knock, knock — focus his mind, and then know that this person was reborn here or there, on this plane or that. If the person was reborn in a hell or a heaven, or as a common animal or hungry ghost, he could tell in every case, without hesitation. All he needed was to knock on the skull.

When he heard his friends say that the Buddha was many times more talented than this, he wanted to expand on his knowledge. So he went into the Buddha's presence to ask for further training in this science. When he reached the Buddha, the Buddha gave him the skull of an arahant to knock on.

"All right, see if you can tell where he was reborn."

Ven. Vangisa knocked on the skull and listened.

Silence.

He knocked again and listened.

Silence.

He thought for a moment.

Silence.

He focused his mind.

Silence.

He couldn't see where the owner of the skull was reborn. At his wit's end, he confessed frankly that he didn't know where the arahant was reborn.

At first, Ven. Vangisa had thought himself talented and smart and had planned to challenge the Buddha before asking for further training. But when he reached the Buddha, the Buddha gave him the skull of an arahant to knock on — and right then he was stymied. So now he genuinely wanted further training.

Once he had further training, he'd really be something special. This being the way things stood, he asked to study with the Buddha. So the Buddha taught him the science, taught him the method — in other words, the science of the Dharma. Ven. Vangisa practiced and practiced until finally he attained arahantship. From then on he was no longer interested in knocking on anyone's skull except for his own. Once he had known clearly, that was the end of the matter. This is called "knocking on the right skull."

Once the Buddha had brought up the topic of the mind that does not undergo rebirth — the skull of one whose mind is purified — no matter how many times Ven. Vangisa knocked on it, he could not know where the mind was reborn, even though he had been very talented before. For the place of a pure mind's rebirth [since rebirth does not take place] cannot be found.

The same is true in the case of Ven. Godhika. This story should serve as quite some food for thought. Ven. Godhika went to practice meditation, made progress step by step, then regressed. They say this happened six times. After the seventh time, he took a razor to slash his throat. That's how depressed he was — but then he came to his senses, contemplated the Dharma, and became an arahant at the last minute. That's the story in brief.

When he passed into final nirvana, Mara's hordes searched for his "spirit" (gandhabba, relinking consciousness, continuation). To put it simply, they stirred up a storm but couldn't tell where he had been reborn.

So the Buddha said, "No matter how much you dig or search or investigate to find the spirit of our son, Godhika, who has completely finished his task, you won't be able to find it — even if you turn the world upside down. This is because such a task lies beyond the scope of conventional reality." How could they possibly find it? It's beyond the capacity of people with defilements to know the power of an arahant's mind.

In the realm of conventional speech, there is no one who can trace the path of an arahant's mind. This is because an arahant lies beyond convention, even though such a being's mind is just the same. Think about it: Even our stumbling and crawling mind, when it is continually cleansed without stop, without ceasing, without letting perseverance lag, will gradually become more and more refined until it reaches the limits of refinement.

Then the refinement will disappear — because refinement is a matter of conventional reality — revealing a nature of solid gold, or solid Dhrmma, called a pure mind. We, too, will then have no more problems, just like the arahants, because our mind will have become a superlative mind, just like the minds of those who have already gained release from rebirth and suffering.

All minds of this sort are the same, with no distinction between women and men, which is simply a matter of sex or convention. With the mind, there is no distinction between women and men, and thus both women and men have the same capacity in the area of the Dharma.

Both are capable of attaining the various levels of Dharma all the way to final release. There are no restrictions that can be imposed in this area. All that is needed is that we develop enough ability and potential, and then we can all go beyond the beyond.

For this reason, we should all make an effort to train our hearts/minds. At the very least, we should get the mind to attain stillness and peace with any of the meditation themes that can lull it into a state of calm, giving rise to peace and well being within it.

For example, mindfulness of breathing, which is one of the primary themes in meditation, seems to suit the temperaments of more people than any other theme. But whatever the theme, take it as a governing principle, a guide, a mainstay for the mind, putting it into practice within the mind so as to attain rest and peace.

When the mind begins to settle down, we will begin to see its essential nature and worth. We will begin to see what the heart is and how it is. In other words, when the mind gathers all of its currents into a single point, as simple awareness within itself. This is what is called the "mind" (citta).

The gathering [coherence, coming together in harmony and coordination] of the mind occurs on different levels, corresponding to the mind's ability and to the different stages of its refinement.

Even if the mind is still on a crude level, we can nevertheless know it when it gathers inwardly. When the mind becomes more and more refined, we will know its refinement: "This mind is refined... This mind is radiant... This mind is extremely still... This mind is something extremely amazing," more and more, step by step, this very same mind!

In cleansing and training the mind for the sake of stillness, in investigating, probing, and solving the problems of the mind with discernment (pañña, wisdom, understanding) — which is the way of making the mind progress, of enabling us to reach the truth of the mind, step by step, through the means already mentioned — no matter how crude the mind may be, don't worry about it.

If we get down to making the effort and persevere continually with what diligence and persistence we have, that crudeness will gradually fade away and vanish. Refinement will gradually appear through our own actions or our own striving until we are able to go beyond and gain release by slashing the defilements to bits. This holds true for all of us, men and women alike.

But while we aren't yet able to do so, we nevertheless should not be anxious. All that is asked is that we make the mind principled so that it can be a guide and a mainstay for itself. As for this body, we've been relying on it ever since the day we were reborn. This is something we all know. We've made it live, lie down, urinate, defecate, work, earn a living. We've used it, and it has used us. We order it around, and it orders us around.

For instance, we've made it work, and it has made us suffer with aches here and pains there so that we have to search for medicine to relieve it. It's the one that hurts, and it's the one that searches for medicine. It's the one that provides the means. And so we keep supporting each other back and forth in this way.

It's hard to tell who is in charge, the body or us. We can order it around part of the time, but it orders us around all of the time. Illness, hunger, thirst, sleepiness, these are nothing but a heap of suffering and distress in which the body orders us around from every side. We can order it around only a little bit. So when the time is right for us to give the orders, we should make it meditate.

So get to work. As long as the body is functioning normally, then no matter how much or how heavy the work, get right to it. But if the body isn't functioning normally, if you're ill, you need to be conscious of what it can take. As for the mind, however, keep up the effort within, unflaggingly, because it's your essential duty.

You've depended on the body for a long time. Now that it's wearing down, know that it's wearing down — which parts still work, which parts no longer work. You're the one in charge, and you know it full well, so make whatever compromises you should.

But as for the heart, which isn't ill along with the body, it should step up its efforts within so that it won't lack the benefits it can gain.

Make the mind have standards and be principled — principled in its living, principled in its dying. Wherever it's reborn, make it have good principles and satisfactory standards. What they call "merit" (puñña) will not betray our hopes and expectations.

It will provide us with satisfactory circumstances at all times, in keeping with the fact that we've accumulated the merit — the well being — that all the world wants and of which no one has enough. In other words, what the world wants is well being, whatever the sort, and in particular the well-being of the mind that will arise step by step from having done things, such as meditation, which are noble, virtuous, and good.

This is the well being that forms a core or an important essence within the heart. We can strive, then, while the body is still functioning, for when life comes to an end, nothing more can be done. No matter how little or how much we have accomplished, we must stop at that point. We stop our work, put it aside, and then reap its rewards and consequences — there, in the next life.

Whatever we are capable of doing, we do. If we can go beyond or gain release from suffering and rebirth, that's the end of every problem. There will then be nothing to involve us in any further turmoil.

Here I've been talking about the mind because the mind is the primary issue. That which will make us fare well or ill, meet with pleasure or pain, is nothing but the mind.

As for what they call bad karma, it lies within the mind that has made it. Whether or not we can remember, these seeds — which lie in the heart — cannot be prevented from bearing fruit. This is because they are rooted in the mind. We have to accept our karma. Don't find fault with it. Once it's done, it's done, so how can we find fault with it? The hand writes, and so the hand must erase. We have to accept it like a good sport. This is the way it is with karma until we can gain release — which will be the end of the problem. More