Death toll in Bangkok bar fire reaches 33

Bangkok is the L.A. of Asia

(DW) Deaths in a dev­ast­at­ing fire at a pub in Theravada Buddhist Thai­l­and's cap­ital Bangkok have risen to 30, reports said Tues­day, cit­ing updated fig­ures from city offi­cials.

A screen grab taken from a video released on July 12, shows people fleeing a fire at the Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao bar. Three more vic­tims suc­cumbed to their injur­ies, push­ing up the tally from the ini­tial 27 dead, local media reports said.

More than 70 people con­tinue to receive treat­ment in hos­pit­als, with 24 of them in crit­ical con­di­tion, offi­cials said.

• Bangkok, July 15: The death toll from a dev­ast­at­ing Bangkok bar fire has risen to 33, author­it­ies said on Wed­nes­day, as Thai­l­and pledged a nation­wide over­haul of enter­tain­ment venue reg­u­la­tions (Asian Standard).

Mean­while, police are prob­ing pos­sible neg­li­gence, includ­ing obstruc­ted emer­gency exits as people scrambled to flee the flames. Most killed were found trapped in win­dow­less bath­rooms.

Bangkok blaze dead­li­est in 17 years

What will the new king of Thailand say?

An explos­ive fire ripped through Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao, a pub near the pop­u­lar Chatuchak Week­end Mar­ket in north­ern Bangkok late on Sunday night.

Foot­age cir­cu­lat­ing on social media showed a power­ful inferno jet­ting out of the bar's door­way as people ran to escape. It took fire­fight­ers about half an hour to tame the fire.

The blaze is one of the dead­li­est in Thai­l­and since 2009, when a New Year's Day fire at a nightclub killed 67 people.

On Tues­day, more mourn­ers laid down flowers and hand­writ­ten notes at the site of the incid­ent as rem­nants from the bar -- includ­ing melted musical instru­ments and sooty chairs -- lay on the side­walk.

• Ed.  Zac Crel­lin, Deutsche Welle (English ed.), July 15, 2026; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

English Buddhist Monk live from Asia

(English Buddhist Monk) English Buddhist Monk is LIVE

Dogma or Freedom?

Buddhist Lunar Observance (Uposatha)

(English Buddhist Monk) Second full moon uposatha (Buddhist "sabbath, Pagan-Wiccan "esbat," lunar observance): Best practice for lay Buddhists to develop (cultivate) equanimity

• Uposatha: HISTORY: The word uposatha ("observance") derives from the Muluposatha Sutta (AN 3.70), in which a laywoman named Visakha (Migāramāta, the "Mother of Migara"), visits the Buddha and says she is observing the uposatha day. The Buddha replies that there are different uposatha days, then proceeds to tell her the best version of the day, which he calls the "Uposatha of the Noble Disciples." More

Thai Wan Phra full moon uposatha: aging, sickness, death: loss and karma

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

It's already 2026 down under in Australia

(Perth) New Year's Eve Dhamma Talk | Ajahn Brahm | 31 December 2025 into 2026

New Year's Eve fireworks: Sydney, Australia rings in 2026

• New Year's Eve (on the flawed Gregorian Calendar)
• New Year's Eve by region, Oceania, Australia
• Australia sparkles into 2026 | 9 News Australia
• Cities across Australia prepare to ring in 2026 | 10 News

New Year Blessing 2026 by Ajahn Jayasaro

Thai Forest Tradition: OM

British Theravada Buddhist monk (Thai Forest Tradition) Ajahn Jayasāro, Dec. 31, 2025: So it's another new year, and I would like to offer my best wishes and blessings to everyone for this new year.

Of course, needless to say, the world’s an absolute mess. But it's always been this way. When was it not like this?  So yes, we do what we can do. And I would like to suggest that you have very clear goals in your life -- whether they’re career goals, worldly goals, or spiritual goals -- and having small, very modest, measurable goals throughout the year to give you that sense of confidence and uplift, not making goals too far ahead in the future. This is true both for worldly and spiritual goals.

Spiritual goals: How would that work out?  My suggestion would be to take some mental defilement [of the heart], take some negative quality within you -- say, anger, jealousy, or something like that -- with the understanding that’s not who you are. It’s just a habit, just something we’ve accumulated and something that we can do something about.

Make this coming year a year when you put some consistent effort into reducing the amount of that negative quality like anger or jealousy.

And at the same time, choose a particular virtue -- whether it’s mindfulness, or kindness, generosity, patience, and so on -- and put some systematic, consistent effort into cultivating that.

This is the year of that virtue for you. And keep tabs on it. Notice if you are noticing some changes within you -- small, incremental changes, not big "wow" changes. These are realizable, practical, and will have wonderful effects on your general mental health and a sense of well-being.

And having projects for yourself and projects for others -- trying to do something good and kind for the people around you every day, something that at the end of the day you can feel proud of. And you can say, Yes, that was a good thing I did today!

We have to come to terms with the world we live in and not let our hearts/minds be carried away on a stream of anxiety and aversion and so on.

The opportunity to follow that stream is always there, but you don't have to follow it. We have a choice here. And the more that we follow the Buddha’s teachings, collectively referred to as the Dhamma, integrate them into our lives, the more capacity we have to create a better world for ourselves -- maybe not the world that you see on your screens, but your own world of you, and your family, and your friends, and community, and doing the best we can in an imperfect world.

The important thing is to come to terms with, “It's like this. Right now, it’s not any other way than this. But it’s changing.” And when we come to peace with the way things are -- right here, right now -- then we can move forward with wisdom and creativity. It’s not a passive acceptance of, “Oh, we can't do anything about this right now.”

It’s the recognition that when our minds/hearts are calm with an acceptance of how things are right now, then we can see, Yes, there is exactly something we can do something about, and here's how to do it.

So I wish you all the best, in your health, and your relationships, and your family, and your community. May you grow and prosper both in the worldly and the spiritual realms in this coming year!

• Editors, Wisdom Quarterly

Ajahn Brahm: Community, Trust, Dec. 2025

Community and Trust | Ajahn Brahm | 12 December 2025

Ajahn Chah: Detachment within activity

Ajahn Chah - Detachment Within Activity (1983dukkha)

31-y.o. techie chooses a monk's life

Why a 31-year old Singaporean techie chose the monk's life

(Handful of Leaves) Oct. 14, 2025: Handful of Leaves Podcast. Rich in Buddhist Singapore, from dating girls to reading about Elon Musk to thinking about politics, he was in search of meaning in his early 20s. All that changed when he read about the Buddha and his monastic followers.

Handful of Leaves had the awesome opportunity to speak with novice Samanera/Anagarika Phra Ryan before he took full ordination. Here’s his story of becoming a Buddhist monk at the prime of his career in Singapore's tech industry.

This is also how young only son Ryan, with family members of a different religious faith, arrived at this path of Buddhist monasticism. #BuddhistWisdom #MindfulLiving #FaithAndPractice

ABOUT: Halfway through his university studies, Ryan embarked on a spiritual journey into the deeper meaning of life and found himself drawn towards Buddhism. It was during a silent retreat in the Australian bush at a Theravada monastery, which marked the beginning of an eight-year journey into monkhood. This is his story.

• 📄 Transcript: bit.ly/hol-phra-ryan

⏱ TIMESTAMPS

• (00:00) – First week as a Buddhist novice (monk-to-be): nervous then relief
• (01:30) – Meeting Ajahn Dhammasiha and first retreats
• (03:00) – Life as an anagarika and his family’s reaction
• (05:00) – Growing up privileged and searching for meaning
• (07:05) – Parents’ and friends’ response to his ordination
• (09:10) – Luang Por’s [Senior Monk's] teaching: life without mindfulness is crazy
• (10:00) – Goal of practice: freeing the mind from clinging/attachment
• (11:15) – Wearing the robe [Banner of the Arahants] and facing “imposter syndrome”
• (12:09) – Choosing Wat Marp Jan [Monastery] under Luang Por [Ven.] Anan

Special thanks to Handful of Leaves' sponsors: Buddhist Youth Network, Lim Soon Kiat, Alvin Chan, Tan Key Seng, Soh Hwee Hoon, Geraldine Tay, Venerable You Guang, Wilson Ng, Diga, Joyce, Tan Jia Yee, Joanne, Suñña, Shuo Mei, Arif, Bernice, Wee Teck, Andrew Yam, Kan Rong Hui, Wei Li Quek, Shirley Shen, Ezra, Joanne Chan, Hsien Li Siaw, Gillian Ang, Wang Shiow Mei, Ong Chye Chye, Melvin, Yoke Kuen, Nai Kai Lee, Amelia Toh, Hannah Law, Shin Hui Chong, Dennis Lee

• 🙏 Become a sponsor: handfulofleaves.life/support

🎬 Editor: Hong Jiayi. ✍️ Transcribers: Cheryl Cheah, Tan Si Jing, Bernice Bay. 🎨 Visuals and Sound: Anton Thorne, Tan Pei Shan, Ang You Shan.

• 📱 Get connected: Ajahn Dhammasiha: @dhammatalksatdhammagiri8724
• Wat Pah Nanachat: watpahnanachat.org
• Wat Marp Jan: @ajahnanan
• Telegram: bit.ly/hol-telegram
• Instagram: bit.ly/hol-instagram-podcast
• Facebook: bit.ly/hol-facebook-podcast
• Spotify: spoti.fi/3w2jfQ1
• Handful of Leaves, Oct. 14, 2025; Pat Macpherson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Uposatha Jhana (Moon Zen) Ajahn Brahm

What is the blissful and inviting rapture of the light of absorption (jhana)? Is it santosha?

Can a Westerner achieve rapture and insight?

Full moon Sunday is the Uposatha (the fasting day of the lunar observance) when some choose to keep the Eight Precepts for one day and night. LA's Mindfulness Meditation Center in Covina (suburban San Gabriel Valley) is conducting its monthly Poya Day celebration in honor of it. This is an excellent time to relax, listen, and practice the path of absorption with the great Ajahn Brahm -- or to read Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?: Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life's Difficulties.

The Jhanas (Absorptions) – Seven Steps to Heaven (and One Beyond) by Ajahn Brahm

Nimitta (sign) emerges from obscuring clouds

(The Buddhist Society) Jhāna (meditative absorption, zen) is a bliss better than sex? Mantra: "Relax to the max!" There are two kinds of Buddhist meditation (no, not samatha and vipassana, which are a single system bifurcated by people who misunderstand what's needed for insight. The two types are Second Noble Truth (craving) meditation and Third Noble Truth (letting go) meditation, as explained by accomplished Western meditator Ajahn Brahm.

British Buddhist monk Ajahn Brahmavamso Mahathera (known to the world as Ajahn Brahm) was born Peter Betts in London, England (United Kingdom) on August 7, 1951.

Mindfulness, Bliss, Beyond: Meditator's Handbook

He came from a working-class background then won a scholarship to study theoretical physics at Cambridge University in the late 1960s. After graduating from Cambridge, he taught high school for a year before traveling to Northeast Thailand (Isan) to become a Theravada Buddhist monk.

He decided to train in the Thai Forest Tradition with the famous meditation master Ajahn Chah Bodhinyana Mahathera, who established Wat Pah Pong and Wat Pah Nanachat.

After his attainments in the forest -- and the "scandal" (along with Ajahn Sujato) of ordaining women in the Theravada tradition (Bhikkhuni Sangha), he moved to Serpentine, Perth, Western Australia (BSWA.org), to serve as abbot and advisor to a monastery (Bodhinyana Vihara) and nunnery with Western sensibilities open to students of meditation or monasticism or both.

• Ajahn's birthday: Bear Awareness: Taming Wild Mind

Ajahn Brahm Indonesia 2024 | Buddhist Society of Western Australia
Kindfulness: a new kind of meditation by Ajahn Brahm

• Ajahn Brahm at The Buddhist Society, Dec. 16, 2018; Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Our Real Home: On Dying (Ajahn Chah)

Our Real Home: A Talk to an Aging Lay Disciple Approaching Death

Ajahn Chah (translated from the Thai by The Sangha at Wat Pah Nanachat © 1994)

Ajahn Chah was regarded as an arahant.

Now determine in your mind to listen with respect to the Dhamma. During the time that I am speaking, be as attentive to my words as if it were the Lord Buddha himself sitting in front of you.

Close your eyes and make yourself comfortable, compose your mind and make it one-pointed. Humbly allow the Triple Gem [Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha] of wisdom, truth, and purity to abide in your heart as a way of showing respect to the Fully Enlightened One.

Today I have brought nothing material of any substance to offer you, only Dhamma, the teachings of the Lord Buddha. Listen well. You should understand that even the Buddha himself, with his great store of accumulated virtue, could not avoid physical death.

When he reached old age, he relinquished his body and let go of its heavy burden. Now you too must learn to be satisfied with the many years you've already depended on your body.

You should feel that it's enough.

You can compare it to household utensils you've had for a long time — your cups, saucers, plates, and so on. When you first had them, they were clean and shining, but now after using them for so long, they're starting to wear out.

Some are already broken, some have disappeared and those that are left are deteriorating; they have no stable form, and it's their nature to be like that. Your body is the same way — it's been continually changing right from the day you were born, through childhood and youth, until now it's reached old age. You must accept that.

The Buddha said that conditions (sankharas), whether they are internal conditions, bodily conditions, or external conditions, are not-self, their nature is to change. Contemplate this truth until you see it clearly.

This very lump of flesh that lies here in decline is saccadhamma, the truth. The truth of this body is saccadhamma, and it is the unchanging teaching of the Buddha. The Buddha taught us to look at the body, to contemplate it, and come to terms with its nature.

We must be able to be at peace with the body, whatever state it is in. The Buddha taught that we should ensure that it's only the body that is locked up in jail and not let the mind be imprisoned along with it.

Now as your body begins to run down and deteriorate with age, don't resist that, but don't let your mind deteriorate with it. Keep the mind separate.

Give energy to the mind by realizing the truth of the way things are. The Lord Buddha taught that this is the nature of the body, it can't be any other way: having been born it gets old and sick and then it dies. This is a great truth you are presently encountering. Look at the body with wisdom and realize it. More

Bear Awareness: Wild Mind (Ajahn Brahm)

Seeing sexiness everywhere, even a bear becomes plush and eroticized. Help, Ajahn Brahm!

I didn't tame my wild mind. It led to pregnancy and these two knuckleheads I'd kill to protect.

Bear Awareness: Questions and Answers on Taming Your Wild Mind

.

Bear Awareness: Wild Mind

British Theravada Buddhist monk Ajahn Brahm has 4.8 out of 5 stars with 79 ratings.

The bestselling author of Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung? and one of the world’s most beloved Buddhist monks answers meditators’ questions.

In Bear Awareness Englishman monk Ajahn Brahm answers actual questions from his meditation students––questions other sitters may have had as well.

Kindfulness with mindfulness for fullness.

While most mindfulness meditation teachers praise the benefits of "bare awareness," he teaches BEAR awareness. Huh? He helps us make friends with the scary things that come up on the cushion, and he knows how to lift the mood with a well-placed stuffed teddy––or a well-timed pun.

The intimacy of the question-and-answer format provides a fresh experience of learning from a master meditator.

Whether Ajahn Brahm is urging readers to fly Buddha Air (sit back and relax on the way to nirvana), giving tips for dealing with panic attacks or depression, or extolling the bliss of meditation that is better than sex, he gives us permission to enjoy our lives and our kindful and joyful practice. More (Amazon.com)

• Ajahn Brahm (BSWA.org), Nov. 2017; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Samadhi and Absorptions (English Monk)

• The right honorable Venerable has perhaps misunderstood the meaning of "momentary" concentration, which is not so-called because it comes and goes (vacillates) but for its continuity on a moving object: Khanika samadhi - Meditation - Classical Theravāda. See also Bhikkhu Bodhi, "Meditation"
• What is samādhi? Three kinds of mindfulness | Pure Dhamma
• What are khanika, upacara, and appana samadhi? (Q&A)

Samādhi: "concentration," literally "the (mental) state of being firmly fixed" (sam+ā+√ hā). It is fixing the mind (attention) on a single object.

"One-pointedness of mind (cittass' ekaggatā), Ven. Visakha, this is called concentration" (MN 44).

Concentration -- though often very weak -- is one of the seven mental concomitants (cetasikas) inseparably associated with all consciousness. Compare with nāma, cetanā.

"Right concentration" (sammā-samādhi), as the last link of the Ennobling Eightfold Path (magga), is defined as the four meditative absorptions (jhānas).

In a wider sense, comprising also much weaker states of concentration, it is associated with all karmically wholesome (kusala) consciousness(es). "Wrong concentration" (micchā-samādhi) is concentration associated with all karmically unwholesome (akusala) consciousness(es).

Wherever in the texts this term is not distinguished by "right" or "wrong," there "right concentration" is meant.

In concentration one may distinguish three grades of intensity:

• (1) "Preparatory concentration" (parikamma-samādhi) existing at the beginning of the mental exercise.
• (2) "Neighborhood concentration" (upacāra-samādhi), that is, concentration "approaching" but not yet attaining the first absorption (jhāna), which in certain mental exercises is marked by the appearance of the so-called "counter-image" (patibhāga-nimitta).
• (3) "Attainment concentration" (appanā-samādhi), that is, concentration present during the absorptions.

(Appendix) For further details, see bhāvana, Path of Purification (Vis.M. III and Fund. IV.)

Concentration connected with the four noble path-moments (magga), and fruition-moments (phala) [which results in awakening/enlightenment], is called supermundane (lokuttara), having Nirvana (Nibbāna) as object.

xxx

Any other concentration, even that of the sublimest absorptions (jhanas) is merely mundane (lokiya). 

According to DN 33, the cultivation of stillness (development of concentration, samādhi-bhāvanā) may bring about a fourfold blessing:

1. present happiness through the four (material) absorptions;
2. (2) knowledge and vision (knowing and seeing, ñāna-dassana), here probably identical with the "divine eye" (see abhiññā) through perception of light (kasina);
3. mindfulness and clear comprehension (sati-sampajana) through the clear knowledge of the arising, persisting and vanishing of feelings, perceptions and thoughts;
4. extinction of all cankers (āsava-kkhaya) through understanding the arising and passing away of the Five Aggregates clung to as self (khandha).

Concentration is one of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhanga), one of the Five Spiritual Faculties and Five Powers (bala), and the last link of the Noble (Ennobling/Enlightening) Eightfold Path.

In the threefold division (virtue, concentration, and wisdom) of the Noble Eightfold Path, concentration is a collective name for the three last factors of the path (sikkhā).

• Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines, samādhi, English Buddhist Monk (video); Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Dhamma Q&A live from Birken (Ajahn Sona)

Live from Birken: Dhamma Q&A with Ajahn Sona

(Ajahn Sona) Streamed live on June 15, 2025: Dhamma Questions & Answers. Join Birken Monastery on Sunday as Ajahn Sona answers Dhamma questions from listeners around the world. Questions may be submitted during the live chat (opens around 8:00 am on the day of streaming) or in advance, here: bit.ly/LivestreamQnA. Ajahn Sona Podcast: AppleAjSona, SpotifyAjSona, PodbeanAjSona. Question & Answer Archive: birken.ca/qaa/qaa.php.

• Not self (anattā) makes no sense. Can you explain?

What are Buddhist monks? (video)

How to become a monk: Why or why not?

Can girls join? - Yes. Bhikkhuni Sangha lives!

Casual practitioners of the Dharma, the Teaching that Leads to Liberation, is a lot like that of a Buddhist monk or nun only more intensive, unrelenting, not easily hidden from. In our ordinary life, we can take a break and get away from ourselves (turn on and drop out), so progress is slow but easier than having to be at it, keeping our nose to the grindstone all the time. By the way, women are not "female monks" (bhikkhus). They are nuns (bhikkhunis). In referring to both simultaneously, we call them monastics. They are all samanas, "wandering ascetics," in the ideal; in practice, many have become temple priests and priestesses like the Brahmin priests of the Buddha's day.

Strive to see ultimate reality (mentality-materiality)

so "letting go" (nekkhamma) happens all by itself,

Pa Auk Sayadaw would say, agreeing with Ajahn Chah

How to become a monk: Why and why not?

(English Buddhist Monk) THAILAND. MAN GIVES UP EVERYTHING. In 2015, aged 47, an English (British) businessman gave up everything and travelled Asia to find true happiness.

Now a Buddhist monk (bhikkhu, samana, bhante), living a simple life in Buddhist Thailand, India, and Sri Lanka, he shares the continuing story.

• How does one become monastic? Ordination (pabbajjā)

ABOUT: Phra Dan (Ven. Dhammarakkhita, Bhikkhu, not yet tens years in the robe to be an Ajahn or official Thai "Teacher") is a Theravada Buddhist monk who lived in India from 2020, Thailand, and now Sri Lanka.

Dan was born in Sussex, England, in 1967. Educated by French Catholic monks, he was a successful businessman in estate agency and financial services during the 1980s and 1990s, married, divorced with three adult sons.

The year 2000 marked change and travel, including a visit to South Africa, returning to the UK in 2003 to continue different work and business activities until 2012.

Gradually materialistic values turned to renunciation (nekkhamma), intentional simplicity, and meditation, living nomadically in an old Ford Transit van full-time for three years.

This sort of van life and meditation led to Theravada Buddhism and to the ancient (back to basics movement called the) Thai Forest Tradition, a Theravada Buddhist monastery in the UK.

During 2015, travelling the Buddhist Circuit, the holy sites in India, deep faith (saddha, confidence, conviction) reinforced a zeal for Buddhist ordination.

In 2020, after five years of intensive meditation practice between Thai Forest monasteries in Thailand and England, Dan was ordained in India, where he lived for three years, until returning to Thailand in 2023, and now living in Theravada Buddhist Sri Lanka.

Sabe Satta Sukhi Hontu. Please subscribe and be HAPPY, too. #englishmonk

Phra Dan, Bhante Dhammarakkhita, English Buddhist Monk (YouTube) July 12, 2023; Pat Macpherson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Life of a Forest Monk (word free)

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