Beautiful objects have pulls because a person allows a desire for the associated pleasures. The desire is the root of the problem, not the object in the world, and that is what makes the issue quite silly, since it is caused by the person who doesnt want to suffer. He has a painful desire of which h...

Greetings all, I dont know about you all but I have been watching the videos of Ajahn Nyanamoli Thera of Hillside Hermitage for some time now. Im am very interested by the conviction of his words and how unique his perspective is. However one point that I find challenging is how greatly his teachin...

Who created that commentary? Some monks who felt that they could improve on the Buddha's ruling? who is to know? Either way the commentary is a later add on to that which is already perfect. OK, so you need to frame this whole discussion very carefully . It would have been great if this would have ...

...As long as it is clear that the donor and recipient are clear about what is offered, i see no reasonable objection to offering food verbally. ...Thats my modern day commentary, which anyone could now take as authoritive. If a bhikkhu was to live in extreme seclusion, like in some deep forest, th...

If for example, you were staying in my house while i was away on business, and I called you to tell you that you could eat any food in the fridge; my offering and your acceptance of it , would be legit, and so could this type of offering be done without a bhikkhu receiving an offence? It sounds per...

to offer food the donor and monastic must be within arms length of any items to be offered and must be touching the item or something connected to it( ie like the table). that is vinaya, not commentary. i get the idea of the verbalizing the offering over zoom, the principle of that aspect works, bu...

Does anyone know if a donor can verbally and or visually offer food to a bhikkhu, through an online medium such as zoom etc(whereby both the donor and bhikkhu can see each other and the food that is being offered). Obviously the food would already be in the Bhikkhu's presence, as in it would be in t...

Hi, Can someone do a comparison between meditating in the forest (as in like a wild forest) and in a Vihara in the city? In which setting does the meditation seem more concentrated? I sometimes just think, there are many wild and potentially dangerous/poisonous animals / insects in the forest. So m...

:reading: Theragāthā Chakkanipāta (Book of Sixes) Sirimaṇḍattheragāthā (Sirimaṇḍa) Thag 6.13 Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato The rain saturates things that are covered up; it doesn’t saturate things that are open. Therefore you should open up a covered thing, so the rain will not saturate it. . Simlar...

:reading: Theragāthā Chakkanipāta (Book of Sixes) Sirimaṇḍattheragāthā (Sirimaṇḍa) Thag 6.13 Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato The rain saturates things that are covered up; it doesn’t saturate things that are open. Therefore you should open up a covered thing, so the rain will not saturate it. . Simlar...

Hi friends Circling around to this oldie again. I have been listening to a lot of Ajahn Nyanamoli recently who talks a lot about craving and clinging, and one's responsibility whether to accept and delight in the senses or not. What's the nature of upadana? "Who" or what clings to the agg...

Hello everyone, I recently considered the possibility that counting/following and otherwise focussing on the breath might be getting in the way of my sessions developing as they have been in a state of attrition for some time. This conclusion seems to have been correct - instead of seeing the breat...

As I understand MN13 , the danger of sensual pleasures is all the suffering caused on account of getting these pleasures. Sensual pleasures are " ... connected with sensual desire, and provocative of lust... ". And when people act out of lust and sensual desire they provoke suffering to o...

MN107 - "When, brahmin, the bhikkhu is moderate in eating, then the Tathāgata disciplines him further: ‘Come, bhikkhu, be devoted to wakefulness. During the day, while walking back and forth and sitting, purify your mind of obstructive states . In the first watch of the night, while walking bac...

in 4 stage enlightment, fear of death or fear of external threats to one's 5 aggregates or fear of water, snakes, tigers, false accusations etc like this fear ends at what stage? sotpanna, sakadami, anagami or arhant only? Sotapatti. Anxiety is removed and one is left with alertness (without fear) ...