Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

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Sam Vara
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by Sam Vara »

Alino wrote: Sat Jul 23, 2022 7:15 am Saadhu sadhu sadhu !😊🙏

Dear friends, as I'am about to going to WPN for ordination, my good friend Sequeller will share with you Yellow Page Teachings and their transcriptions 😊🙏👍

Thank you 🙏🙏🙏😊
With metta
Dear Alino,

That's really superb news! I'm happy that you made it, especially as I know that this is a long-term ambition of yours.

Keep us posted of your progress if you can - maybe Sequeller can let us know? We need to know for when you become a world-famous teaching monk!
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retrofuturist
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings Alino,
Alino wrote: Sat Jul 23, 2022 7:15 am Saadhu sadhu sadhu !😊🙏

Dear friends, as I'am about to going to WPN for ordination, my good friend Sequeller will share with you Yellow Page Teachings and their transcriptions 😊🙏👍

Thank you 🙏🙏🙏😊
With metta
This is magnificent news. I wish you all the best.

:buddha1:

Metta,
Paul. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by BrokenBones »

Alino wrote: Sat Jul 23, 2022 7:15 am Saadhu sadhu sadhu !😊🙏

Dear friends, as I'am about to going to WPN for ordination, my good friend Sequeller will share with you Yellow Page Teachings and their transcriptions 😊🙏👍

Thank you 🙏🙏🙏😊
With metta
Sadhu sadhu sadhu. 😃
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mjaviem
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by mjaviem »

Alino wrote: Sat Jul 23, 2022 7:15 am Saadhu sadhu sadhu !😊🙏

Dear friends, as I'am about to going to WPN for ordination, my good friend Sequeller will share with you Yellow Page Teachings and their transcriptions 😊🙏👍

Thank you 🙏🙏🙏😊
With metta
Great news!. All the best for you. And I hope you can post here from time to time.
:buddha1:
Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammā Sambuddhassa
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by Bundokji »

Alino wrote: Sat Jul 23, 2022 7:15 am Saadhu sadhu sadhu !😊🙏

Dear friends, as I'am about to going to WPN for ordination, my good friend Sequeller will share with you Yellow Page Teachings and their transcriptions 😊🙏👍

Thank you 🙏🙏🙏😊
With metta
Congratulations :anjali: :heart:
And the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus, saying: "Behold now, bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness!"

This was the last word of the Tathagata.
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by sequeller »

"A good practice in daily life is to train ourselves to be aware of virtues shown by the people around us and to learn how to genuinely appreciate those qualities. One skillful means that we might use is to repeat a short phrase internally when we see something inspiring: "That's good. That's really good! That's so good!". Virtues that we can observe and celebrate include acts of generosity, kindness, compassion, honesty, hard work, patience, humility, calmness, intelligence employed for the common good. The more sensitive we will become to human virtue, and the more joyful. With wisdom, we can see people as vessels of virtue rather than their owners, and by doing so jealousy fades away. Opening our eyes to the ordinary everyday goodness all around us can transform our world."

Ajahn Jayasāro
26/7/22
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Sam Vara
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by Sam Vara »

sequeller wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 7:36 am "A good practice in daily life is to train ourselves to be aware of virtues shown by the people around us and to learn how to genuinely appreciate those qualities. One skillful means that we might use is to repeat a short phrase internally when we see something inspiring: "That's good. That's really good! That's so good!". Virtues that we can observe and celebrate include acts of generosity, kindness, compassion, honesty, hard work, patience, humility, calmness, intelligence employed for the common good. The more sensitive we will become to human virtue, and the more joyful. With wisdom, we can see people as vessels of virtue rather than their owners, and by doing so jealousy fades away. Opening our eyes to the ordinary everyday goodness all around us can transform our world."

Ajahn Jayasāro
26/7/22
Sequeller, many thanks for taking on this task. I think it gives you a great deal of merit. :anjali:
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by sequeller »

"On one occasion the Buddha spoke about the way people reveal themselves through the way in which they talk about themselves and others.

Good people do not disclose the faults of others, even when asked about them. If they have no alternative they speak 'with gaps and omissions, not fully or in detail'.

Good people disclose the virtues of others, even without being asked about them. When asked, they speak 'without gaps and omissions, fully and in detail'.

Good people disclose their own faults, even without being asked about them. When asked, they speak 'without gaps and omissions, fully and in detail'.

Good people do not disclose their own virtues, even when asked about them. If they have no alternative they speak 'with gaps and omissions, not fully or in detail'.

Bad people, the Buddha said, speak in the opposite way: voluble about the faults of others and their own virtues, reticent about the virtues of others and their own faults."

Ajahn Jayasāro
30/7/22
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by sequeller »

Sam Vara wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 7:57 am Sequeller, many thanks for taking on this task. I think it gives you a great deal of merit. :anjali:
Ajahn Jayasaro's notes help me a lot to understand Dhamma and establish myself in Dhamma, and I hope they will help someone else too.
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by Kusala »

Alino wrote: Sat Jul 23, 2022 7:15 am Saadhu sadhu sadhu !😊🙏

Dear friends, as I'am about to going to WPN for ordination, my good friend Sequeller will share with you Yellow Page Teachings and their transcriptions 😊🙏👍

Thank you 🙏🙏🙏😊
With metta
:anjali:
"He, the Blessed One, is indeed the Noble Lord, the Perfectly Enlightened One;
He is impeccable in conduct and understanding, the Serene One, the Knower of the Worlds;
He trains perfectly those who wish to be trained; he is Teacher of gods and men; he is Awake and Holy. "

--------------------------------------------
"The Dhamma is well-expounded by the Blessed One,
Apparent here and now, timeless, encouraging investigation,
Leading to liberation, to be experienced individually by the wise. "
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by DNS »

Alino wrote: Sat Jul 23, 2022 7:15 am Saadhu sadhu sadhu !😊🙏

Dear friends, as I'am about to going to WPN for ordination, my good friend Sequeller will share with you Yellow Page Teachings and their transcriptions 😊🙏👍

Thank you 🙏🙏🙏😊
With metta
I just noticed this today, otherwise I would have wished you well back when you announced this. Good luck! And congratulations!

:anjali:
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by sequeller »

It was may 1984. I was gazing out at the vivid greens of the English countryside from the back of my parent's car. After six years away, i'd come to visit them for the first time as a monk, and we were driving back to the family home. At one point i told them a humorous story. They laughed and i could see my father's tight shoulders relax, 'At least', he said, half to himself, 'he has'nt lost his sense of humor'. I realized it had been one of his biggest fears.

I began to recall how much pain i'd given my parents as a teenager due to the length of my hair and the clothes that i'd worn. It seemed so ridiculous now, and so ironic. I felt a deep pang of universe. At that moment, by some strange synchronicity, my mother spoke up from the front seat. She said that she'd never dreamed as i grew up that we would have so little time together. If she'd known then she would never have wasted the precious time by getting so upset about the length of my hair and the way that i dressed. The wistfulness in her voice brought a lump to my throat.

We were sharing the wisdom of hindsight, and i knew that it was not a liberating wisdom. That kind of wisdom comes through a systematic training. It is only by opening our eyes again and again to the impermance and unpredictability of life that we gain the wisdom that allows us to make the best possible use of our short time together in this world.

Ajahn Jayasāro
2/8/22
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by sequeller »

Kindness without wisdom can sometimes do more harm than good. Kindness guided by wisdom is more effective because it takes into account the overall and long-term welfare of the person to whom we feel kind.

A small young novice was given the great honor of becoming one of Ajahn Chah's personal attendants. In the first days he felt overwhelmed by his new post but gradually the metta Luang Phor showed towards him made him feel more comfortable. One day, while cleaning out a cupboard, the young novice came across a ceramic tile bearing an image of his teacher. It seemed to have bear there a long time. He thought how much his mother would appreciate it. Later that day, alone with Luang Phor, he plucked up his coverage and asked if he might have the tile. Suddenly - and to the novice's consternation - Luang Phor's kind face transformed into a cold mask. He dismissed the request in a harsh tone that deeply mortified the young boy.

After the novice had completed his term as personal attendant he was sent to another monastery. One day, three month later. he was sought out by a newly-arrived monk. The monk handed him the ceramic tile. Luang Phor, he said, had instructed him to give it to the novice.

At that moment the young novice realized that Luang Phor had intended for young boy to get the idea all along. But he did not want the young boy to get the idea that serving the teacher made him eligible for gifts or perks of any kind. Luang Phor's stern countenance had been as much an expression of his metta as his warm, grandfatherly smiles.

Ajahn Jayasāro
6/8/22
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by sequeller »

Once, before i became a monk, i offered to teach my maternal grandmother how to meditate. She said that, unlike me, she didn't have enough spare time to sit around with her eyes closed doing nothing. She said that she relaxed by knitting. It was a far better way to relax than meditation. Not only did knitting give her a lot of pleasure, but it also allowed her to make garments that she could give as gift to family members. By the hook on her face after she said this, i got the impression that she had been wanting to tell me this for some time. I realized that i would never be my grandmother's meditation teacher.

if meditation was merely a means to relax, my grandmother's view would make sense. But it isn't. Meditation is our best means of verifying the truth of the Buddha's teachings. We take as our first working hypothesis the Buddha's assertion that the root cause of mental suffering and true happiness lies in the presence or absence of defilements in the mind. Our second hypothesis is his declaration that defilements can be completely eliminated by wisdom when the mind has been stabilized by samadhi. Then we get to work cultivating the mindfulness that leads to the samadhi that leads to that wisdom. This is what we mean by the word 'meditation'.

Ajahn Jayasāro
9/8/22
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Re: Yellow Page Teachings - Ajahn Jayasāro

Post by sequeller »

The Dhamma is straightforward. The problem is that our minds are crooked. The Dhamma tells us to see hair as hair, nails as nails, teeth as teeth and skin as skin. What could be simpler ? And yet, what could be more difficult ?

We plaster so much onto the basic realities of life with our desires, fears, aversions, expectations, distorted views and conceit. To learn the Dhamma we have to unlearn so many bad mental habits that we have accumulated over many lifetimes. We need to return to the basic realities of our life with interest and enthusiasm over and over and over again. As we straighten out the kinks in our minds, the Dhamma is revealed. It appears both marvelous and absolutely normal at the same time. 'Oh!', we say 'hair is just hair, nails are just nails, teeth are just teeth and skin is just skin. The body is just the body; the mind is just the mind.'

Ajahn Jayasāro
13/8/22
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