Ajahn Viradhammo encourages us to understand the quality of arising and ceasing in our experiences so that we can transcend the perception of having peaks and valleys in our practice. He uses themes of communal life, living in harmony, how we perceive our characters and identities, and how to work with boredom to illustrate this topic.… Read the rest
Ajahn Viradhammo meets with lay guests during a tea time question and answer session at Tisarana. He fields questions about how to work with the critical faculty and aversion, aversion to thought in meditation, and perceptions we have about Dhamma practice.… Read the rest
Ajahn Viradhammo speaks on using our practice in day to day life to reflect on phenomena and causality. He uses this/that conditionality to explain the process of Dependent Origination.… Read the rest
Ajahn Viradhammo reads many of the Buddha’s verses on right speech and explores how to use right speech in the monastery, citing examples of how it is best to use speech with others, how to offer feedback, and how to use metta (loving kindness) practice when we speak with others. This talk also explores the concept of right conduct and the restraint of body, speech, and mind.… Read the rest
Ajahn Viradhammo discusses how to use one’s social responsibilities and life commitments as a vehicle to find freedom, as an opportunity to give up to something bigger than oneself and as a way to watch one’s likes and dislikes.… Read the rest
Ajahn Viradhammo notes that if we are preoccupied with the conditioned, we cannot be available to the unconditioned. To learn about dullness or anxiety for example, we make an effort to sustain our awareness on the changing nature of conditioned phenomenon. He also speaks on being patiently aware of negative judgments as objects of mind as well as noticing the habit of creating self-perception.… Read the rest
Ajahn Viradhammo discusses Luang Por Dune Atulo’s nuanced approach to the Four Noble Truths. He also speaks about how right effort helps us understand how our attention gets preoccupied in certain situations or with particular emotions.… Read the rest
Ajahn Viradhammo encourages our connection to the heart chakra, and offers techniques to do this when we start the day. He also discusses the interrelationship between dukkha-vedana, dukkha-Sacca, and dukkha-Lakkhana. He notes that preoccupation with the sense realm is a form of idolatry to experience, a belief that worldly objects will take care of us.… Read the rest
Ajahn Viradhammo uses an analogy for the fingers and the thumb where the fingers are the sense objects that touch the thumb — awareness. In this way being fully conscious of difficult emotions points back to awareness. He also distinguishes between the goal of trying to attain particular emotional responses to life and gaining wisdom and refuge through witnessing cessation.… Read the rest
Ajahn Viradhammo speaks about the skill required to cook an egg and shows how to use this same skill to understand our experience just as it is. He also talks about the joy of developing character and the importance of developing the perception of sense objects changing in awareness.… Read the rest
