Dhamma-Vinaya Patipadā Podcast

How can we direct our good intentions toward a happiness that does not fade? In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe explores kamma, desire, and the importance of giving Buddhist practice a clear purpose. Using the Buddha’s simile of kamma as a field, consciousness as a seed, and craving as water, he explains how generosity and virtue create opportunities for future happiness. Teachings on rebirth by aspiration, the advice devas offer a dying companion, and the Fire Sermon reveal both the benefits of merit and the impermanence of worldly and heavenly pleasures. By grounding generosity, meditation, and our aspirations in the Four Noble Truths, we can direct these opportunities toward relinquishment, stream-entry, and ultimately Nibbāna—the end of suffering.

PRACTICE WITH US ────────────────────

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION VIA ZOOM

North America — 1st and middle Sunday of the month, 7:00–8:30 p.m.

Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month, 7:00–8:30 p.m.

https://dhammavinayapa...

GROUP MEDITATION & CHANTING

Monday to Saturday — 4:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., Colombo time

https://dhammavinayapa...

SPECIAL EVENTS ────────────────────

Subscribe to our Luma calendar for updates on retreats, days of practice, and other special events:

https://luma.com/dhamm...

FIND OUT MORE ────────────────────

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/dham...

Website: https://www.dhammavina...

TIMESTAMPS

────────────────────

00:00:00 — Kamma, Intention, and the Roots of Desire

00:05:06 — How Desire Shapes Rebirth

00:10:15 — Generosity and the Power of Merit

00:15:21 — Rebirth Through Aspiration

00:18:42 — Human Pleasure and the Deva Realms

00:26:49 — Impermanence, Aging, and Death

00:31:25 — The Devas’ Advice on a Good Rebirth

00:35:24 — Practicing Within the Four Noble Truths

00:36:49 — The Wizard of Oz and Sensual Pleasure

00:38:49 — The Fire Sermon: All Is Burning

00:40:30 — The Kamma That Ends Kamma

00:43:28 — Stream-Entry and the Highest Use of Merit

What happens when we stop searching for answers where the light is easiest and instead look directly at the causes of suffering? In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe explores the Mūlapariyāya Sutta, “The Root of All Things,” and the Buddha’s practical framework of right view, right mindfulness, and right effort. Using the Four Noble Truths, the simile of searching for lost keys under a lamp post, and a story of snorkeling through dark Canadian lakes, he explains how desire shapes our world and how Buddhist practice redirects desire toward its own ending. The talk moves through virtue, restraint, meditation, letting go, and impermanence, showing how attachment makes the mind vulnerable to change. By repeatedly replacing coarser habits with more skillful ones, the path gradually leads toward greater freedom, stability, inner peace, and the end of suffering.

PRACTICE WITH US ────────────────────

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION VIA ZOOM

North America — 1st and middle Sunday of the month, 7:00–8:30 p.m.

Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month, 7:00–8:30 p.m.

https://dhammavinayapa...

GROUP MEDITATION & CHANTING

Monday to Saturday — 4:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., Colombo time

https://dhammavinayapa...

SPECIAL EVENTS ────────────────────

Subscribe to our Luma calendar for updates on retreats, days of practice, and other special events:

https://luma.com/dhamm...

FIND OUT MORE ────────────────────

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/dham...

Website: https://www.dhammavina...

TIMESTAMPS ────────────────────

00:00:00 — The Root of All Things

00:03:40 — Right View, Mindfulness, and Effort

00:04:50 — The Four Noble Truths as a Framework

00:07:15 — How Desire Creates Our World

00:08:55 — Two Directions of Desire

00:10:00 — Replacing Coarser Habits With Better Ones

00:11:18 — How the Dhamma Leads Onwards

00:14:11 — Progressing Step by Step Beyond Suffering

00:17:29 — Letting Go of What We Call “Mine”

00:20:00 — From Virtue to Restraint and Meditation

00:24:40 — The Buddha’s Map to the End of Suffering

00:28:51 — Impermanence, Kondañña, and the Dhamma Eye

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe explores how Buddhist practice can help us work wisely with fear, anxiety, and uncertainty. Beginning with an unexpected encounter with an intimidating dog in Sri Lanka, he examines uddhacca-kukkucca—the hindrance of restlessness, anxiety, fear, and remorse—and explains why different kinds of fear require different responses. Acute fear may call for courage, determination (adhiṭṭhāna), and strong effort, while prolonged uncertainty often requires surrender, faith, acceptance, and letting go. Bhante Joe also discusses breath meditation as a practical method for calming discursive thought, relaxing bodily tension, regulating anxious energy, and stepping back from perceptions of the past and future so that difficult situations can be approached with greater clarity, balance, and ease.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice!

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION via ZOOM

*North America — 1st Sunday and middle Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm *Australia — 1st Monday and middle Tuesday of the month: 7-8:30pm https://dhammavinayapa...

GROUP MEDITATION & CHANTING -Monday to Saturday

-4:30am and 6:30pm, Colombo time

https://dhammavinayapa...

LUMA CALENDAR

*Subscribe for updates on special events https://luma.com/dhamm...

Find out more... Linktree https://linktr.ee/dham... Website www.dhammavinayapatipada.com Welcome!

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 — Fear, Anxiety & Buddhist Practice 00:00:33 — Vassa in Sri Lanka & Why the Topic of Fear Arose 00:01:22 — The Dog Encounter: Meeting Fear Face-to-Face

00:04:24 — Walking Meditation Interrupted by an Intimidating Dog 00:05:27 — Managing Fear with Courage, Balance & Intelligence 00:05:43 — Uddhacca-Kukkucca: Restlessness, Anxiety, Fear & Remorse 00:06:52 — How Can This Buddhist Hindrance Be Overcome?

00:07:24 — Breath Meditation for Restlessness & Fear 00:07:49 — Why Different People Experience Fear Differently

00:09:42 — Acute Fear vs Anxiety About an Uncertain Future

00:11:20 — Different Types of Fear Need Different Solutions

00:11:44 — Determination, Effort & Will in Buddhist Practice

00:12:15 — Using Strong Effort to Face Acute Fear

00:13:14 — Adhiṭṭhāna: The Power of Determination

00:14:20 — When Determination Can Make Anxiety Worse

00:15:00 — Fear When the Future Cannot Be Controlled

00:15:53 — Buddhism’s Internal Solution to Uncertainty

00:16:09 — Surrender & Letting Go as the Opposite Strategy

00:16:26 — Monastic Training: Life Is Not Fully Under Our Control

00:17:43 — Why Prolonged Uncertainty Requires Faith

00:18:14 — Acceptance, Surrender & the Fading of Fear

00:19:17 — Why We Rely on the Strategies We Are Already Good At 00:20:17 — The Two Dogs Simile: Facing Both Kinds of Fear

00:21:19 — Why Breath Meditation Helps with Fear & Anxiety

00:21:42 — Past & Future Perceptions as Roots of Fear

00:22:21 — Developing Greater Mastery Over the Mind

00:22:52 — Stepping Back from Fear Before Taking Action

00:23:18 — Buddhist Practice Must Shape How We Act

00:23:54 — How Fear Can Hide the Solution to a Problem

00:25:20 — A Calm Mind Can Find a Balanced Response

00:25:33 — Making Life Support Meditation—and Meditation Support Life

00:26:28 — Final Reflections on Overcoming Fear

00:26:51 — Q&A Begins

00:28:25 — Q&A: What Exactly Is Breath Meditation?

00:29:08 — Breath Meditation as a Category of Practices

00:30:11 — Q&A: How to Meditate During Uncertainty

00:30:45 — Focusing on the Breath to Develop Equanimity

00:31:03 — Relaxing Bodily Tension Connected with Anxiety

00:31:42 — Changing the Breath to Change the Emotion

00:32:21 — Working with Anxiety as Energy in the Body

00:33:07 — Dissipating Anxious Energy & Grounding the Mind

00:33:41 — Closing Reflections

How can we know when to speak, remain silent, persevere, or change our approach? In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe explores the Buddhist teaching of knowing the right time and place. Drawing on his early years as a monk and the contrasting behavior of senior Thai Forest teachers, he explains how Buddhist practice unifies apparent opposites: faith and discernment, restraint and lightness, serenity and insight. He cautions against relying rigidly on one meditation technique or simply strengthening our natural tendencies while neglecting weak areas. Faith guided by discernment becomes stable, while discernment supported by faith gains energy and confidence. Through the Middle Path and a chemistry simile, Bhante Joe shows how skillfully combining the path’s qualities in the right proportions creates steady momentum and helps practitioners advance more effectively over the long term.

PRACTICE WITH US ────────────────────

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION VIA ZOOM

North America — 1st and middle Sunday of the month, 7:00–8:30 p.m.

Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month, 7:00–8:30 p.m.

https://dhammavinayapa...

GROUP MEDITATION & CHANTING

Monday to Saturday — 4:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., Colombo time

https://dhammavinayapa...

SPECIAL EVENTS ────────────────────

Subscribe to our Luma calendar for updates on retreats, days of practice, and other special events:

https://luma.com/dhamm...

FIND OUT MORE ────────────────────

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/dham...

Website: https://www.dhammavina...

TIMESTAMPS

────────────────────

00:00:00 — Knowing the Right Time and Place

00:01:24 — Balancing Faith and Discernment

00:02:15 — When to Speak and When to Be Silent

00:02:48 — Developing Intuition Through Reflection

00:03:38 — Creativity in Meditation Practice

00:04:13 — The Limits of One-Sided Practice

00:05:00 — Strengthening Faith With Discernment

00:05:43 — Learning From Faith-Based Practitioners

00:06:29 — When Skepticism Becomes a Hindrance

00:07:11 — Unifying Opposites on the Middle Path

00:08:12 — Applying the Dhamma in the Right Measure

Can mental imagery strengthen meditation, or can it quietly pull the mind away from its intended object? In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe answers a practitioner’s question about using imagined pictures to restore and maintain mindfulness. He explains meditation objects, or kammaṭṭhāna, and examines image-based Buddhist practices such as asubha contemplation of the body and kasiṇa colour discs. Drawing on Ajahn Chah’s spider simile, Bhante Joe shows how an image can briefly guide attention back to the breath, while warning that interesting pictures may fade, multiply, and lead into unrelated thought. The key is to match the method to one’s temperament, use temporary reminders in proper measure, and remain with the chosen object whether meditation feels engaging or dull. Applied patiently, these Buddhist teachings support steadier mindfulness and a more resilient long-term Buddhist practice.

PRACTICE WITH US ────────────────────

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION VIA ZOOM

North America — 1st and middle Sunday of the month, 7:00–8:30 p.m.

Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month, 7:00–8:30 p.m.

https://dhammavinayapa...

GROUP MEDITATION & CHANTING

Monday to Saturday — 4:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., Colombo time

https://dhammavinayapa...

SPECIAL EVENTS ────────────────────

Subscribe to our Luma calendar for updates on retreats, days of practice, and other special events:

https://luma.com/dhamm...

FIND OUT MORE ────────────────────

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/dham...

Website: https://www.dhammavina...

TIMESTAMPS

────────────────────

00:00:00 — Can Mental Imagery Support Meditation?

00:00:36 — Ajahn Chah’s Spider Simile

00:00:57 — Meditation Objects And Foundations Of Mindfulness

00:01:19 — Asubha Contemplation And Mental Images

00:02:39 — Kasiṇa Practice With Colour Discs

00:03:17 — Choosing A Suitable Meditation Object

00:04:19 — Using Imagery To Return To The Breath

00:05:05 — Mental Images Versus Direct Intention

00:05:19 — When Imagery Becomes A Distraction

00:05:39 — Using Images In The Appropriate Measure

00:06:35 — Staying With Meditation When Interest Fades

In this Dhamma talk from the ancient monasteries of Anuradhapura, Bhante Joe explores how physical solitude supports meditation and how a quiet mind can carry inner peace wherever it goes. Drawing on Ritigala, Kaludiya Pokuna, forest monks, and his own retreats, he explains why silence can initially feel threatening. Buddhist teachings on distorted perception are illustrated through the Buddha’s leper simile, while the boiling-water simile shows how the hindrances obscure clear seeing. The six animals tied to a stake represent the senses restrained by a steady meditation object, until their restless pulling subsides. By cultivating a strong desire for stillness and learning to delight in an empty dwelling, Buddhist practice gradually transforms our perception of happiness, benefiting both ourselves and those around us.

PRACTICE WITH US ────────────────────

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION VIA ZOOM

North America — 1st and middle Sunday of the month, 7:00–8:30 p.m.

Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month, 7:00–8:30 p.m.

https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

GROUP MEDITATION & CHANTING

Monday to Saturday — 4:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., Colombo time

https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

SPECIAL EVENTS ────────────────────

Subscribe to our Luma calendar for updates on retreats, days of practice, and other special events:

https://luma.com/dhammavinayapatipada

FIND OUT MORE ────────────────────

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/dhammavinayapatipada

Website: https://www.dhammavinayapatipada.com

TIMESTAMPS ────────────────────

00:00:00 — Homage and Silence in Ancient Anuradhapura

00:01:55 — Why the Buddha Recommended Noiseless Places

00:03:32 — How Solitude Supports Meditation

00:06:52 — Forest Monks and the Silence They Carry

00:08:52 — Why Silence Can Feel Threatening

00:10:15 — Distorted Perception and the Leper Simile

00:12:29 — The Boiling-Water Simile for the Hindrances

00:14:09 — Training the Mind to Enjoy Solitude

00:17:37 — Sense Restraint and the Six Animals

00:20:00 — Acceptance, Letting Go, and Catharsis

00:21:49 — Delighting in an Empty Dwelling

00:24:44 — Cultivating a Burning Desire for Stillness

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe explores what the Buddha means by being “developed in body” and “developed in mind”: learning not to be overwhelmed by painful feeling or carried away by pleasant feeling. Drawing on a discourse involving Saccaka, he explains how whole-body awareness, mindfulness of feeling (vedanā), and careful attention can prevent thoughts and emotions from taking root. The talk examines papañca, distraction and doomscrolling, the influence of speech and association, counter-perceptions such as mettā and asubha, and the development of equanimity. It also considers how identity and perception shape experience, and how awareness can become a more stable basis for peace. The concluding Q&A discusses breath meditation, working skillfully with physical pain, and changing long-established patterns of thought.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice!

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION via ZOOM

*North America — 1st Sunday and middle Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm

*Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm

https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

LUMA CALENDAR

*Subscribe for updates on special events

https://luma.com/dhammavinayapatipada?k=c

Find out more...

Linktree https://linktr.ee/dhamma.vinaya.patipada

Website www.dhammavinayapatipada.com

Welcome!

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe reflects on MN 106 and the Buddha’s teaching that identity can form around sensuality, form, meditative attainments, and the perceptions that shape our experience. He explains how the Buddhist path uses wholesome desire to overcome unwholesome desire, refined perceptions to release coarser perceptions, and contemplation of the four elements to calm and ground the mind. Drawing on Thai Forest meditation teachings, the talk explores breath energy, embodied awareness, upādāna as both clinging and sustenance, and the gradual uprooting of craving. The concluding Q&A offers practical guidance on using meditation instructions, approaching teachers, and framing questions around the ending of suffering.

PRACTICE WITH US ────────────────────

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION VIA ZOOM

North America — 1st and middle Sunday of the month, 7:00–8:30 p.m.

Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month, 7:00–8:30 p.m.

https://dhammavinayapa...

GROUP MEDITATION & CHANTING

Monday to Saturday — 4:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., Colombo time

https://dhammavinayapa...

SPECIAL EVENTS ────────────────────

Subscribe to our Luma calendar for updates on retreats, days of practice, and other special events:

https://luma.com/dhamm...

FIND OUT MORE ────────────────────

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/dham...

Website: https://www.dhammavina...

TIMESTAMPS ────────────────────

00:00:00 — Where Identity Takes Hold

00:01:22 — How Perception Creates Our World

00:05:18 — Using Perception to Go Beyond Perception

00:08:41 — Using Desire to Overcome Desire

00:10:30 — The Four Elements as a Meditation Framework

00:15:21 — Grounding the Mind in the Body

00:17:49 — Balancing the Elements and Refining Happiness

00:19:06 — Upādāna: Clinging, Sustenance, and Identity

00:21:41 — Uprooting Craving and Realizing Nibbāna

00:23:29 — Q&A: MN 106 and Noble Liberation

00:24:01 — Q&A: Craving, Clinging, and Fuel

00:25:38 — Q&A: Working with Meditation Instructions

00:29:22 — Q&A: How to Ask a Meditation Teacher for Guidance

Can Desire Lead to Freedom? How Perception Ends Clinging | Bhante Joe

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe explores how ignorance (avijjā) and craving (taṇhā) work together as the roots of suffering. He explains that ignorance is not merely a lack of knowledge, but also the mind’s tendency to forget, conceal, or avoid seeing what truly leads to happiness and suffering. Drawing on personal experiences with meditation, worldly ambition, travel, and busyness, he shows how mindfulness (sati) restores memory and helps us recognize cause and effect. Through practical examples involving food, sensual pleasure, meditation, and stream-entry, the talk encourages practitioners to become careful “connoisseurs of happiness,” discern the real costs and benefits of their choices, and gradually follow the Buddha’s path from temporary pleasure toward deeper peace, dispassion, and release.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice! BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION via ZOOM *North America — 1st Sunday and middle Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm *Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm https://dhammavinayapa... LUMA CALENDAR *Subscribe for updates on special events https://luma.com/dhamm... Find out more... Linktree https://linktr.ee/dham... Website www.dhammavinayapatipada.com Welcome!

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 — Opening Chanting

00:00:22 — The Two Roots of Suffering: Ignorance and Craving

00:00:49 — Why Are Both Ignorance and Craving Called the Cause of Suffering?

00:01:19 — Avijjā: Not Knowing the Four Noble Truths

00:01:37 — Searching for Happiness Through Wealth and Power

00:02:20 — Worldly Success, Dissatisfaction, and Turning to Meditation

00:03:33 — How Ignorance Gives Rise to Craving

00:04:00 — How Craving Strengthens Ignorance

00:04:36 — Knowing the Truth but Not Wanting to See It

00:05:00 — Using Meditation to Enhance Worldly Life

00:05:49 — When Meditation Became More Fulfilling Than Worldly Pleasure

00:06:30 — Craving, Forgetting, and Protecting the Causes of Suffering

00:07:46 — Knowledge as the Antidote to Ignorance

00:08:21 — Why Intellectual Knowledge Is Not Enough

00:09:16 — How Meditation Reduces the Baseline of Suffering

00:09:34 — The Connection Between Ignorance and Forgetting

00:10:19 — Busyness, Community Work, and Losing Touch with Peace

00:11:17 — Returning to Longer Periods of Meditation

00:12:34 — How the Memory of Peace Gets Covered Over

00:12:53 — Sati: Mindfulness as Memory and Recollection

00:14:00 — Recognizing the Signposts That Lead to Peace

00:14:28 — Training the Mind to See Cause and Effect

00:15:13 — Investigating Sensual Pleasure in the Present Moment

00:15:41 — The Food Experiment: How Much Happiness Does Pleasure Give?

00:17:16 — Becoming a “Connoisseur of Happiness”

00:17:43 — Maraṇasati and Remembering What Truly Matters

00:18:31 — Quieting the Mental Noise That Obscures Happiness

00:18:56 — Stream-Entry and Understanding Cause and Effect

00:19:26 — How We Guard and Protect Our Own Suffering

00:20:14 — Opanayiko: How the Buddha’s Teaching Leads Onwards

00:21:17 — Developing an Intuitive Understanding of the Mind

00:22:28 — Seeking Greater Happiness at a Lower Cost

00:22:49 — Saṃvega and Chanda: Urgency and the Desire for Something Better

00:23:56 — Cleaning the Cloth: Preparing the Mind to See the Dhamma

00:24:43 — What the Stream-Enterer Directly Understands

00:25:04 — Why Ignorance Cannot Be Overcome Through Intellect Alone

00:25:47 — Moving from Sensual Pleasure to the Happiness of Meditation

00:36:09 — Why Discernment Remains the Supreme Faculty

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe reflects on truthfulness, keeping promises, and the Buddhist training in right speech. Beginning with the Buddha’s description of the Tathāgata as one who “does as he says and says as he does,” he explores how hypocrisy weakens faith, how clear goals support honest speech, and why trustworthy conduct matters both outwardly and inwardly. He also explains how to balance firm commitment with wise uncertainty, using phrases like “I’m planning to” or “I’ll try to” when conditions are unclear. Drawing on Ajahn Chah, the Cankī Sutta, and practical examples, he shows how keeping our word builds integrity, self-trust, and strength on the path to the end of suffering.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice!

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION via ZOOM  *North America — 1st Sunday and middle Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm 

*Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm  

https://dhammavinayapa...

GROUP MEDITATION & CHANTING -Monday to Saturday -4:30am and 6:30pm, Colombo time https://dhammavinayapa...

LUMA CALENDAR  *Subscribe for updates on special events https://luma.com/dhamm...

Find out more...

Linktree https://linktr.ee/dham...

Website www.dhammavinayapatipada.com

Welcome!

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 — Opening: The Tathāgata Does as He Says

00:00:13 — Avoiding Hypocrisy in Religious Life

00:00:36 — Keeping Promises and Speaking Truthfully

00:01:03 — Goal-Setting as a Support for Honest Speech

00:01:45 — Doing What We Say Becomes a Habit

00:02:17 — When Goal-Oriented Speech Goes Too Far

00:03:31 — Ajahn Chah: Speech Without Uncertainty

00:03:48 — Protecting Truth with Wise Phrasing

00:04:21 — Discernment: Balancing Confidence and Ambiguity

00:04:42 — The Near Enemy of Ambiguous Speech

00:05:25 — The Cankī Sutta: Saying What We Actually Know

00:05:55 — The Power of Being Around Trustworthy People

00:06:15 — How Punctuality and Culture Shape Speech

00:06:49 — Living Among People Who Break Their Word

00:07:42 — Choosing Supportive Conditions for Virtue

00:08:10 — Balancing External and Internal Supports

00:08:25 — Becoming Trustworthy to Yourself

00:08:54 — Determination Through Difficult Times

00:09:04 — Less Hypocrisy, Clearer Goals, Stronger Practice

00:09:29 — Using Uncertainty to Protect the Truth

00:09:39 — Truthfulness as Support for the Buddhist Path

What gives the greatest return on the time and energy we invest in life? Bhante Joe explores this question through the Buddha’s teachings on impermanence, death, meditation, and long-term happiness. Drawing on the simile of four mountains closing in on King Pasenadi, he explains why aging, sickness, and death should inspire wise urgency rather than fear. This Dhamma talk considers the hidden cost of busyness, the peace found in solitude and meditation, and how Buddhist practice helps us live meaningfully and without regret. By investing in the Dhamma, we gradually develop greater inner ease, stability, and independence from changing worldly conditions.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice!

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION via ZOOM *North America — 1st Sunday and middle Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm *Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm

https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

GROUP MEDITATION & CHANTING *Monday to Saturday — 4:30am and 6:30pm, Colombo time

https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

LUMA CALENDAR *Subscribe for updates on special events

https://luma.com/dhammavinayapatipada?k=c

Find out more... Linktree https://linktr.ee/dhamma.vinaya.patipada Website www.dhammavinayapatipada.com

Welcome!

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 — What Is the Best Investment in Life?

00:01:08 — Death, Uncertainty, and the Future

00:02:29 — The Rickety Chair of Impermanence

00:03:32 — Four Mountains Closing In

00:04:20 — The Hidden Cost of Busyness

00:05:54 — Meditation, Solitude, and Greater Ease

00:07:11 — Why Stillness Goes Against the World

00:08:48 — How to Live Without Regret

00:10:00 — Investing in Long-Term Happiness

00:11:31 — Becoming an Island Unto Yourself

DESCRIPTION

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe examines the “unity of opposites” and asks whether Buddhism regards good and bad, saṃsāra and Nibbāna, or consciousness and its objects as ultimately one. Contrasting Theravāda teachings with Taoism, later Buddhist philosophy, and New Age non-duality, he explains the Buddha’s categorical distinction between wholesome and unwholesome kamma, while showing how gain and loss, pleasure and pain, praise and blame, and status and obscurity continually turn into one another. The talk explores feeding, becoming, compassion, the formless attainments, radiant consciousness, and Luangta Mahā Bua’s final insight—showing why even the most sublime unity must be investigated, relinquished, and transcended through dispassion on the path to the unborn and the end of suffering.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice!

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION via ZOOM

*North America — 1st Sunday and middle Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm

*Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm

https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

LUMA CALENDAR

*Subscribe for updates on special events https://luma.com/dhammavinayapatipada?k=c

Find out more...

Linktree https://linktr.ee/dhamma.vinaya.patipada

Website www.dhammavinayapatipada.com

Welcome!

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 — Is Bad Necessary in Order to Recognize Good?

00:00:26 — Perennial Philosophy and the Unity of Opposites

00:00:34 — Taoism, the Tao, and Non-Duality

00:00:56 — Are Saṃsāra and Nibbāna the Same?

00:01:38 — New Age Spirituality and Universal Consciousness

00:02:25 — Theravāda Buddhism: Good and Bad Are Not the Same

00:03:14 — Unwholesome Kamma, Decline, and Lower Rebirth

00:04:04 — The Eight Worldly Winds: Opposites That Keep Turning

00:04:26 — Wealth, Generosity, Poverty, and Stinginess

00:05:49 — Power, Jealousy, and Rejoicing in Others’ Success

00:06:24 — Why Buddhism Does Not Celebrate the Unity of Opposites

00:06:34 — “What Is One?” All Beings Subsist on Food

00:07:18 — Feeding, Identity, Becoming, and Rebirth

00:08:00 — “Interbeing Is Inter-Eating”

00:08:33 — Skillful Identities and the Noble Eightfold Path

00:09:14 — Compassion: All Beings Are Like Us

00:10:10 — Formless Attainments and Infinite Consciousness

00:11:27 — Luangta Mahā Bua and the Radiant Mind

00:12:03 — The Subtle Ripple: Consciousness as Avijjā

00:12:49 — Impermanence and the Instability of Sublime States

00:13:09 — Transcending Unity Through Dispassion

00:13:51 — Letting Go of Radiant Consciousness

00:14:10 — Nibbāna Beyond Words, Concepts, and Proliferation

00:14:33 — Bright Kamma, Dark Kamma, and Neither-Bright-Nor-Dark Kamma

00:15:00 — How Opposites Sustain Craving and Saṃsāra

00:15:26 — The Noble Eightfold Path Beyond Bright and Dark

00:15:50 — The Unborn, Unmade, and Unconditioned

00:16:12 — Buddhism’s Radical Aim: The End of Suffering

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe explains the four bases of spiritual power (iddhipāda)—desire (chanda), effort (viriya), intent or concentration (citta), and investigation (vīmaṃsā)—and why the Buddha taught that they are indispensable for arahantship. Drawing on the Iddhipāda-vibhaṅga Sutta, the story of Venerable Soṇa and the lute-string simile, Ānanda’s explanation of using desire to go beyond desire, and practical examples from education, gardening, and scientific discovery, he shows how wholesome aspiration supports the Buddhist path. The talk explores how balanced effort becomes sustainable, how meditative calm nourishes and strengthens the mind, and how investigation reveals the causes of happiness and suffering. Together, these four qualities provide a practical framework for integrating Dhamma practice into daily life, developing meditation consistently, and inclining the mind toward Nibbāna—the complete ending of suffering.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice!

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION via ZOOM

*North America — 1st Sunday and middle Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm

*Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm

https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

GROUP SITTINGS AND PUJAS

*Monday - Saturday: 4:30am and 6:30pm, Colombo time

https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

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Welcome!

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 — Why Arahantship Requires the Four Iddhipādas

00:00:50 — Why the Four Bases Are Often Overlooked

00:01:11 — Psychic Powers and the Destruction of the Taints

00:01:54 — The Iddhipāda-vibhaṅga Sutta

00:02:24 — Chanda: Wholesome Desire as a Basis of Success

00:03:42 — Using Desire to Bring Desire to an End

00:03:59 — Ānanda’s Park Simile: Desire Falls Away When Fulfilled

00:04:49 — Long-Term Aspiration and the Sri Lankan Education Example

00:05:54 — Balancing Strong Desire with Patience

00:06:36 — Venerable Soṇa’s Extreme Effort

00:08:00 — The Lute-String Simile: Balancing Effort

00:09:19 — Inclining the Mind Toward Nibbāna

00:10:42 — Viriya: Effort, Persistence, and Shaping One’s Life

00:12:14 — Making Dhamma Practice Central to Daily Life

00:14:26 — Finding More Time to Meditate

00:15:00 — Citta: Calm, Concentration, and Inner Strength

00:15:29 — Jhāna as Food for the Mind

00:16:01 — Meditation as Nourishment for the Long Journey

00:18:37 — Vīmaṃsā: Investigation and Cause and Effect

00:19:48 — The Garden Simile: Cultivating Good Results

00:21:00 — Why the Buddhist Path Grows Exponentially

00:21:32 — The Search for True and Lasting Happiness

00:22:34 — How the Four Bases Work Together

00:22:49 — Why the Iddhipādas Are Essential for Arahantship

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe explores how the perception of beauty can either create attachment or provide essential nourishment for Buddhist practice. Drawing on the Buddha’s fortress simile, the four bases of power, and teachings on overcoming anger, he explains how desire can be directed towards concentration, virtue, reverence, and the wholesome qualities of others. Through personal stories from monastic training and vivid images of drinking from a hoofprint, surviving in the wilderness, and carrying an inexhaustible source of nourishment, he shows how appreciating goodness can brighten the mind. He also offers practical guidance for discovering ease and beauty in the breath, allowing meditation to become a sustainable source of happiness and strength on the path to Nibbāna.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice!

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION via ZOOM

*North America — 1st Sunday and middle Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm

*Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm

https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

MORNING AND EVENING MEDITATIONS

*4:30AM and 6:30PM Colombo Time

https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

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Welcome!

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 — The Triple Gem and the Theme of the Beautiful

00:00:17 — When Beauty Leads to Attachment and Suffering

00:00:30 — Directing Desire and Attachment Towards the Path

00:00:46 — The Fortress Simile: Concentration as Nourishing Food

00:01:19 — The Buddhist Path as a Difficult and Beautiful Journey

00:01:45 — Desire and the Four Bases of Spiritual Power

00:02:19 — Perceiving Beauty Where There Is Genuine Benefit

00:02:44 — Overcoming Anger by Focusing on the Good in Others

00:03:47 — Drinking from a Hoofprint: Humility and Spiritual Nourishment

00:04:49 — Wholesome Beauty That Brightens and Restores the Mind

00:05:36 — Learning Reverence During Monastic Training

00:06:19 — Freedom from Dependence and Missing the Senior Monks

00:07:34 — The Unexpected Happiness of Paying Respect

00:07:59 — Why the Buddha Chose to Honour and Revere the Dhamma

00:08:47 — Finding Happiness in the Goodness of Other People

00:09:09 — The Sun and Stars: Letting the World Remain Bright

00:10:20 — Surviving in the Wilderness: Nourishment Versus Luxury

00:11:20 — Why People Starve for Happiness Amid Abundant Food

00:12:09 — The Goodness of Others as a Source of Happiness

00:12:14 — Finding Beauty and Ease in the Meditation Breath

00:12:40 — Letting the Mind Gravitate Naturally to the Present

00:13:07 — Concentration as Food on the Path to Awakening

00:13:40 — The Inexhaustible Provision Carried Within

00:14:33 — Wholesome Sources of Beauty, Faith, and Inner Strength

00:15:10 — Cultivating Beauty on the Way to Unchanging Happiness

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe reflects on the role of wise questioning in Buddhist practice, beginning with the Buddha’s final invitation to the monks to ask questions before his passing. He explains how a central question—what leads to true happiness?—sets the framework of the path and keeps practitioners from being distracted by side experiences, views, or theories. Drawing on the Buddha’s fourfold analysis of questions, he discusses categorical teachings such as the precepts, analytical questions in meditation, the need for cross-questioning and reframing, and the value of putting aside questions that do not lead to liberation. He also points to the balance between careful investigation and intuitive discernment, showing how sincere questioning can open hidden avenues of progress and guide the heart toward deathless happiness.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice!

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION via ZOOM

*North America — 1st Sunday and middle Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm

*Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

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MORNING AND EVENING PUJAS

~4:30am to 5:45am

~6:30pm to 7:45pm

https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

Find out more... Linktree https://linktr.ee/dhamma.vinaya.patipada Website www.dhammavinayapatipada.com

Welcome!

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 — Honouring the Triple Gem & the Buddha’s Final Teaching

00:00:22 — Why Questions Matter in Buddhist Practice

00:00:45 — The Central Question: What Leads to True Happiness?

00:01:01 — Staying on the Path Without Wandering

00:01:45 — Visions, Energy, and Side Experiences in Meditation

00:02:26 — The Buddha’s Four Types of Questions

00:02:52 — When Dhamma Questions Become Theories About the World

00:03:49 — Are We Looking for Ultimate Reality or the End of Suffering?

00:04:05 — Categorical Questions and the Five Precepts

00:05:12 — Why White Lies Still Obstruct the Path

00:05:42 — No Breaking the Precepts: Black-and-White Teachings 00:06:03 — Analytical Questions and Complex Teachings 00:06:39 — Meditation Topics Depend on Temperament

00:07:17 — Cross-Questioning and Reframing the Whole Problem

00:07:28 — The Two-Horned Question to the Buddha

00:08:27 — The Baby and the Stone: Compassionate Speech

00:09:18 — When Our Practice Requires Reframing

00:09:53 — Asking: What If the Opposite Is True?

00:10:06 — Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater

00:11:36 — Assuming There Is a Solution to Every Practice Problem

00:12:11 — Analytical Thinking and Intuitive Discernment

00:12:59 — Asking the Heart Which Way to Go

00:13:37 — How Questions Help Avoid Practice Problems

00:14:01 — Escaping Tunnel Vision in Practice 00:14:18 — Unifying Intellect and Intuition 00:14:38 — The Buddha’s Final Actions as Teachings

00:15:01 — All Conditioned Things Are Impermanent

00:15:12 — Questions That Lead Toward Deathless Happiness

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe reflects on practicing with illness and how Buddhist training can help the mind remain steady when the body is sick, painful, or uncertain. Drawing from personal experience in Europe, meditation retreats, and Thai Forest teachings, he explains how sickness can become a place of practice rather than only a problem to escape. The talk explores surrendering around pain, preparing the mind through meditation and good deeds, recollecting the devas, balancing realistic uncertainty with a positive path toward healing, and using illness as “Dhamma medicine.” Bhante Joe also points to deeper contemplations on the body, food, death, dispassion, and Nibbāna—the deathless peace beyond the instability of bodily experience.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice!

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION via ZOOM

*North America — 1st Sunday and middle Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm

*Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm

https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

LUMA CALENDAR

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Welcome!

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 — Warm Greetings from Europe & Practicing With Illness

00:00:25 — Why Sickness Comes With Having a Human Body

00:00:53 — How Illness Can Overcome the Mind

00:01:23 — Feeling Trapped in the Body During Pain

00:01:35 — First Meditation Retreat: Learning to Sit Through Pain

00:02:17 — Surrendering to Pain Instead of Fighting It

00:03:05 — Why Trying to Escape Pain Can Make It Worse

00:03:34 — When Giving Up Becomes Letting Go

00:03:59 — Training Before Illness: Meditation as Preparation

00:04:38 — Building a Steady Practice Before Sickness Comes

00:05:00 — Good Deeds as Support for Sickness and Death

00:05:17 — A Near-Death Memory and What the Mind Grasps For

00:06:34 — Why Good Deeds Feel Like Solid Ground

00:07:00 — Fever in Italy and Recollection of Past Merit

00:08:28 — Sickness, Death, and Having the Bags Packed

00:09:44 — Recollection of the Devas as a Rare Meditation

00:10:18 — Rational and Intuitive Faculties in Buddhist Practice

00:11:02 — The Inner Compass: Where Would the Mind Go?

00:12:38 — The Best Destination for Continuing Toward Nibbāna

00:13:16 — Do Devas Practice the Dhamma?

00:14:25 — Why Sickness Holds Less Threat After Preparation

00:15:00 — Practical Ways to Deal With Sickness

00:15:10 — Holding Uncertainty While Looking for Healing

00:16:15 — Finding the Right Medicine and Searching for Solutions

00:17:27 — The Medicine of Dhamma Practice

00:17:51 — Turning Illness Into a Small Self-Retreat

00:18:18 — Practicing Through Flu on Retreat

00:19:11 — The Healing Power of Not Giving Up

00:19:49 — Contemplation During Illness

00:20:24 — Sickness as a Chance to See the Truth of Suffering

00:20:36 — Loathsomeness of the Body, Food, and Mindfulness of Death

00:21:02 — Attachment to the Body as the Root of Illness-Pain

00:21:34 — Letting Go of the Body and Becoming Free from Lust and Hatred

00:22:05 — When Sickness Reveals the Pain of Having a Body

00:23:03 — Seeing the Hidden Suffering Built Into Food and Form

00:23:31 — Developing Dispassion at the Root

00:24:06 — Inclining the Mind Toward Nibbāna

00:24:34 — The Deathless Element Beyond Pain

00:25:07 — Using Saṃsāra as Fuel for Liberation

00:25:34 — Meditation as Preparing for Death

00:26:01 — Pain Is Not the Mind

00:26:19 — Using Pain to Understand and Overcome Pain

00:26:45 — The Five Khandhas and Reaching Toward Something Higher

00:26:52 — The Buddha’s Tools for Practicing With Sickness

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe explores dependent origination, or paṭicca samuppāda, as a practical teaching for understanding how suffering is built and how it can be taken apart. Rather than treating dependent origination as an abstract theory about everything that happens, this talk focuses on the links of contact, feeling, craving, clinging, becoming, kamma, and consciousness. Bhante explains how craving acts like a seamstress, stitching together experiences into a sense of self and a world we take to be solid. Drawing on the Buddha’s teachings, Thai Forest practice, and examples from meditation, this talk looks at how awareness can bring safety and steadiness, while also pointing beyond the fascination with consciousness itself toward the unborn, unformed, and uncreated: the end of suffering.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice!

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION via ZOOM *North America — 1st Sunday and middle Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm *Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm

https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

LUMA CALENDAR *Subscribe for updates on special events

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Find out more... Linktree https://linktr.ee/dhamma.vinaya.patipada Website www.dhammavinayapatipada.com

Welcome!

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 — Opening Chanting

00:00:24 — The Buddha’s Complete Teachings

00:02:52 — Kamma as the Field, Consciousness as the Seed

00:04:49 — Contact, Feeling, Craving, and Clinging

00:08:41 — The Seamstress of Craving

00:12:14 — Cutting the Flow at Contact

00:13:16 — The Robe as a Picture of Constructed Reality

00:15:04 — Becoming and the Momentum of Kamma

00:17:55 — The Body as the Field of Experience

00:21:02 — Consciousness Watered by Craving

00:22:26 — Practicing with Awareness and Contact

00:25:05 — Is Awareness the Ultimate Reality?

00:27:25 — The Thai Forest Path of Cutting Desire

00:29:24 — The Beauty and Instability of Consciousness

00:31:17 — Beyond Consciousness and the Unborn

00:33:16 — Taking Reality Apart Through Dependent Origination

00:35:02 — Q&A: Contact, Feeling, and Right Effort

00:38:51 — Inclination Before Contact and Feedback Loops

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe explores the Buddha’s teaching on contact, feeling, craving, and suffering through the image of craving as “the seamstress.” Drawing from the Pārāyana Sutta, dependent co-arising, and the simile of the flayed cow, this talk explains how suffering often begins before obvious painful feelings arise. Rather than only trying to manage anxiety, anger, sadness, or desire after they have already become overwhelming, the Buddha points us further upstream to contact itself: the meeting of eye and forms, ear and sounds, body and sensations, mind and thoughts. By contemplating contact as a danger, practitioners learn how dispassion can cut the chain of suffering at its source and open the way toward a happiness beyond the instability of the world.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice!

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION via ZOOM *North America — 1st Sunday and middle Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm *Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm

https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

LUMA CALENDAR *Subscribe for updates on special events

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Find out more... Linktree https://linktr.ee/dhamma.vinaya.patipada Website www.dhammavinayapatipada.com

Welcome!

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 — The Buddha’s Teaching on the Further Shore

00:00:47 — Contact, Origination, Cessation, and the Seamstress

00:01:23 — Looking for the Real Cause of Suffering

00:01:46 — Throwing Stones at the Tiger, Not the Dog

00:02:52 — Why Contact Comes Before Feeling

00:03:45 — The Desire for Sense Contact

00:04:26 — The Butterfly Effect of Suffering

00:05:04 — Cutting the Stream at Its Source

00:06:15 — Pleasant Practice and Painful Practice

00:07:02 — Seeing Danger in What We Cherish

00:08:34 — Contemplating Contact as a Frame of Reference

00:09:35 — The Simile of the Flayed Cow

00:10:35 — Breaking the Chain of Dependent Co-Arising

00:11:06 — Craving as the Seamstress

00:12:11 — Stop Protecting the Cause of Suffering

00:12:53 — Transcending the Seamstress and Finding Safety

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe reflects on the momentum that develops through steady Buddhist meditation practice. Drawing on stories from Korean Zen, the image of learning to ride a bicycle, and teachings from the Pāli Canon, he explains how returning again and again to the present moment gradually weakens mental proliferation, anxiety, anger, and distraction. The talk explores samatha and vipassanā not simply as separate techniques, but as qualities of mind that support one another: calm makes the mind clearer, and clarity allows us to see what should be cultivated and what should be abandoned. Through practical examples, Bhante Joe describes how mindfulness of the body and breath can simplify the mind, build inner stability, and change the habits that shape our character and destiny. This teaching is especially useful for meditators looking to understand how effort, present-moment awareness, and repeated wholesome actions can lead toward greater peace and release.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice!

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION via ZOOM *North America — 1st Sunday and middle Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm *Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm

https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

LUMA CALENDAR *Subscribe for updates on special events

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Find out more... Linktree https://linktr.ee/dhamma.vinaya.patipada Website www.dhammavinayapatipada.com

Welcome!

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 — From Korean Zen to Theravāda Practice 00:01:17 — Kusan Sunim and the Momentum of Meditation 00:03:02 — A Retreat in Sri Lanka and the Power of Returning 00:03:40 — Learning to Ride the Bike of Practice 00:04:40 — Samatha and Vipassanā as Qualities of Mind 00:05:30 — Papañca and the Mind’s Habit of Proliferation 00:08:11 — Grounding Attention in the Body and Breath 00:09:24 — Building Momentum One Return at a Time 00:11:58 — Sīla, Samādhi, Paññā, and Release 00:13:01 — The Bubble of Future Fantasies 00:14:10 — Seeing the Layers of Craving in the Mind 00:15:17 — The Clear Bowl of Water and Mental Clarity 00:17:00 — Samatha Strengthens Wisdom 00:17:48 — The Radiant Mind and the Darkening of Kilesa 00:18:42 — Meditation and Everyday Triggers 00:20:23 — Not Feeding the Buttons of Identity 00:21:01 — The Bliss That Comes from Spiritual Practice 00:22:24 — Knowing the Direction and Actually Pedaling 00:24:00 — Training the Mind to Listen 00:25:33 — Concentration, Discernment, and Changing One’s Habits 00:26:50 — Momentum That Transforms One’s Life 00:27:20 — Actions, Habits, Character, and Destiny 00:28:05 — Practice That Leads Toward Happiness and Release

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe reflects on the wandering life, uncertainty in practice, and the need to develop adaptability, ingenuity, and equanimity when conditions do not go according to plan. Drawing on recent travel experiences in Sri Lanka, he explores how practitioners can meet discomfort, instability, and unexpected obstacles without losing heart. The talk looks at how to brighten the mind, let go of fixed expectations, and work with life step by step rather than being driven by fear, hope, or compulsive problem-solving. In the closing Q&A, Bhante Joe responds to a question about overthinking and explains how a more skillful, grounded approach to problem-solving can support peace and balance on the path.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice! .

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION via ZOOM *North America — 1st Sunday and middle Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm

*Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm . https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/ .

LUMA CALENDAR *Subscribe for updates on special events . https://luma.com/dhammavinayapatipada?k=c . Find out more... .

Linktree https://linktr.ee/dhamma.vinaya.patipada Website www.dhammavinayapatipada.com . Welcome! .

00:00:00 — The Wandering Life and Its Uncertainty

00:01:31 — Arriving at the Monastery and Adapting to Conditions

00:02:40 — Mold, Bats, Power Cuts, and Unexpected Obstacles

00:06:57 — Uncertainty as Part of Meditation Practice

00:07:40 — Ingenuity in the Face of Difficulty

00:09:03 — Brightening the Mind When Plans Fall Apart

00:10:00 — Equanimity and Letting Go of Expectations

00:12:27 — Perseverance, Perception, and Finding a Way Through

00:14:24 — Every Form of Suffering Has a Solution

00:15:32 — Letting Go of Past and Future 00:16:20 — Q&A: When the Mind Wants to Solve Everything

00:18:03 — Crossing the River by Feeling the Stones

watch the full video here

{https://youtu.be/wWW5B48OOqg?si=YEHemPmzPdq8rQjo}

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe reflects on how to recognize true spiritual friendship on the Buddhist path and why noble friendship is not merely supportive, but foundational to practice. Drawing on the Buddha’s correction to Ven. Ānanda that admirable friendship is the whole of the holy life, he explores how the people around us shape our habits, values, and direction through subtle influence, shared culture, and lived example. The talk examines the difference between friendships based on personal liking and those grounded in Dhamma, the role of noble silence and shared practice in monastic life, the importance of affection and openness in learning from a teacher, and the danger of being misled by fame, charisma, or spiritual reputation. This reflection is a practical guide for anyone trying to discern good friends, false friends, and the kinds of relationships that genuinely support dispassion, integrity, and growth in the Dhamma.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice!

BI-WEEKLY MEDITATION via ZOOM *North America — 1st Sunday and middle Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm *Australia — 1st and middle Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm

https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

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Welcome!

watch the full video here

{https://youtu.be/ztaW_WK8f9g?si=oQeH1laksAwTjepr}

In this Dhamma reflection, Bhante Joe begins with a vivid experience of heading into the forest to sleep on a sun-warmed rock, only to find himself watching the weather and reading the direction of the wind. From there, he develops the Buddha’s simile of the eight worldly winds—gain and loss, pleasure and pain, praise and blame, fame and anonymity—and reflects on how people spend their lives trying to stand in front of what they want while avoiding what they fear. Drawing on a striking encounter in Toronto, he explores why worldly change hurts so much, how papanca or proliferation expands the sense of self, and why sati-sampajañña offers a safer refuge. He then turns to body contemplation, non-reactivity, and practical ways of working with pain, before answering questions on suitable meditation anchors, mindfulness of bodily movement, and the role of loving-kindness in countering anger and attachment.

From our monthly session with the Mettā Centre. For more information see www.mettacentre.org

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Welcome!!

Watch the full video here 👇🏾👇🏾

{https://youtu.be/l_4JdBofO9c?si=HaEPh_4YPo6LHhXJ}

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MONTHLY MEDITATION via ZOOM

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*North America — 1st Sunday of the month: 7–8:30pm

*Australia — 1st Monday of the month: 7–8:30pm

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In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe reflects on how a person’s sense of identity is quietly built around the body and the attention given to both the body and the external world. He explains that the body functions as a hidden condition behind attraction and aversion, behind hopes and fears, and behind many assumptions about who we are now and who we will be in the future. Drawing on practical examples, including changes in bodily tension, illness, stroke, aging, and death, he shows how attachment to the body supports the construction of self. Bhante Joe then outlines two Buddhist approaches for weakening this attachment: mindful awareness of the body as it is, and contemplation of the body’s instability, decay, and mortality. In doing so, he points to a way of practice that brings greater equanimity, less identification, and less suffering.

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 — Introduction: Identity, Conditions, and the Body

00:00:04 — How Attention to Body and World Shapes the Sense of Self

00:00:25 — Attraction, Aversion, and the Body as the Hidden Agent

00:00:59 — The “Hidden Villain” Behind Hopes, Fears, and Worldly Involvement

00:01:29 — Bodily Attention, Tension, and the Grooves of Thought

00:02:09 — How Shifting Bodily Attention Can Shift Mood and Perception

00:03:04 — Identity Depends on the Assumption of a Functioning Body

00:03:36 — Example from Walking in Pickering: Stroke and Loss of Control

00:05:00 — When the Body Breaks, Perceptions of Self Break with It

00:05:56 — Two Ways to Loosen Attachment to Body and Identity

00:06:29 — Mindfulness of the Body as It Is: Walking, Sitting, Standing

00:07:05 — Cutting Off Proliferation and Future Identity-Making

00:07:41 — Relaxation, Reduced Proliferation, and the Concrete Simile

00:08:23 — A More Active Contemplation: Taking the Body as Object

00:08:53 — Countering the Assumption of Bodily Stability

00:09:19 — Aging, Sickness, and Death as Present Contemplations

00:09:30 — Recent Deaths and the Shock of Impermanence

00:10:34 — Building the Perception: “My Body Is Impermanent”

00:10:48 — Less Shaken by Gain and Loss, Praise and Blame

00:11:28 — The Body and Freedom from a World-Bound Sense of Self

00:12:05 — The Buddha’s Instructions: Body Among Bodies, Clear Comprehension, Death Reflection

00:12:18 — Loosening Attachment to the Body, Present and Future Suffering

In this interview, I had the opportunity to sit down with Venerable Jeffrey. Venerable Jeffrey has been a undertaken the traditional monastic wandering in life California since 2022. We discussed his reflections on the practice of wandering: its practical demands, the way it may be undertaken in daily life, and how it can support meditation and the higher aim of release.

For those interested in learning more about Venerable Jeffrey, his teachings, and his community, please visit:

www.samanasevana.org

Stream Entry and the Five Precepts | Ritual, Merit, and Ungrasped Virtue

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe responds to two related questions from a meditation course: whether formally undertaking the five precepts through ritual creates a different kind of merit than keeping them inwardly and sincerely, and what it means when the virtue of a stream-enterer is described as “ungrasped.” Drawing on examples from Theravāda Buddhist culture, monastic training, and the role of ritual in sustaining faith, community, and heart quality, he explains why the actual keeping of the precepts is primary, while ritual can still serve as a meaningful support for practice. He also reflects on how virtue deepens on the noble path, why one may wisely hold tightly to the precepts while training, and how that relates to stream entry, identity, and the gradual letting go that leads toward Nibbāna.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice!

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MONTHLY MEDITATION via ZOOM *North America — 1st Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm *Australia — 1st Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm

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Welcome!

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 — Opening Question: Ritual and the Five Precepts

00:00:14 — Does Formal Undertaking Change the Merit?

00:01:05 — Western Suspicion of Ritual

00:01:49 — Why Ritual Still Has Spiritual Utility

00:02:15 — Chanting, Memory, and Connection to Lineage

00:04:01 — When Ritual Becomes Empty

00:04:32 — The Main Point: Actually Keeping the Precepts

00:05:20 — Heart Quality, Faith, and Why Practice Can Dry Out

00:07:15 — Community, Ritual, and Long-Term Spiritual Support

00:08:31 — Second Question: What Does “Ungrasped” Mean?

00:09:10 — Virtuous, but Not “Made of Virtue”

00:10:22 — Stream Entry, the Vinaya, and Moral Restraint

00:11:48 — Carried Along by the Dhamma Stream

00:12:20 — Why One Still Holds Tightly to the Precepts in Training

00:13:18 — Quiet Virtue and Not Building a Reputation Around It

00:14:18 — The Ladder Simile: Grasping, Then Letting Go

00:15:16 — Closing Reflection: Use Ritual Well, Keep the Precepts Well

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe begins with an unusual story about giving a talk in Sinhala through ChatGPT translation, then uses that experience as a doorway into a deeper reflection on how the mind interprets the world. He explores how perception, memory, fear, and proliferation can cause reality to become “lost in translation,” and how Buddhist practice trains us to see more clearly. Centering on the phrase yathābhūta—“things as they are” and “things as they have come to be”—he explains how meditation reveals both the present appearance of experience and the causes that construct it. Drawing on practical examples, a meeting with a Thai monk, and reflections on breath meditation, samādhi, and apāna samādhi, Bhante Joe shows how learning to observe and skillfully shape experience can bring peace, clarity, and a foundation for deeper dispassion.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice!

MONTHLY MEDITATION via ZOOM

*North America — 1st Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm *Australia — 1st Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm

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Welcome!

Samādhi the Same as Jhāna?

00:28:57 — Q&A: Does Fixed Penetration Come Gradually?

00:30:18 — Q&A

DESCRIPTION

In this practical Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe responds to a common meditation problem: when concentration feels weak, how do you stay with “perception” (saññā) topics—like impermanence, not-self (anattā), asubha, and mindfulness of death—without drifting into random thinking or restlessness? He explains how the mind naturally builds a “reality” around what it wants by moving through past, future, and present, and how we can use that same creativity to cultivate counter-perceptions that loosen attachment. He also shares Thai Forest–style strategies for making these contemplations workable: choosing a topic that truly fits your temperament, resting when the mind gets tired by returning to a steady concentration theme, using a short mantra or list to keep momentum, and even changing posture—especially walking meditation—to refresh energy and clarity. Over time, these perceptions can shift from something you do into a new background way of seeing.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice!

MONTHLY MEDITATION via ZOOM *North America — 1st Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm *Australia — 1st Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm https://dhammavinayapa...​

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Website www.dhammavinayapatipada.com

Welcome!

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00​ — Opening & the practical question (staying on a “saññā / sunyā” topic)

00:00:45​ — Why these are “perception” trainings (not just a technique)

00:01:06​ — How the mind builds reality around a theme (ice-cream-cone example)

00:02:27​ — Cultivating counter-perceptions by approaching a topic from many angles

00:03:06​ — From foreground practice to background habit: saññā becomes a new way of seeing

00:03:27​ — The main danger: getting derailed into unrelated thought patterns

00:04:40​ — Picking the right topic for your character (the “good food / good friend” feel)

00:05:21​ — Interest carries steadiness (the business-study analogy)

00:06:02​ — When the mind gets tired: rest by returning to your core concentration theme

00:07:13​ — A practical boost: use a mantra or an existing list

00:07:29​ — Asubha support: cycling through the body-parts list (again and again)

00:08:26​ — Use one word/body-part as a “meditation word”

00:08:35​ — Why phrases still carry the “flavor” of a perception

00:09:13​ — Mindfulness of death mantra: “Death is certain, life is uncertain”

00:09:44​ — Change posture: walking meditation to energize perception contemplations

00:11:06​ — Signs it’s working: less craving, less “spark” in old triggers

00:11:46​ — Closing summary & encouragement

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe explores how Buddhist practice can stay strong in a world shaped by smartphones, social media, and AI. He begins by questioning the common idea that “older = purer,” pointing out that while the Buddha’s time was ideal because the Buddha was present, the path itself isn’t about clinging to ancient tools—it’s about training bodily, verbal, and mental action. From there, he looks at why communication technology can be especially risky: modern platforms are built around attention-capture architectures that can hook the mind through anticipation and reward. He then offers practical guardrails—using clear intention, boundaries, and “funneling” online interaction toward more meaningful connection (and ideally, real face-to-face relationships). In Q&A, he reflects on AI, “taking what is not given,” and whether digital detox can support practice when used wisely.

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MONTHLY MEDITATION via ZOOM

*North America — 1st Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm

*Australia — 1st Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm

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Welcome!

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 — Opening & Why “Technology + Practice” Matters

00:00:21 — Religion, Conservatism, and Idealizing the Founder’s Era

00:01:53 — Why the Buddha’s Time Was “Ideal” (And What That Does Not Mean)

00:02:13 — Simplicity Isn’t Automatically Purity: The “Simple Tech” Argument

00:05:37 — The Vinaya, Human Extremes, and the Buddha’s Skillful Framework

00:06:31 — Modern Prosperity, Convenience, and the New Challenges

00:09:38 — The Core Principle: Focus on Actions, Not Nostalgia for Tools

00:15:46 — Why Communication Tech Is the Biggest “Practice Risk”

00:16:28 — The Scroll Trap: Reward/Anticipation Architecture & Addiction

00:26:19 — A Monk in the Modern World: Adopting the Existing “Architecture”

00:27:04 — “Raise the Teachings to Meter”: Accessibility vs Elite Control

00:29:09 — “The Medium Is the Message”: How Platforms Shape Human Relationships

00:30:16 — The Slippery Slope: Boundaries That Prevent Getting Pulled In

00:31:22 — Face-to-Face Connection, Loneliness, and “Junk Food” Socializing

00:32:42 — A “Funneling System”: From Likes → Groups → Value-Rich Connection

00:37:19 — Q&A: Where Technology Trips Us Up (And What Guidelines Help)

00:38:16 — Guardrails: Identify What Pulls the Mind Away vs Supports Practice

00:39:41 — Q&A: AI, “Taking What Is Not Given,” and Digital Detox

00:40:21 — AI + Intellectual Property: How This Relates (and Doesn’t) to the Precepts

00:42:31 — Digital Detox as Experiment: Use the Time for Practice & Relationships

00:43:35 — Closing Reflections: Make Technology a Paving Stone, Not a Wall

In this Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe responds to a thoughtful question about breath meditation: if the breath feels uncomfortable, should we adjust it—or “just observe”? Using early Buddhist framing, he explains how both strategies can be skillful at different times: sometimes we counter a defilement through deliberate fabrication, and sometimes we overcome it through steady, equanimous observation. The talk focuses especially on fear and anxiety (often tied to uncertainty and renunciation), and how over-relying on the rational mind can slide into worry through endless planning. Bhante also highlights the “observer” stance as a useful felt sense—but warns against turning it into a view of something permanently safe or “deathless.” Discernment is the key: know when to observe, when to adjust, and when to change approaches.

Tune in with fellow practitioners for dhammavinayapatipada online events and community practice!

MONTHLY MEDITATION via ZOOM

l*North America — 1st Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm

*Australia — 1st Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 — Question: Is “Just Observing” Ever Neutral?

00:00:30 — Intention in Practice: Why There’s No Blank-Slate Observer

00:00:58 — The Breath Feels Uncomfortable: Adjust or Watch?

00:01:24 — The Desk/Posture Simile: When Pain Seems Self-Induced

00:01:53 — Two Ways to Work with Defilements: Observe vs Fabricate

00:02:15 — Even Equanimity Is a Fabrication (A Chosen Way of Attending)

00:02:28 — “Escape” Meditations: Different Tools for Different Hindrances

00:02:47 — Why This Matters for Fear, Anxiety, and Renunciation

00:03:06 — Rationality’s Near Enemy: Worry, Fear, and Over-Planning

00:03:41 — When You Can’t Map the Future: Learning to Not Act

00:04:37 — Watching Emotions Arise, Remain, and Pass Away

00:05:08 — Mindfulness & Alertness: Keeping Proliferation Simple

00:05:22 — The “Observer” Felt Sense: Safety, Peace, and Its Limits

00:06:23 — Ajahn Mun’s Instruction: If It’s Unusual, Just Observe

00:06:42 — Equanimity as an Antidote to Fear (When Proliferation Drops)

00:07:13 — When Observation Is NOT Skillful: Knee Pain, Damage, and Adjustment

00:07:34 — The Big Trap: Mistaking the Observer for the Deathless

00:08:14 — What Observes Is Consciousness: Useful, Yet To Be Let Go Of

00:09:13 — Breath Discomfort: When “Just Observing” Can Calm Anxiety

00:09:46 — Discernment as the Supreme Factor: Choosing the Right Tool

00:10:30 — The Path as Fabricated: Skillful Actions, Skillfully Understood

00:11:10 — A Doctor’s Medicine Chest: Building a Repertoire Through Results

00:11:26 — A Living Example from Thailand: “Just Walking” / “Just Standing”

00:12:09 — Final Point: Even Awareness Must Be Seen as Impermanent, Not-Self

00:12:31 — Context Matters: A Tool Among Many, Eventually Put Down

00:12:49 — Closing: Holding the Practice Properly Makes It Beneficial

In this Q&A, Bhante Joe answers practical questions: what’s the goal of walking meditation? How can it be done? What object should you use? He clarifies that walking is not a separate “technique,” but a posture for continuing your main meditation theme—whether that’s breath, a mantra like “Buddho,” or a perception-based contemplation. Drawing on the Thai Forest Tradition, he explains how to set up a walking path (straight line, circle, or even a mindful stroll), why clear physical boundaries help limit mental proliferation, and how walking can support health, energy, and steady practice. He also highlights teachings connected to walking meditation, including benefits like stamina for journeys and concentration that can “last long,” and offers guidance for integrating walking meditation into everyday life.

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MONTHLY MEDITATION via ZOOM *North America — 1st Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm *Australia — 1st Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

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Welcome!

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 — Homage & Intro: A Walking Meditation Question from Discord

00:00:45 — The Four Postures: Walking as a Posture for Continuing Practice

00:01:14 — Classic Setup: Straight Path Length, Turning, and Knee Strain

00:02:28 — Walking in a Circle: Fewer Stops, Steadier Rhythm

00:03:01 — Why Boundaries Help: Limiting the Mind’s Proliferation

00:03:37 — “Mindful Stroll” Option: City/Trail Walking When Space Is Limited

00:05:11 — Key Principle: Walking Meditation Isn’t a Technique—It’s a Posture

00:05:21 — Keeping the Breath While Walking: Energy Flow & Attention Balance

00:06:29 — The Cankama Sutta: Benefits like Digestion, Journeys, Lasting Concentration

00:07:45 — When Sitting Methods Don’t Transfer: Adapting the Object While Walking

00:08:10 — Thai Forest Methods: “Buddho” with Breath or Steps (Feet as Anchor)

00:08:40 — Which Topics Fit Best? Samatha vs Investigation/Perception on the Move

00:09:49 — No One-Size-Fits-All: Personalizing Object and Approach

00:10:17 — Why Many Forest Monks Walked Most: Health, Endurance, Long Practice Hours

00:11:06 — Everyday Integration: Picking Up Your Theme While Moving Around

00:11:19 — Closing Blessings & Encouragement for Steady Practice

In this lively Vinaya conversation, Bhante Joe interviews Venerables Suddhāso, Suñño, and Soma on a topic most Buddhists rarely hear about—but many will find fascinating once they do: the “small robe” option in Theravāda and what the Vinaya actually says about robe dimensions (cīvara). Together they explore why modern robes often became much larger over the centuries, how “standard” robe culture can drift in practice, and what we can reasonably infer about Buddha-era measurements—including the famous “sugata span”—through textual evidence, translation challenges (ancient units vs modern meters), and hints from early Buddhist art and archaeology.

What makes this discussion especially grounded is that it’s not just theory: Ven. Suñño and Ven. Soma actually wear the smaller-size robe, and Bhante Joe often does as well, so they speak from lived experience—how wearing smaller robes changes daily life, travel, durability, and the ease of switching between one-shoulder and two-shoulder wearing. Along the way they unpack real-world details—wind, folding, pins, tags, repairs, and visiting monasteries with different expectations—while keeping the deeper theme in view: simplicity and discipline matter, and so does harmony with the community you’re living or staying with.

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Vens Suddhāso and Soma are from Empty Cloud Italia:

www.emptyclouditalia.org

Ven. Suñño is from Bodhinyana monastery:

https://bswa.org/location/bodhinyana-monastery/

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MONTHLY MEDITATION via ZOOM *North America — 1st Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm *Australia — 1st Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm https://dhammavinayapatipada.com/monthly-meditation-meetings/

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Welcome!

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 — Robe Sizes Today: Why Do Monks Wear Different Sizes?

00:00:26 — Vinaya Rules & How Robes Gradually Became Larger Over Time

00:01:16 — Theravāda vs Other Traditions: Variations in Upper-Robe Size

00:01:51 — Returning to Early Robe Size: Textual Clues + Archaeology & Ancient Art

00:02:41 — Translating Vinaya Measurements: Ancient Units vs Modern Meters

00:03:23 — “Nine by Six Sugata Spans”: What Does It Mean in Practice?

00:04:06 — The Hand-Span Measure: Estimating Robe Dimensions from the Body

00:05:14 — The “Small Robe” Movement Story: Rules, Rebellion, and Why It Faded

00:07:10 — A Personal Robe Story: Donation, Fit Issues, and “Right Size” Discovery

00:09:53 — Patimokkha in English: Why Measurement Translation Matters

00:11:08 — Cost in the Buddha’s Time & “Cut It Down to Size” (Vinaya Logic)

00:12:35 — Tudong/Dhutaṅga Context: When the Robe Becomes More Functional

00:13:34 — Practical Ease: One-Shoulder vs Two-Shoulder Wearing

00:15:00 — Inspired Connection: “Coming Home” Feeling in a Simpler Robe

00:15:22 — Practical Benefits: Swapping Robes, Warmth, and Re-adjusting Easily

00:17:02 — Frugality & Durability: Why Smaller Robes May Last Longer

00:19:05 — Downsides: Standing Out, Community Harmony, and “Elephant Trunk” Folding

00:20:33 — Wind, Pins, and Tags: Real-World Challenges and Fixes

00:23:14 — Harmonizing While Traveling: Adapting to Local Monastery Standards

00:24:39 — Demonstration: Multiple Vinaya-Based Ways to Wear the Robe

00:26:41 — Closing Reflections: Small Robe as an Option (Not an Injunction)

00:29:20 — Outro: Guests, Lineage, and Monastery Links

In this New Year Dhamma talk, Bhante Joe reflects on goal-setting in Buddhism and why the Buddha’s training revolves around a clear aim: Nibbāna, the end of suffering. He explains how effective spiritual goals rely on balancing two vital capacities—the rational faculty (breaking a large aim into realistic, workable steps) and the intuitive faculty (recognizing opportunities and obstacles as kamma ripens). Using practical analogies such as “candy goals” versus nourishing goals and the logic of wise investment, he encourages prioritizing virtue (sīla), generosity (dāna), and meditation (bhāvanā)—goals that give lasting returns, build momentum, and support progress on the path to liberation.

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MONTHLY MEDITATION via ZOOM

*North America — 1st Sunday of the month: 7-8:30pm

*Australia — 1st Monday of the month: 7-8:30pm

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Welcome!

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 — New Year’s Greeting & Setting Intentions

0:25 — Buddhism as a Goal-Based Path: Nibbāna as the Aim

0:35 — The Buddha’s Quest: Ending Rebirth and Suffering

1:06 — Two Keys to Achieving Goals: Rational Mind + Intuition

1:24 — Break Big Goals into Small Steps (Making Nibbāna Practical)

2:22 — Realistic Goal-Setting: Why Awakening Is Possible (But Not “Tomorrow”)

3:00 — Kamma & Determination: Mysterious Openings and Obstacles

3:50 — Rational Planning vs Intuitive Navigation (The “Big City” Metaphor)

4:09 — Taking Stock: Wholesome & Unwholesome Qualities (Personal Sub-Goals)

5:10 — Generosity Done Wisely: Learning from Success and Mistakes

5:56 — Balance Simile: Walking Smoothly with Both “Feet”

6:29 — Why We Do Everything: Happiness vs Suffering (The Hidden Driver)

7:03 — “Candy-Bar Goals” vs Nourishing Goals (Short-Term vs Long-Term Benefit)

8:25 — The Investment Metaphor: Compounding Returns Through Practice

9:26 — Best New Year Resolutions: Meditation, Generosity, Virtue

10:13 — Thai Forest Goal Tips: Why Truthfulness Builds Power

10:26 — Keeping Promises Creates Momentum (Externally and Internally)

11:32 — The Prince Simile: When Nibbāna Starts to Feel Within Reach

12:46 — Why Goal-Setting Matters in Buddhism (The Buddha as Supremely Goal-Oriented)

13:18 — New Year Determinations: Choosing High-Priority Goals

14:04 — The Best Aim: Determinations for the Ending of Suffering

This Dhamma talk discusses the importance of using the Buddha's teachings for the practical purpose of ending suffering, rather than ontological knowledge about the world. It also discusses how the teaching on not self is not meant to lead to a state where one 'realizes' no self, but to a state where the mind is untouched by the world.

In this talk, Bhante Joe reflects on “de-meshing with the world”: how the world praises outward expansion—more roles, more projects, more involvement—while the Dhamma points in the opposite direction, toward inward contraction and release. Using the idea of papañca (proliferation), he explains how the mind rushes out, mixes with things, and then suffers when those entanglements shift. The talk clarifies dispassion not as dullness or negativity, but as a liberating cooling of obsession and addiction, where the mind regains choice, balance, and a broader range of genuine happiness. Through generosity, precepts, kindness, and meditation, we gradually separate the mind from what burdens it and learn the peace of renunciation.

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Welcome!

Timestamps

00:00:00​ Intro: meeting a tudong teacher in Thailand

00:00:55​ Going against the grain: the world’s push toward “expansion”

00:01:28​ Papañca: proliferation/expansion of the mind

00:03:49​ The Dhamma’s direction: contracting and drawing inward

00:05:20​ Practice tools: precepts, generosity, meditation (and disentangling)

00:06:20​ Dispassion clarified: not dullness—freedom from obsession

00:07:10​ Passion and suffering: a relationship example

00:09:19​ Addiction and narrowing happiness (how fixation shrinks the mind)

00:11:47​ Inner happiness expands as the mind withdraws

00:12:47​ The difficult phase: withdrawal, cravings, endurance

00:13:51​ “Renunciation is good”: letting go as peace

00:14:14​ The Buddha’s arc of withdrawal & closing encouragement

Ajahn Nissarano is the abbot of Newbury Buddhist Monastery. He trained at Bodhinyana monastery for almost ten years setting out to stay in Thailand and later Sri Lanka. He spent 13 years in Sri Lanka, eight of which were in a solitary cave.

For more information on Ajahn Nissarano's teachings, Newbury Buddhist Monastery, and the Sanctuary of Stillness Retreat Centre, see https://www.bsv.net.au/.

A Dhamma discussion based on the question (paraphrased)

'We've talked about how ease is important in practice, is there a role for more rigorous practices?'

This talk discusses how inspiration is a skill. It discusses strategies for making the mind inspired and for using inspiration well when it arises.

*Note: this talk was given as a backup for our regular monthly meditation session for North America. For more information about our monthly events, see our Luna calendar...

https://luma.com/user/dhammavinayap

A Dhamma discussion based on the question (paraphrased...)

Hey, Bhante... what I find sometimes with myself is this: I’ll sit down, and then there’s this resentment or anger from something during the day. Someone said something wrong to me or whatever, right? So I’ll be trying to look for the root or the background of that. Do I think that I don’t count? Or that my opinion doesn’t matter? So I’m always trying to theorize: What’s the second noble truth here? What is the craving or the clinging behind this?

... Is there a belief there? Why is there contact sparking in that way? So I’m always trying to look for a belief or expectation behind it. And maybe I’m just trying to avoid something unpleasant here and now, right?

This talk examines the lives of the Buddha's lay noble disciples in ancient and modern times to see what lessons their lives can hold for practitioners today. It also examines the Buddha's specific advice to laypeople in the Pali Canon that can act as a checklist for lay practice.

An interview with Ajahn Kovilo of Clear Mountain Monastery.

Links

Website

www.clearmountainmonastery.org

The Wellbeing Cascade: https://www.clearmountainmonastery.org/2024/06/11/the-wellbeing-cascade/

Thus You Should Train Yourselves

https://www.clearmountainmonastery.org/2024/06/11/thus-should-you-train-yourselves/

This talk discusses how the Buddha defines the self as a process. We can create selves that are based on increasingly refined levels of happiness, until we don't need to create a self at all.

Dhamma discussion based on the question...

'..sort of following the connection from last week, the comments you made about observing cause and effect and especially observing causes of happiness today. I was wondering if you could clarify the difference between the latter two types of happiness that you mentioned. So, happiness from stillness and that from absence. Could you speak a little bit more about that?'

An ovāda and Dhamma discussion based on developing an increasing sensitivity to different types of happiness as a means to progress on one's path.

This ovāda discusses the importance of keeping in mind the purpose for which we meditate and evaluating our success or failure against that purpose

A simple guided breath meditation suitable for beginners

A Dhamma discussion based on the question...

"Bhante, I have some questions regarding discernment. First, is the only type of discernment which leads to the destruction of defilements and cutting fetters, insight into the three characteristics? Secondly, are we supposed to A) actively produce discernment in meditation, or B) are we cultivating our minds in a way that will cause discernment to arise naturally? Whichever it is, can you please explain how this is done?"

This ovāda discusses the Buddha's statement that the in and out breath is a body among bodies.

A Dhamma discussion based on the question...

@ Bhante Joe I have a question around balancing contentment and striving. When I was meditating last night I saw how much dissatisfaction I was experiencing over not having the type of meditation experiences I had the last time and wanted again this time. The perceptions and feelings were not as strong and pleasant.

I tried forcing it for a bit, and then saw how I was suffering because I was forcing, not for what I couldn't experience. So, then I had a thought to just let the experience of the breath be enough the way it is in this moment. I stopped forcing my mind to try and relate to it in any particular way, and stopped obsessing about the meditation being as pleasant or deep as the last one.

Basically, I was practicing contentment with what was. But then I got to wondering if maybe I was just quitting when I should have pushed through and created the perceptions and feelings I was hoping for.

How do we know when it's the right time to strive and the right time to just be content and be with what is?

(line breaks added)

This Sutta and Vinaya study discusses controversies regarding working out and keeping the precept not to eat after solar noon.

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Note: the distinction between milk fat and milk protein appears to be the reason why milk is not allowed after noon, but butter is. Also note that whey protein powder is derived from milk.

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Relevant Sutta and Vinaya Passages:

Majjhima Nikāya (MN)

MN 2 – Sabbāsava Sutta (All the Effluents) — Thanissaro Bhikkhu

https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/MN/MN2.html

Pātimokkha Rules (Vinaya)

Pācittiya 37 (Pc 37) — Food at the wrong time (BMC discussion & full rule context)

https://www.dhammatalks.org/vinaya/bmc/Section0019.html#37

Nissaggiya Pācittiya 23 (NP 23) — The five tonics (7-day limit)

Index: https://www.dhammatalks.org/vinaya/bmc/Section0030.html

Medicine chapter note: https://www.dhammatalks.org/vinaya/bmc/Section0044.html

Mahāvagga (Vinaya)

Mv VI (Bhesajjakkhandhaka) — Allowance of the five products of a cow

https://www.dhammatalks.org/vinaya/Mv/MvVI.html (see “The allowance of the Five Products of the Cow”)

Cullavagga / Khandhaka (Vinaya)

Senāsanakkhandhaka — Assigning lodgings (Dabba Mallaputta)

https://suttacentral.net/pli-tv-kd16

Saṅghādisesa (Vinaya)

Saṅghādisesa 8 — Background with lodging-assignment formula

https://suttacentral.net/pli-tv-bu-vb-ss8/en/brahmali

A Dhamma discussion based on the question...

"Dear Bhante, between asubha and 4 elements contemplation for the body, which is a better one to get insight into annata and cut the fetter of Sakkāya-diṭṭhi?

I was watching a video of Ajahn (X) and it was mentioned there that asubha is primarily to reduce lust and 4 elements is for insight into annata. Would that be the case? Because in my understanding asubha breaks up the body into impersonal things as well, wouldn’t this give insights into annata as well?

Im asking this because 4 elements is a more abstract meditation topic for me as of now, asubha for the body seems easier to do. What would you suggest Bhante?"

This ovāda discusses the importance of balance and experimentation in Buddhist practice.

A Dhamma discussion based on the question...

"Theruwan Saranai Bhante, have you encountered any lay people who have reached supramundane stages of practice, such as attaining the Jhanas or even attaining Sotapanna and/or beyond? What do you think allowed them to reach such stages of practice while still living as laypeople especially in the modern-day with all its distractions etc? (e.g. lifestyle changes, qualities, certain practices, mindset etc) Thank-you in advance Bhante 🙏"

This sutta study examines a popular claim that the only way to overcome suffering is to be with the experience without reacting to it. Attempting to change the experience — for example, by focusing on a meditation topic or manipulating thoughts — is seen as negative. The basic assumption is that desire and aversion cannot be used to overcome suffering.

In this study, we will look at the suttas to see whether these claims are supported. In particular, we will examine the Buddha’s teachings on constructing the path by deliberately shaping experience.

A Dhamma discussion based on the following question..

(after speaking about the possibility of bringing relationships with others into balance by withdrawing)

"How could I do this if it is with a family member that I can't avoid?"

This ovāda discusses setting goals and dealing with expectations of results in one's practice.

A Dhamma discussion based on the question...

Do you ever feel fear from what the Buddha teaches? How long this has been going on, how many lives this ball has been picking up speed. How many times has it been slowed but never fully stopped, leading onto suffering for a long long time.

I suppose that is the pessimistic view, one could also hold to that the ball has been slowing for a long time, and this life during a time of a Buddha's dispensation is one of the few opportunities to progress quickly towards the goal of the holy life. But then that is a lot of pressure, to wonder about what might happen if this opportunity is not taken advantage of. To throw it away for some cheap pleasure.

When I read the pali canon it seems to increase existential anxiety not decrease. Perhaps this is a common

symptom for westerners.

When I read the pali canon it seems to increase existential anxiety not decrease. Perhaps this is a common symptom for westerners who read much and practice little. There is a lot of fear when I read about how the Buddha advises his monks to practice like their head is on fire or to view sensory pleasure as hot coals. Then to reflect on how I am not living or practising like that, it is cognitive dissonance.

Curious what you think, or if you have seen similar sentiments repeated in others.

The ovāda discusses how the world burns with passion at the eyes, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, and the importance of seeing the cooling of this passion as peace.

A Dhamma discussion based on the question...

"While practicing I believe I can sometimes glimpse the impermanent nature of all determinations. For example, I can establish my mind on the impermanence of the breath and recognize that the breath depends on the body as its necessary basis which is in itself also determined by consciousness and thus also impermanent and not worth holding onto. This principle can be extended to everything in experience like the aggregates and sense domains.

What would be the reason that this is still something I need to cultivate in order to recognize? When I stop the contemplation it seems like the mind hasn't fully understood this principle of impermanence thoroughly enough so that it cannot be seen in any other way any longer.

Would you say this is just a matter of continued effort and repetition, so that at some point the mind will understand this principle 'all determinations are impermanent', or would you say that establishing the mind on this thoroughly for only one sit could be enough if this understanding sinks in deep enough?"

This ovāda discusses how to associate with solitary places. It was given at the ancient monastery of Situl Pawa inside Yala National Park.

A Dhamma discussion based on the question...

"Is the mindfulness that recognizes the absence of pressure when it is absent, and the presence of pressure when it is present, without being deceived by it, that supreme peace?

Or something moving in that direction?"

Suttas Referenced:

-MN 137 (Equanimity based on multiplicity)

-MN 22 (Let go of what's not yours)

-SN 51:15 (Four bases of psychic power, desire allayed through desire)

Video Referenced:

Away From the Source (On the decline and fall of Buddhism in India)

https://youtube.com/live/LJQwOT7tTVo?feature=share

This ovāda discusses how all beings have happiness as their goal and gives some of the Buddha's strategies to achieve it.

This video is a sutta study evaluating whether the meditation method of intense focus on a single object, such as the breath, is recommended by the Buddha.

It is a follow-up to the video “Is Meditation Only for Stream Enterers or Those Who Are Close?” In particular, it builds on the points made in that video—that the Buddha did teach the Satipaṭṭhānas to laypeople, and breath meditation is part of that framework.

This Ovāda discusses how experienced practitioners can lose motivation in meditation and how to overcome it.

A Dhamma discussion based on the question (condensed and paraphrased)...

'Bhante, thank you for giving me the chance to clarify my thoughts in writing—it’s something I rarely do.

When I refer to “‘the form (of the Satipatthanas) practiced’ today,” I mean the common methods most meditators now use, such as watching the breath for extended periods. I believe these approaches often address only the surface of suffering by temporarily “shutting down” the citta, rather than helping one truly understand and tame it through precepts and virtue first. As a result, some may mistakenly believe they are practicing properly even while engaging in unwholesome behavior, as long as they continue meditating.

Today, the Satipaṭṭhānas are often treated as a rigid method—like watching breath or thoughts—with the idea that this alone will bring freedom. While those with a developed citta might benefit from such techniques, I believe Satipaṭṭhāna is more appropriate at a later stage, once the mind is tamed enough to discern its own tendencies. At that point, the practice becomes a tool for deep reflection and dispassion.

This view is supported by the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, particularly the section that states: “(...) He lives contemplating origination factors in the body, or he lives contemplating dissolution factors in the body, or he lives...” and “The body exists,” to the extent necessary just for knowledge and mindfulness, and he lives detached, and clings to nothing in the world.”

Other passages in the sutta also support this interpretation: “And further, monks, a monk reflects on this very body enveloped by the skin and full of manifold impurity,” and similar observations of elements, decay, and mental phenomena, all done “just for knowledge and mindfulness, and he lives detached, and clings to nothing in the world.”

My main concern is that without a clear understanding of one’s citta and the roots of wholesome and unwholesome states, Satipaṭṭhāna may be practiced through ignorance. That’s why I believe the Buddha likely reserved these teachings for those already somewhat developed.

What do you think—does this seem correct to you?'