Everyone in this world is rushing around searching for true happiness, but hardly anyone finds it. In this talk, Ajahn Anan explains the nature of lasting happiness and how we can get there.
In preparation for the annual three-month rains retreat, Ajahn Anan exhorts Wat Marp Jan’s community to clean the monastery and purify their intention so that the time may be used wisely. He describes in detail how one can use contemplation of the body to overcome greed and lust.
After the Buddha became awakened under the Bodhi Tree, his heart was constantly joyful. Through faith, cultivating goodness and developed meditation, we too can realize our own inner awakened nature and become joyful like the Buddha.
The question of what happens after death, and whether our actions really do have results, has been around for a long time. In these five short teachings, Ajahn Anan tells us how we don’t need to look far away for the answer—we can see karma at work right within our own minds in the present moment. With this knowledge, we try to create as much goodness as we can in this life. But we must also accept the mistakes that we’ve made, learn our lesson, forgive ourselves, and move on.
Ajahn Anan reflects on the fleeting nature of external goals and possessions, and the enduring worth of internal qualities cultivated in the practice. He describes in detail how to develop the internal wealth of faith through pilgrimage and practice.
The coming about of a Kathina ceremony is no small feat. It requires the great compassion of the Buddha, the faith of the laity, and the harmony of the Sangha. Likewise, the single, liberating moment of insight arises in a flash, but the process of producing that spark requires the unity of many conditions.
Ajahn Anan speaks about how a calm mind imbued with samadhi can be used to divide the body into the four elements and dispel attachment and conceit.
Six short teachings on how to cultivate our lives so they become a genuine source of happiness. By being wise with our actions, we foster feelings of trust and peace, both in our relationships with others and within our own hearts. This provides us with a strong and stable foundation upon which we can grow internally; without this base, our meditation will always be unsettled. When we develop generosity and virtue well, they form into an inner wealth that is truly ours.
Ajahn Anan speaks about the points in the Buddha’s twelve links of Dependent Co-Arising where one should focus to avoid suffering. Using analogies from the Suttas and stories of his time with Ajahn Chah, he expands on the path of practice that can ready one for such insight.
Ajahn Anan gives a talk from Ubon province, where he traveled for the occasion of Luang Pu Chah’s birthday gathering. He teaches us about the nature of self, and how by perceiving anatta, we discover our true self.