In this videoconference talk from 27 Aug, 2021, Ajahn Anan talks about the hungry ghost festival in the Chinese tradition, doing good and sharing the merits with our parents, relatives and ancestors.
“And there is a question that when our parents have passed away already, what goodness should we do? First, is that we ourselves must build goodness, because our parents are our body. We have taken a part of them already for this body, this flesh and blood. Now we can look after ourselves, we can maintain our bodies. But in the beginning, this physical body came from them. All our cells, we got from our father and mother. We have them now already in this body. So we take this body to build goodness. We build dana–generosity, we build sila–morality, we build bhavana–developing our minds. The extent to which we take this body to make goodness, will be the extent that our mind will grow in inner joy.”
2021.08.10 | The Buddha went through such great effort and hardship to discover and teach this Noble Path that can free us all from suffering. So now that we’ve found the Way, why don’t we hurry up and walk it while we have the chance?
To join Ajahn Anan and the Wat Marp Jan Community online for daily chanting, meditation, and a Dhamma talk, you can email wmjdhamma@gmail.com for the link. Daily live sessions at 7pm – 9pm, Indochina Time (Bangkok, GMT+7).
We may be highly educated in worldly subjects and skills, but we do not even know when or how we will die. What we do know is that death must come, and we cannot take anything with us when we die. In this life, we have the great good fortune to have the opportunity to practice and develop our minds.
2021.08.09 | For us to develop on this path of practice, we do need to put in consistent effort and apply ourselves to it. Samadhi, for instance, doesn’t come about just through being idle. But when we set our hearts on it and really go for it without stopping, we will get there for sure.
To join Ajahn Anan and the Wat Marp Jan Community online for daily chanting, meditation, and a Dhamma talk, you can email wmjdhamma@gmail.com for the link. Daily live sessions at 7pm – 9pm, Indochina Time (Bangkok, GMT+7).
2021.08.08 | The days and nights are relentlessly passing by, how well are we spending our time? We have the firm intent to practise the Noble Eightfold Path. May we continue to walk this path of practice and never give up. With consistent effort we can meet with amazing results. We can see the Dhamma and realize great rapture and happiness, even for 3 days and 3 nights continuously on first seeing the truth.
To join Ajahn Anan and the Wat Marp Jan Community online for daily chanting, meditation, and a Dhamma talk, you can email wmjdhamma@gmail.com for the link. Daily live sessions at 7pm – 9pm, Indochina Time (Bangkok, GMT+7).
2021.08.05 | Clinging to the five aggregates of form, feeling, perception, mental formations and sense consciousness is stressful. But this is what most of us do—we carry them around with us everywhere we go—and as a result, we’re always burdened by them. But when we see just how heavy they are, our minds instantly drop them, and we experience lightness and freedom.
To join Ajahn Anan and the Wat Marp Jan Community online for daily chanting, meditation, and a Dhamma talk, you can email wmjdhamma@gmail.com for the link. Daily live sessions at 7pm – 9pm, Indochina Time (Bangkok, GMT+7).
In this videoconference talk from 20 Aug, 2021, Ajahn Anan talks about the importance of khanti, forbearance, and how it leads us to true freedom.
“So when we train in the beginning, if we want freedom then we need to endure. We call this sila. And when we can do it, then bit by bit our minds will develop samadhi. Then our minds can be free from all the sense objects that contact our mind. We can let it go. We can put it down.”
It’s natural that when we sit to meditate, we’ll have a lot of thoughts going through our heads. Our minds re-run the issues that we’ve dealt with throughout the day. But it’s important to put all of our worries and concerns down for now, and allow our hearts to find peace.
2021.08.04 | Recollecting the Buddha is a skillful way to bring the mind to peace. We can also recollect the stories of Mettaya Bodhisattva, the next Buddha, and Bodhisattva Sumedha, who was a past life of our Gotama Buddha.
To join Ajahn Anan and the Wat Marp Jan Community online for daily chanting, meditation, and a Dhamma talk, you can email wmjdhamma@gmail.com for the link. Daily live sessions at 7pm – 9pm, Indochina Time (Bangkok, GMT+7).
2021.08.03 | In the Mangala Sutta, Lord Buddha clearly explained what the highest blessings in life are. These take us right from the basics of generosity and living a good lay life, right up to transcending the world and realising the deathless.
To join Ajahn Anan and the Wat Marp Jan Community online for daily chanting, meditation, and a Dhamma talk, you can email wmjdhamma@gmail.com for the link. Daily live sessions at 7pm – 9pm, Indochina Time (Bangkok, GMT+7).