Q&A 30 October 2024

01:44 Q1: Dear Ajahn Achalo, thank you for your wisdom and teachings. The Tibetan Buddhists speak of the 'Eight Stages of Death' is this something that is taught in the Theravada tradition and should we be practising it? Thank you.
15:47 Q2: Dear Ajahn, when I was a kid, I had a realistic dream about my father being wrapped around by a gigantic snake and he was about to be killed and swallowed. Growing up he had always had a bad temperament and had caused a lot of pain and terror in the family due to all of the instability. Although as a family we learnt to love and forgive one another over the years. I had another disturbing and realistic dream about him doing horrible things to myself, my mother and my child, who appeared to be my sibling in my dream. I woke up having a gut feeling that this is what actually happened in our past lives. How likely was my dream projecting our past lives? Or could it have been Mara trying to disrupt and challenge the forgiveness and peace I had been experiencing in my mind? I rarely have nightmares and I’ve been meditating every day for the last 4 months. Can I assume these past kamma are resolving themselves by continuing to mediate and let go?
26:59 Q3: Dear Ajahn, I started serving as a relief teacher recently in one of the secondary schools. I realised that the students these days are using vulgar words so often that it has become an unconscious habit. It’s also scary to witness that the students are very attached to their portable devices. They are attached to games, Netflix, social media etc. Some teachers shared with me that the students habits are so deep that they feel there is nothing they can do. They advised me to just leave them alone. I am disheartened to witness this, as the school is considered one of the better schools in the neighbourhood. I cannot imagine what the other schools are like. I am attached to my two young daughters and I am very concerned about how they will be when they turn adolescent. A counsellor friend shared with me that I can contemplate the situation like this, asking… “Why do they live the life the way they live?” I am still pondering it. I attribute it to the law of Kamma, and the environment and family upbringing. Do you have any advice for me? I am aware that dhamma practice is mostly about looking within and not outward. How should I go about it? To observe it without making any judgements?
35:45 Q4: Does Deva needs to take their meal? Do they too have a family in the heavenly realm? Parents etc? Do they have lustful thoughts too? May I know what the lifestyle and routine is like as a deva? Having heard that 50 days in a deva realm is only a day in the human realm.
40:54 Q5: Dear Ajahn. I am trying to keep 8 precepts but not eating after afternoon is not working for me. I tried eating nuts and milk in the evening but it’s not enough. Please suggest something.
44:00 Q6: Dear Ajahn, in a recent talk you mentioned that if one doesn’t have enough merit to be reborn in Tusita heaven one should aspire to be reborn as a Yama deva. My question is that isn’t it dangerous to be a Yama deva because Mara lives there and one may develop similar tendencies as him?
47:05 Q7: Dear Ajahn. May I know how to be wise? Thank you.

[@bibichia5650]

Sadhu🙏

[@bodhi9464]

Good Morning Ajahn.
🇦🇺☀️🧘‍♂️🏄‍♂️💦

[@fodizi]

Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu Anumodana. It was good seeing Luang Phor yesterday! Lovely reflection on a wide range of topics.

[@anilrajoriya6295]

नमो बुद्धाय ☸️🇮🇳

[@swchew1476]

sadhu sadhu sadhu

[@charlottechan0507]

I only let my kid watch TV on Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday, no smart phone until 16.
I don't care what others might think of us or how much she might protest, that's the rule.

[@AjahnAchalo]

@@charlottechan0507 sadhuuu

[@njbk3129]

If the kid wants a cell phone they should work to pay for the bill themselves. That responsibility will truncate much of the hedonism. That's what I wish my parents had done with me and my early Internet access.

[@williamvillegas427]

Is it addictive to the cell phone or a self? I think it’s addictive to self. Taking away the cell phones don’t think is the solution. WV

[@nienada]

I wonder what kind of insights one could get from contemplating the body as made up of elephants 🤔🐘