I am very happy to listen Ajarn Sumedho giving dhamma on mother’s day in Singapore just today on Sat 8 Feb at 15:36 pm. , I live in Bangkok.Thank so much.
An immense thank you to everyone who made my viewing of this possible and thank you to Ajahn Sumedho. He is a beautiful, down to earth human being who is truly an example of our own ability to follow the path and someone practicing westerners can identify with.
When I went for refuge in 1999 at Hartridge monastory, Ajahn Sumedho was the monk giving the Dhamma talk at the ceremony. He is wise and has such insight into the"real world". I'm so happy to see him well. Thank-you. May all sentient beings be well and happy.
Julia Boddington I have always wanted to be a monk but am afraid of being hungry and sleep deprived. Sounds silly I know, but not eating after 12 and sleeping 5 hours or less seem like real (unnecessary) limitations on health, wellbeing and even practice! How did you find it?
@@nakedanonymousspy I just found this talk... I ordained as an anagarika with Sumedho as my preceptor in 1994, and ended up spending 2 years in that training in two different periods. To answer your question, you have some misconceptions regarding the modern monastic life, as I also did, and as just about everyone does. Yes, the food question is complex and is one of many reasons that I eventually left. That said, people adjust and, in general, in this culture, we eat far more than is healthy for us. And I don't know where you got the idea that they are limited in sleeping. Perhaps the idea that, a couple times a month, they are encouraged to meditate all night? So, in my experience there, this was never enforced, not even with shame. And it can be a very powerful practice, if done intelligently. My simple sum up: no place grounded in the real practice is going to ordain you without a vetting process, and you need to be strongly interested as well. There are monastic centers of different religions where you can go, and have a short stay, then a medium, then a long, and get a strong feeling for how they actually live, before diving deeper.
Buddhism is a science of the mind method. Quite sane as religions go-practical, applicable and psych-socially healthy. Grateful for those, like Ajahn Sumedho, who keep these ancient wisdom teachings alive.
Excellent explanation, many thought Buddhism is pessimistic, actually it’s realistic. Awakening to suffering, patiently accepting it. Thank you so much for this wonderful sermon. May you be well n happy too 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️❤️❤️
Simple teachings, but yet so difficult to absorb and "keep" (be aware of) in one's daily life. Almost Immediately after listening to a talk, I fall right back to "sleep" again. I suppose this is what Ajahn is saying about the changing nature of things -- of anything, including our state of mind. But on the upside, when I do sense that I've fallen "asleep", I'll listen to one of his talks and be immersed in it for 3-8 hours. And this is a daily occurrence.
I find the teachings work best when I see the truth of it directly. When asleep in some state. Its quite remarkable when you see it. Like, what I really want is for the desire to go away, not the end goal of that desire. Because if I didnt have that desire, I wouldnt feel bad about it. And if I get the end goal of that desire I would have another one, and another, and another possibly. But then again, there can be noble desires as Sumedho points out.
Hi Ajahn Sumedho! Thank you for this Dhamma talk. I needed it today.Thanks for your support and training. Happy New year. Take care Ajahn.__/I\____/I\__/I\__ many blessings.
Hi Nuiy, can I ask which country you are from? I have only seen the Holy community being spelt as "Sangha", I wonder why you call it "Sungka". May you and all beings be well!
I hear so much of what he speaks about; people who assert monastics don't live in the "real world". Of course, their version of the so-called real world is a complete fabrication based on their conditioning and culture and based on the idea of being better, faster, stronger, well liked and comfortable in every way imaginable. However, we can all know the real world intuitively; the hear and now, and our awareness of it. That is, to me, the real world. I always catch myself causing myself so much suffering by not being skillful enough to accept the moment and wanting it to be "better". Slowly though, as my awareness grows, my understanding of my own conditioning and preferences are becoming more obvious. Awareness is real life.
Yes exactly, enlightenment was attained before Buddhism. the Buddha was not a Buddhist, because it didnt exist then. But you are lucky observing and noticing the unskilfulness and the 'karma' of regret fro unskilful acts. This may mean you have discovered and understood the dhamma in a previous lifetime, or less superstitiously, may mean that your life conditioning has led you to be introspective Not all people possess the same faculties of mind sir, and so what you do staring within, is not what most people do. They have to learn to mediate first, and learn what they need to look at, because its invisible inside.
I am blessed to have a rare opportunity to have an audience with you and a few other forest monks [the Ven. Siripunyo, Rev. Yanadhammo, and Rev. Robert (visiting from a nearby Wat Pa Yanasumpanno)] at the Wat Pa Rattanaram in Si Kiew district, Korat, in November.
How boring and wretched is your life when instead of leaving you give a thumbs down to someone talking about their life... how wretched can you be... how sad for you....that you don’t realize you are your own problems, and you are the ones contributing to the hate in the world.. it is inside you...and your thumbs down shows what is inside you...it says nothing about this teacher... it is about you...you choices to love or hate. May you find peace. But remember this.. AS GOOD AS YOU’VE BEEN TO THE WORLD....IT’S GOING TO BE RIGHT BACK TO YOU.
Ajahn Sumedho I'm curious and wondering if you might possibly have met my very first meditation teacher. His name is Sri Eknath Easwaran and was a Victorian English Professor at Berkeley College in Calif. in 1960. I read you went to that school. He is from Kerala in southern India.He taught the first credited meditation course ever at Berkeley. He started the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in Tomales CA.in 1960.It is still going!! I never met him he died in 1998 or 99 and I found his Ashram in 2002 and started my practice. Thank you for this talk.I really am enjoying it. Happy birthday! I'm 68.Time has flown by so fast.Take care. Many blessings. Also I use to live in Chalk farm, London; near Hampstead Heath. Did you live in Camden once?
I doubt Ven Sumedho will ever watch this video so I doubt you will get an answer to your questions. Ven Sumedho did live for a short while at the Hampstead Vihara prior to moving to and founding Chithurst Monastery near Petersfield on the Hampshire/Sussex border in southern England. Luang Por now lives in Wat Ratanavan Khao Yai National Park, Khorat Thailand and as you can see he visits Bodhinyana in Singapore and Malaysia.
Thank you for your reply Nigel .S..I have no Idea if our teachers ever check to see how many views they are getting or if they still have current students listening to and studying their lectures. I wish they would all put out some new lectures. Thanks again Nigel. Many Blessings!
I can never do anything but respect a Monk who ordained with Ajahn Chah and still remains to this day constant. But whenit comes to teaching Dhamma, i dont hear a single teaching here.. what i hear, is an hour of Ajahn Sumedho, talking about himself and his own way of experiencing dhamma. A true teacher does not speak of his own life experiences. Ajahn Sumedho is very much a 'this is what is happening to me' kind of teacher, like 'look at me' kind of thing. If we look at the teachers like Ajahn Geoffrey de Graaf (Thanissaro Bhikkhu) and Ajahn Chah, and many others i wouldnt think readers here know of.. we will notice, that none of these teachers hardly ever speak of themself, and what they themself have understood.. they give you techniques of practice. Ajahn Sumedho doesnt penetrate that far. This is true also with Thai Monks who are public figures, and are less wise and lesser teachers than the ones that do not seek fame and avoid it even.. There are many mnore much further advanced and able teachers as the famous ones.. Thanissaro is relatively famous now, despite his complete disinterest in that, but his teachings are not 'headstuff' like Sumedho's.. they are practical work manuals.. But i do respect and recognise Ajahn Sumedho as an acoomplished monk in his own practice.. but hs not equipped to really teach the path as well as many other teachers. I am halfway through this talk and its still just philosophy, and no dhamma in it yet. its based in Atta (belief in a self) and does not yet teach with anatta. Luang Por Sumedho's 'sound of silence' teaching, teaches the opposite of the path, it teaches to cling to a Nimitta vision in the form of an inner high pitched sound. The teachings warn practitioners not to focus on Nimittas, and not to divet from the path to get obsessed with them. But Sumedho got immediately hooked on the sound of silence effect (which i see as a mere distraction and a side effect of Jhana). The sound of silence he teaches, is a diversion, a fairground ride, which diverts us from the true path to arahantship.. but Ajahn Sumedho's wisdom was not enough to see the deception, and wrote a book about it. Now he has classes of confused people trying to learn how to reproduce an inner whistling noise thinking that will make them enlightened haha But respect and reverence for this monk, and overlook the fact that despite being more famous, he cant teach Dhamma like a master. he talks about his own attainments too much, which is not fitting for a Bhikkhu. There are no practical teachings in this Dhamma talk.. nobody is meditating - it is just theoretical. Its not very deep at all. And considering the audience, it jumps all over the place.. from things the audience will understand.. he tries to explain memory without having explained the 5 aggregates first.. its all jumbled up, and hes still talking about himself at 30:15 - always try to notice if a teacher talks about himself and his own experiences.. true teachers do not, because your experience will not be the same. each person has a different experience.
I see where you're coming from but I don't think there is an absence of teaching here, nor do I think Ajahn Sumedho spends the entire talk speaking about himself. To me too much depth and profundity makes a teacher inaccessible to a listener that does not have a particular receptive capacity to understand and/or requires a certain amount of faith in that teacher. Ajahn Sumedho speaks of his own life experiences as a practitioner, yes, but ultimately frames them in the context of dhamma - as impersonal phenomena, something a practitioner can ostensibly see as matter of fact for him or herself. I appreciate his and other North American Ajahns' ordinariness and familiarity with life as a westerner while at the same time imbuing the integrity, peace and wisdom that people pursuing the Buddha's path are striving for. It affirms and inspires my practice. Definitely a cultural, ethnocentric bias at play here, but no fewer moments of doubt or inspiration arise when I listen to talks from other teachers in other traditions from other countries etc.
Teaching styles vary. I've spent a lot of time with Ajahn Sumedho's students and many of them have realised incredible peace, guiding me to that same goal. The faith and skill of some of these Noble ones helped me to penetrate some Truth in a very short time. Indeed, some of my most severe delusion was explained by Luang Por Sumedho directly in such a gentle, kind and forgiving way that I can say I adore him. In several of the scriptures, some of those upon hearing the Lord Buddha's teaching replied along the lines of "Excellent! It is as if one has shone a light into a dark place so those with eyes may see, it is as though something that was upside down has been turned upright." So it was for me on several occasions when Ajahn Sumedho shone this light upon the Truth. Dhamma is (im)personal, that is, for an individual a skilled teacher can tailor what they need. For a group, it is necessary to generalise more. May you and all beings realise Nibbana!
With great respect Luang Por, you are one of the great Buddhist teachers of modern times - bless you!!!
Ajhan Sumedho gives great dhamma lectures. 60yrs of practice!!!
A true and genuine master. Wonderful words.
I am very happy to listen Ajarn Sumedho giving dhamma on mother’s day in Singapore just today on Sat 8 Feb at 15:36 pm. , I live in Bangkok.Thank so much.
An immense thank you to everyone who made my viewing of this possible and thank you to Ajahn Sumedho. He is a beautiful, down to earth human being who is truly an example of our own ability to follow the path and someone practicing westerners can identify with.
When I went for refuge in 1999 at Hartridge monastory, Ajahn Sumedho was the monk giving the Dhamma talk at the ceremony. He is wise and has such insight into the"real world". I'm so happy to see him well. Thank-you. May all sentient beings be well and happy.
Julia Boddington I have always wanted to be a monk but am afraid of being hungry and sleep deprived. Sounds silly I know, but not eating after 12 and sleeping 5 hours or less seem like real (unnecessary) limitations on health, wellbeing and even practice! How did you find it?
@@nakedanonymousspy I just found this talk... I ordained as an anagarika with Sumedho as my preceptor in 1994, and ended up spending 2 years in that training in two different periods. To answer your question, you have some misconceptions regarding the modern monastic life, as I also did, and as just about everyone does. Yes, the food question is complex and is one of many reasons that I eventually left. That said, people adjust and, in general, in this culture, we eat far more than is healthy for us. And I don't know where you got the idea that they are limited in sleeping. Perhaps the idea that, a couple times a month, they are encouraged to meditate all night? So, in my experience there, this was never enforced, not even with shame. And it can be a very powerful practice, if done intelligently. My simple sum up: no place grounded in the real practice is going to ordain you without a vetting process, and you need to be strongly interested as well. There are monastic centers of different religions where you can go, and have a short stay, then a medium, then a long, and get a strong feeling for how they actually live, before diving deeper.
Buddhism is a science of the mind method. Quite sane as religions go-practical, applicable and psych-socially healthy. Grateful for those, like Ajahn Sumedho, who keep these ancient wisdom teachings alive.
Excellent explanation, many thought Buddhism is pessimistic, actually it’s realistic. Awakening to suffering, patiently accepting it. Thank you so much for this wonderful sermon. May you be well n happy too 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️❤️❤️
These are wise teachings but very few will listen. I suppose that’s the way it is!
Sadhu Sadhu...thanks for still giving your teachings since the earlier timeWith meta ....thanks
Glen Hamilto
หลวงปู่สุเมโธ ท่านคือพระอริยะเจ้าฝรั่งองค์ที่สอง นอกจากหลวงปู่ปัญญาและพระอาจารย์ ชยสาโร และอีกหลายองค์ที่เป็นพระสงฆ์ฝรั่งศิษย์หลวงปูชาครับ ท่านเอาจริงกับการปฏิบัติตามคำสอนของหลวงปู่ชาจนหลุดพ้นวัฎสงสารส่วนมากที่เป็นสงฆ์จากต่างชาติ
Simple teachings, but yet so difficult to absorb and "keep" (be aware of) in one's daily life. Almost Immediately after listening to a talk, I fall right back to "sleep" again. I suppose this is what Ajahn is saying about the changing nature of things -- of anything, including our state of mind. But on the upside, when I do sense that I've fallen "asleep", I'll listen to one of his talks and be immersed in it for 3-8 hours. And this is a daily occurrence.
I find the teachings work best when I see the truth of it directly. When asleep in some state. Its quite remarkable when you see it. Like, what I really want is for the desire to go away, not the end goal of that desire. Because if I didnt have that desire, I wouldnt feel bad about it. And if I get the end goal of that desire I would have another one, and another, and another possibly. But then again, there can be noble desires as Sumedho points out.
Viccikicca
Why difficult?
Hi Ajahn Sumedho!
Thank you for this Dhamma talk. I needed it today.Thanks for your support and training. Happy New year.
Take care Ajahn.__/I\____/I\__/I\__ many blessings.
Sadhu ! Sadhu ! Sadhu ! You are my hero Ajahn !!!
Much respect to the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sungka...sadhu, sadhu, sadhu.
Hi Nuiy, can I ask which country you are from? I have only seen the Holy community being spelt as "Sangha", I wonder why you call it "Sungka". May you and all beings be well!
I hear so much of what he speaks about; people who assert monastics don't live in the "real world". Of course, their version of the so-called real world is a complete fabrication based on their conditioning and culture and based on the idea of being better, faster, stronger, well liked and comfortable in every way imaginable. However, we can all know the real world intuitively; the hear and now, and our awareness of it. That is, to me, the real world. I always catch myself causing myself so much suffering by not being skillful enough to accept the moment and wanting it to be "better". Slowly though, as my awareness grows, my understanding of my own conditioning and preferences are becoming more obvious.
Awareness is real life.
denormal
Yes exactly, enlightenment was attained before Buddhism. the Buddha was not a Buddhist, because it didnt exist then.
But you are lucky observing and noticing the unskilfulness and the 'karma' of regret fro unskilful acts. This may mean you have discovered and understood the dhamma in a previous lifetime, or less superstitiously, may mean that your life conditioning has led you to be introspective
Not all people possess the same faculties of mind sir, and so what you do staring within, is not what most people do. They have to learn to mediate first, and learn what they need to look at, because its invisible inside.
suberb ! Well said !!!
Breath of wisdom!
สาธุ สาธุ สาธุ 🙏🙏🙏 ชาวตะวันตกบางคนอาจไม่เข้าใจลึกซึ้งในพุทธศาสนา เพราะพวกเขาเหล่านั้นมีอัตตามากเกินไป ในใจจึงเต็มไปด้วยคำถาม ถ้าอยากรู้ต้องฝึกและปฏิบัติเอง
I am blessed to have a rare opportunity to have an audience with you and a few other forest monks [the Ven. Siripunyo, Rev. Yanadhammo, and Rev. Robert (visiting from a nearby Wat Pa Yanasumpanno)] at the Wat Pa Rattanaram in Si Kiew district, Korat, in November.
Thereafter, I also met the Rev. Jayasaro and Somdej Payudh Payudho not far away! :) :) :)
sadhu sadhu sadhu Ajahn sumedho
ENDLESS~GOODNESS IT~IS LOVE~GOOD.(8)
Nam mô a di đà phật
my salutations to masters feet
😂
Catherine Tran
That is actually what people do when they bow down to a monk.
How boring and wretched is your life when instead of leaving you give a thumbs down to someone talking about their life... how wretched can you be... how sad for you....that you don’t realize you are your own problems, and you are the ones contributing to the hate in the world.. it is inside you...and your thumbs down shows what is inside you...it says nothing about this teacher... it is about you...you choices to love or hate. May you find peace. But remember this.. AS GOOD AS YOU’VE BEEN TO THE WORLD....IT’S GOING TO BE RIGHT BACK TO YOU.
🙏🙏🙏🏴
Great
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
🙏🙏🙏💯💯💯
Sadhu sadhu sadhu
sathu sathu _/\_
❤️
Ajahn Sumedho I'm curious and wondering if you might possibly have met my very first meditation teacher. His name is Sri Eknath Easwaran and was a Victorian English Professor at Berkeley College in Calif. in 1960. I read you went to that school. He is from Kerala in southern India.He taught the first credited meditation course ever at Berkeley.
He started the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in Tomales CA.in 1960.It is still going!! I never met him he died in 1998 or 99 and I found his Ashram in 2002 and started my practice.
Thank you for this talk.I really am enjoying it. Happy birthday! I'm 68.Time has flown by so fast.Take care. Many blessings.
Also I use to live in Chalk farm, London; near Hampstead Heath. Did you live in Camden once?
I doubt Ven Sumedho will ever watch this video so I doubt you will get an answer to your questions. Ven Sumedho did live for a short while at the Hampstead Vihara prior to moving to and founding Chithurst Monastery near Petersfield on the Hampshire/Sussex border in southern England. Luang Por now lives in Wat Ratanavan Khao Yai National Park, Khorat Thailand and as you can see he visits Bodhinyana in Singapore and Malaysia.
Thank you for your reply Nigel .S..I have no Idea if our teachers ever check to see how many views they are getting or if they still have current students listening to and studying their lectures. I wish they would all put out some new lectures. Thanks again Nigel. Many Blessings!
อยากให้ทำซับไทยด้วยครับ
the "real world " ?
you mean like that place were mr donald trump is president of the usa ?
I can never do anything but respect a Monk who ordained with Ajahn Chah and still remains to this day constant. But whenit comes to teaching Dhamma, i dont hear a single teaching here.. what i hear, is an hour of Ajahn Sumedho, talking about himself and his own way of experiencing dhamma. A true teacher does not speak of his own life experiences. Ajahn Sumedho is very much a 'this is what is happening to me' kind of teacher, like 'look at me' kind of thing. If we look at the teachers like Ajahn Geoffrey de Graaf (Thanissaro Bhikkhu) and Ajahn Chah, and many others i wouldnt think readers here know of.. we will notice, that none of these teachers hardly ever speak of themself, and what they themself have understood.. they give you techniques of practice. Ajahn Sumedho doesnt penetrate that far. This is true also with Thai Monks who are public figures, and are less wise and lesser teachers than the ones that do not seek fame and avoid it even.. There are many mnore much further advanced and able teachers as the famous ones.. Thanissaro is relatively famous now, despite his complete disinterest in that, but his teachings are not 'headstuff' like Sumedho's.. they are practical work manuals.. But i do respect and recognise Ajahn Sumedho as an acoomplished monk in his own practice.. but hs not equipped to really teach the path as well as many other teachers. I am halfway through this talk and its still just philosophy, and no dhamma in it yet. its based in Atta (belief in a self) and does not yet teach with anatta. Luang Por Sumedho's 'sound of silence' teaching, teaches the opposite of the path, it teaches to cling to a Nimitta vision in the form of an inner high pitched sound. The teachings warn practitioners not to focus on Nimittas, and not to divet from the path to get obsessed with them. But Sumedho got immediately hooked on the sound of silence effect (which i see as a mere distraction and a side effect of Jhana). The sound of silence he teaches, is a diversion, a fairground ride, which diverts us from the true path to arahantship.. but Ajahn Sumedho's wisdom was not enough to see the deception, and wrote a book about it. Now he has classes of confused people trying to learn how to reproduce an inner whistling noise thinking that will make them enlightened haha
But respect and reverence for this monk, and overlook the fact that despite being more famous, he cant teach Dhamma like a master. he talks about his own attainments too much, which is not fitting for a Bhikkhu. There are no practical teachings in this Dhamma talk.. nobody is meditating - it is just theoretical. Its not very deep at all. And considering the audience, it jumps all over the place.. from things the audience will understand.. he tries to explain memory without having explained the 5 aggregates first.. its all jumbled up, and hes still talking about himself at 30:15 - always try to notice if a teacher talks about himself and his own experiences.. true teachers do not, because your experience will not be the same. each person has a different experience.
I see where you're coming from but I don't think there is an absence of teaching here, nor do I think Ajahn Sumedho spends the entire talk speaking about himself. To me too much depth and profundity makes a teacher inaccessible to a listener that does not have a particular receptive capacity to understand and/or requires a certain amount of faith in that teacher. Ajahn Sumedho speaks of his own life experiences as a practitioner, yes, but ultimately frames them in the context of dhamma - as impersonal phenomena, something a practitioner can ostensibly see as matter of fact for him or herself. I appreciate his and other North American Ajahns' ordinariness and familiarity with life as a westerner while at the same time imbuing the integrity, peace and wisdom that people pursuing the Buddha's path are striving for. It affirms and inspires my practice. Definitely a cultural, ethnocentric bias at play here, but no fewer moments of doubt or inspiration arise when I listen to talks from other teachers in other traditions from other countries etc.
Teaching styles vary. I've spent a lot of time with Ajahn Sumedho's students and many of them have realised incredible peace, guiding me to that same goal. The faith and skill of some of these Noble ones helped me to penetrate some Truth in a very short time. Indeed, some of my most severe delusion was explained by Luang Por Sumedho directly in such a gentle, kind and forgiving way that I can say I adore him. In several of the scriptures, some of those upon hearing the Lord Buddha's teaching replied along the lines of "Excellent! It is as if one has shone a light into a dark place so those with eyes may see, it is as though something that was upside down has been turned upright." So it was for me on several occasions when Ajahn Sumedho shone this light upon the Truth. Dhamma is (im)personal, that is, for an individual a skilled teacher can tailor what they need. For a group, it is necessary to generalise more. May you and all beings realise Nibbana!
Elephant in the room Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu
T-Bob Sadhu Sadhu sadhu
CrStrifey Sadhu Sadhu sadhu
what a beautiful thing to be able to watch this video and and take note of all the wisdom and experiences Ajarhn Sumedho , thank you so much .
I love a good story too... but a dhamma teacher = rule 1; dont talk about your own experiences to the student