"We can oppose selfishness with the weapon of generosity. We can oppose ignorance with the weapon of wisdom. We can oppose hatred with the weapon of loving kindness."
Maha Ghosananda
(From "The Human Family")
Love Embraces All Beings
"...love embraces all beings, whether they are noble-minded or low-minded, good or evil. Both the noble and the good are embraced because loving kindness flows to them spontaneously. The unwholesome-minded must be included because they are the ones who need loving kindness the most. In many of them, the seed of goodness may have died because warmth was lacking for its growth. It perished from coldness in a world without compassion."
Maha Ghosananda
(from "The Human Family")
A Cloud
"...I can see that in a former life I was a cloud. This is not poetry; it is science...This is not a question of belief in reincarnation. This is the history of life on earth."
Thich Nhat Hanh
"The Heart of Understanding"
Program Today
Today is our weekly Saturday program. It runs from 10:30 AM to 2 PM, primarily in the Thai language. English is available from 2 to 4 PM.
The schedule is:
-10:30-11 AM: Monks chanting and ceremonial offering of alms by the laity
-11-11:30 AM: Laity offers lunch to the monks
-11:30 AM-12 PM: Monks have lunch
-12-12:30 PM: Community lunch for the laity
-12:30-1 PM: Lunch clean-up
-1-2 PM: Chanting, meditation and Dhamma talk
Chanting is in the Pali language. English and Thai chanting guides can be provided.
All events at ABMT are free.
Donations are welcomed and appreciated.
One Thing
"When you start out practicing, the Buddha asks you to believe in only one thing: karma."
Ajahn Fuang Jotiko
(from "Awareness Itself")
New Moon
Today is a new moon uposatha. It is a day for practitioners to re-emphasize their practice, to reflect on why they practice, to practice.
See the Truth Face-to-Face
"Do not accept anything simply because it has been said by your teacher, or because it has been written in your sacred books, or because it has been believed by many, or because it has been handed down by your ancestors. Accept and live only according to what will enable you to see truth face to face."
-The Buddha
Our Temple
"...remember that our temple is always with us. We are our temple."
Maha Ghosananda
(From "The Human Family")
Peace Is Possible
"'Peace is possible!' [Venerable Maha] Ghosananda insisted... This clarion call would become his personal motto. He was determined, he said, to build an 'army of peace' whose ammunition would be 'bullets of loving kindness'. It was to be 'an army absolutely without guns or partisan politics, an army of reconciliation with so much courage that it turns away from violence, an army dedicated wholly to peace and to the end of suffering.'"
-From "Maha Ghosananda: The Buddha of the Battlefield" by Santidhammo Bhikkhu
Controlling the Mouth
"Before you say anything, ask yourself whether it's necessary or not. If it's not, don't say it. This is the first step in training the mind--for if you can't have any control over your mouth, how can you expect to have any control over your mind?"
Ajahn Fuang Jotiko
(from "Awareness Itself")
No Program Today
There will be no program today. The programs should resume next Saturday. In the meantime, have a great, mindful week.
Half Moon
Today is a half moon uposatha day. Breathe in. Breathe out. With awareness.
Four Things
"...the Buddha's teaching is to know suffering and to know what causes it to arise. And further, we should know freedom from suffering and the way of practice which leads to freedom. He taught us to know just these four things."
-Ajahn Chah
Seclusion
"Seek no delight in worldly favours, but cultivate seclusion."
-The Buddha
Respect
"Gandhi said that the essence of nonviolent action is that it seeks to put an end to antagonism, not antagonists. This is important. The opponent has our respect. We implicitly trust his or her human nature and understand that ill-will is caused by ignorance."
Maha Ghosananda
(From "The Human Family")
Impermanence
"We use the teaching of impermanence as our basis. We see that both happiness and unhappiness are not permanent. We see them as not dependable. There is absolutely nothing that's permanent. With this kind of understanding we gradually stop believing in the various moods and feelings which come up in the mind. Wrong understanding will decrease to the same degree that we stop believing in it…Attachment will be gradually uprooted."
-Ajahn Chah
Ceremony at the Lunch Box
The three-month rains retreat (Pali: Vassa) officially ended on October 6 but a ceremony celebrating the occasion is being held today from 9 am to 1 pm at the Lunch Box in Ventura.
Everyone is welcome to join us today for chanting, to make offerings of food and other requisites to the monks, have lunch, and hear a Dhamma talk.
This event is free and open to the public.
Saturday Program
Today is our weekly Saturday program. It runs from 10:30 AM to 2 PM, primarily in the Thai language. English is available from 2 to 4 PM.
The schedule is:
-10:30-11 AM: Monks chanting and ceremonial offering of alms by the laity
-11-11:30 AM: Laity offers lunch to the monks
-11:30 AM-12 PM: Monks have lunch
-12-12:30 PM: Community lunch for the laity
-12:30-1 PM: Lunch clean-up
-1-2 PM: Chanting, meditation and Dhamma talk
Chanting is in the Pali language. English and Thai chanting guides can be provided.
All events at ABMT are free.
Donations are welcomed and appreciated.
Keep Doing It
"This is practice: if we feel like doing it, we do it, and if we don't feel like doing it, we do it just the same. We just keep doing it."
-Ajahn Chah
Full Moon
Today is a full moon uposatha. Some practitioners may choose to use this auspicious day as an opportunity to further develop their practice. This can be done in a great number of ways: by renewing one's five precepts, taking the eight precepts for the day, or perhaps taking more time than usual for formal meditation, to name but three.
