Ajahn Anan Podcast

When dye is mixed with clear water, it takes on that colour. But whenever we separate the two out, then the water returns to its original clarity. So too, our original mind is clean and pure, but when it gets mixed with defilement, it becomes dirty and dark. But the defilements and the mind are two separate things, so it is possible to extract them and realise this state of inner purity and clarit...

2021.08.19 | Ignorance, craving, and attachment are constantly building houses for the mind, revolving in the cycle of birth and death. It is our great good fortune that the path to freedom that the Lord Buddha taught is still here. We do not know when we will get the chance to meet with this path again, so we should practise wholeheartedly while we still can. To join Ajahn Anan and the Wat M...

2021.08.18 | When we start out on this path, even though we learn the teaching of not-self, we still have a self. This attachment to ‘me’ and ‘mine’ is not something that we are able to instantly put down. Therefore, we need to make this self good first, by teaching it to be kind, generous, moral and peaceful. Only when we have a stable and wholesome sense of self can the insight into not-sel...

In this morning talk, Ajahn Anan tells us of the benefits that accrue from keeping the practices that the Buddha laid down. He recalls how the establishment of his monastery, Wat Marp Jan, came about through maintaining the practice of going on alms round.

2021.08.17 | The processes of the body are constantly displaying the ways of nature for us to see; the heart beats on and on, the breath comes and goes. Everything in this world is forever changing. When we understand this, we see the Dhamma. 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 li...

2021.08.16 | None of us want to be angry, yet we still get angry… So what should we do? If we have great desire to just be a good person who never gets angry, we will suffer a lot. So, when we walk this path, we need to do so with a sense of letting go. 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...

In this talk, Ajahn Anan tells many stories of monks narrowly escaping harm to illustrate how taking good care of our virtue can help keep us safe from danger.

2021.08.15 | Everyone desires freedom. We see this in a nation’s struggle for independence from oppressors, or a child’s struggle for maturity. But even though we may gain external liberation, the mind is still controlled by ignorance, craving and clinging, and thus still bound to suffering. It is only the path of virtue, samadhi and wisdom that can lead us to real happiness and genuine emanc...

2021.08.14 | When we gain an understanding of the nature of the world, we see how all beings must pass away and that nothing here truly belongs to us. We then get the feeling that we must strive to seek out that which doesn’t die. 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 li...

2021.08.14 | On the occasion of Thai Mother’s Day, Ajahn Anan gave this reflection on the great kindness and care that mothers give to their children, and the best way in which their children can repay this. 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 - 9p...

Having conviction is very important. It's what allows us to lay our doubts and views aside, and sincerely walk the path of practice. If we have the good fortune to have a wise teacher, following their teachings with faith will greatly speed up our progress.

2021.08.11 | The arising of a fully self-awakened Buddha is the hardest thing to find. It is our great good fortune and merit to meet with the Buddha’s teachings that lead to liberation from all suffering. Therefore, may we practise with sincerity and not give up on the way to reach true peace. To join Ajahn Anan and the Wat Marp Jan Community online for daily chanting, meditation, and a Dham...

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...

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. Dai...

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 tal...

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...

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...

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...

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 ses...

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 th...

Brief meditation instructions and contemplations for putting down the busyness and burdens of mind, letting the mind gather in samadhi.

2021.08.02 | When we live together, we need to have kindness for one another and help each other out. In doing so, the community we live in becomes a happy one. If we are selfish, however, this leads to discord and is a significant hindrance to our inner cultivation. To join Ajahn Anan and the Wat Marp Jan Community online for daily chanting, meditation, and a Dhamma talk, you can email wmjdh...

2021.08.01 | Time swallows all, and old age, sickness, and death are inevitable results of birth - considering this, we strive to put down the causes of suffering. Suffering arises based on causes, and with the cessation of those causes, suffering ceases. Seeing clearly, then in no long time, we can understand the Dhamma like Venerable Sariputta. To join Ajahn Anan and the Wat Marp Jan Commun...