Ayya Medhanandi's most recent Dharma talks (Dharma Seed)

(Sati Saraniya Hermitage) The core teachings of the Buddha offer us a ready escape from the hells of hatred and hostility. Though the heart is perturbed, we reach deeply into our core to connect to that aquifer of Dhamma within us, calming the mind again and again. This fiber of peace is more than an intention. It's energy sets in motion the wheel of Truth that stirs us to forgiveness, restores us...

(Sati Saraniya Hermitage) The Buddha realized a state of pure awakened consciousness. We try to emulate his moral excellence by turning inward to bring the mind to silence. In that stillness, we can relinquish habitual unwholesome and harmful thoughts, thus revealing the same universal moral essence within us – just as in all beings. It is our pathway to the heart’s peace and freedom from sufferin...

(Ottawa Buddhist Society) With selfless awareness, we practise good-will, radiating loving-kindness inwardly and to all beings, even to those who are indifferent or hostile, or to those who cause harm. This is the Buddha's instruction to us in the Metta Sutta. Can we unequivocally wish all beings freedom from harm? Can we forgive enough to convert thoughts of fear, anger or enmity into benevolence...

(Sati Saraniya Hermitage) The Buddha said it simply. The awakened mind is the best solution. The mind-heart needs happiness to be well and to extend that well-being to others. So we tune inward, listen, meditate and resolve the dis-ease. We teach ourselves to be resilient, joyful and discerning rather than feeding on delusion and misery. When the loss is too great or madness reigns everywhere, we...

(Satipanna Insight Meditation (SIMT)) Can we quieten the mind enough to hear that divine frequency of the heart’s innermost chamber? Into that stillness, we come, softly, humbly – to try – and we persevere, secluded from the noise of the world. As the fevers of wanting are purified, we devote our attention to the serene sound of silence, sublime and joyous. We are bathed as if by a holy baptism, e...

(Sati Saraniya Hermitage) We wish for perfect conditions in life. But true perfection only arises within the awakened mind. So we are like mendicants of the present moment – not able to control or know what lies ahead. Let us not lose heart. In truth, this Middle Way of awareness has great fruit and great benefit, and we can walk it – even in this digitally driven era. Being patient, brave, and st...

(Satipanna Insight Meditation (SIMT)) It’s good to clear everything before we die, to leave no spiritual debts that may heavily impact our karma. Seeing the powerful healing of joy and kindness, I take up the practice of inner cleansing day by day, applying metta – loving-kindness practice – through the luminosity of forgiveness. This potent flame of reconciliation melts away any harmful residue o...

(Satipanna Insight Meditation (SIMT)) Who are we? More than two and a half millennium ago, the Buddha hesitated to teach us, but he relented for the benefit of those with little dust in their eyes. Can we actually clear the dust away, earnestly, patiently – studying, examining and probing within to know the truth of what we are? It is a great blessing to be able to undertake this work. We have onl...

(Satipanna Insight Meditation (SIMT)) Who are we? More than two and a half millenia ago, the Buddha hesitated to teach us, but he relented for the benefit of those with little dust in their eyes. Can we actually clear the dust away, earnestly, patiently – studying, examining and probing within to know the truth of what we are? It is a great blessing to be able to undertake this work. We have only...

(Satipanna Insight Meditation (SIMT)) We are travelling a spiritual highway. Our precepts are like safety belts – upholding the core of our humanity with moral restraints that serve as both compass and anchor. They also act like brakes on our Dhamma vehicle, safeguarding us through the wilderness of the world while grounding the mind in an integrity of presence. With pure awareness, we have a stet...

(Ottawa Buddhist Society) The spiritual path may be exceedingly long and demands nothing less than the most supreme culminating effort. But our patience and faith are radical. In every moment of pure attention, insight into impermanence and awareness of Truth shatter our delusion. Though monstrous dangers and fears assail us, we sever the shackles of worldly views and attachments with the sword of...

(Sati Saraniya Hermitage) Remember compassion like the Buddha’s. Remember courage like the Buddha’s – a mind strong, centered, wise and welcoming; spacious, supple and open. We look within and wake up to that seed of awakening.  Standing for truth instead of delusion and weakness, even if what we have is not enough – we make it enough. Even from a tiny seed of awakening, plant it in the soil of co...

(Sati Saraniya Hermitage) Joy comes softly. First, we plow through the labyrinth of our emotional compost. We know anguish, selfishness, and all their truant cousins. Then we learn skillful ways to let go. Dying to the ‘self’, the heart is purified. Even despair and the darkest energies vanish in the presence of a happiness that is beyond ownership. There is no ‘one’ to hold on, die, or awaken, bu...

(Sati Saraniya Hermitage) Walk away from the tigers that have made us run all our lives. Grow, instead, that beautiful space of selfless love deep within. Growth means breaking out of the shell. It hurts. But this is our journey. Trust that it will ripen into greater and greater insight. And in that unfolding, discover when things fall apart, true wisdom arises from the ashes.

(Portland Friends of the Dhamma) Can we resolutely walk the moral high road and discover Dhamma treasures in the fertile ground of the heart? Good-will or heroic metta, will serve as our anti-inflammatory, quelling the fires of greed, anger, fear, and blame along with every other uncharitable mind state. ‘Shaving’ the heart with kindness and compassion, we ascend the mountain until there is no mor...

(Sati Saraniya Hermitage) Generosity and virtue are at the heart of waking up. We give nothing less than our full devotion to the practice, day by day, training in present moment awareness and purifying ourselves. Secluded from dangerous mental states, we endure patiently, courageously. As the wisdom of the ancients dawns within us, we are blessed by that sacred gift of the Path – a noble mind.

(Portland Friends of the Dhamma) To escape clinging to the world and the creations of thought, we purify and tame the restless mind until we directly know the impermanence, unsatisfactory and selfless nature of all conditioned things. No matter what comes, we endure. A diet of discernment, gratitude, and the heart's unconditional compassion rescue us from the swamp of fear and unwholesomeness. See...

(Portland Friends of the Dhamma) We live in a world of toxic fear and earnestly wish for a way beyond it. Devoted to the Buddha’s supreme advice, we undertake this holistic training how to live harmlessly, joyful and at peace in ourselves. With courage and patient humility, we don’t back down when it gets tough or pick and choose only the parts we like. Once the inner world of the mind is purified...

(Portland Friends of the Dhamma) With the Buddha as our guide, we walk in his footsteps. If we fall away from the path, we return to it as soon as we can. Just as you steer your car back on the road should it veer off. The mind may be on fire with wanting, fear, grief or anger. Then feel the heat. Know its origin and see its ending – not owning nor feeding it, let it subside. Here and now, awarene...

(Ottawa Buddhist Society) Rather than running away from suffering, we use it as the way to deliverance. Out of suffering, we draw beneficial mind states, especially compassion – not blaming our dukkha on any external or internal conditions but letting them go. If we are content with simple blessings, our gratitude consecrates the breath that we are breathing right now. We rest in awareness and exp...

(Ottawa Buddhist Society) Learning to play an instrument, at first nothing good comes of it. The body is like an instrument. At first, it howls, it screams or cries. Then one day, that cry becomes a chant. So it is freeing the mind. We teach ourselves to walk the path. We fall and we get up again. In the darkest moment, we grow that tiny speck in the heart of not being afraid, not panicking, not b...

(Sati Saraniya Hermitage) Every moment of right mindfulness is a gift of pure attention, clarity and discovering the true origin of our pain. Applying the alchemy of kindness and compassion towards ourselves and others, we break through the veils of delusion to experience a selfless happiness, peace, and wise benevolence. Measureless are these blessings of the Dhamma.

(Sati Saraniya Hermitage) Simplicity is not about wearing one colour, shaving your head or fasting but rather a way of mental fasting. When we choose simplicity, we have time to stop, and to observe and study the mind. We see the extent of our suffering and the origin of it. This is of great value to us. Start simplifying on the outside, then slowly draw inward to see the complex world of our idea...

(Ottawa Buddhist Society (Galilee Centre)) The Buddha guides us on a way of benevolence, worthy of our praise, worthy of our attention, and worthy of our devotion. It extinguishes the fire of delusion in the mind to kindle the fire of awakening. No 'one' awakens but the heart heals naturally by touching Truth. Freed from the shackles of ignorance, it knows the emptiness that is full and the fullne...

(Ottawa Buddhist Society (Galilee Centre)) How blessed we are to walk this path of awakening into the vast frontier of the mind. We discover unimaginable treasures using our inheritance from the Buddha and directing ourselves with the compass of compassionate wisdom. This walk is internal, silent, hidden. We are learning to actually see with new eyes – clear and far-sighted – but well-attuned to o...