View and thought are given separate distinctions in the The Noble Eightfold Path: Right View Right Thought Right Speech Right Action Right Livelihood Right Effort Right Focus Right Concentration That is because the Noble Eightfold Path isn’t just a numbered list, it is a path where the ordering actually matters. The first step on the path is Right […]
Question: Can following the precepts or practicing meditation lead to right perception? Why or why not? Answer: Can wearing white clothes change your character? Luang Por Thoon said that the color of your clothes can compel your behavior. It is true that wearing white can make you more careful, but does it actually change your […]
Watching Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David are discussing Larry’s diet. Jerry says, “I don’t understand how there’s nothing you can eat.” Larry says, “People are disturbed by it. My ex-wife hated it. I think that’s one of the reasons our marriage ended.” “She couldn’t take the way you eat.” “You […]
Me: I just can’t understand why on earth someone would speed up when I am already about to pass them. So annoying. Mom: Is it possible that he didn’t see you? Me: He had to have seen me. He was going normal speed until he saw me starting to pass him, then he went all […]
My mom shared a lane with a chubby young woman who got out of the pool around the same time we did. She walked up to us in the locker room and asked, “Do you speak English? “Yes.” “Oh, great. I’m Antoinette.” “You know, we were just talking about you. You swim really smoothly, you’re […]
I went to a landlord class two weeks ago. The topic was one I was unfamiliar with, and it was my first time attending classes with this organization. Sitting in that class, absorbing the information and horror stories other students were telling, I felt unexperienced. Many people in the class were landlords who owned many […]
It was crowded when my mom and I arrived at lap swim this morning. We each got into different lanes and had to share those lanes with the people who arrived before us. Once my mom’s lane partner left, I moved into her lane. I swam a couple of laps and then I stopped at […]
The lines at the Costco gas station can be ridiculously long, and today was no exception. When there were still four cars in front of me, I popped the gas cover in preparation for my turn. When I was second in line, I got my credit card out of my wallet and held it with […]
Here is an example (in Thai and English) of a practitioner’s contemplation that pinpoints the wrong viewpoint that causes us suffering. See if you can follow along with your own personal example in mind: I have a friend who 99% of the time never makes it to the appointment time we agreed on. This annoys […]
หลวงพ่อทูลเคยพูดว่า “คนที่เทศธรรมะตามครูบาอาจารย์ ถึงวันนึงความรู้นั้นมันจะหมดได้ เพราะมันไม่ได้ออกมาจากผลการปฏิบัติติของตนเอง” Luang Por Thoon once said that despite being able to the recite sermons and teachings of an enlightened monk, one day you will run out of material. If you can’t produce your own genuine teachings from your own results of dhamma practice, your true self will be revealed in time. Despite […]
When I asked my friend what her plans for the day were, she said, “Ugh, it sucks. I have to take people sightseeing. But I don’t know why I’m complaining. I should stop complaining about it.” I asked her, “Really, though. Do you know why you’re complaining?” She stopped and thought about it. “I don’t […]
I was watching “Animals are Beautiful People,” which was pretty similar to “The Gods Must Be Crazy I & II.” Quite a few scenes really got me thinking. One particular sequence was about a duck’s sacrifice. By the shore, a mother duck was surrounded by her flock of little ducklings. The lazy and cowardly hyena […]
I came across these funny commercials for Ameriquest’s “Don’t Judge Too Quickly” campaign. Not only did they make me laugh, but these situations reminded me of how we all tend to judge based on what we see in front of us. Sometimes we’re right. Sometimes we’re wrong. How often have we considered the consequences of […]
On our Buddhist pilgrimage this year, we spent hours on the tour bus driving from one rural location to another. At a rest stop near the India-Nepal border, my friend emerged with three ziploc bags full of ripe Indian gooseberries. I asked her what she was going to do with all of those gooseberries. She […]
Just now, I got on a chair to examine a container of Luang Por Thoon’s relics. I picked it up, unscrewed the top, and yelled to my mom that they were still in the same form. Somehow the lid slipped from my hand and as I tried to catch it, the container jerked forward, spilling […]
When someone says something, why do we sometimes feel nothing, while at other times we take offense? The answer is in the Dhamma Roundtable quote from a few weeks back, “that which we believe as us or belonging to us will lead to suffering in this world.” Imagine my mom is having breakfast and is […]
Where I live, there’s a device you can put in your car that automatically deducts the bridge toll from your account when you drive by the “Fastrak” toll lanes. There’s usually a long line in the cash lanes that sandwich the Fastrak lane. During congested traffic hours, the huge empty space where cars zip by […]
At an Indian airport, our tour group of nearly 50 people had to stand in a long security check line with other passengers. The security officer checked our travel documents and sent each passenger through in intervals. People began to notice an Indian woman moving her way forward from the back of the line. She […]
When I used to regularly attend morning lap swim, I would often see this older man with a huge belly. Sometimes we would even split a lane. I remember that I could always swim faster than him. After some time, I started to find it difficult to wake up early enough to go to lap […]
I boarded the plane and sat in the middle seat, wondering if any of the passengers walking by would occupy the aisle seat directly to my left. With each passenger that walked on past, the anticipation grew into hope that perhaps I would get lucky and have the use of the empty seat. Finally an […]
People often ask, how do I start practicing dhamma? Where do I begin? With kettle corn and holy basil. Let me explain. I went to the farmer’s market today and picked up grapes, raw peanuts, and a bunch of lemon basil from our usual Hmong vendor. I asked him if there was any holy basil […]
Don’t say anything that you don’t want repeated. This thought has been resonating through my mind for the past couple of weeks. I’ve said goodbye to the days where I believed secrets could be kept between two people. How many times have I told someone, “don’t tell anyone” only to find out that they told […]
A while back, I had a visitor from Thailand. As I drove us from place to place, he would sit shotgun and ask me what freeway we were on and where we were going. He started remembering freeways and landmarks in no time. Two weeks into his trip, we were on our way to a […]
Can people who weren’t born Buddhists achieve a level of enlightenment in this lifetime? In a book about Phra Acariya Mun Bhurridata’s life (รำลึกวันวาน, “Back in the Day”), there was a story related to this topic. A Thai General named Nim Chayodom went to pay his respects to Luang Bu Mun and mentioned that he […]
Most of us have heard of it, many have felt it. But what, really, is deja vu? The term “deja vu” means “already seen.” But how can it be familiar when this is the first time? And how can you actually see something before it happens? It reminds me of what Luang Por Thoon often […]
Often, we follow examples or rules without really knowing the reasons behind them. Then when we fail to comply, we end up stressing out because we believe we’ve done something wrong. I believe a better way to deal is to ask “why” as opposed to following blindly. For instance, I once sealed a stamped envelope, […]
Step four is maintenance. It is important that as we work on eliminating our problems, we also check on our progress and see if our hypothesis was indeed correct. If we haven’t attained our desired result, we have to readjust and try again. In this case, we noticed a significant change in the garden. For […]
Step three is addressing the cause. We started by collecting the snails we could find and putting them in containers with leaves we have seen them eat, and tossing them in a garbage bin near parks, far from home (and other people’s homes too). Each morning and night we would check thei favorite hiding places, […]
The way we practice has a lot to do with contemplating causes and effects and wiping out the wrong perceptions we harbor in our minds. Many people tell us that they would like to improve their lives but don’t know how to get started. Snail Tales is an example of the process we tend to […]
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