With so many strategies and messages about how to practice, how do we know the "right" way to practice? The Buddha said ultimately you should "be a lamp onto yourself." This means to trusting the wisdom inside. How can we discern the wisdom voice from the voices rooted in fear and confusion? This talk includes the 5 strategies offered by the Buddha to work skillfully with distracting thoughts.

A talk on impermanence, beginning with a version of a classic Jataka story, an updated version of a talk given previously

Teaching and guided meditation on practicing the fourth foundation of mindfulness.

The second refuge invites us into intimacy with truth: something alive, immediate, and here for us whenever we remember to look. Using the ancient chant of the Dhamma’s qualities (here and now, timeless, inviting us to come and see, leading inward), this talk explores awareness as a refuge that can hold even chronic pain and old grief with both equanimity and compassion. Drawing on the suttas, Thai Forest masters, and poets like John O’Donohue and Ada Limón, we turn to kalyāṇa, the Pali word for the Dhamma as beautiful in the beginning, middle, and end. Beauty shows up in our practice, our actions, and our spiritual friendships, and it can become a companion and guide on the path home.

In a Sunday Dhamma talk at Parayana Vihara, Ayya Anandabodhi shares how to meet mental states as they arise with curiosity and compassion and transform them.