A recollection about how I went for Buddhist alms (piṇḍapāta) in a very small Christian town of Geneva, Florida. We discuss the method of going for alms and using mettā or Loving-kindness as a basis for going for alms, to make it a meditation, and to make one safe and approachable. I enjoyed this time. It inspired myself and I hope it inspires you too.

Here we talk about the first precept of killing. Summary: In Buddhism, “Killing” is defined by the technical mechanics of the mind, not by social laws. The unwholesome Kamma is complete only if Five Factors are present: Presence: A Living Being. Perception: Knowing it is alive. Intention: A mind bent on killing. Effort: Making the attack. Result: The being dies. If all five are met, the precept killing (pāṇātipāta) is broken. This rule applies equally to Self-Defense, Euthanasia, and Abortion—Kamma judges the intention to destroy life, not the justification for doing so.

I recently found this DVD and extracted the MP4 from it. Then I extracted the \"story\" of how I became a monk. This is actually old information if you have been following my posts. However, this is from 20 years ago. It gives a glimpse of what the kuti was like and how I was at the time. At the very end, I was so grateful to the fact that I made it as a monk that I began to cry. However, the interview was cut at that point for privacy reasons. This is actually a book called Going For Broke: Travelogs on Becoming A Buddhist Monk \"I once had a visitor from America. He brought a video camera with him and asked me the David Byrne Question, \"Well, how did I get here?\" So I proceeded to tell him the story about how I first got turned on to meditation, how I decided to leave my job, the watch story, the Sai Babba slipper story, WPN and of course The Ordination Story. I completed the 30 minute saga with the phrase \"So…Here I am Bhikkhu Subhūti!\" while stroking the robes that I was wearing. I then thought about how I would explain the different adventures that I've had and all the exciting things I've done and then say that this experience has surely been the best. So I followed that thought and started to say, \"You know…I've done a lot of …\" but something happened at that moment. A big lump formed in my throat and I felt my eyes start to well up. I couldn't go on much longer. I cut everything short and finished abruptly with, \"… But this has made me the most happy!\" with a quivering voice. At this time, tears were falling down my face and I couldn't speak any more. I couldn't even tell the person who was filming me to stop. I could only wave my hand and do some \"cut\" director sign language to tell him to stop.\"

Learn how to sit in meditation on the floor without needing to do any stretching. The secret is to sit on the floor more often and do your work on the floor. But How? This short video shows you how with a bed laptop desk.

Here we discuss the details regarding what \"Beautiful\" means through the sobhana cetasikas (beautiful mental factors). There are no mysteries in Theravada. Everything can be defined if you follow the abhidhamma and commentaries.

Here I discuss some things about the support that came as a result of using my alms bowl.

I will be going to the USA in a few days. I was thinking of all of the anger that is on the left these days. When the left is in control, it is the opposite. Loving-kindness is a good thing and should be practiced often.

Title: Loving Kindness for the Ones We Want to Leave Out. Excerpt from Sunday Dhamma Group....You can give loving kindness above and below and all around. Sometimes you imagine yourself maybe in the center of the earth, and then you focus on all beings everywhere. After that, you focus on the beings you don’t like… or the ones who don’t like you. You wish loving kindness for them too. Then you return again to all beings, wishing loving kindness to the whole world without excluding anyone. Actually, it becomes easier to wish loving kindness to difficult beings because first you were already opening the mind to the whole world. The mind becomes softer and more flexible. It’s a little bit like Christmas. I remember I went for alms in Hawaii, and there was one person there who really didn’t like me at all. He asked what I was doing, and I told him, “I’m wishing loving kindness and collecting food.” He said, “I like what you’re doing, but I think you’re the devil, and you’re not getting any food at my house.” So I asked him, “Is it okay if I still wish loving kindness for your house?” And he said, “Yes, yes, you can do that. Just stay on the road and don’t come onto my property.” Later I found out he was a policeman and simply didn’t know who I was or what I was doing. His father once offered me food if I worked in the garden, but I explained that monks aren’t allowed to do that. He just shrugged and said, “Okay, whatever.” Whenever I walked that road, I would sometimes walk one side, sometimes the other, sometimes zigzagging back and forth. But every single time I came to his house, I made a point to stop and wish loving kindness there. Then one day, it happened to be Christmas. We don’t stop going for alms on holidays. We need food every day. I even went for alms during a hurricane once, with all the windows boarded up. So on Christmas Day I was out there again. The family was outside with their children playing with new toys. I stood maybe twenty feet away because I didn’t want to interrupt their Christmas moment, and quietly wished loving kindness. Then the father saw me and called out, “Hey! Do you like quiche?” I said, “Yeah sure,” because I like anything. He said, “Hold on, I’ll get you something.” And he brought me food. Why? Because it was Christmas, and he felt that Christmas spirit. Even though they didn’t really like me very much, on that day their hearts opened. I think it had been about six months of standing in front of that house wishing loving kindness before that happened. I still remember the meal: quiche, green beans, and papaya on a paper plate. This is why we practice loving kindness. We develop that spirit toward all beings. First we include the whole world. Then we include the difficult beings. And after that, when we return again to wishing loving kindness for all beings, we know we really mean all beings — because we already included the ones we normally would want to leave out. This is how we begin breaking down separation and barriers.

I had to remove a sticky label from a flask. I thought it would be good to give. a small video on how to remove adhesive residue simply by using oil. You can use any type of oil. I had coconut oil so I used that.

From longer Online Talk May 31...But it's the same: there are different things that make things impermanent, different things that make things suffering, and different things that make things non-self. [40 total characteristics]. Just like we could say we have \"beautiful,\" but now we understand that there are 19 or even 25 characteristics that make something beautiful. We're not trying to complicate it; we're trying to show you the detailed method. They need the detailed method. The Buddha, when he wants to humble someone, he gives a couple of lines. They say, \"Can you give me the teaching?\" and he gives them a line of Dhamma, right? And then they say, \"Bhante, okay, that's really wonderful. Can you give me the detailed teachings?\" And then the Buddha will give a big discourse. He gives details so you can have many different handles to understand what is beautiful. We say, \"What is beautiful?\" Like I opened up the talk and mentioned how some people talk about a cat disappearing in the sky until there's nothing there, and they say, \"That's what beautiful is.\" What is that? But in the Abhidhamma, we have all these different characteristics that I just talked about, starting with being faithful and mindful, and being shameful and being fearful. In the West, they don't even understand any of that—they think it's all negative qualities. But when we have the details, we can understand better. We can grab the handle. We have many different things to pull on and to recognize the characteristics.

In this talk, I explore the Cūḷakammavibhaṅga Sutta and share the story of reconnecting with my first meditation teacher after nearly two decades. The focus is on the seeds of kamma that we plant continuously through our actions. What kind of seeds are we planting right now?

A presentation on projects led by Bhante Subhuti. Tipitaka Pali Reader Buddhist Sun PM12E (also called PEU Pali English Ultimate Dictionary or English Abhidhan Dictionary) Classical Theravada Website (classicaltheravada.org) American Monk Website (americanmonk.org)

Description of Buddhist Sun app which helps monks know when Solar Noon is.