I’m very happy to announce a new update for the Buddhist Sun app on both the iOS App Store and Google Play Store! For those who haven’t tried it yet, Buddhist Sun helps you keep track of solar noon, moon phases, uposatha days, and dawn rise—all calculated accurately using your GPS location. This is especially helpful for laypeople who observe the Eight Precepts, since the rule is to finish eating before true solar noon, not 12:00 PM on the clock. The app calculates this down to the minute. There’s also a countdown timer so you can eat peacefully without guessing how much time is left. The app was originally made for monks, since in the Buddha’s time there were no clocks and solar noon was judged by the shadow’s length. Now the app does all of that for you automatically—no calculations needed. You’ll also receive optional notifications for upcoming uposatha days and moon days to support your practice. I hope this update makes it even easier to follow the daily discipline and stay connected with the ancient way of marking time. May this be of benefit and help you progress toward Nibbāna. Sādhu, sādhu, sādhu. — Bhante Subhūti

Summary: When monks chant blessings, we’re reminding you of cause and effect. Dana is already wholesome — because there is non-greed and non-anger present in the moment of giving. But when you give with wisdom — knowing the cause… knowing the effect… it becomes triple-rooted. Alobha, adosa, and amoha (paññā). This is why intention matters. Giving with wisdom multiplies the power of merit. Transcription: What's special that happens when we give the blessing? The thing is that we're reminding you about cause and effect so that we can add paññā, wisdom, to the quality of the donation. When you give, there's always alobha, adosa. This means non-greed, non-hatred, non-anger. So alobha, adosa, non-greed, non-anger. So these are wholesome things because they're the opposite of greed and anger because it's never present when you're giving a gift. Even if you're angry before, at that moment you're giving, at least you might not be happy, but there will be a neutral feeling associated with that. And then you might go back to being angry at someone. We always say that if you're angry at someone, give them a gift. But in any case, it's always a wholesome mind. But sometimes a lot of times you give and you're not thinking about cause and effect. And not only that, you might not be thinking about being respectful. And so when we do that chant, actually people are like this, they're very, very respectful when we give this chant. And so they're thinking about cause and effect and they're being respectful. And of course these four qualities will come. And triple-rooted, we say. Triple-rooted. Aloba, adosa, amoha. Amoha is the same as paññā. It means wisdom.

What comes around goes around. We have cause and effect. This is the law of kamma. Whatever you do — bodily action, verbal speech, even thinking — it all has kamma. Whatever you give out will come back to you. So when people offer food… long life, good complexion, happiness, strength — those results come from kamma. It’s not magic. It’s cause and effect. But why do we give this blessing if you will get results anyway? Because this is to remind you of cause and effect — so that we can add paññā, wisdom, to the quality of the donation. So when the results come back to you — your benefit is not just ordinary kamma result… but it is coupled with wisdom.

Many people are interested in learning how they can increase their sitting times — what exercises they can do, what kind of stretches they can do — so they can sit longer. Here is a simple idea. This is a meditation seat. There is an angled pillow with medium rubber foam at about a 30-degree angle, which is ideal. And then, in front, I have what is called a bed laptop desk. This helps you get used to sitting on your meditation seat, but you can still do your work whenever you need to work. So instead of only getting one hour or two hours of practice time to stretch your tendons in the meditation posture, you can sit on your meditation seat while doing your work — and your legs will slowly get used to the meditation posture.

When you sit on the floor, it’s very important that you don’t wear your shoes inside the house, or at least the room where you sit on the floor. That’s very important because when you sit on the floor, the floor becomes your furniture. And if you’ve had a good mother or good father, they tell you don’t put your shoes on the furniture, right? So you want to have the floor nice and clean. It’s very important that you have a space where you don’t wear your shoes. In Asia, very few people wear their shoes inside the house. They take the shoes off. You don’t want to bring the outside world into your house, or into your meditation room, or your work room. After you do this for a while, you think it’s sort of dirty to actually bring your shoes inside the house. So I hope you can also practice this, and make your place more sacred, and make your place more clean. — Bhante Subhuti

The main reason you can’t sit for long periods of time is because you don’t have concentration. So the problem is — you need to have concentration. Focus on concentration… not how long you can sit. This is the most important thing. When you have concentration, you’ll be able to sit longer… and longer… and longer. There are people who sit for five, six, seven hours. It’s quite common with people who have samādhi and Jhāna concentration.

From httpa://americanmonk.org People thought we were trick-or-treaters and gave candy, but it turned into one of the best alms days. One time I was in Kauai with one of my senior friends. I think it was 2015. We would go for alms, and we would wish loving-kindness in front of each house — not too long, not too short — just enough time so they could look outside, see who we were, and we could radiate mettā. A lady finally came out and said, “Oh… what do we have here?” Almost like you might say to kids going trick-or-treating. Eventually she understood we were actually monks… but she still gave us Halloween candy. That day actually became one of our best days in terms of getting food from the local houses. The Thai community also regularly came to where we walked — they always knew which roads we would be on and offered alms frequently. The local American people… sometimes yes, sometimes no. But on Halloween day — we definitely received a lot of candy. And of course — this was during proper alms round time… not at night.

A short Dhamma reflection on the subtle power of intention — even in something as simple as a Halloween costume. When we take on a role, we embody it; when we make a wish, we shape our future. This talk reminds us to be mindful of what we imitate and what we wish for, because the mind transforms with every thought, action, and aspiration. Transcription: And even if you have a wholesome costume one year, you might end up with an unwholesome costume the next year. And that's why it's a bad habit. You might be the good fairy one year, and then the next year, death zombie. So this is not very good, not very good at all to do. Because when one acts, one is transforming their mind and body, they're embodying that character if they're really good. And when one dresses up, one makes a conscious or unconscious wish to have that come true. And anyone who has done the Dichu Samapada the correct way according to the commentaries — knowing about the past lives, the present life, and what could happen in the future — they would tell you, be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it. And so when you wish for something, it's like — how does that give you a new life? How does that result in a new life? But the problem is, when you paint a picture in the sky, it doesn't work. You need a medium to paint on. So when you wish to operate on someone, you might become a doctor. If you wish you could kill someone, you imagine yourself killing someone, you might end up as that same person who kills someone.

How to know where Bodh Gaya Is? You can use the Buddhist Compass App. This will let you know the direction easily and quickly.

It might be a mystery as to why the Earth Kasina was taught first in the great and ancient meditation manual called the Visuddhimagga. Here, in this short video, you can see that we sometimes forget what it was like during the time of the Buddha.

How to remove a leech without harming the both of you. it is best to flick them off when they are bunched up together, head to toe. However he I did not use enough flick force because I was hold the phone, so he attached to my finger. eventually I had to put down the phone and do the same process.

Workers are not with us during lock-down. So it was time to pour concrete the old fashion way for the Junior Monks' Pathway under the new rain cover for rainy season. This way the junior monks won't get wet after they collect their food. The work is quite tiring. I did some work shovelling rocks and I was completely tired after only one hour. The work started after lunch and continued into the night until about 7:30 pm. The nun doing the final pouring at the end of the fire-line is Daw Gunagavesi. She is a Myanmar medical doctor and in charge of the kitchen staff.

Here is a video confirming that it is OK to feed birds uncooked rice on the topic of throwing rice at weddings.

This shows how an incense holder made from a bottle. No ash escapes. Although it is probably safer than a normal holder, use with care at your own risk!