Saturday, May 10, 2014

Reflection: A failure, am I?

Failure simply means we have not achieved a goal we have aimed for or told by some­one to aim for. That task may have failed, but “we” have not failed. If we do not own our failure, then failure cannot own us. A simple way to do this is not to use “I,” “me” or “mine,” in such situations. Identify the problem, not a person: there is no “problem person,” only a person “with” a problem. In other words, we need to deal with the problem: that’s the real issue.

A Life Good


Friday, May 9, 2014

What is Pūja?


It is the name given to the wide variety of devotional and offering ceremonies practiced in all Buddhist traditions. The Pāli-Sanskrit root for 'Pūja' is derived from“pūj” - hence the root-verb 'pūjeti’, which means honouring, venerating, or paying devotional attention. The earliest Pūjas, still practiced in Theravada, consisted of placing flowers, lights and incense in front of a symbol or image of the Buddha.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Bhante or Ajahn?

You may have noticed that i usually call myself Bhante, whereas most of the monks who come from the Thai tradition call themselves Ajahn. Why one or the other?

Here’s a little history of the word ‘Ajahn’.