Starting new beginnings with wisdom

by Ajahn Jayasaro, The Buddhist Channel, April 13,

Reflection from Ajahn Jayasaro on the occasion of Songkran 2016
Bangkok, Thailand -- A new year makes us think of new beginnings.

But we can only truly move forward when we know where we have come from, how we have got to where we are now, and what destination we hope to reach.

This means we need to know how to take a step back from all our daily activities and spend a little time considering the big picture of our life.
Start the new year with wisdom.

The more short-term are the goals of a person, an economy, a nation, the more reasonable it seems to focus on material progress.

The more long-term the goals, the more necessary it seems to focus on values.
The wise approach is to consider the two together.

Identifying our core values and then pursuing short-tem goals that promote them, or at the very least, do not undermine them, is the way to sustainable progress both on the individual and social level.

On this Thai New Year Day of 2559 BE (2016 CE), may the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha bless and protect all that is good and noble in our hearts and in this dear country.

Ajahn Jayasaro is a disciple of Ajahn Chah, one of Thailand’s most renowned Buddhist monks and meditation masters, at Wat Pa Pong forest monastery in Northeast Thailand.  He took full ordination, with Ajahn Chah as his preceptor, in 1980. Since early 2003 Ajahn Jayasaro has been living in a hermitage at the foot of Khao Yai Mountain National Park. The Dhamma teachings and meditation retreats he gives at regular intervals at a nearby retreat centre offer inspiration to both lay Buddhists and monastics.  He is also a key figure in the movement to integrate Buddhist developmental principles into the Thai education system.  Many of his Dhamma talks are broadcast on radio and television.