Ajahn Jayanto, the abbot of the Temple Forest Monastery in Temple, New Hampshire, came to teach at VIMS for the seventh consecutive year this August. When he first came to visit us, in the fall of 2013, he was not an abbot, and there was no Temple Forest Monastery. The thought of a monastery was…

“Peace is all around us, in our hearts, in the world. It is not just a matter of faith; it is a matter of practice.” –– Thich Nhat Hanh Last month I wrote about faith, stating that I have confidence in the efficacy of certain aspects of the Dharma teachings––especially, though not only, in compassion:…

In mid-June I attended the annual meeting of a Dharma teachers’ group that I have been involved with for over sixteen years. Our study theme this year was titled “Faith, Science, and Awakening.” I arrived late––on the second evening––and I had missed two sessions of presentation by the Buddhist scholar William Edelglass, the incoming Director…

One of our VIMS study groups is working with Bhikkhu Analayo’s Mindfully Facing Disease and Death. The book is filled with a great deal of valuable and very practical information, all of which fosters what might be called “everyday compassion,” as well as its related wise action. Though the book’s primary focus is on how…

Quite a number of us at Valley Insight––those in all our weekly sitting groups as well as in the biweekly study group––have been revisiting, reflecting on, and practicing in such a way as to develop wise mindfulness. Such mindfulness (called sati, in the Pali language of the Buddhist scriptures) is a quality of heart-mind that…

“I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One [the Buddha] was living among the Sakyans. Now there is a Sakyan town named Sakkara. There Ven. Ananda went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to the Blessed One, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, Ven. Ananda said…