5. “I have had many losses over the year, and both my parents passed away six years ago. I found that taking refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha, keeping the precepts, and having daily meditation practice helps. There is peacefulness and gratitude. I have heard that if one wants to share merits with the deceased, one could. What is the proper way? Could you give some guidance?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Death] [Grief] [Parents] [Merit ] // [Recollection/Virtue] [Goodwill] [Translation] [Three Refuges] [Precepts] [Generosity] [Happiness]
Sutta: Iti 22: “Do not be afraid of puñña.” [Happiness]
Quote: “Puñña is accomplished through the heart itself.” [Heart/mind] [Cultural context]
Quote: “A spark of merit is worth more than a mountain of effort.” — Tibetan saying. [Vajrayāna] [Self-identity view]
1. “What is the translation of sabbaṃ dukkhaṃ? The way you translate it seems psychological. In Sanskrit, dukkhaṃ means out of the cosmic flow of Dhamma. But perhaps dukkhaṃ is best left untranslated. If untranslated, does dukkhaṃ mean the same thing in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Suffering] [Pāli] [Equanimity] [Dhamma] [Translation] [Advaita Vedanta] // [Thai] [Human] [Aggregates] [Clinging ] [Knowing itself] [Relinquishment]
Ancient etymology of dukkha: du = bad, unwanted, unpleasant, uncomfortable, not easy; kha = where the axle fits into the wheel. [Language] [History/Indian Buddhism]
Sutta: SN 56.11: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (Chanting Book translation)
Teaching: The four forms of clinging. [Clinging ] [Sensual desire] [Impermanence] [Naturalness] [Happiness] [Neutral feeling] [Attachment to precepts and practices] [Views] [Doctrine-of-self clinging] [Not-self]
Quote: “Nibbāna is the reality of non-grasping.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Nibbāna] [Cessation of Suffering]
5. “I work as a psychotherapist and it seems to be useful to have a more or less stable self, a more or less stable ego, to be able to transcend the ego.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Western psychology ] [Self-identity view] [Liberation] // [Mark Epstein] [Virtue] [Happiness] [Conditionality] [Language] [Ajahn Chah] [Conventions]
Reference: “The Wisdom of the Ego” in Head and Heart Together by Ajahn Ṭhānissaro.
Sutta: SN 1.25: “Skillful, knowing the world’s parlance, he uses such terms as mere expressions.”
1. “When was the idea of merit [being like a celestial currency] incorporated into Buddhism?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Sundarā. [Merit] [History/Early Buddhism] // [Generosity] [Happiness]
Sutta: Iti 22: “Don’t belittle merit.”
Sutta: AN 7.52: Degrees of meritorious offerings.
5. Story: The parents of a four-year-old wish their child to attain Nibbāna in this life. Told by Ajahn Kaccāna. [Parents] [Nibbāna] [Desire]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Happiness]
3. “You mentioned the class of actions that are neither bright nor dark as the path leading to Nibbāna. But isn’t the work one does on the path good?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Kaccāna. [Kamma] [Nibbāna] [Skillful qualities] // [Happiness] [Liberation] [Clinging]
Sutta: MN 57.7: Four kinds of kamma.
Sutta: MN 75.19: Nibbāna is the highest bliss.
Sutta: AN 6.63.33: Kamma, its origin, and its cessation. [Four Noble Truths]
Sutta: MN 117: The Great Forty.
5. “How important is it to develop wholesome actions (the second of the four kinds of action in MN 57.7) to progress with the fourth [kind of action]?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Kamma] [Skillful qualities] // [Merit] [Translation] [Happiness] [Concentration]
Sutta: Iti 22: Do not be afraid of puñña.
1. “After more than 50 years, is the practice getting easier?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Long-term practice ] [Ajahn Pasanno] // [Mindfulness] [Happiness]
1. “What does letting go feel like?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Relinquishment] // [Clinging] [Happiness]