Similes (opammā)
Teaching Dhamma / Similes 
202 excerpts, 15:17:11 total duration



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Readings from The Island, Session 56 – Mar. 30, 2025

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5. “Could you repeat the five types of stinginess (AN 5.260)?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Greed ] // [Family] [Corruption] [Lodging] [Gain and loss] [Fame and disrepute] [Teaching Dhamma]

Story: Ajahn Mahā Prasert gets sent to Nebraska. [Ajahn Mahā Prasert] [Jealousy]

Suttas: SN 17: Connected Discourses on Gain, Honor, and Fame.

Reading: SN 17.5: The Dung Beetle. [Humor] [Similes]

Reflections on the kammic effects of King Ajātasattu killing his father (DN 2.101). [Kamma] [Killing] [Parents] [Stream entry]

Vinaya: Khandhaka 21.1.3: The First Council occurred at Rājagha, King Ajātasattu’s capital city.


Q&A with the Chithurst Community – Aug. 30, 2025

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7. “Can you offer any reflections about people’s tendency to measure samādhi, concentration, and jhāna and their doubt and discontent about how much is enough to develop insight?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Calming meditation] [Concentration] [Jhāna] [Insight meditation] // [Craving] [Relinquishment] [Etymology] [Translation] [Right Mindfulness] [Right Effort]

Quote: “Samādhi is a holiday for the heart.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Sumedho]

Simile: Samādhi is like a chicken in a bamboo coop. [Similes] [Spaciousness] [Mindfulness]

Sutta: MN 44.12: The bases of samādhi.

Simile: Unification of mind is like a bowl of fruit. [Unification] [Similes]


Samādhi, Memory & Renunciation Q&A – Jan. 7, 2026

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4. “How do you deal with the fear of renunciation and sacrifice that you do on the path of practice? Giving things up that are familiar and comfortable, or even that you know are uncomfortable, but there’s still that dukkha around it. Or after you’ve given up, the mind can proliferate on these subjects a lot. What has your experience been like?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Cunda. [Renunciation] [Fear] [Suffering] [Proliferation] // [Self-identity view] [Cessation of Suffering] [Relinquishment] [Discernment] [Happiness] [Monastic life]

Quote: “Everything I’ve ever let go of has claw marks on it.” — David Foster Wallace. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Clinging]

Story: Just sweep the leaves in front of your broom. Told by Ajahn Cunda. [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Present moment awareness] [Similes]

Story: A young child struggles to give Ajahn Sumedho a candy on almsround. Told by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Generosity] [Almsround] [Ajahn Sumedho]


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