Are all Buddhists vegetarians? No. The First Precept admonishes us to refrain from killing, but meat eating is not regarded as an instance of killing, and it is not forbidden in the scriptures. (We are speaking here mainly of the Pali scriptures. Some of the Mahayana scriptures, notably t…
This is the third article in the series about the Vinaya, the body of monastic rules and traditions binding on every Buddhist monk and nun. In this article I will discuss the four Parajika - the disrobing offences. The core of the monastic discipline is a list of rules called the Patimok…
Since the very beginning of Buddhism over 2500 years ago, Buddhist monks and nuns have depended on almsfood. They were, and still are, prohibited from growing their own food, storing their own provisions or cooking their own meals. Instead, every morning they would make their day's m…
My alms bowl is central to my life. A symbol of the Theravada Buddhist monastic tradition in which I trained, it is the soul of my mendicancy - coming empty-handed before the laity to receive material nourishment and responding to their generosity. Sometimes that means reciprocating with…
I would like to begin this talk firstly by speaking about developing the posture for meditation. The ideal posture is one that is quite balanced, so try to sit on the floor quite straight. Keep the back straight and push the lower back forward as if something is pulling you from the ches…
joy at Last… As I was about to give this talk I brought to mind a well-known picture of my teacher, Ajahn Chah (a Thai meditation master), in his first monastery in England. In this picture, he has his arms raised above his head in imitation of a statue from another monastery. Beneath th…
