Following the chanting of the Bhaddekaratta Sutta, ‘Verses on a Shining Night of Prosperity’, Ajahn Ahimsako offers encouragement as the Cittaviveka resident community transitions from the end of the winter retreat into a more active schedule. He illustrates how these changing conditions can be a way to reflect on how we interpret our experiences, and explains how true insight comes from an unshakeable knowing of whatever arises in the present moment.
As the Winter Retreat approaches its thee-month conclusion, Ajahn Kaccana presents the opportunity to investigate our relationship to the uncertainty of the world and suggests that the truest refuge can be found in our attitude towards this uncertainty and not in the world.
As Cittaviveka’s winter retreat draws to a close, Ajahn Cittapala reflects on the central role of right view in the Buddha’s teaching. She examines how all other path factors are influenced and dependant on right view, and examines how to distinguish between and develop its mundane and supramundane aspects.
Ajahn Karuniko reflects on his own personal experiences, including his first visit to Wat Pah Nanachat, to show how he once overcame fear by returning to an awareness of the physical body. He relates an experience he once had on a snow capped mountain in Slovenia, where, by facing a perilous situation one step at a time, the final result was an enjoyable ascent.
On Magha Puja, Ajahn Ahimsako recounts how the Buddha offered the Ovada Patimokkha to the assembled Sangha nearly 2,600 years ago. He points out how today’s Sangha of monastic and lay practitioners can benefit from making their own offerings to support each other and the whole community, thus creating an environment of safety and trust in which insight and wisdom can arise.