The Middle Way

[123chandimal]

I respect to ajan brahm because his simplicity , dhamma knowledge and specially he is a practical monk

[MrFrost227]

fantastic!!!

[davko79]

Wu-Wei?

[Beatstranger]

40 strokes of a cat!! Hahaha, i couldn't stop laughing at the idea! marvellous good old Ajahn Brahm

[anurajayatilake]

So Wt is the middle path? U nver talk of it but all other rubbish. Middle path is a method  To practice until enlightenment and beyond. not how one perceive a laymens' world

[Jesusreborn1]

Buddha Reborn to Jesus in Cambodia

[tontyman1]

this guy is hectic

[JrDiNisi]

This was an extremely enlightening talk that I believe will help me immensely with my meditation. I have been " fighting" during meditation for some time now, and it has lead me to be disheartened of the process. I will try to be kind to my mind.

[novemberainy]

wow. beautiful =)

[kolenkow]

I always like Ajahn Brahm's talk! hahaha......

[himaldew]

namo vante.......

[himaldew]

if you tighten the string too much it wil snap or if you too loose it wont play

[KarmicDrifters]

Beautiful!

[justkarmatoo]

Nice to know I can down-load these talks from your web sight to my mp3 player.

[Zayras7]

"While you are doing a bodily action, you should reflect on it: 'This bodily action I am doing — is it leading to self-affliction, to the affliction of others, or to both? Is it an unskillful bodily action, with painful consequences, painful results?' If, on reflection, you know that it is leading to self-affliction, to the affliction of others, or to both... you should give it up. But if on reflection you know that it is not... you may continue with it." -Ambalatthika-rahulovada Sutta

[justkarmatoo]

@Zayras7 Having attained Buddhahood, the World-honored

one thought thus: "To be free from the passions and to be calm, this is the most excellent Way." ( Opening statements from "The Sutra Of Forty-Two Chapters'). "

[Zayras7]

@justkarmatoo Cool, perhaps it is me who is still missing out on a lot of this then, haha! Thank you too by the way for the wonderful quote.

[Zayras7]

@justkarmatoo The reason I pointed to the teachings of Annata or Atman/Anatman was because I feel there is no real difference between me and you, my path or your path. Sure, there are the kammic differences, but as Ajahn Sumedho said there is no "my" counciousness or "your" conciousness, it's just conciousness, it's all the same. So I feel our goal along the path is not to differentiate between me and you, but to avoid harmful things and create peace for ourselves and others. Just my 2 cents. :)

[Zayras7]

@Zayras7 Haha, reading over this I think I get what you wanted... the aspects in which we are different and the same along the path, sorry guess I misunderstood completely. I would recommend a Dhamma talk by Ajahn Sumedho titled "To see the result of attachment". You can find it on dhammatalksDOTorgDOTuk.

[justkarmatoo]

@Zayras7 Thanks, and i couldn't agree more. Peace be with you always my friend.

[SororSS]

We wish we lived in Perth so we could hear the Friday night talks in person. This is as close as we can get and it is absolutely wonderful!

In a way this is even better! Not sure how but we are in our private home.

Love to all

[justkarmatoo]

Is there only one Buddha's Middle Way? Is your Middle Way the only way. Is mine the only one? Even though we both believe we are following the Eight Fold Path. Is it digital or analog? Can not one person's bliss be another's suffering? Are we not all the same, yet different. Teacher Brahm, in my opinion this would be a good talk. 

[Zayras7]

@justkarmatoo well, I'll give you the best I've got. It's not MY Middle Way or YOUR Middle Way, we don't own these things, they're not ours.

What Achaam Brahm is refering to by Middle Way is the way which does not take extremes, it's not too rough (don't be too hard on yourself, watch your effort) and it's not too gentle (don't be conformed with rather small gains), it's just Right. This part you have to figure out for yourself, like tuning a guitar, once you've got it you'll know.

[justkarmatoo]

@Zayras7 Let me elaborate. Because of karma or cause and effect of this life or past lives if you also believe in that. You have a certain propensity for this are that even if you understand "The Four Noble Truths" and follow "The Eightfold Path".Like the story you eluded to of The Buddha asking the ex-guitar player to teach Dharma as he played his guitar. We all play our music the same but different. Because we are all the same yet different. I had hoped Bhram would give a talk on this.

[Zayras7]

@justkarmatoo Along the path you'll have to ask yourself before, during and after an action: {Will, Does, Did} this action bring me dukkha (suffering, stress) or sukkha (joy, bliss}? This way you will find the Middle Way, but it is very important to have patience and be gentle with yourself and others.

You can't please everybody, but if the intentions of your actions were skillful, then the kammic results will be "good" regardless of others' opinions. Remember, it's like tuning a guitar.

[justkarmatoo]

@Zayras7 The cool thing about Buddhism you take what you want and line you birdcage with the rest. Its all good. Thats why the "Eightfold Path" is on a wheel fused together. If what I do, or not do, is good for me and others, I figure it is Good Karma, All I can do is what I think best according to my interpretation of "The Way". Not Bhram's or anyone else's. Teachers help show "The Way". Only you can walk it. Karma is all there is, was, or ever will be. We try our best. But who knows.

[justkarmatoo]

@Zayras7 Are you telling me to run away from Dukka( sour) and run to Suka( sweet) if I am skillful? Do you think that could get out of hand?

[Zayras7]

@justkarmatoo No, sorry if I wasn't as clear as I could be, you could find a lot more detailed information on the way at accesstoinsightDOTorg. What I told you is from a Sutta in which the Buddha speaks to his son Rahula on the Middle Way. I will include a quote from it in another post.

Perhaps to point you towards a teacher who can better explain to you the profound teachings of not-self and selfs I suggest you go to audiodharmaDOTorg and listen to Thanissaro Bhikkhu's talks on anatta.

[justkarmatoo]

@Zayras7 Thanks for the tip. To be frank I have a pretty good understanding of Self/ no-self. Atman / Anatman . Dependent origination and and stuff like that. Simply because I have a very very good understanding of impermanence due to cause and effect ,which is truly all there is, was, or ever will be. The true teaching of The Buddha. The rest all comes from these basic teachings. I once loved to really study deeper and deeper. Now I keep it simple and just work the program. Thanks again.

[MelasChupa]

thank you ajahn brahm! I hope one day you will come to Athens.

[tigerborn62]

What is that word he keeps saying? It sounds as though he's saying Aestheticism. Thank you!!

[justkarmatoo]

@tigerborn62 Asceticism. What is interesting to me is the fact that what you consider ascetic behavior. Someone else may say it is hedonistic, and both parties are truly following "The Middle Way".

[tigerborn62]

@justkarmatoo Me? I didn't call anything ascetic behavior. My silly ass is still learning what all these terms mean. :)

[justkarmatoo]

@tigerborn62 Hey man, The cool thing is, you know you're a silly ass. If thats not Enlightenment, what the hell is?

[listenupification]

Thank you so much for your talks,I love them and appreciate them.If possible could you share the addiction talk and a talk on ciggarettes.I really love this talk on depression and need to share it with a friend who is having a problem..many thanks.

[solitarytraveler19]

I love Ajahn Brahm. He is my favourite teacher in the world

[jagara1]

Thank you very much for giving this talk - I feel so positive after having listened to it :)

[jagara1]

I am curious as to how monks can reconcile non violence and eating frogs i.e not being vegetarian...

Now I realise the answer may be that there is no Walmart orr Tesco in the Jungle but how do the monks reconcile this?

[MelasChupa]

@jagara1 I think it is described in the dharma that if an animal has died, and was not killed for the purpose of being eaten but rather died of other causes, then it is alright to eat that animal

[jagara1]

@MelasChupa This applies well to roadkill etc - however in the jungle as soon as something dies it begins to rot (due to humidity and the large number of critters) - so rule one in jungle survival is to be never eat anything that is not freshly killed.

At the moment I am a vegetarian - somehow I don't think the monks had a retirement home for old frogs where instead of cremating the frogs they ate them - lol :)

I think what I am getting at is the precepts are guidelines and not rules...

[MelasChupa]

@jagara1 hahaha Good point. Anyways the buddha died from eating bad pork, which was killed for the purpose of food. I agree with you that they precepts are to be followed in a more elastic way if we're going to accept some of the odd things in the dharma.

haha I'm still laughing at that frog retirement home. Seems like a good idea though.

[HIHIMIII56]

This shows the value of youtube to find things like this.

[Sylvia9990211]

Thank you kindly - I wish there was a talk in the future about quitting smoking :) And dealing with a nicotine addicted mind... Just a thought....

[UnevenMatrix]

@Sylvia9990211

He has a talk on addiction. I don't think it's on youtube... I was given a CD by my teacher Ajahn Sanchat... I dunno where to get it from but it's out there somewhere

[kensei85]

Thank you for sharing your wisdom.

[prutledge07]

Thank you for posting these talks. zippity doo da!

[kukahop]

Best talks on Youtube to listen...

To get inspiration, improve ourselves and understand the nature of Life.

I am passing them to all friends who are openminded and deep enough to understand.

Thank you Ajahn Brahm and the Buddhist Society WA

[wayamat]

Thank you to every one involved in posting the talks .

[AngelTFC]

YAY, a new dhamma talk! =D =D =D

[Stella1112]

Thank you for posting the video!

@ Babari!

Listening is more important than seeing. Who cares as long as you can hear what he says!

[greenelf12]

@Stella1112 "Listening is more important than seeing"

very profound :o)

[babarie]

why is the video's focus so blur.??

[greenelf12]

@babarie "Listening is more important than seeing"

very profound :o)