Teachings

The Noble Eightfold Path can sometimes be summed up with three branches – “Sila, Samadhi, and Pañña”, or “Morality, Mental Composure, and Wisdom”. The positioning of Sila at the beginning of the list is not by chance – as many learn when they first experiment with Buddhist practice and try to meditate, they get only

Standing in the courtyard behind the Vihara here in Queens, with the sun on my face and birds chirping, the sense of spring is strong enough to overpower the perception of the city. Even surrounded by concrete and brick, I can close my eyes and feel the breeze against my skin, and it’s like being

Ven. Santi led this week’s Sunday session at Vihara Parivara Dhamma Acala with a talk entitled ‘Interlocking Dhammas’. The program begins with the paying of respects and taking of precepts, and includes after the talk a section of questions and answers with both monastics.

There’s something very humble and straightforward about taking the precepts. It’s a major step in one’s commitment to peace, and one of the first really active steps. Before this step people tend to be quite critical of precepts and the idea of giving something up – even frightfully destructive things like killing, stealing, and lying.

You don’t have to be a college graduate to know that being selfish and self-centered causes stress in your own life and makes you a pain to be around. This is a common teaching and understanding in the world. Finding a way out of our ego and self-centered ways of thinking is one of the

The recording of Venerable Santi’s talk and Q & A session at Vihara Parivara Dhamma Acala is now available on “The Resident of Dhamma” YouTube channel.

My grandfather passed away when I was nine years old, and I remember attending the funeral service and hearing my father get up in front of a large group of friends and family and give a moving eulogy. It really struck me at the time because he was such a good speaker, so confident and