Ajahn Viradhammo points to the bringing in of more silence into the mind rather than trying to control thoughts. He points to another dimension of the mind that he is interested in...the unchanging, the timeless, nibbana...turning towards just this moment in a very simple way...stillness of being...non-desire

So training in non preconception...availability.......

Listen to sound....let the sounds come to you ...notice that sound is in awareness...

Ajahn Viradhammo encourages sleepy retreatants to choose to opt out of the sitting and have a cold shower, or do walking practice or to take a nap if their fatigue is too much. Fore the others he begins by asking them to listen to sound and feel the body. . .notice silence . . . awareness is unchanging . . . the foreground changes . . the background is silent.. conscious.. awareness. . .be the background.. . . .

Ajahn Viradhammo speaks about his early spiritual search, this search has a loneliness that we have no language for. He continues with sharing his experience of entering into the spiritual life.

Ajahn Viradhammo receives a request to give or lead the retreatants in ‘taking on’ the eight precepts for the length of the retreat.

After 7 minutes approximately he offers reflections on this path as a contemplative, a monk in the Thai Forest Sangha tradition of Ajahn Chah. It is from this perspective that ‘Luang Por Viradhammo speaks of his understanding of ‘homage’ to the Buddha and knowing the possibility of awakening in this life. This path brings optimism to his life as has living within the vinaya (the precepts taken on by the monks in a Buddhist Sangha) . . . . .

Ajahn Viradhammo, speaking for the first time after the three month winter retreat, reflects on the realm of thought and its limitations. There was a tragic loss of lives in the Buddhist community in Ottawa. The feeling in the funeral home was heartbreaking, it was not thinking.

Tension, worry are not resolved with thinking. Try practicing a face meditation where one listens and waits abiding in and awakening to the way things are. The tension, worry opens with the attention of the heart. The tension in the face becomes known and resolved through this deeper feeling - the awareness and compassion available with the heart. The body comes alive, not through thought. This was very liberating, it can bring joy (mudita) to trust in awareness, a path with heart.

Ajahn Viradhammo speaks on the second day of the Galilee retreat held via Zoom during Covid. After illustrating several ways to access the open heart he goes on to teach about the Buddha's search for liberation driven by his compassionate awareness of the suffering in old age, sickness and death.

Ajahn Viradhammo speaks about his early spiritual search, this search has a loneliness that we have no language for. He continues with sharing his experience of entering into the spiritual life.

Ajahn Viradhammo speaks about his early spiritual search, this search has a loneliness that we have no language for. He continues with sharing his experience of entering into the spiritual life.