Series: Monks in the Morning

Today we are going to talk about intention. An intention is like a wish that our mind is thinking about when we do some action. For example, when we give someone some medicine, we have the intention to help that person. That’s a good action that we do with a good intention. Sometimes it’s not always easy to see what someone’s intention is when they do some action. For example, if our parents scold us, they may be doing it with the intention to help us, even though we may not like it at the time. One of the important abilities we have as human beings is the ability to think about what our intentions are when we do something, and make sure that we always act with the best intentions. That way we know that we won’t hurt other people or ourselves. Today, we are going to learn about two sisters who practice giving things away, but they do it with two different kinds of good intention. We can learn from this and make sure that we always give with the best intentions.

Contents

6:10 Sermon on Pv 3.6 Dazzling Mansion (Read the sutta on SuttaFriends.org)
14.54 Aham Avero Homi: Loving-Kindness Chanting. Read online, download a PDF or MP3.

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Sometimes people wonder about who we should give gifts to. Once King Pasenadi asked the Supreme Buddha who he should give gifts to. The Buddha told him to give wherever made him happy. Then King Pasenadi asked him where gifts should be given so they produce the greatest results. In the sermon today, we are going to learn about the difference between giving to an ordinary beggar and giving to the Mahā Saṅgha.

Contents

4:24 Sermon
13:59 Buddhanussati verses Meditation. Read online or Download PDF.

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Today we are going to listen in on a discussion that some of our good Dhamma friends had with one of the venerable monks about their time in lockdown. Now some of you may be listening to this episode long after the corona virus happened and you may not remember what it was like. So to protect ourselves and our friends, wise leaders asked people to stay at home whenever possible. This way the virus won’t spread to other people. It isn’t a punishment, it’s a way to keep everyone safe. For many, many people who don’t understand the Supreme Buddha’s teachings this situation gives them lots and lots of suffering. Because they can’t go where ever they want, they can’t see the people the like to see, they can’t eat the food they like to eat. But in this Dhamma discussion, we will learn how these kids were able to live happily in this situation even though they were scared and couldn’t do the things they were used to doing.

Contents

5:46 Dhamma Discussion

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Today we will listen to the last part of the story of Kālī Yakshini. Although lots of terrible things happen in this story, something very wonderful happens, doesn’t it. The mother and the yakkha, who had been terrible enimies for a long time in saṁsara had the chance to give up this hatred that caused them so much suffering. Until they came to the Supreme Buddha, they had no idea how long they had been in danger because of their hatred for each other.

Dhammapada 5

Na hi verena verāni,
sammantīdha kudācanaṃ;
Averena ca sammanti,
esa dhammo sanantano.
5. Hatred never ends through hatred; by non-hatred alone does it end. This is an eternal law in this world.

Contents

5:29 Sermon
17:41 Karaniya Metta Sutta. Read online or download a PDF.

Related Book

• Mahamevnawa Pali-English Paritta Chanting Book. Get your own copy.

We’d love to hear from you! Send us a voicemail. Or record a longer segment on your phone. You can write to us at info@serenecolombo.org or contact us through Facebook at facebook.com/ColomboDhammaFriends or Instagram at instagram.com/SereneColombo. You can also sent us a voicemail on Whatsapp.

In the last episode we started to learn the story of a very unfortunate family who were terrorized by a yakkha who kept eating their babies. That would have been horrible, wouldn’t it. That family definitely would have wanted to conquer the yakha. Do you know that word, conquer? When we conquer someone, it can mean we have a battle or fight with them and we win the fight. Usually we talk about conquering an enemies army, but we can use it for people to. But this family didn’t have any power to conquer the yakkha, did they. So their only hope was to go to the Supreme Buddha for help. Today we will learn what happened when they went to see the Buddha.

Dhammapada Verse

Na hi verena verāni,
sammantīdha kudācanaṃ;
Averena ca sammanti,
esa dhammo sanantano.

5. Hatred never ends through hatred; by non-hatred alone does it end. This is an eternal law in this world.

Read the whole chapter on SuttaFriends.org.

Contents

5:57 Sermon
19:28 Metta Bhavana: Loving Kindness Meditation Download PDF or MP3.

Reading

• Dhammapada: What Does the Buddha Really Teach. Get a copy of the print book or read online for free.

We’d love to hear from you! Send us a voicemail. Or record a longer segment on your phone. You can write to us at info@serenecolombo.org or contact us through Facebook at facebook.com/ColomboDhammaFriends or Instagram at instagram.com/SereneColombo. You can also sent us a voicemail on Whatsapp.

Have you ever had something strange happen to you that you couldn’t explain? We’ll start to learn the story of a family that had something really strange, and really scary, happen to them. They couldn’t understand why it was happening. In the end, and in a panic, the went to the wisest person in the world to ask for help—the Supreme Buddha. He was able to offer them protection and also give them an answer to why these things were happening.

Contents

5:31 Part 1 of the story of Kālī the Yakkhini
16:49 Suriya Paritta. Download a PDF or read online.

Related Book

• Mahamevnawa Pali-English Paritta Chanting Book. Print Book.

We’d love to hear from you! Send us a voicemail. Or record a longer segment on your phone. You can write to us at info@serenecolombo.org or contact us through Facebook at facebook.com/ColomboDhammaFriends or Instagram at instagram.com/SereneColombo. You can also sent us a voicemail on Whatsapp.

We have a very special show today to talk about something very special that happened recently in one of our monasteries. There was a novice ordination ceremony. Do you know what that means? It’s a special event where someone becomes a novice monk. They take the ten precepts and start wearing robes and living as a monk. As a novice monk they then keep all the precepts you may keep on the uposatha when you observe the eight precepts, but they split one of the precepts into two, and they take one more precept to give up using money. we’re gong to speak with one of the monks who attended this ceremony and he’ll tell us all about becoming a monk.

Contents

6:57 Dhamma discussion on a novice ordination ceremony

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Lots of you have told us how you really like to practice loving-kindness meditation. This makes all the monks so happy to know that even as kids you are learning to train your minds in wholesome qualities. We also want you to remember that thoughts of loving-kindness are not just something we need to have when we meditate. We also need to know when to think in this way in real life. In the sermon today we’ll be reminded of how important it is to watch our minds and make sure that when anger arises that we work hard to replace it with thoughts of loving kindness.

Contents

5:19 Sermon on loving-kindness
16:11 Metta Bhavana: Loving Kindness Meditation Download PDF or MP3.

We’d love to hear from you! Send us a voicemail. Or record a longer segment on your phone. You can write to us at info@serenecolombo.org or contact us through Facebook at facebook.com/ColomboDhammaFriends or Instagram at instagram.com/SereneColombo. You can also sent us a voicemail on Whatsapp.

The Supreme Buddha taught us it’s very very important that we associate with good people who like to practice the Dhamma. Because when we do, our good qualities increase. But sometimes, we don’t take advantage of being around good people, do we? Today we’ll learn the story of someone like that, who had the chance to spend time learning from an arahant, but instead he cursed him and chased him away. Can you believe it? See how dangerous saṁsara is? Fortunately for this person, he eventually got to meet the Supreme Buddha. I don’t want to give the story away, so you’ll just have to listen.

Theragatha

Read the Verses of Arahant Jambuka in the Theragāthā on SuttaFriends.org.

Dhammapada

70. The foolish ascetic who eats food with the tip of a blade of grass, month after month, is not worth a sixtieth part of the lives of the liberated ones who have realized the Dhamma.

Read the whole Dhammapada chapter on SuttaFriends.org.

Contents

6:05 Dhammapada 70, the story of Arahant Jambuka.
23:20 Vimana Vatthu 6.4 Lodging Giver’s Mansion

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Have you ever been tricked before? Maybe someone pretended to throw something to you and when you tried to catch it, it wasn’t there. Or maybe someone traded you for something, but what you got wasn’t what they promised. Well, what if I told you that we are all letting ourselves be tricked by the world all the time. That what we think we experience in the world is totally different from reality. And its because we are letting ourselves be tricked that we have to suffer. But the Supreme Buddha wasn’t tricked by the world. He saw things as they really are. In the sermon today, we’ll learn four ways that the world tricks us. They are really important, so you may want to write them down in your Monks in the Morning journal to help you remember.

Contents

5:32 Sermon
14:58 Buddhanussati verses Meditation. Read online or Download PDF.

We’d love to hear from you! Send us a voicemail. Or record a longer segment on your phone. You can write to us at info@serenecolombo.org or contact us through Facebook at facebook.com/ColomboDhammaFriends or Instagram at instagram.com/SereneColombo. You can also sent us a voicemail on Whatsapp.