Have you ever wished for something? Something you wanted really, really bad? Lots of people wish for things for themselves. New clothes, new games, a favorite food. Well, some people have a wish to help other people. That was the case with the great disciple named Visakha. Do you know about her? The Supreme Buddha said she was the best giver to the…

Do you know what it means if someone is good-hearted? It’s not talking about their physical heart in the middle of their chest. If someone is good-hearted then, they always act in a good way and try to help other people. In today’s sermon we will learn about what a good-hearted friend is and how we can also become a good-hearted friend to other peo…

If you haven’t listened to the last episode yet, you might want to go back and hear it first. Because today we’ll learn the rest of the story of the girl who offered her gold to help make a stupa. You know, if we are fortunate enough to have lots of nice things in this life, we should always remember that it’s because of the good actions we did in …

Have you ever seen a stupa before? Or maybe just a photo? Stupas hold the relics of the Supreme Buddha or Arahant disciples of the Supreme Buddha. Usually these relics are small pieces of bone or hair, or sometimes teeth. Showing respect to these places is a very powerful way of collecting merit, isn’t it. We learned all about that in the last prog…

When we are with each other we get to learn all sorts of things that help us be better people. The more we learn from our good Dhamma friends, the easier it is to remember to do the right things, even when it is difficult. This is important to remember when we do bad things… no matter what, the Buddha reminds us that we can give up doing bad things…

Today we are going to learn the next blessing in the Mahamangala sutta. Do you remember all the blessings you have learned before? If not, you can go back and listen to those shows. Just go to the show notes on the website and click on the link for the whole series of talks. The blessing we will learn today is called heedfulness, or diligence. In t…

Today we are going to learn another one of the blessings that we can find in the Mahā Mangala Sutta, the great discourse on blessings. I’m sure most of you have chanted the Mangala sutta before. It’s important that we understand the meaning in detail since when we follow the Buddha’s instructions it can bring blessings into our lives now and blessi…

So, have you ever had to move houses? If you did, were you able to pack all of your things in a box or two? Or did you have to rent a big truck? Or maybe you went on a long vacation somewhere once. Could you fit everything you needed in a shoulder bag? Or did you need lots and lots of luggage? Well, the Buddha had such compassion for his monks and …

In the last episode we started to learn about two sisters who practiced giving. Because of that giving, they were both reborn in heavenly worlds. Do you remember their names? One was called Bhadra, that means lucky, or fortunate. The other one was called Subhadra. That means very lucky or very fortunate. And as it turned out, Subbhadra really was m…

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…

Sometimes people wonder about whom we should give gifts to. Once King Pasenadi asked the Supreme Buddha whom 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 betw…

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 …

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…

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 th…

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 …

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 ke…

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…

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 arah…

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…

Do you have a savings account? Maybe you have a jar that you collect money in that you hope to buy something with in the future. Lots of people do. And people did that in the time of out Supreme Buddha as well. Today we will learn a wonderful sutta called the Nidhikaṇḍa Sutta: The Discourse on Savings. In this sutta, we will learn how the Buddha ad…

On the programme we talk a lot about how when we practice generosity it leads to being wealthy in the future. The Supreme Buddha says this again and again. Well, today we are going to learn five more benefits of giving. Some of these benefits we can even see right now in this very life. They are good to remember, so I recommend that you write them …

Today we are going to listen to a really interesting discussion between one of the venerable monks and a couple of kids who have been attending Dhamma programmes for a few years. Among other things, they are going to talk all about the process of making and offering food, or dāna, to the Mahāsangha. You can really tell that they have been learning …

Click on the links in case you missed part 1 and part 2 of the Puññābhisanda Sutta. Today we’ll learn the rest of the Puññābhisanda sutta. You know, when we think about merit, many people only think about the physical things we do with our bodies, like giving things to the Saṅgha, or making offerings to the Supreme Buddha. Or maybe they think about…

In the last episode we started to learn the Puññābhisanda Sutta, the way to always have merit flowing into our lives. The first way is to have strong confidence in the enlightenment of the Supreme Buddha. The way that we can get this is by learning about the qualities of his mind and how his mind is different than our own minds. We can see how easi…

One thing the Supreme Buddha is very clear about is that we have to work hard if we want to improve our situation in life. If we want to be happy, this isn’t something we get just by wishing for it. We have to do things with our body speech and mind. But once we begin to work hard like this, then the benefits start flowing into our lives like a gre…

One of the things that’s so great about being a follower of the Supreme Buddha is that if we follow his advice, it brings us happiness right now as we practice his teachings, and it’s also guarenteed to bring us happiness in the future, either in a good rebirth or in attaining Nibbana. In some religions, the most people hope for is happiness in the…

When we collect good karma by practicing the Buddha’s instructions, we will often share merit with heavenly beings. And we may even have the wish that all heavenly beings protect the Dhamma and those who practice the Dhamma. Well one of you was curious if when our relatives are born in the heavenly worlds they can come back and help us in this life…

Do you remember that word, kalyanamitta? It means a special kind of friend who likes to help us practice the Supreme Buddha’s teachings. That’s what we’re going to do together today, practice the Supreme Buddha’s teachings. It’s hard to find people in the world to help us practice the Dhamma, so we can be happy knowing that we have found this rare …

Have you ever heard of offering milk rice to the Supreme Buddha? Today two of the monks are going to talk about the practice of offering milk rice to the Supreme Buddha. In Sinhala this special kind of milk rice offering is called kiripindu Buddha Puja. Together we’ll learn about the ancient history of offering milk rice to the Buddha, how we shoul…

Today we are going to hear the eleven benefits that we get when we practice loving kindness meditation. Some of the benefits of practicing meditation we can see in this life, and some don’t come until a future life. But when we know the good things we can expect from meditating, then it’s easier to make the effort to practice right now. Contents 5:…

Today we are going to learn a teaching from the Supreme Buddha about the importance of friendship. We can find it in the collection called the Itivuttaka, so if you would like to read it again after the show, just click on the show notes link below and you can read it for yourself. This is one of the great things about learning the Dhamma, that we …

Can you remember the three knowledges we learned in the last episode? The three things that the Supreme Buddha was able to see and understand on the night of his enlightenment? The first one was the ability to remember his past lives. Not just one or two, many thousands and thousands of lives. And not just a little bit about those lives, but everyt…

Have you heard about the night of the Supreme Buddha’s enlightenment? You probably remember that it happened on a Vesak full moon. And that he sat next to the river Neranjara. You may even remember that Māra tried to stop him from attaining enlightenment. But can you remember the three special things that he gained in his mind that night? We’ll lea…

Today we will learn more about the Arahaṁ quality of the Supreme Buddha. Do you remember the story we learned about the monks being happy with the food given to horses? Well, there’s more to the story and we will learn that today. If you haven't listened to that episode, you may want to go back and listen to it first. (187 Happy without the Defilem…

Today we will learn another example of why our Supreme Buddha was the best teacher in the world. You know that sometimes the Supreme Buddha would even use his psychic powers to teach if he thought they were necessary to tame someone’s mind. Well, that’s exactly what he did in the example we’ll learn about today. Contents 5:23 Sermon17:34 Chanda Par…

In the sermon today we are going to learn a wonderful verse taught by the Supreme Buddha. One day he was walking on alms round, collecting his meal for the day, and he saw some boys catching fish. Because he had compassion for these boys, he went up and asked them if they disliked liked suffering and if they were afraid of suffering. And what do yo…

Today we’ll learn more about the arahaṁ quality of the Supreme Buddha. I should also mention that usually when we see the word arahaṁ written, it will end with the letter “m” with a dot over it. You may have also seen it in the phrase “Buddhaṁ saranaṁ gacchāmi. In languages like Pāli, this was a special letter that usually came at the end of words,…

Today one of the monks is going to teach us a beautiful passage spoken by the Supreme Buddha. It’s a great reminder of how short our human life is, and how important it is that we work hard to practice the Buddha’s teachings. We may think that we are going to live a long time, but no matter how long we live, we need to try and follow the instructio…

Today we are going to learn about the meaning of the word arahaṁ. I know you’ve said this word maybe even 100 times before. It’s one of the qualities of the Supreme Buddha we recite in the Itipiso gatha. And to understand the meaning of arahaṁ, we are going to learn how the Supreme Buddha was undefiled. Have you heard the word defilement before? In…

Have you ever made plans to do something and your plans didn’t work out like you hoped? Maybe we planned on taking a trip and then the trip had to get canceled. Or maybe we planned to call one of our friends and talk, but we couldn’t get a hold of them? Or how about when we plan to make something, but then we realize that we don’t have everything w…

Today we are going to learn an important Pāli word. The word is pāpa. In English, this word mean evil. Now, when the Supreme Buddha uses this word, he means all the different kinds of bad things we can do, not just the really really bad actions like killing someone. He taught us that giving up all kinds of evil actions is a blessing for our lives. …

Do any of you remember the simile the Supreme Buddha gave for doing very small good things? He said that just like a water pot will eventually get filled even if only a few drops of water fall into the pot at a time. He said we should remember that even when we do a small good karma, we should never thing of it as a small thing. That when we do the…

So, tell me. Should we care what other people think of us? Should we care about being blamed by other people? This isn’t a simple question, is it? But the Buddha knew how to answer it. He said that we should care about what wise people think about us. We should care if wise people blame the actions that we do. Because when foolish people praise or …

Today we are going to learn one of the factors of the Noble Eightfold path that’s all about practicing the teachings. It’s called Sammā Vāyāmo. In English we can say Right Effort. We’ve all heard about making effort to do things, but Right Effort is something very special and very specific. You’re going to have the chance to learn exactly what that…

Have you ever helped your family before? I’m sure you have. Maybe you’ve given them gifts, or you took care of them when they were sick. Or maybe you have helped them with things around the house. All of these are great ways to help our relatives. But do these things help them in their next lives? No, not really. So today we’ll learn ways that we c…

Have you ever known someone who was a really good person, but then slowly they started doing bad things? This can happen to any of us. Even though now we may be trying to follow the Supreme Buddha’s teachings very carefully, it could happen that our good behaviour starts to decrease. Our teacher, the Supreme Buddha taught us seven ways that our goo…

Recently we learned about sharing merits with ghosts. But I think you know that we often also share merit with gods as well. Today we’ll hear a story about two brothers, one good and one bad. The good brother practice dana and then dedicated the merit to gods. When the bad brother tried to cheat him, the gods looked after the good brother out of gr…

Today we are going to learn about a very important word. In Pali, the word is dhammacariyā. Can you recognize any part of that word? Dhamma-cariyā You probably know the first part: Dhamma. The second part means action or conduct. So dhammacariyā means action that matches the Dhamma. In English we can say “righteous conduct.” This is one of the bles…

I think many of you may be hearing about this virus that is spreading around the world. Today, the Bhante is going to help us think about this in a wise way according to the Supreme Buddha’s teachings. That way instead of feeling worried or scared, we can know how to protect not just our bodies but most importantly our minds. Contents 5:41 Sermon20…

Have you ever offered dāna to monks and shared merits with your departed relatives? Have you ever wondered about how that works? Well, today we’re going to hear about an incident that happened in the time of our Supreme Buddha where a ghost came back and asked his former brother for help. I know that may sound like a scary thing, having a ghost vis…