2003

Link to Download All the Talks given in 2003:

2003-01-03 Why Me.
Ever wondered why terrible, difficult, troublesome things happen to us? Ever asked yourself, “Why me?” Why are some people rich and others poor? How come there is so much inequality and injustice in the world? Ajahn Brahm explains.

2003-01-10- Arguments
Ajahn Brahm explains where arguments come from, why we argue, so that we can understand each other and resolve difficulties without arguments.

2003-01- 24 Mundane and Super Mundane –
Ajahn Brahm reflects upon our mundane reality and the quest to attain supremundane, transcendent experience.

2003-01-31 – Help
Having been asked about the role of helping and serving others, Ajahn Brahm talks about both the beauty and goodness of helping others, but also the dangers like over-committing and burning out. Ajahn Brahm talks about how to help and serve others using both compassion and wisdom.

2003-02-07- Loving Kindness Meditation
Loving-kindness meditation can be brought in to support the practice of ‘bare attention’ to help keep the mind open and sweet. It provides the essential balance to support your insight meditation practice.
It is a fact of life that many people are troubled by difficult emotional states in the pressured societies we live in, but do little in terms of developing skills to deal with them. Yet even when the mind goes sour it is within most people’s capacity to arouse positive feelings to sweeten it. Loving-kindness is a meditation practice taught by the Buddha to develop the mental habit of selfless or altruistic love. In the Dhammapada can be found the saying: “Hatred cannot coexist with loving-kindness, and dissipates if supplanted with thoughts based on loving-kindness.”

2003-02-14- What is Meditation
Ajahn Brahm decides to indulge himself by talking about his favourite subject – meditation! Meditation is the Buddhist way of finding all the answers to all the spiritual and philosophical questions through direct personal experience – not via a priest, a holy scripture or any other mediated form. Meditation also helps us to deal with the stresses and problems in life by developing inner peace.

2003-03-07 Grief
Ajahn Brahm talks about feelings of grief and loss, and how to deal with them.

2033-04-01 Kammegedon – Talk in Singapore

2003-04-01– Kammegedon Questions Answer Session

2003-04-04 Fear
People these days are afraid of war, of terrorists, of diseases and so many things.
Fear creates so much suffering and unnecessary problems in our lives, and for many people a key aim is to overcome fear and experience a state of fearlessness. Ajahn Brahm explains how it’s important to understand fear and even to understand why we are addicted to fear.

2003-04-11 – Compassion
Ajahn Brahm offers a more expansive perspective on the quality of compassion by applying compassion in unexpected ways in our lives and solving unexpected problems.

2003-05-02 – Origins of Buddhism
Responding to questions and debates about what form of Buddhism is best, Ajahn Brahm returns to the origins of Buddhism to help us understand the intentions and practice of original Buddhism.

2003-05-02 – History of Buddhism
Ajahn Brahm discusses how the Buddha’s core teachings have given rise to the numerous traditions and teachings of Buddhism that exist today and that these core teachings are where we should focus our attention if we want to see benefits in our practice.

2003-05-09 Enlightenment
Ajahn Brahm gives an inspiring talk about the meaning of Enlightenment.

2003-05-10 Meditation and The Mind
Ajahn Brahm offers a fundamentally Buddhist perspective of the mind – the “sixth sense” according to Buddhism – and the fundamentally Buddhist practice of meditation which allows us to come to a full understanding of the mind via direct experience.

2003-05-23 Buddhist Attitude to Life and Death
Everyone of us will die and that’s for sure. Therefore the topic of death is very relevant to all of us. Ajahn Brahm discusses the Buddhist attitude to death.

2003-05-24 Kamma and Rebirth
Ajahn Brahm rounds out the ‘basics of Buddhism’ series by teaching about something that is key to Buddhist understanding of life: kamma and rebirth.

2003-05-30 Happiness
To celebrate the news that it’s been proven that meditation monks are the happiest people, Ajahn Brahm gives a talk on how to be happy.

2003-06-13 How To Avoid Mental Suffering
Buddha defines the causes of our suffering is due to five hindrances . They are 1 the desire for pleasing senses 2. Aversion and ill will 3. Lethargy or lazyness 4. Restlessness and Regret 5. Doubt and uncertainity. Brahm explains how to overcome these 5 hindrances. Read HERE

2003-06-27 Addictions and Obsessions
Ajahn Brahm talks about the mental origins of addictions and obsessions, and the pathway to overcoming them.

2003-07-04 The Power of The Mind
Ajahn Brahm talks about the power of the mind – and how to empower the mind through meditation – and how it can be used to develop happiness and wisdom.

2003-07-11 Is Buddhism A Religion?
Is Buddhism a religion? Or is it a way or life or a philosophy? What is it? And what are Buddhists supposed to do? Ajahn Brahm uses his characteristic humour and wisdom to answer these questions.

2003-07-18 Buddhism and Sex
Ajahn Brahm offers a Buddhist perspective on sex and sexuality. The mental activity that created such a false image of self and the ways to look beyond the flesh and bones at the mental phenomena to get rid of this base evil.

2003-07-25 How To Stop
Ajahn Brahm dedicates this talk to those of us living alone or without a relationship, however he says this talk is also relevant to those in relationships. Ajahn elaborates on the Buddhist principle or the basic law of karma that what you are experiencing right now is the result of your karma from the past and you can’t do anything with it. The most important thing is not what you have to deal with in life, but how you deal with it. In other words what are you making out of what you have. Ajahn advises us to love and appreciate ourselves and others and stop trying to change and improve ourselves and others.

2003-08-11 A practical Way of Dealing with Death Track 1
Ajahn Brahm Gave this talk about dealing with the immediate mental suffering at the death of a loved one, and how one could deal with the sorrow in an intelligent way. Talk was split in to two parts for convenience of listening.

2003-08-11 A practical Way of Dealing with Death Track 2
Talk was split in to two parts for convenience of listening. and this track is the second part .

2003-10-03 Muditha
One of the Divine Abodes (brahmaviharas) taught by the Buddha that is often overlooked is that of sympathetic joy (mudita), that feeling of joy for the happiness of others. Ajahn Brahm explains what it is and how to arouse this divine emotion.

2003-10-10 Responsibility
Ajahn Brahm discusses the Buddhist attitude to responsibility – what responsibility really means and how to deal with it.

2003-10-17 Pointing The Mind In The Right Direction
The four ways of letting go was throwing away the things that we don’t need in life, wanting to be in the present moment – wherever it is (contentment) and not allowing things to stick to your mind. Also, he mentioned doing things for others – expecting nothing in return, but surely you want them to be happy or suffer less if you do something for them?

2003-10-30 Super Power Mindfulness (Talk given in Melbourne BSV)
Ajahn Brahm opens the talk by pointing to how much popularity and traction mindfulness techniques are developing in the contemporary world. He then goes on to explain how developing mindfulness with compassion can be transformative for anyone who practices it.

2003-10-31 Mental Kamma (Talk given in Melbourne BSV)

2003-11-03 Spirituality in Buddhism (Talk given in Melbourne BSV)
Which is the best Buddhist tradition and how can you find out? Does it even matter? Ajahn Brahm blows apart notions of spiritual elitism – about comparing people and traditions, measuring who’s best, and etceteras – and points the attention back to where it is most needed for us to make spiritual progress

2003-11-04 Introduction to Buddhist Meditation (Talk given in Melbourne BSV)

2003-11-04 Ajahn Brahms Answers Questions Part 1 (in Melbourne BSV)

2003-11-04 Ajahn Brahms Answeres Questions Part 2 (in Melbourne BSV)

2003-11-07 Injustice a Buddhist Perspective
Ajahn Brahm offers a fresh slant on the Western view of injustices and the constant desire to right the wrongs and set things right.

Samma Ajeewa – with Sinhala translation from Sri Lanka

2003-11-21 What The Buddha Taught –
Ajahn Brahm gives a talk on what the Buddha talk, taking the audience into a deeper perspective of what the Buddha realized on the night of his Awakening and what that really means for us all.

2003-11-28 Knowing
Faced with critics spreading doubt about whether we really can know about such things as rebirth, Ajahn Brahm counters that the point of Buddhism isn’t just to blindly believe but to investigate phenomena ourselves. The Buddha’s teaching doesn’t insist on blind obedient faith, but encourages inquiry, and offers people the tools to understand our own experience with greater clarity and depth. This talk by Ajahn Brahm isn’t so much about what to know, but how to know, and how to know for sure.

2003-12-05- Rebirth –
Ajahn Brahm rounds out the ‘basics of Buddhism’ series by teaching about something that is key to Buddhist understanding of life: kamma and rebirth.