Ayyā Medhānandī

Can we dedicate every single moment to full awareness living? That’s what it takes to totally free the heart from suffering. Whether active with others or spending time alone, resorting to a secluded resting place and removed from social interaction, we study the mind and examine how fear or negativity arise. Looking inwardly at the mind's own weather, we grow wise enough to live in peace. The root of our practice is awareness. We move with awareness, eat with awareness, and do everything wherever we are with mindful awareness. We awaken day by day, drop by drop. Ottawa Buddhist Society Retreat, Nov 21, 2020

We trust that entering the path of Dhamma practice will yield incomparable joy and peace enough to fully satiate the heart. We cannot demand it but we know if the path is to bear fruit, we must walk it patiently, humbly, and graciously, with kindness and faith. Just knowing the possibility of awakening is a cause for joy. This energizes us to work, to give, to persevere and endure obstacles for the sake of this great freedom of heart. By letting go of the world, we return to our true home. At last, free from clinging, we can experience the mind's awakening. OBS, Dec. 18, 2020

What is grace in this world? When noble qualities flower within us, that is grace. We come to know our true nature as we witness the pure mind's transcendent luminosity. Listening to the Buddha's teachings, we learn how to open the gates to the Deathless and experience for ourselves this inner splendor. The more we understand ourselves to this depth, the more our wisdom, love, and compassion ripen. So true grace is awakening itself. As the benefactors of the Buddha's enlightenment, we live these teachings everyday in our activities and relationships. Ottawa Buddhist Society, Dec. 17, 2021

While on retreat in the forest, an infestation of cicadas surrounded my meditation hut for weeks on end with intense, incessant screaming. Headphones offered no relief from the din. While bearing it, I closely observed mental pain. That meant seeing and knowing despair and anger too. I listened with patience and pure awareness, trying to draw forth threads – if not shreds – of compassion and empathy for myself. Weaving these qualities together repeatedly brought a welcome reprieve from the suffering – and a profound teaching for living the practice. Sati Saraniya Hermitage, August 16, 2026

When we bear ill-will to anyone in life, it's a sign that there is some hatred being carried within. This is self-harming. It's like taking poison. Even worse, if we dwell in poisoned habits of thought, fear, anger, selfishness, or careless ways of being, the quality of the mind and our habits of speech and action quickly deteriorate. So be your own doctor. Clear the poisons out and save your mind. The real beauty is within. So treasure the jewels of the heart. That is true happiness. That is life's greatest blessing.

Come out of the shadows. There, ego is silent. It has no say in our intuitive knowing of what we truly are. When universal truths come to light within us, we see all as impermanent, not who we are – and empty of any self. With pure present awareness, we abide in stillness. The mind listens and lets the world be. We are free from fear, deeply in tune, beyond concept, belief, thinking or identifying with thoughts. This pure conscious awareness presides over all the world.

The Dhamma path is one of blessings – for our own life and for the joy of other beings who also benefit. So we train ourselves to live ethically and kindly in our actions, speech, and even our thoughts. This is a noble commitment to harmlessness, integrity, peace and wisdom. Guided by wise reflection, we try to bring forth these universal blessings. Come what may, even during the storms of life, we guard the mind with awareness, just as a compass directs a sailor to safely cross the vast ocean. So may we allay the sufferings of beings in their samsāric journey on this Earth. Sati Saraniya Hermitage, August 2, 2026

Beyond the course conditions of the world, truly aware and present, we care for the mind – stopping and listening in the silence, moment by moment. Now, inwardly secluded from the losses, fears, triumphs, and rewards of sense experience, rest in the fathoms of this pure presence. See how wisdom evolves and know things as they are – beyond our clouded vision and the emotional dust of old habits, mental wanderings, wants, and worries. Awareness is emptiness and fullness of being - the liberating truth of unconditioned love and the heart's infinite joy and peace.

Do we have enough awareness to purify the mind? If we practise humility – not being kidnapped by self-obsession or distraction – if we live with restraint and focus, we come to realize and discover who we really are. Our spiritual parent in this waking up is reflective conscious awareness that is infinite and pervasive. We take greatest care of this consciousness by purifying the mind. The more we abide in that pure awareness, the greater our joy, our peace, and our awakening. Aug, 20, 2026

How do we experience the heart's uplift in the special qualities of joy that we can know and share in different ways during the journey of life? Do we see ourselves as inherently joyful, or do we feel that joy has passed us by? Whatever our opinions are, we all have a potential for profound joy which can and must be tapped in this practice. We do not need to search for joy, but if we practice with patience, humility, and a deep desire to align ourselves with the truth, joy will find us.

Walking the cedar loop trail brings memories of those who have passed and are memorialized on the grounds of the monastery. While reflecting on their passing, inevitably we reflect on our own. This powerful way of practice brings to the forefront of consciousness the special value of contemplating our own death. Not only is it a sign of the transitory nature of these impermanent bodies, but when we remember those who have passed, it is also an opportunity to personally experience impermanence itself. We realize how this law of nature governs all life, and, thereby, we understand the deeper meaning of our sojourn on this planet.

How do we abide in peace? Let us develop awareness. Listen and try to be peaceful with all that arises in consciousness. Meditate, be present, attentive, and aware – here and now. We try to understand more deeply how the mind works. Can we soften our difficult memories or thoughts with the medicine of the Dhamma? Rather than agitating during rough times, we find sure footing moment by moment . What we’re really fighting is change and the feeling that we have no control. One way, one day, everything dies. Yes, we may be choice-less – but we can know change and stay aware in this present moment. How can we sustain that? Practice patience and abide in an ocean of kindness.

We may think we are mindful, but it's good to look more carefully, with humility, and check. Are we actually present? Otherwise, who is living our life? Can we really sustain present moment awareness and know the purity of what we are? Bearing witness in this way deepens our understanding. For living in awareness is sanctuary. Whether in times of triumph or tears, let us navigate our experiences from the heart so that we choose wisely. This will help us draw strength and perspective through mindfulness, compassion and gratitude. Our Dhamma compass will guide us to beautiful knowing, and our life will be a journey of blessings.

Meditation practice takes the courage and patience to pay close attention to your own experience. Look inward and dive into the heart beyond all mental fabrication to see with a still, clear, objective, and purified mind. When the mind is empty of opinions or commentary, we are anchored in the present moment, not running backwards or forwards. We witness what is in the mind here and now – knowing each breath as it really is. Just so, let us transcend the endless rivers of thought to capture that state of being where the dust of lifetimes clears and you can see from the inner eye. Then you can say, 'I have truly seen'.

With the Buddha as our guide, we walk a courageous path. See how the world burns from cruel and chaotic forces? At times we may feel that we are on sorrow mountain. But we persevere, protected and faithful. And with uncompromising nobility, we transform fear and despair into compassionate awareness and the heart’s peace. Freedom from mental suffering is within reach. So walk in the footprints of the Buddha himself. Know the indestructible light of the Dhamma - reflecting on all experience and seeing things just as they are – impermanent, empty, not who we are – and cannot make us happy. It is in pure awareness that we wake up. Ottawa Buddhist Society, April 26, 2026

Can we trust the current of Dhamma to take us to the ocean? Not the vast ocean of samsara, but the ocean of compassion and wisdom which is far greater! What’s more, we can enter it if we trust waking up to the truth of who we really are. Mindfulness is our worthy ally and guide. So practise mindful awareness with utmost care and diligence. Even if we lose the way in distracted thoughts, just return to present moment awareness here in the heart and we're in the ocean of wisdom. Beyond the dimension of ideas and their suffering, we enter the Deathless. It is timeless, egoless, spaceless, traceless. It’s absolutely free – and it bestows freedom. Reflections at Sati Saraniya Hermitage

The Buddha's universal antidote to suffering is activated in the heart. It works through pure undiluted awareness when we begin to taste a boundless peace – far from fear, worry, or depression. Practise this pure presence and directly see your true nature. So where is the 'self' that we forever concoct, grasp, cherish and cling to? Witness consciousness just as it is – empty of thought or opinion – and let go. Know freedom directly. Seeing we are all one, sustain this awareness that leans towards Nibbana – like the full moon at its peak. This is liberation itself. Ottawa Buddhist Society reflections

Life is a mystery. We don’t’ really know from where we come or where we are going. But as we reflect on this mystery, we can abide in gratitude - because it is a gift. Seeing it's boundlessness, we no longer limit it with our expectations. If there were no mystery, we would be caught up in the limits of thought, the ego itself. But in the joy and wonder of this moment, we enter the chord of present moment awareness. Then we receive the next moment with wonder. And so the mystery unravels. Not knowing is humbling for we must bow to whatever we receive. The heart opens and we wake up.

Do we have enough awareness to purify the mind? If we practice humility – not being kidnapped by self-obsession or distraction – if we live with restraint and focus, we come to realize and discover who we really are. Our spiritual parent in this waking up is reflective conscious awareness that is infinite and pervasive. We take greatest care of this consciousness through the power to purify defilement. The more we abide in that pure awareness, the greater our joy, the greater our peace, and the greater our awakening.

Contentment protects us from greed and ill will by riding the waves of life without getting too lost in the highs or swallowed up by the lows or wanting things to change. Again and again, we contemplate the nature of mind that naturally inclines towards kindness, generosity and peace in pure awareness here and now. Beyond the moods and emotions that derail our inner contentment, we see the true nature of suffering without taking ownership of it. Free from dependence on the external gratification and approval that feed our perpetual obsession with ego identity, we let go and enter into a state of pure abiding in contentment, deeply present, loving and wise.