Ayyā Medhānandī

Without Pain, No Enlightenment, Ayya Medhanandi

When we suffer in body or mind, we are called to investigate pain and its causes – are we ill, threatened, injured, broken in spirit, or have we hurt someone else? Awareness of the causes enables us to respond well. But reflecting on and understanding the Buddha's Four Noble Truths of suffering is core to complete freedom from it. When we let go our ideas about suffering, we directly experience its qualities. Our mental faculties sharpen and purify the mind for the arising of wise insight and ultimately – awakening.  Ottawa Buddhist Society retreat, Nov 20, 2025

Start Where You Are, Ayya Medhanandi

Where is peace if not within us? The world may be on fire but we start where we are, guided by the Buddha himself. Just being with the breath, studying the law of impermanence, see how it is ever changing – arising and ceasing. No breath is ever the same. No footstep, no moment, no day repeats. This practice of present moment awareness reveals that we are not our thoughts, nor the objects in the mind; we are not our mind states nor anything that the mind clings to in the world – just as a mirror is not what it sees. For we are the knowing that reflects all that is known – pure consciousness itself, boundless and peaceful. That is our true nature.

A Greater Happiness, Ayya Medhanandi

All around us, we witness suffering – greed, hatred, and delusion are burning everywhere. We too are burning. We may feel helpless to extinguish those external flames, but we can put out the fires within us. Seeing the harm of unskillful habits and disenchanted with worldly attachments, we live mindfully, using sila – goodness and virtue in all that we do, say or think – not just as a convention but as a force for peace. This is the path. When the inner fires perish, radiant happiness and peace prevail, to be shared with all beings. Sati Saraniya reflections, Aug. 25, 2019

Living Peace Guided Meditation, Ayya Medhanandi

The path between the beginning of our pains and their ending is the Buddha's Middle Way. Rare in this world, it is worthy of our trust – through a subtle shift in perspective. There is freedom from mental suffering – not by avoiding it but by understanding it. Know its impermanence and see its true nature – empty and not what we are! So we disarm the stress, fear, doubt, hatred, or any of their cousins and mindfully balance moment by moment. In the light of sacred awareness, gathering gentle joys and peace, we offer our silent heart to the Infinite Silence.  OBS, May 19, 2023

Out of the Wilderness, Ayya Medhanandi

We are blazing a trail out of the wilderness of ill-will, greed, and delusion in the world. It may feel as if we are walking a razor’s edge – at times bereft or lost – and we must all face death. But the Buddha teaches us to trust, to persevere, and live wisely. As a witness to life, we search deeply so that we can clearly see the true causes of our suffering. Thereby, we gain stability, patience, contentment and inner peace. In this joyful awareness and gratitude, the heart opens with greater loving-kindness and compassion towards all beings everywhere – for we are on the same path of awakening. Sati Saraniya Hermitage, Nov. 2, 2025