Ayya Santinī related the importance of reducing our defilements every day.

From 10 to 12 December, we were honoured to host Ven. Ayya Santinī, Abbess of Wisma Kusalayani in Bandung on her short trip to Malaysia, en-route to Singapore.  Nalanda members were very happy to get re-acquainted and learn Dhamma with Ayya Santinī in the evening talk on Tuesday 12 December.

Ayya shared on the importance of persistence in training to be mindful.  When one feels that there is a lot of dissatisfaction and suffering in life, they are often anxious and have little mindfulness of their speech, thoughts and actions.   Hence we should put effort to stay in the present moment and have the space to ensure that our actions, speech and thoughts will bring us to a brighter and lighter state.

Evening chanting before the talk.

Ayya Santinī pays respect at the Main Shrine.

Without mindfulness, we will have much restlessness and proliferation of thoughts which often lead to anxiety.

We can train our mind every day through questioning our intentions before we act on them.

Ayya also related about a devotee in her 60s who started to practice meditation for only 5 minutes and has now progressed to 5 hours a day because she personally experienced how mindfulness improved the quality of her mind.  No matter our current condition or age, we can start by taking small steps so that we will progress with time.

We are grateful to Ayya Santinī for visiting us and wish her a safe trip back to Indonesia. We also hope that Ayya will come to Nalanda again on her next trip to Malaysia.  May Ayya also be blessed with good health and all the supporting conditions for her noble work in Indonesia.  Sadhu!

Devotees ask questions to enhance their learning.

Devotees ask questions to enhance their learning.

Offering of meal dana to Ayya in the morning.