Talk about meditation in Thai. This seventh part of Buddhism covers the practice itself — how to นั่งสมาธิ (sit in meditation) and เดินจงกรม (do walking meditation), the difference สมถะ and วิปัสสนา (vipassana) make, อานาปานสติ (mindfulness of breathing), watching thoughts arise and pass, keeping สติ (mindfulness) daily even ten minutes a day, and the calm of ปฐมฌาน (the first jhana). All 10 sentences come with native-speed audio, English translations and word-by-word notes, so the meditation vocabulary sinks in by ear.
Meditation, mindfulness & the trained mind
10 sentences · Click each sentence to reveal Thai, English, and notes
The Buddha instructed his disciples to go and sit cross-legged under a tree to develop meditation.
พระพุทธเจ้า=the Buddhaทรงสอน=instructedให้=(told to)สาวก=his disciplesไป=goนั่งขัดสมาธิ=sit cross-leggedใต้ต้นไม้=under a treeเพื่อ=toเจริญภาวนา=develop meditationครับ=polite(m)
The Buddha repeatedly sent disciples to quiet, simple places — the forest, the foot of a tree — to meditate, as he himself awakened under the Bodhi tree. สอน…ให้ is the causative 'tell/have someone do'.
สติ (mindfulness) — present-moment awareness — is the heart of practice; meditation trains us to notice thoughts as they arise rather than be swept along by them.
เดินจงกรม (walking meditation) — pacing slowly with attention on the movement — alternates with sitting in most monasteries and is especially useful against drowsiness.
Insight practice is continually observing the changing nature of the breath and the mind.
การฝึกวิปัสสนา=insight practiceคือ=isการเฝ้าสังเกต=watchingความเปลี่ยนแปลง=the changingของลมหายใจ=of the breathและ=andจิตใจ=the mindอยู่เสมอ=continuallyครับ=polite(m)
วิปัสสนา (insight meditation) means watching experience — breath, body, mind — to see directly its changing, impermanent nature, as distinct from สมถะ (calm-abiding).
While sitting in meditation, we gradually come to see thoughts surface and then fade away on their own.
ขณะที่=whileนั่งสมาธิ=sitting in meditationเรา=weจะ=(will)ค่อยๆ=graduallyเห็น=seeความคิด=thoughtsผุดขึ้นมา=surfaceแล้วก็=thenดับไป=fadeเอง=on their ownครับ=polite(m)
A core insight meditation reveals: thoughts arise and pass by themselves. ขณะที่ frames a simultaneous 'while…'; ผุด…ขึ้นมา marks a thought surfacing into awareness.
When one attains the first jhana — the first of the form-jhanas — one feels great rapture and bliss.
เมื่อ=whenเข้าถึง=one attainsปฐมฌาน=the first jhanaซึ่ง=whichเป็น=isรูปฌาน=a form-jhanaขั้นแรก=the first stageจะ=(will)รู้สึก=feelปีติ=raptureและ=andความสุข=blissอย่างมาก=intenseครับ=polite(m)
ฌาน (jhāna) are deep states of meditative absorption. The ปฐมฌาน (first jhāna) is marked by ปีติ (rapture) and สุข (bliss) — the first of four 'form' (รูป) jhānas.
Monks often teach having mindfulness and clear comprehension — full self-awareness in every posture.
พระ=monksมัก=oftenสอนให้=teach (us) toมี=haveสติสัมปชัญญะ=mindfulness & clear comprehensionคือ=that isรู้ตัวทั่วพร้อม=full awarenessในทุกอิริยาบถ=in every postureครับ=polite(m)
สติสัมปชัญญะ pairs สติ (mindfulness) with สัมปชัญญะ (clear comprehension of what one is doing) — awareness carried into every posture: standing, walking, sitting, lying.
Practising the Dhamma helps us see things as they really are, not as we want them to be.
การปฏิบัติธรรม=practising the Dhammaช่วยให้=helpsเรา=usเห็น=seeสิ่งทั้งหลาย=thingsตามความเป็นจริง=as they really areไม่ใช่=notตามที่=asเรา=weอยากให้เป็น=wish them to beค่ะ=polite(f)
Seeing things ตามความเป็นจริง ('as they really are', yathā-bhūta) — free of the distortions of craving and aversion — is the aim of insight.