Dhamma Notes

Articles by Nancy Acord, presented in full on NBEF.

September 4, 2026

[The Buddha Rediscovered the Ancient Path]

The Buddha did not claim to have created a new path. He said that he rediscovered the ancient path traveled by the Fully Awakened Buddhas of the past. That ancient path is the Noble Eightfold Path. By following it, he directly realized dependent origination: the arising and cessation of suffering and the way leading to its cessation.

“I saw the ancient path, the ancient road traveled by the Fully Awakened Ones of former times.

And what is that ancient path? It is this Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

I followed that path. By following it, I directly understood aging and death, its origin, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation. I directly understood birth, becoming, clinging, craving, feeling, contact, the six sense bases, name-and-form, consciousness, and volitional formations.”

— SN 12.65, Nagara Sutta (The City)

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July 24, 2026

[Dhamma Teacher]

According to the Buddha, a Dhamma teacher is one who teaches for the purpose of disenchantment with conditioned phenomena, the fading away of craving and attachment, and the cessation of suffering. Such a teacher presents progressively higher teachings, clearly explains their meaning and basis, teaches out of compassion, does not teach for material gain, and teaches without harming oneself or others. Therefore, a Dhamma teacher is defined not merely by scriptural knowledge, eloquence, popularity, monastic status, or an institutional title, but by whether the teaching genuinely guides practitioners toward disenchantment, dispassion, cessation, liberation, and Nibbāna (SN 12.16; AN 5.159).

Although these texts do not specify the minimum level of noble attainment required of a Dhamma teacher, the Buddha’s representative examples indicate that advanced practice and realization are important for one who teaches the Dhamma. The first sixty disciples whom he sent out independently to teach were all arahants (Vinaya Piṭaka, Mahāvagga I.11.1). However, the Buddha also declared Citta the householder foremost among his male lay disciples who taught the Dhamma (AN 1:14.6.3). Citta explained profound teachings to monastics (SN 41.1; SN 41.5), had personally mastered the four rūpa-jhānas, and was a non-returner who had abandoned the five lower fetters (SN 41.9). Thus, arahantship was not an absolute requirement for recognition as a Dhamma teacher, but the Buddha’s exemplary teachers possessed advanced noble attainment, direct meditative experience, and a deep understanding of the path they taught.

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July 22, 2026

[NBEF Cause-Condition-Phenomenon-Response Observation Practice: A Deeper Explanation]

Last week, I briefly introduced NBEF’s Cause-Condition-Phenomenon Insight practice. Today, I would like to explain more fully how this practice applies the principle of dependent origination to everyday life, particularly how we observe the conditions from which a phenomenon arises without establishing “I,” “me,” or “someone” within it.

NBEF’s Cause-Condition-Phenomenon-Response Observation Practice is a practical meditation method designed to develop experiential wisdom and insight by directly observing the principle of dependent origination in everyday life.

In NBEF practice, the five aggregates, namely the body and mind, are regarded as the fundamental basis upon which all experience can arise. Based on the five aggregates, when one of the six sense faculties encounters its corresponding object, the appropriate consciousness arises. The coming together of the sense faculty, the object, and consciousness is contact. With contact as condition, feeling and various other phenomena arise.

When a phenomenon arises in the body or mind, the practitioner does not ask, “Who did this?” or “Why did this happen to me?” Instead, the practitioner examines, “What conditions caused this phenomenon to arise?” The practitioner then observes how the mind responds to that phenomenon.

In SN 12.12, when a practitioner asks, “Who makes contact?”, “Who feels?”, “Who craves?”, and “Who clings?”, the Buddha explains that these questions are not properly framed. Instead, one should understand that with the six sense bases as condition, contact arises; with contact as condition, feeling arises; with feeling as condition, craving arises; and with craving as condition, clinging arises.

Therefore, the practitioner does not grasp the experience as “I did this” or “Someone did this to me.” Instead, one observes, “With these causes and conditions, this phenomenon arose, and the mind responded in this way.” This does not deny ethical responsibility for one’s actions. Rather, it means examining the conditions and the mind’s response correctly without establishing a fixed self within the experience.

Without mindfulness and wisdom, we may grasp an arisen phenomenon as “I” or “mine,” leading to responses rooted in greed, hatred, and delusion. With mindfulness and wisdom, however, we recognize that the phenomenon arose dependent upon causes and conditions. We are then less likely to be carried away by greed, hatred, and delusion and can respond with wholesome qualities such as loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.

The purpose of this practice is not merely to analyze causes, conditions, phenomena, and responses intellectually. It is to directly realize impermanence, suffering, and non-self by repeatedly observing the arising and ceasing of phenomena and the mind’s responses to them. It also develops an experiential understanding of which conditions lead to unwholesome responses and painful results, and which conditions lead to wholesome responses and peaceful results.

As these observations accumulate, we naturally realize that to change a result, we must change the conditions that produce it.

This method is not a new doctrine intended to replace dependent origination as taught in the early discourses. It is NBEF’s original and practical meditation model, designed to help practitioners directly observe and realize the arising and cessation of suffering in everyday life.

This observation of dependent origination is not a practice that can be properly undertaken through intellectual analysis alone. The Five Precepts must be firmly established, and the Noble Eightfold Path, particularly right view, right intention, right speech, right action, and right livelihood, must provide its foundation.

Reference: The Connected Discourses on Causation (SN 12), particularly SN 12.12

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July 16, 2026

[Cause-Condition-Phenomenon Insight]

Every experience begins with the five aggregates, our body and mind.

Through the six sense bases, the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, we encounter objects. When there is contact (phassa), feeling (vedanā) arises.

For practical meditation, we can observe experience in this way:

Cause:

The five aggregates, the basis of our experience.

Condition:

Contact with an object through one of the six sense bases.

Phenomenon:

The body and mind respond.

Without mindfulness and wisdom, the mind reacts with greed, hatred, and delusion.

With mindfulness and wisdom, those unwholesome reactions weaken, allowing loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity to arise and become increasingly established.

As we continue observing experience in this way, insight into impermanence, suffering, and non-self naturally deepens. At the same time, greed, hatred, and delusion gradually diminish, the Four Immeasurables continue to grow, and the mind inclines more and more toward peace.

This is the practical application of dependent origination in everyday life.

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July 7, 2026

[Freedom Lies in the Present Intention]

Every day, every moment, thoughts, speech, and actions create new kamma. Although I create new kamma through my intentions, I cannot control the kamma that has already been accumulated. Much of what I experience today unfolds according to causes and conditions, including the influence of past kamma. In that sense, I cannot simply command life to go the way I wish.

This is why the Buddha encouraged us to seek liberation. As long as we remain within samsara, we live within a vast network of causes and conditions. We cannot change the past, but we can choose our present intentions.

When events arise during the day, try viewing them through the framework of cause, condition, and phenomenon. A pleasant feeling arises. An unpleasant feeling arises. Success appears. Failure appears. These are simply phenomena arising from causes and supporting conditions. There is no need to immediately insert an "I" into the experience: "I failed," "I succeeded," "I am terrible," or "I am wonderful."

Instead, pause and observe: "This is a phenomenon. What are its causes? What conditions support it? What wholesome intention can I cultivate now?"

That present intention is where our freedom lies. Every moment of wisdom, kindness, generosity, restraint, and mindfulness creates new wholesome kamma. Although we cannot control the unfolding of past kamma, we can continuously guide the present toward wholesome intentions. In doing so, we gradually weaken the conditions for suffering and strengthen the conditions that support the Noble Eightfold Path.

As insight deepens, we begin to see life less as "my success" or "my failure" and more as causes, conditions, and phenomena unfolding according to the natural law of cause and effect. This understanding gradually weakens self-view. By continuously cultivating wholesome intentions, the mind moves steadily toward complete liberation, where the causes of suffering are finally brought to an end.

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July 4, 2026

When Practice Becomes Frustrating

The Buddha's teaching is "good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end." As one practices the Noble Eightfold Path, the mind becomes increasingly peaceful and happy, ultimately culminating in the complete cessation of suffering through the realization of liberation and Nibbana.

Whenever you find that your mind has lost its peace, it is worthwhile to examine the five hindrances. In many cases, one or more of them will be present.

One subtle hindrance is craving for attainment. Instead of abandoning craving, the practitioner simply replaces the desire for worldly pleasures with the desire to attain liberation and Nibbana. Although the object of craving has changed, the underlying craving remains.

The aspiration to practice is wholesome, but craving for attainment becomes another obstacle. Liberation is not realized by craving for liberation and Nibbana, but by understanding and abandoning craving itself.

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June 14, 2026

[A Question Buddhism Addressed 2,500 Years Ago]

After watching Disclosure Day, I was reminded how differently Buddhism approaches the question, "Are we alone in the universe?"

For many people, the possibility of non-human intelligences raises profound religious, scientific, and philosophical questions. From a Buddhist perspective, however, the existence of other beings is not particularly surprising. More than 2,500 years ago, the Buddha described a vast universe containing countless world systems and many forms of existence beyond the human realm.

Whether or not humanity eventually discovers other intelligent beings, the core of Buddhist practice remains unchanged. The Four Noble Truths are still true. Impermanence, suffering, and non-self are still present. The challenge remains the same: to reduce greed, hatred, and delusion and cultivate wisdom, compassion, and liberation.

For me, the most interesting question is not whether other beings exist, but how we respond if they do. Do we react with fear, fascination, attachment, or aversion? Or do we continue walking the path of understanding and liberation?

In that sense, the possibility of other intelligences does not change the goal of practice. It simply reminds us how vast the universe may be and how important it is to understand the mind.