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Retreat Dharma Talks

At Home with the Homeless: Ajahn Sucitto Locked Down

This series of recordings is offered by Ajahn Sucitto as a way to offer connection and encouragement in this time of global lock down.

2020-03-28 (644 days) Cittaviveka

  
2020-07-05 Saturday Public Talk: Āsalha Puja – The Pleasure of Release 49:46
Ajahn Sucitto
On Āsalha Puja we commemorate the occasion when the Buddha gave his first teaching on the Four Noble Truths and the Middle Path of Practice. By cultivating this Path, the mind stops looking outside of itself – it finds pleasure in itself.
2020-08-16 Guided Meditation – The Process of Centering 12:28
Ajahn Sucitto
In meditation we try to establish a clear center from which to look at the various inputs and outputs happening in the mind. This process of centering is done through direct experience of body. The wholeness of body gives rise to a simple, centering effect.
2020-08-16 Settle Citta through Relationship 39:23
Ajahn Sucitto
Meditation is a relational experience. There’s the knowing that you’re being affected and how you respond to that. Relate to what arises with dispassion, calm, sensitivity and openness. In this relationship we learn all the skills of wisdom, compassion, clarity and non-clinging. This is nibānna here and now.
2020-08-23 Citta as Conjurer and Healer 38:56
Ajahn Sucitto
We don’t so much experience phenomena, but the citta affected by phenomena. The sense of “I am” keeps us fascinated and hypnotized by the resulting feelings and reactions. The process of purification is to clear citta of defilements and hinderances. Cultivation of samadhi and suffusion of wholesome qualities are means for purification and healing.
2020-08-30 Guided Meditation – Letting Citta Freely Flow 9:56
Ajahn Sucitto
Realize that it’s possible to divert one’s normal preoccupations and thought patterns, and come instead into the sense of penetrating to the roots of it all. Collecting energy into this state of being conscious, being aware, lets citta flow freely, unconstricted by our habitual grasping of form.
2020-08-30 Citta as Embodied 42:10
Ajahn Sucitto
The untrained citta runs out and becomes fixated by its own constructions, the primary construction being the sense of self. Citta can be trained to contain itself in awareness of body, distancing it from the abstractions of the mind. This is a very peaceful place to be.
2020-09-06 Guided Meditation – Arrive at the Basis 10:57
Ajahn Sucitto
Citta has its own basic clarity and sanity. Practice to establish citta on its own ground, where there is no suffering. This is the upright citta, the foundation for all the virtues leading to awakening.
2020-09-06 Q&A – Desire, Hatred, Deathless and Boundaries 44:45
Ajahn Sucitto
How to manage inconvenient feelings of attraction; reacting impulsively towards sexual desire and hatred; working with boredom and drowsiness; how does one turn towards the deathless; is nibbana “a ground of being”; what does the use of “internal and external” mean?
2020-09-13 Guided Meditation - Basic Luminosity of Citta 11:02
Ajahn Sucitto
Establish strong mindfulness that can act as a frame for shifting states of mind. Go easy on the mental content letting it all pass through. Aware of a basic luminosity, or vibrancy, assess what is needed to encourage citta – goodwill, patience, dispassion.
2020-09-13 Guiding and Guarding–the indriya 33:55
Ajahn Sucitto
The person gets very entrained to follow circumstances, caught in a cycle of creating, worrying, planning, hoping. In meditation, it’s possible to witness the person rather than constantly re-create it. Start by establishing certain transpersonal/universal qualities of the 5 indriya.
2020-09-20 Guided Meditation on the Sense of I 17:02
Ajahn Sucitto
The sense of ‘I’ is crucial for understanding citta. Guidance is provided to access the direct experience of body, then tune into the fundamental sensitivity and receptivity of citta.
2020-09-20 Cessation of Outflows Is the Release of Citta 44:57
Ajahn Sucitto
The unawakened citta is always taking things in, seeking security from them. True security has not yet been found. Through developing meditation and samādhi, it’s possible to unlink from the flowing out towards objects and ideas. Citta can find true security in itself.
2020-10-04 Dhamma Stream Q&A 1:28:46
Ajahn Sucitto
How does citta relate to consciousness; is citta involved with rebirth; how to practice with non-attachment; the role of cetana (intention), sankappa (attitude) and chanda (motivation) in citta cultivation; how much jhāna is needed for stream entry; where does motivation for practice/career/relationship come from; what does attachment to rights and rituals, sīlabbata-parāmāsa, mean; clarify body energies and energy flows; question about prayer; advice about life termination.
2020-10-31 Dhamma Stream GM – Recollection of Uposatha 15:06
Ajahn Sucitto
Uposatha days are times in the Buddhist calendar established for people to step back from daily chores and reflect upon the broader meaning of life, whether they’re living in harmony with the cosmos. Recollect our uniquely human potential to bring forth virtue, lovingkindness and wisdom into this world.
2020-10-31 Dhamma Stream – Uposatha, training in wise ways 37:04
Ajahn Sucitto
Uposatha is the occasion to bring up and integrate wholesome qualities so they become felt realities in the mind and heart. Refer to the Mangala Sutta (Sutta Nipata 2:4) for topics of cultivation that give rise to skillful states and conditions.
2020-11-07 Guided Meditation – Faith as the Basis of Meditation 15:58
Ajahn Sucitto
We enter meditation with a sense of faith, that there’s something beneficial that can be derived just by coming into the present moment. Witnessing, aware of, not in it, not rejecting it – a firmness of presence builds up. The initiation is faith, the consummation is wisdom.
2020-11-07 Unconditioned Supports the Conditioned 41:54
Ajahn Sucitto
The unconditioned gives us a place to step back from experience, to meet the conditioned world with sensitivity and equanimity. We access qualities of faith, energy, mindfulness and wisdom to accept and meet exactly what’s happening right now.
2020-11-14 Guided Meditation – Opening body, opening heart 12:42
Ajahn Sucitto
Jhāna is an embodiment practice. Absorbing and settling deeply into presence, use awareness to encourage opening each part of the body. Enriched energy and heart can then begin to digest the events of the day and release them.
2020-11-14 Release from the restricted in this life 45:47
Ajahn Sucitto
The dukkha of restriction is experienced in this very body, and manifest as a person restricted by upbringing, ethnicity and gender (etc) living in a world restricted by nationality and social structures. We can train ourselves in the unrestricted state through meditation and through living in a way that connects the open heart to service, in the ‘all -encompassing world’ touched by goodwill.
2020-11-21 Guided Meditation – Opening to the Cosmos 10:39
Ajahn Sucitto
Puja celebrates that there’s something in awareness more than just this ‘self’ thing. We can open to something bigger, experience a wider sense of being. Keep lifting and placing attention back into the Dhamma stream – that which touches and opens the heart.
2020-11-21 Q&A 48:00
Ajahn Sucitto
Clarification about the fetter “attachment to rites and rituals”; what’s the purpose of life; question about addiction; working with depression; where is the reference to energy in Buddhism; how to get space in intense situations; review of the 4 qualities to promote social harmony – generosity, gentle/harmonious speech, benevolent service, impartiality – DN30:1:16, AN4:32
2020-11-27 Guided Meditation – Thinking with Heart 15:35
Ajahn Sucitto
Meditation is about opening up to the subjective aspect of our experience – the sense of knowing. Practice with placing attention on something very lightly, then listening with heart. Without force, without judgment, just aware of the sensations, emotion, energies, mental patterns. The quality of knowing gives rise to a tremendous immediate clarity.
2020-11-28 Living Dhamma 39:34
Ajahn Sucitto
As a result of the pandemic, we are experiencing the frailty of our systems and structures. Awareness is the only constant resource we have. It can be trained and purified to bring loving careful attention to all that we meet.
2021-01-16 Ācariya Puja – Aim Your Intentions High 60:08
Ajahn Sucitto
In Ajahn Chah, we commemorate and honor what’s possible in a human form. A seemingly ordinary person who applied all he had for noble purposes, training in what was difficult and cultivating pāramī. With this comes the severing of the outflows and the liberation of heart, a practice that many people can cultivate while engaging in life.
2021-03-27 Dhamma Stream Guided Meditation – Jhāna is Based on Disengagement 11:57
Ajahn Sucitto
Properly establishing jhāna begins with disengagement. With eyes slightly open, downcast, poised between the inner and outer world, widen attention. Open up sensitivity of awareness without focusing on any particular object, attentive to the qualities that sustain that cool balance.
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