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The greatest gift is the gift of the teachings
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Retreat Dharma Talks
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Pak Chong Silent Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
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| A silent retreat held in Pak Chong in Thailand |
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2025-11-28 (7 days)
Nera Nara Retreat Centre
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2025-12-01
Q&A
50:15
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Ajahn Sucitto
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00:00 Q1 After a few years of meditation and keeping precepts the mind starts to dwell in beautiful states. The mind still struggles taking mind states as me. Can you provide some guidance? 09:00 Q2 Is pitti only felt in the body. I don't often get the sensations in the body however I do get a light mind and a smile. 12:28 Q3 The thinking mind is the builder isn't it? The house builder talked about in the suttas? 24:29 Q4 Where is citta? 25:48 Q5 If we can be aware of the body, mind and citta, what is it that watches them? Is it awareness or consciousness that is apart from them? 36:51 Q6 In the Sanyutta Nikaya, the collected sayings 46:54 says the cultivation of the heart's release through metta is beauty. How do you understand this? 42:56 Q7 I've noticed some people seem to have absolutely no empathy or sense of shame or concern for consequences. But I understand the sense of shame etc called hiri and otappa are supposed to be innate in all of us. Why are they absent in some people? 45:11 Q8 What is it referred to in the homage to the sangha, the four pairs, the 8 kinds of noble beings?
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2025-12-02
Q&A
52:34
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Ajahn Sucitto
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0:00 Q1 What is the purpose of meditation? 19:14 Q2 I've been practicing for a long time, but recently feel I've reached a plateau with no further progress. Can you advise? 29:53 Q3 [Am I on the right track] when I reach a certain level of samadhi and contemplate the truth, like impermanence? Will wisdom come by itself? 32:02 Q4 In order to practice the parami, do we dwell on each part of them one by one? I'm not aiming for buddhahood, so do I still have to do this parami stuff? 42:25 Q5 Does avijja mostly refer to the illusion of selfhood? 42:49 Q6 Can the viveka /stepping back from anger and aversion gradually chip away at them to complete elimination?
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2025-12-03
Q&A
44:07
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Ajahn Sucitto
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00:06 Q1 Several questions about meditation experience. Posture, disappearance of part of the body, whether it's worthwhile. 10:33 Q2 When I got up from reclining my sitting didn't feel very good. 12:07 Q3 Can you say something about addictive behaviours and desires? 14:30 Q4 Can you differentiate cultivation, practice and contemplation? 17:06 Q5 Could you expand on the analogy that Buddhist practice and the self was like a murmur of sparrows or shoal of fish swimming together. 29:51 Q6 Is citta also annica, dukkha, anatta? What is the origin of citta? 33:20 Q7 How do we know we're progressing? 34:23 Q8 Is Luangta Maha Bua's 'buddho' mantra which he apparently used to sit for a full 10 hours overnight, a little bit too forceful and willful? 37:27 Q9 This retreat has helped me to practice citta viveka. In my normal life it seems the world is coming at me. And sometimes I feel the heart will burst out of my chest which produces more anxiety. Do I have to quit my job!? 42:41 Q10 Somebody was giving a talk on secular Buddhism and I was to introduce them, but I don't really support the idea of secular Buddhism. How might I have handled this?
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