Q1 00:12 Can you say more about stream entry. What is it? Q2 19:26 Are open awareness and presence the same? Is citta who we essentially are? Q3 22:39 I find staying with the breath difficult and more conducive to sleepiness than to gratefulness. What can I do? Q4 26:59 I fight sloth and torpor that seems to be due to self inflicted isolation. Q5 31:10 Can you say more about QiGong? Why do you do this rather than yoga asanas? Q6 36:37 What is the optimal time of day to practice? Q7 38:04 A 74 year old relative is developing dementia and Altzheimers. What is happening to the mind here? Could a practice be developed in this case? Q8 46:01 How do we meet feelings of fear? Or unwanted sexual attention? Q9 47:46 How can I meet the pain caused by my father who died when I was nine? I’d like to forgive him. Q10 51:08 Can you speak more about relational field and the experience of being a human among human beings? Q11 1:04:10 What is the difference between sankara and latent tendencies?

Get a sense of this skin bag moving through space. Where do the internal and external meet? How does the body organize itself as it moves?

Learning to meet experiences we like and don't like. What meets? Cultivating space for the meetings provides understanding of our cravings and the arising of faith in our dhamma potential.

We need tools to travel in the internal body- mind domain. Developing mindfulness allows us to witness the settling and the arising of samadhi, noticing the non-events in between the events.

The ever-changing nature of experience is fundamental to Buddhist understanding. Learning how to directly apprehend these dynamic energies reveals the deathless.

01:25 Can you clarify what you said about agitation over sound and shifting it to get to the displeasure. How do you dissolve the person who is angry?; 18:54 I experience a lot of pain and have a hard time relaxing in daily life; 23:16 I have a hard time softening my eyes in daily busy life; 26:28 What is the difference between citta, mind and consciousness? What moves between life and life?; 38:37 What is pure awareness?; 40:22 Regarding energy, can you say more about how to handle physical blockages and constrictions in the body? What is the place of energy management? Is that on the path to wisdom?; 50:26 I feel trapped in my head. I can’t feel the breathing; 51:34 Restraint of the senses; 54:03 How can I handle deliberate aggression towards me?; 56:37 What’s the difference between citta and dhamma?; 57:50 What is jhana?;

The Pali description of Sangha as 'those who enter' provides a useful template for practice.

We are vulnerable to the feelings of the memories of our experience. Developing an awareness of the pitfalls of self view, liking and disliking, provides an alternative container for experience.

The citta is that which is distorted, confused hurting. Identifying it as a location of the center of experience, helps us to steady and purify the citta.

Notice the detail of what happens when you move. Get into the quality of the cohesiveness, the synchronicity of the form.

The mind’s energies and activations may contradict each other but what unifies them is the body's energy, its life force and understanding them is key to meditation and the development of mindfulness.

Our interpretation of experience is illusory and subjective. What we sense becomes fixed objects, even the human ones. Awareness allows penetration of the sense of me and offers a gift to the world.

Noticing the key qualities and dynamics.

Chanting is painting an image with sound. What do we mean by Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha? Why are they important? Using the traditional forms wisely.

Adjusting to the external space, getting comfortable in yourself, find the place internally where you can be okay with what's happening externally and internally. Focus on this and make much of it, experiencing the body's energy flows.

We use the body to help the heart open from withdrawn states. What is felt, what is sensed? Linger in that territory and keep noticing.

Meal time is an opportunity for mindfulness around making choices and appreciating the act of generosity involved. Physical aspects of offering and receiving.

A review of the retreat’s theme. An opportunity to bring ethical concepts, precepts, and concerns to the forefront and to understand and appreciate their heart feelings.

01:32 Where can I get a print copy of your book Breathing Like a Buddha? (also PDF here: https://cdn.amaravati.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/27/Breathing-Like-a-Buddha-Web.pdf); 02:24 How can I contribute some dana to you? (also see here: https://www.cittaviveka.org/online-donations and navigate to Chithurst); 04:04 When you speak of the energy body, is that the embodied sense of self? 06:35 What did you mean when you said “The space within and without the body where mental formations form”? 11:33 Could you speak about the phrases the Buddha uses in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta? 13:12 What causes unskilful behaviour or though to arise and to stop? 20:28 How can I work for the benefit for other people without being fearful of making mistakes and hurting others? 22:42 How can I turn the mind from outside to inside with other people around? 27:51 I experience constant internal discussions, comments and judgements about past events. What do I do with this sense of self? 34:02 How do I follow Ajahn’s suggestion to make resolution and intention without getting into goal-seeking on the other hand?

Contemplating citta reveals how its external manifestations are formed – in speech and behaviours from its internal moods and feelings that overwhelm. Taking refuge internally through embodiment supports the contemplation leading to liberation.

A combined talk, examining how chanting contributes to external and internal practice, and guided meditation (at 12:15) addressing the framing of the body.