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The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
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Dharma Talks
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2021-08-06
Reflection on goodwill
11:18
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Acknowledge the capacity and willingness we have as humans for goodwill – and the horrific capacity we have for ill will. We use our practice to turn our attention towards goodwill and to exercise our ability to notice and generate heart energies. Metta allows us to put aside harmful energies and thoughts and to be grateful for the expanded state of mind that it brings. Equanimity means staying emotionally present regardless of our reaction to experience. We avoid perfectionist tendencies and ideas about what we should or should not do and maintain a generous heart.
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Sunyata Buddhist Centre
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Open Stability
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2021-08-06
Guided standing meditation
45:13
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Notice that the body knows how to stand, how to balance, by itself - with no mental effort. Enjoy your feet as the chief of the management team and spread your attention to other members of the team.
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Sunyata Buddhist Centre
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Open Stability
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2021-08-06
Q& A On effort and relaxation
34:48
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Ajahn Sucitto
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00:41 Q1 I have trouble relaxing with my meditation. Samadhi seems more available when I sit on the couch with a cup of tea. What can you suggest? 16:47 Q2 Receiving or attuning to what is given can be tricky due to our family and social conditioning. How do we deal with this conditioning? 24:15 Q3 When I sit or walk my body sucks in the air and holds it for maybe 5 seconds. Should I just observe this or is my practice misguided?
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Sunyata Buddhist Centre
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Open Stability
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2021-08-06
Moving out of meditation
6:22
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Ajahn Sucitto
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A practice of lingering and noticing what has passed has an open and steadying effect. This is an aspect of mindfulness: to not rush onto the next thing but notice what’s there. This is where samadhi arises. Give yourself a set period of time while meditating, then make the movement out of meditation free and aimless.
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Sunyata Buddhist Centre
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Open Stability
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2021-08-06
The guardians of open stability
48:57
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Ajahn Sucitto
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The basis of citta (heart-awareness) can be touched by using the thought “it’s like this now”. We can rely on the 5 indriyas to be as allies and guardians; they protect us from reactivity and from running away from our authentic heart.
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Sunyata Buddhist Centre
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Open Stability
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2021-08-04
Deepening Daily Life Practice 4: Practicing with the Eight Worldly Winds 2
69:42
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Donald Rothberg
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We begin by naming some of the important supports for daily life practice and by exploring further the importance of practicing with reactivity (compulsively and habitually grasping after or pushing away). It's helpful to focus on the center of practice: Transforming reactivity and learning better how to respond skillfully in all parts of our lives. It's also important to name some of the complexities of practicing with reactivity: (1) Seeing that the pleasant and unpleasant aren't the problem, that reactivity is the problem; (2) understanding that this isn't about passivity but rather about skillful response; and (3) clarifying that reactivity can often be enmeshed with important insight, clarity, and intelligence, such that the aim of practice is to separate out the reactivity from the insight. In this context, we then look further at the Eight Worldly Winds (pleasure or pain, gain or loss, fame or disrepute, and praise or blame) and point to a number of guidelines and suggestions for practicing when they arise.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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2021-08-01
Easing into Wholeness
45:02
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Ajahn Sucitto
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We use the forms of everyday life to notice what the mind makes out of them, the accumulations that occur. The theme is stay with the whole, stay connected, let the details go. What’s behind the inclination to move out? The stable reassuring quality of attention over the whole form – without ill-will, closing down, or dismissal – results in the freedom and happiness we seek.
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Cittaviveka
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Cittaviveka 2021 Rains Retreat - Opening Group Practice
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2021-07-31
Skilful Signs Skilful Absorption
39:07
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Ajahn Sucitto
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By its nature, mind is absorptive. In skilful cultivation we steer that towards internal qualities of contentment, unity, release. This is how we are gladdened – the nervous system steadies and cools, body gets happy, mind composes itself, then you begin to see things clearly – what’s causing the distortions, stress and struggle, and you stop doing it, stop throwing your heart away to your obsessions. Settle into the goodness, drink it in. Wisdom arises from here.
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Cittaviveka
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Cittaviveka 2021 Rains Retreat - Opening Group Practice
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2021-07-29
Different Lenses, Different Realities
46:36
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James Baraz
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When people ask, "How are you?" it depends on what lens we're looking at life through. The personal lens evokes a very different response than the societal one. This talk explores how we can hold different realities in our minds and hearts at the same time. Also the compassion that comes from understanding that each person has their own reality that makes sense to them.
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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2021-07-28
Deepening Daily Life Practice 3: Practicing with the Eight Worldly Winds
68:43
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Donald Rothberg
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We begin with a review of the last two sessions related to deepening daily life practice, including identifying some of the challenges of contemporary daily life practice and some basic ways of deepening such practice, the importance for such practice of mindfulness of the body, and the centrality of practicing with reactivity (based on looking closely at the sequence from contact to grasping or pushing away). We then, for the rest of the session, explore the teaching of the Eight Worldly Winds (pleasure or pain, gain or loss, fame or disrepute, and praise or blame) as a way of looking out for eight specific experiences that are likely to lead to reactivity. In all of this, we focus on how we might learn from and respond skillfully to such challenging situations rather than simply react in a largely unconscious and habitual way. The talk is followed by a discussion.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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