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The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
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Dharma Talks
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2025-12-13
Q&A
43:09
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Q1 When I meditate my mind is calm I can hear the breathing but at the same time my mind is also thinking about outstanding matters. I can't seem to prevent the pressure or momentum to think about myself or unfinished tasks. What should I do? 34:32 Q2 How do we develop equanimity?
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Bandar Utama Buddhist Society
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BUBS Silent Retreat
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2025-12-13
Q&A
45:56
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Ajahn Sucitto
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00:23 Q1 How do we define a real state of meditation? Is it merely focus and concentration? Should we do samatha first or vipassana or both combined? 23:39 Q2 During walking meditation do we still observe breathing at the nostrils or radiating metta? 28:17 Q3 Is it okay to use the mantra Budho for walking meditation and during daily life activities? 29:32 Q4 I have committed some mistakes in the past, one which lost me a dear old friend and another one which causes me huge embarrassment every time I think about it. I feel a huge degree of sense of remorse and given the opportunity I would not do it again. What can I do to overcome this?... [and] During meditation my emotions are triggered. Should I come back to the breath or feel the emotion in the body? 37:22 Q5 How can I note intentions especially during meal time? There are so many of them! 40:27 Q6 What's the rationale behind not reading during a retreat? 42:29 Q7 When a person we love is doing harmful things, not correct practice despite your advice, they don't listen, how do I practice dhamma to avoid disappointment and sadness. 44:19 Q8 When it's in meditation my head naturally tilts upward. At this point the connection between the spine and the neck clicks. How to avoid it?
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Bandar Utama Buddhist Society
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BUBS Silent Retreat
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2025-12-10
Skillful Desire
60:41
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Donald Rothberg
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Sometimes people interpret the Buddha's teachings as suggesting giving up all wanting of the pleasant and all not wanting the unpleasant, and that equanimity has no wanting or not wanting; there are some passages in the teachings which seem to suggest this approach. However, the Buddha in a number of ways pointed to what we might call "skillful desire."
We explore this in several ways. First, we go back to the teaching on Dependent Origination and the sequence from contact to grasping. We can identify that sequence as illustrating unskillful desire (or wanting) followed by grasping (as well as unskillful aversion). Secondly, we explore the Buddha's teachings on chanda, which could be translated as "skillful desire." Thirdly, we look at the role of experiences of pleasure, joy, and happiness in different practice contexts, and ask more generally about the nature of skillful desire (and some on "skillful aversion") in everyday life. What characterizes desire being unskillful or skillful? The talk is followed by discussion.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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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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Nera Nara Retreat Centre
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Pak Chong Silent Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
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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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Nera Nara Retreat Centre
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Pak Chong Silent Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
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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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Nera Nara Retreat Centre
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Pak Chong Silent Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
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2025-11-30
Q&A
41:56
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Questions précised: 00:23 Q1 Can you give me some advice on self forgiveness? I can easily forgive others but not myself. 15:58 Q2 I don't usually experience deep samadhi but in the past few days there's much stillness in the sitting and the body feels heavy and grounded. Is this the right direction? 19:45 Q3 in order to develop sati we should come out of thoughts or thinking. Isn't that attempt just more thinking? 31:15 Q4 Generally speaking is there a difference in Buddhist approach to emotional psychological pain and physical pain? 40:44 Q5 Can you explain the difference between citta and mind?
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Nera Nara Retreat Centre
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Pak Chong Silent Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
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2025-11-29
Q&A
34:57
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Ajahn Sucitto
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00:07 Q1 There is body contemplation and contemplation of death. Can I contemplate things such as my work, my relationships with a fear of failing? How do I do it? 20:28 Q2 You mentioned during Qigong making a circle with the arms and concentrating within the ring. I found this very helpful to calm the mind. Is there something similar to help calm the mind during sitting or standing meditation? 29:40 Q3 You said the world begins and ends in the body. I'm rather used to hearing that the mind is the source of everything. Can you clarify this please?
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Nera Nara Retreat Centre
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Pak Chong Silent Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
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