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Dharma Talks
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2021-09-18
Commentary on The Sutta upon Emptiness
58:03
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Ajahn Achalo
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00:54 Q1: Thank you for guiding me and introducing me to chanting for my father every morning. I've been doing it every day and Dad has been happy to hear my chant. My problem is now I remember many chants by heart and I seem to do it quite automatically. Sometimes when I was chanting I caught my mind running through my schedule of the day, what I have to do or where I have to go and what I have to prepare for my online meeting etc. I am trying to pull my mind back but when I was in trance stage of chanting it happened again! Please advise, thank you. 07:01 Q2: In the Cūḷasuññatasutta, the Buddha goes into details about his meditation on emptiness. He says that he practices it himself. Indeed it's one of the few meditations he really goes into such instructional description. Can Ajahn tell us more about it and tell us how we can use this meditation ourselves? In particular is this a meditation or contemplation? And if so, is it conducted in one section or are the different parts different stages of achievement? Thanks. See also Part 2 - Sutta upon Emptiness - 29 Sept 2021 as follow-on from Q2 41:38 Q2: I wonder why all Buddha images have "hair" or some sort of covering on them (Mahayana, Theravada and Tibetan alike). Monks in general all have clean shaven heads and it's also a requirement for a "left-home" person. 44:06 Q4: I would like to know if we should always dedicate merits after daily chanting/ meditation? Should we always include all deceased parents/ relatives & those living who are close to us? What happen if the list is long? What is the best way to make dedication? 46:20 Q5: Must one develop right concentration through meditation or can one also attain to jhana stage in daily activities? In fact, I am curious, how will one know if he/she has reached jhana stage? Thank you.'
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Anandagiri Forest Monastery
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2021-08-23
Loving Witness
45:27
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Jack Kornfield
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In any moment you can become the loving witness—it’s why we sit in meditation. We learn to sit with both heartbreak and love—with whatever arises. We become the loving witness of it all. What channel do you turn to amidst the joy and sorrows? With mindful loving awareness we can see it all anew. When we see with amazement, with loving awareness, we also see with the heart.
As Mary Oliver writes:
“And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood….
and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular….
and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.
When it’s over, I want to say all my life
I was a bride married to amazement….”
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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2021-08-10
Q&A
24:57
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Ajahn Sucitto
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00:15 I find it difficult to access body and heart intelligence through sitting and breathing; 04:26 Is there a chant or practice we can do before or while eating?; 06:23 Sometimes the citta feels vast and spacious and other times intimate; 09:12 What is paritta chanting; 11:50 I suffer from tinnitus. How can I incorporate this into my meditation?; 14:18 Do you have long retreats, like 3 months?; 15:09 I experience reluctance to doing a daily formal sit even though I know it’s good for me; 17:33 What is right effort when it comes to strong sustained energy that is released during meditation?; 19:45 What is the background to the stained glass windows that Ajahn Sucitto helped design at the Sunyata Center?
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Sunyata Buddhist Centre
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Open Stability
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2021-08-10
Opening the mind door
41:07
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Ajahn Sucitto
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We can’t always feel good but we can get enough stability to stop running, and instead meet what’s unpleasant. Meditation is the opportunity to safely become insecure – set aside the defenses and strategies, remain present and stable, and open. When you’ve accepted its presence with mindfulness, fear no longer propels the citta because it’s been integrated.
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Sunyata Buddhist Centre
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Open Stability
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2021-08-09
Guided Meditation – Breathing
52:29
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Ajahn Sucitto
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The aim of mindfulness of breathing is to steady, refresh and bless the mind. When the heart becomes clean and happy, it naturally widens and sends out good energies and actions into the world. So when you cultivate through heart, you benefit both your own mind and the lives of others.
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Sunyata Buddhist Centre
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Open Stability
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2021-08-09
Walking through your identity
8:27
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Ajahn Sucitto
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In walking meditation, move through the identifiable world. Feel its resonances and triggerings and keep walking, see them as changing flickering phenomena. Maintain a steadiness as you walk through your world – it’s not actually yours, it’s always going its own way.
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Sunyata Buddhist Centre
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Open Stability
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In
collection:
A Moving Balance
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2021-08-09
Guided Meditation - Samadhi is harmony
29:47
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Ajahn Sucitto
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When we establish steadiness of body, citta returns to being embodied because that’s its home base. With steadiness and comfort, pressure is released in both body and heart. Cultivate like this and the self-referencing can disappear; then there’s just witnessing. When body and heart are held together in harmony – this is samādhi.
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Sunyata Buddhist Centre
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Open Stability
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2021-08-08
Guided Meditation - Awareness spread over the body-mind field
47:45
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Many things arise in the field of awareness. It’s all energies moving – some bodily, some emotional, some conceptual. Spread awareness over all of it equally, without grasping or repelling. Every detail is to be included into the whole, like a mosaic. There’s no person separate from this, there’s just this and awareness of it. May it be well.
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Sunyata Buddhist Centre
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Open Stability
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2021-08-08
Standing Meditation – Whole Body Vitality
26:56
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Begin with a bit of movement and loosening so energy can flow freely. Once movement stops, sense into subtler aspects of bodily experience – where is there stability, space, connection. A lightness, even playfulness, is encouraged in meditation. Enjoy.
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Sunyata Buddhist Centre
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Open Stability
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2021-08-07
Q&A
47:26
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Q1- How to deal with strong floods of sankhāra, in dealing with my role and identity as a Mother. Q2 – Are the qualities of the heart conditioned in the same way as intellectual abilities or physical strength. Q3 – I have a 17 year old dying cat. She suffers a lot and rejects the comforting medicine of the vet. Is this cat wisdom? Q4 What would be a sequence for a daily meditation practice? Q5 Are dharma and dhamma the same? Q6 Can we use the 5 indriyas to solve the 5 hindrances? Q7 How to deal with a band of pain around the back. Q8 Healthy attachment is important for example in childhood development. How do we know if it is OK to have an attachment or not.
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Sunyata Buddhist Centre
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Open Stability
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2021-08-07
Guided Meditation - Standing 2
23:23
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Ajahn Sucitto
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In some ways we don’t do very much in standing meditation. We use the body to adjust the body energy rather than the mind with the heart gently enquiring: “How is this now?” With the whole body in focus we can experience the body’s natural intelligence.
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Sunyata Buddhist Centre
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Open Stability
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2021-08-07
Meditation heart, body and mind co-operating
28:00
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Ajahn Sucitto
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The qualities of heart, body and intellect can come together in mutual support. Upright steady body; comfortable heart that’s not straining; mind listening, acting as a coach. This is entering into proper relationship – you can get great strength from just this.
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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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