Consider the deep learning or openness that has been experienced. What has found its way to the exit? This allows a regaining of the awakened centre.

The centre has no name but is harmonious, unsqueezed and released from (often unrecognized) clinging.

Practice establishes a wholeness, a container where we can settle and witness the suffering, those random, sometimes painful stresses we call “ours”.

The teachings are not philosophies, abstract concoctions or attitudes. They point to direct signals of the citta with no position to stand on.

Ajahn explains how it is that the Buddha didn’t tell us to concentrate, but he did recommend concentration.

The ‘I am’, the sense of me is the citta - receiving, reacting. Using the four foundations allows it to be resplendent and happy.

We often feel driven, controlled by forces, social and otherwise that we don’t even know. Cultivation happens with careful application.

Attention is a natural faculty but developing the wisdom of what to focus on and how to focus, allows cultivation of meaning in the heart.

We practice sensing the whole before we can find the centre. The Buddha taught that all forms of wisdom find their fruition in mindfulness of the body.

In a retreat we become very fundamental, putting things aside.

Here volition stops and we can examine what normally clogs the heart. We discard the endlines and deadlines. Observe conditionality without becoming.

Q1 This person says that they are very sensitive and that things like traffic signs, noises, imperfections and the bustle of reality disturbs them. Do you have any advice? Q2 01:23 Could you comment on aging, sickness and death. Most of my friends and myself are in their late 70s or 80s and want to be more skilled in working with different stages and pain so as to be as prepared as possible for the dying phase.

Examining direct experience we go deeply, beyond the constructions, finding in the heart that which is worthy of praise and emulation. This generates sangha, a living teaching.

Notice the potency of unskillful language and how it can seem to squeeze us and create limitations in the mind.

The framework of body, feeling, heart, and phenomena arising is helpful and can be continued throughout the day.

Q1 Yesterday I had this thought that there is no shame in suffering. I'm wondering what is noble about the noble about the suffering in the first noble truth. Q2 06:17 Could you differentiate between awareness and consciousness? Q3 16:18 Please speak about bowing. Q4 20:39 Do you start and end your day with any reflections or recollections or practices? Q5 28:03 What is happening when right view and release become partially obscured again after right view has been attained? Why is it becoming obscured? Is cultivation of the empty field the main practice then and purification? Q6 33:32 It's taken several retreats to uncover this tremendous sense of guilt. When it arises it makes sense to avoid reconstructing the stories. the habit is to shut down the feeling. It appears as a pain in the chest. It shifts to holding back tears. Is this karma rather than the person?

Q1 Is chi a teaching of the buddha? How does it affect dhamma practice? Q2 12:25 How do you know when the body is telling you something? Q3 20:25 When sitting if truly inspired thoughts arise, do we treat them the same as we would any other thoughts? Letting them go? Is there no value in storing them for later contemplation? Q4 24:31 Attention and intention, which comes first? How does restraint work in relation to these two for well-being? Q5 36:15 I've heard teachers translate upekkha in other words other ways other than equanimity. Equipoise or perspective, clear perspective. Do you have any insights you can share please? Q6 40:26 I investigate the causes of my suffering. Sometimes I get the impression that some of it may have been handed over through body memories by past generations. Sort of unfinished business. Can you comment on this? Q7 43:04 Can you comment on the importance of rituals and symbols, and one's ancestral language and healing tools. How can they be used to transform whatever I may be carrying from my ancestors? Q8 48:43 Can you speak more about the power of craving?

Examining the mechanisms of the body-mind we see the absence of identity and the presence of experience in consciousness.

Looking into dhammas means looking into the mental, psychological and emotional experiences that arise and saturate, that we cling to.

Ajahn outlines some basic considerations on reclining

A retreat is a practice container that emphasizes cooperation and presence in a steady and communal form.

Pay attention to what demands more attention, what to be glad about, what to remember whenever you are transitioning.