Kittisaro's Dharma Talks
Kittisaro
Kittisaro, from Tennessee, a Rhodes Scholar and a Buddhist practitioner for over 35 years including 15 years as a Theravada monk in the Forest School of Ajahn Chah. He is also a practitioner of Pure Land and Chan Buddhism. He is co-founder, with Thanissara of Dharmagiri Sacred Mountain Retreat in South Africa and has completed two year long retreats. Kittisaro currently lives in the North Bay, California, teaches at IMS and Spirit Rock, and is co-author of Listening to the Heart, A Contemplative Journey to Engaged Buddhism. He lives in the North Bay CA, and is on the Teacher Council at Spirit Rock, and is a core teacher at IMS.
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Select from Kittisaro's
283
talks
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2018-03-08
"Might There Be Another Way": The Turning Point In The Buddha's Life.
2015-01-13
A Heavenly Messenger Arrives: Today My Father Died.
2011-03-11
A Kind Abiding
2016-10-18
A Root Home: Listening to the Hearing
2006-10-03
A Tour of the Universe
2002-07-19
A Unified Heart
2022-11-22
Accessing Peace through Letting Be (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
2015-01-11
Ajahn Chah's Advice about "Terrorists"
2002-07-13
Alchemy Of Body And Breath
2018-09-24
Alchemy of Joy
2009-01-27
All Beings are of One Substance
2018-03-12
All Living Beings Are Our Family
2009-06-07
An Easeful Abiding - Samadhi and the Jhana Factors
1998-08-15
Appreciation And The Meditative Path
2012-09-24
Arriving Here - Touching the Earth Retreat
2018-03-11
As Silence Is To Sound
2017-10-10
Attending To The Immovable
2010-03-07
Awakening
1997-08-18
Balance Of Samatha And Vipassana: Realising Anatta Dhamma Through Deeply Knowin…
2008-08-20
Being Dharma
2015-03-20
Being Dharma - Destined to Wake Up
2017-11-22
Beyond the Tangle of Thought (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
2012-02-20
Blessing Powers Of Concentration
2009-06-07
Breaking the Spell
2009-06-07
Breaking the Spell
2024-11-26
Breaking the Spell: Fingersnaps of Awakening (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
2004-01-01
Buddham Varantam Sirasa Namami
2014-11-26
Buddhas Never Waver
2004-01-01
Buddhist Heart Mantras
2009-01-31
Change of Lineage
2011-03-11
Chanting
1995-08-01
Contemplating The Breath
1995-01-01
Contemplation Of The Five Khandas
2012-02-25
Cultivating A Heart Of Kindness
2014-05-16
Deathless Heart
2014-05-16
Deeping Into The Four Noble Truths
1998-08-18
Desire - Clear Seeing
2013-05-21
Developing Our Practice
2015-01-07
Developing the Yoga of the Mind
2010-03-09
Dhamma As Nature
2012-09-28
Dharma as Medicine
2025-03-18
Dharma Medicine: Samādhi & Guided Anapanasati Meditation
2023-11-19
Dharma Talk: Mindfulness, the Path to the One
2023-11-22
Dharma Talk: The Great Return (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
2017-11-24
Dissolving the Walls of the Mind with Love (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
2013-02-23
Divine Abiding Of Metta
2016-08-12
Do Everything with a Mind That Lets Go
2009-02-02
Ekayana - The Way to One
2019-10-09
Entering The Mula Sutta: Journey To Freedom
2016-08-14
Form and Emptiness, Perfectly Fused
2002-07-21
Freedom As Essence Of All Dhammas
1998-08-17
Freedom Is The Essence Of All Things
2021-11-24
Freedom is the Essence of All Things (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
2018-03-16
Freeing Our Concsciousness (Friday) - Opening Chants
2018-03-16
Freeing Our Consciousness (Friday) - Opening Talk
2018-03-17
Freeing Our Consciousness (Saturday) - afternoon opening: Chants and Meditation…
2018-03-17
Freeing Our Consciousness (Saturday) - afternoon stories about standing up
2018-03-17
Freeing Our Consciousness (Saturday) - afternoon Talk and Q&A
2018-03-17
Freeing Our Consciousness (Saturday) - morning closing
2018-03-17
Freeing Our Consciousness (Saturday) - morning Guided Meditation
2018-03-17
Freeing Our Consciousness (Saturday) - morning Talk
2018-03-17
Freeing Our Consciousness (Saturday) - Refuges and Precepts
2020-12-04
Friday Afternoon Session
2020-12-04
Friday Morning Session
2009-01-12
From Coarse to Subtle
2009-06-05
From Practice of Dharma to Being Dharma
2025-03-16
From the Perilous to Safety through the Cultivation of Meditation
2004-01-01
Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha
2012-02-22
Giving Everything Back
2016-08-16
Gradual Path, Immediate Realization
2004-01-01
Great Compassion Mantra
2012-02-18
Ground Of Presence
2016-08-16
Group Recitation (Chanting)
2015-01-16
Hatred is Never Appeased by Hatred
2011-03-04
Heartwood
2012-02-21
Higher Training Of The Mind
2015-01-09
Higher Training of the Mind/ Heart
2018-11-01
Honoring the Sacred in this Moment (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
2011-03-09
Ice To Water As Dukkha To Peace
2010-03-13
Immeasurable Abiding.
2019-10-15
Indestructible Samadhi.
2002-07-14
Instructions On Flexibility In Practice
1999-08-19
Introduction To Great Compassion Ceremony Of Kuan Yin And Mantras
2019-10-08
Introduction To The Anapanasati Sutta
2009-01-16
It's Uncertain
2025-04-02
It's Ungraspable - the Multiplicity Within Wholeness
2004-01-01
Itipi So Bhagava Araham Sammasambuddho
2002-07-12
Jhana Factors
2011-12-02
Journey to the Deathless
2010-03-11
Just A Handful Of Leaves
1996-08-01
Karma, Creation And Cessation
1994-08-02
Kindness
2009-01-27
Kuan Yin - Bestower of Fearlessness
2022-11-25
Kuan Yin Bowing Practice Mantra:
Namo Kuan Shr Yin Pu Sa
2021-11-27
Kuan Yin Compassion Ceremony (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
2024-11-28
Kuan Yin: Bestower of Fearlessness: Dharma Medicine for These Times (Retreat at…
2015-01-08
Leaving Behind Apartheid of the Heart
2016-08-10
Let the Alchemy Happen
1998-08-19
Letting Go
2017-10-03
Like a Cool Mountain Lake: Cultivating Jhana
2017-10-30
Like A Still Forest Pool
2019-10-16
Like Drew Drops And A Lightning Flash
2013-08-24
Limitation & Beyond
2015-03-28
Listening to the Heart - Sat. AM
2015-03-28
Listening to the Heart - Sat. PM
2015-03-29
Listening to the Heart - Sun
2015-03-27
Listening to the Heart: Evening Talk & Book Signing - Friday
2013-02-19
Making Our Practice Even
2015-05-03
Measureless Abiding
2018-09-26
Meditation on Dukkha and Release
2018-11-04
Meditation: Peace as the Ground of Resilience
2003-07-25
Merging Of Wisdom And Compassion
2017-11-18
Metabolizing the Momentum of our Lives (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
2016-04-23
Might there be another way?
2013-02-17
Mindfulness - Pathway to One
2011-03-05
Mindfulness: Feet Touching The Ground
2018-05-21
Monday Night Dharma Talk
2021-11-01
Monday Night Dharma Talk - The Power of Holding a Sacred Name
2017-11-19
Morning Instructions Day 2-Samadhi: The Blameless Pleasure Principle (Retreat a…
2015-11-23
Morning Instructions Day 3
2015-11-26
Morning Instructions; Day 6
2023-11-23
Morning Sitting with Instructions: The Two Fundamental Roots; Contemplating Con…
2015-01-14
Mother of All Phenomena - Contemplating Thus!
2003-07-24
Mother Of The Buddhas
2017-10-19
Moving Beyond Duality
2004-01-01
Na Mo Ban Shr Shr Jya Mo Ni Fo
2004-01-01
Na Mwo Da Bei Kuan Shr Yin Pu Sa
2004-01-01
Na Mwo Kuan Shr Yin Pu Sa
2004-01-01
Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammasambuddhassa
2025-04-04
Namo, Faith and Returning my Life into the Way
2015-01-12
Nature of Phenonmena Through Insight
2015-11-25
Nibbana: The Homecoming
2025-03-20
Nirodha (cessation of dukkha) and the Return to One Heart
2024-11-27
No Footprints in the Sky (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
2016-10-20
No Footprints in the Sky: Returning to the Sacred
2012-02-23
Not Two
2010-03-12
Noticing The Context
1998-08-16
Obstructions To Samadhi
2004-01-01
Om Mani Padme Hum
2025-03-22
One Taste, Peace of Nibbana, Asankhata Dharma
2019-10-15
One Taste: Return To The Root
1997-08-16
Opening Into The Moment
2018-03-06
Opening Talk: The Eight Great Gifts
2015-03-17
Opening To Reality
2025-03-22
Overview of the Four Truths Leading to Peace
2015-03-13
Ox and Cart. Blessing Chant
2016-04-29
Patience, refuge, service
1994-08-03
Patience, The Donkey And Generosity
2021-11-20
Patiently Arriving : The Alchemy of Awareness--Retreat at Spirit Rock (Day 1)
2017-10-02
Power Of The Precepts
2015-01-18
Practice Guided by Wisdom
2012-02-19
Practice of Mindfulness
1994-08-04
Practice, Relationship And Faith
1994-08-01
Praising The Buddha - Prayer And Insight
2013-02-24
Precepts
2025-04-02
Primal Bright Essence of Consciousness
2016-10-18
Protecting the Heart: Devotions Skillful Means
2009-02-03
Pure Consciousness
2009-06-11
Questions & Answers
2007-12-02
Questions and Answers
2013-02-20
Radical Reflection
2025-04-04
Raft to the Peaceful Shore
2009-12-13
Reading the Book of the Heart
2011-03-07
Reading The Book Of The Heart
2019-10-22
Receive The Moment: Cultivating The Friendly Heart
2018-11-21
Reclamation of the Sacred
2016-05-07
Reclamation of the Sacred Through Insight & Devotion - Saturday Afternoon
2016-05-07
Reclamation of the Sacred Through Insight & Devotion - Saturday Morning
2016-05-08
Reclamation of the Sacred Through Insight & Devotion - Sunday Morning
2015-05-04
Recognizing the Sacred
1995-08-03
Reflecting On The Qualities Of Good Friendship
1995-08-02
Reflection On The Four Noble Truths
2023-11-13
Remembering Ajahn Chah
1999-08-17
Resting In The Ground Of Being
2025-03-16
Restoring Well-Being & Working with Long-term Illness
2025-04-09
Retreat Review-All Practices point to the Mind/Heart
2011-03-09
Return to The Deathless
2022-11-22
Reverence: Opening the Door to the Deathless (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
2012-09-25
Rooted in Prescence
2011-03-07
Sacred Gateway
2014-05-14
Sacred Template
2025-03-25
Sakkha’s Question: The Cause of War and its End
2009-01-12
Samadhi - The Destroyer of Ignorance
2015-11-22
Samadhi and the Here and Now Dharma
2022-11-19
Samadhi: Cultivating a Gathered Heart & Mind
2020-12-05
Saturday Afternoon Session
2020-12-05
Saturday Morning Session
2014-11-23
Savoring the Way
2002-07-15
Shipwrecks, The Mange, And Joys Of the Path
2025-03-31
Shurangama Samādhi: The Great Return
2025-03-25
Sky-line Heart: Beyond Concept and Conditioning
2025-03-18
Stepping Out of Samsara
2010-03-13
Still Forest Pool
2020-12-06
Sunday Afternoon Session
2020-12-06
Sunday Morning Session
1999-08-16
Supports And Obstructions And Easeful Presence
2009-12-15
Take Heart
2015-03-15
Take Heart
2012-09-27
Taste of Peace
2015-03-17
Taste Of Peace
2007-11-30
Tasting The Unconditioned
2025-03-31
Tathagatagarbha - Primordial Matrix of Being
2004-01-01
Tayata Om Muni Muni Mahamunaye Soha
2014-05-18
The Advanced Course
2017-10-17
The Akaliko (timeless) Dharma
2017-10-24
The Alchemy Of Kindness: From "Locked In" to the Immeasurable.
2018-03-09
The Bathman: Simile For For The First Jhana
2009-01-12
The Capacity to Bear Reality
2009-01-31
The Empty Bell
2011-03-11
The Empty Bell
2009-01-19
The End of Mark Making
2025-03-27
The Extraordinary Blessings of Metta
2017-10-09
The Extraordinary Power Of Contemplating Impermanence.
2025-03-20
The Extraordinary Transformative Power of Dharma + Story of Angulimala
2019-10-02
The Five Great Gifts
2002-07-18
The Great Compassion Repentance Ceremony
2022-11-22
The Great Return: A Taste of Peace (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
2009-06-11
The Guest House
2009-06-11
The Guest House
2019-11-24
The Happiness of the Buddha (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
2003-07-26
The Heart Of Non-Contention And Guided Meditation
2009-06-09
The Heart Sutra
2009-06-09
The Heart Sutra
2009-12-15
The Host and the Guest
2019-10-23
The importance of cultivating the measureless.
2021-11-23
The Interplay Between Samatha and Vipassana
2019-10-08
The Liberating Power Of Breath Practice
2017-11-21
The magnetic Pull of the Unconditioned (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
2014-11-29
The Miracle of Listening
2016-04-27
The mysterious Dharma: words fall silent before it.
2015-11-28
The Path in a Finger Snap
2013-08-26
The Patience of Awakening
2018-09-28
The Practice of the Dharma and its Magical Response
2018-09-26
The Primal Essence of Consciousness
2006-10-05
The Salt Crystal
2009-06-09
The Second Arrow
2009-06-09
The Second Arrow
2009-01-29
The Shurangama Samadhi
2010-03-05
The Template and Blessing Chants
2009-01-14
The Terrorist and the Treasure
2015-01-10
The Training of Samadhi - Guided Meditation
2002-07-17
The Unconditioned And The Power Of The Kuan Yin
2014-05-12
The Undisturbed
2015-03-19
The Unobstructed Heart
2015-03-15
The Value Of Moments Of Mindful Presence
1999-08-18
The Vows Of The Buddha
2009-06-05
The Wings of Awakening
2008-08-18
The Yak Enamoured by its Tail
2021-11-25
There Are No Footprints In The Sky (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
2006-10-03
There are No Tracks in the Sky
2013-02-21
This Is Peaceful
2019-11-27
This is Peaceful
2019-10-22
This Is The Happiness Of The Buddha
2009-01-19
Through the Gateway of Dukkha
2020-12-03
Thursday Afternoon Session
2020-12-03
Thursday Morning Session
2012-09-26
Touching Nibbana
2013-02-18
Touching The World Lightly
2014-05-14
Train The Heart
2025-03-27
Transforming Struggle with Metta- Kind, Welcoming Attention
2021-11-22
True Peace Is Not Far Away
2018-11-04
Trust the Path: Medicine for Our Times (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
2002-07-20
Under The Rose Apple Tree
2019-11-27
Understand, Release, Realize, and Cultivate (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
2011-03-05
Unification Of Body, Mind And Heart
2004-09-15
Unification of Mind and Body
2006-10-01
Unifying the Mind
2025-04-07
Universal Door 1: One Substance, One Heart, One Body, Kuan Yin–Holding the Sacr…
2025-04-07
Universal Door 2 Living Dynamic Refuge - Kuan Yin Recitation Samadhi
1998-08-20
Vow Power Of The Buddha And The Bodhisattvas And Chanting
2003-07-23
Waterfall Of An Unhindered Mind
2010-03-09
Waterfall Of Impermanence.
2002-07-16
Ways Of Exploring Suffering
2020-12-02
Wednesday Afternoon Session
2020-12-02
Wednesday Morning Session (Part 1)
2020-12-02
Wednesday Morning Session (Part 2)
2006-10-01
What Am I Going To Do About It?
2010-03-11
What Remains?
2004-09-18
Where is Solid Ground
2009-01-22
Where Letting Go and Embracing the World Meet
2009-12-11
Wings Of Awakening Opening
2013-02-22
Yoga of the Heart
2018-09-28
Yoga of the Heart
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Select one of Kittisaro's 49 retreats
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1900-01-01
Monday and Wednesday Talks
1994-08-01
Retreat with Kittisaro
1995-01-01
Retreat with Kittisaro
1995-08-01
Retreat with Thanissara and Kittisaro
1996-08-01
Retreat with Thanissara and Kittisaro
1997-08-16
Retreat with Kittisaro
1998-08-15
Retreat with Kittisaro
1999-08-16
Retreat with Kittisaro
2002-07-12
Retreat with Kittisaro
2003-07-23
Retreat with Kittisaro
2006-09-29
The Union of Wisdom and Compassion
2007-11-27
The Radiant Awareness of Being
2009-01-10
Original Brightness Retreat
2009-06-05
The Wings of Awakening
2009-06-05
Wings of Awakening
2009-12-11
Wings of Awakening: Cultivating the Five Spiritual Faculties
2010-03-05
The Mysterious Way of the Heart: Where Wisdom and Compassion Meet
2011-03-04
The Mysterious Way of the Heart: Where Wisdom and Compassion Meet
2011-11-29
Being Dharma
2012-02-18
An Integrated Awakening: Insight Meditation Retreat
2012-09-24
Touching the Earth
2013-02-16
An Integrated Awakening: Insight Meditation Retreat
2013-08-22
Touching the Earth
2014-05-12
An Integrated Awakening: Insight Meditation Retreat
2014-11-21
Thanksgiving Insight Meditation Retreat
2015-01-07
Being Dharma Month Long at Dharmagiri, South Africa
2015-01-24
Life, Death, Etc. ...All in a Year!
2015-03-13
An Integrated Awakening: Insight Meditation Retreat
2015-05-01
Sacred Tenderness: Exploring the Energies of Our Hearts
2015-11-20
Thanksgiving Insight Retreat
2016-04-22
An Integrated Awakening: Insight Meditation Retreat
2016-05-07
Reclamation of the Sacred Through Insight & Devotion
2016-08-08
From Separation to Seamless Reality
2016-10-16
Balancing Liberation and Devotion: Opening the Kuan Yin Dharma Doors
2017-10-01
October 2017 at IMS - Forest Refuge
2017-11-17
Thanksgiving Insight Meditation Retreat: A Journey into Presence, Peace and Gra…
2018-03-06
Reclamation of the Sacred: A Journey of Healing and Reconnection Through Insigh…
2018-03-16
Freeing Our Consciousness
2018-09-22
Reclamation of the Sacred
2018-10-31
Reclamation of the Sacred: A Journey of Healing and Reconnection Through Insigh…
2019-10-01
October 2019 at IMS - Forest Refuge
2019-11-22
November Insight Retreat: A Journey into Presence, Peace, & Gratitude
2020-12-02
"Essence: Accessing Peace Within Uncertain Times" with Kittisaro and Thanissara
2021-01-01
Year to Live 2021
2021-11-19
Journey into Refuge, Presence, and Love
2022-11-18
Journey Into Refuge, Presence, and Love
2023-11-18
Refuge, Resilience, Presence, and Love In Our Times
2024-11-22
Reclamation of the Sacred: Journey into Refuge, Presence, and Love
2025-03-13
Being Dharma
2009-02-03
Pure Consciousness
35:34
The Shurangama Sutra, Matangi’s daughter & Ananda’s enlightement
Sky Like Mind
Those who delight in mental proliferation (papanca) never know Nibbana
The end of birth and death
Apartheid of the mind
Nisagardatta’s method
What Remains - What doesn’t move
Dharmagiri
:
Original Brightness Retreat
2009-01-31
The Empty Bell
37:07
The chipmunk, the donkey and the dew drops
Aspiration, despair, depression & Ajahn Chah’s encouragement
Suffering for the sake of ending suffering
Touching obstructions patience & kindness
Giving credit for practice already done & the highest merit
Like an empty bell
Dharmagiri
:
Original Brightness Retreat
2009-01-31
Change of Lineage
44:43
Direct knowing of emptiness
Between existence and nihilism
Emptiness isn’t empty, wonderful existence doesn’t exist
Grasping & papanca is the root of birth and death
Surface & depth of ocean is all water
Change of lineage from reliance on papanca to pure knowing
Angulimala and original hua t’ou – STOP
Dharmagiri
:
Original Brightness Retreat
2009-01-29
The Shurangama Samadhi
45:01
The Dharma door of Chan / Zen
The King of Samadhi’s – the Shurangama – Durable – Samadhi
The context of the Shurangama Sutra – Ananda, Matangi’s daughter, Manjushri, the Buddha & Avalokitesvara
Kuan Yin’s favoured meathod – ‘returning the hearing’
The pure, bright and primordial essence of consciousness
Anuruddha seeks out advice from Sariputta – ‘Turn your mind to the Deathless’
Dharmagiri
:
Original Brightness Retreat
2009-01-27
All Beings are of One Substance
34:57
Avalokitesvara – the Lord of Ease
Ekayana – All streams lead to the ocean - all Dharma doors lead to the One Heart
All Dharma doors are connected to Mindfulness
Crossing over beings of the self nature – being kind is being Kuan Yin
All Beings have been our mother, father, relative and are potential Buddha’s
Kittisaro’s mother’s death and his tribute to her
Dharmagiri
:
Original Brightness Retreat
2009-01-27
Kuan Yin - Bestower of Fearlessness
38:07
Turning the state rather than being turned by the state
Liberating the orphans of consciousness & being liberated from them
Stories of Ajahn Chah – Knowing pain & ‘What About the Rest of Us?’
The man who wanted to hang himself
Returning to the Still
Bestower of Courage & Fearlessness.
Dharmagiri
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Original Brightness Retreat
2009-01-19
Through the Gateway of Dukkha
40:19
The 4 truths that en-noble as we grow through them
The 8 kinds of Dukkha – Anando, ex marine & monk, bowing through anger
Death is also impermanent, seeing through impermanence, one touches peace.
When the causes of dukkha break up, it ceases - revealing the timeless dharma.
Dharmagiri
:
Original Brightness Retreat
2009-01-19
The End of Mark Making
37:39
The tendency of the proliferating mind to designate permanence to the transitory through the process of thought
Papanca – conceptual proliferation creates the billion fragments of the world
The Diamond Sutra – The Guest and the Host
What remains?
Kappa’s question to the Buddha
Dharmagiri
2009-01-16
It's Uncertain
40:49
Meeting Ajahn Chah in Thailand
Know the breath and you’ll know everything
Opening the Dharma Eye
Underlying pervasive peace
Samsara & Nibbana arise at the same place
Dharmagiri
2009-01-14
The Terrorist and the Treasure
33:55
Kittisaro’s father and mother meeting Ajahn Chah
The terrorists of the heart that rob the true treasure
Finding a solid footing
Ajahn Chah's encouragement to be an earth worm rather than a bodhisattva
Ajahn Chah’s take on Samatha & Vipassana
Letting go is peace
Dharmagiri
:
Original Brightness Retreat
2009-01-12
The Capacity to Bear Reality
41:37
The heavenly messengers that set the Buddha on his quest
The Buddha’s early struggle and discovery of the middle way
The First Jhana and simile of the Bathman’s Apprentice
Citt’ekaggata – A unified heart suffused with well being
Dharmagiri
2006-10-01
What Am I Going To Do About It?
44:19
This talk explores the distance between language and the actuality of 'what is'. It also looks at how concepts lend an impression of solidity to the sense of 'things' and 'self'. As insight matures into the reality that nothing can be grasped, the realisation occurs that there is nothing to attain. Ultimately, it is through letting go that peace is realised.
Gaia House
:
The Union of Wisdom and Compassion
