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The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
 
Ajahn Sucitto's Dharma Talks
Ajahn Sucitto
As a monk, I bring a strong commitment, along with the renunciate flavor, to the classic Buddhist teachings. I play with ideas, with humor and a current way of expressing the teachings, but I don't dilute them.
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2020-02-26 Renewal Means Refrain from Going Back 24:24
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Being comes before doing. Openness needs the protection of Refuge, not the defensiveness of ill-will. Renewal is not a case of planning or trying something new, but of stopping the re-creating of the old self. Citta then renews by itself.
Emoyeni Retreat Centre :  Clearing and Renewal
2020-02-26 Aligning to Direct Experience 11:25
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As phenomena arise, align understanding to direct experience. Clear away inferences such as time and the notion of the body. All phenomena arise within awareness. Extend awareness through breathing. Pervade the body with tonalities of goodwill rather than of ill-will or no will.
Emoyeni Retreat Centre :  Clearing and Renewal
2020-02-25 The Open Way 42:36
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This Path often leads into unknowns, disorientation, places where things don’t fit our normal ways. Meeting these places with strategies doesn’t work, but good qualities of heart leads into a quiet, joyful openness. This supports faith.
Emoyeni Retreat Centre :  Clearing and Renewal
2020-02-24 Engaged Receptivity 51:29
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The essence of meditation is engaged receptivity. This is the skill of pausing for a minute and witnessing the flow of dhammas. It becomes fully established by strong mindfulness, so that ‘full knowing’ (sampajañña) gives the view of the causal web: that dhammas arise from causes and are not self.
Emoyeni Retreat Centre :  Clearing and Renewal
2020-02-24 Aimless wandering’ Meditation 3:36
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Take advantage of being in this natural realm. Move around very slowly and relate to everything from the heart. Notice the felt sense that is evoked, how nature touches and speaks to you. Nature reflects back aspects of your own heart.
Emoyeni Retreat Centre :  Clearing and Renewal
2020-02-24 The Arising of Heart 55:25
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Clearance and renewal is a heart process. It entails meeting emotional material where it begins, with an energetic resonance. Body receives and moderates the energy, clearing the way for fundamental heart qualities to meet phenomena.
Emoyeni Retreat Centre :  Clearing and Renewal
2020-02-23 Q&A 55:48
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What is mindfulness; What is investigation; Unusual images arising in meditation; Death and afterlife; How to deal with vulnerability of heart?
Emoyeni Retreat Centre :  Clearing and Renewal
2020-02-23 Mindfulness of Breathing 11:37
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Mindfulness of breathing is the gathering of attention around a process that is flowing and fluid. The steady and suffusive quality of breathing eases tensions in the heart and mind. The thinking process quietens down and external sights and sounds don’t impinge allowing the natural qualities of the heart become more apparent.
Emoyeni Retreat Centre :  Clearing and Renewal
2020-02-23 Removing the Bookmark of Suffering 55:42
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Felt meanings are triggered through contact. They are conditioned, and over time become like bookmarks that we return to. It’s possible to acknowledge agitating ones and discharge them through the body. Positive meanings can be cultivated and embodied, generating new bookmarks.
Emoyeni Retreat Centre :  Clearing and Renewal
2020-02-23 Puja – Resounding Meaning 19:17
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Puja is the act of praising, honouring, lifting up particular spiritual values. It’s not limited by what one can or can’t do. The heart can be lifted to feel spiritual qualities – awakening, purity, generosity. This shifts one’s centre from the world back to one’s own heart.
Emoyeni Retreat Centre :  Clearing and Renewal
2020-02-22 Guided Meditation – Body Sweeping 32:02
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Body sweeping meditation encourages attention that gathers around an object. Rather than absorbing into phenomena, attention remains broad and open, like a loop.
Emoyeni Retreat Centre :  Clearing and Renewal
2020-02-22 Whatever the Content, Establish the Container 35:19
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Mindfulness replaces self as the container and arbiter if experience. Self finds it difficult to be with the disagreeable, the crazy, the chaotic, the out of control. Self searches for success, and dreads failure. Mindfulness can handle real life: no success, no failure.
Emoyeni Retreat Centre :  Clearing and Renewal
2020-02-22 Clearance of the Energetic (Causal) Basis 48:01
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The basis of body, mind and heart is a field of interconnective energies. Clear the body through breathing and posture; clear the mind by disengaging. The heart naturally opens in this healthier atmosphere. The field is now primed to ventilate difficult emotions allowing renewal to occur.
Emoyeni Retreat Centre :  Clearing and Renewal
2020-02-22 Walking Meditation: Keep the Whole Body Open 8:15
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Walking meditation is a whole body experience. Set up the upright and lateral frame, and extend the web of energy across the whole body. ‘Listen’ with the skin as you walk, taking in the space. When the body feels its wholeness it becomes more balanced and relaxed, conducing to release.
Emoyeni Retreat Centre :  Clearing and Renewal
In collection: A Moving Balance
2020-02-22 Puja: Brightening the Heart Tone 4:46
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Based on an upright, open posture, chanting adds vocal tone to breathing. Breath becomes sound through bodily resonators. The release of breathing out, combined with the resonance and the reference to images of purity and compassion is brightening.
Emoyeni Retreat Centre :  Clearing and Renewal
2020-02-22 Refreshing through Posture 23:01
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Practice with opening the body as an energetic formation. Muscles can relax on an upright posture, the boundaries of the bodies can relax. Opening into the surrounding space ventilates stale energies, supporting clearer attitudes and a brighter heart.
Emoyeni Retreat Centre :  Clearing and Renewal
2020-02-21 Clearing Is Renewal 39:33
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We come on retreat to clear the negative, the compulsive, the cluttered. Acknowledging the causal potential to adopt behaviours and attitudes and transmit them to others, there is a need to clear and reset. The warm, safe, cooperative retreat environment allows for new growth after the clearing.
Emoyeni Retreat Centre :  Clearing and Renewal
2020-02-18 Staying in Touch with What’s Meaningful 18:42
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We are encouraged to stay in touch with relationships to values, virtues, that which we hold sacred. Regular recollections of the following are recommended: relationship with the sacred, with one’s body, with other people, with the Earth.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-18 Chanting: Buddha’s Words on Lovingkindness 3:16
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Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-18 Meaning and Use of Refuges and Precepts 19:49
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The end of retreat brings the occasion to recollect our good actions and results. This is both in terms of what we do and what we refrain from. We also take the opportunity to align to refuges and precepts as a reminder to stay awake.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-18 Endnotes on Meditation 34:32
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Cultivation of heart and mind extends beyond sitting on the cushion. This core practice of being in your body is a touchstone for sanity and for happiness. Through this we can discharge qualities that can’t be dealt with in daily life. It can be practiced in any posture. Know where the stress is arising, and meet it with a spacious body and accepting heart.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-17 Q&A 2 46:06
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Environmental crisis; addictive patterning; kamma; firm center; fear and pragmatic security.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-17 How I Became a Monk 40:04
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In response to yogi questions, Ajahn Sucitto recounts how he became a monk.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-17 Addressing the Causal (Energy) Field 65:52
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Commands and pressure compress energy. The result is the cannonball drive through life – unreceptive, driven and numb. Learn to cultivate energy properly. Go to the body – extend, widen, soften. View the causal field as it is, not as self.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-17 Guided Meditation: Sweeping Energy & Space around the Body 35:47
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It takes time for the bodily energy to unfold upon waking. Don’t go into your mind. Give attention to extending and spreading the body’s energy field. Pay particular attention to the sense of space.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-16 Awareness Has No Boundaries 65:30
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Meditation is based on the fact that mind can open and encompass the whole world of experience. Gathering energy and awareness into the here and now, and unhooking from the contents of consciousness establishes a very firm center that is also open. The result is unbound awareness.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-16 The Causal Field and the Escape from It 54:23
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All experience is caused by something – it’s conditioned. We act based on these causes and conditions, reinforcing their hold. But there are particular actions that can bring about release from this causal continuum.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-15 Content and Container 64:41
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All content needs a container. Content of heart shapes the container of experience. Supportive tones/perceptions are skilful content. They encourage a generous, spacious and cool container that allows tangled mental content to unravel.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-15 Walking Meditation: Open and Moored to a Firm Center 5:08
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Practice with keeping the front center of the body open, as if the skin boundary is feeling and reading the movement through space. Mind opens, drops some of its congestion. Thought patterns can be ventilated. Most important is to remain open and moored to a firm center.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
In collection: A Moving Balance
2020-02-15 5 Indriya 39:11
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The mind gets taken over by defective programs causing imbalance. This imbalance is called dukkha. The Buddha introduced a graduated way to shift this imbalance. This process brings up indriya, spiritual faculties. These help to mediate the tendencies of craving and clinging and result in a greater sense of harmony and balance.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-14 Q&A 1 64:12
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Physical pain; draining tension through the body; meeting the agitation of being on retreat; dealing with demons and emotional chaos; are liberation practices and goodwill compatible; is goodwill readily available through study and reflection; what thoughts to let pass, what to examine; definition and experience of full knowing; is noting necessary for Vipassana?
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-14 Liberation and Structures 58:35
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Our personality patterning can be very intense and driven. We’ve got to build in something that holds it back, slows it down, tames it. We use a combination of structures and tonality to create new patterns, ones that keep us from holding on.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-14 Rising Energies and Tonalities 36:15
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Citta gets shaped into particular forms based on causes and conditions. Over time it can get locked into distorted forms constricting the natural nature of citta which is flexible, bright and expansive. With a mind of unconditional acceptance, energetic patterns can be cleaned and released through body.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-13 Develop a Forcefield of Goodwill 7:36
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In recollection we use thought more slowly than usual. Capture the meaning and touch the heart. This is a way to reset the heart, making it strong so it doesn’t go into resentment, grudges and other unpleasant states.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-13 Hold the Heart Steady against the Push of Ill-Will 43:56
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The general mode is to change the outside world to please the heart, but this can never satisfy. We practice instead to change the heart, to make it strong enough to withstand the push of ill-will. Refuges include the Triple Gem, brahmavihāras, mindfulness of body and precepts.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-13 Deep Attention – Referencing Uplifting Tones 54:09
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In any cultivation there is a referencing that occurs. In Dhamma practice we refer back to uplifting tones – integrity, respect, appropriateness. These invite skillful qualities to arise making it possible to unseat demons of violence, greed and efficiency.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-13 Making the Mind Fit 21:13
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The nature of mind is what you give attention to will grow. We use recollection to generate uplifting tones in the heart, to increase bright energy. This makes the mind fit to meet afflictive patterns and energies.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-13 Direct Practice: Sound Opens the Silence 31:31
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This is an exercise in direct practice, using sound to train the mind. Making a sound from one’s own voice, we use it to lengthen attention over one particular phenomenon rather than jumping onto the next thing. It opens the silence where the mind is poised, listening.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-12 Guided Meditation: Body Sweeping – Staying Open but Focused 23:07
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In meditation we use the thinking mind minimally, placing greater emphasis on the listening mind. This guided meditation gives practice in lengthening the listening, lingering mind.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-12 4 Basic Postures 34:43
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An overview of the 4 basic postures for meditation: sitting, standing [14:00], walking [17:05] and reclining [25:45].
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-12 Firm Center Open Heart 42:52
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On this retreat, practices for establishing a firm center and open heart will be presented. Openness can be too vulnerable, we need to know what to filter and what to linger in. Precepts offer a firm center of integrity. The body can be a source of steady and calm. We bring to heart and mind that which is beautiful and aspirational to shift agitated energies. These are our refuges.
Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, South Africa :  Ajahn Sucitto, Firm Centre Open Heart Retreat
2020-02-09 Refuges, Precepts and Reflections 61:57
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We can establish Firm Centre Open Heart as a core way of being. Refuges and precepts offer support as we train to remain awake and attentive outside of retreat. Vows of virtue and morality, when held with firm flexibility, allow wholesome qualities to be transmitted through the open heart.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-09 Opening and Soothing the Causal Field 57:04
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The theme of the retreat, Firm Centre Open Heart, is a reminder of what the work is. Remaining steady in the “here-ness” of body, and opening the energetic field supports the releasing of kamma. In return you receive the natural beauty of your heart.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-09 Turning Attention Back to the Source 36:54
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Rather than asking why things arise, ask where. Turn attention towards the field of body, behind where phenomena arise. This is a quiet and stable place.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-08 How to Sustain an Open Heart 66:54
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We can notice where we add stress to an already painful, difficult situation. The cause is tanhā and upādāna, craving and clinging. Use meditation to review the craving mind and feel the feeling without closing around it. The duty of the heart is to allow phenomena to arise and pass away.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-08 The Calming Effects of Puja 24:54
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The devotional practices of pūjā can be used to steady the energetic field. Resonate simple sounds, images and meanings in the body to steady thought energy and open the heart.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-08 The Healing of an Opened Heart 58:02
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An open heart is a transmitter of good qualities. Unsettled energies cause intentions and actions to lack clarity and steadiness. Relate to the energies of body, speech and mind with receptivity, compassion and goodwill. It’s the tonality that matters.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-07 Q&A 52:06
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Can non-monastics in the west reach enlightenment? Attachment in relationships; How to encourage care for the environment; Qualities that free us from world of senses; Freedom from rage resulting from abusive relationships; Compassionate response to racist remarks
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-07 The Liberating View 13:53
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A good part of our practice is adjustment in view. The divided view always leads to stirring and agitation. Deal with the rippling of energy directly in the wide overall field of body.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-07 Transformation of Consciousness 64:06
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There can be a fundamental shifting of intention, of the source of kamma. Rather than following habitual reactions, hold them with a heart of goodwill and restraint. Through the expanding of relational intent is the cessation of suffering and stress.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-06 Mindfulness of Breathing 65:12
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Rather than being about the inhalation and exhalation of breath, mindfulness of breathing is about soothing the life force energy. As energy settles in the body, many disruptive emotive tendencies are cleared, leaving the heart available to meet experience in a balanced and sensitive way.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-06 Kamma and Saṇkhāra 46:33
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We might experience running down familiar emotional tracks (saṇkhāra). Tracks get laid down by the repeated and habitual reactions to contact (kamma). To clear disturbing and negative tracks, widen attention and check the habitual impulse. The mind naturally seeks harmony and balance. Listen deeply for its response.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-06 Natural Walking 11:13
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Natural walking has a smooth and self-synchronizing quality. It gives the mind a place to sit where it feels satisfied and doesn’t run out. This is the direction of samādhi.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-06 3 Channels for Energy 29:57
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There is a 3-fold system through which energy operates: bodily, conceptual and emotive. As we practice to resolve and release negative energies, we need resources. Bringing together the 3 aspects of body, mind and heart provide a way to open channels to drain and release unresolved energies.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-05 Firm Centre Open Heart 60:00
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How to arrive at a grounded centre and undefended heart? Generally, attempts to firm up involve holding on or hardening the exterior that inhibit the heart’s opening. Instead, a shifting of attention and energy is suggested. Three reference points are offered to support this shift: food, work and rest.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-05 Centring through Standing Meditation 13:40
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In standing meditation we’re not waiting for anything, not going anywhere, but centring. Tracking up the body, we can locate and unlock potentials for space so energy can travel.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-05 Cultivation of Dhamma 53:19
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We practice Dhamma to clear through distortions and disturbances that become established. It takes training – setting aside what’s not needed and cultivating receptivity. Then what has always been there – the qualities of citta – are revealed.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-05 Chanting Brings Breath and Sound Together 45:50
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The main quality of chanting is spreading energy to the body and space around. We use sound to send out heart energy. Practice with bringing breath and sound together is provided. Overview of Pāli pronunciation and explanation of puja follow.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-05 Establishing a Firm Centre 12:13
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Instructions for using body and breathing to establish a firm centre that’s also open. Building firmness from the ground up, releasing congestion through the out breath, drawing in fresh energy with the in breath.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-04 Guided Meditation: Settling into Body 19:26
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Where attention goes, that’s where energy goes. Disengaging and restraining from what’s not needed now, we draw awareness to what it is to be in this body. Body and mind unify around breath energy.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-02-04 Precepts –Fundamental Principles for Purification 37:20
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The heart has tremendous potential for good or bad. We practice to clean up unfortunate effects that get established on it. Principles of respect, restraint and compassion are not only foundations for heart cultivation, but offerings to the world.
Dharmagiri :  Firm Center, Open Heart
2020-01-25 Citta, Kamma and Awakening (Evening Public Talk) 50:33
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In Dhamma practice we’re inclining citta towards itself, gathering in attention to recognize where the heart is engaged. Certain engagements will lead to liberation. The practice of recollection is one.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka Buddhist Monastery Winter Retreat 2020
2020-01-16 Ācariya Puja - Recollect Pāramī (Evening Public Talk) 63:47
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A recollection of the qualities and effects of the teacher, Ajahn Chah. A teacher’s presence can bring forth a lot in people. They recognize the potential for strength that is there for all of us and help us develop pāramī.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka Buddhist Monastery Winter Retreat 2020
2020-01-15 Sweeping the Body 44:25
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Something in us – citta – searches for release from suffering. It struggles to rise out of old patterns, which means one has to enter them. Sweeping meditation is a skillful means. It’s not just a physical exercise but an opportunity to clear kamma.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka Buddhist Monastery Winter Retreat 2020
2020-01-14 Completing the Inner Conversation 40:51
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We come to Dhamma practice hoping for calm and quiet, but that may be down the track a while. Begin instead with dialogue, listening to the inner chatter with patience and steadiness. As agitated and troubling states are lovingly met, the passion around them fades. We can experience the nibbāna element here and now.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka Buddhist Monastery Winter Retreat 2020
2020-01-13 What Shape Is Your Mind 46:45
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Unskillful saṇkhāras can be undone in the same way they are formed – through perception. Choose particular tones like friendliness and welcome. Introduce them into the body and ask how it feels. Skillful use of perception and attention can sooth and steady the body’s energy.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka Buddhist Monastery Winter Retreat 2020
2020-01-12 Practising with Ground, Space and Rhythm 45:26
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Contact with the world causes citta to lose its sense of ground, space and rhythm. Use of body is recommended as a meditation theme. We practice to carefully meet contact impression, training intention and attention to be for one’s welfare.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka Buddhist Monastery Winter Retreat 2020
2020-01-11 Anattā Is the Way Out (Evening Public Talk) 52:12
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The unawakened worldly mind seeks to accumulate. It generates a sense of self from holding on. The Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta points to release and letting go. We practice standing back from phenomena, allowing things to move and shift without reacting to them. Just witnessing and awake – this is liberation.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka Buddhist Monastery Winter Retreat 2020
2020-01-11 Saṇkhāra – the Constructor of All 46:24
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We are encouraged to understand saṇkhāra, the programs that take hold of us and result in unskillful states. It is possible to not act on these programs, release some of their pressure, and turn the citta towards skillful states.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka Buddhist Monastery Winter Retreat 2020
2020-01-10 Direct Practice – Feeling, Perception and Saṇkhāra 40:21
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Citta is only touched by feeling and perception. Through not seeing this, not feeling and directly handling it, the whole realm of dukkha gets fabricated. Meet experience directly, with mindfulness and wisdom, and suffering eases up.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka Buddhist Monastery Winter Retreat 2020
2020-01-08 Finding Reference in Ground, Space and Rhythm 47:55
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Citta only experiences perception and feeling. We can cultivate skillful perceptions of ground, space and rhythm that result in comfort and ease.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka Buddhist Monastery Winter Retreat 2020
2020-01-07 Citta and the Khandhā 37:17
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The paradigm of practice is discerning skillful from unskillful heart states. We begin to turn away from the states that entangle the heart, and learn to linger in wholesome qualities. Skillful states always carry the mark of freedom.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka Buddhist Monastery Winter Retreat 2020
2019-12-24 Closing Comments and Encouragement 16:12
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Do resonances of gratitude reach other people? We can’t be sure, but our hearts feel richer and free, so we do it. The more you share, the richer you get. As Dhamma practitioners we lead the way in such sharing.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-24 The Four Noble Truths 63:26
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When we cultivate awakening, the first thing we awaken to is dukkha. Burdens that have been clung to remain in the heart. Incline towards what arises with acceptance and goodwill. When we experience contact without clinging, fighting or fascination, the tide washes over and what’s left is inner peace.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-23 The Four Brahmavihāras 67:38
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The 4 measureless states serve as powerful gates out of the personalized realm. They guide our actions and responses, making it possible to shift our kamma by generating new patterns. Their cultivation results in physical health, vitality, happiness, good friendship and serene heart.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-23 Duties towards Dhamma in Lay Life 66:36
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As we return to the duties of lay life, we are encouraged to incorporate duties towards the Dhamma. Structure in reference points that remind you to be mindful and skillful – daily meditation, association with kalyāṇamitta, and cultivation of pāramī are recommended. Be vigilant, stay awake, don’t go into automatic. If you don’t shape your own life, the world will shape it for you.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-22 It’s the Tone that Counts 62:25
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The habituated ways of the personality – craving to become good enough, burdened with self-criticism and fear – won’t bring about liberation. Citta, that which can be liberated, becomes available when the tone of our lives is warm, encouraging, compassionate. Relax the doing and tune into the receptive. The theme of practice is to feel comfortable.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-22 The Only Resolution Is Letting Go 51:07
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We live in an options culture, we’re used to getting our own way. We repeatedly give in to rāga, passions. Not the passions of liking things, but of feeling deeply stirred and agitated. In Dhamma practice, rather than adjusting the world to suit us, we adjust citta to form a harmonious, non-attached relationship to phenomena. This is how we develop pāramī.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-21 Q&A 3 69:00
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Body scanning; stuck areas; mental proliferation; ‘commander’ and ‘do-er’ aspects of mind; appropriate objects of meditation; thoughts that arise during ānāpānasati; dealing with hinderances; restlessness
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-21 Skillful Means for Handling Dukkha 56:38
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Citta is alternately translated as mind, heart and awareness. We use skillful means to apply these three aspects appropriately, for handling dukkha and understanding how it’s generated.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-20 What Touches the Heart Affects the Body 63:33
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Citta is susceptible to uncontrollable emotional reactions. It gets thrown around by feeling. The fundamental principle is to be able to feel unpleasant feeling. The body provides support.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-20 The Magnificent Navigation Aids Given Us to Cross the Ocean of Dukkha 52:53
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The contents of body and mind can become the prominent features of our attention. The content forms the ocean we need to cross over. We want to cross the ocean, not build a house there, not become too fascinated by it. The Dhamma offers tools to help us steer and manage our boats so we can cross the ocean.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-20 Comments on Walking 11:17
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We’re so conditioned to keep moving on to the next, the mind has already moved on before the foot has completed its step. Practice as if there’s no next. Tune into the fluid, easy movement of the whole body. Let the mind settle into samādhi.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-19 Guided Meditation – Body Sweeping 49:55
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Guided meditations can help in terms of timing, to demonstrate just how slow a process meditation is. Generally, the object of meditation is simple, it’s the handling of it that’s the skill. Body sweeping develops receptivity of the body. One cultivates tonal qualities of receptivity and care.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-19 The Five Aggregates 54:36
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The aggregates work together to create the phenomenological world. But citta isn’t affected by this world of sense data, it’s affected by kamma – various unresolved memories, feelings and conditioned phenomena. Tend to the point of saṇkhāra to replace reactive habits, soothing the heart and releasing the grip of kamma.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-19 Progressive Dispassion 24:15
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In meditation we repeatedly return to qualities that calm the citta. When we relate to phenomena in a reassuring, steadying way, citta experiences dispassion. There’s a progressive withdrawal from phenomena because citta begins to sense itself as stable, satisfying and valuable. It has no more purpose in going out. This is the maturation process.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-18 Q&A 2 1:18:41
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Restlessness/preoccupation with things to do; mental proliferation/lost in mind; bad memories; ānāpānasati; 5 khandā
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-18 The Frame of Mindfulness – Sympathetic Awareness 61:20
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The contents of the mind become the preoccupation, but there’s another reference point – the framework. Mindfulness is this frame. Don’t go into the content. Bear with the turbulences of mind within the frame of sympathetic awareness and just know, this the heart affected by feeling.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-18 Pick Up the Thread 30:41
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In meditation we practice to find the balance of both focused and open awareness. We place the mind on a concept, and linger there letting the meaning run through the heart. Mind finds it difficult, but body does it naturally. The body can teach us the right kind of attention that lifts the mind and makes it happy.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-17 Returning to the Fullness of Human Nature 59:24
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Human nature is empathic and seeks harmony. The personality structure masks our true nature. It tries to stop and dominate urges and emotions. But the practice is to go directly to feeling. We can use this natural body to help untangled the mind.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-17 How to Come to the Place of Harmony 67:10
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We’re driven by craving and it causes suffering. The relinquishment of craving leads to ease and harmony. Dispassionate acceptance of these drives makes liberation possible.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-17 Using Chanting to Steady the Mind 29:28
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The untrained mind energy is ragged, sluggish and incoherent. With its simple tones and slow, repetitive rhythm, chanting can steady the mind.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-16 Q&A 1 60:50
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Samatha and vipassanā; dullness and hindrances; samādhi for lay people; witnessing cruelty; awareness and mindfulness
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-16 Refreshing the Art of Sitting 39:39
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Finding the right posture when sitting can open up the belly and the chest. Safety is sensed in the belly, receptivity in the chest. When the body is relaxed the mind is happy in its own presence – this is samādhi.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-15 Sañña and Saṇkhāra Lead to Saṃsāra 67:35
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A description of the cycle of saṃsāra, from contact, to feeling, to perception (sañña), to habit reaction (saṇkhāra). We remain stuck in this cycle of rebirth. The way out is direct experience at the point of feeling. Unpleasant feeling is discharged through the body.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-15 Orientation and Instructions 63:06
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Opening instructions to start the retreat: set aside destructive influences, put forth an attitude of kindness and sensitivity, give attention to direct experience.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-15 Suggestions on Positions and Comfort 5:29
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We have to support the limitations of this body. Don’t add the unnecessary stress of expecting to keep completely still during meditation. Move the body, sense the whole body, take deep breaths, relax.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-15 Using the Food Offering Skillfully 12:53
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The meal offering provides an opportunity for practice. We practice to generate skillful qualities, to restrain the sense faculties, and to find balance in our actions.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-15 How to Cultivate Samādhi in Walking Meditation 17:27
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Walking meditation supports the mind to come to a very balanced state. Let unskillful states and attitudes steam off as you walk. What’s left is something bright, warm and comfortable. Let the mind rest in that.
Uttama Bodhi Vihara :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
2019-12-13 Sīla – A Vehicle for Happiness 33:39
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When we make the intention to keep the precepts, we give ourselves the possibility to steer our own lives rather than being swept up in it. The basic principle is not fear and law but sensitivity and concern. We have the intention to live in an atmosphere of goodwill and respect for all sentient beings.
Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand :  6-Day Residential Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto

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