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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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2021-10-09 A vehicle for liberation 38:34
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We can reach into that which is bigger than our personal form, where we don’t feel the separation, we feel held by something that never leaves us – the boundless heart. We’re never totally closed, we just have scar tissue, and it can be brought back to life. This is the medium – lovingkindness, compassion, measureless, unrestricted. This is a vehicle for transformation and liberation from being identified from the world of circumstance.
Chicago Theosophical Society :  Brahmavihara Workshop
2021-10-09 Q&A 22:29
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(1:20) Returning to the unfettered after restriction; (6:22) romantic love; (8:50) holding in between breathing in and out; (13:31) feelings of restriction; (16:37) where emotions tend to arise in the body; (19:20) mind is easily distracted.
Chicago Theosophical Society :  Brahmavihara Workshop
2021-10-09 Let the heart express itself 23:14
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Love can come to be seen as a reward for good boys and girls. But it’s not a reward, and it’s not a social courtesy. It’s unfettered receptivity to the felt experience of being human. Gently removing barriers and setting aside distortions, stay steady with the natural trembling of being touched and let the heart express itself.
Chicago Theosophical Society :  Brahmavihara Workshop
2021-10-09 Guided Meditation: Heartfulness – a natural quality 20:59
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As you come into presence, feeling body and breathing, mind naturally wants to wander off. Return because there’s something enjoyable and essential to nourish yourself with. Open up to the capacity for enjoyment of the qualities and energies that begin to be felt. Enjoy the present moment as it is – a gift.
Chicago Theosophical Society :  Brahmavihara Workshop
2021-10-09 Natural flowing of goodwill 18:49
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The brahmaviharā are often referred to as sublime abiding places. This is the realm of heart, not a sensory realm but a spiritual one. The heart is often troubled in daily life. With the removal of obstacles and the sense of separation, the natural flowing of heartful qualities is restored. These are part of our nature, treasures of the gone forth person.
Chicago Theosophical Society :  Brahmavihara Workshop
2021-10-06 Gathering allies for liberation 52:03
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As we practice, there can be an urge to get out of this world. Rather than follow that instinct, find a way to move through the world in a way that’s harmonious. By being heedful, lifting attention, disengaging and seeing the world clearly, there is the possibility to act rather than get swept up. The 5 indriya are our allies, protecting the heart as we put the teachings into practice in our lives.
Cittaviveka
2021-08-31 Measureless heart 49:06
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The results of our actions – physical, mental and verbal – make the person. If we are generous or selfish, condemning or forgiving, the results wrap around the heart and shape the person. This is kamma – it’s not personal, it’s a law. Kamma isn’t locked, it can be turned. Turn towards the measureless states – abundant, exalted, free from ill-will.
Cittaviveka
2021-08-23 The Energy of Release 55:15
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Unless you find your stable ground, you’re not equipped to deal with your problems. The fundamental reaction to problems will be ill will – resentment, fear, blaming, guilt. Withdraw energy from the world of mind and come back into presence. There’s a sense of inner spaciousness, an energy of releasing, softening, letting go. It’s like a return. This is how we purify our own hearts.
Amaravati Monastery
2021-08-15 Entering the Sacred 38:43
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The quality of the sacred is missing from our lives, that which is totally true and is always there. We can open to it every day, from that stable place of embodiment. From that open center, we form a relational entity that can carry our values and virtues forward.
Barre Center for Buddhist Studies :  The Sacred Cosmos
2021-08-15 Q&A 3 32:36
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Impact of other people; over-reliance on others; staying open with the unknown; responding to others’ sense of entitlement; innate truth of the cosmos; citta and the sense world; fear and constriction in the energy body.
Barre Center for Buddhist Studies :  The Sacred Cosmos
2021-08-15 It’s the Wholeness that Does the Work 31:41
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Mostly we operate from a fragment, excluding the whole of experience because it doesn’t fit our model of what should be. Return to wholeness, first in your own heart and mind, then extending it to society. Maintain a wide focus and receptivity, an open state where citta remains attuned, and you’ll find your inner security, having plugged into the life force as it manifests in this body.
Barre Center for Buddhist Studies :  The Sacred Cosmos
2021-08-14 Q&A 2 30:38
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Subject-object division of the senses; hardening in the face of trauma; greed, hatred and delusion; caring for others; broad vs. specific attention; harmonious relationships; experience of subjectivity; relationship of verbal formation (vacī saṇkhāra) to ānāpānasati.
Barre Center for Buddhist Studies :  The Sacred Cosmos
2021-08-14 Kamma – Leaving Pain and Misery for a Divine Abiding 48:47
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There is such a thing as good and evil and they give rise to fortunate or unfortunate consequences. Good and evil not as value judgments, but as particular energies that have consequences. The heart opens as a consequence of skillful energies, like generosity and love. This is the key to the celestial domains of the Sacred Cosmos, where gods are void of judgment and keen on Dhamma as a way to happiness.
Barre Center for Buddhist Studies :  The Sacred Cosmos
2021-08-14 Guided Meditation – Subtleties of Breathing 22:17
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Supporting the heart with embodiment, with steady ground and safe space, allow breathing to happen naturally. Releasing what’s not needed, the subtle shielding around the body, open to what’s around with goodwill and love. Whatever arises, breathing it in, breathing it out.
Barre Center for Buddhist Studies :  The Sacred Cosmos
2021-08-14 Standing Meditation: Openness – the Sacred Quality 43:19
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Standing can help adjust you physically, anatomically and psychologically. Establish balance, connection, openness and ease. Let breathing flow through you. Aim for what’s harmonious in all that – open, allowing. This is the birthplace of wisdom and compassion.
Barre Center for Buddhist Studies :  The Sacred Cosmos
2021-08-14 Q&A 1 31:43
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Separation and interconnectedness; citta doesn’t fit in this world; destruction of the environment; fear of letting go; energy of body vs. sensations; healing divisiveness in my community.
Barre Center for Buddhist Studies :  The Sacred Cosmos
2021-08-14 The Search for Safe Ground 54:18
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There are many kinds of world – biological, political, and so on. Their common source of discord is selfishness, the separatist, supremacist view. The common intention of all worlds is the search for safe ground. We might start with a safe human environment, then establish safe embodiment. When there is safety, security and truthfulness, by itself citta opens and brings forth its own qualities – love, wisdom and morality. These are our unique offerings to heal the discord in any world.
Barre Center for Buddhist Studies :  The Sacred Cosmos
2021-08-13 Guided Meditation – Liberating the Body 49:33
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This body that we can see as an object it’s also a subject – it’s a feeling, intelligent creature. Start with this right attitude, right view, and open the mind from the assumptions about body as an object to treating it as a sensitive creature. As we liberate this creature from clinging and identity, the witnessing heart – awareness – becomes more steady and peaceful.
Barre Center for Buddhist Studies :  The Sacred Cosmos
2021-08-13 The Myth of the Individual 47:01
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We see ourselves as separate from the rest of the world, but we’re not. We are a meeting point of all kinds of relational qualities, qualities that can be imbued with Dhamma to make our experience a mandala of sharing and communion. Stress comes from developing an ineffectual relationship with what happens. We practice to come out of the worldly dividedness into something more compassionate, deep, less isolated. This is sacred practice.
Barre Center for Buddhist Studies :  The Sacred Cosmos
2021-08-10 Q&A 24:57
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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?
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-10 Opening the mind door 41:07
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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.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-10 No obligation 40:25
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Time boundaries, pressure and obligation, create a frame within which the citta becomes compressed. We become a driven or burdened person. What is lacking is internal stability and openness. Stand back from all that and bring a gesture of goodwill to the constricted places. You then have your stable open presence to offer.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-09 Guided Meditation – Breathing 52:29
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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.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-09 Q&A 46:38
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O1:06 Q1 How should one prepare the body and mind for sleep. 07:27 Q2 Could you explain again what is meant by the axis and the heart line. 20:44 Q3 If I go to crowded places, when I get home I feel sad and sometimes even suicidal from all negative energies. How can one protect oneself from this? 24:47 Q4 How can we get beyond the habits of the mind? 27:29 Q5 I think you said that “known” is a feeling. I am confused. 33:08 Q6 Most jobs have to do with the exploitation of the environment in some way and even healing professions are contaminated with the exchange of money. Can you offer some comments? 41:01 Q7 I have a chance to get a new job. I feel excitement but also see I will have less time to meditate and care for my elderly Mum. 43:49 Q8 My son has cut himself and my grandchildren off from me and I feel my heart has turned to stone.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-09 Walking through your identity 8:27
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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.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
In collection: A Moving Balance
2021-08-09 No person, no problem 33:11
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Citta’s tendency is to grasp onto phenomena, seeking stability in the ever-changing nature of things. Citta can also respond to phenomena with mindfulness — an open attention that allows things to do what they do and move through. When the constant seeking abates, a pleasant abiding place remains. This is where true stability is found.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-09 Guided Meditation - Samadhi is harmony 29:47
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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.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-09 Well-being is the shape of heart 43:03
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The heart takes shape based on certain activations. We can train to avoid certain intentions and actions that make for either a shaky insecure heartone or one stuck with pain. A wise person concerned for their welfare cultivates a citta that is open, spacious, not hankering, not resisting. We begin to reset how our world feels and how we feel about ourselves. This is our treasure.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-08 Guided Meditation - Awareness spread over the body-mind field 47:45
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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.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-08 Standing Meditation – Whole Body Vitality 26:56
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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.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-08 Q&A 49:41
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Q1 – A comment about personal experience of alignment – lateral and vertical and Ajahn’s response; Q2 18:32 Can you provide more guidance on the use of space. Q3 21:15 I am dealing with a very volatile situation with severe conflict and stress. How can I deal with it mid-way between expressing my emotions and suppressing them? Q4 28:24 When I feel my body and heart are stable is that a good moment to bring up a problem of concern for me? Q5 28:59 Someone has been asking for my help, rather too much and too often and I find the pressure difficult. How can I handle this?Q6 31:33 You mentioned meditating with eyes open but not seeing. This is challenging for me. How does that happen? Q7 35:02 I feel a band of tightness at the back of the head and behind the ears. What might I do? Q8 38:12 In my family we have a history of Alzheimer’s. Do you think heart wisdom is noble when dementia is present? How might practice be a support in the face of any decline of cognitive functioning? Q9 40:49 They say one in four women and men in Ireland have experienced some form of childhood sexual abuse. How might people practise with this in their background?
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-08 Using embodied intelligence 7:46
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Practice with sustaining open space for phenomena to arise and move within. Sensitive to what’s going on, but not contracting around it, body remains spacious and open. It’s possible to experience sense contact without intrusion, remaining internally clear, free from congestion.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-08 Embodied intelligence 25:17
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We are familiar with conceptual intelligence, but body and heart intelligence need to be trained. These do not interpret or think about phenomena, but experience it directly – feeling, sensing, responding. Exploring things as phenomenal rather than as myself, there’s no need to understand them; instead let them pass with dispassionate, open stability.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-08 Balance internal and external 2:56
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Use the experience of deepening attention in your practice, to really see what’s around you. You can practice mindfulness when you move around off the cushion. Often we live in the cocoon of an assumed environment that is not really what’s there. Take a fresh look. Pay attention.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-08 Open into the given 27:58
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Mindfulness is the heart's awareness. It can help us be embodied,present, and show up for life. The embodied sense is warm, cohesive and is sustained through the rhythmic flow of breathing. The sense of ‘I am’ sits in the center of that embodied sensitivity. This sense is a given and cannot be created; but mostly its ignored because we're too busy ‘doing’ to receive it.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-08 Little me and the sabotage 48:21
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We live at the meeting point of perceptions and impressions with their reactions and cannot stop suffering until we see beyond that domain. Stability and the awareness of the ever-changing nature of experience are both essential. From this perspective we see how the pressure to be harmonious with others captures the heart. This is a form of sabotage; it creates inner conflict, and a person – little me – who is never happy. When there is conflict, it’s important to find common ground with others, prior to negotiating the details.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-07 Love is not a reward 49:34
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When we give the citta our attention, there is a possibility for it to offer its four treasures - kindness, compassion, appreciative gladness, equanimity. These treasures are a virtual immune system, protecting one from the hostilities in the world. They free us from seeking adoration from others as well as comparing ourselves to and competing with others. Whereas a narrow form of love is used as a social training and diminishes healthy acceptance and self view, authentic love is a natural and shared medium for mutuality-based life.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-07 Q&A 47:26
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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.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-07 Guided Meditation - Standing 2 23:23
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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.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-07 Balancing indriya (36:59) 36:56
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The search for stability and happiness is a reasonable one, it’s just generally pointed in the wrong direction. We overlook our own center as the source for non-suffering. Proper cultivation of the 5 indriya culminate in such a state. Their potency is not so much in each individual quality, but in how they blend – both balancing and enriching each other.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-07 Meditation heart, body and mind co-operating 28:00
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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.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-06 Reflection on goodwill 11:18
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Acknowledge the capacity and willingness we have as humans for goodwill – and the horrific capacity we have for ill will. We use our practice to turn our attention towards goodwill and to exercise our ability to notice and generate heart energies. Metta allows us to put aside harmful energies and thoughts and to be grateful for the expanded state of mind that it brings. Equanimity means staying emotionally present regardless of our reaction to experience. We avoid perfectionist tendencies and ideas about what we should or should not do and maintain a generous heart.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-06 Guided standing meditation 45:13
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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.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-06 Chanting - Divine Abidings 10:00
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Ajahn reviews the physical and conceptual approach to chanting and leads (at 06:27) the Divine Abidings Chant
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-06 Q& A On effort and relaxation 34:48
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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?
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-06 Moving out of meditation 6:22
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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.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-06 Meditation on the axis 5:22
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Some brief suggestions on working on posture to sharpen one’s sitting meditation.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-06 The guardians of open stability 48:57
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The basis of citta (heart-awareness) can be touched by using the thought “it’s like this now”. We can rely on the 5 indriyas to be as allies and guardians; they protect us from reactivity and from running away from our authentic heart.
Sunyata Buddhist Centre :  Open Stability
2021-08-03 Field of Blessings 42:15
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Based on who we associate with and surround ourselves with, a field is generated where we pick up the behaviors and tonalities. One trains to generate a supportive field for training and learning. Whatever the field, open to what you’re in, get a feel for that, and aim for what is honorable, steady and balanced.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka 2021 Rains Retreat - Opening Group Practice
2021-08-02 Moving through the World 42:48
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How we meet and move through our world determines our experience of it. If we can shift our volition, the world changes. Contemplate the proper intention for whatever you’re a part of – best thing to stop suffering is to be in harmony with it. Breathing in, breathing out, setting aside any hint of ill-will, open to your world with the gentle quality of suffusing goodwill.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka 2021 Rains Retreat - Opening Group Practice

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