The original questions were live. They have been précised and read by a third person. Q1 A woman asks: I have a sister who's in a care home and lives far away. She's younger than I and I feel a degree of responsibility and want to help her. It's been discovered there's been some theft from her bank account which she has control over. The police and care home staff are involved. So the teaching on activation seems very appropriate for me. I'm noticing that my activation to get involved seems to take me over is getting really difficult to handle. What can you repeat or recommend? 03:02 Q2 I find as I practice more and more, I am less willing to deal with worldly things like money, focusing on the future. There's also a sense of contentment with the way things are. How can I go about my practice as this unfolds? 05:51 Q3 My question is similar to the previous one, finding opportunities to reflect internally rather than be wrapped up in work and everything. These opportunities exist and have improved but they seem to be fewer than I would like. How can I incorporate this with having to live my everyday life? I feel I can't leave everything and just go like the Buddha did and I don't seem satisfied with my current situation. Anything else you can offer? 10:19 Q4 Regarding the kandhas, did the Buddha or could you recommend any dedicated formal practice in this area? 15:39 Q5 I've recently extricated myself from a 5-year relationship which was very difficult for me. It seems like when we extricate ourselves from an arrangement like this it seems like it's become just a dream. All the entanglement and energy put into it and then it just ... ends. I'm asking myself 'Was there ever any love, any care?' And it seems very shocking and it seems like the whole of life is like that. Part of me wants to reach out and say: 'Did you care?' But it's over and that seems pointless. Could you say something about that please?

Questions are précised: 01:17 Q1 You mentioned during meditation to start with breathing out. I noticed in my own practice that I don't fully breathe out. In fact breathing out intentionally is more exhausting. How can I be more balanced? 12:27 Q2 I have a mental pattern with deep roots, obsessing over details like the entomology of words that arises when I get panicked or upset. This seems to give me some respite from the panic. Can you offer any advice? 19:02 Q3 I feel both sense of fatigue and desire for connection. I'm confused about how to be with this desire because my mind tells me I should go out and connect with other people. But this isn't the point of meditation is it? How can I understand this tension between internal and external needs in this case? 25:03 Q4 In the last retreat I would wake up not knowing who I am and dream about somebody stabbing my heart. These feelings returned when I went back to domestic duties. In my dreams I am lost. How can I move past this black hole? 30:02 Q5 For me it's very difficult to be mindful every minute every second of my daily life. I do my best. It's easier on retreat or in a monastery. Can you comment? 36:17 Q6 The state of becoming entails grasping and craving then suffering. How can one abide in non becoming?

00:08 Q1 You mentioned we should all contemplate/ meditate on death every day. How does one do that? 21:10 Q2 What to do when the ease of well-being and kindness of metta morph into profound awareness of suffering in the world and the lives of loved ones? 37:34 Q3 You wrote in ‘Breathing like a Buddha’ that “Full liberation therefore is equated with breaking the compulsive link between name and form". You mentioned this here as well. Can you re-explain please?

In this retreat Ajahn offered a series of guidance on voice production and resonant chanting.

00:07 Q1 You use the term energy more than I have heard it used in dhamma discussions. Can you say why it is important? 10:03 Q2 Where would you place craving for stability within the three types of tanha? 16:23 Q3 You said that citta arises from name and form. Can you say more about how and why? 26:37 Q4 How do you think one might continue to cultivate citta as we age and with Alzheimers, dementia etc.? 31:18 Q5 Regarding medically assisted suicide, doesn’t it break the first precept? 36:35 Q6 What are some useful practices for going to sleep?

In this retreat Ajahn offered a series of guidance on voice production and resonant chanting.

In this retreat Ajahn offered a series of guidance on voice production and resonant chanting.

00:00 Ajahn’s comments about retreat. 01:44 Q1 Could you offer any practice suggestions around eating? 10:55 Q2 How does designation consciousness relate to perception? 18:02 Q3 One is aware of feelings and the teaching on dependent origination. Is it possible to slow down the craving and the clinging that ensues? 24:49 Q4 How does one stay and not jump? 27:46 Q5 Is the citta a sankara? Is the purpose of practice to calm and purify the citta, which seems away of caring for life, or to uproot it and all of the khandhas which has to me a flavour of rejecting life. 37:59 Q6 I struggle with the first noble truth. Spending time with my daughter is certainly transient and structured by I-making. Buddhism says this is dukkha and seeks to change my relationship to experience or its qualities. But to me its value is intrinsic and undeniable. 42:39 Q7 Can one attain liberation or enlightenment without the knowledge of the path leading to it? What's the relationship between knowledge and wisdom?

Ajahn instructs on voice and breath issues and leads chanting of a refuge mantra.

00:16 Q1 I believe you said to not do concentration practices but rather to see if the breath could go deeper or have more calm. Isn't that a form of concentration? And aren't the brahma vihara a form of concentration practice? 18:26 Q2 If attention is a sankara can you suggest how one might let go of it? 29:02 Q3 Regarding the anapanadsati sutta, is it sequential? Must one follow the tetrads in order? 3818 Q4 A person relates some of their meditation experiences and asks if this is a wise reflection.

Ajahn provides a guide to resonant sound production, Pali pronunciation and leads a mantra.

02:00 Q1 Regarding the sankaras, is it possible for feelings to land on contact without being in the realm of sankaras? If so how would this perception manifest? 17:15 Q2 Could you please explain the distinction between mental formations and consciousness. 30:02 Q3 Some questions on mindfulness of breathing. Should we regulate the breath and use the length of the breath as the object of mindfulness? 38:24 Q4 Can you speak about the third tetrad of the anapanasati sutta.

Ajahn provides guidance on the power of group voice and offers a mantra: Metta, karuna, mudita, upekkha.

In this retreat Ajahn offered a series of guidance on voice production and resonant chanting.

An exploration of proliferations, kamma and self and the eightful path

Q1: You seem to be talking about citta as a persisting permanent thing not as arising every split second. Any comments? 11:34 Q2: How can I deal with not fully maintaining Buddhist standards after the retreat? 17:27 Q3: You said: Keep warming what can be warmed and the things that can't release yet ... it's not ready. Could you elaborate more on this please? 24:08 Q4: You wrote a book called Unseating the Inner Tyrant. The critic consumes a lot of energy. How do you restore that energy after a rage? Is there a shorter path to finding balance? 32:59 Q5: There's a lot of fear in my citta. How come? 34:46 Q6: I was afraid of coming to this retreat, and now I'm afraid of going out. 38:16 Q7: What is the relationship between tanha, craving, as the fundamental cause of dukkha and the three root kelasa, defilements, based on the scriptures and or their experience for interpretation? 47:51 Q 8: What is the effect of serious illness physical and psychological on the citta? Can they limit or make it impossible to take care of the citta?

Ajahn explores dukkha and the end of dukkha and the role of the 7 enlightenment factors, shifts of energy, identity and sabotage programs, disengagement/viveka, dispassion/viraga, cessation/nirodha.

Q1 If I remember it well citta follows moving, shifting energy. How can we feel moving energy? Is it the feeling of the breath or sound? What is non-moving energy? 08:37 Q2 what's the difference between virya, translated as energy, and citta energy? 12:12 Q3 You don't seem to use the word awareness which is often used to denote the knowing of something. Is there a connection between the felt energy and awareness? 28:28 Q4 How do you reconcile the fire of an animated heart with Buddhism's perfume of disengagement and dispassion? 32:36 Q5 how can sensation and the sequence that leads to it be described in a subtle energy approach? 43:43 Q6 What's the difference between vedana and emotion? 44:48 Q7 Sadness, sorrow, fear, joy. Are the emotions or more fixed states? 49:20 Q8 Observing the breath seems quite important, but as soon as I focus on the breath it gets forced and heavy. Do you have any advice on observing the natural breath without interfering? 52:17 Q9 What does it mean when you say the breathing is a messenger? What is the message?

Ajahn explores kaya and citta sankharas; building up resources; sabotage programs; mudita as a resource.

Q1 Can it be that Qi Gong releases long forgotten memories? 06:40 Q2 If everything is empty, who or what dies and what is reborn if rebirth is not only a concept? 16:19 Q3 Does the Buddhist path result in the loss of loved ones because they're not on that path. For example partner, family, friends? Is there a way to have both? I feel that one side goes at the cost of the other. 20:14 Q4 I've been feeling quite bored sometimes today. How do you recommend to deal with this phenomenon? How could it be explained from a Buddhist point of view? 27:13 Q5 When I'm meditating sitting down, I sometimes feel that I'm losing the perception of a three-dimensional space. I can still feel my body but I don't feel like there's an up or a down or left or right. Is this something common?

Exploring the territory of body, mind and heart and a kiss the frog practice.

Q1 You mentioned vedana as the knowing of a feeling tone. I always thought that vedana occurs very fast and almost unconsciously How could one practice or investigate vedana a more deeply? 23:51 Q2 What is conscience from the Buddhist point of view? 28:21 Q3 How come the mind prefers to get involved with negative instead of positive stuff? 30:31 Q4 What actually do we need a mind for? In another words is there a quick and easy way to distinguish useful and harmful thinking? 40:24 Q5 Where do you see similarities and differences between dhamma practice and positive neuroplasticity? How can we cultivate more joy? 37:01 Q6 If I don't proceed according to the map, then how do I know if I'm doing something wrong or whether it just takes time? 54:16 Q7 Is it easier to stay grounded when speaking to others? It seems easier to say grounded when not speaking to others.

Examining the theme of boundaries, Ajahn explores the four foundations of mindfulness and self.

Ajahn explores manas versus citta experience, using maps, breathing and walking to investigate.

Ajahn investigates bhavana/cultivation and suggests a step-by-step-practice, using developing skilful conditions.

Using devotional practices to cultivate sati. Includes meditation instruction and a 20 m silent sit.

Examining themes of the inanimate and the animate, Ajahn explores citta and provides walking meditation instructions.

Ajahn examines the theme of body, its elements including boundaries, moving meditation and voice.

A talk given at Amaravati at the celebration of Luang Por Sumedho's 90th year.

Q1 How important is it to maintain continuity of the meditation object? 0857 Q2 I'm confused by the word citta. For a long time I thought it was the physical organ of the heart, but now I understand that it may be mind. Can you help please? 2334 Q3 you talked about adhiṭṭhāna, resolution as being as one way of manifesting accepting and bowing to all the negative and unskillful thoughts that kept rising in the mind. Can you elaborate on this please? 2521 Q4 what is the relationship or differences between viññāṇa (sense consciousness) and sati (awareness). 2724 Q5 Can you comment on scattering ashes of a body after cremation? Is this about attaching to a body?

Bhavana, cultivation, is associated with bringing into being fruitful states and dwelling in them. Without this ground, citta- heart - goes out, focuses on conditioned phenomena. The natural result will be uncertainty, anxiety, fear. Practices for clearing fear at its root are described: contemplation of death, mindfulness of body and breathing, generosity, virtue.

The compulsive shaping and drives of the citta are held by grasping – an involuntary reflex that can be mastered through careful cultivation. As the end of this grasping and shaping is the sense of self, that sense of ‘me’ ‘I am this’ is the ongoing focus of our Dhamma practice.

The emphasis on virtue, beyond keeping rules, customs and procedures, is to bring about harmony. It enables us to establish a fluent relationship that isn’t domineering nor indifferent, clearing of heart from destructive tendencies. It’s the tonality of careful attention in what we do. Not seeking results, but just bringing forth harmony, beauty, purity in our daily lives. (Sutta reference SN 46:1)

Our general mode follows a track called becoming. It’s a track that keeps moving, flavoured with craving that never arrives at satisfaction. The Buddha presented a more natural way – step-by-step, chart the course, with friendliness and purity of intention. Mindfulness of body and contemplative thought (vitaka-vicara) support a wider, wholistic mode. Use the process to adjust your world, so you’re not driven and pushed by it.

The flow to liberation isn’t a flash in the pan miracle, but a gradual, step-by-step process. Begin with the 4 establishments of mindfulness. When held carefully, steadily, with patience, the enlightenment factors develop. It can’t be done out of will power. Rather, nourishment for the process are restraint, mindfulness and careful attention. (Sutta reference AN 10:61)

Liberation is always a step-by-step process. Each stage flows into the next. It’s a natural process, according to Dhamma. Start on the right track, with virtue – relational sensitivity. Acting in this way gives rise to gladness, then concentration, leading to liberation. (Sutta reference AN 10:2)

Three key factors of the Noble Eightfold Path circle around and support each other: Right View, which scans to see which skilful qualities need to be developed; Right Mindfulness, which sustains attention on this development; and Right Effort, which provides the energy to complete the transformation.

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.