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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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2020-02-18 Endnotes on Meditation 34:32
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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

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