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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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2021-11-13 Anger, Grief, Afflictive Emotions 48:17
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Anger, grief and fear are primary reflexes that have the potential of taking us back to our safe, sympathetic intimate environment. To the extent that we have lost connection to the capacity of our autonomic nervous system to discharge stress, emotional energies freeze and don’t get resolved. This leave residues that sour and cripple the heart. So we practice cultivating our intimate environment; it's from here we can meet and transmute these afflictive emotions with pure presence.
New York Insight Meditation Center
2021-11-04 Noble Giving Means Giving Oneself 58:18
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The quality of dāna, giving, is not dependent on materiality or even a charitable obligation. It’s a Dhamma practice that makes you stronger than you thought you were – it brings up your nobility. It’s a privilege to give because it makes you glad, and so the enlightenment factors arise in the mind. For the one receiving, giving brings forth integrity – one wants to live up to the offering. This is the dāna principle; everybody wins. This dāna is a step on the Path to awakening.
Cittaviveka
2021-10-29 A fruitful merging 59:24
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Structures can be helpful, but they only get you so far and then you have to trust something more deeply felt – mindfulness internally and externally, conscience and concern. That’s the ultimate system. The qualities of this spiritual intelligence then blend into something affirmative and potent. We can begin to relax who we think we are, focus instead on these spiritual qualities that merge into the deathless, and allow the unbinding of that fixation of self.
Cittaviveka
2021-10-20 Guided meditation - Troughs, peaks and open stability 53:30
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In meditation, one might recognize troughs and peaks with regard to feeling. The idea is to smooth these out so we understand what touches us and how we react. Body and mind work together to create a stable, open presence so we don’t get swept away. Widening, opening, receiving activated energies but not the stories. This is the way you can level out the peaks and troughs.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka 2021 Rains Retreat - Closing Group Practice
2021-10-20 Returning to the source 41:08
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The protocols for cultivation of citta differ from those that operate in the sense world. Step back from the object and notice how it’s affecting you; notice how the subject is being affected. This leads to a purification in terms of engagement with phenomena, and draws away from clinging and passion. From this place of solidity and strength, turn back to the wisdom of your own heart and act from there.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka 2021 Rains Retreat - Closing Group Practice
2021-10-19 Signs, distorted or uplifting 38:14
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In cultivation we’re learning to experience things directly as they really are. We come to understand that we are moved and triggered by signs, not things. A lot of practice is about turning attention away from unskillful signs and cultivating skillful ones – cooperation, generosity, goodness. Then you’ve got something precious that takes you through difficult places and makes you feel comfortable when you’re in a bleak state.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka 2021 Rains Retreat - Closing Group Practice
2021-10-18 Triggers and leaks 40:11
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We are triggered by phenomena, and all kinds of turbulent emotions and reactions can result. But how does it all happen? We use wise attention to investigate the source, where things rise up from. A strong citta needs to be cultivated so you can review how stuff affects you. You have a choice in this: responsiveness or compulsiveness.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka 2021 Rains Retreat - Closing Group Practice
2021-10-17 Wisdom moves from stillness 36:17
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We usually associate change with lots of moving around, but deep change comes through stillness. It’s associated with pleasure – not sense pleasure but heart pleasure. It’s a shift to learn to pause and lift from the engagement. Citta’s qualities come through in this stillness and we can meet what arises with openness and goodwill.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka 2021 Rains Retreat - Closing Group Practice
2021-10-16 Independence from conditions 46:09
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How to meet the problematic nature of conditioned experience without becoming overwhelmed? From a steady heart and mind phenomena can be investigated. We learn what affects us, what is for our welfare and what to let go of. This is how we begin to become independent from conditions: we develop a different center.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka 2021 Rains Retreat - Closing Group Practice
2021-10-15 Right effort = responsibility with energy 38:56
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Energy is a constant fact of life. If you don’t apply it, it gets applied – there’s no neutral place. Be responsible. That’s what right effort means, constantly taking responsibility for where your energy goes. It’s an act of heedfulness and careful attention – choose what you want to abide in.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka 2021 Rains Retreat - Closing Group Practice
2021-10-14 Web of goodness 36:43
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We live in a human context with its mixture of bright and discordant energies. Our individual internal contexts are no different. We cultivate to potentize Dhamma factors for our own benefit and the benefit of the world. Grounding in wholesome qualities and steadiness of body, we find a raft in this very flooded swampy saṁsāra from which we can meet and review the flood of emotions and impulses.
Cittaviveka :  Cittaviveka 2021 Rains Retreat - Closing Group Practice
2021-10-09 Brahmaviharā Mantra Chant 2:13
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Mettā, karuṇā, muditā, upekkhā...
Chicago Theosophical Society :  Brahmavihara Workshop
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

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