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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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2016-01-10 Closing Talk 52:07
moving out of the retreat form; honouring others; unresponsive cittas and microphones; recognizing and using the underlying foundation with confidence; empathy and sympathy for ourselves and others from a confident citta; connections to others; story of the calm and loving peace activist; recommending skillful means: using the 5 precepts to bear the welfare of others in mind and to cultivate respect for oneself; offering value to each other; cultural themes – intention and convention; using the pause; top down morality; guilt and confession, unskillfulness of some religious forms ; sila - being clear about intention to help the citta; finding balance and clarity; skillful use of the restful aspects of meditation; common social behaviours, gossip and fuzziness of intention; ongoing attunement of attention to what really counts; your citta has the capacity for great well being and clarity; respecting and gladdening the citta and spending time each day listening to the citta; reflection on the triangular mural in the hall; the earth touching mudra; dealing with mundane busyness in life; using the 10 second pause to touch your own earth element and call on the earth mother
2016-01-10 Morning Chanting in Pali and leading to guided meditation 50:36
2016-01-09 Suffusion with the Divine Abidings – Pali chanting 4:06
2016-01-09 Q and A 44:55
Please give examples of how to cultivate right view within and outside meditation
2016-01-09 Evening guided meditation on death 42:08
Using citta to cultivate citta with experience; using the imagination / the world of the citta to help steer the citta; using the Five Subjects of Frequent Recollection; taking it up at least at the end of each day; cleaning up at the end of the day
2016-01-09 Group D Interview 2 33:12
1. On good will as an object; 2. On moving away from the breath; barriers or obstacles 3. On being more “extroverted” 4. On mudita, energy and tension in the head 5. On cultivating blamelessness, in a busy life 6. On planning for the end of the retreat and post-retreat practice 7. On feeling not good enough, and self doubt. 8. On reacting very strongly to other people’s noise and movement 9. On recollections and daily life practice.
2016-01-09 Group C Interview 2 37:30
1. On being a bored Buddhist 2. On feeling tight and uncomfortable 3. On body tension 4. On grasping and “I am”. 5. On benefits of nature 6. On letting wandering thoughts arise and pass. 7. On noticing states of mind; 8. On investigating "self"; 9. On suffering as a teacher; 10. On inner lights during meditation 11. On "nimmita".
Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand :  UNK 2016-01-05 Ajahn Sucitto January 2016 Bangkok retreat (code:TPXT, 6 days)
2016-01-09 Q and A 34:01
What’s the difference between sense consciousness and citta awareness? When making a decision, to what extent should we follow the mind or the heart?
2016-01-09 The Four Noble Truths 43:46
[sound quality poor due to removal of background noise. This talk is truncated by 7 minutes due to excessive noise.]
2016-01-08 Q and A 53:33
Should eyes be open or closed? When? Can you assist with overcoming dullness? What can I do when I lose the breath? How to cultivate loving kindness? When investigating emotion, how deep should we dig?
2016-01-08 Q and A 23:49
What is the difference between vedena and citta? Can we control or direct citta? Or just observe it? [sound quality poor due to removal of background noise]
2016-01-08 Group B Interview 2 67:30
1. On daily life: dealing with anger and hatred, and calming down. 2. On a balanced approach? 3. On overwhelming thoughts 4. On negativity towards others 5. On rapture 6. On being attracted to samsara. Renunciation? 7. Do I need to get more disenchanted? 8. On stress in spiritual friendship 9. Does the citta connect to other cittas? 10. What to do with the unknown? 11. Is the citta “the self”? 12. On “awareness” and “citta”.
Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand
2016-01-08 Group A Interview 2 25:00
1. On trust; 2. On “acceptance”?; 3. On developing strong will; 4. On disadvantages of being a householder?; 5. On citta and mind
Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand
2016-01-08 Standing meditation 37:38
vitaka, vichara; assessing the feelings; breathing and lengthening
2016-01-08 Morning talk - Guided meditation 32:01
the intelligence of citta responding to the needs of the puja; noticing (vitaka) and getting into the flow (vichara) sampling, assessing, appreciating, snuggles in - like trying on new clothes; the result is piti (a refreshing lifting up) and the citta appreciates this; these are the factors and not the object(s) of Samadhi; how does your citta fit in your body?; posture and balance can trigger it; feel it and adjust the two experiences – adjusting to it and sensitivity to it; can be sensed (a visual sense) and feel it (tactile) and can adjust between the two of these to be with it; thoroughly sensitive to it; calming any excitement or over eagerness with the breath; noticing the experience and noticing the noticing; sensitive to the mind consciousness, its objects; we are aware that we are aware; objects releasing by themselves
2016-01-08 Morning Chanting – English 10:58
2016-01-07 Group D Interview 1 66:37
1. Noticing subtler states of mind 2. On citta and how we can feel it. Understanding the concept of citta; 3. On investigating states of the citta; 4. On being drawn into objects in the subtle mind; 5. On noting, planning and thinking; 6. On getting overwhelmed with thinking and going into dullness; 7. On forgiveness
2016-01-07 Group C Interview 1 40:09
1. The Wandering Mind; 2. Dealing with physical pain; 3. Dealing with fear, 4. Energy; 5. Moving into Daily Life, open eyes ad normal mode
2016-01-07 Guided meditation on the sense of touch and commentary 45:13
the sense of space/ distance; responding tonalities / intensities and the effect on awareness and the citta; appreciating body sensitivities to pressure, vibration, intensity, tension; the experience of noticing the body and appreciating the apparent sensitivities on the citta; returning to a mildly agreeable sensation; direct felt experience and its qualities; handing mental inclinations with a similar sensitivity; effects on the citta of the background pressure to “get it right”; the citta’s obsession to become something; learning the art of sensitivity; using discomfort as vehicle to attend internally to sensitivity and physical and emotional pain; widening the emotional lens
2016-01-07 Guided meditation 37:38
Developing the skill of recollection and the experience on the citta; where does the meaning sit?; the arising of citta to meaning; cultivating the immeasureables; the experience comes first; what is the quality of being touched by others’ suffering? Being willing to stay present with that is the movement of compassion; mudita; appreciating a feature or lucky moment for another, for oneself; appreciating the absence of physical pain; learning, sustaining and enriching the experience
2016-01-07 Characteristics of mindfulness 51:29
the doors to the deathless; right view the essential reference; that which can arise and be gladdened; 11 doors or entry points –4 jhanas, 4 bhrama-viharas and three immaterial states; the Buddha advised meditators to “absorb”, rather than concentrate / tightening up; a sponge must absorb to open up, not contract; need to drench ourselves in withdrawal; viveka, vitaka, vichara, piti and sukka; in the body; using wise (rather than hard or tight) attention; withdrawal from unwise attention; intention (the inclination of the heart) comes before attention and replaces immature lunging in or irresolute attention; make the intention one pointed as the mind settles down and the attention will follow; necessary wise preparation; a wise cow in the mountains; shortcoming of language; tracking the breath through the body, its beginnings and endings; a careful and deliberate enjoying is to be encouraged; open and soften; spread it through the body by directing it; first jhana; seeing the presence and absence of hindrances and learning though the simplicity of the experience of it; it’s like THIS now; not rushed , not biased or corrupted by the mind turning things upside down/ getting things wrong; appreciate the comparative slowness of the dawning quality on the citta; the open moments; pausing at the end of things; what’s helpful now?
2016-01-07 Morning talk 45:15
coming out of self view; bringing forth energy; recalling the spiritual faculties; applying wise energy regardless of the system used; calm as a consequence of faith and confidence; two recollections; don’t let the citta be bound by historical or domestic considerations; willingness to do the work; feeding the citta; mindfulness of the body, the inevitable decay of the body; what is it that evades or finds truth uncomfortable; differing views of Samadhi; the” I-am” looking for support; learning to push away the hindrances through experience; noticing craving, ill will and resistance; using metta, compassion, mudita, upekkha to approach unification of the citta by removal of the 5 hindrances; now is the time to rise up to it; restlessness, boredom, doubt; know them as they are not as myself; this is not worthy of this citta; using the wisdom factor to find appropriate attention; who is that?; feel how it is; going beyond thought; discernment of the release of grasping; the shift moment and the growth of confidence in it; noticing the struggle to find something; what about the measurelessness/ the sign-less?
2016-01-06 The Measureless States/ The Divine Abidings (the Brahma-viharas) 58:28
metta (good will/ loving kindness –the experience of the lovability of beings), karuna (compassion – sees the vulnerability of beings), mudita (sympathetic joy - experience of the enjoyment of one’s own and others’ good states)and upekkha (equaminity – the ability to be present with the ups and downs of phenomena); the citta has 2 inputs – feelings(from body or mental perception) and associations/ images/ impressions; skillful intention and the associated joy; volition and sustaining volition as a characteristic of the citta; to others as to myself; the citta adopts various clothes, one of which is “me”; the citta is abundant, rich, calm, exhaulted, measureless/ suffusing, free from hostility and ill will; the significance of the metaphors of language; the measureless empathy of the Buddha; “just like me”, we are all like this as a source of the volition; it’s not so much object oriented as cultivating states of mind and freeing the citta from any state of ill will; identifying the signs that lead to the bonding with / settling of the citta and unification of the mind; find one that works for you; the object one chooses to facilitate this is not important; pitfalls and sidetracks to be avoided in the cultivation – the story of other particular people and of the self, thinking of the past and the future ; finding satisfaction and comfort; the wisdom faculty sees it has been identified and sustained and not owned personally
2016-01-06 Group B Interview 1 57:42
1. On energy and breathing; 2. On 'traffic lights' 3. Moderating the practice 4. On dealing with rapture; 5. On world-weariness & death; 6. On choiceless awareness; 7. Mindful responses to sense contact; 8. On 'not being good enough'; 9. On fatigue
Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand
2016-01-06 Group Guidelines for Interviews 1:13
Ajahn suggests how to prepare a question

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