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Retreat Dharma Talks
at Bodhi College
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Breathing to Liberation (Ānāpāṇasati)
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| Mindfulness of breathing is the most thorough system for meditation that the Buddha taught– he used it for his own awakening and described at as being ‘of great benefit, of great fruit’.
In this retreat, Ajahn Sucitto will present the practice as a guide through the three-fold conditioning force (saṇkhāra) of body, thought and heart. These forces and their programs generate the conditions that embed the heart in saṃsāra, and yet if trained, lead to liberation.
The retreat will focus on the texts of the Ānāpāṇasati sutta (M.118) and also the Ānāpāṇasati saṃyutta of the Saṃyutta Nikāya. |
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2021-11-22 (5 days)
Bodhi College
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2021-11-22
Introduction – Steadying our internal environment
35:18
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Our intimate environment shakes us up; we become activated by phenomena and impressions. Through meditation we can begin to undo some of these reflexes, and cultivate a sense of stability and happiness. Then when things go wrong, our internal environment can be ok – it knows how to steady itself and discharge stress.
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2021-11-22
Guided meditation - Receiving the gift
44:35
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Tuning in to ground, space and breathing, send messages of safety and comfort, stillness and ease to your internal environment. What your citta lingers on becomes the dominant theme. This is why it’s possible to experience happiness in this crazy world. Receive the gift of abiding in the simplicity of the given.
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2021-11-23
Sutta + right view, attitude, mindfulness
62:42
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Ajahn Sucitto
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An overview of the Ānāpānasati Sutta, the first three tetrads having to do with samatha – steadying and opening the energies of body and – and the fourth having to do with vipassana – onlooking, contemplating what samatha brings to light. Right view, right attitude, right mindfulness are the guiding factors.
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2021-11-23
Q&A
38:29
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Ajahn Sucitto
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00:35 How to work with painful memories; 08:33 Difference between pīti and sukha; 11:06 Style and benefits of your QiGong; 15:51 Awareness of bodily energies and sensations; 23:27 Feeling body from the inside vs. outside; 25:40 Which practices are precursors of satipaṭṭhāna practices; 27:43 How to shift from (uncomfortable) sensation to energy; 30:51 Reflective capacity of citta; 34:51 Mindfulness with pleasant but faint sensation; 36:57 Drowsiness with samādhi.
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2021-11-23
Guided meditation - Breathing whole body
16:43
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Establishing a firm foundation and upright posture, breathing in, breathing out. Let the exhalation drain the tired, stressed energy; let the inhalation refresh embodied energy. Put attention where it needs to go to facilitate breathing in and out through the whole body.
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2021-11-23
Q&A
24:06
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Ajahn Sucitto
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00:14 Doubt around ability to meditate; 19:05 Going through the sixteen steps vs. just being aware of breathing; 20:27 Significance of the quality of effort.
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2021-11-23
Standing meditation – Harmony of the elements
21:54
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Guidance to sense into the felt body, experiencing its elemental qualities. When the elements do what they’re supposed to do, energy moves freely, harmoniously. Heart picks up the sign and feels happy, comfortable
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2021-11-24
Body regulates heart
39:32
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Ajahn Sucitto
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You’re born into a system that knows how to regulate and discharge emotions and energy. If the energy is right, distractions and unevenness fade away, and the harmony of body and mind acts by itself. Practice asking what is needed now to bring ease, clarity and joy into your life. Use cultivation to do what’s needed, to maintain health, balance, sanity, lightness of being.
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2021-11-24
Returning to body and heart
59:30
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Ajahn Sucitto
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We get conditioned to be insensitive to heart and body. To return, enter the body as an energy form, staying with it, thoroughly sensitive to the entire body. When you can feel the presence of your own embodied energy, the heart finds a refuge in that. There’s something here that stays present, grounded, firm, accepting.
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