Bhante Sujato, and formerly Bhante Akāliko, live at Lokanta Vihara, the “Monastery at the End of the World.” Bhante Sujato gives regular Friday night teachings online. Please visit the Lokanta Vihara homepage for session link, chanting book and further information. Recordings of those talks can be found on this site.
2024-03-22
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath. Dhamma talk on ethics. Discussion of precepts and their role, comparisons with Western ethics and utilitarianism.
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2024-03-15
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath. Dhamma talk on each of the five faculties: faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom. Some definitions taken from SN48.9. Wisdom as the "thumb" that holds the others together.
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2024-03-08
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath. Dhamma talk on compassion and leadership.
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2024-03-01
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath. Dhamma talk on AI and the novel Dune, now that the Dune 2 film has come out.
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2024-02-23
Bhante Sanatavihari. Mettā Bhavana Meditation. Dhamma talk on bringing it back to basics of the practice and the three middle parts of the eightfold path (right right speech, right action). Discussion of going out to meet people in communities, developing character, Q&A: What is sati? and other very practical questions.
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2024-02-09
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath. Dhamma talk on dana and sīla.
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2024-02-02
Venerable Kassapa. Q+A on topics such as radiating kindness, sustaining mettā meditation, the quality of kindness.
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2024-01-26
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on softness and observation, also 'watching the locusts eat your brain'. Dhamma talk on MN86 Aṅgulimāla Sutta. Dicussion of the will to power, redemption, that the Buddha's way of convincing Aṅgulimāla is a practical and brave way of practicing non-harmfulness.
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2024-01-19
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on faith and reflection/inquiry. Dhamma talk on laying the foundations for dhamma practice: meditation as part of the eightfold path. Meditation's relationship to life directions/what you consider important versus more utilitarian approaches. Discussion of meditation's role in the eightfold path, how the eightfold path works according to nature.
2023-12-15
Bhante Sujato. Meditation and discussion of ~ 'things end all by themselves'. Discussion of cessation. Discussion that even the jhana qualities are progressive cessations, also the hindrances such as sloth and torpour fading away. Discussion of having faith in cessation and possible fear of cessation.
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2023-12-08
Bhante Sujato. Mindfulness of breathing meditation - how important consistency is in medtiation, how unwholesome thoughts can come up if we define ourselves in specific ways. Dhamma talk on sankhāras. Discussion of how sankhāra relates to energy, relativity, neuroplasticity. Broader discussion of sankhāras as moral choices, sankhāras patterns in meditation, relationship to time, the bhavanga citta. Recording also seemed to speed up and slow down seemingly due to a bug in jitsi or OBS.
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2023-12-01
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on impermanence, steadiness and stilness. Dhamma talk on impermanence. Question on precognition, the relationship of the present to consciousness. Discussion of the relationship of time to impermanence. How many religions involve a search for things that don't change. The subtle desire to live forever. Q+A question of how momentariness was introduced into Buddhism.
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2023-11-24
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on doing nothing because the breath is calming you down. Dhamma talk on making decisions.
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2023-11-17
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath as radiant and changing dependent on the hindrances. Dhamma talk on "looking on the bright side" with discussion of the role of happiness on the path.
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2023-11-10
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the simple breath. Dhamma talk on mid-life crises. Discussion of the positive aspects of a mid-life crisis, the nature of faith and science, discussions about death, the difference between right thought and wisdom, God and Nietzsche, the three kinds of dukkha, with focus on viparinamadukkha, should we have hope?.
2023-10-13
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on feeling and form, two of the five aggregates. Dhamma talk on the MN35 Cūḷasaccaka Sutta (The Shorter Discourse With Saccaka). Saccaka as an early "troll" figure. Discussion of the dramatic way the debate takes place and how the Buddha refutes Saccaka's argument that Self is the five aggregates.
2023-09-29
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the parts of the body. Dhamma talk on Ven. Sāriputta's MN28 Mahāhatthipadopama Sutta (The Longer Simile of the Elephant’s Footprint) . Discussion of the elements as gods that reflect the sacredness of the world we live in. The integration of the four elements, and a shorter discussion of how Ven. Sāriputta also fits in anicca, non-self, forgiveness, metta into the four noble truths.
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2023-09-22
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on consciousness of the gradual movement and subtle dimensions of the breath. Dhamma talk on MN26 Pāsarāsisutta/Āriyapariyesanasutta (The Noble Quest). The question of what Āḷāra Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta taught and what may be missing from MN26. Āstika versus the nāstika/neti neti wings of Upanishadic thought, the dimension of nothingness. Also mentioned are MN29 and DN3.
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2023-09-15
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on finding anything that is ourself. Dhamma talk on MN22 Alagaddūpamasutta (The Simile of the Cobra). The simile of the raft, and the various comparisons of self and non-self: 6 grounds for views. How non-self is almost always grasped in tthe wrong way like the simile of the snake/cobra.
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2023-09-08
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on "what's done is finished". Dhamma talk on MN23 Vammikasutta (The Ant-Hill). Dicussion of how "the gods love hidden things" in the Vedic literature and the possible obscure meanings of the various things that the hero is digging for in this sutta with reference to the Vedic culture.
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2023-09-01
Bhante Sujato. Meditation using the five stratgies of calming unskilful thoughts in Madhupiṇḍikasutta: 1. Focus on another thing that gives rise to more wholesome thoughts. 2. Examine ther drawbacks of unskillful thoughts 3. Ignore and forget the thought 4. Stop the causes of unskilful thoughts 5. With exertsion 'crush mind with mind'. Dhamma talk on the final on the trilogy in Majjhima on thought: the same five strategies found in MN20 How to Stop Thinking / Vitakkasaṇṭhānasutta.
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2023-08-25
Bhante Sujato. Meditation using the Dvedhāvitakkasutta strategy of dividing thoughts into two classes: wholesome and unwholesome, focus on the drawbacks of unwholesome thoughts. Dhamma talk following on from last week's trilogy of suttas in Majjhima on thought (vitakka/sankappa) MN19 Dvedhāvitakkasutta (Two kinds of thought).
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2023-08-18
Bhante Sujato. An insight practice meditation on being aware of how far away from your meditation you are when you realise you have lost your meditation. Dhamma talk on MN18 The Honeycake Sutta. Discussion of Bhante's updated version of this sutta. The Buddha's interlocutor Daṇḍapāṇi as representing someone with a past grudge. Discussion of the senses -> contact -> feeling -> perceiving -> thinking -> proliferating -> judging -> being beset by proliferation and judgements sequence from Mahākaccāna's explanation of the Buddha's words explored in Concept and Reality.
References: Concept and Reality by Bhikkhu Ñāṇananda lotuslibrary.com/ebooks/concept-and-reality-in-early-buddhist-thought.
2023-08-04
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on gentle, easeful sense of balanced alertness; meditation as carrying you through the path. Dhamma talk on the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta for Āsālha Pūjā.
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2023-07-28
Giles Barton. Meditation on the quality of your own mood and energy, present moment awareness. Dhamma talk on beginners's luck, kamma and Devadatta, rebirth, Giles's history with Buddhism, account of recovering from a recent accident.
2023-07-14
Bhante Sujato. Mettā meditation for oneself and all beings. Dhamma talk on climate change and engaging in politics, day after the panel with Bhante Sujato and climate experts Let not the world burn.
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2023-07-07
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath leading us to peace rather than "me doing my meditation to get my results", the breath calming the energies of the body. Dhamma talk on the simile of "the Razor" in the Cunda Sutta DN29 and its possible source in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad by Yajnavalkya.
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2023-06-30
Ayya Karunika. Meditation on death. Dhamma talk on death with reference to Dhammapada verse 174 and in one of its commentaries the story of a girl who meets the Buddha and practices death contemplation, which prepares her for stream entry. Broad discussion of near death experiences, importance of practicing death contemplation and doing things which cause pāmojja (non-regret) because death is always the end of any spiritual path. Q+A and account of Ayya's own NDE when she was younger.
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2023-06-23
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath as streaming you along with the flow of nature. Dhamma talk on the concept of Early Buddhism. Discussion of certain people and movements who referred back to the scriptures, and the ways traditions have brought the dhamma alive and sustained it as the world changes.
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2023-06-16
Venerable Bon Hyon Sunim. Breath meditation on tension in the body. Dhamma talk on connecting with the body, being present to what's going on and bringing into harmony. Aspects of Venerable's studies of the role of the wholeness of embodiment in young peoples' practices as well as trauma. Meditation on direct experience of thoughts and memory in the body; the body's wisdom.
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2023-06-09
Venerable Dhammagawesi. Dhamma talk on the five hindrances, distraction, the course of meditation, boredom, subjectivity, kindness to others, impermanence, causing one's own pain, importance of applying knowledge and mettā w/r Venerable Ānanda. Meditation on mutual forgiveness.
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2023-06-02
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on letting go of the sense of ahaṅkāra (I-making). Dhamma talk on SN12.15 Kaccānagotta Sutta .
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2023-05-26
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the hindrances of restlessness and sloth and addressing the hindrances by not attending to the past or future. Dhamma talk on each of the five hindrances - sensual desire, ill will, restlessness and remorse, sloth and torpor, doubt.
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2023-05-19
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath and attachment to the breath, the breath as reflecting you in a mirror. Dhamma talk on the various Buddhist sects and how the various saṇgha groups were considered more of a single saṇgha historically. Discussion of who Moggaliputta Tissa was and the third council.
2023-05-05
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on abandoning conditions that lead towards suffering and simplicity. Dhamma talk during Vesak about the Buddha's enlightenment - the three knowledges (described as happening in a single night in the Mahasaccaka Sutta, with mention of the various accounts of the Bodhisatta's enlightenment - gradual aspects in the Dvedhāvitakka Sutta, Upakkilesa Sutta.
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2023-04-28
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on for fear of death, pain and sleepiness. Dhamma talk on morality with reference to a Buddhist creation myth - DN27 Agaññasutta. Discussion of pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional morality (Kohlberg).
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2023-04-21
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on recollection of the Buddha. Dhamma talk on the monk's life, with Q+A.
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2023-04-14
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on course to subtle sensations and contentment. Dhamma talk on different questions from online, with focus on mourning, time, as well as memory.
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2023-04-07
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on causes and the breath, course to subtle. Dhamma talk on Buddhism and God. The concept of God in Indian religions, God from a philosophical point of view - the relationship of impermanence and consciousness to ideas of God, engaging in interfaith dialogue.
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2023-03-31
Bhante Sujato. Meditation: progressive body relaxation, letting the breath calm you down and fill you with joy and peace. Dhamma talk on Aritificial Intelligence. Discussion of the Open Letter to "Pause Giant AI Experiments" with its proposed moratorium on further development, and 'AI' more generally. Who is designing these models? What is the Buddhist idea of intelligence? How should the powerful/governments proceed here? Why current LLMs are not conscious. The possible effects on society going forward. Questions regarding using 'AI' to make decisions e.g. turning off life support and decisions made by management of organisations.
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2023-03-24
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on unwinding delusion by seeing what happens to drive the "bicycle of thought". Dhamma talk: The last dhamma talk in the world ever: Questions: What make life worth living even just for a few more hours? The Simile of the Mountain. The gradual training: sīla, samadhi and pañña. Nibbana, the idea of "objects" of the mind not in the suttas. What does 'mindfully' actually mean? Being self-aware or reflective, and continually sustain such awareness. The end of the world.
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2023-03-17
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on mindfulness of the breath with focus on self-ing, the present and keeping grounded. Dhamma talk: What makes something you do good? Talk on metaethics.
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2023-03-10
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on mindfulness of the breath. Dhamma talk: DN18 Janavasabhasutta, with events mentioned in the Mahāparinibbana Sutta. Discussion of the sutta's events, and how the Buddha speaks about different things people may be looking for as well as the more common goals of the path repeated throughout the suttas.
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2023-03-03
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on impermance (aniccā). Dhamma talk: The Mahāparinibbāna sutta part 2: The verses of Brahmā Sahampati, Sakka, Venerables Anuruddha and Ānanda with a discussion of impermanence.
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2023-02-24
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on mettā for oneself and a loved one. Dhamma talk: The Mahāparinibbāna sutta part 1: The Four Great References.
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2023-02-17
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on mettā for oneself and a loved one. Dhamma talk: Discrimination and bigotry from the standpoint of Buddhist philosophy and Buddhist psychology. The four biases: chanda (preference), dosa (hatred), moha (stupidity), bhaya (fear).
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2023-02-10
Bhante Sujato. Breath meditation. Q+A: Q: Does "Knowledge and Vision" (Nyanadasana) mean stream entry? Q: Meaning of 'whole body' in Satipattana Sutta? Q: Meaning of "letting go", is it renouncing sensual pleasures? Q: Is regular sleepiness counted under "sloth and torpor"? Q: Kamma of lying in a specific situation? Q: Is there a type of meditation the Buddha taught w/r remembered trauma?
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2023-02-03
Bhante Sujato. Mettā meditation for oneself and a loved person. Dhamma talk on happiness.
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2023-01-27
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the bones. Dhamma talk on samatha (settling, tranquility) and vipassana (clear seeing, inferential understanding) with reference to the past Buddha Vipassī described in DN14 Mahāpadānasutta.
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2023-01-20
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on mettā for oneself. Dhamma talk on the history of Buddhism, the emergence of Mahayana, questions of transmission and doctrine throughout history.
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2023-01-13
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on mindfulness of breathing; the breath does the meditation. Dhamma talk on the eightfold path.
2022-12-30 Mettā Retreat Day 6 Night
Mettā meditation Stage 3 - Mettā for a neutral person and separately Bhante's book portion endorsing the Uluru Statement From The Heart
16.12.2022
Bhante Sujato. Guided meditation on muditā. Dhamma talk on how to act for justice, with reference to senior male monastics' roles in Bhikkhuni ordinations of 2009.
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09.12.2022
Bhante Sujato. Guided meditation of awareness of the messy mind, being aware of consciousness brings fearlessness. Dhamma talk on papañca with reference to The Honey Cake sutta MN18 and Concept and Reality by Ven. Ñāṇananda's analysis of MN18 16.1. How venerable Kaccāna presents a sequence where the self slowly emerges, creating the person who then is beset by papañca; nouns turn to verbs.
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02.12.2022
Bhante Sujato. Guided meditation on sīlanussati. Dhamma Talk: SN22.1 Nakula's Father. Discussion of Sāriputta's analysis of what is meant by the Buddha's statement on coping with old age: “Even though I am afflicted in body, my mind will be unafflicted.”
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25.11.2022
Bhante Sujato. Guided mettā meditation. Dhamma Talk: The ghost is not in the machine. The question of robots and the soul. The Buddha's views on the soul versus others at the time e.g. Brahmanism's atta and Jainism's jiva. Understanding things through relations and processes rather than substances or a soul. Self-awareness in robots, AI with reference to The Terminator.
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18.11.2022
Bhante Sujato. Guided breath meditation on enjoying silence rather than enjoying thoughts. Dhamma talk on Right Speech in the context of Twitter collapsing, the rise and fall of fraudsters/authoritarian leaders, COP27. How might we use social media with Right Speech.
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11.11.2022
Bhante Sujato. Meditation: Meditation on thoughts and desire. Dhamma talk on Muditā.
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04.11.2022
Bhante Sujato. Meditation: Mettā meditation. Dhamma talk on The Way to the Beyond/Far Shore (Parāyanavagga) and Future Perils (AN77-79).
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28.10.2022
Bhante Sujato. Meditation: Bhante Sujato's patented hayfever cure. Dhamma talk on community. The story of Upagupta binding Mara and the beginning of Buddharupas.
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21.10.2022
Bhante Sujato. Bhante Sujato. Guided mettā meditation to develop positive emotions, directed towards self and all beings. Dhamma talk on dependent origination in simple terms. Dependent origination answers the question: How does rebirth happen without a soul? We are neither completely fixed or completely fluid in how we are - we are conditioned; a continuity that connects past, present, and future. The Buddha’s great insight was that everything is conditioned. Daily life, high states of meditation, rebirth, and all kinds of experiences all follow the same processes. Ignorance and craving are the drivers of these processes.
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14.10.2022
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the arising of desire, the drivers of thought rather than getting caught in thought. Dhamma talk Part 4 on Satipaṭṭhāna: Principles (dhammā). The 5 hindrances and 7 awakening factors common to all versions of Satipaṭṭhāna. The novelty of this section builds on the previous sections and introduces causality; where the arising of things like desire come from, as well as how they come to end, and how they don't arise again using both observation and inference. Dhamma as natural principles that describe how the world works.
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07.10.2022
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on awareness. Dhamma talk Part 3 on Satipaṭṭhāna: Mind (citta). The power of awareness. Movement towards subtlety, like an echo or an animal. Focussing on how greed, hate or delusion effect the mind; the mind with or without these. Awareness emerging from contemplation of the body and feeling. Discussion of wanting and not wanting, noticing when hate is reduced. How to see delusion in meditation; moha as thinking you know, delusion as a destraction from knowing often by way of greed and hate.
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30.09.2022
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the elements inside ourselves. Dhamma talk Part 2 on Satipaṭṭhāna: Feelings (vedana). Satipaṭṭhāna as a "samādhinimitta", use of nimitta vs. descriptions of lights during meditation in the suttas. Anapanāsati as a another way to do Satipaṭṭhāna. Vedana as present in the breath. Pain during meditation. How the Buddha emphasised happiness during meditation (often a synonym for meditation!). Equanamity is the final stage in major lists such as the seven awakening factors, brahmavihāras.
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23.09.2022
Bhante Sujato. Meditation on presence of mind. Beginning of dhamma talks on Satipaṭṭhāna. Part 1: The Body. The meanings of Satipaṭṭhāna; explicitly means meditation. The four Satipaṭṭhāna meditations are body (kāyānupassī), feelings (vedanānupassī), mind (cittānupassī), principles (dhammānupassī). The body as something simple to ground oneself on. Mindfulness as "presence of mind", related to time, to keep on remembering and being conscious with firmness and steadiness.
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16.09.2022
Bhante Sujato. Chanting. Guided meditation on the breath as a simple kind of abiding; Audience Q+A: Q: How to overcome the body restricting the breath? ~A: 1. Patience. 2. Slight shift to focus on the out-breath 4. Contemplate non-self 5. Focus on pleasure in the breath. Q: How to let go of worry? ~A: Uddhacca-kukkucha one place to look, 'like conditions like' so to be happy tomorrow, do something good now. Q: Is mindfulness different to concentration? ~A: 'Concentration' term can convey controlling solutionism but concentration fine as a word. Q: Technique of being without your breath for 20 minutes by telling the breaths you love them? Q: What did the Buddha say about monarchism? Q: Meditation during lucid dreaming?
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09.09.2022
Bhante Sujato. Chanting. Guided meditation on the breath; ways to avoid instrumentalising meditation. Dhamma talk on leadership. Comparing the Queen and the Buddha, qualities of leadership the Buddha promoted, as well as leadership in the sāngha.
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03.09.2022
Bhante Sujato. Chanting. Guided meditation focused on pairs of contrasting ideas to encourage contemplation on wholesome and unwholesome qualities in the mind. Dhamma talk on the Dvayatānupassanāsutta from Sutta Nipāta 3.12 (Contemplating Pairs). Detailed analysis of this sutta of contrasting pairs with correlation to dependent origination; of which one pair aspect leads to the origination of suffering, and the other pair aspect leads to the cessation of suffering. Brief discussion on the history, organization, and grouping of numbers in the suttas.
Resources: Snp 3.12 (Contemplating Pairs)The Numbered Discourses: things that are useful every day by Bhante Sujato
19.08.2022
Bhante Sujato. Guided meditation on death: 'Life is uncertain, death is certain'. Dhamma talk on death; how the Buddha talked about death as something knowable, and what happens after death.
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12.08.2022
Bhante Sujato. Guided meditation on the five khandas (constituents / groups). Dhamma talk on the five khandas: rupa (body / appearance), vedana (feeling / experience), saññā (perception), saṅkhāra (choices), citta (consciousness). Discussion of how in the EBTs, the 5 khandas were often what people already identified with, and their impermanence was what the Buddha emphasized. Discussion of how other disciplines and near-death-experiences implicitly invoke the five khandas.
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06.08.2022
Bhante Sujato. Meditation and dhamma talk on the four iddhipādas (feet/powers): enthusiasm (chanda), energy (viriya), awareness (citta), inquiry (vīmaṁsā). Discussion on the four iddhipādas and vibhava-tanhā (the desire to not exist) and its antidote, the wish to know. The basis of psychic powers as expansions of things we know already. Ideas on how to develop the iddhipādas.
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29.07.2022
Bhante Sujato. Guided mettā meditation for a loved one with focus on feelings, noticing and sensations inside the body. Dhamma talk on war, with discussion of the first precept, 'just war theory' and peace. Discussion of peace and the work people do to maintain peace.
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22.07.2022
Bhante Sujato. Meditation talk on reducing a sense of self. Guided meditation on sense of self and gentle awareness of mood. Dhamma talk on hopelessness. Losing hope/living without hope, and how we can commit without a sense of emotional investment to something in the future. Differences between hope, faith (sadha) and enthusiasm (chanda).
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15.07.2022
Bhante Sujato. Guided meditation on letting go and meditating in the present. Talk about the rains retreat tradition and its origin stories, various traditions, events and rules around the rains period, possible commitments laypeople can make.
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08.07.2022
Bhante Sujato. Guided mettā meditation for a loved one with focus on feeling. Dhamma talk an entry-to-rains discussion on giving (cāga/dana), drawing from the Dhammacakkappavattana sutta and the four noble truths. Cāga as one of the metaphors for nibbāna and how it fits into the four noble truths. Discussion of suffering and its relationship to letting go.
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01.07.2022 Bhante Sujato: meditation on mindfulness of breathing. Bhante's trip to Sri Lanka. Q+A: Buddhist view on the body. Spiritual sadness (nirāmisa domanassa). Buddhist view on the US Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Facts about first bhikkhuni ordination at Ajahn Brahm's monastery. Meditation and difficult emotions. Link: Changemakers
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22.06.2022 Bhante Akāliko's last time as a Monk In Cyberspace. Dhamma talk on the community aspect of spiritual practice: be responsible for developing your own practice and give back to the community. Growing together again after times of lockdown and isolation, restoring help, support, growth. Bhante's plans for the future.
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17.06.2022 Bhante Akāliko, from Harris Park. Why there's a ceremony at the beginning of a meeting. Creating space for meditation. Breath meditation and letting go. Bhante is now a "Middle Monk", time to move on and go out into the world, and the letting go that's involved in that. Link: Little Dust Buddhist Community
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10.06.2022 Bhante Akāliko, from Harris Park. Dhamma talk about meditation.
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03.06.2022 Bhante Sujato, from Harris Park. Guided gratitude meditation. Dhamma talk on the topic Why am I always right? Discussion on ahankāra (I-making), thinking, truth, and views.
20.05.2022 The Two Bhantes, from Harris Park. Death contemplation guided by Bhante Akāliko. Dhamma talk by Bhante Sujato: Carrion sutta (Snp 2.2) Amaganda: literally "raw stench". A (presumably) hard-core vegan ascetic challenges the Buddha about his eating a cooked meal with meat. The Buddha's response: a conduct of practicing the four Brahma Viharas is what a monastic / ascetic lifestyle is about. Resource: Carrion sutta (Snp 2.2)
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13.05.2022 with Bhante Sujato, from Harris Park. Meditation on the qualities of the Buddha (Buddhānussati), taken from Itipiso chant. Dhamma talk on the life of the Buddha and how suttas will have likely been interpreted mythologically, with meaning constructed differently, often metaphorically and symbolically rather than as a purely historical description.
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06.05.2022 with Bhante Sujato, from Harris Park. Meditation on the joyful, soothing breath. Dhamma talk on the three characteristics in historical context and their practical relationship to liberation: anicca (impermanence/not-regularity-ness), dukkha (suffering), anatta (non-self). Why are all conditions suffering but all dhammas non-self? The three characteristics as doors to dhammas of the great teachers.
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29.04.2022 with Bhante Sujato, from Harris Park. Mettā meditation towards one's skeleton using both visualisation and feeling. Discussion of corporeality and the mind, the sentient body, the role of the breath, the senses. Awareness and peace as a continuum.
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22.04.2022 with Bhante Sujato, from Harris Park. Meditation on mindfulness of the breath. Dhamma talk about Mahasi techniques e.g. noting, where to watch the breath, influence of Japan in early twentieth century Buddhism, Satipattana Sutta parts, Mahasi and the evolution of the stages of insight.
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15.04.2022 with Bhante Sujato, from Harris Park. Mettā meditation towards oneself. Discussion of types of investigation/insight assessment of one's wisdom; vīmaṁsa (investigation), paccavekkhana (reviewing/reflection). Expertise and how you might know that you know.
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08.04.2022 from Harris Park. Bhante Sujato on the four iddhipādās: chanda (desire, zeal, enthusiasm), viriya (energy), citta (awareness, clarity, knowing), vimamsa (inquiry). Included in the 37 factors that sum up the teaching and are the backbone of structure of the Samyutta Nikaya. Dhamma chanda: desire to get rid of desire. viriya: keeping going, not giving up. citta: mind; synonymous with samadhi and jhana = citta bhavana. vimamsa: reflecting, looking back, curiosity leading to wisdom.
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25.03.2022 from Harris Park. Meditation on the five "aggregates" (khandā), guided by Bhante Sujato. Dhamma talk by Bhante Sujato on the five aggregates. Subtle (sukhuma) rūpa perceived by the mind. The aggregates as inseparable aspects of experience. Perception recognizes and puts details together to meaningful wholes. Sankhārā in this context: volition. Meaning of "upadāna khandā"; metaphor of the hand. Q+A: Contemplation of khandas in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta. Why such brief introduction of the concept of khandas in the Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta (reference: MN 26).
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18.03.2022 from Harris Park. Sīla - a life in the Dhamma as foundation for meditation. Mettā meditation guided by Bhante Sujato. Q+A: gratitude as an aspect of mudita. The role of mettā when dealing with trauma.
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11.03.2022 from Harris Park. Bhante Sujato: Mettā as an experience vs. a philosophical idea; found inside rather than outside, independent rather than grasping. Brāhmā vihārā. Guided mettā meditation. Dhamma talk: background on the mettā meditation method as taught by Ajahn Mahā Chatchai. Patience as a warm-up. Grounding the experience of mettā firmly in the body. Explanantion of "nimittā". Resource: Ajahn Chatchai, "A Flower of Mettā"
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04.03.2022 from Mantra Hotel. Ayyā Suvīrā presenting her new book. Mettā meditation, introduced and guided by Bhante Sujato. Dhamma talk by Bhante Sujato: the psychology of peace. Samatha and Vipassanā: not two kinds of meditation, but aspects of mental development: letting go of desire and ignorance. "Māra is always one step ahead!" Q+A: Being afraid of peace. Resources: Ayyā Suvirā's book on Ranjani da Silva and the revival of the Bhikkhunis
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25.02.2022 Mettā meditation guided by Bhante Sujato. Dhamma talk by Bhante Sujato on the Russian invasion of Ukraine: how to find truth in a sea of disinformation (five guidelines). Thoughts on the concept of "Just War": its ancient philosophical origins and the Buddhist perspective. Black / white / black and white / neither black nor white kamma.
11.02.2022 Bhante Sujato on meditative states vs. meditative process. Meditation on impermanence guided by Bhante Sujato. Dhamma talk on a passage from the Madhupiṇḍikasutta (MN18): about the proliferation going on in the mind. Katukurunde Ñānananda: concept and reality. Q+A: choice without a chooser. Resources: MN 18 - The Honey Cake SuttaKatukurunde Ñānananda: "Concept and Reality"
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04.02.2022 from Mantra Hotel. Introduction by Bhante Akāliko: the trapped monkey. Meditation guided by Bhante Akāliko. Dhamma talk by Bhante Sujato on the Buddha's idea of mantras as a skillful means, a tool to work with the mind, without intrinsic power. Snp 4.14: craving drives thinking. Q+A: resistance to meditation. Fear. Simile of the cat and the elephant. Reference: Snp 4.14
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28.01.2022 Honoring Thich Nhat Hannh. Breath meditation explained and guided by Bhante Sujato. Q+A: sīlā, samādhi, paññā as a comprehensive framework for the elements of the path, derived from the Buddha's teaching on the Gradual Training, e.g. in Dīgha Nikāya 2. Breath meditation as opposed to ancient pranayama techniques trying to control the breath. Meditation methods require balance between receiving and doing. Threshold concentration. Weird experiences during meditation. Resources: DN 2, Sāmaññaphala Sutta. 10-fold path: AN 106, Nijjara Sutta
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21.01.2022 Bhante Akāliko's Rainbodhi booklet. Thoughts on tradition and its evolution. Bhante Sujato on meditation going against the stream of result based thinking. Breath meditation guided by bhante Sujato. Dhamma talk: the 8 parts of the 8fold path. Q+A: right livelihood. Connection lost during Q+A.
