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Ajahn Sucitto's most recent Dharma talks (Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center)
Ajahn Sucitto's most recent Dharma talks (Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center) episodes
- Ajahn Sucitto: Guided Meditation – Thinking with Heart(Cittaviveka) Meditation is about opening up to the subjective aspect of our experience – the sense of knowing. Practice with placing attention on something very lightly, then listening with heart. Without force, without judgment, just aware of the sensations, emotion, energies, mental patterns. The quality of knowing gives rise to a tremendous immediate clarity.16 min
- Ajahn Sucitto: Q&A(Cittaviveka) Clarification about the fetter “attachment to rites and rituals”; what’s the purpose of life; question about addiction; working with depression; where is the reference to energy in Buddhism; how to get space in intense situations; review of the 4 qualities to promote social harmony – generosity, gentle/harmonious speech, benevolent service, impartiality – DN30:1:16, AN4:3248 min
- Ajahn Sucitto: Guided Meditation – Opening to the Cosmos(Cittaviveka) Puja celebrates that there’s something in awareness more than just this ‘self’ thing. We can open to something bigger, experience a wider sense of being. Keep lifting and placing attention back into the Dhamma stream – that which touches and opens the heart.11 min
- Ajahn Sucitto: Release from the restricted in this life(Cittaviveka) The dukkha of restriction is experienced in this very body, and manifest as a person restricted by upbringing, ethnicity and gender (etc) living in a world restricted by nationality and social structures. We can train ourselves in the unrestricted state through meditation and through living in a way that connects the open heart to service, in the ‘all -encompassing world’ touched by goodwill.46 min
- Ajahn Sucitto: Guided Meditation – Opening body, opening heart(Cittaviveka) Jhāna is an embodiment practice. Absorbing and settling deeply into presence, use awareness to encourage opening each part of the body. Enriched energy and heart can then begin to digest the events of the day and release them.13 min
- Ajahn Sucitto: Unconditioned Supports the Conditioned(Cittaviveka) The unconditioned gives us a place to step back from experience, to meet the conditioned world with sensitivity and equanimity. We access qualities of faith, energy, mindfulness and wisdom to accept and meet exactly what’s happening right now.42 min
- Ajahn Sucitto: Guided Meditation – Faith as the Basis of Meditation(Cittaviveka) We enter meditation with a sense of faith, that there’s something beneficial that can be derived just by coming into the present moment. Witnessing, aware of, not in it, not rejecting it – a firmness of presence builds up. The initiation is faith, the consummation is wisdom.16 min
- Ajahn Sucitto: Dhamma Stream – Uposatha, training in wise ways(Cittaviveka) Uposatha is the occasion to bring up and integrate wholesome qualities so they become felt realities in the mind and heart. Refer to the Mangala Sutta (Sutta Nipata 2:4) for topics of cultivation that give rise to skillful states and conditions.38 min
- Ajahn Sucitto: Dhamma Stream GM – Recollection of Uposatha(Cittaviveka) Uposatha days are times in the Buddhist calendar established for people to step back from daily chores and reflect upon the broader meaning of life, whether they’re living in harmony with the cosmos. Recollect our uniquely human potential to bring forth virtue, lovingkindness and wisdom into this world.16 min
- Ajahn Sucitto: The Real World(Cittaviveka) What we call the real world is actually concocted, arising from unskillful response to contact. The energy can be frantic, cruel, excluding. But it’s possible to give rise to a different reality, by knowing what to give attention to. Paying attention to skillful dhammas can uplift and sustain the heart so it can come out of its struggles and sorrows.49 min
About Ajahn Sucitto's most recent Dharma talks (Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center)
From the publisher's feed
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.
Sitting in a field of fifty to eighty people really starts my mind sparking. Since I don't prepare my talks ahead of time, I find myself listening to what I'm saying along with everyone else. This leaves a lot of room for the Dhamma to come up. Just having eighty people listening to me is enough to engage me, stimulate me, and create a nice flow of energy. The actual process of teaching evokes ideas that even I did not realize were being held somewhere in my mind.
Different teaching situations offer their own unique value. In retreat, you are able to build a cohesive and comprehensive body of the teachings. When people are not on retreat and come for one session, it opens a different window. They are more spontaneous and I'm given the chance to contact them in ways that are closer to their "daily-life mind." This brings up surprises and interesting opportunities for me to learn even more.
I'm continually struck by how important it is to establish a foundation of morality, commitment, and a sense of personal values for the Vipassana teachings to rest upon. Personal values have to be more than ideas. They have to actually work for us, to be genuinely felt in our lives. We can't bluff our way into insight. The investigative path is an intimate experience that empowers our individuality in a way that is not egocentric. Vipassana encourages transpersonal individuality rather than ego enhancement. It allow for a spacious authenticity to replace a defended personality.
I normally incorporate Qi Gong instruction in my retreats. They are not suitable as audio files but you can watch the nine videos here: https://tinyurl.com/Sucitto-qigong