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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: Sañña and Saṇkhāra Lead to Saṃsāra(Uttama Bodhi Vihara) A description of the cycle of saṃsāra, from contact, to feeling, to perception (sañña), to habit reaction (saṇkhāra). We remain stuck in this cycle of rebirth. The way out is direct experience at the point of feeling. Unpleasant feeling is discharged through the body.1 hr 8 min
- Ajahn Sucitto: Orientation and Instructions(Uttama Bodhi Vihara) Opening instructions to start the retreat: set aside destructive influences, put forth an attitude of kindness and sensitivity, give attention to direct experience.1 hr 4 min
- Ajahn Sucitto: How to Cultivate Samādhi in Walking Meditation(Uttama Bodhi Vihara) Walking meditation supports the mind to come to a very balanced state. Let unskillful states and attitudes steam off as you walk. What’s left is something bright, warm and comfortable. Let the mind rest in that.18 min
- Ajahn Sucitto: Using the Food Offering Skillfully(Uttama Bodhi Vihara) The meal offering provides an opportunity for practice. We practice to generate skillful qualities, to restrain the sense faculties, and to find balance in our actions.13 min
- Ajahn Sucitto: Suggestions on Positions and Comfort(Uttama Bodhi Vihara) We have to support the limitations of this body. Don’t add the unnecessary stress of expecting to keep completely still during meditation. Move the body, sense the whole body, take deep breaths, relax.6 min
- Ajahn Sucitto: Sīla – A Vehicle for Happiness(Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand) When we make the intention to keep the precepts, we give ourselves the possibility to steer our own lives rather than being swept up in it. The basic principle is not fear and law but sensitivity and concern. We have the intention to live in an atmosphere of goodwill and respect for all sentient beings.34 min
- Ajahn Sucitto: Patient and Loving Acceptance(Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand) The body is much more than an idea, it’s something that’s here for us. With patient and loving acceptance we can clear disturbances from the body and experience a pleasant and steady abiding here and now.1 hr 9 min
- Ajahn Sucitto: Skillful Means in the Cultivation of Wisdom(Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand) Wisdom is a natural feature of the mind. With its cultivation comes the ability to discern skillful from unskillful. But just knowing things are unskillful doesn’t stop the mind from doing it, we have to develop skillful means. We use mindfulness to be able to see through ignorance and stand back from the unskillful pulls of mind.1 hr 2 min
- Ajahn Sucitto: Meditation as Re-education(Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand) Modern modes of attention, information and meaning-making cut us off from our natural intelligence. Mindfulness of body and breathing puts us back in touch with the tonality, naturalness and rhythm of embodied intelligence. We use this way of meditation to re-educate us.1 hr 7 min
- Ajahn Sucitto: Q&A(Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand) 1) What is citta? 2) Regrets, how to forgive oneself 3) How to practice appamano states in everyday life (mudita, equanimity) 4) How to work with obstructive mind-states (judgmental, not good enough, lonely, regretful, hopelessness) 5) How to practice reclining meditation 6) Headaches in certain mind-states59 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