Dhammagiri Buddhist Podcasts

Mettā, Loving Kindness, is the intention of unconditional good will to all living beings, without distinction or discrimination, without expectations or demands. Simply wishing well to absolutely everyone. 

It includes all humans, whatever nationality or race or ethnic background. But it also includes animals, cute koalas just as much as ugly cane toads. It includes non-human, invisible beings, like ghosts and spirits and angels/devas.

We extend mettā in all directions, we try to make it 'appamañña-vihāra', an unlimited, unrestricted, infinite abode for our mind.  

We include those we like just as much as those we have difficulties with.   

And, very important, we include ourselves in our unconditional loving kindness as well.   

We mindfully notice how pleasant it feels to wish others well. In contrast, we mindfully notice how unpleasant anger feels, and how much it burdens ourselves. Understanding thus, we let go of anger, and develop loving kindness instead. And immediately, we're the first beneficiary of our loving kindness ourselves: it just feels really good to wish well to everyone.

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Ajahn Dhammasiha leads an introduction to Mettā Meditation, 'Loving Kindness'.

Mettā is the intention of unconditional good will to all beings, without distinction, without expectations, without conditions, same to absolutely everyone.

To start off, we choose one being that we like a lot, where we find it really easy to wish them well. That could even be an animal (in case we feel grumpy to all humans 😉)

We then repeat a simple formula in our mind, like a Mantra:

• "In gladness and in safety, may you be at ease" 

We mentally repeat these words without stopping, continuously. If we get distracted by thoughts, worries, emotions, phantasies, we mindfully notice and bring our attention back to our little mantra.

However, what Loving Kindness is really about is not the words we're saying, but the intention, feeling and emotion connected with these words. Repeating the words is simply a tool, a technique, to get the feeling of mettā going. That beautiful, uplifting and joyful emotion is the real aim of our meditation.

Once we can actually feel mettā while reciting the mantra, we already have made our first major breakthrough in our loving kindness meditation 😊
Once we really experience the emotion, it's not so difficult to now include more beings.

Ajahn Dhammasiha recommends to widen our mettā now to all humans in the Dhammahall.

Once we can feel the same emotion for everyone in the hall, we have to make sure to actually include ourselves. Counterintuitively, that can be one of the hardest for many people, fully wishing thenselves well.

When we can sustain the emotion of unconditional good will including to ourselves, we can now expand our mettā in two ways:

1. Including more and more beings, like animals, spirits, angels/devas. Including those we like and those who we don't like, even those who have harmed us. Including all nationalities, all races, all religious backgrounds, all social classes - simply everyone whether saint or sinner, stupid or smart, deluded or enlightened
   
2. Expanding in space: Up and down, front and back, all around.  Including the neighbours, the whole city, the country, the whole earth and into space, Mars and Venus, until the furthest Galaxies. We imagine radiating our loving kindness throughout the expanse of the whole universe

Finally, we sustain the emotion of unconditional good will by including all beings without distinction, whoever they are, anywhere in the universe, embracing them all with our mettā.

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#meditation #buddhistmeditation #lovingkindness #metta #calm #peace

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Ajahn Dhammasiha presents the story of Ven Mahākassapa's first encounter with the Buddha.

[Saṃyutta Nikāya / Connected Discourses, 16. 'Kassapasamyutta', #11] 

The Buddha accepts him, and straight away ordained him as a Bhikkhu by means of an exhortation.

It's fascinating that we still have this original first teaching to one of the greatest disciples available today!

A short time later, the Buddha even exchanges his old, threadbare, hempen robe with Ven Mahākassapa's much nicer patchwork robe. No other disciple received that favour. In accepting the Buddha's robe, Ven Mahākassapa symbolically accepted the maintenance of the ascetic 'dhūtanga' practices. 

Finally, wearing the Buddha's robe is a powerful symbol for the crucial role Ven Mahākassapa assumed after the Buddha's Parinibbāna, when he organised the first council and oversaw the collection and preservation of the Sutta and Vinaya Pitakas.

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Mindfulness of Breathing, Ānāpāṇasati, was the Buddha's own favourite meditation. Ajahn Dhammasiha provides an introduction how to gradually settle our mind onto the breath:

• The past is gone. The future has not yet come. We let go of past and future and settle down here and now, observing what arises in the present moment: 'Now is the Knowing!'
  
• We don't pay attention to external sense impressions, we let go of the outside world and turn our attention inside our own body and mind.
  
• We become aware of our physical body. Not by thinking about it, but by directly feeling, directly experiencing the body from inside.
  
• We appreciate that we can simply sit quiet and motionless, that we don't have to move the body, don't have to think. We're content with stillness.
  
• When directing our attention inside, feeling our own physical body, in the present moment, sitting still - how could we not notice the breath? Breathing is the most prominent activity that's still going on.
  
• We're mindful of the breath. We feel every outbreath. We experience every inbreath. We're aware of every single in and outbreath.
  
• We feel our whole physical body while we breathe in. We're aware of our whole physical body while we breathe out.
  
• We relax our body with every in and outbreath, calming and soothing the body while we breathe.
  
• We breathe in joyfully. We breathe out happily. We enjoy our meditation with every in and outbreath.
  
• We brighten our mind with each inbreath. We become more awake, more aware, with every outbreath.

We gradually allow three qualities to develop and unfold naturally:

1. Calm, Quiet, Relaxation
2. Joy, Happiness - even Rapture and Bliss
3. Awareness, Mindfulness - the Mind becoming Bright and Radiant

We understand that these three qualities are extremely wholesome and beneficial. We're not afraid of that tranquillity, joy and brightness, but allow our mind to get carried away into blissful, internal unification, Samādhī 😊

After the bell, Ajahn Dhammasiha encourages us to look back and review our meditation. Obviously, not everyone will always go the full way into rapture and bliss. Instead, it's much more common to experience lots of struggles with an unruly mind.

However, if we compare our mindstate now with our mindstate before the meditation:

• Can we see at least some increase in calm, joy and happiness? 

If so, our Samatha/Samādhī meditation is going in the right direction!

(This guided meditation is directed more towards Calmness/Samatha/Samādhī. For a focus of Breath Meditation on Vipassanā/Wisdom/Insight, refer to other relevant guided meditations by 'Dhammagiri Buddhist Podcasts')

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#meditation #buddhistmeditation #breath #mindfulness #sati

Ajahn Dhammasiha offers reflections on the Ādittapariyāya Sutta, the 'Discourse on Burning', known as the third formal teaching of the Buddha.

In this discourse, the Buddha challenges his audience with the shocking statement that the whole universe of our conscious experience is literally on fire. All six senses are burning with the fire of desire, hatred and delusion; they are burning with rebirth, decay, death; they are a conflagration of grief, lamentation, pain, frustration, depression and despair:

🔥 👀 🔥

Ajahn points out that saddhā (faith/confidence/conviction) in the final goal of Nibbāna is a necessary condition to use such a challenging teaching beneficially. If someone believes the world of the senses is all there is, they will find this teaching of the Buddha discouraging, even depressing. But if we are convinced that an escape out of the fire exists, the teaching will not discourage us, instead it will provide us with the determined motivation required to escape the conflagration by means of vipassanā, insight. 

🚒 ⬅ 🏃‍♀️ 🔥

If we trust that we can get out of the fire, and follow the instruction to wisely reflect on the suffering our world of subjective conscious experience inevitably entails, we will experience disenchantment (nibbidā) to this whole world of impermanent, disappointing phenomena. Disenchanted, all desire fades away, and we feel dispassion. Dispassionate, the heart experiences release by letting go of all six senses and their objects. That relase experienced in the heart of the enlightened beings is the safe place outside the fire, the escape out of the conflagration.

Ajahn points out the danger of mistaking aversion for disenchantment. Any average person can easily experience aversion when reflecting on the evils of our world. But aversion is an unwholesome, unbeneficial mindstate based on defilements. Disenchantment (nibbidā) on the other hand is a result of seeing things as they truly are, based on wisdom and insight, and is extremely beneficial as it leads us to the experience of release, Nibbāna.

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Ajahn Moneyyo leads the community at Dhammagiri on the Full Moon Practice Day in chanting the 'Ādittapariyāya Sutta' / 'Fire Sermon' in the original Pali language.

This is a stereo recording, and you can get quite an immersive experience if you switch on 'surround sound' / '3D' on you loudspeakers, or use good around-the-ears headphones 🔊👂😊👂🔊

The  'Discourse on Burning' is considered the third formal teaching of the Buddha. It is distinguished by the highest reported number of attainments:

"Evaṃ me sutaṃ:

(Same for all six senses 👀 👂 👃 👅 🤸‍♂️ 💭 ) 

Sotaṃ ādittaṃ, Ghānaṃ, Jivhā, Kāyo, Mano...

"Evaṃ passaṃ bhikkhave sutvā ariyasāvako

Nibbindaṃ virajjati,

"Thus have I heard:

(Same for all six senses 👀 👂 👃 👅 🤸‍♂️ 💭 )

Disenchanted with the ear...

‘Seeing thus, bhikkhus,

Becoming disenchanted, their passions fade away;

(...)

Full text available here, page 24:

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A crucial factor for progress and success in our meditation practice is learning to really enjoy meditating.

Curiously, we often neglect that aspect, and instead rely only on will power and persistance.

In this guided meditation, Ajahn Dhammasiha encourages us to deliberately develop the perceptions of gladness, joy and happiness for each step in our practice of breath meditation.

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Ajahn Dhammasiha responds to a question in the audience: "How can we resist Desire?"  

There are several other interesting questions as well:  

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This time we have included the full morning chanting we're doing for our regular Saturday Triple Refuge and Precepts Ceremony. Audio is improved (though still far from perfect ;-) and we think it will be interesting for our podcast listeners to hear the full ceremony that gets our committed group out of bed early on each weekend to arrive at Dhammagiri at 7.30 am every Saturday!

By the way, this is the most popular of all our podcasts - our muditā that so many listeners like to hear the refuge and precepts ceremony!

The evening chanting, which we do every Sunday afternoon 03.00 pm, can be found here:

• https://open.spotify.com/episode/1P8RxsOfH2thSaffhqTGPq?si=7c54e92a53d746fb
• https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/evening-chanting-dhammagiri-version-sangha-laity-at/id1534539834?i=1000571397269
  

You can find the text and English translation of the ceremony in the Amaravati Chanting Book Volume 1:

• Pages 11 ff (Dedication of Offerings & Homage to Triple Gem)
• Pages 126 ff (5 precepts)
• Pages 134 ff (8 precepts)
• Free download of Chanting Book available here: https://www.amaravati.org/dhamma-books/chanting-book/

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One of the deepest delusions of all is the sense of 'Self' ('Attā'), 'I', 'me' and 'mine'. Whenever we identify with anything at all as I, me, mine or Self, it will inevitably lead to disappointment and suffering.

Consequently, if we want to abandon pain and disappointment, we have to abandon the illusion of Self and ownership. To help us see through the delusion of Self, the Buddha recommends us to look at the inherent contradictions of the concept of Self. For instance, Self and ownership imply control. It dosn't really make sense to claim anything as 'me' or 'Self', if I havn't got any control over it.

A particular strong identification is usually with our thinking: "I am the thinker"

Another one is with our decisions and actions: "I am the doer"

And when we meditate, of course, it's: "I'm the meditator".

Ajahn Dhammasiha encourages us to observe how our meditation becomes stressful, and usually doesn't go anywhere, the moment we cling to the illusion "I am the one doing my meditation".

Straight away we also have:

So we get all this comparing, all this conceit, and the resulting arrogance or dejection. We get trying hard with will power, or giving up due to feeling incapable.

On the other hand, if we see through the illusion, we will simply observe phenomena arising and passing away in our meditation according to conditions. We skilfully respond by stopping the unhelpful conditions, and developing the beneficial ones, without concerning ourselves with self, me and mine.

Straight away the meditation becomes much smoother, much less stressful, easy and effortless.

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