Puja provides a steady frame for meditation and helps to ward off dullness and stale familiarity in daily practice. Its fresh vitality undermines ingrained behaviours and attitudes.

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.

Led by Ajahn Jivako

00:34 Q1 Can you give some examples of non-formal practice through the day. 06:23 Q2 What is helpful in practicing walking meditation? 11:40 Q3 Why do we practice walking when we have sitting meditation? 12:46 Q4 Why is it that the object of meditation has to be something of the body? Could it be a rock for example? 13:37 Q5 When I meditate I hear a loud inner sound, the breathing, heat beat and blood pumping and body movements. It’s difficult to concentrate on any one thing. 16:03 Q6 Is stream entry a deeper flow state or something completely different? 16:23 Q7 How can we differentiate between skilful and unskilful doubt. 19:00 Q8 In the guided meditation you led us inside where we were resting somewhere. Are there any creative techniques to access that? 20:21 Q9 When you asked us to look for the person /that who is aware. Commonly this is supposed to be usually in the head right? Can it be outside the body and are there ways to access that? 21:36 Q10 You mentioned you were from New Hampshire. Is that attached to Ajahn Amaro?

Led by Ajahn Jiviko

Dhamma Talk given in Bodhgaya Dec 8, 2022

Questions are précised - 00:09 Q1 - Can you clarify more about compassion. It seems quite dark in English. And does karuna also have some suffering in it? 04:28 Q2 - What are the training steps in the Thai Forest tradition? Also what is spoken about full buddhahood in the southern tradition? 21:41 Q3 – You said not to be carried away with rupa, form and perception and you also mentioned discriminating consciousness. I have trouble with this last one. Can you elaborate? 27:43 Q4 – What does the word ajahn mean? 28:21 Q5 – Did you say that you could not lie down to sleep? 26:30 Q6 – We are an outcome of our relationships and programmes formed over a long period. Is it possible to re-programme ourselves, even while staying in the same environment? 43:34 Q7 – Why is meditation the primary means of insight or analysis. What about writing? Or talking to others?

Our habit is to try to manage our experience from a mental control tower. This meditation awakens us through the body, and then invites us to rest in that vast presence that includes the changing flow of life. When we inhabit that openness, there’s a natural arising of peace, wakefulness and tenderness.

Questions are précised - 00:15 Q1 How do we dislodge the idea of a self. Also you say there is an experience without an experiencer. Can you elaborate? 14:34 Q2 You spoke of Ajahn Mun’s teaching on the deathless dhamma. Could you speak to the idea of the subjectivity of the Buddha or even a “de-centered” subjectivity? 27:04 Q3 Could you say more about what stream entry is and its importance. 33:55 Q4 When sitting, how do we know we are anchored in our breath and when we can then shift and broaden our attention to other things? 35:15 Q5 I find walking meditation easier than sitting. Is this OK? 36:36 Q6 Has Buddha offered any view on the purpose of my life especially given its suffering? 42:00 Q7 How can we tell if our meditation tool is working and that we are progressing on the path? 52:22 Q8 Regarding concentration in meditation, is this the same thing that creative people use in their work?

Ajahn gives a dhamma talk and answers questions at the 17th International Tipitaka Chanting Ceremony. 00:00 Introduction 03:15 Dhamma talk 41:27 Q&A - Questions are précised. 41:27 Q1: On retreat I can sit for about 45 minutes before I have to move, but outslde retreat, I can sit still for only about 20-25 minutes. Can you advise me please? 57:12 Q2: Can you clarify please ' I read a translation that says one mark of awareness is 'holding'. But my experience is that it is discernment or acknowledgement that is a mark. 1:00:40 Q3: I have read the word 'feeling' being applied to the body and also 'feeling' applied to the mind. But my understanding is that feeling is in the mind only and what the body experiences in called a sensation, not a feeling. Can you clarify this? 1:02:23 Q4: Why is 'form' included in the 5 kandas / skandas? It seems I experience 'feeling', not form. 1:04:29 Q5: Can you please describe the 37 path factors? (Ajahn says he will address it in his talk on Dec 8th). 1:05:50 Q6: Regarding attachment, how can we relinquish attachments when we also want to live in a state of love and compassion with others? Is there not a conflict there? 1:10:25 Q7: We do meditation to empty our minds, but can we live in this world with an empty mind? 1:13:24 Q8: I am new at this and struggle to conduct a practice and not being imposed on by kalyanamitta who advise me not to meditate but only to serve. 1:14:47 Q9: (in view of your answer) Should we then practice alone and not have kalyanamitta? What is sangha then? 1:16:39 Q10: Is consciousness really conscious in itself or is it dependent?

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.”