Energy (viriya)
Skillful qualities / Five Faculties / Energy
Part of tag cluster Energy in key topic Skillful Qualities
Also a subtag of Bases of Success, Factors of Awakening and Perfections
40 excerpts, 3:16:03 total duration

All excerpts (40) Most relevant (16) Questions about (10) Answers involving (27) Stories (4) Quotes (3) Texts (1)

Remembering Ajahn Chah Weekend, Session 28 – Apr. 29, 2001

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4. Stories: The Chipmunk Story and The Donkey Story. Told by Kittisaro. [Kittisaro] [Depression] [Humor ] [Similes] [Ajahn Chah] // [Recreation/leisure/sport] [Perfectionism] [Meditation] [Thai Ajahn Chah monasteries] [Sickness] [Animal] [Learning] [Health care] [Self-identity view] [Joseph Kappel] [Compassion] [Energy] [Right Effort] [Equanimity] [Lawfulness]


Metta Retreat, Session 4 – Sep. 12, 2008

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10. “Would you share some of your personal journey, including the time before you became a monk, and why you became a monk, and how the holy life can help people grow and change?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Monastic life] [Long-term practice ] // [Culture/West] [Travel] [Culture/Thailand]

Story: Ajahn Pasanno begins meditation with a month-long Mahasi Sayadaw retreat. [Meditation retreats] [Mahasi Sayadaw] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Fierce/direct teaching]

Story: Ajahn Pasanno’s first visit to Wat Pah Pong. [Ordination] [Ajahn Chah] [Wat Pah Pong]

Quote: “If you want to stay here, you have to stay at least five years.” — Ajahn Chah [Sequence of training]

Reflection: “Five years is five years. I’ll go back and give myself to Ajahn Chah.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Relinquishment] [Mentoring]

Quote: “There’s no such thing as the ideal monastic or the ideal practitioner.” [Idealism] [Lay life] [Faith] [Disrobing] [Suffering] [Energy] [Patience]


Metta Retreat, Session 5 – Sep. 13, 2008

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5. “When you guided meditation in the past two afternoons, I’ve enjoyed slipping past the high energy of rapture/joy. I found these meditations grounding and at the same time streaming with energy. I’m finding it difficult to get past joy without your vocal guidance. Can you offer suggestions?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Rapture] [Energy] [Right Concentration] // [Mindfulness of body] [Mindfulness of breathing]


Right Livelihood, Session 2 – Apr. 21, 2013

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5. “What is your take on satisfaction, being in tune, and stagnation?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Contentment ] [Energy] [Ardency ] // [Skillful qualities] [Discernment] [Buddha/Biography] [Spiritual search] [Right Effort]

Sutta: AN 2.5: Effort and noncontentment with wholesome states.

Story: The Thai government made it illegal for monks to teach contentment. [History/Thai Buddhism] [Monastic life] [Teaching Dhamma]

Comment about the simile of the lute. [Middle Path] [Similes]

Sutta: AN 6.55: Soṇa Sutta


Abhayagiri Monastic Retreat 2013, Session 1 – Nov. 23, 2013

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1. “Thank you for your talk. Can you flesh out: ‘dispassionate about what?’ Also, trying to encourage dispassion along with arousing energy.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Dispassion ] [Energy] // [Craving] [Sense bases] [Form] [Emotion] [Contentment] [Tranquility]

Quote: “When there’s a coolness towards the world around one, that frees up a lot of energy for directing attention to what’s actually useful and beneficial.” [Energy] [Discernment]


Abhayagiri 2014 Winter Retreat, Session 34 – Feb. 20, 2014

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2. “Which of the three unwholesome roots is most prominent when the mind is lazy?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Energy] [Unwholesome Roots] [Sloth and torpor] // [Delusion]


2014 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 4 – Nov. 25, 2014

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11. “Is it a good remedy to sit with eyes open when afflicted with sloth and torpor? Standing? Any other ideas?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sloth and torpor ] [Posture/Sitting] [Posture/Standing] // [Buddho mantra] [Three Refuges] [Perception of light] [Mudra]

Quote: “With sloth and torpor, we want to give the mind enough work so that it can engage itself in the activitity of meditation.” [Energy]


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 15 – Jan. 24, 2015

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2. “Is the Buddha quoted as saying “I teach a path of the application of effort?”” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Buddha] [Energy] [Right Effort] [Eightfold Path] // [Aids to Awakening]

Sutta: AN 3.137: Doctrine of energy (vīriyavādā) [Energy]

Sutta: DN 16: Mahāparinibbāna Sutta


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3. “Is there a distinction between viriya and vayama?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Energy] [Right Effort]


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4. “Can you speak about the roots of wholesome and unwholesome desire?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Energy] [Desire] [Becoming] [Skillful qualities] [Unskillful qualities] // [Discernment] [Right Effort] [Learning] [Ajahn Chah]

Sutta: AN 10.58.

Reference: Listening to the Heart by Kittisaro and Ṭhānissarā (commercial).


Desire or Aspiration, Session 2 – Jun. 14, 2015

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1. “I’ve been struggling with sleepiness while trying to meditate, having the intention to be present and aware, but finding myself dozing off.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sloth and torpor] [Clear comprehension] [Meditation retreats] // [Conditionality] [Lay life] [Craving not to become] [Directed thought and evaluation]

Story: Ajahn Boon Choo meditates through tiredness after staying up for days. [Ajahn Boon Choo] [Kaṭhina] [Wat Pah Pong] [Energy] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Ardency]

Quote: “The boundaries we set for ourselves are oftentime much smaller than what we can actually deal with, work with, or be with.” [Self-identity view] [Clinging] [Patience]


Jhāna: A Practical Approach, Session 3 – Oct. 10, 2015

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12. Comment: Excercise in the morning can be used to overcome sloth. [Excercise] [Sloth and torpor] [Energy]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno]


Chanting, Session 1 – Jun. 2, 2018

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11. “How can you chant to generate energy?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Energy] [Chanting] // [Postures] [Mindfulness of breathing]


The Path of Practice, Session 1 – Jun. 15, 2019

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8. Story: The cook assigned to look after Ajahn Pasanno doesn’t understand what he can and needs to eat. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Dtao Dum] [Almsfood] [Food] // [Industry] [Meditation] [Energy] [Health] [Patience] [Culture/Natural environment]


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13. “Could you say something about the fact that extreme hardship exists in the world?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Poverty ] [Compassion] // [Culture/Thailand]

Sutta: AN 4.162: Modes of Practice

Sutta: AN 8.2: Worldly Winds [Worldly Conditions]

Vinaya: The famine in Verañjā (BuPj 1.2.1, Brahmali translation) [Buddha/Biography]

Recollection: The vast majority of 20th century Thai meditation masters are from the Northeast. They come from a region and area of great difficulty. [History/Thai Buddhism] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Patience] [Energy] [Faith]

Recollection: More Westerners came to study with Ajahn Chah than Central or Southern Thais. [Ajahn Chah] [History/Western Buddhist monasticism]


Interreligious Retreat-Seminar on Dhamma and Non-duality, Session 1 – Nov. 24, 2023

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4. “What makes you keep on moving?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno ] [Energy] // [Liberation] [Human]