Tranquility (passaddhi)
Tranquility (passaddhi)
7. “What is loving kindness? What is the body and mind’s experience when I feel metta for myself and others?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Goodwill] // [Idealism] [Culture/West] [Right Intention] [Aversion] [Thai] [Happiness] [Translation] [Bhante Gunaratana] [Tranquility] [Spaciousness]
Quote: “The base of loving-kindness is dwelling in non-aversion.”
3. “What is the definition of wholesome? The word for me connotes the 50’s era of Ozzie and Harriet.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Skillful qualities] [Culture/West] // [Pāli] [Happiness] [Tranquility] [Unwholesome Roots]
9. “Could you talk more about working with the hindrance of doubt?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Doubt] // [Fear] [Aversion] [Sensual desire] [Mindfulness of body] [Tranquility] [Mindfulness of feeling] [Right Speech] [Delusion]
Simile: A dish of muddy water placed in a dark cupboard (SN 46.55). [Similes]
19. “What is the difference between pīti and sukha?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Rapture] [Happiness] // [Continuity of mindfulness] [Concentration] [Jhāna] [Tranquility] [One pointedness] [Mindfulness]
Simile: A traveller through a desert learns of an oasis (pīti) then drinks and bathes at the oasis (sukha) (Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, p. 139). [Similes]
5. “If sati or mindfulness is the cage, what is the use of samatha?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Similes] [Mindfulness] [Calming meditation] [Concentration] [Unwholesome Roots] // [Tranquility] [Discernment] [Relinquishment]
8. Comment: For me it is a question of whether I can believe it or not. It depends on where I place my mind. [Faith] [Science] [Emptiness] [Proliferation] [Deva] [Recollection/Devas] [Dalai Lama] [Death]
Response by Ajahn Yatiko. [Doubt] [Trust] [Tranquility]
8. “I appreciate your emphasis on clarity, stability, and spaciousness. How does concentration relate to these?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Clear comprehension] [One pointedness] [Spaciousness] [Concentration] // [Pāli] [Thai] [Etymology] [Tranquility] [Happiness] [Rapture] [Conditionality]
Suttas: AN 10.3: Virtuous Behaivor; AN 6.10 Mahānāma [Virtue]
Quote: “The way my mind worked before was, ‘Boy, when I get my concentration together, I’m going to be happy...’” [Ajahn Pasanno]
Quote: “The happy mind is easily concentrated.” [Hindrances] [Relinquishment] [Knowledge and vision]
10. “What if your problem is restlessness?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Restlessness and worry] // [Tranquility] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Energy]
8. “In that talk he [Ajahn Sim] seemed to stress doing samatha meditation before practicing vipassana. Is that strictly held within this tradition?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Sim] [Calming meditation] [Insight meditation] [Thai Forest Tradition] // [Tranquility] [Knowing itself] [Concentration] [Language]
Quote: “The qualities of the one pointed mind are vitakka, vicāra, pīti, sukha, and ekaggatā....It’s not one pointed excluding. It works together, it harmonizes, it’s balanced.” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [One pointedness] [Right Concentration]
5. “In my desire to get to the “heart of it” I find part of my mind really wants this, but another part of my mind is not going along with the program. How do I keep myself on the Path?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Desire] [Simplicity] [Volition] // [Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering] [Impermanence] [Cessation] [Upasikā Kee Nanayon]
Follow-up: “The experience of arising and disbanding isn’t yet practical for me. I need something more operational.” [Tranquility]
Simile: Making a fire flare up or die down (SN 46.53). — Ajahn Pasanno. [Factors of Awakening] [Energy] [Tranquility] [Mindfulness]
23. “In Vajrayāna you visualize a column of light and going out the top of your head in preparation for death. Is there a related practice in this tradition?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Vajrayāna] [Visualization] [Recollection/Death] [Theravāda] [Death] // [Tranquility] [Mindfulness]
Reference: “Our Real Home” in Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, p. 145.
3. “I have a hard time breathing normally due to congestion and athsma. How does one get past the initial fear, ‘I just can’t breath. How am I going to do this?’” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Health] [Fear] [Mindfulness of breathing] // [Mindfulness of body] [Body scanning] [Tranquility]
4. “At what point in your meditation do you shift to knower or witness?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Meditation/Techniques] [Knowing itself] [Mindfulness of breathing] // [Investigation of states] [Happiness] [Tranquility] [Calming meditation] [Insight meditation] [Doubt] [Desire]
10. “When you contemplate, ‘Who is thinking? Who is breathing?’ how does thid differ from thinking? Why doesn’t it generate more thought?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Hua tou] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Proliferation] [Mindfulness of breathing] // [Insight meditation] [Tranquility] [Restlessness and worry]
Quote: “The mind can still think and be peaceful. What a concept!” [Tranquility]
9. Comment: Sometimes I find applying awareness exhausting. [Mindfulness] [Sloth and torpor]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Tranquility] [Faith]
2. “Are people experiencing jhāna in different ways?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Jhāna] // [Views] [Ajahn Chah] [Tranquility] [Self-identity view] [Suffering] [Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo]
11. Comment: This wanting mind becomes doing something... [Desire] [Jhāna]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Feeling] [Craving] [Ardency] [Happiness] [Tranquility] [Mindfulness of body]
11. Comment: I listen to the Abhayagiri Dhamma talks, focusing more on the timbre of the voice rather than trying to get an intellectual grasp of what was said. That projects me into a dimension of well-being. [Hearing the true Dhamma] [Abhayagiri] [Happiness] [Learning]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Tranquility]
3. “After a long time in practice trying to order thoughts around, which hasn’t been so fruitful, there’s been an experiment: trying to observe even when thoughts are really spinning, just bringing an awareness and let them spin. If there’s a strong sense of watching, where does that fit in [to MN 20]?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Directed thought and evaluation] [Proliferation] [Present moment awareness] // [Mindfulness] [Tranquility]
12. “What can you offer dying people who didn’t have the opportunity to engage in Buddhist practice?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Death] [Compassion] // [Listening] [Patience] [Tranquility] [Equanimity] [Fear] [Right Speech] [Chanting]
3. Comment: I’m trying to move away from the concept of formal and informal practice. It’s just how I’m practicing in practice this moment. [Continuity of mindfulness] [Meditation] [Present moment awareness] [Everyday life]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ardency] [Tranquility] [Middle Path] [Eightfold Path]
9. “How can you use chanting to work with long-term physical pain and other people’s healing?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Pain] [Health] [Chanting] // [Tranquility] [Concentration] [Fear] [Release]
2. “When I’m following my breathing, sometimes I have a compulsion to breathe deeply into my chest and hold it....Is that something you should recognize as trying to control the breath?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness of breathing] [Meditation/Unusual experiences] // [Investigation of states] [Tranquility] [Learning]
7. “In what way are qualities and effects viral? Are right perception, right speech, right thought, and right action also viral?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Media] [Online community] [Perception] [Right View] [Right Speech] [Right Action] // [Abhayagiri] [History/Western Buddhism] [Mindfulness] [Skillful qualities] [Happiness] [Tranquility] [Trust] [Human]
12. “What is the difference between emptiness, nothingness, and space? How can I use colors to develop the mind?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Emptiness] [Kasiṇa] // [Self-identity view] [Relinquishment] [Conceit] [Middle Path] [Etymology] [Not-self] [Elements] [Tranquility] [History/Early Buddhism] [Culture/West]
2. “How to balance the tension between the warrior energy (taking action), the awareness of the perfection of all that is, and the weariness and humility that leads through this?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Right Effort] [Present moment awareness] [Disenchantment] // [Suffering] [Discernment] [Fear] [Human] [Gladdening the mind] [Aversion] [Recollection] [Nature of mind] [Tranquility]
Sutta: AN 1.296-305: The Ten Recollections
Quote: “The happy mind is easily settled.” [Happiness] [Concentration]