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1. “Could you speak more about the concept of relinquishment, giving up, and how it relates to giving?” [Relinquishment] [Recollection/Generosity] [Generosity] // [Clinging]
2. Comment: I’m looking at contemplating peace as opposed to grasping for peace as a result of aversion to dukkha. There’s not the same result. [Recollection/Peace] [Clinging] [Aversion] [Suffering]
Response by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Noble Truth of Suffering] [Craving not to become] [Relinquishment] [Kamma]
3. Comment: So you maximize the internal benefit you receive...[audio unclear]? [Recollection/Generosity] [Generosity]
Responses by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo, Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Yatiko. [Faith] [Discernment] [Clinging] [Habits] [Proliferation] [Idealism]
5. “Can you speak about the people who sell these things [intoxicants] versus those who make them?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Intoxicants] [Commerce/economics] [Right Livelihood] // [Kamma] [Volition]
Story: A clerk at an organic food store asks about selling wine. Told by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo.
17. Comment: It’s not easy giving up the things we’re used to in order to follow the path. [Renunciation] [Eightfold Path] [Clinging] [Happiness] [Right Livelihood]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Suffering] [Commerce/economics]
3. “Everyone in our group is struggling with issues about livelihood. Does anyone here feel their livelihood is in tune?” Answered by Ajahn Yatiko and Ajahn Pasanno. [Work] [Idealism] // [Contentment] [Eightfold Path] [Kamma]
Quote: “Maybe it would be better phrased ‘Right-enough livelihood.’” — Ajahn Karuṇadhammo [Right Livelihood]
Story: An upright career police officer in Thailand transfers in and out of a corrupt assignment. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Community] [Crime] [Corruption] [Family] [Precepts]
Comment by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo: Even monks face moral dillemas. [Monastic life] [Vinaya]
1. Ajahn Karuṇadhammo describes the scope and format of the Winter Retreat 2014 readings.
2. Recollection: This talk was given to a group of Western monks led by Ajahn Khantipālo paying respects to Ajahn Chah in Bangkok. Recounted by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Ajahn Khantipālo] [Ajahn Chah] // [Ajahn Sumedho] [Translation] [Hearing the true Dhamma]
3. Reading: “The Training of the Heart” from Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, pp. 505-516.
9. “Why is the story of Sarakāni controversial in Sri Lanka?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Stream entry] [Intoxicants] [History/Sri Lankan Buddhism] [Death] // [Stages of awakening]
Sutta: SN 55.24-25: Sarakāni
Comment by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo regarding the wide range of views about stream entry. [Views]
15. “Living in the West, chances are most of us will die in a hospital, which could be quite chaotic. Any advice?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Culture/West] [Health care] [Death] // [Spiritual friendship] [Community] [Saṅgha]
Story: The Abhayagiri community attends to a dying lay supporter. [Abhayagiri]
Comments about hospitals contributed by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo.
8. Comment: It’s hard to convey the naturalness of death in Western culture. [Naturalness] [Culture/West] [Death]
6. “Could you review the transmission of the ordination between Sri Lanka and Thailand?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [History/Thai Buddhism] [History/Sri Lankan Buddhism] [Ordination] // [Leadership] [History/Other Theravāda traditions] [Commerce/economics] [History/Mahāyāna Buddhism]
1. Reading: “Visions of a Sāmaṇa” from Samaṇa by Ajahn Mahā Boowa, p. 11. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Thai Forest Tradition] // [Monastic life/Motivation] [Ajahn Mun]
11. “As the mind takes fabrications as its object, does the mind expand?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Upasikā Kee Nanayon] [Volitional formations] [Heart/mind] [Mindfulness of mind] [Thai Forest Tradition] // [Relinquishment]
2. Reading: Santi – Peace Beyond Delusion by Ajahn Liem, p. 17. [Ajahn Liem] [Thai Forest Tradition]
14. “Regarding the 1st precept of non-killing / non-harming, what to do on a practical / decision level regarding something like termites? I sold my last house because I didn’t want to fumigate, but I can’t keep moving to avoid killing termites / ants that eat at a house. Thank you for your compassion and explanation.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Killing] // [Abhayagiri]
13. “Dear Aj. Karuṇadhammo, could you say a bit more about how you find a belief in rebirth to be motivational? And that it “just makes sense?” Do you think, perhaps, about the person who will inherit your rebirth and how it would be good to load them up with good kamma? Thanks!” [Rebirth] [Kamma] [Faith]
[Session] Readings from Body Contemplation: A Study Guide by Ajahn Ṭhānissaro. [Mindfulness of body]
AN 4.184: Janussonī; AN 10.60: Girimananda; SN 35.247: Six Animals; AN 4.45: Rohitassa; Thag 1.104: Khitaka.
Dhp 259, Dhp 299, Dhp 46; Ud 3.5.
AN 1.575 and onward, Mindfulness immersed in the body (SuttaCentral numbering).
AN 1.616 and onward, Deathless (SuttaCentral numbering).
1. “Do you need to be a non-returner to be free from the fear of death?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Non-return] [Fear] [Death] [Sensual desire] // [Arahant] [Conceit] [Stream entry] [Faith]
2. “In this passage where the Buddha lists illnesses and calamaties (AN 10.60), he separates kamma out as a cause of those things. However the cause of being subject to these things is because of making good or bad kamma. Is kamma [in this list] a direct, proximate cause?” [Kamma] [Sickness] [Conditionality]
Sutta: SN 36.21 Sīvaka: The Buddha refutes the notion that kamma causes everything.
3. “Is mindfulness of the body fabricating a wholesome mental image of the body as opposed to an unwholesome image? But how can we know the body in any way other than vedanā?” [Mindfulness of body] [Visualization] [Feeling] // [S. N. Goenka] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Postures] [Clear comprehension] [Right Mindfulness] [Calming meditation] [Insight meditation] [Delusion] [Characteristics of existence]
Quote: “The availability of insight is through stepping back from the assumptions that we make, whether it’s around the body or feeling or mind or the sense of self.” [Relinquishment]
4. Discussion of which excercises described as mindfulness of the body (MN 10) are reflective techniques and which are based on vedanā. Led by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Mindfulness of body] [Recollection] [Feeling] // [Elements] [Unattractiveness] [Insight meditation] [Liberation]
Comment about S.N. Goenka’s use of the term vedanā. Contributed by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [S. N. Goenka] [Contact] [Sense bases] [Aggregates]
[Session] Reading: MN 119: This sutta describes the development of mindfulness of the body through mindfulness of breathing, the four postures, full awareness, bodily parts, elements, corpse contemplation, and the four jhānas. [Mindfulness of body] [Unattractiveness]
1. “What is mesentery?” [Unattractiveness]
Reference: Abhayagiri Chanting Book, p. 37.
2. “Why are some body parts omitted from this list?” [Unattractiveness] // [Commentaries] [Sensual desire] [Self-identity view]
Reference: Abhayagiri Chanting Book, p. 37.
4. “What do the Pāḷi terms translated as impurity and foulness mean?” [Pāli] [Translation] [Aversion] [Unattractiveness] // [Etymology] [Sensual desire]
Simile: MN 119.7: Sack of grains.
Comment: Words themselves like “impure” are culturally loaded. [Language] [Cultural context] [Culture/India]
[Session] The contemplation of the parts of the body can be used to reduce sexual craving, to still the mind, and to induce insight into the nature of the body. In the first slideshow, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo gives a brief description of the structure and function of each of the thirty-two parts. The Abhayagiri Chanting Book, p. 37 lists the thirty-two parts in Pali and English. Many of the slide show images come from 32parts.com, an internet resource for body contemplation. [Sensual desire] [Calming meditation] [Insight meditation] [Unattractiveness]
Reference: Video of the slideshow.
1. “What is the length of an average small intestine?” [Unattractiveness]
2. “How long does it take food to make its way through the digestive tract?” [Food] [Unattractiveness]
3. “Is blood only red when it’s outside the body?” [Unattractiveness]
4. “Is there a biological function for tears?” [Unattractiveness] // [Emotion]
5. “How does phlegm relate to mucus?” [Unattractiveness]
6. Comment: When I go though the list [of the 32 parts], I separate the object from my body and evision my body with it absent. [Visualization] [Unattractiveness]
Response by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Ajahn Chah] [Not-self] [Sensual desire] [Calming meditation] [Sloth and torpor]
[Session] Ajahn Karuṇadhammo reviews the slideshow again with an emphasis on internal contemplation and insight. [Recollection] [Insight meditation] [Unattractiveness]
Reference: Video of the slideshow.
1. “Why is there no liquid blood in the photographs of flesh and sinews?” [Unattractiveness]
Reference: Thirty-two parts slideshow video.
2. “Where does a stomach ache originate from?” [Sickness] [Unattractiveness]
3. “Is there a particular orientation for the intestines?” [Unattractiveness]
Story: Ajahn Karuṇadhammo’s first surgery as a nursing student. [Health care]
4. “During the meditation, is it appropriate to envision the stomach itself with undigested food?” (The stomach isn’t listed in the 32 parts.) [Visualization] [Food] [Unattractiveness]
5. Comment: Perhaps the thirty-one parts were part of the medical culture at the time of the Buddha. [Unattractiveness]
Comment by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo: The brain had a lot less significance in those days. [History/Early Buddhism]
7. “Why are the first five parts chosen for special contemplation?” [Unattractiveness] // [Ajahn Mun] [Sensual desire]
[Session] [Recollection/Death]
Reading: Nine point death meditation from the Lam Rim.
Reading: AN 6.19: Mindfulness of Death (1).
Reading: AN 6.20: Mindfulness of Death (2).
Reading: MN 10: Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, The Foundations of Mindfulness, Charnel ground contemplations.
Reading: “Only the Practice of Dharma Can Help Us at the Time of Death,” Larry Rosenberg, Tricycle, Summer 2000.
1. Comments by Beth Steff about the Lam Rim teachings. [Vajrayāna] [Bhikkhu Bodhi] [Recollection/Death]
Response by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo.
[Session] [Elements]
Reading: MN 10: Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, The Foundations of Mindfulness, Elements.
Reading: MN 62: Mahārāhulaovāda Sutta, The Greater Discourse of Advice to Rāhula.
Reading: “Wholehearted training” in Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, p. 635 (excerpt).
Reading: “Why Are We Here?” in Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, p. 131 (excerpt).
1. “Has there been discussion of getting a skeleton for Abhayagiri?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Unattractiveness] [Abhayagiri]
2. “Is it common for body contemplation to veer towards aversion?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Mindfulness of body] [Unattractiveness] [Aversion] [Elements] // [Translation] [Not-self] [Ajahn Chah]
Sutta: MN 62: Mahārāhulaovāda Sutta, The Greater Discourse of Advice to Rāhula.
2. “How can one be mindful of the beginning of thought?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Kaccāna and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Directed thought and evaluation] [Mindfulness] [Right Mindfulness] // [Appropriate attention] [Perception] [Proliferation]
Comments about observing proliferating thoughts. [Conditionality] [Right Effort] [Restlessness and worry] [Mindfulness of mind]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness of breathing] [Feeling]
Sutta: MN 118 Ānāpānasati Sutta.
3. “Why doesn’t the passage (SN 47.7) mention obsession with painful objects?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Desire] [Aversion] [Right Mindfulness]
7. Quote: “Do you still have anger?” “Yes, but I don’t take it.” — Ajahn Dune. Quoted by Debbie Stamp. [Ajahn Dune] [Aversion] [Right Mindfulness]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Arahant]
Follow-up: “Do we know if the Buddha had anger?” [Buddha] [Sutta]
Comment: Māra cam to the Buddha many times after the Buddha’s enlightenment. Contributed by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Māra] [Buddha/Biography]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Idealism] [Culture/West]
1. “How does cruelty differ from ill will?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Ill-will] // [Goodwill] [Compassion] [Right Mindfulness] [Concentration] [Right Effort]
Sutta: MN 19: Dvedhavitakka Sutta, Two Kinds of Thought.
3. “What are antidotes to the strained, tired mind?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Sloth and torpor] // [Directed thought and evaluation] [Skillful qualities] [Mindfulness of body] [Mindfulness of breathing]
Sutta: MN 19: Dvedhavitakka Sutta, Two Kinds of Thought.
2. “Does the consistency of vicara correlate with samadhi?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Directed thought and evaluation] [Concentration] // [Rapture] [Happiness] [One pointedness]
Sutta: MN 119: Simile of the bathman. [Similes]
2. “How does nirodha differ from arising and ceasing?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Cessation] [Impermanence] [Pāli] [Translation] // [P. A. Payutto] [Dependent origination]
7. Quote: “How do I get me some of that non-grasping stuff?” — Ajahn Sucitto. Quoted by Beth Steff. [Ajahn Sucitto] [Clinging] [Self-identity view] [Humor]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
Story: “Do I look macho?” Told by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Chithurst]
1. “Why does the Buddha describe perception in terms of colors but consciousness in terms of tastes?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Perception] [Consciousness] [Sense bases] // [Bhikkhu Bodhi] [Commentaries] [Ven. Analayo] [Memory] [Feeling]
Sutta: SN 22.79: Being Devoured; footnote 114 in Bhikkhu Bodhi translation.
Follow-up: “Could you say that perception is identification whereas consciousness is more refined?” [Aggregates] [Not-self] [Self-identity view] [Rebirth] [Translation] [Similes]
6. Comment comparing putting the mind towards the Deathless with Dzogchen practice. [Deathless] [Vajrayāna] [Emptiness] [Progress of insight]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Spiritual bypass]
8. “Do you have to emerge from jhāna to contemplate the characteristics of the aggregates?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Jhāna] [Insight meditation] [Aggregates] // [Mindfulness] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Knowing itself]
Sutta: AN 9.36: “Jhāna.”
Quote: “Contemplation gets really good when you stop thinking.” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Directed thought and evaluation]
1. Comments by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo contrasting the cannonical and commentarial approaches to breath meditation. [Sutta] [Commentaries] [Mindfulness of breathing] // [Ajahn Ṭhānissaro] [Pa Auk Sayadaw] [Culture/Sri Lanka] [Culture/Thailand] [Pāli] [Ajahn Pasanno]
Sutta: MN 44 identifies in-and-out breathing as the bodily fabrication/conditioner (saṅkhāra).
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]
2. “How should householders deal with sensual pleasure?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Lay life] [Sensual desire] // [Virtue] [Happiness] [Generosity] [Skillful qualities]
Comments by Ajahn Kaccāna, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno about similies for sensual pleasures found in MN 54 and MN 75. [Similes]
3. Comment: You can use objects like renunciation and lovingkindness to work towards deep meditation. [Concentration] [Renunciation] [Goodwill]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Gladdening the mind]
3. “Is seeing metaphysical principles the same as making something into a concept?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Nature of the cosmos] [Proliferation] // [Views]
Sutta: DN 1: Brahmajāla Sutta.
4. Comments: Sariputta didn’t get distracted in fourth jhāna to develop the psychic powers. [Great disciples] [Jhāna] [Psychic powers] [Concentration]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
[Session] [Mindfulness of mind] [Divine Abidings]
Reading: MN 10: Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, The Foundations of Mindfulness.
Reading: Right Mindfulness p. 132-133, 174-175, 137.
Reading: SN 42.8: “The Conch Blower.”
[Session] [Goodwill] [Recollection]
Reading: AN 11.15: “Loving Kindness.”
Reading: AN 11.11: “Mahānāma.”
1. Commentary on AN 11.11: “Mahānāma:” Using recollection to gladden and settle the mind. [Recollection] [Recollection/Buddha] [Recollection/Dhamma] [Recollection/Saṅgha] [Recollection/Virtue] [Recollection/Devas] [Gladdening the mind] [Calming meditation]
3. “How do you respond to the cynical inner voice when you recollect your own virtue?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Ṭhitapañño. [Recollection/Virtue] [Judgementalism] // [Ajahn Sucitto] [Habits] [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] [Culture/West] [Humor]
[Session] [Nibbāna]
Reading: Introduction to Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha p. 31-32 (quoted in The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 36-37).
Reading: The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 222-224, 30-31.
[Session] [Mindfulness of dhammas]
Reading: “Contemplation of Dhammas,” p. 182-183, 185, and “The Perceptual Process,” p. 222-223, 225-226 in Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization by Venerable Analayo.
Reading: Right Mindfulness p. 142-148.
[Session] [Mindfulness of feeling] [Feeling]
Reading: “The Perceptual Process,” p. 156-159 in Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization by Venerable Analayo.
Reading: MN 44: Cūḷavedalla Sutta, The Small Discourse Giving an Elaboration.
2. Examples of pleasures of renunciation? Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Happiness] [Renunciation] [Rapture] // [Skillful qualities]
Sutta: Ud 2.10: “Oh, what bliss!”
3. Examples of unworldly, unpleasant feelings? Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Feeling] [Suffering] [Skillful qualities] // [Sense restraint]
Sutta: MN 44: Cūḷavedalla Sutta.
4. Clarification of underlying tendencies to unworldly, pleasant feelings? Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Unwholesome Roots] [Happiness] [Feeling] // [Desire] [Craving]
6. Dhammadinnā foremost in...? [Great disciples] [Bhikkhunī] // [Teaching Dhamma]
7. Discussion about neutral feeling and delusion. Led by Beth Steff, Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Neutral feeling] [Delusion] [Suffering] // [Happiness]
8. Discussion about feeling, craving, self and kamma. Led by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Feeling] [Craving] [Self-identity view] [Kamma] // [Dependent origination]
Sutta: MN 18: Madhupiṇḍika Sutta, The Honeyball.
9. “Is the goal (Nibbāna) a thought-less state of mind?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Nibbāna] [Heart/mind] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Formless attainments] // [Cessation of Suffering] [Relinquishment] [Impermanence]
“Who is the only person who doesn’t think? An arahant? A Buddha?” “No. The only person who doesn’t think is a dead person.” – Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Arahant] [Buddha] [Death]
[Session] [Feeling]
Reading: SN 36.4: “The Bottomless Abyss.”
Reading: SN 36.6: “The Dart.”
Reading: MN 74: Dīghanakha Sutta, To Dıghanakha.
1. “Is the second dart the self we create around feelings?” [Self-identity view] [Feeling] // [Aversion]
2. “How is it that when one feels a pleasant feeling, one cannot feel an unpleasant or neutral feeling?” [Feeling] // [Consciousness] [Similes]
[Session] [Feeling]
Reading: SN 36.7: Gelañña Sutta, “The Sick Ward.”
Reading: SN 36.21: “Sivaka.”
Reading: “The End of Rebirth,” The Stillness of Being by Ajahn Viradhammo, p. 67-77.
1. Meaning of “will become cool right here?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Feeling] // [Characteristics of existence] [Knowledge and vision] [Nibbāna] [Pāli]
2. Discussion about kamma and the results of kamma. Led by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo, Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Kamma] [Conditionality] [Feeling] // [Abuse/violence] [Abhidhamma] [Ajahn Chah] [Vajrayāna] [Sickness] [Compassion] [Culture/India] [Equanimity] [Disasters] [Christianity]
Quote: “Too much Dhamma.” — Ajahn Buddhadāsa. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa]
Sutta: AN 4.77 Acinteyya: “Vexation or madness.”
Story: Ajahn Chah to Ajahn Munindo: “If it wasn’t supposed to be this way, it wouldn’t have been this way.” Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Munindo] [Self-pity]
Thai saying: “That’s as far as their merit takes them.” [Culture/Thailand] [Death] [Merit] [Thai]
[Session] [Proliferation] [Perception]
Reading: MN 18: Madhupiṇḍika Sutta, The Honeyball.
Reading: “Categorical Answers,” Skill in Questions by Ajahn Ṭhānissaro, p. 85.
Reading: AN 8.30: “Anuruddha.”
[Session] [Proliferation] [Perception]
Reading: MN 18: Madhupiṇḍika Sutta, The Honeyball.
Reading: “The Perceptual Process,” p. 222-223, 225-226 in Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization by Venerable Analayo.
1. Comparison of causality in MN 18 and dependent origination. [Conditionality] [Dependent origination] [Proliferation] [Perception] // [Similes] [Suffering]
2. Translation of phassapaññattiṃ paññāpessatīti (manifestation, delineation). Teaching by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo, Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Kaccāna. [Pāli] [Translation] [Proliferation] [Perception] // [Bhikkhu Bodhi] [Commentaries] [Ajahn Ṭhānissaro]
3. Comment: Dependent origination is not necessarily time-based. [Dependent origination] [Conditionality] [Proliferation] [Perception]
Response by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo.
4. “Can one sense-bases that starts the proliferation process lead to different sense-bases?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Sense bases] [Conditionality] [Proliferation] [Perception] // [Feeling] [Heart/mind]
5. Examples of signs and secondary characteristics of sense objects? Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Sense bases] [Proliferation] [Perception] // [Ven. Analayo] [Sensual desire] [Conditionality] [Food] [Appropriate attention]
Sutta: Thig 14.1: Subhā.
Comment about the feedback loop of perceptions looking for reinforcing perceptions. [Views] [Clinging]
Quote: “The underlying tendency to aversion is like a search engine.” — Ajahn Sucitto. Quoted by Beth Steff. [Ajahn Sucitto] [Aversion] [Similes]
1. “You showed pictures of the statue at Bodh Gaya. It seems like the Bodhi Tree is more important. Does the statue have no historical importance?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo, Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Bodhi Tree] [Buddha images] [Visiting holy sites] // [Devotional practice] [History/Early Buddhism] [History/Indian Buddhism] [Symbolism]
3. “Did pilgrimage continue during the time Buddhism was dormant or nonexistent in India?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [History/Indian Buddhism] [Visiting holy sites] // [History/Mahāyāna Buddhism]
Comment: It seems like the memory would have continued in Sri Lanka. [History/Sri Lankan Buddhism]
Response by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo.
4. “What is considered pilgrimage in the modern world? Going by train or bus?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Technology] [Travel] [Visiting holy sites] // [History/Thai Buddhism] [Ajahn Jayasaro] [Generosity] [Pace of life]
7. “What is the mileage from Lumbini to Bodh Gaya?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Visiting holy sites]
Quote: “One mile in India does not equal a mile in America.” — Ajahn Karuṇadhammo [Culture/India]
Reference: Rude Awakenings and Great Patient One by Ajahn Sucitto and Nick Scott.
8. “Is one of the benefits of being a monastic having to live up to people’s expectations?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Monastic life] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support] [Robes] [Buddhist identity] // [Conventions] [Christianity] [Idealism] [Culture/West] [Culture/Thailand]
17. “What is the right point to drop or ignore the desire to identify with the Buddhist identity?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Relinquishment] [Desire] [Self-identity view] [Buddhist identity] // [Suffering] [Perfectionism] [Clear comprehension] [Conventions] [Ajahn Chah] [Right Effort]
18. Story: A woman likes Buddhist teachings and principles, follows the precepts, and meditates, but hates when people identify with this and call themselves Buddhist. [Dhamma] [Precepts] [Meditation] [Aversion] [Buddhist identity] [Clinging] [Self-identity view]
1. “Could you clarify the difference between mindfulness and concentration?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Mindfulness] [Concentration] // [Nature of mind] [Pāli] [Translation]
Follow-up: “You said earlier that mindfulness always comes before concentration, but based on what you just defined, I would think it would be the opposite.” Aswered by Ajahn Pasanno.
1. “What do you do when things like knee pain arise?” [Meditation/General advice] [Pain] [Aversion] [Hindrances] // [Compassion]
2. “Is there ever a dominant hindrance, but then in the service of that, the mind picks up other hindrances?” [Aversion] [Hindrances] // [Sensual desire] [Sloth and torpor]
3. “Sometimes I just notice that the state that is there [a hindrance] is going to go away. Isn’t that a skillful way of looking at it?” [Impermanence] [Skillful qualities] [Hindrances] // [Clear comprehension] [Habits]
Sutta: MN 20: The Removal of Distracting Thoughts [Right Effort] [Similes]
4. “If a hindrance comes up, one thing to do is to acknowledge it and observe it, but on the other hand, one can bring up its opposite. Do you do either depending on what is needed? Sometimes when I bring up the opposite, it prevents me from seeing it.” [Sloth and torpor] [Right Effort] [Hindrances]
5. “Do you have any advice for obsessive thoughts, thinking the same thing again and again?” [Proliferation] [Hindrances] // [Investigation of states] [Mindfulness of body]