Emptiness (suññatā)
Parent topic: Characteristics of existence
11 excerpts, 44:37 total duration

All excerpts (11) Questions about (5) Answers involving (4) Readings (1) Texts (1)

Recollections of Ajahn Chah, Session 10Ajahn Pasanno – Sep. 19, 2010

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1. Reading: Beyond Doubt. [Doubt] [Ajahn Chah] // [Hearing the true Dhamma] [Teachers] [Buddha] [Spiritual search] [Relinquishment] [Present moment awareness] [Emptiness] [Characteristics of existence] [Conditionality] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma] [Liberation]


Brightening the Mind, Session 2Ajahn Yatiko – Aug. 19, 2012

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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]


Abhayagiri 2014 Winter Retreat, Session 40Ajahn Pasanno – Mar. 2, 2014

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5. “What is the difference between abandoning craving and realizing the abandoning of craving?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Impermanence] [Aggregates] [Cause of Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering] // [Commentaries] [Doubt] [Relinquishment] [Concentration] [Gladdening the mind] [Desire] [Becoming] [Right View]

Sutta: SN 56.11 Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. [Four Noble Truths]

Sutta: MN 121 Cūḷa Suññata Sutta: The Shorter Discourse on Emptiness [Emptiness]

Quote: “The characteristic of cessation is not just ending something and annihilating [it], but it's being willing and able to stop. The nature of the mind is that it doesn't like to stop. And it's [through] that not stopping that we keep creating that sense of me.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Cessation] [Nature of mind] [Self-identity view]


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 33Ajahn Pasanno – Feb. 22, 2015

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6. Comment by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo comparing putting the mind towards the Deathless with Dzogchen practice. [Deathless] [Vajrayāna] [Emptiness] [Progress of insight]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Spiritual bypass]


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 40Ajahn Pasanno – Mar. 3, 2015

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1. Commentary on MN 121: The Lesser Discourse on Emptiness. [Emptiness] [Relinquishment] [Theravāda] [Not-self]


2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 1Ajahn Pasanno – Nov. 21, 2015

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6. “What is the difference between piti and sukha? Also equanimity and emptiness as a felt sense?” [Rapture] [Happiness] [Equanimity] [Emptiness]


Love, Attachment, and Friendship, Session 3Ajahn Pasanno – Oct. 12, 2019

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5. “Is there a sutta about preferring the [forest] to the village, and then the bare earth, becoming more and more simple?” [Sutta] [Seclusion] [Simplicity] // [Emptiness] [Elements] [Relinquishment] [Generosity] [Goodwill]

Sutta: MN 121: The Lesser Discourse on Emptiness


Developing Skill in Reflective Meditation, Session 1Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo – Dec. 1, 2019

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4. “You mentioned 'Look for the gap.' Is this related to looking for fading away?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Insight meditation] [Dispassion] [Recollection] // [Cessation] [Cessation of Suffering] [Impermanence] [Faith]

Follow-up: “So we're not just looking at the blank...” [Wrong concentration] [Emptiness] [Nature of the cosmos] [Unwholesome Roots] [Not-self]


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5. “I recently went to a Zen gathering. My understanding is that they don't focus on the Four Noble Truths. They try to be present in the moment and get to some sort of no-mind state. How did this arise and why is it considered Buddhism?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Zen] [Four Noble Truths] [Present moment awareness] [History/Mahāyāna Buddhism] // [Emptiness] [Buddha]

Story: Ajahn Pasanno visits a Dzogchen master who says, "Whatever teachings you hear, if they don't fit into or fulfill the Four Noble Truths, then it's just not Buddhism." [Ajahn Pasanno] [Vajrayāna] [Hearing the true Dhamma]


Living in a Changing SocietyAjahn Pasanno and Ajahn Ñāṇiko – Aug. 23, 2020

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3. “If you get the mind empty, you get everything.' How to understand this?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Emptiness] // [Self-identity view]


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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]