Part of key topic The Four Noble Truths
Also a subtag of Mindfulness of dhammas and Gradual Teaching
Subtags: Noble Truth of Suffering, Cause of Suffering, Cessation of Suffering, Path to the Cessation of Suffering
50 excerpts, 3:05:29 total duration
“Could you describe the detail of the four noble truths? What are they? How do we apply them to real modern lives?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Four Noble Truths ] // [Suffering] [Sense restraint] [Conditionality] [Self-identity view]
Thanksgiving Retreat 2016, Session 4, Excerpt 8
“His way of teaching was direct....He would use the essential teaching of the Buddha, the Four Noble Truths.” Recollection by Ajahn Sumedho. [Teaching Dhamma] [Four Noble Truths ] [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Sumedho] // [Noble Truth of Suffering] [Human] [Culture/Thailand] [Ageing] [Sickness] [Death] [Spiritual traditions] [Self-identity view]
Quote: “It’s the suffering that awakens you.” — Ajahn Chah. [Suffering] [Liberation]
Remembering Ajahn Chah Weekend (2001), Session 16, Excerpt 4
“On ‘The Discourse on Setting in Motion the Wheel of The Dhamma,’ toward the end it says, ‘my knowledge and vision of reality of regarding the Four Noble Truths, in their three phases and twelve aspects.’ What are the ‘three phases and twelve aspects?’ Thanks for your teachings.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Four Noble Truths ]
Sutta: SN 22.22: Dhammacakkappavattanasutta (Chanting Book translation)
4. “His way of teaching was direct....He would use the essential teaching of the Buddha, the Four Noble Truths.” Recollection by Ajahn Sumedho. [Teaching Dhamma] [Four Noble Truths ] [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Sumedho] // [Noble Truth of Suffering] [Human] [Culture/Thailand] [Ageing] [Sickness] [Death] [Spiritual traditions] [Self-identity view]
Quote: “It’s the suffering that awakens you.” — Ajahn Chah. [Suffering] [Liberation]
16. Quote: “The Eightfold Path is here within us. Two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, a tongue, and a body.” — Ajahn Chah. Quoted by Jack Kornfield. [Ajahn Chah] [Eightfold Path] [Sense bases] // [Heart/mind] [Buddha] [Dhamma] [Four Noble Truths]
3. “As an abbot taking care of a community, how do you handle it when a kerfluffle comes up?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Abbot] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Community] [Conflict ] // [Patience] [Views] [Skillful qualities] [Four Noble Truths]
Follow-up: “What are the antidotes to the next two Noble Truths?” [Four Noble Truths]
3. Comment: In the practice, we use gladdening the mind to balance the preception of suffering. [Gladdening the mind] [Noble Truth of Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering] [Recollection]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Four Noble Truths]
3. “I’ve heard that devas and brahmas aren’t able to become enlightened. Is that right?” Answered by Ajahn Yatiko and Ajahn Pasanno. [Liberation] [Deva] [Recollection/Devas] // [Delusion] [Heedlessness] [Sutta] [Great disciples] [Four Noble Truths]
Sutta: SN 56.11: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta
Story: Ajahn Sudanto’s pūjā on Mount Hood. [Pacific Hermitage] [Ajahn Sudanto] [Pūjā] [Culture/Natural environment] [Merit] [Goodwill]
3. “How does one look at intention?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Yatiko. [Volition] [Right Intention] // [Four Noble Truths] [Discernment] [Delusion]
Quote: “Sometimes you don’t want to look at intention too closely because you’ll convince yourself of anything.” — Ajahn Pasanno.
7. Comments about the role of heaven as a haven in the practice. [Deva] [Faith] [Three Refuges] [Four Noble Truths] [Gradual Teaching]
8. “How do we know when to ask for directions on the path as opposed to just continuing farther? What would we ask?” Answered by Ajahn Yatiko. [Questions] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma] [Gradual Teaching] // [Suffering] [Discernment] [Conditionality] [Faith]
Sutta: SN 12.23: Suffering is the cause of faith.
Follow-up: “What about when things are pleasant, but we’re not headed in the right direction?” [Happiness] [Mindfulness] [Deva] [Relinquishment]
Sutta: MN 75: Simile of the leper. [Similes]
Sutta: SN 56.35: Stream entry after 100 years. [Stream entry] [Four Noble Truths]
5. “What is the role of emotion in our practice?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Emotion] [Feeling] // [Faith] [Compassion] [Generosity] [Four Noble Truths] [Relinquishment] [Discernment]
11. “Once I aspired to open my mind beyond this conditioned world. Now I mostly try to be at ease with my limitations. Am I mistargeting something important?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Stages of awakening] [Unconditioned] [Contentment] // [Idealism] [Four Noble Truths]
10. “Where do the Brahma-Viharas fit into the 4 Noble Truths?’” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Four Noble Truths] [Divine Abidings ] // [Eightfold Path] [Right Intention]
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] [Non-return] [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]
21. “How do you not objectify this awareness?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Knowing itself] [Mindfulness] [Proliferation] // [Four Noble Truths] [Suffering] [Relinquishment] [Investigation of states]
Quote: “If you objectify awareness, you’re going to suffer.” [Nature of mind]
Quote: “These Four Noble Truths are not an endpoint, they are something that you’re internalizing and using in your meditation practice and in your daily life.” [Four Noble Truths] [Meditation] [Everyday life]
22. The values of the Thai Forest Tradition. Teaching by Ajahn Pasanno. [Thai Forest Tradition ] // [Knowing itself] [Mindfulness] [Recollection/Buddha] [Four Noble Truths] [Ajahn Chah] [Ajahn Tate] [Ajahn Mun] [Heart/mind] [Three Refuges]
Quote: “Pay attention to the difference between the mind and the objects of mind.” — Ajahn Mun. [Nature of mind] [Moods of the mind] [Discernment]
27. “Ajahn Amaro writes about transforming the energy of sense contact into compassion and metta. How does this work?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Amaro] [Contact] [Compassion] [Goodwill] // [Aversion] [Relinquishment] [Four Noble Truths] [Happiness]
29. “The Buddha teaches to end suffering, but from the ordinary person’s view, cultivating the practices of forest monks is also suffering. Who is right?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Buddha] [Suffering] [Ascetic practices] // [Four Noble Truths] [Faith] [Investigation of states] [Happiness] [Feeling]
Quote: “The teaching of the Buddha isn’t about language....The teaching of the Buddha is the language of experience.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Language] [Dhamma] [Direct experience]
8. “A scientist—popular, interesting—said as parting shot to his audience, ‘don’t trust the senses,’ i.e., we’d still think the world flat, and that the sun actually rises and sets, if we trusted the sensory world. Your thoughts on clear comprehension via ‘sense-doors?’ The ‘just-rightness’ of it all. I wonder if we still thought the world flat and the sun to rise whether we might care for it better.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sense bases] [Science] [Clear comprehension] // [Ignorance] [Four Noble Truths] [Perception]
Sutta: Ud 3.10: “However one conceives it, it will always be other than that.”
1. “On ‘The Discourse on Setting in Motion the Wheel of The Dhamma,’ toward the end it says, ‘my knowledge and vision of reality of regarding the Four Noble Truths, in their three phases and twelve aspects.’ What are the ‘three phases and twelve aspects?’ Thanks for your teachings.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Four Noble Truths ]
Sutta: SN 22.22: Dhammacakkappavattanasutta (Chanting Book translation)
8. “Perception can be very slippery. I experience it as a veil, view, filter, or lens that colors a situation. The traditional Buddhist teaching of, ‘tinted glasses’ and ‘bowls of water,’ is very helpful. However, if identification is strong, I won’t see it. Do you have suggestions for how to see through perception? How to know when it is coloring my world view?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Perception ] [Self-identity view] [Delusion] // [Nature of mind] [Four Noble Truths] [Aggregates]
Sutta: MN 44: “Conjoined not disjoined.”
22. “I would like to add studying to my practice. I’d like to learn more of the fundamental lists. Would you recommend a book or two for starters? Thank you for your generosity of spirit.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Learning ] // [Four Noble Truths] [Ajahn Sumedho]
Reference: Word of the Buddha by Ñāṇatiloka Mahāthera
Reference: Noble Eightfold Path: The Way to End Suffering by Bhikkhu Bodhi
Reference: In the Buddha’s Words by Bhikkhu Bodhi (Commercial)
3. “The Buddha didn’t answer the question, ‘Is there a self?’ But this question seems more important than other questions he didn’t answer. How should we relate to not-self?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Buddha/Biography] [Questions] [Not-self ] // [Teaching Dhamma] [Feeling] [Relinquishment] [Self-identity view] [Four Noble Truths] [Views]
5. “Do we have any control over the arising of desire?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Volition] [Desire] // [Cause of Suffering] [Relinquishment] [Four Noble Truths] [Cessation of Suffering] [Cessation] [Pāli]
5. “Is jhāna only in meditation?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Meditation] [Jhāna] // [Right Concentration]
Quote: “Only farangs [Westerners] go into meditation rock climbing! Does he contemplate the Four Noble Truths?” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Culture/West] [Recreation/leisure/sport] [Four Noble Truths] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Relinquishment]
5. “Is the purpose of jhāna aand meditation to build up the strength of the mind so we will be able to contemplate the Four Noble Truths?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Meditation] [Heart/mind] [Four Noble Truths] [Jhāna] // [Calming meditation] [Insight meditation]
Sutta: AN 4.170: In Conjunction
1. “In working with the Four Noble Truths, to understand suffering, does the Buddha mean knowing for instance the pain in your heart, the stress around your eyes, or does he also mean to see with insight its karmic effect on yourself and others?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Four Noble Truths] [Noble Truth of Suffering] [Kamma] // [Suffering] [Pāli] [Happiness]
4. “Could you talk more about the two levels of understanding the true nature of karma: mundane and transcendent?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Kamma] [Conventions] [Unconditioned] // [Right View ] [Four Noble Truths] [Impermanence] [Conditionality]
Quote: “Outside of cause, beyond effect; outside of suffering, beyond happiness.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah]
7. “Can you give a concrete description of how you recollect or contemplate? What’s going on in your mind while you do it? What resources or mental formations do you use?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Recollection] // [Learning] [Four Noble Truths] [Right Effort] [Directed thought and evaluation]
Quote: “The most effective contemplation takes place when the mind is still.” [Tranquility]
9. “I like the translations ‘conscience’ and ‘concern’ for hiri and otappa. Having done unskillful actions in the past that create suffering, and being aware of the tendency to personalize, how can it be over and done?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Treasures] [Conscience and prudence ] [Unskillful qualities] [Suffering] [Kamma] [Self-identity view] // [Four Noble Truths] [Divine Abidings]
Quote: “As a human being, I have the opportunity to learn from the past and move on to skillful action in the future. I don’t have to be like a dog that barfs stuff up and goes back and eats it again.” — Ajahn Pasanno. [Human] [Learning] [Skillful qualities] [Similes]
Quote: “The not-self refrain, ‘This is not me, this is not mine, this is not what or who I am,’ is not an abdication of responsibility but an understanding, ‘This is the way I can put things down and move on, move past the things that are still creating suffering.’” — Ajahn Pasanno. [Not-self] [Relinquishment]
Suttas: SN 42.8 The Conch Blower; AN 3.100: A Lump of Salt.
10. “What is a good balance between listening to Dhamma and practicing more deeply? How long should one keep one’s practices, and when to expand or shink them?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Hearing the true Dhamma] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma] [Determination] // [Four Noble Truths] [Direct experience] [Ajahn Chah] [Dhamma books] [Mindfulness of mind] [Learning]
14. “Could you comment on the tendency to use one aspect of the teaching to bypass another?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Spiritual bypass] // [Four Noble Truths] [Recollection/Dhamma] [Relinquishment]
Quote: “With some things, letting go means you’re willing to commit to hard work, and other times you’re willing to put down what is burdensome.” [Ardency]
5. “Could you speak on working with sañña in meditation? Over these days there is an experience of heightened sensitivity to perception and the initial contact that gives rise to thought and feeling. In particular, I notice how an inaccurate perception, seen as inaccurate, gives rise to thought formations that move forward as if based on an accurate perception. This moves fast in the mind feels somewhat trippy and disorienting. How does one develop the skill of sensitivity and perception so as to have durability in daily life?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Perception] [Dependent origination] [Everyday life] [Directed thought and evaluation] // [Suffering] [Four Noble Truths]
Sutta: MN 18: Madhupiṇḍika Sutta
7. “As I get deeper insights how conditioned the mind is, there is a sense of burden being released but also a doubt began to arise: If the mind is conditioned, how is it even possible to arrive at the Unconditioned? Does free will even exist or am I just pushed around by kilesas? If the trick is to recognize that there is no free will, how can I sincerely believe that when I’m making choices to practice and do wholesome deeds, they really matter and it’s not my delusion? Please dispel my doubts!” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Nature of mind ] [Doubt] [Unconditioned] [Delusion] // [Four Noble Truths] [Self-identity view] [Questions] [Conditionality]
8. “Could you describe the detail of the four noble truths? What are they? How do we apply them to real modern lives?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Four Noble Truths ] // [Suffering] [Sense restraint] [Conditionality] [Self-identity view]
9. “Was sati, vedana, jhana part of the religious climate current at the Buddha’s time? How revolutionary was he seen to be then? Do we know?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [History/Early Buddhism] [Buddha/Biography] [Mindfulness] [Feeling] [Jhāna] // [Four Noble Truths] [Aggregates] [Culture/India ] [Kamma] [Volition]
3. Comment: Our group talked about what we use to deal with our thoughts, the Four Noble Truths, and perfectionism. [Four Noble Truths] [Directed thought and evaluation]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno: “You can’t go wrong by coming back to the Four Noble Truths.” [Four Noble Truths]
Simile: The footprint of all animals fit within the footprint of an elephant. In the same way, all the teachings of the Buddha will fit into the Four Noble Truths. — Sariputta, MN 28 [Four Noble Truths] [Similes] [Teaching Dhamma] [Great disciples]
4. Comment: Our group talked about our suffering, the kind of thoughts that we’re laboring under, the nature of obsessive and addictive thoughts, and how these teachings might help us choose freedom. [Suffering] [Addiction] [Liberation] [Directed thought and evaluation]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness of body] [Four Noble Truths]
4. “Is there a way to skillfully form and investigate opinions about the world in terms of Right View?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Kaccāna. [Views] [Right View] // [Four Noble Truths] [Suffering] [Conditionality] [Proliferation]
Follow-up: “What happens when we see that another person’s view causes suffering and pain?” [Communal harmony]
9. “When the suttas describe a practitioner as “having gone beyond doubt,” (e.g. DN 3) what do they mean?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Doubt] [Sutta] // [Four Noble Truths] [Teaching Dhamma] [Ajahn Chah]
Story: An Ajahn Chah monk accused of a heavy offense. [Vinaya]
1. “How can those just entering monastic life lay a good foundation?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Monastic life] // [Vinaya] [Right View] [Ajahn Chah] [Virtue] [Stream entry] [Four Noble Truths] [Kamma] [Generosity] [Greed] [Communal harmony] [Happiness] [Gratitude]
Sutta: SN 55.1: Sīla of a stream enterer
Sutta: MN 117: The Great Forty
4. “Is the fourth foundation of mindfulness as simple as, for example, with the third foundation I identify aversion, and then in the fourth foundation I identify aversion as a hindrance?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness of dhammas] [Mindfulness of mind] // [Āgama] [Sutta] [Hindrances] [Four Noble Truths] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Progress of insight]
Suttas: MN 10: Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta; MN 118: Ānāpānasati Sutta [Right Mindfulness]
Reference: Satipaṭṭhāna Perspectives by Bhante Analayo (commercial)
5. “Could you please address judgement and discernment?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Judgementalism] [Discernment ] // [Self-identity view] [Skillful qualities] [Four Noble Truths] [Culture/West] [Impermanence] [Conditionality]
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] [Four Noble Truths]
1. “How do I put the Four Noble Truths into practice in daily life?” Answered by Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Four Noble Truths] [Everyday life] // [Discernment] [Suffering] [Noble Truth of Suffering] [Cause of Suffering]
6. “A question about Dogenji’s teaching: ‘To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of enlightenment remains, and this no trace continues endlessly.’ Can you reflect on this teaching from the Theravāda Thai Forest Teachings?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Dōgen] [Zen ] [Eightfold Path] [Not-self] [Liberation] [Theravāda] [Thai Forest Tradition] // [Teaching Dhamma] [Knowledge and vision] [Four Noble Truths] [Self-identity view] [Relinquishment] [Aggregates] [Proliferation] [Discernment] [Compassion]
Quote: “Everything is teaching us. Everything is a manifestation of Dhamma and truth.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Dhamma] [Truth] [Suchness]
12. “Is the ‘knowing’ awareness, presence, consciousness? Can you say more about this?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Knowing itself] [Consciousness] [Nature of mind] // [Mindfulness of breathing] [Knowledge and vision] [Four Noble Truths] [Heart/mind] [Sense bases]
10. Principle of Cordiality #6: Core aspects of Right View that lead to communal harmony: Our actions have consequences. We can change. Liberation is possible. Teaching by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Principles of Cordiality] [Right View] [Saṅgha] [Kamma] [Communal harmony] [Right Effort] [Liberation] // [Judgementalism] [Habits] [Four Noble Truths]
Sutta: MN 48: Kosambi Sutta.
2. “I have a family and family responsibilities. How do I know I’m on the path and making right effort?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Family] [Right Effort] [Doubt] // [Four Noble Truths] [Culture/West] [Mindfulness of feeling] [Direct experience]
3. “How do I know what is the Middle Path?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Middle Path] // [Four Noble Truths] [Direct experience]
Quote: “It’s not a concept. It’s like are you on your bike or are you on the ground?” — Ajahn Amaro.
9. “It’s understandable that we crave happiness through the senses. Attaching to a certain type of happiness through the senses is not helpful for cultivation. But there’s also the emphasis on joy in the Buddha’s teachings. So there should be a balance, and where to find that?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Sense bases] [Sensual desire] [Happiness] [Gladdening the mind] // [Four Noble Truths]
Quote: “All the elements of the path are a source of happiness and well-being.” [Eightfold Path]
Follow-up: “What about the joy that comes from enjoying sensual things like music, painting, scents, and water?” [Artistic expression] [Beauty] [Clinging] [Spaciousness]
19. “When one moves through the world with compassion and lovingkindness, how does one avoid feeling depleted? In a world of ‘individuals,’ most take more than they give and to always be giving can be exhausting.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Compassion] [Goodwill] [Selfishness] [Generosity] [Depression] // [Not-self] [Four Noble Truths] [Cause of Suffering]
Quote: “When we are attentive to freedom from suffering, there’s an inexhaustible well of goodness there.” [Cessation of Suffering] [Skillful qualities]