Monks In Cyberspace

Bhante Sujato. Breath meditation. Dhamma talk on AN5.78 Future Perils (2nd), a text included in the list of most important suttas when the canon was first written down. Dicussion of Bhante's upcoming talk on Sunday "Not my tomorrow: reclaiming the future from the technofascists" on the set of beliefs held by many of the wealthy in Silicon Valley and now in the White House (the TESCREAL bundle of beliefs) - details on Lokanta website.

Bhante Sujato. Breath meditation. Dhamma talk on the beginning of DN16 Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, and the Buddha's advice to King Ajātasattu as a response to the US election.

Bhante Sujato. Breath meditation. Dhamma talk on DN5 Kūṭadanta Sutta in relation to the US election.

Bhante Sanatavihari. Mettā meditation. Dhamma talk on keeping it moving.

Bhante Sanathavihari. Mettā meditation. Dhamma talk on counselling and psychology, how to be a good counsellor. References: Dr Vanessa Sinclair - Rendering Unconscious, Bhante Punnaji - Buddha the Radical Shrink.

Bhante Sanathavihari. Mettā meditation. Dhamma talk on caring for those without a protector. References: Sarah Shaw - The Art of Listening

Bhante Sanathavihari. Mettā meditation. Dhamma talk on death and helping those who are grieving.

Bhante Sanathavihari. Meditation on the breath. Dhamma talk on the mind in Buddhism. References: Some of Bhante Punnaji's works in translation, Padmasra De Silva - Introduction to Buddhist Psychology

Bhante Sanathavihari. Meditation on inner mettā. Dhamma talk on practicing mettā in your life, not holding on to what others do to you. Expanding your mettā field.

Bhante Sanathavihari. Meditation on metta. Dhamma talk on the four kinds of people, from darkness to light, from darkness to darkness, from light to light.

Bhante Sanathavihari. Meditation on friendliness towards all beings. Dhamma talk on finding harmony between all the Buddhist traditions.

Bhante Sanathavihari. Meditation on the breath. Dhamma talk on identity. he loosening of the self as something that happens from the beginning of the path, that we are quite different people as we age. Discussion of the the khandas, threatening-ness of identity, the definition of sati-sampojañña.

Bhante Sanathavihari. Meditation on mettā. Dhamma talk on the mind moving. Discussion of 6th patriarch of Zen Hui Neng's decision to go forth, Ataloka Dhammas; the eight worldly vicissitudes.

Bhante Sanathavihari. Meditation on mettā. Dhamma talk on what it means to go to refuge to the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha. What is a sammasambuddha? What does it mean to be awakened? The three knowledges: seeing past lives, the action of kamma, and destruction of the asavas. Reaching awakening while non-monastic. Q+A: How to talk about Buddhism to non-Buddhists, what is the taint of delusion? How to have faith in things you haven't seen yourself?

Ayya Karunika. Meditation on awareness of the body and breath. Dhamma talk on non-self, illness and getting angry.

Giles Barton. Dhamma talk on suffering, keeping things inside, stories about Bodhinyana, mindfulness.

Brother Pháp Hải. Meditation on the first four Anāpānasati excercises. Dhamma talk on Silk Road Buddhism, the introduction of Ānāpānasati Sutta to China from Baghdad, and the Gandharan fragments/community. Dicussion of Vietnamese Zen teachers and teachings and who illuminates the forest?. References: Mountain Spring Monastery in Bilpin, NSW, MN32 Mahāgosiṅga Sutta, MN118 Anapanasati Sutta

Bhante Sujato. Mettā meditation. Dhamma talk on fear and stories about other monastics, among other Q and A questions. Last talk from Bhante Sujato for the year.

Bhante Sujato. Mettā meditation. Dhamma talk on climate change/global chaos. References: 1989 global warming projections, Volcaholic thread on flooding events

Bhante Sujato. Meditation as not being optimised for input-output efficiency. Dhamma talk on intergenerational influence/trauma and trauma in general.

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on letting the breath come to you. Dhamma talk on a range of Q and A questions: stopping thoughts about the past, why do we sometimes feel anger after metta meditation or after a retreat, if you can't stay focused on the breath for long, what is a good meditation to do instead? Do all defilements arise from a wrong view? How can an impermanent not-self has a connection with another impermanent not-self that carries on from one existence to another?

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on pleasantness of the breath. Dhamma talk on Baka the Divinity (Brahma), from the eighth stanza of the Jaya-maṅgala Gāthā. The Buddha's visit to Baka the Divinity and Māra in MN49 On the Invitation of Divinity and its links to MN1 The Root of All Things. References: Roko's basilisk (Wikipedia), Roberto Calasso - Ardor (goodreads)

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath. Dhamma talk on Nandopanda the serpent elder, from the seventh stanza of the Jaya-maṅgala Gāthā. Readings from recounting of this Jataka story by Buddhagossa in the Visuddhimagga BPS edition 2010 pages 1055-1060. Discussion of how to read such magical stories mythologically as signs rather than just symbols.

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath. Dhamma talk on Saccaka part 2, continuing the last part of MN35 Shorter Discourse with Saccaka and MN36 from the sixth stanza of the Jaya-maṅgala Gāthā.

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath. Dhamma talk on Saccaka who argued with the Buddha in MN35 Shorter Discourse with Saccaka from the sixth stanza of the Jaya-maṅgala Gāthā. Saccaka as an early 'troll' figure. MN35's elaboration of the argument in the cardinal sutta Characteristic on Non-self that having a self implies control.

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the growth of the mind, letting the breath do its work. Dhamma talk on sexual assault and accusations of sexual assault in the vinaya/suttas. Discussion of Udana 4.8 With Sundari, a similar story to that of Ciñcā which is found in the Jātakas in the fifth stanza of the Jaya-maṅgala Gāthā. Discussion of the monks' rule on believing a woman without a monk's confession, so-called "Aniyata Rules".

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the mind healing itself, control and progres as natural; dhammata. Dhamma talk on the Aṅgulimāla Sutta, from the fourth stanza of the Jaya-maṅgala Gāthā .

Bhante Sujato. Meditation as something you achieve, just nature bringing us to peace. Dhamma talk on Nāḷāgiri the elephant who attacked the Buddha under the direction of Devadatta, from the third stanza of the Jaya-maṅgala Gāthā. Readings from the Theravada Vinaya Khandhaka 17 The chapter on schism in the Sangha. The way Devadatta was dealth with by the Buddha and the scripture's description of some of his behaviour and motivations.

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on mindfulness of the breath. Dhamma talk on Ālavaka the Yakkha from the second stanza of the Jaya-maṅgala Gāthā. Alavaka's role as a local deity, the local deities that people erected shrines to and the role Buddhism had in stopping ritual sacrifice as seen in the gentleness and conversion of Ālavaka in Ālavaka Sutta. Around 20 minutes of recording was missed, on the Chinese Dhammapada on Ālavaka (Page 215).

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on letting the breath calm you down. Dhamma talk on peace and war, with reference to the genocide in Gaza. First in a series of talks discussing each stanza of the Jaya-maṅgala Gāthā which will be discussed throughout this year's Rains. 'Slave to craving' in Raṭṭhapālasutta as a reference to waging war.

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on distractions/attention. Dhamma talk on the third noble truth. Discussion of the end of desire and delusion, the three types of suffering: painful feelings (dukkha dukkha), the suffering of change (viparinama dukkha), the suffering of not-nibbāna (sankhara dukkha).

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath and contentment, cause and effect. Dhamma talk on a range of Q&A questions: Is it advisable to sctively change the breath? MN135 and the idea of getting rich in a future life via your deeds, manifesting, synchronicity and conspirituality, free will vs determinism.

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on leaning back from the breath and control. Dhamma talk on the four iddhipadas: chanda (enthusiasm), viriya (energy), citta (consciousness), vīmaṁsā (investigation).

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on investigating causes and qualities rather than only a method. Dhamma talk on Rohitassa Sutta SN2.26. The many layers of meaning in this sutta that are not immediately obvious. The relationship of this sutta's definition of the world to the rays of the sun, the noble truth of suffering, lights. Other References: SN35.116 Lokantagamana Sutta, SN 46.33 Upakkilesa Sutta, Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad S.3 Verse 4.3.2

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on finding rapture to keep your meditation going. Dhamma talk on Poson day and the foundations of all traditions being the same, with reference to the time of Ashoka's missions. Discussion of the reliability of various records, the different positions of early sects.

Bhante Sujato. How to approach pain in meditation. Dhamma talk on Bhante's new discovery and new translation of Udāna 1.4 The Mysic Syllable Huṁ. Huṁ is the syllable at the end of the famous chant Oṃ maṇi padme hūṁ, and the first person who the Buddha spoke to after his enlightenment was a Brahmin priest who was a reciter of this syllable. Discussion of its role as the 13th stobha in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad. Other References: D&D Essay: On the brahmin who said "huṁ" by Bhante Sujato, Mahākhandhaka chapter 2 translated by Ajahn Brahmali

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath. Dhamma talk on merit.

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath. Dhamma talk on the SuttaCentral Pirivena Project to sponsor English translations printed for the Pirivenas (schools for monastics in Sri Lanka). Discussion of the historical work and carefulness preserving the tradition. Discussion of how much we all owe to these early traditions, which may be easy to forget. Brief discussion on skeptical/reform movements who can variously dismiss things from the tradition or revitalise them.

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on keeping your meditation simple. Dhamma talk on 5474 - the five hindrances, four mindfulness meditations, seven awakening factors, and four noble truths - an inference made by venerable Sāriputta on the qualities of all historical Buddhas in SN47.12 Nālandasutta.

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on sharpness of knowing. Dhamma talk on the Buddha's life (part three); the first Buddhists, found in the Theravada Vinaya in the first Khandhaka - Mahākhandhaka / The Great Chapter. Readings of the verses of exclamation and how each went for refuge.

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on purification of the mind and doing as few things as possible. Dhamma talk on part two of the Buddha's life covering the Buddha's practices before his enlightenment, focusing on self-mortifications and MN19 Two Kinds of Thought and MN128 Corruptions. References: Earliest example of sunk cost fallacy: DN23#29.1 Pāyāsisutta

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath and feeling. Dhamma talk on the Buddha's birth, early life and renunciation, given Vesak is approaching. Discussion of the Buddha going into jhana as a child, and a reading of the start of the Attadaṇḍa Sutta (Taking Up Arms).

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on how you look at your breath. Dhamma talk on Snp4.4 Suddhaṭṭhakasutta (Eight on the Pure).

Bhante Sujato. Mettā meditation and discussion of Simon (Bhante Akāliko)'s recent disrobing. Brief talk on some things learned at the digital Buddhism conference Bhante Sujato is currently attending in Taiwan. Resources mentioned: Chan scholar Christian Wittern's Web Space

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath, natural state of peace. Dhamma talk on consciousness and the relationship of nāmarūpa (name and form) to viññana (consciousness). Discussion of consciousness as subtle, in deeper meditation, differences with Yajnavalkya's definition.

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the bright breath. Dhamma talk on MN43. Discussion of Venerable Sāriputta's and Venerable Mahākoṭṭhita's dialogue on the relationship between wisdom and consciousness, which they do with reference to the jhanas. Definitions of yonisomanasikāra; the three uses of the word 'yoniso'. Right view being supported by ethics, learning, discussion, serenity, and discernment.

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on letting go. Dhamma talk on rebirth and different perspectives on rebirth. Discussion of Jain understandings of rebirth, annihalationist views, .

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath. Dhamma talk on ethics. Discussion of precepts and their role, comparisons with Western ethics and utilitarianism.

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath. Dhamma talk on each of the five faculties: faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom. Some definitions taken from SN48.9. Wisdom as the "thumb" that holds the others together.

Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the breath. Dhamma talk on compassion and leadership.