Ajahn Pasanno   → Books by Ajahn Pasanno→ Tag [Ajahn Pasanno]
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Thanksgiving Retreat 2012, Session 8 – Nov. 24, 2012

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1. “It seems that little is written about love in Buddhist texts, at least compared to other traditions. Am I missing something?” [Sutta] [Goodwill] // [Clinging ] [Cause of Suffering] [Emotion] [Divine Abidings]

Sutta: MN 87: Piyajātika Sutta.


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2. “A few years ago on the Metta Retreat, you taught a phrase that you use in your practice, ‘May I have the patience, courage, understanding, and determination to face and overcome obstacles, difficulties, and failures in life.’ Please speak on how you use this phrase in practice.” [Ajahn Pasanno] [Goodwill] // [Bhante Gunaratana]

Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 41: Reflection on Universal Well-Being.


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3. “What is the antidote to the mind’s tendency to overestimate [and] overinterpret one’s experiences?” [Meditation/Results] // [Suffering]


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4. “I feel like I keep having the same insight into not-self from slightly different angles. It seems like a big deal at the moment, but when I think about it later, I realize that I already knew that. Is this normal or am I just slow?” [Insight meditation] [Not-self]


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5. “To my Western mind, the words ‘mental objects’, ‘objectification,’ ‘mental fabrications,’ and so on do not help to clarify what I simply call thinking. I understand an aspect of meditation as a means to stopping thinking, stopping the internal dialogue, putting an end to discursive thought, yet the English word thinking is rarely used by the Ajahns. Could you expand on the difference between thinking and Tan Geoff’s use of the word objectifications?” [Volitional formations] [Directed thought and evaluation ] [Proliferation] [Tranquility] [Ajahn Ṭhānissaro] // [Jhāna]


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6. “With your instruction and the slowing down of my mind on retreat, I’ve been able to allow the proliferation of thought to subside. However, the release of emotion is another story, as it resides in the body and is not so easily released. I can’t go to the body because the emotion is there, and I can’t go to the mind, because those thoughts will feed the emotion. Any suggestions on where to go next? Even wholesome reflection seems to feed the emotional state.” [Proliferation] [Emotion ] [Body/form ] [Mindfulness of body] [Recollection] // [Neutral feeling] [Nature of mind] [Self-identity view]

Quote: “Recognize that the body and emotion are not the same thing.”


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7. “Would you speak about the place of vipassanā in walking meditation?” [Insight meditation] [Posture/Walking] // [Recollection]

Simile from Ajahn Chah: You learn to write in school, but you don’t need to go back to the school to write a letter. [Ajahn Chah] [Meditation] [Everyday life ] [Similes]


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8. “The three things you mentioned this morning that obscure seeing the Three Characteristics—continuity, posture, and all-in-oneness—are these described in the suttas?” [Characteristics of existence] [Sutta] // [Commentaries]

Commentary: Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, p. 667.


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9. “What happened to Wat Keun after Ajahn Puriso left?” [Wat Keuan] [Ajahn Puriso] // [Ajahn Boon Choo] [Ajahn Liem] [Wat Pah Pong]


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10. “What happened to Por Pon, the Wat Pah Pong majordomo from Bung Wai Village?” [Lay supporters] [Wat Pah Pong] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Family] [Ajahn Chah]


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11. “What happened to Yom Manoon?” [Lay supporters] // [Ajahn Chah]


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12. “If you had to pick one of the following, which one would be more important: Understanding/insight into kamma or understanding/insight into anicca?” [Knowledge and vision] [Kamma] [Impermanence] // [Liberation] [Teaching Dhamma]

Sutta: AN 6.63.33: Kamma formulated in the pattern of the Four Noble Truths. [Four Noble Truths]


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13. “Can you please explain the fetter of attachment to rites and rituals? How does this relate to the beautiful monastic chanting and other rituals? Does it have applications in lay life?” [Attachment to precepts and practices] [Fetters] [Chanting] [Ceremony/ritual] [Lay life]


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14. “As is usual when on retreat, the desire to reordain arises. However, it is understood that one must be free of debt before ordaining. Does this also include student loans from the government? Also, when reordaining, with whom should one do so if one has multiple teachers? Should it be with the most senior? Is there any protocol in this? Also, papiap and kneeling are not possible for any real duration. Is this a problem?” [Ordination] [Commerce/economics] [Monastic teachers] [Posture/Sitting] // [Monastic life] [Abhayagiri]


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15. “I’ve always felt a draw to the Fire Sermon (SN 35.28). Could you expound a bit more on this teaching?” [Sutta ] [Teaching Dhamma] // [Sense bases] [Similes] [Unwholesome Roots] [Disenchantment] [Buddha/Biography] [Insight meditation]

The three cardinal suttas give different frameworks for investigation:

Sutta: SN 56.11: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta; Amaravati Chanting Book Volume 2, p. 2. [Four Noble Truths]

Sutta: SN 22.59: Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta; Amaravati Chanting Book Volume 2, p. 14. [Not-self] [Aggregates]

Sutta: SN 35.28: Ādittapariyāya Sutta; Amaravati Chanting Book Volume 2, p. 24.


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17. “From reading about or hearing talks and stories of some of the great Thai Forest masters, its seems that many of them were particularly fascinated pre-enlightenment with a single Dhamma principle. They then intensely investigated said principle almost like a Zen koan until they entered the stream. Was the Dhamma koan the cause of their stream entry or was triggering it just part of the greater process?” [Thai Forest Tradition] [Koan] [Stream entry] [Conditionality] // [Desire] [Insight meditation]


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19. “I’ve forgotten the sutta number and name when the Buddha changes the eating to not after midday for the monastics.” [Eating after noon] [Sutta] // [Buddha/Biography]

Sutta: MN 66: The Simile of the Quail.


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 5 – Jan. 14, 2013

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1. “If starting each meditation session with five minutes of skeleton contemplation, do you have any suggestions, advice, cautions?” [Unattractiveness] // [Disenchantment]

Quote: “They’ve brought their own skeleton to the monastery. Why are they shocked by seeing a skeleton in the cupboard?” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah]


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2. “Sometimes ill-will is diffuse and all-encompassing. Attempting to do metta when the mind is experiencing this seems to aggravate rather than soothe.” [Ill-will ] [Goodwill ] // [Bhante Gunaratana] [Conditionality] [Self-identity view] [Investigation of states]

Sutta: Snp 1.8: The Metta Sutta (Chanting Book translation).


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 10 – Jan. 21, 2013

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1. “Could you give advice on how to practice Buddhānussati? Are there any suttas useful for working with this theme?” [Recollection/Buddha ] [Sutta] // [Learning] [Human]

Reference: Recollection of the Buddha, Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 4.

Sutta: MN 11: Cūḷasīhanāda Sutta.

Sutta: MN 74.14: Dīghanakha Sutta. [Views] [Great disciples] [Upatakh]

Sutta: MN 12.58: “You might think that the jujube fruit was bigger in those days …” [Buddha/Biography] [Humor]

Sutta: SN 17.5: Dung beetle on a ball of dung. [Gain and loss]


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2. “Can one use the subtle sensations of comfort and discomfort that accompany in and out breathing as a basis for insight? If so, how much thinking/nudging the mind is useful versus simple observation?” [Mindfulness of breathing] [Mindfulness of feeling ] [Insight meditation] [Directed thought and evaluation] // [Impermanence] [Not-self] [Suffering] [Right Effort]


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3. “Could you please speak about dhamma-vicaya and how to use it in meditation?” [Investigation of states ] // [Factors of Awakening] [Skillful qualities] [Unskillful qualities] [Characteristics of existence] [Appropriate attention] [Dispassion] [Aggregates]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 11 – Jan. 22, 2013

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1. “What does Ajahn Ṭhānissaro mean by stilling the breath sensations (The Wings to Awakening by Ajahn Ṭhānissaro, p. 122).” [Mindfulness of breathing] [Ajahn Ṭhānissaro] [Tranquility]

Sutta: MN 118.18: Ānāpānasati Sutta.


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2. “Do you have any thoughts about the two interpretations of ‘body of breath’ in MN 118.18?” [Mindfulness of breathing] [Mindfulness of body] [Meditation/Techniques] // [Tranquility] [Volitional formations] [Pāli]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 12 – Jan. 23, 2013

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1. Comment: Sometimes pervading the body with rapture can take the mind away from the meditation object. Contributed by Ajahn Kaccāna. [Rapture] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Concentration]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Tranquility] [Volition] [Nature of mind] [Unification]

Reference: Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, p. 309, “Tranquility and Insight.”


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2. Comments about translations of ekaggatā and ekodibhāvaṃ. Contributed by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Unification] [Translation] [Bhikkhu Bodhi] [Ajahn Ṭhānissaro]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Hindrances] [Tranquility]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 13 – Jan. 24, 2013

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6. “Do you have any thoughts about the cultivation of the later Factors of Awakening?” [Rapture] [Conditionality] [Hindrances] [Factors of Awakening] // [Investigation of states] [Mindfulness] [Tranquility] [Skillful qualities]

Recollection: Ajahn Chah’s description of pīti. [Ajahn Chah] [Mindfulness of breathing]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 14 – Jan. 25, 2013

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2. “What are other possible translations of the recurring question [in the suttas], ‘What do you think?’” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Pāli] [Translation] // [Questions]

Sutta: SN 22.59.5 Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta (Chanting book translation).


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 15 – Jan. 28, 2013

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1. “What’s the difference between sleep and sloth and torpor?” [Sloth and torpor] // [Bhikkhu Bodhi] [Translation] [Devotion to wakefulness] [Craving not to become]

Story: Ajahn Pasanno’s first meditation retreat: “You’ve been stealing sleep!” [Ajahn Pasanno]

Story: After Ajahn Pasanno’s illness, he needs to sleep an hour more. [Sickness]


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2. “Is laziness more aversion than sloth and torpor?” [Aversion] [Sloth and torpor] // [Pāli] [Energy]


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3. “What is meant by ‘sees the range’ in AN 4.61?” [Discernment] [Hindrances] [Commentaries]


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5. “What is the suitable basis in AN 5.23?” [Hindrances] // [Psychic powers] [Great disciples] [Jhāna]

Sutta: Ud 4.4: A yakkha clobbers Sāriputta. [Non-human beings]

Commentary: The Visuddhimagga discusses training for psychic powers, Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, pp. 369-427.


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 16 – Jan. 29, 2013

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3. “How does good conduct bring about the Four Foundations of Mindfulness in AN 10.61?” [Virtue] [Right Mindfulness] // [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma]


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4. “Could you elaborate on the difference between nutriment [AN 10.61] and the causal relationships in Dependent Origination?” [Nutriment] [Dependent origination] [Conditionality] // [Commentaries] [Pāli] [Thai]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 17 – Jan. 30, 2013

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1. “Do you have any advice on how to approach unwholesome habits that are based on hindrances?” [Habits] [Unskillful qualities] [Hindrances] // [Conditionality] [Mindfulness of dhammas] [Self-identity view]

Sutta: MN 75.15: Māgaṇḍiya Sutta.


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2. “Would you say that clinging is around the senses and not the sensual desires?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Clinging] [Sense bases] [Sensual desire] // [Aggregates]

Follow-up: “How do we uproot clinging?” [Discernment]

Comment by Ajahn Ñāṇiko: One can only apply the concept of inverted perception from MN 75.29 to the other sense bases. [Delusion] [Perception] [Ajahn Khao]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno: Showering after being exposed to poison oak. [Feeling]

Recollection: Ajahn Mahā Boowa perceived difficulty and problems as a whetstone for mindfulness. Recounted by Ajahn Pesalo. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Mindfulness]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Four Noble Truths] [Conditionality]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 18 – Jan. 31, 2013

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2. “Could you speak about disregarding the person as a strategy for working with resentment (AN 5.161)?” [Ill-will] // [Aversion]


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3. “In the practice of removing resentment (AN 5.161), how does developing equanimity differ from reflecting on kamma?” [Equanimity] [Kamma] [Ill-will] // [Divine Abidings] [Judgementalism]


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4. Question about the practice of metta in response to ill-will. [Language] [Goodwill] [Equanimity] [Ill-will] // [Discernment]

Sutta: AN 5.161, “Removing Resentment (1).”


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6. “In the Five Hindrances, does ill-will apply only to people?” [Hindrances] [Aversion] [Ill-will] // [Similes]

Suttas: SN 46.55; MN 39.14.


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 19 – Feb. 1, 2013

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1. Comment by Ajahn Jotipālo: AN 7.61 is similar to the beginning of the Metta Sutta (Snp 1.8, Chanting Book translation). [Contentment] [Humility]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno.


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2. “Do you have any thoughts about how to discern neutral feeling?” [Neutral feeling] [Feeling] // [Delusion] [Mindfulness] [Patience] [Restlessness and worry]

Sutta: AN 7.61.


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3. Comment by Ajahn Cunda about noticing restlessness even in peaceful meditation. [Restlessness and worry] [Tranquility]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Self-identity view] [Relinquishment] [Contentment] [Patience] [Impermanence] [Dispassion] [Cessation] [Mindfulness of dhammas]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 20 – Feb. 2, 2013

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2. “How is sensual desire like being in debt (MN 39.14)?” [Sensual desire] [Similes]


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4. Comment by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo: Reflecting on the results of good conduct is the basis for samādhi [in SN 42.13]. [Recollection/Virtue] [Concentration]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno.


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5. Comment by Ajahn Kaccāna: I’m puzzled why the lucky throw on both counts happens in both cases in SN 42.13. [Views]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Virtue] [Kamma]

Sutta: AN 3.65: Kālāma Sutta.


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 21 – Feb. 5, 2013

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2. “How is nāma-rūpa usually defined?” [Consciousness] [Aggregates] // [Volition]

Sutta: SN 12.67: Sheaves of reeds. [Similes]


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3. “Have any teachers explained the meaning of the questions in MN 109?” [Questions] [Aggregates]

Commentarial explanation of the context of MN 109. [Teaching Dhamma] [Culture/India] [Views] [Culture/West] [Christianity]

Sutta: DN 1: Brahmajāla Sutta.


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4. “The obtuse bhikkhu who thought about what self is touched by the results of action (MN 109.14)—that’s the place where kamma comes into the question?” [Self-identity view] [Kamma] [Aggregates] // [Views] [Middle Path] [Doctrine-of-self clinging] [Characteristics of existence]

Follow-up: “Right view talks about being being reborn. Is this a conventional use of language? It’s not talking about selves being reborn?” [Right View] [Rebirth] [Language]

Sutta: SN 5.10: Simile of the chariot. [Conventions]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 22 – Feb. 6, 2013

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1. Comment: MN 64 speaks about the underlying tendencies even in infants, which goes against the idea of getting back to your childlike purity. [Fetters] [Children]

Responses by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jotipālo.


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2. Teaching: MN 64.9 explains how jhāna forms the basis for insight. [Jhāna] [Characteristics of existence] [Insight meditation] // [Formless attainments]

Follow-up: “Does that imply that insight is realized during that absorption?”


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 23 – Feb. 7, 2013

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1. “What is your understanding of the moving picture show [in Ajahn Ṭhānissaro’s translation of SN 22.100]?” [Similes] [Artistic expression] // [Culture/India]


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2. Comment: The only difference between the aggregates and the clinging aggregates in SN 22.48 is that the clinging aggregates are clingable. [Aggregates] [Clinging]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno.

Sutta: SN 22.85.28: Yamaka Sutta: “… welfare and happiness for a long time.”


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3. Comment: Bhikkhu Bodhi’s new translation for practices and precepts is behaviors and precepts. [Attachment to precepts and practices] [Bhikkhu Bodhi] [Translation]

Note: See The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha p. 1882.

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Virtue] [Habits]


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4. “The Morning Chanting [in the old Abhayagiri Chanting Book] first translates upādāna as clinging, but when it goes to the various khandhas, the translation is identification. Could you reflect on clinging as identification?” [Clinging] [Translation] [Aggregates] [Self-identity view] // [Sensual desire] [Attachment to precepts and practices] [Doctrine-of-self clinging] [Fetters]


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5. “How do you understand the description of fabrication in SN 22.79?” [Volitional formations] // [Aggregates] [Proliferation] [Ajahn Chah]

Reading: Bhikkhu Bodhi’s footnote to SN 22.79, The Connected Discourses of the Buddha p. 1071. [Translation] [Pāli] [Volition]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 24 – Feb. 8, 2013

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1. “Is there another place in the suttas (besides MN 44.24) where neutral feeling is pleasant when conjoined with mindfulness?” [Sutta] [Neutral feeling] [Happiness] [Mindfulness]


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3. “Is it significant that SN 22.79 describes perception in terms of color and consciousness in terms of taste?” [Perception] [Consciousness] [Sense bases]


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4. “How is it that knowledge makes neutral feeling pleasant (MN 44.24)?” [Neutral feeling] [Happiness]


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5.MN 44.14 defines perception and feeling as mental formations. I thought those were just conditional arising on account of contact (MN 109.9)?” [Perception] [Feeling] [Volitional formations] [Conditionality] [Contact] // [Pāli]

Ajahn Buddhadāsa’s translation of the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118.19; Chanting Book translation) translates cittasaṅkhāra as the mental conditioner. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Translation] [Mindfulness of breathing]

Reference: Mindfulness with Breathing by Ajahn Buddhadāsa, p. 72.

Follow-up: “The bodily fabrication doesn’t seem to involve volition, but vitakka and vicāra do.” [Body/form] [Volition] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Aggregates]

Comment: In the Ānāpānasati Sutta, much of the practice is intentionally calming different saṅkhāras. [Tranquility] [Mindfulness of body]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno.


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 25 – Feb. 9, 2013

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2. “In SN 22.2, Sāriputta equates unwholesome states with lust and attachment to the aggregates. What about ill-will and enmity?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Unskillful qualities] [Craving] [Clinging] [Aggregates] [Ill-will] [Aversion] // [Craving not to become] [Judgementalism]


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3. “In SN 22.2, Bhikkhu Bodhi translates displeasure, but our morning chanting has grief. Are they the same?” [Grief] [Translation]


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4. “What does fever mean in SN 22.2?” [Pāli] // [Sensual desire]


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5. “Why does Sāriputta recommend teaching the aggregates to people who don’t know about Buddhism (SN 22.22)?” [Teaching Dhamma] [Aggregates] // [Questions] [Culture/India]


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6. “Was the word saṅkhāra used before the Buddha?” [Volitional formations] [Pāli] // [Language] [Teaching Dhamma] [Aggregates]


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7. “Did the paradigm of the khandhas exist before the Buddha’s time?” [Aggregates] [History/Indian Buddhism]

Sutta: SN 22.59 Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta (Chanting book translation).


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 28 – Feb. 14, 2013

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2. Comment: Downside might fit the context [of SN 22.26-28] better than danger. [Drawbacks] [Translation]

Responses by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno.


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3. “Why does SN 22.26 say both impermanent and subject to change?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Impermanence] // [Sutta] [Abhidhamma] [Translation] [Ajahn Ṭhānissaro] [Teaching Dhamma] [Language]

Sutta: SN 22.59 Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta (Chanting book translation).


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4. Comment by Ajahn Kaccāna: In SN 22.96, the Buddha implies that universal impermanence may be a good thing. [Impermanence]

Responses by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno.

Follow-up: “What’s ‘individual existence’ in Pāli?” [Translation] [Becoming]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 29 – Feb. 15, 2013

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1. “Can you clarify the simile of the khandhas as a murderer in SN 22.85?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo, Ajahn Pasanno and the Abhayagiri Saṅgha. [Similes] [Drawbacks] [Aggregates] // [Benefit/gratification] [Self-identity view] [Commentaries] [Clinging] [Dependent origination]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 30 – Feb. 17, 2013

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2. “Why do the Buddha’s listeners immediately reply that what is impermanent is suffering?” [Questions] [Impermanence] [Suffering] // [Translation]

Sutta: SN 22.59.5 Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta (Chanting book translation).


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3. Comment by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno: The conclusion that what is not under our control can’t be self isn’t immediately obvious. [Volition] [Not-self]

Follow-up: “How have you come to understand this over time?” [Self-identity view] [Feeling]

Follow-up: “How does the chant, ‘I am the owner of my kamma’ relate to this?” [Kamma] [Language] [Conventions]

Sutta: AN 5.57 Five Recollections (Chanting Book translation).

Comment by Ajahn Jotipālo: The suttas are summaries rather than transcripts. [Sutta] [Teaching Dhamma]


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4. “What is the term ‘Agivessana’?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Pāli]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 32 – Feb. 21, 2013

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3. “Are there other stories similar to Vakkali asking to die outside (SN 22.87)?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Great disciples] [Death] [Culture/Natural environment] // [Perception of a samaṇa]

Story: Ajahn Mun chooses the place of his death. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Mun] [Funerals]

Story: Ajahn Chah chooses a convenient time to die. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah]


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5. “How would you answer the questions in SN 22.86 for a puthujjana (a person who has not entered the stream of Dhamma)?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Death] [Aggregates] [Clinging] // [Kamma] [Views]

Sutta: SN 44.9: Flame blown by the wind. [Rebirth] [Similes]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 33 – Feb. 22, 2013

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1. “Is there another sutta not spoken by the Buddha in which as many people become enlightened as SN 22.89?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Great disciples] [Teaching Dhamma] [Liberation]


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3. “What is the difference between someone who has broken through fetters (self-identity view, etc.) and someone who hasn’t as discussed in SN 22.89?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Fetters] [Self-identity view] [Conceit] [Aggregates] [Similes] // [Perception] [Not-self]


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6. “Does volition differ from intention?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Volition] // [Pāli] [Translation] [Kamma] [Self-identity view] [Skillful qualities]

Follow-up: “When we talk about effort, intention, and result in the Vinaya, is cetanā the word for intention?” [Vinaya]

Follow-up: “Saṅkhāra is sometimes translated as volitional formations. How does this differ from cetanā?” [Volitional formations]

Sutta: AN 6.63.33: “Kamma is volition.”


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7. “When Ajahn Chah uses the expression, ‘the mind is no longer moving forward, moving backward, nor standing still,’ how does this relate to volition?” [Ajahn Chah] [Nature of mind] [Volition] // [Self-identity view] [Conditionality]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 35 – Feb. 27, 2013

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2. “Would you be willing to speak about translating saṅkhāra as volitional formations?” [Volitional formations] [Translation] // [Aggregates] [Volition] [Emotion] [Feeling]

Follow-up: “Do volitional formations include both thought and emotion?” [Directed thought and evaluation]


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3. Comment by Ajahn Ñāṇiko: SN 22.122 is is stark contrast to the concept of secret teachings in Tibetan Buddhism. [Teaching Dhamma] [Vajrayāna]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Buddha]

Sutta: DN 16.2.25: “I never taught with a closed fist.”


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5. “Do even involuntary volitional formations below the level of direct awareness produce kamma?” [Volitional formations] [Kamma] [Volition] // [Aversion]

Story: The Dalai Lama suggests that psychologists study virtuous people. [Dalai Lama] [Western psychology] [Virtue]

Sutta: AN 3.68: Comparison of greed, hatred, and delusion. [Unwholesome Roots]


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6. “Why is greed harder to remove than anger (AN 3.68)?” [Greed] [Aversion]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 36 – Feb. 28, 2013

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3. “Can the experience of an unpleasant contact be experienced at the level of feeling and perception without going into the reactive state which generates a volitional formation?” [Pain] [Contact] [Feeling] [Perception] [Volitional formations]

Quote: “It’s ordinary for light to be bright. It’s ordinary for sound to make noise.” — Ajahn Dune. [Ajahn Dune] [Sense bases] [Seclusion]


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4. “What is the significance of the introduction of personal pronouns in the last sentences of SN 22.53-54?” [Language] // [History/Early Buddhism] [Conventions] [Faith]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 37 – Mar. 1, 2013

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1. “Could you say something about watching the mind where the sense objects all meet?” [Mindfulness of mind] [Contact] [Sense bases]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 38 – Mar. 2, 2013

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3. “Is the fetter in terms of the sense bases (SN 35.232) equivalent to gratification, danger, and escape?” [Sense bases] [Aspects of Understanding] // [Sensual desire] [Benefit/gratification]


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4. Comment: There’s a sutta (AN 6.61) which likens craving to a seamstress sewing together the sense bases and their objects. [Craving] [Similes] [Sense bases]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno.


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5. “Does craving create a sense of continuity in the mind?” [Craving] // [Benefit/gratification] [Ignorance]


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6. “Is yoniso manasikāra like the scissors cutting out desire?” [Appropriate attention] [Similes] [Craving]


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7. “How does craving relate to the Five Khandhas?” [Craving] [Aggregates] [Sense bases] // [Suffering] [Clinging]

Quote: “You don’t have to count the branches as you fall down.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Dependent origination]

Comment by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo: In the Fire Sermon (SN 35.28), desire, hatred, and delusion arise on everything. [Unwholesome Roots]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 39 – Mar. 3, 2013

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1. “What is the distinction between delight, infatuation, and bondage?” [Craving] [Clinging] // [Translation] [Pāli]


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2. Comment: SN 35.63 is one-sided in that it emphasizes the pleasurable rather than the way the mind gets bound up with something that is not pleasurable. [Sensual desire] [Clinging] [Aversion]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Relationships]


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3. Comment by Ajahn Jotipālo: SN 35.54 describes a bhikkhu who does not delight in desirable sense objects, but Migajāla delights in the Buddha’s words. [Dispassion] [Gladdening the mind]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Pāli]


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4. “Delight is to craving as what is to aversion?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Ñāṇiko and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Benefit/gratification] [Craving] [Aversion] // [Craving not to become] [Sensual desire]

Sutta: SN 56.11.4: Taṇhā is the cause of dukkha.


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5. “What is the significance of asking for a teaching in brief in SN 35.64?” [Teaching Dhamma]

Quote: “When you pick up one little bit of Dhamma, everything else comes with it as well.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Dhamma]


The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Session 40 – Mar. 4, 2013

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2.SN 35.70 and SN 35.74 mention lust. Is aversion, the opposite of lust, implicitly included?” [Sensual desire] [Aversion] // [Unwholesome Roots]


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4.SN 35.93 shows how the edifice of the mind is based on impermanent phenomena.” [Nature of mind] [Impermanence] // [Doctrine-of-self clinging]


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5. Comment: SN 35.93 is a wonderful analysis of the intimacy of nāma-rūpa and consciousness. [Aggregates] [Consciousness]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno.

Sutta: SN 12.67.7: Sheaves of reeds leaning against each other. [Similes]


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6. “When contemplating the impermanence of the sense bases, is it better to focus on any sense base where impermanence comes into focus or stay with a particular sense base?” [Impermanence] [Sense bases] [Meditation/Techniques]


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7. “In SN 35.93, does intention refer to saṅkhāra?” [Volition] [Volitional formations]


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8. “Is there a way to see how mind consciousness arises and disappears?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Heart/mind] [Consciousness] [Impermanence]


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