Monks In Cyberspace

2022-10-21   Bhante Sujato. Bhante Sujato. Guided mettā meditation to develop positive emotions, directed towards self and all beings. Dhamma talk on dependent origination in simple terms. Dependent origination answers the question: How does rebirth happen without a soul? We are neither completely fixed or completely fluid in how we are - we are conditioned; a continuity that connects past, presen...

2022-10-14   Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the arising of desire, the drivers of thought rather than getting caught in thought. Dhamma talk Part 4 on Satipaṭṭhāna: Principles (dhammā). The 5 hindrances and 7 awakening factors common to all versions of Satipaṭṭhāna. The novelty of this section builds on the previous sections and introduces causality; where the arising of things like desire come from...

2022-10-07   Bhante Sujato. Meditation on awareness. Dhamma talk Part 3 on Satipaṭṭhāna: Mind (citta). The power of awareness. Movement towards subtlety, like an echo or an animal. Focussing on how greed, hate or delusion effect the mind; the mind with or without these. Awareness emerging from contemplation of the body and feeling. Discussion of wanting and not wanting, noticing when hate is reduc...

2022-09-30   Bhante Sujato. Meditation on the elements inside ourselves. Dhamma talk Part 2 on Satipaṭṭhāna: Feelings (vedana). Satipaṭṭhāna as a "samādhinimitta", use of nimitta vs. descriptions of lights during meditation in the suttas. Anapanāsati as a another way to do Satipaṭṭhāna. Vedana as present in the breath. Pain during meditation. How the Buddha emphasised happiness during meditation (...

2022-09-23   Bhante Sujato. Meditation on presence of mind. Beginning of dhamma talks on Satipaṭṭhāna. Part 1: The Body. The meanings of Satipaṭṭhāna; explicitly means meditation. The four Satipaṭṭhāna meditations are body (kāyānupassī), feelings (vedanānupassī), mind (cittānupassī), principles (dhammānupassī). The body as something simple to ground oneself on. Mindfulness as "presence of mind", r...

2022-09-16   Bhante Sujato. Chanting. Guided meditation on the breath as a simple kind of abiding; Audience Q+A: Q: How to overcome the body restricting the breath? ~A: 1. Patience. 2. Slight shift to focus on the out-breath 4. Contemplate non-self 5. Focus on pleasure in the breath. Q: How to let go of worry? ~A: Uddhacca-kukkucha one place to look, 'like conditions like' so to be happy tomorrow,...

2022-09-09   Bhante Sujato. Chanting. Guided meditation on the breath; ways to avoid instrumentalising meditation. Dhamma talk on leadership. Comparing the Queen and the Buddha, qualities of leadership the Buddha promoted, as well as leadership in the sāngha.

2022-09-03   Bhante Sujato. Chanting. Guided meditation focused on pairs of contrasting ideas to encourage contemplation on wholesome and unwholesome qualities in the mind. Dhamma talk on the Dvayatānupassanāsutta from Sutta Nipāta 3.12 (Contemplating Pairs). Detailed analysis of this sutta of contrasting pairs with correlation to dependent origination; of which one pair aspect leads to the origin...

2022-08-26   Bhante Sujato. Guided meditation on the breath; peace of mind as a natural state. Dhamma talk on the disruptive and mysterious figure of the 'dark sage' with reference to three people in the suttas: Nālaka, Asito Devala, Ambaṭṭha. Discussion of this archetype, racism in the suttas, the three figures and their attempts to problematise caste. Resources: Nālakasutta (Snp 3.1) Ambaṭṭhasut...

2022-08-19   Bhante Sujato. Guided meditation on death: 'Life is uncertain, death is certain'. Dhamma talk on death; how the Buddha talked about death as something knowable, and what happens after death.

2022-08-12   Bhante Sujato. Guided meditation on the five khandas (constituents / groups). Dhamma talk on the five khandas: rupa (body / appearance), vedana (feeling / experience), saññā (perception), saṅkhāra (choices), citta (consciousness). Discussion of how in the EBTs, the 5 khandas were often what people already identified with, and their impermanence was what the Buddha emphasized. Discussi...

2022-08-06   Bhante Sujato. Meditation and dhamma talk on the four iddhipādas (feet/powers): enthusiasm (chanda), energy (viriya), awareness (citta), inquiry (vīmaṁsā). Discussion on the four iddhipādas and vibhava-tanhā (the desire to not exist) and its antidote, the wish to know. The basis of psychic powers as expansions of things we know already. Ideas on how to develop the iddhipādas.

2022-07-29   Bhante Sujato. Guided mettā meditation for a loved one with focus on feelings, noticing and sensations inside the body. Dhamma talk on war, with discussion of the first precept, 'just war theory' and peace. Discussion of peace and the work people do to maintain peace.

2022-07-22   Bhante Sujato. Meditation talk on reducing a sense of self. Guided meditation on sense of self and gentle awareness of mood. Dhamma talk on hopelessness. Losing hope/living without hope, and how we can commit without a sense of emotional investment to something in the future. Differences between hope, faith (sadha) and enthusiasm (chanda).

2022-07-15   Bhante Sujato. Guided meditation on letting go and meditating in the present. Talk about the rains retreat tradition and its origin stories, various traditions, events and rules around the rains period, possible commitments laypeople can make.

2022-07-08   Bhante Sujato. Guided mettā meditation for a loved one with focus on feeling. Dhamma talk an entry-to-rains discussion on giving (cāga/dana), drawing from the Dhammacakkappavattana sutta and the four noble truths. Cāga as one of the metaphors for nibbāna and how it fits into the four noble truths. Discussion of suffering and its relationship to letting go.

2022-07-01 Bhante Sujato: meditation on mindfulness of breathing. Bhante's trip to Sri Lanka. Q+A: Buddhist view on the body. Spiritual sadness (nirāmisa domanassa). Buddhist view on the US Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Facts about first bhikkhuni ordination at Ajahn Brahm's monastery. Meditation and difficult emotions. Link: Changemakers

2022-06-22 Bhante Akāliko's last time as a Monk In Cyberspace. Dhamma talk on the community aspect of spiritual practice: be responsible for developing your own practice and give back to the community. Growing together again after times of lockdown and isolation, restoring help, support, growth. Bhante's plans for the future.

2022-06-17 Bhante Akāliko, from Harris Park. Why there's a ceremony at the beginning of a meeting. Creating space for meditation. Breath meditation and letting go. Bhante is now a "Middle Monk", time to move on and go out into the world, and the letting go that's involved in that. Link: Little Dust Buddhist Community

2022-06-10 Bhante Akāliko, from Harris Park. Dhamma talk about meditation.

2022-06-03 Bhante Sujato, from Harris Park. Guided gratitude meditation. Dhamma talk on the topic Why am I always right? Discussion on ahankāra (I-making), thinking, truth, and views.

2022-05-27 Bhante Sujato, from Harris Park. Unboxing the Malaysian edition of Bhante's translations of the Sutta Pitaka. Breath meditation. Dhamma talk on the Uluru Statement of the Heart, by Aboriginal people. The wisdom of first nations people and Buddhism. Resources: The Uluru Statement. - Dr Noel Nannup —Living in a Land That Demands Movement. Religious leaders support constitutional referendu...

2022-05-20 The Two Bhantes, from Harris Park. Death contemplation guided by Bhante Akāliko. Dhamma talk by Bhante Sujato: Carrion sutta (Snp 2.2) Amaganda: literally "raw stench". A (presumably) hard-core vegan ascetic challenges the Buddha about his eating a cooked meal with meat. The Buddha's response: a conduct of practicing the four Brahma Viharas is what a monastic / ascetic lifestyle is abou...

2022-05-13 with Bhante Sujato, from Harris Park. Meditation on the qualities of the Buddha (Buddhānussati), taken from Itipiso chant. Dhamma talk on the life of the Buddha and how suttas will have likely been interpreted mythologically, with meaning constructed differently, often metaphorically and symbolically rather than as a purely historical description.

2022-05-06 with Bhante Sujato, from Harris Park. Meditation on the joyful, soothing breath. Dhamma talk on the three characteristics in historical context and their practical relationship to liberation: anicca (impermanence/not-regularity-ness), dukkha (suffering), anatta (non-self). Why are all conditions suffering but all dhammas non-self? The three characteristics as doors to dhammas of the gre...