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Abhayagiri Monastic Retreat 2012 Retreat Talks
Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Yatiko, Ajahn Karunadhammo, and Debbie Stamp
Angela Center, Santa Rosa, California
November 16-25, 2012
Friday, November 16
Evening – Ajahn Pasanno: Retreat Introduction
Ajahn Pasanno greets the retreatants and introduces the other retreat teachers.
Evening – Ajahn Pasanno: Refuges and Precepts
The retreatants request the three refuges and eight precepts from Ajahn Pasanno, who then explains their significance.
Saturday, November 17
Morning – Ajahn Pasanno: Right Practice, Steady Practice
Ajahn Pasanno begins the first day of the retreat by describing how Ajahn Chah emphasized continuity of practice, steady application of effort, and steady commitment to practice.
Afternoon – Ajahn Pasanno: Breath Meditation
Ajahn Pasanno describes the significance of the formal Dhamma talk request. He goes on to give basic anapanasati instructions, advocating using the body as an anchor for awareness since the body is always in the present moment.
Evening – Ajahn Pasanno: Questions and Answers 1
Ajahn Pasanno answers questions regarding balancing saṁvega and patience, meditation on emptiness, being the one who knows, and working with sloth and torpor.
Sunday, November 18
Morning – Ajahn Pasanno: The Middle Way
After telling the story of the Buddha's discovery of the Middle Way, Ajahn Pasanno gives more detailed instructions for breath meditation.
Afternoon – Ajahn Pasanno: Appropriate Attention and Stream Entry
Ajahn Pasanno touches on the theme of wise, or appropriate attention as a supporting factor for stream entry.
Evening – Ajahn Pasanno: Questions and Answers 2
Ajahn Pasanno answers questions regarding pain, the chanting book, recollecting virtue and the devas, mudita, antidotes to the judging mind, hindering the hindrances, idle chatter, and raising children. This session includes a story of how Ajahn Chah answered questions about other realms of existence.
Monday, November 19
Morning – Ajahn Pasanno: Stabilizing and Strengthening the Practice
Using Ajahn Chah's simile of the gardener, Ajahn Pasanno reminds us that our responsibility in spiritual practice is to lay the groundwork for insight and awakening; the results will come in due time. He continues with the story of the Buddha's over-eager attendant Meghiya (Ud 4.1).
Afternoon – Ajahn Karunadhammo: Death Contemplation
Ajahn Karunadhammo reflects upon the universal characteristic of impermanence and how it is reflected in the body.
Evening – Ajahn Pasanno: Questions and Answers 3
Ajahn Pasanno answers questions regarding sitting posture, fading away, other religions, antidepressants, kasina meditation, consciousness, the bliss of Nibbāna, and the responsibilities of an abbot in America and Thailand.
Tuesday, November 20
Morning – Ajahn Pasanno: The Four Noble Truths
After the rains retreat this year, Luang Por Sumedho wrote a letter expressing his gratitude for his life as a monk and the benefit that has come to him from contemplating the Four Noble Truths. Ajahn Pasanno picks up on this core teaching of the Buddha in this talk.
Afternoon – Debbie Stamp: Look After Yourself
Debbie Stamp explains the Buddha's story of the acrobat and his assistant (SN 47.19) and urges us to rely on the anchor points of sīla, samādhi, and pañña. She illustrates these principles with the story of how she came to live at Abhayagiri Monastery 15 years ago.
Evening – Ajahn Pasanno: Questions and Answers 4
Ajahn Pasanno answers questions regarding consciousness, gladdening the mind, monastic grooming, when to use metta practice, and chanting the Refuges to a pet dog.
Wednesday, November 21
Morning – Ajahn Pasanno: Samādhi and the Four Noble Truths
Ajahn Pasanno explains how viewing the world in terms of suffering and the cessation of suffering moves the focus away from self view. He then expounds the Samādi Sutta (AN 4.41) which describes four beneficial results of concentration practice.
Afternoon – Ajahn Yatiko: Attachment to the Body
Ajahn Yatiko touches on settling the mind using samatha practice and goes on to explore the deep attachment we have to this human body.
Evening – Ajahn Pasanno: Questions and Answers 5
Ajahn Pasanno answers questions regarding taking care of the body, the nature of skillful recollection, the perception of light, cittaviveka, difficulties in his own life, and Ajahn Chah's funeral.
Thursday, November 22
Morning – Ajahn Pasanno: Gratitude and Meditation Practice
Ajahn Pasanno describes how generosity and gratitude lay the foundation for peaceful and effective meditation practice.
Afternoon – Ajahn Karunadhammo: Reflections When Practice Is Difficult
Ajahn Karunadhammo responds to the common dilemma of long-time practitioners whose practice seems to fall apart.
Evening – Ajahn Pasanno: Questions and Answers 6
Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karunadhammo answer questions regarding coming back to the body, oneness, the causes for stream entry, and hiri-ottapa. After the questions, Ajahn Pasanno tells a few stories of Ajahn Chah.
Friday, November 23
Morning – Ajahn Pasanno: Practice in the Shape of a Circle
Ajahn Pasanno describes the four iddhipādas, the eight thoughts of a great being, and Ajahn Mun's injunction to Ajahn Chah to “Practice in the shape of a circle.”
Afternoon – Debbie Stamp: There Is No Reason to Believe
By repeating a phrase from signs posted around the Angela Center, Debbie Stamp urges us to question our assumptions about life, the future, and our Dhamma practice.
Evening – Ajahn Pasanno: Questions and Answers 7
Ajahn Pasanno answers questions regarding sutta study, practicing with bodily suffering, and how to use the end of the retreat.
Saturday, November 24
Morning – Ajahn Pasanno: Anicca, Dukkha, Anattā
Ajahn Pasanno explains that developing right view and discernment and investigating the three universal characteristics of existence will allow us to continue the practice beyond the container of silent retreat.
Afternoon – Ajahn Karunadhammo: Suffering and Disenchantment
Ajahn Karunadhammo responds to a question asked by a retreatant suffering from an autoimmune disorder by reflecting on this/that conditionality, the Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta, and relinquishment.
Evening – Ajahn Pasanno: Questions and Answers 8
Ajahn Pasanno answers questions regarding monastic ordination, insight into kamma and anicca, and attempting to stop thinking during meditation.
Sunday, November 25
Morning – Ajahn Pasanno: The Strength of Refuges and Precepts
The retreatants request the three refuges and five lay precepts from Ajahn Pasanno, who offers a reflection on the significance of this action. The monks chant parittas (blessing chants), and the retreat closes with the Sharing of Blessings chant.