Ānāpānasati: Mindfulness of In-and-Out Breathing – Abhayagiri Winter Retreat 2005, part 1
Ajahn Pasanno
Abhayagiri Winter Retreat, Jan. 4, 2005 to Jan. 22, 2005
Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in Redwood Valley, California
19 sessions, 72 excerpts, 7:02:29 total duration
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Ajahn Pasanno offered this series of Dhamma talks on the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118) to the Abhayagiri community at the beginning of the 2005 Winter Retreat. These are the most detailed teachings on his favorite meditation technique.

External website

Session 1: Turning to the Formal Practice

Session 2: Preparing the Mind to Receive the Dhamma

Session 3: Being Present with Pain, Pleasure, and the Neutral

Session 4: Recognizing and Relinquishing the Hindrances

Session 5: Working Further with the Hindrances

Session 6: Nourishing and Starving the Hindrances

Session 7: Silence, Composure, plus the Hindrances

Session 8: Sitting, Walking, and the Hindrances

Session 9: Working with Mind Objects

Session 10: Experiencing the Mind

Session 11: Gladdening the Mind

Session 12: Concentrating the Mind

Session 13: Releasing the Mind

Session 14: Contemplating Impermanence, I Breathe In

Session 15: Investigating Dispassion

Session 16: Death and Dispassion

Session 17: Attending to Cessation

Session 18: Relinquishing the Defilements

Session 19: Backbone of the Practice


Session 1: Turning to the Formal Practice – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 4, 2005
[Mindfulness of breathing]

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[Session] On the first day of the three-month retreat, Ajahn Pasanno gives detailed instructions on posture, attending to the breath, arousing energy, and investigating the meaning of mindfulness.


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1. [4:55] Balancing the body: detailed instructions on sitting posture. [Posture/Sitting ]


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2. [35:20] Reflection: The meaning of Buddho. [Buddho mantra] [Clear comprehension] [Mindfulness]


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3. [38:22] Walking meditation instructions. [Posture/Walking]


Session 2: Preparing the Mind to Receive the Dhamma – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 5, 2005
[Mindfulness of breathing]

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[Session] Reflecting on the third and fourth steps of the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118), Ajahn Pasanno describes entering into the bodily sensations of the breath (kāyasaṅkhārā) as a foundation of training that prepares the mind to receive Dhamma.

Reference: Keeping the Breath in Mind and Lessons in Samādhi by Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo, particularly “Method Two”.


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1. [0:00] Reviewing our meditation habits and the purpose of meditation. [Meditation] [Discernment] // [Equanimity] [Knowledge and vision] [Liberation]


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2. [27:53] Quote: “With each in-breath and each out-breath, really trying to recollect that we have the opportunity to experience the Dhamma, to experience truth, to realize the fruits of the Buddha’s teaching and guidance leading to liberation.” [Recollection/Dhamma ] [Liberation] // [Thai] [Gratitude]


Session 3: Being Present with Pain, Pleasure, and the Neutral – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 6, 2005
[Mindfulness of breathing] [Mindfulness of feeling]

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[Session] Reflecting on the second tetrad of the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118), Ajahn Pasanno describes meditation as relaxing so that awareness comes to the fore and explains the importance of perception in relating to painful, pleasant, and neutral feeling.

Reference: Keeping the Breath in Mind and Lessons in Samādhi by Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo, particularly “Method Two”.


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1. [11:00] Reflection: Long-term effective strategies for dealing with pain. [Pain ] [Long-term practice] // [Mindfulness] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Aversion]


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2. [26:10] Applying the factors of first jhāna in mindfulness of breathing. [Jhāna] // [Directed thought and evaluation] [Rapture] [Unification]


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3. [37:26] The importance of sustaining attention with neutral sensations. [Neutral feeling] [Directed thought and evaluation]

Sutta: SN 36.6: The Dart.


Session 4: Recognizing and Relinquishing the Hindrances – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 7, 2005
[Hindrances] [Similes]

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[Session] Ajahn Pasanno elucidates the Buddha’s similes for the Five Hindrances (MN 39.14). He encourages us to investigate the tone of the mind to identify the presence or absence of hindrances and to delight in the inherent well-being of the mind when the hindrances are relinquished.


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1. [6:30] Simile: Sensual desire is like being in debt. (MN 39.14) [Sensual desire]


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2. [11:23] Simile: Ill-will is like being sick. (MN 39.14) [Ill-will ] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Sickness] [Happiness]


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3. [17:31] Simile: Sloth and torpor is like being in prison. (MN 39.14) [Sloth and torpor]


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4. [22:53] Simile: Restlessness and worry is like being a slave. [Restlessness and worry ] // [Mindfulness of body]


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5. [26:10] Simile: Skeptical doubt is like a merchant travelling through a dangerous desert. [Doubt]


Session 5: Working Further with the Hindrances – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 8, 2005
[Mindfulness of breathing] [Mindfulness of body] [Hindrances]

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[Session] Using the breath to steep the body and mind with attention and awareness can reveal and dispel subtle hindrances. (Incomplete recording)


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1. [8:24] Bringing attention to the breath is an alternative to sensual gratification. [Sensual desire]


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2. [13:43] Recognizing subtle forms of irritation. [Aversion] [Ill-will]

Tibetan Buddhism translates klesha as affliction. [Vajrayāna] [Unwholesome Roots] [Translation]


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3. [20:23] Preventing the settled mind from sinking into dullness. [Sloth and torpor]


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4. [23:21] Quote: “You have to be willing to die...and then the mind easily goes into jhāna.” — Ajahn Jumnien. [Ajahn Jumnien] [Energy] [Jhāna]


Session 6: Nourishing and Starving the Hindrances – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 9, 2005
[Hindrances]

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[Session] Following the outline of SN 46.51, Ajahn Pasanno describes the factors that feed or attenuate each of the Five Hindrances. (Incomplete recording)


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1. [5:40] Attending to attractive objects nourishes sensual desire. (SN 46.51) [Sensual desire]

Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 55: The Five Recollections


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2. [10:23] Attending to what we feel obstructed by nourishes ill-will. (SN 46.51) [Ill-will] // [Divine Abidings] [Discernment]

Story: A monk with an aversive temperament worsens it with repeated asuba and death contemplation. [Aversion] [Unattractiveness] [Recollection/Death] [Idealism] [Goodwill]


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3. [17:06] Following the path of least resistance nourishes sloth and torpor. (SN 46.51) [Sloth and torpor] // [Energy]

Story: The novice’s nibbāna.


Session 7: Silence, Composure, plus the Hindrances – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 10, 2005
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1. [0:33] Reflections on the value of noble silence during Winter Retreat. [Meditation retreats] [Idle chatter] [Right Speech] // [Community] [Culture/Natural environment] [Tranquility]


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2. [14:14] Ajahn Pasanno urges the Abhayagiri community to cultivate mindfulness, composure, sensitivity, and silence in the details of moving and speaking during Winter Retreat. [Meditation retreats] [Posture/Walking] [Tranquility]

Note: Abhayagiri’s communal space consisted of two small buildings in 2005.


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3. [32:22] The commentaries contast the Five Hindrances with the five factors of first jhāna. [Hindrances] [Jhāna] // [Directed thought and evaluation] [Sloth and torpor] [Doubt] [Rapture] [Ill-will] [Happiness] [Restlessness and worry] [Unification] [Sensual desire]

Story: Ajahn Boon Choo dispels sloth and torpor. [Ajahn Boon Choo] [Devotion to wakefulness]

Quote: “Sensual desire is like looking for the turtle with the mustache.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Similes]

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Meditation instruction: Breathing with the five factors of first jhāna. [Mindfulness of breathing]


Session 8: Sitting, Walking, and the Hindrances – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 11, 2005
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1. [0:00] Meditation instruction: Be present with the physical experience of the breath. Bring a sense of ease into the body. Ground awareness in the body. [Mindfulness of breathing] [Mindfulness of body]

Quote: Keeping the breath in mind is like getting the spoon into the mouth and the mouth onto the spoon. — Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo. [Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo] [Similes]

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Story: “The body understands!” [Direct experience] [Zen] [Koan] [Ajahn Pasanno]

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Body and mind are not separate things. [Form] [Heart/mind] [Aggregates ] [Dependent origination] [Consciousness]

Water similes for the mind with and without hindrances. (SN 46.55) [Hindrances] [Sensual desire] [Ill-will] [Sloth and torpor] [Restlessness and worry] [Doubt]

Sutta: DN 2.98: “These are shoals of fish...”

Quote: “You can get a lot of wisdom from walking meditation.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Posture/Walking] [Discernment]


Session 9: Working with Mind Objects – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 12, 2005
[Mindfulness of breathing] [Mindfulness of feeling] [Perception]

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[Session] Continuing with the second tetrad of the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118), Ajahn Pasanno urges us to use awareness grounded in mindfulness of breathing to investigate feelings, perceptions, and hindrances.


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1. [11:41] Story: Winnie-the-Pooh hears a buzzing sound, associates it with honey, and begins climbing a tree. [Winnie-the-Pooh] // [Conditionality]


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2. [19:33] Relaxing into the breath when experiencing pain in meditation. [Pain] [Tranquility]


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3. [24:19] Maintaining alertness in the midst of pleasant feeling. [Happiness] [Energy]


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4. [27:44.5] Developing sensitivity to neutral feeling. [Neutral feeling] // [Equanimity] [Factors of Awakening]


Session 10: Experiencing the Mind – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 13, 2005
[Mindfulness of mind]

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[Session] Beginning the third tetrad of the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118), Ajahn Pasanno teaches that by attending to the mind itself with each breath, we can recognize that the direct experience of the defiled mind is suffering. Relinquishing the defilements brings peace. [Mindfulness of breathing]

Sutta: MN 10.34: Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, mindfulness of mind section.


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1. [4:25] Quote: “One who is lost in the world is lost in their moods. One who is lost in their moods is lost in the world.” [Ajahn Chah] [Moods of the mind]


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2. [15:16] Story: Three Harvard professors take a course in meditation. // [Direct experience] [Larry Rosenberg]


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3. [21:14.5] Story: “I’m not very peaceful, but I don’t have any excuses anymore.” [Unwholesome Roots] // [Poo Jum Gom] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Culture/Natural environment]


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4. [26:53] Discerning the fundamental mind base amidst the moods of the mind. // [Ajahn Mun] [Ajahn Chah] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Similes] [Concentration] [Relinquishment]


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5. [38:12] Reflection: Differing interpretations of citta; returning to the knowing, our refuge of peace. [Heart/mind] [Nature of mind ] [Knowing itself] // [Unwholesome Roots] [Unconditioned] [Commentaries] [P. A. Payutto] [Ajahn Chah]


Session 11: Gladdening the Mind – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 14, 2005
[Gladdening the mind]

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[Session] AN 10.2 explains that samādhi and liberation follow naturally from gladdening the mind with a foundation of virtue. Elucidating the tenth step of the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118), Ajahn Pasanno describes various ways to allow the mind to delight in Dhamma and stillness. [Mindfulness of breathing]


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1. [6:22] Reflection: Fine-tuning the balance between stillness and investigation. [Calming meditation ] [Insight meditation ] // [Mindfulness of breathing]

Sutta: SN 15.1: “Bound by ignorance and obstructed by craving.” [Ignorance] [Craving]


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2. [36:17] Reflection: Gladdening the mind through corpse contemplation. [Recollection/Death] [Unattractiveness] // [Mae Chee Sansanee] [Disasters] [Dispassion]


Session 12: Concentrating the Mind – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 15, 2005
[Concentration]

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[Session] Practicing the eleventh step of ānāpānasati (MN 118) involves purifying the mind of obstructive states and firmly establishing the mind with the breath so that it becomes pliant, malleable, and bright. [Mindfulness of breathing]


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1. [6:18] Delighting in the beautiful and benevolent breath. [Mindfulness of breathing] [Gladdening the mind] // [Ajahn Brahmavaṃso]


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2. [13:31] Reflections on jhāna and attainment. [Jhāna] [Conceit] // [Ajahn Chah] [Mindfulness of mind] [Suffering]

Sutta: SN 43.1: “Meditate [jhāyatha] bhikkhus, do not be negligent, lest you regret it later.”


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3. [19:06.5] Ārammaṇupanijjhāna (meditation using an object as a focus) and lakkhaṇupanijjhāna (meditation using the characteristics as a focus); when to contemplate anicca, dukkha, anatta. [Jhāna] [Calming meditation] [Insight meditation] [Characteristics of existence]


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4. [29:14] The four results of samādhi described in AN 4.41. [Meditation/Results] // [Jhāna] [Perception of light] [Psychic powers] [Mindfulness] [Clear comprehension] [Aggregates] [Impermanence] [Outflows]

Story: As a novice, Ajahn Puth directed his mind to which questions would be on the Nak Tam exams. [Ajahn Puth] [Learning]


Session 13: Releasing the Mind – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 16, 2005
[Clinging] [Liberation]

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[Session] When practicing the twelfth step of ānāpānasati (MN 118), each breath is the occasion to release the clinging that binds us to suffering. [Mindfulness of breathing]


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1. [13:15] Simile: A trap for monkeys who don’t let go. [Animal] [Similes]


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2. [17:05] Reflection: We’re not diminished beings if we don’t get what we want. [Sensual desire] // [Food] [Drawbacks] [Mindfulness of breathing]

Simile: A dog gnawing on meatless bones (MN 54.15). [Similes]


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3. [23:19] The drawbacks of wrong view and clinging to views. [Drawbacks] [Views] // [Kamma] [Conflict]


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4. [33:13] Attending wisely to the breath versus blindly clinging to the practice. [Attachment to precepts and practices] [Mindfulness of breathing]

Sutta: MN 57: The Dog-Duty Ascetic.


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5. [38:34] Attending to what is rather than concepts about a self. [Doctrine-of-self clinging] [Direct experience] // [Mindfulness of breathing] [Cause of Suffering] [Self-identity view]


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6. [45:44] Reflection: Our suffering is fed and sustained by clinging. [Suffering] [Cause of Suffering] [Clinging ] // [Translation]


Session 14: Contemplating Impermanence, I Breathe In – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 17, 2005
[Impermanence] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Characteristics of existence]

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[Session] Introducing the fourth tetrad of the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118), Ajahn Pasanno reflects on impermanence as the doorway into the relam of insight. Mindfulness of breathing can illuminate all three characteristics of impermanence, suffering, and not-self.


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1. [20:23] Making impermanence the focal point for attending to the breath. // [Insight meditation] [Direct experience]


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2. [31:33] Animitta samādhi takes impermanence as its object and is not drawn into the characteristics of things. [Concentration] // [Robes] [Nimitta] [Knowing itself]


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3. [41:14] When one sees through dukkha, the concentration that develops is called appaṇihita samādhi. [Suffering] [Concentration] // [Desire] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Liberation]

Quote: “Imagine a mental state that isn’t looking for anything else.”


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4. [48:24] Emptiness is the experiential counterpoint of not-self. [Not-self] [Emptiness ] // [Conditionality]


Session 15: Investigating Dispassion – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 18, 2005
[Dispassion]

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[Session] Passion is the deep belief in what feelings, objects of attention, and views represent. Expounding the fourteenth step of the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118), Ajahn Pasanno explains how to cultivate dispassion with each in and out breath. [Mindfulness of breathing]


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1. [12:01] Story: A man diagnosed with AIDS loses his story. [Sickness] [Self-identity view] // [Amaravati] [Ajahn Amaro]


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2. [22:56] Developing dispassion by reflecting on the body. [Mindfulness of body] [Unattractiveness] // [Food] [Self-identity view]


Session 16: Death and Dispassion – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 19, 2005
[Recollection/Death] [Dispassion]

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[Session] The contemplation of death resets our priorities and lays the ground for dispassion to cool the heart of its impusles to follow desires, moods, and biases.


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1. [12:36] Simile: As dawn precedes sunrise, when one recognizes the quality of appamāda (heedfulness), one can expect the unfolding of the Eightfold Path. (SN 45.55) [Similes] [Heedfulness] [Eightfold Path] // [Liberation]


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2. [15:18] Story: Larry Rosenberg watches a 1938 film and realizes that the actors, directors, and producers are all dead. [Larry Rosenberg] [Artistic expression]


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3. [17:55] Reflection: If this were the last moment of my life, is this the kind of mental state I want to carry into death? // [Mindfulness of breathing] [Ajahn Pasanno]


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4. [20:55] Reflection from Ajahn Koon Balisoodtoh: “Am I dying?” with each breath. [Mindfulness of breathing] // [Amulets]


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5. [24:48] Story: A group of Thai villagers are afraid to dig up their dead in order to conduct funeral rites. [Funerals] [Fear] [Death] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Dtao Dum]


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6. [29:55] Story: A Thai monastery turns into a makeshift morgue after the 2005 tsunami. [Death] [Disasters]


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7. [36:11] Quote: “Ajahn Chah was larger than life, but he’s been dead for over 10 years now.” [Ajahn Chah] // [Naturalness]


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8. [37:16] Reflection: We will be alone when we die. [Death] // [Heedfulness] [Rodney Smith] [Mindfulness of breathing]

Quote: “In the end, one is cooked and eaten by the King of Death.” — Varapañño Bhikkhu (Paul Breiter). [Paul Breiter]


Session 17: Attending to Cessation – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 20, 2005
[Cessation] [Cessation of Suffering] [Mindfulness of breathing]

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[Session] Allowing things to cease is the middle way between the extremes of clinging to becoming and annihilation. Abiding in the quality of cessation between each in and out breath breaks the habit of becoming and forms the basis of peace.


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1. [12:26] Simile: The mind that does not allow cessation is like the derelict Chithurst House stuffed with junk. [Chithurst] [Similes]


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2. [17:20] The cessation of self view is a window into emptiness. [Self-identity view] [Emptiness] [Becoming]

Meditation instructions from Ajahn Jumnien: Rest attention midway between the eye and a visual object. [Sense bases]

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Samatha practices allow us to become familiar with peaceful places in our mind. [Calming meditation] [Tranquility]

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Teaching by Ajahn Chah: Can you be continuously angry for two hours? [Aversion] [Impermanence]


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3. [29:12] Ajahn Buddhadāsa translates nirodha as quenching. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Translation]


Session 18: Relinquishing the Defilements – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 21, 2005
[Relinquishment]

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[Session] Reflecting on the last step of the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118), Ajahn Pasanno explains how relinquishment is key to entering and abiding in Dhamma. He encourages us to contemplate relinquishment with each in and out breath. [Mindfulness of breathing]


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1. [6:30] Recollection: Total relinquishment was a characteristic of Ajahn Chah’s practice. [Ajahn Chah] [Relinquishment ] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Dhamma]


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2. [12:05] Story: Practicing the Dhamma is to renounce this life. [Dhamma] // [Vajrayāna]


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3. [19:24] Reflection: Seeing things as they are. [Knowledge and vision ] // [Aggregates] [Self-identity view]


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4. [24:37] Attending to the simplicity of the elements. [Elements ] [Direct experience] // [Mindfulness of breathing] [Self-identity view]


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5. [37:12] Ajahn Buddhadāsa translates paṭinissagga as “giving back”. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa] [Translation] // [Naturalness] [Mindfulness of breathing]


Session 19: Backbone of the Practice – Ajahn Pasanno – Jan. 22, 2005
[Mindfulness of breathing]

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[Session] Mindfulness is critical at all stages of meditation. Mindfulness of breathing develops calm, stable, focused attention and can be a vehicle for the discernment that frees us from discontent. [Mindfulness]


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1. [1:44] Story: A Zen student complains that the breath is boring. [Zen]


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2. [3:47] Quote: “A moment of lack of mindfulness is a moment of derangement.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Mindfulness]


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3. [11:10] Story: A student gets hit by a car while engrossed in reading Mindfulness in Plain English. [Mindfulness] [Bhante Gunaratana]


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4. [12:15] The four constituents of Right Mindfulness. [Right Mindfulness] // [Mindfulness] [Ardency] [Clear comprehension] [Relinquishment] [Right Effort]

Sutta: MN 10: Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta.

Commentary: Clear comprehension has the characteristic of non-confusion, its function is to investigate, and it manifests as scrutinty. (Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, p. 154)

Commentary: Mindfulness has the characteristic of remembering, its function is not forgetting, and it manifests as guarding. (Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, p. 154)


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5. [35:44] When mindfulness is established and the breath becomes subtle, attend to the presence of the breath and the knower itself. [Tranquility] [Knowing itself ] // [Relinquishment] [Delusion]

Quote: “If you let go a little, you get a little peace. If you let go a lot, you get a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you get complete peace.” — Ajahn Chah.