Aruna Ratanagiri Dhamma Talks

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Space, uncluttered, openness, colour, visual impression, consciousness, crowds, congestion, pulped, attention, airport, shopping precincts, cooling, middle way, extremes, polarities, repudiation, saturation, hallmark, Tathagata, tension, breathing, unresolved resistance, residue, discord, personality disorder, right effort, stressing, goal-seeking, emptiness, fitting, context, elucidate, sati, post, sampajanna, regulator, roams around, moderating, meaningfulness, context, well-measured, non-delusion, calligraphy, illuminations, curly cues, middle way.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Reading The Natural Mind, Chiangrai, wanting, wrong understanding, clinging, Dhammapada verse 198, untroubled, hatred, cold-hearted, aloof, true principle, not merely a concept, breakfast, tahini on toast, empathy, spiritual virtue, equanimity, kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, equanimity, 4 Brahma Viharas, BBC documentary, Cambodia, conscious sadness, tears streaming, OK-ness, space, having and not-having, subtlety, delusion, loss, praise, spiritual community, kalyanamitta, feedback, puffed-up, asset, good fortune, protection.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Relevance, practical, initial faith, doubt, spirit of enquiry, Going For Refuge, Triple Gem, first person present tense, gacchami, dynamic process, being perfectly aware, Dr. Thomas Jones, swearing allegiance, implication, limitless, measureless, edgeless, Learning From the Natural Mind, ingrown toenail, being perfectly honest, unmet life, daunting, vortex of delusion, being perfectly harmonious, being perfectly harmonious, Kalama Sutta.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Modes of listening to Dhamma, Discourse of Profound Auspiciousness, Mahamangala Sutta, Dhammasavana, critique, information, lectures, indoctrinated, Dhammasakaccha, a shared Dhamma inquiry, Rains Retreat, forgiveness, clear the slate, lurking, habouring resentment, 1975, Ajahn Thate, Wat Hin Mak Peng, Luang Por Kaaw, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Pathet Lao, Khmer Rouge, Viet cong, concord, cooperation, evolution of species, Ajahn Chah, attachment to views, right view, harbinger, samma ditthi, right beliefs, samma sankappa, right aspiration, right activation, identity politics, Christian monk, hiking, swimming, rip current, deep breathing, surrender, ‘let the Buddha take over’, affirmation, configuring individual identity, ‘oneself rightly aligned’, anatta, selflessness, identity as a multidimensional phenomenon, haka, role of religion, Going For Refuge, self promoting, self referencing, wound on the forehead, Dhammapada 348.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Supportive conditions, wisdom, perception, growing your own vegetables, fork, compost, companion planting, strength, stability, agility, virtues, patience, intimidation, shaming, counter-force, imagination, mistaken identification, lay claim, e-bike, pins and needles, holding too tightly, gratitude, bowing, Ajahn Mahabua, on your toes, scolding, softening, gentling, pet cat, thank you, don’t know, deluded ‘I’, push past, allowing, ‘I will die alone’, unmet life, backlog, attic, basement, get into a huff, sulk, denial, kalyanamitta, listening, chanting, ‘a servant of reality.’

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Teaching styles, translating, Rahula, wise reflection, relevant, rate of change, technology, political parties, blaming, wisdom, insight, supportive conditions, Awakening, illness, medicine, diet, exercise, instilling virtues, pejorative, virtue signalling, vitamin deficiency, gratitude, patience, forgiveness, generosity, kindness, integrity, sense of ‘I’, identity, strong, stable, supple, Christian family, Prodigal Son, betrayal, forgiveness, Jesus on the cross, bickering, vicissitudes, reservoir, Kisa Gotami, mustard seeds, compassion, self-obsession, Devadatta, praise and gain, lick-spittle, intimidation, philosophical arguments, feeling enquiry, equanimity, generosity, counter-force for self-obsession, forgiveness, adding ill-will, contentment, Bhikkhuni Mahapajapati, modesty, contentment, frugality, effort, solitude, GP clinic, backlog, threatening, volatility, Mt Everest, past-life accumulations.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Ajahn Chah’s birthday, overly complex, new-age, elitist, accessible, challenging, joy, encouragement, gratitude, translations, German, Italian, Chinese, 360 Branch Monasteries in Thailand, 14 Branch Monasteries outside of Thailand, rigours, lonely, stuck with it, profound benefit, study, dramatic shift, death of father, Four Noble Truths, spiritual faculties, actuality, Ajahn Mun, Visuddhimagga, sila, samadhi, punnya, too much, do one thing, study your own heart, biography, walking meditation, ‘just walking’, sitting meditation, ‘just knowing’, becoming, letting go, Paul Breiter, arahant, Bodhisattva, hay-fever, boring, dying, indictment, clever ideas, Kruba Ajahn, Rinpoche, Roshi, showing off, shied away from, pindapat, Teaching of the Cobra, die before you die, habitual patterns of clinging, limited being, letting go, peace.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Retreat, good fortune, struggling, suicide, hopelessness, faith, overwhelmed, actuality, conventional religion, indictment, Tan Somdet Payutto Bhikkhu, Robin Moore, Dependent Origination, sorrow, lamentation, pain grief, despair, joy, liberation, integrity, wise reflection, purification, rationality, rituals, symbols, overshadows, arrogance, conceit, Lake District, Cumbria, poetry, heart matters, dagger, swatting a fly away, añjali, hongi, bowing, ‘whatever’, Platinum Jubilee, monarchy, Cromwell, republic, unity, secularism, intolerable, unendurable, according, harmonious.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Judgmental, comparing, wasting time, knife, carpentry, chisel, musical instrument, gauge, studying, pariyutti, techniques, creative, sensing enquiry, pattipati, approximations, limitations, clinging to labels, pointers, different orientation of effort, distrust thinking, discontentment and contentment, multidimensional awareness, ocean, tumultuous, stopping smoking cigarettes, preferences, prejudices, Morrinsville, Christianity, spiritual faculties, medicine, identity, fear, asking ‘who?’, Going for Refuge to the Buddha, identified AS selfless just-knowing awareness, purified consciousness, terror, there is nothing be afraid of if you are not clinging to wanting.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Contentment, wise reflection, gratitude, commitment, sacrifice, Vesak, Buddhahood, reputation, adhitthana, nekkhamma, parami, consumer culture, Ajahn Chah, affluence, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly-hood, meditation, faith, common-and-garden variety, wisdom, compassion fatigue, 8 Precepts, householder, honesty, fundamentalism, arthritis, scar tissue, loneliness, resolve, austerity, clinging, benefit, strength.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Actuality, indulging-denying, pleasure, competence, old age, sickness, death, flipped, ascetic, austerities, middle way, locus of identity, liking-disliking, agitated, nationality, English-Scottish, Theravada-Mahayana, having preferences, industrial floor polisher, deep contentment, imperturbability, Mahamangala sutta, dissipated, currency, runner beans, trellis, disadvantage, advantage, electric shock, meditation, lathe, chisel, tying shoe laces, actualize, disappointment, habits, intoxication, just-knowing awareness, deluded personality, boring, disillusionment, nibbida, energy extravagant, not-knowing.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Spiritual practices, spiritual gymnastics, dramatic efforts, retreats, real practice, addicted, discontentment, bypass, emotions, early-life, not ready, willfulness, lock away, unawareness, breathing, health, grief, unlived life, trusting, faith, gradual, steadiness, inspiration, diving, stillness, include everything, hindrances, sadness, vortex, kidnap, empowered heedlessness, traumatized on retreats, not say I am wrong, doubt, garbage, backlog, disheartening, mitigating, companionship, community, exercise, diet, devotional practices, dis-empower, anger, fear, rationality, puny, bowing, perfect wisdom, perfect compassion, chanting, aligning with lineage.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Approaching Buddhism, academic, Afghanistan, Gandhara Buddha images, suttas, patticca samuppada, Abhidhamma, cetasika, dosamula citta, cultural conditioning, devotion, Kalama Sutta, dhammavicaya, 7 bojjhanga, enquiry, believing, new age, pilates, chi gong, mantra chanting, silent meditation, accumulating spiritual credentials, Ajahn Chah, pariyutti, fear of death, patipatti, cooking, wisdom, beginner, America, sila, samadhi, pannya, Ven. Ananda, freedom from remorse, intention, disciplined attention, treadle sewing machine, potters wheel, discernment, accumulation of information, letting go, fear of a snake, relief, equanimity, aversion, listening inwards.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Ajahn Chah, ‘in the dead of the night’, fear, sadness, clarity and confidence, challenged to the core, overwhelm, Dhammapada verse 380, protector, secure abiding, thoroughbred, projecting hope, true identity, self-obsession, confidence, joy, indulging, denying, middle way, dead-end, alternative perspective, just-knowing awareness, misusing mindfulness and concentration, deluded egos, five spiritual faculties, saddha, viriya, sati, samadhi, punnya, faith, energy, mindfulness, collectedness, discernment, unendurable, insurmountable, outshine old habits, fragrance, tactile, amorphous, riveted, motivation, presence, strategies, ‘my' awareness, no-strategies, control freaks, aliveness.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Three different types of suffering, present-generated, old unmet, adopted, over reaction, Vittakasanthana Sutta, agility, techniques, hints, strategising, cutting through, seeing through, burning through, give a nod, big song and dance, investigation, conceptual understanding, physically, emotionally, mentally, relationally, inspiring conversation, emigrating, humility, satipatthana sutta, breathing, softening, middle way, emotional resistance, befriending, is this ‘I’, relational, burning through, patient endurance, incinerator, spoilt rich kids, competence, creative engagement.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Meeting ourselves, afraid, threatened, sadness, Dhammapada verse 201, victory, hatred, suffering is not an obligation, template, taking sides, deeply divided, conflicted, Dhammacakka Sutta, two extremes, a dead end, middle way, strengthening faith, skills, instruments, faith, just-knowing, inspiring, encouragement, ferry, Amsterdam, motivation, integrity, beauty, self-confidence, mindfulness, wise-restraint, samadhi, tears, maniacal bully, aversion, wars, informing, wise-reflection, asking the right questions, benefit.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Ovada Patimokkha, Dhammapada 183, right restraint, cooking, wisdom, compassion, evil, preparing the ground, robe dying, jackfruit, heedlessness, chocolate, indriyasamvara, wilful denial, Ajahn Chah, centipede, sterile environment, infection, tipple, alcoholic, 5 precepts, integrity, storehouse of goodness, gratitude, consumer society, disillusioned monastics, conscious appreciation, mudita, schadenfreude, (23.15 mins. Line 3) purification, compulsive judging, projecting, aversion, honesty, stubbing our toe, Ajahn Dukkha, present generated dukkha, old unmet dukkha, dartboard, adopted dukkha, happiness.

(keywords) (approx. 29 mins. - slightly edited version) Family, job, jhanas, goal-oriented approach, likable, affluent, healthy, great doubt, vicissitudes, reaffirmation of faith, actuality, chaos, order, kamma, realization, awakened, kaya kamma, vacci kamma, mano kamma, bowing, chanting, disposition of a servant, cittabhavana, flummoxed, sterile environment, purifying awareness, tough luck, compulsive judging mind, taking sides, ‘don’t know’, grounding, uncertainty, addiction to abstract understanding, wanting, craving, clarity, ease.

(keywords) (approx. 42 mins. - slightly edited version) Ajahn Chah passing away, ‘What Is Contemplation’, Rahula, mirror, wise reflection, citta, craft, proliferation, feeling enquiry, (1), goal, liberation, Dhammapada 154, unconditioned, unmade, imperturbable, griefless, dustless, secure, (2), wisdom and compassion, (3) Three Refuges, sustaining, safe haven, clear seeing, precipitated, actuality, (4) handful of leaves, Four Noble Truths, avijja, boredom, right effort, yabber, (5) five spiritual faculties, freedom from remorse, (6) six senses, (7) seven factors of awakening, stable trajectory, goodies, inner work, (8) Bhikkhuni Mahapajapati, gym, violin, fruit tree, compulsive judging, selfism, hatred, hell, bullying, speaking with your own heart, competence.

(keywords) (approx. 25 mins. - slightly edited version) Challenging, pandemic, politics, environment, hunger, Four Noble Truths, sensitivity, guts, MO, overly enamoured, a walking head, ground work, misappreciate, painting the living room, Wat Pah Pong, sweeping leaves, starving, sati, sampajanna, disciplined attention, remembering the bigger picture, open hearted, broad-minded, OK-ness, overwhelmed, inner competence, storehouse of wholesomeness, going gets tough, exercise, walking, jogging, trustworthy friends, Dhammapada 204, best of kin, generosity, in jail, buying into stories, outshining stories, ability, competence, yielding, assertive, honesty.