Aruna Ratanagiri Dhamma Talks

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Christian monk, prayer, induction and instruction, catch a cold, Ajahn Chah in US, pariyatti, Nimbin, do's and don’ts, discipline attention, walking meditation, there’s just-knowing, calm, changed the course of my life, possibilities, 1970’s, questioning, initial inspiration, identity, forms, intoxicated by outer appearance, Vakkali, overly enamoured, sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches and mental impressions, false identity, wound on your forehead, approximation, restless, virtuous struggle, synthetic security, daring, taking risks, precepts, spiritual companions, letting go of the initial good feeling, downloading an app.

(keywords) (edited version) Q: "Are we still identifying as the activity taking place in our hearts and minds, or are we remembering our refuge in the Buddha, in just-knowing awareness?" Dhammapada Reflections, framing experience, victims of suffering, Ajahn Thate, refuge, content, context, Awakened beings, sites, sounds, liking and disliking, formal meditation, becoming the worldling, identified as the thinking mind, desire and craving, semantics, doubt, looking at the finger, heart of awareness, not-knowing, addicted to certitude, rung of the ladder, faith, fear of unsure, synthetic security, moral precepts, intentional composure, indriyasamvara, gradually, beginning again..

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Dhammapada verse 163, Devadatta, winter retreat, excruciatingly difficult, intensely threatening, junk food, affluence, obesity, ease of access to information, contentment, ecological stressor, wars, technology, identified with the deluded sense of self, ‘my way’, hatred, morphing, pride, self-adoration, selfies, vulgar, intoxicant, religion, self-obsessed, virtues, humility, truthfulness, Greek myth, scientific scrutiny, beliefs systems, faith in True Principles, path of practice, 8-fold path, Right View, 4 Noble Truths, Right Aspiration, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Collectedness, schools, Conscious Studies, disciplined attention, understanding pain, balance.

(keywords) (edited version) Q: "For those of us with a Western scientific back ground, some of the more metaphysical teachings of the Buddha's teachings such as rebirth are hard to make sense of. And even from the perspective of the teaching on Anatta, rebirth is hard to make sense of! Please could you give advice on how to relate to those parts of the teachings that seem to require belief in things we cannot know for ourselves and also the parts of the teachings that we plain just don’t understand.” Engage the paradox, dilemma, clinging, fear, selfless just-knowing awareness, anatta, compulsively taking sides, intelligence, not-knowing, laws of materiality, laws of consciousness, gravity, conceptual formulation, trust, study, uncertainty, greed, poison, humility, modesty, abdication, True Principles, not avoiding responsibility, dilemmas are a gift.

(keywords) (edited version) Q: “Can you speak about jealousy and how I can practice to combat the envy others have in my practice? Sometimes, friends can be critical and speak in a way that is judgemental and disparaging towards me. I feel misunderstood. How can I deal with this?” Self-centred, generosity, truthfulness, integrity, sila, lotus flower, compromising, Venerable Ananda, freedom from remorse, safety, psychologist, GP, sugar metabolism, highest virtue, wisdom, nekkhamma parami, ability to say no, smartphone, adhitthana parami, determination, resolution, lokapala, protectors of the world, hiri and ottappa, wholesome sense of shame, balance, sila, anger, attention, light, energy, dissolve, denial, restraint, 5 precepts, heedlessness, will, Ajahn Dukkha, conflation, peaceful, child, agile, guided meditation, gentle, sensitive, mental exercise, Satipatthana Sutta, counting the breath, strength, weakness.

(keywords) (edited version) Q: "I have heard according to Theravada Buddhist teachings we are born and die at every moment, and we do this continuously, not only after our final breath. Could you please explain what this means?” Dependent Origination, kamma, rebirth, willing, daring, enquiring, 5 spiritual faculties, rainbow, burdensome, quandary, careful manner, self-adoration, vulgar, self-promotion, cooperation, harmony, self-obsessed, religion, Almighty, abominably, perpetual anxiety, community of selves, atta, anatta, society, morphing.

(keywords) (edited version) Q: I have intensified my practice over the last year and a half. During this time my sila has gone backwards: Why is this the case? Sila, anger, attention, light, energy, dissolve, denial, restraint, 5 precepts, heedlessness, will, Ajahn Dukkha, conflation, peaceful, child, agile, guided meditation, gentle, sensitive, mental exercise, Satipatthana Sutta, counting the breath, strength, weakness.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) "I have been ghosted by two close friends. They disappeared, without explanation. I emailed each 3 times requesting an open discussion and neither replied. In meditation, I offer and ask for forgiveness. Can you recommend additional ways to help let go of these painful rejections?" Commitment, framing, learn, lost, samsara, uninspected relationship with pain, Ajahn Chah, comfort, convenience, denied dukkha, meeting dukkha with interest, endurance, vector for transformation, 10 parami, framing, noble ordeal, 5 spiritual faculties, overwhelmed, stories, strategies, awakening, Ajahn Dukkha.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) "Are there any precautions of safeguards I should be taking as I sense the tenderness of my heart opening?" Becoming overly sensitive, parenting, karaniya metta sutta, normality, native sensitivity, naively vulnerable, hurt, the Buddha had pain, Vulture’s Peak, unawareness, 4 Noble Truths, falling in love, the capacity for being loving, discipline, righteous indignation, 2 extremes, Dhammacakkha sutta, middle way, embodied mindfulness, intentional composure, indriya samvara, projection, retreat, Bhajans, hymns, Jesus, Krishna, Kwan Yin, surfing, hang-gliding, wilderness, worshipping, idolizing, fundamentalism, sad, rational faculties, tension, rightly aligned, head, heart, belly, 25 questions.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) “I know from past experiences that increased food intake never genuinely makes me feel better. Might you have any advice? Evolutionary biologists, psychologists, demonize desire, wanting, craving, wholesome desires, enemy, smoking, breaking the habit, basic skills, 5 spiritual faculties, faith, kamma, energy, intensity, embodied mindfulness, discipline attention, discernment, indriya samvara, skilful composure, containing, respecting intensity, hiri and ottappa, conscience, lokapala, protectors of the world, skilful shame and fear of the consequences of shamelessness, guilt, progress, unruly heart energy, competent, ill-will, truly responsible.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) "Are we lacking in empathy if we feel contentment amongst all this suffering. Or are we indeed being selfish?" Dhammapada verse 197, 198, egotistical perspective, inflated, meditation, stillness and peace, deeper dimensions, ocean, bilingual, driving a car, agility of attention, evolution, essential tool, end of the world, cultivating awareness, multidimensional reality, cleaning teeth, strap-line.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) The Teaching of the Cobra, filtered through perceptions, uncertainty, conceptual level, intuitive level, felt level, letting go, unfortunately limited, clinging to forms, resistance, arguments, intuitive, excruciating consequences, flippant, precepts, drinking alcohol, fifth precept, poison, blood-brain barrier, numbing, the open-hearted state, our spiritual workshop, compulsive contraction, deeply relevant, becoming stuck, embodied awareness, over stimulation, guided meditation, compassionate open-hearted awareness, aligning.

This brief, non-traditional exercise of disciplined attention aims at helping meditators return to a state of embodied balance and alignment. It should always be applied with gentleness and care.

This brief, non-traditional exercise of disciplined attention aims at helping meditators return to a state of embodied balance and alignment. It should always be applied with gentleness and care.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) The Teaching of the Cobra, filtered through perceptions, uncertainty, conceptual level, intuitive level, felt level, letting go, unfortunately limited, clinging to forms, resistance, arguments, intuitive, excruciating consequences, flippant, precepts, drinking alcohol, fifth precept, poison, blood-brain barrier, numbing, the open-hearted state, our spiritual workshop, compulsive contraction, deeply relevant, becoming stuck, embodied awareness, over stimulation, guided meditation, compassionate open-hearted awareness, aligning.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) new year’s resolution, modesty, truthfulness, assessing truthfulness, asking our heart, centre of the chest, open window, children playing, giggling, parents caring, Handel’s Messiah, retreat, extreme sports, abseiling, free diving, novels, movies, love stories, vulnerable, joy, enthusiasm, evangelical, conflation, falling in love, denied dukkha, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair, norovirus, collude with the collective assumption, 5 hindrances, demonize, kilesa, indictment, pistachio ice-cream and pecan cookies, eating distraction, sloth and torpor, freeze, backlog, rag, reintegrated, imagined fear, offended, turn off the news, compassion.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) primary work, Dhammapada verse 301, cittabhavana, desire, tanha, fear, anxiety, present generated dukkha, old unmet dukkha, adopted dukkha, paranoid, complex, chaotic, satipatthana sutta, sati, recipe book, CJD, disposition, conjure up, numbness, fire, daring, contentment, a con, addiction, nekkhamma parami, repertoire of skilful means, authentic interest, cutting through, seeing through, burning through, abstractions on feelings, reintegrated into the heart, heedful suppression, competence, fanciful ideas, honesty, no judgement, spiritual warrior, hungry man teaching.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Metta, mudita, feeling threatened, personal survival, medical prognosis, collective crisis, 4 Divine Abidings, ICU, ideals, preparation, run aground, humility, tried and tested, The Discourse on the Greatest Blessings, unshakeable, stages of training, reputation, health, habitual addictions, indulgence and denial, psychotherapy, pontificating, Mahamangala Sutta, apparent sense of self, meditation retreat, daily meditation, 5 precepts, contented head, wide-open heart, belly at ease, aligning, heart-broken, 10 parami, vectors for transformation, dana, sila, nekkhamma, boundary-building, agents of suffering, deluded personality, transformed relationship with ‘I’.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Forest Sangha Calendar 2025, 50th anniversary, Wat Nanachat, contentment, blasé, wringing our hands, waiting, ocean, tumultuous, study and practise, 37 Bodhipakkhiya dhamma, Requisites for Awakening, knowing directly, unitive intelligence, music appreciation, compulsively comparing, one-bowl-eaters practice, ascetic practice, control freak, addiction to preferences, addiction to ascetic practice, yabber-yabber, conventional theistic religion, self-inflated, contributing compassion to the world, Venerable Mahapajapati Bhikkhuni, enamoured, alluding, cardamom, free to feel fear.

(keywords) (slightly edited version) Sangha gatherings, kathina, Elders’ Council Meetings, burden of suffering, reaping rewards, old pain, criticism, cynicism, unmet pain, DDB, denied dukkha backlog, solitary practice, a right pickle, lost in samsara, reconfigure views, reading Braille, raw data, ouch, intense illness, heavenly messengers, assailed, ICU, capacity of heart, nivarana, anger, vibhava-tanha, rage, feel fully offended, feel accurately, daring, momentum, overwhelmed, loathing washing dishes, avoid using force, assertive, standing in ma bu, spick-and-span, Morrinsville, open-hearted awareness, allowing the native sensitivity, let rip, passionate rage, contraction in my guts, affluence, entertainment, incremental moments, cleaning our teeth, hunching our shoulders, heart wide open, 50 years, Nimbin.