MEDITATION 4

Dhamma Talks

by

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

(Geoffrey DeGraff)

Copyright

copyright 2008 thanissaro bhikkhu

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. To see a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. “Commercial” shall mean any sale, whether for commercial or non-profit purposes or entities.

questions about this book may be addressed to

Metta Forest Monastery

Valley Center, CA 92082-1409

U.S.A.

additional resources

More Dhamma talks, books and translations by Thanissaro Bhikkhu are available to download in digital audio and various ebook formats at dhammatalks.org.

printed copy

A paperback copy of this book is available free of charge. To request one, write to: Book Request, Metta Forest Monastery, PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA.

Contents

• Copyright
• Introduction
• The Buddha’s Shoulds
• One Thing Clear Through
• Befriending the Breath
• A Magic Set of Tools
• A Private Matter
• One Point, Two Points, Many Points
• The Stairway Up
• Conceit
• A Sense of Adventure
• On the Path of the Breath
• A Post by the Ocean
• The Buddha Didn’t Play Gotcha
• Seeing with the Body
• Oneness
• Walking Meditation: Stillness in Motion
• The Skill of Restraint
• Guardian Meditations
• Cleanliness is Next to Mindfulness
• A Sense of Entitlement
• Right Livelihood
• Factions in the Mind
• A Warrior’s Stronghold
• How to Be Alone
• Love for the Dhamma
• Universal Truths
• Stupid about Pleasure
• The Taste vs. the Reality
• Levels of Addiction
• Antidotes for Clinging
• Fear of Death
• The Raft of Concepts
• Kamma & Rebirth
• The Human Condition
• The Path Has a Goal
• Not What You Are, What You Do
• The Regularity of the Dhamma
• The Path of Mistakes
• Experimental Intelligence
• Three Perceptions
• Disenchantment
• Becoming
• Beyond Nature
• Glossary

Introduction

The daily schedule at Metta Forest Monastery includes a group interview in the late afternoon and a chanting session followed by a group meditation period later in the evening. The Dhamma talks included in this volume were given during the evening meditation sessions, and in many cases covered issues raised at the interviews — either in the questions asked or lurking behind the questions. Often these issues touched on a variety of topics on a variety of different levels in the practice. This explains the range of topics covered in individual talks.

I have edited the talks with an eye to making them readable while at the same time trying to preserve some of the flavor of the spoken word. In a few instances I have added passages or rearranged the talks to make the treatment of specific topics more coherent and complete, but for the most part I have kept the editing to a minimum. Don’t expect polished essays.

The people listening to these talks were familiar with the meditation instructions included in “Method 2” in Keeping the Breath in Mind by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo; and my own essay, “A Guided Meditation.” If you are not familiar with these instructions, you might want to read through them before reading the talks in this book. Also, further Dhamma talks are available at dhammatalks.org.

As with the previous volumes in this series, I would like to thank Bok Lim Kim for making the recording of these talks possible. She, more than anyone else, is responsible for overcoming my initial reluctance to have the talks recorded. I would also like to thank the following people for transcribing the talks and/or helping to edit the transcriptions: John Bullitt, Kathy Forsythe, Roger Fox, Gareth Fysh-Foskett, Richard Heiman, Linda Knudsen, Addie Onsanit, Nate Osgood, Xian Quan Osgood, Malcolm Schaeffer, Walter Schwidetzky, Atthaññu Bhikkhu, Balaggo Bhikkhu, Gunaddho Bhikkhu, Khematto Bhikkhu, and Vijjakaro Bhikkhu. May they all be happy.