MEDITATION 7

Meditation 7

Dhamma Talks

by

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

(Geoffrey DeGraff)

Copyright

copyright 2016 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
• What’s Getting in the Way
• How & Why We Meditate
• Responsible for Your Goodness
• A Meditator is a Good Friend to Have
• Strengthening Conviction
• Generating Energy
• Success by Approximation
• To Keep You Going
• The Science of Meditation
• Rebirth is Relevant
• Conspiracies in the Mind
• Contentment
• The No Common Sense Zone
• One Thing Only
• The First Noble Truth
• The Second Noble Truth
• The Third Noble Truth
• The Fourth Noble Truth
• Choosing Sides
• Noble Standards
• Stop Squirming
• Between Either & Or
• Unsentimental Goodwill
• Feeling & Intention
• Empathetic Joy
• Limitless is the Buddha
• Breath Meditation: The First Tetrad
• Breath Meditation: The Second Tetrad
• Breath Meditation: The Third Tetrad
• Breath Meditation: The Fourth Tetrad
• The Message of Mindfulness
• Strength for Stillness
• A Clear Agenda
• The Wisdom of Ardency
• Feelings Not of the Flesh
• Bodies & Minds Outside
• Strengthening Concentration
• Focal Points
• Blowing Bubbles
• Getting Untangled from Thorns
• Nurturing Your Inner Adult
• The Bureaucracy of the Defilements
• Murderers, Vipers, & Floods, Oh My!
• Two Roads to the Grand Canyon
• Insight from Jhana
• The Wisdom of Incongruity
• Wisdom as a Tool
• The True Dhamma Has Disappeared
• 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 book, With Each & Every Breath. If you are not familiar with these instructions, you might want to read through them before reading the talks in this book. Additional Dhamma talks are available at www.accesstoinsight.org and www.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: Virginia Lawrence, Marilyn Lemon, Carol McDonald, Judi Faabeng, Antony Woods, Barbara Pereira, Paul Glezen, Emily Neykov, Thomas Cleary, Linda Harter, Addie Onsanit, Nathaniel Osgood, and Isabella Trauttmansdorff; Vens. Balaggo Bhikkhu, Gunaddho Bhikkhu, Khematto Bhikkhu, and Vijjakaro Bhikkhu. May they all be happy.