Ajahn Sumedho’s Dharma Talks – Part Ii

Ajahn Sumedho is a prominent figure in the Thai Forest Tradition. His teachings are very direct, practical, simple, and down to earth. In his talks and sermons he stresses the quality of immediate intuitive awareness and the integration of this kind of awareness into daily life. Like most teachers in the Forest Tradition, Ajahn Sumedho tends to avoid intellectual abstractions of the Buddhist teachings and focuses almost exclusively on their practical applications, that is, developing wisdom and compassion in daily life. His most consistent advice can be paraphrased as to see things the way that they actually are rather than the way that we want or don’t want them to be (“Right now, it’s like this…”). He is known for his engaging and witty communication style, in which he challenges his listeners to practice and see for themselves. Students have noted that he engages his hearers with an infectious sense of humor, suffused with much loving kindness, often weaving amusing anecdotes from his experiences as a monk into his talks on meditation practice and how to experience life (“Everything belongs”).

2006-05-25 Questions And Answers 65:22 Download Listen Amaravati Monastery :  10 Day Retreat

2006-05-25 5 Khandhas 25 44:48 Download Listen Amaravati Monastery :  10 Day Retreat

2006-05-24 Questions And Answers 63:13 Download Listen Amaravati Monastery :  10 Day Retreat

2006-05-24 The Way It Is 30:52 Download Listen Amaravati Monastery :  10 Day Retreat

2006-05-23 Questions And Answers 1:10:07 Download Listen Amaravati Monastery :  10 Day Retreat

2006-05-23 Reflection 41:49 Download Listen Amaravati Monastery :  10 Day Retreat

2006-05-22 Question And Answers – 4 Noble Truths 57:28 Download Listen Amaravati Monastery :  10 Day Retreat

2006-05-22 Reflection 43:04 Download Listen Amaravati Monastery :  10 Day Retreat

2006-05-21 Triple Gem 61:03 Download Listen Amaravati Monastery :  10 Day Retreat

2006-05-21 Reflection 39:36 Download Listen Amaravati Monastery :  10 Day Retreat

2006-05-20 8 Precepts 65:46 Download Listen Amaravati Monastery :  10 Day Retreat

2005-07-02 I’m Saturday Morning 52:03 Download Listen Noticing mundane experiences can help us realize the difference between conventions and reality. Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2005-07-02 Mother Earth, Father Sky, & The Middle Way 66:13 Download Listen Practicing with the Middle Way & the 4 Noble Truths. Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2005-07-01 Listening To The Sounds Of The Morning 64:37 Download Listen Instructions on how to open up to pure awareness. Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2005-06-30 A Sense Of Relaxed Attention 67:43 Download Listen Learning to balance effort in our practice takes the application of our intuition. Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2005-06-29 That Which Is Inclusive 66:25 Download Listen Noticing the sound of silence and space which are open and inclusive forms of reflections. Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2005-06-29 It Is The Way It Is 1:12:01 Download Listen The value of reflecting on thought and thinking other than merely thinking about thinking. Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2005-06-28 In Awareness There’s No Dukkha (AM Instructions) 1:14:55 Download Listen When we dwell with Mindfulness and Awareness we can realize freedom from suffering. Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2005-06-28 Where Jackals Cease 1:12:55 Download Listen Using awareness of consciousness to realize the Third Noble Truth of cessation. Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2005-06-26 Space & Conciousness 61:36 Download Listen Contemplating Space & Conciousness in the here & now as the path of practice, and using the sound of silence for realizing Dhamma. Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2005-06-26 Unconditional Love 66:22 Download Listen The importance of starting practice from the unconditional, and Metta as unconditional love. Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2005-06-25 Death & Deathlessness 67:33 Download Listen The Dhamma is something ordering, but we constantly over-look it and get stuck in the world of ideas and rational thought. Developing awareness of feelings and welcoming the totality of experience grounds us in the Deathless. Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2005-06-24 Awakened Awareness 45:52 Download Listen Introductory teaching and Instructions for a ten day retreat at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2001-04-17 Trust In Being The Knowing 67:43 Download Listen Using reason and logic, that is, acquired knowledge, we get caught in dualistic positions: right and wrong, good and bad, etc. We tend to establish a fixed view about things. In this talk Ajahn Sumedho is trying to get us to a place beyond such dualistic thinking, beyond taking sides. He says that intuitive awareness involves a one-pointedness (ekaggata) that includes, rather than excludes. It is not dualistic. Transcendence is a matter of “being” it, not thinking about it. Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2001-04-15 Knower Of The Worlds 54:49 Download Listen We can be empowered in practice through getting to know the nature of the world we live in and through learning from the way it is. Taking refuge in knowing the truth– the laws of nature-can free us from a selfish struggle with the way things are.

2001-04-14 The First Noble Truth: What’s Noble About Dukkha 66:46 Download Listen The Buddha’s teachings are all about awakening to the truth of suffering, or dukkha, and finding the end to it. Our potential for awakening begins to be realized when we shift our attitude to take an interest in suffering, learning from the way it is, and understanding how it gets created. Opening to the truth about suffering, we also open our awareness to something greater — the ultimate reality. Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2000-09-16 What is Ajahn Chah Now? 29:16 Download Listen

1999-04-25 The Buddha Knows the Dhamma 51:35 Download Listen

1999-04-24 Listen To Those Turkeys 47:09 Download Listen integrating practice into ordinary situations Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Monastic Retreat

1999-04-23 The Way It Is 52:39 Download Listen reflecting on our experience with awakened awareness Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Monastic Retreat

1999-04-23 The Fourth Noble Truth 62:40 Download Listen learning to cultivate awareness and compassion Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Monastic Retreat

1999-04-22 Past And Future 51:34 Download Listen embracing the timeless present Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Monastic Retreat

1999-04-21 Here And Now 56:27 Download Listen relaxing into the present moment Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Monastic Retreat

1999-04-21 Light At The End 55:52 Download Listen “cessation is possible” Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Monastic Retreat

1999-04-20 End Of The Storm 1:54:22 Download Listen awakening from the ignorance of our conditioning. Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Monastic Retreat

1999-04-20 Gwendolyn: What Are You To Me? 54:45 Download Listen contemplating the three kinds of desire: the cause of dukkha Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Monastic Retreat

1999-04-19 Grounded Awareness 49:56 Download Listen Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Monastic Retreat

1999-04-18 Food 1:12:22 Download Listen surrendering resistance Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Monastic Retreat

1999-04-18 Ritual and Tradition 1:30:08 Download Listen Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Monastic Retreat

1999-04-18 Ritual and tradition 1:14:39

1999-04-17 Morning Reflections 59:32 Download Listen

1999-04-17 Gates To The Deathless 67:57 Download Listen realizing the potential of our true nature Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Monastic Retreat

1995-06-16 Point Of Intersection Of Timeless With Time 59:37 Download Listen “pure presence is ever-transcending”

1995-06-15 Attainment Vs Letting Go 1:18:46 Download Listen avoiding the conceit of bending life towards one particular view

1995-06-15 12 Aspects Of 4 Noble Truths & 8 Fold Path 1:12:22 Download Listen the reflective teachings

1995-06-14 Confidence Not To Believe In Negative Moods 1:33:43 Download Listen open doubting Cloud Mountain Retreat Center

1995-06-13 Allowing Suffering: Transmuting Rubbish Into Metta 1:34:12 Download Listen the practice of not grasping Cloud Mountain Retreat Center

1995-06-12 Emotionally Stuck At Age 15 1:34:52 Download Listen the loneliness of me Cloud Mountain Retreat Center

1995-06-11 Trusting In Knowing 1:29:25 Download Listen happiness and getting high. Cloud Mountain Retreat Center

1995-06-10 Contemplating The Body, Irritations & Being Someone 1:20:30 Download Listen the body is in the mind Cloud Mountain Retreat Center

1995-05-22 Ajahn Sumedho At Spirit Rock 61:25 Download Listen Reflecting on the meaning and purpose of this strange experience called life. Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Monday and Wednesday Talks

1991-06-29 The Jewel Of The Dhamma 48:43 Download Listen being aware, right here, right now Abhayagiri Monastery

1991-03-07 Contemplation Isn’t Analytical 1:16:57 Download Listen recognizing the power of reflective thought Abhayagiri Monastery

1990-05-26 The Joys of Monastic Life, Part 2 35:03 Download Listen Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  The Joys of Monastic Life

1990-05-22 Breathing Spirit Into Form 1:29:58 Download Listen appreciating the life force that your spirit breathes into the practice Insight Meditation Society – Retreat Center

1990-05-20 Turning On The Light 1:30:46 Download Listen Insight Meditation Society – Retreat Center

1990-05-20 The Return to the Source 54:22 Download Listen

1990-05-18 Practice Of Inner Listening 29:34 Download Listen learning to listen to the inner sound of silence as a way to quiet and center the mind Insight Meditation Society – Retreat Center

1990-05-15 Initial Meditation Practice 46:10 Download Listen Insight Meditation Society – Retreat Center

1987-02-10 Anicca, Dukkha & Anatta 1:13:40

1987-02-09 Investigating the Four Noble Truths 1:13:51 Download Listen

1982-05-02 Karma and Rebirth 1:13:17 Download Listen exact date unknown

1982-05-01 The Eight Precepts 69:22 Download Listen exact date unknown