The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
 
Ajahn Sumedho's Dharma Talks at Spirit Rock Meditation Center
Ajahn Sumedho
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").
2005-06-25 Death & Deathlessness 67:33
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
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
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
2001-04-14 The First Noble Truth: What's Noble About Dukkha 66:46
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
1999-04-24 Listen To Those Turkeys 47:09
integrating practice into ordinary situations
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monastic Retreat
1999-04-23 The Way It Is 52:39
reflecting on our experience with awakened awareness
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monastic Retreat
1999-04-23 The Fourth Noble Truth 62:40
learning to cultivate awareness and compassion
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monastic Retreat
1999-04-22 Past And Future 51:34
embracing the timeless present
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monastic Retreat
1999-04-21 Here And Now 56:27
relaxing into the present moment
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monastic Retreat
1999-04-21 Light At The End 55:52
"cessation is possible"
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monastic Retreat

Creative Commons License