Explore every episode of the podcast Hillside Hermitage Podcast

• Pleasant vs. unpleasant path
• Why the puthujjana isn't on the path and how their efforts should be directed
• Not confusing management for the actual uprooting of suffering
• The right and wrong way to practice asubha (non-beautiful)

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

• What is meant by "being" and "non-being", and what is the gratification, danger and escape in the case of these two views? (MN 11)
• The gradual abandonment of craving

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

Sutta study of SN 45.24 and AN 5.57 where the Buddha explains how whether for a householder or for one gone forth, the path to the Right view and the objects of reflections are the same.

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

• Peace as a result of virtue vs peace of the right view
• What, apart from virtue and sense restraint is required for right view?
• How to keep the practice alive

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

Why our desire for control leads to discomfort, why anxiety feels more unbearable than pain, and how understanding it can transform it into liberation. Instead of being weighed down by uncertainty, the same lack of safety can be unburdened, weightless, and free.

(attachments and anxiety, philosophy of attachment, anxiety vs pain, control and suffering, weightless mind)

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

The difference between the background lived body and the body you actively attend to, how dependence on sense objects shapes your threshold of being, and where the assumption of self takes root.

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

Many approach the practice thinking that it means hours of meditation or chasing special experiences. But true Dhamma practice is a lot simpler—and far more profound.

• Why “meditation” in the modern sense isn’t the core of practice
• How to develop clarity by taking responsibility for your actions
• Why novelty and spiritual experiences are distractions
• How to overcome the pressure of tradition and the sense of “duty” in Buddhist practice

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

Sutta study - AN 10.62 — Taṇhā Sutta (The Discourse on Craving)

• Why is there no first point of craving manifested?
• Undoing everything, here-and-now, that prevents you from the knowledge-and-liberation
• Nature of yoniso manasikara and practical examples of how to develop it

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

Is there a place for devotion and veneration in the Right practice?

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

Advice to Rahula, the Buddha's son, on how to practice anapanasati and various other ways of purification from the defilements.

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

What are the necessary pre-requisites for the practice of Satipatthana, and why it is a mistake to think of it as a meditation method.

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

• What does it mean to know that "whatever has the nature to arise, has the nature to cease"?
• Why no one below the stream-enterer knows what is beneficial and what is not.

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

Why is virtue necessary for successful practice...

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

Sutta study of SN 46.6: Kuṇḍaliyasutta

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

How do you actually understand things and what does it mean to know something.

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

The Buddha's advice for beginners:https://suttas.hillsidehermitage.org/?q=an5.114

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

Why can't you let go of things even when you know they are not in your control.

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

Are you judging yourself for being judgmental?

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

• Difference between training in the precepts or merely keeping them.
• Contemplations of the unpleasant scenarios
• Final immovability of the mind

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

Learning through failure and conveying the right messages to your citta.

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: ⁠https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/⁠

The only way to enter jhana and overcome sensuality.If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

How to break the negative mental patterns.

If you wish to support the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:

https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

"Cannot Endure" A brief look into the AN 5.139 sutta and how right samadhi can come only through immovability towards the five sense objects.

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:

https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

• Difference between mere bearing of discomfort and "enduring things on the right level"
• Common, yet mistaken, idea of the Buddha being a child when he had the first jhana

For the relevant Suttas and the Gilgit manuscript text mentioned in this talk: Click here

If you wish to support the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:

https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

Is there a way of practically understanding what "consciousness" is, without falling into abstractions?

If you wish to support the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

Overcoming an inherent intoxication with life.

If you wish to support the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

-Detachment from identity and gender. -Equanimity arises not from changing external perceptions but from relinquishing ownership of the body and its attributes. -Praise and blame affect only those who mistakenly identify with their form, but letting it go will require abandoning of the pursuit of validation, desire, and self-image. -Beautification and social approval reinforce attachment, while seeing the body as impermanent and not-self leads to freedom from suffering.

If you wish to support the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

The ultimate way of permanently uprooting the five hindrancesIf you wish to support the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:

https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

Learning how to address the root of the problem through the correct training and discernment.

If you wish to support the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

A recap of an old discussion on how to keep the perspective on the goal of practice by regularly questioning yourself: Are you suffering? If so, what is the cause of this suffering? Is your practice bearing fruit or not?

If you wish to support the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

A recap of an old discussion on how to develop calm within the discomfort of right endurance through knowing the breath. Also, a description of the fundamental discomfort of the senses and why one acts out of lust. If you wish to support the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

How to differentiate between different types of pleasures, and which ones are harmful and which ones not as much.

If you wish to support the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

• An actual TRAINING in virtue and sense restraint, as opposed to just blindly adhering to it.

• Dealing with the pressures of an irrational mind.

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:

https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

A recap of one of our old videos, describing the how not to fall into a trap of managing your suffering at the expense of uprooting the problem of it. If you wish to support the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

Is there a way that's according to the Suttas whereby a lay person can actually practice successfully towards the stream-entry or higher? ___________________________________ The books mentioned in the video discuss the historical differences between the Suttas and the later Commentaries and Abhidhammas, the original jhana practice taught by the Buddha, and later yogic-style concentration practices:

• "Early Buddhist Meditation: The Four Jhanas as the Actualization of Insight" by Keren Arbel

• "Reexamining Jhana: Towards a Critical Reconstruction of Early Buddhist Soteriology" by Grzegorz Polak (https://www.academia.edu/34093551/Reexamining_Jhana_Towards_a_Critical_Reconstruction_of_Early_Buddhist_Soteriology)

• "Nikaya Buddhism and Early Chan: A Different Meditative Paradigm" by Grzegorz Polak

___________________________________ @14:48 - A mistake, it wasn't Mahasi's teacher, but the teacher of Ledi Sayadaw called Hpo Hlaing. For further reading of some works that unintentionally reveal implicit esoteric, yogic, and Abhidhammic views that underlie modern Theravada, see:

• "Kate Crosby - Esoteric Theravada: The Story of the Forgotten Meditation Tradition of Southeast Asia"

• "Kamala Tiyavanich - Forest Recollections: Wandering Monks in Twentieth Century Thailand"

• "P.L. Dhar - Thai Forest Tradition and Advaita-Vedanta"

____________________________________

If you wish to support the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:

https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

Mind needs pressure to expand. If you wish to support the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:

https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

Does practice of dispassion lead to depression? Or is it a completely different thing... If you wish to support the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:

https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

Is it possible to be deeply concerned and invested in the worldly affairs and practice rightly towards liberation from suffering at the same time? If you wish to support the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:

https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

• Further investigation into the intentional nature of breathing and why it is particularly useful for undermining your sense of control.
• How to recognize the tantric nature of "energies", "techniques" and "special experiences" and how to abandon it.

If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:

https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

Another look at anapanasati from a different practical perspective, uncovering its core principles and where they apply. If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:

https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

Practice that inevitably results in jhana and the examples of the non-sensual pleasure that accompanies it. If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:

https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

Different ways of describing "citta" and looking into various aspects of the relationship one has with it. If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:

https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

The correct way of uprooting the hindrances that make you feel like a debtor or a prisoner. If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:

https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

Another talk in "Mind - The Wild Animal" series. It addresses the relationship between the five lower fetters and citta. As mentioned previously, this practice applies only to those who are already firmly established in virtue and have been restraining their senses from intentional distractions and unbeneficial states. Otherwise, any notion of "heart," "body," or "mind" that they hold will not pertain to the true internal physicality of rupa, and thus their citta will remain indiscernible to them. If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:

https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

‘Don’t run back to the past, don’t long for the future. What’s past is left behind; the future has not arrived. Whatever phenomenon is presently arisen is clearly seen right there. Knowing this, foster it— unfaltering, unshakable.' The Sutta discussed in this video: https://suttas.hillsidehermitage.org/?q=mn134 If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

This is a continuation of "Mind - The Wild Animal" series, specifically focusing on overcoming sensuality in relation to citta and recognizing the immediate danger in it. As mentioned previously, this practice applies only to those who are already firmly established in virtue and have been restraining their senses from intentional distractions and unbeneficial states. Otherwise, any notion of "heart," "body," or "mind" that they hold will not pertain to the true internal physicality of rupa, and thus their citta will remain indiscernible to them. If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

This is a continuation of the investigation into the nature of citta. This time, we are describing a more immediate relationship with it and your fundamental responsibility towards it. And how faith could lead all the way to arahantship. As mentioned previously, this practice applies only to those who are already firmly established in virtue and have been restraining their senses from intentional distractions and unbeneficial states. Otherwise, any notion of "heart," "body," or "mind" that they hold will not pertain to the true internal physicality of rupa, and thus their citta will remain indiscernible to them. If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via: https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

A practical examination of ways to see your mind and learn how to communicate with it directly. This practice is only applicable to those who are already sufficiently established in virtue and have been restraining their senses from intentional distraction and unbeneficial states, otherwise any notion of "heart", "body" or "mind" that they have will not be pertaining to the true internal physicality of rupa. If you wish to support our work, the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:

https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/

An audio talk, given in Poland, on how to discern the "right level" of your mind where the fruitful endurance can begin. Recently, we visited Poland for a few days to meet with Ajahn Kondanno, one of our monks, who is trying to establish a small monastery/hermitage there, in the style of Hillside and Samanadipa. We met with several people who were very interested in the practice and answered their questions on Dhamma over the following few days. You can find out more about the project and support it via: https://www.fundacjadrzewobodhi.pl/en/support/ Your help is much appreciated! Anumodana.

A recent audio talk that covers subtler aspects of Dhamma practice and reflections, which can only be understood with a foundation of developed virtue and a decent degree of seclusion... If you wish to support the Hillside Hermitage Sangha and this channel you are very welcome to do so via:

https://www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us/