Stages of awakening
Includes tags: Stages of awakening, Stream entry, Once return, Non-return, Arahant
3. “Where in the Pāli Canon does the Buddha discuss physical pain and how to deal with it? Is physical pain categorized as a sense hindrance or a mental object?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Tipiṭaka] [Pain] [Sense bases] [Volitional formations] // [Patience] [Feeling]
Sutta: SN 36.6: The Dart. [Similes]
Sutta: MN 86.17: Aṅgulimāla Sutta. [Kamma] [Arahant]
Sutta: MN 44.25: The underlying tendencies associated with feeling.
2. “Thank you for this morning’s talk on the recollections and faith. Could you elaborate on your point about faith and anāgamī? Has anyone been fully liberated through faith?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Faith] [Non-return] [Liberation] // [Discernment] [Energy] [Faculties] [The New Yorker] [Culture/West]
Reflection: Faith is the trigger for letting go and relinquishment. [Relinquishment]
Sutta: MN 52: Delight in the Dhamma and the third stage of liberation. [Recollection/Dhamma] [Non-return]
20. “Can you offer some inspiration to the group as to observing the Eight Precepts on the Uposatha Days? I’ve been observing every quarter moon, and it would be comforting to know that I’m part of a larger group. Please reflect on the value of restraint outside the retreat environment.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Eight Precepts] [Lunar observance days ] [Sense restraint] [Everyday life] // [Culture/Thailand] [Wat Pah Pong] [Wat Pah Nanachat]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno’s first Uposatha Day at Wat Pah Pong. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Lay life]
Sutta: AN 8.41: “Suppose the lay people spent a day and a night living like the arahants.” [Arahant]
8. “How do we know when to ask for directions on the path as opposed to just continuing farther? What would we ask?” Answered by Ajahn Yatiko. [Questions] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma] [Gradual Teaching] // [Suffering] [Discernment] [Conditionality] [Faith]
Sutta: SN 12.23: Suffering is the cause of faith.
Follow-up: “What about when things are pleasant, but we’re not headed in the right direction?” [Happiness] [Mindfulness] [Deva] [Relinquishment]
Sutta: MN 75.13: Simile of the leper. [Similes]
Sutta: SN 56.35: Stream entry after 100 years. [Stream entry] [Four Noble Truths]
[Session] Ajahn Pasanno begins the retreat by encouraging us to return to the basics of the Noble Eightfold Path. He mentions Iris Landsberg, a long-standing lay supporter dying of lung cancer, both to set the tone for the monk’s final visit to her and to encourage us to practice while there is still time. Iris passed away February 1, 2014. [Eightfold Path] [Sickness] [Death] [Mutual lay/Saṅgha support] [Spiritual urgency] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Meditation retreats] [Family] [Health care]
Sutta: DN 16.5.27: The world will not be devoid of awakened beings as long as people are practicing the Eightfold Path. [Stages of awakening]
Story: Ajahn Pavaro decides to practice in Bodh Gaya after receiving worrying medical news. [Visiting holy sites] [Impermanence]
Sutta: MN 131: Bhaddekaratta Sutta (Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 75)
5. “What is the difference between abandoning craving and realizing the abandoning of craving?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Impermanence] [Aggregates] [Cause of Suffering] [Cessation of Suffering] // [Commentaries] [Doubt] [Relinquishment] [Concentration] [Gladdening the mind] [Desire] [Becoming] [Non-return] [Right View]
Sutta: SN 56.11.6 Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. [Four Noble Truths]
Sutta: AN 9.36 Jhāna Sutta: Passion for Dhamma leads to non-return. [Dhamma] [Rapture] [Non-return]
Sutta: MN 121 Cūḷa Suññatā Sutta: The Shorter Discourse on Emptiness [Emptiness]
Quote: “The characteristic of cessation is not just ending something and annihilating [it], but it’s being willing and able to stop. The nature of the mind is that it doesn’t like to stop. And it’s [through] that not stopping that we keep creating that sense of me.” — Ajahn Pasanno. [Cessation] [Nature of mind] [Self-identity view]
1. “In what cases, if any, is it useful to try to assess whether stream entry has occurred? Or is this question best left aside?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Stream entry] // [Proliferation]
Sutta: AN 3.12: The place where one attains stream entry is never forgotten. [Stream entry]
Suttas: SN 55.1, SN 55.42: Stream entry described in terms of faith in the Three Refuges, virtue, and generosity. [Stream entry] [Three Refuges] [Faith] [Virtue] [Generosity]
1. “How can those just entering monastic life lay a good foundation?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Monastic life] // [Vinaya] [Right View] [Ajahn Chah] [Virtue] [Stream entry] [Four Noble Truths] [Kamma] [Generosity] [Greed] [Communal harmony] [Happiness] [Gratitude]
Sutta: SN 55.1: Sīla of a stream enterer [Stream entry]
Sutta: MN 117: The Great Forty
9. “My question is about the amount or type of suffering left when one reaches stream entry. In the last many years of my affiliation with Abhayagiri and Ajahn Chah, an immense amount of suffering has been resolved and fell away. … Is [the remaining suffering] different for different people or are there specific characteristics or defilements that need burning or dissolving?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Stream entry] [Suffering] [Sickness] // [Self-identity view] [Relinquishment] [Attachment to precepts and practices] [Doubt]
Sutta: SN 13.1: The amount of suffering left for one who has entered the stream. [Stream entry] [Similes]
7. “I often hear the saying that we live in the Dhamma Ending Age, that cultivation is difficult, chaos is everywhere, and Dhamma declines. What are your thoughts on this?” Answered by Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Dhamma] [Time] // [Theravāda] [Master Hsuan Hua] [Determination] [Ajahn Baen] [Buddha]
Sutta: A 4.77: The four imponderables.
Sutta: DN 16.5.27: If people are practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, the world will not be devoid of arahants. [Eightfold Path] [Arahant]
10. “This morning’s talk referred to Nibbāna. Can a layperson attain Nibbāna or is it just for monastics?” Answered by Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Nibbāna] [Lay life] [Monastic life] // [Recollection/Saṅgha] [Teaching Dhamma]
Quote: “The heart ordination” — Ajahn Baen. [Ajahn Baen] [Heart/mind] [Ordination] [Stream entry]
Vinaya: Mahāvagga 1.7: Yasa attains arahantship and then ordains. [Arahant]
Sutta: Ud 1.10 Bāhiya attains arahantship and is killed by a cow. [Great disciples]
Suttas: SN 41.1; SN 41.5; SN 41.7: Anāgamī householder Citta gives teachings to monks. [Non-return]
5. Comment: The story of Patācārā realizing the end of suffering [in Thig 112-116, The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, pp. 54-55] illustrates the possibility of samādhi while going about daily activities. [Great disciples] [Liberation] [Concentration] [Monastic life]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Jhāna] [Buddha/Biography] [Similes] [Mahāyāna]
Vinaya: Khandhaka 21.1.5: Ānanda realizes arahantship the dawn before the First Council while just beginning to lie down. [Arahant] [Postures] [Psychic powers]
4. “When the Buddha addressed AN 7.61 to Mahā Moggallāna, was Mahā Moggallāna already and arahant?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Great disciples] [Arahant] // [Fetters] [Almsround] [Perception of a samaṇa]
Vinaya: Mahāvagga 1.23: Sāriputta meets Assaji and realizes stream entry after hearing a brief verse. [Stream entry]
4. “Is what you’re describing (meditation states like AN 10.6) something that somebody might arrive at in their ordinary waking …?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Meditation/Results] // [Insight meditation] [Non-identification] [Perception] [Ajahn Karuṇadhammo] [Sense bases] [Abhayagiri]
Vinaya: Khandhaka 21.1.5: Ānanda’s awakening. [Great disciples] [Arahant] [Postures]
Reference: The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sachs.
3. “I’ve always found the simile of the great earth (SN 56.51) encouraging and aspirational. Is [the great mass of suffering] eroded over time or abruptly end when the view changes?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Similes] [Suffering] [Right View] [Stream entry] // [Saṃsāra]
Sutta: DN 2.102: King Ajātasattu’s crime prevents stream entry. [Killing] [Stream entry]
Sutta: Iti 22: Puñña is another word for happiness. [Merit] [Happiness]
7. Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno: The Buddha defines his awakening in terms of gratification, danger, and escape (SN 22.26). [Buddha/Biography] [Aspects of Understanding ] [Benefit/gratification] [Drawbacks] [Escape]
Sutta: SN 48.3: Complete understanding of the Five Faculties . [Faculties] [Stream entry]
6. “There are suttas where people talk about honoring their parents. Are there examples of people who had very unskillful parents or childhood PTSD and brought these questions to the Buddha?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Western psychology] [Sutta] [Parents] [Abuse/violence] // [Culture/India] [Saṅgha] [Virtue]
Sutta: Ud 5.3: Suppabuddha the Leper. [Gradual Teaching] [Stream entry]