Upāsika Day, Oct. 8, 2016
Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in Redwood Valley, California and online
4 sessions, 39 excerpts, 2:19:03 total duration
Show featured excerpts (3)
Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jotipālo lead teachings and discussion on how speech that contributes to harmony with others and happiness with ourselves begins with attention to and cultivation of internal mental processes.
Original recordings available on www.youtube.comSessions: 1 2 3 4
1. [4:38] Reflection by Ajahn Pasanno: Working with internal and external aspects of our speech. // [Conditionality] [Mindfulness] [Volition]
Sutta: MN 44.14: The root level of speech is vitakka-vicāra. [Directed thought and evaluation]
2. [12:23] Comment: Dr. Saddhatissa’s translation of the Sutta Nipāta uses common language. [Dr. Saddhatissa] [Translation]
Story: Ajahn Chah told Ajahn Sumedho to take Dr. Saddhatissa as the Saṅgharāja of England. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Elders' Council]
3. [34:19] Comment by Ajahn Jotipālo: Discerning what to say based on skillful and unskillful mental qualities (AN 4.183) seems tricky. [Skillful qualities] [Unskillful qualities]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Unwholesome Roots] [Suffering]
Sutta: AN 4.192: Facts.
4. [37:29] “Why does the Abhaya Sutta (MN 58) mention the possibility of speech that is beneficial but disagreeable but Snp 3.3 does not?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. // [Sutta] [Teaching Dhamma] [Buddha]
Comments contrasting the context of the two suttas.
5. [43:17] Comment: If you become a monk or live a more simple life, it would be easier to speak right speech. [Monastic life] [Simplicity]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
Teaching from Ajahn Chah: Don’t admonish anyone before the meal. [Ajahn Chah] [Admonishment/feedback]
6. [45:38] Story: Ajahn Sumedho admonishes a misbehaving monk at Pāṭimokkha when Ajahn Chah was away. The monk disappears the next day. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Admonishment/feedback] [Pāṭimokkha] // [Culture/Thailand] [Ajahn Chah]
Quote: “True but not right; right but not true.” — Ajahn Chah. [Truth]
7. [48:59] Story: Ajahn Amaro waits three years before admonishing a senior monk. Told by Ajahn Jotipālo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Amaro] [Admonishment/feedback]
8. [50:20] “When is it useful to discuss the conduct of another person?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Malicious speech] [Virtue]
Sutta: AN 4.183: Speak when unwholesome qualities decrease and wholesome qualities increase.
9. [54:35] “If you have said something unskillful, what is the best way to face that?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Unskillful qualities] // [Forgiveness] [Truth]
10. [56:12] “My dad says, ‘Reprimand in private; reward in public.’ What would the Buddha say about that?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Admonishment/feedback]
Follow-up: “Are there stories of the Buddha coming down on people for a good reason?” [Buddha/Biography] [Pāli]
11. [58:43] Reflection by Ajahn Jotipālo: The importance of asking permission before asking forgiveness or admonishing someone. [Forgiveness] [Admonishment/feedback]
Reference: Criteria for admonishment in the Buddhist Monastic Code’s discussion of Bhikkhu Saṅghādisesā 8.
12. [1:00:09] “Could you speak more about the list of topics for speech to remind you of practice (AN 10.69)?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Idle chatter]
Follow-up: “What about the worldly topics of conversation?”
13. [1:03:19] Comment: The constant chatter in the mind is also part of Right Speech. [Directed thought and evaluation]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness] [Conditionality]
14. [1:05:02] “Is there any place for small talk/social lubricant in Right Speech?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Idle chatter ]
1. [1:07:31] Reading and commentary on MN 18: The Ball of Honey. [Conflict] [Conditionality] // [Self-identity view] [Translation] [Sense bases]
Reference: Introduction to Ajahn Ṭhānissaro’s translation of MN 18.
2. [1:24:45] “In meditation, why does the Buddha tell us to deliberately shut down the voices of papañca as opposed to just sitting?” [Meditation] // [Self-identity view]
Quote: “There’s only two things you have to do: know and let go.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Mindfulness] [Relinquishment]
3. [1:28:07] Comment: There’s an attachment to these proliferations to make them mine and to make me right. [Clinging] [Self-identity view]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
4. [1:29:10] “Is ‘sights without a watcher, sounds without a listener, thoughts without a thinker,’ a fair formulation of what we’re trying to cultivate?” [Sense bases] [Not-self] // [Non-identification]
5. [1:30:16] Comment: I’m trying to clarify objectification and proliferation [as translations of papañca]. Objectification seems to be closing down possibility; proliferation is multiplication of possibilities. [Translation]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
6. [1:34:14] “In light of the conversation we’re having about [the identity of] the thinker and the thoughts …, are we aiming at a state of pure consciousness, a sense of beauty …?” [Self-identity view] [Consciousness] [Sense bases] [Beauty] [Knowing itself] // [Non-identification]
7. [1:38:38] “Is visualising the unattractive parts of the body in meditation a skillful form of papañca?” [Unattractiveness] [Skillful qualities] // [Directed thought and evaluation] [Meditation/Techniques] [Protective Meditations]
1. [1:42:38] “Is there a way to have wholesome intentions around topics such as wars and politics?” [Right Speech] [Politics and society] [Idle chatter ]
2. [1:42:58] Question about using the brahmavihāras to counteract covetousness compared to the approach described in MN 18. [Greed] [Divine Abidings] // [Right Effort] [Discernment] [Learning]
3. [1:48:14] Comment: “One of the greatest challenges of Right Speech is when you know something is wrong, and it’s right in your face …” [Right Speech]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
4. [1:49:11] Comment: It’s only through relating to past experience that we become wise, so there is a kind of proliferation that goes on. [Learning] [Discernment] [Proliferation]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno.
5. [1:50:13] “Could you clarify the Pāli terms papañca, āsava, and saṅkhāra?” [Pāli] [Proliferation] [Outflows] [Volitional formations] // [Translation] [Cessation of Suffering]
6. [1:53:33] Comment: Some people may need to restrain their speech; others may need to push themselves to speak up. [Right Speech] [Community] // [Politics and society]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Spiritual bypass]
Sutta: AN 5.198: Speech.
7. [1:59:40] Story: The Quail’s Protection told by Ajahn Jotipālo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Truth]
Commentary: Ja 35: The Bodhisatta is born as a baby quail (The Birth Stories revised by Ānandajoti Bhikkhu, p. 293-296). [Jātaka Tales]
Reference: Vaṭṭaka-paritta.
8. [2:00:08] “What if you’re in a situation with multiple people involved and you want to say something disagreeable to an individual that would be skillful for the group?” [Politics and society] [Right Speech] [Community] // [Truth] [Goodwill]
Quote: “The intention has a big impact on how it lands.” [Right Intention]
Sutta: MN 26.25: The Buddha’s encounter with Upaka. [Buddha/Biography]
1. [2:05:08] Reading and commentary on the definition of Right Speech in MN 41.13. [Right Speech] // [Unskillful qualities] [Skillful qualities] [False speech] [Malicious speech] [Harsh speech] [Idle chatter]
2. [2:15:58] “In World War II, people hiding Jews in away in their home to protect them—how does this relate to [the precept about] lying?” [False speech]
Sutta: AN 1.183: Not everything true needs to be spoken. [Truth]
Commentary: Vyaghri Jātaka Jatakamala No. 1: The Bodhisatta feeds himself to a hungry tigress. (This story does not occur in the Pāli Jātaka.) [Jātaka Tales]
3. [2:23:08] Reflection on Iti 25: “For the person who tells a deliberate lie, there is no evil that is not to be done.” [False speech] [Right Action] // [Bodhisattva] [Jātaka Tales]
4. [2:25:25] Reflection: Snp 4.11 indicates that arguments, quarrels, tears, anguish, arrogance, and insults come from having preferences. [Conflict] [Conditionality] [Craving] // [Goodwill] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Right Speech]
Reflection: Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication prioritizes compassion. [Nonviolent Communication] [Compassion] [Desire] [Listening]
5. [2:37:42] “I notice that you have a very compassionate way of answering questions that are not in line with the Dhamma. Is there a trick that monks undergo to do this?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jotipālo. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Questions] // [Patience] [Energy]
6. [2:39:41] Comment: The sutta in which there is a war that is going to happen, and the Buddha tries to mediate it in some way and is unable to stop it from happening .... There’s something touching about this when I look at my own life … [Buddha/Biography] [Conflict] [Politics and society]
Note: This question may refer to the story in the Commentary to Dhp 47 of the Buddha being unable to prevent Viḍūḍabha’s massacre of the Sakyans (Dhamma Verses Commentary translated by E. W. Burlingame and Ānandajoti Bhikkhu, p. 258-276).
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Non-identification] [Worldly Conditions]
Quote: “Do you think the forests in Thailand can be saved?” — “No.” [Environment] [Culture/Thailand] [Dtao Dum]
7. [2:46:25] Comment: The sobering theme of the Four Dhamma Summaries (MN 82.35) suggests that you can’t be sure that [positive] change will happen. [Impermanence]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Benefit/gratification] [Conditionality] [Not-self] [Virtue]
8. [2:48:48] “In the case of the war the Buddha couldn’t stop (likely the Commentary to Dhp 47), would the Buddha encourage an individual to pull back from the war?” [Conflict] [Politics and society] [Military] // [Hinduism]
9. [2:49:57] “Could you provide some guidance on when to implement the teaching of preferences leading to conflict (Snp 4.11)? It seems we need preferences for wholesome dhammas and to structure our lives so that wholesome dhammas increase.” [Craving] [Conflict ] [Conditionality] [Skillful qualities] // [Conventions] [Self-identity view] [Unskillful qualities] [Proliferation] [Appropriate attention]
10. [2:53:16] “I’m trying to wrap my mind around the idea of mandating goodness. It explains my background and the United States …” [Virtue] [Culture/West] // [Idealism] [Guilt/shame/inadequacy]
Follow-up: “Can you give an example comparing Thailand and Western cultures?” [Culture/Thailand] [History/America] [Conflict] [Greed]