3. “I have never come to the bottom of this self or not self, and I come to the point where I just give up. Should I worry?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Self-identity view ] [Not-self] // [Present moment awareness] [Proliferation] [Insight meditation] [Knowing itself] [Relinquishment]
Reflection by Ajahn Amaro: This which knows the person is not a person. [Personality] [Not-self]
Follow-up: “This goes strongly against what we experience outside of Amaravati; in work life there is very strong identity. To find a balance is very challenging.” [Work]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno: “Identification is the glue that holds suffering together.” [Suffering] [Non-identification]
Quote: “When were you ever made any the less by dying?” — Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī] [Death] [Right View]
1. Comment by Sister Ñāṇasirī: In this context that you just created, suddenly Dependent Origination, equanimity, and atammayatā … everything seems to be like it’s the same thing … [Middle Path] [Not-self] [Dependent origination] [Equanimity] [Non-identification]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Doubt] [Direct experience] [Ajahn Sumedho] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma] [Relinquishment]
7. “The dissolving of ‘I am’ ends up as not-self. Do we end up with a dissolving of ‘I am’ at an essential level and we still have a worldly convenient ‘I am?’” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Conceit] [Relinquishment] [Not-self] [Conventions]
5. “In the satipaṭṭhāna, would it be encouraged to observe skin as my skin, his skin, her skin—the same … So we look that they are not different in me and other people … If you contemplate and sit with feelings and emotions, anybody where it manifests it’s the same. So it becomes not my opinion and your opinion, but a field of opinions and you don’t have preference for the one you expressed … Would this be a suitable object of meditation?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Unattractiveness] [Not-self] [Feeling] [Emotion] [Views] // [Mindfulness of mind] [Mindfulness of dhammas] [Impermanence]
Sutta: MN 10.34: Mindfulness of citta; MN 10.36: Mindfulness of dhammas.
Sutta: MN 118.21: Using the breath to cultivate wisdom. [Mindfulness of breathing] [Discernment] [Insight meditation]
6. Story: Ajahn Amaro realizes that the sense of here-ness is a quality of grasping. Told by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Amaro ] [Clinging] [Nature of mind] // [Abhayagiri] [Insight meditation] [Not-self]
4. Comment: When I’ve heard the phrase ‘abiding in emptiness’ used, it hasn’t been a reification; it has been exactly what the sutta (SN 35.85) says, abiding in a place that’s empty of self. [Emptiness] [Not-self]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Theravāda] [Not-self]
7. “What should we do when we are stuck in aversion and no able to see the anatta aspect of it?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. [Aversion] [Not-self] // [Characteristics of existence]
Follow-up: “Is it wise to use memory in these moments when we feel stuck?” [Memory] [Appropriate attention]
Follow-up: “Is it okay to use force when the defilements seem stronger than us?” [Unwholesome Roots] [Right Effort] [Sutta]
Sutta: MN 20: The Removal of Distracting Thoughts.
14. Reflection by Ajahn Amaro: “Do you miss Abhayagiri?” [Ajahn Amaro] [Abhayagiri] [Grief] // [Present moment awareness] [Impermanence] [Cause of Suffering] [Relinquishment]
Quote: “Nothing can really be owned, and there is no person there to own it.” [Not-self] [Conventions ] [Ageing]
15. Recollection: Ajahn Amaro loses the ability to read due to a temporary ischemic attack. Recounted by Ajahn Amaro. [Ajahn Amaro] [Sickness] [Impermanence] // [Ajahn Karuṇadhammo] [Ageing ] [Health care] [Not-self] [Relinquishment] [Liberation]
15. “Having lived in Thailand for over 20 years and in America for 30 years, do you see any American patterns of dukkha, ways that Americans get caught?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Culture/West] [Suffering] // [Self-identity view] [Selfishness] [Judgementalism] [Conceit] [Relinquishment]
Quote: “I can never get enlightened.” — Ajahn Sumedho. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Liberation]
Quote: “The ‘I’ does not have inherent existence. We have to make it. And then we have to look after it.” [Not-self]