As a monk, I bring a strong commitment, along with the renunciate flavor, to the classic Buddhist teachings. I play with ideas, with humor and a current way of expressing the teachings, but I don't dilute them.
Sitting in a field of fifty to eighty people really starts my mind sparking. Since I don't prepare my talks ahead of time, I find myself listening to what I'm saying along with everyone else. This leaves a lot of room for the Dhamma to come up. Just having eighty people listening to me is enough to engage me, stimulate me, and create a nice flow of energy. The actual process of teaching evokes ideas that even I did not realize were being held somewhere in my mind.
Different teaching situations offer their own unique value. In retreat, you are able to build a cohesive and comprehensive body of the teachings. When people are not on retreat and come for one session, it opens a different window. They are more spontaneous and I'm given the chance to contact them in ways that are closer to their "daily-life mind." This brings up surprises and interesting opportunities for me to learn even more.
I'm continually struck by how important it is to establish a foundation of morality, commitment, and a sense of personal values for the Vipassana teachings to rest upon. Personal values have to be more than ideas. They have to actually work for us, to be genuinely felt in our lives. We can't bluff our way into insight. The investigative path is an intimate experience that empowers our individuality in a way that is not egocentric. Vipassana encourages transpersonal individuality rather than ego enhancement. It allow for a spacious authenticity to replace a defended personality.
I normally incorporate Qi Gong instruction in my retreats. They are not suitable as audio files but you can watch the nine videos here: https://tinyurl.com/Sucitto-qigong
The 7 factors of enlightenment present a trajectory that begins in the personal domain but moves beyond self. This is because it is based on disengagement (viveka) ripened beyond self.
The constant factor that accompanies all mental states and activities is awareness- the ground of citta. Citta gets conditioned by sankhara of intention, attention and contact. Widening past these we return to awareness.
Conscious recollection (eg of Buddha and of death) uses the doing thinking mind to touch and enter the citta as heart. This shifts us out of our personal mindset into the mind-tone of the sacred.
As all dharmas converge on feeling, mindful handling of feeling is crucial for happiness and liberation. Revealing mental feeling through inquiry and handling it skillfully is a thorough practice
Skillful inquiry reveals the factor of feeling in all experience. By resonating empathetically within as it is there is clarity, inspiration and release.
The world of Nature touches us & teaches us how to relate to ourselves as humans rather than socialized citizens. Integrating this can take us beyond our relations and stuck states to hold our lives in the light of Truth.
Ariyan realization is of moving beyond the personal identity. This is a step into vulnerability. Through meditation training we learn to ‘touch the ground’ -purity of intention- where the person can’t go.
Meditation reveals latent tendencies that can spring to life in 'neurotic' ways. To handle these skillfully we use calming, metta and inquiry. Through this these patterns cease.
-The nature of faith in the Triple Gem to replace personality-view.
-The nature of citta (pronounced 'chitta')-heart, mind awareness.
-The difference between disengagement and unfeeling disconnection.
