Help me find this teacher!

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RolandS
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Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2021 4:27 pm

Help me find this teacher!

Post by RolandS »

:coffee: wGreetings. I recently listened online to a bhikku talking, at the beginning of a jhana retreat , about what he considered to be two important initial accomplishments to achieve to create a firm foundation for one’s future meditation development.

These were to abandon thoughts about the past and the future and to abide in the present, in silence with a quiet mind. Only when in that state should awareness of the breath begin. And later to allow joyous feeling to develop.

I very much enjoyed listening to him and want to listen to more of his talks and guided meditations. But. I cannot remember his name or find the video.

He did mention that he had held some 9 day retreats in Sydney.

In mentioning that everyone has the potential to achieve advanced meditation competence, he told the story of the woman who lost her two children, husband and parents all on the same day but became enlightened upon meeting the Buddha. He also mentioned a man who had killed 99 or 999 people but later became enlightened.

I think the talk lasted around 25 minutes.

I hope someone recognises this description and can tell me who this meditation teacher might be.

Thank you. Roland.
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bodom
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Location: San Antonio, Texas

Re: Help me find this teacher!

Post by bodom »

Sounds like its probably Ajahn Brahm who lives in Australia and also emphasizes letting go of the past and future before turning to awareness of the breath:
Stage One: Present-Moment Awareness

When I teach meditation, I like to begin at the simple stage of giving up the baggage of past and future.You may think that this is an easy thing to do,but it is not. Abandoning the past means not thinking about your work, your family,your commitments,your responsibilities,your good or bad times in childhood,and so on. You abandon all past experiences by showing no interest in them at all. During meditation you become someone who has no history. You do not think about where you live, where you were born, who your parents were, or what your upbringing was like. All of that history you renounce.In this way,if you are meditating with others,everyone becomes equal—just a meditator. It becomes unimportant whether you are an old hand at meditation or just a beginner. If we abandon all that history,we are equal and free. We free ourselves of some of the concerns, perceptions, and thoughts that limit us, that stop us from developing the peace born of letting go. Every part of our history is finally released, even the memory of what happened just a moment ago. Whatever has happened no longer interests us, and we let it go. It no longer reverberates in our mind.

I describe this as developing a mind like a padded cell. When any experience, perception, or thought hits the wall of this cell, it does not bounce back.It just sinks into the padding and stops.The past does not echo in our consciousness. Some people think that if they contemplate the past,they can somehow learn from it and solve their problems.But when we gaze at the past we invariably look through a distorted lens. Whatever we think it was like, in truth it was not quite like that at all! This is why people argue about what happened even a few moments ago.

It is well known to police who investigate traffic accidents that two different eyewitnesses, both completely honest, may give conflicting accounts of the same accident. When we see just how unreliable our memory is, we will not overvalue the past. We can bury it, just as we bury a person who has died.We bury the coffin or cremate the corpse, and it is done with.

Do not linger on the past. Do not keep carrying around coffins full of dead moments.If you do,you weigh yourself down with heavy burdens that do not really belong to you. When you let go of the past,you will be free in the present moment.As for the future—the anticipations,fears, plans,and expectations—let that go too. The Buddha once said,“Whatever you think it will be, it will always be something different” (MN 113,21). This future is known by the wise as uncertain, unknown, and unpredictable.It is often useless to anticipate the future,and in meditation it is always a great waste of time.
https://www.spiritrock.org/article-ajahn-brahm

:namaste:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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WindDancer
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Joined: Mon May 01, 2017 3:47 am
Location: Harrison County, IN, USA

Re: Help me find this teacher!

Post by WindDancer »

bodom wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 6:22 pm Sounds like its probably Ajahn Brahm who lives in Australia and also emphasizes letting go of the past and future before turning to awareness of the breath:
Stage One: Present-Moment Awareness

When I teach meditation, I like to begin at the simple stage of giving up the baggage of past and future.You may think that this is an easy thing to do,but it is not. Abandoning the past means not thinking about your work, your family,your commitments,your responsibilities,your good or bad times in childhood,and so on. You abandon all past experiences by showing no interest in them at all. During meditation you become someone who has no history. You do not think about where you live, where you were born, who your parents were, or what your upbringing was like. All of that history you renounce.In this way,if you are meditating with others,everyone becomes equal—just a meditator. It becomes unimportant whether you are an old hand at meditation or just a beginner. If we abandon all that history,we are equal and free. We free ourselves of some of the concerns, perceptions, and thoughts that limit us, that stop us from developing the peace born of letting go. Every part of our history is finally released, even the memory of what happened just a moment ago. Whatever has happened no longer interests us, and we let it go. It no longer reverberates in our mind.

I describe this as developing a mind like a padded cell. When any experience, perception, or thought hits the wall of this cell, it does not bounce back.It just sinks into the padding and stops.The past does not echo in our consciousness. Some people think that if they contemplate the past,they can somehow learn from it and solve their problems.But when we gaze at the past we invariably look through a distorted lens. Whatever we think it was like, in truth it was not quite like that at all! This is why people argue about what happened even a few moments ago.

It is well known to police who investigate traffic accidents that two different eyewitnesses, both completely honest, may give conflicting accounts of the same accident. When we see just how unreliable our memory is, we will not overvalue the past. We can bury it, just as we bury a person who has died.We bury the coffin or cremate the corpse, and it is done with.

Do not linger on the past. Do not keep carrying around coffins full of dead moments.If you do,you weigh yourself down with heavy burdens that do not really belong to you. When you let go of the past,you will be free in the present moment.As for the future—the anticipations,fears, plans,and expectations—let that go too. The Buddha once said,“Whatever you think it will be, it will always be something different” (MN 113,21). This future is known by the wise as uncertain, unknown, and unpredictable.It is often useless to anticipate the future,and in meditation it is always a great waste of time.
https://www.spiritrock.org/article-ajahn-brahm

:namaste:
:goodpost:
Live Gently....
RolandS
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Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2021 4:27 pm

Re: Help me find this teacher!

Post by RolandS »

Thanks to Bodom and WindDancer for identifying Ajahn Brahm as the teacher I was looking for.
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Ceisiwr
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Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2009 2:36 am
Location: Wales

Re: Help me find this teacher!

Post by Ceisiwr »

Everyone likes a happy ending :jumping:
“Knowing that this body is just like foam,
understanding it has the nature of a mirage,
cutting off Māra’s flower-tipped arrows,
one should go beyond the King of Death’s sight.”
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