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Solitude (Viveka) by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, translated into English by Santikaro Bhikkhu.Lecture (1/3 of the series) given on 8^th February 1990 to participants in the monthly Suan Mokkh  international retreat.

« Today we will speak about one very common and ordinary thing which has supreme benefit for realizing Nibbāna. In Thai this is called kwaam sa-ngat. In Pāli this is called viveka. And in English we can call it ‘solitude.’ The meaning of viveka or solitude puts more emphasis on the quality of loneliness or aloneness rather than singleness. Because even if one is just single... »  [Audio]

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The Heart of Buddhism (Anattā) by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, translated into English by Santikaro Bhikkhu. Lecture (2/3 of the series) given on 9^th February 1990 to participants in the monthly Suan Mokkh international retreat.

« Today we’ll speak about the heart of Buddhism. You come here in order to study about Buddhism, so it’s necessary for us to take a look at the heart of Buddhism. The heart of Buddhism is the single short word anattā. This word must be translated very specifically. It means simply not-attā or no-attā. Attā means ‘self.’ So this means ‘not-self’ or ‘no-self’... »  [Audio]

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Creating the Solitude We Require by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, translated into English by Santikaro Bhikkhu. Lecture (3/3 of the series) given on 10^th February 1990 to participants in the monthly Suan Mokkh international retreat.

« Today we’ll talk about making solitude however we need it – wherever, whenever and as much as we want. An example from our modern culture is that whenever we want coolness, we have certain machines. And we can go into a room that’s air-conditioned and we can be physically cool whenever we want. But here we are speaking about mental solitude... »  [Audio]

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The Buddha Farangs Don't Know About by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, translated into English by Santikaro Bhikkhu. Lecture (1/3 of the series) given on 3^rd March 1990 to participants in the monthly Suan Mokkh international retreat.

« First of all we’d like to express our delight that you have come here in search of knowledge about Dhamma so that you can use it in your activities, your duties, and the work of your life, so that you will develop and progress continually. You’ve come here for basically two things. First of all to study about Buddhism. And then second to learn how to put that understanding into practice... »  [Audio]

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The Dependent Origination Farangs Don't Know by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, translated into English by Santikaro Bhikkhu. Lecture (2/3 of the series) given on 9^th March 1990 to participants in the monthly Suan Mokkh international retreat.

« In this second talk we will repeat and review paṭiccasamuppāda (dependent origination). And we will emphasis it ... as something to reflect upon, to reason about so that we understand it more and more precisely and thoroughly. That we are having a talk at this time of day, the time when most people are still asleep, is something very reasonable... »  [Audio]

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Ānāpānasati and Its Benefits by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, translated into English by Santikaro Bhikkhu. Lecture (3/3 of the series) given on 10^th March 1990 to participants in the monthly Suan Mokkh international retreat.

« Today we will speak about ānāpānasati (mindfulness with breathing) and its benefits. This talk will have the character of a scrutiny – for you to scrutinize your own understanding of ānāpānasati to see where you understand it correctly and where not; and then it also will be an examination so you can test yourself to see how well you understand... » [Audio]

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Understanding Dhamma More Than Before by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, translated into English by Santikaro Bhikkhu. Lecture (1/3 of the series) given on 3^rd May 1990 to participants in the monthly Suan Mokkh international retreat.

« ... »  [Audio]

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The Religious Level of Love by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, translated into English by Santikaro Bhikkhu. Lecture (2/3 of the series) given on 7^th May 1990 to participants in the monthly Suan Mokkh international retreat. 

« Those of you, friends who are interested in Dhamma, today we will study, examine, and investigate concerning the word ‘love’ on the religious level. In Buddhism it is popular to distinguish things on two levels. Whenever we examine or study something, we look at it on these two levels. The first is the household life, the level of the household life, of homes and families... »  [Audio]

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What You'll Get from Practicing Dhamma by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, translated into English by Santikaro Bhikkhu. Lecture (3/3 of the series) given on 10^th May 1990 to participants in the monthly Suan Mokkh international retreat.

« Today we’ll speak about the benefits of studying Dhamma or practicing Dhamma as we are trying to do here. For ease we will divide our practice into three stages. The first is the beginning, starting point, then there is the walking or following of the path, and then there is the realization of the goal of the path. There is the question, ‘Why where we born?’... »  [Audio]

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Dhamma Helps Develop Life to the Highest Level by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, translated into English by Santikaro Bhikkhu. Lecture (1/2 of the series) given on 6^th July 1990 to participants in the monthly Suan Mokkh international retreat. 

« All of you who are interested in Dhamma, I’d like to express my appreciation that you have come here in this way – that is for the purpose of discovering Dhamma. I’d like to spend a little time considering how it is that this time is the most appropriate for exploring the Dhamma. Most flowers bloom or open in the very early morning and in the same way, this is the good time... »  [Audio]

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The Highest Level is Coolness and Usefulness by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, translated into English by Santikaro Bhikkhu. Lecture (2/2 of the series) given on 10^th July 1990 to participants in the monthly Suan Mokkh international retreat.

« Listeners, today we will review by considering the phrase – ‘Life is something which can be developed,’ and then that ‘The highest life is one which is peaceful and useful.’ Ordinary life is made out of three things: body, mind, and the thing they call ‘self,’ which is something people think up on their own. The sublime or most excellent life however is made up of only two things: body and mind... »  [Audio]

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Everything is Anattā by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, translated into English by Santikaro Bhikkhu. Lecture (1/3 of the series) given on 3^rd August 1990 to participants in the monthly Suan Mokkh international retreat.

« ... »  [Audio]

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Elements, Senses and Aggregates by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, translated into English by Santikaro Bhikkhu. Lecture (2/3 of the series) given on 6^th August 1990 to participants in the monthly Suan Mokkh international retreat.

« In today’s talk we will continue to discuss the topic that all things are anattā, all things are not-self, because we did not finish this the last time. In the previous talk we examined how the six dhātus (elements) are anattā (not-self). And we examined how the six āyatanas (sense media) are also not-self... »  [Audio]

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Dependent Origination by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, translated into English by Santikaro Bhikkhu. Lecture (3/3 of the series) given on 10^th August 1990 to participants in the monthly Suan Mokkh international retreat.

« Today we will discuss paṭiccasamuppāda (dependent origination) as our last topic. We began speaking about the six elements as the basic foundation of everything, and then how these elements compound together and there arise the āyatanas (media) through which there is communication, through which there is knowing, through which there is contact... »  [Audio]

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The Buddhist Art of Life by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, translated into English by Santikaro Bhikkhu. Lecture (1/3 of the series) given on 4^th September 1990 to participants in the monthly Suan Mokkh international retreat.

« Today in our first talk we will speak about Buddhism as the art of living. You all know what the word ‘art’ means. It means something which is graceful, beautiful, skilful, expert, something that can be done with great skill and ease. Art though is seldom applied to Buddhism or to Buddhism itself... »  [Audio]

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The Way to Buddhist Art by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, translated into English by Santikaro Bhikkhu. Lecture (2/3 of the series) given on 5^th September 1990 to participants in the monthly Suan Mokkh international retreat.

« Yesterday we discussed the Buddhist art of life. The art of life, of how to live life without requiring a ‘self,’ the art of living without ‘self.’ Today we will talk about the way of that art. A life without self is much better than death. Some people, when they hear about selfless life wonder what value it has, or think that it would be just as well to be dead... »  [Audio]

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Training the Mind for Buddhist Art by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, translated into English by Santikaro Bhikkhu. Lecture (3/3 of the series) given on 10^th September 1990 to participants in the monthly Suan Mokkh international retreat.

« In our first talk we spoke about Buddhist art. In the second talk we discussed the way of entering into Buddhist art. Today we will speak about training the mind in order to have and use Buddhist art. It’s an art to train successfully and then it’s to use that beneficially, it is an even greater art. So there is art in both the training, to train successfully and the highest art then is in using it... »  [Audio]