Live from Birken: Dhamma Q&A with Ajahn Sona (02.12.2023)

Join us on Sunday as Ajahn Sona answers Dhamma questions from listeners around the world. Questions may be submitted during the live chat (opens ~3:00pm day of stream) or in advance, here: https://bit.ly/LivestreamQnA Ajahn Sona Podcast: Apple - http://bit.ly/AppleAjSona Spotify - http://bit.ly/SpotifyAjSona Podbean - http://bit.ly/PodbeanAjSona To support more virtual Dhamma from Birken Monastery, visit: https://birken.ca/support/ Index of questions: 00:00 - INTRODUCTION 00:28 - MEDITATIVE EXPERIENCES: In other religions or spiritual movements people also practice meditation. Can some of the experiences of the mystics be compared to the Jhanas or other achievements of Buddhist practice? 09:19 - HUMILITY: After keeping at the Dhamma for more than a year, I have seen many fruits, but I've developed a bit of conceit towards those not familiar with the path. How may I practice towards reducing spiritual conceit and develop unshakeable humility? 16:25 - PEAK EXPERIENCES: I don’t feel that I experience peak positive emotional states. Is this a problem? Is developing and encouraging this higher range part of the Buddhist path, and if so, how to develop this? 19:53 - CONSCIOUSNESS: My current understanding is that consciousness arises and ceases every moment at one of the 6 sense doors. But sometimes I hear Dhamma talks in the Thai Forest Tradition that indicate a consciousness outside of this, pointing to a type of higher awareness. Is this term just being used to refer to Nibbana or have I misunderstood? 24:17 - SENSE PLEASURES: How can one relate skillfully to others delighting in sense pleasures? Some people share delightful sensual experiences and seem to want/expect mudita, but I’m not sure its the appropriate response and struggle to respond in a beneficial way. Do you have any advice? 27:48 - TRAUMA: I would like Ajahn Sona's guidance for dealing with physical and emotional trauma. A car hit me when I was walking and I am out of hospital with many injuries. He left the scene. 32:28 - STARTING A MEDITATION CENTRE: I'm intending to start a meditation centre in a non Buddhist land. Can you give me any advice? How hard is it to get a monk to visit a new Dhamma sprout community? What is the process to invite one and what are the requirements? 36:42 - IMPERMANENCE & ENLIGHTENMENT: Everything I bring to mind, I can distinguish as made up of smaller components - impermanent - thus imperfect and disappointing. I see that associating with these impermanent phenomena brings about suffering, so I suffer less if I’m being mindful. Is this realization some basic level of enlightenment? 39:03 - REHEARSING FAILURE: You mentioned that the first thing taught in judo is how to fall without hurting oneself as a metaphor for something we also must learn in the Path. How is this done? 42:28 - NATURE IN PRACTICE - Do you think that appreciation of nature is a form of "unwise attention to the beautiful"? I see this practice in the teaching of the late Thich Nhat Hanh as as a form of constant mindfulness practice. Is this a Mahayana Theravada doctrinal split? The idea of having to renounce the world vs practicing in one's daily life? 47:28 - "THE ONE WHO KNOWS": Is "the one who knows" the same as the Atman to Hindus? I know anatta is no separate self. But doesn’t the witness always remain unchanging? My sense of witnessing? 52:22 - TYPES OF LOVE: The Greeks identified 8 types of love. Did the Buddha have an equivalent term for each of these? How did he guide monastics & lay folk about love? How about the LGBTQ monastics & lay folk?