"ON RETREAT"

Welcome back to the Sutta Meditation Series Podcast.

A short Dhamma talk on the Nikaṭṭha Sutta (AN 4.138). The Buddha talks about four kinds of persons in relation to being on retreat. This addresses the different permutations of where we are disciplined or undisciplined by body or by mind and the conditions are then conducive or not conducive.

It's very good to examine this teaching of the Buddha from the perspective of seeing how we can be like these different kinds of persons depending on our physical and mental conditions, as well as the progress we are making in our practice.

We often need to work and train with less than ideal conditions. And it's very important not to wait for perfect conditions or delay the path. Instead, find ways to work around, or optimise the existing conditions, or examine our virtue, or strive harder in our meditation to purify the mind. Sometimes, we can forget that less than ideal conditions can be more conducive to making progress, particularly if we are open to seeing the blessing in difficult conditions.

A VIDEO of this FULL SESSION with presentation slides has been published to the Sutta Meditation Series YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOqAE2mQoaw

Blessings of the Triple Gem. Theruwan saranai