Ep342: Ānāpānassati - Dhammarato

Dhammarato guides us through the Ānāpānassatisutta, a much loved scripture which describes Buddhism’s famous breath meditation practice.

Available on Youtube, iTunes, SoundCloud & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’.

Dhammarato guides us through the Ānāpānassatisutta, a much loved scripture which describes Buddhism’s famous breath meditation practice.

Dhammarato describes the technique in detail, challenges common misconceptions about this practice and the sutta, and explains how the whole Buddhist path is contained within it. 

Dhammarato also argues that loving kindness meditations and remembering past lives are not Buddhist practices, addresses jhana and other meditation practice mistakes, and reflects on the fruits of his own practice when faced with illness and physical pain. 


00:00 - Intro

00:52 - Various breathing meditations

02:28 - MN 118: Ānāpānassatisutta - about the sutta

04:58 - 4 foundations of mindfulness

05:37 - Factors of Enlightenment

06:39 - Mistaken readings of the sutta

08:01 - Critique of loving kindness meditation

10:12 - Sitting meditation vs ānāpānassati

11:22 - Sati vs loving kindness meditation and recalling past lives

13:00 - Right noble looking

13:55 - Entering the first jhana and gladdening the mind

17:19 - Victim attitude 

19:31 - How to make the body comfortable 

22:36 - The skill of developing sukha, satisfaction

26:02 - Thoughts, feelings, and body are interrelated 

27:35 - Ānāpānassati is not a breathing meditation

28:42 - Pragmatic Dharma vs Engaged Buddhism

30:25 - How to apply ānāpānassati

33:27 - The first step of nobility

36:22 - A feeling of success

39:14 - Attaining knowledge and deliverance 

41:58 - Common jhana practice mistakes

46:52 - Loving kindness meditation mistakes 

51:50 - Metta is a consequence not a practice

53:06 - Vipassanā vs samatha 

57:10 - Explaining other Buddhist masters’ enlightenments 

59:23 - Comments on Ajahn Chah and correct practice

01:01:53 - Working with pain and sickness

01:03:06 - Cancer and meditation

01:05:31 - Dhammarato’s aging and health 

01:06:03 - Criticism of Goenka and sitting through pain   

01:07:11 - Magical thinking of sitting through pain

01:08:28 - Advice for approaching death

01:10:53 - Dhammarato reflects on the deaths of his loved ones

01:13:37 - How to die happy


Dhammarato Episode Playlist

- https://www.guruviking.com/search?q=DHAMMARATO  

To find out more about Dhammarato, visit:

- Email: dhammaratog@gmail.com  

- Discord: https://discord.gg/epphTGY  

- https://dhammaratoblog.wordpress.com/ 

- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxg5GJFsRqnS-YLTzyrjLQ 

Read the Ānāpānassatisutta:

  • https://suttacentral.net/mn118/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin

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Ep343: The Mystic Arthur Machen - R.B. Russell

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Ep341: Guru Viking Poetry Stream [Bonus Episode] - John Brehm and Henry Shukman