I've recorded a podcast with Bhante Sunyo

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Dear forum members. :folded_hands: Recently I’ve recorded a long podcast with Bhante @Sunyo. Below you can find a list of topics we’ve covered. I think many questions and answers are fresh and interesting, so hopefully those of you who will listen to it will find value in it. I think Bhante Sunyo is an amazing Dhamma teacher and person and I highly recommend everyone to listen to what he has to say. :folded_hands: :slight_smile:

List of topics:

00:00 – Start, casual talk, introduction
04:40 – Official requirements to become an Ajahn
09:05 – What is the most beautiful and also the most difficult thing about being a monk for you specifically?
17:25 – Would you agree that this path is just about deeper and deeper renunciation all the way to the end like just letting go of the next things?
26:45 –Decisions in life for lay people. Keeping in mind Dhamma while making decisions.
36:30 – What is intuition, how it works and how to use it while practicing Dhamma?
45:15 – Intuition and dreams on the path
48:45 – Criticism - Is telling others their faults wholesome or unwholesome?
51:48 – Should we set boundries with people who over-criticise us?
58:00 – Pointing faults or caring? “You cannot always cure, but you can always care.”
1:06:05 – How should lay people confess their transgressions?
1:12:10 – Relation between loving-kindness, attachment, repression and close-heartedness on the path of Dhamma
1:20:15 – Softer and harsher approaches to Dhamma practice
1:27:34 – Happy & compassionate Buddha - how our perception of Buddha influences our practice
1:37:17 – Path of spiritual pleasure
1:40:30 – Pleasant and painful path from the suttas – What are they and can we choose which path we follow?
1:55:40 – Relation of No-self (anatta) and free will/no free will.
2:04:30 – Even if there is no-self, if there something that makes the choices (Driverless bus)?
2:12:02 – Perception of emptiness - for who it is liberating or painful and scary? Is life an illusion?
2:16:11 – How realising no-self (anatta) makes you not suffer anymore? How can you not suffer while feeling physical pain?
2:19:58 – Does suffering end because you know you are not going to be reborn, therefore not suffer anymore?
2:27:07 – Relation of samsara and Nibbana
2:29:58 – Do you let go of the view of what is Enlightenment at the end of the path?

Link to podcast:

If you wanna discuss anything related to the podcast, feel free to do it either here or on YouTube or both. :slight_smile: btw. I’m gonna do more such podcasts in the future with Dhamma related people. :slight_smile: I wish everyone a beautiful day. :folded_hands: :yellow_heart:

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Hi Invo,

Thank you for posting this. I really enjoyed your questions and the discussion. It’s nice to hear from the monastics in this more open type of discussion. I always enjoy listening to Ajahn Sunyo, and it was nice to hear the interview style, it’s just a little different from the teaching style.:smiling_face_with_three_hearts: I’m excited to listen to the discussion with Ajahns Brahmali and Karunika next. Can you please add the link for that? I couldn’t find it…

:smiling_face: :folded_hands: :pink_heart:

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Dear Stacie :folded_hands: :slightly_smiling_face: ,

I’m glad you liked the podcast and had a great time listening to wisdom of Bhante Sunyo. :blush:

You can find podcast with Ven. Brahmali and Ven. Karunika on Anatta & Free Will/No Free Will here:

It was recorded in the old style (the podcast was held in December of 2023) and I regret I’ve kept my window open at the time when Venerables were speaking. But aside from that I think it is worth listening to hear what Venerables have to say. :folded_hands: Wishing you all the best, may you be happy and well! :folded_hands: :blush: :yellow_heart:

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Thanks for this Invo, I’m about 1 hour into it and really enjoying it :anjal:

I was interested in the dreams part of the conversation.

I just wanted to share my experience/s with dreams, I’ve also noticed that I don’t seem to dream as much since I started meditating a few years ago (or is it that I just can’t remember them as you mentioned? :thinking: :smile: )

The only time I do take notice of my dreams is when I have a recurring dream i.e. the exact same dream comes up twice or multiple times. This usually means that I need to ‘sort something out’ in my life, usually it’s some kind of decision that I’ve been putting off for whatever reason.

I had a conversation with Ajahn Khemmavaro a few years ago and he advised me that I should take notice of recurring dreams, because it’s trying to tell me something.

Anyway, I’ve found that, once I do sort out that thing that needed attention, I stop having that dream and go back to no dreams :grin:

Thanks again and I look forward to watching the podcast with Ajahn Brahmali and Ayya Karunika :anjal:

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Dear Adrian :folded_hands: :slightly_smiling_face: ,

I’m glad you’re enjoying the podcast so far! :slight_smile: And thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences about relation of dreams, meditation and Dhamma practice. :folded_hands: Very interesting advice from Ajahn Khemavaro. I will contemplate it how it relates to my life too, so thank you. :slight_smile:

From my experience and from what I’ve talked with others, relationship between dreams, meditation and path of Dhamma is as complex as human psyche itself. I consider it more of an Art than an engineering technique that we could apply to everyone. So I think everyone has to find their own way of how to relate to their dreams and intuition. I don’t think that any way is better than the other.

Personally I’ve found that after meditating a lot, my dreams are becoming very vivid, powerful and bizzare, sometimes to the point of being overwhelming in a bad way, so quite the opposite of what Bhante Sunyo and you’re describing. But I have prediction that if I would keep at it, perhaps with time they would subside. It might also have to do with the way we’re meditating. I think I remember from book about Ajahn Mun, that when he was meditating with mind objects, then his dreams and his mind would become very vivid and overwhelming, and it subsided when he started meditating on the body. I too have tendency to meditate in a visual way (perceiving forms in language of the suttas), so that’s probably why my dreams are becoming more vivid too.

I wish you wonderful journey while listennig to both podcasts! :folded_hands: :blush: Don’t hesitate to share if something specific caught your attention. :slight_smile:

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Yes, you are quite right. They say meditation is very personal, so it would make sense that dreams are, also personal, and everything else we experience and perceive.

Thank you for the reminder and I’m looking forward to sharing more insights and thoughts that might come up as a result of watching more of the podcasts. :blush:

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Your thesis sounds interesting. I was wondering about the ‘pleasant’ path and the ‘painful’ path and what constitutes these. I’d always thought that perhaps it had to do with one’s individual qualities and what you have to work with, whether one has a lot of aversion etc. But what you explained also makes sense in terms of the emphasis on kindness and Brahma Viharas VS Vipassana traditions in one’s practice, that’s a good insight.

I also appreciated the discussion on the ’driver-less bus’ and free will. It was skillful how Ajahn Sunyo approached your question saying that there is ‘a driver’ to begin with and then once your practice deepens, then perhaps the possibility of seeing that there is just the will and no one really ‘behind the wheel’ so to speak can be accepted.

Great topics, thank you :anjal:

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I hope this is not off topic but having listened to it and being a newbie I was wondering what the difference between nibbida (discussed in the podcast) and fear of rebirth is. They sound very similar or the same if you think there is no free will and hence you are not in control and so you don’t want to be reborn because of the dangers associated with this

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I can see where you’re coming from, I think there is a similarity there, but I’ll let others chime in.

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This is the way I understand it.

Nibbida is a general feeling/perception based on clear discernment understanding the nature of what is wholesome and unwholesome.

Fear is a different type of perception with a different feeling tone. and it can be induced by a variety of things, often aversion regarding perceived future pain or unpleasant future feeling.

Example for Nibbida; you are sitting down hungry for lunch, and you get served up a dish of rotten food.. It is repulsive, you cannot bring yourself to eat it. You see nothing worth eating at all, it is unwholesome.. This feeling leads to dispassion for the dish in front of you and craving is gone and you let it go.

If you see Re-birth as dispassionately as being presented with a bowl of mouldy food to eat, you are repulsed by the idea and let it go automatically - no grasping, no craving , no becoming, no Re-birth. You don’t have to think about it, it is so deeply ingrained in the way you perceive, you can’t grasp the unwholesome. This is the aim of the Path. Re-birth is seen as Dukkha (like the mouldy food in the bowl for lunch), nibbida arises, and it is neither craved in any form nor grasped.

Fear is a bit different. You can also not wish to be Re-born due to fear of rebirth, but there will be aversion to Birth, instead of craving, so you don’t wish go towards it, instead you want to avoid it. You fear it because you believe it will cause you pain/Dukkha, and you don’t want this pain. You wish to avoid the pain and suffering.

If you had a fear of mouldy food/germs, then your reason for not wanting it is different to Nibbida. Say you felt that eating the mouldy food you would get terribly sick and suffer as a result.. then you would fear eating it and push it away and keep your mouth closed so you don’t accidentally eat any. It is a more active thing.

There can also be a progression in that at first you may fear the dukkha of having to go through more lives, but when insight deepens then you perceive it more at a remove, you discern the reality of what it is and are just put off by it, you can’t be bothered, it is just unappetising and you don’t pick it up or even consider eating it - but you are not afraid of it.. it is just a revolting nothing-burger.. Like stepping in a dog poo on the foot path and finding it distasteful but no big deal, rather than being afraid and fearful of the dog poo.

So the line between Aversion and Nibbida is quite nuanced, There was a thread a long time ago discussing the differences between aversion and Nibbida if you are interested.

Fear can be used in quite a broad sense and you would have to examine, in detail, how much aversion there is compared to how much discernment.. but regarding your specific question, you can begin to see the differences.

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Your message really gives a lot to reflect on @Viveka , thank you for sharing.

I will read carefully the topic you provide a link to

At the moment many other questions arise in my mind, like how can gratitude coexist with seeing life like in your simile of the rotten dish, or why if accomplished Buddhists have nibbida towards rebirth they still go on to live in this life.

But there’s a lot to reflect upon and it appears there are subtle differences to understand🙏

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Dear @janewbie, you are very welcome.
Yes these things, and the interplay of them, are all quite subtle. They become clearer and more of an issue towards the end of the Path. It’s great to be aware of it in a general sense, and a good reinforcement to know the value of placing attention on feelings and thoughts, but for myself, I have found the best way is to let these things just gently wash over in the background.. they naturally come to the fore as the other aspects of the Path and ‘taming the mind’ is developed - so don’t worry too much about trying to get definitive answers at this time - holding Views lightly.. just nice things to be aware of and to observe.. :slightly_smiling_face:

All the very best to you on your journey. :folded_hands: :sunflower:

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First of all thank you dear Viveka for a beautiful answer, Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu! :slight_smile::folded_hands: :folded_hands: :folded_hands:

Dear @janewbie, I might add that:

how can gratitude coexist with seeing life like in your simile of the rotten dish?

I think first of all you can be grateful that life is teaching you how to let go of it. :slight_smile: Secondly, even though conditioned existence is dukkha, there are better and worse kinds of lives and days. So you can be grateful for the good things happening to you. No matter the ultimate state of things, it’s still good if good things are happening rather than bad things. :slight_smile:

why if accomplished Buddhists have nibbida towards rebirth they still go on to live in this life?

AFAIK: There in neither craving for existence nor to end existence. So they just end their final rebirth and live with contentment and in divine abidings. The suffering of life is not touching them like it does normal people.

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Hello, Thankyou for the interview. I was sick so was feeling aversion/annoyance on many occasions while listening. Also some Dhamma Sukka, especially as you and the Ajahn have quite a good time together.

It is also my intention while listening to Dhamma to brighten the mind, which brings me to my question.

The conversation about determinism, free will was part of a discussion with Ajahn Bramali and the respected Bhikkhuni.

I was surprised that teachings of Ajahn Geoff were not specifically mentioned. Ajahn Geoff, if I am correct, consistently makes the point that our current experience is due to what is arising from past causes and conditions plus our current intentional actions.

Have you encountered these teachings of Ajahn Geoff? They seem to be explicitly stated in a different way to the ways the venerables expressed their opinions on how these phenomenon function. What do you think?

I found your responses to the venerables amazingly respectful and polite.

A pleasure to listen to both interviews.

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