Our Dear ‘Catty’

Dear Friends,

It is with great sadness that we let you know our dear little Catty, ‘Sumudu’, passed away yesterday (18th Jan.) after a brief illness. The likely cause, it seems, was infection by a paralysis tick. Even though we never found one on her or in the house, the vet said that all the symptoms matched that illness and speed of decline.

Our dear friend is sorely missed, and will be for quite a while. As a mature feline, she emanated such love and presence that she was always a source of pure joy and a cause for the emergence of spontaneous loving care. Her contented ‘beingness’ reflected the purity of consciousness itself, (well, 99.9% of the time)! Admittedly, she still had some preferences, and would let us know without hesitation when she wasn’t pleased with a meal offering served up from time to time… But, her old body had particular needs – like all of us! She was a grand 22 years of age, so, finding what supported her well-being was a pleasure.

Viveka Hermitage feels so much emptier without her physical presence… and it will take some getting used to, as she has been here since its instigation and was a significant part of our little community! But, in recollecting the Dhamma, we are remembering the unswerving truth of anicca – change and uncertainty – in all forms, in all conditioned things, and the life-lesson of not clinging to, not identifying with any manifestation of the khandas, whether as so-called ‘self-forms’ or ‘other-forms’.

And, while feeling the sadness of her loss, we are remembering too that it was the very essence of loving-conscious-awareness that emanated from Catty which was/is her true essence – as it is with any and all of us – that true nature which never dies, is never separate, has never been born, is never truly affected by changing conditions, even as the kammic forms undergo the cycle of change. This is the truth and essence of her being, as it is the truth and essence underlying all forms of being. Her little being was just so good at reflecting that ever-loving-presence in her form-being!

So, we are grateful for her gift of Dhamma and the time we shared together – grateful for her uncomplicated loving presence, and bless her passing out-of-form as a release from aging, illness, and the confines of death-bound phenomena. May she rest in perfect peace –  may she fully rest in the ultimate nature of nibbana – the deathless – the liberation of, and from, all cycling forms.

2024 Online Day Retreat

Happy New Year to you all!

On the 11th of February this year, we offered a one-day online retreat live on YouTube. It has been archived so those of you who couldn’t join live can participate whenever it’s convenient for you. Everything you need to know is below. Enjoy!

Cultivating Mindfulness & Wisdom

A One-Day Online Retreat with Samaneri Jayasāra and Ayya Jitindriyā

On YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@SamaneriJayasara

The cultivation of mindfulness, full awareness and wisdom are central to the path of awakening as taught by the Buddha. In this online day retreat, Samaneri Jayasāra and Ayya Jitindriyā offer teachings and guided meditations based on mindfulness practice, supporting the development of calm and insight, and integrating it into our daily lives.  

We encourage participants doing the whole retreat in a day to practice observing noble silence for the duration if possible, as this really helps deepen the practice. There are periods of Q&A (recorded from the ‘live’ sessions) both in the late morning and afternoon sessions . The whole retreat (in 4 video sessions) is archived on Samaneri Jayasara’s YouTube channel for you to engage in whenever it suits you.

See the retreat schedule below, and the links to the Retreat playlist on YouTube.

YouTube Playlist link here

Download Flyer and Retreat Schedule here

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Retreat Schedule

Session 1:

8:30am:     Introduction, Dhamma reflection & guided meditation

9:45am:     Walking meditation (30mins)

10:15am:   Tea Break

Session 2:

10:45am:   Guided meditation + Q&A

12:00pm:   LUNCH BREAK

Session 3:

1:30pm:     Dhamma reflection & guided meditation

2:30pm:     Walking meditation (30mins)

3:00pm:     Tea Break

Session 4:

3:30pm:     Guided meditation + Q&A

4:45pm:     Closing dedications and end of Live retreat

NB: For those who wish to continue the retreat practice into the evening to make a full day, we’ve provided links below for two guided meditations with Dhamma reflections. The first is from Ajahn Chah, and the second from Ajahn Dune, two great Masters from the Thai Forest Tradition. These talks are read by Samaneri Jayasāra and have been especially selected for the final sessions of this retreat. Listen to one or both, as you like.

Link to: ‘Developing Samadhi’ – by Ajahn Chah (62 mins)

Link to: ‘The Method of Developing Bhavana’ – by Ajahn Dune  (44mins)

~ May all beings be well ~

Working with Challenging Emotions

Over the years, many people have enquired of us about how to work with challenging emotional states, such as anger or depression, anxiety or grief. These are very human experiences that we all encounter at least at some stage in our lives, if not on a more regular basis. Meditators are not immune to these emotional experiences, and in fact, when we start a spiritual practice, we may even come into contact more strongly with mind-states and emotions that we haven’t seen so clearly before.

Its important in our spiritual practice not to disassociate or cut-off from emotions with the idea that we should be more ‘detached’ or ‘above’ such things. But rather, we can develop an attitude of real interest in them in order to begin to understand these states with wisdom. We also, of course, need to develop the heart qualities of kindness and compassion to fully embrace such experiences without judgement, as resistance merely sharpens the pain.

Ayya Jitindriyā has created a series of guided contemplations and meditations which offer a way of working with some of this more challenging emotional terrain that we encounter in life. The series invites us and guides us to come more fully into presence with these emotional experiences, allowing them to transform… and in the process, to transform us – into more fully integrated, balanced and wise human beings.

While the approach in the guided practice is aimed at supporting those in the midst of such states to come out the other side with a deeper understanding and a more peaceful heart, they may also prove beneficial for those who wish to process and understand more deeply these experiences from a recollective perspective (i.e. if not currently feeling too impacted by them). Regardless of your current mind-state however, we hope you’ll find them helpful resources!

You’ll find this new series on the ‘Guided Meditations’ page of this website (under the ‘Resources’ tab), and we’ve also linked to it here.

Working with Challenging Emotions Series

New Interviews

The monks from Clear Mountain Monastery – near Seattle, Washington – Venerables Kovilo and Nisabho, invited Ayya Jitindriyā and Samaneri Jayasāra to do an interview with them on their YouTube channel… So we thought to share them with you here. Enjoy!

Buddha-Dhamma Series

Dear Friends,

We’re introducing a new six-part series live on YouTube, beginning in May, in which Ayya Jitindriyā will discuss some of the key contemplative paradigms and practices in Early Buddhism. These sessions will take place every six weeks and replace one of the usual fortnightly guided meditations we offer — so that means every third session will be a Buddha-Dhamma session (streaming on the same ‘Wisdom of the Masters’ channel as our regular guided meditations). A link to the playlist is provided below.

Each session will include a guided meditation, a talk from Ayya Jitindriyā, and an opportunity for Q&A, and will go for approx. 2hrs or so. The series is not intended to be an exhaustive academic education on the subject of early Buddhism, but rather a lively extemporaneous reflection on some of the key contemplative paradigms as taught by the Buddha, how we can apply them in practice, and what purpose they serve with regard to eliciting insight and freeing the mind from unnecessary cycles of suffering.

In each session Ayya Jitindriyā will address a different aspect of practice, including but not limited to:

– The liberating insights of the Four Ariya Sacca (Noble Truths)
– The Eight-fold Path, the Way of non-suffering (or, view, conduct & meditation)
– Samsara (cyclic suffering), karma (kamma) and the end of karma
– The five aggregates affected by clinging, or ‘personality factors’
– The three characteristics of all conditioned existence
– The five hindrances to meditation, samadhi, and the enlightenment factors
– The four foundations, or placements of mindfulness
Nibbāna (skt: Nirvana), the ‘deathless’, ’emptiness’ and liberation…

All are welcome to attend, whether new or experienced in practice; if you can’t come along to the live sessions, they’ll be archived for later viewing on YouTube, and linked to on this website as well.

Here’s a link to the playlist: Buddha-Dhamma Series

See you there!

A brief bio of Ayya Jitindriyā

Credit: the image used above is from an original artwork entitled ‘Buddha Hand’ by Arundhati Warrier

New Dhamma Questions

Here is a new set of Q & A’s which you might find helpful.

These questions from listeners and friends of Viveka Hermitage have been selected to share here as their topics would be of general interest to our audience, and some go very deep. They have arisen either in response to teachings uploaded on the ‘Wisdom of the Masters’ YouTube channel or from our live meditation sessions.

Just click on the question-links below to find the full questions and our responses… In some cases they are quite long, more like a back-and-forth conversation.

They have also been added to our Q & A page, found here.

~

On Consciousness

Q: Why is it that some people are so certain that our consciousness is single, shared between us all? I can see how logically our physical forms and our minds must all be connected together as one, but how do we know that we don’t each have our own unique awareness?…


On Death, Fear and Practice

Q: It recently came to me that I may die soon. And I am terrified… I am terrified that I will lose everything, memory, vision, and people who I love.. I’m terrified of dying because I will stop existing… How to deal with it?…


On Awareness

Q: Is there such a thing as a “basic space of awareness” consisting of a permanent consciousness outside the five khandas… or is awareness itself a momentary occurrence, a perfected aspect of Mano vinyana?…


On Emptiness and Not-self

Q: Is jhana [meditative absorption] the emptiness of anatta [not-self]?…


On Abstaining from Intoxicants

Q: I’m curious… What is the reason for abstaining from all mind altering substances? Doesn’t everything alter the mind? For instance, food and drink…


On Thinking

Q:  We can’t stop our thinking, can we? Or is it our wrong thoughts that ‘obscure the mind’ for us?…



‘The Art of Meditation’ – Podcast

Coleman Hughes invited Jayasara for a conversation about meditation and Dhamma, on his podcast ‘Conversations with Coleman’ – it’s just been released and can be viewed on YouTube below.

NB: Advertisement Warning!!! There are three ‘in-programme’ advertisements (not something we were aware would be part of it! But you can always mute those sections to enjoy some silence mid-stream!)

Also available on the platforms linked to below:

Spotify

Apple podcast

A Guided Meditation Series from Jitindriyā

Dear Friends,

We’ve just uploaded a series of seven guided meditations from Ayya Jitindriyā, which focus on establishing embodied awareness and cultivating mettā (loving-kindness).

They also help guide the listener to an acceptance of difficult emotional and mental states, to reveal an innate capacity of kindness and compassion, and to discover the natural wisdom and peace of mind that emerges from ‘being with’ things as they are.

If you’ve ever had any difficulty with being kind to yourself, or accepting the way things are, or forgiving yourself or others (who hasn’t!), then maybe you’ll find these guided meditations helpful.

You’ll find them here: Embodying Awareness & Metta


With much metta!

Video of ‘Deep Transformation’ Interview with Jayasara

Below is the full video interview just released from the makers of the Deep Transformation Podcast, a discussion with Samaneri Jayasara about her ‘Wisdom Of the Master’s’ YouTube channel — how it began, her inspirations, what drew her to Buddhism, and more…

(NB: We previously posted a link to the edited podcast version a few months ago, which you can find here…)