The Four Noble Truths Retreat, Part 4

Ajahn Sumedho contrasts a materialist view, where consciousness arises from matter, with the Buddhist view that forms appear in space within consciousness. He explains how he came to use the mantra Buddho, taught by Luang Por Chah, alongside anapanasati to slow compulsive thinking, and how chasing jhana became another desire. He describes the sound of silence he first noticed as a novice, before he met Luang Por Chah, and how it helped him in a hard time in London. He ends on whether an awakened person still grieves, telling of his mother’s death and why tears are natural, not a failure of mindfulness.