4th jhana (equanimity)

29 July 2025 Talk 45 min

Delson explains the first four jhanas as the mind experiences them in TWIM practice: the factors of the first jhana (vitakka, vicara, piti, sukha, ekaggata), how the second, third and…

10 June 2025 Talk 1 h 16 min

Delson explains the jhanas as taught in the Suttavada approach, distinguishing jhanas that keep a person in samsara from the right meditation (samma samadhi) that leads to liberation.

2 July 2023 Talk 49 min

Delson gives a closing talk for a retreat, reading and commenting on MN 74 (the Dighanakha Sutta).

3 January 2023 Talk 2 h 29 min

Delson reads through MN44, the discourse where the nun Dhammadinna explains identity, its origin, its cessation and the path to Visakha, and he comments on each answer.

30 July 2022 Talk 1 h 44 min

Delson reads through MN 44, the Culavedalla (Shorter Questions and Answers) Sutta, in which the layman Visakha questions the nun Dhammadinna about identity, its origin and cessation, the…

5 May 2022 Talk 1 h 13 min

Delson walks through the Lahu Vedaniya Sutta (MN 59) and the jhana sequence, describing the four jhanas and the formless attainments as levels of experience and cessation.

18 November 2020 Q&A 39 min

Delson answers questions from a day of an online retreat.

9 November 2020 Talk 59 min

Delson reads MN 138 (the Exposition of a Summary), in which Maha Kacchana explains the Buddha's brief teaching that a mind not scattered externally, not stuck internally, and not clinging…

18 August 2026 Talk 56 min

Delson explains the jhanas as a map of a progressive meditative process, not a set of goals to reach, and walks through the first to the eighth jhana, from vitakka and vicara through piti…

7 July 2026 Talk 43 min

Delson reads and comments on SN 41.6 (Kamabhu Sutta), in which the monk Kamabhu answers the householder Chitta's questions on the three formations, the attainment of cessation of…

28 May 2026 Talk 1 h 7 min

Delson Armstrong continues his reading of the Satipatthana Sutta (MN 10), covering contemplation of feeling, mind, mind objects (the five hindrances, the aggregates, the six internal and…

8 March 2026 Talk 59 min

Delson reads through MN 4, the Bhayabherava Sutta (Fear and Dread), in which the Buddha describes how he stayed in remote forests and shrines without fear, relying on purified conduct…

8 October 2025 Talk 42 min

Delson works through MN 70, the Kitagiri Sutta, beginning with the Buddha's advice to abstain from eating at night and the monks who refused it.

29 April 2024 Talk 1 h 40 min

Delson explains right collectedness (samma samadhi) as the eighth path factor, following from right view through right mindfulness, and as the step that leads toward nibbana.

26 January 2024 Talk 36 min

Delson explains the seven enlightenment factors (mindfulness, investigation of states, energy, joy, tranquility, collectedness and equanimity) as qualities that arise naturally when…

10 October 2023 Talk 51 min

Delson explains jhana as a level of concentration, clarity and cessation that grows out of sila and samadhi, and he walks through the four jhanas using the factors of vitaka and vichara…

17 July 2023 Talk 46 min

Delson introduces the first four jhanas as progressively deeper levels of collectedness and cessation that arise from the metta practice when the mind lets go of hindrances.

17 July 2023 Talk 1 h 1 min

Delson explains the first four jhanas as progressively more settled states of mind that arise from loving-kindness (metta) practice once the mind is relaxed and free of hindrances.

1 May 2023 Talk 1 h 46 min

Delson reads SN 46.54, the Metta Sahagata Sutta, in which the Buddha answers wanderers who say their teaching matches his: the Brahmaviharas lead to liberation of the mind when they are…

7 August 2022 Q&A 43 min

Delson answers ten questions from a live online session covering dependent origination, the precepts, jhana practice in TWIM, the eighth and signless states, and craving.

28 July 2022 Talk 1 h 7 min

Delson reads and comments on MN 74, the Dighanakha Sutta, in which the wanderer Dighanakha holds that nothing is acceptable to him and is led to see that clinging even to a view of no…

23 July 2022 Talk 1 h 40 min

Delson reads through MN10, the Satipatthana Sutta, and explains the four foundations of mindfulness (body, feeling, mind, and mind objects) as different ways the mind becomes mindful, not…

22 June 2022 Talk 1 h 14 min

Delson reads MN 149 (Mahasalayatanika Sutta) and explains how not knowing the six sense bases as they actually are leads to craving, clinging and renewed becoming, and how seeing…

2 June 2022 Talk 1 h 4 min

Delson reads AN 6.63, the Nibbedhika (Penetrative) Sutta, which lists a set of things to be understood: sensual pleasures, feelings, the taints, karma and suffering.

5 May 2022 Talk 1 h 40 min

Delson reads and comments on MN 109, the Maha Punnama Sutta, explaining the five aggregates affected by clinging, how craving and identification sustain them, and how seeing them as…

18 October 2021 Interview 23 min

Delson explains that mindfulness (sati, from smriti, meaning to remember) is best understood as observing how the mind's attention moves, rather than focusing narrowly on an object such as…

26 May 2021 Q&A 55 min

Delson answers questions from the first Q&A session of a May 2021 online retreat.

25 April 2021 Talk 1 h 6 min

Delson reads MN 4, the Bhayabherava Sutta (Fear and Dread), and comments on how the Buddha's solitude in the forest was free of fear because his conduct was purified and he recognized and…

14 December 2020 Talk 1 h 2 min

Delson reads MN 152, the Indriya Bhavana Sutta, and explains that the Buddha's supreme development of the faculties is meeting sense contact with equanimity rather than suppressing the…