The path · The formless realms
Nothingness / equanimity
Talks that speak mostly to this
- Day 5 The Higher Jhanas -The Signless SN 41.7 Godattasutta
Delson reads and comments on SN 41.7 (Godatta Sutta), in which the householder Citta explains the difference between four liberations of mind: by the measureless, by nothingness, by…
- MN 121 17 April 2022
Delson works through several suttas on voidness (sunyata, emptiness), reading MN 121 and SN 35.85 and then SN 41.7 and SN 41.6.
- MN 43 Mahavedalla Sutta AN3.102 Deep Dhamma
Delson reads the Mahavedalla Sutta (MN43), a dialogue between Maha Kotthita and Sariputta, and explains its teaching on wisdom, consciousness, feeling, perception, the five faculties, and…
- Deerpark Retreat Day 7 'Deeper Aspects of Dhamma Pt 1' w/Delson Armstrong
Delson reads and explains Majjhima Nikaya 43, the Maha Vedalla Sutta, in which Sariputta answers Maha Kotthita's questions on wisdom, consciousness, feeling and perception, the jhanas, the…
- Day 6 Bodhgaya
Delson reads and comments on MN 143, the Anathapindikovada Sutta, in which Sariputta teaches the dying householder Anathapindika to stop clinging to the six sense bases, contact, feeling…
- Day 4 The Buddha's Awakening Part 1
Delson walks through the Buddha's path to awakening as told in MN 26 and MN 36, and in the sutta sequence he calls the gladness-to-collectedness sequence from DN 2.
- 30 Oct 2021 Online Retreat Q & A #3
Delson answers participants' questions at the close of an online Suttavada retreat.
- June 19, 2021– DN 33 – The Chanting Together – Sets of Eight
Delson works through the Sangiti Sutta (DN 33) and its sets of eight, explaining each wrong or ineffective factor of the path, the eight occasions of indolence and of effort, the eight…
- May 15, 2021 – MN 43 – The Greater Series of Questions and Answers
Delson reads MN 43, the Maha Vedalla Sutta, on wisdom, consciousness, feeling and perception, and on the jhanas, the faculties, cessation, and the signless and voidness deliverances of mind.
- April 2021 Online Retreat Q&A 3
Delson answers questions from retreat participants on the precepts as habits, the seventh jhana and light versus darkness, dependent origination, flow states, and daily schedules.
- Oct 18 2020 - MN147 - The Shorter Discourse of Advice to Rahula - The Process of Un-Being
Delson reads MN147, the Shorter Discourse of Advice to Rahula, and presents it as the last part of a trilogy of Rahula suttas.
Talks that also touch on it
- Day 7 Dependent origination Part 1 of 2 The Craving and Clinging Mind
Delson presents dependent origination as an elaboration of the Four Noble Truths, retelling the Buddha's awakening story and then tracing suffering back through birth, becoming, and…
- Day 7 Higher Arūpa Jhanas 5-8 leading to Stream Entry
Delson explains the higher jhanas (the formless states of infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, and neither perception nor non-perception), building from the fourth jhana…
- Day 6 "The Jhanas 5-8" with Delson Armstrong
Delson Armstrong teaches the four formless attainments (ayatanas, or arupajhanas) as he understands them: infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, and neither perception nor…
- Aug 10 Sunday Series -AN10.6-7 Samadhi Sutta & Sariputta
Delson reads AN 10.6 (the Samadhi Sutta) and AN 10.7 (the Sariputta Sutta), in which Ananda asks how a monk can reach a concentration where he no longer perceives the elements, the…
- Day 4 'The Higher Jhanas (5-8)+Nibbana" - Progressing on the Path to Nibbana-Excellent
Delson explains the higher jhanas, from the fifth through the eighth attainments, which he presents as an extension of the fourth jhana into the four ayatanas: boundless space, boundless…
- Day 4 'The Higher 4 Jhanas (5-8)+Nibbana" - Progressing on the Path to Nibbana-Excellent
Delson explains the higher four jhanas, which he describes as the four ayatanas (infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, and neither perception nor non-perception), and how…
- Mumbai Retreat February 2025 | Day 6 - Levels of Cessation
Delson explains the jhanas as levels of cessation, moving from the first jhana, where the hindrances fall away, through the four formless ayatanas of infinite space, infinite…
- 2025 SN 46.54 Proof of Jhanas attained using Metta with Delson Armstrong Sunday Series at DSMC
Delson reads and comments on SN 46.54, in which the Buddha says that the liberation of mind by each brahmavihara (loving-kindness, compassion, altruistic joy, equanimity) can culminate in…
- Talk 11 -Nirodha and Nibbana- Dependent Origination Conf. with Delson Armstrong-4K
Delson gives a final talk on nirodha (cessation) and Nibbana, reading from several suttas: SN 41.6 and 41.7, AN 10.6 and 10.7, Iti 44, and an excerpt from DN 11.
- Day 1/Talk 1 Introduction to Dependent Origination at the DO Conf. with Delson Armstrong
Delson introduces a dependent origination symposium that is rooted in the suttas.
- Guided Meditation -Letting go of the 5 Aggregates with Delson Armstrong at the DO Conference
Delson leads a guided meditation that begins with loving-kindness, first to oneself, then radiated outward in each direction and through the realms until it fills the room, the city and…
- Day 5: Jhāna 2
Delson explains the formless jhanas (the ayatanas, the fifth to eighth jhanas), which he presents as extensions of the fourth jhana.
- Kalimpong 2023 Buddha Pāda Day 2 Hindrances
Delson teaches the five hindrances (sensual craving, aversion, restlessness and remorse, sloth and torpor, and doubt) on the second day of a Buddha Pada retreat in Kalimpong.
- Day 2 Hindrances, BUDDHA PĀDA INSTITUTE, Kalimpong, India Metta Retreat- w/Delson Armstrong
Delson Armstrong teaches the five hindrances as they appear in sitting and daily life: sensual craving, aversion, restlessness and remorse, sloth and torpor, and doubt.
- Day 4 The Arupa Jhanas explained -5-8 & Nibbana with Delson Armstrong. Jhanas Pt 2
Delson explains the four arupa jhanas (ayatanas) that follow the fourth jhana: infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, and neither perception nor non-perception.
- The Jhanas with a Map of the 8th Jhana -Day 3 June 24, 2023
Delson reads the Culagosinga Sutta (MN 31), in which the monks Aniruddha, Nandiya and Kimbila describe their attainments of the jhanas, the formless attainments and cessation.
- Day 8- 10 Day Retreat June 2022 MN 43 Voidness and Vital Formations
Delson reads through MN 43, the Maha Vedalla Sutta, with commentary, from a 2022 retreat.
- Day 3 May Retreat SN 46.54.4 "Accompanied by Lovingkindness" with Delson Armstrong
Delson reads SN 46.54 (Accompanied by Lovingkindness), in which the Buddha says the liberation of mind by loving-kindness, compassion, altruistic joy and equanimity has a culmination, and…
- Day 3 Apr Retreat-MN 111 One by One - the Jhanas lead to Nibbana
Delson works through the Anupada Sutta (MN 111), reading how Sariputta recognized each of the four jhanas and the four formless attainments one by one as they occurred.
- Day 7 - Talk on Nibbana, Cessation, Nirodha- MN121, SN 41.6&7 with Delson Armstrong
Delson reads and comments on MN 121 (the Shorter Discourse on Voidness) and SN 41.6 and SN 41.7.
- Neuroscience & the Meditation Path sponsored by FitMind App
Delson Armstrong, interviewed by Liam from FitMind, describes his practice path from Hatha and Kriya yoga and the Yoga Sutras, through Tibetan Rigpa, to the early Buddhist texts and TWIM.
- Zoom Talk MN 106 with Delson Armstrong -The Imperturbable
Delson reads and comments on MN 106 (Ananjasappaya Sutta, "The Way to the Imperturbable"), which describes how a practitioner moves from the fourth jhana through the formless attainments…
- June 26, 2021– DN 33 – The Chanting Together – Third Recitation: Sets of nine
Delson continues reading the Sangiti Sutta (DN 33) at the sets of nine, covering the causes and overcoming of malice, the nine abodes of beings, the nine unfortunate times for the holy…
- Delson explanation of SN 35.95 the Malunkyaputta sutta at GTOG Sunday session
Delson reads and comments on SN 35.95, the Malunkyaputta Sutta, in which the Buddha gives a brief instruction: in the seen there is merely the seen, and so on for hearing, sensing and…
- May 1, 2021 MN 7 - The Simile of the Cloth - The Effect of Faith on Meditation Practice
Delson reads and comments on MN 7, the Vatthupama Sutta (the simile of the cloth), in Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation.
- GTOG Sunday Meditation Session: Delson Armstrong Sutta reading & explanation Upanisa Sutta
Delson reads and explains SN 12.23 (Upanisa Sutta), in which the Buddha traces the links of transcendental dependent origination backward from the destruction of the taints to the starting…
- Nov 22 2020 - MN 121 - The Shorter Discourse on Voidness - The Signless and Empty Mind of an Arahant
Delson reads MN 121, the Cula Sunnata Sutta, in which the Buddha describes abiding in voidness by noticing what is absent from experience and what remains.
- Nov 1 2020 - MN 141 The Analysis of the Truths - Applying the Four Noble Truths
Delson reads MN 141, the Analysis of the Truths, in which Sariputta explains the four noble truths, including suffering in the five aggregates and the eightfold path ending in right…
- Oct 25 2020 - MN105 - To Sunakkhatta - The Power of Letting go
Delson reads and comments on MN105 (Sunakkhatta Sutta), in which the Buddha says some monks who declare final knowledge do so rightly and others overestimate themselves.