Talks from 2021

24 December 2021 Interview 1 h 41 min

In this interview, Delson Armstrong recounts mentors he met early on, including a Bombay cobbler who he says could read people's karma through samskaras, and a man with 13 near-death…

15 December 2021 Q&A 31 min

Delson answers questions from a retreat on the nature of the present moment, meditation pain versus physical pain, posture, and craving for subtle states.

15 December 2021 Q&A 44 min

Delson gives the opening instructions for an online retreat: a metta practice that begins with oneself and then a living spiritual friend, with sitting and walking alternated and the six…

15 December 2021 Q&A 31 min

Delson answers questions from a retreat Q&A on doctrine and practice.

4 December 2021 Q&A 51 min

Delson answers questions from retreat participants in the first online Q&A of a retreat.

3 December 2021 Q&A 21 min

Delson answers questions from retreat participants in the first online retreat Q&A.

29 November 2021 Q&A 1 h 11 min

Delson answers audience questions on the Buddhist teaching of rebirth and intermediate states, near-death visions, and how precepts relate to hindrances.

26 November 2021 Interview 52 min

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.

5 November 2021 Interview 2 h 4 min

Delson Armstrong describes his path from a Catholic-raised childhood in New Jersey to hatha yoga at 13, then Himalayan training from age 16 in the Yoga Sutras, six degrees of Kriya Yoga…

5 November 2021 Talk 1 h 54 min

Delson Armstrong works through MN 9, the Sammaditthi Sutta on right view, in which Sariputta explains right view as understanding the unwholesome and the wholesome and the Four Noble Truths.

5 November 2021 Q&A 1 h 4 min

Delson answers participants' questions at the close of an online Suttavada retreat.

2 November 2021 Talk 1 h 34 min

Delson reads several stories of hungry ghosts (petas) and celestial mansion beings (vimana petas) from the Khuddaka Nikaya, and explains the karma behind each.

25 October 2021 Talk 2 h 13 min

Delson reads and comments on MN 22, the Alagaddupama Sutta (simile of the snake), in which the Buddha corrects the monk Arittha for holding that sensual pleasures cannot obstruct someone…

22 October 2021 Talk 2 h 21 min

Delson Armstrong works through the Samma Ditthi Sutta (MN 9), in which Sariputta explains right view by taking up the wholesome and unwholesome, the four noble truths and each link of…

20 October 2021 Interview 48 min

Delson Armstrong explains nibbana as the quenching of the fires of greed, hatred and delusion, and as the stopping of mental proliferation.

19 October 2021 Interview 23 min

Delson answers questions about using metta and the other brahmaviharas to enter jhana, which he says works because the uplifted feeling draws the mind into collectedness.

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…

18 October 2021 Talk 1 h 54 min

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…

17 October 2021 Q&A 1 h 21 min

Delson answers a series of live questions from listeners on Dhamma topics.

16 October 2021 Interview 1 h 17 min

Delson Armstrong, interviewed by Karuna at Dhammasukha Meditation Center, explains samsara as conditioned existence driven by karma and describes the 31 planes of existence in Buddhist…

13 October 2021 Interview 11 min

Delson describes a two-day study with researchers from the University of Amsterdam that recorded his brain and body during waking, focused attention, sleep and nirodha (cessation of…

11 October 2021 Talk 1 h 50 min

Delson reads MN 142, the Dakkhinavibhanga Sutta, on the exposition of offerings, which ranks gifts by the attainment of the recipient and says gifts to the Sangha are especially fruitful.

11 October 2021 Interview 32 min

Delson describes his path from yoga, Yoga Sutra samadhis and Kriya Yoga to TWIM and the six R's, and explains why he sees these earlier practices as concentration that suppresses the…

3 October 2021 Talk 1 h 2 min

Delson reads and comments on Theragatha 16.3, the verses of the brahmin Telakani, who searched for a teaching that would bring peace and free him from grief, craving, conceit and doubt.

11 September 2021 Talk 39 min

Delson introduces TWIM, the meditation practice he teaches, and explains the brahmaviharas as a way to uplift the mind and let go of hindrances, especially ill-will.

5 July 2021 Talk 1 h 53 min

Delson reads MN2, the Sabbasava Sutta, on the taints (asavas) and the six ways the Buddha gives for abandoning them.

4 July 2021 Talk 1 h 10 min

Delson reads through the sets of ten in Digha Nikaya 33 (the Sangiti Sutta) and comments on each item, treating the ten protective qualities as a path toward nibbana.

27 June 2021 Talk 1 h 22 min

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…

26 June 2021 Q&A 46 min

Delson answers audience questions on the second Q&A of a June 2021 online retreat.

23 June 2021 Talk 0 min

The transcript supplied for this talk ("May Online Retreat with Delson Armstrong", 2021-06-23) contains only a single placeholder line ("you") and no spoken content.

20 June 2021 Talk 1 h 18 min

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…

14 June 2021 Talk 1 h 20 min

Delson recites and comments on the fourth recitation of DN 33, the sets of seven, covering the seven Aryan treasures, the seven factors of enlightenment, the seven stations of…

7 June 2021 Talk 1 h 54 min

Delson Armstrong reads and explains MN 136, the Greater Exposition of Actions, in which the Buddha corrects a claim that bodily and verbal actions are fruitless and shows that karma works…

6 June 2021 Talk 1 h 15 min

Delson Armstrong works through the third recitation of the Sangiti Sutta (DN 33), the sets of six, reading each set and explaining it in his own terms.

30 May 2021 Guided meditation 31 min

Delson leads a guided loving-kindness meditation of about thirty minutes.

30 May 2021 Talk 1 h 39 min

Delson continues his series on the sets of five in DN33, the Sangiti Sutta, the second recitation.

26 May 2021 Q&A 55 min

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

23 May 2021 Talk 2 h 39 min

Delson reads the first recitation of the Sangeeti Sutta (DN 33), in which Sariputta restates the Dhamma as numbered sets from one to four, and comments on each item in terms of his TWIM…

16 May 2021 Q&A 1 h 53 min

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.

9 May 2021 Q&A 2 h

Delson walks through MN 44, the Shorter Discourse on Questions and Answers, in which the nun Dhammadinna explains identity, its origin, its cessation and the path to it.

8 May 2021 Talk 1 h 18 min

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…

2 May 2021 Talk 1 h 28 min

Delson reads and comments on MN 7, the Vatthupama Sutta (the simile of the cloth), in Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation.

29 April 2021 Q&A 1 h 1 min

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.

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…

21 April 2021 Q&A 4 min

In this Q&A, a practitioner describes getting distracted in the jhanas, mainly by restlessness, and asks whether determinations would help at this stage.

18 April 2021 Talk 1 h 11 min

Delson reads MN 53, the Sekha Sutta, in which Ananda describes the disciple in higher training who has entered the stream.

12 April 2021 Talk 1 h 25 min

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…

11 April 2021 Talk 1 h 9 min

Delson reads and comments on MN 1, the Mula Pariyaya Sutta (The Root of All Things), using Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation.

4 April 2021 Talk 1 h 3 min

Delson reads the Metta Sutta (Sutta Nipata 1.8) and explains it as a progression that starts with keeping the precepts and right intention, grows into loving-kindness, and leads toward the…

29 March 2021 Talk 1 h 6 min

Delson reads MN 113 (the Sappurisa Sutta, "The True Person") and explains how the Buddha contrasts an untrue person, who takes pride in family, status, gain, learning, ascetic practices or…

22 March 2021 Talk 1 h 13 min

Delson reads and comments on MN 74, the Diganaka Sutta, in which the wanderer Diganaka says "nothing is acceptable to me" and the Buddha shows that holding even that view is still clinging.

15 March 2021 Talk 1 h 13 min

Delson reads and comments on MN 146 (Nandakovada Sutta), in which the elder Nandaka teaches the Buddha's foster mother Maha Pajapati Gotami and her five hundred nuns by asking them whether…

8 March 2021 Talk 1 h 12 min

Delson reads and comments on MN 8, the Salekha Sutta (Effacement).

8 March 2021 Talk 1 h 21 min

Delson reads and explains SN 22.86 (the Anuradha Sutta), in which Anuradha answers wanderers' questions about the Tathagata after death.

1 March 2021 Talk 57 min

Delson reads and explains MN 23, the Vammika Sutta, in which the Buddha explains to Kumara Kassapa the riddle of the anthill, the brahmin and the knife.

22 February 2021 Talk 1 h 9 min

Delson reads and comments on MN19, the Buddha's account of dividing thoughts into those of wrong intention and those of right intention, and of recognizing and releasing unwholesome…

8 February 2021 Talk 59 min

Delson reads and comments on MN 18, the Madhupindika (Honeyball) Sutta, and explains how perceptions and notions born of mental proliferation arise through contact, feeling, perception and…

1 February 2021 Talk 1 h 16 min

Delson reads and comments on MN 137, the Salayatana Vibhanga Sutta (the analysis of the six sense fields), covering the six internal and external bases, the six types of consciousness and…

25 January 2021 Talk 1 h 16 min

Delson reads MN 64, the Greater Discourse to Malunkyaputta, and explains the five lower fetters, their underlying tendencies, and how they are abandoned through seeing the five aggregates…

18 January 2021 Talk 58 min

Delson reads MN 3, the Dhammadayada Sutta (Heirs in the Dhamma), from Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation and comments on it as he goes.

4 January 2021 Talk 1 h 32 min

Delson reads the Meghiya Sutta (AN 9.3, with the Udana version noted as nearly identical) and comments on it paragraph by paragraph.