Talks from 2026
Retreats and series
- Majjhima Nikaya series (2026) 21 talks
- High Altitude Retreat 2026 7 talks
- Conversations with Andrzej Stasiak 3 talks
- June 2026 Retreat 3 talks
- Advanced Retreat, July 2026 2 talks
- August 2026 Retreat, Tranquil Wisdom Insight 3 talks
- Generosity Challenge (2026) 2 talks
Every talk, newest first
- Ep381: I Nearly Died - Delson Armstrong
In this interview, Delson recounts nearly drowning when floodwater filled his retreat cabin at Dhammasuka in Missouri in June, and how he escaped with a deep cut to his foot.
- MN 20 Removal of Distracting Thoughts- Do you Destroy or Torture your Wandering Mind?
Delson reads through MN 20 (Vitakkasanthana Sutta, the removal of distracting thoughts) and explains its five methods: replace an unwholesome sign with a wholesome one, examine its danger…
- A Conversation with Delson Armstrong
Delson Armstrong talks with Michael Taft about a near-fatal flood at his retreat center, which he says changed how he sees spiritual ego and attainment.
- MN 19 Two Kinds of thought - Good vs Bad results-Dvedhavitakka Sutta
Delson reads and comments on MN 19 (Dvedhavitakka Sutta), in which the Buddha divides thoughts into two classes: sensual desire, ill will and cruelty on one side, and renunciation, non-ill…
- Day 9 Guided Meditation - Knowing
Delson guides a sitting that points to objectless awareness, a luminous knowing that is not an object and is not a thinking mind.
- Day 8 Dependent Origination Pt 2 Going deep...
Delson continues his teaching on dependent origination, picking up from feeling and tracing the chain forward through contact, the underlying tendencies, craving, clinging and becoming.
- MN 18 The Honeyball - Perceptions and Notions - Self Being Created-Madhupindika Sutta
Delson reads and explains MN 18, the Madhupindika Sutta (the Honeyball), covering the Buddha's answer to Dandapani, Maha Kachana's detailed exposition, and Ananda's closing remarks.
- He Meditated 30,000 Hours. The End of Suffering Isn't What You Were Promised | Delson Armstrong
Delson Armstrong responds to the question of whether the end of suffering is possible, especially for householders.
- Day 6 Transcendental Origination
Delson explains transcendental dependent origination as the chain of conditions that leads to liberation of the mind.
- Andrzej and Delson Podcast 3 Everyday Awareness
Delson Armstrong and Andrzej discuss everyday awareness: a simple, non-conceptual knowing of what is happening that remains when the ego's stories and identifications are let go.
- 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…
- Sutta 8.31 Generosity Challenge Benefits of Giving w/w Guided Dana Recollection meditation by Delson
Delson guides a short recollection of one's own generosity drawn from AN 6.10, then reads AN 8.31 and explains its eight motivations for giving.
- Day 5 The Jhanas -Aug Retreat with Delson Armstrong
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…
- Day 2 Sila - The Foundation of the Meditation -Why do we take refuges/precepts? Excellent Talk
Delson explains why the retreat's morning ritual of three refuges, eight precepts, five recollections and a Dhammapada reading is part of the meditation practice.
- Day 4 Enlightenment Factors and 6Rs
Delson continues from yesterday's talk on the Eightfold Path by explaining the seven awakening factors (mindfulness, discernment, energy, joy, tranquility, collectedness, equanimity) as…
- AN 7.57 –- The Seven Benefits of Giving -Talk 1 of 3 -Generosity Challenge
Delson reads and interprets AN 7.57, the Siha Sutta, in which the Buddha lists the benefits of giving.
- Day 3 8-Fold Path - Aug Retreat - Delson Armstrong at DSMC
Delson walks through the Noble Eightfold Path as the spine of the practice, taking each factor in turn: right view, right intention, right speech, right action and right livelihood (sila)…
- Day 1 Intro Aug 13-23 Tranquil Wisdom Insight Retreat at DSMC-Intro to Delson
Delson opens a retreat by giving his background and explaining the 6R's (Recognize, Release, Relax, Re-smile, Return, Repeat) as the method of right effort for letting go of distraction.
- Day 6 Last Day Thoughts -High Altitude Retreat
Delson closes a retreat by arguing that the real practice begins when people return to ordinary life, where enthusiasm and plans often fail and situations test patience and surrender.
- Day 5 High Altitude Retreat - Energies & Enlightenment Factors
Delson explains energy as the movement of awareness, following where attention goes, and links this to jhanas, the seven enlightenment factors, and the eleven links of transcendental…
- Day 4 High Altitude Retreat -Remember the Knowingness
Delson encourages listeners to rest in the knowing awareness they touched on the previous night, rather than trying to reach or return to it.
- Day 2 High Altitude Retreat -A story, Clinging, Bhava and Dying
Delson explains how craving and clinging arise from preferences and how the mind builds a sense of self and a personality (bhava) around them.
- Day 3 High Altitude Retreat - "Liberation" & a Guided Meditation in "Knowingness"
Delson explains liberation as an ongoing practice rather than a one-time event, and describes the three gates of liberation (signless, undirected, empty) as a way past object-based…
- Day 1 High Altitude Meditation Retreat with Delson Armstrong and Doug Kraft-Lessons From the Flood
Delson recounts being caught in a flash flood at Dhammasuka Meditation Center, where he nearly drowned in his cabin, cut his foot, and was rescued on foot.
- MN 17 Jungle Thickets - Are We Being Supported? - Vanapattha Sutta
Delson reads and comments on MN 17, the Vanapattha Sutta, which describes when a monk should stay in a jungle thicket and when he should leave, depending on whether mindfulness and…
- 8 Fold Path - The Path to Stream Entry- All of the Signposts
Delson presents the Noble Eightfold Path as the spine of the Dhamma and walks through each factor.
- 8 fold Path as the Path to Stream Entry- The Buddha's Path Laid Out to Awakening
Delson presents the Eightfold Path as the spine of the Dhamma and walks through its eight factors in order, from right view through right collectedness.
- MN 15 Anumana Sutta Majjhima Series with Delson Armstrong-Admonished by the Buddha
Delson teaches MN 15, the Anumana Sutta, in which Maha Moggallana lists sixteen qualities that make a monk difficult or easy to admonish.
- MN 16 -Five Wildernesses -Weaknesses to be overcome -Cetokhila Sutta
Delson walks through MN 16, the Cetokhila Sutta, which lists five wildernesses in the heart (doubt about the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha and training, plus resentment toward fellow…
- Day 8 DN31 Advice to Lay-People
Delson reads and comments on DN31, the Sigalovada Sutta, in which the Buddha gives a young householder advice on living as a lay person: abandoning the four defilements of action, avoiding…
- Day 6 AN 6.63 Penetrative Discourse -The workings of Karma
Delson works through AN 6.63, the Penetrative Discourse, which lists six subjects to be understood: sensual pleasures, feelings, perceptions, the taints, karma, and suffering.
- 5-Minute Guided Gratitude Meditation for Happiness 😊 | by Delson Armstrong
Delson leads a five-minute guided gratitude practice with eyes open, starting with relaxing the body and then silently saying thank you for the body, senses, people and everyday supports.
- Day 4 Understanding Formations & How to Attain Cessation -Excellent!
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…
- 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…
- Day 3 July Retreat MN 134 -A Fine Night - The Concept of Self
Delson reads and comments on the Loma Sakangiya Bhaddekaratta Sutta (MN 134) and its stanza on the "single excellent night," which says not to revive the past or build hopes on the future…
- Day 2 Setting in Motion the wheel of Dhamma -8 Fold Path
Delson introduces the morning refuges, precepts and recollections as a way of setting intention for practice, then reads SN 56.11, the Buddha's first sermon on the middle way and the Four…
- Day 1 July 2-12 Advanced Retreat-Orientation and Instructions
Delson gives the orientation for a ten-day advanced TWIM retreat.
- Happiness Buffet 🍱😋 From Bad Boy to (Jedi) Meditation Master | Delson Armstrong
In this Happiness Buffet podcast interview, Delson opens with a guided gratitude practice done with eyes open, then tells his life story.
- MN 14 -The Shorter Discourse on the Mass of Suffering
Delson reads and comments on MN 14, the Culadukkhakkhandha Sutta, in which Mahanama asks why greed, hate and delusion still invade his mind after he has seen the danger in sensual pleasures.
- MN 13 The Greater Discourse on Suffering - Majjhima Series w/ Delson Armstrong
Delson reads and comments on MN 13, the Greater Discourse on Suffering (Maha Dukkhakhandha Sutta).
- Spotkanie naszej sanghi z gościem specjalnym Delsonem Armstrogimem.
Delson Armstrong answers questions from a Polish sangha in an online Q&A.
- MN 12 Greater Discourse on the Lion's Roar- Sunday Sutta Session
Delson reads through MN 12, the Greater Discourse on the Lion's Roar, in which the Buddha answers Sunakkhatta's claim that he has no superhuman states or knowledge worthy of the noble ones.
- Day 9 Dependent Origination Pt 2 - Karma Discussion
Delson explains the middle links of dependent origination, starting from the Bhaiya Sutta (Ud 1.10) and moving through feeling, contact, name and form, consciousness, formations, ignorance…
- Day 10 Last Day - AN 10.1 - The Path from Suffering to Awakening
Delson gives the last-day talk of a retreat, asking students to carry discipline and consistency back into daily life.
- Day 8 Intro to Dependent Origination-6 Craving links - Craving, Clinging, Tendencies, Birth -Part 1
Delson explains the middle links of dependent origination, from craving and clinging through becoming (bhava) and birth, as the wisdom that shows how suffering arises and ceases.
- 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 5 What is Mindfulness - 4 Foundations of Mindfulness-Not McMindfulness
Delson explains the four foundations of mindfulness (satipatthana) as body, feeling, mind and mind objects, and says they are anchor points for the mind rather than stages to pass through…
- Day 6 Introduction to Jhanas 1-4 -Keys to Entering the Jhana
Delson reads from DN 2 (Samaññaphala Sutta) to set out what the Buddha says must be in place before the mind naturally enters jhana: ethical conduct, guarding the sense doors, contentment…
- Day 4 Right Effort - 7 Enlightenment Factors -June Retreat at DSMC
Delson explains right effort as abandoning the unwholesome and cultivating the wholesome, and frames this as the core work of samadhi.
- Day 3 8 Fold Path June Retreat with Delson Armstrong
Delson explains the Buddha's first sermon (SN 56.11) and walks through the Noble Eightfold Path as a foundation for meditation, starting with right view and ending in right collectedness.
- MN 11 The Shorter Discourse of the Lion's Roar - Only one Path to the Unconditioned
Delson works through MN 11, the Culasihanada Sutta (the Shorter Discourse on the Lion's Roar).
- Day 2 What is Meditation - The Brahmviharas
Delson explains what meditation is for in the TWIM practice, distinguishing meditation with an object from objectless observation and framing the aim as a collected, clear mind in which…
- The Brahma Viharas are explained - this is the first part of the Buddhist path to awakening
Delson explains what the Brahma Viharas (the divine abodes) are and why they are used as meditation objects.
- Day 1 Guided Metta Meditation with Instructions -Retreat June 4-14th 2026
Delson leads a guided metta meditation for retreat students, beginning with posture, a body scan and a smile.
- Awakening and The Four Stages - 2nd Interview with Andrzej
Delson and Andrzej discuss awakening as an experiential understanding of the Four Noble Truths, not a mystical state or a goal to be reached.
- Przebudzenie i popularne mity. Rozmowa z Delsonem Armstrog. Odosobnienie w Polsce11-20.praździenika
Delson Armstrong discusses what awakening means in the Buddhist context, presenting it as freedom from identification with a permanent self and from craving, and as an ongoing process…
- What is the "I" Concept - Paramatthaka Sutta -Clinging to Views
Delson Armstrong reads and comments on the Paramatthaka Sutta (Sutta Nipata 4.9), on transcending views and not clinging even to Dhamma views.
- MN 10 Part 2 Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta-Feeling -Majjhima Series w/Delson Armstrong
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…
- Interview: Andrzej Stasiak with Delson Armstrong-Jhanas through Awakening
Delson Armstrong and Andrzej Stasiak discuss TWIM (Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation), the jhanas, and awakening.
- Day 9 Transcendental Dependent Origination - Last Day Advice
Delson walks through the links of transcendental dependent origination from SN 12.23 (the Upanisa Sutta), reading the chain in reverse from the destruction of the taints back through…
- Day 8 Dependent Origination Part 2 - Very Interesting!
Delson continues his teaching on dependent origination, moving from contact and feeling through craving, clinging, becoming and birth to suffering, and describing the seven underlying…
- Ep362: Goddess Encounters - Delson Armstrong
Delson Armstrong talks with host Steve about his recent retreats, his initiation into the Sri Vidya tradition, and his reading in Epicurean and pessimist philosophy.
- Day 7 Introduction to Dependent Origination -Clinging-Craving
Delson introduces dependent origination (paticca samuppada) as the core of the Buddha's teaching on causality and conditionality, and as an elaboration of the Four Noble Truths.
- 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…
- Day 4 Foundations of Mindfulness and the Hindrances -Retreat Talk
Delson explains that hindrances should be released and relaxed rather than pushed away, using the six R's as the practical method.
- Day 5 "The Jhanas 1-4" with Delson Armstrong
Delson explains the jhanas as stages of collectedness (samadhi) that develop once the hindrances have eased, and walks through the first four jhanas and their factors.
- Day 3 8 Fold Path - The Journey w/Delson Armstrong
Delson retells the Buddha's life from the four sights through the years of indulgence and asceticism to the Middle Way, and presents the Noble Eightfold Path as the path the Buddha taught…
- Day 1-2 Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha- The Foundation to the Path
Delson opens a retreat by explaining the daily interviews: four simple questions about the object of meditation, the best sit, its length, and how the practitioner returns to the object.
- Delson Armstrong on cessation vs jhanas vs anaesthesia
Delson Armstrong answers an interviewer's questions about cessation, which he distinguishes from ordinary sleep, general anaesthesia, the awareness of awareness described in non-dual…
- Delson Armstrong: awakening is individual, & the future of dharma
Delson Armstrong, in a long interview, explains why he has moved away from the codified TWIM system toward a more individual and less dogmatic approach to awakening.
- Delson Armstrong on questioning dogma
Delson Armstrong answers a question about how Buddhist traditions can move forward in the West, and he warns against dogmatic attachment to scripture, institutions and gurus.
- Delson Armstrong: the buddha on if consciousness is primary
Delson Armstrong responds to a host's question about whether consciousness or matter is primary, saying the debate is partly intellectual gymnastics.
- MN 10 Pt1 '4 Foundations of Mindfulness'-Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta - Majjhima Series with Delson Armstrong
Delson Armstrong opens his study of the Satipatthana Sutta (MN 10) by explaining the meaning of the word satipatthana as anchors for the mind in the present moment, with sati as…
- High Altitude Meditation Retreat Preview with Delson Armstrong and Doug Kraft -podcast
Delson Armstrong and Doug Kraft preview a seven-day retreat in California based on Doug's book High Altitude Meditation.
- MN 9 Right View - Majjhima Series with Delson Armstrong
Delson walks through MN 9, the Sammaditthi Sutta (which he calls the Samadhiti Sutta), on right view.
- Obsession in the Mind AN 1.1 with Kirsten & Friends -Guest: Delson Armstrong
Delson Armstrong joins a group discussion of AN 1.1, the Buddha's teaching that nothing obsesses the mind of a man like the form, sound, odor, taste and touch of a woman (and the reverse).
- MN 8 Conceit Purifying the mind. -Sunday Sutta Series with Delson Armstrong
Delson reads and comments on MN 8, the Salekha Sutta (Effacement), in which Maha Cunda asks how views about self and world are abandoned.
- MN 7 Vatthupama Sutta -The Simile of the Cloth with Delson Armstrong
Delson reads and explains MN 7, the Simile of the Cloth, which compares a defiled mind to a stained cloth that takes on the colour of any dye, and a pure mind to a clean cloth that takes…
- MN 6 Akankheyya Sutta - PRECEPTS ARE THE BASIS OF AWAKENING!
Delson reads and explains MN 6 Akankheyya Sutta, in which each "if a bhikkhu should wish" clause ends with the refrain to fulfill the precepts, develop samadhi and insight, and dwell in…
- MN 5 Unblemished - Sunday Sutta Series with Delson Armstrong
Delson reads and explains MN 5, the Anangana Sutta (Unblemished), in which Sariputta distinguishes inferior and superior persons who have or lack a blemish, depending on whether they…
- MN 4 'Fear and Dread" Sunday Sutta Series with Delson Armstrong
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…
- MN 3 'Heirs in the Teaching" Sunday Sutta Series with Delson Armstrong
Delson reads MN 3 (Dhammadayada Sutta), in which the Buddha asks his monks to be heirs in the Dhamma rather than heirs in material things, and uses the example of two monks who receive…
- MN 2 Sabbasave Sutta-Taints -Sunday Series with Delson Armstrong
Delson walks through MN 2, the Sabbasava Sutta, on the taints (asavas) and the Buddha's teaching that they are abandoned in six ways: by seeing, restraining, using, enduring, avoiding…
- MN 1 Majjhima Nikaya Series Number 1 with Delson Armstrong-Sunday Series
Delson walks through MN 1, the Mula Pariyaya Sutta, which contrasts the untaught ordinary person, the trained bhikkhu, the arahant and the Tathagata in how each relates to earth, water…
- The Arhant & Khemaka Sutta with Delson Armstrong-(Revised)
Delson Armstrong reads and comments on two suttas, SN 1.25 (the Arahant, a deva asks the Buddha whether an arahant would still say "I speak") and SN 22.89 (Khemaka, who has let go of…
- The 37 Requisites to Enlightenment -Sunday with Delson
Delson reads from the Maha Parinibbana Sutta (DN 16), where the Buddha gives his final instructions, and uses it to introduce the 37 requisites for awakening.
- "Gems" The Ratana Sutta -Inspiring Sunday Talk with Delson Armstrong
Delson opens with photos from a recent trip to Sarnath, Varanasi and Prayagraj, where he and his group offered food and supplies to a line of about 120 Thai monks walking across northern…
- "Refuge" How To Practice for Arahatship -Crossing of the Flood-Sunday with Delson Armstrong
Delson reads and comments on AN 4.170, where Ananda lists four paths to arahatship, and on SN 1.1, Crossing the Flood.