Intro
Suvaco talks about his name which he was given as a monk and how it brings clarity and presence
2.26 mins) S talks about how he became a Buddhist monk
5.33 mins) At school ‘we are punished by rewards’ ‘You are taught to sit still and obey and learn to do meaningless tasks for a reward in the future’
7.16 mins) I had visions of monks in cloisters as a child. I recognized those cloisters later on a school trip to a monastery’
8.43 mins) ‘I always had a very profound spiritual longing’
11.00 mins) During a dark depression S explains ‘Something inside me said “get up and ordain”
15.03 mins) As a young newly ordained monk I had to live a life that was very prescribed. ‘I was told not only when to sit but how to sit. When to talk and how to talk. How to eat. When to eat. Things I would previously have considered such an infringement on my life, but I found myself willingly surrendering. And often unwillingly. It was very challenging but also there was something in it that I found so liberating
17.38 mins) There is an inscrutability to life and our choices…..did I choose this life or did I get chosen?
19.56 mins) I’m really grateful to have spent those 12 years from 23 to 35 as a celibate. It taught me a lot
21.24 mins) Is there a freedom beyond birth and death?
25.16 mins) ‘when you work from moment to moment with what’s present for you, you begin to have a very different experience of who you are and what the world is’
25.35mins) S talks about the benefits and difficulties of living with hundreds of strict monastic rules
35.27 mins) ‘renunciation doesn’t come because of should and shouldn’ts’
38.18 mins) Any monastery is a reflection of the wider society. Full of ‘ashram politics’
43.08 mins) S starts to talk about why he disrobed and became a psychotherapist
‘The opening that we can experience meditatively: what happens when we turn it around and face another person and we begin to engage with what is here in the space between us and we open with the same depth and trust and compassion. Then there is another kind of transformation that can happen. This is where we enter the field of psychotherapy
48.08 mins) ‘Real deep transformation is always messy!’
(In the psychotherapeutic relationship) ‘I have to as affected as the other person. I really don’t believe in professional distance
49.31 mins) ‘Everything wants to be seen with the eyes of love’
54.23 mins) ‘we are going through a rite of passage globally’
1 hr 1.18 mins) ‘there is a transformative work that happens when you sit (and meditate’)
1 hr 01.48) ‘I would really recommend everybody to take a least 20 minutes a day to learn to still the mind and body and open up to the inherent pleasure and well being there is in existence’
There is a beauty and a pleasure that just comes from existence
1 hr 04.16 mins) People want to find a place where they cannot be touched by the suffering of the world. That place is always here. And at the same time, you will get touched. Even deeper
As meditators we begin to experience the fullness of human emotions but in a way that is not so reactive
1hr 06.02 mins) The meditator’s life is a vey passionate life. A very full life
1he 06.16 mins) To just sit for a little while and just be fully present is a very passionate and wonderful activity. But on the outside, it just looks like you’re sitting still
1hr.10.18 mins) On non-duality
1hr 14.50 mins) On working with homeless people
1.hr 20.11 mins) ‘Nobody wants to be fixed’
1.20.30mins) the key is to look at another person with the eyes you always wanted to be looked at yourself. Listen to another person in the same way you always wanted to be listened to yourself. Meet another person as you always wanted to be met yourself
1hr 34.36) ‘We live at edge of a precipice at this time as a species so don’t waste your time doing things you’re supposed to do or you think you should be doing. Trust your conscience and follow what you’re here to doing’
Monk on a Motorbike 