Stumbled onto Gold!
Last night I was “digging” around on Dharmaseed for a series of talks to get into, when I noticed this little nugget of news:
Audio Restoration of Achaan Sucitto’s Anapanasati Series: Alun Hoggett has kindly worked to improve the audio quality of Sucitto’s Anapanasati series. Alun writes:
“I stumbled upon these talks when I was looking for a detailed exploration of the Anapanasati Sutta. Ajahn Sucitto drew me in with his cheerful matter-of-fact, often lighthearted delivery and the light he shed on each of the 16 instructions in the sutta. I was particularly drawn to his words on how we can practice directing our attention, and then feeding this attention skillfully so we can maintain a steady awareness. He encourages tuning in to both the quality of attention and the way we sense the object to which that attention is directed.
“When I first listened to these talks the volume of the recording went from soft and muffled to loud and distorted. But I was so taken by what I was hearing that I decided to put the talks into my audio editing suite to see if I could make them clearer. I evened out the levels, filtered some of the background noise and balanced the frequencies to make the voice stand out. Although it is impossible to remove distortion, the final versions are much easier to follow and, from my perspective, will continue to bring insight after listening to them numerous times.”
***
So I clicked on the series of talks. I’ve only listened to the first one, but I can already tell — I’ve stumbled onto GOLD. The audio quality isn’t perfect, but it’s not bad. There are 8 talks in all, each between 40 and 60 minutes. They were given at Cittiviveka monastery (in England) during an 8-day retreat in October of 1998.
Click here for the series. Try listening to one talk each day, and then sitting for a bit, if possible. (I listen to the talks at night and then sit the next morning). It’s kind of like being on retreat!
Priceless.