Kittisaro Weinberg, a respected meditation teacher trained under Ajahn Chah and an alumnus of the DRBU Master’s Program, led us through meditation and listening practices inspired by complementary Theravāda and Mahāyāna teachings. Read more and browse the photos. 

The fall semester’s Contemplative Exercise Immersion (CEI) on deep listening was an opportunity to listen deeply to our bodies, our minds, and one another. Kittisaro Weinberg, a respected meditation teacher trained under Ajahn Chah and an alumnus of the DRBU Master’s Program, led us through meditation and listening practices inspired by complementary Theravāda and East Asian Mahāyāna teachings. Bhikshu Jin Chuan, DRBU Chaplain, and Bhikshu Jin Wei, DRBU alumnus, offered exercises in listening and mindful communication designed to bring these practices into our relationships and everyday experience. 

The week began with mindfulness of breathing (ānāpānasati), using the breath as a doorway into the present moment. Through this practice, we began to learn to listen to what is arising in our bodies, hearts, and minds. Tuning into the here-and-now brought greater ease in the body and helped us to discover a pleasant abiding. From this foundation, we then began to notice not only the rising and falling of sounds and thoughts, but also the silent stillness between them. A verse from the Forest Tradition expresses this practice: 

As space is to form,
And silence is to sound,
So is awareness
To all phenomena. 

We then explored practices associated with Bodhisattva Guanyin, the Compassionate One Who Listens at Ease to the Sounds of the World. By sounding Guanyin’s name, we turned our attention toward listening itself and to our own innate capacity for awareness. As the Śūraṅgama Sūtra instructs, 

Turn your hearing around; listen to your nature within.
This is the practice that leads to awakening.

Approaching the practices with curiosity and kindness, we tuned into the “one who listens” in our own awareness. As our listening deepens, we naturally find within it a trustworthy refuge, a home ground, a fundamental root where all things merge. 

Dwelling in this deep listening, we realize that the multitude of beings – their joys and sorrows – all appear within this one heart. Rooted in deep listening, we remember our sacred kinship with all of life.