​Bhikkhus, when mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated, it is of great fruit and great benefit. When mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated, it fulfills the four foundations of mindfulness. When the four foundations of mindfulness are developed and cultivated, they fulfill the seven enlightenment factors. When the seven enlightenment factors are developed and cultivated, they fulfill true knowledge and deliverance.

​The Buddha, Majjhima Nikaya 118

​Key Info

• ​This course meets from Octber 4th - November 8th 2026 on Sundays (12 - 2pm PT) and Thursdays (9 - 11 am PT).

• ​All course dates include October 4th, 8th, 11th, 15th, 18th, 22nd, 25th, 29th and Nov 1st, 5th, 8th.

• ​Sessions will be recorded and shared with registered participants.

​Course Description

​Fifty years ago, as a young student taking a leave of absence from my Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University, I met Ajahn Chah for the first time. Writing a thesis on “Art, Science, and Mysticism in the Works of Aldous Huxley,” I found myself exhausted. Full of ideas, hopes and fears, and inner confusion, I had heard about an enlightened Buddhist monk in the forests of northeast Thailand.

​I knew I needed a good teacher if I wanted to find out for myself what this word enlightenment is all about. In our first conversation Ajahn Chah told me to “be with your breathing.” He said, “If you understand one thing well, you’ll understand everything, but if you try and understand everything, you might end up not understanding anything thoroughly.” This advice has been precious and enduring over the many years since then, a bubbling spring of rejuvenation and insight.

​Join me in exploring the Buddha’s profound systematic teachings on Mindfulness of Breathing. In a five-week online course of 11 classes, we will study and practice the four tetrads of instruction that the Buddha outlined for his disciples, promising that “when mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated, it is of great fruit and benefit. ... fulfill[ing] true knowledge and deliverance.” Sequentially focusing on mindfulness of the body, feelings, the heart, and dharmas, the Buddha’s 16 step instruction offers a liberating framework for contemplation that is readily accessible for sincere practitioners.

​We will explore how the Buddha’s method includes healing and rejuvenation for the body, emptying out reactivity to pleasure and pain, unifying the body/mind, and touching with the body deep peace, as the mind is freed from confusion. All the 2-hour classes will be recorded, so if you miss a session you can catch up with the recording. Everyone is welcome.

​Facilitator

​Kittisaro (he/him) is originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee. He graduated from Princeton as a Rhodes Scholar and went on to Oxford before going to Thailand to ordain with Ajahn Chah in 1976. He was a monk for 15 years. During that time, he helped found Chithurst Monastery and Devon Vihara in the UK, trained monks, was a prison Chaplain, and taught extensively. Kittisaro disrobed in 1991 and has since taught internationally. He co-founded Dharmagiri Sacred Mountain Retreat in 2000 and helped initiate and support several community development projects in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He has studied and practiced Chan and Pure Land for 40 years, informed by the Chinese school of Master Hua, and has completed two year-long silent self-retreats. Kittisaro has an MA in Buddhist Dialectics from Dharma Realm Buddhist University, California. Kittisaro co-authored, with Thanissara, Listening to the Heart, A Contemplative Journey to Engaged Buddhism.