I had a bit of time this morning, so I listened to a little bit more of the above discourse. But I could not proceed beyond about 12 minutes.
I ran into the same issue that I mentioned above again. Around 9:55 Bhikkhu Thanissaro says “your consciousness gets MIXED UP with the consciousnesses of those parasites in your body”.
This shows a clear lack of understanding of how consciousness arises.
Our consciousness (and thoughts) arise in the hadaya vatthu (seat of the mind) located in our mental body (gandhabba).
– In the same way, the consciousness of a parasite arises in its hadaya vatthu.
– There is no way that they can “get mixed up.”
– A parasite in our physical body is no different from millions of external microscopic/macroscopic beings our bodies come to contact with.
Of course, various external factors can indirectly INFLUENCE our consciousness.
– For example, if parasites in our gut cause digestion problems, that will affect our mindset, because we need to worry about that problem.
– But that is not any different from our mental state being affected by someone saying something harsh or causes bodily harm to us.
This is why we need to be careful. That discourse seems harmless, and even sounds a “bit deep”. But it is based on a false premise. No one with even a bit of Abhidhamma knowledge will say such a thing.
– By the way, I had previously listened to a discourse by the same bhikkhu on Anapana meditation and that is also completely wrong. He describes that as a “16-step breath meditation”. But those 16 steps are NOT what the Buddha described in the Anapanasati Sutta.
Please do not post any discourses by that bhikkhu in this forum. While some may have useful information, I don’t have time to listen to them to make sure.