The practice of the Dhamma is a powerful protection that comes about by wholeheartedly applying mindfulness, the four protective meditations, restraint, virtue, going for refuge, patience, or the parittas.
The development of samadhi, a collected and unified mind, is central in the Buddha’s meditation training. This talk looks at how we can skillfully deepen concentration, as well as the place of concentration in various suttas and lists that guide us in the development of concentration, and then the function of concentration to lead to transformative insight.
Confidence is crucial for any undertaking, also for our spiritual journey. Our confidence in the teaching, the actual practice, and in our ability to do the practice grow and deepen as we move along the way.
Description: We first explore how concentration practice is both helpful and important for insight practice, and how the two practices are related. We then look at the nature of insight practice, and in particular examine three ways of liberating seeing in insight practice, namely practices in which we cultivate seeing anicca (impermanence), dukkha (reactivity or unreliability or suffering), and anatta (not-self).