The Pali Canon includes over 5,000 discourses that document conversations and encounters that occurred during forty years of the Buddha's ministry. Over the centuries, certain teachings have risen to the surface with popularity and come to characterize our impression of what the Buddha taught. However, the vast collection of source material reaches beyond these well known teachings. For this speaker series, IMSB has invited teachers to focus on teachings that have been largely neglected by contemporary Buddhist groups. Each talk will share a lesser-known teaching, event, or instruction that will enrich our comprehension of what the Buddha taught. We will discover whether broadening our source material reinforces the dominant view of Buddhist practice or paints a different picture of meditation and the path of liberation.

A talk given with Pamela Weiss at SFInsight after the 'Undoing Racism' training at Spirit Rock.

These seven qualities offer an effective framework for cultivating the mind, overcoming the hindrances, and balancing the energetic and calming forces that develop in meditation. When cultivated and balanced, the mind is ripe for awakening. This series will explore each factor to reveal its importance, function, and role in the process of awakening.

Audio recording of the Monday night class on April 18, 2016 with Matthew Brensilver.

We examine the nature of the judgmental mind, its relationship to discernment, the importance of working with the judgmental mind, and some practical ways to begin transforming the judgmental mind.

People often have the idea that one practices “concentration” to achieve “special meditative states of mind” called jhana, but Ajahn Sucitto points out that in fact jhana is a daily life practice of absorbing into the wholesomeness of nature that leads to the embodiment of samadhi – a unified state of the heart. This talk was offered on April 21, 2016 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.