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Dharma Talks
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2018-08-01
Six Ways of Practicing with Difficulties and Challenges
64:45
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Donald Rothberg
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One of the glories of our practice is the capacity to respond skillfully, with wisdom and compassion, to difficult, challenging, and/or painful experiences. In this talk and discussion, we explore six ways to practice skillfully with difficulties, focusing more in 1-5 on “inner" practices: (1) Stay connected with core teachings and perspectives, particularly about working with reactivity; (2) develop mindfulness in these situations, which helps us with non-reactivity and knowing what is happening; (3) have a few ways to come back to balance and non-reactivity after one is reactive, lost, stuck, or overwhelmed; (4) take the difficult situation as an opportunity to go more deeply, potentially uprooting some of the roots of reactivity and habitual tendencies; (5) continue to cultivate awakened qualities, helping us to shift our center of gravity from reactivity to responsiveness; and (6) cultivate ways of responding more skillfully in “outer” ways, including speech and interactions.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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2018-06-27
Evolving Beyond “Unreal Othering”
52:19
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Tara Brach
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What motivates us – as individuals and as a society – to build walls and knowingly hurt others? This talk explores the evolutionary roots of “unreal othering” and how when we are hijacked by fear, it can take over and disconnect us from the very real suffering of others. We then look at how meditative strategies awaken us from othering, and reveal our intrinsic belonging. Finally, we apply this to our own lives in a reflection that helps us respond to someone we have turned into “unreal other” with compassion and wisdom.
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Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
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2018-06-14
The Joy Will Come
26:42
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Ayya Medhanandi
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Joy can come with wise reflection and a pepper of difference. I learned this standing in town with my alms bowl as a mendicant nun one morning. Living for the sake of what is highest within us, we can each know the beauty, brilliance, and brightness of that joy and see how to nurture loving kindness and presence of mind. We learn to understand our predicament and forgive the brokenness and estrangements we have endured. We stand compassionate inwardly and to all, trusting our noble Dhamma inheritance to awaken in this very life.
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Canmore Theravada Buddhist Community
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2018-05-17
"It's All in Your Mind"
63:43
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James Baraz
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In the opening line of the Dhammapada the Buddha teaches: "We are what we think with our thoughts we make the world." Although we have limited control over what happens to us, we can hold our experience with a wise perspective that makes all the difference. Famed Buddhist writer Christmas Humphreys put it this way: "The one miracle this path has to offer is a change of heart." We can change our relation to experience and make the shift from suffering to clear seeing, wisdom and compassion. In this talk James sings a song he wrote in his 20's entitled "It's All in Your Mind".
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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IMCB Regular Talks
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2018-05-09
Eating Addiction: How Meditation Helps Free Us
54:01
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Tara Brach
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Buddhist psychology views clinging as the source of suffering, and one of the great domains of clinging is compulsive overeating. For most of us the causes and conditions for compulsive overeating existed before we were born, during our early childhood, and in our surrounding society. We begin to release shame and self-aversion by realizing we are not alone in this suffering; and eating addiction is not “our fault.” The talk includes an exploration of how, through RAIN, we can bring mindfulness and self-compassion to compulsive eating, giving us more choice in our behavior. Ultimately we discover that this deep prison of suffering can become a portal to realizing the freedom our true nature.
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Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
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2018-04-25
Responding to Change with a Wise Heart
54:48
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Tara Brach
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An intrinsic part of spiritual life is facing the truth of impermanence. When we open to the changing flow without resistance, we naturally cherish this passing life, and realize the timeless, changeless awareness that is our true home. Yet we are conditioned to grasp on to the passing pleasures (and all that we love) and resist the inevitable arising of stress and unpleasant experience. This talk includes teachings and guided reflections that help us identify the ways we are reacting to major changes in our life. We explore how to shift from reacting to meeting impermanence with an allowing presence, and then responding to our circumstances with wisdom and compassion.
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Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
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2018-02-28
Sympathetic Resonance
48:43
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Ajahn Sucitto
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That which can be liberated is citta – sometimes translated as mind, heart, awareness. The gateway to citta is feeling. “All dhammas converge on feeling.” But mental feeling is chronically suppressed or ignored because it’s inconvenient. If we enter citta appropriately we have access to that which is deeply agreeable – patience, compassion, goodwill. As a result of this sympathetic resonance, citta can be stimulated to wake up to its own potential. Citta is the only one that can liberate citta.
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Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary
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Ajahn Sucitto Dhamma Retreat
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2018-01-14
Immeasurable at Work
39:30
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Nathan Glyde
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Starting the Anandwan Work Retreat where we will bring compassion into our work with the leprosy affected and other peoples outcast from their families and societies. Reflections on fabrication of self and world, and how to bring the immeasurable Brahma Viharas into a skilful way of perceiving.
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SanghaSeva
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Anandwan 2018
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2017-12-19
Feeling Emotions on the Meditative Path of Awakening
41:31
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Shaila Catherine
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Shaila Catherine discusses the importance of developing mindfulness of emotions and mental states. Human beings have the capacity to experience a wide range of emotions—they may be subtle or intense, unwholesome or wholesome. Working with emotions requires energy and courage to be willing to face the raw fact that this mental state is present. We can become aware of, and work skillfully with, any emotional state including anger, hate, gratitude, fear, sadness, calmness, insecurity, contentment, grief, tranquility, lust, compassion, loneliness, jealousy, envy, restlessness, peacefulness, faith, love. Emotions are changing mental states that arise in conjunction with every perception. When we are mindful of emotions we drop the conceptual narrative of the story line and investigate how the mind operates. What conditions nourish each mental state, and what conditions cause them to end? How do these mental states affect the clarity of our perception? We can observe the dynamic interaction of emotions and the body, and learn to work with emotions in conjunction with their somatic manifestations. We might gather ideas for investigation by reviewing the detailed Abhidhamma categories of mental states and the factors that constitute each state, or we might simply observe the arising and ceasing of mental states in activity and our meditation.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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2017-12-06
Cultivating Equanimity 2
65:37
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Donald Rothberg
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After a review of the basic qualities of equanimity and five main practices to cultivate equanimity, we focus on two ways in particular that equanimity can be confusing and/or become distorted: (1) when equanimity is not integrated with the awakened heart, and (2) when equanimity is more aloof and not responsive and active. As equanimity develops, it becomes rooted in a deep, compassionate, responsive, and unshakeable awareness.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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2017-11-12
How Do I Save That Moth?
20:06
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Ayya Medhanandi
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The Winter of the World is here… How do we bear it? What does the mind need in order to open to the teachings? Dana. Sila. Generosity and virtue. Cultivating generosity, starting with the material, can mature into acts of sharing one’s time, energy, abilities, kindness and compassion. Let us cherish these noble qualities and develop them in a boundless way, for all beings. The Buddha advises us how to be fearless and present with a loved one near death. A talk given at Sati Saraniya Hermitage in November, 2017.
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Sati Saraniya Hermitage
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2017-10-25
Anger: Responding, Not Reacting
53:22
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Tara Brach
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Anger is natural, intelligent and necessary for surviving and flourishing. Yet when we are hooked by anger, it causes great personal and collective suffering. This talk explores how to transform patterns of reactivity by bringing a mindful and compassionate attention to the unmet needs that underlie angry reactivity. When we learn how to pause and connect honestly with our inner experience, we are then able to respond to others from our full intelligence and heart.
“Getting angry with another person is like throwing hot coals with bare hands: both people get burned.” Buddha
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Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
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2017-10-24
Tuesday Night Teacher-Led Sit with Lama Rod Owens
56:30
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Lama Rod Owens
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The great Black American singer and songwriter Stevie Wonder once sang, “Love’s in need of love today.” His words couldn’t be more true as we face a global community struggling with war, poverty, illness, climate instability, and the rise of political authorities and governments who do not seem to be grounded in compassion or kindness. We speak about love and attempt to practice love but some of us are losing faith in the transformative power of the wish for ourselves and others to be happy. Our practice of love is in need of our renewed faith in love. In this talk, we will be exploring the question of how practicing love can become a strategy that resists and undoes our experiences fear, apathy, and numbness as we attempt to live and love in a challenging world.
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New York Insight Meditation Center
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NYI Regular Talks
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2017-10-24
Guided Meditation - Tuesday Night Sit
42:18
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Lama Rod Owens
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The great Black American singer and songwriter Stevie Wonder once sang, “Love’s in need of love today.” His words couldn’t be more true as we face a global community struggling with war, poverty, illness, climate instability, and the rise of political authorities and governments who do not seem to be grounded in compassion or kindness. We speak about love and attempt to practice love but some of us are losing faith in the transformative power of the wish for ourselves and others to be happy. Our practice of love is in need of our renewed faith in love. In this talk, we will be exploring the question of how practicing love can become a strategy that resists and undoes our experiences fear, apathy, and numbness as we attempt to live and love in a challenging world.
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New York Insight Meditation Center
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NYI Regular Talks
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2017-10-15
Choose Love Not Sorrow
20:41
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Ayya Medhanandi
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We can be kind to anyone with practice. So start where you are and trust this practice of kindness. Even in the face of painful times, reflect wisely – not to be poisoned by fear, despair, or sorrow. Rather see the truth within and open a well-spring of infinite love in your own heart. For you are the hero of your life. First, we slay the dragons of fear and aggression. Gently and resolute, break them apart and extend kindness to all as to yourself. To accept the miracle of pure awareness – patient, diligent, with unwavering compassion, draw out the dart of sorrow and know the gift of love.
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Sati Saraniya Hermitage
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