All conditions of this world have the nature to change: the earth, weather, governments, work, health, leisure, family, friendships and so forth. We observe these variations and consider the most critical change of all. It promises the greatest blessing – but first we must plow the interior field of goodness that yields our heart's deliverance. Faithfully, patiently, as we clear away the dust in the mind, the hindrances of greed, ill-will, fear and delusion fall away, and we abide in the clarity, serenity, and joy of the Dhamma.

The Buddha gives us a flawless positioning system that will guide us to the coordinates of Truth. That ultimate refuge and peace is not to be known anywhere but in the sanctuary of our own heart. To find our spiritual bearings, we explore our true nature and the real origin of our sufferings. Step by step, our wise friends and daily practice of virtue, mindfulness, heroic forbearance, and faith will reinforce and steady us as we navigate the tempests of life. But this is a journey of great joys as well as trials. Like the hollow reed that becomes a flute, we empty ourselves of fear to be the true love we seek

Our fear-based doings block us from realizing the formless dimension of our Being, and living from that source of wisdom and love. This talk explores the habitual control strategies that keep us from presence; and the role of mindfulness and lovingkindness in reconnecting with the ground of Being.

Dharma Talk

Each of us has the longing to manifest our full potential--to realize and live from loving, awake awareness. This longing is our inner fire, and when conscious and vibrant, it energizes the spiritual path. In this talk we reflect on how fear obscures and redirects our inner fire, and how practices of presence and wise reflection awaken the power and purity of our longing.

Our suffering arises from unlived life--the fears and loneliness and hurt that we have been unable to digest and include in our heart. This talk explores our conditioning to become dis-embodied and the blessings of spiritual realization that arise as we inhabit our aliveness fully.

How to work with the fears that limits us and explore the nature of fear itself.

Fear is the dominating emotion controlling the world of formations and forms the edge between the ideas that hold us together as a formed entity and the ever-present universe of mystery and wonder. Inevitably consciousness will be confronted by the fears it harbors. Fear is fear of something and that something has been conditioned into our minds as a threat. The threat is held within a narrative and the narrative warns us that if we do not contract back on ourselves a tragedy will occur. We take this narrative as a literal truth and find ourselves avoiding the feared event. All of this maneuvering keeps us formed as a person and separated from all internal and external objects that are potential threats. By avoiding the threats we never grow beyond ourselves as a formed entity, and thus we perpetuate fear.

Our body--this changing field of sensation--is a portal into pure Being. These talks explore the resistance we have to embodied presence, the pathways that enable us to awaken through our bodies, and the blessings of realization that arise as we let go over and over into the aliveness of our senses. NOTE: Part 2 specifically addresses the challenge of arriving in embodied presence when we are facing traumatic fear, and other intense and difficult emotions.

This talk explores an ancient Tibetan method to confront your fear and turn it into an ally. She reviews the method from Lama Tsultrim book "Feeding your demons" in the context of the first three of the four noble truths. search words: four noble truths, feeding your demons, fear, anxiety, gratitude, change your brain

The suffering of perceiving ourselves as separate selves expresses as fear, aggression, shame and a host of other afflictive emotions. This talk examines how, by taking refuge in the present moment, and taking refuge in love, we reconnect with our wholeness, and the timeless presence that is home. This inquiry includes a guided meditation on the power of prayer to carry us back to our natural belonging.

Urban Dharma, San Francisco CA

San Jose Dharma Punx, Friend's Meeting House, San Jose, CA

San Jose Dharma Punx, Friend's Meeting House, San Jose, CA

"Enlightenment is intimacy with all things" teaches Zen Master Dogen. While we long for this intimacy, we are conditioned to avoid the vulnerability and fear that an intimate presence can arouse. This talk explores how our mindfulness and heart practices cultivate the capacity to be intimate with our sensations of aliveness, our emotions and the beings in our life.

An exploration of the nature of fear and of going beyond our comfort zones in practice.

This collection of talks given at Insight Meditation South Bay discusses the nature of emotions. Topics include how to work with shame, dread, fear and anger.

Meditation can reveal the dynamic process of emotional life. In this talk, Shaila Catherine explores relationships between mind and body, between thoughts and emotions, and between present moment experience and concepts. Emotions are not avoided in meditation, instead we engage in a balanced and wise investigation of emotions and see their changing, impermanent, and empty nature. Transformative insight into impermanence may come through understanding the functioning of mental states, without worry about difficult emotions such as anger, grief, or fear. We will learn to respond, act, and speak with wisdom as we learn to open to the full range of emotional life.

We can at times feel our hearts closed or hardened into a sense of distance, or disconnection from life. As we feel deeply into our experience, we can learn to meet our pain, fear, anger and reactivity, with acceptance, kindness, and courage. In this journey, our heart naturally begins to soften, revealing its natural sensitivity and the profoundly connected openness of our life.

Most of us have core fear beliefs that obscure our true nature and bind us in repeating patterns of painful emotions and behavior. This talk looks at the beliefs that limit us and the freedom that is possible when we investigate them with a kind, mindful awareness.

Our fear management strategies--versions of fight/flight-- contract our body and mind, and separate us from others. As we learn to pause and contact the bodily fear with a gentle, mindful awareness, our sense of being enlarges. We rediscover our belonging to presence, love and life.

This talk explores the nature of fear and how it can be countered by the development of the heart. The spacious heart, trained in kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity, supports us in all circumstances.

Both a gradual and immediate awakening. Freedom and peace is the core of each moment. Five precepts as gifts, offering freedom from fear and oppression.

Colorado Springs Dharma Punx

Colorado Springs Dharma Punx

Fear is often a part of the spiritual path. Learning from it helps growth in understanding and love

We explore the nature of fear and how metta is a powerful resource to work with and transform fear.

Through stories and practical instruction,s the talk illuminates the direct experience of fear and other challenging emotions and describes the transformation of fear into love through the practices of naming, mindfulness of the body/nervous system, lovingkindness and letting go.

Developing the Brahma Viharas (good will, compassion, gladness and equanimity), to strengthen the heart and meet fear.

Our relationship with sense pleasure is complicated. Moving towards what is pleasant is instinctual,and we need to be able to experience what is pleasant without clinging, fear or attachment in order to be whole. Yet pleasant vedana (sensation) is not a reliable goal or guide on the spiritual path. Pleasure - like all conditioned things - has its limitations and does not work well as the orienting principle in our practice and lives. Like the Buddha, we need to be able to swim upstream, and not be limited by our conditioning towards ease.

Fear drives us in unhealthy ways when it is not recognized. When we become aware of fear it becomes a support to our meditation.

To truly embrace the intensity of our longing and sorrow, our hopes and fears, to be present and open as we are impacted by our past, and to live with inner ground and freedom in the midst of the joys and sorrows of the world, what is is needed is a great heart, but a also a human heart. Do we know the true capacity of our heart?

The source of our awakening is right inside us. As we learn to listen deeply to the wisdom and purity of heart that is connected to the truth, we are following the Buddha’s instructions to “be a lamp unto yourself.” This talk includes the Buddha’s five methods for dealing with distracting thoughts and how to discern the voice of wisdom from the voices of confusion and fear.

The sense of self as personality view is a construct of mind that arises and poises like any other phenomena - and we can explore it with intent rather than fear it.

Love is the most basic expression of who we are, and yet it is often obscured by the trance of separation and fear. This talk explores how we habitually armor our hearts, and the training of attention that awakens us to unconditional, all inclusive love. A classic form of the metta (lovingkindness) meditation is part of the talk.

The mindstates behind violence--anger and fear--are universal and natural. If they possess us and drive our actions, we suffer. If we learn to meet them with a mindful awareness--if we step out of judgment and angry reactivity--we serve our own freedom and the possibility of peace on earth as well.

We can come to a greater freedom in life by investigating the nature strong emotions and our relation to them. This talk explores working with four emotions in particular: desire, sadness, anger and fear. Publishable online for the general public

To be able to enter deeply into relationship, it is necessary to be able both to forgive and to assert yourself skillfully. Forgiveness and assertiveness support each other. Forgiveness clears out ill will so you can assert yourself with compassion and Wise Speech. Self-assertion takes care of your own needs so forgiveness can emerge without the sense that you are a doormat. This experiential workshop will get into the nitty-gritty of how to bring the Buddha’s profound teachings on interrelatedness, lovingkindness, and virtue (sila) into the messy real world of relationships with family members, lovers, friends, bosses, and co-workers. This workshop - led by a world renowned expert on forgiveness, and by an experienced couples and family therapist and meditation teacher - will offer user-friendly information with lots of practical methods. We'll cover: -- The Buddha’s teachings on non-harming, wise speech, compassion and kindness, and releasing ill will -- as well as his teachings on self-care, respecting your own needs, and looking out for your own happiness -- The primacy of relationships in evolution, and the deep capacities for both loving altruism and fearful aggression -- The neural machinery of emotional reactivity and developing grievances with others -- Why forgiveness and assertiveness are both important -- The foundation of basic mindfulness, precepts, Wise Speech, compassion for oneself and others, and emotional self-care -- Forgiveness practices -- Assertiveness practices There will be some voluntary paired activities as well as time for questions and discussion. While the teachings are appropriate for use in health care professions, no background with psychology or meditation is needed. Also please know that this workshop is not psychotherapy or any substitute for professional care.

Learning to bring a mindful presence to fear is an intrinsic part of spiritual awakening. In this talk we look at the ways we get caught in the trance of fear, and how the two wings of presence--clear recognition and openheartedness--can free us. This process of facing unmet fears is necessary not only for our own healing, but for any possibility of peace and the healing of our planet.

Whether you face chronic anxiety or more violent storms of fear and anger, you can cultivate the wings of freedom--the mindfulness and compassion--that free you. This talk explores how the habit of being reactive causes us suffering and the ways these tools of meditation can be applied to the inner weather systems that most challenge us.

Including fear in the field of awareness.

By developing a more accepting attitude toward difficult emotions and by understanding their nature, we can come to a greater sense of freedom in life. This talk explores five strong emotions (desire, anger, fear, sadness and self-judgment) and how to work with them.

Worry attempts to protect us from every contingency. It becomes a pattern and view of life where I am the guardian and protector of my security. Worry is actually a process of self-affirmation because we keep affirming our power over what life brings forth. If I let down my guard, life would be chaotic and out of control, and therefore I need to worry to have everything turn out as I wish. Worry and planning elevates us to the status of a god while we are actually being controlled by fear.

Listen deeply to the resonance within where virtue sows fields of goodness, wisdom and compassion, and Death teaches us to let go. At first, we tremble with fear. But out of that fear, we draw strength. Out of anger – a stillness and forgiveness. Out of greed, we draw generosity and gratitude. And from true vulnerability, we awaken to the Deathless.

As we grow in wisdom, our fear of death dissolves. The more we purify from within, the more we abide with a clarity of mind that bestows the ultimate seeing, our cosmic ordination, our unburdening from the sufferings of this realm. The veil of delusion collapses in the sacred footprint of the Dhamma. This will be our noble warming.

Buddhist psychology and the Western oriented field of positive psychology agree: How we pay attention determines whether we live primarily in fear and judgment, or happiness and peace. This two part series explores the teachings, practices and attitudes that enable us to live a meaningful life with a heart that is "happy for no reason."

Buddhist psychology and the Western oriented field of positive psychology agree: How we pay attention determines whether we live primarily in fear and judgment, or happiness and peace. This two part series explores the teachings, practices and attitudes that enable us to live a meaningful life with a heart that is "happy for no reason."

The mind finds endless reasons to energetically split itself in two. "Shoulds," denials, rationalizations, resentments, and countless other states are energetic divisions, where the mind is trying to have what it wants while hiding from its assumed reality. Doubt is perhaps the most common expression of this pattern. Doubt reaches for what it wants with half a heart because it fears the repercussions of being a failure.