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Dharma Talks
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2016-03-30
The Power of Loving-Kindness
37:16
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Ayya Medhanandi
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When universal love leading to liberation of the heart is ardently developed, unrelentingly resorted to, it becomes the foundation of our life. We travel in a divine vehicle, our inheritance from the Buddha, the sublime abiding of mettā, loving kindness. This is our shelter from unwholesome states, a true salve for impure and damaging mental afflictions. More and more as we purify the mind, it triumphs over hateful feelings and forgiveness and compassion are perfected. Indeed, by the power of loving kindness, we are crossing the stream to the farther shore, awakening to the Deathless.
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Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center
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Finding Inner Peace: Monastic Retreat
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2016-03-29
Mindfulness Internally: Insight and Freedom
39:56
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Jenny Wilks
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This is the first talk of a two-part talk titled "Mindfulness, Insight, and Compassion." According to Jenny Wilkes, "mindfulness" is becoming such a commonly used term that its depth and liberating potential may be underestimated or misunderstood. The Buddha's teaching on establishing mindfulness (the Satipatthana Sutta) invites us to cultivate mindfulness both "internally" i.e., a deep awareness of our inner experience in order to cultivate liberating insight; and "externally" i.e., an open-hearted awareness of others in order to cultivate an ethical and compassionate response. The two-part talk explores how together these can support our mindfulness practice so that it becomes, as the Buddha described, a "direct path to awakening."
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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2016-03-24
"Sacred Activism Part. 2: We Don't Know What We Don't Know"
59:04
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James Baraz
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In our response to unsettling news we can easily react with self-righteousness, sure that our "dharmic" view is the "right one" and feeling superior to those who act in ways we don't understand. But the Buddha asked us to put aside any such arrogance. Through genuinely trying to understand another's perspective, we can cultivate true humility for our ignorance of their reality and greater understanding about the thinking behind their actions. Then our response, which might be one of fierce compassion, is not coming from hatred and ill will but from compassion and wisdom.
This talk includes some thoughts on white privilege as well as Andrew Harvey's brilliant audio clip on Sacred Activism.
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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IMCB Regular Talks
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2016-03-12
Boundless compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity
61:42
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Gregory Kramer
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Receiving with compassion what is difficult / receiving joy / experiencing mutual equanimity. Guided meditation on the boundless with Open for the first 14:15 minutes. " there is an aspect of Open that is establishing the field of awareness that is the atmosophere in which Metta arises."
Four part contemplation, first two separate speaker, last one the entire group
1. "Observe the opening of awareness to every cell of the vody, naming what it is like. This awareness is inclusive and spacious."
Contemplate something in your life that is difficult, feeling your heart vibrating with the pain". " Be present to the pain waith compassion for this being, the compassionate response".
"Listener, how was it like to receive this?"
2. Now the gift of our practice is to touch joy, something positive, wholesome, uplifting. Let it infuse you, vibrate within you."
Listener, touch the experience of hearing about joy.
3." Whatever experience that might be present of mutual or sympathetic equanimity,where the heart balances together."
4. "What is manifesting now? Resting perhaps in the shared human experience of the whole of it; the hurt, the joy the boundless."
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Insight Dialogue Community (SatiSphere)
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Insight Dialogue Retreat
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2016-02-25
Mindfulness and Compassion: Protecting Oneself and Others
41:53
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Shaila Catherine
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This is the 4th talk in a 5-part speaker series titled "Balanced Practice." Shaila Catherine explores the compassion of protecting others and the wisdom of protecting oneself through the practice of mindfulness. Mindfulness guards the mind and protects the mind from sliding into actions based upon unwholesome tendencies. Mindfulness also protects us from the unmindful actions that could easily cause harm. Mindfulness has a capacity of naturally drawing everything into balance, so the mind progresses with a balance of effort and ease, of tranquility and investigation, and of calm concentrated state and engaged state.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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In
collection:
Balanced Practice
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2016-01-07
Guided meditation
37:38
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Developing the skill of recollection and the experience on the citta; where does the meaning sit?; the arising of citta to meaning; cultivating the immeasureables; the experience comes first; what is the quality of being touched by others’ suffering? Being willing to stay present with that is the movement of compassion; mudita; appreciating a feature or lucky moment for another, for oneself; appreciating the absence of physical pain; learning, sustaining and enriching the experience
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2016-01-07
Morning talk
45:15
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Ajahn Sucitto
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coming out of self view; bringing forth energy; recalling the spiritual faculties; applying wise energy regardless of the system used; calm as a consequence of faith and confidence; two recollections; don’t let the citta be bound by historical or domestic considerations; willingness to do the work; feeding the citta; mindfulness of the body, the inevitable decay of the body; what is it that evades or finds truth uncomfortable; differing views of Samadhi; the” I-am” looking for support; learning to push away the hindrances through experience; noticing craving, ill will and resistance; using metta, compassion, mudita, upekkha to approach unification of the citta by removal of the 5 hindrances; now is the time to rise up to it; restlessness, boredom, doubt; know them as they are not as myself; this is not worthy of this citta; using the wisdom factor to find appropriate attention; who is that?; feel how it is; going beyond thought; discernment of the release of grasping; the shift moment and the growth of confidence in it; noticing the struggle to find something; what about the measurelessness/ the sign-less?
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2016-01-06
The Measureless States/ The Divine Abidings (the Brahma-viharas)
58:28
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Ajahn Sucitto
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metta (good will/ loving kindness –the experience of the lovability of beings), karuna (compassion – sees the vulnerability of beings), mudita (sympathetic joy - experience of the enjoyment of one’s own and others’ good states)and upekkha (equaminity – the ability to be present with the ups and downs of phenomena); the citta has 2 inputs – feelings(from body or mental perception) and associations/ images/ impressions; skillful intention and the associated joy; volition and sustaining volition as a characteristic of the citta; to others as to myself; the citta adopts various clothes, one of which is “me”; the citta is abundant, rich, calm, exhaulted, measureless/ suffusing, free from hostility and ill will; the significance of the metaphors of language; the measureless empathy of the Buddha; “just like me”, we are all like this as a source of the volition; it’s not so much object oriented as cultivating states of mind and freeing the citta from any state of ill will; identifying the signs that lead to the bonding with / settling of the citta and unification of the mind; find one that works for you; the object one chooses to facilitate this is not important; pitfalls and sidetracks to be avoided in the cultivation – the story of other particular people and of the self, thinking of the past and the future ; finding satisfaction and comfort; the wisdom faculty sees it has been identified and sustained and not owned personally
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2015-12-20
Peace Without Fear - Seven Lights to Freedom
29:18
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Ayya Medhanandi
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The Buddha teaches us about seven lights to gain true freedom. They are none other than the factors of enlightenment. Three are dynamic skills that deeply cleanse the mind. In turn, these give rise to four 'septic friendly' brightening agents that lead us to inner wisdom. We learn how to practice forgiveness and compassion, and how to awaken to a selfless benevolence - an unassailable joy, peace and complete freedom of heart.
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Sati Saraniya Hermitage
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2015-12-12
Workshop - Relating Wisely to the Uncertainties of Environmental Health and Climate Change
2:52:24
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Mark Nunberg
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It is not uncommon for us to feel confused, numb, angry or overwhelmed when we hear about environmental change and uncertainty. The health of our planet, our homes, our bodies and minds all depend on the continuous balancing of so many interdependent natural processes. It is no surprize that we often prefer distraction and denial rather than an honest acknowledgement of this uncertain dynamic. In this workshop we will explore how a fearless opening to uncertainty can be the cause for a more wise and compassionate response to this world we share together. These Living the Practice Workshops include talks, guided meditations, guided reflections, and large and small group discussions designed to reveal the essential art of awakening wisdom and compassion in our actual lives.
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Common Ground Meditation Center
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2015-12-09
Desire: A Current of Homecoming
1:13:53
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Tara Brach
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Desire is intrinsic to our aliveness, yet when we have unmet needs, it can possess us. This talk explores how to relax open the grip of wanting and heal the suffering of addiction. You will learn how to bring mindfulness and compassion to the roots of desire, and be carried home to open loving presence.
“Recovery is also about spirit – about dealing with that ‘hole in the soul’ … so how does this hole get filled and become holy space?”
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Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
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2015-11-20
Moral Integrity, Courage, and Peace
30:08
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Ayya Medhanandi
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The real path to peace lies in developing moral integrity. Our spiritual strength depends on purity of heart and action. We learn to identify unwholesome habits that obstruct our well-being and practice courageous compassion to discover the joy of harmlessness. These are the qualities that take us the way of the Noble Ones - to the summit of our human potential.
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Satipaññā Insight Meditation Toronto
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2015-11-04
Compass of Our Heart
50:26
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Tara Brach
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All of our actions, our entire life experience, arises from the energy of intention. While it’s natural that our intentions are shaped by egoic wants and fears, when we bring this into conscious, compassionate awareness, we can discover the deep aspiration that guides and energizes our awakening hearts and minds. This talk explores the movement from egoic intention to liberating intention…the movement from “my will” to “my hearts will."
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Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
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2015-09-05
The “Thinning” of the Self: Exploring and Practicing Anattā (“Not-Self”) 1: Introduction and Overview
45:58
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Donald Rothberg
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The teaching of anattā (“not-self”) points to one of the three fundamental areas of liberating insight taught by the Buddha (along with the teachings on impermanence and on suffering or dukkha). Yet anattā can very challenging and confusing for contemporary practitioners. Is there “no self” (as anattā is sometimes translated)? How do we make sense of our feelings of individuality, identity, ancestry, and vocation? How do we address our own personal experiences of woundedness, trauma, and oppression? Are these all simply to be “transcended”? How is a sense of self actually in many ways important for contemporary spiritual development, and how is working with our own individual conditioning, whether psychological or social in origin, central to our liberation? How do we integrate attending to such conditioning with opening as well to the power and energy of experiences beyond the habitual sense of self?
In this daylong, we will explore these vital questions primarily in a practical way. Using the metaphors of “thinning the self” and working with a “thick” sense of self, we will cover three aspects of practice: (1) cultivating, in several ways, the “thinning” of the self, both in meditation and in everyday life, including working with the Five Skandhas or “aggregates” of experience; (2) tracking and working with different manifestations of a “thick” sense of self, both as appearing in experience and as hidden to awareness; and (3) opening to experiencing beyond a fixed sense of self, as awareness, compassion, and responsiveness deepen.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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2015-08-17
Ignorance and Delusion
28:12
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Shaila Catherine
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Shaila Catherine discusses how ignorance (sometimes referred to as delusion) is the root of all unwholesome activities. Ignorance is present any time that we fail to see the three characteristics of experience: impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and non-self. The wisdom that develops through insight meditation practice can overcome and uproot even deeply conditioned ignorance. Wisdom helps us to understand suffering and the cause of suffering, and awaken compassion for ourselves and others who suffer due to ignorance.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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2015-07-21
Ethics, Action, and the Five Precepts
3:26:01
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Jason Murphy,
Shaila Catherine,
Sharon Allen,
Steve Gasner,
Tony Bernhard
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This series explores virtue as the indispensable foundation of Buddhist practice. It is structured according to the five training precepts. These precepts are not rules to be followed obediently; rather, they serve as guidelines for the intentional development of compassion, mindfulness and wisdom. These five precepts offer us a joyful method to cultivate the heart, nurture harmony in our relationships, and free the mind from inner forces of greed and hatred that if left unrestrained might cause suffering for ourselves and others.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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