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The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
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Dharma Talks
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2010-10-05
Recollection of the Buddha-part of a three part series on the Triple Gem: As Refuge, Inspiration, and Meditation Practice
34:34
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Shaila Catherine
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The Triple Gem: The Awakening Recollection of the Buddha. This is the first installment in a three part series on the three jewels or three refuges. This talk introduces the practice of recollecting the worthy qualities of the Buddha and meditating on his virtues. Contemplation of the Buddha, Buddhanusati, enhances joy, inspiration, and confidence in the possibility of liberation. This talk tells the story of the Buddha's enlightenment, his struggle for knowledge and attainments, development of integrity and right speech, blossoming of his remarkable teaching abilities, great compassion, full understanding of mind and matter (nama-rupa), knowledge of the world, unsurpassed concentration, and pure conduct. The example of the Buddha's achievements can serve as an inspiration for us today.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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In
collection:
Triple Gem: As Refuge, Inspiration, and Meditation Practice
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2010-09-23
Stealth Bodhisattvas
24:19
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Amita Schmidt
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Bodhisattvas are compassionate beings who transmute the suffering of the world. Here are some tools and reflections on how to be a Stealth Bodhisattva in your work and your life.
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Yellow Springs Dharma Center
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2010-09-08
Equanimity
1:14:01
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Tara Brach
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Cultivating equanimity means awakening our capacity to meet the winds of life with a non-reactive, open, balanced presence. The gift of this presence is that we can see clearly what is happening within and around us, and respond with wisdom, creativity and compassion. This talk looks at our habits of reacting, and the ways we can come home to equinimity in the midst of life's challenges.
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Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
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2010-08-15
The Practice of Compassion (Karuna)
1:15:25
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Gina Sharpe
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This is the fourth and final session of the "Metta and Compassion" daylong. It includes a guided karuna meditation, some explanation, question-and-answer with both Gina Sharpe and Sharon Salzberg, and closes with a sharing of the merit.
This day focuses on the development of lovingkindness and compassion, both for ourselves and for others. These qualities of the heart diminish fear and isolation, and further our understanding of interconnectedness. Through meditation practice, dialogue, and discourse, we will explore these qualities together. Suitable for both beginning and more experienced meditators.
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New York Insight Meditation Center
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Metta and Compassion with Sharon Salzberg and Gina Sharpe
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2010-04-07
Deepening Our Practice II: Deepening in Three Domains of Our Life
58:42
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Donald Rothberg
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We build from last week's identification of four broad ways of deepening formal practice: 1) developing simplicity, focus and a sense of clear priorities in one's life; 2) developing a strong support structure in various ways; 3) cultivating, in practice, qualities like mindfulness, metta, wisdom etc.; 4) developing a wise and compassionate sense of the path. We explore what these also mean in two other domains- everyday life (work relationships, family, community, the flow of our days); and our service and action in the larger world.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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2009-12-15
Take Heart
32:22
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Kittisaro
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Balance within practice. A compassionate response. From is emptiness, emptiness is form. The gift of fearlessness. The way of generosity, kindness and integrity.
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Dharmagiri
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2009-12-05
We Are That Song
18:37
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Ayya Medhanandi
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Our suffering may feel too great or the mountain look too high. But we are resilient and we have it in us to do this work, to walk this path – if we can give up thoughts of self-cherishing and feel compassion for ourselves and for all beings. The fruit of this work is a treasure to be gained even in the smallest instant of awareness. With radical patience, just make peace with one moment of painful feeling. Then offer up the pain or misery. From the ashes of suffering, we turn inward to the clarity of the mind. Stay fully present in awareness, listening to that silence. Such a song comes – the pure sound of this awareness. That's what we are. We are that song.
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Ottawa Buddhist Society (Sisters of St. Joseph Convent)
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2009-12-04
Out of This World
27:40
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Ayya Medhanandi
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By deeply examining the mind as the Buddha taught, we see our stark human predicament, why we suffer and the real source of happiness. For he awakened to suffering’s end and the noble path to freedom. With immense gratitude for his teaching, we learn how we are caught grasping the world, compelled by its impingement and tormented ever after. We realize the ineffable vanquishing of that disease – when we stop giving vent to the wanting mind and live each moment from a pure compassionate and wise awareness. And so, quite apart from the world, we directly know here and now, within our own heart – the truest joy, the supreme peace of Nibbana.
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Toronto Theravada Buddhist Community (TBC)
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2009-11-11
Emptiness & Compassion III
64:01
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Donald Rothberg
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We review the teachings on emptiness in the context of the broader teachings on the centrality of developing wisdom and compassion, expanding our examination of these teachings from last time. The last part of the session involving doing several exercises, partly explaining experience as a flowing "stream" (and seeing what obstructs the flow) and partly doing a series of four exercises with "ordinary objects" designed to take us out of our ordinary way of constructing things.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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2009-11-06
The Mature Heart - the Integration of the Four Brahmaviharas
1:12:48
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Donald Rothberg
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Preceded by a short chant by Rebekkah La Dyne, our yoga teacher for the retreat, we explore two main modes of transformation - one going into suffering, one involving beautiful states. We then focus on the latter, as expressed in the practice of the Brahmaviharas, the cultivation of lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity - examining their near and far enemies, and how the four interpret each other in the mature heart.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Cultivating Clear Seeing, Opening the Heart
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2009-09-18
What More Can I Give?
21:32
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Ayya Medhanandi
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After long years of monastic renunciation, living in seclusion and devoted to spiritual practice, I began to question if this was enough. Was I deluded about the quality of my efforts? Had I really let go the world living with so much peace and natural beauty around me? Had I understood the deeper levels of freeing my heart? What more could I give to open to the truth of this timeless teaching? What must I do? So I asked for a sign. And the answer came. I had to venture again into the unknown and serve. Just like gold is purified by fire, I have to give back, to share the suffering, the joy of sacrifice in the Dhamma – to know the sacred mother of compassion.
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Ottawa Buddhist Society
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2009-07-22
The Beautiful Qualities of Compassion and Equanimity
55:19
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Sally Armstrong
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The four Brahma Viharas are loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. The foundation practice is metta, or loving-kindness, which cultivates a friendly and kind attitude towards ourselves, others and all experiences. When this caring heart meets suffering, it naturally responds with compassion. But the last Brahma Vihara, equanimity, the quality of calm acceptance, is necessary keep the heart in balance and open to all the joys and sorrows of our lives.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Metta Retreat
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2009-06-27
Service as a Path of Practice
45:25
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Donald Rothberg
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How do we take our service as a path of practice? Most basically, we take helping others as the center (or a major part) of our lives, and we examine, in our service, what helps develop “selfless” service and the barriers to such service, especially a sense of duality between self and other. We explore how a connection between “inner” and “outer” practice structures a life of service, and how such practice can also be understood as the development of particular qualities—we focus on the development of (1) clarity of intentions, (2) generosity, (3) gratitude, and (4) compassion, and on some of the challenges that arise when cultivating such qualities, and in service generally.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Volunteer Appreciation
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2009-06-23
The Awakening Prophet
63:39
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Donald Rothberg
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One interpretation of Jewish mindfulness connects mindfulness with the Jewish prophetic tradition. This suggests an understanding of spiritual practice as involving both "inner" transformation toward liberation and "outer" transformation toward a liberated society; actually, the two are intimately connected. We first explore, partly through music, the prophetic tradition. We then examine how both our inner and outer practice can be understood in similar ways, following the core principles, in terms of development in wisdom and mindfulness (the mind), compassion and love (the heart), and courage and skillful action (the body).
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Jewish Mindfulness
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2009-06-10
Practicing with Anger, Pt I
60:12
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Donald Rothberg
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For many of us, it is hard to know how to practice with anger. We explore some of the reasons for confusion about anger, including the mixed messages we get about anger in many settings, the different connotations of what is translated as "anger" East and West, and the conditioning around anger. We then outline three ways of more "inner" work with anger, through 1) mindfulness, 2) reflections and 3) heart practices like lovingkindness, compassion and forgiveness.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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2009-06-09
Equanimity
41:43
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Shaila Catherine
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This talk explores equanimity as the fourth of the four qualities called Brahma Viharas. Previous talks in this series addressed loving kindness, compassion, and appreciative joy. Equanimity allows us to remain present and awake with the fact of things—equally close to the things we like and the things we dislike. It is important to develop equanimity in two arenas: 1) in response to pleasant and painful feelings, and 2) regarding the future results of our actions. Equanimity develops in meditation and in life. We can use unexpected events that we cannot control to develop this quality. Our job is not to judge our experiences, but to be present and respond wisely. Equanimity is a beautiful mental factor that can feel like freedom, but if "I" and "mine" still operate, there is still work to be done. Many suggestions are offered for cultivating equanimity.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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Four Brahma Viharas
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In
collections:
Four Brahma Viharas,
The Ten Paramis
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2009-05-26
Compassion
22:19
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Shaila Catherine
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Compassion, karuna, is the intention of non-cruelty. It is the aspect of loving kindness (metta) that responds wisely to pain, and wishes to alleviate suffering. Compassion training helps us to remain present with pain. There is no need to fear pain, no need to consider pain bad or wrong. A compassionate self-acceptance allows us to remain present and responsive in the face of life's most difficult moments. With compassion we can ask "How can I help?" and stay present to respond.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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Four Brahma Viharas
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In
collection:
Four Brahma Viharas
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2009-05-20
Practicing with the Shadow, pt III
The Collective Shadow and How We Work with It
65:24
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Donald Rothberg
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We first revisit the exploration of the shadow, how it forms, and how we work with it, we then look into the nature of collective shadow phenomena, how the personal and collective shadow inter-penetrate, and how we work with the collective shadow. The key, as always, is to establish a relatively safe space to develop awareness, compassion and wisdom, leading to skillful action.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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2009-05-12
Our Wisdom Heart
42:34
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Sharda Rogell
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As we walk the path of wisdom and compassion, we discover they are not separate. What happens when we let go of our identifications with our mental constructions and our mind drops into the heart?
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Wood Acres Retreat Center
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Our Wisdom Heart
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