When we are suffering from stress, we are paying attention to our world in a narrow and rigid way. Through meditations that cultivate a wakeful and open attention, we can dramatically transform the feelings of anxiety and aloneness that underlie all stress.

To deepen our meditation practice we need to work skillfully with whatever is a disturbance -- whether it's the gross forms of the hindrances, or the subtlest manifestations of restlessness. This subtle restlessness often comes from a primal anxiety. We need to recognize this and find the stillness in our experience. Then we can truly be with things as they are.

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Tonight James finishes his series on the Faith Mind by the 3rd Zen Patriarch of China. One of the most meaningful lines in this section is: ”To live in this (highest) realization is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.” Cultivating that attitude is a key to freedom. To let ourselves be perfectly imperfect.

Tonight James begins a series on his favorite piece of dharma wisdom: Verses on the Faith Mind by Sengstan, otherwise known as the 3rd Zen Patriarch of China. This is one of the best treatises on the non-dual approach to practice. A few choice lines: “The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.” “To live in the realization is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.” During this series, James reads through the text and discusses how we can apply it in our lives. If you are interested in reading the actual text of this sutra Click Here.

The nature of being human is that we get caught in anger and judgment, hurt and fear. This talk explores what it means to be without anxiety towards this universal emotional conditioning as it appears in ourselves and others. Condemning imperfection binds our identity with an imperfect self. As we learn to pause and open to the direct embodied experience of emotions, we discover a space of presence that is filled with compassion and wisdom. Like the ocean, we can include difficult waves of experience and yet remember our inherent vastness, mystery and wholeness.

Anxiety and Aversion are the proximate causes of disconnection in our lives. This talk explores the ways that mindfulness and investigation take us from a life of impulse and reactivity to a conscious, responsive life.

One understanding of suffering is that as individuals and a culture we are uprooted, that we have disconnected from our natural world, our inner life and a sense of belonging with each other. Some flags are speediness and over consumption, anxiety and depression. This talk explores how we have become uprooted and the three gateways of rediscovering our natural wholeness, spontaneity and inner freedom.

Doubt can be an obstacle to meditation or a form of healthy inquiry. It is helpful to ask questions, to ponder, and be willing to doubt our beliefs and opinions. Ask yourself: are my views true? We hold many unexamined beliefs—beliefs about self, about how things should be, about what other people should do. The Kalama Sutta encourages us to question what we think, and to not adopt beliefs based on hearsay or mere tradition. We can use our minds to critically inquire into how things actually are. Doubt as an obstacle, on the other hand, is a painful state that leads to confusion, fear, indecision, and uncertainty. It manifests as obsessive thinking, planning, and anxiety. The Discourse to Malunkyaputta (Middle Length Discourses, M. 63) proposes that if we indulge in speculative thinking we might miss the opportunity to free ourselves from suffering. Specific suggestions are offered for working skillfully with the hindrance of doubt.

This talk explores in detail the tools and approaches we can develop to work skillfully with fear in our lives, both those fears that are obvious and those that are more hidden. There is a genuine possibility of liberation from the power that fear seems to have to constrict us

We are constantly searching for that which will free us from our anxiety. By investigating the energy of grasping onto things, we can begin to let go and come to know deeply the difference between ordinary happiness and true happiness of the Buddha.

Hindrances and habits prevent us from experiencing a natural and peaceful radiance of mind. Meditators learn to make peace with obstacles. We learn to work skillfully with the hindrances. Sloth and torpor and restlessness are common energetic imbalances that either dull the mind into sleepiness and laziness, or agitate the mind by promoting worry and anxiety. This talk examines the causes that produce the hindrances, and provides practical suggestions and tools for working with obstacles and overcoming their force.

The phrase “the way it is” offers a snapshot of the changing experience of the mind as it considers basic questions of existence. Meditation offers a way to be with body feelings and reveals the steady and tranquil energy there. Meditation also reveals the compelling and default practice of the mind that is always identifying a “self” which creates anxiety, nervousness, trying too hard and judgements. Seeing this default mind process we see the Buddha’s concept of “suffering” and this leads in turn to comfort and confidence with understanding the statement “the way it is”. We can recall the Buddha said that nibanna is in fact realizable here and now, in this life. exact date uncertain