Reflections, Guided Meditation

This dhamma talk and Q&A was offered on March 9, 2024 for “How do I apply the Dhamma to THIS!?!”

Reading from Father Gregory Boyle's "Tattoos on the Heart." Learning our own loveliness.

Short intro and chanting of Karaniya Metta Sutta in Pali and in English

Short reading from college essay exploring spiritual beauty. Discovering the dhamma that is beautiful in the beginning, beautiful in the middle, and beautiful in the end.

A talk exploring the second refuge of the Dhamma. Possible frames for the practice: path as authenticity, path as truth, path as secure attachment, path as beauty.

Wise attitude

Pema Chödrön writes: "It's not impermanence per se, or even knowing we're going to die, that is the cause of our suffering, the Buddha taught. Rather, it's our resistance to the fundamental uncertainty of our situation. Our discomfort arises from all of our efforts to put ground under our feet, to realize our dream of constant okayness. When we resist change, it's called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into its dynamic quality, that's called enlightenment, or awakening to our true nature, to our fundamental goodness." Let's investigate the underlying feeling of insecurity to see how it can be used as a path to real freedom.

Short Reflection & Guided Meditation | Earthworm Practice for the Anthropocene | Online Wednesday-Mornings

Meditation becomes truly freeing in the moments when there is no controlling whatsoever; when nothing is resisted or grasped after. This guided meditation begins with a simple body scan, relaxing and awakening to sensations in the body and then including the play of sound. We then let go of any doing, and simply notice and allow the changing flow of experience, letting life be just as it is. In this pure allowing presence we become aware of the background silence that is listening. The invitation is to relax and be the awareness that is conscious of all that is unfolding.