Thanissara with James Baraz, Catherine McGee and Chris Cullen.

Wisdom needs compassion, compassion needs wisdom; mindfulness cultivates both.

This talk was given by Shaila Catherine as a part of the series "Enhancing Mindfulness Skills: A Seven-Week Series Dedicated to Cultivating Transformative Insight." Mindful of the thinking process, we explore how thoughts function in our lives. Unwholesome mental patterns can reinforce obsessive desires, identification, rigid opinions, and attachment to belief systems. What patterns are most common for you—planning, rumination, fantasy, rehearsing, daydreaming, judging, comparing, fixing, instructing? We observe the types of thoughts that arise, and reflect on whether those thoughts support our values and purpose. We learn to let go of unskillful thoughts and then focus our attention so that we use the mind skillfully. Buddhist tradition identifies three sources for proliferating thought: craving, conceit, and views. By examining the sources of conceptual proliferation, we can curb the wandering tendencies of mind.

Through mindfulness and wisdom (understanding) we can transform fear into freedom.

Thanissara with Rev. angel Kyodo williams, Ayya Anandabodhi Bhikkhuni and Susie Harrington. In this conversation, Susie Harrington mentioned two sources: Kerry Nelson’s offering of online workshops at A Place for Peace as well as Vinit Allen’s Sustainable World Sourcebook. Both offer ways to engage individually but also at the community level.Rev angel Kyodo williams mentioned the site What Is Missing? from Maya Lin offering an interactive experience of all that has been and continues to be lost to which you can add your own accounting.

After practicing dhammanupassana in Insight Dialogue, attending to the first four factors of sati (mindfulness), investigation of phenomena, energy and joy, this 40 minutes guided meditation takes us, in silence, through these four and onwards to the three calming factors of tranquility, concentration and equanimity.

This series of five conversations with dharma teachers was held October 5 through November 3, 2014.

Thanissara with Tara Brach, Ruth King and Jack Kornfield.