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Dharma Talks in English
2017-07-29 09: Q&A: Am I Wasting My Opportunity Staying As a Lay Person? 45:09
Ajahn Sucitto
Ajahn Sucitto responds to this question by first reframing it – rather than thinking: here’s the real world, how can I fit my practice into that? Consider: here’s the real practice, what kind of world can I operate in from that place? The reality that’s available to us all, regardless of place or position as monastic or lay person, is refuge. And the real refuge is in your presence. Be a refuge unto yourself.
Aruna Ratanagiri Buddhist Monastery :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto

2017-07-29 15: The Root Perception of Change 35:31
Ajahn Sucitto
There are many things one can cultivate in meditation. There is craft, what can be learned. And there is art, what can’t be taught. Follow your nose, where’s your interest? Notice the difference between awareness and consciousness. Place an object in space, experience the object with dispassion.
Aruna Ratanagiri Buddhist Monastery :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto

2017-07-29 08: Return, Return, Return 8:35
Ajahn Sucitto
The energy body is a particular fullness of being – this is citta. As it’s more completed, it becomes less obstructed. Take time to gather and center in the completed citta, even if it’s just for a few minutes. Meditation means to return time and time again.
Aruna Ratanagiri Buddhist Monastery :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto

2017-07-29 14: It’s Just a Movement 7:22
Ajahn Sucitto
Puja is a time for offering, for being received into a quality of blessedness and welcome, just as you are. The mind searches for directions – all reasonable, but don’t follow it. Notice the energy of the movement that’s occurring now – no future, no past.
Aruna Ratanagiri Buddhist Monastery :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto

2017-07-29 The Eightfold Path: Integrity, Mind Cultivation, Wisdom (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 48:12
Bonnie Duran
A discussion of Sila, Samadhi and Panna in daily life. Magga Rocks!
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation as a Path to Freedom

2017-07-29 Morning Instructions 57:07
JoAnna Hardy
Settling into sensations.
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center Insight Meditation Retreat for 18-32 Year Olds

2017-07-28 The Five Aggregates 3 -- Creating the Self 1:49:54
Kim Allen
Insight Santa Cruz

2017-07-28 Mindfulness as psychic self defense. 42:27
Bart van Melik
How mindfulness helps us to protect ourselves and by protecting ourselves - we protect others.
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center Insight Meditation Retreat for 18-32 Year Olds

2017-07-28 07: Standing Meditation 1: Balance – the Place of Least Stress & Most Harmony 6:30
Ajahn Sucitto
The single most important quality of standing meditation is balance. This is the place of least stress, of most harmony. Guidance is provided to sense into this balance where it’s just the muscular alignment that’s holding you up. Locking places can then relax and release.
Aruna Ratanagiri Buddhist Monastery :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto

2017-07-28 06: A Quality of Deep Attention 52:40
Ajahn Sucitto
The key to the Buddha’s awakening was his use of appropriate attention. Attention is either grounded in the right place or the wrong place, it’s one or the other. The lens of attention and the attitudes we bring to it are extremely significant. It matters how we are seeing things. Our attention is very potent. Whatever you attend to – doubt or confidence, aversion or goodwill – you’ll get more of it. Attention is an amplifier.
Aruna Ratanagiri Buddhist Monastery :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto

2017-07-28 05: Put Aside What’s Unnecessary 13:16
Ajahn Sucitto
The contemplative process is one where you bring to mind simple things and put aside what’s unnecessary, obstructive and irrelevant. Not with aversion, but just noticing that in most of our life we’re moving forward into qualities of pressure, important business, people – but they’re only there because your mind put them there. There doesn’t have to be the drive forward, doesn’t have to be a next. Take time to stop and notice what’s not needed, notice what’s already here.
Aruna Ratanagiri Buddhist Monastery :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto

2017-07-28 04: Walking without Headism 12:43
Ajahn Sucitto
Ajahn Sucitto addresses a form of bodily discrimiation called “headism.” It says, “I’m on top, everything is secondary to me,” and it drags everything underneath it around. Headism can be overcome by operating through the body rather than through the head. It can be practiced in walking meditation.
Aruna Ratanagiri Buddhist Monastery :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto

2017-07-28 Introduction To Metta 28:04
JoAnna Hardy
A gentle introduction to Metta
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center Insight Meditation Retreat for 18-32 Year Olds

2017-07-28 03: Feeling the Body 4:13
Ajahn Sucitto
Guidance to settle into the seated posture, relaxing the body, sensing ground and space.
Aruna Ratanagiri Buddhist Monastery :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto

2017-07-28 02: Standing meditation - Elements and Directions 13:35
Ajahn Sucitto
What tells you you have a body? Guidance provided to sense the particular signals that tell us we have a body in the forms of elements and directions.
Aruna Ratanagiri Buddhist Monastery :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto

2017-07-28 01: A Harmony of Body and Mind 27:27
Ajahn Sucitto
Meditation is where the body and mind interact. Physical form creates the boundary within which to dwell. No third party is needed, no abstractor, no one to do anything. Just allow body and mind to come into harmony autonomously.
Aruna Ratanagiri Buddhist Monastery :  Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto

2017-07-28 The Four Great Efforts 47:54
Martine Batchelor
Gaia House Secular Buddhist Meditation Retreat

2017-07-28 You Are Not What You Think (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 52:08
Howard Cohn
Understanding Anatta and Self View: seeing the difference between ourselves and our views of ourselves.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation as a Path to Freedom

2017-07-27 Equanimity 62:04
Donald Rothberg
We explore the nature of equanimity, why equanimity is important, several ways to practice equanimity, and some of the challenges of developing equanimity.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks

2017-07-27 Secular Wisdom 60:41
Stephen Batchelor
Reflections on philosophical scepticism as a framework for practice from Pyrrho to the Buddha.
Gaia House Secular Buddhist Meditation Retreat

2017-07-27 Guided Meditation on Appreciative Joy 38:35
Martine Batchelor
Gaia House Secular Buddhist Meditation Retreat

2017-07-27 Cultivating the Four Brahma Viharas 25:43
Martine Batchelor
Gaia House Secular Buddhist Meditation Retreat

2017-07-27 Meeting the Characteristic of Life with Awareness and Compassion (Talk at Spirit Rock) 54:14
Mark Coleman
This talk explores how to learn to cultivate kindness and presence in relation to the challenging conditions of life, including the reality of change.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation as a Path to Freedom

2017-07-26 Being With and Letting Go 51:50
Martine Batchelor
Gaia House Secular Buddhist Meditation Retreat

2017-07-26 Meditation – Relaxing into Sleep (no bell at end) 14:27
Tara Brach
This meditation can help us to access a relaxed attentiveness, or alternately, serve as a pathway to ease-filled sleep.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2017-07-26 Meditation: Living Presence – Awakening with a Smile 18:45
Tara Brach
This practice uses the image and felt sense of a smile as we scan through the body, include sound and relax back into the awareness that is the source of all experience. By letting life be just as it is, we become pure living presence – wakeful, open and tender.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2017-07-26 Three Blessings in Spiritual Life – Part I: Forgiveness 49:15
Tara Brach
This 3- part series explores three capacities we all have, that when cultivated, bring spiritual awakening and serve the healing of our world. Drawing on an ancient teaching story from India, we explore together the power of a forgiving heart, the inner fire that expresses as courage and dedication, and the inquiry of “who am I” that reveals our deepest nature.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2017-07-26 Meditation, Enlightenment and God 42:18
Pamela Weiss
San Francisco Insight Meditation Community

2017-07-26 Dhamma Discussion 1:24:14
Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Shwe Oo Min DhammaDayada Meditation Centre :  2017 Vassa

2017-07-26 The Dharma in the Holy Land 2: Dharma Practice, The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, and Inter-Generational Trauma 1:17:35
Donald Rothberg
In this second talk following Donald’s five weeks in Israel/Palestine, we focus first on how to bring our practice to difficult and sometimes stuck places generally, whether individual, interpersonal, or collective. What helps? We then, with a deep breath, examine the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with the aim of bringing empathy, compassion, understanding, and other aspects of our practice to what we interpret as a conflict between two traumatized peoples (albeit an asymmetrical conflict in which one side has much more economic, social, political, and military power). How do we understand, approach, and transform such inter-generational trauma? Some initial steps are identified, again with the suggestion that the dynamics are similar to many less complex but still very difficult and stuck situations of an individual or interpersonal nature.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2017-07-26 The 5 Hindrances and the 4 Floods (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 48:11
Bonnie Duran
This talk is about the very common experiences of early retreat. Not perfect - Not Permanent - Not Personal
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation as a Path to Freedom

2017-07-25 Tending Our Own Minds/Hearts, Caring for Others 35:40
Nikki Mirghafori
Nikki Mirghafori gave the second talk in a speaker series titled "Living Wisely in the World: Caring for Mind, Family, Society, and Planet". Teachings from the "Acrobat Sutta" were shared to illustrate how tending our own mind is a stepping stone to care for others, and the world. The power of actions leading to habit formation in the mind and body, which could either lead to liberation or suffering, were also discussed.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection: Living Wisely in the World: Caring for Mind, Family, Society, and Planet

2017-07-25 Secular Samadhi 55:12
Stephen Batchelor
Reflections on the practice of the jhanas, a personal account of the role of meditation in my life.
Gaia House Secular Buddhist Meditation Retreat

2017-07-25 Quality of Heart and Mind 11:53
Kim Allen
Insight Santa Cruz

2017-07-25 Instructions - Hearing and Seeing 24:43
Martine Batchelor
Gaia House Secular Buddhist Meditation Retreat

2017-07-25 Path of the Buddha (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 64:47
Howard Cohn
The Buddha's path of awakening to the four noble truths.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation as a Path to Freedom

2017-07-24 The Kalama Sutta 30:46
Brian Lesage
This talk offers reflections on the Kalama sutta that make this discourse relevant to our lives.
Flagstaff Insight Meditation Community FIMC Monday Night Talks

2017-07-24 Buddhist Studies Course - The Five Hindrances - Week 3 1:37:38
Mark Nunberg
Common Ground Meditation Center Buddhist Studies Course - The Five Hindrances

2017-07-24 Gradually Awakening 28:26
Ayya Anandabodhi
Against the Stream

2017-07-24 Mindfulness, Creative Engagement, Feeling Tones (Vedanas) 45:44
Martine Batchelor
Gaia House Secular Buddhist Meditation Retreat

2017-07-23 Talk: Upekkha/Equanimity 47:40
Ruth King
In the Buddhist teachings, these four practices–loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity–are considered the highest qualities of heart and emotional wellbeing.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC Opening the Heart in the Divine Abodes

2017-07-23 Secular Ethics 57:12
Stephen Batchelor
Reflections on the nature of ethics, towards a Buddhist ethics of care rather than justice.
Gaia House Secular Buddhist Meditation Retreat

2017-07-23 Kindness as a Wise View 2:46:16
Mark Nunberg
For the Five Subjects for Frequent Recollection Chant please see page 26 of Common Ground Meditation Center Chant Book.
Common Ground Meditation Center
Attached Files:
  • Common Ground Meditation Center Chants (PDF)

2017-07-23 Body dukkha during vertigo experience 51:52
Eugene Cash
San Francisco Insight Meditation Community

2017-07-23 Taste of Nibbana 25:51
Ayya Santacitta
Against the Stream

2017-07-23 Introduction to Meditation Practice 25:08
Martine Batchelor
Gaia House Secular Buddhist Meditation Retreat

2017-07-23 Cultivating a Compassionate Heart during Troubling Times 27:32
Sharda Rogell
Dharma Talk on Compassion
Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2017-07-23 Seven Factors Of Awakening - Guided Meditation 61:46
Bonnie Duran
Guidance with the enlivening and calming factors
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center 15th Anniversary People of Color Retreat

2017-07-22 Talk: Mudita/Sympathetic Joy 49:11
Mary Aubry
In the Buddhist teachings, these four practices–loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity–are considered the highest qualities of heart and emotional wellbeing.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC Opening the Heart in the Divine Abodes

2017-07-22 Stories and Poems from the Therigatha (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 55:57
Greg Scharf
This talk looks at the lives and practice of the first Buddhist nuns through the verses in the Therigatha.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center July Insight Meditation Retreat

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