In Buddhist cosmology the torment of intense desire that can never really be satisfied is depicted as the realm of Hungry Ghosts. This talk explores the attachments and addictions that so many of us struggle with, and the teachings and practices that can liberate us.

Ajahn (Amma) Thanasanti's personal journey and interest in the topic. Believing enlightenment is where everyone loves me. Various kinds of suffering. The way that Dipa Ma's life was an inspiration. The hunger to connect and the way that love and sex can be used for connection. Sex as life force. Separation and dissolving into pleasure vs dissolving into emptiness. Love and sex addiction underlying other addictions. The difference between mind states that resolve with observation and those that need engagement. Attachment theory. Pleasure evokes lack. Making use of the complexity.

Learning to see how renunciation is the practice of non-addiction - the gateway to different levels of freedom

Too often we live inside tunnels we construct to avoid being with the real. Let us get out of the tunnels and join the world.

The First Noble Truth is not a philosophical statement; it is a guidance for life and for meditation practice. Turn towards, look at, suffering. Inherent in this teaching is the Buddhas guidance that the only way out is through: denial and avoidance will not work. Meditation itself can be a path of avoidance, as can so many worldly distractions and addictions. On this Insight Dialogue retreat we are committed to turning towards Dukkha with the support of silent meditation, wisdom teachings, and each other.

As we move through the links of Dependent Origination, one of the key areas for exploration are the linkages of craving, clinging, and becoming. What starts out as a simple feeling of pleasantness suddenly erupts into a needy and tumultuous sense-of-self. Dependent Origination explains the causal factors and conditions that led to full addiction and the reaction that followed. D.O. shows us how we carry over the remembrance of previous encounters that sets us up for our current display. Once the present is colored with the past, we carry the momentum of the past into that current relationship. An object is no longer seen for what it is (always neutral) but for what it has become through memory. We then chase after our memory like a cat would chase his tail, believing that the object is the same as the memory.

In this daylong retreat we’ll explore the uses of Buddhist practices and teachings in recovery. Blending mindfulness and the12 Steps we will see how fundamental Buddhist teachings like the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, Lovingkindness, and others can be used as fundamental tools in a program of recovery. The day will include lecture, discussion, and interactive exercises, as well as an introduction to mindfulness meditation.

Without desire, this world would not exist. While this universal energy is entirely natural, if we are not mindful of it, desire can become a narrowed fixation or addiction that creates deep suffering. This talk explores the ways we can pay attention that honor this energy without allowing it to cut us off from presence and possess us

The Noble Truths of Addiction and Recovery, Part 5 of 5