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The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
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Dharma Talks
in English
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2022-04-04
The Nature of Contemporary Awakening and the Transformation of Racism
1:13:51
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Donald Rothberg
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On this 54th anniversary of the killing of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the 55th anniversary of his talk, "Beyond Vietnam," at the Riverside Church in New York, we explore the nature of Buddhist practice to transform racism, in the context of examining the nature of awakening in the contemporary world. We start by asking whether we may be undergoing a kind of "Fourth Turning," in which there is emerging an expanded contemporary sense of awakening, which includes the transformation of forms greed, hatred, and delusion not explicitly identified in the traditional understanding of awakening. Answering the question affirmatively, we point to two broad areas of ignorance, related to psychological material, and to social conditioning and institutions. On this basis, we then use the traditional Buddhist framework of training in wisdom, meditation, and ethics (and action) to give a preliminary account of a Buddhist approach to transforming racism. From a wisdom perspective, we look particularly at the Buddha's response to the caste system, and his sense of caste divisions as arbitrary (and empty) constructions, followed by looking closely at the constructions of whiteness, blackness, and race in the colonies in the 17th century, linked with greed and the strategy of divide-and-conquer, which have been central to maintaining racism since then. We then look more briefly at the nature of meditative and ethical training in the transformation of racism. A discussion period follows the talk.
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Louisville Vipassana Community
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2022-04-01
Mission: Inner Space
23:22
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Ayya Medhanandi
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Our mission is to find truth by turning inward to the space of the heart. We may think we know why we are here on this earth but we can only really know when we enter the sanctuary of this inner space and turn the world off. Then we will surely find the pearl of truth we long for. It is universal, not contrived nor concocted by our ignorant mind – and it gives us a peace and happiness that is unshakeable, incorruptible, and unconditional.
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Ottawa Buddhist Society
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2022-03-31
Bringing the Practice to Life – Thursdays
25:32
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JD Doyle
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A weekly drop-in group that focuses on bringing our Buddhist practice fully into our lives. We will meditate together, listen to Dharma teaching, and share the lived experience of our practice. We aim to create a radically inclusive space where all are welcome (especially those who might have experienced marginalization such as LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, disabled, and economically impacted people). All levels of experience are invited to attend. All are welcome.
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Insight Santa Cruz
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2022-03-30
Wise Compassion and its Near Enemies
43:13
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Betsy Rose
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Compassion (karuna) is an upwelling of tenderness and care in response to suffering. This beautiful quality of the heart has some "near enemies" that disguise as wise care, but cause our good intended words and actions to fall short, or even do more harm, to us and others. With song and story, this talk explores examples of near misses, and offers practices that allow wise compassion to emerge.
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Assaya Sangha
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2022-03-30
Reflections after Returning from Four Weeks on Retreat
68:28
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Donald Rothberg
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A few days after returning from four weeks on retreat at Spirit Rock, Donald reflects on a number of themes related to his retreat, including: the importance of retreat (as well as short periods of meditation) and getting away, if possible, from everyday demands and busyness; the centrality of noticing habitual tendencies and patterns; opening to the unknown and the mysterious; attending to what surfaces, including difficult material, deep aspirations, and insights; the importance of exploring "non-doing" in meditation and activities, and an opening to what is larger than oneself; and taking everything as part of a path of learning.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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2022-03-28
Open, Spacious Awareness Meditation | Monday Night
27:27
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Jack Kornfield
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Reflect on the value of a peaceful heart. What is it like to have a peaceful heart among the worldly winds of praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, fame and disrepute. These are the worldly winds that constantly change.
It's important to stop, take a pause, and feel that we are part of something so much greater than the individual life that we live. Our awareness is big enough to hold all of this, because we are awareness itself.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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2022-03-28
Peace is Possible | Monday Night Talk
45:38
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Jack Kornfield
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We are in a time of great transition. The climate crisis, the pandemic, war, injustice, racism: they're all pressing on us to live in a different way. And if you live with a peaceful heart, the point is not to let your heart get hardened. Don't turn your gaze away. But see another possibility—see with the great heart of compassion.
My teacher Ajahn Chah said, "We human beings are constantly in combat, at war to escape the fact of being so limited by so many circumstances we cannot control. But instead of escaping, we continue to create suffering, waging war with evil, waging war with good, waging war with what is too small, waging war with what is too big, waging war with what is too short or too long, or right or wrong, courageously carrying on the battle. It's time to stop the war. "
The sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson said, "The real problem of humanity is the following: we have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology."
The first response is tend the wounds, feed the hungry, and stand up for peace in whatever way you can. But there is also an inner response needed. We know where war starts—it starts in the human heart. We must make the heart a zone of peace. Set your compass to your highest intention. Something in us knows there is another way.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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2022-03-27
The Dog Knows Its True Master
46:56
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Ajahn Sucitto
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A lot of our practice is to recognize the ‘I am’ cannot do it – it has to be understood carefully as energies, habits, stories. Find another vehicle, the 5 indriya, the spiritual allies. The beauty of the practice is it works beyond the ‘I am’. The ‘I ‘can’t do it, but the indriya can. Give them a chance to keep working, and nature of citta is it does recognize these transpersonal qualities, like when a dog knows where its true master is.
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Cittaviveka
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2022 Cittaviveka Winter Retreat Closing Group Practice
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2022-03-25
Meditation and Dhamma talk on the five aggregates (khandā)
1:26:10
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Bhante Sujato
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From Harris Park. Meditation on the five "aggregates" (khandā), guided by Bhante Sujato. Dhamma talk by Bhante Sujato on the five aggregates. Subtle (sukhuma) rūpa perceived by the mind. The aggregates as inseparable aspects of experience. Perception recognizes and puts details together to meaningful wholes. Sankhārā in this context: volition. Meaning of "upadāna khandā"; metaphor of the hand. Q+A: Contemplation of khandas in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta. Why such brief introduction of the concept of khandas in the Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta (reference: MN 26).
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Lokanta Vihara
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2022-03-24
Understanding the Whirlpools of This Heart
65:57
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Mark Nunberg
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The Buddha taught that we are all spinning due to our habits of greed, hatred, and delusion, long enough to have become wise and dispassionate about how we keep getting hooked into these stressful cycles. What is it that we are not seeing clearly enough that keeps this spin spinning? The Buddha’s teachings encourage us to stabilize present-moment awareness so that we can begin to see how impersonal and lawful all this inner and outer activity actually is. Understanding the river of experience in this way leads to a natural letting go and a releasing of attachment.
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Cambridge Insight Meditation Center
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2022-03-24
Bringing the Practice to Life – Thursdays
27:48
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JD Doyle
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A weekly drop-in group that focuses on bringing our Buddhist practice fully into our lives. We will meditate together, listen to Dharma teaching, and share the lived experience of our practice. We aim to create a radically inclusive space where all are welcome (especially those who might have experienced marginalization such as LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, disabled, and economically impacted people). All levels of experience are invited to attend. All are welcome.
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Insight Santa Cruz
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2022-03-23
Meditation: Inhabiting Our Body, Realizing Wholeness
24:13
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Tara Brach
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Awakening awareness in the body is the portal to resting in boundless and dynamic presence. This guided practice scans the body from feet up, and helps us inhabit all parts of our body. As we open to the aliveness and space inside the body, we discover a permeability that allows us to inhabit the universe of aliveness and space, form and formlessness. With this homecoming to whole beingness is an intrinsic experience of freedom.
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Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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2022-03-21
Non-Violence is not Pacificism
16:07
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Bhante Bodhidhamma
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Pacificism is an ideal, a concept placed opon reality and so can lead to unwise reaction. Non-violence is an attitude which may mean the use of force, but not violence which is force plus anger.
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Satipanya Buddhist Retreat
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2022-03-18
Sīla, Mettā meditation, Q+A
1:22:34
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Bhante Sujato
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From Harris Park. Sīla - a life in the Dhamma as foundation for meditation. Mettā meditation guided by Bhante Sujato. Q+A: gratitude as an aspect of mudita. The role of mettā when dealing with trauma.
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Lokanta Vihara
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