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Your donations allow us to offer these teachings online to all.
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The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
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Dharma Talks
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2025-09-10
Awakening at the Edge of Collapse: Dharma as Refuge and Response
41:34
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Thanissara
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We are living through a profound pivot point. The old myths of our civilization–endless growth, rugged individualism, and “us first” hierarchies are crumbling. In their place, fear, division, and the architecture of fascism are rapidly rising. As the Jungian analyst Edward Edinger warned, when a central myth breaks down, meaning drains away, and primitive forces rush in.
The Buddha also lived in a world burning with greed, hatred, and delusion. He challenged the systems of his time, endured attempts on his life, negotiated peace between warring factions, and even stood before armies bent on destruction. In the Sakka-pañha Sutta, when asked why beings who wish for peace end up in rivalry and violence, he pointed to the root: the mind entangled in papañca, the web of proliferating stories that harden separation.
How then do we understand this immense historic moment? We can take courage from the Buddha. He didn’t always succeed. Even with his wisdom and compassion, he could not prevent the destruction of his own people. Yet he still stood before armies, still spoke truth, and still acted with courage. Even when outcomes are uncertain, we too are called, at this time, to step forward with clarity, compassion, and steadfastness.
Together we will explore how to bring the medicine of the Dharma into this moment of profound challenge, not as escape, but as a path of right action, refuge, and renewal.
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Cambridge Insight Meditation Center
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2025-09-10
Q&A
35:21
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Q1 Why is it hard for the citta to let go of a conditioned response? 12:47 Q2 Regarding meditation themes, what makes a suitable theme? 26:27 Q3 What kind of lifestyle and level of practice is needed for stream entry? What were you doing when things really opened up for you?
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Amaravati Monastery
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Silent Retreat with Ajahn Sucitto
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2025-09-06
Love and Refuge in a time of chaos - Q&A 2
45:57
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Ajahn Sucitto
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00:11 Q1 I have an urge for an inspirational, imaginational arising. It shows itself as a wish to be inspired. I find it hard to connect with Buddhist mythology, "seeing things as they are” seems not to be beneficial all the time. Some people in places seem to have a special effect on me and I can have so many positive feelings just by thinking about them. It feels like a gift. Is it real? Or constructed idea? 26:11 Q2 What is the relationship between the citta which is intrinsically luminous, nibbana, sensation and the anidassana viññāṇa described as endless and luminous all over. 36:52 Q3 How can we live wisely with past hurts? Related Q: I've noticed a change within the spectrum of love and hate that surprises me. It's not that I feel less for people but the craving and the attachment are missing in a way that allows me to feel more completely as I don't get lost in it.
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Buddhist Society Summer School
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2025-09-03
Love and Refuge in a time of chaos - Q&A 1
17:54
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Ajahn Sucitto
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00:09 Q1 Could you explain again what is meant by the phrase “post-truth world”? 02:15 Q2 - mic was far away, very difficult to hear; seems to be: What advice can you give regarding speech? 11:08 Q3 My dilemma is whether I watch the news or switch it off. It’s so overwhelming. But if I don’t watch it, what am I doing?
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Buddhist Society Summer School
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2025-09-03
Awakening from Ignorance: Going beyond the Main Habitual Constructions of Experience 1
60:24
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Donald Rothberg
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The Buddha saw the core problem in human life as "ignorance"(avijjā), not an ignorance of facts or information, but rather a not-knowing about the basic nature of reality and our experience. The Dalai Lama tells us: "There is a fundamental disparity between the way we perceive the world, including our own experience in it, and the way things actually are." We explore how similar understandings of a core human ignorance are found in Plato, Christian and Islamic traditions, and in later Buddhist traditions.
The Buddha said, in particular, that we are ignorant about impermanence, dukkha (or reactivity), and the nature of the self. We look into some of the main habitual constructions of experience, including a sense of permanent, stable, separate external objects, and a sense of a separate, independent self, pointing to ways of exploring such constructions meditatively. We also point to experiences in which we go beyond such constructions, in meditation and also in "flow" experiences. The talk is followed by discussion.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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2025-08-29
Der achtfache Pfad
54:05
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Stefan Lang
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Der achtfache Pfad ist ein zentraler Pfeiler in Buddhas Lehre. Darin enthalten sind die fundamentalen Bereiche von Ethik, Geistesschulung und Weisheit. Die acht Pfadglieder decken ein breites Spektrum der Lehre ab und sind quasi die Methode innerhalb der vier Wahrheiten aus Buddhas erster Rede.
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Zentrum für Buddhismus - Bern
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2025-08-22
Bringing Our Practice to the Current Difficult Times
56:10
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Donald Rothberg
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Sometimes it is thought that Buddhist practice is exclusively about "inner" transformation. However, the Buddha himself spoke of going out for the benefit of others and understood basic ethical guidelines socially. Later approaches and tradition, such as embodied in the rule of King Ashoka and the Mahayana vision of the bodhisattva, also manifest the connection of inner and outer transformation.
In this talk, a contemporary "Eightfold Path" is offered to support connecting inner and outer transformation--bringing our practice into engagement with our contemporary society and world in great need. There are three wisdom guidelines, two meditation guidelines, and three ethical guidelines. The talk is followed by discussion.
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East Bay Meditation Center
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2025-08-21
Anapanasati: The Buddha's Teaching on Mindfulness of Breathing
49:31
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James Baraz
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Working with the Anapanasati Sutta in some depth. There are 16 steps in four tetrads that the Buddha lays out regarding how to practice this way. It is more than simply keeping one's attention on the experience of breathing. Some of the steps will likely surprise you. I thought it would be interesting to hear how the Buddha himself practiced using the breath and then practice together as he suggested.
Anapanasati Sutta Majjhima Nikaya #118
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.118.than.html
Anåpånasati- Summary of the Four Tetrads (16 steps)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yE2GiJtr3nnMGR_2YYOEA7eZ9W02ti52PD5abYF_Ius/edit?tab=t.0
Thich Nhat Hanh
Video TNH explaining the 16 steps (28 minutes)
https://youtu.be/inPkOzo_8XQ?si=nKp94lysBPxn4od_
Ven Analayo
Audio guided meditations successively building on the tetrads. Last one includes all four.
Mindfulness of Breathing with Bhikkhu Anālayo
https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/resources/breathing-audio/
Written Overview
Analayo - Understanding and Practicing the Ānāpānasati-sutta
https://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?t=30301
Bhikkhu Bodhi's videos going through the sutta in detail.
https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=49266cf56d93934f&sxsrf=AE3TifMAPbSxpASPFg4H_3u7YewNOi0UgA:1753423263992&q=Bhikkhu+Bodhi+mn+118&udm=7&fbs=AIIjpHxU7SXXniUZfeShr2fp4giZ1Y6MJ25_tmWITc7uy4KIeiAkWG4OlBE2zyCTMjPbGmP8dNHyekGOBzxjAdPhnrqrkFMVvRmyqhKdJnNaG3AkXT9BEIxM7mvWZQG3bFq0xYNXOHnKszVdt00PEHYlRCcNfQMctmXagH2kmQdDS-r99NNUO7KPPqfaJdzNdnznKA2npV8j&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiV_KnWqteOAxVFIxAIHdP6MTkQtKgLKAJ6BAgVEAE&biw=1309&bih=738&dpr=2.2
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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