|
|
 |
Please support Dharma Seed with a 2025 year-end gift.
Your donations allow us to offer these teachings online to all.
|
|
|
|
|
The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
|
|
|
| |
|
Dharma Talks
in English
|
2022-12-31
I Will Not Be Scared
10:13
|
|
Ayya Medhanandi
|
|
|
We live in a world of toxic fear and earnestly wish for a way beyond it. Devoted to the Buddha’s supreme advice, we undertake this holistic training how to live harmlessly, joyful and at peace in ourselves. With courage and patient humility, we don’t back down when it gets tough or pick and choose only the parts we like. Once the inner world of the mind is purified, liberation dawns. We shall reap untold blessings to the end of selfishness. Wisdom is born and the heart is free.
|
|
Portland Friends of the Dhamma
|
|
|
2022-12-31
A Friend That Will Never Fail Us
27:00
|
|
Ayya Medhanandi
|
|
|
With the Buddha as our guide, we walk in his footsteps. If we fall away from the path, we return to it as soon as we can. Just as you steer your car back on the road should it veer off. The mind may be on fire with wanting, fear, grief or anger. Then feel the heat. Know its origin and see its ending – not owning nor feeding it, let it subside. Here and now, awareness and wisdom deepen. We are waking up. And we discover – that true friend resides within our own heart.
|
|
Portland Friends of the Dhamma
|
|
|
2022-12-28
Freedom Beyond Selfing
57:23
|
|
Tara Brach
|
|
|
We spend many moments in a trance of selfing – preoccupied with the stories, wants and fears of what feels to be a separate self. The suffering is that this self-fixation obscures the depth and mystery of our being. In this talk we explore how to relate wisely to selfing, and discover the light and love that express our true nature.
|
|
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
|
|
|
2022-12-24
Inner sensitivity and the end of dukkha
53:22
|
|
Ajahn Sucitto
|
|
|
We express the precepts through our external behaviours and internally by how we react to the world. Gaining internal support for coolness and richness to discover our proper centre.
|
|
Temple Forest Monastery
|
|
|
2022-12-24
Working with Thinking as a "Part"
13:16
|
|
Amita Schmidt
|
|
|
Thinking itself is actually just a part, a protector part, and this meditation will help you have compassion for this part. The meditation will also give you insight into your thinking and what it's true purpose is. Knowing this will help you on the meditation cushion and in your daily life practice.
|
|
Clintonville Sangha Ohio
|
|
|
2022-12-22
Outside the Storm: A Meditation for working with Strong Emotions
9:14
|
|
Amita Schmidt
|
|
|
Instead of trying to bring mindfulness to emotions from the inside out, this meditation will help you develop awareness of the calm outside of emotions (eg. the outside of the storm). Some people have found this tool to be very useful in decreasing anxiety, overwhelm, and fear.
|
|
Clintonville Sangha Ohio
|
|
|
2022-12-21
IntraConnected – Part 2: Conversation with Tara and Dan Siegel
49:32
|
|
Tara Brach
|
|
|
In this conversation, Tara interviews Dan about the themes in his new book, “IntraConnected.” They explore how our identity gets formed, and the profound healing and freedom that come with widening our sense of identity from me to what Dan terms “Mwe” (me plus we.) The principles they touch on come from indigenous wisdom, the contemplative or wisdom traditions, neuroscience and quantum physics.
Dan Siegel’s new book: IntraConnected: MWe (Me + We) as the Integration of Self, Identity, and Belonging
|
|
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
|
|
|
2022-12-21
Talk: Practicing with Views and Beliefs 2
64:27
|
|
Donald Rothberg
|
|
|
We begin with an acknowledgment of the Winter Solstice, and the importance, in a time that is often very busy, of slowing down, like the earth in the Northern Hemisphere, of being relatively still and opening to the generative dimensions of darkness. We then review the main elements of what we explored last week, pointing to the main aspects of the Buddha's teaching on "views" (including belief, positions, etc.), explored through four core texts, and three ways of practicing with views. We then bring some further ways of practicing with views. One is opened up by working with the model, from Chris Argyris, of the "Ladder of Inference," in noticing tendencies to go from direct experience to generalizations (obviously very useful at times), and how sometimes reactivity drives us "up the Ladder" to generalizations. A second is in working with relatively unconscious or half-conscious views, whether about oneself, others, or the nature of things. We close with discussion, intentions, and the dedication of merit.
|
|
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
:
Monday and Wednesday Talks
|
|
|
2022-12-19
Breath of the Earth Meditation | Monday Night
21:57
|
|
Jack Kornfield
|
|
|
Welcoming listeners into the gentle whisper of the breath, Jack helps us into a presence and ease beyond our anxieties, worries, and to-do lists. From this place of deep relaxation, he invites us into an easy-come, easy-go mentality with our thoughts and emotions.
"Your breath is the Earth breathing herself through you." – Jack Kornfield
For more teachings like this, please subscribe to my YouTube channel.
This meditation was originally livestreamed by Spirit Rock on 12/19/22.
|
|
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
|
|
|
2022-12-17
Giving Birth to Oneself
1:22:18
|
|
Nathan Glyde
|
|
|
A reflection on the activity of being reborn as the person we find ourselves to be, time and again, moment to moment, in this life (put aside for now past and future lives in different bodies). Furthermore, how any culture is reborn via the activity of the collective of indivduals that make it up. This reflection uses an exploration of the "many lives in one life" of the radically awake Baba Amte, as we come to the 108th anniversary of his birth. The possibilties of taking birth are endless and accessible right now: is this not the very path of the art of intentional cultivation, AKA meditation?
|
|
Gaia House
:
Online Dharma Hall - Dec 2022
|
|
|
2022-12-17
Taste the Mountain
28:08
|
|
Ayya Medhanandi
|
|
|
Rather than running away from suffering, we use it as the way to deliverance. Out of suffering, we draw beneficial mind states, especially compassion – not blaming our dukkha on any external or internal conditions but letting them go. If we are content with simple blessings, our gratitude consecrates the breath that we are breathing right now. We rest in awareness and experience the truth of the present moment – fleeting, flawed, formless and empty. In the stillness of now, we taste the mountain.
|
|
Ottawa Buddhist Society
|
|
|
2022-12-17
Kuan Yin Compassion Meditation
9:01
|
|
Amita Schmidt
|
|
|
The first 3 minutes explains about Kuan Yin, and the practice of Compassion as a listening and bearing witness to suffering. Then there is a short and simple, 5 min Kuan Yin meditation, on listening with the ear of the heart.
|
|
Clintonville Sangha Ohio
|
|
|
2022-12-16
An Oasis of Freedom
20:15
|
|
Ayya Medhanandi
|
|
|
Learning to play an instrument, at first nothing good comes of it. The body is like an instrument. At first, it howls, it screams or cries. Then one day, that cry becomes a chant. So it is freeing the mind. We teach ourselves to walk the path. We fall and we get up again. In the darkest moment, we grow that tiny speck in the heart of not being afraid, not panicking, not being angry, not giving up. Practise freeing yourself so you can free everyone. Patiently keep digging. Trust. One day we will find gold.
|
|
Ottawa Buddhist Society
|
|
|
2022-12-14
Talk: Practicing with Views and Beliefs 1
67:26
|
|
Donald Rothberg
|
|
|
Practicing with views, beliefs, opinions, and narratives is a central part of our practice (in relationship to ourselves, to others, and in the larger society and world) and was strongly emphasized in the teachings of the Buddha. In this talk, we explore how the Buddha taught on views, emphasizing four core teachings. We then inquire into what is particularly problematic in our relationship to views is the way that we potentially are reactive in relation to views--habitually grasping and pushing away with our views. We then suggest three foundational practices for working with views and beliefs. There is finally about a twenty-minute discussion period.
|
|
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
:
Monday and Wednesday Talks
|
Attached Files:
-
The Buddha on “Views: Four Texts
by Donald Rothberg
(PDF)
|
|
|
2022-12-12
Q&A
65:06
|
|
Ajahn Sucitto
|
|
|
00:25 Regarding rebirth or further birth, Therevadans and Tibetans seems to have very different things to say about this. Is it useless speculation to consider what happens after death? 13:17 Can you please distinguish between kilesa, asava and anutsara? 17:41 Why is consciousness likened to an illusion? 31:22 Could you please speak about the external and internal aspect of the sense fields mentioned in the satipatthanna? 36:03 I get very stirred up when I received kindness from others. What do you suggest? 41:35 You mentioned a tendency to look for open space as related to an experience as an infant of being confined in a cradle. How did that memory and understanding come up for you? 46:09 Can you remind us about mano sancetana – what it is and how it works? 53:57 Is nibanna a description of a mind in which the defilements are uprooted or is it that which does the uprooting? 55:21 Can you speak about the significance of noticing neutral sensations? Why is this useful? 56:51 Vicara and dhamma vijaya both explore an object. How are they different or similar? 1:00:18 I’d appreciate some more specific instructions about the movements and placements of hands during the bowing ritual.
|
|
Insight Meditation Society - Forest Refuge
:
ORIGINAL RECORDINGS, TO BE EDITED - Ajahn Sucitto at IMS-FR
|
|
|
2022-12-10
Q&A
36:37
|
|
Ajahn Amaro
|
|
|
Questions are précised - 00:08 Q1 You said arahants can feel happiness without attachment, also that happiness is a suffering in disguise, and that it also comes from giving. Are these all different forms of happiness? 05:47 Q2 I’ve read a lot of Persian poetry especially Attar of Nishapur and Rumi. There, I read that “desire” for union pushes you forward and is actually the path to liberation. But the Second Noble Truth says that we have to get rid of desire / craving. Can you speak to this please? 15:01 Q3 Frequently I find that some annoying behavior by friends that I think I have processed and let go of returns if, for example, they renew their teasing at a future meeting. 19:18 Q4 Whatever we see or experience has happened sometime back. It seems we don’t partake of anything that happens around us. This is discomforting. Can you comment please? 27:13 Q5 Can you speak about how Mahayana and Theravada look at the idea of the second turning of the wheel. 34:00 Q6 What is the difference between the two types of concentration the Buddha had, one when he was studying with his two teachers and his experience under the tree watching his father?
|
|
Deer Park Institute
:
Sakkāydițțhi — ‘Self-View’, the First Obstacle to Enlightenment
|
|
|
2022-12-09
Papañca (proliferation)
1:33:09
|
|
Bhante Sujato
|
|
|
Guided meditation of awareness of the messy mind, being aware of consciousness brings fearlessness. Dhamma talk on papañca with reference to The Honey Cake sutta MN18 and Concept and Reality by Ven. Ñāṇananda's analysis of MN18 16.1. How venerable Kaccāna presents a sequence where the self slowly emerges, creating the person who then is beset by papañca; nouns turn to verbs.
|
|
Lokanta Vihara
|
|
|
2022-12-09
Q&A
56:52
|
|
Ajahn Amaro
|
|
|
Questions are précised - 00:12 Q1 My practice of forgiveness turns into shame when I consider how I ever did that to that person. 08:58 Q2 I have had a health ailment for about a decade and there are moments of deep pain. I’ve gone past “Why me?” but I find I am very angry. I also find I easily dismiss other people’s pain. 20:51 Q3 Can you explain more about the difference between Dhammaniyāmatā and the Idappaccayatā? 29:27 Q4 What’s your view on euthanasia? Also – how can we plan to live in a commune rather than a hospice as we age? 40:05 Q5 What about organ donation? 43:40 Q6 What is euthanasia and what is taking active steps to expedite death? And what about people who decide not to continue treatment that prolongs life? 47:28 Q7 What about palliative care? 49:00 Q8 Are there any residential retreat places for parents with their children? I struggle with leaving my child alone and the problem of child care. 50:34 Q9 Regarding the old lady who came to Ajahn Chah for advice, [it seems like she was advised to practice] anatta. 55:34 Q10 That which is observing the five khandas, is that called dhamma itself?
|
|
Deer Park Institute
:
Sakkāydițțhi — ‘Self-View’, the First Obstacle to Enlightenment
|
|
|
2022-12-09
Q&A with Ajahn Jivako
22:19
|
|
Ajahn Amaro
|
|
|
00:34 Q1 Can you give some examples of non-formal practice through the day. 06:23 Q2 What is helpful in practicing walking meditation? 11:40 Q3 Why do we practice walking when we have sitting meditation? 12:46 Q4 Why is it that the object of meditation has to be something of the body? Could it be a rock for example? 13:37 Q5 When I meditate I hear a loud inner sound, the breathing, heat beat and blood pumping and body movements. It’s difficult to concentrate on any one thing. 16:03 Q6 Is stream entry a deeper flow state or something completely different? 16:23 Q7 How can we differentiate between skilful and unskilful doubt. 19:00 Q8 In the guided meditation you led us inside where we were resting somewhere. Are there any creative techniques to access that? 20:21 Q9 When you asked us to look for the person /that who is aware. Commonly this is supposed to be usually in the head right? Can it be outside the body and are there ways to access that? 21:36 Q10 You mentioned you were from New Hampshire. Is that attached to Ajahn Amaro?
|
|
Deer Park Institute
:
Sakkāydițțhi — ‘Self-View’, the First Obstacle to Enlightenment
|
|
|
|
|
