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Dharma Talks
2009-11-12 6 1/2 Awakening Factors 60:37
Pascal Auclair
Given during the 2009 2 month retreat at IMS
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center Two-Month Retreat

2009-11-12 November Retreat: Devotion to the Present Moment 1:16:09
Mark Nunberg
Retreat Dharma Talk
Common Ground Meditation Center

2009-11-12 Anniversary 43:33
Mary Grace Orr
Insight Santa Cruz

2009-11-12 Don't Forget the Kindness 48:18
Catherine McGee
Gaia House November Solitary Retreat

2009-11-11 The Power of Paying Attention 57:22
Larry Yang
How paying attention is the path to freedom.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center LGBTQ: Awakening the Heart of Love and Wisdom

2009-11-11 Choosing Presence 1:19:21
Tara Brach
Spiritual awakening is energized by conscious intention. This talk explores how we get waylaid by habitual wants and fears, and the ways we can connect with the power and purity of our deep aspiration for love, truth and freedom.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2009-11-11 Kindness (Metta) , Joy (Mudita) and Equanimity (Upekkha) as Expressions of Wisdom 55:20
Mark Nunberg
Dharma Talk
Common Ground Meditation Center

2009-11-11 Compassion (Karuna) - Meditation 33:31
Mark Nunberg
Guided Meditation
Common Ground Meditation Center

2009-11-11 Guided Metta Meditation - Neutral and Difficult Person 45:52
Greg Scharf
A short introduction to working with the neutraland difficult person - Followed by a guided Metta meditation
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center Two-Month Retreat

2009-11-11 Emptiness & Compassion III 64:01
Donald Rothberg
We review the teachings on emptiness in the context of the broader teachings on the centrality of developing wisdom and compassion, expanding our examination of these teachings from last time. The last part of the session involving doing several exercises, partly explaining experience as a flowing "stream" (and seeing what obstructs the flow) and partly doing a series of four exercises with "ordinary objects" designed to take us out of our ordinary way of constructing things.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks

2009-11-10 Cultivating Beautiful Qualities, Beautiful Practice 49:12
Arinna Weisman
Cultivating beautiful qualities of mind and removing the unskillful. The practice of ending suffering.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center LGBTQ: Awakening the Heart of Love and Wisdom

2009-11-10 Ten Paramis: Metta (2) 58:50
Rodney Smith
To know love as stillness is to embrace the world unconditionally.
Seattle Insight Meditation Society
In collection: The Ten Paramis

2009-11-10 Meditation for Life 47:11
Martine Batchelor
Meditation is not an idea of getting to a mystical state but of helping us to release. It is not an exotic practice but it is more like eating, brushing our teeth - it is a way to nourish ourselves and to open and finally to let go. It is a lifelong journey where we learn to let go and stop grasping as we become aware of our life in each moment, accept each moment as it is. Meditation can help us to be more in the world, by being here and now we can be skillful and respond to whatever happens in the present. We develop clarity, we see the changing nature of things. When we are engulfed by feelings we can step back and say ‘how long will this last?’ We do not have to feed the feelings, we just need to be with them and watch them as they change. We can bring creative awareness to everything that we do and use it to be fully where we are, to be in our relationships in our life.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley

2009-11-10 Papanca 38:13
Christina Feldman
Gaia House November Solitary Retreat

2009-11-09 The Perfection of Truthfulness 56:43
Jack Kornfield
On knowing the part of Self that "Truly" knows...
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks

2009-11-09 Anything Can Happen: Faith & Confidence in Awareness 56:22
Carol Wilson
Insight Meditation Society - Forest Refuge November 2009 at IMS - Forest Refuge

2009-11-08 Dana: Generosity As The Foundation Of Practice 61:30
Greg Scharf
One description the path of practice is as the ripening of the 10 paramis. This ties directly to the 3 trainings in Dana, Sila and Bahavana. This talk explains the practice of generosity as the foundation for out practice.
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center Two-Month Retreat

2009-11-08 The Eightfold Path: Right Concentration 47:05
Eugene Cash
San Francisco Insight Meditation Community

2009-11-07 Joining Our Practice With Others 60:15
Winnie Nazarko
We are deeply connected with others and experience their pain as well as own own. Learning to relate to out own difficulty strengthens our capacity for compassionate presence with others.
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center Two-Month Retreat

2009-11-07 No-Self in the Brain 44:01
Rick Hanson
Insights from Neuroscience about Not Taking Life Personally
Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2009-11-07 Entering the Stream 59:49
Stephen Batchelor
A reflection on the meaning of "stream entry" (sotapatti), based upon Pali canonical sources. The "stream" refers to the eightfold path and the "stream entrant" is one who has made that path their own. The talk explores the meaning of the three fetters that are "abandoned" on entering the stream as well as how stream entry is related to the three refuges.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Meditation and Study Retreat

2009-11-06 Dukka - Three Kinds Of Suffering 59:52
Rebecca Bradshaw
The first Noble Truth of Dukkha is to be understood deeply on out journey to freedom.
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center Two-Month Retreat

2009-11-06 Awakening Buddhahood and Compassion 56:37
Martine Batchelor
Explanation of de-grasping wisdom and compassion and meditative experience.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Meditation and Study Retreat

2009-11-06 The Mature Heart - the Integration of the Four Brahmaviharas 1:12:48
Donald Rothberg
Preceded by a short chant by Rebekkah La Dyne, our yoga teacher for the retreat, we explore two main modes of transformation - one going into suffering, one involving beautiful states. We then focus on the latter, as expressed in the practice of the Brahmaviharas, the cultivation of lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity - examining their near and far enemies, and how the four interpret each other in the mature heart.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Cultivating Clear Seeing, Opening the Heart

2009-11-06 Experiencing the Unconditioned 59:39
Stephen Batchelor
A reflection on the Buddha's understanding of his awakening as an engagement with the phenomenal world from a radically new perspective rather than the gaining of insight into a higher, absolute truth, no matter whether we call that "God", "Consciousness" or the "Unconditioned".
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Meditation and Study Retreat

2009-11-06 Contemplating Thought and the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness 48:22
Yanai Postelnik
Gaia House November Solitary Retreat

2009-11-05 The Rest of Renunciation 53:55
Myoshin Kelley
Find the joy in renunciation as we relinquish the grasping mind.
Insight Meditation Society - Forest Refuge November 2009 at IMS - Forest Refuge

2009-11-05 Five Aggregates 59:22
Pascal Auclair
Given during the two month retreat at IMS, 2009
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center Two-Month Retreat

2009-11-05 Buddha's Teaching on Cultivating the Mind 52:49
Sharda Rogell
A useful talk to help us understand the play of creative and destructive thoughts that explores one discourse the Buddha gave on cultivating our mind. He shows how we can interrupt patterns of mind that lead to pain and encourage wholesome and positive states to arise.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Meditation and Study Retreat

2009-11-05 Wisdom 66:49
Donald Rothberg
We examine how mindfulness is distinguished from, yet leads to wisdom. We explore wisdom especially through the life story of the Buddha, moving from comfort and and illusion to deep wisdom and compassion, and through his first teaching of the Four Noble Truths - the most basic expression of wisdom in the tradition.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Cultivating Clear Seeing, Opening the Heart

2009-11-05 The Middle Way 59:01
Stephen Batchelor
A reflection on the Middle Way, i.e., the whole eightfold path, as avoiding two "dead ends." This is followed by further thoughts on the Four Noble Truths as tasks that culminate in the eightfold path itself.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Meditation and Study Retreat

2009-11-05 Patience 60:22
Arinna Weisman
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks

2009-11-05 Emotions and Freedom 65:50
Rob Burbea
Gaia House November Solitary Retreat

2009-11-04 Four Great Efforts 63:34
Martine Batchelor
Explaining the four great efforts in connection to practice and daily life including tools of awareness and the three characteristics.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Meditation and Study Retreat

2009-11-04 Intimacy with Life 1:24:03
Tara Brach
Zen mast Dogen taught that "...to study the Buddhist way is to be Intimate with all Things." This talk reviews the often unconscious ways that we habitually block intimacy and two trainings of attention that foster a natural sense of belonging to this living world and to timeless presence.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2009-11-04 What the Buddha Really Taught: The Metta Sutta 54:51
Sylvia Boorstein
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks

2009-11-04 Awakening to Life 59:33
Stephen Batchelor
A reflection on the metaphor of "awakening" as a process rather than a "state" of "enlightenment", which is followed by a reading of the Buddha's First Sermon (Turning the Wheel of Dhamma) in which he presents this awakening as being concerned with the living process of the Four Noble Truths.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Meditation and Study Retreat

2009-11-04 Vedana 45:28
Catherine McGee
Gaia House November Solitary Retreat

2009-11-03 The Secret Beauty of Hearts: Transformations Through Metta 62:34
Donald Rothberg
Transformation in practice, whether in mindfulness or metta practice, occurs through repetition, patience, understanding and faith, in a sometimes mysterious way. Using poems and stories, we explore the nature of lovingkindness (metta) and the kinds of transformation that occur as we practice.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Cultivating Clear Seeing, Opening the Heart

2009-11-03 The Poisoned Arrow 60:43
Stephen Batchelor
A reflection on the Buddha's parable of the "poisoned arrow" (Malunkyaputta Sutta M63). This key text illustrates how the Dhamma is therapeutic, pragmatic and not concerned with metaphysical questions, which the Buddha regards as irrelevant and refuses to comment upon. What he does comment upon is the Four Noble Truths. The talk concludes with a reflection on the Buddha's account of his awakening as an insight into conditioned arising.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Meditation and Study Retreat

2009-11-02 Insight 61:07
Carol Wilson
Insight Meditation Society - Forest Refuge November 2009 at IMS - Forest Refuge

2009-11-02 The Three Trainings: Ethics, Concentration and Wisdom 45:31
Martine Batchelor
An exploration of the three trainings and reflection on cultivation and effect.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Meditation and Study Retreat

2009-11-02 Mindfulness - What It Is and What Makes It Difficult 64:30
Donald Rothberg
On this first evening of the retreat, we explore the nature of mindfulness in general and how we practice mindfulness of the body in particular. We then examine the five "difficult energies" (nivarana or "hindrances"), and how they make mindfulness difficult and how to practice when they are present.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Cultivating Clear Seeing, Opening the Heart

2009-11-02 The City 61:18
Stephen Batchelor
As the first of a series of 6 talks, Stephen outlines his project to "deconstruct" Buddhism in order to uncover the foundational ideas in which it is erected. He then analyzes the Buddha's metaphor of the "ancient path that leads to an ancient city" to suggest that the core teachings of the Dhamma are to be seen as forming the template for a restored civilization...
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Meditation and Study Retreat

2009-11-02 Truthfulness and Authenticity 64:18
Rob Burbea
Gaia House November Solitary Retreat

2009-11-02 Aspiration and Intention 27:01
Yanai Postelnik
Gaia House November Solitary Retreat

2009-11-01 Five Contemplations For Everyone 61:04
Greg Scharf
Five contemplations recommended by the Buddha that can lead to a sense of spiritual urgency or Samvega
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center Two-Month Retreat

2009-11-01 This Path That is Open to All 36:33
Ayya Anandabodhi
Insight Meditation Center

2009-11-01 Compassion the Natural Expression of Wisdom 52:29
Mark Nunberg
Dharma Talk
Common Ground Meditation Center

2009-10-31 The Secular Buddha 63:13
Stephen Batchelor
An introduction to and overview of the concept of secular Buddhism.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center

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