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Dharma Talks
2009-03-30 Awake In Nature 58:46
Mark Coleman
How does our meditation practice relate to the natural world? How does nature support our awakening. This talk explores how nature supports us to be more aware & develop awe, wonder, love, appreciation, peace and connectedness.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks

2009-03-30 The Parami of Metta 52:55
Rebecca Bradshaw
Insight Meditation Society - Forest Refuge March 2009 at IMS - Forest Refuge

2009-03-29 The Practice of Deep Intimacy 53:10
Tanto Meiya Wender
Gaia House Soto Zen Forms and Ceremonies - The Practice of Deep Intimacy

2009-03-28 The Liberated Heart 44:27
Christina Feldman
The heart that is free from the painful aching sense of lack or incompleteness.
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center A Taste of Freedom: Insight Meditation Weekend

2009-03-28 Zazen 1:35:13
Tanto Meiya Wender
Gaia House Soto Zen Forms and Ceremonies - The Practice of Deep Intimacy

2009-03-28 Boundaries and Space 35:07
Ajahn Sucitto
Space seems like the opposite of boundaries, but space is there because of boundaries. So in order to give yourself some space internally you have to create boundaries in the mind. Know what to set aside, and moderate what you pick up in terms of future, past, self and other people. Those are the four areas that turbulences occur around. You don’t have to be trapped and meshed up with this.
Cittaviveka Winter Retreat

2009-03-27 Opening Talk 45:06
Christina Feldman
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center A Taste of Freedom: Insight Meditation Weekend

2009-03-27 Unsupporting Consciousness 24:42
Ajahn Sucitto
In meditation we can come to recognize what the mind leans upon and why – and how everything it leans on falls apart. The most stable and secure abiding is unsupported consciousness – the removal of all props – ‘this is peaceful, this is sublime.’ It leads to cessation, a place of rest.
Cittaviveka Winter Retreat

2009-03-27 The Paradox of Zen 1:19:04
Tanto Meiya Wender
Gaia House Soto Zen Forms and Ceremonies - The Practice of Deep Intimacy

2009-03-26 Bodhicitta 55:30
John Travis
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation March Month Long

2009-03-26 Kind Awareness 54:44
James Baraz
This is a three part series of talks on James’ basic meditation instructions: “Receive the moment with a relaxed, interested and kind awareness. What does a kind awareness mean? How can we meet each moment—including moments of fear or physical discomfort—with this attitude? This is a key issue for deepening our practice.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks

2009-03-26 Ritual in Soto Zen 27:54
Tanto Meiya Wender
Gaia House Soto Zen Forms and Ceremonies - The Practice of Deep Intimacy

2009-03-25 Part 2 - The Body as a Gateway to Full Presence 1:20:28
Tara Brach
We have strong conditioning to take false refuge in our mind, and disconnect from our senses. These two talks explore the pathways and gifts of coming home to embodied awareness.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2009-03-25 Aloneness and Interconnectedness 43:57
Christina Feldman
These are the two pillars of freedom and compassion cultivated moment to moment in our practice.
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center 25th Anniversary of the Women’s Retreat

2009-03-25 Bodhisattva Path 60:48
Pamela Weiss

2009-03-25 Cultivating Mudita (Appreciative Joy) pt I 49:16
Donald Rothberg
We explore the practice of Mudita in the context of the other three Brahmaviharaas; seeing how it goes again both self-centered joy and tendencies to focus on problems or what is "wrong" in a situation. There is some guidance in the formal mudita practice, as well as more general cultivation of joy.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks

2009-03-25 Touch The Earth, Find Your Ground 49:49
Ajahn Sucitto
Learning to stay with the flow of experience in a non-conflicting way is quite difficult. Recollecting how the Buddha called on the Earth for support when confronted by the host of mara, we too can find support in the ground of our presence and virtue.
Cittaviveka Winter Retreat

2009-03-24 Wise Intention II 59:34
Adrianne Ross
How moment-to-moment awareness of the 3 wise intentions leads to wise action and happiness.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation March Month Long

2009-03-24 Ten Paramis: Renunciation (1) 57:49
Rodney Smith
Pausing to see what is important, and appreciating the space the pause offers.
Seattle Insight Meditation Society
In collection: The Ten Paramis

2009-03-24 Getting Impermanence 29:37
Ajahn Sucitto
The Buddha’s last words were: ‘All sankhārā are impermanent; make an effort with diligence.’ Is there a place where self, other, past, future don’t happen? That’s what we meditate for. It takes us under the froth to the root of where the turbulence is coming from. These formative patterns have energy, but through bearing presence, they gradually lose their intensity and dissolve.
Cittaviveka Winter Retreat

2009-03-23 Disempowering the Judging Mind 58:45
Myoshin Kelley
Looking at the comparing mind and the conceit of "I am"
Insight Meditation Society - Forest Refuge March 2009 at IMS - Forest Refuge

2009-03-23 The Practice and Fruition of Renunciation 41:27
Christina Feldman
Renunciation is taught in this tradition as the practice of happiness and freedom.
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center 25th Anniversary of the Women’s Retreat

2009-03-22 The Joy of Sila Parami 53:04
Trudy Goodman
Understanding sila as the foundation of Karma and inspiring stories. How sila as respect and love can become a default setting for us -- The Buddha said sila is his dharma heir, our teacher.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation March Month Long

2009-03-22 Quarterly Refuges & Precepts 31:17
Mark Nunberg
Dharma Talk
Common Ground Meditation Center

2009-03-22 Absolute Honesty 28:48
Ajahn Sucitto
People talk about absolute truth, but what about absolute honesty? Honesty about craving and clinging. Craving and clinging focus on pleasure, but through following that we get addicted. To get off that, the recommendation is to cultivate enlightenment factors for support. Develop an inner axis, use one’s collectedness as a prop.
Cittaviveka Winter Retreat

2009-03-21 7 Factors 56:00
John Travis
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation March Month Long

2009-03-21 Spaciousness 51:22
Christina Feldman
Spaciousness, born of understanding the nature of contracted, is the climate of the heart prevaded with ease and kindness.
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center 25th Anniversary of the Women’s Retreat

2009-03-21 Volition and The Rut of i am 46:09
Ajahn Sucitto
Generally, mind becomes tangled with concerns for the future, planning, wanting things to be completed, finished. But nothing is solid or definite; it’s never quite right. This is the First Noble Truth. In meditation we take attention off the topic to how am I handling the topic: how am I affected, does this lead to more suffering or less? Open, soften, let it travel through.
Cittaviveka Winter Retreat

2009-03-21 A Path of Peace and Happiness 55:43
Yanai Postelnik
Gaia House A Path of Peace and Happiness

2009-03-20 Energies of the Heart 53:24
Marie Mannschatz
In the heart the beauty of the human spirit comes alive.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation March Month Long

2009-03-20 Unencumbered 19:12
Ayya Medhanandi
Fire is our teacher - the fire of pain, the fire of persevering through difficulty and the fire of going beyond what we think we are capable of. For we are greater that we know and our journey is one of learning to trust what is right and true. When the heart’s compassion, wisdom, and generosity mature, there is no space for fear. All the dross of the world melts away in the silence of pure presence. Here is the absolute sanctity of awareness, unencumbered, and joyous in the knowledge of pure love itself.
Ottawa Buddhist Society (Sisters of St. Joseph Convent)

2009-03-20 Opening Talk for A Path of Peace and Happiness Retreat 56:16
Yanai Postelnik
Gaia House A Path of Peace and Happiness

2009-03-19 2009 Monthly Sitting Group, Month 3: How the Jhana Factors Neutralize the Hindrances, and Concentration Practice as Purification of Mind 1:13:58
Tina Rasmussen
Includes: Jhana factors overview; how hindrances relate to jhana factors; the role of sila / wholesomeness in this practice; how concentration practice leads to purification of mind; meditation instructions; and Q&A
Various

2009-03-19 Interested Awareness 56:31
James Baraz
This is a three part series of talks on James’ basic meditation instructions: “Receive the moment with a relaxed, interested and kind awareness.”
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks

2009-03-19 The True Test of Wisdom 50:22
Trudy Goodman
Truthfulness Parami and what the Buddha taught is the test for wisdom - how to purify the heart.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation March Month Long

2009-03-19 Ice Melts 40:57
Ayya Medhanandi
We can know freedom from suffering when the light of dhamma (or truth) arises. This illumination will melt the impurities formed by unwholesome mind states. Oh, what a freedom! A talk given during a 10 day Ottawa Buddhist Society retreat at the Sisters of St. Joseph Convent, Pembroke, Ontario, Canada in 2009.
Ottawa Buddhist Society

2009-03-19 Ice Melts 28:52
Ayya Medhanandi
Within us is the seed of awakening. And yet we are so blind. Can we free ourselves by seeing through clouds of delusion, greed and hatefulness? Do we have the resolve and patience to begin and the humility and forgiveness to keep going in hard times? Vigilance in ethical practice, unremitting mindfulness, inner stillness, and sharp discernment melt ignorance and purify the mind. Not only that – joyous and aware, we radiate a fearless unequivocal compassion. When the sun rises, darkness disappears. Just so, we emerge from our blindness, at peace with all conditions
Ottawa Buddhist Society

2009-03-19 Many Ways 29:04
Mary Grace Orr
Insight Santa Cruz

2009-03-18 Wisdom and the Path 57:40
Gil Fronsdal
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation March Month Long

2009-03-18 Part 1 - The Body as a Gateway to Full Presence 1:16:48
Tara Brach
We have strong conditioning to take false refuge in our mind, and disconnect from our senses. These two talks explore the pathways and gifts of coming home to embodied awareness.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2009-03-18 Fierce Gifts 36:07
Ayya Medhanandi
When life presents fearsome obstacles, be your own spiritual ally and turn those obstacles into windows that open to the depths of the heart. There, cultivating loving-kindness, compassion, radiant joy and the wisdom of discernment, behold the fierce gifts of the Dhamma that defy delusion and rescue us from the mire of every perceived burden.
Ottawa Buddhist Society

2009-03-18 Bodhisattvas Archtype 43:52
Pamela Weiss

2009-03-18 Practicing Compassion, pt II 56:58
Donald Rothberg
We continue to explore the practices to develop, examining the nature of compassion - its relationship to the other brahmaviharas, the receptive and active dimensions of compassion, the near and far enemies; how we might practice compassion in the world - interpersonally and socially; and the relationship of compassion and wisdom.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks

2009-03-18 Fading and Dispassion 47:07
Ajahn Sucitto
Cultivation is both about doing and not doing. Sometimes it’s about restraining and letting the roots of old habits die out. This requires the ability to step back and witness, and to stand firm against emotional pressure. When we can remain as the witness, there is the immediate fruit of freedom in that moment, and the long-term fruit of changing the tendency.
Cittaviveka Winter Retreat

2009-03-17 Rivers of Wisdom 50:49
Adrianne Ross
How seeing the Five Aggregates as unsatisfactory, impermanence and not self leads to liberation.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation March Month Long

2009-03-17 Niagara Falls 13:45
Ayya Medhanandi
How can we sharpen awareness of thoughts that gush forth in the mind like Niagara Falls? Observe them gently, not clinging and with diligent focus. Our present moment awareness and unstoppable attention, when sustained inwardly, have the transformative power of a Niagara to cleanse the heart of all impurities. Therein is the path to freedom.
Ottawa Buddhist Society :  Pembroke Retreat

2009-03-16 The Wisdom of Insecurity 49:58
Nina Wise
In this time of economic uncertainty, how do we cultivate equanimity and well being. Guidance for transforming hard times into good times.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks

2009-03-16 Barefoot and Empty-handed 40:41
Ayya Medhanandi
Developing awakened wisdom is an organic process, the unbinding of all problems that leads to indestructible peace and harmlessness. We undertake and persevere through training the mind so that we can renounce our attachments and stop the interior whirling of the world. No longer caught in its duality, we rest in knowing the liberating truth of this moment, cessation of suffering and a transcendent healing that takes us to the Deathless.
Ottawa Buddhist Society

2009-03-16 Stay Tuned - Radiant Mind Untainted By Ego 26:45
Ayya Medhanandi
We hear in the Udana, Verses of Uplift, about the Venerable Meghiya’s wish to practise in the beautiful Mango Grove before his mind was mature enough. Even when we are on retreat and conditions for practice seem perfect, hindrances plague the mind and overcome it with impurities. So we hold fast to the Buddha’s instructions to know for ourselves the radiance of mind that is untainted by ego.
Ottawa Buddhist Society

2009-03-15 Metta - Seeing Our Goodness 59:46
Dori Langevin
Exploring the history of the Metta Sutta and Metta as antidote to ill-will
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation March Month Long

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