The retreat environment brings forth certain principles of the Buddha. Lay practice brings forth other principles. What are the tools and forms of urban life?

What it means to live a life of awakening in a culture that values materials success, grasping and control.

How giving, relinquishing and receiving act to open the heart and are gateways to freedom.

RESPECT FOR SUFFERING The suffering that arises in the practice is a noble truth, something worthy of respect. You can’t just push it away. If you’re going to end suffering you have to give it space, understand it, and approach it systematically. INTERCONNECTEDNESS Interconnectedness is not always pretty. It means that our bad actions can have endless repercussions, and that our happiness is dependent on a very fragile web. But by becoming more skillful in our actions we can turn the principle of interconnectedness into a good thing: a path to a happiness that’s truly independent. BEING STILL The quieter you are, the more you see. Being quiet is a form of doing, and sometimes it’s the most skillful thing you can do: You learn perspective and sensitivity, and you position yourself in the best spot to recognize insight when it arises. THE WORLD IS SWEPT AWAY Instead of trying to find our happiness in a world of change, we take that changing world and turn it toward the changeless, look for that which is unchanging right here, right now. THE THREE CHARACTERISTICS The teaching on the Three Characteristics is meant to liberate the mind from unnecessary burdens. The normal mind shadows everything that happens, but as you bring the mind to every more subtle levels of stillness and ease, you can detect ever more subtle levels of inconstancy and stress, and so naturally let them go. FIVE TALKS ON ONE CASSETTE OR CD

True practice is knowing that you are already a manifestation of compassion without trying. Knowing that, we let go of what is false and keep returning to our peaceful heart.

The meditation journey is traveling the distance between the mind and the heart.

Sangha is an essential element in the unfolding of ones Path.

Desire is usually described as a hindrance to meditation, but to realize deathless liberation we must want to be free. A burning desire to awaken opens the heart and mind to a possibility of freedom otherwise not known. This talk examines the force of desire as both a form of craving that perpetuates suffering, and as a necessary and wholesome factor that supports the realization of nibbana (nirvana) and the end of suffering. We examine hindrances, pain, and obstacles from which we want to be free in order to realize unconditioned awakening. Working with desire has some risks, but it is a powerful force that encourages curiosity, investigation, and openness to possibility—the possibility of discovering a profound fearlessness, and enduring happiness, the possibility of enlightenment.

Stokes Valley Monastery Retreat, New Zealand The poison arrow of ignorance spreads its toxins through passion, desire and ill will. By sitting still, applying mindfulness and surrendering to what is, the right view will illuminate our minds and will help us extract the arrow and heal the wound.

Learn how we can refine our mental skills of faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom. Enhanced by right view and a deepened understanding of the Four Noble Truths, these spiritual powers vanquish hatred and fear, nurturing our readiness to forgive, and the blessed qualities of universal loving-kindness and compassion. A talk given during a 10-day retreat at Bodhinyanarama Monastery, Stokes Valley, New Zealand in 2002.

What is the best chariot according to the Dhamma? A commentary on the Buddha’s conversation with Ananda about the noble vehicle that will carry you victoriously along the spiritual path - to Nibbana, full awakening.  A talk given at a 10-day retreat in Bodhinyanarama Monastery, Stokes Valley, New Zealand in 2002.

Integrating practice into the whole of our life; this beautiful noble path of awakening as a great support and a great protection for our life as our practice.

Study a few of your behaviors this week such as sleeping, eating, or recreational enjoyment such as listening to music or watching videos. How much of these activities arise from self-indulgence and how much from self-kindness? Are all forms of entertainment self-indulgent? Since almost any action can be either indulgent or kind, what determines which way you label it? When you consider yourself equally deserving (self-love) then the quality of your action is as important as the result. Do you believe this is a true statement? What does self-love have to do with the way you do things? Isn't it good enough that the results benefit others? Explore this question this week and watch whether you consider yourself equally deserving in your actions.

This talk is about some of the beautiful qualities of mind that are cultivated with each moment of mindfulness.

Questions for personal inquiry: Do you experience most interpersonal relationships as growth opportunities or troubling? Do you make space in your life for others? Do you frequently feel isolated and lonely? How much of the isolation comes from assumptions about self and other? Do you make the effort to attend gatherings of like-minded people? Reflection: What was your life like before you knew the existence of "a Path"? What is different now? How does the sangha support that Path and your growth on it? Would the Path be the same without the sangha? What efforts do you make to build cohesion in the sangha? Exercise: Become active in your support of like-minded people. Befriend someone from the sangha, volunteer for a community activity, join a like-minded group or become socially engaged in meaningful action. The sangha like the dharma takes each one of us to make it complete.

the five characteristics of well spoken speech: from a friendly heart, gently, truthfully, for other's benefit and at the proper time

Joseph shares personal stories about his dharma journey.

Metta is a powerful tool in the journey of awakening. The practice makes the heart more responsive and also offers purification, concentration, connection to all of life, and happiness.

There is great power and strength in the capacity to connect within our self and to others. Directly, clearly, patiently and fearlessly with a heart/mind that is free of ill-will and rooted in lovingkindness and mindfulness.

This is a reading of the Mahamangala Sutta, the highest blessings, with some commentary on various aspects that relate to our life.

The practice of mindfulness and heart.

An inner wealth of generosity is powerful medicine. An antidote to the anguish and confusion that's generated through the training to accumulate and fixate upon and cling to our accumulations, generosity a seamless circle - giving and receiving. It feeds and grows itself.

The direct experience of the truth of change at ever-deepening levels re-aligns our relationship with the world and enables us to let be and let go.

The Buddha instructed us to see events as "not me, not mine, not who I am." When the body, choices, personal history and the narrator are seen in this way, the happiness of peace becomes possible.

Instructions - Mudita Practice. Short reflection with oneself - good, helpful, skillful things we've done. Mudita phrases with - some it's easy to rejoice for/with--------and a benefactor, a friend, a family member, fellow yogi, all yogis on retreat.

Mudita - the natural response of the heart - our capacity to see joy in relationship to another's happiness, success, beauty, goodness or well being. Exploring and recognizing the joy that has no 'self' at the center of it… the momentary joy of the pure heart.

Opening the heart and training the mind through the practice of lovingkindness enables one to deeply connect with the truth of life as it unfolds. This brings forths a grateful mind like serenity, calm abiding and peaceful love.

Cultivating a strong and clear mindful attention that meets the experience of the moment allows us to see the afflictive emotions clearly.. To see through them like we see through the colors of a rainbow. This 'seeing' brings with it the possibility of the transformation of afflictive states into wholesome energies.