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Dharma Talks
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2009-07-11
Having Fun (Skillfully)
36:40
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Ajahn Sucitto
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The experience of having fun, enjoyment, is an energy. The problem comes when we locate it externally, then attach to it, self-orient around it. A skilful person knows how to cultivate pleasure in themselves. Practise with meditation. Find out what blocks it and what encourages it. The Buddha taught pleasure as a way to awakening.
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Cittaviveka
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Vassa Retreat
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2009-07-11
Walk Back to Center
18:31
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Ajahn Sucitto
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In whatever activity we engage in, meditation through the postures is a matter of returning to presence – to that awareness which can know. With walking, don’t do the walking, meditate the walking. Maintain a core presence that doesn’t participate and doesn’t shut anything out. Meet everything with openness and alertness, like a mother welcoming her children.
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Cittaviveka
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Vassa Retreat
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2009-06-09
Equanimity
41:43
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Shaila Catherine
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This talk explores equanimity as the fourth of the four qualities called Brahma Viharas. Previous talks in this series addressed loving kindness, compassion, and appreciative joy. Equanimity allows us to remain present and awake with the fact of things—equally close to the things we like and the things we dislike. It is important to develop equanimity in two arenas: 1) in response to pleasant and painful feelings, and 2) regarding the future results of our actions. Equanimity develops in meditation and in life. We can use unexpected events that we cannot control to develop this quality. Our job is not to judge our experiences, but to be present and respond wisely. Equanimity is a beautiful mental factor that can feel like freedom, but if "I" and "mine" still operate, there is still work to be done. Many suggestions are offered for cultivating equanimity.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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Four Brahma Viharas
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In
collections:
Four Brahma Viharas,
The Ten Paramis
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2009-05-21
Realizing the Nature of Mind
63:55
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Rob Burbea
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Through practice we can glimpse a sense of the nature of awareness as something ever present and awesomely vast, and this sense can be cultivated as a profound resource for freedom and peace in our lives. But eventually we must see even beyond this to know the ultimate nature of the mind - empty, completely groundless, and dependently-arisen - a seeing which brings an even deeper freedom. This talk explores some of the ways this realization might be encouraged and developed in meditation.
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Insight Meditation Society - Forest Refuge
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May 2009 at IMS - Forest Refuge
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2009-05-20
Three Gifts That Serve Freedom
56:43
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Tara Brach
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There are three spiritual capacities that are essential for our freedom. The first, forgiveness, is the releasing of stories that this self, or another, is bad. It is an opening of the heart to include all parts of our own being and this world. The second, inner fire, is the energy of devotion to what most matters to us. The third, looking within to realize what we are, reveals the truth of reality itself. This talk uses an ancient Indian teaching tale and guided meditations to explore these core elements of spiritual liberation.
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Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
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2009-05-12
Factors That Support and Hinder Concentration
58:22
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Sally Armstrong
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Any time we practice mindfulness and wise attention, we are weakening the impact of the hindrances, and strengthening what are known as the five jhanic factors: meditative qualities that support the continuity and deepening of our meditation. Each of the jhanic factors actually balances and acts as an antidote to one of the hindrances. This talk looks at how to strengthen the jhanic factors, and use them skillfully as antidotes to the hindrances.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Concentration Retreat
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2009-04-21
Mind is the Core
47:36
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Bhikkhu Bodhi
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Mind (citta) as the Buddha’s focus of investigation.
As both the cause of suffering and the means to its cessation
The Buddha points to two states or tendencies of mind
Akusala - unwholesome, unskillful
Kusala - wholesome, skillful, beneficial
Suffering follows the unwholesome mind, Happiness follows the wholesome mind like a shadow that never departs.
Our task, step by step, is to train the mind and supplant the unwholesome state with the wholesome states.
Greed, hatred and Delusion are the root causes for the unwholesome mind.
We must cultivate the factors that are the cause for the wholesome mind at three levels.
Coarse - Actions, bodily or verbal. We use the five precepts to prevent unwholesome tendencies at this level. Obsessive, compulsive patterns - Thoughts, emotions. We use meditation, deep samadhi directed to an object, to see the arising of these tendencies and still the mind. Underlying tendencies, attachments - the remaining defilements We use wisdom, insight, to investigate the body and mind and see their impermanence and stop the clinging to a false self to uproot these final tendencies. This is liberation.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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2009-04-01
Awakening Through Conflict
1:20:40
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Tara Brach
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The wisdom of the Buddha can guide us not only in discovering inner freedom, but in healing that which divides us from each other. While conflict is inevitable--we are wired toward flight and flight when our needs are not met--it is possible to have our patterns of interpersonal reactivity be the very grounds for awakening. This talk draws on the work of Non Violent Comunications (Marshal Rosenberg) and explores how mindful communications are an interpersonal meditation that gives rise to compassion and understanding.
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Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
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2009-03-27
Unsupporting Consciousness
24:42
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Ajahn Sucitto
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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.
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Cittaviveka
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Winter Retreat
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2009-03-26
Kind Awareness
54:44
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James Baraz
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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.
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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IMCB Regular Talks
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2009-03-21
Volition and The Rut of i am
46:09
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Ajahn Sucitto
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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.
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Cittaviveka
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Winter Retreat
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2009-03-10
Simplicity Of Being
40:20
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Shaila Catherine
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Be as you are. This talk encourages a spacious and accepting attitude that embraces experience just as it is occurring. It is inspired by non-meditation approaches that bring relaxation, release, and ease to awareness without the exertion or efforts of striving. Mindfulness instructions are simple: observe your experience of sensory contact, observe what occurs at any sense door. You don't need to do very much with what you observe. See what is happening; be present with what is. Several obstacles to deep presence are examined. We learn to release attachments to material stuff, to overcome the influence of social expectation, and to renounce distracting and unskillful speech. We also learn to free the mind from mental proliferation, worry, and restless wandering; to embrace precepts that protect us from doing habitual or selfish actions; and to let go of clinging whenever it arises. This approach illuminates the power of renunciation; the calming of concepts of self, I, me, and mine; and the great peace that brings an end to suffering.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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Tuesday Talks
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2009-03-10
Viveka-Taking The Step Back
59:18
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Ajahn Sucitto
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We try to avoid suffering, but end up perpetuating it instead. In meditation, we can tap into two aspects of wisdom – the ability to unhook and the ability to see. These allow us to relate to the experience of suffering in a way that brings it to an end.
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Cittaviveka
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Winter Retreat
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2009-02-17
Constriction and Spaciousness
1:16:22
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John Peacock
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Please note that these talks are from a 4 week retreat for experienced meditators. The talks and meditations can be listened to in any order or individually, but as they progressively unfold different levels of understanding of Emptiness, they will probably be more fully understood and the practices more easily developed if taken in series
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Gaia House
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Meditation on Emptiness (2009)
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2009-02-15
The Unfabricated, The Deathless...
67:13
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Rob Burbea
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Please note that these talks are from a 4 week retreat for experienced meditators. The talks and meditations can be listened to in any order or individually, but as they progressively unfold different levels of understanding of Emptiness, they will probably be more fully understood and the practices more easily developed if taken in series
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Gaia House
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Meditation on Emptiness (2009)
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2009-02-13
On the Nature of Mind
67:30
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Rob Burbea
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Please note that these talks are from a 4 week retreat for experienced meditators. The talks and meditations can be listened to in any order or individually, but as they progressively unfold different levels of understanding of Emptiness, they will probably be more fully understood and the practices more easily developed if taken in series
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Gaia House
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Meditation on Emptiness (2009)
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2009-02-12
Mind Only
1:20:10
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John Peacock
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Please note that these talks are from a 4 week retreat for experienced meditators. The talks and meditations can be listened to in any order or individually, but as they progressively unfold different levels of understanding of Emptiness, they will probably be more fully understood and the practices more easily developed if taken in series
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Gaia House
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Meditation on Emptiness (2009)
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2009-02-09
The Freedom of No-thing-ness
53:22
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Rob Burbea
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Please note that these talks are from a 4 week retreat for experienced meditators. The talks and meditations can be listened to in any order or individually, but as they progressively unfold different levels of understanding of Emptiness, they will probably be more fully understood and the practices more easily developed if taken in series
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Gaia House
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Meditation on Emptiness (2009)
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2009-02-08
Love, Karma, and Healing
1:14:10
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Rob Burbea
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Please note that these talks are from a 4 week retreat for experienced meditators. The talks and meditations can be listened to in any order or individually, but as they progressively unfold different levels of understanding of Emptiness, they will probably be more fully understood and the practices more easily developed if taken in series
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Gaia House
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Meditation on Emptiness (2009)
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2009-02-02
Cittamatra
61:46
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Rob Burbea
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Please note that these talks are from a 4 week retreat for experienced meditators. The talks and meditations can be listened to in any order or individually, but as they progressively unfold different levels of understanding of Emptiness, they will probably be more fully understood and the practices more easily developed if taken in series
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Gaia House
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Meditation on Emptiness (2009)
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2009-02-02
Guided Meditation - Cittamatra
44:34
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Rob Burbea
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Please note that these talks are from a 4 week retreat for experienced meditators. The talks and meditations can be listened to in any order or individually, but as they progressively unfold different levels of understanding of Emptiness, they will probably be more fully understood and the practices more easily developed if taken in series
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Gaia House
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Meditation on Emptiness (2009)
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2009-02-01
THe Naked Heart
40:22
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Thanissara
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The mind like a rabbit in the head lights of the Hua T’ou
The swoon of the bardo’s and present time effects
Not using meditation like a lawyer but understanding what gets us obstructed
The story of Hui Neng & the world speaking the Diamond Sutra
Jatukanni’s question to the Buddha
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Dharmagiri
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Original Brightness Retreat
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2009-02-01
Integrity and the Poetics of Unknowing
69:40
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Rob Burbea
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Please note that these talks are from a 4 week retreat for experienced meditators. The talks and meditations can be listened to in any order or individually, but as they progressively unfold different levels of understanding of Emptiness, they will probably be more fully understood and the practices more easily developed if taken in series
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Gaia House
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Meditation on Emptiness (2009)
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2009-01-31
Patience With Views and All Else
51:31
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Ajahn Sucitto
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In meditation, rather than getting involved with liking and disliking, we practise letting things just pass through. The movements are just shifts in energy. Learn how to move with the changes rather than reacting with sorrow, resistance or craving. Cultivate patience with your mind as it rattles on, and with a life that isn’t going the way you want, until the mind becomes big enough to hold it all.
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Cittaviveka
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Winter Retreat
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2009-01-30
Exploring the Relationship with Practice
59:49
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Rob Burbea
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Please note that these talks are from a 4 week retreat for experienced meditators. The talks and meditations can be listened to in any order or individually, but as they progressively unfold different levels of understanding of Emptiness, they will probably be more fully understood and the practices more easily developed if taken in series
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Gaia House
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Meditation on Emptiness (2009)
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2009-01-29
What it is to be a Self
1:15:04
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John Peacock
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Please note that these talks are from a 4 week retreat for experienced meditators. The talks and meditations can be listened to in any order or individually, but as they progressively unfold different levels of understanding of Emptiness, they will probably be more fully understood and the practices more easily developed if taken in series
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Gaia House
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Meditation on Emptiness (2009)
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2009-01-27
Mindfulness of Movement
41:42
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Ajahn Sucitto
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The underlying bent of the mind is craving, that leaning of the mind to have, get, find, belong. In meditation we practise with loosening that craving energy, and introducing calming subjects for recollection. Walking meditation is a skilful means for loosening and gentling the mind.
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Cittaviveka
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Winter Retreat
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2009-01-27
The Challenge of Radical Contingency
1:17:57
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John Peacock
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Please note that these talks are from a 4 week retreat for experienced meditators. The talks and meditations can be listened to in any order or individually, but as they progressively unfold different levels of understanding of Emptiness, they will probably be more fully understood and the practices more easily developed if taken in series
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Gaia House
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Meditation on Emptiness (2009)
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2009-01-26
Practicing with the Three Characteristics
1:16:45
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Rob Burbea
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Please note that these talks are from a 4 week retreat for experienced meditators. The talks and meditations can be listened to in any order or individually, but as they progressively unfold different levels of understanding of Emptiness, they will probably be more fully understood and the practices more easily developed if taken in series
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Gaia House
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Meditation on Emptiness (2009)
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2009-01-25
The Sense of Self
60:39
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Rob Burbea
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Please note that these talks are from a 4 week retreat for experienced meditators. The talks and meditations can be listened to in any order or individually, but as they progressively unfold different levels of understanding of Emptiness, they will probably be more fully understood and the practices more easily developed if taken in series
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Gaia House
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Meditation on Emptiness (2009)
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2009-01-24
Emptiness
60:52
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Rob Burbea
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Please note that these talks are from a 4 week retreat for experienced meditators. The talks and meditations can be listened to in any order or individually, but as they progressively unfold different levels of understanding of Emptiness, they will probably be more fully understood and the practices more easily developed if taken in series
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Gaia House
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Meditation on Emptiness (2009)
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2009-01-24
Samadhi in the Practice of Emptiness
44:40
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Rob Burbea
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Please note that these talks are from a 4 week retreat for experienced meditators. The talks and meditations can be listened to in any order or individually, but as they progressively unfold different levels of understanding of Emptiness, they will probably be more fully understood and the practices more easily developed if taken in series
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Gaia House
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Meditation on Emptiness (2009)
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2009-01-13
A Step Towards The Transcendant
43:01
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Ajahn Sucitto
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This teaching describes the running of psycho-somatic ‘programs’ (saṇkhārā ) – in terms of those that are default and those we can intentionally induce. In this way, in meditation, we develop skills that can change our psychological patterns. The method is: first step back from the torrent of mind; then, cultivate enlightenment factors.
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Cittaviveka
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Winter Retreat
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2009-01-06
Themes of meditation
30:49
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Through referencing the parable of the cook (S.47:8), we are encouraged to get to know the mind in order to choose the meditation theme that suits it best. There are a range of themes you can use to counteract hindrances: such as death contemplation, unattractiveness of the body, lovingkindness, Buddha and breathing. Through trial and error, find out what is needed.
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Cittaviveka
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Winter Retreat
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