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Dharma Talks
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2017-03-16 Conscientious Compassion: An Engaged Dharmic Response to Forces of Greed and Hatred 60:14
James Baraz, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Kate Munding
Bhikkhu Bodhi, premier translator of the Pali Canon and social activist (founder of Buddhist Global Relief) joins James and Kate Munding. They and the community discuss how to respond wisely and Dharmically when those in power create policies that increase fear and suffering.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks

2017-03-15 Realizing Your Deepest Desires 52:19
Tara Brach
This talk differentiates between egoic intentions (driven by wants and fears), and our true aspiration (deepest desires) to manifest our full potential for awake awareness and love. We explore ways to realize and open to our deepest desires when we are stuck in self-promotion, grasping and conflict, so that our aspiration becomes a compass of the heart that can guide us in living with wisdom and compassion. “What’s my deepest intention. What really matters?”
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2017-03-07 Money 41:24
Kim Allen
Kim Allen gave the third talk in a speaker series titled "Everyday Dhamma." She discussed how money is an important part of our life, as well as a potent realm for practice. Much of what the Buddha said about wealth and money was about our relationship to money, because this is where our suffering and freedom lies. More specifically, we can easily have an unwholesome relationship to our wealth. For example, we can become miserly and crave even more wealth. Or we can establish a wholesome relationship with our wealth, such as supporting our family, our friends, and the Dhamma. In this way, we can relate to money with wisdom and generosity, instead of grasping and fear.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection: Everyday Dhamma

2017-02-19 Fear 49:01
Eugene Cash
San Francisco Insight Meditation Community

2017-01-25 Darkness of the Womb - Four Key Steps in Transforming Suffering 68:13
Tara Brach
We can either repeat old fear based patterns, or our suffering can awaken us to a deeper wisdom and greater love. This talk explores four principles in relating to difficulty that move us towards healing and freedom - both personally and as a society.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2017-01-19 "Being a Sacred Warrior in These Tough Times" 49:13
James Baraz
Martin Luther King Jr. said, "I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." As we enter a time of uncertainty and, many are experiencing a swirl of emotions from apprehension and fear to anger and ill. How can we use our dharma practice to acknowledge and transform our negative emotions into wise effective response coming from understanding and love?
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks

2017-01-05 What Channel Are You Tuned To? 50:52
James Baraz
(Note: This talk has some occasional sound distortion but it's worth it.) As the Buddha said, "We are what we think. With our thoughts we make the world." Our minds can go to the the greatest places of fear, anxiety and ill will or understanding, compassion and peace. When we're lost in confusion we have in us the capacity to remember the goodness and wisdom that our hearts long to connect with. This talk is about remembering that possibility and cultivating access to that Buddha right inside, especially when the outside world is giving us very different messages.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks

2016-12-28 Love - and Death 61:32
Tara Brach
To live our lives fully, we need to embrace the natural unfolding of birthing and dying. Yet we are deeply conditioned to resist loss, to pull away from fear and grief. Through a powerful Inuit story shared by Clarissa Estes, this talk explores how our practices of presence can open us to what we avoid, and free us to love without holding back.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2016 IMCW New Year Retreat: Awakening the Heart of Compassion

2016-12-24 Willing to Make a Mistake 12:56
Ajahn Sucitto
Ajahn Sucitto explains how we have to be willing to make mistakes in order to learn and understand. And we need to examine the fear we have of making mistakes.
Tisarana Buddhist Monastery :  Morning Meeting Offerings

2016-12-21 The Revolution of Tenderness – Part 2 65:54
Tara Brach
These two talks explore our capacity to be tender – sensitive and responsive to ourselves and others. This capacity marks a radical evolutionary shift from a self-centered existence shaped by fear, to a life lived from the realization of our collective belonging and the preciousness of all life. The talks examine the conditioning that inclines us toward dissociation and emotional reactivity, and the practices of presence that evolve our heart and awareness.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2016-12-14 The Revolution of Tenderness - Part 1 1:15:33
Tara Brach
These two talks explore our capacity to be tender - sensitive and responsive to ourselves and others. This capacity marks a radical evolutionary shift from a self-centered existence shaped by fear, to a life lived from the realization of our collective belonging and the preciousness of all life. The talks examine the conditioning that inclines us toward dissociation and emotional reactivity, and the practices of presence that evolve our heart and awareness. from Tara’s talk: Pope Francis invites us to “live the revolution of tenderness,” which is expressed through closeness, compassion and service...
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2016-12-12 The Fearless Heart 57:52
Yanai Postelnik
Gaia House Loving-Kindness and Compassion

2016-12-11 More Suggestions for Practicing Tonglen 40:22
Zohar Lavie
These recordings are part of a ten month course entitled Living Fearlessly with Change - Exploring Ageing, Illness and Death Through Buddhist Practice and Service.
Gaia House (Bala Brook) Living Fearlessly with Change

2016-12-10 Guided Meditation on Spacious Compassionate Awareness 44:25
Zohar Lavie
These recordings are part of a ten month course entitled Living Fearlessly with Change - Exploring Ageing, Illness and Death Through Buddhist Practice and Service.
Gaia House (Bala Brook) Living Fearlessly with Change

2016-11-20 Redemption 30:51
Ayya Medhanandi
How can we be free of anger? To cross a river, walk over it. From a burning house, escape. So too, when your heart is on fire, stay present, forgiving and compassionate. Balance and cleanse the mind to stop it from spinning with fear, to see deeply, to heal. We direct the mind to what is great – the very source of unsurpassed joy arising as we awaken to the blessed Dhamma.
Satipaññā Insight Meditation Toronto

2016-11-18 Change for the Good 33:51
Ayya Medhanandi
Are we ready to stop clinging, let go and trust? If we live with gratitude and change for the good; if we learn to really see, we will be able to listen from within and notice the true condition of the mind, going from a state of fear to non-fear, from suffering to non-suffering, from trauma to trust and the truth of the Unconditioned. Putting out the fires of greed, hatred and delusion, we forgive, set our burdens down and embrace kindness. We make wise choices and we live and die with joy, peace, and blessing.
Satipaññā Insight Meditation Toronto

2016-11-09 Morning Reflection: Navigating Uncertainty and Fear 9:56
Brian Lesage
Insight Meditation Society - Forest Refuge October 1 to November 9 2016 at IMS - Forest Refuge

2016-11-08 Navigating Uncertainty and Fear 47:48
Brian Lesage
This talk offers reflections on the dynamics of uncertainty and fear in our lives and on retreat and how to navigate them.
Insight Meditation Society - Forest Refuge October 1 to November 9 2016 at IMS - Forest Refuge

2016-11-08 Chant, Breathe, Trust - Bless the Rain 16:21
Ayya Medhanandi
One way animals restore themselves after an attack and regain equilibrium is through the trembling of the body. We too, as human beings, can create an inner rhythmic chant to resonate vibrational waves that help us move out of fear and clear traumas from our nervous system. All the senses converge and soak in the sound of the breath itself. Trusting the heart's innate goodness, we feel uplifted. Bless the rain.
Ottawa Buddhist Society

2016-11-02 Awakening Consciousness in Shadowy Times - Part 2 68:50
Tara Brach
The shadow is the unfaced, unlived fears and emotional pain in our individual and collective psyche. When not brought into awareness it expresses as “no” - the anger, aggression, hopelessness and cynicism that is resisting and opposing life. In this talk we explore how to evolve our consciousness by bringing “yes” - clarity and loving acceptance - to the parts of our being we have been unwilling to feel. This loving “yes” reconnects us to our basic goodness and helps others do the same.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2016-10-25 Buddhist Studies Course - Understanding Sensuality - Week 6 63:17
Mark Nunberg
Tonight we will finish our discussion regarding the drawbacks and limitations of sensual experience. Please be prepared to share with your small group your own direct experience how the habits of fear, attachment, craving... create a sense of weight and suffering around our sense experiences. We'll spend the last two weeks looking at the "Escape" from the stress related to sense experience. Here is a good article to read written by a senior Buddhist nun in the Western Ajahn Chah lineage, Sister Siripann
Common Ground Meditation Center Buddhist Studies Course - Understanding Sensuality
Attached Files:
  • Renunciation: The Highest Happiness by Sister Siripanna (Google Doc)

2016-09-22 "The Issue of Othering" 58:04
James Baraz
Dedicated to the memory of Bob Kaneko, a dharma friend who recently passed away. As a child Bob spent years 4-8 in a Japanese Internment camp in California,1942-1946. This talk explores how easily we humans can unfairly treat and oppress those different from us. We see this daily in the media with hateful rhetoric stirring fears in many. How can we use practice to skillfully respond?
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks

2016-09-18 Working with difficult emotions. 62:07
Guy Armstrong
This talk describes how to find greater freedom in relation to the emotions that are usually the greatest source of suffering, desire, fear, sadness and anger
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center Three-Month Part 1

2016-09-10 Fear and Fearlessness 26:58
Amita Schmidt
Fearlessness is a deep spiritual practice. This talk offers some tools and reflections on increasing your inner strength and fearlessness during these difficult times
Insight Meditation of Cleveland

2016-08-26 (retreat) Your Future Self - Turning Towards Your Awakened HeartMind 57:34
Tara Brach
Our lives are shaped by our evolutionary past - the fears and wants that arise from a separate self sense - and the pull of our evolutionary potential - our awakened heart and mind. This talk explores the power of these pulls, and the teachings and reflections that make us most available and responsive to the calling of our future self.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2016 IMCW Women's Retreat - The Heart of Buddhist Meditation

2016-08-24 Your Future Self - Turning Towards Your Awakened HeartMind 1:12:55
Tara Brach
Our lives are shaped by our evolutionary past - the fears and wants that arise from a separate self sense - and the pull of our evolutionary potential - our awakened heart and mind. This talk explores the power of these pulls, and the teachings and reflections that make us most available and responsive to the calling of our future self.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2016-08-18 Holding the Lotus to the Rock 42:43
Ayya Medhanandi
Sariputta said (SN 21.1): “There is nothing in the world with whose change there would arise in me sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair.” It is hard to remember the Buddha’s teachings when the mind is beset with fear and anxiety. But we can escape from these bonds by disempowering the hindrances, calming the mind and seeing with greater wisdom. For this process to bear fruit, we have to fully trust the path alone and not put our trust in the world. A talk given at a 7 day SIMT retreat in the Chapin Mill Zen Retreat Centre, Batavia, Rochester, NY.
Satipanna Insight Meditation (SIMT)

2016-08-16 Who’s Sitting Under the Bodhi Tree 33:52
Ayya Medhanandi
The mind is so easily duped by its own delusion. By holding perceptions, views and opinions - our own, as well as others - as "uncertain", and being circumspect, we can bear witness to experience as the Knowing Mind, unburdened by its conditioning. When the five faculties are strengthened through practice, this knowing mind can arise in its utmost purity. We can overcome delusion by stripping our experience of any packaging; only when we know things authentically for what they truly are, can we let them go. We practice fearlessness, harmlessness, selflessness, until there is nothing to fear, except delusion itself. If we are awake to that Truth, then we can be sitting under the Bodhi Tree in the truest way.  A talk given during a 7 day Satipaññā Insight Meditation Toronto retreat at Chapin Mill Retreat Centre, Batavia, Rochester, NY.
Satipanna Insight Meditation (SIMT)

2016-08-16 Under the Canopy of Dhamma 17:16
Ayya Medhanandi
Where is safety in a world burning with greed, hatred, fear and violence? It is within us. Under the protective canopy of Dhamma, with unshakeable faith in the Buddha's awakening, we purify the heart – emulating his tactical strategies for training the mind to abandon unskillful physical and mental habits. We look for 'nothing' apart from how to wisely observe and truly see with penetrating discernment, and how to let go the delusion of self-identity. Secluded from the world, awareness knows imperturbable peace. This is the path of selflessness, of generosity, of great compassion, of harmlessness.
Satipaññā Insight Meditation Toronto

2016-08-15 Reading: Ajahn Chah – In the Dead of Night 15:27
Ayya Medhanandi
Ajahn Chah describes his process of overcoming fear while staying in a charnel ground in Thailand and urges us to try it out!  What he means is not in the charnel ground, but right here wherever we are and with the ghosts of our own minds. A reading given during a Satipaññā Insight Meditation Toronto retreat in 2016.
Satipanna Insight Meditation (SIMT)

2016-07-18 The Gifts of Uncertainty 44:23
Zohar Lavie
These recordings are part of a ten month course entitled Living Fearlessly with Change - Exploring Ageing, Illness and Death Through Buddhist Practice and Service.
Gaia House (Bala Brook) Living Fearlessly with Change

2016-07-18 Intro to Equanimity and Guided Meditation 61:39
Zohar Lavie
These recordings are part of a ten month course entitled Living Fearlessly with Change - Exploring Ageing, Illness and Death Through Buddhist Practice and Service.
Gaia House (Bala Brook) Living Fearlessly with Change

2016-07-17 Measureless Liberation of Mind 15:42
Ayya Medhanandi
Nature is begging us to wake up especially when we find ourselves at the mercy of fear arising like ghosts in the dead of night. What will protect us from these intruders? At the moment of ambush, can we see their true qualities in the light of suffering and its cause? Know that truth of suffering, its cause, its cure and the truest way of healing to break out of the prison of delusion. Now enter the measureless liberation of mind.
Satipanna Insight Meditation (SIMT)

2016-07-16 Generosity and Sila 57:10
Zohar Lavie
These recordings are part of a ten month course entitled Living Fearlessly with Change - Exploring Ageing, Illness and Death Through Buddhist Practice and Service. This recording also includes Zohar Lavie.
Gaia House (Bala Brook) Living Fearlessly with Change

2016-07-16 Across the River of Pain 28:03
Ayya Medhanandi
We long to be free from this wandering, to go beyond all suffering. The body is our raft to cross from one side of the river of pain to the other. And there we leave the raft. But we don’t leave it until we cross, until we realize the Deathless – when no one ‘dies’ but we know the death of greed, of anger, of delusion. As we cross, we end the pain, grief, rage, vulnerability, fear – every form of distress. And where we were once inflamed by these troubles, they give way to the infinitudes of love and compassion.
Canmore Theravada Buddhist Community

2016-06-22 Reconnecting with our Lives - Healing from Dissociation 1:14:29
Tara Brach
Dissociation is the universal mechanism for pulling away from the pain of “too much.” While it’s necessary and natural for enduring certain situations, the ongoing habit of dissociation cuts us off from our full aliveness, creativity, and capacity for love. This talk explores the process by which we disconnect from our bodies and feelings - individually and collectively - and the practices that directly enable us to include the “unlived life" - the fear and shame, passion and loneliness - that we’ve pushed away. By including the raw energies we’ve been avoiding, we come home to a fullness that can embrace others and the whole of life.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2016-05-15 Cultivating the Measureless leads to release 55:04
Ajahn Sucitto
The ‘measureless’ domains of goodwill are based on disengagement from ill will, fear and desire. Defense against harm changes to protecting the beautiful heart from confused reactions.
Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center Rewilding The Mind

2016-05-13 Mutual Individuality 20:47
Ajahn Sucitto
Becoming a ‘true individual’ occurs when goodwill and sharing take the lead over ‘personal obsession’ and programs based on fear and desire. ‘Sharing blessings’ is a skillful meditation.
Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center Rewilding The Mind

2016-05-08 Fear as a Pathway to Loving Presence - Night Travelers 62:42
Tara Brach
Shifting our relationship with fear is central to the evolution of consciousness. Our suffering arises when our thoughts, feelings and sense of identity are shaped by fear. As we learn to attend to fear with mindfulness and care, we discover the vast tender presence that has room for the waves, and can fully cherish this life. Life’s waters flow from darkness. Search the darkness, don’t run from it. Night travelers are full of light, and you are too: don’t leave this companionship… The moon appears for night travelers, be watchful when the moon is full. - rumi
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2016 IMCW Spring Retreat: Intimacy with Life

2016-05-03 Scared-in-the-Woods to Liberated 46:03
Kim Allen
Kim Allen gave the fourth talk in a seven-week series on lesser known Buddhist teachings titled "Thus Have I Heard." This talk explores how practice can be difficult, especially when it helps us become aware of the dark corners of our minds such as fear and dread. Fortunately, the Buddha taught us to train our minds so we won't give in to those tendencies, and instead live a skillful life with wholesome qualities such as generosity, virtue, and loving kindness.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection: Thus Have I Heard

2016-04-29 Proliferation of Planning 47:38
Shaila Catherine
Shaila Catherine gave this talk on planning tendencies of the mind. Papanca is a Pali term that means proliferation. A lot of our planning is not preparation for action. Rather, it's a form of dukkha: chronic planning may be a manifestation of anxiety, restlessness, worry, or obsessive thinking about "who I will be." Planning is fuel for self-becoming, self-grasping; restless planning perpetuates the fantasy of a future we think we can control or predict, but such future may never happen. Instead of habitually indulging in planning tendencies, we can train our attention to be mindful of life as it actually unfolds. We can thus learn to calm fantasies that distract the mind, let go of expectations, and gradually strengthen concentration to be more fully present. We can also curb the tendency to become lost in imagined scenarios of hope and fear about life's events.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley

2016-03-26 Clearing the Atmosphere of Fear 58:46
Ajahn Sucitto
Buddhist Retreat Centre :  The Deeper You Go, the Lighter it Gets

2016-02-21 Trust 60:07
James Baraz
With so many strategies and messages about how to practice, how do we know the "right" way to practice? The Buddha said ultimately you should "be a lamp onto yourself." This comes down to trusting the wisdom inside. How can we discern the wisdom voice from the voices rooted in fear and confusion?
Spirit Rock Meditation Center February Month-long

2016-01-07 Group C Interview 1 40:09
Ajahn Sucitto
1. The Wandering Mind; 2. Dealing with physical pain; 3. Dealing with fear, 4. Energy; 5. Moving into Daily Life, open eyes ad normal mode

2015-12-23 From Fear to Courage 47:29
Alex Haley
Common Ground Meditation Center Weekly Dharma Series

2015-12-20 Peace Without Fear - Seven Lights to Freedom 29:18
Ayya Medhanandi
The Buddha teaches us about seven lights to gain true freedom. They are none other than the factors of enlightenment. Three are dynamic skills that deeply cleanse the mind. In turn, these give rise to four 'septic friendly' brightening agents that lead us to inner wisdom. We learn how to practice forgiveness and compassion, and how to awaken to a selfless benevolence - an unassailable joy, peace and complete freedom of heart.
Sati Saraniya Hermitage

2015-12-12 Workshop - Relating Wisely to the Uncertainties of Environmental Health and Climate Change 2:52:24
Mark Nunberg
It is not uncommon for us to feel confused, numb, angry or overwhelmed when we hear about environmental change and uncertainty. The health of our planet, our homes, our bodies and minds all depend on the continuous balancing of so many interdependent natural processes. It is no surprize that we often prefer distraction and denial rather than an honest acknowledgement of this uncertain dynamic. In this workshop we will explore how a fearless opening to uncertainty can be the cause for a more wise and compassionate response to this world we share together. These Living the Practice Workshops include talks, guided meditations, guided reflections, and large and small group discussions designed to reveal the essential art of awakening wisdom and compassion in our actual lives.
Common Ground Meditation Center

2015-12-09 Studying and Practicing with Fear 2 62:38
Donald Rothberg
We continue the investigation of the nature of fear, and the skillful ways to work with fear, both internally and externally, bringing in further emphasis on compassion, empathy, understanding and learning from those who have faced fear deeply.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks

2015-12-02 "One Who Set Out to Study Fear" 66:18
Donald Rothberg
An exploration of the importance, personally and socially, of practicing with fear. We work especially with these tools: (1) mindfulness and the study of fear (What is fear? How does it manifest in the body, emotions, and thinking); (2) heart practices like metta and compassion; and (3) developing wise and skillful responses.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks

2015-11-22 In the Domain of No Fear 18:32
Ayya Medhanandi
The Buddha himself touched the Truth with his own mind. And so can we. It’s a purifying, intimate process - internal, invisible and crossing many intersections. At each one, we patiently examine the state of the heart, discerning what is harmful and what is wholesome in everything we face. The way opens for us to enter the domain of no fear and receive the gifts of wisdom, peace, and the heart’s unshakeable freedom.
Toronto Theravada Buddhist Community (TBC)

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