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Dharma Talks
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2025-01-11
Making Our Home in Dana
29:10
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Devon Hase
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This talk explores dāna (generosity) as both a foundational practice and natural expression of awakening. Devon describes how generosity creates conditions for happiness while requiring wisdom about our boundaries and capacities. Using personal examples about balancing family obligations with self-care, she illustrates how true generosity requires knowing ourselves well. The talk emphasizes that generosity is already present in awareness itself—in our natural capacity to receive and release each moment. It concludes that belonging and interconnection are our true nature, and that letting go paradoxically requires feeling held in the refuge of community.
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Refuge of Belonging
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2025-01-11
Generosity Is the Answer
29:10
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Devon Hase
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A talk focused on Dana Parami and its role in recognizing Nibbana. The discussion highlighted the importance of removing obscurations to reveal awareness, wisdom, and love. Devon explained how Paramis helped clear the way and emphasized the interdependence of giving and receiving. Practical aspects of generosity were addressed, including maintaining healthy boundaries and understanding motivations. Personal stories and reflections were shared to illustrate different types of giving and the long-term benefits of a generous mindset. Devon encouraged participants to practice generosity in daily life and highlighted the profound impact of living with an open heart.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Spirit Rock - Rainbow Sangha
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2024-12-28
What's the point of meditating?
44:04
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Having achieved some calm, where do we go from there? Seeking experience is a matter for the measuring mind. This mind doesn’t experience fulfilment. Attuning to the heart, there is access to the richness of a generosity and a virtue that doesn’t need a point. It is innately enjoyable and frees us from measurement.
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Cittaviveka
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2024-05-12
The Buddha's Promise
23:39
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Ayya Medhanandi
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The human realm is ever fraught with greed and delusion, conflicted and loud in its extremes. These violations are just that – destroyers of our spiritual verve. As pilgrims of peace, we disarm them in the interior silence of the heart. Courageous, we stand our moral ground, resolved to hold the bar. Our faith, generosity and discernment rescue us from the flames of sensory fears and infatuations. There is giving up and letting go but the Buddha’s promise is true. Where kindness and compassion prevail, the heart knows unshakeable peace.
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Sati Saraniya Hermitage
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2024-04-08
Freedom from Fear
53:07
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Bhavana, cultivation, is associated with bringing into being fruitful states and dwelling in them. Without this ground, citta- heart - goes out, focuses on conditioned phenomena. The natural result will be uncertainty, anxiety, fear. Practices for clearing fear at its root are described: contemplation of death, mindfulness of body and breathing, generosity, virtue.
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Amaravati Monastery
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2024-01-07
Kindness Through and Through
25:10
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Ayya Medhanandi
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Contentment and generosity nurture a quality of metta that is kind through and through. We learn to respond to life like the good earth that is ever patient with and tolerant of our heedlessness. Whatever you throw on it – even if it’s harmful – the earth receives that. Generating such a depth of goodwill, we endure through hardships with contentment even if we’re struggling. And, with a generosity of harmlessness, we weave great compassion and benevolence to ourselves as well as to others. Such measureless kindness never dies. It is our true wealth and the bedrock of our path to liberation
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Portland Friends of the Dhamma
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2023-11-22
A Generous Heart
55:07
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Tara Brach
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Our deep potential is to live from an awake, loving heart. This talk looks at how, with a kind and mindful attention, we can decondition habitual tendencies toward grasping and self-centeredness, and nourish the sense of connectedness and care that gives rise to generosity. As we bring these heart practices alive in our most immediate relationships, they have the power to evolve consciousness in widening circles across the world.
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Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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2023-01-31
Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation (Week 4) - Talk and Q&A
56:11
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Mark Nunberg
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Mindfulness meditation leads to insight into the nature of our hearts and minds, revealing an inherent clarity, openness, and ease. This course includes exploration of the intention behind practice, an introduction to insight (vipassana) meditation techniques, instructions for working with common obstacles, an overview of the practice of lovingkindness, and a discussion on how mindfulness can be part of one’s daily life. Led by Mark Nunberg.
Mark Nunberg began his practice in 1982 and has been teaching meditation since 1990. He co-founded Common Ground Meditation Center in Minneapolis in 1993 with Wynn Fricke and continues to serve as the center’s Guiding Teacher. Mark has studied with both Asian and Western teachers and finds deep inspiration in the teachings of the Buddha. Mark practiced as a monk for five months in Burma and completed four three-month retreats at Insight Meditation Society Retreat Center, as well as many months of intensive retreat practice at The Forest Refuge. Mark continues to be a grateful student of Buddhist practice.
Common Ground offers all programs freely in the spirit of generosity. If you'd like to volunteer or donate to support the teacher(s) and the center, visit https://commongroundmeditation.org/about/supporting-the-center/.
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Common Ground Meditation Center
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Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation
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2023-01-31
Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation (Week 4) - Guided Meditation
31:35
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Mark Nunberg
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Mindfulness meditation leads to insight into the nature of our hearts and minds, revealing an inherent clarity, openness, and ease. This course includes exploration of the intention behind practice, an introduction to insight (vipassana) meditation techniques, instructions for working with common obstacles, an overview of the practice of lovingkindness, and a discussion on how mindfulness can be part of one’s daily life. Led by Mark Nunberg.
Mark Nunberg began his practice in 1982 and has been teaching meditation since 1990. He co-founded Common Ground Meditation Center in Minneapolis in 1993 with Wynn Fricke and continues to serve as the center’s Guiding Teacher. Mark has studied with both Asian and Western teachers and finds deep inspiration in the teachings of the Buddha. Mark practiced as a monk for five months in Burma and completed four three-month retreats at Insight Meditation Society Retreat Center, as well as many months of intensive retreat practice at The Forest Refuge. Mark continues to be a grateful student of Buddhist practice.
Common Ground offers all programs freely in the spirit of generosity. If you'd like to volunteer or donate to support the teacher(s) and the center, visit https://commongroundmeditation.org/about/supporting-the-center/.
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Common Ground Meditation Center
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Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation
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2022-12-31
Courageous Friendship
27:01
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Ayya Medhanandi
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Generosity and virtue are at the heart of waking up. We give nothing less than our full devotion to the practice, day by day, training in present moment awareness and purifying ourselves. Secluded from dangerous mental states, we endure patiently, courageously. As the wisdom of the ancients dawns within us, we are blessed by that sacred gift of the Path – a noble mind.
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Sati Saraniya Hermitage
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2022-11-23
A Grateful, Giving, Happy Heart
51:46
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Tara Brach
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Gratitude is like breathing in – letting ourselves be touched by the goodness in others and in our world. Generosity is like breathing out – sensing our mutual belonging and offering our care. When we are awake and whole, breathing in and out happens naturally. But these beautiful expressions of our heart become blocked when we are dominated by the fear and grasping of our survival brain. This talk explores how we can facilitate the evolution of consciousness with the deliberate cultivation of generosity, and ends with a guided meditation on gratitude and generosity.
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Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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2022-08-10
Four Foundations of Mindfulness - Part 2
24:12
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Ajahn Achalo
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00:44 Q1: I am interested to learn Sattipathana Sutta from Tan Ajahn, a perspective from a monk's. I'm following your talks for some time now and your talks inspire me. I have recently done Sattipathana course from Goenka tradition. Would you please teach us as Vassa is also just around the corner. Will be highly grateful. 42:51 Q2: Sila is generosity. In the retreat Q&A, it says sila is for the abandoning of the 3 fetters in order to gain wisdom. Please elaborate. I do not know what the 3 fetters are. I have not finished reading all the literatures of Buddhism. Thank you. 55:11 Q3 Dear Ajahn, currently I am facing some obstacles and fear because there is a violent Vajrayana fighter nun who cannot rejoice in my daily dana to Buddha and Bodhi tree. She is trying to harm me by kicking my bag when I am chanting, disturbing me...etc. How can I protect myself from these types of circumstances? With metta. See also this video: Four Foundations of Mindfulness - Part 2 - Aug 10, 2022
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Anandagiri Forest Monastery
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2022-06-23
Heart energies
67:56
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Ajahn Sucitto
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The subtle energies of practicing generosity include feelings of gratitude or respect, avoiding the pitfalls (e.g.) of a sense of obligation or comparison with others. This is right motivation. We note the beauty of our own heart, steady and receptive, void of ill will. (Les énergies subtiles de la pratique de la générosité incluent des sentiments de gratitude ou de respect, évitant les pièges (par exemple) d'un sentiment d'obligation ou de comparaison avec les autres. C'est la bonne motivation. Nous notons la beauté de notre propre cœur, stable et réceptif, dépourvu de mauvaise volonté.)
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Terre d'Éveil Vipassana
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Energy as a means of liberation and well-being
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2022-01-15
Psychology and Neurology
37:53
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Ajahn Sucitto
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The theme of mindfulness of breathing is to regulate so our bodily system comes into a moderated state. When heart-mind tunes into that it naturally gives rise to beneficial psychologies – simplicity, generosity, sympathy, warmth. When we begin to take in the qualities of our good actions, it helps to repair our nervous system so it’s no longer so tense, irritable, jumpy or feeling so guilty – things shift. That’s the process. Therefore, we should cultivate this way.
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Bandar Utama Buddhist Society
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Well-being Is the Shape of the Heart
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2021-12-12
Compassion Is Greater Than Fear
21:43
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Ayya Medhanandi
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Compassion is a strength, a generosity, a joy, a guardian of the mind, a rescue from fear and all forms of suffering, and a fountain of peace. It brings untold benefit both for one who gives it and for one who receives it. Compassion enhances the sublime abidings and the factors of awakening, thus serving, in and of itself, as a dynamic vehicle for the heart’s liberation.
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Portland Friends of the Dhamma
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Full Catastrophe Compassion
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2021-11-22
Gratitude and Generosity Meditation | Monday Night
27:23
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Jack Kornfield
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Like the waves of the ocean, the breath rises and falls. Bring loving awareness to the breath.
Shift your attention from the breath to all the sensations in your body. With mindful loving awareness, notice the whole field of sensations. If there are areas of pain or stiffness, bow to them and hold them with kindness. Hold them as you would a child who is going through a hard time. Notice how this kind loving awareness allows for the tension and knots to soften in their own way.
Now as an expression of gratitude, say thank you to your own body for caring so much, for holding so much as you move through the days and nights. Tell your body, “I’m ok just now—you can relax. You can rest.”
Now bring your attention to your heart that carries so much. Notice all that your heart has been holding: longings, fear, love, worry, frustration, excitement, sadness, appreciation, doubt, deep love. Say thank you to your heart for caring so much, for trying to help and protect you. Tell your heart, “I’m ok just now—you can relax. You can rest.” Let your heart be at ease.
Now bring your attention to your mind that produces a stream of thoughts, images, pictures, plans, memories, ideas. Feel the energy of the mind, creative, sometimes obsessed, analyzing, exploring, opening. Say thank you for working so hard to take care of you, to protect you. Tell your mind, “I’m ok just now—you can relax. You can rest.”
Notice that you’re not your body, feelings, thoughts. You are the loving witness, you are consciousness itself. You are the loving awareness that acknowledges the body, heart and mind. Relax into loving awareness. You are the silent, vast witness to it all.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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2021-11-10
Mother Trees, Our Elders
43:25
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Betsy Rose
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The Buddha famously taught that the Sangha is the most important aspect of “the Holy Life”. And Indigenous wisdom (and recent biology) teach us that natural systems are also a sangha, a web of connection, kept healthy by reciprocity and generosity.
Betsy reflects on the dharma of the “Mother Trees”, and how elders (and youth) feed the life of our human ecosystem.
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Assaya Sangha
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2021-10-19
Signs, distorted or uplifting
38:14
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Ajahn Sucitto
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In cultivation we’re learning to experience things directly as they really are. We come to understand that we are moved and triggered by signs, not things. A lot of practice is about turning attention away from unskillful signs and cultivating skillful ones – cooperation, generosity, goodness. Then you’ve got something precious that takes you through difficult places and makes you feel comfortable when you’re in a bleak state.
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Cittaviveka
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Cittaviveka 2021 Rains Retreat - Closing Group Practice
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2021-07-12
Dana, Sila, Bhavana- Dharma practice is 24/7
58:37
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Bonnie Duran
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A brief description of Breath stroking and calming our heart with love…..and then a description of Ven. U Panditta’s teachings on Dana/Generosity, Sila/Ethical Conduct, and Bhavana/Mental Cultivation. Awakening is available in this very life!!
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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"July Lovingkindness Retreat" with Tempel Smith, Bonnie Duran, MPH, DrPH, John Martin, Sally Armstrong, Marcy Reynolds and Kristina Baré, MFT, SEP
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2021-07-07
Dedication of Merit
46:33
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Kate Munding
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Dedication of Merit is a ritual found throughout the Buddhist community. This talk explores the deeper meaning and purpose of this practice. Merit is generated every time we sit down and the ritual of dedication reminds to connect outward to the world at large, to humans and the more than human world, in an act of generosity. Instructions for how to dedicate the merit is included, as well as a Q&A at the end.
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Assaya Sangha
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Assaya Sangha Dharma Talks
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2021-04-10
Being a Person
27:12
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Although Dhamma practice is often geared to dissolving the sense of being a person, ‘the person’ is a required entity in the everyday world. The firm center and open awareness developed in Dhamma practice work together to support this person. They provide stability and allow duties, purpose and engagement to arise straight from the heart rather than from mental habits, or from the idea of a person. Then the beauties, steadiness and generosity of Dhamma practice and Dhamma fruitions arise in our everyday lives.
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Cittaviveka
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At Home with the Homeless: Ajahn Sucitto Locked Down
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2020-11-21
Q&A
48:00
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Clarification about the fetter “attachment to rites and rituals”; what’s the purpose of life; question about addiction; working with depression; where is the reference to energy in Buddhism; how to get space in intense situations; review of the 4 qualities to promote social harmony – generosity, gentle/harmonious speech, benevolent service, impartiality – DN30:1:16, AN4:32
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Cittaviveka
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At Home with the Homeless: Ajahn Sucitto Locked Down
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2020-10-20
Real Wealth
28:28
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Kim Allen
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What kinds of wealth are most sustainable in times of loss? The Buddha defined five kinds of wealth that are especially appropriate for lay practitioners to develop: confidence, ethical conduct, learning, generosity, and wisdom. The inclusion of “learning” is interesting and not often emphasized. We will explore these five qualities in the context of our current times, considering how they can serve both ourselves and others.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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2020-10-18
Kathina as the Occasion for Social Harmony
32:39
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Ajahn Sucitto
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This event of Kathina encapsulates the skillful qualities associated with social harmony and cohesion – qualities of generosity and sharing, precepts and virtue, gentle speech and service. Recollecting the goodness of such actions, the heart grows and is strengthened.
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Cittaviveka
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2020-08-20
A Safe Domain: How the Quail Escaped a Hawk
27:01
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Ayya Medhanandi
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The contemplative path of purifying the mind is the most important journey of all - inward. Just as the little quail that tricked a hawk, we no longer fall prey to the 'maras' of the world, safe in our proper ancestral domain of virtue. Therein, the heart of generosity is further refined into qualities of joy, selflessness, compassion and wisdom, thus benefiting ourselves and all beings.
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Satipanna Insight Meditation (SIMT)
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Chapin Mill Retreat
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2020-07-18
Q&A
41:50
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Ajahn Sucitto
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Working with feeling foggy in meditation; firmness and openness in walking meditation; relationship between emotions and bodily tension; working with doubt; releasing energy through hands, feet and head; cultivating generosity triggers constriction.
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Sunyata Buddhist Centre
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Unrestricted Awareness
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