Gloria Taraniya Ambrosia has been offering instruction in Theravada Buddhist teachings and practices since 1990. She is a student of the western forest sangha, the disciples of Ajahn Sumedho and Ajahn Chah, and is a Lay Buddhist Minister in association with Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in California. She served as resident teacher of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts from 1996 through 1999. Taraniya teaches at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and at Dhamma centers in the United States.
This talk examines the nature of the sense realm and considers how we give rise to craving in relation to sensory experience. It also examines the distortions that self-view sets up and the relationship between craving and the wrong-view of self.
This talk examines generosity, the quality of heart that takes us from self-absorption to open-heartedness. Generosity is one of the principle antidotes for the suffering states of greed, hatred and delusion.
This talk describes the use of contemplation and reflection in the meditation practice and explains the difference between reflective and discursive thought.
As meditators, we develop the capacity to relate anew to sensory input so that we are less and less preoccupied with the content of sensations, feelings and thoughts. From this new vantage point we are more able to see the clinging that leads to suffering.
Contemplating restlessness and worry -- what this mind state consists of and how to recognize it; name it; embrace it; and investigate it according to the Buddhist teachings.
Through meditation practice, we become more skilled at identifying what we
are experiencing, opening to it with a loving heart, and examining it with
an eye to insight. When we connect fully with what we feel, the heart is
not troubled and the nature of experience is apparent.
