Donate  |   Contact


The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
 
James Baraz's Dharma Talks
James Baraz
I try to convey that the wisdom and compassion we are looking for is already inside of us. I see practice as learning how to purify our mind and heart so we can hear the Buddha inside. In doing so, we naturally embody the dharma and help awaken that understanding and love in others we meet.
‹‹ previous      1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ... 90 91 92 93
2024-06-20 Intrinsically Empty, Naturally Radiant Ceaselessly Responsive: Awareness and Compassion (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 64:23
Download Listen
Awareness is not only spacious and wakeful, compassion is also an inherent component. Expressing care to address the suffering in the world is understood to be an essential part of practice. This talk explores the greater implications of this understanding especially at this critical time of global dukkha on so many levels.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  The Magic of Awareness
2024-06-19 Big Mind Meditation (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 57:15
Download Listen
This meditation shifts from focusing on objects in our experience to the awareness in which all objects appear and disappear.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  The Magic of Awareness
2024-06-17 The Magic of Awareness (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 61:37
Download Listen
By opening to the perspective of everything arising and passing away in the space of awareness we see through the illusion of separation, directly experiencing anatta, the selfless nature of reality. We also let go of identifying with hindrances and and other ways we identify with the natural unfolding of experience. This talk includes an exploration of the Kashmir Shaivism text "Realization of Our True Heart."
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  The Magic of Awareness
2024-06-17 Instructions Including Breath, Body Sensations and Sounds (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 51:09
Download Listen
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  The Magic of Awareness
2024-06-13 Inspiring Motivation for Practice: The Four Mind Changers 55:26
Download Listen
I look forward to being with our community and exploring the teaching on the "Four Mind Changing Reflections." These four reflections become a great motivation reminding us to use our time wisely to deepen our practice. I hope it gives a boost to your own practice.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
2024-05-23 Thursday is Wesak! Thursday is Wesak! Honoring the Life and Teaching of the Buddha 49:51
Download Listen
This Thursday, May 23rd is Wesak, the most special day in Theravada Buddhist countries (Burma, Thailand, Sri Lanka). The full moon in May is said to be the day that the Buddha was born, became enlightened at the age of 35 and died at the age of 80. The three holiest of days all rolled into one! On this Wesak, we can reflect on who this person was, what he discovered on his journey and the legacy he's left us.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
2024-05-02 The Power of Collective Intelligence: The Magic in Community 48:35
Download Listen
The Buddha spoke of like-minded friendship as "the whole of the spiritual life." He encouraged us to take refuge in the Sangha. What makes community so powerful? Have you ever been part of a group that felt quite magical, where it was more than merely a collection of individual members? What are the ingredients that make a group like that come together?
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
2024-04-18 Loving the Earth through Joyful Connection 56:26
Download Listen
April 22 is Earth Day. How can we express our care and appreciation for life on this planet through meaningful action? I look forward to exploring this with you at our Thursday sangha. I hope you join us.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
2024-03-21 Great Female Disciples of the Buddha 50:09
Download Listen
Most of the Buddha's disciples whose names we are familiar with, such as Ananda and Sariputta, are men. The Buddha also had women disciples who were wise and profound practitioners like Mahapajapati, the Buddha's aunt/foster mother, responsible for the establishment of the order of nuns or Patacara, revered teacher, who tragically lost her family and eventually became fully enlightened. “If the measure of a human life is a chance to have significance that extends beyond itself, then we’ve hit the jackpot. We are alive at game time on the planet, when everything we value is genuinely threatened, when it’s time for all hands on deck.” —Terry Patten, A New Republic of the Heart
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
2024-03-07 Groundlessness: A Doorway to Liberation 60:09
Download Listen
Pema Chödrön writes: "It's not impermanence per se, or even knowing we're going to die, that is the cause of our suffering, the Buddha taught. Rather, it's our resistance to the fundamental uncertainty of our situation. Our discomfort arises from all of our efforts to put ground under our feet, to realize our dream of constant okayness. When we resist change, it's called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into its dynamic quality, that's called enlightenment, or awakening to our true nature, to our fundamental goodness." Let's investigate the underlying feeling of insecurity to see how it can be used as a path to real freedom.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley

‹‹ previous      1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ... 90 91 92 93
Creative Commons License Content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Dharma Seed is a 501(c)(3) Non-profit organization. email: contact@dharmaseed.org