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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.
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2010-03-03 Awakening Joy 60:59
Guest Dharma Talk
Common Ground Meditation Center
2010-02-25 Trusting Your Buddha Knowing 63:12
The source of our awakening is right inside us. As we learn to listen deeply to the wisdom and purity of heart that is connected to the truth, we are following the Buddha's instructions to "be a lamp unto yourself".
Spirit Rock Meditation Center February 2010 Month Long
2010-02-19 Awakening Joy 66:13
Practice is more than just opening to suffering. It is a path of happiness. We can incline the mind to open to and awaken wholesome states that lead to well-being and, ultimately, liberation.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center February 2010 Month Long
2010-02-15 Abundant Enoughness: The Practice of Contentment 61:01
The Buddha spoke of Nekkhama or renunciation as source of happiness. This is because it gives rise to contentment-seeing this moment as complete as it is. This talk explores the experience of inner contentment.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center February 2010 Month Long
2010-02-11 The Lion's Roar 54:49
In Tibetan teachings the Lion's Roar is the "fearless proclamation that every situation is workable." Being humbled can lead to a profound, wise humility, doubt can lead to strong confidence and vulnerability and can be the path to fearlessness.

James presented another version of this talk at the February 2010 month-long retreat at Spirit Rock.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2010-02-09 Our Greatest Protection 59:28
Sincerity of heart is the most important ingredient that we can bring to practice. This talk explores that theme with special focus on the Four Iddhipadas, or Bases of Success that fuel our sincere motivation.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center February 2010 Month Long
2010-02-07 Awakening to Joy 49:14
San Francisco Insight Meditation Community
2010-02-04 The Lion's Roar 57:54
In Tibetan teachings the Lion's Roar is the "fearless proclamation that every situation is workable." Being humbled can lead to a profound, wise humility, doubt can lead to strong confidence and vulnerability can be the path to fearlessness.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center February 2010 Month Long
2010-01-30 Awakening Joy Daylong PM Session 3:09:21
James and co-writer of Awakening Joy Shoshana Alexander, plus many friends from the 10-month course--dharma teachers, happiness experts, neuroscientists, musicians and more--share their thoughts on true happiness. This is the PM Session which includes Syvia Boorstein, and Anam Thubten Rinpoche.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks
2010-01-30 Awakening Joy 2:42:34
James and co-writer of Awakening Joy Shoshana Alexander, plus many friends from the 10-month course--dharma teachers, happiness experts, neuroscientists, musicians and more--share their thoughts on true happiness. This is the AM Session which includes Rick Foster and Greg Hicks, Rick Hansen, and performances by Eve Decker, Betsy Rose and Jennifer Berezen.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
2010-01-28 Awakening Joy, the book. 60:13
James and co-author Shoshana Alexander share teachings and excerpts from their book.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2010-01-21 Refuge in the Sangha & Kalyana Mitta 35:28
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2010-01-14 Refuge in the Sangha part 2 49:30
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2010-01-07 "Refuge in the Sangha" 50:25
"Refuge in the Sangha"
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-12-13 The Hard Things That Open the Heart 47:58
The Hard Things That Open the Heart
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
2009-12-10 Shower the People with Love 46:04
This is a talk about establishing healing and reconciliation on both a personal and a community level. The Buddha taught was "As long as followers of the Way hold regular and frequent assemblies, they may be expected to prosper and not decline. As long as they meet in harmony, carry on their business in harmony, and break up in harmony, they may be expected to prosper and not decline."
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-11-19 The Body: The Storehouse of Experience 55:10
The body is where we store emotions and register deep insights. This talk explores the implication of those facts: how we keep getting caught in thoughts that we know don’t serve us and why it takes time and patience to embody the wisdom our mind knows is true
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-10-15 Heaven or Hell: The Choice is yours. 52:15
The desire for Heaven or for Hell: The Choice is yours.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-10-01 Cleaning Our Slate 52:12
Forgiveness and reflections on Yom Kippur
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-09-28 Forgiveness; Cleaning Your Slate 62:42
Reflections on forgiving, self and others...reflections on Yom Kippur
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks
2009-09-06 Buddhadharma as a Path of Happiness 63:15
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Labor Day
2009-09-03 Wise Attitudes In Practice 60:07
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Labor Day
2009-08-27 Being the Awareness 50:48
While the mind has many thoughts and confusing tendencies that cause suffering, there is a pure awareness that is our true nature holding it all. We’ll explore staying in touch with this reality while we are navigating through the confusions of mind.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-08-13 The Buddha's 5 supports for practice 53:31
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-08-10 Intersecting Realities 58:10
We are each the star of our own movie. Practice invites us to honor every member of the cast of characters in our life, remembering that they have their own reality. And through it all we can wake up from the dream.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks
2009-08-06 Intersecting realities 55:12
We are each the star of our own movie. Practice invites us to honor every member of the cast of characters in our life, remembering that they have their own reality. And through it all we can wake up from the dream.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-07-30 The Woman at the Well 57:49
Ananda, the Buddha's disciple, while on a mission for the Buddha, requested water to drink from a woman of low cast. The woman protested out of fear that her low caste would contaminate Ananda's holiness; to which Ananada replied, "I ask not for caste but for water." A version of the Buddhist text of this story is available here: http://www.mountainman.com.au/buddha/carus_76.htm
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-07-21 What's Not Wrong...Mudita, Uplifting States and Looking for the Good. 65:10
How mudita (sympathetic joy) and uplifting states are supports for wise effort.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Metta Retreat
2009-07-16 On Metta 53:09
This talk is a version of the talk James will be giving at the upcoming Metta retreat at Spirit Rock.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-07-02 You Never Know... 54:28
You Never Know...
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-06-25 Contentment 53:37
Contentment
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-06-11 Reflections on our Deepest Truths 54:16
James reflects on his connection to Ram Dass and his teacher, Karoli Baba.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-06-05 Faith and Confidence 43:01
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Practice in Difficult Times
2009-06-04 Verses on the Faith Mind by Seng-T'san (3rd Zen Patriarch of China), part 3 56:43
Tonight James finishes his series on the Faith Mind by the 3rd Zen Patriarch of China. One of the most meaningful lines in this section is: ”To live in this (highest) realization is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.” Cultivating that attitude is a key to freedom. To let ourselves be perfectly imperfect.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-05-28 The Storytelling Monk, Swami Sarveshwarananda Giri 55:24
Affectionately known as “the Storytelling Monk,” Swami Sarveshwarananda Giri is a French-born Kriya Yoga teacher and founder of the Hariharananda Mission in the USA and in India, and the Ark of Love in South America. For the last sixteen years, he has traveled around the globe teaching Yoga, composing and chanting sacred chants, and providing education and shelter to poor children, widows, and senior citizens in India and South America.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-05-21 Verses on the Faith Mind by Seng-Tsan (3rd Zen Patriarch of China), part 2. 59:16
Tonight James continues his discussion of Verses on the Faith Mind by Sengstan (3rd Zen Patriarch of China), his favorite piece of dharma wisdom. This week one of the lines from the passage is the source of Joseph Goldstein’s book One Dharma. "There is one Dharma not many; distinctions arise from the clinging needs of the ignorant."
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-05-14 Verses on the Faith Mind by Seng-T'san (3rd Zen Patriarch of China), part 1. 46:34
Tonight James begins a series on his favorite piece of dharma wisdom: Verses on the Faith Mind by Sengstan, otherwise known as the 3rd Zen Patriarch of China. This is one of the best treatises on the non-dual approach to practice. A few choice lines: “The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.” “To live in the realization is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.” During this series, James reads through the text and discusses how we can apply it in our lives. If you are interested in reading the actual text of this sutra Click Here.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-04-30 The Bamboo Acrobats 50:58
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-04-16 Confidence 37:31
Confidence
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-04-09 “Am I Good Enough?” 51:36
Addressing that voice inside the mind that has a hard time measuring up to our ideals
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-03-26 Kind Awareness 54:44
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.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-03-19 Interested Awareness 56:31
This is a three part series of talks on James’ basic meditation instructions: “Receive the moment with a relaxed, interested and kind awareness.”
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-03-12 Relaxed Awareness 59:40
This is a three part series of talks on James’ basic meditation instructions: “Receive the moment with a relaxed, interested and kind awareness.” Note: The first talk of this series was not recorded. Therefore this is a talk on the same topic that James gave during the month-long retreat at Spirit Rock on 2/10/2009.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-03-05 Opening to the Heart's Tender Spot 48:30
Some thoughts upon returning from the February retreat at Spirit Rock.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-02-20 Faith In The Dharma 60:39
Faith is one of the Five Spiritual faculties. This talk explores the elements of faith, sources of our faith and the ingredients we bring to deepen our trust and faith in the Dharma.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation February
2009-02-16 Practice As A Path Of Happiness 64:28
One aspect of Wise Effort is maintaining and increasing wholesome states that have arisen. This is supported by being present for the wholesome state without clinging. How to integrate wholesome states such as sincere intention, gratitude, being compassionate with suffering, and others into our practice is explored.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation February
2009-02-10 A Meditative Instruction: Relaxed, Interested, Kind Awareness 59:40
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation February
2009-02-04 The Grace Of Suffering 60:00
Suffering is often what brings people to the Dharma as well as opening us up to resources inside we didn't know were there. Looking at hindrances and difficulties in this way allows us to relate to them wisely and realize the gifts that they bring and the ways they help us grow.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation February
2009-01-29 "Letting In The Love" 57:36
On transmitting and receiving love.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks
2009-01-22 Barack Obama's Inauguration In The Context Of Dharma Practice 50:02
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley IMCB Regular Talks

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