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.
I try to use the formal teachings as a doorway for people to see the truth in themselves. I feel I'm doing my job when people look into themselves to come to their own deep understandings of the truth, access their own inner wisdom and trust in their "Buddha-knowing," as Ajahn Chah called it, which is different from their intellectual knowing.
The Buddha-knowing is a deeper place, underneath the concepts, which is in touch with the truth, with our seed of awakening. I want practitioners to have more and more confidence in, and familiarity with, that deeper place of knowing. It is accessing this dimension of our being that becomes the guide to cutting through the confusion caused by greed and fear. We have everything we need inside ourselves. We do not need to look to a teacher when we remember who we really are.
Equanimity is always the last on every list, which shows its importance as the culmination of the mind that can be with all things. Cultivating a balance and centeredness in the midst of our joys and sorrows, we can know the peace that the Buddha encourages us to experience.
The Buddha taught that one should cultivate and, when possible, maintain wholesome states. This talk explores teachings on cultivating states of well-being and how to deepen them in our practice.
Being in the present requires us to open to all experience, the beautiful moments and the challenging ones. This talk explores essential qualities that help us not only accept the moment, but embrace and even love it as our true refuge.
In order to open the heart and extend kindness and compassion to others we need to soften the places of contraction through practicing forgiveness. This guided meditation invites us to practice forgiving ourselves– our body, our mind, and our heart – and then extending it towards others as well.
The Five Spiritual Faculties in the Buddha's teaching give a clear description of the natural unfolding of practice unfolds over time. It also describes the process over the course of a month-long intensive retreat.
The great Vietnamese Master, Thich Nhat Hanh, passed away on January 22nd at the age of 95. Thay, as he was known to his students, was one of the most influential Buddhist masters in modern times.We spend the evening exploring his teachings and honoring his spirit. A short clip of him teaching is included as part of the evening.
Equanimity or Upekkha is a highly valued quality in Buddhist teachings. It is one of the Four Divine Abodes, one of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, one of the Ten Perfections and on a number of other lists. When highly developed it is the precursor to the experience of awakening. But what is equanimity? How can we cultivate it in our meditation practice? Even more, how can we access it in our daily life, especially in times like these with so much uncertainty, fear and sadness over the suffering in the world? We will explore various aspects of equanimity that can be pragmatically applied to our life off the cushion.
As the year comes to an end, we mark and celebrate this transition point by reflecting on where we are in our lives and consciously get in touch with our vision for the coming year. The Buddha talked about the power of having Wise Intention and "Clear Comprehension of Purpose" to keep us facing in the right direction. As a community we can support each other through reflecting on what we've learned in 2021 and share a ritual to call forth our vision for the coming year.
When the days are shortest and darkness is all around, we have holidays to help us remember the light. In this talk we reflect on the heart practices of gratitude, forgiveness and love that help us stay connected to the light inside and around us.
How can we keep open and stay engaged when our hearts are breaking and we just want to shut down? How can we cultivate a "no-matter-what commitment" as Terry Patten teaches? How can we develop "Active Hope" as Joanna Macy calls it. That is the topic of this week's exploration. The talk includes a powerful 20-minute conversation between Joanna Macy and Thanissara that took place a month before this recording.
Beloved Philosopher, Teacher and Sacred Activist Terry Patten sadly passed away a few days before this talk. His last book, A New Republic of the Heart, is an inspiring teaching on how to face the global crises we are in. As he went through his own final journey he shared how one can face death with courage, wonder, grace and trust. It was a blueprint for how to meet the pain and sorrow of the world with those same qualities. This talk includes a powerful, clear, deeply moving clip excerpt of Terry's last teaching a week before he passed plus some of his teachings that have touched so many.
A great Zen treatise says that someone truly enlightened is "without anxiety about non-perfection." It's no wonder that, with such impossible standards that most people hold themselves to, they always seem to fall short. How is it that others can so easily see our goodness while we're often the last ones to see our "True Nature"? The talk includes a short excerpt of Ram Dass sharing his primary practice to remember who we really are.
This talk explores the freedom that comes from letting go of our attachments to ideas. As the 3rd Zen Patriarch of China said, "Do not search for the truth. Only cease to cherish opinions." What benefit can there be when we truly let go of thinking we know how things really are?
The Heart Sutra teaching famously states: "Form is Emptiness Emptiness is Form." This liberating perspective is the gateway to understanding the inter-connectedness of all phenomena and the spaciousness and freedom that comes from seeing our place in the bigger scheme of things. The talk includes a recording of Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweikart's moving account of the profound shift he experienced upon seeing the Earth from outer space.
In his teaching on the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha describes in the Second Noble Truth four kinds of attachments that cause suffering. One of these is attachment to ideas and opinions. We explore this topic of looking beyond our views and opinions that are causing so much divisiveness and separation in these pandemic days.
We explore the topic of dealing with uncertainty. Although we never know what lies ahead, at this time the feeling of uncertainty is highlighted in a more acute way globally than ever before. What will happen next with the virus and its variants? Will people get vaccinated or will the anti-vax information continue to influence people's choices? What about climate disruption? Will we collectively wake up to the reality in time to keep from heading over the cliff of self-destruction? What does the Dharma offer us to wisely work with this unknown reality?
The Five Spiritual Faculties is a central teaching of the Buddha that explains how the practice develops and unfolds: This classical list of five qualities expresses both the importance of balance as well as a natural progression of development with one quality leading to the next.
When people ask, "How are you?" it depends on what lens we're looking at life through. The personal lens evokes a very different response than the societal one. This talk explores how we can hold different realities in our minds and hearts at the same time. Also the compassion that comes from understanding that each person has their own reality that makes sense to them.
Have you ever had a profound meditation experience and tried with frustration to recreate it?This is a common experience for many practitioners. Just as trauma can be triggered in our body and mind, the same is possible with positive experiences that we've gone through. This talk explores how this works and how we can access those profound moments and the wisdom that they've awakened in us.
The Buddha's pithiest and shortest teaching, his teaching to Bahiya (Bahiya Sutta). Although only a few short sentences it was enough to result in complete Enlightenment.
One of the greatest challenges today in the US is divisiveness within the country. However, the Buddha faced the same problem right within his community! The Quarrel at Kosambi tells the story of his sangha dealing with a bitter argument that almost created a schism in the sangha. And the Buddha had a very difficult time trying to bring peace between the two factions. We will discuss this story and the lessons we can learn that can be applied in today's time.
This talk is based on a teaching from Joseph Goldstein: "Not seeing dukkha is dukkha." It's humbling to realize that we are creating much of our suffering. But it's through clearly seeing this that we also create the possibility of truly waking up. We can change our whole relationship to seeing how we get caught by old habits and thought patterns from self-judgment to compassion and liberation.
Angulimala was a feared serial killer who was the scourge of the land--until he met the Buddha. We will explore his story and its relevance for our practice in learning to keep our hearts open to those who cause great harm. Why does the Buddha find it beneficial and how is this possible?
This past week James felt very fortunate to be with one of his dearest friends in his final days died. This talk explores that life passage. How can we say goodbye to a loved one and grieve fully with the understanding that death is a natural part of the life cycle? How can practice help us through that process?
When we develop a basic kindness towards ourselves we not only learn to accept the difficult parts, but in the process embrace our humanity and see more clearly the beauty that's inside. As we do that we allow our goodness and True Nature to shine through. This becomes a gift to everyone we meet, a healing energy that awakens the goodness in others as well.
Have you ever wondered how your mind can move from one thought to getting lost in a complex story without you knowing how you got there? The Buddha describes this process in his Honeyball Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya #19) where he explains the phenomenon of papanća or proliferation of thought. The more we understand this porcess and work with it as practice, the less we get caught up in the stories the mind creates.
In the Mangala Sutta, the Discourse on Blessings, the Buddha teaches: "To be content and grateful is a blessing supreme." Gratitude is a particularly potent ally in awakening true happiness because it helps expand the mind as well as the heart. With a grateful heart we have a larger container and more space to hold the difficulties we encounter. When we pause to notice what we usually take for granted a new world of possibilities opens up. It's as if we've changed the station instead of being stuck on our own little "drama channel."
One of the lesser known lists are four different qualities of heart, The Four Iddhipadas, that are present in people with differing temperaments, that are powerful motivators for practice.
The Buddha taught "Intention is karma". We will look at two manifestations of intention and how we can work with this powerful energy to increase well being.
Equanimity is the last of the 4 Brahma Viharas. It holds the other three--metta, compassion/karuna, and mudita--with spaciousness and balance. Equanimity reminds us to allow for life to unfold as it will. We can let go of control, which we never had in the first place, meeting life's up and downs with balance and the possibility of a wise, skillful response.
With so many instructions and ways to practice, how do we know which is the "right one"? Similarly, with all decisions we need to make in our lives, how can we access the wisdom right inside?
An important support for metta practice is forgiveness that softens the contracted heart that is stuck in aversion or ill will. This guided meditation practice first focuses on forgiveness towards ourselves--our body, mind, and heart--and then opens to both asking and extending forgiveness with others.
Our mind is habitually judging and comparing ourselves with others or against some unrealistic standard of perfection. Seeing this habit as part of the human experience and not taking it personally is an important part of our practice. We can learn to relate to it with wisdom and compassion that transforms it from being a personal problem to a wise understanding of the selfless nature of experience.
Do you ever give yourself a hard time if you've made an embarrassing mistake or have done something you regret? This talk explores how we can truly forgive ourselves with a thorough understanding of the Buddha's teaching on the selfless nature of who we are, otherwise known as Anatta, the selfless nature of experience.
These days have even more ups and downs than usual. For many it's both a time of sorrow and a time of joy. The mind can easily get caught in the difficulties when it's contracted by stress. But our Dharma practice shows us we have a choice how to wisely relate to our experience.
Many lay Buddhists struggle to carry the benefits of their studies and meditation practice into their twenty-first-century lives. How might our daily experience of both life and the Buddha’s teachings shift if there were no separation between them? Gregory speaks about the realistic and comprehensive vision that arises when we ask this question: If every moment of my life is Path, then what does each path factor need to cover for this to be true in a grounded, practical way?
This is a continuation of the theme of the process of purification that leads to awakening. An exploration of what Joseph Goldstein calls "Three Pillars of Dharma." These are three spheres that we can cultivate which lead to supportive conditions for us to practice and then realize the fruits of practice. Includes Eve Decker offers a song on the theme.
When we start the spiritual journey we see that our mind is filled with unskillful habits of thought, colored by attachment, aversion and confusion. The Buddha described the process of purification that enables us to purify and transform first our outward conduct, then our thoughts and finally our subtle spiritual aspirations. This purification process leads ultimately to full awakening. The talk includes the Buddha's teaching of how this process works through the simile of the "Refinement of Mind."
However you feel about the outcome, the presidential election has underscored the polarization that currently exists in our country. As long as each side mistrusts and fears the other, we cannot truly have peace and work together to make this a better society.
What does the Dharma offer to help heal this divide? How can our practice support us individually and collectively to open our hearts with compassion and bridge the gulf with those who seem so different from us? How can we create better understanding and cut through "othering" so that each of us can contribute to greater healing rather than more divisiveness?
The election and its aftermath has been quite a roller coaster ride. Can we find balance and patience with all feelings that arise while allowing the unfolding to happen in its own time? We explore this theme and offer some practices going through these uncertain times.
We are in a unique moment in time for the United States and the world. How can we stay centered and even cultivate equanimity? Is it possible to hold a positive vision without getting caught in extra anxiety about the outcome? Can we allow for things to unfold as they will while having a clear focus of what we want to help create? Equanimity includes surrendering attachment while being inspired by gratitude, awe and possibility.
The second of two talks with wisdom teacher Duane Elgin and friends sharing Elgin's realistic, sobering but ultimately hopeful vision of where we could be heading the next fifty years. His book Choosing Earth: Humanity's Great Transformation to a Mature Planetary Civilization discusses the possibilities that lie ahead and the vision for how we can use this time to wake up as a species. A brief recap of previous talk with additional comments, Then an exploration of how to hold the unfolding from a psychological and Dharma perspective.
James' special guests are wisdom teacher Duane Elgin (author of the classic Voluntary Simplicity) and his partner, Coleen LeDrew Elgin, share his realistic but hopeful vision of where we could be heading the next fifty years. His new book Choosing Earth: Humanity's Great Transformation to a Mature Planetary Civilization discusses the possibilities that lie ahead and the vision for how we can use this time to wake up as a species.
A third in a series of talks on holding a positive vision. We explore some of the principles on mindful engagement presented in Sharon Salzberg's book Real Change: Mindfulness for Ourselves and the World
This week we will continue with Roger Walsh's essay: "Ten Principles to Know to Contribute Strategically". These principles provide a big-picture context for understanding our current dilemmas, unearthing their deepest roots, and revealing the deepest and most effective responses. This is part of a series of talks on the importance of holding a positive vision even through the storm.
In this time of great chaos and confusion we look at wisdom thinker Roger Walsh's new essay: "Contributing Effectively in Times of Crisis". We start by looking at four crucial questions:
1) What can I do? 2) What do I feel called to contribute? 3) What's the most strategic thing I can do?
4) How can I live my life so as to be an optimal instrument of service? The talk ends with Melanie DeMore singing I'm Sending You Light"
It seems like an accomplishment just getting through such tumultuous times--wildfires on the West Coast, storms around the country, coronavirus lockdown and the US in daily chaos. It would be understandable to succumb to anxiety and overwhelm. But as the Buddha taught, practice is about overcoming negative thoughts when they arise and cultivating wholesome thoughts and mind-states. We will explore the importance of holding a positive vision even through the storm.
Sometimes the teachings seem to suggest a life of withdrawing from the world. But the Buddha himself was an example of engagement and could even be called a political revolutionary. As we try to sort out how to apply the teachings, (including duties of a good ruler) to contemporary issues, it can help to see his teachings in that light.
It seems like we're collectively going through an intense initiation in so many ways--the wildfires, the virus, racial injustice, economic collapse and an election fraught with acrimony. The Buddha taught: "Hatred never ceases from hatred. Hatred only ceases from love." How can the teachings support us to skillfully keep our hearts open not only to those suffering but those who, through ignorance, cause suffering as well?
How can we prevent succumbing to all the negativity around us--messages of fear, hatred or despair from the media or people in our lives? Can we protect ourselves and process the very real issues facing us while letting ourselves still be nourished by the goodness that's around us?
The Buddha taught: "We are what we think. With our thoughts we make the world." We will explore mana or "the conceit of I am" and how we construct a sense of self with our mind. Based on how we see ourselves or how we compare with others, mana or the conceit of “I am” is born. This tendency leads to "The Three Conceits: I am superior, I am inferior, I am equal to." If we're not mindful, we then erroneously proceed to make a permanent, solid entity of self. We explore how not seeing this clearly creates suffering and how we can free ourselves of this self-constructed suffering.
Devon and Craig Hase join James in sharing about their new book How Not to Be a Hot Mess: A Survival Guide for Modern Life. The book offers a playful exploration of living a life of Integrity based on the teachings of the Buddha.
Devon and Craig lead meditation retreats throughout North America and Europe. Devon teaches at the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock. Craig spent six years in a Zen monastery and teaches mindfulness meditation, and dharma full time.
Ven. Bhikkhu Analayo has just written an essay exploring how the early Buddhist perspective shows that diversity work can become an integral part of the Buddhist path of practice. We will explore some of Ven. Analayo's ideas and see how we can apply them in our own practice. We'll also touch a recent article by Bhikkhu Bodhi, another esteemed Buddhist scholar, entitled "From Tragedy to Hope: Reflections on the Killing of George Floyd".
The Buddha spoke of hiri and ottappa (Shame and Dread) as "The Guardians of the World." These are considered two wholesome states as they can prevent us from engaging in unskillful actions. But guilt and shame associated with internalized racism can paralyze us or put up walls of resistance. This is especially true if we take those feelings personally and blame ourselves for the cultural conditioning we're shaped by. How can we work skillfully with those natural and understandable reactions?
We will continue our exploration of Racial Justice and White Privilege with Deb Kerr. who led us in a rich discussion last week.
Deb is a core teacher at East Bay Meditation Center where she is a co-founder of EBMC and has served on the EBMC Board.
Deb will offer teachings on how educating ourselves about race relates to and is an extension of dharma practice and how it connects the dots to the larger picture of systemic change.
In the aftermath of the George Floyd tragedy and the protests that followed the community explores Racial Injustice and White Privilege. Special guest Deb Kerr, who is a Core Teacher of East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland. DE, who is one of EMBC's founders and has served on the EBMC Board has led White Privilege groups there.
Every momnet of mindfulness we are planting seeds of non-greed, non-hatred and non-delusion the basis of true happiness. This talk explores how that works and the bigger implication for our lives.
James invited Gail Stark to join him as his guest. Gail shares what it was like to spend 10 months practicing the 10 Paramis or Perfections under Joseph Goldstein’s guidance. Her new book, Creating a Life of Integrity: In Conversation with Joseph Goldstein, is a wonderful exploration of what it means to truly bring practice into your daily life guided by Joseph Goldstein, the ultimate Dharma coach.
Meditation and Dharma practice can be understood as a natural process of
developing five qualities starting with Faith/Trust and culminating in
Wisdom. This talk describes how that process unfolds.
The Buddha said to reflect each day on the facts of old age, sickness and death. He also said to to come to terms with the fact that everything and everyone near and dear to us will be separated from us. In these Covid-19 days our practice becomes letting go of what was and adjust to a new way of being. This practice of impermanence includes opening to loss, grief and death which is explored in this talk.
Our own centeredness and kind awareness becomes one the greatest gifts we can offer others who are in distress. Without fixing or changing our compassionate presence is healing and a source of our own inner well-being, especially when we do't identify with being "the helper".
How can we find balance in the times of great distress? The process of first connecting with out experience, then holding what's here and finally accessing that place of peace and spacious awareness that can hold it all are discussed. Practices to help find our center are offered.
In times of uncertainty and tension--whether a potential global pandemic, the climate crisis, high stakes election--it's easy for apprehension to become anxiety as we constantly are worried about what's to come. This talk explores how skillful letting go practices can help us maintain our centeredness while still being engaged.
Mindful awareness creates spaciousness for love to naturally shine through -- your true nature. The talk includes reminisces of Ram Dass, major benefactor of the insight meditation community, who passed away Dec. 2019 and whose practice was "I am loving awareness."
Dukkha is an inevitable part of life, the 1st Noble Truth. How we meet it and work with it is a key issue of practice. If understood, it can be a doorway to liberation.
All experience arises and passed in the vast space of awareness. This meditation, adapted from Tibetan text, directs attention to awareness itself rather than the objects within the awareness.
Sometimes we can misunderstand practice as mainly overcoming suffering. The Buddha spoke of cultivating and increasing wholesome states and being mindful of the "gladness of the wholesome."
The Five 'Spiritual Faculties describe the unfolding of our practice. From Faith through Wise Effort, cultivating Mindfulness, deepening Concentration, flowering as Wisdom.
As we start the New Year we explore Wise Intention, the basis of all karma and the second link of the 8-Fold Path. Clarifying your Intention is different from making a New Year's Resolution or going for a goal. It's what gives energy and power to our vision for practice.
At the end of the year, we reflect on endings and new beginnings. James offers some reflections on Ram Dass, beloved teacher and mentor, who passed away on Sunday, December 22. Then the community shares an end of year ceremony for increasing wholesome states and weakening unwholesome states.
Sometimes our shyness or concern about what others think keeps us from expressing our gifts and making as meaningful a contribution as we can. In seeing through the constructed sense of self—the understanding of Anatta—those thoughts lose their power and don’t get in the way of expressing our true nature.
I [recently] spoke about how sharing our pain by connecting with another helps us hold and process our grief. This week I want to look at the importance of "Connection through Community" and how we can create more community in our lives.
Whether the climate crisis, some other social issue or personal loss, sharing our pain by connecting with another helps us hold and process our grief. By opening the heart we can transform our feeling of isolation into one of shared humanity. This talk ends with a guided experiential dyad exercise adapting Joanna Macy’s "Learning to See Each Other" meditation from Coming Back to Life.
Greta Thunberg’s fearless willingness to speak the truth has inspired millions of youth to follow her lead resulting in the hugely successful September 20th Worldwide Climate Strike. Thunberg calls being on the autism spectrum her “superpower” because she doesn’t care what others think of her and only cares about telling the truth. Can we be like her, let go of our self-consciousness, not hold back and speak and act with honesty and courage?
A talk about how our benefactors impact us, wisdom and love they pass on from their benefactors and how we transmit those beautiful qualities to others who pas it on as well. No one "owns" those qualities. Rather we are part of a lineage of goodness.
