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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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2017-02-05 Opening to Experience: How and When (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 61:03
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One of the most profound gifts of retreat practice is learning to open to our experience. We develop confidence, courage, compassion and insight as we are willing to work with all the challenging and beautiful places the mind can take us to. And it's also good to know when it's more skillful to not open to those places if we need to have a stronger container to hold them. Qualities that support this opening such as forgiveness, patience, sense of humor, and self-compassion are explored.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  February Month-long Retreat
2017-01-30 Five Spiritual Faculties: Understanding how Intensive Practice Works (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 57:46
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The list of the Five Spiritual Faculties provides a good explanation of how the process of intensive retreat practice unfolds.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  February Month-long Retreat
2017-01-26 "What Are You Going To Do Now?" 48:18
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The swirl of political events with the new US administration have contributed to a culture of apprehension and anxiety for many as they adjust to this new reality. The question many practitioners are asking is what is the place of Dharma in this unfolding of events. What is Dharma and not Dharma? What is our responsibility? How does the political environment inform our Dharma practice? How does our Dharma practice inform our engagement in the world? The talk includes Bhikkhu Bodhi's essay Let's Stand Together that appears in the journals Lion's Roar and Buddhadharma.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2017-01-19 "Being a Sacred Warrior in These Tough Times" 49:13
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Martin Luther King Jr. said, "I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." As we enter a time of uncertainty and, many are experiencing a swirl of emotions from apprehension and fear to anger and ill. How can we use our dharma practice to acknowledge and transform our negative emotions into wise effective response coming from understanding and love?
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2017-01-05 What Channel Are You Tuned To? 50:52
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(Note: This talk has some occasional sound distortion but it's worth it.) As the Buddha said, "We are what we think. With our thoughts we make the world." Our minds can go to the the greatest places of fear, anxiety and ill will or understanding, compassion and peace. When we're lost in confusion we have in us the capacity to remember the goodness and wisdom that our hearts long to connect with. This talk is about remembering that possibility and cultivating access to that Buddha right inside, especially when the outside world is giving us very different messages.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-12-29 Goodbye 2016, Hello 2017: Reflecting on What We've Learned and Where We're Heading 59:14
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As we leave 2016 and open to 2017, how can we learn and grow from what's past and set ourselves in the right direction as we face an uncertain future? This talk includes recent Spirit Rock's Statement of Values: Spiritual Sanctuary and Refuge and the teacher meeting out of which it came. James reflects on his recent Huffington Post article "Holding Hands Together: From Helplessness to Empowerment." Finally, there is a ritual for letting go of the past and creating a wise intention for the future.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-12-11 Spirit Rock - Equanimity: Finding Balance in Our Practice with James Baraz 5:31:45
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Equanimity is a highly valued quality in Buddhist teachings. It is one of the Four Divine Abodes, one of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, and one of the Ten Paramitas or Perfections.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
2016-12-08 "The Power of Equanimity" 56:49
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Equanimity not only helps us stay balanced in difficult times. It is a foundation for strong, effective response, especially in response to the forces of greed, hatred and power.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-12-03 Connecting Mind and Heart: Awakening Joy 1:15:13
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The Dalai Lama says: "The purpose of life is to be happy." This practice leads to true happiness. It starts with the mind intending to awaken the heart and all the goodness within us.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Connecting Mind and Heart
2016-12-02 Forgiveness Practice 0:00
(Recording not available) 
Forgiveness towards self (body, mind, heart). Asking and extending forgiveness with another.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Connecting Mind and Heart
2016-12-01 Love, Serve, Remember = Non-Greed, Non-Hatred, Non-Delusion 65:13
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The three sources of true happiness are the same no matter what the spiritual tradition.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Connecting Mind and Heart
2016-11-29 Making Friends with Ourselves: Working with Judging Mind 67:58
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Judging ourselves or comparing ourselves with others is a central issue for many. How we get caught and how to skillfully work with these habits is the topic of the talk.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Connecting Mind and Heart
2016-11-29 Metta Instructions - General Overview: Self and Benefactor 44:51
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Connecting Mind and Heart
2016-11-17 "Equanimity: Finding Balance In Difficult Times" 61:48
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In times of uncertainty and emotionally charged situations the teachings show us the power of equanimity–a balance of mind and heart. This is very different from a resigned quietism. Equanimity involves the courage to feel all our intense emotions and act from a balanced, committed heart.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-11-03 "The Big Shift: Learning to Open to Experience" 65:49
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Our typical response to very negative or positive experiences is to contract in relation to them--either with aversion or attachment. The practice helps us cultivate a radical and much more skillful and profound relationship to them--having the courage and compassion to meet and learn from the negative as well as the wisdom to enjoy the positive while realizing its impermanence. This talk explores different qualities of heart and mind that help us do just that.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-10-20 "Schadenfreude: Working with Your less than Noble Thoughts" 57:21
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People in powerful positions can cause suffering and harm to others by spreading hate. It's natural and healthy to want to see them defeated. But what about when we actually enjoy seeing their misfortune and demise? How can we use a dharma lens to understand and hold those feelings?
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-10-06 Finding Freedom Through Grief 48:53
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How can we process deep pain and turn it into deepening compassion and understanding? Kaye Cleave shares her moving story with James and the community about losing her 18-year old daughter and finding a way to transform her grief into meaningful beneficial action. The talk begins with this video about her trip to Nepal to build a school in honor of her daughter. To view the video: Catherine's Gift, go to Youtube.com at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HILTuvNRXrg
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-09-29 "The Four Faults of Natural Awareness" 57:04
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James Baraz and son Adam Baraz discuss "The Four Faults of Natural Awareness", a Tibetan teaching (e.g.#1: "So close you can’t see it.") Adam presents the teaching and he and James discuss it with each other and community members.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-09-22 "The Issue of Othering" 58:04
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Dedicated to the memory of Bob Kaneko, a dharma friend who recently passed away. As a child Bob spent years 4-8 in a Japanese Internment camp in California,1942-1946. This talk explores how easily we humans can unfairly treat and oppress those different from us. We see this daily in the media with hateful rhetoric stirring fears in many. How can we use practice to skillfully respond?
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-09-15 Awakening Joy for Kids: Bringing the Dharma to the Next Generation 59:49
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James talks about the new book he co-authored with classroom teacher, Michele Lilyanna, and the importance of planting seeds of wisdom and compassion in the hearts of future generations.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-09-08 "All It Takes Is a Moment" 48:23
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Even when we see how the mind and heart are contracted and caught, we might still be stuck. Seeing clearly how we're identified with the "story" doesn't necessarily reduce the suffering. It's a good and important start. The real shift occurs when, at some point, the heart releases and truly opens to access genuine metta.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-09-04 Practice as a Path of Happiness 64:27
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The Buddha was called "The Happy One." Though he taught about suffering, the purpose was to experience true happiness.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Labor Day Insight meditation Retreat
2016-09-03 Metta Practice - Self and Dear Friend 29:59
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Guided metta practice with introductory remarks.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Labor Day Insight meditation Retreat
2016-09-01 Mindfulness with Attitude 59:21
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Understanding just what mindfulness is and how it works, as well as the attitudes that support its cultivation by learning to open to experience.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Labor Day Insight meditation Retreat
2016-08-25 "A Box Full of Darkness" 55:48
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Mary Oliver wrote: "Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too was a gift." When life brings us unwanted suffering it's sometimes possible to use the experience to deepen our wisdom and compassion, what has been called "grace disguised as obstacles."
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-08-18 "The Tall Poppy and the Shrinking Violet" 49:23
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Strong identification with self often leads to an insecurity that can manifest in two extremes: someone hungry for recognition, validation and praise or someone who is shy, lost in self-judgment, and afraid of being exposed as an impostor. Both of these are all too human. There is a middle path where one knows ones worth and appreciates their wholesome qualities while not identifying with them. This talk explores how practice can support a wise understanding that allows us to just be ourselves and know that is enough.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-06-23 "Light brings out the darkness. Darkness brings out the light." 49:08
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It seems that the interplay between ignorance and consciousness is an on-going dance--within ourselves, in our relationships and within our society. Understanding this dance can help us hold it all with greater equanimity. (At the time of the talk James was under the impression that the UK vote in process would have the country remain in the EU. As it turned out the vote ended up the other way.) This link below goes along with the theme for this week’s talk: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/broadway-stars-orlando-tribute-song_us_5768ea6de4b0fbbc8beb8b7b?sectio=
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-06-11 Magic of Awareness with James Baraz and Anam Thubten 5:08:58
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The paradox of awareness is very profound and yet very simple. Sometimes it comes naturally to the surface when we are fully present in the moment and no longer lost in thoughts or mental projections. Pure consciousness is neither high nor low, neither pleasant or unpleasant, neither good nor bad.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
2016-06-09 Ajahn Chandako from Austraila with James 1:16:40
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with Ajahn Chandako, James Baraz
Ajahn Chandako, an Amaravati monastic who is the abbot of Vimutti Buddhist Monastery in New Zealand. Ajahn, who is US born, has been a monk for 25 years and brings a deep, clear, playful attitude toward practice. Join us for a rich evening of dharma.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-06-02 “Taking the Focus Off ME“ 53:47
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Most of us know the feeling of self-consciousness when faced with a new situation or meeting new people. How can we relax, just be ourselves and really enjoy the connection? We’ll explore simple practices to allow our authentic self to shine through. Join us for an evening of practice and dharma.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-05-26 "Who Are You Anyway - Attachment to Identity" 55:34
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It's hard not to view ourselves through our accomplishments, possessions or attributes, even when circumstances change. How can we see through those temporary conditions to realize our true nature?
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-05-21 Heart Practices for Awakening Joy 63:12
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Opening our hearts to ourselves to others with loving-kindness and compassion are central to awakening the joy that's right inside us.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Awakening Joy Retreat
2016-05-20 Opening to Suffering, Integrity and Forgiveness 1:11:48
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In order to cultivate true well-being we need to learn to open to all the suffering in our lives. Living with integrity and learning how to forgive ourselves and others are essential supports in this process as well.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Awakening Joy Retreat
2016-05-20 Day 3 Sitting/Instructions 61:39
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Awakening Joy Retreat
2016-05-18 Intention and Mindfulness as Supports for Joy 55:23
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The process of awakening joy starts with the intention to place well-being at the center of your life. Mindfulness is then utilized as the basic tool of a joyful life.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Awakening Joy Retreat
2016-05-17 Opening Night Talk 63:44
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with Debra Chamberlin-Taylor, Howard Cohn, James Baraz
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Awakening Joy Retreat
2016-05-12 James with a special visitor: Buddhist Nun Ayya Yeshe 39:53
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with Ayya Yeshe, James Baraz
Ayya Yeshe has developed the Bodhicitta Foundation to support the empowerment of women and children from the previously ‘untouchable’ caste in Central India. The talk started with this YouTube video at ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCOpZ3kpIJU ) of her work. To learn more about her work, go to the Bodhicitta Foundation at ( http://bodhicitta-vihara.com/ ) Bodhicitta Foundation is a socially engaged charity that helps ex-untouchable Indians – a community that was previously enslaved and forced to do the most demeaning kinds of work for little pay. They also help slum people, offer a women’s job training center, sewing, English computer classes and have a children’s study center. In addition they offer counseling for domestic violence, have a malnourished children’s program and offer basic medical and housing assistance.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-04-28 The Story of Devadatta: Lust for Power in the Buddha's Time 52:51
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Devadatta, the Buddha's cousin and brother-in-law, joined the Order in the early years with good intentions. Over time his jealousy and obsession with power turned him into the Buddha's main enemy. This dramatic story, reading like a Hollywood screenplay, gives us lessons in just what hunger for power can drive someone to do and the Buddha's wise responses to the various threats he faced.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-04-24 Equanimity: Finding Balance in Our Practice 2:55:56
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This daylong includes general talks on the theme of cultivating equanimity into your dharma practice. In addition to the talks and discussion, I offer the following practices with instructions that can be used to incline the mind toward equanimity (edited to remove lengthy periods of silence during the guided meditations): Practice #1 - Seeing things as they are Practice #2 - Looking through the lens of impermanence Practice #3 - Looking through the lens of vedana (feeling tone; 2nd foundation of mindfulness) Practice #4 - Equanimity with Big Mind meditation Practice #5 - Equanimty using traditional Brahma Viharas phrases
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-04-21 Sacred Activism Part 5: The Seven Laws of Sacred Practice 61:56
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Andrew Harvey's seven mystical laws that both define what sacred activism is and shape its mysterious power and success in the world.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-04-14 Sacred Activism Part 4: Holding a Vision 54:31
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Besides learning how to work with various emotions and reactions that come up in response to various events, it's important to hold an inspiring vision of possibilities so that we are motivated to work toward that desired outcome. Dharma concepts such as Clear Comprehension of Purpose can be applied to help us create an inspiring vision. Joanna Macy's Active Hope and Andrew Harvey's outline of current positive developments that give one hope are included.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-03-31 "Sacred Activism Part. 3: Working with Anger and Frustration" often natural responses to news". 56:00
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Hello Friends, I'll be continuing the series of Sacred Activism talks on how to bring our dharma practice to working skillfully with current events. We've explored compassionate action ("The Line Between Politics & Moral Imperative") and humility ("We Don't Know What We Don't Know"). I hope you join us.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-03-24 "Sacred Activism Part. 2: We Don't Know What We Don't Know" 59:04
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In our response to unsettling news we can easily react with self-righteousness, sure that our "dharmic" view is the "right one" and feeling superior to those who act in ways we don't understand. But the Buddha asked us to put aside any such arrogance. Through genuinely trying to understand another's perspective, we can cultivate true humility for our ignorance of their reality and greater understanding about the thinking behind their actions. Then our response, which might be one of fierce compassion, is not coming from hatred and ill will but from compassion and wisdom. This talk includes some thoughts on white privilege as well as Andrew Harvey's brilliant audio clip on Sacred Activism.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-03-17 Sacred Activism Part 1: The Line Between Politics & Moral Imperative 57:12
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These days as the political rhetoric gets heated and a feeling of unpredictability and potential violence grows practitioners may ask: "What is the appropriate dharmic response?" Is there a time when political involvement becomes a dharmic activity? And, if so, how can we be engaged in a skillful way as an integral part of our practice?
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-03-10 "The Brightness of Awareness: An Evening with Catherine Ingram" 60:54
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with Catherine Ingram, James Baraz
James guest is Catherine Ingram, long time vipassana practitioner (with James on his first retreat in 1974 and IMS staff member in the 70's) as well as beloved non-dual teacher. After her talk and dialogues with the audience, James and Catherine have a conversation about applying the non-dual perspective in daily life situations.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-03-03 "Intensive Practice: Benefits and How It Works" 57:24
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-02-26 Supports for Practice 58:50
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In addition to formal meditation, the Buddha gave 5 supports for one's dharma practice (Meghiya Sutta) In addition, other attitude for deepening practice are offered.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  February Month-long
2016-02-23 Day 23 Brahma Vihara Practice: Equanimity: Benefactor and Dear Friend 49:42
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  February Month-long
2016-02-21 Trust 60:07
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With so many strategies and messages about how to practice, how do we know the "right" way to practice? The Buddha said ultimately you should "be a lamp onto yourself." This comes down to trusting the wisdom inside. How can we discern the wisdom voice from the voices rooted in fear and confusion?
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  February Month-long
2016-02-18 Day 19: Morning Instructional Sit: Breath Concentration 18:43
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  February Month-long

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