Practicing meditation, we inevitably encounter the wandering mind. Rather than considering this experience to be a "problem", if we explore this phenomenon with mindfulness, we can learn a lot about our minds.
The Buddha described five mental and physical process that encompasses all of our experience. He pointed us to recognize and understand them and how they serve us as magnets for clinging and suffering. This talk explores how we connect with these processes as a direct experience.
Intention is the basis of all karma. It is also a key aspect of dharma practice, both in moment to moment experience as well as our aspiration, vision that fuels our practice.
We can come to a greater freedom in life by investigating the nature strong emotions and our relation to them. This talk explores working with four emotions in particular: desire, sadness, anger and fear.
Publishable online for the general public
The faith we are asked to cultivate in our practice is the confidence to put wisdom of the Buddha into action in our lives. Doing this, we can see for ourselves the benefit of this wisdom. Yet the process is gradual and many of us have doubts. Recognizing and working with doubt is an essential aspect of our spiritual journey.
The tendency to compare ourselves to others or against some idealized standards is the cause of much suffering. This self-judgement is based on what the Buddha called "the conceit of I am". This talk explores how to work skillfully with the judging and comparing mind.
