The four divine abidings show us a way to hold all the joys and sorrows of life. This talk focuses principally on the qualities of loving-kindness, which overcomes isolation and connects us to all of life; and gratitude, as a form of appreciative joy that leads to greater contentment and well-being.
This talk explores two of the Buddha's discourses that teach how to establish equanimity associated with insight. He teaches us what leads to more happiness and what leads to more suffering, and essentially, how we can cultivate more pleasure in our lives.
The Buddha spoke of wise attention as the tool that uproots the underlying tendencies of our minds that cause suffering. This talk discusses various means the Buddha taught for practicing wise attention.
This is a 45 minute introduction and a guided meditation on Equanimity. By repeating certain phrases, we can decondition our reactive attitude and open our heart to the way things are.
This talk explores the third noble truth, or the end of suffering, also described as Nibbana. Nibbana is seen as a transcendent dimension of our being accessible in any moment. Practices that approach this unconditioned element are described also.
Our mind becomes obsessed with three views that define who we take ourselves to be, me, mine and myself. Born from confusion about the way things are, we see ourselves and others in a narrow, contracted way and lose contact with our deepest nature. This talk is a clear and candid exploration that encourages practicing with awareness to find out what is true about this person I take myself to be.
Exploring the pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feeling tone of our experience, we have the opportunity to witness the birth of reactivity to that feeling tone, which allows us to deeply understand the nature of our suffering. In this understanding of suffering are the seeds of freedom.
In the teaching on Transcendent Dependent Origination, the Buddha gives us a map for our spiritual journey, beginning with the common human condition of suffering, which, when opened to with wisdom, leads to faith and many other beautiful qualities. These qualities support the deepening that leads to liberation.