Andrea Fella is the co-teacher at the Insight Meditation Center and the Insight Retreat Center. She has been practicing Insight Meditation since 1996, and teaching Insight Meditation since 2003. She is particularly drawn to intensive retreat practice, and has done a number of long retreats, both in the United States and in Burma. During one long practice period in Burma, she ordained as a nun with Sayadaw U Janaka. Andrea is especially drawn to the wisdom teachings of the Buddha. Her teachings emphasize clarity and practicality. Andrea is a member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council, and teaches residential retreats for IMC and other retreat centers around the country
The eight fold path is often emphasized as the set of practices that support us to reach liberation. It is also described as being the" possession" of those who are liberated. So we can understand that in our practice of the eight fold path, we are emulating those who are free.
The Buddha clearly described how suffering (dukkha) comes to be in the teaching of dependent origination. Understanding this teaching helps us to recognize this process at work in our own minds, which allows mindfulness and wisdom to begin to uproot the fundamental cause of dukkha: ignorance.
When the experience of vedana - of pleasant, unpleasant or neutral feeling tone - is not clearly seen with wisdom, it tends to lead on towards craving and suffering. With mindfulness of feeling, we understand feeling's nature as impermanent, which leads us towards peace.
In doing mindfulness practice we often neglect to observe mindfulness itself. We can lean a lot about our minds by watching the coming and going of mindfulness.
The Buddha encouraged us to cultivate wise mindfulness, which is more than simply being aware. This talk explores some of the qualities that support wise mindfulness.
The Buddha often taught the Dhamma through the use of analogy, which can be a powerful way for the teachings to resonate. This talk explores two famous analogies from the Pali Canon, and how we can understand our practice thorugh the imagery of these analogies.
