Short Reflection on the 4th Vipallasa & Guided Meditation including a poem by Mary Oliver | Earthworm Practice for the Anthropocene IV | Online Wednesday-Morning

When news of the world is challenging and there is uncertainty for everyone, letting reality in can feel impossible or scary. Yet Buddhist practices are designed to support exactly this, though maybe not all at once. Supported by each other and those who have gone before, bolstered by an innate determination to be free, we practice skills and arts of goodness. Compassionate ethics protects ourselves and others. Meditation turns awareness toward direct experience, open to its textures. Things might start to shift a bit. One practitioner may sense honesty and compassion growing as they admit some limitation. Another might see space for choice where they hadn’t imagined choice was even possible. There are lots of possibilities.

This talk was given at East Bay Dhamma in Berkeley on July 11, 2026. It covers Dhammapada verses 157-166 on the Self.