What do we rely on in a world like this? When everything feels marred by conflict and division, violence and chaos, the mind easily fixates on fear, confusion, loss of faith. But if we keep fixating, our lives begin to organize around those energies. Taking refuge is a way of interrupting that pattern. Refuge not as a belief statement, but more like a commitment or a resolve to keep moving to align with a particular orientation to life. That we choose, again and again. And this view shifts dependency from external conditions to awakening, to the truth, to the field of practice.

Full instructions are given at the beginning for cultivating concentration (samadhi), including attention to posture, a variety of possible areas of focus (with most attention given to the breath, including on the "three-part breath"), and balancing "not too tight" and "not too loose." Then we practice mostly in silence, with a brief discussion period at the end of the sitting.

In this overview about developing concentration (samadhi) in our practice, we examine (1) the nature of concentration (or samadhi), including the etymology of the term and how we often find a natural concentration in daily life; (2) its importance in our practice; (3) some ways to practice to develop concentration, and (4) five challenges of such practice and how to work with them. The talk is followed by discussion.

We review at the beginning the basic instructions for cultivating concentration (samadhi), including attention to posture, a variety of possible areas of focus (with most attention given to the breath, including the technique of practicing with the "three-part breath"), and balancing "not too tight" and "not too loose." We also review the main challenges that can arise in such practice, and how to work with these challenges. Then we practice mostly in silence, with a discussion period at the end of the sitting.

We begin with a review of the nature of samadhi and of samatha practice, in which we develop greater samadhi. Samadhi is understood as a natural quality (including with other species) that we may know through times in which we are deeply immersed and absorbed in an activity, such as being with another, art, music, or sports. Samatha is one of the two main forms of meditation taught by the Buddha, along with insight practice. We also give an overview of how samatha practice deepens, going into some depth on the model of the five jhanic factors, and pointing to the experiences of the first two jhanas (as taught by the Buddha). The talk is followed by discussion.

After some personal stories from Donald about his father, who was a veteran, and about Donald’s experiences growing up at the time of the Vietnam war and being introduced to nonviolence, we explore the three main dimensions of our practice (training in ethics, meditation, and wisdom) related to the holiday. We focus on the ethical teachings about killing and nonviolence, including the complexities of these teachings; the importance of bringing mindfulness to grief, loss, and sadness, and of grounding in kindness, compassion, and love; and the wisdom and insight teachings about seeing the roots of violence. The talk is followed by discussion.

We begin by focusing on a fundamental perspective for our practice: How our practice moves from underlying ignorance to wisdom. We look at both the traditional understanding of such ignorance and how contemporary psychological and social perspectives help us to identify further dimensions of ignorance, including our initially unconscious social conditioning. We start by considering how the Buddha related both to caste and to women's roles in the sangha. We then look at the nature of social conditioning, including how this is related to "in-groups" and "out-groups," along with "implicit bias," and ways that our practice can help us see more clearly and ultimately transform our social conditioning.