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Dharma Talks
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2020-10-17
Contemplation: A Special Friend of Mindfulness
16:58
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Ayya Medhanandi
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Practice deepens when we are present here and now, able to intuitively understand and contemplate our experience rather than knowing it through concepts. We refine mindfulness with wisdom, receive the moment humbly and offer our full attention and devotion to know what is before us. When Truth rushes in, we forgive more and we grieve less.
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Ottawa Buddhist Society
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Day of Mindfulness
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2020-10-17
Mind Like A Satellite - Respect, Extraordinary Mindfulness and Wisdom
38:29
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Ayya Medhanandi
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A mind weeded of impurities is a field of stillness and wisdom where our suffering melts away. How does this happen? We study the mind and apply four facets of an extraordinary proactive mindfulness: exerted effort, penetrating focus on the object of awareness, heroic diligence, and contemplative devotion. In the silence of the undistracted mind, wisdom and a true and sustainable happiness arise.
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Ottawa Buddhist Society
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2020-10-08
Cultivating Equanimity
41:15
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Donald Rothberg
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We examine both the nature of equanimity and how to develop more equanimity, both in formal meditation and in the flow of our lives, including in the context of multiple contemporary crises. Equanimity has qualities of balance, evenness, unshakability, understanding and wisdom, faith, joy, and responsiveness. It can be cultivated in our basic mindfulness practice, as we develop more balance, particularly by learning from tends to unbalance us, including difficult emotions, thoughts, and body-states. We can also particularly focus on the teaching of the "Eight Worldly Winds" (or Conditions): pleasure and pain, gain and loss, fame and disrepute, praise and blame.
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Insight Meditation Tucson
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2020-09-23
Deepening Our Practice in the Pandemic 7: The Foundations of Wise Speech 4: Becoming More Skillful with Difficult Speech Situations 2
1:10:06
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Donald Rothberg
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After a brief review of the foundations of wise speech and the eight guidelines for skillful speech when there are difficult or challenging situations, we explore the connection of inner practices with such situations. We look at two dimensions of such practice: (1) looking at and transforming conditioning that makes it hard to engage in such situations, such as related to negative views about conflict and anger, and discerning when there is spiritual bypassing in relationship to difficulties; and (2) bringing mindfulness, inquiry, and investigation to difficult emotions such as anger, fear, sadness, etc.,and to thoughts and narratives (especially generated by the judgmental mind). We will continue this exploration, including of difficult body states, next time..
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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2020-08-19
Deepening Our Practice in the Pandemic 4: The Foundations of Wise Speech 1: Cultivating Empathy
66:30
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Donald Rothberg
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We start with a brief review of the three previous talks on deepening practice during the pandemic (and other crises), including clarifying three broad areas of practice: Formal meditation practice, daily life practice, and work, service, and/or activism as practice. In this session, we explore the foundations of Wise Speech as practice, mentioning three foundations. The first two include (1) the ethical guidelines given by the Buddha regarding skillful speech, and (2) developing presence and mindfulness during speech (including listening). We focus most of the time on the third foundation of cultivating empathic connection with another, clarifying the difference between empathy and compassion, giving some of the findings of studies in neuroscience about empathy, and examining what blocks empathy. We then work with a simple (yet powerful) empathy practice of tuning into (1) emotions, and (2) what matters, and move into a period of discussion.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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2020-07-29
Your Awake Heart is Calling You
50:50
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Tara Brach
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As individuals and societies, we are pulled by both the insecurity of our evolutionary past, and by our awake heart, our capacity for mindfulness and compassion. This talk explores the ways we can listen to and respond to the call of our awake heart, by training ourselves to open to vulnerability (our own and others) and widen the circles of compassion (a favorite from the 2017 archives).
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Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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2020-07-22
Deepening Our Daily Life Practice in the Pandemic 2
67:09
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Donald Rothberg
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We begin with a brief review of the previous week's talk and discussion, in which we explored a number of ways to deepen (1) our formal practice; (2) our informal (daily life) practice; and (3) our service, work, and/or activism as practice. This exploration points to a broadened sense of practice.
We then examine in some depth three inter-related foundational areas for deepening practice in all three areas: (1) developing mindfulness of the body; (2) working to transform reactivity (here as a translation of "dukkha"), including as it manifests in challenging or difficult experiences; and (3) pausing and setting intentions. Our discussion particularly goes into being skillful with challenging experiences.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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